book review caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 241–243 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.135 © 2020 indulata prasad. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. title: gendering caste: through a feminist lens author: uma chakravarti publisher: sage publication: year: 2018 (revised edition of 2003) reviewer: indulata prasad assistant professor, school of social transformation, arizona state university, usa e-mail: iprasad@asu.edu the anti-mandal agitation of ‘upper castes’ and the suicide of dalit student rohith vemula bookended the revised edition of historian uma chakravarti’s widely read book, gendering caste: through a feminist lens. the book also commemorates dr. b.r. ambedkar’s work on caste as it reiterates his position on endogamy as being critical to the ‘unbroken reproduction of caste’ for centuries and the perpetuation of a unique form of inequality in india. the revised edition’s after word examines some key incidents in india around caste since the first publication of this book in 2003.it argues that even as caste and patriarchy in india remaining a state of flux, they retain their salience in both rural and urban areas, in the new millennium, due to the ‘social silence’ around the ‘inherited legacies of practicing inequality.’ the primary concerns of gendering caste are fourfold. first, the text categorically rejects the tenacious dominant sociological theorisation of caste and rejects outright its capacity to capture the complex social order. it argues that overemphasising caste as an ideology and eliding the practice of caste from the purview of theorisation fails to grasp the complexity of the experience of caste-based oppression and obscures the privileged location in the hierarchical structure from where such theorisations take place. the text is among the first critical feminist interventions and push-backs on the dominant discourse of caste that views caste as a consensual rather than oppressive system that encompasses the economic, social, cultural, and political realm of indian society, wherein ‘caste ideology denies subjectivity to the dalits by depriving them of dignity and personhood.’ the text echoes marginalised theorisations of caste, as it demonstrates the necessity of 242 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 extending the purview of caste to indicate that ‘caste is not merely the opposition between pure and impure but at a more fundamental level it incorporates other kinds of oppositions such as domination and subordination, exploitation and oppression, based on unequal access to material resources.’ second, the text demonstrates that the additive and disjointed model of investigating caste and gender is untenable, as caste, and gender by extension remain conjoint, with women ‘at the heart of the conflict as protagonists and as victims, and also as aggressors in the new moment of constitutionally protected/granted rights to all citizens equally.’ the text therefore makes the shift from the dominant nationalist paradigm of the ‘status of women’ concerning primarily upper-caste women by supplanting it with substantive questions of women’s subordination as well as an investigation of the structures that make such subordination plausible. of critical importance is the delineation of the historical roots of ‘brahmanical patriarchy’ to demonstrate that the linkages between male dominance and upper-caste dominance is not a casual one but one that is ‘more deeply and structurally linked.’ it deeply impacts other forms of patriarchies. the historical tracing through the early societies alongside the ancient hindu texts renders visible the evolution of caste-based patriarchal codes that developed in relationship with the formation of agrarian societies and was backed by state power. the complicity, ‘consent’ and subservience of women was achieved by patrolling upper-caste women’s sexuality by both the state and community through the practice of endogamy, framed as tradition and through a system of reward and selective punishment. in fact, women in all respects were viewed as appendages to men. they were denied control over productive resources and autonomy in law. these factors are/were critical to maintaining the patriarchal structure as well as the silos of caste. the rationale being that ‘the purity of women ensured the purity of caste and thus of the social order itself, not just in the existing society but in the future too.’ the third consideration of the text is the role of violence and the widely endemic culture of impunity around caste and gender-based violence that permeates every aspect of indian society, including the state apparatus and governance. it draws much needed attention to the fact that while ‘the law maintained its monopoly to punish crimes it did not displace the monopoly of dominant caste to rape, parade, and kill dalit women.’ by carefully examining case studies, the text demonstrates how sexual violence or extreme violence has been integral to caste domination and yet the law and the state refuse to recognise it. instead, we see the proffering of depoliticised renderings of caste that overlook the similarity in the patterns of retaliatory attacks and the court acquittals when dalits seek to claim their constitutionally guaranteed rights. lastly, the text draws attention to the role of institutionally sanctioned ‘erasures’ within the state apparatus to deny the historical nature of dalit marginalisation in indian society. despite the existence of legal safeguards in the form of the prevention of atrocities act (1989), the book examines several key legal cases wherein sexual violence against dalit women was either not recognised and omitted or recorded as a legitimate response of the dominant caste, resulting in acquittals. the courts failed to recognize that the ‘dominant castes’ attempt to retain monopoly of the law is a feature book review 243 of caste domination.’ this demonstrates that even as the state continues to be an important site for realising constitutionally guaranteed rights for dalits, it continues to fail dalits by tendering these acts of violence as pertaining to conflict over resources, or stemming from personal or politically motivated reasons, among others. written for a wide audience, the book draws on vast and often diverse resources, ranging from historical and religious texts to sociological and anthropological literature. in tracing caste through the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial eras and into the new millennium, gendering caste is an excellent primer on caste and gender as bulwarks of indian society and the role of the state in maintaining hierarchies. but above all, by critically analyzing key events in india, gendering caste drives home the importance of undertaking the intellectual task of unmasking popular tropes on caste to uncover it sentanglements with gender and sexuality. as chakravarti notes, ‘the task of unraveling the relationship between caste and gender—of gendering the caste system—is even more difficult than recognising their workings individually because the whole weight of domestic ideology is against such a recognition.’ © 2021 chandni girija. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. forum caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 375–378 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.313 ari varutada 1phd scholar at the centre for study of social exclusion and inclusive policies (csseip), tata institute of social sciences, mumbai e-mail: chandni.chndn@gmail.com ari varutadu where did my idea originate? i mentally knock my forehead hm, out wafts a faint memory a childhood one me in taravadu there's kattanchaaya in a steel glass and there's it in a flat-edged steel bowl: ari varutada! we faced a rare situation no snacks to nibble with tea not that it hadn't happened before having set personal records in finishing great amounts of snacks a 'justified' indulgence for my scholarly full-nighters often selfishly finishing whole packets not keeping a single bite for amma no, today with the fridge looking solemnly half-empty and the dining table spick-and-span today held no possibility of heading to the local store to stave off the insistent hankering no, today held no such possibility today and tomorrow and the coming few weeks that is when i suggested to amma, “let us fry raw rice” she was pleasantly surprised taken aback simultaneously— by the grihanathan's resourcefulness and in the falling to humility in the resourcefulness maaman had called today and asked to speak to me— another rare occurrence his tone was unhindered today unhindered by time and concerns of time— a rare occurrence third i told we had had ari varutada he laughed out loudly. it's like a cracker bursting ari varutadu where did my idea originate? i mentally knock my forehead hm, out wafts a faint memory a childhood one me in taravadu there's kattanchaaya in a steel glass and there's it in a flat-edged steel bowl: ari varutada! we faced a rare situation no snacks to nibble with tea not that it hadn't happened before having set personal records in finishing great amounts of snacks a 'justified' indulgence for my scholarly full-nighters often selfishly finishing whole packets not keeping a single bite for amma no, today with the fridge looking solemnly half-empty and the dining table spick-and-span today held no possibility of heading to the local store to stave off the insistent hankering no, today held no such possibility today and tomorrow and the coming few weeks that is when i suggested to amma, “let us fry raw rice” she was pleasantly surprised taken aback simultaneously— by the grihanathan's resourcefulness and in the falling to humility in the resourcefulness maaman had called today and asked to speak to me— another rare occurrence his tone was unhindered today unhindered by time and concerns of time— a rare occurrence third i told we had had ari varutada he laughed out loudly. it's like a cracker bursting ari varutadu where did my idea originate? i mentally knock my forehead hm, out wafts a faint memory a childhood one me in taravadu there's kattanchaaya in a steel glass and there's it in a flat-edged steel bowl: ari varutada! we faced a rare situation no snacks to nibble with tea not that it hadn't happened before having set personal records in finishing great amounts of snacks a 'justified' indulgence for my scholarly full-nighters often selfishly finishing whole packets not keeping a single bite for amma no, today with the fridge looking solemnly half-empty and the dining table spick-and-span today held no possibility of heading to the local store to stave off the insistent hankering no, today held no such possibility today and tomorrow and the coming few weeks that is when i suggested to amma, “let us fry raw rice” she was pleasantly surprised taken aback simultaneously— by the grihanathan's resourcefulness and in the falling to humility in the resourcefulness maaman had called today and asked to speak to me— another rare occurrence his tone was unhindered today unhindered by time and concerns of time— a rare occurrence third i told we had had ari varutada he laughed out loudly. it's like a cracker bursting chandni girija1 376 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 a single cracker bursting bursting suddenly— this particular laugh of his carrying through a thorough enjoyment of the subject of humour i remembered a photo from his wedding album him in his white shirt his head thrown back in this same laughter. on the phone, i could imagine the glow on maaman's face today's news froze me numbing me for moments not the rising corona deaths but two reports, two images: migrant labourers hosed with disinfectant and six musahar children eating grass the children's image hit me harder but i did wonder— how did the photograph occur? at the very exact moment? reports challenged the veracity of this one the grass in actuality argued to be akhri daal another sensationalising report? at the unabashed cost of a community's dignity no other children but musahar and nothing else but grass!! but why did that image hit me harder? yes, another memory wafted out memory of a memory narrated acchan in his childhood a hungry day no one at home and nothing at home so forsaken by hunger that he marched to the pinakku sack and had a fistful i do not doubt the veracity of this event for in this generational memory i hold i can feel acchan's shame and see the jest in others' eyes as they came to know what the boy had done the jest in amma's eyes as she narrated the memory to me ari varutada 377 the jest in maaman's voice as he heard of today's ari varutadu this jest, i know its exact point of pleasure it is of crossing the line it is of making it across it is of forgetting the journey made it is of the safe vantage point that allows a view below it is of my ability to march down the local store whenever i hanker for a packet of kurkure it is of the ability of the reporter to make a 'report' on the musahar children it is of the ghastly shock, the readers of this report feel the ability of these readers to feel the ghastly shock their affordability of guilt my affordability of guilt but in this memory i feel no linearity of shame continuing in me the 30-year old me, however, feels a strange hankering loss i wish i could go back to that moment the moment little acchan put the fistful in his mouth and the shame crept upon his face i wish i could run to him a little me in my white petticoat and white-ribboned pig-tails i wish i could run to him and put my little hand on his cheek and say, "it's nothing to be ashamed of.” and then sit with him our legs bobbing down the porch a flat-edged steel bowl between us happily sharing the ari varutadu. -x-x-x ari varutada: fried raw rice, used to be consumed as a snack taravadu: ancestral house kattanchaaya: black tea amma: mother the jest in maaman's voice as he heard of today's ari varutadu this jest, i know its exact point of pleasure it is of crossing the line it is of making it across it is of forgetting the journey made it is of the safe vantage point that allows a view below it is of my ability to march down the local store whenever i hanker for a packet of kurkure it is of the ability of the reporter to make a 'report' on the musahar children it is of the ghastly shock, the readers of this report feel the ability of these readers to feel the ghastly shock their affordability of guilt my affordability of guilt but in this memory i feel no linearity of shame continuing in me the 30-year old me, however, feels a strange hankering loss i wish i could go back to that moment the moment little acchan put the fistful in his mouth and the shame crept upon his face i wish i could run to him a little me in my white petticoat and white-ribboned pig-tails i wish i could run to him and put my little hand on his cheek and say, "it's nothing to be ashamed of.” and then sit with him our legs bobbing down the porch a flat-edged steel bowl between us happily sharing the ari varutadu. -x-x-x ari varutada: fried raw rice, used to be consumed as a snack taravadu: ancestral house kattanchaaya: black tea amma: mother 378 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 grihanathan: head of household maaman: maternal uncle musahar: a dalit community belonging to the eastern indian gangetic plain akhri dal: a type of lentil that can be eaten raw acchan: father pinakku: cow fodder kurkure: cornpuffs mass-produced by pepsico petticoat: here, a white pinafore-like garment worn by girls, mostly underneath frocks brandeis.edu/j-caste 232 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 address the horrors of the holocaust. this moment calls for a renewed examination of why the cruelties exacted by historical exclusion of and violence against dalits, african americans, and jews continues, even as national laws have outlawed caste and exclusion and as the world has committed to international standards of human rights. to engage with this book requires the reader to grapple with and accept the concept of caste as the analytical framework and to understand the distinctive difference between caste and race. wilkerson suggests that while concepts of racism and caste may overlap, caste is a more useful way of understanding the persistent exclusion and maltreatment of african americans (and of dalits and jews). caste helps to explain what is different and why exclusion persists even after discrimination is outlawed and no longer tolerated by the state. the modern-day version of easily deniable racism may be able to cloak the invisible structure that created and maintains hierarchy and inequality. but caste does not allow us to ignore structure. caste is structure. caste is ranking. caste is the boundaries that reinforce the fixed assignments based upon what people look like. caste is a living breathing entity…to achieve a truly egalitarian world requires looking deeper than what we think we see.(69-70) caste, she asserts, is embedded--like dna. we can address, through law and its enforcement, discrimination in hiring, lending, and housing, voting suppression, lynching, or segregation. as societies we cannot legislate away caste. it is here in our culture, our norms and our unacknowledged ways of behaving. the institution of slavery is not unique to the united states. it existed among the ancients, in mesopotamia, in ancient greece and rome, in africa, and it continues to exist today in what the international organization on migration considers modern forms of slavery. so, what is it, if anything, that makes enslavement, jim crow practices, and continuing exclusion of african americans different? isn’t the problem in the u.s. a problem of racism, full stop? wilkerson says ‘no’. it is about power. racism may be defined …as the combination of racial bias and systemic power, seeing racism, like sexism,as primarily the action of people or systems with personal or group power over another person or group with less power, as men have power over women, whites over people of color, and the dominant over the subordinate. (68) wilkerson reminds us that racism has come to mean for many ‘overt and declared hatred of a person or group because of the race ascribed to them’. few today will admit to being racist. a prominent example of this is president donald trump who has periodically and publicly claimed: ‘i am the least racist person there is.’‘i don’t have a racist bone in my body.’ at the same time, he has encouraged white nationalists and white supremacists in remarks and actions throughout his career. he is attempting to punish the state of california for introducing curriculum changes that explore the history of enslavement; he has condemned anti-bias training as racist and he has taken actions to resurrect barriers tovoting by african americans. discussing racism has become difficult in american society. this past year a new york times article noted differences between textbooks published for school systems in the state of california as opposed to those in texas. the textbooks offer very different histories of enslavement or about the treatment of indigenous peoples. children in california and texas are presented with different sets of ‘facts.’ americans cannot have a national dialogue on racism. in a debate prior to the 2020 november election, republican candidate vice book review 233 president mike pence dismissed the concepts of implicit bias and of systemic racism in police forces. the trump department of justice instituted a law suit against yale university, charging that admission procedures aimed at diversity penalize asian and white students. as i wrote this review, i was interrupted by a telephone call from a police group asking me to donate money to support the police and help guarantee police safety. the caller and his supervisor were not willing to talk about the unjustified deaths of multiple african americans at the hands of police, increasing in number over the past four years. nor were they willing to engage in a ‘political discussion’ about the fear that african-americans have of the police. wilkerson uses a large segment of her book to describe what she calls the eight pillars of caste. this is where the power of caste as an analytical concept emerges. wilkerson is an able story teller and the stories she tells here make concrete the ways in which caste entrenches attitudes and behaviors in structures and processes so that maintaining the dominance of whites (or the upper castes) is nearly invisible and seamless. she ably distinguishes among the different levels of caste in the u.s.—just as there are different levels of castes in india that exclude only the dalits. some whites may be at the top of the dominant caste in the u.s. because of money, education or heritage, but the dominant caste also includes less educated and less wealthy whites and asians, and it creates space for latinx. she describes the perverse effects of being part of the dominant caste even as you do not enjoy the benefits of those at the very top. this helps to explain why some at the bottom of the dominant caste oppose progressive legislation such as funding education, reforming regressive tax systems, or providing health insurance for all. preserving their caste position over the long run trumps getting near-term economic benefits. her stories are powerful because they move reality from the theoretical to the personal, human level. wilkerson clearly believes that these stories are important for americans; stories comparing south asian and american caste systems can help americans dig deep to understand the complexity of america’s sad history of white power and privilege. the creation and maintenance of caste systems is embedded in religion and justified by religion (pillar one). in the hindu origin stories, brahma, the ‘grandfather of all worlds’ ordained the four hindu castes or varnas, starting with brahmins as the highest caste. unmentioned in the description of the varnas were the lowest, or untouchables, who were living out the karma of their past. they were outside the caste system. the american origin story harks back to noah and his son the accursed ham, whose son canaan was consigned to be the lowest of slaves (and assumed subsequently to be black). americans enslaved were sons of ham. wilkerson quotes thomas r. r. cobb, a confederate defender of slavery, who argued that god created africans as physically and mentally suited to ‘the degraded position they were destined to occupy.’ thus, god takes responsibility for this subordination and abuse of the enslaved; humans of the dominant caste don’t need to concern themselves. another pillar, the seventh, is a painful to read set of stories of how terror and cruelty have been used and are used to enforce caste strictures and to exert control. dalits in india and jews in the third reich have been and were at the mercy of the dominant caste, subjected to terror to keep them in their subordinate position. the same has been true in the u.s. in the antebellum south, excessive whipping might be used as punishment for an enslaved person whose performance was seen as lagging, 234 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 or who was seen as insufficiently insubordinate. ultimately cruelty was a device to terrorize the lowest caste—african americans. remember that for much of the antebellum period, the black population (enslaved persons) in the south exceeded that of whites, often by a large margin. fearing for their security, whites relied on cruelty and terror as the tools to keep enslaved populations in place. terrorism was carried out via lynching during the later jim crow period. lynching was much more than a simple hanging but included various forms of torture, and was often carried out in front of large crowds. sometimes schools were closed so that children could attend. one needs to understand the impact of terror on the lowest or out-caste people, but also the effect these lynching spectacles had on members of the dominant caste: desensitization to violence and dehumanization of the lower caste. reading caste as a white american is painful, but then i think about how painful it must be for african americans, descendants of enslaved people who continue to experience the residual consequences of jim crow and casteism. wilkerson wants white americans to confront the casteism/racism that she says is in their dna. it will be painful she knows. identifying, understanding, and owning america’s original sin is the first step toward resolving the legacies of 400 years of enslavement, terrorization, and exclusion. confronting this history comes at a time when the united states approaches a ‘demographic inversion.’ in 2042 people of color are expected to outnumber people of the dominant white caste in the u.s. wilkerson is an optimist: ‘to imagine an end to caste in america, we need only look at the history of germany. it is living proof that if a caste system—the twelveyear reign of the nazis—can be created, it can be dismantled’ (383). she draws on her experiences in berlin, which today is filled with monuments, educational displays, and other artefacts that testify to the german attempt to reckon with its past. antisemitism in the third reich was different in its details from the racism in the u.s., but they are similar in terms of their structure and cultural embeddedness. we know that now antisemitism and antisemitic violence are on the rise in germany. some analysts suggest that much of this antisemitism originates in the east, where the previous communist government failed to confront the evils of the third reich and where demonizing jews remained acceptable. one lesson one can take from this disparity between west and east germany is that leadership matters. conrad adenauer, willi brandt, and others (even if imperfectly at times) provided leadership over years in enabling germans to confront the evils perpetuated by leaders and citizens in the third reich. leadership needs to continue and it may not be enough. ultimately, change relies on individual actions, actions of courage. wilkerson argues that confronting the true nature of casteism is an awakening. one may be born to a dominant caste but one does not have to dominate. it is a choice. ‘the challenge has long been that many in the dominant caste, who are in a better position to fix caste inequity, have often been the least likely to want to’ (380). deconstructing casteism and its systems may first mean that the dominant caste needs to give up its privilege. that may be a difficult sacrifice. in times of challenge, americans have been capable of great change. in the thought often attributed to winston churchill, ‘americans will do the right thing, after they have tried everything else’. that time is now. book review caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 244–246 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.13 © 2020 sampath. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited title: the empire of disgust: prejudice, discrimination, and policy in india and the us author: z. hasan, a. huq, m. nussbaum, & v. verma, (eds.) (2018) pubishers: oxford university press: delhi reviewer: rajesh sampath associate professor of the philosophy of justice, rights and social change, heller school for social policy and management, brandeis university, waltham, massachusetts, usa e-mail: rsampath@brandeis.edu this timely anthology of essays edited by hasan, huq, nussbaum, and verma breaks new ground for several reasons. for one, the rise of right-wing, authoritarian, majoritarian politics in western and eastern ‘secular, constitutional, legal’, democracies necessitates sensitive, nuanced multidisciplinary and multidimensional approaches in comparative studies. understanding one social and national context could be helpful in illuminating unseen gaps or blind spots in another system. as the volume states from the outset all societies in one way or another ‘exclude and stigmatize’ minorities. given this enduring dynamic in modern democratic societies, it behoves researchers, who examine questions of discrimination, marginalization, exclusion, stigmatization, and prejudice to create analytic and theoretical spaces whereby humanists, for example ethicists and philosophers of justice and rights, can collaborate with social scientists, legal scholars, and applied social policy analysts. the book achieves this great feat. the current historical and political present in the u.s. and india reveals that over the last few years right-wing political parties’ ascendance to power has meant the erosion of certain basic, liberal, democratic values such as equality and equal protection under the law. minority groups of different intersectional identities have faced great repression and violence in everyday life; but this is compounded by subtle changes in law and policy that seem to justify their exclusion and book review 245 stigmatization. having stated the obvious, for some the matter goes beyond current politics and the nature of authoritarian, right-wing populist appeal in electoral systems. the text by illustrious scholars in india and the u.s. tries to introduce a novel and philosophically rich framework of analysis that reveals a ‘rhetoric of disgust’ to understand how in fact current social realities of exclusion and degradation of minorities operate. some groups are castigated as ‘animal-like’ in which their ‘full human’ dignity is deprived. this critical addition of the category of ‘disgust’ sheds new light on traditional research in law and social policy to examine modalities of social exclusion and therefore, ways to craft sound recommendations to mitigate or eliminate them. in some senses we must go beyond the twentieth century theories of ideology and hegemony, which operate by traditional dichotomies of the ideal and material realms, or theory vs. practice. we need deeper investigations into the reasons why social dynamics result in material practices perpetuated by real mechanics of violence against minorities based on social-psychological bodily manifestations of the pure and the impure. caste in india and race in the united states are two examples of this non-dialectical, synthetically complex phenomenon encapsulated in the term ‘disgust.’ great predecessors that examined this dominion of ‘disgust’ can open doors for future research, another great virtue of this collaborative, anthologized endeavour. the work as a whole is inspired by the legacy of dr. b.r. ambedkar, the great dalit (formerly known as ‘untouchable’) visionary leader who examined one of the most horrendous forms of exclusion, stigmatization, marginalization, oppression and therefore ‘disgust,’ namely the hindu caste system in india and south asia more broadly. one can say his unique achievement in the twentieth century context (compared to other national contexts of his time) was the attempt to inspire a social movement to eradicate such an internal, cultural, and civilizational system of tyrannical majoritarian ‘disgust.’ what makes ambedkar stand out in his time was the fact that he pioneered his efforts during decolonization from an external imperial oppressor, in this case the british empire. all the while, he chaired the drafting of a secular, legal, democratic constitution of a newly liberated eastern society in the global south, namely india, that attempted to take on its seemingly indestructible system of caste. in other words he was fighting two oppressions as the same time—one internal, the other external. the volume takes up his cause by venturing into realms he was not able to traverse. taking it one step further, a comparative analysis is needed to see how differing dynamics of stigma, exclusion, and ‘disgust’ occur in different contemporary and historical contexts. therefore, we must see how differing remedies in law and policy recommendation will be required, perhaps experimentally, to tackle the complexity of minority control and degradation. the volume states from the beginning itself that it does not intend to be ‘reductionist’ whereby all phenomena of ‘prejudice and discrimination’ can be explained by an epiphenomenal category or meta-concept known as ‘disgust.’ in comparative studies, other factors such as ‘imagined violence, competitive envy, and unconscious group bias’ also have to be explored and from myriad perspectives to avoid the fallacy of attempting to discover one ‘determinate emotional origin.’ different disciplines have to be marshalled, not just one, say 246 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 sociology on structures and actions, humanistic, critical, or post-modern theories on ‘discourse’ analysis, or social psychologists on group behaviours and mindsets. one gets the sense that new ground is being broken in trying to understand ‘disgust’ with empirical data with the aim of eradicating it, at least in the us and indian contexts. martha nussbaum, who is renowned for her pioneering works on justice, rights, and the capabilities approach, offers a framing orientation for the anthology. drawing from the psychologist rozin, nussbaum starts off with the idea of ‘primary disgust’ in which all humans across societies and time are rooted not so much in outright fear of real danger but inherent discomfort that all humans have about other human body’s excretions, smells, and ultimate decay. this seems obvious enough but then she takes it one step further with her own powerful notion of ‘projective disgust.’ given this ‘cultural universality’ of human discomfort with human ‘animality’ in general and natural functions, say excretion and death, humans, unlike animals, go further. majorities in societies create distinctions between themselves and some minority group which they have to characterize as ‘quasi-animals,’ minorities that are often ‘powerless,’ because those majorities cannot deal with the ‘primary disgust’ of their own ‘animality.’ and this happens in the heart of the allegedly most peaceful, secular, and liberally sound democracies. nussbaum’s brilliant insight provides explanatory power to complement how others research and analyze various forms of marginalization, exclusion, discrimination, and prejudice when they occur in societies with majorities and minorities, such as the us and india. when majorities institute this distinction by ‘projecting, irrationally, smelliness, hyper-animality, and hyper-sexuality’ onto other minority groups, the majority creates an illusory distance from its own ‘animality’ and ‘mortality.’ from this incredibly profound insight, comparative contexts begin to open up, such as antisemitism in twentieth century europe, the plight of african-americans from slavery to the present in the us, the millennial-long struggle of dalits/outsiders in the hindu caste system, and muslims where they are minorities, for example in europe, the us, and india. every aspect of law and social policy, including voting, education, housing, and health access, is infected so to speak by the way majorities treat their minorities. without going into further details about the conclusions of each contributor’s chapter, this critical and timely volume is highly recommended for academics, practitioners, policymakers, activists, leaders of social movements, and elected officials. we must translate theory into practice to reform democracies with majoritarian systems that continue to demonize and therefore prejudicially discriminate against minority groups given the underlying phenomenon of ‘disgust.’ article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 73–90 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.171 © 2020 amar bahadur bk. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste speaking is healing: dalit women gain a voice through a charismatic healing movement in nepal amar bahadur bk1 abstract the concept of voice has been central to dalit studies as well as in other studies such as feminist, subaltern, and social movement studies. these studies have conceptualized voice as an expression of agency and empowerment. they have paid more attention to voice’s agentive capacity, and have thus ignored the materiality of voice; for example, the act of speaking itself. based on my ethnographic fieldwork on a charismatic healing movement called sachchai (truth and/or reform) participated predominantly by dalit women in pokhara, nepal, this article examines why even ordinary acts of speaking— irrespective of the content—matters so much for marginalized women. dalit women mainly join sachchai to heal their illnesses and sufferings and address other everyday problems. nonetheless, the testimonial and bible speeches they deliver in sachchai devotional meetings during the processes of healing allow them to build their confidence and to learn to speak. the ability to speak—as ordinary as telling their name in public, speaking to a stranger or a government official, holding a microphone—becomes a remarkable achievement for these women. the speaking itself is considered as the evidence of healing from their illnesses and suffering. this article, thus, argues that paying attention to speaking itself is crucial for a fuller understanding of voice. while focusing on the act of speaking, this article does not undermine dalit sachchai women’s agency; rather it intends to expose the plight of dalit women, for whom just uttering their name in the public is a great feat. keywords voice, charismatic healing, dalit women, caste, gender, nepal, sachchai 1department of anthropology, university of pittsburgh, pittsburgh, usa e-mail: abb60@pitt.edu 74 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 introduction dressed in clean clothes, her hair combed, and face slightly made-up, asha1 came to her parents-in-law’s house one saturday morning in the summer of 2016. asha entered the house and fetched a loudspeaker, electric cables, batteries, and a few microphones to the backyard where she cleaned the apparatus with a piece of cloth and checked the sound. a little while later, asha’s husband arrived, and while she was talking to me, he cleaned the backyard of the house and positioned the loudspeaker, connected it to the microphone with cables, fetched a few benches and chairs, and unrolled a plastic carpet on the ground. soon women started arriving one by one, holding their babies and with toddlers in tow. about thirty in number and belonging mostly to low or dalit castes, they sat cross-legged close to each other on the carpet, with a bible on their laps. the women had gathered, as i later learned, for a weekly satsang (devotional gathering) of a charismatic healing movement called sachchai (truth and/or reform). asha led and managed the branch of the movement in her village. the satsang ran for three hours during which the women prayed, sang bhajans or hymns, narrated gawai (testimonies), and delivered bachans (edifying speeches), all of which were amplified by the loudspeaker, and could be heard several hundred meters away. more than anything else, what astonished me was the confident and fluent speeches of these women, who are mostly illiterate farm labourers, and housewives. until a few years ago they would even hesitate to talk to a stranger or, to talk in a public place. a barely literate and a low-caste woman, asha, herself spoke for about an hour. she again showed up at the house later that evening for some work with her motherin-law. she was eager to hear my impression about the satsang and, particularly, the speech she had delivered in the morning. i said her speech was nice. ‘i had seen you capture the video of my speech. does it look good?’ asked asha. she was interested to see the video, and after watching it, she said she felt a bit embarrassed to see herself on video. she compared herself now and six years ago when i first met her: ‘you know i used to be shy even to talk to you. now i can speak with anyone and before any number of people.’ asha told me that her ability to speak holding a microphone was the biggest achievement in her life. why has the ability to speak holding a microphone—irrespective of what they say—become a significant achievement for asha and thousands of other dalit women, who have embraced sachchai? is their speaking at these gatherings a medium of communicating with god? or, does it represent something else? what does it tell us about the predicament of dalit women in contemporary nepal? in this article, i am going to show why the act of speaking itself, rather than ‘voice’ as it is usually understood by scholars in the sense of agency and empowerment, is significant for marginalized people such as dalit sachchai women. for lay observers, sachchai women’s speaking through a microphone might seem nothing extraordinary. however, both caste and patriarchy2 have muted and continue to mute not only dalit women’s political expression and power, but also the sound of their voices.3 therefore, if we examine activities at sachchai through nepal’s historical and cultural contexts, dalit sachchai women’s speaking looks meaningful. the purpose of this article is two-fold. first, building on the theories in religion and media studies that consider media such as the religious speaking in sachchai as serving communicative functions, i am going to show how religious speaking can speaking is healing: dalit women gain a voice through a charismatic... 75 itself be an end goal, and not a medium. scholars of religion and media take media, particularly religious sounds such as loudspeakers, music, and speeches, as a form of mediation or a communicative genre (de vries, 2001; hirschkind, 2006; meyer, 2010). for example, birgit meyer (2010, p. 750-51) considers the role of media in pentecostalism as ‘aesthetic persuasion.’ the persuasive role of dalit sachchai women’s edifying speeches cannot be denied. but my ethnography shows that speaking through a microphone, for them, is not just a means of expression, but is an end in itself –a way of realizing dignity and self-respect. more than just using a microphone and giving speeches as a medium through which empowerment may be achieved, they gain a voice through the very act of speaking. secondly, building on the recent literature that criticizes dominant conceptualizations of voice and pays attention to the materiality of a voice or the sound of a voice (for example, dunn & jones, 1994; hirschkind, 2006; taylor, 2009; weidman, 2006), this article will show how paying attention to the act of speaking itself, the sound of a voice and sound technology such as microphone can enhance our understanding of voice. in the pages that follow i first briefly introduce the sachchai movement in nepal. i then explore, in the next section, how dalit sachchai women learn to speak in sachchai satsangs. i show how women build their confidence to speak in various ways such as through the power of the divine that they receive, and the social and emotional support they get from fellow women believers, and the community of listeners sachchai provides. in the succeeding section, i explain the symbolic meaning that holding a microphone carries for these women. microphones symbolize prestige and empowerment for these women. thereafter, i will dwell on what speaking means for sachchai women. i will also seek to explain how and why they consider their speaking as evidence of their healing from illnesses, pain, and suffering. i conclude by explaining why giving attention to the acts of speaking enhances our understanding of voice. the sachchai movement in nepal this article is based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2016 and 2019 on a charismatic healing movement called sachchai in the city of pokhara and its surrounding villages in nepal. i observed hundreds of sachchai satsangs, listened to hundreds of testimonies, held in-depth interviews with 50 women ‘believers’ (mostly dalit women), and had informal conversations with dozens of them. there are many competing groups within the sachchai movement, with at least half a dozen groups in pokhara alone. my fieldwork focused on one group, the largest group, of the movement called ishwariya bhajan mandal sachchai kendra nepal (divine psalm ministry sachchai centre nepal). this group alone has more than one hundred branches across the predominantly hindu landlocked country in the himalayas. sachchai is a relatively new religious movement, one among various competing faith-based organizations/movements in nepal.4 it started at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and then rapidly expanded across towns and villages in the country. sachchai now has hundreds of branches and hundreds of thousands of followers in nepal.5 nepal’s social, political and economic contexts in the last two decades provided fertile ground for sachchai’s rapid expansion: the decade-long maoist civil war ended in 2006 and nepal became a secular state and the period 76 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 after the war was marked by extreme political instabilities, huge international labour migration of men, dire lack of public goods and services, and, most importantly, rising domestic violence against women. sachchai has particularly appealed to women. more than ninety percent sachchai believers were women.6 women also have a significant presence in leadership positions in the organization. among women believers, those from low-caste and poor backgrounds constitute the majority. in my conversation with them, some nonbelievers, especially upper-caste women, characterized sachchai as a ‘low-caste religion.’ such characterization and the overwhelming majority of dalits in sachchai had primarily aroused my research interest in sachchai. the attendees at asha’s branch where i happened to observe for the first time during my fieldwork were mostly dalit women. during the course of my fieldwork, i observed a gradual increase in uppercaste women’s presence in the movement, but not in the satsang at asha’s branch. and, by the end of my fieldwork, upper-caste women had a significant presence in sachchai. yet, dalit women still held the majority: they led a significant number of sachchai branches and the majority of leaders in the movement were dalit women. the sachchai group which i studied, sachchai kendra nepal, was started and led together by a dalit man and his upper-caste brahmin wife, both in their late thirties.7 fig. i: a satsang of sachchai kendra nepal. pokhara, 2019 sachchai claimed to address the problems of its believers such as illnesses and diseases, pain and suffering, household economic difficulties, family fights and misunderstandings, children’s poor performance in school exams, poor productivity of crops and cattle, and so on. yet, the majority of women mainly embraced sachchai for three key reasons: healing their illnesses and diseases, repairing relationships with their husbands, and improving their household economic status. bible study, speaking speaking is healing: dalit women gain a voice through a charismatic... 77 in tongues (glossolalia), belief in the holy spirit, and prayers were key elements of addressing the problems. although sachchai believers studied the bible, they denied that they were christians and disliked being associated with any form of christianity. sachchai believers were allowed to hold on to their previous religious and cultural practices, rituals and festivals.8 but the believers were discouraged from worshipping hindu gods, visiting temples, shamans, and oracles. learning to speak to my question of what was the biggest achievement of sachchai, nearly every dalit sachchai woman (including leaders and ordinary believers) i spoke with, either said they ‘learned how to speak’, or ‘became able to speak’ through sachchai. when i further asked what they specifically learned, the responses were varied: some said they now had confidence to talk to strangers, others said they could now confidently introduce themselves to strangers, to high-status persons, or in public gatherings, and still others said they could now deliver a speech at a public gathering. before joining sachchai, they said they feared speaking both at home and in public. many of them said they did not even know how to tell their name (nam bhanna ni aaune thiyena). so, for many of these women, even speaking out their name through a microphone and just uttering some words before an audience was a great achievement. their admission that they could not say their name was not just symbolic. it had literal meanings, for two reasons. first, i assume that the understanding of what is a proper introduction was largely shaped by nepal’s development discourse. in my own observation, women’s literacy classes held in the 1990s would teach them to introduce themselves. i recall how my mom, who was then in her sixties, practised introducing herself. second, many of my interlocutors felt uncomfortable just to pronounce their name in public. i asked maya why. like the majority of dalit sachchai believers, she did not go to school and her formal name was seldom used by her family and in her village. everybody in her family and village called her by the nickname kanchhi, a name commonly given to the youngest daughter in a family. kanchhi was not considered a proper or formal name, but since maya mostly engaged in domestic work, she did not need to use her official name. and, whenever she had to introduce herself to a stranger, maya would find it uncomfortable to use her formal name. people in villages were called through names derived from kinship relations. instead of using her proper name, a woman would be referred to as someone’s daughter, or as someone’s wife, or as someone’s mother, or as her birth rank in the family. this is still widely the norm in pokhara and surrounding villages. additionally, dalits often used to get derogatory names mostly drawn from their caste and other features such as skin colour, height, and weight.9 one recent anecdote shows how just being able to speak is still important for dalit women. punam yadav, (2016) who conducted fieldwork in the early 2010s among women of her native village in southern nepal said that, ‘women of this lower caste community, whose names were hardly known to anyone, are now introducing themselves by their own names. … this is the community where women were banned from going to a literacy class just a few years ago (p. 164). just being able to speak was not only important for dalit women but also for upper-caste women. saubhagya shah (2018) conducted ethnographic fieldwork in the 78 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 late 1990s among members of women development section, a women’s organization in eastern nepal formed and supported by the united nations’ food and agriculture organization. in evaluating the impacts of the project, he writes (p.206): when asked to identify the most significant contribution of the wds for local women, the activists invariably say that it provided a forum where they could find their voice. haimi lai kam se kam bolna sakne banayo—it made us at least able to speak—this is how they evaluated the project’s impact. before they had their organization, the women say, they did not know how to speak in public and that they were shy and hesitant to take up public issues. shah notes that although the project aimed to support women from low-income households, women’s learning of how to speak was an important byproduct. this anecdote shows how even upper-caste women10 could not speak in public and how they required many years of external, international organizations’ support to learn how to speak. nonetheless, sachchai women now had become more confident about speaking with strangers. during my fieldwork dalit sachchai women readily accepted my request for a conversation and an interview with them. i met and interviewed many of my interlocutors outside their homes, in restaurants, tea shops, and in their businesses. they were much franker and more forthcoming than i had expected. a few women initially showed some hesitation by conceding that they did not how to talk (kura garna aaudina). but eventually, as they spent more time with me and became more comfortable, they spoke very well. otherwise, an average nepali woman, as i observed during my visits to pokhara, would remain hesitant to speak to a stranger, especially a male. many dalit sachchai women mentioned their interaction with me as an example of their confidence in speaking that they achieved through sachchai. they acknowledged that they would not have had such confident conversations with me had they not embraced sachchai. how did sachchai help to boost women’s confidence and to learn and practise speaking? first, speaking was central to sachchai’s healing process. slogans such as ‘testimonies are medicine’ (gabaile dabai hunchha), and ‘the more one speaks, the more an evil spirit is hurt (jati bolyo uti dusta lai polyo), that sachchai women often invoke, highlight the importance of speaking in sachchai healings. every satsang participant got an opportunity to narrate their testimonies, conduct prayer meetings, and sing songs. additionally, unlike in some pentecostal groups,11 sachchai offered women leaders and believers (including dalits) an opportunity to give edifying speeches. in every satsang, at least half a dozen women volunteered to narrate their testimonies, give edifying speeches, and sing devotional songs. even when a woman was holding a prayer session or singing a song, she would usually deliver a brief speech. a typical satsang sequentially comprised the following activities: an initial prayer conducted by a woman; one or two bhajans; five to seven testimonies by different women; one or two devotional songs; five to seven edifying speeches by different women; one or two devotional songs; edifying speeches by both main and deputy leaders of the branch, one or two devotional songs; and a final prayer by one woman, and lastly one or two devotional songs. the satsangs were held thrice a week in the centre (central place speaking is healing: dalit women gain a voice through a charismatic... 79 or hub) and twice a week in most branches. many women in pokhara attended all the weekly satsangs at both places. speaking at the centre’s satsang that was usually attended by about 2500 to 3000 believers was considered a remarkable achievement for any sachchai woman believer. second, sachchai, with its empathetic listeners, provided a community of social and emotional support to comrades in turmoil. the emotional support from fellow believers became crucial for building confidence for a newcomer. believers encouraged a hesitant woman to take the microphone and speak to the audience. when a woman would finally stand up to speak but mumbled, or could not find words to speak, or could not hold the microphone properly, those sitting near her helped. they would hug a trembling woman and provide physical support, help her to hold the microphone, and guide them on what to say next. when a lady could not speak, she would often, as i observed, tell her testimony to another woman who, in turn, conveyed it to the audience. the audience did not deride a mumbling woman. instead, they provided emotional support by cheering and applauding every word or sentence that she uttered. thus, the love, care, and support a woman received from fellow members helped build her confidence in her ability to speak. sachchai women thus, found a community of listeners, who heard their speeches compassionately and identified with them. these women told me that they had never been heard by anyone in their families and neighbourhoods, and that they had finally found some people in sachchai who heard them. having someone who hears one’s pain and suffering is healing itself. but theoretically, as scholars have argued, an act of speaking becomes unsuccessful if it is not heard in the intended way. with regard to her famous question, ‘can the subaltern speak?’ gayatri spivak (1992) points out the importance of subaltern voice being heard: ‘when you say cannot speak, it means that if speaking involves speaking and listening, this possibility of response, responsibility, does not exist in the subaltern’s sphere’ (spivak, 1992, p. 42). she suggests that even if subalterns speak, they are not heard. spivak’s assertion rings true when sachchai women said they were not heard by anybody, even when they spoke. thirdly, dalit sachchai women said that they spoke in accordance with god’s instructions and support. god was supposed to speak through the believers’ mouths, and every word a believer uttered was supposed to be god’s word. in a way, this is both an acceptance of paternalism as well as an articulation of the embodiment of voice that transcends gender. additionally, god was a key source of inspiration, confidence, and legitimacy for the things that the women said when they spoke. one day, i asked asha how she learned to speak in sachchai satsangs. she answered, ‘god has told us, “you [woman] can speak. you dalit women can speak. i have chosen you to speak. so, don’t fear my children. i am here to help you.” she claimed that her new god, jesus christ, had chosen dalit women because they were the most oppressed people in society, and he wanted to begin his mission of social transformation with dalit women. according to asha, her speech was ‘directed’ by god. believers, during their speeches, would generally make a disclaimer that whatever was spoken was according to god’s will, not their own will. when a woman stood up for the purpose of speaking, but mumbled or could not find words to speak, it was interpreted by the other believers that god did not want her to speak at that moment. she was consoled by saying that god would 80 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 bring her the words later when he wanted to speak. the burden of speaking was placed on god, and this served as an effective tool both to encourage women to speak and to legitimize what they said. sachchai women equated their speaking with that of a child who has just begun to learn the language. they considered themselves as children of god and their embracing sachchai as a new birth into the divine world. ‘how long has it been since you became a child of god?’ they often asked fellow believers. thus, a sachchai believer was supposed to learn and practise speaking the ‘new language.’ god was believed to be teaching them how to speak in the same way as parents teach their children how to speak. ‘i am just a five-year-old child of god. how does a five-year-old child speak? you know it. my speech is like this.’ this was how some women would relate their progress in learning to speak to fellow members in satsangs. such statements were a modest expression of praising their own speaking skills while acknowledging that they were still on the learning curve. sachchai women often characterized their past saying, ‘in the past (in the earthly life), we were dumb. we had mouths, but we could not speak.’ what do these women speak in the satsangs? sachchai women usually explain the pain and suffering they underwent, the status of their healing, and encouragement to other women based on their experience and learning. those who give an edifying speech, additionally explain passages from the bible. they pick a passage and explain it based on their understanding and life-experience, with examples and illustrations. they implicitly critique the sources of their suffering and pain, the structures of power and domination, and injustice and oppression they had to undergo—but all from a divine perspective. they explain their illness, pain, and suffering as consequences of the influence of an evil spirit. as evans-pritchard’s famous insight about azande belief in witchcraft (1937) reminds us, blaming an evil spirit for their illnesses, pain, and suffering does not mean that they do not know the real cause. the women’s speeches revealed that they knew it very well. even i am aware of this fact, and my analysis has focused on what they think, say, or claim. however, i choose to focus on what they valued and why. holding the microphone we now discuss the significance of the microphone in this movement. ‘you all will speak through this microphone one day,’ asserted a sachchai leader in a satsang. believers raised their hands above their heads and clapped in agreement. the leader solicited the believers’ responses to her series of questions: ‘do politicians have the exclusive right to speak through a microphone?’ ‘no.’ ‘do men have the exclusive right to speak through a microphone?’ ‘no.’ ‘do educated persons have the exclusive right to speak through a microphone?’ ‘no.’ ‘everyone can speak through a microphone.’ ‘yes. everyone can.’ the leader, then, raised the microphone and said, ‘this microphone belongs to you all, come grab it and speak.’ she urged her fellow women believers to abandon their fear, to build confidence, and to speak through the microphone in sachchai satsangs. reminding them what god said about fear in the bible, she explained why fear was the main source of suffering and why one should abandon fear in order to heal. in the speaking is healing: dalit women gain a voice through a charismatic... 81 sachchai worldview, evil spirits can easily hurt those who are weak and full of fear, and such evil spirits are only defeated by being strong and confident. thus, the leader assured fellow believers that their fear of speaking would vanish one day and that they too would be able to come forward and grab the microphone. for sachchai women, speaking through the microphone symbolized courage, confidence, and power—the main weapons for defeating evil spirits. being able to speak through a microphone was considered a sign of healing. furthermore, by invoking the idea that it is also the right of women, illiterate, and common people to speak through a microphone, the leader indicated the symbolic power of a microphone. for the leader and other believers, the microphone symbolized prestige and empowerment. it follows that women who had similar educational, economic, and caste backgrounds to those of the majority of sachchai women, but who were denied access to microphones, were denied prestige, status, and power. outside of sachchai, speaking through a microphone was a privilege mostly enjoyed by men, especially educated men and politicians. public meetings in pokhara, and in nepal in general, are generally held in a highly hierarchical fashion. seating is arranged in such a way that high-status guests are seated on special chairs on an often-elevated dais while others are seated at ground level. those seated on the dais are called upon to sit in an order based on their ranks. the order of who speaks first and who speaks next is also determined according to a person’s status or rank based on occupation, official position, and so on.12 the lowest-ranked person speaks first while the highestranked person speaks at the end of the meeting. hierarchy is occasionally contested resulting into controversies and fights. thus, any public meeting in pokhara serves as a platform to display status, prestige, and power. speaking through a microphone while standing on a dais before an audience has given a sense of worth, status, and prestige to sachchai women. this ‘status symbolism’ of microphone in nepal may be one reason that sachchai women initially felt uncomfortable while speaking through a microphone. during my fieldwork, i observed that many women are hesitant to go to the dais and tell their testimony through a microphone in sachchai satsangs. they would refuse to do so despite repeated requests from sachchai leaders. they rather chose to tell their testimonies from the floor level without a microphone, confessing that they would feel shy about speaking through the microphone. one day, i visited a dalit sachchai woman, kalpana, in her garment stall in a market complex. we talked about her testimonial speech that she had delivered the previous week in an ‘international’ satsang held in pokhara. brimming with self-pride, she said, ‘since i addressed such a big crowd attended by such “big” persons, there is nothing now that i may not be able to do. i think i can do whatever tasks i may need to do’ (aba maile garna nasakne bhanne kei kura chhaina. je kura pani garna sakchhu jasto lagchha). the sachchai kendra had organized an international satsang in the summer of 2018 in pokhara. it was attended by more than twenty thousand sachchai believers and leaders from across the country and from india and the usa. nepal’s deputy prime minister cum health minister was the chief guest. kalpana delivered her testimonial speech in the satsang which became proof of her courage and power. that courage and power is not just related to her speaking. she believed that she could now solve or deal with any kind of problem she may encounter. she was given just five minutes to deliver her testimony. but for her speaking through the microphone for 82 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 those five minutes became her greatest achievement and the evidence of her inherent courage and power. speaking through a microphone, therefore, held special significance for sachchai leaders and believers. they stressed upon not just their ability to speak but to speak through a microphone. “mike ma bolna sakne bhaye” (i was able to speak through microphone) was a response many women gave me when i asked them what they gained through sachchai. during my conversations with them, sachchai leaders and ordinary believers often spoke with pride about their abilities to speak through a microphone and considered such speaking as proof of sachchai’s legitimacy. ‘did you see how women in sachchai satsangs speak through microphone?’ sachchai women often asked me. some non-believers with whom i interacted also appreciated the confidence of sachchai women to speak through microphones. even die-hard critics of sachchai admitted this as a great achievement for sachchai and its dalit women believers. an upper-caste hindu man who was a vocal critic of sachchai and had posted a video on youtube accusing sachchai for supposedly ‘christianizing’ nepal attributed the popularity of sachchai among women to ‘illiteracy, poverty, and foreign money.’ these are common allegations of upper-caste hindus against sachchai. admitting that his wife had also briefly embraced sachchai, he cited two genuine reasons for attraction of women toward sachchai. one reason, he claimed, was sachchai’s declaration of caste equality which appealed to low-caste women. the other was ‘sachchai’s offering of respect to women by giving them microphones.’ he however said that women should not ‘convert to christianity’ just for having the opportunity to speak through microphones. fig. ii: a dalit sachchai woman giving an edifying speech in a branch’s satsang. pokhara, 2019 speaking is healing: dalit women gain a voice through a charismatic... 83 microphones did not just amplify sound to make a speaker audible to the audience. and, they did not just symbolize confidence and empowerment as discussed. they also served aesthetic functions that sachchai leaders and believers did not explicitly acknowledge. on the one hand, the theatrical and entertaining sound produced by the microphones and loudspeakers served as a means to attract believers. loudspeaker sounds in satsangs were often deafeningly loud. when i asked asha why she used the microphone in her branch even if the audience could hear the orator without the speakers, she simply answered that her sisters, i.e. fellow women believers, liked to speak through the microphone. although she did not mention it, one possibility is that the sachchai speakers actually liked the aesthetic function of the loudspeaker’s sound. this aesthetic function of sound in charismatic healing movements such as pentecostalism has been well acknowledged by scholars. on the other hand, the loud sound produced by the loudspeakers served as a tool to reach out to non-believers. the aesthetic function of sound and speeches that scholars such as birgit meyer (2010) noted also helped to attract non-believers, especially in nepal where reaching out to non-believers in other ways was challenging given the stringent anti-conversion and anti-proselytizing laws.13 in other words, the highly amplified sound and emotional speeches served as a tool for evangelizing. this could be one reason why the volume of the loudspeakers was kept high and why the loudspeakers were positioned facing outward from the satsang buildings. most sachchai buildings were not sound-proofed: some centres did not have any wall or, were not adequately walled, and others were half-walled. satsangs in many village branches were held in courtyards. in any case, the sound from the loudspeakers easily escaped through the sastang venues so that sachchai women’s neighbours and other strangers could hear they said. a loudspeaker might be essential in larger satsangs to make the speaker’s sound audible to the entire audience, but it may not be required in smaller meetings. yet, microphones and loudspeakers were used even when an audience could listen to a speaker without a loudspeaker. yet, most of the village branches, attended by less than 30 or 40 believers, used loudspeakers. additionally, sachchai branches held their annual congregations mostly in public places, often attended by lots of people. i observed an annual satsang of a branch in kathmandu which was held in a public lawn at the middle of a busy intersection. the fence around the lawn, in every direction, was tightly packed with a public audience and people from shops and houses around the lawn were also watching the satsang. speaking is healing ‘god made me able to speak standing before you all, this is my biggest testimony.’ i heard many women say this in satsangs when they stood to speak about their experiences or give edifying speeches. initially, i could not make a sense of this claim. some women said they had been so severely ill that they never thought that they would ever again be able to stand on their own or be able to utter words. ‘but when i heard more of these testimonies and paid close attention to what they said about their illnesses after they had recovered, i began to understand why they considered their speaking in the satsang as proof of their healing,’ said one of them. these women had been rendered virtually speechless and silenced by their families and societies, especially when they had conflicts with their husbands and in-laws, or when they had health issues, mainly depression. they had been ostracized, had no confidence 84 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 to speak and no one listened to them. this was why speaking at a satsang to an eager audience came to be cherished by them. even when women were not seriously ill or did not have conflicts in family, in a hindu family in nepal a married woman is not usually allowed to speak out her mind or talk to her neighbours and share her feelings and family issues with them. a husband’s family would fear that she would reveal family secrets to neighbours and relatives. also, a mother-in-law would not want her daughter-in-law to spend time talking to her husband, lest she would wean him away and stop supporting the family financially if he got close to his wife (see bennett, 1983). des chen (1998) details how a married woman—known as bhauju in nepali—whose husband lived in india, was not allowed by her motherand father-in-law to talk with her neighbours. the married couple’s daughter always accompanied the married woman to ensure that she would not disclose any family matters or suffering inflicted by the family to her neighbours. bhauju was a middle-caste woman and bennett’s interlocutors were upper-caste women. but the patriarchal norms that restricted bhauju and upper-caste women from speaking with others had equally permeated dalit lives as well. kalpana, the dalit sachchai leader whom i introduced earlier, told me that she was similarly accompanied by her husband’s family members when her husband was living abroad. she said that her father-in-law neither gave her letters her husband sent to her, nor told her when her husband called for her on the phone. furthermore, her in-laws used to get angry when she spoke to any men or women in the village. thus, a married woman in the nepalese society seldom had a chance to talk with others, let alone share her suffering and pain. one main reason why many women joined sachchai was the isolation they faced as a result of abuse and violence from their husbands and their families, severe illness (mostly depression), and their ostracization from family and neighbours. many sachchai women characterized their condition as equivalent to a bug that lives in a swamp (naliko kira): ‘my life was like a bug that lives in a swamp, no one cared about me. i was discarded and ostracized by my family,’ they would say in their testimonies. i again refer to asha’s example, which shows how speaking was significant to her in light of social and family ostracizations and her long battle with depression. asha became seriously ill for seven years after she gave birth to her third child. she suffered from what is called depression in medical terms, but hindu astrologers and shamans suggested that she had been possessed by a goddess (devi chadeko). she accepted the diagnosis of the shamans and proceeded by building a temple in her home, observing strict fasting, and performing worship. her neighbours accused her of being a witch and cut off interactions with her. she was ostracized from her family and neighbours and was treated like dirt. then asha heard of sachchai and attended a satasng. when she saw other suffering women speaking through a microphone, she said she dreamed of speaking like them. within two weeks, asha spoke into the microphone, sang a song and danced, and spoke about her illness. that was the first time she had ever spoken through a microphone and shared her suffering and pain in front of a mass of interested people. she said no one in her family or neighbourhood was interested in listening to her, but in sachchai she found people who would listen to her. as her story reveals, women’s immediate speaking is healing: dalit women gain a voice through a charismatic... 85 cause for according value to speaking comes from being unheard by anyone in their own families and neighbourhood. their feeling of neglect, ostracization, and lack of opportunity to say what they feel like is the immediate cause of their yearning to speak. the second reason for embracing sachchai was caste and patriarchy which had brutally suppressed their sound and voice, and the new faith gave them a chance to speak. i now present a story of another dalit woman which illustrates the larger structures of caste and patriarchy that provide the contexts to the sachchai women’s desire to speak. into her fifth year in the movement, pushpa had now become an eloquent orator. a woman in her late twenties, pushpa had finished her undergraduate degree, unlike other girls in her community, and was working as a housekeeper in a hotel in the town. it was a job that was unrelated to her degree, and paid poorly. pushpa belonged to a traditional caste of singers—the lowest among low castes—whose males eked their living by wandering around villages singing songs and playing the fiddle in return for food and money. in addition to entertaining people by singing they would also serve as newsmongers spreading local news, messages, stories, myths, and events about recent incidents through their songs (see, weisethaunet, 1998). for these tasks, they would need a good voice as well as awareness about news and incidents to survive. but their women stayed home; they would not travel. i met and interviewed pushpa one summer evening. she initially went to sachchai not for herself, but for her father’s illness. upon hearing sachchai women’s exciting speeches there, she decided to embrace the movement. from her childhood, she had always wanted to speak, but had lots of inhibitions. she would hide when someone came to her home and never spoke a word in her school. she described herself before joining sachchai in the following words: i would be shy to just sit among a few people. if i attended a wedding ceremony, i always wanted to avoid sitting with people. i used to be too shy to dance. people needed to pull me by my arms to force me to dance, and sometimes i felt like my arms were going to detach from my body. now, i don’t feel shy at all. i can put up with any kind and any number of people. now, i dance spontaneously. nobody needs to request me or force me. now when i listen to a song, my legs start shaking reflexively. why should we fear? a week after i joined sachchai, i sang a devotional song. in the following week i narrated my testimonial and a few weeks later, i was able to teach the bible. i don’t know how i got that courage. why did dalit sachchai women, like asha and pushpa, desire so much to speak? what do they achieve from their speaking? as the cases of these two women show, dalit sachchai women realize self-worth, self-respect, and a sense of empowerment. within sachchai, they get appreciation and respect from fellow women, get recognition and status as a leader, and get invitations to speak from other branches. outside of sachchai, their husbands, husbands’ families, and neighbours begin showing some level of respect to them. to reiterate, it is only the high-status and powerful people who speak in nepal. dalit sachchai women’s desire to speak becomes more understandable within the larger contexts of nepal. speaking was an important marker for women and men in nepal especially after the 1990s. the decades after 1990 in nepal has seen a surge in 86 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 citizens’ desire to speak in the public sphere, as being able to do so represents freedom, modernity and political claims. the fall of autocratic monarchical rule and introduction of limited democracy in 1990, the subsequent growth of public media such as radios and newspapers, empowerment programmes run by the state and other development agencies, and the rise in overall literacy rates—all these factors emboldened and contributed to actualizing that desire. public voice acquired enormous significance in post-1990s nepal, as political voice was supposed to be required to fight for and sustain democracy and to achieve the country’s development and modernization (kunreuther, 2014). these decades also saw a significant rise in women’s as well as other marginalized groups’ voices for their rights, equality, and justice. dalit sachchai women’s desire to speak may have been shaped by these discourses around freedom, modernity, and selfhood. conclusion the ethnographic examples presented in the previous sections have, i hope, shown why just being able to speak through a microphone and standing before an audience— irrespective of what they said—mattered so much for the dalit women i studied. their speaking through a microphone mattered to them so much so that it signified their condition of being healed from illnesses, pain, and suffering. why did these women give so much value to such ‘ordinary’ acts such as uttering some words, holding a microphone, or standing and speaking before an audience? it is because, as i showed in this article, these women had been brutally silenced, both in their families and society. many women said that once upon a time they had even hesitated to just utter their names, or to introduce themselves to others, or hold conversations with strangers or high-status officials. besides enduring silencing norms of patriarchy and castes, these women became mute because of their immediate condition of ostracization, disrespect, and abandonment by their husbands, husbands’ families, and neighbours. under such circumstances, they neither had confidence to say what they wanted to say nor found someone who would hear what they had to say. sachchai gave them a platform to speak; the women thus realized some degree of worth, self-respect, and power through their interactions and exposure in the movement. i have shown that the speaking of dalit sachchai women did not just serve as a means of conveying a religious message—a communicative function, as scholars of religion have argued. dalit sachchai women’s speaking is an end in itself that produces a kind of embodied empowerment and fulfils their desire to speak. similarly, i have shown how paying attention to speaking itself—irrespective of its content— can enhance our understanding of voice. this aspect of voice, the speaking, has been ignored by scholars who have studied voice, including those from feminist, subaltern, and dalit studies. as i discussed in the introduction of this article, voice is generally taken for granted and is mostly understood as an index to agency and empowerment. while focusing on the act of speaking, this article, however, does not minimize dalit sachchai women’s agency and empowerment, or the emancipatory potential that the act of speaking signifies. these women’s utterances certainly contain much political potential and their speaking has surely brought many micro-level changes in terms of speaking is healing: dalit women gain a voice through a charismatic... 87 gender relations in their lives. speaking in sachchai satsangs is, to a certain extent, an act of resistance to the patriarchal and caste structures that silenced their voice. although my examples clearly suggest the agentive potential, i have not explored this in the article. for this reason, what i have presented here is just a half story. i did not focus on the other half of the story which is the agentive element of the women’s speaking, because other scholars have paid ample attention to it. for example, saba mahmood (2005) has famously revealed agency among women who participated in islamic piety movements in egypt that aimed to cultivate muslim ethics. closer to home, nathaniel roberts (2017) has eloquently shown how dalit pentecostal women in chennai, south india, used their suffering ‘as a tool of social suasion’. he terms such an agency as ‘agentive suffering.’ what i have focused in my article is the women who i studied, and what they most often commented upon. this article intended to expose the condition of a section of women, specifically dalit women, for whom just uttering their name in the public was a great feat. while other sections of women in nepal are much more outspoken and empowered, and have even become radical and revolutionary agents of transformation (for example, see lohani-chase, 2008; manchanda, 2004; pettigrew & shneiderman, 2014; yadav, 2016). my article has shown a contrasting picture to the celebratory portrayal of nepali women seen in these studies. for the women i studied, raising a voice for political rights is very far from reality. instead, just being able to speak—to say their own name in public, to utter some words loudly, to talk to a stranger—is what mattered most to these women. acknowledgments i am deeply indebted to joseph alter, sunaina arya, adhyata bk, dhakmaya bk, patrick beckhorn, nicole constable, steve folmar, prakash deep gaire, ashok gurung, sharmila sunar, the editors of the journal, caste: a global journal on social exclusion, and anonymous reviewers for their comments and other support. i am also indebted to the leaders and believers of sachchai kendra nepal for their time, trust, and support during my fieldwork. an earlier version of this article was presented at the fifth international conference on the unfinished legacy of dr. b.r. ambedkar— dalits in global context: rethinking gender and religion in october 2019 at the new school, new york. i am grateful to the conference organizers and panel discussants and participants who provided constructive comments on my paper. references arya, s. (2020). dalit or brahminical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism. caste: a global journal on social exclusion, 1(1), 217–228. bennett, l. (1983). dangerous wives and sacred sisters: social and symbolic roles of high-caste women in nepal. new york: columbia university press. de vries, h. (2001). in media res: global religion, public spheres, and the task of contemporary comparative religious studies. in h. de vries & s. weber (eds.), religion and media (pp. 4-42). standford: standford university press. 88 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 des chene, m. (1998). fate, domestic authority, and women’s wills. in d. skinner, a. pach, & d. holland (eds.), selves in times and place: identities, experience, and history in nepal (pp. 19-50). lanham: rowman and littlefield publishers, inc. dunn, l., & jones, n. (1994). introduction. in l. dunn & n. jones (eds.), embodied voices: representing female vocality in western culture (pp. 1-33). cambridge: cambridge university press. evans-pritchard, e.e. (1937). witchcraft, oracles and magic among the azande. oxford: clarendon press. gibson, i. (2017). suffering and hope: christianity and ethics among the newars of bhaktapur. kathmandu: ekta books. guru, g., & sarukkai, s. (2019). experience, caste, and the everyday social. new delhi: oxford university press. hertzog, e. (2011). patrons of women: literacy projects and gender development in rural nepal. new york and oxford: berghahn books. hirschkind, c. (2006). the ethical soundscape: cassette sermons and islamic counterpublics. new york: columbia university press. jørgensen, j.a. (2008). jesus imandars and christ bhaktas: two case studies of interreligious hermeneutics and identity in global christianity. frankfurt: peter lang. kunreuther, l. (2014). voicing subjects: public intimacy and mediation in kathmandu. california: university of california press. lohani-chase, r. (2008). women and gender in the maoist people’s war in nepal: militarism and dislocation. (ph.d.). rutgers, the state university of new jersey, mahmood, s. (2005). politics of piety: the islamist revival and the feminist subject. princeton: princeton university press. manchanda, r. (2004). maoist insurgency in nepal: radicalizing gendered narratives. cultural dynamics, 6(2/3), 237-258. meyer, b. (2010). aesthetics of persuasion: global christianity and pentecostalism’s sensational forms. south atlantic quarterly, 109(4), 741-763. pettigrew, j., & shneiderman, s. (2014). women and the maobadi: ideology and agency in nepal’s maoist movement. himal south asian, 7(1), 19-29. robbins, j. (2004). the globalization of pentecostal and charismatic christianity. annual review of anthropology, 33, 117-142. roberts, n. (2016). to be cared for: the power of conversion and foreignness of belonging in an indian slum. california: university of california press. roberts, n. (2017). transformation and the suffering subject: caste-class and gender in slum pentecostal discourse. in s. anandhi & k. kapadia (eds.), dalit women: vanguard of an alternative politics in india (pp. 280-304). london and new york: routledge. san chirico, k. (2014). between christian and hindu: khrist bhaktas, catholics and the negotiation of devotion in the banaras region. in c. m. bauman & r. f. young (eds.), constructing indian christianities: culture, conversion and caste (pp. 23-44). new delhi: routledge. shah, s. (2018). a project of memoreality: transnational development and local activism. kathmandu: himal books. shrestha, u. (2000). changing patterns of personal names among the maharjans of katmandu. names, 48(1), 27-48. speaking is healing: dalit women gain a voice through a charismatic... 89 spivak, g.c. (1992). interview with gayatri chakravorty spivak: new nation writers conference in south africa. ariel: a review of international english literature, 23(3), 29-47. taylor, j. (2009). ‘speaking shadows’: a history of the voice in the transition from silent to sound film in the united states. journal of linguistic anthropology, 19(1), 1-20. toffin, g. (2016). neither statuses nor ritual: an analysis of new religious movements and therapists in nepal. in d. n. gellner, s. l. hausner, & c. letizia (eds.), religion, secularism, and ethnicity in contemporary nepal (pp. 115-149). new delhi: oxford university press. weidman, a. (2006). singing the classical, voicing the modern: the postcolonial politics of music in south india. durham: duke university press. weisethaunet, h. (1998). the performance of everyday life: the gāine of nepal. oslo: scandinavian university press. yadav, p. (2016). social transformation in post-conflict nepal: a gender perspective. london: routledge. endnotes 1 all names are pseudonyms. 2 patriarchy in south asia is dictated mostly by caste, and patriarchy can be termed more precisely as brahminical patriarchy (see arya, 2020). 3 guru and sarukkai (2019, pp. 60-66) state that in the past in india, the mere sound of a dalit would pollute an upper caste, hence dalits were not allowed even to produce sound in certain situations. 4 for an account of new religious movements in nepal, see toffin (2016). 5 for the origin of sachchai, i interviewed sachchai founders—an american man (living in the usa) and the other a japanese man (settled and living in india)—when they had visited pokhara to attend a sachchai satsang. according to their accounts, they were part of an indian mission of a biblical group called the way international founded in the usa in the early 1940s. after being dissatisfied with the evangelical group, they founded sachchai in the late 1970s, as unorganized, family-based congregations so that a believer did not necessarily need to go to or become a member of a church and also that a believer could study the bible irrespective or his/her religious and cultural backgrounds. 6 this is not uncommon in the global context of charismatic christianity, such as pentecostalism, which is overwhelmingly participated by women (robbins, 2004, p. 132). in nepal, women outnumbered pentecostal churches in bhaktapur (gibson, 2017). 7 leading a religious group by an inter-caste couple in a deeply rooted caste society is itself significant in many ways. she sometimes used her brahmin surname that clearly proclaimed her brahmin status, and sometimes used her brahmin surname together with the dalit surname inherited from her husband that sounded like a brahmin surname. many believers knew their real castes, while some presumed both the couple to be brahmins. but believers i interacted with were not concerned about the couple’s caste identity, as they said, ‘caste does not matter in the kingdom of god.’ 8 this phenomenon in which jesus christ is followed while continuing to practice religions that were practiced before their introduction to jesus christ is evident in other parts of south asia. for example, the khrist bhakta of chennai, south india consider jesus as an incarnation of the hindu god brahman (for example, see, san chirico, 2014), and the 90 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 jesus imandar of dhaka, bangladesh, follow jesus christ but continue to celebrate muslim festivals(for example, see, jørgensen, 2008). 9 uma shrestha (2000, p. 41) observed the ‘abundance of kin terms … used as personal names’ among a low caste group in kathmandu. she also observed younger generations’ embarrassment for their first names that were derived from their caste. 10 the women researched and cited by shah, no doubt, were upper-caste women. dalit women had little access to development programs and, hence, they had little chance to learn how to speak, as compared to upper-caste women. 11 for example, nathaniel roberts mentions that in south indian dalit slum pentecostalism, where 85 to 90 percent of believers were women, pentecostal women were ineligible to be ordained as pastor and hence were ‘confined to non-speaking and supportive roles’ (roberts, 2016, p. 207). 12 hertzog (2011, pp. 182-184) provides an account based on her observation of a women’s literacy training program. she finds that even for women’s empowerment projects, all the speakers (except her) were (upper-caste) male while all the listeners were women. 13 proselytizing is illegal in nepal. one who proselytizes or assists in proselytizing is punishable by up to five years of imprisonment and up to fifty thousand nepali rupees (roughly equivalent to usd500) fine. this law is murky, so that even the performance of baptism could be considered as converting or proselytizing. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 51–62 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.184 © 2020 kalyani kalyani. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste tathagata buddha songs: buddhism as religion and cultural-resistance among dalit women singers of uttar pradesh kalyani kalyani1 abstract this paper intends to understand music as a form of cultural expression that has enabled mobility to dalit-bahujan and their cultural production. this cultural production can be seen in the form of popular songs that are widely circulated among dalits and is part of their religion, identity, as well as a cultural assertion. tathagata buddha songs, which this paper studies, has been specifically enabling for dalit women as it gives them not only a sense of religiosity but it also opens them to the possibility of rationalizing their beliefs and practices. the paper will bring up an ethnographic account of some of these dalit women singers and look into some of their composition and songs that have a specific invocation to gautam buddha and of political icons like babasaheb ambedkar, whom they revere. a study of tathagata buddha songs and bhimgeet can provide an insight into how music has departed from being just an aesthetic sensibility to a language of resistance against the oppressive caste order. the paper also explores the material dimension of tathagata buddha songs understanding its circulation, production, and platforms through which these are popularized. keywords tathagata buddha, songs, dalit, resistance, women, bhimgeet. introduction cultural-resistance is witnessed particularly among dalit women in various popular forms and practices. the emergence of tathagata buddha songs1 can be seen as a form of resistance because its spread, popularity, and acceptance are 1ph.d. scholar, centre for the study of social systems, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi e-mail: kalyani.official.5@gmail.com 52 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 marked in a particular moment of history that is the conversion of dalits into the fold of buddhism on october 14, 1956.2 the conversion by dr. b. r. ambedkar made buddhist philosophy accessible to the masses not just with the sense of religiosity but as a belief of social emancipation. omvedt (2003) has argued that for dr. ambedkar religion was close to the durkheimian perspective on religion that is something which is ‘a binding force for social relationship’ (p.260). the act of taking up buddhism for dr. ambedkar was not just a religious or a moral goal, but it was deeply rooted in restoring human dignity. the emergence of buddhism particularly post-conversion witnessed a new cultural wave, in which musical practices like tathagata buddha songs gained widespread mass appeal. tathagata buddha songs refer to a set of singing practices, hymns, and other musical performative dimension that is particularly dedicated to buddha, his preaching and the sense of emancipation3 that the emergence of buddhism imbues. the widespread circulation of tathagata buddha songs is particularly popular among dalit women who are active producers as well as the recipients of these songs. this paper seeks to understand the meanings that tathagata buddha songs have in the lives of dalit women and how their everyday life-world is influenced by these songs. further, the paper explores the different dimensions of tathagata buddha by looking into its form, content, and practice. it traces the emergence of these songs and earlier forms of cultural resistance that were witnessed during the bhakti movement. it also engages with some of the tathagata buddha songs that are popular in north india and the influence these have on the life-worlds of its followers, particularly the dalit women. musical practices in uttar pradesh: emergence of tathagata buddha songs music has been an important cultural aspect that has been the voice of culturalresistance and assertion. while there have been different genres of music that have been popular across india, in uttar pradesh the popular genres of music are ragini, birha, parody music, alha music, and so on. the association of these genres has a deeply entrenched association with dalit lives. for instance, the singing of birha is closely associated with dalits’ everyday lives. jassal (2012) has discussed the birha folk singing practices through which dalit women, in particular, have expressed themselves. most of these genres of music have constantly been reworked with the socio-political movement. for instance, a very popular dalit singer in north india, kishor kumar pagla, is a very well-known birha singer. similarly, the alha genre of music, popular in the regions of kannauj, has also engaged with the production of ‘bhimgeet.’4 women are actively engaged in singing alha songs particularly on occasions like marriage. with the socio-political-cultural revolution, the composition and style of singing alha songs has seen considerable changes. for instance, seema azad is a famous alha singer who has sung bhimgeet and tathagata buddha songs in alha style.5 the practice of tathagata buddha songs is particularly popular among converted buddhists, who have adopted navayana buddhism6 as their religion. many of the songs that are produced are largely reworked in the musical genres which are popular in uttar pradesh. these songs are also chanted as part of katha pathan, a cultural performance in which the life and philosophy of buddha are read out in public visibility. one of tathagata buddha songs: buddhism as religion and cultural-resistance... 53 the very famous works of this katha pathan is done by dr. angane lal in his popular collection titled adivansh katha. the ‘practice’ of katha pathan begins with rituals such as placing peepal (sacred fig) leaves and other buddhist artefacts at the prayer dais or platform. tathagata buddha songs and its production in the regions of north india largely reflect the contestations that these new-forms of popular music are creating along with the existing forms of popular music. with socio-political awareness, dalit-bahujan people are increasingly taking up ambedkarite practices and buddhist tradition. the growing popularity of tathagata buddha songs reflects the widespread influence and reach of dr. ambedkar’s conversion ideology in uttar pradesh. locating the history of cultural-resistance bhakti (devotion) movement7 has been an important vantage point to understand socio-cultural-resistance. the emergence and growth of the bhakti movement can be traced from medieval period saints chokamela to eknath, tukaram, and kabir. each of these strands of bhakti tradition had witnessed different kinds of musical traditions and practices. these included the singing of kabir’s bijak (compilation of verses), chokamela’s abhangas (devotional poetry), tukaram’s kirtan (devotional songs), etc. these bhakti traditions had a unique influence on women in particular. the bhakti movement has given different meanings, particularly to women in terms of how they perceived bhakti tradition. karwe (1998) while trying to explore the concept of sacred, has looked into what lord vithoba8 meant for the women in pandharpur. vithoba is addressed with different familial relationships like mother, father, friend, lover, and so on. there is a degree of closeness with which he associated. within bhakti tradition, is a stage of devotion known as ‘madhur bhakti’9 in which devotees associate themselves with rukmini and look upon their lord vithoba with the affection and devotion associated with radha-krishna kind of relationship. it thus throws light on the relationship the people of pandharpur have with lord vithoba, that of love and reverence. however, dhere (2011) has argued that such reconstruction of religious tradition and practices surrounding the emergence of vitthala or vithoba as vaishnava deity happened later during the early medieval period during the wakari movement.10 in his translated work by dr. anne feldhaus, dhere has argued that a study of musical practices11 shows that vitthal was ‘buddha’ and that calling him vishnu avatar (reincarnate) or krishna was to ‘vedicize’ (vaidikikaran) vitthal through ritual prescription and sanskrit hymns. notwithstanding the debate on the origin of vithobha or vitthal, it is also important to look upon how the bhakti tradition and its musical practices were some of the early forms in which hindu casteist traditions and practices were challenged. chokhamela, belonging to the mahar community was an important bhakti saint of the thirteenth-fourteenth century. his devotional songs known as abhangas discussed the concept of untouchability, besides discussing the piety of a devotee or bhakta. zelliot (1980) has argued that the discussion on chokemela’s abhangas often ignores the untouchability dimension that he had explicitly despised in his songs. ranade (1961) says that chokemela’s abhanga by discussing the practice of untouchability gives legitimacy to modern ideas of justice. similarly, eknath’s bharuds (songs) also reflects on the everyday conversation in village life. these compositions describe the 54 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 position of mahars in maharashtra, thereby reflecting upon the life of dalits as it existed then. other musical traditions in bhakti can be drawn from saint tukaram’s emphasis on kirtan as a means of liberation and attainment of divine bliss (manuel, 2001). kirtan as a genre of devotional musical tradition also has an important place among chaitanya12 followers. another response to the oppressive brahminical caste structure was questioned in kabir’s poetry,13 known as bijak. hess (1983) while looking into bijak, which is also the sacred text among kabirpanthis or his followers, has argued about the ‘upside-down language’ used. the poems are ‘absurd, paradoxical, crazy, impenetrable, and yet they purport to be meaningful’ (ibid, p.314). it is significant to understand here that the ‘upside-down language’ structure provides an alternative way to question the existing social order. hess has argued that this cryptic tradition is also found in the hindu and buddhist ‘siddha’ tradition in the twelfth century. for kabir, the usage of ‘upside-down language’ was an allegory to departure from the existing order, and reaching to newer possible meanings. thus, the significance of poetry to develop an alternative meaning was possible as we see in kabir’s couplets. such construction of alternative meaning opened newer possibilities of questioning prevailing caste structures. buddhism in popular culture buddhism has a rich history of art and architecture. these art forms are witnessed in rock-cut halls, chaityas (prayer hall or shrines), and viharas (monasteries). art has an important function of giving identity and is thus, an important part of the culture. the emergence of navayana buddhism has its sense of aesthetics that has renounced the existence and worship of any form of god. thus, the emergence of navayana buddhism has witnessed a newer sense of aesthetics that has floated across dalitbahujan culture. tartakov (2012) looks into navayana buddhism as having a much clearer vision than theravada buddhism and is simpler in practice. the navayana tradition has seen significant changes from the earlier forms. for instance, in a conventional navayana practice, a pair of ambedkar and sakyamuni statues would be erected. dr. ambedkar came to be known as maitreya ambedkar. the changes in the interpretation of the imagery of buddha are also seen. the re-interpretation of buddhist imagery will engage with the disappearance of buddhism and with its reemergence in dalits’ practice of buddhism. buddhist culture is being made to seep in the dalit community by way of wide circulation of popular music forms, distribution of buddhist pamphlets, prayer books (buddha-charini), buddha images, artefacts, etc. this new popular image of buddha is different from the traditional representation that had a more lavish and luxurious representation. for instance, tartkov (ibid) discusses that most of these contemporary bodhisattva imageries are followed with the representation of dr. ambedkar which is simpler and more realistic. it is denied any superficial form of decoration. such changes in the representation can be termed as ‘revolutionary’ as these changes have been instrumental in re-shaping the dalit community’s psychology towards their orientation to social and material life. buddhism in popular music has been accepted by people not as a monastic order but as a form that largely reflects their cultural thought process and their resistance to the traditional practices of caste-based humiliation and exclusion that dalits have been tathagata buddha songs: buddhism as religion and cultural-resistance... 55 subjected to. the paper will further look into tathagata buddhist songs in their form and content and discuss the reception of these songs by dalit women in particular and what these songs mean to them. music as resistance music and its performance are significant in spreading a message, which would otherwise have not been accessible. since it involves the element of ‘popularity’ it is widely accepted. friedman (2013) talks about the poem ‘we shall overcome’ which became the emblematic poetry of the civil rights movement led by martin luther king, jr. he said in one of his speeches that he is not going to stop singing we shall overcome because i know that truth crushed to the earth shall rise again. i am not going to stop singing ‘we shall overcome’ because i know one day the god of the universe will say to those who won’t listen to him, i am not a playboy. don’t play with me. i will arise and break the backbone of your power’. i am not going to stop singing, ‘we shall overcome’ because ‘mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord. he’s trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. glory hallelujah, his truth is marching on.14 thus, one finds that we shall overcome was not only the song but within that song was a deeply entrenched idea that was imbued. similarly, there are other songs like we are the champions in the 1970s to mark the gay rights movement. the sense of resistance in music was not just about its lyrics but it was also reflected in its performative dimension. woldu (2013) has looked into the performative dimension of rap music and how the feminine rap music through its exquisite dressing brought wreck to the dominance in hip hop. for instance, queen latifah, who was the first rap dive made her presence felt in the male-dominant rap through the ‘aggressive style.’ discussing the genre of rap, beighey (2006) has also argued that political rap has become a form of resistance through which the black community has shed-off their alienation. it is a response to the sub-cultural alienation that they face within the larger mainstream culture. the rap form has a deliberate use of language and expression through which it has tried to call attention to their exploitative historical experiences. beighey’s study has thematically looked into several forms of exploitation like criminal justice discrimination, racial genocide conspiracy, lost economic opportunity, educational bias, mass media misrepresentation, police brutality, health care inequality, and so on. against this backdrop, rap music has become an important instrument to question and resist mainstream media stereotyping. for instance, beighey in her work has discussed how within the rap music genre black men are represented as having paramilitary outfits which yields them powerful symbol as well as it reworks on the kind of racial stratification (ibid). thus, music as an art form has constantly tried to capture the spirit of resistance, as it can be traced from bhakti tradition to contemporary resistance practices of groups like kabir kala manch (kabir art platform) or youth for buddhist india. such a form of resistance was particularly popular among the colored in america, with the emergence of the hip-hop ‘subculture.’ for instance, bell hooks (1995) has argued: ‘art constitutes one of the rare locations where acts of transcendence can take place and have a wide-ranging transformative impact’ (p. 8). she argues that ‘there is a need to understand and appreciate the work of a black artist as it is since it carries with it a sense 56 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 of culture that is unique to it. the production of art forms is an essential component of resistance during black liberation struggles. however, such production of an art form is often debased and appropriated, which makes it lose its meaning.’ hooks (ibid) has presented her apprehension for the commodification of ‘blackness’ and black culture, which is distancing it from its real essence of struggle and resistance. firth (2007) has argued on similar lines while discussing popular music. while discussing features of popular music, one of the distinguishing features he refers to is the sense of ‘possession’ that popular music enjoys. it belongs to an identity and a culture. it has the potential to create a sense of identity that people associate with. the emergence of tathagata buddha songs the emergence of tathagata buddha songs in navayana buddhism gained popularity, particularly post-independence, following the dalit conversion led by dr. ambedkar on october 14, 1956. the uniqueness of tathagata buddha songs as popular among navayana buddhist lies in its ‘practice.’ unlike traditional devotional songs in other communities, tathagata buddha songs are not just for spiritual quest, but contain a deeper social message of equality and fraternity drawn from buddha’s life. many of these songs are in the form of chants of three lines (trisarana). for example, buddham sharnam gachami (i go to the buddha for refuge) dhamam sharnam gachami (i go to dhamma for refuge) sangham sharam gachami (i go to the sangha for refuge) it is significant to discuss here that in most of these songs of navayana buddhism, gautam buddha is referred to as ‘tathagata’ and not as ‘lord’ buddha. joshi (1969) has discussed that the epithet ‘tathagata’ has its root in two words ‘tatha+agata’15 which means the arrival of the enlightened one or the one who has attained nibbana. the term ‘tathagata’ traces its roots from pali rather than the brahminical notion that considered buddha as god or ‘avatar’ of lord vishnu. thus, the very term ‘tathagata buddha’ song is distancing itself from any of the mythical origins attributed to brahminism. many of the bhakti songs can be referred to as ‘pop bhajan’, which is discussed by manuel (2001, p. 109). these ‘pop bhajan’ songs of the 1980s were associated with vocalists like anup jalota and pankaj udhas. they were like contemporaries of renowned ghazal singers, whose styles were adapted in devotional songs. their style became very popular and thus got highly commercialized over a period of time as a result of wide scale marketing. if one looks into the new popular form of music that is emerging particularly among the bahujan community, these ‘pop-bhajans’ are getting replaced with bhimgeet and tathagata buddha songs. these new popular forms are rich with historical and cultural narrative. the viewership of these songs is rising and they are actively entering popular imagination. when one particularly looks into tathagata buddha songs, they are not the traditional protest songs, but are largely devotional in nature centered on the practices of navayana buddhism. their historical narrative responds against caste oppression and the contribution of babasaheb. most of these songs are widely circulated on many of the youtube channels such as samata awaz, awaz india, bahujan tv, etc and social media too. in most songs, the images of buddha are invariably portrayed along with those of dr. ambedkar. this iconographic representation of buddha and dr. ambedkar tathagata buddha songs: buddhism as religion and cultural-resistance... 57 reflects the significant cultural change in the presentation of ‘pop bhajans’ of the dalit-bahujan community in the form of tathagata buddha songs and bhimgeet. these songs, especially their form, appear similar to ‘pop bhajan’ of the 1980s that manuel had discussed in his work. most of these songs that circulate in western u.p. have musical adaptations from mainstream bollywood songs or mainstream bhajans and aarti.16 manuel (2001) has argued that such adaptations are done largely to popularize and spread circulation. however, besides commercial logic, it is also driven by the ‘creative resignification process’ (ibid, p. 140). this ‘resignification’ can largely be understood in terms of the changes that are done in the content of tathagata buddha songs. for instance, if the mainstream bhajan has an aarti dedicated to a god, these songs will have a similar form but the lyrics will be about buddha and his dhamma. such adaptations enable a widespread circulation of these songs while ensuring that it largely represents the culture and practices of the dalit-bahujan communities besides giving them a distinct ‘social’ space. the emergence of ‘social’ space has been particularly enabling for the dalits as it has given them a cultural alternative by ‘de-caste(ing)’ themselves from the hindu social order (wankhade, 2008, p. 55). the emergence of tathagata buddha songs has thus given a cultural alternative to dalits to re-assert their identity in a manner that has enabled them to transgress their ‘fixed’ identity under the hindu caste order. the emergence of a new cultural space is relevant, as it has allowed dalits to come out of their traditional roles and identity, and take up newer roles and meanings that have empowered and recognized them. meanings of tathagata buddha songs tathagata buddha songs and bhimgeet thus have given a sense of emancipation for many of the dalit women singers like dharmacharni pragya kirti, shweta sakhya, among others. these new adapted forms of popular music have literally changed the underlying tenor of traditional bhakti songs. by reworking on lyrics of those songs which largely drew from hindu mythology, the dalit neo-buddhists have used the tathagat buddha songs as an expression of resistance by imbuing in them historical and social messages. many of these tathagata buddha songs sung by navayana buddhists not only have invocations of buddha but also of other social reformers who are revered within the dalit community. even the reverence shown towards tathagata buddha is with specific reference to the brahminical social order that buddha had questioned towards the fourth century bce. the songs have specific reference to social exclusion which dalit community has faced and the sense of emancipation that tathagata buddha songs often imbibe. the songs often re-work the content that highlight the buddhist philosophy and discuss global goodness. one of the popular songs has the following lyrics. buddha ne sansar jagaya (buddha has awakened the world) samata ka hai phool khilya (enabled the blooming of the flower of equality) hum to tere gyan ko apnye hai (we have embraced your teaching) hum diwane, hum diwane, (we have fallen in love with you) hum diwane, hai tere..(*2) (we have fallen in love with you) *2 tumhare bina jag suna pada hai (without you the world is deserted) aao pyare gautam tera asara hai (oh affectionate gautam we seek your support) 58 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 ye araz thukra mat dena (please don’t reject our request) akar tum gyan batna (come and enlighten us) hum to iss duniyake bahut satye hai (we have been persecuted in this world) hum diwane, hum diwane (we have fallen in love with you) hum diwane hai tere. (we have fallen in love with you)17 the songs convey a deep sense of reverence for buddha and his teachings are particularly invoked in most of them. many of these songs have words like karuna (compassion), pragya (wisdom), sheel (modesty), which are propounded as desirable traits of human behaviour in buddhist philosophy. the songs are in the existing form of ‘pop bhajan’ and have been re-worded into buddha bhajans (hymns) with parallels drawn from mainstream religious literature with titles like ‘buddha amritwani’, and ‘buddha stuti.’ many of these new popular songs also use the music and form of mainstream bollywood songs to ensure that they become popular and widely circulated. the viewership of these songs has been rising over a while with support of social media platforms like youtube, whatsapp, mobile music, and popular music websites like ganna.com, savan music, etc. the buddhist songs are more than being purely spiritual nature. they embody a worldview that has an agenda of social justice, equality, and compassion. bradley and bhatewara (2013) term this navayana buddhist tradition as ‘practical spirituality’ by which the humanist aspect of buddhism is placed at the centre of buddhist philosophy instead of abstract or other-worldly religious philosophy. most of the songs popular as ‘buddhacharni’, ‘vandana sutra pathan, or ‘buddha vandana’ have been reinvented in a way that accommodates navayana buddhist philosophy and tradition. the production of such songs is actively taken up by organizations like karuna trust, the triratna buddhist community, youth for buddhist india,18 among others. the thrust of buddhism in these platforms is largely development-oriented. the aim of one such organization youth for buddhist india (yfbi) is to spread buddhism and social consciousness among dalits. baudhcharya shanti swaroop baudh, who is the founder of yfbi says that through cultural and musical performances, yfbi aims to spread the rational and humanist approach among the youth of the country. in north india, particularly uttar pradesh, many of these songs are circulated by way of booklets written by shanti swaroop baudh, budh sangh premi, shayar devidas gulde, s. k. roshan, bhikhu pragya deep, and others19. dalit women have also been active agents in the production of these songs. many poets and singers like premlata, shobha baudh have published booklets of their songs. an account of a buddhist singer from uttar pradesh the significance of devotional music in the form of tathagata buddha songs in u.p, which has a significant 20.7 per cent dalit population (mosje)20, can be understood in terms of its widespread popularity and circulation. this paper presents the case of a fairly popular dalit singer, pramita gautam aka dharmacharni pragya kirti, from hapur in western u.p. her voice is representative of many local voices for whom singing bhimgeet and tathagata buddha songs has been an act of resistance and a means of empowerment. the ethnographic account of singers like gautam’s represents the microcosm through which the larger voices of resistances can be understood. gautam or dharmacharni pragya kirti has undertaken a formal education and training in buddhism under triratna buddha mahasangha,21nagpur. she and her tathagata buddha songs: buddhism as religion and cultural-resistance... 59 husband are members and activists of bharatiya boudh mahasabha. born and married in u.p., she discusses her commitment to buddhism: ‘spreading the meaning and philosophy of buddhism is the single goal of my life and i am willing to overcome all my hurdles in the path of spreading buddhism.’ her speeches and songs, several of which she has herself composed, reflect the buddhist philosophy and ideals of babasaheb ambedkar. for her songs are the medium through which she can ‘express her reverence and commitment to ambedkarism.’ she recalls that her inclination to buddhist songs in terms of writing the lyrics and singing, developed particularly after she was conferred the title dharamacharni at a seminar of the organization. her style of singing is parody, which she considers is a powerful medium to connect with a larger audience. showing the diary in which she has written her songs, she declares her plans to get them published with a sense of pride. what has she gained as a buddhist and as a singer? buddhism, she says, has enabled a dignified position for her in society, and the songs gave her public recognition. ‘whenever i go to any of these cultural programmes, i do not book hotels. people are so much willing to host me at their residence. they know me because of my songs and have a deep sense of respect for what i am doing for the dalit-bahujan community’, she says with a sense of gratitude. regarding her childhood, she recalls that she was interested in singing and would often accompany her father to kabir kirtan sabhas (gatherings), where she would recite from bijak. it was towards her middle school that she got inclined towards bhimgeet. her inclination towards babasaheb is an ‘expression of reverence’ she has for dr ambedkar, about whom she came to know through her father. ‘my father told us, “babasaheb is the one who has done everything for us, he has given us a respectful place in society.”’ as a child, she often faced exclusionary practice by some teachers, which moved her further towards her commitment towards ambedkar’s mission. further encouragement came when she sang her first song on babasaheb ambedkar in school and received appreciation from teachers of her community in particular. they further took her to different cultural platforms organized around babasaheb’s mission. this further motivated her to sing on occasions like babasaheb jayanti (birth anniversary celebrations), which later became her passion. when one particularly tries to understand the significance of these buddhist songs in the lives of dalit women, one finds that these have played an important role in reworking their identity and position in society. this change in the status of dalit women singers has been particularly possible because of the buddhist philosophy, which is based on the principles of equality, including that of gender, in society. also, buddhism does not have a stratified society based on caste; nor has it scriptures like manusmriti that relegated women to a secondary position in society. the dalit women who accrue to this buddhist philosophy and are engaged in its cultural spread and promotion, have a dignified status in society. coming back to pramita gautam, she acknowledges a sense of solidarity nurtured with other dalit women during the course of her singing career. the process of singing for her was has also been about capturing a public-sphere that she would have otherwise not gained access to due to the practice of ‘purdah’ (veil) that women in rural areas are usually supposed to practice. 60 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 conclusion this paper has explored the history of songs of resistance (against the caste system) since the emergence of the bhakti tradition until the emergence of navayana tradition of buddhism in post independent india. from medieval saints like chokhmela, eknath, tukaram and kabir, to the dalit neo-buddhists today; all have relied on the power of music and poetry to successfully voice their concern against the darkest practice of social exclusion in hindu religion. their songs of resistance against the graded inequality of the caste system find echo in the musical practices of dalit navayana buddhists, who have drawn inspiration from the rich musical tradition of bhakti movement to carve out a distinct cultural space for themselves. this paper has studied the emergence of tathagata buddha songs, bhimgeet and similar musical productions in the dalit-bahujan community in uttar pradesh as a powerful tool to awaken social consciousness and cast off their dehumanizing caste identity under the buddhist order. conversion to buddhism has enabled the dalit community to challenge the exploitative caste practice that has scriptural sanctions within hindu tradition. these songs have worked differently for dalits, especially women, as it has enabled them to question the authority of manusmriti that gave them a demeaning position in society. these songs also have their cultural significance in that they have allowed the dalit community to re-work and re-imagine their identity with a sense of dignity. the musical renditions of tathagata buddha songs or, bhimgeet may not be as popular as the ‘pop-bhajans’ of the 1980s. however, with the growing socio-cultural revolution these new-emerging forms are significantly creating a ‘contested space’ with the existing popular forms. this cultural contestation and resistance are reflected through the everyday lifeworld of prominent dalit women singers like pramita gautam, malti rao, shweta shakya, seema azad, taranum baudh, sanghamitra gautam, baudhmitra, among others who are both producers and consumers of such music. the microcosm of their lifeworld, in which these musical practices are situated somewhere, explains the meanings and significance of tathagata buddha songs for them. references ambedkar, b.r. 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(2015). a storm of songs: india and the idea of the bhakti movement. cambridge, mass.: harvard university press. hess, linda. (1983). the cow is sucking at the calf’s teat: kabir’s upside-down language. history of religions,22(4), 313-337. hooks, bell (1995). art on my mind: visual politics. new york: new press. jassal, smita tiwari. (2012). unearthing gender: folk songs of north india. durham: duke university press. joshi, lal mani. (1969). brahmanism, buddhism and hinduism. new delhi: critical quest. karwe, irawati. (1988). boy-friend: an essay. in eleanor zelliot and maxine bernsten (eds.), the experience of hinduism. delhi: sri satguru publications. manuel, peter. (2001). cassette culture: popular music and technology in north india. new delhi: oxford university press. omvedt, gail. (2003). buddhism in india: challenging brahmanism and caste. new delhi: sage publication. sindhwani, navin (2011, nov 30). what is madhur bhakti? the speaking tree, retrieved from https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/what-is-madhur-bhakti schempp, maren bellwinkel. (2007). from bhakti to buddhism: ravidas and ambedkar. economic and political weekly. 42(23), 2177-2183. tartakov, gary michael.(ed). (2012). dalit art and visual imagery. new delhi: oxford university press. wankhade, harish. (2008). the political and social in the dalit movement today. economic and political weekly. 43(6): 50-57. zelliot, eleanor. (1980). chokhamela and eknath: two bhakti modes of legitimacy for modern change. journal of asian and african studies. 15, 136-156. endnotes 1 tathagata buddha songs, used in this paper, refer to a set of musical practices that are centered around preaching, life, and philosophy of tathagata or gautam buddha. 2 dr. b. r. ambedkar converted to buddhism on october 14, 1956 along with his 3,65,000 followers in deekshabhoomi, nagpur. eventually, buddhism was embraced within dalit communities at different moments in history. the rise of new anti-caste movement in the1970s and 1980s saw the conversion to buddhism also among obcs and some upper caste intellectuals (omvedt, 2003, p. 266). some of these names included rahul sankrityanan, periyar, lalai singh, chandrika prasad jigyasu, among others. 3 dr. ambedkar considered the emergence of buddhism as ‘a greatest blow to brahamanism’ (bwas, vol.3, p. 268). it was ‘emancipating’ because it loosened the brahmin stronghold and control over state and religion. thus, the sense of emancipation within buddhism was rooted from the very beginning, as a counter-revolution to hegemonic structures established by brahmanism. 4 bhimgeet is a generic term used for musical songs and practices dedicated to dr. b.r.ambedkar and other dalit-bahujan leaders who have dedicated their lives for the cause of dalit-bahujan social emancipation. 5 see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9fdcrjrpk4 and https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=pjazd35fhr4 accessed on september17, 2020. 6 navayana buddhism is a new form of buddhism, taken up particularly by dr. ambedkar during his conversion. omvedt (2003) argues that navayana buddhism was the ‘revival’ of buddhism particularly towards the twentieth century. she has argued that ambedkar’s mass conversion was a ‘buddhist renaissance’ which was an assertion of reclaiming dalit 62 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 dignity. thus, a sense of social emancipation was deeply embedded in the emergence of navayana buddhism. tartakov (2012) hasdiscussed the uniqueness of navayana buddhism in terms of its representation in popular art, imagery, and its public visibility. he has argued that symbolic meanings around navayana buddhism are drawn from the everyday lived reality of dalit lives. it is very much unlike other religious practices were rules of sacred and profane are followed. 7 the term ‘bhakti’ in bhakti tradition is also contested. hawley (2015) has argued that the very idea of ‘bhakti movement’ was formulated only in the twentieth century and it was largely influenced with the existing wave of nationalism. he argues that there was no single strand of ‘bhakti’ as was popularly constructed rather each of the so called ‘bhakti tradition’ had its unique history. 8 vithoba of pandharpur, is discussed in dhere’s writings as a folk god who deified in the city of pandharpur, maharashtra. he is also called lord vitthal, a form of lord vishnu or krishna. the musical tradition of ‘abhangavani’ is dedicated to vitthal of pandharpur. in contemporary times some of the popular tracks of vitthal’sabhangaare gyanba tukaram, pandharpuras yave re, yei ho vithale etc. see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq_ xzeotmkgaccessed on september 17, 2020 9 devotion to the lord is considered to have four stages: dasya(servitude), sakhya (friendly), vatsalya (paternal) and madhur (sweet). madhur is the ultimate sweet relationship. for details see sindhwani(2011) 10 warkari movement is a religious movement in maharashtra state within the bhakti tradition associated with the devotees of vitthala or vithoba. 11 dhere (2011) has argued that many of the musical practices, before they became popular, were sung in madha regions (solapur district) of maharashtra. 12 fifteenth century saint in bengal. 13 kabir was a fifteenth century bhakti saint from the julaha (weaver) community in uttar pradesh. 14 “to minister to the valley” address feb 23, 1968. p. 21. king papers. 15 braj lal joshi says tathagata means ‘one who has arrived (agata) at the timeless nibbana in the same way (tatha) just as the enlightened ones of former ages (pubbakehisammasambuddhehi) had attained to it.’ (joshi, 1969, p. 65). 16 aarti refers to the prayer offered to god in a rhythmic pattern. 17 singer: shweta shakya https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=gv5vic457i4&list=rdgxkgszcsyqc&index=2 18 shanti swaroop baudh was the key figure in the establishment of youth for buddhist india. he was associated with ambedkarite movement particularly in north india. it aimed to promote youth and give them platform to express their art and culture. along with hari bharti, the mission of youth for buddhist india was ‘to make an institution dedicated to make india buddhist’. the platform witnessed art forms and musical performances dedicated to babasaheb and tathagata buddha. see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqeqt_ cyumg&t=1599s access dated 17th september, 2020. 19 the booklets were written with a sense creating a sense of awareness of what buddhism is meant and the reason one needs to embrace it. for instance, in one of the popular booklets adivansh katha by dr. angane lal, discusses different myths that have belittled dalit figures. 20 union (federal) ministry of social justice and empowerment, new delhi. 21 a socio religious organization that preaches the philosophy of buddha and his life. it also confers titles like dharmachari, bhante, anagami, etc. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 71–94 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.139 © 2020 vinod kumar mishra. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited caste, religion and ethnicity: role of social determinants in accessing rental housing vinod kumar mishra1 abstract the article aims to examine the nature, form and pattern of discrimination in urban rental housing market; to analyse the consequences of discrimination in urban rental housing market and to suggest policy measures to reduce discrimination in rental housing and ensure inclusive urban housing. the study is based on both secondary and primary data sources. the study uses audit methodology to measure the discriminatory practices in rental housing market for the marginalised social groups. the study indicates that social stigma and prejudices against marginalised social groups scheduled caste, muslims and ethnic minorities are so deep that they have also affected the housing market transactions and outcomes. the study also discusses the unpleasant outcome of discrimination in rental housing market against scheduled caste, muslims and ethnic minorities. the empirical findings of the paper indicate that social identities such as caste, religion, ethnicity, and poor socio-economic vulnerabilities are major factors leading to discrimination in the urban housing rental market. introduction housing is one of the most essential needs after the food and clothing. however, it is also one of the most expensive among all basic needs. due to its cost intensive nature, access to housing is one of the most important challenges in addressing housing poverty in most developing and under-developed countries. housing is also the manifestation of socio-economic condition of the society and the households comprising it. deprivation in access to housing is not only determined by the insufficient supply of affordable housing but also the outcome of prevailing poverty. 1assistant professor, indian institute of dalit studies, d-ii/i, road no-4, andrewsganj, new delhi, india e-mail: vinodcsrd217@gmail.com 72 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 india has been witnessing fast changing demographic changes since independence. a substantial proportion of urban population in india does not have adequate housing. the number of people living in poverty and squalor settlements has grown rapidly in the last few decades manifesting the in-ability and failure of the housing market to provide affordable housing to all. unaffordable housing is largely caused by higher production cost of houses compared to the income of the households. housing shortage and poor housing conditions are witnessed in both rural as well as urban areas. however, urban households facing housing deprivation are more vulnerable due to environmental and social vulnerability (moser, gatehous, and garcia, 1996). households facing insecurity of tenure status are more deprived and vulnerable in urban areas than in rural areas. the tenure status of the house determines the right of its occupants to use and develop the house and also the right to inherit or transfer. thus, security of tenure provides protection to the households against evictions. tenure status of the households in urban areas is often associated with the stage of migration and household income. tenure status of the housing structure often affects the quality of housing and access to basic amenities among low income households and slum dwellers. many low-income households wish to invest in improvement of their housing condition if they do not have the fear of eviction. due to high cost of housing units, large proportion of urban households especially migrants depend upon rental housing which constitute crucial component in catering the housing needs in urban areas. dynamics of urban rental housing market is complex as it not only depends upon economic transactions such as demand and supply of housing units, but social processes play equally important role in determining the outcome of rental housing. however, the impact of social processes such as social identity-based stigma and prejudices has been less explored especially in indian context. various theoretical models attempt to explain the role of social stigma and prejudices in the functioning of rental housing market. the prejudice theory suggests that the behaviour of house owners and brokers are often affected by pre-conceived notions or prejudices which they develop towards certain social groups. in this process they reject some of the potential customers, and are ready to lose part of their profit (becker, 1957). to compensate the loss and maximize their profit, often house-owners, brokers, and real estate agents practice price discrimination by charging higher rent for the similar housing units (glaster and constantine, 1991). various empirical studies suggest that social identities such as colour, ethnicity, race, religion, caste, culture, and poor socio-economic vulnerabilities are major factors leading to discrimination in the urban housing rental market (kain& quigley 1972; king and mieszkowski 1973; yinger 1976; thorat et al. 2015). the majority of studies on housing discrimination define discrimination as less favourable treatment against a particular community or group because they belong to a particular group, class, or community. various studies have already been conducted across the globe especially in the usa and european countries to document the nature and form of discrimination in the rental housing market. however, discrimination in the rental housing market is a less explored sphere in india. only a few pioneering works like thorat et al. (2015) and datta & pathania (2016) have attempted to document caste, religion and ethnicity: role of social determinants... 73 the discriminatory practices in the indian urban housing market. rental housing constitutes a very important section of housing in indian cities. however, most of the rental housing market in india operates informally. systematic studies related to exclusionary practices in rental housing market in india have been ignored. housing market in india has been facing twin challengeswhile on one hand housing shortage has increased especially for the marginalised social groups on other hand the number of vacant housing units has also gone up during the last few decades. analysing the social dynamics of residential segregation, dupont (2004) narrates the role of caste as an important factor for residential segregation in delhi that causes social ostracism. thorat et.al (2015) provide the first systematic and comprehensive analysis of nature and pattern of discrimination against marginalised social groups in urban areas. the study uses audit methodology to measure the discriminatory practices in rental housing market for the marginalised social groups. similarly, a study undertaken by pathania and dutta (2016) used audit experiment method through websites to measure the pattern of discrimination against the scheduled castes and muslims in rental housing market. the study indicates that in comparison to scheduled caste and upper caste, muslim households are less advantaged while accessing house on rent. the social exclusion framework in rental housing market can be explained through discriminatory behaviour by different agencies operating in the rental housing market. tenants are excluded/denied access to housing because of their social group identities. even if they are given access to housing, it is often on unequal or differential terms and conditions which are often discriminatory in nature. unlike the general assumption that the market operates solely on economic terms and that social biases and prejudices have no place in market transactions, decisions taken by various stakeholders in the market are significantly influenced by social identities. often marginalized social groups have to pay more for the similar amenities such as housing in comparison to non-excluded social groups. thus, discriminatory practices in the housing market often forces discriminated groups to pay ‘social tax’ (extra payment in comparison to nondiscriminated groups) due to their social group identity. this not only causes loss of income and equal opportunity but also causes loss of self-esteem due to discrimination. brokers play a crucial role in the housing market transactions particularly in the rental housing market. often, they are the first agency who potential tenants encounter when they enter rental housing. normally, the response of the broker depends upon their two types of customerslinked with the demand and supply side of the housing market. the supply side is constituted by house owners while the demand side comprises potential tenants. since profit maximization is the sole motive of brokers; they try to maintain a fine balance between the demand and supply side customers. now the question arises why certain brokers practise discriminatory behaviour while interacting with potential tenants. discriminatory behaviour of brokers may not be necessarily the result of their prejudices and biases towards certain social groups; but they are the mirror of preferences of house owners and often reflect the prejudices and biases of the house owners and other potential customers. 74 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 various scholars have attempted to explain the nature and forms of discrimination practised by brokers and real estate agents in the rental housing market. ondrich, stricker and yinger (1998) have explained the processes leading to discrimination by brokers. they explained that the discriminatory behaviour of brokers may be the result of prejudices and biases they have towards certain social groups. thus, they discriminate due to their personal biases towards the potential tenants from certain social groups. in this process, the social group identity of the brokers and real estate agents plays a crucial role in determining their response in the rental housing market. the discriminatory behaviour of the brokers is also determined by the prejudices and biases of the customers they primarily cater to in the urban rental housing market. a broker who mainly caters to social groups having prejudices for marginalised social groups may deny housing to tenants from marginalised social groups as he would not like to displease the potential customers from dominant social groups. another crucial process through which the brokers practice discriminatory behaviour in the rental housing market is social steering way. through this process, the brokers attempt to provide housing to tenants in certain localities in which they perceive the potential tenants would like to settle. the tenants from socially excluded groups are often pursued by the brokers to see housing in localities where socially excluded groups are already living. tenants from marginalised social groups are often discouraged by brokers to look for housing in localities inhabited by dominant social groups. the discriminatory behaviour of the broker is also determined by various factors such as his/her perception about the preferred housing locality of certain social groups and preferences and discriminatory behaviour of the house owners of the advertised housing unit. in the present article, attempt has been made to examine the nature, form and pattern of discrimination in urban rental housing market; to analyse the consequences of discrimination in urban rental housing market and to suggest policy measures to reduce discrimination in rental housing and ensure inclusive urban housing. methodology and sample design the present research has been designed as mixed-method study combining quantitative and qualitative research methods to undertake the primary empirical research. the study is based on both secondary and primary data sources. the secondary data source – nsso 69th round have been used to analyse the quality of housing across social groups. primary data has been collected through field work in the national capital territory of delhi. audit method or fair housing audit methodology has been applied to measure the nature, extent, and pattern of discrimination in the urban rental housing market. in the present article, audit methodology is instrumental to measure the discrimination from the supply side of the urban rental housing market. apart from audit method, in-depth interviews have also been conducted for households living in rented caste, religion and ethnicity: role of social determinants... 75 accommodations. purposive sampling and snow-ball techniques have been applied to select the households for in-depth interviews. this has provided information for issues and challenges faced by demand side in the urban rental housing market. apart from this, empirical findings from focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and key informant interviews have been included to analyses the qualitative data. both quantitative and qualitative data collected from the field work have been triangulated to measure the nature, form, and extent of discrimination in the urban rental housing market. the present study is based on a robust sample size 1600 telephonic audits and 300 in-depth interviews. the field work has been conducted in all the districts of national capital territory of delhi (table 1). various statistical techniques have been used for quantitative data analysischi-square test, and logistic regression models. table 1. sample size sr. no. phase upper caste sc muslims north east migrants total number % number % number % number % 1. telephonic audit 400 25% 400 25% 400 25% 400 25% 1600 2. house visit audit 80 25% 80 25% 80 25% 80 25% 320 3. brokers audit 50 25% 50 25% 50 25% 50 25% 200 4. tenants interview 75 25% 75 25% 75 25% 75 25% 300 source: primary survey, 2016–17 analysis condition of housing for different social groups indicate that marginalised social groups have lower access to quality housing in comparison to other social groups. it is evident from table 2 that the proportion of households living in good housing structure is the highest for dominant (non-sc/st/ and obc) social groups. the proportion of households living in unsatisfactory or ‘bad’ housing condition is highest for scheduled caste. for instance, less than half of the proportion scheduled caste households living in the urban areas and only one-fourth of the households living in the rural areas are living in the good housing condition. similarly, nearly one fourth of the scheduled caste households living in rural areas and 15.2 percent of the scheduled caste in urban areas are living in the ‘bad’ housing conditions. among all social groups, ‘others’ or high caste households have the highest proportion of households living in ‘good’ housing condition. 76 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 ta bl e 2. h ou si ng c on di tio n by s oc ia l g ro up s in in di a (p er c en t) so ci al g ro up r ur al u rb an to ta l g oo d sa tis fa ct or y ba d to ta l g oo d sa tis fa ct or y ba d to ta l g oo d sa tis fa ct or y ba d to ta l st 24 .9 53 .6 21 .5 10 0 54 .5 35 .8 9. 7 10 0 28 .7 51 .3 20 .0 10 0 sc 26 .8 48 .9 24 .3 10 0 45 .5 39 .3 15 .2 10 0 31 .3 46 .6 22 .1 10 0 o bc 31 .6 47 .6 20 .7 10 0 58 .3 33 .6 8. 1 10 0 39 .6 43 .4 17 .0 10 0 o th er s 38 .2 42 .7 19 .1 10 0 62 .2 29 .7 8. 1 10 0 49 .0 36 .9 14 .2 10 0 to ta l 31 .4 47 .4 21 .2 10 0 58 .0 32 .9 9. 2 10 0 39 .8 42 .8 17 .4 10 0 so ur ce : n ss o 6 9th r ou nd , 2 01 3 caste, religion and ethnicity: role of social determinants... 77 probability of getting good house on rent in india: analysis by social and religious groups access to good housing on rent has been analysed in the present section. statistical significance of the social groups has been tested through the logistic regression model. this section attempts to examine the probability of getting good house on rent for different social groups in india and in the nct delhi. the random effect logistic regression model has been used for the analysis. if we analyse the probability of getting good house on rent in urban areas in india by social groups, the result of the logistic model given in table 4 clearly indicates that odds of getting good house on rent is 31 percent lower for scheduled tribe and 25 percent lower for obcs in comparison to other social groups. the table also shows that odds of getting good house on rent for scheduled caste is 53 per cent lower in comparison to other social groups. thus, the analysis shows that the access to good housing on rent is determined by the social identity of the tenants. the result of the logit regression model is highly significant. table 3. model filling information for india and delhi region log likelihood lr chi2(3) prob> chi2 pseudo r2 number of observation delhi social groups -417.55768 44.47 0.0000 0.0506 695 religious groups -420.36805 30.56 0.0000 0.0506 695 india social groups -9925.0105 215.94 0.0000 0.0108 14,489 religious groups -9979.3896 105.72 0.0053 0.0000 14,448 source: author’s calculations from nsso 69th round, 2013 table 4. logistic regression model for social groups in india odds ratio p>|z| [95% conf. interval] others* sts 0.6999 0.000 .6189441 .7914453 scs 0.4698 0.000 .4231108 .5217895 obcs 0.7489 0.000 .6953226 .8066622 constant 1.3746 0.000 1.304414 1.44875 note: * reference group source: author’s calculations from nsso 69th round, 2013 similarly, if we analyse the probability of getting good house on rent for different religious groups, the results of the logit regression model given in table 5 clearly indicate that odds of getting good house on rent is 38 percent lower for muslims than hindu tenants. the odds of getting good house are higher for christian and sikhs households in urban india. odds of getting house on rent are three percent higher for christians and 39 percent higher for sikhs households in comparison to hindu households. 78 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 table 5. logistic regression model for religious groups in india social group odds ratio p>|z| [95% conf. interval] hindu* muslim .6215124 0.000 .5614611 .687986 christian 1.035249 0.637 .8965102 1.195459 sikhs 1.392514 0.121 .9159886 2.116943 constant 1.137032 0.000 1.096099 1.179494 note: * reference group source: author’s calculations from nsso 69th round, 2013 the result of the logit regression model is highly significant for muslims. similarly, if we analyse the probability of getting good house on rent in delhi, the logistic regression model shown in table 6 clearly indicate that odds of getting good house on rent is 18 per cent lower for scheduled tribe in comparison to upper caste. similarly, odds of getting good house on rent is 72 percent less for scheduled caste and 48 percent less for obcs households. thus, the odds of getting good house on rent are lowest for scheduled caste in delhi. the result of the logit regression model is highly significant for scheduled caste and obc households. table 6. logistic regression model for social groups in delhi social group odds ratio p>|z| [95% conf. interval] others* sts .829111 0.684 .3360172 2.045803 scs .289743 0.000 .1717544 .4887855 obcs .526919 0.000 .2127063 .5024603 constant 0.74222 0.004 0.6075649 0.9067242 note: * reference group source: author’s calculations from nsso 69th round, 2013 similarly, if we analyse the probability of getting good house on rent for different religious groups in delhi, the logit regression model given in table 7 clearly indicate that the odds of getting a good house on rent are 78 percent lower for muslims in comparison to hindu households. similarly, the odds of getting a good house on rent are 28 percent lower for christians. it is interesting to note from the logistic regression model that odds of getting good house on rent is two times higher for sikhs in delhi. the result of the logit regression model is highly significant for muslims in delhi. table 7. logistic regression model for religious groups in delhi social group odds ratio p>|z| [95% conf. interval] hindu* muslim .2214066 0.000 .112374 .4362297 christian .7262136 0.704 .1396622 3.776156 sikhs 3.177184 0.068 .9192552 10.98117 constant .5508021 0.000 0.4646662 .6529052 note: * reference group source: author’s calculations from nsso 69th round, 2013 caste, religion and ethnicity: role of social determinants... 79 thus, the analysis of the logistic regression reveals that the probability of getting good house on rent is lower for scheduled caste and muslims in india in comparison with upper caste and hindu households. a similar pattern is observed in the logistic regression model with respect to delhi. the probability of getting a good house on rent is also lower for scheduled caste and muslim households in the national capital. discrimination in access to rental housing market analysis in the previous section indicates that there is inequality in access to housing and basic amenities. it is an important feature of urban landscape in india. it is perceived that the social group identity of people living in urban areas does not influence their access to various services in urban areas. however, various research studies have indicated that even in urban areas, socially marginalised communities face discrimination and social exclusion in accessing various services such as housing, basic amenities, and livelihood opportunities. this section attempts to explore the nature and form of discrimination pertaining to housing experienced by socially marginalised groups in india such as scheduled castes (scs), muslims and migrants from the north-eastern states of india living in delhi. to identify the nature and forms of discrimination experienced by these marginalised groups in urban setting, primary data has been collected through audit surveystelephonic as well as tenants’ interviews. in the urban housing market, there are two significant playershouse owner and real estate agent/broker. therefore, it is imperative to analyse the differential responses given by the house-owners and the brokers. table 8 shows the aggregate response by houseowners and brokers. as indicated in the table, the proportion of positive responses is higher for the brokers than the house-owners. in comparison to houseowners, who are often specific to the choice of the tenants, profit maximization is the prime motive of brokers. therefore, they are ready to provide house on rent. table 8 also indicates that at the aggregate level, around one fourth house owners or landlords in delhi refused to give house on rent while the corresponding proportion for the broker/agent is less than 10 percent. often brokers reflect the choices and preferences of the concerned house owner or landlord. subtle or indirect refusal by the house owner and brokers is around 10 percent and eight percent respectively. the difference in responses by house owners and brokers is statistically significant. table 8. total response to auditors in delhi by house providers (telephonic) sr. no. response house owner broker/agent number percentages number percentages 1. ready to give house 435 58.2 528 62.0 2. direct refusal*** 175 23.4 81 9.5 3. refused in-directly* 80 10.7 68 8.0 4. ready with certain condition 48 6.4 91 10.7 5. different locality 10 1.3 84 9.9 total 748 100.0 852 100.0 source: primary field survey, 2016-17 note: *** significant at 1%, ** significant at 5%, *significant at 10% 80 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 nature of response by income group locality the article also attempts to explore the difference in the response category by income group of the locality. the aggregate responses have been classified into high income, middle income and low-income localities. the responses have been tabulated as per the income locality of the advertised unit. the responses given in table 9 clearly indicate that the proportion of house providers ready to give house on rent is highest for low income, and lowest for high income group locality. the nature of response given to home seekers differs for various social groups. table 9 portrays the response received by house seekers from various social groups in the high, medium, and low-income localities. table 9 clearly indicates that in the high-income locality, positive response i.e. ready to give house on rent is highest for the upper caste home seekers and lowest for home seekers with muslim identity. more than 90 percent of home seekers from upper caste received positive responses while only one fourth of muslim home seekers were welcomed for housing on rent in high income localities in nct delhi. similarly, sc home seekers and those from the north-east migrant communities have received lower positive response in the high -income group locality. table 9 also indicates that the social group wise difference in the response for home seekers in high income group category is statistically significant. if we analyse the direct refusal by social groups in the high-income locality, it is clear from the table that while upper caste home seekers have not received any direct denial; it is higher for home seekers with muslim, north-east migrants and sc identities. the direct refusal to housing on rent is highest for muslim home seekers followed by scs and northeast migrants. the difference is also statistically significant. as far as subtle refusal or indirect refusals are concerned, the response is highest for home seekers from north-east migrants and lower for scs and muslims. the difference is also statistically significant. similarly, offering house in the different locality is higher for muslim home seekers than other social groups. in the middle-income group locality, positive response is higher for all social groups in comparison to high income group locality. however, the positive response is highest for upper caste home seekers and lowest for muslim home seekers. it is significant to note that around one fourth of the total muslim home seekers have received direct refusal while accessing house on rent in the middle-income locality. direct refusal response is lower (around eight percent) for sc home seeker. the difference is also statistically significant. the findings show that the response in the low-income group locality is less discriminatory in comparison to highand middleincome group localities. the proportion of home seekers who have received positive response is higher in the low-income group than the highand middle-income group localities. thus, analysis clearly indicates that nature of response in the rental housing market varies with the social identity of the home seekers. the response for various social groups also depends upon the income group of the housing localities. the home seekers from marginalised social groups experience higher discriminatory responses in high income locality in comparison to lower income localities. these results show a statistically significant difference. caste, religion and ethnicity: role of social determinants... 81 table 9. response by social group and income group of locality (telephonic) sr. gr. income group of locality response upper caste scs muslims northeast migrants 1. high income locality ready to give house*** 92.7 42.1 26.3 31.6 direct refusal*** 0.0 34.7 44.2 30.5 refused indirectly*** 1.1 10.5 11.6 20.0 ready with certain condition 6.3 6.3 7.4 11.6 different locality** 0.0 6.3 10.5 6.3 total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 2. middle income locality ready to give house*** 92.0 65.6 40.4 46.8 direct refusal*** 0.4 8.8 26.8 22.0 refused indirectly*** 0.4 9.2 14.8 11.2 ready with certain condition 7.2 11.6 8.4 10.8 different locality*** 0.0 4.8 9.6 9.2 total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 3. low income locality ready to give house 89.1 81.8 65.5 69.1 direct refusal** 0.0 0.0 9.1 3.6 refused indirectly* 1.8 5.5 12.7 12.7 ready with certain condition 9.1 5.5 5.5 5.5 different locality 0.0 7.3 7.3 9.1 total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 source: primary field survey, 2016-17 note: *** significant at 1%, ** significant at 5%, *significant at 10% logistic regression model descriptive statistics of the response of the telephonic audit in the previous sections clearly indicate that the socially marginalised groups in the urban areas, such as delhi, face discrimination while accessing house on rent. in this section, the statistical significance of the social groups has been tested through the logistic regression model. the result of the logit model supports the findings of the descriptive statistics 82 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 explained in the previous sections. it may be mentioned that the home seekers from socially excluded communities such as scs, muslims and north-east migrants face discriminatory behaviour while accessing the rental housing market. the endeavour is to quantify ease and probability of getting house on rent by the various marginalised social groups in comparison to upper caste home seekers. table 10. model filling information for rental housing in delhi log likelihood lr chi2(3) prob> chi2 pseudo r2 number of observation -925.19167 300.80 0.0000 0.1398 1,600 source: author’s calculations from nsso 69th round, 2013 table 11. logistic regression model odds ratio p>|z| [95% conf. interval] upper caste* scs 6.74 0.000 4.47734 10.15783 muslims 16.34 0.000 10.86129 24.57801 n.e. migrants 12.92 0.000 8.604721 19.41337 constant 0.09 0.000 0.62973 0.1283931 note: * reference group source: author’s calculations from primary data the results of the logit model (table 11) reveal that social group identities significantly affect the rental housing market outcomes. the findings of the regressions model show that the odds of not getting a house on rent is 6.74 times higher for an sc home seeker as compared to upper caste home seekers. similarly, the odds of not getting a house on rent are 16.34 times higher for muslim home seekers than home seekers from the upper caste. for the ne migrant home seekers, the odds of not getting house on rent become 12.92 times higher as compared to home seekers from the upper caste. thus, the above model reveals that the home seekers from scs, muslims and north east social groups are very much less likely to receive positive response from home providers in delhi as compared to home seekers from the upper caste due to their group identity. the result of the logit regression model is highly significant. pattern of discrimination in the rental housing market: demand side perspective the outcome of interaction in the rental housing market depends upon the stigma and prejudices experienced by tenants from socially marginalised communities. due to discrimination based on the social identity, tenants of various social groups receive differential treatment in the rental housing market. in this section, the nature and pattern of discrimination faced by socially marginalised communities in the process of accessing housing on rent have been analysed. the analysis is based on the empirical findings from the primary data collected from tenants living in rented accommodation in nct delhi. the primary data has been collected from tenants from socially marginalised communities such as sc, muslims, and migrants from northcaste, religion and ethnicity: role of social determinants... 83 eastern states of india. the section is arranged into three sections such as experiences in access to rental housing market, discriminatory treatment in the previous rented accommodation, and consequences of discrimination in the rental housing market. mixed method approach has been applied and findings from quantitative and qualitative data have been triangulated to analyse the nature and process of discrimination in the rental housing market. experiences in access to rental housing in this section, we explore the nature and forms of difficulties experienced by socially disadvantages communities while searching a rented accommodation. though, it is expected that like other market transactions, processes and outcome of rental housing market should also be governed by demand and supply, analysis in this section highlights the discriminatory practices based on social identity in the rental housing market. nature of difficulties faced during search of rental housing has been given in table 12. data given in the table clearly indicates that the proportion of those who responded having faced difficulties in searching housing on rent is higher for socially marginalised communities. in comparison to one fourth tenants from upper caste, nearly half of the scs, three fourth muslims, and nearly two third tenants of migrants from north-east states living in delhi have experienced difficulties in searching accommodation on rent. if we further analyse the type of difficulties faced by tenants from different social groups, data given in table clearly indicate that more than half of the tenants from all social groups except the upper caste have faced financial difficulties in searching rented accommodation. analysis clearly indicates that while all social groups have faced financial difficulties, discriminatory behaviour is primarily experienced by only marginalised social groups. however, among all social groups, tenants from scs and muslims reported to have had experienced most difficulties during their interaction in the rental housing market. table 12. nature of difficulties in rental housing market sr. no. difficulty upper caste sc muslims north east migrants 1. faced difficulty in searching house on rent in delhi (yes response)** 25.3 53.3 72.0 64.0 if yes, type of difficulty faced 1. financial difficulty 57.9 75.0 72.2 54.2 2. discriminatory behaviour by houseowner 5.3 42.5 53.7 64.6 3. discriminatory behaviour by broker/ agent* 5.3 22.5 35.2 31.2 4. house not vacant in my choice of locality* 36.8 17.5 14.8 10.4 source: primary field survey 2016-17 note: *** significant at 1%, ** significant at 5%, *significant at 10% 84 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 the data given in table 12 also shows discrimination faced by tenants in accessing the rental housing market. analysis of the findings indicates that two main players of rental housing market i.e. house owners and brokers practise discriminatory behaviour towards marginalised social groups while accessing rental housing. as far as discriminatory behaviour by house owner is concerned, more than two third tenants among north-east migrants and nearly half of muslims tenants reported that they have faced discriminatory behaviour from house owners during their search for a house on rent. as far as sc tenants are concerned, nearly 42 percent of tenants reported to have faced discriminatory behaviour from the house owner. in comparison to tenants from the afore-mentioned social groups, upper caste tenants have faced very less difficulties due to their social identity. unavailability of house in the preferred or first choice locality is another important difficulty while searching a house. however, higher proportion of upper cast tenants reported that they had faced this difficulty in comparison to other social groups. nature of discriminatory behaviour by house owners as discussed earlier, tenants from marginalised social groups faced discriminatory practices from house owners and brokers while searching rented accommodation. in this section, the nature of discriminatory behaviour by the house owners has been analysed. the responses received by tenants from the house owner have been shown in figure 1. one of the major responses given to tenants from socially marginalised communities is on prejudices against their social identities. nearly three fourth muslims tenants reported that as soon as the house owners came to know during initial interaction that they were muslims, their behaviour towards them changed immediately. similarly, nearly 40 per cent of the sc tenants reported that the behaviour of the house owner changed as soon as their social identity was known to them through their names. the figure 1 also clearly indicate that nearly one third sc tenants, more than half of muslims tenants, and nearly half of tenants among north east migrants were denied house by the owners as soon their social group was known to them. fig 1. nature of response by house owner source: primary field survey 2016-17 caste, religion and ethnicity: role of social determinants... 85 conditional access to rental housing is another response which tenants are reported to have received from the house owners. the conditional access to rental house was reported highest from muslim tenants as more than half of them responded to having received conditional access to rented accommodation. the nature of condition put by the house owner has been explained in the later section. another common response received by the tenants is longer moving in date i.e. house will be available very late. the respondents informed that often the landlords do not directly say no to them but deliberately give a longer moving date so that they are discouraged from taking the house. often tenants from socially excluded communities such as scs and muslims are not denied house directly but they are told that the housing units have been already rented out. another excuse used by the owner for denying rental housing to marginalised communities is that they will discuss with the family members’ only to refuse later. similarly, often the rent of the housing unit is hiked to keep scs and muslims tenants away. analysis of the findings of this section clearly indicate that often house owners and brokers engaged in discriminatory behaviour resort to various pretexts instead of direct denial. price discrimination i.e. asking for higher rent is prominent way for pushing away marginalised social groups from rental housing market for instance one home seeker reported that ‘instead of directly refusing the house, the house owner asked me to deposit three months security advance instead of one which is practically impossible.’ reasons/pretexts for denying house house owners and brokers or property dealers/agents often directly deny renting their property to tenants from scheduled castes, muslims and north-east migrants groups. the comparative analysis of different social groups shows that price discrimination is highest for muslims followed by north-east migrants and scheduled caste tenants. the direct denial citing social identity is highest for muslims followed by northeast migrants. direct denial due to social identity is lower for scs in comparison to muslims and north-east migrants. nearly 70 percent of muslim respondents informed that they were directly denied house on rent due to their religious affiliation. fig 2. reasons for denial of house (stated by house owner) source: primary field survey 2016-17 86 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 other major responses received by the respondents during their house search related to food habits, hygiene, and cleanliness issues raised by house owners during their interaction with prospective tenants as a pretext to refuse house on rent. nearly one third scs, more than 60 per cent muslims and nearly three fourth of the north east migrant respondents faced denial of rental housing due to their non-vegetarian food habit. prejudices and perceptions about certain social groups regarding their economic condition and paying capacities also play role in deciding rental housing market outcomes. the analysis shows that often tenants from the north-east are denied rental housing citing their irregular nature of employment and paying capacities. however, qualitative data analysis shows that despite regular employment and good paying capacities, tenants from north-east are denied house on rent. nearly half of respondents from north-east migrants and one fourth tenants from scheduled caste faced denial citing less paying capacity. often, the life style of the tenants is also given as pretext for denial of housing to socially marginalised groups. qualitative data findings show that house providers give discriminatory response on various pretexts such as restriction on the cooking on non-vegetarian food, cleaning and hygiene, asking for higher amount of rent than actual, early and summery evictions of the house without notice. home seekers from scheduled caste reported that initially at times the house owners are not aware of the social groups of the tenants. they keep on asking about the social groups and once they come to the social groups, they straightway or on some pretext deny for renting to scheduled caste tenants. tenants from marginalised social groups have to go for endless effort to finalise the deal for renting the accommodation. analysis of the pattern of behaviours of house owners towards scheduled caste home seekers reveals that in the beginning of the negotiation of the deal for renting house, the behaviour of house owner is good and often profession but in many cases their behaviour is suddenly changed and negotiation is abruptly ended on some pretext such as house is already rented out or they would discuss the matter with family members and revert which they never did. another striking response received by tenants from the house owners is that they prefer ‘good’ tenants. the qualitative data analysis explains that often ‘good people’ is not defined and is used as excuse to deny house on rent. one of the respondents from north-east reported that ‘the house owners deliberately put such terms and conditions which make it practically impossible to take house on rent. instead of directly denying, they put such conditions such as very high rent and security deposit. restrictions on food are always there no matter what.’ another responded from north-east reported that ‘the brokers and house owners often treat us like foreigners. they misbehave with us as if we are homeless refugees in delhi. it is very frustrating.’ conditional access to rental housing in this section, conditions put by the house owner to give house on rent have been analysed. the responses received by different social groups are shown in figure 3 which clearly indicate that restriction on food habits is one of the major conditions put by house owners to tenants. it is noteworthy that these conditions were put only to the socially marginalised groups while the upper caste tenants were not given any conditions related to the type of food being cooked at home. nearly one third scs, more than half of muslims, and nearly two third north-east respondents were asked by house owners not to cook non-vegetarian food when they are given house on rent. caste, religion and ethnicity: role of social determinants... 87 also, there are restrictions put on visitors with almost one third muslim and 60 per cent ne migrant tenants being told not to have lots of visitors. fig 3. conditions for giving house on rent source: primary field survey 2016-17 restriction on number of guests visiting the house and mobility restrictions such as ‘not allowed to come late at home,’ etc. have also been cited as the major conditions for offering house on rent. restriction on number of visitors was reported highest for north-east tenants while restrictions in mobility was highest for muslims. furthermore, tenants from these groups are clearly subjected to discriminatory conditions like ‘being ready to vacate at short notice’ while upper caste tenants are hardly given any such conditions. similarly, nearly one third sc respondents, more than half of muslim respondents and more than 70 percent respondents from north-east migrants reported that vacating on short notice was major condition put by the land lords. they said often it works as a deterrent and excuse for keeping the socially marginalised communities away from the rental housing market as vacating house on short notice is cost-intensive and unaffordable for many tenants. higher rent is also reported as one of the major conditions for getting house on rent. tenants are often asked to pay higher rent than the market rate. the players in the rental housing market particularly brokers and house owners are aware that tenants from socially marginalised groups are denied house due to their social identity. due to this, availability of housing options is limited for them. therefore, they try to maximise their profit by asking higher rent from these tenants. nature of discriminatory behaviour by the brokers as discussed in the previous section, brokers and real estate agents play a crucial role in the rental housing market transactions. in the present section, nature and form of behaviour experienced by tenants from the broker or real-estate agents have been analysed. similar to the responses given by house owners, the respondents from socially marginalised communities also reported that the behaviour of the broker changes as soon as the social group identity is disclosed to them. nearly one third sc tenants and more than two third muslims reported that the behaviour of the broker 88 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 suddenly changed as soon as they came to know their social group identity. the proportion of respondents from north-east migrants is lower in comparison to sc and muslims as brokers easily identify social groups. direct refusal to show any house is another response given by brokers. more than half respondents from among north-east migrants and more than 40 percent muslim respondents reported to have received refusal from the brokers (figure 4). apart from the direct refusal, brokers are often not willing to show all housing units citing reasons about selectiveness of owners of available units and that not all vacant housing units are available to tenants from some social groups. the qualitative data analysis indicates that as soon as social identity is revealed to the brokers, they reduce the number of housing options available. thus, the number of housing units available for rent not only depends upon the demand, supply or the affordability of the prospective tenants, but also upon the social identity of the actors involved in the housing market transactions. price discrimination is also often practised by brokers. the respondents from socially excluded communities reported that often brokers attempt to escalate the rent of the housing units by showing that there are limited options available for these social groups. often brokers do not provide full information for available housing unit. they hide the details so that they could escalate the price of the rented housing accommodation. the data also reveal that instead of direct refusal to home seekers, brokers also indulge in delaying tactics. nearly one third of the sc home seekers reported that brokers attempted to delay showing houses citing that house is not vacant despite initially reporting the availability of housing units. the brokers often had to work on the direction of the house owners for instance during field work one broker reported that ‘in most of the cases, landlords generally inform their choice of tenants at the outset. in my locality, it is very difficult to arrange house on rent for muslims. but there are few landlords who give house on rent to muslims but they generally charge high.’ the brokers narrated that most of the time house owners clearly inform in the beginning for their choice of tenants and the brokers have to work accordingly. fig 4. nature of discrimination by brokers source: primary field survey 2016-17 caste, religion and ethnicity: role of social determinants... 89 qualitative data analysis shows that brokers try to shift the blame to house owners about their discriminatory behaviour. the brokers reported that they personally do not discriminate based on the social identity but are compelled to follow the preferences of house owners. social steering away by brokers brokers and real estate agents also practise diversionary tactics by manipulating the choices of tenants by social steering. brokers often work as per the demand of the house owners. they are aware of the choices of the house owners and as well as of the prospective tenants. through the process of social steering away, brokers and real estate agents attempt to divert the choice of the housing locality of the prospective tenants. factors affecting the social steering away depend on availability of housing units, preference of social identity of tenants, and stigmas and prejudices against certain social groups by house owners and brokers. through the process of social steering away, prospective home seekers are persuaded and offered housing units in localities mainly inhabited by households of the same social groups. the process of social steering away invariably causes residential segregation based on socio-religious and ethnic identities of the households. in this section, process of social steering away by brokers has been analysed. the findings of the present study clearly indicate the practice of social steering away. the data in table13 clearly indicate that nearly one third of the sc respondents, two third of the muslim respondents and nearly half of respondents from north east migrants reported that during their interactions with agents and brokers, they were suggested and persuaded by the brokers to take up houses in some other localities preferably ones predominantly inhabited by their social groups. not furnishing full information about the availability of housing units is the most important step in the process of social steering away. through this process, brokers attempt to convince the prospective tenants from discriminated social groups that there are very limited housing options for them. the data in table 13 reveals that more than half of the proportion of tenants from north-east migrants and muslims reported that brokers often do not provide full information on availability of housing units. table 13. social steering away by brokers sr. no. conditions sc muslims north east migrants 1. did not provide full information on available housing units 22.2 52.6 60.0 2. suggested me to see house in some other locality 33.3 68.4 53.3 3. suggested me to see house in the locality inhabited by my social group 11.1 57.9 40.0 4. ready to provide house in some other buildings in the same locality 33.3 26.3 13.3 5. ready to provide house in some other locality 44.4 63.2 46.7 source: primary field survey 2016-17 90 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 analysis of the qualitative data indicates the complexities of social steering away. residential segregation is one of the major outcomes of social steering away apart from unpleasant experiences for the discriminated tenants. in the segregated localities also, not all house owners are willing to rent out their houses to socially excluded communities. one of the major excuses given by brokers for social steering away certain social groups is that house owners are not willing to rent their houses to these social groups for instance one broker informed during the field work ‘we know that some landlords will ultimately deny the house to muslims, so we do not want to waste our time by taking muslims to a hindu dominated locality or to a landlord who never prefers muslim tenants. so, we help muslims tenants take house in the locality where it is easily available. in this way we try to save time and inconvenience.’ another broker informed that ‘many times, i confirm the identity of the tenants before fixing the meeting with land lords.’ consequences of discrimination discrimination in the rental housing market often causes unpleasant outcomes for the socially excluded communities. in this section, consequences of discrimination experienced by excluded communities have been analysed. frequent change in the accommodation is one of the major consequences which tenants are forced to do due to discriminatory behaviour. the quantitative and qualitative analysis of this section explains the nature and type of consequences experienced by tenants. fig 5. consequences for housing and amenities source: primary field survey 2016-17 the figure 5 shows the proportion of respondents who had to vacate their previous rented accommodation due to discrimination. the analysis shows that more than half of the respondents among north-east migrants, more than 70 percent muslims, and more than 40 percent sc respondents had to vacate their houses due in discriminatory behaviour. apart from the problem of frequently vacating the house, tenants also face other consequences. the tenants from socially excluded groups often have to make several compromises due to denial and discrimination faced in the rental housing market. caste, religion and ethnicity: role of social determinants... 91 these respondents have not only made compromises in terms of denial of choice of locality, quality of housing and services etc., but also higher payment for the housing and amenities and their food habits as a result discrimination in the rental housing market. the proportion of tenants having faced difficulties is higher for muslims and north east migrants than tenants from sc and upper caste. due to social steering away and consequent residential segregation and denial of housing in the choice of locality, often they have to travel longer distance. education of the children also suffers due sudden change of accommodation. fig 6. consequences of discrimination source: primary field survey 2016-17 longer search caused due to denial of housing coupled with discrimination also causes loss of time and money for the tenants from socially excluded groups. constant denial and discrimination also caused mental stress to the tenants which affect their well-being. nearly one third sc respondents and two third muslims reported that they felt stressed due to constant denial and discrimination in the rental housing market. conclusions and policy suggestions discrimination in accessing house in the urban rental market has been analysed through both supply side and demand side. analysis of the primary data clearly indicates that social exclusion and discrimination play a significant role in the rental housing market outcomes. socially marginalised and vulnerable communities face unequal outcomes in the urban rental housing market. the analysis of the primary data clearly indicates that there is a statistically significant relationship between the social identity and rental housing market outcome. the logistic regression model for the study indicates that home seekers from the marginalised social groups were on an average significantly less likely to get a positive response than equivalent home seekers with dominant social group identity. the findings of the study reflect that quite a high proportion of home seekers from scheduled caste, muslims and migrants from the north-east face discriminatory practices such as direct refusal, subtle refusal, and outright discriminatory terms and conditions. the analysis of the pattern of discrimination shows that house owners, real estate brokers and agent practice discrimination scheduled caste muslims northeast migrants 92 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 based on biases and prejudices about certain social groups. the real estate agents and brokers practice unfavourable treatment towards marginalised social groups and provide less information about the available housing units. they not only demand higher rent and security deposits but also provide housing in the low-income localities with poor quality of housing. often, brokers and agents refer and provide housing in the locality where same (home seeker’s) social group is living. marginalised social groups not only face direct refusal but also price discrimination in the urban rental housing market. analysis of the demand side of the rental market indicates that home seekers from vulnerable social groups face discriminatory treatment in the urban rental housing market. the regression results of the study confirm that socially excluded groups such as scs, muslims, and migrants from the north-east are more vulnerable to discrimination when accessing the rental housing market. similarly, significant chisquare values indicate social group differentials in terms of responses to these social groups. the difference in the responses given by the type of house providers, house owners and brokers, and the income group of localities indicate that positive response of the house owners is highest for low income locality and lowest for high income locality. the social group wise difference in the response for home seekers in high income group category is statistically significant. the direct refusal to housing on rent is highest for muslim home seekers followed by sc and north-east migrants. the difference is also statistically significant. sc home seekers were offered rental housing in locality other than their preferred locality. the study also discusses the unpleasant outcome of discrimination in rental housing market. socially excluded groups have to make various compromises such as living in poor quality of housing, long commuting distance to workplace, loss of time and income during long and frequent search for housing. they also undergo immense embarrassment due to stigma and prejudices associated with their social identity, are compelled to change residence due to discrimination and harassment, pay higher rents for similar facilities, and end up living in same caste/group localities resulting in residential segregation. thus, the present study provides comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of the exclusionary and discriminatory practices in urban rental housing, causes of discrimination and its consequences on socially excluded groups. the analysis in the article provides various policy suggestions for inclusive rental housing policy. the draft rental housing policy 2015 sought to promote social rental housing with focus on affordability for the most vulnerable sections of urban population. although the draft rental housing policy provides a comprehensive and multi-pronged approach to promote the rental housing market in the country, yet it has failed to address some critical issues and is silent about the processes operating in the rental housing market. the rental housing policy should be integrated with housing for all programme of the government. fragmented and separate rental housing would not be viable and practical in implementation. the idea of social rental housing should be integrated with low income households and in-situ development of slums under the pradhan mantri awas yojana. also, the draft policy provides the macro policy framework for rental housing but a comprehensive road map to achieve the targets is missing in the policy document. further, keeping in mind that rental housing market still operates informally in india and that most landlords rent out property privately without any registration or rental agreement, the disbursement of the proposed rental housing vouchers should be linked with the compulsory registration. in the absence of safeguards to protect tenants from malpractices, rental housing often turns into a bitter caste, religion and ethnicity: role of social determinants... 93 experience for many tenants. therefore, rental housing policy should make provisions for safeguarding the socially excluded households. legal and administrative measures should be introduced to safeguard tenants from discriminatory and exclusionary practices in the market and make the policy more inclusive in nature. the findings of the article provide evidences about the discriminatory practices in the housing market transactions which require further investigations. the question arises why house owners, brokers and other agencies operating in the housing market discriminate towards social, ethnic and regional identities rather than focusing on profit maximisation. social stigma and prejudices against marginalised social groups are so deep that they have also affected the housing market transactions and outcomes. rental housing constitutes an important instrument in reducing housing shortage. it is the major house provider for low income households. it also has a huge potential for meeting the growing housing need in cities and reducing the housing shortage in urban areas. however, a major proportion of the rental housing market is operating informally and only a small proportion of it is functioning formally. informal nature of rental housing has posed difficulty in regulating the rental housing. to promote the growth of rental housing sector and make it socially inclusive, it is imperative to formulate a comprehensive rental housing policy. the rental housing market in india still operates informally. most of the landlords are operating privately without any registration or rental agreement with tenants. middle men such as real estate agents and brokers mostly control the private rental housing market transactions. instead of making a separate provision for social rental housing, housing schemes and programmes should be made inclusionary. each housing scheme should earmark a certain proportion of housing dedicated to rental housing for socially and economically vulnerable sections. regarding the policies to eradicate discriminatory behaviour, it is often argued that it is difficult to regulate the rental housing market which is primarily operated by private people and decisions and behaviour of private house owners cannot be questioned. however, it is noteworthy that large proportion of rental housing in india particularly in urban areas is private housing as public/social rental market is not well developed in india. the decision to maintain the property of any individual is solely dependent on the property owner. economic transactions should be regulated and governed by certain rules framed by the government. since, private rental housing is also an economic transaction, it is essential to frame the rules to ensure the non-discriminatory and inclusive rental housing marketboth private and public sector housing. formulation of legal safeguards is needed for making rental housing market inclusive in nature. discriminatory practices should be made a punishable offence. legal safeguard is needed to protect the rights of tenants from the discriminatory behaviour practised by various stakeholders in the rental housing market. private rental housing stock needs to be formalized through compulsory registration. this will enable the civic authorities to closely monitor the mal-practices in the rental housing market. the rent control act should be restructured to safeguard the interest of tenants belonging to socially marginalised communities. summary evictions and exorbitant hike in the rent and charges of the amenities should be regulated. there is need to formulate a tenant friendly grievance redressal mechanism wherein the tenants can directly inform about discriminatory behaviour against them. this mechanism should also incorporate a time bound response to complaints of discrimination. real estate agents and brokers should be registered so that they come in the ambit of regulatory framework. feedback 94 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 mechanism should be developed for rental housing. each housing locality should have a web portal which the potential tenants can visit and see the condition of housing unit, behaviour of house owners, feedback given by previous tenants, etc. this mechanism could ensure transparency and reduce discriminatory practices in the rental housing market. rwas must have or co-opt tenants in their associations and executive committees to promote harmony and eradicate discriminatory behaviour. this could serve as a platform to report discriminatory behaviour. above all, every stakeholder should be sensitized against discrimination and social exclusion. acknowledgement the present article is based on the research study ‘discrimination in rental housing market’ funded by hudco under hudco chair programme at iids during 2016-18 references datta, s. and v. pathania (2016). ‘for whom does the phone (not) ring? discrimination in the rental housing market in delhi, india’. 2016/55. helsinki: unu-wider. dupont, v. (2004) ‘socio-spatial differentiation and residential segregation in delhi: a question of scale?’ geoforum, 35, pp. 157-75. glaster, g. and constantine p. (1991) ‘discrimination against female-headed households in rental housing: theory and exploratory evidences’ review of social economy, 49 (1), 76-100. kain, j.f. and quigley, j.m. (1970). measuring the value of housing quality. journal of the american statistical association, 65(330), 532-548. king, a.t. and mieszkowski, p. (1973). racial discrimination, segregation, and the price of housing. the journal of political economy, 590-606. moser, caroline, gatehouse, michael and garcia, helen. (1996). urban poverty research sourcebook module ii: indicators of urban poverty. ondrich, j., stricker, a. and yinger, j. (1998). do real estate brokers choose to discriminate? evidence from the 1989 housing discrimination study. southern economic journal, 880-901. thorat, s., banerjee, a., mishra, v.k. and rizvi, f. (2015). urban rental housing market: caste and religion matters in access. economic and political weekly, 50(26-27). yinger, j. (1976). racial prejudice and racial residential segregation in an urban model. journal of urban economics, 3(4), 383-396. brandeis.edu/j-caste 216 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 ethnicity, and race/color.’ as thenmozhi soundararajan of the us-based ambedkarite organization equality labs points out, the cisco case serves as a reminder ‘that tech is not a neutral place when it comes to caste’ (sircar, 2020). at stake in the cisco case is the larger question of how engineering circles elide caste status and the notion of ‘merit’ in ways that protect savarna (or, ‘upper’ caste) privilege and marginalize dalits. this is also the question that animates the anthropologist ajantha subramanian’s new book, the caste of merit: engineering education in india. subramanian contends that the inherited status of caste and the ostensibly earned notion of merit are, in fact, deeply entwined. the indian institutes of technology (or, iits)—whose alumni include both the defendants as well as the complainant in the cisco case—play a role in ‘transforming caste privilege into merit.’ the precise mechanics through which the system of meritocracy engineers caste privilege in technical education forms the subject of this book. subramanian argues that meritocracy is far from being a universal form of achievement that erases ascribed identities. instead, merit takes the rearticulation of caste as its explicit basis by intertwining ascription and achievement. such rearticulation is ‘not simply the assertion of already constituted caste identities’ but, ‘claims to merit generate newly consolidated forms of upper casteness that become the basis for capital accumulation’. in other words, merit is caste made new. subramanian takes as her field of study one of the oldest and most prestigious institutes of technical education in india: the indian institute of technology madras (iitm). research in the colonial archives along with oral history interviews with early iitm alumni supplement ethnographic fieldwork in her efforts. the resulting interdisciplinary work tells the history of iitm and the larger debates around technical education in the colonial and postcolonial periods, focusing specifically on the ways in which caste and the ideology of merit overlap and sustain each other in technical education. the caste of merit is a major contribution to our understanding of caste in contemporary india and presents an exemplary case of ‘studying up’2 to unpack the workings of this protean and enduring system of discrimination and privilege. in subramanian’s telling, caste is neither a remnant of old-fashioned thinking nor a passive failure of the liberal promise; rather, it is an active process of discrimination and a privileged closing of ranks that hides behind the attractive and misleading label of ‘meritocracy.’ the theoretical backdrop against which subramanian stages her account is an invigorating mix of dalit studies, especially its trenchant criticisms of caste in modern and unmarked space such as the university, and critical race theory, particularly the study of whiteness as privilege and property. numerous scholars, journalists, and activists have written about the forms of caste discrimination on university campuses in post-mandal india.3 most existing work, however, leaves untouched the logic of meritocracy, with the exception of satish deshpande, whose influential formulation of ‘castelessness’ makes him an important theoretical interlocutor for this book’s arguments. in contrast to deshpande’s formulation of upper caste identity in university spaces as ‘the unmarked universal citizen,’ which allows them to claim a ‘casteless’ position (deshpande, 2013), subramanian argues that meritocracy is first and foremost book review 217 a caste-marked form of identity whose social practice undermines its universalistic promise. subramanian’s nuanced understanding of merit as privilege and property develops in dialogue with theorizations of whiteness within critical race theory. among these scholars, george lipsitz’s study of the ‘possessive investment’ of white identity politics, and cheryl harris’s analysis of the ways in which white privilege took subtler forms following the segregation-ending ruling in brown v. board of education, prove most helpful to subramanian in theorizing ‘upper casteness’ as privilege and property. the first chapter traces the colonial development of technical education in india through a strategic deployment of caste imaginaries, distinguishing between professional engineering education and industrial technical training. subramanian shows that the social distinction between the mathematical knowledge of an engineer and the manual skill of a technician—or, put another way, the unbreachable walls separating the world of the iits from the world of the itis4—are a product of caste thinking, policy, and practice. in chapter two, subramanian attributes the iits’ particular brand of institutional exceptionalism to the sarkar committee report of 1945, which recommended the formation of higher technical institutions that were ‘to be set apart, not only from industrial schools for artisans and workers but also from the regional engineering colleges.’ the iits’ autonomy from regional state governments, local university administrative structures, and their centralized national-level examination allowed them to realize ‘a vision of further institutional stratification’ with higher technical institutions at the top. caste permeated these stratified institutions as social reality and metaphor: while autonomy insulated the iits from democratic politics and ensured the reproduction of caste, the metaphor of caste continued to signal merit. the persistence of caste as metaphor was, in fact, foundational to the nascent state’s technological ambitions: if nehru consecrated massive technological projects as ‘the temples of modern india,’ he also valorized the engineer as nation-builder infused with ‘the brahminic spirit of service.’ the ways in which various value systems collided to define iitm’s ethos forms the subject of chapter three. the first of these was, of course, caste. the struggle against brahminism in tamil nadu by the justice party and later the dravidian movement enabled the emergence of a strident critique of technical institutions as agraharams5 of privilege. another collision formative to iitm was brought about by the collaboration between west german engineers, who valued practicality and hands-on experience, and their brahmin counterparts, who hierarchalized mind over body through a casteist distinction between mathematical conceptual knowledge and manual skilled labour. the fourth chapter anchors the book’s narrative in the life histories of early iitians. subramanian introduces key themes here that get fuller treatment in the following chapters; among them, the ‘unmarked’ nature of upper caste presence in (and entitlement to) iit, and the attraction that iits held especially for tamil brahmins (so well-known that the tamil press6 dubbed the institute as ‘iyer iyengar technology’). reflecting upon a 1960s alumnus bemoaning the newly-emergent post218 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 mandal ‘caste consciousness’ that had even ‘infected’ iitm, subramanian points out that ‘the comfortable inhabitation of an unmarked upper-caste category in the early post-independence years, especially within elite spaces like the iits […was] made possible by the near absence of anyone who was explicitly marked as lower caste.’ such reticence in acknowledging caste did not extend to tamil brahmins who were attracted to the iit examination because it allowed them to evade the regional quotas for lower castes. subramanian notes the tamil brahmin self-image as ‘ordinary, middle-class people [who] prioritized education,’ but analytically resists this savarna perspective to emphasize the ‘structural and affective entanglements’ of caste and class. the two chapters that follow describe the pressures put on the ideology of merit as a proxy for ‘the dialectic between ascription and achievement.’ chapter five describes the role of the iit-jee examination in positing the iits as meritocracy in action, and the changing demographics enabled by the ‘coaching factories,’ which bring in nonbrahmins caste elites who are seen to be the ‘wrong kind of upper castes.’ chapter six describes the ways in which reservations enable dalits and other backward classes (obcs) to access these exclusive spaces of caste privilege, and the resentful savarna view of reservations as unmeritorious because it ‘dilutes the gene pool.’ these two chapters show the challenges to the ideology of merit: first, from the market through the jee coaching industry, and second, through the legal and political route through reservations. together, they make the book’s key argument that ‘meritocracy is rarely just a universalistic politics of achievement [… rather it is] also always about particularistic ascription.’ in other words, merit is never neutral, particularly in those spaces where it purports to be so, and its unmarked presence nearly always obscures savarna hegemony. the modern competitive examination plays a prominent role in perpetuating the myth of meritocracy by supposedly creating a level playing field that values achievement and not ascription, the exam comes to ‘symbolize meritocracy.’ the iitjee, in particular, is seen as ‘a national arbiter of merit.’ subramanian argues that examinations act as ‘filtering mechanisms [that] favour those who come from histories of education and have a facility with this technical instrument.’ they ‘reinforce rather than unsettle commonsense understandings of relative merit.’ the examination mobilizes the dialectic between ascription and achievement in three specific ways: first, they provide a gatekeeping function by regulating access in ways that eliminate most aspirants from candidature7; second, they offer cultural certification that act as ‘proxies for ascription’8 which eventually contribute to the naturalization of talent; and third, the examination generates gradations of rank that are important not only during their time at iit but throughout their careers. the iit-jee rank—a serialized technocratic analogue of the graded inequality of caste—is ‘common currency at the iits.’ since ‘everyone knows one another’s rank, and this knowledge is part of everyday discourse,’ it indicates not a one-time performance in an examination but future success or failure. the overlap between iit-jee rank and the ascription-achievement dialectic becomes apparent in the commonsense understanding of knowledge and intelligence as ‘innate’ or ‘true merit.’ book review 219 the pressures to conform to the ascriptive logic of possessing innate true merit led students to ‘feign a lack of effort.’ ‘you have to act,’ admits one alumnus, ‘like it all somehow just comes to you.’ the growth of the coaching industry as a mass phenomenon generated anxieties among the upper castes that led to new distinctions such as ‘boutique classes’ versus ‘coaching factories’ and the related binary of ‘the gifted’ versus ‘the coached.’ the boutique classes emphasize conceptual knowledge and cater to the (exceptional, cerebral) gifted student while the coaching factories merely produce the (generic, mechanistic) coached student. once again, technical education in india hinges upon the caste-coded value binary of knowledge versus labour. these distinctions are ‘exercises in social boundary making,’ which echo the colonial distinction between the cerebral mathematical conceptual knowledge of engineers and the embodied mechanistic labour of technicians. reservations mounted ‘a more fundamental challenge than the coaching industry to the iits’ claim to meritocracy.’ however, while reservations ‘acknowledged caste discrimination as the basis of non-achievement,’ they did not address ‘caste inheritances as the basis of achievement.’ reservations thus offer ‘only a partial critique of meritocracy.’ the tamil brahmins are a case in point: they presented themselves, on the one hand as ‘citizens of a liberal democracy’ who challenge reservations on the grounds that it violated constitutional principles of formal equality and non-discrimination, while on the other, they argued that ‘as brahmins, they were quintessentially meritocratic.’ the interplay between ‘their civic unmarking as liberal democratic citizens and their cultural marking as caste subjects’ has given their claims to merit both ‘a universalistic and an identitarian character.’ the tension between formal equality and substantive inequality—or, between constitutional mandate and lived reality—is not a recent phenomenon. subramanian discusses three landmark supreme court judgements—the 1951 champakam dorairajan case, the 1992 indira sawhney case, and the 2008 ashoka kumar thakur case—to point out that the language and logic of the judiciary had shifted from being ‘upholders of a liberal legalist vision’ to that of ‘technocrats working to engineer the perfect balance of outcomes.’ this propensity for technocratic language paralleled that of the upper castes, who ‘similarly shifted from using only the language of formal equality to increasingly relying on the terms of reservation policy.’ the logic of opposing reservations has given the upper castes ‘a new language of hierarchical classification,’ allowing them to position themselves as ‘members of the meritorious ‘general category’ [which has become] the basis not only for caste distinction but increasingly for caste consolidation.’9 subramanian’s emphasis on meritocracy as a technology for caste consolidation leads her to advance deshpande’s influential argument about the normative ‘castelessness’ of upper castes. subramanian asserts that ‘the marking of caste as culture, as natural aptitude [or, innateness], as the very basis for merit’ meant that ‘upper castes did not think of themselves as casteless.’ rather, ‘there was a tension between marking and unmarking at the heart of claims to merit.’ tamil brahmin 220 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 claims to merit—characterized by civic unmarking and cultural marking—show that meritocracy is never only ‘a universalistic politics of achievement’ but remains castemarked by being always also ‘about particularistic ascription.’ the importance of this argument, coming at a time when the judiciary rules to undermine reservations, wholesale privatization moves public sector jobs beyond the ambit of reservations, and the legislature misrepresents the spirit of reservations by extending it to savarnas, cannot be overstated. the rethinking of merit as product, technology, and ideology of caste privilege is this book’s central offering to the study of caste. in particular, the theoretical shift from deshpande’s argument about the normative unmarked castelessness of upper castes to subramanian’s understanding of meritocracy as a technocratic logic of caste-marked discrimination has tremendous political significance for india’s rapidly transforming higher education sector. contrary to deshpande’s view of casteless upper caste identity as the absence of disadvantage, subramanian extends our understanding of castemarked meritocracy as first, a property that solidifies a possessive investment in caste capital; second, a technocratic means of consolidating caste distinction; and third, a new ideology that obscures the social transformation of caste. merit, in subramanian’s view, is not a neutral measure of accumulated talent possessed by casteless moderns. rather, merit is a form of caste privilege that consolidates and veils the ways in which caste controls access to opportunity, defines talent, and above all, measures success. merit, as a technocratic means of caste consolidation, depends on accurate identification of an individual’s caste. subramanian provides a gloss of these ‘diagnostic practices’ which includes (casteist and unreliable) assumptions on the part of alumni that reserved candidates struggle with academic performance, lack english language fluency, and that their roll numbers are grouped. that each of these diagnostic practices is unreliable suggests the complex ways in which caste is embodied, perceived, and understood in contemporary india. the only reliable diagnostic practice is, ironically, the one with the greatest claim to indicate neutral merit: the iit-jee rank. the jee rank functioned as ‘the marker of social and intellectual standing on campus,’ which followed students well beyond graduation into their jobs. a jee rank below a certain cutoff automatically outed students as reserved candidates and therefore as unmeritorious. the (unethical) practice of prospective employers collecting jee ranks on job application forms means that this diagnostic practice effectively transfers into their employment records and becomes a mode of caste discrimination through technocratic means. subramanian cites a facebook post by an anonymous dalit alumnus, which concludes: ‘what’s the difference between your grandfathers who might have called my grandfather an untouchable? you have changed the name to reserved candidate.’ merit, the anonymous author leaves us in no doubt, is caste by another name. the final chapter traces the global expansion of ‘brand iit,’ and the shift in the gatekeeping logic of meritocracy from ‘gene pool dilution’ of the homeland to ‘brand dilution’ of the diaspora. ‘the absence of caste as a public identity in the diaspora, cautions subramanian, ‘does not preclude its structural and affective workings.’ indeed, the significance of the cisco case is not that it represents the first instance of book review 221 diasporic caste discrimination but that it is the first major public recognition of the pervasive presence of caste as an often veiled, occasionally disavowed, but always practised identity. given the historical significance of mobility to caste, subramanian characterizes ‘elite and private domestic and transnational arenas as spaces of upper-caste flight and retrenchment away from the pressures of lower-caste politics.’ the historical processes that have led to the diasporic brand iit—a combination of indian state developmentalism, the rise of lower-caste politics, and us immigration policy—have equated being upper caste, being indian, and having ‘merit.’ moreover, they have shifted the meaning of merit from intellectualism to entrepreneurship. the iitians of silicon valley, in particular, have reinforced notions of indian technical merit—with its roots in casteist policy and practice—while shrouding from view the presence of caste. the arrival of the silicon valley iitian enmeshed the diasporic engineer and the entrepreneur through a four-stage process that began with, first, the iitians flagging their institutional pedigree more explicitly; second, creating a pan-iit institutional kinship; third, giving tangible form to this kinship sentiment through organizations such as the pan-iit alumni association; and finally, ensuring media coverage of brand iit. subramanian presents a fluent—and chilling—retelling of the diasporic iitian worldview, which she memorably describes as ‘diasporic liberation theology [that] places the nation’s deliverance squarely in the hands of the u.s.-based iitian.’ in this self-congratulatory worldview, the iits were ‘a beacon of light’ dispelling the darkness of indian state socialism, whose graduates had to migrate to avoid ‘the mediocrity produced by socialist conditions.’ by bringing ‘the spirit of entrepreneurship’ back to the homeland, the diasporic iitian would cultivate a new generation of capitalists who could ‘once and for all remove the nation’s shackles of socialism.’ what the entrepreneurs feared most of all was ‘brand dilution’ of iits, and by extension, of the indian entrepreneur, and, therefore, of all of india! one of the most significant contributions of this book is its formulation of ‘upper casteness.’ this concept is both more accurate in describing the emergent forms of caste capital accumulation and more nimble-footed in keeping pace with the rapid transformations of caste in the twenty-first century than existing concepts describing upper caste consolidation such as m n srinivas’s dominant caste, rajni kothari’s entrenched castes, k. balagopal’s provincial propertied classes, or kancha iliaih’s neo-kshatriyas. subramanian’s capacious formulation of upper casteness joins cause with similar articulations within dalit studies that have insisted on taking into account the ideological, ritual, and performative forms of domination as well as the material, technological, and institutional forms of caste consolidation. if thinkers of dalit studies have understood caste to be ‘institutionalized in the modern state as a form of power and as a source of privilege,’ they have also ‘contested the tendency to treat caste only as an instrument of oppression (untouchability, violence and dehumanization) and recreated it into a new identity of self-assertion and pride’ (satyanarayana and tharu, 2011). these emergent forms of solidarity and community on higher education campuses such as iitm appear in the concluding 222 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 chapter. there, subramanian notes the impact of the may 2014 election of narendra modi on the campuses of iit madras, university of hyderabad, and jawaharlal nehru university. particularly significant developments are the formation of the ambedkar periyar study circle at iitm and its growth at other institutes across the country in response to temporary ‘de-recognition’ by iitm administration, and the rapid growth of the ambedkar student association across the country following the tragic suicide of rohith vemula, which was widely interpreted as institutional murder. both groups have followed a similar trajectory of emergence, institutional opposition, and defiant growth. in the coming years, this book will be a critical resource to understand the growth of these anti-caste student groups and the changing dynamics between caste and merit brought about by the newly-instituted economically weaker section quota.10 perhaps with an eye on this emergent scenario, subramanian cautions that while ‘meritocracy as a principle continues to animate calls for equalization,’ we must call into question the assumption that meritocracy can ever be ‘a leveler of opportunity’ for it has historically serviced the reproduction of inequality. this book challenges theorizations of caste that focus on its systematization, givenness, or textuality, and instead turns our gaze towards political processes of exclusion through which caste privilege is gathered, reproduced, and protected. caste, this book shows, is neither survival from the pre-modern past—a nauseating claim repeated most often by those who continue to benefit from it—nor is it only a ritual or religious phenomenon. in subramanian’s telling, it becomes clear that caste informs and inflects even that hallowed core belief of neoliberal capitalism: merit. moreover, the portrait of caste that emerges here is neither one that can be entirely systematized by, say, varnashrama or the colonial ethnographic state, nor is it so localized as to defy any attempt at capacious theorization. rather, the consolidation of upper casteness made possible through the notion of meritocracy—and built on the separation of embodied practical industrial skilled labour and conceptual mathematical theoretical knowledge—constitute a new poetics of caste practice that bridge the old and the new, the colonial and the postcolonial, the local and the global. to return to the cisco case: it is the entrenched casteist logic of this poetics of practice that allowed the brahmin defendants to harass the dalit engineer. they are—as one character gushes in sandipan deb’s hagiography, the iitians, which subramanian re-reads critically—the ‘new brahmins, except that they wouldn’t be reading the scriptures, they would be technocrats.’ if anything, subramanian demonstrates the continuities between the old and ‘new brahmins,’ and, in the process, provides a clear portrait of caste in contemporary india and its grasping transnational tentacles. the caste of merit is subramanian’s second book, coming after shorelines: space and rights in south india. if shorelines studied the rights claims and caste modernity of the fisher community, the caste of merit shows the exclusionary mechanisms of caste privilege within the framework of modernity. together, these two works represent the ways in which the protean dangers of caste interact with the enduring possibilities of modernity. the caste of merit will appeal most particularly to anthropologists of caste, historians of modern india, and scholars of dalit studies, and more generally, to book review 223 anyone working in or on south asia. moreover, the book is relevant to anyone living with south asians, for, as the cisco case shows, caste is a malaise that we south asians have taken with us wherever we have gone. in a time when struggles across the world are forging transnational solidarities, this book situates the reproduction of upper casteness through meritocracy within a global context by making generative connections with critical race theory. the caste of merit is, ultimately, the case against merit. in revealing the precise mechanics through which the ideology of merit becomes a technocratic tool of caste, subramanian makes a significant contribution not only to the study of caste but, more importantly, to the struggle against caste. references balagopal, k. (2011). ear to the ground: writings on class and caste. new delhi: navayana publishing. bourdieu, pierre, and jean claude passeron. (1990) reproduction in education, society and culture vol. 4. second edition, new delhi: sage publications ltd. chakravarti, uma. (2003). gendering caste: through a feminist lens. new delhi: sage publications pvt. ltd. dfeh (2020, june 30). dfeh sues cisco systems, inc. and former managers for caste-based discrimination, department of fair employment & housing, retrieved from https://www. dfeh.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2020/06/cisco_2020.06.30.pdf deshpande, satish. (2006). exclusive inequalities: merit, caste and discrimination in indian higher education today. economic and political weekly, 41( 24), pp. 2438–2444. retrieved from jstor, www.jstor.org/stable/4418346 deshpande, satish. (2010, march 3). pass, fail, distinction: the examination as a social institution, third marjorie sykes memorial lecture, regional institute of education, ajmer, retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/36917384/pass_fail_distinction_the_ examination_as_a_social_institution deshpande, satish. (2013). caste and castelessness: towards a biography of the ‘general category’. economic and political weekly, 48(15), pp. 32–39. retrieved from jstor, www.jstor.org/stable/23527121 henry, nikhila. (2018). the ferment: youth unrest in india. delhi: macmillan. indica news. (2020, october 23). cisco’s caste-based lawsuit dismissed, but the fight continues, dfeh spokesperson. retrieved from https://indicanews.com/2020/10/23/ciscos-castebased-lawsuit-dismissed-but-the-fight-continues-dfeh-spokesperson/ jeenger, kailash. (2020, july 13) the supreme court must note that reservation is a fundamental right, the wire, retrieved from https://thewire.in/law/supreme-court-reservationfundamental-right money control. (2020, october 22). caste bias lawsuit against cisco dismissed from california court, refiled in santa clara county state court. retrieved from https://www.moneycontrol. com/news/business/caste-bias-lawsuit-against-cisco-dismissed-from-california-courtrefiled-in-santa-clara-county-state-court-5998271.html 224 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 mustafa, faizan. (2019, january 15). an expert explains: new quota and basic structure, the indian express, retrieved from https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/10-percentquota-reservation-economically-weaker-section-supreme-court-5538470/ nader, laura. (1972) up the anthropologist: perspectives gained from studying up, in dell hymes (ed.) reinventing anthropology, new york: vintage books. ovichegan, samson k. (2015). faces of discrimination in higher education in india: quota policy, social justice and the dalits. new delhi: routledge. pathania, gaurav j. (2018). the university as a site of resistance: identity and student politics. delhi: oup india. satyanarayana, k., and tharu, susie (eds) (2011). no alphabet in sight: new dalit writing from south india: dossier 1. delhi: penguin india. satyanarayana, k., and tharu, susie (eds) (2013). steel nibs are sprouting: new dalit writing from south india: dossier 2. delhi: harper. sircar, anisha. (2020, july 11). california’s landmark lawsuit against cisco trains the spotlight on casteism in the tech world, scroll.in retrieved from https://scroll.in/global/966992/ californias-landmark-lawsuit-against-cisco-trains-the-spotlight-on-casteism-in-the-techworld the wire (2020, october 21). california drops caste discrimination case against cisco, says will re-file. https://thewire.in/caste/california-drops-caste-discrimination-case-againstcisco-says-will-re-file thorat, sukhadeo, and newman, katherine s. (2012). blocked by caste: economic discrimination in modern india. new delhi: oxford university press. toi (2019, january 14). 10% reservation for economically weak in general category comes into force, the times of india, retrieved from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ india/10-reservation-for-economically-weak-in-general-category-comes-into-force/ articleshow/67528010.cms vishwanath, apurva. (2019, august 7). ews quota law: what a five-judge constitution bench will look into, the indian express, retrieved from https://indianexpress.com/article/ explained/ews-quota-law-what-a-five-judge-constitution-bench-will-look-into-6543170/ endnotes 1 as this article was going to press in late october 2020, news emerged that the california department of fair employment and housing (dfeh) voluntarily dropped the federal lawsuit against cisco for caste discrimination. the dfeh has however suggested that it will re-file the complaint in a state court. for more, see the wire (2020). subsequent reports have quoted dfeh spokesperson that the case has been filed in the county court at santa clara, california. for more, see money control (2020, october 22) and indica news (2020, october 23). 2 ‘studying up’ refers to laura nader’s famous exhortation to analyze ‘the culture of power rather than the culture of the powerless, the culture of affluence rather than the culture of poverty’ (289). this task of studying up involves ‘principally studying the most powerful strata of urban society’ (289), which would involve studying down as well, leading to a comparative framework which anthropology is uniquely equipped to deal with for it has ‘specialized in understanding whole cultures in a cross-cultural context’ (293, original emphasis). see nader (1972). up the anthropologist, reinventing anthropology. book review 225 3 to name only a few scholarly accounts: sukhdeo thorat and katherine s. newman, blocked by caste: economic discrimination in modern india (2012); numerous articles including the introduction in the dossiers edited by k. satyanarayana and susie tharu: no alphabet in sight (2011), and steels nibs are sprouting (2013); uma chakravarti, gendering caste (2003); k. balagopal, ear to the ground (2011); samson ovichegan, faces of discrimination in higher education in india: quota policy, social justice and the dalits (2015); satish deshpande, caste and castelessness: towards a biography of the ‘general category’, (2013); exclusive inequalities: merit, caste and discrimination in indian higher education today, (2006); and pass, fail, distinction: the examination as a social institution, (2010); as well as more recently, gaurav pathania, the university as a site of resistance: identity and student politics (2018). excellent journalistic accounts in the wake of rohith vemula’s institutional murder by sudipto mondal, praveen donthi, and nikhila henry, including her book the ferment: youth unrest in india, have made significant contribution towards our understanding of caste in contemporary india. important reports by activist-scholar collectives include, most notably, the thorat committee report of discrimination at the all india institute of medical sciences, delhi (2007), and anweshi report of student suicide at the university of hyderabad (2013). 4 itis are industrial training institutes which are, as their name suggests, dedicated to technical training that produce skilled labour for engineering industries. the alliterative similarity to iits notwithstanding, the itis produce manual labour—‘technicians’—while iits produce knowledgeable managers—‘engineers’. this difference between iits and itis, subramanian shows, is one of caste reproduced through the ideology of meritocracy. 5 exclusive brahmin settlements in south india are called agraharams. the usage of this term by the justice party and the dravidian movement criticises technical institutes as exclusive brahmin spaces by comparing them to agraharams. 6 this reference to the tamil press is one of only two such instances in the book: the other being a quote by an interviewee who refers to two leading tamil magazines, kalki and ananda vikatan (234). given the robust print culture in tamil nadu and the history of non-brahmin critical thought, this chapter in particular and perhaps the book as a whole may have benefitted from greater engagement with tamil language mainstream media and critical thought. 7 subramanian relies on the important study by pierre bourdieu and jeanclaude passeron, reproduction in education, society, and culture (1977), which argues that ‘the inequalities between the classes are incomparably greater when measured by the probabilities of candidature […] than when measured by the probabilities of passing’ (p.155). the concern articulated by bourdieu and passeron, which subramanian echoes, is not that non-elite candidates will not make the jump, rather they are not permitted entry into the arena. 8 the term is satish deshpande’s. see ‘pass, fail, distinction.’ 9 the months following the book’s publication have shown this dynamic between the judicial opinions on reservations policy and upper caste consolidation through the logic of merit even more apparent: the supreme court has ruled on two separate occasions in the first half of 2020 that reservations were not a fundamental right in appointments and promotions. once again, targeted technocratic chiselling allows savarna discourse to weaken the logic of representation and equity that lies at the base of reservations. feb 7, 2020, and june 11, 2020. see jeenger, ‘the supreme court must note that reservation is a fundamental right,’ the wire. 226 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 10 the ews quota, which came into force in 2019, sets aside 10 percent of higher education seats and public sector jobs for communities hitherto not eligible for reservations and meeting various other criteria such as having an income below eight hundred thousand per annum and owning less than five acres of agricultural land. in effect, the ews is reservations for savarna communities. see ‘10% reservation for economically weak in general category comes into force,’ the times of india, and faizan mustafa, ‘an expert explains: new quota and basic structure,’ the indian express. appeals against the ews quota are currently under consideration by a constitutional bench at the time of writing in august 2020. see apurva vishwanath, ‘ews quota law: what a five-judge constitution bench will look into,’ the indian express. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 63–72 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.208 © 2020 anurag bhaskar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste ambedkar, lohia, and the segregations of caste and gender: envisioning a global agenda for social justice anurag bhaskar1 abstract dalit women face acute marginalization as a result of multiple and intersecting inequalities in terms of caste and gender. this is reflected adversely in their less representation, lower literacy and life expectancy levels, and other human indicators, compared to upper caste women. focus on these multiple forms of marginalization has been missing from the mainstream anti-caste and gender equality discourse and has led to a rise of dalit feminism. despite the emphasis on the nexus between caste and gender by equality icon dr. b.r. ambedkar, reactions to the emergence of dalit women’s movement as distinct from the mainstream upper caste-class led women’s movement and male dominated autonomous dalit movement have been ‘notoriously negative’. however, the dalit women’s movement must be seen as giving a fresh perspective to their struggles and experiences. this paper critiques the dalit movement as well as the feminist movement, and adds to the ‘dalit feminist standpoint’ by introducing it to the ideas of a prominent non-dalit social leader ram manohar lohia, who had spoken against the crippling effects of the caste-class-gender-race nexus. this paper envisions a broader social justice agenda by reading the ideas of ambedkar and lohia together. keywords dalit feminism, intersectionality, caste-class-gender nexus, gender, caste, race, marginalization introduction: multiple forms of marginalization a 2018 report of the united nations found that the average dalit (erstwhile untouchable castes) woman in india dies 14.6 years younger than her higher caste 1lecturer, jindal global law school, sonipat (haryana) e-mail: abhaskar@llm19.law.harvard.edu 64 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 counterparts (indian express, 2018). the un report, titled, ‘turning promises into action: gender equality in the 2030 agenda’ revealed that a woman’s caste in india can increase her exposure to mortality as a result of factors such as poor sanitation and inadequate water supply, and health care. the report further stated that the life expectancy among dalit women is eleven years lower than that of higher caste women despite experiencing identical social conditions like sanitation and drinking water. the clustered deprivations faced by dalit women were summarized by the report thus: the likelihood of being poor is greater if she is landless and from a scheduled caste.1 her low level of education and status in the social hierarchy will almost guarantee that if she works for pay, it will be under exploitative working conditions (ibid). the observations made in the report are just an example of the impact of the multiple and intersecting inequalities of caste and gender on dalit women’s literacy, life expectancy, and other human indicators (mantri &jayarajan, 2018). focus on these multiple forms of marginalization has been missing from the mainstream anti-caste and gender equality discourse and has led to a rise of dalit feminism. this separate stream of feminism scrutinizes the mainstream movements with a lens of skepticism and criticism, and places dr. b.r. ambedkar as the central figure for the women’s movement in india (rege,1998 &2013; paik, 2009 & 2016). this paper, while discussing the foundations of dalit feminism and the critique of mainstream feminist and dalit movements, attempts to make an addition to the ‘dalit feminist standpoint’ (rege, 1998) by introducing it to the ideas of caste-class-gender nexus propounded by dr. ram manohar lohia — a radical leader whose ideas of social justice have been ignored even by the anti-caste movement (yadav, 2012; kumar, 2017; bhaskar, 2018). combining the ideas of ambedkar and lohia, this paper envisions a broader social justice agenda in a global perspective. in any case, the author does not make a claim on ‘behalf’ of dalit women, rather poses as their ally. dalit feminism: foundations dalit feminism has emerged as a separate movement for social equality and justice (masoodi, 2018). it aims at ‘eradicating all forms of violence, intolerance, hierarchy and discrimination in the society’ (margaret, 2010). at the beginning of the 21st century several groups of dalit women came up across the country ‘trying to assert their identity and openly talking about the intersection of caste and gender’ (sharma, 2016; paik, 2009, p. 39). intersectionality2 recognizes that individuals can face discrimination on the basis of multiple and intersecting identities (crenshaw,1989,p. 149; campbell, 2016, p. 3). gopal guru (1995) justified the emergence of a separate struggle of dalit women by listing two factors (p. 2548): ‘external factors (non-dalit forces homogenizing the issue of dalit women) and internal factors (the patriarchal domination within the dalits).’ the mainstream feminist movement is the external factor which, in making claims for women solidarity at both national and international level, ‘subsumes contradictions that exist between high caste [women] and dalit women’ (ibid, p. 2549). these contradictions manifest in subtle forms of caste discrimination practised by ‘upper caste upper class women against dalit women in the urban areas and resorting to slander of dalit women in rural areas’ (ibid). moreover, feminism in india— essentially of the upper caste middle class woman’s making—came to be identified as a universalized female experience. guru has questioned the ‘hegemonic impulses ambedkar, lohia, and the segregations of caste and gender... 65 of indian feminists’ to speak for dalit women (ibid). this assertion found support in other scholarly works. sharmila rege has argued that the savarna (upper caste) feminists have invisibilized and excluded the experiences, struggles, and leadership of dalit andadivasi(indigenous) women (2018, p. 39). shailaja paik also noted that the upper caste-led indian feminist movement, since colonial times, ‘has been unable to critically engage and confront inequalities of caste of community implicit in that subject or its worlds’ (2009, p. 41). the internal factor—the mainstream male dominated dalit movement— by refusing to acknowledge the comparatively privileged location of dalit males denied dalit women an independent expression of assertion and identity. anandhi and kapadia (2017) state that ‘formal dalit politics totally ignores dalit women’s micro level politics of becoming as well as their struggles to collectivise and to address their multiple oppressions’ (p. 121). the ‘male sphere of dalit politics’ considers women’s political struggles to be entirely marginal to the ‘more important’ maleled politics of dalit rights and social justice (ibid). in her work based on everyday experiences of dalit women, paik (2014, p. 79; 2009, p. 43) notes that these women face ‘double discrimination’: by society (public discrimination) and at home (private discrimination). according to paik, the reaction of some dalit men to feminism (in general) and dalit women’s feminism (in particular) has been ‘notoriously negative,’ and they regard dalit feminism as a ‘powerful deterrent’ to the growth of an autonomous dalit movement (2009, p. 42). the personal accounts of several dalit women activists and writers also speak about patriarchal structures within the dalit community, which force its women to extreme marginalization (paik, 2014, p. 75). both these factors set forth the problematic tendency to treat gender and caste as mutually exclusive categories of analysis and experience. such a framework tends to not only theoretically erase and distort the struggles of dalit women, but it also dilutes the conception of discrimination. in the words of rege, ‘a masculinization of dalithood and a savarnisation of womanhood’ led to ‘a classical exclusion of dalit womanhood’ (1998, p. 42). the collective aspect of dalit women, when reduced to being oppressed just for being either a dalit or a woman, thus created a dearth of discourse onclustered deprivations around caste, class, and gender. responses to the ‘mainstream’ advocating the necessity of a distinct dalit feminist discourse, guru (1995) argues that direct experiences of discrimination and struggles of dalit women lend an authenticity to their claims —something which is lacking in the mainstream feminist narrative (p. 2549). echoing guru, rege (1998) states that dalit women should ‘talk differently’. however, she cautions that a ‘dalit feminist standpoint’, which ‘may originate in the works of dalit feminist intellectuals’, cannot ‘flourish if it is isolated from the experiences and ideas of other groups’ (p. 45). it must ‘educate itself about the histories, preferred social relations, the utopias, and struggles of the marginalized’ (ibid). rege further suggests that non-dalit feminists should adopt a dalit feminist standpoint by ‘losing and revising the voice of the mainstream savarna feminist thought’. this would not only authorize the non-dalit feminists to speak ‘as’ or ‘for’ dalit women but they can ‘reinvent’ themselves as dalit feminists (ibid). adding to the discourse, ritu sen chaudhari (2016) stresses upon ‘the responsibility of feminist theories to address questions concerning caste experiences’ and the ‘implications of 66 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 such discourses on the experiences of the dalit woman’ (p. 1). chaudhari, however, differs from the ‘reinventing’ approach of rege and calls on the ‘elite feminists’ to critique the ‘self’ by deliberating upon ‘the implication of non-dalit feminism in the making of dalit woman’ (ibid, p. 11). she asks the mainstream feminists to consider how the elite woman posed herself as against [the dalit woman], and ‘read how the dalit woman has been produced, as an “other” (of the non-dalit woman), through the experiences of the non-dalit woman’ (ibid). in agreement with rege (1998), paik (2009, p. 45) conceptualized a radical dalit women’s movement and argued for ‘a porous struggle’, in which the mainstream (upper caste-class led) feminist movement, dalit men, and other political parties who share their interests support the endeavors of dalit women. paik thus pointed: ‘it is only by understanding the contradictions and complexities inherent in dalit women within various structures, by looking at their local context and constitution, that dalit men and upper caste middle class women [would] devise effective political challenges and action’ (ibid). these critiques of the ‘mainstream’ highlight the constant need to engage with an alternate approach of addressing gender and caste simultaneously. ambedkar, lohia, and the intersectionof caste and gender despite the emphasis on the intersection between caste and gender by ambedkar and later by other social reformers like lohia, the mainstream dalit movement has failed to provide a separate discourse on safeguarding the rights of dalit women. ambedkar’s theory of caste clearly identifies linkages with the subordination of women (2019, pp. 5-22). ambedkar stated that the patriarchal control over female sexuality was an essential component for the purpose of reinforcement of the caste system. he theorized that women have been used as a medium to perpetuate caste system by citing the specific examples of sati (the practice of widow immolation on the funeral pyre of her husband), enforced widowhood (prohibiting widow remarriage), and pre-pubertal marriage of girls. ambedkar believed that the caste-gender nexus was the main reason behind the oppression of lower castes and women and that it had to be uprooted. he thus became a ‘passionate campaigner for an important feminist principle, namely women’s right to control their own sexuality and to determine their own choices in marriage’ (kapadia, 2020: p. 10). ambedkar also supported female leadership in the grassroots women’s organizations and movement, which evolved from the participation of women in his movement alongside men in 1920s to creation of autonomous organizations of women in 1930s and political organizations of women in 1940s (sonalkar, 2014, pp. 20-34). during his speech at the mahad satyagraha (non-violent protest), he directed the attention of dalit women to the specificities of women subjection and oppression due to caste and their subordination as ‘women’ and as ‘dalit’ (paik, 2009, p. 42). considered by some scholars (yadav, 2012; kumar, 2010; bhaskar, 2018) as an ideological successor to ambedkar, lohia propounded a deeper approach to address the deprivations created by caste, class, and gender. the author is reading the ideas of lohia along with ambedkar for two specific reasons. first, after ambedkar, lohia remains one of the few prominent leaders in independent india who made a strong theoretical case for annihilation of caste. between 1955 and 1958, lohia made extensive contacts with major anti-caste movements, socio-political organizations and leaders of the scheduled castes and the backward classes in north, west and south india, ambedkar, lohia, and the segregations of caste and gender... 67 including ambedkar, periyar and r l chandapuri (kumar, 2010). second, the social justice movement would be strengthened by including the radical ideas of non-dalit leaders like lohia, who have made important contributions to the anti-caste discourse. lohia contributed significantly to the ‘formulation of an inter-sectionalist approach for understanding the inequalities, exclusions and exploitations in the power system of contemporary india’ (kumar, 2010: p. 64). according to lohia (1953), ‘all those who think that, with the removal of poverty through a modern economy, [the segregations of caste and gender] will automatically disappear make a big mistake. poverty and these two segregations thrive on earth other’s worms.’ he further said: ‘all war on poverty is a sham, unless it is, at the same time, a conscious and sustained war on these two segregations’ (ibid). lohia propounded a theory on the ‘seven revolutions of our time’ (kumar, 2010, p. 66), which identified the main aspects of inequality, each of which deserved to be addressed in its own sphere and simultaneously. out of the seven revolutions, four pertained to aspects of inequality within a society – gender, caste, class and race. his analysis of social inequality in india focused on the trio of caste, class, and gender. lohia conceptualized a direct link ‘between revitalizing indian society and giving equality to women in all spheres of life’ (ibid, p. 66). his theory of simultaneous revolutions emphasizes upon the autonomy of the various dimensions of social life that required revolutionary transformation (yadav, 2010, p. 99). lohia’s approach thus underlines that the concerns of dalit women are not subservient to the dalit movement and should not be left unaddressed. these concerns have to be addressed simultaneously along with the thrust for caste equality. furthermore, lohia’s approach goes beyond the isolated approach of ‘class’ and ‘gender’, which the upper caste-class feminists in india have relied upon. the ideas of lohia can facilitate the upper caste feminists and dalit men to realize that the question of gender and caste cannot be dealt separately, while ignoring their intersectional impact. a focus on the relationship between caste and gender, as emphasized by both ambedkar and lohia, also highlights the repercussions of treating gender and caste as mutually exclusive categories in the contemporary intellectual, institutional, and legal discourse. for instance, among the dalit movement and initiatives — from academicians to politicians — the ‘prominent single factor’ (kumar, 2010, p. 64) approach (caste-centric) seems to have been more prevalent than intersectional perspectives. when the ‘smash brahminical patriarchy’ issue arose out of a poster in hands of twitter ceo (dhanaraj, 2018), kancha ilaiah shephered (2018) compared patriarchy among dalits with brahminical patriarchy, and declared that the latter is ‘more oppressive and undemocratic’. ilaiah backed his statement by giving examples such as ‘there has always existed the right to remarry among the shudra/ dalit/ adivasi cultures’ and that the ‘shudra/dalit/adivasi culture and heritage reflect a democratic man-woman relationship’(ibid). contrary to the assertions of ilaiah, paik has questioned the postulate of considering dalit women as‘somehow more free than high caste women’ (2009, p. 39). according to her, the struggle of dalit women against sexism of dalit men is intrinsic to their identity (ibid: p. 45). furthermore, while critiquing the usage of the term ‘dalit patriarchy’ in feminist discourse, sunaina arya made an important assertion that the patriarchy prevalent among the dalit men is a manifestation of ‘brahminical patriarchy’ itself (2020, p. 223; chakravarti, 2018: p. 34). both paik and arya endorsed guru’s internal critique (1995) of patriarchy in dalit politics. any manifestation of brahminical patriarchy among dalit men cannot be even remotely justified on the ground that it is lesser evil than brahminical patriarchy. paik’s and arya’s response highlight the limitations of the ‘single-factor’ approach. 68 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 another example can be found in some form of socio-economic mobility among the dalits. the male migration-related mobility continues to confine dalit women to agricultural wage work—with ‘no ownership, real or titular, of the land’ (masoodi, 2018).women of the lower castes in agrarian situations remain largely ignored (paik, 2009, p. 40). moreover, of the 1.2 million manual scavengers in india, about ninetyfive to ninety-eight percent are dalit women (kumar and preet, 2020). these issues and concerns are not reflected in the policy discourses because of the caste-centric ‘single factor’ approach. furthermore, when a dalit woman is sexually assaulted by upper caste men, it is not just a case of male violence or criminality. the factor of her caste also needs to be considered, wherein the dalit women are targeted in order to ‘teach a lesson’ to the dalit community (irudayam, mangubhai & lee, 2006, p. 9). this crucial understanding of multiple forms of marginalization was missed by the supreme court of india in its judgment, shakti vahini vs. union of india, 2018 on ‘honour killings.’ the court considered ‘honour killings’ as a gender-based crime, while ignoring the caste angle in such cases. therefore, the ‘mainstream’ discourses must consider an intersectional approach of marginalization. as shreya atrey (2019) has argued, intersectional discrimination should exist as a unique category in discrimination law. the dalit feminist movement, which focuses on ‘intersectionality’, is thus deeply rooted in the ambedkarite and lohiaite thought of self-assertion, transcending the caste identity markers. addressing the connection between social identities and patriarchy expands the feminist project (roberts, 1993, p. 37). moreover, it also enables to broaden the conception of discrimination in the legal discourse. global agenda for social justice the approach of ambedkar and lohia can help the dalit feminist movement to frame a broader social justice agenda. lohia’s ideas call for a global discourse on simultaneous addressing of several aspects of inequality — in particular, caste, class, race, and gender. this theory also resembles the struggle of black women in the united states, which is also much broader than the general categories that the antidiscrimination discourse provides. in an incisive analysis, crenshaw (1989) argued that:black women can experience discrimination in ways that are both similar to and different from those experienced by white women and black men (p. 149).3 similar to experiences of dalit women in india, she stated that ‘black women were failed by anti-racist campaigns that focused on the experiences and needs of black men, and feminist campaigns led by and focused on the experiences of white women’ (smith, 2016, p. 73). in brazil, afro-brazilian feminists have been at ‘the forefront of efforts to integrate an intersectional perspective in international human rights discourse and feminist practices’ (franklin, 2011, p. 142). they have focused on the development of stronger transitional coalitions, by highlighting the ‘similarities of black women’s experiences across national borders and have looked to initiate cross-border dialogue on the interconnected nature of their struggles’ (ibid, page 152). the objective of such transnational collaborations has been ‘to affirm the development of a black feminist identity through social activism, offering women an autonomous forum to cultivate and strengthen their struggles against sexism and racism in their individual countries and across the region” (ibid).4 the ‘internationalist vision’ displayed in such initiatives has ‘encouraged cooperation among black women and increased awareness of the ambedkar, lohia, and the segregations of caste and gender... 69 common concerns of health and economic, and personal security faced by the black population’ (ibid). lohia’s ideas conceptualize building up of global or transnational alliances to tackle intersectional inequalities based on caste, race, gender, and class. like alliances built up by afro-brazilian women with black women of other countries, dalit women can also join these alliances to form larger social movements. these alliances need not be formed by a person’s race, caste or gender, but on the basis of common contexts of struggle against specific exploitative forces (elkholy, 2020) or what paik calls “margin to margin” solidarity (2014, p. 75). such a transnational exercise can encourage ‘the creation of wider social communities and the sharing of memories, histories, and even institutions’ and forge a broad feminist, anti-patriarchal, anti-caste, and anti-racist framework (paik, 2014, p. 92-93).the feminist initiatives in different countries can engage with such alliances to form cross-cultural coalitions against injustices and inequalities. it is then that the mainstream feminists ‘can better work with, and not for, women (and men)’ suffering social disadvantages (elkholy, 2020). dalit feminists can make concerted efforts with other feminist and social movement actors who seek to challenge racial, caste and gender injustices across the globe. conclusion the narrative of dalit women’s movement today needs to be shaped by recognizing and learning from their struggles from its beginning, and recounting the path it has traversed. the dalit feminist groups that challenge caste and patriarchy are questioning structural changes. their fight should be welcomed. in 1995, guru observes that independent assertion of dalit women should not be viewed by dalit men as divisive (p. 2549). the journey and struggle of dalit women only shows that guru’s statement is of equal import even today. while rege calls up on the savarna feminists to reinvent themselves as dalit feminists, an equal burden lies on dalit men too. the maledominated dalit discourse has to be conscious of the concerns of its women. dalit men have a heavy responsibility that they do not subsume ‘gender’ under the ‘caste’ collective. the struggle for equality must be consistent. in furtherance of the legacy of ambedkar, the question of caste has to be addressed along with the intersectional impact of gender and caste. the mainstream savarna feminists and male dominated dalit movement should engage with the intersectional approach of dalit feminism. it would only strengthen the fight for caste and gender equality. by including the radical ideas of a non-dalit leader such as ram manohar lohia into its fold, the social justice movement can forge a broader social justice agenda. this would also increase the appeal of the anti-caste social justice movement. the emerging global discourse on caste-race nexus (paik, 2014; wilkerson, 2020) will be comprehensive only with the inclusion of the nexus of caste, gender, class, and race, as lohia had emphasized. while building transnational alliances across different regions of the world, the initiative to address intersectionality of caste and gender can begin from home. dalit intellectuals made a move by supporting the initial judgment (indian young lawyers association vs. state of kerala, 2018) of the supreme court, which permitted the entry of women between age group of ten and fifty years in the sabarimala temple.5 the upper caste-class feminists can reciprocate the cause for equality by endorsing political reservation for dalit, adivasi and other backward classes women in the pending women reservation bill in parliament. 70 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 acknowledgments i thank ashok gurung, anupama rao, sunaina arya, kalyani, surendra kumar, priyanka preet, suraj yengde, vinod mishra, and anonymous reviewers who helped to conceptualize and improve this paper. references ambedkar, b.r. 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denied all rights and privileges in pre-independent india. 2 american scholar kimberle crenshaw is credited with coining the term ‘intersectionality’in her 1989 article. in india, the nexus between caste, gender, class, etc. was explored by both ambedkar and lohia in their respective writings between 1915 and 1960. 3 crenshaw made an important analysis: ‘black women sometimes experience discrimination in ways similar to white women’s experiences; sometimes they share very similar experiences with black men. yet often they experience double-discrimination—combined effects of practices which discriminate on the basis of race, and on the basis of sex. and sometimes, they experience discrimination as black women—not the sum of race and sex discrimination, but as black women.’ 4 the cited article discusses one of the impacts of transnational alliance of black women as follows: ‘women representatives from thirty-three countries, including brazil, costa rica, nicaragua, and honduras, hold regular regional forums to discuss the specific issues encountered by black women, including high rates of hiv/aids, land displacement, exclusion from political office, and the far-reaching impact of neo-liberal economic mandates on their social and economic livelihoods.’ 5 the judgment is at present under review before a nine-judge bench of the supreme court. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 157–168 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.188 © 2020 aparna vyas. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste a cultural psychological reading of dalit literature: a case study of joothan by om prakash valmiki aparna vyas1 abstract dalit literature has been a major cultural artefact in struggles against castebased oppression and discrimination. it not only negotiates a collective identity for dalits but also introduces variability in negotiations for the same. this paper focuses on the nuances of one such negotiationthe making of a hindi dalit writer. at the theoretical backdrop of cultural psychology, utilizing the conceptual machinery of zittoun, the paper analyzes the autobiographical narrative of om prakash valmiki. it identifies the ruptures and the transitional processes in valmiki’s life. these processes of transitions include identity redefinition, knowledge and skills; and meaning making. these processes were facilitated by varied resources: social, cognitive and symbolic. valmiki’s relocation to a city led to the change in his frame of activity. thereafter, at each stage of his life, his social circle widened, his cognitive skills got enhanced and symbolic resources were used at progressively higher level of reflexivity. the major social resources were found to be the people with whom he came in contact after relocating to the city. the cognitive resources were found to be hindi mainstream literature, marathi dalit literature, and theatrical devices. the symbolic resources were the works of phule, ambedkar and marx. accessibility and utilization of all these resources eased the reconfiguration of the semiotic prism reifying his identity as a hindi dalit writer enabling him transform the caste-based experiences on the plane of fiction challenging the power hierarchy embedded in social reality. keywords dalit literature, valmiki, joothan, dalit expression, caste 1doctoral scholar, zakir husain centre for educational studies, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india e-mail: a02.vyas@gmail.com 158 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 introduction the word dalit captures the collective struggle against the caste based hierarchy and oppression associated with it. it encapsulates the collective emotion of anguish resulting from being downtrodden for centuries in the name of rituals and traditions associated with religion. drawing vitality from the teachings of dr. b.r. ambedkar, dalit literature is the expression of the dissatisfaction that dalit writers have had with the so-called upper caste writers who never took discriminatory practices into account as ‘rarely did a writer take up an untouchable character and treat him realistically, like an ordinary human being full of vitality, hope as well as despair’ (kumar, 2010, p.129). their experiences of marginalization in almost every sphere of life made dalit writers assert their opinions which found creative expression in the form of almost every genre of literature— poems, stories, folklore, dramas and non-fiction. the present paper focuses on one of those excruciatingly painful account of experiences penned down by renowned hindi dalit writer, om prakash valmiki. his autobiographical account joothan (leftover) analyzed here is laden with the anguish as well as anger resulting from rampant caste based discrimination and exclusion. sadly, this literature of resistance has been subjected to the same exclusion and undermined using several parameters. it has been accused of being propagandist, univocal and resentful in nature, and is disregarded on the universal standards of artistic finesse, neutrality and objectivity (limbale, 2004). critics posing these questions to dalit literature, as discussed by valmiki (2001) fall into three categories. the first group includes those who negate the overall existence of dalit literature. the second group objects the authorship and ownership of dalits over literature and holds the view that non-dalits can also write dalit literature. the third group comprises those dalit critics who consider it inappropriate to bring out the experiential life of dalits as part of public discourse. as a fitting rejoinder to these critics, dalit writers have set their standards for the aesthetics of dalit literature. they have focused on the notion of art for life sake instead of art for art sake and define it ‘as literature which artistically portrays the sorrows, tribulations, slavery, degradation, ridicule and poverty endured by dalits’ (limbale, 2004, p.30). since the word dalit encompasses the suffering of all those who have been subjected to humiliation and injustice pertaining to caste, class, and gender, so the literary standards to evaluate this literature should be based on the theory capable of capturing social justice as its essence rather than the yardstick of entertainment and beauty. dalit literature voices experiences of the constant search of the self-respect while attacking the traditions set against this search. it questions the established criteria of neutrality and objectivity. it rejects the maxim of satyam, shivam sundaram (truth, godliness and beauty)3 and seeks to see life in its untruth, unholy and unbeauty of reality from the vantage points of a dalit (ibid). writing in the same vein, valmiki (2001) underlines premchand’s incapability to capture the lived realities of dalits as he constantly portrays them as hapless victims drawing extensively on the metaphors, phrases, and language representing the upper caste mind-set. he also puts to scrutiny the sanskrit and western literary conventions which are considered the very origins of aesthetic tradition in hindi literature, and further stresses the inability of these forced conventions in portraying the essence a cultural psychological reading of dalit literature... 159 and specificities of dalit lives and doing justice with the linguistic, metaphorical, and emotional foundations of dalit literature (ibid). pointing out the time and context bound nature of literature, limbale (2004) writes, ‘the act of imagination called art is impermanent and ever changing. literature changes with changing culture. unless the yardsticks change, the relationship between literature and criticism will be fractured’ (p.107). and valmiki (2001) restores this relationship between dalit literature and its criticism by combining the tenets of ambedkarism and marxism representing caste and class consciousness respectively. he also lays down the key elements of dalit chetna (consciousness) based on the vision of ambedkar, rejecting ram chandra shukla’s definition of a great poetry. in an effort to extend an interdisciplinary understanding into dalit literature, the present paper is an attempt to analyze the text through the prism of psychology. it has two sections: the first includes reflexivity statement, a discussion on the theoretical framework and method of analysis. the second section presents the analysis of joothan into different frames of activity. the paper argues that a dalit autobiography analyzed from the semiotic prism of cultural psychology unfolds a much nuanced account of the making of a dalit writer embedded in specific socio-cultural and historical milieu. reflexivity statement born and brought up in a relatively socially-privileged household, i was introduced to dalit literature as a student of educational studies. my first reading in dalit literature was an english translation of akkarmashi(the outcaste) by sharan kumar limbale which led me to sleepless nights and restless days. for the first time i could understand the idea of caste beyond its constitutionally recognized categories. as a student of psychology in graduation and post-graduation, i reviewed studies on caste but majority of those treated caste merely as a variable and not as an experiential reality of the indian society. such reduction of caste into a variable which can be easily manipulated, balanced, and controlled, if the researcher is ‘not interested’ in observing its impact, is informed by and based on ‘the two world problem: out there vs. in here’. these two worlds are ‘psychological world of the self (which perceives, deliberates and decides), and at the same time a material world (that which exists outside our thoughts)’ (gergen,1999, p. 8). deletion of such narratives from the academic field and the disturbing silence of psychology, specifically when it comes to the theorization of caste, regarding these issues are even more disquieting. against the theoretical backdrop of cultural psychology, the present paper is my reading of joothan by om prakash valmiki. the purpose of presenting the reading as a case study is to chart out a way how a dalit life-narrative can be analyzed psychologically, bringing forth the transformation of a boy who was subjected to caste-based atrocities into a notable dalit writer who wrote resistance. people may read the autobiography from varied lenses and the reading presented here is one of the innumerable possibilities that narratives of resistance have to offer. i have attempted to read this narrative against the backdrop of my disciplinary capabilities. 160 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 theoretical framework and method cultural psychology lays emphasis on the mutual constitution of mind and culture, the process of meaning making, and the mediational nature of cognitive processes. it does not reduce culture into an entity or, ‘a “thing” that one “has”, or “gets” (by assimilation or socialization), but the active process of mediating human lives through signs, both intraand inter psychologically. the central issue for cultural psychology is to locate culture in the life activities of agentive persons. these persons are meaning makers, and the meaning made frame their relations with the environment.’ (valsiner, 2014, p.47-48) under the broader theoretical framework of cultural psychology, the paper utilizes the conceptual machinery of zittoun (2007a, 2007b, 2008). the unit of analysis is rupturetransition. ruptures here refer to the events and situations of life that pose a challenge for the taken for granted reality of an individual. they are considered psychologically significant only when the individual concerned perceives them as such. these are analyzed after the levels of explanation of the world given by doise (as cited in zittoun, 2007a) as related to ‘intra-psychic, interpersonal relationships, one’s relationship to a social group or to a societal state’ (ibid, p.351). they are followed by the processes of transition – ‘through which the person engages in restoring some sense of personal integrity, regularity, and continuity, and reduces uncertainty’ (ibid, p.348). the processes of transition include three interdependent processesidentity redefinition, knowledge and skills, and meaning making. each of this process of transition is facilitated by specific resources. an individual mobilizes social resources (mobilization of the social networks and social knowledge) in order to aid the process of identity redefinition. in the same way, cognitive resources assist the process of learning. the third kind of resources is symbolic resources which facilitate the process of meaning making. symbolic resources refer to how people make use of cultural artefacts or elements as developmental resources in the face of situations loaded with uncertainty (zittoun, 2007b). three important conditions that she delineates for any cultural element to be considered a symbolic resource are the following. 1. intentional use of the cultural element at least partially deviant from its ‘aboutness’. 2. use of the cultural element should be ‘beyond the immediate cultural value and meaning of that cultural element’ (zittoun, 2007a, p.344). 3. inclusion of cultural elements ‘that require an “imaginary” experience-the creation of a sphere of experience beyond here and now of the socially shared reality’ (ibid). symbolic resources mediate in the three basic psychological processes: intentionality, inscription in time, and distancing. about intentionality, zittoun writes, ‘symbolic resources are cultural elements which, when used by the person, become about something else with some intention’ (ibid, p.346). the use of symbolic resources is located in time and ‘the knitting of past and future into the present’ is required for their use. besides, each successive level of distancing represents the experience in a distant mannerfrom an embodied state, to contained and fixed emotional patterns; from those, to a labeled situation; from the latter, to categories grouping various experiences of self and the world; and from categories to orienting values. ‘symbolic resources offer such distancing possibility, because they create an imaginary sphere where personal, unique experiences meet culturally elaborated versions of other people’s comparable a cultural psychological reading of dalit literature... 161 experiences (ibid,p.348).they are generative in nature when used ‘across a wide range of modality of uses’. they enhance or transform the understanding of the individual about self, about other and about the world as well. the use of these resources is reflexive in nature. here the dimension of usage ranges from degree zero use to the reflective use. degree zero use is related with the simple appreciation of a cultural element. in quasi use, the individual possesses a vague sense that using that cultural element actually affects him/her. during intuitive use, the individual may not be clearly conscious about it still they acknowledge the effects of having specific cultural experience. deliberate and reflective usage entails the active search for a cultural element to use it as a resource,reflection about the potential uses of the cultural element and the changes resulting from the utilization of the element (ibid, p.354). the process of transitions is represented through the semiotic prism having the four corners representing the subject, the other, the symbolic object, and the subject’s sense of symbolic object. the model addresses both the intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics. the former ones are represented by the vector between the person and the person’s-sense-of-the-object and the latter ones are represented by the person-to-other and person-to-object-vectors (zittoun, 2008). the semiotic prisms (figure1 and 2) depicted in the present paper are based and adapted from this framework. (ibid, p.168). the semiotic prism is located within the specific setting called a frame of activity for the individual. the concept of frame stands for the larger societal context where social interactions take place. therefore: change can be seen as linked to the reconfiguration of the elements constitutive of the semiotic prism, and of their respective relationshipsa change of the relationship of the person towards the other, the transformation of the sense of situation for the person, and consequently, of the object for him/her. through such reconfigurations, something radically new can also emerge. (zittoun, 2008, p. 16) the paper intends to work with the said conceptual machinery to thematically analyze the autobiography of om prakash valmiki. for the purpose of analysis, valmiki’s autobiography joothan has been divided in two parts: before relocation and after relocation. relocations here signify the changing pattern of the dialectical relationship between valmiki and his environment. the phase preceding relocation marks the predominance of environment over the agency, but in the life after relocation the agency occupies centre stage. in brief, the analysis of vlamiki’s autobiography focuses on these questions – was there a rupture in the experiential life of valmiki? if yes, what was it and did it lead to transitions? what were the processes of transitions and what were the resources at hand that were utilized to facilitate these transitions? before relocation: village as the frame of activity being the youngest and the most pampered child of his family, valmiki was always encouraged to study by his parents and family members. his father, especially, had been very supportive in this regard because he believed that education was the only means by which caste can be ‘improved’. valmiki received his primary education from sewak ram masihi who used to teach children of chuhra’s (sweeper) community in his neighbourhood. as valmiki recalls, ‘i learnt my alphabet in master sewak ram 162 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 masihi’s open air school, a school without mats or rooms’ (valmiki, 2003, p.2). in this school ‘without mats and rooms’, he didn’t mention a single sign of discrimination. an argument between his father and the teacher, masihi (of whom valmiki does not give any account), made his father get valmiki enrolled to the basic primary school by requesting master harphool singh, ‘masterji, i’ll be forever in your debt if you teach this child of mine a letter or two’ (ibid, p.3). in the new school, however, valmiki faced caste-based discrimination that he describes in detail. he was made to sweep the whole school which was an unusual work for him: ‘i swept the whole day. i had never done so much work being (the) pampered one among my brothers’ (ibid, p.5). what left a deep impression on his mind was the retaliation of his father to this maltreatment at the school and restored his confidence to some extent. another incident that he mentions ‘as life changing’ was his mother’s retaliation against insult inflicted on her by a tyagi(an upper caste person). both these incidents worked as an illuminating force in valmiki’s life which was darkened by caste oppression from an early age. due to the weak financial condition of his family, he could not get admission to school after fifth standard. ‘there was no question of taking admission given the circumstances the family found itself in. how could one think of studies when one didn’t even have food’ (ibid, p.14). at this juncture, his bhabhi(sister-in-law) came to his rescue and offered her only ornament to sell and pay for his studies. he did make progress in his studies. ‘i had stood first in my section in the halfyearly exam. my results bolstered my self-confidence. i was made the class monitor after the examination and my seat was moved from the back of the class to the front’ (ibid, p.17). despite his great academic performance, he was constantly discriminated in school which was not only limited to preventing him from participating in extracurricular activities. rather, all the teachers were tyagis, and among the students too tyagis were in majority. no one could afford to say anything against them. during the examination we could not drink water from a glass when thirsty. to drink water, we had to cup our hands. the peon would pour water from way high up, lest our hands touch the glass. (ibid, p.19) caste based discrimination affected his adjustment outside school as well. literature was the means to get solace amidst all this. he borrowed books from the school library and read them to his mother. he was greatly influenced by the character of saratchandra. gradually, reading became his passion, and books his best friends. he turned into a quiet and introvert child. the basti people used to call me the quiet one, perhaps because i did not speak as much as they did. they minded my reticence. i did not participate in their day-to day activities either. i was absorbed in my books. it was during these days that i read premchand, sarat chandra, and rabnidra nath tagore borrowed from the school library. i was gradually developing a taste for literature and had also begun to try my hand in verse. (ibid, p.68) at this stage, literature as a cultural element was used by valmiki intuitively on the dimension of reflexivity. he was able to appreciate literature that he was reading a cultural psychological reading of dalit literature... 163 (degree zero uses); also had a sense that literature had an effect on him (quasi use); and was also capable of acknowledging the effects provided by literature (intuitive use). others community of tyagis (upper castes) of the village; valmiki’s own community (basti people); community of the school-teachers and studentsd valmiki sense of object (literature) as mediated by the socially shared sense of literature valmiki symbolic object literature fig. 1: semiotic prism before relocation in the semiotic prism depicted in figure 1, valmiki has been placed at the left vertex of the prism, the ‘others’ are placed at the top vertex while the symbolic object, literature, has been placed at the right vertex of the prism. valmiki’s sense of literature has been denoted by the fourth vertex of the prism. interpersonal dynamics are represented by the valmiki-others and valmiki-object vectors, while intrapersonal dynamics are captured by the vector which connects valmiki with his sense of the object i.e. literature. the socially shared meaning of literature has been represented by the valmiki-other vector and acknowledgement that he receives from others has been represented by the ‘other’s sense’ of literature. most importantly, the three dimensions of the transition process have been represented by; identity by the valmiki-other vector, knowledge by valmiki-object vector, and meaning-making by the vector that connects valmiki to his sense of literature. his understanding of the cultural element can be interpreted through the semiotic prism. based on the details provided in the autobiographical narrative, ‘other’ is further divided into three categories: (i) valmiki’s own community including his family and basti people; (ii) so-called upper caste tyagi community; and (iii) the school community including teachers and children. such positioning of elements conveys that the socially shared meaning of literature mediated valmiki’s own understanding in it while the school setting and community had a larger role in mediating his interest in literature. then, what is more is the contribution of valmiki’s father who despite regarding education as merely the means to ‘improve’ caste, was always aware of its significance. since the village community of valmiki was largely illiterate and tyagis’ children had greater access to schools which, in turn, subscribed to the dominant view of literature. there is no surprise that the school did not have a single reading on ambedkar and his thoughts; and the available literature shaped the consciousness of valmiki. immersed in his readings, although, he cried with the characters of saratchandra, his inner voice could not sync with experiences portrayed there. an upper caste man who was amazed at his capability to read the ramayana (epic) and his father who was proud at his ability to read bhagwad gita (holy book of hindus) could not give him any solace as no one was aware of the turmoil rooted in the conflict generated by reality which was contradictory to what was portrayed in literature. at that juncture, literature, a cultural element that he used to seek refuge in turned out to be the cause of a major intrapersonal rupture in his experiential life. he witnessed the 164 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 abysmal apathy of people when police was mercilessly beating ten dalit men and how literature belied the dark reality of the caste-ridden village. their screams had made the birds in the trees take off, but paralysis had struck the villagers, who could not express their empathy. my mind was filled with a deep revulsion. i was then an adolescent, and a scratch appeared on my mind like a line scratched on glass. it remains there still. the poem by sumitranandan pant that we had been taught at school, ‘ah, how wonderful is this village life’….each word of the poem had proved to be artificial and a lie. what happened that day had caused a storm inside me. (ibid, p.45) the rupture incurred by this discrepancy between the reality and its portrayal led him to another transitional phase when he contested against the epic mahabharata and to question the relevance of the custom of salam (salute). besides acquiring the knowledge and skills of hindi literature, his identity was getting redefined as an educated adolescent who was observing social hierarchies and inequalities. this intrapersonal rupture was followed by another setback. his failure in the 12th (senior secondary) board examination disrupted the remaining continuity of life and he left the village to take admission in dav college, dehradun, thus, changing the frame of his activity from village to city. after relocation: city as the frame of activity relocation to the city forced him to make new adjustments in the midst of new challenges. he was poked fun at because of his country looks. he dealt with the mockery just by remaining quiet. remembering those days he writes, since i was new in college and unfamiliar with its ways, i kept quiet. even otherwise i was quite used to taunts and neglect. i feel amazed when i look upon those days and the things i learnt to tolerate. how much my ability to tolerate hurts flung at me had taken out of me! (ibid, p.80) soon valmiki adjusted himself to the new environment as he socialized with surjan’s friends as well as his own classmates. with the change in space of interactions, he came to know his extended family members closely and also made many friends like bhukhanlal, gopi, and hemlal who were all interested in social work. the most crucial turn took place when he was given a book on ambedkar’s life in the indresh nagar library by his friend hemlal. thus, he was introduced to ambedkar’s life and struggles. he expressed what had shocked him most: despite my twelve years of studying in tyagi inter college, barla, this name had not come to my knowledge in any way or shape. the college library also did not have a single book on ambedkar. i had never heard this name from a teacher’s or a scholar’s mouth. there would be speeches on republic day when the narratives of devotion to the country were repeatedly told, but they never included the name of the maker of the constitution. all the media of communication had been unable to inform people like me about this name.(ibid, p.83) the life struggle of ambedkar shook him completely and he described that impact thus: there was nothing special in the opening pages. but the further i went into the book, i felt as though a new chapter about life was being unfurled before me a chapter about which i had known nothing. dr. ambedkar(’s) life long struggle a cultural psychological reading of dalit literature... 165 had shaken me up. i spent many days and nights in great turmoil. the restlessness inside me had increased. my stone-like silence began to melt. i proceeded to read all of ambedkar’s books that i found in the library. (ibid, p.83) that soul-stirring effect led to his active participation in the social and political life of the college. literature on ambedkar was used by valmiki at the ‘deliberate’ level of reflexivity as he actively searched for other works of ambedkar and started using them as a resource. in this process, valmiki’s identity got its unique dimension: ‘a new word, dalit entered my vocabulary; a word that is not the substitute for ‘harijan’, but an expression of rage of millions of untouchables. a new direction was opening for me...the deeper i was getting in(to) this literature the more articulate my rage became’ (ibid, p.84). valmiki started debating with his friends on contemporary issues and became politically active. he witnessed the life of dalits closely while canvassing for his friend in roorkee. now reality unfolded itself in its multitude of dimensions as he acquired the lens of ambedkarism. he writes, the canvassing provided me with the opportunity to see the lives of people at close range. i heard the stories of deprivation. most of the people did not understand the true meaning of democracy or the value of one’s vote. they couldn’t grasp the importance of stuffing a piece of paper in the ballot box. how innocent were these people. but then, had independence truly reached them? the pimps of the rulers were exploiting them for their own ends. (ibid, p.86) as part of these transitional processes, he could see the power structure operating under the veil of caste system. he relocated to different places after dehradun, and after each relocation he ended up in a different frame of activity but the transitions continued. each frame of activity brought forth a more sharply redefined identity, more knowledge and skills, and new ways to understand the world with the intellectual prism of ambedkar. he joined the ordnance factory dehradun as an apprentice and for that he had to give up higher education. books, again, proved to be his best friends that boosted his morale at this stage. after the one year training at ordnance factory dehradun, he got an opportunity of further training in jabalpur. those were the days, according to him, when his selfhood was getting built. ‘the new surroundings and the new environment gave him new experiences’ (ibid, p.97). his social circle widened as he came in touch with people from diverse backgrounds in jabalpur, especially, when he shared his room with boys who hailed from completely different backgrounds. these roommates were from dehradun, muradnagar, kanpur, and pune. ambedkar’s writings already had an influence on him and here in jabalpur after coming in the contact of students having interest in marxist literature, he accessed marxist readings as well. he developed an interest in theatre and, finally, started writing poetry. there were some students who had marxist leanings, and i started to read marxist literature after coming into contact with them. gorky’s mother, especially, shook me up. i had also become acquainted with chekhov’s short stories. i joined these marxists in forming a theatre group. we rehearsed in the hostel. we staged many plays in the institute’s auditorium. (ibid, p.98) valmiki’s personality, speech patterns, and manners underwent major changes. the transformation of identity was facilitated by the social network he formed there. his social network consisted of people who were primarily interested in contemporary issues. the cognitive resources were provided by the seminars and cultural functions 166 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 he attended. and most importantly, symbolic resources, here especially the work of anti-caste intellectuals, enabled the distancing process and he started developing his own views on literature. he was ‘more attracted to social realism than to aesthetic and formalist type of writings’ (ibid, p.99). by now he had started using symbolic resources at the highest level of reflexivity’reflective usage. the most important relocation occurred when he moved to bombay (now mumbai) for further training of two and a half years. this was the place and time which led to the most significant transitions in valmiki’s life. at ambernath hill where he received his training, he read pasternak, hemmingway, victor hugo, pierre louis, tolstoy, pearl buck, tugenev, dostoevsky, stevenson, oscar wilde, romain rolland, and emile zola. he also read the entire works of rabindranath tagore and kalidasa here. he met people from different backgrounds and states and got more interested in theatre which, subsequently, became a regular weekend activity for him. he also started a drama group in the hostel. he wrote his first essay on the problems of dalits which became a point of controversy. most importantly, he started reading marathi dalit literature which actually broadened his consciousness, already made critical by the works of ambedkar and phule. it was during these days that i was introduced to marathi dalit literature. dalit writings were changing the face of marathi literature. the words of daya pawar, namdev dhasal, raja dhale, gangadhar pantavane, baburao bagul, keshav meshram, narayan surve, vaman nimbalkar and yashwant manohar were igniting sparks in my veins. their voices exhilarated me, filled me with new energy. my reading of dalit literature was beginning to change my notions about what is literature.(ibid, p.105) the process of transition acquired a new direction when he started participating in the dalit movement after getting appointed at the ordnance factory, chandrapur. it was the time he started writing and also started a theatre group named meghdoot natya sanstha (meghdoot drama institute). his poems were published in magazines such as navbharat, yugharm and naiduniya. he also started writing a column in janapratinidhi, a chandrapur weekly. moreover, dalit movement and buddha’s philosophy continued to influence his consciousness at that time. i came across the marvelous glow of dalit consciousness. the self-fulfillment that i experienced in connecting with the dalit movement was truly a new experience for me. the deeper my involvement became with the movement, the further many of my friends moved away from me. in their eyes i had wandered away from the right path and was bent on destroying my talent and creativity… buddha’s philosophy on human freedom had attracted me. he says that there is no such thing as the unchangeable in a constantly changing universe. the human being alone matters. it is karuna (compassion) and wisdom that takes a person towards transcendence.(ibid, p. 116) the reconfigured semiotic prism (figure 2) provides the nuanced understanding of the process of redefined identity of valmiki as a hindi dalit writer.4 the crucial contribution comes from the social network that he developed and drew motivation from after each relocation. he mobilized his wide knowledge of hindi and marathi dalit literature and also his theatrical capabilities as significant cognitive resources. coming to the most a cultural psychological reading of dalit literature... 167 crucial of all, the cultural elements that valmiki mobilized as symbolic resources were the works of ambedkar and phule as well as marxist writings. other: social network that he developed after relocations (social resources) meaning of literature mediated by the works of ambedkar, phule and marx valmiki symbolic object: literature cognitive resourceshindi literature, marathi dalit literature fig. 2: reconfigured semiotic prism followed by relocations the essence of the symbolic resources was not lost in the process of creation but utilized by valmiki at the ‘reflective’ level of reflexivity. rather, the capability of distancing was eased by the works of ambedkar, phule, and marx. beyond the immediate cultural value of symbolic resources, he created characters on the plane of fiction. that’s why his characters are infused with dalit consciousness even without making any direct reference to the ideas of anti-caste intellectuals. his stories are inscribed in time as they connect past with the present and weave the realities and subtleties of caste in the village and city simultaneously. significance of their creation lies in the fact that even the fictional characters are portrayed against the reality of the caste-ridden indian society. conclusion to conclude, life is to be seen in all its complexities to capture its essence. the resources and transitional processes discussed here are not independent; rather they work as a unified whole and what comes out of their amalgamation is a distinct collective identity that cannot be broken down into the very elements it emerged from. this identity is continuously reified, subjected to deconstructions and reinterpretations. at the highest level of reflexivity the social position sanctioned in social ladder against the backdrop of the caste-ridden society is itself used as a symbolic resource. that’s why writers like valmiki, ‘transform this position symbolizing the internalised oppression into an emblem of dissent. they utilize the abhorrence contained in this social position as a weapon 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(2008). learning through transitions: the role of institutions. european journal of psychology of education, 23(2), 165–181. endnotes 1 the present paper is a modified extraction from the m.phil dissertation titled ‘caste, experience and creativity: a cultural psychological analysis of the life and literature of om prakash valmiki’ by the author submitted to zakir husain centre for educational studies, jawaharlal nehru university in july 2015. 2 the terms denoting social hierarchy like upper and lower have been used to refer the stratified caste structure of the society, only to maintain the readability of the text wherever it is necessary. the author does not subscribe or encourage the usage of such terms. 3 an ancient sanskrit maxim that truth (satya), god (shiva) and beauty (sundara) are the three manifestations of the same primordial entity. it is translated as truth (absolute) is god, which is auspicious or holy (the essence which permeates the universe) and god is beauty (that which rejuvenates). 4 brueck (2014) also elaborates on the three specific features of hindi dalit writing namely, social realism, melodrama and heteroglossia. valmiki’s use of literary rhetoric in his writings is driven by cognitive resources. standard hindi that he uses to portray dalit consciousness was acquired through an in depth study of mainstream hindi literature. he talks about his bent towards social realism in his autobiography. the aesthetic convention of melodrama can be attributed to his experience resulting from his involvement in theatrical activities in the city. the study by hunt (2014) also substantiates the understanding of the dimensions of the prism. she points out that the genres chosen by hindi dalit writers to present their writings are those that are accepted in the field of hindi mainstream literature and contain more symbolic value as compared to the works of hindi dalit pamphlet writers. she considers it as one of the agreed upon strategy by members of the hindi dalit literary sphere. in the context of the prism, these writers can be placed at the top of the prism in the category of ‘other’. thus, socially shared meaning of dalit literature now also influenced and got influenced by valmiki’s sense of dalit literature. © 2021 ishita roy. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 315–326 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.292 a critique of sanskritization from dalit/castesubaltern perspective ishita roy1 abstract students and social scientists concerned with caste studies will agree to a socio-cultural phenomenon called sanskritization among people of caste communities that are not recognized as belonging to castes primarily affiliated to either of the three varnas of brahman, kshatriya and vaishya. what is sanskritization? following m. n. srinivas, who put forward the concept of sanskritization in religion and society among the coorges of south india (1952) to explain upward social movement (?) among hindu tribal groups or ‘lower’ caste groups imitating and gradually incorporating ‘upper’ caste people’s social, cultural behaviour, rituals, customs, and religious practices, there exist an array of works deliberating upon this collective behavioural instance called sanskritization (beteille, 1969; gould, 1961; patwardhan, 1973; sachchidananda, 1977; lynch, 1974). these studies have generally accepted sanskritization as an effective tool for cultural integration between different caste groups by ensuring movements of people across caste barriers; in other words, sanskritization spells a common idiom of social mobility (beteille, 1969, p. 116). this paper does not support the view that sanskritization has been an effective socio-cultural instrument in moving towards a society that does not swear by caste-principles. rather, sanskritization, a concrete social fact among the ‘lower’ castes people, seems to obliquely prove the productive logic of caste through the imitation of the brahmin. following gramsci’s conceptualisation of the necessity of a subaltern initiative in any counterhegemony project, the paper further argues that sanskritization is regressive to the extent that it is antithetical to any such subaltern political initiative against caste. keywords sanskritization, dalit, caste-subaltern, gramsci, ambedkar, brahminhood 1assistant professor, department of english, university of kalyani, west bengal e-mail: ishitaroy@klyuniv.ac.in 316 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 introduction students and social scientists concerned with caste studies will agree to a socio-cultural phenomenon called sanskritization prevalent among people of caste communities that are not recognized as belonging to castes primarily affiliated to either of the three varnas of brahmin, kshatriya and vaishya. what is sanskritization? following m. n. srinivas, who put forward the concept of sanskritization in religion and society among the coorges of south india (1952) to explain upward social movement (?) among hindu tribal groups or caste groups (that are, by hindu social convention/ universal common sense considered as ‘lower’) imitating and gradually incorporating (the conventionally regarded) ‘upper’ caste people’s social, cultural behaviour, rituals, customs, and religious practices, there exist an array of works deliberating upon this collective behavioural instance called sanskritization (beteille, 1969; gould, 1961; patwardhan, 1973; sachchidananda, 1977; lynch, 1974). these studies have generally accepted sanskritization as an effective tool for cultural integration between different caste groups ensuring movements of people across caste barriers; in other words, sanskritization spells a common idiom of social mobility. with reference to social mobility, m. n. srinivas in caste and social change in modern india (2005), a work, the first publication of which was in 1966 (a compilation of a series of invited lectures delivered by srinivas as part of the rabindranath tagore memorial lectureship administered by the association for asian studies in may 1963 at university of california, berkeley), defines sanskritization as the process by which a ‘low’ caste hindu group or a tribal group changes its customs, rituals or ideology in the direction of the ‘high’ castes, and that it is accompanied by a claim to a higher position in the caste hierarchy than the position traditionally conceded to the claimant caste by the local community. therefore, for srinivas, sanskritization as a process results more than often in an upward mobility for the caste in question. and that this upward mobility is visible at the local experiential level of everyday reality, srinivas cites evidences by drawing from many such examples from mysore. for instance, he cites the example of peasant castes (okkaligas) and shepherd castes (kurubas) in mysore not accepting cooked food and water from marka brahmins despite the latter being included among brahmins. while remaining conscious of the fact that changes, developments, advancements, whichever way it is put, brought about by the socio-cultural process of sanskritization do not result in any structural change in the system of castes rather brings about only a positional change, srinivas largely infers that contrary to the varna model where the position of each varna is fixed, the position of the castes in the hierarchy as it actually exists is liable to change. srinivas observes, “the ordering of different varnas is clearly intended to support the theory of brahminical supremacy and only partially overlaps with the actualities of caste ranking in different parts of the country” (2005, p. 4). srinivas holds that owing to the popularity of the varna model among ‘urban and educated indians’ to provide a more or less true picture of caste as an ongoing system, we tend to read caste squarely in terms of immobility and fixity when in reality there exists a gap between the varna model and the realities of the existing local hierarchy. a critique of sanskritization from dalit/caste-subaltern perspective 317 to this extent srinivas cites the absurdity that shudra as a varna status has come to attain. while shudra as a category has been a fertile source for the recruitment of local kshatriya and vaishya caste, it spans such a wide cultural arch that now the varna status of shudra has become meaningless. therefore effectively, the varna model in a way distorts our understanding of caste in traditional society, and precludes the reading that traditional societies (read caste) did allow a certain amount of mobility. the effective argument made by srinivas on sanskritization is that it functions to bridge the gap between secular and ritual ranks of caste and that sanskritization has been a major process of cultural change in indian history and greatly facilitated by a variety of forces: technological and institutional. this article argues a different reading of sanskritization. instead of looking at sanskritization as an effective socio-cultural instrument in moving towards a society that does not swear by caste-principles, it argues that, sanskritization, on close observation appears to foster those very basic principles on which caste perpetuates; immobility and exclusivity being its primary conditions. it takes its clue from ambedkar’s thesis on the genesis and mechanism of caste in his seminar presentation at columbia university, new york, 1916, “castes in india: their genesis, mechanism and development”, to attempt to demonstrate this character of sanskritization. ambedkar points in the essay, that the emulative model of the brahmin partly explains the origin and development of caste(s). ambedkar argues in the paper that the three customs of ‘sati’, ‘enforced widowhood’ and ‘girl marriage’—customs that according to ambedkar were primarily intended to maintain endogamy—a characteristic feature of caste type stratification, were first raised by the brahmin class— “a caste is an enclosed class” (ambedkar, 1989, p. 15) and that which marks one caste different from other in its early stages of development is the extent of imitation of these customs after the brahmin class. in ambedkar’s conclusion, the existence of the said customs in other classes except the brahmin were derivative in nature for it is the former classes’ imitation of the customs, in other words imitation of the brahmin, that led to the creation of distinct castes—different castes forming out of different or imperfect imitations (ambedkar, 1989, p. 20). ambedkar writes: after what i have said regarding the role of imitation in the spread of these customs among the non-brahmin castes, as means or as ideals, though the imitators have not been aware of it, they exist among them as derivatives; and if they are derived, there must have been prevalent one original caste that was high enough to have served as a pattern for the rest (p. 20). ambedkar’s imitation of the ideal brahmin theory in the mechanism of caste(s) formation— “the whole process of caste-formation in india is a process of imitation of the higher by the lower” (p. 20)—can be seen as being substantiated to some extent by m. n. srinivas’s concept of sanskritization as a social fact indeed. sanskritization seems to obliquely prove the productive logic of caste through the imitation of the brahmin; as an aside, it may be mentioned here, that m. n. srinivas referring to polishamerican anthropologist milton borah singer, makes note of the fact that there isn’t just one model but at least four models of sanskritization that could be seen to exist. 318 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 whatever may be the case, srinivas’s sanskritization is not a non-existent reality, it is indeed a socio-cultural process (the very process that ambedkar had observed, decades before srinivas, to a factor in the production of empirical castes in the first place). the article is therefore not in denial of m. n. srinivas’s sociological brilliance in giving us the concept of sanskritization. what it argues instead is, the political efficacy of the process (of sanskritization) in keeping the ideological order of caste alive—a central point being the essence of brahminhood and its seductive power. problems that are attendant upon it as far as a critique of caste, or anti-caste political commitment is concerned are brought in here. consequently, it is argued that there is an inherent paradox in sanskritization as a concept of social mobility; while it appears to stand for upward ascendancy, the very substance of it exposes the falsity of the concept of advancement as understood therein, and even justifies the principle of caste, a principle that ambedkar held as informing forms of inequality. caste and varna: ambedkar and srinivas m. n. srinivas’ separation of the varna model from that of caste-system on grounds of empirical socio-economic reality of interactions among various castes is common to anthropological studies on caste that also insist on a separation of varna (the philosophy of chaturvarna) from caste—which the anthropologist understands most faithfully as a socio-economic system having little in common with the varna framework. morton klass in his work caste: the emergence of the south asian social system (1993) categorically leaves out varna from denoting the same meaning as that of caste. varnas are not castes because they are not endogamous bodies, they are not occupationally distinct, they lack organisational structure and there is not even present any mutually acceptable definition of varna. in other words, varnas do not represent any formal structure or organisation, neither do they show any unity or leadership or control over its members (klass,1993, p. 89). varna is therefore not of any practical use. even caste for klass who terms it as “human aggregations” isn’t held as the smallest indivisible endogamous unit. following adrian mayer, klass arrives at the conclusion that caste is not an undifferentiated indivisible endogamous body or group unlike the common man or an outsider’s perception to be so. “caste is nothing but a category of sub-caste, rather than a group in its own right” (mayer, 1970, p. 5, qtd in klass,1993, p. 91). morton klass quotes mayer at length: for though caste is endogamous, the smallest endogamous units are the subcastes. again, the caste as a whole has no mechanism for settling disputes, adjusting the status of members etc. only in relation with other castes the caste is a significant unit. for people of other castes do not, as a rule, regard caste as sum of the constituent sub-castes but all of it as an undifferentiated group. (mayer, 1970, p. 5; qtd in klass,1993, p. 91) both ‘varna’ and ‘caste’ are terms that do not represent faithfully the empirical existence of groups who are the smallest endogamous units. even though mayer following g.s ghurye for whom sub-castes formed the real sociological component otherwise called a critique of sanskritization from dalit/caste-subaltern perspective 319 caste, calls this smallest endogamous unit sub-caste; klass vies for a more discreet term instead of sub-caste, for according to klass, it is not subanything but rather it is the unit of endogamy, organisation, and political control. klass terms this basic sociopolitical unit in the south asian social system as ‘marriage circle’. in structural terms, at the empirical level while this is an attempt to clarify the system of caste and how it plays out in everyday form—that is, it is in practical essence, a system of different sub-castes with their own occupational specifications and marital rules, the analysis also somewhat reveals what it argues against: that this is not how people generally think of caste. they do not regard it in terms of subcastes but rather see it as an undifferentiated whole. this tells us a lot about what human perception has to do with maintaining and distributing castes in terms of an hierarchical arrangement with some occupying ritually, socially and politically ‘low’ positions and some ritually, socially and politically ‘high’ positions. while morton klass’s analysis about the smallest endogamous unit of ‘marriagecircle’ in explaining the origin of caste-system in india may be anthropologically correct, it fails to or does not choose to engage with the implications of a common man’s perception of caste as undifferentiated group that goes a long way in lending to caste system in india an overall notion of naturalness that is difficult to dispel. if we were to address notions of inequality that caste by principle and practice gives rise to among people, we cannot overlook or choose to theoretically disengage ourselves with the implication of the conclusive part of mayer’s observation. it is to this notion or the common man’s perception of caste, besides its structural elements, whether observable at the empirical level as “sub-caste” (g.s. ghurye, 1950; adrian mayer,1970) or “marriage circle” (morton klass, 1993) that it is argued here the final inefficacy of a varna-caste separation (m. n. srinivas, 2005) in (an ambedkarite-gramscian) critique of caste. it is argued here that sanskritization has been, among many other strategies, a soft appropriation strategy by caste dominant classes to maintain a power structure whereby sanctioning authority of the social shall always remain with these classes. sanskritization is regressive to the extent that it is antithetical to any subaltern political initiative against caste (gramsci, 1996). if we go back to srinivas’s thesis, we will see that one of the primary methodological assumptions that srinivas makes with regard to his formulation of sanskritization and its relation to mobility depends on his separation between the varna model and the empirical plurality of caste. this distinguishment is logically inconsistent and flawed. it seems, in srinivasian mobility, caste is understood as merely materialistic and that the expression of caste has to do only with its material expression; that caste is what an occupation is. and therefore, with positional change (read occupation and other customs/habits) there follows a mobility. this is slightly problematic since it fails to see how caste is inseparably linked with the concept of varna. it is the varna model that enables caste to become symbolic. had caste only been a material phenomenon, movement in terms of advancement, a more equal standing would have been possible. on the contrary, in a sanskritized movement, one caste moves from one position to another but the previous place does not wither away in terms of its notional existence; as a consequence of advancement, the previous position does not suffer any natural 320 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 death. the conceptual/notional facticity of caste remains. this notional facticity of caste is at the core of the varna model. srinivas’s separation of varna from caste does not logically stand as it is varna that has rendered the materiality of caste into a symbolic phenomenon in the first place, hence there is a continuous unfolding of different castes or desires. in fact, caste is born to give expression to the symbolic. every time a new caste is born it validates the idea of the varna model, it sustains the varna theory. on the complex question of caste’s relation to varna, ambedkar offers an insightful, logically sustainable argument. ambedkar would argue in “annihilation of caste” that caste and varna are inseparable; and it is precisely the logical untenability of a varna model in practical world, that we see the birth of caste. although the two theories posit a difference, varna being a theory of worth, and caste, a theory of birth, ambedkar asserts that in the practical domain it is logically impossible to sustain this difference other than having the system of castes operative. reorganization of hindu society, according to ambedkar, on the basis of chaturvarna is philosophically problematic as well as logically untenable. in “annihilation of caste”, ambedkar argues the fact that the principle underlying chaturvarna is the principle of worth instead of birth as it is the case for caste, it becomes a matter of practical difficulty to classify people according to the demands of chaturvarna. ambedkar says in “annihilation of caste”, “how are you going to compel people who have acquired higher status based on birth, without reference to their worth, to vacate their status?” (1989, p. 59) for this would mean to reduce the numerous different castes, based on birth, to the four varnas, based on worth, which is no doubt a difficult proposition. another reason chaturvarna is problematic is its method of presupposing classification of people into four different classes, for this would mean a forced ‘lumping of individuals into a few sharply marked off classes’ (ibid., p. 60) completely obliterating the recognition that homo-sapiens are beings of infinite possibilities. the fact that the original ideal of four divisions of classes of people according to their distinct calling has already evolved into thousands of castes shows that chaturvarna has no other way except for denigrating into caste system. from this analysis it follows, that caste needs to be conceptualised in terms of both the singular and the plural. singular caste explains the symbolic/ the ideological and plural castes explains the materiality of various different castes, all interacting within a single system of castes that is varna. that is the reason that with positional change, a former caste doesn’t wither away in the onslaught of the new, rather the former becomes a newly vacant space for someone ‘lower’ to occupy and the system of place change continues to a never-ending infinite regress. sanskritized dalit contra political dalit one of the most original contributions to the understanding of the complexity of caste is ambedkar’s recognition of caste as not merely an isolated unit but as that which is part of a larger system or concept. his analysis of the genesis and development of caste shows that at the heart of caste is a model that is pre-determined, pre-destined, a critique of sanskritization from dalit/caste-subaltern perspective 321 held on to its place by various ways—at the heart of which lies the brahmin in its glorifying essence of brahminhood. the sanskritized hindu proceeds towards becoming, or at least trying to become brahmin and in the process inculcates the values of brahminhood. therefore, srinivas’s sanskritised hindu instead of being a manifest proof of the caste-transcended existence becomes rather a repository of the ideological body of caste/varna. this invests with the sanskritised hindu a political power/agency necessary to maintain the larger socio-cultural hegemony of the castedominant. the sanskritized hindu is a requisite for a stable socio-political order that ultimately believes in the perfection of the brahmin. the sanskritized hindu is therefore a political resolution to the problem of lower castes’ growing political struggle and their claim to a greater share of autonomous political representation/ participation, for the sanskritized hindu offers itself as a direct antithesis to the radically polemical ambedkarite other. both the process of governmentalization as well as sanskritization of the ‘low caste’ contribute to a corresponding thinning out of a minimum political consciousness required to question caste in society (guru, 2010). a sanskritized scheduled caste is less a political threat, is more the appropriated other and not the radical other who confronts caste. it is a more comfortable proposition as far as the liberal template of hinduism is concerned. the liberal template of hinduism is sustained to neutralize any political initiative/articulation by the non-upper caste or caste subaltern. i would like to refer to antonio gramsci here, his note in notebook 25, “...the history of subaltern classes is necessarily fragmented and episodic; in the activity of these classes there is, undoubtedly, a tendency towards unification, albeit in provisional stages. this tendency, however, is continuously broken up by the actions of the dominant groups... . subaltern groups [read dalit1] are always subject to the initiative of the dominant groups, even when they rise up and rebel.” (qtd in buttigieg, 2013, p. 36). gopal guru in his essay “social justice” in oxford companion to politics argues that sanskritisation maintains the hierarchical social precisely because it does not strive to alter what guru explains as the hierarchical arrangement of worth. the essential question, according to guru, that one may raise here is whether sanskritization allows for any ethical capacity for equal recognition. it is argued following guru that sanskritisation implies for the truth of caste, which otherwise, in the least, is an arbitrary concept, and at best, a socio-cultural model that in the final instance cultivates an essentialised brahminhood. there is another way in which sanskritization effectively neutralizes even residual political impulses among the caste subalterns, this way is more deceptive than the way guru discusses. this may be referred to as the principle of dissemination, whereby the dominant (read caste dominant here) has for itself “a formidable array of institutional 1dalit as a term is understood here as a consolidated formation of political consciousness of the ‘lower-castes’/ caste subalterns against the ideology of caste; it has emerged from caste radicals’ active critique of the irrational form of social organisation that is caste (rao 2010). therefore, dalit is a politico-ethical result of centuries of protest, resistance, movement and cultural expression against the caste-system in the indian subcontinent (omvedt 1994; zelliot 2001). dalit is how politically conscious caste subalterns like/choose to identify themselves as/ with (tharu and satyanarayana, 2013). 322 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 and cultural mechanisms that enable it directly and indirectly to disseminate its worldview, inculcates its values, and mould public opinion” (buttigieg, 2013, p. 38). sanskritization is one such cultural mechanism that inculcates in the caste subaltern a consent in the ideology of caste, so that the condition of caste subalternity is hardly recognised and the process to overcome the same gets delayed or never appears important. it is not that the excluded (caste subaltern) is absolutely excluded. rather it is the principle of exclusion that is given to be cherished by all. so, by sanskritizing themselves, the subject becomes ‘an excluded who intends to exclude the other’. in other words, the twin principles of brahminhood as an essentialised value, and the seductive power of the principle of exclusion itself. the apolitical is kept apolitical by consensus (a mutually agreed principle of caste/ brahminism), consent, and never by repression, coercion or control. the gramscian method for a subaltern politics would emphasize on the need for recognition of such ideological fronts, say sanskritization, and advocate a ‘war of position’ instead of a frontal attack against the (caste) power of the dominant (buttigieg, 2013, p. 38). what is proposed here is that a sanskritized dalit hurts the political dalit. if sanskritization, following srinivas, is a cultural factor that helps bridge the gap between secular and ritual rank legitimising the role of brahmin, it is equally true that in no way does sanskritization cause the ritual rank of the brahmin to disappear altogether. the castes who are “pushing and jostling in the attempt to get ahead” (srinivas, 2005: 4), it is not merely an economic position that one is talking about but a social position, social identity, identity of the brahmin. this in itself speaks volumes about the association of a social identity with that of the highest/ the best/ the supreme/ the divine and it goes on. interestingly all castes are found jostling together to finally occupy the position of the brahmin. if this be the implication, is it not so that in the process we end up privileging brahminhood? sanskritization in its philosophic core can be seen as that which ultimately sustains the ritual power of the brahmin. a radical critique of sanskritization will therefore involve a critique against the ritual power of brahmin: the ritual power of brahmin is sustained/ made sustainable at the cost of ‘ritual disability of the dalit’. the ritual-temporal power of the brahmin enables her as “pure untouchable” (sarrukkai, 2012) who becomes an object of desire/aspiration exuding seductive power. the “pure untouchable” is in contrast with the impure untouchable (dalit)—the object to be maintained at a distance from the pure untouchable thereby making it an object of derision or repulsion; simultaneously instilling in them the tendency to escape caste identity, and advance in the caste social by adopting a self-imposed distancing from one’s own caste identity. this is problematic because it works on the principle of negation, vulnerability, susceptibility—rendering it a taboo with the caste subaltern’s own identity becoming awkward, unaddressed, that which cannot be talked about in fear of identification. one’s own identity becomes a phenomenon that continues to haunt. the more a member of the oppressed caste community renders her identity invisible, the more socially acceptable she becomes, the more she can move with comfort. in a caste social therefore, a ‘low’ caste individual’s comfort is contingent upon hiding her caste a critique of sanskritization from dalit/caste-subaltern perspective 323 identity. gopal guru terms this as “compulsive sanskritization”. with reference to the problem of scheduled castes’ accommodation in upper caste localities like nipani in karnataka and kohlapur in maharashtra, gopal guru in “reservations and the sanskritization of scheduled castes: some theoretical aspects” says, in these towns there are instances where the scheduled caste persons have tried to avoid identification of their castes or to hide it altogether or falsify it… the falsification of caste helps them to overcome the psychological problem of identifying themselves as scheduled caste. (guru, 2014, p. 160) the ‘compulsive sanskritization’ comes at a political cost for the dalit: it robs the latter of any impulse to revolt or form a collective identity of protest or aspire to political power, interfering permanently with the gramscian political: that any revolutionary impulse belongs to the socially, culturally dominant even for causes of subaltern interests. sanskritization therefore effectively neutralizes the opposition which otherwise could have been engineered towards effective political difference of the caste subaltern from the caste dominant, an articulation of which would be leading to a more balanced state of affairs. an ensuing dialectic would at least bring the oppositional parties into a space of negotiation, exchange, inter-dependence. however, with sanskritization, it is ensured that the principle of caste be dispersed and distributed among its carriers and the value hierarchised. and because the principle is distributed among all that it resists a catastrophe of any kind, which would otherwise be inevitable for the emergence of changed order, the birth of the new: casteless society/ “annihilation of caste”. on the one end of the spectrum of this hierarchical arrangement of values, you have brahminhood/ the terrestrial version of which is a ‘true brahmin’, and on the other end, you have the untouchable/ removed from brahminhood. sanskritization is adopted so as to move towards one end from another. and in its process, effectively ruins every revolutionary potential of the dialectical. conclusion: sanskritization, a caste concept it is in this context therefore that one argues for an understanding of the process of sanskritization in terms of a conceptual birth. srinivas posits sanskritization as a social fact, which it undeniably is, but here i am stretching it further to argue about sanskritization as a conceptual fact. as a concept, sanskritization helps sustain and in the final instance project the totality of caste. this can be understood by another point; despite caste’s practical unevenness, despite its hierarchical difference, despite what ambedkar terms as graded inequality of caste, there is never produced a dialectical situation whereby instead of accepting to the principles of caste one would be naturally revolting. thus, despite every condition available for a dialectical to emerge, with respect to caste, this falls flat. rather what we find instead is sanskritization, a constant movement towards the essence/ core of caste; formerly explained as brahminhood: cult of exclusivity (for what else justifies the sacred thread of the male brahmin other than a claim to exclusivity?). 324 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 sanskritization precisely because it renders the concept of dialectic ineffectual, resists the dialectic, exposes a situation which is perfectly independent of dialectic, that it is a concept, more precisely, a caste concept. by concept i mean here, the organising principle of our everyday particular chaotic perceptions as well as perceptive selves. caste, as a matter of fact, is so complex dissipated a phenomenon (for lack of a better word) that too with marked gradations, changes, adjustments; and following srinivas, an uneven development, is, at the same time a phenomenon that is grasped as an undying, eternal as it were, total fact held together by such enabling concepts like sanskritization. if marx’s principle of dialectic as a necessary means to change/ revolution were to be believed, it can be said that sanskritization blunts every possibility of a dialectic to take shape from the given inequalities of caste. without dialectic of any sort, there can be no hope for a politics to emerge. let alone a radical anti-caste politics. conversely, if ambedkar’s efforts to ameliorating the inequalities produced by caste are considered, it will be seen, that ambedkar resists every form of sanskritization (anachronistic use of term here, but to refute hinduism in every possible way, to the final effort of converting into another religion may be said as his attempt at de-sanskritization), and that his resistance was geared towards paving a society based on equality and reached through difference. what is insisted here, is the necessity for a political reading of sanskritization; sanskritization is suggested here as one of the potent techniques of cultural power (this is obviously inspired by foucault ‘s phrasing ‘techniques of power’) to maintaining an apparently neutral political stance over the question of unequal sharing of worth and resources deployed not by any one source of power centre but dissipated as a collective living (cultural) principle among those claiming membership to the hindu community. it is very naturally desired for. and naturally adopted too. it is seductive in its own way. this brings it closer to the kernel point of caste system that ambedkar gave a glimpse of in “castes in india”: namely, brahminhood. ambedkar observed, the brahmin is a semi-god and very nearly a demi-god. he sets up a mode and moulds the rest. his prestige is unquestionable and is the fountain head of bliss and good. can such a being, idolised by scriptures and venerated by the priestridden multitude, fail to project his personality on the suppliant humanity? why, if the story be true, he is believed to be the very end of creation. such a creature is worthy of more than mere imitation, but at least of imitation; and if he lives in an endogamous enclosure, should not the rest follow his example? (ambedkar, 1989, p. 19, emphasis mine) soumyabrata chaudhury in his essay “dalit: elements of a sentence-to-come” makes a further exposition of ambedkar’s theory and subsequently points to the rhetorical line of inflection as part of this cult making of brahminhood. following chaudhury’s analysis, it is further contended that sanskritization is a rhetorical instrument through which the idea of brahmin prevails and gets consummated by others. some of the popular memes making rounds in the manner of slogan posters as an instance of the ideological power a critique of sanskritization from dalit/caste-subaltern perspective 325 of the idea of a brahmin may be considered: “brahmin is not a caste, it is a brand” or “hell yeah i am a brahmin and we keep calm!!!” (keepcalm.com) this is what may be called the cultural politics to maintaining a caste(-ist) ideology in a society. the more culturally pervasive a dominant powerful concept will be, the less politically aware the subalterns will become, and an increasing marginalisation of the subaltern bordering the farthest will take place. sanskritization may be read as having a productivity in terms of upholding caste. in the words of foucault, an instrument of the power of caste ideology, a viable social productive apparatus (foucault, 2002); which determines or constitutes individuals as subjects of caste, by fashioning them into a set of behavioural codes, everyday rituals, cultural modes/ ways of legitimizing interpersonal relations like marriages, rice-eating ceremony of the child, a paraphernalia of ritualistic ordeals. therefore, an entire system through which caste gets foregrounded on an everyday basis. a way to mould, shape, fashion, acclimatize, normalize and finally to naturalize in an irreversible manner. it is therefore not so much, in fact not at all, that m. n. srinivas’s powerful account of the sociological phenomenon that is sanskritization is disagreed with, but rather it is to the implications that such a process has for a castebased society in furthering the exclusivity of different ideological signposts of caste, one being brahminism, and the theory that sanskritization results in integration and mobility in an otherwise divided society, that it becomes imperative to critique the process from a political subaltern’s (dalit point of view) and analyse it as another trope in the dominant’s theoretical/ philosophical front (gramsci, pn2: 52) and, consequently hold it as an object of (caste) subaltern criticism. for the implications, as often taken to be, are nowhere near mobility, fluidity, movement, or the extended idea of equality. the implications are rather these former categories’ clear opposites. sanskritization ensures the conditions (one being the sanskritization of the political dalit) for the continuity, sustenance, maintenance, legitimacy and common sensical truth of the caste system. references ambedkar, b. (1989). dr babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches volume 1. maharashtra: education department government of maharashtra. beteille, a. (1969). caste: old and new. bombay: asia publishing house. buttigieg, j.a. (2013). subaltern social groups in antonio gramsci’s prison notebooks. in c. zene (ed.), the political philosophies of antonio gramsci and b. r. ambedkar: itineraries of dalits and subalterns. new york: routledge. choudhury, s. (2018). dalit: elements of a sentence-to-come. in s. choudhury, ambedkar and other immortals: an untouchable research programme. new delhi: navayana. foucault, m. (2002). essential works of foucault 1954-1984 volume three: power. (j.d. faubion, ed., & r. hurley, trans.) england: penguin books. ghurye, g. (1950). caste and class in india. bombay: popular book depot. gould, h.a. (1961). sanskritization and westernization: a dynamic view. economic weekly, 13(25). 326 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 gramsci, a. 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(1970). caste and kinship in central india: a village and its region. berkeley: university of california press. omvedt, g. (1994). dalits and the democratic revolution: dr ambedkar and the dalit movement in colonial india. new delhi: sage. patwardhan, s. (1973). change among india’s harijan--maharashtra: a case study. new delhi: orient longman ltd. rao, a. (2010). the caste question: dalits and the politics of modern india. ranikhet: permanent black. sachchidananda. (1977). harijan elite. faridabad: thomson press (india) ltd. sarukkai, s. (2012). phenomenology of untouchability. in s.s. gopal guru, the cracked mirror: an indian debate on experience and theory. new delhi: oxford university press. srinivas, m.n. (1952). religion and society among the coorges of south india. bombay: oxford. — (2005). caste and social change in modern india. new delhi: orient longman. zelliot, e. (2001). from untouchable to dalit: essays on the ambedkar movement. new delhi: manohar publishers. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 217–228 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.54 © 2020 sunaina arya. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism sunaina arya1 (bluestone rising scholar honorable mention 2019) abstract this paper argues that the conceptualisation of notions like ‘dalit’ or ‘intracaste’ or ‘multiple’ patriarchies results from a misunderstanding of the concept brahmanical patriarchy. the category ‘dalit patriarchy’ is gaining popularity in academic and political discourse of contemporary india. it is introduced by gopal guru in his seminal essay ‘dalit women talk differently’ only to challenge patriarchal practices within ‘lower’ caste groups. but mainstream feminists of india attempted to propagate and proliferate this vague concept. they argue that dalit men, as a part of their exploitation by ‘upper’ caste, also face taunts regarding their masculinity which results in their aggressive behaviour towards dalit women; which has been termed as ‘dalit patriarchy.’ the paper argues that conceptualisation of such notions yields no advancement in our endeavours toward a gender-just society, rather it is misleading. evaluating articulations in mainstream indian feminism, we need to think through: what effect does this have on our feminist struggle? what is at stake? what possibly can be a resolution? thus, by exposing flaws about ‘dalit patriarchy’—including a detailed discussion on the empirical, theoretical, and logical shortcomings—this paper seeks to initiate a theoretical rethinking of feminist as well as dalit scholarship, with employment of analytical, hermeneutical, and critical methods. keywords dalit, feminism, brahmanical, patriarchy, ambedkar, gender, caste, race, class, philosophy, women introduction contemporary writings in indian feminism pose some difficulties towards theorising gender. this paper argues that a conception of notions like ‘dalit patriarchy’ or ‘intracaste’ or ‘multiple’ patriarchies, is a consequence of a perfunctory understanding of the concept brahmanical patriarchy. mulling around 1senior research fellow, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india e-mail: sunainaarya9@gmail.com 218 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 both the ideas offers a conclusion that mainstream indian feminists’ approach toward gender justice is incomprehensive and uncommitted. thus, it proposes to rethink indian feminist discourse with specific focus on its socio-cultural difference from rest of the world. this implies that theorising from a dalit feminist standpoint is the only way to consummate feminist philosophy, specifically for the indian subcontinent, and in general. let us see, how. while thinking through various aspects of dalit reality, political theorist gopal guru reflected upon the patriarchal control over dalit women within their caste group which he vaguely called ‘dalit patriarchy’ (guru, 1995, p. 2549). he was critical of the patriarchal norms and practices prevalent within the dalit community, while having no intentions of creating a major hurdle for dalit feminists today. in recent times, mainstream indian feminists have furthered the concept and attempted to popularise it as a separate form of patriarchy free from the umbrella of brahmanical patriarchy. they suggest that dalit men, as a part of their exploitation by ‘upper’1 caste, also face taunts regarding their masculinity which results in their aggressive behaviour on dalit women (chakravarti, 2013 [2003], p. 86; geetha, 2009, p. 108). this is discussed in detail in the first section of the paper. the popularity of ‘dalit patriarchy’ is ever increasing in contemporary feminist scholarship. lucinda ramberg builds her perspective ‘upon the feminist anti-caste scholarship of anjali arondekar, charu gupta, gail omvedt, shailaja paik, sharmila rege, and anupama rao, who have described ‘untouchable’ womanhood as unfolding within two patriarchies—brahmanical and dalit’ (ramberg, in rao 2018). kumkum sangari titles her paper on religious diversity around ‘multiple patriarchies’ without any discussion or engagement with its meaning (1995 p. 3295). not only mainstream indian and western scholars but also dalit feminists are left unaffected by this category. shailaja s. paik recollects ambedkar’s feminist movement: by ‘giving up castespecific, stigmatised dressing styles and heavy jewellery, dalit women asserted against both brahmanical (caste and gender codes) as well as intracaste patriarchies’ (paik, 2016; tilak, 2018). reviewing dutt’s memoir, coming out as dalit, dhanaraj mentions ‘interand intra-caste patriarchies’ (dhanaraj, 2019; dutt, 2019). this high granting of such terms to be true is counterproductive for our feminist emancipatory goals. what we require is to think carefully upon such interventions for a comprehensive picture of the mode of patriarchy at play. we find two presumed phenomena related with the conceptualisation of dalit patriarchy. one, it is distinct from brahmanical patriarchy, and secondly, there exist multiple patriarchies. chakravarti writes, ‘as ambedkar had pointed to caste as a system of graded inequalities, we should note that patriarchies in the subcontinent were contained within a larger system which was graded according to caste’ (chakravarti, 2013[2003], p. 83). let us ponder upon the origin and definition of dalit patriarchy and observe whether it is actually ‘graded according to caste’. dalit patriarchy: what is it? first formulation gopal guru, in his seminal essay ‘dalit women talk differently,’ formulates dalit patriarchy in the following context: dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism 219 besides th[e] external factors, there are certain internal factors that have prompted dalit women to organise separately vis-a-vis dalit men. in the post-ambedkar period, dalit leaders have always subordinated, and at times suppressed, an independent political expression of dalit women.... dalit women rightly question why they are not considered for the top positions in dalit literary conferences and institutions. this dissent brings three things to the fore: (1) it is not only caste and class identity but also one’s gender positioning that decides the validity of an event; (2) dalit men are reproducing the same mechanisms against their women which their high caste adversaries had used to dominate them; (3) the experience of dalit women shows that local resistance within dalits is important. the whole situation compels us to defend the claim that dalit women talk differently (guru, 1995, p. 2549). in conceptualisation of dalit patriarchy, three things which guru brings forth, in other words, are—gender is as important as caste and class in the struggle towards a just society; patriarchy is rooted in dalit men as casteism is in the ‘high’ caste people; it is experientially evident that ‘local’ resistance within dalits is necessary. it is clear that he conceived of this category against the patriarchal dominance which dalit women face, encouraging feminist resistance from within. but none of his implications justify that dalit men’s patriarchy is more oppressive or unique from that of savarna men. although his claim about dalit women talking differently is crucial, calling patriarchy as ‘dalit patriarchy’ does not help us towards our goal of an egalitarian society. guru’s ‘internal’ and ‘external’ markers are explicated in the reference of the next formulation. second formulation a well-known feminist historian uma chakravarti attempts to pluralise patriarchy by employing the terms ‘graded patriarchies’ and ‘dalit patriarchy,’ arguing that ‘dalit women experience patriarchy in a unique way.’ citing a dalit poet in support of her claim, chakravarti writes: it is not as if patriarchies do not exist among the dalit castes, or that dalit women do not have to struggle against the patriarchies within their own communities. in the words of swaroopa rani, when has my life been truly mine? in the home male arrogance sets my cheek stinging, while in the street caste arrogance splits the other cheek open. whatever might have been the differences between dalit women’s experience of patriarchy and that of upper caste women, the process of sanskritisation or ‘jatikarana’—intensified castification—led to upper caste norms and upper caste patriarchal practices percolation into the lower caste ranks too. (chakravarti, 2013 [2003], pp. 87-88) as it is established through survey reports and abundant literary and scholarly works (rege, 2013, pp. 20-21. see aloysius, mangubhai and lee, 2006; gogu, 2012; jogdand, 2013; moon, 2001; pawar and moon, 2014; rege, 2000,2013 [2006], stephen, 2011; 220 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 dutt, 2019), the claim above that dalit women experience patriarchy in a complex way is valid. but in the aforementioned piercing poem of swaroopa rani, the first line flags the struggles pertinent to dalit women’s lives; the next two lines notify violence exhibiting patriarchy; and the last two lines denote brahmanical oppression. chakravarti argues that dalit life is not unaffected from the savarna patriarchal norms, but her use of the word ‘whatever’ about the difference between dalit and savarna women’s experiences makes us wonder what is offered in justification of her exposition of ‘dalit patriarchy.’ as argued, dalit men behave in the same patriarchal manner as savarna men do, but then how is their patriarchy different from savarna? why do we need a different term for the same phenomenon? thus, in the absence of an explanation, this attempt renders futile for the feminist enterprise. third formulation similar to the second, the next understanding on ‘dalit patriarchy’ also comes from another mainstream feminist, v. geetha. she writes, there have been attempts to think through caste and gender, notably the idea of ‘dalit’ patriarchy. there are two different arguments here: one notes that dalit men have as much a stake in masculinity as other men. a notable feature of the exploitation of dalits has been the humiliation of dalit men: in the course of the power that upper caste men exert over their labour, they also taunt them about their masculinity. they claim that dalit men can never hope to protect their women, who are considered ‘easy prey’ by upper caste men. such symbolic ‘emasculation’ of dalit men results in their feeling beleaguered in specifically gendered ways, which results in their exerting prowess in their families. the second argument accepts the premises of the first, but notes that apart from remaining ‘masculine’ within, dalit men also seek to express their covert anger at the humiliation they are forced to endure by seeking to tease upper caste women. geetha’s (2009) conception presents a slightly different picture, that the caste-based humiliation of dalit men makes them more patriarchal than other men. she refers to a study on masculine norms among dalit youth, but mistakes masculinity among them as something unique. this—including their desire of teasing upper caste women—is an empirical claim, but what do we get for a justification? in lack of evidence for a peculiarity of patriarchy as argued, such conception of dalit patriarchy is misleading. what we have is the brahmanical oppression as the underlying reason for dalit men’s behaving in a patriarchal manner; if proven, that dalit men behave ‘in specifically gendered ways,’ the underlying reason (as argued by both writers hitherto) is their caste-based exploitation by the savarna. clearly, it is brahmanical patriarchy which women face. and, thinking ‘through caste and gender’ evidences ‘brahmanical patriarchy’ as unmasked by dr. b. r. ambedkar, not any dalit patriarchy (2003, vol. 17, part 3, pp. 150-51). these three are the primary understanding for conceptualising and furthering the untenable category viz. dalit patriarchy. originally, guru formulated it as an internal matter to be resolved locally within dalit groups. secondly, chakravarti pluralised patriarchy while historically locating dalit women’s struggle in brahmanical indian society. lastly, geetha extends dalit men’s aggressive masculinity to a desire of teasing upper caste women. let us critically evaluate these claims in the next section. dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism 221 dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? from the above formulations of dalit patriarchy, we can derive the following claims: (1) dalit women’s experience of patriarchy is unique and more intense from upper caste or savarna women; (2) dalit men face taunts regarding their masculinity concerning the protection of the ‘honour’ or izzat (women’s chastity) of their community; (3) because of brahmanical exploitation at the hands of upper caste people, dalit men behave aggressively and oppress ‘their’ women, who are most vulnerable in the castebased social structure; (4) dalit men’s practices of patriarchy are not humble than that of the brahmin or other savarna men; (5) outraged with brahmanical humiliation, dalit men seek to tease savarna women;(6) there exist brahmanical and dalit or intra-caste patriarchies. all of these claims are of empirical kind, where we know that only the first is objectively established. hence, there are strong challenges against the conception of dalit patriarchy. let us witness the common logical fallacies surrounding this spurious notion. fallacy of begging the question (pretitio principii) the conclusion has been presumed to be true based on a speculated premise. in present context, it follows: all dalit men are brahmanically exploited by the upper castes. one of the instances of their exploitation is being mocked by symbolic ‘emasculation.’ therefore, dalit men are more patriarchal. the second premise of the argument is unestablished due to lack of empirical evidence, and the conclusion is claimed to be true. the flawed notion of dalit patriarchy is as dubious as the idea of ‘dalit egalitarianism’. that is, the dalit men are not as oppressive as upper caste men because they are humble as for understanding the pain of oppression which results from their experience of caste-based exploitation (rege, 2013). both of these concepts are stark presumptions, and therefore counterproductive in our feminist endeavours. sharmila rege, the pioneer of ambedkarite feminism, argues that this fallacious linkage is drawn upon the presupposition about the sexual accessibility of dalit women because of their labouring outdoors. it is but, brahminism, which in turn ‘locates this as the failure of lower-caste men to control the sexuality of their women and underlines this as a justification of their impurity’ (rege, 1998). evidently, the social manifestation of brahminism is at the heart of misconceiving ‘dalit patriarchy’. fallacy of infinite regress as per ambedkar’s scholarship on indian history, no caste is unaffected from the patriarchal essence of brahminism. extending this further, not only dalit men but all men face such ‘emasculation’ by the people from each and every caste above theirs. if we name patriarchal practices of men belonging to a particular community by the name of their caste, there would be endless number of patriarchies viz. shudra patriarchy, kayastha patriarchy, mahar patriarchy, kumhar patriarchy...and so on. 222 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 thus, this exercise of proliferating patriarchies only misdirects our feminist goals, leading to an infinite regress. fallacy of slippery slope following from invalid causal inferences, geetha’s conclusion that dalit men seek to tease upper caste women is a blunt presumption (as we have seen in the beginning of this section). the truthfulness of this argument depends upon the validity of all the previous premises. it is tenable to believe that dalit community suffers from patriarchal regulations as savarna community. as we know, indian social structure is founded on graded inequality ensuring hierarchical value to its members based on caste firstly and then gender. it is embedded in the brahmanical system that each is oppressed by another upper to her—a brahmin woman by a brahmin man; a kshatriya man by both, a brahmin woman and a brahmin man; a kshatriya woman by three above her, a kshatriya man, a brahmin woman and a brahmin man; and so on. even if the claim about dalit men’s desire to tease savarna women is empirically established, the source of their patriarchal behaviour would only be brahminism, and not something originating from the dalit community itself. this would plausibly be termed as ‘dalit manifestations of brahmanical patriarchy.’ similarly, women are also influenced by patriarchal norms. but how fruitful is it to name their patriarchal behaviour as ‘ women patiarchy’?! nevertheless, given historical assessment of patriarchy in the indian subcontinent, that ‘provisions were made for upper caste men’s occasional or more regular relationships with lower caste women, the reverse was not even envisaged by the caste structure’ (chakravarti, 2013 [2003], p. 83 ). sexual assault on dalit women is used as ‘a common practice for undermining the manhood of the caste’ (rege, 1998, p. ws 43). therefore, in the brahmanical social structure regulated by caste, dalit women are regarded as ‘easy prey’ for exploitation at the hands of savarna men, and never otherwise. this gets explicit in the next instance. fallacy of faulty analogy the claim about existence of brahmanical and dalit patriarchies comes from a superficial understanding of the nature of brahmanical patriarchy. this conjunction presumes a distinction between the two, while misunderstanding the peculiarity of indian social system. as argued earlier, dalit patriarchy has been misconceived referring to the patriarchal dominance within dalit community, but brahmanical patriarchy is never meant to signal the patriarchal practices and norms followed within the brahmin caste. rather, it refers to the brahmanical form of patriarchy operating in india; that is, in order to maintain the numerical balance between the sexes of the society, inhumane rituals like the banned sati pratha (i.e., a religious ritual according to which a widow immolated herself in the funeral pyre of her husband), enforced widowhood, and child-marriage were perpetuated by the brahmins. controlling women’s sexuality is still a means to sustain caste system, and therefore, ambedkar’s analysis of patriarchy as the twin-sister of brahmanism is ever-relevant (ambedkar, 2003 [1979], vol. 1, p. 14 ). brahmanical patriarchy is not patriarchy of, or by, the brahmins. brahmanical patriarchy includes in its very conceptualisation that all individuals are allotted a particular position of privilege and deprivation, and the resultant violence and discrimination to the lower caste groups. this form of patriarchy ensures slavery and exploitation of the lowest in the prescribed caste-strata, and not peculiar origination from within those regarded lowest. rethinking through caste and gender dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism 223 only establishes that dalit women face caste-based discrimination in the vertical structure of society and gender-based discrimination at the horizontal structure of society. the ambiguous conception of dalit patriarchy hence suffers from logical, empirical and theoretical shortcomings. thus, mistaking brahmanical patriarchy as brahmin patriarchy has led to coin dalit patriarchy. to persist towards a better society with justice, freedom, and equality, we need to keep our eyes fixed upon dismantling brahmanical patriarchy. brahmanical patriarchy operates in a way that caste plays a determining role in ‘the collective and public threat of rape, sexual assault, and physical violence at the workplace and in public’ (rege, 1998, p. ws43). dalit women, being at the bottom of brahmanical hierarchy, suffer the most. conceptualising dalit or intra-caste patriarchy is indicative of a certain irresponsibility of scholars who enjoy caste-class privilege and disregard dalit women’s issues as not ‘their’ problem. what is at play is the vulnerability at the unique juncture of gender, class, and, majorly, caste. the above four fallacies evidence an unfortunate disturbance created by the mainstream and savarna feminists of india. due to misdirection of the above kind, what is at stake is the striving goal for a harmonious and humane society. refusal of mainstream and savarna feminists to consider dalit women’s issues as integral to feminism exhibits their lack of commitment for real gender justice. thus, it is high time to rethink feminism in indian context. rethinking indian feminism we witness the failure of mainstream feminist rendition of patriarchy in indian context, where they attempt to pluralise patriarchy, but, ironically, follow a single axis approach in the feminist enterprise. since woman as a category does not stand alien to its socio-political and cultural situations, we must locate it in its complex relation to factual grounds. this is precisely why we must rethink feminism. indian feminist discourse—dominated by savarna women, whose suppression of the caste question and overlooking of the non-brahmanic ambedkarite feminist standpoints— demonstrates that only a dalit feminist thought can help us resolve patriarchal slavery of women in india. a dalit feminist standpoint will be discussed in the second part of this section. let us see why is this necessary. caste as a catalyst in patriarchal dominance in reference to the 2006 khairlanji massacre of a dalit family, where women were paraded naked before being murdered, rege argues that due to lack of adequate focus on the caste-gender nexus, violence against dalit women tends to be marked in ‘eitheror’ restriction—as ‘either caste atrocity or sexual atrocity’ (2003, p. 20). for the brahmanical nature of violence and exploitation of women, the issue of gender cannot be dealt in isolation, but only with an interaction with our social reality. indian society is predominantly structured around caste, which is evident through the example of honour killing.2 two reasons are commonly responsible for a couple’s murder by their parents, guardians, or local authorities: one, they dare to pursue marriage unconventionally by their own; or secondly, more venturing, they chose their life-partner outside of their own caste. defying caste norms are considered as an invitation to murder, rape, and such life-threatening risks in a casteist society like india’s. 224 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 because endogamy is the foundation for regulating and organising women’s sexuality, rege draws upon ambedkar’s theoretical vantage to argue that, ‘caste determines the division of labour, sexual division of labour, and division of sexual labour’ (rege, 1995). we cannot separate caste from patriarchy. in order to dismantle patriarchy, we must understand that, brahmanisation has been a two way process of acculturation and assimilation and through history there has been a brahmanical refusal to universalise a single patriarchal mode. thus the existence of multiple patriarchies is a result of both brahmanical conspiracy and of the relation of the caste group to the means for production. (rege, 1998, p. ws44) rege’s analysis renders it clear that brahmanical patriarchy functions in a way that different caste people experience it differently because of the existing graded pattern of inequality. no politics committed to a caste-based society can overlook sexual politics. contextually, a single axis framework bears no fruits; there is need to rethink both, dalit as well as feminist discourses. recollecting cases like bhanwari devi, chanduru, babri masjid, and others from recent history of india, rege advocates that in the absence of dalit critiques of classbased hetro-patriarchies, the political edge of sexual politics is lost (2000, p. 493). mainstream feminists’ denial of the dalit question compels us to think critically and carefully.3 singular approaches on gender or caste are determined to fail due to their limited engagement with the crosshatched embedding of caste with patriarchy. a dalit feminist resolve any idea of gender justice bears no meaning if it does not entail justice for all; therefore, pioneers of black feminism kimberle crenshaw, patricia hill collins, and others have democratised first-world feminism by adding ‘difference’ at its centre through intersectionality (crenshaw, 1989; colloins, 1989). originally, the difference has been conceived as a unique kind of discriminatory aspect which black women face due to their race-gender-class deprivations. mainstream feminists of india accept this crucial concept of ‘difference’ and intersectionality, for their difference located in third-world and on race, but reject the same for internal differences within the subcontinent (menon, 2015). rege offers a critique of this difference from a dalit feminist standpoint position, arguing that it is incomplete without an addition of difference from the aspect of caste (rege, 1998, p. ws39-ws46). thus, it is evident that democratising indian feminism demands theorising from a dalit perspective. the difference, thus formulated, is the unique discriminatory aspect which dalit women face at the intersection of their caste-class-gender deprivations, which as the author calls ‘dalit difference.’ placing dalit difference at the core of feminist thought helps us consummate feminist philosophy, as it does not contradict with the rights and interests of other, privileged people. dalit feminism is not the feminism of the dalits, or for the dalits; it is simply a standpoint which regards the caste question at its heart, to address the brahmanical nature of patriarchy peculiar to india. there is abundant scholarship to help us develop a dalit feminist thought (guru, 1995; rege, 1998, 2000, 2013 [2006], 2013; ambedkar, 2003; rajan, 1999; aloysius, mangubhai and lee, 2006; jogdand, 2013; patil, 2013; rege et al, 2013; pawar and moon, 2014; dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism 225 gopal, 2015; john, 2015; mahadevan, 2015; paik, 2016). importantly, it is required to be cognizant of, and overcome, some challenges. challenges for a theory of gender established critiques of indian feminism call forth our attention to the questions of authenticity and representation. there is an anxious churning to interview, study, and translate dalit women’s life-stories to produce literature to the credits of savarna women as representatives (rege, 2013 [2006], pp.11-121). mainstream indian feminists have been exploiting dalit women’s vulnerability to add to their own privileges, and such risks are indispensable in developing a theory of gender. julie stephens argues that ‘[i]f anyone is actually ‘speaking out’, it is the interviewer, yet the feminist discourse repeatedly insists that it ‘does not speak for’ them (stephens, 1994, p. 97). rege mentions two models for the ‘inclusion’ of dalit women in any discipline’s curricula—(i) ‘feminist-as-tourist’ suggesting ‘add dalit women and stir’; and, (ii) ‘feminist-as-explorer’ to ‘add dalit women as separate and equal’ (mohanty, 2003, 244). that is, the –tourist model performs a ‘cognizant saviour feminist’ enlightening the ‘helpless dalit women’; the –explorer model pretends to treat them ‘equally’ while justifying their separation on cultural differences. this power-play is commonly observed in contemporary feminist writings in india, which we must discourage. nevertheless, indian feminist literature exhibits constant attempts of denying agency of dalit women and disregarding dalit feminist scholarship—by calling them ‘native narrators’ who are objects of study and not subjects of feminist agenda; by alienating them with an ‘us–them’ dichotomy; by reducing dalit feminist discourse to ‘works of poetry, short stories, and other forms of writing’ as opposed to theoretical, intellectual, or academic scholarship; by separating dalit feminist activism with phrases viz. ‘feminism and other forms of politics’; feminists and other subaltern forces; and so on (tharu, 2014, p. 155; chakravarti, 2012–2013, pp. 137, 143; tharu and niranjana, 1996, pp. 232-260, pp. 232). such forms of othering and ‘brahmanical superiority complex’ are strong challenges while conceiving a feminist theory. conclusion as we have discussed in the three sections, mainstream indian feminism evidences a lack of commitment towards the gender justice for the most marginalised. we need to encourage the most marginalised to take up the lead for an authentic theory of gender. what is required is an active participation of dalit women unravelling the theoryexperience hierarchy, and simultaneously, an active refraining from the differences of caste, class, region, language, culture, etc. barriers. the subject and the object of feminist research need to overlap. dalit women’s empowerment is required to enable theoretical articulation of the lived-experiences; and improvement of education and research is necessary for its smooth access to dalit women. nonetheless, an honest and egalitarian standpoint taken up by a non-dalit or nonwoman is encouraged. the participation of the privileged in an emancipatory agenda plays a significant role, provided their sincere commitment to a goal in the given context. dalit feminist theorisation by a non-dalit woman sharmila rege and by a dalit man gopal guru offers a possibility of collective progress towards an egalitarian society; while the non-committed articulation and brahmanical othering of dalit 226 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 feminism by many savarna and privileged writers flags to a greater risk in this journey. aspiring emancipation of all, an indepth scrutiny is a necessity. feminist endeavours which strive to protect and encourage the rights of the most deprived are substantial. it is high time that the approaches which are misled by untenable concepts like dalit patriarchy should return to its real goals. we cannot hope to create a gender-just theory with the biases and irresponsibility which most of the privileged ‘representatives’ of feminism manifest. a dalit feminist standpoint, essentially the dalit difference—primarily dalit women’s experience—is a must to develop an emancipatory feminist theory. references aloysius, s. j., mangubhai, jayashree p., and lee, joel g. 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(1994). feminist fictions: a critique of the category ‘non-western woman’ in feminist writings on india. in ranjit guha (ed.), subaltern studies vi: writings on south asian history and society (pp. 92-125), delhi: oxford university press. tharu, susie and niranjana, tejaswini. (1996). problems for a contemporary theory of gender. in shahid amin and dipesh chakrabarty (eds.), subaltern studies ix: writings on south asian history and society (pp. 232-260), new delhi: oxford university press. tharu, susie. (2014). the dalit woman question. indi@logs, 1, 152-159. tharu, susie. rege, sharmila. response to julie stephens. (1994). in ranjit guha (ed.), subaltern studies vi: writings on south asian history and society (pp. 126-131), delhi: oxford university press. tilak, rajni. (2018). need to redefine dalit movement. indian cultural forum, april 2. accessed from http://indianculturalforum.in/2018/04/02/need-to-redefine-dalit-movementrajni-tilak/ and https://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=articl e&id=6155:need-to-redefine-dalit-movement-rajni-tilak&catid=119:feature&itemid=132 on july 17, 2019. endnotes 1. hierarchical terms like ‘upper’ or ‘lower’ is used in reference to a caste-stratified society, and not encouraged by the author 2. ‘honour killing’ is a term used for murders when people believe that they are protecting their ‘honour’ by murdering those defying social norms preached by brahmanical system. 3. see stephen, 2011. felicitation viii the dalai lama when i meet people, i don’t think about being different from them, about being a tibetan, a buddhist or even the dalai lama. i only think about being a human being. at the fundamental level we are the same, whether rich or poor, easterner or westerner. we all share the same potential for positive and negative emotions. i am therefore pleased to know that this journal, caste: a global journal on social exclusion, of brandeis university is being launched to advance the study of caste and social policies. the caste system, from what i know of its prevalence in any place is really outdated; i feel it is a vestige of feudalism. through education, as your journal aspires to do, we can promote a sense of the oneness of the seven billion human beings. with my prayers and good wishes, 22 february 2019 article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 121–134 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.206 © 2020 jyoti diwakar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste sex as a weapon to settle scores against dalits: a quotidian phenomenon jyoti diwakar1 abstract in the indian context, caste controls the gender norms as women are producers of the notion of ‘caste purity’. historically, the violation of caste codes including those related to women have been subjected to punishment through the instrument of social ostracism. dalit men and women have been encountering culturally sanctioned violence, from higher caste people in the name of ‘violating social norms’ such as temple entry, untouchability, intercaste marriages, and so on. as a result, dalits, especially women become easy targets for the ‘guardians of social authority’. sadly, larger majority of hindus remain immune to the occurrence of violence against dalits. this article aims to address sexual violence, specifically rapes of dalit women due to their intersectional position in the society. it explores the responses of state machinery on two case studies: bhagana (2014) and alwar (2019), wherein dalit women’s rapes expose the power wielded by dominant caste communities. the paper shows the use of rape as an apparatus to humiliate a community and family in cases of land disputes involving dalit farmers. keywords rape, dalit women, caste, sexuality, power, sexual violence introduction dalits, with their total number estimated to be 16.6 percent of the indian population (census of india, 2011) experience a disproportionate share of its socio-economic burdens. arguably, it is only dalits (constitutionally known as scheduled caste), who continue to suffer the traumatic legacy of the most humiliating social degradation inflicted on them through the centuries-old tradition of untouchability 1doctoral candidate, department of political science, faculty of social science, university of delhi, delhi–110007 e-mail: jyotidiwkar36@gmail.com 122 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 through casteism. despite all the constitutional safeguards as well as the enactment of several laws to support women’s honour and dignity, the strong impact of caste even on the judicial system has been seen across the country on several occasions. inequality of resources, opportunity, and discriminatory treatment towards dalit women is the prime cause of their vulnerability and social exclusion in society. since exclusion is both the cause and consequence of the deeply divided indian society, it is important to understand how religion, caste, gender, class, ethnicity, and region based identities and status could become a possible source of instigation of violence. thus, identity plays a significant role while interrogating the violence perpetuated against dalit (ex-untouchable) men and women due to their caste position in society. in india, caste has been defined in several means and modes, one of which is that “caste system is marked not merely by inequality but is affected by the system of graded inequality” the caste system involve division of hindus with graded inequality in economic, social and cultural rights.as we go down in caste hierarchy from brahmin to the unouchbales the rights get reduced, and the untouchables who are located at the bottom of caste hierarchy practically have no rights except to serve the castes above them.the women irrespective of caste particularly suffered the most from denial of rights..in this sequence of graded inequality the untouchables women suffered the most. (dr. babasaheb ambedkar writing and speeches 2014 p. 167) ambedkar further observed that ‘caste originated and developed through reproduction in an organized manner, control and excessive violence over women’s sexuality, and legitimate control over such practices through ideology in an intra-group process’ (rege, 2013, p. 61). john gultang (1990) has emphasized on the role of ideology in instigating violence. in all this dynamic changes, although caste has undergone changes, its core feature of greaded inequality, particularly related to women and their sexutally through hindu religious practices. has remained without much change. the issue of violence against women needs to be scrutinized with utmost priority so as to develop an adequate strategy and initiatives to curb such incidents. violence should be understood through its structural causes such as ‘brahminical patriarchy’ (chakravarti, 1993). such construction is needed to look for strategic solutions on violence against women as deeper examination reveals that acts of sexual violence comprise both caste ideology and misogynistic attitude. they are more likely to happen when the focus of violence is upon toxic masculinity wherein men generally perpetrate violence on women. however, it does not mean that women are incapable of indulging in violent activities or restraining themselves from instigating violence. the social construction of masculinity and femininity gives ground to justify male violence due to the patriarchal structure. ironically, due to such justifications and notions, many feminist groups in india consider patriarchy as the sole reason for violence heaped on women. it is primarily due to such narrowed conclusions of violence on women that the literature of indian feminist framework has not been able to capture a better picture of violence on dalit women (darapuri, 2017, p. 441-42). in comparison to the mainstream literature on sexual crimes against women, there are fewer studies that capture the plight of dalit women. the few examples include ethnographical and autobiographical works based on socio-anthropological research (paik, 2018, p.2). however, considering the way dalit women have been overburdened by ‘intersecting technologies’ of caste, class, gender, sexuality, and community, it clearly makes their condition different from their non-dalit counterparts (ibid). therefore, the caste and community oppression are an immediate addressable sex as a weapon to settle scores against dalits: a quotidian phenomenon 123 followed by their socio-economic position in society. further, dalit women are involved in different occupations because of their structural location in the indian social order. they have been forced into hazardous occupations such as excreta cleaning, cleaning of dead animals, piggery, butchery, and cleaning of soiled clothes, etc. (kumar, 2020, p. 144-45). in addition to these persisting factors, dalit women are easily accessible, affordable, and available to such occupations to the dominant caste. also, the dependency of dalit women on the perpetrator’s dominant castes leads to an unwelcome culture of violence and silence (aloysius, mangubhai, & lee, 2011, p. 3). therefore, it is necessary to distinguish the ‘homogenous’ category of ‘indian woman’ and the nature of violence against her from the poles apart experiences and position of the dalit woman. women encounter violence across caste and class in the urban context. in the rural context, dalit women face collective, physical, and sexual atrocities publicly on a regular basis. these function as a means to ‘punish’ dalit women and men for asserting their rights against the caste hierarchy. most of such acts (murder, gang rape, and naked parade, etc.) have a telling effect on the psyche of dalits as a whole, and women in particular. this structure of violence makes them ‘easy prey’ to the lust and wrath of upper-caste men (arya & rathore, 2019, p. 8-9). such incidents are supposed to be reflective of collective weakness, sense of insecurity and vulnerability of the marginalized community, and is particularly targeted against their men, who are considered ‘incapable’ of protecting their women from men of dominant castes. the obvious question that is raised by many scholars is why do such incidents frequently occur against dalit women in rural areas? the larger civil society, media, and social activists seldom focus on their plight. as the aforementioned arguments and questions communicate that caste difference, experiences and location become a subject of inquiry for violence on dalit women. the location of the victim and the background of the offender convey the intensity of violence and the overall impact, it makes as an event, as a process, or an everyday experience of someone’s life. in the indian context, violence on women is regulated through their social position as well as the civil society’s reaction to it. one cannot assume that rape is just a matter of sexual desire; it is an affirmation that women are objects of pleasure; on many occasions the ground for revenge. in a collective sense, rape has explicitly been used as a political act with collective aggression, and become a spectacular ritual-that of victory against the enemy community (agrawal, 2012, p. 259). the semiotic expression of the sexuality of upper caste and lower caste women needs to be explored in the context of sexual violence on dalit women. likewise, nondalit women rape cases such as the nirbhaya case in delhi (2012) and priyanka reddy case in telangana (2019) divulge the selective justice process from the state machinery and speedy procedure in comparison to other cases. such cases have led to many protests against the indian state. because media, movies, and documentaries were made to reach these cases to the masses, it led to the perception of sympathy towards ‘india’s daughters’. in contrast, more horrendous incidents have occurred with dalit women in karamchedu (a village in prakasam district) massacre in andhra pradesh (1985), bhanwari devi in rajasthan (1992), shivapati (1994), anita kumari in uttar pradesh (2003), khairlanji (a village in bhandara district) in maharashtra (2006), mirchpur (a town in hisar district) in haryana (2010), budaun in uttar pradesh (2014) and satyabhama in maharashtra (2015). according to the national crime records bureau (ncrb) data, on an average four dalit women are raped daily (dutta, 2019). 124 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 ironically, ncrb data has huge gaps while enumerating rape cases; the ‘principal offence’ criteria mentions that a rape leading to death will be recorded as murder, not rape (all india dalit mahila adhikar manch [aidmam] & national campaign on dalit human rights [ncdhr], 2018, p. 27). such a criterion invisiblizes the heinous crime of rape. according to the national family health survey data (nfhs 2015-16), 33.2 percent of sc women experience physical and sexual violence between the ages of 15-49 years in rural india ibid, p-23. surprisingly these cases have faded away from the sight of the state, and the media’s efforts to reflect on causes of such incidents have instead proved counter productive for dalit women. therefore, this paper aims to address the violence against dalit women with reference to bhagana rape case (2014) in haryana, in which land became a contentious issue and rape was used as an apparatus to humiliate a community and family. this paper also examines another case in rajasthan’s alwar district (2019) wherein a married dalit woman was gang-raped in front of her husband. in this incident, the downtrodden status of dalits allowed the dominant caste status of the perpetrator to commit violence. this was reflected in a statement of one of the offenders who said, ‘what can a dalit do to us?’ (dayal, 2019). this statement indicates the structure of supremacy and caste privileges enjoyed by offenders; they were obviously aware of the social hierarchy and apathy of the state machinery towards the marginalized sections. social prerogatives on the un(touched) dalit women body the continued violence against dalits is arguably both an undeniable social fact and source of embarrassment for the state at the same time (rao, 2011, p. 613). the indian constitution abolished untouchability through article 17, but upon witnessing the persistence of such practices, a set of affirmative action policies and laws were put in place to tackle the issues of continued atrocities on ex-untouchables. such a system of ‘compensatory discrimination’ is undoubtedly a unique form of civil rights law and enables the understanding of caste and its structures of deprivation and impoverishment. dalit women’s personhood and integrity have been denied at multiple levels due to social hierarchies. as argued by dr. b.r. ambedkar, ‘the origin of the caste system is associated with the mechanism of endogamy’ (dr. babasaheb ambedkar writing and speeches 2014 p. 4). endogamy strictly controls the sexuality of women which is followed in hindu culture. it shows how the caste system uses women to safeguard the caste hierarchy within the notion of purity and impurity and makes a woman regulate her sexuality in the name of honour and virtue. furthermore, manusmriti supports these arguments by snatching away all kinds of freedom from women in the process of making them dependent on their male partners in the household (ambedkar, 2014, p. 429-30). similar roles for women can be seen in kautilya, which considered women as property (aloysius, mangubhai, & lee, 2011, p. 26). the very notion of seeing women as property, as keepers of family and caste honour, make them vulnerable victims of caste, communal, and ethnic violence.1 in addition, on an average, the most read and celebrated epics stories of mahabharata and ramayana portrayed dalit women as asura, or those who attempted to break religious norms and faced retribution. vizia bharati (2019) cites the characters of matanga kanyas, tadaka, shurpankha, and ayaomukhi, who expressed their interests towards kshatriy a varna rulers and were punished with chopping off of their noses, or ears and even killed. sex as a weapon to settle scores against dalits: a quotidian phenomenon 125 similar atrocious punishments persist in modern india against lower caste women. for instance, the religiously sanctioned practice of devadasi (servant of god) system for dalit women, still exists in some parts of rural india. savi sawarkar (2019) argues that it is a heinous ‘psychotic perversion’. in the devadasi system, a dalit woman is made to ‘give’ herself to the service of god. however, local priests who proclaimed themselves as agents of god, sexually exploit dalit girls on a regular basis and turn them into objects of their desires, while perpetrating the notion that these girls do not have any kind of rights on their own bodies. such a practice creates a double sense of disgust as ‘untouchable’ and ‘women’ among the victims. sawarkar (2019) observes that many priests have made it a daily routine of physically abusing these women with a notion that it is their ‘right to have pleasure’ over the ‘untouchable body of women’ (bharati, arya & rathore, 2019, p. 122-24). in other words, it is religiously sanctioned sexual slavery, which stigmatizes a dalit woman till the end of her life. the context of sexual domination paradigms: the control over women’s sexuality in brahminical patriarchy and the concurrent discourse of ‘honour’ and ‘shame’ with the specific power, force, and authority allowed dominant caste males to exercise control over dalit women’s bodies. ironically, the perception of dalit women bodies as ‘polluted’ and ‘untouchable’ become ‘touchable’ during sexual violence (aloysius, mangubhai, & lee, 2011, p.177-78). however, the worst aspect of repression in rape is due to its social meaning i.e. izzat lutna (robbing honour) in indian society. after rape, a woman’s body becomes an unmarriageable body that is ostracized from the social relations process. therefore, it is considered as one of the most heinous punishments for a woman. according to ruth manorama, ‘certain forms of violence are traditionally reserved for dalit women: extreme filthy verbal abuse and sexual epithets, naked parading, dismemberment, pulling off teeth and nails, and violence including murder after proclaiming witchcraft, and many more’ (manorama, channa &mencher, 2013, p. 263). laura brueck (2012) argues that upper caste men’s usage of dalit women’s bodies is a way of controlling and humiliating dalit men. ‘the prime reason behind this consideration is that any attack on a dalit woman is an attack on the dalit community and their men’s masculinity’ (the ability of a man to protect his wife and other women in the family who are dependent on him). on a regular basis, a collective effort of violence by the higher castes to threaten dalit women is obvious (brueck,2012, p. 226). the importance of masculinity and its related considerations are better explained by jean-paul sartre as ‘a man feels himself more of a man when he is imposing himself and making others the instrument of his will. ‘it gives him ‘incomparable pleasure’ (roul, 2016, p. 111). in cases of caste violence and rape, the perpetrators get similar pleasure, when they instigate violence. the supremacy of dominant caste men on dalit women’s sexuality also exposes the caste-obsessed nature of the state and society. for instance, retribution for violation of caste norms includes caste violence which includes rape, as part of feudal punishment. thus, crimes such as rape often amount to attaining power, dominance, and control rather than mere sexual fulfilments. certainly, the sexual violence on dalit women is the penalty of their assertion against the hegemony of the dominant caste (wss, 2015, p. 48). 126 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 demystifying rape it is believed that rape is committed against women irrespective of their social identities. ‘rape is rape’ (raphael, 2013) be it outside or inside the room, attempted by an individual or a group, occurs intentionally or unintentionally, but it is a crime against a woman due to her sexuality (diwakar, 2019, p. 63-64). a committee set up in 1979 on the elimination of discrimination against women primarily drew attention towards all kinds of gender-based violence. it observed that women faced violence not merely for their female sexual characteristics but also due to deprivation of equal status, violation of their dignity and human rights, which impacted on their overall growth. therefore, one has to distinguish between rape as violence on female sexuality, or as a political tool to humiliate the enemy group or community. apart from sexual violation of the human body, there are other definitions of rape which acknowledge patriarchal and intersectional structures of society that contribute to such incidents. for example, within feminism, the radical feminists have come up with two major categorizations of rape:’violence is sex’ and ‘violence is not sex’ (price, 2009, 12-14). according to kathleen barry (1984) the definition of crimes against women consider those acts of violence which are directed towards women due to their female sexual characteristics; in which men treat women as an object of their sexual desire. barry’s definition contrasts with the idea of power, dominance, and control. however, sanday (1981) has observed that the sexual act of rape is not merely about sexual gratification of male, but the deployment of the penis as symbolic masculine social power and dominance (ibid). another understanding suggests women as the property of males in the family. the argument that rape is not about a woman’s consent or will, instead a property crime against men…has been emphasized by susan brownmiller (1975, p.17-18). she explains that in the nineteenth century, married women were considered by law to be the property of their husbands. and if a woman is not married, she is a property of her father (brownmiller, 1975, p. 63-65). clark and lewis (1977) mention that rape is snatching someone’s sexual property with whom the rapist does not have any relationship. it also is seen as a crime against the honour of the family, community in order to humiliate, degrade, and stigmatize the community in public domain. in both the theorization, the role of power dynamic is crucial to understand how a woman’s sexuality is used as a tool to avert the demands and assertions made by the community at large. along with that, feminists mostly discuss rape in the form of gender-based violence due to the oppressive structure of patriarchy. still, there is a need to widen this understanding through intersectional structures, with special considerations about the particular identities of caste, religion, and ethnicity as reasons for rape in india. however, sexual violence incidents against dalit women need an intersectional and inter-disciplinary framework. when a dalit woman is raped, it is not a sexual act that is committed on one individual but an act of violation of the human rights of the social group that she belongs to. what is being asserted here is not merely male superiority, but caste, and community superiority as well. the upper caste men or their communities as a whole violate all norms of ‘pollution’ (impurity) when they touch the body of a dalit woman. ironically, the people who shun even the shadow of the dalit feel no violation of their purity when they rape a dalit woman. it is not a matter of purity and pollution; it is a matter of exploitation and extraction of labour and services at the cheapest possible terms from the dalits. it is therefore crucial to see the act as political rather than sexual; it is a direct violation of human rights and dignity (channa, 2013, p. 267). sex as a weapon to settle scores against dalits: a quotidian phenomenon 127 situating the perpetrator and the victim/survivor to identify the causal factors of sexual violence on dalit women, one needs to look at the context of the social status of the perpetrator and the victim. in most cases, dalit women have mentioned that the perpetrators were either landlords or having functional economic and political clout in the society or state institutions.2 on the other hand, the victim dalit women were mostly engaged as agricultural laborers, midwives, or domestic workers in upper-caste hindu houses. because of dalit women’s economic dependence on perpetrators, they get a lot of chances to harass them. according to an aidmam report, ‘the non-dalit first occupies the land of dalit and then seeks sexual benefits from the mother, daughter, or daughter-in-law. sometimes the non-dalits get the dalit men drunk and so they don’t know what’s happening with the women in the house (2018, 12). along with that, the role of state and non-state actors such as police, local political ruling parties, panchayats, political leaders, medical officers, goons, and blatant and subtle forms of support from other dominant caste people becomes prominent in the perpetuation of violence (aloysius, mangubhai, & lee, 2011). in some cases, a family member also helps the perpetrator. the two case studies discussed in this paper highlight the role of state and non-state actors directly and indirectly moderating such instigations. in the bhagana rape case, the perpetrators (belonginig to the dominant jat community) were politically influential and represented in the state and administrative mechanisms. they had hundreds of acres of land and were economically powerful too. they also influenced the panchayat and police machinery. in comparison, the chamar and dhanuks victims were from the scheduled caste community. they were landless labourers and worked in the fields of jats. similarly, in the second case in alwar, gujjars were the dominant caste who influenced the state political and local administration machinery in rajasthan. land as contested space: bhagana rape case the incidents of rape on dalit women by dominant caste groups have been on the rise in haryana. according to ncrb data, the numbers of rape cases against dalit girls or women rose from 1,346 in 2009 to 2,536 in 2016 an increase of 88.4 percent nationally, while in haryana they rose by a whopping 167 percent (teltumbde, 2018, p. 167). according to the aidmam and national tribunal reports the maximum number of sexual violence cases came from haryana, followed by rajasthan and uttar pradesh (aidmam & nchdr, 2018, p. 27). the state is also notorious for feudal practices such as involvement of khap panchayats (community courts) in social affairs as a ‘moral cornerstone’ of communities’ justice delivery mechanism. most of the crimes involve suppression of dalits by the dominant castes and the use of caste and misogynistic language, followed by dehumanization and objectification of dalit women’s bodies. in addition to glamorization of violence and masculinity, the justification of caste, class, and gender hierarchies, have not been able to help in the preservation of law and order and overall stability in the state. the failure of land reforms in the state has worked to the advantage of the jat community enabling their economic and social dominance as also overwhelming hold over political power. with eighty percent of all land in the state being owned by jats, they are the only caste in haryana to corner state benefits at large while marginalized and backward classes remain deprived. they have been able to exercise undoubted control over 128 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 the state machinery as well with their presence in majority of formal and informal institutions. as a result they have been seen exercising their caste power over other castes and social groups with impunity. not surprisingly, the sexual exploitation of dalit women and girls is considered by jats a privilege which they can easily access. apart from several forms of dominance such as major ownership of productive lands, the jats also control several common village assets such as grazing lands, wastelands used for defecation and burial of dead animals, and lands such as playgrounds and chaupals (used for community meetings) which are developed with public funds. due to the lack of free access to such spaces, dalits have been dependent on jat landowners for economic support. therefore, it is quite common for jats to ‘enforce’ social and economic boycotts against dalits when they try to assert their rights to public assets such as common land. against this backdrop of caste conflicts and simmering differences, rape incidents of dalit women are embedded in the nature of violence so as to gain social control over them. these incidents cannot be seen in isolation but are a continuum of pre-existing social tensions among various castes. a case in point is the bhagana rape case of 2014. bhagana is a small village in hisar district. the jat community dominates the village while chamars and dhanuks, representing the lower castes, are dalits. unlike jats, dalits are mostly landless wage labourers employed in fields owned by the dominant caste. on the night of 23rd march 2014, four minor dalit girls went out of their houses to answer nature’s call. five men of the jat community, who had been stalking them for a long time, abducted the girls by dragging them into a car. they sedated and gang-raped the girls and then dumped about 170 kms away near bhatinda railway station in the neighbouring state of punjab. upon their daughters’ sudden disappearance, the parents of the girls approached the village sarpanch (village head), who was also a jat. instead of taking the incident seriously and helping the parents file a police complaint, the sarpanch tried to pass off the incident as a case of elopement. on the persistence of parents, he took the missing girls’ parents and relatives to bhatinda railway where the girls were found. on their way back, the sarpanch accompanied the girls in a car while their relatives were asked to take the bus. this was allegedly done to intimidate the girls throughout the journey asking them to forget the incident and warning them of dire consequences for their families in case they went ahead with police complaint. all the while, the sarpanch, upper caste people, and police insisted that the incident was a case of elopement alleging that one of the victims had an affair with one of the accused persons and that the girls were raking up the issue to get compensation from government. nonetheless, the girls and their families filed a police complaint following which the girls under went a medical examination confirming rape and physical assault. although the police were initially reluctant to file a case and proceed further, they could not resist any further due to pressure from families and dalit activists. a sting operation by a leading news magazine tehelka later found that the entire episode had been carefully planned as a means to settle scores with parents of one of the victims whose father had taken on the sarpanch by lodging a police complaint against him. the father worked as a daily wage labourer in the house of the sarpanch. once, he was beatenup on the issue of wages. he lodged a first information report (fir) against the sarpanch, but the police did not take any action against them. the sarpanch and his relatives threatened to ‘teach a lesson’ to the daily wager for having gone to the police station against them. after a month, the gangrape incident happened. here, sexual violence needs to be seen in the background of simmering tensions sex as a weapon to settle scores against dalits: a quotidian phenomenon 129 between the dalit and jat communities. the incident of rape was the consequence of a prior conflict. another among the several simmering issues between dalits and jats in the village pertained to the fundamental right to use and access the shamilat-deh (common land) in bhagana. the authority for distribution of common land is vested in the panchayat. the amendment act of punjab village common land (regulation), october 2009 states: a panchayat may, gift, sell, exchange or lease the land in shamilat-deh vested in it under this act to such persons including members of scheduled caste and backward classes on such terms and conditions, as may be prescribed’ (association for democratic rights [afdr], people’s union democratic rights [pudr], &women against sexual violence and state repression [wss], 2014, p.4.). in 2012, 280 acres of common land was under the authority of the village panchayat. out of the total, sixty acres was distributed among villagers through auction. the jats dominated the panchayat and got access to more land. they deliberately planted trees on the common land to stop dalit accessibility to the area. they also allegedly collected rs 1000 rupees per family for plot allotment. while the sarpanch stated that they had already allotted 123 plots to dalit families, the dalits resisted the allotment as the plots given to them were earlier used as burial grounds by upper caste people. since dalits are mostly landless labourers and they have livestock that grazed on the common land, they had no grazing land left after it was allotted to others following the auction. this affected their livelihood. the pudr report mentions that the dalits were raising their voice to seek redistribution of common land. when the dalits started raising their voice against injustice, the jats began to prohibit them from accessing public spheres. subsequently, dalits started protesting against it. on 21st march 2014, the dalits filed a case against the jats’ encroachment on common land. however, the judiciary bypassed the issue saying that ‘the case comes under the panchayat’s authority; and the judiciary has no role to play’ (pudr, 2014, p. 6-7). the dalits in the village had also been demanding a change in the name of a village square from ‘chamar chowk’ to ‘ambedkar chowk’ and wanted to install a statue of dr. ambedkar there. yet another demand was related to a playground. after the rape incident, 137 families of the chamar community went to delhi for holding a demonstration in their quest for justice. they organized under the banner of bhagana kaand sangharsh samiti (bhagana episode struggle committee) and demanded justice for the rape victims and socially boycotted villagers. however, the state government and the central regime took no action. in this case, the dominant caste used rape as an instrument of caste shame and humiliation. according to prem chowdhary (2010), because of persisting caste boundaries and notions of purity, the upper-caste ensures control over women’s sexuality. however, in the case of dalit women, their bodies are seen as a ‘site of dishonour, revenge, and subordination’. attempting rape on dalit women becomes a symbolic mechanism of perpetuating subjugation. rape, thus, is relational violence because it is connected to family and community honour.3 interestingly, the culprits do not consider rape as violence until they face any resistance, and are in a position to proclaim that it (raping) is their right. on the other hand, the victims and even their families and community as a whole are subjected to all sorts of humiliation as a collective punishment (baxi, 2014, p. 28). 130 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 alwar gang rape case when rape is used as an instrument to impose power, or reflect the powerful position of influential people in society, it is considered ‘power rape’. according to geetha mukherjee(1983), ‘when a woman is raped under economic domination, or influence, or control, or authority, it includes all kinds of legal and illegal domination by the perpetrator who is holding power in a state or non-state mechanism through which he shall deem to commit rape’ (baxi, 2014, p. 34-35). baxi (2014) argues that in the case of bhanwari devi (1992), men of the dominant gujjar community raped her as she had ventured to stop a child marriage in their family. this action was considered by gujjars as humiliating as a lower caste woman had dared to question their customs. during the long-drawn legal battle for justice, a sessions judge reportedly said ‘it’s impossible for upper-caste men to rape a lower caste woman’ (shukla, 2006). the judgment mentioned bhanwari devi as ‘un-rape-able’ based on her social location vis-à-vis the age and caste location of perpetrators. nonetheless, the incident led to the introduction of a law on sexual harassment even though incidents of power rape have not stopped since. a more recent instance of ‘power rape’ is the gang rape of a married dalit woman on 26thapril 2019 in rajasthan’s alwar district. a dalit couple was riding a motorcycle at around 3 pm, when they were stopped by six men on two motorcycles. as the men turned aggressive and violent, the couple pleaded with them that they were married and even tried to prove their credentials by giving their village name and contacting relatives but to no avail. once it became clear that they were dalits, the attackers seized their vehicle and forced them to an isolated spot and took turns raping the woman. the victim recalled that the attackers first asked their names, fathers’ name, marital status, and their caste too. when they disclosed that they were ‘dalits and a married couple,’ one of the attackers said, ‘what can a dalit do to us’ (dayal, 2019). they even video-recorded the gruesome act. once they were done, the accused forced the couple into a sexual act and filmed that too. the couple was let off after two hours. they also took rs 2000 from the husand and warned the couple against reporting or filing a complaint about the incident or they would circulate the video on social media. however, two days later the perpetrators began black mailing the couple asking rs 10000, which they were unable to pay and sought the help of relatives. with the support of relatives the couple reported the incident to the police but no action was taken. meanwhile, the perpetrators went ahead and circulated the videos on social media. it was after the relatives showed the video recording of the incident to the police on may 4, 2019, that all the six accused were arrested (scroll, 2019). the woman meanwhile said that she had received immense support from her husband and in-laws in resuming normal life thereafter. in hindsight, she wondered if her caste identity was the sole reason behind the rape as the perpetrators were confident that no harm could come to them due to their superior and dominant caste status in the area. the incident also exposes the unwillingness on the part of state machinery to take up issues of dalits, particularly dalit women. it also draws attention to vote bank politics as the caste considerations of the accused and their dominant status was hampering justice for the dalit woman. for the police, the woman’s issues had become secondary and it was only after the videos of sexual violence got viral on social media that they were forced to take action against the upper caste accused. (dayal, 2019). sex as a weapon to settle scores against dalits: a quotidian phenomenon 131 the incident reflects how rape is not merely sexual assault but a form of ‘sexual terrorism’, used by patriarchal and caste-obsessed people to subjugate the dalit women in particular and community in general. cheris kramarae (1986) defines sexual terrorism as part of a broader political project which hinges on the total appropriation of women’s bodies. such trauma and suffering have become ‘routine’ in dalit women’s lives. the persistence of violence against dalit women, the escalation of its scale, method, and intensity remain unnoticed and unaddressed. the similarity that can be drawn between bhagana and alwar cases is that both were results of intentional and targeted caste violence. the issues of distribution of common land, resource usage, and caste dominance had created ground for caste-based sexual violence. in both cases, dalit women were the major victims of atrocities and bore the brunt of casteism. conclusion violence against women is one of the major challenges towards achieving an equal and just society. any form of violence against women is unacceptable. among the several acts of violence, rape is the most heinious act against a woman. it is not merely a non-consensual sexual act forced on a woman’s body but is loaded with several social, cultural, and political considerations associated with women’s bodies. this paper discusses how forced sex is a used as a significant tool to suppress the rights and dignity of not just dalit women, but the community as a whole. it also highlights the patriarchal, and hierarchical caste and class structures which legitimize sexual crime against lower caste women. the rape of a dalit woman revolves around the issues of both patriarchal and brahminical norms. it is therefore pivotal to note that caste is the dominant factor in case of incidents of sex crimes against dalit women. in most cases rape becomes the consequence or the resultant end of several causal factors such as land disputes, factional rivalry, and above all caste dominance due to deeply embedded discriminatory behaviour sanctioned by religion. both the alwar and bhagana cases throw light on the apathy of the state authorities in ensuring justice to victims and survivors. rather than looking into the enormity of the violence against an individual, these reveled how state institutions characterize women by their caste identity. the notion of individuality disappears in the cases of dalit women. caste-biased rape is not only a mere non-consensual physical act of violence but is also a festering wound on the individual’s psyche as also that of her community. as memories of such events and trauma haunt dalit women they live in perpetual fear, which adversely affects their future aspirations. hence, rapes of dalit women need to be tackled with the human rights approach so that their concerns are addressed more inclusively and substantially. also, in order to prevent violence on dalit women there is a need for ‘substantive’ justice rather than a ‘punitive’ one. it can only be possible when the state, civil society, academia, and mainstream media collectively start to address their issues without prejudiced minds and institutional support is provided in a holistic manner. 132 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 references afdr, pudr, & wss. 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(2019). caste matter. new york: penguin. 134 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 endnotes 1 according to adama dieng, representative of un on sexual violence in conflicts, sexual violence became a ‘tool of dehumanization and shame’ and ‘a weapon of punishment and persecution’. see: edith m. lederer, ‘sexual violence being used as terror tactics,’ the times of india (delhi), may 16, 2017. susan brownmiller also stated the meaning of rape as the violent act against another person and the property in the context of war. see: susan brownmiller, against our will: men, women and rape (new york: fawcett columbia., 1975), 186. 2 if we look the previous caste atrocities cases, we see that perpetrators have invariably been from higher castes. in the karamchedu massacre (1985) in andhra pradesh, the perpetrators belongedtothekammaslandlord community, who had a hold in politics and administrative posts and a dominant position among other castes. in thebhanwari devi case in rajasthan (1992), gujjars were the dominant community in bhaterivillage.they gang rapedbhanwaridevi in front of herhusband. intheshivapati case (1994) and anita kumari case in uttar pradesh a dalit woman wadraped by adominant caste community male. in the case of khairlanjicasein maharashtra (2006) the offenders were from kunabi and kalar caste group. they were also the dominant castes in khairlanji village. in the case of mirchapur (2010) and bhagana (2014) in haryana the perpetrators werefromjat community. 3 the ideology of honour is highlighted in the gendered notion of inequality and hierarchy. men and women both embody honour, but the woman is the repository and men are the regulator of honour. thus, a woman’s honour is associate with family and community honour. so, if a woman is ‘dishonoured’ by any mechanism, then her family or community can never regain that honour. see: premchowdhary, redeeming honour through violence:unraveling the concept and its applications(new delhi: cequin, 2010), http://cequinindia.org/images/ resourcesitem/pdf/honour%20killings%20by%20prem%20choudhury.pdf. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 91–106 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.177 © 2020 prashant ingole. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste intersecting dalit and cultural studies: de-brahmanizing the disciplinary space1 prashant ingole1 abstract the paper begins with the context in which dalit culture and resistance emerges and the way brahmanical social order tries to maintain their status quo through established cultural inequalities with the dominance of power and knowledge. by invoking different claims of dominant epistemologies re-articulated by dalit intellectuals and locating the cultural past of dalit humiliation, this paper examines the anti-caste discourse and the dalit cultural resistance from the colonial and postcolonial time. with an attempt to bring in the intersections of dalit and cultural studies, the paper argues that by challenging brahmanical cultural knowledge production, dalits can reclaim power and knowledge in relation with the ‘politics of difference’. the dalit aesthetic decenters the cultural production and circulation of the hitherto grand narratives. further, it attempts to de-brahmanize the established disciplinary space by bringing the discourse of dalit experience of caste and humiliation into mainstream academia. lastly, drawing from the interdisciplinary context, the paper has elaborated the possibility of the making of a field of dalit cultural studies as a step forwarda newer way for the cultural resistance of the oppressed. keywords dalit culture, de-brahmanization, anti-caste, interdisciplinary, dalit studies, resistance 1doctoral candidate, humanities and social sciences, indian institute of technology, gandhinagar, india–382355 e-mail: prashant.ingole@iitgn.ac.in 92 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 the most important strategy of the dalit movement is a coupling of the cultural theory of despair with the politics of hope…ambedkar himself provided the ideological basis for this cultural theory of despair…the intellectual biography of ambedkar and the ideological topography of the dalit movement merge together to produce a rage-filled reading of indian history and culture. (nagaraj, 2010, pp.105-106). there are historical reasons that gave a structural advantage to the top of the twice-born (ttb), which is the section of the upper layer of the social hierarchy in india, in consolidating its privileged position in doing theory. historically accumulated cultural inequalities seem to have reinforced dalit epistemological closure. this in effect left the realm of reflectivity entirely free for the ttb. such closure has its sanction in manu’s thinking. (guru, 2012, p.16). [...]if experience and knowledge are inextricably interlinked in social sciences, then the location of the knowledge producer, the researcher, in social structure is crucial from the perspective of production of knowledge. that is, the perspective from below is necessitated due to the politics of location. the process of production of knowledge and the advantages emanating out of one’s location in social structure are invariably linked. (as cited in kumar, 2014, p. 25). [...] in search of the debris of history. i am wiping the dust off past conversations to remember some of what was shared in the old days...to bear the burden of memory one must willingly journey to places long uninhabited, searching the debris of history for traces of the unforgettable, all knowledge of which has been suppressed. (hooks, 1992 /2015, pp. 166-172). introduction when it comes to intellect and power in india, one is bound to see the production of knowledge coming from renowned, mainstream public intellectuals as legitimate. this can be attributed to many factors such as early english-language initiation, uppercaste elite networks in academia and in think tanks, higher qualifications in specialized disciplines, access to foreign education, etc. this set context inhibits us from considering local knowledge systems of marginalized people, who have a rich cultural history passed on from one generation to the next. in a brahmanical society, cultural reproduction is a reality of the dalit lived experience(s), and until the recent dalit literary movement, had not come out in the mainstream literary and political circles. the social handicaps of caste and discrimination made it easily possible for upper castes to keep the lower castes subjugated. the historical difference in treatment made it possible to define culture in a singular manner (that is spirituality and brahmanical religiosity) while disregarding the dalit culture entirely.2 the four epigraphs given at the beginning of this paper set the context in which dalit ‘cultural theory of despair’ (nagaraj, 2010) emerges and the way the ‘top of the twice born’ (guru, 2012) have looked at the historical and cultural inequalities through privileged knowledge production and the way they try to maintain their status quo. it intersecting dalit and cultural studies: de-brahmanizing... 93 is a ‘politics of location’ (as cited in kumar, 2014) which has given the privilege to the cultural elites in the game of knowledge making processes. therefore, one must go for the journey of ‘searching the debris of history’ (hooks, 1992/2015) in order to understand the strategies by which knowledge and culture of the marginalized communities is erased and suppressed. phule-ambedkar ideology and indian academia the crusaders of anti-caste movement in maharashtra, jotirao phule through his pathbreaking text gulamgiri (slavery; 1873), and b.r. ambedkar in his phenomenal text revolution and counter revolution (1987) have tried to deconstruct the dominant brahmanical culture and knowledge production. both of these anti-caste thinkers present the cultural critique of ‘graded inequality’ i.e. caste order through which the twice born have exploited the masses. phule and ambedkar’s writings contextualize the cultural hierarchies through which savarnas have kept themselves in the privileged position while shudra-atishudra3 and women ⎼ in other words avarnas, have remained at the lower level of social status. phule’s power and knowledge discourse attempts to deconstruct the shetji-bhatji (bania-brahmin) nexus. following phule, dr b.r. ambedkar through his writing and resistance explains the organized and controlled system of brahmanical power. considering the brahmanical social order as a subject of scrutiny, ambedkar created the possible domain to debunk the ‘cultural hegemony’ of the twice born castes. inspired by the anti-caste thoughts, the dalit literary and political movement is a radical response to the brahmanical knowledge production. the dalit movement emerged in the context of everyday caste discrimination, humiliation, and stigma that the outcastes have to carry throughout their life. rising against the stigma and dalit atrocities, the dalit panther4 movement in maharashtra emerged in 1972. although short-lived, it indeed generated a radical consciousness among the dalits and the other oppressed groups. in the context of maharashtra it was the dalit literary movement which supported the dalit panther whereas in other parts of india the case was opposite. the dalit movement is not just political or social but a cultural movement which attempts to dismantle the brahmanical hegemonic order. at present, it seems that the indian society is transitioning between caste and democracy. because of the constitutional safeguards, dalits and the other oppressed sections of the society are able to rise up against caste exploitation. the phuleambedkar approach is an ideological basis for the ‘politics of hope’ for the dalits as nagaraj states in the epigraph provided at the beginning of this paper. dalit experiences of humiliation are rooted in the indian social structure. crossing all kinds of hurdles the discourse of the dalits has reached in indian academia only recently, specifically after the 1990s; and perhaps because of prolonged closure the dalit crossdisciplinary theoretical domain has remained underdeveloped, in other words, did not reach in the mainstream academic discussion. therefore, one can claim that the available mainstream approaches in humanities and social sciences in india could not grasp the intensity of dalit pain and anguish; and it has only presented the mainstream sympathetic view. scholars from the dominant academia have reduced the meaning of 94 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 the term ‘dalit’ as broken, crushed, and so on. even after the radical political activism of dalit panther, the meaning of the category of dalit did not change. it is perhaps only gopal guru and d. r. nagaraj who have seen ‘dalit’ as a category that radicalizes the consciousness of oppressed communities (guru, 2001, p. 102; nagaraj, 2010, p. 94). however, the cultural and administrative institutions have reduced the meaning of dalit to pity and emotion. gopal guru (2012) presents this disparity in the context of indian academia that ‘social sciences are divided into empirically inferiorized and the critically privileged domain of knowledge’ (p.9). the oppressed masses remain marginalized whereas savarnas dominate over knowledge building institutions. therefore, there is a need to debrahmanize the disciplinary space. in this process intersecting dalit and cultural studies could help so that dalit culture and the fight against injustice could be radically visible. the dalit literary and political movement, along with the phule-ambedkar anti-caste ideologies, is also inspired from the black consciousness of usa. if one looks at the black knowledge production domain one can see how black studies curriculum or their resistance movement has gained a certain kind of global recognition. in contrast, the internationalization of dalit studies is still an ongoing exercise. a more recent phenomenon has been international conferences organized in black-american academic circles with themes revolving around caste, class, race, and gender in relation with the ambedkarite ideology.5 another account would be isabel wilkerson’s recent contribution to caste studies in global perspective. wilkerson (2020) in her piece in the new york times magazine mentions caste is about power, resources, respect, authority, and competence, and about which groups have it and which do not. with a few exceptions, the effort of raising dalit issues at the global level seems to have been taken up only by the few anti-caste ambedkarite scholars who are studying abroad. but, black intellectuals do not seem keen on taking ambedkar in their everyday matters of fight against race. rather they seem to heavily rely on the marxian notion of class and capitalist nexus and its relationship with race. sharmila rege (2013, p.19) points out that: research and curricular frameworks in social sciences and literature departments included studies on dalits or dalit writings while completely evading the epistemological challenges posed by the dalit panthers. however, since the late 1990s, dalit studies has emerged, shaped by the “secular upsurge of caste” at national level and the emergence of the caste question in international forums like the united nations world conference against racism. by invoking the different claims of dominant epistemologies re-articulated by the dalit intellectuals (guru& geetha, 2000) and locating the cultural past of dalit humiliation, this paper examines the anti-caste discourse and dalit cultural resistance from the colonial and postcolonial time. with an attempt to bring in the intersections of dalit and cultural studies the paper argues that by challenging brahmanical cultural knowledge production, dalits can reclaim the power and knowledge in relation with the ‘politics of difference’. the dalit aesthetic decentres the cultural production and circulation of the hitherto grand narratives. further, it attempts in de-brahmanizing the established disciplinary space by bringing the discourse of dalit experience of caste and humiliation into mainstream academia. dalit literary and political movement has intersecting dalit and cultural studies: de-brahmanizing... 95 not only challenged the brahmanical order of caste but it has also developed various forms to express their rage and angst against caste and everyday brahmanical politics. dalit literature has been an important aspect of the dalit culture in india as it is mostly available in regional and vernacular languages and therefore, it needs to be brought into mainstream academic discourse through the process of translation and rigorous research work. dalit literature is studied in various way but largely highlighted in socio-political context. popular dalit folk songs, dramas, and humour are yet to find a respectable place in mainstream indian academia. moreover its cultural context has also remained unexplored. therefore, dalit studies need to go beyond the confined disciplinary fields as its vast canon of literature remains outside these boundaries. metaphorically and realistically, it is similar to the way the dominant social order and its gatekeepers kept the dalits outside the village society. on the same line dalits’ knowledge production, by which they resist, has been kept outside the dominant academic discourse. indian cultural studies and the absent anti-caste movement drawing from bhaskar mukhopadhyay (2006) it is possible to retrieve the historicity of cultural studies abroad and in india. cultural studies as a field of interdisciplinary studies started in the british and american academia somewhere between the 1960s and 1980s and was influenced by marxist philosophy. in the process of socio-political and economic development, it has brought a range of studies together and evolved at the global level. in the context of india, the launch of journal of arts and ideas marked the arrival of cultural studies in the country during the 1980s. unlike british academia, the arrival of cultural studies in india was influenced not only by the marxist movement but also the ‘political spirituality’ of gandhi, and nehru’s socialist vision of democratic institutions. the dominant aspect of theorizing the culture in india is of (upper caste) society and the behaviours, beliefs and attitudes of its members alone. culturally, much of its focus has remained limited to the theatre movement and the hindi cinematic evolution from india’s independence to the arrival of the free market economy. only recently, it has started to explore marginal identities such as gender, class, and patriarchy. yet, phule-ambedkar and the anti-caste resistance movement seems absent in the mainstream articulation of cultural studies in india. nonetheless some efforts have been made by scholars who are influenced by the world of the anti-castes. in this relation sharmila rege (2000) has made an important contribution by mapping the trajectories of the two terms ‘popular culture’ and ‘mass culture.’ in analyzing popular cultural forms such as satyashodhak jalsa, chhatrapati mela and ganesha mela,6 rege underscores the way caste is mapped, re-mapped, and contested through the caste-based, gender-based cultural practices and material condition of the working caste/class communities (ibid, pp. 194-198). in addition, there are few scholars like gary michael tartakov (2013) and y.s. alone (2017) who have contributed in the field of indian art history and its cultural context through which they try to deconstruct its brahmanical epistemology. tartakov in his edited book dalit art and visual imagery looks at the ancient art of temple architecture and 96 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 its social connection through which he emphasizes on the varna hierarchy based social stratification. in addition, tartakov has looked at the images of ambedkar painted in various magazines. alone, an art historian, focuses on the visual manifestations with the conceptualization of ‘protected ignorance’ (2017, p. 141) drawing on the paintings of dalit and non-dalit painters’ expressions. to elaborate ‘protected ignorance’ further it is an academic blindness of the savarnas the way they overlook the matters of caste. deeptha achar (2019) in her essay invokes the concept called ‘dalit art’, by critically looking at the striking absence of caste question in contemporary art discourse in india (p. 183). in addition, she mentions that dalit art is a self-conscious practice; but at present savi sawarkar who practices in delhi and g. chandrashekhar who works in chennai, are the only artists who display the caste question through their politically charged aesthetics (ibid, p. 188). these are the few exceptional interventions that have been made in the discipline of art history and indian cultural studies at large. these scholarships have distinctly come from anti-caste researchers and have remained at the periphery of mainstream framework of indian cultural studies. in such a situation one would go beyond and ask that what could have been the state of dalit studies in mainstream indian academia even after its substantial development. dalit studies and its development savyasaachi (2004) in an essay elaborates about a national seminar held on dalit studies and higher education: exploring content material for a new discipline at bodh gaya, bihar in the spring of 2004. it was proposed in the seminar to prepare the ground to understand the history of the suffering of the marginalizedso that there could be dalit studies critiques of the dominant system (p.1660). t.m. yesudasan (2013) in his essay critically attacking the dominant historical oppression shows how oppressed masses raise self-reflexive queries (p.149) such as do we have a role to play in the ever-changing scenario in which history and the future are both fast evolving? will social invisibility and political powerlessness continue to haunt our destiny, leaving us in perpetual wretchedness and humiliation? dalit studies originates on the premises of these disturbing questions and frustrations of the people. one can observe that dalit studies evolved by radically asserting a critical past. yet there are systemic hurdles and impossibilities in its growth. ankit kawade (2019), drawing on impossibility, argues that dalit studies is a production of assertion, but the pedagogical practices and institutional policies in higher education have ignored the thought process of the dalits. he further mentions that dalit studies becomes an undesirable site for research, because it is undervalued to retain the brahmanical academic ‘purity’ for their institutional disciplines (ibid, pp. 21-22). by raising critical questions against mainstream history and culture, dalit studies poses the challenge to the dominant brahmanical system. hence, in mainstream hegemonic academic atmosphere it tends to become an undesirable site for research. how then could one make it a desirable site of research? in what manner can dalit studies become a dynamic discipline? can black cultural studies show a path in foregrounding the intersecting dalit and cultural studies: de-brahmanizing... 97 discipline of dalit cultural studies? mae g. henderson in his article (1996, p. 66) mentions that the arrival of black studies was central to the project of contemporary cultural studies. it has articulated the perspectives and counter-perspectives in various ways. it has challenged the dominant eurocentric institutions and has generated the possibility to alter the mode of inquiry with an effect of change in texts, curricula and classrooms. similar to black studies that has challenged the domination of the white supremacist ideology, dalit studies also draws its articulation from the centuries-long oppression, anti-caste resistance, and the vast domain of egalitarian culture to challenge the dominant brahmanical institutional supremacy and narrate the unheard, unseen, and unimagined social pain of the dalit community. by reading the historical complexities and the socio-political philosophy expounded by ambedkar and other anti-caste thinkers, one will be able to see that the academic discussion around dalits and other marginalized groups of the society has become merely an object of discourse and needs to be interpreted and understood from the dalit cultural point of view i.e. having a ‘perspective from below’ a process of de-brahmanizing the dominant theoretical disciplinary ideas. scholars in general have asserted that dalit writing is not just about ‘writing experiences’ of one individual or a community in general, but it is about raising the voice against dominant narratives and social suppression. it is an assertion and resistance against the brahmanical power, which is at the core of the distinction between dalit versus lalit perspective (limbale, 2004). lalit literature is that which tries to project otherworldly, fictional, and exaggerated realities of society. dalit perspective stands against this notion by focusing on the experience, oppression, and resistance and, the world of the outcastes. dalit expressions are negation against the brahmanical (upper-caste) social world. caste, democracy and dalit resistance constitutionally, untouchability and discrimination based on caste have been abolished, but caste is still a visible and persistent problem, culturally ingrained in the social sphere. it reproduces inequality in social institutions in different ways. caste is so prevalent that one cannot spend a single day without hearing about casteatrocities or about the rapes on dalits and adivasi (indigenous) women. we see several cases of caste discrimination in the educational sphere too. ambedkar had argued for an extension of india’s political democratic model as the social democratic model. but because of the cultural binary between democracy and caste society, the multi hierarchical structure continues to exist. m. s. s. pandian (2016, p. 26) by referring to k.m. panikkar mentions that: democracy and caste are totally opposed…one is based on equality, the other on inequality of birth. the one is actuated by the principle of social inclusion, the other by the principle of social exclusion. democracy tries to break down the barriers of class; caste seeks to perpetuate them…in all matters that are of 98 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 importance, caste and democracy are fundamentally opposed, they are at their very bases, incompatible. democracy not only opposes caste, but also provides a space to represent the experience of the excluded subjects. therefore, to subvert the dominant ‘politics of representation’ the pan-indian dalit literary movement continues to have a contentious relationship with academia and outside as well. sharmila rege (2006) writes, ‘(s)ince the 1980s caste identity and caste consciousness have dominated the political scene, and theoretical and political issues concerned with the role of caste in social transformation are at the centre of political debates’(p. 64). caste and consciousness have become the centre of political debate as gopal guru (1995) aptly points out that ‘less powerful members of a society have a more encompassing view of social reality than others because their disadvantaged position grants them certain epistemic positions over others’ (p. 2549). sara beth hunt (2014, p.10) writes, dalit literature exposes what dalit politics does not ⎼ the subtlety and widespread experience of caste discrimination among not only the dalit poor, but the dalit urban middle class. in other words, dalit literature highlights the inescapability of caste identity and the emotionality of discrimination in a different way to dalit politics. dalit politics and literature both are inter-relational as one cannot sustain without the other. for any movement to live long, it must have a literary backup. the notion of caste is socially rooted across communities and it creates barriers for the oppressed dalits. in contrast, the democratic process provides an access to dalits at the socio-political and cultural level. democratic politics of dalits paved the way to liberate themselves from the prolonged experience of discriminatory social reality. further, hunt’s (2014) study argues that ‘dalit politics portrays a very specific dalit identity linked to social and economic oppression, historical disenfranchisement and a shared set of civil rights that must be regained, dalit literature displays a much broader and more fluid set of the characteristics and experiences that constitute dalit identity (ibid, p.11). the question of representation is important to know from where the voice of/for dalits is coming. in a brahmanical society like india a of framework representation works in various ways: one way is that of the progressive liberals who are actually from the oppressor class but to have an ‘agency’ in their hand they will appropriate the struggle of the oppressed and resist against oppression. according to ravi kumar ‘while the spurt in translations ensures that dalit voice does become accessible and casteism is exposed, it is important also to remember that there is a politics of selection at work in terms of what is translated and by whom’(as cited in rege, 2006, p. 9). the selective ways of seeing, doing and allying dalit politics needs a critical cultural approach about the way dalit literature and politics is projected. rege (ibid) points out further that the articulation of castes has been reduced to puritypollution and untouchability and reforms are articulated through the division of labour upholding the varna order ‘as the division based on differential qualities and skills’ (p.26). ambedkar in his famous piece annihilation of caste points in a succinct manner that ‘caste is not merely a division of labour, but the division of labourers’ (1979, p.47). however, mainstream academicians have reduced the caste functionality to intersecting dalit and cultural studies: de-brahmanizing... 99 division of labour. the savarna intellectuals mostly rely on the marxist notion of class, and they generally look at the matter as through binary position of haves and have nots. caste as a social order dominates the psyche of the indian individuals through number of divisions. there are visible divisions and invisible divisions (varna-jati complex)7 there are visible divisions and invisible divisions (varna-jati) complex, and most studies have focused on jati(s) or caste complexities. however its subdivisions have not been addressed widely in the indian academic knowledge production. on jati(s)or caste complexities and its subdivisions have been addressed widely in the indian academic knowledge production. this discussion takes one towards the formulation of the categories called brahmani or savarna and abrahmani or avarna, or in other words non-dalit and dalit that has been debated across maharashtrian politics. this helps us to open up a way to analyze the question of (self) representation. rege writes,‘in the conceptualisation of this binary, abrahmani referred to thoughts and practices that contested caste, class, and gender exploitation; in practice it was slippage on the issue of caste that became central in labelling practices as brahmani’ (p.30).similarly significant is shailaja paik’s work (2014) that documented the neglected resources from marathi to understand the efforts of dalit radicals: phule, ambedkar, and periyar in reorganizing and refashioningthe dalit women’s lives. the dalit radicals have challenged the double discriminatory practices of brahmanic order, caste and patriarchy in order to liberate the dalit women through the means of education.generating anti-caste consciousness among the backward communities and bringing them in non-brahmanic fold is a counter-cultural project. its impact was seen during the protests on the issue of mandal commission— an extension of reservation policy for the other backward classes (obcs) in the state-run institutions of india. thus, the issue of caste and discrimination has been brought in academic and political discussion along with the debate on caste based reservation. braj ranjan mani (2005, p. 34) writes ‘as an exploitative ideology and practice, brahmanism has been kept hidden in modern india under cleverly designed “cultural” or “national” discourse which obfuscates (in a variety of ways) the historical reality of caste and its consequences’. understanding the complex relationship of caste and the democracy, dalit intellectuals try to explain that as long as caste remains, the brahmanical power knowledge discourse will continue to operate. therefore, in order to annihilate caste they try to de-brahmanize disciplinary space. gopal guru and v. (2000) mention what sanal mohan argued during the dic8 meeting held in pune in march 1997 that even when caste was/is unequivocally existing there was/is a singular absence of caste in indian history writing. mohan went on further to say that indian social sciences is centred on ‘bhadralok’ (elite) imagination. historical writing around caste is about oppression and exploitation; therefore, the historical memory of the dalits needs to be recovered (ibid, p. 132). it is also about everyday resistance as much as it talks about oppression and exploitation. in this context d.r. nagaraj (2010) mentions the ‘cultural theory of despair’ that is a mechanism of the anti-caste movement to repair the fragmented memory with the ‘politics of hope’. anti-caste intellectualism and the dalit movement become helpful in exploring the historical and cultural context of caste. the academic debate of dalit intellectual which has 100 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 started from 1990s onward needs to bring into the new framework what this paper calls dalit cultural studies.9 it can be used as an umbrella term and approach to reconceptualize the available studies and framework that deals with the dalit world and imagination. it will be ‘anti-disciplinary’ in its making. anti-disciplinary in the sense that it will work on anti-caste ideology which dismantles the casteist disciplinary power and knowledge domination. following recent studies one can see that 1990 was a crucial year from the dalit point of view in relation with the declaration and implementation of mandal commission recommendations and consequent violence that erupted in many parts of india. it generated caste solidarities among the oppressed castes and thereby re-energized the dalit movement. it followed the galvanization and celebration of ambedkar’s birth centenary, which renewed the life of dalit movement at the pan-india level (tharu, 2008; kumar, 2014; rawat and satyanarayana, 2016). towards de-brahmanizing the disciplinary space in a casteist social order dalits had no right to gain or preach knowledge. shudraatishudra (bahujan and dalits) were left in historical darkness where light of the day was completely invisible. their lives were guided by the manusmritic social order and had no rights over their own minds and bodies. the culturally rooted historicity of dalit suppression was revealed by anti-caste leaders. braj ranjan mani (2005, p.35) writes: the dalit-bahujans, who have suffered humiliation and exclusion due to their caste, know the history of caste from their lived experience. breaking the imposed ‘culture of silence’, they have started telling their stories in their own words. their narratives refute their conventional representation in history and culture. the dalit-bahujan ideology—inspired by phule, ambedkar and periyar, heroes of the social justice movement in modern india—rejects the brahmanic version of caste and culture. therefore, a project of de-brahmanizing the disciplinary space goes beyond merely bringing the literature of the oppressed into mainstream academic domain. the coupling of dalit and cultural studies attempts to reconstruct the dalit cultural past in an ontological manner so that objectification of the oppressed can be prevented. in this relation the dalit epistemological perspectives are to be widened to include dalit experiences of anguish, negation, and their resistance against the dominant culture to question the social hierarchies. to de-brahmanize the (indian) cultural context, the vernacular intellectual deliberation of the dalits must be brought into the mainstream academia in order to explore the larger context of dalit and cultural studies. for instance, in providing a context to the dalit feminist understanding, gopal guru (1995, p. 2549) points out that dalit women not only face exclusion in political sphere, but they are also being marginalized the cultural field. caste patriarchy10 which is brahmanicalin nature, works in all the institutional mechanisms. for example, dalit men do not take ‘serious’ note of the literary output of dalit women; instead they become dismissive of their contribution. hence, dalit women’s resistance also remains invisible. in this context, we see that the field of cultural studies does not have its intersecting dalit and cultural studies: de-brahmanizing... 101 own framework as such. it is an intra-disciplinary, interdisciplinary, trans-disciplinary and multidisciplinary project yet it is a framework in itself. nelson; treichler and grossberg (1992, p.4) describes thus: a number of efforts to define and delineate the cultural studies project help map the diversity of positions and traditions that may legitimately lay claim to the name. keeping those efforts in mind, one may begin by saying that cultural studies is an interdisciplinary, trans-disciplinary and sometimes counter-disciplinary field that operates in the tension between its tendencies to embrace both a broad, anthropological and a more narrowly humanistic concept of culture. there is a difficulty in mobilising a pan-indian coalition of marginalized groups given their regional, linguistic, religious and other cultural differences. thus, efforts to articulate a pan-indian counter-hegemonic cultural politics will have to be undertaken at various levels. dalit theoretical discourse is based on the notion of anguish, negation, revolt, and humanitarian values which focuses on the conditions of caste and the historicity of dalit humiliation. marathi dalit writer baburao bagul (1981) writes ‘human being primarily never is a dalit, marginalized or untouchable. it is the social structure that brings him to this stage. once you change the structure, a human being remains a human’ (1981, pp.19-20; roughly translated from marathi). sharad patil draws upon marx, phule and ambedkar’s ideologies together to evolve an ‘absolute’ answer to ‘india’s sorrow’ pertaining to caste-class relationship. (1988, p.71; roughly translated from marathi). dalits and marginalized people in india are never treated as human. they are reduced to their caste-assigned status which is why ambedkar’s philosophical approach is important. it not only understands sorrow but also cures it and shows the way towards human liberation. sharankumar limbale (2004) borrows the notion of aesthetic from sharad patil’s approach of non-brahmin aesthetics, raising the question of ‘why counter revolutionary literature possesses the weapon of aesthetics, but revolutionary literature does not’ (p. 113). in addition he also emphasizes on the evolution of dalit literature and the way it has developed through the different approaches such as ambedkarism, marxism, its relationship with african-american literature and so on. while critically looking at brahmanical literature and the way dalits are projected by using the dominant strategy, limbale mentions ‘[…] dalits have been portrayed from a middle-class perspective, which expresses sympathy for dalits from a reformist-liberal standpoint. because the middle-class, upper caste writers’ world of experience is limited, there is no realistic representation of dalits in their writing’ (ibid, p.27). this is what gopal guru and sundar sarukkai (2012) refer to as a ‘...complex and distorted reflection between theory and experience’ (p. 6). alok mukherjee (2004) elaborates, ‘one facet of dalit literature’s rejection of the brahmanical literary tradition is that it does not adhere to classical indian aesthetics, according to which the purpose of art, literature is to evoke different emotions and feelings, such as pity, love, fear and anger’ (p. 14). but neither social sciences nor cultural studies in india have paid much attention to understand the relationship between dalit culture and the way it evokes the feelings and emotions about the dalit world 102 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 the dalit movement of 1970s created a space for social activism but it is largely seen as a literary movement. there has been an academic and political ‘invisibility’ of ‘other’ forms of assertions, which remained ‘subsumed’ under the category of the literary. sharmila rege (1998) in her review of gopal guru’s (1997) book dalit cultural movement and dialectics of dalit politics in maharashtra points out that the state has colonized the dalit movement which has caused the decline of dalit politics, and further that the fall of the dalit movement was observed due to the invasion of electronic media. mainstream media and politics after 1990s works more powerfully to showcase the majoritarian political spiritualism, and in this process dalit political and cultural activism has remained invisible from popular visual media circulation (pp.339-340). dalit world, imagination, and their expression have never been a part of mainstream popular tv serials and their focus, at a singular level, remains limited to projecting the brahmanical spirituality and culture. even in the rohith vemula incident mainstream media’s attempt was to ‘wipe out and divert’ the matter about how rohith vemula did not belong to the dalit community and how caste discrimination had no role to play in his suicide, rather than broadcasting caste discrimination faced by dalits on indian campuses. thanks to the active dalits on ground, on social media and dalit-bahujan web portals who took the matter in their own hands to dismiss mainstream media’s untrue claims about rohith vemula’s caste and suffering. it is the dalit youth who are socially and culturally active in academic spaces and also in the social sphere. even most dalit leaders are silent on the cultural matters remaining absent from media spaces. guru (1997) aptly points out that, ‘political leaders after ambedkar never recognized the importance of cultural activists who right from ambedkar’s time played very effective role in radicalising the dalit masses’ (p. 20). taking a cue from guru it can be said that most harm to the dalit political movement has been done by the mainstream political parties through the process of ‘political subordination,’ and co-option of the dalit cultural movement by the state has deflected the progress of the dalit culture at a large scale. in the politics of difference, the relationship between representation and lived experiences of dalits and understanding the production and reproduction of lived experiences becomes an important point of discussion. it reflects on the aesthetics through which one tries to draw meaning. s.p. punalekar (2001) elaborates, stating that the agenda of dalit cultural resistance was uplifted by the mahars of maharashtra, and it is now resurrected by other complex social and political groups. along with the question of identity and humanism, the new narratives seek solidarity in order to resist dalitism in a newer way with an ‘unexplored social cultural content’ (p. 239-240). this is an alternative discourse to understand the reality of the life of the repressed. outsiders try to understand their experience through sympathy. the main source of dalit literature is ambedkar’s philosophy and the constitution of india which provides certain rights to resist the imposed cultural stigma. dalit studies has expanded at various levels but it is yet to be institutionalized. in order to de-brahmanize the established disciplinary space, cultural theorization from the anti-caste point of view is yet to take place. therefore, an intersection of dalit and cultural studies becomes an intersecting dalit and cultural studies: de-brahmanizing... 103 important intervention as anti-disciplinary challenge against the brahmanical ‘cultural hegemony’ of power and knowledge. conclusion the paper sought to draw from the phule-ambedkar’s radical resistance against brahmanical power and knowledge domination. it advocates challenging the mainstream cultural knowledge production to lay down the way towards cultural theorization of non-brahmanic tradition. further, it has highlighted, with the ‘politics of difference’, how dalit aesthetics decenters the cultural production and circulation of the hitherto grand narratives. moreover, this paper has critically analyzed the framework of indian cultural studies in relation with an anti-caste ideology. reading through the anti-caste tradition and its influences on dalit movement, the paper has provided a detailed overview of disciplinary political relations and contestations in and around dalit studies. further, it has also made an attempt to see the relationship of dalit resistance with caste and democracy. discussing the available dalit intellectual scholarship, it has sought to elaborate how the discourse of anti-caste narratives reached indian academia from 1990s onwards. through interdisciplinary context the paper has argued how debrahmanizing the disciplinary space can generate the possibility of dalit cultural studies a step forward and a newer 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(2013). towards a prologue to dalit studies. in k.satyanarayana and susie tharu (eds.), the exercise of freedom: an introduction to dalit writing (pp.148-158). new delhi: navayana. endnotes 1 this is an extended version of the paper presented in the “5th international conference on the unfinished legacy of dr b.r. ambedkar: rethinking gender and religion at the new school, india-china institute, new york, usa, oct. 24-26, 2019. 2 as an example, indian cuisine is very vast. varying by geography, climate and community, there are certainly more varieties than what we are actually aware of. for the knowledge of culinary culture to spread, the practitioners have to transfer the knowledge from one generation to another. how much of the food habits and culture of the dalits is known to the masses? the knowledge of culinary arts and food culture is limited to what has been. 3 jotirao phule conceptualized shudra-atishudra category for the people who are at the lower level in the social order of caste. nowadays, it is also called bahujan-dalit/dalit-bahujan. phule in his gulamgiri elaborates the way peasants (shudras) and untouchable (atishudras) were exploited by shetji-bhatji (bania-brahmin) nexus. 4 j. v. pawara, founder member of dalit panther, has given a detailed account of the dalit panther movement in his book dalit panthers: an authoritative history, published in 2017. 5 the first conference was organized in 2015 at brandeis university with the theme ‘the unfinished legacy of dr. b.r. ambedkar. following the same theme, the college of education and the w.e.b. du bois department of afro-american studies, university of massachusetts hosted the fourth annual conference on ‘caste and race: reconfiguring solidarities’ in may 2018. see details in ‘international conference on caste and race set for may 4-6.’ 2018 (april 25). news and media relations. retrieved from https://www. umass.edu/newsoffice/article/international-conference-caste -and-race 106 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 6 tamasha or lavaniis a popular folk dance form of maharashtra, it is an erotic performance performed by women. satyashodhak jalsa is an alternate popular form influenced by nonbrahmin anti-caste tradition thatis different from chhatrapati tamasha. mela is also a non-brahmin popular form that emerged against ganesha mela, and talks about caste and gender. ganesha mela is one of the practices by which brahmanical religious cultural ethos is maintained. 7 according to the chaturvarnavyavastha there are four classes viz.brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra who have to do karmic duties assigned to them as per the varna hierarchy. ati-shudras are untouchable communities, or outcastes (avarnas) who do not fall under the varna structure. jati(s) are the divisions and subdivisions (castes and subcastes) of the four varna. although the outcastes remain outside of varna-jati complex, they have to do caste assigned menial jobs that are culturally imposed by the caste order. (for more details see geetha, v., and s. v. rajadurai, 1998, p.xiii). 8 dalit intellectual’s collective (dic). 9 at the moment it is an ambitious project, but if this formation comes true, there might be challenges and confrontations over the naming of the discipline itself; whether it should be called dalit cultural studies, non-brahmin cultural studies, or anti-caste cultural studies. perhaps the debate will be similar to the way we see the contestation on naming dalit literature, as buddhist literature, ambedkarite literature, and so on . in my understanding, the term dalit provides a context for the making of a political category which has the historical baggage not only of humiliation but also of resistance. moreover, bringing dalit studies into the fold of cultural studies will radicalize the anti-caste knowledge production, as one can see that in the larger context of india, the oppressed communities feel connected with the category of being dalit, and culturally and ideologically there is a possibility of being united. 10 sunaina arya’s (2020) paper, ‘dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism’, explores the context of the working of patriarchy in indian feministic discourse. her paper looks at gopal guru’s quest of dalit patriarchy differently. (for details see in caste: a global journal on social exclusion, 1(1), 217–228. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 17–29 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 10.26812/caste.v2i1.308 © 2021 ibrahim k. sundiata. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste caste, the origins of our discontents: a historical reflection on two cultures ibrahim k. sundiata1 abstract in 2020 isabel wilkerson, pulitzer prize-winning journalist, published caste, the origins of our discontents. an african american, she used the age-old hierarchy of india to hold up a light to the hierarchical ‘racial’ orders in the united states (nazi germany was included as a third case). ever since the 1940s debate has raged over whether such a comparison is apt. in the united states, more than almost any other group, african americans are inmarrying, residentially segregated, poor, linked to past forced labor, and stigmatized because of it. one argument put forward against comparison was that the indian dalits (the former ‘untouchables’) were inured to a system that was millennia old. however, slaves on southern plantations were often described as being as humble and compliant as any dalit. white slaveholders often thought of the india caste model. however, the very brevity of the full-fledged cotton kingdom (1820–1860) militated against the coalescence of a fully formed national caste consensus. the united states, unlike most places on the globe, had a constitutional armature in which, following the civil war, former bondspeople could go from being property to voters de jure. in both societies the carapace of caste is now being cracked open, but this leaves open the question of whether we should reform caste or abolish it. keywords caste, african american, wilkerson, racial order, dalit-slave comparison introduction in 2020 isabel wilkerson, pulitzer prize-winning journalist, published caste, the origins of our discontents. an african american, she uses the age-old hierarchy 1emeritus professor of history and african and african american studies at brandeis university email: sundiata@brandeis.edu 18 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 of india to hold up a light to the hierarchical ‘racial’ orders in the united states. she sees similarities, especially between india and the american south: a caste system is an artificial construction, a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups on the basis of ancestry and often immutable traits, traits that would be neutral in the abstract but are ascribed life-and-death meaning in a hierarchy favoring the dominant caste whose forebears designed it. a caste system uses rigid, often arbitrary boundaries to keep the ranked groupings apart, distinct from one another and in their assigned places . . . we may mention “race”, referring to people as black or white or latino or asian or indigenous, when what lies beneath each label is centuries of history and assigning of assumptions and values to physical features in a structure of human hierarchy. (wilkerson, 2020, p. 382) wilkerson describes herself as a diagnostician rather than a clinician (nazi germany has been added almost as a grace note ignoring the millennium old antisemitism, which only had legal respite in the years 1871–1933). drawing on the american civil rights struggle and the political / spiritual example of caste opponent b. r. ambedkar, she hopes to reframe our thinking. for wilkerson, the word ‘race’ no longer adequately describes our reality. the journalist prefers replacing racial categories with the terms ‘dominant caste’, ‘ruling majority’, ‘favored caste’ or ‘upper caste’. she also uses ‘subordinate caste’, ‘lowest caste’, ‘bottom caste’, ‘historically stigmatized’ caste. there are eight ‘pillars of caste’: endogamy, heritability, occupational hierarchy, dehumanization and stigma, cruelty and terror, and ideologies of inherent inferiority naturalized by religious doctrines. it is fear of annihilation through absorption by the ‘other’ that is the axis of caste. as wilkerson’s book makes clear, in the united states, more than almost any other group, african americans are inmarrying, residentially segregated, poor, linked to past forced labor, and stigmatized because of it. in both america and india hierarchy has been challenged by men of faith. martin luther king, the nobel-winning ‘drum-major’ of the civil rights movement, first studied mahatma gandhi as a seminary student in 1949; ‘christ showed us the way, and gandhi in india showed it could work.’ in 1959, a decade after seminary, he visited india, announcing that, ‘to other countries i may go as a tourist, but to india i come as a pilgrim.’ king’s great indian counterpart was not so roseate. dalit (‘untouchable’) jurist and legislator bhimrao ramji ambedkar (1891–1956) stood resolute against any sanctimonious religious defense of caste, which he denounced as a system of ‘graded inequality’ structured around an ‘ascending scale of reverence and a descending scale of contempt’ (rao, 2020). wilkerson has been faulted for comparing apples and oranges. was indian society so frozen in time as to defy comparison? anthropologist arjun appadurai (2020), critiquing her, remarks: ‘either india has no underlying social programme, grammar and theory, and its social world is simply caste all the way up and down (something i doubt), caste, the origins of our discontents: a historical reflection on two cultures 19 or wilkerson’s dramatic unearthing of caste under the surface of race in the us is just a literary device to tell a familiar american story in an unfamiliar way and is not based on a genuine similarity.’ a riposte is that caste is imbedded within vedic religion which is a ‘social programme, grammar and theory.’ social scientist rajesh sampath (2020, p. 22) warns against mystification of a ‘supersensory ancient past.’ some ‘may speculate . . . regarding the distant hallucinogenic vedic origins and propositions about cosmic cycles of time, creation, and destruction . . .’ however, what should concern the investigator is that ‘divine law codes tried to engineer, in the name of hinduism’s fundamental truths, a social order that is highly stratified, unequal, and supremely unfair.’ what was the caste order? the hoary millennia-old laws of manu, overlayed with many accretions, decreed four inmarrying groups. there are four castes, known as varnas, namely brahmins or the original priests and scribes; kshatriyas, the warriors, and kings; vaishyas the merchants and business class; shudras or the agriculturalists. each caste has innumerable subcastes, or jatis, and, over generations, some jatis have risen while others have declined. the three higher varnas are often referred to as ‘caste hindus’ (upper caste hindus) or as ‘twice born’, since the men of these castes enter an initiation ceremony (the second birth) and are allowed to wear a sacred thread. together, the upper castes constitute 17–18 percent of the indian population. the shudras are the largest caste, making up nearly half of the population.1 below the shudras are the dalits, formerly the ‘untouchables’. for centuries they have done the society’s dirty work – they were forbidden to enter temples, to draw water, to walk down the same roads, wear shoes in higher-caste neighborhoods. they are roughly 16 percent of the population. in 1941 a major comparison between india and the american south appeared in black sociologist allison davis and his colleagues’ groundbreaking study, deep south: a social anthropological study of caste and class (1941).2 the analysis was bleak and there was pushback. jamaican-born anthropologist oliver cromwell cox (1948, p. 42) asserted that ‘so far as we have been able to determine, developed castes exist in no other part of the world.’ to cox, in india hierarchy had been frozen in place for millennia; ‘caste barriers in the caste system are never challenged.’ he was wrong. there are various castes in the world and not all of them need the armature of polymorphous hindu polytheism. (the cagot of the basque region and the burakumin of japan are usually viewed as a caste without any resort to reference to the body of the hindu-god brahma).3 in the united states the ‘races’ were (and often still are) viewed as primeval and incapable of intermixing, locked in a kind of pseudoscientific polygenetic immiscibility (these ‘races’, originally conceived of as being of different species). in the midst of the civil war racists came up with a special word, miscegenation, to describe interracial coupling. in 1930 the federal census said that any human being with one black ancestor can never be ‘white’. whiteness can be ‘polluted’ by blackness, but not 1some are very poor but have not been treated as polluted. the blanket term ‘other backward classes’ (obcs) is supposed to capture these groups that have been defined in the constitution as ‘socially and educationally backward classes.’ 2davis headed a research team that included his wife and a swedish couple, the gardners. 3for centuries, through the modern times, the majority regarded cagots who lived primarily in the basque region of france and spain as an inferior untouchable caste. the socially isolated cagots were “the last untouchable in europe”, the independent (london), july 28, 2008. 20 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 the reverse. in many places by law interracial marriage was a sex crime on the level with homosexuality or bestiality until 1967 (we should remember that the united states’ definition of who was a ‘negro’ was far more stringent than nazi germany’s definition of who was a jew). ambedkar believed that what distinguished the blacks in the united states and dalits in india was the acceptance of innate inferiority. he believed that ‘a deprivation of a man’s freedom by an open and direct way is a preferable form of enslavement. it makes the slave conscious of his enslavement and to become conscious of slavery is the first and most important step in the battle for freedom.’ however, ‘if a man is deprived of his liberty indirectly, he has no consciousness of his enslavement. untouchability is an indirect form of slavery.’4 in this ambedkar may have underestimated both the brief time period and the lingering stigma of american slavery. here we need to remember antonio gramsci’s ‘hegemonic ideology’. both the subaltern groups and those that dominate them have to participate, at some level, in the same ideological space in which both accept the basic explanations of the sociopolitical order (gramsci, 2011). many of the enslaved in dixie called themselves ‘niggers’ because they had no other term. some internalized the racism and paternalism of the dominant group. by the 1840s, slave owners argued that the federal census should not take down slave names, as they only marked a piece of property and might be changed at the whim of the owner. states passed laws prohibiting slaves from reading and denying abolitionists the use of the mails. to think that antebellum slaves born on large plantations in the deepest south, far from the nearest town, were any freer from hierarchical thinking than dalits is a risky surmise. what critics have failed to notice is the great variance in the two systems’ longevity. the full-blown cotton kingdom of the deep south was of relatively short duration (1820–1860). denouncing jeffersonian egalitarianism as a delusion, in the 1840s john c. calhoun of south carolina rhapsodized about creating a completely closed new system: ‘[a]bove all, we have a cheap and efficient body of laborers . . . for whose labor we have paid in advance . . . with these advantages we may bid defiance to hindoo or egyptian labor . . .’5 the cataclysm of the civil war did indeed bring legal slavery down. but reconstruction left the socioeconomic structures of caste intact, while attempting to square them with ‘equality before the law’. it was this rupture that made caste relations in the united states so violent and unstable. in 1831 alexis de tocqueville had predicted: ‘the negroes may long remain slaves without complaining; but if they are once raised to the level of free men, they will revolt at being deprived of all their civil rights . . .’6 during reconstruction, black men went from being chattel to voting citizens in the space of little over a decade (it is important to realize that all ‘white men’ did not get suffrage in britain until 1918).7 4ambedkar writings and speeches, vol. p. 65, cited in s. d. kapoor. (2003). b. r. ambedkar, w. e. b. dubois and the process of liberation. economic and political weekly, 38(51/52): 5345, retrieved april 15, 2021, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4414430 5matthew karp, this vast southern empire, slaveholders at the helm of american foreign policy (cambridge, ma: harvard university press, 2016), p. 30, citing green, “the united states and england”,13; john c. calhoun, speech in senate, march 16, 1842, pjcc, 16:192–94. 6alexis de tocqueville, democracy in america, chapter xviii: future conditions of three races – part v (1831) https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/de-tocqueville/democracyamerica/ch18.htm 7four-thousand eighty-five african americans were lynched between 1877 and 1950. in 1921, in what can only be termed an american ‘pogrom’ over one-hundred african americans were caste, the origins of our discontents: a historical reflection on two cultures 21 there were revolts throughout slavery in the americas, but compared to other new world slaveries, united states’ revolts were minor. the 1863 emancipation proclamation warned the enslaved not to revolt. they did not. almost thirty years later, booker t. washington, the leading black spokesman of his time, reminded southern whites how four million slaves had remained loyal to the confederate old master and mistress. in the 1950s, stanley elkins (1959) came up with the idea of the plantation as an analogue of the nazi camps and producing the ‘sambo,’ the stereotypical compliant black. and we must remember that the 1954 federal decision to racially desegregate public schools was greatly influenced by detailed studies of the psychological scars of segregation, especially the argument that black students had internalized racism.8 ambedkar’s comment does point to a central weak point in the american version of caste hierarchy. it existed within a purported democracy (described by george fredrickson (1982) and others as a ‘herrenvolk [“master race”] democracy’. a few white southerners looked to india as an inspiration and a warning. one of the foremost american segregationist, theodore bilbo (1947, p. 14) of mississippi, looked to caste in india both as a model and a warning: ‘when the hindoos, aryans of the migratory caucasian race, arrived in india, they found themselves surrounded by a mass of yellow-black-white mongrels . . . as the blood became corrupted, the culture and civilization became stagnant and decayed.’ the segregationist was regurgitating stale imperialist anthropology. and this anthropology itself was often ‘a fantastic back-projection of systems of racial segregation in the american south and in south africa onto early indian history . . .’ on the subcontinent european experts posited color stratification as the basis for caste: ‘white’ for brahmins, ‘red’ for kshatriyas, ‘yellow’ for vaisyas and ‘black’ for shudras (klass, 1980). wilkerson mentions ‘ideologies of inherent inferiority naturalized by religious doctrines.’ the south developed its own. the ‘curse of ham’, the assertion that noah cursed his son ham’s son canaan slowly developed in the ancient world and then took off in america. when jefferson davis, president of the confederacy, said that africans were ‘stamped from the beginning’, he was arguing that blacks had a multigenerational ‘bad karma’ of scriptural origin.9 standing behind this racial exegesis was a perdurable ideological substrate. as part of the western inheritance we have manicheanism, a middle-eastern religion that once stretched from western china into the bowels of the roman empire. mani the prophet, who lived in iran two centuries after christ, proclaimed a radical dualism between good (light) and evil (dark). all the worlds revolved around these two principles, the first existing in the spirit, the second enslaved in the flesh. the two are locked in eternal combat. both blacks and whites are chained together in this dualism. the great nat turner rebellion in virginia in 1831 began with the preacher seeing a vision of white spirits and black spirits battling in a bloody sky. when award-winning afro-pessimist frank wilderson (2020, p. 41) says that ‘human life is dependent on black death for its existence and for its coherence’ murdered in tulsa, oklahoma as the result of business competition. the great migration of blacks to the north was marked by repeated clashes. 8naacp legal defense fund, https://www.naacpldf.org/ldf-celebrates-60th-anniversarybrown-v-board-education/significance-doll-test/ 9genesis 9, 20-7. 22 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 he is only the latest iteration of the heresy that underpins our racial order.10 he presents manicheanism stripped naked of theology and decked out as ontology. a colleague of mine at another institution argues that the idea of ritual pollution separates the position of the dalits and african americans. the image of the nurturing ‘mammy’ – factotum and surrogate mother – was a staple of plantation lore in the united states. but proximity does not imply a lack of social distance or even degradation. mammies who ‘back-talked’ could be whipped or sold. the nurturance they gave to white infants might even be seen as form of dehumanizing them. this idea would be reinforced by a scene from nobel-winner toni morrison’s beloved. a fleeing slave woman is surrounded by a gang of white men who brutally rape her and then take the lactating woman’s milk. yes, the animalistic sex meant physical proximity, but it only served to emphasize the distance between man and beast. in present-day india, caste men often rape dalit women during communal violence. ‘untouchability’ does not signify any absolute ban on physical contact, only contact which might imply any degree of mutuality. touch in the united states was frequently seen as polluting. when booker t. washington took tea in the white house with theodore roosevelt, southern newspapers screamed that no white woman could ever dine there again. we must also remember that southern mores and sometimes laws prohibited interracial hand shaking or playing checkers. swimming pools and beaches were places of special danger. in 1919 a major race riot erupted when a black youth drifted into ‘white’ water in chicago’s lake michigan. wilkerson (2020) tells a story dating years later when a hotel drained its pool rather than let a black body bathe. although separated by thousands of miles and centuries of culture, some african americans and the indian oppressed have reached out to each other. starting in the nineteenth century, lower-caste indians looked to the united states’ inspiration in fighting inequality. jyotirao phule, an anti-brahmin activist dedicated his 1873 book, ghulamgiri or slavery, to american abolitionists. in 1928 w. e. b. dubois wrote a political novel dark princess that focused on a romance between a globe-trotting african american hero and an indian princess. dubois, still in his elitist phase, has his hero meet princess kautilya of bwodpur, daughter of a maharajah. she bears his child, the promise of a new brown world a-dawning.11 the next year the african american scholar wrote to gandhi to solicit his support.12 gandhi replied that he saw no disgrace in being a slave; the disgrace lay with the slaveowner.13 10frank wilderson iii, afropessimism (new york: liveright, 2020), p. 41. also see interview with c. s. soong, blacks and the master / slave relation in afro-pessimism, an introduction, (minneapolis, mn; racked & dispatched, 2017, racked & dispatched.noglogs.org//: 11some have speculated that the indian princess may have been based on the indian independence activist bhikaji cama. 12w. e. b. dubois to mahatma gandhi, february 19, 1929. https://credo.library.umass.edu/ view/full/mums312-b181-i613. also see anindya sekhar purakayastha, w. e. b. dubois, b. r. ambedkar and the history of afro-dalit solidarity, sanglap: journal of literary and cultural inquiry, january 2020. https://paperity.org/p/229421827/w-e-b-du-bois-b-r-ambedkarand-the-history-of-afro-dalit-solidarity 13mahatma gandhi to w. e. b. dubois, may 1, 1929. https://minervasperch. wordpress .com/2018/12/15/mahatma-gandhi-message-to-the-american-negro1929/#:~:text=mahatma%20gandhi%2c%20message%20to%20the%20american%20 negro%2c%201929,being%20slaves.%20there%20is%20dishonour%20in%20being%20 slave-owners. caste, the origins of our discontents: a historical reflection on two cultures 23 seven years after the gandhi–dubois correspondence, long-time president of morehouse college in atlanta, benjamin mays, visited india, observing: while at mysore i was invited by the headmaster of an “untouchable” school in a neighboring village to speak to his students. i asked him why, since there were thirteen u.s. delegates, he had chosen me. he replied that he wanted a negro; and when i told him that channing tobias was also a negro, he answered that tobias was too fair of complexion to do what he wanted done. “i want you.” i accepted his invitation and, on leaving mysore, went to his school where i dined with his untouchable students. after dinner, i was introduced as an untouchable who had achieved distinction. the headmaster told them that i had suffered at the hands of white men in the united states every indignity that they suffered from the various castes in india and that i was proof that they, too, could be “somebody worthwhile” despite the stigma of being members of a depressed class. (darity, 2014; pandey, 2010) mays observed that in his homeland: ‘i was not permitted to sleep or eat in white hotels and restaurants and was barred from worship in white churches. i had been slapped almost blind because i was black and had been driven out of a pullman car with pistols at my back. i – just as they [dalits] – through the mere accident of birth was indeed an untouchable’ (ibid). the following year, sponsored by the indian student christian movement, black theologian howard thurman, a colleague of mays, led a four-member delegation to india and the surrounding countries. towards the end of the tour the group met with gandhi, who pronounced, ‘it may be through the negroes that the unadulterated message of nonviolence will be delivered to the world.’ shortly after gandhi’s death, ambedkar corresponded with dubois and noted that there was ‘so much similarity between the position of the untouchable in india and the position of negros in america that the study of the latter is not only natural but necessary.’ he wrote to the black scholar expressing great interest in dubois’ plan to place the condition of the african american people before the united nations.14 in 1959, martin luther king, mentee of both mays and thurman, visited india. he crisscrossed the country. during his time in delhi, the preacher discussed his perspectives on nonviolence with then indian prime minister pandit jawaharlal nehru. in madras (chennai), he met swami vishwananda, an ardent opponent of untouchability. in gandhigram, king gave a devotional message at an interfaith gathering and went on to visit dalit villages. in mumbai, king got to stay at mani bhaven, gandhi’s residence. the visitor spoke to a public meeting and challenged the assumption that human beings must be satisfied with their lot. at the beginning of march, king and his wife traveled to ahmedabad, where they visited the sabarmati ashram where gandhi had begun his 1930 salt march to the sea. on march 9, king made a farewell address in which he reflected: 14the papers of w. e. b. dubois (sanford, n.c.: microfilming corporation of america, 1980), reel 5ii118, frames 00467–00468. there is no other correspondence between the two figures in the dubois papers. see also luis cabrera, ambedkar and dubois on pursuing rights protections globally, 21st century global dynamics, january 4, 2018, 11(1) https:// www.21global.ucsb.edu/global-e/january-2018/ambedkar-and-du-bois-pursuing-rightsprotections-globally 24 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 ‘since being in india, i am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. in a real sense, mahatma gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation.’15 the pilgrimages of black leaders to india were a marvelous conjuncture. satyagraha was a discipline and an ideology that appealed its sophistication and simplicity. it was the weapon of the weak and in india it proved successful in mobilization for independence. for african americans in the manichean struggle against the color line it promised solidarity with india’s millions. much has already been written about this (hill, 2007). but what about the historical context? at times, solidarity could be misunderstood and simplified. for instance, dubois was much taken with the idea of non-white elites and failed to grasp the full meaning of the plight of the dalits (carson et al., 1992). ‘untouchables’ qua ‘untouchables’ were of little concern to him and he at one-time embraced japanese imperialism as a counterweight to european imperialism. (in this he prefigured subash chandra bose).16 today, both india and the united states struggle with gaping inequities in power and wealth. and their solutions bear some resemblance, as do their failures. both suffer from maldistribution of wealth. a january 2020 study by rights group oxfam india suggests that india’s richest one percent hold more than four times the wealth held by 953 million people who make up for the bottom 70 percent of the country’s population. according to the study, india’s top 10 percent holds over 74 percent of the total national wealth (das, 2020). and there is another reality. according to one expert, in rural india in 2010, dalits ‘still live in secluded quarters, do the dirtiest work, and are not allowed to use the village well and other common facilities’ (klostermaier, 2007). according to the socio-economic and caste census 2011, 73 percent of dalit households are the most deprived among rural households. forty-five percent of dalit households are landless and earn a living by manual day labor (indian express, 2015). at one point, manmohan singh, when prime minister of india, drew a parallel between apartheid and untouchability (hrw, 2002). ambedkar’s movement demanded quota (reservation) as a basic pillar of the postindependence political order.17 around 22 percent of all government jobs, places in educational institutions with government funding, and electoral districts at all levels 15stanford university, the martin luther king, jr. research and education institute, king papers, february 3, 1959 50 march 18, 1959, p. 5:136 https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/ encyclopedia/india-trip 16 in the early1930s dubois misread the poona accord as something that had been stuffed down the indian national congress’ throat rather than an agreement between gandhi and ambedkar. in the mid-1930s dubois praised japanese imperialism in east asia as a brutal but necessary step in resisting white imperialism. reginald kearney, the pro-japanese utterances of w. e. b. dubois, contributions in black studies: vol. 13, 1995, art 7. available at: https://scholarworks. umass.edu/cibs/vol13/iss1/7. 17in 1932, fifteen years before independence, the british administration recommended separate electorates to select leaders for dalits in the communal award. this was favored by ambedkar but when mahatma gandhi opposed the proposal, it resulted in the poona pact. that in turn influenced the government of india act, 1935, which introduced the reservation of seats for the depressed classes, now renamed as scheduled castes. caste, the origins of our discontents: a historical reflection on two cultures 25 are reserved for the scheduled castes and tribal persons. at the local level, this may have some impact in the distribution of local services. at present there are major dalit political parties as well as key dalit politicians. some of the elected dalits are from mainstream parties and follow platforms not specifically addressed to the social group. as there are non-dalit votes in each constituency, candidates must sometimes appeal to issues of importance to more than one caste. during the initial years of independence, dalit voters were largely loyal to the congress party.18 then, in 2014, the hindu nationalist bhartiya janata party (bjp) achieved national power. cleverly, the bjp began courting former ‘untouchables’ by exploiting their economic divisions. hindu nationalists, still deeply wedded to caste, promised them economic benefits. in 2019, a third of dalits voted for bjp in the national elections. prime minister narendra modi, returned to power (khilnani, 2020).19 currently imprisoned dalit intellectual and activist anand teltumbde believes that ‘the debacle of the dalit movement’ today lies in its inability to recognize how class intersects with caste’ (ibid). indeed, reservation has benefitted some sections of the community, leaving others behind. there are dalit companies with dalit millionaires. two presidents of india, k. r. narayanan, and ram nath kovind have been dalits. the privileged group among the formerly completely excluded people has come to be known as ‘the creamy layer’. we now have a dalit literary boom and symbolic celebrations like phule jayanti along with the bhim army and ambedkarite-marxist alliances.20 in addition, there is now a national campaign on dalit human rights (ncdhr). rising expectations bring in their train heightened tensions. mob attacks are not infrequent, and, at times, dalits are ritually humiliated. a disproportionate number of rapes are committed against their women. several years ago, the dalit women’s movement reached out to black lives matter for advice on organizing. dalits even had their own self-defense organization, the dalit panthers, founded in 1972 in maharashtra. in 1989, parliament passed the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes prevention of atrocities act. twenty-six years later it renewed and strengthened it. the united states has its own forms of ‘reservation’. well before ‘affirmative action’, the federal imprimatur for civil rights came during the truman administration. the armed services were racially integrated in 1948 and the democratic party platform embraced civil rights. six years later the supreme court overturned racial segregation in public schools. the civil rights act of 1964 banned racial discrimination in federals assisted programs and 18in some states, dalits voted for their own caste-based regional parties. 19sunil khilnani, ‘isabel wilkerson’s world-historical theory of race and caste’, the new yorker, august 7, 2020. suraj yengde, a dalit scholar at harvard’s kennedy school of government, sees possible benefits in his caste’s lack of unity. as parties compete for their votes, dalits may have a greater range of less corrupt candidates to choose from. 20we now have a wide literature. vijay prashad’s essay afro-dalits of the earth unite (2000) and subsequently a series of significant works such as the dalit panthers: race, caste, and black power in india in nico slate’s black power beyond borders: the global dimensions of the black power movement (2012); gyanendra pandey’s a history of prejudice: race, caste and difference in india and the united states (2013); purbi mehta’s doctoral work recasting caste: histories of dalit transnationalism and the internationalization of caste discrimination (2013); manan desai’s caste in black and white: dalit identity and the translation of african american literature (2015); bacchetta, maira & winant’s global raciality: empire, post-coloniality, decoloniality (2019); afro-asian networks research collective’s ‘manifesto: networks of decolonization in asia and africa’ in radical history review, 131(2018); nico slate’s lord cornwallis is dead: the struggle for democracy in the united states and india (2019). 26 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 employment. the administration of lyndon b. johnson followed up with a series of executive orders. under executive order 11246, issued in 1965, federal contractors who failed to take affirmative action to end discrimination risked exclusion from competition for future contracts. to oversee implementation, the federal government established the office of federal contract compliance programs (ofccp) and the equal employment opportunity commission (eeoc). by the end of the twentieth century, quotas for african americans had been disallowed, but race-conscious policies were encouraged in many cases. as more inner cities turned black, the populace fought back against indignities visited upon them. the black panther party for self-defense was founded in california in 1966 to confront the situation. another grim testament to racial violence were the violent 1968 outbursts that marked the assassination of king, the american apostle of gandhian nonviolence. police brutality has continued to be a trigger (los angeles 1991; ferguson, missouri 2014). in 2020 in minneapolis, a white police officer knelt on the throat of a black suspect, george floyd, crushing the bound man’s neck while being filmed. many in the shocked public united behind the banner of ‘black lives matter’ and demonstrations involving hundreds roiled the country for months. behind this violence lies a significant and much discussed black / white wealth gap. in 2019, according to the federal reserve, the typical white family has eight times the wealth of the typical black family (bhutta et al., 2020). black families’ median and mean wealth is less than 15 percent of that of white families. blacks live in segregated communities and still go to de facto segregated schools. black women are four times likely to die in childbirth as white women. one signal difference between india and the united states is the issue of incarceration. while dalits (including both scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) constitute 25 percent of the indian population, they account for 33.2 percent of prisoners (arunachalam, 2014). about 24.5 percent of inmates condemned to death are from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, which is proportionate to their population. remarkably, the united states has a prison population higher than much more populous india. in 2018, african americans were 33 percent of the prison population; nearly triple their 12 percent of the total population (gramlich, 2020). these are hard, cold facts. isabel wilkerson has been criticized for being overly romantic. she speaks of empathy: ‘radical empathy . . . means putting in the work to educate oneself and to listen with a humble heart to understand another’s experience from their perspective, not as we imagine we would feel’ (wilkerson, 2020, p. 386). indeed, ‘each time a person reaches across caste and makes a connection, it helps break the back of caste.’ poetically, she muses that ‘multiplied by millions in a given day, it becomes the flap of a butterfly wing that shifts the air and builds to a hurricane across an ocean.’ one indian critic, sunil khilnani (2020) remarks: this resort to moral psychology – a self-oriented gandhian move of the kind that infuriated ambedkar – seems a retreat from her larger argument that white supremacy should be seen as systemic, not personal. perhaps, boxed in by her caste model, she is seeking hope by reaching outside it. but, if the caste model can feel unnuanced and overly deterministic, the turn toward empathy can feel detached from history in another way. after all, were every white person in america to wake up tomorrow cured of what wilkerson terms the “disease” of caste, the change of heart alone would not redress the deprivation caste, the origins of our discontents: a historical reflection on two cultures 27 of human, financial, and social capital to which blacks have been subjected for centuries. talk of “structural racism” is meant to highlight this difficult truth; wilkerson’s understanding of caste, by emphasizing norms of respect over the promptings of distributive justice, can sometimes obscure it. this is a signal misreading of ambedkar. indeed, his leaving hinduism behind was based on his strong belief that his people needed a kind of racial moral realignment. it was not just enough to change the legal and legislative system. nor was it enough to call for redistributive justice within the ongoing carapace of caste. the indian leader believed that a purely materialist approach to the problem of his people would be futile and turned to buddhism, a non-caste-riven faith. there is no american demand for the ‘abolition of race’ equal to ambedkar’s call for ‘the annihilation of caste’. the dalit leader might debate intercaste dinning and intercaste marriage with gandhi; one can imagine martin luther king urging integrated restaurants, but any discussion of sexual contact was deliberately avoided. americans have never really moved beyond the supreme court’s 1896 ‘separate but equal’ ruling. in 1971, carl degler (1971) wrote that forms of segregation, for instance separate universities, had benefitted blacks. civil rights and civic participation would be the end of the american project. his book, neither black nor white, won three major national awards, including the pulitzer, and became one of the bases of a post-civil rights liberal consensus. now a number of african american scholars, among them ibram kendi (2017), argue that assimilationism is racism, on par with segregationism. the ‘separate but equal’ once promised but never attained must now be loudly demanded from the white majority. we must avoid the tendency to nihilism. action without reflection will only result in ‘more of the same’. the united states can learn much from ambedkar’s example in india; caste is not simply overthrown by new and better laws that promise civic access. it is not even done away with by policies that promise economic amelioration. if groups are viewed as different in their essence, no amount of social engineering will bridge the empathy gap. belief in innate and immutable group characteristics, however packaged in the language of ‘diversity’, carries within itself the danger of perpetuating the specious notion of ‘separate but equal’. barack obama’s election in 2008 was celebrated by many as the end of ‘caste’ in america. ignoring caste, religion, region, and color, one indian riposted: obama’s 2008 election was hailed by many as the birth of a “post-racial” america. as indians, we’re rather amused by all the excitement in the us and the rest of the world at the election of a minority to the office of the president. in india, we had a woman prime minister in the ‘70s, a sikh president in the ‘80s, a lower-caste (equivalent to negro in the us) president in the early ‘90s, a muslim president in the late ‘90s, and right now a woman president, a sikh prime minister, and a christian leader of the governing party. in addition, we have had a jewish chief of army staff in the ‘80s, and now two christian defense secretaries (the equivalent of this last would be a hindu defense secretary in the us). in india, we simply take this for granted because we have been a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multi-lingual nation for so long . . . we had our obama moment 30 years ago. indeed, if obama had been born in india, he would have been elected in the ‘60s.21 21radio free europe/radio liberty www.rferl.org/content/ world _congratulates. obama_onvictory/338474.html. posted by: jimgreen @ 11/21/2008 11:58:49 am 28 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 obama’s rise, like the later rise of half-indian brahmin vice-president kamala harris, perhaps more aptly represents the arrival of the united states’ own ‘creamy layer’. as in india, there are caveats. wilkerson cautions us that caste can change so that things remain the same: ‘without an enlightened recognition of the price we all pay for a caste system, the hierarchy will likely shape-shift as it has in the past to ensure that the structure remains intact.’ furthermore, the definition of whiteness could well expand. the result would be to ‘increase the ranks of the dominant caste . . . a reconstituted caste system could divide those at the bottom from those in the middle, pick off those closest to white and thus isolate the darkest americans even further, lock them ever more tightly to the bottom rung’ (wilkerson, 2020, p. 349). if we assume that our hoary pigmentocracy must continue for another four hundred years with new names and new players, we will indeed, drown in our discontents – the bitter fruits of our failure to confront our own caste system. radical empathy maybe the precondition for coherent social action. references appadurai, arjun. (2020, september 12). comparing race to caste is an interesting idea, but there are crucial differences between both. the wire, retrieved on november 25, 2020, https://thewire.in/books/book-review-isabel-wilkerson-caste-racism-america arunachalam, pon vasanth. (2014, november 3). skew in dalit jail inmate ratio: ncrb. the new indian express. bhutta, neil., andrew, c., chang, lisa., pettling j., joanne, w., hsu, and hewitt, julia. (2020, september 28). disparities in wealth by race and ethnicity. 2019 survey of consumer finance, retrieved on november 25, 2020, https://www.federalreserve.gov/ econres/notes/ feds-notes/disparities-in-wealth-by-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-2019-survey-of-consumerfinances-20200928.htm bilbo, theodore. (1947). take your choice: separation or mongrelization. popularville, ms: dream house publishing. bilwakesh, nikhil. (2011). their faces were like so many of the same sort at home. american periodicals: a journal of history criticism and bibliography, 21(1), 1–23. cabrera, luis. (2018). ambedkar and dubois on pursuing rights protections globally. 21st century global dynamics, 11(1), retrieved on november 25, 2020 https://www.21global. ucsb.edu/global-e/january-2018/ambedkar-and-du-bois-pursuing-rights-protectionsglobally carson, clayborne., holloran, peter., luker, ralph e., and russell, penny a. (eds.) (1992). martin luther papers 5:136. in the papers of martin luther king, jr. berkeley: university of california press. cox, oliver cromwell. (1948). caste, class and race: a study in social dynamics. new york: monthly review press, 19480. darity, william. (2014). race, caste, class and subalternity. the journal of asian studies, 73(4), 1085–1090. das, koustav. (2020). explained: how a raging pandemic is widening india’s wealth gap. india today, retrieved on november 25, 2020, https://www.indiatoday.in/business/ story/explained-how-a-raging-pandemic-is-widening-india-s-wealth-gap-1722726-20200917#:~:text=a%20january%202020%20study%20by,cent%20of%20the%20country’s%20population. caste, the origins of our discontents: a historical reflection on two cultures 29 davis, allison., burleigh, b., and mary r. gardner. (1941). deep south: a social anthropological study of caste and class. chicago: university of chicago press. degler, carl. (1986). neither white nor black, slavery and race relations in brazil and the united states. madison, wi: university of wisconsin press [first published 1971]. elkins, stanley m. (1959). slavery: a problem in american institutional life. chicago: university of chicago press. fredrickson, george. (1982). white supremacy: a comparative study of america and south african history. new york: oxford university press. gramlich, john. (2020). what the data says (and doesn’t say) about crime in the united states. factanks, pew research, retrieved on november 25, 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/ fact-tank/2020/11/20/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/ gramsci, antonio. (2011). the prison notebooks volumes 1, 2 & 3 (trans. joseph a. buttigieg). new york: columbia university press. hill, j. b. (2007). the power of nonviolence: mohandas k. gandhi’s influence on king and tutu. in j. b. hill (ed.), the theology of martin luther king, jr. and desmond mpilo tutu (pp. 129–151). new york: palgrave macmillan. human rights watch (hrw). (2002, may 27). india’s ‘hidden apartheid’ of discrimination against dalits, human rights watch. indian express. (2015, july 6). landlessness is higher among dalits, but more adivasis (tribal people) are ‘deprived’. the indian express. kendi, ibram x. (2017). stamped from the beginning, the definitive history of racist ideas in america. new york: bold type books. khilnani, sunil. (2020, august 7). isabel wilkerson’s world-historical theory of race and caste. the new yorker. klass, m. (1980). caste: the emergence of the south asian social system. philadelphia: institute for the study of human issues. klostermaier, klaus. (2007). a survey of hinduism. london: one world publications. pandey, gyanendra. (ed.) (2010). review essay of subaltern citizens and their histories: investigations from india and the usa. new york: routledge. —(2011). review essay of subalternity and difference: investigations from the north and south. new york: routledge. purakayastha, anindya sekhar. (2020). w. e. b. dubois, b. r. ambedkar and the history of afro-dalit solidarity. sanglap: journal of literary and cultural inquiry, retrieved on november 25, 2020, https://paperity.org/p/229421827/w-e-b-du-bois-b-r-ambedkar-andthe-history-of-afro-dalit-solidarity rao, anupama. (2020, september 1). the work of analogy: on isabel wilkerson’s caste: the origins of our discontents, los angeles review of books. sampath, rajesh. (2020). a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published ‘philosophy of hinduism’. caste: a global journal on social inclusion, 1(1), retrieved from https:// journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/caste/article/view/141/13 wilderson iii, frank. (2020). afropessimism, new york: liveright. wilkerson, isabel. (2020). caste, the origins of our discontents, new york: random house. book review caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 237–240 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.3 © 2020 cosimo zene. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited title: indian political theory: laying the groundwork for svaraj author: aakash singh rathore publisher: routledge, london and new york, 2017 reviewer: cosimo zene professor emeritus in the study of religions and world philosophies, school of history, religions and philosophies, soas, university of london, united kingdom e-mail: zc@soas.ac.uk in indian political theory, aakash singh rathore warns us about the unduly prolonged presence in india of theories which are totally foreign to its common people. in view of this, he suggests redirecting our attention towards the lived experience of indian political life by proposing a ‘return to tradition,’ but with a caveat and a principle which would guide this return:‘the principle that any modification to be made must benefit the least advantaged and that those changes that do benefit the least advantaged are legitimate.’ the ‘return’ would justify rathore’s plan to examine ‘the inadequacy of transatlantic political theory.’ this process makes it possible to lay the ground for the ‘preconditions of svaraj,’ as ‘the activity of being oneself’ through a ‘look within’ and an ‘excavation downwards.’ while a ‘thick svaraj’ insists on the ‘nature and purity’ of indian tradition, a ‘thin svaraj’ points towards hybridity and pluralism. singh considers gandhi and ambedkar as the most prominent representatives of these two positions. would it be possible to reconcile their divergent views on svaraj (and those of their present-day followers), given the well-known antagonism between the two? having examined thomas pantham’s, ramachandra guha’s, and partha chatterjee’s attempt to resolve the tension between gandhi and ambedkar, rathore concludes that he is ‘quite sceptical about the validity of such attempts of reconciliation. even gandhi’s and ambedkar’s mutual aim in wanting to abolish untouchability does not go far enough to match ambedkar’s determination to annihilate caste altogether. 238 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 rathore provides a wealth of evidence to prove the ‘irreconcilable differences’ between gandhi and ambedkar, despite the fact that gandhi ‘moved closer to ambedkar in the last years of his life’ while gandhi was against the ‘sin’ and the ‘curse’ of untouchability, no real action followed to address this. for instance, the bardoli programme (1922-23), designed for the benefit of untouchables – including their education – resulted in total failure. the ‘satyagrahas’ organised by ambedkar and untouchables at mahad and nasik (1927/1930), to affirm the untouchables’ right to use public water-tanks and temple-entry respectively,were opposed by gandhi and congress, thus failing to achieve any result. the major failure was perhaps when the demands made by ambedkar at the round table conference (1930-33) to allow ‘adequate representation’ for dalits and a ‘separate electorate for a period of ten years’ were forfeited, as ambedkar agreed to sign the ‘poona pact’ to make gandhi break his ‘fast unto death.’ in this case, gandhi’s non-violent satyagraha against the british became an act of violence against the dalits, while ambedkar acted in a true nonviolent manner towards gandhi. rathore welcomes, nonetheless, the rapprochement between gandhi and ambedkar as a ‘strategic collaboration,’ but suggests that to remain ‘attuned to the fundamental, irresolvable differences between them,’ while bringing them ‘into a constellation’ (a term borrowed from adorno and benjamin), implying ‘something less than identification, less than reconciliation, but still overcoming the chasm of separation.’ this ‘dialogue within difference’ was the result of the irresolvable paradox of the double-bind that entrapped ambedkar and the dalits as ‘slaves of slaves.’ambedkar had no doubts, as he made clear in the opening address at the round table conference in london (1930), that ‘… nobody can remove our grievances as well as we can, and we cannot remove them unless we get political power in our own hands…” at roughly the same time (1934), in a fascist prison cell, antonio gramsci was writing: ‘subordinate groups always endure the initiative of the dominant groups, even when they rebel and arise: only a “permanent” victory breaks, and not immediately, their subordination’(1975, q 25, § 2, 2283)1; a few lines into the discussion he adds: ‘subaltern classes are not, by definition, unified and cannot coalesce until they are able to become “state”’ (q 25, § 4, 2286). both gramsci and ambedkar were fully aware of the dynamics behind subalternity, since both had researched into its causes within the history of their respective countries. that is why, in that same opening address ambedkar could confirm: ‘it is only in a swaraj constitution that we stand any chance of getting political power into our own hands, without which we cannot bring salvation to our people.’ these very concepts have been translated by rathore into the ‘dalit svaraj,’ which, in his theory, becomes also ‘the precondition of indian political theory,’ since ‘svaraj without dalit svaraj is tantamount to liberty without equality.’ in order to clarify ‘dalit svaraj,’ rathore adheres to ambedkar’s idea of svaraj: ‘a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, which is well beyond the promise of accepting social ameliorations for dalits, since ‘not bread but honour, is what they want.’ british rule had not changed the situation of dalits, and only ‘dalit svaraj, or free, equal, and agent-centred participation in the political sovereignty of a free sovereign nation works ambedkar and the dalits out of the double-bind that they had found themselves ensnared in for so long.’ as we know, ambedkar never managed to win a separate electorate for the dalits and he opposed a ‘hindu svaraj’ for the rest of his life, until, a few months before his death, he opted for conversion. for, ‘just as book review 239 swaraj is necessary for india, so is also change of religion necessary for untouchables. the underlying motive in both the movements is the desire for freedom.’ i do agree with rathore that india must find its own way for a sound and effective political theory rather than relying on political theories coming from ‘the west.’ i would, however, tend to take a more radical approach to the problem, and apply some caveats when discussing ‘eurocentrism,’ presumably, political theories are based and rest on a supporting philosophy. the problem we have been facing, for some centuries now, is that anglo-european philosophy has been portraying itself as a ‘universal philosophy’ – the only ‘philosophy,’ rather than the historical or localised philosophy of europe (see zene, 2015). there is no doubt that the philosophy which motivated the expansion of european empires, with the acquisition of political, economic, and military power, imposed itself as the highest, if not the sole, ‘way of thinking,’ thus imposing also a ‘colonisation of minds’ or an intellectual subordination. my contention is that, although we can safely affirm that ‘the history of european philosophy has been a history of “egology”’(levinas 1979), there have been moments of sanity and self-reflexivity within this philosophy, despite its ‘follies and mistakes’ (gramsci, q 11 § 12), and that some philosophers have resisted the temptation to impose on to others the all-powerful, domineering western logos. on the other hand, we must also recognise that colonialism, subalternity, sexism and racism happened in europe prior to being exported elsewhere. there is, however, a tentative way of ‘provincialising europe, by acknowledging and accepting that its philosophy is not universal, but regional and historically bound. in this way we can welcome rathore’s suggestion to ‘open a window of opportunity for new or hitherto ignored conceptions to be brought into play,’ thus provoking ‘the thought, or at least the possibility, that some aspects of ‘“eastern” thought may hold resources towards a more sustainable future.’ i would venture to call this exchange ‘inter-philosophical critical dialogue,’ which takes place within the environment of world philosophies, thus recognising the presence of multiple philosophies and epistemologies, rather than one single philosophical tradition dictating the pace of reasoning to the whole world. this is not very dissimilar to the closeness rathore finds between the concepts of pratyahara and decoloniality (see walter mignolo 2008; miguel quijano2007), as a central component of contemporary latin american philosophy, and in particular the difference between postcolonial theory and decoloniality, ‘that very inward turn of decoloniality, a turn toward indigeneity and alternative epistemologies, and a disavowal of futile attempts to elbow in to transatlantic institutional and academic discourses.’ indeed, as rathore suggests ‘a thin svarajist indian political theory will find deep resonance with the fruit of decolonialist work, despite being grounded half a world away’ (ibid.). as the argentinian-mexican philosopher enrique dussel suggests, there is ‘the need to undertake and deepen permanent south–south dialogue, in order to define the agenda of the most urgent philosophical problems in africa, asia, latin america, eastern europe, etc., and discuss them together philosophically’ (dussel 2009: 511). despite many setbacks and being ignored by indian academia in social sciences and humanities, ambedkar still motivates dalits to carry on their quest for a real dalit svaraj, also as independent thinking. gramsci would have certainly supported the idea of dalit svaraj, as a democratic educational practice conducive to overcoming subalternity by becoming subaltern-citizens who are able ‘to think, to study, to direct, 240 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 or to control those who direct’ given that ‘every “citizen” can become a “ruler” (moreover, gramsci and ambedkar alike struggled to become ‘collective thinkers’ for the subalterns, for those excluded from ‘thinking’; not an easy task. the clear positions and strong convictions of the two leaders rest on their ethical standing reflected in gramsci’s calling for ‘intellectual and moral reform’ and ambedkar’s pushing for a ‘social and moral consciousness of society,’ both very much in line with the principle announced by rathore at the outset of his reflection: ‘the principle that any modification to be made must benefit the least advantaged and that those changes that do benefit the least advantaged are legitimate.’ references dussel, e. (2009). a new age in the history of philosophy: the world dialogue between philosophical traditions, philosophy and social criticism35: 5, pp. 499–516. gramsci, a. (1975). quaderni del carcere, gerratana, v. (a cura di), torino: einaudi. levinas, e. (1979).totality and infinity.an essay on exteriority. the hague: m. nijhoff. mignolo, w. (2008). la option de-colonial: desprendimiento yapertura. un manifesto y uncaso, tabula rasa 8, pp. 243-281. quijano m. (2007).coloniality and modernity/rationality, cultural studies, 21( 2, 3) march/ may 2007, pp. 168 178. zene, c. (2015).world philosophies in dialogue: a shared wisdom?, confluence:online journal of world philosophies, 1(2), pp. 11-32. endnotes 1. references to gramsci’s prison notebooks follows the internationally established standard of notebook number (q), number of note (§), and page number, according to the italian critical edition, gramsci 1975. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 174–188 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.246 © 2021 ankit kawade. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste clearing of the ground – ambedkar’s method of reading ankit kawade1 abstract this essay attempts to study and explicate the method of reading as operative in ambedkar’s writings. the essay is organized around five thematic sections, each aimed at discussing a methodological concern guiding ambedkar’s investigations. his engagements with the religious texts of hinduism in general and the manusmriti (the laws of manu or the law code of manu) in particular have been used here to explicate the substance and implications of what has been described by aishwary kumar as ambedkar’s ‘politics of reading’, a highly suggestive phrase that points towards the political as well as epistemic stakes of ambedkar’s acts of reading. keywords ambedkar’s writings, clearing ground, philosophy of hinduism, caste, hermeneutics, dalit studies ambedkar’s historicizing gesture in the beginning of his unfinished manuscript titled philosophy of hinduism, ambedkar writes, ‘[i]t is obvious that such a study must be preceded by a certain amount of what may be called clearing of the ground . . .’ (1987b, p. 3). ambedkar often prefaces his studies with reflections upon his way or method of approaching a particular theme or question. in this particular instance, we encounter him using an evocative or a metaphorical term for describing his methodological stance with regard to his subject matter, i.e. outlining the philosophy of hinduism. he writes about the necessity or imperative of carrying out a preliminary activity before the study of the philosophy of hinduism proper could begin; and designates that activity as ‘clearing of the ground’. an inquiry into ambedkar’s method of reading the manusmriti, which serves as a focal point for all his investigations 1(m.phil. candidate, centre for political studies, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi) e-mail: ankitkawade@hotmail.com clearing of the ground – ambedkar’s method of reading 175 into what he calls the ‘literature of brahminism’ (ambedkar, 1987c, p. 239), requires that we pay attention to and interpret what ambedkar means by the phrase ‘clearing of the ground’. we may begin by asking the following questions – what is that ‘ground’ which requires a ‘clearing’? what do ‘clearing’ and ‘the ground’ mean for ambedkar? we may rely upon cues provided by ambedkar in his other texts to find possible answers to these questions. it is suggested here that what ‘clearing’ and ‘the ground’ mean for ambedkar is eminently revealed by other evocative or metaphorical terms that ambedkar uses while describing his way of working through a particular theme, topic, or sets of questions. in the beginning of his unfinished treatise titled revolution and counter revolution in ancient india, whose composition begins during the 1940s, ambedkar writes of the necessity of carrying out an ‘exhumation’ (1987c, p. 152) of ancient india.1 the reason and purpose underlying such a task of ‘exhumation’ concerns the difficulty of knowing ancient india historically. he writes: much of the ancient history of india is no history at all. not that ancient india has no history. it has plenty of it. but it has lost its character. it has been made mythology to amuse women and children. this seems to have been done deliberately by the brahminical writers . . . by this the pith of history contained in it is squeezed out. (ambedkar, 1987c, p. 151) the distinction between what is ‘history’ proper as opposed to what is merely ‘mythological’ in ancient india is important for ambedkar, with the crucial caveat that what is actually mythology as documented in ancient india has been confused with its history. the deliberate distortion which ambedkar alleges on the part of ‘brahminical writers’ for not having what he calls a ‘historical sense’ (ambedkar, 1990b, p. 10) is crucial for outlining his method because it bears an implicative importance for ambedkar’s ‘politics of reading’ (kumar, 2013, pp. 127–128) and writing the history of ancient india as such. ambedkar is here as conscious of denying the status of historical knowledge to the prevalent history of ancient india as he is in his insistence that ancient india does possess a history, just not the one that we have been told about by brahminical writers. it is not clear exactly who it is that ambedkar is referring to here – it might be a reference to professional historians working on ancient india, to leaders within the anticolonial movement who had a scholastic investment in ancient indian history, or to the writers of smritis and shastras and their concomitant interpreters and commentators within the 1ambedkar’s usage of the word ‘exhumation’ has implied a general interest in the ‘archaeological’ method as pioneered by michel foucault in his the archaeology of knowledge. moreover, giorgio agamben (2009, pp. 81–82) has alerted us to the history of the archaeological method which, as he points out, goes as far back as the works of immanuel kant, who had first used the term ‘philosophical archaeology’. agamben (2009, p. 8) also points to the element of an ‘archaeological vigilance’ as underpinning his own method, writing that ‘every inquiry in the human sciences – including the present reflection on method – should entail an archaeological vigilance. in other words, it must retrace its own trajectory back to the point where something remains obscure and unthematized’. the most notable contemporary work which makes use of the archaeological method whose intellectual genealogy is as foucauldian as it is ambedkarite, is gopal guru’s essay archaeology of untouchability. guru (2012, p. 222) writes, ‘. . . the archaeological method [is] inevitable for the detection of untouchability, which sits deep in the anxious self.’ 176 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 canonical discourse of hinduism. the precise scope of his reference notwithstanding, the denial of the status of historical knowledge to what ambedkar thinks is actually mythology and the insistence that ancient india does possess ‘the pith of history’ (ambedkar, 1987c, p. 151) is highly significant once we take note of the logic of what may be called ambedkar’s historicizing gesture in reading the history of ancient india. consider his words: ancient indian history must be exhumed. without its exhumation ancient india will go without history. fortunately with the help of the buddhist literature, ancient indian history can be dug out of the debris which the brahmin writers have heaped upon in a fit of madness. (ambedkar, 1987c, p. 152) there is a deep sense of urgency with which ambedkar (1990b, p. 10) approaches the problem of the history of ancient india, and there is a sense of an imperative in his insistence that our knowledge of ancient india must become consistent with ‘historical sense’. why is ambedkar so perturbed if ancient india goes ‘without history’? why does it strike ambedkar as so important that ancient indian history must be rescued from the throes of the mythological beliefs that have formed around it? moreover, why must its history be ‘exhumed’? and what is shown (or shone) forth once the debris above this ground is ‘dug out’? in finding out the answers to these questions, we find possible cues towards understanding what ambedkar means by the phrase ‘clearing of the ground’ (ambedkar, 1987b, p. 3). the ‘ground’ for ambedkar refers to the history of ancient india which is so overwhelmed by the debris of mythology above it that it requires a ‘clearing’. indeed, ambedkar (1987c, p. 152) writes, ‘[w]ith this exhumation of debris, we can see ancient indian history in a “new light”. once the ground is cleared, it becomes possible to view ancient indian history as being different from its mythological overdetermination and thus in a potentially “new light’’.’ what is the character of this ‘newness’ with which ambedkar wishes to view ancient india? that he wishes to view it historically and not mythologically is clear enough. however, what is the character of this historicity that ambedkar is eager and insistent to see established with respect to our knowledge of ancient india? in other words, what is the significance of ambedkar’s gesture to historicize what we know of ancient india, and how is it related to ambedkar’s method of reading? it is argued here that ambedkar’s historicizing gesture is significant because it inserts the impulses of historicity and temporality into a tradition which is conceptually averse to either of them. this aversion is enabled and accentuated by the religious belief that holds hinduism to be sanatan or eternal in character. ‘according to the hindus,’ writes ambedkar (1987d, p. 128), ‘they are sanatan which means that they are “eternally pre-existing”.’ in the preface to his unpublished manuscript titled riddles in hinduism, composed during the mid-1940s, ambedkar writes about the necessity of undermining this belief: . . . hindu society has changed from time to time and that often times the change is of the most radical kind . . . i want to make the mass of people to realize that hindu religion is not sanatan. (ambedkar, 1987d, p. 5) the stakes of inserting historicity and temporality into the gamut of sanatan dharma is eminently political, meaning that claims of change of even the most radical clearing of the ground – ambedkar’s method of reading 177 and revolutionary kinds could be envisaged within a religious tradition whose mythological debris prohibits the visibility of the trail of historical changes that have occurred therein. in claiming that hindu society is ‘sanatan’, two broadly political aims are achieved. first, such a claim seeks to establish that the condition of the hindu society has not undergone any significant changes in its very long ‘history’; that even with successive foreign invasions, the basic structure of the hindu society remained unchanged. the resilience of the hindu society against change is converted into a claim of its normative desirability, such that a tradition which has seen no fundamental or radical change may as well be claimed as normatively so efficacious that it perforce required no change. from here, the step towards making the future-oriented claim that denies the necessity of making or carrying out any fundamental change within the hindu society is easily taken. for its apologists, the hindu society is ‘sanatan’ not only in its past but more importantly in its future as well, such that any demand which redacts a structural change within the hindu society – which would require some measure of discontinuity from its past – is compelled to rely upon its eternalist narrative and made to furnish such justifications which claim a more fundamental continuity with tradition.2 ambedkar, in thus claiming that the hindu society is not ‘sanatan’ – that is not ‘eternally pre-existing’ – denies this tradition’s historical as well as future-oriented pretensions. his historicizing gesture is aimed precisely against such a view of eternalism, which has resulted in the belief among the hindu masses that their social order has followed a particular hierarchical structure since ‘eternity’ and as such it is bound to follow it in its future as well. the mythologically justified suturing of eternity (past) and infinity (future) in the social and political present – which carries at its base the reactionary demand that the social order remain as it is – is sought to be challenged by ambedkar’s historicizing gesture which arguably witnesses a different suturing: that between time and finitude. the sense of urgency with which ambedkar insists upon the historicity of ancient india is oriented towards this political demand of recognizing that the hindu society has seen changes, even the most radical changes, in its history over different temporally distinct periods, and that it is very much capable of seeing similarly radical changes in the present as well as in the future. ambedkar’s method of reading thus, consists in the insistence upon and documentation of change which forms the content of any historical knowledge of ancient india. the purposes to which the mythology of ancient india is put to use by brahminical writers is properly shown by ambedkar to be in service of a reactionary ideology which disclaims the possibility of change as such, whether in the past, present, or the future. moreover, by denying the concept of eternalism, ambedkar uncovers the nature of the brahmanic understanding of time in terms of eternity and infinity which obfuscates the perception or experience of time distinctly in terms of the past, present, and the future. these distinct forms of time become interchangeable in what he calls ‘brahmanic theology’ (ambedkar, 1987d, p. 5) with precise social and political consequences, such that the appearance of the social order in one form of time (present) is made to coincide with others (past and future). in short, by claiming that 2ashis nandy (1990, p. 51) describes this phenomenon thus: ‘. . . the tradition in india is to alter the dominant culture from within, by showing dissent to be a part of orthodoxy or by reinterpreting orthodoxy in terms of the needs of dissent. this is especially true of ideological deviations or innovations, the type of challenges the society has repeatedly faced and become experienced at handling.’ 178 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 ancient india does possess a history – which however awaits to be ‘exhumed’ or ‘dug out’ (ambedkar, 1987c, p. 152), and by claiming its conventional history as being of the character of mere mythology – ambedkar opens up or readies the hindu society for politics as such, where being open to politics implies the readiness to experience even the most radical of changes. this is the precise import of the ‘new light’ (ibid) that ambedkar proposes an exhumation of ancient indian history or a clearing of its ground would likely bring forward. the road of rational thinking the uses of the method of exhumation and clearing occur in ambedkar’s historical reflections regarding the inquiry into the origin of untouchability as well. in his study titled, the untouchables: who were they and how they became untouchables? published in 1948, investigative concerns reappear which we have observed as operative in other works written during the same decade. ambedkar (1990a, p. 244) justifies his methodological approach based on the nature of his subject matter thus: my critics should remember that we are dealing with an institution the origin of which is lost in antiquity. the present attempt to explain the origin of untouchability is not the same as writing history from texts which speak with certainty. it is a case of reconstructing history where there are no texts, and if there are, they have no direct bearing on the question. in such circumstances what one has to do is to strive to divine what the texts conceal or suggest without being even quite certain of having found the truth. the task is one of gathering survivals of the past, placing them together, and making them tell the story of their birth. that ancient india requires a historical treatment and why the stakes of such a historical treatment are absolutely important for ambedkar’s method of reading have been discussed above. this citation provides us with an idea of what difficulties arise once such a decision to write and to interpret the history of ancient india is made.3 ambedkar points to the methodological obstacles faced by an investigator while seeking answers to the question of the origin of untouchability, and suggests the necessity of adopting different protocols and procedures in first ascertaining the very possibility of complete textual reliance for finding the answers to this question. he suggests identifying and paying utmost attention to the points of what the texts ‘conceal’ (ibid). it is the text here that becomes the ground which would then require a clearing. textual debris has to be dug out to find what was buried or concealed underneath it so as to let that ground shine forth under the new light such that it becomes visible to the eyes of the investigator. in doing so, ambedkar observes that the nature of the institution under question demands a different approach from its historian, such that it becomes possible that the resulting investigation exceeds the work proper of history-writing itself – that it might not be regarded as a work of history at all. the measure of difference between his awareness of falling short of following traditional historiographical approaches to investigate the origins of untouchability and his own professed method is thus expressed by him through the following analogies: 3in a similar vein, hans-georg gadamer (1999, p. 93) observes that ‘. . . mythical ur-knowledge presents special difficulties to historical research. what it has to do is to reconstruct a tradition that is not at all directly accessible and that, insofar as we know anything about it at all, is penetrated through and through with philosophical and poetic influences.’ clearing of the ground – ambedkar’s method of reading 179 the task is analogous to that of the paleontologist who conceives an extinct animal from scattered bones and teeth or of a painter who reads the lines of the horizon and the smallest vestiges on the slopes of the hill to make up a scene. in this sense the book is a work of art even more than of history. the origin of untouchability lies buried in a dead past which nobody knows. to make it alive is like an attempt to reclaim to history a city which has been dead since ages past and present it as it was in its original condition.4 (ambedkar, 1990a, p. 244) the analogies drawn between the historian as a paleontologist and the historian as a painter, and more importantly, ambedkar’s temptation to term this study as a ‘work of art even more than of history’ (ibid), is suggestive not only of ambedkar’s methodological departures but also indicative of the difficult nature of the question of the origin of untouchability. for ambedkar, it is not possible to throw light upon the subject of the origin of untouchability if the ground of its existence is itself concealed from our view. any attempt to throw light upon this question must be preceded by a prior work of clearing, which for ambedkar represents a particular gesture or disposition of historicization towards ancient india. such a gesture of historicizing is at the same time a work of making tradition itself heterogeneous. making a tradition, heterogeneous implies the work of throwing open such possibilities that were (or were not) able to actualize themselves in the past. where ambedkar points towards the necessity of not perceiving the hindu religion as ‘sanatan’, i.e. as eternal, and recognizing that the hindu society underwent changes even of the most radical kinds, the attempt is directed against such views which hold tradition, history, or religion to bear out only one set of meanings, while overlooking or actively suppressing such elements which destabilize or seek to revise the mythological narrative of sanatan dharma. ambedkar’s attempts to engage with the ‘literature of brahminism’ (1987c, p. 239) and his attempt to treat questions of the origin of untouchability with a ‘historical sense’ (1987c, p. 10) mark out such an attempt of making tradition itself critical, i.e. as a site of heterogeneity.5 we have already discussed that such an attempt carries the names of ‘exhumation’ and ‘clearing’ in ambedkar’s works. however, we may pay attention to another description available within his work which clarifies his concern of treating ancient india historically and not mythologically; which had a decisive 4it is notable that ambedkar’s reliance upon archaeological analogies for their methodological salience is evidenced right from his first published essay titled castes in india: their mechanism, genesis and development. in the beginning of that essay, underscoring the importance of examining ‘ruins’ and ‘remains’ as a reliable ‘guide’ within the realm of thought, the young ambedkar (1979, p. 5) writes, ‘[y]ou all have visited, i believe, some historic place like the ruins of pompeii, and listened with curiosity to the history of the remains as it flowed from the glib tongue of the guide. in my opinion a student of ethnology, in one sense at least, is much like the guide.’ 5valerian rodrigues (2017, p. 107) notes that ‘[u]nlike the popular perception, ambedkar does not subscribe to a disembodied modernity but proposes a critical interpretive method to read culture and traditions. he argues for a critical retrieval of culture rather than commit oneself to a partisan other.’ rodrigues’ words are directed as a criticism against partha chatterjee’s (2004, p. 9) view, which states that ‘ambedkar was an unalloyed modernist. he believed in science, history, rationality, and above all, in the modern state for the actualization of human reason.’ another interpretation which contrasts rodrigues’ view of ambedkar’s engagement with the question of tradition is soumyabrata choudhury’s (2018, p. 106): ‘ambedkar’s socalled pragmatism was not a nominalism and his thoughts on religion didn’t divulge in the mediocre pieties of hermeneutic philosophies – and philologies – of tradition.’ 180 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 bearing upon making ancient india’s history itself open for political contestations. in the preface of his work riddles in hinduism, ambedkar (1987d, p. 5) writes: this book is an exposition of the beliefs propounded by what might be called brahmanic theology. it is intended for the common mass of hindus who need to be awakened to know in what quagmire the brahmins have placed them and to lead them on to the road of rational thinking. ambedkar’s description of the mythological or mythical treatment of ancient india wherein pointers of change are obfuscated is here termed as ‘beliefs’ central to the propagation of ‘brahmanic theology’ (ibid). according to ambedkar, the mythic representation of ancient india as unchanging and of hindu religion as ‘sanatan’ or eternal is of the nature of unexamined beliefs or convictions. ambedkar’s work was intended for the readership of the hindu masses that needed to be awakened from their dogmatic slumber and led towards the state of enlightenment. indeed, such a concern is indicative from the subtitle of riddles in hinduism, that is ‘an exposition to enlighten the masses’. ambedkar’s engagement with the literature of brahminism carries a highly critical disposition because of which his method of reading can only be termed as being of the character of ‘rational thinking’ (ibid) which, according to him, is what is most absent in the disposition of brahmanic writers towards hinduism. the link between throwing light upon something as the metaphorical representation of rational thinking – the link that is clear from the word ‘enlightenment’ itself – is here evident enough, such that the necessity of viewing ancient india under a new light for ambedkar can be said to be nothing other than seeing and most importantly thinking rationally. nevertheless, we may still ask what are the elements of such a method of rational thinking for ambedkar? put differently, what does thinking rationally involve for ambedkar? a history of madness ambedkar’s concern for weaning ancient india away from a mythological treatment towards a properly historical treatment is noteworthy for its methodological innovations in investigating questions, such as the origin of untouchability. in doing so, ambedkar viewed himself as clearing the ground of the debris that has been heaped upon it by brahminical writers in ‘a fit of madness’ (ambedkar, 1987c, p. 152). it might be said that ambedkar’s efforts at a ‘clearing of the ground’ – a process he would term ‘rational thinking’ – was the antithetical correlate to the drive for concealment that ambedkar observes as operative among brahminical writers, which is characterized by him as a case of epistemic ‘madness’ (ibid). nevertheless, ambedkar is here not merely dismissing such acts of reading that he finds to be inadequate to the substance of the questions under consideration. indeed, in riddles in hinduism, when discussing the theory of the origin of mixed castes in the manusmriti, ambedkar after voicing his utter dissatisfaction with the theory forwarded by manu and other smritikaras (law-givers), asks the question, ‘is there a method in their madness?’ (1987d, p. 225). the shakespearean strain of this question notwithstanding,6 ambedkar can be read to have proposed, albeit by way of a question, that even the madness that is operative in manu may have a method 6see kumar, 2015, pp. 125–134 for a superb analysis of ambedkar’s reading of the works of shakespeare. clearing of the ground – ambedkar’s method of reading 181 to it. it is argued here that the manusmriti emerges as the focal point through which ambedkar seeks to exhume the work of epistemic madness that he observes as being operative in the ‘literature of brahminism’. ambedkar’s work of ‘rational thinking’ is then nothing other than the aim of writing brahminism’s history of madness. in this regard, soumyabrata choudhury (2018, p. 85) writes: . . . the question of “madness” arises in ambedkar not only for the puzzle of manu’s terrible laws; it also arises in a larger context – the context of ‘reason’ itself. it arises as the enigma of how can a rational person not consider the hindu caste system, including manu’s laws, mad? obviously targeted at gandhi, the judgement is that whoever does not recognize the madness of caste is not being a ‘man of reason’. keeping such a view in mind, it is possible to argue that madness itself acquires the sense of an ingenuity among the hindus. madness is not something which is unremarkable in its appearance, function, and in what ambedkar (1987b, p. 23) calls its ‘operative force’. madness belongs to the nature and quality of deception, cunning, and mystification: it is capable of vacillating between being cold-blooded on the one hand and breaking into diabolical fury on the other. recognizing the work of this ideology as madness and charting its social, historical, and political provenances is the beginning of what ambedkar calls ‘rational thinking’. it implies the critical labour that attempts to plot and draw out the vast artifice of untruth that consummates the ‘literature of brahminism’, while at the same time not disclaiming a moment of marvel at the sheer genius with which it enthralled most of its interpreters across historical periods, especially in the modern age. what are the elements of the brahminic ‘method’ through which this ‘madness’ operates? method, understood in its etymological formulation in greek as methodos, simply means ‘way’ or ‘path’, and such an elementary meaning can be evidenced in which the term ‘method’ and ‘approach’ are still used interchangeably. ambedkar shows an implicit awareness of such an etymological trajectory which can be taken to reveal a central element in the ‘method’ of manu’s ‘madness’. ‘manu’s ways’, ambedkar (1987c, p. 285) writes, ‘are silent and subterranean . . .’ such an observation is again a pointer of ambedkar’s way or method of reading, where his attention is focused upon manu’s words as much as his silences, and the overall ‘subterranean’ topology upon which both of these orders of utterances exist within the text of the manusmriti. there is always something implicit, secretive, buried, and covered within the topology of this text whose ground cannot be taken to be that of a smooth surface, such that in a wittgensteinian manner, ambedkar can also be seen as treading upon the ‘rough ground’7 leading up to the interpretation of the manusmriti. the grain and the impulse of ambedkar’s insistence upon rational thinking can only be appreciated when such a nature of the literature under investigation is taken into account. the way or method of manu consists in being ‘silent and subterranean’, and an act of reading and interpretation of this text, according to ambedkar, must be of the character of 7consider the following methodological reflection from wittgenstein’s philosophical investigations (2009, p. 51e): ‘the more closely we examine actual language, the greater becomes the conflict between it and our requirement . . . the conflict becomes intolerable; the requirement is now in danger of becoming vacuous. we have got on to slippery ice where there is no friction, and so, in a certain sense, the conditions are ideal; but also, just because of that, we are unable to walk. we want to walk: so we need friction. back to the rough ground!’ 182 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 an ‘exhumation’, where meanings of deliberate silences are sought to be dug out and uncovered from the debris of words that have kept them shrouded. it is as if ambedkar forges his methodological departures that are exemplary of ‘rational thinking’ as against the grain of the epistemic ‘madness’ of manu itself, whose method or way is not adequate to merely dismiss as being unimportant towards any theoretical elaboration or explanation. the method that ambedkar finds as operative in manu’s ‘madness’ is perhaps proof enough of its sheer hold and grip upon the ‘hindu mind’ (1987b, p. 23). and it is precisely towards addressing and appealing to the rationality of the ‘hindu mind’ – dormant and unconcerned as it may be in its dogmatic slumber – that ambedkar writes a text like the riddles in hinduism. sample his words: the . . . purpose of this book is to draw attention of the hindu masses to the devices of the brahmins and to make them think for themselves how they have been deceived and misguided by the brahmins. (ambedkar, 1987d, p. 5) the insistence that the hindu masses think for themselves is both an affirmation of their capacity of thinking as well as an acknowledgment that this capacity is kept unused by them. indeed, to be able to understand ambedkar’s method of reading, his insistence upon thinking for oneself is highly important to underline. perhaps the central procedural element in ambedkar’s method of reading is the role that is attributed to the importance of the act of questioning itself. it is no coincidence that each chapter within his riddles ends with a question, where each chapter is of the nature of a provocation which invites a response from his intended audience – the ‘hindu masses’. the following analysis seeks to discuss how the central role of the question within ambedkar’s method constitutes the formative element in his acts of reading the ‘literature of brahminism’ in general and the manusmriti in particular. it shall be mainly argued that such a methodological insistence where the stance of questioning preponderates is intimately linked to the notions of courage and freedom within ambedkar’s works, such that courage and freedom can be taken to be the two guiding aspects within ambedkar’s acts of reading as such. for ambedkar, courage is what is required for the exercise of ‘freedom of speech’ against a tradition which he argues is so averse to questioning and being questioned in the first place. love of truth ambedkar is painfully aware about the unwelcome reception of his presence within the field of studying religion and religious history. such an awareness should enable us to appreciate the intensity of the demand of courage in engaging with religious scriptures which ambedkar was ritually forbidden from accessing as an untouchable. his awareness of working in a field whose highly-placed practitioners mark either an active animosity or a passive conspiracy of silence towards his desire of exercising the right to think is expressed by him in the following words: . . . some may question my competence to handle the theme. i have already been warned that while i may have a right to speak on indian politics, religion and religious history of india are not my field and that i must not enter it. i do not know why my critics have thought it necessary to give me this warning. if clearing of the ground – ambedkar’s method of reading 183 it is an antidote to any extravagant claim made by me as a thinker or a writer, then it is unnecessary. for, i am ready to admit that i am not even competent to speak on indian politics. if the warning is for the reason that i cannot claim mastery over the sanskrit language, i admit this deficiency . . . 15 years ought to be enough to invest even a person endowed with such moderate intelligence like myself, with sufficient degree of competence for the task. as to [the] exact measure of my competence to speak on the subject, this book will furnish the best testimony. it may well turn out that this attempt of mine is only an illustration of the proverbial fool rushing in where the angels fear to tread. but i take refuge in the belief that even the fool has a duty to perform, namely, to do his bit if the angel has gone to sleep or is unwilling to proclaim the truth. this is my justification for entering the prohibited field. (ambedkar, 1990b, p. 11) ambedkar’s ‘justification’ for deciding to enter the field of religion and religious history marks two highly crucial interpretive moments. first, his awareness of the lack of mastery over the sanskrit language is set aside by him as being the decisive criterion of competency. it is fairly well known that ambedkar had desired to learn sanskrit but was summarily disallowed by his teachers during his early schooling years. as a result, he had to instead learn persian in his school. it was only much later in 1921–22 at the university of bonn in germany that he could begin to learn sanskrit, indicating the sheer difficulty for an untouchable to have learned, let alone mastered, sanskrit in india during his time (and surely, in our time as well). second, ambedkar’s awareness of the dangers of treading upon such a ‘prohibited field’ is presented both with humility and courage, as expressed by ambedkar in evocative terms using the metaphors of ‘sleep’ or slumber again. ambedkar’s metaphorical usage of sleep with the angel’s unwillingness to speak the truth is contrasted with the image of the fool who may be innocent but certainly not foolish, in that she is aware that what ambedkar (1987c, p. 290) calls the ‘rights of intelligence’ hold out a sense of duty, namely, that of speaking the truth. what makes religion and religious history of india so decisive for ambedkar that he finds it essential to enter it even at the risk of trespassing into a ‘prohibited field’ (ambedkar, 1990b, p. 11) is because that is where he thinks the weight of the debris of epistemic ‘madness’ is the greatest, and equally importantly, where the work of ‘rational thinking’ is most necessary. religion and religious history in this case constitute the ‘ground’ which requires ‘clearing’, and the fact that his critics do not see this necessity is the surest evidence of their dogmatic sleep. this dogmatism is represented for ambedkar in their hubris that mastery over sanskrit automatically transforms them into possessors of truth. here, we may take a cue from martin heidegger (1981, p. 8) and state that for ambedkar, the ‘[r]eadiness to confront the inception of our history thus remains more vital than any knowledge of languages.’ it was precisely this readiness which distinguished or separated, according to ambedkar, his effort at studying the religious history of india as against his critics. it might also be said that for his critics ambedkar was most lacking in holding forth what heidegger (1981, p. 7) terms a ‘love of antiquity’, that his efforts at reading sacred scriptures critically or rationally were a mark of his dismissal or hatred of tradition itself. against such a ‘love of antiquity’ demanded by his critics, ambedkar (1987b, p. 86) instead holds out what he terms a ‘love of truth’ within his investigations. to the eyes of the investigator who wishes ‘to point to a new way of looking at old things’ (ambedkar, 184 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 1990a, p. 242), nothing is outside the ambit of inquiry, least of all antiquity and sacred scriptures. here ambedkar’s (1987d, p. 9) efforts at ‘stirring the masses’ towards the ‘road of rational thinking’ (ibid, p. 5) is most reminiscent of the following view of immanuel kant, who similarly disclaimed against orthodox voices which sought to take religion out of the purview of rational thinking: our age is the genuine age of criticism, to which everything must submit. religion through its holiness and legislation through its majesty commonly seek to exempt themselves from it. but in this way they excite a just suspicion against themselves, and cannot lay claim to that unfeigned respect that reason grants only to that which has been able to withstand its free and public examination. (kant, 1998, p. a xi) when ambedkar (1987b, p. 8) says that ‘[r]eligion must be put on its trial’, that is religion must be opened up towards what kant would call a ‘free and public examination’, the place of questioning in his method of reading becomes eminently clear. there is a moment in his philosophy of hinduism where ambedkar anticipates the first and perhaps the most insurmountable difficulty by way of the reception of his investigations among his intended audience of the hindu masses. he writes, ‘. . . when one begins the inquiry one meets with an initial difficulty. the hindu is not prepared to face the inquiry’ (ibid, p. 22). what makes the hindu so reticent towards inquiry or questioning, according to ambedkar? why does ambedkar declare that the hindu does not wish to ‘face’ hinduism’s trial where ambedkar wanted to ‘assess its worth as a way of life’ (ibid, p. 5)? was it that the reluctance towards coming face-to-face with hinduism’s trial at the hands of an accomplished legal advocate that ambedkar was, marked already in the hindu an anticipatory admission of their own guilt? to ascertain the reasons behind this recalcitrance of the hindu towards questioning as such, ambedkar turns towards the manusmriti. for him, it is in the manusmriti that the hindu impetus against questioning and being questioned, ‘rational thinking’ and ‘love of truth’ – in short, the method of its ‘madness’ – acquires its historical inception. such an exposition of the manusmriti in ambedkar’s works is linked to the claim that there was an absence of what he terms ‘freedom of speech’ in ancient india. he views the manusmriti as exemplifying this absence whose injunctions carry explicit prohibitions upon the act of questioning. ambedkar (1987a, pp. 114–115) cites the following verses from the manusmriti to substantiate the claim.8 ii. 10. but by sruti (revelation) is meant the veda, and by smriti (tradition) the institutes of the sacred law: those two must not be called into question in any matter, since from those two the sacred law shone forth.9 8throughout his writings, ambedkar uses georg bühler’s translation of the manusmriti as it appeared in the series of texts edited by max müller titled sacred books of the east. for additional reference, wendy doniger’s and patrick olivelle’s translations are also provided as footnotes for each verse quoted by ambedkar from the manusmriti. the variations in each of these editions make us realize to what extent one’s interpretation of the text is determined by the translation one chooses to rely upon. 9ii.10.—‘the veda should be known as the revealed canon, and the teachings of religion as the tradition. these two are indisputable in all matters, for religion arose out of the two of them’ (doniger, 2000, pp. 17–18); ‘‘scripture’ should be recognized as ‘veda’, and ‘tradition’ as ‘law clearing of the ground – ambedkar’s method of reading 185 ii. 11. every twice-born man, who, relying on the institutes of dialectics, treats with contempt those two sources (of the law), must be cast out by the virtuous, as an atheist and a scorner of the veda.10 iv. 30. let him (householder) not honour, even by a greeting, heretics, men who follow forbidden occupations, men who live like cats, rogues, logicians, (arguing against the veda,) and those who live like herons.11 ambedkar interprets these verses as embodying the fact that although a certain degree of freedom of speech was allowed in ancient india, the scope of its exercise was sought to be circumscribed when it came to the vedas and the smritis. however, consecrating a set of books as being divine and thus closed for questioning was by itself unremarkable for ambedkar, for such a phenomenon could be observed among other religious traditions in the world as well. ambedkar interprets manu’s prohibition upon questioning as implicating the issue of freedom of speech in ancient india, and more specifically, the scope allowed for the exercise of this freedom. in his view, the specificity of not only the manusmriti but the whole of the ‘literature of brahminism’ lies in the fact that they consecrate or render divine and inviolable the fourfold social structure of varnashrama dharma as such, thereby consecrating the principles of hierarchy and rank with it. ambedkar is emphatic in arguing that the hindus are quite singular when it comes to consecrating not merely a scripture (as many other religious traditions have historically done) but the social order prescribed and sanctified by it, something which was not done by the holy books of other religions. necessary originality ambedkar (1987a, p. 114) further argues that the prohibition upon questioning relegates freedom of speech only to ‘those who are in favour of the social order’. to protect the sacred character of the social order of caste, manu goes to the length of legislating that those who seek to rely on the ‘institutes of dialectics’ (or what doniger has translated as ‘logic’ and olivelle ‘science of logic’ – must be ‘cast out’ from the bounds of the social order itself, i.e. rendered excommunicated or ostracized. this is evident when manu prescribes the householder not to greet ‘heretics’ and ‘logicians’, and it is important to note that the definitions of who is an atheist, a logician, or a ‘dialectician’ in ancient india depended entirely upon one’s questioning stance towards the vedas. however, ambedkar does not merely point towards the fact of the manusmriti prohibiting such speech as directed against the social order. in his commentary to these verses, ambedkar (1987a) simultaneously emphasizes upon treatise’. these should never be called into question in any matter, for it is from them that the law has shined forth.’ (olivelle, 2004, p. 23) 10ii.11. — ‘any twice-born man who disregards these two roots (of religion) because he relies on the teachings of logic should be excommunicated by virtuous people as an atheist and a reviler of the veda’ (doniger, 2000, p. 18); ‘if a twice-born disparages these two by relying on the science of logic, he ought to be ostracized by good people as an infidel and a denigrator of the veda.’ (olivelle, 2004, p. 23) 11iv.30. — ‘he should not give honour, even with mere words, to heretics, people who persist in wrong action, people who act like cats, hypocrites, rationalists, and people who live like herons’ (doniger, 2000, p. 77); ‘he must never honour the following even with a word of welcome: ascetics of heretical sects; individuals engaging in improper activities, observing the ‘cat vow’, or following the way of herons; hypocrites; and sophists.’ (olivelle, 2004, p. 67) 186 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 the crucial importance of the exercise of freedom of speech against an unfree social order. he says, ‘in the freedom [of speech] there is not freedom for dialecticians, no freedom for logicians to criticize the social order [,] which means there is no freedom at all’ (ibid, p. 115). this comment is highly significant because it not only indicates the formative context where ambedkar’s later efforts at institutionalizing freedom of speech during his constitutional engagements acquires its pedagogical or discursive ground, but also for its insistence in seeing freedom of speech as being the ontological condition which makes the articulation of unfreedom and the political demand for freedom possible in the first place. freedom of speech here is associated with speaking against the social order, implying that the true value of free speech is realized when it becomes a criticism of unfreedom. fostering freedom in the realm of speaking and thinking is important because it opens up the possibility of articulating an opinion or a judgment against unfree social institutions, thus making possible the political demand for other kinds of freedom as well. ambedkar points out one more political consequence of the prohibition of questioning as found in the manusmriti. the ‘hindu mind’ is highly averse to questioning and in turn, to being questioned, thus marking a deleterious effect upon freedom of speech. he makes the following observation underlining the reasons for which we must value the condition of free speech: it [freedom of speech] is a necessary condition of all progress intellectual, moral, political, and social. where it does not exist the status quo becomes stereotyped and all originality even the most necessary is discouraged. (ambedkar, 1987a, p. 98) originality here is proposed by ambedkar as being the first casualty of the injunctions against free speech in the manusmriti, evidenced by the aversion towards questioning that he found as operative among the hindu masses, including its highly-placed intellectuals. ambedkar can be interpreted here as saying that for new institutions, relations, sensibilities, and dispositions – in short, for a new order to emerge – the occurring of new forms of thinking is the most ‘necessary’ (ibid). unoriginality in the realm of thinking is here linked as being the logical counterpart of an unfree social order, where the consequences of unfreedom reach the most remote recesses of the mind, such that it is no longer able to think or imagine any other possibility other than what it is currently living (and dying from). originality here is used as a noun and not as a predicate for something, such that we can interpret manu’s injunctions against questioning not only discouraged original thinking but also original social relations or an original social order itself. for example, ambedkar attempts to criticize such authors who find the purusha sukta in the rig veda and the manusmriti as being highly unique or original in proclaiming the origin of social classes from the divine body of the creator, and thus positively desirable on account of this uniqueness. ambedkar (1990b, p. 25) writes, ‘[t]he purusha sukta would really have been unique if it had preached a classless society as an ideal form of society.’ it is important to underline that ambedkar uses the term ‘classless society’ here, in making the more fundamental point that the literature of brahminism’s most striking unoriginality comes to the fore in its repetitive upholding of the idea of inequality and hierarchy, and how that renders hinduism rather unoriginal clearing of the ground – ambedkar’s method of reading 187 among other world religions. hinduism would really have stood out as being unique or original among world religions if it had advocated for a ‘classless society’ (ibid), i.e., if it would have done or thought something unprecedented in its official capacity as a religion. conclusion: ambedkar’s ‘public solitude’ the essay had begun with the claim of underlining the political as well as the epistemic stakes of ambedkar’s acts of reading. such a claim enables us to not only highlight the radicalization of reading that is achieved within ambedkar’s politics, but also helps us appreciate the relation between reading and collective action within forms of emancipatory politics as such. such a radicalization of reading for politics resembles the productive relation as existing between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ within the marxist tradition of thought. for even if reading and thinking may constitute acts which require the condition of solitude, ambedkar’s acts of reading and thinking take place within a context which is nonetheless not ‘privative’. his acts of reading and thinking, which singularly exceed the removes of such thinkers’ private solitude which render them politically inconsequential, may be characterized in terms of what may be called ambedkar’s ‘public solitude’.12 the concept of ‘public solitude’ aids us in highlighting the grain of ambedkar’s thinking as having taken place within the context of the rough and tumble of his strenuous political engagements and activism. it gives us an idea of not only what it meant to be a political philosopher in twentieth-century india, but also what a thinking in public, which is gathered from the midst of a tremendous and sorrowful solitude may look like. acknowledgement i would like to thank prof. shefali jha for her helpful feedback on an earlier draft of this paper. references agamben, g. (2009). the signature of all things: on method. new york: zone books. ambedkar, b. r. (1979). castes in india: their mechanism, genesis and development. in v. moon (ed.), babasaheb ambedkar writings and speeches: vol. 1 (pp. 3–22). mumbai: government of maharashtra press. ambedkar, b. r. (1987a). india and the pre-requisites of communism. in v. moon (ed.), babasaheb ambedkar writings and speeches: vol. 3 (pp. 95–148). mumbai: government of maharashtra press. ambedkar, b. r. (1987b). philosophy of hinduism. in v. moon (ed.), babasaheb ambedkar writings and speeches: vol. 3 (pp. 3–93). mumbai: government of maharashtra press. ambedkar, b. r. (1987c). revolution and counter-revolution in ancient india. in v. moon (ed.), babasaheb ambedkar writings and speeches: vol. 3 (pp. 149–440). mumbai: government of maharashtra press. ambedkar, b. r. (1987d). riddles in hinduism. in v. moon (ed.), babasaheb ambedkar writings and speeches: vol. 4 (pp. 1–362). mumbai: government of maharashtra press. 12 i owe this concept to the public teachings of prof. soumyabrata choudhury in jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi. 188 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 ambedkar, b. r. (1990a). the untouchables: who were they and why they became untouchables. in v. moon (ed.), babasaheb ambedkar writings and speeches: vol. 7 (pp. 233–382). mumbai: government of maharashtra press. ambedkar, b. r. (1990b). who were the shudras?: how they came to be the fourth varna in the indo-aryan society. in v. moon (ed.), babasaheb ambedkar writings and speeches: vol. 7 (pp. 11–227). mumbai: government of maharashtra press. chatterjee, p. (2004). the nation in heterogeneous time. in p. chatterjee (ed.), the politics of the governed: reflections on popular politics in most of the world (pp. 3–26). new york: columbia university press. choudhury, s. (2018). ambedkar and other immortals: an untouchable research programme. new delhi: navayana. doniger, w. (trans.). (2000). the laws of manu. new delhi: penguin. gadamer, h. g. (1999). myth in the age of science. in hermeneutics, religion, and ethics (trans. j. weinsheimer pp. 91–102). new haven: yale university press. guru, g. (2012). archaeology of untouchability. in g. guru and s. sarukkai (eds.), the cracked mirror: an indian debate on experience and theory (pp. 200–222). new delhi: oxford university press. heidegger, m. (1981). basic concepts (trans. g. e. aylesworth). bloomington: indiana university press. kant, i. (1998). critique of pure reason (trans. p. guyer and a. w. wood). cambridge: cambridge university press. kumar, a. (2013). ambedkar’s inheritances. in s. kapila and f. devji (eds.), political thought in action: the bhagavad gita and modern india (pp. 127–154). cambridge: cambridge university press. kumar, a. (2015). radical equality: ambedkar, gandhi and the risk of democracy. stanford, california: stanford university press. nandy, a. (1990). at the edge of psychology: essays in politics and culture. new delhi: oxford university press. olivelle, p. (trans.). (2004). the law code of manu. new delhi: oxford university press. rodrigues, v. (2017). ambedkar as a political philosopher. economic and political weekly, 52 (15), 101–107. wittgenstein, l. (2009). philosophical investigations (trans. g. anscombe, p. hacker and j. schulte). west sussex: wiley-blackwell. © 2021 gaurav j. pathania. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. forum caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 379–380 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.288 1center for justice and peacebuilding, eastern mennonite university, harrisonburg, virginia e-mail: jogijnu@gmail.com "प्रितिबम्ब" पैनी दृिष्ट से देखो या आँखें फाड़कर िफर भी आसमान में िसफर् दो ही तरह के बादल िदखाई देते हैं एक: हाथी की तरह िवशालकाय लेिकन टुकड़ों में बँटे आसमान के कोने में दुबके हुए से, िछतर ेहुए से काले बादल दूसर:े शेर, बत्तख, चूह,े िचिड़या, गाए और बंदर जैसी आकृित वाले रुई जैसे मुलायम, पूर ेआसमान में फैले हुए सफ़ेद बादल ! ......पृथ्वी पर जब भी हाहाकार मचती ह ै तो सफ़ेद बादल हवा से घबराकर कहीं दूर भाग जातें हैं पर एन मौके पर, हजारों टुकड़े िमलकर बने “काले बादल” फुतीर् से भागते हुए, गरजते हुए, पानी से लबालब खूब जमकर बरसते हैं और प्यासी धरती को एक लम्बे समय के िलए तृप्त कर देते हैं। . . . पर पृथ्वी पर रहने वालों को न जाने क्यों तृिप्त के बाद आसमान में िसफर् सफ़ेद बादल देखना ही अच्छा लगता ह ै और अनंत आसमान के कोने कोने में िफर से सफ़ेद बादल छा जाता ह ै काला बादल न जाने कहाँ छुपा िदया जाता ह ै जब मैं आसमान में उस काले बादल को खोजने की कोिशश करता हँू तो सफ़ेद बादलों की आँख-िमचोली में मुझे ख़ोट सा लगता ह ै िफर मुझे पूरा आसमान पृथ्वी का ही “प्रितिबम्ब” सा लगता ह।ै ------------------------------------------------------------ below is the english transla>on: 1 "प्रितिबम्ब" पैनी दृिष्ट से देखो या आँखें फाड़कर िफर भी आसमान में िसफर् दो ही तरह के बादल िदखाई देते हैं एक: हाथी की तरह िवशालकाय लेिकन टुकड़ों में बँटे आसमान के कोने में दुबके हुए से, िछतर ेहुए से काले बादल दूसर:े शेर, बत्तख, चूह,े िचिड़या, गाए और बंदर जैसी आकृित वाले रुई जैसे मुलायम, पूर ेआसमान में फैले हुए सफ़ेद बादल ! ......पृथ्वी पर जब भी हाहाकार मचती ह ै तो सफ़ेद बादल हवा से घबराकर कहीं दूर भाग जातें हैं पर एन मौके पर, हजारों टुकड़े िमलकर बने “काले बादल” फुतीर् से भागते हुए, गरजते हुए, पानी से लबालब खूब जमकर बरसते हैं और प्यासी धरती को एक लम्बे समय के िलए तृप्त कर देते हैं। . . . पर पृथ्वी पर रहने वालों को न जाने क्यों तृिप्त के बाद आसमान में िसफर् सफ़ेद बादल देखना ही अच्छा लगता ह ै और अनंत आसमान के कोने कोने में िफर से सफ़ेद बादल छा जाता ह ै काला बादल न जाने कहाँ छुपा िदया जाता ह ै जब मैं आसमान में उस काले बादल को खोजने की कोिशश करता हँू तो सफ़ेद बादलों की आँख-िमचोली में मुझे ख़ोट सा लगता ह ै िफर मुझे पूरा आसमान पृथ्वी का ही “प्रितिबम्ब” सा लगता ह।ै ------------------------------------------------------------ below is the english transla>on: 1 gaurav j. pathania1 380 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 “reflection” you may see with piercing eyes or give a cursory look that spread of sky holds two types of clouds ones are huge elephant-like, fragmented framed in corners obscure others are small acquiring myriad shapes sparrows, rabbits, cows and ducks cottony-soft in sheety-space when the earth cries and clamours white clouds shake and shatter. while the black ones drench the ground with satiating showers as the earth settles after the quenched thirst the white clouds gather their privileged feathers the black clouds hide in their invisible hyde up they see and say how beautiful the sky is laid with cosmetic decoratives no one sees those who dared to deliver who volunteered to do how come they remain unappreciated and their authentic acts go unnoticed? 2 “reflection” you may see with piercing eyes or give a cursory look that spread of sky holds two types of clouds ones are huge elephant-like, fragmented framed in corners obscure others are small acquiring myriad shapes sparrows, rabbits, cows and ducks cottony-soft in sheety-space when the earth cries and clamours white clouds shake and shatter. while the black ones drench the ground with satiating showers as the earth settles after the quenched thirst the white clouds gather their privileged feathers the black clouds hide in their invisible hyde up they see and say how beautiful the sky is laid with cosmetic decoratives no one sees those who dared to deliver who volunteered to do how come they remain unappreciated and their authentic acts go unnoticed? 2 translation: the poem was originally written in hindi in 2003. the author is grateful to dr. meenu bhaskar, and dr. kalyani k. (jnu) for the english translation. brandeis.edu/j-caste 228 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 unwittingly imbibed the concept’s ‘secularized christian’ ethos. he introduced the notion of political society, a conceptual category distinct from the attenuated civil society, to capture the drama of subaltern or non-elite politics that thrived beyond the sterilized associations of india’s elites. suryakant waghmore, in civility against caste, upends this distinction. waghmore terms the dilution of civil society ‘absolutist’ (p.7) – an essentialist reading of the concept that does not pay heed to the process through which it was formed in colonial india. the author argues that caste played a seminal role in the making of civil society and the anti-caste and anti-brahmin movements thrived in this domain too. to cordon off civil society from political society and offset its relevance would be akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. as he says, caste engenders inequality ‘but is also a resource to mobilize against inequality’ (p.21). that mobilization happens in civil society. waghmore illustrates its germaneness to the lives and politics of one of the most economically marginalized and socially stigmatized groups, dalits, in a non-metropolitan setting: villages in the beed district of maharashtra. according to waghmore, civil society is the domain in which dalits of beed form solidarities with each other and other marginalized groups and contest the dominance of the upper castes. in fact, civil society, with its moral expectations of civility, holds the dominant castes and the state responsible for instances of incivility, which includes routine violence against dalitsand their humiliation. by deploying the concept of civil society, waghmore underlines the aspirations for respect and tolerance among dalits of beed and their desire for equal rights of citizenship enshrined within india’s constitution. thus, waghmore and chatterjee’s works leave us with two distinct understandings of the term civil society. for chatterjee, civil society is not hegemonic precisely because the subalterns are/were outside this domain. for waghmore, civil society as it existed in beed, was hegemonic and dominated by the maratha castes. dalits in the region engaged with civil society, reactivated its expectations of civility, and sought to transform it. waghmore highlights the role of a political party – bahujan samaj party (bsp)and a non-profit organization, manavi hakk abhiyaan (mha) or (human rights campaign) in mobilizing beed’s dalits (particularly those belonging, but not restricted, to the mang caste) and engaging with and countering elite dominance. the book is based on field work and interviews conducted in the region during 2008-09. the chapters of the book lay out the process of the engagement. in the introduction and chapter one waghmore lays the conceptual framework and thesis: civil society as it existed (and still exists) in india was/is inflected by caste and its attendant inequities. however, dalit politics views this space as critical to its ‘political freedom and self-realisation which can reform, politicise, and civilise caste relations. ‘they, therefore, work within it. chapter two elucidates the context in which dalit politics operates in beed. the decline of the earlier vehicles of dalit politics in the region – the republican party of india and the radical dalit panther movement, created the space for the rise of the bsp and the ngo which works at the grassroots and is networked with transnational human rights organizations. thus, mha vernacularizes the discourse of human rights book review 229 (p.115). waghmore imagines the relationship between the local and global ngos to be ‘dialectical’ (p.29). chapter three reveals the economic transformations in the region particularly among dalits. they work as labourers in sugarcane fields and industries which provided them with income. dalits, leveraged their changing economic status to renegotiate their social and political status in the rural public sphere (p.63). this incited more violence against them which they countered by demanding justice and invoking laws designed to protect them. dalit mobilization is not just about the recognition of their dignity, but they also made substantive claims to land redistribution. with the help of mha they claimed rights to the cultivation of gairaan (common village lands designated for grazing cattle). chapter four sheds light on the politics of the demands dalits make on the state; the local and transnational ngos play an important role here. chapter five focuses on the cultural repertoires devised by bsp to form a viable electoral front in beed. the bsp envisioned itself as a multi-ethnic party of the lower castes and was open to forming alliances with other religious and caste groups. it emphasized its commitment to the indian constitution and invoked the cultural traditions of protests by saints of the bahujan (majority of the lower castes) castes to cement this alliance (p.119). dr. b.r. ambedkar was projected as an important icon of the political community of bahujans. chapter six charts the political effects of the bahujan imaginary. one important outcome was the dilution of rivalries among dalit castes particularly the mangs and mahars. the latter had hitherto dominated dalit politics. mangs, through the mha and the bsp and leaders like eknath awad, engaged with intellectual and cultural legacies of older dalit politics, particularly the ideas of jotirao phule, and ambedkar, and the latter’s conversion to buddhism. this facilitated solidarity among mangs and mahars. these alliances were formed and dissipated in the heat of electoral politics. this theatre of politics during the 2009 elections is the focus of chapter seven. the bsp contested the elections but mha did not support it and instead aligned with a political formation of the dominant maratha caste, the nationalist congress party. this chapter provides a fascinating account of political calculations and decisions made by individuals and parties. chapter eight, the final chapter of the book, reiterates the case for dalit aspiration for civility and civil society. waghmore’s book makes many riveting theoretical and empirical interventions. for instance, theoretically, waghmore’s case for the resonance of civility and civil society in dalit politics helps us reimagine the transformative power of these concepts. when the categories are untethered from their european origins and the attendant charge of euro-centrism, we can pay attention to their translation and vernacularization in unfamiliar contexts and appreciate their relevance for dalit lives. similarly, waghmore’s attention to rural settings in beed and marathwada and the politics there provides a welcome addition to literature on this woefully understudied region. however, waghmore’s consideration of caste as the bane and the balm of dalit lives make one wonder about his stance on ambedkar’s forceful demand for the annihilation of caste. ambedkar is the icon of the dalit movements in beed and invoked frequently in actions for substantial transformations there, but his radical desire for an end to caste is edited out of the picture. similarly, waghmore’s depiction 230 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 of dalit movements as vehicles for social and economic change, but not for revolution, perhaps attenuates the horizon of dalit politics. however, these are minor quibbles about an otherwise excellent book. political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, historians, and scholars of agrarian studies and development studies will benefit tremendously from engaging with it. the compelling account of the intersection of policy making and politics will also be of great interest to policy makers, graduate students, and readers interested in the dynamics of caste in south asia. reference kaviraj, sudipta and khilnani, sunil. (2002). civil society: history and possibilities. new delhi: cambridge university press. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 31–50 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.199 © 2020 thomas crowley. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste leisure, festival, revolution: ambedkarite productions of space thomas crowley1 abstract this article analyzes the town of mahad in the state of maharashtra, using it as a lens to examine protests and commemorations that are inseparable from ambedkarite and neo-buddhist transformations of space. a key site of anti-caste struggle, mahad witnessed two major protests led by dr. b.r. ambedkar in 1927: the claiming of water from chavdar tale, a tank located in a upper caste neighbourhood; and the burning of the manusmriti. these events are commemorated every year with large-scale festivities. the article analyzes the ways that these protests and festivities have worked to produce a distinctly ambedkarite space, one that is radically counterposed to hierarchical, brahminical productions of space. exploring the writings of ambedkar and more recent ambedkarite scholars, and putting these texts into dialogue with the spatial theories of henri lefebvre, the article contributes to a growing international literature on the spatiality of caste. the navayana buddhism pioneered by ambedkar has been analyzed in terms of its ideology, its pragmatism, and its politics, but rarely in terms of its spatiality. drawing on lefebvre helps flesh out this spatial analysis while a serious engagement with neo-buddhist practices helps to expand, critique and globalize some of lefebvre’s key claims. keywords ambedkar, lefebvre, mahad, neo-buddhism, festival, revolution introduction the market town of mahad sits on a small plateau in the foothills of the sahyadri mountains in the western indian state of maharasthra. during the monsoon, heavy 1geography department, rutgers university, lucy stone hall, 54 joyce kilmer avenue piscataway, nj 08854-8045 e-mail: thomas.crowley@rutgers.edu 32 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 rains wash down the hills and seep into the ground, recharging the ponds and tanks that were historically the main water supplies for the town but are now used primarily for leisure and recreation. the most famous of these water bodies is chavdar tale, located just north of the main market road, surrounded on all sides by upper-caste households. this site is now recognized as foundational to the modern anti-caste struggle, memorialized for the day in 1927 when dr. b.r. ambedkar and thousands of other dalits drank water from it in defiance of caste strictures. every year on march 20, thousands of visitors – or perhaps more accurately, pilgrims (cf. zelliot, 2011) – descend on mahad to commemorate that transformative day. this article is an exploration of chavdar tale’s shifting political and affective geographies, and of the complex links between geography and religion. in the ambedkarite calendar, march 20 is known as kranti din –the day of revolution. as soumyabratta choudhury (2018) has argued, the mahad satyagraha, with its emphasis on the equality of all humans, was a revolutionary event of global importance that placed ambedkar in a line of radical egalitarian thinkers spanning from ancient greece to the present day. and yet today, the space around chavdar tale seems most notable for its everydayness, its ordinary use by people of all castes in what remains a caste hindu-dominated neighbourhood. is chavdar tale still, then, revolutionary? or have such spaces become commercialized, commoditized, and sanitized, as some critics have argued? (cf. rege, 2008). the article approaches these questions by turning to the speeches and writings of ambedkar and more recent ambedkarite scholars, and putting these texts into dialogue with the spatial theories of the french marxist philosopher henri lefebvre. a prolific author, who produced pioneering analyses of a wide range of contemporary processes, from capitalism’s colonization of everyday life (lefebvre, 2014), to the increasing centrality of urbanization (lefebvre, 2003b), lefebvre has been particularly influential in elaborating a critical analysis of space and its role in both reproducing and contesting social hierarchies. in his book the production of space (1991) and other works, lefebvre theorizes space not as a passive backdrop to historical events but as an actively-produced, hotly-contested, contradiction-riven realm of thought, praxis, and everyday experience. such theorizations resonate with the small but growing body of literature on the spatiality of caste (rege, 2008; guru, 2012; chairez-garza, 2014; lee, 2017; gorringe, 2018). this literature has sought to recover neglected spatial elements of ambedkarite thought and practice, and to explore how the spaces of caste can be theorized in a more explicit way. for instance, sharmila rege (2008, p. 17) notes: space and spatial strategies of appropriation, deployment and control have been of crucial significance in maintaining hierarchical relations of caste. the ambedkarite movement has contested this through claiming the right to public water resources, temples, and educational centres by dropping negative rights to spaces such as ‘watan’ and denouncing the ‘space’ within hinduism. several theorists of caste have been drawn to lefebvre (1991) because his ideas help conceptualize how ‘every society… produces a space, its own space’ (p. 31); further, in hierarchical societies, the production of space inevitably involves the creation of centers and peripheries – evidenced, in the indian context, by the literal spatial marginality of dalit bastis or colonies, typically situated outside village limits or on marginal urban land. leisure, festival, revolution: ambedkarite productions of space 33 guru (2012), for instance, appreciates lefebvre’s argument that space is often actively produced with the goal of ‘controlling people in finite, enclosed and divided sites’ (p. 78). along similar lines, lee (2017) invokes lefebvre’s argument that ideologies are ineffective unless they are inscribed in particular spaces, through particular spatial practices (p. 470), while gorringe (2018) draws on similar passages in lefebvre to suggest that such dominant ideologies are also resisted through spatial practices. these invocations of lefebvre have, for the most part, remained fairly general, relying on his broad arguments about the importance of space for the (always contested) reproduction of social relations. in contributing to this emerging conversation, i am particularly interested in lefebvre’s specific reflections on leisure and the revolutionary potential of the festival. while lefebvre’s writings on these themes may illuminate particular aspects of mahad’s history and its present, i suggest that the unfolding events in mahad also enable us to question some of lefebvre’s more linear and teleological assumptions and to thus expand his theories in important ways. specifically, ambedkarite spaces, when codified as sacred, complicate lefebvre’s suggestions about the withering away of religious space, while opening up new possibilities for transformative politics. in the following sections, i begin with the mahad satyagraha of 1927, exploring why it is accorded such significance in the ambedkarite tradition, how it resonates with previous revolutionary events, and what a lefebvrian perspective might contribute to our analysis. i then turn to more recent history, including the use of chavdar tale for everyday leisure and for more spectacular bi-annual events, which both support and subvert lefebvre’s theorizations and expectations regarding the evolution of spatial politics. finally, i reflect on what it might take for the festive nature of the space to more fully fulfill its role as a site of revolution. an anti-caste revolution? in the production of space, lefebvre (1991) offers several suggestive remarks about the creation of centers and peripheries, which have great salience for the analysis of mahad. lefebvre argues that ‘each period, each mode of production, each particular society has engendered (produced) its own centrality’; however, within particular societies or even particular urban spaces, ‘centrality is movable’ (p. 332). further, centers are not produced ex nihilo but are built upon previous complexly-intertwined inscriptions upon space. lefebvre famously compares space to a flaky pastry, in which ‘social spaces interpenetrate one another and/or superimpose themselves upon one another’ (p. 86). certainly, mahad – in 1927, and in the present day – is a particularly concentrated point of intertwined social spaces. for centuries before the satyagraha, mahad was an urban centre in its own right, as a market town for its surrounding hinterland and (until recently) as a port on the savitri river, connecting the interiors of maharashtra to the arabian sea. but in the beginning of nineteenth century, mahad was increasingly pulled into the orbit of the expanding, industrializing city of bombay (now mumbai). mahad emerged as a revolutionary hub in the 1920s because of such larger relations. as gail omvedt (1994) has asserted, bombay presidency was the ‘most industrialized and the most politically and sociologically vigorous of provinces of british india’ (p. 139). in the presidency, the ‘vigorous village economy linked to a 34 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 turbulent industrial metropolis was a unique configuration… such linkages provided the main social foundation for the broad democratic movements of maharashtra’ (p. 141). flows of migrants to bombay from mahad and surrounding areas led to an exchange, not just of money and jobs, but also of activism, revolutionary ideas, and strategies for political organization. the konkan region surrounding mahad had a history of anti-caste activism before the satyagraha, in part due to the presence of dalits who had served in the british military and thus, had accessed some degree of social mobility (cf. omvedt, 2011, p. 7). several anti-caste leaders from this region organized the march 1927 event and convinced ambedkar (whose ancestral village was in the konkan, and who by then was based in bombay) to preside. initially, the organizers of this programme were not planning for revolutionary action. their aims were more modest: to convene a meeting of activists and politically conscious dalits in kolaba district (present-day raigad district). organizers were energized by the turnout – around three thousand people came from around the district – and, on the penultimate night of the conference, they began discussing the possibility of drinking from chavdar tale as a way to end the event on assertive note. conference attendees found out about this plan only as the final speeches were ending, and one of ambedkar’s main allies proposed that the assembled crowd march to chavdar tale and drink its water. as ambedkar (1989, p. 249-250) himself narrates: the hindus who had exhorted them to be bold and begin fearlessly to exercise their rights, instantly realized that this was a bombshell and immediately ran away. but the effect upon the untouchables was very different. they were electrified by this call to arms. to a man they rose and the body of 2,500 untouchables led by me and my co-workers marched in a procession through the main streets. the news spread like wild fire while crowds thronged the streets. after marching through the central streets of mahad, ambedkar and thousands of others drank water from chavdar tale. the organizers then returned to their guest house and the conference participants begin to arrange for their journeys back home. during this lull, a priest from a nearby hindu temple started spreading rumors that the conference attendees were going to try to enter the temple. a group of upper-caste men gathered and began beating up the conference attendees with sticks. twenty were seriously injured, and dozens more were wounded. only the intervention of ambedkar, with grudging help from local law enforcement, brought the violence to an end. the success of the initial action was thus clouded by the violence that followed. ambedkar returned to bombay and began to consider next steps. after consulting with other anti-caste leaders, he decided to launch a satyagraha demanding that ‘untouchables’ have the right to drink from chavdar tale (which by this time should have been their legal right, given a resolution in the bombay assembly opening publicly-funded infrastructure to all individuals). the satyagraha culminated in a december gathering in mahad, attended by roughly ten thousand people. by this point, ambedkar had recognized the potentially revolutionary significance of the event, and began to ascribe more importance to the march conference and the continuing fight to drink water from chavdar tale. in a speech on december 25, ambedkar compared the mahadsatyagraha to the french revolution, and specifically to the formation of the national assembly in june 1789. ambedkar argued that, just as that assembly dissolved the system of three hierarchical leisure, festival, revolution: ambedkarite productions of space 35 ‘estates’ in france, the mahad satyagraha sought no less than dissolving india’s hierarchies, in the form of the varnashrama system (teltumbde, 2016, p. 207-8). following this speech, ambedkar joined some of his supporters in burning pages from the manusmriti. this was more than just a book burning; the group staged an exuberant mock cremation for the legal text, with ‘untouchable’ priests and holy men brought on stage to perform funeral rites for the regressive tome. specifically, ambedkar and his co-organizers read out and burned the parts of the text that related to the social exclusion of women and lower-caste groups, and the violent punishments prescribed for those who transgress orthodox bounds of caste and sex. but the satyagraha had a somewhat anti-climactic end. after intervention by the courts and imperial administration, ambedkar and his colleagues decided to call off the planned march to chavdar tale, and instead to pursue the case through the legal system. the case dragged along for much of the next decade, eventually making its way to the bombay high court. after many appeals and delays, it was finally decided in ambedkar’s favour in march 1937. however, by this time, ambedkar had already become disillusioned with the case. a year and half earlier, on october 12, 1935, he had suggested that it was time to end to the mahad satyagraha, as well as the ongoing kalaram satyagraha for temple entry, since they had failed to budge caste-hindu public opinion (cf omvedt, 2004/2013, p. 106). the very next day, he gave his famous speech at yeola, arguing that the only real option for dalits was conversion, declaring ‘i will not die a hindu’. the resolution passed at the yeola conference emphasizes the connection between the intransigence of caste hindus, the decision to end the ‘satyagraha at the kalaram temple in nasik and at chowdar tank in mahad’ and the conclusion that dalits should make their ‘own society independent of the so-called touchable class’ (zelliot, 2004, p. 149-150). revolutionary antecedents of mahad given the way that the protest petered out, scholars like anand teltumbde (2016) have questioned how apt it is to compare it to the national-scale (not to mention successful) french revolution. teltumbde’s larger critique is useful for situating the limits of the mahad satyagraha, but it is also possible to read ambedkar’s speech less literally. in his speech, ambedkar invoked the french revolution in a particularly rhetorical way – to emphasize the norms of liberty, equality, and fraternity – rather than making a detailed or literal comparison to the historical events of europe in the late eighteenth century. this is not to say, however, that historical comparisons of revolutionary events are not fruitful. especially if one is attentive to the different conjunctures in which they occur, a comparison of such events has the potential of illuminating important elements of their unfolding, their successes, their failures, and their legacies. again, lefebvre provides one potential lens for doing so, given his attention to the spatiality of revolutions. specifically, lefebvre’s in-depth analysis of the paris commune of 1871 provides fertile grounds for ‘relational comparison’ (cf. hart, 2016) with the mahad satyagraha. the commune, a radically egalitarian body that governed france’s capital for less than two months before being brutally repressed, has been a touchstone for theorists and practitioners of radical democracy, socialism and anarchism, from those alive at the time, including marx and kropotkin, to later theorists like 36 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 lefebvre. strikingly, some participants in the commune, notably the socialist leader benoît malon, saw themselves as part of a global struggle for freedom that included events like the 1857 indian uprising against british rule (cf. ross, 2015, p. 33). continuing this global conversation, we can understand both paris in 1871 and mahad in 1927 as urban revolutions. both strove to reconfigure the sedimented hierarchies of urban spaces as part of larger revolutionary projects. in his analysis of the paris commune, lefebvre brings particular attention to the way in which the communards made claims to centrality – not just politically, but spatially. lefebvre later theorized such claims under the guise of the ‘right to the city.’ as he wrote, ‘the right to the city is thus the right to be—to be an integral part of the city… the right to the city is a right to produce that centrality—the right not to be marginal’ (mitchell & villanueva, 2010, p. 671; emphasis lefebvre’s). for lefebvre, the paris commune must be situated in the urban context of second empire france, when baron haussman demolished centrally-located working-class neighbourhoods in order to make way for his famous boulevards and other urban renewal projects. lefebvre sees the paris commune as a strategy of the expelled working classes, who take advantage of the political chaos of the franco-prussian wars to return to the parisian city centre, and enact a radical, creative expansion of their claims to spatial and political centrality. seen in this framework, dalits drinking from chavdar tale can be seen, not as a return to centrality, but something perhaps even more radical: a bold new claim to centrality, defying a caste system that had relegated ‘untouchables’ to the literal and symbolic margins for more than a millennium. in an article reflecting on the mahad experience, ambedkar (1989, p. 248) highlights the centrality of chavdar tale, noting: mahad is a business centre… the untouchables either for purposes of doing their shopping and also for the purpose of their duty as village servants had to come to mahad… the chawdar tank was the only public tank from which an outsider could get water. the right to drink water (both symbolically and literally central to human existence) is thus connected to the ability to access water in a central business location; this gives a particular spatial resonance to ambedkar’s well-known claim that the mahad satyagraha’s purpose was ‘to establish that we are also human beings like others’(teltumbde, 2016, p. 207). though dalits’ claim to centrality in mahad in march 1927 was even shorter-lived than the paris commune, it is also rightly looked up on as a radical break from the past, in part because of its spatial boldness – as ambedkar noted, even the savarnas (socalled ‘upper’ castes) who initially supported the march programme ran away when they heard about the radical direct action being planned. lefebvre’s reflections on the spirit of the paris commune could just as easily describe the impromptu decision to drink from chavdar tale, and the electrifying effect it had on the assembled crowd: it showed ‘a basic will to change the world and life as it is, and things as they are, a spontaneity conveying the highest thought, a total revolutionary project’ (lefebvre, 2003a, p. 189). if we include the december 25, 1927 burning of the manusmriti as part of a longer wave of activism in mahad, then even more parallels emerge between mahad in 1927 and paris in 1871. in both cases, the destruction of symbols of the old was seen as a key act in laying the ground for the new. the communards targeted several structures built by haussman, including the prefecture of police. as cultural critic gavin leisure, festival, revolution: ambedkarite productions of space 37 grindon notes, lefebvre does not see the ‘destructive’ acts of the paris commune as merely vandalism. rather, ‘against haussmann’s urbanism, [lefebvre] recalls [this destruction] as a positive creative act, the necessary first stage of revolutionary urbanism’(grindon, 2013, p. 215). in a similar way, the burning of the manusmriti was both subversive and creative, a light-hearted, mocking critique of caste law, and an invitation to create new ways of living. in both cases, too, there is an intertwined critique of religion and gender, or rather the way that particular religious doctrines are employed in the service of patriarchal practices. kristin ross (2015) has emphasized both the anti-clerical flavour of the paris commune and its liberatory gender politics – one of the first steps of the commune was to establish a women’s union. similarly, burning the manusmriti was a skewering of caste’s religious justifications, as well as its gender hierarchies. even today, some ambedkarite women’s organizations celebrate december 25 as mahila mukti diwas (women’s liberation day). as both historical events show, spatial politics are inextricably entwined with ideologies of both religion and gender, and all of these threads must be followed in tracing the potential implication of liberatory movements. the immediate result of both these events, however, was not liberation, but violent repression – the savarna attack on dalits, and the much larger bloodshed of the paris commune in which the french army brutally killed thousands of communards. the different scales of the violence also reflect the different scales of the events and the spatial configurations that underlay both their emergence and their repression. the paris commune was only possible because of the power vacuum caused by the franco-prussian war. and once the commune formed, it existed in a more or less constant state of siege. it was a centralized urban space cut off from an indifferent or even hostile countryside, with the french state consciously closing off all points of communication between town and country. this spatial vulnerability – alongside the perceived threat of the commune on a continent-wide scale – led to its brutal extermination, as the prussian state released french prisoners of war for the express purpose of crushing the commune (cf. marx, 1933). the geography of dalit struggle, on the other hand, was much more variegated, as dalits faced oppressive social and spacial structures in villages, small towns and big cities alike. despite the later centrality of bombay to dalit activism, anti-caste organizing was not confined to the metropolis. early twentieth century activism, often led by military pensioners, took place mostly in villages and smaller towns, including mahad; the 1927 mahad satyagraha was something of a turning point, since much of its organizational energy came from bombay. in short, the movement had both allies and enemies at multiple scales. negotiation between these scales allowed events like the mahad satyagraha to emerge, but the saturation of caste hierarchies at multiple scales also provoked violent backlash to the satyagraha – not just at the event itself, but with the threat of savarna economic boycotts when the dalit protesters returned to their places of residence, including potential seizure of their lands (cf. rao, 2009, p. 79). the violence of savarna reaction led ambedkar to term it a ‘religious war’ (rao, 2009, p. 84). but, to use gramscian terms, this was more a war of position (made up of many small, ‘molecular’aggressions and assertions, dispersed over multiple spaces and times) than the concerted war of manoeuvre that ended the paris commune (cf. gramsci, 1971, p. 110). 38 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 events and aftermaths ambedkar’s 1935 decision to end the satyagraha and advocate conversion suggests a certain disillusionment with the struggle of mahad, spurred by his recognition of the intransigence of savarna socio-spatial claims to superiority. the commune’s bloody end too suggests the brutal intransigence of the european bourgeoisie. arguably, capitalism, casteism, and patriarchy have only become more entrenched since the repression of these two moments of revolutionary festivity. what then happens after the ‘failure’ of a movement? or rather, what does it mean to see the aftermath of these events as more than just a failure? here, i am inspired by kristin ross’ (2015) reflections on the afterlives of the paris commune, or what she terms ‘not the memory of the event or its legacy… but its prolongation, every bit as vital to the event’s logic’(p. 6). how has the mahad satyagraha been prolonged? one could argue that the initial announcement of conversion – and ambedkar’s decades-long search for an appropriate conversion strategy – emerged in part out of his reflections on mahad and the reaction the satyagraha provoked. further, in the mahad protests, one can detect the seeds of arguments ambedkar would make in later works, particularly in his famous undelivered speech, annihilation of caste. in this work, ambedkar draws his argument to a close by making a distinction between religions based on principle and religions based on rule. referencing the vedas and the smritis (with manusmriti not named, but clearly implicated in the latter category), ambedkar (1979a) states, ‘what is called religion by the hindus is nothing but a multitude of commands and prohibitions. religion, in the sense of spiritual principles, truly universal… is not to be found in them.’ he continues: ‘to put it in plain language, what the hindus call religion is really law or at best legalized classethics. frankly, i refuse to call this code of ordinances, as religion’ (p. 75). ambedkar’s earlier burning of the manusmriti is a foreshadowing of this argument. as a practical enactment of his rejection of religion-as-rule, ambedkar’s mockcremation ceremony for the text highlights the gendered injustices of religious law – a theme that extends back to ambedkar’s (1979b) earliest writings on caste, which emphasize how caste endogamy is maintained by controlling women’s sexuality. the protest also underlined the explicit and implicit ways that legal orders buttress casteist productions of space. it is notable that ambedkar wrote annihilation of caste in 1936, just a year after calling off the mahad satyagraha and calling for conversion, and months before the mahad case was finally decided by the bombay high court. following this case in court over the course of a decade, ambedkar would have witnessed the strategy of his savarna opponents, who claimed that chavdar tale was akin to private property because it abutted a temple, and hence was the domain of the upper castes. as rao (2009) notes, ‘the distinction between, and the conflation of, sacred and civic space was creatively mobilized by caste hindu plaintiffs’(p. 84). it is clear, then, that ambedkar’s fight against religion-as-rule does not apply only to texts like the manusmriti, but to his contemporaries’ attempts to meld savarna religious sensibilities and british-style property law. thus ambedkar’s reflections on the continuing struggle in mahad likely informed his arguments in annihilation of caste and his calls for conversion out of hinduism, which finally culminated in his conversion to buddhism in 1956, months before his death. the reverberations of this action carry into the present day, and have shaped the continuing political and religious significance of chavdar tale. leisure, festival, revolution: ambedkarite productions of space 39 commemorating kranti din in one of her last publications, capping a career of pioneering scholarship on the ambedkarite movement, eleanor zelliot (2011) draws our attention to the ambedkarite pilgrimage circuit that emerged in the decades after ambedkar’s death. zelliot emphasizes the importance of mass gatherings with fixed dates over the course of the calendar year, as a way of commemorating, renewing, and strengthening the ambedkarite movement. while zelliot focuses on three pilgrimage sites, rege (2008) gives a fuller accounting, listing ‘december 6 at chaitya bhoomi in mumbai, october 14 at diksha bhoomi in nagpur, january 1, at kranti stambh in bhima koregaon, and march 20 and december 25 in mahad’(p. 16). the title of zelliot’s article, ‘connected people,’ is a nod to anne feldhaus’ book connected places: region, pilgrimage and geographical imagination in india (2003), which traces the sacred geographies of various hindu pilgrimages in maharashtra. zelliot’s title implies that the ambedkarite movement is creating an alternative geography, one that crucially inscribes neo-buddhist symbols and activities on the broader landscape. zelliot suggests that the gatherings at nagpur are the largest – the one commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of ambedkar’s conversion to buddhism drew roughly one million people – but all the gatherings have neo-buddhist overtones, with monks and nuns singing pali chants, and a wide availability of buddhist literature. while some scholars (cf. teltumbde, 2018) have questioned the focus on ambedkar icons and religious symbolism at the expense of more material issues, others have argued that the symbolic is not necessarily divorced from the material, and that particular ambedkarite symbols are also part of larger spatial struggles. as gorringe (2018) asserts, ‘the icon of ambedkar is open to various uses and interpretations. it is neither inherently radical nor necessarily an empty symbol. its import, in sum, rests on the meanings that it is made to bear and how it is presented’(p. 337). gorringe’s conclusion resonates with the findings of other scholars (for instance, tartakov, 1990; jaoul, 2006; and jain, 2014), all of whom underscore the important spatial politics of ambedkarite iconography; jain (2014) particularly emphasizes the materiality of ambedkarite statuary and monuments in a way that troubles an easy symbolicmaterial divide. certainly, the danger of appropriating ambedkar should not be brushed aside, especially given the current push by right-wing nationalist forces to use ambedkar to back a project which ambedkar himself vehemently opposed: hindu raj. but an analysis of the continuing salience of mahad can suggest the tensions and ambiguities in the popularity of ambedkarite symbols and spaces. there were small commemorative gatherings in mahad even during ambedkar’s lifetime, but large-scale annual celebrations of the mahad satyagraha began in earnest on the event’s fiftieth anniversary, march 1977. as teltumbde (2018) argues, it was around this time that prakash ambedkar emerged as a figure who challenged the political establishment. the powerful sugar baron sharad pawar – soon to become chief minister of maharashtra – began to prop up ramdas athawale as a way to divide the dalit movement and channel ambedkarite energies in a less threatening direction. athawale began to take a major role in organizing the yearly celebrations in mahad, and sharad pawar’s government helped to fund a major renovation of chavdar tale, which included draining part of the tank to make room for a park and a function hall. 40 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 this space, however, has a life of its own, which has developed over the years, and which cannot be reduced to pawar’s calculating intentions. the park around chavdar tale is a bustling place that combines aspects of leisure, sociality, and the sacred. lovers amble around the park’s lawn. kids run around shrieking while their parents follow behind them at a leisurely pace. groups of old men sit huddled together. teenagers pose with each other and take selfies. but in this everyday space, the marks of ambedkar and of neo-buddhism are clearly visible. at one of the main entrances, there is a decorative gateway that bears a remarkable resemblance to the gate at the ancient buddhist stupa in sanchi – a design also replicated in the neo-buddhist dikshabhoomi in nagpur. the gateway is adorned with elephants and topped with an ashoka chakra (figure 1). at the end of the park is an entrance to a walkway that leads to the centre of the pond. here, on a diamondshaped platform, is a statue of dr. b.r. ambedkar in his signature suit and tie (figure 2). visitors must take off their shoes when entering the walkway, as if entering a temple, while the park’s watchman keeps a careful eye on those who come and go. figure 1: stupa-like gate at the entrance to the chavdar tale park given the centrality of leisure in present-day uses of the chavdar tale park, it may be useful here to turn to lefebvre’s reflections on leisure. just as teltumbde warns of the dangers of appropriating ambedkar, lefebvre highlights the dangers of leisure as a means of co-option. he understands ‘the case against leisure’ well; that ‘leisure is as alienated and alienating as labour; as much an agent of co-optation as it is itself co-opted; and both an assimilative and an assimilated part of the ‘system’ (lefebvre, 1991, p. 383). that is, the ‘system’ allows us leisure so that we can return to work and serve the system better, refreshed. but lefebvre does not stop on this pessimistic note. for him, the space of leisure ‘ is the very epitome of contradictory space’ (p. 385). leisure, festival, revolution: ambedkarite productions of space 41 no matter how planned it is, it allows the body – disciplined by the division of labour and the monotony of the work routine – to reassert itself. hence, concludes lefebvre (ibid p.385): figure 2: ambedkar looms over visitors to chavdar tale the space of leisure tends – but it is no more than a tendency, a tension, a transgression of ‘users’ in search of a way forward – to surmount divisions: the division between social and mental, the division between sensory and intellectual, and also the division between the everyday and the out-of-the-ordinary (festival). 42 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 this provocative conclusion can be connected in several ways to the park abutting chavdar tale. especially if one includes the adjoining function hall as part of the leisure area, the space certainly bridges the divides lefebvre mentions – as kids run around the park, and lovers sit close together on the benches, activists meet inside the hall to plan upcoming protests and discuss the day’s news. political chatter spills out of the hall too, animating the conversations of the older men lounging and smoking bidis. the space, with its strong ambedkarite presence, bridges other divides as well, most notably caste divides. though explicit residential segregation has lessened to some extent in mahad, it still – like most indian towns – bears strong traces of its casteist residential history, with upper castes more likely to live near the center of town, and hence to chavdar tale. the park, with its buddhist gateway and ambedkar statue, is clearly marked as a space that is friendly to dalits, and many of the park regulars are fixtures from ambedkarite political parties and social groups. but it is not an exclusively dalit park – townspeople from across castes make use of its green space, helping to bridge longstanding social and spatial divisions. perhaps lefebvre’s most suggestive argument, though, is that the space of leisure can help undermine ‘the division between the everyday and the… festival.’ he seems to be referring to the festive nature of leisure spaces, and the way that they can – at least for a time – overturn the hierarchies and rigidities that rule our life. in the case of chavdar tale, though, the connection between the mundane and the spectacular is much more literal and direct: the everyday space of the park is transformed every march 20 and december 25 into a massive festival, and its connection to the attempted anti-caste revolution is renewed and reinvigorated. the ambedkarite festival, through and beyond lefebvre the festival-as-revolution is a key figure in lefebvre’s thoughts, a concept that evolved with his writings on culture, politics and space from 1924 to 1968, skillfully summarized by grindon (2013), who synthesizes many of lefebvre’s writings that are not yet available in english. lefebvre was inspired by urban uprisings like the paris commune and the studentand worker-led protests, occupations and strikes that engulfed paris and other parts of france in 1968, as well as by folk festivals like the ones he observed during his childhood in rural france. in addition to their claims of centrality, and their (temporary) overturning social hierarchies, festivals were also inspiring sites of cultural production. lefebvre fastidiously documented the folk festivals and cultural celebrations that took place during the paris commune, and included this as an appendix of his book-length study of the commune. he also distanced himself from those, on the left and right alike, who saw the communards as essentially lumpen. grindon (2013) describes this as ‘lefebvre’s valourizing recognition of social movements as having discrete cultures and values, rather than being the unruly absence of culture’(p. 215). thus lefebvre suggests that the literal claim to (spatial) centrality in ‘festivals’ like the paris commune are accompanied by cultural claims to visibility and participation. leisure, festival, revolution: ambedkarite productions of space 43 these observations about subaltern festivities find resonance in the scholarship of sharmila rege, perhaps the most attentive english-language chronicler of ambedkarite festivals. in her popular and academic writings, she has worked to overturn the complacent middle-class judgment that infused much english-language writing on ambedkarite festivities. like lefebvre, she argues that the revelers she has chronicled did not represent ‘the unruly absence of culture,’ but a defiant and welldeveloped counter-culture. as rege (2008) notes, ‘the usual middle class ‘common sense’ of the annual ambedkarite gatherings is that these events are irrational/emotional and cause civic problems related to traffic and hygiene’ (p. 16). against this, rege shows that the festivals have ‘become a mode in which critical memory and history of the dalit movement is reiterated, reinterpreted, and reindexed’(p. 16). like the paris commune, these festivals re-imagine both the practicalities of everyday life and their symbolic expression. against the common middle-class charge that these festivals have just become crassly commercial, rege suggests that the varied commerce at these events – from the selling of buddhist literature to the hawking of food and to advertising of ambedkarite music cassettes alongside raucous performances – are indicative of ‘cooperative building efforts among dalit communities’(p. 17). she is particularly sensitive to the ways in which ambedkarite counter-publics spread through innovative, playful, and widely-distributed cultural forms. in a way, this reads like an extension or confirmation of lefebvre’s (1991) assertion that we must embrace the ‘vast store of non-formal knowledge embedded in poetry, music, dance and theatre’(p. 407). however, rege’s documentation and explanation of ambedkarite cultural practices also pushes lefebvre’s theories, and suggests some of its limits. to elaborate this point, it is necessary to delve into lefebvre’s theorization of space. despite lefebvre’s (1991) sensitivity to the complex layering of space – the way, for instance, that ‘nothing disappears completely’ from social space, but ‘continues to underpin what follows’(p. 229) – his overall argument in the production of space at times slips into hegelian teleology, with history moving through the production of different spaces with an implausible dialectical neatness. he speaks of ‘the great dialectical movements that traverse the world-as-totality and help define it’ (p. 218), and these three moments are linked to broad historical developments: first, a broadly agricultural ‘moment,’ in which production is ‘still respectful of nature’ and ‘distills the sacredness of elements of it into religious… edifices’; second, an industrial moment, centred on accumulation, marked by abstractions, signs, and the sundering of space from time; and third, projected into the future, a moment of space and time, and of production and nature, reunited (p. 218). this maps onto another dialectical movement that lefebvre traces: from absolute space to abstract space, and finally (through transcending the contradictions of abstract space) to differential space. lefebvre describes absolute space in terms of the religious or the sacred, the way that ‘a part of [agro-pastoral] space is assigned a new role, and henceforth appears as transcendent, as sacred (i.e. inhabited by divine 44 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 forces), as magical and cosmic’(p. 234). such spaces often become the organic centre of emerging societies. but, lefebvre suggests that in the broad historical sweep of time such spaces are all but swallowed up by the rationalizing logic of abstract space, the space of quantity, efficiency, capital. however, like capitalism as a whole, abstract space is riven with contradictions; we have already seen lefebvre referring to spaces of leisure under capitalism as profoundly contradictory. these contradictions can give us glimpses of what lefebvre calls ‘differential space,’ which will accentuate the positive differences that abstract space seeks to paper over, while at the same time restoring ‘unity to what abstract space breaks up’(p. 52). the suggestion, then, is that absolute space is superseded by abstract space, which in turn is superseded by differential space. though, by lefebvre’s own admission, traces or layers of previous spaces remain, lefebvre’s neat account leaves little room for the re-emergence or re-valorization, for instance, of absolute (sacred) space, or potential merging of absolute and differential space. looking at the ambedkarite calendar of festivals, though, disrupts the neat linearity of lefebvre’s schema. it produces a vision of space that actually accords better with lefebvre’s more nuanced reflections on the intermingling and overlapping (the pastry-like nature) of complex social spaces. first, given the prominence of neo-buddhism in these festivities, it is difficult to argue that ‘absolute space’ withers away, and becomes a mere substratum on which other, more dynamic types of space are then built. the journey from one festivity to the other – from bhima koregaon to mahad to nagpur to mumbai and back – is a neo-buddhist pilgrimage, which can be read in lefebvrian terms as the inscription of a new kind of absolute space on a hitherto hindu-dominated landscape. this regional inscription also has concentrated nodes in places like the function hall outside chavdar tale, where, in the week leading up to the march 20 celebrations, the bhartiya baud mahasabha leads a 10-day intensive session for the propagation of navayana buddhism. here, we see something like a merging of absolute space and differential space. similarly, the monuments built around mahad, to commemorate the chavdar tale action and the burning of the manusmriti, do not fit easily into any one of lefebvre’s spatial categories. lefebvre discusses monuments in the context of older societies, which have not yet been dominated by abstract space. for lefebvre (1991), these monuments are not just tools of power, but also spatial modes of generating consensus by offering ‘each member of a society an image of that membership’ (p. 220). appealing both to the senses and to the intellect, monuments project power and wisdom in such a way that ‘the element of repression in it and the element of exaltation could scarcely be disentangled’ (p. 220). the monuments of mahad are clearly of a different type. lefebvre, in his discussion, presumes some sort of unity of the society in question, whereas the public life of mahad is marked by fractures, particularly along caste lines. further, while these monuments may be a display of power, they are clearly of power from below – of contesting a long history of monuments that consolidate caste hindu rule. in a sense, then, these monuments too bridge absolute and differential space. and though these leisure, festival, revolution: ambedkarite productions of space 45 mahad monuments are present throughout the year, they do not seem to have the more implacable solidity of traditional monuments. they are truly activated only twice a year (figure 3), and thus have an unusual circular temporality that lefebvre associates more with the body than with monuments. finally, the cultural production highlighted by scholars like rege bears some resemblance to folk cultures lauded by lefebvre, but suggests different spatialities, and perhaps more significantly, different temporalities. lefebvre’s specific invocations of folk culture are generally from the french countryside, from particular creative modes that lefebvre sees as slowly being wiped out by the abstract space and its commodified culture. the cassettes highlighted by rege, on the other hand, are transformations and reinventions of older cultural forms, and are also unabashedly commodities. as rege (2008) notes, ‘old forms of publicity like the community bhajan came to be thematically reformulated,’ (p. 17) initially in the form of ambedkari jalsa, and then in the widely-distributed cassette. these involved both the reworking of old artistic forms and the embrace of new styles (including, increasingly, electronic music) and new content (notably neo-buddhist themes). these genres continue to be transformed, as the recent proliferation of ambedkarite youtube videos suggests. fig. 3: the monument commemorating the burning of the manusmriti, abandoned for most of the year (especially during the monsoon, when the grounds often flood) return of the revolution? despite this cultural efflorescence, and the festiveness celebrated by lefebvre and rege in different ways, it is clear that a festival in itself does not necessarily usher in 46 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 a new era of revolutionary change. in fact, though the middle classes may complain about the inconvenient crowds at ambedkarite events, they have long been part of the accepted routine of the maharashtrian year. the elites might grumble about them, but they hardly think them subversive or transgressive. if the festival inevitably dissolves back into everyday life, and everyday hierarchies, does it prefigure a future it can never actually realize? lefebvre, in his own time, realized the challenges of seeing the festival as a revolution. he muses: ‘up until now, the principle of festival has stood for a divorce from life… is this life’s fate?’(grindon 2013, p. 209). he thus recognizes the need for ‘demonstrating how we may resolve the age-old conflict between the everyday and tragedy and between triviality and festival’ (ibid, p. 212). he was aware that this was no simple task. a ‘bureaucratic society of controlled consumption,’ as lefebvre (1984, p. 60) calls it, excels at appropriating, domesticating, and repurposing movements and cultural forms that originally seem transgressive. how, then, to ‘formulat[e] a revolutionary plan to… resurrect the festival and gather together culture’s scattered fragments for a transfiguration of everyday life?’ (ibid, p. 38). questioning the idea that an eternal festival will simply emerge of its own accord, lefebvre asks, ‘would it betray the revolution to… remember the questions left unresolved by the great revolutionaries: “what is the period of transition and change? what does it consist of?”’ (grindon 2013, p. 219). lefebvre clearly thinks that formulating a master plan for revolution would be counterproductive, as it would smother the very differences that a revolution-asfestival should liberate. emphasizing the importance of spatial specificity, lefebvre (1991) suggests the need for ‘a challenge to central power from the “local powers”, in the capacity for action of municipal or regional forces linked directly to the territory in question’(p. 382). invoking the gramscian language of hegemony, lefebvre notes that such strategies must take careful account of ‘the relative strength of sociopolitical forces’ in specific cases (p. 382). refusing to recommend particular ‘plans’or ‘programmes,’ lefebvre insists on following ‘the road of the “concrete,” [which] leads via active theoretical and practical negation, via counter-projects or counterplans. and hence via an active and massive intervention on the part of the “interested parties”’ (p. 419). what does all this mean for mahad? first, it means that the festivals at mahad, or on the ambedkarite circuit more generally, cannot be analyzed in isolation. they must be seen as particular moments in larger, complexly-configured and rapidly-shifting sets of social and political relations. as argued above, the initial mahad satyagraha became possible due to increased flows of people, ideas, money, and activism across the konkan and bombay in an age of rapid political and economic change. arguably, the wave of radicalism – especially in terms of the anti-caste movement – peaked in the 1930s, for a multitude of political, economic, and social reasons (cf. omvedt, 1994, p. 192). there have been other waves of dalit assertion since then; the dalit panthers in the 1970s are a striking example. however, the dalit panthers (like the republican party of india before it) splintered into countless factions. today, there are signs that a new nation-wide wave may be gathering force, from the massive protests leisure, festival, revolution: ambedkarite productions of space 47 and demands for land redistribution following anti-dalit violence in una, gujarat (teltumbde, 2017), to the rise of the bhim army in uttar pradesh (sethi, 2016), to the widespread protests triggered by the death of rohith vemula in hyderabad (epw, 2016), to the emergence of new forms of struggle regarding ambedkarite festivals in maharashtra. the latter happened most violently in the case of bhima koregaon, a celebration commemorating the defeat of the notoriously casteist peshwas at the hands of the british, with dalit support. for many years, this festival was seen as a routine part of the cultural landscape, gathering support from all political parties in the area. on january 1, 2018, however, the festival turned violent, with hindutva gangs targeting dalit participants. this led to a state-wide strike called by prakash ambedkar, who the political establishment had tried to sideline decades ago. this strike was successful, especially in mumbai, highlighting the continued radical connections between town and countryside in maharashtra. it also led to an intense state-led backlash against dalit leaders and activists. the event also had national ramifications that continue to reverberate. the day before the bhima koregaon celebrations, a group of progressive, left and dalit activists organized an event called the elgar parishad, which described the bharatiya janata party (bjp) and the broader hindu nationalist movement as the ‘new peshwas.’ the event featured speeches by those representing the new national-level dalit upsurge, including rohith vemula’s mother, the national president of the bhim army, and a major leader from the gujarat protests, jignesh mevani. the event clearly rankled the state. instead of investigating the role of hindutva leaders in fomenting the bhima koregaon violence, the state has instead used elgar parishad as a pretext to arrest many activists under draconian anti-terrorist laws. the ferocity with which the state has cracked down on participants in these events suggests their unease with a possible national-level realignment of caste politics (cf. crowley, 2018). although mahad has not become the political flashpoint that bhima koregaon has, there are still indications that it is becoming more politically charged. activists are beginning to look at the mahad satyagraha and its commemoration through a more pointedly political and confrontational lens. on march 20, 2018, a group of activists and civil societies figures commemorated the mahad satyagraha with a march which they called ‘shivrai to bhimrai,’ which traversed the route from shivaji maharaj’s seventeenth-century raigad fort to chavdar tale in mahad. in part this was a symbolic attempt to quell the tensions between marathas (who largely claim shivaji as their community figurehead) and dalits (who have a similar relationship with ambedkar). these two groups are often in conflict at the village level, in both economic and social terms. the bhima koregaon clashes largely played out along the maratha-dalit axis, with marathas rallying to the hindutva side. the organizers of the shivrai to bhimrai march were wagering that another alignment is possible. drawing on an anti-brahminical tradition that goes back to the theories and activism of jotirao phule, these activists claim that the most important social cleavage is between the upper castes and classes vs. all the rest (including both 48 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 marathas and dalits). while local-level clashes often take the form of maratha vs. dalit, this hides the dominance of brahmins and other upper-caste groups in urban areas and also in the ownership of businesses and property. the march also sought to unify the various rpi factions and dalit groups whose celebration of the mahad satyagraha has become increasingly fractured. in recent years, major ambedkarite leaders have erected separate stages for their mahad commemorations, creating a clear spatial analog of the ideological and political divisions between them. but the youth from various factions joined the shivrai to bhimrai march, and insisted it end with a programme on one stage. will such attempts at suturing a new unity, both amongst dalits and amongst nonbrahmins more broadly, be successful? it is, of course, too early to say. activists face serious challenges in dealing with the very real maratha-dalit conflicts on the ground, while also reorienting the ‘common sense’ of maharashtrians toward a different kind of caste/class analysis. further, the role of religion in this new strategy is ambiguous. its proponents clearly reject a polarizing hindutva, but at the same time, in an effort to draw maratha support, they downplay the equation of mahad with buddhism, arguably undercutting a powerful facet of new egalitarian productions of space. but perhaps the shivrai-bhimrai march can be seen as a new kind of pilgrimage, inscribing a space of non-brahmin power and symbolism that can exist alongside neo-buddhist circuits. in this new phase of dalit assertion, we can hope that, after a lull in which ambedkarite festivals appeared to be routinized and defanged, they may re-emerge with a new political charge, echoing the pattern described by lefebvre (1991): ‘sudden uprisings followed by a hiatus, by a slow building of pressure, and finally by a renewed revolutionary outburst at a higher level of consciousness and action an outburst accompanied, too, by great inventiveness and creativity’(p. 419). as lefebvre himself notes, such a pattern is far from certain. further, given the way that ambedkarite counterpublics trouble some of lefebvre’s neater dialectical progressions, we should be cautious of too easy an invocation of revolutionary transcendence. but inventiveness and creativity have surely been hallmarks of the ambedkarite movement, and they stand as 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(2017). azadi kooch: towards a new grammar of the dalit struggle. economic and political weekly 52(31), 10-11. teltumbde, a. (2018). republic of caste: thinking equality in the time of neoliberal hindutva. new delhi: navayana publishing. zelliot, e. (2004). ambedkar’s world: the making of babasaheb and the dalit movement. new delhi: navayana publishing. zelliot, e. (2011). connected people: pilgrimage in the structure of the ambedkar movement. voice of dalit, 4(1), 1-6. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 135–156 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.198 © 2020 kristina garalytė. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste dalit counterpublic and social space on indian campuses kristina garalytė1 abstract this article discusses three different university campuses in india (jawaharlal nehru university, osmania university, and the english and foreign languages university) and their political and social environments with a particular focus on dalit student activism from march to june, 2013, and from january to march, 2014 when this ethnographic research was conducted. it questions what place dalit student activism, constituting the ‘counterpublic’ (fraser, 1990; warner, 2002), occupied in these campuses; how dalit student activists interacted with other student political groups; what characteristic features the dalit student activism had on each campus. this article discusses the changing power relations in indian universities and the role of ‘social space’ (bourdieu, 2018) in negotiating social statuses. dalit student activists actively engaged in appropriating social space by installing dalit symbolic icons on the university campuses, bringing up caste issues to public attention and thus temporarily turning certain campuses into ‘political strongholds’ (jaoul, 2012) of the dalit movement. contributing to the recent scholarship on student politics in south asia this article argues for the understanding of interactive relation between campus space and student politics, showing how dalit students changed the campus space through symbolic appropriation and, conversely, how historically constituted campus spaces affected the nature of dalit student activism in each of the discussed localities. keywords dalits, student activism, counterpublic, social space, social statuses 1director and associate professor, institute of asian and transcultural studies, vilnius university, universiteto g. 5, lt-01513, vilnius, lithuania e-mail: kristinagaralyte@gmail.com, kristina.garalyte@fsf.vu.lt 136 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 introduction: dalit student activism as a counterpublic1 until the post-colonial modernity, public space in india was largely the privilege of upper castes. gorringe argued that ‘few areas in india constitute public space in any meaningful sense since space has usually been hierarchically patterned’ (2005, p. 178). untouchables through centuries were ‘isolated, excluded, and ostracized’ and ‘constituted “non-people” who were not accepted as being members of the “hindu public,” but were perceived as “outcastes” on the fringes of civilized society’ (ibid, p. 176). however, colonial and post-colonial reforms and the foundation of modern institutions began opening up accessibility of the public space to formerly marginalized groups. some dalits and other lower caste members, through the means of reservation policy, nowadays secure admission to universities--the sites of social privilege-and become active participants in campus public life, leading to increased contestation over public space among different student groups.2 indian universities are generally perceived in terms of the harbermasian ideal of the public sphere (habermas, 1991) marked by social consensus and rational debates. there is a noticeable opinion that indian universities should serve a double purpose: create the critical public sphere and enable the ‘bracketing’ (fraser, 1990) of social inequalities (béteille, 2007; deshpande, 2016). this suggests an ideal that by educating young individuals universities should enable them to become active participants in the public life of the nation. nevertheless, as deshpande claims, indian universities face one of the biggest challenges of accommodating, educating and empowering new social groups ̶ the lower-castes (2016). this challenge stems not only from the difficulties in creating and applying efficient education policy and teaching methods, but also in accommodating these new groups as equal participants in universities’ and nation’s public life. in other contexts, for youth entering and studying in a university is an exciting journey, but for dalits and other lower caste members the university years sometimes turn into a bitter experience, in not so infrequent cases leading to suicides (ovichegan, 2015; sukumar 2016). despite difficulties that university infrastructure and social norms impose on the subaltern youth, some dalits and other lower caste members after going through educational empowerment become active participants in campus public sphere. however, instead of accepting the dominant construction of public concerns, some of these groups and individuals, drawing on their own subjective experiences of social marginality, create alternative ‘counterpublics’ (fraser, 1990; warner, 2002) that reframe the dominant understanding of social relations. fraser defined subaltern counterpublics as ‘parallel discursive arenas where members of subordinated social groups invent and circulate counter-discourses, which in turn permit them to formulate oppositional interpretations of their identities, interests, and needs’ (1990, p. 67). meanwhile in warner’s understanding, counterpublic is a self-organized discursive space that it is marked by the subordinate status with regard to the dominant public (2002). conceptualizing dalit student activism as a counterpublic, this article situates it in the broader social and political environments of the indian university campuses. instead of viewing university campuses as representing a homogenous public sphere marked by social consensus, and following the critique of the notion of public sphere (calhoun, 1992; fraser, 1990; susen, 2011; warner, 2002), i look to university campuses in terms of ‘agonistic pluralism’ (mouffe, 1999) as spheres comprised of dalit counterpublic and social space on indian campuses 137 different publics, and clashing interests and concerns. particular focus is placed on how dalit student activism, representing the alternative counterpublic, re-appropriates the public space and what concerns, values, and interests it brings to the fore. however, it must be noted that dalit counterpublic should not be understood as a homogenous entity but it should be seen as ‘heterogeneous and varied and full of various kinds of tensions that are present within the dalits as a group’ (narayan, 2011, p. xxiv). the existence of multiple dalit student organizations within the same campus aptly proves the multiplicity of identities and interests within the dalit student community and the overall complexity of the dalit category. while discussing how dalit students appropriate the campus public space, i draw on bourdieu’s understanding of ‘social space’ and ‘the spatial distribution of powers.’ he claims that ‘there is no space that does not express social hierarchies and distances’ (2018, p. 106), therefore there cannot be unappropriated social space, as it is always a playground of power relations. the case of dalits in indian society is exemplary of the complex interaction of space, power, and social status, and shows how changes in social status affect spatial organization. a number of authors have delved into the ways dalits use public space to renegotiate socio-political relations and their social status in different regional contexts in india (beth, 2005; gorringe, 2016; jaoul, 2006, 2012; narayan, 2011, 2012). jaoul has shown how in uttar pradesh dalits negotiated their relationship with the state by re-signifying space with their own community icons and symbols (2006), and how political competition between hindu nationalists and dalits unfolded through symbolic appropriation of space resulting in the creation of ‘political strongholds’ (2012). gorringe (2016) argued that by contesting the norms and practices regulating accessibility to social space in tamil nadu, dalits were contributing to the creation of public space inclusive of representatives from different castes. of particular relevance to the discussion presented in this article is beth’s work (2005), which shows how dalit public gatherings took different forms depending on the public spaces where they were happening. in this article it will be shown how dalit student activism in each discussed campus gained specific character depending on the historically constituted campus political culture and broader socio-political context, resulting in various campus-specific trajectories of dalit student activism. while there is a rich literature on dalits’ relation to public space, comparatively little is known on dalit political activism in university campuses. existing research on dalit student activism mainly explores beef and asura counter-culture festivals, which were specific forms of campus protests. these festivals were analyzed in terms of ‘democratization of the public sphere’ (gundimeda, 2009), ‘counter-hegemonic assertion’ (pathania, 2016), ‘dialectics of counter-culture’ (garalytė, 2016) and ‘culturalization of caste’ (natrajan, 2018). though providing interesting accounts of subversive or ‘counter-culture’ politics, these studies lack a more in-depth and detailed engagement with the ways dalits make use of the campus public space and how the particular campus spaces affect dalit student activism. contributing to the recent scholarship on student politics in south asia (martelli and garalytė, 2019), this article argues for the understanding of interactive relation between campus space and student politics, showing how dalit students changed the campus space through symbolic appropriation and, conversely, how historically constituted campus spaces affected the nature of dalit student activism. through borrowing certain political strategies of symbolic appropriation of public space already employed by various dalit movements 138 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 in regional contexts, dalit activists in university campuses had more freedom for political experimentation and establishing broader socio-political alliances resulting into novel forms of cultural politics. if warner argues that ‘[p]ublics do not exist apart from the discourse that addresses them’ (2002, p. 416), this article claims that publics do not function apart from the social space that structures them. it is an attempt to elaborate on the complex relationship between the dalit counterpublic and campus social space. the research presented in this article is based on a multi-sited ethnography in three university campuses ̶ jawaharlal nehru university (jnu), osmania university (ou) and the english and foreign languages university (eflu) conducted from march to june, 2013, and from january to march, 2014. jnu and eflu are categorized by the indian government as central universities, while, ou is a state university.3 these specific institutions were chosen for research because in 2012, at the time of planning of research design, they were most often reported in indian news media with regard to dalit student political activism. these universities were even more attractive for research as they were related to each other through the student activists’ network. research methods included participant observation of everyday campus life, and semi-structured interviews with student activists and faculty. in the following sections, i discuss the context in which dalit counterpublic emerged on indian university campuses in the 1990s. then, i separately focus on the chosen three university campuses highlighting the specificity of the dalit student activism in each of them and how it was shaped by the specific campus political culture. the article ends with a reflection on the recent socio-political developments in these campuses, which proves the temporary and context dependent nature of the dalit student activism. the emergence of dalit students’ political subjectivity when i joined hyderabad university [university of hyderabad] way back in 1991, it was a height of mandal agitations ̶ the pro-and anti reservation movements. we entered the hyderabad university as young students to pursue our masters [postgraduation]. coincidentally that was also the year [of] dr. b.r. ambedkar’s centenary celebrations. thus, as students we were shaped by these two events: at one level we were constantly warned by some progressive teachers, ‘look, there are anti-reservation forces fighting against mandal interventions and you [dalit] people have to unite and float the organization.’ the other level was to understand how important ambedkar’s centenary was for students from dalit backgrounds…it shaped an entire generation. i can say that i’m the seed of that particular generation and [i’m still] growing as a tree. i was a seed at that particular point of time. so we sprouted with the mandal agitations along with ambedkar’s birth centenary celebrations.4 these are the words of a dalit scholar, sudir5, who as a student witnessed and participated in the political mobilization of dalit students in the 1990s. similar to other dalit scholars’ narratives, especially those who entered central universities as students at the turn of the decade, 1990s for them meant a turning point. dalits associate this decade with particular events that provided impetus for the emergence of dalit students’ political subjectivity– ambedkar’s6 centenary celebrations, the mandal reform7 and subsequent agitations. dalit counterpublic and social space on indian campuses 139 the indian government announced 1991 as the year of ambedkar’s centenary celebration, which according to some commentators was yet another attempt by it to appease lower-caste groups in the wake of their growing political consciousness and power. many programmes were organized for the commemoration of ambedkar throughout the country and abroad. following the centenary celebrations in 1992, the government of india established ambedkar foundation with an objective to spread ambedkar’s ideology and to enact long-term schemes that would improve the living conditions of dalits. ambedkar had laid a strong emphasis on education as a major means of social mobility for dalits. therefore, most of the initiatives that the foundation took up included installation of libraries and universities under ambedkar’s name, the publication and translation of his works, initiation of various awards and scholarships for dalit students, as well as projects for organizing events related to ambedkar and his ideology. since 1993, in some of the universities, ambedkar academic chair positions have been established with an objective to encourage academic engagement with ambedkar’s writings and the study of social inequality and exclusion. ambedkar’s centenary celebrations, the establishment of the foundation in his name and the institutional initiatives, enabled dalit students to identify with the leader of the dalit movement and his anti-caste ideology. various institutional provisions opened a space in the indian universities for ambedkar’s ideas to proliferate. today at indian universities the followers of ambedkar’s ideology call themselves ambedkarites. for them, ambedkar stands as the greatest role model in different spheres of life – education, politics, state, and religion. they have adopted, and further proliferate ambedkar’s ideas – his criticism of caste and hindu religion, the belief in modernity, and principles of constitutional democracy – which today resonate not only among dalits but also diverse underprivileged, and political opposition groups. these initiatives, as rodrigues put it, were instrumental in moving ambedkar ‘from being the villain of indian nationalism, to its center-stage in the socio-political contestation in india’ (2014, p. 37). sudir refers to another important event, the mandal agitations. in 1991, the implementation of the mandal reform triggered major opposition between uppercaste students who protested against the extended reservations against lower-caste students, including dalits, who supported the new reforms, turning indian universities into battlefields of the mandal and the anti-mandal groups. from the universities, the anti-mandal protests spilled on the streets. rajiv goswami, a student from delhi university, immolated himself in protest against the new reforms, becoming a symbol of the anti-mandal protests (kumar, 2012). guha notes that there were nearly 200 suicide attempts across the country: ‘these self-immolators were upper-caste indians whose hopes for obtaining a government job were now being undermined’ (2012, p. 609). although dalits were not directly affected by the mandal reforms, the violent attacks on the policies made them unite with obcs and form various organizations to defend the reservation policies (jaffrelot, 2011, p. 343-348). many of the first dalit and other lower-caste organizations in central universities were set up against the backdrop of these events. for example, in 1991 the united dalit students forum (udsf) was founded at jnu (raman, 2013). in 1993, ambedkar students association (asa) was founded at the university of hyderabad (johari, 2016; janyala, 2016). the rise of the dalit political consciousness in the 1990s was not a completely new phenomenon. as demonstrated by numerous works on the dalit socio-political movement and dalit politics in various regional contexts in india, dalit political 140 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 subjectivity grew and every so often emerged through various socio-political anticaste movements since late colonial days and post-independence. what was new with the upsurge of the 1990s was that it touched the sphere of india’s public life that was previously not much affected by the dalit movement. in the earlier accounts of the indian student movement and campus politics (shah, 2004), there was no mention of dalits as political actors in indian universities, neither caste figured prominently in student politics. this was not because they were absent there but because the earlier studies focused almost exclusively on central elitist universities that did not have significant dalit representation. if we had switched our gaze to the regional state universities, we could have found that, for example, in 1978 in maharashtra, dalit students mobilized into namantar andolan to rename the marathwada university after ambedkar, which led to terrible violence against dalits (guru, 1994; jaoul, 2008; omvedt, 1979; gupta, 1979). the 1990s signified a new era of dalit student activism as it entered central university campuses gaining more public visibility than before. sushil, a dalit scholar from hyderabad, whose political shaping occurred during the mandal period, reconfirms this saying that ‘before the 1990s, so before the mandal [commission], there were no dalit student organizations, there were organizations mostly of the left kind.’ referring to the mandal agitations, he highlights the shift that happened in indian universities during that time: so it [caste] became a public issue both in parliament, in press, as well as in the university. that really empowered and enabled dalit students to talk about it [caste], because there was some kind of a ban to talk about it before. [to] talk about casteism [was] like you’re talking about primordial identities. in fact, the general kind of language used [for caste] was if [it was] ‘the ugly face of tradition’ and [as if] ‘caste is the monster or evil’ or something like that. so there was a discussion about what is caste, is it evil? or is it social reality? is it system for discrimination? and is it also [an] identity? does it also give you [a] social status? is it a marker of social status? what is it?… what is caste? so, there were a lot of counter discourses that came up. and how does one think of indian society, indian reality without thinking of caste, without some kind of conception of caste and discrimination? so that really kind of allowed these new organizations to come, and articulate, and elaborate these questions.8 sushil remembers the confrontational mandal agitations as an ‘empowering’ and ‘enabling’ moment, which allowed dalit students to share publicly their experiences of caste. he reveals that for dalits caste has contradictory meanings. in a negative sense, caste is an instant reminder of the humiliating experience of caste discrimination and untouchability. yet in a positive sense, it signifies one’s social identity. today dalit student activism continues to navigate through these contradicting notions of caste, perceiving caste identity both as a social stigma, as well as the ‘“social, economic and cultural capital” of the community’ (satyanarayana, 2014, p. 52). the coincidence of these two events laid the foundations for the dalit counterpublic to emerge in india’s university campuses. ambedkar’s centenary celebrations exposed the sc students to ambedkar’s anti-caste ideology and foregrounded their ideological transformation from the sc to dalit. the mandal agitations served as a political opportunity structure for dalit student activism to emerge, which highlighted major caste confrontations (with upper-castes) and enabled caste alliances (with obcs and other subalterns). with ambedkar’s ideological foundation and the sc and dalit counterpublic and social space on indian campuses 141 obc participant base, dalit student activism began entering central, elite university campuses as the new political player, reconstructing the university public space and public debates through the lens of caste. i now explore how dalit student activism, more than two decades after the 1990s events, manifests in present day indian university campuses. jawaharlal nehru university–searching for space in the left dominated campus popularly known as the ‘kremlin on yamuna,’ jnu throughout its history has been the symbol and centre-stage of the oppositional left wing politics in india (martelli and parkar, 2018; martelli and raman, 2016). the most iconic image of the campus has been its walls. every year before the jnu students union elections in september, the university’s walls were covered with new building-size drawings by different student groups, which were later covered with an additional layer of various smaller posters and pamphlets (parcha), thus rendering jnu walls a constantly changing, multi-layered venue of political communication. the issues depicted covered both international and national issues, and quite often both of the discourses overlapped – marx and lenin stood together with indian independence fighters, regional movements advocated together with the international struggles etc. right and left wing groups on the walls seemed to be in a constant blame game. the radial left supported the naxalite movement, and criticized the congress of neo-imperialism and hindutva of fascism. hindu right groups denounced leftists’ violence and anti-nationalism. a recurring icon and point of agreement and disagreement throughout the visuals of various organizations was b.r. ambedkar – historical leader of the dalits and their social justice movement. dalit socio-political mobilization at jnu began in 1991, when the united dalit students forum (udsf) was founded. this was the year when india was shaken by the neo-liberal turn and the mandal reservation reforms that expanded quotas to the obcs, leading dalits to get into the crossfire between pro-mandal and anti-mandal groups (raman, 2013). the udsf emerged as a cultural organization, a forum that did not have the status of a political group and did not contest in the jnu students union elections. contrary to other organizations, udsf recognized natural membership, which meant that every sc/st student on the jnu campus was by default a udsf member, while possibly belonging to any other student political body on the campus. the organization functioned more as an awareness group raising students’ knowledge about diverse caste issues, as well as the experiences, thoughts and ideologies of subaltern communities. there were other dalit organizations on the campus. mulnivasi sangh, for instance, was a student branch of the backward and minority communities employees’ federation (bamcef) with just a few members at that time. mulnivasi sangh was different from the udsf mainly in some ideological aspects, in a sense that it drew the dalit question into autochthon discourse, claiming that dalits were real mulnivasis (aboriginals) of india and had a natural birth right to control the land and the country. there were also two other subaltern organizations that once had been active in the campus but during my fieldwork were not much visible ̶ the bsf (bahujan student front) and the aibsf (all india backward student forum). soon after i returned from my fieldwork, through social networking sites on the internet i discovered that dalit 142 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 students started posting posters with new banners of the nsosyf (national st, sc, obc students and youths front), and the bapsa (birsa ambedkar phule students association). the names of the two organizations indicated that they attempted to unite all the bahujans9 (sts, scs, obcs and other minorities). the ideology stemming from these groups was defined by their social experience of caste discrimination and anti-caste, anti-hindu sentiments. they both carried on the legacy of the historical icons that fought for social equality and justice – b.r. ambedkar, jyotirao phule, savitribai phule, periyar etc.10 none of the lower-caste groups at jnu, probably the only exception being the short-lived nsosyf backed by the controversial dalit politician udit raj, were supported by any national political party. when asked about party support, students kept repeating that the bahujan samaj party, a national level dalit party, and which could have been the logical initiator of a student branch, held a general assumption that dalits should first concentrate on studies and not waste energy in politics, which was seen as a risky matter. since dalit groups at jnu at the time of my fieldwork were not contesting elections and functioned more as cultural or awareness groups, i could not observe any rivalry among them. a dalit student could be simultaneously a member of a few cultural groups and at the same time belong to any of the students’ groups that contested elections. visible charismatic leaders were absent in these dalit organizations and groups organized as described by hardtmann (2011, p. 238): the organizational structure of the dalit movement is flexible and constantly changing, which makes the movement difficult to suppress. it is a movement guided by innumerable leaders, where none could claim to be the one and sole leader. fissions and fusions in the networks are constantly taking place and activists cross back and forth between networks, often taking part in more than one group or organization. while leftist groups voiced protests against neo-liberalism, globalization, and communalism, and hindu right groups bemoaned threats to national integration and security, dalits framed their ideological line based on caste critique, as dipak, a dalit activist from jnu, explained: either left, right, [or] centre ̶ we have criticism. the congress, bjp11 and left, we have criticisms for all of them because they…didn’t consider caste as a major contradiction of indian society… casteism [is a] major [issue] for dalits. casteism is a major problem of [the] indian society. but marxists never consider that. that is our major criticism and that is the criticism [against] bjp and congress as well. how they [are] doing their caste politics?...congress party is ruling for 65 years in this country after the independence…but reservation is not fulfilled in 65 years.12 open conflicts between dalits and other student groups, which was characteristic of dalit student activism in the universities of hyderabad, were absent in jnu, where dalit politics reflected the general climate of the university. jnu student politics up until recently13 was known for its democratic tradition, debates rather than fights, which were common in other indian universities (mehta, 2015; singh, 2016; singh, 2015). dalit student activism at jnu also developed in a rather mild tone of assertion. dipak further elaborated: more organization, more democratization. more voices, more democratization. this is the process of democratization. so we are not afraid of that. we [are] all friends, even other parties not even dalit we have friends. [we have] very good friendship with other organizations.14 dalit counterpublic and social space on indian campuses 143 despite a non-confrontational position, politically active dalits on the campus were spreading the idea of their moral superiority, that only dalits could understand and solve the problems of indian society. this idea had been initially set in motion by some dalit scholars, who argued that only those having experience of untouchability could authentically and morally engage with it (guru, 2013). since 2013, the time of my fieldwork, dalit student political subjectivity in the jnu campus underwent growth. formed in 2014, birsa ambedkar phule student association (bapsa), carrying forward ‘justice for rohith’ agitation,15 contested 2016 jnu students union elections. its major slogan was unity among oppressed or otherwise bahujans – dalits, adivasis (sts) and minorities. ideologically it tried to ‘expose casteism practiced by the indian left.’ rahul punaram sonpimple, bapsa’s presidential candidate, addressing his main adversaries, claimed, ‘for a change, you must listen to the underprivileged speak in their own tongue and style’ (talukdar, 2016). addressing dalit concerns: different student groups in jnu invoking ambedkar (photographs by the author) despite being apart from the main political competition, dalit student activism in the jnu campus seemed to have significant influence and visibility. apparently, the strength of the dalit activists in the campus was their power to veer common political debates towards the issues of caste, social justice, and dalit representation. it has 144 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 been observed that the campus politics in recent years witnessed an upsurge in lowercaste political participation. a jnu student activist, abhay kumar, in a commentary noted that in the 2012-2014 jnusu election all students union presidents were from socially marginalized backgrounds. in the 2014 jnusu election, members of lowercaste groups also took four main positions of aisa (all india students’ association).16 significantly, the key candidates of other student groups were coming from socially ‘backward’ backgrounds, including the schedule castes. kumar notes that this tendency has been gaining prevalence since 2006, that is mandal ii reforms, when ‘the social demography began to shift in favour of dalit bahujan’ (kumar, 2014). the mainstreaming of the dalit and social justice issues could also be seen in the emergence of new organizations that fused leftist and dalit movement ideologies. in 2013, the campus had a small group of lower-caste students called the new materialists (tnm) and the socially diverse the concerned students (cs), both groups fusing marxism with ambedkarism and venturing into counter-culture initiatives such as beef and asura festivals (garalytė, 2016). ambedkar was an icon not only of the dalit groups, but was increasingly appropriated by different student groups across the political spectrum, all of them trying to attract sc students under their ideological influence. osmania university–challenging and combating hindu right wing osmania university (ou) was the hotbed of the radical students’ movement since the 1969 jai telangana agitation setting the demand for a separate telangana state that was materialized during my fieldwork in hyderabad in 2014. being the symbolic epicentre of the telangana movement, the campus student politics had a strong left leaning (pathania 2018). with student activists capturing more and more power in their hands and student activism taking a violent turn, students union elections in the university was banned in the mid-1980s. nevertheless, student organizations were present in the campus and continue to raise their demands for re-introduction of students’ union polls till this day. in 2014, ou had a strong presence of dalit organizations ̶ bahujan students’ front (bsf), dalit bahujan cultural association (dbca), madiga students’ federation (msf), all mala students’ association (amsa), the latter two representing dalit subcaste identities, and highlighting the inherent inequalities and divisions within the sc community. despite underlying sub-caste identity differences, they propagated the ‘autonomous’ dalit political discourse and ideologically disassociated from both right and left politics. this shift reflected the broader changes in the sc members’ political orientation in the area since the mid-1980s. after the karamchedu and tsundur dalit massacres, in which dalit families suffered from the dominant castes, the scs began disassociating from the communist and naxalite movements, asserting an ‘autonomous’ dalit political identity, instead of class taking caste as a main point of ideological positioning (berg, 2014; gudavarthy, 2005, 2013; kota, 2019; satyanarayana, 2014; srinivasulu, 2002). at the time of the fieldwork, the ‘autonomous’ dalit political movement discourse which had questioned dalit involvement in left politics, was already present in the osmania campus and the existence of the aforementioned dalit organizations proves this point. dalit counterpublic and social space on indian campuses 145 the arts college building of osmania university with dalit political posters (photograph by the author) besides these two blocks, dalits and leftists, there was a group of telangana organizations that were largely pre-occupied with the telangana movement, and in a way had mixed political identities, ranging from left to dalit leaning. dalit students were especially articulate in the telangana agitation, creating an impression that the telangana movement was majorly led by dalit and other subaltern students. during the fieldwork, the telangana cause was one of the most significant resources upon which the dalit student activists built up their repertoire of contention. in 2014, the campus public space seemed to be in the grip of dalit student activism. the arts college building every now and then would display huge building-size posters with pictures of dalits and other lower-castes’ historical icons and political leaders ̶ buddha, ambedkar, phule, kanshi ram and others. despite their differing ideological positioning, the sc students, both from dalit and left leaning came together to participate in common telangana agitations and their collaboration was especially evident when it came to confronting ‘communal forces,’ that is hindu right wing student group – abvp (akhil bharatiya vidyarthi parishad). conflicts among different groups were seen as essential to campus politics, as they were a major way to expand political influence and public visibility. the dalit student activists of ou in interviews often recalled their conflicts with abvp. many of them alleged that ‘until recently ou was in the clutches of the abvp goons’ who used to frequently beat up dalit students and force them to participate in hindu celebrations. as the dalit student numerical and political strength grew they gradually curbed abvp dominance by force and numerical strength. territorial contestation was the most prevalent form of political strife. i kept hearing dalit students saying that osmania was ‘their territory’ with ‘their people,’ while others would look on with suspicion to this ‘dangerous’ area. however, the ‘stronghold’ had to be maintained as tensions between dalits and abvp ‘goons’ were persistent and kept emerging at critical moments. lenin, a renowned communist dalit activist from ou recalled: 146 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 ek night ko abvp goons mere bhai ko mare, bahut mare [one night abvp goons beat my brother]. stick se bahut mare [beat him a lot with a stick]. when we reached [in the] morning we gathered all student organizations. what followed was an agitation in front of the arts college building in which agitated dalit students burned the portrait of hedgewar17 and of other hindu nationalist leaders and brought down a saraswati (goddess of learning) statue inside the campus. these reactions emerged in response to a particular incident in the campus, but they immediately translate into a symbolic political message. dalit politics in ou was based on outward confrontational strategies and the bigger the confrontation, notwithstanding some sacrifices, the more intense was dalit political mobilization. arun (2007) observes how paraiyars in tamil nadu purposely instigated confrontation with upper-castes since ‘they came to realise that they could assert themselves in the village only by creating conflicts’ (p. 93). similarly, beef and asura counter-culture festivals were employed by dalit students in this polarized and combative university setting because of their communicative explosive symbolic potential. while in jnu dalits as a counterpublic were participating in student politics largely on an ideological level, in ou the counter positioning took the form of physical conflicts and open confrontations in the quest to capture campus social space. what could explain this tendency? state universities in india are more prone in general to physical violence than central universities. secondly, the historical legacy and proximity of the telangana movement might have influenced the overall nature of student politics and dalit student activism in the osmania campus. the context of the telangana movement played a structuring role in a double sense. it infused students with the spirit of resistance and taught the strategies of counter mobilization. on a more practical level, it enabled local sc, st, and obc students to mobilize across different campuses establishing an empowering political network. the english and foreign languages university–outreaching for the subaltern alliance like jnu, the central institute of english (the initial name of eflu) was the ‘brainchild’ of india’s first prime minister jawaharlal nehru which was established with a mission to prepare highly qualified english language teachers for the developing nation. being a central university and the centre of foreign language learning, eflu had a multicultural character with students coming from different indian states. in general, eflu was not known for its student politics until it got into national media attention because of beef and asura festival celebrations in 2011 and 2013. during my fieldwork, the campus was dominated by dabmsa (dalit adivasi bahujan minority student association). although established around 2000, the organization was not active until 2004 yet through the years it has managed to become the most visible and influential student organization in the campus. it united not only dalits but also other subaltern groups – adivasis (sts), obcs, muslims, and christians among others thus forming a wider subaltern alliance of the minority communities. befitting to its social orientation, the group has been actively involved in the fight for the implementation of the reservation policy. at that time, besides dabmsa, there was a small but vocal lgbtq group that was politicizing sexuality issues in the campus, as well as feminist groups. they did not have a formal name but were active in shaping public opinion within the campus. back in 2005 and later on, dabmsa was preoccupied with cultural debates. samata biswas, an upper caste bengali student (2005), recalls poster wars between dalit counterpublic and social space on indian campuses 147 university administration and dabmsa members over what musical instrument – veena (a classical indian string instrument associated with upper-caste culture), or dappu (a drum of madigas, the local sc group) – should sound in the campus. biswas observes that ‘we tend to forget that “culture” is…not non-coercive’ and that ‘the relationship between the veena and the dappu is one of domination’ (biswas, 2005). in 2013, dabmsa members organized ‘asura pride week’ celebrating the so-called antagonists of the hindu mythology as a symbolic declaration of appreciation of cultural differences (mathew, 2013). they also staged an alternative onam celebration in 2013 that brought to the public the silenced experiences of subaltern communities in kerala (garalytė, 2016). these initiatives were intended to fight against the ‘forced homogenization of our lifestyles.’18 through the claims of multiculturalism, cultural liberalism and tolerance, dabmsa managed to attract ‘progressive’ students from different social backgrounds including some upper-caste students who had become ‘daliticized’ or ‘subalternisized’ during their study years through involvement in student politics and certain study courses. however, the organization was not without its contradictions. dabmsa started contesting elections since 2006 and this created many problems and divisions within organization. the initial name of the organization was dbmsa and did not involve adivasis (sts) who were added later on. banjaras – the dominant st group in the area, which gained increasing visibility on eflu and ou campuses, began questioning the logic behind the organization’s name. rakesh, a dabmsa’s member, recalled: some people were asking why dalits in the front, why not adivasis first and then dalits, some small issues, some problems. they were able to resolve that problem, but yeah some issues like that [were there] in the beginning.19 another contestation of dabmsa’s influence in the campus came from telangana student association (tsa), an organization that largely stood for the telangana cause, but more broadly was also involved in dalit student activism. during the 2009 agitation20 there was heavy repression of ou students: the police lathi-charged (beat with batons) students while srpf (state reserve police force) entered hostel rooms in a crackdown on student activists. osmania students quite often found refuge in the nearby eflu campus. as students recall, people used to come to eflu to sleep and discuss the telangana movement issues overnight and that is how tsa was formed. apart from being the natural spillover from the osmania campus in the context of the telangana agitation, the formation of tsa also had another impetus – it sought to challenge the caste composition of dabmsa. the members of tsa articulated a ‘discrimination within discrimination’ discourse on a regional basis, as suresh, one of the leading members of tsa, explained: dabmsa was largely dominated by andhra [people], that is why tsa [telangana student association] had to emerge. and those people, our people: telangana dalits, obcs, sts and everybody, used to work for dabmsa. but when this telangana movement started, we even started looking at dabmsa, the functioning of dabmsa in a critical [way]. saying who are all presidents? who all are given posts? why telangana people are only treated as their work force? the greatest development in dabmsa is [that] they have given the president post to the telangana lambada, the st…to survive in this telangana movement, regional movement they have given it to him. dabmsa is not representing our concerns and they are using our work force. the telangana movement and its ‘victimization’ discourse allowed local telangana groups, be it scs, sts or obcs, to gain an upper hand in the campus politics and revealed that within the dalit and subaltern organizations there was an inner competition over dominance. it also showed that there was a constant reshaping 148 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 of what constitutes ‘we,’ which proved difficulties among dalits or subalterns in forming common political platform. despite organizational disagreements, in terms of ideology most of the organizations in the campus, except abvp and dsf (democratic students’ front) – a leftist student organization, aligned with the dalit/subaltern discourse, adding to the major cause of social justice supplementary ideological hues. the strength of dalit student activism in the campus was not only due to the work of student organizations but also of former dalit activists who after entering the university in faculty positions started teaching courses that addressed caste, dalit and subaltern issues. eflu’s department of cultural studies offered most such courses and was seen as the most radical and politically challenging department in the university. it brought alongside trendy courses on film, culture, gender, feminist studies, and a course on ‘dalit studies,’ which was introduced by a former student activist and faculty member. the course has become popular in the campus, exposing the wider student community to dalit and caste issues. many of the dalit and prosubaltern students, even some from the upper-castes whom i spoke with, narrated the transformation of their political attitudes and social vision, once they got exposed to the dalit/subaltern discourse. another reason behind the strength of dalit student activism was the emergence of the ‘dalit camera’ – a youtube channel that was mainly dedicated to video coverage of various issues related to dalits, ‘through the un-touchable eyes,’ as it claims. it has become one of the most authoritative and visible dalit media platforms nation-wide. it was founded in 2012 by a dalit phd student from eflu, originally hailing from tamil nadu a state where dalit politics is particularly strong. the ‘dalit camera’ was mainly run by eflu students, belonging to different social backgrounds, even upper-castes, who were associated with dabmsa and who have gone through ‘caste sensitization’ in the campus. the presence of the ‘dalit camera’ was a sign of empowerment for dalits, who have been voicing their complaints of not having their own media or sources of representation. the ‘dalit camera’ had a significant influence on shaping public discourse not only in the campus but also nationally. by bringing silenced dalit experiences from different parts of india onto one easily accessible platform, the ‘dalit camera’ contributed to the formation of the imagined pan-indian dalit community. it also attracted upper-caste members, who participated in the video material production, probably not only because they were sympathetic to the social cause, but also because it was a ‘modern’ and ‘cool’ way of engaging student politics. as i came to know, the presence of the upper-caste volunteers in ‘dalit camera’ became a contested issue on the campus, as some students began questioning why instead of employing dalits, who would be real representatives of their own cause, the ‘dalit camera’ chose uppercaste members in its team. the eflu campus politics is interesting in a sense that it started forming in the post-mandal (i and ii) period, marked with an active dalit and other subaltern political assertion throughout the country. at the eflu campus, dalit and other subaltern groups had an social space, not dominated by other student groups, to assert their identity and turn the public debates towards dalit and subaltern issues. the dominance of dalit concerns was clearly seen by visual political representations in the campus public space during my fieldwork. ambedkar’s images and his quotations were displayed on the administration building as well as in the sagar square – central meeting point of the campus – unchallenged by the presence of any other political icons; the row of subaltern icons (jyotirao phule, ambedkar, savitribai phule, komaram bheem, and periyar, near the image of gandhi, which was framed differently and installed on another occasion) were placed at the doorway to the administration corridors or in the dalit counterpublic and social space on indian campuses 149 women’s canteen overlooking the tables where food was usually served. whether one related to these ideological icons or not, their presence consciously or unconsciously shaped people’s sense of place and belonging and formed the sensation that one was in the stronghold of the dalit/subaltern movement. while the strength of dalit student activism on the osmania campus might be attributed to successful mobilization of local telugu students formerly exposed to radical left politics, in the eflu campus dalit activism managed to successfully outreach other non-dalit student groups, simultaneously evolving into the broader counter-culture movement that, during the time of my fieldwork, was the most visible form of student politics in the campus. poster with the image of ambedkar at the entrance to eflu’s administration building (photograph by the author) poster with ambedkar’s image at sagar square at eflu (photograph by the author) 150 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 dalit-bahujan icons and gandhi inside eflu’s administration building (photograph by the author) dalit-bahujan icons in women’s canteen at eflu (photograph by the author) from social justice to counter-culture the examples from three university campuses illustrate the process of how contentious politics is related to the appropriation of social space and reconfirms gorringe’s claim that ‘[t]he notion of space, thus, is a central social idiom of the dalit struggle’ (2005, p. 171). dalit student activism with its greatest resource of caste identity, ambedkar’s anti-caste ideology, and expanding lower-caste participant base, brought to public attention debates about caste and social inequality; the grievances that were previously dalit counterpublic and social space on indian campuses 151 invisible in the public sphere of university campuses. they essentially attempted to reframe the public sphere through the subjective and ideological worldview of the dalits, which was essentially constructed though the lens of caste and experience of untouchability. a number of authors have showed how the dalit socio-political movements at the grass-root level and the dalit political parties acted to re-signify public space while marking it with their own symbols (gorringe, 2005; jaoul, 2006; narayan, 2011, 2012). these accounts show that the symbolic re-signification of public space was related not only to the formation of identities/subjectivities, but also to political competition and power relations (gorringe, 2005; jaoul, 2012). similar to the above mentioned works, campus social space was a battleground of different publics (student groups), their concerns, and worldviews, while dalit students became major players in university campus politics. dalit student activists positioned themselves as a counterpublic with regard to other student organizations in a triple sense: they sought to challenge the ideology and praxis of the dominant student groups, to change the present social system, and also to reverse the power balance in campuses. they sought social inclusion but in some of the campuses, became temporarily dominant. despite shared similarities (caste worldview, the icon of ambedkar, antihindu ideology, etc.), dalit student activism in each of the studied campuses had its own specificity, which was affected by the broader socio-political context and the political culture of the campus. one could see a clear difference between the dalit student activism in new delhi’s jnu and hyderabad where the other universities are located, both in terms of strength and visibility of the movement and the nature of the movement’s ideology. at jnu, dalit student activism existed in the shadow of leftist student groups that tried to appropriate the dalit cause for their own political agendas. in jnu dalit student activism was non-confrontational and was led largely in ideological debate form and was asserted mostly in terms of social justice with minor undertones of a more radical rhetoric asserting dalits’ natural right to lead the social justice movement in india. meanwhile, in hyderabad, which had a living history of the telangana movement, dalits were at the forefront of student activism at large and actively engaged in appropriating other movements and their discourses. at both of the university campuses – ou and eflu, despite their differing status (i.e. state and central), dalit student activism was confrontational and dominant. the dalit student activism elaborated its frame from social justice to the counter-culture movement, which enabled it to attain broader resonance and gain dominance and power to shape the social space and public debates. as a result, dalit grievances, caste question, and dalit-bahujan culture temporarily took centrestage in everyday campus life, making even others speak in dalit terms. counterculture frame and counter positioning allowed various groups to accept dalit discourse as a legitimate political narrative and strategy to challenge hindu right politics before the 2014 parliamentary elections. postscript warner pointed out that ‘[a] public can only act in the temporality of the circulation that gives it existence’ (2002, p. 421). i got back to these campuses in january 2019 that is five years after my phd fieldwork. the first term of the bjp government was coming to an end and its second victory was impending in a few months. the atmosphere in the campuses has changed to a significant extent. 152 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 in jnu students were not allowed anymore to express themselves on the walls with political drawings, which was once the hallmark of liberal character of jnu. the university administration has tightened surveillance and hired a security firm which besides ensuring security also monitors student activity on campus. vivekananda’s statue,21 robed in a saffron sheet and protected by security staff, was waiting to be unveiled. some professors and students complained about the administration’s attempts to replace the teaching staff with the loyalists of the governing regime and about increasing fees. in eflu, the situation was similar. once a dalit political stronghold, now eflu was devoid of student political activities and seemed to be undergoing infrastructure improvements and campus beautification. posters with ambedkar’s images and protest writings on the walls were absent. security guards, who had doubled in numbers since 2012, in a demonstrative military-like fashion marched through the campus during the shift exchange periods twice a day. a former student activist in eflu, now having a position in another university in hyderabad, told me that every time he had got back to elfu, he felt being looked upon with suspicion because of his former student activist identity. one professor shared his bitter experience about his apartment being raided by the police in search for the ‘fabricated evidence’ of him having maoist links, a worrying scenario that had occurred before and will repeat itself with other intellectuals representing and advocating dalit and other subaltern communities. meanwhile, osmania university appeared to be much calmer compared to the peak days of the 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(2010). from untouchable to dalit: essays on the ambedkar movement. new delhi: manohar. endnotes 1 i would like to thank to my informants and to a number of colleagues and friends who read and commented on a draft of this article – parthasarathi muthukkaruppan, suraj yengde, victor de munck and rūta žukaitytė. 2 for the discussion on how untouchables became dalits, see guru (1998), muthukkaruppan (2014) and zelliot (2010). 3 there are 42 central universities in india that are controlled by the federal government and are known for high teaching and research quality, and fierce competition for admission. there are 310 state universities controlled by the state governments. in popular opinion, central universities are considered to be of higher prestige and research quality than the state universities. 4 author’s interview with sudir at the university of delhi, on may 3, 2013. 5 the names of all informants are coded. 6 b.r. ambedkar (1891-1956) was the first and the most influential leader of the dalit movement (jaffrelot, 2012). 7 as part of affirmative action against the marginalized sections, the constitution of india guaranteed a reservation policy for the sc (scheduled caste), that is dalits or former untouchables, and the st (scheduled tribe) or indigenous groups in 1950 allotting 15 percent and 7.5 percent seats in legislatures, jobs and state-run higher education institutions. in 1991, the government of india announced implementation of the mandal commission recommendations extending reservations to other backward classes (obcs)–intermediary caste groups that were supposed to be characterized by educational and political marginalization–and assigned them 27 percent of seats in government services and public sector undertakings (psus). these reforms were met with fierce opposition from the high caste groups leading to nation-wide anti-mandal agitations. meanwhile, the reservations for obcs in education sphere were passed only in 2006 by the so-called mandal ii reform (hany babu, 2010). 8 author’s interview with sushil at eflu, february 7, 2014. 9 term bahujan (majority) was popularized by the bsp (bahujan samaj party) – dalit party that was founded by kanshi ram in uttar pradesh state in 1984. the term has been used to represent scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward classes and religious minorities. 10 for a discussion on the ideas and work of various historical anti-caste leaders, see omvedt (2013). 11 bharatiya janata party (bjp) is a hindu right party currently in the central government for its second term. 12 author’s interview with dipak at jnu, june 2nd, 2013. 156 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 13 january 2020 was marked by unprecedented violence in jnu when a group of unidentified outsiders entered the campus and attacked student activists. 14 author’s interview with dipak at jnu, june 2nd, 2013. 15 in january 2016, rohith vemula, a dalit student activist from the university of hyderabad, after being expelled from the university, committed suicide. his suicide ignited outraged protest throughout india, social media and even among the indian diaspora. protestors interpreted his suicide in terms of “institutional murder” committed by the discriminatory university system and the hindu right government, especially hostile to minorities and political opposition (sukumar, 2016). 16 it’s a radical left wing student organization affiliated to the communist party of india (marxist-leninist) liberation. 17 dr k.b. hegdewar was hindu nationalist leader who founded the rashtriya swayamsevak sangh (rss) in 1925 in nagpur. 18 dabmsa facebook page (on august 27, 2020). 19 author’s interview with rakesh at eflu, february 25, 2014. 20 this was a year of the intensification of the telangana movement. in 2009 kalvakuntla chandrashekhar rao, the leader of the telangana rashtra samithi, declared an indefinite hunger strike, which is supposed to have influenced indian parliament to approve the formation of the telangana state. 21 swami vivekananda (1863 – 1902) was a hindu monk who contributed to the revival of hindu spiritualism. he has been appropriated as an ideological icon by the hindu right groups. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1–16 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.6 © 2020 nakkeeran et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. re-casting food: ethnographic enquiry into the pre-school supplementary nutrition programme, gujarat, india nakkeeran n.1, jadhav s.2, 1bhattacharya a.3, gamit s.1, mehta c.1, purohit p.1, patel r.1 and doshi m.12 abstract this study is an ethnographic enquiry into the pre-school supplementary nutrition programme (snp), in india’s western gujarat state. the broad objective was aimed at understanding the institutional barriers and sociological process that had led to the exclusion of families and children under the age of six from the snp. this study was undertaken because despite enthusiastic state investment in human resources and food funding, the uptake of snp was poor. the study method involved multi-sited ethnographies conducted in four rural villages of gujarat. the research concluded that caste and religious identities shaped dominance and control, restriction of social interactions, and food commensality. the authors situate these compelling findings within the broader discourse of food as a process of ‘othering,’ and stigmatised identities as they relate to consumption of ‘polluting’ food, the symbolic role of food when coupled with caste, and association of religion with food. observations of snp delivery sites suggest that spatial and moral dimension of societal caste conflicts directly influence local ‘biologies’ by reproducing and amplifying such tensions in the anganwadi1 health centres. crucial symbolic and cultural markers of food, nutrition, distribution, and consumption are rendered invisible to official health providers resulting in failure of the snp programme. current research on global health advocating ‘scaling up of models’ is an ethical violation if it glosses local ecologies that shape poor uptake of snp by the affected communities. 1indian institute of public health gandhinagar, ahmadabad, gujarat, india 2division of psychiatry, university college london, london, united kingdom 3indian institute of public health delhi, delhi ncr, gurgaon, new delhi, india corresponding author: jadhav s. email: s.jadhav@ucl.ac.uk 2 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 introduction integrated child development services (icds) is the principal state-sponsored programme in india that addresses the issues around child development, malnutrition, and pre-school education. a package of services – including the supplementary nutrition programme (snp), pre-school education, immunisation, health checkups, referral services, and nutrition and health education – are provided through an anganwadi centre (awc) with an anganwadi worker (aww) and an anganwadi helper (awh) for roughly every one thousand people. from the mid-1990s, there have been successive efforts on the part of the central (federal) government to universalise icds, and there has been a multi-fold increase in the funds allocated to this programme between the 8th five-year plan (1992–93 and 1996–97) and the 12th five-year plan (2012–17) (sinha, 2006; planning commission, 2013). however, the utilisation of all services under icds continues to be grossly low. close to 75 percent of children aged 0–71 months (up to six years of age) in the areas covered by awcs did not receive any supplementary food from the centres, and less than 12 percent of children received supplementary food ‘almost daily.’ for children aged 36–71 months or 3-6 years this figure is 15.5 percent. more than 80 percent of children were not weighed at all (iips, 2007). it has been reported that children belonging to economically backward and socially marginalised families, including dalit, tribal, and religious minorities, are excluded from utilising these services through unfavourable institutional rules and structural factors (ramachandran, 2005; kabeer, 2006; thorat and sadana, 2009; saxena, 2008, mandar and kumaran, 2006; borooah, diwakar, and sabharwal, 2014). further, members of well-off families do not avail the services provided by awcs – especially the snp – for under-6 children (iips, 2007). to identify the reasons behind poor utilisation of awcs, especially the snp services, a multi-sited ethnographic study was conducted in four villages in gujarat. the study aimed to understand everyday experience of households around the snp in rural settings. the ethnographic approach provided an opportunity to study awcs as institutions embedded in the context of village cultural life. the authors hypothesise that a study focusing on awcs could serve as an illustrative case to highlight challenges in implementing other entitlement-based programmes. methods the study was carried out in four villages of gujarat as short, focused, multi-sited ethnographies. trained postgraduate researchers were placed in four villages for three months. the villages were selected from the kutch, bhavnagar, dahod and tapi (fig 1 districts of gujarat state). the villages represent regional differences, heterogeneity in population composition, and a familiarity of the researcher with the region, its dialects and local culture. the rural sites were deliberately chosen because, in gujarat state, rural people are the largest users of icds services (iips, 2008). each ethnography was allowed to evolve independently. yet, a certain degree of uniformity was maintained by prescribing certain essential domains of data collection re-casting food: ethnographic enquiry into the pre-school supplementary... 3 and by retaining the focus on the study’s broad aim. these domains include both structural and functional dimensions of the snp, its staff and potential beneficiaries. the minimum data collection prescribed consisted of a series of interviews with care givers of the children in the target age group from all community groups and settlements; interviews with awws and awhs; observation of the functioning of awcs; and village mapping. data was collected through many modes: some as verbatim, and some in the form of field notes from informal and unstructured interviews and observations at field sites. researchers were encouraged to maintain detailed notes in the form of field diaries and to periodically mail their notes and reflections to the lead investigators. data was collated and organised by two coordinators, who were supervised by the lead investigators. feedback on these notes was provided via e-mail or telephone. in addition, researchers periodically met for de-brief meetings with the principal and co-investigators, in person or through video-conferencing facility. the multi-sited ethnographic method implicitly lent itself to both data and methodological triangulation. the investigator triangulation was achieved through regular skype and e-mail interactions amongst the three lead investigators and the ethnographers, as well as random field visits by one of the lead investigators. this ensured an inductive and iterative process of supported and supervised fieldwork as well as a robust process of concurrent analysis. periodically, summarised topical notes, short memos, case-lets, charts, and diagrams were made on selected topics which, shaped subsequent data collection, as well as facilitated progressive development of four separate ethnographies. in keeping with principles of ethnographic research, the researchers resided in the community. data was collected over a period of three to four months after gradually gaining entry into – and acceptance within – community. the findings were collated and structured along the themes abstracted from the ethnographic findings. this research was approved by the institutional ethics committee of the public health foundation of india (id no: trc-iec-125/12). results caste, religion and ethnicity – community dynamics across the villages all the four villages portrayed strong community dynamics along caste, ethnic, and religious lines. the villages in kutch and bhavnagar districts were typical multicaste villages representing a wide spectrum of the caste hierarchy. for the purpose of convenience the terms ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ castes will be used in the remainder of this paper when referring to caste groups. the two terms are not synonymous with the conventional hindu varna2 terminologies and relate more to the local social hierarchy of dominant and subordinate caste groups. in keeping with local categories, the term caste-hindu will be used to refer to communities who belong to non-dalit, non-brahmin castes at the study sites. the term ethnicity is used in the context of ‘scheduled tribe’ communities as they are not included as part of caste hierarchy in the strict sense. 4 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 fig 1. research sites of the ethnography the kutch village had a numerical, social, economic, and political dominance of the patel community. the lesser socially powerful dalits and kolis were other numerically large caste groups in the village. brahmins and other hindu caste (nonbrahmins) groups such as soni, lohana, and baniya, were each represented by a handful of households. samma (an 800-member community that migrated from banni region), notiyar, and sumra, and a few pathan households represented the muslim population in the village. in the bhavnagar village, aahirs, kolis and kharaks dominate numerically, economically, and politically. aahirs owned the bulk of the cattle population while the kharaks owned most of the agricultural land in the village. the brahmins were numerically few but occupied an influential position in politics and representation in government-run agencies in the village. dalits, devipujaks, and tai muslims were other groups with numerical significance. bharwad, jogi, and mali communities were represented by a few households. as in any other caste-based village, in these two villages discrimination in social interaction and commensality operated at every level of the social hierarchy. the muslim communities were loosely positioned somewhere at the lower end of this hierarchy, just above the dalit communities. in the dahod village, kolis and bhils (a ‘scheduled tribe’ community) dominated numerically. in addition, there were a handful of other caste-hindus (artisans) and dalit households. in the recent past, the entire muslim population of the village had migrated elsewhere after an episode of communal clashes. the village was spread over a wide area with clusters of houses scattered along the roads and inside agricultural lands. most households owned small pieces of land and ownership was higher among kolis and bhils. a sizeable number of households seasonally migrate for wage labour. caste discrimination was relatively less articulated as compared to the kutch and bhavnagar villages but not completely absent. the koli community claimed ritual superiority over the rest. the priest of one of the important temples in the village belonged to this community. in the tapi village, gamit and chowdhary (both ‘scheduled tribe’ communities) dominated numerically and economically. the third largest group was another ‘scheduled tribe’ called kotwadia. socially and economically it was the most backward re-casting food: ethnographic enquiry into the pre-school supplementary... 5 community in the village. almost all families were landless, depending exclusively on agricultural wage labour and bamboo craft work. the vast majority of this community resided on the outskirts of the village and were perceived to be marginal as far as community affairs were concerned. other caste-hindu households were very few. many families had converted to christianity. dominance and control in all the four selected villages, households from economically and politically dominant groups had wrested and exercised control over awc (anganwadi centres), associated resources, and their functioning. the selection of awws and awhs was fraught with politicking at the village level. though these appointments are made by the icds department, names of potential candidates are recommended by the local panchayat. the local elite had a strong say in the final selection of awws and awhs. this meant that either a woman from a relatively dominant community or family, or a woman with the blessings of the local leader got selected. the aww is the face of the programme in the village and has first-hand access to all the resources around the awc. however, being a woman often obliged to the local political elite for help she received from them in gaining her position (such as a recommendation), the access to the resources did not necessarily translate into control over all of those resources. her community background and the power enjoyed by the community in the village also determined the control and influence that she could enjoy in the village and in discharging her duties. similarly, decisions on the identification of space for a new awc, or the renting of a premise for an awc were made largely with the involvement of the local elite. the location of awcs was decided on the basis of where the government was able to procure the required land. this was either given away by an affluent villager, or an existing public space was utilised. when no government-built structure was available, an awc was run from a rented premise. whatever may have been the situation, the final location of an awc was decided by convenience mediated by political consideration. this translated into convenience for some groups at the expense of others. in the bhavnagar village, the brahmin community was a numerical minority, and the deputy sarpanch (village head)3 of the village was from this community. his wife and sister-in-law were two of the four awws in the village while his cousin was one of the awhs. his wife helped all the other awws in keeping records and financial accounts and wielded strong influence and power among all other awws, awhs, and generally in the village. she had been influential enough to mobilise local resources to furbish her awc building with a perimeter wall, a small garden, chairs for the children, and painted walls. this was in stark contrast to the awc intended for dalit children, which was located in a room rented out by her husband from which he ran a fertilizer business. this showed that this extended family had a strong grip over the functioning of all four awcs in the village. a young dalit woman commented thus: “tuition classes run in the evening and the deputy sarpanch and his father-in-law run their fertilizer business from the same room. when the panchayat and the awc people who come for inspection are not bothered about it, what can a few people do?” (young dalit woman, bhavnagar village) 6 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 in the dahod village, one of the six awcs was located adjacent to a politically influential koli household whose head was a former sarpanch of the village. land for that awc was donated by the family. it was observed that the main sitting space in the awc was occupied by a cot that was being used regularly by this family. for a major part of the duration of the field work, this room was filled with harvested corn ears or other agricultural produce. a water tap meant for the awc was built midway between the awc and the former sarpanch’s house, facing the house. in the tapi village, two awcs had approximately equal representation from gamit and chowdhary communities. both groups were landed ‘schedule tribe’ communities who enjoyed more or less equal status and political dominance in the village. awws and awhs of both awcs belonging to these communities were located amidst a cluster of settlements of these communities. the third group, kotwadia community had no say on location and representation of awcs. although the awh, also known as tedagar, had to bring the children to awc and take them back, she was selective about collecting children. while she was able to offer this service to children living nearby or along the road, children from far-off households were left behind. in the kutch village, of the three awcs only one had an awh. in the tapi village, members of households located far from the two awcs often complained that the helper did not come to fetch their children: “no one is coming to fetch our kids. they come to houses near the awcs but are not interested in coming to houses that are far away and so sometimes parents are not interested in sending the children” (a gamit woman, tapi village) “no one comes to take the children; it (awc) is far from my house …. it is difficult to walk to the awc therefore i do not want to send the kids.” (a kotwadia woman, tapi village) the walls and surroundings of awcs were often dumping areas for farm produce, fertilizers, fuel wood, and cow-dung cakes; animals are tethered there by households living near the awc. by default, this privilege was for those groups that had managed to secure an awc in their settlement. further, only landed households or those with animals had the need to encroach awc space, unlike households without assets. groups also competed for a range of resources associated with supplies such as flour, rice, pulses, and packed take-home rations received from government agencies.. these competing groups also had a say in procurement of items such as fresh fruits, vegetables and spices that were locally bought. in all the four villages, members from different communities expressed views over such supplies getting embezzled by awws or people associated with them. either the awws diverted the supplies for their personal use or exchanged them for other benefits. another very common complaint was that supplies, including take home rations, were diverted to commercial and farm use. in response to enquiries about such uneven resource allocation, one mother commented: “all kinds of mischief went on in this awc as there was no one to question.” (a samma woman, kutch village). re-casting food: ethnographic enquiry into the pre-school supplementary... 7 community members might have given an exaggerated picture of the extent of siphoning off of supplies. nevertheless, based on interviews it was clear that misappropriation of varying degrees did happen in selected awcs in all villages. this took place in connivance with the local political elite in exchange for personal favours. though this may appear to be an insignificant aspect in the larger scheme of things, within the village such political leverage assumed a great significance. it is ironic that groups which controlled the resources often did not feel the need for awc services – they sent their children to social welfare crèches (swc) or private nursery schools. food supplied from the awcs was found unfit to feed the children: “the upma packets were not good and i used to feed it to the cattle we had at my father’s home.” (an aahir woman, bhavnagar village) “if no one eats, we give it to the animals or sometimes throw it away.” (a gamit woman, tapi village) “aww does not cook and whatever she does is not nice. it is raw and tasteless and so children do not like to eat… most often it was ‘sheera’, ‘thepla’ or sometimes ‘khichdi’ (young mother, 19 years, married outside her community to a samma widower, kutch village) on the other hand, for others who had little control over working of the awcs, the food provided was an essential component to ensure and secure their household food security: “we live in poverty. (we) have only one member with regular income and many children to feed and hence we have no option but to send the children, young as well as old, to awc.” (a young koli man, bhavnagar village) “children from muslim families coming to the awc ran with their own bowls. even older girls from muslim families came to take snacks.” (a young koli woman, bhavnagar village) to sum up, the resources that were up for grabs included: recruitment of personnel, infrastructure, supplies and procurement; amenities like cooking gas and water connections; and control over the day-to-day functioning of the anganwadi centre. if one group controlled merely the selection of awws and the location of awcs, it largely completed the process of seizing control. the rest followed as a corollary. beyond all these, and perhaps most importantly, the awc being a state-run facility, control over its functioning at the village level gave recognition and legitimacy to the dominance of certain groups over others. 8 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 restrictions on social integration the awcs usually enrolled children based on the principle of neighbourhood: children from all the households residing in the area were expected to enrol in the nearest awc. families usually preferred to send their children to the nearest awc. however, it was observed that this was not always the case. an overriding factor was the caste composition of the rest of the children as well as that of the staff in the awc. based on the spatial distribution of different communities and the social backgrounds of the awws and awhs, the communities willingly or unwillingly reached an arrangement whereby children from groups sharing roughly equivalent status get assigned to awcs in a manner that complied with the caste norms which prohibit social interactions. situations where such an acceptable arrangement was not possible would lead to discord between communities: children would be sent to distant awcs, removed from the register, or withdrawn. additionally, relationship between the aww or awh and the households turned sour. for instance, in the bhavnagar village, the general pattern of the four awcs was as follows: one largely meant for dalit children, one for muslims, one for the dominant aahir community, and one for the relatively ‘upper’ caste groups. although this was not a water-tight division, it was observed to be an overall pattern. for example, within the same village, devipujak (wagri) children came to the awc which was largely attended by muslim children; these families did not want to send their children to an awc that was largely meant for dalit children. on the other hand, devipujak children were not welcomed in the other two awcs meant for aahir, bharwad, and brahmin children. the awc devoted largely to dalit children was located within a non-dalit settlement in a rented building owned by the deputy sarpanch belonging to a brahmin household (fig 2). it had an aww of dalit caste. it also had on its roll a small number of children belonging to the caste-hindu groups. dalit and non-dalit children huddled separately and non-dalit children were observed to have restricted interactions with dalit children. a few households residing in this area sent their children to other awcs in the village, with the convenient arrangement that an awh of another awc, who happened to live in the area, would escort their children, each morning, on her way to the awc. fig 2. awcs for ‘upper’ caste (top row) and dalit (bottom row) children respectively re-casting food: ethnographic enquiry into the pre-school supplementary... 9 in the kutch village, the pattern of the three awcs was as follows. one was earmarked as the awc for dalit and muslim children. although almost the entire ‘upper’ caste hindu families resided in that area, they preferred to send their children to the village social welfare centre (swc). the second awc was being run especially for children of the migrant samma community. the third awc was meant for muslim, koli and other ‘lower’ caste hindu families. here too there were a few patel and lohana families who sent their children to the swc. a number of muslim families sent their children to an awc across a main road, falling under another village where a sizeable number of muslim children attended. interestingly, the swcs were run by a non-governmental organization (ngo) but funded by the department of women and child development, the same department that funds awcs. they also catered to the same age groups of children as awcs. unlike awcs, these centres collected a nominal monthly fee and were more focused on day-care and pre-primary education than on the distribution of food or other health care services. this was an example of a state supported two-tier service – one tier for the elite and another for the rest– with an ngo serving as the conduit. the caste composition and the hierarchy within the ngo were not studied in this research. in the kutch village, muslim households mentioned that they were never informed or called to attend educational sessions by the awws. one aww reportedly said that “they are arrogant, either they don’t listen to what is being said or even if they listen they forget whatever they are told, hence it is a waste of time.” this awc was located well inside the kutch village settlement, hence the aww had apprehensions and reluctance to serve these families. one of the mothers in this community said that the “aww scolded the children, saying that they were dirty. only if she taught them, would they know how to keep clean.” (a young samma woman, kutch village) in the tapi village, an entire settlement of about fifty households belonging to the kotwadia community refused to send their children to the existing awcs. they had long been demanding a separate awc in their own settlement. in the dahod village, a handful of households belonging to ‘chamara,’ a dalit community, lived along the main road but far from the awc. none of them sent their children to the awc that is located in the settlement largely inhabited by the koli community. in all the four villages it was observed that for a section of affluent households, belonging to the dominant communities, the awc was completely irrelevant as far as providing services for their children was concerned, although some of these households held a strong control over the resources associated with awcs. in the tapi village, households belonging to the chowdhary community and owning large pieces of land sent their children to a private nursery school located a few kilometres away. in one of the kutch villages, all the households belonging to the patel community sent their children either to a swc in the village or to private nursery schools outside it. in this village, entry into the swc is strongly regulated. it was largely meant for the children of patel, lohana, and a handful of other ‘upper’ caste-hindu households. there was a token presence of one or two muslim and non-dalit ‘lower’ caste-hindu families who managed to push their way either through recommendations from influential people or 10 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 by being strongly vocal. members from some of these households expressed a sense of contempt for the idea of sending their children to awcs, as they were perceived to be meant for the poor. this was a benchmark that was progressively emulated by increasing number of households from all sections. “there was no one to drop her and bring her back home. once the child is three years, i will put her in social welfare centre as that was the only place in the village.” (a young dalit woman, kutch village) to sum up, the composition of each awc is more or less a microcosm of the village divided along caste and community lines. across the different awcs in a village, groups manoeuvre to retain the boundaries of social interaction as per the prevailing caste norms. this not only preserved and reproduced the established social differentiation and hierarchy; it also facilitated the dominant groups to maintain exclusivity for a privileged position in terms of greater access to better-run awcs – with staff from the same or an acceptable community background– than the ‘lower’ or minority groups. alternatively, dominant affluent groups may even create or access institutions parallel to awcs – state-funded or private – to maintain their distinct caste identities. restrictions on commensality restrictions in inter-dining and exchange of food constituted a defining element of caste system. snp being a food based programme it naturally gets enmeshed with issues around restrictions in commensality in multi-caste village settings. this element has a strong overlap with the previous two aspects that were identified. nevertheless, it merits a separate consideration not only because food is the central element of the snp but also because food and exchange of food symbolise and powerfully reflect the ideological and material contradictions in the social life of these villages. in two multi-caste villages, with the presence of communities that could be located along a much wider spectrum of the ritual scale, ranging from brahmin-patel communities to dalit/muslim groups, such practices were more pronounced and articulated. many of the patel households in the kutch village were staunch followers of a particular sect within hinduism which prescribed observation of stiff norms related to ritual purity and commensality. restrictions on commensality ran from the top to the bottom rung of the caste hierarchy. the ‘upper’ caste hindu communities accepted raw vegetables, fruits, grains, milk, curds, buttermilk, and food that did not need cooking from other caste communities. in the middle of the caste hierarchy there was a tradition of ‘upper’ caste households giving buttermilk to ‘lower’ caste households free of cost. in bhavnagar village the kharak, aahir, mali, and koli families practised this tradition between them, but not with other caste groups below them. none of these groups accepted any form of food or water from ‘lower’ caste groups like devipujak, dalit, and muslim households. even at the bottom, the rawal-jogis, devipujaks and dalits observed restrictions in commensality. similarly in the kutch village the samma enjoyed an equal relationship with other muslim communities in the village but they did not share food or water with the koli or dalit communities. re-casting food: ethnographic enquiry into the pre-school supplementary... 11 on the other hand, in the two villages with predominant ‘scheduled tribe’ populations, such practices did not dominantly occupy the social life of the village. in the dahod village all households partook food in a temple festival that involved the sharing of food items. similarly, in the tapi village the kotwadia community members get invited to the family functions of the gamit and chowdhary households. however, one noted a spatial segregation of the most backward ‘scheduled tribe’ community or the few dalit households in these two villages. most dalit families, a few other ‘lower’ caste hindu families, all muslim families and most ‘scheduled tribes’ across the four villages consumed eggs and meat. individual families from other caste groups may consume these foods too. this becomes an additional reason to justify restrictions in food commensality across groups, although it does not fully explain the practice. it is often not the binary arrangement of accepting or not accepting food, but a hierarchy of food types with different degrees of pollution (or purity) accorded to the act of receiving it from a ‘lower’ caste. for instance, it is less polluting to receive uncooked food grains from the hands of a ‘lower’ caste compared to receiving a cooked meal from the same person. zimmerman observes that the arrival of vegetarianism emplaces ‘a new type of opposition between … pure and the impure and a hierarchy of castes’ replacing the opposition based on the “alimentary violence” between the strong and the weak, the predator and his prey‘ (zimmerman, 1999, p.1-2) similarly, here too different food categories, even devoid of human touch, are arranged in a ritual scale of social value – ghee, milk and water at the one end and meat of certain animals at the other. this ritual hierarchy of food gets overlaid on groups which consume or avoid the respective groups of food items. the food here, thus, serves as a potential marker of social identities constructed around consuming and sharing food. the practice of restriction in food commensality effortlessly subsumes the process associated with preparation and distribution of snp food in the awc. likewise, these practices influence the decisions households make regarding choosing and sending their children to specific awcs. a seemingly innocuous food distribution programme implemented through the awcs effectively, thus, becomes a marker of social privileges and discrimination across the dimensions of caste, religion, and ethnicity, and it affects the utilisation of this service. two key but closely related aspects that shape a number of variations in awc food distribution processes are (a) that awws or awhs belonging to the dalit community are not allowed to provide cooked food to children from caste-hindu families, and (b) that families of the ‘upper’ caste do not want their children to have food alongside children of dalit or other ‘lower’ groups. as a result, families belonging to different communities adopt different strategies to manoeuvre these conditions of restriction within the given material conditions like resource, distance, and time. affluent families of ‘upper’ caste groups completely withdraw their children from the awcs and send their children to relatively more exclusive private schools or to a swc. communities manage to secure for their children an swc that practices a great degree of exclusivity. many families handled the situation by successfully locating one or more awc within their settlement or far from settlements of ‘lower’ sections. it was also managed by working through the enrolment process wherein children from ‘lower’ sections were assigned different or far-off centres. another form of exclusion that happens more subtly is the differential behaviour of awws and awhs towards children from ‘lower’ vis-à-vis ‘upper’ caste groups. 12 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 however, not all families were able to cope ‘successfully’ with this situation. there were households that practised restrictions in commensality with dalits but sent their children to awcs attended by dalit children as well. these situations get addressed through a variety of strategies as follows: a. for one of the koli families in the bhavnagar village, food prepared by a dalit awh was acceptable if it was cooked in awc utensils in the awc, and not in the dalit awh’s own utensils in her home. b. families accepted a dalit aww or awh giving a snack purchased from a local shop to their children instead of food cooked by her. c. some children were allowed to consume food prepared from the ready-to-eat packets by the aww but not freshly prepared food. d. some families sent food and water from home in containers which their children consumed sitting in the awcs. e. water was maintained separately; children carry their own water or avoid drinking water in the awc. f. children did not eat from plates that were in the awc (or in schools). instead, they brought their own plates or containers. g. some families sent their children to the awc for a few hours but these children did not consume anything on the awc premises. h. a few mothers or old women had also stated that they do not believe in such discriminatory practices or that given their economic situation, they could not afford to observe such practices. “there are dalit and muslim children coming to awc and we avoid touching dalit or muslim people. we do not share food or water with them and hence i prefer my children carrying water from home even to swc.” (mother from caste-hindu community in kutch village) it was also observed that awc-related aspects spill outside its boundaries to inflict humiliation on ‘lower’ sections. in the bhavnagar village some caste-hindus expressed the view that dalit women visited the awc only to eat. referring to dalit women approaching the awc, a caste-hindu woman commented, “see these dhedh women have come to eat.” on the other hand, in the kutch village one of the awws belonging to the caste-hindu community had alleged that the “samma members ‘steal’ things; they are to be feared/ not trusted. one should not come here alone.” similarly, in the tapi village one of the awws had repeatedly mentioned that “members of kotwadia community keep demanding more food and even adults come to collect” food that was meant for children. such comments further reinforced the devalued and stigmatised identity placed on these groups. this process further impacted their fuller participation in everyday village life beyond the sphere of food. with select communities selfexcluding from using these services or by securing exclusive awcs or swcs for themselves, the awcs as a collective institution and their activities got discredited progressively. re-casting food: ethnographic enquiry into the pre-school supplementary... 13 discussion in keeping with findings in sociological literature in india, all the four villages embody wider community dynamics along traditional dimensions of caste, ethnicity and religion (navsarjan.., 2014; perez, 2004; berman, 1974; tambs-lynche, 2010). the awc-based services were not only perceived as an entitlement by some, but the associated resources were also part of village-level politicking for others. equally, food and the sharing of food still operated as an important marker of identities and boundaries – and the snp exemplifies this social process. though the snp is a state-run programme and its stated mode of implementation presumes an apolitical and non-partisan nature, in reality it acquires the characteristic features of the social life of the society in which it is implemented. like any other institution, the awcs and snp operate within the contours shaped by existing ideological and material contradictions in the society (aloysius, 2005). dominant social institutions such as caste and gender inscribe their characteristics on to the programme and subvert its functioning in favour of select groups. certain groups were able to stay unaffected and indifferent to this programme, some appropriated it, and some were deprived of it. this occurred along the lines of caste, religion, and ethnicity. these social identities operated as an important determinant of access to power and resources surrounding awcs. this has a major impact on perception, utilization, provision, exclusion and self-exclusion from the snp, composition of individual awcs, people who get recruited as awws or awhs, and those whose houses are rented out for the awc. in summary, the differentials in access to the programme incorporate and reflect the prevalent social hierarchy and social exclusion faced by select communities in the villages. sharing of food is an expressive act permeated with meaning (douglas, 1972, 1966; fraser, 1996; freed, 1970) conveying degrees of familiarity and ‘personal feelings’ (freeman, 2003), as well as the social status of the groups involved (zimmerman, 1999). the practices surrounding commensality are an important way through which social hierarchies, power and dominance are expressed and understood in these villages. food and the exchange of food across households of different communities were found to be strongly associated with community dynamics, either as symbolic of, or as a substantive component of, politicking. welfare programmes involving the distribution of food reflected these issues. this relates to what fraser refers to as the ‘misrecognition effects of redistributive policies’: any redistributive proposal, which is often in the form of a welfare scheme, will have ‘intended or unintended, explicit or implicit, overt or subliminal’ recognition effects. the welfare and the actions around it have an ‘irreducible dimension of expression’ that ‘institutionalise cultural norms around the entitlements and construct distinct, often unequally valued, subject positions or identities’ of beneficiaries and the rest, the former stigmatized and the later valorised (fraser, 1996). a public food distribution programme such as the snp would qualify as one such entitlement, the social imagery around which stigmatises and violates the autonomy of the beneficiaries to restrict their full and equal participation in social life. despite the stated intent and design of a programme like the snp, its success will finally depend to a great extent on the strategies of delivery at the local level. in reality, however, these strategies become occasions for power struggles. as a result they get circumscribed and co-opted by, local social and political configurations, strengthening existing power relations. 14 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 this study did not examine how gender and patriarchy mediate and intersect with caste-based discrimination and mark its importance on the way awc-based programmes function as a marker and producer of social disadvantages. additionally, the issues around promoting exclusive breastfeeding till the sixth month of infancy and subsequent introduction of complementary feeding and home visits by an aww remain unaddressed. conclusion this ethnographic study revealed critical elements of caste-based organisations of social life which permeate the structure and function of the awc/snp. caste divides communities into groups arranged hierarchically in terms of social status, privilege, and honour. it simultaneously permits some groups to wrest control over material and symbolic resources while actively excluding others from accessing these resources. this extends seamlessly in the way awc functions. politically or ritually dominant caste groups exercise a strong control over the awc as an institution and reconfigure it to their advantage, at the expense of other groups. caste identities shape and regulate degrees of social interaction across communities. this is replicated in the domain of the awc/snp by the dominant groups’ control over enrolment of children into different awcs. practices surrounding food commensality are an important way in which social hierarchy is expressed and understood in a society configured along caste. thus, snp, a seemingly innocuous food distribution programme, assumes the status of a symbolic marker of identities and boundaries of caste. the authors argue that the snp and awcs are not simply a case study of nutritional intervention or food distribution, but a case study of control over resources too. controlling a state-run facility like an awc gives recognition and legitimacy to the dominant groups over the rest, giving them the ability to display real or putative access to state machinery. this display may well lead to accrual of political benefits within and outside the village. the snp fails because the groups that have the greatest need for its services have the least representation in almost every aspect of the programme. these tragic issues are not limited to nutritional programmes alone. the authors argue that current research and charismatic ‘movement for global mental health’ advocating ‘scaling up of models’ especially in the global south is an ethical violation if they gloss over local psychological and cultural ecologies that shape poor uptake of both physical and mental health programmes by the affected communities (patel et al., 2008, jadhav et al., 2015). acknowledgement this work was supported by a wellcome trust capacity strengthening strategic award to the public health foundation of india and a consortium of uk universities. the authors would like to gratefully acknowledge support received from icds functionaries and community members who had participated in the study. re-casting food: ethnographic enquiry into the pre-school supplementary... 15 references aloysius, g. 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(1999). the jungle and the aroma of meats: an ecological theme in hindu medicine. motilal banarsidass, delhi. notes 1. anganwadi or ‘courtyard shelters’ are mother and young children (0-6 years) care centres established by the government in 1975 under the integrated child development programme to combat child hunger and malnutrition. 2. varna is any one of the four traditional social classes in india, viz. brahmins (priests), khsatriyas (warriors), vaisyas (traders), and shudras (farmers and unskilled labourers such as sweepers, cleaners, tanners, etc. the latter are also called ati-shudras, officially called scheduled caste or dalits) 3. sarpanch is the head decision maker of the village-level constitutional local governance body called gram sabha. he/she along with other decision makers (panchs) are elected by the villagers directly. editorial and introduction caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. v–viii april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.309 © 2021 laurence simon. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste “i can’t breathe”: perspectives on emancipation from caste laurence simon yesterday, april 20, 2021, a jury in minnesota convicted the former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin of murdering george floyd, a black american. mr. chauvin, who is white, had knelt on mr. floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes despite mr. floyd’s desperate appeals that “i can’t breathe.” those words reignited a powerful social movement for racial justice in america and were echoed around the world by communities disadvantaged by their histories of persecution fed by illusions of superiority. in the united states, racial inequality causes major disparities between african americans and people of white ethnicities. these deprivations, despite progress, are seen today in economic assets, educational attainment, rates of incarceration, and health outcomes as in covid-19. yet covid-19 did not create health disparities and differences in life expectancy. those disparities are directly the result of racism. racism is declared to be a public health crisis wherein black lives are more prone to life-limiting illness and premature death including police killings in which black males are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police.11“this problem is only exacerbated if we look at the global scale. white supremacy is the idea that there is a hierarchy inherent to the chain of human beings, with those who are white at the top and black people at the bottom.”22 j-caste agrees, though we also see these deep divisions and resentments within societies of color. all forms of graded hierarchies continue to degrade the lives and well-being of those whose births deprive them of their full potential and human rights whether by race or gender, indigeneity, language, or culture. like white privilege, there is caste privilege in high brahmanical societies, and like white supremacy, caste supremacy is responsible when dalits choose suicide over humiliation at universities or when high caste men gang rape dalit girls in rural villages. 1risk of being killed by police use of force in the united states by age, race–ethnicity, and sex frank edwards, hedwig lee, michael esposito proceedings of the national academy of sciences aug 2019, 116 (34) 16793-16798; doi: 10.1073/pnas.1821204116 2racism is the public health crisis. andrews, kehinde. the lancet, volume 397, issue 10282, april 10, 2021, 1342-1343 vi caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 with an editorial advisory board of thirty leading scholars in ten countries, and along with our joint editor-in-chief professor emeritus sukhadeo thorat, j-caste continues its mission to advance scholarship in caste studies. this issue explores a wide range of papers written by specialists and introduces to the j-caste audience the two winners of the bluestone rising scholar medals and three chosen for ‘honorable mention’ for 2021. rajesh sampath’s article a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published philosophy of hinduism part ii continues his multi-part analysis of one of b.r. ambedkar’s core texts. in part i sampath walked the path ambedkar took to arrive at his criteria for “justice” and “utility” which sampath sees as shaping the modern conception of religion. in part ii sampath now dives further into ambedkar’s concern that the dominant religious orientation of indian society, sampath says, “forecloses the possibility of individual equality, freedom, and dignity.” this installment prepares us for part iii of his commentary which sampath tells us “will examine ambedkar’s actual engagement with the classics of hinduism’s philosophy and thought in general. ultimately, ambedkar is undeterred in his original critique of the social and moral failures of the caste system, thereby intimating ambitious possibilities for its eventual eradication.” ibrahim sundiata’s caste, the origins of our discontents: a historical reflection on two cultures contributes a critical analysis of isabel wilkerson’s book which attempts to compare the indian caste system to the american idea of race. given the attention her book has received, this is the second article j-caste has published on her book (see susan holcombe’s review archived in vol. 1, no. 2 october 2020). sundiata, as an africanist and african americanist historian, offers a lesson to the journalist by pointing to gramsci’s “hegemonic ideology” and the nature of subalternity. “to think that antebellum slaves” sundiata writes, “born on large plantations in the deepest south, far from the nearest town, were any freer from hierarchical thinking than dalits is a risky surmise.” from there, sundiata launches into a tour de force that anchors the american and indian trajectories for equality around the basic concepts of race and caste. “there is no american demand for the ‘abolition of race,’” he says, “equal to ambedkar’s call for ‘the annihilation of caste.’” snehashish das’ fracturing the historical continuity on truth: jotiba phule in the quest for personhood of shudras follows nicely from sundiata’s article. das explores phule’s quest for finding the essence / personhood of the shudra. but the personhood of this precarious subject is never seen in history as a complete personhood. das presents phule’s attempts, he tells us, “to unveil the path towards achieving complete personhood which is embedded in reaffirming the lost or concealed truth – by discontinuing the historical flow of the social structure of caste and establishing a new subject rising out of crisis in social structure in history.” s. gunasekaran’s documenting a caste: the chakkiliyars in colonial and missionary documents in india adds to our knowledge of a group that had been described as untouchable within the untouchable castes. gunasekaran tells us that the people of the chakkiliyar community prefer to be called as arunthathiyar – a recent construction attempting to depart from the stereotypically constructed characteristics associated with their caste. “while ‘chakkili’ signified the people who eat the flesh of dead cattle and engage in the so-called impure jobs, arunthathiyar, derived from the name of the morning star, meant purity, pristine, and a revolutionary rising.” even in “i can’t breathe”: perspectives on emancipation from caste vii sri lanka where chakkiliyars migrated to work in colonial era tea plantations, the word ‘chakkili’ still resounds as a derogatory sinhala term. gunasekaran’s careful and detailed tracing of the group’s identity through history richly adds to our understanding of the social-trap out of which chakkiliyars continue to struggle. shiv shankar and kanthi swaroop’s manual scavenging in india: the banality of an everyday crime documents the causes and conditions of the estimated 1.2 million people whose traditional occupation even today forces them into daily contact with raw excreta. despite the act of 2013 that prohibits such employment, the authors decry the criminal damage done to those still performing this inherited occupation decided at birth by caste. two articles analyze the media’s role in the perpetuation of stereotypes about dalits. devanshu sajlan’s hate speech against dalits on social media: would a penny sparrow be prosecuted in india for online hate speech? makes a powerful argument for strengthening indian legal remedies and oversight for hate speech too often seen on social media. the author brings his legal experience as a civil judge to the analysis of this conundrum balancing free-speech standards against the social good, protecting the dignity of depressed classes. pranjali kureel’s indian media and caste: of politics, portrayals and beyond contends that the hegemony over the indian media industry by dominant castes has powerfully inflicted “epistemic violence over the oppressed castes as it helps dominant discourses to prevail and shapes popular perceptions and culture.” the article reviews journalism, cinema and television and concludes that the discourse bars an unbiased representation of dalit women. and in our forum section deepak kumar’s journey with rural identity and linguicism presents his own experience in doctoral studies in one of india’s most prestigious universities. he recounts the challenges of an environment “overwhelmingly dominated by the upper caste, class, and english-speaking people.” kumar weaves into his analysis his own field research at his university involving students from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other backward classes who registered such feelings as inferiority, humiliation and even suicide ideation. five additional articles showcase the results of j-caste’s 2021 bluestone rising scholar competition. the purpose of the competition is to encourage early career scholars around the world to pursue research into caste and other social exclusions. j-caste received numerous outstanding submissions from south asia, europe, and north america. our jury, consisting of leading academics from south asia, the uk, and the usa, deliberated together over a period of several weeks and in the end, awarded bluestone rising scholar medals to two authors and honorable mention to three others – all outstanding young scholars. the bluestone medal winners are: anurag bhaskar for his paper ‘ambedkar’s constitution’: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? mr. bhaskar is currently assistant professor at jindal global law school, sonipat, haryana, india. indulata prasad for her paper caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india dr. prasad is currently assistant professor, women and gender studies, school of social transformation, arizona state university, tempe, arizona, usa. both bluestone rising scholars will participate in the award ceremony at brandeis university at such time that the pandemic recedes, and we can safely gather. viii caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 in addition, three papers were awarded honorable mention. these are: ankit kawade’s clearing of the ground: ambedkar’s method of reading mr. kawade is an m.phil. candidate, centre for political studies, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india. subro saha’s caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy mr. saha is a ph.d. fellow (pursuing), institute for cultural inquiry, utrecht university, netherlands. meena sawariya’s caste and counselling psychology in india: dalit perspectives in theory and practice ms. sawariya is pursuing her ph.d. in psychology, dr. b.r. ambedkar university, delhi, india. as always, professor thorat and i are eager for our readers to send in comments and critiques of j-caste articles which spur dialogue and debate, and which might be shared publicly in a future issue. please send them through afia adaboh, senior editorial assistant at jcastemanager@brandeis.edu. laurence simon joint editor-in-chief © 2021 roshni babu. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 359–374 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.230 tending immanence, transcending sectarianism: plane of mixed castes and religions roshni babu1 abstract the attempt in this article is to extrapolate the notion of hybridity latent in b.r. ambedkar’s reflections on mixed castes, and outcastes, which subsequently leads to the causal link that he then derives gesticulating to social evils, namely, the origin of untouchability. whether this embryonic notion of hybridity present in ambedkar’s work is amenable to the extrapolation of dalit identity thought along the lines of gilles deleuze’s notion of “immanent mixtures” is a thread that this study pursues. this certainly has broad implications for the prevalent notions of dalit identity. this study ventures to read ambedkar’s work, riddles in hinduism (1987) alongside deleuze, probing into the intuitive link between notions of hybridity and the plane of immanence. ideological distancing from predetermined categories of identity considered to be reductive in nature by the intellectuals of indian philosophical thinking view such predetermined notions as facile conceptions that run short of representative qualities of complex and varied particularities of reasoned engagement with one’s resources. amartya sen heralded this ideological position in his work titled, the argumentative indian (2006), in favor of heterodoxy and reasoned choice determining priorities between different identities. lacunae regarding identification of resources prominent in sen’s work is pointed out by jonardon ganeri, who hails from the cluster of contemporary sanskritists competent in philological and theoretical exegesis of “sastric” philosophical literature from the classical period of india. this study is a close reading of jonardon ganeri’s concept of ‘resources within’ which he develops in his work, identity as reasoned choice (2012) to examine the potentiality of this concept to advance a theoretical framework that could counter a sectarian view of indian tradition, as it is professed at 1independent researcher (phd, iit bombay) e-mail: roshni.babu@yahoo.com 360 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 the outset of his work. sectarianism, which ganeri opposes, identifies mysticism to be its chief trait which he shows to be selectively usurping only those resources grounded in vedantic wisdom from india’s past. keywords ambedkar, mixed-castes, half-castes, outcastes, dalits, plane of immanence, deleuze and guattari, ganeri, indian philosophy, hybridity, post-colonialism i the attempt in this paper is to extrapolate the notion of hybridity latent in b.r.ambedkar’s reflections on mixed castes, and outcastes, which subsequently leads to the causal link that he then derives gesticulating to social evils, namely, the origin of untouchability. whether this embryonic notion of hybridity present in ambedkar’s work is amenable to the extrapolation of dalit identity thought along the lines of gilles deleuze’s notion of “immanent mixtures” is a thread that this paper pursues. this certainly has broad implications for the prevalent notions of dalit identity. present paper ventures to read ambedkar’s work, riddles in hinduism (1987) alongside deleuze probing into the intuitive link between notions of hybridity and the plane of immanence. the notion of “hybridity” has a distinctive nexus to the advent of postcolonial reason in india. this article is an attempt to make the deleuzean motif of “immanence” amenable to understanding postcolonial engagement with the notion of hybridity in general, and the idea of “dalit” identity in particular in the background of ambedkar’s observations on the mixtures of castes and religious identities springing forth amidst the nominal hindu identity. the task that calls for a new understanding of “hybridity” in the background of dalit movements in postcolonial india is significantly different from its original locution as migratory form of selfhood in homi bhabha’s work (bhabha 1994). this study is an analysis of an argument that emerged into prominence in the post-independent indian philosophical thinking which can be encapsulated in the phrase, ‘one’s identity is a work of reason’ by which is meant that ‘identity is something one actively and deliberately chooses’ (ganeri, 2012: viii). emanating from the oeuvre of intellectuals of ‘new reason’ (ganeri, 2011) this argument is developed in favor of ‘multi-cultural, multi-religious, and multi-racial’ societies. the anti-thesis of this argument is the notion of ‘identity as something merely given by birth’. this article is a close reading of the interiors and exteriors of this “new reason”. signaling one’s access to multiple sources of identity, the intellectuals of new reason resuscitate resources for the articulation of “new reason” from india. jonardon ganeri, prominent theorist of new reason, articulates ‘identity as reasoned choice’: using theory retrieved from india, my claim will be that identities are fashioned from exercises of reason as derivation from exemplary and paradigmatic cases, that it is procedures of adaptation and substitution from what i will call ‘local norms’ which is distinctive of the rational formation of an identity. (ganeri, 2012: viii) tending immanence, transcending sectarianism: plane of mixed castes and religions 361 ganeri identifies ‘adaptive model’ as a distinctive model popular among indian rationalists (of classical indian philosophical tradition). adaptive model of reason relies on ‘exemplary cases’ for its normative appeal. as exemplarity of such cases are context-specific, he designates these norms as “local”. one of the ostensible aims of intellectuals of new reason in developing indian models of reasoning is to make it viable to platforms of ‘global governance and cosmopolitanism’ (ganeri 2012: ix). aakash singh rathore furnishes an incisive analysis of the agenda of ‘deparochialization’ that emerges within the framework of global justice debate that appears in the political theory developed by amartya sen in his work, the idea of justice (2009). however, rathore’s study shows its inadequacy to address the quandaries of “social justice”, articulated as one among the key concerns by the dalit marxists (rathore 2017; cybil 2019). an idea of “overlapping consensus” for the peaceful resolution of conflicts is central to the theories of global justice (ganeri 2012: ix). conflict of interests observed to be occasioned by ‘diversity of religious affiliations in democratic secular governance’ is the theoretical premise of this global appeal for models of consensual reasoning disposed toward deparochializing global theoretical frameworks of reasoning. ideological distancing from predetermined categories of identity considered to be reductive in nature by the intellectuals of indian philosophical thinking view such predetermined notions as facile conceptions that run short of representative qualities of complex and varied particularities of reasoned engagement with one’s resources. amartya sen heralded this ideological position in his work titled, the argumentative indian, in favor of heterodoxy and reasoned choice determining priorities between different identities (sen, 2006). in particular, this position holds itself against the historical position that regards identity as a matter of discovery. as he explains, though choices are always made within certain constraints, the point at issue is whether ‘we have choices over alternative identities or combinations of identities’ (sen, 2006: 351). in arguing for an inclusionary form of indian identity, sen’s deliberation is over the sectarian view of deriving an indian identity from a hindu identity (sen, 2006: 352). delving into the issue of congruence of indian and hindu identities tricks him into an evasive position forcing him to move in circles amidst traditions of heterodoxy latent to hindu culture evidenced by the classical sanskrit literature (sen, 2006: 354). tradition of heterodoxy is hailed for the sake of nurturing multiculturalism, and plurality of identities, features identified to foster cultures of secularism and democracy as opposed to the narrow sectarian imagination of a monocultural hindu india. an effective challenge to the conferrals of identity as to “who you are” in contrast to “who you choose to be” can be discerned only when we identify the resources and methods of reasoning that could augment traditions of heterodoxy and modes of dissent from sediments of traditions (both orthodox and heterodox to invent newer forms of heterodoxies). epistemological and ethical limitations concerning egalitarian notions of identity that would plague the notion of discovered identity would persist if we leave unattended varied modes of recognizing dissent that could support the future of heterodoxy. as we know, decisive choices involving adoption of newer definitions of identities are simultaneously departures or dissent from the conferred ones. instances of dissent and argumentation with tradition such as we see in the works of b.r. ambedkar whose decisive choices to depart from conferred identities undergo the agonizing process of inventing newer forms of egalitarian associations. a significant question is whether contemporary philosophical thinking in india could draw insights from the newly emergent identities such as “dalits”, “navayana362 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 buddhists”, “adi-sudra”, or “adi-dravida” in such a manner as to radicalize ways of imagining egalitarian thought, its ethical underpinnings, and epistemological horizons? in particular, this article channels insights drawn from ambedkar’s exposition of the “riddles in hinduism”, especially the one concerning “origin of mixed castes” to advance prospective ways of envisioning “immanence”—as resourceful interjections into traditional resources—for the eradication of caste as a discriminative category which obstructs human potential to engage with oneself and others in meaningful and innovative modes of egalitarian associations (ambedkar, 1987, riddle no.18). lacunae regarding identification of resources prominent in sen’s work is pointed out by jonardon ganeri, who hails from the cluster of contemporary sanskritists competent in philological and theoretical exegesis of “sastric” philosophical literature from the classical period of india. though ganeri avowedly claims to be advancing the views of b.k. matilal, his work can be counted among the group of post-independence indian thinkers including daya krishna, and j.n. mohanty (ganeri, 2006: 12) who fight tooth and nail to revive logical, argumentative, and rational resources from the classical sanskrit literature against the overshadowing impact of the image of mystical india propagated by the indian intellectuals of the colonial period namely s. radhakrishnan, swami vivekananda, krishnachandra bhattacharyya, r.d. ranade, a.c. mukerji et al. (bhushan & garfield, 2011). study of logic and grammar gains importance in the works of these intellectuals of “new reason”, from the period of post-independent india, who elevate these tools of reason to counter the devaluation of rational elements that arose as ‘a product of the colonized indian intellectual struggle for an indigenous, non-european identity’ during the indian nationalist movement (ganeri, 2006: 2-3; 2016: 248-49). their attempt to rediscover from india’s past resources counterpoising the spiritual mission of the nationalist period which is perceived to have selectively usurped from india’s past resources that confronted colonial intrusion, find them fashioning themselves as intellectuals of “new reason” or advocates who advance the argumentative tradition of “navya-nyaya” (ganeri, 2006: 13). the argument for the promulgation of india’s logical and grammatical resources from the past implies a two-pronged reasoning. one that exposes the spiritual renaissance which took place during the colonial period as a selective assortment of resources from the past to suit the purpose at hand, or a non-authentic “return to the source”, and second that the rediscovery of native-culture by neo-hindu movement was an imposition upon an emergent modernity that was underway thriving on the logical tradition of navyanyaya (ganeri, 2006: 13) from about the medieval period in india. according to ganeri, the impact of colonialism and the nativist response it triggered as manifested in the nationalist period jeopardized the emergent modernity that was otherwise earning critical acclaim from european logicians such as h.t. colebrooke, de morgan, george boole, and sir william hamilton, et al. prior to this (ganeri, 2006: 3-4). marshalling his expertise in the logical and grammatical literature from the classical “sastric” or theoretically systematized schools of philosophy, ganeri’s critical appropriation of sen’s work makes a decisive shift from sen’s focus on political figures to ganeri’s emphasis on intellectual figures who are deemed ‘to have provided india with its theoretical resources’ (ganeri, 2006: 3). identifying sen’s position to be upholding ‘liberal secularism’ invested in examining the ‘reach of reason’ as opposed to excavating the ‘resources of reason’, ganeri turns his attention to the classical sanskrit literature in buddhism, jainism, and hinduism (ganeri, 2006: 4–6). tending immanence, transcending sectarianism: plane of mixed castes and religions 363 this study is a close reading of jonardon ganeri’s concept of ‘resources within’ which he develops in his work, identity as reasoned choice (2012) to examine the potentiality of this concept so as to advance a theoretical framework that could counter a sectarian view of indian tradition, as it is professed at the outset of his work. sectarianism, which ganeri opposes, identifies mysticism to be its chief trait which he shows to be selectively usurping only those resources grounded in vedantic wisdom from india’s past (ganeri, 2016: 248–249). counter-positioning himself on the side of reason, ganeri’s work undertakes the task of detailing resources of reason from the classical indian philosophical theories. this argumentative position which apprehends ‘reason as resources’, draws out its boundaries as ‘resources within’, whose supportive axis is constituted by the idea of ‘dissent within’ hinduism, within islam, within christianity, and so on, thus essentializing its bounds that define the confines of “within”. one of the pivotal insights that spiraled into view through ambedkar’s radical readings of hindu-vedic scriptures overwrite the assumed integrity of hindu beliefs and allied practices in sustaining a unity analogous to that of other major and minor religious beliefs surrounding christianity, sikhism, islam, judaism, zoroastrianism, etc. his critical reading of vedic and puranic corpus, though was impelled by the plight of untouchable communities, was equally a compelling reading unveiling the genetic code of mystical beliefs and spiritual creeds assembled under the appellation of hinduism as essentially inseparable from its “mixtural” compounds emanating from its susceptibility to blend with other religious beliefs and systems, thus assuming the guise of resultant spiritual practices of cults. the hinduism which ambedkar unveils here, though is not necessarily of parasitic nature, ‘is a complex congeries of creeds and doctrines that has no definite creed’ (ambedkar, 1987: riddle no. 1: 14–15). in the introductory chapter of riddles in hinduism itself he proclaims the objective of this work to be one of challenging the “sanatan” view of hindu civilization, a static view of hindu religion propagated by european scholars and brahmanic theology (ambedkar, 1987: riddle no. 1: 5). against such a monocultural and static view of hindu society ambedkar summons the ground level or bottom-up view of hindu belief systems emanating out of “pir cults” (ambedkar, 1987: riddle no.1: 5–15). hence ambedkar’s incisive scrutiny of hindu scriptures and religious creeds, while on the one hand becomes a scathing attack on brahmanic theology, on the other hand, is a probing inquiry on the future of minor religiosities as the locus of hindu civilization. what emerges as a result of this inquiry is certainly a cross-sectional view of hindu civilization upheld, practiced and propagated by the non-brahmanic hindu masses, the untouchables, and the progenies of mixed castes and religions. hindu customs and ceremonials unveiled by this cross-sectional plane of communities of mixed origin such as malkanas, and matia kunbis, gods and goddesses of multivalent religious fusions such as goddess mant mauli, pirana saint imam shah, and sakhi sarwar shows that ‘the beliefs of persons who are by all admitted to be hindus often differ more widely from each other than the perceived contrast from the communities of christians and muhammadans’ (ambedkar, 1987: riddle no.1: 13-14). the much-celebrated secular view of diversity gets a new verve unparalleled in its liberal versions at the hands of ambedkar. the argument of this article terms this cross-sectionality that is coming into view as an “immanent hybridity”, which opens up the “plane of immanence” onto an anticipatory scale in futuristic frame which widens the scope of imagining an anterior-hybrid religiosity of outcastes of hinduism as an ever expanding heterodox religion of mixtures, inviting newer egalitarian dimensions at every turn. 364 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 on a comparative axis, the present study pinpoints the loopholes lurking within the counter-sectarian approach expounded by ganeri which fails to institute a “plane of immanence”. institution of a plane of immanence is crucial to developing a countersectarian view, it is argued, since only a plane of immanence can enunciate a plane of ‘immersion’ in our contemporary debates, so as to anticipate an open-ended future of events that will populate this plane. in this respect, it is crucial to differentiate the conceptual plane defining the temporal plane of our present from the plane of immanence which lays out the plane of anticipation for the future. the fact that effective anchoring in one’s present defining its problematic elements of enunciation is crucial for articulating the reflective axis of philosophical thinking is overlooked in ganeri’s formulation. situated within the intricacies of constituting a plane of immanence cutting across the contentiously inebriated and politically friable terrain of hindu canon and ethics, we will make an attempt to pitch the plane of immanence on the unproblematized terrain of mixed castes and half-castes in religious identities. the theoretical extrapolation of the concept of immanence inspired by the work of gilles deleuze’s and félix guattari’s, what is philosophy? (2003), coupled with insights from b.r. ambedkar’s study, this article engages with the conceptual issues contained in conflating the paradoxical phrase ‘dissent within’, and apparently innocuous phrase ‘resources within’. ii plane of immanence and creation of concepts philosophical concepts are created, or rather constructed out of events that condition our pasts and presents. nonetheless, ‘philosophical constructivism’, deleuze and guattari uphold, ‘has two qualitatively different complementary aspects: creation of concepts and laying out of a plane’ (deleuze and guattari, 2003: 36). since concepts are conditioned by our present, and our past, the anticipation for the future that ought to be contained by the creative process can be laid out only by the constitution of a “plane of immanence”. concepts are events, but the plane is the horizon of events, the reservoir or reserve of purely conceptual events: not the relative horizon that functions as a limit, which changes with an observer and encloses observable states of affairs, but the absolute horizon, independent of any observer, which makes the event as concept independent of a visible state of affairs in which it is brought about. (deleuze and guattari, 2003: 36) in order for the plane of immanence to be independent of the creator (creator’s present) of the concept, in order to take on the form of anticipation, the plane ought to anticipate a future of events, wherein such anticipation is relatively free of determination emanating in the present. in this sense, ‘concepts and plane are strictly correlative’ (deleuze and guattari, 2003: 35). in ganeri, the notion of ‘resources within’ constitutes the constructive plane of immanence for the creative construction of concepts from the classical works of hindu-vedic canon. for those concepts to be able to reinvigorate a future, they are to be reinvented on a new plane of immanence. the plane on which they were laid out in the vedic period no longer makes sense to us, for which reason it demands a blind faith in tradition to be the only direction in which tending immanence, transcending sectarianism: plane of mixed castes and religions 365 its plane of immanence can be laid out. by contrast, deleuze and guattari underscore the significance of conceiving the plane of immanence as ‘prephilosophical’ as the ‘foundation on which philosophy creates its concepts’ (deleuze and guattari, 2003: 40-41). as a foundational plane, they enlist its features. while it is instituted in order to discern a direction in thinking, this plane in itself is not a concept. rather the plane only has an ‘intuitive’ dimension, whereas concepts are created on this plane as ‘intensions’ (deleuze and guattari, 2003: 40–41). this intuitive plane is understood as ‘prephilosophical’ in the sense that its commitment towards ‘nonphilosophy’ is highlighted as that which sets up the internal conditions of its enunciation. the nonphilosophical is perhaps closer to the heart of philosophy than philosophy itself, and this means that philosophy cannot be content to be understood only philosophically or conceptually, but is addressed essentially to non-philosophers as well. (deleuze and guattari, 2003: 41). one of the inevitable features of ‘this constant relationship with nonphilosophy’, we contend, is that it is the institution of the plane of immanence that secures its anticipatory plane of openness to the other. in this respect, as deleuze and guattari caution, one cannot conceive the plane of immanence as immanent ‘to’ something because ‘whenever immanence is interpreted as immanent to something, we can be sure that this something reintroduces the transcendent’ (deleuze and guattari, 2003: 44–45). this is especially the case with respect to religious philosophy, or notions that have a ring of such an aura as is the case with ‘faith values’, ‘vedic traditions’, ‘hindu canon’, etc. the ideals prescribed by these notions will predetermine the direction of the discourse, in the form of regulative ideals. in order to arrest or at best escape the eruptions of transcendent onto the plane of immanence, this plane ought to be instituted on an ‘infinite movement’ (deleuze and guattari, 2003: 47-49). in philosophical terms this infinite can be marked only by ‘the nonthought within thought’ as ‘that which cannot be thought and yet must be thought (deleuze and guattari, 2003: 59-60). it is in this sense that the notion of “mixtures”, which in ambedkar’s enunciation assume the form of mixed castes and half-castes of religions, ought to be pitched as the plane of immanence, whereby every new understanding of one’s identity in relation to indian pasts conditioned by classical vedic and non-vedic scriptures, and classical and non-classical philosophical systems are pitched on a forward movement encompassing the mixtures that condition our presents and which in turn anticipates our future becomings (deshpande 2013).2 the newly emergent communities who firmly believe in their alienation from traditional hindu caste structures, and those who no longer want to revert or resort to the foregone privileges of that system are stranded by a lack of vision that could propel this sense of loss or alienation into a ‘true 2in a way, a cue for imagining a “caste-universal” that rides on the spirit of “annihilation of caste” as an alibi for secularism is contained in the observation deshpande makes marking the advent of newly emergent communities of ‘strangers’ who ‘begin to believe in their castelessness’. this is the generation that is (generally speaking) distanced from the process of the conversion of traditional caste capital into secular modern casteless capital that previous generations effected. it is objectively true that in the life-experience of such individuals – who, it must not be forgotten, may still constitute a minority within their own caste-group – caste-qua-caste plays no direct role, or only a minor one… it is the double coincidence of the maturation of a sense of castelessness and the arrival of caste-marked strangers in hitherto uppercaste social milieu that confirms and amplifies this response. (deshpande, 2013: 39) 366 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 universal’. it is pertinent that we give body and volume to this universal driven by the spirit of dalit movements in order to add substance to the otherwise thin modular notion of secularism. only a plane of immanence conceptualized on the grounds of mixtures can anticipate a future population of multicultural india is evident from why a reappraisal of religious or caste-based identity has to undergo and map its own journey of “reformation” before it could properly rechristen itself as “modern” (bairy 2010).3 notwithstanding the fact that the “secular” domain houses those who are unmarked by their caste-identity as a matter of privilege, also accommodates those who take refuge under this category despite being trapped within the caste-structure, and those who choose to be under this category as a matter of defiance, or in disguise, or in denial of being marked by a caste-identity, thus masking a broad spectrum of sentiments. this category can be transformed into a conceptual universal anticipating a future population of mixtures only when it could potentially be populated by mixtures who distance themselves from privileges of caste structure. it is in this sense that ambedkar’s reading of manusmriti, in riddle no.18, discussing the ‘origin of mixed castes’ anticipates the emergence of dalits as a mixture of broken caste subjectivities, thus opening up the resourcefulness of such radical readings of traditions. the fact that ambedkar comes across this fragment in manusmriti, where manu struggles with his census-survey to concur, on the one hand, with what goes on at the ground level of religious customs and practices of his times, and on the other hand, struggles to defer the completion of this survey in fear of political censure that might ensue from speaking the truth, is in itself a remarkable vision opened up by the plane of immanence laid out on a plane of “dissent from” classical hinduism re-discovered in the colonial period, through concomitant appraisals by the colonial historians, indologists, orientalists et al., at times in service of colonial administration and governance (dirks, 2008). for, it imparts new meaning to these ancient texts as “resources”, in such a way as to step aside onto its borderlines to mark his “dissent from” it. it is true that ambedkar is rather paying obeisance to a living tradition of dissent, whose predecessors go back in time to the time of buddha and sangha, kabir, phule, and periyar among others (omvedt, 2008). in this sense, his dissent anticipates newer departures from the socalled vedic and anti-vedic traditions of indian pasts by finding new possibilities within its elisions. the assent-worthiness of his resourceful reading is earmarked by his shrewd labelling of manu’s list as ‘perfunctory’ rather than “defunct”. repositioning ambedkar’s critical reading of vedic corpus as resources impinges on our understanding of sectarianism. how does one define sectarianism, and how does one counterpoise oneself as anti-sectarian is an intriguing question. ganeri signals admission of dissenting voices into one’s fold as a counter-measure by which 3inventive work done by ramesh bairy in this regard illuminates the trajectories of selffashioning the figure of brahmin had to undergo in order to reinvent themselves as “modern”. his point of departure is from the straw figure of brahmin, pointing at the paucity of descriptive accounts of its ‘presents’. the fact that a work that attempts to understand the real figure of brahmin had to begin in bafflement, at its loss of resemblance in the available accounts, other than as a staple form of ‘an evaluative principle overdetermined by its normativity’, rather than ‘as a reference to real people’ (292) shows that the reappraisal of this ‘absent figure of brahmin from the present of caste’ is invariably pitched on a plane of immanence, as an attempt to encompass its mediated presents and its ambivalent mixtures; see ramesh bairy t.s., being brahmin, being modern, 2010. tending immanence, transcending sectarianism: plane of mixed castes and religions 367 we could rein in sectarianism (ganeri, 2012: 1). in this framework, sectarianism is deemed to carry some kind of kinship or family resemblance with the so-called “tradition” and values associated with “faith”, which is upheld in opposition to the idea of “dissent” which is perceived to be anchored on argument or reasoning. juxtaposed to this, ganeri’s project develops a framework of reasoning dispelling the dichotomy between faithfulness to tradition, and openness to admission of dissent which rides on secular values: … it is a mistake to speak of a conflict between ‘secular values’ and ‘faith values’, as if a choice has to be made between the two, for the point is to see how any faith can sustain secular principles in activities of public reasoning, equipping its adherents the resources needed to participate in deliberative democratic procedures. (ganeri, 2012: 7). ganeri’s anti-sectarian framework is pitched on two nodal points: (1) a project bent on appropriating ‘the texts of traditional hinduism’ into the fold of resources for secular reasoning; (2) a project of ‘retrieval’ of hindu religious resources, documenting its ‘hidden richness and flexibility in the resources they sustain’: to be sure, the texts of traditional hinduism are not without their welldocumented share of sectarian hyperbole, but closer inspection reveals a hidden richness and flexibility in the resources of reason they sustain. this process of retrieval of a religious culture’s hidden resources is essential, i have argued, in confronting fundamentalist and dogmatic appropriations of the culture, and equally essential in countering the false claim that only with a repudiation of religious affiliation is one entitled to enter the public space of reasons of secular democratic dialogue. (ganeri, 2012: 89) although theoretical and conceptual issues surrounding the notion of secular democracy peculiar to the indian situation is not one among the issues this article takes up for discussion, in principle we would agree with ganeri’s position regarding secular democratic dialogue. of course, one need not repudiate one’s religious affiliation to enter this public space of reason, if by one’s religious affiliation one also implies a persistent re-evaluation of values accrued to its faith. in fact this view currently carries wider currency in the indian scenario, though equally debated, propelling one to examine its theoretical pillars of strengths and weaknesses.4 this theoretical project of grounding secular discourse on rational resources of religion, assumes a procedure of ‘retrieval’ of hindu religious resources, for the cause of securing secular rational discourse in ganeri. burdened by the task of eliminating the fundamentalist and dogmatic aspects of religious dust that fell upon the rational resources, he earmarks ‘accommodation of dissent’, to be one of the criteria that showcases a resource’s secular potential. how coherent is such an accommodation of dissent for his project of retrieval of ‘resources within’ is the question. ganeri’s discussion in this work is tailored as an inventory of resources from india’s past for the fashioning of identities in a multi-racial, multi-religious, and multi4discussing the contextual peculiarities of indian secularism, rajeev bhargava introduces the concept of ‘principled distance’ to illuminate upon its contextual nature which distinguishes it from its western counterparts (85–118); whereas anand teltumbde contends this very postulate which claims distinctness to indian secularism (166–193); see secularism under siege (2016). 368 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 cultural modern societies. need for such an inventory is grounded on the justification that identity is no longer viewed in the secular discourse as ‘given by birth’, rather must be thought of as something which we ‘actively and deliberatively choose’. admittedly ganeri appropriates sen’s idea that ‘reason is before identity’, and hence, according to them, ‘neither religion, nor community, nor tradition imposes upon us an identity fixed in advance’ (ganeri, 2012: 2). needless to say, this notion of identity when juxtaposed with contemporary identity politics, propelled by the politicization of aspects accrued to your identity by birth, as exemplified by the dalit movement and gender politics, appears thin and formalistic. the concept of identity even when conceived in terms of becoming, exercising one’s choice, ‘fashioned from exercises of reason’, from the available resources ‘retrieved from india’, presupposes freedom, which in other words mean “agency”. a formalistic notion of freedom is not equipped with the tools to engage meaningfully with historically contended forms of becomings. whether one’s religious or communitarian affiliations are of significance or not cannot be determined in advance without taking into account historically acquired agency formations which directly impinge upon one’s literary, political, or intellectual commitments. viewed from the vantage point of reform movements which channelized the indian freedom struggle, one gets a more intricate understanding of channels of freedom. exemplary in this regard is ambedkar’s dilemma around “conversion” to buddhism, or what may be better termed as invention of “navayana buddhism”—occasioned by his awareness that communitarian mobilization has a farther reach than what has been imagined by liberal humanism. part and parcel of this political insight was also deliberations on ‘the historical moment of a decision unto a new name and the conditions that will make the name work’ which held him back from seeking emancipation through conversion until the very last (choudhury, 2018: 87-113; gokhale, 2021). assuming the role of intellectual who has expertise in the exegetical understanding of classical sanskrit theoretical or “sastric” resources, ganeri devises his task to be that of presenting choices from india’s classical past. though admittedly one’s identity is not ‘something merely given by birth’, encumbering modalities of negotiations one engages with in order to shrug off birth-based markers of caste from impinging one’s freedom is a politically inebriated question around identity formations in india (guru and sarukkai, 2019). it follows then that it is this existentially accrued form of identities such as caste, race, ethnicity, gender, etc., that acts as a ground from which one swivels into a reflective stance. hence, merely discounting these existential forms of identity given by birth from the corpus of creative deliberative choices will not suffice. the brunt of the caste system, and so does all the rest of social evils, is borne by those who reel beneath its hierarchical structures as differential minorities. someone born into one of these castes will look for resources of reason that purges their suffering from the so-called hindu canon.5 ganeri’s account subtracts aspects of identity one biologically inherits by shedding its weight onto a dissociable division of identity that distinguishes between the subjective and objective aspects which division he borrows from akeel bilgrami (ganeri, 2013: 2). this dissociable notion of identity allows him to bracket the objective (biological) aspect from consideration. as we know, dalit voice, especially 5such an introspective inquiry by ambedkar is entitled, riddles in hinduism, and at best by the titles, “the difficulty of knowing why one is a hindu?” and “manu’s madness or the brahmanic explanation of the origin of the mixed castes”; see b.r. ambedkar: writings and speeches, volume 4 (1987). tending immanence, transcending sectarianism: plane of mixed castes and religions 369 in the works of ambedkar, takes issue with the vedic corpus as a site which undercuts objective identity. needless to say, occlusion of objective aspects of identity from consideration has its obvious pitfalls—the resources for rational, democratic, secular discourse ostensibly extracted from the classical indian past illusorily appear too secure and serviceable for the present. iii resources within? the project intended on the expansion of the ‘internal’ resources of indian theory for the sake of its development (ganeri, 2012: ix), as expounded by ganeri fails to define its contours of “internality” and that of “externality” of resources to be retrieved from india’s past. ganeri’s project takes “internality” as a given, as transparent as the “generality” of privileged caste subjectivities, where one is at convenience to forget about the lens which enables one’s view.6 the other extreme is that of outcastes or mixed castes, as explicated by ambedkar, whereby one is at a loss to locate one’s identity within the caste structure one is seemingly born into. obtuse invisibility of one’s identity within the vedic scriptures which are otherwise upheld as manuals registering genealogies of castes legitimizing its social organizational role, on the one hand, and finding oneself trapped within it on the other, makes it imperative for the outcastes to make use of rational resources at one’s disposal to articulate one’s sense of loss. today democratic discourse is fraught with tensions concerning resources for an affirmation of identity than otherwise. given this murky situation surrounding one’s claim on human rights, the identity one is born with appears to be disposable only to those who have negotiable terms within the processes of their advancement in rational discourse.7 while ganeri places the creative element to be of central importance to philosophical thinking, he reigns in this aspect within the bounds of the notion of ‘resources within’, which forecloses its creative dimension to a limited set of resources, than opening it onto a limitless set of possibilities. within such a framework, the creative aspect has to either ‘adapt’ itself to the requirement of past cultures (ganeri, 2012: ix), or, ‘re-appropriate’ the ancient tradition (ganeri, 2012: x), within the ‘permitted’ limits of the “sastric” canons of classical india (ganeri, 2012: 11), thus, attenuating its creative process. citing john newman, ganeri provides a criterion to ‘distinguish development and corruption within a tradition’. 6the question is, as satish deshpande quite insightfully asks, when does the identity into which one is born becomes irrelevant or invisible that we could dismiss it while discussing a matter such as identity formation grounded in resources of reason from india’s past (32)? and for those who identifies with the caste structure, being inexplicably at the lower rungs of it in a perennial structure, ‘caste appears to be the only available resource with which to try and improve the lifechances in a game where the playing field is far from level’ (32); see satish deshpande, “caste and castlessness”, 2013. 7this is partly because the rational discourse itself takes on the garb of ‘dominant common sense’ articulating the needs of ‘nation building’, or the task of ‘modernizing our great and ancient tradition’ (33). in this regard, the categories of identities that are purportedly ‘unmarked’ are disguised universals ‘invested with power, and their transparent invisibility is a sign of privilege’ (38); see satish deshpande, “caste and castelessness”, 2013. 370 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 newman shows that the success of a tradition is related to its ability to assimilate new data, while conserving its past principles and achievements, and also to its ability to develop complex sequences of thought and practice while anticipating future developments. (ganeri, 2012: 196). further, underscoring the features of genuine development, he remarks, if the genuine development of a tradition consists in the ‘perfection’ of its underlying idea and its principles, and if the possibility of such a perfection has existed from the first, then we might well expect to find…anticipations of such later developments in the earlier strata of the tradition. on the other hand, of a shift in the tradition which is not a fulfilment of its underlying idea, there will be no antecedent anticipation. (ganeri, 2012: 197). this idea of ‘immersion’ in one’s past, as we can see, is unqualifiedly tilted or weighed down by the past, and hence, it falls short in weightage in its correlative notion of ‘anticipation of the new’. immersing oneself in the past with a sole criterion of ‘perfection’ without a commitment towards one’s own present hollows out the criteria for recognition of newness, leaving the notion an easy prey to any dogmatic use, or remaining as mere rhetoric at its best. reducing a ‘situated interpreter’s’ (ganeri, 2012: 226) contemporaneity to a strawman figure of secular-democratic discourse without citing the particularities of this discourse, or particular situations encountered by this interpreter is foreboded by the removal of objective aspects of identity from discussion. complicit to this strawman figure of contemporaneity is how this notion of immersion and situatedness dissolves the idea of dissent from informing interpreter’s present. in this regard, a subtle distinction ought to be made between the ‘recovery of theory’ and generation of theory (ganeri, 2012: 9). while ganeri’s own work is a concrete example of generation of theory, his plane of immanence is strictly limited to ‘recovery’ from a pre-existent tradition from a remote past. since his commitment whole-heartedly relies on the ‘recovery’ part, the plane of immanence is not constituted by detailing the present context of enunciation. on what grounds can we exclude the efficacy of a mode of reasoning which is modelled on an “exit”, “dissent from” than “within”? though ganeri rightly discerns the significance of acts of dissent for the constitution of argumentative reasoning, he sidesteps his own postulate when he does not provide an adequate definition of dissent. ambedkar’s dissent being one of the paradigmatic cases of dissent in recent history, an account that purportedly honors dissent cannot sidestep similar instances for whatsoever reason unless the plane of enunciation of resources is laid out as a “limited” one (choudhury, 2019)8. 8probing into the constructive plane that lays out the ‘common terrain’ of comparable events of politics, soumyabrata choudhury, argues that it should be pitched on the articulation of ‘historicity of the new’, on the horizon of ‘raw time of a new event of politics’, rather than upon the historical time of the old regime (47). the historicity of the new is not to be articulated as a predetermined programme unfolding the ‘analogical productivity of truth’, but rather ought to be conceived as differential thinking meant to enunciate the ‘imperative of an incomparable’ (54). this paper enunciates the incomparable event of mahad satyagraha that erupts onto the comparable plane of egalitarian politics; see soumyabrata choudhury, “ambedkar and other immortals”, 2019. tending immanence, transcending sectarianism: plane of mixed castes and religions 371 as a model of ‘internal dissent’ ganeri cites a skeptical statement from nyaya-sutra which argues that ‘the vedas are verifiably mistaken, internally inconsistent, and pointlessly repetitious’. the said example renders vedic utterances as ‘speech acts resembling the ramblings of a drunkard which carry no epistemological authority’ (ganeri, 2012:12). ganeri cites this instance of dissent as exemplary of religious tolerance of hinduism. however, the pertinent point is whether one should differentiate between the said statement found in the nyaya-sutra from a similar statement made by ambedkar, joining the voices of carvaka, brahaspati and a whole host of others whom he jointly addresses as ‘indigenous’ as opposed to hindu (ambedkar, 1987: 39).9 while there are several ways in which one discerns the generality of a concept which we may gradually render as universal, repetition is one of them. advancing his concept of difference, distinguishing it from repeated instances, in his seminal work, difference and repetition, deleuze opens a register for recording the particularities of “difference”. according to deleuze, “repetition” is often a misunderstood feature denied its own identity. ganeri’s identification of “dissent” as a characteristic feature that adds assent-worthiness to the hindu canon is an example which denies singularity to dissent. as a result his account cannot pay heed to the dissent embodied by ambedkar’s work, riddles in hinduism. when we subsume repeated instances under generality, we deem those instances to be resembling each other, and hence, substitutable or exchangeable under a universal. repetition assumes a character of its own without being dependent on generality in deleuze’s conceptualization where ‘repetition as a conduct and as a point of view concerns non-exchangeable and nonsubstitutable singularities’ (deleuze, 1994:1; patton, 2000). the character of repetition that lends itself to singularity is earmarked by the non-repetitive aspects of festivals, celebrations, commemorations, lyrical repetition of words in a poem, etc. within the schema of a canon or law, repetition is always recognized under two kinds of generality—perfection and integration (deleuze, 1994: 5). in ganeri we see the repeated instances of dissent being integrated into the notion of ‘resources within’ under the guise of ‘perfecting’ resources of reason immanent to the classical vedic-hindu canon. iv dissent from the classical hindu corpus, assent to the post post-colonial present ambedkar’s rejoinder to the voice of dissent augurs the post post-colonial milieu of indian philosophical thinking with its poignant departure from the discourse centered on east-west binary. it is for this precise reason that ambedkar’s departure is markedly post post-colonial in its double bind—first, it is not a retort to the european derision of indian past, and thus departs from the milieu of east-west binary, the mode in which indian philosophical dissent pivoted during the colonial period; and second, it reveals a cross-sectional view of a social phenomenon of “mixtures” which manifests itself as “the pre-philosophical plane of immanence”. in particular, it is this second point of departure that poises him as a visionary of post-colonial thinking pointing towards its future. 9see b.r. ambedkar, “riddle no.6”, writings and speeches, vol.4, 1987. 372 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 ambedkar’s dissent from the vedic-hindu canon is not a negation of the vedic pasts, rather it emerges from a sense of loss of meaning or relevance, which draws our attention to the fragmentary manusmriti where manu leaves the constitutive list of mixed-castes incomplete.10 highlighting the incongruities in the list along with its incompleteness, ambedkar insinuates how manu’s own account anticipates the looming threat of mixed-castes, whose formidable reality would make the ill-conceived varna-system obsolete. manu’s effort to arrest the degeneration of varna-system forebodes his step to schematize and discriminate between anuloma and pratiloma mixtures between castes, decrying the latter as degenerative (chaudhuri, 2018). by contrast, ganeri’s idea of ‘dissent from within’ is leveraged on the concept of immanence as a “limit”, which is akin to kantian idea of immanence whose lynchpin is the limit to understanding or knowledge (smith, 2012). kant disqualified the domain that goes outside the bounds of understanding as transcendent or dogmatic, thus reigning in the quest. likewise, by limiting the bounds of dissent to hindu corpus, ganeri discounts a wide range of dialogues around argumentative dissent that ensues from the contemporary living traditions of religious practices. among these there are practices which happen to be an offshoot of mixtures which has acquired a monstrous proportion when compared to the clean hierarchized division of caste system rediscovered by the colonial re-invention of vedic india (ramaswamy, 2014). in addition there are religious mixtures of hindus with muslims and christians and a whole host of other religious faiths as manifest in their local variations in practices of faith.11 these phenomenon of “mixtures” call for admission of discontinuities into the notion of ‘within (hindu-vedic corpus)’. mixed castes, half-castes, outcasts and untouchables have fallen apart from the classical hindu canon in a moral and spiritual sense to the point of misrecognition (manoj, 2021). the recognition of this cross-section of society, this transversal view that ambedkar brings into focus is the distinctive post-colonial paradigm of dissent. what we often fail to notice is the importance of milieu that is constituted by a confluence of contingent living conditions, be it political, cultural, social, scientific, etc. ambedkar’s dissent is a manifestation of a longer battle which has been brewing for centuries emerging as “dalit milieu” commanding assent-worthiness whereby adjoining communities constituting the least privileged in the caste system, and emergent fragmented communities, communities of mixed castes and half-castes, and half-religious minorities, communities who have been looking for a more inclusive secular platform, all find themselves clamoring to mobilize this canon under various names, whereby one of the more encompassing canopies of becoming assumes the form of becoming “dalit”. in this respect, assent and dissent are relative terms, while ganeri’s own account is an articulation of assent worthiness of classical vedic corpus, which avowedly dissents from the canon of enlightenment reason earmarked as the canon of western modernity, by contrast, the dalit milieu dissents from the classical vedic canon harboring faith in a thinner version of enlightenment. what it calls for is certainly a heterodox view of resources of reason, but by redefining indian pasts. 10see b.r. ambedkar, “riddle no.4”, writings and speeches, vol.4, 1987. 11see b.r. ambedkar, riddle no.1, writings and speeches, vol.4, 1987. tending immanence, transcending sectarianism: plane of mixed castes and religions 373 acknowledgments i would like to acknowledge the invaluable inputs received from the reviewers of this article. i thank the first anonymous reviewer, and the second reviewer for their helpful comments which guided me in restructuring the paper. i thank vinod mishra for the editorial support extended on behalf of j-caste. this article is dedicated to my mother a. meenakshy. references ambedkar, b.r. 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(2012). essays on deleuze. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. teltumbde, anand (2016). contents and discontents of indian secularism. in zaheer ali (ed.) secularism under siege: revisiting the indian secular state. delhi: aakar books. editorial caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. vi–x october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.236 © 2020 ashok k. gurung. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste introduction ashok k. gurung1 the annihilation of caste-based injustice is one of the most pressing challenges facing humanity. the caste system directly dehumanizes over 240 million dalits worldwide and sustains a complex system of graded exclusions and highly skewed privileges that benefits a select few while harming more than one billion people within and outside of the caste system in south asia. caste, in its myriad forms, enables and sustains a dense web of systemic inequities tied to one’s birth and endogamy. for millions of dalits, the weight of the caste system is like a millstone around the neck, slowing grinding away at their future. any meaningful engagement with a deeply entrenched and intergenerational caste-system must wrestle with fundamental questions such as what is caste and why does it persists. most importantly, we need new narratives that can help us move beyond a casteist world. following debates on the persistence of caste-based discrimination, which was also the theme of the inaugural issue of j-caste, this special issue on the legacy of gender and caste discrimination curates a set of multidisciplinary research with a particular focus on brahmanical patriarchy. it is also important to note that many of these authors are the first-generation of graduates in their communities, making their work even more noteworthy and important for expanding our discussions on caste. this special issue consists of thirteen academic papers, a poem, an essay, a policy paper, and three book reviews. they underscore the central role of caste, as a distinct social category, in understanding the injustices and inequities experienced by dalits, and in particular dalit women. guest co-editor sunaina arya’s editorial essay, “theorising gender in south asia: dalit feminist perspective,” provides a powerful argument about how “patriarchy in south asian context is inherently linked with caste.” arya argues that caste is essential for understanding the increasing violence against women and young girls and why we must interrogate arguments about savarna feminists that ignore and undermine the lived experiences, aspirations and political agency of dalit women in south asia. 1associate professor, julien j. studley graduate program in international affairs, the new school e-mail: gurunga@newschool.edu introduction vii the articles by jyoti diwakar, tanvi yadav, and amit thorat offer important contemporary context and analysis on why violence against dalit women persists. in her article ‘sex as a weapon to settle scores against dalits-a quotidian phenomenon’ jyoti diwakar draws on two recent case studies of sexual violence against dalit women to discuss the impact of savarna notions of caste purity and how caste controls gender norms in india. similarly, tanvi yadav’s work on dalit women as witches in “witch hunting a form of violence against dalit women in india” examines how witch hunting narratives are still one of the most common weapons for maintaining suppression of dalit women in rural india. as yadav argues, the impetus for sustaining the practice of witch hunting is a conspiracy of brahmanical patriarchy that is designed to control women and sustain castehierarchies. amit thorat et al. article “persisting prejudice: measuring attitudes and outcomes by caste and gender in india,” written in collaboration with a group of social scientists, analyzes a large phone survey that confirms the persistence of conservative gender and caste attitudes and highlights how castebased attitudes shape issues of women’s work, mobility, inter-caste-marriage, and physical violence by married men. the articles by anurag bhaskar and poonam singh engage with the intellectual arguments of dr. b. r. ambedkar and ram manohar lohia. anurag bhaskar’s article on “ambedkar, lohia, and segregations of caste and gender: envisioning a global agenda for social justice” makes compelling arguments about the need to go beyond male-dominated dalit movements and upper caste-led feminist movements. poonam singh’s article, “the advent of ambedkar in the sphere of indian women question,” offers an important analysis of ambedkar’s thoughts on how endogamy makes caste and gender inseparable. as singh argues, this claim is crucial for understanding dalit women’s situation in india today. the articles by kalyani kalyani, prashant ingole, tushar ghadage, and amar bahadur bk engages with complex questions involving voice, agency, awakening, and the power of religion and culture in dealing with caste-based oppression and indignities. in “tathagata buddha songs: buddhism as religion and culturalresistance among dalit women singers of uttar pradesh,” kalyani kalyani provides insights into the power of music and how it has moved from the realm of aesthetic sensibility to a language of resistance against an oppressive social order. similarly, amar bahadur bk’s article “speaking is healing: dalit women gain a voice through a charismatic healing movement in nepal,” provides distinct ethnographic insights and analysis on why voice -the act of speaking in public with a microphone -is important for dalit sachchai women in nepal. the sachchai is described as a charismatic healing movement where followers meet over readings of testimonial and bible speeches. tushar ghadage’s paper “ambedkarites in making: the process of awakening and conversion to buddhism among non-mahar communities in maharashtra,” examines the politics of why matang dalit women convert to buddhism. prashant ingole’s paper “intersecting dalit and cultural studies: de-brahmanizing the disciplinary space,” delves into anti-caste discourses and explores strategies for de-brahmanizing knowledge production from colonial and post-colonial perspectives. viii caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 the pieces from thomas crowley and kristina garalyte provide insights into how protests and commemorations produce new spaces for contestations and resistance of caste politics. in “leisure, festival, revolution: ambedkarite productions of space,” thomas crowley examines protests and commemorations and how they have worked to produce a distinctly ambedkarite space, one radically counterposed to hierarchical, brahminical productions of space. in her article, “dalit counterpublic and social space on indian campuses,” kristina garalyte asserts that recent dalit student activism on university campuses is indicative of a move towards counterculture, which uses public space to negotiate contested social status. gaurav pathania’s poem “blackhole” in hindi and english powerfully captures the inhuman practice of manual scavenging, cleaning of gutters, cleanings of roads, and cleaning of human excreta, all unclean jobs lacking in even basic safety measures and relegated to dalit workers. the metaphor “blackhole” used in this poem represents dalit lifeworld. the works by aparna vyas and sarita pariyar explore the power of storytelling and how the storyteller’s own lived experiences with caste discrimination and violence generate new and powerful narrative stories. aparna vyas’s paper “cultural psychological reading of dalit literature: a case study of joothan by om prakash valmiki,” examines the autobiographical account of one of the most influential hindi dalit writers. drawing on theoretical cultural psychology, vyas analyzes the transformation of a dalit boy (om prakash) subjected to castebased atrocities into a notable writer, helps us understand the lasting impacts of childhood atrocities and how such knowledge can be used to resist and reshape discourses on caste. in “a touchable woman’s untouchable daughter: interplay of caste and gender in nepal,” sarita pariyar deftly deploys her own encounters with caste indignities. pariyar narrates a powerful story of how gendered violence and atrocities are deeply intertwined and embedded in a society dominated by the hindu code, drawing on the tragic consequences of her mother’s inter-caste marriage and the unresolved murder of ajit mijar. her piece also questions the flawed democratic processes in nepal and calls for a deeper interrogation into why caste continues to strip people of their humanity. in our new policy arena section, joseph assan et al. offer an important assessment of the implementation of the free midday meal school feeding program in lucknow, india. the study examined the program’s impact on educational access, performance, participation, and wellbeing. the research team sampled students and teachers from predominantly dalit, lower caste, ethnic, and religious minority households to ascertain whether the strategic program implementation protocols also ensured social inclusion and addressed various forms of discrimination commonly reported in the literature. in light of the need to support new scholarships on caste and systemic inequities facing dalit scholars, i am thankful to professors laurence simon and sukhadeo thorat, joint editors-in-chief of caste: a global journal on social exclusion, for inviting sunaina arya and i as guest co-editors for this special issue. the idea of promoting new narratives on caste from emerging scholars and leaders came through a multi-year conversation with a group of scholars and thinkers such as introduction ix professor sukhadeo thorat, shailaja paik, anupama rao, sarita pariyar, laurence simon, suraj yengde, pradip pariyar, and included scholars from india, nepal, and the u.s. we agreed that the insidious nature of caste, and the ways that the caste system manifests its impacts beyond south asia, required new perspectives and global networks to counter its effects. in 2018 i was senior director of the india china institute at the new school, and in that capacity i was able to persuade my friend and long-term collaborator toby volkman at the henry luce foundation to provide some modest support for a week-long workshop with over a dozen young scholars and leaders, as well as an international conference, focused on dalit issues. that crucial support from the luce foundation helped galvanize and mobilize additional support from the india china institute, brandeis university, barnard college, columbia university, the university of massachusetts, the indian institute of dalit studies, the samata foundation, the university of cincinnati, the international ambedkar mission, the boston study group, and the julien j. studley graduate programs in international affairs at the new school. thanks to this amazing network, we were able to host a week-long workshop in new york city from october 21-24, 2019 titled “toward equal dignity and equal rights: global dalit change-makers.” the workshop was convened right before the fifth annual international conference on the unfinished legacy of dr. b. r. ambedkar, “dalits in global context: rethinking religion and gender” (october 24-26, 2019), which was also held at the new school. there was a large outpouring of interest in our call for papers for the conference, and we received over 360 abstracts from across the world. out of that pool of abstracts, we invited 26 emerging scholars and activists and 12 established scholars and experts from south asia, europe, and the united states to join for a one-week intensive workshop prior to the conference. the papers featured in this special issue were initially presented by the authors at the fifth annual international conference on the unfinished legacy of b. r. ambedkar. we then invited select emerging scholars to incorporate conference feedback on their papers as well as insights from deliberations at the workshop and conference in new york. sunaina arya and i reviewed these draft papers, and with inputs from the larger editorial team of the journal, they were sent out for additional double-blind peer-reviews. some of the papers retain much of their original form from when they were presented at the conference, while others were significantly transformed into entirely new works, we believe for the better. because of the persistence of caste-based exclusions within academia, the pool of highly educated and promising scholars and activists committed to social justice, especially from the dalit community, is unfortunately still small. therefore, the evolving role of the new global dalit change-makers (gdcm) is exciting and promising. for example, anurag bhaskar, who writes regularly in major indian newspapers and social media, is at the forefront of critically expanding policy debates on the intersection of gender, law, caste, and constitutional change in india. sunaina arya, a phd candidate at jawaharlal nehru university, recently co-edited dalit feminist theory: a reader (routledge, 2019), and is expanding scholarship and debate on feminism in india. similarly, sarita pariyar, who is a writer and x caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 leading nepali public intellectual, is transforming debates on caste-questions by focusing on challenging narratives of gender, sexuality, and increasing violence against dalit women in nepal. kalyani k. is a ph.d. scholar from jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, who is working on dalit-bahujan resistance in north india. she is exploring the cultural space of dalit-bahujan and its role in reclaiming the public-sphere. similar to other marginalized peoples worldwide, dalits have limited social assets, so this new gdcm global network has the chance to play an important role in helping advance debates on equal dignity, equal rights, and equal opportunities. for scholars working on race, class, and gender issues in u.s. and european universities, intersectionality is arguably one of the most important theoretical frame for understanding the complex interplay of social identities and power relations. scholars working on caste questions, especially from dalit communities, are adding another perspective to intersectional studies with their inclusion of a caste-based analysis. this is another important lens to expand our understanding of intersectionality and diverse social identities, identities which are highly fluid and contested in south asia. as we look towards a post covid-19 pandemic world, questions about caste need to be re-examined and reframed, and the scholars featured in this special issue provide us valuable insights into how this can be done. i am grateful to many, especially kalyani kalyani, sarita pariyar, sunaina arya, and anurag bhaskar for helping raise many important questions. for example, we discussed: how might we make caste a fundamental category of analysis for understanding and engaging with aspects of inequities that are central to feminism, gender, religion, and class? how should scholars grapple with questions surrounding agency, politics, and power among dalits and other marginalized peoples? as i reflect on the process and final outcomes of this special issue, many questions emerged about how we might better encourage and support critical engagement with caste questions. how can we support new critical narratives on caste from multidisciplinary perspectives? how can we rethink the practices of who produces and controls knowledge about caste? how can we foster deeper and more robust intellectual debates and research through new networks such as the global dalit change-makers? article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 107–120 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.220 © 2020 tushar ghadage. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste ambedkarites in making: the process of awakening and conversion to buddhism among non-mahar communities in maharashtra tushar ghadage1 abstract scholars have presented buddhist discourse in maharashtrathe western part of india, as an expression of protest and emancipation of the former untouchable caste mahar. but in the recent past, people from different social backgrounds belonging to non-mahar castes have embraced buddhism. now it has become the collective discourse of protest of different castes and tribes from marginalized communities. this paper, an outcome of my anthropological study, concerns with changing consciousness among non-mahar castes regarding conversion to buddhism as a tool of resistance to overcome caste inequalities. brahmanical patriarchy is the basis on which the caste system thrives, thus it is the root of women’s oppression. women’s assertion for a gender-equal society and its actual implementation on the ground constitutes a major part of the anti-caste movement. therefore, this study also seeks the answer to the question of how buddhism helps to rupture the caste patriarchy and its rigid structure. a significant indicator would be to see precisely how women are breaking those age-old boundaries of castes. therefore, this paper also addresses the issue of women’s emancipation through buddhism and how it challenges the brahmanical patriarchy and liberates its women followers from oppression. keywords caste, religion, conversion, buddhism, non-mahars, matang, women emancipation 1ph.d. research scholar, centre for the study of social exclusion and inclusive policy, university of hyderabad, gachibowli, hyderabad, telangana–500046, india e-mail: tushar.tiss@gmail.com 108 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 introduction caste has been studied as the central organizing principle that categorizes indian society (rao, 2013; dirks, 2010). caste system is often conceptualized as a hierarchical social system that is graded, fixed, and permanent without any possibilities of change or mobility of castes, with an ascending scale of reverence and a descending scale of contempt (ambedkar, 2013). therefore, people belonging to the so-called lower castes face the highest scale of contempt at the hands of the so-called upper castes. people from these low castes were regarded as ‘impure and polluting’ and thus, considered ‘untouchables’. it has been also observed that such people who are assigned a low social status in the caste hierarchy and treated unequally within the hindu-fold are attracted to religions that advocate social equality at least theoretically (bandyopadhyay, 2004; jeurgensmeyer, 2009). religions such as buddhism, sikhism, and jainism emerged in india countering the social inequalities and discrimination prevalent in hindu society. religions with foreign origins such as christianity and islam also attracted several low caste people to escape caste discrimination (sanal mohan, 2015; roberts, 2016). thus, by providing an alternative religious philosophy, they emphasized on social equality. dr. ambedkar appealed to his followers to renounce hinduism and convert to the religion that would give them dignity and equality. nearly about one million people followed his path and converted to buddhism. those who converted to buddhism majorly belonged to the mahar1 caste (beltz, 2004). but in the recent past, people belonging to non-mahar castes have also converted to buddhism. though mahar is the predominant scheduled caste (sc)2 that converted to buddhism earlier, people from non-mahar scheduled castes such as matang3 and some of the nomadic tribes4 and other backward castes (obc)5 in maharashtra have also converted to buddhism recently. historically, the relationship between different castes has always been that of domination, subordination, and hostility. for many years, buddhism in maharashtra was equated with mahars with terms like mahar buddhists being used for referring to new buddhist converts; and matang buddhists to denote buddhists converts from the matang community. this exposes the feeling of ‘us’ and ‘them’ amongst buddhist converts from different castes (paik, 2011). therefore, there is always a fear of non-assimilation of different castes into buddhism in maharashtra as merely casting off their hindu religion does not give them the feeling of equality, especially when the graded inequality of caste system is deeply entrenched in the society. after all, it is not just the highest ideals but the actual living practice of a religion that is important. the highest values of equality, fraternity, and liberty should not remain merely teachings and belief systems of religion but it also should be practiced in the customs, usages, observances, rituals, and the common life of religious communities (webster, 2002). otherwise, it can further become an obstacle for the formation of a community of the new-buddhists. existing scholarship on buddhist conversion in maharashtra revolves around ambedkar’s conversion movement and the subsequent conversion of people from ambedkar’s mahar caste, the largest sc community in the state. however, not many studies have been undertaken to understand how the non-mahar castes converted to buddhism, and the processes involved in the constitution of their religious identity. therefore, there is a pressing need to study the ‘experience of conversion’ among non-mahar castes hailing from different social, and cultural backgrounds. this ambedkarites in making: the process of awakening and conversion... 109 paper seeks to address this important socio-religious movement of non-mahar castes in maharashtra and also explore the intersections of different caste identities and culture of an anti-caste movement that the dalits claim to have adopted through their conversion to buddhism. this paper is an outcome of my ph.d. research. the site of my inquiry is beed district6 of maharashtra, where the buddhist conversion movement has gripped nonmahar communities. cities are considered as hubs of the conversion movement and studies on buddhist conversion movement in the state have treated them as sites of inquiry. most of these studies have paid very little attention to activities happening in small pockets of rural communities. therefore, this research looks in detail in the rural and semi-urban areas, and focuses particularly on beed district in the most deprived marathwada region. using non-participative observations, semi-structured interviews, and case studies as data collection methods, i interacted with newly converted buddhists coming from different castes, from the rural and semi-urban background. why conversion and why buddhism? thorat (2002) argues that, the reasons for continuation of the practice of untouchability, discrimination, and atrocities as well as violent reaction by higher castes are to be found in the continuing belief and faith by higher castes in the sanctity of the institution of caste and untouchability. the traditional hindu social order continues to govern the thought process and behaviour of the large majority of hindus. the provisions in the constitutional laws are secular and equal, but the customary rules of the caste system and the institution of untouchability are based on the principle of inequality. this results in a conflict between the constitution and the traditional customary rules, norm, and values of the caste system, particularly untouchability. people continued to follow tradition as it provides immense privilege and serves their social, political, and economic interests. when the dalits try to seek equal access and ‘assert’ their rights, it often invites the anger of higher caste people in the form of atrocities and physical violence. as has been well-established that the practice of untouchability and discrimination has stemmed from religious precepts and also has religious sanction, therefore, the change in the social order from a discriminatory caste hindu society to an equal society must also have a religious character (ambedkar, 2004; juergensmeyer, 2009). according to dr. ambedkar, religion is an indefinite word with no fixed meaning because religion has passed through many stages. he says religion is a human projection onto the cosmos of social values concerning life and its preservation embodied in the usages, practices, observances, rites, and rituals which are to shape the behaviour of those who make up the society (webster, 2002). dr. ambedkar believed that the purpose of religion is to emphasize, universalize, and spiritualize social values and bring them to the mind of the individual who is required to recognize them in all his/ her acts so that he/she may function as an approved member of society. therefore, it is necessary to check what kind of social values a particular religion promises. does it recognize every single person worth as human being, stands for equality, offers the benefits of liberty, and promote fraternity? these questions need to be asked not merely of the teachings and belief systems of any religion but also the customs, usages, observances, rituals, and the common life of communities owing allegiance to it. 110 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 i quote a statement of dr. ambedkar which he made to the indian franchise committee in 1932 (zelliot 2005, p.5) …the system of caste and the system of untouchability form really the steel frame of hindu society. this division cannot easily be wiped out for the simple reason that it is not based on rational, economic, or racial grounds….the chances are that untouchability will endure far longer into the future than the optimist reformer is likely to admit on account of the fact that it is based on religious dogma... the ordinary hindu looks upon it as part of his religion and there is no doubt that in adopting towards untouchables what is deemed to be an inhuman way of behaviour, he does so more from the sense of observing his religion than from any motive of deliberate cruelty. based on religion, the ordinary hindu only relaxes the rules of untouchability where he cannot observe them. he never abandons them. for abandonment of untouchability to him involves a total abandonment of the basic religious tenets of hinduism as understood by him and the mass of hindus… dr. ambedkar found hinduism worth abandoning given its foundation rooted in discrimination. there is no sense of equality in hinduism. considering others as lower or higher based on one’s birth into a particular caste has religious sanction in hinduism. in many ways dr. ambedkar found the desired social values of equality, human dignity, and fraternity in buddhism. to achieve equality, human dignity and fraternity one has to essentially change their religion from hinduism to buddhism. i will not go in details of whether to apply the concept of religion to buddhism or not. but as lakshmi narasu (2004) says if the content of religion consists of god, fear of god, or the dread of unknown, or the hankering for the unseen and the unintelligible, or the feeling for the infinite, then buddhism is not a religion. but if by religion we mean something which inspires enthusiasm and fervor, buddhism is certainly a religion. therefore, religious conversion to buddhism can be understood as a rejection of discriminatory practices inscribed and approved by the hindu religion and inventing their practices7, which are more inclusive and equal. conversion to buddhism thus, is a matter of transcended identity that is equal. through conversion, one sees freedom from oppression as not only liberation from old social alignments but a release from old religious ideas as well. so, conversion to buddhism is a definite move toward equality in a caste-ridden society. buddhism among non-mahar communities in maharashtra several scholars have presented the buddhist discourse in maharashtra as an expression of protest and emancipation of the former untouchable caste mahars and regarded buddhism as a religion with a universal message of brotherhood and equality (beltz, 2005; zelliot, 2004; omvedt, 2003). for a long time, non-mahar castes in maharashtra kept at the distance from buddhism, which predominantly remained the religion of one caste, mahars. however, a complex phenomenon like caste can’t be fought out and abolished by individual castes. it requires a larger community base. beltz (2004) argues that caste is too complex a social phenomenon to be abolished by a small minority fighting against the majority will. in the recent past, the buddhist conversion movement in maharashtra has not been restricted to only the mahars. people belonging to other low castes and tribes have started converting to buddhism and have demonstrated how jotirao phule’s ambedkarites in making: the process of awakening and conversion... 111 sarvajanik satyadharma (public religion of truth) can be put into practice to achieve this unity among non-brahmin castes oppressed by upper castes. people and organizations such as late advocate eknath awad through manavi hakka abhiyan (campaign for human rights), late atmaram chandane through democratic party of india, and late g.s. dada kamble through the satyashodhak samaj mahasangh (ssm) worked tirelessly amongst the matang and other marginalized communities to make them aware of their political rights, mobilize public opinion, and motivate them for conversion to buddhism. on october 14 2006, awad along with thousands of his followers predominantly belonging to matang community converted to buddhism in a grand public conversion ceremony coinciding with the 50th anniversary of dhammachakra pravartan din8 at deeksha bhoomi,9 nagpur. similarly, dada kamble, under the banner of satyashodhak samaj mahasangha, organized more than ten deeksha (initiation) ceremonies at different locations wherein hundreds of matang community people converted to buddhism. other economically and socially backward and isolated groups in the state comprising nomadic and de-notified tribes are also reclaiming their histories, linking their ritualistic practices to buddhist traditions. they too are claiming buddhism as their past. there are community leaders like laxman mane who are working on the agenda of reaching out to these groups and awakening them to anti-caste ideology. like awad, mane too, along with a few of his colleagues converted to buddhism on october 14, 2006, and seven months later may 27, 2007 he organized a grand public event for his followers from de-notified tribes who converted to buddhism in mumbai. the non-aryan theory regarding aryans as foreign invaders and the non-brahmin (lower castes) as original inhabitants as proposed by phule was de-emphasized by hindu nationalist forces. as a result, people belonging to middle (obc) castes preferred to align themselves with brahmin castes. the non-aryan concept was restricted within untouchables and tribal communities. but in recent times obcs in maharashtra in general, and beed district in particular, are trying to re-establish unity among nonbrahmin castes by claiming their ethnic and cultural past by highlighting differences of traditions been followed by hindu upper-caste and low castes historically. the satyashodhak obc parishad, a leading obc movement founded by late hanumant upare and now led by his son sandeep upare, has played an important role in bringing obcs into the fold of buddhism. the organization re-emphasized the belief that obcs are natives of this land and were buddhist in the past. therefore, conversion to buddhism for them is reclamation of their past religion. hanumant upare, however, passed on march 19, 2015 before his announced conversion date of october 14, 2016. due to the death of hanumant upare, satyashodhak obc parishad couldn’t organize the conversion ceremony on the proposed date. later, under the leadership of sandeep upare, the organization organized a deeksha ceremony, in which upare’s entire family took to buddhism along with their followers from the obc community. the process of politicization and actual conversion after a visit to burma (now myanmar) and sri lanka, the lack of social concerns among bhikkus (monks) there made dr. ambedkar think about an active sangha (community) which would work like an ‘activist missionary’ (zelliot, 2004). dr. 112 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 ambedkar imagined the buddhist monk as a social worker who works for the benefits of society unlike a priest in hinduism. but contrary to what dr. ambedkar had envisioned the buddhist monks did not go into the community to spread buddhism. they have not reached to the places where majority buddhists are residing. it is evident from the fact that many of the newly buddhist converts in the villages have never seen any monks or bhikkus reaching out to them to teach them the principles of buddhism. therefore, village level community leaders and social activists have taken the responsibility of ‘activist missionary’ and have involved themselves in the process of reaching out to householders/ lay buddhists and preach buddha’s eightfold path. the process of conversion to buddhism is conscious. it is regarded as a politicization process through which people who stayed away from buddhism for a long time are awakened. activists employ different approaches to initiate interaction with non-politicized communities to introduce anti-caste ideology. it is an activity in which fellow community members are informed that caste is the root cause of their problems and since caste is an integral part of hinduism, the solution to these problems lies in conversion from hinduism. it is also believed that buddhism will help in improving the social condition of its followers and emancipate them. this process of politicization is complex in the way various tactics are used in pursuit of bringing people into the fold. as told by dr. ambedkar (2003, w&s vol 17. part i) in his speech delivered at the bombay presidency mahar conference, ‘to materialize the goal of conversion it is very important to judge the public opinion of all the communities.’ dr. ambedkar believed that public opinion judged through the meetings of each caste separately is more representative and reliable than the opinion arrived at through a common meeting of all the castes together. carrying forward this legacy of dr. ambedkar, continuous efforts have been made to mobilize public opinion of conversion among marginalized castes. it is done through propagating anticaste ideologies of social reformers, primarily belonging to the same castes in which politicization is progressing. for example, among matang community anti-caste ideas of annabhau sathe, lahuji salve, and mukta salve who hail from the same community have been propagated. similarly, among charmakars, it has been done by propagating the anti-caste ideas of sant ravidas. among obcs it has been done by invoking jotirao phule and savitribai phule,10 and their anti-caste discourse of sarva janik satyadharma and satyashodhak samaj (the truth seekers society). thereafter highlighting linkages with anti-caste ideologies of different social reformers and with ambedkarism they try to establish a common platform for the introduction of buddhism. to become a buddhist also means one must follow the buddha’s teaching. following the eightfold path given by gautam buddha is the basic expectation from buddhists. omvedt (2003) summarized the eightfold path of buddha and divided it into three major sections(i) rules for living or righteous conduct, (ii) meditation, and (iii) intellectual insights. although a householder or lay buddhist is considered to be capable of observing all these precepts, the major emphasis is on righteous conduct. therefore, social activists who work in the community to spread buddhism also emphasize upon the righteous conduct of the eightfold path in their interactions. social platforms such as celebrating jayantis (birth anniversaries) of eminent personalities such as dr. ambedkar, mahatma phule, savitribai phule, anna bhau ambedkarites in making: the process of awakening and conversion... 113 sathe, chatrapati shahu maharaj, among others who have inspired generations are used by social activists to spread awareness and enlighten people about the anti-caste ideology and the buddha’s teachings. it is also coupled with grand public celebrations of significant events of the anti-caste movement and dalit resistance such as the mahad satyagraha11, manusmriti dahan din,12 dhammachakra pravartan din, etc. through these events activists reach out to masses in a bid to educate them about the forgotten histories of their ancestors. even though the decision on religious conversion is a personal choice and the decision is taken in individual capacity, the actual conversion ritual is done in a grand public ceremony along with other individuals who wish to convert. such a public display of religious conversion and assertion of their right to choose their religion is considered essential not only to counter the dominant hindu culture but also encourage others to come forward and assert their religious views openly and convert. reinterpreting sarvajanik satya dharma and buddhist conversion among non-mahars it is imperative to mention mahatma phule’s ‘non-aryan theory’ here. according to this theory, all lower castes can be considered a community of the oppressed for they are exploited by upper castes in a caste society (omvedt, 1971). phule considered all non-brahmin castes as oppressed communities. it is nothing but the class of oppressed castes against the class of oppressor castes. however, dr. ambedkar had cautioned that, it’s very difficult to ally with the oppressed castes as there is graded inequality among them. that proved true as most of the middle castes aligned with upper castes and separated themselves from the then untouchable low castes. there was a pressing need for a well-organized and coordinated effort to bring these oppressed castes together and form an alliance to fight caste slavery. buddhism seems to be playing an important role in this direction as it is offering an alternative platform for this mobilization. the activist missionary put phule’s theory of exploitation into practice to mobilize non-brahmin castes together. as per phule (cited in omvedt, 1971), brahmins were the exploiters whose dominant position in the caste system and religiously justified monopoly over resources and knowledge enabled them to generate enormous power. brahmins were seen as descendants of aryan invaders, therefore an outsider, who had divided the indigenous population through the caste system. though phule focused on cultural and ethnic factors and not on economic and political factors as a reason for exploitation, the activist missionary (buddhist activists) linked cultural and ethnic factors to the economic and political problems of non-brahmin communities. some highlighted the exclusion of oppressed communities from the development activities of the state, while some others dwelt on the persistent caste-based violence and atrocities they face; and for some of them it is about their experience of being denied citizenship rights and other basic human rights. the conscious efforts of these activist missionaries in mobilization and politicization of communities led them to take a common path that is buddhism. therefore, buddhism has now become the collective discourse of protest against caste oppression for the people coming from different 114 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 social backgrounds. it offers a collective religious identity and has the potential to challenge caste from its roots. the real challenge for newly converted buddhists, however, comes after crossing the hurdle of the conversion ritual. merely converting to buddhism does not give them equal status, especially when caste is a system of graded inequality. dr. ambedkar has given certain guidelines to overcome this problem and those who convert to buddhism are expected to follow the guidelines. one of the basic and essential expectations from the new converts is to reject hinduism and its traditions. the second expectation is to follow buddhist principles and lead life adhering to buddhist values. buddhists believe that they do not have caste. it is expected to assert their identity as buddhists without any sense of hierarchy. newly converted buddhists believe in equality and humanity as their social ideas. rationalism and atheism become the basis for buddhist lifestyle and morality holds the place of god in buddhism (zelliot, 2004). but these teachings and belief systems of buddhism also need to be tested on the customs, usages, observances, rituals, and the common life of religious communities in their everyday life. after all, it is not just the highest ideals but the actual living practice of religion that is important (webster, 2002). women assertion: confronting caste to reconstruct society the liberation of women from all kinds of oppression was the focal point of anti-caste movement led by mahatma phule and savitribai phule. they believed that genderequal society and liberation of women from oppressive caste patriarchy is the founding stage of the annihilation of the caste system. therefore, the best way to understand whether buddhism is helping communities to overcome caste or not is to observe how the newly converted communities deal with their women, as they are always used as a tool to control boundaries of caste in hinduism. women are degraded, exploited, and treated inhumanly in a caste-ridden society. brahmanical patriarchy is rooted in the caste system and hence the root cause of women’s oppression. they face discrimination in the name of rituals, customs, traditions, etc. women are subjected to patriarchy at various levels. they face many restrictions and control over their choices even in everyday activities resulting in exclusion of women from various walks of daily life. dalit women are doubly oppressed, first as women they are considered as the second gender in a male-dominated society and secondly, as women from oppressed castes (paik, 2011). with the revival of buddhism in maharashtra women from the converted families have found themselves caught between two conflicting ideologies: on one side the buddhist philosophy offers liberation to all its members from all sorts of oppression and inequalities and on the other is the deep-rooted tradition of patriarchal practices of casteist hindu society. therefore, it is important to see how buddhist women are challenging those boundaries of castes because it’s women’s assertion and its actual implementation on the ground which poses a major threat to the caste society. it also constitutes a major part of the anti-caste buddhist ideology. ambedkarites in making: the process of awakening and conversion... 115 i present here the life stories of two common women who fought their way out of caste patriarchy and adopted buddhism and set a role model for others to follow. with their resilient fight, they showed that buddhism offers freedom and liberation to every individual. madhu (name changed) who hailed from the matang caste before her conversion had to rebel against her parents, who still believe in hinduism. according to tradition, she was denied higher education and forced her into marriage at an early age. against her parents’ wishes, she completed her bachelor’s degree in nursing and started working in one of the government medical colleges in maharashtra. notwithstanding an envious government job, madhu’s life after marriage was no different from what it was at her parents’. she was routinely subjected to domestic violence for not bearing a child. her husband, in-laws, and parents were forcing her to permit the second marriage of her husband without divorcing him. she proposed the adoption of a child as a solution. but they neither agreed to adoption nor to divorce as she had a government job which means stable income. thus, their decision came from interest in her earnings and not from their affection for her as an individual. finally, madhu obtained a divorce from her husband through the legal procedure and has adopted a daughter as a single mother. madhu gives credit to dr. ambedkar for whatever she has achieved in life. she holds caste patriarchy responsible for the torture she had undergone and does not accept it as her ‘fate’ as expected of hindu women. she believes it is dr. ambedkar and his constitution that gave her the right to live with dignity. but caste patriarchy keeps governing the thought processes of individuals and justifies such discriminatory behaviour. it is this system of caste patriarchy that made her parents treat their children of different genders unequally. therefore, she decided to convert to buddhism as she believes that buddha’s dhamma has everything she requires to lead a dignified life. life after conversion hasn’t been easy for madhu. her parents were already unhappy with her over her divorce decision. in addition to this, madhu converted to buddhism and adopted a daughter further aggravating the situation as her parents ostracized her and severed all familial relationships with her. one needs to understand the hardship madhu has undergone at the hands of her family and her decision to convert to buddhism from the historical context. there was a sense of internalization and acceptance among ex-untouchable castes of their ‘outcaste’ status in the caste hierarchy (fitzgerald, 1997). as mentioned earlier, most of the buddhists in maharashtra, though not all, belong to one single caste that is mahar. for long, the matangs remained distant from the conversion movement. conversion to buddhism was considered an act of defiance of the caste norms by the matang community, which ostracized members who embraced buddhism. although mahars faced the brunt of upper castes for breaking the caste norms and daring to convert to buddhism, they never faced any internal opposition from their caste and blood relatives as it was a collective act of conversion of the majority of their fellow caste people. the same is not the case with matangs as about the community is pretty much divided over the issue of conversion. 116 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 defying all these oppressive structures madhu, a divorcee with no child of her own (considered taboo), has adopted a girl child post-divorce, and converted to buddhism. she is leading her life as an empowered individual having broken all the oppressive caste and patriarchal boundaries. satyashodhak samaj mahasangh, the social movement started by dada kamble, has played a crucial role in madhu’s journey from being an oppressed hindu woman to a self-reliant buddhist activist. ssm works amongst the marginalized communities politicizing them about the anti-caste discourse, awakening them to the legacy of their buddhist past and its philosophy, and finally, motivating them to convert into buddhism. madhu is volunteering as the district coordinator of ssm women wing of one of the districts. as dr. ambedkar responded to questions raised against conversion and possible isolation of untouchable castes after conversion, he said the only way to end social isolation is to establish kinship with, and get themselves incorporated into another community which is free from the spirit of caste (ambedkar, 2016). madhu found new friends and family in ssm as she has continued to spend time in the organization and work towards spreading buddhism among the marginalized communities. durkheim’s (1995) definition of religion emphasizes more on the importance of religious beliefs and practices, which are sacred. this sacred gets its meaning in connection with forbidden. sacredness is maintained by protecting and prohibited from something which is not considered as sacred. similarly, women’s body is used by hinduism to maintain sacredness by imposing many restrictions on women. women were made to carry the burden of maintaining the purity of religious rituals in hinduism. the natural capacities of menstruation and reproduction were always considered impure. menstruating women were kept away from the day to day life and treated as untouchable by their family members. they were restricted from taking part in auspicious religious rituals. even in the present times though it is a rule of the constitution which is governing every individual in independent india, women continue to be oppressed in the name of religious traditions and culture. childless women, widows, and divorcees are seldom treated with grace by orthodox believers of the religion. women have always been treated as second class citizens irrespective of their caste locations when it comes to religious rituals. the castes and persons involved in ritualistic affairs and priesthood are regarded as the highest and purest in the caste hierarchical society that is dominated by men. women have not been allowed to conduct any rituals in hinduism but although their bodies are used as tools to maintain the sacredness of rituals. therefore, disassociating the self from the gender roles prescribed by hindu scriptures is the first step towards liberation from a caste-patriarchal society. madhu is the quintessence of liberation in this regard. she not only defied the gender roles but also challenged the caste boundaries with her assertion of human dignity through religious conversion. at one point in time in the early stage of buddhist revival in maharashtra, all rituals in buddhism were dominated by malesbhante13. bhante are also known as baudh bhikku or baudhacharya in maharashtra. but during my fieldwork in beed district, i have witnessed buddhist weddings in which the ceremonial part was conducted by a female baudhacharya, ms. manisha, the second protagonist of my ambedkarites in making: the process of awakening and conversion... 117 paper. she is a social activist from beed, and has performed many buddhists as well as satyashodhak weddings. fondly called tai (elder sister), ms manisha hails from an obc community. her husband is also a buddhist, who had converted to buddhism along with their leader eknath avad in the mass conversion event organized by manvi hakka abhiyan at dikshabhoomi, nagpur in 2006. manisha tai represents the kind of activist missionary as envisioned by dr. ambedkar: she is a fulltime social activist having dedicated her life for the cause of women’s emancipation. by performing such religious rituals, tai has challenged the gender roles in the religious domain. she and her husband mr. ashokalso a full-time social activist, are instrumental in encouraging, arranging, and performing many intercaste/religious marriages. they not only encourage and help in solemnizing intercaste marriages but also work to ensure the safety of the newly married couples after marriages as many a time the families do not accept such alliances, especially when one of the spouses is from a lower caste. manisha tai considers herself as a lay woman, who is not highly educated but her self-study about buddha’s teachings and her experience of working as a social activist at grassroots level has strengthened her belief that both men and women are equal and are equally capable of changing their life-world and that gives her the strength to stand for what is right. manisha tai says, ‘conversion to buddhism means you consider everyone equal. but it’s not true for everyone. even among ambedkarite buddhists, their women are not treated equally. many of the men even after conversion were not aware of their subtle patriarchy in their day to day life. we have to make them aware of it.’ this shows the reflexive nature of anti-caste ideology that buddhism has imparted amongst its followers. manisha tai didn’t stop at highlighting her key learnings from buddhist philosophy; she implemented those learnings in her anti-caste activism through her association with social movements. she was the president of savitribai phule mahila mandal (spmm). spmm is one of the initiatives of manavi hakka abhiyan. creating awareness about gender equality among men and women is one of the most important activities undertaken by spmm. it has organized multiple workshops for men and women on gender equality and developing leadership qualities among women. ‘unless we achieve gender equality in all spheres of life, we can’t say that we have become buddhists in a true sense’, she says. dr. ambedkar (2016, w&s vol.5) believed that ‘the purpose of religion is not to explain the origin of the world…. an ideal religion is one that transforms society into a moral, ideal, and democratic order, such as buddhism.’ this methodology of dr. ambedkar clubbing buddhist values with political activism to bring social change reflects in the kind of work these women social activists are presently engaged in. as social activists, they are using buddhist values in their day to day activities in challenging brahmanical patriarchal structure by rejecting gender roles and showing compassion in their approach while addressing women’s issues irrespective of caste and class. 118 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 conclusion through this paper, i have tried to demonstrate that buddhism now is not restricted to one particular dalit caste but has become a collective form of protest for people belonging to various marginalized identities in maharashtra. people from different social backgrounds are taking to the buddhist way of life to assert their disapproval of the discriminatory practices of the hindu religion. in the process, women have taken the lead and they are rejecting the dominant perception and popular notion that women are second class citizens and are always supposed to be subordinate to men. the converted buddhist women have rejected the gender roles prescribed by the brahmanical patriarchal caste structure and stand against any form of oppression. by converting from hinduism, they are not washing their hands of their responsibilities, rather they draw power from the buddhist philosophy to change their life-world. buddhist women are at the forefront in reshaping and reconstructing their social, political, cultural, and biological conditions. as it is rightly pointed out by omvedt (1971), what phule seems to have sensed accurately that as long as there was inequality in the family, there could be no true equality in the society. suppression of women, in traditional hindu culture, went hand in hand with the suppression of low castes and untouchables. against this backdrop, buddhism plays an important role as it provides an alternative world view different from the oppressive caste society of hinduism which leads to the self-transformation of buddhist women resulting in the transformation of the society, they live in. references ambedkar, b.r. (2003). writings and speeches, vol. 17 (part-1). mumbai: government of maharashtra, education department. ambedkar, b.r. (2004). conversion as emancipation. new delhi: critical quest. ambedkar, b.r. (2013). castes in india: their mechanism, genesis, and development. new delhi: critical quest. ambedkar, b.r. (2016). writings and speeches, vol.5. mumbai: government of maharashtra, education department. bandyopadhyay, s. (2004). caste, culture, and hegemony: social domination in colonial bengal. new delhi: sage publications. beltz, j. (2004). contesting caste, hierarchy, and hinduism: buddhist discursive practice in maharashtra. in jondhale, s, and beltz, j (eds.), reconstructing the world: b r ambedkar and buddhism in india. new delhi: oxford university press. beltz, j. (2005). mahar, buddhist, and dalit: religious conversion and socio-political emancipation. new delhi: manohar. chakravarti, u. (2004). is buddhism the answer to brahmanical patriarchy? in jondhale, s, and beltz, j (eds.), reconstructing the world: b r ambedkar and buddhism in india. new delhi: oxford university press. dirks, n. (2010). caste of mind: colonialism and the making of modern india. new delhi: permanent black. durkheim, e. (1995). the elementary forms of religious life. new york: the free press. fitzgerald, t. (1997). ambedkar buddhism in maharashtra. contribution to indian sociology (n.s.), 31,2, 225-251. ambedkarites in making: the process of awakening and conversion... 119 juergensmeyer, m. (2009). religious rebels in punjabthe ad dharm challenge to caste. new delhi:navayana. narasu, lakshmi p. (2004). the rationality of buddhism. in sharma, s. k. and sharma, u. (eds.), cultural and religious heritage of india, volume 3: buddhism. new delhi: mittal publications. omvedt, g. (1971). jotirao phule and the ideology of social revolution in india. economic and political weekly, 6(37), 1969-1979. omvedt, g. (2003). buddhism in india: challenging brahmanism and caste. new delhi: sage publications. paik, s. (2011). mahar-dalit-buddhist: the history and politics of naming in maharashtra. contributions to indian sociology, 45(2), 217–241. rao, a. (2013). the caste question: dalits and politics of modern india. new delhi: permanent black. roberts, n. (2016). to be cared for-the power of conversion and foreignness of belonging in an indian slum. new delhi: navayana. sanal mohan, p. (2015). modernity of slavery: struggles against caste inequality in colonial kerala. new delhi: oxford university press. thorat, s. (2002). hindu social order and human rights of dalits. combat law: oct-nov 2002: issue 4. webster, j.c.b. (2002). religion and dalit liberation. new delhi: manohar publication. zelliot, e. (2004). b r ambedkar and the search for a meaningful buddhism. in jondhale, s, and beltz, j (eds.), reconstructing the world: b r ambedkar and buddhism in india. new delhi: oxford university press. zelliot, e. (2005). ambedkar’s conversion. new delhi: critical quest. endnotes 1 the mahar caste is numerically the largest ex-untouchable caste in maharashtra. they comprise almost six percent of the total state population and almost sixty percent of the total scheduled caste (sc) population of the state. apart from maharashtra, they have scattered presence in neighbouring states of madhya pradesh, gujarat, karnataka, and telangana. 2 the scheduled caste (sc) is the constituional category assigned to castes considered ‘untouchable’ in hindu scriptures and practices. these castes are officially regarded as socially disadvantaged for implementation of an affirmative action programme called reservation in india. 3 matang, also known as mang is the second-largest scheduled caste in maharashtra. they constitute thirty percent of the total sc population in the state. 4 the nomadic tribes and de-notified tribes are the people without fixed habitation and consist of about sixty million people in india, out of which about five million live in maharashtra. there are 315 nomadic tribes and 198 de-notified tribes in india. because of their nomadic lifestyle and derogatory group attributes these tribes are stigmatized and socially isolated, and remain educationally and economically backward. they are among the most marginalized communities in india. 5 the other backward class is the constitutional category of castes that are educationally and economically disadvantaged given their social status in the caste hierarchy. primarily these are castes of artisans and peasants, who are also referred to as middle-castes. 6 beed district is located in the marathwada region of maharashtra. around eighty percent of its population resides in rural areas. out of the total population of beed district, 13.58 percent are sc and 11.81 percent are st. 120 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 7 after conversion from hinduism to buddhism, newly converted buddhist are not supposed to follow hindu traditions, rituals, religious practices and also not supposed to worship god and goddess. 8 dhammachakra pravartan din is the day when dr. ambedkar converted to buddhism in nagpur on october 14, 1956 along with an estimated one million followers. this day is also called ashok vijaydashmi as it was on this day that emperor ashoka embraced buddhism. 9 place in nagpur, where dr ambedkar converted to buddhism. deeksha is sanskrit for initiation. 10 social reformer jotirao phule is also called mahatma (great soul). along with his wife savitribai, phule made significant contributions toward the upliftment of downtrodden communities in maharashtra. they were pioneers in dalit and women’s movements which laid the foundation of the anti-caste movement in india by giving an alternative ideology to the non-brahmin subaltern castes of the nation. 11 mahad satyagraha also called chavdar tale satyagraha was a social movement intended to resist the inhuman practices of hindu upper castes to prevent untouchable castes from using water of a public tank. it was a non-violent civil resistance led by dr. ambedkar on march 20, 1927 to allow all untouchable castes to use water from a public tank in mahad town of raigad district. the high point of the event was the act of drinking water from the public tank by ambedkar and his dalit followers. the day is also observed as social empowerment day in india. 12 on december 25, 1927, dr. ambedkar along with his followers burned the manusmriti as a symbol of the rejection of the discriminatory hindu scripture which is the basis of untouchability against low castes in india. manusmriti is the ancient hindu law code that divides the hindu society into castes with ‘graded inequality.’ it regulated the day to day activities and prescribed punishments for violators of the caste code. 13 bhante is respectable title used to address buddhist monks which confers recognition of greatness and respect in theravada buddhist tradition. joint editors-in-chief laurence r. simon brandeis university, usa sukhadeo thorat (emeritus) jawaharlal nehru university, india editor joseph k. assan brandeis university, usa reviews editor dolly daftary university of massachusetts boston, usa senior editorial assistant afia a. adaboh brandeis university, usa editorial assistant for public outreach & communications jaspreet mahal brandeis university, usa production editor vinod kumar mishra indian institute for dalit studies, india university librarian matthew sheehy brandeis university, usa ojs technical manager brian meuse brandeis university library, usa caste a global journal on social exclusion legacy of gender and caste discrimination volume 1, issue 2 editorial advisory board kaushik basu, c. marks professor of international studies and professor of economics, cornell university, usa; former chief economist of the world bank; president, international economics association; former chief economic adviser to the government of india krishna bhattachan, professor emeritus of sociology, tribhuvan university, nepal kevin d. brown, professor of law, maurer school of law, indiana university, usa ipsita chatterjee, associate professor, department of geography and the environment, university of north texas, usa ashwini deshpande, professor of economics, ashoka university, india meena dhanda, professor in philosophy and cultural politics, university of wolverhampton, united kingdom jean drèze, honorary professor, delhi school of economics, university of delhi, india ashok gurung, associate professor, julien j. studley graduate program in international affairs , the new school, new york, usa john harriss, professorial research associate, department of development studies, soas, university of london, united kingdom eva-maria hardtmann, associate professor and director of studies, department of social anthropology, stockholm university, sweden susan holcombe, professor emerita of the practice, heller school for social policy and management, brandeis university, usa sushrut jadhav, clinical associate professor of cross-cultural psychiatry, university college london; consultant psychiatrist & medical lead, focus homeless services, camden & islington nhs foundation trust; clinical lead, c & i cultural consultation service; founding editor, anthropology & medicine journal (taylor and francis, united kingdom); research associate, department of anthropology, soas, london, united kingdom chinnaiah jangam, assistant professor of history, carleton university, canada s. japhet, vice chancellor, bengaluru central university, bengaluru, india sangeeta kamat, professor of education, university of massachusetts at amherst, usa joel lee, assistant professor of anthropology, williams college, usa david mosse, professor of social anthropology, soas, university of london, united kingdom samuel l. myers, jr., roy wilkens professor of human relations and social justice and director, roy wilkins center for human relations and social justice, humphrey school of public affairs, university of minnesota, usa balmurli natrajan, professor and chair, department of anthropology, william patterson university, usa purna nepali, associate professor, kathmandu university, nepal katherine s. newman, senior vice president for academic affairs, university of massachusetts system, torrey little professor of sociology, usa martha c. nussbaum, ernst freund distinguished services professor of law and ethics, law school and philosophy department, university of chicago, usa devan pillay, associate professor and head, department of sociology, university of witwatersrand, johannesburg, south africa thomas pogge, leitner professor of philosophy and international affairs, yale university, usa christopher queen, lecturer on the study of religion, and dean of students for continuing education (retired), faculty of arts and sciences, harvard university, usa jehan raheem, former founding director, evaluation office, united nations development programme and former undp resident representative, burma (myanmar)  anupama rao, associate professor of history, barnard and columbia universities, usa amilcar shabazz, professor, w.e.b. du bois department for afro-american studies, university of massachusetts at amherst, usa a.b. shamsul, distinguished professor and founding director, institute for ethnic studies, the national university of malaysia kalinga tudor silva, professor emeritus of sociology, university of peradeniya, sri lanka; research director, international centre for ethnic studies, colombo, sri lanka harleen singh, associate professor of literature, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, brandeis university, usa jebaroja singh, visiting assistant professor, women and gender studies, st. john fisher college, usa ajantha subramanian, professor of anthropology and south asian studies, social anthropology program director, harvard university, usa abha sur, scientist in the science, technology and society program; senior lecturer, program in women and gender studies, massachusetts institute of technology, usa goolam vahed, associate professor, history, society & social change cluster, university of kwazulu-natal, south africa gowri vijayakumar, assistant professor of sociology and south asian studies, brandeis university, usa annapurna waughray, reader in human rights law, manchester law school, manchester metropolitan university, uk cornel west, professor of the practice of public philosophy, harvard divinity school, usa copyright © 2020 caste: a global journal on social exclusion issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste table of contents introduction and editorial essay ashok gurung and sunaina arya guest editors ....... articles persisting prejudice: measuring attitudes and outcomes by caste and gender in india amit thorat, nazar khalid, nikhil srivastav, payal hathi, dean spears and diane coffey ....... 01 the advent of ambedkar in the sphere of indian women question poonam singh ....... 17 leisure, festival, revolution: ambedkarite productions of space thomas crowley ....... 31 tathagata buddha songs: buddhism as religion and cultural-resistance among dalit women singers of uttar pradesh kalyani kalyani ....... 51 ambedkar, lohia, and the segregations of caste and gender: envisioning a global agenda for social justice anurag bhaskar ....... 63 speaking is healing: dalit women gain a voice through a charismatic healing movement in nepal amar bahadur bk ....... 73 forum ‘blackhole’ (poem in hindi & english) gaurav pathania ....... 183 a touchable woman’s untouchable daughter: interplay of caste and gender in nepal sarita pariyar ....... 187 policy arena assessing the impact of public-private funded midday meal programs on the educational attainment and well-being of school children in uttar pradesh, india joseph k. assan, laurence simon, dinar d. kharisma, afia a. adaboh, nicola assan, abdullah al mamun ....... 193 book reviews the caste of merit: engineering education in india ajantha subramanian reviewer: vivek v. narayan ....... 215 civility against caste: dalit politics and citizenship in western india suryakant waghmore reviewer: juned shaikh ....... 227 caste: the origins of our discontents isabel wilkerson reviewer: susan holcombe ....... 231 intersecting dalit and cultural studies: de-brahmanizing the disciplinary space prashant ingole ....... 91 ambedkarites in making: the process of awakening and conversion to buddhism among non-mahar communities in maharashtra tushar ghadage ....... 107 sex as a weapon to settle scores against dalits: a quotidian phenomenon jyoti diwakar ....... 121 dalit counterpublic and social space on indian campuses  kristina garalyte ....... 135 a cultural psychological reading of dalit literature: a case study of joothan by om prakash valmiki aparna vyas ....... 157 witch hunting: a form of violence against dalit women in india tanvi yadav ....... 169 article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 175–199 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.29 © 2020 sanober umar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited the identity of language and the language of erasure: urdu and the racializeddecastification of the “backward musalmaan” in india sanober umar1 (bluestone rising scholar honorable mention 2019) abstract the decline of urdu in post-colonial uttar pradesh has often been studied alongside the fall of muslim representation in public services and the ‘job market’ in independent india. however, there remains a severe dearth in scholarship that intertwines the tropes surrounding urdu as ‘foreign’ to india and the role that the racialization of the language played in insidiously collaborating with post-colonial governmentality which problematically ‘decastified’ and therefore circumscribed the production of ‘muslim minority’ citizen identity. i argue that since the 1950s the polemics of urdu and reasons cited for its lack of institutional recognition as a regional/linguistic minority language in uttar pradesh (until 1994) significantly informed the constitutional construction of ‘the casteless muslim’ in the same stage setting era of the 1950s. these seemingly disparate sites of language and caste worked together to systematically deprive some of the most marginalised lower caste and dalit muslims access to affirmative action as their cultural-political economies witnessed a drastic fall in the early decades after partition. this article addresses the connections between the production of muslims as ‘foreign’ and the simultaneous relegation of muslim ‘indigenous’ histories of conversion (from dalit and lower caste backgrounds) to the periphery under ahistoric, demeaning, and monolith stereotypes of the ‘backward musalmaan.’ furthermore, this article contends that the north indian ‘hindi-hindu-hindustan’ hegemony as espoused by hindu traditionalist congress and jan sangh leaders during the 1950s determined the contours of “indian muslim identity” within and outside the diverse muslim community, despite significant fractures between the ashraf and non-ashraf (specifically pasmanda) muslim leadership over the years. 1phd scholar, department of history, queen’s university, canada e-mail: s.umar@queensu.ca 176 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 keywords urdu, caste, hindi, ashraf muslims, pasmanda muslims, representation, decastification, backward, racialization, constitutional debates, minoritysm, memory, genealogies introduction the long decade of the 1950s set an important precedence for the many ‘contradictions’ that came to stereotype muslims in india, with dangerous consequences for the community institutionally, normatively, and in their gradual racialization as ‘indian muslims,’ despite fractions and diversity within the community. the structure of india’s new liberal democratic order only allowed for elite minority interests to be represented, and competing or contesting interests within the muslim community (particularly along the lines of class, caste, and gender) were often undermined in the problematic structures of representational politics (hasan, 2009 p 165). both nativist hindu leadership of the congress, whom christopher jaffrelot refers to as ‘hindu traditionalists,’ and openly right wing hindus from the jan sangh played a pivotal role during the 1950s in defining the characteristics of muslim identity and citizenship which would dominate the community’s national representation in india. these contours of muslim identity and minoritization in india were further amplified by ashraf muslim leadership in north india that laid exclusive claim towards representing the community’s ‘voice,’ despite being challenged from pasmanda muslim leaders.1 subsequently there were very real material consequences that accompanied the lack of representation for marginalised muslims in mainstream politics. against this background, i contend that the decline of urdu must be studied in this context of post-colonial governmentality and normative tropes that came to surround the muslim populace of india in this era. much of the scholarship on urdu has centred around urdu literature as a site of ‘muslim self-fashioning’ ranging from aristocratic muslims mourning their declining privilege and/or bourgeois aspirations of muslims under colonialism (naqvi, 2008; joshi, 2001), to the systematic attempts to end the language in post-colonial india (farouqui, 1994; pai, 2002; sajjad, 2014). other significant scholarly interventions have highlighted urdu as a language of nationalist contestations and competing ‘secular’ visions (datla, 2013), which framed minority identities in complex ways under late colonialism. innovative works have also demonstrated the problems of characterising urdu as a strictly islamic language (due to the ignorance of regional histories of belonging, culture, and religion).2 departing from this scholarship, this article contends that the decline of urdu must be studied in the context of a post-colonial governmentality that systematically erased caste from muslim identity and normalised tropes of ‘foreign (casteless) and backward musalmaans’ in the immediate aftermath of partition. i argue that these seemingly disparate processes of language and caste constituted the terms for ‘social reference’ of muslim minority citizenship along racialized lines. the fall of urdu in uttar pradesh, specifically in lucknow which some urdu writers claim was the birthplace of the language, had consequences not just for representational politics within lucknow or uttar pradesh, but beyond the city and the language in terms of muslim representation in india at large. by focusing on the construction of the muslim as a foreigner, as casteless, and as backward in official and the identity of language and the language of erasure... 177 public discourses, this article argues that the politics of urdu and constitutional erasure of caste among muslims helped constitute the muslim community as a minority in india through restrictive parameters that systematically targeted socio-economic prospects of the community while ahistoricising their presence in india through otherising racialized tropes. these developments on questions of language and caste recognition took place simultaneously during the 1950s and informed each other, subsequently impacting the diverse muslim community’s collective self-perception and socio-economic status as minority citizens in the decades to come. perhaps it is best to summarize what this article is not about, and then highlight what it seeks to do instead, finally surmising those strands together cohesively. this article is not on urdu as a medium for self-fashioning elite ashraf muslims who lamented the ‘death of the city’ in shahr-i-adab (the city of high culture and noble manners) kind of literatures; instead it is about how ashrafs came to be routinely portrayed by prominent leaders of the congress in uttar pradesh as ‘foreigners’ since medieval times. this article is not about caste politics per se, rather how the trope of the foreigner was used as a way to otherize and prevent some of the most downtrodden muslims from availing affirmative action policies, including the complex histories of how some lower caste and dalit muslim groups themselves tried to find liberation away from their stigmatized caste histories unfortunately without success as conversion did not eclipse casteist tropes against them. this article is not just about the institutional history of the fall of urdu in uttar pradesh, but it focuses on how urdu was used to shape the minority citizen status of muslims, and how it impacted their political economy and caste histories in lucknow. the article deploys both written materials documenting these issues and oral history testimonies of ashraf and pasmanda muslims in lucknow. in the process, this article traces the contours that defined the production of muslim minoritism in india, externally by post-colonial governmentality of the 1950s, and internally by muslims themselves led by ashraf leadership despite political and social fractures within the community. lastly, this article dwells on how the popular trope of the ‘backward musalmaan’ continues to ignore the histories and systematic oppression of muslim marginalisation in india, whilst racializing a diverse community that has gradually self-homogenized in the face of demeaning stereotypes and increasing popularity of hindu nationalist conceptions of their ‘un-belonging.’ making muslims foreigners as saadia toor has observed, the declaration of urdu as the national language of pakistan stemmed from muslim concerns almost half a century prior to the partition when the hindi movement in undivided india took off under the patronage of hindu leaders, often from the congress. notes toor, “for muslim nationalists in pakistan, urdu’s fate in india also represented the precarious status of indian muslims in independent india, retroactively justifying their fears of living under a hindu majority, and solidifying the idea that pakistan was urdu’s “home,” where it could be protected and preserved as a repository of indo-muslim culture and history.” white borders were drawn and confusion prevailed on how to regulate them following the 1947 creation of pakistan with notable contestations over kashmiri lands between india and pakistan,3 many muslims and non-muslims were alarmed at the rushed attempts to strike off urdu as a medium of instruction in schools around 178 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 uttar pradesh (dayal, 1998).4 in his detailed report on the decline of urdu, salauddin usman, an english writing anti-colonial ‘freedom fighter’ wrote: in 1947, the u.p government had declared hindi as the medium of instruction for high school and intermediate classes; and was in such a hurry to enforce it that it had not allowed the urdu speaking students of classes x and xii to reply (answer) in urdu in their examinations…. consequently whenever a demand was made for facilities for urdu-speaking people, those demands were branded as (those by) ‘communalists’ and even as demands by ‘pakistani agents’ within india, by one or the other spokesmen of hindi. (salahuddin usman, 1992) yet, lovers of the urdu language like pandit anand narain mulla pointed out that it was the duty of the state to safeguard urdu because the constitution had given these guarantees to all linguistic and cultural minorities [italics mine] in the country.5 unfortunately for urdu advocates across religion like usman and pandit mulla, the strong association of the language with pakistan (despite many non-muslims being well versed in it given its prior history as one the official court and government languages) worked against their efforts to advocate for the language. when muslims protested this measure of removing urdu as a language medium for important school exams, in a speech in 1949 at lucknow, uttar pradesh’s congress leader and member of the hindi sahitya sammelan (a national organisation for the advocacy of sanskritised hindi), purshottam das tandon forcefully argued as follows. the muslim must stop talking [italics mine] about a culture and civilization foreign to our culture [italics mine] and genius. they should accept indian culture. one culture and one language will pave the way for real unity. urdu symbolises a foreign culture. (national herald, 1948) tandon’s rhetoric of urdu and its ‘place’ in new india challenged lucknow muslim perceptions of their belonging to a diverse indian body politic. barely two years after the partition, urdu, a language that had flourished if not originated in lucknow, was declared as ‘foreign’ by prominent leaders of the congress. furthermore, the discourse advocated (and eventually accepted) by hindi sahitya samelan leaders in the constituent assembly sought to define what it meant to be a good indian citizen [italics mine] and demanded from muslims in india to ‘stop talking’ about their concerns for a language largely spoken by them if they were to accept the said vision of indian culture; viewed as racially and culturally different from allegedly ‘foreign’ muslim civilization(s) and centuries of syncretic interaction in local spheres between people of various faiths in the south asian subcontinent.6 thus, muslims in india were imaginatively constituted as ‘foreign’ to india while their local notions of land, belonging, and culture rendered as distinct from ‘indian culture.’ notably, hindi sahitya samelan leaders like k.m munshi and purshottam das tandon were also opposed to the conversion of people from one faith to another, as they sought to racialise muslim culture in india along ahistorical and statist conceptions as the country’s ‘foreign’ other. for these ‘hindi advocates,’ urdu came to be understood not just as the official language of pakistan, but notoriously as the language that did not the identity of language and the language of erasure... 179 belong to india (gould, 2002). indeed, this bordering of urdu replicated the ‘outsider’ and ‘insider’ precarity of indian muslim citizenship.7 what was at stake was not just a language, but the association of hindi with hindu culture and subsequently, the normalisation of hegemonic upper caste ‘hindi-hindu-hindustan’ governmentality in newly independent india. in 1954, the state reorganization commission recommended that minority languages should be allowed as mediums of instruction where it was feasible, not just in letter but also in the wider spirit of protecting and preserving the interests of linguistic minorities.8 but the uttar pradesh government persisted in not implementing urdu as a medium of instruction in schools despite it being a highly feasible option because congressmen like chief ministers g.b pant followed by sarvarsari sampuranand in the years just after independence were at the forefront of advocating sanskiritised hindi conscientiously at the expense of urdu in uttar pradesh. in 1951 under uttar pradesh’s first chief minister, g.b pant, hindi was declared the official language of the state, with no guarantees for urdu speakers.9 pant’s successor, sampuranand actively curbed instructions from the union government to assign urdu the status of a minority language between 1954 and 1958. sampuranand was a former member of the hindu mahasabha who had at a later stage joined the congress. he had published several works claiming that upper caste hindus were ‘the original aryans’ whereas muslims in india were ‘foreign invaders’ who had allegiances ‘outside india’ as detailed by historian william gould (2002). indeed, any study of the decline of urdu in uttar pradesh cannot be divorced from tropes that declare muslims as ‘invaders’ or ‘outsiders’ to india. sampuranand also maintained a strategy of what can be termed as ‘dichotomous contradictory discourses’ that were built upon to further subordinate muslim concerns through different, albeit often contradictory, tropes. writing to the ministry of home affairs, sampuranand categorically stated that, ‘we have no linguistic minorities in this state in the sense that bengalis are linguistic minorities in assam and bihar, or telugu speaking people in andhra.’ the letter further goes on to contentiously claim the following. perhaps the intention of the government of india is to get figures in respect of muslims in this state who claim to have urdu as their language. urdu and hindi are not two distinct languages. urdu is only a variant of the state language, hindi, its peculiarity lies in (the) adoption of its persian and arabic words. (u.p. state archives, lucknow). thus, sampuranand deployed dualistic tropes in manipulative ways. on the one hand, as previously noted, muslim culture and civilization was declared as that of a ‘foreign invader’ by hindu traditionalist congress leaders. simultaneously, urdu was characterised as unfit to be assigned the status of a minority language because it was apparently a variant of hindi according to hindi advocates, thereby implicitly acknowledging the roots of the language in india. in the process, urdu was simultaneously rendered as ‘foreign’ because it incorporated some words from arabic and persian, but it also had ‘indigenous’ roots in hindi/hindu culture as it significantly incorporated words from hindi, purbi, and panjabi. this led sampuranand to claim that hindi and urdu ‘were not distinct languages’ while being acutely aware that the 180 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 question was concerned with maintaining the cultural rights of muslims who in his words, questionably ‘claimed’ to have urdu as their language. the politics of refusing to grant urdu the status of a ‘linguistic minority’ language or a ‘second regional language’ was embedded in the construction of muslim identity in uttar pradesh with far reaching national implications.10 uttar pradesh had the highest number of representatives in the parliament in delhi, whereby issues politicised in the demographically largest province in india acquired the status of national attention. congress elected chief ministers of uttar pradesh such as g.b pant, sampuranand, c.b. gupta, sucheta kripalani, and k. tripathi in the early decades after partition were men and women who upheld the belief that muslims were ‘medieval foreigners’ to india and singularly blamed the community for the partition.11 by 1967, merely twenty years after the partition, the congress manifesto for elections in uttar pradesh did not even mention urdu or muslims in their political agenda, whereas the jan sangh, supposedly on the other end of the political spectrum with their openly espoused rightwing ideologies, explicitly refused to give urdu the status of a second official language in uttar pradesh (brass, 1974. p 257). gyan prakash has astutely observed (2007) that the ‘crisis of secularism’ in india since its inception was not a ‘quarrel with secularism such as church-state separation,’ but that the discourse centred on ‘toleration of minority citizens,’ especially muslims. the discourse of “toleration” is problematic because it implies a polite distance at best and lack of wilful acceptance at worst for marginalized citizens. it privileges some groups as the norm, while rendering other groups as secondary to the national imagination. this discourse on how to ‘tolerate’ minority citizens would become the ground upon which congress and the hindu right of jan sangh/bhartiya janata party would come to differ in their uncontested vision of the hindu nation, even if india was not a theocratic nation-state (brass, 1974). in sum, according to hindu traditionalist congress leaders and the jan sangh, india unquestionably belonged to the upper caste hindus who had the power and privilege to define the new post-colonial political order. the space of minority muslim citizens was dependent on this order’s benevolence and acceptance, even if constitutionally all were apparently upheld as equal citizens.12 in response, ashraf muslims actively contested such anti-muslim discourses via the advocacy of urdu since the partition and the assertion of their undeniable indianness. notably, prominent muslim leaders as well as some sympathetic hindu leaders advocated the cause of urdu and rallied against sampuranand’ s claims regarding urdu, insisted that uttar pradesh was the regional birthplace of the language. against this background, anjumman-e-tariqqi-e-urdu in lucknow emerged as a prominent organisation campaigning for the cause of protecting urdu. although anjumman taraqqi-e-urdu was formed in 1903, after partition the organisation split in two parts in india and pakistan, with the indian centre of the organization focusing on promoting urdu and popularizing its simpler and widely spoken form, hindustani. in 1954, the organisation submitted a petition to then president of india, dr. rajendra prasad, with over four million signatures and submitted a memorandum to maulana azad, the then minister of education, for the official recognition of urdu as a language of the substantial percentage of the population.13 linguistic historian jyotirindra das gupta (1970) and political scientist paul brass have noted that the mostly muslim petitioners of anjuman-taraqqi-e-urdu who wanted to safeguard the urdu language expressed their disagreement with hindi enthusiasts on primarily three grounds.14 first, they highlighted the origins of the the identity of language and the language of erasure... 181 language in india. secondly, they refused to view it as simply a ‘hybrid’ of hindi and farsi. lastly, they contested hindi enthusiasts’ claims that the language was ‘alien’ to india or ‘an imposition from tyrannical muslim rulers’ on hindus. these tactics would eventually lead anjuman members to adopt pacifist policies instead of directly challenging the anti-muslim rhetoric of hindi enthusiasts, as they wanted to separate their concerns for the language from its association with muslims. while it was true that many hindus also spoke and wrote in urdu, the demands for its continuation and preservation of the language overwhelmingly came from muslims in uttar pradesh as they strongly linked it to their culture. but the anjuman constantly asserted the role of urdu in bringing communities across faith together and festering a syncretic and harmonious culture, or ganga-jamuni tehzeeb in cities like lucknow, delhi, aligarh, varanasi, and allahabad. unfortunately, urdu advocates lost their cause when the secretariat collaborated with the polemical claims of the upar sachivalva (or upper house of the state legislature or legislative council), asserting that ‘no linguistic minority officer was required’ in uttar pradesh, despite the union government’s recommendation. the uttar pradesh government argued that, ‘persons who write in persian script cannot be said to have a different mother tongue than those who write in devnagri character because the spoken language of both is the same (up state archives).’ what was fascinating about arguing the similarity of the two languages was that the indian state refused to accept ‘hindustani’ as the official new language of india, which would have incorporated words from hindi, urdu, and punjabi and could be easily comprehended by the thickly populated region of north india. instead, the indian parliament rejected hindustani as a feasible option, choosing to formalize sanskritised hindi while relegating urdu to the periphery in uttar pradesh where it was most widely spoken (pai, 2002). several ‘anti communal’ congress leaders, including india’s first prime minister jawaharlal nehru, were critical of the hindu traditionalist dominance in the constituent assembly, who had endeavoured to advocate for hindi by stigmatizing urdu. in a passionate speech where nehru made his disagreements with hindu traditionalist congress leaders of uttar pradesh clear, he presciently commented about the dangers of ‘majority communalism’ and the equation of urdu and muslims as foreign to india, saying: ...the communalism of the majority is far more dangerous than the communalism of the minority because it wears the garb of nationalism… the communal and caste weaknesses of the people had been deprecated repeatedly in numerous resolutions of the congress working committee and the aicc. these resolutions were against these caste and communal tendencies. yet, in our daily lives, we do not understand them fully. (the times of india, 1958; noorani 2003) nehru was aware of the schisms within democracy including faulty equation of the will of the majority being necessarily an ethical will of the masses. in his critique of ideologies stoked by leaders like purshottam das tandon, c.b gupta, and sampuranand against muslim minorities the prime minister further observed in the same speech, it is said, and i don’t know why, that urdu is the language of muslims. i do not know what kind of brain and intelligence it is from which this idea stems. was urdu born with islam? (laughter). urdu is the language of india…indian 182 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 muslims are indians. they have lived here for generations, for thousands of years. only a handful of muslims could be said to have come from outside long long ago. but they also became a part of indian life. if anyone were to say that muslims are outsiders now, he only betrays his utter primitiveness of thought. (quote taken from noorani, 2003) it is indicative of the politics of nehru’s time (1947-1964) that the first prime minister of india had to explain to the ‘majority community’ that muslims had lived in the subcontinent for ‘thousands of years.’ despite nehru’s well-intentioned liberal critique against stigmatizing urdu and muslims as ‘outsiders to india,’ the constituent assembly declared hindi to be the national language of india in 1951, at the behest of hindi enthusiasts (primarily hindi sahitya sammelan’ members) within the congress. the pleas of muslim members and nehru to the constituent assembly to accommodate both hindi and urdu scripts under the ambit of hindustani did not materialise, nor was urdu recognised as one of the regional languages of uttar pradesh.15 whilst nehru after the partition may have been critical of the myopic historical distortions surrounding muslims in india but the congress was emerging as a national party that was comfortable adhering to the beliefs of hindu traditionalist members as equivalent to ‘nationalism’ since it had professed to speak for all indians since colonialism (b.d graham, 1973). although the anjuman endeavoured to emphasize that urdu was not a language that was exclusive to muslims, and several hindu writers and poets also wrote in the language, the language’s association with muslims was hardwired in mainstream imagination due to the colonial legacy of hindi-urdu controversies and associated communal politics. the muslim league associated the language with the muslim gentry and hindu nationalists encouraged hindus in uttar pradesh to dissociate from it as separate from hindu cultural identity (christopher king, 1994). consequently in india during the 1950s, the anti-muslim and anti-urdu rhetoric of jan sangh and hindu traditionalists within the congress had begun to materialize institutionally in uttar pradesh. thus, urdu was consistently denied the status of a linguistic minority language or regional language in uttar pradesh (until 1994) on heavily contested grounds that deemed ‘muslim culture’ as either foreign to indian culture, or urdu as a language that was similar to hindi even though hindustani was rejected as the official language of the country by prominent hindu traditionalist congress leaders in u.p. this was not a new development, given that the racialization of muslims as ethnically and culturally ‘foreign’ had been entrenched by the right-wing members of the hindu mahasabha since the 1920s under colonialism and several congress leaders had also adopted that anti-muslim racist stance.16 since urdu became the official national language of pakistan, it was reason enough for hindu traditionalist congress leaders in uttar pradesh to not accord it with any recognition in the province–to punish muslims for their perceived wrongs of the partition. notably, alongside these developments of otherising all muslims as ‘medieval foreign invaders’ in distorted historical narratives and using urdu as a political site for leveraging that racialization of the community, the indian state also deliberately obfuscated caste histories within the muslim community in the same era of the 1950s. in the next section i point out that although most u.p. muslims, especially from poor backgrounds did not migrate to pakistan, the consequences to diminish the power of urdu by the uttar pradesh government the identity of language and the language of erasure... 183 were manifold and layered in other intersecting processes, most notably the erasure of marginalised caste histories among muslims through legislative measures in the 1950s which significantly came to define the contours of muslim identity and minoritism in india. the ‘de-castifaction’ of muslims much like the dualistic tropes discussed in the previous section of the muslim as a ‘foreigner’ and urdu relegated as ‘hindi with a persian script,’ the erasure of caste recognition among muslim communities was another seemingly contradictory project of constituting the muslim as an ‘outsider’ to india normatively, while also institutionally denying lower caste and dalit muslims their ‘indigenous’ long durée histories of caste oppression, marginalisation and urban poverty. critically, caste had been categorically restricted to hindus through article 341 of the constitution as the constitutional scheduled caste order in 1950 laid down four key clauses, in which clause three of the scheduled caste order categorically went on to state, ‘no person who professes a religion different from the hindu religion shall be deemed to be a member of a scheduled caste’ (goi, 1950). hence clause 3 of article 341 of the indian constitution explicitly removed any provisions of ‘positive discrimination’ for historical and cultural contingencies of injustice of non-hindu dalit and lower caste groups. clause 3 highlighted how the national elites and liberal thinkers of the constitution were willing to engage in contextualised frameworks of historical injustices faced by certain groups, so long as they were hindus. this was a departure from colonial understandings of caste for a constitutional order that continued with colonial conceptions of representation and affirmative policies in many senses. colonial administrators had recognised ‘lower caste’ and ‘untouchability’ as broad categories with distinct practices in different regions of india, but largely as a phenomenon of minortysm for groups that failed to find political representation due to extreme socio-economic marginalisation. in his work on ‘depressed castes’ of uttar pradesh, a term that was replaced by the term ‘scheduled castes’ by the 1950s, galanter (1984) noted that ‘educational backwardness’ contributed to the social (and spatial) segregation of lower caste and dalit groups irrespective of their conversion to non-hindu faiths. yet the constituent assembly upheld ‘lower caste’ and ‘untouchable’ identity as not existing within the purview of religious conversion to islam or christianity wherein these groups were ritualistically liberated from brahminical (the highest caste, associated with priests and scholars) ideas of ‘polluted’ or ‘unclean’ identity. this process of removing caste based affirmative action for other backward caste/ajlaf17 and dalit or ‘arjal’ muslims18 collectively known as pasmanda (oppressed) muslims19 is a project of governmentality which i refer to as the ‘decastification of muslims.’20 caste hierarchization and discrimination among the muslim community was less rigid and stratified than hindus as several scholars (sabherwal, 2010; lidholm, 2001) have demonstrated in their works.21 however it remained a defining feature of intergenerational poverty and subsequent constraints on the mobility for lower caste muslims too. despite this the government order of 1950 relegated caste to be defined as a framework as applicable only in hindu contexts. when christians such as professor p.j. kurien challenged this categorisation by pointing out to caste discrimination within south indian christian communities, he failed to garner support for his cause 184 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 notably from christians with brahmin backgrounds (fazal, 2017). significantly, even hinduised dalit leaders in the constituent assembly such as p.r. thakur, muniswamy pillai and most vocally, h.j. khandekar opposed converts to non-hindu religions from dalit backgrounds from demanding the expansion of the scope of ‘scheduled caste.’ khandekar was a marathi dalit leader, and strongly against the conversion of dalits to other faiths, unlike dalit head of constitutional drafting committee dr. b.r. ambedkar. before joining the congress, khandekar was the secretary of the tarun mahar sangh which had famously ‘reverted’ 25 mahar dalit girls who had converted to islam (paswan and jaideva, 2004). he strongly believed in the consolidation of the hindu community, and emotionally appealed to the upper caste hindus in the constituent assembly to extend affirmative action policies for dalit hindus for more than ten years as it was the patriotic duty of upper caste hindus to raise the ‘civilization of independent india’(constitution of india, 1949). although a friend of ambedkar (dalit chairman of the constitution committee who had converted to buddhism), khandekar reprimanded sardar bhopinder singh mann and sardar hukam singh who were pitching for affirmative action of lower caste sikhs claiming that dalits converted to ‘casteless religions’ for emancipation and did not require more provisions (ibid). even the handful of muslim parliamentarians such as mohammed ismail sahib failed in demanding affirmative action provisions for muslims and christians from backward communities alongside scheduled castes, despite noting that as a matter of fact, there are backward people amongst the non-majority people as well. the christians are backward. as a matter of fact, they are not adequately represented in the services of the provinces. so are the muslims, and also the scheduled castes. if any provision is made, it has to be made for all such really [sic] backward people. (constituent assembly debates, 1948) ismail sahib’s appeals for extending affirmative action policies to the ‘backward’ muslims and christians, and the attempts to deny generations of caste induced marginalisation among non-hindus persisted in the constituent assembly throughout the democratic set up years of the 1950s: even when there was evidence to the contrary. in 1955, the first backward classes commission led by chair kaka kalekar submitted its report to the constituent assembly, officially recognising the presence of ‘backward communities’ among muslims. despite kalekar’s observation that lower caste and dalit muslims were ‘twice discriminated’ by the community and the state, the commission upheld that the absence of caste as a religious category in islam meant that muslims were not in need of reservations (dasgupta, 2009). these developments were also telling of how india’s post-colonial governmentality was premised on a hindu public sphere with a nod for emancipation of discriminated hindu and hinduised lower caste and dalit groups. this recognition arguably stemmed from the recognition of historical wrongs committed against those groups, especially by ‘upper caste’ hindus. yet muslims who had the highest demography of lower caste and dalit converts to the faith were not similarly categorised as they tried to escape the hindu caste system.22 notably, article 341 was later expanded, albeit with some contestations, to incorporate ‘depressed castes’ among sikhs in 1956, and buddhists in 1990 as the two faiths were seen as falling under the ‘hindu law’ constitutionally. but depressed castes among muslims and christians could not be incorporated as the case the identity of language and the language of erasure... 185 was made that these faiths did not fall within the ambit of hindu law – thus making it evident that the indian state was trying to bring all ‘indic’ religions like sikhism, jainism, and buddhism under its ambit unlike faiths that originated outside india such as islam or christianity. tanweer fazal (2017) notes that the supreme court of india upheld that if muslims and christians were to ‘revert’ to hinduism, their marginalised caste status would be accepted by the government.23 in short, consistent efforts were made to ensure the caste based affirmative actions were made tenable only for hindus or those who fell under the ambit of hindu law, to the exclusion of christians and muslims unless they reverted to hinduism to avail those benefits. by constitutionally erasing caste among muslims and christians, faiths that hindu nationalists have constantly defined as ‘foreign to the indian soil’ since the british raj (islam, 2019), policies of emancipation and affirmative action for equity were denied to muslims and christians politically and economically. this rendered the most vulnerable muslims and christians even more precarious in post colonial india. predictably, such a measure impacted lower caste and dalit muslims in lucknow as the city transitioned economically in the years after the partition. ‘traditional professions’ that lower caste muslims had practised in the qasbas (market oriented towns of the gentry/nawabs) of lucknow such as rickshaw pullers, tongawallas (carriage drivers), ghasals (those who bathe dead bodies), gorkuns (undertakers) pheriwalaas (roaming vendors), brass band players, kaanmailiya (ear wax fixers), malishiya (massagers), weavers in traditional zardozi and chikankari handicrafts, leather tanners and even hijras (hermaphrodites/eunuchs ) witnessed an accelerated decline in their professions as they lost their patronage as protected and recognised groups working for elite muslim local cultural economies when the country transitioned from a colonial to a post-colonial economy (hasnain, 2016). as noted, the constitution of post colonial india did not guarantee the increasingly marginalised urban poor muslim groups avenues for protection and emancipation, while lucknow’s economy gradually changed to accommodate new business classes venturing into the city especially from the hindu baniya (traders) community and sikh refugee business classes (ibid). these transformations were similarly felt in everyday mohalla (locality) living too. the town and urban planning report (1951-1961) for the city of lucknow consistently described old lucknow mohallas as ‘filthy,’ ‘dull’ and ‘not good in appearance’ and this process was casually explained as one that ‘naturally leads well-to-do-families to move out’ of these areas of old lucknow.24 this neglect of urban areas corresponded with growing urban poverty of muslims too, including muslims who had earlier had access to reservations in government jobs. mohammed arif, a muslim man from the lower caste bishti (water carrier) caste, recalled: earlier my father and grandfather were able to get jobs as water carriers and gardeners in government sector. but with the removal of caste provisions for muslims, people such as myself, my relatives and my children can no longer avail these opportunities as they go to only hindu bishtis.25 thus, many lower caste muslims such as bishtis who previously sought working class and service sector government jobs despite converting to islam lost their right to ‘positive discrimination’ due to post colonial governmentality’s restrictive parameters on caste. in addition to economic sustenance, for some lower caste muslims, particularly 186 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 women, there was pride in practising traditional arts and crafts for their elite patrons. rabia bano, an elderly woman from the shia julaha (weaver) caste recalled: prior to independence, our elite [italics mine] employed us in their households. my great grandmother, grandmother and mother worked in peace in their mansions. but after the act, they [elite muslims] were no longer as rich as before, and with that, people like me had to look for jobs elsewhere. i became a chikankari worker [local lucknow intricate embroidery] for an exploitative rastogi businesswoman, which was more hard work and less pay than what my mother received.26 rabia bano’s testament was common among several women of the julaha community who had traditionally worked in the qasbas of nawabs whom she refered to as ‘our elites.’ the extreme exploitation of lucknow’s overwhelmingly muslim female weavers due to ‘middle men (and women)’ became a subject of attention in several transnational studies on exploitation in unorganised labour sectors.27 connected to these histories of growing poverty and economic exploitation was also a sentimentally invested cultural affiliation of muslims across caste and sect in lucknow. muslims took pride in presenting themselves as practitioners of the city’s ‘cosmopolitan high culture,’ known for its textiles, mannerisms, food, handicrafts, dance, music and urdu.28 although urban and economic transformations were necessary in some cases as india paved the road towards becoming an independent colony by the 1950s, the impact of these transitions were far from equally felt, especially for the poor non-hindu urban minority groups and their traditional sources of livelihoods, with their often accompanying histories of lower caste or dalit convert backgrounds. the erasure of caste among muslims did not end casteism among muslims. however, many formerly elite and increasingly middle-class ashraf muslims sought to downplay that aspect on theological grounds of islamic egalitarianism. mohammed shahabuddin querishi, a resident of the severely neglected ballochpura mohalla in lucknow, populated by mostly dalit-muslims remembered: unlike elite muslims, the partition was never an incentive for us to migrate to pakistan as our local business [as butchers] was here, and we did not want the stigma of muhajirs29 in addition to being lower caste muslims there. although we are a self-sustaining community of butchers, during my childhood, ashrafs would treat us with disgust and not even touch our hands even though we are the ones who provided them meat. if we wanted to take money from them, we would have to cover our hands in cloth and lower our palms before them, as if we were begging.30 many such accounts of discrimination against pasmanda muslims have been recorded by historians like masood alam falahi, observing that ashraf muslims not only hid their casteist biases against poor and lower caste muslims on the grounds of class (2007) but also dehumanised dalit and lower caste muslims, loosely calling them ajlafs (commoners) and arzals (despicable). others like mohammed umar wrote prolifically in urdu to raise the issue of casteism among muslims, blaming indian hindu influences for it and beckoning ashraf muslims to supersede their casteism on islamic grounds of equality of all races and by extension, caste (umar, 1975; ansari, 1960). clearly, the logic of caste, which was the stratification of society along the identity of language and the language of erasure... 187 hierarchical lines, was not exclusive to upper caste hindus. muslims who perceived their lineages to be ‘superior,’ ascribed to foreign ancestries often adapting similar casteist attitudes socially, similar to brahmins who theologically believed the varna system to be a hierarchy based on so-called ritual purity (falahi, 2007). historians and urdu writers such as masood alam falahi have also pointed out the condescension of ashraf muslims towards lower caste and dalit muslims often masqueraded under conceptions of class and ‘khandaani’ (family line) values among muslims in uttar pradesh, besides the fact that had indian muslims been more vocal against casteism, an even larger percentage of dalits migh have converted to islam (ahmed, 1978). furthermore, lower caste muslims like ilyas mansuri of the pasmanda muslim samaj activist organization in lucknow maintained that the ashraf ulema (clergy) had actively benefited from not educating muslims about ‘true islam – one where we are all equal, and don’t need them in the first place to play mediators between us and god.’31 mansuri’s critique of the clergy as ‘mediators’ can also be attributed to the ulema’s (historical) investment in maintaining their status as influential power wielders in the muslim community. although in islam clergies are not a class or group sanctioned by the organised faith, caste ideas of continuing with their father’s professions pervaded into the religiosity of indian islam too according to falahi (2007). shia muslims particularly were often accused by sunni muslims for upholding casteist ideas of genealogies in their claims to being ‘syed’ or those who traced their genealogy to prophet muhammad.32 this is perhaps not an exaggerated claim, given the dominance of the surname ‘syed’ and persianized heritage of shias in lucknow. but many sunnis too identified with ‘powerful’ lineages, although most muslims who converted to islam (from lower caste and dalit backgrounds) through sufi mystics usually belonged to the sunni sect.33 however, irrespective of sectarian differences, tracing these ‘foreign’ lineages was not exclusive to elite or upper middle-class ashraf muslims. as pasmanda muslim leader ilyas mansuri also acknowledged: constructing genealogies that were not rooted in indigenous indian histories was also a way that many pasmanda muslims had sought freedom from the stigma of being ‘lower’ caste or casteless/dalit.34 much like ramnarayan rawat’s important work on how dalit chamars in lucknow produced their own genealogies which paved a resistance path for minorities to empower themselves beyond the gaze of the state, lower caste muslims produced their own claims to trajectories that had nothing to do with stigmatised caste origins of hindus. significantly, rawat (2011) has demonstrated that chamars or dalits in lucknow were not just tied to leather-based occupations, and often produced their own genealogies for social mobility. similarly, lower caste muslims who converted to find liberation in what charles lindholm (2001) terms as islam’s ‘radical theological equality before god’ also sought to construct their genealogies in an islamic timespace continuum that did not relegate their histories to stigma and servitude under upper caste people. it also remains equally important to assert, as satish saberwal notes, the stigma of caste within muslims is notably less overtly discriminatory than within the hindu community (2010). saberwal has also pointed out that even lower caste scholars from prominent muslim seminaries have histories of producing their own genealogies in an islamic world history than a hindu caste history.35 even falahi has noted in his critique of ashraf muslims that theologically, islam provided some 188 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 progressive clerics space to challenge casteism, a feature ironically also observed in the constituent assembly by those who contested against assigning caste based affirmative actions for marginalised muslims due to theological grounds of equality of all castes and races in islam as noted with regards to the objections of dalit leaders like h.j. khandekar. however most significantly, the erasure of caste from the taxonomy of muslims enabled the evasion of any responsibility for equity in parameters of caste set by the indian state. and with a state that was unwilling to recognise muslim histories of oppressed caste backgrounds for upliftment from stigma and poverty, lower caste muslims, and dalit muslims often went on to produce their own genealogies to affirm a theology and history that sought agency and empowerment beyond the gaze of the hindu dominated state and its language of caste. spurned by the state, with little avenues for institutional recognition of their continuing histories of oppression and extreme poverty (including the largely indifferent base of ashraf muslims), the weavers and artisans eventually took it upon themselves to construct their own genealogies, and eclipse caste as they had hoped for when they converted to islam in uttar pradesh. many muslims from the julaha or weaver caste began to identify themselves as ‘ansaris,’ the butchers as ‘quereshis’ and the sanitation and bishti caste muslims as ‘sheikhs’ – a bid to construct lineages that were perpetually islamic across time-space continuum. even colonial census collection of caste was not free from constraints. observes religion studies scholar remy delage (2014) on the problems of governmentality, ‘since many hindus who converted to islam took on the name shaikh when they were required to register with colonial census officials, the entire community was dragged further down the social ladder, which shows the disjunction that sometimes exists between a group’s theoretical level in the caste hierarchy and its social status.’ furthermore, even muslims who knew their dalit backgrounds sought to distance themselves from it for ‘strategies of symbolic advancement.’ shabnam from the dalit and dalit-muslim concentrated lal beg mohalla in lucknow said: nobody wants to be associated with untouchability. it brings shame and ridicule from the arrogant ones [italics mine] ……. and arrogance does not have a religion.36 shabnam’s explanation of constructing false or mythical genealogies despite her awareness of her caste history shows an imaginative leap where marginalised muslims tried to emancipate their identities from stigma in conceptions of shared power and prestige with ashraf muslims. complex as these ‘constructed genealogies’ surrounding caste may be among lower caste and dalit muslims, it nonetheless provided a sense of comfort, and even resilience to many pasmanda muslims. as noted by kamran bashir and margo wilson (2017): “despite enduring discourses about social hierarchy and socio-political activism, and a generalised have-not versus elite rhetoric that underlies assertions of community coherence and demands for amelioration, no established, homogeneous group appropriate for either scholarly investigation or policy planning can be identified. rather, diversity, status ambiguity, and ongoing change processes provide the most cogent characterisation of dalit muslim communities in india today.”37 however, the casteist bias against dalit muslims and other muslims in demonised caste occupations such as butchers, manual scavengers, and sanitation workers, has persisted despite their the identity of language and the language of erasure... 189 efforts to distance themselves theologically from the stigma of casteism. this is due to the widespread prevalence of brahmin ideas of cleanliness, purity, and vegetarianism in north indian society. afzal qureshi, a butcher from the severely underdeveloped and neglected kasaibadagh mohalla in the heart of old lucknow pointedly observed: when upper caste hindus call butchers unhygienic, when they call us janwar se bhi batar (worse than animals), they are historicising us based on brahmin notions of vegetarianism and social hygiene without outright calling us dalits. but the language has strong undertones of caste.38 unlike the constituent assembly’s belief that conversion to islam eclipsed the stigma of casteism, the oral history testimonies and material lived realities of pasmanda muslims presents another picture. until 1993, no obc or dalit muslims were given access to ‘reservations’ in jobs and education (singh, 1996). when a small number of these disadvantaged muslims were finally given recognition by the implementation of the b.p mandal commission, they had to compete with hindu obcs and dalits in an already anti-muslim atmosphere. many dalit muslims complained that they were clubbed together with obc muslims despite the different needs of the community (moinuddin, 2003). others noted that several obc muslim groups were missing from the mandal commission list with no explanation (ibid). in addition, often there were discrepancies between the central government’s shorter list of recognised obc muslims compared to provincial government lists of obc muslims.39 complicating these legacies of representation and misrepresentation lay the project of muslim self-identification. unlike hinduised dalits who tried to associate themselves with hindu kshatriya or warrior/ruling castes in their genealogical constructions of the self (rawat, 2011),40 muslim convert efforts to produce histories of genealogies outside india also had tragic implications as it played into hindu right narratives of casting all muslims as ‘outsiders.’ in addition, historians such as peter van der veer (2004) and christopher jaffrelot (1993) have pointed out that upper caste hindu notions of being ‘aryans’ was not purely biological in hindu right discourses since they politically also strived to integrate ‘dravidian’ dalits into their conceptions of the varna dharma as a ‘syncretic strategy’ so long as dalits and hindus were a unified front against the uniformly racialized muslim other. politically however, elite and middle-class ashraf muslims remained at the forefront of representation, often with the support of poor and lower caste muslims given the former’s access to social capital relative to them. the north indian muslim representation in politics was either led by a small fraction of leftist muslims with marxist persuasions (often journalists or ‘progressive’ writers from the intelligentsia) who had little support among the masses, or socially conservative ashraf muslims with a wider following many of whom by the 1980s became members of the ulema leadership.41 pasmanda muslims, with their own complicated self-identification histories and constructed genealogies often followed ashraf leaders and ulema en masse in major cities including lucknow. subsequently in the 1990s, the handful of largely politically disempowered pasmanda muslim leaders who demanded affirmative action policies for ‘backward’ muslims failed in harnessing popular opinion either among muslims or lower caste and dalit hindus.42 the voices of pasmanda muslim leadership fell short both on the government ears and ashraf leaders who would go on to demand reservations for muslims 190 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 irrespective of caste but based on class. in 1994, dr. ejaz ali, one of the founders of the pasmanda muslim mahaz which began in the same year, from the adjacent province of bihar launched the ‘all india backward muslim morcha (protest),’ noting the unique histories of dalit and other backward caste muslims and their need for affirmative action supports for the upliftment of the community. dr. ali slammed ashraf muslims for what he viewed as a singularly focus on the demolition of the babri masjid in 1992 by hindu militants (sikand, 2002). yet, it was a weaver caste pasmanda muslim gentleman from a humble background, hashim ansari, who had launched the first public interest litigation against the hindu nationalist project of building a ram mandir on the premises of the historic babri mosque.43 evidently, anti-muslim racialization had impacted the wider muslim community in india given the difficulties and ambiguities of tracing caste histories, and the systematic collective socio-economic deterioration of the community. despite casteism within the muslim community, many pasmanda muslims view their identities as overlapping with both caste and religion. on introspection, even dr. ejaz ali conceded that despite he continuing existence of caste and casteism among muslims, islam was an important aspect of identification for most convertee indigenous muslims as it provided them ‘self respect and equality’ (sikand, 2002). hindu caste stratifications of ritual purity and hierarchization cannot be simplistically implanted on to indic-islamic identities, despite the widespread prevalence of casteist attitudes among so-called ashraf muslims. complexities of memory, social constructions of genealogies, and the indian state’s attempts to deny caste and by extension, affirmative action for muslims, has produced unique trajectories of lower caste and dalit muslim disfranchisement. nonetheless, it is imperative to note that ashraf hegemony in indian muslim politics focused on hindu nationalism, rather than prioritizing policy making and issues impacting poor and/or lower-caste and dalit muslims explicitly due to their class, caste and historical marginalization.44 by the mid 1990s, the politics of affirmative action became even more complicated for the muslim community, with class intersecting with caste and religious identity. against the background of socio-economic deterioration within the muslim community that began in 1947 with the systematic attack against urdu in uttar pradesh, the once proud ashraf muslims too had to institutional discrimination in public services/government jobs and confront notions that were previously used exclusively for dalits or poor muslims as the community collectively faced demonisation, homogenization and caste loaded derogatory stereotypes. noted veteran anti-communal activist of lucknow, professor roop rekha verma observed: tropes such as backward, dirty, unhygienic and meltch (meat eaters) – that were once derogatorily used by brahmins and other elites towards exclusively dalits – increasingly got used for the muslim community in lucknow by the 1980s.45 verma’s reflection of how casteist terms came to be unanimously applied to muslims over time is of importance to note in scholarship, especially in terms of recognising how anti-dalit tropes informs and constitutes islamophobia in india. tellingly, the institutional marginalisation of muslims, including the material implications of the cultural genocide of urdu in uttar pradesh was minimised in hindu right political discourses and muslims often blamed muslims for their own ‘backwardness’ – as if the identity of language and the language of erasure... 191 it was a malicious symptom of the community by virtue of being muslims and not due to concerted systematic efforts that were leveraged against them. in sum, external racialising impositions on the community were ignored, and internally for muslims, it contributed to their growing self-homogenization as a vulnerable ‘minority citizen’ community with their language, rights, and caste histories denied. when regional dalit and other backward castes (obc) political parties like bahujan samajwadi party and samajwadi party in the 1990s tried to show solidarity with muslims or address some of their concerns (mostly identarian), they would almost immediately be accused of ‘minority appeasement’ by the hindu right even though clearly the community was barely availing any socio-economic benefits as minorities.46 in 1995 prominent muslim public figure, syed shahabuddin, started the first ‘conference for the reservation of muslims.’ shahabuddin asserted that any demands for reservations had to be made for muslims based on class disadvantaged positionalities rather than caste.47 as scholars such as malvika kasturi have also demonstrated, some muslims with mughal heritage may have had central asian or persian ancestry centuries ago and access to socio-economic power at some points in history, however in colonial and today’s post colonial india even former muslim rulers witnessed a drastic decline in their wealth and status (2012). some were even reduced to penury and several popular news articles have alleged that one of the direct descendants of the last mughal emperor is a washerwoman today.48 the claims by syed shahabuddin on the overall marginalisation of muslims are corroborated by the findings of the sachar committee report that investigated the status of muslims from 19472005, noting that obc hindus in india had more political and governmental representation than muslims, and the overall economical capital of the obc hindu community exceeded that of muslims in india.49 furthermore, many obc and dalit muslim activists had noted in the all india backward muslim morcha conference that it was difficult for them to compete with other dalit and obc hindus with limited reservations given the general anti-muslim sentiment in the country, which often led them to also face bureaucratic hurdles in getting caste certificates (moinuddin, 2003). thus, the resistance to prevent pasmanda muslims from identifying with their caste due to both anti-muslim and casteist bias of the indian state, in addition to ashraf muslim demands for reservations of all muslims facing economic marginalisation irrespective of caste histories, restricted the activist demands of pasmanda muslims such as anwar ali.50 yet, pasmanda muslim leaders resiliently struggle against caste based islamophobia from savarna hindus, and continue to challenge the hegemony of ashraf muslims as spokespersons for the entire muslim community in india. it is vital to not silence caste marginalised histories of muslims in india because as ritty a. lukose (2009) aptly observes “the production of caste and the production of religion by the indian state,” must be viewed as “intersecting if not analogous processes.” conclusion because urdu is the language of ‘contestations’ in post colonial india, it is also the site at which caste and religion overlap and demonstrates the complexity of muslim identity in india; both in terms of diversity within the muslim community and the consequences of their collective racialization due to the governmentality of the indian state. the engineered decline of the urdu language alienated the muslim community from its roots; culturally and economically their prospects for growth were hampered 192 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 almost immediately after the partition, with devastating consequences within decades after india’s independence. it is also imperative to emphasize that none of these implications for the muslim community whether ashraf, ajlaf or arjal could have transpired without the impact of the constitutional erasure of caste among muslims in the 1950s. tanweer fazal (2017) has persuasively argued in his important work on the ‘debate’ around caste in the constituent assembly in the 1950s and its outcome as espoused in article 341 that, “the complicity of the christian and muslim elite and their discomfort with the idea of caste, the anxieties of the conservative nationalists regarding large-scale conversion out of the hindu fold and the fear of inviting displeasure of existing [obc and dalit] beneficiaries [were] plausible reasons for the denial of entitlement to the low-caste followers of islam and christianity.” in essence, article 341 led to a denial of equity policies to uplift the marginalised of the muslim community in public representation, jobs, development projects and educationalfacilities with far reaching consequences that have lasted till today. furthermore, as i have illustrated, there was a direct relationship between the decline of urdu and its impact on the sustainable livelihoods of pasmanda muslims in lucknow. as noted, many lower caste professions depended on urdu for their economic sustenance or the maintenance of lucknow’s cultural legacy (which was closely intertwined with urdu) as a city of old muslim arts and textiles. the polemics surrounding urdu, especially framing it as “foreign” to india and its association with pakistan led to the language’s controversial systematic decline in uttar pradesh in the era almost immediately after the partition, impacting the decastification of muslims in significant ways too through multiple ways and at multiple sites. the politics of language, caste, belonging, and racialization of muslims in the democratic stage setting era of the 1950s enabled the indian state to precipitate seemingly confusing tropes of universalizing muslims, their culture, religion, and language. the legislative framing of the muslim minority citizen was one that essentially upheld the stereotype of ‘medieval foreign invader,’ who imposed language and culture on hindus. urdu became a critical site for hindu extremists and hinduized dalit leaders like khandeka to subordinate muslim interests immediately after the partition and enforce historically inaccurate (if not contradictory) discourses that racialized muslim citizens as the ‘other’ in india. that some sanskritised hindi advocates of the hindi sahitya sammelan such as purshottam das tandon were also constitutionally demanding that conversion from hindu to non-hindu faiths should be outlawed, significantly highlights that for such actors the project of racializing the urdu language and decastifying muslims was embedded and mutually informed by one another. ultimately, the processes (and events) of shaping, omitting, defining, and asserting some features over others to mark the contours of a ‘muslim minority citizenship’ was a project defined by post partition borders of racializing exclusions and animosity towards muslims who had come to embody the border internally within india. therefore both casteism and islamophobia have informed the intersectional and oppressed everyday realities of being muslim in india, despite the heterogeneous community striving to resist otherizing tropes. multiple and entangling processes of systematic discrimination and ahistoric racialization of the vast minority muslim community have gradually facilitated the stereotypical conception of the casteless and foreign ‘backward musalmaan.’ the identity of language and the language of erasure... 193 references ahmad, irfan. 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(2004). hindus, a superior race, journal of the association for the study of ethnicity and nationalism. endnotes 1. i use the term ashraf in this article to connote not just the formerly aristocratic and ruling muslims classes of pre-colonial india, but also bourgeois “middle class” muslims who emerged by the end of the 19th century under british colonialism. 2. centering the crisis of urdu’s status in india had implications for downplaying the cultural, linguistic and regional diversities of muslims in india, including other dialects of urdu such as dakhani urdu. as afsar mohammed has noted in his work on dakhani urdu and telgu, local and regional languages have historically played a formidable role in forming islamic identities in the indian subcontinent, even though the politics of urdu has been used to racialize muslims at a national level as this article explores. see lecture (may 2013) entitled, “urdu beyond manto” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtl_trhfycq 3. mona bhan aptly observed in the annual south asian studies conference at wisconsin madison in 2018 that “border frameworks” do not apply to kashmir where “lines are contested.” kashmiri histories of identity and culture are often problematically limited to merely south asia (specifically india and pakistan) to the exclusion central asian historical influences over the disputed territories. 4. dayal, rajeshwar. a life of our times, orient longman, 1998, pp. 95-96. also see conference organized by non-muslim advocates of urdu entitled, ‘yadgar jarida all india ghayr muslim urdu musanifin conference’ that took place in lucknow in 1973. 5. usman, salauddin, urdu in uttar pradesh report (from 1947 to 1991), part 1, pg 11. please note that usman’s report was published in “mainstream,” a selfproclaimed leftist magazine. however archival records of printed editions have been hard to locate despite contacting the present editor for a copy. i use a private collection of usman’s detailed report which was procured from his daughter in lucknow. 6. as noted by laura brace, the idea of a “good citizen” is grounded in not merely legal status or should be simplistically viewed as equivalent to self-possession, but that it is “inextricably bound up with expectations and notions of dependence and 196 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 independence that inform our understanding of ‘belonging.’” see: brace, laura. ‘reflections on the good citizen,’ in bridget anderson and vanessa hughes (eds) citizenship and its others, palgrave macmillan publications: london, 2015. 7. in his upcoming book, dalits and the making of modern india(oxford university press), dalit scholar chinniah jangam observes that “contradiction” was a vital political tool in post colonial representative politics, noting, “caste hindu elites imagined a nation founded on contradictory ideals, an unequal society with inherited caste privileges intact alongside a liberal representative democracy.” 8. report of the commissioner for linguistic minority affairs, first report, 1959. see: https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.104817/2015.104817.reportof-the-commissioner-for-linguistic-minorities-first-report_djvu.txt 9. usman, salauddin, urdu in uttar pradesh report (from 1947 to 1991). 10. unlike states such as andhra pradesh and maharashtra that had granted urdu the status of a linguistic minority despite the percentage of urdu speakers in these states being smaller than uttar pradesh. another odd feature about urdu getting recognized regionally is that in jammu and kashmir urdu was accorded the status of a provincial official language, even though majority of kashmiris (governed separately from the rest of india until recent times under article 370) are not urdu speakers. 11. paul brass’s comprehensive work on language, religion and politics in north india details how urdu was used to stigmatize muslim minorities whilst not granting it regional recognition, along what i contend were clearly racialising lines. 12. see: gauba, k.l. passive voices: a penetrating study of muslims in india, sterling publications: new delhi, 1973. in 1985, socialist advocate ahmed rafiq sherwani from lucknow complied statistics on the drastic decline of muslims in civil services from 3percent in 1971 to a shocking 1 percent in 1981 based on earlier calculations done by k.l gauba and his own gathering of statistical information from government records. his findings were further validated by the research finds of lucknow university and aligarh muslim university professors on muslim representation in public services in 1986. see: ‘sarkaari mulaazamato main aqileeyaton ki nomandagi mein khatarnaak kaam’i (alarming drop in minority representation in government services), quami awaaz, 22nd february 1986. 13. ‘anjuman taraqqi-e-urdu (hind) submits memorandum to the president seeking due recognition for urdu,’ pamphlet published and circulated by anjuman taraqqi-e-urdu, 1954. this memorandum is also available in a.g noorani’s collection of primary source materials and documents pertaining to the study of muslims in india in the muslims of india: a documentary record, oxford university press: new delhi, 2003, pg. 304. 14. see: das gupta, jyotirindra. language, conflict and national development, university of california press: berkeley, 1970, pp. 127-196. curiously enough, das gupta does not mention the controversy surrounding the census “data” collection of urdu in uttar pradesh despite many muslim advocates noting that census enumerators marked ‘hindi’ as the mother tongue of many urdu native speakers. 15. the signatories of advocating for hindustani and/or the recognition of urdu as the regional language of uttar pradesh included nawab ismail khan, nazi ahmad, b. pocker sahib, a.h ghaznavi and z.h lari. see primary source: the times of india, 20th august 1949 for the public petition in the constituent assembly. the identity of language and the language of erasure... 197 16. significantly, scholar remy delaje (2014) has noted that even the colonial census on caste among muslims was not free from problems as often lower caste and dalit muslims recorded themselves as ashrafs. 17. the term ajlaf was often used by elite muslim aristocrats for “commoners” irrespective of caste heritage, but today it is often used to describe muslims from ‘other backward castes’ (obc) backgrounds. 18. arjal is a polemical term which derogatorily implies someone who is despicable. 19. the term “pasmanda” has had a resurgence since the early 2000s to include within its ambit the historical ambiguities surrounding the memory of caste for muslims from marginalized caste convert backgrounds. 20. surprisingly, there is no reference to the ‘decastification’ of muslims in dominant literature, unlike the use of the term for ‘christian decastification.’ see for example: thottupuram (1981), jebmalai (1999) and, chatterjee, a. p.(2004). 21. for examples see: saberwal, satish. ‘on the making of muslims in india historically,’ in basant rakesh and shariff abusaleh (eds) handbook of muslims in india, oxford university press: new delhi, 2010. and lidholm, charles, ‘caste in islam and the problem of deviant systems: a critique of recent theory,’ in t.n madan (ed) muslim communities of south asia: culture, society and power, manohar publications: new delhi, 2001 22. activists ali anwar and ejaz ali claim that some 75 per cent of muslims are from dalits and obc backgrounds. several historians have written about the conversions of muslims from marginalised caste backgrounds since medieval times.(see, ali, 2009; eaton,1993). 23. tanweer fazal cites the case of s. rajagopal v. arumnugam where the supreme court held that the caste system prevailed only among hindus or possibly in some religions closely allied to the hindu religion like sikhism. see: fazal, tanweer (2017) 24. lucknow town and urban planning report (1951 -1995), pg 63-65. 25. interview taken on 4th november 2015, nakhaas, old lucknow. 26. interview taken 4th october 2016, nakhaas, old lucknow. 27. see for example: papola, t.s, (1982). women workers in an urban labour market [microform]: a study of segregation and discrimination in employment in lucknow (india), sponsored by international labour organisation, 1982. for recent works on the structural barriers faced by needle-workers in lucknow, see mohammed usman’s conference paper, the constraints in accessing microcredit and the development of women’s entrepreneurship: a study of the work dynamics of the artisans of the chikan embroidery industry of lucknow, at istanbul university, 3rd january 2019. 28. paul brass has noted that weaver caste muslims, from what was dubbed as “julaha” caste in bihar led by the mommin movement were also invested in the preservation of urdu in their state although they were critical of ashraf leadership. see: brass, paul. language, religion and politics in north india, cambridge university press: london, 1974, pp. 245-247. 29. a term with discriminatory implications, espoused by punjabi pakistanis for u.p and bihari so-called “migrants” to pakistan after the partition. 30. interview taken on 3rd november 2016, ballochpura mohalla. 31. interview taken in pasmanda muslim samaj office in hazratganj (lucknow), 28th february 2018. as per the booklet of the organization, “mansuri samaj ka paigaam: pasmanda jagao-desh bacchao” (the message of mansuris: save 198 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 backward muslims, save the country), the pasmanda muslim samaj, (society for backward/marginalized muslims) was founded in 2011, an extension of earlier efforts to consolidate muslims under the ‘all india mansuri samaj.’ 32. “syeds” claim to descend from the tribe of quraysh which prophet muhammed belonged to, and often shia aristocratic families claim to trace their ancestry to the prophet’s nephew, imam ali. however, this phenomenon is not exclusive to shias, with sunnis also often “tracing” their lineage from the quraysh tribe as well. this includes dalit and lower caste muslims who, as this article has highlighted, have complex histories of claiming different genealogies. [for reasons of maintaining sunni-shia peace between neighbours often living side-by-side in muslim dominant old lucknow mohallas, the author has not cited the names or alluded to any references of those who held perspectives and accusations about casteism among certain sects.] 33. for an excellent historiography and academic discussions on the role played by sufis in converting lower caste hindus and dalits to islam, see: aquil, raziuddin (ed.) sufism and society in medieval india, oxford university press: new delhi, 2010. for the transition of formerly aristocratic “ashrafs” to bourgeois muslims in the nineteenth century, see: pernau, margrit. ashraf into middle classes: muslim in nineteenth century delhi, oxford university press: new delhi, 2013. 34. interview taken on 28th february 2018, pasmanda muslim samaj office, hazratgani, lucknow. 35. most notably the weaver caste founders of the famous darul uloom deoband islamic seminary in saharanpur, uttar pradesh. 36. interview taken on 10th december 2016. see joel lee’s article on the dalit history of lal bagh mohalla entitled, “the feast of lal beg: dalit religion ‘underground’” in nadeem husnain’s, the other lucknow: an ethnographic portrait of a city of undying memories and nostalgia, vani prakashan publications, 2016. 37. sujatha gidla’s poignant memoir of growing up in 1960s india is a telling example of how conversion doesn’t necessarily eclipse caste, although it provided dalit christians like gidla and her family options for education in sought-after “english medium” christian missionary schools. see: gidla, sujatha. ants among elephants: an untouchable family and the making of modern india, farrar, strous and giroux: new york, 2017.f 38. interview taken on 3rd november, 2016, kasaibadagh mohalla, old lucknow. 39. ibid. interestingly, the year after the mandal commission recognized certain oppressed and backward caste groups among “indigenous” muslims, urdu was implemented as a regional language in uttar pradesh in 1994 under obc chief minister of uttar pradesh, mulayam singh yadav. yadav famously called urdu,“the language of uttar pradesh.” 40. as rawat has demonstrated in his work about the close ties between adi samaaj run by dalits and arya samaj dominated by upper caste hindus in lucknow. see: rawat, ramnarayan s. chamars and dalit history in north india, indiana university press: blooming and indianapolis, 2011, pg 37. 41. this issue of bourgeois muslims (especially from lucknow) representing the community’s “needs” also stood true when it came to the status of urdu. see: brass, paul. language, religion and politics in north india, cambridge university press: new york, 1974, pp.235-236.’ the identity of language and the language of erasure... 199 42. despite scholar irfan ahmad’s (2003) hopes that “the very grammar of muslims politics in india” could veer for a “progressive agenda” with the rallying call of pasmanda muslim leaders. 43. building upon khalid anis ansari’s important article entitled, ‘a tale of two mosques,’ published in himal south asia (2016), it is important to observe that caste cannot be examined as the only lens to investigate muslim representational politics without accounting for the role of anti-muslim racialization that has impacted lower caste and dalit muslims too, even as so-called ashraf muslims try to stake their (controversial and often incompetent) claims as community leaders. 44. arshad alam (2009) notes that pasmanda muslim leaders have failed to challenge the religious articulations of ashraf ulema members. 45. interview taken in sanjhi duniya ngoheadquarters, 2nd october 2016. 46. the language of “minority appeasement” has often been deployed by the hindu right since the 1970s with regards to a range of issues from much needed educational and development facilities for the muslim community to controversial laws that have upheld patriarchal personal laws among muslims – making no distinction between what is required for the upliftment of the community and what actually subjugates some of its most marginalized members including women. some scholars such as kameshwar choudhary have claimed that in development policies the indian state should not follow a policy of communal development, particularly for muslim minorities, lest they be accused by the hindu right of “minority appeasement.” others like yamini ayer contend that “secularism” itself has come to signify “muslim minority appeasement” in hindu nationalist discourses and the two are understood as synonyms in common parlance. see: choudhary, kameshwar. dilemma of secularism: state policy towards education of muslims in india after independence, in j. b. g. tilak (ed.) education, society and development: national and international perspectives, niepa: new delhi, 2003, pp. 173-181. and yamini iyer and meeto malik, minority rights, secularism and civil society, economic and political weekly, vol 39, issue no. 43, 2009, pp. 4707-4711. 47. see: syed shahabuddin, ‘reservation for muslims is constitutional and socially necessary in national context’, milli gazette, 1-15 october 2004. 48. see: ‘mughal bahu languishes in a slum,’ times of india, 11th december 2005. in 2009, the hindustan times ran a story entitled, ‘mughal emperor’s poverty struck descendent to get a job,’ 1st july 2009. in 2013 (updated 2016), the daily mail reported that sultana begum, the wife of the great grandson of the last mughal emperor, received a pension of rs. 6000/month (110 cad) for the upkeep of her six children and herself. ‘the slumdog princess: how the descendant of the indian mughal rulers who built the taj mahal now lives in desperate poverty,’ 18th september 2013, the daily mail. 49. sachar committee report – social, economic and educational status of the muslim community of india, prime minister’s high-level committee cabinet secretariat, government of india, november 2006, pp. 91-97. 50. co-founder of pasmanda muslim mahaj along with dr. ejaz ali. also see his book: anwar, ali. masawat ki jung (‘the struggle for equality,’ translated from hindi to english by mohammad imran ali and zakia jowher), indian social institute: new delhi, 2005. forum caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 202–218 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.285 © 2021 deepak kumar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste journey with rural identity and linguicism deepak kumar12 abstract for a dalit1,3especially from a rural background, it is not easy to survive in the higher education system in india because it is overwhelmingly dominated by the upper caste, class, and english-speaking people. it is not uncommon for dalit learners like us to face multiple discrimination, and even exclusion in higher educational institutions. intersectionality between these three factors abounds in institutions of higher learning. the transition from native language to english has not been an easy task for me, for in my educational journey, i have discovered that english is not just a language but also a commodity. it is becoming increasingly easy for economically well-off people to acquire education in english and dominate the spheres of educational institutions in india. they are usually considered as knowledgeable and intellectual persons. on the other hand, dalit students also want to take education in english but, most of them are not able to do so because of their caste background and rampant discrimination. this study is based on my own experience and fieldwork at the university of delhi through a semi-structured questionnaire. keywords linguicism, english, dalit, language discrimination, caste, intersectionality introduction language plays a significant role in speech, understanding, and communication which is crucial in acquiring and producing knowledge. although english is regarded as the second official language in india, yet it is the dominant language in all spheres of education in contemporary times. india is a pluralistic society in terms of language, culture, religion, and region. but linguistically, english is 1doctoral candidate, department of political science, faculty of social science, university of delhi email id: deepak.du@outlook.com 1dalit is a term used for members of scheduled castes or former untouchables in india. journey with rural identity and linguicism 203 a hegemonic language and its status is determined by various political, cultural, and social considerations. furthermore, it also serves as a major tool to regulate power relations between english-medium students and non-english-medium students. in higher educational institutions, english is a major limitation for majority of the students, especially those with non-english-medium backgrounds and they feel excluded from the spheres of knowledge. students from english-medium background enjoy certain power over their vernacular-medium counterparts both inside and outside the classrooms. although, vernacular-medium students possess equal rational faculty but due to the conscious behaviour of the ‘elite’ english-medium groups (read students / teachers, etc.), vernacular-language-medium groups feel unwanted and unsuitable in the group relational contexts in most campuses. on account of these factors, such students remain submissive and are excluded from the so-called democratic and equal space. when i was selected for post-graduation in the political science department of the university of delhi, i was under the impression that it would be easy to survive in one of the country’s prestigious universities. but i was woefully wrong! before joining the university, i completed graduation in hindi medium right from the elementary stage. my academic journey has been very challenging. after completing matriculation (secondary level) i worked as a domestic help for a while but was fired when i sought some extra free time from my employers to study. but my keenness to study more brought me to the national capital where i picked work as a roadside daily wager. however, despite all difficulties, my desire to study did not dim. sometimes i worked as a fruit seller to sustain and pay for my education. thus, i completed my graduation through distance mode of learning and then took admission as a regular masters’ student in the political science department. i went on to complete master in philosophy and am now pursuing doctor of philosophy. only after entering the campus i realized why students and research scholars like me face multiple discriminations in different places; particularly when a learner from the dalit community aspires to pursue higher education. earlier, i used to think that discrimination in higher educational institutions based on language, caste, class, gender, race, region, and religion was a myth but after experiencing it firsthand i understood the grim reality of it. as a student of post-graduation, my situation was very challenging because so far my medium of instruction had been hindi, and the university was inundated with english-speaking students and teachers inside and outside the classrooms. all the students like me, who had vernacular language as their medium of instruction earlier faced similar fate in every sphere of this so-called democratic space. i also found that most of the non-english-medium students are from the dalit community. why do a majority of dalit students hail from vernacular-medium schools? there is a relation between caste and economy, and we have to understand the politics of language in the context of acquiring knowledge. michel foucault described knowledge as a powerful tool to dominate others; and in academia, this power has always been exercised on the vernacular population through a different mechanism. the social psychology of language perspective takes language into account along with its traditional justification. the social and communicative processes among 204 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 various groups are determined by language and that results in discrimination, which produces the language-power relationships in multiple spheres. therefore, different aspects of discriminatory practices based on linguistic differences pose certain crucial questions. in this context, this paper provides broader insights into the usage of language problems as a medium of instruction inside and outside the classroom, particularly through the researcher’s own experience and of students from university of delhi through collected data. this language problem is, somewhat, related to caste, class, and gender. this paper also provides insights into, how and in what ways does the language barrier create a binary between teacher-student, student-student, etc., and how the usage of one language as a medium of instruction dominates other languages in the classroom and influences students’ lives in multiple ways. the elitist status of one language in classrooms creates barriers for the overall acquisition of knowledge and development thus leading to a hiatus and disjuncture between the two groups. being the predominant medium of instruction in higher educational institutions, english does not just cripple the essence of diversity it also acts as the hegemony of the ‘elite’ (english-speaking) group over the other (nonenglish speaking). this can be seen as a strategy of the privileged caste, class, and gender that excludes the vast majority of students from the learning process. multilingualism and the medium of instruction language serves as a particular identity for a nation and even a marker for drawing boundaries and nationalism. the multilingualism of european countries is distinct from the multilingualism experienced in india, which is home to many indigenous / ethnic languages. many european countries have one or two languages that are widely used in different domains whereas in india, we often see the use of different languages in different domains in daily life. most of the people in india are bilingual or multilingual. it is not uncommon to see the use of mother tongue at home, regional language at the market place, sanskrit for religious activity and english in offices and for inter-state and international communication. mohanthy quoted bhatiya and ritchie that ‘[m]ultiple languages and multiple language identities are defining features of indian bilingualism that reveal the dynamics of language usage and a constant negotiation of identity’ (mohanty, 2009, p. 264). often, language users in india are more flexible and widen their identity beyond usage of a particular kind of language. consequently, they become multilingual in nature. multi / bilingualism is maintained by communities in daily life interactions. in india after every ten miles, a new terrain shows the existence of diversity; that witness profound changes in accent and meaning of the language. nevertheless, the communication is not broken, rather it is continuous. it needs to be understood that language and dialect are different in nature. language is a medium or tool to communicate and share thoughts, ideas, emotions, expressions, and so on. the method of sharing is based on certain rules and regulations, systematic, gestures that convey to understand the meaning within inter or intra group or community. it is also shared through the written format. languages have their own script to present themselves. journey with rural identity and linguicism 205 standardization of a language is the process in which it involves grammar, spelling books, dictionaries, literature, etc. multilingualism is not a negative potency but a positive force. it is the character of indian society. mother tongue always helps to understand the emotional, psychological, and intellectual situation of the member of their community and society. ajit kumar mohanty (2009) argues that when the mother tongue is healthily maintained along with bi / tri or multilingual at the individual and community levels, social, psychological, and educational benefits accrue to the minority groups. this is the importance of multilingualism in india. the leaping advantages of a society being multilingual are easy accessibility of knowledge to other cultural community, less communication problem, high cognitive level of the child, and increase in job opportunities. indian multilingualism is neither conflicting nor does it pose any threat to individuals and communities; languages are accepted as necessary and positive aspects of the social mosaic, except in an exceptional condition. these features add up to making multilingualism a positive phenomenon. they also ensure that the languages fall into neatly arranged pieces of coexistence as ‘the petals of the indian lotus’ (mohanty, 2009, p. 265). the indian perception of multilingualism is well characterized by d. p. pattanayak (1984, p. 82) as: the dominant monolingual orientation is cultivated in the developed world and consequently two languages are considered a nuisance, three languages uneconomic and many languages absurd. in multilingual countries many languages are facts of life; any restriction in the choice of language use is a nuisance, and one language is not only uneconomic, it is absurd. in a multilingual country, like india, one language or language uniformity is not relevant and eventually, it will create a huge factiousness. uniformity of language or medium of communication is important but it is not a sufficient condition for economic progress. also, economic development is not an important condition for the uniformity of language. academicians and public intellectuals are advocating that language uniformity is a necessary condition in the process of modernisation. they also emphasise it for communicative ease within state to interstate, and outside india. most of the tribal and minority mother tongues have no place in the indian educational system. the children who enter schools with these mother tongues are forced into a dominant language ‘submersion’ education with a subtractive effect on their mother tongues (mohanty, 2009, p. 268). domination of one language over the other will be very harmful not merely to the members but also to the entire society. when people do not use their mother tongue it gradually leads to its death. death of any language means the death of identity and culture. the stance of mutual acceptance, mutual accommodation, complementary and preservative relationship between languages has not been affecting other language speakers. gradually, english is becoming a more hegemonic language in higher educational institutions in india. the hegemony of english is affecting the students’ academic performances. features of indian multilingualism have been obliterated by the dominant existence of english and it is identified as a ‘killer language’2 in postcolonial india. being a powerful language in india, it gained larger control over the outcomes of social activity. in the 2the term ‘killer language’ (attributed to anne pakir in 1991 regarding english) is widely used even if it might feel offensive to some. the british linguist david graddol (open university) 206 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 colonial period, english education was meant for a socio-economic purpose. in the contemporary period, it has become a divisive tool resulting in the division of society into two categories, i.e. privileged and underprivileged, and learned and ignorant classes. the so-called public education provided through vernacular languages and the quality of this educational system is mostly poor. therefore, the private education system that provides education in english gives some hope to most parents from lower caste, class background who are willing to send their children to such schools. english language has the dubious distinction of pushing regional and scheduled languages at the margin in every domain. mohanty (2009) argues that under the new dynamics of the power relationship between languages, english has become a potent factor in the differential power equation. english has gradually degraded and displaced major indian languages, including the national language, hindi, from the mainstream into the position of weak language. the medium of instruction in indian universities the medium of instruction in educational institutions is an important factor in the learning process. it is directly connected with the students’ thought process and social-political values.3 every language has its own value and it is related to sociocultural norms. it paves the way to gain knowledge about a society and its politics. it is a basic requirement for the student through which they are able to acquire and enhance their knowledge. despite being multicultural, english gradually becomes the dominant / popular language in multiple spheres, such as educational, social, political, and economic life. most of the central universities, such as the university of delhi, jawaharlal nehru university, and hyderabad central university, etc., have adopted english as a medium of education principally from the post-graduation level in most courses in humanities, i.e. economics, sociology, geography, political science, etc. for instance, a large number of students from vernacular-language backgrounds who get enrolled in the university of delhi opt for social sciences and arts while other courses like science and commerce are fully sought by english-educated students. vernacular-medium students who get low percentage in their senior secondary school (qualification for undergraduate courses) mostly seek enrolment in social sciences. social science courses are not considered as valuable subjects as these are not more employment-oriented as compared to other subjects. moreover, the field of social sciences is also influenced by english-medium students who are able to acquire knowledge and enhance their capabilities sooner than vernacular-medium students thus relegating them to the background. now, the state and citizens believe that english is the key to achieve betterment of life. in this scenario, linguistic and economically underprivileged students become more deprived of learning spaces (table 1). has mentioned ‘english as a killer language’ as subtitle in his article which was published in 1996. tove skutnabb-kangas also mentioned it in her book in 2000. 3social-political value is defined in terms of medium of instruction and its status in a particular society. in the precolonial period, sanskrit and arabic were considered socially and politically valuable languages. in the colonial period and now in independent india, english has become more socially and politically valuable in comparison to other indigenous languages. at present, english is the dominant medium of instruction in the central universities. this poses a huge challenge for those vernacular-language background students who want to gain enrolment in such institutions. journey with rural identity and linguicism 207 table 1: composition of students’ economic backgrounds in university of delhi (n = 80) s. n o. discipline economic background of students (parents) total h ou se m ak er fa rm er g ov er nm en t e m pl oy ee b us in es s la bo ur er po lit ic ia n 1 political science 06 08 13 05 08 01 41 2 history 00 03 08 00 01 00 12 3 social work 01 01 03 00 00 00 05 4 economics 02 00 06 01 02 00 11 5 sociology 00 00 05 00 00 00 05 6 geography 00 01 04 01 00 00 06 09 (11.3) 13 (16.3) 39 (48.8) 07 (8.8) 11 (13.8) 01 (1.3) 80 (100) source: researcher’s field survey at university of delhi note: figures in parentheses are in per cent according to sukhadeo thorat (2013) ‘lower percentages of students are using hindi and state languages as their medium of instruction for education. in fact, the share of student using english as a medium of instruction is nearly double of that in rural areas.’ a study shows that 76 per cent students of dr. b. r. ambedkar university delhi from government schools face problem with english as the medium of instruction. this study shows that caste and class also matter in the usage of language as a medium of instruction in academia. this survey report noted that, the purpose of such a survey is to remind students, professor and the administration that the question of language is extremely sensitive, pervasive and complex. within this, poor, dalit, bahujan, adivasis and women students are particularly disadvantaged on account of problems with basic english language skills. this creates a sense of deficiency and inferiority amongst them within the campus. thus, it is evident that the question of language is a question of social justice. (indian express, 2017) the report clearly states that the problem of language is not just about the medium of communication and instruction; rather it is related to promoting social justice. it is the responsibility of the state and other institutions that they ensure quality and equal education to all, whether the people belong to different castes, classes, or even gender. it must provide all the necessary facilities for acquiring and producing knowledge. in contemporary india caste, gender, and economic background determine the accessibility to education. the educational system is broadly divided into two forms: vernacular-medium and english-medium. in order to explore why educational systems have been divided one needs to understand the quality of education that the public (government) schools provide through education in vernacular medium in comparison to private educational institutions that provide education in english medium. it is always considered that private schools provide quality education just because of 208 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 their english language teaching. but it is a myth that only learning through english contributes to knowledge acquisition. the medium of instruction in the classroom the medium of a language that is used inside the classroom for instruction by the teacher is a very important factor to understand equity and discrimination (ahmad, 2013). it is an integral part of every classroom at multiple levels of the educational system. it determines the relationships between student-teacher, student-student (peer group relations) and student-content. categorically, language plays an important role in teaching and learning situations, not only as the subject taught in schools but also, as the vehicle through which information is shared between the learner and the teacher (olagbaju and akinsowon, 2014). communication in the classroom based on mother tongue is more beneficial for students as it generates interest in the subject, increases their confidence, and motivates them towards the learning process. it helps to build a cognitive power that is related to the mental process of judgement, reasoning, and perception. according to a. k. dasgupta (1967), ‘the medium of instruction at all stages of (a) student’s education should be in his mother tongue – a language in which he has spoken naturally and spontaneously and through which he has seen and felt the world since his childhood.’ in the indian context ‘multilingual classroom’ is good for students because the hegemony of one language over the other languages affects the life condition of vernacular-medium students. the official language or the primary language of the country doesn’t need to be used as the medium of instruction (ahmad, 2013). it is possible that the official language may be different from students’ native or vernacular languages. to express their knowledge and enhance their thinking capacity about any subject matter, language is an important factor. multilingualism or bilingualism in the indian education system or classroom can be seen, when some students read, listen to lectures in one language, and write examinations in other languages. in the indian context, most of the students read, listen to lectures accessing library in english medium, and write examinations in vernacular mediums. this kind of paradox is not encountered by english-medium students. on the basis of language, such inequality assumes the feeling of discrimination among the students in the classroom and the university system. linguistic discrimination is commonly applied in indian educational institutions by different sections formally or informally by english-medium teachers and students. the phenomenon of language discrimination is also known as linguicism.4 it happens not only in india but also in other countries of the world, such as tanzania, hong kong, and south african countries. there is a conflict between the medium of instruction within and outside the classroom. however, medium of instruction is very much important in classroom interaction and it involves behaviours where individuals and groups directly influence each other. while this can happen in many social settings, it can also be of great value in the teaching-learning process. consequently, scholars have considered interaction 4the term linguicism had been coined by linguist tove skutnabb-kangas in 1980s. she defined linguicism as ‘ideologies and structures that are used to legitimate, effectuate and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources between groups which are defined on the basis of language.’ journey with rural identity and linguicism 209 as an important factor for effective teaching and learning to take place (ngussa, 2017, p. 4). when a teacher goes to teach and deliver the lecture in the classroom, his / her medium of lecture influences the students’ interest in the lecture / topic. when teachers deliver a lecture in english to non-english background students, then the student cannot fully understand the topic / subjects. apart from lectures, reading materials (table 2) and other sources are also available predominantly in english. this approach reflects that one group has been more privileged over the other groups. these dichotomies in the classroom have a great impact on examination and knowledge outcomes. table 2: language of reading materials in the classroom and library sr . n o. sources of knowledge/ learning in the classroom has been available or provided opinion on availability resources medium total ma m.phil. ph. d e ng lis h h in di b ot h e ng lis h h in di b ot h e ng lis h h in di b ot h e ng lis h h in di b ot h 1. lectures in the classroom and instruction 52 12 01 14 01 78 02 2. package of reading materials 52 13 00 15 80 3. interaction with teacher# 44 01 06 09 04 11 04 64 01 14 4. interaction with classmates/ hostel/peer groups# 16 15 20 01 07 05 02 06 07 19 28 32 5. books available in the library 51 01 13 15 79 01 6. journals available in the library 51 01 13 15 79 01 7. e-resources available in the library 52 13 15 80 source: researcher’s field survey at university of delhi #one of the post-graduation students said that he interacted with teacher and students in his vernacular language during the masters programme. in the classroom context, interaction helps the teacher to receive feedback from the learners and discern the extent to which educational goals and objectives have been reached, hence, making necessary adjustments (ngussa, 2017, p. 4). sometimes bilingual teachers also teach students; the scenario is different from one language dominant classroom. cutting across language mediums students participate without any hesitation in such an environment. the positive environment of the classroom strengthens students’ confidence, makes the session interactive and promotes substantial engagement in the classroom. the influence of the language is also seen in dialogues, interactions, making of groups and friends inside and outside (table 3) the classroom. 210 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 the question is who are these students? and why are they not able to understand and use english as a medium of learning? most of the students come from vernacularmedium schools either from rural or urban areas. selection of medium of education or learning is dependent on their social and economic backgrounds. in contemporary times, everybody wants to send their children to english-medium school for a better education because of its reputation, and also, the market demand of this language. table 3: language discrimination inside and outside the classroom and caste composition sr . n o. caste category feelings due to language discrimination in number and (per cent) c at eg or y n o. o f s tu de nt s in fe ri or c om pl ex h um ili at ed u nc on fid en t p sy ch ol og ic al p re ss ur e e xc lu de d d is ap po in te d lo ne lin es s su ic id e id ea ti on 1. sc 24 16 (66.7) 11 (45.8) 13 (54.0) 13 (54.0) 13 (54.0) 13 (54.1) 7 (29.1) 2 (8.3) 2. st 03 1 (33.3) 1 (33.3) 0 (0.0) 1 (33.3) 1 (33.3) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 3. obc 26 16 (61.5) 7 (26.9) 15 (57.7) 15 (57.7) 10 (38.5) 11 (42.3) 8 (30.8) 2 (7.7) 4. other 27 10 (37.0) 7 (25.9) 6 (22.2) 8 (29.6) 3 (11.1) 4 (14.8) 3 (11.1) 0 (0.0) total 80 43 (53.8) 26 (32.5) 34 (42.5) 37 (46.3) 27 (33.7) 28 (35.0) 18 (22.5) 4 (5.0) source: researcher’s field survey at university of delhi the hegemony of english language in indian universities the meaning of hegemony in greek is ‘to lead’. antonio gramsci (1985) said that hegemony is established through consent and persuasion via the processes of leadership without force, leadership through legitimization, and leadership through consensual rule, which are the fundamental process of hegemony. following gramsci, abolaji s. mustapha mentioned debra suarez as he explained hegemony as a power relation between dominant and minority group, particularly the means by which the dominant group or the leading group secures its position (mustafa, 2014, p. 59). in the context of language, there is a power relation between vernacular languages and english in india. the dominance of english is not only found in indian educational institutions but across the globe. but, in a multilingual society like india, education in mother tongue or vernacular languages is made available till secondary level in governmentrun schools. when students get enroled in higher educational institutions for further studies, they have to face linguistic discrimination at different levels. in the classroom context of indian central universities, both students and teachers from english medium are dominant. indeed, the field of natural and professional sciences is almost all, possessed by the english medium, but the social sciences are also dominated by the english medium though a large number opts from vernacular-medium background. according to sheila m. shannon (1995), to maintain its dominant status, a language has to be associated with political, governmental, economic, and social domination and the consent of the people and emotions and psychology. most of the teachers come from an english background; in contrast, an increasing number of students in the classroom journey with rural identity and linguicism 211 come from the vernacular-medium background, for example, hindi-medium students in the context of the university of delhi. the strength of english-medium students is less than hindi-medium students in the classrooms. but an english-medium student has participated more in the classroom because of their comfortability in the language. shannon (1995) argues that, the speakers of languages take on the prestigious or devalued characteristics of their languages. thus, the speakers of dominant languages assume a prestigious status and are perceived as such. conversely, minority languages speakers take on the burden of an inferior status and are so perceived. in terms of the nature of linguistic hegemony, this situation is not static. several factors contribute to the increase in the status of the english language in different contexts around the world. these are: uniformity of the textbook, language usage by higher officials, spread of english as a medium of communication across the world, and priority given to english by higher educational institutions. state machinery like the judiciary, bureaucracy, and other administrative and academics cutting across disciplines and regions are accepting english unconditionally. yan guo and gulbahar h. beckett (2012, pp. 58-59) argue that the increasing dominance of the english language is contributing to neocolonialism by empowering the already powerful and leaving the disadvantaged further behind, an issue that needs attention. in the indian context, this argument is appropriate because in the colonial period, only the upper caste, class, and males dominated the educational sphere. even among these categories, education was restricted only to those who were educated already; other people were not able to access education in any other medium. when the question arises, who receives an education in the english medium, it becomes a serious problem. those who were educated in the english medium in the colonial period, possess a special status to date. in the aftermath of independence, the indian constitution assured education for all. however, it subsequently failed to hold its promise because education through the english medium was not accessible to a vast majority of population. such unequal access to education has divided society into two groups: those studying in vernacular medium and others in english medium. the english-medium people are more powerful, considered intellectual and knowledgeable, socially, and politically empowered in comparison to vernacular-medium people. consequently, vernacular-medium students feel marginalised, disadvantaged, and powerless. alastair pennycook (1995) says that linguistic imperialism can occur when english becomes a gateway to education, employment, business opportunities, and popular culture and where indigenous languages and cultures are marginalised. linguistic imperialism is an imposition or dominance of one language speakers on others through various ways, i.e. intellectually, culturally, politically, economically, and psychologically. in contemporary times, english is imposed and dominates through these tools over the vernacular students. according to robert henry lawrence phillipson (1992, p. 47): english linguistic imperialism is the dominance of english is asserted maintained by the establishment and continuous reconstitution of structural and cultural inequalities between english and other languages. 212 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 guo and beckett highlighted a. suresh canagarajah’s argument that how english as a dominant language worldwide is forcing an unfamiliar pedagogical and social culture onto its learners, socio-psychologically, linguistically, and politically putting them in danger of losing their first languages, cultures, and identities and contributing to the devaluation of the local knowledge and cultures (2012, p. 59). it is clear that the worldwide spread of the english language is not a consequence of colonialism but it is also a tool of controlling the culture which shows the relationship between knowledge and power. michel foucault (1977) expressed it as ‘knowledge is power’. he further states: knowledge linked to power, not only assumes the authority of ‘the truth’ but has the power to make itself true. all knowledge, once applied in the real world, has effects, and in that sense at least, ‘becomes true’. knowledge, once used to regulate the conduct of others, entails constraint, regulation and the disciplining of practice. thus, there is no power relation without the correlative constitution of a field of knowledge, nor any knowledge that does not presuppose and constitute at the same time, power relations (ibid, p. 27) he believed that citizens of modern democracies are controlled less by the army, police, economic power, or a centralised, visible state apparatus than by pronouncements of expert discourse, which he calls ‘regime of truth’. in which the expert discourse has a powerful impact on society as much through what it says as by what it does not say; as much by what is constructed as an object of investigation as by what is rejected as insignificant and then left beyond representation (ryon, 2005, p. 57). the interaction of knowledge and power poses challenges on linguistically, economically, and socially marginalised sections of the society. medium of instruction and linguicism the medium of instruction can be defined as ‘the language through which any subject is taught or instructed by the teacher to the student in the classroom.’ from elementary education to university level education most of the institutions in the country provide the education to people in their native language (first language of the country) or in their mother tongue. in contrast to that multilingualism in india presents a different scenario, where government schools (or public schools) instruct students in their vernacular or mother tongue up to secondary level, that continues till college or graduation level. whereas, students from different linguistic mediums get enrolment in indian institutes of technology (iits), all india institute of medical sciences (aiims), central universities such as the university of delhi and hyderabad central university, etc. where education is provided only through english medium. students’ learning process through their mother tongue or regional language is more beneficial in comparison to another language. ashok r. kelkar argues that the ‘own language’ learning has ‘beneficial effect on other language learning and teaching.’ if students attain education continuously in their own language their power of understanding, confidence level, and positivity never goes down. such students are mentally and psychologically very strong. to substantiate this argument seemita mohanty cited jim cummins’ observation that ‘to reject a child’s language in the school is to reject the child’ (2017, p. 31). the following news report reflects how language affects individual life. a dalit student from a central university ‘dropped out journey with rural identity and linguicism 213 of the masters programme, when he was yelled at during his viva for english course and told to go read agatha christie. “there is no one to provide help here, and it is shameful for our lack of language skills to be exposed here,” he had mentioned in his note (kartikeyan, 2017). linguistic discrimination or linguicism in indian universities discrimination is an unequal treatment or deferential behaviour towards a particular targeted individual or group, because of their belongingness in the educational institutions. discrimination based on language is known as linguistic discrimination or linguicism. the term ‘linguicism’ was coined by prominent linguistic scholar tove skutnabb-kangas in the 1980s. according to her, linguicism is ‘ideologies, structures and practices which are used to legitimate, effectuate, regulate and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources (both material and immaterial) between groups which are defined on the basis of language’ (skutnabb-kangas, 2000, p. 30). it plays a decisive role in who uses which language for educational purpose and that determines the groups’ ‘linguistic human right. this right is related with culture and identity. the mother tongue is inherently related to human mind and body. the imposition of one language over the other language in the society through cultural and linguistic nationalism is a process of the hegemony of language. this hegemonic language pushed the other languages to the corner leading to violation of the linguistic rights of the individual, and groups in society. the united nations in its human development report (united nations development program 2004, p. 33) emphasized that language is a major factor for cultural liberty and human development and argued that: language is often a key element of an individual’s cultural identity. limitations on people’s ability to use their mother tongue – and limited facility in speaking the dominant or official national language-can exclude people from education, political life and access to justice. there is no more powerful means of ‘encouraging’ individuals to assimilate to a dominant culture than having the economic, social and political returns stacked against their mother tongue. such assimilation is not freely chosen if the choice is between one’s mother tongue and one’s future. in the context of indian universities, linguistic imperialism is exercised by the englishmedium pedagogy, the students, and faculties. it is creating a knowledge and power relations binary between english-medium and other vernacular-medium groups. the domination and hegemony of the english language, directly and indirectly, has been supported by the government through educational institutions and their official policies and programmes. consequently, minority language medium students are suffering an inferiority complex and consequently losing their confidence. most of the academic resources are available only in english. this domination negatively affects the learner’s psychology. it leads to the violation of the linguistic right of students and teachers in the institutions. according to skutnabb-kangas (1999, p. 58): everybody, not just privileged elites or poor minorities, needs to be fluent and literate in at least two languages, preferably more. everybody, not just minorities, needs to become aware of and acknowledge the importance of their 214 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 ethnic and linguistic roots, in order to be able to develop, analyse, criticize, and reflect. language rights for all are part of human rights. language rights are prerequisite to many other human rights. linguistic human rights in education are a prerequisite for the maintenance of diversity in the world that we are all responsible for. language is not just a matter of communication and speaking, but people have to share their ideas and thoughts. it is a major tool for every life activity of human beings. the majority of universities provide information regarding admission, curriculum, prospectus, advertisements, and other activities only in english. for example, university of delhi, jawaharlal nehru university, and hyderabad central university have uploaded all the information only in english on their websites.5 most of the students who come from regional medium backgrounds face problems to comprehend the information provided on their websites. thus, the relation between power and knowledge begins from the very outset. the level of confidence slowly goes down; the inferiority complex starts sinking in from the entry point itself. as dua (1994, p. 5) cites haugen that, the imposition of the (language of wider communication) lwc for international advantage ‘is disruptive of the life pattern, leaving people uprooted, lonely, aggressive and unsocial.’ social justice cannot be achieved by ignoring indigenous or vernacular language medium groups when they are facing language deprivation and become marginalized. it is essential to examine why english is imposed in various ways as a matter of link language. who is implementing the english language and what is the purpose of it? language domination has been beneficial only for the english-speaking elites. they are exercising power on vernacular speakers through a knowledge system because it is widely influenced and in the clutch of the english language. s. m. shannon (1995) argues that hegemony is part of the working process of society. a balance of power exists in all relationships because as foucault argued like gramsci power is not possessed by an individual, group, or their ideas – it is exercised. therefore, hans raj dua argues that just as communication at the international level concerns only a minority, the relevance and justification of pan-indian communication is projected by only a few who want to retain their power and hegemony through the usage of english. consequently, they adopt the dominant language and try to avoid their own language in order to gain a higher status. the significant relationship between language and ideology mentioned by hans raj dua which shows that language for wider communication cannot be considered an exception to this: [l]anguage is politically important because of its ideological power-its meanings shape our perceptions and our experience of the world. our consciousness is formed by the language we encounter, when and where we encounter them. these relationships are possible because language actually constructs places for ‘i’, ‘me,’ and ‘you’ within the symbolic world it signifies. we become social subjects as we enter culture. we enter culture by learning language. (dua, 1994, p. 9–10) therefore, it is clear that language, culture, and society are related to each other. the human mind imagines in its mother tongue and expresses its imagination through 5the basic details about the universities are available in hindi but information regarding upcoming events such as admission and its procedure, curriculum, notifications etc. is available only in english. journey with rural identity and linguicism 215 it. however, the elite status of the english language creates a line of demarcation between educational societies. furthermore, the purpose of education is to create skilled labor, not for dewey’s aim of education. now, education aims to enhance individual conditions only. but dewey emphasised that educated individual needs to work for societal upliftment also (2014, p. 9). nevertheless, language is also hierarchal in nature similar to the caste system in india. correspondingly, vernacular-medium students are intellectually oppressed primarily in the higher educational institutions. their ideology, mind, and psychology are controlled by the english-knowing people, teachers, and students. for example, vernacular-medium students are compelled to read english sources and write their answers in their language. they have to struggle a lot in understanding the theoretical concepts in english. consequently, there is an identity crisis for a vernacular-medium scholar because of the dominance of the english language. therefore, most of the vernacular-medium students try to convert their medium for academic success. in this regard, paulo freire (2005) argues that education is thus an act of depositing, in which students are the depositories and the teachers are depositors. instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. this is the banking concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits. vernacular-medium students struggle to understand english (meaning and grammar) and after that, they attempt to understand the concepts of their subjects. the process of learning and language shifting creates disinterest in knowing and acquiring knowledge from the subjects. a vernacularmedium student spends much time to understand the subjects and secure passing marks, which never helps in further study. the examination system and evaluation system is also unfair and unjustifiable because most of the evaluators assume that vernacularmedium students are not laborious and they do not have the ability to explain better in comparison to english-medium students. it happens because of the increasing importance of english. linguicism can be seen when the teacher stigmatises the student because of vernacular language usage. a consequence of stigmatisation leads to language discrimination which is an unequal detachment of power and resources. robert phillipson mentioned ghana’s sociolinguist, gilbert ansre, who describes linguistic imperialism as: the phenomenon in which the minds and lives of the speakers of a language are dominated by another language to the point where they believe that they can and should use only that foreign language when it comes to transactions dealing with the more advanced aspects of life such as education, philosophy, literature, governments the administration of justice, etc. . . . linguistic imperialism has a subtle way of warping the minds, attitudes, and aspirations of even the most noble in a society and of preventing him from appreciating and realizing the full potentialities of the indigenous language (2011, p. 56). ansre’s, analysis of linguistic imperialism is relevant here; it is the power that allows to english-speaking groups to dominate the hindi-speaking groups in educational institutions and political spheres. gradually even english has maintained its elitist status in indian society. every language has its own social, political, emotional, and psychological value. knowing a language is not a concern, but oppression and 216 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 suppression of other vernacular mediums are violations of their linguistic spaces. consequently, these oppressed groups are affected by negative experiences and are gripped with inferiority complex, stigmatised excluded, unconfident, humiliated, lonely, etc., and sometimes it leads to suicide. therefore, linguicism is not just about discrimination but is the violation of human existence. it gives the english-medium group better access to resources and for other vernacular language an unavoidable disadvantage. vernacular-medium groups are excluded not just educationally but also, socially and economically. so, it needs to maintain the indian multilingual status in education and other domains of the society at the policy, institutional, and other spaces. according to british broadcasting corporation journalist soutik biswas (2016): many dalit students who get into colleges and universities through affirmative action quotas – restorative justice for centuries of historical wrongs against the community – come to campuses with deficiencies in education, including a feeble command over the english language. most of them are first generation graduates, come from poor families – like mr vemula, born of a father who works as a security guard and a mother who’s a tailor – and often struggle to fit in. ratan lal, who teaches at university of delhi’s hindu college, pointed out that the ability of reading and writing in english represents knowledge itself. this linguistic hegemony becomes a basis of systemic discrimination in higher education leading to the exclusion of those who are not able to express themselves in this language. this inability, however, does not mean that the students lack merit because merit is after all a social construct. what is needed is for universities to provide a space where minds can question freely and grow, irrespective of linguistic proficiency (the wire, 2017). a student from rajasthan enrolled in all india institute in medical sciences committed suicide on march 4, 2012 because of language inability. according to his batchmate anil was a brilliant and hardworking student. he had made it to the aiims studying at a hindi medium government school in his village. he faced difficulty in following lectures in english at aiims and thus failed in all three papers in the annual exam. he cleared one of the papers in the second attempt, but the weightage for internal exams in the final result was increased after the declaration of the result and he again failed in all three papers (the hindu, 2016). conclusion being a researcher, i have observed that the university spaces and classrooms are dominated by english-medium students. the majority of the students do not oppose the english, but simultaneously, they want to be treated equally in these spaces. the language stratification in the educational institutions creates a hierarchy among the students. language hierarchy among the students is interlinked with the caste, class, and gender hierarchy. it was examined that most of the lower caste, class, and female students who come from vernacular-medium background opt for social science due to the feeling / guilt and inefficiency in the english language. this hierarchy creates journey with rural identity and linguicism 217 a power relation between vernacular-medium students and english-medium teachers and students inside and outside the classroom leading to the students’ self-exclusion from peer groups, classroom participation, and engagement in various activities inside and outside the classroom. the self-exclusion prevents them from acquiring knowledge equally in this space. it is observed that those students continuously face language discrimination; they harbour thoughts of leaving / dropping out of the study programme, or a few students also thought about committing suicide. therefore, it is necessary that government makes the provision of english-medium education along with mother tongue or native language to start from elementary education. the government should also establish a language laboratory in every higher educational institute so that vernacular-medium students or researchers can learn english as in these times of globalisation and modernisation, english has become an emancipatory language as well. references ahmed, a., zarif, t., & t. 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(2004). human development report 2004: cultural liberty in today’s diverse world. new york: undp. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 67–76 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.299 © 2021 shiva shankar et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste manual scavenging in india: the banality of an everyday crime 1shiva shankar1 and kanthi swaroop2 abstract manual scavenging is the practice of ‘manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit’, and its existence is a crime of genocidal proportions. the vast majority of people forced into this degrading occupation are women from dalit castes. the government of india has outlawed the practice through two acts of 1993 and 2013, yet it continues everywhere in the country. this essay argues that the persistence of this crime is a consequence of the criminal indifference of a casteist society, and that resistance to it has largely been the heroic effort of the victims alone. keywords manual scavenging, caste atrocity, india, dalit women, human rights, safai karmachari andolan the unparalleled social abuse of manual scavenging ‘manual scavenging’ is the term used to describe the practice of ‘manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit,’ and a ‘manual scavenger’ is a person engaged in or employed for manually carrying human excreta. these are definitions from the employment of manual scavengers and construction of dry latrines (prohibition) act, 1993 (government of india, 1993). there are around 1visiting professor, dept. of electrical engineering, indian institute of technology bombay, mumbai 2ph.d candidate, centre for policy studies, indian institute of technology bombay, mumbai e-mail: shunyashankar@gmail.com corresponding author kanthi swaroop e-mail: kanthiswaroop@iitb.ac.in 68 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 1.2 million people today who have been forced into this occupation.1 this number does not, however, include all the people who come into contact with raw excreta, for in india, excreta is not confined to private latrines, but also explodes into public spaces. millions of people practice ‘open defecation,’ in rural as well as in urban areas, along river banks and railway tracks, in shrubland, forests, fields, and by the side of streets and roads in towns and cities (gupta et al., 2020). toilets in trains continue to discharge sewage directly onto the tracks (paliath, 2019). garbage dumps reek of faecal matter. primitive and broken sewerage systems, where they exist at all, leak their contents regularly due to blockages caused by a citizenry that mindlessly flushes every kind of rubbish, including condoms and sanitary napkins, into it. storm water drains carry sewage, not stormwater. thus, an estimated five million safai karmacharis (sanitation workers) who clean and maintain public spaces also come into direct contact with human excreta (bose, 2018; das, 2018). the act of 2013, the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act makes a few corrections: ‘manual scavenger’ means a person engaged or employed, at the commencement of this act or at any time thereafter, by an individual or a local authority or an agency or a contractor, for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit into which the human excreta from the insanitary latrines is disposed of, or railway track or in such other spaces or premises, as the central government or a state government may notify, before the excreta fully decomposes in such manner as may be prescribed, and the expression ‘manual scavenging’ shall be construed accordingly (government of india, 2013). nonetheless, large numbers of people who are sweepers, garbage collectors, waste pickers millions of whom are children and those who sort and recycle, all of whom need protection, still remain excluded from the ambit of these laws. the central horror of manual scavenging is the fact that it is an inherited occupation, decided at the very birth, by caste. the overwhelming majority of people forced into scavenging are dalits (people from castes once designated the ‘untouchable’). indeed, specific dalit castes are designated as ‘scavenging castes,’ whose caste occupation is to clean. their degraded status rests on toxic notions of purity and pollution that have haunted the indic civilization for millennia. however, it is important to note that it was not people in ‘impure’ occupations who were subsequently labelled the ‘untouchable’ castes, but it was buddhists who came to be declared ‘untouchable’ after the fall of buddhism in india, and who were then forced into such occupations by an ascendent brahminical hinduism; see for instance ambedkar’s seminal work contempt for buddhists as the root of untouchability (ambedkar, 1990), or the work of iyothee thassar in gail omvedt (2003). toynbee (1939) explains that ‘caste is always on the verge of being a social enormity; but when caste is ‘keyed up’ by receiving a religious interpretation and a religious sanction in a society which is hag-ridden by religiosity, then the latent enormity of the institution is bound to rankle into a morbid social growth of poisonous tissue and monstrous proportions.’ manual scavenging is the most malevolent portion of this tissue. the horror is further compounded by the fact that over ninety percent of the victims are women. caught at the intersection of 1this number is an estimate of the safai karmachari andolan (sanitation workers’ movement), a pioneering movement fighting for the liberation of people engaged in the practice of manual scavenging. more details can be found here: www.safaikarmachariandolan.org manual scavenging in india: the banality of an everyday crime 69 caste and patriarchy, they bear the greatest burden of violence (human rights watch, 2014; singh, 2014). equipment that is provided for this work is brutally rudimentary. women clean pit latrines with a piece of cardboard or metal to scrape and scoop, a broom to gather, and a basket in which to carry away the excreta. in provincial towns and villages, women set out early morning, moving from house to house, from latrine to latrine, and when the basket is full, trudge to some dumping ground to empty it. the basket itself, heavy with its load, must be carried on the head; this is the most ‘despicable and inhumane practice of head loading’ (jan sahas, 2014). it leaks, and when it rains, it pours. day after day, without a break, without a day off, this horror plays itself out into the exhausted lives of the women (human rights watch, 2014). men are forced into one of the most dangerous forms of sanitation labour in the world. they must descend into septic tanks, at the end of a rope, and empty out its contents with a bucket. they must dive into sewage drains, holding their breath, and clear blockages with bare hands. as for rummaging in the countless faeces-laced mounds of rubbish that infest the towns and cities of india for something to sell, an army of hungry men, women and children roam the streets every day.2 this is genocidal level of violence that is visited upon the most discriminated and vulnerable citizens of the country, as we argue next. the charge of genocide manual scavenging is forced labour. women are paid 25 or 30 rupees (about 35 u.s cents), a month, by a household for cleaning their pit latrines.3 sometimes, wages are pieces of leftover bread, a little grain once a year, and discarded clothes (kumar & preet, 2020; singh, 2014). men earn around rs. 500 for manually cleaning a septic tank in an apartment complex. municipalities in towns and cities hire labour on a contract basis to clean. the road to permanent employment is hard and long, and most sanitary workers remain stuck as daily wage labourers. with increasing privatisation of sanitary work, wages have plummeted; for example, in metropolitan hyderabad, an it and software hub, a sanitary worker is paid rs. 8000 a month.4 what does such a wage connote, in practical terms? a household with national average of 4.4 members which is dependent for its sustenance on this wage is condemned to poverty, as defined by the (conservative) urban poverty line recommended by an expert group of the indian planning commission in 2014 (government of india, 2014). often these paltry wages are paid months later; recently workers in delhi, the capital of the country, went on strike protesting they had not been paid for five months (misra, 2021). privatisation can also mean sudden loss of employment; recently the chennai municipality sacked over two thousand employees, even though they had worked for decades on contract in the hope of a permanent position (the hindu, 2021). sanitation workers suffer from trauma, and debilitating diseases such as asthma, rotavirus, hepatitis, and terrible skin disorders caused by daily contact with excreta, 2there are an estimated 200,000 waste pickers in delhi alone: global alliance of waste pickers, https://globalrec.org/city/new-delhi/ 3wages were rs. 10 to 20 per household in 2014, see for instance (jan sahas, 2014); they have gone up marginally, and one supposes, grudgingly. 4this figure is based on interviews conducted with sanitary workers between october and december 2018. 70 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 yet they are not provided elementary health insurance. their life expectancy is less than 505 years in a country where it is over 69 for the rest of the population.6 men who clean septic tanks and sewage drains die on average by 32 (swaroop, 2019). the cause of death is predominantly occupational: asphyxiation in a septic tank, drowning in sewage, tuberculosis, cholera, meningitis, and various cancers. yet there is no life insurance for the sanitation worker, and the elementary compensation guaranteed by the acts of 1993 and 2013 is rarely ever provided to the worker’s family. the immediate question that would occur to a person not familiar with the social realities of india, would be on the nature of the force that holds up such a system of oppression. the short answer is that, as always, it is violence. here it is the violence of the ‘unparalleled social abuse of untouchability’ (toynbee, 1939). first is the constant background threat of physical violence. violence against all dalits is a reality, and the swachakar community, belonging to the so-called ‘scavenging castes’ or dalits amongst the dalits, who are at the bottom of the caste heap, bear the brunt of the entire system. they are routinely abused, and women are threatened with physical violence and social boycott if they do not show up for work. there is also the larger threat of abuse of the entire family. periodic eruptions of violence go largely unnoticed; a few reach the level of news. then there is the violence of social exclusion (the hindu, 2021). in villages and mofussil towns, habitations of sanitation workers are located at the edge, downwind, next to the garbage dumps (lee, 2017). the ordinary everyday activities of fetching water or buying food become hurdles to cross, inviting beatings for infractions such as touching a tap or entering a shop. those who try and fight their way out of this hell by seeking other employment suffer social boycott, and are forced back into manual scavenging (amrita, 2021). in cities, they are crowded into slums and low-grade tenements. sometimes, several families must share a one room apartment. often, when a sanitation worker dies before retirement, the only way the family can escape eviction, and a homeless life on the streets, is for the spouse, or son, to inherit the job (olwe, 2013; salve et al., 2017). the study by sripad and ashish (2012) finds ‘considerable intergenerational occupational persistence – across all occupational categories, the father’s category is the most likely one that a son could find himself in . . . but, there are differences across occupational categories – the probability that a son would fall in the father’s category is higher for the low skilled / low-paying occupations.’ in some parts of the country sanitary workers can formally bequeath their jobs to their kin as a right of inheritance (salve et al., 2017). these are some of the many ways sanitation work is rendered hereditary and reified as flesh by the caste system. this violence is all pervasive. anganwadi centres, run by the state governments to provide elementary help to combat malnutrition and hunger in infants, discriminate against children of sanitary workers, if they admit them at all. in schools, they are relegated to the back of the class, and face casteist abuse from their teachers and classmates. children are sometimes forced to clean toilets and clear the school ground of animal carcasses; such abuse has been inflicted even on doctoral students (jafri, 5this is based on the findings of the study ‘status of scavenging communities in india’ carried out by 12 community based organizations (cbos) in five states: andhra pradesh, gujarat, karnataka, tamil nadu, and gujarat. more facts on the current status of scavenging communities can be found here: https://counterview.org/2014/01/15/a-new-study-finds-thatmanual-scavengers-in-india-live-in-segregated-localities-without-any-social-or-economicprotection/ 6world bank data, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/sp.dyn.le00.in?locations=in manual scavenging in india: the banality of an everyday crime 71 2019). discrimination persists after death. in villages and towns, there are separate burial and cremation grounds for different castes, the distant degraded spaces reserved for the swachakar community. the most insidious violence is the psychological trauma that envelops a person treated thus from infancy; it seeps within and blights the soul. sanitary workers drink alcohol to steel themselves to enter a sewage drain, or just to forget the horror. they chew tobacco to mask the stench of excreta, and oral cancer is a consequence. the tumour that hollows out a face is the visible body-sign on the sanitation worker produced by the stigma of caste. even those who have fought against all odds and are doctors or lawyers, bear the invisible scars of violence where even the caste name is a taunt and an abuse. for as ambedkar wrote, ‘in india a man is not a scavenger because of his work. he is a scavenger because of his birth irrespective of the question whether he does scavenging or not’ (ambedkar, 1991). such heightened violence amounts to mental and physical torture, and is in violation of every provision of the united nations convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (1987). we argue that the existence of manual scavenging is in fact a crime of genocidal proportions, akin to slavery (patterson, 1951), which especially targets dalit women. indeed, article ii of the genocide convention states: in the present convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group (1948 convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, 1951). we have established clauses (b) and (c) beyond doubt; that sanitary workers die twenty years earlier than the average citizen is proof of wilful murder, as bezwada wilson has pointed out repeatedly.7 we now seek to establish the most crucial aspect in a charge of genocide, namely intent. it might seem that contrary to our charge, the intentions of the governments that passed the two acts in 1993 and 2013 must certainly have been to abolish this abominable crime. but how then is one to understand the fact that it is the government that employs the largest number of manual scavengers, to clean railway stations and tracks, schools and hospitals, courts and jails? tens of thousands of people are pressed into cleaning railway tracks of excrement alone (see also the chapter ‘indian railways and manual scavenging’ in (singh, 2014)). how is one to digest the fact that not one person has ever been convicted for employing manual scavengers in the nearly three decades of the ‘implementation’ of these laws (the wire, 2019)? it has been argued elsewhere, for instance in (akhilesh, 2020; shankar & swaroop, 2020), that these acts are not really concerned with the liberation of people involved in manual scavenging, and that they are only exercises in obfuscation. it suffices here for us to observe that the government refuses to even list all the victims. it refuses to honour its commitment to rehabilitate manual scavengers and provide them alternative employment on the flimsiest of pretexts. under a misconceived swach bharat abhiyan, 7‘stop killing us,’ hundreds gather at jantar mantar to protest deaths of sanitation workers, the logical indian, 26 sep 2018.https://thelogicalindian.com/news/sanitation-workers-protestdelhi/ 72 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 the government has constructed millions of toilets connected to single pits or septic tanks. emptying those especially in rural india, will require human handling of faecal matter. the incidence of manual scavenging is only going to see an enormous increase. governments and municipalities intentionally recruit people from specific dalit castes into scavenging occupations; this intention is not just a consequence of the caste system, it is the caste system, in thought and in action. the crime of manual scavenging thus rests on the caste system, is enforced by the caste system, and is fed and nourished by the caste system. caste is the embodiment of intent, specifically the intention that some people, determined at birth, must scavenge for a living. caste is the social structure by means of which this intent is translated into practice. as caste is intertwined with patriarchy, most of the victims are women. that such a living is precarious and life threatening is of no concern to the rest of the society. one person’s suffering does not evoke compassion in another person, of another caste. caste has rendered suffering banal. against the crime of indifference perhaps the most incomprehensible aspect of manual scavenging is that it occurs in broad daylight, under the public gaze of people hurrying to their offices, markets, and schools, or people simply standing, watching. a train disgorges its hundreds of passengers, none of whom seems able to notice the women cleaning excreta from the tracks. possibly they notice, but do not register the horror. or perhaps they register, and do not care. it is this indifference of the citizenry that permits repeated and flagrant violations of the acts of 1993 and 2013 which their own representatives have enacted into legislation. it is the citizenry who can either breathe life into legislation, or let it wither. in a country that records the death of a sanitation worker by asphyxiation in a septic tank or sewer every two days, its citizens have chosen to apathetically look away. it is an unthinking, unfeeling, baleful indifference, a lack of elementary imagination, a banality in arendt’s telling (1963). ambedkar observed that this indifference is no accident, and that it is the inevitable product of a society fractured into some six thousand castes and subcastes, arranged in hierarchical order of ‘ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt.’ in his analogy, ‘hindu society is a tower which has several storeys without a ladder or an entrance. one is to die in the storey in which one is born.’ isolated in their different psychological worlds there is no possibility of collective action against injustice, for ‘caste is not just a division of labour, it is a division of labourers’ (1979). indeed, there is not even a common notion of justice that transcends caste; there are no universal moral or ethical principles that bind all the people together in a common social compact which is respectful of all. instead there is social consensus, especially amongst the dominant castes, which supports and enforces inequality, untouchability, manual scavenging. thus, resistance has largely been the effort of the swachakar community alone. everywhere across the country, sanitation workers are delving into their own resources and fighting for their human and civil rights. organizations such as janodayam, read, navsarjan trust, social development foundation, thamate, jan sahas social development society, and the most remarkable safai karmachari andolan, are at the forefront of the war against manual scavenging (ramaswami, 2005). from legal manual scavenging in india: the banality of an everyday crime 73 action to supporting the education of children, these organizations are nurturing the flames of a revolution. their work is on par with the greatest liberation movements in the history of the world. it commands our deepest respect and deserves all recognition including the nobel prize for peace. thousands of women have burnt their ‘brooms and baskets of indignity,’ and sworn that they would rather starve than scavenge for a living; hundreds of thousands have educated their children and facilitated their escape to a better life in the city! bertrand russell warned us that it is our crime of silence that is responsible for the genocidal wars of imperial aggression, especially the silence of the citizens of the empire (duffett, 1968). here it is the shameful indifference of the citizens of india that is responsible for the crime. the citizens must realise this truth, assume responsibility, and join forces with the swachakar community in their struggle for justice. the government of india on its part must seek every avenue to fight caste discrimination. intergovernmental agendas, such as sustainable development goals, must ‘emphasize caste as a fundamental determinant of social-exclusion, inequality, poverty, and discrimination’ (mosse, 2018). the first step towards solving a problem is to acknowledge that it exists. the united nations human rights council and other human rights organizations must include manual scavenging in their list of crimes against humanity and campaign against it, for as we have argued, its prohibition is a jus cogens norm. it is when good people all over the world join the war against this unparalleled social abuse of manual scavenging that it will be finally won. acknowledgements we dedicate this article to bezwada wilson and safai karmachari andolan. we are very grateful to hemangi kadlak, priyanka preet, s. subramanian, and n. usha rani for many important suggestions. we would also like to record here the power of sudharak olwe’s photo essays (olwe, 2013, 2019), which we strongly recommend as introductory reading for those who would like to be better informed about the crime of manual scavenging. references akhilesh, p. 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(1948). convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, pub. l. no. 260 a (iii) of 9 december 1948 (1951). retrieved on february 22, 2021 from https:// www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/doc.1_convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide.pdf — (1987). convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, pub. l. no. 39/46 of 10 december 1984 (1987). retrieved on february 25, 2021 from https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cat.aspx article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 111–124 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.69 © 2020 maya pramod. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited as a dalit woman: my life in a caste-ghetto of kerala maya pramod1 (bluestone rising scholar 2019 award) abstract it is extremely significant to enquire how the lower caste dalit people have read about the socio-economic and cultural aspects of dalit colony life that have changed their life and society. i argue that these colonies serve as an index of their inferior social status. it serves more of their ghettoisation than for their empowerment. it further distances them from society and helps to appropriate their labour. this is the continuation of the age-old practice of caste discrimination and deprivation that kept them away from the mainstream while appropriating their labour for the general development of society. this paper focuses on the rereading of social norms which evolved through the author’s probing of the social history of ‘caste colony’ as part of her research, especially on dalit women. keywords dalit, caste colony, socio-cultural, discrimination, ghettoisation introduction it’s the 125th year since ayyankali1 in 1891 drove his bullock cart was a historical ride against caste discrimination and for the freedom to walk in public spheres. it is the 125th year of this bullock cart strikes and kerala has completed 63 years as a democratic self freeing it from the clutches of feudalism in the year of 2019. in this ambience, one has to look into what caste ghettos in kerala have given to the life of the dalits. for the supreme power agencies or the government, dalit democratic development means caste colonies. i make here an ethnographic study of how the history of colony life and the land reformation act have eluded accumulation of capital formation for dalits in terms of the socio-economic and cultural aspects. this study is about the dalit colonies in kerala and is linked to my experience in these colonies. being a research scholar at the research department of christ college, iringalakkuda, affiliated to the calicut university, and my probing of the social history of ‘caste colony’ as part of my research, are not accidental at all. the 1ph.d research scholar, christ college, university of calicut, irinjalakuda,thrissur, india e-mail: mayapramodp@gmail.com 112 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 research materialized out of my personal experiences of being born into and growing up in government wastelands/colonies/rented houses. i don’t know if the mainstream society of kerala cares to know that the 2011 census among the 9.1% population in kerala dalits and out of this 7.9% are living in the dalit ghettos which are 2 or 3 cents of allotted land and houses . i was born in one such caste-colony. for the next twentyone years, that colony was my home. till i was ten, i had lived in perunna naalppathi colony in changanasseri, and after that in a ‘shack’ in the fields in until. as a child, i had started schooling with an ‘asaattiyamma,’ a local teacher. to reach our classes, we would walk under the railway over-bridge and through the railway lines that lay close to the naalppathi colony. beyond the railway over-bridge was the railway colony. in those times, ezhavas, muslims, and dalits lived together in those colonies. we played between the small houses, in the confined places that we had access to in the stifling three to four cents of land where the colonies stood. ‘the sound of trains was a constant reminder of our witness to the horror of mangled bodies of the many who had chosen to end their lives under one of the passing trains, rather than continue to endure the suffering.’ every child raised in the railway colony would have those brutal childhood memories of witnessing severed bodies and chopped heads being patched and rolled up in ‘pandan-leaf’2 mats. the insecurity that we endured in the schools was a shared feeling too. i studied till the eighth standard with no electricity in my house. we went to school mainly for the lunch that was provided. a teacher of seventh standard, who i clearly recall, led me by my hand, from the front bench where i sat, to one of the back-benches, saying, it had ‘your folk.’ i was short in stature and had scoliosis, a physical condition of curving spine. it was difficult for me to see the blackboard from the back-bench. it was then that i introspectively confronted the facts about who ‘my folk’ really were. were they also dark like me? it is under this assumption that i had chosen a girl who was a friend and had invited her to my place, which could hardly be referred to as a house. but then she said: ‘maya if i come to your house in the colony where the scheduled caste people live, my father would rebuke me.’ this led me to further introspection. how much would a girl of the seventh standard ponder over such questions? in my school days, the places for our recreation were the backyards of the houses where my mother used to work. from the clothes that they would give us, we would separate those that had not faded and would treasure them up in boxes. this could perhaps be why the children in these colonies, especially in the father-less homes, fancied colours. only when the results of the tenth standard board exams were awaited, i had to look up for my scores expectantly. i noticed that my house members and my region, far from being anxious about my result, were not even aware of the story. i had secretly gone to look up my result and had to double-check to confirm that it was my own score. with i have won the world by securing 290 marks in 600 for the sslc examination , i had conquered the world. people in my house did not even believe it and my mother’s eyes belied her feeling of doubt. the newspapers of the next day bore testimony. i had created history in school by having scored 47 marks out of 50 in social science. the words of my history teacher fueled my urge to learn and steer my life ahead. ‘i had known and believed that you would get these marks and now you have repaid my faith with your success. you should never be a domestic servant like your mother. you should fly high to the world of education.’ someone had faith in me. and that was the fuel for all my onward journeys. as a dalit woman: my life in a caste-ghetto of kerala 113 later it is through the stipend system in the degree classes that i understood what it meant to be a resident of the ‘caste colonies,’ or, to belong to a scheduled caste community. this knowledge dawned through the popular assumptions and hearsay that the sc/sts were those who came to college to simply get the stipend money that the government gave and that they squandered and ate away the money. i was among the fifteen students of the class who lived through these contemptuous mockeries and who tried hard to hide it from the class. when the clerk would count rs 6000 and hand it over, his jeering words would echo from the skies: ‘quite a sweep of easy money for the year, isn’t it?’ to avoid such jeering and to avoid the gaze of friends, half of us would stay away from classes for at least two weeks after the distribution of stipend. at the end of the degree course, there would be concerns and enquiries about being able to write the exams in malayalam, because none of the dalit students would have had english as the medium of instruction in school. the present investigation tries to understand the (socio-economic) historical background of dalits in kerala. this is an exploratory study based on primary and secondary sources. it is intended to analyse the trends of the transformation of a kudi3 (hut dwellings) to the colony. the findings of the present study are based on the results of field investigation in the selected area of kerala. the data for the study were collected from both primary and secondary sources. the major tools used by the investigator are the questionnaire and interview schedule. the questionnaire includes the social, economic, educational, political and cultural aspects of dalits in the colonies. sometimes the use of the questionnaire as a tool would have been very difficult because of the illiteracy of people in the colonies. so, the investigator has used both structured and non-structured interview method for gathering data. the secondary sources of data were reports and publications of various agencies, archival reports, information regarding the municipality on the socio-economic infrastructure that has been obtained from taluks,4 village office. the secondary data about the study area was an important constraint. based on fieldwork tools the study will critically analyze the pattern of such transformation in land and dalit colony. discussion these challenges were not isolated events. in effect, while these fifteen to twenty dalit students -who might have reached colleges after immense struggle -were trying to achieve something through education, every bit of their effort was also being simultaneously quashed, either deliberately or through pressure. this was how the cultural and social capital recourse that we were trying to procure was being denied to us. upper caste colonisation of the dalit communities always happened in india by the colonisation of the brains through language. what needs to be noted is not just that the chances of writing exams in malayalam and reaching universities for higher studies were fewer for the dalit students but that very few from the ‘caste colonies’ could reach the universities in the existing scheme of things. i am noting this for a particular reason. during my undergraduation period, i lived in palathra chira colony near my mother’s place in changanasseri. just five of us from the colony had reached college for under graduation and post-graduation, and four of us went on to technical institutes like iti. this was the plight of education in colonies. to know what that life is in the caste colonies one needs to understand the intricate power relations between land and caste that have existed in kerala. only then can the 114 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 ghettoization of an entire populace brought about and institutionalized through the so-called ‘welfare schemes’ be understood.5 if you look at the problem of land rights in kerala you will clearly see how and when the dalits/adivasis and other backward classes got ousted from the exchanges of the symbolic capital. in every society, there are four types of capital: first is the social capital that is the services rendered by our fellow beings; second, economic capital that is income and assets one possesses; third; embedded capital that is emotions and memories that are aroused in terms of one’s traditions and family pride; and fourth cultural capital, which is further of three types. these include i) academic benefits from school life, ii) the ancestral history of one’s existence, and iii) the artistic and cultural life of individuals (bourdieu, 1986). among all these the cultural, social, and economic capitals can be acquired by anyone through their efforts, but embedded capital or symbolic capital is attributed by the society because it brings in the past power agency that one has in terms of caste. thus many people are ostracised in terms of the symbolic and social capital in the society. dalit, adivasi (tribal), plantation workers, and fishermen communities are by and large the only communities that are still trapped into doing the work that has been forced on them through the dictates of caste. according to government of kerala statistics, there are 26,198 dalit colonies, 8000 adivasi colonies, 10000 ‘layas’, and around 500 fishermen colonies (parishid, 2006)all of which had only worsened the lives and sufferings of these local people and politically marginalized them into ghettoes. in 1969 the land reformation act was introduced. according to this, the government of kerala under the ems ministry promised that the ‹farmland belongs to the farmer›. nevertheless, many of the provisions of the land reformation act had already been leaked before the execution of the act. therefore, a large number of high-caste communities who owned land had formed trustees and these lands were transferred under it. then, the slogan that farmland belongs to farmers was changed to farmers should work in the farmland as tenants in the remaining forest land. under the act, these tenants who were working as farmers on the land became the landlord of the agrarian land farmer. the dalits, the original agricultural labourers, were taken to the settlement colonies of the floor two or three cents.accordingly, every family in these colonies had rights to a paltry 2.34 to three cents of land. majority of these dalit and adivasi colonies are constructed on the premise of caste. the entire inhabitants of such resettlement colonies were dalits and the tribal groups who are ostracised and made landless by the power agency. the actual statistics about the social divisions of per capita land ownership in kerala speaks volumes about how caste discrimination persists through other means. whenever the question of dalit / adivasi land issues comes up for discussion, we need to consider the fact that land is not just an economic asset. any way one looks into it, it talks about politics too. it was only after the enactment of the land reformation act that land became a powerful resource with respect to political power. when the land reforms act was implemented on january 1, 1970, there was a ceiling on how much land a family could own as per the provisions of the act. (varghese, 1970) the basic provision was to consider the rest of the land as surplus land, take it up and distribute it to the landless. however, the plantation (cash crop) sector was cleverly ring-fenced so it, avoided the ambit of the law because majority of the land belonged in the plantation sector. so, the land acquisition that happened in kerala was not one in which the brahmins and the nairs became landless. and more importantly, what was the reality of the land that was taken over? as a dalit woman: my life in a caste-ghetto of kerala 115 actually, the land acquired included a few paddy fields in the west and some in the interiors of erstwhile idanadu and some barren land belonging to the nilambur king6. it is actually this sort of land acquisition to which one minister in power had recently claimed that had caused ‘great tragedy for the brahmins even after 50 years.’ this is an example of the underlying culture that still plays a role in perpetuating within mainstream politics the retention of caste-based power relations. if one were to go through the statutory land ownership data in kerala published by the kerala shastra sahithya parishath (kssp).7 while the per capita land holding of the upper caste is 105 cents, the dalit community has only 2.7 cents of land. the community-based statistics of the land ownership in kerala (in cents) goes like upper caste 105, backward caste 63, christians 126, muslims 77, and dalits 2.7. this survey report was published by the kerala shastra sahithya parishath. while the upper caste and the christians share 231 cents of land, a dalit’s land is just 2.7 cents. and yet if there are poor people among the upper caste, then they definitely need a helping hand through the poultry sheep development model of the much-acclaimed ‘janakeeyaasoothranam’. 8 when the question of where is our land is raised by the landowners as also the landless, it is not just about the land, but also a question about the existing power structure and the resource structure of kerala and the status quo maintained by it. land is not just a form of the asset; instead it is symbolic of power and agency and the politics that one holds. thus caste exists as a power relation because land provides authority in all socio-cultural and economic spheres. the colonies that were created after the land reforms act: lakshamveedu colonies, coastal habitats, plantation looms, and the wastelands -all of these convey just one thing loud and clear ‘how the mainstream society stigmatises a dalit, an adivasi, and a backward caste in the public sphere of kerala’s life and culture. the existence of half a million colonies is direct evidence of that. the pulayar 9, the parayar, , the kuravar, the ulladans10 and the adivasis who were living in their kudis (huts) under the feudal system got displaced and ‘dumped’ into three cents and four-cent colonies through false promises following the implementation of the land reforms act. the tragic story of the thiyars who cultivated agricultural lease lands has been tenderly portrayed by cherukadu11 in his novel manninte maaril. however, the fact is that the condition of the pulaya, who cultivated in the same land was equivalent of an animal ploughing in the soil. the slogan of ‘nammalu koyyum vayalellam nammudethakum painkiliye’ (the land that we reap will be ours, oh dear), which meant that the land will be for those who till the soil, went in vain as the beneficiaries of the land were nambuthiris, nairs, ezhavas, and christians who were cultivating on leased land. the parayan and the pulayan who tilled the soil were not allotted any land. not just that, a condition was made as per section seventy five of the land reforms act, which said that any dalit or adivasi who owned land of three cents and above shall not be provided with any further land. while the other sections could possess 50 cents to one acre, dalits and adivasis owning mere three cents of land were denied land. therein lied the contradiction: the dalits and adivasi families were denied of surplus land by this encumbrance act because they were made landowners of three cents and ostracised from the mainstream even as the power agencies could have more areas of land by converting it for cash crops. thus, the life of the dalits and adivasis was made miserable through the act. total per capita land ownership of upper caste in kerala is 231 cents which includes 105 cents of upper caste hindus and 126 cents of christians, while the per capita land 116 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 owned by dalit community is 2.7 cents. you can imagine how many multiples of 2.7 can 231 be! almost 100 times more! this is the prevailing condition even six decades after the landreform act (peruvattur, 1995). for the communities that had been historically marginalised from dominant politics and resource availability, to stake their claim on them is a question of fundamental social justice. the kerala model development and land reform act has tied down and ghettoized the dalits /adivasis/ and other backward classes to the caste colonies of three to four cents of ‘land’ in government wastelands. land and land ownership not only remain the key socioeconomic and cultural capital but more significantly, land also still remains a caste capital in the pockets of a few ‘upper-caste’ communities. in the entire political game toward the expulsion of the dalit/adivasi communities from the realm of capital, the last step is that of what is referred to as the ‘developmental programmes’ rendered in the form of cattle, poultry, auto-rickshaw, and other meagre means of sustenance that are offered to compensate for the huge proportions of existing inequalities. the real victims of these ‘developmental aids’ are the local dwellers of the land namely the dalit/adivasi communities. and today, from the ‘development’ of owning three cents of land we are being uprooted into the insecurity and abject landlessness of flats and apartments. according to k. panoor12 just in the district of wayanadu, there are about 7000 adivasi families that have been evacuated and denied land which they were promised under the law. it is a matter of great concern. it will have to be understood that the objective of section seventy five was to prevent any resource mobilisation for the livelihood of the most backward sections, in a society where caste-based social conditions pretty much exist. the dalit and adivasi families had been given three cents of land for possession and denied any surplus land. whereas the landlords were given fifteen acres of land and they could possess more land by converting it into plantation fields. power and wealth, and ownership rights of public capital, which ideally should have been distributed to everyone equally and equitably, languished at the hands of those who lived under the privileged caste values. it is against this injustice and the oppression that the dalits and adivasis have been subjected to for centuries, that the reservation policy acts as a guarantee that the marginalised people will be part of a fair distribution of common capital and wealth. it is only a constitutional mechanism to draw power into the hands of people who have been oppressed for centuries and denied representation in the power structure (mohan, 1996). a decision has been made to introduce reservation for the economically weaker section of the upper caste in the appointments made by the devaswom board. this is besides giving more than the existing ten percent reservations for the sc / sts. the constitution clearly states that the sole purpose of reservation is to address the socially and educationally backward sections of the society. that is, if social backwardness is evident in a state, such socio-political, economic and cultural aspects are analysed quite accurately and the supreme court has taken a position in favour of reservation by considering all this into account. dr b.r. ambedkar has said that ‘reservation is not a benefit, but it’s a debt payback. a reservation only aims at equality in social justice. it does not eliminate merit but further convinces us that merit is merely a social construct. it is the social discrimination and the inequalities which the oppressed sections like the dalits, adivasis and the bahujans face even today, that the reservation attempts to solve.’ as a dalit woman: my life in a caste-ghetto of kerala 117 si x de ca de s a fte r t he st at e of k er al a ca m e in to b ei ng , t he n um be r o f d al it co lo ni es in k er al a is 2 6, 19 8 as p er th e of fic ia l d at a of th e g ov er nm en t of k er al a in 2 01 0 (a dm in is tra tio n, 2 01 0) . u no ffi ci al re co rd s s ay th at th er e ar e m or e th an h al f a m ill io n su ch c ol on ie s i n k er al a. a ro un d 3, 44 ,1 93 d al it fa m ili es li ve in th es e co lo ni es . s in ce th ey o w n on ly th re e to fo ur c en ts o f l an d, it is tr ue th at a g en er at io n liv es th er e w ho o nl y ha ve th ei r ki tc he ns a s a pl ac e to b ur y th ei r d ea d bo di es . a m on g th es e, th er e ar e ab ou t 1 ,4 1, 07 8 pe op le w ho a re h om el es s, an d. th er e ar e al so th e sc at te re d liv es in th e w as te la nd s, co as ta l r eg io ns , a nd in th e pl an ta tio n se ct or (t ab le 1 ). ta bl e 1. b as ic in fo rm at io ns in s c c ol on ie s c ol on ie s m or e t ha n 50 f am ili es in c ol on ie s po pu la tio n m en / w om an o w n la nd in s c w on l an d in c ol on ie s la nd g iv n by t he g ov er nm en t r ig ht t o te na nt s su rp lu s la nd r ev en ue -l an d la nd g iv en by t he m un ic ip al iti es 26 19 8 41 6 11 .4 9 la ck s 59 37 5 36 08 5 17 22 18 78 a cr e 88 8a cr e 41 3a cr e 63 1 a cr e 12 .0 3 la ck s la nd g iv en by t he s c /s t d ep ar tm en t la nd le ss fa m ily o w n la nd / h om le ss fa m ily u no cc up ie d h ou se s in c ol on ie s si ng le r oo m h ou se s in c ol on ie s d ou bl e r oo m h ou se s u nf in is he d h ou se s ed uc at io n in h ig hs ch oo l ed uc at io n in h ig he r se co nd ar y d eg re e/ m as te rs / d ip lo m a/ it i/ it c 33 3a cr e 25 40 8 15 98 4 45 95 9 12 38 71 13 23 78 67 91 1 1. 12 0. 5 0. 30 0. 19 ed uc at io n in b. t ec m b b s b a m s b h m s m en ta lly / ph ys ic al ly d is ab le d pe rs on s in c ol on ie s m en ta lly d is ab le d pe rs on s a ve ra ge po ve rt y li ne (a pl ) be lo w po ve rt yl in e (b pl ) fa m ili es w ith ou t r at io n c ar d f am ili es w ith r at io n c ar ds 19 68 21 2 34 12 17 44 1 77 04 1. 68 l ac ks 3. 10 la ck s 0. 80 4. 78 l ac ks so ur ce : k er al a in st itu te o f l oc al a ( k il a ) 20 09 -1 0 118 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 this continuing situation has to be a matter of not just debates, but a political issue that the dalit /adivasi society should raise with respect to land. one thing to be noted here is that the ruling class has now come up with another scheme in the form of developing flats for these people when their real problem is that of land availability. the dalit /adivasi society must be cautious against this. because this only puts the politics of apartment culture on the shoulder of a person who is trying to get out of his scattered life in his three cent colonies and destroys the actual opportunity of land as their means. dalits and adivasis have to raise their voice louder than ever before as their necessity is agricultural land and rights on resources, and not any apartment or so. the land struggles that have happened so far in kerala have a great deal of relevance in the light of the above-mentioned land issues. the dalit /adivasi movements through their various campaigns have played a significant role in bringing up the issues of the right to access land and resources into the mainstream discourse. kallara sukumaran, a dalit activist and writer put forward certain policies such as making atrocities against tribes as a national offence, giving land to the landless and to build a hostel for girls of scheduled tribes, and to make a law that provides land ownership of dalits and adhivasis , and to provide mid-day meals in schools. the dalit movements under his leadership following the 1950s and the tribal movements since the 1970s have been emphasizing that land is a political issue that needs to be settled, and also that problems created by the unequal land distribution are not merely political for the community. muthanga, aralam, meppadi, chengara and arippa, all have been a result of those convictions. muthanga in wayanad, aralam and meppadi in kannur, and chengara in pathanamthitta and arippa in kollam are places of land struggles led by the tribal and adivasi groups which turned futile because lands given to them were barren and useless. these agitators said to the society that they wanted land not just for their livelihood but also as an economic driver for the forward journey of their generation, as a right to resources, agriculture, and further transactions. when the socio-political and economic issues of the dalits and the adivasis are discussed, it is important to understand that their decisive basis lies in capital formation and its distribution. because simply put, capital formation is defined as resource mobilisation. it is by acquiring these resources and through their transactions that the upper caste secure their higher caste privileges in mainstream society; be it social, economic, cultural, or symbolic capital. however, a dalit and an adivasi have to constantly struggle against the society to acquire this capital and come forward (bourdieu, 1986). their caste becomes a negative capital for them. that is if he/she is an sc / st, the stereotyping by mainstream communities is that the successes of the historically marginalised communities are due to the policy of ‘reservation.’ renowned sociologist pierre bourdieu, who developed the idea of social capital 1986), says that capital includes both economic and noneconomic forms. inequality and injustice are inevitable in a society having an unbalanced distribution of capital. it is exactly those unjustified acts that are taking place in kerala and across india against the marginalised people. and it is such a brahminical ideology, that encourages a minister in authority to state that ‘brahmins are the victims of the land reforms act.’ an interesting observation would be to ascertain how many brahmins live in the three to four cents of land, or live below poverty line, or how many namboothiri’s (an upper caste) are queued up in front of the panchayats (village governing bodies) to avail benefits of welfare schemes such as poultry or cattle rearing or toilet construction schemes, under the kerala model development that is boasted about by successive state governments. as a dalit woman: my life in a caste-ghetto of kerala 119 at the time when the land act was enacted, by diluting its provisions, purposefully or not, what the brahmin or nair communities did was that they converted and registered their lands as trusts and plantations, to prevent its acquisition as surplus land. the ten per cent reservation given to upper caste in terms of their economically backward condition shows the wide disparity constituted by law and power agencies as it showcases the contradictions of caste groups. since the brahminical polity, which raises the pitch for economic-based reservation every now and then, is not a fictional one, the purpose of the forward development corporation, brought by the previous state government, must also be looked as to safeguard the interests of economic reservations. according to the constitution of india reservation is given to those communities of people who are socially and educationally backward in a state. it is the right of the state to allot reservations for the caste groups for their upliftment. this is the most important aspect of the constitution. secondly, in order to include any caste groups for reservation, there should be adequate material evidence for their under-representation in the government sector or any other sectors. this suggests that the unrepresented should be given reservation. but this has been violated by giving reservation to the economically backward upper caste groups .the sole purpose of that move by the left front government was nothing but to strengthen the social position of a particular community. here, the symbolic capital that pierre bordieu talks about in capital formation has a lot in play. symbolic capital is something that is inseparable from one’s historical and social background. it is something that later enables someone to acquire or grant contacts, positions, and influence by boasting about the contributions of their ancestors and the ranks acquired by it, through the narrative of mainstream history. fortunately, the chairperson was able to ensure his cabinet rank and the position, but the chairperson of the scheduled caste/ scheduled tribes corporation is just a chairperson with no additional rank or power as he does not have any such thing to boast about. what kerala needs now is a new political discourse of the dalit, adivasi, backward class minorities for tackling these issues of right to land and resources. there is a struggle that is emerging in kerala with the aligning of several castes and sub-caste organisations, for a new kerala that tosses the existing kerala model and land reforms that were enacted upside down. the dalit community of kerala has a responsibility to provide all kinds of support and ideology to such activities. such a movement that is gaining momentum will certainly be able to create a history which the coming generations could learn and talk about. caste ghettoes and the dalits the history of ‘colonies’ as collective dwelling places begins with the sachivothamapuram colony in 1936 (kochu, 2013). but dalits were not the only inhabitants in this first settlement colony of kerala. ezhavas, vilakkithala nairs, and viswakarmmajars also lived in this colony. it is after the formation of united kerala, in 1959 when m k krishnan was the minister of scheduled caste affairs, that the first colony for dalits in mukkada came up. after the land reform act, from 1970 to 2010, most of the colonies that came up in kerala were modelled as scheduled caste settlements. these caste ghettoes had houses of 600 square feet each. they were also geographically located in places like hilltops, wastelands, uncultivable fields, shores of canals, and other such uninhabitable places that were visibly away from the coveted 120 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 social structures of possession. i can cite a personal example here. in 2006, my family which was dwelling in a rented house for more than 28 years was granted some money for occupying land and constructing a house through the municipality as per the vambay (valmiki ambedkar awasyojna).13 an amount of rs 30,000 was given for land procurement. in our enquiries to find some land for that amount, the municipality officers led us to a 2.15 cent patch in a barren field in a place called manjadikkara. as soon as we reached there, we found out that the land was marked with incomplete structures of at least twelve families who had started building foundations and walls for houses. in this way, any place where at least ten-odd dalit families came to live became a dalit dwelling and was inscribed as a ‘dalit colony.’ by the time we bought the land, filled it with soil, and laid the foundation, the money and our savings were exhausted. we also received the notice for confiscation in three years. that house thatched with sheets lies uninhabitable even in 2018. it is from the 1970s that the concept called ‘lakshamveed’ (houses constructed in a budget of rs one hundred thousand) came up in kerala. that was the initiative of m. n. govindan nair was the minister of the of fourth kerala legislative assembly under the leadership of c. achuthamenon.he was started the laksham veedu house settlement project 1977 for the resettlement of the landless dalits and adhivasis. this ‘welfare’ programme visibly marginalised the dalits from their natural rights to land and alienated them from other forms of development that happened in the society. even drinking water is a burning issue in the dalit colonies. in kerala, palakkad district has the highest number of dalit colonies and govindapuram is an example of water issue. it is a colony that has both dalits and obc (other backward caste) category. the obcs restricted the dalits from taking water from the public pipe. the collector of the region resolved the issue by giving a huge tank with pipes on both sides under the condition that the dalits should not cross the region of obc. another pressing problem is the lack of space during domestic occasions like death or marriage in the family. ‘when deaths happen, the dwellers of these colonies have to demolish their kitchens or find narrow spaces between the houses in order to bury the dead. every inhabitant of the colonies faces immense social and cultural injustice on a daily basis. if earlier the marriages were restricted within colonies, now marriages are happening across the colonies. the marriage restrictions are in fact reminiscent of the histories of dalit struggles during feudalism. in olden times of feudal slavery, the lower caste families were violently dissipated in all the four directions by their feudal masters, as and when they deemed. the name of their respective ‘illams’14 was whispered into the ears of the siblings at the time of separation so that they could recognise each other later in the event of their coming together. thus, the pulaya caste had 44 illams while paraya caste had 12 illams. due to the belief that those belonging to the same illams were siblings and since sibling marriage was taboo, such restrictions on marriages came into place. the political parties in kerala have a vital role in the conditioning of the colonies and their status in society. the candidate of these colonies is the way through which the welfare schemes and programmes are implemented. almost all the colonies have a strong political leaning toward cpm. with its cadre party system, the cpm has secured a strong vote base in the 50,000 odd colonies of kerala. while the older generation consistently voted for the left, the new generation is closer to the bhartiya janata party (bjp). this as far as i understand is also linked to the problems and questions of religion and faith. bjp has many associations linked to festivities like the sabarimala season, the ayyappan vilakk donation camps, karthika, sreekrishna jayanthi, and as a dalit woman: my life in a caste-ghetto of kerala 121 several other temple-centred events. women are also increasingly participating in these events now. majority of these temple events are organised by the leaders of bjp or rashtriya swayamsevak sangh (rss). even after 70 years of independence, to find a dalit, the mainstream society, irrespective of its political creed, has to come to these colonies. in these ghettoes, they find innocent lives that are born into the torture of debts; who live, give birth, die, and get buried as debtors. they don’t own any land, or business, or institutions. the leaders across the political spectrum from the right to the left, rich enough to buy high priests of religions, also go to the colonies of people who have nothing to lay their claim on. they then tell these people how e.m. sankaran namboothirippad or a.k. gopalan or /gandhi or savarkar have been instrumental in changing their histories. the 1990s in the dalit colonies witnessed a political thought that was upheld by ayyankali and ambedkar. the efforts of various political parties in bringing dalit leaders could only rejuvenate their early history and leaders. while listening to such assertions, in order to speak about powerful democratic interventions, dalit politics can call back from memory many of those unsung heroes like mahatma ayyankali who famously rode a villuvandi (bullock cart) and rewrote history, poykayil appachan who gave a new life to the slave communities by singing, ‘can’t see a word on my ancestry, while i see scores of histories of others,’ kandankulathil kumaran, pampadi john joseph, and most importantly, the hero from whom the dalit unity now blossoms and spreads across; the father of modern india; dr b r ambedkar. these re-callings would certainly question the political idols that the mainstream society has hoisted on its pedestals and would create a stronger alternative space for politics in the future. the celebrated flat-residence project model in the flats or apartments that are under construction in the proposed model under the housing project called ‘life’ (livelihood inclusion and financial empowerment) by the kerala state government, the area of a flat is 350 sq.ft. it includes a small hall, a room, a toilet and a cramped kitchen. the flats cannot be owned by the families for 15 years. even after 15 years, they cannot sell or rent out these flats. that means that the residents may stay in these spaces as rented property but there is no commodity value for them. almost all of the flats that have been built under this project have now become ‘caste colonies.’ there are people who have been living in these flats for more than ten years without any title-deeds or ownership rights over their space. in these cramped units, there is not even enough space for one family to sleep comfortably. during marriages, these families are forced to take other places on rent to live for two or three months. as soon as they are married the younger generation is compelled to move out due to the stifling limitation of space. the pinarayi government has decided to build flats for the 4,72,000 odd people who are landless and homeless. as the first stage of this long-term plan, 2018-19 it has been decided to build homes for one hundred thousand families and budget allocations for this purpose have been set aside. the flats each covering 350 sq. ft (discussions are on to make this 400 sq.ft) as the project claims, prioritise the landless and homeless people. this also means that the adivasis and dalits may not even get the funds for the three cents of land that they were allotted early. even after their decades-long struggle for the ownership of the 122 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 land that they rightfully deserved, if the dalit/adivasi communities are being denied land and are being pushed into the new generation ‘caste colonies’ in the form of flats and apartments, it is a clear indication that the landless are being deprived of each one of their rights for land as well as any form of socio-cultural capital. the ownership of the apartment vests with the governing agency and it is only after 12 years that the ownership would be transacted. but this system is bringing in a congested lifestyle, and the claim of having land is denied to them. rajamanikyam the ernakulam district collector,who was appointed by the government of kerala .his reports said that about 58%(around 5 lakh hectares of land) of revenue land was held illegally by short plantation companies like harisontata. this report was submitted in 2014. the rajamanikyam report had suggested that plantation lands that are being ‘unlawfully’ held by companies like tata-harrison through false title-deeds, should be taken over by the government through parliamentary intervention and redistributed among the landless. however, that report has been completely rejected by the government. conclusions the dalit/adivasi communities were always denied their lawful rights over land and resources due to the structural ‘monstrosity’ called caste and its power relations. it is due to this exclusion from land and resources that they always stood outside the socio-political spaces of privilege. and it is to counter this injustice that they have been seeking redistribution of land and resources time and again.. when each of their claims have been turned down and they are getting ruthlessly ghettoized further and further into ‘caste colonies,’ it becomes evident that even at the core of the government housing projects for building flats and residential conglomerates, nothing but the centuries-old caste consciousness still prevails in kerala. . in fact, the un-inhabitable places were first isolated and then normalised as colonies and handed over to dalits. the entire process is a picture-book replica of how every other form of discursive capital in institutionalized social structures segregated people in terms of caste and alienated them. the status quo of the social structure influences human life and also determines the norms for the distribution of land and resources. the caste-ridden structure of kerala society and the capitalist system that constitutes it are equally contributing to the callous ghettoization of dalit communities. needless to say, property, in india, always had a communal and casteist form. it is from such political expulsions of mainstream idols that the dalit communities have always understood that what they need is not mere ownership of a piece of land, but the absolute socio-political and cultural acceptance that has long been denied them. it is from such revelations that all historical protests over land rights had sprung up in the past. i strongly believe that the production and distribution of capital has a significant role to play in the socioeconomic and political plight of every dalit/adivasi of kerala including me. when the caste ghettoes are getting ‘upgraded’ to the new housing projects and flats, the inevitable question of whether we need this, after all, should rise from us. for no colonies to come up further, we should demand the complete re-distribution of land. the caste colonies are the living form of the institutionalised caste system that thrives under every other elected government and marginalises communities in the garb of development. as a dalit woman: my life in a caste-ghetto of kerala 123 references administration, k. i. (2010). basic information of sc/st habitats in kerala. thrissur: kerala institute of local administration department. bourdieu, p. (1986). the forms of capital in j richardson( edi)handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. new york: greenwod. kochu, k. k. (2013). dait neerkazhchakal (mal). thiruvananthapuaram: raivan publishers. mohan, p. s. (1996). dalit discourse and the evolving new self:context and stratagies . review of development and change,iv(1):1-24 kssp, (2006). sc/st report. kozhikode: kerala shastra sahithya parishid. peruvattur, m. (1995). kerala bhuparishkarana niyamam ‚’ marxisistukal thozhilali vargathe vanchicha charithram (mal). kozhikode: bsa publication. varghese, t. c. (1970). agrarian change and economic consequences: land tenures in kerala 1850-1960. calcutta: allied publishers. endnotes 1. mahatma ayyankali was a social reformer who opened a democratic renaissance periods of kerala through the movements for the downtrodden. ayyankali fought for freedom to walk in public spheres, against slavery, for educational rights and conducted peasant strikes for the wages of their work which were never heard in our society at that time. from 1911 to a very long period he worked for the upliftment of untouchables, as a member of sreemoolam prajasabha. 2. a plant whose leaves are used as mats in kerala 3. in the 19th century dalit settlements were called‚ kudi’ and they never had ownership over these kudi. it belonged to the landlord to whom they were slaves 4. administrative units at the rural level. 5. welfare schemes are development projects being implemented in the state for the upliftment of dalits and tribal communities 6. when the land reformation act was implemented in kerala, the land acquired by the ems government at that time was the land of nilambur dynasty, a small princely state of travancore and the fallow lands of kuttanad. most of kerala’s land lies in the plantation sector and the plantation lands were excluded under the provisions of the land reformation act 7. 19th century, the subaltern movements had enabled the people of kerala to initiate the movements. thus, the movements in kerela were not enabled by the left organisation however kss is an organisation. they had conducted a census on land distribution in kerala. 8. kerala state government introduced a complement legislation providing for panchayats, blocks ,municipalities in the state.it is the people planning campaign held in 1996 in 9th five year plan. 9. pulaiyar is the name of a caste that was a peasant slave in kerala. pulaiyan is the name used to refer to a person from that caste and they formed majority slaves in kerala. 124 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 10. pulayar, parayar, kuravar, ulladans are dalits or lower castes that were involved in tilling the soil 11. cherukad,a well known malayalam language play writer,novelist,poet and political activist in kerala 12. he is a journalist and the author of keralathile africa 13. a housing scheme of the central government of india 14. illam is a malayalee lineage system used for classification and identification of castes in kerala. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 189–201 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.226 © 2021 meena sawariya. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste caste and counselling psychology in india: dalit perspectives in theory and practice meena sawariya1 abstract this paper is written from the perspective of a dalit counselling psychologist and aims to provide an understanding of the exclusion of dalit perspective in the theoretical as well as therapeutic domains of psychology as a discipline. it aims to elaborate on the impact of caste on the internalised-self of psychologist as well as their client and how it influences the whole process of learning as well as practice. it identifies the gaps in this field and suggests a revision and reformulation of its course and training programmes so that the closed doors can be opened for all. further it addresses the various dyads of relationships in therapeutic alliance that can be possibly influenced by caste-based oppression in social life. the paper is highly concerned with the unaffordable and inaccessible nature of clinical settings and the persistent ignorance of the mental health concerns of dalits. in this paper significant issues like the sense of disconnect, lack of dialogical spaces, and dehumanised processes have been explored in detail. expressing the hope that there will be a possibility of revisiting and reformulation of theoretical orientations and philosophical frameworks, the paper calls for adequate attention towards the dalit perspective in counselling psychology to envision egalitarianism in reality. keywords caste, psychology, therapeutic training, mental health, dalit, counselling introduction in the world of academic discourse, the persistence of caste as lived experience has been studied significantly from sociological and political perspectives (guru, 2012; ilaiah, 2002; geetha, 2012; rege, 2003). psychology offers an important alternative to understand the lived experience of caste in people’s lives. however, 1doctoral scholar, school of human studies, dr. b. r. ambedkar university, delhi, india email: meena.aud17@gmail.com 190 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 psychologists in india are yet to seriously engage with caste, and most importantly, yet to reflect on the influence of caste on the theoretical frameworks and practices within the discipline. majority of psychological research remains oblivious to the deeply ingrained caste biases within the theoretical discourse and practices within the discipline. davar (1999), in this context, offers an interesting critique of nature and practice of psychoanalysis in india as being dominated by elite upper caste hindu professionals. in 2002, an interdisciplinary seminar held in pune on ‘caste and discourses of the mind’ offered counter discourses of the mainstream ideologies and created space for discussion on ‘inner world’ and its relationship with caste discourse. it was a significant development in the field of social sciences that considered both theoretical and clinical dimensions enclosed with caste experiences (davar and jadhav, 2002). further, this theoretically disguised world of social sciences, in general, was questioned by guru and sarukkai (2012) in their work – the cracked mirror. this work offers a critique of the cultural hierarchies’ dominant in academic structures, its adverse impact on the production of reflective knowledge and addressed the need for building a category of experience of ‘being’ dalit to do the theory. he further addressed the significance of egalitarian principle in reconstructing social sciences observing that it basically interrogates the hierarchical division that suggests that some are born with theoretical spoon in their mouth and a vast majority with empirical pot around their neck . . . third the egalitarian principle would also interrogate the epistemological imperialism that empowers non-dalits or tribals to launch intellectual expeditions to conquer new epistemological territories that belongs to the dalits or adivasis intellectual universe (ibid, p. 11). in light of guru’s argument, the academic discourse of psychology in india as a discipline as well as the practice has inadequately attended psychological processes and exclusion arising out of caste distinctively. undoubtedly, psychology in the west has contributed extensively in studying the psychological aspects of gender, religion, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and other forms of inequality. there is little effort in the west to recognise and address the influence of caste as a psychological construct and its predominant existence in the practices associated within the field of psychology. some emerging contributions addressing psychological aspects of caste, however, deserve special mention. in the field of cultural psychiatry, the representative work by jadhav, mosse and dostaler (2016) interestingly locates the dynamics of caste-based social suffering from psychological-behavioural perspective. further, jadhav (2012) asserts that there is a need to decolonise existing theories of mental health in the indian context as it lacks space for experiences of local suffering and culturally valid orientation. his extensive work on this subject demonstrates the underlying tenets of guru-shishya relationship amongst mental health professionals in the context of indian culture and its adverse impact on the well-being of marginalised groups (jadhav, 2011). his recent work further reflects that the language of caste oppression shall be inverted because the social-psychological distress faced by dalit students still suffers significant disconnect with the existing diagnostic assessment criteria (jadhav, 2019). similarly, an emerging body of social-psychological research engaging with caste provides a promising direction. jogdand, khan and mishra (2016) offers a critique of cotterill and colleagues (2014) research that validates persistence of caste through social dominance theory in social psychology (sidanius and pratto, 1999). jogdand et al. (2016) in their paper argue that understanding the nature of social hierarchy and oppression within the caste system and indian society in general remains inconclusive caste and counselling psychology in india: dalit perspectives in theory and practice 191 without including a focus on the construction and contestation of social categories and social identities (tajfel and turner, 1986). further, in another work, jogdand (2017) interrogates caste in the space of classroom setting and advocates for the need to recognise ‘casteism’ as a major stress factor in the lives of dalit students. his work calls for more theoretical and policy level engagement on the psychological impact of caste. building on these contributions and extending the academic discourse and practice of psychology, this paper calls for the need to address brahminical ideologies permeating psychology in india in its theoretical framework, training, and professional practices. the focus on psychology, in general, and counselling psychology, in particular, is intended to provide a context to address the question of caste as a lived experience and its influence on the inner world at the individual and collective levels. this article thinks through the various attributes of a counsellor which constitute the practice and articulate the depth of disconnectedness from the perspective of a practitioner. the recognition of caste signifies that it is a psychological reality in social life and is further a signifier of power, position, and collective experience. by avoiding caste recognition, we tend to deny that it has inevitable and conceivable effects on human life and this denial further tends to strengthen the silence about inequalities arising from it. this dilemma has motivated the author to address the alarming need to evolve a theoretical framework in psychology from the lens of a ‘dalit’ with an aim to recollect and re-synthesise the deeper understanding of caste and the human mind. it is based on the author’s belief that the struggle against caste injustice and nature of ‘caste’ as a complex problem requires to be recognised by both academicians as well as practitioners. we need to conceptualise the idea of ‘experience’ from social identity theory to reconstitute our knowledge systems. this theory and knowledge evolving from ‘being’ a dalit will be a unique category of our lived experiences. even the feminist therapeutic process from a multicultural perspective is exclusive as it still lacks the experiences of dalit feminism. thus, the flaws in the theory and therapeutic processes are evident, and hence we need to reformulate these conceptualisations in theory. this reformulation shall be informed on the basis of our experiences and our lenses based on hermeneutics, critical, phenomenological, and grounded perspectives, and methods of inquiry. given the exclusive nature of the theories and therapeutic processes in psychology, in the following sections, the author attempts to provide a comprehensive account of her journey as a dalit counselling psychologist drawing upon her experiences in the theory as well as therapeutic processes in practice. my journey as a dalit counselling psychologist reflexivity in writing one’s own journey is not only about describing the standpoint as a counselling psychologist, it shall also be based on account of narrating how i engaged with real life and came to occupy it through my work. during this journey, there were many precursors. but one of the most significant precursors that contributed towards strengthening my perspectives was my presentation on ‘building resilience among dalit scholars in higher education: negotiating in new normal world’ in the year 2020 during an online national seminar. the presentation was followed by a series of questions on ‘why only the well-being of “dalit” scholars’ was the central theme of my presentation. there was a sense of ‘unacceptability’ towards understanding that persistence of caste in vivid forms is a source of stress in the lives of dalit scholars. 192 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 thereby it left little space to accept the contextualisation of caste-based exclusion as a ‘problem’ and its adverse influence on the human mind. my first experience was at the point of entering the discipline of psychology when my inner self started to rebuild itself as a learner by familiarising myself with the theoretical formulations and conceptual frameworks of the discipline. however, even after being part of it, there were multiple uncertainties and a sense of unrelatedness and unfamiliarity in terms of theories, spaces, methods, and even fellow-learners. although we had a psychology lab yet its constituents like illustrations on walls, noticeboards, gaze, interactions, and testing assessments lacked a sense of belongingness and affective attachment. during that period, i was also getting reconstructed through various events of violence against dalits taking place in my native region in rajasthan. my conscience was able to register the lengthy family discussions voicing concern and fear about the vulnerability of women of our community during such incidents. this fear not only induced a gradual spilt in myself but was also the reason behind the construction of my defences in real life. the aim of it was to cope with my anxieties and protect my self-esteem from being degraded. repression, for me, was to exclude myself from the painful memories of debates on reservation in student groups and to work on the thoughts which could make me feel connected to the subject. i experienced constant denial by refusing the existence of any problem in front of my family members. this led to my search for those students who were alike and were experiencing common alienation. it was my association with those students that made me / my mind feel worthy, valued, and affectionate. it inevitably gave me a sense of belongingness due to which my inner self found its home in being with them. however, in the area of professional growth, the impact of external phenomena remained construed by caste. i can recall the day when i applied for a paid internship (quite a hefty amount) in a clinic inside a hospital setting to learn the therapeutic practice. during internship after post-graduation, i was made to sit outside and was told to observe from ‘outside’. the doors of ‘experiencing’ the therapeutic process were closed which restricted my learning. this was my major encounter with the purity-pollution divide inside the clinic where there was an authority imposed on me to accept my presence as a ‘contaminated’ subject. the experiential sense of humiliation questioned my worthiness in this subject. and for the first time, i realised how even the therapeutic training, methods, and processes had no recognition for my existence as a ‘human’ and my dignity, worth, and capability as a learner. this experience resulted in the erosion of emotional expressions which further led to distressing thoughts and reactions. the rejection from the doors of society and the doors of clinics brought about double humiliation and painful wounds that can never be healed. these wounds are irreparable resulting from experiencing exclusion for generations inside as well as outside clinics. i was able to relate my experiences of this isolation with dr. ambedkar’s (1991, p. 285) experiences about disconnectedness in the education system: due to caste there is no common plane on which the privileged and the subject classes can meet. there is no endosmosis, no give and take of life’s hopes and experiences. this separation has caused the educated to became slaves and created the psychological complex which follows from a slave mentality. but those affecting the privileged class, though less material and caste and counselling psychology in india: dalit perspectives in theory and practice 193 less perceptible, are equally real. the isolation and exclusiveness following upon the class structure creates in privileged classes the anti-social spirit of a gang. (ambedkar, 1991, p. 285) my experiences of isolation and exclusion thus were sourced from the practitioner’s behaviour at the doorsteps of a clinic. it reflected rigidity, low approachable behaviour, lack of empathy, lack of understanding and failure to address my concerns, and stressed on strictly learning from ‘outside’. following constant rejection by the practitioner and refusal to let me observe and learn the processes directly (from inside) just like other interns, i finally had to leave to evolve out of the traumatic experience. however, i found that not only were the boundaries and walls (of the clinics) really high but there was no bridge to reach the learning inside ‘clinical’ settings. as i came across my exile inside the discipline and its practice, i was able to seek refuge in the civil society organisations that granted me the opportunity to practise and learn my subject, and achieve expertise. i worked with children with special needs and evolved a new understanding of therapeutic relationship building, and addressing their psychological needs. but at the same time, the denial and rejection remained a source of bruised memories as it shifted my domain of professional expertise towards becoming a ‘counselling’ psychologist. this calls for an inevitable need to attend the unattended experiences of caste inequalities as crucial to all aspects of psychology as a discipline as well as practice. exploring the possibilities of therapeutic alliance the derivatives of caste, thus, cannot be isolated from the intrapsychic and interpersonal functioning of a practitioner as a whole. but if these derivatives are inescapable, then how can we assure that the therapeutic process will be effective enough? thus, it is the responsibility of a psychologist to understand the psychological and social construct of a client’s identity and be able to incorporate their experiences in the therapeutic processes and alliance. it is assumed that effective therapeutic alliance is based on an affective relationship between counsellor and client throughout the counselling process. this alliance determines the quality of goal achievement at each subsequent stage of therapy. there are essential conditions like empathy, unconditional positive regard, transparency, and genuineness that are followed at all the stages. now let us analyse the therapeutic encounters by looking at the three possible dyads representing caste differences inside the clinic: the non-dalit psychologist and the dalit client as a part of existing social structures and institutions, the construction of superiority in terms of caste status can exhibit a strong dominance over the positions of power and authority. this dyad may reflect a strong re-enactment of the dominant identity in non-dalit psychologist and might provoke distinct behavioural dynamics towards the (un)wanted client. for instance, this was reflective when one of my clients – sumaaya (pseudonym) recalled her past memory during her post-graduation when she used to meet her teacher: 194 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 standing outside her room every week used to make me shiver with fear of what was going to happen next. as i was unable to communicate to her about my feelings, she referred me to a psychologist. meeting and talking to him was once again traumatic, but instead of understanding the depth of caste experience with my professor, he termed my condition as if i was the problem and there was some disorder with me. i stopped approaching him after a few meetings and left the institute. from the above case study, it can be observed that opening up of caste experiences in itself is distressing and fragile. the task of the psychologist here is to be to develop greater awareness, value-orientation, and integration of anti-oppressive behaviour during the therapeutic process. it will be important for them to recognise, reform, and challenge their internalised attitudes and beliefs about caste supremacy. they must focus on building an egalitarian relationship with the client and situate the issue faced by the client in a context. in this dyad, as reflected above, the client might face lots of valid confusion about ‘whether the psychologist will ever be able to understand their problem in the caste context? what if there are judgments in line with caste? will the therapist understand if i reveal my experiences of discrimination? if so, how?’; and so on. as the individual understanding of the perceived social realities will definitely be different, the psychologist here needs to be more accommodating in accepting the existence of caste inequality as a problem, and needs to avoid blatant generalisations and stereotypes. this recognition is the only way in this dyad in which a sense of mutual understanding and trust can be established. in the absence of such recognition, the therapeutic relationship will be misdirected, distrustful, and uncomfortable for the client. in this dyad, the psychologist should make efforts in recognising the voice of the client as the only way of knowing his condition, and hence honouring it. the importance of self-introspection on the part of psychologists when relating to others is an alarming need of time and space. as vahali (2015, p. 251) states: guilt can be constructive, transformative emotion . . . which leads to awakening of conscience about something that is missing but not in others but in ourselves and the way we relate to others. thus, there might be occurrence of guilt which can make practitioners encounter the truth that ‘why am i unable to relate’ or ‘empathise’ with the client in the context of caste?’ the only method that can resolve this is self-exploration and introspection about one’s own beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions so that the guilt can be transformed constructively and the practitioners can recognise that something is ‘lacking’ in their practice, not in others. the dalit psychologist and the non-dalit client this dyad is considered as a rare pairing. nevertheless, this pairing is the true dyad representing the emergence of egalitarian and emancipatory social realities. the situation of a psychologist belonging from ‘dalit’ community as an expert in terms of knowledge may present a sense of dilemma in the client’s psyche. for instance, i recall the words of a client who told me that ‘you don’t talk or look like the ones i consulted earlier.’ this realm of categorisation of my body image connotating an caste and counselling psychology in india: dalit perspectives in theory and practice 195 identity or particular quality generates a set of expectations. it evokes a sense of hypervisibility in the mind of client as they start linking body image or mannerisms to the representational power. there are strong possibilities of distancing as well as withdrawal of therapeutic relationship due to the client’s caste-based negative attitude and beliefs. however, the presence of egalitarian values in this alliance can be a ray of hope for social change. the dalit psychologist and the dalit client this can be seen as a dyad having space for ‘healing’ in therapeutic relationships. as there is a sense of belonging, there are much more possibilities of trust, genuineness, psychological comfort and warmth, unconditional positive regard, and a high level of empathy. during conversations with my clients, there was greater use of phrases like ‘you already know that these things happen and it affects a lot physically as well as mentally,’ or ‘at least you will not judge me on those things’, and so on. it reflects that both the psychologist and client have faced common social realities and there is a high level of awareness about caste discrimination. thus, there will be more empathy for each other. here, the psychologist shall contribute a high level of active listening, attentiveness, sharing of trauma, situatedness, and open possibilities of healing for both of them. as both psychologist and client belong to the same social construct, healthy interaction between the two can facilitate progressive collective experience by opening of doors for emancipation and achieving real-life equality for their community. the aforementioned dyads offer significant clarity about three diverse relationships that may emerge in therapeutic alliance. moreover, there might be complex transference and countertransference issues related to cultural identity that can also occur during the therapeutic process. comas-diaz and jacobsen (1991) offers a deeper insight about transference and countertransference that might possibly emerge during ethnocultural therapeutic relationship. in his extensive work on the inter-caste transference and countertransference jadhav (2003) reveals that: it is accompanied either by over-compliance, extra-friendliness, a denial of caste, or anger and distrust. sometimes, through a process of collusion, a dalit can suffer from over-identification with caste hindus in the light of above observations, the first dyad can be experiences of disconnect in language or verbatims. however, on the other hand, there are also possibilities of being influenced by therapist, being more friendly and overdependent. similarly, in the last dyad there might be possibilities that the client might consider therapist as an insider and expert who can rescue the client further. in the last dyad, there are also chances of emergence of subjective countertransference where exclusion related experiences of the therapist might influence the process as well. these issues and concerns need to be explored more from culturally validated perspectives in india. it will enhance our focus on rebuilding knowledge about the collective experiences of marginalised individuals and groups which is otherwise reinforced through myths, attitudes, and behaviours situated in specific cultural context. the core question that arises in therapeutic alliance is – how can an individual transform earnestly from being a ‘perpetrator’ to a ‘healer’ in the therapeutic alliance. this is certainly going to have an impact on the psychic level in communities because each group internalises 196 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 unconsciously their respective positions as per social hierarchy and of course escaping from it or rising above it will be challenging. (un)accessibility and (un)affordability there is a myriad of interrelated forces that impact on the relationship between a psychologist and client as most of the times the services are paid in nature. most of the time, issues and concerns of the individuals and groups on social margins are unwanted, unattended, and undesired in this realm of psychological services. informed by the perspective of cultural psychiatry, the significant work by jain and jadhav (2009) highlights the gaps between community mental health services and the unaddressed local mental health concerns in rural india. based upon local fieldwork experiences, their work emphasises the need of a culturally relevant framework to understand human suffering and its inclusion in professional education to address the real mental health concerns of people at margins. thus, there is a strong need of counsellors and psychologists to equip themselves with an understanding of impact of local language and traditions that permeate caste-based oppression and structural exclusion. it needs to be integrated in therapeutic care to effectively address concerns of our students, workers, and communities, as ‘clinics’ are not only exclusive and expensive but also far more out of the reach and culturally distant. this sense of disconnect is experiential in nature as it exposes the exclusionary approach of ‘clinical setting’. when asked about access to clinical help participants in my research, most of them responded that there was a block that restricted them from viewing caste as a source of their distress. in some cases, a brief intervention was offered without even going in-depth about the cause or few were even suggested cognitive behavioural therapy in the very first meeting. most of the times caste oppression as the ‘source’ of the problem is left unexplored and neglected. and this is further rationalised by substituting the client’s thoughts and behaviour as the source of the problem itself. though psychology as a discipline has grown selectively but it still lacks supportive dialogues and a caring environment for the subaltern. how many psychologists are there who can engage in making mental health care accessible and affordable for the dalit communities? we need to address this question seriously in terms of the reasons behind selective areas of psychological practices and therapies, especially when it comes to caste. can there be a possibility of a network of dalit psychologists whose services can be made accessible to the dalit communities? transformation of therapeutic process this section aims to argue that there is an urgent need to transform our practices by locating and integrating our experiences and positionality in the power structures of theories as well as the therapeutic process. even the ‘curriculum’ and ‘training’ parts lack any presence of significant debates and dialogues about caste-related issues. for example, the curriculum of undergraduate courses in psychology in north indian universities lacks dialogical space to deliberate upon psychological distress that emerges due to caste. its content evokes a mainstream perception of ‘inclusiveness’ in context of caste (as a normalised category) without offering any insight into the issues of inner world enclosed with caste discourses. caste and counselling psychology in india: dalit perspectives in theory and practice 197 there is no broad framework that can reflect on intricacies and complexities interwoven with life experiences of caste inequalities existing in social structures and institutions. it has for long ignored the psychological well-being and mental health concerns of dalits and hence, absence of this area and its need, is a silent norm. this needs to be challenged and reformulated by including caste as a phenomenon affecting all the stages of the lifespan of a dalit individual and families adversely. with these inclusions, the curriculum must focus on enhancing critical thinking about the existence of caste inequalities and how to address its annihilation for a better inner self and outer world. we require a specific type of theoretical orientation in psychology which can teach students and trainees about the influence of caste. it must be based on individual experiences and an integrated framework to take into account the sociopolitical dynamics of caste resulting in psychological distress. in the training process, there should be participation of voices of dalit scholars and academicians in order to develop a training programme inclusive of the dalit perspective. based on the work of ridley et al. (1994, p. 327) on the development pyramid of the multicultural counselling training programme, the curriculum, as well as training programmes can be designed with an aim to develop an insight about the dalit perspective in psychology. this will develop the potential to stimulate critical debates, reflections, and thought processes in the context of caste. the philosophical orientation underlying curriculum development and training process shall be based on dalit perspective so that it can become a part of subsequent stages. there should be a focus on developing a resource base of the dalit perspectives and theoretical orientation based on these perspectives shall be further conceptualised in the foundational stage itself. it must be clearly recognised and stated that caste-based oppression adversely affects the personal identity, interpersonal development, cognitive, affective, and behavioural aspects of our life. the inclusion of dalit perspectives in all aspects of learning objectives in curriculum development and training will offer an effective resolution for emancipation and strong ethical commitment for future practitioners. the learning objectives can be linked to the demonstration of case studies and research that reflects caste-related issues, concerns and also the struggle of the dalit communities to evolve against oppression. this can be included and put forth as a relevant area of research in later stages. unfortunately, the culturally validated psychological tests for caste prejudices and related experiences, such as humiliation, are negligible and do not even constitute one per cent of the overall psychological tests constructed in india. this reality reflects the ‘narrowness’ and limited scope of the discipline when it comes to addressing caste. it calls for a serious consideration on the part of academicians and practitioners in the field of psychology to devise culturally validated psychological tests and real-life methods which can effectively take into account the persistence of caste oppression in social life (jadhav, 2009). similarly, during training programmes, in both therapeutic as well as supervision, this process shall constitute the element of looking and introspecting the personal self. it can also develop possibilities of ‘rebuilding’ of their ‘self’ in accordance with new insights from reformulated inclusive theoretical orientation, philosophical framework, and principles to guide relationships in the therapeutic process. it is evident that the social justice-based interactions were found to be closely associated with the supervisory alliance as it may lead to the development of the trainee’s competence and skills which can prove essential in social transformation (ivey, 1995; ladany et al., 1997). 198 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 as discussed above, there should be adequate attention in theory and practice in order to address the mental health concerns and issues of the client who is psychologically distressed due to caste. in order to evolve positive well-being in them, psychologists need to have sufficient understanding and acceptance of how oppression and power are manifested within clinics and at every stage of the therapeutic process. there might be strong power differences (as already discussed in the non-dalit psychologist and the dalit client) and most of the times the psychologist prefers to be unwilling to attend these issues and accept their responsibilities in addressing and transforming the practice accordingly. there is a scope that there can be a constructive sense of guilt and self-introspection among practitioners that can help them in liberating their minds and clinics from internalised beliefs of superiority and power. thus, they can work extensively in making therapeutic settings inclusive and non-oppressive. in this context, it is significant for them to recognise the constituents, language, and pedagogy of the oppressed in the voices, speeches, narratives, autobiographies and biographies, memoirs, and stories (freire, 1970, p. 82–120). these are symbols of pain and struggle which must be recognised and honoured across disciplines. similarly, it is crucial for practitioners to examine and to be aware of the internalisation of oppressive attitudes within the self. and also to deliberate upon how these may be possibly dealt with for an egalitarian therapeutic alliance. in this context, ivey (1995, p. 59) emphasises that there is a need for practitioners and therapists to work in alliance with the social justice perspective aiming towards liberation. in indian psychology itself, there is no emphasis on awareness about the oppressive environments constructed by caste inequalities and emancipatory struggles by the dalit communities. contending this chosen erasure in the domain of psychology, i would like to put forth the strong argument by vera and speight (2003, p. 270) that: without an explicit emphasis on ending oppression, counselors may misconceptualise (or underemphasise) major determinants of (and therefore solutions to) problems that compromise the well-being of marginalised communities. thus, there must be a strong commitment by the practitioners in the field of psychology to address these issues and concerns in theories as well as therapies. without such commitment, transformation in this field will never be inclusive and collective. in order to enforce such a commitment, special consideration must be given to include ‘no discrimination on the basis of caste’ in the code of ethics followed by indian psychologists. it is essential because when we practice psychological techniques, we motivate our clients to confront their prejudices, fear, and anxieties and facilitate developing a belief in them that they can work upon the possibility of healing. this process equally applies to all academicians and practitioners in the context of caste-based dynamics and its impact on human functioning. we should encourage this inward-looking process in academic engagement and training processes. it will annihilate the false notions of caste-based superiority from the human mind. my paper thus challenges our present understanding of the learning process in theories and therapeutic processes and presents a critique that can become a foundation for lifelong learning for achieving egalitarianism in the real sense. caste and counselling psychology in india: dalit perspectives in theory and practice 199 conclusion the therapeutic process cannot be separated from real-life experiences and learning methods in the context of caste. internal processes are very much influenced by external forces and both integrate in order to shape the dynamics of a therapeutic alliance. undoubtedly, there are multiple contradictions and perplexities highlighted by embedded silence in discussing caste. evolving from this silence, this paper articulates that the present frameworks are exclusive in their nature and scope and we need to work on making them inclusive and adaptive in their processes. this is only possible by recognising that caste-based oppression exists and needs to be addressed psychologically as well. we need to explicitly see this in the light of shweder’s (1990) perspective on cultural psychology that emphasises the relevance of studying ‘interdependence between human psyche and its local socio-cultural world’. both constitute and reconstitute each other’s evolution and hence cannot be studied distinctively from each other. from this perspective, psychology as a discipline needs to be studied from the ‘dalit psyche evolving in cultural context’ intensively in both academic and practice settings to address the lived experiences in this context. jadhav (2015) in an interdisciplinary seminar on ‘minds of caste’ insists that the perpetrators of caste should reflect upon their own minds and practices rather than building their domination over dalit autobiographies. thus, there is absence of self-reflexivity in caste hindus that needs to be addressed (jadhav, 2014). the author believes that selfreflexivity, as discussed above, is an essential element of competency as a non-dalit psychologist in two substantial ways – first, it helps the psychologist to practice inwardlooking process, and secondly, it encourages the psychologist to develop an insight or understanding about narratives of caste-based exclusion and struggles. both need to be attended adequately as these are highly influential in the whole therapeutic process. further, the unaffordability of clinics and inaccessibility of mental health services for dalits have created a huge gap that needs to be addressed and bridged. the ethical considerations shall be reformulated keeping in view the caste-based inequalities and its impact on the whole therapeutic process. we need to rethink, reformulate, and contribute in making the dalit perspective – a significant section of theoretical 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(2003). multicultural competence, social justice, and counselling psychology: expanding our roles. the counselling psychologist, 31, 253–272. © 2021 shriyuta abhishek, et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 341–358 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.218 on the margins of healthcare: role of social capital in health of migrants in india shriyuta abhishek1 and nanda kishore kannuri2 abstract social capital is a widely studied concept in sociology, philosophy and development economics since the late nineteenth century. in india, the various dogmas of the theory of social capital have not been studied to their potential, especially in the domain of public health. this study was conducted to determine healthcare access among migrants and their social capital, in order to explore the association between social capital and healthcare access. a mixed-method approach was adopted for the study. a survey (n=61) was conducted in a residential area in bilaspur district of chhattisgarh state, using shortened adapted social capital assessment tool (sascat). the qualitative component of the study will be published separately. it was found that 78.6 percent of migrants have a ‘low’ social capital and 21.3 percent have a ‘high’ social capital. fischer’s exact test showed that there is no significant association between the economic status and social capital of individuals (p=0.06). the research study concluded that there is a linkage between social capital and healthcare access. high social capital resulted in better healthcare access, especially among vulnerable groups (women, disabled and elderly people). the findings of the study helped in charting out the pathways of healthcare access within the framework of bordieu’s theory of social capital. it can be said that the concept of social capital has remained unexplored by academia and policymakers alike. in order to improve the healthcare access of migrants, health systems must delve into the complex nuances around tenets of social capital in healthcare. keywords social exclusion, caste, health system, health equity, universal health coverage, urban health 1bds, mph, infosys fellow, society for education, action and research in community health (search), maharashtra e-mail: shriyuta06@gmail.com 2ph.d., additional professor, social and behavioural sciences, indian institute of public health, hyderabad *corresponding author nanda kishore kannuri e-mail: nandu.k@iiphh.org mailto:shriyuta06@gmail.com mailto:nandu.k@iiphh.org 342 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 literature review migration is an important demographic event that receives significant attention in the field of public health. according to the census of india (2011), a movement will be termed as ‘migration’ if it involves a change of residence from one village/town to another village /town. in the latest census of 2011, two different types of migration were recorded. these were based on place of birth and place of the last residence. in case of internal migration, there are three major components that contribute to the growth of urban population in india, namely, natural population growth, ruralurban migration, and reclassification of rural areas as urban during the course of time. census 2011 showed that the growth of the rural-urban population has increased. it further reported that in the growth of the total urban population of the country, the contribution of rural-to-urban migration is higher than urban-to-urban (census of india, 2011) (lone & rather, 2012). people migrate for work/employment, business, education, marriage, etc. there are numerous types of internal migration that take place in india, including permanent, semi-permanent and circular migration. internal migrants (those engaged in semi-permanent and circular migration) that move for employment work mostly end up working in precarious conditions (abbas & varma, 2014). women make up 70.7 percent of internal migrants as per census 2001, and 80 percent of total internal migrants percent as per nsso (2007-08). marriage emerges as the most common reason for migration such that 91.3 percent of women in rural areas and 60.8 percent of women in urban areas stated that they migrated due to marriage. notably, there are variations among caste groups when it comes to patterns of migration, such that circular migration is commonly seen among the scheduled castes (scs), scheduled tribes (sts) and other backward classes (obcs) which has been associated with poor access to resources in host areas (faetanini et al. 2013). in urban areas, internal migrants lack social security to sustain themselves and their families. health and healthcare, which can be seen as an extension of social security, also remains a challenge. from a healthcare point of view, migration is not an inherently precarious phenomenon but working class migrants are put in such situations due to lack of a strong public healthcare system. socio-economic issues faced by internal migrants aren’t merely a result of policy failures, it rather reflects upon the structural inequalities embedded in our system. in 2008, world health organization released the commission for social determinants of health report wherein, social determinants of health (sdh) were defined as ‘the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age including the health system’. it can be said that migration governs the access and utilization of healthcare services by people. migration along with other social determinants of health, i.e. housing conditions, modes of livelihood, gender, religion, caste, etc., influences healthcare access for people (dodd et al. 2017). chhattisgarh is one of the empowered action group (eag) states with a fifth schedule status. the state has witnessed intra-state and inter-state migration since its bifurcation from madhya pradesh in 2000. the migration rate of chhattisgarh is higher than the migration rate of india (lone & rather, 2012). according to census 2011, about 16 percent of intra-state migrants in india belong to the scheduled caste (sc) and 8 percent to the scheduled tribes (st). similarly, in chhattisgarh, an on the margins of healthcare: role of social capital in health of migrants in india 343 undisputed link between migration and caste can be observed. the state is largely inhabited by scheduled tribes including the gond, baiga, korba, bison horn maria, halba, among others. scheduled caste (sc) and scheduled tribes (st) comprise 12.8 percent and 20.8 percent respectively. the percentage of other backward castes (obcs) is expected to be high but the exact figures remain unknown. in chhattisgarh, st population living in rural areas has reduced over time (37.6 percent in 2001, 36.8 in 2011), which is in contrast with data of states like odisha, jharkhand and bihar where the percentage of st population living in rural area has increased from 2001 to 2011 (office of census commissioner, 2011). caste also plays a critical role in shaping the labourers market, such that upper caste and upper class migrant workers end up in high-paying jobs owing to the historical advantage they enjoy as against their sc/ st/obc counterparts. most migrant workers (inter-state and intra-state) from sc/ st/obc communities in chhattisgarh are engaged in the informal sector (‘a brief profile of raipur city’, 2000). our study was carried out in bilaspur district situated in the north-east region of chhattisgarh. bilaspur is the headquarters of south eastern coalfields limited (secl), a subsidiary of public sector unit, coal india limited (cil). it lies on the bauxite, limestone belt of chhattisgarh. bilaspur has a flourishing fertilizer and power generation industry which employs workers (migrants and nonmigrants) in large numbers (‘the movement and creation of chhattisgarh’, 2000). despite observing labourers migration for years, successive governments have failed to provide district-wise (and state level) data on human development indices including health status and healthcare access of migrants in the state. one way to understand the healthcare challenges faced by migrants in the discourse on social determinants of health, is by exploring the role of social capital in healthcare. social capital is an evolving concept that has a strong bearing on the health of the subaltern population. this study was conducted in bilaspur district of chhattisgarh state in order to assess the healthcare access of migrants living there. the aim of the study was to further understand the role of social capital in shaping the healthcare access of these migrants. in this study, we adopted the commission for social determinants of health framework (2007) to assess the healthcare access of migrant communities. it is one of the latest and the most comprehensive frameworks developed by the world health organization (world health organization, 2018). in order to map the role of social capital in access to healthcare, bourdieu’s theory of social capital (1986) was also used. bourdieu, in his theory of social capital, explains how long-term efforts and sociability of a group is a prerequisite to the acquisition of collective social capital, which is of utmost relevance to the migrant groups owing to the socio-political factors affecting their lives. further, gender, caste, and class determine individual holding of social capital amongst the migrant groups. in the indian subcontinent, the extent of social capital accrued by people over the period of their lives or at various stages of their lives, depends upon their caste location (bourdieu, 1986). for the purpose of this study, we built upon bourdieu’s understanding of social capital and aligned it with the comprehensive social determinants of health framework. in order to convert social capital into a quantifiable parameter, it is broken down into two components, i.e. cognitive social capital (trust, social cohesion) and structural social capital (citizenship, social participation). this was done in line with the shortened adapted social capital assessment tool (sascat) used in the study (kaplan et al. 2016). 344 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 figure 1: comprehensive social determinants of health framework (world health organization, 2018) methods a mixed-method approach was used to conduct the research. commission for social determinants of health framework and bourdieu’s social capital theory (1986) was used for the conceptualization of the study. the purpose was to examine healthcare access by studying the structural and intermediary determinants to health, with social capital as a cross-cutting determinant (world health organization, 2018). the idea was to navigate the pathways of marginalization vis-à-vis social location (migrant status, occupation, gender, caste, etc.) in line with bourdieu’s social capital theory (1986). bourdieu’s theory provided a unique understanding to social determinants of health; a shift from traditional ways in which an individual’s social location is determined. his theory was adopted for the study because bourdieu argues that inequality in material terms is considered in policy planning but the inherent factors that lead to inequality are often masked. he also explains the dynamic relationship between social capital and other forms of capital (economic and cultural capital) (bourdieu, 1986). further, social capital was studied to map healthcare access by determining complex ways in which social capital influences a community’s health and well-being. study settings the study was conducted in atal awaas, a residential project built under integrated housing and slum development program (ihsdp) in various parts of bilaspur including in the city council of sakri, bilaspur, chhattisgarh. currently, atal awaas has been allocated to families that previously lived in slum areas of bilaspur. it was chosen for our study as it houses a heterogeneous group of migrants, who have migrated from within the state and from other states in india. on the margins of healthcare: role of social capital in health of migrants in india 345 sampling, sample size and data collection the study broadly comprises two population groups, migrant individuals and local stakeholders. local stakeholders are a people who are responsible for governance/ healthcare governance, and frontline workers like mitanins (ashas) in the area. there are a total of 650 households that live in 26 blocks (each residential building is delineated as a block) of atal awaas. households in the residential blocks were considered the primary unit of sampling. a sampling frame of all the households in atal awaas was not available with the bilaspur municipal corporation at the time of the study. hence, for the survey, convenience sampling was used to select the blocks (block a, b, c). out of the sampling frame of 72 households with enumeration of all the adult members of the household, 61 individuals from 61 households, i.e. one member/ individual from each household was recruited. simple random sampling method was used to select 61 households. individuals were selected based on their availability at the time of the survey. a sample size was calculated using open epi version 3 with the formula n = [deff*np(1-p)]/ [(d2/z2 1-α/2*(n-1)+p*(1-p)]; population (n) = 2500, anticipated frequency of ‘low’ social capital (in percentage) = 80 (based on previous studies) absolute precision = 10. purposive and quota sampling method was used in to recruit participants for focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. shortened adapted social capital assessment tool (sascat) is a validated questionnaire, first developed by the young lives project based on the world bank social capital assessment tool (kaplan et al., 2016). sascat has also been adapted to indian settings. it has previously been used in andhra pradesh and nagaland (kaplan et al., 2016; wilson & mccoy, 2006). sascat was translated to the local language, hindi. the tool consists of 11 items with a maximum score of 11 (for each item) and the minimum score of 0. social capital has been categorized into two groups, ‘high’ and ‘low’ based on the cutoff used in previous studies done in india (kaplan et al., 2016). ‘low’ social capital is categorized by 0-4, while 5-11 is categorized as ‘high’ social capital. semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion and indepth interview guides were also translated to the local language. purposive sampling and quota sampling was carried out to recruit participants for in-depth interviews and focus group discussions in order to utilize the principle of maximum variation. three respondents were included for each quota. for the focus group discussion, participants were recruited with the help of a community member. it was ensured that the group was representative of the heterogeneous study population in terms of age, gender, religion, caste and health conditions. twelve members participated in the focus group discussion. in-depth interviews and focus group discussion were carried out in hindi. data analysis quantitative data were cleaned and sorted in excel 2010, analyzed in stata 13.0 (stata corp, usa). descriptive statistics were performed to report frequency and percentages. the relationship between key variables were studied by conducting statistical tests of association. qualitative data was collected by means of in-depth interviews and focus group discussion. it was recorded, transcribed and later, translated from the local language, hindi with the consent of the participants. qualitative data is analyzed using 346 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 thematic analysis method. apriori codes have been developed based on research tools. emerging codes were developed as the data was interrogated during the analysis. table 1: socio-demographic details of the participants characteristic frequency (%) total no. of participants (n) 61 (100) sex distribution male 14 (22.9) female 47 (77.0) caste distribution scheduled caste 13 (21.3) scheduled tribes 24 (39.9) other backward caste 18 (29.5) others 6 (9.8) employment status employed 44 (72.1) unemployed 17 (27.8) table 2: migration characteristics of the study population migration characteristics frequency (%) by place of birth 57 (93.4) by the last place of residence 53 (86.8) both by place of birth & by the last place of residence 49 (80.0) exclusively by place of birth 8 (13.1) exclusively by last place of residence 4 (6.5) migration stream frequency (%) sub-state level rural to urban 25 (41.0) urban to urban 36 (59.0) state-level intra-state migration 52 (85.2) inter-state migration 11 (18.0) total participants (n) 61 (100) social capital two forms of social capital have been reported, cognitive social capital and structural social capital. overall, 48 participants (78.6 percent) reported ‘low’ social capital, i.e. their social capital score ranged between 0 to 4. thirteen participants (21.3 percent) reported a ‘high’ social capital, i.e. their social capital score ranged between 5 to 11. sixteen (26.2 percent) participants who were unemployed reported a ‘low’ social on the margins of healthcare: role of social capital in health of migrants in india 347 capital and one (1.6 percent) reported a ‘high’ social capital. migrants belonging to the gond/koitur tribe had the lowest social capital 17 (27.9 percent) followed by scheduled castes at 12 (19.3 percent). we applied fischer’s exact test to assess the association between the employment status of participants and their social capital and it was reported to be statistically insignificant (p value>0.05). figure 2: distribution of social capital among the caste groups table 3: distribution of social capital based on employment status employment status social capital total low social capital high social capital unemployed 16 (94.1) 1(5.8) 17 (100.0) employed 32 (72.7) 12 (27.2) 44 (100.0) total 48 (78.6) 13 (21.3) 61 (100.0) cognitive social capital cognitive social capital was measured in the form of ‘trust’ and ‘social cohesion’ among the participants. most people, 36 individuals (59 percent) reported that they trusted their neighbors but 54 people (88.5 percent) did not trust their local leaders and strangers 57 (93.4 percent) in the area. twenty-five people (40.5 percent) reported that they do not trust their neighbours, 7 people (11.4 percent) trust the local leaders and 4 people (6.5 percent) trust strangers in their area. social cohesion is the degree to which people have managed to assimilate into the community. thirty-four people (55.7 percent) felt that those living in the community get along with each other, while 348 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 27 persons (44.3 percent) said that people do not get along with each other. thirty-nine people (64 percent) said that they feel like a part of the community, while 22 people (36 percent) did not experience a sense of belonging with the community. structural social capital structural social capital was measured in the form ‘citizenship’ and ‘social participation’. citizenship was measured by asking people whether or not they voted in the last elections of electoral and enquiring about the degree of involvement people had with the issues pertaining to the residential area (atal awaas). thirty-nine people (63 percent) voted in the last local/general elections, while 22 persons (36 percent) did not vote in the last elections. thirty-three people (54.1 percent) did engage in the process of finding a solution for an issue related to the residential area. a majority of persons, i.e. 50 people (81.9 percent) alone or collectively, did not report any issue to local authorities. social participation refers to the degree of involvement, social activeness displayed by the people living in the housing society. the presence or absence of this trait was determined by the support they received from groups and individuals. fortyfive people (73.7 percent) were not a member of any group in the last twelve months (march 2018-february 2019). only 16 participants (26.2 percent) reported to have been a part of at least one social/political/cultural group in the last twelve months. out of which 10 (62.5 percent) received emotional/economic or other sort of support. 33 persons (54.1 percent) reported having received emotional/economic or another sort of support from individuals. people received support of various kinds of individual support, 26 people received support from their family members, 13 persons received support from their neighbors, 9 persons received support from their friends (who were not neighbors), 7 persons received support from their employers. all of those who received support from a group, received it from a single group. figure 3 depicts the type of group participation among sixteen participants who reported to be a part of one group. figure 3: type of group participation for people who were a part of a group. on the margins of healthcare: role of social capital in health of migrants in india 349 forty-two persons (68.8% percent) owned an lpg stove, 40 persons (65.5% percent) owned a bike and 19 persons (31.5% percent) owned a tv. fischer‘s exact test was conducted to determine the association of socioeconomic status with social capital. it was found that 9 people (100 percent) of people who did not own any durable good (tv, motorcycle) and lpg stove had a low social capital, 11 people (61.1 percent) of people who at least owned 1 durable good/lpg stove had a low social capital, 17 people (89.5 percent) people who owned at least 2 durable goods/lpg stove had a low social capital and 11 people (73.3 percent) people who owned all the two durable goods and an lpg stove had a low social capital. this difference was statistically insignificant (p = 0.06). healthcare access to the community in this sub-study, some important findings from the qualitative component of the larger study will be reported in order to corroborate it with the quantitative data. qualitative findings suggest that migrants have limited healthcare access. public health facilities include only a sub-center (sc) that is geographically accessible, however, there human resources (auxillary nurse midwife) and diagnostic services are lacking in the sub-center. people living in atal awaas felt that it was difficult to travel to the primary healthcare center (phc) of sakri. moreover, there is a lack of availability of doctors in the phc. we noted that the phc is located beyond a radius of 5 km. from atal awaas. people do not receive routine primary healthcare services including maternal and child health services (ante-natal care, immunization). government-run secondary and tertiary care healthcare centers are inaccessible for most people. home deliveries as against institutional deliveries are common in atal awaas as referrals to district hospital are made from the sc/phc in most cases. hence, women have no option but to deliver at home because of a shortage of transport facilities. there is no provision for emergency services for injury and trauma for people living in atal awaas in the nearby health centers and people have low awareness about the free ambulance services provided by the government, i.e. 102 mahatari express and 108 ambulance services. in the absence of adequate public health facilities, the private sector has thrived in the area. in effect, there are inadequate affordable primary healthcare services for the residents of atal awaas. in our study, we found that those with better social capital had improved healthcare access (to private health services), especially among people who were active members of society, i.e. had better social participation. as a community, people experience a lack of political support in matters of welfare and health, which translates into a low cognitive social capital. 350 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 table 4: quotes from in-depth interviews and focus-group discussion role of social capital in healthcare access quotes from idis and fgds interpretation physical accessibility of healthcare services & social participation ‘whenever healthcare services are needed, we look for transport facility. if we have any friend, or neighbor who has [a] motorcycle or even bicycle, we take help. it is expensive to even take a private auto-rickshaw. had there been any transport facility, it would have been better.’ (26-year-old, female, fgd) people have to rely on their friends, neighbors to seek healthcare services. affordability, physical accessibility of healthcare services, and social cohesion. ‘no work gets done without spending money these days. if there was [a] hospital nearby we would tell that we will pay you tomorrow once we get some money (as we used to do earlier when we lived in the city). that’s not possible since we have relocated here.’ (58-yearold, female, fgd) although quantitative findings suggest that most people experience a sense of belonging with the place, some residents lacked a sense of belonging owing to the lack of familiarity with the surroundings. affordability, physical accessibility of healthcare services and trust ‘we go to cims hospital (tertiary care public hospital) or district hospital; it is mostly the two but only when we have money otherwise it keeps hurting but it only gets healed if you have money or you manage to borrow money and get treatment.’ (55-year-old, male, fgd) trust plays an important role when people have to lend money to others for treatment purposes. people have to pay out-ofpocket (organisation for economic co-operation and development [oecd] defines out-of-pocket payments as expenditures borne directly by a patient where insurance does not cover the full cost of the health good or service) because of inadequate public health facilities nearby. physical accessibility of healthcare services, trust and citizenship ‘we go to the anganwadi center in mangla chowk (bilaspur) as there is no anganwadi center nearby. earlier there were two awcs near our hut (in the slum area). once, the the husband of the ward representative visited, i request him to do something about it but he doesn’t seem to care.’ (58-year-old, female, fgd) ‘there’s no one here. they only vaccinate some children and go. we asked to start an awc here but they said it is less likely to establish an awc here.’ (26-year-old, female, fgd) people with children younger than 6 years old and pregnant women were particularly concerned that there was no awc nearby. they even registered their concerns to the local leader in whatever limited interaction they had. appropriateness of health services, trust and citizenship ‘healthcare services are not satisfactory (public and private health services). what improvement can be done when there aren’t any services in the first place? i doubt if anybody (local leaders) care.’ (38-year-old, male, fgd) most people did not trust their local leaders and did not believe that would do make any concrete changes to improve the state of healthcare services. on the margins of healthcare: role of social capital in health of migrants in india 351 access to healthrelated information, social cohesion and citizenship ‘here, the thing is that mitanins (asha) don’t give us any information. there are mitanins in our first block but they don’t give us any information.’ (26-year-old, female, fgd) mitanins themselves were not a part of the community living in atal awaas and people did not share a sense of community with her. pregnant women said they were never visited by the mitanins. affordability of healthcare services and social participation ‘our girl had fallen ill at midnight, we rushed to a private hospital. the hospital had a board which suggested that they accept smartcard but they refused to accept it. we had to give rs. 3 lakh in cash at a private hospital. then, why have they (private hospital) put up a board for smartcard services when you aren’t offering to use it?’ (39-year-old, female, fgd) people who had better social participation were more likely to be aware of or utilize state-funded health insurance schemes like rsby. however, private healthcare facilities empanelled under rsby would frequently deny services. discussion in our study we found that 78.6 percent people had a ‘low’ social capital, whereas only 21.3 percent had a ‘high’ social capital. in terms of trust, people did not trust their local political leaders but placed relatively high trust in their neighbors. social cohesion among people remains relatively low due to varied social backgrounds, and individual challenges (gender-based or other circumstantial factors). most people worked more than 10 hours to make ends meet, which explains why many have limited social participation. social capital also varied among different caste groups. most people living in atal awaas belonged to marginalized caste groups (sc, st, and obc). a majority of migrants identified as a member of the gond/koitur tribe, which is the largest tribe in central india (ministry of tribal affairs, 2014). few upper caste people reside in atal awaas yet they have better social capital than their sc/st/ obc counterpart—which speaks volumes about caste dynamics and its role in migrant health. the obc community fared better than their st/sc counterparts in terms of social capital, economic capital and healthcare access. also, those who seek better political leadership, experience a sense of indifference from local leaders (e.g. a ward representative who belonged to an upper caste group) due to existing caste/class based hierarchy. it is important to underline that the lack of political representation also leads to a deficit in social capital over time, in turn restricting their healthcare access. (bourdieu, 1986). it can also be argued that caste-based identities are relational and not absolute in this regard. hence, overrepresentation of upper caste people (relative to their caste location and their corresponding percentage in the population) is a result of underrepresentation of marginalized caste groups (mosse, 2018). healthcare access was found to be improved for people who have better cognitive and structural social capital especially when it comes to women (and children). women could rely upon their neighbors or family in times of need, whereas men (even elderly men) had improved access to healthcare owing to their social participation, which has been previously shown in studies conducted in peru, vietnam and india (garlick et al. 2006). the elderly and disabled persons with ‘low’ social capital (mainly structural 352 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 social capital) had poor access to healthcare. better social capital also meant better access to information related to healthcare. women tend to discuss health issues with neighbors, family, and women who work with them, whereas the elderly had no such support. elderly people also felt that the frontline workers do not cater to their needs due to their age and hence, they lacked trust in frontline workers when it comes to provisioning of primary healthcare services. the case was no different for disabled people. these patterns highlight an inextricable link between marginality and social capital which is in consonance with bourdieu’s theory (bourdieu, 1986). migration also threatens the sustainability of social networks, which is again rooted in the concept of social capital accrued in the form of ‘caste’ capital. unlike economic capital, social capital increases with use and offers greater protection against unforeseen social and economic challenges, including health events (alha, 2018). sociologists and political philosophers in the west have commented on role of social capital in governance and economy in post-modern societies. coleman viewed social capital as a form of resource (coleman, 1988). whereas, putnam proposed that social capital expresses the sociological essence of communal vitality. he breaks down social capital into three components, i.e. trust, social norms/obligations and social networks, specially voluntary associations (siisiäinen, 2000). bourdieu, however, emphasized the plurality of social fields, and engaged in defining the role of social, cultural and economic capital in an individual’s position in various social fields (bourdieu, 1986).the present study adopted bourdieu’s theory to understand the relationship between healthcare access and social capital among migrants as he emphasizes on the structural factors behind existing disparity in ownership of various forms of capital. apart from social capital, bourdieu also talks about cultural and economic capital. he suggests that cultural capital exists in three forms, in the ‘embodied state’ or the way in which culture gets arranged in our mind and embedded in our lives, in the ‘objectified state’, i.e. in the form of cultural goods like books, pictures, etc., and in the ‘institutionalized state’, i.e. when cultural capital gains institutional recognition. based on the findings of the qualitative component of the study, we found that the migrants living in atal awaas lacked cultural capital in its institutionalized state. hence, they haven’t received institutional recognition by the health system. bourdieu contends that each form of capital can be converted into another form of capital under certain circumstances. according to bourdieu, ‘convertibility of the different types of capital is the basis of the strategies aimed at ensuring the reproduction of capital’. however, he puts economic capital at the center of his argument, by claiming that economic capital is at the root of each type of capital. we argue that economic capital may not necessarily be at the heart of all capitals as evident from our findings. proxy markers of economic capital, i.e. owning a house, mobile phones or two-wheelers were not found to improve healthcare access per se. in the context of migration, social capital accrued through caste-based networks can be highly exclusionary benefitting only the dominant section (upper-caste migrants). caste barriers can prevent people from acquiring long-term economic as well as cultural capital as the process relies on identity-based networks. these networks are unequal in their origin itself. hence, it cannot possibly promote economic and cultural growth for those on the lower rung of the social hierarchy. on the margins of healthcare: role of social capital in health of migrants in india 353 social capital and healthcare access european experience suggests that in theory, the health benefits of social capital are received via three primary pathways. first, social capital helps in diffusion of information and hence, improves health/healthcare access. second, social capital if accessed, is said to promote political organization, which helps in gaining access to healthcare resources. and third, social capital helps in individual and collective networking, which in turn result in better psychosocial support. nordic countries like norway, finland and sweden reported higher degrees of trust (a component of social capital) which was found to be correlated with better self-reported health status (rocco & suhrcke, 2012). in india, the idea of social capital has received great attention from experts in the development sector but it has not been incorporated into health policy research. in terms of health and well-being of population, social capital has been associated with improved quality of life, wherein the social capital comes from local solidarity and social communication (hans, 2014). a study carried out in nagaland shows the relationship between social capital (structural and cognitive social capital) and utilization of health services in nagaland. the study indicated that ‘trust’ within the community is an important factor to overcome barriers to access to healthcare. social participation was associated with the utilisation of public health services over private services (kaplan et al., 2016). some studies could not decipher the complex relationship between social capital and health status of individuals but they certainly show that there is a lot more to unravel (garlick et al., 2006). researchers have proposed that equity in healthcare can be measured by assessing parameters like accessibility, availability, appropriateness, and affordability of healthcare services (gulliford et al., 2002). the ultimate aim is to reckon whether the health system is designed to fulfill the needs of socially disadvantaged groups or remains skewed towards the privileged groups. in 2011, a high-level expert group constituted by the planning commission of india, submitted a report pertaining to universal health coverage for india by 2022. the report tackles the aforementioned issues of inequity on various fronts including health infrastructure, human resources in health, community participation and health financing, etc. it clarifies that the idea of universality is mainly aimed at including remote and migrant communities and/ or communities that have been historically disadvantaged (planning commission of india, 2011). world health organization (who) has been promoting universal health coverage (uhc) with declaration of astana to being endorsed to focus on primary healthcare by centering marginalized communities (jasarevic, 2019). if india as a nation intends to provide universal health coverage to its citizens, there is an increasing need to understand the importance of the concept of social capital in the discourse on equity in healthcare. who promotes publicly funded health insurance as one of the pathways to achieve equitable service coverage under uhc (dye et al., 2013). on the contrary we found that insurance remains an ineffective method to improve better healthcare coverage as only in line with the current evidence from chhattisgarh. a study conducted in the slum areas of the capital of chhattisgarh indicated that 43 percent of people living in the slums were not enrolled under state-funded healthcare insurance called mukhyamantri swasthya bima yojana. it has been established that insurance enrollment is rarely universal (nandi et al., 2018) (nandi et al., 2016). 354 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 in south asia, a prime way in which inequity manifests itself is in the form of caste. caste, as a social system with economic and political bearings, is responsible for individual and structural discrimination against the marginalized caste groups. sc/st and obc communities comprise a majority of the population in chhattisgarh compared to the percentage of upper caste living in the state (ministry of tribal affairs, 2014). however, these communities have always had to assert their social, economic and political rights through various means in order to challenge the dominance of the ruling class. from the bastar revolt of 1910 to the anti-caste movements in the nineteenth century, chhattisgarh witnessed some prominent anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, anticaste and working class uprisings. in the early twentieth century, there was a boost in metal industry in madhya pradesh (now chhattisgarh). there was a gradual shift from an agrarian economy to an industrial economy. this was followed by a strong wave of trade union movement under national and provincial trade unions in chhattisgarh. apart from the struggle for regularization of contract labourers, anti-mechanization and anti-departmentalization of workers, mine workers fought for better wages, health and safety of workers (including sanitation workers), allowances for housing repair, etc. organizations like chhattisgarh mines shramik sangh (cmss) had over 30,000 workers affiliated to it, which extended up to hirri mines in bilaspur district. cmss could provide medical facilities by setting up a hospital for contract labourers working in dalli-rajhara, peasants living in nearby villages. around the 1990s, the identity of chhattisgarhi people was taking final shape after years of social, cultural and political developments although the idea of statehood was promoted as early as the 1950s. multiple factors were responsible for the bifurcation of madhya pradesh into chhattisgarh. one of the key links between the trade union movement and struggle for statehood was the fact that cultural suppression of chhattisgarhi people was further leading to exploitation of workers. the widespread need to promote regional consciousness provided the political thrust for the formation of state. however, unlike its neighboring states (e.g. jharkhand), chhattisgarh did not see any strong political mobilization or an organized statehood movement. (ish, 2017; “necessities and challenges of reservation in chhattisgarh,” 1999; tillin, 2014) it is imperative to understand the challenges to healthcare access faced by migrants within the broader socio-political and cultural history of the state of chhattisgarh. hence, we have mapped the commission for social determinants in health framework to provide a better understanding of the multidimensional concept of health equity, and its significance with respect to healthcare access and social capital of migrants. the framework illustrates the role of structural and intermediary determinants of health on health equity. in our study, we discovered that structural determinants like the socialpolitical context that the community lives in, namely, quality of governance, economic and social policies and implementation of public policies, is of great importance in improving healthcare access for people. it further showed that individual/collective socio-economic position (age, gender, caste/class, migration, and disability) and material circumstances, psychosocial, biological factors shape the way people approach and get approached by the health system of chhattisgarh. for example, among the migrants, christian women from a tribal community, disabled men did not receive appropriate health services in public hospitals, whereas able-bodied men had better physical access to health facilities. an elderly man who identified as a follower of saint kabir, worked as an activist, had better healthcare access owing to his social capital, whereas an elderly woman with a blinding condition of cataract, lacked familial on the margins of healthcare: role of social capital in health of migrants in india 355 support and could not access health services. this indicates that social capital crosscuts across intermediary determinants of health. the effect of caste capital (in the form of social capital) is not confined to location (rural or urban). it takes shape by means of the dynamic inter-play between the intermediary (material circumstances, living conditions) and structural determinants of health (social structure, public policies). there is no way by which these networks can be transferred. in fact, unlike economic capital, social capital — increases with use and gets passed on to generations as a result of caste-based endogamy (alha, 2018; mosse, 2018). eventually, it dictates individual/collective access to healthcare, thereby, perpetuating inequity in health outcomes. on an individual level, inequitable health outcome can manifest intragenerationally, whereas on a community level, it can have inter-generational consequences. inequitable distribution of health outcome leads to skewed healthcare access and vice versa (world health organisation european region, 2015). within the intermediary determinants we have included ‘social cohesion’ as a component of social capital rather than viewing is as a separate entity. we have also emphasized the process of ‘access to healthcare’ prior to entry into the health system. figure 4: mapping of social capital of study participants on csdh framework conclusion this study showed that access to public healthcare services is a challenge for internal migrants in bilaspur. in this study we used the commission of social determinants of health framework (2007) and bourdieu’s theory of social capital to conceptualize the role of social capital in access to healthcare. the conceptual and theoretical narrative that has emerged out of this study could be used to further assess the role of social capital in healthcare for marginalized communities. it could help us better understand the role of social capital in achieving equitable healthcare services in indian settings. there were some limitations of the study, including a small size which makes it difficult to generalize the findings of the study. a majority of migrants living in atal awaas have ‘low’ social capital. it can be said that ‘high’ social capital ensues better healthcare access. traditionally, planning and resource allocation for healthcare are done on the basis of disaggregated data 356 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 (based on gender, age, class, caste, geographic location) but the way in which these identities, social and economic location play out remains unaccounted. eventually, these factors impact healthcare access of individuals and communities and are left unaccounted. it is important to contextualize the concept of disenfranchisement on a micro-level (power dynamics between local and state governments, hegemonic structures vis-à-vis religion, caste, gender, etc.) and not just on a macro-level (macroeconomic policies, social policies) with an aim to empower local communities. there are glaring gaps in provisioning of public health services, primarily healthcare related services that needs to be addressed with a decentralized approach towards healthcare services that are publicly funded and provided. improved trust among the people of the community and better social cohesion would also improve healthcare access and utilization but not until the local stakeholders ensure appropriate adequate proper social and political representation of marginalized communities. this would in turn promote a sense of citizenship and facilitate social participation among the community. it is imperative that urban policies are framed and implemented in a manner that migrants are recognized as urban citizens and not just ‘migrant workers’ who are the backbone of the country’s economy. it is critical that migrants have the right to affirm their ‘right to city’ which includes provisioning of housing, healthcare, social protection (e.g. food security), civil and political rights. acknowledgements we would like to thank the migrant community living in atal awaas for taking time out of their day-to-day lives and allowing us to work with them. we extend our profound gratitude to the community volunteers and respondents of the study for their cooperation and interaction throughout the study. declaration of interest no potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. references ‘a brief profile of raipur city’. 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(2018). social determinants of health. https://www.who.int/social_ determinants/en/ © 2021 joseph kweku assan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 295–314 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.306 ethnic identity, discrimination and the shaping of remittance culture in ghana joseph kweku assan1 abstract this article examines birth-based structures and endogenous practices in the migration patterns of two ethnic groups in southern ghana. the sampled ethnic groups for this study are the akuapems from the akan ethnic group located in the akuapem north district and the ada/dangme’s from the ga-adangme ethnic group located in the shai-osudoku district and the ningo-prampram district (formally known as dangme west district). the article discusses how ethnic identity influences remittance patterns and the utilization of sampled migrants’ home districts. data from a questionnaire survey, interviews, and focus group meetings informed the study. the study results indicate a strong relationship between patterns, practices, and utilization of remittances and the respective norms and social values embedded within the migrants’ ethnic identity. the research also shows that migrants from ethnic groups with strong internal cohesion and less assimilation remit more than those from more ethnically heterogeneous groups. the study found that migrants from matrilineal ethnicity remit more than those of the patrilineal group. ethnic values also shape the type of investments that internal migrants and their families may pursue. the research contributes to the debate on agency and endogenous development within birth-based structured societies. it also advances the discourse on birthbased identities, marginalization, and informal poverty reductions mechanisms and strategies. keywords ghana, birth-based identity, ethnicity, social mobility, internal migration, youth, remittances 1professor, center for global development and sustainability, heller school for social policy and management, brandeis university, waltham, ma, usa e-mail: joeassan@brandeis.edu 296 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 introduction the intersection of birth-based structures, social vulnerability and inclusion, and livelihood options/opportunities of minority groups have gained importance in the development policy and social justice literature (crossman, 2020; contzen; and müller-böke, 2014). there is a belief that the sending and subsequent utilization of remittances could be shaped by the birth-based identity [like caste or ethnicity] and socio-cultural values of senders and recipients’ families and communities (lópezanuarbe et al., 2016). lópez-anuarbe et al. (2016) further argue that birth-based identity, informed by cultural norms, embodies the collectivism and familism that characterizes remitting behavior, as they do in shaping one’s agency, social identity, and family dynamics. they guide social structures and traditions of care in certain ethnic identity groups. migration and associated remittances have always been a vital livelihood strategy, a source of income for the marginalized poor and deprived ethnic minority households, especially within birth-based structural societies in africa with no formal welfare systems (assan and kharisma, 2019). reddy (2005) also highlights the intersectionality of ethnicity, caste, and race in social solidarity struggles/support systems. aware of this hypothesis, this article posits that migrant household members within the same geographical area but of different ethnicity may engage in different remittance strategies and maneuvers that could be considered endogenous to the development of such societies as a result of their birth-based identities and structures. the article, therefore, seeks to examine how ethnicity as a birth-based identity of migrants influences the nature and the use of remittances in their natal communities and their subsequent development. we argue that within the internal migration and remittances framework, remittance patterns and utilization could be shaped by migrants’ ethnic identity: clan norms, traditions, and cultural values and agency. sander (2003, p. 3) defines a migrants’ remittance as: “monies sent from workers who left their home village or town to work elsewhere in their home country or abroad to an individual or household”. remittance flows to sub-saharan africa declined by 9 percent, to $44 billion in 2020, and is projected to decrease further by another 5.8 percent, to $41 billion, in 2021, as a result of the covid-19 pandemic (usman, 2021; brookings, 2021). this article is organized as follows: section one presents an introduction and states the objectives of the study, while section two provides a conceptual review of ethnicity and remittances. section three briefly introduces the study context and fieldwork strategy employed during the data collection process. sections four and five share empirical results from both quantitative and qualitative data generated by the study and a discussion of the findings. concluding remarks and recommendations are found in section six. conceptualising ethnicity and remittances reddy (2005) argues that “caste” is frequently intertwined with that of “race/ ethnicity”, from max mueller’s articulation of the aryan theory of race/ethnicity and pan-africanist expressions of racial/ethnic solidarity with the lower castes of india, caste has frequently been redefined by being drawn into broader discourses about race ethnic identity, discrimination and the shaping of remittance culture in ghana 297 and ethnicity. informed by this complex history, reddy asks how “race/ethnicity” and “caste” have come to serve as key metaphors of socio-political, and more recently, economic struggle, illuminating one another and emerging as powerful rhetorical strategies of social critique, in more global contexts. the words race and ethnicity do not share a dictionary definition, and yet their meanings sometimes overlap, helping individuals define not just their skin tone and other physical characteristics but their ancestry and heritage as well (dictionary. com, 2021). ethnicity is defined by mompati and prinsen (2000, p. 626) as a social phenomenon concerned with negative and or positive interaction between culturallinguistic groups and generally refers to a person’s affiliation with a particular ethnic group, or to their sharing qualities, characteristics, or customs of that ethnic group. according to the phoenix library resources on ethnic identity and diversity (2008, p. 1), “ethnicity generally refers to a person’s affiliation with a particular group, or to their sharing qualities, characteristics or customs of that group”. it argues that ethnic identity, however, is rather personal and individualistic with many facets based on several socio-cultural factors, including geography, nationality, ancestry, family, culture, and subculture. nevertheless, the concept of ethnic group defies easy categorization (st-hilaire, 2010). in his examination of ethnicity, riggs (1997a) explained ethnicity as involving a group of people sharing the same cultural norms, based on language, customs, and ancestry. yinger (1994) describes an ethnic group as a segment of a larger society whose members are thought, by themselves or others, to have a common culture and who participate in shared activities in which the common origin and culture are important elements (mazzucato, 2008). deeply embedded in ethnicity and identity in the context of sub-saharan africa is the kin group. this is defined by la ferrara (2003, p. 1730) as a “network of unilineal families that share common cultural traditions, ethnic identity and often ancestors”. she argued that one is born with a given set of blood relations and cannot choose to join or leave it. la ferrara described kin groups as an intermediate level of social organization between clans and ethnic groups. she argued that while a clan is a unilineal group of relatives living in one locality, a kin group is formed by various clans and comprises “socially recognized relationships based on supposed or actual genealogical ties” (winick, 1956, p. 302). an ethnic group, on the other hand, “consists of several kin groups bound together by language and by common rules of social organization” (la ferrara, 2003, p. 1732). she further explains that kinsmen are dynastically linked in such a way that status and stigma attached to parents can be transferred to their children. the motivation to remit could be described as a form of social reproduction which is embedded in the ethnic identity of the individual migrant as kin groups are expected to offer the needed support to protect the image and well-being of their members. in this article, ethnicity will refer to ethnic groups, their associated kin groups, and the values which shape their identity. linking ethnic identity, kin groups, and remittances it can be argued that ethnicity and kin groups are rather contested concepts and are often misunderstood. however, it is evident that these concepts define social structure, shape actions, and influence human agency expression within many societies (assan, 2008). ethnic identity plays a vital role in determining social behavior and the generation of social capital, especially amongst migrants and their natal communities. ethnic identity is also known to influence, define and govern the choices and decisions 298 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 made in the broader context of remittances and migration (assan and khrisma, 2019). ethnic groups offer solidarity mechanisms in societies with high idiosyncratic risks and create an opportunity for mutual insurance (levitt, 1998). while several debates have been presented for the success of such mutual insurance schemes within ethnic and kin groups, reciprocity and enforcement are two main reasons which seem to stand out. kin groups often obey the principle of collective responsibility where members of the same clan are held jointly responsible for the actions of each other and, more importantly, personal needs. for most marginalized societies, especially in developing countries, informal socio-cultural institutions established in tradition and identity are essential for providing insurance, pensions, and facilitating economic exchange and social transformation within households and communities (lassen and lilleør, 2006). nevertheless, unlike most developed societies where formal institutions of support are well structured and functional, formal institutions are weak in africa and individuals rather negotiate their economic relationships through social institutions (miguel and gugerty, 2005). rural agrarian/fishery families are believed to invest in the education of their members with the belief that they could eventually migrate to urban centers and subsequently send in remittances (bates, 2000). using evidence from zambia, bates revealed that the benefits and income of rural dwellers derived from migrants in urban areas vary with family structure and ethnicity. conversely, while families and ethnic/kin groups are proud and willing to devote scarce resources to the upbringing and training of younger members, the younger generation also takes pride in their ability to provide for their parents/older generation (assan, 2008). nevertheless, with the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, several ethnic minority migrant enterprises have been devastated. there are between 85 million to 95 million micro, small, and medium scale enterprises in africa who are especially vulnerable to covid-19 mitigation measures such as social distancing, stay home orders, etc., and 75 percent saw their revenue decline by over 30 percent as of may 2020 (brookings, 2021). ethnicity as a social and economic tool for migrants and their communities ethnic identity is considered to offer valuable internal support for socially disadvantaged groups and could be used as a coping mechanism. it is described by st-hilaire (2001) as able to generate solidarity for socially disadvantaged groups and thereby empower them to overcome social and economic hardships. similarly, marquette (2007) argues that identity generally, and ethnicity specifically, serves to facilitate beneficial economic interactions that would otherwise not have taken place. he also argues that it is precisely the ability of clans or ethnic groups to levy and uphold social sanctions that sometimes make ethnicity a creative force in sub-saharan africa (black et al., 2005). lassen and lileor (2006) revealed a strong positive relationship between the strength of an ethnic group and identity within a kin group and human capital investment decisions among its members. they also provided empirical evidence to show that such ethnic networks function better when rooted in more homogenous communities. ethnic diversity can impinge on credit constraints, a recurring problem for most households in developing countries. ethnicity generates and shapes the type and quality of social capital and bonding within a tribal group which may also influence risk sharing (agarwal and horowitz, 2002). ethnic diversity at the village level influences the probability of gaining urban entry to the urban market as well as the enforcement of repayment of the ethnic identity, discrimination and the shaping of remittance culture in ghana 299 implicit loan provided to migrants (winkels, 2002). migrants’ identity and ethnicity could, to some extent, determine individuals’ inclination and direction of support towards members with similar identity (goldscheider, 1987). internal differentiation between ethnic groups and propensity to remit it is thought that although several kin groups in africa may uphold values of reciprocity and remittance, some ethnic groups are more supportive of their members than others. the difference in internal cohesion within ethnic groups has been identified as a possible contributory factor to this variation (miguel and gugerty, 2005). the aforementioned authors provided evidence to show that the level of heterogeneity within the migrants’ native community and the kin group could serve as an important determinant of a migrants’ propensity to remit family members and participate in collective action. lassen and lileor (2006) also showed a significant positive relationship between the proportion of households receiving remittances from children within ethnic groups with low internal fragmentation compared to ethnic groups with high internal fragmentation. in most homogenous groups, such as those with fewer dialects or operating similar norms, the average proportion of households receiving remittances from their children is higher than most heterogeneous ethnic groups and villages. trust in family members, trust in a fellow clan, unity of village/town, the spirit of participation in the community, group functioning, group decision-making structure, and income inequality can shape the degree to which a migrant will remit the members of extended family (tsegai, 2007; lassen and lileor, 2006). this suggests that ethnic groups with intense bonding and a greater degree of trust are likely to experience more remittance behavior and could receive more remittances from migrant members (lamphere, 2007; tsegai, 2007). the strength of ethnic identity and values at the village level is viewed as a proxy for the density of urban networks, which are important, both for gaining urban entry and for maintaining migrants’ ties with their rural home, by providing information about the family as well as monitoring that wages are remitted (tsegai, 2007). internal differentiation can also influence the ability of the village to levy social sanctions and enforce tribal rules, norms, and social responsibility. nevertheless, assimilation, which st-hilaire defines as “a process of boundary reduction that can occur when members of two or more ethnic groups meet” can weaken migrants’ commitment to social values and familial norms regarding remittances (st-hilaire, 2010, p. 1000). he argues that migrants tend to take on the behavior and practices of mainstream culture at their respective destinations and conceded that migrants might preserve their ethnic values, norms, and tight group solidarity for the benefit of the group members and relatives back home or abandon such values, including sending of remittances for the culture of the dominant social group, possibly to the detriment of ethnic groups members (lamphere, 2007; portes and manning, 1991; zhou, 1997). it is presently perceived that remittance receivers are often better-off and could diversify their income portfolio more quickly than their peers who do not have access to this source of finance. in south asia and sub-saharan africa, remittances from ruralurban migrants are overtaking incomes from agriculture in sheer size and importance. remittances from internal migration are considered to enhance household well-being and facilitate socio-economic transformation through higher incomes, improved 300 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 health, nutrition, better housing, and investment in production (assan et al., 2018). as persistent socio-economic and structural problems continue to depress the levels of wages and availability of work, one of the key issues of concern for academics and policymakers in developing countries is how remittances are used and the local impact within different ethnic groups (van der geest, 2003; deshingkar and anderson, 2004). therefore, it is imperative to ascertain how birth-based structures, such as migrants’ ethnicity, shape and inform the remittance and utilization pattern. study context and fieldwork strategy ethnicity in ghana it is estimated that there are approximately 100 different ethnolinguistic groups to which ghanaians belong. ethnic groups in ghana are generally categorized along tribal lines, with each composed of sub-ethnic and kin groups. each ethnic group has its dialect, cultural identity, practices, and beliefs, which shape how members express their institutional and human agency (giddens and pierson, 1997; henze 2005). the predominant ethnic groups are the akans (49.1 percent), followed by the mole dagbani (16.5 percent), eve (12.7 percent), and ga-adangme (8 percent) (gss, 2000). although geographically located next to each other, the sampled districts belong to two different ethnic groups, have different social, economic, and political traditions and norms, and have large rural farming communities (agyepong, 1997; middleton, 1979; benneh, 1971, 1979). communities in these districts are considered income poor (live on less than 1 dollar a day and are experiencing increasing out-migration). as a result, the major economic and socio-cultural activities undertaken by households in the study districts are perceived to be undergoing extensive transformation through the use of remittances from out-migrants. the akuapems (akan) ethnic group the origin of the akan people of ghana, although the subject of some controversy, has been traced to as far as the tigris and euphrates in mesopotamia. it is thought that they migrated from the ancient negro kingdom of the medieval ghana empire before settling in modern ghana (meyerowitz, 1952; ghana district repository, 2008). meyerowitz argues that the present akan aristocracy were the descendants of the dia and za (originally from abyssinia), the libyan berbers, and gera (of the kushite stock) who emigrated to the south when the arabs conquered north africa. the major tribal groups within the akan ethnic group include the fantes, akuapems, kwahus, asante, akyims, denkyiras, and the akwamus. within these groupings, there are subdivisions, as in kin, clans, and families. social organization ghana district repository explains that the most important of the social set of the akans are in the identical exogamous matrilineal clans and patrilineal groupings. every akan group is divided into seven or eight patrilineal warrior groups. at birth, every akan child belongs to the mother’s clan (matrilineal), although in predominantly male institutions such as warrior groups, every male belongs to the fathers’ warrior group. the akan family consists of all those who trace their lineage from one maternal relative. inheritance is, therefore, through the mothers’ lineage with both ethnic identity, discrimination and the shaping of remittance culture in ghana 301 maternal and patrilineal relatives belonging to the external family and responsible for ensuring social and economic harmony in the family. the combination of matrilineal and patrilineal systems of inheritance as well as their aristocratic heritage gives the akans a strong sense of social cohesion with tribal groups and responsibility towards both parents but support is more inclined towards the mother. “wherever they may live, they regard their towns/villages as the hometown and return whenever they can, ultimately at their death to be buried with as elaborate a funeral as can be afforded” (middleton, 1979, p. 248). the dangmes (ga-adangme) ethnic group according to the ghana district repository, the residents of shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts (formally dangme west) traditionally belong to the ethnic ga-adangme group in ghana. they are believed to have migrated from the eastern part of west africa, which often refers to areas around the present yoruba territory in present-day the federal republic of nigeria. the ga-adangbe people inhabit the accra plains (dickson and benneh, 1988). although european academic records suggest that the gá-adangme has occupied their present homeland for about five hundred years or some seventeen generations, oral tradition indicates that they have occupied the land much longer. the adangbe group is found to the east, the ga groups, to the west of the accra plains and coastlands (british library of congress, 1994). the modern adangbe include the people of ada/dangme, shai, la, ningo, kpone, osudoku, krobo, and gbugble, who speak different dialects and are believed to have been culturally influenced by their neighboring guan and ewe groups in south-eastern ghana and have therefore experienced significant cultural assimilation which is evident by internal heterogeneity compared to the akuapems. social organization the nucleus of the ga-adangbe social set-up is the family. the family plays a vital role in both social and economic engagements; for example, members are obliged to contribute towards the burial of dead members. the ga-adangmes operate a patrilineal system of inheritance and inheritance is through the fathers’ family line. fathers, therefore, play an important role in the nucleus and extended family. puberty rites feature prominently in the culture of this ethnic group and these are obligatory for girls. they are taken through the dipo puberty rites during which they are expected to dance half-naked in public. puberty rites initiate adolescent girls into adulthood. as this is obligatory, girls who do not undergo such initiation before getting pregnant could be banished from the community. to avoid such puberty rites, individuals and families may migrate to urban locations. also, males are expected to pay dowry to their brides. this is also considered as an important reason for migration among young males. field work strategy in each of the study districts, fifty heads of households (twenty-three males and twentyseven females in akuapem north; and thirty-three males and seventeen females in shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts) whose members have out-migrated in the last five years were interviewed from eight communities using an exploratory and evaluative multi-stage research strategy and the respective district economic baseline 302 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 studies and district profiles (de haan and zoomers, 2005; kitchen and tate, 2000). the study subsequently interviewed a further 170 young migrants from the sampled households in akuapem north and shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts working at various commercial centers in accra (the administrative capital of ghana) and tema (the industrial capital of ghana) using survey and snowing-balling methods. thus, the study interviewed one hundred household heads from sixteen communities from the selected districts. the out-migrated members of the sampled households were followed to the destinations and interviewed while some of the interviews took place in the respective communities, as these individuals visited families. focus group discussion meetings on each of the selected communities with household heads and visiting out-migrants complemented the interviews. figure 1 shows the locations of accra, tema, akuapem north district, and the dangme west district (recently redistricted as shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts) and the locations of communities that were sampled for the study. the research did not report on historical movement patterns due to the unavailability of data and adopted a socio-economic transformation approach rather than a demographic approach. the empirical findings generated from the survey, interviews, and focus group discussions with members of sampled households are discussed in section four of the article. the fieldwork was carried out over three months. figure 1: map of study districts and sampled communities source: author, 2021. edited by the author from www.esri.com characteristics of out-migrants the household survey shows that ninety-three households out of the total one hundred samples indicated that one or more of its members have out-migrated. the seven households without out-migrants were all located in akuapem north district. ethnic identity, discrimination and the shaping of remittance culture in ghana 303 the migration of household members was observed in both districts (see table 1) of the study. a 30-year-old female migrant working in accra but from akuapem north attempted to identify the key reasons for the rise in out-migration in the study areas by saying: …as a consequence of policy reforms in the agricultural sector and the harsh land-tenure systems currently in force, the need to obtain employment in the non-farm sector has driven most households members to migrate, since the prospects of working in the food-production sector and raising sufficient funds to service households needs through income from farming activities continue to appear increasingly bleak. table 1: age and gender of juvenile and adult out-migrated members age in years gender of juvenile & adult migrant members (%) grand total akuapem north shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram male female total % male female total % n % <15 years 2.1 4.3 6.4 0 17.1 17.1 19 11.1 15 24 14.9 19.1 34.0 27.6 39.5 67.1 83 48.8 25 34 43.6 12.8 56.4 10.5 2.6 13.2 63 37.0 34+ 3.2 0 3.2 2.6 0 2.6 5 2.9 total (%) 63.8 36.2 100.0 40.8 59.2 100.0 total (n) 60 34 94 31 45 76 170 100.0 source: author, 2021. the results show that out-migration within the sampled household is not genderrestricted (see table 1). a comparison of the two districts shows that the percentage of adult-juvenile male out-migrants (63.8 percent) is higher than females (36.2 percent) in akuapem north. it was explained that traditionally, young males from the district are given preferential formal education than females and subsequently tend to out-migrate to seek employment or further studies. on the other hand, outmigration amongst young females is more frequent (59.2 percent) than males (40.8 percent) in shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts (see table 2). according to the interviews in shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts, cultural values in the dangme traditional area encourage young females to engage in trading activities at a very early age which subsequently exposes them to migration. again, migration also allows young females to escape or postpone mandatory puberty rites of passage ceremonies which can be costly and stressful. ethnicity and socio-cultural differentiation the focus group meetings held in sampled communities in the two districts revealed contrasting ethnic and cultural practices that tend to influence migrants’ patterns of remittances and their utilization. middleton (1979) argued that ghana’s traditional system of inheritance influences migrants’ social behavior and practices. 304 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 table 2: ethnicity and socio-cultural values and practices ethics values akuapems dangmes language these are akans and speak the twi dialect these are ga-adangmes and speak the ga, krobo, and ada dialects system of inheritance the akuapems operate a matrilineal social system where the children would normally belong to the mothers family and are more inclined to see to the welfare of the mother children belong to the fathers family and also the grandchildren are sometimes referred to as the responsibility of the grandfather morality considered to have high moral and religious values relating to marriage and sexuality considered to have lesser moral values relating to marriage and often have more than one spouse social support networks the matrilineal system fosters stronger social networks around the mother figure who is considered vulnerable and requires closer support and thereby draws children together as a family there is a weaker support network as a father is often considered a strong figure and capable of managing the affairs of the family. high incidence of polygamy also means children may have different mothers and may not be inclined towards contributing to the household budget and rather cater for themselves social organization, housing, and habitation husbands may normally live separately from the wife in their respective family houses. more affluent families couples may live together husbands may live together in the same compound house with the different spouses and their children social status individuals with good educational backgrounds are highly regarded in society social status is often liked to economic wealth, type of housing, and or appearance rite of passage rituals conduct naming ceremonies for newborn babies but may not insist on right of passage ceremonies to adulthood conduct naming ceremonies for newborn babies, insist and practice elaborate and expensive right of passage ceremonies for teenage members, particularly for ushering females family members into adulthood (womanhood) source: author, 2021. a household head from akuapem north explained that “unlike the patrilineal ethnic groups, mothers tend to be social figures that draw children together and foster stronger socio-economic ties within our ethnic group”. this makes migrant children from matrilineal families more interested in and compelled by their ethnic values to support their mothers. however, in the case of ga-adangmes, a male household head argued that “in our traditional areas children are not obliged to support the father and are sometimes not particularly sympathetic to their cause especially in the context of polygamous households and may choose not to remit him”. there is a marked distinction in social organization between the two groups. according to a 50-year-old household head, “the permissive moral culture amongst the dangmes means that most children grow up with step-siblings or step-parents, which tend to reduce the social cohesion and the sense of responsibility towards their ethnic identity, discrimination and the shaping of remittance culture in ghana 305 father or other members of the household”. the study also found that whereas dangme couples traditionally reside in the same household, in the case of akuapems, the man and woman may live separately in their respective family homes even after marriage. the woman’s family and adult children eventually assume the responsibility of caring for their mother. again, the akuapems are traditionally expected to pay regular weekend or monthly visits to their hometown. this is consistent with the findings of middleton (1979), as he reported on the social values of the akuapems. this could, therefore, influence the pattern of remittances as those who are not able to make such regular visits have to send their remittances through friends and acquaintances. it also emerged from the focus group meetings and household interviews that although physical assets and the number of children are used as indicators of wealth in both districts, the akuapems rank individuals and households with good educational attainment highly within the society. on the contrary, the dangmes generally identify status by contributing to social gatherings, appearance, and the number of children. the elaborate rite of passage ceremonies for children and teenagers with their attendant cost was cited as the reason why younger members migrate. a female household head from ga-adangme ethnic group retorted “those who are not able to meet these traditional demands and social contributions would often migrate and stay away from the family”. this view is corroborated by agyepong et al. (1997). the study was informed that these cultural norms serve as the drive or motivation for current patterns of migration and the use of remittances. migrants destination and employment a comparison of the two districts identified a significant variation in the migration and employment activities undertaken by the two groups at their respective destinations. the household interviews revealed that the availability of jobs and laborers networks, low-cost transportation, links with relatives and friends, and the ability to speak the local dialect influenced migrants’ choice of destination (for internal migration). the study observed that although some of the individual migrants traveled to other rural destinations (6.4 percent from akuapem north and 1.3 percent from shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts), the majority of the sampled migrants traveled to urban destinations in accra and tema. both locations are within 60 kilometers of the two districts. while those from akuapem north preferred to move to accra, migrants from shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts mainly traveled to tema. these movement patterns were attributed to the traditional ethnic networks that have been built up over several years. the migrants confirmed that they rely on ethnic associations and kinsmen residents in tema and accra to gain employment since employment tends to be very competitive. half (50.6 percent) of the sampled adult and juvenile out-migrants identified by the survey are engaged in non-farm laborers and artisanship. the majority of them originate from akuapem north (54.3 percent). hawking, trading and lorry driving are indicated as the preferred common employment in both districts (see table 3). most rural-urban migrants travel to urban destinations where there are large food factories, markets, and construction sites and find work as food traders, shop assistants, food hawkers, head-loaders,1 and labourers. tema port and its warehouse operations also offer waged employment and short-term contracts for labourers and porters, especially for the ga-adangme migrants. international migration is mainly reported in the shai1these are bearers who carry their loads on their heads instead of on their backs, or on a cart. 306 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 osudoku and ningo-prampram districts (26.3 percent), where youths and children travel to neighbouring countries of ghana to join their relatives and friends who work as fishermen and fish traders, which are occupations associated with this ethnic group (see table 3). agyepong et al. (1997) findings on the migration of dangme fishing households support these observations. table 3: type of migration and associated employment of adult and juvenile akuapem north shai-osudoku and ningoprampram grand total type of migration household members (adults and juveniles) % ty pe o f em pl oy m en t r ur al r ur al r ur al -u rb an in te rn at io na l to ta l ( % ) to ta l ( n ) r ur al r ur al r ur al u rb an in te rn at io na l to ta l ( % ) to ta l ( n ) n % farm-wage labor 5.3 1.1 0.0 6.4 6 0.0 0.0 1.3 1.3 1 7 4.1 artisans non-farm manual labor 1.1 54.3 2.1 57.4 54 1.3 36.8 3.9 42.1 32 86 50.6 hawking trading lorry driving 0.0 26.6 0.0 26.6 25 0.0 27.6 21.1 48.7 37 62 36.6 clerical work technician 0.0 9.6 0.0 9.6 9 0.0 7.9 0.0 7.9 6 15 8.8 total 6.4 91.5 2.1 100.0 1.3 72.4 26.3 100.0 total (n) 6 86 2 94 1 55 20 76 170 100 p = 0.000 p = 0.013 source: author, 2021. remittance flows into peasant households and communities all the households with migrants indicated that they receive remittances. a comparison of the cash remittances received by the two ethnic groups shows that remittances to households in akuapem north district are a lot more (¢9000.10)2 than the amount received in shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts (¢5000.15). besides, the average amount of money sent to the households in akuapem north (¢210.16) is more than in shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts (¢150.15) (see table 4). however, the larger standard deviation (¢580.51) for akuapem north compared to shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts (430.49) implies that the distribution is more dispersed in the akuapem north district and could introduce disparity in income. hence the possibility of internal differentiation is more likely in akuapem north (see table 4). 2$1 (us dollar) = ¢6.11 (ghana cedi). ethnic identity, discrimination and the shaping of remittance culture in ghana 307 table 4: amount of remittances received per annum period akuapem north shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram total frequency total % frequency % frequency % 2 4 yrs 22 51.2 24 70.6 46 59.7 > 4 years 21 48.8 10 29.4 31 40.3 total 43 100.0 34 100.0 77 100.0 p = 0.023 source: author, 2021. the high remittance rate in akuapem north was explained by the strong tribal bonds associated with the matrilineal cultural identity and the emerging competition amongst akuapem migrants regarding support for their mothers and kin as expected in a matrilineal society. the study also informed that the presence of several ethnic/tribal associations facilitates the sending of remittances to the akuapem area compared to the ga-adangmes, making it easier for migrants to send money back home. the dangmes were, however, described as generally less patriotic and individualistic, which can be linked to their patrilineal heritage. table 5: amount of remittance received per annum in cedis (ghs ¢)3 remittances akuapem north (¢) shai-osudoku and ningoprampram (¢ ) minimum 100 100 maximum 350 300 sum 9000.10 5000.15 mean 210.163 150.15 std. deviation 580.51 430.49 total (n) 430 340 source: author, 2021. most of the sampled households (59.7 percent) have been receiving remittances for a period of two to four years with 40.3 percent receiving remittances for more than four years (see table 5). however, it is noted that more akuapem households (48.8 percent) have benefited from remittances over a longer period compared to their gaadangme counterparts (29.4 percent). this was attributed to traditions that require members of the matrilineal group to assist in the education and care of their siblings, nephews, and nieces. this view is consistent with the observation by middleton (1979) on social support practices amongst the akuapems and sanders (2003) view on the dependence on remittances by rural farm households in africa. also, the study revealed that most households (60.5 percent) in akuapem north receive monthly remittances compared to quarterly remittances (61.7 percent) in shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts (see table 5). this is consistent with the matrilineal norms that require migrants to visit or remit their kin regularly to indicate their care and 3there is a possibility that these numbers have been under reported due to fear of taxation or poor financial record keeping. 308 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 support. the patrilineal ethnic identity portrayed by a weaker commitment to sociocultural and economic ties among the ga-adangme was mentioned as the possible explanation for this pattern (assan, 2008). ethnicity and the shaping of options and utilisation of remittances it was identified that remittances are used for the following purposes: consumption, investment, purchase of land, savings, dowries, and loans (see table 5). over half (51.9 percent) of the recipients of remittances in the sample indicated that they use a greater part of all the remittances on household consumption. such consumption needs include the purchase of food items, paying school fees, medical bills, utility bills, purchasing of clothing. most of the recipients of remittances in akuapem north (67.4 percent) use them in meeting their consumption needs. on the contrary, most of the ga-adangme households (64.7 percent) indicated that they use their remittance for investment followed by consumption (see table 6). table 6: use of remittance income use of remittances akuapem north shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram total frequency total % frequency % frequency % mainly consumption 29 67.4 11 32.4 40 51.9 investment, consumption & loans 12 27.9 22 64.7 34 44.2 savings & dowry 2 4.7 1 2.9 3 3.9 total 43 100.0 34 100.0 77 100.0 p = 0.002 source: author, 2021. the akan culture of children meeting the consumption needs of parents was considered to be the basis for this pattern. the sample in akuapem north narrated a pattern of increasing supply of essential food, medicine, and clothing by migrants to their respective households. aunty ama, a 54-year-old household head in akuapem north with a migrant son and daughter, cited her own experience and said: it is considered [the] children’s responsibility to ensure we have good health and not hungry by our akan culture, so they send us food and medicine which are not available in the shops in this community. we receive food items like milk, corned beef, cornflakes, and rice, etc. well, i will say we eat better than our neighbours who are not that fortunate. the investment in housing development particularly among the ga-adangmes was cited as an attempt by migrants to improve their social status and that of their families as a result of cultural demands. housing quality as well as the type of materials used in the construction of the building, are vital indicators of wealth and status in both ethnic groups but particularly among the ga-adangmes. according to mr. adjette, a 58-year ga-adangme household head with a migrant son, the culture in shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts encourages the acquisition of physical assets, which is an indicator of social status. he explained that: ethnic identity, discrimination and the shaping of remittance culture in ghana 309 …the type of dwelling of a household is a significant subject of status in our ethnic group, and most households and migrants try to improve their housing conditions through remittances. i have therefore used most of the remittance income to repair my present abode and have constructed two bathrooms and a toilet for my family. also, the type of roof over a house is used as a measure of wealth, so i replaced the thatch roof of my house with aluminum sheets which is very impressive. the household interviews revealed that the outward appearance of individuals is traditionally used as a measure of wealth in both study districts but more especially among the ga-adangmes. as a result, remitting the rural household through the supply of clothing enhances its member’s appearance, presentation, and status and is consistent with bates views (2000). although remittances are mostly transfers between individuals and their households, some migrants, especially the akuapems in accra were reported to have formed ethnic associations and community development groups to raise money for development projects in their home communities (anarfi et al. 2003). a typical example is the renovation and construction of a community primary school in akuapem north and a community toilet in shai-osudoku and ningo-prampram districts. the study was informed that leaders of such associations tend to be elected to the community development council to serve as advisors to the chief of their hometowns. this reflects observations of lassen and lileor (2006) in east africa. in both the districts, remittances received by households are used to pay the dowries for sons and nephews (3.9 percent), as demanded by the tradition in both study areas. it is customary to pay dowry before the bride joins the husband. the dangmes have elaborate marriage ceremonies, which compels migrants and their families to engage in silent competitions. according to a female youth leader, marriage has, become a financially motivated activity rather than a socio-cultural activity. she said, “we see an increase in the number of single female youths of a marriageable age because the men cannot afford the amounts demanded by the in-laws”. this pattern is believed to have led to the rising incidence of cohabitation, which is traditionally considered a cultural taboo in both the study districts. these views suggest that the receiving of money from migrants could have diverse impacts on existing social and cultural values which define the identity of the particular ethnic groups. the respondents in akuapem north emphasized the social expectation of migrants helping their siblings and kins to join them in their respective urban destinations. although this pattern is common in both ethnic groups, it is more prevalent amongst the akuapems, given their matrilineal customs. discussion this article has provided evidence to demonstrate the effect of migration and remittances as adaptations within peasant-based economies, which could vary with ethnicity and cohesion within structural socio-cultural groups. the empirical results presented here suggest that ethnicity, and more broadly birth-based identity, such as caste, can help create and support important economic transactions and shape the 310 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 distribution and utilization of resources (remittances) in ways that would otherwise not be realized. the patterns of sending and the utilization of remittances are shaped by the ethnic backgrounds of migrants and remitted households. social and economic policy frameworks on endogenous development strategies could look beyond migration and remittances and incorporate migrants’ ethnicity/ identity. such an effort will be endogenous to specific groups and contribute to their development (mazzucato, 2008; thieme, 2006). an important theoretical implication of this study is that like many forms of birth-based social constructs and structures such as ethnic identity and caste, lower groups have often been portrayed in a very negative connotation, and their status within that classification is used as a tool of oppression. such patterns especially tend to be the case for those in more deprived groups. however, evidence from our study shows that different birth-based identity groups can employ their human capital and social agency to develop coping and survival methodologies and adaptation systems that enable them to overcome the very structures that seem to prevent their social mobility, development, and assimilation. it is therefore imperative to develop a systematic understanding of how such an agency could be enhanced deprived of birth-based groups, such as ethnic, cultural, and caste systems. this will ensure that beyond formal policies and regulations, identity and birth-based marginalized groups could also be socially and economically empowered. for this to occur sustainably, there is also the need to nurture and advance informal strategies that have and continue to allow marginalized birth-based groups to thrive, enhance social capital and overturn imposed social, economic, as well as religious structures. nevertheless, the use of digital money transfers through phones, mobile banking, and bus delivery services by the ghana private road transport union (gprtu) are areas where continued policy improvements could bring about much-needed change for many migrants. further, simplified bank transfers that allow migrants to set up savings accounts and send remittances will make a significant impact. it is also essential for the policy officials of the ghana ministry of women, gender and social protection to provide informal livelihood training programs and hostel facilities to young migrants. this will enable young female migrants from marginalized ethnic groups particularly, to have more improved welfare, livelihood, and human security, especially during times like the covid-19 pandemic. using case studies from suriname, in the carribbean, st-hilaire (2010) argues the importance of groups’ identity and assimilation in the development of a nation’s economic and demographic strength. supporting minority ethnically deprived young migrants has the potential to enhance the social mobility and economic development of both local and regional social economies and livelihoods. achieving this across africa and other regions of the world will also require the dismantling of historically entrenched and structural ethnic divisions which underline economic activities and institutional structures in many countries. sustainable restructuring and assimilation will also require formal financial assistance for marginalized migrant-ethnic groups operating informal sector livelihoods and economic activities. policymakers in africa and those working with the international and multilateral sector must also not lose sight of the over 40 percent of the population in africa that lives in extreme poverty and depends on an informal economy with 84 percent of its msmes unregistered and uninsured (ratha, 2021). the findings of this study ethnic identity, discrimination and the shaping of remittance culture in ghana 311 support empirical evidence from mexico (taylor and mora, 2006; lassen and lileor, 2006), east africa, south africa, and lesotho (waddington, 2003), which suggests the progressive reduction of relative poverty and changes in social structure and patterns between households and communities over time due to remittances. it is also critical to address issues of intersectional discrimination that are often experienced by individuals from minority ethnic groups (amnesty international, 2021). several young migrants, including those from our study, are paid less due to their ethnicity, gender, and educational level compared to individuals with the same demographic characteristics from other ethnic groups. addressing such patterns of intersectional discrimination will significantly enhance the income potential and abilities of young migrants as well as people from discriminated ethnic, caste, and other marginalized groups. this would help them to support themselves and their dependents. they will also be able to obtain assets and further invest in their livelihoods and household/personal well-being. conclusion this article contributes to the debate on birth-based identity resource allocation and endogenous development through internal migration and how the associated remittances are utilized for welfare and livelihood development. the covid-19 crisis has exacerbated economic hardships and may push up to 40 million africans into extreme poverty (brookings, 2021). the necessity of obtaining remittances in a stagnant economy, coupled with underemployment and unemployment, facilitates socio-cultural transformation in two traditional ethnic societies in southern ghana. the study shows how different ethnic groups adopt diverse patterns of movement and remittances based on ethnic values and birth-based cultural identities, which are endogenous to these groups. it is evident that having the agency to formulate, associate, and adapt, individuals and groups from marginalized ethnic, birth-based, and refugee groups could develop systems and assimilation processes that would facilitate their social and economic integration and advancement (makovsky, 2019). woo et al. (2019) argue that racial and ethnic identity does not provide universal protection nor exacerbate the degree of psychological exposure and the effects of discrimination an individual may experience. however, they posit that whether it lessens or deepens the mental stress of discrimination may be contingent on its level and ethnicity. this suggests that the effects of birth-based identities may not be uniform. policy officials, therefore, need to take this into account when designing interventions and protocols to address such patterns in our societies. there is the need to further examine the extent to which ethnicity, caste, and the broader forms of birthbased discrimination cause young people to experience the diverse mental health, economic and social burdens within such structured and discriminated migrant groups. discrimination based on work and descent is, unfortunately, a global phenomenon and affects millions of people in several societies in africa, asia, and the diaspora (krishnaswami & krishnamurthi, 2021). examining and addressing its impacts will therefore transform and expedite social and economic equity globally and improve the well-being of individual migrants from minority ethnic and caste-based societies. 312 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 references agyepong, i.a., wellington, e.k., abbey, m.a. 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(2019). the role of racial/ethnic identity in the association between racial discrimination and psychiatric disorders: a buffer or exacerbator?. ssm population health, 7. yinger, j.m. (1994). ethnicity: source of strength? source of conflict?. albany: state university of new york. zhou, m. (1997). segmented assimilation: issues, controversies and recent research on new second generation. international migration review, 31(4), pp. 975–1008. http://www.pc.maricopa.edu/departments/library/guides/divesityethnic.html editorial caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. i–vii february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi:10.26812/caste.v1i1.159 why a journal on caste? part 1. an introduction to the journal: laurence simon our journal is founded on the straightforward principle that social exclusion should not be a consequence of one’s birth or ancestry. caste, in its simplest definition, encompasses all hereditary systems and derived cultures that constrain the fullest human development, acceptance and recognition of equal rights for each and every individual. yet history is rife with ‘natural’ hierarchies that have their own, often religious, justifications for quasi-biological groupings based on inherited privilege or stigma. rawls considers this backdrop to modern theories of justice. thus, in a feudal or in a caste system each person is believed to have his allotted station in the natural order of things. his comparisons are presumably confined within his own estate or caste, these ranks becoming in effect so many non-comparing groups established independently of human control and sanctioned by religion and theology. men resign themselves to their position should it ever occur to them to question it; and since all may view themselves as assigned their vocation, everyone is held to be equally fated and equally noble in the eyes of providence.1 in the west, these archaic notions of a fixed and ordained society were derived in part from the ptolemaic conception of the universe with the earth, man, kings, and aristocracy as the center of god’s creation. these were eventually challenged by the emergence of science and rational inquiry. even in the modern era illusions of superiority were common among early settlers to the americas. the indigenous peoples of north and south america were eliminated through genocide with their survivors marched through the trail of tears. the english word caste derives from the latin castus denoting being cut off or separated, and the portuguese casta carried that further into purity of lineage, race, or breed thus separating the colonial portuguese from the indigenous and mixed races of brazil. this concept of purity can poison cultures and create pseudospeciation, a term first used by the american psychologist eric ericson to describe marginalized groups considered so inferior that they have become in the eyes of the oppressor distinct and subpar species. we only have to think of the europeans’ exploitation of the african slave, or blacks in apartheid states of africa, or the jews of imperial russia who were confined to the pale of settlement, limited to jewish quotas for education and suffering the collective violence of pogroms against their communities. western history is littered with such dehumanization and their legacies are still palpable in contemporary societies. 1john rawls, a theory of justice (cambridge, harvard university press, 1971) p. 547. ii caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 asia was the cradle of some of the world’s major faiths yet, today in the name of those religions, pogroms are led against religious outsiders in sri lanka and myanmar, and in india. this tragedy of a moral and spiritual corruption has sustained the oldest form of prejudice in the world today: the division of society into rigid, birth-based graded hierarchy of caste. while progress toward social equality has been made, the birth-based caste system has survived millennia and continues to hinder the lives of millions of low-caste and tribal citizens. it remains a leading cause of horrendous acts of violence, including gang rape and lynching, or honor killings for inter-caste romances. it results in suicides on indian campuses, bias in employment and housing, and a staggering waste of human potential. despite reformist movements and affirmative action policies, and even after legal protections, the stigma of untouchability still exists in a culture derived from ancient scriptures. our journal then intends to encourage and publish scholarship on both the broader experience of caste throughout the world and on the ancient caste system as it still thrives in south asia. our articles are carefully peer-reviewed and submitted by scholars from all disciplines in the academy. i heard someone at a conference recently say that scholarship does not matter, that social action does. yet universities are enormously influential in much of the world and their teachings through curricula expand or constrain the reasoning and reflections of future generations. at heart j-caste is a journal about ethics and about moral philosophy. these are the purposeful underpinnings of our perspective. this perspective is deeply rooted at brandeis, a toptier research university founded on the principle of social inclusion, and which has recently become perhaps the first in the united states to incorporate caste into its nondiscrimination policy. part 2. an introduction to caste: sukhadeo thorat this being the first issue of j-caste, we think it appropriate to introduce the caste system to readers. it is an ancient organisation of the hindu that involves the division of the hindu society into five groups called castes. the origin of caste system goes back to around second century bce when it was legally codified in manusmruti.2 the system laid down a legal and normative framework to govern all aspects of the society: cultural, economic, religious, spiritual, and political. the moral and legal framework assigned right to property, occupation, education and civil and religious right among the castes. but the assignment and entailment to rights was made in a graded and unequal manner. the caste at the top of hierarchy had most rights and privileges that kept on reducing gradually in descending order of the caste. further, rights of each of the five castes were fixed in advance and made hereditary by birth. an equally important feature is that each caste is isolated and separated through the rule of endogamy (or marriage within one’s caste). endogamy enforced isolation and social separation of castes from each other and restricted social relations between them. the caste at the bottom of the hierarchy was regarded as ‘impure and polluting,’ thus ‘untouchable’ or unfit for any social interaction except among them. also, they were assigned all the menial tasks of cleaning, scavenging, skinning carcasses, and so on – a stigma associated with them to this day. traditionally, this caste has had no right 2an ancient hindu scripture in which social laws were codified. editorial iii to property, education, and civic rights, except obligatory services to the four castes above them. thus, the ‘untouchables,’ or atishudras in sanskrit, suffer forced isolation and segregation in virtually all spheres of life. the denial of basic rights, fundamental for the social growth of a human being has had a crippling effect on their psyche from which they have not recovered for many centuries. thus, caste as a social organisation is governed by the unequal assignment or entitlement of rights, lack of individual freedom, and fraternity: the very antithesis of a fair and just system of governance. this has resulted in deep inter-caste inequalities in all aspects of life. constitution, laws and policies the indian state at the time of framing constitution in 1950 recognised the problem arising out of its social organisation of caste system. it made social justice (social, economic and political), liberty, equality, and fraternity the governing principles of the society, overturning the principles on which caste system was founded. the constitution promises equal rights to all citizens as fundamental rights. article 14 assures equality before the law and equal protection of law. article 15 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of caste, religion, race, sex, or place of birth, by the state and in use of services supplied by private individual for public use, and /or facilities maintained wholly or partly out of state funds and dedicated to the use of the general public. article 16 refers to equality of opportunity in matters of public employment, and states that there shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment under the state, and no discrimination in employment or office under the state. article 17 abolishes untouchability and its practice in any form is forbidden and made punishable in law. moreover, the constitution in article 46, namely directive principles of state policy, makes it obligatory for the state to enact laws and frame policies to enable the citizens to use these (fundamental) rights in practice thus: ‘the state is required to protect the scheduled caste (ex-untouchables) and scheduled tribes (indigenous people) from social injustices and all forms of exploitation.’ in the case of scheduled caste, among other things it means protection in law from caste discrimination and untouchability. the indian government, in 1955, enacted the untouchability (offences) act on may 8, 1955 (enforced on june 1, 1955). it was renamed ‘protection of civil rights (pcr) act, 1979. thirty-four years later, another law namely ‘the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (prevention of atrocities) act, was enacted in 1989. the indian government also enacted an affirmative action policy to ensure fair share to the scheduled castes/scheduled tribes in legislature, public employment and educational institutions. similar constitutional, legal provisions and policies were framed in nepal after the adoption of its new constitution. selective policies to secure protection to social minorities, particularly, the scavenger caste have also been adopted in pakistan and bangladesh. in uk, after a report on the caste discrimination faced by the dalits or the scheduled caste in india, the british government tabled a bill for legal safeguards against caste discrimination, which is pending final approval. * * * iv caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 persistence of caste discrimination and inequalities over a period of time, there has been substantial erosion in the institution of caste. the situation of the scheduled caste has improved considerably. however, although the caste system has weakened in several spheres, it continues to retain some of its worst features even today. reference to selected indicators of human development like per capita income, poverty, malnutrition, education, and assets ownership highlight the persisting inter caste inequalities and practice of caste discrimination. in 2012, the average per capita income (in terms of monthly per capita consumption expenditure at current prices) was rs 1645 at the all india level. however, it was rs 2413 for high caste, rs 1531 for other backward caste or obc (a lower but not ‘exuntouchable caste), and rs 1294 for scheduled castes. the per capita income declines as we move from high caste to other backward castes and to the scheduled caste, indicating the persistence of graded inequality in income. similar inequality is observed for incidence of poverty, which increases in descending order of caste hierarchy. as against the poverty ratio of 22 per cent at all india level in 2012, only nine per cent among the high caste are poor, as compared to 20 per cent poor among obc and 30 per cent for sc. poverty affects nutrition and health status of the people at the bottom of the caste pyramid. in 2015/16 about 36 per cent of children under the age of five were underweight. the ratio was high with 39 percent for sc, 36 per cent for obcs and 29 per cent for high caste. similar graded inequality persists in educational attainment too. in 2014, about 78 per cent of students entered secondary /higher secondary level at the all india level. the enrolment rate was 97 per cent for high caste, followed by 80 per cent for obc and 73 per cent for sc. the enrolment rate for higher education was 43 per cent for high caste, 29 per cent for backward caste and 20 per cent for sc. thus, in case of all indicators of human development, namely per capita consumption expenditure, percentage of poor people, malnutrition, and educational attainment the graded inequality still persists. the low human development of the sc is primarily due to their low ownership of income earning assets, low education and employment, and also due to poor access to markets for employment and other things due to discrimination. the ownership of wealth is heavily concentrated in the hands of high castes. in 2013, almost 45 per cent of the country’s wealth was owned by high caste – almost twice their population share of 21 per cent. the obcs owned about 31 per cent which is fairly close to their population share of 36 per cent. the sc on the other hand owned only seven per cent of the country’s wealth share, much less than their population share of 17 per cent. the average value of wealth at all india level is rs 1.5million. it is rs 2.9 million for higher caste, followed by rs 1.3 million for obc, and just rs six hundred thousand for sc. the scheduled caste average value of wealth is almost six times less than that of high caste and half of obc. due to lack of access to income earning assets in 2011, about 44 per cent of scheduled caste workers in rural area depended on casual wage labour, compared to 26 per cent for obc and 11 per cent of high caste dependent on casual labour. editorial v in this discrimination plays its part. in 2011/12, of the total gap in per capita monthly consumption expenditure between the scheduled castes and high caste, about 60 per cent was due to differences in ownership of capital assets (land and enterprises), employment and education, but the rest 40 per cent was due to caste discrimination. the gap was mainly on account of discrimination in wages, employment and occupation. the exercise for 2011/12 indicated that in the wage gap between the sc and high caste about 28.5 per cent was due to discrimination. in case of employment, about 70 per cent was due to employment discrimination. the job discrimination is high in whitecollar jobs, particularly in high paid administrative and professional jobs in the private sector. finding of a primary survey done in 2013 in villages of india, shows that the sc wage labour faces restrictions on hiring and wages, both in regular salaried and casual labour in selected works. the sc business persons engaged in grocery, restaurant/ eatery and transport service face discrimination in which their goods on sale and transport services are less used by the high caste affecting their income and profitability. farmers face discrimination in purchase of inputs. while the access to inputs and employment is fairly open to scheduled caste, they also experience discrimination in many spheres, if not all. this affects the income of the scheduled caste wage workers, farmers, and business persons, resulting in high incidence of poverty among them. while this is the situation in case of economic opportunities, the civil rights sphere is not free from discrimination either despite legal safeguards. the protection of civil right 1955 and prevention of atrocities act 1989 allow the scheduled caste to register a legal complaint for denial of civil rights. however, during the period between 2001 to 2016, a total of 2,57,961 cases of atrocities against the sc were registered, which comes to a yearly average of 16,123 incidences of violation per year. this very brief account of the status of the scheduled vis-à-vis the higher caste, shows that although there has been some improvement in the condition of sc, yet the caste system has remained a relatively stubborn institution. although it has weakened in several spheres, it continues to retain some of its worst features. caste also shows its presence in other south asian countries, particularly in nepal, bangladesh, sri lanka, and pakistan. it is also seen as carry forward effects in the indian diaspora in the united kingdom, the united states, east asia, africa, and the caribbean among descendants of indian migrant populations caste relations persist in modified forms with negative consequences particularly for the lower castes that have not been able to shed the stigma in spite of conversions to other religions or integration in foreign societies and cultures. today, caste system is a global issue. part 3. about vol. 1., no. 1: the editors the first issue of this journal includes papers by scholars from many academic and professional disciplines who have worked on the issue of exclusion and discrimination. it comprises two sets of papers: the first set comprises contributions by eminent scholars across the globe. these articles cover two types of issues; one related to access to basic needs such as food, vi caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 health and housing, and the second related to caste-based atrocities and violence. the article by nakkeeran et al. is an ethnographic enquiry into the pre-school supplementary nutrition programme in india and attempts to understand the institutional barriers and sociological processes that led to the exclusion of families and children in accessing these essential services. the paper by sanghmitra acharya endeavours to understand the determinants of disparity among population groups across countries which influence access to health care with special reference to india. the paper by vinod kumar mishra explores the nature, form, and pattern of discrimination faced by the scheduled castes or ex-untouchables, muslims, and people from the northeastern states while seeking rental accommodation in urban india. the exclusionary practices of landlords and brokers expose the dark underbelly of the urban rental housing market and its discouraging impact on the groups which are at the receiving end. the article by kalinga tudor silva examines how the rival sinhala and tamil nationalisms in sri lanka have contributed to ‘caste blindness’, a deliberate neglect of caste discrimination in public policies, while responding to the problem of longterm internally displaced people (idp) in jaffna peninsula more than a decade after the end of war between the government and separatists of the liberation tigers of tamil eelam. the paper by g. c. pal is based on empirical research on ‘mapping caste-based violence’ in the contemporary indian society. the paper sheds light on the diverse consequences of real or perceived violence, emanating from ‘caste’. his analysis reveals that the consequences of caste violence are manifested in social, economic, psychological, and moral terms. the paper by rajesh sampath, attempts a critical commentary of ambedkar’s posthumously published, incomplete manuscript ‘philosophy of hinduism’. sampath attempts to draw out the profound implications of one of ambedkar’s last studies prior to his death, and argues for the centrality of both philosophy, and the philosophy of religion in ambedkar studies in general. the second set has articles written by emerging young researchers who have won the prestigious bluestone rising scholars award 2019. there are six papers in this section (including two winners and four honorary mentions). maya pramod, winner of the bluestone award, focuses on the rereading of the social history in kerala of ‘caste colonies’, with focus especially on dalit women. as a member of the oppressed community herself, she finds how the caste colonies serve as the index of their inferior social status, and far from empowering the dalits, have led to their ghettoisation. the second article by vivek v. narayan, winner also of the bluestone award, analyzes the genealogies of the human in colonial-era travancore by focusing on three scenes exemplifying performative egalitarianisms: soulful enlightenment, repurposed advaita, and radical siddha saiva. both papers are based on kerala but in different time and context. the article by mark e. balmforth focuses on the underexplored aspect of the interrelationship between caste and slavery in south asia, and underlines the value of considering south asian slave narratives as source material into historiography and archivally obscured aspects of dominant caste identity. the paper by sanober umar addresses the interrelated connections between the production of muslims as ‘foreign’ and the simultaneous relegation of muslim ‘indigenous’ histories of conversion (from dalit and lower caste backgrounds) to the periphery under ahistoric, demeaning, and monolith stereotypes of the ‘backward musalmaan.’ the article by subro saha, explores the contingencies and paradoxes shaping the idealism/materialism separation in absolutist terms and analyzes the problems of such separatist tendencies in dealing editorial vii with the question of caste. the article by sunaina arya seeks to initiate a theoretical rethinking of feminist as well as dalit scholarship, with employment of analytical, hermeneutical, and critical methods by exposing flaws about ‘dalit patriarchy’— including a detailed discussion on the empirical, theoretical, and logical shortcomings. the forum of the issue has been contributed by eminent economist jean drèze who argues that the recent rise of hindu nationalism in india can be seen as a revolt of the upper castes against the egalitarian demands of democracy. the first issue also incorporated three book reviews on recently published research on caste and social exclusion. and finally, we are honoured to have blessings and best wishes from his holiness the dalai lama who in praising the launch of our journal says that caste “is a vestige of feudalism” and that the journal “can promote a sense of the oneness of the seven billion human beings.” article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 95–110 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.144 © 2020 g.c. pal. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. caste and consequences: looking through the lens of violence g. c. pal1 abstract caste, a social institution in india, has significant implications on social legislations, affirmative action, and group-specific development policies. in the modern society, the traditional caste structure continues to raise the unequal social interaction process among caste groups. this often translates into various forms of human rights violations against groups that are at the bottom of caste hierarchy. the key concern is that resistance to such violations often leads to ‘caste-based violence’ of different forms. although a body of literature explains this caste phenomenon in the discourse of human rights and social justice, its larger consequences remain a neglected dimension. this paper, drawing evidence from a series of empirical researches on ‘mapping castebased violence’ in contemporary indian society, sheds light on the diverse consequences of real or perceived violence, emanating from ‘caste’. the analysis reveals that consequences of caste violence are manifested in social, economic, psychological, and moral terms. the ‘victims of violence’ speak the language of suffering and deprivation in different spheres of life, having a bearing on the basic human needs of ‘belongingness,’ ‘democratic honor’ and ‘sense of security.’ the apathetic attitude and slow response of state machinery towards such violence often accentuate the social conditions, entrapping the victims and their communities into the vicious cycle of caste oppressions and poor human development. keywords caste-based violence, oppression, vulnerability, human rights, social justice introduction in the indian context, the social institution of ‘caste’, is based on some culturally accepted and valued notions. its relational and hierarchical structures grade social 1associate professor and currently serves as director, indian institute of dalit studies, new delhi, india e-mail: gcpal24@gmail.com 96 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 groups in a continuum with those at the higher levels of such structures enjoying most privileges at the expense of those born into the lower levels of the social hierarchy. nonetheless, like other social institutions, the traditional structures of caste have also undergone a change for the better in the form of protective legislations, affirmative action, and group-specific development oriented policy initiatives. specific institutional frameworks have been put in place to protect the rights particularly of subordinated caste groups who are at the risk of being exploited by the ‘codes of caste’ itself. despite the legal and institutional mechanisms, the caste structure continues to remain powerful in perpetuating the discriminatory social interaction process in modern society. this often widens cleavages among a cross section of groups in india translating into various forms of human rights violations in social and economic life. in the process of asserting rights within legislative frameworks, incidents of caste-based violence remain at the foreground. as a result, there has been a greater engagement with ‘caste’ than other social identities in india particularly in the process of creating a socially cohesive society. over the years, there have been efforts to identify the structures and processes that generate various caste related issues. in the context of persistent caste inequalities and efforts towards inclusive development, while the role of caste-based discrimination and exclusion has been extensively studied, the manifestation of caste in the form of ‘caste violence’ and its consequences still remains a grey area in the discourse of human rights violations and social justice. much has not crossed traditional disciplinary boundaries to consider the consequences of real or perceived violence. any plan of intervention for bringing changes in the quality of life of the subordinated caste group, officially known as scheduled castes (scs) and commonly known as ‘dalits,’ needs to be grounded on understanding of the larger consequences of caste-based violence in contemporary society. this paper aims to shed light on how caste identity in the society expresses itself in effecting violence and in what ways it impacts on various facets of life? the paper considers two frameworks to examine interlinks within the caste system and its consequences: the first one focuses on the positive consequences of ‘caste system’ in domains of law, policy, and state institutional mechanisms to achieve a socially cohesive society and its implications in the socio-economic life of subordinate caste groups. the second portrays the manifestation of the continued unequal intergroup relations rooted in the traditional caste norms in terms of caste-violence despite protective measures; and the larger consequences of such violence at the individual, community, and societal levels. caste and transformative ideas: an overview independent india has witnessed elaborate legal safeguards and administrative frameworks to protect human rights and undermine the traditional order of caste system. with the recognition of the need for providing social protection to the groups at the bottom of caste hierarchy, article 15(1) of the constitution prohibits discrimination against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, or any of them. article 17 prohibits any discrimination specifically based on caste in access to public resources. the constitution also provides affirmative action through reservations in political, economic, and educational spheres to ensure caste and consequences: looking through the lens of violence 97 equitable opportunities for development. to give effect to the provisions in the constitution related to equality and fundamental rights, the indian state has enacted specific legislations. after five years of enforcing the constitution in 1950, parliament enacted the untouchability (offences) act in 1955 to curb discriminatory practices on the basis of caste, and to protect scs and scheduled tribes (sts) from human rights violations and undermining of human dignity. the act was amended in 1976 and renamed as protection of civil rights (pcr) act. the pcr act basically provides protection against the first regressive feature of the caste system, namely denial of equal rights, besides combating discrimination against scs and sts. after 20 years of the implementation of the pcr act, it was again amended with the realization that the provisions under the act were inadequate to check continuing indignities which had assumed new proportions in form of various kinds of violence and atrocities against scs and sts. thus, the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes prevention of atrocities (poa) act was enacted in 1989 with the aim to provide safeguards against the repressive feature of the caste system or crimes against scs and sts in the name of caste by the groups at the higher levels of the hierarchical caste system. the poa act came into force in 1990 but the ‘rules’ was notified by the government in 1995 for proper implementation of various provisions of the act by the state administration. however, in course of the implementation of the poa act over almost two decades, serious deviations were observed from the rules. the overarching feeling was that there has been poor implementation of the act for several reasons. there was adequate evidence to showcase that the act was not fulfilling the protection needs of scs and sts. as a consequence, there were reported cases of ‘acts of violence’ against scs and sts on a large scale. this led to the amendment of the poa act 1989 in 2015. the key amendments were mainly around new provisions to address new offences against scs/ sts and strengthening the monitoring mechanisms of the criminal justice system. the constitutional provisions have also shaped specific policies for the socioeconomic development of the subordinate caste groups. article 46 states that ‘the state shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and, in particular, of the scs and sts…’ the reservation policy was formulated in 1950 with the larger goal of restructuring the institutionalised social relationships on democratic lines through a fair share for the scs and sts in the spheres of education, employment, and legislature. however, unlike many other laws and policies, the poa amendment act and the reservation policy have been a matter of serious contestation in contemporary india. some key questions are ‘have the frameworks of social protection and affirmative action been successful in transforming the traditional caste structure and in bringing about the desired changes in the social and economic conditions of scs in particular? what have been the responses of caste groups to the specific legal measures and policy (reservation) that do not serve their interests? what have been consequences of persistent caste-based violence in spite of special protective legislations? these questions are core to discussion in the following sections. 98 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 although it is acknowledged that problems pertaining to caste system have their origins in age-old traditions, yet sociological and anthropological literature indicate that relational structures of caste have been changing. the changes have often attributed to the social movements against discriminatory caste-based practices and the general processes of social and economic changes. research on rural economy and its social structure also reports steady disintegration of caste-based occupational ties and dependence. there are subordinate caste groups who are less beholden to other dominant castes with the state policy measures as well as increased selfsupportive initiatives (jodhka and sirari, 2012). the reservation policy has brought positive changes in social and economic life (dubey, 2016; haq, 2012). reservation in political spheres has led to the emergence of a new class of political leadership from the subordinate castes (gupta, 2005); and they tend to articulate experiences of the subordinate caste communities, and to an extent have been successful in mobilising and motivating them to strive for equal rights (jodhka, 2015). however, some sections of society argue that the reservation policy has achieved limited success on the ground that the scs and sts continue to suffer from relatively lower socio-economic status despite the benefits of reservation policy for long time. thorat, tagade and naik (2016), therefore observe that while looking into the ‘impact of reservation’, there is a need to understand ‘limitations in reservation.’ as a matter of fact, until 2000, there had not been any legal provision of ‘checks’ against those who willfully avoided the implementation of the policy, leading to lack of its implementation in true spirit over the years. another issue is the relevance of reservation is in public sector. the increase in public-private divide in spheres of education and employment limits opportunities for development among socially disadvantaged groups. despite the illegality of the caste system in contemporary india, stories of degeneration in traditional social orders and observed changes in economic conditions of scs and sts; a wide range of evidence shows that caste identity matters in multiple ways at individual, social, and institutional levels. the social order still remains robust and shapes many outcomes for those at the lower end of the caste system. it is even argued that the institutionalisation of caste through the state policy of caste-based reservations and politicisation of caste in the electoral process are important reasons for the continued survival of caste (jodhka, 2015). experiential exposition of caste in rural landscapes of traditional life also provides accounts of continuity of oppressive aspects of caste. modi (2015) observes that ‘caste contributes to the formation of attitude and there is no easy way out of this vicious cycle.’ it is even argued that the caste system has degenerated, which makes people unduly conscious of their own castes, and causes a parochial feeling and continued suppression and repression of subordinate caste group (nitisha, 2017). thus, the issues related to the ‘caste code’ are historically interlinked. but in the presence of protective and affirmative measures, there has been increasing resistance to any forms of caste dominance, often leading to caste-based violence. as a consequence, the relevance of caste is felt in present day society. the reservation policy, despite its caste and consequences: looking through the lens of violence 99 positive impact, has created a lot of antipathy and a feeling of ‘otherness’ against the subordinate castes. as the powerful laws around caste have its limitations in reforming the social structure, violations of human rights of subordinate caste are often enforced by oppressive tactics. the elements and processes which continue to induce caste violence and create social conditions for other disadvantages thus needs systematic exploration. methodology evidence is drawn from different sources. the national crime statistics provided by the national crime record bureau (ncrb) for various years has been used to reflect on the overall patterns of violence against scs (termed as atrocities, which include major crimes as defined in the indian penal code, and specific offences under the provisions of the prevention of atrocities (poa) act of 1989 against scs and sts by people not belonging to these two communities). given the limitations in this official data to understand the nature and causes of atrocities against scs, micro level data has also been drawn from a series of empirical studies on ‘mapping caste-based atrocities,’ besides relevant literature projecting on the essentially degenerated ‘caste system’ and caste confrontations. empirical studies largely draw on evidence from experiential accounts (narratives and case studies) of victims, fact finding reports of civil society organisations, media reportages, and perspectives of human rights activists. an attempt has thus been made to triangulate the data from various sources to address the specific objectives. analysis analysis primarily revolves around the patterns of caste violence over the years and its larger consequences. these are discussed in the following two broad sections. caste violence in india: changing patterns in the presence of protective and preventive laws, the key question is ‘what has been the magnitude and patterns of caste violence?’ the national crime statistics provided by the ncrb indicate that incidence of violence against scs and sts is on the rise. the nature, pattern, and causes of violence however widely vary between scs and sts (pal, 2018a). given that scs are part of the mainstream society, hence, are more vulnerable to caste violence perpetrated by dominant caste members, this paper focuses on the scs. the official data on overall crimes against scs (table 1) reveals that on an average, about 32,000 cases have been registered annually, between 1995 (the year when the poa act is implemented in actual effect) and 2015 (the latest amendments brought in the act). the registered overall crimes increased from about 33000 in 1995 to 45000 in 2015. of the total registered crimes, cases booked under the poa act (cases of atrocities), has been on an average, nearly 13000 annually, with an increase of about three times between 1995 and 2015. both the registered overall crimes and atrocities increase significantly after 2012. 100 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 table 1. status of registered crimes and atrocities on scheduled castes in india, 1995-2015 status of registered crimes and atrocities figure annual average of the total crimes 31939 annual average of the poa crimes (atrocities) 12928 annual average rate of total crimes 6.2 annual average rate of the poa crimes (atrocities) 3.2 compound annual growth rate (cagr) for all crimes 1.6 compound annual growth (cagr) rate for poa crimes 5.2 source: based on data, crimes in india, national crime record bureau (ncrb), government of india. a compound annual growth rate (cagr) reveals a growth of 1.6 for overall crimes whereas 5.2 for atrocity cases. the rate of crimes (defined as the number of registered cases in a year per one hundred thousand sc population) indicates an increase of overall crimes from 3.6 per cent in 1995 to 22.3 per cent in 2015. the corresponding figures for the poa crimes are found to be 1.5 per cent and 19.2. per cent. the increase in rate of incidence thus has been higher for poa crimes as compared to overall crimes. the data also shows a substantial increase in the proportion of ‘heinous’ crimes like rape, kidnapping and abduction, murder and grievous hurt. all these figures however cannot be taken at face value, may not reflect on the magnitude of caste violence in a realistic manner. in several instances, cases of crimes and atrocities against scs do not get reported due to various reasons associated with state machinery (being non-cooperative and non-sensitive), perpetrators (ensuring age-old caste code prevails), victims (shame, social stigma, and fear of retaliation by dominant caste groups), and other actors in local society (involved in negotiation and compromise in course of registration). given the scenario of increase in the registered cases of caste-based violence, the question is ‘what have been the responses of the state machinery?’ an analysis of data on the disposal of cases by police and courts over the period of one and half decade (2001-2015) reveals that, on an average, more than 80 per cent of the total charge sheeted cases remain pending for trial in courts at the end of each year (graph 1a), despite the provision of special courts under the poa act for the purpose of providing speedy trials. similarly, despite the legal timeframe for completing investigation and filing chargesheet, on an average, nearly one-fourth of registered cases remain pending for investigation at the end of the year (graph 1a). the most disappointing feature has been the low conviction rate of the charge-sheeted cases for which final trials are held (graph 1b). notably, the average conviction rate for the cases registered under the poa act has been extremely low, indicating that a large proportion of victims does not receive justice.thus, macro level official data shows an increase in pendency, a steady decline in the cases that complete trial, and a fall in conviction rates. caste and consequences: looking through the lens of violence 101 graph 1: disposal of crimes in terms of pendency percentage at police station and court (graph 1a), and charge sheet and conviction rate by police and court (graph 1b), 2001-2015 source: based on data, crimes in india, national crime record bureau (ncrb), government of india. there are several explanations for the increased vulnerability of scs to caste based violence? this section reflects on some major frameworks to provide insights into the dominant ideas on such caste phenomenon. the national commission for scs and sts (1986) states that in the 1980s, the increasing violence against scs and sts was mainly attributed to unresolved disputes over allotment of land, tension over non-payment or underpayment of minimum wages, indebtedness; and backlash against increasing consciousness among scs/sts of their rights and privileges under the constitution and other laws (subramanian, 2009). moreover, the scs/sts are handicapped by poverty, illiteracy, economic dependence, and ignorance of the law; they remain highly vulnerable to violence at the hands of dominant caste in the context of land disputes. in 1990, the commission’s report based on case studies however, points to the gaps in implementation of social legislations. consistently, the report of the national human rights commission (nhrc, 2004) has attributed caste violence to the acts of omission and commission by law enforcement agencies. as pointed, the police machinery resorts to various machinations which dilute the seriousness of the offences, and often inflicts the violence itself. in recent times, a large number of empirical studies have identified the gaps in implementation of law (krishnan, 2009; pal, 2019a, 2019b; report card, 2010; thorat, 2018). all these observations in fact have helped the government to strengthen the poa act through additional provisions. sociological literature asserts that ‘power’ and ‘authority’ in an unequally organised social structure are the key factors for caste violence. as the caste system functions along a top-down flow, dominant views are forced upon the lower strata of the social (caste) hierarchy to maintain the existing social order. non-compliance with them invites ‘acts of violence’. in contemporary society, the group identity processes is held responsible for caste violence (pal, 2015, 2019c). the legitimate protection of rights by subordinate caste groups is often perceived by dominant castes as an attempt to undermine their social positions in existing social structure. the ‘status lines’ of dominant caste groups is sometimes perceived under constant threat. any sort of protest or assertion by subordinate caste against unfair treatment often degenerates into violence. in order to strengthen the group identity and integral status relations in the social order; dominant caste members often use various forms of violent acts to graph 1a graph 1b 102 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 keep the subordinate caste group away from equal social relations. as a case in point, the animosity of dominant caste can be understood from the voices of the victims and accused in a case of caste violence (pal, sukumar and lal, 2010). as some victims in a case of caste violence said: ‘there is growing antipathy among dominant castes against scs due to the intolerance of their socio-economic mobility. for ages, they have dominated us, but when some of us are prospering socially and economically, this upsets them.’ the dominant caste accused in same case put it like this: ‘here all scs are prospering. they raise voices against social order, and disrespect us. we cannot bear the humiliation. to teach a lesson, we target the key member in sc community, to keep others in the community quiet.’ according to the human rights activists, among other factors, resentment, retaliation, and revenge-taking are found to be prominent causes of caste violence (pal, 2012; pal and lal, 2010). thus, caste system, as a stratifying factor, often provides structural social preconditions for caste violence. while mobility opportunities provided through various policy initiatives have helped subordinate castes to construct a sense of positive identity, at the same time, it has created a rejuvenated animosity among dominant castes, who always look for new avenues to uphold their social position; the acts of violence being the common ones. however, they often rationalise their actions in the name of cultural norms. caste violence and consequences: emerging issues psycho-social consequences the incidents of caste violence have numerous adverse consequences on the lives of both the victims as well as other members of their communities. these consequences are very often exacerbated by the indifference of the administration. analysis of several case studies (pal, 2012, 2015; pal, et al., 2010) reveals that the sufferings of the victims often continue to persist in anticipation of further ‘atrocity-producing situations’ mainly due to the hostile social attitude of the dominant caste perpetrators. as some victims of a group violence (arson) expressed, ‘there has been an emergence of a new violent society following the incident.’ similarly, in another case of a group violence incident they said, ‘the fear of further violence and lack of confidence in the administrative and judiciary machineries forced several sc families to migrate to other localities, to avoid the cycle of violence.’ the issuance of constant threats and strained relationships in the community induce social insecurity and helplessness (pal 2015, 2019c). the shaky social and economic conditions of the victims often force the victims to remain ‘silent sufferers’ rather than confront powerful perpetrators and indifferent administration. there are also negative social consequences in terms of deterioration of intercommunity relationship, social ostracism, and enforcement of social boycotts on the victims’ families and other community members. an analysis of the perspectives of human rights activists on caste violence (pal and lal, 2011) reveals that the most disturbing experience after the formal registration of cases is the feeling of social insecurity among victims’ families and community members resulting from deterioration in inter-community relationships. in case of individual level violence, the relationships of dominant caste families with sc communities also often get strained. as a result, a social distance is inflicted upon the victim’s family by own community members. lower caste families which depend economically on dominant caste and consequences: looking through the lens of violence 103 caste groups, or, do not want to leave out people of higher social position with some sort of enticement, tend to isolate themselves from the victim’s family. as members of one victim’s family observe, ‘although there are no other conflicting situations after the incident, the ‘we’ feeling in our own community has weakened. many community members feel that because of such incidents, their relationship with dominant castes has been affected and they face other problems in daily lives. this has strained the relationship between our family and community members; we feel alienated and live under constant pressure as they insist up on us to compromise the case.’ (pal, et al., 2010) this divide within the lower caste communities in fact serves the interests of dominant caste perpetrators. in case of group violence, several mechanisms are used by the dominant caste perpetrators to impose and enforce social boycotts on victims’ families, having wider consequences on their social life. an elderly victim observes, ‘the government can provide compensation/relief as per provisions of the law, but what will we do when another community constantly threatens our livelihood and opposes our rights to live?’ (pal, et al., 2010). social boycott sometimes leads to ‘forced migration,’ and ‘symbolic migration’ wherein victims’ families or community members intend to migrate to rebuild lives elsewhere and live with dignity instead of living under constant threat and humiliation. the critical issue is that the laws have overlooked the challenges that victims of caste violence normally face and their increased vulnerability to social oppression in the aftermath of such incidents (pal, 2015). this often creates conditions that lead victims and other community members into the cycle of caste oppression and poor well-being. caste, social ‘coalition’ and impunity a wide range of evidence indicates the presence of loopholes left by the police officials with ‘willful negligence’ of duties, very often leading to the high rate of acquittal.the term ‘willful negligence’ of officials at all levelsstarting from the registration of complaint, and covering aspects of dereliction of duty is defined by listing specific transgressions of law under the poa amendment act 2015. evidence indicates how the officials resort to various machinations to discourage or exert undue pressure to restrain sc victims from registering the cases, delay in the filing firs or registering them in irrelevant sections to shield the accused from arrest and prosecution (pal, 2012, 2019a; report card, 2010). the question is ‘what are the factors that operate at the local level to affect the response of state machinery and dilute the applicability of the law?’ the sixth report of the standing committee on social justice and empowerment (2014-15) while examining the situation of caste violence against scs and sts attributes the high acquittal to the biases and ‘willful negligence’ by officials involved in the investigations; and loopholes left by the investigating officials with a purpose of helping the accused of their social belonging. they often see the law on caste violence as an obstacle to social harmony, and also often succumb to pressures from their own caste peers in society. it is the identity constructions based on ‘caste’ as well as ‘class’ that continue to create the culture to make subordinate caste groups vulnerable. the ‘interplay of caste and class identities’ at societal as well as administrative levels remains one of the critical dimensions in delivering justice to the victims of violence (pal, 2018b). 104 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 as caste relations are rooted in the social structure, caste traditions and the advent of modernity together produce a new ‘coalition’ between dominant caste perpetrators and the classes (powerful members from their caste groups in community and also from administration). the social status of the accused and its association with larger ‘social class’ plays a significant role in course of access to justice. overwhelming caste loyalties and sentiments influence the decisions of the personnel in administration and judiciary. moreover, the administration being represented majorly by the dominant caste members very often show apathy towards the complaints. in this regard, ambedkar (1989) is of the view that: ‘when law enforcement agencythe police and the judiciary, does not seem to be free from caste prejudicesince they are very much part of the same caste ridden societyexpecting law to ensure justice to victims of caste crimes is rather an impractical solution to this perennial social problem.’ that is why, he emphasises that the presence of elaborate legal provisions may not always guarantee rights to social justice, it necessarily depends upon the nature and character of the civil services who administer the principle…‘if the civil services, by reason of its class bias, is in favour of the established social order in which the principle of equality had no place, the new order in the form of equal justice can never come into being’ (ibid). he, therefore, affirms that ‘caste violence has much stronger social anchorage wherein the class bias is likely to cause the denial of justice.’ consistent with this, a trial court observes, ‘it is unfortunate that higher police officials themselves play into the hands of the accused rather than examine the case in an unbiased manner and strictly enforce the provisions of law’ (pal and lal, 2010). similarly, some victims of caste based violence share their experience saying, ‘beginning from the registration of case to the process of investigation, this case witnessed lack of eagerness to book the guilty before law. police got influenced by the accused’s family. in an attempt to divert the case, false cases were filed against the family members of victims, as a tool to mentally torture the complainant.’ (pal, et al., 2010). thus, various unlawful tactics are used by the accused in alliance with state functionaries as members of ‘ingroup’ (pal, 2015, 2019c). these often make sc victims face insurmountable obstacles from village-level functionaries to other state functionaries. so, it is not simply a matter of caste background but social class defined by the caste hierarchy that often shapes the coalition between administration and accused from dominant caste. the wider networking based on strong caste based social capital makes it easier to mobilise influential people from own caste groups in the community as well as administration to their advantage, and influence the system. as a group of victim-survivors in a case of arson and killing shared: ‘regardless of the testimony of involvement of dominant caste members in the crimes; police did not arrest even a single person, never pressurised their families to make an appeal to surrender, and never attempted to visit the locality of the accused (pal and lal, 2010). appeals of subordinate caste victims were put aside as false complaints. moreover, the leaders of the local governance system infringed their legal jurisdiction to act as a traditional village court to force the victims to compromise and withdraw the case (ibid). thus, when the police resorts to various machinations to shield the accused as part of ‘in group’ membership; it often inflicts the violence itself. caste and consequences: looking through the lens of violence 105 ‘collective’ and ‘composite’ violence with the emergence of new coalitions, there has always been an increased number of organised and collective violence (pal, 2012, 2014). the dominant caste perpetrators purposefully inflict collective violence to defeat opponents in course of investigation and court trials with the ultimate motive to keep subordinate caste groups under suppression, exhibit dominance, and strengthen the caste norms. an analysis of a large number of cases of caste violence reveals that more than two-third cases are collective and organised in nature wherein more than one accused are involved in committing violence against a single individual (ibid). this in a way indicates community level animosity of dominant caste against subordinate caste. the collective involvement of dominant caste members in perpetuating violence against the subordinate caste is much higher in case of heinous crimes like physical assault, murder, destruction of property, and even sexual assault (as evident from increased number of gang rape cases against sc women). this in fact remains the greatest challenge to the justice system in a civil society. in this context, the thought of ambedkar is found quite relevant. as he puts it, ‘law is for individuals. it can punish them when they violate laws. but when the whole community is involved in violation, law bounds to fail.’ (thorat, 2018). associated with the collective violence, another unique feature of caste based violence is its ‘composite’ nature (pal, 2012, 2014). there has been an increasing trend of violence involving several offences in one registered case. as observed, caste abuse and physical assault are the most common, and these are committed in combination with other heinous crimes like murder and arson. murder is generally preceded by physical assault and caste abuse. other combined forms of violence are rape and murder, abduction and murder, and outraging modesty of women and rape. these indicate the multi-dimensional nature of caste based violence. the ‘collective’ and ‘composite’ natures of violence have been sources of major concerns as they often complicate the process of justice delivery. intersectional violence and multifarious consequences it is quite evident from the official data that there has been a rising trend in violence against women from the subordinate caste community. the number of registered cases of rape, assault on the modesty of women and sexual harassment have seen a significant increase. the empirical evidence also confirms susceptibility of the women to all forms of violence (aidmam-ncdhr, 2018; aloysius, et al., 2011; pal, 2018c; pria, 2013). they are also more vulnerable to ‘collective’ and ‘composite’ forms of violence (pal, 2012, 2018c). the common explanation is that vulnerability of sc women to violence is caused by the intersection of caste, class, and gender, i.e., their position at the bottom of the gender, caste and class hierarchy. but, psychologically, intersectional violence has an underlying motive. as observed, strategically, dominant caste often perpetrate targeted violence against either sc leadership, or influential community members, or assertive youth, or a particular family, even under spurious circumstances or under false cases (pal, 2012; pal and lal, 2010). one sinister outcome of such motive is perpetrating violence against women and girls from subordinate caste groups. it is often aimed to manipulate fear to ‘make’ the subordinate caste ‘learn’ to live in silence rather than asserting their rights and challenging the dominance of higher caste, and in turn, maintaining social power relations in society (pal, 2015; 2018c). as aloysius, et al. (2011) observe that petty issues pertaining to the observance of caste norms or caste-based gender norms or the assertion of rights often trigger violence 106 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 against sc women; and this is systematically utilised to deny the entire sc community opportunities to raise their voices. the consequences of such intersectional violence are found more pervasive and multifarious. because incidence is often attached to the notion of moral character, dishonour, integrity and dignity of women victims (aloysius, et al., 2011; pal, 2018c). it is more likely to induce a sense of fear and subjugation in entire community as a matter of community honour and dignity. the feelings of ‘helplessness’ and low self-esteem associated with the feeling of shame, and social stigma are more frequent psychological consequences (aloysius, et al., 2011). the victims at times face family ostracism through constant blaming and rejection, and also negative perceptions from members of own community; rendering them vulnerable to more exploitation. the social consequences of intersectional violence are also highly conditioned around the incidence. these are primarily seen in terms of the disintegration of interpersonal relations within family and community, and freedom of movement of the victims and their families. family members including children, especially girl children, are often tagged along with victims, it is often extended to other relatives and close associates making them all feel disgraced. consequently, social mobility and social relationships get restricted, effecting more on future life of the children. beyond the victims’ families, it also generates a sense of insecurity in the community when it comes to providing protection to women and girls. these social consequences in fact get entrenched due to lack of adequate social protection from the law enforcement agencies, besides the weak protective structure within sc community. it is argued that the multiple consequences of intersectional violence also become the ‘hidden cause of inflicting different forms of violence against women and girls, as ‘soft targets’ (pal, 2015, 2016, 2018c). the motives of the dominant caste perpetrators often get reinforced by the implicit protection of other actors in positions of power and authority at social levels, as a matter of ‘caste-class-coalition’. as members of one victim’s family narrate the statement of a powerful dominant caste landlord after physical assault of an sc woman and destroying her family home in a land dispute: ‘if we do something to you, nothing will happen to us. we have got our people at every place. who are with you? nobody…’(pal, et al., 2010). similarly, in another case, the family members of a gang-rape victim describe the arrogance of one of the perpetrators: ‘the police station is an extension of our home… do you think you can harm us by going to the police?’ the hague report (2006) clearly states that gender violence is often accompanied by a systemic pattern of impunity for the perpetrators. the intersectional violence thus, is highly structural and systemic in nature, and likely to expose the subordinate caste women to a greater risk of cyclic violence. ‘repelling’ effects: ‘silence on violence’ there is a plethora of evidence to indicate a regression on ‘access to justice’ in the context of caste-based violence. a steady decline in conviction rate over the years suggests that the criminal justice system is futile for many victims. several studies point to the loopholes left by police officials during implementation of laws as important factors for low conviction on procedural grounds. this clearly indicates the misuse of ‘rules’ prescribed for the implementation of laws. but, the high acquittal or low conviction is very often allegedly linked to the ‘misuse’ of the law by the victims by filing ‘false’ cases. in recent time, india has witnessed lots of controversy over the caste and consequences: looking through the lens of violence 107 changes issued in the provisions of the poa act by the apex court in 2018 that would protect public servants and private individuals from arbitrary and immediate arrests under the act, under the precedence of misuse of law by the victims. this was strongly condemned on the ground that it would further affect the access of ‘victims of caste violence’ to legal recourse and justice. it was later resolved with the passing of the amendment bill by the parliament of india and restoring the stringent provision of the act. however, the scars of frequent allegations of misuse of laws because of high acquittal, always put victims under a ‘scanner of mistrust’. another issue that often puts the victims of caste violence under the intense pressure is the filing of false counter cases by the dominant caste accused often in collusion with the police administration. there has been an increase in filing of false counter cases in recent years. it’s a coercive strategy that is used by the accused when the victim insists on getting the cases registered under the poa act despite the pressure for non-registration or compromise. as a result of the counter cases, ‘victims of violence’ are arrested and subjected to criminal litigation. the cases against the accused under the poa act, and its accompanying counter cases are tried in different courts. this makes it difficult to prove that the counter case is false, and contributes to creating conditions for high acquittal. but the fact is that, such tactics of the accused deter victims from pursuing cases, as many troubles are encountered during court trials of two different cases simultaneously. let us locate the extremely low ‘access to justice’ on caste-based violence in the wider context of the painful experiences and sufferings that the sc victims have to go through after the incidence and its larger consequences. these are(i) the lackadaisical attitude and slow responses of local administration in registering cases of caste violence and acting on it; (ii) threatening situations created by the powerful perpetrators in collusion with the administration, that too, often with counter cases; (iii) the most perilous experience of disgraceful situation specially in case of intersectional violence; (iv) the perpetrators acting with near impunity despite the protective and punitive laws to deal with caste violence; (v) the continued harassment, intimidation, torture, encountered by the victims in the course of registration, investigation, and court proceedings; (vi) the delay in court judgment exasperating the agony of incidence and escalating socio-economic cost; (vii) often victims falling prey to ‘unnatural justice’ through ‘negotiation and compromise’ out of imposed compulsions; (viii) the ultimate outcome of case in the form of high acquittals after going through all sorts of agony and suffering–social, psychological, and economic in nature; (ix) deprivation of compensation and rehabilitation benefits as per the provisions of law because of acquittals; (x) perceptual shifting of the blame upon the victims for high acquittal, as a case of misuse of law, putting them under a ‘scanner of mistrust’; and so on. all these often compel many victims to accept the exploitative system of dominance as natural. the acts of omissions and negligence by law enforcement agencies shake their faith in the rule of law and confidence in the justice system. all these cumulatively produce ‘repelling effects’ on many victims, which is often manifested in their‘ self-defeating behaviour’ following the incidence of violence, with the anticipation of encountering situations as experienced by others in past. not being in a position to take the risk of more troubles, many victims shy away from registering cases and striving for justice through the justice system. in this context, the role of human rights defenders and other actors in civil society remain critical in providing the support system to victims and encouraging them to assert their rights and seek justice. 108 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 conclusions in the indian context, the term ‘caste’ is linked to a host of ideas. however, there are some dominant descriptions that come to forefront more frequently. these are ‘caste code’, ‘caste tradition’, ‘caste hierarchy’, ‘caste relations’, ‘caste biases’, ‘caste practices’, ‘caste discrimination’, ‘caste oppressions’, and so on. in recent times, the idea of ‘caste consciousness’ has pervaded every social group, each group asserting its rights. in this context, understanding manifestation of caste in the terms of ‘caste confrontation’ and ‘caste consequences’ remains critical. as the unequally organized caste structure continues to dominate the social interaction process among caste groups, it gives rise to human rights violations against groups that are at the bottom of caste hierarchy. any resistance to it creates confronting situations. the expression of caste is seen in various forms of ‘caste violence’. but the matter of concern is that such violence have larger consequences on the life of individual victims, their communities, and the society as a whole. while caste violence in india has drawn serious attention of the state and civil society organizations more than any other form of violence, its larger consequences still remain a neglected issue both from the points of view of legal and social measures. with the acknowledgement of the need to understand the consequences of caste-based violence in a holistic perspective, this paper is an attempt to build insights into the potential factors that cause caste violence with a specific focus on its larger consequences on victims in particular and civic society in general. it is evident that the consequences of caste violence are manifested in social, economic, psychological, and moral terms. social science literature on caste from human rights perspective indicates multifarious ill-effects of caste. the matter of concern is that the society has seen a continued increase in caste violence despite specific legislations to curb violation of human rights of the subordinated groups. the implications of such violence on the life of a large section of people in contemporary society, and conspicuously denial of justice to a large number of victims, remain critical issues. the paper argues that the persistence of caste violence, its consequences on various aspects of social life, and denial of justice to the victims are important pointers to the failure of legal provisions to capture the complexities of socio-cultural contexts, and of the state machinery to implement the laws in letter and spirit. with complex linkages between caste and social conditions in mainstream society, many ‘unwritten laws’ exist against subordinate caste groups. an alliance between callous law enforcement machinery and 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(2016). prejudices against reservation policies: how and why? economic & political weekly, 51(8), 61-69. untouchability (offences) act (1955). notification no. s.r.o.1109, the official gazette, ministry of social welfare and empowerment, government of india, new delhi. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 30–46 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.265 © 2021 snehashish das. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste fracturing the historical continuity on truth: jotiba phule in the quest for personhood of shudras snehashish das1 abstract anti-caste traditions in india work to understand and examine the idea of personhood which the majority in india is deprived of by virtue of being born in the lower rungs of the caste hierarchy. this paper examines the historical continuity in brahminism and the rupture jotiba phule presents to it through his art and activism which serves to disturb the regular flow of singular continuity of what is perceived as history and historiography. jotiba’s quest is for finding the essence / personhood of, what butler calls, a ‘precarious subject’ and recognizing that precarious subject – the shudra, as a subject of history. but the personhood of this precarious subject is never a complete personhood. therefore, jotiba attempts to unveil the path towards achieving complete personhood which is embedded in reaffirming the lost or concealed truth – by discontinuing the historical flow of the social structure of caste and establishing a new subject rising out of crisis in social structure in history. i have chosen two works from jotiba’s works as new methodological tools for history writing and historical criticism, and made hermeneutical and phenomenological readings of the both. the works are his poem kulambin (a peasant woman), and the satyashodhak (truth-seeker) marriage as the public performance of protestas they are both the essential and the mundane to his life, which exemplifies the truth jotiba followed and established an organization satyashodhak samaj (society of truth seekers) as a testament to it. keywords jotiba phule, personhood, precarity, performativity, continuity, satyashodhak, shudra. 1ph.d scholar, centre for the study of social systems, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi e-mail: mx.snehashish@gmail.com fracturing the historical continuity on truth: jotiba phule in the quest 31 introduction jotirao govindrao phule, alias jotiba phule, is associated with the renaissance in indian history; considered to be the father of modern india, and endearingly called mahatma (great soul) within anti-caste traditions. this paper does not wish to and cannot introduce jotiba to academia. for in the politics of introduction, i encounter three dilemmas: one, who shall i introduce jotiba to; second, what is the relevance of ‘i’ to introduce jotiba; and third, when do i know what is truly and justifiably introducing such a figure who challenges the course of continuity? introducing jotiba to masses in words means creating a readership of massesas jotiba phule (1991b, pp. 22-23) advocated a system of ‘mass education’ wherein the state must encourage mass education from the primary level to engender quality education of the masses at higher levels. but living the life of ‘contradiction’, as ambedkar (round table india, 2016) puts it, between political equality and inequality in social and economic life in india, mass education or even enrolment in higher education remains a distant dream.1 introducing jotiba through the text essentially means introducing him to those who have access to education and interest in anti-caste scholarships. among the masses, some have known, read, and educated themselves with his works, many have lived the life jotiba lived and represented, and experienced the truth that he had experienced and sought. but to introduce jotiba to them begets the second question: who am ‘i’ to introduce? several activists and academics have read or, are familiar with jotiba’s text slavery (1991), but a major part of his texts remains unread and unexplored, and much more is untranslated. reading jotiba has made me think that he stands as an epitome of truth in the kind of history or the social matrix we are eager to read about. jotiba himself, and only himself can be the entry point to introducing jotiba. as a reader and a researcher, i can only introduce my thoughts on jotiba or his specific works, rather than the vastness of jotiba, his life, works and thoughts that are hitherto unexplored widely. it would be an injustice to jotiba to write about him and call it an introduction to him. this leads to my third point: that is, to introduce someone, one needs to know where to enter their life and work, only then can one follow the truth of their personhood thereafter. one may argue that the entry point to jotiba’s life can be the event, in 1848, when he was humiliated and abused at his brahmin friend’s marriage (phule, 1991a, p. xvi) and experienced the truth of his birth and life, of brahminism,2 in that very moment, and the truth followed. but that is somehow untrue because the experience of truth in his life precedes that event as much as it follows it. one can pick any moment of his life and work and find out that the truth is happening; truth, one can say, in simpler sense, is the essence of one’s being. for a 1official record states that the scheduled castes (scs), scheduled tribes (sts) and other backward classes (obcs) are represented in 14.9 percent, 5.5 percent and 36.3 percent, respectively, of total enrolment in higher education as against 15 percent, 7.5 percent, and 27 percent reservation, respectively, mandated by the constitution of india. only 5.2 percent of total enrolment belongs to muslim minority, and 2.3 percent belongs to other minority communities. out of the total enrolment 51.36 percent are male, and rest 48.64 percent are female students. see the report of all india survey on higher education 2018-19, department of higher education, ministry of human resources development, government of india, 2019. 2dr. b.r. ambedkar defines brahminism as ‘the negation of the spirit of liberty, equality and fraternity. in that sense it is rampant in all classes and is not confined to the brahmins alone, though they have been the originators of it’ (reported in times of india, february 14, 1938). 32 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 person, it can be argued, that the truth is the purpose of living happens in the very moment a person experiences and realizes what they are supposed to do or become, and that moment is unique. one can pick any such moment from his life and begin understanding jotiba there onwards. he was admiringly called the ‘embodiment of truth’ by his wife savitribai.3 his quest for truth translated into the satyashodhak samaj or the truth seekers’ society4 that he created. thus, instead of introducing jotiba, what my scholarship will essentially do is analyze two of his works: one, a poem kulambin5 or a peasant woman; second, the satyashodhak marriage that he pioneered. these will help me and others understand both the simplicity and vastness of truth. this paper, throughout its length, tries to explore the concepts of ‘truth’, ‘history’ and ‘personhood’, from my hermeneutical and phenomenological readings of and from the works of jotiba. such scholarship, beyond mere introduction, is essential as it challenges the continuity of indian scholarship which is predominantly brahminical, and hegemonized by the brahmins and other twice-born6 castes. art, methodology of history and the subject of recognizability i have given some time to think over jotiba’s poem kulambin, a peasant woman, (damle, 2014) which i read as one of those moments in jotiba’s life and work which not only has an encounter with truth but also brings forth that truth to the public through art. the poem is based on a peasant woman, who is essentially a shudra7 and utterly anonymous. this namelessness or anonymity of the subject makes the poem seem a work of fiction, around a fictional character, as it is neither a case study nor a biography. it leaves us with the methodological questions can fiction be a form of historiography? can fictitious subjects be a subject of history? can an event which might not have actually occurred in the past but carries an idea or sense about and from the past, hold truth value in writing history? history is often understood to be not just an idea about the past, but a systematic record of the past; a verifiable record that appears in form of annals and chronicles. this is the essential line that traditionally segregates history from myth. thus, the established idea of history and historiography 3see sabrang (2016), to jyotiba, from savitribai phule: these aren’t love letters, but tell you what love is all about, scroll. retrieved 16 september, 2020, from http://scroll.in/article/801848/tojyotiba-from-savitribai-phule-these-arent-love-letters-but-tell-you-what-love-is-all-about. 4satyashodhak samaj was established in 1827 having jotirao phule as its first president and treasurer. the main objectives of the organization were to liberate the shudras and ati-shudras, and to prevent exploitation by brahmins and other ‘upper-castes’. 5kulambin, that refers to a peasant woman in this poem, also can mean a female domestic help. the word is a rude and scornful term. the poem was published in a periodical titled ‘dinbandhu’ which was founded by krishnarao pandurang bhalekar in 1877, to serve as the mouthpiece of satyashodhak samaj. 6castes those fall under brahmin, kshatriya and vaishya varnas are considered to be the twiceborn or dvija castes in varna hierarchy, as they perform a ceremony called upanayana where they enter into the life of hinduism which is considered to be the rebirth. shudras even though fall under varna hierarchy, still are not considered to be the twice-born. 7shudra constitutes the lowest rung in the varna hierarchy. they are traditionally linked to the service castes, such as peasantry, artisanship, etc. majority population in india falls under shudra varna, and most of the caste groups under shudra varna are officially (in the constitution) categorized as other backward classes (obc) in india. fracturing the historical continuity on truth: jotiba phule in the quest 33 pushes ambiguous subjects from the past to the periphery. so, can jotiba’s poem be considered history? here, i shall argue that his poem should not be considered just any form of history writing, but a challenge to the course of continuity of history writing, in other words, a historical criticism; a ‘fracture.’ to explore that, we shall analyze the relationship between history and truth here onwards. what was it that made jotiba have a peasant woman in his work of arta character who was never thought of being worthy of being recorded as a subject in the history of india? if one looks into the nineteenth or early twentieth century, art had a religious (read caste) and royal value. but by saying this i do not mean that the ‘lower castes’ did not have any art form of their own; rather those cultural or artistic forms did not have the recognizability to be introduced as pious and royal as ‘art’ and ‘aesthetic’ to be worthy of being written down, documented, or presented to the secular public. but jotiba was one of the very first of those few ‘lower caste’ artists whose art is not just an oral tradition, but breached his caste groups to reach the secular public. at a time when recognizable artwork was reduced to artworks on kings, queens, and the hindu deities, how could a subject of stigma; an embodiment of pollution; a subject marked by humiliation and violence; a wretched and undesirable body break the chains of piousness (caste purity) of artwork. thinking through butler’s (2009) idea of ‘subject of recognizability’, the subject is someone who is placed within the established norms of being of a thinking being; the embodiment of ideal personhood. the agency of personhood and thought are produced within the social structure through the historical allocation of power. we can think of another artist around the same time as jotiba, and think about the truth of the very subject of his artworks and the truth it established or presented to the masses, i.e., raja ravi verma. he was a brahmin, a royal painter who also gradually became a hindu spiritual painter, painting the everydayness of an ‘upper caste’ woman as subject. the subjects of many of his paintings are kings and queens, including maharaja sayaji rao of baroda (1881), maharani chimnabai of baroda (1881), rai pannalal mehta who was the dewan of udaipur (1901), maharani karthika thirunal lakshmi bayi of travancore (1887), alongside others. verma even recorded historical events; painted the 3rd duke of buckingham being greeted by maharaja ayilyam thirunal and visakham thirunal of travancore (1880). these are considered to be history because they are not nameless; they present a systematic record of historythe sort we can term as annals on the canvases. this leaves us an inquiry in the nature of a history that makes such figures the subject of that history; the true subject thus linking history to truth. the subject of history always emerges within history, and then history is written around that subject which marks the arrival of a history and subjects a cyclical process, wherein subject and history remain the product of power within the social, political and historical landscape. but jotiba, i argue, is the one who turns that power relation upside down. historiography and the precarious body if we examine the indian history, it is not an idea of india as merely a form or an entity or a state being a thing/‘something’ that we aim to understand. it is the very subject within the premise of the indian history that constitutes the history of india and the subject is not any subject, but the subject of essence that gives us an idea of india. what is essential or unique about india that constitutes history (of india) rather 34 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 than the nominal idea of india or a mere description of india without essence / value of india which makes history (of india) about the truth (about india). what we understand from raja ravi verma’s artworks, it is the kings and queens or the hindu mythical figures arriving in history which constitute the truth in history, that define the essence of history through his paintings. drawing from hayden white’s (1980) critiques of annals against proper history, where he inquires into and critiques annals of saint gall, we can argue that even verma’s annals do not essentially say anything about the prevailing social system, legal boundaries and subjects, and the moral codes of the state and society. yet, the mere situating of kings, queens and deities in the course of time as essential reflects the truth about india in verma’s artworks. the same applies to certain historical events painted by him, which are as relevant as if they never happened, as they have no description of them, and no transgression of the political-moral code attached to them. they are made essential by merely situating in a certain time in the past. jotiba’s poem on the peasant woman essentially questions this continuity on truth in writing history employing the form of writing as white (1980, p. 27) proposes ‘value attached to narrativity’. reading jotiba, we understand that such truth is either a partial-truth or truth as falsehood in history making. a peasant was never thought worthy of being a subject. she who had been invisible from the popular imagination of artwork became the primary subject in jotiba’s art. the peasant woman was invisible especially because of her being on the earth, her epistemic position, and the banality of her life. especially because she lives a banal life, her mere presence on earth, her mere appearance are the reasons for her ‘invisibility’ and not being considered as a subject. she was considered to be a being without an essence; where essence is found only in the being and artworks of kings and queens, temples and the hindu figures, which are essential because they are marked differently. this is precisely resonant in the contemporary merit debate that ignores how caste governs people’s lives. but in choosing the subject of his poem, kulambin, jotiba reaches to the specifics; from nation to region, region to local, and finally from local to caste. that is what i call the moment of truth happening; truth, when you bring it out from its invisibility, reveal that it is happening. indeed, for jotiba, her being is invisible because her merit or essence is invisible as she is rendered banal by the force of history. by this force of history, as jotiba narrates, the bodily violence and humiliation she has undergone establishes her as a sexually / bodily insignificant or governed being. if we see raja ravi verma’s paintings of the maharashtrian lady (1893) or lady with a fruit (1880) or the bombay strongstress (1893), etc., these can fundamentally be distinguished as ‘upper-caste’ women by their mere appearance from the saree they wear, the ornaments they adorn, the palaces they reside in, and other cultural markers which the subjects and portraits are inscribed with they are deemed sexually significant. but a shudra woman, as jotiba writes, cannot afford to deck her house with the sacred tulsi (basil) leaves, plait her hair, or adorn herself beyond her coarse saree and the sweat of her toils. a brahmin woman, flaunting her ornaments, has never applied fragrant scrub to a shudra woman, does not bathe her, does not comb her hair, does not make her face up, so jotiba writes in the poem. a brahmin woman, despite being another oppressed subject of the brahminical patriarchy,8 had no sympathy or care for a shudra woman. 8brahminical patriarchy is based on the idea that the mechanism of caste is based on and thrives upon the patriarchal system. ambedkar theorizes how endogamy, sati, mandatory widowhood, fracturing the historical continuity on truth: jotiba phule in the quest 35 in several chapters in the collected works of mahatma jotirao phule vol ii translated by barrister p. g. patil (1991), he mentions that jotiba writes about the punishment a shudra has to go through at the hands of brahmins. the condemned have to face severe physical injuries they are whipped, maimed, mutilated, have had pincers applied to their genitals and yet the punishment does not stop. while injured, they are treated with pain by having saline water, often boiling, poured over their wounds, until finally many succumb to the injuries. the women are forced to inhale the smoke of chillies burnt under their faces; many times, the brahmins violate their modesty, molest, torture, and rape them to manifest their authority over the shudras bodies. jotiba writes that many shudras were semi-naked most of the time, barefooted or forced to hide their naked bodies with tattered cloth throughout the year. but at the same time the ‘upper castes’, from marwari to brahmins, lived ‘respectable lives’, wore good clothes, turbans on head, draped their bodies with new sarees and gold ornaments. what does the violence imprinted on a shudra body make of her? can she be a subject of recognizability under such condition of, what butler (2009) calls, ‘precarity’? can her body be considered worth of essence, of grace, of beauty, of desirability, of respectability, of sexualness which can mark her as a being within the norms of personhood, of thought and agency? the questions of who has the right and accessibility to justice, who is criminalized for their mere being, who is stigmatized, how their body appears to the secular public, on what limits of normative body and personhood the person exists historically serves to decide who can become a recognizable subject of politics and art. reaffirmation of (shudra) personhood in precarious body jotiba, portrays the everydayness of the peasant woman, how she collects cow dung and carries it in a basket, how she cooks, goes to the field, works relentlessly, gives food to beggars and ascetic brahmins, fetches water, makes cow-dung cakes for cooking, mows and sells grass and weeds, feeds cattle, and harvests, collects and sells crops. in addition to that, jotiba describes that she is a singer, who sings in the morning and wakes her husband up. at that moment of realizing the truth about the shudra peasant woman, jotiba reveres her as an industrious woman; a meritorious woman; a hardworking woman of worth, who the brahmins stigmatize, call ignoble, and humiliate ignoring her merit. even amidst violence, pain and precarities which dehumanize a shudra woman and delegitimize her personhood and life-possibilities, jotiba discovers merit in her. he finds the essence for her subject-hood, which is truly unique. jotiba reaffirms the personhood she has been robbed off through his poem. he asks if a brahmin woman is worth such merit; can she do the labour that a shudra woman does, can she nurture without discrimination, can she have such productive power, such essence, and thus, personhood? so, this poem brings forth the essence of the peasant woman to the world. it is similar to how heidegger (1977) sees van etc. which are the reason for women’s oppression in india are meant to maintain caste purity and lineage. ambedkar and other anti-caste thinkers also highlight how manu smriti and other hindu scriptures are by essence patriarchal. see dr. b.r. ambedkar (1979), castes in india: their mechanism, genesis and development. in dr. babasaheb ambedkar writings and speeches vol. 01, (v. moon, ed.). 36 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 gogh’s painting of the shoes of the farmer. through jotiba’s poem the peasant woman moves from her house to the muddy field and the market, through all hurdles and problems, with starvation, without care, with humiliation, and stigma, and still finally produces merit or essence from what is deemed a banal life. jotiba asserts that despite these precarities she still has a personhood which merits a subject of recognizability. he avers that without all luxuries, that are allowed to a brahmin woman and which make her a visible and recognizable subject, a shudra woman still nurtures nature and society unlike her brahmin counterpart. through the poem, the truth of the shudra woman moves from invisibility to visibility, from earth to world. and this moment where the peasant woman becomes the subject of the poem, i consider a historical moment happening within historya moment when truth is revealed the truth of the peasant woman herself and the truth of history, of india, of maharashtra, and of caste. such subjectivation is not just mere essentialization of presence of a person or an event in history, but an attempt to tell a story around it that explains the social system, ethical and moral codes about the prevailing society. discontinuity in history and the recognizability of the precarious subject returning to the question i asked if the fictional nameless peasant woman can be a historical figure; i believe the nameless subject being contested with the name-affirmed subjects like kings and queens marks a historical change or movement in the continuity of writing of history. the peasant woman is not just ‘a woman’; she is every, or most, peasant women. thus, kulambin presents a collective resistance against the norms of history writing; against norms that make one eligible to be recognized as subject of art, history and politics. the peasant woman might appear to be fictional, but there is a ‘truth’ value to her, especially because jotiba, as the poet and a real person from history, is the witness to her (and of all / most peasant women’s) truth. in this way the subject transcends from the appearance of being fictional to being a truly historically constituted subject. this new sense of history writing where we situate jotiba’s work is very similar to hayden white’s (1978) proposition of structuring history in literary forms, through different types ‘emplotments’ like tragedy, comedy and romance, for better understanding and comprehension of the past. while white proposed a type of history writing through literature in which one can distinguish ‘reality’ from imaginations or ideological prejudices for better sense of the past, through the use of figurative languages. today, if our understanding of historiography can accommodate jotiba’s works, it will be of a kind wherein truth shall be distinguishable and achievable. in a way, jotiba’s works lead us towards historical criticism, by asserting that history and historiography goes beyond ‘ordered facts’, and is complexly associated with literature produced within a historical landscape. the truth represented through the royal painting is only a partial truth especially because the truth of royal members, or of the ‘upper castes’ cannot be truly revealed in the absence of the truth of the peasant woman. jotiba (phule, 1991a, p. 76) has also written ballads of royal persons like chhatrapati shivaji raje bhonsle, but such songs of glory have been written with the presence of the shudras and the atishudras as subjects. one such ballad is especially about the good work shivaji has done for the shudras and the ati-shudras; and thus, the king becomes the nominal subject and the masses under his rule are primary. both kulambini and the ballads of fracturing the historical continuity on truth: jotiba phule in the quest 37 chhatrapati shivaji raje bhonsle are firmly opposite to how the truth is represented in other royal artworks like those of raja ravi verma, in normative history; where jotiba takes a moral and political stand about the narrative, where story gets a closure, about his central subject while essentializing unlike raja ravi verma. a reaffirmation of personhood to a precarious body, as a politicalmoral stand, challenged how one saw a subject and subject-hood in art, history, and politics. yet, the peasant woman is a precarious body, her personhood is not at its full potential. so, what jotiba does to challenge these conditions of precarity of a shudra subject, i discuss in the subsequent section by analyzing his brainchild, i.e., the satyashodhak marriage. rejecting the ‘brahmin oedipus’, so precarious subjecthood earlier, i proposed that truth in history is also falsehood in history making, as another idea of truth (of india, ilk) is represented through artworks of the hindu mythical figures turning into historical ones which jotiba believes to be falsehoods and deceptions. if the idea of india or essence or truth of india is represented through the hindu mythological figures, then there is a need to revisit how jotiba understands history. in gulamgiri or slavery (1991b), through examples of the hindu mythological figures, like parashurama, brahma, vamana, varaha, narasimha, and so on, jotiba argues that these figures are essentially the brahmin oedipus9; historical personas of proud, cunning, and cruel aryan brahmins, who took over the majesty of one true god conquering this land (kshetras) and massacring, oppressing, and enslaving the protectors of the land (kshatriyas / rakshaks) and turning them into kshudras or shudras (insignificant) (1991a, p. 132) turned into appearingly real and glorious personalities as earth-gods eventually. in his books, jotiba uses rationality as a method to subject the brahminical texts to rational questions, and then insults them as the texts are rooted in lies and in violence, discrimination, and subjugation of the shudras and the ati-shudras, based on conquest of their homeland, and as something can be reasoned as deceptions or lies far from being truth or close to it; this method is termed by soumyabrata choudhury (2017) as the ‘rational insult’. if they represent what is essential in history, then history will always condemn or invisibilize the shudras and the ati-shudras who are the ‘original inhabitants’ of india and the subject themselves will be constituted of falsehood as the earth-gods are the construction of false myths, blasphemy, wrong idea about god, deception created by the brahmins and the brahmin oedipus. for jotiba the idea of earth-gods is, as we can interpret, of no higher moral beings to represent truth, but a supernatural and mythical manifestation of the brahminical human society itselfis born out of the brahmin treachery; pompousness is the main reason for the enslavement of the shudras, it is the main reason for the violence they are subjected to and why they even fail to revolt against because of mental enslavement. here, jotiba does not try to reaffirm the personhood of a precarious body unlike in the first instance, rather he moves a step ahead to change the course of history and tries to 9oedipus rex, is a character from greek mythology, popularly referred in freudian psychoanalytic concept. ‘oedipus complex’ is a psychosexual stage of development where a child experiences desires towards their opposite sex-parent and envy for the same-sex parent, as oedipus killed his father lauis and married his mother jocasta by ignoring and trying to escape the prophecy. but here, i am using the term ‘oedipus’ as a reference to ignorance, or wilful divergence from truth, and the sense of pride and superiority of knowledge, of selfhood, not just over the rest of humanity, but also over god. 38 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 reject the very entity that causes the shudras’ precarity, so that they can achieve their personhood with full potential. and for him truth cannot be something unjust, it cannot be the reason of slavery. if it is, then it is manipulated by falsehood. thus, what he demanded is a peasant cultural revolution to bring out the true potential of the truth. through cultural education of the peasants, when they regain a sense of pride attached to their past identity, to the land, and reject the brahmin’s treacherous and deceptive myths and godly figures that will bring the truth to fore. the peasant becomes a new subject in formation, a counter affirmation of identity, and a sense of truth occurs with the arrival of this identity into history and politics, and also justice is done to the historical wrongs. thus, it is not merely the act of history writing that is linked to the truth, but it is the ideology of history that has to do with the truth. his whole work is about passing correctness to continuing truth, to save it from falsehood, and as jotiba passes correctness to the truth, not just seeing, apprehending, reasoning and (dis)confirming it, this transforms him into a philosopher. for i and the readers, to recognize jotiba as a philosopher is also discontinuing the history of philosophy which is rooted in the bias towards plato’s philosopher-king.10 the truth question and the full potential of personhood jotiba’s attempt of liberating the shudras from caste slavery to achieve full potential of their personhood, which is intimately linked to their being the subject of recognizability, was not just limited to highlight and reject the untruth and deception affirmed by the idea of earth-gods in hinduism, but to understand and submit to the truth to mark a sense of emancipation. he believed that if falsehood or manipulation of truth is the reason for slavery, then the real truth would lead to liberation. the method he used to find out the truth is reason. he reasoned and believed that god cannot be multiple, but one; formless, and omnipresent. he reasoned that there exists an intimate relationship between god and humans; like that of parents and children since god is the creator of all beings in the world (phule, 1991a, p. xix). and this reason brought a fight against priestcraft, as he believed one does not need any intermediary to reach to god, a practice fundamental to brahminism. he believed, ‘it is a universal truth that fraternal religion has no place for mutual oppression’ (phule, 1991b, p. 24). for jotiba, the brahmins have kept the depressed and downtrodden ignorant of their human rights and god has bestowed freedom to all people to enjoy equitably all the things created on the earth. a truly liberated human being cannot hesitate to demand these (ibid., p. 25). we can unarguably say that jotiba was the first person in modern india to theorize an anti-caste liberation theology within the monotheistic traditions that developed across the world, as he critically thought of the idea of theos in terms of liberation of the shudra and the ati-shudras, similar to what has developed in the context of the oppressed people across the world. he has compared jesus christ with baliraja (ibid., pp. 60-62), who he considers as the glorious indigenous king of india who has appeared in the hindu myth. he also wrote a na`at (praise of prophet muhammad) 10in plato’s (1968) republic, he asserts that a king must be a philosopher as against the tradespersons, crafts-persons, who were slaves in the ancient greek society, and must be tricked into believing that they are naturally assigned their role in the social hierarchy in order to maintain the social order. they must be followers of the philosopher-king as they have naturally no time and role for doing philosophy. fracturing the historical continuity on truth: jotiba phule in the quest 39 (omvedt, 2011), and praised buddhism alongside christianity and islam as potent means to emancipate humanity from social inequality (kale, 2020). satyashodhak samaj and activism jotiba did not limit this philosophy to just himself or his personal beliefs; he institutionalized it into a movement, in building a truly emancipated community whose quest for truth opens ways to achieve their lost or invaded personhood. thus, satyashodhak samaj bloomed in 1873 and all members had faith in the philosophy jotiba espoused equality, freedom and fraternity (phule, 1991a, p. xix). the preachers of satyashodhaks wore a turban, dhoti11 and a blanket, paired with drums in hand (bhadru, 2002, p. 852) which signified how they tried to subvert the norms of body through visibility, by wearing the respectable clothe those entitled to only the ‘upper castes’ against the half-naked body they were supposed to bear. of course, it would be possible to unconceal and reaffirm the unacknowledged merit or essence or personhood of precarious body(ies) and reallocate the recognizability through an artwork, but to reject the precarity in toto needs more than artwork; it needs activism, an organized movement and an institution – an interpersonal engagement. one of the significant works the satyashodhaks did was revolutionizing the idea of marriage. jotiba (phule, 1991a, p. 67) advises in one of his abhangas12 not to rely on the brahmin priests and instead to choose referees from one’s caste; from among juniors, seniors, and friends of both the parties in a marriage. jotiba advocated simple and inexpensive marriages between two parties having mutual affection, examining essential points, such as age and temperament. the couples should offer prayer to the only truth, i.e., god, the creator, garland each other and celebrate their marriage. jotiba also opposed child marriages and supported widow remarriages and inter-caste marriages. but what was the significance of the satyashodhak marriage? the brahminical marriage or partnership was not essentially about love or affection or celebration, or else it would not be limited by the boundary of endogamy. marriage under brahminism was about production of caste and caste lineage, and to maintain its historical continuity. marriage was another, yet most essential way, of reinforcing caste slavery on the shudras since it was only recognized as legitimate with the presence of priestcraft and remained a burden to the poor as it was conducted in the most expensive manner possible. jotiba phule (ibid., pp. 115-116) in his opinion, on a note by mr. b.m. malabari, on infant marriages wrote about the suffering of an infant girl in the process of marriage as she has no place which belongs to her, and is burdened with work and responsibilities from a young age, never taken care of, abused, deprived of education and employment, and vulnerable to premature deaths or forced to commit suicide a condition jotiba compared with the american slaves. jotiba phule (ibid., pp. 117118) also comments on enforced widowhood where a woman is again de-humanized, desexualized, forced to shave her head, improperly clothed and fed, not allowed to join any celebrations, marriages and religious ceremonies, stripped off ornaments, and also at times raped, and consequently shamed for having children. this targeted violence on women’s lives, sexuality, and personhood happens as part of custom, for the benefit, 11traditional indian men’s wearunstitched cloth wrapped round the legs in various styles. 12devotional poetry or hymns, literally translates as ‘non-ending’ or ‘flawless’. 40 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 pleasure, and the lust of the brahmins, and preserves the power of brahmin men over the sexuality of both ‘upper-caste’ women, as well as ‘lower-caste’ men and women, to perpetuate caste in every aspect of life, sexualness, and marriage. satyashodhak marriage was revolutionary as it offered choice to people to marry; it introduced the concept of love and affection into their lives, thus gave them an agency to express their personhood independently. they believed a true partnership could not be established upon the foundation of violence and subordination. and to achieve that jotiba influenced and made associations of the oppressed across castes and genders to help liberate them from compelled servitude to the brahmins / upper castes and brahminical causes, as written in dharmasutras and manusmriti that ambedkar (1990, pp. 52-54) has exposed, which was the only way shudrahood was constituted. for example, satyashodhak couples educated and organized a protest of the nai (barbers) caste against shaving heads of women who lost their husbands (bhadru, 2002, pp. 849-850). jotiba’s son, yashwant, was also married the satyashodhak way. when we can think through friedrich engels’s (1902) origin of family, institutionalized relationships, vis-à-vis marriage, and also through feminist discourses and scholarships around the same, we can understand how these very institutions have been imagined upon women’s subordination and accumulation of private property. but within the hierarchy of caste, the ‘lower castes’ are majorly and traditionally deprived of superfluous wealth, and the social and religious rights to achieve it (phule, 1991b, p. 20). while jotiba to ambedkar and present feminist scholarships are in consensus that within the brahminical social system marriage is a tool of women’s oppression, still on the solution line, their paths diverge. a minority voice, especially of trans*-queer persons, has called for abolition of the institution of marriage which the mainstream discourse has failed to recognize. on the other hand, while the right to love, the right to desire is not allowed to ‘lower castes’ and other marginalized sections, even in today’s time, we remember many couples, like shankar and kausalya, pranay and amrutha, who endeavoured to marry of their choice outside their castes and were brutally murdered or subjected to brutal violence (bbc, 2018), while many others waged legal battles to achieve their right to love and marry, like hadiya and shafin (chandrachud, 2018). many have called for inter-caste, inter-faith marriages, and alternative institutionalized forms of marriages like the ‘self-respect marriage movement’ of e. v. ramasamy periyar, and ‘satyashodhak marriages’ which were materialized to dismantle the brahminical form of marriage that is rooted in the idea of oppression. the question stands: could individual and autonomous partnerships based on love, choice, and freedom without having the institution of and around marriage be as revolutionary in achieving the personhood of the shudras? can we do away with institutions altogether, as some have argued in today’s time? could jotiba have done so? to find an answer to this, one must revisit the historical discontinuity that happened to the truth-value of marriage by the satyashodhaks and how they achieved it. historical discontinuity and the emergence of the new performative marriage is essentially an ontological truth a truth in itself. it is an ontological truth especially because it is not a physical truth; one cannot prove through their body or through their sensory motors that they are married. yet by pronouncing fracturing the historical continuity on truth: jotiba phule in the quest 41 words / mantras, which are called mangalashtake, making promises one actually lives the life of a married person, obligated to fulfil all the promises they made during the marriage ceremony, bound by the fundamental ideology and norms of it, even without any corporeal transformation. looking through the lens of austin’s (1962) ‘performativity’, a marriage even though unverifiable, is an ontological truth because through the ceremony and rituals the truth of marriage happens in essence. however, in the brahminical form of marriage there is a ritual coercion; it did not have absolute participation and thus it lacked the very essence or truth value. brahminic form of marriage was based on the idea of a certain kind of survivability in the brahminical social structure which actually faced a historical challenge and discontinuity by the satyashodhak marriage where truth was perceived as beyond survivability; in participation. the satyashodhak marriage can be considered a new performative if not a unique performative as it does not exist in the singularity of the event, even if the first marriage is unique in history, it is still part of ‘iterability’, as derrida (1988) puts it, of the very event. even the first satyashodhak marriage belongs to the structural repetition of it, thus it is not unique, but new as it brings a novelty to the idea of marriage and a new identity around that discourse. the satyashodhak marriage happened as a new performative due to both historical crisis in the social structure and loss of personhood under brahminism; also, with the need and scope for creating a new exceptional identity, a conscious identity which is historically specific marking a discontinuity in the flow of history. and this is the derridean notion that ‘iteration’/ repetition produces legitimacy to the exceptional identity through the discourse of that identity as it suggests the production of a range of the same act, and, thus, the continuity of the discourse of the identity from where the identity was produced through the historical discontinuity. this discourse against the brahminical norms and a solid exceptional anti-brahminic identity would be impossible without the institution of marriage, without its structural repetition without it being performative. performativity of marriage and shudra personhood despite lacking the essence of truth, the brahminic form of marriage survived because of the institutional force backing the foundation of the marriage and the promises made during the ceremony. be it priest-craft, institutions like family, temple, and panchayat,13 which embodied the brahminical ideology, enacted promises, the utterances. similarly, there are certain wishes and promises14 made by the bride and groom during a satyashodhak marriage by making certain performative utterances, such as to show love and devotion to each other, to honour, respect and care for each other and everything created by god, to not discriminate on the basis of caste, race, religion or gender, to respect the dignity of labour and hard work, to not be superstitious, and pursue health, wealth and wisdom with the use of rationality to beget a new generation. the bride demands love, partnership and equality in status from the groom, and the groom, in turn, promises to educate his wife, to be sweet, loving and calm in his behaviour. he also promises honour, dignity and respect for her and to the society and country, and with such utterances of these promises a marriage is solemnised. 13village governing structure 14see simple marriages, in maharashtra andhashraddha nirmoolan samiti. retrieved september 18, 2020, from https://antisuperstition.org/simple-marriages/ 42 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 if we think closely, these promises and wishes are fundamental in achieving the personhood of the shudras. these promises and wishes are essential as they hold an obligation to truth. how would one and the community subvert brahminical norms and values, if they were not guided by the principles and obligation to those principles? it is especially the obligation to live to the ontological truth that is marriage, which guides the shudras to act despite the age long slavery and precarity, wherein women are the most vulnerable. these are the performative promises and wishes, producing a sense of obligation, that make marriage an action truth. the bride and groom must actualize the promises and wishes if not immediately throughout their lives. and this is where the body goes through an intangible, incorporeal transformation giving rise to a new sense of personhood. and that very event marks the socio-political transformation of the subject-hood of the shudras, as it creates a new relationship between the person and the world. on achieving collective personhood to continue this argument, even though the performative promises and wishes stand as an obligation to the truth of marriage, it does not have any truth value to itself. they do not have any verifiability; if anything goes wrong with the performatives, the marriage does not falsify; instead, it turns into an unpleasant marriage or, as austin (1962) observes, an ‘infelicitous act’. thus, marriage is not merely a communication, between both parties, or between subjects and the world, but it is an institutional form of communication where there exists a mastery over that communication through the process of structural repetition. this is the derridean notion of structural repetition which gives meaning to marriage and guides or intentionally controls the performative promises and wishes through institutions. the institutions are essential to persuade others through communication to make a collective to continue the structural repetition. for example, chhatrapati shahu ji maharaj of kolhapur reportedly organized 200 satyashodhak marriages without brahmin priests in 1912, 266 in 1913, and 299 in 1914 (omvedt, 1976). the institutions of and around marriages turn individual actions and marriages into a collective action give birth to a collective responsibility and a collective voice. thus, a collective personhood can also be achieved through that singularized moment of truth between two individuals. so, the collective force is rudimentary in guiding through the incorporeal transformation that happens through the singularized act; to enact the speech of promises and wishes rather than leaving it to the possibility of being rhetoric. this is why i assert that satyashodhak marriage by the satyashodhak samaj was not an unthoughtful choice, instead it was an essential condition in achieving the shudra personhood as a collective in the most possible sense. among one of the satyashodhak marriages, is the marriage of balaji kusaji patil’s son of junar village: the brahmin priest denied recognizing the marriage and declared it void as it happened in his absence (joshi, 1992). in another instance a barber family in talegaon village was socially boycotted for performing satyashodhak marriage (ibid, pp. 53-54). in yet another instance, jotiba’s friend gyanoba sasane wished to marry kasabi the satyashodhak way, but faced threats and abuses from his immediate family, and the shudra villagers (hanlon, 1985, pp. 241-42). in all of the three instances, we can understand that satyashodhak marriages brought to the fore a sense of visibility of the anti-brahminic movement. the satyashodhak marriage is fracturing the historical continuity on truth: jotiba phule in the quest 43 essentially a public performance of subverted act to assert the right to autonomous personhood of people who have been denied it. it is an act of self-visibility by those who historically had appearance, but not visibility. it is not about having mere speech, but a voice of those who were socially silenced. it is about asserting sexual rights by people who were either desexualized / hypersexualized or sexually governed. the satyashodhak marriage, which argued previously to bring some incorporeal transformation, now appears to have brought also some bodily change or movement like the sexual rights and freedom of the shudras, right to desires and its governance, independent performance rights and their voice. this is why i call it a historical discontinuity on truth to liberate truth from the deception or untruth of the brahmins; a new truth about the body and self. people discovered and performed such alliances by discontinuing themselves from the historical (un)truth about themselves. the rejection of precarity through performance, visibility, voice and essentialization of rights to autonomous personhood has a risk of heightened precarity. as we see, in all these given cases the claim for autonomous personhood constantly faces the threat of violence. this is why institutions and collectives are an essential part of such performance of protest. in the first case the brahmins had filed a court case against patil for impinging on their rights. the lower court ruled against patil initially, but subsequently the higher court ruled in his favour. in the second case, jotiba advised the barber to discontinue his services to the brahmins, and in the third case, jotiba wrote to ranjan lingu, a lawyer from pune and a satyashodhak member for his help. with lingu’s help police protection was given to sasane to conduct his marriage. this leads us to wonder how institutions of law and police enter the sphere of marriage, what is their value or authority over marriage, what is their role in subversion? this also raises another question: if marriage without priest-craft is invalid as the brahmins assert, does marriage without legal institutions and police become invalid too? we have both yes and no as answers. yes, because without the law ruling in favour of patil, the significance of marriage would be questioned as it would be challenged and threatened by violence from forces which are external to law and police. no, because many marriages also happened without facing legal judgments, thus it makes a statement that even if a court ruled against it, the collective force and institutions backing the marriage would still protest for the rights even without having rights to bring subversion in the norms of law. law and police as external institutions could only defend and justify the act of marriage as authorities, but the otherwise would make law another entity against shudra personhood, and the protest would continue. thus, the public performance of independent marriage appears as a protest, i.e., marrying to have the right to be married independently. if we correctly analyze the situation where brahmins expected law to be governing and restrictive of the shudra freedom and personhood, still the law entered the satyashodhak marriages in a different way. we will understand how, through the movement, the satyashodhak redefined law as not something to govern and restrict, but to change and protect the marginalized sections and their interests. such an idea moves law towards a new definition, away from how law is understood as something rigid, bounding, governing, dictating within brahminism (e.g., manu’s law) towards something where law enters into the discursive realm. it is also very interesting to note how these subversive acts enter into the discursive flow of law, policy and politics, and challenge the normative due to the iterability of the performance this is where the path for the structural subversion begins and jotiba and the satyashodhaks must 44 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 be credited for leading the path for subversion in structure. such an idea about law and politics later materialized and has been manifested in the works of anti-caste thinkers and activists like ambedkar and kanshiram. numerous marriages with the help of chhatrapati shahu ji maharaj and all other satyashodhaks across maharashtra stand as evidence of how the subversion of hegemonic brahminical norms can reproduce new norms, new institutions to achieve the collective personhood. conclusion i took two events from the art and activism of jotiba and tried to understand how his work brought about a form of historical discontinuity in truth by first, reaffirming essence and personhood to a precarious body; and second, rejecting precarity in achieving full potential of personhood as a collective. while both goals are opposite to each other, still they are in congruence. and this paradox of opposite goals being in continuity, simultaneously brings out the essence of jotiba’s life: the certain truth about it, his own precarious life for being born as a shudra and rejection of precarity, and how the second followed the first one, yet it was simultaneous. this paradox can only happen to certain bodies or subjects as their identity and life is produced in the moment of a structural crisis in history an exceptional moment when one lives both the life of precarity and quest for truth and emancipation at once simultaneously and together. that moment itself we can think of as the moment of truth happening because no other moment in history can make such a paradox in life happen where life continues within the social structure and challenges it at the same time. in that very historical moment because that moment is a rupture, a discontinuity and breakthrough – in that moment truth emerges from its invisibility into visibility, to be unconcealed to its full potential, it makes the world aware about its existence and essence, it makes way to enhance the full potential of personhood of human beings. these are merely two events from jotiba’s life and work, but his work of personhood goes beyond these events. one can analyze from any moment of his life and truth will follow thereafter. this method of research is necessary to save social sciences from the binary between banality and essence, which jotiba himself advocated through his poem on the peasant woman we discussed. in this paper, i have tried to use jotiba’s methodology of discovering essence in the banal life of the peasant woman to argue, similarly, that the banality about jotiba’s life is also what is essential about him. not because he is an essential figure in our history already, but because our ability to look through the banality or everydayness of his life and find essence in them is what makes him, in turn, an essential figure in history. jotiba’s everyday, yet exceptional work on education of women, the shudras and the ati-shudras, work against child marriage, female infanticide, widow remarriage, and opening of infanticide prevention centre, widow homes, etc., are other examples of his relentless work towards making liveable the lives of those who were not considered as human as others. the idea of personhood is linked to many rights, such as right to live one’s gender, right to sexual freedom, right to education, right to love and to be loved, and the right to achieve full potential as a human being. jotiba created a collective consciousness through cultural education, the legacy which was taken up by ambedkar and many other anti-caste philosophers and activists. i must say, jotiba himself is a fracture in the movement of historical continuity of brahminism. fracturing the historical continuity on truth: jotiba phule in the quest 45 references ambedkar, b. r. 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(1978). tropics of discourse: essays in cultural criticism. baltimore: johns hopkins university press, pp. 81-100. — (1980). the value of narrativity in the representation of reality. critical inquiry, 7(1). chicago, il: university of chicago press, pp. 5-27. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 01–16 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.172 © 2020 amit thorat et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste persisting prejudice: measuring attitudes and outcomes by caste and gender in india amit thorat1, nazar khalid2, nikhil srivastav3, payal hathi4, dean spears5 and diane coffey61 abstract nearly seventy years after india adopted one of the most progressive constitutions in the world ensuring equality for all its citizens irrespective of caste, class, race, and gender, the mind-set of its vast majority indian remains steeped in gender and caste bias. results from a new telephonic survey confirm persistence of conservative gender and caste attitudes in indian society. high proportions of men and women across all social groups disapprove of women working outside their homes, consider it ‘acceptable for husbands to beat their wives’, and would object to relatives marrying a dalit person. analyzing data from the national family health survey and the india human development survey, it has been found that outcomes associated with these attitudes are even more conservative: a smaller fraction of women work than those who feel it is okay to step out of the house for work; a larger fraction of women experience violence in marriage than men who consider marital violence acceptable, and an even smaller fraction of people have inter-caste marriages than people who say they would not oppose such an alliance. an overwhelming majority is opposed to an inter-caste marriage with a dalit in the family. with a few exceptions, the attitudes and outcomes we studied vary, surprisingly, little by respondent gender, caste, and religion. dr. ambedkar’s legacy is indeed unfinished–people from all backgrounds must continue to work for the equality and dignity of women and dalits. keywords gender, domestic violence, inter-caste marriage, religion, attitudes, india 1centre for the study of regional development, jawaharlal nehru university, delhi 2department of demography, university of pennsylvania, philadelphia 3lbj school of public affairs, university of texas, austin, austin 4departments of demography & sociology, university of california, berkeley, 5population research center & department of economics, university of texas, austin 6population research center & department of sociology, university of texas, austin corresponding author: thorat a. e-mail: amithorat@gmail.com 2 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 introduction in his 1951 resignation speech, dr. b.r. ambedkar explains that he was leaving the cabinet because neither the constituent assembly nor the prime minister would support his draft of the hindu code bill. dr. ambedkar’s draft of the bill would have abolished the caste system, provided legal recognition for inter-caste marriages, and allowed women to divorce their husbands and inherit property. in the speech, he states: “to leave inequality between class and class, between sex and sex, which is the soul of hindu society untouched and to go on passing legislation relating to economic problems is to make a farce of our constitution and to build a palace on a dung heap. this is the significance i attached to the hindu code.” unfortunately, the ‘dung heap’ to which dr. ambedkar refers still exists today. despite his struggle for equality and dignity of dalits and women, caste and gender discrimination are widespread. exactly how deep is the heap? there are many ways of answering this question. one way is by studying the lived experience of dalits and women. personal accounts help us understand what discrimination and prejudice mean to people who experience it.1 another way is by quantitatively describing the outcomes of discriminatory social processes: how many women are part of the paid labor force? how many experience violence in their marriages? how many marriages are inter-caste? a third way of understanding discrimination is to ask people to report their attitudes towards marginalized groups. in this paper, we present novel results from a social attitudes phone survey and analyze whether attitudes about women and dalits differ by gender, caste, and religion. this way of measuring discrimination is less common, but makes valuable contributions to our understanding of the discriminatory processes. some social scientists may argue that when outcomes are measured attitudinal data has little to add to studies of discrimination. however, we see several benefits of using attitudinal data to complement analysis of outcomes. first, it allows us to learn directly from those who discriminate or perpetrate violence. for example, men who beat their wives might be more likely to say that they think that abuse is acceptable even if they will not admit to doing it themselves. further, attitudinal data allows us to assess how much support or opposition those who try to change the status quo might face. for example, if social approval for marrying outside one’s caste is low, from within and outside one’s family (rajadesingan et al, 2019), inter-caste couples may face difficulties getting legal approval for their weddings, or finding a place to live. moreover, outcomes will continue to be adverse so long as attitudes persist. once we understand the nature and extent of people perceptions, we can then try and think of interventions and policy tools to change or mitigate social perceptions and mindsets. this paper focuses on three attitude-outcome pairs of indicators: 1. what proportion of women work for pay and whether people think women should work for pay; 2. what proportion of women experience physical violence at the hands of their husbands and whether people think it is acceptable for a husband to beat his wife; and 3. what proportion of people have inter-caste marriages and whether people say they would object if their relative were to marry someone from a dalit caste. for each of these pairs, responses to the attitude question cannot be seen as a direct comment on the outcomes that we study. they however reflect the prevalent persisting prejudice: measuring attitudes and outcomes... 3 mindscape of social attitudes. the questions, which are discussed below, ask about something slightly different than the outcome. despite these differences, analyzing these attitude-outcome pairs presents the opportunity to reflect on how attitudes towards women and dalits remain extremely conservative, and how outcomes often change in spite of stated attitudes. many india observers have expected changes in social and inter-personal attitudes to follow from the country’s path of economic development. yet, as dr. ambedkar had observed almost seventy years ago, economic policies alone will not bring equality and dignity for women and dalits. although india has been on the path of economic growth--opening up its closed economy and transforming it into a liberal global one-it is clear that much work remains to be done to end patriarchy and caste discrimination. dr. ambedkar’s legacy is yet unfinished. data, measures, and methods categorization of social groups with some modification, we follow the india human development survey’s (ihds) categorization of social groups (desai et al., 2012) for within-india comparisons. the ihds categorizes indian population as brahmin, forward caste, other backward class (obc), dalit (scheduled caste or sc), adivasi (scheduled tribe or st), muslim, christian, or other. in the ihds, brahmins, forward castes, and obcs are largely hindu. muslims and christians of any caste background are considered muslim or christian. we note that ihds did collect caste categories for muslims and christians, but suggests this grouping for some analyses. the social attitudes data we use is from a mobile phone survey called social attitudes research, india (sari). because sari’s sample sizes are not large enough to analyze people from religious groups other than hindus and muslims, we have modified the ihds categorizations as follows. this, in both the nfhs and sari data, we look at: ● scheduled castes (only hindus) ● scheduled tribes (hindu or muslim) ● other backward classes (hindu) ● general caste (hindu) ● muslim (all castes) we note that for international comparisons, we use data on all of india, including christians, sikhs, and people of other religions. people belonging to religions other than hinduism and islam make up only about five percent of the indian population. the social attitudes research, india (sari) survey sari is a mobile phone survey designed by the authors to collect data from adults, ages 18 to 65. data were collected in delhi, uttar pradesh, rajasthan, mumbai, maharashtra, bihar, and jharkhand between 2016 and 2018. respondents in each of these samples were interviewed by a person of the same sex. during the period in which interviews were being conducted in mumbai, there were no marathi speaking 4 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 interviewers on the sari team. therefore, no women were interviewed in mumbai. for this reason, the mumbai sample has not been used for our study. sari uses random digit dialing, a method that is common for recruitment of representative phone survey samples. in each place-specific mobile circle in india, the department of telecommunications issues a certain number of five-digit ‘series’ to each phone company to use as the first five digits of the phone numbers they provide to consumers. sari generates potentially active phone numbers for interviewers by concatenating the five-digit series (listed in proportion to the number of subscribers to that phone company) with five randomly generated digits to form 10-digit mobile phone numbers. surveyors call these numbers in a random order. approximately half of the phone numbers generated in this way are active, as opposed to not in use, switched off, or unreachable. at the beginning of the call, the interviewer asks the person who answers the phone to list all of the men or women in the household (depending on the sex of the respondent who is supposed to be interviewed). survey respondents are selected randomly from the household listing by qualtrics software. within-household respondent selection ensures that even individuals who do not own their own mobile phones have a chance to be interviewed. in delhi, uttar pradesh, rajasthan, bihar, and jharkhand, most respondents take the survey in hindi. however, some respondents choose to take the survey in local languages. surveyors who speak marwari, bagdi, maithili, and bhojpuri interviewed respondents who did not speak hindi. women were more likely to be interviewed in local languages than men. in maharashtra, most respondents answered in marathi, but some chose to take the survey in hindi. since individuals from some demographic groups are more likely to respond to the survey than others, we weight our results using statistical weights created from the population data for the state of rajasthan provided in the 2011 india census. weights account for the intersection of sex, place (i.e. urban/rural), education, and age. table 1 gives details about the period when the sari survey was done in each place, and the sample sizes of men and women from the social groups studied in this paper.2 because this paper is interested in differences by social group, we restrict the data to the afore-mentioned groups. sample sizes for other social groups are too small to draw reliable conclusions in the sari data. response rates for the sari survey range from about 20-25 percent across the six places we study. these response rates are of course much lower than for face to face surveys in india. to put the response rates in context, a study of the pew research center’s 2012 phone surveys in the us found an average response rate of nine percent (kohut et al., 2012). thus, response rates for sari are quite high. as long as (conditional on sex, place, education, and age) those who answer the survey do not have different views than those who do not answer, the sample will accurately represent the population. table 1 also shows the percentage of households in nfhs that had mobile phones in 2015. this information is included to show that although some households were not included in the sampling frame because they lacked a mobile phone, the vast majority were. further, the nfhs was conducted over a two-year period, allowing us to observe that households interviewed later in time within the same states were more likely to own a mobile phone. for instance, in bihar, where data were collected over six months in 2015, households interviewed in the last month were nearly four percentage points more likely to have a mobile phone than households interviewed in the first month. persisting prejudice: measuring attitudes and outcomes... 5 this suggests that coverage would have continued to increase after 2015, and would have been substantially higher when sari data were collected. table 1: details of sari data collection sample sizes state year men women total % hh level mobile coverage in nfhs-2015 delhi 2016 685 593 1278 98 up 2016 746 752 1498 92 rajasthan 2017 1570 1705 3275 94 bihar 2018 1442 1980 3422 90 jharkhand 2018 434 521 955 83 maharashtra 2018 906 687 1593 90 total 12021 further information about survey design and data collection, as well as the strategies we use to reduce non-sampling error, can be found in coffey et al. (2018) and in the online survey documentation (r.i.c.e., 2017). the demographic & health surveys and the national family health survey 2015 the demographic and health surveys (dhs) are an international collaboration between usaid and governments and research institutions in low and middle income countries. since the 1970s, the dhs have measured health, fertility, mortality, and gender empowerment. because many low and middle income countries lack vital registration systems, the dhs provide the most reliable measures of fertility and mortality for some countries. the dhs data are publicly available at www. dhsprogram.com. the international comparisons in this paper use the most recent dhs for each country shown in figures 1 and 3. because the dhs uses many of the same questions in every country, the results are comparable across countries. we used the dhs statcompiler (https://www.statcompiler.com/) to compute the fraction of women in the labour force and who experienced marital violence in each country. the same sample restrictions apply to each country. for the fraction of women who are working in the last twelve months, all women (ages 15-49) are included regardless of whether or not they are married. for the fraction that experienced marital violence in the last 12 months, only married women (ages 15-49) are included. india’s dhs is called the national family health survey (nfhs). the nfhs was last collected in 2015 (iips & ifc, 2017) and is representative at the district level for many variables. it is a multi-stage, clustered survey that collects a number of variables related to health and nutrition, including height, weight, communicable and non-communicable disease, and hiv prevalence. it also collects a number of variables relating to women’s status, including their education, work, economic situations, decision-making power, and experiences of physical, sexual, and emotional violence. the nfhs 2015 collected data on work for 122,351 women (ages 15-49), and data on 6 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 experiences of physical violence for 66,013 women in the same age group who were married at the time of the survey. this includes women from all social groups. the india human development survey, 2011 the india human development survey (ihds) is a nationally representative, clustered, multi-stage panel survey of over 42,000 households which was conducted in 2005 and 2012 (desai et al., 2012). it is a joint undertaking of the national council for applied economic research (ncaer) and the university of maryland. this is the only panel in india that collects data on household incomes and consumption expenditure amongst data on many health and social welfare indicators. it has a number of novel measures of women’s status and caste prejudice. the data are publicly available at https://ihds. umd.edu/data-download. this paper uses data on married women from hindu and muslim backgrounds. there are 39,523 such women in the data. measurement of gender and caste outcomes and attitudes we analyze three measures of outcomes, and three corresponding measures of attitudes. the outcomes are measured by the nfhs and ihds and the attitudes are measured by the sari survey. table 2 enlists each question along with sample description and the response options. although it is not noted in table 2, the aforementioned sample restrictions with respect to categorization of social groups apply i.e., for withinindia analyses, we drop individuals who do not fit into anyone of the social groups described above. table 2: questions on gender outcomes and attitudes question sample description for within-india analyses response options outcomes (nfhs & ihds) (nfhs) have you done any work in the last 12 months? women ages 15-49 in all states yes no (nfhs) [in the last 12 months,] did your husband ever: push you, shake you, or throw something at you? twist your arm or pull your hair? slap you? punch you with his fist or with something that could hurt you? kick you, drag you, or beat you up? try to choke you or burn you on purpose? threaten or, attack you with a knife, gun, or any other weapon? married women ages 15-49 in all states yes no (ihds) is your husband’s family the same caste as your natal family? married women ages 15-49 in all states yes no persisting prejudice: measuring attitudes and outcomes... 7 attitudes (sari) in your opinion, should a married woman, whose husband earns a good living, work outside the home or not? adults ages 1865 in delhi, up, bihar, jharkhand, maharashtra, rajasthan yes, she should work no, she should not work do you think it is right for a husband to beat his wife or not? adults ages 18-65 in bihar, jharkhand, maharashtra yes no if a close relative or someone in your family married someone from a dalit caste would you oppose it or not? adults ages 1865 in delhi, up, bihar, jharkhand, maharashtra, rajasthan yes, i would oppose it/ no, i would not oppose it methods figures showing comparisons of outcomes in india to other countries present weighted proportions. figures showing intra-india comparisons present ninety-five percent confidence intervals for proportions in order to assess whether outcomes and attitudes are statistically significant by subgroup. for both of nfhs and ihds, we rely on the asymptotic normality of the large sample to compute clustered standard errors using an identity link function. for sari, which has a smaller sample and is not clustered but instead is interpreted as a weighted simple sample, we compute standard errors using a logit link function. all results use population weights. for the sari analyses, we construct population weights for the region of states for which a particular question was asked. results women’s work and movement outside home 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 ye m en jo rd an pa ki st an er itr ea in di a ta jik ist an ky rg yz r ep ub lic ba ng la de sh ti m or -l es te so ut h af ric a co m or os le so th o m oz am bi qu e ka za kh st an m al di ve s n am ib ia g ua te m al a ha iti u zb ek is ta n do m in ic an r ep ub lic tu rk m en ist an m ol do va m al i in do ne si a n ep al n ig er ia pe ru bo liv ia an go la co te d 'iv oi re si er ra l eo ne ca m bo di a g ui ne a u ga nd a bu rk in a fa so ce nt ra l a fr ic an r ep ub lic bu ru nd i m ad ag as ca r la bo r fo rc e pa rt ic ip at io n (% o f s ur ve ye d w om en r ep or tin g) fig. 1: women’s labour force participation in india compared with other countries data source: demographic and health surveys statcompiler. 8 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 figure 1 shows the proportion of women in india who worked in the 12 months preceding the survey as compared to their counterparts in other countries according to recent dhs. although different ways of estimating women’s labour force participation will yield slightly different results, the overall take-away is similar to that of the papers we reviewed in the introduction section: in india, women labour force participation is low as compared to other countries. only about a quarter of women worked in the year before the survey. the fact that three quarters of women or seventy five percent did not work suggests large economic losses, as well as a general environment of restrictions on women’s mobility and financial freedom. the work participation rate for women, as it stands now is part of a declining trend. it was thirty five percent in 2011 and now stands at around twenty three, placing india at the 12th position from the bottom in world rankings. does the proportion of women who work vary by social group? the presence of women in the labour force across social groups is depicted in figure 2. on the whole the rates of participation are higher amongst hindu women as compared to muslim women. if we look at the differences in a regression framework, the difference in the proportion of women who work is greater when we account for the fact that muslims are more likely to live in urban areas. amongst hindus, they are higher for obcs, scs, and sts than general caste women as well as muslim women. fig. 2: women’s labour force participation by indian social groups data source: national family health survey, 2015. sari states are delhi, up, bihar, jharkhand, maharashtra, and rajasthan. after controlling for urban residence, we find that obc hindu women do not have statistically significantly different labour force participation than their general caste hindu sisters, but the differences between sc and st women and general caste hindu women are substantial. still, the raw rates of around forty percent for obcs and scs are lower than that of nepal, where more than half of women work. participation rates for st women too are substantially higher, at approximately sixty percent. this is consistent with the prior literature discussed in the introduction section. we note persisting prejudice: measuring attitudes and outcomes... 9 that levels of women’s work in the sari states are similar to that in india as a whole. women from socially and economically marginalized communities such as the sc (dalits), st (adivasis) have had little choice but to work for wages, to supplement household incomes. this disadvantage is then visible, despite the observed secular fall in women’s work participation rates (afridi et al., 2016), in the context of rising unemployment and slowing down of new jobs being generated, in falling but still higher work participation rates of st and sc women. fig. 3: attitude towards women’s labor force participation by indian social group data source: sari (delhi, up, bihar, jharkhand, maharashtra, and rajasthan) how do attitudes towards women’s work vary by social group? we note that many women from marginalized backgrounds work outside their homes due to economic necessity. however, the attitude question asked in the sari survey refers to women whose husbands earn well. figure 3 suggests that overall about half of adults say that women whose husbands earn well should not work outside home. there are, however, some statistically detectable differences by gender and social group. except for obc, for all groups, men in general have higher level of opposition to women’s work outside home. muslim men and women and general caste men have the highest levels of opposition to women working outside home. sc men and women, obc men and women, and st men have statistically similar levels of opposition, which are lower than muslims and general caste men, but higher than general caste women and st women. the only groups for which there is a gender gap in opposition to women’s work outside are in the general castes and sts. when examined side by side figure 2 and figure 3 look almost like mirror images of each other, indicating groups where there is higher opposition to women working outside in case their husbands earn enough are also the ones that show lower level of female work participation rates. there is also some regional variation in attitudes towards women’s work: people in maharashtra are less likely to disapprove of women working outside their homes than people in jharkhand and bihar. persisting prejudice: measuring attitudes and outcomes... 11 all other groups. compared to other groups, general caste women are between five and ten percentage points less likely to report experiencing violence. also, levels of physical violence in marriage are similar in the sari states of bihar, jharkhand, and maharashtra and in all of india. fig. 6: attitudes towards marital violence suffered by women across indian social groups data source: sari (bihar, jharkhand, and maharashtra) figure 6 shows the proportion of men and women in bihar, jharkhand, and maharashtra who say that it is acceptable for a husband to beat his wife. although data for all three states is clubbed, it is observed that the proportion of people who say it is acceptable is significantly higher in bihar than in jharkhand or maharashtra. in each state, between ten and fifteen percent of both men and women say that it is acceptable. surprisingly, there are neither any statistically significant differences in the percentage of men and women who consider marital violence acceptable, nor are there statistically significant differences across social groups. it is also notable that a smaller proportion of men say that it is acceptable for a husband to beat his wife than married women who say that they have experienced violence in marriage. this indicates that it is likely that lesser number of men and women acknowledge violence being acceptable than actually the case might be. at the same time lesser number of women accept facing violence by husbands, than actually might be the case. inter-caste marriages consistent with the prior literature cited in the introductory section, figure 7 uses ihds data to show that only about five per cent of married women in our study are in inter-caste marriages i.e. their husbands’ families do not belong to the same caste as that of their parents. there is little variation across marital families of different social groups. we note that women who report inter-caste marriages may or may not belong to the broad category that they are grouped into here. inter-caste marriages could be marriages across, say st and general, or they could be marriages across sub-jatis 12 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 (sub-castes or sub-groups) within a broad caste category. they are more likely to be within the same broad group but across different sub-groups. fig. 7: proportion of women who have had an inter-caste marriage data source: india human development survey. sari states are delhi, uttar pradesh, rajasthan, maharashtra, bihar, and jharkhand. the number of women in inter-caste marriages is quite low considering that the woman herself would have defined what it meant for her own natal family to be of a different caste than her husband’s family. it is also likely that most of the inter-caste marriages mentioned here are not marriages between dalits and non-dalits. as we discuss below, future studies could expand the existing literature by asking which caste or sub-caste the woman’s natal family belonged to. figure 8 shows the proportion of men and women in each social group who report that they would object if a relative wanted to marry a dalit person. we do not include dalits in this analysis because they were not asked this question. there are not large differences across social groups in the proportion who say that they would object to a relative marrying a dalit. in every social group, women are more likely to report that they would object than men, but the differences are not statistically significant when the data are broken up by social groups. statistical significance in part depends on sample size; when the data are not broken up by social group (so the sample size is larger), women respondents are statistically significantly more likely to say they would object if a relative wanted to marry a dalit person. this may be because they are actually more caste conservative, or it may be because they are less aware that saying that they would object could be considered a socially undesirable answer. among women, the proportion is approximately seventy percent while it is about sixty percent among men. persisting prejudice: measuring attitudes and outcomes... 13 fig. 8: attitudes towards inter-caste marriage: proportion who disapprove of a relative marrying a dalit data source: sari (delhi, uttar pradesh, rajasthan, maharashtra, bihar, jharkhand this level of opposition to inter-caste marriage is quite disturbing as these perceptions are seen to be common across caste and religious identities. this lead us to the question whether this is internalization of the idea of purity and pollution across religious and caste norms and beliefs, or is it akin to a form of socially desirable normative behaviour? discussion and future research other studies have observed the gender and caste outcomes for which we present results. for instance, ray et al., 2017 note the low proportion of inter-caste marriages and find that inter-caste marriage is more likely to occur if the mother-in-law of the bride is more educated. several recent studies have documented india’s low and declining female labour force participation (chatterjee et al., 2015; afridi et al., 2016; klasen, 2017). kishor & gupta (2004), among others, have noted the high rates of violence that women in india face in their marriages. what is novel about this study is the pairing of outcomes with social attitudes measured in the telephonic survey. the first thing that emerges from the new data is that stated attitudes towards women and dalits are still quite conservative and do not seem to be abating at the rate we would hope for. the mismatch between attitudes and outcomes is not very large. however, stated attitudes are not as conservative as outcomes imply. it is difficult to know exactly how to interpret the mismatch between outcomes and attitudes. why do fewer women work than men, and why do fewer women than men say it is acceptable for a woman to work? one reason might be that even if a person has privately more liberal views, it is difficult to act on them until they are 14 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 more widely shared due to social and economic costs on acting upon them. if women who consider working outside their homes, or people who are considering inter-caste marriages face social policing by conservative people in their networks, and they don’t have much support by way of economic and personal state protection, then they may not act on their more liberal attitudes. social desirability bias is almost certainly part of the explanation for the mismatch between attitudes and outcomes. especially for attitudes around violence, it makes sense that some people who engage in violence would not be willing to admit it to an interviewer. other research from the sari data has discussed social desirability in reported attitudes and pointed to avenues for further research (hathi et al., 2020a; hathi et al., 2020b). another difficulty in interpreting a comparison of the outcome survey and the attitude survey is that they were done at different points in time. however, this is perhaps less of a concern in this context than others because there is evidence from other research that rates of women’s labour force participation and that of inter-caste marriages are changing slowly. there is less research on trends in marital violence against women. we hope that the fact that there is less approval for husbands beating their wives in the sari survey than actual reports of it in the nfhs means that such behavior has decreased in the intervening 3-4 years. however, we think it is not plausible that a three to four years time difference could explain the entire gap. a few directions for future research emerge from this study. first, it would be useful to better understand how the phone survey medium influences results. would it make a difference if attitudes were measured in face to face surveys? further data analysis could be done to better understand why rates of labour force participation are low for women. why do many general caste women say they support women working outside the home even though it is the group with the lowest labour force participation rate among women? is the fact that general caste women report experiencing less violence than women in other social groups a true difference, or due to differential reporting? the ihds and nfhs have a series of questions around the excuses that men might make for violence against women that would provide deeper understanding of violence in marriage. finally, the inter-caste marriage rate in the ihds was subjectively defined by the married woman. it would provide a clearer picture of discrimination against potential dalit partners to know how many marriages specifically between dalits and non dalits occur. despite the need for further research on all of the indicators we have included in this study, it is clear that prejudice against women and dalits remains persistently high, and that policies are needed to support those who digress from conservative social norms, either by choosing to work, choosing who they marry, or by leaving abusive partners. institutional review board approval the sari survey was reviewed and approved by the r.i.c.e institutional review board (nih #iorg0008721 under the name rice institute, inc.). persisting prejudice: measuring attitudes and outcomes... 15 references afridi, f., dinkelman, t., and mahajan, k. 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(1987). doing gender. gender & society, 1(2), 125-151 16 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 endnotes 1 see valmiki (2003); faustina (2014) 2 sample sizes in this paper differ from sample sizes given in other papers that use sari data because for these analyses we drop individuals who do not belong to the social groups described in the section on categorization of social groups. caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 193–214 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.143 © 2020 joseph k. assan et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste policy arena assessing the impact of public-private funded midday meal programs on the educational attainment and well-being of school children in uttar pradesh, india joseph k. assan1, laurence simon2, dinar d. kharisma3, afia a. adaboh4, nicola assan5 and abdullah al mamun61 abstract the provision of free midday meals at schools is considered to have the potential to enhance human dignity and facilitate equitable access to students from low socio-economic backgrounds, low social status (including caste), and poor households. the paper examines the impact of an internationally funded indian foundation’s midday meal (mdm) school feeding program on educational access, performance, participation, and well-being of the beneficiaries. our study has sampled students and teachers from predominantly dalit, lower caste, ethnic, and religious minority households within state-run schools in uttar pradesh, india’s most populous state with the largest number of poor people, as its unit of analysis. the study sought to evaluate the implementation of the mdm program in lucknow, the state capital, to ascertain whether the strategic program implementation protocols also ensure social inclusion and address various forms of discrimination commonly reported in the literature. the study revealed that students were satisfied with most of the indicators on implementation of the program, serving, and food satisfaction. nevertheless, we argue that the implementation process could benefit from a more integrated interagency coordination to address concerns regarding at-risk dalit, lower caste 1-4center for global development and sustainability, heller school for social policy and management, brandeis university, waltham, ma, usa 5salford business school, university of salford, salford, greater manchester, united kingdom 6school of international development and global studies, university of ottawa, ottawa, canada corresponding author: joseph k. assan email: 1joeassan@brandeis.edu 194 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 and marginalized children and improve sanitation and health facilities that are not directly associated with the mdm program. the study concludes that the foundation’s mdm programs could serve as a model for an inclusive and nondiscriminatory school feeding system where all children, will equally benefit with dignity. such an approach, we argue, could also enhance structural equity, youth development, and the attainment of the sdg targets in india. keywords india, uttar pradesh, midday meal, school feeding program, equity, well-being, social inclusion, dalit, sdgs. introduction improving and ensuring access to education for children from low social, economic, caste, ethnic, and other marginalized backgrounds has increased in importance in the academic and policy discourse. this view is also considered to be critical for the attainment of the key educational and human development/dignity targets of the united nations global sustainable development goals (sdgs). the provision of educational resources including school lunches to children from deprived and marginalized groups could have a significant impact on their educational performance, school participation, and socio-economic development (drake et al, 2017). drake et al. argue that such programs could gain 0.5-2.5 extra years in school and increase income and individuals’ future earning potential by five per cent (ibid). nevertheless, it is argued that the implementation of such programs by government and local agencies is, unfortunately, influenced by stereotypical norms used to reinforce discriminatory attitudes and values which then defeat their purpose. nakkeeran et al. (2020) provide an ethnographic analysis of how the pre-school supplementary nutrition program in india is fraught with institutional barriers and sociological processes that result in the exclusion of families and children from dalit, lower caste, ethnic and religious minority households from accessing these essential services. the purpose of this study is to conduct an assessment of the performance of an internationally funded indian foundation and non-government organization (ngo) as midday meal (mdm) school feeding program implementers in contributing to the programs’ objectives, including equal access to high-quality nutritious meals by children from dalit, lower caste, ethnic and religious minority, deprived and marginalized households with low social and economic status within public (government-funded) schools in lucknow, the capital of india’s most populous state of uttar pradesh. thorat (2020) argues that although the caste system seems to have diminished or waned in several aspects of societal life, some of its worst features persist. he refers to human development indicators such a per capita income, poverty, malnutrition, education, and assets ownership to illustrate the persistence of inter-caste inequalities and the practice of caste discrimination (ibid, 2020). in 2001, the supreme court of india mandated that all primary and upper primary school children in government-sponsored and partly sponsored schools shall be provided a midday meal. the school lunch program, popularly known as the midday meal program, was previously known as the ‘national program for nutrition support to primary education’ (np-nspe). it was piloted in 1960 in select states to alleviate assessing the impact of public-private funded midday meal programs 195 malnourishment and illiteracy, and has subsequently been expanded nationwide (chutani, 2012). its scope was also broadened to include children in upper primary school, thus, making it one of the largest food and nutrition assistance programs in the world (ibid, 2012). several international development organizations and foundations are partnering with the indian government through public-private partnerships schemes to achieve the objectives of this program. these include increasing school enrolment; increasing school attendance, reducing school dropout rate; and improving the performance of students in class with respect to attention span and academic progress, and finally to improve the nutritional status of participating school children. this paper offers conclusions in response to two cardinal research questions. first, we seek to ascertain whether the beneficiaries of the mdm program (participating schoolteachers and pupils) international and the world are satisfied with its delivery. second, whether the mdm scheme has achieved its primary objectives to increase the beneficiaries’ school participation and improve their nutritional status. the paper has five sections. section one outlines the aims and scope of the study, as well as a brief synthesis of previous studies on the mdm scheme whilst section two, outlines the methodology and the analytical processes employed to examine the empirical data. sections three and four present the results of the bivariate and multivariate analysis for both teachers and students while section five examines the findings to provide the study’s conclusions and strategic recommendations. the overarching goal of mdm, as outlined by the indian government, is to reduce malnutrition among children of school-going age and improve school enrolment and attendance. these goals, as well as others in the core objectives of the program, are outlined by chutani (2012) in seven cardinal issues: the program seeks to improve the nutritional status of children and protect them from classroom hunger thus addressing the problem of malnutrition. it is also expected to help increase school enrolment and promote regular school attendance, especially to encourage children belonging to disadvantaged sections of the society. furthermore, it is expected to provide nutritional support to children of primary school classes in drought-affected areas during summer vacation. the feeding process within the school setting is also likely to improve socialization among children belonging to all castes thus helping to undermine caste prejudices by teaching children to sit together and share a common meal. thus, the school lunch program acts as a strong social equalizer by reducing the gender gap in school participation. there is also the expectation of creating social empowerment through the provision of employment to women from lower social status and castes and liberate working women from the task of having to feed children at home during the day. finally, it is anticipated to serve as a source of economic support for the poorer sections of society, particularly dalits, lower caste, ethnic and religious minority households, and also impart nutrition education to children. nevertheless, previous evaluations of the mdm program have focused on the assessment of the different approaches towards the implementation of the program and its achievements. some such implementation studies have been carried out in delhi, uttar pradesh, chhattisgarh, rajasthan, and in karnataka states (deshpande, baru, and nundy, 2014; ali and akbar, 2014; dreze and goyal, 2003; the government of india, 2013; cuts international and the world bank, n.d.; state council for educational research and training (scert), 2014). applying both quantitative and qualitative methods, these studies interview students, teachers, parents, and other 196 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 stakeholders related to the mdm scheme, to ascertain if the implementation fulfills their expectations. some of the topics covered by these studies include the quality, taste, quantity, and variation of the foods served; as well as hygiene and inclusiveness of the serving process. in general, the findings of these studies suggest that a majority of the students and program stakeholders are satisfied with the quality of mdm food (deshpande, baru, and nundy, 2014; dreze and goyal, 2003; cuts international and the world bank, n.d.; scert, 2014). however, some concerns expressed in other studies include the inadequate quantity of meals and lack of menu variation which are consistently mentioned as major concerns (deshpande et al, 2014; ali and akbar, 2014; scert, 2014). hygiene is also a common issue. this tends to relate to the absence of handwashing facilities, the availability of a decent source of drinking water, and the use of adequate and appropriate eating utensils during the meal-serving time (government of india, 2013; cuts international and the world bank, n.d.). also, while open castebased discrimination is rare, some reports have highlighted the incidence of caste resistance towards dalit cooks (dreze and goyal, 2003; cuts international and the world bank, n.d.). furthermore, some evaluation studies have sought to understand the influence of the mdm program on students’ nutritional intake and status, motivation, school attendance, as well as school achievement. for example, the government of india’s study in uttar pradesh in 2013 found that students receiving mdm in that state, in general, have a lower nutritional status. however, almost all mdm studies probing impact on nutritional status conclude that mdm can be associated with better nutritional intake and status of the students (laxmaiah et al., 1999; afridi, 2010; sharma, singh, meena, and kannan, 2010; singh, park, and dercon, 2013;). moreover, with regard to school participation, interviews with parents or teachers reveal that mdm has helped them in motivating the students to participate more regularly in their school activities (dreze and goyal, 2003; jain and shah, 2005; deshpande, baru, and nundy, 2014;). using various quantitative methods, some researchers established an association between mdm program and higher school enrolment and attendance (especially for girls), as well as better school achievement (higher probability to finish school and secure better grades) (laxmaiah et al., 1999; dreze and kingdon, 2001; afridi, 2011). study background and methodology study background: description of uttar pradesh (u.p.) located in the northern part of the country, uttar pradesh is india’s most populous state and home to 200 million people of whom 60 million are poor (world bank, 2016a). according to the census (2011), more than seventy seven percent of the state population still resides in rural areas. while u.p. spends approximately us$ 59.8 billion on the development of the state (prs legislative research, 2017), with large portions spent on health, sanitation, education, youth employment, agriculture, and rural development, it remains home to the largest number of india’s poor (world bank, 2016b). according to the national family health survey (nfhs-4) 2015-16 (ministry of health and family welfare, (2015), u.p. has the worst record in the country for infant assessing the impact of public-private funded midday meal programs 197 and under-five mortality. the infant mortality rate (imr) in the state is 64 per 1,000 while the under-five mortality rate (u5mr) is as high as 78 compared to the national averages of 34 (pib-ministry of health and family welfare, 2016) and 43 (world bank, 2016b), respectively. the report also shows poor vaccination numbers in the state where one in two children is not fully immunized. u.p. also has the country’s second-highest maternal mortality rate (mmr) with only 26.4 percent of expecting mothers having access to at least four antenatal care visits (nfhs-4 2015-16). the state has a severe child malnutrition problem, an alarming 63.2 percent of children between six and fifty-nine months are anaemic. rural-out migration of young people and youth has subsequently become a major concern (assan and hill, 2011). the state also fares low in other indicators like access to clean drinking water and toilet facilities. a report by tiwari & nayak (2013) shows that as much as ninety percent of the households in u.p. do not have access to tap water; and while 34.9 percent of urban households have access to piped drinking water, only two percent of rural households have the same facility albeit relying on other sources (tubewell/ handpump/well/surface water). additionally, nfhs-4 (2015-16) shows that in u.p. only 23.2 percent of households in rural areas have access to improved sanitation facilities (flush to-piped sewer system, septic tank, pit latrine; ventilated improved pit/ biogas latrine, and composting toilet) and 37.7 percent to electricity. study design the study aims to evaluate the implementation of the local foundation’s midday meal (mdm) program in lucknow. the study sample consists of students and teachers from dalit, lower caste, ethnic, and religious minority households in governmentfunded schools covered by the program to ascertain the perspectives of the program’s stakeholders. several methods were applied to assess program performance. first, close-ended questions were put to respondents to measure their satisfaction level with the program. some of the program’s aspects covered in the questionnaire included quality of meal (general quality, taste, flavor, presentation, variety), the quantity of meal/potion served (general quantity, freedom to ask more, quantity per week), serving process (server attitude, personnel handling the foods, inclusiveness, serving order, temperature, hygiene), and time arrangement (serving time, time allocation, punctuality). a set of close-ended questions on respondents’ perceptions of the program’s motivational impact was also included. several different scales were implemented in the closedended questions. questions regarding program satisfaction used either a fourscale (poor, good, very good, excellent) or three-scale (not satisfied, satisfied, very satisfied) satisfaction measurement. the motivational impact questions applied fourscale possible responses including the very small, small, large, and very large extent of the motivational impact. second, open-ended questions on concerns and suggestions were used to collect respondents’ inputs for further program improvement. third, interviewers were also instructed to conduct simple observation on food distribution and eating process in some of the sampled schools. this study is a part of bigger research evaluating the program’s impact on nutritional status (anthropometric measurement and other physical characteristics)1, attendance rate, and school achievement (subject-based grades). thus, information on these subjects was also collected along with demographic status and food intake at home. 198 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 sample size and selection method the study generated a sample size of 1,338 dalit, lower caste, ethnic, and religious minority students in public schools within the lucknow area, during july-october 2016. the sampling method was clustered random sampling with the school as the cluster unit. the survey included sixty-two schools and interviewed twenty-two dalit, lower caste, ethnic, and religious minority students per school on average. however, the variation of cluster size is quite big (a standard deviation of 8.74) due to a large variation of the number of students per school. allowing for a design effect of two, a clustered sample size of 1,189 should be enough for the study to detect a one per cent proportion/prevalence of a certain event, with a ninety five percent level of confidence and around eighty percent margin of error (or about 0.8 percentage point in absolute term). the usual benchmark for the nutritional study is three percent based on the cut off percentile generally used in determining malnutrition status.2 however, no specific benchmark has been advised for the food policy satisfaction level. thus, a fifty percent prevalence is commonly used. since a sample size of 1,189 should be good enough to detect a one percent prevalence of any event, the 1,338-sample size should be more than sufficient to provide a precise detection of the research interest (ahmed, 2009; charan, & biswas, 2013). however, since the main research object is the students, teachers were not sampled in the same way. about two to three teachers were chosen per school and interviewed. the study ended up with 175 teachers representing all schools. this sample size is good to detect the prevalence of any event of about four percent with a hundred percent margin error, under a ninety five percent level of confidence. data analysis strategy this study employs various data analysis strategies. first, a statistical descriptive analysis is employed to discover the satisfaction level of the respondents, both students and teachers, in various aspects (assan and kharisma, 2019). the analysis is grouped based on the categories of questions: food quality, food quantity, serving process, and time arrangement. the analysis uses the proportion of respondents’ responses based on the satisfaction scale. when four-scale and three-scale questions are analyzed together, ‘poor’ is treated as the equivalent of ‘not satisfied’, ‘good’ is the equivalent of ‘satisfied’, and ‘very good’ and ‘excellent’ are considered equivalent to ‘very satisfied’ (moustakas, 1994). second, a qualitative analysis is conducted along with quantitative descriptive analysis. the quantitative analysis categorizes and summarizes the concerns and suggestions based on the categorization used in the descriptive analysis. the prevalence rate of certain suggestion categories is also shown to emphasize the importance of the recommendations. third, a multivariate analysis is employed for a deeper understanding of: (1) the determinants of respondents’ satisfaction level and tendency to provide suggestions, and (2) the characteristics of respondents, especially those who felt less satisfied and gave more suggestions. by understanding this information, this study tries to define the urgency level and potential benefit of certain program/policy improvements. two sets of equations, one for students [equation (1) and (2)] and another set for teachers[equation (3) and (4)], will be used for the multivariate analysis: assessing the impact of public-private funded midday meal programs 199 (1) (2) (3) (4) ssat/tsat : students’/teachers’ satisfaction level ssug/tsug : students’/teachers’ number of suggestions given ‘ns : a vector consisting of indicators of students’ nutritional status ‘sp : a vector consisting of indicators of students’ school performance smi/tmi : students’/teachers’ perception of the program’s motivational impact fi : students’ foods intake (number of meals) at home z : zone/location of the school ‘a : a vector consisting of other control variables (demographic status) several measures are used to represent students’ and teachers’ satisfaction level: satisfaction on quantity-related aspects, satisfaction on quality-related aspects, and general satisfaction on all aspects. all satisfaction measures are in the form of composite indicators produced by factor analysis.3the suggestion indicator is in the form of the continuous variable describing the number of concerns and recommendations provided by each respondent. the vector of nutritional status indicators consists of a composite indicator of anthropometric-based nutritional status4, muac for height5, fainting experience, as well as an indicator of skin, hair, and stomach condition. all nutritional status indicators are in a negative direction, showing higher values when the nutritional status is low. the vector of students’ performance consists of students’ number of attending days in the week preceding the survey and a composite indicator of students’ last performance (self-report, four scales: below average, average, very good, excellent) on mathematics, science, hindi, and their best subjects. the perception of the program’s motivational intake is a composite indicator of students’ and teachers’ opinions on whether the program had increased students’ motivation in attending school, participating in school’s physical activities, as well as doing and concentrating better in class. the zone variable describes the school location among four zones served by the organization, namely chinhat, kakori, sarojni nagar, and mohanlalganj. students’ control variables include age, gender, grade, guardians’ employment status, birth order, and the number of siblings. teachers’ control variables include age, gender, rank/position, and the length of teaching in the current school. ordinary least square (ols) approach is applied for all equations. for the factor analysis, the tetrachoric correlation approach is used to create the anthropometric based nutritional status composite indicator, since all indicators in this theme are binary. for other composite indicators, including satisfaction level, students’ subject grades, perception of motivational and impact, polychoric correlation is applied. polychoric correlation is more appropriate for categorical variables with more than two categories. stata is used for all the quantitative data analysis, including the module of tetrachoric and polychoric for the factor analysis. 200 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 lastly, the study provides an analysis of the program and policy recommendations for improvement. information gathered from the interviewers’ observations is mostly employed in this part, especially regarding the food serving process. analysis and results results from the descriptive analysis the interviewed students consisted of fifty nine percent females. most of them were aged between ten and thirteen years, with an average age of 11.36 years (standard deviation of 2.06). about fifty three percent of respondents were students in a five grade lower-primary school, and the rest were three-grade upper-primary school pupils. almost eighty percent of student respondents tend to belong to the highest grade in their schoolsgrades four and five for lower primary school and grades seven and eight for upper primary school. the teacher respondents consisted of seventy eight percent females. a little more than half of them were forty years old or more, and on average, they had taught in the current school for 7.19 years (standard deviation of 7.08). about twenty-three percent of the interviewed teachers had senior positions, such as headmaster, headmistress, principal, or the head-teacher. among the four served zones, in mohanlalganj teachers were the most represented (thirty one percent) while in kakori students were the most interviewed (thirty percent). in general, students’ and teachers’ satisfaction with the midday meal program operated by the foundation is high. in all aspects, more than ninety percent of respondents expressed their satisfaction. however, respondents have expressed their dissatisfaction more in some specific areas than in others, such as food taste, menu variation, and quantity, as well as serving area hygiene. quality, flavor, and taste of food served in terms of general quality, flavor, and taste pupils show a slightly higher dissatisfaction compared to teachers. about three to five percent of pupils rated the food quality, flavor, and taste as ‘poor’, while only one to three percent of the teachers thought so. however, students were significantly more likely to say that the meals were very good or excellent when compared to teachers, in terms of quality, taste, and flavor (figure l ). fig. i: perception of general quality, flavor, and taste of mdm source: field survey assessing the impact of public-private funded midday meal programs 201 in terms of food presentation, students and teachers were consistently satisfied although menu variation seemed to be a significant concern. among both pupils and teachers, nine percent expressed their dissatisfaction with the menu variation. this is the highest dissatisfaction rate compared to the other aspects of the program. it is also the only area with negative perception far above five percent in both respondent groups (figure 2). fig. 2: perception of the food presentation and menu variation source: field survey while the respondents’ perception of the food quality is in general positive, the percentage of respondents who provide suggestions related to food quality improvement is quite large. among the students, six percent provided suggestions related to quality, nine percent mentioned recommendations on taste and flavor improvement, and twenty seven percent suggested options for increasing menu variation. this accounts for up to two-thirds of a total of the 542 students who provided any suggestions. teachers were more active in terms of providing their suggestions. about thirty four percent of them provided suggestions on quality improvement, twenty seven percent recommended taste or flavor enhancement, and fifty six percent advised better menu variation (figure 3). fig. 3: percentage of students and teachers giving quality improvement suggestions source: field survey 202 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 in terms of content, both students and teachers generally provided similar types of suggestions. for quality improvement, both groups of respondents suggested that chapatis (traditional wheat flour bread baked on a griddle), rice, and vegetables should be cooked more properly, indicating that there were some events when the food served was undercooked (the chapatis were too hard, etc.). some suggestions also included requests to provide fresher and better-quality fruits. regarding taste and flavor, a significant number of suggestions stressed the need to improve the taste, especially by adding salt and spices. teachers were more specific and listed vegetables, curry rice, and soybeans as dishes in which flavor needed to be enhanced. for menu variation, both teachers and students requested more variety of fruits and vegetables. some popular traditional dishes such as cheese/paneer, chola, bengal, gram, kadhi chawal, and poori, and also sweets and milk were added to their respective wish lists. quantity of food in contrast to food quality, taste, and flavor, students seemed less concerned as compared to teachers about the quantity of meal served. while five percent of teachers expressed their dissatisfaction only two percent of students did not find the quantity adequate. the gap is wider when the question was about ‘amount of the foods weekly,’ to which six percent of teachers but only one percent of students stated their disappointment. students show a slightly higher rate of dissatisfaction only under the topic of ‘ability to ask for more’, even though in general respondents are very satisfied with this aspect (figure 4). fig. 4: perception of quantity-related aspects source: field survey the same pattern is seen in the subsequent suggestion as well. only about two percent of students mentioned that the quantity of food served needed to be increased while almost nine percent of teachers suggested more food quantity. serving process both students and teachers mostly expressed high satisfaction over the serving process. regarding server attitude, inclusiveness, personnel handling the food, and order of serving, only less than one percent among the respondent groups felt dissatisfied. however, the respondents expressed higher concern about the hygiene of the serving assessing the impact of public-private funded midday meal programs 203 area, the temperature of food served, the distribution process, and the availability of proper eating/serving utensils (assan and chambers, 2014) (figure 5). fig. 5: perception of hygiene in the serving area and temperature of food served source: field survey in terms of hygiene of the serving area, students are more concerned than teachers. about four percent of pupils mentioned that hygiene in the serving area is poor, which is almost twice as compared to two percent of teachers who found the hygiene of the area wanting. students were also less likely than teachers to be very satisfied with the level of hygiene of the area. students’ suggestions on hygiene were mainly asking for a cleaner eating area. interestingly, teachers’ hygiene-related concerns were mostly regarding the cleanliness of the serving utensils rather than the eating area. as regards food safety, students showed more concern than teachers. while none of the teachers felt that the food served was cold, two percent of students said that the food was served cold. about half of them considered that the food was warm as compared to a significant sixty five percent of teachers who felt that the served food was hot. thus, no suggestion on this count was forthcoming from teachers regarding temperature, while one percent of students suggested that the food served could be hot or hotter. finally, regarding the distribution process, a few teachers hinted that servers were needed because, at present, students were serving themselves under the supervision of teachers. while hardly any students were concerned about utensils, a significant number of teachers suggested the need for providing eating utensils. about fourteen percent of teachers proposed that the program should also offer plates and spoons. time arrangement and punctuality satisfaction regarding the time of serving food was over ninety eight percent in both respondent groups. only about one percent of pupils and teachers had concerns about the serving time. about one percent of students and two percent of teachers expressed their dissatisfaction with the time allocation for eating, implying that a longer eating period is needed. in general, respondents’ satisfaction with the punctuality of food arrival at school is high. only very few students and teachers suggested that food must arrive on time at the schools. when asked to elaborate, at least seventy seven percent of students and 204 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 eighty six percent of teachers said that the arrival of food was never delayed. however, thirteen to fourteen percent of teachers and fifteen to sixteen percent of students acknowledged that arrival of food was delayed at least once in a week, while six percent of students pointed that arrival of food was delayed twice in a week (figure 6). fig. 6: perception of punctuality regarding the arrival of meals at schools source: field survey multivariate analysis the multivariate analysis suggests that there were some strong determinants of students’ satisfaction and likelihood to provide a higher number of suggestions for the mdm program. students’ nutritional status significantly influenced their satisfaction with the program. students with an indication of stomach protrusion (a sign of malnutrition) were significantly more likely to be satisfied with the feeding program, either in terms of quantity, quality, or general satisfaction. however, students with unhealthy hair, or skin showed different tendencies. these students are significantly more likely to be dissatisfied with the program. table 1: regression analysis on students’ satisfaction and number of suggestions i satisfaction on quantity ii satisfaction on quality iii general satisfaction iv number of suggestion given nutritional status low anthropometricbased nutritional status 0.047 0.007 -0.018 0.057 [-0.040,0.133] [-0.100,0.114] [-0.101,0.065] [-0.043,0.157] muac for height lower than -2 std. dev. -0.022 0.039 0.021 -0.048 [-0.096,0.052] [-0.052,0.130] [-0.050,0.091] [-0.133,0.038] unhealthy hair -0.080* -0.069 -0.077* 0.092* [-0.145,-0.016] [-0.149,0.010] [-0.138,-0.015] [0.017,0.166] unhealthy skin -0.138*** -0.140*** -0.177*** 0.099* [-0.205,-0.071] [-0.222,-0.057] [-0.240,-0.113] [0.021,0.178] indication of stomach protrusion 0.155** 0.162* 0.243*** 0.017 [0.051,0.258] [0.034,0.290] [0.144,0.342] [-0.104,0.138] assessing the impact of public-private funded midday meal programs 205 i satisfaction on quantity ii satisfaction on quality iii general satisfaction iv number of suggestion given nutritional status fainting experience last week -0.002 0.034 0.017 0.078 [-0.087,0.083] [-0.070,0.139] [-0.064,0.098] [-0.020,0.176] school performance number of attendance days last week 0.033** 0.048** 0.047*** -0.008 [0.009,0.057] [0.019,0.078] [0.024,0.070] [-0.036,0.020] performance in class 0.02 0.019 0.01 0.033 [-0.020,0.060] [-0.030,0.069] [-0.028,0.048] [-0.013,0.080] age 0.008 -0.008 0.01 -0.006 [-0.018,0.033] [-0.039,0.024] [-0.014,0.034] [-0.035,0.024] grade 0.012 -0.002 0.006 0.016 [-0.014,0.038] [-0.035,0.030] [-0.019,0.031] [-0.014,0.047] male -0.011 -0.04 -0.032 -0.052 [-0.074,0.053] [-0.118,0.039] [-0.093,0.029] [-0.125,0.022] guardians work in agricultural sector 0.064 0.104* 0.132*** -0.048 [-0.009,0.137] [0.015,0.194] [0.063,0.201] [-0.132,0.036] number of meals received at home 0.133*** 0.201*** 0.147*** 0.035 [0.084,0.182] [0.140,0.261] [0.101,0.194] [-0.023,0.093] order of birth 0.021 0.018 0.017 -0.034* [-0.002,0.044] [-0.011,0.047] [-0.006,0.039] [-0.061,-0.007] number of siblings -0.016 -0.027 -0.011 0.034* [-0.043,0.012] [-0.061,0.007] [-0.037,0.015] [0.002,0.066] perception on mdm motivational impact 0.127*** 0.169*** 0.119*** 0.042 [0.084,0.171] [0.116,0.223] [0.078,0.161] [-0.010,0.093] location in chinhat -0.475*** -0.639*** -0.599*** -0.302*** [-0.574,-0.376] [-0.761,-0.516] [-0.694,-0.505] [-0.425,-0.179] location in kakori -0.234*** -0.459*** -0.340*** -0.436*** [-0.322,-0.146] [-0.568,-0.350] [-0.424,-0.255] [-0.541,-0.330] location in sarojni nagar 0.051 -0.297*** -0.157*** -0.076 [-0.037,0.138] [-0.405,-0.189] [-0.240,-0.073] [-0.177,0.026] general satisfaction -0.319*** [-0.394,-0.245] constant 2.366*** 2.736*** 2.903*** 1.536*** [1.999,2.733] [2.284,3.188] [2.553,3.253] [1.061,2.011] n 1,040 1,038 1,037 1,037 r-squared 0.225 0.212 0.278 0.152 source: field data 206 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 other than nutritional status, guardians’ type of job, number of meals received at home, and school location were also significantly correlated with satisfaction levels. students with guardians working in the agricultural sector tended to be more satisfied with the program. students who received more frequent meals at home also seemed to be less dissatisfied with meals at schools. in terms of location, students studying in chinhat and kakori zones had the highest satisfaction level, while students in mohanlalganj had the lowest satisfaction level. an observation that is worthy of note is that, students with higher attendance rates and better perception of the program’s motivational impact are also those with higher satisfaction levels. regarding suggestions, students with unhealthy hair or unhealthy skin, statistically significantly provided more suggestions, keeping other variables constant. while not statistically significant, other nutritional status indicators, except muac for height, also indicate that students with lower nutritional status expressed more suggestions. the satisfaction level is proven to be a strong determinant for providing suggestions. a higher satisfaction level is significantly associated with a lower number of suggestions. also consistent with the regional pattern of satisfaction, students in chinhat and kakori who had the highest satisfaction level were also the ones with the lowest number of suggestions. mohanlalganj students, on the other hand, had both the lowest satisfaction level and the highest number of suggestions (refer to table 2). table 2: regression analysis of teachers’ satisfaction and number of suggestions satisfaction on quantity satisfaction on quality general satisfaction 1 general satisfaction 2 number of suggestions given male -0.214* -0.081 -0.035 -0.254* 0.088 [-0.427,-0.002] [-0.324,0.161] [-0.219,0.149] [-0.486,-0.021] [-0.260,0.436] number of years teaching in current school 0.003 0.003 0.004 0.001 -0.001 [-0.011,0.018] [-0.014,0.019] [-0.008,0.016] [-0.015,0.017] [-0.024,0.022] rank -0.003 -0.012 -0.034 0.127 0.221 [-0.214,0.207] [-0.249,0.225] [-0.214,0.146] [-0.100,0.355] [-0.117,0.558] age 40+ 0.04 0.069 0.057 0.013 0.242 [-0.144,0.224] [-0.140,0.279] [-0.102,0.215] [-0.188,0.213] [-0.054,0.539] location in chinhat -0.704*** -0.555** -0.593*** -0.19 -0.890*** [-0.994,-0.413] [-0.883,-0.228] [-0.841,-0.344] [-0.504,0.124] [-1.384,-0.396] location in kakori -0.663*** -0.897*** -0.725*** -0.174 -1.024*** [-0.896,-0.430] [-1.162,-0.633] [-0.926,-0.525] [-0.427,0.079] [-1.453,-0.595] location in sarojni nagar -0.253* -0.251 -0.274** -0.137 -0.348 [-0.480,-0.026] [-0.508,0.006] [-0.469,-0.079] [-0.383,0.110] [-0.721,0.025] perception on mdm motivational impact 0.083 0.099 0.052 0.115 -0.048 [-0.041,0.207] [-0.040,0.239] [-0.054,0.158] [-0.018,0.249] [-0.248,0.151] general satisfaction 1 -0.173 [-0.473,0.126] assessing the impact of public-private funded midday meal programs 207 satisfaction on quantity satisfaction on quality general satisfaction 1 general satisfaction 2 number of suggestions given general satisfaction 2 -0.261* [-0.498,-0.024] constant 3.152*** 3.381*** 4.073*** -0.132 2.654*** [2.709,3.596] [2.879,3.883] [3.693,4.454] [-0.613,0.349] [1.234,4.073] n 175 173 173 173 173 r-squared 0.237 0.256 0.28 0.067 0.192 source: field data the same analysis on teachers’ data shows considerably consistent results, especially regarding locational patterns and negative correlation between satisfaction level and tendency to provide suggestions. holding everything else constant, teachers with higher satisfaction levels have statistically significantly provided fewer suggestions. teachers in chinhat and kakori had the highest satisfaction level and lowest number of proposed recommendations, while teachers of mohanlalganj zone expressed the least satisfaction and highest number of suggestions. discussion discussion of results this study managed to analyze satisfaction levels and suggestions of students and teachers from marginalized groups with respect to various aspects of the mdm program in their school supported by the local foundation. in general, the overall satisfaction levels of students as well as teachers were over ninety percent. however, there are some aspects such as taste, quantity, menu variation, and eating area hygiene in which the dissatisfaction level was higher. a deeper analysis of respondents’ suggestions helped the study to detect more detailed concerns on these aspects. furthermore, the multivariate analysis suggested some strong determinants of satisfaction level, such as nutritional status, food intake at home, and school location. the analysis also implied that nutritional status, location, and satisfaction level contributed significantly to the number of suggestions provided by respondents. these are critical to the well-being, attainment of educational goals, participation, and academic improvement of the study sample. the quality, taste, flavor, and menu variation are the most frequent concerns voiced by the respondents. to address challenges related to quality, taste, and flavor, as much as possible the food served should be consistent with local expectations. for instance, suggestions to add salt and spices, as well as to cook chapatis, rice, and vegetables more properly, should be followed up accordingly. to address challenges pertaining to variety, the program implementers need to expand the menu options and include a wider assortment of fruits and vegetables in their meals, which have been popularly requested. 208 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 regarding quantity, teachers seemed to be the ones stating greater concern about inadequacy. the number of suggestions to increase the amount of food is not very high among students. however, the multivariate analysis suggests that students with unhealthy hair, unhealthy skin, and fewer meals received at home had a statistically significantly lower satisfaction level on the quantity of food provided through the scheme. this indicates that increasing the quantity of the meals may help dalit, lower caste, ethnic, and religious minority students, who tend to have lower nutritional status and receive less food intake at home (nakkeeran, et al., 2020). in terms of the serving process, the study discovered that students and teachers did not agree on the temperature of the served meals. while students’ responses on food temperature varied from warm to cold, most teachers described the meals served as hot. to address this concern in maintaining the temperature of the meals served, the food should be delivered in hot trolleys or and containers which may be plugged into electrical sockets in the school kitchen in ideal situations. the temperature of the food should be noted at the time of departure from the central kitchen in lucknow and on arrival at the receiving school to ensure that its temperature is within the prescribed range recommended by the world health organization (who) or the ministry of health in india. in the absence of electricity, the food should be transported in appropriate containers and placed on liquefied petroleum gas (lpg) stoves/warmers on arrival in the school. alternative heating arrangements should be used depending on locally available resources. given that indians culturally tend to eat with their hands, it was striking to observe that a significant number of teachers indicated the need to have spoons, along with utensils. it is important to note that while children currently eat their meals with their hands and do not use cutlery, it is probable that the teachers would prefer to see a shift from this pattern or cultural expectation and practice, given that these meals are being served in a school setting. it could also be an expression of concern as children do not wash their hands at all or do so improperly for want of water. after all, they tend to sit on the ground on what appears to be a dirty floor and surely touch the floor with their hands upon sitting. that would be reason enough to want utensils and even tables that could be cleaned daily. it is important to note that similar requests were also expressed by students, even though their number was fewer compared to teachers. besides, the sampled teachers requested better-organized seating arrangements, and the provision of appropriate utensils including spoons, plates, and cutlery. this may seem culturally contradictory, given that it is considered culturally acceptable and common practice to eat by hand in india. it is also probable that the teachers’ request for such facilities is to help minimize the possibility of the common pattern of social isolation of dalit, lower caste, ethnic and religious minority groups as well as redress contamination and infection that occur from children eating with hands that have not been washed properly. this concern is even more urgent given the recent novel covid-19 pandemic, which is reported by the media to disproportionately affect individuals from lower-social status and poor backgrounds including groups represented by our study sample. it becomes even more significant as states reconsider reopening schools. given that handwashing is done voluntarily by students and also depends on the availability of water, improper supervision of handwashing can lead to students contracting diseases like cholera and diarrhea. such an occurrence could then be wrongfully attributed to the quality of meals rather than the unhygienic handling of assessing the impact of public-private funded midday meal programs 209 food by children. also, hygiene around food service areas needs to be improved. there are reports of flies and other insects hovering around the food preparation and service areas. this particular challenge can be addressed by providing screened areas where food is served and consumed. implementers can take steps to improve hygiene related to their food service. however, general sanitation in schools is outside the remit of mdm program implementers even though general school hygiene can potentially impact on nutritional and health outcomes of students. implementing organizations can address some of these external factors by collaborating with appropriate stakeholders such as the municipal councils and the local education department to reduce potential negative impacts on their program. the present study also makes several noteworthy observations regarding the personnel serving food. one major concern is the lack of personal protective equipment (ppe) such as protective clothing, gloves, and masks for the serving personnel. international hygiene standards require persons who handle food to wear clean protective over-clothing, for example, disposable aprons or overalls. also, hair should be covered with a hairnet. it was evident that this was not the case in all the schools visited during the field survey. implementing such protocols would significantly enhance the level of hygiene associated with the management of food at the school level. a reasonable approach to tackle this issue could be to train all personnel responsible for the preparation, handling, and or serving of food in all aspects of food safety and hygiene with emphasis on the hazards and risks involved in food preparation, handling, and service. following up on the findings from the multivariate analysis, nutritional status and food intake at home significantly matter in determining students’ satisfaction and subsequent suggestions. while students with stomach protrusion tended to be satisfied with the foods and program’s general implementation, students with unhealthy hair or unhealthy skin were more likely to have a lower satisfaction rate. the second group was also more likely to provide suggestions. students who received fewer meals at home had lower satisfaction as well in all aspects. this finding implies that the betteroff students might feel more satisfied because they had lower needs, in terms of food and nutrition intakes. on the other hand, the worse-off students, those with lower nutritional status and fewer meals at home, felt the need to receive more and better meals. thus, they feel more dissatisfied with what had been served. improving the quality, quantity, and serving process of the food may then provide larger benefits to the worse-off students. the analysis finds a strong positive correlation between attendance rate and satisfaction level, as well as motivational impact and satisfaction level. further research is needed to find out the direction of the causality connection. for instance, it could be either that the highly satisfied students attend school more to get meals, or those who attend school more have a more complete picture of the program and feel more satisfied. if the first scenario was the case, further improving satisfaction levels may be of further help to increase students’ attendance rates. regarding motivational impact, the same analysis applies. it might either be that high satisfaction leads to a higher belief that the program had motivated them in school, or the students felt motivated by the program and expressed their satisfaction more. if the first applies, improving satisfaction may also lead to an improvement in their motivation which is critical for students from low social status and marginalized backgrounds. 210 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 conclusion and recommendations for policy and practice the findings of this study indicate that for all performance indicators including food quality, variety, and presentation, as well as timeliness and overall service delivery, a significant majority of both students and teachers, are extremely satisfied. the local foundation’s internationally funded feeding programs have been effective and performed equitably. our analysis reveals that the non-discrimination model of the internationally funded local foundation is also shown to be a strong factor in students’ motivation for school attendance and participation; and therefore effective in improving the well-being of marginalized school children. more than fifty percent of student respondents indicated that mdm played a large or very large role in their school attendance, participation, ability to concentrate in class, and their ability to do well in school. an even larger percentage of teachers (above sixty five percent on all relevant indicators) acknowledged that mdm was a large motivating factor in pupils’ school attendance, engagement in physical activities, classroom concentration, and overall performance. the impact of mdm on nutritional status is relatively difficult to assess due to the absence of reliable baseline data and comparison groups. nevertheless, we were able to identify reliable data from studies conducted by the indian government in uttar pradesh and cross-national data for india, as sources of comparison with our data. comparing students in our sample to indian national averages shows significant proportions of lucknow students lagging on indicators like height, weight, bmi, mid-upper arm, and waist circumference for age. a small percentage of students also showed evidence of malnourishment such as stomach protrusion and fainting. however, these are more likely to be a function of existing or pre-existing social and economic deprivation due to their socio-economic and cultural status, and the degree of impoverishment present in the districts/resident households represented by the sampled students/schools. on the contrary, a comparative analysis between our findings and studies by the federal government in u.p. revealed striking results. the analysis shows that while state-runs school students covered by local foundation mdm in lucknow appeared to have lower nutritional status as compared to national standards, they were much better off when compared to students in other districts of u.p. comparing disaggregated anthropometric data by age and gender of students from our study sample in lucknow with students in other districts in the state, we see that across almost all age groups and genders, students in our study sample from lucknow had higher nutritional status than those from other districts in u.p. this pattern was also consistent with results from our comparison of bmi and muac indicators, by age and gender between the two sample groups. nevertheless, in spite of the notable success of the local foundation’s mdm implementation in lucknow, there are several changes or improvements that can be made to enhance the program’s impact. teachers made both strategic and logistical recommendations for the advancement of the program. they identified specific areas of concern that could be improved: variety, taste, quantity, and general food quality were most cited by respondents as areas needing improvement. specific suggestions for improving meals were wide-ranging: they included ideas on how to cook certain dishes (some traditionally sweet dishes were reportedly served salty and vice versa), the use of salt and spices to improve the taste of food, and the inclusion of other foods especially fruits and vegetables. assessing the impact of public-private funded midday meal programs 211 in addition to the factors that directly impact the implementation of the local foundation’s mdm in lucknow, there are other external factors that can potentially impact its overall success. demographic and household characteristics like gender, the number of siblings a student has, the number of meals they have at home, and overall nutritional status affect program satisfaction and its impact on beneficiaries. another important finding that requires policy attention is that our analysis revealed that several of the dalit and lower caste students who have been on the local foundation’s feeding program are yet to exhibit positive nutritional improvement. this finding confirms the notion that nutritional programs may take years to have the desired impact on the individuals involved in them. in this case, our study suggests that mdm implementers would have to offer consistent and sustained feeding programs to many of the schools in our sample over a longer period to allow the students to derive the expected benefits of nutrition intervention. this is very important as such an observation could be easily misconstrued to imply a lack of impact, which would be inaccurate. it is particularly important for a state like u.p. where a large proportion of the young population, particularly from dalit, lower caste, ethnic, and religious minority households have been reported to have low nutritional status (nakkeeran et al. 2020, assan and gupta, 2018). above all, such evaluation surveys could serve as baseline data for future longitudinal studies to help track students currently receiving mdm through the local foundation’s feeding programs. a comparative study of schools currently receiving mdm through such programs and schools listed to receive mdm through such public private initiatives will also help implementers to develop a new baseline database that could be utilized in assessing school-level performance. it would be interesting to have longitudinal studies that would then track such pupils along their educational paths to ascertain how many of them would progress into further and higher educational institutions. to conclude, a cardinal value that could be engendered from this study is that the non-discriminatory protocols and approach used by internationally funded foundations and local organizations supported by international donors in their school feeding programs could be emulated as a model in the state government’s work towards addressing social exclusion and marginalization associated with the provision of social protection programs and services to poor and low-income households and the wider society (nakkeeran et al. 2020; assan and chambers, 2014). this approach could be particularly helpful for school feeding programs operated by national and local organizations. also, policy officials and key stakeholders of this initiative are now able to identify and advocate for at-risk children and their households in the sampled schools and beyond. again, program implementers and funding agencies can collaborate with other development agencies to initiate and coordinate follow up programs for such individuals and their households. this model could ensure scaling up so that the overall impact of feeding children at school would ultimately translate into the attainment of their long-term human development and dignity (assan and gupta, 2018). 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(2013). drinking water and sanitation in uttar pradesh: a regional analysis. journal of rural development, 32(1), 61–74. world bank group (2016a). uttar pradesh, poverty, growth & inequality. retrieved from http:// documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/925341468185379316/pdf/105882-bri-p157572 add-series-india-state-briefs-public-uttarpradesh-ataglance.pdf world bank (2016b). mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births) data. retrieved from https:// data.worldbank.org/indicator/sh.dyn.mort?locations=in 214 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 acknowledgment the authors would like to thank our international foundation donors who funded the research on which this paper is based. we would also like to thank all those who assisted and or contributed to the fieldwork phase of the study in uttar pradesh, india. endnotes 1 the physical features collected included weight, height, waist circumference, mid-upper arm circumference (muac), as well as an indication of unhealthy hair, unhealthy skin, stomach protrusion, and fainting experiences last week. 2 for instance, who suggests that children and adolescents experience stunting when their weight for age falls below the 3rd percentiles of the reference population. 3 for students’ satisfaction level, the factor analysis results in a single composite indicator. however, factor analysis on teachers’ satisfaction level produces two composite indicators: the first factor with a strong representation of all aspects, except for menu variation; and the second factor with a strong representation of menu variation. 4 including weight for age (wfa), height for age (hfa), body mass index (bmi) for age (bmifa), waist circumference for age (wcfa), and waist circumference/height for age (wchfa). the indian academy of pediatrics growth tables of 2015 are used to define percentile cut-off for wfa, hfa, and bmifa (khadilkar et al., 2015). results from a waist circumference study in urban south india in 2010 are used to determine percentile cut-off for wcfa and wchfa (kuriyan et al., 2010). 5 a usa-based study is used to define a standard deviation cut-off for muac for height (mei et al., 1997). article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 17–30 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.182 © 2020 poonam singh. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste the advent of ambedkar in the sphere of indian women question poonam singh1 abstract dr. bhimrao ambedkar was a feminist at heart. contrary to popular perception that he championed the cause of dalits and dalit women, babasaheb, as ambedkar is fondly referred to, worked as a socio-political advocate for dalit as well as upper caste indian women concomitantly. in his quest to ensure freedom, equality, and individuality of indian women, he resorted to the legalized mechanism and proposed sweeping constitutional provisions, famous as the hindu code bill, placing women at par with men in matters of inheritance and allowing them freedom to marry outside their caste. contemplating the predicament and marginalized position of indian women, he posited that caste and gender are intertwined. to maintain the system of caste, endogamy is a necessary condition that has an immense bearing on women. the imposition of endogamy was made compulsory by the brahminical hierarchy, which was endorsed by hindu religious scriptures to ensure women’s sustained subjectivity within the same caste groups or varnas. ironically, the bill, in ambedkar’s own words was ‘killed and died unused and unsung’ following which he resigned from then prime minister jawaharlal nehru’s cabinet in 1951 but the same bill was passed as four different bills between 1955 and 1956 during nehru’s second term as prime minister (elancheran, 2018). unfortunately, ambedkar’s contribution to the indian women’s struggle has not been given its due. this paper attempts to explode the myth of the golden age of indian womanhood and critiques the role of women reformist organizations in nineteenth century india as well as ambedkar’s yeoman service to indian women that has largely remained unacknowledged in public discourse. keywords ambedkar, hindu code bill, indian women, feminism, caste, gender 1department of english, satyawati college, university of delhi, new delhi, india e-mail: pkumar.mithi@gmail.com 18 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 introduction dr b.r. ambedkar’s advocacy of indian women’s rights in the indian social system puts him on a high pedestal among liberal feminists. perhaps no other reformer or leader has worked as ardently as babasaheb to bring about a change in the status of indian women and ensured freedom, equality, and individuality for them as their legal and constitutional rights. ‘just ask an educated liberal woman of india how they got their rights, irrespective of caste and creed’ (elancheran (2018). as independent india’s first law minster, ambedkar drafted sweeping constitutional provisions, in his famous hindu code bill guaranteeing gender equality in laws mainly pertaining to inheritance and marriage striking at the very roots of ‘graded-inequality’ of the hindu caste system. among the provisions that he envisaged was granting women’s right to inheritance and treating them equal to men: “one change is that, the widow, the daughter, the widow of predeceased-son; all are given the same rank as the son in the matter of inheritance. in addition to that, the daughter is also given a share in her father’s property: her share is prescribed as half of that of the son” (ambedkar, 2014, vol 14, part one, page 6) describing the predicament and marginalized position of indian women, ambedkar posited that caste and gender are intertwined. to maintain the system of caste, endogamy is a necessary condition that has an immense bearing on women. the imposition of endogamy was made compulsory by the brahminical hierarchy, which was endorsed by hindu religious scriptures to ensure women’s sustained subjectivity within the same caste groups or not transgress caste boundaries. in fact, ambedkar stated that he would measure of progress of a society with the progress of women. dwelling on the significance the hindu code bill, he said: to leave inequality between class and class, between sex and sex, which is the soul of hindu society untouched and to go on passing legislation relating to economic problems is to make a farce of our constitution and to build a palace on a dung heap. this is the significance i attached to the hindu code (elancheran, 2018). ironically, the bill was stalled in parliament after a prolonged discussion of four years leading to ambedkar’s resignation as the country’s law minister on 27th september 1951, but was passed in the form of four separate bills in 1955 and 1956 during the second term of prime minister jawaharlal nehru, who had backed the bill (ibid). in asserting the importance of women in society, ambedkar outstripped his contemporaries who were engaged in nationalist movements or communal politics. he involved women in all of his programmes and asserted that true freedom of an individual lay in equal opportunities for all. sadly however, this facet of ambedkar’s leadership as a champion of women’s rights is grossly undermined. indian feminists barring a few until very recently have failed to acknowledge ambedkar as an intellectual who theorized on indian women’s position akin to their demands. reference to ambedkar often falls prey to his famous persona of being a dalit icon only or someone who has worked to emancipate dalits from their drudgery of lower caste identity. the systematic neglect of ambedkar’s writings is a moral assault on epistemic knowledge and ignorance towards creating a comprehensive indian academic view. dwelling on the idea of indian women question and the role of ambedkar, this research paper’s methodology is based on a close textual analysis of ambedkarite canon with archival study and genealogical examination contouring the discourse. it is divided into four major parts. the first draws attention to the myth of the golden age of the advent of ambedkar in the sphere of indian women question 19 indian womanhood in the vedic era. in the second part, the paper critiques nineteenthcentury reformist organizations that brought some relief to indian women but were unable to give them personhood. the third part highlights the events at the turn of the nineteenth century and arrival of bhimrao ambedkar on the indian political scene. he leaves no stone unturned to address indian women’s issues irrespective of class and caste, and tried hard to enforce a legal mechanism for women’s upliftment. in the fourth part, the paper points to the reluctance of upper-class/caste feminist discourse that does not acknowledge ambedkar and his works to bail out indian women from their struggle. the paper also throws light on the reasons behind the potent differences in the marginalization of upper-caste women and dalit women. the difference between them is maintained by the ‘graded inequality’ that is an outcome of the graded caste position of the two broad categories from which they come. to guarantee the freedom, equality, and individuality of indian women, ambedkar resorted to the legalized mechanism and constitutional provisions. but for his vision and relentless efforts to enforce legal guarantees for the oppressed sections, irrespective of class, creed and gender, much of the rights that upper caste women take for granted today would have remained an elusive dream. condition of hindu women in vedic era: the myth of the golden age of indian womanhood the circulation of popular beliefs that hindu women’s status was as high-ranking as men during the vedic age is often supported by citing the names of numerous women who might have acted as brahmavadinis (women who composed hymns in vedas). names such as ‘lopamudra, sulabha maitreyi, gargi kakshivati, dakshina prajapathya, vishvavar, atreyi, godha, apala, yami vivasvathi, romasha svanya, aditi dakshayeni, ratri bharadwaja, vasukra pathni, surya savitri, indrani, sarma devasuni, urvashi, shashwati, angirasi, and sri laksha’ (epg pathshala, n.page) are mentioned as cases in point. the extension of ‘learned indian vedic women’ myth is not just limited to their composing vedic hymns as per the hindu mythological stories, but they are believed to have participated in warfare, social decision-making, and had access to education as well. such notions have become the markers of an exemplary egalitarian indian society during the vedic period to the extent of a fallacy that all hindu women inhabited an honourable and respectable position in that social system. these opinions are frequently disseminated and reified in the general perspective. to justify the rapid degradation in the post-vedic period, regressive rigid hindu codifications of laws and muslim invasions of indian territories are mentioned. however, the stringent hindu laws which were/are made to ‘safeguard’ their honour, controlled women’s sexuality, freedom, and economic prospects, thus curtailing their autonomy, denying them education, and restricting mobility into well-defined social spaces. as a consequence, such laws reduced their role to childbearing and motherhood, and imposed widowhood on them in the post vedic period. in sharp contrast to this utopian projection of vedic women, uma chakravarti (1989), in her essay ‘whatever happened to the vedic dasi? orientalism, nationalism, and a script for the past’ argues that glorification of learned indian women during the vedic age is a ‘myth’ constructed by western-indian intellectuals bit by bit. the category of respectable learned hindu women essentially belonged to upper-caste women, she claims pointing out at the end of the essay that ‘slave women folk 20 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 were/are unseen/uncounted in those times more profoundly than ever’ (ibid, p.79). chakravarti puts the spotlight on upscale propaganda of escalating upper-caste hindu women’s position in the indian social system that was carried out deliberately in sundry stages of history. she simultaneously punctures the notion of a respectable place inhabited by the upper caste hindu women during the vedic period. she builds a nuanced argument while classifying western colonizers and indian reformists in two different groups. the first group of western scholars investigating indian history and religious scriptures is further called the first group of orientalists and the second group of orientalists. uma chakravarti maintains that the first and the second group of orientalists-william jones, h.t. colebrooke, max muller, mrs. spier and clarisse bader-popularised that indian vedas were the basis of indian hindu religion wherein hindu women occupied a dignified place. however, these were imaginative conjectures totalled by european women-mrs. speier and clarisse bader, in awe of the indian womanhood of their self-sacrificing nature (ibid, p 43-46). apart from the awe-struck european women, she includes nationalistic reasons against the british colonizers to build the myth of the golden age of indian womanhood to suit indian proto-nationalists’ purpose. ‘on the one hand, european women intellectuals, mrs. speier, clarisse bader romanticized hindu women’s valour, mounting their husbands’ funeral pyre in hindu ritualistic practices. on the other hand, chakravarty underscores that “it is in speier’s works that one notices vedic women being epitomized as… ‘high’ status of women in ancient india (ibid, p 43). chakravarti unearths such contrived endeavours and establishes her case of how the myth of the golden age of indian womanhood was created gradually. she argues that it was also done at the convenience of social reformers who ‘disregarded the vedic dasi or slave woman as always, because “recognising her existence would have been an embarrassment to the nationalists” (ibid, 79) ‘the slave women could neither be projected as equal partners nor had adequate caste positions such as kshatriya to be adorned as a unique avatar of nationalistic warrior woman against the colonizers’. thus, uma chakravarti explodes the popular myth that the indian hindu women had a privileged status in the vedic period and provides us with historical moments in which the construction of this myth was laid, brick by brick, by various forces of diverse locations. interestingly, v. geetha ( geetha, 2011, p 36) validates chakravarti’s disposition on hindu women from tamil regions in india. her endorsement of chakravarti’s argument is that there was not any golden age for hindu women in the past. she takes the argument a notch higher by applying it to tamil language politics. geetha underscores that tamil women have always remained obscure in political and social lives, as tamil and hindi language politics have superseded their interests; thus, tamil women’s issues are systematically dissolved and excluded. geetha says, ‘tamilness enabled men to be men, facilitated honour-bound comradeship, and cast tamil men as worthy and aesthetically inclined political actors, it disenabled women from claiming their space in the imagined nation’ (ibid, p. 36). acknowledging the plight of women: reformist movements in nineteenth century in the early nineteenth century, we do witness specific reformist movements in which prominent figures such as ram mohan roy (1772-1833) along with mritunjay vidyalankar (1762-1819) drew attention to indian women’s wretched condition. ram mohan roy sought reformist laws to stop widow immolation, popular as sati, dowry. he also advocated inheritance laws for women through his seminal writing the advent of ambedkar in the sphere of indian women question 21 brief remarks regarding modern encroachment on the ancient rights of female, which essentially highlighted hindu women’s inheritance rights (ghosh, 1982, p. 375384). in 1819, roy started sambād kaumudi (kar, 2013. p 3), bengali magazine in which he vehemently attacked the sati practice burning of a widow on her husband’s funeral pyre, and established the brahmo samaj (sanskrit: society of brahma) in 1828 to address social evils prevalent in those days. apart from hindu women’s property rights, roy also condemned child marriage, polygamy, and advocated education as a vital component to civilize human behaviour. however, ram mohan roy’s efforts in the sphere of women’s liberation were confined to taking up the issues of child marriage, widowhood, and sati which were chiefly the problems of brahmin caste. therefore ambedkar makes a distinction on recognising the shallow nature of ‘ social reformation movements in his popular essay annihilation of caste as deficient in their conception (ambedkar, annihiliation of caste, n. page) it neither was a reform for hindu caste system nor included non-brahmin women, as it did not necessitate reform of caste system as an essential component of such social movements. ambedkar recognised the selective approach of such unidirectional movements and asserted that it is necessary to make a distinction between social reform in the sense of reform of hindu family and social reform in the sense of reorganisation and reconstruction of the hindu society… [it] has a [inadequate] relation to widow remarriage, child marriage, etc. while… [it require to] relates to the abolition of caste system. the social conference [exclusively] was concerned itself with the reform of high caste hindu family. (ibid, n. page) therefore, social movements such as brahmo samja, arya samaj, prarthana samaj, ramakrishna mission etc. are insufficient to address the inequities prevalent in indian society that thrive on the archaic caste system. another iconoclastic subversive individual was annie besant, who remained nonconformist in british society and brought her revolutionary ideas to india. nineteenth century is replete with reformist organizations led by enlightened individuals who contained ideas for indian women liberation. some such organizations were arya samaj, ramakrishana mission, prarthana samaj, and young bengal movement. barring the theosophical society most of these organizations had its roots in hinduism and were progressive in a limited sense. none of them focused solely on indian women’s questions. however, jyotiba phule (1827-1890) remained different in his ideas while conceiving the satyashodhak samaj (truthseekers’ society) established in 1873. jyotiba phule ardently advocated education for women, who were kept out of the ambit of formal educational spheres in most parts of india. in 1848, he started a school for achhut (untouchable) girls. in 1851 he started another school for girls from all castes. he believed that the truitya netra (third eye) could be gained by education only. ‘this third eye will help them articulate their position as women in the dalit community and help develop a critical perspective’ (rege, 2016, p.15-16). sharmila rege (2016) draws on phule’s ideology of third eye which ‘reimagines education as the trutiya netra that has the possibility to enable the oppressed to understand and transform the relation between power and knowledge’ (ibid). the women from jyotiba phule and his wife savitribai phule’s school recognized the tangible inequality between men and women in the indian social system; muktabaia young dalit girl from savitribai phule’s school, crusaded against the caste-based differentiation between untouchable (dalit) women and upper-caste women in her discreet essay about the grief of mahars and mangs. another woman member of satyashodhak samaj was tarabai shinde wrote the famous feminist article stri purusha tulna (a comparison between men and women). these essays now have become historical archives of indian women’s intellectual interventions. sadly, 22 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 one may observe that despite such social reformation movements way back in the nineteenth century, the status of indian women remained as that of a dispossessed subaltern in the social system until ambedkar brought a sharp-toothed legal system to combat adversities inflicted upon indian women in the early twentieth century. the arrival of ambedkar in the early twentieth century and the indian women question bhim rao ambedkar’s (1891-1956) critique of hindu culture/scriptures, indian social system, caste order is well-known. in his preliminary attempt to understand the indian social structure, ambedkar wrote a seminal composition on how caste thrives in india in castes in india: their mechanism, genesis and development (1916). there is no delay in recognizing how endogamy within different social groups in india is the root cause of maintaining the caste order. nobody had speculated as cogently as ambedkar did in his maiden attempt at conceptualizing the indian hierarchical social order in his essay caste in india: their mechanism, genesis and development. the interlocking system of caste and endogamy has resulted, as ambedkar conceived, in the pernicious and despicable indian social evil practices of sati practice and forced widowhood. even though these practices had already been banned in the early nineteenth century, many scholars have not delved into the reasons to unravel the origin of india’s evil social practices. ambedkar undertook an unfaltering scholarly attempt to investigate the reification of the caste structure that was undergirded by the subjugation of indian women through the imposition of strict endogamous statutes sanctioned by upper caste indian society’s rules (ambedkar, (vol 1, 2014) posited a plausible, logical intervention and connects sati, enforced widowhood, girl-child marriage, and endogamy as the offshoots of preserving closed caste units. ambedkar, thus, theorized that the significant functionality of the caste system depends on the women of that caste group. this makes it imperative that in case of the unforeseen circumstance of widowhood, it has to be taken care of by constructing legal codifications endorsed by religious practices (ibid). he thus highlighted the distinction between ‘surplus man’ and ‘surplus woman’: i am justified in holding that, whether regarded as ends or as means, sati, enforced widowhood and girl marriage are customs that were primarily intended to solve the problem of the surplus man and surplus woman in a caste and to maintain its endogamy. strict endogamy could not be preserved without these customs, while caste without endogamy is a fake…when i say origin of caste, i mean the origin of the mechanism of endogamy (ambedkar, vol 1, p 14). ambedkar also unearthed the intersection of gender and caste and theorized how these two feed lives into each other to maintain the status quo. the concept of brahminical patriarchy is the popular conception of gender studies in india. ambedkar clearly stated that gender discrimination rests on the graded caste system in the hierarchical hindu fold. he defined the vertical caste hierarchical system and how patriarchy’s impact deepens on hindu women from the lowest caste ladder. he was perhaps, the first indian intellectual and reformer who theorized on the implications of multi-layered patriarchy on dalit women. he hypothesized that dalit women are stationed at the lowest point of the vertically graded caste system that thrives on the superimposition of compulsive endogamy on exogamy. ambedkar also understood women’s need to be included in the discussion to change their secondary status. the idea of liberation of women to obliterate gender inequality would remain an incomplete project without their participation. ambedkar the advent of ambedkar in the sphere of indian women question 23 involved women in all of his programmes and mobilized them to demand equal status with men. for dalit women, he sought self-dependence at par with their upper-caste counterparts. therefore, ambedkarite teachings during the dalit mahila parishads (conference of dalit women) were relevant for all women across the spectrum. he (ambedkar, vol 17, part three 2014, p. 282-83) said: i made it a point to carry women along with men. that is why you will see that our [c]onferences are always mixed [c]onferences. i measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved…learn to be clean: keep free from all vices. give education to your children. instil ambition in them. inculcate on their minds that they are destined to be great. remove from them all inferiority complex[es]. don’t be in a hurry to marry: marriage is a liability. you should not impose it on your children unless financially they are able to meet to meet the liabilities arising from marriage. those who marry bear in mind that to have too any children is a crime. that parental duty lies in giving each child a better start than its parents had. above all, let each girl who marries stand up to her husband, claim to be her husband’s friend and equal, and refuse to be his slave. i am sure if you follow this advice you will bring honour and glory to yourself. in this excerpt, ambedkar conceptualized a gynocentric society, wherein patriarchal norms are subverted. indian women should acquire desirable educational aspirations among their children and also function as equal partners. asserting the importance of women in society, ambedkar outstripped his contemporaries who were either engaged with nationalistic movements or communal politics. such speeches at women’s conferences by ambedkar proved his mettle and pro-women rights approach that the true freedom of an individual lies in equal opportunities for all. amongst many political and social movements initiated by ambedkar to ensure an egalitarian society for everyone, he theorized extensively on women’s position in the indian social system. his exclusive writings regarding the development of the women in india are the women and the counter-revolution, the hindu code bill, castes in india, manu’s madness or the brahminic explanation of origin of missed castes, the change from paternity to maternity: what did the brahmins wish to gain by, kali varjya or the brahmanic art or suspecting the operation of sin without calling it sin, compulsory matrimony, the rise and fall of the hindu women: who was responsible for it?, progress of the community is measured by progress of women. these writings establish ambedkar as one of the greatest thinkers who sympathized with hindu women’s lowly status in the hierarchical hindu fold. undoubtedly, while beginning with his intellectual rhapsody of venturing into caste and interlinking it with women’s position in hindu religious system, ambedkar powerfully initiated the deliberation on gender questions, which pointed out the exclusive nature of castes and the hindu scripture manusmirti as the compounding force behind indian women’s marginalization. ambedkar wrote the rise and fall of hindu woman: who was responsible for it? to challenge eve’s weekly (21 january 1950) article that held the buddha responsible for indian women’s downfall. ambedkar rebutted the eve’s weekly’s claim through his well-researched comparative analysis of the buddhist texts and then came over to manusmriti, thereby describing it as one the most regressive texts to allocate subservient roles to india women. the argument made by the ambedkar was so strong that even today, manusmiriti’s preachings are taken as problematic and precarious for the woman question. ambedkar was a thorough scholar; he studied ancient hindu scriptures and stated that 24 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 at one time a woman was entitled to upanayana (seeking enlightenment or knowledge) is clear from atharva veda. from srauta sutras (auxillary texts of samaveda) it is clear that women could repeat the mantras of the vedas, and that women were taught to read vedas. panini ashtaadhaya bears testimony to the fact that women attended gurukul (college) (rege, 2013, p 125.) however, such women were very few in numbers and those who were included in religious ceremonies belonging to the upper-caste/class positions, he had pointed. highlighting the tyrannical rules arrayed in manusmiriti to regulate hindu women’s conduct, ambedkar pointed out the machinations of ‘laws of manu,’ which comprise an overbearing precept to control hindu women as per the men’s command. as per the statutes listed in manusmriti, the hindu women need to fall under the aegis of paternal order. it says, ‘“(i)n childhood a female must subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her son; a woman must never be independent. she must not seek to separate herself from her father, husband, or sons” (buhler, 1886, p 33) ‘it also pictures the woman as a seductress with low morals. it says, “the nature of women to seduce men in this (world) …one should not sit in a lonely place with one’s mother, sister or daughter” (ibid, p. 11) these are the ‘laws of manu’ that have thrust regressive conduct indian women. irrespective of the caste position of indian women, such rules made by manu are reprehensible. such rulings become more degenerating as the caste position factored into while reckoning the class position of indian women. ambedkar witnessed the impact of oppressive social conduct and patriarchy on upper-caste hindu women in general, and the subjugation of dalit women on multiple levels due to caste, class, and gender variables. he unequivocally opposed patriarchy, and its diverse manifestations and their pernicious bearings on dalit women. ambedkar’s criticism of hindu scriptures concerning theorization on uppercaste women and dalit women in the indian social system is an exemplary influential work which no one has done as effectively as he did. urmila pawar and meenakshi moon (2008) in the book we also made history: women in ambedkarite movement have collected narratives of dalit women remembering ambedkar as an inspirational force. these dalit scholars did a lot of groundwork, travelled extensively across india to excavate the stories of dalit women narrating how ambedkar inspired them. many dalit women acknowledge that ‘ambedkar endeavoured to bring dalit women into public life in a new role, as speakers and chairpersons in public meetings, as movers and seconders of resolutions, and its teachers’ (sonalkar, 2008, p 3). every meeting for dalit upliftment would necessarily be followed by a dalit mahila parishad [women conference] in which ambedkar extensively spoke on dalit women’s subjugation and its sanctification by the caste dynamics. the sociological position of dalit women, as comprehended by ambedkar, has also been verified by epistemological studies. the discourse of the erstwhile mainstream upper-caste indian feminist movements has not only disregarded ambedkar and his works; they have also rarely accommodated the interests of dalit women. however, there is some exceptional upper-caste women scholarship such as sharmila rege, uma chakravarti, and anupama rao, who bring the caste angle to resist oppressive patriarchal forces. taking inspiration from ambedkar, dalit intellectuals such as gopal guru (1995) theorized on dalit women’s position and tried to locate the essential differences between why ‘dalit women talk differently’ and what are the concerns that need to be kept in mind while ‘representing dalit women, both at the level of theory and practice, has erupted time and again in the discourse on dalit women. dalit women justify the case for talking differently on the basis of external factors (non-dalit forces) homogenising the advent of ambedkar in the sphere of indian women question 25 the issues of dalit women and internal factors (the patriarchal domination within the dalits) (ibid, p. 2548-2550) as a result, the mainstream upper-caste feminism in india has been countered by dalit women who have asserted that their marginalization is unlike that of upper caste women because dalit women are offered lower wages for fieldwork, experience unhygienic working conditions, sexual violence, which is an inherent form of caste atrocity than sexual barbarism. the plight of dalit women becomes more poignant as they get profiled based on their caste. dalit movement makes their gendered position more visible than their caste identity. dalit women, in turn, prioritize their selves as members of the dalit community first and as women later. badri narayan (2011, p. 69) points out that: for dalit women, their dalit identity overrides other identities and dalit women see themselves, first and foremost, as dalits. being a woman determines the form and intensity of the violence and oppression which they face, primarily, because they are dalits. the question of iniquitous gender relations within the dalits communities gets relegated to second place for them, as they feel it is more important to liberate themselves from being looked upon by the upper castes as being socially and culturally inferior. therefore, sexual violence against dalit women is a gendered form of crime and a caste-oriented one. a google search may open up a pandora’s box of sexual crimes that resulted in the victims’ death. dalit women are at a juncture where the liminality of their position makes them vulnerable. barring ambedkar, none of the dalit intellectuals have worked extensively for their rights or hypothesized on dalit women’s conditions and their sufferings resulting from graded patriarchy. sadly, dalit movements against caste discrimination have not been vocal about dalit women’s rights as they ought to. although dalit movements have replicated a host of upper caste normative principles to eliminate dalit women’s exploitation and warrant their safety from upper-caste men, the rules are formulated precisely as per the whims of upper caste patriarchy. dalit women are also asked to follow strict rules and not work in public spaces to safeguard community reputation. by emulating upper-caste normative regulations and directives, there is an attempt to domesticate dalit women, who are also now getting increasingly commodified. for instance, to prevent the exploitation of dalit women at the hands of upper-caste landlord or community, charu gupta observes (gupta, 2012, p.11): chamars [untouchables from uttar pradesh region] of moradabad announced that they would allow their women less liberty of movement. chamars of dehradun and sahranpur started to advocate the wearing of dhotis by their women when cooking food and forbade them to visit bazars to sell grass. a jatia chamar sabha at meerut attended by over 4000 chamars, passed a resolution to have their females go into purdah [veil] under the garb of such rulings to safeguard dalit women’s sexual exploitation in a casteist society, they have essentially become oppressive legal, social codifications to curb dalit women’s freedom. an onslaught of such rules on dalit women to subvert their mobility in the public sphere is not a freedom that a dalit woman would aspire for. these domineering codifications emulate the upper caste ethos of the sanskritization of dalit women to ape the upper caste patriarchal mechanism. rege (2013) laments the fact that ‘[s]ome dalit feminists also detailed the increasing ‘domestication’ of wives of dalit male activists and critically engaged the position of some dalit men who see women’s liberation as being “inauthentic” for dalit women’ (p.17). 26 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 thus, the liberation of dalit women remains ineffective and insufficient as they do not completely collapse into the category as lower-caste dalits, or only as women who are equal to the upper caste women socially and culturally. they assert that dalit women are not as privileged as upper-caste women and need to be contextualized differently. at the same time, dalit men are criticized for limiting dalit women’s roles in dalit households and targeted for perpetuating the patriarchy. dalit women demystify the claims of dalit intellectuals such as kancha ilaiah (2001) that the ‘status of women even among the modern dalit-bahujan is more equalitarian than that of the brahminical women’ (ilaiah, 2001, p 115). such veneering statements from renowned dalit intellectuals bring about a discomfort in dalit women, and they counter it by emphasizing their lives in the domesticated space. interestingly, ambedkar recognized the impact of caste patriarchy, caste position, and internal dalit patriarchy on dalit women, as he tried to bail them out from the clutches of such oppressive forces. it also seems quite probable that ambedkar was aware of the romanticization of dalit women’s bodies. therefore, he vehemently rejected the idea of dalit women performing in public plays to generate capital for the dalit upliftment programmes (sonalkar, 2008). ‘traditionally, tamasha1 was/is a despised and lowly occupation, and women have to struggle constantly to generate income for their family, preserve their honor within’. ambedkar disapproved of the commodification of dalit women’s bodies; therefore, they were excluded from public plays, and their part was played by men. he had said, ‘i don’t want the money raised by making pawalabai dance’ (ibid, p. 30). in his mahad speech in 1927, ambedkar also urged dalit women to give up the caste identification markers and inspired them to remain neat and clean in appearance. he motivated dalit women to relinquish the lower caste traditional way of wearing the sari and donning heavy jewellery to segregate them from upper-caste brahmin women and mark them as untouchable women (ibid, 2008). these are only some points that ambedkar suggested to dalit women. however, as a disciple of john dewey, he knew the value of individual freedom, which was equally applicable to women of the upper caste as well. he worked for gender equality and treated women as a person; he ‘emphasized, in 1938, that a woman was an individual; therefore, she too must have individual freedom’ (ibid, p.159). ambedkar’s appeal to indian women to develop consciousness of their humiliation is an epistemological break. since he was an intellectual with a vision, he realized that such inspiration might fall flat unless there is a constitutional mechanism to ensure their upliftment. thus, he laboured incessantly to design a common civil code through the hindu code bill, whereby indian women were considered an equal individual politically, socially, and constitutionally. in framing the hindu code bill, he proposed a complete overhauling of the hindu social system. the bill sought to codify the legal mechanism to address various laws concerning men and women. it sought to alter the order of succession and designed new laws on maintenance, marriage, intercaste marriages, divorce, adoption, and minors and their guardianship. emphasizing on women’s position and the need to guarantee freedom, equality, and dignity to them, he framed the rules of the abolition of the birth right to property, half share for daughters, conversion of women’s limited estate to absolute estate, the abolition of caste in marriage matters, and adoption and the principle of monogamy and divorce (ambedkar, vol 14, part one, p 5-11). ambedkar identified so much with the indian women’s cause that he resigned from nehru’s cabinet when the conservative members rejected the bill. ‘introduced in the constituent assembly on april 11 1947, the bill was moved by the select committee on apr 9th, 1948 which was followed by four the advent of ambedkar in the sphere of indian women question 27 years of debate and remained inconclusive. in his own words “killed and died unused and unsung”’ (elancheran, 2018). eventually, the hindu code bill was passed in parliament in 1955 and 1956 as four hindu code bills viz. the hindu marriage act, 1955, the hindu succession act, 1956, the hindu adoptions and maintenance act 1956 and the hindu minority and guardianship act 1956. the upright political position which ambedkar took for indian women is unprecedented. he vehemently put his foot down for women’s inheritance laws-an idea still accepted as a strange in the indian social system. ambedkar wanted to make inheritance laws skewed in favour of indian women almost a century ago. since he was, what gramsci would call, an ‘organic’ intellectual, he knew women’s social upliftment was not possible only by sermons or ideal preaching. chakravarti, in gendering caste: through a feminist lens (2006), makes a logical intervention that ambedkar critiqued castes as he was ‘able to go much further in their understanding of women’s oppression’ as he had the epistemic privilege of coming from the marginalized sociological position. thus, he understood that indian women’s emancipation could not come from change of heart only; political/constitutional exigency was as crucial as the social awareness about women’s autonomy. upper caste women’s reception of ambedkar on indian women question in 2016, the sahitya akademi2 organized a national seminar on gandhi, ambedkar, nehru: continuities and discontinuities. the fourth session on the second day of the seminar was committed to ‘women and equality,’ chaired by rukmini bhaya nair and a panel of contemporary women scholars. it provided an opportunity for me to listen to these three noted indian women scholars’ perspectives and their articulation of gandhian, nehruvian and ambedkarite standpoints on hindu women in indian culture. the first two speakers from dalit background were quite vocal about ambedkarite influence on hindu women and seemed quite compelling in their recognition of ambedkar’s works. one of the speakers said ‘equality means equal freedom for women too, which entails rights and respect for women at domestic space and in the public spaces.’ besides equal economic and political rights, she said ‘equality has to be sought in social and cultural spaces as well. and for all this to happen, we need not only changes in the law but also our mindsets, attitudes, and cultural practices.’ she concluded her paper with the words of babasaheb ambedkar that equality ‘for us is a battle not for wealth or for power. it is battle for freedom. it is the battle of reclamation of human personality’ (keer, 1990, p. 351). another renowned dalit speaker also tried to map a similar trajectory of women empowerment in the views of gandhi, nehru, and ambedkar vis-à-vis the hindu women’s position. however, i was interested in the third speaker’s intention to recognize ambedkar’s contribution towards the upliftment of indian women as she hailed from an upper-class stratum of indian society and had written extensively on gender issues. to my surprise, she spoke only of jawaharlal nehru and gandhi, and omitted ambedkarite vision on the subject altogether. it is evident that gandhi has influenced indian women on the spiritual level, and nehru, through his egalitarian propaganda, preached the same. however, ambedkar engineered the legal mechanisms to bring about the required substantial change in the uneven position of hindu women in indian society through the constitution. if upper-class women intellectuals do not acknowledge his genderegalitarian endeavours, what can be expected from the non-academic indian women? ambedkar’s selective exclusion from women empowerment movements and omission 28 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 of his prodigious works regarding partition, economics, and finance is a strategy to reduce his persona as a dalit icon only. indian feminists, until very recently, have failed to acknowledge ambedkar as an intellectual who theorized on indian women’s position akin to their demands. reference to ambedkar often falls prey to his famous persona of being a dalit leader only or, someone who has worked to emancipate dalits. the very mention of ambedkar and his works can prompt anyone to readily sketch him out as a messiah for dalits. his popularity as a dalit icon has overshadowed his generic contributions to alter the status quo. it has become almost impossible to extract ambedkar out of this frame. since there is not much recognition of ambedkar’s works for women’s emancipation, his writings regarding the indian women’s upliftment are not in circulation as potently as his caste-related writings are. the caste-related writings such as annihilation of caste (1935) and who were the shudras?, untouchables: who were they and why they became untouchables? are readily available in bookstores or have also been a part of the pamphlet culture of dalit identity quest. although dalit women have been vocal about ambedkar’s influence on their lives, that remains in a limited scope of education or their lived experiences of atrocities. after having read the hindu code bill, one may say outright that ambedkar was a radical maverick who fought against the dominant upper-caste social structures and dispensed with women’s questions as well. he was a person with multiple visions; one who ventured into all possible fields to eradicate inequality and cement a just society. ambedkar’s writings’ systematic neglect is a moral assault on epistemic knowledge and ignorance towards creating a comprehensive indian academic view. disregarding ambedkar’s works on indian women becomes increasingly problematic when the socalled feminist writers do not acknowledge him as one of the prominent protagonists in comparison to gandhi gandhi and jawahar lal nehru in the twentieth century. unfortunately, ambedkar is remembered mainly for championing the untouchables’ cause, critiquing the hierarchal caste system, and faintly considered a feminist. ambedkar’s progressive approach to bringing about essential changes in women’s position in india is commendable because without providing a concrete solution to gender inequality, the upliftment of women would have remained a theoretical construct. considering ambedkar’s works and political provisions for indian women, ambedkar unarguably qualifies as the first feminist of independent india who worked extensively for the rights of both upper-caste women and dalit women. conclusion many indian intellectuals often take pride in asserting that indian women’s position was as high as men during the vedic age. the deterioration in their situation is attributed to manu’s regressive codifications in the hindu religious law book manusmirti in the post vedic period and later, to curtail their freedom in the wake of muslim invasions to protect their honour. these rules became so stringent that hindu women were burnt alive on their husbands’ funeral pyre. purdah (veil) system, child marriage, enforced widowhood are/were some of the inhumane practices sanctioned by the religion. however, women were/are not a homogenous category. the positions of women are also determined by the caste-groups they belong to. the most pathetic situation was/is of the women belonging to lower caste groups or dalits. they have always remained obscure in mainstream indian feminism. while not many upper caste intellectuals and historians have looked deep into their the advent of ambedkar in the sphere of indian women question 29 absence from literature, uma chakravarti focuses on their omission and in the quest exploded the myth of golden age of indian women in vedic period. the references and examples of prominent women intellectuals of vedic age, she argues, hailed from the upper echelons of the society. the modern day mainstream feminists also barring a few have ignored the issues of dalit women. they also tend to ignore ambedkar’s contribution to their cause as a crusader against patriarchy. the legal provisions ambedkar made for women are mainly beneficial to the upper class/caste women, as inheritance laws could only be practised for wealthy women. dalit women mostly come from lower economic backgrounds. divorce law is also most beneficial to upper class/caste women, as in dalit communities, women are not bound to remain widows and allowed remarriage. therefore, it is crucial to recognize that although there had been many reformist movements in the nineteenth century to ameliorate the plight of indian women; however, no one attempted to understand the root cause of the oppressive state of indian women sanctioned by the hindu religious scriptures such as manusmriti. ambedkar conducted a vital study in this regard in his very first essay, castes in india: their mechanism, genesis and development, and observed that strict endogamy over exogamy was primarily to control and curtail the freedom of women. such theorization paves the way to understand the concept of a graded patriarchal system in which caste patriarchy is paramount, and it recognises sexual exploitation of dalit women. the remedy to bring about change in indian women’s position, as suggested by ambedkar, lies in legal mechanism and constitutional provisions and not mere lip service. attaching jurisprudence to indian women’s rights is unique to ambedkar and remains unparalleled in the history of the nation. ambedkar was an extraordinary intellectual and a feminist who tried to ensure equal status for indian women from all walks of life. references ambedkar, b. r. (2014) “hindu intercaste marriage regulating and validating bill.” ed. vasant moon. dr. babsaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 14. part one. bombay: education department. goverbnement of maharashtra. dr. ambedkar foundation: new delhi. ambedkar, b. r. (2014) “ caste in india: their mechanism, genesis and development .” ed. vasant moon. dr. babsaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 1. bombay: education department. goverbnement of maharashtra. dr. ambedkar foundation: new delhi. ambedkar, b. r. (2014) “ progress of the community is measured by progress of women.” ed. vasant moon. dr. babsaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 17. part three. bombay: education department. goverbnement of maharashtra. dr. ambedkar foundation: new delhi. ambedkar, b.r. (2014). “castes in india: their mechanism, genesis and developmen.” ed. moon, v. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 1. bombay: education department, government of maharashtra, 1979, retrieved from http://www.columbia.edu/ itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/txt_ambedkar_castes.html ambedkar, dr. b.r. (2014). annihilation of caste. https://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/mmt/ambedkar/web/readings/aoc_print_2004.pdf and https://ruralindiaonline.org/library/resource/dr-babasaheb-ambedkar-writings-andspeeches-vol-1/ buhler, g. trans. (1886). manusmriti: the laws of manu 1500. www.globalgreybooks.com retrieved from https://www.islamawareness.net/hinduism/manusmriti.pdf or https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/laws-of-manu-ebook.html 30 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 chakravarti, u. (2006). theorizing feminism: gendering caste through a feminist lens. kolkata : stree. p 122. chakravarti, u. (1989). whatever happened to the vedic dasi? orientalism, nationalism, and a script for the , in sangari, k., & sudesh vaid (eds.) recasting women: essays in colonial history. new delhi: kali for women. retrieved from http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~sj6/ sangari%20and%20vaid%20introduction.pdf elancheran, s. (2018). dr ambedkar’s vision of equality through the hindu code bill, ambedkar king study circle, usa, retrieved from https://akscusa.org/2018/04/24/drambedkars-visionof-equality-through-hindu-code-bill/ epg pathshala (n.d.) women in vedas: vedic, epic and puranic culture of india (india culture), epgpathshala, a gateway to all post graduate courses (ministry of human resource development). retrieved from https://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/epgpdata/uploads/epgp_content/ s000829ic/ p001497/m015107/et/14600120574et.pdf geetha, v (2011). the vedic dasi and other missing women: thinking about nationalism with uma chakravarti. in roy, k. 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(1990). from dust to doyen. dr. ambedkar: life and mission. mumbai: popular prakashan. narayan, badri (2011). the politicization of dalit women. the making of the dalit public in north india: uttar pradesh: 1950present. new delhi: oxford university press. sonalkar, wandana. (2008). trans. we also made history: women in the ambedkarite movement. urmila pawar and meenakshi moon. new delhi: zubaan. rege, s. (2013). against the madness of manu: b.r. ambedkar’s writings on brahmanical patriarchy. new delhi: navayana. rege, s. (2016). education as trutiya netra: towards phule-ambedkarite feminist pedagogical practice. in chakravarti, u. (ed.) thinking gender, doing gender: feminist scholarship and practice today. shimla: orient blackswan. p 15-16. sahitya akademi (2015-16). sahitya akademi, national academy of letters. annual report ( 2015-2016) endnotes 1 traditional form of marathi theatre 2 india’s state-funded organization for promotion of literature article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 29–50 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.142 © 2020 acharya. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited population-poverty linkages and health consequences: understanding global social group inequalities sanghmitra sheel acharya1 abstract population dynamics and determinants of poverty are associated in a way that affects access to resources which influence health. the popular belief often is that population growth causes problems including poverty. scientific arguments, however, have fairy well established that it is the nature of development, which is important to ensure availability, access and utilization of resources, services and opportunities for different population groups. population growth is an insufficient explanation for denial of access to resources because development disparities across the globe render different populations exposed to vulnerabilities of varied kinds. disparities in health between different social groups are the function of the unequal way in which the determinants of health are distributed in society. beyond its effects on health, inequality has far reaching consequences on social trust and cohesion affecting social institutions; and also on mortality and health outcomes. factors such as income, employment status, housing, education, social position, and social exclusion have direct and indirect bearings on health over lifetimes. in many countries there is evidence of a social gradient in health, with those in more advantaged positions enjoying generally better health and lower mortality. in india, caste is an important axis on which discrimination and denial occur causing poor health outcomes. in terms of income and social indicators, india is one of the most unequal countries in the world. the present paper endeavours to understand the determinants of disparity among population groups across countries which influence access to health care with special reference to india. keywords health care, poverty, discrimination and health, disparity in access to resources, caste 1professor, centre of social medicine and community health, school of social sciences, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india e-mail: sanghmitra.acharya@gmail.com 30 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 introduction the relationship between population and poverty is entwined with the dynamics and composition of the former; nature and degree of the latter; and resource distribution. population size is determined by its growth, while poverty is a function of access and utilization of resources, services, and opportunities. population and poverty therefore need to be seen in the light of inclusive development and human rights. population growth itself remains an insufficient explanation of the inverse relationship between population and access to resources. there are many trajectories extending explanations which have moved away from the original malthusian elucidation of population checks (sen, 1995; srinivasan and mohanty, 2008). population growth rates and average family size worldwide have fallen by roughly half over the past four decades as modern contraception became more accessible and popular. while the change is more visible among those with access to resources, the deprived do not respond to the lowered family size as mortality among them is high and survivorship low. the doomsday neo-malthusian ‘limits to growth’ ideas reached the pinnacle in works such as silent spring by rachel carson (1962) and population bomb by paul ehrlich ((1968). a critical counter-tradition was created by julian simon and herman kahn through their works the ultimate resource(1981, 1996) and the resourceful earth (1984) in which they argued that population growth does not necessarily lead to resource depletion, certainly not when it happens among the deprived groups. their growth, in contrast, contributes to the pool of workers ready for exploitation by the rich and the possessed. simon and kahn (1984) propounded that human innovation can solve many problems. the water and air quality have improved over time, despite increasing populations. poverty and misery have also reduced globally as scientific innovations shaped. in this improvement, however, something notable is the persistent gap in access to resources between the vulnerable and the non-vulnerable populations across the globe. the two most populous countries of the world, china and india with population size 1,365,480,000 and 1,246,420,000 respectively on july 9, 2014 as per their population clock, are home to 36.4 percent (china, 19 percent and india, 17.4 percent) of world’s total population, and have most of the world’s poor despite the fact that poverty is on decline globally. in 1990, there was 36 percent population living below poverty line which reduced to 18 percent in 2010 (world bank report, 2010). the expert group of the world bank acknowledged that the goal set to reduce extreme poverty to nine percent by 2020 will require more than just economic growth. the need to develop policies that allocate resources to people living in poverty was emphasised, thereby the need for creating an enabling environment for opportunities to access resources and services. thus, inclusive growth was seen as a mechanism to address poverty by improving sanitation, developing irrigation facilities, and water systems for farming and expanding health coverage for the underserved people till universal health care could be put in place (planning commission of india, 2011). disparity in wealth ownership unlike the popular belief that population growth is the root cause of all problems including poverty; scientific arguments have fairy well established that it is the nature of development, inclusive or otherwise, which ensure availability, access and population-poverty linkages and health consequences... 31 utilization of resources, services and opportunities for different population groups. had population growth been the reason, then neither would have china emerged as an economic competitor to the u.s. nor singapore would have ruled the trade in the east asian territories. in india, the mega cities would not have commanded the supremacy and ladakh and arunachal pradesh would have been the most developed regions in the country. while the dependency theory lends an explanation to the interrelationship between the depressed and developed regions (so, 1990), income and social factors through the lens of social identity explain differentials that affect access (das, 2013; sharma 2015). often the latter becomes more rigid in governing access (thorat and atwell, 2007; mosse, 20191). inequality hinders access at global, national, regional, local as well as household and individual level. the poorest forty percent of the world’s population accounts for five percent of the world’s income, while the richest twenty percent accounts for three-fourths of world income. about 0.13 percent of the world’s population controlled a quarter of world’s assets in 2006. it is noteworthy that the richest ten percent control varying proportions of wealth across the globe. the share of national wealth controlled by the top ten percent of the population suggests that india along with brazil is second only to middle east and sub saharan africa (sixty-one percent each) with fifty five percent of national income being garnered by the top ten percent rich (refer figure 1). fig 1. percent wealth owned by richest 10 % population, 2016 source: world inequlity report 2018 in terms of income and social indicators, india is one of the most unequal countries in the world. it ranks 147 among about 200 countries (wir, 2018),and a lowly 97 among 118 developing countries on the global hunger index (ghi). in comparison to other countries, maternal mortality in india is 174 per 100,000 live births as compared to middle east (six per 100000 live births) and canada (seven per 100000 live births). median wealth per adult in india at1289 usd, is less than half of sri lanka (2415) and middle east (2426) and gini’s co-efficient for wealth is 35.6 (table 1). but the commitment to reduce inequality is fairly low. 32 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 table 1. indicators of health, wealth and inequality countries mmr* cri@ median wealth per adult wb gini’s coefficient# china 27 81 16333 38.6 (2015) usa 14 23 61667 41.5 (2016) canada 7 18 106827 34.0 (2013) sub saharan africa 693 97 332 42.1 (2012) brazil 44 39 24263 46.9 (2017) india 174 147 1289 35.7 (2011) middle east 6 98 2426 40.7 (2007) sri lanka 33 102 2415 39.8 (2016) note: the maternal mortality ratio (mmr) is the annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes). the mmr includes deaths during pregnancy, childbirth, or within forty two days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, for a specified year. source: cia world factbook 2018*; development finance international and oxfam report october 2018. the commitment to reducing inequality index 2018@; credit suisse’s global wealth databook. world bank gini’s co-efficient.# accessed on 30 november 2017 unemployment rate has grown from 6.8 percent in 2001 to 9.6 percent in 2011 and further to 8.4 percent in august 2019. unemployment grew faster for illiterates than for literates (cmie, 2019). there are more illiterate among poor, sc and st than nonpoor, non-sc and non st (rgi, 2011). about 28 percent sc and 50 (percent st are in the lowest wealth quintile as against less than 10 percent of the high caste hindus (iips and icf, 2017). determinants of disparities in health disparities in health between different ethnic groups are the function of unequal way in which the determinants of health are distributed in society (robson 2004; whitehead, 2007). beyond its effects on health, inequality has far reaching consequences on social trust and cohesion affecting social institutions (kawachi and berkman 2000; kawachi et al. 1997). the growing inequality has influenced not only mortality, but a range of health outcomes, as well as social and political phenomena (wilkinson, 1994; kawachi et al. 1997; nayar, 2007). these factors include such determinants as income, employment status, housing, education, social position, and social exclusion which have direct and indirect bearings on health over lifetimes (siegrist, j and m marmot, 2006). in many countries there is evidence of a social gradient in health, with those in more advantaged positions enjoying generally better health and lower mortality (wilkinson and marmot 2003; wir, 2018). to illustrate, in aotearoa, new zealand, there is differential distribution of social, environmental, economic, and political determinants of health for màori and non-màori people. in 2005, 49percent of māori secondary school students left school without completion, compared to population-poverty linkages and health consequences... 33 22 percent of non-māori. only nine percent of māori students left school with a completion certificate allowing them to enter university, compared to thirty fourpercent of non-māori students (ministry of education, government of new zealand, 2006). similarly, the socio-economic disparities in life expectancy have widened among nonlatino whites in the usa (vega and amaro, 1994; olshansky et al. 2012; sasson 2016). in india too, a gap is evident in the differential access to care services among the scheduled communities -castes and tribes, as compared to the non-scheduled (acharya, 2010; baru, et al., 2010; acharya, 2013; acharya, mukherjee, and kumar, 2015; acharya, 2018). while social factors like taking permission to visit a facility, finding someone to accompany, and the concern for the availability of female provider show little gap across different population groups, infrastructure and location factors like distance and possession of money to access care, show a comparatively larger gap between the groups (refer figure 2). fig 2. problems in accessing health 2015-16 source: table 11.21, nfhs 4 underlying and proximate determinants of health internationally, there is increasing recognition of the role that various social, economic, environmental, and political factors play in determining health experiences and outcomes for individuals and social groups (howden-chapman and tobias 2000; wilkinson & marmot 2003). age and marital status men and women across social groups suffer from different types of diseases at different ages. an important determinant of health is physical access to health facilities. better 34 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 access to health facilities results in less time consumed to access healthcare and often it increases demand. similarly, marital status also affects health. single people have a greater tendency to use more medical care as compared to married and with children (chetty et al. 2016; bosworth, burtless, and zhang 2016). education and income education is known to influence health outcomes including reproductive health (mason, 1984; caldwell, 1994; desai, 2000) and emotional connects with it (basu, 2006). it encourages preventive care. however, low education levels are linked with poor health, more stress, and low self-confidence (wilkinson and marmot 2003). this affects the propensity for improved incomes. higher incomes create conducive environment for higher expenditures for health; and create demand for newer and expensive healthcare. it is evident that the percentage spent on health declines as income increases. income and social status are directly associated and are linked to better health. the greater the gap between the richest and poorest people the greater the differences in health (bunker, et al., 1989; deaton, 1999; nayar, 2007; baru, et al., 2010). in general, lower incomes are associated with higher morbidity and mortality for many illnesses and injuries. it is evident among māori and non-māori, death rates of those on high incomes declined more sharply in recent years than those of people with low or middle incomes (blakely et al., 2000, 2001, 2007; subramanian et al., 2003, 2006; subramanian, 2008; subramanian and kawachi, 2004). the income gap between māori and non-māori remains substantial. the median annual income for māori adults (those aged 15 years and over) in 2006 was $20,900, compared with $24,400 for the total population. the median annual income was $25,900 for māori males and $17,800 for māori females. the average weekly income (from all sources) for māori was $471 for the june 2005 quarter, compared with $ 637 for european/ pākehā, $ 412 for pacific peoples and $ 415 for other ethnic groups (ministry of health, new zealand and university of otago, 2006). the living standards for māori in 2004 were lower than the total population, a pattern also evident in the 2000 living standards survey (jensen et al., 2006). there was slight change in average living standards for māori between 2000 and 2004, but there was an increase in the proportion of māori experiencing ‘severe hardship’ from seven percent in 2000 to seventeen percent in 2004. forty percent of māori families as compared to nineteen percent of european families were living in hardship in 2004 (wagstaff and doorslaer, 2000; jensen et al., 2006). similarly, the reindeer-herding indigenous sami men had lower income than swedish men. the sami people are the indigenous ethnic group of northern scandinavia and the kola peninsula (tynes and haldorsen, 2007).the differences in income increased slightly over the past decades due to declining profitability of reindeer husbandry. it has been shown that the increase in income has been similar among sami and non-sami between 1970 and 2000, except for the reindeer-herding men who show a significantly lower income and slower increase in income compared with non-sami men (tynes and haldorsen, 2007; sjolander, 2011). access to resources access and use of resources which prevent or treat disease influence health. underlying and proximate determinants of health also include household size. generally, the greater population-poverty linkages and health consequences... 35 the household size the greater the demand for health services, but is equipoised by the effects of income. health insurance makes health a ‘cheaper’ commodity for those utilizing healthcare. it affects the demand for healthcare in two wayslowers effective rates and increases the use rates; and it increases the utilization of more expensive services (feldstein, 2011). social support from families, friends and communities is linked to better health. the culture milieu in which customs, traditions, and the beliefs of the family and community are embedded, they all affect health (banerji, 1982; baraik and kulkarni, 2006). the persistent gap these determinants work in favour of the non-vulnerable populations. more often than not the vulnerable are located in areas which are distant from facilities. educational attainment is poor among them causing lower employability and income levels. access to health services, health insurance is also low. often, lifestyle habits of the vulnerable populations are associated with incomes and working conditions, and are detrimental to health. their living conditions are often inhumancrowded, congested and insanitary. work and working conditions are equally difficult. household size is large and low incomes prevent choice of care. social and familial support may be available minus economic support. certain cultural taboos may be observed with rigidity, often to camouflage the economic distress. illustrations from different geographical settings different countries have formulated affirmative policies and programmes to support their vulnerable populations in various ways at different points of time. affirmative action, known as ‘employment equity’ in canada, ‘reservation in india,’ ‘positive discrimination’ in the uk, ‘equal opportunity’ in new zealand, and ‘quota’ in scandinavian countries, is the policy of favouring members of a disadvantaged group who currently suffer, or have historically suffered from discrimination in access to education, employment, or housing. the nature of affirmative action policies varies from region to region. some countries use a quota system, whereby a certain percentage of government jobs, political positions, and school vacancies must be reserved for members of a certain group; an example of this is the reservation system in india. in some countries quotas are not used, but disadvantaged groups are given preference or special consideration in selection processes. the term ‘affirmative action’ was first used in the united states in 1961, which included a provision to ‘take affirmative action so as to ensure that in providing employment, no one discriminated on the basis of race, creed, colour, or national origin’ (bergmann, 1999; sowell, 2004). however, despite such efforts from countries, the differentials between social groupsthe privileged and the discriminated--still prevails. reflections from some regions support this. the affirmative action policies in canada have addressed the concern for employment, education, and housing among the first nations. paula arriagada and darcy hango (2016) of statistics canada, examined the essential literacy and numeracy skills of the off-reserve first nations and métis adults for education and employment outcomes by profiling the literacy and numeracy skills of off-reserve first nations, métis and non-indigenous non-immigrant populations. the analysis was based on canadian data from the 2012 programme for the international assessment of adult competencies (piaac). the results suggest that, while for all groups, literacy and 36 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 numeracy skills levels increase with education; and employment outcomes rise with skill; this relationship is significantly stronger for the non-indigenous than indigenous populations. the off-reserve first nations and métis adults have lower literacy and numeracy scores than non-aboriginal adults. for example, just over one-third (35 percent) of off-reserve first nations people and 50percent of métis aged 25 to 65 had higher literacy scores, compared with 57 percent among non-aboriginal adults. among those with a university degree, however, the proportion of off-reserve first nations adults with higher skills remained lower than that of non-aboriginal adults. as regards employment outcomes, the off-reserve first nations adults with higher literacy and numeracy skills were less likely to be employed than non-indigenous adults aged 25 to 54, even if they had lower skill levels, and even after accounting for other factors that can affect the probability of employment. among those who had higher literacy skills, off-reserve first nations adults aged 25 to 54 had a 75 percent probability of being employed, compared with 87 percent of métis adults and 91percent of non-indigenous adults at similar skill levels. unemployment is known to be associated with poor health outcomes (keefe and acsw 2010; blakely et al 2002). this association is closely related to public policies. in new zealand, māori work opportunities and work conditions were differentially impacted by economic and social policies of the 1980s and 1990s. the differential position of māori in the labour market accounted for the widening gaps in mortality rates between māori and non-māori people during the 1980s and 1990s (ministry of health, new zealand & university of otago, 2006). it is noteworthy that unemployment rates for māori have decreased from 13.0percent in 2001 to 7.6 percent in june 2007 but remain three times higher than that of pākehā and similar to that of the pacific population (7.8 percent) (ministry of health, new zealand & university of otago, 2006). there are also differences in the occupational distribution of māori and non-māori populations. in 2006, māori were most likely to be employed in service industries (16.7 percent), and as plant/machine operators and assemblers (16.4 percent) (department of labour, 2006). there is evidence that māori face discrimination in the labour market – in getting a job, in the type of job obtained, and the wages paid for a particular type of work (deaton, 1995; das, 2013). morbidity, mortality and life expectancy to understand the differentials in life expectancy and specific causes of death among the reindeer-herding and non-reindeer-herding swedish sami, the swedish causes of death register over the period 1961–2000 was used. no difference in life expectancy was observed between the sami and the non-sami population. the incidence of specific causes of death was also quite similar among sami and non-sami (soininen and pukkala, 2008). these results are basically in agreement with mortality studies conducted in the norwegian and the finnish sami populations (sjolander, 2011). in a recent study on some lifestyle habits, it was found that, although the level of consumption of alcohol was similar, subgroups among reindeer-herding sami men have more hazardous drinking pattern compared with non-sami in sweden, norway and finland (wiklund, holm, eklund, 1991). the robustness of the relationships between primary care, income inequality, and population health was tested in weighted multivariate regressions, income inequality measures such as gini coefficient, robin hood index) and were found to be significantly associated with mortality. primary care physician-to-population ratios population-poverty linkages and health consequences... 37 were significantly associated with lower mortality. specialty care was associated with higher mortality. family medicine, however, was consistently associated with lower mortality. thus, enhancing primary care, particularly family medicine, even in states with high levels of income inequality, could lead to lower mortality in those states (shi, macinko, starfield, wulu, regan, politzer, 2003). the gradient in the relationship between ses and health shows that each level of the hierarchy exhibits less morbidity and mortality than lower levels (adler et.al., 1993, 1994; marmot et. al., 1991). studies document that the gradient is characterized by a threshold, usually around the median for income, where additional increases in ses have a diminished effect in reducing morbidity and mortality rates (kitagawa and hauser, 1973; pappas et al., 1993; mcdonough et al., 1997; wilkinson, 1986; williams, 1990). a growing body of research also reveals that even though overall mortality rates have been declining, socioeconomic differentials in mortality have been widening in recent decades. comparing data from the 1960s to those for the late 1970s and 1980s, u.s. studies reveal that income and educational differentials have widened over time (duleep, 1989; pappas et al., 1993;williams and collins, 1995). similarly, widening socioeconomic differentials in mortality have been observed in england, wales, france, finland, norway, and the netherlands (department of health and social security, 1980; kunst and mackenbach, 1994; mackenbach et al., 1989). in india, there has been a steady decline in decadal growth of population from 24.80 percent in 1971 to 17.64 percent in 2011. infant mortality rate (imr) has declined from 165 per 1000 live births in 1950-55 to 53 in 2005-2010. crude birth rate has almost halved from 43.3 during the same years to 23.1 during 2005-2010. crude death rates (cdr) dropped from 25.5 to 8.3 during the same period. fertility too, declined from 5.9 to 2.73. so has the early childhood mortality reduced, even across social groups, but the gap between the scs/sts and others continues (refer figure 3). fig 3. early childhood morality across social groups in india source: iips and icf, 2017 38 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 similar is the case with literacy which has also improved for both scs and sts in last six decades (rgi, 2011). for the scheduled caste population the literacy level improved almost six times from 10.27 percent in 1961 to 66.1 percent in 2011. similarly for the scheduled tribe population it increased from 8.53 percent in 1961 to 59.0 percent in 2011. the gap between sc and the non-sc/st in 1961 was 17.64 percentage points, which reduced to 10 percentage points in 2011, while the gap between st and nonsc/st was 19.38 percentage points in 1961 which reduced to 17.1 in 2011. while the reduction in gap was more than seven percentage points for scs from 1961 to 2011, the same was less than two percentage points for sts. thus, despite the improvement in literacy levels, the gap among the marginalised and non-marginalised groups has remained (figure 4). the gap between the vulnerable populationsscs and sts; and the others is well marked and is evident from the time series data of the national family health surveys 1-4. while affirmative action policy is likely to be the supporting factor for this improvement, the persistent gap is a consequence of prejudices and biases which create barriers in access to resources. fig 4. trends in literacy rate in india (1961–2011) source: rgi, 2011 inequality related discrimination differentials and inequalities are known to cause discrimination and exclusion. the european union minorities and discrimination survey (eu-midis ii) conducted by the eu agency for fundamental rights (fra) revealed that the immigrants, their descendants and ethnic minorities face widespread discrimination across the european union (teivainen, 2017). the survey revealed that ethnic discrimination and hatred was prevalent; and the laws and policies remain inadequate for protecting people against discrimination while job-seeking. population-poverty linkages and health consequences... 39 “with every act of discrimination and hate, we erode social cohesion and create inequalities that blight generations fueling the alienation that may ultimately have devastating consequences,” (o’flaherty, 2017). in finland, people of immigrant and ethnic minority background are more likely to experience discrimination than almost anywhere else in the european union. discrimination against people of sub-saharan african descent is particularly common in finland. almost a half (45 percent) of the respondents reported that they have experienced discrimination over the past year and well over a half (60 percent) that they have experienced discrimination over the past five years while accessing public and private services, such as employment, health care and hospitality services. despite anti-discrimination policies, reporting discrimination is still restricted. the willingness and ability to report discrimination, varies substantially between eu states. for example, nearly a third (30percent) of respondents of sub-saharan african descent in finland said they reported or filed a complaint about the latest incident of discrimination; in austria, italy and portugal, fewer than a tenth of respondents of similar background said they did so (teivainen, 2017; singer and ryff, 1997, 2001; williams and collins, 1995; williams, et.al., 1999). denial of access and consequences on health it is fairly well established that health and wealth are closely related (wilkinson, 1986, 1997), and economically disadvantaged populations experience worse health status on multiple indicators of physical and mental health. inequality has important consequences for the health of individuals and groups. better understanding of the mechanisms involved suggests concrete ways to improve the health of vulnerable individuals and population subgroups.health is related to social change. social environments that are less divisive, less undermining of self-confidence, less productive of social antagonism, and more supportive of developing skills and abilities are likely to contribute to the overall health and welfare of the population (mackenbach, stronks, kunst, 1989; singer and ryff, 1997, 2001). inverse associations between socioeconomic hierarchies and morbidity and mortality is well documented (sorokin, 1927; antonovsky, 1967; bunker et al., 1989; williams, 1990; baru, et al., 2010). these hierarchies have usually been defined by household income, years of education, and occupational status or position. persons of higher socioeconomic status (ses) live longer and have lower rates of morbidity than their less favored counterparts (behm, 1980; department of health and social security, 1980; grosse and auffrey, 1989). differences in equality with which income is distributed is related to variations in health between and within countries. there was a significant correlation (r=062) between the proportion of total household income received by the less well-off 50percent of households and variation between states in death rates for the united states (kaplan, pamuk, lynch, cohen, balfour, 1996). income inequality is associated with health outcomes and with investments in human and social capital. economic policies that increase income inequality are also known to have a detrimental effect on population health (wilkinson, 1986, 1997; lynch et al., 1998). in an ecological 40 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 study, the associations between state-level income inequality and pregnancy-related mortality among non-hispanic (nh) black and nh white populations across the us was examined. in addition, income inequality was found to be associated with racial inequities in pregnancy-related mortality. these findings highlight the persistent racial inequity in maternal death in the us (vilda, wallace, dyer, harville, theall, 2019). health outcome variance is greater at the bottom of these hierarchies for low levels of education and income, than at the upper end (bunker et al., 1989; wilkinson, 1986, 1997). improvements in the health of rich compared to non-rich have increased health disparities. for some health conditions, however, there has been no change in health or worsening health status over time for economically disadvantaged populations (williams and collins, 1995). differences between ses groups in access, utilization, and the quality of medical care are important in the widening health inequality (makenbach et al., 1989), increases in income and wealth inequality in both the united states and western europe (danziger and gottschalk, 1993) appear to be the driving force behind the widening health disparities (williams and collins, 1995). poverty social exclusion and ill-health poverty and social exclusion are often taken for granted while considering illhealth effects (nayar, 2007). social exclusion refers to the complete denial of access to resources and services, such as the refusal of being treated at a hospital. in the indian context it is practiced on the basis of caste and untouchability due to which some groups and individuals are denied the rights and opportunities which the others enjoy. marginalisation of certain groups occurs in most societies including developed countries. it is more pronounced in underdeveloped countries. in india, caste is the unique feature lending itself as an axis for exclusion and marginalization. caste is synonymous with low socio-economic status and poverty. in the identification of the poor, scheduled caste and scheduled tribes and in some cases the other backward castes may be considered as socially disadvantaged groups who have a higher probability of living under adverse conditions and are thus prone to ill-health. the health status and utilization patterns of such groups give an indication of their social exclusion as well as an idea of the linkages between poverty and health (banerji, 1982, nayar, 2007). caste, income, and regional inequalities determine health (baru et al., 2010). the scheduled tribes and schedule castes in poor wealth quintile are at a greater disadvantage in all indicators of health as compared to other groups (jungari and chauhan, 2017). among these marginalised populations, poverty is higher in rural areas as compared to urban despite the fact that there has been a decline in poverty across social groups. in case of poverty ratio too, like literacy, the gap between the vulnerable and the non-vulnerable continues to persist (table 2). population-poverty linkages and health consequences... 41 table 2. poverty ratio among the social groups (percent) place of residence poverty ratio among the social groups 1993-94 2004-05 percent change 2011-12 percent change rural sc 62.4 53.5 -8.9 31.5 -22.0 obc -39.8 -22.6 -17.2 st 65.9 62.3 -3.6 45.3 -17.0 others 27.1 15.5 -11.6 all 50.1 41.8 -8.3 25.7 -16.7 urban sc 51.7 40.6 -11.1 21.7 -18.9 obc -30.6 -15.4 -15.2 st 41.1 35.5 -5.6 24.1 -11.4 others -16.1 -8.2 -7.9 all 31.8 25.7 -6.1 13.7 -12.0 source: planning commission, 2012 consequences of socioeconomic disparities and discrimination on health socioeconomic disparities and discrimination are usually measured in terms of education, income, wealth and unemployment (glei, goldman, and weinstein, 2018). although there is a large literature on subjective social status (the ‘social ladder’) and its effects on health (ren et.al., 1999; pak et. al., 1991; shi, 2003; adler et al. 1994), yet few studies have incorporated subjective measures of economic distress. both constructs are subjective. perceived ‘economic distress’ is based on the respondents’ evaluations of their financial and employment circumstances; the ‘social ladder’ notes respondents ranking themselves relative to others. to quantify socioeconomic disparities based on perceived economic distress, another measure relative socioeconomic status (relative ses), is often constructed using education, income, assets, and occupation to assign a percentile rank denoting the respondent’s position within the overall distribution. it is distinct from the ‘social ladder’ in that the relative ranking is derived completely from objective criteria rather than from respondents’ own evaluations of their social positions. economic distress is seen to vary with social ladder. disparities in perceived economic distress change because people’s perceptions are influenced by a broad set of factors. these perceptions also vary across age due to employability and work opportunities. these opportunities also vary across social ladder and shape the view on economic wellbeing. these perceptions are defined by their perceived position on social ladder and as well as relative ses (case and deaton, 2015, 2017). thus, the cohort specific social ladder and relative ses are required to be seen in the light of equity in opportunities. effect of caste on under-nutrition among children there are evidences of socio-economic and demographic factors influencing health and nutritional status (gopalan, et al., 1978; sukhatme, 1961; suryanarayana, 1997). caste is one of the most important social determinants which affect health 42 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 and nutrition of children due to present as well as historical discrimination (nayar, 2007). most studies tend to argue that these differentials in nutritional status cannot be attributed to caste. they are due to socio-economic factors like education of mother and wealth of the households, etc. therefore, a logistic regression analysis was done after controlling the effect of other factors to understand the net effect of caste (based discrimination) on nutritional status of children. predicted probability was calculated to know the percent differences in under nutrition of children belonging to different social groups due to discrimination. to understand the caste difference three categories of social groups such as scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and others were taken. the other backward class (obc) was merged with others because, after independence obc emerged as a separate category on the basis of class, not caste; and they have never been discriminated in the access to resources unlike the scheduled castes who have been historically denied access due to social identity induced prejudices. it is evident from literature that more children belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are poor in health and nutritional status than children belonging to othersor nonsc/st groups (ram, pathak and annamma, 1997; roy, kulkarni and vaidehi, 2004; baraik and kulkarni, 2006). the status of under nutrition among children belonging to different social groups reflects on disparity. the results reveals that there are around forty eight and fifty five percent of children belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe respectively are undernourished as compared to thirty nine percent belonging to others. around 3.9 percent sc children and 5.9 percent st children are more malnourished compared to children of ‘others’. this difference may be attributed to discrimination. the net relative risk of being malnourished among children belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe are 1.12 and 1.15 times higher as compared to children belonging to ‘others’. though the relative risk of being malnourished has declined after controlling other factors, but considerable difference due to discrimination persists. around 8.5 percent sc children and sixteen percent st children are more malnourished compared to children of ‘others’. (table-3). table 3. children across social groups-observed and predicted undernourishment percent of undernourished children belonging to different social groups predicted percent of undernourished children belonging to different caste caste/ ethnicity undernutrition relative risk under-nutrition (net effect of caste) * net difference (due to discrimination) net relative risk sc 47.9 1.23 44.8 3.9 1.12 st 55.4 1.41 46.7 5.9 1.15 others® 39.4 40.9 total 42.7 source: computed from unit level data of national family health survey-4 note: * indicates the net differences due to discrimination was calculated controlling other factors such as wealth index, mother’s education, sex of the child, religion, place of residence, antenatal care, tt injection, place of delivery, vitamin-a supplement and presence of icds centres in the village. here the dependent variable is under-weight and it is dichotomous i.e underweight-1 and normal-0. from the logistic regression result, the predicted percent (predicted probability) was calculated. ® indicates reference category population-poverty linkages and health consequences... 43 in other words, the risk of being malnourished for sc and st children is1.23 and 1.41 times higher respectively as compared to children belonging to ‘others’. after controlling the effect of other factors, the net differences in under nutrition of children belonging to different social groups has declined. this difference in under nutrition among children belonging to different social groups is due to discrimination. the net effect of social group shows that forty six and forty eight percent children belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes respectively are undernourished as compared to forty one percent of children belonging to ‘others’ (table-4). table 4. logistic regression-net effect of background factors on undernourished children background factors b s.e sig. exp (b) predicted probability caste sc st others .160 .239 .031 .043 0.000 0.000 1.174 1.270 45.8 47.7 40.9 mother’s education illiterate primary secondary higher -0.167 -0.287 -0.797 0.036 0.033 0.076 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.846 0.751 0.451 sex of the child male female -0.018 0.024 0.461 0.983 wealth index poorest poorer middle richer richest -0.176 -0.413 -0.620 -1.108 0.035 0.038 0.043 0.057 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.838 0.662 0.538 0.330 religion hindu muslim others -0.047 -0.243 0.036 0.061 0.190 0.000 0.954 0.784 place of residence urban rural -0.133 0.036 0.000 0.876 antenatal care not taken taken -0.350 0.035 0.000 0.705 tt injection didn’t take take -0.015 0.039 0.706 0.985 institutional delivery no yes -0.205 0.026 0.000 0.815 vitamin a received no yes 0.191 0.026 0.000 1.210 presence of icds centers no yes -0.046 0.035 0.184 0.955 n= 29052; -2 log l= 40573.9; r2= 0.109 source: national family health survey-4 44 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 the inclusive growth models propose to incorporate the excluded, disadvantaged, and discriminated populations. among those who are poor, majority also belong to socially disadvantaged groups. therefore, national or global, inequality and disparity related discrimination affects poor and the vulnerable more than others. it is this realm of resources allocation and access that determines the level of poverty. inequality over geographical space poses a health hazard. countries with the smallest spread of incomes and the smallest proportion of the population in relative poverty have the longest life expectancies (wilkinson, 1994). evidence from multiple sources suggests that the greater the concentration of income at the upper end of the income distribution, the higher the mortality and morbidity rates (wilkinson, 1994, 1997; kaplan et al., 1996; lynch et al., 1998). socioeconomic inequality also affects health in more complex ways. it is widely recognized that health is negatively correlated to income inequality (deaton, 1999; case and deaton, 2015). the role of the government in influencing population health is not limited within the health sector but also by various outside the health systems. the constitution of india makes health in india the responsibility of state governments. it makes every state responsible for ‘raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and improvement of public health as among its primary duties.’ the national health policy was endorsed by the parliament of india in 1983, updated in 2002, and further in 2017. but these documents often reflect an oversight in addressing the inequities in health. in addition to poverty, given the social hierarchy in which indians are embedded, caste identity becomes important because it has excluded the scs and the sts from a dignified right to life. they have remained backward in education, livelihoods, access to services, schemes and opportunities to live a life with dignity. they are not free and allowed to select occupations of their choice. this has affected their health and well-being due to consequential stress and also low paying and less dignified occupational engagement. there is considerable variation in health outcomes at all levels of socioeconomic hierarchies. health outcome difference is greater at the bottom of these hierarchies— for low levels of education and income—than at the upper end. however, while there is evident change in social determinants of health and public policy research, government interest in promoting equity in health policies is not so evident. these issues remain to be brought into the governments’ policy agendas. using a policy analysis lens to identify why healthy public policies are not being adopted to understand and address health equity is the need of the day. references acharya, sanghmitra s, (2013). universal health care: pathways from access to utilization among vulnerable populations, indian journal of public health, 57(4), october-december. acharya, sanghmitra, mukherjee, mala., and kumar, kanhaiya.(2015). social inclusion in universal access to antenatal care: understanding the inter group inequalities, journal of social inclusion studies, 2 (4). iids, new delhi. acharya, s. 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(eds) self, social identity, and physical health: interdisciplinary explorations, new york: oxford university press wir (2018).world inequality report 2018, world inequality lab. wid.worldthe source for global inequality data, https://wir2018.wid.world/executive-summary.html and https:// scroll.in/article/861610/four-charts-show-indias-rich-are-getting-richer-the-poor-poorer world bank (2010). world bank report, world bank. new york endnotes 1. versions of this article were delivered as the op jindal distinguished lecture at the watson institute, brown university on 1 november 2017, and as the munro lecture, university of edinburgh on 22 march 2018. © 2022 manoj siwach, et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 458–462 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.435 ‘chains of servitude: bondage and slavery in india’ author: utsa patnaik and manjari dingwaney publisher: sangam books year: 1985 reviewers: manoj siwach professor and chairperson, department of economics, chaudhary devi lal university, sirsa, haryana, india; bharat independent economist, centre for economic studies and planning, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india, and babloo jakhar research scholar, department of economics, chaudhary devi lal university, sirsa, haryana india, and correspinding author: babloo jakhar, babloophd@cdlu.ac.in the genesis of slavery in india can be traced to at least late vedic times with the emergence of the caste system in the aryan’s conquest. unlike in the west, servitude in india did not exist in one particular form of bond labour ensured by extra-economic coercion, but the evolution and survival of the caste system and adaptations of the social norms complicated this issue further, where some castes remained in permanent subordination of other castes, hence providing different dimensions to forms of slavery in india. this volume, edited by utsa patnaik and manjari dingwaney, puts up nine essays to draw together different aspects of bondage along with the survival and evolution of these exploitative employer-labourer relations in the capitalist period. the essays are differentiated on the lines of the historical genesis of slavery, survival of past modes of production in contemporary readings, and depth analysis of the limit of law in the process of emancipation. the historical genesis is traced from the vedas, buddhist literature and the available religious literature hinting towards the presence of diverse forms of servitude under different reigns. contemporary readings are based ‘chains of servitude: bondage and slavery in india’ 459 on surveys and the case studies providing vivid representations of the conditions of bonded labour which continued even in the post-independence period. the third section focuses on limiting the laws introduced to abolish slavery but remains ineffective in its implication. the introduction by utsa patnaik has outlined the timeline of the modern wage class from its historical origin to its continuation in the post-independence period. appropriation of surplus by the mughal empire through the channelised process is regarded as the indian version of feudalism which survived the precapitalist employer labourer relations (p. 3). however, the extent of these relations differed in regions and periods but existed throughout medieval india, framing the basis for hereditary servitude. her discussion on the capitalist development of agriculture in the postindependence period outlines the inflationary pressure and redistribution of income, increasing profit/wage ratio, and significant difference in interest rate to landlordturned-capitalists (approx. 8-9 per cent) as compared to poor peasants (approx. 18-44 per cent, informal loan). the deteriorating effect of the green revolution on agricultural labourers is highlighted as benefits were not percolated down to rural power. the period witnessed a fall in real wages of agricultural labour, and they could not fetch the minimum amount required for reproducing labour-power. bondage was not a static phenomenon as indebtedness was an in-built characteristic of contract by the landlords, enslaving the generations of labour-power. in the essay on servile labour in ancient india, uma chakravarti describes servitude types between chattel slavery and free citizens. her description of the word ‘dasa’ from the diverse ancient literature is a good source to interpret slavery in their respective (or masters’) reigns. among the various categories of dasas mentioned, it was propounded that the ones captured in the war have been significant in the origin of the institution of slavery. the forms of servitude, which involves the slaves captured in war or the enslaved people born in masters’ houses, or those reduced to slaves due to their caste, are some of the dominant forms of slavery that existed in the ancient time instead of bondage labour. a historical timeline of the origins of the slaves and the words associated with them are provided with the analysis of their evolution over different periods. the above statement can be supported by analysing the term ‘visti’ (forced labour) provided in the essay (p. 54). her investigation of the women in bondage, their servile conditions, and their reference in terms to the wealth of the master are detailed and mentioned. exploitation suffered by the bondswomen was unique as they were not only faced with physical violence but also vulnerable to sexual abuse. though there seems to be a lack of consistency in the essay, the detailed analysis of the above is quite interesting. generalisations made by the author, such as bondage became the dominant form of slavery in the mauryan period, need further investigation because it was extracted from brahmin writings, which are acceptable for a particular area but not suitable for generalisation at the country level. salim kidwai, in his essay ‘sultans, eunuchs, and domestics’, emphasised more on chattel slavery than bonded labour. in medieval india, domestic slavery turns out 460 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 to be the dominant form. although domestic slavery was present in the ancient era, it remained under-reported. in this essay, many new dimensions have been touched upon such as muslim religious texts on slavery, the dependence of sultans on slaves, bonded labour and its role in production (which is not so significant), tremendous growth in the incidence of domestic slavery, etc., which helped shape the notion of slavery and bondage in this period. though the muslim religious text calls for the emancipation of slaves, the opposite has been found in reality, as caliph raised an army of 70,000 slaves as their exclusive basis of strength. the poor economic conditions and the repeatedly occurring famines have presented slavery as an alternative to ensure their survival. hence, slavery and bondage become a passport for their entry to service in the military, which is desired to have a successful career. to ensure the reserve army of slaves, voluntary and involuntary surrender was carried out across regions (p. 86). craftsmen were enslaved and sent to work in state factories and workshops. though the import of slaves also occurred, the local supply ensured the major volume through the above means. it is interesting to note that despite this scratched period of different reigns, primitive forms of caste-based bondage survived in this period. although the essay is limited to his persian sources, it provides a detailed overview of different issues. tanika sarkar deals with the bondage in the colonial period. due to the shades of the caste and economic conditions on each other, delineating slave labour categorically is not an easy task. different reigns and periods have led to the existence of all forms of labour. it is even difficult to distinguish between slavery and bondage for most of our period. several categories exist among the slaves, each attracting different treatments from their masters based on their caste. higher caste slaves were restricted to the more privileged domestic labour, while those of the low caste were employed in the menial outwork work. in this essay, the author has discussed several issues such as urban chattel slavery, the framework of caste within the slaves, the hereditary nature of bonded labour, the emergence of another form of slavery (other than chattel slavery and bondage), i.e., agrestic slavery, domestic slavery, indentured labour, the religious shade of slavery and bondsman and even the system for manumission. though it is not easy to cover all of the above areas in one essay, given the varied literature on all the topics, fitting all of the above topics in a short essay has confused the standard timeline of events. given the heterogeneity in different regions and policies during colonial rule, generalisations made by the author are broader than their scope. it was mentioned that slaves were sold for their defaults in revenue, but no further comment was made to state that this was done based on the earlier policy, which was soon abolished. the much-needed latitudinal description of various topics was missing, such as the framework of manumission or the inhumane conditions of forced labourers in plantations. the second section of the book contains five studies of prevailing conditions of slavery and bondage. surveys and case studies presented in each chapter capture the ‘chains of servitude: bondage and slavery in india’ 461 vivid description of different forms of slavery and the extent of these exploitative employer labour relationships. these studies have also presented a brief historical overview of the existence of slavery in the areas taken up for observation. all the five studies in the second section, i.e., agricultural labourers and handloom weavers in south arcot (r. vidyasagar), brick kiln workers in muzaffarnagar (sumeet chopra), bondage in the santal parganas (s.p. tiwary), migrant labour in ludhiana and hoshiarpur (manjit singh and k. gopal iyer), and female bondage in the himalayan region of jaunsar bawar (jayoti gupta) points towards the evolution and survival of well-entrenched forms of debt bondage. the case study of agricultural labourers and handloom weavers by r vidyasagar points out that the heavy revenue extractions and pauperized peasantry are responsible for swelling up the rank of agricultural labourers. as a result of the industrial revolution in britain, artisans, especially spinners and weavers, also added up to the rank of agricultural labour. weavers were settled in the areas near the port to facilitate trade for european merchants and feed the industrial revolution in britain. merchants slowly gained control over the weavers by paying them advances. contracts were drawn on such conditions in both the agricultural labour and weavers, facilitating their bondage to the respective moneylenders. the study of brick kiln workers in muzaffarnagar district by suneet chopra shows inhumane working conditions of forced labour in brick kilns and how their wages were not even enough to ensure the minimum consumption. the green revolution and the capitalist approach to agriculture have mainly concentrated the profit from it at the top level. this capital approach’s slow and spillover effects can be seen among poor peasants and cultivators. although the failure of capitalism to overthrow the semi-feudal relations of the agrarian sector has been analysed, existing land relations seem to facilitate the survival of the past mode of production. the question of women in bondage is directly addressed in jayoti gupta’s essay on the system of polyandry in a himalayan region: because they are the common property of males within patriarchal families, women in this area have been driven to prostitution as pawns in relations of debt bondage and hence face compounded oppression as compared to their male counterparts. all these studies center on the one main point that calls for more capitalism and redefining land relations to overthrow the exploitative employer labourer relations. despite the introduction of various acts in colonial and post-independence times for the abolition of slavery, these were intentionally designed to remain ineffective as the colonial government did not want to disturb the revenue sources which were these landlords feeding on the profits generated by this bonded labour. these fieldworks and surveys confine the survival of past modes of production in even the capitalist mode. the ineffectiveness of the law is emphasised by manjari dingwaney, who surveys the provisions of the various acts dealing with slavery, indentured labour, and bonded labour. it was pointed out that the act’s objective was tactical instead of based on principle. though the proper treatment was given for explaining the ineffectiveness of 462 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 the acts, a detailed historical analysis behind the introduction of acts does not find any mention. the needs for industrial capital in england are not sufficient to explain why specific laws and not others were passed nor why some were effective. this important field still awaits historians to understand better the problems of analysing the making and consequences of policies. there is no easy line of continuity among the three historical chapters and the contemporary regional studies brought together in the patnaik-dingwaney volume. the field surveys of small samples put the derived results under observation. in many instances, generalisations made from derived data go out of scope. the reason for selecting these particular articles other than the availability is not made clear. the series of articles in this book describe the history admirably and the research quoted, though small scale, is often heart-rending in its description of the cruelties inflicted on untouchables and tribals, whether they are working on the land or in such associated professions as making bricks. the coverage of diverse forms of servitude and their evolution over time explained with the case studies and fieldwork makes it more interesting. this volume opens up future research on land and labour relations and research on a larger scale. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 169–182 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.203 © 2020 tanvi yadav. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste witch hunting: a form of violence against dalit women in india tanvi yadav1 abstract the caste system is a social reality in india; despite constitutional rights of equality, protection from discrimination, and the ban on untouchability, discrimination against dalit communities or schedule castes, still persists. outside and within their caste, dalit women face triple discrimination based on caste, class and-gender resulting in horrific acts of violence directed against them. among the most common violent attacks on them across rural india, apart from sexual violence, are those related to declaring them witches, or accusing them of witchcraft, often leading to tragic outcomes such as death of victims. grabbing property, political jealousy, personal conflicts, getting sexual benefits, or settling old scores are found to be common reasons to declare a woman witch. however, deep down, it is a conspiracy of brahmanical patriarchy to control resources and sustain caste hierarchy by hitting where it hurts the most – inflicting injuries on dalit women. they face physical, economic, and cultural violence from social exclusion to being burnt alive. most witchhunting victims have been noticed as either, old, widows, or single, women. this paper analyses violence against dalit women with specific reference to witchhunting. it explores the caste hierarchy, motives behind such crimes, also the failure of legal mechanisms and judicial institutions in eradicating the menace of witch-hunting. keywords witch-hunting, caste hierarchy, brahmanical patriarchy, dalit women, superstitions. 1research scholar, department of public policy, law and governance, central university of rajasthan, india email: tanvi110391@gmail.com 170 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 introduction in concluding remarks during his presentation in constituent assembly, dr. bhim rao ambedkar had said, ‘on january 26, 1950, (founding day of indian republic) we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. in politics, we will have equality, and in social and economic life, we will have inequality’ (rodrigues, 2002). the question of inequality in the form of the caste system still exists in india as a social reality even after seven decades of independence. despite constitutional provisions of the rights of equality, protection from discrimination, and the ban on untouchability, discrimination based on caste against a particular section officially known as scheduled castes, and socially known as dalits is deeply rooted in indian society. the caste system is a ‘legacy’ to indian society given by brahmanism, whose brunt is borne mostly by women, more so the dalit among them. it is a profoundly conservative socio-political ideology in which brahmins occupy the highest place as exclusive guardians of the realm and as sole providers of wisdom on virtually every practical issue of this world; in which they can only take birth and cannot make (bhargava, 2019). the dalit1woman is particularly the most vulnerable in the castegender hierarchy ladder. she has to face discrimination based on caste, class and gender, within her caste and outside. dalit women face innumerable acts of violence; witch-hunting is one such form in which they suffer physically, psychologically, and economically. witch-hunting is a violent form of witchcraft belief. the belief in magic and witchcraft is common to all societies in the world. witch-hunting had been prevalent even in early modern europe and colonial america. during the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, many women were put to death by the state in salem witch trials (america) and suffolk trials of europe. in india, also the practice is ancient, and innumerable women have been killed. the patriarchal mindset of societies is considered to be the cause of the globally common phenomenon of witch-hunting. caste or brahmanical patriarchy in india is regarded as to be a main factor behind branding women as witches. dalit activists claim that witch-hunting is part of caste-atrocities against dalit women and a common way to kill them (editorial, 2015). witch-hunting is a three-stage process viz. accusation, declaration, and persecution. accusation means and includes ‘accusing women of any harm occurred in the community or to the individual, such as the death of any person, child or animal, any disease in the village, natural disaster, or crop loss.’ declaration means to declare or brand the woman as a witch as she possesses some evil power, and exclude her socially. the so-called witches are identified through certain rituals by traditional witch-finders or witch doctors, who are variously known as the khonses, sokha, janguru,or ojha , and then perpetrators charge them for persecution (mallick, 2008). persecution includes mental and physical torture, ranging from social exclusion, name-calling, psychological torture, lynching, or putting to death in any way. the concept of persecution refers to strategic attempts encouraged by dominant and influential groups in society, directed at groups that threaten them (jensen, 2007). accusing a dalit woman of witchcraft and persecuting her is a standard weapon of the brahmanical patriarchal set-up in rural india. it is an acknowledged fact that most of the witch-hunting victims are widows, single, older women, and social-economic marginalized women without any support (barman, 2002; kelkar & nathan, 1991; mehra & agrawal, 2016). witch hunting: a form of violence against dalit women in india 171 witches are not identifying, at least in the indian subcontinent. no one acknowledges or announces that they practise witchcraft or rituals that involve black magic and spells. in fact, they are named by powerful groups of society and their followers, who happen to belong to upper castes. in a majority of indian states, any attempt to find out about a witch in a village invariably leads to dalit women. the most common reasons to accuse and declare women witches are personal disputes or enmities, sexual desires towards women of the lower caste, coveting property of single women. due to existing beliefs on superstitions among people, such victims cannot protect themselves from mob crimes, including physical, emotional harm to ostracization. this paper highlights the nexus between brahmanical patriarchy and superstitious beliefs, to perpetrate caste atrocities and maintain status quo vis-à-vis a social order based on graded inequality. it discusses the horrors and harassment faced by dalit women on being branded as witches and points at the failure, and ignorance of laws dealing with the actual problem. the paper results from qualitative research with an exploratory approach, highlighting the dalit women’s issues and suggesting sociolegal solutions to prevent such social evils. history of witch-hunting in early modern europe and colonial america, witches were held responsible for disasters like famines, floods, drought, and epidemics resulting in massive deaths. many of them were subjected to torture and trials by the state and executed. sometimes to extort a confession, the state used torture on them (purkiss, 1996). in the western world, incidents of witch-hunting disappeared as a consequence of socio-economic reforms after eighteenth century. however, in developing nations like india, witchhunting is still reported across state. in europe and america, witchcraft was considered crimen exceptum, and the judiciary tried victims. hence, judicial records became useful resources to extract information (sinha, 2015). but in india, most witches’ trials are public (cases of mob-incited violence and justice), and details are not easy to find. however, religious records and some colonial period information show that witch-hunting in the country is an old barbaric act of harassing women. the term ‘witch’ or dayan is a prominent part of folk literature and culture since the dawn of civilization (mohapatra, 2014). saletore (1981) in indian witchcraft highlighted that the practice of witchcraft has been pervasively customary in india as well, especially among the rural and relatively isolated precincts. during the colonial period, mass witch-hunting incidents occurred in 1857 in chotanagpur region in eastern india (sinha, 2007). the national archive records2show that around a thousand women had been killed as witches in central india’s plains alone in the early 19th century. during this period, the number of women killed as witches far exceeded those who died as sati (widow-immolation on husbands’ funeral pyres), but the killings were neither reported nor given importance. sati was apparent killing as a custom, but witch-hunting was a killing based on faith in evil powers with some hidden motives against women, particularly the unprotected and from lower castes. in the brahmanical caste-based society, the death of dalit women has no value. 172 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 estimate from the rajputana community (rajasthan), most commonly related to widowimmolation, indicate how common witch-killing was (skaria, 1997). cases abound in british india, when authorities confiscated upper caste people’s lands, they attributed the blame to witchcraft by dalit women for their loss and started the devi3 movement (witch-hunting exercise) against them. women were singled out and asked to undergo a test conducted by a witch-doctor, especially of the so-called upper caste. in records, scholars found that victims’ families often sought assistance from british authorities on the plea that their daughters, sisters, or wives had been identified as witches and needed help (man, 2003). it was a general practice in rural areas, in the event of epidemics or famines, causing the widespread death of animals and humans, that a woman from the most vulnerable section of society was accused of witchcraft and hunted down as a witch. dalit women under brahmanical patriarchy the varna system is the basis of the caste system in india. brahmin writer manu in manusmriti described each caste’s duties as a varna system; he placed his caste on top and took the privilege of declaring other castes (srinivas, 1995). varna system includes the brahmins; priests and scholars, kshatriyas; rulers and warriors, vaishyas; agriculturalists and merchants, and shudras; labourers and service providers. communities from these classes are called savarna or caste hindu. apart from the savarnas, there exist a group of people who are avarna or antyaja i.e., outside the varna system (dube, 1990). they are considered the lowest and ‘untouchable’ in the orthodox brahmanical beliefs and are expected to do unclean of ‘impure and polluting’ occupations such as sweeping, scavenging, tanning, and so on. however, srinivas (1995) argued that if economic, social, and even ritual relations between a region’s castes consider, these communities are an integral part of the system. they can be called the fifth varna. the caste system has resulted in alienating a group of people from the mainstream and causing their lower participation in societal argumentations, education, and employment, which lower their standard of life. due to economic and social suppression, the group, officially known as dalits or scheduled castes, stands excluded. feminists also hold manusmriti responsible for their secondary position in hindu society. in chapter nine, paragraph 290 of manusmiriti, manu wrote that for all types of black magic, a fine of two hundred (panas) should be imposed, as for witchcraft (olivelle, 2004). thus, the belief in witchcraft and practice of witch-hunting also prevailed in ancient times. the received texts of manusmriti date circa 100 ce. in general, women’s subordination occurs across various social institutions and practices, and women’s subjection is understood to be a structural condition. feminists have described this structural subordination of women as patriarchy (barker, 2010). in india, patriarchy is conjoined with the caste system and called ‘brahmanical patriarchy.’ historian uma chakravarti, who coined the term, argues that its crucial aspect was linkage to the caste order and the differential impacts it had on women at different levels in the caste hierarchy. caste, class, and gender stratification are the three elements in establishing the social order in india, shaping the formation of brahmanical patriarchy (chakravarti, 1993). brahmanism supported a hierarchical structure with community limited to caste, and with differentiated patriarchal repression of women. family patriarchy dominates witch hunting: a form of violence against dalit women in india 173 the high-caste women, but state patriarchy dominates the dalit women more, which was concerned with maintaining them as exploited labourers (omvedt, 2000). brahmanical patriarchy passes on thoughts that are profound and complex. it portrays how we live in social orders moulded by sexual orientation, station, and monetary connections, and shape them through our decisions and actions. brahmanical patriarchy discusses the links between gender, caste, the economy, and the state. chakravarti (1993) has inspected how, in ancient india, certain caste groups maintained land control (an economic asset) by regulations, which are endorsed by the state. in his famous 1916 paper ‘castes in india,’ ambedkar offered the insight that the caste system thrives by its control on women; he deployed several arguments against brahmanism and its twin, patriarchy (rege, 2013). brahmanism has gathered desperate myths like witchcraft and black magic together. making unified cycles, developed a social fragment and used in holding back the indian society and bagged down in a swamp of superstitions (sau, 2003). the caste system is estimated to affect around 260 million people. the most affected among them are women belonging to dalit communities, who the so-called upper caste have excluded socially and exploited immensely. the vast majority of dalit women are poor, landless wage labourers and lack access to basic amenities and entitlements. they are subjugated by patriarchal structures, both in the general community and within their own families (centre for alternative dalit media, 2001). according to national campaign for dalit human rights (ncdhr), ‘every hour two dalits face assaults, every day three women of dalit community are raped, two dalits are murdered, and homes of two dalits are torched’ (ambedkar, 2017). caste-affected women face multiple challenges, including lack of access to resources, lack of education opportunities, land, essential services, and justice. witchcraft accusation and witch-hunting is yet another tool to suppress and subordinate women by asserting their so-called inferior status. in rural areas, a dalit woman lives in terror and fear because she knows that dominated people can target her anytime to seek revenge, or assert authority, or simply suppress. motives for promoting witch-hunting sustaining caste and patriarchy brahmanism uses various tactics to keep its control over society; hence even after having equality as the soul of india’s constitution, it is full of inequalities. one of the many tactics deployed to sustain the hegemony of caste includes witch-hunting. it helps to terrorize women and reinforce the patriarchal mindset. it has been noticed that most witch-hunting victims hail from schedule castes, blamed for all calamities and misfortune befalling society (mathur, 2004). dalit activist p. g. ambedkar (2017) claims not a single case of witch-hunting against upper caste or brahmin women has been identified until now. the victims of witch-hunting suffer physical and mental brutality in shocking forms such as lynching, naked parade, ostracization, and even being burnt alive by mobs (partners for law in development (pld), 2015). such acts of physical violence are so brutal that they are committed with the purpose to terrorize such that the community does not dare to raise their voices for justice. for instance, in a witchhunting incident in a village in jharkhand state (east india), four dalit women were brutally lynched after public shaming in a gory manner. 174 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 before death, they faced public humiliation; their faces were painted black, heads were shaved, stripped and paraded round the village with a mob chasing and beating them brutally with iron rods. the rods were pierced through their body; as a result they bled to death (sinha, 1984). initially, one lower caste woman was branded as a witch by the village authority and blamed for a child’s death in a landlord family. when other dalit women stood in her support, the village authority was offended and planned to set an example so that no other woman in the village dared to have a stand-up with them. in the course of this, all the four women were branded as witches by the village witch doctor, who got 600 rupees from the perpetrators, to identify these four women as witches. during the ritual of witch-identification, the witch-doctor forced the women to drink a solution, after which the women started behaving differently, and were thus branded witches (sinha 1984). ramachandran (2012) cites another incident in which a dalit woman was branded a witch as upper caste people did not approve of her mother-in-law as the sarpanch (elected head of village committee) and the development work that she wanted to do. the victim told press reporters that they had victimized her because she belonged to the dalit community. the upper caste men of the village had made some unreasonable demands of her mother-in-law; when she refused to fulfill their desires, they started torturing her daughter in law after branding her a witch. the upper caste community decided to socially boycott of the victimized family. police also took time to file their complaint, the victim alleged. only through constitutional provisions and reservation, the dalit community has found entry in specific spheres such as legislative institutions, government jobs and state-run educational institutions of higher education. however, brahmanism finds a mode to keep them suppressed and humiliated, and takes control from them in one way or another. one of the most common explanations forwarded by feminists is that witch-hunting is gender violence wherein vulnerable women are targeted by men in power. power could be manifested in economic wealth, spiritually, or in social positions. the witch hunters, on their part, seemed to be motivated by communitarian religious concerns; personal enmity, or material gain was often the motive behind the murder of witches (mallick, 2008). brahmanical patriarchy placed dalit women at the bottom of the social hierarchy and considered them an object of sexual gratification. witch-hunting resulted in the successful enforcement of a patriarchal order, forcing women into a position subordinate to men. extending superstitions the crime of witch-hunting involves masses, where a village is often involved, including the victim’s community and sometimes family. it is still debatable how the dalit men are caught in caste trap and stand against their own community women. in this case, superstitions play an essential role wherein men are blinded by illogical reasoning leading them to believe that women are the reason for their destruction. witch doctors have a significant role in spreading these propositions and winning the trust of dalit men. however, it is unfortunate that many people readily accept unscientific views due to lack of quality education and scientific temper. people have blind faith in religion, culture, and traditions and the associated beliefs and superstitions become a matter of faith rather than logic. in india, the number of religious places is more than educational institutions and hospitals, reflecting people’s witch hunting: a form of violence against dalit women in india 175 inclination towards supernatural powers and fantasies. sau (2003) quotes historian damodar dharmanand kosambi: ‘ideas (including superstition) become a force once they have gripped the masses. there is less scope for scientific experimentation or proof by other means in the context of spirituality and society.’ in a village in jharkhand state one day at dusk, nine villagers stormed into the house of a woman, shouting, ‘she is a witch’ and dragged her out by her hair as her six children watched helplessly. they accused her of casting some evil spell to destroy their crops by fire. they beat her with rods, and tortured her in many ways and locked her in a room for four days. police investigation established that the attack was spurred by a powerful landowner in the village who used local superstition to maintain his authority over the village (lakshmi, 2005). witch-hunting and superstitions go hand in hand in perpetuating brahmanical patriarchy. perpetrators spread superstitions to perform witch-hunting in bid to control dalit women and manage dalit men. witch-hunting and hidden agenda of brahmanism the caste system, superstitions, patriarchy, illiteracy, and poverty are the leading causes that have sustained the barbaric practice of witch-hunting. apart from establishing power over fellow humans, control over use of resources is gained by targeting dalit women be it with sexual assault or witch hunting. there are some personal gains for the upper caste people that help sustain caste hierarchy. grabbing property and sexual advances after women, the second important thing for caste to capture for its existence is resources. assets in the form of field, home, land, or livestock are the resources that can easily be grabbed in witch-hunting cases. barman (2002) argues that witch-hunt in india is the outcome of property disputes. he further stated that victims of witch-hunts are mostly childless widows who have property rights, which will pass on their nearest male relative after their death. by accusing them of witchcraft, these men inherit land immediately. in specific land related violence in rural areas, women are targeted and victimized in witch-hunting by land mafias together with the dominated caste to grab land and settle their interest behind the veil of superstition. by declaring them ‘witches, and forcing them out of the house, or getting them banished from the village, it becomes easy to acquire the victim’s relinquished property. targeting single women with an aim of usurping property is the primary motive of witch-hunting violence (mehra & agrawal, 2016). in some rural tribal areas a widow’s right to property is denied if other family members can prove that she is a witch. (kelkar & nathan, 1991). in august 2017, ‘a 40-year-old dalit woman was allegedly branded a witch, stripped, beaten up mercilessly and made to eat human excreta in rajasthan’s ajmer district. the victim was sleeping in her house when people attacked her and dragged her out of her home; the attackers forced her to drink sewer water, eat faeces, and beat her with iron rods. she succumbed to the injuries inflicted on her. the village panchayat (local governing body) asked the attackers to take a bath in pushkar pond to ‘wash their sins’; the panchayat wanted to hush up the matter. however, tara ahluwalia, a social activist tracking the case, told reporters, that the victim had been branded as a witch to usurp her property. her husband had died a month ago and 176 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 she had a minor son. the main accused in the case (attackers) had masterminded the conspiracy against her (wadhawan, 2017). in the chandmoni tea estate case of 2002, a man died in the village due to lack of proper medication. the relatives and other villagers took advantage of his death to declare five women witches and killing them because they had some land disputes and personal rivalry (chaudhuri, 2013). soma chaudhuri (2013) found that there are usually some prior conflicts, such as a property dispute between the accuser and the accused. the local beliefs in the ‘casting evil eyes superstition’ and power were manipulated to launch a witch-hunt against the accused woman. in some incidents, rejection of sexual advances has been reason for branding a woman witch. in most such cases, the targeted women are helpless and deprived, and fall easy prey to power when they hit back and rejects such advances (partners for law in development, 2014). witch-hunting violence is mostly associated with caste atrocities perpetrated against dalits; there is ample evidence that shows that victimization is used to punish social and sexual transgressions (mehra & agrawal, 2016). in most cases, after declaring women a witch, the perpetrators keep her outside of the village and take sexual advantage of her. rape is also common as a witchhunting punishment, mostly done by the dominant caste in a gang. socio-economic and political dominance the witch becomes the symbol of all oppression and misery and thus, witchcraft is no longer a personal matter. it is now a concern of the community, a label that the ‘moral’ entrepreneurs have successfully exploited to their advantage (chaudhuri, 2013). witch-hunting motives are not static or limited to superstitions, or occult beliefs. the violence associated with caste atrocities is often similar to the cruelty perpetrated in witch-hunting (mehra & agrawal, 2016). often, witch-hunting has been used to punish women who question social norms (lakshmi, 2005). politics has also played a part in spreading superstitions and promoting witch hunts in the country. in 2003, at a function in patna, the union (federal) minister from bihar state felicitated fifty one witch doctors and said: ‘i strongly believe that whatever they (witch doctors are) doing is pure science, and they protect villages from evil spirits’ (sau, 2003). politicians (mostly dominant caste) have used superstitions, black magic, or illogical belief to gain political power. ranjit sau (2003) said that we have two kinds of evil spirits, one in a village in the form of witch doctors and others are in cities in the shape of politicians, which arises a dual system of superstition in india. politics of superstitions offers an escape for politicians as it helps divert public attention from the need/demand for a better life and inability to provide basic facilities such as education, health services, and transport services in their constituencies. sometimes class politics within caste politics also has been used to suppress dalit women in the name of witch-hunting. the improved economic status of scheduled caste men are no different from that of upper caste landlords; their better position has brought no respite to women of their caste from oppression unleashed by the upper caste landlords. the ugly jharkhand incident (sinha, 1984) is a tragic example of this. sundar (2001) and federici (2010) have highlighted the need to understand that indepth causes of indian witch hunts are related to recent changes that rural people face, such as the social crisis caused by economic liberalism, forcing people to compete for limited resources. dungdung (2009) in her article hunting witch or hunting women, witch hunting: a form of violence against dalit women in india 177 says ‘the greed for property and depriving women of traditional property rights is a sidelined fact. illiteracy, low educational levels, and superstitious beliefs are reasons fit enough to be the icing on the cake.’ thus the misogyny and casteist nature of the state is equally responsible for witch hunts. the legal position in india every year, hundreds of unreported incidents of witch-hunting occur in every state. after being declared a witch, women are tonsured, harassed, ostracized, physically tortured, banished from their village, and even forced to consume human excreta (at times) (das, 2005). a un report stated that researchers recorded 25000 witchhunting cases in india between 1987 and 2003 (federici, 2008)the global expansion of capitalism ensured that this persecution would be planted in the body of colonized societies, and, in time, would be carried out by the subjugated communities in their own name and against their own members. (federici, 2010) the national crime records bureau (ncrb) indicates that approximately 2937 women were killed in india from 2001 to 2019 on alleged charges practicing witchcraft. only in the year 2019, 102 killings took place (ncrb, 2019). witch-hunting is prevalent in most indian states; majority cases were reported from bihar, jharkhand, chhattisgarh, odisha, uttar pradesh, rajasthan, assam and madhya pradesh. despite such disturbing figures on the incidence of witch hunting, there is no national law in the country against this gruesome practice although states like assam, bihar, jharkhand, chattisgarh, rajasthan and odisha have already criminalized the practice. however, at the international level, the universal declaration of human rights (udhr), 1948, international covenant on civil and political rights (iccpr), 1966, and international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights (icescr), 1966 stand violated by witch-hunting violence. the udhr protects against any discrimination and promotes equality before the law. it also confirms the right to life and liberty to every human being. india is associated with iccpr; it supports equality between women, men, and transgender and ensures equal rights to all humans in civil and the political sphere and prohibits others from subsuming anyone’s fundamental rights. india also acceded to icescr, six articles of this may be linked with witchhunting, particularly to the instances of social boycott and property deprivation. in 1993, india signed the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (cedaw). it agreed to eliminate discrimination and social cruelty against women. cedaw committee4 categorizes witch-hunts as a form of violence against women and has urged many countries, including india, to take action on witchcraft accusations. in 2009, the cedaw special rapporteur report called upon national governments and the united nations to ‘ensure that all killings of alleged witches are treated as murder and investigated, prosecuted, and punished accordingly.’5 cedaw asked governments ‘to take all appropriate measures such as modifying or abolishing existing laws, regulations and customs and practices, which constitute discrimination against women.’6 coming back to india, at the national level, the constitution of india, indian penal code, the drugs and magic remedies (objectionable advertisement) act 1954, schedule castes and schedule tribes (prevention of atrocities) act, 1989, and the protection of human rights act, 1993 can be associated with witch-hunting atrocities. 178 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 while some states such have specific local acts on prevention of witch-hunting, others are in the process of criminalizing the offence. maharashtra state passed india’s first anti-superstition law called the prevention and eradication of human sacrifice and other inhuman, evil, and aghori practices and the black magic act 2013. dr. narandra dabholkar, the founding member of the maharashtra andhashraddha nirmoolan samiti, an organization dedicated to eradicating superstitions, demanded the first time anti-superstition law. the act in its schedule mentioned twelve practices as harmful superstitions, including belief in evil power and black magic, which can be related to witch-hunting. however, this anti-superstition law was dubbed anti-hindu or antibrahmininsm law by fundamentalists, and unfortunately, dr. dabholkar was shot dead by two men in august 2013. it suspected that fundamentalist right-wing hindu forces were behind his murder. central bureau of investigation (cbi) as arrested right-wing hindutva activists but still, justice has not been delivered so far (banerjee, 2020). based on maharastra’s anti-superstition act, in karnataka state passed the karnataka prevention and eradication of inhuman evil practices and black magic bill, 2017 while in kerala, kerala prevention and eradication of inhuman evil practices, sorcery and black magic bill, 2019, is still pending in legislation opposed by rightwing politics. the objective of these anti-superstition laws is to promote scientific temper (mehra & agrawal, 2016). the federation of indian rationalist associations, a body of 65 rationalist organizations from different parts of the country, has also demanded a law to ensure the separation of religion from politics, administration, and education. the law should ban state-sponsored religious activities. the state will never progress unless superstitions are removed; affording the quacks to fool everyone is dangerous for the country (das, 2005). the supreme court of india laid down that religion is a matter of personal faith. still, if there is little knowledge or false knowledge of religion or understood in a narrow sense, it breeds superstition, fanaticism, and fundamentalism, which becomes an enemy of humanity. superstitions that have crept in the name of religion become harmful to society. the court held that superstition could not justify any killing, much less a planned and deliberate one.7 in hulikal nataraju v. the state of karnataka8, the court discusses the evils of superstition: citing examples of human sacrifice and witch-hunting, it held that the enormous damage done by these harmful superstitions is that they redirect attention from the primary cause and lead to a defeatist attitude of helpless acceptance. these superstitions promote exploitation, untouchability, complexity, caste, creed, gender, and varna based inequalities. they became instruments in the hands of some to exploit, cheat, and deceive the ignorant people. rajasthan high court9 also laid down that: the evil practice of declaring the woman a witch and killing her is an offense which should not be tolerated suppose efficient improvement in these matters is not reported. in that case, the state of rajasthan will be considered as slow in taking measures and backward and ineffective in bringing out appropriate legislation and taking steps on atrocities committed on women. in bhim turi v. the state of assam,10 gauhati high court termed witch-hunting as a social menace and observed that ‘as a phenomenon (it) is rooted in flawed quasireligious beliefs, old socio-cultural traditions blended with extreme superstitious witch hunting: a form of violence against dalit women in india 179 practices.’ the court also held that ‘witch hunting is the worst form of human rights violation.’ in the 1991 case, gaurav jain v. the state of bihar,11 the supreme court bench comprising justice joymalya bagchi j., termed witch-hunting as gross violence of human rights. it laid down specific guidelines directing the state governments to eradicate the social evil of witch-hunting. based on those guidelines, after more than 20 years, the prevention of witch-hunting bill, 2016, was framed, but the law still has not been considered a need of the country by the legislative. the role of police administration is very pathetic in witch-hunting cases; in a study done by partners of law development, out of forty-eight cases, one third never reach the police (pld, 2013). as per police and judiciary records, witch-hunting incidents in which brutal physical violence occurs and is publicly orchestrated by a group of accused, criminal justice comes into play (mehra & agrawal, 2016). the verbal abuses, public humiliation, and social exclusion never count on that account in any law available at the national or local level. gender violence is rooted in deep cultural and religious beliefs propounded by brahmanical patriarchy. ‘change is often intensely resisted by the communities perpetrating the act of hostility. thus there is a vast gap between human rights and the violence that women face at the local level as gender violence is an ambitious study that creates tensions between global law and local justice’ (merry, 2009). dalit women are the victims at a large scale of all the physical, sexual, or psychological acts of violence against women mentioned as a crime in both national and international laws. witch-hunting is one of the most heinous forms of violence that dalit women are subjected to in india. conclusion witchcraft accusations and witch-hunting violate human rights and fundamental freedoms of the right to life, liberty, including social and economic equality. incidents of witch-hunting shame india’s claim of a democracy that provides equality in gender, caste, race, and claims achievements in literacy, humanity, and gender sensitivity. it reflects on the state’s failure to spread education and health facilities, inculcate respect for women, promote scientific temperament, and make equality a social reality. law and criminal justice system have failed to understand the motives behind witch-hunting and the core reasons for such menace, therefore could not respond effectively. the reality of this problem is deeply ingrained in a society that cannot be highlighted only by data. only some of the most horrific cases get reported, while most witch-hunting incidents go unreported and unrecorded. since most atrocities revolve around the fundamental issues of land, wages, and entitlements; poverty and powerlessness, are viewed as the breeding grounds of such violence. however, such reasoning does not go deep enough because it leaves out the primary motive behind such atrocitiesbrahmanism. faith in witchcraft and witch-hunting in society results from a combination of superstitious belief, socio-economic and political conspiracy by brahmanical patriarchy. the caste system encourages such evil practices since these are used as a tool to suppress lower caste communities, especially women, and impose control over them. in this set-up, dalit women bear the triple burden of caste, class, and gender. 180 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 dr. ambedkar (1979) said caste is nothing but brahmanism incarnate. without a robust movement against brahmanism, dalit emancipation is impossible. brahmanism is the poison that has spoiled hinduism. non-acceptance is the primary cause of persisting social inequality based on gender and caste in india. the shamefulness is so blatant that people or the state do not even recognize the crimes of witch-hunting. there is a need to understand that witch-hunting is very real in many parts of india and targeted at the women from dalit communities. silence is a potent enemy of social justice (sen, 2005), especially in the form of law and order. there is an urgent need to fill-up the legal gaps and overcome the loss of livelihoods and property, dislocation, and of human dignity of the victims as witches is a proven tool to conduct atrocities against the marginalized dalit women. sensitizing the police and welfare departments and establishment of ngos for this purpose could prove beneficial. there is a vital need to make a stringent law or add the indian penal code with a rigorous punishment as criminalization is the only an aspect of justice. the law is considered an instrument of change; 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(2017, august 14). rajasthan: dalit woman branded witch, beaten up, stripped, made to eat faeces in ajmer. india today. retrieved from https://www.indiatoday.in/india/ story/rajasthan-ajmer-dalit-woman-tortured-beaten-to-death-faeces-1029585-2017-08-14 endnotes 1 the word dalit means split, broken and scattered in sanskrit. it also means a person not belonging to one of the four brahminic castes. the word was popularized by b. r. ambedkar (1891–1956), who included all depressed people irrespective of their caste into the definition of dalits. 2 national archives of india, new delhi (hereafter nai), foreign department (hereafter fd), political, 16 feb. 1853, nos. 121-3. 3 a witch finding test. 4 the united nations committee on the elimination of discrimination against womenhttps://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cedaw/pages/cedawindex.aspx#:~:text=the%20 committee%20on%20the%20elimination%20of%20discrimination%20against%20 women%20(cedaw,rights%20from%20around%20the%20world. 5 u.n. human rights council, rep. of the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, 57, 68, u.n. doc. a/hrc/11/2 (may 27, 2009). 6 convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination, http://www.ohchr.org/ documents/professionalinterest/cedaw.pdf 7 sushil murmu v. state of jharkhand 2004 2 scc 338 8 w.p. no.1750/2008, h.c.(kant.). 1 september,2010 9 state of rajasthan v shankar 2010 10 criminal appeal no. 79 of 2013,the gauhati high court 11 1991 supp (2) scc 133 article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 132–152 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.232 © 2021 indulata prasad. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india indulata prasad1 abstract b. r. ambedkar, the scholar, activist, and chief architect of the indian constitution, in his early twentieth century works, referred to the untouchable quarters in india as ghettos. he recognized that untouchability was manifested through combining social separation with spatial segregation. ambedkar’s theorization of untouchability can be applied along with feminist and dalit scholars’ theories of the relationship between dynamic spatial experiences and the reworking of caste hierarchies to understand how securing control over productive assets, such as land, has altered social and spatial segregation in rural bihar. combined with narratives of the past and present, maps drawn by bhuiyan dalit women depicting the physical spaces they occupy in their village (i.e. housing, community center), the locations of sources of water and electricity, and the quality of the resources to which they have access demonstrate that gaining control over land following the bodhgaya land movement (bglm) of the late 1970s helped end the most overt and readily discernible forms of caste-based discrimination. nevertheless, resource discrimination and spatial and social segregation continue, albeit more covertly. the logic of untouchability still undergirds social interactions in rural bihar, preventing dalits from fully realizing their rights as guaranteed by law. keywords bihar, bhuiyan dalit, spatial segregation, caste discrimination, bodhgaya land movement (bglm) 1assistant professor, women and gender studies, school of social transformation, arizona state university, tempe, az, usa, 85287–4308 e-mail: iprasad@asu.edu caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india 133 introduction spatial and social segregation is intrinsic to the caste system and the continued practice of untouchability in india. ‘untouchability’ refers to the hindu religious and caste sanctioned ostracization of dalits (former ‘untouchables’) within a system of ‘graded inequality’ (ambedkar, 1989, p. 101; simon & thorat, 2020). in the caste hierarchy, each level is defined according to relative purity or impurity, with dalits occupying the bottom position. according to this ancient hindu logic of caste, dalits were born into a state of impurity from which they could not escape, such that their touch (or even their shadow) was considered a source of pollution to others in the caste hierarchy. any conceptualization of untouchability as merely a form of caste-based social discrimination fails to capture its debilitating impacts on those who have been most negatively impacted. dalits have historically been assigned labor intensive menial tasks that were deemed ‘impure’, even though such work was critical to the maintenance of hindu society (moon, 2001; kumar, 2012; rao, 2015; cháirez-garza, 2014). the complex code of social and spatial avoidances that developed as a result of the logic of untouchability had and continues to have serious consequences for dalit survival and assertions for basic human rights. a committee formed by the government of bombay in 1928 to investigate the social conditions of the untouchable observed: we do not know of any weapon more effective than this social boycott which could have been invented for the suppression of the depressed classes [dalits]. the method of open violence pales away before it, for it has the most far reaching and deadening effects. it is more dangerous because it passes as a lawful method consistent with the theory of freedom of contract. (cháirezgarza, 2014, p. 42) the chief architect of the indian constitution, dr. b. r. ambedkar (1891–1956), who was a dalit, recognized this when he compared untouchability to racial slavery (ambedkar, 1989, p. 15; 1990, vol. 7). while he viewed both as examples of unfree social orders, he considered untouchability particularly difficult to root out because it is practised indirectly as part of a system of social obligation. he argued that, unlike slavery, untouchability does not offer the possibility of emancipation (ambedkar, 1989, vol. 5, pp. 17–18). even though defining some groups as ‘untouchable’ was formally abolished by the indian constitution in 1950, and a host of legal safeguards were introduced to obliterate caste-based discrimination, the centuries-old practice of untouchability remains a reality for over two hundred million dalits, and segregation on the basis of untouchability continues to shape social relations to this day, especially in rural india (hrw, 2007; teltumbde, 2010).1 since ambedkar’s time, many dalit scholars have sought to address the problem of the perniciousness of untouchability as the basis for social, economic, physical, temporal, and spatial segregation and examined 1the 1950 constitution of india mandated equality before law (article 14); prohibited discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (article 15); ensured equality in public employment (article 16); abolished untouchability and made its practice a punishable offence (article 17); ensured protection of life and personal liberty (article 21); prohibited forced labor (article 23); and mandated living wages for all citizens of india (article 43). later laws intended to protect and ensure equal rights for dalits include: the untouchability offences act of 1955, renamed protection of civil liberties act, 1955 in 1976; and the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (prevention of atrocities) act, 1989, amended in 2015 and 2018 (also see simon & thorat, 2020, p. iii; hrw, 1999; rao, 2015, p. 163–181). 134 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 the ways in which such exclusions shape dalit subjectivities to this day (guru, 2017; rege, 2006; prasad, 2004; pawar and moon, 2008; rawat, 2013). in 2000, dalit scholars and activists began promulgating the term ‘hidden apartheid’ to make explicit the similarities between untouchability and racism and draw attention to the normalization of spatial segregation throughout the rural areas of india (kannabiran, 2006; omvedt, 2001).2 despite empirical evidence, scholarship, and media reports, the indian government continues to refute allegations of caste-based discrimination. in a scathing critique of india’s civil society, human rights watch reported that: although there is no de jure policy of segregation in india, dalits are subject to de facto segregation in all spheres, including housing, the enjoyment of public services and education. this widespread segregation has led to a description of the practice of “untouchability” as india’s “hidden apartheid”. (hrw 2007, p. 45) despite being illegal, ‘untouchability’ thus retains conceptual valence as a critical tool for understanding how dalit mobilizations and gaining control over productive assets, such as land, have disrupted and reconfigured discriminatory practices in rural bihar. even modest gains by dalits are of great importance given the historical, socioeconomic, and political contexts of inequality and discrimination in which they are registered (prasad, 2021). dalit access to land and other economic resources can be read as overt signs that caste-based discrimination is being undermined, at least in terms of spatial segregation by untouchability. a closer scrutiny of dalit experiences of improving material circumstances may, however, indicate that the social exclusion in rural areas has only been rendered more ‘hidden’ over time. this paper positions ambedkar’s early twentieth century writing on untouchables alongside dalit philosopher gopal guru’s (2017) theorization of the relationships between experience, space, and social justice to examine how the transformations in spaces occupied by dalits have impacted their experience of untouchability. i draw inspiration from black and feminist geographers who emphasize that the social and spatial domains of experience co-construct and co-produce each other (massey, 1994; mckittrick, 2006; wright, 2016). just as ‘black matters are spatial matters’ (mckittrick, 2006, p. xii), so are dalit matters. mckittrick’s (2006, (p. xii) observation that ‘concealment, marginalization, boundaries are important social processes. we make concealment happen; it is not natural but rather names and organizes where racial-sexual differentiation occurs’ raises particularly pertinent questions concerning the interaction between untouchability as a social construct and the production of dalit spaces and their ascribed meanings. the investigation of dalit space helps uncover the power of geographic domination attained via the practice of untouchability as well as the pace of change in the experience of untouchability in rural bihar. ambedkar addressed the spatiality of untouchability when he argued that ‘the touchables living inside the village and untouchables [living] outside the village in separate quarters’ was a kind of ghettoization (ambedkar, 1989, vol. 5, p. 21). he explained that in order for non-dalits to live near dalits in rural villages, ‘the touchables [non-dalits] have a code which the untouchables are required to follow. this code lays down the acts of omissions and commissions which touchables treat as 2such framings have the “creative potential of rearticulating, enlivening and rearranging the very social categories that peripheralize a group’s existence,” thus paving the way for transnational alliances amongst disenfranchised groups (tsing, 1994, p. 279). caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india 135 offences (p. 21). in short, the perverse hegemonic logic of caste hinduism generates a normative behavioral code that keeps the vast dalit population under control. the behavioral code not only puts up obstacles to political and social enfranchisement, it limits dalit movements to particular spaces that ambedkar described as the ‘indian ghetto–the center of untouchability’ (p. 19). in rural bihar, such dalit-specific neighborhoods are known as the dih. such segregated spaces need not remain static, however. although ‘old spaces normally put up a stubborn resistance to . . . new concepts,’ guru theorizes that ‘experience introduces dynamism’ into such spaces, which allows for old hierarchies to be reworked and ‘a new vocabulary of emancipation’ to develop (guru, 2017, p. 78–79). guru further reminds us that, ‘along with the expansion of social space, there is also the expansion of conceptual space, entailing the transformation of a particular person into a universal idea’ (2017, p. 103). guru thus suggests that segregated spaces can be transformed by new experiences. emblematic of dalit and non-dalit perspectives in india, both ambedkar and gandhi took the village as a primary unit of analysis (guru, 2017; cabalion and thivet 2019). gandhi considered the village to represent india’s true democracy, leading ambedkar to comment sarcastically, “the average hindu is always in ecstasy whenever he speaks of the indian village. he regards it as an ideal form of social organization to which he believes there is no parallel anywhere in the world” (ambedkar, 1989, vol. 5, p. 19). ambedkar (1989, vol. 5, p. 19), understood that the ‘indian village is not a single social unit’ because ‘it consists of castes’ (p. 20) broadly divided into dalits (untouchables) and non-dalits (touchables). if, as ambedkar declared, ‘the hindu village is a working plant of the hindu social order,’ then it is suitable for analyzing the mutating practices of untouchability in rural india. untouchability neither exists in a vacuum nor does it remain static or uncontested. its successful re-inscription into various social, economic, and political milieu in the face of sustained dalit assertions of agency requires careful examination. this article therefore analyzes some of the ways in which spatial and material aspects of untouchability have been altered (although not done away with completely) at the village level in the decades following dalit activist movements to own land and secure other rights and resources guaranteed to them in rural bihar. research context and methodology: mapping village spaces in bodh gaya, bihar as a feminist anthropologist interested in social and agrarian change, i concentrated research at the village level, conducting ethnographic fieldwork in villages in bihar where bhuiyan dalits had secured rights to own land following the decade-long radical feminist bodhgaya land movement (bglm) (prasad, 2021; prabhat, 1999; kelkar and gala, 1990). in the late 1970s, land movement activists mounted a successful opposition to a hindu monastic institution popularly known as bodhgaya math (bgm), which despite its religious outlook was the most powerful feudal landowner (zamindar) in gaya. the bgm had controlled vast estates and people throughout the region for centuries and bhuiyan dalit kamias (bonded laborers) were forced to serve bgm officials and other landed elites well into the late 1980s. their experiences of activism gained through joining first the armed naxalite movement and later the 136 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 bglm enabled bhuiyan dalits to obtain titles to and actual control over land formerly held by the bgm (prasad, 2021). there has been little documentation of how the redistribution of land to dalits, particularly dalit women, affected gender and caste social orders in rural bihar following the conclusion of the bglm. many academics and journalists consider the state sponsored land reform to have failed because, instead of putting formerly landless agricultural workers on an even footing with traditional landowners and protecting women’s rights to own land, it paved the way for ongoing, often violent, class-caste war and conflict (jannuzi, 1974; das, 1983; chaitanya, 1993; louis, 2003; bhatia, 2005; kantha, 2010). scholarly analyses are often problematic because they usually group marginal farmers with caste status together with landless agricultural laborers (i.e. untouchable kamias) into the single category of ‘peasants’ and pitch them against the landed savarna (upper caste) elites (primarily bhumihars and rajputs in bihar). this may contradict dalit conceptualizations of caste relations. for example, bhuiyan dalits in gaya distinguish themselves from other marginal farmers using local caste terminology. they recount their struggles against grihasts and kisans, including the shudra castes, other backward classes (obc), dominant castes, and bahujans, who have continually strived to take over the land that was distributed to bhuiyan dalits due to the bglm. to understand how securing control over productive assets, such as land, has transformed social relations and material conditions of dalits in bihar, i began conducting fieldwork in the summer of 2009 in the gaya district and returned to two villages for extended periods from april 2012 through may 2014. located approximately 18 miles from the town of bodh gaya, kaari (a pseudonym) is one of the relatively small villages in which i conducted research. kaari residents are categorized within non-dalit castes (i.e. yadav, kahar) and dalit castes (i.e. bhuiyan, dushad, pasi). the total population of kaari today is around 1500, the majority of whom are bhuiyan dalits. the dominant caste – the yadav – ranks second in terms of numeric strength in the village. like most villages in the bodh gaya area, kaari had been under the control of bgm for centuries. when the state government first attempted to implement land reform in the area in the 1960s, the bgm handed control of its feudal land over to the yadavs. bhuiyan dalits joined the bglm in the early 1980s to agitate for their rights to the land. their activism resulted in approximately 100 acres of land being redistributed to residents of kaari, mostly amongst bhuiyan dalit women and men.3 by the time i began conducting research in the area, the women who had been at the forefront of grassroots mobilization were in their 70s or 80s. they held a long historic memory of mistreatment by non-dalits and decades of experience mobilizing to obtain and protect their rights to land and other economic resources. although i am not a dalit, we bonded over having struggled to maintain control over land. i lived with a bhuiyan dalit family whenever i was in kaari and many of the women with whom i interacted became interested in participating in my research project as a way of telling their history of bhuiyan dalits and dalit activism to the world at large. along with recording open-ended interviews and informal story-telling sessions, i asked these women to participate in a spatial mapping process (praxis, 2009; herlihy & 3non-dalit women and men whose economic situations were similar to those of dalits in kaari were also part of the movement and they also secured rights to redistributed land. caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india 137 knapp, 2003). i was inspired by other scholar-activists who have conducted indigenous land-mapping projects or used the participatory mapping method to undertake social audits in the global south (chapin et. al., 2005; sletto, 2009). i had earlier taken part in a social audit mapping project in a village in bihar’s saharsa district conducted by praxis: institute of participatory participation. in that case, the village maps were drawn by professionals based on inputs from the community and did not take into account power differentials along caste-or gender-mediated lines. i adapted the village mapping process to my research in kaari in order to render visible the ways in which the ancient hindu edict of untouchability has either been undermined or become more covert following dalit women’s successful participation in the bglm. i began by asking bhuiyan dalit women to draw their immediate social spaces (i.e. houses, locations of key resources in the neighborhood, farmland) on the ground using twigs or colored chalk, or on large sheets of paper using crayons, pencils, or colored pens. apart from the initial demonstrations, the mapping project was thereafter led by bhuiyan dalit women with little input or direction from me. from four to six women collaborated on drawing maps on the ground during seven sessions held between may and december 2012. i photographed and audio-recorded the mapmaking sessions, each of which lasted roughly two hours. while some women drew maps independently, others worked in groups of two to four women to depict their immediate social spaces. although bhuiyan dalit women preferred drawing maps to any other ethnographic method such as interviews or surveys, the number of mapping sessions that could be effectively conducted was limited by constraints on their time, economic hardship, and health issues exacerbated by poor monsoon seasons. sometimes the older members of the group designated one or two younger women to draw the maps, expecting that they would incorporate their feedback and observations. bhuiyan men usually gathered around to observe the women and often drew maps of their own off to the side; the women would then gather around to comment on their maps. men mapmakers tended to focus primarily on the key routes leading in and out of the village and the village boundaries; their maps were also much smaller in scale compared to the maps drawn by women. some village grihasts also gathered to observe and ridicule the dalit women as they drew maps. the women either ignored or rebuked them, saying sarcastically, ‘if we can make barren land fertile, we can also learn how to do this;’ or ‘looks like you were you born with a pen in your hand?’ they thus, emphasized that learning takes time and effort, and that illiteracy was a sociological condition, not preordained for dalits as the grihast onlookers had implied. despite multiple challenges, including the difficulty of finding a suitable time and space for the project, the map-making exercises provided rich information about transformations in the social, material, and spatial dimensions of untouchability in kaari. the maps drawn by elderly bhuiyan dalit women showed their present-day spatiality, that is, the spaces they came to occupy after the bglm. drawing these ‘after’ maps inspired them to narrate past experiences (referred to below as ‘before narratives’) of untouchability under the bgm and their activism during the bglm. they linked their socio-spatial segregation to the material and social practices of non-dalit caste hindus and identified the bglm as a catalyst for social transformation that had enabled them to challenge the ancient codes of association that separated dalits from non-dalits. their maps and stories thus rendered visible approximately five decades of change in the practices of untouchability in rural bihar. 138 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 the spatiality of untouchability before and after the bglm four key sites of untouchability and resistance to segregation emerged from their maps: 1. housing; 2. sources of potable water; 3. modern infrastructure (roads and electricity); and 4. a community center. in this section, i describe where each of these features were presented on bhuiyan dalit women’s maps and in their accompanying narratives and analyze the implications for how untouchability practices have changed over time. figure 1 shows an incomplete map of kaari hand-drawn by bhuiyan dalit women in one of the latter mapping sessions. i have added symbols showing the location of resources that were not depicted in this particular map but were marked in other maps drawn on the ground. this is to assist the reader in following analysis of these features below. figure 1: map of kaari drawn by bhuiyan dalit women showing spatial arrangements of housing, including the dih in the southwest (lower right), and location of resources east of the center of the village (vertical black line at left represents the naala [rivulet]) (december 2012) untouchability as social and spatial housing segregation in kaari in depicting their physical spaces before the 1960s, when the bgm still controlled the village, bhuiyan dalit women always began by outlining their part of the village (the dih), then depicted its relationship to the location of kaari’s old kachcheri (court). before the land movement undid the power of bgm, which was headquartered in bodh gaya town, its vast estate was managed from a network of kachcheris established caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india 139 in and around gaya district. as the village-level administrative and judicial units of bgm, the kachcheris housed local bgm officials as well as the most important village resources such as stored grain, and drinking water could only be accessed from within their grounds. bhuiyan dalit women usually marked the main well (badka kuan) and temple (devi staan) on their maps of kaari and explained that both these facilities were located in close proximity to the kachcheri building (figure 1). even though the old kachcheri was torn down and new houses built on its foundations after the bglm, for bhuiyan women it continues to function as the center of a historical compass from which all other structures radiate in the cardinal directions. they described the location of living spaces beyond the kachcheri in terms of caste. non-dalit houses were always built west of the kachcheri, with the yadav caste residing in closest proximity to it. the village badka kuan was located just west of the kachcheri building within its courtyard, while dalit huts were located further west of the courtyard. the homes of dushad dalits, who served the kachcheri as bgm’s goraiths (armed guards), were lined south of the western edge. they were responsible for the security of the village and controlling the bonded agricultural laborers, the bhuiyan dalit or kamias. bhuiyan dalit dwellings were farther located in semi-concentric lines northwest of the dushad dalits. in the dih the dushad dalit homes marked the boundary. some of the women told me they were forced to live west (pachhim) of the center of the village so they would not pollute the badjans (grihasts, non-dalits), which they would have done if they had had first access to fresh air (or any other resources). since the purva winds always blow east to west, if dalits lived on the east side of the village, they would have rendered the air impure to those living west of them. the village code of untouchability prescribed that dalits must not only reside further away from non-dalits to the west, they also had to be located south of the kachcheri, since south was considered the most inauspicious of the four cardinal directions. one elderly woman explained that ‘harijans [untouchables, dalits] were placed on the external boundaries of the village as it was believed we could cast off the evil eye or be the first to bear the brunt of any untoward incidents.’ in a sense, bhuiyan dalits were located at the outskirts so they could filter out bad luck before it entered the village proper. until 1955, such ancient ‘terms of associated life’ (ambedkar, 1989, p. 21) not only spatially segregated dalits from non-dalits within the same villages, it also made it an offence for dalits to possess land, cattle, or wealth in any form, including owning well-constructed houses built of brick and tiles. bhuiyan women described their prebglm dwellings as cold, damp mud mounds, no better than ‘suaar kae bakbhor (pig sties).’ one woman explained that they were also prohibited from wearing shoes or clean clothes: we barely had enough to cover ourselves. our children would roam naked until they attained puberty [seyan]. just like the summers, the winters in gaya are harsh. so, we would all crowd next to the small fire to keep ourselves warm. we were not only covered in ash, but also smelled like ash. such restrictions forced dalits to somatically inhabit the logic of untouchability, which reinforced the imperative of physical and spatial segregation. 140 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 the spatial arrangement of the village under the bgm not only compartmentalized people into neighborhoods according to the hindu religion’s caste logic of purity and pollution, it prevented dalits from socializing with non-dalits by restricting their movements through village spaces. bhuiyan women explained that the location of their mud dwellings vis-à-vis the kachcheri ensured that they never had to cross into the non-dalit (located east of dalits households) part of the village. even when undertaking work demanded of them by local kachcheri officials, they always bypassed the non-dalit section. they either walked from the dih in the far southwest corner of the village northeast to the kachcheri or west to work in bgm’s agricultural fields, orchards, and cowsheds, and maintain the rivulet (naala or pyne) that connected the indigenous irrigation system (ahar) to a nearby river (figure 1). in 2013, upon noticing my entry as a non-dalit into the bhuiyan dalit space, one of the map-making participants commented that the reverse situation, dalits freely walking through non-dalit spaces, would have been impossible before the bglm: ‘you could not just wander into the spaces of the landed castes.’ indeed, i observed non-dalits (particularly men and elderly women) traversing dalit parts of the village while i was conducting fieldwork in kaari, but the reverse almost never occurred. i noticed that when dalits walked into non-dalit areas to perform specific tasks for grihast households, or collect wages, or seek a loan from them, it appeared customary for non-dalits to inquire about the presence of ‘other caste’ or ‘outsiders’ in their space although the reverse never occurred in my presence. however porous spatial segregation becomes, it still renders the social segregation of untouchability. the kachcheri as center of control ceased to exist when the bgm ceded its fertile agricultural lands, irrigation systems, and village courts to grihasts, ostensibly to comply with the state-mandated redistributive land reform policies of the 1960s, but mainly to win their support. power over rural villages also diffused to the grihasts as they took over the kachcheri premises. in kaari, the location of non-dalit spaces with respect to the old kachcheri became obscure as influential grihasts began building their homes there. women used black lines to mark grihast homes along the edges of the old kachcheri foundations (in pencil) just northeast of the dih (figure 1). a dalit woman told me that ‘the only way you can tell that there was a bgm kachcheri in kaari today is by looking at the foundation of the building on which the grihasts have constructed their homes. they build their houses on the foundation of the kachcheri because it was very strong.’ non-dalits then built more houses adjacent to the old kachcheri as far west as the walls of the courtyard, but never crossing into dalit space. thus, they continued to maintain the caste mandate of spatial segregation. the physical distance between dalit and non-dalit homes has nevertheless been reduced over the past five decades by a few dalits who constructed houses northeast of the old dih (figure 1, middle to upper left). one of the women mapmakers told me that before the bglm: it was overcrowded in the dih as our families were expanding, but we could not move out. we were not allowed to. anytime there was a disease, it would take a toll on the community. [but] after we secured the land, some of us moved out. thus, one of the results of the bglm was a closing of the west-east gap between residential neighborhoods in kaari. a couple of new dalit and non-dalit dwellings caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india 141 constructed since the 1990s even share boundary walls. however, i observed that the shared walls are nearly twice as high as other boundary walls that do not connect dalit with non-dalit spaces. the taller walls present a visual and physical barrier to interaction between neighbors and prevent dalits from crossing the line of segregation.4 even as the borderlines seem to have become blurred and the caste logic of complete segregation between dalits and non-dalits has been undermined, the village core retains the old spatial manifestations of untouchability. despite the visually obvious reduction in spatial segregation, untouchability has continued to be covertly re-inscribed in the structure and quality of new dalit homes in kaari. even though bhuiyan dalits challenged the old ‘terms of associated life’ by using government grants to construct ‘homes made of bricks’ and plastered roofs, their houses were built very poorly compared to the non-dalit houses. most of them are a simple one-story structure with four brick walls, often without windows or a sturdy ceiling. where brick ceilings were constructed, many of them caved in under their own weight. one map-making participant complained: look at the way they construct our houses. do you think they would build the houses of grihasts who are in a similar economic situation like ours or their own homes like this? no. for dalits, they think that four walls and a ceiling are enough, but for grihasts, they make sure it looks like a proper house. i found evidence supporting these charges when i interviewed a non-dalit widow who had taken part in the bglm alongside the bhuiyan dalits and like them been granted title to an acre of redistributed land. her house had been built with funds from the same government housing assistance scheme that the dalits had tapped, but unlike theirs, hers had two rooms with storage shelves built into the walls, windows with sills, a small hallway at the entrance, and outside stairs leading to the roof. she told me she planned to add more stories to her house later on. the contractors put in charge of building houses under the government scheme were almost always non-dalits. they would drop off construction materials in the dih, but were rarely seen again thereafter. they almost never showed up to explain how to design a house, supervise the construction work, or check that the building was sound. bhuiyan women explained that non-dalit laborers viewed working for dalits as an insulty (insult) that undermined their social status in the village hierarchy. non-dalit laborers also refused to eat food that had been prepared for them in a dalit house. overt practices of untouchability that stigmatized the consumption of food cooked in dalit houses or working for dalits made it very difficult for them to hire skilled non-dalit laborers. bhuiyan dalits told me that even when they could afford to hire non-dalits, the laborers often failed to follow their stipulations. consequently, dalits usually relied on unskilled laborers from within their own households or the extended dalit community to construct their houses; this usually meant only a single room dwelling being constructed.5 4in ghanshyam shah, harsh mander, sukadeo thorat, satish despande and amita bavikar’s (2006) untouchabilty in rural india it has been noted that of the 565 villages’ in 11 major states of india surveyed, more than 70 percent of the villages’ dalits were denied entry into homes of higher castes and in 63 percent of the villages, dalits are denied access to public places of worship. 5houses built by dalits who had worked in the construction sector in the cities tended to be better designed than those built by dalits who only had experience making bricks at the kilns. 142 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 although the codes and practices of untouchability became illegal in 1955, the comparisons between the location and quality of dalit and non-dalit housing before and after the bglm demonstrate that segregation has not only been retained but it has become more covert. while some dalits appear to live alongside non-dalits with their houses abutting each other, the old west-east demarcation has never been crossed. furthermore, though their houses are no longer mud huts, they are still poor quality compared to houses built for non-dalits under the same government grants. similar changes from overt segregationist practices to more covert forms of untouchability are revealed in women’s marking access to potable water on their maps of kaari, discussed next. untouchability and water access discrimination in kaari exerting control over access to water has long been used by non-dalits to institute and maintain the caste hierarchy and boundaries of touchability (joshi, 2011). this form of control is very obvious in the history of where sources of water were placed in kaari. when the bgm was still in power, the only source of potable water in the village was the badka kuan located just west of the kachcheri building (figure 1). the code of untouchability dictated that dalits were not allowed to draw water from the well on their own volition; they were also prohibited from digging a well within the dih. to obtain fresh water, they approached the western edge of the kachcheri courtyard, set their buckets down at some distance from the main well, then backed away and waited until a non-dalit took pity on them and filled their buckets with water. distance between the dalit buckets and grihast pails around the well was always maintained to ensure that no drops bounced from the dalits’ buckets into the grihasts’ pails. bhuiyan dalits rarely failed to adhere to these ancient rules about drawing water from the well; they knew that the entire bhuiyan community would be punished with extreme violence if they violated the code of untouchability. when the bgm transferred the kachcheri and agricultural land to the grihasts in the 1960s, the power to allocate critical resources such as water also shifted to the grihasts. bhuiyan dalits were now allowed to draw water from the badka kuan using their own pails, but only after the non-dalits had drawn water first and vacated the area. thereafter, when dalits openly began mobilizing their demand for land rights in the 1980s, grihasts retaliated by refusing to share the village well water with them at all. bhuiyan dalit women told me that the grihasts put a 24-hour guard on the perimeter of the badka kuan and lay thorny branches on and around it to prevent dalits from obtaining water. they depicted this on their maps by drawing twigs and thorns covering the mouth of the well (figure 2). elderly bhuiyan women told me stories about walking many miles, often on empty stomachs, under the scorching sun to draw water from nearby villages or the river, but recalled that they did so with kranti (revolutionary) songs on their lips. the ‘after’ bglm maps of kaari and women’s narratives show that sources of potable water proliferated as dalits mobilized to assert their rights from the 1980s onwards. in 1993 or 1994, bhuiyan dalits obtained government funds to dig two wells in the dih and one in the newly established neighborhood northeast of the dih that had mixed caste composition. ambedkar (1989, p. 38) once observed that untouchables ‘having a pucca [permanent] well for themselves’ held socio-religious implications, since it was read as ‘an attempt to raise themselves to the status of the hindus, which is contrary to the established order.’ while the bhuiyan dalits of kaari may not have caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india 143 intended to make any such statement, their construction of a well certainly challenged the terms of associated life and undermined grihast control over resources necessary for survival. unfortunately, the wells in the dih were much shallower than the badka kuan, so they dried up every summer. by the time i was conducting field research, they were no longer in use. figure 2: bhuiyan dalit woman sketching badka kuan (main village well) covered with thorny branches (may 2012). similarly, the government approved five hand pumps (for pumping water up from the aquifer) to be installed in the dih between 2005 and 2014. only three of them were functional at the time women were drawing maps of the village. two more hand pumps were then installed in the newly settled mixed-caste area of the village, one near the primary school and another closer to the non-dalit neighborhood (figure 3). the location of these two pumps adhered to the rules of caste segregation in rural bihar. my host dalit family, which had moved out of the overcrowded dih to the new section, asked me to obtain my drinking water from the mixed-caste area. they claimed that the hand pumps used by non-dalits provided sweeter, cooler water than the hand pumps meant only for dalits. while the proliferation of hand pumps in kaari has made drinking water more accessible to dalits, and thus somewhat diminished the power of the untouchability code, it has not completely ended this ancient form of segregation. non-dalit women continue to occupy the space around the old badka kuan and use its water to wash their clothes or for other cleaning purposes, but bhuiyan dalit women never go to the old well (figure 4). dalit women told me they prefer to use nearby hand pumps over entering spaces traditionally reserved for non-dalits even though they consider the water from pumps in dalit spaces to be inferior to the water from pumps used by non-dalits. 144 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 hand pump hand pump well sarkari school figure 3: map showing location of two hand pumps in the new mixed-caste neighborhood in northern kaari. each of the three mapmakers in this session had their own chalk color (may 2012). figure 4: non-dalit women washing clothes at the badka kuan (march 2014) caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india 145 meanwhile, dalits who are still living in and drawing water from hand pumps in the dih often get sick by waterborne diseases. in the summer of 2013, diarrhea and dysentery, probably caused by fecal contamination of the groundwater, led to the death of at least one child and the hospitalization of several others from the dih. non-dalits and dalits such as my host family who lived outside the dih in less caste-segregated spaces were not as impacted by these illnesses. although it is not uncommon in rural bihar for groundwater to become unpotable, the disproportionate numbers of dalits who were sickened as they had drunk water from pumps located within the dih raises the possibility that public works undertaken in dalit spaces are substandard. just as the houses built for dalits were poorly designed and constructed and even became uninhabitable when their roofs caved in, the non-dalits who installed pumps in the dih may not have bored the wells as deeply into the aquifer as they did when boring wells in other parts of the village. thus, water from dih pumps is more easily contaminated. the bhuiyan dalits living in the dih did not voice this suspicion to me nor did they start going to the badka kuan or pumps outside the dih to obtain water. instead, dalits and non-dalits alike continued to draw on the hindu logic of untouchability to explain away dalit illnesses and deaths. they attributed dalit deaths to the wrath of local deities, thus signaling the need for immediate propitiation. my host family told me that if dalits failed to make offerings to these deities, the entire village would suffer. just as residing in the least propitious corner of the village (southwest of the old kachcheri) prevents misfortune from happening to non-dalits, dalit deaths perform the caste-related task of protecting caste hindus. dalits voluntarily excluding themselves from spaces containing water resources, while claiming that water from non-dalit pumps is sweeter and cleaner than water from nearby pumps and explaining away preventable dalit illnesses and deaths as the result of supernatural forces, demonstrates the perniciousness of covert practices of segregation in kaari. self-exclusion ensures that any resources located in purely non-dalit spaces remain out of bounds to dalits. locating hand pumps in dalit and non-dalit residential spaces alike represents an ostensible democratization of space and access to basic survival necessities, yet segregation by untouchability continues to be justified and covertly practised. although the struggle to obtain resources the state has earmarked for them remains the same irrespective of the type of resource, dalits have found it somewhat easier to gain access to modern resources (e.g. electricity) that were not covered by the ancient terms of associated life. reinscribing untouchability in modern infrastructure while women’s narratives of the past provided a window into the spatial arrangements of kaari according to the terms of associated life under the bgm, maps of the present depicting key markers of modernity such as paved roads, electrical poles, solarpowered streetlamps, schools, and a community center seem to suggest that the traditional logic of untouchability has been disrupted. a closer scrutiny reveals that the untouchability principle still permeates modern infrastructure. for example, dalits asked me if i had ever paid attention to where the paved road ended in kaari. i then noticed that i always walked into the dih on footpaths, since no roads entered the area. similarly, the high-tension electrical wires that carried electricity into the village from distant power plants always swerved past dalit homes, but were connected to nearby non-dalit homes. 146 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 electricity came to kaari only in the early twenty-first century, with the first transformer being installed in kaari in 2006 or 2007 near the village primary school. non-dalits were the first to benefit from this resource, which they used to run household utilities and agricultural machinery. they did not pay for the electricity; instead, they drew power illegally by running a wire held up on wooden or bamboo sticks to the main lines. the first transformer soon broke down. dalits recounted subsequent stages of electrification of the village. by 2012, electric poles had been installed along all the main routes within the village; some of the poles in the dih did not have power lines attached to them, however. the few dalit houses that were attached to a line primarily used the electricity to charge a mobile phone or light a single bulb after dark. bhuiyan women told me that even though there were vast discrepancies in access and usage of electricity between dalits and non-dalits, dalits were initially expected to contribute as much as non-dalits to the repair fund (for maintaining the transformer) and pay the same monthly fee for the utility. they later negotiated to have charges based on consumption, which resulted in much lower payments. they attributed their success to previous experience in grassroots activism during the bglm. the supply of electricity in rural bihar is quite erratic with electricity often unavailable for hours or days at a time. this has led to a demand for solar panels. in 2014, two solar-powered streetlamps in kaari were installed using sarkari (government) funds. both were located in new mixed-caste section of the village (figure 1). one was installed near the house of the most influential yadav and the other was located near the house of the most influential bhuiyan dalit in the village. dalits credit their own mobilization efforts and the integrity of the recently elected mukhiya (local governmental representative), a yadav from a neighboring village, for arranging to have a solar lamp set up in a space accessible to dalits. dalits noted that of all the candidates running for electoral office, only this mukhiya followed through with his campaign promise, despite opposition from members of his own caste. even though candidates running for office often promise to work for the benefit of dalits, breaking with one’s caste after being elected, particularly to side with bhuiyan dalits is rare. the disbursement of infrastructural resources that have been marked for dalits by successive state governments have almost always been controlled by non-dalits. they have often appropriated or hoarded these resources for their own caste groups. governance in rural bihar mimics this model wherein future votes are secured through the careful disbursement of sarkari funds, which sustains the inequality endemic to the caste system. the lamppost post near a dalit home thus represented an exception to the rule, as non-dalits usually succeed in appropriating resources meant for dalits. as a bhuiyan woman in the map-making group noted, ‘money or resources are allocated to us by the sarkar (government), but we never get to see it. the grihasts take it.’ the bhuiyan dalit community is proud of having secured a solar-powered lamp in their living space. dalit neighborhoods are usually characterized by complete darkness at night, but now at least one place is illuminated. despite the hordes of insects, it attracts, the space around the lamppost has become a social gathering spot for dalit women and their children, who often complete their schoolwork or play under its light. notably, children from nearby non-dalit households never join them, nor do non-dalit adults. sharing resources in dalit spaces – which would transgress ancient implicit habits of spatial segregation – remains inconceivable for the majority of nondalits in kaari. caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india 147 community facilities as failed challenges to untouchability in 2007, the bihar government led by nitish kumar launched 19 social and economic programs intended to benefit groups identified as mahadalits, which now include 21 of the most socio-economically marginalized dalits such as the bhuiyan (government of bihar, 2020). one of the programs provided funds for constructing a ‘community hall cum work-shade,’ or samudaya bhavan as it was referred to locally, to make a place for bhuiyan dalits to hold social and cultural events. as the village panchayat (village council) in kaari refused to make land available, a widowed bhuiyan dalit woman donated her own plot in the dih to the project. this meant that bhuiyan dalit homes would adjoin the community building or samudaya bhavan (figure 1). the government stipulated that the building would have one large meeting room, a smaller room, verandah, and a bathroom with an adjoining water pump. a non-dalit contractor from kaari began construction late in 2012, but by 2013, had only laid the concrete foundation and erected brick walls. the building still needed a roof, window frames and glass, doors, external and internal plastering, and paint; it remained unclear when the contractor would resume work. the women who participated in map-making sessions in 2012 admitted that the structure was unlikely ever to be completed properly, but still viewed having one constructed in the dih as a significant win for bhuiyan dalits. they asserted that the new structure filled a void in the village by providing a space dedicated to bhuiyan dalit social events and gatherings. furthermore, locating kaari’s samudaya bhavan within the dih violated the ancient code of untouchability, since it was a form of property that had not been made available to grihasts. mapmakers repeatedly commented that if the community center had been built on the eastern, non-dalit side of the village, it would have been impossible for dalits to access it. in july 2020, i telephoned my dalit consultants to confirm some information and noticed that they now referred to the building as the ‘bhuiyans’ samudaya bhavan’. the caste label had been absent in our exchanges in 2012 through 2014 implying that caste identities were firming up in kaari. they told me that the only social event that had ever been held at the community center was a song recording session i had arranged in march 2014. they also told me that the widow who had donated the land in the first place was residing in the building (which has now been completed) with her young daughters and a son. no one expressed surprise or concern that the community center was being used as a residence. they explained that the structure still served bhuiyan dalits in that it provided a safe place for children to play and everyone in the dih could draw water from its hand pump. one of my key interlocutors commented drily, however, that ‘the only thing that all the caste members of this village share is the primary school; the rest have caste labels.’ his words and tone of voice seemed to suggest that even the most well-meaning government welfare programs intended to benefit dalits by desegregating resources always ended up etching the line of untouchability more deeply into the social fabric of village life. the only public building in kaari wherein dalits might encounter non-dalits is the primary school (figure 1 & figure 3); however, the school does not benefit dalits much since it is rarely in session. at best, it provides free mid-day meals to their young children. nondalits and relatively financially secure dalit parents seek education for their children by other means. in 2014, most of the non-dalit boys from kaari were enrolled in private schools located across the river and dalit and non-dalit parents hired a local 148 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 tutor to instruct their girls (and young boys) in a makeshift thatched structure (private school) located in the new northeast section of the village (figure 1). thus, neither having a public school nor a community center built in areas to which dalits have access has done much to weaken the hold of untouchability in kaari. discussion: the shifting nature of untouchability in rural bihar maps drawn by bhuiyan dalit women and their accompanying narratives reveal that dalit assertions of their rights to resources, in conjunction with state-led land reform and welfare initiatives, have altered the spatial arrangements of village life and dalit experiences of socio-economic discrimination. some salient points that emerged from the mapping process include the ways in which caste segregation is both challenged and reinscribed over time, as dalits repeatedly attempt to assert their legal rights, only to be met with the threat of violence or have the resources promised to them by the government appropriated by non-dalits. untouchability challenged and reinscribed each change to dalits’ material circumstances has been excruciatingly slow and heavily contested. bhuiyan dalits’ narratives of their experiences prior to the 1960s suggest that the bgm’s kachcheri functioned as a sort of foucauldian panopticon to control dalit agricultural laborers (foucault, 1995). the location of the kachcheri in the most propitious (eastern) part of the village reflects its centrality to the lives of village residents. it circumscribed their movements to specific parts of the village and regulated who had access to survival resources such as water. the spatial arrangements of housing and resources around the kachcheri mirrored the graded inequalities of the caste system and reified the concepts of purity and pollution. by this logic, it made sense to house dushad dalits (the bgm’s armed guard), to mark the southwestern boundary of the village. such ghettoization facilitated surveillance and prevented bhuiyan dalits from shirking duties or deserting the village altogether. the vast network of kachcheris sustained the bgm’s governance of southern bihar, so its dismantling diffused feudal-monastic power in the region. when the bgm handed land to the grihasts, the power of the kachcheri declined. new houses were built on its foundations and then on land north of the former kachcheri where bgm orchards and cowsheds had been located. some dalits and non-dalits who could afford to build houses in the northern area eventually moved there, creating a mixed-caste settlement. other non-dalits expanded their houses through the center of the village until they reached the walls that separated the east from the west sides of the village. non-dalits have never moved south of the village center, however, and the old dih at the southwestern boundary of the village remains a segregated space. although these spatial changes – moving north and reducing the distance between dalit and non-dalit homes – give the impression that the ancient terms of association have been undone, the logic of untouchability (and thus segregation) has been retained. threat of collective violence undergirds untouchability the mapping process demonstrated the fragility of purported amenity between dalits and non-dalits, as every productive resource remains a site of contestation between grihasts and bhuiyan dalits. the grihasts attempted to thwart bhuiyan dalits’ initial efforts to mobilize against them by preventing the entire community from accessing caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india 149 the badka kuan, which was the only source of potable water at that point of time. this demonstrates that punishment for violating the code of untouchability is always collective, even when the offending action is committed by a single individual. nondalits targeting the entire dalit community for the perceived faults of an individual dalit reinforces caste-mediated social and spatial boundaries. although such violence has become a little less frequent, bhuiyan dalits continue to be targeted as a community. for example, in february 2013, a dalit youth was asked by a non-dalit youth not to dance too close to a vehicle carrying the idol of goddess saraswati to a nearby river for ritual immersion. the ensuing argument led to physical violence against the bhuiyan dalits of kaari, who were forced to retaliate as a group. after this incident, bhuiyan dalits told me that they avoided entering non-dalit areas even more than usual until the incident cooled off and only dealt with non-dalits very cautiously, to avoid escalation of violence. similarly, the hand pump the government installed close to a yadav house became a contested site in the new northern section of kaari (figure 1). during times of conflict, grihasts have threatened bhuiyan dalits with violence to prevent them from drawing water from this pump. the dalits have to travel farther from their homes to fetch water from a hand pump located near the sarkari (public) school (figure 1 & figure 3). when confronted with violence, dalits seldom complain to the police or take perpetrators to court; they prefer to settle matters with their non-dalit neighbors directly. they acknowledge that despite laws that have been established to protect them, the administration rarely favors dalits. as one of my key interlocutors noted, ‘everything revolves around money here. we don’t have the resources to hold the grihasts accountable through the administration,’ because it mostly works in the interests of non-dalits. appropriation by non-dalits of critical resources allocated to dalits perpetuates untouchability the mapping process and dalit narratives provide evidence of the persistent efforts by grihasts to usurp state resources intended for mahadalits (mosse, 2018). grihasts deliberately fabricate documents to suggest that their socio-economic status is much lower than it actually is so they can obtain government funds. one of the bhuiyan women commented ironically, ‘ab badjan harijan ban gayel aur harijan badjan [now the grihasts pose as dalits and present dalits as grihasts]’ to the government. non-dalits also arrange to have bhuiyan dalits in need of assistance stricken off from government beneficiaries lists. an elderly bhuiyan woman solicited laughter from other women when she pointed to her shriveled hands and commented: each time i’ve asked the officials to list my name for the old-age pension, they say i am not eligible. i tell them, “look at me, my hair and my hands; if this does not look like old-age, then what does?” the fact that some resources such as brick houses, water, and electricity have become available in dalit spaces suggests that the most dehumanizing aspects of the old code of untouchability (i.e., when it was a punishable offence for dalits to own land, build houses with tiled roofs, wear clean clothes, or draw water from the community well) have been undone. the qualitative experiences of dalits are more complex, however. although their living conditions have certainly improved over the past half century, 150 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 the infrastructure in dalit spaces remains inferior to that enjoyed by non-dalits: their homes do not have windows and their roofs caved in soon after construction; water from their pumps is often contaminated; and their community center was not completed by the government contractor. these facts are evidence of a practice of untouchability wherein dalits are still prevented from fully enjoying the resources and rights for which they have so long struggled. with non-dalits in charge of welfare programs, every attempt to improve the quality of dalit lives becomes hijacked by the very officials meant to implement them. although the socio-spatial segregation of kaari has evolved from being readily discernible in the layout of the village (i.e. segregated housing quadrants, inaccessible well water) to being hidden from view (i.e. by the proliferation of hand pumps, location of a solar lamp, development of a mixed-caste housing area), it continues to inform and shape all interactions between dalits and non-dalits. dalits must remain vigilant and constantly prepared to mobilize to improve their physical conditions because each such attempt challenges a deeply ingrained code that forbids dalits from rising to the same social status as non-dalit hindus. bhuiyan women are well aware of this discrimination. they recognize that dalit labor is the basis for all economic activities in the village, yet they are not permitted to use their expertise or skills to advance their own situation if doing so gives the appearance of behaving as equals with non-dalits. as one of the mapmakers put it, ‘it is our labor that made the houses, the clothes, the grain, and yet we are [still] forced to live among animals, naked and hungry.’ although the outlines of the dalit ghetto have changed, the underlying principle of untouchability has not–it has only mutated. conclusion refusing to openly acknowledge the ongoing discriminatory practices of untouchability in rural bihar undermines the ability of bhuiyan dalits to fully gain control over productive assets that could ensure sustained socio-economic gains and changes in their social status. the evidence suggests that dalit assertions of their legal rights do not translate into an equitable distribution of material resources or mitigation of social segregation, even when the state attempts to redress their historical socio-economic marginalization by building facilities that should have given them equal access to water, electricity, housing, and schools. the maps drawn by bhuiyan women depict the results of many decades of dalit agency. at the same time, they provide insight into the interplay of social, economic, and political powers of non-dalits vested in segregating themselves from dalits and appropriating and regulating all resources that might allow dalits to make a qualitative and quantitative shift in their circumstances. as guru (2017) predicts, however, dalits’ activist experiences in the land movement (coupled with state programs intended to democratize resources) have introduced dynamism into segregated spaces. this dynamism has mitigated but not entirely undone the structural (and physical) violence that still undergirds the spatial and social milieu of rural india. dalits and non-dalits continue to operate in a caste hierarchy that keeps everyone in their place, physically and socially. although dalit villagers have successfully asserted their rights to access basic resources and thereby altered the more blatant enforcements of the untouchability code and blurred the edges of spatial segregation, every gain they make remains precarious and their autonomy threatened in rural bihar. caste-ing space: mapping the 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(2017). epistemological ignorances and fighting for the disappeared: lessons from mexico. antipode, 49(1), 249–269. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12244 forum caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 229–236 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.44 © 2020 jean drèze. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited the revolt of the upper castes jean drèze1 abstract this article argues that the recent rise of hindu nationalism in india can be seen as a revolt of the upper castes against the egalitarian demands of democracy. by and large, the upper castes have managed to retain their power and privileges in the post-independence period. nevertheless, democratic institutions have forced them to accept some sharing of power and privilege in important spheres of public life. some economic changes have also undermined their dominant position, at least in rural areas. the hindutva project is a lifeboat for the upper castes, in so far as it stands for the restoration of the brahminical social order that places them at the top. seen in this light, the recent growth of hindu nationalism is a major setback for the movement to annihilate caste and bring about a more equal society in india. keywords caste; hindu nationalism; social inequality; social mobility; hindutva. introduction the recent growth of hindu nationalism in india is a huge setback for the movement to annihilate caste and bring about a more equal society. the setback is not an accident: the growth of hindu nationalism can be seen as a revolt of the upper castes against the egalitarian demands of democracy. hindutva and caste the essential ideas of hindu nationalism, also known as ‘hindutva,’ are not difficult to understand. they were explained with great clarity by v.d. savarkar in essentials of hindutva (savarkar, 1923), and amplified by other early hindutva thinkers such as m.s. golwalkar. the basic idea is that india belongs to the ‘hindus,’ broadly defined in cultural rather than strictly religious terms that include sikhs, buddhists, and jains but not muslims and christians (because the cradle of their 1visiting professor, department of economics, ranchi university, morabadi, ranchi, india e-mail: jaandaraz@gmail.com 230 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 religion is elsewhere). the ultimate goal of hindutva is to unite the hindus, revitalize hindu society and turn india into a ‘hindu rashtra.’1 incidentally, the arguments that were advanced to support these ideas involved startling departures from rational thinking, common sense, and scientific knowledge. just to illustrate, consider golwalkar’s argument that all hindus belong to one race, the aryan race. golwalkar did not have to contend, at that time, with the scientific evidence we have against that argument today, but he did grapple with an alleged discovery that aryans came from somewhere north of india, in fact near the north pole. he dealt with this claim by arguing that the north pole itself used to be located in india: ‘… the north pole is not stationary and quite long ago it was in that part of the world, which, we find, is called bihar and orissa at the present;… then it moved northeast and then by a sometimes westerly, sometimes northward movement, it came to its present position… we were all along here and the arctic zone left us and moved away northwards in its zigzag march.’2 golwalkar did not explain how the aryans managed to stay in place during this ‘zigzag march’ of the north pole. he used similarly contrived arguments to defend the odd claim that all hindus share ‘one language.’ the hindutva project can also be seen as an attempt to restore the traditional social order associated with the common culture that allegedly binds all hindus. the caste system, or at least the varna system (the four-fold division of society), is an integral part of this social order. in we or our nationhood defined, for instance, golwalkar clearly says that the ‘hindu framework of society,’ as he calls it, is ‘characterized by varnas and ashrams’ (golwalkar 1939, p. 54). this is elaborated at some length in bunch of thoughts (one of the foundational texts of hindutva), where golwalkar praises the varna system as the basis of a ‘harmonious social order.’3 like many other apologists of caste, he claims that the varna system is not meant to be hierarchical, but that does not cut much ice. golwalkar and other hindutva ideologues tend to have no problem with caste. they have a problem with what some of them call ‘casteism’. the word casteism, in the hindutva lingo, is not a reference to caste discrimination (like ‘racism’ is a reference to race discrimination). rather, it refers to situations such as dalits asserting themselves, or demanding special safeguards like reservation. that is casteism, because it divides hindu society. the rashtriya swayamsevak sangh (rss), the torch-bearer of hindu nationalism today, has been remarkably faithful to these essential ideas. on caste, the standard line remains that caste is part of the ‘genius of our country,’ as the national general secretary of the bharatiya janata party, ram madhav, put it recently in indian express (madhav, 2017), and that the real problem is not caste but casteism?.4 an even more revealing statement was made by yogi adityanath, head of the bjp government in uttar pradesh, in an interview with ndtv two years ago. much like golwalkar, he explained that caste was a method for ‘managing society in an orderly manner.’ he said: ‘castes play the same role in hindu society that furrows play in farms, and help in keeping it organised and orderly… castes can be fine, but casteism is not…’5 the revolt of the upper castes 231 to look at the issue from another angle, hindutva ideologues face a basic problem: how does one ‘unite’ a society divided by caste? the answer is to project caste as a unifying rather than a divisive institution.6 the idea, of course, is unlikely to appeal to the disadvantaged castes, and that is perhaps why it is rarely stated as openly as yogi adityanath did in this interview. generally, hindutva leaders tend to abstain from talking about the caste system, but there is a tacit acceptance of it in this silence. few of them, at any rate, are known to have spoken against the caste system. sometimes hindutva leaders create an impression that they oppose the caste system because they speak or act against untouchability. savarkar himself was against untouchability, and even supported one of dr. ambedkar’s early acts of civil disobedience against it, the mahad satyagraha (zelliott 2013, p.80). but opposing untouchability is not at all the same as opposing the caste system. there is a long tradition, among the upper castes, of defending the caste system along with opposing untouchability, often dismissed as a recent perversion of it. gandhi himself argued that ‘the moment untouchability goes, the caste system will be purified.’7 uncertain power the ideology of hindu nationalism plays into the hands of the upper castes, since it effectively stands for the restoration of the traditional social order that places them at the top. as one might expect, the rss is particularly popular among the upper castes. its founders, incidentally, were all brahmins, as were all the rss chiefs so far except one (rajendra singh, a rajput), and many other leading figures of the hindutva movement – savarkar, hedgewar, golwalkar, nathuram godse, syama prasad mukherjee, deen dayal upadhyay, mohan bhagwat, ram madhav, to name a few. over time, of course, the rss has expanded its influence beyond the upper castes, but the upper castes remain their most loyal and reliable base. in fact, hindutva has become a kind of lifeboat for the upper castes, as their supremacy came under threat after india’s independence. by and large, of course, the upper castes have managed to retain their power and privileges in the postindependence period. just to illustrate, in a recent survey of the ‘positions of power and influence’ (popi) (the university faculty, the bar association, the press club, the top police posts, trade-union leaders, ngo heads, and so on) in the city of allahabad, we found that seventy-five per cent of the popis had been captured by members of the upper castes, whose share of the population in uttar pradesh is just sixteen per cent or so. brahmins and kayasthas alone accounted for about half of the popis. interestingly, this imbalance was, if anything, more pronounced among civic institutions such as trade unions, ngos, and the press club than in the government sector. allahabad, of course, is just one city, but many other studies have brought out similar patterns of continued upper-caste dominance in a wide range of contexts – media houses, corporate boards, cricket teams, senior administrative positions, and so on.8 nevertheless, the upper-caste ship has started leaking from many sides. education, for instance, used to be a virtual monopoly of the upper castes – at the turn of the twentieth century, literacy was the norm among brahmin men but virtually nil among dalits.9 inequality and discrimination certainly persist in the education system today, but in government schools at least dalit children can claim the same status as uppercaste children. children of all castes even share the same midday meal, an initiative that did not go down well with many upper-caste parents (drèze, 2017). the recent 232 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 introduction of eggs in midday meals in many states has also caused much agitation among upper-caste vegetarians.10 under their influence, most of the states with a bjp government have been resisting the inclusion of eggs in school meals to this day. the schooling system is only one example of a sphere of public life where the upper castes have had to resign themselves to some sharing of power and privilege. the electoral system is another example, even if ‘adult suffrage and frequent elections are no bar against [the] governing class reaching places of power and authority,’ as dr. ambedkar put it.11 the upper castes may be somewhat over-represented in the lok sabha (lower house of parliament), but their share of it is a moderate twenty-nine per cent, in sharp contrast with the overwhelming upper-caste dominance of popis in society. at the local level, too, panchayati raj institutions and the reservation of seats for women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes have weakened the grip of the upper castes on political affairs. similarly, the judicial system restrains the arbitrary power of the upper castes from time to time (for instance in matters of land grab, bonded labour, and untouchability), even if the principle of equality before the law is still far from being realised. some economic changes have also undermined the dominant position of the upper castes, at least in rural areas. many years ago, i had an opportunity to observe a striking example of this process in palanpur, a village of moradabad district in western uttar pradesh. when we asked man singh, a relatively educated resident of palanpur, to write down his impressions of recent economic and social change in the village, here is what he wrote (in late 1983): 1. lower castes are passing better life than upper castes. so there has been a great jealousy and hatefulness for lower castes in the hearts of upper caste people. 2. ratio of education is increasing in low castes very rapidly. 3. on the whole, we can say that low castes are going up and upper castes are coming down; this is because the economic condition of lower castes seems better than higher castes people in the modern society. i could not make sense of this until i understood that by ‘lower castes,’ man singh did not mean dalits but his own caste, the muraos (one of uttar pradesh’s ‘other backward classes’). with that clue, what he wrote made good sense, and indeed, it was consistent with our own findings: the muraos, a farming caste, had prospered steadily after the abolition of zamindari and the onset of the green revolution – more so than the upper-caste thakurs. even as the thakurs were struggling to keep the appearances of idle landlords (traditionally, they are not supposed to touch the plough), the muraos were taking to multiple cropping with abandon, installing tubewells, buying more land and – as man singh hints – catching up with the thakurs in matters of education. the thakurs did not hide their resentment. palanpur is just one village, but it turns out that similar patterns have been observed in a good number of village studies.12 i am not suggesting that the relative economic decline of the upper castes is a universal pattern in rural india in the postindependence period, but it seems to be a common pattern at least. the revolt of the upper castes 233 in short, even if the upper castes are still in firm control of many aspects of economic and social life, in some respects they are also losing ground, or in danger of losing ground. even when the loss of privilege is relatively small, it may be perceived as a major loss. striking back of all the ways upper-caste privilege has been challenged in recent decades, perhaps none is more acutely resented by the upper castes than the system of reservation in education and public employment. how far reservation policies have actually reduced education and employment opportunities for the upper castes is not clear – the reservation norms are far from being fully implemented, and they apply mainly in the public sector. what is not in doubt is that these policies have generated a common perception, among the upper castes, that ‘their’ jobs and degrees are being snatched by the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes (obcs).13 as it happens, the revival of the bjp began soon after the v.p. singh government committed itself to the implementation of the mandal commission report on reservation for obcs, in 1990. this threatened not only to split hindu society (the upper castes were enraged), but also to alienate obcs about forty per cent of india’s population from the bjp, opposed as it was to the mandal commission recommendations. l.k. advani’s rath yatra (chariot journey) to ayodhya, and the events that followed (including the demolition of the babri masjid (mosque) on 6 december 1992), helped to avert this threat of ‘casteism’ and re-unite hindus on an anti-muslim platform, under the leadership of the bjp – and of the upper castes. this is a striking example of hindutva enabling the upper castes to counter a threat to their privileges and reassert their control over hindu society. that, indeed, seems to be one of the main functions of the hindutva movement today. the potential adversaries of this movement are not just muslims but also christians, dalits, adivasis, communists, secularists, rationalists, feminists, in short anyone who stands or might stand in the way of the restoration of the brahminical social order. though it is often called a majoritarian movement, hindutva is perhaps better described as a movement of the oppressive minority. one possible objection to this interpretation of the hindutva movement (or rather, of its rapid growth in recent times) is that dalits are supporting it in large numbers. this objection, however, is easy to counter. first, it is doubtful that many dalits really support the rss or hindutva ideology. many did vote for the bjp in recent elections, but that is not the same thing as supporting hindutva – there are many possible reasons for voting for the bjp. second, some aspects of the hindutva movement may appeal to dalits even if they do not subscribe to the hindutva ideology. for instance, the rss is known for its vast network of schools, and other kinds of social work, often focused on underprivileged groups. third, the rss has gone out of its way to win support among dalits, not only through social work but also through propaganda, starting with the co-option of dr. ambedkar. objectively speaking, there is no possible meeting ground between hindutva and dr. ambedkar. yet the rss routinely claims him in one way or another. finally, it is arguable that even if hindutva does not stand for the abolition of caste, its view – and practice – of caste is less oppressive than the caste system as it exists today. some dalits may feel that, all said and done, they are treated better in the 234 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 rss than in the society at large. as one rss sympathiser puts it: ‘hindutva and the promise of a common hindu identity always appealed to a large dalit and obc castes [sic] as it promises to liberate them from the narrow identity of a weaker caste, and induct them into a powerful hindu community’ (singh 2019). as mentioned earlier, the rise of hindu nationalism should not be confused with the recent electoral success of bjp. nevertheless, the sweeping victory of the bjp in the 2019 parliamentary elections is also a big victory for the rss. most of the top posts in government (prime minister, president, vice-president, speaker of the lok sabha, key ministries, many governors, and so on) are now occupied by members or former members of the rss, firmly committed to the ideology of hindu nationalism. the quiet revolt of the upper castes against democracy is now taking the form of a more direct attack on democratic institutions, starting with the freedom of expression and dissent. the retreat of democracy and the persistence of caste are in danger of feeding on each other. references aggarwal, a., drèze, j.p. and gupta, a. (2015). caste and the power elite in allahabad. economic and political weekly, 50(6), 7 february. ambedkar, b.r. (1945). what congress and gandhi have done to the untouchables. bombay: thacker & co. balagopal, k. (1990). this anti-mandal mania. economic and political weekly, 25(40), 6 october. drèze, jean (2017). sense and solidarity: jholawala economics for everyone. ranikhet: permanent black. drèze, j.p., lanjouw, p., and sharma, n.k. (1998). economic development in palanpur, 195793. in lanjouw, p., and stern, n. (eds.), economic development in palanpur over five decades. oxford: oxford university press. drèze, j.p., and sen, amartya (2013). an uncertain glory: india and its contradictions. london and new delhi: penguin. gandhi, m.k. (1933). religion degraded. harijan, 11 february 1933. reprinted in gandhi (1964), pp. 12-15. gandhi, m.k. (1964). caste must go and the sin of untouchability, compiled by r.k. prabhu. ahmedabad: navajivan publishing house. also available at www.gandhiheritageportal.org golwalkar, m.s. (1939). we or our nationhood defined. nagpur: bharat publications. golwalkar, m.s. (1966). bunch of thoughts. bangalore: vikrama prakashan, available at archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.201991/2015.201991.bunch-of_djvu.txt india today (2019). chhattisgarh bjp mlas oppose eggs on mid-day meal menu in govt schools. available at https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/chhattisgarh-bjp-mlas-opposeeggs-on-mid-day-meal-menu-in-govt-schools-1571073-2019-07-18 madhav, ram (2017). coming full circle at 70. indian express, 15 august. savarkar, v.d. (1923). essentials of hindutva, later reprinted under the title hindutva: who is a hindu? bombay: veer savarkar prakashan. available at savarkar.org/en/ encyc/2017/5/23/2_12_12_04_essentials_of_hindutva.v001.pdf_1.pdf singh, abhinav prakash (2019). a common hindu identity has always appealed to obc and dalit castes. hindustan times, 18 july. the revolt of the upper castes 235 trivedi, p., nissa, b.u., and bhogale, s. (2019). from faith to gender and profession to caste: a profile of the 17th lok sabha. hindustan times, 25 may. zelliott, eleanor (2013). ambekdar’s world: the making of babasaheb and the dalit movement. new delhi: navayana. endnotes 1. the word ‘rashtra’ in this expression is difficult to translate. it encompasses not only nation and state, but also the social order. 2. golwalkar (1939), p. 8. 3. see golwalkar (1966), pp. xxxi and 107-111. golwalkar argues, inter alia, that the caste system continued “for thousands of years of our glorious national life. there is nowhere any instance of its having hampered the progress or disrupted the unity of society. it in fact served as a great bond of social cohesion’ (p. 108). 4. the bharatiya janata party (bjp), which leads the indian government today, has a symbiotic relationship with the rss. it can be considered as the political wing of the sangh parivar, a collection of organisations that are linked with the rss and committed to hindu nationalism. 5. interview to ndtv, 5 march 2017 (available at https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=ge4roncqiua). k.s. sudarshan, then sarsanghachalak (supreme leader) of the rss, spoke in similar terms about the caste system being “like a fence around the farm” (quoted in outlook, 27 january 2006; see https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/caste-system-ensuredjob-quota-for-every-caste-rss-chief/351330). 6. another possible answer is abolitionism – advocating the abolition of the caste system. that, however, would have alienated the upper castes. 7. to be fair, the ‘caste system’ gandhi envisages here is very different from the caste system as it exists today: ‘the moment untouchability goes, the caste system will be purified, that is to say, according to my dream, it will resolve itself into the true varnadharma, the four divisions of society, each complementary of the other and none inferior or superior to any other, each as necessary for the whole body of hinduism as any other.’ (gandhi 1933, pp. 14-15). how the removal of untouchability would ensure this ‘purification’ of the caste system, however, remains a mystery. 8. see the literature cited in aggarwal, drèze and gupta (2015), where the findings of the allahabad study are also presented in greater detail. 9. see 1901 census figures presented in drèze and sen (2013), chapter 8. 236 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 10. in fact, the state government’s recent decision to add eggs in school meals is the subject of a major political battle in chhattisgarh. bjp legislators, egged on by ’communities such as kabir panthi, radha soami, gayatri parivar, jains and others,’ are opposing the move in the state assembly (india today, 2019). 11. ambedkar (1945), p. 208. 12. see drèze, lanjouw and sharma (1998) on this literature, and also for a more detailed account of caste relations in palanpur including the relative decline of the thakurs. 13. this perception is well captured in a 1990 cartoon, mentioned by k. balagopal (1990), where sc, st and obc students are standing on a ship and “grinning cruelly at the forward caste students who are sinking all round with their degree certificates held high”. as balagopal observes, ‘it is difficult to imagine a more atrocious caricature of reality, which is almost exactly the opposite’ (p. 2231). margin and transcendence editorial and introduction laurence simon and sukhadeo thorat articles a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism” part iii rajesh sampath norm entrepreneurship at the un – dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent paul divakar namala ambedkar and the buddha’s saṅ gha: a ground for buddhist ethics timothy loftus reading dalit autobiographies in english: a top ten list ethnic identity, discrimination and the shaping of remittance culture in ghana joseph kweku assan a critique of sanskritization from dalit/caste-subaltern perspective ishita roy exclusion of tribal women from property inheritance rights: a study of tripuri women of india ashim shil and hemraj p jangir on the margins of healthcare: role of social capital in health of migrants in india tending immanence, transcending sectarianism: plane of mixed castes and religions roshni babu forum ari varutada a poem by chandni girija reflection a poem by gaurav j. pathania fa m il y; m ix ed m ed ia ; 2 6x 39 c m ; s av i s aw ar ak ar c e n t e r fo r g lo b a l d ev e lo p m e n t + s u sta i n a b i l i t y t h e h e l l e r s c h o o l at b r a n d e i s u n i v e r s i t y caste a global journal on social exclusion book, essay, film review spotted goddesses: dalit women’s agency-narratives on caste and gender violence balmurli natrajan dalit-bahujan feminism: a newly emerging discourse kancha ilaiah shepherd retro-modern india zeeshan husain caste, gender and fire in maadathy: an unconventional fairy tale roja suganthy-singh volume 2 :: number 2 october–november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste caste: a global journal on social exclusion is collaborating with jstor to digitize, preserve, and extend access to our journal in memory of siddalingaiah, poetic voice of the dalit movement joint editors-in-chief laurence r. simon brandeis university, usa sukhadeo thorat (emeritus) jawaharlal nehru university, india editor joseph k. assan brandeis university, usa reviews editor jebaroja singh st. john fisher college, usa senior editorial assistant afia a. adaboh brandeis university, usa editorial assistant for public outreach & communications jaspreet mahal brandeis university, usa production editor vinod kumar mishra indian institute of dalit studies, india university librarian matthew sheehy brandeis university, usa ojs technical manager brian meuse brandeis university library, usa caste a global journal on social exclusion margin and transcendence volume 2, number 2 editorial advisory board kaushik basu, c. marks professor of international studies and professor of economics, cornell university, usa; former chief economist of the world bank; president, international economics association; former chief economic adviser to the government of india krishna bhattachan, professor emeritus of sociology, tribhuvan university, nepal kevin d. brown, professor of law, maurer school of law, indiana university, usa ipsita chatterjee, associate professor, department of geography and the environment, university of north texas, usa ashwini deshpande, professor of economics, ashoka university, india meena dhanda, professor in philosophy and cultural politics, university of wolverhampton, united kingdom jean drèze, honorary professor, delhi school of economics, university of delhi, india ashok gurung, associate professor, julien j. studley graduate program in international affairs , the new school, new york, usa john harriss, professorial research associate, department of development studies, soas, university of london, united kingdom eva-maria hardtmann, associate professor and director of studies, department of social anthropology, stockholm university, sweden susan holcombe, professor emerita of the practice, heller school for social policy and management, brandeis university, usa sushrut jadhav, clinical associate professor of cross-cultural psychiatry, university college london; consultant psychiatrist & medical lead, focus homeless services, camden & islington nhs foundation trust; clinical lead, c & i cultural consultation service; founding editor, anthropology & medicine journal (taylor and francis, united kingdom); research associate, department of anthropology, soas, london, united kingdom chinnaiah jangam, assistant professor of history, carleton university, canada s. japhet, vice chancellor, bengaluru central university, bengaluru, india sangeeta kamat, professor of education, university of massachusetts at amherst, usa joel lee, assistant professor of anthropology, williams college, usa david mosse, professor of social anthropology, soas, university of london, united kingdom samuel l. myers, jr., roy wilkens professor of human relations and social justice and director, roy wilkins center for human relations and social justice, humphrey school of public affairs, university of minnesota, usa balmurli natrajan, professor and chair, department of anthropology, william patterson university, usa purna nepali, associate professor, kathmandu university, nepal katherine s. newman, senior vice president for academic affairs, university of massachusetts system, torrey little professor of sociology, usa martha c. nussbaum, ernst freund distinguished services professor of law and ethics, law school and philosophy department, university of chicago, usa devan pillay, associate professor and head, department of sociology, university of witwatersrand, johannesburg, south africa thomas pogge, leitner professor of philosophy and international affairs, yale university, usa christopher queen, lecturer on the study of religion, and dean of students for continuing education (retired), faculty of arts and sciences, harvard university, usa jehan raheem, former founding director, evaluation office, united nations development programme and former undp resident representative, burma (myanmar) anupama rao, associate professor of history, barnard and columbia universities, usa amilcar shabazz, professor, w.e.b. du bois department for afro-american studies, university of massachusetts at amherst, usa a.b. shamsul, distinguished professor and founding director, institute for ethnic studies, the national university of malaysia kalinga tudor silva, professor emeritus of sociology, university of peradeniya, sri lanka; research director, international centre for ethnic studies, colombo, sri lanka harleen singh, associate professor of literature, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, brandeis university, usa ajantha subramanian, professor of anthropology and south asian studies, social anthropology program director, harvard university, usa abha sur, scientist in the science, technology and society program; senior lecturer, program in women and gender studies, massachusetts institute of technology, usa goolam vahed, associate professor, history, society & social change cluster, university of kwazulu-natal, south africa gowri vijayakumar, assistant professor of sociology and south asian studies, brandeis university, usa annapurna waughray, reader in human rights law, manchester law school, manchester metropolitan university, uk cornel west, professor of the practice of public philosophy, harvard divinity school, usa copyright © 2021 caste: a global journal on social exclusion issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste table of contents editorial and introduction laurence simon and sukhadeo thorat ....... vi-x articles a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism” part iii rajesh sampath ....... 219-234 norm entrepreneurship at the un – dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent paul divakar namala ....... 235-264 ambedkar and the buddha’s saṅgha: a ground for buddhist ethics timothy loftus ....... 265-280 reading dalit autobiographies in english: a top ten list ....... 281-294 ethnic identity, discrimination and the shaping of remittance culture in ghana joseph kweku assan ........ 295-314 a critique of sanskritization from dalit/ caste-subaltern perspective ishita roy ........ 315-326 exclusion of tribal women from property inheritance rights: a study of tripuri women of india ashim shil and hemraj p jangir ........ 327-340 on the margins of healthcare: role of social capital in health of migrants in india ........ 341-358 tending immanence, transcending sectarianism: plane of mixed castes and religions roshni babu ........ 359-374 forum ari varutada a poem by chandni girija ........ 405-408 reflection a poem by gaurav j. pathania ........ 409-410 book, essay, film review spotted goddesses: dalit women’s agency narratives on caste and gender violence balmurli natrajan ....... 375-384 dalit-bahujan feminism: a newly emerging discourse kancha ilaiah shepherd ....... 385-390 retro-modern india zeeshan husain ....... 391-400 caste, gender and fire in maadathy: an unconventional fairy tale roja suganthy-singh ....... 401-404 375-378 381-390 391-396 397-406 407-410 379-380 article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 97–108 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.261 © 2021 pranjali kureel. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste indian media and caste: of politics, portrayals and beyond pranjali kureel1 abstract media industry in india has witnessed hegemony of dominant castes since its very inception. such hegemony has had a huge impact on our everyday lives and how we come to experience the world. this paper attempts to analyze how caste operates in the media sector, from its composition to content and argues that indian media has played a catalytic role in inflicting epistemic violence over the oppressed castes as it helps dominant discourses to prevail and shapes popular perceptions and culture. after going over journalism, the paper examines cinema and television as botha tool of maintaining the status quo and also as a medium of resistance and assertion. an analysis of the feminist discourse in media reveals a linear and somewhat exclusionary approach that bars the agency of dalit women from media representation. at the end, it explores the power of the internet with respect to the emerging ambedkarite voices that are strengthening a liberatory framework while reclaiming their worldview. keywords media, caste, gender, news, bollywood, ambedkarite introduction popularly referred to as the ‘fourth pillar of democracy,’ media no doubt plays an invaluable role in the investigation of truth and giving a mirror to a society, to a country. the beginnings of indian media go long back to the eighteenth century when the print media was started in 1780. it was in this year that the first newspaper, ‘the bengal gazette’ was published by james augustus hicky. no wonder, in this long journey, the industry has seen a number of transformations and achieved many milestones. however, even within the span of two centuries, one thing that 1m.a student, dalit & tribal studies and action, school of social work, tata institute of social sciences, mumbai email: pranjalikureel@gmail.com 98 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 has remained missing, or rather suppressed, in what is called the ‘mainstream’ media, is the voice of the dalit. dr. ambedkar had recognized the importance of media and the need for dalit journalism, which led him to publish the marathi fortnightly ‘mooknayak’ in 1920. later on, as his journalism and politics evolved to attain the ‘freedom of mind’; it would manifest itself in the weekly rechristened as ‘prabuddha bharat’ in the year 1954. the condition of the popular media in his time was a matter of concern to him and he did not shy away from expressing his criticism towards the degrading role of the media. in his famous address delivered in 1943, on the 101st birth anniversary of mahadev govind ranade, dr. ambedkar (2014a) put forth a hard-hitting critique of indian journalism in the following words: journalism in india was once a profession. it has now become a trade. it has no more moral function than the manufacture of soap. it does not regard itself as the responsible adviser of the public. to give the news uncolored by any motive, to present a certain view of public policy which it believes to be for the good of the community, to correct and chastise without fear all those, no matter how high, who have chosen a wrong or a barren path, is not regarded by journalism in india its first or foremost duty. to accept a hero and worship him has become its principal duty. under it, news gives place to sensation, reasoned opinion to unreasoning passion, appeal to the minds of responsible people to appeal to the emotions of the irresponsible . . . never has the interest of country been sacrificed so senselessly for the propagation of hero-worship. never has hero-worship become so blind as we see it in india today. there are, i am glad to say, honorable exceptions. but they are too few, and their voice is never heard. (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 227) interestingly, what dr. ambedkar pointed towards in the above-quoted address is relevant to this very day. it is common knowledge that this so-called pillar of democracy has the capacity to manipulate reality, promote state interests, extend propaganda, or advertise oppressive ideologies. therefore, to explore this ‘other’ side of media, it becomes important to investigate the various aspects of it, from its composition and content to how it shapes the popular perceptions. in this paper, i will be exploring the various facets of media around a central theme that, overtly or covertly, plays a major role in this domain – caste. the aim of the paper is to analyze how caste operates in the domain of media – mainly focusing on journalism, entertainment and advertisement industry, and the social media. in the sections to follow, i will be examining the representation, the nature of content that is produced – how different groups are portrayed and what role it plays in shaping the popular perceptions and culture. elephant in the room: caste inside the newsrooms it has been noted that media houses that produce stories and content on discriminatory practices, violence and atrocities, often keep the institutional violence and historical injustices existing inside their own offices a hush-hush affair. a report published by oxfam and newslaundary (2019) revealed some (not so) surprising numbers exposing casteism that runs in the media industry. published under the title – who tells our indian media and caste: of politics, portrayals and beyond 99 stories matters: representation of marginalized caste groups in indian newsrooms, it revealed that out of the 121 leadership positions in the newsroom, including that of editor-in-chief, managing editor, executive editor, bureau chief, input/output editor – across the newspapers, tv news channels, news websites, and magazines, none was occupied by a person belonging to scheduled caste (sc), scheduled tribes (st) or other backward class (obc) communities, whereas 106 were occupied by those belonging to the ‘general category’. few other highlights from this report are as follows: ● three out of every four flagship debate anchors – were upper castes. not even one belonged to the dalit, adivasi (indigenous), or obc communities. ● for over 70 percent of their flagship debate shows, a majority of the panelists were drawn from the upper castes by the news channels. ● only 10 of the 972 articles featuring on the cover pages of the 12 studied magazines were about issues related to caste. another survey report brought to fore stark challenges faced by the journalists belonging to sc, st and obc communities in the english language media (harad, 2020). it talked about the experiences of othering, isolation, and discrimination faced by employees from the marginalized communities in the newsrooms where a large majority of employees belong to the ‘upper’ castes. it brought attention to the caste nexus, which is an invaluable part of their social capital that benefits the so-called upper castes in gaining positions and maintaining caste-exclusive media houses. moreover, the very minuscule number of journalists from marginalized communities prevents, to a great extent, their organization and makes it difficult to challenge the discrimination and cultural bias that they face in these spaces (ibid). this gross overrepresentation of the ‘upper’ castes in the media houses can be attributed to the historical oppression of the ‘lower’ castes by the ‘upper castes’. while blatant caste-based discrimination is a reality in india to this very day, there are other ways in which caste manifests itself in these spaces that go unrecognized. the point is that this exclusion does not begin to happen in the media houses at the time of employing, rather it is a historical burden of 3000 years that the marginalized bear since their very birth! in 2017, an article published in al jazeera pointed towards the brahminical nature of media colleges, where brahmin-savarna students far outnumber those from the dalit, bahujan, and adivasi communities. while reserved seats often go unclaimed, the students who do manage to get inside colleges like acj (asian college of journalism) face extreme alienation and even hostility towards any ‘affirmative action,’ many times forcing them to either drop out or keep their identity hidden to prevent the negative consequences (mondal, 2017). the constitution of india extends representation to the sc, st and obc communities in the government institutions according to their population size. however, media institutions, being privately owned, are not required to implement the policy of reservations, and they haven’t reflected on voluntarily extending affirmative action to ensure the presence of people from the marginalized communities. while the reservation policy is not implemented, advertisements for vacancies too rarely make it to the public domain (ibid). moreover, these privately owned media houses are often controlled by extended families (anand, 2005). as a result, the positions are largely filled on the basis of connections and networks. the so-called upper castes end up 100 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 benefitting from the social and culture capital that is accumulated over generations inherited by them. it is very rare for dalit, bahujan, or adivasi individuals to get access to these networks which are exclusionary by their very nature. hence, the stories of the oppressed are told by the oppressorsreproducing the very social structures they often claim to fight! content around caste and its impact as human beings remain a part of the society that they see and engage with, their location in the structures that exist in the society plays a significant role in how they perceive reality and more importantly, how they arrive at knowledge. as observed in the above section, a large majority of positions in the media houses is occupied by social groups that are above the oppressed population in the caste hierarchy. the oppressor castes that are actually a numerical minority end up producing stories and reporting news on the marginalized population. as a result, as has been noted by many anti-caste individuals, the stories produced by media reflect a casteist mindset in one way or the other. first of all, issues of caste are reported less or largely ignored by the media. while many times, the issue of caste is consciously concealed in the news reports. as the oxfam and newslaundary survey also revealed, merely 10 of the 972 articles that appeared on the cover pages of 12 magazines under study addressed caste related issues. while no media house was interested in covering any caste-based atrocities due to lack of readership for the said issues a decade ago, the amount of reportage on the same has increased in the recent years. the reason for this change in course is attributed to the rise of the so-called ‘alternate’ media outlets run by editors of marginalized communities (mondal, 2017). these media houses are reporting from the grass roots and have managed to attract readers/viewers for the stories and experiences they bring out in the open. however, even though the caste atrocities and such cases are being covered at least more than how it was a decade ago, there is still a long way to go for the media houses to practice honest and meaningful journalism. a very important second point that needs to be made here is regarding the nature of content that is produced by the ‘mainstream’ media. many a times, it has been found that even though stories on caste and media coverage of atrocities etc. are done by journalists, their biases almost always come in their work. for example, while journalists fly down to villages to report the details of the caste atrocities, all their narratives remain one sided – highlighting the oppression and oppressed while completely omitting the other part of the story – the oppressor. dalit people, whose faces are often not even blurred, are treated as if they are just objects of what is called the ‘victim porn.’ s. anand (2005) names this biased reporting ‘visible dalit, invisible brahmin’ where covering caste is equated with writing only about dalits, mostly located in the rural areas – their experiences, their social condition, atrocities such as murders, rapes, etc. these irresponsible biased narratives have kept the oppressors the brahmin-dwija1 communities away from the eye of scrutiny due to which their caste conditioning and pride rarely comes to be questioned. 1in the caste system the top three castes – brahmins, kshatriyas and vaishyaare called dwija or twice born, the second birth of the boy being marked at the time of his scared thread wearing ceremony. the lower castes are not allowed to wear the sacred thread. indian media and caste: of politics, portrayals and beyond 101 the recent hathras atrocity, in which a woman belonging to a dalit community was raped and murdered by the thakur (upper caste) men of hathras village in uttar pradesh, got considerably wide coverage by media. with journalists conversing with ambedkarite leaders and feminists such as kiruba munusamy, riya singh, divya malhari etc., one could hear their strong voice coming to the forefront through news channels and webinarswhich is of course a welcome change although one must keep in mind that caste atrocities remain grossly underreported. moreover, after all the cases of atrocities against the dalit community, rarely has media tried entering the settlements of the so-called upper castes and tried to investigate how caste plays a role in their world, and examined the mind that perpetrates such heinous crimes. in the afore-mentioned hathras atrocity, for instance, the thakur caste, which is a dominant caste in the northern uttar pradesh state with a history of inflicting atrocities on dalits, did not come under the scrutiny of media as much. this has been the case with about all the media reporting on caste-based atrocities. this practice of understanding caste issues as only ‘dalit issues’ is detrimental to the anti-caste struggle as the image of the ‘dalit’ keeps on getting reproduced as the victim, while the oppressor castes and their caste pride do not come to be questioned. dr. ambedkar (2014b, p. 3) had grasped this attitude on the part of the upper castes engaging with caste issues in the following words: it is usual to hear all those who feel moved by the deplorable condition of the untouchables unburden themselves by uttering the cry “we must do something for the untouchables”. one seldom hears any of the persons interested in the problem saying ‘let us do something to change the touchable hindu’. it is invariably assumed that the object to be reclaimed is the untouchables. another equally, if not more, detrimental consequence of such journalism has been that it has contributed in reducing the issue of caste to merely a rural problem. in the name of reporting caste issues, journalists reach villages to cover the atrocities but fail to see brahminical hegemony in the urban spaces. s. anand’s (2005) critique of p. sainath’s reportage highlights this issue. sainath is a prominent brahmin journalist and a role model for many aspiring journalists. he fetched the amnesty international award 2000 for his piece a dalit goes to court. anand (2005, p. 184) notes: sainath’s style of ‘rural reporting’ and ‘developmental journalism’ does mention the occasional brahmin block development officer, but precludes the scope of discussing the preponderance of brahmins and other savarnas (similar-ranked castes) in, say, jawaharlal nehru university’s (jnu) history or economics department or on the editorial staff of the hindu, the hindustan times, or the times of india. such journalism does not see caste discrimination when historian romila thapar or economist prabhat patnaik does not find a single ‘competent’ dalit or adivasi candidate to fill the constitutionally stipulated quota of 22.5 per cent in their respective departments, but points us merely to caste discrimination in rural panchayats where dalits are not allowed to contest for democratically elected posts or are not allowed to function freely even if elected. such practices of media persons which include doing stories on dalit and adivasi bodies and winning awards and adulation them point towards their tendency to capitalize on the marginalized people’s experiences. this becomes especially apparent when taken into account the negligible representation and even hostility towards 102 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 journalists who come from marginalized communities. it suggests how caste comes at play, be it in media or academia, where it is always the dominant producing knowledge on the dominated, and never the vice-versa. in this structure, the dominated is ripped off of their epistemic capacities, and turned into bodies/objects without any thinking capacityfor the dominant to reflect upon (guru, 2002). like the absent coverage of ‘caste issues’ in the oppressor’s world, another thing that does not meet the eye of the mainstream media is the culture of knowledge and assertion of ambedkarites. dr. ambedkar’s birth anniversary as ambedkar jayanti and his death anniversary as mahaparinirvana divas are observed all over india and in the diaspora. hundreds of thousands of people gather at chaityabhoomi2 in mumbai; books, especially powerful dalit literature, worth millions of rupees are bought by people on these days. similarly, on dhamma chakra parivartan divas3, which is observed every year to commemorate the revolutionary step that dr. ambedkar took in the liberation of dalits – conversion to buddhism. many dalits free themselves from the brahminical framework by embracing buddha dhamma sangha. every year, hundreds of thousands of ambedkarite buddhists gather at deekshabhoomi4 on this day. mainstream media, however, being dominated by the so-called upper caste hindus keep boycotting these events. this cultural hegemony of the upper-caste hindus in the industry translates to media writing, talking and doing programmes on religious festivals like karva chauth, lohri, dhana laxmi etc., but a complete silence around birth anniversary of ambedkar and that of saints like valmiki or ravidas who belonged to oppressed communities (kumar, 2005). such cultural invisiblization of the marginalized and minority groups from mainstream media adds to the said hegemony of the upper-caste hindu. this issue will be dealt in more detail in the subsequent sections. the battle of bhima koregaon in which 500 mahar (ex-untouchable caste) soldiers under the british army defeated the peshwa army of approximately 30,000 is celebrated by dalits every year on january one. this war is seen as a historical event that marks the victory of the oppressed over their oppressors. in the year 2018, these celebrations were disrupted, followed by violence and then arrest of dalit activists on the account of ‘anti-nationalist’ activities. the bias of mainstream media around this time became very evident when it did not cover the initial celebration that took place, but only started reporting when dalits protested against the violence unleashed by the caste supremacists (mhaskar, 2018). the attack of caste supremacists on the peaceful celebration and the issue of unjust arrests of dalit activists hasn’t been seen being raised on the news channels as well as newspapers. another pertinent question that arises here is why is a proud event for dalit groups not recognized and shown as part of the ‘indian history?’ cinema and television: pop culture and the politics of portrayal it is popularly believed that ‘films are a reflection of the society,’ and less popularly is the role of films and television recognized in how they construct the social reality 2the memorial to dr. b.r. ambedkar where his cremation was performed. 3this is the day to celebrate the conversion of dr. ambedkar and his approximately 600,000 followers to buddhism on 14 october 1956 in nagpur. 4the site or ground here dr ambedkar and his followers embraced buddhism. indian media and caste: of politics, portrayals and beyond 103 itself. for one thing, it is first of all important to establish that those who make films, tv shows, write those stories, put life in the characters, etc. are not removed from the society. the creators themselves have a certain location in the society, see the world from that location, and of course hold certain biases that find their way into the content that is produced. therefore, it would not be wise to assume that films and tv shows give us an ‘objective’ representation of the reality when what they actually represent is the world view of the creator itself! what is even more important to understand is the role that mass media plays in popularizing the ideas and strengthening discourses that benefit those who hold power in the society. while there has been a dominance of brahmin-dwija castes in the entertainment industry, for decades have their films and television showsespecially the hindi daily soap operas capitalized on while advancing the brahminical patriarchal culture. that is how we witness a cultural hegemony of hindu upper-castes over the mainstream media. their society, customs, lifestyle appear to be the hallmark of ‘indianness,’ while evoking a utopia that acts as an escape for the dalit-bahujan masses (yengde, 2018). consequently, we are presented with a hindu upper-caste protagonist as a ‘hero’/‘savior;’ dalits, adivasis on the sidelines or victims; muslims as ‘gangsters’ and so on. this is also how the term ‘bhartiya naari’ (the indian woman) invokes an image of what is essentially a hindu upper caste woman wearing sindoor (vermilion), bindi, jewelry and zari saree in the popular imagination. not only has tv and cinema invisiblized the culture of dalit, bahujan, adivasis, it also inferiorized it – mainly by glorifying the hindu savarna culture that the dalit bahujan are to aspire to, and never the vice-versa. this phenomenon can also be understood from the post-structural view that culture consists of the meanings that its subjects produce and reproduce (belsey, 2002). although in the context of india, the establishment of control over meanings to gain power goes back to over 3000 years ago! as mani (2014) points out, brahmins established themselves in the superior most position in the society by monopolizing over the ‘shabd shakti’ (power of word), knowing that those who control words and so, their meanings control the world. brahmins produced a vast body of literature to institutionalize the most brutal system of discrimination by this control of meanings. there are many sociological studies that show how language imposes the power structures in our everyday life (ibid, pp. 184-194). today, media plays a very important role in reproducing the meanings that carry with them the notions of superiority and inferiority through words and symbols. moreover, it also plays a big role in legitimizing and normalizing brahminical knowledge. in one of the earliest films created in the history of indian cinema, shri krishna janma (1918), one can witness an explicit invocation of varnashramadharma through the film. directed by d.g. phalke (after whom the highest cinema award-dadasaheb phalke award is named), a part of this film shows frames of ‘brahmin devotee,’ ‘kshatriya devotee,’ ‘vaishya devotee’ and ‘shudra devotee’ offering prayers to the hindu god krishna. in the history of indian cinema, the question of caste has largely been kept concealed behind the categories of poor / or ‘comon man’ / or the hard toiling indian – for example, awara (1951), naya daur (1957), hum hindustani (1960), followed by those from the decade of the 1970s – gopi (1970), zanjeer (1973), roti kapada aur makaan (1974), deewar (1975), parvarish (1977), khoon pasina (1977), kaala patthar (1979) (yengde, 2018). as a result, instead of challenging the institution of caste, the film industry went on to invisiblized the question of caste itself, normalizing 104 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 it to a great extent. in this way, it has largely served the status quo. maitreya (2020), while laying down the context for the angry young man of the 1970s, noted that it was an on-screen manifestation of the anger possessed by the dalit panthers in real life. yet, it was portrayed through savarna characters, titillating the imagination of the masses and making a national hero, all the while erasing the history behind the anger. however, that does not mean that never did bollywood attempt to engage critically with the question of caste. films such as sujata (1959), ankur (1974), diksha (1991), bandit queen (1994); and most recently, article 15 (2019) have attempted to bring out alternate narratives around caste and to deliver the social message to audience. however, many of such films usually fail to move beyond a convenient view of caste / a savarna gaze – that either victimizes the marginalized population or romanticizes their struggle instead of honestly and ethically engaging with the matter at hand. this discussion will be incomplete and pointless without mentioning the strongly emerging anti-caste discourse in the domain of cinema. it is, thus, important to discuss the notable work of directors such as nagraj manjule, neeraj ghaiwan and pa ranjith. manjule’s fandry (2013) and sairat (2016) and ghaiwan’s masaan (2015) that not only presented the stark social reality on the big screen, but they did so from an epistemological standpoint of the oppressed themselves. as the stories are drawn from the story teller’s own life experiences, they also resonate with the dalit community whose reactions say ‘we have been through this’ (yengde, 2018). on the other hand, pa ranjith’s kaala (2018) directly challenges the status quo advanced by a casteist media for a long time – of victim and saviour. produced by ranjith’s production house, neelam productions is another youtube short film titled the discreet charm of the savarnas (2020) that deserves a mention. the most significant thing about ranjith’s content is that it reverses the very gaze that has victimized dalits for centuries of cinema. they provide a worldview of the dalits while the characters are assertive, and at the same time, having ownership of their subjectivity. as we have noted the role that media plays in the social and cultural transformation, such films are a step towards exiting the imposed brahminical construction of reality. however, mainstream bollywood still has a long way to go. caste, gender and the media lens even though ‘caste’ as a subject may not have been very overt or ‘out in the open’ in tv programmes and mainstream films, it does not mean that caste culture has not been reinforced through the said medium. as noted in the above section, media industry plays a crucial role in reinforcing brahminical-patriarchal cultural values and norms. first of all, it is important to iterate here that the institutions of caste and patriarchy are not binary or separate from each other. brahminical patriarchy is not a patriarchy exclusive of or by the brahmins, but it ‘includes in its very conceptualization that all individuals are allotted a particular position of privilege and deprivation, and the resultant violence and discrimination to the lower caste groups’ (arya, 2020, pp. 217228). where control over the woman’s body becomes necessary for maintaining the caste boundaries, caste issue and gender issue remain no longer separate from each other. nor should patriarchal relations be seen in isolation i.e. in the binaries of men oppressing women, when dalit men themselves are emasculated in the caste society and are oppressed by all ‘upper-castes’ including savarna women (ibid). this deliberation becomes more apparent on examining the concept of ‘honor’ in tv and cinema. it can be seen in the characterization of the ‘pure, ideal’ upperindian media and caste: of politics, portrayals and beyond 105 caste woman who conforms to the social values and behavioral norms, as against the “loose” woman who may display her sexual agency and freedom. such a binary, which is very evident especially in the hindi tv serials, tends to normalize gender roles and even glorify the unpaid labor and struggles of women. moreover, we get to witness an ‘alpha male’ saviorwho is an embodiment of characteristics that are deemed virtuous in a man. it is essentially a (hyper) masculine, upper-caste patriotic hero who ‘protects’ those who are supposedly lesser endowed than him which includes ‘his woman’ or helpless masses. gupte (2013) argues that in the caste society, the honor of caste groups is tied to the behavior of women which allows men to dictate the ‘appropriate behavior’ for them and especially command over their sexual agency and desires. she further points out that unlike upper-caste men all women along with lower-caste men do not possess the intrinsic honor, while the nomenclature itself becomes synonymous with their ‘lower’ status (ibid). such media representation, therefore, when looked at from a lens of caste and gender reveals the operation of brahminical patriarchy in social relations and how it keeps deriving legitimacy through it. art is political. more importantly, it can act as a very crucial medium of social transformation. as the famous dialogue of the film party (1984) goes, ‘every creation of art, through which you are able to concur with the public opinion is a weapon in social and political struggle.’ it is true that the entertainment industry has produced some empowering films with strong female leads with agency and sexual freedom. in the recent times cases in point being english vinglish (2016), queen (2014), pink (2016), veere di wedding (2018), etc. while these films have been successful in dodging the male gaze and breaking stereotypes associated with women to a great extent, the representation of this so-called progressive ‘modern indian woman’ has remained limited to brahmin-dwija women only. indian cinema has been exclusionary towards dalit women, who find neither themselves nor their issues represented in these supposedly women-centric films. the mainstream feminist discourse in india has sidelined the issues and frame of reference of dalit women. crossing the boundaries of home to go outside to work, and/or getting out of the traditional ‘ghoonghat’ (veil) and into modern clothing are two of the empowering acts that media presents to us. however, such an approach tends to be quite linear in its course and consequently misses out on varied aspects to the issue. for instance, it invisiblizes dalit women who, historically (a). have been outside their homes to work in fields/streets/workplaces; and (b) have had to struggle to keep their bodies covered in the caste society.5 ilaiah (2002) points out the cultural differences between the dominant hindu castes and the dalit bahujan population in terms of gender relations. such a distinction is also reflected in pa ranjith’s kaala (2018) where we see assertive marginalized women characters in dharavi as opposed to the situation in hari dada’s brahmin hindu household. ilaiah also notes that their books that told stories about women getting sati,6 did not tell any stories of dalit bahujan women who lived after their husbands’ deaths, or got divorced, remarried, and worked to earn a living. another thing to note is the way entertainment industry, advertisements, social media pages, etc. portray ‘sexual subjectification’ and ‘sexual autonomy’ as a form of empowerment. gill (2007) notes that midriff advertising by media adds another layer of oppression by re-sexualizing the woman’s body while portraying this new objectification as pleasurable and ‘self5nangeli and the channar revolt tell the story of dalit women fighting against the oppressive laws like breast tax and their struggle for the right to cover their upper bodies. 6the practice of widow-immolation at her husband’s funeral pyre. 106 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 chosen.’ in the indian context, such representation also reproduces certain savarnabeauty standards i.e. fair skinned, tall, and thin body that is deemed as ‘desirable.’ the dialogue of the film bajrangi bhaijan (2015)‘doodh jaisi gori hai, zaroor brahmin hogi’ which translates to ‘she is as fair as milk, must be a brahmin’ is indicative of such a standard. those who are excluded from this supposedly empowering representation are not only dalit women, but also trans-women, disabled women, or dark-skinned women. moreover, as gupte (2013) notes, caste and gender hierarchy creates a distinction between the dominant and the subordinate woman, in which it is the dominant woman’s asexuality [perceived as ‘purity’] that sets her apart from the sexualized [and hence, ‘available’] lower woman. the body politic concerning the portrayed ‘sexual freedom’ does not take into account the issues emanating from the triple burden of caste, class, and gender that dalit women experience. caste, sexuality, and labor are connected in ways that have led to women from certain communities performing different types of sexualized labor and availability of this labor in the public domain (gopal, 2012). the ‘empowering’ media portrayals, therefore, when analyzed from the location of a dalit woman reveal the linear and exclusionary course that mainstream feminist discourse tends to take, reducing intersectionality to a mere lip-service. the point here is that the agency of dalit woman has been missing from media representations. dalit women have been speaking up and fighting for centuries, as opposed to the stereotypes attached to them that either portray them as evil kutnis (vamps) or powerless victims (gupta, 2007). yet, due to the structural inequalities and epistemic violence, they have been reduced to mere objects of others’ gaze and never the subject taking ownership of their characters, especially in media projections. even on examining the representation of dalit women within the domain of anti-caste cinema, consisting of films such as masaan (2015), sairat (2016), fandry (2013), periyerum perumal (2018), kaala (2018), etc, we find a similar story. most of the films, with some exception, have focused on inter-caste love, strictly from a dalit man’s perspective. further, it is usually a fair-skinned upper caste woman that the dalit man falls in love with and desires.7 while being a breakthrough in indian cinema, it won’t be wrong to say that most of the films with anti-caste discourse, too, have failed to be inclusive of the world-view of dalit women, their subjectivity, their desires, and doing justice to their personhood. the power of the internet like almost all the aspects in the indian society, the entertainment industry too is dominated by networks of upper-caste (across religions) individuals and families with generations worth of accumulated privileges and social capital. getting established in such an industry, which has unofficially been reserved for the said privileged groups since its beginning, takes a lot more than talent and skills. in the recent years, the nepotism debate has brought ripples in the industry, however, there has not been any talk around what lies at the bottom of nepotismthe caste privilege! while directors like ghaywan and pa ranjith are actively building conversations around caste and bringing anti-caste discourse in the industry, there is still a lot more that has to be done. meanwhile, the accessibility and reach of social media has provided an arena of expression and assertion for the marginalized population. platforms such as youtube and instagram have turned out to be quite fruitful for the ambedkarite 7as noted by padmini rajora in a facebook post. indian media and caste: of politics, portrayals and beyond 107 movement. artists and creators like the casteless collective, neelam productions, somnath waghmare, sumeet samos, and many other artists have been asserting ambedkarite voices and building an anti-caste discourse through the medium. social media has also played a significant role in making ambedkarite shahirs8 into the households of a large population. the recently banned app (on the account of conflict with china), tiktok had been very popular with the marginalized population who used it to express themselves and also gain a good amount of ‘following’. apart from that, the app was also popular among the ambedkarite youth in building an online social movement. they did it through creating awareness against religious superstitions and mental slavery and used it as a tool to register dissent, voice their opinions and showcase their ideology and narratives in creative ways (chaudhari, 2020). it is true that social media can be a difficult space for an oppressed population, especially one which has historically faced nothing but violence and hate. however, history is also witness to the fact that this population has resisted the oppression, fought and asserted its being, against all odds. social media plays a catalytic role as ambedkarite people claim their agency here, which has also been helpful in bringing out liberating narratives and discourses from a freeing framework. conclusion be it the newsroom or the entertainment industrythere has been hegemony of the historically oppressor castes in the domain of media. such hegemony has of course had bearings on the content that is produced by the industry. more so, this content is not an objective representation of the social reality and plays a significant role in producing meanings, discourses and cultures. one thing that becomes clear is that the ‘dalit’ has largely remained an object for the oppressor’s subjectivity which has failed to turn the gaze inwards to address the question of caste. however, in the present time, we are also witnessing ambedkarites asserting their voices actively through the medium, especially social media, bringing about an ontological transformation! references ambedkar, b. r. (2014a). ranade, gandhi and jinnah. in v. moon (ed.), dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 1 (pp. 205–240). new delhi: dr. ambedkar foundation. ambedkar, b. r. (2014b). untouchables or the children of india’s ghetto. in v. moon (ed.), dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 5 (pp. 3–33). new delhi: ministry of social justice & empowerment, govt. of india. anand, s. (2005). covering caste: visible dalit, invisible brahmin. in n. raj (ed.), practising journalism: values, constraints, implications (pp. 172–197). new delhi: sage publications. arya, s. (2020). dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism. caste: a global journal of social exclusion, 1(1), 217–228. belsey, c. (2002). poststructuralism: a very short introduction. new york: oxford university press. chaudhari, m. (2020, june 25). chinese apps, tiktok and indian youth. colourboard, retrieved on november 12, 2020 from https://www.thecolourboard.com/post/chinese-apps-tiktokand-indian-youth 8the term refers to mostly to ambedkarite poets or lyricists who have used their poetry and songs to protest the caste-system and advocated the establishment of a just society 108 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 gill, r. (2007). supersexualize me! advertising and ‘the midriffs’. in a. feona (ed.), mainstreaming sex: the sexualization of culture. london: ib tauris. gopal, m. (2012). caste, sexuality and labour: the troubled connection. current sociology, 60(2), 222–238. gupta, c. (2007). dalit ‘viranganas’ and reinvention of 1857. economic and political weekly, 42(19), 1739–1745. gupte, m. (2013). the concept of honour: caste ideology and patriarchy in rural maharashtra. economic and political weekly, 48(18), 72–81. guru, g. (2002). how egalitarian are the social sciences in india?. economic and political weekly, 37(50), 5003–5009. harad, t. (2020). caste is not a thing of the past: bahujan stories from the newsroom floor. london: reuters institute for the study of journalism. ilaiah, k. (2002). why i am not a hindu: a sudra critique of hindutva philosophy, culture and political economy. kolkata: samya. kumar, r. (2005). absent dalit: the indian newsroom. exclusion, discrimination, disparity: a symposium on emerging patterns of social inequality in india (seminar magazine). retrieved on november 10, 2020 from https://www.india-seminar.com/2015/672/672_ ravish_kumar.htm maitreya, y. (2020). growing up with bollywood: dalit casualties of cinema. in y. maitreya (ed.), of oppressor’s body and mind (pp. 33–43). nagpur: panther’s paw publication. mani, b. (2014). knowledge and power. new delhi: manohar publishers. mhaskar, s. (2018, march 20). violence against dalits in maharashtra is not new, but dalit reaction to it is changing. the wire, retrieved on november 10, 2020 from http://dspace. jgu.edu.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10739/1554/1/violence%20against%20dalits%20in%20 maharashtra%20is%20not%20new%2c%20but%20dalit%20reaction%20to%20it%20 is%20changing%20-%20thewire.pdf mondal, s. (2017, june 2). indian media wants dalit news but not dalit reporters. al jazeera, retrieved on november 2, 2020 from https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/6/2/indianmedia-wants-dalit-news-but-not-dalit-reporters/ phalke, d. (director) (1918). shree krishna janma [motion picture]. yengde, s. (2018). dalit cinema. south asia: journal of south asian studies, 41(3), 503–518. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 200–216 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.123 © 2020 subro saha. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited caste, materiality and embodiment: questioning the idealism/ materialism debate subro saha1 (bluestone rising scholar honorable mention 2019) abstract exploring the contingencies and paradoxes shaping the idealism/materialism separation in absolutist terms, this paper attempts to analyze the problems of such separatist tendencies in terms of dealing with the question of caste. engaging with the problems of separating ‘idea’ and ‘matter’ in relation to the three dominant aspects that shape the conceptualisation of caste—origin(s), body, and society—the paper presents caste as an enmeshed idea-matter embrace that gains its circulation in practice through embodiment. aiming to counter caste with its own logic and internal contradictions, the paper further proceeds to show that these three aspects that had otherwise been seen for a long time as shaping caste also contradict their own efficacy and logic. with such an approach the paper presents caste as a ghost that feeds on our embodied ideas. further, bringing in the trope of (mis)reading, the paper tries to examine the intricacies haunting any attempt to deal with the ghost. the paper therefore, can be seen as a humble effort at reminding the necessity of reading the idea of caste in its spectralities and continuous figurations. keywords caste, idealism, materiality, touch, embodiment introduction despite all diverse attempts to get rid of caste, its persistence reminds us continuously of its haunting spectrality that even after so much beating refuses to die.1 it haunts us like a ghost whose origin and functional modalities continue to baffle us with its shifting trajectories and (trans)formative capacities, and thus continuously challenges our approaches to exorcise it. under such a situation, where neither the problem nor the solution is immediately identifiable, the question of approach acquires a central focus forcing us to reconsider the conceptual tools 1phd fellow, institute for cultural inquiry, utrecht university, netherlands e-mail: subhro129@gmail.com caste, materiality and embodiment: questioning the idealism... 201 by which we have tried to solve the problem. one such area has always been the tendency to dissociate approaches marked otherwise in terms of theory and practice, idealism and materialism, imaginary and real. the elementary aspect within such differentiation remains the conceptual tendency to separate idea and matter. since caste operates always as an idea-matter entanglement any such approach to dissociate theory and practice into clear cut absolute segments can, therefore, only produce newer forms of exclusion in some way or other, and separation of ‘academia’ and ‘activism’ has emerged as one such area in the recent years. with such tendencies when one turns at ambedkar, how does one read him and his approaches: as an academic or activist, theoretical or practical, idealist or materialist? the question of approach, i submit, then remains always linked with one of reading: how one reads caste, how one reads ambedkar, and how one reads the concept of reading itself. reading is not just about printed letters, reading as an act(ion) also involves reading the world around us, reading behaviours, reading norms and so on; in other words, we continuously try to read the material world around us and as we try to read it in our attempts to access it we try to constitute it in our own terms. reading, then, is always a constructive process and i call this the mattering of reading by which the idea (of the world, life, reality, etc) gets materialised as matter. however, since the matter that one attempts to read never remains available in its entirety for our reading, every singular attempt at the mattering of reading remains always already partial and contingent. any attempt to think caste too remains an act of similar constructive yet contingent reading whereby the idea of caste gets materialized into its diverse forms of material practices. exploring the question of approach in this case, therefore, remains always linked with those of embodiment, entanglements, corporeal figurations, and latent tendencies that enable caste to take newer directions. the paper, therefore, attempts to dig deep into the conceptual layers that enable the embodied eruptions of caste discriminations in continuously shifting trajectories, layers that often haunt our approaches of understanding itself. such an approach, therefore, demands to examine the most elementary forms that enable the functional modalities of caste. emphasising on the idea-matter embrace that shapes the circulation of caste, the paper, therefore, attempts to trace the internal contradictions characterising the diverse figurations of caste that operate in relation to three dominant aspects: origin(s), body, and society. the specific focus remains to read the internal contradictions haunting the elementary aspects of thinking caste: purity and touch. thinking the ‘social’ in relation to the question of caste always demands examining the embodied ideas that materialise sociability. the idea of ‘social,’ if it has to exist, cannot exist in any singular universal form, and in the indian context, it seems to have been split into two registers often clashing with each other in terms of asserting its superiority: tradition and democracy. tradition (which is often added to the question of religion) may be seen as one of the registers that one turns toward in order to justify the continuity of some ongoing practices. tradition, carrying with it the weight of pastness, enables emphasis on the question of origin. the idea of tradition, when it gets coupled with a religious emphasis, gets transformed into a source of metaphysical assumptions by which the idea of caste and its religious character comes to acquire its normative force, thereby transforming caste into an unavoidable religious ‘law.’ this can be called the ideological (con)figuration of caste. such linking of tradition with a religious character of caste may be marked by many as a process of idealism whereby the idea/l of caste comes to be embodied in the thinking of existence and ‘social,’ the traces of which can be traced as recently as in narendra modi’s (the present prime minister of 202 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 india) assertions made in his book karmyog wherein he compared manual scavenging by dalits to a ‘spiritual experience.’ to counter such metaphysical justifications, often a specific brand of materialistic approach is invoked to assert the questions of democratic rights and economic equality. thus, the cited example of modi’s embodied idea also faced severe beating on materialistic grounds, just as gandhi’s similar assertion about sweepers had faced from ambedkar.2 however, as stated already, has all such beating in all these decades enabled us to get rid of caste? modi’s such remarks make it clear too nakedly how the normative casteist thinking not only continues to travel through time but also tries to assert and legitimise itself under the umbrella of religion. the material conditions of dalits and the continuous exploitation of dalit labour are symptomatic of the continuity of such embodied ideas that enable and justify the material conditions of exploitation. as one small example, one may turn towards the 2007 tehelka story wherein siriyavan anand brought shattering facts regarding the material conditions of dalits who, forced to turn towards manual scavenging as the only available job, die in thousands every year without anyone’s notice: at least 22,327 dalits of a sub-community die doing sanitation work every year. safai kamgar vikas sangh, a body representing sanitation workers of the brihanmumbai municipal corporation (bmc), sought data under the right to information act in 2006, and found that 288 workers had died in 2004–05, 316 in 2003–04, and 320 in 2002–03, in just 14 of the 24 wards of the bmc. about 25 deaths every month. these figures do not include civic hospital workers, gutter cleaners, or sanitation workers on contract. compare this with the 5,100 soldiers—army, police, paramilitaries—who have died between 1990 and 2007 combating militancy in jammu and kashmir. [emphasis added] (anand 2007) ranging from popular advertisements to everyday newspaper reports, one may find uncountable similar instances of caste discrimination every day.3 the question still remains, what keeps caste alive even after so many attempts to get rid of it? asserting from material grounds the question of injustice and protest is obviously necessary but it also demands a cautionary awareness of not falling into a similar discriminatory logic that it aims to fight against. the ghosts of the long continuing embodied religious misconceptions, the co-constitutive internalisation and circulation of which gives it its commonsensical assumptions, cannot be exorcized with the simple assertion of material conditions of exploitation but also must be addressed on the basis of ideas that shape the material practices of such thinking. such an attempt demands engaging with two crucial aspects: exploring how ideas too have a historicity that is not simply hegemonic but also contingent, and how certain normative ideas constitute the dominant material relations shaping the general thinking of society that acquires its collective form as commonsense. attempting to do the first in relation to tradition unavoidably forces one to re-turn to the question of originary moments of caste, while we keep engaging with the latter approach in relation to the question of democratic for the later sections. caste and its pre-colonial origin(s): idealism or materialism? the question of origin has always haunted the various attempts to read caste. in its generality, any attempt at turning towards the origin remains always paradoxical since on the one hand such re-turning expects an attempt to read the ‘truth’ in its factic caste, materiality and embodiment: questioning the idealism... 203 emergence and becoming, while on the other hand, such re-turn operates as an attempt at conjuring that which is no longer available. in other words, such turn towards the originary remains always operative as part of a reading process that constitutes the materiality of a past by relying on specters. this remains the case applicable to any attempt at re-turning to the originary moments of caste as well. as emphasised already, reading ‘caste’ in its spectrality demands reading the entanglements that constitute the idea-matter embrace in myriad and contingent ways, and as such any singular approach labeled in terms of idealism or materialism cannot be considered as the universal solution. idealism (emphasised usually and reductively under the umbrella of german idealism) as a concept comes to be labeled in a derogatory and generalised way only through comparative reading approaches where, by contrast, a specific brand of materialism comes to be emphasised. if one tries to assert similar materialistic approaches to caste, for example, modeled after a marxist understanding of materialism (srinivas 1962; kosambi 1962; omvedt 1994), then one also needs to be cautious of marx’s own orientalist ideas on india and caste.4 besides, one may find innumerable contradictions within marx’s own views on materialism, especially when one sees the wavering movements between early and later marx, between his attacks and indebtedness to hegel, between his advocacy of a materialistic methodology on the one hand and return to philosophy and poetry on the other .5 to reflect on such contingent tendencies to read ‘idea’ and ‘matter’ as separate one may turn towards engels as well, especially in ludwig feuerbach and the end of classical german philosophy.6 one may also be reminded of the many internal contradictions that haunted the existing approaches to read caste through the marxist lens, such as substituting the caste question with working class question, addressing the caste question by an approach dependent on the cominternian cause and the soviet union, etc7 (nigam 1999, 41). in a discussion on caste one may therefore posit such western views of materialism as inadequate (a claim which obviously has its own validity) and assert the necessity of viewing the materiality of caste from indian materialistic approaches. such a demand for reading caste through indian philosophical roots and not ‘borrowed’ marxist views of materiality may be again reductively read as a nativist approach, but the topographical specificity that is assigned with caste also demands reading it in terms of its own specificity. all such issues remind us continuously not only of the necessity of reviewing our approaches but also of the aporia of re-turning. since any attempt at reading the past remains always a form of constitution of the past (the is-ness of which is never available in its entirety for reading), attempts to read the origin of caste, i submit, also remains part of the same process. a reading that attempts to engage with the idea of caste with such awareness thus realises the futility of trying to read an idea in its absolute singularity. every single act of reading continuously betrays the normative expectation of submitting to its own absolute singularity but remains always enabled by the assemblage of the multiple; in other words, every singular act of reading is always already entangled, by whatever term we decide to call it, materialism or idealism. exploring the question of originary moments of caste in relation to the idealism/ materialism debate, i decide, therefore, to turn towards lokayata not simply to establish caste in some new (factic) historical light but to remind the contingencies that haunt any such attempt. the previous attempts to turn towards ancient philosophical approaches to caste (for example, kosambi, 1962; bhattacharya , 2008; guru & 204 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 sarukkai, 2012, among others) have always tried to read it in terms of some form of constructivism or other, and as such, even though their approach was materialistic it cannot detach itself entirely from some form of idealism. trying to engage with the contingencies haunting the discussions of idealism/materialism in indian philosophy, i therefore, turn towards an approach that is otherwise marked as materialistic but in an unreliable way. lokayata, often labeled as a materialistic approach, has always been read in opposition to the vedic approach which too has been marked as idealistic (chattopadhyaya, 1959; bhattacharya, 2011). however, without the availability of any original text of lokayata, all such assertions turn into assumptions only. in other words, based on its treatment in other texts, or by other philosophical schools of thought, the reading of lokayata as a specific type of materialism thus suffers from a certain form of constructivism that attempts to idealise a version of materialistic approach within the framework of lokayata. to use debiprasad’s own words, the reader is a thinking being and as such he will have to read with a mind having a system of beliefs, and from a standpoint which he happens to occupy at the time of his reading activity, and thus the ‘objective’ reading is as much ‘subjective’ (chattopadhyaya 1959, xi). similarly, it remains applicable with any approach to turn towards the originary moments of caste, just as it remains the case with any approach to assert a certain version of materialism as the absolute truth. turning towards lokayata thus enables us to explore not only the pre-vedic ideas on caste but also reminds us of their aporetic spectrality. as asserted already, in the absence of any remaining material record of lokayata, reading its origin and nature through its references in the later buddhist and upanisadic sources not only makes it pre-buddhist and even pre-upanisadic8 but more importantly dependent on its various forms of re-presentation and therefore, always partial and conjectural. besides, since all pro-vedic schools of india, particularly vedānta, mīmāṃsā and nyāya among the orthodox (āstika) systems and the buddhist and the jain among the heterodox (nāstika) ones tried their best to refute both the pre-cārvāka and the cārvāka/lokāyata views, it becomes also unreliable to read the origin and ideas of lokayata through its references in their works (bhattacharya 2011). etymologically meaning ‘that which is prevalent among the people’ and also ‘that which is essentially this-worldly’ (chattopadhyaya 1959, xvii), lokayata refuses to subscribe to any singular grand-narrative or transcendental idea(l) as its originary centre but celebrates the body in all its multiplicity, irreducibility, and openness as the microcosmic reflector for the world. as such, lokayata is also often associated with another term called ‘dehavad’ because of it sole reliance upon the material human body (deha) for all outlook or conceptualisation of the world. in other words, such outlook reflects a form of practice that doesn’t assert any allegiance to any universal order or common theory and even if it subscribes, because of its essential reliance on what is prevalent, such allegiance remains always momentary and shifting. this leads ramkrishna bhattacharya to assert that materialism in india had a ‘popular’ origin (bhattacharya 2011, 27). such shifting trajectories also make it impossible to assert that such outlook emerged as a dominant form of philosophical worldview that had a definite idea regarding how to practice a certain specific philosophy of dehavad (chattopadhyaya 1959, xvii). needless to say it separately, this is absolutely different from what will be later marked into closed and antagonistic terms as ‘idealism’ and ‘materialism.’ it is from a much later point onwards, specifically by reading it in contrast to what is later called spiritual idealism (namely ‘vedanta’), that lokayata comes to be seen as materialistic philosophy opposing all forms of transcendental caste, materiality and embodiment: questioning the idealism... 205 idealism. in other words, what is often marked today as one of the earliest germs of proto-materialism in indian philosophy was never a self-conscious approach, it’s identification with a certain concept of materialism was a later product of comparative reading by which its significance was asserted always in opposition to a similarly constructed idea of idealism. such attempts at comparative reading to assert a certain supremacy of one section, i submit, is not something immediately new and one can find such traces even in the early trends of reading lokayata. since lokayata was placed in opposition to transcendental ideas like atma (roughly translated as soul) and dharma (essential spiritual duty), it was quite obvious that they refused to accept any transcendental views on caste as well. to justify that often a famous passage is quoted from a later medieval compendium titled the sarvadarsana-samgraha9 or review of the different systems of hindu philosophy by madhava acharya (that was later translated by e. b. cowell and a. e. gough in 1882 as part of the colonial reading). the point here is not to turn towards lokayata in search of some messianic possibility to dismantle the presumed origins of caste; one can find innumerable traces of contradictions even within later vedic views of caste (which i will discuss in the later sections on touch). the point rather is to emphasise that the tendency to divide idealism and materialism into absolutely detachable categories is a later product and in the earlier philosophical approaches the divisions are not available in such simple binaries. even when one turns towards transcendental ideas10 like atma (soul), dharma (spiritual duty), moksha (salvation), paralok (afterlife), etc. that are associated with vedic literature, one needs to realise that even as ideas they cannot be established without any relation to the corporeality. similarly, asserting a certain type of materialism as the only approach to engage with the real also remains a form of idea since neither the real nor the matter (we may use the same with ‘truth’ as well) is accessible to us in its entirety, just as we cannot ignore the fact that our assertion of the material world remains after all our ideas of the material world. instead of fixing our focus on lokayata as an instance of early materialistic approach to caste, i submit, it can offer us certain significant aspects to explore the obscure roots of caste (especially in relation to the question of tribal) without reducing it to the idealism/materialism division. debiprasad reminds us that if one focuses on the essential characteristics that characterize the caste system it becomes extremely problematic to separate it from a tribal society since it too shares most of the similarities: both are endogamous, with numerous subdivisions; the members share a strong belief in common descent; the original ancestor is usually imagined to be a plant or an animal from which the clan borrows its name (therefore totemic identification and practising taboos); laws are strictly maintained by a council where expulsion and excommunication is the major punishment (chattopadhyaya 1959, 203). not only the confusion between caste and tribe makes it problematic to assert the originality of caste,11 the assertion of the claimed superiority of the brahman caste also remains obscure and arbitrary since such early times. apart from its claimed lineage of divine origin, one of the common ways by which the comparative superiority of the brahman caste is asserted is by placing the other castes involved in non-religious activities at a ‘lower’ position by a derogatory reading of the idea of tribal. in other words, the ‘tribal’ (and its associated works of manual labor) is placed as the ‘other’ of a constituted body of the ‘civilized’ brahman (associated with the regulation of the ‘sacred’). however, such views lose their legitimacy when one realises that even upper castes, as it is with the thinking of any modern ‘civilized’ society, stand upon structures which were once tribal. one may 206 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 turn in this regard to the system of ‘gotras’ (subdivisions of a caste into smaller groups) that remains even today the basis of debate concerning the lineage and authenticity of one’s caste identity: a brahmana, for example, is supposed to belong to the kasyapa gotra. the name of this gotra is derived from the tortoise. that is, all the members of the kasyapa gotra are supposed to be the descendants of an original ancestor who was a tortoise. as belonging to this tortoise-group, he is supposed to live under two very strict taboos. first, he must never eat tortoise. secondly, he must not marry any member of the same gotra, that is, of the tortoise-group. this obviously shows that this kasyapa gotra is but a survival of the tortoise-clan in which his ancestors were living when they were still to outgrow the tribal stage of social organisation (ibid, 207). such references not only show how the gotras of the higher castes were survivals of the clan-system of the tribal society but also reflect on the continuity of ‘tribal’ elements as the basis of what is otherwise differentiated as ‘modern’ civilized society. as such, the reading of gotra in its absolute singularity remains extremely problematic since it comes to be read as synonymous with multiple aspects like santati (lineage), janana (race), kula (family), abhijana (descent), anvaya (progeny), vamsa (race), anvavaya (lineage) and santana (family offspring) (ibid, 208). the members of the various brahmana gotras always prided themselves as having their origin from rishis or ancient sages which too remains quite obscure when one traces the confusions presented in the later religious texts. for example, while the matsya purana identifies the seven rishis or sages born from brahma as bhrigu, angiras, marichi, atri, pulaha, pulastya and visvamitra, the satapatha brahmana on the other hand provides us with the seven other names of rishis as the original ancestors which are gautama, bharadvaja, visvamitra, jamadagni, vasistha, kasyapa, and atri. to this latter list even another name is added later, agastya, thus making the number of gotras eight. the inconsistency in the number of gotras too remains a relevant issue to be found in such texts: the asvalayana srauta stttra identifies the gotras to be 49, the kuladipika mentions the gotras to be 40 though only names 32, and the gotra pravara nibandhana kadambam mentions the number to be even 73 (ibid., 209). not only the commonly held view of the origin of brahman gotras from ancient rishis remains arbitrary and obscure but also shows its links with totemic animals and plants which is otherwise attached with ‘savage’ tribes, as in the case with brahman gotras like vatsas (calves), sunakas (dogs), riksas (bears), bharadvajas (a species of birds), mudgalas (a species of fish), kapis (monkeys), ajas (goats), renus (pollens), venus (bamboos), kasyapas (tortoises), sandilas (a species of birds), gotamas (cows) etc. (ibid., 210). the assertion of the essentially spiritual character of caste system draws mainly from the reading of brahmanical literature like the dharma sastras and the laws of manu, however, and even if one decides to avoid the innumerable internal contradictions within such texts regarding the idea of caste, turning towards ancient approaches like lokayata remind us continuously of the obscurities that constitute the originary roots of caste, its problematic linking with spirituality, and its confused claims of autogenerativity especially in relation to the continuation of tribal qualities within caste. caste, materiality and embodiment: questioning the idealism... 207 turning towards lokayata we may be reminded therefore not simply of the diverse materialities that constitute the emergence of caste as a ‘system’ but mainly of the exclusions, obscurities and arbitrariness that characterise the ‘idea’ of caste in its originary emergences. lokayata reminds us of a society that takes the physical body as the only reality and therefore outside the politics of ideological regulations that enable caste discriminations. debiprasad sums this in a very articulate way: …so long as human consciousness retains its moorings in manual labour, it remains instinctively materialistic. for there is a sense of objective coercion about the labour process itself… this is negatively substantiated by the fact that the emergence of the idealistic outlook in the human consciousness presupposes a separation of thought from action—of mental labour from manual labour— along with a sense of degradation socially attached to the latter. the result is an exaltation of the spirit or consciousness—of pure thought or pure reason—to the status of a delusional omnipotence having, as it were, the power to dictate terms to reality. and this is the essence of the idealistic outlook… this idealistic outlook did emerge on the ruins of a primitive proto-materialism, representing the consciousness of the primitive pre-class society in which manual labour and mental labour were not dissociated from each other (ibid., xxii-xxiii). though identified today as primitive or proto-materialism, lokayata reminds us of a materialistic worldview that refuses to submit to any theory (even adhering to a normative theory of practising materialism remains an essential paradox for the materialists),and rather takes the primacy of living body in all its multiplicity as the sole reality, a view that takes the human body and earth as co-responding, inter-acting and inter-dependent. in debiprasad’s words, with all its ignorance about nature as well as the human body, it thus marks a stage where human consciousness remains yet to be emancipated from the world and proceed to the formation of the spiritualistic or idealistic world-outlook (ibid, xxi). it is also asserted that the lokayata outlook believed the human body as entangled with nature in its four essential elements i.e., earth, air, fire and water, and thus refused to accept the later transcendental ideas of the vedas, especially ṛgveda that presented an ideal supreme person called purusha whose body parts were divided into four castes: brāhaman or the priests (his mouth), rājanyas or the warriors (his two arms), vaiśya or agriculturists and traders (his two thighs), and śῡdra or (manual workers (his two feet) (ibid, 5). while all these may be used as factic signs of asserting some ‘truth’ about the arbitrary origins of caste and its inconsistent ideas, such a reading, though may be materialistic in a self-declared way, too participates in latent forms of idealism. in ancient times, these thoughts attributed to the lokayata outlook were read with certain comparative negativities to construct the spiritual worldview proposed by the vedas as essential and unavoidable, just as the lokayata outlook to establish their views ridiculed the vedas continuously (one may find a similar antagonistic situation between idealism and materialism as well). under colonial governance reading such ancient views was an inextricable part of the colonial epistemological politics, while the rise of anti-colonial and nationalist ideologies found in such readings a way to assert india’s spiritual difference against west’s material prosperity. similarly, in the contemporary times as well, re-turning to lokayata remains always enabled by some form 208 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 constructive reading, be it to assert the ancient materialistic roots of indian philosophy or to counter caste arguments. while such approaches like that of debiprasad’s has its own unavoidable significance in their attempts to critique ideological constructions from material vantage point still such materialistic approaches too always depend on some form idealism regarding their own embodied ideas on what they decide to consider as ‘materialistic approach.’. in this respect, quite interestingly, without any definite textual or factic center to hold on to, lokayata reminds us continuously of the contingencies of any attempt at constructivism, whether we re-turn to it with the aim of asserting a definite materialistic approach or to assert the originary roots of caste. this gets further emphasis when we realise that the ideas associated with lokayata were also similar to many other schools of the both ‘pre’ and ‘post’ lokayata times. for example, many thinkers during the time of buddha and mahāvīra (sixth/fifth century bce) and even after, had also asserted about the primacy of matter (consisting of five basic elements, namely, earth, air, fire, water and space) over consciousness, futility of performing sacrifices (yajña) and post-mortem rites (śrāddha), and offering gifts (dāna) to brahmanas (bhattacharya 2012, 1). similarly, the problem also emerges from the identification of brihaspati, since the name which is associated with lokayata is also associated with other schools of thought which are not always exactly similar to that of lokayata, and as such reading all these brihaspatis as one may constitute a severe form of reductionism. all these reminds us that while every single attempt at reading lokayata has its own significant contribution in (re)presenting this ancient outlook in its newer and shifting trajectories yet one cannot also ignore the latent forms of constructivism that always haunt any such attempt to return to it. my approach here is also not outside the boundaries of constructive reading since after all the main aim remains to connect the question of the materiality of caste with its originary idealism/ materialism debates so as to trace the inconsistencies and obscurities characterising the idea of caste since its earliest emergences. these factors— emphasizing the originary roots of caste, and reading it with a tendency to separate idea and matter—remain two dominant registers even today to read caste, and as such turning towards lokayata enables us to understand not only the internal contradictions haunting any attempt at conjuring an orignary past of caste but also to reflect on the acts of reading itself whereby such conjuring comes to be justified. practicing un/touch-ability: within the body or without? after tracing briefly the obscure roots of caste and materialism in indian philosophy let us turn towards two of the most elementary conceptual aspects of caste: body and touch. what happens when we touch bodies, do we really have access to the material bodies that can be touched in their entirety, or do we think that we have access to the material bodies and therefore we can in a self-conscious way practise touch? any attempt at thinking ‘touch’ demands conceptualising it in its entirety, however, thinking ‘untouch’ on the other hand demands engaging with the impossible task of conceptualising that which is not-yet-touched and/or that which cannot be touched. this leads us, therefore, to an irreconcilable (non)position of conceptualising touch-in-itself. to elaborate it further i am turning towards an extract from one of my earlier papers: …before one can explore the question of untouch-ability one needs to first explore the thinking of touch-ability. since touch always remains one of the crucial aspects of the various senses that help us to conceptualise and connect caste, materiality and embodiment: questioning the idealism... 209 with the material world, thinking the specificity of touch thus always already remains linked with thinking the specificity of the body. however, if touch remains always partial, then it also brings us back to a non-position and inability to conceptualise the body in its entirety. if a ‘touch’ of dalit violates the body of the upper castes then the bodily composition of dalit and other castes has to be different. if the touch is that which violates, then touch must be seen as carrying a transgressing potential beyond the body; in other words, the location of the touch cannot be within the body only. if the dalit’s touch violates the body of other castes then touch cannot be identified within the material body of the toucher only (then how can one project the dalit’s body as ‘polluting’?), and if it remains always connected with the originating body then how can it affect other bodies? this brings us to an irreconcilable problem of locating touch: within the body or beyond it? if one is never able to locate touch, then how can one identify that touch as always already corrupting?” (saha 2019, 44-45) since caste as a ‘system’ has always been associated with universality based on elementary understandings of creation, bodily compositions and functions, any attempt at exploring ‘touch’ also demands such necessity of engaging with the elementary forms of cognition that enable collective participation. since we always conceptualise touch in relation to or in terms of other things, any attempt at thinking touch also remains dependent on other things. not only in the early views of lokayata outlook such metaphysical ideas on touch remains absolutely rejected, the later philosophical views since vedic times also remains filled with innumerable contradictions regarding the idea of touch. sarukkai, for example, tracing the diverse approaches to touch that can be found in the various indian philosophical trends, reminds us of the necessity to conceptually differentiate “touch” (sparśa) and “contact” (saṁyoga): each sense organ is composed exclusively of one of the five elements – smell of earth, taste of water, touch of air, sight of fire, hearing of ether… touch is a guna – quality, like taste, smell and contact. it is a quality only for earth, water, fire and air whereas contact is a quality for all the nine substances including ākāśa, time, place, self, and internal organs. furthermore, touch is perceived only through one sense organ but contact can be by two sense organs. also, contact produces a variety of qualities including pleasure, pain, aversion, merit, and demerit. however, touch does not produce these which contact does…the notion of contact suggests something broader than touch: ‘contact is a quality that is present in the ‘toucher’ and the ‘touched’… if two bodies are in contact with each other, then that contact is a symmetrical relation – each body is in contact with the other. however, in the case of touch, there seems to be an asymmetry since the person who touches is at the same time not being touched by the object. so when i say i am touching a chair i do not at the same time say the chair is touching me (although merleau-ponty would disagree!). touch in this sense is a specific human sense unlike contact which is a specific kind of relation between any two entities (guru & sarukkai 2012, 40). this further reminds us of the problematic question of materially locating untouchability: first, if the brahmin touches the shudra or vice versa then the toucher should remain 210 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 untouched; secondly, if the touch affects the toucher then the relation is rather of a mutual relationship of ‘contact’ between the toucher-touched; and thirdly, and most importantly, the untouchable is able to manifest a certain sense of ‘untouch’ within the person whereby the body itself becomes untouchable irrespective of whether or not the person comes in contact with another person (ibid., 41). the body in different indian philosophical traditions (for example, the nyāya-vaiśeṣika, rgveda, buddhism, etc) involves a relationality: between being and world, locatedness and transcendence, physical and metaphysical, material and ideal, internal and external, specificity and generality. as such, even in the attempts to engage with the material body like that in āyurveda, we see suśruta, the famous surgeon of ancient times, classifying the body into seven layers of skin (ibid), thus exposing us to the unavoidable question: if skin is the organ of touch as we understand it now then which of these layers of skin are actually involved in the experience of touch? (saha, 2019). such irreducibility of the material body can be traced in other philosophical trends as well (for example, sānkhya and advaita vedānta), thus reminding us again that even within the search for origins of material traces of caste one ends up with an irreducible and entangled past where certain forms of constructivism or other always haunt even the most materialistic approaches. turning towards lokayata we are reminded with one such small example to realise the contingencies that always haunt attempts to search for origins, whether we call it a search for origins of idealism or materialism in indian philosophy. specters of caste and the betrayal of the promise of democracy the projection of dalits as untouchable bodies, i submit, always remains symptomatic of such long continuing circuits of misreading on which the ghost of untouchability feeds itself. while we continue to discriminate and attack each other in terms of our different approaches to fight casteism (idealism versus materialism, savarna versus dalit, theoretical versus practical, academic versus activist, etc), the ghost of caste that continues to paralyze us is continuously evolving ways. ambedkar was aware of such haunting spectrality of caste and therefore was critical of any immediately available approaches to exorcise it: i may seem hard for manu, but i am sure my force is not strong enough to kill his ghost. he lives, like a disembodied spirit and is appealed to, and i am afraid will yet live long. (ambedkar 1917, 21). for ambedkar, caste was essentially undemocratic in character since it takes inequality and hierarchy as the governing principle and even forecloses the possibility to do away with it: one european solution was to respect the rights of others (because one thought one had rights; therefore, others too must have them), so that others respect our rights in turn; a certain reciprocity is assumed (never fully proved). this is where the problem crystallizes itself. this is about the so-called idea/l of democracy: we are all equal and therefore must be treated equally. (ambedkar 1936 (2014), 172) caste, materiality and embodiment: questioning the idealism... 211 in the question of caste this idea/l of democracy too is not available in the thinking of a common society. caste constitutes the thinking of society only in separatist terms. while the hegemonic forms of brahminical social organisation come to be internalised as the only access to think the social space, it also displaces the possibilities of other potential inter-acting social spaces that the other castes share within themselves. besides, it also reminds us that attempts to radically overturn such an organisation of the social space may not get away with casteist social separation, and the recent exclusionary emphasis and hatred against what is identified as ‘savarna’ can be seen as symptoms of such reverse mechanism by which the discriminatory logic of caste continues to shape even counter politics. in a different register, this is a similar paradox that one may trace within proletarian revolution as well if the proletariat claims to overturn the class hierarchy which doesn’t ensure getting rid of a discriminatory class-structure but rather continue as reconfigurations of it in newer and latent ways. ambedkar was well aware of such possibilities of continuity of caste structure even within attempts to get rid of it, and thus for him a complete annihilation of it demanded a complete annihilation of the conceptual structures that enable its circulation, and the embodied ideas of hinduism were one such breeding ground (ibid). in his celebrated annihilation of caste when ambedkar reminds us continuously that political and democratic reform cannot be asserted without social reform it becomes evident that he indirectly talks about the necessity of getting rid of the embodied ideas of caste in order to ensure their annihilation from material forms of practice: “…let political reformers turn in any direction they like, they will find that in the making of a constitution, they cannot ignore the problem arising out of the prevailing social order’ (ibid, 178). for ambedkar caste forecloses the capacity to constitute collective community based on equality and fraternity, and practicing a priori discriminations based on identifying ‘savarna’ seems to continue in a paradoxical way the emphasis on ‘varna.’12 ambedkar had repeatedly asserted that the assurance of democracy must be the assurance proceeding from a much deeper foundation—namely, the mental attitude of the compatriots towards one another in their spirit of equality and fraternity (ibid, 183), and the question of ‘savarna’ versus ‘dalit’ seem to reflect a relation of antagonism (instead of brotherhood and equality) and therefore an inversion within counter-politics whereby caste and its reliance on ‘varna’ discrimination continues to live. ambedkar was perhaps aware of such possibilities when he asserted: the caste system prevents common activity… one caste enjoys singing a hymn of hate against another caste as much as the germans enjoyed singing their hymn of hate against the english during the last war. (ambedkar 1936 (2014), 191) by keeping apart people of the same society into different irreconcilable segments caste therefore stands against what democracy stands for, and as such, for ambedkar caste was by its essential nature ‘anti-social.’ doing away caste demands doing away all its conceptual registers, and attempts of annihilating caste that continue to rely on the memories of an old order cannot think of an entirely caste-less future. therefore, for ambedkar, annihilating caste demanded an absolute overthrow of the conceptual structures (of hinduism) on which caste breeds itself. in a similar way, among the most recent approaches, jaaware too attempts to refuse caste its unavoidable essence which it has enjoyed for a long time and instead transfers all emphasis from caste to 212 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 touch as the principle register. this is what jaaware calls ‘oublierring’ or ‘deliberate forgetting’ (jaaware 2019, 13-15).bringing in the subtle differences between western ideas of ‘society’ (derived from ‘socius’ which stands for companion, follower, etc.) and the indian ‘samaj’ (which also stands for caste, clan, community, etc), jaaware points at the innumerable contradictions that caste brings into the thinking of a common society: while caste is segmentalist (in the sense that it aims to cut apart), society aims at unifying all into one (jaaware 2019, 171-189). however, this is an intimate cut that caste brings in within the thinking of a common samaj: ‘we interact with but will not relate to that other samaj. the members of that samaj are not from ours’ (ibid., 171). thus, at the unavailability of a common society (since to take the fourfold division as unavoidable ‘law’ also expects the constitution of four different societies), to identify oneself with a common society demands the invention of an idea of a common society that one may identify with, and this is what jaaware decides to call sociability (ibid., 172). with the persistence of caste, not only the idea/l of a common society remains a foreclosure, practising different forms of autonomous individual sociability also remains a prohibition. in other words, the persistence of the embodied idea of caste within a democratic system operates as mutually contradictory since neither the individual nor a common singular unity can survive under the caste structure; the latter must replace the former according its ways of hierarchical social organisation and as such equality remains an impossibility. the specters of caste always operate with an inextricable idea-matter embrace, and not idea/matter separation, that enable the figurations of the idea of caste into everyday forms of practice. while turning towards lokayata not only reminds us of the problematic roots of idealism/materialism separation in indian philosophy, it also reflects on the various forms of constructivism that always haunt the approaches to caste, as it is with our conceptualization of idealism and materialism. besides, it might also enable one to develop an immanent critique of caste that doesn’t attempt to read caste through other registers like equality, society etc (which the limits of this paper prevent me from further elaborating). the point however that has been emphasised here by turning towards lokayata is the obscure and contradictory origins of caste. it reminds us of the continuities in mis-reading since earliest times; a cautionary reminder that any attempt at getting rid of ideas that had enabled the embodiment of caste into practice for generations call for an attempt at exorcising a ghost whose origin, form(ation) and effect is continuously changing, and so must change our ways to approach it. such continuous becoming, in the case of caste, thus involves a hauntological becoming13, one that acquires its functional modalities by a simultaneous working of past and present, idea and matter, ontology and epistemology (das 2010). however, this hauntological becoming of caste also exposes its own fissures and herein lies the paradox that even the ghost cannot escape: while the ghost cannot be conceptualised without being corporealised, on the other hand the performative corporeal body cannot stand entirely for the ghost, and through such fissures emerge the disruption within the ghost’s own functionality. it is within such contingent becomings of the ghost that the possibilities of its own disruption lies, and an approach failing to realise such idea-matter embrace that characterises the ghost of caste thus fails in its initial conceptualisation of both the problem as well as the solution. caste, materiality and embodiment: questioning the idealism... 213 references ambedkar, b. r. (1917). castes in india: their mechanism, genesis and development”. indian antiquary, xli. --the annihilation of caste (2014; originally 1936). in s. anand (ed.), annihilation of caste:the annotated critical edition(pp. 144-282). london & new york: verso. anand, siriyavan. (2007). life inside a black hole, tehelka, 4, (44), 2007. web: https://assam. assamnet.narkive.com/wn9fvqst/from-tehelka-life-inside-a-black-hole. accessed on february 16, 2019. bhattacharya, amarnath (2008). the concept of sarira: sthula, suksma, linga, karana. in p. k. sen (ed.), philosophical concepts relevant to sciences in indian tradition. new delhi: centre for studies in civilizations. bhattacharya, ramkrishna (2011). studies on the carvaka/lokayata.london & new york: anthem press. chattopadhyaya, debiprasad (1959). lokayata: a study in ancient indian materislism. new delhi: people’s publishing house. das, anirban (2010). towards a politics of the (im)possible: the body in third world feminisms. london and new york: anthem press. derrida, jacques (1994). specters of marx: the state of the debt, the work of mourning, and the new international. peggy kamuf (trans.). new york and london: routledge. gatade, subhash (2015). silencing caste, sanitising oppression: understanding swachh bharat abhiyan. economic & political weekly.50 (44). gupta, brahmananda (2008). the concept of ‘indriyas’ in ayurvedic texts with special reference to karmendriyas. in p. k. sen (ed.), philosophical concepts relevant to sciences in indian tradition. new delhi: centre for studies in civilizations. guru, gopal & sundar sarukkai (2012). the cracked mirror: an indian debate on experience and theory. new delhi: oup. jaaware, aniket (2019). practicing caste: on touching and not touching. new york: fordham university press. keer, dhananjay (1954). dr. ambedkar: life and mission. bombay: popular prakashan. kosambi, d. d (1962). myth and reality: studies in the formation of indian culture. bombay: popular prakashan. nigam, aditya (1999). marxism and the postcolonial world: footnotes to a long march (pp. 33-43). economic and political weekly, 34 (1-2). omvedt, gail (1994). dalits and the democratic revolution: dr. ambedkar and the dalit movement in colonial india. new delhi: sage publications. prashad, vijay (2000). untouchable freedom: a social history of a dalit community. new york: oup. saha, subro (2019). why all the fuss about purity?: un/touch-ability and the paradox of hygienic bodies (pp. 37-51). sanglap: journal of literary and cultural inquiry, vol. 6, no. 1. srinivas, m. n (1962). caste in modern india and other essays. new york, london & new delhi: asia publishing house. 214 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 endnotes 1. influenced by the rise of marxism in india the caste question has often been seen in terms of class question (obviously not without contradictions), which, coupled with the embodied lens of colonial modernity, comes to see caste as only a precolonial, ignorant, irrational obstacle in the nation-making project. a similar tendency can be found in srinivas’ study as well, where he makes the famous assertion: “caste is an institution of prodigious strength and it will take a lot of beating before it will die” (srinivas 1962, 72). 2. to gandhi’s description of scavenging as “the noblest service to society” ambedkar responded with question “how sacred is this work of cleanliness!”: “to preach that poverty is good for the shudra and for none else, to preach that scavenging is good for the untouchables and for none else and to make them accept these onerous impositions as voluntary purposes of life, by appeal to their failings is an outrage and a cruel joke on the helpless classes which none but mr gandhi can perpetuate with equanimity and impunity. in this connection one is reminded of the words of voltaire ... ‘oh! mockery to say to people that the sufferings of some brings joy to others and works good to the whole. what solace is it to a dying man to know that from his decaying body a thousand worms will come into life’” (cited by gatade 2015, 33) 3. the indifference of the upper-castes becomes too evident when one realizes that not only the suffering of dalits (who are forced into manual scavenging) remains unaddressed but it becomes an object of fun and entertainment. take for instance, a popular radio mirchi television commercial thatwas aired a few years ago for almost two years, wherein a man was heard (and not made visible in his body) inside a manhole gaily singing a song—— then, a man chewing betel alights from his car t wondering what keeps the man down in the manhole so happy. and the advertising tagline emerges: mirchi sunnewaale… always khush! (people listening to radio mirchi are always happy)the question to focus is obviously not simply the advertisement but the fact that it went on for many years without a murmur of protest from viewers or civil rights groups, and is still available on youtube (https://youtu.be/6asjcixhji4; accessed on march 25, 2019). similar stories of discrimination one can find almost every day in newspapers. for example, ’dalit boy denied water from hand pump, drowns while drinking from well’ (hindustan times. 2016-03-09. retrieved 2018-11-14: https://www. hindustantimes.com/bhopal/dalit-boy-not-allowed-water-from-school-handpump-drowns-while-drinking-from-well/story-9kldkkdt9bazwapy56zxdp. html), or ‘dalit girl attacked by priest for trying to draw water from temple well’ (https://www.firstpost.com/india/dalit-girl-attacked-by-priest-in-uttar-pradeshfor-trying-to-draw-water-from-temple-well-2946630.html). 4. for further details, see marx’s “the british rule in india” (1853) and “the future results of british rule in india” (1853). 5. for further details on marx’s engagement with poetry, social structure and revolution, see “the eighteenth brumaire of louis bonaparte”. 6. here is one such section from the text: “the great basic question of all philosophy, especially of modern philosophy, is that concerning the relation of thinking and being. from the very early times when men…came to believe that their thinking and sensation were not activities of their bodies, but of a distinct soul which caste, materiality and embodiment: questioning the idealism... 215 inhabits the body and leaves it at death…the question of the position of thinking in relation to being, a question which, by the way, had played a great part also in the scholasticism of the middle ages, the question, which is primary, spirit or nature — that question, in relation to the church was sharpened into this: ‘did god create the world or has the world been in existence?’ the answers which the philosophers gave to this question split them into two great camps. those who asserted the primacy of spirit to nature and, therefore, in the last instance, assumed world creation in some form or other . . . comprised the camp of idealism. the others, who regarded nature as primary, belong to the various schools of materialism. these two expressions, idealism and materialism, primarily signify nothing more than this; and here also they are not used in any other sense.’ (engels 1886, 21) 7. nigam cites how directly mikhail borodin’s influence was on m. n. roy’s manifesto of the indian communist party that promised to free the emergent nation from its pre-colonial allegiances to caste that the indian national congress was not able to eradicate. thus, though roy realised that a typical two-class party model of orthodox marxist approach was not effectively applicable in the indian context, rather it demanded a multi-class party model, he was expelled from the comintern for violating their one party, one class motif. it was also the same dependence on the cominternian motif that led muzaffar ahmad in 1926 to change the name of labour swaraj party to ‘the bengal peasants’ and workers’ party’ (nigam, 1999). 8. the earliest buddhist sources repeatedly mentioned the lokayata, and further, as already argued by dasgupta and others, even the older upanisads mentioned it—though under the name of the asura-view—it is natural to presume therefore that the lokayata, in its original form, must have been very ancient; however, it is certainly impossible to fix any singular date as to how very ancient it was. (chattopadhyaya 1959) 9. here are some excerpts from the most commonly cited section: “there is no heaven, no final liberation, nor any soul in another world,/nor do the actions of the four castes, orders, &c., produce any real effect./…/if a beast slain in the jyotishtoma rite will itself go to heaven,/why then does not the sacrificer forthwith offer his own father?/…/while life remains let a man live happily, let him feed on ghee even though he runs in debt;/when once the body becomes ashes, how can it ever return again?/if he who departs from the body goes to another world, how is it that he comes not back again, restless for love of his kindred?/hence it is only as a means of livelihood that brahmans have established here/all these ceremonies for the dead, there is no other fruit anywhere./the three authors of the vedas were buffoons, knaves, and demons./all the well-known formulae of the pandits, jarphari, turphari, &c./and all the obscene rites for the queen commanded in the aswamedha,/these were invented by buffoons, and so all the various kinds of presents to the priests,/while the eating of flesh was similarly commanded by night-prowling demons” (cowell & gough 1882, 10). 10. being specifically linked with the cultural and linguistic history of india, these terms and their associated concepts remain always untranslatable if one tries to capture in english language their essence in entirety, just as it remains the case with translation of some culturally specific terms from french or german. as such, any attempt at translation of such concepts always remains partial. for further details, 216 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 see barbara cassin ed. dictionary of untranslatables: a philosophical lexicon (new jersey: princeton university press, 2004). 11. ranging manusmriti to mahabharata the confusion between caste and tribe, especially in english translations remains a recurrent issue. since the confusion between ‘caste’ and ‘tribe’ was never addressed properly, and since colonial epistemology was not always aware of the various complexities and intricacies of the native social organisation, it remains a recurring aspect also in the colonial readings of caste ranging from as early as sherring’s study in 1872, russell and hiralal’s study in 1916, to as late as crispin bates’ study in 1995. for further details, see chattopadhyaya 1959, 202-203. 12. one may re-member here the words of ambedkar: ’the first question i ask is: will the proletariat of india combine to bring about this revolution? what will move men to such an action? it seems to me that, other things being equal, the only thing that will move one man to take such an action is the feeling that other men with whom he is acting are actuated by feelings of equality and fraternity and—above all—of justice. men will not join in a revolution for the equalisation of property unless they know that after the revolution is achieved they will be treated equally, and that there will be no discrimination of caste and creed’ (ibid, 182). 13. i use this concept from anirban das’ use of it in his book, where he writes: “this body, thus not only material, has the ghost’s spectral corporeality. it haunts as it becomes. but what is the dynamic of the process through which idea is materialized and matter (of the body) gets haunted by the spirit? a structure of iterability is presupposed in this ‘hauntology’ of the body. a structure that gets displaced as it becomes. it gives place to the ‘other’ deep within it” (das 2010, 04). article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 47–66 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.247 © 2021 s. gunasekaran. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste documenting a caste: the chakkiliyars in colonial and missionary documents in india s. gunasekaran1 abstract this essay is an attempt to write the social history of the chakkiliyar community of south india, often classified in the colonial records as a caste occupying the lowest position in the caste hierarchy. this paper argues that the colonial period was marked by lowering opportunities for economic and social mobility for the community. traditionally involved in the manufacture of leather goods that were central to irrigation, the chakkiliyars had relatively better opportunities and some even occupied the status of petty landowners. but the advent of pumpsets and the mechanization of leather processing during the colonial period severely affected their economic opportunities. adding to this, the colonial and missionary records, inflated with the prejudices of their upper caste informers, repeatedly portrayed their low social existence. therefore, despite certain genuine motives and formidable social reforms, the colonial and missionary documentation of the caste in fact further strengthened the existing social stereotypes and thus added yet another layer into its history of discrimination. besides recovering the various ways in which chakkiliyars were described in the documents of colonial officials and christian missionaries, this paper also analyzes the recent attempts by the members of the community to produce a counter narrative to the stereotypical representations of their caste. keywords chakkiliyar, arunthathiyar, leather workers, untouchable castes, socioeconomic mobility 1centre for historical studies, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india e-mail: jsguna@gmail.com 48 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 introduction caste identities in south india were much complex than the way they were portrayed in colonial census surveys.1 despite various cultural and social restrictions, castes migrated for better economic opportunities, adopted new caste titles, reframed their origin myths, and thus, aspired for a respectable social identity. such flexibility and mobility, however, were more prevalent among the castes in the middle order of the social hierarchy than others.2 inversely, certain castes – especially those from the lower end of the social spectrum – fell into a ‘social trap’ to the extent that their social mobility became virtually impossible. every successive stage in history left them with irrevocable cultural and economic curbs. the layered cultural prejudices and stereotypes correspondingly diminished their economic opportunities and furthered the struggles for survival. it is, therefore, not necessary that the social history of a caste will always show how the community gradually empowered itself economically to achieve a higher social status, as has been the case with most histories of lower castes, but it could also be the other way round; showing how it slowly lost its social significance and was reduced to a slave caste. the social history of the chakkiliyar caste that the paper attempts to trace falls into the latter category. this paper is a small part of a larger ethnohistory project that strives for a comprehensive history of the chakkiliyars and conceptualizes its historical experience – of being ‘untouchable among the untouchables’ – in a broader context of the history of lower caste and mobilizations in south asia. the discussion here focuses on the representation of the caste in the records of colonial administrators and christian missionaries and discusses how, despite certain genuine motives and formidable social reforms, the colonial and missionary documentation of the caste in fact further strengthened the existing social stereotypes and thus added yet another layer to its history of discrimination. chakkiliyar historiography writings on the history of the chakkiliyars are very few and they mostly deal with the contemporary history of the caste. michael moffatt (1979) undertook a villagelevel study. his work, among other aspects, also explored the replication of caste hierarchies among ‘untouchables’ within the village, the endavur of chenglepet district. he presented a descriptive analysis of the occupation and internal ranking of the chakkiliyars within what he called the harijan (untouchable) communities. ‘the chakkiliyars were at one time excluded from habitation in the colony, just as the higher untouchables are excluded from habitation in the uur (village).’ therefore, the chakkiliyars and a few other castes, such as the kuruvikaran and the pudirai vannan, 1however, such a proposition is debated by the historians, see inden, r. (1990). imagining india, oxford: blackwell.; dirks, n. (2001). castes of mind: colonialism and making of modern india. princeton: princeton university press.; guha, sumit. (2003). the politics of identity enumeration in india 1600–1990. comparative studies in society and history, 45, pp. 148–167. 2for example, vijaya ramaswamy. (2004). vishwakarma craftsmen in early medieval peninsular india. journal of the economic and social history of the orient, 47(4), pp. 548–582.; blackburn, stuart h. (2007). the kallars: a tamil ‘criminal tribe’ reconsidered. south asia: journal of south asian studies, 1(1), pp. 38–51.; hardgrave jr., robert l. (1969). the nadars of tamil nadu: the political culture of a community in change. bombay: oxford university press. documenting a caste: the chakkiliyars in colonial and missionary 49 as moffatt’s study has shown, were untouchables within the untouchable castes. while most contemporary studies on south indian lower castes focussed on the paraiyars, few like that of moffatt, were directed towards the lowest rungs of untouchable communities. gunnel cederlöf’s bonds lost (1997) is perhaps the first systematic historical study on the chakkiliyars, called the madhariyar, in western tamil nadu. with the help of colonial and missionary archives, cederlöf studied the economic role and social mobilization of the chakkiliyars in the first half of the twentieth century in the coimbatore region. the pannaial system (master and slave), the social relationship that existed between the landholding, the gounder, and the landless labourers, the chakkiliyar, was disturbed through waves of industrialization, introduction of water pumpsets, and successive famines and droughts in the region. in that context, conversion to christianity extended a ray of hope for social mobilization. works of a few french scholars have also contributed to the chakkiliyar historiography. of these, alexandra de heering’s speak, memory: oral histories of kodaikanal dalits is a recent one (2018). she reconstructs the history of the community through memories collected from the people living in two villages in the kodaikanal region. among the studies published in tamil, margu’s (2001) anthropological, ethnological account provided a participant observation about the contemporary sociocultural life, rituals, and cult practices of the chakkiliyars. there were some young academics and activists, such as r. athiyaman, ezhil elangovan, m. mathivanan and jayaveeradevan, whose various works3 challenged the stereotypical socio-cultural constructions about the caste and generated historical awareness so as to liberate them from the feeling of low self-esteem. they narrated what they called ‘the hidden history’. most of their articles appeared in a tamil magazine, vellai kuthirai (white horse), which was published by them. the title, white horse, symbolized the glorious warrior past of the community. they put forth various isolated historical incidents where the leaders of the community were either rulers or closely associated with the ruling class, such as the nayakas and the palayakkarars. in these accounts several members from the community participated in the freedom struggle, protected the capital city from being attacked by bandits, transgressed caste restrictions, and rebelled against unlawful taxation. such accounts helped enormously in mobilizing the people politically, challenging the social suppression, and helping them in demanding special reservation in educational and employment opportunities. the community is known for maintaining its rich tradition of oral narratives. some of them, such as maduraiveeran kathai, muthupattan kathai and ondiveeran kathai are very popular and many historians and folklorists have analyzed the social and historical context of these narratives. in this context, the works of vanavamalai (1971), blackburn (1978) and arunan (2010) need special mention. the story, mathuraiveeran, was made into a film, which was analyzed by m. s. s. pandian (2001) in the context 3for example, ezhil. elangovan. (2004). maaveerarn ondiveeran pagadai. coimbatore: adhi tamishar peravai.; ezhil. elangovan. (2003). madhurai veeran kolaiyumthirumalai nayakkar mahalum. tanjore: pournami samuka araichi maiyam.; r. adhiyman. (2007). aadhitamizharkalin porkural, coimbatore: adhi tamishar peravai.; m. mathivanan. (2008). arunthathiyarakiya nangal coimbatore: adhi tamishar peravai.; adhiyamaan. (2011). ‘chakkiliyar liberation is the pre-condition for the liberation of the downtrodden’ in susie tharu and k. satyanarayanan (ed.). no alphabet in sight, delhi: penguin books.; jayaveeradevan. (2018). ceruppu. chennai: pavai publication. 50 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 of the subaltern history and politics in south india. within a similar analytical lens, sundar kali (2010) studied hagiographies of dalit bhakts (devotees), the shaivites and vaishnavites. the story of chakkiliya swamigal, a vaishnavite, symbolized an attempt of a man from the chakkiliyar community to transgress the norms laid out by the brahmins during the early medieval period. rituals and cult practices associated with temple festivals, such as masikalarai, and shoe offerings in sorimuthu ayyanar temple are also referred to in some studies (arunan, 2010). they, together with numerous folk songs, offer an enormous scope to reconstruct the social history of the community (srinivasan & ponraj, 2010). in short, there are two trends which emerge from the existing historiography: the first traces the slave past of the community – the pannaiyals (farm workers), leather workers, and municipal sweepers; and the second focuses on its glorious past – brave warriors, rulers, and rebels. arunthathiyar: the myths of origin today, people of the chakkiliyar community prefer to be called arunthathiyar. the myth supporting this new identity is of more recent origin. asserting a new identity, in fact, is an attempt to depart from the ‘accidental’ slave past and various stereotypically constructed characteristics associated with the caste. while chakkili signified people who eat the flesh of dead cows and engage in the so-called impure jobs, arunthathiyar, derived from the name of the morning star, meant purity, pristine, and a revolutionary rising. in the early hindu puranic legends, arunthathi was a chakkili (chandala – low caste) woman who was married to vasishtha,4 the son of urvashi.5 stories of origin also attempted to connect the past of the community with the ancient tamils. it becomes vital since some sections of the community speak both telugu and kannada, and therefore there was a threat of their being considered as migrants to tamil region. according to a story, the term ‘arunthathiyar’ comes from the name of athiyar – a famous tribe that ruled the western part of tamil nadu during the classical period. athiyaman neduman anji, a chief known for his bravery and philanthropy, came from this tribe (marxiagandhi, 1998). the heroism and generosity of athiyars is a notable theme in ancient tamil sangam literatures in which tamil castes always trace their origin so as to assert their indigeneity. the modern dharmapuri region is identified as a territory of the athiyaman, where a large proportion of the chakkiliyar population still lives. to the dominant castes, to whom the chakkiliyars rendered their services, the traditional identity of chakkili is more preferable. it is used often in a demeaning way to mean unclean, degraded, and filthy. in sri lanka, where the chakkiliyars migrated to work in the colonial tea plantations, the word chakkili is a derogatory sinhala term for tamil minority and muslims.6 invocation of the word, chakkiliyar, especially by the upper castes in rural places, indirectly indicates the power that they enjoyed being dominant till recently and also reminded the chakkiliyars of their degraded 4according to the hindu mythology, vasishtha is one of the seven great vedic sages, supposed to be the human son of the hindu god brahma. 5according to the hindu mythology, urvashi is one of the apsaras (celestial beings with supernatural powers) residing in the domain of king of gods, indra. 6see, trawic, margaret. (2017). death, beauty, struggle: untouchable women create the world, philadelphia: university of pennsylvania press. (p. 35).; saravanan nadarasa. (2019). ‘sathiya vasaipadal: arunthathiyar samukathai munvaithu’, kaakai sirakinile, march. documenting a caste: the chakkiliyars in colonial and missionary 51 social position. while there was an attempt, among the first generation educated chakkiliyars, to erase the past by calling themselves arunthathiyar, there were also some who used the suffix of chakkiliyar with their personal name as an act of assertion. reconstruction of the chakkiliyar history, which has just begun, was realized as a way to give the term chakkili a new meaning. many futile etymological attempts were made to decode the meaning of the word chakkili. it is often said that the word emerges from the sanskrit and kannada words for leather. the word, of medieval origin, retains to some extent of phonetic similarity with cemman (ancient tamil leather workers) and chamar (leather worker in north india). otherwise, the word provides no clue regarding the history of the community. b. s. baliga (1957, p. 263) connects the word with the character of the people of the caste. he writes: the term chakkili means people afraid of beating. some scholars are of the opinion that once, during the time of nayak kings, they were sacrificed after building forts and palaces. because of such events, and as they were killed, they became afraid of everything and hence were called as chakkili. even after centuries of suppression and humiliation, there were hardly any significant movements that emerged from this caste. people of this community, it is often said, are obedient, submissive, and non-aggressive. baliga gives a list of castes that claim the arunthathiyar identity in modern times. it includes: chakkiliyar, pakadai, mathariyar, madika, thottiyar, thomman, cemman, thotti, and adi andhra. in recent census reports, all these sub-castes are generally classified into two categories – a. arunthathiyar, and b. chakkiliyar. as per the 2001 census, the total population of tamil nadu is 62,405,679. of these, 11,857,504 (19 per cent) people belong to the scheduled castes. of the total scheduled castes’ population, 771,659 (6.5 per cent) people belong to the arunthathiyar and 777,139 (6.6 per cent) people belong to the chakkiliyar castes. according to the census, the arunthathiyar and the chakkiliyar castes have 53.7 per cent and 50.9 per cent literacy rate respectively. colonial characterization of the caste what colonial census, gazetteers, manuals, travel accounts, etc., apprised about the chakkiliyars became a standard characterization of the caste in official records and scholarly writings. it, in fact, has contributed to one-dimensional narrative; the deconstruction of which started only recently. colonial administrators-scholars generally collected their information through the help of educated, english-speaking upper caste assistants. details of castes were often collected from village heads, and accountants / scribes like karanam, kanakkapillai, nattamgars, etc.7 prior to the castebased census surveys, the christian missionaries working in different interior regions had documented their personal accounts of various castes. in the nineteenth-century scenario, any narration about a lower caste was often a result of a combination of 7for example, nicholson says, ‘the survey began in june 1802 and was made by “karanams and nattamgars, who bound themselves to render true and faithful accounts.’ nicholson, augustus. (1887). manual of the coimbatore district in the presidency of madras. madras: government press. (p. 100). 52 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 colonial-official, missionary, and upper castes’ prejudices / perspectives, in addition to, of course, the possible social and historical reality of the caste. as per the existing written documents, the name chakkili first appeared in a thirteenth-century temple inscription8 and continued to find its reference in documents throughout the medieval period. early colonial documents used some variants of the same. of these, chuckler9 was most prevalent while others being siclar or shecliar,10 sakkili, cakkili,11 shakkili,12 chuckili, chakkiliyan / r,13 and sakkiliyan / r.14 in fact, the colonial surveyors were aware about the derivation. for example, in 1871, cornish (1873, p. 37) made it clear that ‘the chakkili are the well-known chucklers; to use a corruption that has now become an english word.’ richards (1916, p. 201), while explaining about the five castes of panchamas, writes that this category included ‘the chucklers or more correctly sakkiliyans.’ this attempt towards the correct pronunciation of the caste name, from siclar to chakkiliyar and sakkiliyar, correlates with the long process of colonial venture to explore more about the caste. at present, in non-official use, arunthathiyar and chakkiliyar are used in a very pluralistic sense. within these broader categories, there were sub-divisional identities like pagadaiyar, madhariyar, thottiyar, and many more.15 some of them were certainly names of the titles that the community adopted at different points in time and they eventually became names of castes. the chakkiliyars were, in certain early documents, mistakenly identified with the paraiyars and sometimes with the telugu-speaking madigas, perhaps due to their identical occupations and social condition.16 in the seventeenth century, in the tamil regions under the rule of carnatic nawabs, they, along with other similar castes, were included into a common social identity, namely the panchum bundum (buchanan–hamilton, 1807, p. 19). given the enormity of caste divisions in south india, early missionary accounts, colonial surveys, manuals and gazetteers had focused very little on the chakkiliyars.17 moreover, they tend to freely borrow from each other and reproduce same statements 8south indian inscriptions, vol. viii, no. 151. 9for example, cornish, w. r. (1873). census of the town of madras, 1871. madras: george gazette press. (p. 34).; fanu, le. (1883). a manual of the salem district in the presidency of madras, vol. 1. madras: government press. (p. 131). 10buchanan-hamilton, francis. (1807). a journey from madras through the countries of mysore, vol. 1. london: cadell and w. davies. (p. 19). 11oppert, gustav salomon. (1888). on the original inhabitants of bharatavarsa or india, the dravidians. new delhi: asian educational services. (p. 66). 12wilson, h. h. (1855). glossary of judicial and revenue terms. london: w. h. allen and co. (p. 54). 13thurston, edgar (1909). caste and tribe of south india, vol 2. madras: government press. (p. 4). 14ayyer, s. krishnamurthi. (1922). census of india 1921, volume xxv, travancore, part–1. trivandrum: government press. (p. 107). 15this category also included adi-andhra and adikarnataka. 16mciver, lewis. (1883). imperial census of 1881 operation and results in the presidency of madras, vol. iii. madras: government press. (p. 128).; pandian, thomas b. (1895). slaves of the soil in southern india. madras: cosmopolite press. (p. 23). 17caste based surveys posed great difficulty. for example, imperial census of 1881 says, ‘in some case the same word with a slight difference in spelling gave the name of a different caste,’ mciver, lewis. (1883). imperial census of 1881 operation and results in the presidency of madras, vol. iii. madras: government press. (p. 129). documenting a caste: the chakkiliyars in colonial and missionary 53 about social ranking, rituals and cultural practices, occupation and food habits, etc. there was, therefore, hardly any fresh investigation about the caste except a few occasional additions here and there. all these early observations were compiled and put together by edgar thruston in his castes and tribes of southern india in 1902. like for many other castes, his account of the caste becomes a starting point for later studies of the chakkiliyars. in 1868, nelson called the chakkiliyars a caste of exceptionally beautiful, virtuous women.18 for this, they are classified into the padmini category of women.19 baines (1912, p. 79) observed, ‘it may be noted that the leather-workers are here, as in north, remarkable for the beauty of their women and in those stage of sakthi worship at which the presence of a living representative of the female energy, is necessary, a sakkilian is always selected for the part.’ these beautiful women were possibly subjected to sexual exploitation by the landlords: ‘zamindars and other rich men are very fond of intriguing them’ (nelson, 1868, p. 73). but men are ‘debased, drunken, and improvident’ (cornish, 1873, p. 37) ‘addicted to gluttony and intemperance’; ‘fond of eating the flesh of deceased cattle’ (taylor, 1847); ‘men of filthy habits and their morals are very bad’ (nelson, 1868, p. 73). missionaries were less sympathetic while describing the backwardness of the chakkiliyar men. dubois (1897, p. 62) observes: ‘their orgies take place principally in the evenings, and their villages resound, far into the night, with the yells and quarrels which result from their intoxication.’ about women, he says, ‘the women of the wretched class do not allow their husbands to outshine them in any voice’ (ibid, p. 62). pandian (1898, p. 45) observes, ‘they eat the dead animals which they receive from the villagers as a part of their wages.’ colonial accounts of the caste also observe, perhaps mistakenly, that the men and the women of the chakkiliyar caste, as those of the palli / pulli caste, belonged to two antagonistic premodern caste divisions, viz. the right-hand and the left-hand castes.20 starting from nelson’s manual of madura country, the possible social practices of the chakkiliyar women keeping aloof from their husbands whenever riots between these castes’ divisions erupted has been recounted.21 such practices indicate, as 18nelson, j. h. (1868). madura country: a manual. madras: asylum press. (p. 73).; richards, f. j. (1916) madras district gazetteers, salem. (p. 204). it should not be an exaggeration. such view is quite prevalent among village communities even today. women of chakkiliyars are very much sexually exploited. 19ancient sanskrit erotic texts classify women into several types according to their characters. of these, padmini is one. see rati rahasya of pandit kokkoka (trans. s. c. upadhyaya, 1965). bombay: treasure house of books. (p. 18). 20nelson, j. h. (1868). madura country: a manual. madras: asylum press. (p. 7).; murray aynsley. (1883). our tour in south india, (london: f. v. white and co). (p. 251),; arthur maurice hocart. (1968). caste a comparative study. new york: russell & russell. (p. 66),; john dawson mayne. (1878). a treatise on hindu law and usage. madras: higginbotham & co. (p. 72).; oppert, gustav salomon(1888). on the original inhabitants of bharatavarsa or india, the dravidians. new delhi: asian educational services. (p. 66). for discussion with regard to palli/pulli, see; maclean. (1987). administrative manual, vol. i, (p. 69).; w. r. cornish (1874), report on the census of the madras presidency 1871, vol. 1, (p. 169). 21nelson, j. h. (1868). madura country: a manual. (madras: asylum press). (p. 7).; j. a. murray aynsley (1883). our tour in south india (london: f. v. white and co). (p. 251).; arthur maurice hocart (1968), caste a comparative study. new york: russell & russell. (p. 66).; 54 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 mayne (1878, p. 72) presupposed, there had been cross-marriages between men and women of different tribes. like many others, richards (1916, p. 203) placed them below the paraiyars and says ‘they are accounted the lowest of all in the social scale, even the pariahs despising them.’ like the paraiyars, the chakkiliyars lived in the outskirts of villages, the untouchable habitats (theenda cherri). richards (1916, p. 107) has used the term sakkili-nattam to refer to the habitat of the chakkiliyars. nattams are generally located in the central part of a village – the habitats of upper castes. some such sakkili-nattams might have existed where the chakkiliyars had the opportunity to own and cultivate land. otherwise, their mingling with other castes (upper) in the village was mainly because of occupational and service needs of the dominant communities. in various gazetteers, the chakkiliyars were invariably called demon or devil worshippers. their beloved gods / goddess, such as madurai veeran, ayyanar, ellaiyamma, mariyamma, and muniyan were viewed as demons by the census surveyors. one can plausibly argue that there might have been considerable regional variations in their ritual and religious practices. responding to the general wave of sanskritization, they might have also attempted to attach themselves with the two south indian chapters of hinduism, namely shaivism and vaishnavism. in a district like tanjore, thurston (1909) mentions that they wore namam, a mark of vaishnavite following. in coimbatore district, in the opinion of baliga (1957, p. 215), ‘normally they are saivite but are in reality devil worshippers.’ from leather workers to municipal corporation sweepers by occupation, the chakkiliyars can be grouped as leather workers. there are also evidences that many of the chakkiliyars were landowners and engaged in cultivation. many of them in certain places remained landless farm workers that included cattle keepers. archival records indicate they made leather baskets which were essential for lift irrigation of the time. leather work involved engaging with dead cattle. it perhaps, in course of time, brought the chakkiliyars to do the so-called unhealthy jobs, like burying the dead, conducting death rituals; and gradually, during the later period, as sanitation workers and municipal corporation sweepers. the transition, from perhaps a respectable status of a leather worker to a farm slave (pannaiyal) or to a sanitation worker explains the social trap in which the chakkiliyars were caught. a thirteenth-century temple inscription gives the first solid evidence to the name – chakkiliyar. it clearly mentions the procurement of leather materials from them.22 the chakkiliyars’ primary engagement with leather might have started much before and continued until modern industrial products replaced the indigenous crafts. standard colonial definitions of the chakkiliyar are: ‘the leather workers of the tamil districts’, ‘a low caste working in hides and leather’, ‘a currier, a shoemaker’, ‘their hereditary vocation is the tanning of and working with leather’, ‘the principal leatherworking caste’, ‘native cobblers’, etc. (cox, 1894, p. 239; richards, 1916, p. 203; baines, 1912, p. 79; gleig, 1828, p. 245) john dawson mayne. (1878). a treatise on hindu law and usage. madras: higginbotham & co. (p. 72). 22south indian inscriptions, vol. viii, no. 151 documenting a caste: the chakkiliyars in colonial and missionary 55 the respect for leather work and the demand for leather products determined the social status of the chakkiliyars. in various village festivals and folk rituals, the thol (leather) occupies a significant position, indicating the importance of leather craft and craftsmen. the ritual practice of offering leather shoes to local deities continues even in present times. in 1820, walter hamilton (1820, p. 472) observed: at madura there is famous temple in a place called pahlary, consecrated to god vellayuda, to whom his devotees bring offerings of a singular kind. these consist of large leather shoes of the shape of shoes which the hindus wear on their feet, but much larger and ornamented. the deity of the place being much addicted to hunting, the shoes are intended to preserve his feet when he traverses the jungles. in addition to shoe making, the growing agrarian expansion in frontier regions, especially where farming primarily depended on well irrigation, provided new economic opportunity. the chakkiliyars produced durable, weightless leather bags which were used for lifting water. in coimbatore district manual, nicholson (1887, p. 251) describes about the use and value of leather bags and sandals: leather well-buckets are a source of much profit to the chucklers; each welllift requires a new one every year, and as there are 83,622 lifts in actual use, about 80000 buckets, each requiring one ox hide, are used per year. these are probably the leather cases (bags) of the census. they are circular-mouthed bags, about two feet wide, tampering for about three feet, and fastened to a leather tube some four or five feet long. their cost is about rs. 6. raw buffalo hide ropes are frequently used for those lifts. leather sandals are also made in vast quantities by the chucklers and are sold at 8 to 12 annas, per year. this integration of their craft with the agrarian economy would have earned them considerable social respect. in 1921, there was substantial increase in the population of the caste in travancore (104 per cent increase compared to 1911). ‘the demand for their labour,’ writes s. krishnamurthi ayyer (1922, p. 107), ‘caused by the increase in the number of persons using leather goods might have induced other castes to take up their profession and return themselves as sakkiliyan.’ but it did not last long. these leather workers were gradually integrated into farm work. many, along with their families, were attached to a big landlord who provided food and occasional gifts for their service. men, women, and children were assigned different tasks – sweeping, herding, and farming. their task of cleaning in rural places included managing burials of dead humans and animals, and various services and rituals associated with it. this practice, continued till recently, represented the emergence of agrestic slavery in western tamil nadu. despite all social restrictions, there are clear evidences that in certain pockets, the chakkiliyars themselves cultivated lands or at least remained as tenant cultivators. not only in the western fringes, even in the interior riverine basins of tamil nadu, it is quite possible; one comes across names of places such as chakkili thottam (wetland of the chakkiliyars),23 chakkiliyan kadu (dryland of the chakkiliyars),24 chakkilipalayam 23a place in marurpatty of namakkal district. 24a place in chettipalayam of coimbatore district. 56 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 (village of chakkili),25 chakkiliyan vaikkal (the chakkiliyar canal),26 chakkilichimadai (channel of chakkili women),27 etc. in pudukkottai state, writes ayyer (1933), ‘the highest number of chakkiliyans are in the viralimalai division apparently for the reason that there is a good deal of well irrigation in that division. there had been land transfers from the community to other upper castes.28 even today a few members of the caste own land and still cultivate. but somehow the chakkiliyars were not able to sustain success in cultivation. the acquired landownership neither led to their progress economically nor did it bring them any social respect.’ exploring how the chakkiliyars acquired land makes us look at their role in medieval states. a major source of acquiring landownership during the medieval period was participation in the military. often dynastic changes resulted in the creation of a new class of landowners, who initially helped them in military invasions. the rule of the nayakas and later the carnatic nawabs in tamil nadu during the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries helped the entry of chakkiliyar men into their troops and the consequent benefit of landownership. on april 30, 1800, when buchanan (1865, p. 19) stopped his journey at vellore to give rest to his men, he observed: the greater part of the brahmans in the lower carnatic follow secular professions . . . much of the land is rented by them; but, like the jews, they seldom put their hand to actual labour and on no account will they hold the plough. their farms they chiefly cultivate by slaves of the inferior castes, called sudra and panchum bundum. the panchum bundums are by far the most hardy and laborious people of the country, but the greater part of them are slaves. so sensible of their value was hyder, that in his incursions it was these chiefly, whom he endeavoured to carry away. he settled them in many districts as farmers and would not suffer them to be called by their proper name, which is considered opprobrious; but ordered that they should be called cultivators. the panchum bundum consists of four tribes: the pariar, the baluvan, the shecliar, and the totti. the shecliars dress hides, and from among the totti is chosen a particular class of village officers.29 two other occupations in which the chakkiliyars possibly engaged are the village guard and various services in the temple and the military. evidence suggests, in some places, that the chakkiliyars guarded the villages, cultivated crops, worked in water reservoirs, and looked after cattle. early medieval inscriptions confirm their engagement with the temple, especially to make musical instruments which required leather. these kinds of traditional practices continued till recent times. for example, in the manual of the pudukkottai district, k. r. venkataramayar (1930, p. 336) wrote: ‘in a village where originally four chucklers (leather workers) provided hides for the temple drum at one hide each, four hides continued to be exacted over though there was only one chuckler surviving.’ similarly, if not as soldiers, their service was also essential for producing and repairing leather products used by the troops. the nayakas 25a place mentioned in sources of the history of the nawabs of the carnatic. madras: university of madras 1934. (p. 111). 26a place in thalanayaru, nagapattinam district. 27mentioned in the law weekly, vol. 6, 1917 (p. 582) 28learned from a field work in sathayamangalam of coimbatore district 29for further references see james kerr. (1865). domestic life, character and customs of the natives of india. london: w. h. allen & co. (p. 276). documenting a caste: the chakkiliyars in colonial and missionary 57 and the carnatic nawabs employed craftsmen from this community in considerable numbers (margu, 2001). such military opportunities increased with the establishment of european rule from the eighteenth century. a western military dictionary defines ‘chuckler’ as: ‘an indian term, signifying a cobbler, or worker in leather.’ this class of men is employed in all government establishments in india where leather work is made up (farrow, 1885, p. 354). one of the correspondences of field marshal arthur duke of wellington (1820, p. 276), dated 1804, reads: ‘it, in general, also authorizes you to entertain two chucklers, for keeping the leather boats in repair, and a conicopoly, at ten pagodas per month, for paying the men and keeping the account . . .’ moreover, there are still people in the community who continue to believe in a glorious and ruling class ancestry. we do not have much written evidence to support this view. in genji of vizhupuram district there were a series of forts, collectively known as genji fort. dating back to the eleventh century, these forts, constructed at different points, came under several successive rulers of this region. it included, the cholas, vijayanagar rulers, bijapur sultans, carnatic nawabs, and later, the europeans. one of the hill forts in this group is known as chakkili durg (chakkili durgam / kottai / malai) (varadarakam, 1985, p. 1319). it is believed, ‘a sardar of the shoe-maker caste fortified (the hill) at his own expense’ (srinivasachari, 1943, p. 88). in genji region there is a prevalent popular memory of one ‘chakkili maharaja’ (the great chakkili king) (umamaheswari, 2018, p. 117). there is also a reference to a chakkili zamindar (landlord and chief) in thirunelveli region. in 1895, pandian (1898, p. 23) in his slave of the soil in southern india, records a memory, ‘the writer was once informed by the present zamindar of avidayapuram, in the district of tirunelvelly, that this zamindari was once under a chackla king.’ but all these opportunities benefitted a minuscule portion of the community without hardly any economic and social mobility to the caste as whole. changes in the occupation did not erase the stereotypes attributed to the caste. while the agrarian economy made the chakkiliyars farm labourers and agrestic slaves, the urban-based industrial economy made them sanitation workers. by 1871, a sizable number of chakkiliyars settled in the outskirts of emerging urban areas and engaged in new occupations. the census of madras town of that year says: ‘the chakkili caste will work in degradation and shame, that they will perform the most distasteful of works, and the greater portion of the members of the caste are now scavengers, both public and private.’ the municipal sweepers are generally chakkili (cornish, 1873, p. 37). the 1911 census report of india gives various occupations in which the chakkiliyar were engaged in the madras presidency: ‘leather workers – 222.6 / 1000, owners / tenants – 17.6/1000, field labourers – 468.1 / 1000, labourers – 258.5 / 1000, and others – 33.2 / 1000’ (molony, 1912, p. 245). chakkiliyar leather vs. godown leather with the emergence of modern industries, leather craftsmanship got mechanized. similarly, leather products like water bags, which were essential for well irrigation, lost their value. motor pumpsets replaced the traditional water-lifting technology called kabalai. other industrial products in metal / plastic gradually replaced leather products. some western entrepreneurs set up leather industries that employed the chakkiliyars in production activity, thus making some of them part of the industrial working class. however, the community altogether lost its livelihood considerably. the craftsmanship of the chakkiliyars was considered primitive, causing extensive wastage of leather. even before the advent of modern leather industries, the labbais, 58 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 muslim leather workers, gave a tough competition to them. in certain regions leather work passed into the hands of labbais. ‘leather tanning is chiefly in the hands of the labbais of the arcot and gudiyattam taluks. chucklers in various parts of the districts prepare leather, in a rough way, with chuman and barks, but the best is made by the labbais,’ wrote stuart (1894, p. 171). richards (1916, p. 272) observed: village-tanned hides are the crudest. the work is usually done by chucklers and the leather is known in the market as ‘chucklers’ leather. it is only in salem town that their finished hides are known as ‘godown leather’. it is only in salem town that finished hides are produced. they are known legally as patnan-itta-tol. by the beginning of the twentieth century, the leather-working chakkiliyars gradually lost their livelihood and those who survived in this profession, found their activities reduced to just shoe-repairing rather than manufacturing. there were also changes in their rights to village hides. as the value of leather products was fixed based on the demand in the global market, the traditional practices were gradually abandoned. further, the steady increase in the value of hides compelled some village leather workers to sell the hide directly without tanning. this again disturbed the traditional pattern of leather work. for example, a colonial report states: the increased value of the hides and the ease with which they can be marketed have led the chuckler in many places, to abandon the tanning business and to sell the hides to dealers for cash. it has also led the villagers to dispute the chuckler’s right to the hides, and to employ him instead as an intermediary in the disposal of their hides while he now purchases leather in the open market from the agents or middlemen of the organized tanneries and send it over to a chuckler or make up into whatever he needs . . .’30 the establishment of private leather industries finally minimized the use of the ‘chakkiliyar leather’. on seeing the growing commercial value of hides in the international market, the madras government put in efforts to improve the tanning methods. ‘the first step towards improving matters was taken by the madras government when they sanctioned in 1903 the experiments in chrome tanning, which, eventually led to the establishment of the government chrome tannery at sembiem’ (molony, 1912, p. 211). in 1910, two private chrome tanneries were established and the government factory was sold. a 1915 report on leather manufacturing in madras presidency gives data reflecting the contemporary trends: the total value of leather tanned in the presidency being in normal times about rs. 31/2 crores annually. in 1901 the number of persons engaged in the manufacture of leather was 9268. by 1911 it had increased to 13734. but in the same period the number of persons engaged in the manufacture of leather articles decreased from 50795 to 37028. this fall was partially due to the rise in the value of leather, which led to it being replaced by iron as the material . . . is leading to the gradual extinction of the village chuckler and a corresponding increase in the efficiency of production . . .31 30the journal of the american leather chemist association, vol. 14, 1919. 31a madras state administration report, 1915. madras: state press. (p. 73). also see, indian industrial commission report, 1916–18. calcutta: government printing, 1919. (p. 53). documenting a caste: the chakkiliyars in colonial and missionary 59 education: the missionary efforts compared to other lower castes, the chakkiliyars responded sluggishly to the missionaries’ attempt to educate them and uplift the lower castes. cornish (1873, p. 37) wrote: ‘education has no charm for them, and they never responded to the attempts of the missionaries to gather them in schools.’ similarly, very few converts worked as native agents, school masters, catechists in the missionary-supported institutions. in 1871, in the educational ranking, the chakkiliyar caste comes last to the position of 63. the thottiyars and the paraiyars occupy better ranks of 62 and 45 respectively (ibid, p. 35). the relatively better position of the paraiyars was possibly due ‘to their frequent employment in european domestic service’ (molony, 1912, p. 125). the census report of 1911 gives a rough estimation of literacy among the chakkiliyars. according to the report, among 261,421 chakkiliyar men, 2,449 were educated. similarly, out of 265,030 women, only 194 were literate (ibid, p. 80). cornish (1873, p. 37) compared the thirst for education between a community called the panisevan and the chakkiliyar, thus: it is interesting to contrast the different results of educational effort among the panisevan and chakkili. the former are nearly the highest, the latter all but the lowest in the list, and yet both are poor, the panisevan more so. both are looked down upon, although the chakkili are very far below the panisevan. a caste test: chakkiliyars in church missions often underwent what they called a ‘caste test’ with an objective to suppress the caste distinction among the converts / pupils employed or enrolled in mission institutions. the caste test was typically meant to inspect whether the converted employees or students in mission boarding schools were able to intermingle with each other irrespective of their caste identity and status. more specifically, whether they were able to share the eating area, to sit and eat together, or to accept the food cooked by a lower caste person. this is an issue which is prevalent even today among the castes in hindu / christian society. if a person accepts and drinks a glass of water offered by a person from a lower caste it indicates his / her acceptance of the person vis-à-vis caste. the head of a local mission puts it aptly: ‘if a shanar would eat with a pallar, or both with a pariah or chucklear, i should consider that the person so doing would give sufficient proof of his renunciation of caste, at least as far as eating is concerned.’32 or another ideal parameter of absence of caste distinction should be ‘a vellalan girl and a chuckler, the highest and lowest, walking hand-in-hand as friends in a boarding school’ (ibid, p. 100). heads of missions used to periodically subject the local missions to this caste test. they sent questions in this regard and received varied replies. some of the local heads’ observation read like: ‘it is a most saddening fact to notice the total absence of caste distinctions in our school (as to see a vellalan girl and a chuckler, the highest and lowest walking hand in hand as friends) followed by the entire distinction, in reference 32reports on inquiries made by the bishop of madras, regarding the removal of caste prejudice and practices in the native church of south india. (1868). madras: the christian knowledge society press. (p. 8) 60 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 to marriage, as soon as they get home. it is of course owing to the influence, the conversation, the bringing up, of their parents and relatives’ (ibid, p. 100). ‘it must not be forgotten that low caste people have as much caste as the high castes, if not more. even a chuckler who is looked upon as belonging to the lowest caste will not eat with certain castes. it is easier to persuade a high caste man to give up caste than a low caste man. when the former abandons caste he does it to a greater extent than the latter’ (ibid, p. 114). ‘one of the communicants under me, a man of good caste and one who is well to do in the world and who has many rich heathen relatives about him, has been freely and voluntarily eating with his chuckler brethren who are considered to be the lowest and most dreaded caste here: and this was done not in private but in a place where it might be noticed by hundreds of people’ (ibid, p. 126). ‘in the village of tyalapolu i have a chuckler convert; and every one of my agents has either taken food with him in their own houses, or they have gone to his house in the course of duty, and there they have eaten rice prepared by his wife and drank water from his vessels’ (ibid, p. 144). these observations, no doubt, indicate the efforts of certain missionaries to abolish caste inequalities and to bring lower castes like chakkiliyar, paraiyar, pallar, and shanar into the church and its educational institutions. but when compared to other lower castes, the proportion of the chakkiliyars in church was very negligible. claims of the communities: the paraiyar and the chakkiliyar the antagonism between the paraiyars and the chakkiliyars is well-known and longstanding. various documents from the eighteenth century refer to the confrontational relationship between these castes. having been federated themselves in two opposite factions of castes (the right hand and the left hand), these castes claimed different cultural and social rights. one of the visible distinctions between these factions is, writes richards (1916, p. 125), ‘that at festivals and marriages the right hand castes employ pariah musicians with pipes and horns, while the left-hand castes employ only chackler musicians with drums and tom-toms of various kinds.’ nonetheless, oppert (1888, p. 66) observes, ‘the pariahs and the cakkilis, when not actually engaged in hostilities, acknowledged each other in a friendly manner as brother-in-law.’ in fact, in the early census surveys (of 1871, 1881, and 1891), the chakkiliyars were put in a broader category of pariah. in 1871, cornish (1874, p. 170) wrote, ‘there are numerous sub divisions of the pariahs, but the more common are the paraiah, the pallan, the chuckler and toti.’ in the list of tamil sub-castes given in the census of madras presidency (1881), there are nearly 27 castes with the suffixed title of ‘sakkili’. it is important that these castes are not found in the list of telugu and kanarese sub-castes, though a few appear in the malayalam list.33 there are some more sub-castes with the title mentioned in later reports and other contemporary reports. these include ‘amma chakkili, thotti chakkili, murasu chakkii’ (census of india, 1961), ‘arava chakkili,’ (singh, 2006, p. 125) ‘reddi sakkili, vaduga sakkili’ (cornish, 1874, p. 130). some of these sub-castes are common to both the chakkiliyar and the paraiyar which indicate that certain sections of these castes, if not the whole, 33however, some census reports put them in the telugu castes’ list. documenting a caste: the chakkiliyars in colonial and missionary 61 had a common origin. in one of the articles that appeared in the madras mail and the madras times, the author, whose name is given as ‘native’ puts these communities into a category of ‘conquered people’ and says: ‘both the pariah and chuckler people and a whole lot of other half-wild tribes with whose names we will not trouble the reader, are supposed to be the aborigines of the country, and there is a good deal in much of their peculiar customs as linger with them at the present day that justifies such a supposition. the very fact, for instance, of their being reduced to their present state of degradation is in itself proof that they must have been a conquered people, that several successive waves of foreign invasion must have passed over their heads, they become the deposed and wretched people they are now. (richards, 1916; p. 125) dubois notes the significant contribution of the paraiyars and the chakkiliyars in economic activities. these communities represented at least a quarter of the contemporary population. in addition to various hard and indispensable odd tasks, the agrarian activities of the country mainly depended on their labour. dubois (1897, p. 51) writes, ‘it is painful to think that its members, though so degraded, are yet the most useful of all.’ in the hindu caste hierarchy, as discussed in later sections, the chakkiliyar comes after the paraiyar and there is rarely any caste below the chakkiliyar (karasimha, 1997). it is probably due to the brahmanization wave which began in tamil nadu during the early medieval period and contributed to the consolidation of a caste-based social structure thereafter. the cow is a holy animal and venerated by the upper caste hindus. in the eighteenth-century context, pierre sonnerat, during his voyage to the east indies, observes: ‘the chakkiliyars are in more contempt than the pariars because they use cow leather in making shoes’ (thurston, 1909, p. 6). it is interesting that these communities which were expected to come together since both belonged to an exploited class and were ill-treated by the upper castes, instead fought with each other. the fight between the left and the right might have started among the middle castes which took up new occupation and claimed various social and cultural rights. but this feud in later periods survived among the lower castes such as the paraiyars and the chakkiliyars. as observed by many, the discontent was intense. dubois (1897, p. 27) provides one of the earliest accounts of the continuation of the fight during the eighteenth century, where he observed one such animosity: i once witnessed a dispute of this nature between the pariahs and chucklers or leather workers. there seemed reason to fear such disastrous consequences throughout the whole district in question that many of the more peaceful inhabitants began to desert their villages and to carry away their goods and chatterls to a place of safety, just as is done when the country is threatened by the near approach of a mahratta army. however, matters did not reach this extremity. the principal inhabitants of the district opportunely offered to arbitrate in the matter, and they succeeded by diplomacy and conciliation in smoothening away the difficulties and in appeasing the two factions who were only awaiting the signal to attack each other. one would not easily guess the cause of this formidable commotion. it simply arose from the fact that a chuckler had dared to appear at a public ceremony with red flowers struck in his turban, a privilege which the pariahs alleged belonged exclusively to the right-hand faction. 62 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 such reports about fierce rivalry between these two castes are numerous. richards (1916) observed that the larger feud between these right-hand and left-hand castes primarily emerged from the rivalry between the paraiyars and the chakkiliyars. he wrote: ‘the factious feeling that subsists between the right-hand and left-hand castes is concentrated in the primeval feud between pariahs and chucklers, and the brawls that still occasionally give vent to this feeling are generally precipitated by a collision between these two castes’ (1916, p. 203). these castes will not accept food or water from each other. an observation in a report on the madras native army goes like this: ‘pariahs are not really in the caste scale at all still they will not eat with, or take water from the hands of a chuckler or pallar.’34 one can easily presume that the root cause of the social tension lay more in the shrinking economic opportunities of the communities. it is believed the chakkiliyars later migrated and their settlement in villages curtailed the existing employment opportunities of the paraiyars. emphasizing this, baines (1912, p. 79) writes, ‘it is probably therefore, an offshoot of madiga, moved south, imparting it with its traditional rivalry with the village serf, for there is constant bickering between the sakiliyan and the paraiyan . . .’ yet, viewing this rivalry as a fight between the early inhabitants and migrants is problematic. in social vertical classification, the chakkiliyars often come immediately after the pariahs. cornish (1874, p. 169) included them, along with the paraiyars, into a category which he called ‘slaves of the superior castes’. migration and linguistic identity: the chakkiliyars and the madigas colonial ethnographers’ understanding stems mainly from the caste accounts of early census reports. the reports of madras presidency, which included substantial parts of the kanareseand telugu-speaking regions, evidently confused various leatherworking castes with one another. early reports identified the chakkiliyars with the telugu-speaking madigas, and both together were classified under the broader caste division of the pariahs. district manuals and gazetteers expressed the same trend, while partially clearing the confusion. for example, nicholson (1887, p. 63) while writing about the census report of 1881 makes this observation: ‘in the census report madigas, i.e. chucklers (sakkiliyar) have been included amongst pariahs: this is certainly incorrect, as the two classes are wholly distinct.’ while the pariahs were considered distinct from the chakkiliyars, the madigas were identified as chakkiliyars. there were three perspectives prevalent during this time: 1. the chakkiliyars and the madigas are one and the same; 2. the chakkiliyars are one subdivision of the madigas; and 3. tamiland telugu-speaking leather workers are chakkiliyars and madigas respectively. in some reports, the madigas were called telugu chakkiliyars, and similarly the chakkiliyars as tamil madigas. it is only in the later reports that a broader understanding of classifying the madiga leather workers in the telugu/ kannadaspeaking regions, and the chakkiliyars as leather workers of tamil-speaking regions was developed. for example, nicholson (1887, p. 63) corrects his own mistake by stating, ‘the madigas or leather-workers of the telugu kanarese country, according to the census reports are confined to hosur taluk, but as already stated, it is not unlikely that many of them have been included among the chucklers.’ to clear the confusion, 34the madras native army, the calcutta review, vol. xxxiii, july–december, 1859 (p. 142). documenting a caste: the chakkiliyars in colonial and missionary 63 salem district gazetteers gave a list of lower castes in panchama category. it included six castes: 1. the tamil pariahs or more correctly, the paraiyars; 2. the telugu malas; 3. the kanarese holeyas; 4. the valluvans or pariah priests; 5. the chucklers or more correctly the sakkiliyans; and 6. the madigas, both telugu and kanarese (richards, 1916, p. 201). tamil stone inscriptions, from the thirteenth century onwards, give reference to this caste.35 at present, the linguistic identity of the chakkiliyar is crucial to their claim of indigenous tamil origin. while other powerful lower castes, such as the paraiyar and the pallar, speak only tamil and could easily trace their origin to inscriptions and early tamil literatures, it remains difficult for the chakkiliyars. genetic studies indicate their morphological closeness with the paraiyars and the middle castes, like kallars (vijaya, kanthimathi & ramesh, 2008). similarly, the popular cult practice of the madigas, the worship of the matangi, is not followed by the chakkiliyars (thurston, 1909). they do not have the practice of offering their daughters. therefore, except sharing the same occupation, the chakkiliyars seem to have no significant connection with their counterparts, the madigas. yet, some members of the chakkiliyar caste speak telugu also and gazetteers have mentioned it (richards, 1916, p. 201). the members of the community today reflect a circular migration. since most of the chakkiliyars live in the border regions, many used to migrate to other regions for work and after considerable duration of stay they would return to their place of origin. this is cited as the reason why some chakkiliyars speak telugu or kanarese. yet, in all probability, the chakkiliyars today, as is the case with most other castes, are a mixed group, which include migrants and the ‘indigenous’ group or the early migrants who engaged in the trade of leather work since the period of classical tamil literatures.36 documenting the caste and social repercussions the colonial and missionary ethnographic accounts show their excitement to gain knowledge about the lower castes and document the complex relationship that existed within them. though it needs to be scrutinized for their biases and ignorance, they together provide a rich documental evidence to write the social history of lower castes during the early modern period. with regard to the chakkiliyars, these documents help in addressing certain contemporary political questions, such as their identity and social status and position within the lower castes. but at the same time, these accounts of the caste point out some serious economic and social repercussions. these descriptions often not only recapitulated the stereotypical notions of the hindus about the chakkiliyars, but also strengthened it by officially classifying them as ‘men working with leather’, which directly denoted their engagement with dead cow and eating its flesh. colonial and missionary representations of the caste rarely captured the world views or outlook of its people; it merely provided an outsider observation. in doing so, it freely borrowed the language of the upper castes. for example, use of sayings such as, ‘even a chakkili girl and the ears of the millet are beautiful when mature’ (thurston, 1909, p. 3) or ‘it is said that a pariah may not bathe in his own well, and 35south indian inscriptions, vol. viii, no. 151. 36today the broader category of chakkiliyar or aruthathiyar includes subdivisions such as adi andhra and the adi kannada. 64 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 that if he did, the chuklers would not make or mend his leather buckets’ (nicholson, 1887, p. 63)37 indicate how colonial documents readily implied and propagated the attitude of the upper caste hindus. though the colonial administration was in no manner responsible for the deplorable conditions of the chakkiliyars in hindu society, yet it accepted the existing caste hierarchy as it was. further, the appointment of the chakkiliyars as municipal sweepers worsened their social status and reduced them to a modern category of sanitation workers. the growth of machine-based leather production further diminished their employment opportunities. if the chakkiliyars trace the history of their ancestry in the colonial and missionary records, they will find that they have a very minute historical significance. conclusion: the social traps economists use the phrase ‘poverty traps’ to explain how certain families that once fell into poverty, were rarely, even after generations, able to come out of it (bannerjee & duflo, 2011). to a lower caste in the hindu society, it is basically the ‘social trap’ that curtailed their social and economic mobility. the social biases and consequent social and cultural constructions about a caste gradually tightened the grip of this trap. in the case of the chakkiliyars, such a social trap was stronger than that of other lower castes of south india despite having various opportunities for economic mobility – for example, to utilize the global demand for leather, participate and assist the rulers in military conquests, to own and cultivate land. the social construction of characterizing the chakkiliyar as one who eats flesh of dead cattle, the holy animal of the hindus, and associated stereotypes seriously narrowed their path to mobility. the colonial surveys and ethnographic characterization of the caste rarely reflected the reason for their degraded social condition; they rather stated or echoed the hindu upper castes’ notion of the caste. in fact, employing them in low-profile jobs as sanitation workers or municipal sweepers further strengthened the social trap. until a sub-reservation policy was enacted by the tamil nadu government recently, only a few people and families from this caste – most of who were beneficiaries of conversion and missionary education – could break that social trap. acknowledgements i am grateful to karventha magaaraj, dr. r. srinivasa raghavan, dr. c. jayaveeradevan and dr. s. karmegam for helping me to clarify certain issues that appear in this essay. i also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. however, i am solely responsible for all errors. references arunan. 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(1820). supplementary despatches, correspondence and memoranda of field marshal arthur duke of wellington, 1794–1812, vol. 3. london: john murray. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 155–174 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.117 © 2020 mark e. balmforth. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited in nāki’s wake: slavery and caste supremacy in the american ceylon mission mark e. balmforth1 (bluestone rising scholar honorable mention 2019) abstract in 1832, a woman named caṅkari nāki died in ceylon, and her descendants have been haunted by a curse ever since. one of the first converts of the american ceylon mission, nāki was part of an enslaved caste community unique to the island, and one of the few oppressed-caste members of the mission. the circumstances of her death are unclear; the missionary archive is silent on an event that one can presume would have affected the small christian community, while the family narrative passed through generations is that nāki was murdered by members of the locally dominant vellalar caste after marrying one of their own. in response to this archival erasure, this essay draws on historical methods developed by saidiya hartman and gaiutra bahadur to be accountable to enslaved and indentured lives and, in hartman’s words, to ‘make visible the production of disposable lives.’ these methods actively question what we can know from the archives of an oppressor and, for this essay, enable a reading of nāki’s life at the centre of a mission struggling over how to approach caste. nāki’s story, i argue, helps reveal an underexplored aspect of the interrelationship between caste and slavery in south asia, and underlines the value of considering south asian slave narratives as source material into historiographicallyand archivally-obscured aspects of dominant caste identity. introduction for nearly two centuries, a curse has haunted a family anchored to sri lanka’s jaffna peninsula and flung out across the globe as part of the tamil diaspora. ‘this is one of the reasons my grandmother in staten island thinks my brother died as a baby,’ ponni mann wrote to me by email (p. mann, personal communication, 1department of religion, columbia university, 80 claremont avenue, new york, usa e-mail: meb2212@columbia.edu 156 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 may 10, 2013).1 the family’s sorrowful and hushed story-telling is the sole memorial to the 1832 death of one of the family’s first two converts to christianity, an event that, according to the family, initiated a curse that claims the life of an infant boy in each generation. ponni’s family believes the death was murder. ‘the story,’ ponni continued, ‘is that [nāki] was beaten to death by other upper caste people in the community for aspiring to marry into a higher caste. for this there is a curse on the family.’ ponni’s fourth-great grandmother, caṅkari nāki, was from an oppressed slave caste in ceylon, and the reason the union caused social upheaval was that her husband was not. the family narrative states that members of nāki’s husband’s dominant caste, the veḷḷāḷar, were directly responsible for her death, a charge that archival evidence can neither dispute nor affirm. what we can say for certain, however, is that the death and the marriage are linked by an origin story entangled with sri lanka’s relatively unknown history of caste and slavery, all found deep in the archive of an institution named the american ceylon mission (acm).2 direct details surrounding nāki’s life are few, and those we have were left by the white, male missionaries who—along with their missionary wives—crafted the environment in which nāki lived for the majority of her life. as far as can be determined, none of her writings or other examples of her school labours, such as needlework, were preserved. the vast challenge that this archival silence represents— ethically, methodologically, and historiographically—is something saidiya hartman, marisa fuentes, jennifer l. morgan, and a group of interlocuters have spent a great deal of time considering. this group, along with several others, has led a re-imagining of how histories of slavery in the atlantic world can be made accountable to enslaved lives by challenging dominant historical methodologies. the group has argued in various ways for writing a history of the present, a project described by hartman as seeking ‘to illuminate the intimacy of our experience with the lives of the dead, to write our now as it is interrupted by this past, and to imagine a free state … the anticipated future of this writing’ (hartman 2008, 13). that is to say, the group suggests both that histories of slavery in the atlantic world cannot be disconnected from an ongoing american necropolitics, awash in racial violence and mass incarceration, and that they can assist in the imagining of alternative, free futures. guided by a comparable project of imagining a caste-free state while remaining grounded in the intertwined historical genealogies of slavery, caste, and contemporary oppressions in south asia, this article considers the life of nāki, an enslaved and oppressed-caste, ceylonese tamil woman at the beginning of the nineteenth century. her story, i argue, helps reveal an underexplored aspect of the relationship between caste and slavery in south asia, and illustrates how new readings of south asian slavery can transform the way we interpret nineteenth-century social life in the region. while this article directly reflects and draws from the scholarly debates surrounding representation, archival limitations, and the value of poetics in the historical depiction of enslaved life noted above, my primary goal here is not to directly contribute to this theorization (e.g., hartman, 2008, 2019; fuentes, 2016; morgan, 2016; and smallwood, 2016). rather, i am principally seeking to mobilise some of the techniques which hartman and others are developing in order to continue thinking through the value of narratives surrounding enslavement for south asian history. in so doing, i pick up a project that anjali arondekar (2016) has recently advanced that also runs through the work of indrani chatterjee and richard eaton (2006), and can be traced back to dharma kumar’s land and caste in south india (1965), all of which consider the complexity of defining slavery in the context of south asian history. in nāki’s wake: slavery and caste supremacy in the american... 157 this complexity is especially important considering the dominant association of the word ‘slavery’ with the caribbean plantation world and the antebellum american south, and the potential challenges associated with applying the word in other contexts. arondekar, for instance, points to a problematic tendency to read slavery as a ‘structural affiliation’ beyond oceanic worlds that can collapse the vast heterogeneity of slavery in south asian pasts (2016, 148). ‘it is equally urgent’ arondekar cautions, ‘that we not recuperate yet another stable history of slavery through its lost “asiatic” form.’ my reading of nāki’s life accords with arondekar’s point; enslavement varied considerably between slave communities in jaffna (let alone across the indian ocean), and so we must be cautious about reading enslavement in south asia as a kind of transnational or transoceanic affiliation. by focusing on nāki’s life, this article seeks to underline an understudied link between slavery and caste in sri lanka’s jaffna peninsula, particularly as it relates to the american ceylon mission, an institution of distinct significance for modern social life in the region. despite having attracted previous scholarly interest, the acm’s connection to slavery and its impact on caste in jaffna have never been cohesively discussed. richard fox young and subramaniam jebanesan note the mission’s overwhelming veḷḷāḷar (dominant caste) character, but the two fail to show that the mission’s veḷḷāḷar affiliation was a deliberate choice, and thereby miss an opportunity to examine how american missionaries facilitated late nineteenthand twentiethcentury veḷḷāḷar dominance over the peninsula’s economic, social, and political life (1995, pp. 103–104). apart from setting the mission’s caste policy for more than a hundred years, it was this decision that directly contributed to the entrenchment of jaffna’s veḷḷāḷars in the peninsula’s thriving english-language education sector and the upward social mobility and economic stability it enabled. by exploring the links between the acm, slavery, and caste, this essay underlines how the affiliation between the mission and veḷḷāḷars was forged, with nāki at the centre of the story. in the next section, i briefly explain and provide an example of the method i use in this article to write about nāki’s life, in order to demonstrate its historical and critical value. following a description of nāki’s life-world (as much as can be confidently described), the article then turns to the vigorous caste debate within the american ceylon mission and its conclusion in the 1830s, which later enabled the missionaries to proclaim ‘the vellalas are emphatically our people’ (meigs, poor, howland, 1853, p. 41). in considering nāki’s story alongside the story of a caste preference in the mission, this article demonstrates the value of considering south asian slave and oppressed-caste narratives as source material into historiographicallyand archivallyobscured aspects of dominant caste identity. methods in response to archival silences similar to those that conceal nāki, saidiya hartman (2008) and gaiutra bahadur (2014) have developed methods to actively question what we can know about precarious, enslaved, and endangered lives from the archives of the oppressor. their methods open space for questions, for possibilities, for the unknown to become the imagined. ‘critical fabulation,’ a strategy hartman first developed in her groundbreaking essay ‘venus in two acts,’ refers to the re-arrangement of events from multiple fragmentary narratives to ‘displace the received or authorized account’ of an event and thus reveal the fiction that history written from archival sources can 158 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 provide transparent access to past lives (2008, p. 36). critical fabulation relies upon the subjunctive mood (e.g., ‘she might have thought/done/seen/said’) to consider possibilities surrounding the subject, while also emphasizing ‘narrative restraint,’ foreclosing on the perhaps attractive tendency to neatly resolve narratives by filling in gaps where there is no archival evidence. in response to related challenges in writing about south asian indentured servitude in the caribbean, bahadur has strategically deployed expansive lists of questions that help us think through what we would ask the archival materials were they to exist or to document the oppressed subject’s life in the same way they document white life. following in the footsteps of these two scholars, this article combines critical fabulation with bahadur’s interrogative approach in an attempt, in hartman’s words, ‘to make visible the production of disposable lives’ (2008, 36). to begin with an example of this method in action: what was the name of our eponymous protagonist? i have referred to her so far as caṅkari nāki, her tamil name, which—like that of other members of the kōviyar slave caste—records both her given name, nāki, as well as her mother’s given name, caṅkari. but perhaps it would be more appropriate to call her by the scholarship name she was given soon after becoming one of the first boarding students of the american ceylon mission in 1818: ‘elizabeth worcester.’3 without more information, we can only guess her attachment to her two names, let alone the two identity worlds they conveyed. was her tamil name the only one she ever identified with? did she go by both names depending on context, as did so many of jaffna’s protestants following her? or might the missionary home where she lived, filled with lessons in a foreign gendered domesticity, have built for nāki a sense of pride in her english name, stripped as it was of its caste connotation and reminiscent of the elite foreign names that had been common in the peninsula for two centuries? while some formulation of nāki/elizabeth—with its embedded recognition of a variegated, historically-located identity—would be most apt, i have used ‘nāki’ here as shorthand for this complexity, erring on the side of the name that connected her with her birth mother. despite this decision, her name should still be thought of as composite and multifaceted, as she too undoubtedly was. nāki’s lifeworld though we do not know the day of her birth, nāki was likely born in 1811 in a small mud and palm-leaf dwelling near what is now the town of tellippaḻai, a village in jaffna’s northwest. tellippaḻai was, and continues to be, an agricultural community encircled by fields cyclically rotated between fruits and vegetables such as papaya and banana, onion, chili peppers, brinjal, okra, and cassava. tobacco was also extensively cultivated in the area, especially where veins of deep red, iron-rich soil are found. in general, jaffna’s wealth at the turn of the nineteenth century was in its market gardens, and particularly in its tobacco fields, the vast majority of which were owned by the dominant veḷḷāḷar caste (arasaratnam, 1986, pp. 32–34). nāki was born into one of jaffna’s three enslaved caste communities—later referred to as the aṭimakaḷ, or slave people—on whom jaffna’s economy depended: the kōviyar (balmforth 2016; wickramasinghe and schrikker 2019). unlike the naḷavar and the paḷḷar—the other enslaved castes, whose labour was agricultural—the kōviyar were a domestic labouring community. today, the community’s origins are both unclear and contested, though consensus agrees that the kōviyars are unique to jaffna, in contrast to the in nāki’s wake: slavery and caste supremacy in the american... 159 naḷavar and the paḷḷar, who are also found in other parts of sri lanka and south india.4 veḷḷāḷar voices have had overwhelming control over depictions of jaffna’s past since at least the eighteenth century, and so for this reason and others, very little is known about so-called aṭimakaḷ lives.5 few writers, in tamil or english, have incorporated representations originating from the community itself.6 in the next paragraphs, i filter through the available resources to provide a partial view of nāki’s lifeworld prior to joining the american ceylon mission in 1818. in 1811, the vast majority of jaffna’s enslaved population was corporately owned; that is, enslaved individuals owed their labour to multiple (primarily) veḷḷāḷar families or individuals, as needed.7 as nāki was born into the kōviyar caste, there is a good chance her mother worked in the homes of one or more veḷḷāḷar families, cooking and cleaning, pounding rice, carrying water and fuel wood, and providing child care.8 one of the most striking distinctions between kōviyars and the other enslaved communities has to do with ritual pollution. unlike the naḷavar and paḷḷar who were (and to some degree, still are) defined as ritually unclean, untouchable, and inadmissible to veḷḷāḷar social spaces, kōviyars were understood to share ritual parity with veḷḷāḷars, and were therefore allowed into their homes (banks, 1960, p. 67; perinbanayagam, 1988, p. 27). even into the latter part of the nineteenth century—well after the formal abolition of slavery on the island in 1844—kōviyar families continued to live on land provided to them by the veḷḷāḷar families to whom they owed labour, a relationship that undergirded veḷḷāḷar authority.9 we know nāki’s mother, caṅkari, was alive at the time of nāki’s 1818 acceptance into the family and homeschool of susan and daniel poor, two of the first american missionaries to settle in jaffna. what could the prospect of these two white foreigners taking her daughter into their home have meant?10 was this an incomparable opportunity that outweighed the dangers? when caṅkari communicated with the poors about the arrangement, their intention to teach nāki to read and write was most likely at the centre of their argument for boarding her. female literacy in jaffna in 1818 was largely restricted to the european and burgher communities, and the few literate tamil women on the peninsula would have been the small number of devadāsīs connected to the larger śaiva and vaiṣṇava temples.11 elsewhere, i have pointed out that the american missionaries struggled against significant resistance to female literacy in this period, and had to resort to activities and favours recognised as valuable to the girls, such as teaching them to sew and giving gifts of gold necklaces, to compel the mission’s first female students into the study of the written word (2018, pp. 72–73). would literacy have seemed like something of value to caṅkari? in general, social and ritual restrictions according to caste and gender, as well as economic prohibitions, controlled who could access education in the region. in jaffna, this meant that dominant caste boys were almost exclusively eligible for admission to and able to pay for access to the predominant tamil educational space of the period, the tiṇṇai paḷḷikkūṭam, or veranda school.12 caṅkari would likely have known that these were the spaces where young veḷḷāḷar boys were taught to memorise texts. but would she have associated nāki’s access to literacy with the sacred and temporal authority that marked literacy on the veranda school? just as we cannot know what caṅkari thought of the mission’s literacy goals, we also cannot adequately judge her interpretation of the economics of allowing nāki to live with the poors. at a time when food insecurity posed a regular danger to jaffna’s enslaved communities, and cholera and small pox regularly swept through the villages of the peninsula, allowing her child 160 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 to be raised by two foreigners of considerable wealth might have been considered a great boon, a rare opportunity, a risk, or all three. that same year, 1818, daniel poor purchased and emancipated two kōviyar boys: ten-year-old vīrakatti and his nineyear-old brother katirkāman (poor 1821, p. 183).13 could caṅkari have known about vīrakatti and katirkāman, and hoped nāki might also be emancipated? we cannot know for certain, but it is possible caṅkari thought the poors represented the best chance nāki had for a different future. on april 13, 1822, four years after nāki entered the homeschool, daniel poor recorded caṅkari’s death from cholera (1823, p. 210). poor’s entry also mentions that caṅkari had for several years been attending church on sundays and that she had expressed concern for her soul the night before her passing, when two of the tellippaḻai tamil mission staff, nathaniel niles and onesimus, visited caṅkari at her home near the mission. this type of narrative was common for a mission struggling to demonstrate the results of its labour to its funders back in the united states, so we cannot judge whether poor’s comment provides an insight into caṅkari’s opinion of the church and its teachings, or if attending church on sundays was a rare opportunity to see nāki. we do not know who informed ten-year-old nāki of her mother’s death, although it is possible it was the mission assistant onesimus, or vēlan, as he was known in tamil. he was nāki’s cousin. though only little is known of caṅkari, even less is known about nāki’s father. the legal structure that defined how slavery operated in jaffna—tēsavalamai (country, or customary code)—detailed how marriage between the enslaved was to occur and designated the ownership of children born of such unions. for instance, according to tēsavalamai, enslaved persons needed the permission of their owners to marry (mutukisna, 1862, p. 736). however, we cannot assume caṅkari was ever married. one of the more complicated and disturbing aspects of kōviyar-veḷḷāḷar relations, with parallels to what saidiya hartman has described as ‘the convergence of terror and pleasure in the libidinal economy of slavery,’ was the frequency with which veḷḷāḷar rights to kōviyar labour included rights to bodies and sex (hartman, 2008, p. 1; perinbanayagam, 1988, p. 27). it is impossible to know what kind of control or choice caṅkari had in her relationship to nāki’s biological father, or what his background was. the tēsavalamai also stipulates that if a veḷḷāḷar man has a child with his slave, the caste of the child always follows the mother’s, and while the man may emancipate the child, such children are allowed to inherit no more than ten percent of their father’s estate (mutukisna, 1862, p. 736). the inheritance of caste and patrimony likely explains why the three communities of enslaved castes during the period all follow naming practices like nāki’s: her full name, caṅkari nāki, denoted her mother’s given name followed by her own (female gendered) given name.14 at the age of about seven, nāki was taken into susan and daniel poor’s home as one of the mission’s first female students (poor, 1823, p. 210). the home environment was a far cry from the one-room shelter with half-walls of mud and a low-hanging palmyra leaf roof where she would have lived with her mother. while we do not have a description of the poor’s house in tellippaḻai where nāki lived, we know quite a bit about the house in which american missionaries harriet and miron winslow lived in the early 1820s, in nearby uṭuvil. the winslow house was a four-room, white-washed stone building roofed in palmyra leaves (later exchanged for tiles), with an extended veranda. the largest room had an unadorned but sturdy jackwood table surrounded by rattan-seated chairs for twelve, a small work table with tamil and english bibles in nāki’s wake: slavery and caste supremacy in the american... 161 on it, two globes on stands for the students, and two book cases for their small library with cupboards below for medicine and school records. the house also contained two bedrooms, and was largely unadorned and designed for practicality: ‘i do not know that we have an article of furniture not useful or needed,’ harriet explained, ‘or which is not as plain as could well be’ (winslow and winslow, 1835, p. 304). the winslows’ austere approach to furnishing their home was a pattern followed by the american missionary families of the period, an aesthetic remnant of puritanism cultivated in the new england congregationalist and presbyterian communities from which the poors and winslows came. while the houses were not luxurious by their standards, they provided significantly more comfort and protection than the living arrangements of most of jaffna’s residents, especially its enslaved communities. the early mission homeschools used several cross-pollinating educational models in concert.15 until deep into the nineteenth century, everything from the structure and schedule of study to the subjects taught was under constant experimentation and alteration. the one consistent thread was the presumed relationship between conversion and proximity to missionary ways of being. the principal goal of the mission homeschool was thus to remove children from what were seen as the corrupting influences of society in general, and the children’s parents and family in particular. the most advanced educational techniques thus required boarding, such that the school children were completely immersed in a western, christian environment. in these early years, the subjects studied by mission students were limited to the english and tamil alphabets, and christian teachings through bible recitation; girls were introduced early on to a gendered domesticity based on an american christian ideal that included cooking and an introduction to sewing (de alwis, 1997; balmforth, 2018). in 1821, arithmetic was added to the homeschool curriculum. each day ran on a tight schedule, the basic structure which miron winslow described as: 5:00 am wake up at the first bell 6:00 am attend prayers 7:00 am breakfast 7:30 am to 11:30 am study english in the verandah 1:00 pm dinner 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm tamil study, dismissed with prayers 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm play or work 7:00 pm supper 8:00 pm all assemble in the verandah for prayers the older boys study in the evening but the younger go to bed after prayers (winslow, 1824, p. 206). how did nāki navigate the restrictions that were key to the homeschool system? we know caṅkari, nāki’s mother, lived near the mission until she died when nāki was about ten, but did they see each other more than on sundays at church? in what ways were the two kept at a distance? how well did nāki adapt to life with the poors? and as she got older, did her learning, literacy, and new sense of christian decorum increase the distance between her and the rest of her family? if so, how did she navigate that dislocation? as her descendant ponni tells the story, when the american ceylon mission learned of an extra-conjugal relationship between nāki and a veḷḷāḷar man named 162 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 cyrus mann (tamil name: irāmanātaṉ), the mission compelled them to marry. as we will see below, archival evidence suggests nāki had more agency in the choice than the family narrative implies, but the archival record otherwise accords with the family story that the two were married. nāki was at the time the oldest student of marriageable age in the acm’s oodooville (uṭuvil) girls’ boarding school, and cyrus had recently graduated from batticotta seminary, the acm’s premier institution of higher education, and gained a prestigious position as a mission assistant.16 nāki and cyrus’ marriage lasted three years and five months before its end at nāki’s death. the date of death, listed in only one location by the mission, was recorded as february 4, 1832 (american ceylon mission, 1839, p. 4). in the otherwise meticulous journals kept at each of the acm’s mission stations, no entries are recorded for the days immediately leading to and following nāki’s death. there is no evidence her death was ever investigated by the british colonial state, and no court case resulted from the incident. before nāki died, ponni explained to me by email, she delivered a baby boy, but soon after losing his mother, ‘the child was neglected and became very sick, getting bad sores all over his body. then cyrus married a second time, this time [to] an upper caste lady’ (p. mann, personal communication, may 10, 2013). according to the mission archive, cyrus did indeed marry a veḷḷāḷar student named ann bates (tamil name: pūtar cītēvaṉ) on july 13, 1835 (american ceylon mission, 1839, p. 10). ‘apparently, the very next day after getting married,’ ponni continued, ‘some well-meaning busybodies from the town came and told her that cyrus had a child from his first marriage. but she seems like a nice lady, because she went and found the child and adopted him.’ the baby was named daniel poor mann, and went on to become one of the first tamil allopathic medical graduates, studying under samuel fisk green between 1856 and 1859 (green, 1891, p. 454). everything that we know about cyrus’ marriage to ann bates points to the social acceptance of the marriage, a fact that only underlines the rupture caused by his marriage to nāki and the birth of their child. in order to understand the full context of nāki’s marriage to cyrus and the implications of her death, i now turn to the american ceylon mission’s unsteady relationship to caste. caste in the american ceylon mission, 1816–1853 in the previous section, i introduced the social and educational spaces that nāki inhabited and the lifeworld in which she was raised, and eventually died. i also relayed the mann family narrative that nāki’s life ended in fatal violence because her marriage crossed caste boundaries. this section provides background on how and why this highly unusual inter-caste marriage occurred, which i argue is directly tied to the american ceylon mission’s shifting policies on caste in its schools and churches in the years following 1816.17 as we will see, leaders in the mission moved from an initial tendency toward flexibility and the conciliation of caste to an openly hostile position in which nāki became implicated, before eventually settling on an accommodation of caste that solely benefited veḷḷāḷars. in order to understand how this came about, i begin where the american missionaries began, in a seminary in andover, massachusetts. in nāki’s wake: slavery and caste supremacy in the american... 163 the missionaries that contributed to the acm’s approach to caste arrived in ceylon with knowledge gleaned from the extensive missionary networks present in south asia from the fifteenth century. among the company, miron winslow’s grasp of caste was probably the most sophisticated upon arrival. for his graduate studies at andover theological seminary, winslow had written a four hundred page dissertation on the history of christian missions in which he cited a range of materials, including popular american histories of mission and christianity in asia that discuss roberto nobili’s and bartholomäus ziegenbalg’s varied methodological approaches to caste and their relative levels of success.18 based on more than a century of accumulated missionary knowledge, winslow likely understood that the american ceylon mission’s success hinged on the way it addressed caste. in the years between the mission’s establishment in 1816 and the 1823 founding of batticotta seminary, there was no settled approach to who the mission should train. early on, the ideal students the mission homeschools intended to attract were from economically-precarious families or oppressed castes. in his journal of september 1818, benjamin c. meigs wrote that ‘it has always been principally to the poor that the gospel is preached. so it is among this people. it is from this class that we must look for boys to be supported and educated in our families’ (1819, p. 228). in october of the same year, the mission was still under the impression that it was possible to successfully run schools composed entirely of the poor, that is, at least partially made up of oppressed caste students (1819, p. 230). however, during the same period, the mission also systematically allowed the operation of caste privileges demanded by the few veḷḷāḷar members of its churches and schools, to ensure they remained. examples of this are found in the missionary journals and reports of the period, such as daniel poor’s willingness to allow some of the first students that lived with his family to abide by the dietary habits of their tamil śaiva relatives (poor, 1820, p. 279). by 1823, a shift occurred in the views of mission leaders, and caste accommodation was no longer approached with the same flexibility. while no clear single event appears to have provoked this turn, it should not come as a surprise as the zeitgeist of european mission itself was in transition, with a new generation of british and german missionaries zealously testing new methods in nearby india. d. dennis hudson (2000) has tracked a similar transition in the english-halle mission at tranquebar in the first decades of the nineteenth century, where a new guard of missionaries threw out the accumulated approaches to ceremony, music, decoration, and caste developed over a hundred years by their german predecessors. in particular, we know that c.t.e. rhenius, one of these ‘new’ missionaries who exhibited a more rigid approach to caste in his south indian congregation, was in correspondence with the american missionaries in jaffna regarding his approaches to eradicating caste in his own mission. from the early 1820s, the american ceylon mission leadership also began to note a flexibility in the operation of caste—which they had previously believed to be rigid—and as a result tested their own ways to ‘break’ caste among their students. for instance, shortly after the commencement of classes at batticotta seminary, the students collectively refused to eat on the mission premises due to its ritual impurity, and asked that a separate cook house be built on land next to the seminary owned by a 164 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 śaiva veḷḷāḷar (american ceylon mission, 1834, pp. 292–293). immediately following the event, the following response was recorded in the mission’s meeting minutes: _______batticotta july 22, 1823_______ after the opening of the central school, the brethren adjourned for business and the first subject discussed was the importance of using all proper means for the suppression of caste. after a long discussion (during most which br. knight was also present) it was voted. that no boy refusing to eat on the premises on the ground of caste shall be allowed to remain in any of the boarding schools or in the school at batticotta, also, voted. that no distinction of caste be allowed in the school at batticotta (minutes 1815–1844, p. 48, underline in original). despite the rigid tone of the entry, reports indicate that the mission acquiesced to the students’ demand, and for more than a year they were allowed to cook and eat their meals in the new location. by 1825 however, the cook house had been removed, and though several of the boys left the school in protest, most remained. the mission’s leaders later explained that they interpreted such responses to caste challenges as malleability. from the leadership’s perspective, this quality differentiated caste in jaffna from its operation in india, a difference attributed to centuries of foreign colonial intervention in jaffna’s social life (meigs et al., 1853). it appears that such experiences initially provoked a sense of optimism among the missionaries that the end of caste in the mission was in fact possible. by 1824, this strict approach was enforced by a stark new mission policy which stated that ‘we know no distinction of caste at the lord’s table’ (minutes 1815–1844, p. 52). in addition to the restriction of consumption practices and other types of castebased privileges (such as preferential seating), several entries in the acm’s minute book for the period point to another experimental method of breaking caste, which brings nāki back to the centre of our story: _______february 1, 1826_______ brother woodward was requested to redeem elizabeth worcester (நாகி) from slavery and also to endeavour to have her married to sautio (minutes 1815–1844, p. 74). henry woodward was, at the time, stationed at nāki’s home village of tellippaḻai. though her mother had died four years earlier, the mission was likely aware of nāki’s owner, who would need to permit her emancipation.19 for reasons that are not listed in the mission minutes or woodward’s journal, nāki did not marry sautio, though evidence suggests that she directly refused the match.20 two years would pass before, in august of 1828, nāki accepted an offer to marry cyrus mann, a veḷḷāḷar. as mentioned above, by the time of the wedding cyrus had successfully completed his studies at batticotta seminary, had been hired by the mission as an assistant, and was well on his way to a stable and prosperous future. what then might this marriage have to do with the mission’s attempts to break caste? between 1822 and february 4, 1832, the day of nāki’s death, there were a total of thirteen marriages in the mission. of these, at least eight were inter-caste marriages.21 in nāki’s wake: slavery and caste supremacy in the american... 165 the actual number may be higher, but complete caste data for every mission member is unavailable, as the mission stopped maintaining caste records related to school and church membership from approximately 1825.22 the mission’s first inter-caste wedding, between daniel smead (tamil name: vīrakatti, a veḷḷāḷar) and miranda safford (tamil name: cēllāttai, a caṇṭāḷar), was recorded as a great success: ‘this marriage has, for several reasons, produced considerable excitement among the people. the parties are of different casts [sic]. … according to the custom of the people an individual of one of these casts [sic] cannot marry nor even eat with an individual of the other. but at this time, prejudice and custom lost their influence and all united in partaking of a feast prepared for the occasion on our premises’ (american ceylon mission, 1823, p. 7, emphasis in original). on october 13, 1830, elias cornelius (tamil name: vīrakatti)—a kōviyar and one of the two boys daniel poor purchased and emancipated in 1818—was married to elizabeth appleton, a dominant caste maṭaippaḷḷi (winslow, 1831, p. 269). following nāki’s death, however, the mission’s direct attempts to break caste, through marriage or any other means, appear to have stopped. not a single inter-caste marriage was pursued by the mission after her death. what could nāki’s death have meant for the small christian community of only about 250 people? given the frequency of epidemics such as cholera and small pox, deaths in the acm were not irregular occurrences.23 instances of mistreatment or harassment against church members were also not rare, but generally took the form of verbal abuse or thrown rocks and had never led to a death. we know that stories of such attacks against members of the mission churches became important content for the mission’s writings. a significant aspect of the mission’s effort to ensure its economic stability was to maintain a rapt audience back in america that was aware of the state of the mission and invested in its continuation, literally and figuratively. persecution was a trope the missionaries could and did rely upon and monetize by appealing for funds to, for instance, repair buildings devastated by arson. nāki’s death should have precipitated a deluge of written documentation, especially if her death was caused by non-christians. martyrdom could very well have become a remembered narrative: the collected letters of harriet newell, the young american missionary who died on route to south asia in 1812, were turned into a best-selling memoir that inspired generations of young american christian women. yet, for nāki, there was no public memorialisation, and no surviving written documentation of the circumstances surrounding her death. what could have caused the mission not to draw attention to her death? if she was killed by dominant caste members for attempting to be upwardly mobile, as the mann family narrative indicates, is it possible the missionaries felt in some way responsible for the death? would the thousands of american christian readers who regularly followed the mission’s progress have withheld their support if nāki’s death was interpreted as connected to the mission? it is worth noting that nāki’s death came at a time of great struggle for the acm. for ten years, the mission had been partially suppressed by a british governor who was suspicious of americans and unwilling to grant the mission’s requests to expand their size and establish a printing press. might the mission have wanted to avoid any threat to its position on the island, which a scandal or embarrassment of this scale might have precipitated? answers are not readily available, but we can say for certain that, in the wake of nāki’s death, the acm gradually began to accept the operation of veḷḷāḷar caste privilege. this slow transformation eventually became a vigorous stance for an exclusive affiliation with 166 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 the dominant caste community, at the expense of building a mixed-caste church, set of schools, and community. one place where we see the maturation of this policy is in an extended response to dozens of questions sent to the mission in 1838 (american ceylon mission, 1838). in the questionnaire, a group of mission leaders provided blunt appraisals of their collective methods relating to caste in response to the question, ‘if one caste must prevail [in the boarding school], which one is most desirable to get?’ the replies by daniel poor and levi spaulding are striking: i think we are right in this particular in jaffna. we have to do chiefly with the higher castes [which] constitute the mass of society. bro. poor says [‘]the castes which prevails as a general thing. but high caste as far as possible, not to exclude the predominant caste of the country.[’] mr [c.t.e.] rhenius seminary was once entirely broken broken [sic] up on account of admitting [oppressed caste] shanars. afterwards one or two of his old scholars returned. the probability is that hereafter they will be generally low caste. i think mr r made a great mistake. it is much easier working down than up. l spaulding (american ceylon mission, 1838). here, levi spaulding echoes roberto nobili’s famous contention that if one converts the dominant sections of a society, all others will follow, and describes c.t.e. rhenius’ experiments for breaking caste by educating oppressed caste students as ‘a great mistake’ (županov, 1999, p. 30). though by the mid-1830s this argument was circulating among mission leaders in jaffna, the argument would not be made public in the united states until 1853, when three of the mission’s leaders published an extended analysis of caste entitled caste, in the island of ceylon. by the time this treatise was written, the american ceylon mission was at the centre of a regional disagreement between protestant missionaries over caste in the church in south asia, pitted against what has been described as a nineteenth-century indian missionary consensus against caste (forrester, 1980).24 in the process of their analysis, the acm leadership produced the first extended foreign consideration of caste in jaffna, a work that has influenced every subsequent scholarly analysis of caste among the tamil population of sri lanka.25 in addition to advancing an argument that caste is substantively different in ceylon than in india and that the acm’s alliance with the veḷḷāḷar was deeply productive, there are two key aspects of the treatise which bear on the interests of this article. first, while the acm leaders agree with the larger missionary appraisal that caste ‘is a great evil’ and ‘the very cement of hindooism,’ they emphasize that attempting to break caste had led to calamity: ‘all compulsory means used for this purpose,’ they note, ‘…are generally disastrous to the assailants and the assailed; to the christian church, and to the heathen population at large’ (meigs, et al., 1853 pp. 20–21). second, the authors argue that the ‘appropriate’ method for abolishing caste is ‘light and love on the part of the missionaries, docility and growth in piety on the part of the native converts, together with the promised influences of the holy spirit’ (meigs, et al 1853 p. 21). these two arguments reveal the settled result of the mission’s struggle to determine an approach to caste: trying to directly attack caste had failed and had been ‘disastrous’ in some notably unspecified way, and the most efficacious response should be patience and trust in god for a solution. in nāki’s wake: slavery and caste supremacy in the american... 167 though this policy can be dated at least to the 1830s, caste, in the island of ceylon represents the public articulation of a position on caste from which the acm would not alter over the course of the nineteenth century.26 accepting caste in the mission while attempting to attract the diversity of jaffna’s population had been found impracticable, especially as the majority of those interested in joining the mission schools had come from the dominant veḷḷāḷar caste. when it was initially decided in 1824 that caste had become an obstacle incompatible with christian theology, many attempts to stamp out its vestiges were made, from removing students unwilling to eat on mission land and requiring that church members of different castes sit together, to eventually marrying a group of students across caste lines. no detailed explanation is provided in the mission minutes or the missionary journals as to why breaking caste was determined to be a failed enterprise. and despite a thorough description of the mission’s attempts to break caste in their pamphlet caste, in the island of ceylon, references to inter-caste marriage are conspicuously absent. in my conclusion, i would like to suggest that the mission leadership’s admission that the effort was ‘generally disastrous to the assailants and the assailed,’ should be taken seriously and literally, bringing nāki’s life to centre stage once again. conclusion in the decade preceding nāki’s death, the acm pursued the spread of christianity by attempting to knock down the pillars on which they thought ‘hindooism’ rested. among these pillars, caste was considered the most important practice to undermine, and so to break caste the mission arranged a number of mixed-caste activities, from dining and seating, to schooling and marriage. we cannot affirm or deny the mann family narrative that nāki was murdered, but we can place her life, marriage, and death at the centre of an institution seeking to use every tool at its disposal to expand its community and spread its message. in a macro sense, the acm’s decision to affiliate with the veḷḷāḷar directly contributed to that group’s social and economic control over jaffna’s oppressed communities. however, it also cannot be ignored that the american christian project provided a temporary space for nāki to rewrite certain aspects of her own lifeworld, from her cultivation of a foreign, christian domesticity to her choice of a marital and sexual partner. in other words, while overall the acm made life for jaffna’s enslaved communities more difficult by restricting means for social advancement solely to the dominant caste, it also allowed a limited number of opportunities to challenge caste hegemony. nāki’s story is a reminder of the ambiguous historical interaction between christian mission, slavery, and caste in south asia, one that could and did facilitate both oppressed-caste social mobility, as well as provide tools that could be leveraged as sophisticated weapons of oppression. one result of this article is the demonstration of how the history of the american ceylon mission is inextricably linked to caste and slavery. the mission’s determination to align with the slave-holding veḷḷāḷar caste followed a decade-long attempt to compel a mixed-caste community through mixed seating, dining, and marriage that endeavoured to bind people from dominant, oppressed, and enslaved castes. the 168 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 acm’s veḷḷāḷar affiliation had far-reaching effects that include the caste community’s multi-generational control over english language education and its promise of social mobility. this control facilitated ongoing and durable caste divisions on the peninsula that can still be seen among some jaffna tamils. in other words, the story of how the american ceylon mission chose to identify with and support the veḷḷāḷar, a decision made in the context of slavery and elucidated through a reading of nāki’s story, is central to the operation of caste in jaffna’s modern period. finally, at the opening of this article i pointed to saidiya hartman’s method of critical fabulation and her goal ‘to make visible the production of disposable lives’ (2008, 36). i would argue that nāki’s story also helps us to think about human disposability in south asia, how it came to be, how it is perpetuated, and how it has been concealed, archivally and otherwise. had i relied solely upon the received colonial and missionary archives for the research from which this article is drawn, it is unlikely that the few direct references to nāki would have provoked sustained consideration. instead, my reading of those archives was utterly perhaps, altered? by my emotional and academic investment in and friendships with families connected to the american ceylon mission. it is through these relationships that i was allowed to learn of the haunting that the mann family is still burdened with, and given permission to explore the narrative’s significance for south asian history. these lessons radically perhaps, altered? the way i interacted with the archival materials of the american ceylon mission, and offer the possibility for new ways to read and write south asian history in nāki’s wake. acknowledgements research for this article was conducted under the auspices of a 2016 fulbright award, and the essay benefited from presentation at the 2018 yale modern south asia workshop and the 2018 annual meeting of the american academy of religion. i would like to thank the following individuals for their comments on early drafts and assistance with the project: henria aton, val daniel, rohit de, prema and ediri, n. soraya fajudeen, krishani gayanthika, kasturi gupta, jack hawley, tissa jayatilaka, amal jayawardane, bishop subramaniam jebanesan, ramya jirasinghe, steev kanagalingam, s. kirubalini, the ‘mann family,’ karuna mantena, rachel mcdermott, deepthi murali, nate roberts, rovel sequeira, bishop daniel thiagarajah, and richard fox young. references de alwis, m. 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(1999). disputed mission: jesuit experiments and brahmanical knowledge in seventeenth-century india. new york: oxford university press. endnotes 1. “ponni mann” is a pseudonym. 2. scholars have only recently started to explore the connection between slavery and caste in sri lanka’s past. e.g., balmforth 2016; wickramasinghe and schrikker 2019. 3. the name “elizabeth worcester” was the result of a $20 donation from the ladies’ association of peacham, vermont in 1820. thousands of similar donations were given, each paying for the education, room, and board of an acm mission student for one year. in the first seventeen years of the scholarship programme alone, more than $40,000 was donated, providing upwards of 2,000 funded years of education to several hundred young men and women. the programme continued until 1855 and resulted in dozens of jaffna tamil families with american surnames like breckenridge, mills, tappan, and mann. 4. the predominant explanation for the origin of the kōviyar relies upon an etymological argument linking the community’s name with the dominant sinhalese cultivating caste, the goyigama. this similarity is cited as evidence that at one 172 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 point the kōviyar were sinhalese goyigamas captured in battle or purchased as slaves. m.d. raghavan has an alternative approach that explains the kōviyar’s name based on a traditional occupation as cowherds linked to the monarchy. see raghavan 1954. unlike many members of the other two previously-enslaved communities, many kōviyars continue to self-identify as such today. thanks to pathmanesan sanmugeswaran for this detail. 5. the authors of foundational texts of jaffna history, the yāḻppāṇa vaipavamālai (1736?) and the kailāya mālai, as well as the peninsula’s subsequent modern historians have with one exception—kārttikēcu civattampi—been veḷḷāḷar. 6. one valuable exception to this exists: arasaratnam (1982) highlighted early eighteenth-century cāṇār petitions to the dutch governor that detail their origin story and its implications for taxation at odds with the taxation requirements required of them under the dutch (pp. 377–92). 7. in 1818, corporate ownership of slaves on the island was abolished by order of the british colonial government. the same command ordered the creation of an islandwide registry for all slaves, and refusal to participate carried the punishment of the slave’s emancipation. during periods of employment, slaves received a meagre payment in kind from their owners. when not working for an owner, slaves were required to provide for themselves. 8. miron winslow (1825) provided a small description of such labour in a published letter to his brother (p. 825). 9. rupa viswanath (2014) notes the use of land ownership and the threat of eviction as a principal method of landlords in south india to maintain positions of dominance over those in their employ and living on their land (p. 98). 10. karen valgårda (2009) has written about coercion in the encounter between oppressed-caste tamil parents and the danish missionaries seeking their children for boarding schools in the 1860s and 1870s south arcot district. 11. for insight into the sri lankan devadāsī world, see soneji 2010. 12. for more on the world of tiṇṇai paḷḷikkūṭam education, see raman 2010 and balmforth 2019. 13. soon after joining the american mission, vīrakatti was given the name elias cornelius and his brother katirakāman was renamed danvers. vīrakatti and katirkāman were supported by the female society for educating heathen children of salem, massachusetts and the masonic jordan lodge of danvers, massachusetts, respectively (poor, 1821, p. 197). 14. this is an unheard-of practice in jaffna today, where naming conventions for nearly all communities (except protestant christians) follow the pattern of a child’s father’s (or after marriage, husband’s) given name followed by the child’s gendered given name. 15. the models at work here are numerous, including the famous bell-lancastrian, madras, or monitorial system, the common tamil tiṇṇai paḷḷikkūṭam model, christoph samuel john’s pedagogical innovations as part of his work as a missionary at the halle-tranquebar mission in south india, and local jaffna innovations produced by john’s tamil student and collaborator christian david. for more on the acm’s pedagogical inheritance, see balmforth 2019 and balmforth 2020. in nāki’s wake: slavery and caste supremacy in the american... 173 16. levi spaulding created a table tracking the graduates from oodooville girl’s college and the professions of their husbands between 1824 and 1840 (mission letter for 1864, 1864). ‘missionary assistant’ was described alongside ‘lawyer,’ ‘mudaliyar’ (village headman), and ‘writer in a government office.’ 17. for a review of literature on caste in jaffna, see kuganathan 2014. 18. these histories included lord (1813), brown (1816), and buchanan (1811). 19. in 1826, emancipation could be granted after the value of the slave was determined by several parties separately nominated by both the owner and slave. the amount was then paid to the owner, and a stamp tax was paid to the colonial state. no further reference to nāki’s enslavement is made in the minutes or woodward’s journal, and so we do not know how much was paid to nāki’s owner, if indeed such a payment was made. nāki was never entered into the slave registry required by law from 1818, and so we do not even know if in fact a payment would have been required, since, at least legally, statutory emancipation resulted from an owner failing to register his or her slave. 20. sautio was at the time employed in the house of daniel poor. it is not possible to determine his caste, as there are indications that he was from an oppressed caste— namely, he worked in a labouring position, he was never a student, and his name is frequently given simply as ‘sautio,’ the simplicity of which could indicate he was oppressed caste—and also indications of dominant caste status. in another entry in the acm minute book, sautio is referred to as ‘sautiapillai.’ in the second half of the nineteenth century, the suffix ‘pillai’ became a veḷḷāḷar marker and was increasingly added to names. it is unclear whether this first effort to arrange a marriage for nāki was to be an inter-caste marriage. 21. of the thirteen marriages that took place within the mission between 1822 and nāki’s death on february 4, 1832, eight can be confirmed to be inter-caste, four were between parties of the same caste, and one cannot be identified. the following marriages can be identified as inter-caste: april 3, 1822 daniel smead (veḷḷāḷar) and miranda safford (caṇṭāḷar), 1825 jordan lodge (ciṭṭiyar) and susanna hopkins (veḷḷāḷar), june 19, 1828 asa mcfarland (maṭaippaḷḷi) and fanny hall (veḷḷāḷar), august 27, 1828 cyrus mann (veḷḷāḷar) and elizabeth worcester (nāki, kōviyar), october 13, 1830 elias cornelius (vīrakatti, kōviyar) and elizabeth appleton (maṭaippaḷḷi), october 13, 1830 seth payson (ciṭṭiyar) and louisa hawes (veḷḷāḷar), may 3, 1831 thomas adams (veḷḷāḷar) and susan huntington (maṭaippaḷḷi), may 3, 1831 philip (caraiyār) and joanna lathrup (ciṭṭiyar). the following same caste marriages can be confirmed: march 13, 1824 ebenezer porter (veḷḷāḷar) and mary poor (veḷḷāḷar), june 21, 1826 samuel davis (veḷḷāḷar) and betsey c. pomeroy (veḷḷāḷar), september 2, 1830 john b. lawrence (veḷḷāḷar) and mary sweetser (veḷḷāḷar), november 8, 1831 cyrus kingsbury (veḷḷāḷar) and mary dayton (veḷḷāḷar). the january 9, 1828 marriage of samuel ambrose (likely veḷḷāḷar, ciṭṭiyar, or maṭaippaḷḷi) and harriet newell (veḷḷāḷar) cannot be labeled as inter-caste or same caste because samuel ambrose’s caste affiliation cannot be identified from available records. 22. no reason is given for this abrupt change, although given the general movement toward an entirely veḷḷāḷar student body and an overwhelmingly veḷḷāḷar church membership, it is perhaps not a surprising decision thanks to richard fox young for this point. excising the castes of church and school members had the added 174 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 benefit of not highlighting just how dramatically veḷḷāḷar the american ceylon mission had become, a fact that readers in boston might have questioned and that the mission might not have been ready to publicly address. the veḷḷāḷar-ization of the mission would not be cohesively explained in any public format until 1853. 23. the acm journals from the first half of the nineteenth century are filled with cyclical waves of epidemic, and in the years before the establishment of mission hospitals, community members of all types repeatedly turned to the missionaries for medical care. over and over, adults and children from the nearby communities were brought to the mission stations with serious health emergencies, from bleeding compound fractures to starvation. e.g., winslow, 1835, p. 207. 24. rupa viswanath (2014) has recently pushed against this cohesiveness by highlighting ways in which missionaries in south india accepted caste divisions when strategically convenient, a flexibility that accords with the acm’s activity in jaffna. 25. several dutch descriptions of caste in jaffna have survived, although they generally are limited to lists of castes, and none match the depth of analysis found in caste, in the island of ceylon. in the work, meigs, et al. (1853) provide an early proto-anthropological description of jaffna’s caste paradigm as dominated by a tripartite, monarchical model, headed by veḷḷāḷar landowners who employ a set of artisan castes called kuṭimakaḷ and own slaves (p. 17). this is the same model later described in rasanayagam [1926] 1984 (p. 383) and hocart 1968 (p. 7). 26. even well into the twentieth century the acm remained ambivalent regarding the plight of oppressed caste education. in 1915, dr. j. l. barton, then secretary of the abcfm, received the acm’s support for a plan to open a school specifically targeting ‘the depressed classes’ that, the mission admitted, had so long been ignored. the plan never came to fruition (american ceylon mission, 1914–1915). © 2022 achla pritam tandon. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 285–298 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.445 media coverage and corona induced health emergency: understanding prejudice, stigma, and social inequalities in india achla pritam tandon1 abstract this essay traces the impact of the corona pandemic during 2020–21 and issues related to stigma, prejudices, marginalization as well as virulent forms of social inequality that arose thereafter. social distancing fortified boundary maintenance  on social, economic and even ethnic lines. the role of media during the spread of the corona pandemic left a lot to be desired, especially in the portrayal of the  marginalised groups. had it acted responsibly, not only would the world have been  able to grasp the do’s and don’ts pertaining to precautions with due diligence, the  world would have been more harmonious and many fatalities could perhaps have  been avoided. keywords stigma,  bias,  role  of  media,  interaction,  inequality,  appearance,  reportage,  attribution, marginalisation introduction the impact of corona pandemic and issues related to stigma, prejudices, marginalization, and the virulent forms of socially unequal situations that arose as a consequence of the virus and its global spread is a matter of immediate concern. the entire world was caught unaware with the fatal blow of a pandemic which continues to rage even at the time of writing. not only have governments been caught unprepared, many people have been unable to completely grasp the horrific nature of this virus, resurfacing in its myriad variants, till over two years after its origin. this has included scientists, paramedics as well as policymakers and those who work on the 1associate professor, department of sociology, hindu college, university of delhi, india email: achlatandon10@gmail.com 286 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 ground, law enforcers like policemen, security personnel as well as media persons and teachers. the following discussion focuses on the role of media in reporting about the pandemic. this essay attempts to trace social stigma as a result of the global pandemic, accentuating the trend for binarizing along ethnic as well as economic parameters. it did not even spare the most sanitised, health conscious as well as economically sound nations. employment and business opportunities did the vanishing act, people had to head back to their homelands, mostly in regions which were far from their places of work, with no idea of what the future held. schools and colleges were shut and so were conferences, weddings and gatherings called off, every time the virus reappeared, in its new avatar. in this backdrop the essay attempts to reflect on the marginalised groups (like dnts, ne indians, muslims and dalits), and their media representation which aggravated their vulnerabilities. interactions: paradigm shift an unprecedented paradigm shift in interactions has taken over now. in (hopefully) post covid times it is considered socially acceptable, in fact recommended, to maintain social and physical distance, a social sign identified with classist and sometimes majoritarian high handedness in pre-covid times. so, what would have been considered outright offensive and questionable has become the socially, medically mandatory requirement for sheer survival. this social distancing, in true sense physical distancing, has unfortunately taken the shape of fortifying boundary maintenance on social, economic and even ethnic lines. the latter have been justified through the circuitous route of claimed and actual necessity for maintaining physical distance due to medical or health reasons, as well as preconceived notions about different categories of communities, based on religion, class and ethnic background. it is this latter rationale which is a cause for concern. the media did not help much in this regard. i shall take that up in detail too. coronavirus belongs to a large family of viruses, out of which only seven of its members can infect humans. four of these types cause minor illnesses like the common cold, whereas the other coronaviruses have had more horrific impacts such as sars, mers, and now covid-19, in its subsequent variants. it is mainly a respiratory disease that starts in the lungs, leading to pneumonia-like symptoms, but affects the entire body. more often than not it spreads through small saliva or mucus droplets that an infected person expels when coughing, sneezing, or talking. these droplets can travel three to six feet and remain infectious for anywhere between four hours to two days, depending on the surface. in late december 2019, reports emerged of a coronavirus outbreak linked to pneumonia cases at a wildlife-food market in wuhan, china. covid-19 spread across that nation within weeks—and then spread like wildfire across the globe. the virus was believed to have spread from person to person though it originated from animals and spread to humans. by march 2020, the world health organization had announced covid-19 as a pandemic. the fact that it was initially denied by the most powerful nation’s leader, is another socio-political media coverage and corona induced health emergency: understanding prejudice 287 discourse and narrative altogether. much is to be learnt about the coronavirus that has changed lives across the spectrum, but this experience of dealing with disease, death as well as being in denial mode has also taught many lessons to all across the globe. with more than nine million infections, india was at the top rung of worst affected countries, along with united states as 2020 ended. there were visible and traumatising cracks in the economy, polity as well as educational institutions. never before, had so much havoc been wreaked by the spread of a disease. as is obvious, this disease is more than a health and science story only. its impact has been seen in spheres like education, corporate world, tourism and travel, stock market and even numerous people losing their jobs because of them coming from most affected countries or regions. major sporting events, including the tokyo olympics 2020 had to be cancelled. offices, schools and colleges have undergone a paradigm shift in their logistics of conducting meetings and interactions. some of that may become permanent propositions. in fact, most of 2020 and 2021 has had an unprecedented shift in the interactional aspects of social and professional life itself. just as general public as well as professionals were unprepared, so was the media unable to deal with the changed scenario. at the micro interactional level too, people have had to take some very tough decisions about staying home or not being able to host even close relatives or friends, and, having to do away with outside help for household tasks, unless they had the luxury of permanent live-in staff, a proposition that few would have had. even an ordinary visit to the grocery store or market became a moment of stress with extreme measures of sanitation and distance being maintained. online marketing became a household term for many in india and elsewhere. stigma: surreal reality what is most striking is that 2020 brought about an unprecedented and surreal reality into play, across the globe. what could have been an ironing away of inequalities has ironically highlighted the same too. boundary maintenance became unabashedly stereotypical and extremely discriminatory. social stigma in the context of health is the negative connotation associated between a person or a community of people who share certain characteristics and a specific disease. those being affected feel marginalised by those who label them as dangerous ‘spreaders’ of that disease. in an outbreak, this could result in people being labelled, stereotyped, discriminated against, treated separately, and/or experiencing loss of status because of a perceived link with a disease. such treatment can negatively affect those with the disease, and even their caregivers as well as people they are in close contact with. as speculation soared with regard to the origin of the disease, migrants and refugees were branded as being the main culprits of being super spreaders and some were even denied access to medical treatment. the un secretary general, guterres (2020, 2021) also noted that migrants still face stigmatization, xenophobia, inequalities, and racism. according to him, migrant women, especially young girls faced heightened risks and vulnerabilities of gender-based violence. 288 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 even those who may be sharing some outward appearance-related characteristics with them could face ostracism and marginalisation. there were cases of health workers, including doctors being denied entry into their residential societies as people feared that they would be spreading the disease. the ‘virus of hate’, as un has referred to it, seems to have taken as much of a virulent form as the actual virus in 2020. “we must act now to strengthen the immunity of our societies against the virus of hate,” united nations secretary-general antónio guterres said while appealing for an all-out effort to end hate speech globally (ibid.). helen davidson (2020) says that according to the world health organization (who), stigma may even drive people to be secretive or diffident about their illness to avoid discrimination and even prevent them from seeking immediate health care. physical appearance unfortunately, in march 2020, there was a case reported of a student being spat on in university of delhi because her appearance was seen as being like the inhabitants of the neighbouring country which was globally labelled as the cause for corona. the motorbike-borne riders, while speeding away after spitting on her had shouted, “oye corona!” in a frequently used street near the university campus. people hailing from the north east in india are frequently at the receiving end of several discriminatory barbs with regard to what they wear, eat as well as their appearance. despite governmental measures to curb ethnocentric behaviour, there have been numerous cases of students and migrants from north east being targeted as foreigners or being generally marginalised, discriminated against or at the receiving end of ethnic slurs in their neighbourhoods or campus spaces. unfortunately for them, corona virus made them the easiest and soft targets due to their appearance being perceived as closest to the most suspected villainised nation globally (and india’s neighbour) of 2020. several other similar incidents surfaced across the globe where people were identified with the disease merely because they happened to look similar to the suspect region, even if it meant the entire asian one. crises like disease outbreaks lead to creation of fear psychosis, in turn leading to victimisation and alienation of certain groups. these groups may be of a particular ethnicity or religion and could be directly or indirectly affected by such an outbreak. discriminatory behaviour and prejudicial perceptions have taken an upswing across the globe ever since the spread of the virus. the u.s president referring to it as the ‘chinese virus’ in the beginning of 2020, is indicative of the supremacist attitude pertaining to the cause of the disease (watts & howard, cnn, 2020 march 18). he continued to use the term, despite being advised against it (mangan, 2020). what merits attention is also that 2020 brought about dual and almost conflicting processes of social stratification. to some extent, it was an unprecedented equaliser of a situation, where rich and poor nations, across the globe, were attacked with the same stroke of probability of fatality or vulnerability. as the pandemic continued to spread, it was making clear that people around the world are also surprisingly alike. no matter what media coverage and corona induced health emergency: understanding prejudice 289 divides us, gratitude for healthcare personnel for their titanic work is one aspect that seems to have united the world. in their name, authorities around the globe have asked people to follow the recommendations, to ignore false information and to protect them from discrimination. however, as discussed above, a parallel process of conflict, including suspicion and hatred has emerged, where the spread of the disease has resulted in stigma and accentuated inequalities too. the year 2020 and the spread of what could have been seen just as a virus, has brought into the limelight hidden prejudices against a community and even a country, where everything associated with them in terms of food, appearance or their cultural practices was attacked or came under harsh criticism. they have had to face countless accusations of being agents of spreading corona, despite many others having been lax on treating the spread of the virus as a serious problem, despite being given the information about corona well in time. this denial mode led to these otherwise very powerful and affluent nations going through a lot of stress, besides grappling with horrific statistics of fatalities. the phenomena of an invisible virus making visible hidden inequalities makes us aware of the raw underbelly of seemingly harmonious settings within democracies. due to policy initiatives, for curbing the pandemic in india, by default, inequalities became the order of the day. the very proposition as well as practice of ‘lockdown’ or even ‘physical distancing’, better to be referred to as social distancing, was something that many in india could ill afford. it was something that people who lived in clustered neighbourhoods could hardly implement. plus, street vendors as well as many from the unorganised sector were left totally stranded, once the announcement was made in india about the lockdown. inequalities became evident even in terms of gender equations at home as well as work. while many household-helps were able to retain their jobs, men who lost their jobs resented having to be at home. domestic violence took an upswing and women had to manage home as well as work outside the house. an attention-seeking leader of the world’s purported strongest country added to global disaster mismanagement, in the initial few weeks, when he refused to acknowledge the existence of the pandemic. misinformation and denial mode fed into speculative reportage. what needs to be reiterated however is that as what mike ryan says, “viruses know no borders and they don’t care about your ethnicity, the colour of your skin or how much money you have in the bank” (nehginpao, 2020). role of media the focus on the role of media in such an unprecedented crisis is inevitable, rather most pertinent for exploration. news in general, including printed articles as well as electronic media information channels, impart to occurrences their public character which would mean that our understanding of the pandemic was fed and even reinforced by what the media conveyed to us. in many ways, news can be understood as a social institution. the manner in which it is conveyed, the focus given to some aspects, the near obliteration of significant aspects can have a deleterious effect on perception about 290 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 not only a pandemic but can add to the air of speculation that such crisis situations beget. especially in urban areas, news pervades daily interactions and even decisions, especially if they are about care and caution to be exercised as a consequence of spread of a disease. dickinson (2013) opines that: “the internet and the world wide web have had an extraordinary impact on the political economy of the global news industry. this impact has been felt in the gathering, processing and dissemination of news.” what is also discussed are events related to the carrying forward of a disease. as osterholm says, “assume this virus is everywhere. this is a global influenza pandemic caused by a coronavirus” (bergen, 2020). is there a possibility that what was conveyed in the beginning about a country being the cause of a disease could have been conveyed with some caution as well as factual information? is it possible that china made a huger error of judgement, or some scientists may have had some devious intent, but not the entire governmental machinery? is it possible that even that was not the case that any scientists had biological warfare as their intended project, but it was just an experiment gone wrong where the virus escaped and was not traceable till it became too late? isn’t it possible that biological warfare may sometimes be used as a rationale for enhancing one’s own budgetary expenditure on defence-related equipment and research? our information channels, from print as well as electronic media did not give much coverage to the disruption of ecological niches that the animal world deserves, the way we would like to be assured of the same. the reverse process of invasion that struck us, had to happen, some day. if we have taken animal habitats and environment for granted, whether for our commensal /social or research purposes, so much that we think nothing of deforestation, rampant urbanisation and whatever else goes on in the name of development, including research, is it any wonder that the universe had to showcase its own karmic, perhaps calculated move of striking from the very world we thought we had been able to rein in? the fact that wuhan and its animal market was the propellent may be a mere incidental factor, even though it was the most highlighted one. it could have been any other animal market where the usual sanitation and health parameters could have been compromised. but it being china, may have been about jumping at the opportunity of vilifying a fast, and somewhat unpopular, global market player. undoubtedly, many sanitation and security standards were compromised there but the initial weeks’ frenzy and communication channels were more about it being a china virus rather than the roadmap ahead to curb the same. had the latter been the priority we might have been able to get a timely grip of the world’s worst entrapment which left no scope for comprehending its gravity, till massive damage had been done to lives, jobs and interactions. even if china was the culprit, the world’s leaders needed to reach out to them for information rather than have a pigeonsightingcat approach, which many nations did initially or latch on to only on-the-spot or symptomatic solutions, instead of having a comprehensive, holistic template of disaster management. most of the world’s medical community was also caught unaware. quite naturally there were varied approaches to deal with the disease. to label a disease on the basis of which place or which community, or country started it all, could be unfair, illogical media coverage and corona induced health emergency: understanding prejudice 291 as well as very damaging to our logical comprehension and dealing of the disease. having access to technology did not necessarily help. what sapped videos and other modes of media, including print and electronic, continued villainising a nation which was in reality the first victim, indicating the stereotyping on the basis of western perceptions about disease and health in other than western parts of the world. olshaker & osterholm (2017) while emphasizing on the accurate dissemination of information express that: “in any pandemic, effective leadership is critical, and the first responsibility of the president or the head of any nation is to offer accurate and up-to-date information, provided by public health experts, not agenda-oriented political operatives.” reportage: pandemic voyeurism this also brings us to the discourse around reportage of disease and its spread. does reportage of disease and ensuing displacements, physically, occupationally and socially, inform in a manner that it makes people who are readers or consumers aware of the agony of those who were marginalised or stigmatised? or does reportage take the form of disaster voyeurism where pictures highlighting death and starvation are used to garner greater viewership or readership? in india, visuals and write ups about social gatherings of a particular sect in a minority religion, became the touchpoint for an entire nation going into a frenzy about wilful attempts to spread the virus by members of that minority group. hateful memes and whatsapp video clips added fire to undercurrents of pre-existent and deep-seated feelings of suspicion and doubt. the fact that other religious as well as political gatherings were held around the same time, did not attract the attention of the suspecting-their-intention kinds. why were different rules of perception applied for different communities when the actions committed by all were of casual behaviour towards precautions, across the board? in this scenario, printed as well as viral images of fruit and vegetable vendors selling their wares without adequate precautions added to anxieties. this anxiety quickly transformed to anger when there were images, including clips of the vendors spitting on the fruits, for instance. in such images and clips, a headgear like the skull cap instantly gained symbolic significance enough to add fury to the fire. this was not only irresponsible social media gymnastics, but no effort to verify validity or reliability of time period, source as well as region, in presentation of purported facts. however, in august 2020, the order of the high court chastised the police for “non-application of mind” and brought some closure to the ‘sustained vilification of the largest muslim organisation’ in india. according to salam (2020) the order clearly stated that: “a political government tries to find a scapegoat when there is a pandemic or calamity, and the circumstances show there is a probability that these foreigners were chosen to make them scapegoats.” the impact on people who had migrated to big cities for work and were suddenly left jobless and had to head home have been chronicled in many accounts. the voyeurism in presenting death and distress overshadowed the real issues pertaining 292 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 to respective state governments as well as bureaucratic failure to gauge the extent of problem as well as intensity of demographic exodus from the industrial cities back to rural settings. it is generally believed that those who write history belong to the society that they write about. journalists who may not necessarily belong to the governing or what is known as the ruling /decision-making class, do happen to knowingly or unknowingly reflect an upperor middle-class perspective in their writings. robert merton’s paradigm for sociology of knowledge is of relevance here. it provides us with a tool for investigating relationships between the socio-cultural environment and mental productions. merton’s work can be seen as an attempt to demonstrate the many ways in which facets of social existence influence mental productions through their relationship to the existential bases. even according to mattlert (1981), mass media plays a very significant role in reinforcing a pre-existing class structure and journalistic by-words are used as means of suppressing dissent. corona pandemic for all media persons was a major crisis situation. a crisis is signified in the manner in which people, including media persons treat communities, religious, national or ethic. latching on to convoluted ideas about any group or country can just add to a situation that the spread of corona set off. today’s competitive world of reporting, in electronic as well as print media world has entailed a one-upmanship of the kinds that is unprecedented. social media channels also throw reliability and validity to the winds, in favour of ‘breaking news’ so to say. the issue of objectivity becomes a bone of contention in such cases. hamilton & krimsky (1996) showing the importance of attribution state that: “to establish they are not first making up information, reporters find authorities or written reports and documents to which they can attribute facts. attribution, as it is called, is the reporters’ security blanket. the beauty of attribution is that it allows the reporter to introduce opinions into a story without losing the appearance of neutrality.” this attribution of statements to doctors, other medical personnel, community service workers, practitioners claiming to have other than allopathic solutions, became quite a practice by media persons, during the pandemic which even resulted in some loose, highly questionable statements about causes, consequences as well as precautions. it even helped in the marketing of some indigenous products as if they were foolproof methods of controlling corona. there is a school of thought which believes that to be a good reporter one must be biased in favour of truth and biased in favour of life. one must be biased in favour of the future of the young and biased in favour of peace and order. this has been expressed in relation to drugrelated crime but basically it is an attempt to encourage reporters to have the courage of reporting the truth rather than clamour for glory through voyeuristic reportage of disaster and disease. mental health impact even mental health is something which seems to have gained more attention ever since the onset as well as continuance of the pandemic-induced lockdown, world over and especially in india. in itself, this did have a positive contribution to people being media coverage and corona induced health emergency: understanding prejudice 293 informed about some issues which were generally ignored or not considered worthy of mention, leave aside analysis. however, the deep-seated taboo as well as stereotypes related to discussing mental health did not help matters. this is to do with the stigma attached to mental health being seen as a peripheral, almost frivolous rather than a significant aspect of human health and sense of well-being. so, most of the reportage, during the pandemic, was to do with episodic detailing of people’s lifestyles as well as speculative causes of the extreme step rather than discussing the larger macro system of highly stressful and meritocratic, including cutthroat competitive -comparisonsfixated lives. sensationalism overshadowed sound analytical reportage. as a result, most of the mental health issues that were reported were to do with extreme cases of suicides committed by celebrities, known public figures or those who were from middle /upper class background plus those associated with well-known institutions. whenever reported, it was unable to grasp the broader spectrum of how mental health issues are not just about those who lost their well-paid jobs, could not meet friends, family or go out to their school college campuses. it had to cover the inter-sectionalised aspects of individualism in urban spaces, consumer culture, conditional friendships and fragile familial bonds along with failed governmental initiatives to foresee and implement sensitised policies. what was hardly reported was sheer fragile psyches and unpreparedness of individuals having to be suddenly holed up in their homes. plus, the media did not bother to highlight mental health consequences as well as attempts to take lives by those who found themselves on the roads of india, for weeks, not just days, in order to grasp their sense of dignity, sanity as well as a sufficient proportion of food. those who must have collapsed on the way, back to their villages were left untouched by most of indian media, till foreign media captured those footages. to add to the ignominy of hungry and exhausted travellers, televised and photo-friendly attempts to distribute food did not go down well with those who had not only lost their means of earning, but were made to wait for hours in quest for an insufficient amount of food doled out in the various places that such initiatives were undertaken by ngos as well as different state governments. several thousand preferred to walk back home than face the humiliation of an inept bureaucracy or government machinery caught unawares by the extent of the problem caused by a seemingly straight cut, well-intended governmental measure like ‘lockdown’. in fact, more of the foreign media captured images of the migrant disaster that followed the health-related and medical one. are we equipped to understand the nuances or empathise with what all is entailed in mental health challenges? the policies and actions initiated during the pandemic do not seem to have been suitably prepared or fitted in for the scale of suicidal as well as general mental health traumas, during that period. how the media reported these was more about sensationalising than analysing. statistics of suicides took precedence over qualitative understanding of linkages between disease, trauma and governance. reportage of celebrity suicides overshadowed the reality of many others who would have taken their own lives or were under extreme stress due to financial, social or emotional or sheer physical reasons. 294 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 and what about those who were caught unawares with the logistics of lockdown? what about those who had no place to call home? or those who were in small dwellings with overpopulated spaces wherein heading out for work may have been the only escape to their sense of respectable existence as well as sanity? even gendered aspects of inequality surfaced across the globe, in terms of how women domestic workers who had to stay at home had to bear the double brunt of domestic labour for stay-at-home families, state of pennilessness as well as domestic violence and aggression offset by the men’s own frustrations of being jobless or without much opportunity of being able to head out. all this was hardly taken up in a concerted way by the media. ironically, what we did get were a surfeit of options to cook different varieties of food, through various social media platforms, which merely added to the expectations from women. the few times men and boys would try out something it would always be highlighted and shared as an achievement par excellence through social media. prejudice and people although the concerns over the coronavirus are understandable, the stereotypes and exclusion are not. instead of excluding an entire race, we should try to support them as a form of solidarity. it is imperative to see us in all our diversity and challenge the existing stereotypes. according to anand chandrasekar (27 april 2020, cnbc tv18), “even as the world grapples with the covid-19 pandemic, numerous instances of anti-asian sentiments are being reported. hysteria, anxiety, confusion and a largely unchecked flow of fake news laced with conspiracy theories have only fuelled the prejudice against asians, who of course, are no strangers to the phenomenon.” this can be explained by the dangerous social media “infodemic” fuelled by false information. in the case of the coronavirus, social media has not only propagated doubtful rumours on the emergence of the virus, but also has brought forth absurd methods for prevention. it must be noted that it is not as if infectious diseases like corona are linked to discrimination and prejudice. this syndrome of stereotyping and preconceived notions determining how we deal with each other have existed for diseases like tb, hiv/aids too. this discrimination, abuse and denial of facilities or opportunities operates at the level of jobs, education, medical support as well as even access to basic needs. fear and xenophobia can not only add to the feeling of being labelled but even force people to hide their disease. media has to play a very responsible role in this aspect where the misinformation and voyeurism is the last thing that should be their focus. they should in fact make all out efforts to curb misinformation in times of crises. use of appropriate language and carefully explained terminology along with publication of myth busters from credible bodies like who as well as medicos from icmr helped to quite an extent. reporting has to be more about the precautions to be taken in the eventuality of anyone having infected others, than giving details about the identity of the person. much as politicisation of events and happenings may be part of journalistic practices, it has to be given a back seat at the time of reporting a major crisis like corona pandemic. what needs to be given precedence is the outbreak of a media coverage and corona induced health emergency: understanding prejudice 295 disease and not jump at the opportunity to politically vitiate global as well as national atmospheres by using scapegoats for the pandemic. covid, media and the marginalized as nations have dealt with covid, and media has reflected on the efforts put by states and non-state institutions towards addressing the pandemic, little has been recorded about how the marginalized groups have been affected (deshpande, 2021) and what has been the media coverage of their situation. data paucity has been one very important aspect for this near absence of coverage. some of the most marginalised communities of the country—the de-notified tribes (dnts), the adivasis, dalits and muslims have borne the brunt of the ‘stay home’ policy in the severest form. these communities have suffered on most social indicators historically, and due to a mix of poor logistics superimposed by prejudice and ostracization. while there is no disaggregated data available from government sources, data collected by a group of civil society organisations1 has showed that during the countrywide lockdown, these marginalised communities were the worst sufferers. they were unable to avail the food from the government distribution centres because they were located at unyielding distances from their settlements. muslims suffered from the additional realm of islamophobia, as did the dalits and dnts the prejudices. data collected indicates that the households in 30 per cent of the locations remained without any food supply. this has been attributed to the poor public infrastructure like absence of fair price shops under the public distribution system (pds) in the dalit settlements. they often do not have access to information regarding the schemes and the benefits. most of them could not benefit from the cash transfer under the jan dhan yojana because their accounts were ‘dormant’. they were neither aware of the requirement of an active account, nor had any information on how to revive their accounts from dormancy (samajik seva sadan, 2021; praxis, 2020 http://www.covid19voices.wordpress.com/). the muslims had restricted access to the block office. consequently, many households did not have necessary documents in order to access the supplies provided through various schemes (pragati madhyam samiti, uttar pradesh). the households from nomadic and denotified tribes do not have ration cards because of which households in 73 per cent locations, could not receive food and women and children did not get supplementary nutrition. due to the perceived criminalisation and stigma associated with the community, their families lived away from the anganwadi centres and hence were rendered devoid of the supplies. two-thirds of migrant workers did not have access to government ration (dte, 2020). these findings are based on the data2 which covers about 475 locations from the states of bihar (69), chhattisgarh (24), gujarat (70), jharkhand (20), madhya pradesh (61), delhi (8), odisha (80), rajasthan (10), tamil nadu (75), uttar pradesh (50) and west bengal (9). besides the right to food, the data also looked at what support hamlets 1partners in change; praxis institute for participatory practices; national alliance group of denotified and nomadic tribes; and gethu group workers’ think tank. 2www.communitycollect.info 296 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 received through other schemes earmarked for covid relief. this included additional ration as part of the pradhan mantri garib kalyan yojana, the ujjwala scheme, the kisan samman yojana and the jan dhan yojana. it was observed that across the schemes, proximity to service providers and/or their acquaintances often determined the access to entitlements. since these communities are already marginalised, they become invisible to the system. most services were located in neighbourhoods of the dominant groups where the marginalised have no or at the most restricted access. in a health emergency such as this, these inequities have led to gross violation of human rights. such inequity induced inability to access entitlements need to be recognised in the larger societal context. the data suggests that 74 per cent locations mentioned an increase in indebtedness, reflecting on social inequities. it is noteworthy that 88 per cent of dalit-dominated hamlets reported an increase in loan-taking. as regards online classes, children were able to access online education in only one per cent of the locations; and in 69 per cent locations no child was able to attend classes. as a consequence, nutritional supplements were also missed. “due to the announcement of sudden lockdown, children were not able to access nutritious meals even once in a day. it was accessible for households living near the distribution centre.” (blasius tigga, secretary of gyan sagar, chhattisgarh cited in dte, 2020) muslims experienced prejudice and ostracization. media portrayal of the tablighi jamaat led to a systematic resentment against the muslim community. boards were put up restricting the entry of muslim hawkers in some areas. those who are selfemployed (carpentry, welding, tailoring and embroidery work) were badly affected by the lockdown (sahyog, gujarat). the high courts of bombay, madras and karnataka termed the media coverage of the tablighi jamaat event in delhi as ‘unjust and unfair’ (chandrasekar, anand, 2020). therefore, the role of media during the spread of corona-19 left a lot to be desired. had it acted responsibly, not only would the world have been able to grasp the do’s and don’ts pertaining to precautions with due diligence, the world would have been more harmonious, and many fatalities could perhaps also have been avoided. coronavirus does not justify any kind of discrimination or xenophobia. asian countries are still nursing the stigma due to the “asian flu” caused by the h2n2 virus (1957-58), the “hong kong flu” caused by the h3n2 virus (1968), sars caused by a coronavirus known as sars-cov (2003) and now covid-19 which initially started getting identified as the chinese virus. when hiv/aids had spread across the globe, the tendency was to present its origin and cause with reference to the african continent plus homosexuals. misinformation around hiv/aids had not only given impetus to homophobia but even encouraged anti-african sentiments. stigmatisation also takes a toll on those who are actually affected by the disease. it is natural for people to be scared when they show a few symptoms of a disease during a pandemic. panic and fear created by outbreaks can expedite the spread of a disease. it is anxiety that stops one from seeking healthcare thereby undermining the public health response. studies have media coverage and corona induced health emergency: understanding prejudice 297 shown that depression rates soar during epidemics and pandemics. corona 2020 was a year of shocks and imbalances, a lot of disruptiveness and to a large extent a paradigm shift as far as everydayness was concerned. however, the equaliser effect of how it impacted all nations, all classes, regions as well as ethnic communities as well as the positive role played by medical, para medical and other essential services staff across the world should have made us that much more of humanistic individuals rather than xenophobic and ethnocentric ones. conclusion to think that the world’s greatest democracies, india and america have experienced increased instances of stigma and discrimination of either religion, race or ethnicity is quite an indication of how inhuman values and practices may thrive despite the setbacks that viruses may give to humanity. the role of media was far from a responsible one in a scenario which was in need of empathy and concern. reportage during a crises should not feed into panic and fear. it needs to be like a guardian of those who are marginalised and stigmatised. loss of livelihood has remained a major concern—a topic where the media has been completely silent. it may be an opportune time for the media to reflect on the short-term and long-term measures which will address these issues. as regards the short-term measures, it may take upon itself to highlight the potential of the state to offer cash transfer for a fixed duration as a rehabilitation strategy, putting a subsidy holiday for the rich and the affluent corporate sector and revisiting some opulent projects of the infrastructural kinds may help in taking care of the cost thus incurred. references bergen, p. (2020). michael osterholm: the disease expert who warned us. cnn. march 11. retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/10/opinions/osterholm-coronavirusinterview-bergen/index.html chandrasekar, a. (2020). the stigma pandemic: how coronavirus is fuelling racism and xenophobia against asians. april 27. retrieved from https://www.cnbctv18.com/views/ the-stigma-pandemic-how-coronavirus-is-fuelling-racism-and-xenophobia-againstasians-5780981.htm on december 2021. chandrasekharan, anusha, 2020. the dispensable india: data shows how dnts, adivasis, dalits, muslims bore lockdown brunt. down to earth. 04 sept. governance. https:// www.downtoearth.org.in/news/governance/the-dispensable-india-data-shows-how-dntsadivasis-dalits-muslims-bore-lockdown-brunt-73224 accessed on 12 march 2022. davidson h. (2020). global report: virus has unleashed a ‘tsunami of hate’ across world, says un chief. the guardian. uk. may 8. retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/ world/2020/may/08/global-report-china-open-to-cooperate-with-who-on-virus-origin-astrump-repeats-lab-claim on 21 december 2021. deshpande, a. (2021). how india’s caste inequality has persisted—and deepened in the pandemic. current history, 120 (825), pp. 127–132. 298 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 dickinson r.d. (2013). weber’s sociology of the press and journalism; continuities in contemporary sociologies of journalists and the media. max weber studies 13(2), pp. 197–215. dte, (2020) two thirds of migrant workers have not ration. https://www.downtoearth.org. in/news/twothirds-of-migrant-workers-stilldon-t-have-access-to-governmentrationsurvey-71596 accessed on 12 march 2022. felman, a. (2020). what to know about coronaviruses?. medical news today. uk. available at: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/256521 guterres, a. (2020) the covid-19 crisis is an opportunity to reimagine human mobility. launch of policy brief on the impact of covid-19 on refugees, idps and migrants. 03 june https://www.un.org/en/coronavirus/covid-19-crisis-opportunity-reimagine-humanmobility accessed on 21 december 2021 ———. (2021). solidarity with migrants has never been more urgent. dec 2021. un generalsecretary antonio guterres. retrieved from https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/12/1108322 on 12 march 2022. hamilton, j.m., & krimsky, g.a. (1996). hold the press: the inside story on newspapers. usa: louisiana state university press. mangan, d. (2020). trump defends calling coronavirus ‘chinese virus’-‘its not racist at all’. cnbc., march 18. retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/coronaviruscriticism-trump-defends-saying-chinese-virus.html on 21 december 2021. mattlert, a. (1981). media, ideologies and the revolutionary movement. new jersey: the humanities press. mohfw (2020) addressing social stigma associated with covid-19. (april 8). ministry of health and family welfare, www.eyeafrica.tv. accessed on 21 dec 2021. merton, r. (1968). social theory and social structure. new delhi: amerind publishing. nehginpao, k. (2020, march 28). stop discrimination and fight the virus. the statesman. retrieved from https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/stop-discrimination-fightvirus-1502871009.html on 12 february 2022. olshaker, m., & osterholm, m.t. (2017). deadliest enemy: our war against killer germs. india. hachette uk. salam, z.u. (2020, september 25). tabhlighi jamaat: vindicated, finally. frontline, chennai. retrieved from https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/vindicated-finally/ article32516103.ece on 12 february 2021. un migration. (2020). fight covid-19 stigma and discrimination against migrants international organisation of migration, july 3. retrieved from https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=2dck1ucehfq on 21 december 2021. ukri. (2020). coronavirus: the science explained ukri. what are the origins of novel human infectious diseases like covid-19? may 5. retrieved from https://coronavirusexplained. ukri.org/en/article/und0007/ on 12 february 2021. watts, a. & howard, j. (2020). world health organization official hits back at trump for his use of the term “chinese virus”. cnn, march 18. retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/world/ live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-18-20-intl-hnk/h_d3fa23e7fa9b2db9fcabdef8b21bc20f on 21 december 2021. who. (2020). what you can do to fight stigma associated with covid-19? world health organisation (who) march 21 retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vinh0lig1p0 on 21 december 2021. © 2021 christopher queen. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 281–294 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.338 reading dalit autobiographies in english: a top ten list christopher queen1 abstract dalit autobiography has joined protest poetry as a leading genre of dalit literature since the nineteen seventies. finding their inspiration in the social and political activism of b. r. ambedkar (1891-1956), leader of the india’s anticaste movement and a founding father of the republic, low caste men and women have documented their struggles and victories in the face of ongoing violence and deprivation. surveying ten life narratives translated into english from marathi, hindi, and kannada, the essay treats works by ambedkar, daya pawar, sharankumar limbale, baby kamble, laxman gaikwad, siddhalingaiah, omprakash valmiki, urmila pawar, vasant moon and namdeo nimgade. tracing the origins of dalit autobiography in the writings of siddharth college and milind college students in the 1950s, protest writers in the 1960s, and the dalit panthers and their followers in the 1970s, the survey identifies recurring themes of social exclusion, poverty, patriarchy, survival and assertion in the realms of politics, employment, education, and religion. these intimate testimonials share a radical vision of social transformation across caste, class, gender, linguistic and geographic boundaries and provide a needed corrective to mainstream portraits of modern indian social history. keywords dalit literature, dalit autobiography, b. r. ambedkar, anti-caste movement, dalit panthers, dalit sahitya introduction in 1987 i slept on the sofa in vasant and meenakshi moon’s apartment in government colony, bandra east, mumbai. the moons, both writers and activists in the anti-caste movement launched by dr. b. r. ambedkar in the1920s, were 1harvard university, cambridge, massachusetts, e-mail: csqueen@outlook.com 282 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 kind to host a first-time visitor to india who was eager to learn about the movement and its leaders. in the apartment i saw a brass statue of the buddha and a charcoal image of ambedkar taped to the wall. visiting that morning was a peaceful woman with a shaved head and the ochre robes of a nun. mr. moon told me later that she was a friend of meenakshi’s who had entered the buddhist order after years of being beaten by her husband. i learned that movement members and people with problems dropped by the moons’ house all the time. the next morning moon took me on his daily commute on the city bus—an hour of deafening traffic and choking fumes—to mantralaya, the state office building where he was editing the writings and speeches of ambedkar. and the following weekend he took me to nagpur, his hometown, to see the parade ground where ambedkar led 380,000 of maharashtra’s poorest citizens into buddhism on october 14, 1956. we visited the private library of books, periodicals, and papers of the dalit freedom movement that moon had built above the house he left to his daughter and her husband, a medical doctor, and their first child. the library had four divisions: “a” for ambedkar, “b” for buddhism, “c” for caste, and “d” for dalit. years later the memories of this and subsequent visits to mumbai, nagpur, and other centers of dalit protest, religious conversion, and literary activity were still vivid in my mind as i read vasant moon’s new memoir, growing up untouchable in india: a dalit autobiography (2001)1 and the book of reflections and interviews of female dalit activists that meenakshi moon collected with urmila pawar, we also made history: women in the ambedkarite movement (2008).2 reading these volumes reminded me of the friendships i had made over the years in my deepening engagement with the movement. moon’s autobiography, originally titled vasti (neighborhood) in marathi, was translated into english by gail omvedt, a renowned american scholar of caste studies who moved to india in the 1970s. it was introduced by eleanor zelliot, carleton college historian, widely regarded as the leading authority on ambedkar and the dalit movement in maharashtra. it was professor zelliot who first introduced me to the moons and other leaders as she helped generations of scholars, students, and readers to understand the nature and importance of the movement. we traveled together in india and visited each other’s classrooms in the states. in 2013, gail omvedt came to harvard to lecture in my class and to meet university students and ambedkarite activists living in the area.3 my first visit to india was cut short by an illness that arrived as i attended a massive wedding with mr. moon in nagpur. the vice mayor of the city and his bride, both dalit buddhists, were taking vows before hundreds of dignitaries of all caste backgrounds. i returned to my hotel and then to boston where i recovered. but i had missed interviews arranged by moon with ex-untouchable teachers, social workers, and government officials who would still be village servants and scavengers were it not for the educational and employment opportunities guaranteed by the indian constitution, the constitution drafted by india’s first law minister, b. r. ambedkar. 1vasant moon. (2001). growing up untouchable in india: a dalit autobiography. lanham, md: rowman & littlefield. 2urmila pawar and meenakshi moon. (2008). we also made history: women in the ambedkarite movement. new delhi: zubaan. 3dr. gail omvedt passed away on august 24, 2021. this article is dedicated to her memory. reading dalit autobiographies in english: a top ten list 283 when i returned home, i found an urgent message from professor zelliot. i must attend the wedding of rekha nimgade, niece of meenakshi moon, which was to happen the next week in boston! but sadly, i was too weak to attend. only later did i meet the entire nimgade family in the u.s. and india and accept the honor of writing the foreword to the lively narrative of dr. namdeo nimgade, father of the bride and husband of hira, meenakshi’s older sister: in the tiger’s shadow: the autobiography of an ambedkarite (2010).4 given this background you will understand some of the seeds of my passion for reading dalit autobiographies, life narratives, memoirs, testimonia—all of these terms have been used by scholars—and for trying to hear their message to readers of vastly different backgrounds. for dalit sahitya or dalit literature purports to be a different kind of writing, not to be judged by standards of stylistic originality, beauty, or entertainment, but by its authenticity and truthfulness to the physical, social, psychological and spiritual realities of its narrators and their communities, and to the commitment to a radical vision of social transformation these authors share with one another across caste, class, gender, linguistic and geographic boundaries. i have pored over, marked the pages, and returned to re-read a dozen of these works. i have experienced anger and sadness imagining the grim settings and humiliations of these writers—and also joy when their indomitable spirit transcended the circumstances. happily for international readers, as dalit writers continue to record and publish their life narratives, the supply of english originals and translations do not appear to be slackening. in this survey, we begin with a sketch of the origins of dalit autobiography in the writing of ambedkar and the stream of titles that followed the appearance of the dalit panthers and dalit sahitya in the 1970s. then we turn to a sampling of this literature, calling your attention to ten titles i have found to be significant in revealing the experience of dalits in india from before independence up to the present—and earning, by their earnestness and literary quality, my allegiance to their cause. in these citations, i will try to illustrate themes that recur in these texts—exclusion, poverty, patriarchy, education, assertion, politics, and religion. my hope is that this article and its bibliography will serve as an invitation to those who wish to explore this territory more fully. while there have been indian autobiographies and novels depicting the life of low caste communities by upper caste writers dating back a hundred years—most notably untouchable (english, 1935) by mulk raj anand—no one from untouchable communities before the 1970s had the training, courage, and resources to describe their suffering and aspirations in longform writings and to have them published. in the nineteenth century, the dalit reformer mahatma jyotiba phule (1828–1890) wrote to an upper caste literary association asking how these writers “with their heads in the clouds” were capable of expressing the feelings and experiences of dalits. in the 1920s the young b. r. ambedkar (1891–1956) started fortnightly journals to host dalit writing on issues of politics, education, and culture: mooknayak, “leader of the voiceless” (1920) and bahishkrit bharat, “untouchable india” (1927). around 1935, 4namdeo nimgade. (2010). in the tiger’s shadow: the autobiography of an ambedkarite. new delhi: navayana. 284 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 when ambedkar announced he would leave hinduism for a religion offering human dignity and freedom, he penned a memoir of his early experiences as a dalit which remained buried in his papers until after his death. inspired by ambedkar’s published writings and activism, students of siddharth college, founded in bombay by ambedkar in 1945, started the literary society siddharth sahitya sangh to explore how their lives and problems were different from those of the upper castes and whether these issues can be expressed in literature. in 1958 after ambedkar’s death, these writers and friends renamed their group the maharashtra dalit sahitya sangh and organized the first public conference of dalit writers in bombay. they passed a resolution that “the literature written by dalits and that written by others about the dalits in marathi be accepted as a separate entity known as ‘dalit literature,’ and realizing its cultural importance the universities and literary organizations should give it its proper place.” the 1960s saw the appearance of the little magazine movement—a vehicle for poets like baburao bagul and other “angry young men” to publish protest poetry and stories directed at the injustices of the caste system. in 1968, dr. gangadhar pantawane (1937–2018), a graduate of milind college (founded by ambedkar) and marathwada university (renamed dr. babasaheb ambedkar university after a long fight which pantawane helped to lead) founded the pioneering literary journal asmitadarsh, which published dalit writings for five decades under his leadership.5 yet none of these precursors attracted the flurry of interest and controversy that marked the founding of the dalit panthers in 1972. taking their name and energy from the revolutionary black panther party of oakland, california, young dalit writers namdeo dhasal, arjun dangle, and j. v. pawar, friends of the protest poet bagul, recognized that the scattered utterances of dalit discontent needed a more militant focus. these writer-activists saw themselves as public intellectuals whose mission must be political as well as literary. in their manifesto they attempted to establish their identity and concerns: who is a dalit? members of scheduled castes and tribes, neo-buddhists, the working people, the landless and poor peasants, women, and all those who are being exploited politically, economically, and in the name of religion. who are our friends? revolutionary parties set to break down the caste system and class rule. left parties that are left in a true sense. all other sections of society that are suffering due to the economic and political oppression. who are our enemies? power, wealth, price. landlords, capitalists, moneylenders and their lackeys. those parties who indulge in religious or casteist politics, and the government which depends on them. burning questions before the dalits today. food, clothing, shelter. employment, land, (removal of) untouchability. social and physical injustice. 5for a history of the rise of dalit literature, see gail omvedt, ‘literature of revolt,’ and arjun dangle, ‘introduction: dalit literature past, present, and future,’ in arjun dangle, ed., poisoned bread: translations from modern marathi dalit literature, new edition. hyderabad: orient blackswan, 2009. reading dalit autobiographies in english: a top ten list 285 the struggle for the emancipation of the dalits needs a complete revolution. partial change is impossible.6 in the years following the explosive debut of the dalit panthers, autobiography soon rivaled protest poetry and social commentary as the most effective vehicle of expression, empowerment, and outreach for the oppressed people of india. dalit literature would be impossible without the example and influence of babasaheb (“respected father”) ambedkar—father of the modern dalit human rights movement and a founding father of the indian republic, its first law minister and chair of the constitution drafting committee. born in a military camp as the youngest of fourteen children in the mahar caste of lowly village servants, ambedkar made history as the first untouchable to graduate from high school, college, and two of the most distinguished institutions of higher learning outside india, columbia university in new york city and the university of london. armed with doctoral degrees in economics and political science and credentialed as a barrister-at-law, ambedkar returned to india in the 1920s and promptly launched a civil rights movement for untouchables. he fought the hindu caste system on the streets and in classrooms, courtrooms, government chambers, and the pages of periodicals and scholarly books. seldom did he take the time to write about himself, but after his death, among his papers was found a handwritten memoir that he likely penned in mid-career in 1935– 36, that he titled waiting for visa.7 ambedkar prefaces his account of six traumatic experiences in his childhood and early career with words we may take today as a fitting introduction to the genre of dalit autobiography: foreigners of course know of the existence of untouchability. but not being next door to it, so to say, they are unable to realize how oppressive it is in its actuality. it is difficult for them to understand how it is possible for a few untouchables to live on the edge of a village consisting of a large number of hindus; go through the village daily to free it from the most disagreeable of its filth and to carry the errands of all and sundry; collect food at the doors of the hindus; buy spices and oil at the shops of the hindu bania from a distance; regard the village in every way as their home—and yet never touch or be touched by any one belonging to the village. the problem is how best to give an idea of the way the untouchables are treated by the caste hindus. a general description or a record of cases of the treatment accorded to them are the two methods by which this purpose could be achieved. i have felt that the latter would be more effective than the former. in choosing these illustrations i have drawn partly upon my experience and partly upon the experience of others. i begin with events that have happened to me in my own life.8 6‘dalit panthers manifesto (bombay, 1973)’ in barbara joshi, ed. untouchable! voices of the dalit liberation movement. london: zed books, 1986, pp. 145–146. 7b.r. ambedkar. (1993). ‘waiting for visa.’ dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches. (ed. v. moon). vol. 12, part i (pp. 661–691). bombay: education department, government of maharashtra. and retrieved from http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ txt_ambedkar_waiting.html 8ibid. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/txt_ambedkar_waiting.html http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/txt_ambedkar_waiting.html 286 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 ambedkar writes of his nightmare as an untouchable child who is denied water and threatened with violence and robbery when traveling overnight to visit his father, and how as a young ph.d. back from the west he was forcibly ejected from lodging and shunned by his own subordinates when his caste was discovered. he follows these accounts with four other incidents of physical abuse and humiliation resulting from the practice of caste exclusion wherever he went. the young ambedkar did not suffer the grinding poverty that other memoirists describe, due to his father’s employment and education, but the repeated discovery that his superior educational and professional achievements were inconsequential to upper caste hindus produced in ambedkar a lifelong sense of indignation and a determination to overcome these obstacles for himself and all dalits. while most of his writings—now filling the fourteen volumes that vasant moon edited for the maharashtra government—can be described as a “general description” of the caste system by a trained social scientist and historian, we are fortunate that ambedkar left us this trenchant “record of cases” from his own experience. how have ambedkar’s followers emulated this small beginning with works of sweeping scope and emotional impact? in 1978, the first full-length dalit autobiography appeared in mumbai. the marathi poet daya pawar published baluta, using for his title the word for the meager payment of grains for the unrelenting slavery of village untouchables as a metaphor for his early life. his graphic presentation of the pervasiveness of deprivation and cruelty in rural village and urban slum life shocked readers at the time. the mahars lived in squalid homes, each the size of a henhouse, each hen house having two or three sub-tenants. wooden boxes acted as partitions. but they were more than that: we stuffed our lives into these boxes. at night temporary walls would come up, made of rags hanging from ropes. the mahar men worked as [porters] or laborers. some worked in the mills and factories. none of the women observed purdah. how could they? they worked harder than the men. they scavenged scraps of paper, rags, broken glass, and iron from the streets, sorted them out and then sold them each morning. and however much their drunkard husbands beat them, they continued to serve them hand and foot, and indulged their addictions. born in 1935, pawar survived the humiliations of a village childhood before moving to the city, where he took a job in a science lab at twenty-one. by the time of his death in 1996, he had won awards for poetry and the autobiography, visited the u.s. on a ford foundation fellowship, served on state educational boards and seen his work translated into many languages. but he refused to present himself as a paradigm for others. when his father died of alcoholism, pawar destroyed his father’s private still. but “deconstructing the entire concept of mahar machismo which depends on the abuse of women,” writes his translator jerry pinto, pawar presents his repeated failures in courtship and marriage and his inability to protect two of his aunts, who are beaten and sold into prostitution, as products of his intermittent lack of self-respect and courage as a man.9 9two years after the appearance of baluta, pawar’s publisher granthali released upara, by laxman mane. described as “perhaps the most popular of the dalit autobiographies” by literary critic g. n. davy, the marathi life narrative was published in english in 1997 as upara – the reading dalit autobiographies in english: a top ten list 287 the themes of exclusion, poverty, and misogyny are echoed in different ways in the outcaste – akkarmashi by sharankumar limbale (marathi, 1984; english, 2003). limbale, who would later author the influential critical study, towards an aesthetic of dalit literature (marathi, 1996; english, 2004) begins his story, as so many of these autobiographers do, with an unsparing look at his parents: my mother is an untouchable, while my father is a high caste from one of the privileged classes of india. mother lives in a hut, father in a mansion. father is a landlord; mother is landless. i am an akkarmashi (half-caste). i am condemned, branded illegitimate.10 limbale describes himself as the “son of a whore”, “bastard”, and “rape-child”. and as so many of these autobiographers do, limbale extends the central fact of his life to serve as a metaphor for his extended family, his neighborhood, his caste, and the masses of those who are likewise soiled and damaged by their heritage. this is the story of my life, an expression of my mother’s agony and an autobiography of a community. being fatherless is as much my fate as it is to be in a general ward [of a hospital] of suffering . . . . my autobiography holds in it the agony of such a life. my experiences are my words. what will remain there if you take experience away from a life? a living corpse.11 yet, as the critic g. n. davy writes in the introduction to the english translation, “whereas the narrator should be boiling with anger, he is meditating on the very fundamental issues related to social relationships and ethics. it is this detachment, and the ability to turn away from the personal, that makes akkermashi a disturbing life narrative.”12 yet it also creates a sense of awe, perhaps akin to that of reading of the stoic epictetus’s imperturbability as his leg is broken by his sadistic master: “i have said it would break. now it is broken.” the first significant autobiography by a dalit woman appeared two years after limbale’s work. babytai kamble’s the prisons we broke (marathi jina amucha, 1986; english, 2008, also translated the way we live) displays her power as a writer and as a survivor whose book “came out of the furnace of the suffering we underwent. each word in it is a shoot of the truth that has sprouted in my heart.” we learn of her humble beginnings and struggles on each page of her work, but we must wait for two interviews she gave to fellow women activists after her book was out to grasp outsider by sahitya akademi. like baluta, this autobiography was awarded for its depiction of the poverty and activism of marginalized people, particularly the nomadic tribes of maharashtra, the author did not foreground the suffering of dalit women as pawar did. in 2013, mane’s reputation was stained by his arrest for alleged sexual exploitation of women employees of the school he ran. 10sharankumar limbale. (2015). the outcaste – akkarmashi. bhoomkar, s, translator. devy, g. n. introduction. new delhi: oxford university press, p. ix. 11ibid, p. xxiv. one can see why the honorific babasaheb, ‘revered father,’ applied to one of their own, became so important to dalits whose own fathers were perennially marginalized and discredited. 12ibid, p. xxv. 288 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 her achievement. maya pandit, her translator, begins the interview offered in the second edition of prisons with the surprising observation that kamble has made very few references to her personal life in the book! “can you tell us a little more about yourself?” the author replies, “i really find it very difficult to think of myself outside of my community,” and then turns immediately to the sacrifices other women made to send their children to school “because their baba [ambedkar] told them to do it.” in spite of kamble’s great humility and reticence, we learn of her success in business as she began early in life selling loose grapes recovered from the market and then expanded her inventory over the years to sell vegetables and other items within the maharwada. eventually she and her husband were running a successful neighborhood grocery store when meenakshi moon and urmila pawar visited to interview her for their book, we also made history. she explains how, tending the store over twenty years, she would read the newspapers donated to wrap groceries and write her observations and reflections in secret notebooks she kept behind the counter. she eventually admitted to their existence when a visiting scholar, maxine berntson, questioned her closely. encouraged to publish them, kamble submitted them serially to the women’s magazine stree and eventually assembled and published them as the autobiography we have now. meanwhile, baby kamble gave birth to ten children, seven of whom survived to adulthood, and became active in dalit politics. she joined the local mahila mandal, a woman’s service organization, and founded a governmentaccredited residential school for dalit orphans —all while dodging her husband’s blows and keeping up the store. the intricate but full-throated intersectionality of babytai kamble’s account of women’s simultaneous struggles with poverty (class), marginalization (caste), and misogyny (patriarchy) is surely a breakthrough for feminist writing in india. yet kamble would be the last to admit that she was a pioneer. indeed, the most touching paradox of her achievement is the credit and devotion she bestows on babasaheb ambedkar for her inspiration and that of her generation of mahar women. she concludes the preface of the first edition of her book with what may be considered a bhajan or devotional song to her savior: i most humbly offer my eternal gratitude at the feet of that great man and bow my head at his feet. all i can manage to say is: o bhim, you have been our great mother, and we will never be able to repay the enormous debt we owe you. we are eternally grateful to you. i am just a small flower that has bloomed in some obscure outskirts of a village. i offer this humble gift, my book, a tiny flower, at your feet. and toward the end of the book, breaking into verse: what do i have, bhima? what can i offer to you . . . except for flowers? you gave voice to our suffering souls. each flower that i offer is nothing but a burning grief with tears flowing from my eyes, i wash your feet. the fire raging in my heart has ignited this flame, through the flickering of these flames, all i see is buddha and bhim. reading dalit autobiographies in english: a top ten list 289 paradoxically, given ambedkar’s repudiation of hindu devotionalism, one may hear its echo here. in bhagavad gita 9.26 lord krishna accepts “with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or even water” from one who has little else. but this sentiment is not exclusive to indian religion. one also hears jesus’ praise for the fallen woman who washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with costly oil: “go in peace” (luke 7.44–50). but lest her bhajan be seen as a capitulation to vaishnavite spirituality or wider religious patriarchy, kamble’s heartfelt tribute is intoned to ambedkar, the great mother to all who struggle. a new world of exclusion and pain was revealed to readers with the release of laxman gaikwad’s uchalya in 1987 (marathi; english the branded, 1998). categorized as an autobiographical novel, the book is pathbreaking in its depiction of the lives of the involuntary criminals forced into lives of thieving by laws dating back to the british criminal tribes act of 1871. members of the uchalya (“pilferer”) tribes, found throughout india, were “notified” under the law as “addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences” and thus unworthy of any “settled contribution to society.” the criminal tribes act was repealed in 1949 only to be replaced by new laws requiring police to investigate a suspect’s “criminal tendencies.” the denotified tribes were reclassified by the indian government as “habitual offenders” in 1959. gaikwad’s extraordinary career as a social worker, anti-caste activist and awardwinning writer begins as his grade school education is constantly interrupted by close encounters with the violent civilian and uniformed guardians of upper caste society. in contrast to the harrowing school stories in other dalit autobiographies, gaikwad’s description of the training of uchalya children is disturbing: now bhagwan-anna and samhu bhau started accompanying manik-dada on thieving trips to take charge to stolen bundles. anna and bhau were, otherwise, quite capable of doing odd jobs. but so branded and distrusted was our community socially that . . . nobody employed anna and bhau. they had so far never indulged in thieving. now, however, they started accompanying dada on thieving trips. they were made tough with the usual session of beating. in our community there are gangs who undertake the training of apprentices to develop their thieving skills. in every society, there are teachers who teach students in schools and parents who beat their offspring to make them learn. in our community, however, everything is topsy-turvy. we have four kinds of thieving skills: khistand matne – picking pockets. chappal, muthal aanane – stealing footwear and bundles. paddu ghalane – deception. and uthewaari – deception by sleight of hand while engaging persons in conversation, e.g. substituting spurious gold for the genuine.13 the first successful dalit autobiographies grew out of the dalit panther/dalit sahitya movement in maharashtra, home of ambedkar’s mahar caste and of the marathi language. thus, the texts we have surveyed so far were originally published in marathi. yet significant dalit literary movements have emerged in other language 13laxman gaikwad. (1998). the branded: uchalya. new delhi: sahitya akademi, p. 10. 290 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 communities that produced remarkable autobiographies, some of which are now translated into english. first of this group is the karnataka-based poet, playwright, public intellectual and elected official siddalingaiah’s immensely entertaining a word with you, world (kannada ooru keri, 1996; ooru keri 2, 2009; english 2013). it may seem insensitive to describe a work of protest literature as entertaining. but readers of siddalingaiah will readily admit that even in the midst of harrowing events and cruel encounters, this author is capable of lightness and irony. “siddalingaiah takes a chaplinesque view of hunger and discrimination, and his humor and irreverence appeal to a wide readership,” writes his translator s. r. ramakrishna. it is bittersweet to speak of siddalingaiah now, as covid-19 took his life just weeks ago (june 11, 2021), but it is perhaps all the more fitting to praise him for his gift to “the world.” the combining of the three installments of the original narrative “village corner” (ooru keri and ooru keri 2 and 3) was the idea of s. anand, the indefatigable founder-editor of navayana publishing, who suggested a line from siddalingaiah’s poem maatada beku for the english title: i must have a word with you o cactuses and thorny plants; i must put a question to the moon who borrows his light; i should free the beautiful rose from thorns. wells are waterless and ministers speechless constables move about like thorny bushes, o world, i must have a word with you.14 again, in this kinetic sequence of intimate vignettes we encounter blinding hunger and disease, confinement and squalor in village and city slums, violent death by suicide and murder, stealing, pranks that go awry, and relationships that degrade and threaten. but here, perhaps more than in the books we have seen so far, we also meet kindly teachers, heartwarming camaraderie, enduring friendships, improbable benefactors, role models among elected officials, and the author’s unsinkable curiosity and goodwill toward others. in his career, siddalingaiah became the face of kannada literature: leader of the dalit bandaya movement and founder of the dalit sangharsh samithi. a member of the legislative assembly in 1988 and 2006, he became chairman of the kannada development authority. through it all, his eulogizers of all recall him as “a warm and compassionate human being.” omprakash valmiki’s joothan: an untouchable’s life was written and published in hindi in 1997 and translated and published in english in 2003. its translator, arun prabha mukherjee, identifies valmiki as one of the first hindi writers to identify himself with the dalit literature that first spoke in marathi. yet his may also be seen as a carrier of the spirit of this movement out to other language communities that share the fight against caste: speakers and writers in kannada, tamil, telugu, malayalam, gujarati, punjabi and english. joothan means the “table scraps—leftovers” at best, “garbage” and “compost” at worst—that untouchables line up at the back doors of 14siddalingaiah. (2013). a word with you, world. new delhi: navayana publishing, p. 9. reading dalit autobiographies in english: a top ten list 291 upper caste homes to collect and take home to their hungry families. after weddings and holidays, the leftovers may retain some flavor of the savory or sweet cuisine of hindu high tables; the children clamor for this holiday joothan. but more often the leftovers are the inedible parts of the meal that remained on the plates in the end, and hungry children must eat this as well. like the terms baluta, akkarmashi, and uchalya, which have been left untranslated in the titles of these works, joothan ushers us into the world of the dalit experience, sometimes because the terms are untranslatable in english, but also perhaps because the author and translator hope that an unfamiliar word will help the visitors to acknowledge their distance from the common and troubling experiences of their hosts. in each case the foreign word serves as a symbol and a metaphor for that distance. for omprakash valmiki the signaling of a name had specific importance. while valmiki was the brahmin poet of the ramayana, the valmikis of northern india are the caste of scavengers and sewer workers, lowest of the low, also known as bhangis and chuhras. omprakash is constantly reminded by teachers and employers that, whatever his educational attainments, he will always be a chuhra. when he enters the workforce and faces pressure from friends to change his name valmiki, he wears it as a badge of honor. engaged to be married, his wife informs him that she will keep her maiden name. the wedding invitations omit his surname, as does the publisher of his first poem and article in a liberal magazine. when an officer’s wife asks his wife, “brahmin?” as the two families socialize on the train, valmiki interrupts, saying “bhangi” to make no mistake. summing up the challenge of assertion versus passing, valmiki makes an ironic comparison: identity and recognition—these two words say a lot by themselves. ambedkar was born in a dalit family. but ambedkar is a brahmin caste name; it was a pseudonym given by a brahmin teacher of his. when joined with bhimrao, however, it became his identity, completely changing its meaning in the process. today bhimrao has no meaning without ambedkar.15 when ambedkarites greet one another with jai bhim, “victory to ambedkar,” they do not think “brahmin” or “bhima,” the strongest of the pandava warriors in the mahabharata. they think only of ambedkar, champion of the dalits. in the weave of my life: a dalit woman’s memoirs, urmila pawar offers another powerful testament to the emergence of women in the ambedkar movement. during his first mass protest, the fight for access to drinking water at mahad in 1927, ambedkar invited dalit women to become movement leaders in their own right. and pawar and meenakshi moon tell the story of this evolution in the first half of their book we also made history. in her autobiography, titled aaydan! in the marathi original, pawar, like her predecessors, uses a term drawn from the daily lives of village dalits to symbolize both hardship and assertion. in the konkan region of maharashtra, aayden refers to the bamboo baskets that dalit women wove for income. “my mother used to weave aaydans. i find that her act of weaving and my act of writing are organically linked. 15omprakash valmiki. (2003). joothan: an untouchable’s life. new york: columnia university press, p. 152. 292 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 the weave is similar. it is the weave of pain, suffering, and agony that links us.”16 pawar also weaves together the lives of her extended family and the widening circle of friends and professional colleagues who join her in founding numerous women’s organizations for social work, political activism, and literary expression. born in 1945, urmila was introduced to buddhism at the age of twelve as mahar families followed ambedkar into the new faith. like baby kamble, pawar grapples with the dominance and misogyny of men in the community and in the family, making clear to all that a woman has equal dignity and equal rights. she chooses and marries for love over her family’s objections, but later endures her husband’s drinking and jealousy of her success. her ten published works and literary prizes have placed her in the forefront of marathi authors. in the weave of urmila pawar’s life we meet again our friends vasant and meenakshi moon, meenakshi’s sister hira and her husband namdeo nimgade, daya pawar, eleanor zelliot, baby kamble, maxine berntson, and dr. balchandra mungekar, the first dalit vice chancellor of the university of mumbai, a future member of the central planning committee in the delhi government, and another generous host of mine in mumbai. as a regular visitor to the landmarks of the new dalit literary canon, i began to feel my way around, airfare to india no longer required. the childhood narratives in moon’s growing up untouchable in india and nimgade’s in the tiger’s shadow take us back to the neighborhoods of nagpur, where throngs of dalits converged in 1956 for the great buddhist conversion. both authors tell of their life-changing encounters with babasaheb ambedkar, the “tiger” of the untouchables. for moon, who trembled and stood mutely as a schoolboy, badgered by a brahmin teacher (“oh, speak, little man, speak!”) and ridiculed by his upper -caste classmates, moon stood confidently before the visiting ambedkar a few years later. thumbing through the handwritten magazine moon and his friends presented to the guest, ambedkar questioned the young activists about their work. but moon had his own questions about buddhist philosophy and marriage rituals. the great man explained rebirth (“without being extinguished, the spark from the candle arises in another place”) and acknowledged the need for new marriage customs among the buddhists. suddenly he held up the magazine and asked, “who has written this article?” “that is my article,” moon declared, admitting in his memoir that “before such a great man as babasaheb i had no fear.” years later, the magazine was returned with ambedkar’s comments: “excellent. well worthy of emulation.”17 dr. namdeo nimgade’s in the tiger’s shadow (temporarily out of print) offers a fitting way to end our survey. nimgade grew up in the same mahar vastis as moon, and like his future brother-in-law, was a fearless adventurer on the streets and a diligent student in class. both were brilliant and vigorous converts to the new dalit assertion, and both had dramatic encounters with ambedkar. nimgade, who would become the second dalit after ambedkar to earn a ph.d. in the united states (university of 16urmila pawar. (2008). the weave of my life: a dalit woman’s memoirs. new york: colombia university press, p. ix. 17moon, pp. 147–148. reading dalit autobiographies in english: a top ten list 293 wisconsin, madison, 1962, in agronomy), was also the first dalit to interact with dr. martin luther king on the plight of the untouchables. in a speech on campus king reported his trip to india and nehru’s claim that untouchability had been eliminated. nimgade, who had just passed his oral examinations, stood up during the question period and respectfully informed king and a very large audience of the continuing role of dr. b. r. ambedkar and his followers to achieve the result nehru had claimed—and how far there still was to go. that night many african americans called to thank the indian student for his courage, and at graduation time, the wisconsin state journal ran the headline “‘untouchable’ gains ph.d. – indian’s struggle worth effort.” nimgade was a one of ambedkar’s favorite young followers during his final years, and nimgade devotes several chapters to their private conversations in new delhi. in one exchange, ambedkar strongly urged namdeo to delay marriage until his education was complete. but nimgade had visited that day expressly to announce his engagement and to seek babasaheb’s blessing. “baba, will you please write a message of good will for my wedding.” ambedkar demurred, saying that both of his hands were aching so much from constant writing that had been unable to use them for three days. yet he had an idea. “go to my study and there you will find a marathi version of emperor ashoka’s edicts concerning buddhism. please consider these my good wishes, which you can read out to everyone. please give one to the bride’s family and keep one for yourself. in the near future we will all embrace buddhism. but we must prepare for that now.” namdeo was overjoyed. and the final words of ambedkar’s marathi excerpt of ashoka’s edicts “carved on a rock some 2,200 years ago” were read at the wedding— and may serve as a proper benediction for our survey: emperor ashoka desires that all the people in his empire live in happiness and interact with each other in peace and amity. do not kill. all great religions should teach tolerance and purity of mind. everyone should contribute to the common good according to their means. even the poor, who do not have the means to donate, can also practice tolerance, good character, gratefulness, and faith. however, all good deeds are in vain if performed without faith and purity of mind. there is no greater gift than faith, abide by the dhamma.18 references ambedkar, b.r. (1993). waiting for visa. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches. (ed. v. moon). vol. 12, part i (pp. 661–691). bombay: education department, government of maharashtra. retrieved on 9 september 2021 from http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/ pritchett/00ambedkar/txt_ambedkar_ waiting.html. anand, m.r. (1940). untouchable. london: penguin books. dangle, a. (2020). poisoned bread. hyderabad: orient blackswan. gaikwad, l. (2005). the branded – uchalya. new delhi: sahitya akademi. 18nimgade, pp. 189–190. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/txt_ambedkar_%20waiting.html http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/txt_ambedkar_%20waiting.html 294 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 joshi, b. (1986). untouchable! voices of the dalit liberation movement. london: zed books. kamble, b. (2018). the prisons we broke. second edition. hyderabad: orient blackswan. limbale, s. (2004). towards an aesthetic of dalit literature. hyderabad: orient blackswan. — (2015). the outcaste – akkarmashi. new delhi: oxford university press. mane, l. (1997). upara – the outsider. new delhi: sahitya akademi. moon, v. (2001). growing up untouchable in india: a dalit autobiography. lanham, md: rowman & littlefield. nimgade, n. (2010). in the tiger’s shadow: the autobiography of an ambedkarite. new delhi: navayana. pawar, d. (2015). baluta. new delhi: tiger publishing. pawar, u. (2009). the weave of my life: a dalit woman’s memoirs. new york: columbia university press. siddalingaiah. (2013). a word with you, world. new delhi: navayana. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 77–96 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.260 © 2021 devanshu sajlan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste hate speech against dalits on social media: would a penny sparrow be prosecuted in india for online hate speech? devanshu sajlan1 abstract this article analyzes the indian hate speech law from the perspective of social media. recent research shows extensive use of caste-based hate speech on facebook, including derogatory references to caste-based occupations such as manual scavenging. this article attempts to examine whether the scheduled castes / scheduled tribes (sc / st) prevention of atrocities act is equipped to deal with online hate speech against dalits. the jurisprudence around the applicability of atrocities act to caste-based hate speech has been analyzed. after the said analysis, the applicability of ‘international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (icerd)’ to castebased discrimination has been studied. thereafter, the standard of proof for prosecuting hate speech under indian domestic law has been compared with icerd to analyze whether indian domestic law is in compliance with international standards. the article further analyzes whether caste-based hate speech ought to be regulated only when there is incitement to violence or hatred, or it can also be regulated when it violates the right to dignity of dalits. at the same time, the article also briefly examines whether such prosecution would be in violation of global free-speech standards. keywords caste-based hate speech, sc / st prevention of atrocities (poa) act, icerd, descent, racial superiority, dignity, incitement to violence or hatred 1metropolitan magistrate/ civil judge, delhi judicial services email: devanshu.sajlan26@gmail.com 78 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 introduction dr. ambedkar, in his famous speech annihilation of caste, has provided a detailed account of discrimination and humiliation faced by untouchables1 in their daily lives (ambedkar, 1979; originally 1936, vol. 1, pp. 23-96). he recounts various such instances spanning hundreds of years: (i) untouchables were not allowed to use public streets during the rule of the peshwas in the maratha country, as the mere shadow of an untouchable was considered to be polluting, (ii) in poona, the capital of marathas, untouchables were forced to tie a broom around their waists, in order to ensure that the dust, which becomes polluted when an untouchable steps on it, is swept away, (iii) in 1928, an untouchable community in indore (balais) was informed that if they wished to live along with the upper-castes, they must not wear fancy clothes and must adhere to the dress code fixed for them by the upper-castes (ibid, pp. 39-40). a large section of the society is of the opinion that such instances of humiliation are non-existent today. however, such beliefs could not be farther from the truth. with each passing year, more ingenuous methods have been invented to humiliate dalits. for example, as recent as july 2020, a 14-year-old dalit child was forced to eat his own faeces by a person from a dominant caste (bharathi, 2020). the statistics also provide a limpid image about the reality of crimes against dalits. in 2018, a total of 42,539 crimes were reported under the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (prevention of atrocities) act, 1989 (atrocities act, 1989) (indiastat, 2018c). it may be noted, for some perspective, that 47,028 cases of hitand-run were reported in 2018 (indiastat, 2018a). therefore, crimes against dalits are as pervasive as hit-and-run cases in india, and anybody who believes otherwise is blissfully ignorant. unfortunately, the practice of attacking the dignity of dalits has now found a new medium. a recent study has concluded that thirteen percent posts having hate content on facebook india pertain to caste-based hate speech, including ‘caste-based slurs, derogatory references to caste-based occupations such as manual scavenging, antiambedkar posts . . .’ (soundararajan et al., 2019, p. 40). figures 1 and 2, highlighted below, are a clear illustration of online hate speech against dalits. the question that naturally arises is whether there exists any legal remedy against online caste-based hate speech? there exists an interesting parallel from south africa, where a woman named penny sparrow was prosecuted for a racist rant on facebook, in which she compared the black community with monkeys (anc v. penny sparrow, 2016, p. 33). the equality court2 found penny sparrow guilty of hate speech under 1in this article, the terms ‘untouchable’, ‘scheduled caste’ (sc) and ‘dalit’ have been used inter-changeably depending on the context. untouchability can be broadly defined as a social practice whereby persons, merely by virtue of birth in a certain community, are considered perpetually polluted, and social norms prohibit any kind of contact with the said community. the said practice, the genesis of which is the caste system, has perpetuated social exclusion and exploitation of the untouchable community. for an understanding of the relation between caste system and the exploitation of the untouchable community, see ambedkar (1979; originally 1936, pp. 62-63). for a brief history of the origin of untouchability in india, see mendelsohn & vicziany (1998, pp. 1-43); waughray (2013, pp. 23-29); keer, (1971, pp. 1-4). 2south africa, to make right to equality more accessible, has created special courts, called equality courts, designed to be accessible to all south africans. these courts hear cases relating to unfair discrimination, harassment, and hate speech (botha & kok, 2019). hate speech against dalits on social media: would a penny 79 section 103 of the promotion of equality and prevention of unfair discrimination act, 2000 (ibid, p. 52). would a caste-based slur against dalits be punishable under indian law similarly? figure 1: a meme on a social network platform mocking dalits by portraying the dalit community as impure. source: retrieved <2020, october 18> https://www. reddit.com/r/bakchodi/comments/5n3qir/dalit_meme_ xpostrdsmofficial/. figure 2: a similar meme as fig. 1 (on a facebook page which believes in the ideology that brahmins are superior to other castes) source: brahmanical supremacy memes. (2018, november 22). retrieved <2020, october 18> https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=256941 344983455&id=170576786953245. this article analyzes the indian caste-based hate speech law from an international legal perspective. while comparing indian ‘caste-based hate speech’ law with international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (icerd), this article attempts to answer two principle questions: (i) whether caste based hate speech ought to be regulated only when there is incitement to violence or hatred, or it can also be regulated when it violates the right to dignity of a marginalized community; and (ii) whether hate speech should also be prosecuted when it is directed against an entire community, as opposed to being directed against particular individuals. the next section discusses the indian law in relation to caste-based hate speech. case law precedent: hate speech on facebook in 2017, the high court of delhi dealt with a case where the complainant had filed a complaint alleging that the accused had continuously harassed her by abusing her caste on facebook, i.e., the accused boasted that she belonged to the rajput community and claimed that persons belonging to dhobi community have no standard of living 3section 10(1) provides: no person may publish . . . words based on one or more of the 10 prohibited grounds against any person that could reasonably be construed to demonstrate a clear intention to a) be hurtful; b) be harmful or to incite harm and c) promote or propagate hatred. it may be noted that this section was recently held to be unconstitutional for being vague by the supreme court of appeal of south africa in qwelane v. south african human rights commission (2020). this section has been re-worded in the aforesaid judgment to align it with the right of freedom of speech. 80 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 as ‘they are cheap people’ (gayatri v. state, 2017, para 4). the complaint had been filed under section 3(1)(x)4 of the atrocities act, 1989, which punishes a person who ‘intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe’ [emphasis added]. the high court of delhi noted that section 3(1)(x) requires that the offending statement must be directed against an individual member of sc / st, and if a statement, instead of being directed against a specific member, is directed against the community as a whole, it would not amount to an offence under section 3(1)(x) (ibid, para 3738). therefore, since in the present case, the offending statement was not directed against an individual, and was instead directed against the entire dhobi community, no offence under section 3(1)(x) was held to be made out (ibid; see also d.p. vats v. state, 2002, para 9). when the aforesaid case was filed, the 2016 amendment act had not come into effect which introduced a provision, section 3(1)(u), to punish hate speech against the sc / st community as a group, as opposed to merely punishing hate speech against an individual member. however, as discussed next, the standard of proof under section 3(1)(u), which applies to group based hate speech, appears to be completely different from the standard of proof under section 3(1)(r) (erstwhile section 3(1)(x)), which applies to hate speech directed at an individual. punishing hate speech: violation of dignity versus threat to public order broadly, there are two categories of hate speech laws, one which protect human dignity, and the other which safeguard threat to public order.5 countries like united kingdom, northern ireland, israel and australia have drafted their hate speech laws to safeguard public order (coliver, 1992, p. 366). for instance, in uk, an insulting speech is punishable only when it has been made to ‘stir up racial hatred’ (1986 public order act (uk) s. 18(1)(a); see also ibid, p. 367). on the other hand, the underlying object of hate speech laws of certain countries like canada, denmark, germany, and the netherlands is to protect human dignity (coliver, 1992, p. 363). considering the aforesaid distinction, this section will analyze the different scope and purpose of section 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(u) of the atrocities act, 1989. 4in july 2015, when the aforesaid complaint was filed, section 3(1)(x) was in force. however, section 3(1) has been substituted by the amendment act of 2016 with effect from 26 january 2016. pursuant to the said amendment, section 3(1)(x) has become section 3(1)(r); however, the wording of the provision has remained the same. 5for a definition of ‘public order’ developed by indian courts, see brij bhushan v. the state of delhi, 1950; romesh thappar v. the state of madras, 1950; in the superintendent, central prison, fatehgarh v. ram manohar lohia, 1960; arun ghosh v. state of west bengal, 1970; kishori mohan bera v. the state of west bengal, 1972; naripada v. state of west bengal, 1973; commissioner of police v. c. anita (smt.), 2004. in india, the term ‘public order’ has been defined by courts to mean a sense of public peace, safety and tranquility. it is something more than ordinary maintenance of law and order. more specifically, “[w]hile the expression ‘law and order’ is wider in scope in as much as contravention of law always affects order, ‘public order’ has a narrower ambit, and public order could be affected by only such contravention which affects the community or the public at large.” (commissioner of police v. c. anita (smt.), 2004, para 7). hate speech against dalits on social media: would a penny 81 section 3(1)(r) (erstwhile section 3(1)(x)) has been interpreted by the courts in india as protecting the right to dignity of the sc / st community (swaran singh v. state, 2008, para 22, 29; naval, 2001, p. 83). therefore, once the victim proves that he/she was intentionally humiliated in public view for the reason that the victim belongs to sc/st community, there is no additional ingredient requiring proof of disturbance of public order due to the said insulting speech (see daya bhatnagar v. state, 2004, para 15). to illustrate, it has been held that use of the term chamaar ‘in a derogatory sense to insult or humiliate a member of sc / st’ would be punishable under section 3(1)(x) (swaran singh v. state, 2008, para 30). on the other hand, section 3(1)(u), which applies to hate speech targeted against dalits as a group, is differently worded as compared to section 3(1)(r) (erstwhile section 3(1)(x)). while section 3(1)(r) punishes intentional insult or intimidation of a member of sc / st community, section 3(1)(u) punishes promotion of ‘feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will against members of the scheduled castes or the scheduled tribes’ [emphasis added] (atrocities amendment act, 2016, s. 4(i)). at first glance, the phrase ‘enmity, hatred or ill-will’ appears to be sufficiently broad to cover situations pertaining to violation of dignity and intentional humiliation of members of sc / st community. however, before such a conclusion can be reached, it is imperative to first scrutinize the jurisprudence interpreting this phrase. the phrase ‘enmity, hatred or ill-will’ in section 3(1)(u), atrocities act, 1989 has been borrowed from various other provisions of criminal law in india, for example, section 153a and 505 (2) of indian penal code, 1860 (ipc).6 in relation to the said provisions, this phrase has been interpreted in a restrictive manner by the courts of india in order to balance it with freedom of expression (see manzar sayeed khan v. state of maharashtra, 2007, para 16, balwant singh v. state of punjab, 1995, para 9). to illustrate, it has been held by the supreme court of india that: in our opinion only where the written or spoken words have the tendency or intention of creating public disorder or disturbance of law and order or affect public tranquility, that the law needs to step in to present such an activity . . . the intention to cause disorder or incite people to violence is the sine qua non of the offence under section 153a ipc. [emphasis added] (balwant singh v. state of punjab, 1995, para 9). moreover, when the constitutionality of section 153a, ipc was challenged in the bombay high court, it noted that the acts causing enmity, hatred or ill-will are ‘clearly calculated to disturb public order, and so the limitations imposed by section 153a are in the interests of public order’; and it was accordingly held that the said actions are clearly within the scope of permissible legislative restrictions on the fundamental right of freedom of expression (gopal vinayak godse v. union of india, 1969, para 60). accordingly, it is evident that the courts in india have held that the phrase ‘enmity, hatred or ill-will’ is actionable only when it is coupled with an ‘intention to cause disorder or incite people to violence’ (ibid).7 6for an understanding of the scope of section 153a and 505 (2), see arun et al. (2018, pp. 2531); david (1997, pp. 211-214). 7this position of law has been re-iterated by the supreme court of india recently in the following words: [p]enal action would be justified when the speech proceeds beyond and is of the nature which defames, stigmatizes and insults the targeted group provoking violence or psychosocial 82 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 based on the aforesaid interpretation, it appears that section 3(1)(u) of the atrocities act, 1989, introduced vide the 2016 amendment, will apply in only those situations where an offending statement poses a threat to public order. accordingly, online hate speech, targeted at the sc / st community in general, which is meant to violate the dignity of the sc / st community but does not pose a threat to public order, will not fall foul of section 3(1)(u). the next section of this article will analyze whether there is an international obligation on india to prosecute statements which are meant to violate the right to dignity of dalits as a community. international law-icerd: applicability to dalits the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (icerd) was adopted by the united nations general assembly in 1965 and entered into force in 1969 (icerd; shirane, 2011, p. 1). icerd defines ‘racial discrimination’ in terms of five parameters, i.e., race, colour, descent, and national or ethnic origin (icerd art.1, para1; shirane, 2011, p. 2). the committee on the elimination of racial discrimination (cerd) has clarified twice that caste-based discrimination is a form of racial discrimination, since it is covered within the scope of ‘descent’ (waughray, 2010). the first such affirmation came in 1996, when cerd, in its concluding observations on india’s periodic report in 1996, stated that ‘the term “descent” . . . does not solely refer to race [and] that the situation of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes falls within the scope of the convention’ (the united nations, 1996a, para 352). in 2002, this statement was reiterated in the form of a general recommendation8 wherein it was affirmed that ‘discrimination based on “descent” includes discrimination . . . based on forms of social stratification such as caste and analogous systems of inherited status’ (cerd, 2002). analysis of india’s stand on applicability of icerd to caste-based discrimination as opposed to cerd’s stance, india has taken a stance internationally that caste-based discrimination is not covered within the scope of racial discrimination under icerd. while india has accepted that caste is based on descent, since people are normally born into a particular caste, it has maintained that ‘descent’ in icerd clearly refers to ‘race’, which is different from caste (the united nations, 1996b, para 7). to support this position, mr. swashpawan singh, india’s delegate at the 1996 cerd session, made the following arguments: i. while ‘the indian representatives before the committee belonged to separate castes, their racial identification was the same’ (the united nations, 1996c, para 38); ii. ‘[d]escent was not always traceable through caste as, for instance, in the case of a change of caste through inter-caste marriage’ (ibid, para 39); hatred. the ‘content’ should reflect hate which tends to vilify, humiliate and incite hatred or violence against the target group based upon identity of the group beyond and besides the subject matter. [emphasis added] (amish devgan v. union of india, 2020, para 65) 8the terms ‘general recommendation’ and ‘general comment’ are used interchangeably in international law. for a brief understanding about the meaning of general comments/ recommendations, see keller & grover (2012, pp. 116-198). hate speech against dalits on social media: would a penny 83 iii. ‘concept of “race” in india as recognized under the constitution was distinct from caste [and] separate references to the two made it clear that caste was not equated with race’ (ibid, para 37). these arguments have been discussed as follows. first, racial, or biological identification is not the only criterion for a particular group to be included within the scope of icerd. domestic courts in various countries, which are signatories to icerd, have held that ‘racial discrimination’ ought not to be interpreted restrictively in strictly biological or racial terms. for instance, in united kingdom (uk), as early as 1983, the house of lords had recognized sikhs to be a distinct group based on ‘ethnic origins’9 even though they were not biologically distinguishable from other people living in punjab (mandla v. dowell-lee, 1983, p. 7; farkas, 2017, p. 74). the court further noted that ‘ethnic origin’ (one of the grounds of racial discrimination) must be recognized in a broad cultural/ historic sense, and not on biological distinction merely (mandla v. dowell-lee, 1983, p. 5). moreover, cerd, in addition to asserting that ‘descent’ does not solely refer to race, has further iterated that icerd is a living instrument and it must be ‘applied taking into account the circumstances of contemporary society’ (cerd, 2009; stephen hagan v. australia, 2003, para 7.2-7.3; keane, 2020, pp. 237-240; waughray, 2013, p. 136). therefore, icerd must not be interpreted in a restrictive manner as maintained by india. in fact, domestic courts in uk, through purposive interpretation, have accepted ‘ethnic origin’ to be wide enough to include caste, in order to ensure compliance with uk’s international obligations under icerd (tirkey v. chandok, 2013, para 51, 52). the second argument related to difficulty in tracing descent through caste in case of an inter-caste marriage also appears to be misconceived. two issues may exist in relation to an inter-caste marriage: (i) if a dalit woman marries an upper-caste man, what would be the effect on her caste status post such marriage? (ii) what would be the status of a person, one of whose parents belongs to the sc / st community, and the other does not? with respect to the first issue, the bombay high court has held that a member of sc / st ‘has to suffer from disadvantages, disabilities and indignities’ merely by virtue of birth in a particular caste and the said caste label continues notwithstanding marriage with a forward caste person (rajendra shrivastava v. state of maharashtra, 2010, para 12; see also v.v. giri v. d. suri dora, 1959, para 23). therefore, it is a settled position of law that caste is acquired by descent and does not change by virtue of an inter-caste marriage. moving on, with respect to the second issue, the supreme court has held that normally in an inter-caste marriage, there is a presumption that the child has the caste of the father (rameshbhai dabhai naika v. state of gujarat, 2012, para 55). however, ultimately, it is a question of fact and the child can lead evidence to show that ‘he / she was brought up by the mother who belonged to sc / st’ (ibid). therefore, supreme court has clarified all issues with respect to traceability of caste in an inter-caste marriage. moreover, it is evident that courts in india are already dealing with these issues, and there is no additional legal difficulty which will arise by recognizing caste as an aspect of ‘racial discrimination’, as claimed by the indian delegation. 9‘ethnic origin’ was defined in this case to be based on cultural and historical factors (and not biological factors): (1) a long shared history of which the group is conscious as distinguishing it from other groups, and the memory of which it keeps alive (2) a cultural tradition of its own, including family and social customs and manners, often but not necessarily associated with religious observance. (mandla v. dowell-lee, 1983, 562d-h). 84 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 the indian delegation’s third contention was that separate references to ‘race’ and ‘caste’ in the indian constitution made it clear that caste was not equated with race in the country. however, as per the settled position of international law, as recognized under vienna convention on the law of treaties (vclt), india cannot invoke the provisions of its domestic law as an excuse to not perform its obligations under icerd (the united nations, 1969, art. 27; villiger, 2009, pp. 370-373). it is a generally accepted principle of international law that the provisions of municipal law cannot be taken as an excuse to not perform the treaty obligations (ibid). therefore, the distinction between ‘caste’ and ‘race’ under the indian constitution cannot be taken as an excuse by india to restrict the scope of ‘racial discrimination’ as defined under icerd. dr. david keane: scope of ‘descent’ in addition to analyzing the stance of indian delegation with respect to caste, it will be useful to discuss the analysis done by dr. david keane (2005), a prominent human rights scholar, in his published work on this issue. based on the reasons highlighted below, dr. keane has argued that ‘caste’ should not be covered within the scope of ‘descent’. he first notes that ‘descent’ was introduced in icerd at india’s behest to address the objections raised over the meaning of ‘national origin’10 (ibid, p.106). he further notes that apart from this background, there is hardly any discussion regarding the significance and scope of ‘descent’ in the travaux préparatoires (ibid, p.108). in light of this, he argues that since ‘descent’ was included in icerd at the behest of india, indian delegation would have certainly made a reference to ‘caste’ while introducing ‘descent’, if they intended ‘caste’ to be included within the scope of ‘descent’(ibid). in addition to the aforesaid argument, dr. keane further argues that the existence of ‘descent’ in article 16(2) of constitution of india as a prohibited ground of discrimination, in addition to and separate from ‘caste’, makes it evident that india did not intend to include ‘caste’ within the scope of icerd, since india only introduced ‘descent’ as a ground of racial discrimination, but not ‘caste’ (ibid, pp. 110-114). while the aforesaid analysis does raise some doubts with respect to the inclusion of ‘caste’ within the scope of ‘descent’ under icerd, there is another way to examine this issue. in his work, dr. keane has referred to two kinds of ‘supplementary means of interpretation’11 to interpret the scope of ‘descent’: (i) negotiation records of icerd; (ii) internal document of a negotiating party, i.e. the constitution of india (keane, 2005, pp. 105-114). these documents are discussed as follows. with respect to the use of an internal document of a negotiating party as a supplementary means of interpretation, it is a settled position of law that all the treaty parties concerned must be aware of the said document, if it is to be invoked in respect of a treaty’s interpretation (villiger, 2009, p. 446). in case of lack of awareness about 10the amendment to article 1(1) was introduced by mr. k.c. pant during 1299th meeting of unga’s third committee on 11 october 1965. the official un records capture the said event in the following manner: ‘introducing his delegation’s amendments (a/c.3/l.1216), he explained that the first one, relating to article i, was intended to meet the objections raised by many delegations to the words “national origin”.’ [emphasis added] (the united nations, 1965a, para 29). 11in international law, in a situation where literal interpretation does not lead to a clear result and leaves the meaning ambiguous or obscure, article 32 of vclt allows resort to supplementary means of treaty interpretation to determine the true meaning of a term (the united nations, 1969, art. 32). hate speech against dalits on social media: would a penny 85 the internal document of a negotiating party, the said document cannot be relied upon as a supplementary means of interpretation, since it merely reflects the ‘unilateral intent of one party to the negotiations rather than the common intent of all . . . parties’ (see canfor corporation v. the usa, 2004, para 19). pertinently, while a scrutiny of the drafting history of the constitution of india suggests that the concept of ‘descent’ is separate from ‘caste’ in the indian constitution,12 the said distinction was not elaborated upon when india introduced ‘descent’ as a ground of racial discrimination under icerd. while k.c. pant, who was part of indian delegation when india introduced ‘descent’ in icerd, did refer to articles 15, 16, and 17 of the constitution of india, he did so merely to highlight that all forms of discrimination were prohibited in india, and there was no explanation given by him to explain the scope of ‘descent’ under indian constitution (the united nations, 1965a, para 28). in fact, dr. keane (2005) himself notes that ‘the significance of the introduction of the word ‘descent’. . . was never alluded to in the debate’ (p. 108). accordingly, the internal document of india, i.e. the constitution of india, which creates a distinction between ‘descent’ and ‘caste’, cannot be relied upon as a supplementary means of interpretation, since it only indicates india’s unilateral intent to treat ‘descent’ separately from ‘caste’, rather than the common intent of all parties. moving on to the next supplementary means of interpretation, i.e. the negotiation records of icerd, it is indeed true that ‘caste’ was not mentioned in relation to discussions around article 1(1), which defines ‘racial discrimination’ (keane, 2005, p. 108). however, ‘caste’ was mentioned by an indian delegate during the drafting negotiations around articles 1(4) and 2(2), which were proposed to be inserted to allow temporary special measures for the development of certain racial groups (the united nations, 1965b, para 24-25). it is difficult to imagine why india would want to request for allowing special provisions for sc / st community if they were otherwise not covered within the scope of icerd. moreover, while it has been argued by dr. keane that there is no indication in the negotiation records to point towards the inclusion of ‘caste’ within the scope of ‘descent’, the converse is also equally true, i.e., there is no indication in the negotiation records to point towards the exclusion of ‘caste’ from the purview of ‘descent’. the negotiation records are silent either way, and it is difficult to infer the scope of ‘descent’ from the same. significance of cerd general recommendations based on the aforesaid discussion, it is evident that icerd’s travaux préparatoires do not provide much information about the intended scope of ‘descent’. however, just because there is ambiguity arising from the reading of travaux préparatoires, ‘descent’ cannot be left to have no meaning at all in icerd.13 a fundamental principle of treaty interpretation is based on the latin maxim ut res magis valeat quam pereat (the principle of effectiveness), which requires that treaty interpreters must give meaning and effect 12the drafting history of article 15 and 16 of the constitution of india indicates that ‘descent’ was introduced as a separate ground from ‘caste’ in article 16 (see rao et al. (1967, vol. 2, pp. 289-290). see also keane (2005, pp. 110-114). for further context regarding the scope of ‘descent’ under indian constitution, see the discussion on amendment nos. 280, 282 and 279 in constituent assembly debates, vol. vii, http://164.100.47.194/loksabha/debates/ cadebatefiles/c29111948.html. [https://perma.cc/ft6n-p7bu]. 13dr. keane, after discussing the travaux préparatoires of icerd, cites some commentators who have opined that ‘descent’ may not have any particular meaning in article 1(1) of icerd since there is lack of clarity around the situations it was intended to cover (keane, 2005, p. 110). 86 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 to all the terms of a provision (us gasoline, 1996, p. 23; chile – price band, 2002, para 7.71; international commission of inquiry on darfur, 2005, para 494; georgia v. russian federation, 2011, para 133-134; dörr & schmalenbach, 2012, p. 35). based on the principle of effectiveness, an interpreter must not adopt a reading that would result in making a substantial part of a provision redundant. therefore, it is imperative to interpret article 1(1) of icerd in such a manner that all the terms of the article are given their maximum effect. once the travaux préparatoires fail to provide the true meaning of a provision, it becomes necessary to turn to other supplementary means to give effect to all the terms of the said provision. this is where the role of general recommendations passed by cerd becomes crucial. general comments/ recommendations have been accepted by various commentators to be authoritative interpretations of rights and duties contained in international treaties (craven, 1995, p. 91; scheinin, 1997, p. 444; dommen, 1998, p. 8; byrnes, 1988-1989, p. 216). there are various international documents where general comments have been stated to be authoritative in nature (mechlem, 2009, p. 930).14 in addition to being recognized as an authoritative interpretative source, general comments have also been understood to be a useful form of supplementary means of interpretation by international law association (ila) (ila interim report, 2002, p. 14; ila final report, 2004, pp. 5-6).15 therefore, general comments are a useful means of interpretation, especially when the meaning of a treaty provision is unclear after applying other sources of treaty interpretation. considering the aforesaid position of law, particular emphasis needs to be placed on cerd general recommendation 29, which, as highlighted earlier in this article, affirms that discrimination based on ‘descent’ includes discrimination based on ‘caste’ (cerd, 2002). in light of cerd’s position on caste based discrimination, domestic courts in uk, as highlighted above, have already accepted ‘caste’ to be covered within the scope of ‘ethnic origin’, to ensure compliance with uk’s international obligations under icerd (tirkey v. chandok, 2013, para 51, 52). consequently, considering the aforesaid discussion, india should also recognize ‘caste-based discrimination’ as a form of ‘racial discrimination’, by recognizing ‘caste’ within the scope of ‘descent’ or ‘ethnic origin’. icerd: case laws in relation to prohibition on dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred the previous section of this article has established that ‘caste’ is covered within the definition of ‘racial discrimination’ in icerd. accordingly, india’s legislation on caste-based discrimination is required to comply with icerd. 14for instance, the un commission on human rights has stated in one of its reports that: ‘the implementation . . . should be guided by general comment 12 . . . which was an authoritative legal interpretation clarifying the normative content of the right and the respective state obligations’ [emphasis added] (the united nations, 2001, para 14; see also the united nations, 2000, para 58). 15while there may be lack of clarity on the exact status of general comments as a source of interpretation, recent research on this subject has suggested that: [a]t a minimum, good faith interpretation . . . as required by article 31(1) of the vienna convention, obliges states parties to duly consider the content of general comments, as they are the product of a body established by states parties to interpret the covenant . . . (keller & grover, 2012, p. 129) hate speech against dalits on social media: would a penny 87 the next step is to find out whether there is any obligation under icerd to prosecute hate speech which is directed against an entire community (as opposed to individuals). the relevant provision in this regard is article 4(a), icerd which prescribes punishment for four categories of transgression: (i) dissemination of ideas based upon racial superiority or hatred; (ii) incitement to racial hatred; (iii) acts of violence against any race or group of persons of another colour or ethnic origin; and (iv) provision of any assistance to racist activities, including their financing (icerd art. 4, para (a); shirane, 2011, p. 8). two case laws related to article 4(a), icerd are relevant for the present discussion, which deal with the following two issues: (i) whether it is possible to prosecute racially discriminative statements under icerd directed against an entire community (and not against particular individuals); and (ii) whether there is a condition--precedent requiring ‘intention to cause disorder or incite people to violence’ for racially discriminative statements to be prosecuted under article 4(a), icerd. the jewish community of oslo et al. v. norway in the first case, brought before cerd by the leaders of jewish community in oslo (norway), the central issue at stake was whether the jewish community could claim protection against antisemitic speech under article 4, icerd (the jewish community of oslo et al. v. norway, 2005, para 3.2). brief facts of this case are that in 2000, a group (the bootboys) coordinated a march in remembrance of the nazi leader rudolf hess (ibid, para 2.1). the leader of the march praised adolf hitler and rudolf hess for their ‘brave attempt to save germany and europe from bolshevism and jewry during the second world war’ [emphasis added] (ibid). he further accused the jews of plundering and destroying norway by drying up the wealth of the country and disseminating ‘immoral and un-norwegian thoughts’ (ibid). when the matter was brought before cerd, the first issue was whether jewish organizations (and not individuals) could claim to be ‘victims’ within the purview of icerd (ibid, para 3.1-3.4). cerd categorically held that article 14 of icerd allows ‘groups of individuals’ to file complaints and there is no requirement that each individual within that group be individually a victim of an alleged violation (ibid, para 7.4). thus, the complaints filed by jewish groups/ organizations were found to be maintainable. what is important to note here is that in the jewish community of oslo et al. v. norway (2005), the offending speech was not directed against a particular individual. it was directed at the entire jewish community residing in norway. cerd noted that there is no requirement for individuals to be hurt personally. therefore, ‘group of individuals’ were found to be capable of filing a complaint under icerd, whenever there is a violation of article 4, icerd. however, in india, section 3(1)(r) of the atrocities act requires that the offending statement must be directed against an individual member of sc / st, and if a statement, instead of being directed against a specific member, is directed against the community as a whole, it would not amount to an offence. therefore, section 3(1)(r), atrocities act is in variance with the position of law under icerd. tbb–turkish union in berlin / brandenburg v. germany in the second case, the central issue was whether a racially discriminative statement, which was incapable of disturbing public peace or inciting racial hatred, is still 88 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 required to be punished in order to comply with article 4(a), icerd (tbb–turkish union in berlin / brandenburg v. germany, 2010, para 10.1-10.2). the case concerned an interview given by former finance senator of the berlin senate, mr thilo sarrazin, in a journal in which he made certain derogatory statements against the turkish population in germany, including stating that ‘70 percent of the turkish and 90 percent of the arab population in berlin’ does not do any work, lives off state resources, does not educate their children, and ‘constantly produces new little headscarf girls’ (ibid, para 2.1). when the matter was brought before cerd, the state party (germany) argued that in order to balance freedom of expression against the necessity to combat racism, it is necessary to assess whether the relevant act is capable of disturbing public peace (ibid, para 10.1-10.2). however, cerd opined that germany had erroneously focused on whether the offending statements were capable of disturbing public peace, since article 4, icerd did not have any such condition-precedent for prosecuting racially discriminative statements (ibid, para 12.8; senier, 2013, p. 893).16 thus, cerd has categorically opined that once a statement is found to be disseminating ideas of racial superiority, it ought to be prosecuted and there is no added requirement of proof of disturbance of public peace. based on the aforesaid decision, it can be concluded that section 3(1)(u), atrocities act, which requires ‘intention to cause disorder or incite people to violence’ as a condition-precedent for prosecuting hate speech against the sc / st community, is not in conformity with article 4(a), icerd. therefore, there is a need to interpret section 3(1)(u), atrocities act in such a manner that incitement to violence / hatred is not a requirement for prosecution of hate speech based on caste superiority. the following section analyzes whether prosecution of hate speech in absence of incitement to violence or hatred is against global freespeech standards. atrocities act: conflict with global free speech standards while the focus of this article is to compare the indian law on hate speech with icerd, this section briefly discusses free speech issues surrounding the prosecution of caste-based hate speech. in the previous section, it has been argued that there is a need to interpret atrocities act in consonance with article 4(a), icerd. it is evident that icerd prosecutes racially discriminative statements even in those scenarios where there is no incitement to hatred or violence. earlier in this article, it has been observed that while under section 3(1)(u), atrocities act, there is an additional ingredient requiring proof of incitement to hatred or violence, there is no such requirement under section 3(1)(r). 16cerd member carlos manuel va’zquez gave a dissenting opinion in this matter. with respect to the issue of requirement of disturbance of peace, va’zquez observed that article 4, icerd is “unusual . . . in referring to the penalization of speech without an express link to the possibility that such speech will incite hatred or violence or discrimination” (tbb dissenting opinion, para 5). he further opined that the absence of this link brings cerd in conflict with the udhr, and the said conflict was attempted to be resolved by inserting the “due regard” clause in article 4. considering the said “due regard” clause, va’zquez opined that there is a need to read ‘racial superiority’ narrowly, to safeguard the free exchange of opinions and ideas on matters of public concern (ibid). hate speech against dalits on social media: would a penny 89 similarly, if section 3(1)(u) is also interpreted to not require ‘incitement to hatred or violence’, would there be a potential conflict with free speech standards? by prosecuting statements intended to humiliate individuals belonging to sc / st community, without any consequent need to establish incitement to violence or hatred, section 3(1)(r), atrocities act has attracted the wrath of various advocates of free speech, who deem the said provision to be extremely broad (pen international, 2015, p. 31; human rights watch, 2016, pp. 68-69). human rights watch, in its 2016 report, stifling dissent: the criminalization of peaceful expression in india, stated that ‘disrespectful speech, or expression that promotes negative feelings, however offensive, is not the same as incitement to acts of hostility, discrimination, or violence, and as such should not be subject to criminal penalty’; thereby implying that a statement cannot amount to ‘hate speech’ unless there is incitement to acts of hostility, discrimination, or violence (p. 69). moreover, under international law, based on the cumulative reading of articles 19 and 20 of international covenant on civil and political rights, free speech advocates, like article 19 (a united kingdom-based organization that highlights issues related to free expression), also argue that right to freedom of expression must be restricted only when a statement constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence (article 19, 2012, pp. 21-22, 26). cerd: lower level of protection to racist hate speech as compared to other forms of free speech the aforesaid issue had cropped up during the drafting of article 4(a), icerd as well. one of the earlier drafts of article 4, icerd, proposed punishing only those acts of racial discrimination which led to ‘incitement to racial discrimination resulting in acts of violence as well as all acts of violence or incitement to such acts’ (the united nations, 1965c; partsch, 1992, p. 24). however, in one of the subsequent drafts, it was proposed to declare punishable ‘dissemination of ideas and doctrines based on racial superiority or hatred’ without regard to violence (the united nations, 1965d; partsch, 1992, p. 24). in light of some apprehensions that such a provision will adversely affect fundamental human rights, it was decided to insert the ‘due-regard’ clause which provided that state parties’ obligations under article 4 (including prosecuting dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority) are to be exercised ‘with due regard to the principles embodied in the universal declaration of human rights and the rights expressly set forth in article 5 of this convention’ (the united nations, 1965e; partsch, 1992, p. 24). now, while it is evident that the due-regard clause was inserted to balance freedom of expression and the right against racial discrimination, it is essential to keep in mind that icerd consciously moved away from the pre-condition of ‘incitement to violence’ for prosecuting acts of racial discrimination. over the years, cerd has re-iterated this stance. for instance, cerd’s general recommendation 15 unambiguously asserts that the prohibition of all ideas based upon racial superiority or hatred is compatible with the right to freedom of opinion and expression (cerd, 1993, para 4). the reason for the same is simple: freedom of speech, as enshrined in international conventions, is afforded lower protection when used for racist hate speech (the jewish community of oslo et al. v. norway, 2005, para 10.5). 90 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 racist hate speech: non-fulfillment of values of free speech the reason for providing lower level of protection to racist speech can be gathered from the published work of famous legal scholar and critical race theorist, richard delgado. in his famous work published in 1982, titled words that wound: a tort action for racial insults, epithets, and name-calling, delgado cited the following categories of free speech values and proceeded to showcase how racist speech does not possess or fulfill any of the said values: i. value 1: individual self-fulfillment / expression delgado argued that instead of being a form of self-expression, racial insult is essentially an attempt to injure by using words. further, it stifles, rather than furthers, the moral and social growth of the individual who harbors it (1982, pp. 175-176). ii. value 2: ascertainment of the truth delgado contended that since racial insults do not invite any discourse, they are not intended to inform or convince the listener. therefore, the free speech goal of attainment of truth and taking the best decisions on matters of interest to all is not possible through dissemination of racist speech (ibid, pp. 176-177). iii. value 3: securing participation of the members of society in social and political decision making delgado described racist hate speech as constituting ‘badges and incidents of slavery.’ he argued that instead of facilitating wide participation, racist speech helps in the creation of a graded society in which the right to express opinions is restricted to the dominant race (ibid, p. 178). iv. value 4: maintaining the balance between stability and change since suppression of speech can lead to rigidity in the society, it is important to ensure dissemination of ideas freely to ensure social change and justice is not delayed (ibid, p. 178). however, delgado argued that since racism excludes minorities from participating in the contemplation of public issues, it leaves the victims of racism demoralized and unable to fight for social change (ibid, p. 179). further, racist speech leads to creation of a system which is indifferent towards the plight of the victims of racism, thereby eliminating any chance of social change in favor of the victims of racism (ibid). in addition to showcasing that racist speech does not possess values of free speech, delgado has further aptly analyzed the negative ‘psychological, sociological, and political effects of racial insults’ (ibid, pp. 135-149). therefore, considering the aforesaid cogent reasons, lower level of protection afforded to racist hate speech cannot be faulted. racial discrimination and caste based discrimination: violation of dignity in addition to the reasons discussed above, recent research has recognized that racist hate speech undermines the dignity17 of its targets, thereby undermining the basic recognition which racial minorities are entitled to (waldron, j., 2012). it is imperative to remember that the right to dignity is a sacred right inherent in human beings. it has an important place in a democratic society. in fact, the german constitutional 17waldron argues that hate speech undermines ‘dignity’ of individuals. waldron defines dignity as people’s social and legal status which entitles them to be treated as equals in the ordinary operations of society. hate speech against dalits on social media: would a penny 91 court has held that human dignity cannot be balanced and must trump every other right available to human beings (oxford pro bono publico, 2012, p. 26; enders, 2018, pp. 25-26). further, the supreme court of india has held that right to dignity will trump freedom of speech when a work conveys no message but only amounts to ‘a disgusting combination of lewd acts and words whose only effect is to debase, insult, and ridicule the person portrayed’ (devidas ramachandra tuljapurkar v. state of maharashtra, 2015). therefore, since racist hate speech violates the right to dignity of racial minorities, and conveys no real message, it must be afforded a lower level of protection when compared to other forms of free speech. since caste-based hate speech is a form of racial discrimination (as discussed above), it is also liable to a lower level of protection as far as freedom of speech is concerned. it is pertinent to remember that the object behind the enactment of the atrocities act is to protect the right to dignity of the sc / st community (swaran singh v. state, 2008, para 22, 29; naval, 2001, p. 83). therefore, it is evident that the intent behind the atrocities act is to give primacy to the right to dignity of the dalits. moreover, delgado’s analysis with respect to negative psychological, sociological, and political effects of racial insults applies with equal force to caste-based discrimination (naval, 2001, pp. 5-9; subramanian, 2015; jadhav et al., 2016). being similarly placed with racial hate speech, caste-based hate speech needs to be prosecuted with equal force as racial hate speech. accordingly, it is incorrect to argue that section 3(1)(r), atrocities act violates global free speech standards. just as cerd does not require ‘incitement to hatred or violence’ as a pre-condition for prosecuting racial discrimination, section 3(1) (r), atrocities act is also justified in prosecuting caste-based discrimination without requiring ‘incitement to hatred or violence’. therefore, it can be concluded that free speech standards will not be violated if section 3(1)(u), atrocities act is interpreted to not require ‘incitement to hatred or violence’ as a precondition for prosecuting caste based hate speech directed towards the dalit community as a whole. conclusion the dalit community’s quest for dignity has spanned centuries with little progress. crimes against the dignity of dalits have only intensified with time. the latest tool to violate the dignity of dalits, online hate speech, can have severe negative psychological effect on dalits, if not regulated imminently. for instance, kenneth clark (1989) has observed, ‘[h]uman beings . . . whose daily experience tells them that almost nowhere in society are they respected and granted the ordinary dignity and courtesy accorded to others will, as a matter of course, begin to doubt their own worth’ (pp. 63-64). currently, casteist bigots have a free hand in using social media as a platform to humiliate dalits. for instance, the founder of online anti-caste platform ‘ambedkar’s caravan’ is regularly attacked by keyboard warriors through caste-based slurs. he has narrated his ordeal thus: ‘in the 10 years of running the anti-caste platform ambedkar’s caravan, i . . . have been called ch***r, gutter-cleaner . . .’ (attri, 2019). further, in a research report on online hate speech prepared by ‘equality labs’ (a south asian technology organization dedicated to ending caste apartheid), it has been highlighted that ‘indian casteist hate speech is part of an ecosystem of violence designed to shame, intimidate, and keep caste oppressed communities from asserting their rights . . .’ (soundararajan et al., 2019, p. 40). 92 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 there is an urgent need to regulate caste-based hate speech to ensure that every citizen can enjoy the same degree of dignity in india. sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(u), atrocities act are useful tools that can help in the effective regulation of caste-based hate speech on social media. however, the current wording of section 3(1)(u) seems to suggest that it will only prosecute hate speech if there is a threat to public order. such an interpretation of section 3(1)(u) will encourage an atmosphere where caste-based slurs, meant to humiliate the dalit community and violate their dignity, will continue to go unregulated. the primary reason for regulating caste-based slurs or hate speech directed at the dalit community ought to be the protection of right to dignity of the dalits, and not threat to public order. such a reading of section 3(1)(u), atrocities act will be in consonance with icerd which prosecutes dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority, without any need for consequent proof of threat to public order. this article has also highlighted that racist speech does not fulfill free speech values, and hence must be afforded a lower level of protection when compared to other forms of free speech. consequently, since caste-based discrimination is covered within the scope of icerd, caste-based hate speech must be treated at par with racial hate speech, thereby being provided a lower level of protection, just like racist hate speech. further, to guard against violation of free speech standards, indian courts can begin interpreting atrocities act in consonance with icerd, thereby punishing only those statements, which fall within the four categories of transgression provided in article 4(a), icerd. such an interpretation will ensure that 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(2010). caste discrimination and minority rights: the case of india’s dalits. international journal on minority and group rights, 17(2), 327–353. — (2013). capturing caste in law: the legal regulation of caste and caste-based discrimination. doctoral dissertation, university of liverpool. © 2022 shrinidhi narasimhan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. thought caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 31–48 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.356 between the global and regional: asia in the tamil buddhist imagination shrinidhi narasimhan1 abstract at the turn of the nineteenth century, madras became home to a movement that anticipated ambedkar’s turn to buddhism by nearly half a century. founded in 1898, the sakya buddhist society was led by iyothee thass (1845–1914) and became the first dalit buddhist revival of its kind in late colonial india. in this article, i explore the global dimensions of sakya buddhism through an intertextual reading of its journal, oru paica tamilan, and the work of asian buddhists like henry olcott and anagarika dharmapala who were associated with the movement. i argue that sakya buddhism’s historical imaginaire of dalits as indigenous buddhists intersected with the political concerns that drove asian buddhist revivalist movements in important ways. i also show that the movement created a distinctly tamil tradition of buddhism for dalits and attempted to reorient them towards the broader buddhist world even as they had a notionally marginal presence within this landscape. in doing so, i propose the category of ‘pararegional’ as a way of thinking about seemingly uneven or unidirectional interactions between different spatial scales such as ‘global’ and ‘regional.’ keywords iyothee thass, anticaste movements, dalit buddhism, colonial india, asia, global history introduction in the nineteenth century, british india and several parts of asia witnessed calls for the revival of buddhism in what was as much a religious endeavour as it was a political one. european imperialism had an important role to play in this development since cultural, intellectual, and political interactions within the asian buddhist world were 1teaching fellow, ashoka university email: shrinidhi.nn@gmail.com 32 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 not only shaped by established circuits of movement from premodern times but also by decidedly contemporaneous circumstances. modern-day buddhism is commonly understood to be a “cocreation of asians, europeans, and americans” and several scholars such as david mcmahan have argued that nineteenth century asian buddhist revival movements were premised on asian engagements with modernity and anticolonial contestations of european imperialism (mcmahan, 2009, p. 6). in japan, for instance, the fall of the tokugawa shogunate and the establishment of meiji rule in the mid-nineteenth century precipitated “the most violent suppression of buddhism in japanese history,” which compelled the buddhist community to turn to america, europe, and elsewhere in asia and look for ways of reconstructing a buddhism that would succeed under the new political regime (jaffe, 2019, p. 20). in ceylon, on the other hand, british imperialism and christian missionisation were the main catalysts for a buddhist revival. the absence of a buddhist ruler in ceylon since the removal of the last kandyan king by the british in the early nineteenth century contributed to the sense that buddhism had become weak on the island (blackburn, 2010, p. 143). in addition, the influence of christian missionaries and the persistence of caste-based divisions within buddhist nikayas provided further impetus for a sinhalese buddhist revival (amunugama, 2019, pp. 62–69; prothero, 1996, p. 95).1, 2 besides this, economic developments like the growth of new commercial networks and improvements in communication and transportation also influenced the nature of movement within the nineteenth century asian buddhist world. the contours of buddhist pilgrimage, for instance, were shaped by the development of transportation networks in important ways. in the nineteenth century, buddhist sites like sravasti, vaisali, and lumbini remained somewhat overlooked while other sites like bodh gaya and sarnath attracted large numbers of pilgrims from outside the subcontinent because of the easy access that railway lines provided to these places (d. f. ober, 2016, pp. 165–166). in effect, the idea that the modern buddhist world was shaped by “extensive interactions and interconnections across a variety of national, ethnic, cultural and colonial boundaries”has become historiographical common sense (turner et al., 2013, p. 2).3 in contrast, much of the existing scholarship on the modern buddhist revival in late colonial india has tended to overlook the broader global context that framed this revival. in social histories of anticaste politics, babasaheb ambedkar’s formal initiation into buddhism in 1956 is often taken to be the starting point of a flourishing dalit ‘neo-buddhism’ although this movement’s relationship with the broader 1 in this context, the sanskrit-pali term nikaya refers to a monastic order within the ceylonese or sri lankan buddhist clergy rather than the foundational collection of buddhist scripture known by the same name. 2 transliterations of all non-english words other than proper nouns are italicised. transliterations of tamil words, except commonly-used terms such as dravida, follow the madras lexicon. diacritics are completely omitted. 3 jaffe (2019, p. 67) theorises these interconnections as “complex global loops;” blackburn (2010, p. 210) uses the term “locative pluralism” to describe the multiple affiliations that asian buddhists navigated in the nineteenth century; mcmahan (2009, p. 6) argues that buddhist modernism was “not the exclusive product of one geographic or cultural setting.” between the global and regional: asia in the tamil buddhist imagination 33 landscape of asian buddhism has, with some exceptions (queen, 2002), scarcely received sustained scholarly attention. nearly half a century earlier, iyothee thass’s movement was similarly shaped by its interaction with asian and western interlocutors in a foundational period of global buddhist revival that laid the groundwork for ambedkar’s turn to buddhism in the mid-twentieth century. yet, iyothee thass’s movement remains relatively understudied and its global dimensions even further neglected in the historiography of anticaste politics and buddhism in modern india. this article adds to the small body of scholarship on iyothee thass and sakya buddhism by addressing two sets of historiography that have so far remained separate: first, the extensive body of literature on caste and anticaste thought in the tamil south and second, studies of asian and western buddhist revival in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. one of the key problematics of studying the global dimensions of a socially and culturally-rooted movement like sakya buddhism is that it occupied a marginal position in the landscape of asian buddhism within which it was located. this is because the sakya buddhist movement was resolutely tamil in its intellectual and social character so that even as it spread to other parts of the subcontinent and beyond, its membership and influence were limited to the tamil public sphere and the movement never acquired a ‘global’ or ‘translocal’ character in that sense. through a close reading of historical imaginaires produced by iyothee thass and his asian buddhist interlocutors, this article proposes the category of ‘pararegional’ as a way of understanding the seemingly uneven or unidirectional interactions between global and regional sociocultural spheres. to that end, the article begins with an overview of iyothee thass’s early life and his encounter with olcott to locate sakya buddhism within the asian buddhist world. as we will see, olcott’s pan-asian ambitions of buddhist revival shaped sakya buddhism in important ways. this is followed by an intertextual reading of iyothee thass’s work and his asian buddhist interlocutors whereby sakya buddhism’s embeddedness in the tamil print and public sphere is analysed in conjuncture with the movement’s interest in the world beyond the tamil south. the article concludes with a reflection on the category of ‘pararegional’ as a way of understanding the structure and extent of interactions between different spatial scales like ‘global’ and ‘regional.’ sakya buddhism in asia by the late nineteenth century, the social world of the tamil south was marked by the influence of colonial modernity. the east india company’s entrenchment in south india at the turn of the eighteenth century, visible not only in administrative and revenue arrangements but also in broader social and cultural changes, shaped the political sphere of this region in important ways. dalit labour and dalits themselves were at the heart of the colonial institutional edifice since the existence of a land surplus and the labour-intensive nature of crops cultivated in the tamil south made control over labour central to agrarian production (viswanath, 2014, p. 24). most agrarian labourers were almost exclusively drawn from untouchable castes so that 34 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 caste names like paraiyar and pallar were practically interchangeable with categories of agrarian labour such as patiyal and pannaiyal which indicated various kinds of wage classifications for landless peasants. in addition, their servitude was enforced through hereditary bondage agreements called al-ataimanam or man-mortgage, landlessness, violence, untouchability, and economic conditions like landlord monopoly over the means of production and an enforced lack of alternative work for dalit labourers (ibid., pp. 28–32). although landowners or mirasidars were frequently at odds with colonial officials and their drive to increase revenue demand, both these groups were dependent on the agrarian labour on which the accumulation of surplus was predicated and by extension, both were implicated in the enforced servitude of dalit labourers (irschick, 1994, pp. 135–141).4 iyothee thass emerged as an advocate for dalits within this social context in the 1870s, arguing that they were adi dravidas or original inhabitants of the land and ought to be counted as non-hindus in the census. not much is known about iyothee thass’s early life except that he was born in coimbatore as kathavarayan and took the name of his teacher before moving to the nilgiris region, where he practiced as a siddha physician for several decades.5 thass became politically active through his encounter with dalit communities during this time (aloysius, 1998, p. 50) and several key motifs of his political life are visible in these initial years, which dovetailed broader social, cultural, and political developments of this period. the influence of missionaries in the tamil south, for instance, provoked many well-known debates about untouchability and religious conversion in the tamil public sphere since castes like the paraiyars were among the first to embrace christianity (balachandran, 2008; viswanath, 2014, pp. 40–70). thass was evidently concerned with the question of dalit religious identity early on and founded a religious organisation in 1870 to oppose christian proselytisation and explore the emancipatory possibilities of hinduism for caste subalterns. he was also involved in the emergent print culture of the tamil south through the periodical dravida pantiyan, which he founded a few years before establishing the dravida mahajana sabha in 1891 as a political platform for paraiyars. thass’s early engagement with print culture and with questions of religious identity and political representation became central to the buddhist revival that he later went on to lead. his initial turn to buddhism, however, was occasioned by a chance encounter with henry olcott when he helped to organise the first olcott panchama schools that had started to provide free education to madras’s dalit children from the 1890s (aloysius, 1998, pp. 54–55). popularly known as ‘the white buddhist,’ olcott was an american journalist and lawyer who briefly served in the us military during the american civil war. his interest in buddhism, hinduism, and occult practices brought him from new york to bombay in 1879 and to madras the following year, where he established the headquarters of the theosophical society along with helena blavatsky. from 4 i use dalit caste names like paraiyar only for the sake of historical specificity and like rupa viswanath (2014, pp. xi–xii), prefer the term dalit when writing in my own voice. 5 the sanskrit-tamil term siddha here refers to a traditional system of medicine with origins in ancient south india. see weiss, 2009. between the global and regional: asia in the tamil buddhist imagination 35 the beginning, olcott cast a wide net in his search for allies who would champion a buddhist revival and his visits to ceylon and japan cemented his position as a leading interlocutor for buddhism in asia and the west. stephen prothero (1996, p. 97) notes that olcott left as a “folk hero” after his first tour of ceylon in 1880, a trip during which he formally became buddhist, met leading ceylonese monks, delivered lectures, and established the buddhist theosophical society as well as numerous buddhist schools. the following year, olcott published a text called “the buddhist catechism” that brought him recognition as an authoritative interpreter of buddhism, so much so that the theosophical society’s journal reported a few months later that the book was not only cited by a lawyer in court but also accepted by the presiding judge in a dispute concerning the possession of a temple in ceylon (‘buddhist catechism a note’, 1881, p. 24).6 a few years later, olcott was invited to japan by lay buddhist notables who wanted him to “come and do for buddhism in japan the same thing which he has done for buddhism in ceylon” (‘off to japan’, 1889, p. 265). he was accompanied on this trip by the young sinhalese monk anagarika dharmapala, who went on to become the father of anticolonialism and buddhist revival in ceylon. olcott’s tour of japan was important for several reasons, not least because he announced his ambition to bring together theravada and mahayana buddhism under his campaign for a “united buddhist world.” even more significantly, he laid down a decisive vision for buddhism’s role on the world stage at a public meeting in kyoto: we have these two things to do. in buddhist countries, to revive our religion... and then, it is our duty as taught us by lord buddha himself to send teachers and preachers to distant lands, such as europe and america, to tell the millions now disbelieving christianity...[that they will] satisfy their heart in buddhism. if i can persuade you to join your hands with your brothers in ceylon and elsewhere, i shall think i am seeing the dawn of a more glorious day for buddhism. (‘the president’s japanese tour’, 1889, p. lxiv–lxv). olcott’s call for pan-asian buddhist solidarity shaped iyothee thass’s project of buddhist revival from the very beginning. when thass wrote to olcott asking for his support to establish a buddhist society in madras, for instance, the latter responded by inviting anagarika dharmapala and the japanese monk kenzo gunaratne to preside over a public meeting where the dalits’ claim to an ancient buddhist past was presented in an open petition. as olcott (1898) wrote in the theosophical society’s journal, “they were convinced, from a study of tamil literature, that their ancestors were of the dravidian race and buddhist...their earnest wish now was to revert to it, and they looked to me, as a friend of the wretched, to tell them what to do and help them to make the start.” olcott then forwarded the petition to leaders of the ceylonese buddhist sangha and arranged for thass and p. krishnaswamy, a teacher in the first olcott free school, to travel to ceylon as representatives of tamil dalits. while there, 6 prothero (1996, p. 101) also notes that the buddhist catechism went through forty editions and was translated into more than twenty languages and is still used in sri lankan schools. 36 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 both thass and krishnaswamy took the pancasila or five precepts in a ceremony that marked their formal initiation into buddhism. they spent a few days meeting with senior monks in colombo and kandy before returning to madras and establishing the sakya buddhist society in 1898 (aloysius, 1998, pp. 51–53). from its inception, therefore, sakya buddhism was in contact with a network of buddhist figures, practices, and ideas from different parts of asia and this shaped the movement’s intellectual character in crucial ways. reading sakya buddhism much of what we know about sakya buddhism comes from the periodical oru paica tamilan which was published by thass from 1907 onwards. tamilan is perhaps one of the few tamil dalit journals from the colonial period to have survived, mostly through personal collections that have not fully made their way into institutional or state archives. this is quite remarkable since as many as forty-two tamil journals were published by dalits between 1850 and 1947 (balasubramaniam, 2020), which points to a history of material and historiographical erasure as well as the ability of anticaste radicals to appropriate print culture for their own political ends. for instance, the establishment of fort st. george as the seat of british control in south india led to the development of the ‘madras school of orientalism’ which contributed to the “systematic recovery, publication, and public recognition” of classical tamil literature as tamil became a subject of study in emerging disciplines like philology, history, and archaeology (ebeling, 2010, p. 22; trautmann, 2009). not only did this allow thass to articulate a critique of the principles of caste embedded in classical religious texts but he was also able to reread the canon creatively and construct a distinctively tamil buddhist tradition for dalits. in effect, sakya buddhism’s appropriation of print culture to intervene in the tamil public sphere meant that this sphere in turn shaped the movement’s fundamentally tamil character. anticaste engagements with print are immensely important for several reasons: first, they contest the dominance of caste hindus and other elites in print culture and second, they not only offer vital critiques of caste but also unsettle other dominant constructs such as nation, class, and patriarchy in a colonial context where these were often central to anticolonial mobilisation. in keeping with the vast body of literature on dalit vernacular and print cultures in colonial india, iyothee thass’s engagement with the print medium and his marked preference for print journalism rather than the book have been studied extensively for its role in the creation of an anticaste readerly public (aloysius, 2011; jayanth, 2019; kandasamy, 2008; leonard, 2017, 2021). yet much of the scholarship on sakya buddhism carries an overwhelming and narrow focus on its location within the tamil print and public sphere. for instance, g. aloysius’s (1998, passim.) account of sakya buddhism takes note of the movement’s interest in, and interaction with, the asian buddhist world but makes no attempts to theorise these connections in a systematic way. the rich body of scholarship and commentary on sakya buddhism published in tamil over the last two decades has similarly neglected its interaction with the asian buddhist world, instead analysing the movement through between the global and regional: asia in the tamil buddhist imagination 37 familiar themes of caste, colonial rule, and nationalism (ponnovium, 1999) or engaging in a hermeneutic reading of iyothee thass’s work through the frameworks of textual studies and political theory (dharmaraj, 2019; gauthaman, 1993, 2021; rajangam, 2008). in somewhat of an exception to this trend, gajendran ayyathurai (2011, p. 216) does note that thass’s understanding of buddhism was “transnational” and revealed “an openness to other ‘nations’ and cultures” but he does not delineate the nature, structure, or extent of this transnational aspect of sakya buddhism. this is also true of several other studies that detail the translocal and global engagements of movements like sakya buddhism but do not offer a theoretical account of how these engagements were structured and what we may learn about the nature of interactions between global and regional spheres through them (ayyathurai, 2020; balasubramaniam, 2016; gauthaman, 2004). as we have seen, sakya buddhism was oriented towards a broader world beyond the tamil south even as it remained grounded in the tamil cultural context and this fine balance between its global engagements and regional embeddedness is especially evident in the movement’s intellectual project, which we will now consider. much like the political circumstances of its formation, sakya buddhism’s interpretation of the caste question was global in scope even in the initial period of its existence. take, for instance, this essay titled “mockery of the poor” (elaikalin ekkalattoni) published in tamilan in 1909: in the world’s eyes, the poor in the populations of many continents (parpala kantankalilulla makkalul elaikal) are lazy, lacking in intelligence, and uninterested in learning, and so wander around in poverty. in this country where the dharma of indra, that is buddha, has flourished, the indigenous people (purvakutikal) who followed indra’s dharma have become impoverished despite being industrious and having skill, intelligence, and zeal…the intelligentsia and the elite pay no heed to the poor of this country, just as in other continents (marrakantankalilulla elaikalaippol)…[but] in this country, those who keep caste are honourable, and the casteless buddhists who toil are poor, and they [the buddhist dalits] are oppressed under the deceitful garb of caste and the duplicitous clamour of religion each day. (thass, 1999, pp. 592–594) the idea that untouchability came to be institutionalised and dalits were enslaved because of their affiliation with buddhism in the context of the buddha’s contestation of brahmanism in the early historical period is well-known in the anticaste tradition, most famously iterated by ambedkar (1948, reproduced in moon, 1979, vol. 7, pp. 311–355) four decades later. departing from ambedkar’s emphasis on the role of beef consumption in the institutionalisation of untouchability, thass contended that dalits were an indigenous people of buddhist faith who were deceitfully defeated by aryan brahmins in the course of their invasion of ancient south india and thereafter enslaved as untouchables. the idea of dalits as indigenous dravidians (purvakutikal) clearly owed much to racial theories of difference between ‘aryans’ and ‘dravidians’ popularised by famous madras orientalists, as ayyathurai (2011, p. 48) has noted. but more importantly, the dalit claim to indigeneity served to underscore their alienation 38 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 from land in the predominantly agrarian context of dalit servitude in the nineteenth and early twentieth century tamil south, as we have seen. further, the spatial coordinates of thass’s anticaste critique were evidently global in their very conception so that the peculiarly indian institution of caste was not just a question of social and political salience within india but a crucial and shameful marker of difference between india and the rest of the world. thass’s historical imaginaire therefore weaves a narrative that speaks to the specific and regionally-rooted conditions of marginalisation experienced by dalits in the tamil south while also contextualising that marginalisation in a global frame. in extending its conception of the dalit buddhist past to a global frame of reference, sakya buddhism converged with asian buddhist revival impulses in important ways. take, for instance, the following excerpt from one of thass’s most prominent texts, “a history of indra’s country” (intira teca carittiram), a serialised account of india’s past that appeared in the columns of tamilan between 1910 and 1911: in the past, this country was also called the subcontinent of bharat because in antiquity, the people of this country celebrated prince siddharta as the propitious one...the country that celebrated him [thus] was named north and south india…throughout north india (vatayinitiyamennum), and from central asia (aciya mattiya kantamutal) to the farthest end of south india (tenintiya kataikoti varai), buddhist rulers endowed buddhist sanghas, disseminated the true dharma, instituted justice, ruled with kindness, saved other rulers from ruin as one of their own, and extended peace and goodwill to halt the growth of endless conflict…(ka. ayottitasa pantitar cintanaikal, 1999, pp. 15–23) m.s.s. pandian (2007, p. 109) has noted that thass’s readings of the past were marked by “ingenious and idiosyncratic interpretation of etymology, and remarkable flights of imagination,” and nowhere is this more evident than in this text. thass consistently uses chronological phrases like “in the past” (purvam) and “in antiquity” (atiyil) which, as sumathi ramaswamy (2000, p. 582) notes, mark “fantasy’s resistance to a time-conscious disciplinary history.” thass then claims a buddhist provenance for india by suggesting that the buddha was known as indra (intirar), from which the land of his birth (intiya) and its people (intiyarkal) derive their name, because he conquered the five senses (aimporikalai venra tirattal). similarly, the play on the word varatar (divine or propitious one) to suggest a buddhist genealogy for india (paratam) at once writes dalits back into the origin myth of the country. ancient india as intira tecam therefore appears here as a casteless buddhist land to which dalits can claim primeval ties of belonging and emerge as agentive historical subjects. much of this is a familiar line of reasoning in critiques of caste and hinduism (ramaswamy, 1997, pp. 24–34) but where this text breaks new ground is in its distinctly tamil genealogy of dalit buddhism and its simultaneous conception of buddhism as a world religion. this is especially notable in light of ambedkar’s foundational text, “the buddha and his dhamma,” which does not mention the spread or presence of buddhism outside the subcontinent and only makes one tangential reference to ceylon and burma while taking note of diverse interpretations of ahimsa within buddhism between the global and regional: asia in the tamil buddhist imagination 39 (ambedkar, 1957, reproduced in moon, 1979, vol. 11, p. 345). sakya buddhism, in contrast, evinces a keen sense of geography in its historical imaginaire so that it conceives of buddhism as a world religion and delineates buddhism’s global presence by naming particular continents (kantam) and realms or countries (tecam, natu). the use of these precise spatial markers is interesting, not because it speaks to a period in which it is natural to read nations and nationalisms back into the past but because it creates a world-historical role for ancient buddhist india that explains the distinct nature of india’s caste-induced impoverishment compared to the rest of the world. this implicit distinction between india and the rest of the world was important in the nineteenth century because it informed the asian buddhist world’s interest in the revival of indian buddhism and formed the basis of sakya buddhism’s continuous contact with asian buddhist figures. sakya buddhism’s deliberate deployment of this distinction and by extension, its participation in the broader revivalist discourse of this period, is evident in the fact that it articulated buddhism’s appeal not only with reference to its casteless-ness but also with reference to its intellectual and cultural contributions to the world. therefore, even in essays that were not part of texts like intira teca carittiram which explicitly aimed to read buddhism through the lens of caste, thass conceptualised buddhism as a notable world-historical phenomenon in its own right: let us consider the development of medicine in india: so long as buddhist viharas were present (pautta viyarankal niraintirunta varaiyil), enlightened men and sramana monks were able to steer clear of laziness, deceit, falsehood, and jealousy and instead spend time honing their skills and knowledge for the benefit of humankind and all living things (manumakkalukkum marrum civaracikalukkum)…historically, we see that the arabians (arepiya tecattor) and several rulers such as solomon (calomon mutaliya aracarkalum) heard of the intellectual accomplishments of india and came here to learn about the different branches of medicine…(thass, 1999, p. 7) consider the intertextual resonances between this expansively global conception of buddhism (“for the benefit of humankind and all living beings”) and similar notions of buddhism’s world-historical significance in the work of prominent asian buddhists like anagarika dharmapala, whom we encountered briefly as olcott’s ceylonese interlocuter. dharmapala is known for his importance in the modern religious and political history of ceylon but as steven kemper (2014) has noted, his legacy cannot be understood without considering his involvement in movements like theosophy and pan-asianism which attempted to position buddhism as a world religion of global appeal. that dharmapala was influential in the asian buddhist world became evident early on when he was chosen to represent theravada buddhism at the world parliament of religions in 1893, which was also the occasion of vivekananda’s famous speech as a representative of hinduism. to that end, dharmapala persistently foregrounded the question of reviving buddhism in india as a way of soliciting support for a pan-asian buddhist revival and india consequently acquired a central role in the asian buddhist world. for instance, one of dharmapala’s cherished projects was the restoration of the 40 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 bodh gaya temple to buddhist possession and he established an influential institution called the maha bodhi society as well as a journal that circulated widely within the asian buddhist world.7 in addition, dharmapala travelled widely within asia and the west to secure support for his project. when he approached the ruler of siam, for instance, dharmapala (1965, p. 332) argued that if buddhists were to reclaim bodh gaya, it would “be a silent religious revolution and the twentieth century will see buddhism in the land of its birth…and the historian would record this triumphant success which was accomplished in the illustrious reign of his gracious majesty chulalongkorn, king of siam.” in essay after essay and speech after speech published in the maha bodhi journal, including those of thass and ambedkar, india’s ancient prominence and contemporary decline became the central plot of the asian buddhist revival in ways that echoed sakya buddhism’s conception of the caste question. consider, for instance, dharmapala’s public lecture at the town hall in new york which was sponsored by a local sinhala restaurateur named k.y. kira. in his remarks, dharmapala (1925, reproduced in ahir, 1995, pp. 14–15) discussed buddhism’s decay in the modern world and noted by way of example that “the indian brahmans cling to caste and treat with contempt the two hundred millions of non-brahmans.” he then concluded by recounting buddhism’s glorious past and made a case for the need to revitalise its existence in contemporary times: the buddhist missionaries of india civilised asia 2000 years ago. they went to distant lands and taught them agriculture, weaving, painting, sculpture, horticulture, floriculture, architecture, hygiene, aesthetic arts, social etiquette, philosophy, psychology, music; and the civilisation that was purely aryan spread in tibet, china, japan, burma, siam, ceylon, etc…when the early buddhist bhikkus went forth to distant lands to preach the good law they went relying on the power of righteousness...[and these] distant lands were brought under the good law of the compassionate one not with the help of gunboats, but by the power of love of self-sacrificing bhikkus who led virtuous lives…(ibid., pp. 8–15) as we see here, the emphasis on buddhism’s global imprint in the world as well as india’s central role in the emergence and spread of buddhism was common to both thass and dharmapala and this remained true even after dharmapala lost the lawsuit he filed to redirect the custodianship of the bodh gaya temple to buddhists. as late as 1916, the sinhalese politician robert gunawardena (1916, p. 112) who founded ceylon’s first political party, the trotskyist lanka sama samaja party, wrote in the maha bodhi journal, arguing: “it has been shown that china and japan received the light from india and now it affords an opportunity for the chinese and the japanese to pay off their indebtedness by reviving buddhism in the land of its birth and ameliorating it in the land of its adoption.” later that year, dharmapala (1916, p. 261) concluded an essay he wrote by saying, “may we not hope that scholars from burma, 7the temple at bodh gaya had come into saivite custody by the nineteenth century. see trevithick, 2006. between the global and regional: asia in the tamil buddhist imagination 41 china, siam, tibet, ceylon, and japan will come over to india and work hard to give the people of india their lost inheritance.” one important consequence of the focus on india as buddhism’s birthplace was that it created an implicit distinction between india and the rest of the world and foregrounded india’s moral and material decline from its former glory as the locus of a vibrant buddhist civilisation. this was also the central plot of sakya buddhism’s historical imaginaire and allowed thass to contextualise caste oppression through explicit global comparisons. consider, for instance, this essay published in tamilan on 3 january 1912 in which thass attributes the decline of indian agriculture to the debasement of labour produced by brahmanism and contrasts this with the agrarian prosperity of the modern buddhist world: countries like burma (parma), china (caina), japan (jappan), and america (amerikka) have achieved agrarian prosperity with the help of their people and their cultivators, who have tilled the land and grown grain with their diligence, and thereby not only provided for their own people but also transported food to other countries and provided for people in those places, besides ushering in economic prosperity…[whereas in india] those buddhist tillers (pautta kutta velalatolilalar) who resolutely resisted and refused to believe fabricated ideas about caste alone looked after the land and cultivated crops…while those who believed the manudharma shastras, which established lower and upper castes, to be true were led to believe that the tiller’s labour is debased and so left cultivation behind, to their own ruin. (thass, 1999, p. 389) this description is notable for two reasons: first, needless to say, it relies on the political value of a comparison between india, asia, and america more than it does on a positivist reading of these economies and second, it mentions america alongside asian countries with seemingly no distinction between both. this is because a wide variety of western actors were implicated in the emergence of modern buddhism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as david mcmahan and others have suggested. these included orientalists like max weber and the rhys davidses, archaeologists like james burgess and alexander cunningham, and buddhist sympathisers like olcott and lord curzon, both of whom supported dharmapala’s bodh gaya initiative in significant ways (singh, 2004, chapters 7, 8). other figures like the british poet edwin arnold (whose book, “the light of asia,” was the single most influential popular work on buddhism) and the american writer dwight goddard also played an important role in the emergence of modern buddhism (mcmahan, 2009, p. 83; d. ober, 2021, p. 3).8 entire intellectual movements like romanticism and transcendentalism were also influenced by buddhism and became important purveyors of the religion in the west (mcmahan, 2009, chapter 3). while much of the west’s interface with buddhism was through asian interlocutors like dharmapala and their role in the emergence of 8 ober notes that edwin arnold’s book, by some accounts, outsold mark twain’s huckleberry finn and influenced everyone from dharmapala and gandhi to t. s. eliot, leo tolstoy, and herman melville. 42 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 modern buddhism was indelibly significant (d. f. ober, 2016, pp. 11–14), the west nonetheless had an important presence in the asian buddhist world of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. so much so, that thass turned to asia and the west not just as examples of prosperous modern countries but as examples of modern buddhist countries that exemplified the ideal social and political order inspired by buddhism: the eminence and distinction of the europeans (airoppiyar), americans (amerikkar), chinese (cinar), and japanese (jappaniyar) that is visible in their plentiful wealth and disease-free life, and in the happy and joyful lives they lead with one another is well-known in the world...their accomplishments exemplify the buddhist teaching: “love wisdom” (“vittaiyai virumpu” enum pauttarkal potanaiyin pati). there is no doubt that their leadership and administration, their vision and principles, their advancements in education and cultivation are because of this. (thass, 1999, p. 709) the turn towards a broader world beyond the subcontinent, even with the rhetorical flourishes and embellishments that we see here, had important implications given that the sakya buddhist movement grew in influence and established its presence in many parts of india and the british empire through networks of labour migration in which dalits were implicated. within three decades of its establishment, for instance, the society had branches near military bases in nagpur, secunderabad, and bangalore, railway workshops in hubli, mining camps in the kolar gold fields, and labour camps in ceylon, burma, and south africa. further, buddhist monks from ceylon, burma, and elsewhere in asia and the west were a routine presence in the sakya buddhist society’s network of branches, offering religious instruction and presiding over ritual functions on important occasions (aloysius, 1998, p. 69). for instance, in one of the most prominent branches of the society at the kolar gold fields, the irish monk u visuddha officiated the conversion of nearly “a thousand workers and their families” in 1907 (cox, 2013, pp. 255–256). at the nearby champion reefs branch, the burmese monk u kantha established a “young men’s buddhist association library” in 1916, no doubt modelled on young men’s christian associations, so that members would develop “the habit of reading buddhist works and journals.” to that end, the society’s headquarters in madras served as a nodal point of transit to other places in asia and this played a crucial role in connecting the sakya buddhist society to siamese, burmese, arakanese, and sinhalese buddhists (d. f. ober, 2016, pp. 184–185). in effect, by turning to the buddhist world of asia and beyond, sakya buddhism not only created an emancipatory genealogy for tamil dalits but also reoriented them towards a global community of faith within which they could locate themselves. between the global and regional to return to a theoretical concern with which we began in the introduction: how can we make sense of seemingly uneven or unidirectional interactions between global and regional sociocultural spheres? that sakya buddhism was part of a global network of buddhist actors, ideas, and practices is evident but it is also clear that it never between the global and regional: asia in the tamil buddhist imagination 43 acquired a global or translocal presence itself. as we have seen, this was because the movement’s intellectual and social character remained resolutely tamil in nature even as its network of contacts and influences as well as its geographical spread extended far beyond the tamil south. insofar as the trajectory of people, institutions, ideas, and practices across time and space remains a key line of enquiry within the subfields we know as intellectual and global history, intellectual itineraries that traverse varied spatial scales like the regional, national, and global present persistent problems for historians. as we know all too well, the historical experience of european imperialism and the epistemic influence of enlightenment categories complicate any attempts to study the movement of people, institutions, ideas, and practices without replicating eurocentric ideas of diffusion (i.e. the idea that foundational features of the modern world were birthed in europe and then spread to other places) or eurocentric assumptions about whether non-western historical phenomena can be favourably compared to their western counterparts and thereby considered authentically global in their significance (chakrabarty, 2009; chatterjee, 2004; guha, 2003; rao et al., 2001). in the context of this article, constraints of space disallow an elaborate consideration of questions like how we may study global historical phenomena on terms other than those set by the west. in any case, these questions are somewhat extraneous here since we are not concerned with colonial encounters per se but with interactions across different parts of a non-western zone. to that end, we may benefit from sanjay subrahmanyam’s (2015, pp. 131–132) suggestion that any historical study of the ‘global’ is “largely constructed around a reflection on space and geography” that requires us to “recognize that significant differences exist in geographically dispersed human societies, and to articulate those differences in some form of systematic understanding.” in the historiography of modern indian buddhism, douglas ober’s conception of “banyan tree buddhism” is the only attempt to systematically understand the relationship between various strands of modern indian buddhism and the global buddhist world. ober (2016, p. 157) argues that much like the banyan tree “whose various branches have the appearance of being separate organisms yet stem from an often unknown single trunk,” india’s relationship with the broader buddhist world took the form of a complex, interconnected web of branches with shifting centres and regional nodes. he also notes that “throughout the period that these societies were working to revive buddhism among their respective locales, there was a current of communication, sharing and borrowing across cultural and geographical boundaries” (ibid., p. 192). this is qualitatively similar, if not identical, to other analytical formulations that propose to systematically understand the global landscape of buddhism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as we saw in the introduction.9 nor does this formulation explain the nature or extent of “sharing and borrowing” that modern indian buddhist movements engaged in, as welcome as the emphasis on multidirectional circulation is. more importantly, the point that “international buddhists may not have exercised much authority in the shaping of local traditions” even as they played an important role in creating the impression “imagined or real…of a larger, unseen buddhist community worldwide” is well-taken (ibid.). yet, it still does not tell us how and why movements like sakya buddhism chose to turn outward and look to asia or the west in some instances while remaining firmly embedded in their regional sociocultural milieux in other instances. we therefore need 9 see footnote 3. 44 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 an analytic category to make sense of the balance between global orientations and regional embeddedness that we see in movements like sakya buddhism. to that end, we may use the category of ‘pararegional’ in the sense of something that is more-than-regional to describe figures, institutions, ideas, or practices that are aware of, engage with, and participate in transregional or global developments while remaining regional in their intellectual and sociocultural character. the defining feature of this janus-faced engagement is intended audience rather than influence so that pararegional formations like sakya buddhism are not failed attempts to acquire global influence but rather, historical formations oriented towards a transregional network of influences without aspiring to insert themselves into that network as global players since their intended audience is a regional one. in moving away from the presumption of global aspiration that often underpins our view of interactions between the ‘global’ and ‘regional,’ we may be able to better appreciate that many historical formations engaged with transregional or global developments even as they remained regional in character because regionally-grounded intellectual and sociocultural traditions proved more relevant, useful, and important for their political project. in this formulation, the ‘region’ that pararegional historical formations are embedded in may be defined on the basis of geography or as with sakya buddhism, language. consequently, their intellectual and sociocultural character is regional by virtue of its appeal to people within a historically-cohesive geographical expanse (say, the region of south india as defined by a shared language family and common geographical features like coastlines) or people within a particular linguistic sphere (say, the tamil or malayalam sociocultural sphere). more importantly, pararegional historical formations are not simply engaged in the derivative task of transmitting global developments originating in the west or elsewhere to regional spheres. as we have seen with sakya buddhism, pararegional formations engaged with regional intellectual and sociocultural traditions in exceptionally nuanced ways and synthesised their reading of these regional traditions with knowledge derived from their engagement with transregional or global networks. this is precisely why anticaste thinkers like thass and ambedkar chose to establish their own buddhist traditions based on their reading of history (thass relied on classical tamil texts, as we have seen, while ambedkar relied on pali and sanskrit texts) rather than simply joining established buddhist schools like mahayana, theravada, or vajrayana buddhism that they were certainly aware of and in contact with. the deliberate way in which pararegional historical formations chose to define their regional sphere of operation is evident in the fact that while sakya buddhism was wholly tamil in character, ambedkar wrote his foundational text, “the buddha and his dhamma,” in english and based his reading of history on pali and sanskrit rather than marathi sources. this was clearly meant to create a buddhist tradition for an indian dalit public outside the marathi sphere and across linguistic boundaries. further, consider the way in which ambedkar describes the impulse behind the writing of “the buddha and his dhamma” in an unpublished preface to the text: i turned to the buddha, with the help of the book given to me by dada keluskar. it was not with an empty mind that i went to the buddha at that early age. i had a background, and in reading the buddhist lore i could always compare and contrast. this is the origin of my interest in the buddha and his dhamma. the urge to write this book has a different origin. in 1951, the editor of the between the global and regional: asia in the tamil buddhist imagination 45 mahabodhi society’s journal of calcutta asked me to write an article for the vaishak number. in that article i argued that the buddha’s religion was the only religion which a society awakened by science could accept…i also pointed out that buddhism makes slow advance is due to the fact that its literature is so vast that no one can read the whole of it. that it has no such thing as a bible, as the christians have, is its greatest handicap. on the publication of this article, i received many calls, written and oral, to write such a book. it is in response to these calls that i have undertaken the task. (ambedkar, 1957, reproduced in zelliot et. al., n. d.) i quote this passage in extenso because it shows the self-conscious way in which ambedkar makes a distinction between the source of his interest in buddhism and the immediate pretext for the writing of “the buddha and his dhamma.” he first refers to dada keluskar, a well-known marathi writer and social reformer who presided over a public event held in honour of ambedkar’s achievement in passing the high school certificate exam. keluskar gifted him a biography of the buddha that he had written for the baroda sayajirao oriental series, an imprint patronised by the gaekwad of baroda who later offered ambedkar funding to pursue graduate study abroad (ibid.). he then refers to an essay he wrote in the maha bodhi journal published from the society’s calcutta branch as providing the immediate reason for his interest in writing the text itself, thereby exemplifying the ways in which pararegional movements such as navayana buddhism engaged with global networks while also clearly delineating the regional nature of their audience and their political project. in effect, the category of ‘pararegional’ allows us to simultaneously consider the regional salience and global engagements of historical formations without viewing them as parochial and marginal actors within a global landscape. conclusion the sakya buddhist movement was profoundly shaped by the broader context of asian buddhist revival in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which involved a remarkable degree of intellectual exchanges, political convergences, and travel between east asia, south asia, and the west. as we have seen, iyothee thass’s early encounter with figures like olcott and dharmapala oriented the movement towards a broader buddhist world even as the intellectual and social character of sakya buddhism remained resolutely tamil in nature. in other words, we have seen that thass’s intellectual project of constructing a buddhist tradition for dalits was firmly embedded in the tamil print and public sphere even as it revealed an expansive conception of buddhism as a world-historical phenomenon in its own right. through an intertextual reading of historical imaginaires produced by sakya buddhism and its asian buddhist interlocuters, we saw that the expansively global conception of buddhism was common to both traditions and this allowed thass to contextualise caste in a global frame and thereby position caste as something more than a question of parochial salience within india. in effect, this historical imaginaire produced not just an emancipatory genealogy for tamil dalits but also a global community of faith within which they could locate themselves. we then dealt with the category of ‘pararegional’ as a way of describing interactions between global and regional sociocultural spheres that seriously considers the regional embeddedness of historical formations without 46 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 the assumption that these formations are merely smaller and localised iterations of the global developments that they engage with. in privileging the intended audience rather than the influence of (para)regional figures, institutions, ideas, and practices, we are better able to see their recourse to regional intellectual and sociocultural genealogies and their simultaneous engagement with global networks as a strategic choice rather than an inability to translate parochial political projects into global ones. references ahir, d.c. 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(2009). recipes for immortality: healing, religion, and community in south india. new york: oxford university press. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 153–173 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.264 © 2021 subro saha. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy subro saha1 abstract emphasizing on the functioning of caste as embodiment, this paper attempts to show how the internalization of dominant caste-based framework(s) shapes our habits of thinking which include epistemological and pedagogical orientations as well. the paper briefly traces how such frameworks have settled through historical shifts and shaped dominant imagination of the nation’ that has appropriated caste-system as its essence. to show such making of a dominant framework of caste and hindu-nation, the paper briefly turns towards nineteenth century bengal, both as a reminder of the many forms of dwelling within vernacular communities and how such multiplicities came to be reduced within a hegemonic framework of majoritarian hindunation. such making, the paper submits, shapes a doubleness of the decolonial project of nation-making which finds its paradoxical settlement within the postcolonial democratic framework through the embodiment of the majoritarian (casteist) framework of hindu-nation. the paper, therefore, examines how such problems of embodiment become an infrastructural problem that haunt one’s everyday imagination, and therefore calls for creation of infrastructures that can enable a training of imagination to unlearn such embodied frameworks of segregation. as one such small ontoepistemological possibility, the paper examines the role of aesthetic education and its suspending potentials. keywords caste, embodiment, nation, equality, reading 1assistant professor, amity institute of english studies and research, amity university, kolkata; international phd fellow, institute for cultural inquiry, utrecht university, netherlands e-mail: subhro129@gmail.com/ s.saha@uu.nl 154 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 introduction the persistence of caste within the democratic framework is a continuous reminder of the failure to make possible an infrastructural framework of equality that the dawn of democracy had promised. the moment of decolonization and the nation-making project shared the common challenge – the making of a democratic infrastructure that would bring people together, ‘equally.’ however the continuity of everyday caste prejudices and violence is a grim reminder of the incompleteness of that project. the persistence of caste within postcoloniality is a testimony of the layered historical sedimentations of caste within modernity through which the postcolonial conceptualizations of ‘national’ identity remain largely determined (in terms of a hegemonic framework of hindu religion and nationality). in this scenario, a situation has historically unfolded through generations, which is too deeply embedded to get rid of easily. thus, addressing caste through an exclusive empirical lens remains inadequate to examine the roots of the problem especially because the concept of caste is after all an ‘idea’ that finds its material presence through embodiment. one can recall here the division between ‘means’ and ‘end’ that ambedkar had emphasized in his essay castes in india: their mechanism, genesis and development. though the essay pointed at the role of endogamy and surplus body in the sustenance and regulation of caste, we can extend the ‘means’ and ‘end’ division to realize that even endogamy is an embodied ‘idea’ that one practises in their material existence, while simultaneously the circulation of practice cements the idea as ‘truth.’ such materialization, therefore, acquires an auto-generative circulation that doesn’t depend on any singular framework for its own functioning, but instead determines the functioning of all other frameworks as, for example, the autogenerative circulation and domination of capital and how it shapes all other domains. such autogenerative circulations of caste can be called, using anirban das’s (2017) views, a materialization without the messianicity of ‘matter’ (p. 29). talking about the functioning of nation-time, das reminds of the difference between ‘messianicity’ and ‘messianism’ that derrida draws referring to benjamin’s views: ‘messianism remains linked to “the memory of a determinate historical revelation” and “a relatively determinate messiah-figure”’, whereas messianicity excludes these determinations and constitutes itself in a different register where messianicity can function without messianism (ibid). the functioning of caste, i submit, also involves a similar messianicity that doesn’t rely on any singular determining register of messianism. such materialization of caste reminds us continuously of the nonlinear historical sedimentations of ideas into dispersed forms of everyday material existence through embodiments and corporeal figurations. it is this aspect of caste as the organizing principle and embodiment of a certain dominant outlook (and rejection of other viewpoints) that gets fused through historical shifts as the ‘essence’ of hinduism, and countering caste therefore, essentially becomes a question of training imagination that can re-organize such alternative histories/viewpoints. although the sedimentation of caste hierarchies has unfolded and continued historically yet such unfolding has produced waves of divergence and disruption to such hierarchies, which either lost their momentum or got appropriated in various junctures of history within the hegemonic framework of the hierarchical caste-based social structure. as a result, caste has continued to thrive notwithstanding the democratic framework. to examine such continuity and survival of caste it becomes essential to analyze the question of embodiment that characterizes the habits of thinking. for that purpose, i attempt, in this paper, to trace briefly the doubleness of the nation-making project that started unfolding caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy 155 from nineteenth century and paradoxically found its settlement within postcoloniality. what enables the survival of caste, i submit, is this spectre of doubleness haunting our imagination. extending sudipta kaviraj’s (2003) views on the role of an ideological ‘principle of organization’ in the making of a dominant version of bangla literature in the nineteenth century (p. 503), i attempt here to show how such an ideological organizing principle has continued to shape the persistence of caste by linking it with a hegemonic concept of ‘hindu’ nation. to trace such a making, i briefly turn to the histories of nineteenth century bengal and the emergence of an early framework of majoritarian hindu nationalism (as one slice among multiple similar forms of making within other vernacular communities of colonial india),1 the unresolved tensions within which resonate today in recurring forms of embodied perspectives. however, as emphasized already, engaging with a slice of vernacular colonial history here offers a reminder of the multiple forms of dwelling within a community which otherwise is often reduced within a singular dominant framework of the nation. the point to focus thereby is an underlying logic of reductionism that tends to reduce one’s imagination of democracy (as well as identity) in terms of a dominant framework of hindu-nation and its embodied caste hierarchies. engaging with the question of caste today, therefore, calls for a cautionary awareness of the habits of thinking, and it is with such awareness that one needs to rethink what actually the concept of ‘annihilation’ called for. such exorcism of the ghost of caste that determines one’s very act of thinking requires countering a deep problem of imagination that continuously shapes one’s material actions and existence. in other words, the historical unfolding of caste and linking it with a hegemonic spiritual as well as national duty eclipses one’s very capacity to think, and that’s why, i submit, countering such a deep-seated problem requires creating infrastructures for training of an imagination that can counter the existing habits of caste-based imaginations. the paper pushes towards a re-conceptualization of such possibilities not as some messianic promise but as an ethico-political necessity that one needs to keep cultivating both within the individual as well as within the community; that is where the paper aims to reflect, as one possible way among others, on the suspending and transforming capacities of aesthetic education. question of difference or the question of appropriation: caste and the making of the historical-sense though the problem of training the habits of thinking goes back to the vedic times, yet to start with a point of reference, one can take the nineteenth century and the making of the nationalist consciousness as an example of how caste at different junctures of history came to be organized as the ‘essence’ of hinduism and hindunation, the embodied spectres of which continuously haunts the postcolonial nation. the making of the organized framework of a dominant hindu nationalism in the early nineteenth century required essentially an ideological organizing principle that would simultaneously perform two tasks – (i) resolve and appropriate contradictions, and (ii) dismiss the irresolvable tensions in a way that didn’t affect the framework. this 1for example, the works on marathi, kannada or odiya communities by many scholars have traced similar framing of caste despite eruption of protests and divergences. for further details, see dalit literatures in india (2016) edited by joshil k. abraham and judith misrahi-barak, and “dalit writing: an introduction” and “introduction: kerala” by k. satyanarayana and susie tharu in the exercise of freedom: an introduction to dalit writing (2013). also see, sheldon pollock (ed.), literary cultures in history: reconstructions from south asia. 156 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 was done through the constitution and separation of conceptual boundaries between what is ‘interior’ and ‘exterior.’ it was through the making of such ‘organizing principle’ that the persian and musalmani elements in bangla language were excluded as ‘foreign,’ and an added emphasis was brought to establish the affinities between bangla and sanskrit, thereby constituting and elevating a selected version of ‘national’ character by paradoxically continuing the orientalist model of sanskritization of indian past (kaviraj, 2003). this reminds us of the politics of constituting singular ‘national’ frameworks through systematic exclusions that get buried under the weight of changing times and over the corpses of which new national ideals are framed. as an early reminder of such exclusion, one may turn towards the heterodox or nastika systems (systems which have not relied on metaphysical concepts like afterlife, sin etc., but had emphasized on the centrality of human body and physical reality) of ancient indian philosophy which are usually avoided to emphasize the centrality of vedic thought and therefore, to establish uncritically the spiritual links between hinduism and caste hierarchies. in this regard, and among two such early examples of the heterodox trends, mentions may be made of lokayata and mimansa, which keep on reminding us of the impossibility of reducing ancient indian past within any fixed singular framework. as highlighted by debiprasad chattopadhyay (1959), ramkrishna bhattacharya (2011), romila thapar (2019), and many others, even in such early times, the establishment of a hegemonic worldview or ‘idea’ always mutually depended on material concerns and power-structures of a society that had direct links with the enjoyment of privileges and surplus products. at different junctures of history, we see how there had been an underlying tendency to think of hinduism only through the vedic hegemony; disregarding the diverse heterodox trends characterizing ancient indian past, all of which not always emphasized the centrality of caste. apart from lokayata and mimansa, traces of such heterodox systems of thought and their eventual dismissal/appropriation can also be found in the later times; for example, the bhakti cult of chaitanya, and sahajiya vaishnavism in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries bengal. this refers to a time when the organized identification of a nationalist hindu hegemony was yet to emerge and the mughal king and brahmin priests worked together in maintaining the socio-political hierarchies, and it is around such time of the bengal sultan allauddin hussain shah’s reign that chaitanya used to perform his kirtans publicly disregarding any caste-barrier which was a point of serious concern for the orthodox sections. though chaitanya never attempted any direct attack on the varnashram dharma2 (this term can be roughly translated as a religious duty to essentially maintain and follow the caste hierarchies and its associated divisions of labour), yet chaitanya’s movement had serious subversive implications since the congregational singing, offered unknowingly a sense of dissent for the brahminical hegemony which was soon appropriated through the collective forces of brahminical dominance and emergent ideology of hindu nationalism. after chaitanya’s death, though his disciple nityananda and his son birabhadra continued preaching devotion through dasyabhava (the mood of being a servant of god) and sakhyabhava (the mood of being a lover of god) among the lower castes, the practice of vaishnavism in bengal soon started leaning towards the vedic and upanishadic traditions for getting brahminical and royal support. between 1610 and 1620, at the kheturi festival 2sekhar sengupta notes one such example, when on one occasion his low caste disciple haridas, a convert from islam, opted to dine separately, for fear of offending other high caste disciples, and chaitanya did not object to it (bandyopadhyay, 2004, p. 81). caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy 157 organized under the patronage of raja santosh datta, this task of ‘tying’ bengal vaishnavism with ‘the orthodox traditions of indian religion’ was accomplished by the sada or six goswamis of vrindaban (bandyopadhyay 2004, p. 81). similarly, the sahajiya vaishnavism tradition, which was directly influenced by buddhist tantric traditions, refused to believe in any transcendental views except the attainment of bliss through corporeal sensations. though later both these trends were incorporated within a dominant version of vaishnavism that accepted varnashram dharma and ritualism, yet they remind us simultaneously of the continuity of heterodox religious practices within hinduism (especially tantra and dehavad, which are two of the heterodox trends emphasizing on the primacy of the physical body) as well as their appropriation or rejection by the vedic hegemony within hinduism. these few examples can be seen as crucial reminders of the historical sedimentation of a dominant framework of vedic hinduism that takes caste as its essence. it is the embodiment of this hegemonic framework that has continued to captivate the general imagination of hinduism in exclusive ways by either appropriating different theological positions or by dismissing them as heretic, licentious, or immoral. the turn of the nineteenth century posed the urgency for framing a nationalist ideology that would enable organizing the masses under one conceptual umbrella. therefore, a reevaluation of the past and tradition was essential. here we see a selective re-assertion of the vedic and upanishadic traditions, interestingly not the heterodox or nastika systems of thoughts, even though orientalists like max-muller (1899) and colebrooke (1858) repeatedly emphasized on the essentially pluralistic character of hinduism. the reason for such selection was the reassertion of a certain framework of spirituality and the linking of it with the duty of the individual as his essential (hindu and varnashram) ‘dharma.’3 by the time we reach midnineteenth century, the task of the native intellectual was therefore to enable a form of synthesis between a binary that exposure to western ideas has brought within the native society: between tradition and modernity, scientific rationality and religion, spirituality and material prosperity (chatterjee 1993, pp. 95-116). caste in such making always operated as an anomaly, as the western ideals of equality, liberty, and fraternity stood absolutely against the logic of hierarchy and predetermination that caste stood for, and therefore newer ways of justifying caste-system were sought. in such a situation we can understand that not only the contemporary interpretations of historical lineages were read through a specific organizing framework, even the intellectual-function of the contemporary bengali intellectuals was determined through a similar embodied organizing principle, dismissing intellectuals who were pushing towards rejection of caste-system as either heretic (like derozio) or westernized (like akshay kumar dutta).4 even some would 3the dharma premised on varna system and control stands for oppression; therefore ambedkar emphasized on the buddhist concept of dhamma to highlight a type of religion that doesn’t necessarily rely on any dominating, prohibitory religious force. in the recent years, ambedkar’s views on buddhist dhamma have been emphasized by scholars to emphasize on different aspects of religion beyond the oppressive varnashram dharma. for example, kumar (2015) emphasizes on ambedkar’s views on sunyata and loss of the self as developed from the buddhist views of dhamma to emphasize on ambedkar’s vision of a radical equality that doesn’t depend on any singular universal religion. guru and sarrukai (2019) emphasize on ambedkar’s ideas of maitryi (empathy) to emphasize on a bonding of beings that caste prevents. 4derozio was trying to educate his students of hindu college in a spirit of radical rationalism (being influenced by bacon, spinoza, kant, paine and others) that refuses to believe in any 158 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 read western ideas only for linking them with the caste-system; for example, jogendra chandra ghosh did by using comtean positivism for justifying caste hierarchies and brahmin rule (flora, 1993). the colonial contact and circulation of capital, along with exposure to western education, had brought significant changes within the existing caste-based occupations enabling many of the lower caste groups to rise economically with newer occupational avenues (mukherjee, 1977). because of such circulation of capital many small traders, brokers, and junior administrators (like pykars, dallals, gomasthas, munshis, banyas, and dewans) rose in their class positions despite coming from lower castes. as such, many seths (money-lenders) and banyas (businessmen) were emerging from lower castes who were otherwise supposed to continue in castebased hereditary professions as weavers, farmers, fishermen, etc. grish chunder ghose in his biographical lecture on ram doolal dey thus directly emphasizes that by the nineteenth century there was an aristocracy coming from the middle (and often even lower) castes that were not born but made (emphasis added). in 1795, colebrook had already noticed that every profession, with a few exceptions, was open to ‘every description of persons’ and ‘brahmins are often employed in the most servile office and the sudras often elevated to situations of respectability and importance’ (1795, p. 133). as pradip sinha (1965) points, the rapid changes within the early ninteenth century colonial calcutta regarding occupational modalities and caste practices were creating an impression as if soon the entire caste-system might be dissolved in the metropolis (p. 4). added to this social mobility brought by the circulation of the colonial capital, was the increasing number of conversions by poor untouchable castes who, to escape the tyranny of caste discrimination within hinduism, were turning towards christianity or islam. therefore, through different phases of such making of the nationalist project in colonial calcutta, we see various attempts to modify and appropriate caste (as an essential element of hindu tradition) with modernity, and this was done by linking ‘jati’ (genus) with a collective framework of ‘jatiya’ or national, and to establish such linking the same orientalist philological explanations of the aryan race were used. however, quite paradoxically, it is using the same orientalist philological explanations of the aryan race and original religion of man (especially the views by the german romantics, william jones, max muller, and colebrooke)5 that akshay kumar dutta in his book the religious sects of india (bharote upashok soprodaye) was trying to counter caste discriminations and hindu-muslim tensions by trying to remind a shared commonness of all religions on the one hand and the diverse inclusive heterodox systems of religious practices within hinduism that had coexisted since ancient times on the other. though such an approach to counter the caste-system in nineteenth century was very rare, yet the importance of such limited attempts cannot be ignored entirely. however, the problem, as it has been asserted already, was with a mass-embodiment which by that time had successfully internalized an exclusive view of hindu-nation with caste-system as its essence. therefore, such attempts as by dogmatism or superstition and therefore accepting caste was impossible for such students. dutta on the other hand was trying to prove the historical inconsistencies, irrationalism, and fabrications of caste-system; instead trying to emphasize (being heavily influenced by the german philological and indological emphasis on universal religion) on a unified religion for all. 5for further details on the role of german romanticism (especially the philological affinities between sanskrit and western classical languages) in the shaping of the aryan myth and linking it with caste, which further shaped the german indological and french orientalist views, see figueira’s aryans, jews, brahmins : theorizing authority through myths of identity (2002). caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy 159 akshay kumar dutta could only be seen as the product of a native intellect that has been westernized (or let’s say, corrupted) entirely to question caste-system. as sekhar bandyopadhyay (2004) reminds, nineteenth century bengal marked a crucial phase whereby the volatility of the concept of ‘jati’ (genus) within pre-colonial systems of social-organization underwent a double reduction: first under the lens of colonial anthropology, and secondly by framing it within a category of ‘jatiya’ (national). this constituted a central move towards the making of the hindu nationalism whereby violating one’s ‘jati’ got linked with violating the ‘jatiya’ or national responsibility. therefore, though sati6 and widow-remarriage were often debated between the liberals and orthodox sections, the thinking of absolute dissolution of caste was unthinkable for both sections due to the embodied belief that one’s caste stood for one’s lineage and roots; thus to give away caste meant giving away one’s national identity, community, and religion (a view that is cherished by many even today). those elites who rejected caste hierarchies; for example, members of the young bengal group who openly consumed beef and wine, were dismissed as corrupt and immoral (chaudhuri, 2012). rammohun roy, therefore, would never dine openly with british officials and was even accompanied by a brahmin cook duing his visit to england to ensure that no one raised a question on the purity of his caste (mukherjee, 1977, p. 46-47). however, those elites who violated caste boundaries could also be appropriated within the caste order by paying handsome amounts to the powerful brahmin communities, which led a contemporary elite ramdoolal dey to even declare that his caste was in his ‘cash box’ (bandyopadhyay, 2004, p. 54). violation of caste boundaries, therefore, was seen as a very serious crime, and regulatory bodies led by upper-caste elites (such as jatimala cutcheries or different sabhas and samaj) were created to regulate such transgressions. as caste was a deeply embodied aspect of every individual psyche, something that had been ingrained within an individual since birth by the community, household, and ancestry, the emerging urban spaces of calcutta had embodied castesystem through tricky negotiations with modernity, a kind of a curious synthesis wherein modernity, science, and rationality were welcomed, but caste-system was also added with modifications to fit into the changing times. one such aspect of the continuity of the caste-system was the ‘communal organization of household’ where the rural, traditional, ancestral values (including obviously the caste order and rituals) were projected within the conceptualization of ‘home’ and domesticity of urban life. therefore, oscillating between external social changes and embodied perspectives, western modernity and native traditions; the english-educated elites of urban calcutta welcomed western idea(l)s but were not ready to forego their traditional customs, caste regulations, and practices. consequently, the native intellectual’s thoughts would often suffer this doubleness characterizing a colonial city: if he had really come into close contact with western ideas, he led a two-fold life, his intellectual life that was fed by memories of byron and shelley, of mill, macaulay, and huxley; and his family life fed by domestic affections and protected from external shocks by an indulgent and amused compliance with the forms and rigours of old social order. (sinha 1965, p. 12) by the late nineteenth century, while in the newly formed elite urban spaces of colonial calcutta circulation and accumulation of capital was a determining factor in shaping 6the practice of widow-immolation on the husband’s pyre. 160 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 caste regulations and transgressions, in suburban areas and villages lower-caste protests were also emerging strongly. for example, the balahadi sect among the hadis of nadia district, the koch/rajbansis of north bengal, the bhuimalis of mymensingh district among many others contained the possibilities of constituting an alternate domain of politics but were later contained within the framework of a hegemonic hindu nationalism (chatterjee, 1993; bandyopadhyay, 1997). however, such eruption of contradictions within the established caste order was a serious concern in the making of a majoritarian hindu nationalism that can simultaneously resist the colonial as well as muslim influence. therefore, while the persian, islamic, and colonial influences in indian culture were construed and dismissed as ‘foreign’ elements, the caste question was dismissed as an ‘internal’ religious tension and not one of any serious political concern. since caste couldn’t be dismissed as a ‘foreign’ element, unlike the muslim and colonizer question, it continued to operate as an internal contradiction and anomaly within the established framework of hindu nationalism. by the turn of the twentieth century, though the appropriation of the caste problem was attempted by denying it a political status, the depressed classes movement continuously problematized the emergent nationalist assurances. therefore, when srinath datta argued in an article in nabyabharat that in the congress every caste from brahmin to bagdi, or from kayastha to keora had equal rights, the hollowness of such words was very clear (bandyopadhyay 2004, p. 66). scientist prafulla chandra ray too dismissed the call for political reform of caste as unnecessary by asserting that there was no fear of brahmin rule in a future nation-state, and similarly, meghnad saha and grammarian madhusudan kabyabyakarantirtha also emphasized the caste question as a social problem and not a political one (ibid, p. 67). in fact, within many of these early twentieth century intellectuals, there was a deeply held trust in a re-imagined caste system representing a moral social order that differentiated india from the modern western models of social organization. in such a scenario, the caste question was continuously refused to be taken as an urgent political problem, and whenever it was considered, the central concern remained something else. for example, one of the central concerns during the phase of decolonization was the fear of losing the hindu identity to a muslim majoritarian nation-state. this was a fear that was earlier expressed in the nineteenth century by the bengali writer iswar gupta as western education was seen as a corrupting influence on the caste order thereby corrupting hindu identity and the nation itself: . . . যেহেতু হিন্দুকালেজের হিন্দুত্ব আর রক্ষা হয় না । এই কালেজের (শাখা) যাহা হার সাহেবের স্কুল বলিয়া বিখ্যাত, পূর্বেই সেই শাখার দুটো পোকা ধরিয়া প্রশাখা ও পল্লব পৰ্য্যন্ত নষ্ট করিতেছে, তাঁহার একটী পোকা ঈশুর খোকা, একটী পোকা মহম্মদের খোকা । উক্ত পোকা কি প্রকারে কথা হইতে আইল তাহা ভাবিয়া চিস্তিয়া আমরা বোকা হইয়াছি  . . . এই কীট ইহার পর ভস্ম কীট হইয়া মূল শুদ্ধ ধ্বংস করিবে (editorial dated 11 february 1853; bengali year 11 falgun 1259) (ghosh 1955, p. 337) [. . . the hindutva of hindu college is under threat. a branch of this college, which is known as hare saheb’s school, is already affected by two insects which are destroying it slowly; one of that insect is an offspring of christ, another one of muhammad. we have wasted our time thinking about the history of these insects . . . these insects might later destroy the entire roots of the tree] (translation mine) caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy 161 these lines as if resonate directly with many arguments that we hear today through which similar fear is continuously instilled among common people. similar fear was expressed also in the twentieth century with the publication of books like u.n. mukherjee’s hindu-the dying race (1912), swami shraddhanand’s hindu sangthan: saviour of the dying race (1926), and the formation of hindu mahasabha in 1933. while we see echoes of similar fears continuously fuelling the narrative of hindutva, we need to realize how deeply embodied such fear is within the imagination of the common people to repeat almost similar concerns even today. analyzing the reasons for the survival of caste therefore calls for analyzing deeply the socio-genic becomings of caste that not only shapes the ontogenic identifications of the individual but also determines one’s historical sense. quite obviously then, as sekhar bandyopadhyay (2004) points, caste functions as a hegemony that organizes one’s sense of spatiotemporal belongingness by determining what is to be included and excluded. theory or practice, epistemology or experience: caste and the embodied habits of reading while talking about caste as hegemony, we can here briefly turn towards some of the points gramsci had made about the intellectual-function in a capitalist society which, in the case of caste, enables us to engage with the question of embodied perspectives and their role in shaping the intellectual functions. we may re-member here gramsci’s cautionary reminder that though the intellectual feels themselves, their views and functioning as autonomous, none of these is dissociated from the social relations and historical processes shaping them and their ‘ideas.’ as gramsci reminds us, the shaping of the intellectual and intellectual-functions remain directly linked with the significant social group one belongs to since the ideas of such group directly shape the ideas of the intellectual and his/her intellectual-function (be it as a continuation or opposition). the intellectual, identifying with some group or ideology, tries to assimilate himself/herself to that ideology, or develops it further by extending it and its function, thereby also assimilating them and increasing their function concerning that ideology. in the case of a colonial city, because of the splitting of society into natives (insiders) and colonizers (foreigners/outsiders), the intellectual too finds himself/herself caught in the midst of contesting ideologies and social groups from which they must make a choice and identify themselves and their intellectual-function accordingly. he/she, therefore, interprets their social relations and ideologies and makes their identifications accordingly; based on which they further connect with their textual, historical, and cultural readings and identifications to strengthen and situate them according to the identified intellectual-function. in the context of colonial bengal, the turn of the nineteenth century had already posed the urgency for framing a nationalist ideology that would enable organizing the masses under one conceptual umbrella, and the intellectual-function therefore was expected to offer guidance towards such making. however, since colonial-contact exposed the native minds to diverse forms of readings, the intellectual-function too was operating with diverse perspectives on shaping the society and their reading habits. the increasing circulation of print was enabling the native intellectuals to directly connect with diverse textual readings: thus while including print and circulation of ancient indian texts (both in sanskrit and different vernacular translations) like dharmashashtras, manusmriti, upanishads, ramayana, mahabharata, and so on, it also enabled direct encounter 162 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 with the european ideas of greek philosophies, enlightenment, humanism, positivism, romanticism and the contemporary viewpoints on french revolution. in such a situation, the native intellectuals with their diverse ideological identifications wanted to extend their thoughts by making the common masses follow similar ideas. thereby nineteenth century bengal was witnessing a huge rise in print circulation (ranging from bilingual newspapers, literary compositions, reading and debate clubs, to pamphlets, and so on) through which they attempted to train the masses in certain forms of reading habits which could help them extend their intellectual-function by producing a mass that too supported and thought within similar ideological frameworks. however, as already emphasized, such exposure wasn’t able to create a systematic radical rejection of caste for that had been internalized as a form of losing one’s native identity (since caste was embodied as directly associated with one’s lineage, religion, and roots), and a similar view was expressed by nineteenth century bengali intellectual bhudev mukhopadhyay who declined a dinner invitation by a european friend, saying: dining with you would have been an act of violation of our social code . . . we have lost our political freedom, our religion is under your attack . . . what else have we got to give us a sense of pride or maintain our (cultural) individuality? you may call it superstition or a social code, the system of caste and codes of ritual conduct are all that we know now. these i cannot abandon. (ganguly 2005, p. 01) thus, instead of rejecting caste as discriminatory, the native intellectuals felt it essential to synthesize it with western modernity and science, and this characterized the historical making of a doubleness through which not only caste found its settlements within the modern ‘nation’ but continues to shape the postcolonial democratic sociality till date. a specific framework of hinduism that had dominated people’s imagination for so many generations cannot change itself suddenly; therefore at different junctures of historical change such embodied views (for example, that caste is the ‘essence’ of hinduism) have found its settlements in newer ways, be it in the shaping of the idea of ‘nation’ or one’s identity. that however doesn’t mean that history has not produced contradictions and oppositions to such hegemonic framework of caste, but the problem lies with the mass embodiment of a framework that had at different junctures either punctured those oppositions, or have weakened and appropriated them. as sumanta bandopadhyay points, such historical continuity of the appropriation of what is otherwise different from the dominant hegemony of vedic hinduism offers us certain crucial reminders in the present times, when one can find similar attempts to appropriate ‘dissent’ within certain dominant frameworks of understanding (bandopadhyay 2008, p. 37). however, in such context as in the present times, where we see the continuity of linking caste with india’s spiritual past and hinduism, we need to remember the continuing historical sedimentation of such embodied views since nineteenth century. by asserting that while i attempt briefly to dislocate the recent claims of making a majoritarian hindunation as a thought that is not immediately new, it simultaneously offers a cautionary reminder how immediately available solutions may not be able to get rid of a problem that had unfolded with long continuing historicity, a fact that ambedkar was deeply aware of when he asserted: ‘i may seem hard for manu, but i am sure my force is not strong enough to kill his ghost. he lives like a disembodied spirit, and is appealed to, and i am afraid will yet live long’ (ambedkar, 1917, p. 21). in the making of the caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy 163 nationalist project in the nineteenth century, the economically deprived untouchable castes remained trapped in the double-bind of colonial administration and majoritarian nationalism, and the dawn of democracy has not been able to change that situation where, being torn everyday between poverty and embodied violence, dalits are forced to suffer social ostracism silently. the continuity of such deeply embodied views not just affects rational thinking but also infrastructural changes, and the predominance of such embodied views serves as a reminder of the incompleteness of the nationmaking project: the haunting echo of ambedkar’s reminder of the bahishkrut bharat (‘quarantined india’) within the ‘parishkrut bharat’ (sacred india). such a situation of doubleness continuously shapes the infrastructural concerns in a way that creates a sense of alienation for the marginalized ‘others’, a situation that was echoed earlier in ambedkar’s work untouchables, or the children of india’s ghetto (2014; originally 1989). can such frameworks of thinking (which are deeply embodied, hegemonic, and historically unfolded for generations) be countered by an absolute ignorance of conceptual training? similarly, these questions of historical sedimentation and embodiment remind us of the impossibility of annihilation of the caste-system if caste-based differences and antagonism are held on to, even in an inverted political order, thereby foreclosing the central democratic ideal of ‘equality’. ambedkar was aware of such a haunting spectrality of caste and therefore identified it as essentially undemocratic since it takes inequality and hierarchy as the governing principle and even forecloses the possibility to do away with it: one european solution was to respect the rights of others (because one thought one had rights; therefore, others too must have them), so that others respect our rights in turn; a certain reciprocity is assumed (never fully proved). this is where the problem crystallizes itself. this is about the so-called idea/l of democracy: we are all equal and therefore must be treated equally. (ambedkar 1936 (2014), p. 172) in the question of caste, this idea/l of democracy is not available in the thinking of a common society. caste constitutes the thinking of society only in separatist terms. while the historically continuing hegemonic forms of brahminical social organization come to be internalized as the only access to think identities, religion, and history, the continuity of such hegemonic framework continuously displaces the other interacting frameworks within histories and it is through such forms of displacements that caste survives with changing generations. it therefore, reminds us that without the annihilation of this organizing principle, embodied deeply within our imagination, the annihilation of caste remains impossible since it keeps reproducing similar discriminatory frameworks of thinking on which caste-system feeds. thus, predetermined division of ‘savarna’ and ‘dalit’ in purely exclusionary and absolutist terms reminds us, paradoxically, of such reproduction of caste-based politics which it otherwise intends to destroy. this is a paradoxical problem that jaaware (2001) too had identified as affecting the reading (as a form of consumption) of marathi dalit poetry that not only reduces the potentials of dalit poetry (as politics) but also reinforces the caste-binaries in newer latent forms (pp. 264-280). ambedkar was well aware of such possibilities of continuity of caste structure even within attempts to get rid of it, and thus for him a complete annihilation of it demanded a complete annihilation of the 164 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 conceptual structures that enable its circulation, and the embodied ideas of hinduism were one such breeding ground (ambedkar, 1936). in his celebrated annihilation of caste wherein ambedkar reminds us continuously that political and democratic reform cannot be asserted without social reform it becomes evident that he indirectly talks about the necessity of getting rid of the embodied ideas of caste hierarchy to ensure their annihilation from material forms of practice: ‘. . . let political reformers turn in any direction they like, they will find that in the making of a constitution, they cannot ignore the problem arising out of the prevailing social order’ (ibid, p. 178). for ambedkar, caste forecloses the capacity to constitute a collective community based on equality and fraternity, and practicing a priori discriminations based on identifying ‘savarna’ seems to continue paradoxically the same emphasis on ‘varna’. i quote ambedkar here: the first question i ask is: will the proletariat of india combine to bring about this revolution? what will move men to such an action? it seems to me that, other things being equal, the only thing that will move one man to take such an action is the feeling that other men with whom he is acting are actuated by feelings of equality and fraternity and – above all – of justice. men will not join in a revolution for the equalisation of property unless they know that after the revolution is achieved they will be treated equally, and that there will be no discrimination of caste and creed. (ibid, p. 182) whether one decides to emphasize on a politics focusing on people having-the-varna or lacking-the-varna the emphasis on ‘varna’ continues and so continues the separation of people based on the politics of ‘varna.’ in that way, one may even dismiss the contributions of jotiba phule and his attempts of empowering lower castes through education: to use eleanor zelliot’s words, ‘the first dalit educator was not a dalit, but is a dalit hero’ (zelliot, 2016, p. 46). doing away caste, i submit, essentially calls for rejecting any consideration of the question of varna. what i am proposing may be seen as utopian but my call is utopian in its etymological sense of a different place (ou topos, not place), and so was ambedkar’s in his call for a radical equality and annihilation of caste. ambedkar had repeatedly asserted that the assurance of democracy must be the assurance proceeding from a much deeper foundation – namely, the mental attitude of the compatriots towards one another in their spirit of equality and fraternity (ambedkar 1936, (2014), p. 183), and any discriminatory politics that relies on a priori exclusionary structures of identifying ‘savarna’, or ‘dalit’ seem to reflect a relation of antagonism (instead of brotherhood and equality) and therefore an inversion within counter-politics whereby caste and its reliance on ‘varna’ discrimination continue to live. ambedkar was aware of such possibilities when he asserted: the caste system prevents common activity . . . one caste enjoys singing a hymn of hate against another caste as much as the germans enjoyed singing their hymn of hate against the english during the last war. (ibid, p. 191) by keeping apart people of the same society into different irreconcilable segments caste stands exactly against what democracy stands for, and as such, for ambedkar caste was by its essential nature ‘anti-social.’ doing away with caste demands doing away all its conceptual registers, and attempts of annihilating caste that continue to rely caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy 165 on the memories of an old order cannot think of an entirely casteless future. therefore, for ambedkar, annihilating caste demanded an absolute overthrow of the conceptual structures (of hinduism) on which caste breeds itself. one needs to realize that such an approach where the problem survives through deeply embodied conceptual structures cannot be addressed without changing the habits of conceptualization. that’s why many scholars, in recent times, have repeatedly emphasized the necessity of changing the conceptual registers of thinking caste: as a problem of reading and interpretation (ganguly, 2005), as a problem of everyday social (guru and sarukkai, 2012; 2019), as a problem of touch and touching (jaaware 2019), to look for a politics beyond a politics of rage and revenge (nagaraj, 2010), as a problem of equality (kumar, 2015), and so on. one can therefore realize here briefly the ethico-political necessity for what jaaware calls ‘oublierring’ or ‘deliberate forgetting’ (jaaware 2019, pp. 13-15). bringing in the subtle differences between western ideas of ‘society’ (derived from ‘socius’ which stands for companion, follower, etc.) and the indian ‘samaj’ (which also stands for caste, clan, community, etc.), jaaware points at the innumerable contradictions that caste brings into the thinking of a common society: while caste is segmentalist (in the sense that it aims to cut apart), society aims at unifying all into one (jaaware 2019, pp. 171-189). however, this is an intimate cut that caste brings in within the thinking of a common samaj: ‘we interact with but will not relate to that other samaj. the members of that samaj are not from ours’ (ibid, p. 171). thus, at the unavailability of a common society (since to take the fourfold division as unavoidable ‘law’ also expects the constitution of four different societies), to identify oneself with a common society demands the invention of an idea of a common society that one may identify with, and this is what jaaware decides to call sociability (ibid, p. 172). with the persistence of caste, not only the idea/l of a common society remains a foreclosure, practicing different forms of autonomous individual sociability also remains a prohibition. in other words, the persistence of the embodied idea of caste within a democratic system operates as mutually contradictory since neither the individual nor a common singular unity can survive under the caste structure; the latter must replace the former according to its ways of hierarchical social organization and as such equality remains impossibility. the continuity of such deeply embodied perspectives, shaped by the historical sedimentation of the hegemonic brahminical principles of organizing (as discussed in the first section), therefore shapes the reading habits as well, preventing thereby from recognizing the multiple ‘other’ voices of history and community. in such context, epistemological practices too cannot be seen as disembodied, and the divisions of ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ in exclusive terms remain part of such layered, ambiguous, embodied problems of reading habits. a reading of caste premising on pragmatic empiricism that rejects ‘theory’ or ‘theorization’ and why such reading needs to be questioned to be able to reshape the ‘doing’ of social science as well as the ‘doing’ of theory is a point that was already explored by guru and sarukkai in the cracked mirror. in rereading (and reevaluating) guru and sarukkai’s views on the ‘doing’ of theory some of the points (including few objections) that kaviraj makes in his response require a serious engagement and can offer us to rethink the very acts of reading a phenomenon like caste. kaviraj (2013) reminds how in the last few decades a new trend of study, premised upon empirical facts, has come to dominate the reading of caste within what is categorized as ‘social science’. he reflects very briefly on the historical making of such epistemological shift (ibid, pp 380-381): 166 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 a new history of this kind requires, as many observers have noted, a new language of science. it is not surprising that before independence, this form of modern knowledge about indian society was produced primarily by european scholars, and by indians trained in the west, following their conceptual and argumentative lead. as the base of social sciences expanded, this relation was slowly reversed . . . the immense variety of social life in india, fundamentally different from life forms of european modernity that were captured by ‘social theory,’ led to an invitation to innovative in social science. serious study of a tribal village, a dalit neighborhood, a brahminical intellectual practice, and business systems of the bania (merchant caste) immediately presented evidence of historical difference and consequently stretched the boundaries of the empirical universe of facts for social science knowledge. accumulation of evidence of a social universe utterly at variance with the european gave rise to discomfort about theoretical languages in which this knowledge was gathered. this discomfort or distrust of ‘theory’ versus a ready acceptance of empirical fact as ‘objective truth’ also takes us back to the same question of deep embodiment and historical sedimentation. apart from caste, this antagonism can be traced also within feminism and science studies, which has been addressed already in nuanced ways by standpoint theories.7 in philosophical lineage, this divide takes us back to the debate between ‘idea’ and ‘matter’ that can take us long back to greek philosophical debates and remains something that is still recurring continuously in different forms of epistemological engagements. we can understand that such concerns about ‘reading’ caste remain always entangled with many similar concerns that operate not only beyond caste but also offer (and is required essentially) possibilities of engaging with larger intersectionalities that ‘reading’ caste can offer: for example, concerns such as corporeality, experience and epistemology, which hold unavoidable significance for engagement with other areas of discrimination such as sex-gender systems or race. in the case of caste, as kaviraj briefly hints in the extract quoted above, there is a historical paradox at work in shaping such empirical domination within ‘social sciences’. while the attempt to ‘scientifically’ and ‘objectively’ study culturally different communities formed the core of colonial anthropology and ethnography, a similar tendency persisted in the uncritical methodological hailing of empirical postcolonial anthropology and its attempt to (re-)assert socio-cultural difference, while on the other hand the same call for decolonizing epistemologies are called equally uncritically in the rejection of ‘theory’ as western. this constitutes a paradoxical epistemological problem within the doing of social sciences in india wherein on one hand under the uncritical call for decolonizing epistemological practices, ‘theory’ is rejected as overtly western and not applicable in indian context, whereas on the other hand anthropological and ethnographical studies continue similar methodological empirical frameworks that premise on the colonial model of asserting difference. in the context of caste, such uncritical reliance on the existing empirical methodologies as promising ‘truth’ (like a similar uncritical rejection of ‘theory’ as western, illusionary or incapable) paradoxically reconstitute the same colonial lens of reading caste as a symptom of socio-cultural difference, and as a result of which despite changing times the conceptual and 7this has already been attempted by anirban das in his paper “caste and gender: generalities of experience” where he talks about what feminist standpoint theories can offer for theorizing dalit experience. caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy 167 functional registers of caste don’t seem to change much. such questions, therefore, remind us again how the problem of embodiment, as we see in the question of caste, functions not just in the domain of social, political, religious, and corporeal practices but also includes the question of epistemological practice. since ‘lived experience’ is a major area of debate concerning such epistemological divisions, it becomes necessary to reexamine the problems of addressing the question of ‘experience’ (which again, if it has to be addressed for communication, must be done through language as a ‘concept’) with relation to conceptual boundaries like that of inside/outside, spectatorial/lived, or ontological/epistemological which has also characterized the division of savarna versus dalit, academia versus activism, for many generations as if like an unbridgeable binary. in the question of caste, such examination of ‘experience’ calls for a specificity (historical, theological, political, and ontological) that refuses to be considered in terms of the generality of experience. however, the problem emerges with a paradoxical (non-)positionality: can that exclusive specificity of ‘experience,’ the immediate corporeal experience accessible only to the body at the moment of experiencing, be reflected without resorting to some form of generality in acts of conceptualizing experience even by the experiencer when s/he is no longer experiencing the corporeal experience they had experienced earlier? in other words, is not experience engaged with as an ‘idea’ when the ontological experience is being attempted to be reflected within epistemological or linguistic attempts? what kind of ‘experience’ is at work in such forms of understanding, recording, and communicating? are such acts empirical or theoretical? these questions, haunting the question of ‘experience’ within caste, also resonate with other domains of ‘experience’: two most obvious ones are the question of gender and race difference (both of which too, like caste, claim their ontological specificity). pushing in the same way, in her response to the cracked mirror, rajeswari sunder rajan (2013) calls for the necessity to engage with the castequestion ‘theoretically’, not only to be able to keep extending the theorizing of experience but also the experiencing of theory. one can recall that such questions of ‘theory’ and ‘practice’, specifically concerning the question of experience, apart from the questions of race and gender difference, also formed a major area of debate within marxism. as one small example, one can turn towards the chapter ‘on the materialist dialectic’ where althusser (2005) points out very poignantly about the necessity of making a marxist theory out of marxist practice (not just the opposite direction), and the difference between any casual knowing and the making of a rigorous epistemology out of an existing practice that can change or transform the existing practice8 ( pp. 162171). i submit that acts of theorizing caste and dalit experience too need to make such epistemological conditions for connecting with an-other’s experience. one needs to remember here that the task of theorizing is not merely a task of ‘lisping imitation’ of existing concepts (kaviraj 2013, p. 381), rather a rigorous and continuous extension of acts of conceptualization (be it experience, practice, or the concept itself). the task of theorizing caste continuously pushes us to reconsider what it means to ‘experience’ a life burdened with a continuous sense of alienation? are not such experiences shared by many people in different parts of the world (despite the specificities of context) clubbed under terms like ‘minority’ or ‘subaltern’? isn’t it a necessity to realize that pushing the theorizing of dalit life, and/or calls for annihilation of caste can offer 8in fact, throughout the book althusser analyzes such debates within marxism concerning theory/praxis, ideal/material, epistemological/ontological divisions. for further details, also see the chapter “marxism and humanism” from the book for marx. 168 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 newer forms of expression for resistance and solidarity in such ‘other’ registers of oppression and discriminations, just like theorizing dalit lives has gathered from other contexts (black feminism, marxism, negritude, etc.) both inspiration and expression for resistance and solidarity? this again reminds us of the binding capacity of language that enables one to conceptually connect with an-other’s experience in an-other context, which takes us to the aesthetic functions of language in the bringing together of ontology and meaning. one can here turn back to baumgarten’s (1954) views on aesthetic as proposed in his reflections of poetry, in the greek sense of the word aisthanomai (to perceive), which was always directly linked with sensory experience and therefore never entirely detached from the materiality of the body. using this anirban das reminds that though in many works, as in terry eagleton’s the ideology of the aesthetic – where the body is treated as a resource for a ‘long articulate rebellion against the tyranny of the theoretical’ (eagleton 1990, p. 13) – yet such articulations fail to realize that if one remains undecided over such a possibility for the ‘body’ as material, the body as metaphor still remains operative as a contingent resource for figuring a domain beyond the calculations of reason (das, 2012, p. 125). the theoretical is not just an abstraction against which the material body is to be posed; the material body too is a theoretical tool for conceptualizing / communicating the materiality of (corporeal) experience in language. i submit that the aesthetic reminds us continuously of such capacity of the corporeal being (in its bound togetherness by the commonality of language): for becoming, sharing, and solidarity. it is to hint at such possibilities of communication and solidarities that homi. k. bhaba (2019) turns towards a section from toni morrison’s home (2013): whose house is this? whose night keeps out the light in here? say, who owns this house? it’s not mine. i dreamed another, sweeter, brighter with a view of lakes crossed in painted boats; of fields wide as arms open for me. this house is strange. its shadows lie. say, tell me, why does its lock fit my key? these lines, as bhaba (2019) stresses, identify directly with the experience of being a dalit in a casteist nation, and much more; to anyone’s experience of being alienated like a foreigner in one’s own home. i quote: this dark house of the nation’s history is not mine . . . it has dispossessed me and discriminated against me; it has unhomed my history and darkened my presence. i am untouchable, i am enslaved, i am trafficked, i am lynched. this house is strange . . . and yet, say, tell me, why does its lock fit my key? [italics in original] (ibid, p. 229) this sense of alienation is what the caste-based organizing of samaj (and its canons and histories) brings for the dalit. as pointed by jaaware (2001, pp. 262-64), this is caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy 169 an intimate cut which goes back as early as the mimansa traditions (one of the early heterodox systems of indian philsophy): while in those times the cut constituted in terms of the reading of vedas (the fourth varna is inside the samaj but outside its recognition and privileges), in postcoloniality the cut operates in terms of claiming democratic rights. this reminds us therefore, how the problem of doubleness of democracy, in the context of india and caste, has settled historically through generations and continues to organize the thinking of identity and society in terms of a dominant framework of majoritarian hindu ‘nation.’ aesthetic education in the training of imagination: the urgency for realizing the value of equality the caste question, therefore, forces us to reconsider the very infrastructural question of postcoloniality and its unfulfilled promise of equality, reminding us continuously of the alienation of the ‘other’ of the nation (the poor, dalits, women, and so on). such questions therefore bind us together within a shared sense of similar experiences (though the contextual specificities may differ) of betrayal, humiliation, and discrimination that democracy failed to infrastructurally deliver in different contexts. exploring such concerns onto-epistemologically therefore creates possibilities for critical dialogue and interactions between otherwise dispersed experiences. such dialogues remind us of the necessity of reading together, to rethink what ‘theories’ of one specific context of experience can offer in an-other’s context; what the reading together (despite their specific differences) of ambedkar, marx, arendt, or agamben can offer in critiquing the historical exclusions and dispersed bio-politics of modern ‘nation’. as veena das (2019) reminds us using didier fassin’s views on the politics of life: . . . the notion of life splits the human into two domains – that of physical and biological life that man has in common with animals, and of political life that separates man from animals and gives him a unique place in the scheme of things. but does society offer the same possibilities for engaging in politics to all sections? what about women, the poor and the dispossessed? although there are important differences in the theoretical positions of these three authors, there is a general line of thought that postulates that the power of the exception is invested in the sovereign that can strip the lives of those living in abject conditions [. . .] to bare life that can be taken away by the mere will of the sovereign. (das, 2019, pp. 77-78) while this reminds us continuously of the precariousness of life, it also calls for the necessity to engage more seriously with such concerns in ways that can enable not only epistemological but infrastructural changes by changing the habits of everyday thinking. such dialogues remind us continuously not only of the specificities separating one from other but also the generalities of experience through which one can relate with the other thereby enabling forms of solidarity. though in the individual specificities of experience one’s experience remains always limited within one’s corporeal self, yet it is the generalities of such experiences that enable their communication with each-other. the infrastructural question of postcoloniality, that spivak (2012) stresses in her book an aesthetic education in the era of globalization, when seen from the 170 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 perspective of caste, makes us realize the hauntological echoes of past within the present, which remind us not only how hegemonic principles of organizing keeps on imposing dominant versions of history and becoming as the ‘normative’, but also how such organizing principles shape the habits of reading and conceptualization. we can recall here her point that the british and the caste-hindu reformers only concentrated on the visible violence of sati and passed a widow remarriage law without any infrastructural involvement. in the question of caste, the only limited infrastructural option that was available to ambedkar at the time of decolonization was that of ensuring some reservations and legal rights to safeguard the dalits and backward sections from suffering material deprivations and violence that an otherwise majoritarian upper-caste hindu society and its embodied casteism could have practised, and the continuity of caste discrimination and violence today proves that at every juncture. this reminds us continuously of the problem of the doubleness of history through which caste survived with modernity and decolonization. as sekhar bandyopadhyay (2004) reminds, the constitution guaranteed special privileges to dalits as long as they remained hindu; however fallacious this policy may be, its fundamentals remain unchanged even today. so, the enjoyment of privileges of affirmative action – which creates the expectation of dalit empowerment through the process of mandalisation9 – remains conditional upon the acceptance of the teleological taxonomy of the indian nation-state (bandyopadhyay p. 43). however, as emphasized already, ambedkar’s actual ideal was democracy and that is where we have failed to cultivate the values of equality properly. as spivak (2019) reminds us in the context of capital, the ‘value’ for marx was essentially abstract, and therefore had the potentiality for a revolutionto-come, provided its transformative and volatile capacities were realized properly by the proletariat. however, the problem was with engels’ translation of marx and the reductionism operating there: the decisive cuts through which the folded-togetherness of value was reduced within a decisive empiricism of exchange value only, and that is where the history of the left rose and fell. i humbly submit, similar is the problem of translatability of the ‘value’ of democracy, between what ambedkar had conceptualized and what instead came to us through the lens of the embodied majoritarian hindu nationalism. as spivak reminds, real change must be epistemic rather than merely epistemological, home as well as school . . . all these efforts, however carefully undertaken by the engaged intellectual, . . . is offset by the development of ethical and epistemic semiosis in the subaltern household, cradled in an often traumatic childrearing which is so deeply involved in the lessons of millennial class apartheid and gender division that it continuously creates the problem that one is trying to solve. (spivak 2012, p. 132) 9this refers to the mandal commission’s report of 1980 which aimed to empower the backward castes by ensuring certain reservation policies for them. however, the paradoxical side of this reservation was also the legal identification of ‘scheduled castes’ and ‘other backward castes’, which ironically also enabled a legalization of caste differences. added to that was also the point, as highlighted by sekhar bandopadhyay (2004), that the caste-based reservations are applicable as long as one is a hindu, thereby further legitimizing the linking of hinduism and caste-system (scheduled caste order of 1950 says: ‘no person who professes a religion different from the hindu religion shall be deemed to be a member of a scheduled caste.’). caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy 171 if ethics is conceptualized as a problem of relation rather than a problem of knowledge, it is not enough to build purely empirical databases; rather what is required is an act of relation and suspension, and to perform that one needs a training of the imagination to realize the suspending potentials of imagination. one should be able to think of one’s self from an-other’s perspective, or in other words, to lose one’s self in an-other’s self. this is a transformative capacity that doesn’t foreclose itself according to any hegemonic framework. instead, it is a role that one participates in not to control but to lose oneself: when one decides to speak of double binds and aporias, one is haunted by the ghost of the undecidable in every decision . . . again, it must be insisted that this is the condition of possibility of deciding. in the aporia or the double bind, to decide is the burden of responsibility. the typecase of the ethical sentiment is regret, not self-congratulation . . . (ibid, pp. 104-5) . . . any trick to train them into a mental habit of othering rather than merely provide them with tools to describe . . . in the othering of the self and coming as close as possible to accessing the other as the self. (ibid, pp. 112-13) i submit this is the language of democracy which we have failed to translate: to understand the self in terms of the other, to entail the ethical within the political. if caste is the embodiment of a hegemonic idea then the possibility of its ‘annihilation’ lies in crossing over the double-bind within which we are trapped today, and herein comes the necessity of stressing on a conscious training of the imagination in the habits of democracy. it is towards such directions, among other possible routes, that i stress the importance of aesthetic education for the training of the imagination. standing at a juncture where we are witnessing the rise of another wave of majoritarian hindu nationalism; where newer forms of caste discriminations recur every day, where laws don’t stand for ensuring the values of equality, such stress on the onto-epistemological necessity for the training of imagination in the language and values of democracy acquires an ethico-political necessity to make grounds for a futurity-to-come that realizes the values of democratic equality. otherwise, ‘in the absence of a people educated in the habits of democracy, there are no constraints upon the vanguard (ibid, p. 133). references abraham, joshil k. and judith, misrahi-barak. 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(2016). dalit initiatives in education, 1880–1992. in p. v. rao (ed.), new perspesctives in the history of indian education (pp. 45–67). new delhi: orient blackswan. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 51–70 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.145 © 2020 kalinga tudor silva. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited nationalism, caste-blindness, and the continuing problems of war-displaced panchamars in post-war jaffna society kalinga tudor silva1 abstract more than a decade after the end of the 26-year old ltte—led civil war in sri lanka, a particular section of the jaffna society continues to stay as internally displaced people (idp). this paper tries to unravel why some low caste groups have failed to end their displacement and move out of the camps while everybody else has moved on to become a settled population regardless of the limitations they experience in the post-war era. using both quantitative and qualitative data from the affected communities the paper argues that ethnic-biases and ‘caste-blindness’ of state policies, as well as sinhala and tamil politicians largely informed by rival nationalist perspectives are among the underlying causes of the prolonged idp problem in the jaffna peninsula. in search of an appropriate solution to the intractable idp problem, the author calls for an increased participation of these subaltern caste groups in political decision making and policy dialogues, release of land in high security zones for the affected idps wherever possible, and provision of adequate incentives for remaining people to move to alternative locations arranged by the state in consultation with idps themselves and members of neighbouring communities where they cannot be relocated at their original sites. keywords caste, caste-blindness, ethnicity, nationalism, social class, idps, panchamars, sri lanka 1department of sociology, university of peradeniya, peradeniya, sri lanka e-mail: kalingatudorsilva@gmail.com 52 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 introduction in caste-divided societies development of nationalism may be hampered because ‘regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail ……a nation is always conceived as a deep horizontal comradeship’ (anderson,1983, p. 50).1 so in theory, caste and nation as well as casteism and nationalism are antagonistic to each other even though in reality they may coexist in various ways. while casteism privileges the hereditary caste order in ways that legitimise ranking of castes and unequal relations among castes, nationalist imagination can undermine caste loyalties and caste-based distinctions and disparities as it calls for the formation of a deep horizontal comradeship and a resulting sense of overall equality overriding hereditary ranking. anderson was clear that nation is an imagined community that contradicts the actual inequalities in terms of class, caste, and gender. he further asserted that “‘u”ltimately it is this fraternity that makes it possible, over the past two centuries, for so many millions of people, not so much to kill, as willingly to die for such limited imagining’ (anderson, 1983, p. 50). this indicates that in spite of it being a sheer imagination, nationalism is a powerful force that actually drives the politics of those converted to nationalist thinking. in the light of the anti-colonial nationalist struggle in india, partha chatterjee (1986) contested the view that nation is a purely imagined community. in nation and its fragments (1993) chatterjee argued that nation as well as its fragments, including caste formations, are sites of struggles against colonial as well as other forms of oppression. he too, however, recognised that nationalist struggles and caste struggles operate at different levels with caste and religion as the core of the private domain outside the sphere of influence of colonial intervention per se. in other words, under the influence of mahatma gandhi indian nationalism tended to safeguard caste hierarchy against colonial incursions and spiritually refine it as a form of organic solidarity devoid of exploitation, thereby contributing to human progress and mutual concern rather than rejecting it altogether as an oppressive structure. in this formulation, nationalism and caste need not be antagonistic to each other in so far as the hindu nation encompasses castes as interdependent units needed by each other as a matter of mutual co-existence and survival. this is, of course, a view contested by dr. babasaheb ambedkar, who rejected both colonialism and oppressive caste structures recognising them as harmful to liberation and human welfare. he clearly wanted to ensure that the indian nation state had inbuilt mechanisms to eliminate or at least curtail caste inequality. as a populist political philosophy, nationalism can also produce a utopian notion of a classless or casteless society which is an ideal that serves to hide rather than recognise existing inequalities and, thereby, silence any public discourse on class or caste inequalities. this is because nationalism seeks to both homogenise and equalise society in the name of a unified nation without actually confronting structural inequalities in society. in caste societies this can lead to what is called ‘caste-blindness’ in public policies. ‘caste blindness’ can be defined as a deliberate neglect of caste discrimination in public policy; such policies being driven by the privileged layer of society who do not recognise or deliberately disregard caste discrimination simply because they benefit from and identify with hereditary privileges generated by the system. this is exactly what dr. ambedkar wanted to avoid and what prompted him to legislate against caste discrimination and go in for reservations in order to remedy the historical legacy of inequities. the term ‘caste blindness’ was first used in an nationalism, caste-blindness, and the continuing problems... 53 assessment of tsunamic response in tamil nadu, india where it was argued that ‘casteblindness’ in tsunami response actually increased the vulnerability of tsunami-victims, many of whom were from a dalit background. ‘the government and ngos were very slow to react to the caste discrimination, and in many cases have not yet acted to ensure equality of relief for all victims of the disaster. many prefer to pretend there is no caste discrimination, and simply give their assistance to the fishermen because it is easy and provides good publicity.’ (gill, 2006, p. 16). against this background, this paper examines how rival sinhala and tamil nationalisms in sri lanka have contributed to ‘caste blindness’ while responding to the problem of long-term internally displaced people (idps) in jaffna peninsula several years after the end of war between the government of sri lanka and the liberation tigers of tamil eelam (ltte). even though the war in northern and eastern sri lanka displaced all civilians irrespective of caste and class, the privileged layer of society managed to escape the worst of war impacts by moving out of the war-affected areas and to safer destinations in sri lanka and abroad. many of those internally displaced by the war have been resettled by the state in their original villages or alternative sites. others have moved elsewhere on their own. the last groups of idp, however, continue to remain in idp camps or live with their relatives many years after the war ended. most of them happen to be from panchamar caste backgrounds, elaborated later in this essay. the research question is why this particular segment of jaffna society remains idp years after the end of the war while everybody else has moved on to become a settled population regardless of whatever limitations they experience in the post-war era. the argument being developed in this essay is that this remaining group of idp is a collateral victim of discrimination based on caste, class, and ethnicity with casteblind policies of the state and tamil political leadership in particular, contributing to their prolonged displacement and inability to achieve their resettlement and postwar recovery. the historical and structural context of this continuing idp problem is explored through an analysis of the caste structure in jaffna society, history of caste struggles, and the impact of nationalist struggles on promoting caste blindness and enhancing the vulnerability of those at the bottom of the caste hierarchy. as for the methodology employed, the paper primarily relies on available literature and secondary data supplemented by rapid ethnographic research in a selected idp camp and a resettlement in the jaffna peninsula. using available secondary data with government agencies a quantitative profile of remaining idps is provided. as the caste identities of the remaining idps are not available with the relevant government authorities, key informant interviews were conducted with knowledgeable persons within and outside the communities to establish caste identities of the remaining idp in different locations. focus group discussions (fgds) were conducted in an idp camp and a new settlement in order to understand the reasons why the people have failed to move out of idp camps in spite of the pathetic living conditions, stigma associated with life in idp camps (muham) and the declared state policy of facilitating the resettlement of all war-affected people and restoring their rights including land rights, and identify the difficulties experienced by former idp when they moved into new neighbourhoods because of their caste backgrounds. key informant interviews with the officials in the relevant government and non-government agencies were conducted in order to explore how they recognise and interpret the current situation as a development problem and a social welfare issue. 54 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 caste research in jaffna society partly because of its proximity to south india, heavy saivite hindu presence, and relative isolation from the rest of sri lanka, jaffna has been an important site of caste research in sri lanka during the period 1950 to 1970. michael bank (1960) and kenneth david (1976) conducted ethnographic research in selected villages with a view to understanding the structure of inter-caste relations within a structural functional framework. they both pointed to the importance of the vellalar caste as the dominant caste in jaffna society and as the main recipient of services by other castes in the local areas. further, their studies revealed the religious foundation of the hindu caste system and how religiously sanctioned notions of purity and pollution guided the hierarchy, inter-caste relations, and positioning within the religious belief system and rituals. the picture presented was a fairly harmonious model of inter-caste relations that recognised hereditary inequalities and differential dignity and honour but operated within a patron-client or allegiance framework. some theoretically grounded social science research on caste in jaffna society was implemented in the subsequent decades. these included studies by pfaffenberger (1981, 1982, 1990, 1994), perinbanayagam (1982) and hellmann-rajanayakam, (1994a, 1994b). also influenced by louis dumont’s structuralist rendering of hindu caste system in india, the work by perinbanayagam (1982) and early work by pfaffenberger (1981 and 1982), reinforced the religious and cultural foundation of caste in jaffna with religious ideas as well as ayurveda notions underpinning the caste system at the ideological level. using earlier historical research by arasaratnam (1978, 1982), pfaffnberger (1990) found that the caste structure in jaffna had been mediated by the establishment of tobacco farming in the dutch period under the leadership of vellalar commercial farmers with the backing of the colonial regime. further he noted that the contemporary jaffna caste system was grounded in unequal power relations rather than in hindu belief system per se. on the surface, one sees a ‘premodern’ caste system and an ‘ancient’ temple tradition in conflict with ‘modern’’ values and social change. looking beneath the surface, however, one finds that this ‘premodern’ caste system is actually a grotesque relic of a colonial plantation economy, a fundamentally unstable system that could be maintained only by the regular application of force. (pfaffenberger, 1990, p. 93) the early signs of rupture in the caste system were evident in the temple entry struggles by panchamars in the 1960s analyzed in detail by pfaffenberger (1990). how caste related to the tamil nationalist struggle of the ltte was examined by hellmannrajanayakam (1993). slowly but surely these studies also suggested that a purely cultural explanation of caste was problematic and a more nuanced understanding of the interplay between economic and political structures and the caste hierarchy was necessary in light of emerging developments in jaffna society. with the unfolding of the tamil nationalist struggle, caste research was discouraged if not altogether suppressed in the 1990s. this is because certain militant advocates of the tamil nationalist struggle saw caste as a divisive force that could potentially undermine the tamil nationalist struggle against the sinhala state. cheran, who wrote about tamil nationalism, for instance, noted the following: nationalism, caste-blindness, and the continuing problems... 55 there has been a general reluctance to discuss caste issues in public. the tendency is to assert that caste was a thing of the past and tamil eelam will be caste-free. any open discussion on caste is seen as bringing the old divisiveness back and therefore not healthy for the tamil liberation struggle. on the other hand, there is a tendency among western scholars to view tamil nationalism and the rise of the tigers purely as a caste phenomenon. these two extremes do not reflect the complex relationship and changing caste-nation interactions among tamils. (cheran, 2001, p.7) in spite of this censorship on caste as a subject of research three seminal publications on caste in jaffna society came up during and after the war. the first is ritual and recovery in post-conflict sri lanka by jane derges, a british anthropologist who did ethnographic research in jaffna as part of her doctoral research. even though caste was not the primary subject matter of this study, it pointed to the emergence of body piercing ritual of thukkukavadi among hindu devotees in post-war sri lanka as a ritualistic assertion of a new tamil hindu identity crosscutting caste and other divisions (2013). the two other studies are by local scholars who directly encountered the censorship on caste within jaffna society but managed to strategically overcome it by refocusing their studies. in her doctoral research on caste and nation building: constructing vellalar identity in jaffna, bahirathy jeeweshwara räsänen (2015) demonstrated how early rendering of tamil nationalism from the 1950s onwards was mediated by vellalar leadership in ways that legitimised their position in tamil society and politics and how this was transformed by the ltte led by middle-level castes in the hindu caste hierarchy in ways that problematise the vellalar leadership and legitimise the ltte struggle against sinhala domination on the one hand and vellalar monopoly in tamil society on the other. focusing specifically on the subaltern layer of jaffna society, thanges and silva (2009) identified panchamars as lasting and continuing victims of the war as some of them continued to be stuck in idp camps following the end of war while the other tamil idp have long been resettled with government and donor support. continuing this line of research, the current paper further examines how caste-blind policies of the state and nationalist politics in general have aggravated the vulnerability and existential insecurities of oppressed-caste idp many years after the end of war. caste structure in jaffna peninsula the caste structure in jaffna peninsula evolved over a long period of time with shifts caused by the establishment of commercial agriculture in the peninsula during the dutch colonial regime solidifying the caste hierarchy in important ways. more recently the war and related population movements have had a major impact on caste composition in the region. as no caste censuses have been conducted by the government or any other agency, no reliable information about the caste composition in the region is currently available. bank’s (1960) original estimate as amended by pfaffenberger (1982) and sivathamby (1995) can be used as a baseline for the analysis. 56 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 table 1. castes in jaffna peninsula, 1982 caste name in tamil english rendering caste occupation as a % of total tamil population piraman brahman temple priest 0.7 saiva kurukkal saiva priest priests in non-brahman temples vellalar land owning caste landlord, farmer 50 pantaram garland maker temple helper sipacari craftsman temple sculptor koviar domestic worker for vellalar 7 thattar goldsmith 0.6 karaiyar deep sea fisherman 10 thachchar carpenter wood work, roof maker 2 kollar iron work blacksmith nattuvar musician auspicious music kalkular weaver cantar oil maker sesame oil maker kukkuvar potter potter mukkuvar lagoon fisher panchamar category vannar dhoby 1.5 ampattar barber 0.9 pallar manual worker bonded labour 9 nalavar toddy tapper toddy tapper and farm worker 9 paraiyar drummer funeral drummer 2.7 source: adapted from thanges and silva (2009). note: gaps in demographic data are due to non-recognition of the relevant caste groups in the original estimate. the size of the relevant case groups, however, may be too small to alter the overall pattern indicated by the estimates given. the caste structure of jaffna society consists of roughly twenty castes with vellalar caste historically accounting for nearly 50 percent of the total tamil population in the region as the undisputed dominant caste controlling land ownership, agriculture, leadership positions and white collar employment in colonial and post-colonial settings (table 1). brahmins and saiva kurukkals are ritually superior to vellalars but they are often employed by vellalar temple trustees making them economically subordinate to the dominant caste. with the exception of karaiyars, mukkuvars, and possibly kukkuvars who were largely self-employed and economically independent, all the other castes historically served hereditary patron families of the dominant caste (refer table 1). the panchamar castes were identical to dalits in the indian context as they were considered untouchable and outside the touchable caste category and hence the fifth caste following the indian model. except in a few instances, the word ‘dalit,’ however, was not used for self-identification or as an analytical category in caste research in jaffna or anywhere else in sri lanka. in addition to the term panchamar, the terms ‘depressed castes,’ ‘depressed classes’ or ‘minority tamils’ have been used to refer to them in the literature and mass media. nationalism, caste-blindness, and the continuing problems... 57 one important feature of the caste system in jaffna that has so far received inadequate attention is the close correspondence between caste and social class in jaffna society. vellalars are not only the dominant caste in society but also the social and political elite in society with property ownership, high levels of education, professional employment, control over temples, and tamil politics prior to and since the end of the war. they also had a tight grip over the panchamars in terms of securing their hereditary caste services, including ritual duties and agricultural labour in farming activities. as elaborated by chatterjee (1993) in respect of west bengal the shape of class relations in jaffna society was clearly overlaid by caste identities and responsibilities giving them the character of bonded labour particularly in the farm sector. this also indicates that the effort by louis dumont to reduce caste to hierarchy identified as a purely ritual order determined by the dichotomy between purity and pollution is problematic in jaffna society at least from eighteenth century onwards. jaffna caste system also resembles graded inequality characterised by thorat and madheswaran in their work on india (2018) in the sense that poverty and lack of assets are characteristic of the lower end of the caste hierarchy. history of caste struggles the history of caste struggles in jaffna actually started long before caste struggles became a regular feature even in indian society. thus, instead of treating the caste system as sacred and immutable, rumblings against caste in jaffna started way back in the 1920s.why they did not progress in the way they did in india itself is important from the angle of a comparative analysis of caste dynamics in south asia. another important issue is how caste struggles in jaffna gradually gave way to a violent tamil ethno-nationalist struggle with ethnicity gradually replacing caste as the primary basis of social identity and the platform for social and political agitations. as these two developments are centrally important for the argument of this paper, the researchers focuses on them in the current and the following section. ravikumar (2002), a political actor representing the oppressed caste groups in jaffna, has documented the popular history of dalit (panchamar) struggles in jaffna society, he being one of the few commentators opting to identify the panchamars in jaffna as dalits. using the famous chauvinistic quote from arumuga navalar, the nineteenth century founder of tamil hindu nationalism that ‘parai drum,2 women and panchamar are all born to get beaten,’ ravikumar argued that casteism is built into tamil nationalism from its very beginning. long before the tamil nationalism got established in jaffna in the 1940s, caste struggles had started with the formation of the forum for depressed class tamil labourers in 1927. in the following year this forum launched an agitation for ‘equality in seating, equality in eating’ in protest against caste discrimination in schools where dalit children were barred from sitting and eating with other children. two years of continuous struggle led to an administrative order on grantaided schools that low-caste children should be allowed to sit on benches side by side with other children. in retaliation, caste hindu tamils burnt down 13 schools that implemented the new regulations. and by way of political follow-up, the vellalar elite petitioned the government in 1930 to withdraw the equal-seating directive, which, however, was not successful. 58 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 the next important milestone in caste struggles in sri lanka was grating of universal franchise by the donoughmore commission in 1931. under the leadership of vellalar politicians like s. natesan, the caste hindus protested against the granting of franchise to panchamars. according to ravikumar (2002, p.3 ) ‘caste hindus were ready to give up their own voting rights to prevent the dalits from getting theirs.’ as they could not obstruct the granting of franchise to the panchamars, the caste hindus imposed a new set of prohibitions on the oppressed groups particularly targeting women and children in order to emphasise their subordination to vellalars. these retaliations, however, were short-lived and they did not deter dalit activism. the conference of oppressed tamils in jaffna was held in august 1943. it resulted in the formation of the northern sri lankan minority tamil mahasabha for the purpose of campaigning against caste injustices. when soulbury commission conducted public hearings about constitutional reform in sri lanka from december 1944 to april 1945, the northern sri lankan minority tamil mahasabha made representation independently of the tamil congress led by g. g. ponnambalam representing the vellalar interests. the mahasabha, however, could not secure separate concessions for them in the new constitution due to constant pressure from the tamil congress for legal provisions for tamil rights in general. during the first national elections held in independent sri lanka in 1947 the mahasabha opted to support the communist party instead of the tamil congress which refused to field any panchamar candidates in their party nominations. this alignment with the communist party at the national level was interesting in light of the correspondence between working class and panchamar interests in jaffna society. a tamil political party willing to accommodate panchamar interests, however, was formed as tamil arasu party in the 1950s. as this party agreed to promote panchamar candidates as well, a section of mahasabha joined the tamil arasu party while another section continued to support the communist party during this period. this political split within the panchamar community served to weaken their struggle against the caste system. the grievances among panchamars, however, remained high well into the next decade. the passing of prevention of social disabilities act of 1957 was an important achievement for minority tamils in this period. this act identified any prohibitions or restrictions imposed by the dominant caste against traditionally oppressed castes in matters such as dress code, education, admission to public places, and use of public facilities as illegal. framed and formulated by sinhala political parties in the south with the intention of dividing up the tamils and weakening their demand for federalism at the time, this act did not have much effect in reality except for its rhetorical value. the temple entry struggles by pallar and nalavar activists in 1968 targeting the famous maviddapuram hindu temple controlled by brahmins was an important caste struggle in jaffna. as in other hindu temples controlled by vellalars and their priests, pallars and nalavars were not allowed to enter maviddapuram temple claiming that their entry would pollute its sacred space. led by a member of the communist party and reportedly backed by sinhala politicians from the south, activists from these castes considered it a violation of their rights and demanded that they be allowed to enter the temple. this in turn produced retaliatory physical attacks on the protestors by vellalar and koviar thugs leading to a cycle of violent nationalism, caste-blindness, and the continuing problems... 59 attacks and counter attacks in a number of places in jaffna. the federal party led by the dominant caste tried to diffuse the situation by publicising symbolic gestures of opening the gates of some temples for representatives of the two oppressed castes but no effort was made to actually resolve the issue by bringing about a negotiated settlement between the rival parties. in his detailed study of these agitations, pfaffenberger (1990) noted that the temple entry struggles produced an important turning point in tamil politics in sri lanka in general. it was a turning point in the sense that it marked a transition from divisive caste struggles within jaffna society itself to the ethnic politics of a unified tamil struggle against the sinhala-controlled state in southern sri lanka. according to pfaffenberger, tamil political leadership sought to unify all sri lankan tamils within the framework of a ‘defensive’ tamil nationalism in order to avert volatile internal struggles triggered by internecine caste struggles. in pfaffenberger’s (1990, p. 93) own words: in creating a politics of electoral unity, tamil politicians had to navigate a contradictory and dangerous mine field. they succeeded, but only by deflecting the tamil community’s attention away from the peninsula and toward the broken promises and discriminatory actions of the sinhalesedominated government. this was a politics that tiptoed quietly away from issues that would divide tamils; it created electoral unity around the program of defensive nationalism but without really devoting any attention to the fundamental issues of social and economic inequality within the tamil community itself. what pfaffenberger charaterised as ‘defensive tamil nationalism’ served not so much to remedy caste resentments as to deflect them to an external enemy posing a greater threat. this helped the protagonists of defensive nationalism to direct their violence outward and attribute all their problems to hostilities by an ethnic other. this in turn suggests that as an ideology nationalism serves to de-emphasise internal problems and over emphasise external threats stemming from a perceived ethnic other. in confronting the problem of suffering and existential insecurities, nationalisms have a tendency to soft-peddle certain issues, suppress others and project the ethnic other as the sole explanation of one’s problems. eelam struggle and the problem of caste in jaffna society the twin objectives of the eelam struggle were to achieve autonomy from the sinhala state and establish a casteless society in the eelam state. tamil nationalism’s aim of abolishing caste is not new. way back in 1976 the tamil united liberation front (tulf) adopted the goal of eliminating caste as part of the famous vadukkoddai resolution (rasanen, 2015, p. 164). elaborating the political agenda of the ltte, hellmann-rajanayagam (1993) argued that the ltte fought two separate battles, one against the external enemy, the sinhala state and other against the caste system in jaffna society. the caste struggle, however, was delicately poised as the ltte did not want to antagonise the vellalars comprising the largest and the dominant caste in jaffna and pursue a divisive policy that would weaken the tamil liberation struggle against the sinhala state. with the formation of ltte, leadership of tamil politics shifted from vellalar elite to karaiyar and middle level castes in jaffna society. in response there was 60 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 a selective outmigration of vellalars during the war altering the existing demographic profile in the peninsula (silva, 2018). the percentage of vellalars in the population perhaps dropped from 50 to 30 and there was a proportionate increase in the nonvellalars including the panchamars up to about 30 percent of the population by 2005. the ltte cadres came from all castes and diverse social class backgrounds but the panchamars perhaps made up the bulk of the cadres as noted by ravikumar in 2002. the approach of the ltte was not to openly talk about caste or address grievances openly. instead the ltte imposed strict penalties including imprisonment for those practising caste discrimination. any discussion on caste in day-to-day conversation, including mentioning of caste identities of people, was completely prohibited. the assumption was that this would lead to a gradual abandonment of caste as a principle of social organisation in the eelam state (thanges, 2015). the ltte, however, did not have a clearly formulated policy for dealing with caste. inter-caste marriages were encouraged and practised by the ltte leadership as a model for the society at large. the ltte did not want to introduce any radical measures for confronting the caste order perhaps due to the fear of losing support from caste hindus in the process. on the other hand, several pragmatic interventions were made in order to accommodate minority tamil interests. they may also be seen as a way of adjusting to the changing caste demography and to facilitate recruitment drives in the wake of outmigration, population displacement, and overall depopulation of certain regions. the author summarises these pragmatic interventions as follows: 1. some of the key leaders were from the bottom layer of society. for instance, thamil chelvam from barber caste rose to the top level in the political wing of the ltte . 2. as a pragmatic intervention based on current demographic realities, the ltte recruitment drive targeted some panchamar villages where poverty, lack of options, and feeling of social exclusion encouraged the youth to join the movement. 3. the ltte cadres who sacrificed their lives for the struggle became war heroes (maveerar) irrespective of their caste background and the maveerar families were entitled to special welfare assistance from the ltte. 4. some of the land and houses abandoned by the caste hindus who moved out during the war were distributed among maveerar families including those from panchamar background. 5. the ltte used certain panchamar communities as their bases and places of refuge when needed for their political activities and even intelligence operations. this of course made these communities vulnerable for surveillance and arrests by security forces. however, the ltte also undertook special efforts to help stabilise these communities and provide services when necessary. 6. in the ltte camps members of different castes intermingled with each other without any restrictions. they often addressed each other using kinship terms with ltte supremo prabaharan usually referred to as annai (older brother). in the camps they ate together and worked together disregarding caste differences. 7. the ltte encouraged certain castes like barbers and washers to stop visiting high caste homes for their services and to establish and provide their services through barber saloons and laundries respectively in an effort to convert them from hereditary caste services to commercial transactions with no caste identities and hereditary modes of transactions implicated. nationalism, caste-blindness, and the continuing problems... 61 8. the dead martyrs were buried in ltte cemeteries side by side irrespective of their caste which went against the customary practice of separate cemeteries for different castes. these measures indicate that the ltte was ‘caste sensitive’ rather than ‘caste blind.’ in spite of these remedial measures, the policy of the ltte was to not recognise caste for any official purposes of the organization. while these ‘unofficial’ interventions were in the nature of affirmative action for the benefit of those at the bottom of the caste hierarchy, there was no officially accepted procedure for identifying victims of caste discrimination or perpetrators of caste injustices. these interventions were by no means radical in terms of altering the existing caste hierarchy or tipping the power balance in favour of those at the lower end of the caste hierarchy. they were, however, seen with suspicion by the vellalars and interpreted as evidence of the ltte favouring the underdogs as evident in an ethnographic study by rasanen on a vellalar community (2015). she recognised an important distinction between a more hegemonic tamil nationalism mediated by the conservative vellalars since the 1940s and the ltte mediated tamil nationalism designed to create opportunities for the subordinate caste groups evolving in the 1990s. capturing the mainstream vellalar view about the ltte, she reported the following (2015, p.166). in the local elite understanding, the vellalah who mastered the pen were replaced by those who mastered martial skills – the fishing castes and depressed castes. it left a feeling of animosity among vellalah on the whole; it was particularly intense among local and national vellalah elites who were educated and disempowered socially and politically. on the whole the ltte assumed that, over the years, caste would have a natural death in tamil eelam because of intermingling of idp from different castes in idp camps, officially imposed public silence about caste in the communities, strategic but subterranean interventions by the ltte targeting victims of caste discrimination, and increase in inter-caste marriages due to social necessities, and the hidden ltte policy of encouraging such marriages. caste background and the problems of remaining idp in jaffna peninsula the war between the government of sri lanka (gosl) and the ltte from 1983 to 2009 uprooted nearly all tamil inhabitants in the jaffna peninsula irrespective of their social class, caste and gender. the total number displaced persons by the brutal war is estimated to be around 1.5 million. some 750,000 people moved to foreign destinations in europe, north america, and elsewhere as refugees or as legal migrants. the remaining 750,000 were internally displaced within sri lanka in idp camps, among relatives of the displaced, and in various other arrangements. ten years after the end of the war, most of the idp resulting from the war had been resettled by the gosl in either their original villages or in new settlements. the gosl has 62 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 declared its policy of resettlement of idp successful in terms of housing, infrastructure development, livelihood restoration, recovery and reintegration of idp. however, as of early 2016, the resettlement of idp remained an unfinished business and the last set of idp yet to be resettled remained an intractable problem as they appeared to be collateral victims of the war as well as continuing processes of ethnic, class, and caste oppression. as of january 2016, approximately 38,000 people (11,000 families) were identified by the state as remaining idp in jaffna peninsula. the veritable ‘wretched of the earth’ among them were some 3,970 war-displaced persons (1,100 families) who lived in a total of 31 idp camps located across six administrative divisions in the jaffna peninsula. many of these idp have been living in the camps (‘welfare centres’ in government terminology) for well over two decades and others were born in these camps. the relief and subsidies provided to these idp by the state and ngos was discontinued in 2011 but that did not encourage them to move out. the un high commissioner for human rights, zeid raad al hussain, who visited selected idp camps in jaffna in february 2016, referred to them as a ‘lingering sore’ in post-war recovery in sri lanka (sunday times february 26, 2016). prior research by thanges and silva (2009), thanges (2013, 2015) and rasanen (2015) found that many of these long term idp belong to the panchamar category. while the war displaced most tamil inhabitants in the jaffna peninsula irrespective of their caste and class, the largely overlapping categories of upper class and the high castes in jaffna (see pfaffenberger 1982, 1990) were able to move out to safety from the idp camps using their social networks, market skills and financial resources at their disposal. on the other hand, the displacement of depressed panchmars was prolonged due to a complex web of factors. the post-war idp count in jaffna presents a few surprises (refer table 2). most importantly among these long-term idp still living in the camps the vellalars, who continue to be largest caste in jaffna society in spite of a significant drop in their numbers due to selective outmigration during the war, are conspicuous by their absence. while there still may be some vellalar idp living among their relatives and not in the camps, that itself shows that camps have become caste uniform over the years with a sorting out of the population along caste lines. thus among the remaining idp in jaffna peninsula as of january 2016, two panchamar castes, namely nalavar (toddy tappers and fishers) and pallar (manual workers and hereditary farm workers for vellalar landlords) comprise over seventy five per cent of the remaining idp leaving aside idp camps with people from two different castes. in four of the six divisional secretary divisions (dsds) where idp camps continued to exist in 2016, all the remaining idps belonged to these two subaltern caste groups. a total of four idp camps had mixed populations drawn from nalavar and pallar castes. in point pedro and karaveddy divisional secretary divisions most remaining idp belonged to karaiyar caste, considered to be a middle level caste in jaffna society. in one idp camp in point pedro, karaiyar and pallar lived side by side. irrespective of their caste background, most long-term idp had been displaced from the fertile northern coastal stretch in the peninsular also with some of the best fishing grounds in the country acquired by the military to establish high security zones (hszs) for strategic security considerations. the caste configurations among the surviving idp reflect a spatial segregation along caste lines as well as a clear tendency among idp to stay with fellow caste members. nationalism, caste-blindness, and the continuing problems... 63 table 2. number of people in idp camps in the jaffna district by caste background of idp and by ds division, january 2016 dsd pallar nalavar pallar and nalavar karaiyar pallar and karaiyar total telippalai 30 1,051 60 0 0 1,141 sandilipai 0 85 0 0 0 85 uduvil 39 1,116 212 0 0 1,367 koapai 650 0 0 0 0 650 point pedro and karaveddy 0 0 9 559 151 710 total 719 2,252 272 559 151 3,953 source: jaffna district secretariat, resettlement division note: idp numbers were secured from the resettlement division of the jaffna kachcheri. caste identities were established through key informant interviews and cross checking with different kis. the continuation of caste-based residential pattern among the long-term idp points to the failure of the long history of caste struggles as also the failure of the ltte approach of subterranean interventions to dissolve caste ties in jaffna society. they also indicate that ethnically filtered and ‘caste blind’ policies and politics of sinhala and tamil political parties may fail to resolve the long-term idp problem in jaffna society satisfactorily. even though the ltte sought to dissolve caste identities in favour of a unified tamil eelam, caste identities are resurfacing and new inter-caste formations emerging particularly among subaltern groups in postwar jaffna peninsula. in one such mobilisation, some leaders of idp communities established a welfare centres management committee (wcmc) representing the interests of all idp camps vis-à-vis the government in 2015. led by a dynamic person named anthony quinn, this organisation sought to unify the residents of all idp camps in a broad-based alliance to negotiate with the government authorities regarding their problems. while this was an idp organisation representing the needs and grievances of long-term idp in jaffna peninsula, because of the caste backgrounds of these victims of the war and caste oppression in society it was also a mobilization of subaltern castes facing new challenges in postwar jaffna society. as the leader of sapapathipillai camp identified with the nalavar caste, anthony quinn himself came from an ethnically and religiously mixed karaiyar-nalavar and hindu-catholic background, he was able to bring all idp camps representing nalavars and pallars in tellipalai, sandilipai, uuduvil, and kopai divisions under the umbrella of this new organisation. however, karaiyar idp camps in point pedro and karveddy refused to join his organisation claiming that the new alliance did not represent their interests. according to the leaders of wcmc, this action motivated largely by caste considerations of karaiyar idp in velvetithurai ,seen as a karaiyar stronghold and their refusal to treat lower caste idp as their equals let alone partners in a common struggle, served to dampen their struggle for winning their rights as idp. while nalavar and pallar idp coming together for joint action may be seen as an important new development in the light of their shared plight, the refusal of karaiyar idp to join wcmc points to the continuing social gap between panchamars and those above them in the caste hierarchy even when they have a common interest as long-term idp. 64 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 the government has not been able to resettle these long-term idp due to a combination of factors, including the forcible acquisition of their land by the predominantly sinhalese military for establishing high security zones (hszs) and the refusal by the security forces to release the acquired land for idp resettlement on the grounds of security for military installations, complete landlessness of some of the idps, and the dogged refusal of many to move to alternative sites and accept the package of incentives proposed by the government. this had resulted in a deadlock in government plans to complete the resettlement process and proceed with the post-war recovery in sri lanka. why have the long-term idp failed to move out of idp camps? if the war affected everyone in jaffna society irrespective of caste, class and gender, how do we explain the particular social and demographic configuration in the remaining idp camp population in jaffna peninsula? one possible explanation is that the war did not impact the civilian population indiscriminately; the rich and the powerful were able to move to safety using their contacts and economic and human resources leaving behind the poorer and the underprivileged to bear the brunt of the 25-years long armed conflict (silva 2017). while this explanation has considerable merit in clarifying the current demographic profile in jaffna peninsula (silva 2018), it completely takes away the agency of the socially marginalised and their possible engagement in violent and non-violent collective action in order to advance their common interests and assert their rights. also, it indicates the failure of both caste-blind policies of the state and nationalist politics in general, and the caste-sensitive interventions by the ltte at the subterranean level to create a level playing field in postwar sri lanka. the failure of the sri lankan state to bring a closure to the idp problem in jaffna ten years after its military victory over the ltte in spite of the efforts by the new political regime which emerged in the centre in 2015, to release some of the land under hszs for their original owners can be attributed to a complex set of factors, including divergent pressures on the sri lankan state, the nature of centre-periphery relations and the limited influence the idps have over central and provincial governments. the disproportionate3 panchamar presence in the remaining idp camps must be seen as a further complication resulting from the continuing barriers and exclusions they encounter in joining the social mainstream in post-war scenario. these barriers perhaps stemmed from their greater vulnerability to long-term displacement during the war, their specific role and engagement in the armed struggle, over dependence on the ltte as their sole benefactor during the war and helplessness they experience following the demise of ltte, lack of representation within the political forces in post-war sri lanka and their inherited disadvantages in the local land market. first, the subaltern caste groups with fragile land rights in interstitial spaces in-between vellallar and karaiyar settlements were probably more vulnerable to displacement during the war also because the sri lankan security forces often acquired these spaces to establish high security zones. the lowest castes owned limited extents of land, compelling them to work for vellalar landlords who gave them house sites on edges of their land free of charge (pfaffenberger 1982, räsänen 2015). further the thesavalamai customary law outlawed the transfer of land from vellalars to non-vellalars, interfering with the establishment of a free land market. as is well nationalism, caste-blindness, and the continuing problems... 65 documented in the literature on disasters (silva 2015, gill 2007), occupants of these marginal spaces are more vulnerable to disasters, natural or human-made. second, as noted earlier, the panchamar castes often constituted the foot soldiers of the ltte. the subterranean interventions of ltte had the effect of consolidating panchamar communities with the result that they may have been the targets of antiltte operations during and after the war. these communities were more likely to stay together even after the war ended. unlike the richer vellalars who were displaced and who used their own resources and contacts in order to move to safety out of the war zone, with limited resources at their disposal the lowest castes relied on their own communities in order to cope with their problems. in some cases, the ltte land grants to these communities became untenable after the ltte regime ended. for instance, the lands on which the sapapathy, kanaki and periya mathadevi camps in uduvil dsd were located were reportedly cotnrolled by ltte having acquired them from the previous owners who had migrated overseas during the war. the owners, who did not demand their land when the ltte was active, reclaimed it once the war ended thus preventing the onsite resettlement of the idp living there even after the end of the war (rajasingham, 2014). the limited land resources owned by the idp were mostly in hszs some of which was returned to the people by the security forces since 2015 on a scattered basis. further, unlike the upper caste idp who moved out to other areas, and overseas destinations individually using their existing social contacts, the subaltern idp who were left behind in the camps sought to move back to their original villages as a community, perhaps as a collective means of dealing with social rejection and discrimination by the privileged castes. third, the panchamar idp had become victims of a power struggle between tamil political parties and the gosl. for tamil political parties they are victims of discrimination by the sinhala state to be showcased as victims of ethnic discrimination. in none of their campaign documents the long-term idp are identified as panchamars who experience multiple discrimination due to caste, class and ethnicity. on the other hand, caste blind and ethnically biased policies of the state have failed to understand the nuances of the situation. in spite of the demographic shifts in the tamil population in the peninsula, the non-vellalars do not seem to have adequate representation in these parties and in elected representation in the central government, provincial councils and even in pradeshiya sabas largely controlled by vellalar-affiliated tamil national alliance (tna). in many ways the conventional tamil political leadership in post-war sri lanka remains rather aloof to the needs of the underprivileged caste groups as had been the case in the pre-war era. simultaneously, the remaining idp camps are a useful platform for the tamil political leadership to demonstrate to the rest of the world that the central government has failed to complete the resettlement of idps, demand the dismantling of high security zones in the peninsula and campaign for greater political autonomy for the minorities. on the other hand, the sri lankan state and the security forces are hesitant to release land in the remaining hszs and seem to be completely unaware that the remaining hszs prevent the bottom layer of jaffna society from going back to their original homelands. finally, the panchmar idp do not have the resources to break the vicious cycle of poverty and displacement and move to some alternative sites on their own also due to the disadvantages they experience in the local land market heavily controlled by the vellalar land owners. even though the absentee vellalar landlords had allowed some panchamar families to occupy their vacant houses particularly in islands off 66 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 the peninsula, transfer of land ownership across the caste divide has been rare and considered morally unjustified by vellalar landlords (silva, 2017, thanges 2015, rasanen 2015). this is a classic example where ethnic prejudices and class and caste inequalities reinforce each other in ways that make the idp collateral victims of multiple forms of oppression and discrimination many years after the end of war. the living conditions of remaining idp the remaining idp camps in jaffna peninsula are characterised by poor housing, congestion, underserved conditions in relation to water and sanitation, and vulnerability to natural and social hazards, including infections. the one or two room housing units are made of tin sheets, wooden planks and cadjan. during the hot summer there is unbearable heat inside these houses. during monsoon, roofs leak and the entire camps get flooded because of their low-lying character. the camps are overcrowded with lots of shelters occupying a limited space. for instance, in 2016 in the adjoining sapapathy and kannaki camps in uduvil dsd, 932 people from 250 families were huddled together in a land area of eight acres. the provision of water and sanitation to the idp communities remains extremely poor. most camps had no running water.4 there are one or two wells which often dry up during the periods of drought. the vellalar communities in nearby villages are not willing to share their water sources, including wells, with people from the idp camps (muham) due to continuing ideas about pollution and contamination. in one camp about 400 people shared a total of seven common toilets with one toilet being shared by nearly fifty-eight people. the long waiting time to use toilets was part of the daily routine in the idp camps. the dry rations issued to idp by the government of sri lanka with support from un agencies was discontinued in 2011 reportedly due to the desire of the rajapaksa regime at the time to impress upon the international community that the resettlement of war-induced idp had been completed. on the other hand, the dry rations were not replaced with the state-run samurdhi programme targeting the poor, reportedly because they were not permanent settlers of the relevant administrative divisions. thus the remaining idp in the peninsula received neither the dry ration meant for idp nor samurdhi benefits meant for the poor. they were also disqualified from housing assistance for resettling idp provided under world bank and indian government assistance as they did not have title to any buildable land. in some ways they were double victims of ‘caste blind’ and exclusionary ethnic policies of the state and international donors. in a curious reflection of ethnic filters and caste blindness in many of these agencies, the complexities of the problem of remaining idp have not surfaced in policy discussions in any of these organisations. the educational services were poor. some idp camps had primary schools with minimum facilities. according to one newspaper report, for idp children ‘it was just a case of sitting in a makeshift classroom for a few hours, sometimes learning and at other times chatting.’ if the idp children wanted to go beyond primary education, they had to be transferred to better schools outside the community, where idp children experienced a range of discrimination from fellow students and from teachers hailing from higher caste backgrounds. in spite of these obstacles, a few bright children from these communities did manage to do well in studies and enter the university system. in nationalism, caste-blindness, and the continuing problems... 67 summary, most idp children ended up with limited capabilities that merely prepared them for casual wage labour opportunities in the labour market. for the most part, the idp camps had become sources of cheap labour for commercial farmers and labour contractors in the surrounding areas. having being completely displaced from self-employment as farmers or fishers, the camp residents were reduced to daily wage labour as their primary livelihood. thus these communities were not only caste uniform but also class uniform as wage earners. the daily wage for men and women were around rs. 1000-1200 and rs. 500 to 600 respectively. often, they were not entitled to any fringe benefits like free food from the employers signifying an almost irreversible end of traditional patron-client relations in the labour market. employment was available in commercial farms, construction sites, quarrying and informal sector, food preparation and vending, and rarely in the formal sector. in many places the workers from the camps were treated badly by the employers due to their caste as well as muham background. a new settlement called nallinakkpuram (literally meaning ‘reconciliation village’) established by the ministry of rehabilitation headed by a unp tamil minister from colombo for selection of idp was ceremonially opened in valikamam north dsd in december 2016 for a total of 100 idp families recruited from a number of idp camps in selected dsds. this is considered a relocation since the settlement was established in vacant crown land situated close to kks beach. the houses were built by the military with funds from the rehabilitation ministry. the tamil political leadership of tna did not like this project because of the military involvement and also because the project was resented by vellalar settlements and a number of hindu kovils in the area. the residents of the new settlement felt that they were not welcome in the area dominated by the vellalar communities because of their panchamar caste background. a primary school was newly established in nallinakkapuram but the older children experienced some difficulty in getting admission to existing secondary schools and a common playground in a nearby village was reportedly covered by a fence in order to prevent the children from the new settlement using it. many of the new settlers were keen to start fishing, their traditional occupation, in the nearby sea but they were prevented from doing so as the area was considered a sacred site (punithabhumi) by trustees of nearby hindu kovils who were essentially vellalar. a local tamil politician protested against the project claiming that part of the housing scheme is actually established on private land owned by his family. the new settlers were happy that they were able to get a decent house of their own, but they were complaining that they were not yet granted title to the land even though it was promised by government authorities. further, they experienced a number of caste-based social rejections and opposition to the commencement of their traditional livelihood of fishing even though the fishing grounds are within their reach. nallinakkapuram clearly points to the kind of difficulties that these subaltern castes encounter when they move to new areas dominated by vellalars. clearly the central government and military engagement were instrumental in opening this new settlement for landless idp. however, it is quite clear that this state intervention was not informed by a sound understanding of caste dynamics affecting the remaining idp in jaffna society. 68 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 conclusion neither the political process guided by rival nationalisms, nor state policies shaped by ethnic filters and caste blindness help us fully understand why the idp problem in jaffna has persisted in the post-war era. a nuanced understanding of this problem must recognise intricate interactions among ethnicity, social class and caste in contemporary sri lanka society. the failure of the sri lanka state to satisfactorily conclude the resettlement process and end the suffering of the remaining idp in jaffna peninsula indicates either its lack of understanding about the problem, or its remoteness, or lack of concern about the plight of the residual war victims. on the other hand, the tamil electoral politics is equally insensitive and merely seeking to perpetuate the problem for its own propaganda purposes also reflecting that panchamars are poorly represented in the political process at all levels. during their heyday, the ltte may have empowered the panchamars to some extent, but clearly the subterranean interventions of the ltte failed to mobilise them in such a way that they could assert themselves so as to influence public policies that affect them. wcmc may be seen as an important initiative from the angle of mobilisation of panchamars as war victims, victims of caste and class discrimination as well as victims of poorly informed state policies relating to the resettlement of idp, but it has a long way to go in terms of liberating this subaltern group in jaffna society. policy options available the tamil political elite has been lobbying for closure of hszs in the northern and eastern provinces, removal of military bases and progressive reduction of the military presence in these areas as a precondition for restoration of civilian life in the region. on the other hand, the government security forces have been pushing for a payment of compensation to idp for the land lost to hszs and providing additional support to the idp to move to alternative sites or resettle in the existing sites. neither party is willing to reach a compromise that would end the prolonged suffering of these last cohorts of socially marginalised idp. interestingly both the gosl and the tamil political elite purely approach the problem from an ethnic or political angle and in a ‘caste blind’ manner. the tamil leadership explicitly campaigns for their resettlement in their original villages that are currently under hszs. while closure of hszs may be necessary in the long run, this, however, may not be a pragmatic solution for all remaining idp as some of them reportedly do not own any land in hszs or anywhere else. thus, it’s only a compromise solution, acceptable to idp, gosl and the tamil political leadership, that can put an end to the long-term suffering of the idp. this may be one instance, where the conventional ethnically biased and caste-blind policies pursued by the sri lankan state must be revisited in order to enable the remaining idp to overcome possible discrimination they face in the land market, education system and the job markets other than casual wage labour. their successful reintegration in the society depends not only on whether they as citizens of sri lanka will receive their due share of land and other assistance from the sri lankan welfare state, but also whether or not they will be further subjected to discrimination on the part of the society at large, including their fellow citizens in tamil society. empowerment of the idp through their collective mobilisation vis-à-vis ethnic, class and caste discrimination and enhancing their collective capacity to identify, resist and overcome such discrimination may be a prerequisite for enabling them to join the social mainstream. nationalism, caste-blindness, and the continuing problems... 69 on the whole, this study illustrates how the war affected people differently depending on their particular social positioning in respect of ethnicity, social class, caste and gender. far from being a social equaliser, wars accentuate and reinforce vertical and horizontal social inequalities in multiple ways. well informed social policies that respond to complex social realities are clearly needed to reverse these trends and facilitate the process of post-war recovery in this island nation. references anderson, b. 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(1995). sri lankan tamil society and politics. madras: new century book house (p) ltd. thanges, p. (2013). caste and social exclusion of idp in jaffna society. (unpublished paper) thanges, p. (2015, december 8) caste and camp people in jaffna: land ownership and landlessness. colombo telegraph. thanges, p. & silva, k.t. (2009) caste discrimination in war-affected jaffna society, in silva, k.t., sivapragasam, p.p. & thanges, p. (eds) casteless or caste-blind? dynamics of concealed caste discrimination, social exclusion and protest in sri lanka. colombo: kumaran press, pp. 50-77. thorat , s. and madheswaran, s. (2018). graded caste inequality and poverty: evidence on role of economic discrimination, journal of social inclusion studies, 4(1), 3–2. endnotes 1. the author thanks dr. thanges paramsothy of university of east london, mr. s. sivakanthan of the department of sociology, jaffna university, and mr. s. sutharsan of the district secretariat in jaffna for their assistance during various stages of development of this study and analysis of the findings. 2. parai drum is often used as a symbol of paraiyar caste and panchamar identity in general. 3. the estimated size of panchamar population in pre-war jaffna society ranges from 20 to 30 percent of the total population (silva, sivapragasam and thanges 2009). their relative strength in the population in the peninsula reportedly increased during the war due to the large scale outmigration of vellalar and members of middle level castes. some authors have estimated that they comprise roughly about 50 percent of post-war population in jaffna (ravikumar, 2002). 4. a similar situation has been reported for a non idp panchamar community in jaffna by aftab lall (2015) forum caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 187–192 october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.183 © 2020 sarita pariyar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste a touchable woman’s untouchable daughter: interplay of caste and gender in nepal sarita pariyar1 abstract drawing on more than a decade of multidisciplinary engagement with politics of dignity and social justice, this essay critically interrogates the influence of hindu jurisprudence and its connections to the current nepali constitution on the lower or ‘impure’ castes, especially women. the author argues that, notwithstanding the abolition of the caste system more than 50 years ago, the new constitution, which defines secularism as sanatan dharma–essentially preserving old hindu traditions and practices under the law–continues to perpetuate discrimination against dalits and other marginalized groups. she cites her own experience as an ‘untouchable’ child of a mixed-caste marriage and the tragic experience of an inter-caste alliance that led to the death of the ‘lower caste’ groom to examine our understanding of and prospects for love, violence, social inclusion/exclusion, family, citizenship, and society in nepal. the essay succinctly focuses on the intersectionality of caste, class, gender, and religion that continues to shape everyday life and future of the ordinary people in the predominantly hindu country. keywords intersectionality, hinduism, caste, class, gender, inter-caste marriage. introduction i am an ‘untouchable’ woman born from a ‘touchable’ womb. my mother was a kshatriya, a ‘high-caste touchable’ woman. my father was from the damai tailor caste, an ‘untouchable’. because my mother married my father, she lost her caste status; she was labeled ‘impure’ for the rest of her life. the history of my family, my society, and my nation–i always carry it with me. this sentiment expressed by james baldwin in the price of the ticket: collected nonfiction, 1948-1985, resonates more and more as i examine my own life. 188 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 my mother’s name was binu thapa. she was 5 feet 8 inches tall, thin, had a fair complexion with sunken eyes. she applied mustard oil in her hair to braid it without a rubber band. she was a hard working, determined person, who would not shy away from doing any kind of work. she used to run a small iron workshop in hetauda, a small nepali city in the terai region where the indo-gangetic plains meet the himalayan range. she used to return to our village home late at night sitting in the rear of a truck, with toddlers in one hand and food in the other. fetching water in the dark from the rapti river was not a problem; compulsions made her fearless. she could never have imagined that her marriage to an ‘untouchable’ person would so drastically change her life and that she would give birth to seven ‘untouchable’ children. my mother’s parents were modest farmers. buwa, my father, was the neighborhood tailor. he had a wheatish complexion and sharp eyes, spoke more than six languages, and liked to work. he was fond of singing too. i was a normal child, like any other kid – how would i have known the meaning of being touchable or untouchable? but people reminded me every day that i was different. basamadi village, where my parents lived, is seven kilometers west of hetauda. it sits below beautiful green hills, near the rapti river. basamadi is named after a nearby shiva temple, basaha mahadeva. we lived right on nepal’s major east-west highway, named for one of nepal’s recent monarchs, king mahendra. the highway was like our front yard. i grew up in a concrete house with electricity. one day, nearly twenty years ago, when i was twelve, i went to the village shop to buy bread. when i got home, my father saw the bread was stale. ‘return the bread,’ he told me. the high-caste shopkeeper refused to take the bread back because i had touched the package. when i told my father, he was angry. ‘go, return it,’ he ordered. ‘if he won’t take it, throw it in his face. i’ll take care of whatever comes after that.’ i was frightened. neither did i have the courage to throw the bread at the shopkeeper nor could i defy my father. i sat by the road for a long time, scared. i wondered why i hadn’t been given the right goods even though i had paid for them. the bread hadn’t turned stale from my touch – and i had paid full price for a fresh loaf. i gathered all of my courage and confronted the shopkeeper. ‘please return my money, and please take your bread back.’ ‘what a stubborn girl!’ he muttered as he returned the money. i clutched the paper bills in my sweaty hands and rushed home. i began to ask myself: why had the shopkeeper refused to take the bread back? if the bread had become impure because of me, did it mean that my body was dirty or impure? when i was about eight years old, i realized that people came in two groups – touchable or pure, and untouchable or impure. even as a child, whenever i was told that i shouldn’t touch someone or something because i would pollute them, it made me ask – what am i? the rules seemed so arbitrary. who and what could i not touch, where, and when? who could be touched and who not? i wanted to be a touchable person, just like everybody else. but there is no freedom to transform into a touchable person if you’re born an untouchable. later, another curiosity arose: what is caste? why is one group ranked above another from birth? i never stopped thinking about my originally touchable mother, who gave birth to untouchable children, and the history tied to it. in her work, uma chakravarti examines brahminical patriarchy as a unique structure of the hindu caste order, in which caste and gender are interlinked and reinforce each other. through a touchable woman’s untouchable daughter... 189 continuation of brahmanical patriarchy, sexual control over upper caste women is not only to subordinate them but also to maintain caste purity (chakravarti, 2003, p. 34). my mother is a victim of that system. because she fell in love with an ‘untouchable’ man, she was forced to abandon her family and friends, the village of her birth, and her lineage. my mother’s family couldn’t visit her, nor could she see them. my mother was treated like a dead cow. one day, my mother’s sister wanted to visit but her family forbade it. it seemed everyone in my mother’s family stopped loving her. caste hatred grew in their bellies; they also feared that their relatives and neighbors would shun them. five years ago, twenty-six years after my mother’s passing, i met my mother’s brother and uncle – my uncle and great-uncle – for the first time. it was at an event to mourn the loss of a relative. my uncle repeatedly told me to lie about my full name when meeting my great uncle. if he knew my caste, he might not accept me. but i told my great uncle my full name, loudly and clearly. he was in his eighties and went on sharing his old memories like live radio. it was delightful listening to him. he did not care about my caste. my uncle was surprised, but even afterwards kept warning me with his eyes and gestures. ‘sorry niece!’ he said. ‘although it has been a long time, i still cannot take you to the village home where your mother grew up. your aunty is very traditional. she would not let you into the house if she knew you were a dalit.’ he wanted to keep the family skeletons in the closet. seeing this long history of social boycott of my mother and untouchables made me more determined to learn and fight for dignity. that became the passion of my life. after marrying my mother in the 1960s, fortunately, my father wasn’t killed. back then, so-called ‘untouchable’ people were sometimes killed for falling in love with socalled ‘touchable’ persons. it still happens today. on july 14, 2016, ajit mijar dhakal, a dalit boy, was found dead at kumpur-3 in dhading district. the asian human rights commission (ahrc) claims that ajit did not die because of suicide; rather, it was a staged murder. ajit’s neck was loosely tied by a tent rope and his legs touched the floor. he had been threatened with murder within the past 72 hours. police quickly buried his body without publicizing about the unclaimed corpse and they harassed his family when they demanded for the body. ajit married kalpana parajuli, a brahmin girl. although ajit’s grandfather was a brahmin, he had married an ‘untouchable’, so ajit’s father had become an ‘untouchable’, as did ajit. he was 18 and kalpana was 17. despite kalpana’s family dis-agreement, they got married. they were both residents of panchkhal in kavre district. it has been over four years, but the body of that young lover still hasn’t received its funerary rites. his family won’t let that happen; they believe the district court denied them justice. ajit’s corpse is lying on a slab of ice in a hospital morgue in kathmandu, still awaiting justice (pariyar, 2018). in nepal, many have been killed for falling in love with high caste women, and many brahmin men have lost their caste status for marrying ‘untouchable’ women. according to historians tulasi ram vaidya and tri ratna manandhar, in ancient nepal ‘if a shudra (low caste) had physical relations with a dwija woman (high caste), there were laws that called for the man’s body to be mutilated, his property, everything to be confiscated; even life.’ punishments were given on the basis of caste (vaidya and manandhar, 1985, p. 47). 190 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 during the rana period (1846-1951), the nepali king appointed a brahmin as the dharmadhikari (pontiff) to decide on religious matters such as restriction of food and water, and cases of sexual relations between the lower caste and other caste groups (regmi, 2002, p. 61; pariyar 2018). what the dharmadhikaris did in the past, judges and lawyers are doing today. the lawyer for ajit’s killers reportedly told the court, ‘your honour – what else would be the outcome if the son of (an untouchable) cobbler elopes with the daughter of a brahmin?’ ancient hindu texts contain many examples of caste status of people being raised or lowered to justify retribution in case of inter-caste alliances. provisions for ‘lowering’ caste status are listed in the manusmriti, the ancient hindu legal text codified over two thousand years ago. in fourteenth century nepal, during the reign of king jaya sthiti malla, jurisprudence was codified as manav nyayashashtra. it describes the conditions and circumstances for conferring lower caste-status on people. the caste system was further entrenched in society with the adoption of the legal code muluki-ain in 1854 under the ranas. for over a hundred years (1854-1963), the muluki-ain of 1854 formally divided the nepali society into the touchable (pure) and the untouchable (impure)1 – those whose touch necessitated purifying rituals and those whose touch didn’t; those who could be enslaved and those who couldn’t. the government even had different penalties for the same crime, depending on caste (vaidya and manandhar, 1985, p. 133). the rana prime ministers possessed the power to take away or confer caste-status on people. when someone was punished for a crime, their caste-status was stripped. but if the rana rulers were pleased, they could elevate someone from a pani-nachalne caste – that rendered water impure by their touch – into a caste that could touch water that was shared with the ‘upper-castes’. in the 1880s, prime minister bir shamsher elevated a woman from the kau caste – a group whose touch rendered water impure – to a higher status because she was his consort (gautam,1993, p. 115). i recount these details because although the muluki-ain of 1854 has been replaced, twice, the social structure strengthened by that set of laws still persists. my mother, who chose to marry the man she loved two years after the caste system was outlawed in 1963, was forced to forfeit everything that was familiar to her. even decades later, ajit mijar dhakal lost his life for marrying the woman he loved. my family home was a laboratory for this inhumane, inflexible social system. the list of places where we couldn’t go to was longer than that of places where we could go. there were more things we couldn’t touch than we could touch; more acts forbidden than permitted; more which couldn’t be imagined than could be; more things we couldn’t choose for ourselves than we could. as i voiced my opposition to these prohibitions, people started calling me a sharptongued girl because i spoke my mind. my family and society wanted a girl who was quiet, did not ask questions, obeyed, didn’t talk too much, didn’t laugh, minded her legs while she sat, and kept away from boys – these were the attributes of a ‘good girl’. if a woman spoke out, she was called a loud-mouth. my family faced a desperate time trying to save its daughters from being seen as a troublemaker. generally, daughters in dalit families have to go outside their home for work – but we were exceptions. my brothers didn’t like it if their teenage sisters went outside. my sister and i were like soldiers on a parade ground, obeying our older brothers’ orders. if they said turn left, we turned left. if they said turn right, we turned right. as a touchable woman’s untouchable daughter... 191 soon as they arrived at home, we would run like crazy to get inside through the back door with our legs still soiled from playing. sometimes, in a rush, we even used to hold our books upside down. whenever one of our brothers saw my sister, or me he would command – ‘go, study!’ i was more scared of my brothers than of the graveyard near our home. i got sick of life like a prisoner. but slowly i realized that education is a powerful weapon to escape from darkness. our brothers wove a strong cordon of love that imprisoned us inside our home. however, their love was suffocating; as if they were holding my head under the waters of the rapti. it took a long time for me to understand why. then we started hearing from villagers that my sister had been sold off. villagers used to tell me, ‘saru, tero kiran didi bechiyeko thaha cha talai?’ do you know your sister kiran has been sold? i could not make sense of this – was my sister like biscuits, for sale? how can a human being be sold? whenever i asked my bothers and father about kiran didi, they would make angry faces. my sister’s disappearance became a mystery. i learned later that she had been taken to india. later, i learned, she was not only sold but also raped. sadly, many similar cases continue to occur, especially involving dalits and other marginalized communities in nepal. the trauma of that incident made my brothers bring us up under strict military discipline. if we sat inside the house, the chances of us falling into trouble decreased. my brothers insisted that we study hard, believing that an educated sister would be safe. to gain education was to rescue oneself. accompanying their need to protect our bodies and virtue was their preoccupation with protecting the family honor. if the bodies of the wives and daughters of a household are not secured, the prestige and honor of its men are imperiled. in order to protect their honor, every morning i was told to worship god, not to play with other children, not to go afar to herd the cows and goats. in my teens, i loved swimming in the rapti, fishing, lying on my stomach on a sun-soaked rock after swimming, running after fishermen to collect small leftover fish, herding cows and goats, stealing grass for the cattle, and collecting dry foliage and firewood. all these activities were curtailed to protect the family honor. the men of my family were also trapped by caste. even though my sister’s rapist walked free in the village, there was nothing we could do because he was high-caste. what else could a calf do except run away from the cheetah? we were the only dalit family in the neighborhood. and our family worried about ijjat (honor). i can still recall my family bemoaning more about ijjat rather than my sister. walking out in daylight was a kind of nightmare. i still remember, i used to get scared even of the rapist’s shadow. to me, he seemed like a warlock, an old man wearing traditional daura suruwal (loose shirt and trousers) clothes with a dhaka topi (cap), holding a stick. he had big red eyes and a hooked nose. his teeth looked like a crumbling stonehenge. i saw him herding cows, bulls, and goats. he walked like a leopard searching for prey. my heart would burn. the fire is still burning. i grew up in anguish, with a sense of helplessness. we were young girls growing up – we, too, could have become victims of the tendency to withdraw. but in the course of securing and rescuing myself, i learned how not to silence myself for the sake of ijjat (honor) or to make my family happy. rather, i stood up for truth. since then, my job has become not to make people happy but to ask them uncomfortable questions; to stand up against unfairness within and outside the family. 192 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 i have shared the history we carry, and the tragic story of ajit mijar dhakal – to illustrate how caste pollutes and dehumanizes the nepali society. nepal has recently become a democratic republic after a long-drawn political and social struggle, including a civil war that killed about seventeen thousand people. it has adopted the principle of proportional inclusiveness. but the drafters of the new constitution have sometimes behaved like the dharmadhikaris of the past. for one thing, they attempted, absurdly, to limit the definition of secularism to mean the continuation of sanatan traditions and domination of hinduism over other faiths. for another, women have been made second-class citizens, denied the right to pass citizenship on to their children. the new dharmadhikaris seem eager to take away even the smallest reservations made to benefit those kept in exclusion for centuries. when dalits stand up to demand justice, they are put on a slab of ice like ajit mijar dhakal. must we, even now, continue to fight for equality in this new republic? does ajit dhakal have to lose his life for the mere fact of falling in love with a so-called highcaste woman? can there be a more cruel democracy than this? let the examination of how caste continues to strip people of their humanity become an issue for intellectual discourse not just in nepal and south asia but in every international democratic forum. references chakravarti, uma. (2003). gendering caste through a feminist lens. calcutta, stree, bhatkal and sen. gautam, rajesh. (1993, v.s 2050). ranakalin nepal ko ek jhalak. kathmandu, ratna pustak bhandar. hofer, andras. (2012, 1979). the caste hierarchy and the state in nepal, a study of the muluki ain of 1854. kathmandu, himal books. pariyar, sarita. (2018). old weight of caste. the record. retrieved on october 27, 2020 from https://www.recordnepal.com/podcast/the-old-weight-of-caste/ pariyar, sarita. (2018). untouchable stories of touchable vaginas. the record. retrieved on october 27, 2020 from https://www.recordnepal.com/wire/untouchable-stories-oftouchable-vaginas/ regmi, mahesh c. (2002). nepal an historical miscellany. new delhi, adroit publishers. vaidya, tulasi ram, tri ratna manandhar. (1985). crime and punishment in nepal, kathmandu, bini vaidya and purna devi manandhar. asian human rights commission nepal: ajit mijar’s death – not suicide, but murder, july 27, 2016. retrieved from http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/ahrcstm-1092016. during the writing of this paper translation assistance was received from prawin adhikari. endnotes 1 the caste groups of the muluki ain 1854 2. tagadhari: wearers of the holy cord 3. namasinya matwali: non-enslavable alcohol-drinkers 4. masinya matwali: enslavable alcohol-drinkers 5. pani nacalnya chhoi chhito halnu-naparnya: impure, but touchable castes) 6. pani nacalnya chhoi chhito halnu-parnya: impure and untouchable castes (hofer, 2012 p. 10) © 2022 indrani gupta and avantika ranjan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 365–382 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.441 health investments to reduce health inequities in india: do we need more evidence? indrani gupta1 and avantika ranjan2 abstract large inequities in health outcomes and treatment-seeking behaviour continue to exist in india, across households, states and residence. a few large populous states continue to contribute the most to multi-dimensional poverty, including indicators for health outcomes. a significant contributor is the high out-of-pocket spending that continues to be a key feature of india’s health sector, accompanied by one of the lowest levels of public investment on health. the covid pandemic has brought out sharply the lack of preparedness of the country and its states to face a catastrophe of this kind. a resilient health sector can only be built by bridging the various gaps in key inputs into the sector – infrastructure, personnel, supplies and training. this investment is likely to bring down the demand for health services in the private sector and reduce spending on health services by households by making these affordable and accessible. a quantum jump in investment would also be required to offer health coverage that is truly universal in scope and coverage. unless that happens, india would remain unprepared for the next calamity and continue with significant inequalities in health outcomes and access to services. keywords poverty, inequality, out-of-pocket spending, health outcomes, health financing introduction the covid pandemic has again highlighted the harsh truth about india: that there remains a huge socio-economic divide across groups based on residence, geography, class, caste, education and a whole host of other factors. among the many heartwrenching visuals that marked the highlights of the covid period, two sets would remain etched in the minds of indians: migrants walking hundreds of miles to reach 1professor, health policy research unit, institute of economic growth, delhi, india email: indrani@iegindia.org 2research analyst, institute of economic growth, delhi, india 366 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 their homes, hungry, ill and tired, and citizens scampering around desperately to get their sick relatives admitted to hospitals and procure oxygen cylinders. while the two may seem unrelated, they are not. though the covid infection itself did not generally distinguish between the poor and the non-poor, the latter were better equipped to negotiate the system and had a higher probability of garnering resources for health as well as non-health requirements. though many households were hit by loss of earning and employment, the poor remained the most vulnerable due to lack of social and health security. while official estimates of poverty have not been brought out since 2011, other estimates indicate that about 28 per cent of indians lived in multidimensional poverty in 2019 (united nations development program [undp], 2019). the report on multi-dimensional poverty (mdp) based on the fourth round of the national family health survey (nfhs) for the years 2015-16 indicates that 33 per cent and 9 per cent of rural and urban indians live in multidimensional poverty (national institute of transforming india [niti] aayog, 2021). given the decline in gdp and increase in unemployment during the pandemic, it is evident that poverty could only have increased and inequalities widened. a very recent statement by the rbi governor indicates that growth rate of gdp for 2022-23 would be lower than initially estimated by the finance ministry, due to private consumption and contact-intensive services remaining below pre-pandemic levels (the economic times, 2022). while one has already witnessed the education system falling apart and huge inequalities inserted among students due to the digital divide, the story would be similar for the health sector as well. unfortunately, data remains unavailable to estimate the impact of the pandemic on the health sector and health-seeking behaviour of individuals. while the pandemic caught most countries off guard, the resilience of health systems determined to a large extent the impact of the pandemic and the ability of countries to reduce illness and death from covid. in india, there are large inequalities among states on various socio-economic indicators, including health outcomes. southern states like kerala and tamil nadu (tn) are considered much ahead of the other states in terms of health and educational outcomes. on the other hand, a group of states labeled as empowered action group or eag states comprising eight states1 have often been the focus of government programmes and interventions due to their continued vulnerability status. often, assam is added to the eag group for policy purposes. in this essay, we attempt to analyse why the pandemic might have seriously exacerbated the existing health inequalities in the system, requiring a rebooting of the health sector. we present evidence for the country as a whole, and also on the vulnerable states, especially bihar and up and take tamil nadu as a comparator, to understand the aspirational directions policies could take in the near future. a key policy knob—health financing—is analysed in detail, and we present our prognosis and recommendations about the future of health sector policy in india. 1bihar, chhattisgarh, jharkhand, madhya pradesh, odisha, rajasthan, uttarakhand and uttar pradesh health investments to reduce health inequities in india: do we need more evidence? 367 inequities across states in health dimensions there is already a large volume of literature about eag states and their relative positions across a number of indicators. government of india (goi) has been initiating numerous programmes and schemes for making the eag states come out of their backward status and catch up with the rest of the states. however, despite such efforts, we continue to see huge inequities between eag and non-eag states in health outcomes. table 1 presents data on multidimensional poverty for eag states,2 and kerala and tamil nadu as well for comparison. table 1: multidimensional poverty, eag states including assam, kerala & tamil nadu, 2015-16 states multidimensionally poor (%) percentage of total population who are multidimensionally poor and deprived in each indicator (%) nutrition child & adolescent mortality maternal health bihar 51.2 41.6 3.9 36.5 jharkhand 42.2 34.4 2.7 26.5 uttar pradesh 37.8 30.5 3.8 25.3 madhya pradesh 36.7 29.0 2.7 20.1 assam 32.7 25.5 2.2 17.8 chhattisgarh 30.0 24.0 2.3 17.0 rajasthan 29.5 23.3 2.1 17.1 odisha 29.3 22.4 1.5 12.7 uttarakhand 17.8 14.7 1.6 13.0 tamil nadu 4.5 3.6 0.3 1.7 kerala 0.7 0.6 0 0.2 source: niti aayog 2021 among the major states, bihar has 52 per cent of its population who are multidimensionally poor, followed by jharkhand (42 per cent) and uttar pradesh (up) (38 per cent) respectively. in the three health domains—nutrition, child & adolescent mortality and maternal health—most of the eag states, but especially bihar and up, continue to be in the group that performs the worst. tn and kerala, on the other hand, have very little mdp in comparison. the niti aayog also brings out an annual health index which is a weighted average of various indicators that attempts to measure the state of health, and tracks the overall and incremental changes across all states and union territories (ut). the latest report with 2018-19 as the base year and 2019-20 as the reference year indicates that among the larger states, kerala, tamil nadu and telangana were the three best performers in terms of overall performance (niti aayog, 2021). the worst performer was up, with bihar also in a similar situation in overall score. however, unlike bihar, up’s incremental performance was quite good. the same report indicates that states performed differently in the three main domains that went into constructing the health index—health outcomes, governance & information, and key inputs & processes. in the health outcomes domain, most of 2we include assam in discussions on eag states 368 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 the eag states do very poorly, with bihar and up as the worst performers and kerala at the top. for the domain on governance and information, the picture is somewhat mixed, with assam doing very well, ahead of kerala. jharkhand is the worst performer in this group. finally, for the domain on key inputs and processes, tamil nadu is at the top with bihar at the other end. for all the states and uts, the mdp proportions are much higher for rural areas than urban areas: for example, for bihar, the rural-urban numbers are 56 per cent and 24 per cent respectively. clearly, health inequalities persist in all dimensions within states, between rural and urban areas, and as the report also indicates across districts. the contribution of health indicators in total mdp is shown in figure 1 for the eag states and for kerala and tn. 27.1 26.2 30 37.7 28.4 28 27.4 27.7 31.1 28.2 31.1 1.2 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.1 1.3 0.9 1.2 1.3 1.8 1.79.5 11.5 10.6 15.9 10.9 10 7.8 10.2 7.2 11.7 13.8 0 20 40 60 nutrition child & adolescent mortality maternal health figure 1: contribution of each indicator to mpi score (%) source: niti aayog 2021 for all the states, including kerala and tn, nutrition contributes the most to mdp, followed by maternal health. for more evidence on what literally ails the various states, table 2 indicates the top 5 diseases that contribute to total disease burden in each of the states and for india. we now focus only on the two most vulnerable states—bihar and up—and tn, since tn and kerala have similar trends. the global burden of disease (gbd) data for india indicates that both bihar and up continue to have maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases as the top cause of disease burden (gbd, 2019). for tn, the top cause is cardiovascular diseases which is also the case for all-india. in fact, for tn, all the 5 top diseases contributing to total disease burden are non-communicable diseases and injuries (ncdi). for both bihar health investments to reduce health inequities in india: do we need more evidence? 369 and up the set of diseases classified as communicable continue to impose the most disease burden, indicating that these states need a public health approach to reduce their disease burdens. table 2: global burden of diseases: top 5 shares in terms of disease burden, 2019 top 5 diseases bihar uttar pradesh tamil nadu india 1 maternal, neonatal & nutritional diseases (13%) maternal & neonatal & nutritional diseases (14.1%) cardiovascular diseases (19.6%) cardiovascular diseases (13.9%) 2 cardiovascular diseases (11.3%) respiratory infections & tb (10.4%) diabetes & ckd (9.1%) maternal, neonatal & nutritional diseases(9.9%) 3 enteric infections (9%) cardiovascular diseases (9.5%) neoplasms (6.2%) respiratory infections & tb (7.7%) 4 respiratory infections & tb (8.8) chronic respiratory (7.7%) unintentional injuries (5.7%) chronic respiratory (6.3%) 5 other noncommunicable (5.7%) enteric infections (7.4%) musculoskeletal disorders (5.6%) neoplasms (5.8%) red: communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases blue: non-communicable diseases green: injuries source: ihme gbd india 2019 most of the burden of communicable diseases, continues to fall on the poorest sections of the population in any developing country, and india is no exception. moreover, with changing disease profiles, there is increasing evidence that poverty also increases risk of death and disability from ncdis as well (johns hopkins, 2018). this short summary indicates that health outcomes for the poor remain a cause of concern, with a two-way relationship between poverty and disease occurrence. treatment-seeking behaviour and out-of-pocket expenditure national sample survey (nss) 75th round enables us to understand treatment-seeking behaviour of households including out-of-pocket spending (oops) and allows additional insights into possible sources of health inequities across states. table 3 presents the self-reported out-patient (opd) and inpatient or hospitalization (ipd) rates from the nss and indicates that care increases with increases in income. so, while 5 per cent from the lowest quintile sought care for opd in rural areas, more than 10 per cent sought care in the richest quintile. while this could be because of higher morbidity rates among the relatively well-off, evidence suggests otherwise, and indicates that economic means could be a major constraint in treatment-seeking behaviour. 370 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 table 3: demand for care across quintiles, nss 75th round quintile opd (%) ipd (%) rural urban rural urban 1 4.8 6.5 1.7 2.8 2 5.4 8.6 1.8 3.2 3 6.4 9.0 2.4 3.7 4 7.0 10.4 3.0 3.6 5 10.4 10.9 4.1 3.8 all 6.8 9.1 2.6 3.4 source: nss 75th round figure 2 shows where respondents went for hospitalization and the out-of-pocket spending incurred by them, in public and private facilities. figure 2: out-of-pocket spending on hospitalization and % seeking private hospitals source: nss 75th round the first point to note is that a high proportion of respondents sought care from private facilities for hospitalization. in up, 70 per cent of those needing hospitalization went to a private facility. even tn, the comparator, had 48 per cent seeking care in private facilities. the result of these patterns of treatment-seeking behaviour is felt on respondent’s out-of-pocket spending (oops) on hospitalization. the difference between oops between private and public facilities is substantial in almost all the states, including tn, though for tn and madhya pradesh (mp) respondents paid very health investments to reduce health inequities in india: do we need more evidence? 371 little while seeking care in public facilities. the difference is highest for chhattisgarh and assam. while tn also shows the maximum difference between public and private oops, we need to understand to what extent such high expenditure might impact households. when we look at the percentage break-up of ailments treated on medical advice by healthcare service provider, we find that in tn, only 8.8 per cent and 13 per cent went to private doctors or private clinics in rural and urban areas respectively; most of the respondents chose government hospitals for seeking medical advice, and this percentage was much higher for rural areas (63 percent) compared to urban areas (41 per cent). in bihar and up, this was just the reverse: for both rural and urban areas, medical advice was sought at private clinics and from private doctors by more than 60 per cent of the people seeking care. the oops in per capita household consumption indicates how much households pay for health care out of their total consumption expenditure. figures 2a and 2b present the ratio of average household consumption on health (opd plus hospitalization) for each quintile between the two health nss rounds for rural and urban areas separately, for the country as a whole. figure 2a: share of per capita consumption on health in household per capita total consumption (%) figure 2b: share of per capita consumption on health in household per capita total consumption (%) source: nss 71st and 75th round the first point to note is that the rural areas are spending more on health than urban areas. for both the rounds, lowest quintiles in rural areas spend more than the lowest quintiles in urban areas. the second point is that lower quintiles spend more than upper quintiles on health—the ratio declines in the upper quintiles. finally, and which is a positive development, the share of health in total consumption has gone down marginally for all the quintiles between the two rounds. the existence of inequality in the burden of health care among rural residents and lower quintiles continues to be one of the most inequitable features of the health system in the country. 372 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 explaining treatment-seeking behaviour a. infrastructure and personnel the choice of providers in bihar and up is easy to explain if one looks at the state of infrastructure and health personnel in these states, compared to tn. figures 3, 4a and 4b indicate the shortfalls in these two variables in the three states. 58 53 94 -11 41 51 51 45 -19 -17 -27 42 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 sc (rural) phc (rural) chc (rural) urban phc bihar up tn 77 40 89 86 43 57 36 -45 42 92 8 -33 44 -139 68 87 27 -27 -200 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 anm at sc, phc nursing staff specialists at chc radiographers at chc pharmacists at chc laboratory technicians at chc bihar up tn figure 3: shortfall in health facilities (july 2020) source: rural health statistics 2019-20 58 53 94 -11 41 51 51 45 -19 -17 -27 42 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 sc (rural) phc (rural) chc (rural) urban phc bihar up tn 77 40 89 86 43 57 36 -45 42 92 8 -33 44 -139 68 87 27 -27 -200 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 anm at sc, phc nursing staff specialists at chc radiographers at chc pharmacists at chc laboratory technicians at chc bihar up tn figure 4a: shortfall in health personnel (urban) july 2020 -45 -3 46 95 72 75 0 4 71 73 -16 50 -4 -91 85 63 12 35 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 anm at sc, phc doctors specialists at chc radiographers at chc pharmacists at chc laboratory technicians at chc bihar up tn figure 4b: shortfall in health personnel (rural) july 2020 source: rural health statistics 2019-20 health investments to reduce health inequities in india: do we need more evidence? 373 both bihar and up show serious shortfalls in sub-centres (sc), primary health centres (phc), community health centres (chc); in contrast, tn has already achieved surplus infrastructure, explaining the high visits to government facilities in this state and very low visits in the other two. the picture for health personnel is slightly different. tn also shows shortfalls in auxiliary nurse midwives (anms), specialists, radiographers etc., but bihar does much worse than up in terms of government health personnel. up has recently made up for lack of anm and nursing staff and shows a much better situation compared to bihar, especially for urban areas. the missing health infrastructure and personnel in the government sector continues over the years, and contributes to high burden of oops on households, who are forced to visit private providers and facilities. it should be pointed out that the tn numbers may be somewhat misleading since tn has arranged its health system in a much more efficient manner with superior outcomes. tamil nadu has a distinctive public health cadre in the district level, has a separate body for regulating procurement of drugs and has been implementing very efficiently the tn health systems project over the years (parthasarathi and sinha, 2016). the quality and efficiency of public health services continue to be far better than many other states, and tn health services utilization are generally considered pro-poor, though there is some evidence that recently, the proportion of those in the poorest quintile using public facilities has gone down (vaidyanathan, muraleedharan, sundararaman et al., 2022). this is probably also the reason why in the niti aayog estimates, tn does very well on key inputs and processes. b. health coverage in eag states the key to avoiding high oops is through health coverage, and india—like many other countries—has been trying to move towards universal health coverage (uhc). the health coverage has to be highest for the lowest quintiles and those living in rural areas, who are experiencing relatively higher burden of oops. the most recent initiative of the government towards this has been the launch of ayushman bharat (ab), which has essentially two arms: one to strengthen primary care through health and wellness centres (hwcs) and the other is the health coverage scheme for the most vulnerable called the prime minister’s jan arogya yojana (ab-pmjay). most of the states have been running their own schemes for hospitalization which have since been merged with ab-pmjay with a few exceptions. table 4 indicates the status of health coverage in rural and urban areas as reported in the 75th round of the nss, and indicates that residents in eag states are mostly not covered by any health coverage programme. the other notable point is that those in the top quintile in urban areas are much better covered compared to their rural counterparts, and in general urban non-coverage numbers are better than rural noncoverage numbers. however, there are exceptions. chhattisgarh and rajasthan seem to have done much better among the eag states, and their rural non-coverage numbers are better than the urban ones. finally, the non-coverage numbers for tamil nadu are 374 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 comparable to the eag states, with the exception of urban top quintile, who are best covered in the state. table 4: health coverage by quintiles, rural & urban state not covered by coverage scheme (%) 1st quintile not covered by coverage scheme (%) 5th quintile rural urban rural urban assam 96.2 96.1 95.6 83.1 bihar 99.7 98.9 97.3 85.9 chhattisgarh 32.3 40.2 40.9 60.3 jharkhand 99.9 99.2 99.8 86.6 madhya pradesh 99.8 98.7 99.0 84.8 odisha 80.5 92.3 95.6 90.1 rajasthan 56.6 74.6 63.4 71.5 tamil nadu 98.0 89.8 81.2 64.9 uttar pradesh 99.8 99.2 98.4 72.1 uttarakhand 99.8 99.6 92.4 62.4 all india 89.8 90.2 78.1 66.9 source: nss 75th round it is difficult to predict the coverage numbers during the pandemic years – most programmes had to be halted or were slow to progress, and it remains to be seen if the health coverage has improved and oops has declined for the most vulnerable. resource allocation for addressing inequities in the health sector the poor infrastructure and personnel situation, and low health coverage explains well, the high oops expenditure of households that are likely to disproportionately impact the poor and the vulnerable across the country, but mostly in the eag states. how could this have been avoided? the most important policy knob is health financing. there is now solid evidence that health outcomes are better in countries with better public health financing, and low oops. a recent study (owusu, sarkodie & pedersen, 2021) examined the influence of health expenditure on infant and maternal deaths for the period 2000–2015 across 177 countries and found a negative effect of health expenditure on mortality across all percentiles. the study concludes that to attain sustainable development goals (sdg)3, there is a need to increase health spending in especially lower middleincome countries. this finding corroborates earlier such findings (boachie, polajeva, & frimpong, 2020), (kiross, chojenta, barker et al., 2020) on the direct link between health outcomes and health financing. india’s low level of spending on the health sector is now also widely known and numerous articles have been written on the inability of the country to move out of the trap of low health spending. while the total health spending is slightly above 3 per cent (national health accounts [nha], 2021), government health spending is only slightly health investments to reduce health inequities in india: do we need more evidence? 375 more than 1 per cent currently. table 5 brings out the comparatively poor performance of india globally in its ability to raise resources for the latest comparable year, 2018. table 5: domestic government health spending in gdp (%) income categories of countries world bank government health spending as a % of gdp (2018) high income 7.7 upper middle income 3.3 middle income 2.8 low & middle income 2.8 lower middle income 1.5 low income 1.1 india 1.0 source: world bank open data while high-income countries spend on an average more than 7 per cent, this goes down with income levels to 1.1 per cent for low-income countries. india’s spending of 1 percent of its gdp is lower than the average of the group it belongs to—lower middle-income countries. in general, the higher is government spending on health, the lower is oops. figure 5 uses world bank data to plot government spending of countries out of their gdp with oops in current health expenditure. while the fit is not as close as one would hope, it still is a strongly negative one, indicating a fairly tight relationship between the two variables. india can only hope to reduce oops if it starts increasing its total government expenditure on health. figure 5: govt expenditure and out-of-pocket spending across countries source: world bank open data high oops and low coverage indicates the ever-present challenge of the indian health system—raising resources for building a resilient health sector and 376 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 offering financial protection to its citizens from health shocks. the covid-19 pandemic brought out clearly the urgent need to revive and strengthen the health sector (gupta, 2020). a pandemic like covid could have been dealt with more efficiently, with better overall allocations, and strengthening key components like public health investment. while the health sector budget is key for investment on infrastructure and personnel, the public health component largely comprises drug control, food safety and standards, manufacture of vaccines, prevention and control of diseases, prevention of food adulteration, public health education and public health laboratories. public health interventions have been universally successful in dealing with the threat of communicable diseases. so, it can be expected that states in the initial stages of epidemiological transition would direct more resources towards public health within a modest to high total public financing of the sector. we analyse some of these parameters for bihar, up and tamil nadu (tn). table 6 presents the real per capita total health expenditure by the respective state governments over the last six years between 2014-15 and 2019-20. these numbers are derived from the state demand for grants.33 table 6: per capita real total expenditure (inr), dept. of health & family welfare states 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 compound growth rate (%) bihar 265 318 363 392 445 448 11 up 442 455 509 526 546 554 5 tn 714 817 862 816 968 1092 9 source: author’s calculations based on state demand for grants, health & family welfare over the six years, bihar showed the highest compound growth in per capita real total expenditure, followed by tn, while up’s growth was the lowest. however, bihar’s per capita real total expenditure on health in 2019-20, was a mere inr 448 compared to inr 1092 for tn. up’s was only marginally better at inr 554 and its growth rate was also much lower. clearly, to catch up with tn, both the states have to increase their growth rates to much higher levels. real per capita expenditure on the public health component is a critical subcategory under total health expenditure, especially where the burden of communicable disease is very high. both bihar and up have a disproportionate burden of communicable diseases. in 2019, communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases comprised 40 per cent, 40 per cent and 17 per cent of total disease burden (disability adjusted life years or dalys) in bihar, up and tn respectively (gbd, 2019) indicating that states like bihar and up must continue to focus on preventable and communicable diseases. in the background of the pandemic, this becomes a greater priority. 3demand for grants are budget documents for each ministry and department within the centre and state governments. these documents give the budget estimates of spending of all lineitems for the upcoming year, revised estimates for the previous year and actual spending incurred for the year before last. health investments to reduce health inequities in india: do we need more evidence? 377 table 7, however, indicates the low prioritization of public health in total health expenditure of the governments of bihar and up. in 2019-20, these states spent inr 9 and inr 17 respectively on per capita real expenditure on the component public health, compared to inr 55 for tn. investment on public health laboratories takes place under this head of expenditure, and indicates poor investment on diagnostics and laboratories, two areas of critical importance during outbreaks and pandemics. table 7: per capita real expenditure (in inr) on the public health component states 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 bihar 5 5 5 6 6 9 up 16 16 15 20 18 17 tn 46 50 51 53 56 55 source: author’s calculations based on state demand for grants, health & family welfare while raising total resources and investing in critical areas like public health is going to remain the most important policy knob, it is also important to guard against inefficient spending, which will only waste precious resources. figure 6 plots infant mortality rate (imr) against per capita health expenditure for the various states for 2019-20. the figures shows that states do get different outcomes from the same level of spending, indicating the possibility of different efficiency in their health spending. for example, tamil nadu (tn), haryana (hr), odisha (or) and chhattisgarh (cg) have similar per capita spending, but very different outcomes in terms of imr. also, kerala (kl) and goa (go) have both performed well and have almost similar imr. however, kerala is able to achieve good results with much lower per capita health spending. figure 6 : per capita health expenditure and imr across states source: authors calculations based on state demand for grants, health & family welfare 2021-22, srs bulletin 2019 378 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 the discussion above clearly brings out the need for a quantum jump in spending on health in the country. the national health policy in india (nhp, 2017) recommends spending 2.5 per cent of gdp, but at this point even this seems too inadequate. most countries with uhc have been able to spend more than 3 per cent of their gdp on health. the covid-19 experience has brought to the fore again the urgent need for a quantum jump in health financing. the resilience of the health sector hinges on how much a country prioritizes health by putting in adequate finances. also, since india is now also supposedly on the path of uhc, its current level of spending is totally inadequate to move it towards uhc. table 8 indicates the levels that would be required if india truly wants to move towards uhc. while european countries like norway and germany spend almost 1/10th of their gdp on health, even countries in asia like thailand, china and sri lanka are able to do much better than india in terms of per capita spending as well as level of government spending out of gdp. rwanda has made rapid progress towards uhc, and while its per capita spending is low, it is able to spend 2.6 per cent of its gdp on health. table 8: health financing indicators for countries with significant uhc countries with significant uhc domestic government health expenditure per capita, ppp (current international $), 2019 domestic government health expenditure (% of gdp), 2019 norway 6194 9.0 germany 5238 9.1 france 4137 8.3 japan 3847 9.0 turkey 925 3.4 brazil 610 3.9 thailand 524 2.7 china 493 3.0 sri lanka 269 1.9 india 69 1.0 rwanda 58 2.6 source: world bank open data a recent world health organization report (who, 2020) indicates that health financing vulnerabilities that existed prior to 2020 will also affect health spending in the coming years post covid. the report points out that countries like india that rely heavily on oops and are facing large economic contractions will find it hard to sustain their current levels of financing and address equity in health services. while oops may not increase substantially, that is mainly due to foregone care due to loss of income as well as lockdown, rather than a real drop in oops. the report also warns that such foregone care is likely to hit the poor much harder than others. health investments to reduce health inequities in india: do we need more evidence? 379 clearly, india and its states need to not only defend their current levels of spending but increase spending substantially if inequities are to be addressed. while the national health mission (nhm) and the ayushman bharat are two major landmark initiatives in the health sector, it is not clear whether the benefits have trickled down enough to make a major difference in inequities. the nhm was launched to make a difference to the way government health services—especially maternal and child health care services—are provided in the rural areas, including improvements in infrastructure. the nhm has been an important initiative of the government, which should be strengthened. a benefit incidence analysis (bia) using 2014 nss (bowser, patenaude, bhawalkar et al., 2019) shows that government spending on public health care has not resulted in significantly pro-poor services, and that in-patient services are in particular not pro-poor, and there are significant disparities across states. a recent study (selvaraj, karan, mao et al. 2021) uses two waves of the nss and also employs bia to find that nhm did benefit the poor, but in terms of health subsidies received forutilization of inpatient and outpatient services, the rich benefitted more. the study also finds that inequalities persist across all healthcare services in the private health sector. nonetheless, nhm remains an important programme with a huge potential to make further difference to the lives of millions of indians living in rural india. similarly, there are other programmes of the government on tuberculosis (tb), noncommunicable diseases, hiv/aids that yield direct benefits to people if scaled up and done well. the pm-jay for hospitalization coverage for the 40 per cent of the vulnerable population of the country also requires huge finances, which has not been forthcoming (gupta & roy, 2019). in a meagre total allocation for health, it stands to reason that the allocations under specific heads will be in turn very small. there have been studies that have indicated how much india should be spending on disease control programmes; some of those calculations yield numbers that are impossible to attain. the synergies in health sector programmes need to be exploited, so that separate allocations can be manageable and realistic. thus, while india has been able to increase spending on tb prevention and control, oops on tb remains about half of the total expenditure in the country on tb (su, baena, harley et al., 2020). malaria has a similar story, possibly worse than that for tb, in that oops in malaria prevention and control remains high (haakenstad, harle & tsakalos, 2019). if one takes spending on non-communicable diseases and injuries (ncdi), the total government spending remains very low at less than half a percent of gdp (gupta & ranjan, 2019). the covid calamity has brought to the fore the need for health systems strengthening (hss) which runs common across all disease control programmes; hss would require funding and filling the various personnel, infrastructure and supply gaps and make all the existing disease control programmes much more efficient. 380 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 in india, health being a state subject, health spending is majorly done by the states, at two-thirds of the total health spending (national health profile, 2021). therefore, merely increasing funds in the central government is not enough if correspondingly state governments are not able to raise resources for health. in any case, the last two union budgets indicate that core health allocations of the mohfw have been static or declining, and some major programmes like nhm are not getting adequate funding. while the 2021-22 budget expanded the scope of what was defined as “health and well-being”, and included water, sanitation and nutrition, a detailed analysis revealed that core health sector allocations actually did not increase and in fact went down slightly. the same happened in the subsequent 2022-23 budget, though the definition reverted to the earlier one and health sector allocations of the union government went down slightly. looking ahead significant inequities in health outcomes and access to services continue in the country. the brunt of these inequities continue to fall on a few large populous states with large numbers of poor and significant inequalities between rural and urban areas. these states will be unable to come out of this low-level equilibrium without a significant shift in priorities. the health sector has yet to be prioritized in the country and the covid pandemic has once again indicated the pitfalls of continuing with a weak health sector. the lack of investment in the health sector has translated into a weak government health system, with missing infrastructure, personnel and medical supplies. the resultant shift of care to the private sector has come at a high cost and india continues to report one of the highest oops among countries that are supposedly on the path of uhc. it is not necessary to launch large programmes of coverage that are neither universal in definition nor in coverage. instead, it might be much better for the government to focus on the infrastructure the country created, that was to serve its people adequately. either way, government investments have to increase—not incrementally—but with a quantum jump. that is the only way to improve equity in the health sector. references boachie, 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(2020, december 10). global spending on health: weathering the storm. retrieved from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240017788 © 2021 roja suganthy-singh. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. film review caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 407–410 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.347 caste, gender and fire in maadathy: an unconventional fairy tale reviewer: roja suganthy-singh department of sociology, st. john fisher college, rochester, ny e-mail: rojasingh3@gmail.com maadathy: an unfairy tale directed by leena manimekalai, a crowd-funded production pioneered by bhavana goparaju is one of the most riveting feature film releases in 2021 in the global film world. exposing the monstrosity of the intersections of caste and gender in india, the film was a jury award winner in 2020 and a nominee for the kim ji seok award in 2019. made in 2018 but officially released in 2021, it is a story in itself of awry patriarchal media authoritarianism in india. viewers can watch the film on neestream.com and upcoming on amazon prime as well. the film focuses on a family from the puthirai vannar referred to as the “unseeables” – a sub-community of dalits, the outcastes in india. vannar are launderers hired to wash the clothes of the dominant caste and other dalit communities, including menstrual cloths. they are not allowed to be seen and are expected to stay hidden from the dominant caste. however, those very eyes pillage these women and children exercising selective “visibility” and selective “touchability” upon their bodies. it is that everyday politics of vision in that “seeing” and “being seen” activity we are appalled by in the film. irreversible rules of eye-to-eye contact and eye-to-body contact are the forbidden acts that the vannar community should bear the burden of safeguarding, while the dominant caste men establish their prerogative to break on their own terms; their eyes cannot lock but bodies do. we first hear the story of this community in the novel koveru kazhuthaigal by imayam in 1994 (translated as beasts of burden). imayam tells the story of a vannar family who constantly slide into economic and physical mires unable to retrieve their sinking selves. as imayan suggests, everyone finds pleasure in feeling above somebody else, whatever that momentous pleasure maybe. mailto:rojasingh3@gmail.com 408 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 c. lakshmanan and k. raghupathy’s work, theedamaikkul theendaamai: puthurai vannar vaazhvun irappum, 2017 (untouchability within untouchability: the life and death of puthrai vannar) is one of the few research-based books on this community. seeped in an organic methodology of participatory cinema, manimekalai combines history, fact and life presented in dalit tamil (with english subtitles) as she grapples heavy themes, such as caste, gender and communal hierarchy that strangulate, rape and murder women. the film is based in an ethereally fantastical village, home to puthirai vannar in south india, tucked into breathtaking mountains, waterfalls, river and forest that the cinematography unfurls. she secured training for her actors from the vannar community with whom they stayed for the entire film production. such expert knowledge and lived experiences of the community, brings us closer to the truth that under such innocuous beauty, lurk pursuing perils. in the filming process, the vannar community share their social condition–that if you are a dalit vannar woman, you will be raped as an everyday routine (manimekalai, 2021). in the partnership between caste hierarchy and a much older globally normalized scriptural ordinance of patriarchal authority—the precursor to imposed caste, race and gender identities—pre-determine a vannar girl’s life and death. like young yosana (tamil word for thought) in the film, dalit girls are victims of sexual violence made permissible in a dominant caste-driven patriarchal ideology which i will call patria-caste that does not spare recruiting dalit men into their patriarchate. the all india dalit mahila adhikar manch delhi, india states 16,236 reported cases of rape of dalit girls and women in 2014–2019. rape of minor dalit girls is recorded at 2,642 in 2017–2019, in just three years. of course, there are numerous unreported cases. this aspect is highlighted in the careful planning that involves teamwork whether it is rape carried out by a single man or multiple men, both of which the film depicts. powerful structures of governance set already wounded dalit men against one another, kicking them onto a survivor wrestling ground to grab a few rupees. the vannar men’s experiences of dominant caste men who manipulate their vulnerable sub-ordinate masculinity as prime meat, instigating anger and mistrust against their own, is clearly layered for the viewer. as stated by the vannar community, leena brings into the film, women in dominant caste communities as well who seek their own victim-erasure in securing superiority over dalit men, women, and other gender identities. the heart-wrenching acting by semmalar annam as veni, maps numerous points of geographies of fear that the vannar women should but cannot avoid and geographies of refuge that fail to protect these women and children. the cartographers comprise actors across territorial, religious and caste boundaries, using women’s bodies to announce acidic patria-caste intertwining of entitled settler syndromes in their self-declared occupation of those sacred spaces. in the film, veni laments to her father-in-law, “when i think of yosana’s future, i feel fire in my lap.” he responds, “of course. it is natural. your mother, grandmother and your great grandmother. it is the fire in the lap of all the women.” veni anguishes, “she keeps wandering like a wild bird. i am struggling so hard to protect her.” the sacrilege of mental and bodily spaces leaves the vannar women emotionally, psychologically and physically maimed for generations as they go about their everyday chores carrying “fire on their laps” (maadathy). the destruction of bodies, families and minds continue as due processes of planting flagpoles of male dominance on beautiful bodies and reciprocal territories resulting in trauma. yosana’s bold curiosity of the geographies of her own body, caste, gender and fire in maadathy: an unconventional fairy tale 409 nature’s incarnations and the male body turns into a punishable crime and her sweetcrush is crushed by the hurt male ego that needs quenching. the producers, along with leena manimekalai are to be highly commended for producing a film that was bound to face hurdles. the team dared to render visible the story of dalits cornered in invisible spaces where intersectional nodes of caste, class, religion and gender identities leave women bare and bleeding. co-habiting with danger, dalit women’s bodies are a hunt for all men irrespective of caste identity who find solidarity with dominant castes in replicating hegemonic masculinity as a cultural normative. zora neale hurston’s words echo as we watch this film: “de nigger woman is de mule uh de world” (their eyes were watching god, 1937.) socially shunned women are the ones sought for work, sex, and dehumanization. the film compellingly reveals the complexity of the tragedy that lies in the alluring trap of alcohol and toxic masculinity doled out in conniving ways by dominant caste members that dalit men fall prey to—a patria-caste. young yosana, brilliantly and captivatingly played by ajmina kasim, revolves around us in this film, enjoying a caressing closeness with nature as water plays on her body. water is simultaneously alive, dead, peaceful, turbulent and ghostly as a gurgling bearer of blood oozing from body and mind carrying “pollution” and “purity” all at once. yosana is a talking friend to animals and birds in her universe. the scenes where yosana and nature’s other beings coddle in feeding a pomegranate to monkey friends are delightful and moving when the baby donkey-friend, an extension of her innocence, faithfully reciprocates her kindness. yosana claims her natural right to admire nature almost as a fixation and provides copyright to that natural world to own her in a reciprocity that is fairytale-like. her mother complains, “is this your only chore? feeding the rabbits, singing to the quails. who will marry you?” as a free wanderer, and water lover, wading in the gorges by the river, she desirously gazes, touches a forbidden male body with her gaze, and steals his smell to quench her confused response to a sexual awareness. unfortunately, it is that same innocent curious admiration that allures her into a cave-tomb where her mother’s fear comes true. ever since yosana emerged from her womb as a girl, a dalit girl, a dalit vannar girl—she knew that the stars lined up in that order to determine her fate. yosana trustingly crawls into the crevices of our thoughts and emotions demanding our affection and attention, leaving us restlessly feeling untrustworthy. she comes to stay whether you like it or not, but you will. she drags you along with her into a vivacious innocence that moves you to fall in love with her with an ease as cotton flies from the trees we are shown. you most certainly will smile, laugh and cry with her. the merging of the natural elements with the supernatural carries leena’s talent to a level of genius storytelling. the duplicity of a dialectical opposition of “to be seen” or “not to be seen” as a human being, is intentionally reified in yosana. she hurriedly runs away from the simultaneity of deification, but the viewer cannot escape the unfolding of the hypocrisy of deity devotees who will construct and destruct female bodies to score in that ruthless game of a culturally normalized and socially perpetuated ritual of rape. the real tragedy is the infiltration of that dangerous combination of casteist patriarchate into oppressed groups who look for the other to readily exercise power upon. are not all who carry such exhibitions of masculinity and caste power both explicitly and implicitly, complicit? the film disallows us as we become desperate to magically remove our omnipresence in this story. we are haunted by our own ghosts with whom we play hide and seek in our hidden crevices. 410 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 with powerfully placed symbolism in colors, body fluids, water, eyes, body and much more, leena weaves her own magical web of a genre where she but leaves the facts as frozen droplets on those strands, mesmerizing the viewer in its multidimensional intersectional layers. each leaf, sound, sweat drop and each hurl of the hand beating the clothes on the stone, the washer woman’s pressing feet into menstrual blooded clothes, stain our guarded minds as an unforgettable horror despite the scenic views. human and non-human actors—both bleeding and unbleeding—blend like the colors on the canvas testifying to these hidden stories. erasures of borders of the human and the spiritual worlds direct us to not just imagine a world free of caste borders, but a world where lessons ought to be learnt and put to praxis in nature’s economy of un-exploitative and un-authoritative blending of task and be-ing. in the ruins of the temple (one of the many un-bleeding actors) we see a collapse of the marriage of capitalism and religious structures and in the hut where yosana’s divinity resides in a young new-generation-boy who shows the path to an empathetic casteless and genderless structure as he hands a cloth to a menstruating woman. leena unfolds our eyes to follow yosana’s world of seeking justice alongside creating a counter world to vampirism that chases women, dalits and all those vulnerable. in this new genre of storytelling where “to be” or “not to be” or “to be seen” or “not to be seen” are not choices of a human or a ghost, but an anomalous state of being which through magical surrealism leena exposes as devious reality. maadathy webs diverse strings of genres where horror leaves us in disbelief that we ask ourselves “can this be true today?” we are left in a state of helplessness—an unfamiliar place in nature, where the arduous yet beautiful terrains of the “unseeable’s” isolated habitat of body and mind merge in explosions of new grounds where we hesitate to plant our feet in. however, we do follow playful yosana, entranced but left with a feeling of being duped. we wonder as to who orchestrated that disappearing act of snow white’s apparitions that we were led by. clearly, since that cinematization of binaries of good and evil in 1938, the dominant male is still on that quest for a tall-ego compensation through domestication of women by marking their forbidden territories as dangerous. do we not know that patria-caste assumes many forms to allure little girls like yosana with forbidden fruit, and a princess will fall? princely powers stand by to violate a fallen princess while distant drums erect yet another deity: conventional fairy tale gone wrong, but a conventional caste tale gone mighty right. yosana is bewitched by her choices of a free spirit and awareness of emotions and pays the price for plucking the forbidden fruit off a man’s back. maadathy, a “must see” film, leads us to consider shakespeare’s ophelia who lies torn at the junction of forbidden desire, blame, and all other eurocentric canonization of ranked patriarchy that mangles women’s bodies and minds. ophelia drowns and yosana rises flooding the film in several apparitional forms and in the clever allpervasive symbolic details. yosana no longer just tenuously breathes but stands strong and tall as an incarnation of maadathy to protect all vulnerable beings and exorcise the colluding forces of caste and patriarchy that seek a pan-camaraderie. can she conjure a life of her choosing where geographies of fear will transform into safe homes for beautiful bodies and minds? leena leaves us to imagine a new generation of kind boys and men who will choose a sincere mission of the deincarnation of patria-caste where a pariah parent can lull their sweet child on a fire-free lap and as she grows, can actually enjoy a swim with her daughter. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 109–131 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.282 © 2021 anurag bhaskar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste ‘ambedkar’s constitution’: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? anurag bhaskar1 abstract during the last few decades, india has witnessed two interesting phenomena. first, the indian constitution has started to be known as ‘ambedkar’s constitution’ in popular discourse. second, the dalits have been celebrating the constitution. these two phenomena and the connection between them have been understudied in the anti-caste discourse. however, there are two generalised views on these aspects. one view is that dalits practice a politics of restraint, and therefore show allegiance to the constitution which was drafted by the ambedkar-led drafting committee. the other view criticises the constitutional culture of dalits and invokes ambedkar’s rhetorical quote of burning the constitution. this article critiques both these approaches and argues that none of these fully explores and reflects the phenomenon of constitutionalism by dalits as an anti-caste social justice agenda. it studies the potential of the indian constitution and responds to the claim of ambedkar burning the constitution. i argue that dalits showing ownership to the constitution is directly linked to the anti-caste movement. i further argue that the popular appeal of the constitution has been used by dalits to revive ambedkar’s legacy, reclaim their space and dignity in society, and mobilise radically against the backlash of the so-called upper castes. keywords ambedkar, constitution, anti-caste movement, constitutionalism, dalit introduction dr. b.r. ambedkar’s name has received fame as being the chief architect or the father of the indian constitution. so much, that when former united states president barack obama visited india for the first time during his tenure in 2010 1assistant professor, jindal global law school, sonipat (india) e-mail: abhaskar@llm19.law.harvard.edu 110 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 and addressed a joint session of indian parliament, he referred to ambedkar’s role in the constitution (economic times, 2010). in her article on assessing the performance of indian constitution, martha nussbaum (2016, p. 295), a leading philosopher and theorist, chose to title it ‘ambedkar’s constitution’. bruce ackerman (2019, p. 62), an american constitutional law scholar, stated that ambedkar’s presence as the head of the drafting process provided legitimacy to the constitution. even in popular discourse now (perrigo, 2020), the indian constitution has started to be known as ‘ambedkar’s constitution’. given this emphasis in recognising ambedkar’s crucial role and impact in framing of the indian constitution, it is natural to reflect on whether the constitution was able to affect the caste system in more than seventy years of its making. after all, the centrality of ambedkar’s ideas is the annihilation of the caste system. did the constitution bring the changes that ambedkar had hoped for? did it empower the dalits1 (former ‘untouchable’ castes)? has it diluted the caste system? has it provided dignity to the dalits? or, has it remained ineffective, thus causing dalits’ disillusionment with the constitution? data shows that despite the constitutional provisions, cases of atrocities against dalits have been increasing since independence in 1947 (thorat, 2018a, pp. 256–260). economist sukhadeo thorat (2019, pp. 226–230) has further pointed out that the types of atrocities which are currently being committed against dalits show a resemblance to the laws of manu (ancient caste codes). but it is to be seen that despite facing these constant hardships, dalits and other marginalised groups have been ‘at the forefront of owning a constitutional culture’ and see the indian constitution ‘as their own’ (choudhry, khosla, & mehta, 2016). even before the government of india officially decided in 2015 to celebrate 26 november (indian express, 2020) – the day when the constitution was adopted – as the ‘constitution day’, the dalits ‘have been celebrating the day every year’ (mandal, 2019a). one commentator, dilip mandal, aptly summarises this: ‘across many indian cities, [dalits and adivasis] have been wearing new clothes, lighting up their homes, organising seminars and rallies, garlanding the statues of dr. b. r. ambedkar . . . over several decades’ (ibid). a scholarly work (choudhry et al., 2016) on the indian constitution also points out to this phenomenon: ‘dalits, who were india’s most unimaginably oppressed social groups, with most reason to resent the structural violence of india’s inherited social and political order, have in a sense been at the forefront of owning a constitutional culture.’ even ambedkar had believed (cad, november 25, 1949) that if inequalities are not removed at the earliest possible moment, then those ‘who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which [the constituent] assembly has [so] laboriously built up.’ the question that arises is why have dalits been celebrating the indian constitution. mandal (2019a) stated that ‘dalit optimism despite the prevailing circumstances should be a subject of sociological scrutiny.’ choudhry, khosla, and mehta (2016) gave credit 1the term ‘dalit’ has been used in this article, as it has been used in the popular discourse to refer to the ex-‘untouchable’ castes. the administrative categorisation (constitutionally recognised) for these castes now is ‘scheduled castes’. the limitation of this article is that within the anti-caste discourse, it deals only with the constitutionalism by ‘dalits’. further, it lacks a gendered analysis of the dalits upholding the constitution. the discourse of dalits is a significant aspect of the anti-caste discourse, but a line of enquiry can also be done to analyse how the other marginalised communities (nomadic and denotified (vimukta) communities, adivasis (indigenous tribes), shudras, pasmanda, and similar such discourses) have engaged with constitutionalism. ‘ambedkar’s constitution’: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? 111 to three simultaneous factors for this phenomenon: first, b. r. ambedkar, now iconised as one of the architects of the indian constitution, was a dalit; second, the constitution gave political representation and representation in public jobs to dalits; and third, the constitution saw itself as a charter of social reform. they argue: ‘[the] degree to which [dalits] see the constitution as their own is remarkable. constitutionalism at its core signifies a politics of restraint’ (ibid). however, few authors present a different view on this phenomenon. in his book caste matters (2019), author suraj yengde stated that the ‘idea of the constitution is romantic’ (p.76), and that constitutionalism reflects ‘state’s narrative’ (ibid), which has been promoted to cause ‘dalit passivism’ and deviation from core demands (p. 79). the author argued that the attribution of the authorship of the constitution to ambedkar has been ‘clever propaganda’ (p. 79) spread by the ruling castes and the state that has taken away ‘dalit radicalism’ (p. 78). yengde criticized liberal constitutionalism and the appeal which it holds among the dalits: ‘one of the limitations . . . is the absolute visionary absence of dalit pride and the eruptive definition of liberation’ (p. 77). in support of his arguments, yengde relied upon a statement given by ambedkar, seemingly regarding burning the constitution (p. 80). previously, dhananjay keer, ambedkar’s unofficial biographer, also referred to this statement to argue that ambedkar had made ‘a virulent attack on the constitution’ (2019, pp. 449–450). however, the authors have not contextualised the said statement made by ambedkar.2 in this article, i demonstrate that both these approaches (pro-constitutionalism, and critical) do not fully explore or reflect the phenomenon of constitutionalism by dalits as a social justice agenda. i test both these approaches in the context of sociopolitical history of india after the constitution came into force. i argue that dalits showing ownership to the constitution is directly linked to anti-caste movement. i further argue that dalits have used the ownership of the constitution as a means to revive ambedkar’s legacy, and as a tool for radical mobilisation for social justice – equality and freedom, and also against the backlash of upper castes. i also explore how ambedkar contributed to this phenomenon through the constitution, and examine whether he really wanted to burn the constitution. part ii of this article deals with the theme whether the indian constitution is a document of social reform against caste. part iii responds to the claim that ambedkar wanted to burn the constitution as part of his agenda. part iv deals with the backlash which the upper caste social order brought against the egalitarian promises of the constitution. part v shows how the constitution has been used as a tool for mobilising an anti-caste agenda and to revive ambedkar’s legacy. in part vi, several examples have been picked up from the grassroots to highlight the radical constitutionalism of dalits. in conclusion, part vii disagrees with the view that the constitution promoted ‘dalit passivism’ and provides reasons why dalits have showed allegiance to the indian constitution. it is emphasised that this article is not about assessing the performance or effectiveness of the indian constitution. instead, it places the framework of the indian constitution in the anti-caste discourse. it covers how dalits and other marginalised communities utilised the presence of an egalitarian constitution in modern india, and presents reasons for this utilisation. this phenomenon, which renders indian constitution as ‘ambedkar’s constitution’ in popular discourse, shows a kind of radicalism, distinct from general constitutional approaches. 2several works just quote the following line by ambedkar regarding the indian constitution (without contextualising it): ‘i shall be the first person to burn it out’ (2 september, 1953). 112 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 indian constitution: a social reform document? indian independence brought several contradictions for dalits and other marginalised communities. ambedkar announced in his last speech on november 25, 1949 to the constituent assembly: ‘in politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality.’ he was referring to social and economic inequalities created by the graded discrimination embedded in the caste system. he was speaking in the capacity of the chairman of the drafting committee, which was entrusted with the task of preparing the constitution for independent india. it was because of ambedkar’s consistent efforts that the constitution ensured universal adult franchise (voting rights), a set of fundamental rights, abolished untouchability, and adopted a system of quota-based affirmative action (reservation) for dalits and adivasis (indigenous tribes) in education, services, and legislatures. in ambedkar’s view, ‘the right of representation and the right to hold office under the state are the two most important rights that make up citizenship’ (ambedkar, 2019a, p. 256). it was his foresighted view that the right of franchise would provide political education to the lower castes, making them conscious about their own issues and surroundings (khosla, 2020, p. 10). it was ambedkar’s genius that he got provisions on franchise and representation incorporated into the constitution, even before the united states legally allowed it in 1964 (vundru, 2013). he provided a permanency to the core issues of anti-caste discourse, such as security from oppression, dignity, and equal opportunity, by emphasising on these values through the constitution. in the constituent assembly, ambedkar was celebrated as the man who ‘finally dealt the death blow to [the] custom of untouchability, of which he was himself a victim in his younger days’ (speech by monomohan das, cad, november 29, 1948). the constitutional provisions prohibiting discrimination (article 15(2)) and abolishing untouchability (article 17) attacked ‘the crux of the philosophy of the caste system’ (kannabiran, 2015, p. 165). the provision against untouchability was specifically placed in the chapter on fundamental rights in the constitution, as in ambedkar’s view, the fundamental rights cannot be articulated without addressing the evil of untouchability (ambedkar, 2019a, p. 256). it has also been rightly pointed out that the language contained in the constitutional provisions of equality and nondiscrimination did not ‘emerge out of ambedkar’s imagination, but constituted the culmination of decades of political struggle’ (bhatia, 2016) – from his submissions before southborough committee in 1919, to the founding of the bahishkrit hitkarini sabha (society for welfare of the ostracized) in 1924, to mahad satyagraha in 1927, to the round table conferences in 1930–32, and to his every public action and writing in later years. ambedkar argued that the liberty of an individual must be protected from ‘invasion by other individuals’ (ambedkar, 2019b, p. 409), and therefore demanded active state protection for dalits. it must also be noted that ambedkar’s original views on certain important issues differ from the one incorporated in the final constitution. had ambedkar been given a free hand in drafting the entire constitution on his own, he would have incorporated more safeguards for social and religious minorities. he would have also opted for a different form of parliamentary democracy and the economic system than what we have in the present constitution. in his 1947 document states and minorities, which he had initially prepared as a draft constitution before he was chosen to chair the drafting committee, ambedkar wanted to incorporate a democratic socialist form ‘ambedkar’s constitution’: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? 113 of economic structure into the constitution (ibid, pp. 408–412). he wanted that the text of the constitution should include ownership of key industries (agricultural land, education, health, and insurance) in the hands of the state – what thorat calls ‘constitutional socialism’ (2018b, p. xi), i.e. parliamentary democracy with state socialism prescribed in the constitution. ambedkar formulated that there is a direct linkage between fundamental rights and economic structures in society and believed that the economy based on private ownership of property would not guarantee the fundamental rights to the marginalised and the unemployed (thorat, 2018b: p. xvi; ambedkar, 2019b, pp. 409–412). he was making a case for the enforceable socioeconomic rights as well as an onerous burden on the state. in his address, communal deadlock and a way to solve it, in 1945, ambedkar proposed certain safeguards in representation in cabinet appointments and the executive. his proposal was based on three new principles (ambedkar, 2019c, pp. 369–373, 368, 376; thorat, 2018b, p. xvii), namely: the political democracy was to be governed by principle of ‘balanced representation’ (ambedkar, 2019c, p. 374) – no social/religious group shall hold more than forty per cent of total seats (instead of rule by majority); the principle of faith or confidence in the executive – according to which the executive is to be selected by both majority and minority (in place of formation of executive by majority party alone); and the ‘rule of unanimity’3 (as applied in the united nations) for legislative decision-making on communal disputes. this set of proposals suggested reform in the british model of parliamentary democracy to suit the indian social composition. both these proposals (communal deadlock and states and minorities) are in continuance of ambedkar’s previous assertion, which he had put forth in his classic annihilation of caste (1936), that ‘political constitution must take note of social organisation’ (ambedkar, 2019d, p. 42). however, these proposals were not adopted by the constituent assembly. ambedkar was a pragmatist (maitra, 2012, p. 302), so he defended the text of the final constitution as it existed in the constituent assembly, since it still contained certain progressive provisions. he even threatened to leave his work in the constituent assembly if the reservation (quotas) for dalits was not incorporated into the constitution (vundru, 2018, p. 138). besides the fundamental rights, the directive principles in the constitution, which reflect unenforceable socioeconomic rights, were endorsed by ambedkar with a belief that ‘whoever captures power . . . will have to respect’ them and ‘will certainly have to answer for them before the electorate at election time’ (cad, november 4, 1948). ambedkar’s constitutionalism was, in that way, different from any traditional narrative of liberal constitutionalism which focuses on the structure of the state and basic rights. entrenchment of special rights for lower castes in the constitution was one of the strategies, which ambedkar had adopted in several decades to tackle and dilute the caste system. these provisions changed the language of rights in india. before the constitution, dalits and other marginalised groups were excluded from the mainstream and did not have any of these rights. as historian anupama rao (2009) stated, dalits 3ambedkar argued, ‘. . . there is another rule, which is also operative in fields where important disputes between individual and nations arise and that rule is a rule of unanimity . . . let him take another illustration that of the league of nations. what was the rule for decisions in the league of nations? the rule was a rule of unanimity. it is obvious that if the principle of unanimity was accepted by the hindus as a rule of decision in the legislature and in the executive, there would be no such thing as a communal problem in india.’ see ambedkar, 2019c, p. 376. 114 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 ‘found an important place’ in the indian constitution (p. 2). laws protecting dalits from caste violence and affirmative action/reservation policies transformed the ‘legal status’ of the dalits (p. 3). as an effect, the ‘once-stigmatized dalits came to occupy new subject positions’ – citizens constitutionally encoded for state protection, and thus ‘central to the development of a distinctive democratic order’ (ibid). in this way, the ‘anti-caste ethical egalitarianism’ of dalits, as historian chinnaiah jangam has noted, made a significant case ‘for founding the nation on principles of social equality, economic justice, and human dignity’ (2017, pp. 204–205). it is this constitutional shift which several scholars have emphasised upon. political scientist rajeev bhargava (2008, p. 15) has noted that the constitution was designed ‘to break the shackles of traditional social hierarchies and to usher in a new era of freedom, equality, and justice.’ granville austin (1999), a celebrated constitutional historian, referred to the indian constitution as a ‘social document’ (p. 63), the provisions of which are aimed at furthering the goals of social revolution (p. xviii). austin described the main features of the constitution as ‘a modernizing force’, which brought, ‘into, or closer to, the mainstream of society individuals and groups that would otherwise have remained at society’s bottom or at its edges (p. xiii). in his work, madhav khosla (2020) has argued that the constitution was conceptualised as ‘a pedagogical tool’ and ‘an instrument of political education’, which aspired to build a new civic culture (p. 22). according to khosla, ‘the codification of rules was one way to liberate indians from existing forms of thought and understanding’ (ibid). the works of austin, bhargava, and khosla point to the ideal transformative vision of the indian constitution. however, ambedkar was also aware of the limitations of any constitution. he was conscious of the challenges which the newly envisaged democracy in india could face. as he once remarked: ‘democracy in india is only a top-dressing on an indian soil, which is essentially undemocratic’ (cad, november 4, 1948). ambedkar knew that there existed a wide gap between the ideals of the transformative constitution and social realities. he thus warned, ‘however good a constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it, happen to be a bad lot’ (cad, november 25, 1949). political scientist gopal guru (2008) added to this scepticism by noting that the constitution ‘does not offer sufficient provisions to turn civil society in the direction of social justice’ (p. 239). in his view, the indian constitution is ‘ill-equipped’ to generate a ‘moral vocabulary of love, care, and concern’ and thus has not ‘succeeded in penetrating the upper caste self which has become morally so hardened’ (p. 242). he thus concluded that the indian constitution ‘even with its punitive provisions . . . offers a limited promise’ (ibid). thorat (2018a) pointed out that even though there is ‘an improvement in access to civil, political, and economic rights by former untouchables in many spheres,’ discrimination has continued a significant scale (p. 256). he added that ‘while the positive changes bring former untouchables closer to citizenship status, they remain citizens in the making as the legacy of the past continues’ (ibid). thorat further stated that the reservation policy in education and public jobs helped reduce the dependence of dalits on higher castes and brought about some mobility among them, but this has happened on a limited scale (p. 270). guru and thorat thus highlighted the lack of reciprocation of the transformative constitutional vision by the so-called upper castes, which is also reflected in the rising number of atrocities against dalits (the hindu, 2020). ‘ambedkar’s constitution’: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? 115 though the constitution provided a new framework, the upper caste social order has not adopted the spirit of the constitution. ambedkar had once pointed it out in his classic essay ranade, jinnah, and gandhi (ambedkar, 2019e, p. 222), that the fundamental rights provided by the constitution ought to be protected by the ‘social conscience’ of the citizens, because ‘if the fundamental rights are opposed by the community, no law, no parliament, no judiciary can guarantee them in the real sense of the word.’ ambedkar was thus anxious about the fate of the indian constitution: ‘what would happen to her democratic constitution? will she be able to maintain it, or will she lose it?’ (cad, november 25, 1949). while declaring the caste-system to be ‘anti-national’, ambedkar remarked: ‘if we wish to preserve the constitution . . . let us resolve not to be tardy in the recognition of the evils that lie across our path . . . nor to be weak in our initiative to remove them’ (ibid). he was thus emphasising upon a responsibility on the citizens and the political class. despite its limitations, which ambedkar acknowledged, the indian constitution opened new opportunities for dalits and other marginalised communities. let us now see whether the perceived limitations of the constitution disillusioned ambedkar and made him speak about burning it. did ambedkar want to burn the constitution? guru has pointed out that several radicals on few ‘occasions condemned the constitution as a bourgeois document’ (2008, p. 231). yengde argued that the ‘overreliance’ on the constitutional method ‘as a route to dalit emancipation precludes the call for the total liberation of dalits’ (2019, p. 85). to buttress his point, he referred to one of ambedkar’s statements (seemingly on burning the constitution), to state that ‘the same document [constitution] that ambedkar had so laboriously authored, he was now willing to burn to ashes’ (p. 80). in addition to this, yendge noted, ‘the burning of a juridical text was not a foreign act for ambedkar,’ as he previously burnt manusmriti (the ancient hindu caste code) publicly in 1927 (p. 80). few others have also referred to the said statement of ambedkar. keer stated that ambedkar ‘had made the attack [on the constitution] and volleyed his thunder in a spirit of utter desperation and frustration’ (2019, pp. 449–50). scholar gail omvedt (1994) also cited this excerpt to refer to it as ambedkar’s ‘disillusionment . . . with the promises of progressiveness’ and ‘moment of rage’ (p. 325). in his work on the making of the indian constitution, arvind elangovan (2014, p. 2) called it ‘ambedkar’s public disavowal of the constitution.’ in the words of elangovan, ambedkar ‘publicly distanced himself from the constitutional document that he helped draft’ (ibid). however, to scrutinise the veracity of this line of argument, the original context and content of ambedkar’s speech must be referred to. on september 2, 1953, ambedkar was making his submissions (2019f, p. 851–864) on the andhra state bill, which was tabled in the rajya sabha (upper house of the indian parliament) for the formation of andhra pradesh state on the principle of linguistic provinces. he was clearly unhappy with the fact that the indian government agreed to form the linguistic state of andhra only after potti sriramalu (a leader demanding linguistic state) sacrificed his life for the sake of creating an andhra province.4 at the same time, he was very critical of the then home minister 4in his address (september 2, 1953) in the rajya sabha, ambedkar noted: ‘and unless and until one honourable gentleman had sacrificed his life for the sake of creating an andhra province, the government did not think it fit to move in the matter. i have no idea and i do not wish to be 116 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 k. n. katju for not making special provisions for ‘granting protection [to minorities, including dalits as well as linguistic minorities] against tyranny, against oppression, against communalism’ (p. 857) in the proposed andhra state. ambedkar suggested that the governor of the state may be given special powers to protect the minorities. this suggestion was contrary to the constitutional principle of ‘aid and advice’ adopted in the indian constitution, according to which a governor generally did not have powers of his own and followed the decision of council of ministers of the state. ambedkar’s suggestion was in line of his similar arguments, as stated in the previous section, made in his works, communal deadlock (1945) and states and minorities (1947), where he made a case for additional special safeguards for minorities. in response, katju and one other member argued that the existing constitutional provisions were justified by ambedkar earlier in the constituent assembly (ambedkar, 2019f, pp. 857, 861). it is to justify his own new suggestion that ambedkar said that he had earlier defended the tradition (of aid and advice) in the constituent assembly because the majority of the members had adopted it (p. 860). that was the statesman in him. his (ibid) quote mentioned this tradition: ‘now, sir, we have inherited a tradition. people always keep on saying to me: “oh, you are the maker of the constitution.” my answer is i was a hack. what i was asked to do, i did much against my will.’ ambedkar gave examples from the canadian constitution, and british constitutional practices, where there was special protection provided to linguistic minorities. he submitted before the chairman of the rajya sabha that ‘no harm can be done to democracy and to democratic constitution, if our constitution was amended and powers similar to those given to the governor general under [canadian constitution] were given to the governor [in india]’ (p. 861). it is only then there would be a ‘safeguard to certain small linguistic areas or linguistic groups who find that the majority in the state are not doing justice to them’ (ibid). it was against the argument of not making special provisions for minorities (including dalits) by the government that ambedkar made the rhetorical speech of burning the constitution, which ought to be quoted fully: ‘it is by placating the sentiments of smaller communities and smaller people who are afraid that the majority may do wrong, that the british parliament works. sir, my friends tell me that i have made the constitution. but i am quite prepared to say that i shall be the first person to burn it out. i do not want it. it does not suit anybody. but, whatever that may be, if our people want to carry on, they must not forget that there are majorities and there are minorities, and they simply cannot ignore the minorities by saying, “oh, no. to recognise you is to harm democracy.” i should say that the greatest harm will come by injuring the minorities.’ (ibid, pp. 862–63) in conclusion of his address, ambedkar made the submission to the home minister to see ‘whether he can find any solution to the problem of linguistic provinces, based on the suggestions that [ambedkar] made’ (p. 864). it is clear from this discussion harsh on the government; but i am dead certain in my mind that if in any other country a person had to die in order to invoke a principle which had already been accepted, what would have happened to the government. it is quite possible that the government might have been lynched. but here nothing has happened’. see ambedkar, 2019f, pp. 852–853. ‘ambedkar’s constitution’: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? 117 that the rhetorical excerpt of ambedkar’s speech was made in a specific context of linguistic states and adopting a provision, which would be different from the already adopted tradition of governors having no power of their own. even after the said quote, ambedkar wanted the home minister to consider his constitutional proposal. this entire context is not mentioned in any book or article, which cites ambedkar’s rhetorical quote on burning the constitution. contrary to these assumptions, ambedkar was not asking to burn the whole of the constitution as a matter of principle. ambedkar made his position clear in a subsequent discussion (ibid, pp. 944–961), which happened in rajya sabha after two years (march 19, 1955). in a discussion on the constitution (fourth amendment) bill, 1954, ambedkar was speaking on the relevance of fundamental rights. he summed up his views on the constitution as follows: ‘if i may say so, and i say it with a certain amount of pride the constitution which has been given to this country is a wonderful document. it has been said so not by myself, but by many people, many other students of the constitution. it is the simplest and the easiest. many, many publishers have written to me asking me to write a commentary on the constitution, promising a good sum. but i have always told them that to write a commentary on this constitution is to admit that the constitution is a bad one and an un-understandable one. it is not so. anyone who can follow english can understand the constitution. no commentary is necessary.’ (ibid, p. 948) [emphasis added] to this statement, a fellow rajya sabha member, anup singh, reminded ambedkar of his speech to burn the constitution. ambedkar responded rhetorically again: ‘we built a temple for a god to come in and reside, but before the god could be installed, if the devil had taken possession of it, what else could we do except destroy the temple? we did not intend that it should be occupied by the asuras (evil). we intended it to be occupied by the devas (good). that is the reason why i said i would rather like to burn it.’ (ibid, p. 949) when another member, b. k. p. sinha, passed a remark to ‘destroy the devil rather than the temple’ (ibid), ambedkar initially tried to explain a bit, but pointed it to the rajya sabha chairperson that he was being interrupted from making his submissions on the constitution amendment bill. he clearly said that he was being drawn ‘into all sorts of things into which [he did] not wish to enter’ (ibid). he continued with his submissions on ‘why the constitution [esp. fundamental rights] should not be amended and tampered so easily’ (p. 954). thus, ambedkar himself clarified that he did not want to discuss his previous rhetorical statement. it is in no way that this entire context could be compared with the burning of manusmriti by ambedkar, as certain individuals keep ‘repeating’ (omvedt, 1994, p. 325). there is no similarity between manusmriti and the indian constitution. the manusmriti denied any basic human rights to dalits, women, and other oppressed, while the constitution not only provides equal rights, but also includes provisions for their special protection. the manusmriti provided cruel and inhuman punishment for the oppressed, while the constitution, in the chapter on fundamental rights, criminalises the practice of untouchability against dalits. ambedkar (ibid) recognised the importance of fundamental rights. in the same speech in the rajya sabha 118 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 (march 19, 1955), ambedkar was defensive of the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution. he noted: ‘caste system is a sword of political and administrative discrimination. the result was that the fundamental rights became inevitable’ (p. 947). in effect, the constitution rejected manusmriti in its essence and content, and diluted the caste system. furthermore, the entire context shows that ambedkar’s frustration was with the people entrusted with the responsibility of enforcing the constitution, and not with the idea of the constitution itself. he had also previously expressed this sentiment in his letter explaining the reasons for resigning as independent india’s law minister in 1951. one of the main reasons was that the hindu code bill, a social reform measure introduced by ambedkar to provide property inheritance rights for women, was dropped from the parliament (ambedkar, 2019g, p. 1325). expressing his dissatisfaction, ambedkar noted: ‘to leave inequality between class and class, between sex and sex which is the soul of hindu society untouched and to go on passing legislation relating to economic problems is to make a farce of our constitution and to build a palace on a dung heap.’ (ibid, p. 1326) [emphasis added] in his consistent efforts, ambedkar argued for codification of rights and procedures, as he believed that the people were yet to learn constitutional morality – ‘a paramount reverence for the forms of the constitution’ (cad, november 4, 1948). even in his most radical demands, as reflected in his works communal deadlock (1945) and states and minorities (1947), ambedkar wanted a constitutionally encoded solution. his emphasis on the enforcement of the constitution also reflects the same. thus, it is not ambedkar (as few writers have claimed), but the upper castes who have always wanted to attack the constitution through different means. the counter-revolution by the upper castes due to ambedkar’s struggle and contribution, the constitution provided a new set of rights for dalits. the provisions of representation in services and legislatures created new openings to dalits. reservation policies allowed dalits upward economic mobility, and presence in educational institutions, which was earlier considered to be the monopoly and privilege of upper castes (thorat, 2018a, p. 270). the demand for equality, supported by political mobilisation, generated a powerful conscience among dalits (kumar, 2004, p. 1778; narayan, 2011, p. 69). later, in the panchayat institutions, the reservation of seats for dalits and women have changed certain social dynamics and have weakened the grip of the upper castes on political affairs (dreze, 2020). it is in all these ways that the constitution directly challenged the upper caste privilege. before his death, ambedkar had proposed to write a detailed treatise with the title revolution and counter revolution in ancient india (ambedkar, 2019h, p. 149). ambedkar considered the establishment of democratic principles in the buddhist era as a revolution. according to him, the counter-revolution pioneered by brahminical forces resulted into decline and fall of those democratic principles. this history was pointed out by him even in his last address on november 25, 1949 to the constituent assembly. if one was to apply that analogy to modern era, then the ‘ambedkar’s constitution’: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? 119 adoption of the constitution of india must be seen as a form of revolution. it is to undo the effects of this modern revolution that upper castes have revolted in the form of a counter-revolution. the constitution has faced a consistent line of attack from the time it was being drafted. various charges were made against the draft constitution. ambedkar himself stood up on several occasions to point out the shallowness in these attacks. one main charge against the draft constitution was that it did not represent the ‘ancient polity of india’ and that it should have been ‘drafted on the ancient hindu model of a state . . . instead of incorporating western theories’ (cad, november 4, 1948). ambedkar responded that doing this would have promoted ‘a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow-mindedness and communalism’ (ibid), which should not happen. the draft constitution was also criticised on the ground that it provided special safeguards for the minorities. ambedkar’s conception of minorities was much broader. it included both religious minorities as well as marginalised social groups. according to ambedkar, the real test for determining whether a social group is minority or not, is social discrimination. (thorat, 2018b, p. xv). he, therefore, responded ‘speaking for myself, i have no doubt that the constituent assembly has done wisely in providing such safeguards for minorities as it has done . . . it is for the majority to realise its duty not to discriminate against minorities’ (cad, november 4, 1948). there was also a huge debate on the constitutional provisions providing reservations for dalits and adivasis. several members wanted abolishment of reservations in any form, as they argued that it would dilute efficiency and merit (bhaskar, 2021). in his capacity as the chairman of drafting committee, ambedkar rejected all these claims, and stood firmly on the inclusion of reservations in services and legislatures (ibid; vundru, 2017, pp. 138–140). as jean dreze (2020) has aptly noted, ‘of all the ways upper-caste privilege has been challenged in recent decades, perhaps none is more acutely resented by the upper castes than the system of reservation in education and public employment.’ since reservation was entrenched in the text of the constitution due to ambedkar’s efforts, the judiciary could not strike it down directly. instead, a larger narrative was created and promoted against dalits and adivasis, where they were declared to be incompetent and inefficient to be a part of services and educational institutions. for a long time, the supreme court of india held that reservations dilute efficiency to some extent (general manager, southern railway v. rangachari, air 1962 sc 36; indra sawhney v. union of india, air 1993 sc 477; m. nagaraj v. union of india, (2006) 8 scc 212). there was no empirical backing in support of this claim, yet the society at large and the supreme court kept on repeating this myth to create caste prejudices against dalits. economists ashwini deshpande and thomas e. weisskopf (2014) have demonstrated through their study that reservations do not dilute efficiency, rather these might enhance efficiency. another way of weakening the reservation system is the narrative on creamy layer, which has been promoted in recent decades. according to this narrative, only the ‘cream’ within dalits, which comprises a distinct group taking away the entire benefit of reservation, and thus should be excluded from benefits. thorat, tagade, and naik (2016), in their study on myths on reservation, show that the beneficiaries of reservation policies have mostly been the economically backward. furthermore, the upward economic mobility of the lower caste as a result of reservation and other supportive policies, has met with the rise in atrocities and abuses against dalits (thorat, 2018a, pp. 256–60; berk, 2020, p. 25). while 120 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 one may argue that all atrocities are not committed against beneficiaries of reservation in cities, but there is empirical evidence that the rise in atrocities has happened with the upward social mobility of dalits (sharma, 2015, pp. 204–226; berk, 2020, p. 24). in that way, the progress achieved by dalits as a result of constitutionalism has been responded to by upper castes by way of mythical propaganda and atrocities. every method has been adopted to discredit the reservation policies. furthermore, there were once efforts by right wing bhartiya janata partyled government to review the constitution in 2000 to do away the ‘inability of the hindutva forces to realize their politically motivated agenda of creating a hindu nation within the existing constitutional framework’ (guru, 2008, p. 231). the then indian president, k. r. narayanan, who came from dalit community, publicly opposed any such proposal (times of india, 2002). the proposal was thereafter changed to review the working of the constitution, instead of the constitution itself. the indian legal academia also maintains a form of untouchability on the issues of caste discrimination and rights of dalits even within the academic spaces. most of the scholarly works on the indian constitution shy away from discussing ambedkar as a central figure in constitutionalism, despite his influence during several decades of constitutional reforms (1919–1950). it is only recently that ambedkar has now resurged in the public sphere (perrigo, 2020), but credit must be given to the anticaste movement, which kept the memories of ambedkar and his contribution to the constitution alive. the next part deals into this. anti-caste constitutionalism the constitution does not provide for annihilating caste, but it prohibits discrimination based on caste. while the constitution may not be implemented on ground in full spirit due to resentment by the upper castes and apathy by the local administration, dalits have used the appeal of the indian constitution to revive ambedkar’s legacy, claim their own dignity, and assert their identity in the public sphere. dalits have used the constitution in radical form, contrary to what scholars perceive. after ambedkar’s death in 1956, there was a crisis in the anti-caste movement created due to factionalism within dalit politicians in maharashtra. furthermore, his legacy was being erased by denying him public space. eleven years after his passing, in 1967, his private papers were initially dumped in an open yard after his wife dr. savita ambedkar was evicted from the rented bungalow of ambedkar family at alipur road, delhi (ambedkar, 2016, p. 9). despite all this, the dalits have kept alive the powerful memories of their hero (yusufji, 2017). for them, he has always been ‘ummeedkar, the one who brings hope’ (das, 2010a, p. 21). for instance, it was due to the efforts of ambedkar’s associate, bhagwan das, in collaboration with l. r. balley of bheem patrika publications (jalandhar), that a collection of ambedkar’s speeches on the constitution and other key issues (such as foreign policy, brahminism, labour, etc.) was published in 1963. this was the ‘first serious, professional effort to bring out an edition of ambedkar’s work after his death’ (das, 2010b, p. 6). it would take another ten years and persistent pressure from the dalit activists and a court directive, after which the maharashtra state government constituted a committee in 1978 to collate, edit and issue ambedkar’s work in the babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches volumes that today run to over several thousand pages (ambedkar, 2016, p. 9). shoiab ‘ambedkar’s constitution’: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? 121 daniyal (2018), a commentator, has aptly noted, ‘neither the mainstream left, centre, nor right had much space for ambedkar in their histories.’ when the upper caste society and the ruling establishment ignored and belittled ambedkar after his demise, it was the dalit movement which forced others to take note of him. ambedkar’s image as the chief architect of the constitution was popularised as a part of strategy to revive his legacy and to inculcate a sense of empowerment among dalits. social historian badri narayan (2014) narrated that ambedkar’s photo was popularised through posters and pamphlets in maharashtra state and elsewhere (pp. 130–31). he noted: ‘after independence, from 1958 onwards, the republican party of india [which ambedkar had founded] expanded . . . with the spread of its political discourse, ambedkar became a part of the [common dalit’s] collective psyche . . . the image was that [of] a suited and booted, westernized gentleman holding a copy of the constitution in one hand. this image appeared to the common dalits as a symbol of awareness to be achieved through education and their fight for a better future. it also helped them deconstruct the stereotypical notion of dalits as being oppressed, suppressed and illiterate. [ambedkar’s] photographs were also published on the covers of dalits’ magazines, newspapers, and booklets. this image reached the common and illiterate dalits; with this when they heard the mythical and eulogizing narratives of him in everyday political talk and occasional speeches, his image as a savior and the architect of indian democracy became ingrained in their minds.’ (ibid, p. 131) (emphasis added) the all india backward and minority communities employees federation (bamcef), an organisation formed by kanshi ram in 1978, became a platform ‘for large numbers of dalit public sector employees and civil servants to mobilise’ (daniyal, 2018). the organisation adopted similar initiatives to popularise ambedkar. after few years, in 1984, when kanshi ram, along with leaders such as mayawati, launched the bahujan samaj party (bsp), and jumped into the political fray in uttar pradesh in 1980s, the statues of ambedkar holding the constitution began to be installed by dalit politicians and activists in various places (ibid). in her speeches, mayawati credited ambedkar ‘for whatever rights dalits have in independent india, rights that are enshrined in ambedkar’s handiwork – the constitution’ (bose, 2012, p. 25). narayan stated that through kanshi ram and mayawati, ambedkar’s image ‘was brought to the dalits at the grassroots in the region where people knew little about him, unlike in maharashtra where he was a household name’ (narayan, 2014, p. 131). sociologist vivek kumar (2003) noted that whenever mayawati became the chief minister of uttar pradesh, the bsp energised rural dalits through village development programmes, known as ‘ambedkar village scheme’ (p. 3870). ambedkar further became a ‘powerful symbol’ to radicalize dalits about the importance of education (narayan, 2011, p. 78) – the person with influential degrees from foreign universities, and one who played a major role in the drafting of the indian constitution. bsp also popularised the political slogan such as ‘vote se lenge cm aur pm, aarakshan se lenge sp aur dm’ (we will vote to take positions as chief minister and prime minister, and use reservation (quota/affirmative action policy) to occupy the posts of police superintendents and district magistrates) (narayan, 2011, p. 100; mandal, 2019b). the equal voting rights and reservation provided by the constitution were thus made 122 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 part of the political appeal. the educated, middle class dalits also disseminated information about social issues and icons such as ambedkar, at the grassroots through small and cheap booklets (narayan, 2011, pp. 71, 73, 100). narayan noted: ‘even the illiterate dalits become aware of the contents of the booklets merely by listening to conversations of their educated brethren. this in turn helped to create a dalit sociopolitical and socio-economic awakening’ (ibid, p. 71). writers and artists engaged in this socio-political activism can be found in different parts of the country (ibid, pp. 74–76; ravikumar, 2020; khurana, 2016; gauthaman, 2021, p. 46). the innumerable statues and photos of ambedkar holding the constitution, which were installed in different parts of the country, had a deep effect. ambedkar had once called indian villages as ‘[den] of localism . . . and communalism’ (cad, november 4, 1948), where the upper castes called every shot. in such places, when dalits started installing ambedkar with constitution statues (belli, 2014, p. 90), it was a kind of radical assertion of claiming social space. the constitution of independent india was the biggest achievement which they could have highlighted for their icon. taking pride over ambedkar and the constitution became a method of asserting self-identity and claiming dignity in village spaces. thus, until the 1990s, it was the dalit movement which popularised ambedkar as the chief architect of the indian constitution (perrigo, 2020). ambedkar’s star came to rise in 1990 when he was conferred with bharat ratna during the tenure of prime minister vishwanath pratap (v. p.) singh. at that time, dalit politics, canvassing around the image of ambedkar, was on rise due to efforts of kanshi ram and mayawati (narayan, 2014). ambedkar’s portrait was also installed in the parliament during v. p. singh’s tenure, which was forty years after the adoption of the constitution. since then, ambedkar has been emerging in various discourses. a suggestive example can be seen in the number of times ‘ambedkar’ was mentioned in the supreme court judgments. a simple search of ‘ambedkar’ on legal search engine, manupatra, shows 233 supreme court judgments. out of 233, there were only 30 judgments which referred to ambedkar before 1990, which means that ‘ambedkar’ appeared 86 per cent times after he was conferred with bharat ratna in 1990.5 even in movies, references to ambedkar’s photographs started to appear after the 1980s (shinde, 2020). this changed approach is the result of the constitutionalism of dalits. this kind of assertion was again challenged by the upper castes. a narrative was started that ambedkar had no role to play in the framing of the constitution. arun shourie, a right-wing ideologue, wrote a long book titled worshipping false gods (1997) based on selective quoting and preconceived biases to label ambedkar as selfish, opportunist, and an anti-national. another narrative was that ambedkar had only copied from constitutions of other countries (bhaskar, 2020a). the fact that a dalit has been popularly regarded as ‘the father of the indian constitution’ or appreciated for drafting the supreme law of the land is difficult for the casteist people to digest. therefore, consistent remarks have been made either to denigrate the originality and credentials of the constitution or to deprive ambedkar of credit. to such backlash, the dalit movement made efforts to safeguard ambedkar’s legacy by providing a form of permanency in popular culture. for example, during all her tenures (1995, 1997, 2002–03, and 2007–12) as chief minister, mayawati undertook a tremendous drive to construct memorials reflecting dalit icons and history. ambedkar appears in most of these memorials (sinha and kant, 2015; belli, 2014). this contains a psychological 5the search on manupatra.com was done on january 15, 2021. ‘ambedkar’s constitution’: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? 123 effect: ‘the statues of dalit local heroes, saints, social reformers, ambedkar, and buddha are described as creating a new visual and oral sphere of memories that together with commemorative rituals are a cultural resource for arousing political consciousness among dalits’ (sinha and kant, 2015, p. 46). the dalit movement and political power thus used social spaces to give a permanency to ambedkar’s legacy. in using architecture in an urban space like lucknow city, mayawati gave a ‘presence in time and space’ to ambedkar and the constitution’s image (belli, 2014, p. 86). in the context of the united states congress declaring dr. martin luther king jr.’s birthday as a major holiday, nussbaum (2015, p. 132) noted that when the american leaders all over the country participate in its celebration, they are not only backing the ‘existing constitutional norms’ (such as racial equality), but are also encouraging ‘more general emotional attitudes that lie behind these norms and helping the norms to achieve greater firmness.’ similarly, by celebrating ambedkar and the constitution, the anti-caste movement has reinforced the constitutional vision of equality, as well as contributed to making those values firm. while the indian constitution could not end casteism, it became a tool for the marginalised communities to further their agenda. it became a symbolic tool against upper-caste society, which did not provide space in any form to their past. however, the upper castes continue to vandalise ambedkar’s statues in villages to attack assertion and dignity of dalits (neelambaran, 2019). mobilising around constitution for social justice after independence, there have been several laws to protect dalits from caste atrocities and to provide them with dignity. guru (2008, p. 237) stated that ‘it is not the ethical insight of the state that has led it to take the lead in legal prohibition of scavenging and atrocities.’ rather, it has been ‘dalit assertion for self-respect in certain parts of the country,’ which has forced ‘the central and state governments to implement these constitutional provisions in order to ensure cultural justice to the untouchables’ (ibid). the policies made in favour of dalits and adivasis have been won by them after constant struggle and sacrifice. guru added that ‘through their constitutional struggles, they would like to assert and prove that they must not be reduced to the level of animals’ and have equal comparative worth in society. there have not been many studies which highlight or share the analysis done by guru. rohit de, a constitutional historian and author of a people’s constitution (2018, p. 274), noted that the literature on constitutionalism by dalits remains sparse. to fill this academic gap, three main examples in recent years can be used to highlight how the dalits have mobilised in the name of constitution to advance a social justice agenda. the first example covers the work done by human rights organisations on a mass level. faizan siddiqui (2020) wrote his phd thesis on the ‘socio-legal mobilization by dalits in gujarat for the implementation of land reform laws’ (p. 2). in his study, siddiqui has explored and analysed the work done by navsarjan trust, a grassroot organisation, which had prioritised the organisation of legal education workshops as part of mobilisation strategy. he narrated that in the workshops held in villages, navsarjan trainers spoke about ‘bhimrao ambedkar’s normative emphasis on equality as a fundamental social norm, the reflection of this principle in the constitution, and the various provisions in the constitution meant to safeguard dalits from oppression and exploitation from the upper castes’ (ibid, pp. 15–16). dalits were told that ‘if they respected babasaheb (as ambedkar is fondly referred to), they had to 124 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 fight for what he gave them [rights, land]’ (p. 16). the invocation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (prevention of atrocities) act, 19896 (sc/st act) on several occasions, with the help of navsarjan team, against upper castes ‘who treated dalits unfairly or did not give them their land’ instilled a form of fear among upper castes in the area (p. 20). siddiqui thus pointed that the example from grassroots in gujarat shows that: the indian constitution – the expressive norms that are enshrined in it, the laws that must constantly be subject to these norms and the public ethic(s) that logically flow from it – serve as important opportunity structures that can empower and legitimize the struggles of marginalized and discriminated groups in their protean struggles for equality and economic development. (p. 8) another dalit rights organisation, the national commission for dalit human rights (ncdhr), through its wing national dalit mission for justice (ndmj), has intervened in several atrocity cases against dalits. the victims/survivors are supported in terms of legal aid, psychological support, and rehabilitation. the activists make efforts to ‘pressurize and influence the institutions to implement their mandated constitutional roles for the protection and promotion of dalits and adivasis’ (ndmj, 2020). the accomplishments of navsarjan and ncdhr highlight that the broader values of the constitution when popularised among dalits, led to their mobilisation, and further provided them with legal tools which they used to claim back their land. the second example is related to protests organised by dalits against the dilution of sc/st act by the supreme court. in 2018, a two-judge bench, in the case of subhash kashinath mahajan v. state of maharashtra ((2018) 6 scc 454), diluted the act by introducing certain prerequisites on the application of the act. the judges endorsed the view that sc/st act is being misused to often file fake cases, and therefore its effect needs to be neutralised. the judges were just reacting on a ‘misconception’ built up against the act (khora, 2016 & 2018; teltumbde, 2018; nawsagaray, 2018). in reality, the conviction rate under the act has been quite low (bhaskar, 2018), thus suggesting that it is actually not being enforced on the ground. the judgment created uproar among dalits, who took to streets against the verdict (deka, 2018). the union government was compelled to file a review before the court as well as introduce an amendment to undo the effect of the act (live law, 2019). the dalits mobilised to protect their constitutional right of protection from oppression. they saw it as an attack on ambedkar’s constitution. the judge who had authored this judgment attempted to justify (the indian express, 2018) his approach by comparing the working of sc/st act with excesses committed during the emergency (1975–77), when fundamental rights were suspended. but later, the supreme court recalled this judgment and upheld the validity of the amendment (rajagopal, 2020). it was the effect of the mobilisation of the dalits around the constitution that the supreme court was forced to correct its stand. the third example is from the politics of chandrashekhar azad, an emerging leader from dalit community, who is focusing on using the appeal of the egalitarian constitution to mobilise people. in his public appearances, azad comes with a 6scheduled castes is an administrative categorization used to refer to the ex-untouchable castes, now popularly called ‘dalits’. scheduled tribes is an administrative categorization to refer to ‘adivasis’ (indigenous tribes). ‘ambedkar’s constitution’: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? 125 portrait of ambedkar and a copy of the constitution (the indian express, 2019). his organisation, bhim army, prides itself in the constitution to cultivate among dalits and minorities ‘a political passion to pursue rights and literacy like ambedkar envisioned in the constitution’ (sharma, 2019). this reflects an emerging brand of anti-caste politics with symbolisms and gestures of ‘ambedkar’s constitution’ occupying public spaces, thus defying many ‘caste dictums’ (samos, 2020). azad seems to be following the aggressive strategy which kanshi ram and mayawati had adopted in 1980s–1990s. all these examples demonstrate that dalits have consistently associated with their ‘babasaheb’s constitution’. even though it might not be a perfect constitution, and someone may argue that it does not provide immediate relief, dalits used it as a language to mobilise in so many radical ways, as discussed in this article. in the current era, when there are attacks on democratic institutions and dissent by ever-strong right-wing ideology, ‘ambedkar’ and ‘constitution’ have become the language of dissent and of social and political participation (shinde, 2019; bhaskar, 2020b, p. 25). this language has even been adopted by the leftist political factions, who once used to be critical of the appeal of the constitution (guru, 2008, p. 231). conclusion while it can be agreed that the indian constitution has not been able to generate a feeling of mutual respect in the upper castes for others, yet it has been radically used by dalits as a tool to reclaim their dignity and mobilise to protect their rights. it gives an endorsement to their demands and struggle, which upper castes have been trying to discredit. at the same time, this article shows that attributing the authorship of the constitution in popular culture has been a strategy of dalit movement to revive the legacy of ambedkar. until 1990s, it was only the dalit movement which was focused on celebrating ambedkar’s intellectual authorship of the constitution. dalits have taken pride in the constitution not only because their beloved ambedkar played a crucial role in its framing, but also because of its egalitarian promises. it is also the legitimising appeal of the constitution, which has been crucial for them to claim public spaces. it is for this reason that they have not accepted in popular discourse any misrepresentation of ambedkar’s rhetorical speech on burning the constitution. they have taken pride in the constitution to reclaim constitutionalism from the elites as well as conservative judges. their constitution is very different from the conception of the elites. furthermore, contrary to both approaches (pro-constitutional and critical) mentioned in the beginning, dalits have not used constitutionalism as a politics of restraint or passivism. rather, it has been for a radical anti-caste politics of claiming space and dignity. scholars can focus on other broader issues of social justice, even without rejecting the contribution of constitutionalism of dalits. it is because of dalit pride in the constitution that the upper castes have been trying to discredit both the constitution and ambedkar’s authorship to it. since that could not happen, the upper castes have now started claiming that ambedkar was a ‘brahmin’. for example, on a public platform in 2020, rajendra trivedi (a brahmin), the speaker of gujarat state assembly, claimed that the draft of the indian constitution was prepared by a brahmin, and that he has ‘no hesitation’ in calling ambedkar ‘a brahmin’ (ghanghar, 2020). there have been several recent efforts to misappropriate ambedkar within the right-wing ideological politics (pol, 2020). this inability of the 126 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 brahminical castes to accept a dalit’s role in framing the indian constitution and its popular appeal only reflects that ‘ambedkar’s constitution’ has evolved as a supportive document for the anti-caste movement. it has become a sociological phenomenon, which cannot be dismissed. the indian constitution, therefore, can be referred as ‘ambedkar’s constitution’ not only because of ambedkar’s significant contribution, but also because of its egalitarianism principles, and the aspirations for change, which it has generated among one of the most marginalised social groups in the world. finally, ambedkar had warned that it is ‘perfectly possible to pervert the constitution . . . by merely changing the form of the administration and to make it inconsistent and opposed to the spirit of the constitution’ (cad, november 4, 1948). any ruling class or castes may pervert the working of the constitution, in the name of proclaiming ambedkar. the constitutionalism asserted by dalits cannot progress without keeping in mind this warning of ambedkar. it must defend what ‘ambedkar’s constitution’ stands for. acknowledgement i thank shubham kumar, deepak kumar, disha wadekar, kumar shanu, shree agnihotri, michael klarman, faizan jawed siddiqui, raja sekhar vundru, surbhi karwa, rohit de, priyanka preet, poo ko saravanan, prashant ingole, surendra kumar, mahtab alam, ashok gurung, neil modi, tarunabh khaitan, s. anand, alex george, rama lakshmi, and deesha dalmia, who have helped me in various ways in the last two years to conceptualise, develop, and refine the ideas discussed in this paper. i acknowledge the valuable feedback given by sukhadeo thorat, laurence simon, and vinod mishra, of j-caste. i am grateful to the jury for selecting this paper for the bluestone rising scholar award 2021. references ackerman, bruce. 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(2017). ambedkar: the attendant details. new delhi: navayana. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 01–16 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v2i1.300 © 2021 rajesh sampath. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste 2a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published philosophy of hinduism – part ii13 rajesh sampath1 abstract this paper continues the commentary on dr. b. r. ambedkar’s posthumously published philosophy of hinduism. utilizing resources from various modern continental european philosophers and social theorists, particularly of religion, we elaborate on several key passages within ambedkar’s overall framework of analysis. the paper continues to explore how ambedkar conceives relations between philosophy and religion, and how historical shifts in general human consciousness have occurred whereby altering both fields. at the core of his being, ambedkar is concerned with a methodological justification that will enable him to venture into a penetrating critique of the immoral and amoral nature of hinduism’s social system of caste. in part i of the commentary, we followed ambedkar until he arrived at the criteria of ‘justice’ and ‘utility’ to judge the status of hinduism. he wanted to test whether this eastern world religion, which descends from antiquity, meets those criteria, which shape the modern conception of religion. in part ii of this commentary, we expand further on ambedkar’s thesis as to why hinduism fails to meet the modern conception when those twin criteria are not met. this thought presupposes various underlying philosophical transformations of the relations of ‘god to man’, ‘society to man’, and ‘man to man’ within which the hindu-dominated indian society forecloses the possibility of individual equality, freedom, and dignity. in making contributions to ambedkar studies, the philosophy of religion, and political philosophies of justice, this paper sets up part iii of the commentary, which will examine ambedkar’s actual engagement with the classics of hinduism’s philosophy and thought in general. ultimately, ambedkar 1associate professor of the philosophy of justice, rights, and social change, the heller school for social policy and management, brandeis university e-mail: rsampath@brandeis.edu 1the first part of this paper appeared in the first issue of this journal: vol 1, issue 1 (2020). it can be viewed at https://journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/caste/article/view/141/13 2 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 is undeterred in his original critique of the social and moral failures of the caste system, thereby intimating ambitious possibilities for its eventual eradication. keywords hinduism, philosophy, religion, caste system, justice and utility introduction nevertheless, it remains true that we can on a very general plane perceive an equivalence between the two main systems of differences to which men have had recourse for conceptualizing their social relations. simplifying a great deal, it may be said that castes picture themselves as natural species while totemic groups picture natural species as castes. and this must be refined: castes naturalize a true culture falsely, totemic groups culturalize a false nature truly. (lévi-strauss, 1962) we continue with our commentary of ambedkar’s posthumously published manuscript – philosophy of hinduism – in the collected works titled dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches.2 at the end of part i of the commentary, we left off on the opening moments of ambedkar’s truncated work. in the incipient moments, ambedkar discusses the history of religion and the various revolutions in its grand conception. his aim is to establish what he calls his ‘method’ to make judgements about what constitutes a religion in the first place (sampath, 2020, p. 8).3 this will serve as his overriding justification when deriving the criteria of ‘justice and utility’ to judge hinduism’s suspect status as a bona fide religion (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 22). as we know from the end of the first part of our commentary, ambedkar (2014a, p. 22) will ultimately conclude in the negative: hinduism cannot justify itself as a religion if the concept of religion is formed by the pillars of ‘utility and justice’. in this moment of ambedkarite disillusionment, one can say the theory of religion – in his mid-twentieth century indian subcontinental context – is the theory of the dismissal of all possibility to be human precisely in that context. and this lies prior to any superficial, dogmatic distinctions between atheism and religion, or secularism and religion; not that these distinctions are the same. therefore, the response to and responsibility for the possibility of being human is the acceptability of the proposition that religion offers an answer to the question – what does it mean to be human? this is also the pre-eminent philosophical question across all recorded cultures and civilizations irrespective of their dominant religions. yet for ambedkar, no answer can be found when posing the question of justice to hinduism and its adherents in the 2the first edition was published by the education department, govt. of maharashtra: 14 april, 1987. see dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3, ed. hari narake, 2nd edition (new delhi: dr. ambedkar foundation, 2014) 3within the first few pages, we hear a very comprehensive definition of religion, as both ‘natural’ and ‘revelatory’ in non-contradiction relation. he says: “i take religion to mean the propounding of an ideal scheme of divine governance the aim and object of which is to make the social order in which men live a moral order.” (ambedkar, 2014a p. 6). a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published philosophy of hinduism – part ii 3 south asian context and its long civilizational history. furthermore, all religions by nature are not exclusively theoretical as pointless abstractions that have no bearing on human experience and the human condition. this is where we will resume our critical exercise in reading, again, ambedkar’s crucially important, unpublished manuscript – philosophy of hinduism. religion, philosophy, and the history of each individually and their multifold relations across cultures and civilizations over historical time boggle human reason. why and how religion and philosophy have arisen in human civilizations is irreducible to debates on the natural evolution of the human species, and the long-standing cherished distinction between human reason and animal sensorial consciousness. there is no simple answer to the birth of religion and philosophy, let alone their intertwining relations over historical time. in deep admiration of ambedkar’s genius and industriousness, we pay homage to a great mind that in fact tried to understand some of these opaque relations. the analytical clarity of his examinations is crystalline. that by itself is worthy of today’s academic scholarly focus in the west and the east, global north, and south. having said that, from our vantage point in our historical present, there are aspects of ambedkar’s thought that may seem limited, underdeveloped, or even logically inconsistent. but that is not the point either; namely a presumptuous or condescending dismissal of an early twentieth century subject of a colonial empire. we must guard against the insensitivity of western neocolonial critiques of the historical presents in the global postcolonial south. we are not trying to historicize ambedkar’s thinking as something antiquated, or less than the enlightened period in the modern global history of ideas.4 rather, we hope to appropriate in a critical reading buried presuppositions in his text so that we today can advance new ideas and propositions beyond ambedkar’s early to mid-twentieth century philosophical context. to repeat, this is a work of philosophical inquiry, not intellectual history or social-scientific south asian studies. the quest is to find out why caste persists and what can be done to eliminate it; akin to ending black american slavery and segregation in the history of the united states, or apartheid in south africa. some of those epochal shifts came through war and constitutional change. the question before us is whether there still remains a chance for a conceptual philosophical revolution and hence non-violent change. law by itself does not have the power to change society; democratic legal systems are inherently slow to change and can succumb to anti-democratic, authoritarian tendencies.5 but what about india that is both ambedkar’s mid-twentieth century historical context and our second decade twenty-first century historical present? today, in india’s hindu nationalist majority, caste is alive and well. india, therefore, is both modern and feudal, and hence a great complexity for philosophers of history who study historical time, continuities, discontinuities, and epochal shifts.6 4for more on the emergent field of ‘global intellectual history’, which is a response to postcolonial studies, see samuel moyn and andrew sartori, eds., global intellectual history (new york: columbia university press, 2015). 5the works of carl schmitt and his critical evaluations of the limits of twentieth century constitutional parliamentary democracies would be illustrative here. for recent work on the threats that hindu nationalism poses to constitutional, secular, legal democracy in india, see angana chatterjie, thomas blom hansen, and christophe jaffrelot, majoritarian state: how hindu nationalism is changing india (oxford: oxford university press, 2019). 6at least in the modern western european context, diverse figures dating back to hegel, marx, dilthey, and nietzsche come to mind for the nineteenth century and bergson, durkheim, 4 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 after discussing the various notions of religion as ‘natural, revelatory, and positive’, ambedkar moves on to the issue of revolutionary change in history. as stated before, only from that vantage point, can the ‘method’ emerge to critically evaluate hinduism’s status as a valid religious institution. ambedkar, as we analyzed in the first part of our commentary, does not mince words about putting hinduism on “trial” (ambedkar, 2014a). ambedkar’s prescient significance is that he was eminently aware of his historical present, how his present would require a reckoning of its history to arrive at a different future than the one that was unfolding in his time. for his time was the time of gandhian decolonization and independence. yet his adversarial intent is established from the beginning. moving from god’s existence, and whatever ontology is available to probe the mystery of the being of god, to notions of determinations, predestination, and preordination of how god rules the universe to the third ‘dimension’ will be, according to ambedkar, the most difficult to comprehend. this goes beyond political pressures of the present when forming a modern state from out of both european (british in this case) colonialism and precolonial religious civilizations. how to judge a religion, which proposes a form of ‘divine governance’ to order an ‘ideal scheme’ that passes itself off as ‘just’ and ‘moral’ becomes a question. as nietzsche, and before him kierkegaard, schelling, and hegel, did for christianity; ambedkar attempts to do for hinduism in his time. in his historical present, ambedkar (2014a, p. 8) says that there is no indisputable method to tackle problems in the philosophy of religion, particularly as it relates to the issue of how religion tries to fashion a moral order for society. since he is not proposing a sociology or anthropology of religion, but a philosophy of religion, then obviously philosophy must be reckoned first and foremost. what fascinates us is that ambedkar, not unlike hegel and marx in their western contexts, links the project of philosophy with movement and revolution. ambedkar (2014a, p. 8) states: as for myself i think it is safe to proceed on the view that to know the philosophy of any movement or any institution one must study the revolutions which the movement or the institution has undergone. revolution is the mother of philosophy and if it is not the mother of philosophy it is a lamp which illuminates philosophy. religion is no exception to this rule. to me therefore it seems quite evident that the best method to ascertain the criterion by which to judge the philosophy of religion is to study the revolutions which religion has undergone. that is the method which i propose to adopt. here we have a couple of entangled relations. any ‘movement’ or ‘institution’ has a ‘philosophy’, and their philosophy has to do with the ‘revolutions’ that they have undergone. philosophy does not descend from high; nor does it magically appear in dumézil, kojève, bataille, klossowski, hyppolite, canguilhem, merleau-ponty, sartre, lévistrauss, althusser, lacan, blanchot, levinas, foucault, derrida, weber, husserl, heidegger, marcuse, habermas, blumenberg, and koselleck for the twentieth century. this is not a random list. they comprise major figures in continental european thought, and not all from philosophy but all philosophical in some way, over the last two centuries. with and through them always, we intend to marshal their key insights and innovations for our ongoing theoretical and philosophical investigations into ambedkar’s philosophical and sociological critiques of caste and hinduism. that also means being cognizant of their epistemological limits as western thinkers to handle the complexity of non-western, global south precolonial, colonial, decolonial, and postcolonial contexts. a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published philosophy of hinduism – part ii 5 the immanent flow of human events that get recorded as part of chronological and datable time. philosophy becomes ideology when it is uncritically used to justify the existence of a certain religion and its refusal to reform itself. religions therefore are not impervious to change. yet the nature of this change and its temporalization is uncertain unlike political, economic, social, and cultural changes and events in history. as heidegger (1962) would argue in his own revolutionary terms, the commonplace, worldly linear time of flowing ‘now’ points that forms our notion of empirical history and historical narrative is in fact derived from a more mysterious, primordial, ecstatic, finite, unified, authentic temporalization event. similarly, for ambedkar, we must ask why he is so keen on linking any ‘movement’ or ‘institution’, for example society, religion, or the state, with a ‘philosophy’, and therefore why philosophy itself presupposes something like a ‘revolution’. ambedkar, unabashedly, is concerned with the nature and enactment of change and recreation. he must have that concern, as one of an oppressed class of historical people, given the weight of real and existential alienation that he sees constituting all of indian civilization and its long duration from the very ancient vedas to the birth of the caste system. for ambedkar, it could be a matter of life and death, at any moment (colonial, decolonial, or postcolonial) unless the eternal order of caste is confronted once and for all. it must be vanquished. what does this say about the nature of philosophy, let alone the philosophy of religion? returning to the ambedkar passage, revolution is the ‘mother’ and, if not that, the ‘lamp that illuminates’ philosophy. philosophy can only occur as something that is of the nature of a revolution, either something from nothing or something that cannot be derived from a precedent. philosophy is not only self-born out of the torment of recognizing its emergence from the womb of an historical present; but also, self-aborting of that present of identity to phenomenalize something unheard; and that is because philosophy works at the level of abstraction and transcendence in any uncanny and non-divine way, and not ordinary intuitions that human beings have of their daily realities. it, therefore, is more of a surprise, like an uncanny event, or that which can never be anticipated unlike current events that journalism records. it literally is brand new, a self-creation, or something born out of itself. for example, a ‘system’ like hegel’s (1977) comes into being and challenges everything before it while it tries to recollect, absorb, run through again all of the history of thought before it while negating and raising itself – the self-conceptualizing movement of itself as thought – to a higher level. but somehow, also yet not simultaneous, it is this event that constitutes the transcendent, something new, and hence irreducible to all the pictures, forms, and ‘shapes’ of previous epochs. time turns out to be the mystery here for ambedkar when it comes to saying that any entity, and in the case of this investigation, religion, has a philosophy; and that philosophy has something to do with revolutions, transmutations, and transmogrifications that the entity goes through. what will be difficult for ambedkar’s task is the critical destruction of the phenomenon of hinduism as a religion. he will have to differentiate more general views of revolutionary changes in generic notions of religion in order to address the specificity, uniqueness, incomparability, and complexity of a religion, like hinduism. no doubt, the passionate defenders of this faith have a history of their own pride in being hindu, namely the ideology of the hindutva.7 it 7arguably one of the main architects of the hindu ideology, one that still informs today’s hypernationalist hindu majority in india attempting to assert itself as a new world superpower, is the 6 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 proclaims itself to be the oldest, living continuous religion that has resisted all imperial invasions or colonizations to transplant their own religions and civilizations onto the subcontinent, say islam or christianity. furthermore, this identity is the most unique, and therefore superior in value, than any other in human history; again it claims to be the oldest of the world religions. one can see a patrimonial attitude in claiming what is most ancient, as if that accords a special status to the religion. to counter this specious, ahistorical eternity, philosophy is the movement of self-conceptualization in response to an event of injustice that reproduces itself as the core of an entity – in this case religion. philosophy – as always revolutionary (which means everything that is non-philosophical is not revolutionary) – will inform ambedkar’s attempt at a critical judgement of religion. in this way, his demanding and acidic perspective will not appear to be disconnected, like an external observer, or biased, like an internal adherent, who consciously or unconsciously continues to propagate the faith. pursuing a philosophy of religion for the sake of describing the essential features of a religion and how they – philosophy and religion – manifest and operate would be descriptive. ambedkar’s aim, of course, is far more exigent in his demand to completely reshape indian society minus the caste system. such a vivisection of society has never been achieved, and hence the persistence of caste today. the unthinkable is that caste endures in a secular, constitutional, liberal, and pluralistic democracy that claims to promote equality and liberty of all individuals regardless of background and birth. ambedkar’s desire for revolution does not arise from his fetishization of western revolutions of society, say the french revolution. his moment arises from within the deepest experiences of oppression in his own unique cultural and civilizational context. revolutions are bizarre phenomena, which are caught in paradoxes and aporias, when we try to imagine the relation between time itself and an event. if one assumes predestination and a foreshadowing of the revolutionary event, then nothing changes. if revolutions occur out of nowhere, then they could not occur. if revolutions did not occur, there would be no such thing as wonder and appreciation for the birth of something new. this is why ambedkar needs to institute a changing conception within religion: one that makes it discontinuous from past epochs in ways not possible for this long, continuous duration of hinduism starting deep in antiquity right up to india’s current social and political economy, i.e. rampant hindu nationalism. he is concerned with the mechanisms of internal resistance within hinduism as a religion that preempts its possibility for revolutionary change as philosophically conceived. turning to the general conception of religion, and not a specific religion, like hinduism, ambedkar says we assume certain kinds of transformation. religion as an all-encompassing explanatory framework of both physical and spiritual realities subsumes human knowledge within a mythological structure that transcends human figure sarvarkar and his text, hindutva: who is a hindu? (bombay: veer sarvarkar prakashan, first edition, 1923). retrieved from https://archive.org/details/hindutva-vinayak-damodarsavarkar-pdf/page/n19/mode/2up. as far we are concerned, this dangerous and problematic event buried in the origins of modern hindu ideology requires a strident deconstruction not only of its main propositions but the effects of power it can exude in shaping mass conformity today. we will postpone that endeavor of the critical theory of hindu domination, ideology, and hegemony to a future work. a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published philosophy of hinduism – part ii 7 reason. therefore, all ancient science and medicine (ambedkar, 2014a)8 failed to achieve autonomy because its sole purpose was not the advancement of human improvement, but consolidating the sole dominion that religion had over all reality, all nature, including human nature. there is no such thing as autonomy itself because everything ensnares everything else whereby every phenomenon that can possibly exist is linked to a higher dimension that has the power to explain everything. this includes the very concept of god, not as an actual deity specific to a certain religion, say the trinitarian unity of the christian god, but as another element in this omnipotent, omnipresent, and omnitemporal expanse called religion. nevertheless, in an invisible revolutionary turn that cannot be isolated to a single event, this entire edifice – that is religion’s unquestioned sovereignty – was destroyed and replaced with secular and scientific modernity (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 8). the very question of sovereignty and religion, or who has the right to govern all life, reality, and the philosophy of both life and reality, is an open question, particularly when modalities of sovereignty change.9 hence, the nature of change as neither the continuity nor discontinuity of events becomes a mystery when we try to fathom the infinite vortex known as historical time and those who wish to conceptualize it as a massively complex phenomenon. as mentioned before, the purpose of our article is not to probe relentlessly these extremely intricate debates in the philosophy of history on the nature of epochal shifts, particularly at this scale. in the west, one can go back to copernicus as ambedkar (2014, p. 9) notes, which takes us to the mid-sixteenth century, as arguably one of, if not the cataclysmic event, responsible for the shift from geocentric antiquity and the christological middle ages to heliocentric astrophysical pre-modernity.10 we need to move straight to the core that will provide the foundations of ambedkar’s unrelenting critique of the basic kernel of hindu metaphysics, namely the social order of caste and the metaphysical problem of birth, death, and rebirth. the clear distinction between omnipresent religion that engulfs the primitive ‘science’ in antiquity and the middle ages and the modern scientific, empirical, and experimental methods born in the west and secular constitutional, legal democracy (also born in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries west) begins to dissolve.11 it turns out that the western historical 8dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3, 8. ambedkar’s reflections are astonishing for his time period. for he would not have been privy to the incredible philosophies of history being developed by anglo and continental european thinkers from the 1900s onwards. therefore, the temptation for comparison and contrast between ambedkar and this western tradition is quite tantalizing. a foreseeable work would take these crucial moments in ambedkar’s manuscript and compare and contrast them with various philosophers of history who tried to contrast religion from secular modernity starting with hegel. figures in the twentieth century who cannot be ignored are löwith and blumenberg in germany and aron, maritain, and sartre in france. 9for a brilliant philosophical deconstruction of the question of sovereignty and how it is traditionally posed, see jacques derrida, the beast and the sovereign, vol. 1, trans. geoffrey bennington (chicago: university of chicago press, 2011). we shall return to a critical reading of these later derrida lectures just prior to his death, and how they can be appropriated for ambedkarite studies. 10see hans blumenberg, the genesis of the copernican world, trans. robert m. wallace (cambridge: mit press, 1987). 11for more on the problematic origins of the history of modern science in the west, see michel foucault’s “introduction” to georges canguilhem, trans. carolyn r. fawcett and robert s. cohen (new york: zone books, 1991). 8 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 and intellectual revolutions will not help us understand the nature of historical time when it comes to the past, present, and future of the hindu-dominated subcontinent. neither will the three-moment dialectics of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, which descend from dogmatic marxian notions of historical materialism, suffice. and there are manifold reasons as to why this is the case that supersede ambedkar’s initial reflections here on religion and revolution. we will have to unfold this throughout our continuing commentary on the philosophy of hinduism. returning to ambedkar, the step before secular and scientific modernity reveals this awesome yet terrifying cosmological expanse of religion as it engulfs all reality. ambedkar (2014a, pp. 8–9) states: . . . disease was either a divine visitation as punishment for sin or it was the work of demons and that it could be cured by the intervention of saints, either in person or through their holy relics; or by prayers and pilgrimages; or (when due to demons) by exorcism and by treatment which the demons (and the patient) found disgusting. ambedkar is speaking of a generic epochal expanse, in an opaque period of the history of human consciousness, which one traditionally sees as pagan antiquity, and perhaps its prehistorical, archaeological roots. nevertheless, it is strangely ironic that he is describing elements that continue to sustain and compose the historical present of caste. his thought represents an intentional reproduction of the trauma stemming from the earliest religious consciousness of humankind and therefore not simply a present representation of the past; rather, it is a present enlargement of a past that never dies. trauma is not simply reducible to either a past event that is remembered or a present enactment of the event, even a trace of the event. by exposing the pain of the present, he hopes to overcome it. if we interpret this passage from how this past structure of pagan antiquity lives in the present, we arrive at some startling observations. the step before the epochal paradigmatic shift in the concept of religion – over the long duration of human history – is not easy to discern. it is a question of the threshold and rupture that is hard to perceive. ambedkar revisits a time in the past that one would think is divorced from the historical present, but will turn out at least in the case of hinduism, a past that is very much present, not just haunting the present, but is the present. there is a complex temporalization linking past and present that perhaps moves in another dimension irreducible to both. it is a present that refuses to present itself as past and to remain past as such; it lives on. religion is the infinitely borderless expanse that engulfs everything and every branch of knowledge that would attempt separation and autonomy. in such a context, it is impossible to say that any concept or notion of being an ‘individual’, who is fully endowed with rights, liberty, and dignity, as an autonomous entity exists. it is difficult to understand such impossibility from the standpoint of our secular modernity based presumably on individual rights. but the truth of the matter is that this is very much the case for contexts that exist in our historical present: namely total social systems whereby the individual does not exist. a vacuum takes the place of the notion of the individual. it is one thing to say that religion, epistemologically speaking, is the foundation of all forms of human knowledge (for example the social and natural sciences) confined within the constraints of human reason. it is entirely another to speak of that kind of omniscience and omnipresence as a pathological form of sovereignty a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published philosophy of hinduism – part ii 9 that mixes the problem of birth, death, and therefore the mystery of time itself, the relation between time and life, and the timing of one’s death or passage with a whole host of other virulent extremes. and when such extremities are inscribed in the depths of stratified social structures, then change at the level required of revolution becomes imperceptible, if not impossible. this is where death, disease, and decay are confounded with metaphysical issues of time, motion, and passage, as the whole apparatus gets conflated with problems of purity, holiness, saintliness and that which is demonic and must be ‘exorcised’, castigated, cast out, outcasted, separated, and kept at bay. we will penetrate further into these mysteries following the great leads left behind by ambedkar. the inherent sadism in this modality of religion, which would otherwise promise salvation from human suffering, say, in a messianic way through notions of love, compassion, mercy, and justice, remains to be theorized in this ambedkarite context. and this is not simply a matter of say pitting the abrahamic faiths of judaism, christianity, and islam, where humility, justice, and mercy abound, with the cruelty and degradation inherent in the everyday social reality of life within the caste system. there will be spaces for comparative studies and the philosophical theorization of differences and relations, contrasts and comparisons of the world religions on issues of purity, impurity, sacred, profane, holiness / saintliness, and the demonic; these in turn inform social categories that structure actual relations that are hard to overturn, say categories of the pariah and caste.12 we must come back to the whole ensemble of concepts presented in ambedkar’s passage just quoted. for ambedkar, when knowledge inside religion grows to consume all other branches of knowledge, say medicine, then all kinds of diabolical consequences follow. think of a cellular mutation whereby an original cell can no longer tell the difference 12weber’s work on the sociology of religion would provide a great starting point, not just his famous reflection on the ‘ethic’ of protestantism and the birth of capitalism, but the considerably long volumes dedicated to religions in china and india and a text on ancient judaism. see max weber, the sociology of religion, trans. ephraim fischoff (boston: beacon press, 1993). in a future paper we plan a critical ambedkarite reading of a very interesting section where weber compares and contrasts the long history of gentile oppression of jews, particularly after the destruction of the second temple, and the problem of caste in india’s hinduism. he states: “in our usage, ‘pariah people’ denotes a distinctive hereditary social group lacking autonomous political organization and characterized by prohibitions against commensality and intermarriage originally founded upon magical, tabooistic, and ritual injunctions. two additional traits of a pariah people are political and social disprivilege and a far-reaching distinctiveness in economic functioning. to be sure, pariah people of india, the disprivileged and occupationally specialized hindu castes, resemble the (ancient) jews in these respects, since their pariah status also involves segregation from the outer world as a result of taboos, hereditary religious obligations in the conduct of life, and the association of salvation hopes with their pariah status.” see weber, p. 108–109. the issue is not simply taking the statements by an early twentieth century founding figure of western sociology, such as weber, to be indisputable historical facts. obviously, the fields of sociology and anthropology have developed in very specialized ways since then and are decolonizing themselves in our present. certainly, weber’s gentile eurocentric assumptions can be deconstructed since he is an outsider to both judaism and hinduism. furthermore, the history of these two world religions cannot be superficially conflated nor contrasted with predetermined senses and intuitions of differences. that seems obvious to state. rather, starting with these germinal texts, we can open up a research program that compares today’s modalities of social exclusion, for example western and global south anti-semitism and the question of caste in south asia and the global diaspora. this can be brought into discussion with issues of racism, particularly anti-black racism, not just in the west but everywhere. 10 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 between a natural origin and a replica that looks the same but acts for counter-purposes to the goal of health and well-being. similarly, when judging a religion for its capacity to realize justice and liberation, we find that in hinduism it begins to propagate the opposite. religion mummifies a society as an external surface that refuses to peel away. disease is linked to a divine retribution, a form of punishment for the sins of a previous life. its manifestation is the demonic or deviation from the pure. what is the abhorrent caste system as the inner-beating of the ravenous heart of hinduism? what is other than this frenzied linkage between hate, apathy, revenge, and vengefulness of those self-ordained as the pure, namely the brahmanic, and the constructed other of the dalit as the quintessence of impurity, namely carriers of human excreta and dead bodies, the complete synthesis of entropy, disease, and disorder culminating in the ritual worship of death as passage? it would appear that hinduism is the only religion that not only turns human beings into less than or disabled beings, but perpetuates that injustice in an intergenerational, hereditary succession. the nucleus of this religiosity confounds us because it takes us into a realm of the inhuman, when human consciousness itself is no longer recognized. here we need to revisit this question of peripatetic ‘saints, relics, pilgrimages’ and the complex negotiations they have with anything construed as ‘demonic and impure’ by which ‘disgust’ is reproduced. this is the all-encompassing question captivating ambedkar while he examines the history of revolutions in the concept of religion. furthermore, we must explore this unavoidable delimitation. we find an intentional placing of limits on speculative theoretical imagination. it is difficult to understand why a certain revolution away from this matrix of illusory, transcendental consciousness of purity and real bodily horror failed to occur in the history of hinduism, which itself appeared in a certain geographic region of the pagan world: from vedic antiquity to ambedkar’s midtwentieth century historical present – that had just decolonized and given birth to a secular, modern democracy – lies a stretching abyss. one can imagine a counterfactual moment in south asian / indian history, or the conditions of impossibility that pre-empted a type of ‘reformation’ born out of the individual liberty of conscience as we find in luther’s protestant reformation in western christianity.13 without simplifying either the eastern historical context or the western one, the philosopher of religion in particular must take great precautions to avoid any orientalizing tendencies. we bracket this question as we keep reading what would have and could have been the step, a discontinuous break, from this seemingly antiquated structure to a new conceptual structure of religion. the task is to turn this into a philosophical question. indeed the latter failed to materialize in the indian subcontinental context. in fact, the ideology of the hindutva, which determines what it means to be a hindu, has reproduced itself with great vigor and aggression given the dominance of hindu nationalism today as a majoritarian will to power that is suffocating minority rights in our midst.14 13for a compelling investigation into problems of historiography (the history of historical representations on epochs and events), historical time, and epochal shifts strictly within the western experience, see reinhart koselleck, future past: the semantics of historical time, trans. keith tribe (new york: columbia university press, 2004). 14it is one thing for the western media to start commenting on frightening issues of censorship, political arrests, crack-downs, and state persecutions of dalit activists and thinkers, religious minorities, namely muslims and christians, and the farmers’ movements protesting the tyrannical reach of modi’s neoliberal nationalist capitalist movement. as long as a free press continues to exist and can face the risk of speaking its conscience, even indian presses are a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published philosophy of hinduism – part ii 11 in contrast, the conceptual revolution achieved in western enlightenment and secular, scientific modernity, at least the hard sciences, such as physics, chemistry, and biology, were eventually released from the yoke of religion and all religious and metaphysical cosmologies of the past millennia, particularly before the 1400 ce extending to the first three millennia bce. this was a huge step in the history of consciousness, for ambedkar. but ambedkar does not valorize uncritically this western threshold. one could place this extended western event in the late eighteenth century15 with the french enlightenment; the kantian revolution in the critique of all dogmatic metaphysics given the limits of human reason; the early scientific beginnings of mathematics that would lay the foundations for eventual, late nineteenth and early twentieth century discoveries; the industrial revolution; and the birth of democracy, first in america (as the first decolonial event from british colonialism) and the french revolution, or the self-fashioning of a new society and state by completely destroying the old structure of monarchy and aristocracy. the relation between divinity and sovereignty certainly undergoes a profound transmutation in the west. one could assume that ambedkar is drawing a simple contrast between this moment in western history, which gave birth to global modernity as we know it, and what ambedkar aspired to achieve in his present at the dawn of decolonial, secular, democratic india. paradoxically, it was due to his own ingenious efforts that led to the drafting of the constitutional formation of india’s democracy that promised a ban on ‘untouchability’ and caste discrimination; but as he knew, the social reality that followed independence was far from that constitutional truth when manifested in everyday life.16 yet this is not the issue at hand, namely political-legal change, or at least not yet. contrasting two planes of history – western and eastern – is not the immediate task at hand when considering the philosophy of religion, or rather the philosophy of a religion since there is no universal philosophy for all religions (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 8). the movement on the grand scale of human history from ancient mythologies, religions, and metaphysics (say the ancient philosophies in greece, india, and china) and the nineteenth century positivistic leap to secular, industrial-technological, scientific, and democratic modernity is not the object of study. the task is not historical, or attempts to isolate a grand event and prove a cause-effect relation in past, linear, chronological, written recorded time. ambedkar (2014a) happily acknowledges the individual freedoms of thought and the progress of science, when freed from the needs of religion, or the general ‘process of secularization’.17 instead, he is concerned with a deeper and more profound shift beneath the layers of social, political, economic, technological, and scientific change. no doubt, this arises from the long, intergenerational trauma of dalit oppression, which is crystallized in a unique questioning the current implosion of democracy. see for example, aakar patel, “india today is neither liberal nor a democracy, so how does it become one?”, national herald (october 4, 2020). retrieved from: https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/india-today-is-neitherliberal-nor-a-democracy-so-how-does-it-become-one 15see michel foucault, the order of things: the archaeology of the human sciences, trans. new york: routledge, 2005. 16see sukhadeo thorat, ‘ambedkar’s proposal to safeguard minorities against communal majority in india’, journal of social inclusion studies, vol. 5(2): 113–128, april 15, 2020. 17this is would be a good place to start another investigation utilizing resources in twentieth century continental philosophies of history, historical time, and epochal shifts on questions of the origins of secularism and modernity, such as the works of blumenberg and koselleck. 12 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 philosophical self-consciousness that demands an urgent response to an all-pervasive injustice known as caste. the fact that this injustice continues to remain invisible in the international community only adds to its urgency for ambedkar’s time and ours. again, ambedkar is concerned with the emergence of a new structure of religion precisely in its contemporaneity with what we normally construe as secular modernity: namely the separation of the hard sciences and human (social) sciences from religious dogma, ritualistic institutions and practices, and theological branches of knowledge, and inversely the promotion of the eventual dominion that science and technology holds sway over law and policy in modern secular democracies, particularly in the west (for example, secular democracies would have a vested interest in proving empirically that the notion of ‘individual equality’ is rooted in our human biology. whether this is possible or not is another matter.). at the base, the problem lies with a theory of historical change and the birth of a new epoch that applies to the future, not the history of religions up to this point. we speak of an unheard, unparalleled, singular, and non-relatable event. the challenge is how it can come to conception. indeed, ambedkar must quickly accelerate his move to find the ‘norm,’ and not what is commonly understood as the transmogrification of religious metaphysics (above and beyond mere physical appearances and phenomena) to secular scientism and materialism. this ‘norm’ will allow him to judge quite sternly – in an idealized theory – a new conception of religion to replace the older one he just described. only then can the quest for justice be truly fulfilled, and not simply promised by either dogmatic religion that descends from antiquity or scientific and secular democratic modernity that struggles everywhere to assert itself today. to reiterate, the old version of generalized human consciousness links religion’s endless appetite to consume all forms of knowledge to reproduce the punitive mechanisms that subjugate bodies. simultaneously, it extolls the metaphysical justification for such wanton cruelty and oppression in the name of supersensory, transcendental knowledge regarding actual birth and death and believed rebirth. and hinduism is precisely this type of religion. furthermore, that, in a nutshell, is one philosophical conceptualization of the phenomena of caste in hinduism. but underneath the shell is an intricate set of evermore refined relations and distinctions. the question becomes what ‘method’ in a philosophy of religion has the power to crack the shell and make new discoveries. ambedkar gives us a succinct formulation of what this new ‘norm’ is, but also how it fails to fill itself up in a new conception of religion in hinduism, which continues to cling steadfastly, to the dominion of caste hierarchy and inequality. ambedkar (2014a, p. 9) states: but for ascertaining the norm for judging the philosophy of religion we must turn to another and a different kind of revolution which religion has undergone. that revolution touches the nature and content of ruling conceptions of the relations of god to man, of society to man and of man to man. how great was this revolution can be seen from the differences which divide savage society from civilized society.18 we shall remain with this passage for a while to complete this portion of the commentary. we will first unpack some of these preliminary distinctions, and then attempt to derive further interrelations within and between the relations and their basic 18the phrases in bold are my emphasis. a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published philosophy of hinduism – part ii 13 terms – ‘god, man, and society’.19 this requires a careful delineation, differing, and distending new distinctions within and between the terms and their relations. let us not lose sight of this categorical imperative, this imperative to find the ‘norm’ to judge. for ambedkar, moving from religion dominating human reason by way of myth to secular, scientific, empirical modernity that privatizes religious belief to individuals and groups, which are protected in democratic states (like the us constitution’s first amendment) is certainly one type of revolution. but now he will describe another. something that did not take place in the indian subcontinent, given the long duration of hinduism in the depths of mythological antiquity up to today’s right-wing nationalist hindutva, reveals itself: a total rearrangement, not only of the relations of ‘god to man, society to man, and man to man’, but more importantly the ‘nature and content’ of their ‘conceptions’ dawns. all of these hinges on how we understand the differences between a ‘savage society’ and ‘civilized society’.20 what we have before us, which we will have to resume in a future section of our commentary, is quite vast and complex. rethinking the ‘nature and content’ of the ‘conceptions’ of those three fundamental relations while linking it to a selfconceptualizing movement of revolution can materialize the passage or transition from a ‘savage society’ to a ‘civilized society’. those phrases are ambedkar’s words, which is not simply ascribing to ‘savage’ the idea of ‘backward’ and ‘primitive’, and to ‘civilized’ as ‘advanced’ and ‘developed’. if the project of a philosophy of religion to actualize the movement of revolution is real, then it is neither purely idealistic (the product of mind) nor reduced to the plane of material history (a sequence of factual, chronological events). we are also not interested in resonating with a kantian project to delimit the content of conceptions within religion as to be cognizant of the limitations of human reason: that is, both as a moral imperative and a constraint on unwieldy metaphysical speculation. this is what makes ambedkar’s text, philosophy of hinduism, so crucial in our mind. it is irreducible in many respects to what has already been put forth in the history of western philosophy on religion and all other forms of knowledge and experience. ambedkar assumes that this revolution has occurred elsewhere since he makes a distinction between ‘savage’ and ‘civilized’. that means some societies today can be construed as ‘savage’ and others as ‘civilized’. the question, for him, is how to judge the religion and its relation with indian society. when one considers how profound the epochal transformation in the shift of ‘god’s relation to man’, ‘society’s relation to man’, and ‘man’s relation to man’ is, one is reminded of both the idealisticspeculative dialectical philosophy of hegel and the dialectical materialism of marx. both continental european thinkers, no doubt, intended a revolution in thought and social reality to reconceive all history before them for the purpose of raising, elevating, 19as we have mentioned before, our commentary is multilayered. much of what can be theorized further within ambedkar’s corpus are inspired by great theoretical resources from twentieth century continental european thought, or the most philosophically-minded from the fields of sociology, anthropology, and archaeology. in particular, we have in mind weber, durkheim, bergson, lévi-strauss, bataille, clastres, and leroi-gourhan. the movement from phenomenology and structuralism to post-structuralism while passing through existentialism, marxism, and psychoanalysis serves as an intellectual horizon so to speak. when necessary, we can draw from its resources. 20this passage alone invites us to engage some of the great critical theorists in sociological and anthropological thought in dialogue with philosophies of history. hence, the initial quote we provided from lévi-strauss’s commanding the savage mind (1962). 14 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 and superseding the present in the creation of a new reality. reading their texts very carefully while unpacking ambedkar’s corpus can be a lifelong quest.21 juxtaposing these three great thinkers is no easy task. but we must make a start. to imagine a reversal of god’s sovereignty over man (or we can say ‘human’ to be gender inclusive, which ambedkar would accept if alive today) does not simply mean a subsumption of god to the domain of human finitude and reason. such a kantian movement not only keeps religion alive but also realizes the failure of all dogmatic metaphysical conceptions to validate the truth of religious content. what is more granular is the set of moving interrelations between relations of god to human, society to human, and human to human as those relations create new content from out of themselves and in relation to one another. the interrelations, or relations of relations, point to a complex event of movement. caste would then be an anathema to such an undertaking, and not just because it instantiates a seemingly eternal and unchangeable social order and structure. for ambedkar’s recasting of western principles of ‘equality, liberty, and fraternity’, famously espoused in many of his writings and the indian constitution, to become a reality, something new must occur. we must reimagine the ‘nature and content’ of those interrelations that leaves open two possibilities. one is a complete reformation of hinduism so that the caste system is totally vanquished, leaving no trace behind. the other is to replace hinduism with another religious conception entirely and assume that it will somehow take hold within indian society. neither has occurred thus far in the history of india, even with prior religious civilizational empires – buddhist, muslim, and western european (british) christian. we have to stay within the aporia of how to think through these two impossibilities or non-occurrences. if the idea of god was no longer rooted in an apathy for individual welfare and therefore civic conscience to uphold equal rights and enforce duties to protect those rights, then that would require a social and philosophical revolution. such a revolution would have to be beyond what the indian secular, post-independence, democratic constitution promises today. it would require a metaphysical transformation too. because the one cosmic self (atman) that seeks unity with the absolute (brahman) in an attempt to speak for the whole of indian society in its hindu unity as a nation is limited. furthermore, it conceals its limitation; only through the transmigration of souls from bodies to bodies, whereby only one class of bodies (brahmins) are deemed worthy of supersensory transcendence from body-hood and death itself, is obviously one-dimensional, asymmetric and contradictory. simply put, while one part is moving, the other remains stationary across generations since one cannot leave the caste they are born into except through death. and as we know from the ancient greek metaphysicians, say xeno, plato, and aristotle, trying to derive motion from rest is fraught with all kinds of dialectical and logical inconsistencies; motion and rest would be tethered together in an indiscernible event irreducible to both.22 the whole – total transcendence and revelation of truth beyond our human intuitions of birth, death, and rebirth – only speaks from a part, a small protected class, which arrogates to itself the exclusive right to such transcendence. neither society to 21this is certainly part of an ongoing research and publishing effort by the author. 22we reserve for a future investigation a deep penetration into ancient greek metaphysics on time, eternity, motion, and rest and the ambedkarite quest to deconstruct caste in the heart of hindu metaphysical conceptions of time, birth, death, transmigration, and reincarnation. this requires some facility with ancient greek language even though we lack any knowledge of sanskrit. a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published philosophy of hinduism – part ii 15 human nor human to human relations can be altered in that regard. that precisely is the issue for ambedkar; hence the problem of the epochal shift or revolution from one type of society to another. let us try to imagine, perhaps as aspirational, in the name of ambedkarite hope, such another or different society than the one that exists today. changing the relations of society to human and human to human by altering the metaphysics of time and movement, and the fundamental mysteries of human birth and death does not necessarily require replacing hinduism with another religion, although that always remains a possibility. reproducing what other great western philosophers have said about the deepest matters, for example hegel and heidegger, is not the goal either. rather, it requires a critical deconstruction, penetrating into the inner-depths of hinduism’s metaphysical structures for the creative expansion and evolution of concepts.23 this way the true barometer of justice, equality, and liberation begins with a reconsideration of the practical issue of what society humans should create: but the endeavor unfolds in a manner that truly respects the equality and liberty of all human beings and all ‘groups’ that are other religious minorities and indigenous peoples who may assert group identities against their oppressors. this means abandoning the caste system by not classifying social and economic classes into compartmentalized units that not only divides labor from one another but also creates discrete segmentations within each laboring class. differences within a class equals caste. ambedkar, of course, sought an eradication of this division within divisions in his annihilation of caste (ambedkar, 2014b). altering the relations of society to human and human to human by altering the god-human relation would be an astounding feat for sure. perhaps the way to overcome the inhuman and to truly humanize religion is a nietzschean task to overcome all values we have inherited up to this point. for nietzsche, the task was to question all moral systems, but mainly dogmatic christianity, lodged in a mythic or uncritical distinction of good and evil. when a morality degenerates, it saps human potential for power and self-creation. for ambedkar, it would be hinduism rooted in the distinction of the pure and impure, the saintly and the demonic. in conclusion, we hypothesize a phenomenological account of how this new human being can be fashioned, a new being that respects not only the traditional mysteries, which metaphysics tries to ponder, but also attends to the issue of equality and liberty at the same time. that marks the final frontier and threshold and passage to a new epoch. conclusion in concluding this section of our commentary, we can say the following. the simple replacement of hinduism with another religion or the eradication of religion altogether does not seem practically possible if we examine the society, politics, culture, and economics of today’s indian subcontinent. cutting out the caste system from 23great figures, such as hegel and heidegger, who tried to overcome their own histories of western metaphysics and its onto-theological constitution in christianity, cannot be superficially ignored. but this is not to say that naively appropriating their philosophies divorced from their disastrous periods in human history, and in the case of heidegger’s horrific historical present of nazism, is justifiable and possible. in other words, we need to reckon their greatest philosophical works, hegel’s phenomenology of spirit (1807) and heidegger’s being and time (1927), on time and motion while critically distancing ourselves from their attempts to materialize their philosophical revolutions. hegel is tied to napoleon, and most egregious of all, heidegger is tied to hitler. 16 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 1 hinduism’s social and metaphysical body is what ambedkar sought. but what it means is that we must take seriously the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of epochal shifts so that the shifting relations between ‘god to human’, ‘society to human’, and ‘human to human’ takes shape in the idea of transition as a revolutionary event within religion itself. that means religion has a unique materiality, which we must attempt to grasp. the tantalizing possibility is the invention of a new human being, liberated from all previous mythological conceptions of the origin of the human. when the new conception is rooted in the equality and liberty of individual human beings, whose birth is not predetermined in any mythic-hereditary terms, then, obviously, the entire social structure changes; but it does so outside of what we already know about the history of revolutions in the west. what remains undiscovered, however, is how a new religious structure is mapped to such a transformation of the indian societal context. in the next section of our commentary, we will follow ambedkar right into the heart of the ‘content and nature’ of the ‘conceptions’ of the ‘relations’ of the terms – god, society and human. we will try to understand what is at stake in revolutionizing those conceptions and relations. ultimately, this will take us straight into the centrality of the hindu texts, which ambedkar critically deconstructs, on their deepest metaphysical questions. references ambedkar, b.r. (2014a). dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3. in narake, hari (ed.), 2nd edition, new delhi: dr ambedkar foundation. — (2014b). annihilation of caste. in s. anand (ed.), london: verso press. hegel, g. w. f. (1977). phenomenology of spirit (trans. a.v. miller). oxford: oxford university press. heidegger, martin. (1962). being and time (trans. john mcquarrie and edward robinson). new york: harper and row. lévi-strauss, claude. (1966). the savage mind. london: george weidenfeld and nicholson ltd. sampath, rajesh. (2020). a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism”. caste: a global journal on social exclusion, 1(1), pp. 17–28. retrieved from https://journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/caste/article/view/141/13 © 2021 rajesh sampath. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 219–234 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.337 a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism” – part iii1 rajesh sampath1 abstract this article forms part iii of a running commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of history” (ambedkar, 2014a). we attempt to follow ambedkar’s reflections on the early origins of religion and his initial distinctions of the religions of “savage society” and “civilized society” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 9). using the tools of philosophical critique, we see his attempt to dissect the real “principal” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) of religion beyond the apparitional nature of rites, rituals, and taboos. this leads to a series of deductions of what constitutes the very “core,” “source,” and “substance” of religion rooted in the “preservation of life” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). however, this is also a moment that will foreshadow ambedkar’s ultimate judgement of hinduism’s status as a religion when founded on the unequal social structure of caste. we argue the following in this article: what ambedkar says about the architectonic of “savage society” and the failure to undergo a profound revolution in the nature and concept of religion bears an eerie resemblance to what ultimately takes the place of “savage society” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 9) over time, namely the hindu caste system. this makes modern hinduism a strange hybrid of pre-history and a future history whose conclusion is uncertain. whether caste can disappear from society is the burning question. and this is intertwined with profound metaphysical 1associate professor of the philosophy of justice, rights, and social change the heller school for social policy and management brandeis university, waltham, ma, usa e-mail: rsampath@brandeis.edu 1this article is dedicated to the memory of the pioneering scholar on caste and untouchability, gail omvedt. she passed away on august 24th, 2021 in her village, kasegaon sangli, maharashtra, the state where ambedkar was born. retrieved from: https://thewire.in/ society/india-will-remember-gail-omvedt-forever 220 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 questions of time, life, birth, and death, which only philosophy can deconstruct if a religion, like hinduism, were submitted for critical judgement. the article concludes with an attempt to set the stage for the next phase of the commentary: there ambedkar will transition from a general discussion about the philosophy and history of religion as a concept to an actual engagement with the philosophical contents of the religion known and practiced by hundreds of millions of adherents as hinduism. as we already know, his conclusion is dire: a religion can only be true if it is rooted in ‘justice’ and serves the ‘utility’ of individual freedom (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 22). introduction in part ii of our commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism”2 we left off on the issue of a massive epochal shift in the philosophy of history: one that involves a rearrangement of fundamental relations of society, god, and man (human). at the core of ambedkar’s conviction is the need for new theoretical concepts to understand the nature and process of revolutionary change. to recall, ambedkar is dealing with the revolution in the philosophical conception of religion (ambedkar 2014a, p. 9), and not a particular historical event, text, or person upon which a religion is founded. ultimately his goal is to achieve the practical realization of radical revolution and recreation of society. the stakes are so high. even a decolonial achievement of creating a modern, constitutional, secular, and legal democratic constitution was not sufficient in trying to achieve actual equality and liberty. we must make a phenomenological distinction between revolutions in philosophical concepts of religion and historical events of revolutionary change in either philosophy (say from one great thinker to another like kant to hegel) or religion (say the creation of a religion hatching out of another, for example gentile christianity emerging out of first century ce palestinian judaism under roman rule). throughout this commentary, we have asserted the necessity of a genuinely philosophical investigation into the practical possibility of reimagining indian society without the caste system. these notorious divisions of laborers within classes (as opposed to a mere economic division of classes) engineers a social system aimed at perfecting degradation and indignity. matter of fact, the animus of the whole system is based on antipathy for the other. the problem for ambedkar is why and how this system descended from hinduism, in particular, and nowhere else in world history. main text let us pick up where we left off in ambedkar’s text. at the foundation of his thought, ambedkar is concerned with the notion of how religion and society became fused to the point of no return: this is the moment which yields a certain social structure of generalized behavior that goes unquestioned, namely the stringent caste system. if in other contexts, secularism replaces metaphysical-religious cosmology as the basis of the legal, political, economic, and cultural structures of a society, as it happened in the 2the first edition was published by the education department, govt. of maharashtra: 14 april, 1987. see dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3, ed. hari narake, 2nd edition (new delhi: dr. ambedkar foundations, 2014). a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism” – part iii 221 late eighteenth century west, particularly the french enlightenment and the french and american democratic revolutions, the question then becomes why religious hierarchies continue to persist in secular, liberal, pluralistic democracies. in principal, democracies valorize individual equality and liberty above all else. this constitutes the ultimate paradox: namely the persistence of religious hierarchy and hindu caste as hierarchies within a hierarchy in a postcolonial global south democratic state like today’s india. democratic states are by nature non-hierarchical and ensure separations of power to decentralize any chance for tyranny or fascism to take root. the rule of law is paramount, and individual rights sacrosanct. but in the indian context past and present, the notion of an individual is an illusion. in other words, it is not enough to say secularism merely replaces religion; it is not sufficient to say that there is a change in principle of organizing society (say secularism instead of theocracy), for there must be change in substance too. secularism is the substitute for the religious gluing of elements to compose a hierarchic society and the political-economic legal anatomy of its differentiated body of inequality; yet it is limited. religions, which for the most part continue due to the enduring mystery of the origin of life itself and the fact of ceaseless human mortality and death, is not the pure object of philosophical study. some religions, like western roman catholicism, require hierarchy to maintain ownership of the cumulative body of knowledge descending from heritage: the purpose is to ensure that adherents maintain their duty to obey certain principles and rituals on a chronological calendar. however, the religious hierarchy fused with social hierarchy is something else, particularly in the eastern context where democracies were born after decolonization. instead, ambedkar is attempting to articulate yet another revolution that is necessary, one that has not taken place thus far in his early to mid-twentieth century south asian historical context, even after decolonization and the birth of legal, constitutional, secular democracy. and it is one that remains suspended even in our day. after introducing the forces of traditional secularism brought on by scientific revolutions (newton’s and darwin’s as the most influential) and science (and industrial technology) shaping modern knowledge in general, ambedkar turns to another revolution which must be critically examined (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 9). one plane of world history is the movement of religion as the dominant horizon that shapes all reality to the ‘modern’ age of science and secularism. but for ambedkar, we need to inquire about another level of history that is not so visible: there in its murky realm from the depths of a unique, non-western philosophical imagination an interesting theoretical conceptual critique emerges. it is to this critique that we will devote this section of our commentary. through ambedkar’s text, one discovers the absence of a revolutionary change in the very conception of religion itself irrespective of the grand transition of religion in general to secularism; such transitions can be taken for granted in say contemporary western european liberal democracies where majority atheist populations now exist. perhaps in some histories and civilizations the shift in the concept of religion took place, but in others it has failed to materialize. he states: this revolution is so great and so immense that it has brought about a complete transformation in the nature of religion as it is taken to be by savage society and by civilized society although very few seem to be aware of it (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 9). 222 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 the question again is one of revolution and the nature of transformation itself, not just the transformation of the nature of something, in this case religion. prior to the transition from religion to secularism is an internal transition within the conceptual structure of religion itself—namely the movement from “savage society” to “civilized society” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). truly the a priori dimension in a philosophy of historical changes of epochs—like religion to secularism—has in a non-circular way its basis in a fundamental transformation of the nature of society. society is the ontological foundation by which there can be any history, even though one thinks of society as something atemporal or ahistorical. ambedkar is not making a simple statement about an empirical fact of how historical reality changed at some juncture, for example an important event like the french revolution. rather, he is unfolding a philosophical-history of how religion altered its fundamental nature through a change in the essence of society and hence a change embedded within a change: this realm exists at a deeper level of historical time beyond the historical empirical contents of religions and their epochal shifts. for example, one could describe how early christianity arose after the first century ce context, post-roman destruction of the second temple period of the ancient jewish context, with the first gospels written by jews who lived around the mediterranean and what is modern egypt and turkey and st. paul’s far-flung journeys and letters; but then over centuries it developed into the modern institutional structure of christianity today, for example roman catholicism, which is upheld by the vatican’s universal jurisprudence. modern and ancient christianity seem worlds apart even though the religious proclamation of faith is one rooted in historical continuity given the papal lineage that descends from the living disciple of jesus, namely st. peter.3 there, history and divine revelation are intertwined. but that pertains to a specific history of a specific religion. instead, ambedkar, one can say, is interested in a philosophy of a general historical transmutation in the conception of religion itself. how philosophy, history, and religion come into mutual encounter with one another is of the utmost urgency with regard to discovering a principle of justice to enact radical social change. this seems to pulsate throughout ambedkar’s incomplete manuscript. taking his earlier statement on how the “revolution touches the nature and content of ruling conceptions of relations of god to man, society to man and of man to man” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 9), which we analyzed in part ii of our commentary, we can now go deeper with ambedkar’s description of the essential features of social structures. the key focus of this section of our critical analysis will be on vital questions of the philosophical change in religion. we have to get at the heart of the issues of historical temporality and movement in the mutation from “savage society” to “civilized society” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 9). ambedkar offers interesting definitions of both types of society, however preliminary they may appear in his text. they are certainly ripe for further distillation given the legacy of his profound thought. the variation of relations (god to human, society to human and human to human) is itself enfolded in a deeper event of metamorphosis from ‘savage’ to ‘civilized’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10); but as long as caste persists in today’s indian modernity, then one can say there are mechanisms by which the failure of this revolution is reproduced, thus maintaining an indefatigable status quo. one can make a distinction between a top3see the formidable volumes by anglican theologian n.t. wrightthe new testament and the people of god (1992), jesus and the victory of god (1996), and the resurrection of the son of god (2003) published by fortress press. a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism” – part iii 223 down political grip on society, like a dictatorship, and the naturally or organically selfreproducing system of microscopic powers that reproduce the same behavior from one generation to the next. if dictatorship is like a vice that traps something and squeezes, caste is like a pinball machine with one entrance (birth) and one exit or loss (death). we must inquire into these mechanisms that reproduce the status quo, and in that regard ambedkar gives us the tools to further shape certain parameters to distinguish between the ‘savage’ and the ‘civilized’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10).4 when it comes to ‘savage’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) society, ambedkar notes several important aspects. although many western anthropologists, such as lévistrauss, throughout the twentieth century would take note of the phenomena of totem and caste, let alone their distinctions, ambedkar gives us two primary elements (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) that compose this type of eastern social formation. he speaks from an eastern mind, not that of a western-raised anthropologist. we must put aside any immediate intuitions of ‘savage’ as something ‘backward’ or ‘underdeveloped.’5 first is the linkage between “the practice of magic or tabu” and “the worship of fetish and totem” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10).6 these are not terms that can be easily collapsed 4a separate work, mentioned in part ii of commentary, would be an unrelenting engagement with lévi-strauss’s structuralist attempts to compare, without collapsing, different systems such as ‘totem’ and ‘caste.’ his magisterial works, totemism (1962) and the savage mind (1964), are ripe for appropriation while reading ambedkar’s entire corpus, particularly his most theoretically inventive ones. 5this could take us straight into debates about marxist critiques of development, latin american theories of development and underdevelopment, and wallerstein’s world-systems analysis. those would be critical investigations if one were interested in the pitfalls of capitalist politicaleconomy and the tenacity of caste as social inequality. but political-economic analysis would have to follow a prior analysis of social revolution as ambedkar says in annihilation of caste (ambedkar, 2014b). 6it would be tempting to dive into marx’s conception of the “the fetishism of commodities” at this point even though he is critiquing the modern form of capitalism and labor exploitation. we could transfer his definitions and telescope what he says about commodities to the creation of casted bodies in hindu metaphysics. on the ‘fetish’ marx says: “a commodity is therefore a mysterious thing, simply because in it the social character of men’s labour appears to them as an objective character stamped upon the product of that labour; because the relation of the producers to the sum total of their own labour is presented to them as a social relation, existing not between themselves, but between the products of their labour. this is the reason why the products of labour become commodities, social things whose qualities are at the same time perceptible and imperceptible by the senses. in the same way the light from an object is perceived by us not as the subjective excitation of our optic nerve, but as the objective form of something outside the eye itself. but, in the act of seeing, there is at all events, an actual passage of light from one thing to another, from the external object to the eye. there is a physical relation between physical things. but it is different with commodities. there, the existence of the things quâ commodities, and the value relation between the products of labour which stamps them as commodities, have absolutely no connection with their physical properties and with the material relations arising therefrom. there it is a definite social relation between men, that assumes, in their eyes, the fantastic form of a relation between things. in order, therefore, to find an analogy, we must have recourse to the mist-enveloped regions of the religious world. in that world the productions of the human brain appear as independent beings endowed with life, and entering into relation both with one another and the human race. so it is in the world of commodities with the products of men’s hands. this i call the fetishism which attaches itself to the products of labour, so soon as they are produced as commodities, and which is therefore inseparable from the production of commodities. 224 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 into one another, for example in an anthropology of indian culture from vedic antiquity to the present. so we must bracket what these relations mean, particularly the relation between ‘practice’ and ‘worship’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) within a generalized system of oppression. worshiping deities or practicing rituals is one thing; but if the animation or vital force within worship and practice is designed to enforce indignity and inequality, then we need a genealogical investigation into the causes of how a system has come about, it’s dispersed causes and roots. for these forces are not seen in the self-justification for the particular kind of worship and practice. such a system governs the dynamics of everyday life down to the tiniest details, for example who gets to draw water from the well or who gets to walk in certain spaces with their shoes (as opposed to being forced to take them off as a sign of submission); the complexity of the manifestation of details are infinitely differentiated making them barely perceptible to the outsider’s eye. the exteriorization of humiliation is something that remains invisible to the outsider, but internally an object of constant anxiety and pain in the internal consciousness of the oppressed. the invisible and the visible switch places so that nothing appears to be happening. ambedkar’s thought will help us develop new ideas on these relations later in this section of the text. the other aspect involves how “rights, ceremonies, magic, tabu, totem and fetish” become apparent in “their connection with certain occasions” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). such events in life’s journey center on the “crises of human life,” which include “birth, the birth of the first born, attaining manhood, reaching puberty, marriage, sickness, death and war” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). all these do not occur in a vacuum, but are “marked out for the performance of rites and ceremonies, the use of magic and worship of the totem” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). the event of reproduction is not just climacteric for dynastic cycles of power and the reproduction of labor for ceaseless exploitation in any economy, not just capitalist ones. it is paramount for ritualistic reasons that reinforce the hierarchies of identity that are prohibitive for true individuality to develop. furthermore, birth is central one can say, but also birth of the first-born son given the nature of patriarchy in a son-preference culture.7 birth goes beyond the mere biological propagation of the species; it is highly guarded, almost predestined in its embryonic stage, so that the whole social structure is guaranteed protection from any external threats. patriarchy, masculinity, hindu caste are in fact aligned at their very core. this fetishism of commodities has its origin, as the foregoing analysis has already shown, in the peculiar social character of the labour that produces them “ (marx, 2015, pp. 47-48). retrieved from: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/capitalvolume-i.pdf. although marx is introducing a supersensory notion of how commodities become a unique object of uncontrollable desire, while occluding the labor process that is exploited in their creation, he links his idea of the ‘fetish’ to the “fantastic” and “mist-enveloped regions of the religious world” (marx, 2015, p. 48). with ambedkar’s critique of caste, which too involves the sadistic dimension attached to labor as differentiated, one has to go a step further in terms of the fetish of caste itself or the separation of human beings as metaphysical entities marking out transitions of birth, death, and rebirth. the nature of the task even as duty for the sake of duty in a specialized labor of a certain caste member is inconsequential; the reality of its oppressive nature is not. this is something, obviously, marx could not penetrate in his western european context. we would have to re-read these precious sections in marx’s capital volumes again with the unrelenting will to deconstruct caste with new terms and concepts. 7see martha nussbaum, women and human development (cambridge: cambridge university press, 2000). https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/capital-volume-i.pdf https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/capital-volume-i.pdf a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism” – part iii 225 we will pause here because the interesting thing to notice is that all of these life events are constituted as a “crisis.” that means at their ontological level there are conditions by which these events cause an impenetrable anxiety (not simply a psychological one), which will turn out to be the problem of the temporality and movement of karmic cycles and reincarnation.8 the act of birth for example is so shocking, not because it marks the joyous occasion or miracle of welcoming new life into the world; but the dark secret of passage from something that has died into a new body. although the newborn may not be forsaken by being aborted or committed to infanticide (except for example with the atrocious gender preference for male rather than female babies), it becomes a living object of mourning stripped of autonomous dignity and the fullness of life. the more impure, the more death is inscribed in birth. desecration and waste must be guarded against, not just through sacred rituals but abjection of living human beings. that is just one example, others being the event of death and cremation, or rites of passages into adulthood with its masculinist and patriarchal overtones since men can only attain to brahmin priesthood. but for sure they need to be differentiated from any empirical or concrete specific notion of ‘crisis,’ for example a difficult pregnancy or even miscarriage; in fact that would be the embodiment of death in a birth that did not happen, an entirely different matter. rather, this question of ‘crisis’ at the most general level regards a fundamental anxiety that the system of caste tries to contain in the tightest of strictures around human relations, associations, and contact given the distinction between purity and impurity. the tighter the bonds at the most minute levels, the more the system preserves itself and actually grows stronger over time. purity and impurity relate to a long, complex theological heritage, which itself interrelates birth, death, and rebirth, the nature of creation and time, and the idea of the divine, particularly the unity of self (atman) and the absolute (brahman). such a self-proclaimed ancestry dates back as far as the upanishads, which followed the vedic age, over two millennia ago.9 however, ambedkar will attempt to discover a deeper basis in the philosophy and history of the religion of hinduism to see what gives rises to this macabre theological content. this is tantamount to articulating a new philosophy by way of critique and deconstruction that can explain the possible origins of how hindu metaphysical concepts came about and started to congeal into one another and into intricate interrelations. obviously this borders on speculative thought with a genealogical tinge because the aim is not to offer empirical proof by way of ancient history, archaeology, and physical anthropology on actual cause-effect relations. the purpose is not to establish historical facts. let us try to develop some further propositions. what is ‘savage’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) is not merely a stage in chronological historical time: one that is in the distant, physically measurable, datable past, say 3000 bce; one that could be 8we repeated several times the unavoidable need to read heidegger’s being and time (1927) as a new contribution to the philosophical critiques of caste in ambedkarite studies. this is particularly important when heidegger discusses ‘anxiety/dread/malaise/uneasiness,’ ‘care and concern,’ and the authentic approach towards death as a possibility for orienting one’s life (heidegger, 1962, p. 227). of course heidegger was responding to the judeo-christian tradition, particularly the catholic-medieval underpinnings of western metaphysics of the conscience and the soul, and certainly not hindu dogmas on sin, death, transmigration, and reincarnation. that would take us into an entirely other realm, which is not and could not be articulated by heidegger. 9see wendy doniger, the hindus: an alternative history (new york: penguin, 2010). 226 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 discovered through the work of physical anthropology and archaeology, for example through carbon dating. it is by no means reducible to a simple relation between present and past, or even the remnant or trace of the past in the present, the past living on in and as the present, not just a legacy.10 rather, the question here is that ambedkar names the ‘savage’ as a certain concept of religion, not a pre-religious or pre-historic notion before the birth of canonical world religions that are extant, for example judaism, islam, christianity, confucianism, and buddhism. those religions center single nonhistorical (depending on who you ask) and historical human beings and texts attributed to themmoses, buddha, confucius, jesus, and the prophet mohammed. (in the case of one of them, an actual historical person is equated with the godhead during his lifetime and certainly after his death and allegedly witnessed bodily resurrection.) however, the linkage between the ‘practice of magic or tabu’ and the ‘worship of fetish and totem’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) is the material actualization of supersensory notions surrounding birth and death in stratified and segmented hierarchies of bodies in space. perhaps the events of birth (which seem internal to a womb) and event of death (as the passage of a possible soul out of a body and the world) are in fact externalized and repeated in the microscopic acts of alleged signification in a ritual or incantation. this may sound strange, but the phenomenological critique requires it as a possibility for explanation. birth, death, and rebirth are actual objects in the world, an externalized and material immanence of the most transcendental metaphysical mysteries; typically the latter are invisible and non-physical like a concept of the ‘soul.’ however, things are different in this eastern context. taking a mere condescending attitude from say a modern secular and scientific gaze of some ‘primitive’ prehistorical past will not help the critical endeavor to dismantle caste today. we have to go inside the system and get to the roots in order to pull them out of the ground. here, once again, ambedkar makes a critical distinction between the actual “origin,” “source,” and “substance” of religion to what is merely “incidental” rather than its “principal” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). we will quote the full passage here: the principal thing in the religion of the savage are the elemental facts of human existence such as life, death, birth, marriage etc. magic, tabu, totem are things which are incidental. magic, tabu, totem, fetish etc., are not the ends. they are only the means. the end is life and the preservation of life. magic, tabu etc., are resorted to by the savage society not for their own sake but to conserve life and to exercise evil influences from doing harm to life. thus understood the religion of the savage society was concerned with life and the preservation of life and it is these life processes which constitute the substance and source of the religion of the savage society. so great was the concern of the savage society for life and the preservation of life that it made them the basis of its religion. so central were the life processes in the religion of the savage society that everything which affected them became part of its religion. the ceremonies of the savage society were not only concerned with the events of birth, attaining of manhood, puberty, marriage, sickness, death and war they were also concerned with food (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). 10heidegger is important here too, particularly his chapter on ‘temporality and historicality’ in division two of being and time (heidegger, 1962, pp. 424-427). a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism” – part iii 227 the process of life and its preservation form the main purpose. life and preservation of life is the core and centre of the religion of the savage society (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). let us draw some more distinctions. there is much to glean from these crucial passages based on what we quoted earlier: differentiating the ‘origin,’ ‘source,’ and ‘substance’ (ambedkar, 2014a. p. 10) of religion when derived from a deeper ‘principal’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) rather than a derivative manifestation, or what is not core to the essence of something but only ‘incidental’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) and apparitional. these distinctions are so pivotal. they have a tendency to differ and delay any simple meaning that can be deduced or discovered when we think of metaphysical categories of ‘origin’ and ‘source’ and ‘substance.’11 ambedkar is going after the ‘principal’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) and not the phenomenal manifestation of early religions’ most salient attributes—namely ‘magic, totem’ and their associated ‘rites, ceremonies’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). for the ‘principal’ becomes a weapon so to speak of a powerful theoretical critique. the aim is to reveal the uncanny. what happens when a system of religion is propelled by an internal driver that justifies the real reason for a religion’s existence, namely a sadistic fetish to humiliate other human beings openly and publicly? ambedkar has yet to get to that outcome of the analysis in the “philosophy of hinduism,” but the purpose of the commentary is to see how these earlier moments in the text foreshadow the indictment to come. how can consciousness of this public evisceration of basic human dignity become a transcendental norm for consciousness to surpass itself: that is when rites and rituals drenched in a fetishistic frenzy of seemingly paranormal proportions occlude the reality of daily oppression of labor? the more sacred the wisdom that is manifest in the tiniest of ritualistic practices, the more justified a horrific distancing of pure and impure human beings become. twice-over, oppression is inverted; first it passes itself as the duty to obey caste function, and then through a bizarre inversion makes the public display of the oppression a daily norm, i.e. the average treatment of dalit laborer in public amidst higher castes. a theory of the public nature of ritual debasement of humans in relation to the transcendental consciousness of false supra-human meditation is required here. the problem worsens with the metaphysical linkage with actual biological events of life, such as birth, maturation, and death, that literally brings alive the living hell of a system of human organization founded primordially on inequality and intentional mortification.12 the processes of dehumanization have their own perverse logic, 11this is what derrida’s deconstruction illustrates (derrida, 1974). 12again, it is tempting to look at the theoretical innovations in philosophy and the social sciences, particularly anthropology and sociology, in twentiethcentury european intellectual history. but leveraging the tools of critical theory to dismantle false assumptions about the superiority of modern civilization (which marx, nietzsche, and freud submitted to a virulent internal critique) falls short for a variety complex reasons. the western gaze remains myopic: one must work within the lifelong oppression of caste like ambedkar to develop a truly subaltern consciousness. taking a non-violent and sanguine view that in fact the ‘primitive’ could have more complexity than an ‘advanced’ modern mind is willing to admit: indeed that is new type of neocolonial superiority intrinsic to the western anthropological view, which itself has already accepted the self-critique of the west. many today from the non-west and racial minorities within the white 228 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 which has to be deciphered through critical theory and philosophical deconstruction. in this conflation at the heart of ‘savagery’ one can say are the elemental forms that would eventually be used to build divisions of laborers (caste) within a division of commodified labor (class). but we move to fast. let us take a few steps back and return to the ambedkar passage. there is so much to unpack there before we have a remote chance to move on in this all-important section in ambedkar’s manuscript of the “philosophy of hinduism.”13 gentile majority west are calling for the decolonization of western anthropological science; the latter was born in the late nineteenth century during the peak of european colonial empires. but truth be told; the west had already begun its own self-critique in the twentieth century. this is the spirit of critical thought that pervades intellectual movements such as structuralism. lévi-strauss’s the savage mind (1964) and totemism (1962) can consume an entire study in that regard. it would appear at this juncture in our commentary on ambedkar that it is now virtually impossible to ignore lévi-strauss’s incredibly, inventive formulations. structuralism against dialectics (the movement of oppositions synthesizing themselves and differentiating themselves again ceaselessly) is not a simple matter. one cannot easily dismiss these debates of structuralism vs. dialectics, particularly when comparing and connecting across so many differences and relations. for example, as much as lévi-strauss searches for how “homology,” or connection of how two systems of difference (that can never be collapsed into each other), occurs (lévi-strauss, 1964, p. 115), he still maintains complex differentiated relations within relations. for example, totemism as human relation to animal is distinguished from caste as ‘endogamous’ (lévi-strauss, 1964, p. 115) stratification of society with differentiated roles for different groups that appear natural. and both phenomena map differently in their own internal organizations regarding the differences and relations between the terms of ‘culture’ and ‘nature’ (lévi-strauss, 1964, p. 124). yet as we shall in continuing our commentary, even these formulations cannot be applied to understand hindu caste, let alone forge the theoretical tools to destroy it. nature and culture do not dissolve into their dialectical opposites; they become entirely other to any western etymology and topology. taking theoretical concepts out of their western contexts of invention, even lévi-strauss on ‘primitive’ or non-western systems, and plunging right into the universe of hinduism is no easy task. for lévi-strauss, connections and relations in the systems of difference that do not collapse into a synthesized whole can be continuously analyzed and broken down into ever finer distinctions, inversions, and reciprocal substitutions. the endeavor is endless. having said all this, we will have to do a whole study of “totem and caste” in lévi-strauss’s the savage mind (1964) and ambedkar’s critique of the philosophy of hinduism as the social basis of caste. 13to recapitulate the manuscript offered in volume 3 of the collected writings is roughly ninetytwo pages long. embarrassingly, the author of this commentary (through a series of articles of which this is the third part) is still only on page 10. this section in the manuscript of the “philosophy of hinduism,” which is the first one-fourth of the whole text, is what ambedkar calls, ironically, a long and necessary ‘detour’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 22). in other words, ambedkar saw the need for an extended philosophical grounding of the possibility of his own investigation into the “philosophy of hinduism” before getting into the actual texts and concepts of hinduism, for example the manu law codes that consecrate the onerous system of caste. it is our firm belief that we traverse this section slowly, methodically, and painstakingly. we must spend this much time with each paragraph, sometimes a phrase or sentence, in ambedkar’s manuscript: for our aim is to develop new philosophical tools to unpack the mysteries of caste for the purpose of its ultimate annulment in indian society. this requires leveraging philosophical theories, particularly from the twentieth-century continental european tradition (especially german and french philosophy) to which ambedkar did not reference or appropriate. therein lies the justification for our slow moving, prodding textual exegesis, which is part of the heritage of critical theory, phenomenology, structuralism, and deconstruction. a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism” – part iii 229 the ‘principal, source, origin, and substance’ are not ‘magic-taboo or fetish-totem,’ ‘practice and worship’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). those are ‘incidental’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). nor are the occasions of life construed as ‘crises’ known as ‘birth, death, maturation, sickness, war, death’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10), at least not entirely. now ambedkar is going for the actual motor force—the ‘preservation of life’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) and the madness involved in a preservation at all costs, which means the means can justify the end. caste—as segmented and segregated spatialization of human beings in compartments for which the only entrance is birth and only exit is death—is like one large metaphysical panopticon that hierarchizes and views all of society in a glance.14 the supervision functions to guarantee the omnitemporal plane of transmigration of souls, which then gets telescoped down to the microscopic activity of daily life within the caste system. the mystery is how this is linked to the fundamental ‘principal’ that marries ‘preservation of life’ with avoidance of ‘evil’ and ‘harm’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). this is a prior distinction before we get to purity-good and impurity-demonic distinctions, around which the entire social system is organized. to think this hinges strictly on the biological truth of the survival of the species is merely superficial. turning back to the passage, this is what we find. all philosophies and religions across space and time have tried to excavate the mysteries of ‘human existence such as life, death, and birth’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). anthropologists add in rites such as passage into adulthood, marriage, and funerals, among other major life transitions and events. however, the quest for the principal (before any good and evil distinction emerges) cannot be divorced from the ‘principal’ substance of religion as concerned with the vagaries of life on earth, why we are born and have to die. before attempting to describe how rites and rituals of ‘magic, tabu, totem, and fetish’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) function and what they mean, one needs to start with a prior clearing of assumptions. ambedkar says those elements are merely the ‘means’ to a larger ‘end’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). if they are not the end but only the means, then this raises the question of what constitutes the end for which religion was born and upon which it stands. ambedkar tells us, in an unsurprising way, that the “end is life and the preservation of life” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). this seems totally intuitive. all of evolution of life points to the propagation and preservation of life even as life evolves in new directions; life has to change to adapt to changing environments or it will disappear; and in fact some species do disappear. the teleological purpose of our life-supporting planet is to extend life, not to terminate it. (human actions like the creation of climate 14we have always longed for a full investigation in to all of foucault’s corpus, the early works on madness, medicine, and the organization of the social and natural sciences, to the later works on prisons/discipline, sexuality, biopower, governmentality, security, and population management. a foucaultian analysis of caste by way of an appropriation of concepts in discipline and punish: the birth of the prison (foucault, 1977) would be necessary. but that means certain concepts like “disciplinary technology” (foucault, 1977, p. 227) of power and “microphysics of power” (foucault, 1977, p. 28) would have to be reformulated so they have greater purchase in understanding phenomena in postcolonial global south development contexts, not the long duration of western history and society. foucault, of course, only knew of the latter. 230 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 change is another matter.) all of this makes sense and is always an oceanic source of joy and appreciation that in fact life did start on earth and those living now are the beneficiaries of this rare occurrence in the physical universe. the more we step back and see of all humanity (over eight billion people on the planet), the more in awe we are of this beautiful mystery. obviously anything that brings ‘harm to life’ or ‘exercise evil influences’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) must be guarded against. anything that would destroy life is tantamount to evil.15 we quote the second half of the passage again: thus understood the religion of the savage society was concerned with life and the preservation of life and it is these life processes which constitute the substance and source of the religion of the savage society. so great was the concern of the savage society for life and the preservation of life that it made them the basis of its religion. so central were the life processes in the religion of the savage society that everything which affected them became part of its religion (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). the process of life and its preservation form the main purpose. life and preservation of life is the core and centre of the religion of the savage society (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). isolating the fundamental terms of the passage, namely “savage society” (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10), if one were to avoid judgement of what ‘savage’ here means, is actually quite remarkable, even from a modern standpoint. our laws and most states, other than the very few that commit genocide on its own people or so oppress them to the point of oblivion, have as their goal the security, sustenance, and development of its people; in democracies that includes liberty, in non-democracies that means collective submission to larger social ideals. states exist to protect people from inhibiting themselves from achieving these goals. but upon closer scrutiny about the ‘religion of savage society’ as ‘concerned with life and preservation of life’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10), we begin to see the beginnings of what will be a powerful critique made by ambedkar in his judgement of hinduism as a religion. we already know from him that this most ancient of extant religions is not founded on ‘justice and utility’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 22). we now have to examine the nature of this ‘concern’ for the ‘preservation of life’ and how ‘life processes’ have come to constitute the ‘substance and source of religion of ‘savage society’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). we repeat these terms because they are so profound in their meaning when it comes to the philosophy of religion. life for life’s sake or the will to live do not penetrate the depths of philosophical understanding in that regard. any utilitarian logic to increase pleasure and minimize pain is only scratching the surface of the matter. for the critical investigator of the philosophical and religious origins of caste, we are struck immediately with a series of aporias and paradoxes. how does the ‘concern’ for the ‘preservation’ of life as the ‘basis’ and ‘core’ of religion [not the ‘incidental 15we can compare and contrast with the abrahamic, monotheistic faiths of judaism, christianity, and islam all of which point to the divine origin of life and the sacred nature of human life itself. a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism” – part iii 231 means’ of ‘magic, tabu, totem, and fetish’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10)] become perverted into a logic of discipline and desire to humiliate, degrade, and ultimately vanquish any ounce of dignity in what it means to be a human being? this would mean that the great concern for life became fused with the great demoralization of life; the increase of one, leads to the increase of the other. there is no transcendence of biological finitude, or physical death. and so the anxiety around the approach to death is turned backwards to birth, the beginning of life, which must be controlled throughout. birth is emptied of any value as a unique, one-time, irreproducible event. guarding the passages from death to birth, which is a rebirth, and the passage of birth to death to the threshold of another rebirth point two arrows of time neither of which flow in a linear or circular manner. the two poles of ‘birth’ and ‘death’ do not lead to a stretch of life in-between called an individual; they are crossed out, what is other to birth is the passage from death to rebirth and what is other to death is the conquest of its grip and a loosening of its finality. as we shall see, the entire architecture of these fundamental problems of being, time, birth, and death must be contrasted with the western philosophical tradition.16 the ‘basis, center, core, source, substance, and origin’ of religion is motivated by the ‘concern for the preservation of life (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). the central question for ambedkar in his text is why did this ‘savage’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) system not undergo a revolution in the concept and nature of religion; and because of this delay or postponement of radical change in the nature of everything, a perversion took root, a degeneration of which the consequences would be enormous. when the obsession about life-preservation at all costs loses consciousness of the reason and intention of why life must be preserved no matter what, so that life for life’s sake becomes an unquestionable dictum, then that is one thing. the automation of life is the automation of the will to live. however, when it is glued to the material domain of rites, rituals, taboos, and beliefs to ward off ‘evil’ and ‘harm’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) that is yet another development. however, when a metaphysical architecture of what life means, inclusive of its origin (arche) and end (telos) but crossing out of those poles (physical birth and physical death) in the concept of reincarnation, is melted with extreme concern and anxiety for life, then a whole new order of society is born. but that means the society, which should have been created out of the origin of religion based on the ‘concern for the preservation of life’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10), yields a monstrous other. and the worse form of a social contract is born; in fact it is an anti-social contract. 16what we must investigate will be in total contrast to everything heidegger says in being and time, particularly in section 72 of chapter v of division two on “being-towards-the beginning” and “being-towards-death,” “ ‘connectedness of life’,” how existence “stretches along between birth and death,” and the “sequence of experiences ‘in time’” (heidegger, 1962, p. 425) all point to complex problems of life, time, and movement, about which the western philosophical traditions have anguished. from the pre-socratics in ancient greece to hegel to heidegger, no definitive answers have been found. heidegger himself tried to destroy all previous metaphysical conceptions by calling into question linear time and spatialized motion, even the idea of being in time (heidegger, 1962, p. 436). faith-based religions, like christianity, may try to provide answers, and theology serves the purpose of providing a philosophical rationality for otherwise unprovable, even irrational notions, such as an ‘afterlife’ or ‘heaven’; but that does not mean philosophical logic independent of religious subjectivity has come to any definitive answers. 232 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 one can say the creation of indian society founded on caste involves the erasure or aborting of another birth that should have happened. a historical reincarnation becomes self-fulfilling in an inverted way when a new birth does not replace death, but one birth replaces a birth that did not happen but should have happened. if the traditional notion of reincarnation is the movement from death to another birth, then here we speak of a reversal, when one birth prevents another from happening. could this be the secret logic of the caste system? staving off ‘evil’ and preventing ‘harm’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) through segregated rites and rituals for the salvation of an elite few (the brahmins) through a constituted other as permanently impure, namely the dalits, may be a weird curiosity for outsiders who try to visit and see indian society for the first time. but then the hierarchical ladder of worth—of higher castes descending to less worthy lower ones in between the highest (brahmin) and the lowest (dalit) —constitute a whole that we must investigate following the reflections of ambedkar. trying to justify the destiny of certain births to an abhorrent life of labor means the hindu apotheosis and celebration of futility: namely the inability to transcend class and function but also essentialized identity (dalit must equal demonic impurity) too forms a nightmare of proportions we are barely able to fathom. the perpetual sacrifice of dignity is the only guarantee for the preservation of life. this falls so far below the threshold of the moral basis of a human right (shue, 1980) that one can no longer speak of human beings. we are just a few steps away from the next major plateau in ambedkar’s analysis, which we can foreshadow here in our conclusion. conclusion by tracing the movement of ambedkar’s thought from the unsubstantial surface of ‘magic, totem, tabu, and fetish’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10) we arrived to the ‘substance’ itself, the ‘core and center of the religion of savage society’ founded on the ‘preservation of life’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). what seems like a remarkable quality of ‘savage’ society, namely the ‘preservation of life’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10), will be at the end something extremely deleterious when the social structure of caste finally emerges. in terms of ideological dissimulation, the rites, rituals, and ceremonies, which are embodied in the practices of ‘magic, totem, tabu, and fetish’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10), seem to constitute the essence of religion. but for ambedkar they are not. the real problem is that ‘savage’ society construes the basic events of life’s journey, birth, sickness, and death as ‘crises’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10). the key point is at this early stage, ‘birth’ is considered a crisis. how this prepares the conditions for theological reflection in hindu metaphysics on birth, death, and rebirth becomes an open question for philosophical speculation. before ambedkar can engage the actual contents of hinduism’s main texts, the upanishads, the epics, and the manu law codes, he must pass through another set of reflections on the philosophy and sociology of religion. he will return to the earlier consideration we saw in part ii of commentary on the relations of society, god, and man (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 9); but this time he will introduce a series of fissures that a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism” – part iii 233 links what he calls the transition, or rather philosophical revolution, from the religion of ‘savage’ society to the religion of ‘civilized society’ even though there is an initial similarity between them (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 11), namely the need to preserve life. but then a fissure takes place whereby morality is detached from religion in ‘savage’ society (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 12). this occurs when the idea of god is born paving the way for the religion of ‘civilized’ society (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 12); the latter marks a stupendous event where concern for the well-being of human dignity is primary, not the ceaseless drive to reproduce life whose mysteries are guarded by supernatural ritual. this event of the divorce of morality and religion requires a genealogical analysis, which cannot be a replica of any western analysis of a similar divorce in its context.17 in traditional western metaphysics and its judeo-christian roots, god may be considered the origin or cause of the creation; but in this eastern context, we have submerge into the darkness and abyss that constitutes the ‘origin’ of god. we decided to pause this part of our commentary here. to traverse what follows next in ambedkar’s sweeping narrative on the philosophy and history of religion, we had to take these necessary steps. in part iv of the commentary, we will make our deep dive into ambedkar’s examination of morality, the idea of god, and even the origin of the idea of god (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 12). this will take us into a speculative philosophical realm; not for the purpose of an unnecessary and abstract metaphysics but because the heuristic reason is established to set the stage for a massive philosophical critique of hinduism. through ambedkar, we will discover the failure of two revolutions spread out in historical time, namely the lack of transition from ‘savage’ to ‘civilized,’ and then within ‘civilized’, the demarcation of ‘ancient’ and modern’ (ambedkar, 2014a, pp. 12-13). the implications for our philosophical understanding of a different idea of historical time are immense; to truly understand how hinduism might have emerged as a justification of the unequal and inhuman system of caste means we must disentangle ideas of ‘savage’ and ‘civilized’ and ‘ancient’ and ‘modern’ from their traditional senses. all of them begin to combine and mutate in strange ways. this means that in the very ground and conditions for the emergence of caste is something uncanny: it has everything to do with how we appropriate the legacy of ambedkar in reconceiving the task of a philosophical critique of religion by way of a theoretically rigorous analysis of historical revolutions. references ambedkar, b.r. (2014a). dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3. in narake, hari (ed.), 2nd edition, new delhi: dr ambedkar foundation. — (2014b). annihilation of caste. in s. anand (ed.), london: verso press. derrida, jacques. (1974). of grammatology (trans. gayatri spivak). baltimore: johns hopkins university press. foucault, michel. (1977). discipline and punish: the birth of the prison (trans. alan sheridan). new york: vintage books. 17for example, nietzsche’s on the genealogy of morals of 1887. 234 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 hegel, g.w.f. (1977). phenomenology of spirit (trans. a.v. miller). oxford: oxford university press. heidegger, martin. (1962). being and time (trans. john mcquarrie and edward robinson). new york: harper and row. lévi-strauss, claude. (1966). the savage mind. london: george weidenfeld and nicholson ltd. marx, karl. (2015). capital, vol. 1. (trans. samuel moore and edward aveling). moscow: progress publishers, moscow, ussr. nietzsche, friedrich. (2007). on the genealogy of morals (trans. carol diethe). cambridge: cambridge university press. shue, henry. (1980). basic rights. princeton: princeton university press. © 2022 prem pariyar et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. policy arena caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 189–202 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.320 “when i tell them my caste, silence descends”: caste-based discrimination among the nepali diaspora in the san francisco bay area, usa prem pariyar1, bikash gupta2 and ruvani w. fonseka31 abstract recent cases of caste-based workplace discrimination in silicon valley in the united states (us) have highlighted the practice of caste-based discrimination in the san francisco (sf) bay area. most documentation of caste-based discrimination in diaspora populations in the us has focused on the indian diaspora, omitting the perspectives of dalits from other south asian countries. this study investigated caste-based discrimination among the nepali diaspora living in the sf bay area. twenty-seven nepali-american dalits in the sf bay area participated in qualitative research on their experiences of caste-based discrimination. aligned with findings from studies of dalit diaspora members in other settings, the research found that dalits faced social exclusion, workplace prejudice, microaggressions, and housing bias in the nepali diaspora in the sf bay area. to preempt or avoid discrimination, some dalits hid their caste, and many did not feel comfortable taking action regarding caste-based discrimination because of the absence of caste as a protected category in their workplaces and in local government policies. caste-based discrimination affected the dalits’ mental health as well. the findings highlight the need for policy interventions for dalits living in the sf bay area and facing caste-based discrimination within their diaspora communities. keywords caste, caste-based discrimination, casteism, dalit, nepali diaspora, san francisco bay area, dalit oppression 1department of social work, california state university east bay, 25800 carlos bee blvd, hayward, california, 94542, usa 2heinz college of information systems and public policy, carnegie mellon university, hamburg hall, forbes ave., pittsburgh, pa, 15213, usa 3department of social work, california state university east bay, 25800 carlos bee blvd, hayward, california, 94542, usa current affiliation: school of social work, san josé state university, one washington square, san josé, ca 95192, usa corresponding author: ruvani w. fonseka email: rfonseka@post.harvard.edu 190 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 literature review with migration from south asia, the caste system also traveled to different parts of the world (sam, 2017). adur and narayan highlight the unique experiences of dalits in the south asian diaspora, describing them as “a diaspora within a diaspora” (2017, p. 244). the caste system creates layers of heterogeneous experiences within the south asian diaspora, where dalits, besides dealing with racism in the host country, also have to negotiate caste-based discrimination within their ethnic communities, wearing caste hierarchies “as an albatross around their necks, waiting to free themselves from its oppressive weight” (adur & narayan, 2017, p. 259). while incidents of castebased discrimination against indian-american dalits have been widely covered by us media outlets, reports of caste-based discrimination in other south asian communities in the us, including among nepalis, are much less visible. research on caste in the nepali diaspora is scant, with only a few studies having been conducted on the caste-related experiences of the nepali diaspora—all were outside the us. studies from australia and britain reveal the overrepresentation of dominant hill castes (brahmins and chhetris) in the diaspora and the near cultural homogeneity of these diaspora groups (pariyar, 2018; pariyar, 2019). pariyar noted that dominant castes tended to inflict psychological wounds with their words, engineer social exclusion, or manifest unsafe spaces, which in themselves are forms of violence (2019). pariyar (2020) noted that nepali dominant castes in britain observed the concepts of purity and pollution as they relate to caste, quoting the dominant caste refrain: “if we lose our money and property, we have lost something; if we lose our identity, we have lost everything” (pariyar, 2020, p. 617). in his research, nepali dalit gurkhas in britain reported that dominant caste people barred dalit gurkhas and their children from entering certain areas of the home, particularly kitchens and prayer rooms (2020). in his ethnographic work, caste discrimination was also observed during housing transactions, renting, and during marriages (2020). nepali dalits in his study described experiencing caste slurs and caste-based social exclusion (2020). there were also instances of diaspora dominant caste children taunting dalit children by calling them ‘untouchables.’ pariyar reports that experiences of casteism caused considerable “distress, frustration, and anger” among the victims (pariyar, 2018, p. 414). experiences with caste discrimination can impact victims’ mental health. while we were unable to find any research on the mental health impacts of caste discrimination in the nepali dalit diaspora in the us, studies from other contexts are indicative of such harmful effects. using a mixed-methods approach, kiang et al. examined connections between social status, identity, and mental health among 295 adolescents in nepal (2020). analyzing quantitative surveys and qualitative ethnographic data, they found that mental health was associated with social status, with dalit adolescents reporting the highest level of anxiety, depressive symptoms, and self-esteem compared to their moderate and dominant caste friends (2020). french “when i tell them my caste, silence descends”: caste-based discrimination among the nepali 191 (2020) found that dalits in nepal have “a greater prevalence of depression and anxiety when compared with high castes,” identifying the possible causes as “religious and supernatural teachings, culture, caste, and a lack of education” (french, 2020, p. 1). in a similar vein, gupta and coffey found that in india, scheduled caste (including dalit) and muslim individuals self-reported poorer mental health compared to dominant caste hindus, even after controlling for education and asset gaps (2020). to our knowledge, this is the first study examining the mental health impacts of caste discrimination among the nepali diaspora in the us. methods this study conducted qualitative ethnographic research with nepali dalits living in the sf bay area to investigate if and to what extent caste-based discrimination exists among the local nepali diaspora. the study further explored if the nature of caste-based discrimination differs based on the setting as well as various other themes including identity concealment to avoid discrimination and the impact of caste-based discrimination on nepali dalits’ mental health. in order to collect primary data from nepali dalits living in the sf bay area, we employed semi-structured individual interviews and a focus group discussion. these data collection strategies were chosen because of their particular appropriateness in studies of identity and power dynamics (chiu & knight, 2011), including among dalit nepalis in other diaspora settings (pariyar, 2020). the research investigated the following questions: 1) do nepali dalits experience caste-based discrimination in the sf bay area? 2) does caste-based discrimination differ based on the setting in which it occurs, such as temple, workplace, community, household, etc.? 3) how do nepali dalits deal with caste-based discrimination in the sf bay area? a) do they conceal their identity, as some studies have shown? b) how do identity concealment and other discrimination-defying strategies affect dalits’ mental health? c) does identity disclosure lead to social, professional, or economic exclusion within the nepali community? if so, how does the exclusion affect their standard of living? the questions covered different aspects of dalits’ lives, highlighting a comprehensive picture of their interactions within their diasporic community. participant recruitment the target participants for this study were nepali dalits living in the sf bay area. the lead author has been an active member of the nepali diasporic community and was able to recruit participants through personal connections, as well as through diasporic organizations including nepal american pariyar association (napa). flyers for the research were also shared on social media. nepali dalits were asked to anonymously provide their preferred contact information via an online survey if interested in participating in the study. the lead author then connected with participants via the contact information they had provided. 192 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 sample twenty-seven sf bay area-based nepali dalits participated in this study. ten dalits (eight men and two women) participated in a focus group discussion, while the remaining seventeen (eleven men and six women) chose instead to participate in individual interviews. eight out of the twenty-seven participants were women, and the remaining nineteen participants were men. all dalits participating in this research originated from the nepalese hills. a consent form was read and agreed to by each participant before the start of the focus group discussion and individual interviews. this study received ethical approval from the california state university east bay institutional review board (protocol #: csueb-irb-2020-241). data collection due to the covid-19 pandemic, all data collection was conducted online, with zoom video conferencing and phone calls used to communicate with participants. for the focus group, zoom was used, with each participant receiving a unique zoom id and a password to log in for the meeting. to maximize privacy during the focus group discussion, participants were requested to change their displayed names and turn off their videos prior to the start of the session. the focus group discussion lasted for two hours and fifty minutes. each individual interview lasted between forty-five minutes to an hour. the lead researcher, who facilitated the focus group and interviews, comes from a nepali dalit background, which made it easier for him to build rapport with and establish trust among participants. the facilitator used semi-structured focus group and individual interview guides to facilitate the discussion and interviews. because most of these questions were on sensitive topics regarding discrimination, participants were informed during the recruitment process of the discussion/interview themes, and they were informed that they were free to not answer any questions if they were not comfortable doing so. data analysis audio recordings of the focus group discussion and individual interviews were translated and transcribed into english and then qualitatively coded using a thematic analysis approach (nowell et al., 2017) to answer the study’s research questions. a summary of the main findings follows. findings twenty-seven dalits residing in the sf bay area participated in a focus group discussion or individual interviews. they all came from the hilly region of nepal and had lived in the united states for at least one year. all participants reported experiencing castebased discrimination in nepal, and twenty-four out of twenty-seven reported having experienced caste-based discrimination within the nepali diaspora in the united states. “when i tell them my caste, silence descends”: caste-based discrimination among the nepali 193 the three participants who did not report experiencing caste-based discrimination in the united states also reported being disconnected from the dominant caste nepali diaspora community and were therefore protected from the possibility of caste-based discrimination. however, they reported hearing of caste-based discrimination against their dalit friends who were more integrated into the nepali diaspora. the participants reported experiencing caste-based discrimination during conversations, in housing, at the workplace, from older members of the nepali diaspora, at religious gatherings, and when pursuing romantic relationships. despite caste-based discrimination, some participants have chosen to live openly as dalits among the diaspora, while others continue to conceal their caste identity. many participants described ways that castebased discrimination in the nepali sf bay area diaspora has affected their mental health and well-being. experiences of discrimination “i have experienced discrimination in nepal, india, the u.s., wherever there is a nepali diaspora,” one male participant said, highlighting the ubiquity of caste-based discrimination. below, we outline the six main types of caste-based discrimination described by participants. casteism in conversation participants described dominant caste nepalis obsessively inquiring about individuals’ caste identity, which they then used to rank people. one male participant said, “when i tell them [dominant caste nepalis] my caste, silence descends, which makes me uncomfortable.” participants also pointed to the ubiquitous use of slurs. one female participant said, “they would pick on my traits such as skin color or eating habits and humiliate me, saying i looked like damai [the name of a sub-caste of dalits in the hilly regions of nepal whose occupations include tailoring and playing music ] or a kami [another sub-caste of dalits with occupations such as blacksmith].” mitra pariyar found similar caste-targeted slurs in england (2019). another female participant described how a dominant caste man, upon learning that she was a dalit, diminished the respect level of the pronoun he used to address her. the man changed the pronoun from “tapai” [higher-level, used for elders, strangers] to “timi” [mid-level, friends] after learning of her caste, signifying a decrease in his respect for her. participants reported that dominant caste nepalis perceived dalits as destitute with no future. one male participant shared that, upon meeting a successful dalit, “dominant caste people would gasp, surprised that dalits can also be successful.” a male participant concurred and shared how his us-based dominant caste friends would showcase their superior status by “talking about their possessions, power, and people [who were in high posts in nepal] to show dalits their positions.” participants said that dominant castes would discount successful dalits’ merits, with one male participant giving as an example how dominant caste nepalis sarcastically said of him, “despite being a dalit, he is a good singer.” 194 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 discrimination in housing nearly all participants reported personally experiencing or knowing other nepali dalits who faced caste-based discrimination in housing in the sf bay area. one male participant shared that his dalit friend was evicted when his roommates learned of his caste. “the roommates’ behavior instantly changed,” he shared. a woman participant shared that she was also evicted when the dominant caste house owner learned of her dalit identity, which she had concealed when arranging the housing for fear of discrimination. in another instance, a woman participant reported an instance of a dominant caste woman refusing to rent a room within her house, saying, “i think it happened because of caste. she did not want to live with a pariyar [a nepali dalit surname] family.” discrimination at work participants also shared incidents of workplace caste-based discrimination in the sf bay area. “my workplace canceled a planned picnic when they discovered [i] was a dalit,” one male participant shared. another male participant shared that his colleagues socially excluded him at the workplace after discovering that he was a dalit. he complained that “solidarity against caste-based discrimination does not translate to policy changes at the workplace,” and his dominant caste coworkers who had previously stated their opposition to the caste system still remained silent after his caste identity was revealed and he was impacted by caste-based discrimination. a female participant noted that in organizations with indian and nepali employees and non-south asian bosses, caste-based discrimination occurred amongst the south asian workers without the boss’s full understanding, stating, “discrimination is common between workers and not between the worker and the boss.” participants recounted how, at their jobs, casteist slurs were common, such as “sano jaat ko sanai buddhi [small caste, small brain].” caste-based discrimination affected participants’ prospective employment. a dalit photographer said dominant caste people would not hire him for family shoots. “i feel inferior around them,” he said, explaining his reluctance to work with the nepali diaspora after experiencing these instances of caste-based discrimination. intergenerational discrimination participants reported ways in which dominant caste young adults in the nepali diaspora who acted friendly with dalits would change their behavior when their older parents were visiting. one male participant said “when their parents were not around, dominant caste friends would come and mingle with us. however, when their parents arrived, they would give excuses to not come to our place.” if the dominant caste young adults were to invite dalits over while their parents were visiting, they would ensure their parents ate first. the concept of purity and pollution was a recurrent theme in the interviews and the focus group. a male dalit participant shared an incident of caste-based discrimination during a celebration of tihar (diwali), saying, “once when i went to see a [dominant caste] friend and she put a bhai tika [colored powder traditionally placed by a sister on “when i tell them my caste, silence descends”: caste-based discrimination among the nepali 195 her brother’s head] on my forehead, her mother became angry with her and instructed her to clean the entire house. her mother made a loud scene saying how her daughter brings any people to her home.” the incident demonstrated the reigning purity and pollution binary concept of the caste system in the diaspora, in which close friendships spanning caste boundaries are not accepted. one participant narrated how despite his offering aid to a dominant caste friend whose father had died recently, the friend refused to accept his help because by “tradition” a dalit’s presence would “pollute” his father’s last rites: “my upper-caste friend’s father had died in nepal. i felt sad for him and extended my support and sympathy. however, because i was a dalit and in his caste’s funeral tradition my presence around him would be considered polluting, he preemptively left our shared apartment to prepare for the rite by himself.” discrimination at religious gatherings caste-based discrimination in religious affairs was common, and each participant had heard of it or personally experienced it. “dominant caste families have not invited me for a puja (worship) ceremony even though they have invited mutual dominant caste friends,” a female participant shared, describing her exclusion from religious events due to her caste. one mother shared an incident where a dominant caste individual prevented her daughter from joining a panchakanya (the league of five girls) for a hindu festival, even when this exclusion required the ceremony to proceed with an incorrect number of participants: “i was asked to take my daughter initially in the nepali ceremony to be a member of panchkanya. but when we were there in the ceremony, my daughter was not included in the group and only four daughters from the dominant caste group were approved. i was very embarrassed at that time. i realized how caste discrimination exists in the nepali diaspora even in the us.” another mother noted that “in diasporic gatherings, my kids were only allowed to worship after everyone else had.” participants described a similar barring from entering places of worship or touching holy objects. “during festivals, they wished we had not come to their place,” a man said. similarly, another male participant recounted how a visiting nepali priest refused to shake his hand at a diasporic gathering, considering him polluted: “a very popular nepali priest had come to see the diaspora community leaders during a dharmic mahotsav [hindu religious festival event] in the san francisco bay area. in one of the meetings with the community leaders, he was shaking hands. when my turn approached in the queue, a friend introduced him to me by stating my full name. after the [priest] heard my name, he refused to shake my hand. i felt humiliated and an inferiority complex surrounded me. after that day, i decided not to join that dharmic mahotsav ever.” discrimination in romantic relationships caste-based discrimination also affected participants’ romantic relationships. one male participant who had married another dalit recounted that “before marriage, i dated two dominant caste girls, whose families rejected me because of my caste.” 196 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 participants had mainly married dalits so there were very few experiences of intercaste marriage to share. the only participant who was in an inter-caste relationship with a non-dalit described facing caste-based discrimination from his wife’s family, saying “i still cannot visit my in-laws’ house because of my caste position.” coming out as dalit in the diaspora individual interviews revealed that many dalits chose to conceal their caste as a strategy to evade caste-based discrimination. many who began the practice when they lived in nepal maintained it after moving to the sf bay area. in contrast, some participants chose to disclose their caste identity despite the high likelihood of facing caste-based discrimination. “people have changed their identity, severed ties with their families, and become contactless [to fit among the dominant castes],” one male participant said. multiple participants described their fathers changing the family name they used in nepal from a dalit name to one that belonged to a dominant caste, in order to avoid caste-based discrimination and pursue better opportunities. a female participant described the practice thus: “we did not show our citizenship cards, and we called ourselves [another dominant caste name] in our rented apartment.” in her recounting, she also shared that the experience of constantly concealing her identity led her to be constantly fearful of being discovered and lowered her self-esteem. multiple participants have chosen to openly disclose their dalit identity while living in the sf bay area, despite the existence of caste-based discrimination among the nepali diaspora. the same female participant who lived in fear in nepal of being uncovered as dalit embraced her identity after coming to the us with her dalit husband. while she was finally able to take pride in her roots, the new dalit family name reduced her privilege and opened pathways for caste-based discrimination in the form of microaggressions and social exclusion by dominant caste nepalis: “in nepal, i used to hide my identity. i had a uniquely upper caste-sounding last name. my friends were curious and always wanted to get to the bottom of what my identity was. i could not fully express myself. even on facebook, i had a fake name. i felt caged by this false identity and always feared tribulations that would come with identity disclosure. even after coming to the united states, i hid my identity. only after my husband, a dalit, gave me confidence did i accept my identity. later, i also changed my facebook name to my real dalit name. while this helped me own my identity and take pride in it, this new identity disclosure also brought microaggressions and social exclusion. people would hear my name and instantly use non-respectful pronouns. i could hear the disrespect in their tone.” another participant disapproved of identity concealment, even though he admitted that many dalits felt they had no other safe options. he declared “i am proud of my caste,” demonstrating how narratives around caste are shifting in the diaspora. “when i tell them my caste, silence descends”: caste-based discrimination among the nepali 197 mental health impacts of caste-based discrimination participants reported how the impacts of ongoing social exclusion and the daily struggles caused by caste-based discrimination accumulated over time, affecting dalits’ mental health. one male participant shared that “caste-based discrimination has pained me immeasurably. in my childhood, i constantly wondered why i was born into a dalit family.” he further expressed, “dominant caste nepalis do not consider dalits as humans. their behavior pains me a lot. i am ashamed of identifying myself as nepali.” another male participant also spoke of the pain caused by caste-based discrimination, saying, “we have a lot of pida [pain] that emotionally breaks us [...] dominant castes, through actions and words, find ways to torture us psychologically.” participants focused on the pain and distress that caste-based discrimination caused them. one participant critiqued the nepali diaspora for not having made progress, saying “in our [dalit] hearts, there is a lot of pir [pain],” he said. another participant recounted having trouble sleeping the night before meeting a dominant caste nepali house owner from whom he hoped to rent a room, saying, “i had a restless night. i feared if she [a dominant caste woman] would ask my name and [what would happen] if i should tell her my real name.” finally, some dalit participants carried with them traumas that had roots in caste-based discrimination and violence which they had experienced in nepal. one male participant said on this topic, “the [caste-based] trauma i experienced earlier [in nepal] did not leave when i arrived in the u.s.” no clear recourse for caste-based discrimination dalit participants did not know whom to approach if they were confronted with caste-based discriminatory incidents. most of them said they would come to nepali american pariyar association (napa), a nepali dalit organization in the sf bay area. some favored informing the police if such incidents occurred. however, one male participant also pointed out that people feared registering complaints with the police. “if we do, we will be socially excluded, and we will lose a lot more than we will gain,” the participant remarked. without caste as a protected category under the local policy, participants feared that complaints to local officials would fall on deaf ears. discussion the objective of this study was to investigate if nepali dalits experience caste-based discrimination in the san francisco bay area and if so, to what extent, and with what impact on their mental health. a majority of participants said that they had experienced caste-based discrimination in the u.s. the types of caste-based discrimination described included social exclusion, workplace discrimination, challenges in pursuing inter-caste relationships, intergenerational prejudices, and discrimination in religious gatherings. caste-based discrimination affected dalits’ mental health, with participants describing these incidents as traumatizing and hurtful. 198 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 policy context the question of caste discrimination among the south asian diaspora in the us and the potential role for policy interventions has gained momentum in the past few years. while systematic national evidence for the scale of the problem is not readily available, one study conducted by community-based organization equality labs found that a significant proportion of surveyed dalits reported experiencing caste discrimination in their place of work, educational institutions, and social interactions (zwick-maitreyi et al., 2018). sixty percent of dalits surveyed reported experiencing caste-based derogatory jokes or comments in the united states (zwick-maitreyi et al., 2018). while the study is based on a snowball sample and therefore proportions reported may not be easily generalizable across the u.s, the snowball sample used indicates that caste discrimination, as reported by participants, is present in the diaspora. several other significant developments also attest to the fact that the issue of caste discrimination in the south asian diaspora deserves attention. in june 2020, california’s department of fair employment and housing filed a landmark lawsuit against cisco systems for allegedly discriminating against an indian employee based on caste (dutt, 2020; elzweig, 2021; narayan, 2020). the lawsuit charged that cisco, citing the lack of caste as a protected category under us law, refused to take corrective action even after the employee filed complaints with the human resources department (dutt, 2020; elzweig, 2021; narayan, 2020). american institutions of higher education have also started to amend their anti-discrimination policies to include caste. in 2019, brandeis university became the first us university to change its anti-discrimination policy and recognize caste as a protected category (liebowitz, 2019; the office of human resources at brandeis university, 2019). the department of social work at california state university (csu) east bay adopted caste as a protected category in 2020 (csu east bay department of social work, 2020), and the academic senate of csu east bay passed a resolution urging the chancellor of the csu system to recognize caste as a protected category in march 2021 (20-21 fdec 3: resolution in support of providing protection to dominated and oppressed castes at california state university, east bay, 2021). the associated students at the university of california, davis senate also unanimously passed a resolution to recognize caste as a protected category in february 2021 (duley, 2021; asucd senate resolution #8, 2021). the cal state student association (cssa) representing the nearly half a million students across all twenty-three campuses of the california state university (csu) system (the country’s most extensive four-year public university system) unanimously passed a resolution in support of adding caste as a protected category in april 2021 (naik, 2021; cal state student association, 2021). finally, in january 2022, the entire csu system added caste to its antidiscrimination policy (california state university, 2022). the findings of this study and the social phenomenom described within it are not simply academic in nature and must be taken in the context of a sweeping expressed need in the diaspora to address the issue of caste. unlike mitra pariyar’s findings in which certain diasporic nepali dalits accepted caste-based discrimination as part of the social order (2018, 2019, 2020), participants in this study were vocal in their “when i tell them my caste, silence descends”: caste-based discrimination among the nepali 199 opposition to caste-based discrimination and named its existence as a reason that they avoided engaging fully with the wider, multi-caste nepali diaspora in the sf bay area. many participants said that they felt ashamed to call themselves nepali because they felt that the nepali identity had been monopolized and appropriated by dominant caste members of the diaspora. the individual interviews and focus group discussion helped determine that caste-based discrimination occurs in the san francisco bay area. as many participants recounted, caste-based discrimination was visible, and many dominant caste individuals still looked down on members of oppressed castes. caste-based discrimination was present across multiple settings including workplaces, family interactions, and diasporic gatherings. while not all the participants concealed their caste identity, some used identity concealment as a strategy to deflect caste-based discrimination. this strategy had a downside as it affected their mental health and lowered their morale, self-esteem, and confidence. on the other hand, disclosing their caste identity in some instances cost dalits housing, employment, and social opportunities. most dalit participants did not know whom to reach out to if caste-based discrimination were to occur. this may be because much of the caste-based discrimination that dalits face abroad is in the form of microaggressions, which are so normalized that dalits let them pass. additionally, as one participant stated, there are downsides to complaining about caste-based discrimination to the local police station. nepali dalits who come forward about discrimination they have faced by other nepalis in the close-knit diaspora community may face social exclusion or a decrease in their social standing. even if someone chose to issue a complaint to a police station in the bay area, the police might not fully understand the gravity of caste-based discrimination because caste is still not recognized as a protected category in local anti-discrimination laws. this study confirms and validates other ethnographic studies highlighting the overt and covert caste-based discrimination that dalits in the nepali diaspora go through every day (pariyar, 2018, 2019, 2020). additionally, it provides a unique contribution as the first study to examine this phenomenon among nepalis living in the united states. study strengths and limitations there are limitations to non-ethnographic research that relies on secondary data and fails to incorporate people’s lived experiences. additionally, given the historical power gap between dominant castes and oppressed castes, dalit participants may police their words in front of dominant caste scholars, thereby limiting the findings and contributing to a narrow understanding of the impact of caste. led by a nepali dalit scholar, this ethnographic study aimed to erase those potential pitfalls and contribute to filling the literature gap. thus, a main strength of the study was that it was embedded in the nepali dalit community in the sf bay area. the lead researcher/facilitator comes from a nepali dalit background, which made it easier to build rapport and establish trust among 200 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 participants. this may have been more difficult if the researcher were from a dominant caste. as one female participant put it, “in our heart, we had kept things secret, but now we can share these secrets on this platform.” one limitation was the low recruitment of women to the study, with many married women who were approached expressing that they believed their husbands’ experiences were the same as their own. this limitation might be addressed in future research on this topic by including female dalit researchers in the study team, who might be able to recruit women separately and facilitate gendermatched interviews and focus groups to understand the unique experiences of nepali dalit women in the diaspora. the study only had dalit participants who originated from nepali hills, and not from the plains. plains-based dalits belong to one of the most marginalized communities in nepal and future studies should incorporate their experiences. conclusion this study confirms that caste-based discrimination exists within the sf bay area nepali diaspora in the united states. dalits reported experiencing caste-based discrimination in multiple settings, including in the workplace and when seeking housing. caste-based discrimination in the sf bay area affects nepali dalits’ mental health, with many participants saying that they had sleepless nights thinking about caste in the us. many participants did not know whom to approach after incidents of caste-based discrimination occurred. the absence of caste as a protected category under us and local laws made them hesitant to reach out to law enforcement and others who would enforce such a policy if it existed. there needs to be more research on how caste-based discrimination affects dalitamericans in the us. dalits continue to be one of the most marginalized and oppressed groups in the world. future studies focusing on nepali dalit communities need to be conducted and should include the voices of more dalit women and madhesi/terai dalits from the southern nepali plains. in addition to gathering more evidence on the unique experiences of nepali dalits in the diaspora through research, policymakers in areas with large south asian diasporic populations such as the sf bay area need to move to include caste as a category protected under non-discrimination laws. only with these initiatives can caste-based discrimination become a figment of the past. acknowledgments the authors would like to thank friends for education international (ffei) for their generous financial support of this study. the funder had no role in the development of this manuscript. we would also like to extend our appreciation to equality labs, particularly thenmouzhi soundararajan, sahana mehta, and kamardip singh, for their mentorship and support. manmit singh chahal worked with the lead author to add caste as a protected category in the california state university (csu) system. we are grateful to dr. claire willey-shtapit for providing advice on data analysis and interpretation. thank you to the csu east bay department of social work, and to “when i tell them my caste, silence descends”: caste-based discrimination among the nepali 201 dr. holly vugia for her ongoing support. thank you as well to the csu east bay middle eastern, north african, and asian and pacific islander social work graduate assembly (mena-api swga) for bringing awareness to these issues. finally, we would like to thank the nepalese american pariyar association (napa) for their assistance in recruiting participants in the san francisco bay area. references 20-21 fdec 3: resolution in support of providing protection to dominated and oppressed castes at california state university, east bay, pub. l. no. 2021 fdec 3 (2021). https://docs. google.com/document/d/1spkv__aeszmiup8wptf9dnw_cifqi2esra7twr8ilgy/edit adur, s. m., & narayan, a. (2017). stories of dalit diaspora: migration, life narratives, and caste. biography, 40(1), pp. 244–264. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26405019?casa_toke n=pyn1sfx0z8yaaaaa%3aqtbqhtyaaad5bbw0wmeiwexuiv_8tgsuxu-hsdn baxmsltoysms1nnu9s2hf6qev96zr7yohsaxn4vr-u49sv_ro00lo5lzu-w2fn2pjuok_wypxmzr&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents asucd senate resolution #8, 1 (2021). https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ovl07wlexqntfm3n84leovezdd5ihxi-iazzt8plmq/edit cal state student association (2021). resolution calling for the csu to include caste in antidiscriminatory policy. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o8oovy3npi2suxasooxvxhpbiw_ vsinw/view california state university (2022). interim csu policy prohibiting discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, and retaliation, 1 https://calstate.policystat.com/policy/10926024/latest/ chiu, l.-f., & knight, d. (2011). how useful are focus groups for obtaining the views of minority groups? developing focus group research, pp. 99–112. https://doi. org/10.4135/9781849208857.n7 csu east bay department of social work. (2020). mission. welcome to the department of social work! https://www.csueastbay.edu/sw/index.html duley, m. (2021, february 11). senate bills # 53 , # 55 and senate resolution # 8 passed at feb . 11 asucd senate meeting. the california aggie, 6–11. https://theaggie.org/2021/02/26/ senate-bills-53-55-and-senate-resolution-8-passed-at-feb-11-asucd-senate-meeting/ dutt, y. (2020, july 14). the specter of caste in silicon valley. the new york times. https:// www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/opinion/caste-cisco-indian-americans-discrimination.html elzweig, b. (2021). caste discrimination and federal employment law in the united states. ualr l. rev., 44, p. 57. french, a. n. (2020). dalits and mental health: investigating perceptions, stigma and barriers to support in kathmandu, nepal. journal of global health reports, 4, pp. 1–13. https://doi. org/10.29392/001c.12136 gupta, a., & coffey, d. (2020). caste, religion, and mental health in india. population research and policy review, 39, pp. 1119–1141. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-020-09585-9 kiang, l., folmar, s., & gentry, k. (2020). “untouchable”? social status, identity, and mental health among adolescents in nepal. journal of adolescent research, 35(2), pp. 248–273. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558418791501 202 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 liebowitz, r. (2019). adding caste to our non-discrimination and harassment policy. letters and addresses | office of the president | brandeis university. https://www.brandeis.edu/ president/letters/2019-12-17-adding-caste-to-our-nondiscrimination-harassment-policy. html naik, r. h. (2021, april 16). california student body demands ban on caste-based discrimination. al jazeera news | education. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/16/californiastudent-body-demands-ban-on-caste-based-discrimination narayan, v. v. (2020). the caste of merit: engineering education in india. caste/a global journal on social exclusion, 1(2), pp. 215-226. nowell, l. s., norris, j. m., white, d. e., & moules, n. j. (2017). thematic analysis: striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. international journal of qualitative methods, 16(1), pp. 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917733847 pariyar, m. (2018). chapter 17 | caste discrimination overseas: nepali dalits in england. in d. n. gellner & s. l. hausner (eds.), global nepalis: religion, culture, and community in a new and old diaspora, oup, pp. 404–434. ———. (2019). traveling castes: nepalese immigrants in australia. south asian diaspora, 11(1), pp. 89–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/19438192.2018.1523091 ———. (2020). caste, military, migration: nepali gurkha communities in britain. ethnicities, 20(3), pp. 608–627. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796819890138 sam, j. s. (2017). caste diasporas beyond national boundaries: digital caste networks. perspectives on global development and technology, 16, pp. 145–159. https://doi. org/10.1163/15691497-12341425 the office of human resources at brandeis university. (2019). statement on the interpretation of caste within the brandeis nondiscrimination policy. discrimination | university policies and procedures. https://www.brandeis.edu/human-resources/policies/discrimination/castestatement.html zwick-maitreyi, m., soundararajan, t., dar, n., bheel, r. f., & balakrishnan, p. (2018). caste in the united states: a survey of caste among south asian americans. equality labs. https:// www.equalitylabs.org/castesurvey article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 17–28 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.141 © 2020 sampath. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism” rajesh sampath1 abstract this paper attempts a critical commentary of ambedkar’s posthumously published, incomplete manuscript, “philosophy of hinduism,” which was discovered shortly after his death. initially we look at how ambedkar lays down certain conditions to think about the relation between philosophy and religion, let alone what a ‘philosophy of religion’ even means. we follow ambedkar’s thinking on why philosophy serves an important function when it enables critical judgement on what constitutes a religion. ultimately, ambedkar argues for the criteria of ‘utility’ and ‘justice’ to inform such a judgement after canvassing the history of religion itself. he concludes with a negative judgement: that in so far as the ‘philosophy of hinduism’ continues to promote and perpetuate the seemingly indestructible social order of caste, or descentbased hierarchy in the indian context, it fails to meet those two criteria. therefore, hinduism is not a religion in the way ambedkar understands the process of world history and the discontinuous evolution of the concept of religion itself. from a standpoint of social justice, this paper attempts to draw out the profound implications of one of ambedkar’s last studies prior to his death, and argues for the centrality of both philosophy and the philosophy of religion in ambedkar studies in general. introduction in 2014, the dr. ambedkar foundation within the ministry of social justice and empowerment of the government of india reprinted vol. 3 in the collected works titled dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches.1 at the time of his death in 1956, numerous unpublished papers of ambedkar were transferred to the high court of delhi and then given to the administrator general of the state of maharashtra and have been held under their guardianship since.2 vol. 3 1associate professor of the philosophy of justice, rights, and social change, heller school for social policy and management, brandeis university, waltham, massachusetts, usa e-mail: rsampath@brandeis.edu 18 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 contains a number of important writings that focus specifically on the philosophy and history of religion in ambedkar’s vast, polymath corpus.3 these collected volumes are an incredible testament to his genius in that ambedkar was able to cover so many different fields spanning law to economics to political and social theory. to imagine the vigor, energy, and dynamism of this unique social leader who laid the constitutional foundations for the post-colonial independent secular democratic india would be difficult. asking how so much could be accomplished in a single lifetime is one thing; asking how one person could contribute to so much across so many different scholarly fields while being one of the greatest social movement leaders of the twentieth century is another. both are staggering facts that are seemingly impossible to fathom, even in contrast to other great social leaders of his time, and not just in the south asian context. perhaps more astonishing is that his incredible insights on his historical context of the early to the mid-twentieth century contain enormous value that surpasses his time and affects our historical present. in short the legacy of ambedkar continues, and perhaps his unfinished project of the reformation of indian society bereft of the caste system is something still to come. having acknowledged his influence in the fields of law, economics, politics, history, and sociology in his south asian context, perhaps what is most interesting, however, is that worldwide ambedkar scholarship has a great opportunity to probe the depths of his life-long study of philosophy and the philosophy of religion in particular.4 it is there we can probe what his deepest concerns may have been in his own lived struggle and existential quest. we know that for ambedkar, life and thought fused in complex ways informing what both meant for his enduring and indomitable will to reform the hindu social order based on the democratic principles of ‘equality, liberty, and fraternity.’5 in this paper we pay brief homage to ambedkar’s contributions to not only philosophy but the specific sub-field of the ‘philosophy of religion.’ the philosophy of religion is not just a sub-field of philosophy, nor one of many fields within the multi and interdisciplinary field of religious studies. rather, one of our assumptions is that the very relation between philosophy and religion has to be investigated. we can do so through ambedkar’s writings on hinduism. our aim is to explore his critical and evaluative approach as to whether hinduism even constitutes a ‘religion’; that is if the presupposition of most world religions in general is a minimum commitment to justice, mercy, compassion, in order to inform the values of underpinning secular democratic principles of ‘equality, liberty, and fraternity.’ it is possible that some religions do not have a specific rootedness in explicit principles of justice but aim for detachment from all worldly and human presuppositions. but ambedkar does not probe other worldly religions. rather, he puts hinduism to the test in that regard while he probes what a ‘philosophy of religion’ is as an academic field; but his ultimate aim is to critique caste as the basis of the hindu social system and therefore imagine an alternative to that core structure that could actually realize true equality, liberty, justice, inclusion, and peaceful coexistence. in the spirit of the inaugural volume of caste: a global journal on social exclusion launched by the center for global development and sustainability at the heller school for social policy and management and published by the brandeis university library, we want to be mindful of its theme on the ‘persistence of caste.’ we stand firm in our conviction that beyond philosophy in general on the one hand and religious studies on the other that rely on a number of other disciplines outside of a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published ... 19 philosophy, say literature, classical languages, history, sociology, and anthropology, there lies an enigmatic, seemingly unnoticeable space called the ‘philosophy of religion.’ unlike most scholarly discourse and knowledge production, it does not seem visible or accessible to most human perception or intuition, be they scholars or the non-academically curious. in other words, one has to go deep. something about the philosophy of religion raises key ethical questions about the validity of both philosophy and religion, their interrelations, and ultimately the philosophical-critical judgement of religion in so far as the “idea of society is the soul of religion” as durkheim once said.6 the durkheimian statement is quite uncanny because our automatic intuition suggests that normally we would think religion as presenting the aspirational ‘soul’ or essence of a just society. but not the other way around. however, in the context of ambedkar’s long-standing critique of the hindu social order of caste, the opposite is at stake: religion is indeed the soul of a society but one that is demonic. in short, we are intrigued by ambedkar’s initial explorations and puzzlement as to what the ‘philosophy of religion’ even means and what its purpose is when he focuses on hinduism. as we shall see in this commentary, he quickly realizes that by unpacking the very nature of what a ‘philosophy of religion’ is and what it should do relates to an unrelenting critical judgement of whether a religion must and should provide a moral basis for any society. and finally whether the world religion known as ‘hinduism’ fulfills that criteria to be labeled a religion must become a question. we can say that at the outset of this commentary on ambedkar studies of caste and social exclusion, for ambedkar, it does not.7 in asking what makes caste a self-perpetuating, malignant form of social exclusion, stratification, inequality, and injustice that persists within society through religion, we must embark on a journey into ambedkar’s investigations on the ‘philosophy of religion.’ his reflections show the traditional depth of ambedkar’s selfreflective attitude towards the fields and disciplines he discusses and situates himself within.8 this contribution to caste: a global journal on social exclusion is organized in the following manner. first we will summarize key points from ambedkar’s extremely rich text – “philosophy of hinduism” -which contain so many seeds ripe for further expansion. as the manuscript remained unfinished, perhaps a future paper can attempt a continuation of the project began in that essay.9 in the commentary, we will attempt to expand on certain philosophical insights and deductions in ambedkar’s compelling study while leveraging resources in nineteenth and twentieth continental european philosophy, particularly in the second half of the twentieth century to which ambedkar did not have access. lastly, we will conclude with certain reflections on how the project begun by ambedkar could be extended in the future. that would require a reckoning of our twenty-first century historical present. in the opening moments of the “philosophy of hinduism,” ambedkar asks some key questions about philosophy and religion in general before he even gets to his analysis of the philosophy of the particular world religion known as hinduism. at the onset of the analysis, ambedkar says that it is impossible to know about a religion’s ‘content, aim, focus,’ and original claims, for example the religion of hinduism, if we do not ask what that religion is. the way philosophy can help is to inquire into what something is or what its nature or essence is.10 at least in terms of some kind of platonic distinction, we can formulate the following: we need to inquire into what the most essential thing is within the essence of a thing, and not any phenomenal 20 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 appearance or manifestation of what a thing appears to be, even the phenomenality or materiality of a presupposed essence. in other words, we have to keep searching. he also admits to the fact that he doesn’t know if the philosophy of hinduism and philosophy of religion are of the ‘same nature.’11 this is because he first has to ask about what a philosophy of religion is in general, which means defining first what he thinks philosophy is and religion is, let alone their relation. what he arrives at is an initial, even hostile, contrast between philosophy and religion.12 for ambedkar, the two fields seem to be “adversaries” and “antagonists13” whereby theologians of religion accuse philosophers of being ‘blind in searching for something that does not exist’ (perhaps the truth of being or the meaning of life or the nature of truth itself). and then the philosopher rebuts by reprimanding the theologian of religion for doing the same thing: a blind act groping for something that does not exist but then dogmatically claiming that it does exist (perhaps that would be an invisible god or a universal, albeit unprovable, answer as to why we exist and suffer and what happens after we die). the asymmetry in the accusations of one to the other is quite revealing because it points to the differing intentionalities of both fields. philosophy one can say is willing to live with the uncertainty of its own ground or reason to exist, which then becomes the very mystery as to why it occurs at all, say from an initial primordial doubt as descartes experienced. this groundless ground, which leads to wonder then impassions us to question the nature of everything. thereby yielding philosophical content that does not simply name truth, the truth of being or all that is (including the human inquiry to all that is) but also the being of truth—asking what truth is without arriving at a simple answer.14 philosophy in that case would be both the posing of a question about itself, its own nature, and suspending any simple answer about that question precisely as it activates itself in whatever it pursues, i.e. truth, being, meaning. philosophy can live with its own abyssal nature, but that says something about the nature of everything in general. however for the theologian this could be futile because it is not just searching for something that doesn’t exist but raises the question why one would even embark on such a journey knowing that is in fact what one is doing: pursuing something by assuming it exists without knowing if in fact one will ever find it, i.e. a holy grail. yet the philosopher’s response to the theologian also raises certain questions about religion. the philosopher claims that the theologian is duplicating the very same effort of the philosopher, say the search for truth or meaning of everything or being in general; but then the philosopher also claims that the theologian asserts dogmatically the existence of an entity that could provide an answer, say god, without being able to prove that such an entity exists. for a philosopher could ask ‘what does that say about religion’s ground?’ perhaps religion is willing to live with the uncertainty of the proof of the answer to the question of truth and meaning of everything because the answer (say god) provides solace, comfort, and peace through some kind of faith; this thereby takes the edge off the opacity of the question or pursuit by transferring the indefinite nature of existing without meaning to the certitude of a commitment to at least the proxy of answer that can provide definition and certitude: ‘i exist because of god’s will that i exist and do good.’ for ambedkar, the issue at hand in this particular unpublished manuscript is not to resolve this fundamental difference or tension between religion and philosophy. ultimately, he says if this tension exists, then certainly what does that say about any attempt to bring them into relation for example when we speak of a ‘philosophy of a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published ... 21 religion.’ it could be this very “antagonism” between the two fields of philosophy and religion that makes the field known as the philosophy of religion exist in its “confusion” with regard to its exact definition and nature.15 ambedkar does not set out to solve this dilemma, which one can argue date back to both the origins of philosophy and religion around the world, west and east, in antiquity and the medieval periods of chronological historical time. instead, he decides to intervene in what a philosophy of religion must perform as a kind of duty, and that is to critically judge the moral viability of a religion to continue to justify its value for human existence. philosophy can perform that task of critical judgement.16 throughout his scholarly and activist life, ambedkar, obviously, had a core concern for social justice and liberation. more than a concern, he tried to enact a total social recreation. the philosophy of religion cannot just be “descriptive” or what something is but rather “normative” or what something should be.17 this is not to say that even an attempt at an objective or factual description of what is, which the social sciences for example (sociology, anthropology, empirical history) may aspire to provide, or law for that matter in executing what justice is, does not mean that there are not normative implications even in the objective description of the nature of something. one can intend to describe the fact of something; but then its effect could be to induce in the very description a normative demand for justice and change.18 in any case, this move from the “descriptive” to the “normative” allows ambedkar to get to his main concern, which is an interrogation of the “philosophy of hinduism,” but not just for its own sake or idle speculation. rather, he will embark on a critical judgement of what it fails to achieve, namely an indian social order founded on justice, equality, liberty, and fraternity, one unburdened from its recent colonial past and distant pre-colonial origins. before he gets to that ultimate judgement, he says “to be explicit i shall be putting hinduism on its trial to assess its worth as a way of life.”19 it is interesting to note that ambedkar’s critical endeavor at this juncture is not what one would normally think when it comes to assessing the moral value of most religions. most attempts at moral philosophy and ethics try to probe what is good about a religion in so far as it examines the doctrines, precepts, texts, and heritage of a religion that speak about justice, mercy, compassion, how to live a good and decent life and how to treat others whether or not a particular religion promises salvation, redemption or continuation of life after death.20 studying religion means studying its moral validity to commit to justice. but this will not be the case for ambedkar.21 rather, he will introduce “three dimensions” to lay the ‘ground’ work in his philosophical analysis of hinduism precisely to examine the social order it gave rise to, namely the indefatigable, seemingly eternal caste system. this historically contingent reality is founded on a profoundly unjust, unequal, hierarchically stratified social system, not only apathetic to human suffering but actively promotes antipathy to a common, universal, human fellowship.22 the first dimension is the very ‘phenomenon’ of religion even though it has always been unclear across time and history as to what it is.23 this is so because no one world religion (although it may aspire to claim universal validity of its truth and therefore exclusion to all other religions’ claims to their universal truths) can in fact speak to what ‘religion’ in general is as a philosophical object. for ambedkar, there are ‘natural’ and ‘revealed religions’. but he is not concerned with the content of religion and whether its claim to truth is valid on philosophical or theological grounds within any given religion.24 that would be the work of a theologian, and even comparative 22 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 theologies and religions. but in utilizing the phrase, a ‘philosophy of religion’ (and therefore not just philosophy in general independent of any religion), ambedkar is laser-focused on his primary task, namely exposing the inner-workings of hinduism that allows it to substantiate, perpetuate, and concatenate an unjust and immoral scheme for society. hence he needs to bring in a second dimension. he calls that dimension “the ideal scheme for which a religion stands.”25 many extant religions not only imagine a perfect or ideal world beyond this human earthly realm with all of its sin, suffering, finitude, death and catastrophe, say a heavenly abode beyond death or after the end of human history where the whole world will be redeemed and saved. but this apocalyptic closure to the long mystery as to why human beings came into existence is not what ambedkar will set out to ask of the hindu religion. instead, religions, in their wishes to describe metaphysical realities beyond physical nature or this life in its time, end up producing assumptions that cohere into aspirational values of what this world or life should be. it is about this ‘inner-worldly’ realm to use a weberian term that ambedkar does not invoke that is at stake.26 the ‘ideal scheme’ one can say is how a religion’s blind spot, say its propositions about transcendence to another world, surreptitiously shapes its ethical assumptions about what it means to exist in this world. the outer becomes not only the innerexpression of the outer but the essence of the inner itself in material form. hinduism may have archaic roots in some supersensory ancient past. for example what people may speculate about regarding the distant, hallucinogenic vedic origins and propositions about cosmic cycles of time, creation, and destruction in an unforeseen future that defy the laws of modern scientific physics. but for ambedkar, the ‘ideal scheme,’ in the case of hinduism, is what he thinks is a self-conscious heritage that is far more recent than that, namely the manu smirti. those divine law codes tried to engineer, in the name of hinduism’s fundamental truths, a social order that is highly stratified, unequal, and supremely unfair. and they succeeded in doing so. this legal-‘ethical’-system that ascribes roles and duties forms what is more ‘permanent, fixed and enduring’ in the real historical, social and material realms. for ambedkar, this “ideal scheme of divine governance”27 ultimately shapes society down to its core to the point of installing something permanent. for the purpose of critical judgement, ambedkar needs to get to what is most ‘essential’ about not only a religion’s nature or ‘phenomenon,’ but the task at hand—what does it actually do and how does it impact real life. in that regard, the how the manu smriti, or law codes, informs the conduct of all hindu life is paramount and serves as the ‘ideal scheme.’ he states in describing its essence, he states: a divine code which lays down the rules which govern the religious, ritualistic and social life of the hindus in minute detail and which must be regarded as the bible of the hindus and containing the philosophy of hinduism.28 although the text of ambedkar’s “philosophy of hinduism” provides in great detail many passages from various hindu epics and texts throughout indian history, the bulk of its critique is focused and concentrated on the ‘divine code’ that ambedkar calls the ‘bible’ of the hindus and that which contains its ‘philosophy’ of hinduism. one can say that ideal scheme is not just what a society strives to be in terms of its highest ethical conduct and the deep philosophical reasons that define why such virtuous action is necessary. rather, it is an admixture of divine justification for repeated a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published ... 23 ritualistic conduct, which then forms the very fabric and essence of social life. it is whereby the very distinction between an individual life from birth to death is absorbed in a paranoid sequence of repeated actions enacting a divine code. the code if you will literally brings the motive force alive in the string of moments where each moment takes on life of hysterical ritualistic worship. this may sound interesting to outsiders who do not know what it means to live in indian society, past or present. but the real enigma here is how the divine code literally traces the entire historical and social existence of a people down to the imperceptibly ‘minute details’ whereby life itself becomes a perpetual ritual. what justifies this primordial intentionality of the distention of all human life being programmed so to speak by the divine code, however, is a stratified system of inequality and perpetuation of mistrust, envy, and hate in different directions from some groups to others. the ‘bible’ of this system, which contains its essential ‘philosophy,’ that gives meaning to this type of existence and guarantees it from external threat, say atheism or other world religions, is really a total system for governance and hegemony over every aspect of life to death in the minutiae of ritualistic infinitude.29 and this has nothing to do with the separation of the secular and religious in most constitutional, legal democracies, including post-british colonial india. although there is more to theorize about the relation between the ‘ideal scheme, divine governance’ and the amoral and immoral processes of ritualistic self-discipline and discipline of others’ bodies and spaces in contrast to other types of mythological formations and their power effects on societies, we have to move on.30 the culminating third dimension that will ground ambedkar’s philosophical analysis of religion is the most difficult to determine. that is the question of what philosophical criteria we can use to judge a religion, which means questioning the value of an ‘ideal scheme of governance,’ as nietzsche would do to christianity; that is put the value of its religious values into question and be the first to do so.31 once again ambedkar invokes the notion of a “trial.”32 the difficulty is not one of moral justification as to the task of such a trial; as to why ambedkar would take it upon himself like others did in history with regard to other religions, nietzsche or the french enlightenment for example on christianity and its life-denying myths that stymie the liberatory potential of human beings to create new values. rather, the question, for ambedkar, is methodological— what justifies the criteria of philosophical judgement. he answers this question on method by resolving himself to go back to the history of religion in general to see what ‘revolutions’ it underwent.33 he also affirms that there is no universal philosophy of a religion because each religion has its own philosophy.34 one can deduce that this may be due to a logical impossibility: for there is no one universal world religion with one universal world philosophy, despite religiously and morally informed transversal instruments such as the un’s 1948 universal declaration of human rights. indeed that great bedrock for humanity drew from several religions, cultures, and civilizations. or it could be due to the respect of each religion’s boundary in peaceful coexistence with right of other religions to exist on an international scale: no religion should encroach upon another to judge its content or validity or use its truth claim of revelation or divinity to supplant that of another. it is like a principle of spiritual non-interference in the international realm of cosmic-religious relations. ambedkar wants to respect these boundaries, but he is also searching for extrareligious philosophical criteria through the history of religions generally speaking so he can judge one and only one particular religion from which he emerged, and not all 24 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 others. and that is hinduism. it will turn out that two major revolutions in the history of religion in general will finally deliver the criteria ambedkar will need to perform his radical, and for him novel, critique of one single religion, namely hinduism and its philosophy. we will conclude the first part of our commentary on ambedkar’s “the philosophy of hinduism” by exploring his discussions on method that will underpin his actual analysis of the philosophy of hinduism, which commences in the second part of his text. ambedkar himself said that a “long detour” was necessary before he could begin an actual examination of the contents of hinduism and its most sacred texts.35 we too feel justified in spending a careful amount of time in the first section of his short but bountifully wise, the “philosophy of hinduism,” to really open up problems on the philosophy of religion as a phenomenon and its methodological self-justification. this way we can gain better insights into ambedkar’s deepest motivations to undertake his life-long critique and activism against the hindu social order of caste and what he argued regarding its fundamental injustice and inequality. in a future second part to our commentary, we will slowly read the second section of ambedkar’s text to deploy certain resources in modern continental european philosophy and the philosophy of religion in particular.36 let us turn to ambedkar’s theories on ‘revolution’ in the history of religions and why that relates to the imperative for radical social change and reformation in the pursuit of a universally, inclusive social justice. it would appear that at this moment in ambedkar’s text, an extremely important and interesting intervention is being made in problems in the philosophy of history, or the nature of epochal change and shifts of historical time, and even the nature of historical time itself. but it’s not just an inquiry for the self-enclosed worlds of history, historiography, historical reason, etc. in light of problems in the philosophy of history, i.e. for empirically-motivated historians and archaeologists working with datable, chronological time. rather, as part of this ‘detour,’ the philosophy of history opens up certain problems specific to the history of religions in general. and this will allow ambedkar to justify his methodological approach to the philosophical criteria he will eventually use to judge a very specific religion, namely hinduism, and its core philosophy encoded in a divine text. such a text has a supersensory relation paradoxically to the inner-core of what propels history but maintains a substratum: one that only perpetuates a type of malignancy that should otherwise pass with the vicissitudes of historical time, like everything else seems to have done in other civilizations’ histories and world history in general. in other civilizations and their histories, nothing remains of the barbarism of past paganist religions that supported the draconian empires of antiquity, at least for hegel when he thinks of ancient egypt, assyria, babylon, and persia for example.37 regardless of hegel’s views, the point is nothing of ancient pagan mass slavery for example and god-like imperial power exists in today’s world religions. at least as far as we can tell. but with india and its unique invention of hinduism it is different. the substrate from millennia ago that continues to govern a system of enormous, unfathomable, yet undetectable (at least for those outside it) oppression, cruelty, and inequality, namely the caste system, persists. furthermore, it’s the nature of this persistence that befuddles the philosopher of history as much as the content of hinduism the religion perplexes a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published ... 25 the philosopher of religion, namely ambedkar. it will turn out that in the second part of ambedkar’s essay, the two criteria he will arrive at for his judgement are ‘utility’ and ‘justice’ and how hinduism fails to achieve the latter.38 at this juncture of our commentary the issue is not what justice and utility mean in terms of their philosophical complexity; although that will be important down the road in future investigations. rather, the questions that appear here have to do with the philosophy of history in relation to the history of religion and therefore the philosophical criteria to judge a religion by way of revolutions. then we can better understand the thought processes and deductions that allow ambedkar to arrive at his criteria of ‘utility and justice’.for those criteria enable his philosophical judgement about hinduism in general and why he will ultimately conclude that in fact it is not a religion at all. it is something entirely other. references narake, hari, ed. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3. 2nd edition. new delhi: dr. ambedkar foundations, 2014. thorat, sukhadeo and kumar, narender eds. b.r. ambedkar: perspectives on social exclusion and inclusive policies. oxford: oxford university press, 2008. endnotes 1. the first edition was published by the education department, govt. of maharashtra: 14 april, 1987. see dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3, ed. hari narake, 2nd edition (new delhi: dr. ambedkar foundations, 2014). 2. ibid., xi. 3. ibid. in addition to the “philosophy of hinduism,” vol. 3 contains the short and enigmatic text that ambedkar was working on at the time of his death, namely “buddha or karl marx,” to which we will turn our attention to in a future paper, particularly on the theory of social revolution within a global south context like india while leveraging western continental european philosophical theories. 4. for ambedkar’s impact on law and the social sciences, see sukhadeo thorat and narender kumar, eds., b.r. ambedkar: perspectives on social exclusion and inclusive policies (oxford: oxford university press, 2008). on law specifically, see mohammad shabir, ambedkar on law, constitution, and social justice (jaipur: rawat publications, 2005). on economics and politics, see sukhadeo thorat and aryarma, eds., ambedkar in retrospect: essays on economics, politics, and society (jaipur: rawat publications, 2007). finally on history, see narayan das, ambedkar on indian history (new delhi: centrum press, 2017). 5. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3, xi. 6. emile durkheim, the elementary forms of the religious life, trans. joseph ward swann (new york: the free press, 1965), 466. 7. in the concluding sentences to the “philosophy of hinduism” ambedkar states: “the only answer is that hinduism is overwhelmed with the fear of pollution. it has not got the power to purify. it has not the impulse to serve and that is because 26 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 by its very nature it is unhuman and unmoral. it is a misnomer to call it religion. its philosophy is opposed to very thing for which religion stands.” see babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3, 92. 8. see thorat and kumar’s introduction to b.r. ambedkar: perspectives on social exclusion and inclusive policies. 9. the editors of vol. 3 state that at the time of its discovery, the text was a selfcontained chapter of a much larger work that was incomplete. see dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3., 1. this only points to the need for worldwide scholarship to continue to build out a global research platform that can fructify works on ambedkar’s thought, philosophy and religion, and the philosophy of religion. works such as “riddles of hinduism” in volume iv, the buddha and his dhamma (a last major work that was also published posthumously), and “buddha or karl marx” in vol. 3 are central for that endeavor. see aakash singh rathore and ajay verma, eds., b.r. ambedkar: the buddha and his dhamma (oxford: oxford university press, 2011). 10. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3., 3. 11. ibid. 12. ibid. 13. ibid. parentheses are my additions. 14. any historian of western philosophy knows that this very impulse has driven the greatest minds of antiquity starting with plato and aristotle to pre-modernity and the birth of reason and rationality in hobbes, locke, descartes, spinoza and leibniz to hume, kant, and hegel to the last two great critics of the western philosophical tradition, nietzsche and heidegger. 15. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3., 1 16. ibid., 5. at some point it would be interesting to bring ambedkar in to dialogue with kant’s corpus as a whole but particularly what he says philosophy is in relation to morality and duty with regard to its own exercise. what is known as the second critique or the critique of practical reason and the metaphysical foundations of morals come to mind. we defer this to future research. 17. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3., 1 18. marx intended to produce a purely ‘scientific’ (albeit with his novel notions of historical and dialectical materialism) exposition of the nature of capitalism that previous classical political-economists (smith, ricardo) failed to do. so one can say marx was really trying to discover the truth of what capitalism is (by defining all its categories such as ‘value, use-value, exchange value, commodity, labor, labor power, labor time, relative and equivalent value, money, price, surplus labor value, production, capital’ etc.), which means how capitalism functions based on a series of bewildering contradictions and multiplication of mobile relations between intertwining terms. given his complication of the dialectical method, there is no static or isolated atomistic term existing in a vacuum, but always in an ever increasing multiplication of relations of identities and differences between and within terms. hegel’s influence was indeed profound. but even the beginner of capital, vol. 1 can see the satirical tone, the disgust and anger, the wit and literary flair in marx’s genius. the rest is history. marx was not an indifferent thinker but a revolutionary whose ideas would only come to fruition later in the communist revolutions of the twentieth century that tried to destroy capitalism a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published ... 27 and replace it with another social and economic order. see karl marx, capital, vol. 1, trans. ben fowkes (london: penguin classics, 1990). 19. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3, 5. 20. it is uncontroversial as a fact that all extant world religionsjudaism, christianity, islam, buddhism, and hinduism to name the most well-knownmake that claim about themselves. 21. later in his text, ambedkar attempts a critique of nietzsche’s valorization of the manu smritis, or law codes, that laid down and continue to validate the hierarchical caste system even though we all know nietzsche as one of the first great critics of the immoral nature of historical and institutional christianity. but that’s a separate matter as ambedkar is not interested in nietzsche’s critique of christianity. he is interested in a critical evaluation of hinduism in its failure to meet even the minimal standards to even be called a ‘religion.’ a future work could compare nietzsche’s critique of christianity with ambedkar’s critique of hinduism. see rajesh sampath, “developing a nietzschean genealogical critique of the metaphysical and moral underpinnings of the hindu caste system,” spec. issue of indian philosophical quarterly: rethinking ambedkar in the 21st century 42, no. 1-4 (2015): 81-108. 22. see b.r. ambedkar, annihilation of caste, ed. s. anand (london: verso press, 2014). 23. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3, 6. 24. ibid. 25. ibid. 26. a future work could compare ambedkar’s writings with weber’s writings and not only from his famous protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism (1905) that examines protestant christianity in particular; but also his general writings in the sociology of religion, the sections on religion in his incomplete treatise economy and society, two volumes, and his specific works on specific religions, including a work on the sociology of hinduism. see in particular his the religion of india, trans. hans h. gerth and don martindale (delhi: munshiram manoharial publishers, 2000). we will defer that research to a future work. 27. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3, 6. 28. ibid., 7. 29. one could examine the hindu social order and its emanation in religious life, not only through great past figures that founded sociology like weber and durkheim. but closer to our historical present, the works of the later michel foucault on knowledge, power, ‘disciplinary technologies of the body,’ and ‘governmentality’ exceed the space of the juridical, the state, and the political. they relate to processes of the normalization of existence, the body, and self-governance through extremely complex, finite, and non-dialectical relations of knowledge and power and their positive effects on constituting subjects and social life. his works can be very useful to unpack some of ambedkar’s insights about the philosophy of religion and governance that surpass anything in western political history from hobbes to the present that try to justify law, sovereignty, and the social contract. for more on foucault, see graham burchell, colin gordan, and peter miller, eds., the foucault effect (chicago: university of chicago press, 1991). 30. a very interesting project would be to explore the works of the philosopher of history, hans blumenberg, on various epochal shifts on the copernican 28 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 revolution, the nature of myth, and the birth of modern western rationality, with the ambedkarite context on the mystery of hindu myth and its real effects of power on the social body that is caste. see in particular hans blumenberg, work on myth, trans. robert m. wallace (cambridge: mit press, 1985). 31. see friedrich nietzsche, the genealogy of morals, trans. walter kaufmann (new york: vintage books, 1967). 32. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3, 8. 33. ibid. 8. 34. ibid., 8. 35. ibid., 22. 36. our goal is to publish that second part in a subsequent issue of volume 1 of the journal. 37. see g.w.f. hegel’s philosophy of history, trans. j.b. sibree (the colonial press, 1899). one must put hegel back in to his early nineteenth century historical context to expose his narrow eurocentricism. from today’s vantage point, one could easily see hegel’s condescending attitude towards anything he thought was non-western (meaning non-greco-roman), for example egypt, babylon, and persia but also africa, china, and india. in fact he labeled those civilizations as part of ‘pre-history.’ today scholars would question both the temporal and geographically boundaries of what constitute the ‘origins’ of ancient western europe to include what hegel in his time might have seen as part of the non-west; that in fact greece and rome may have been derivative of something deeper than the self-justifying western historical record reveals. see martin bernal, black athena: the afroasiatic roots of classical civilization, vol. 1: the fabrication of ancient greece 1785-1985 (rutgers: rutgers university press, 2020); m.l. west, the east fast of helicon: west asiatic elements in greek poetry and myth (oxford: clarendon, 1999); walter burkert, the orientalizing revolution; near eastern influence on greek culture in the early archaic age, 2nd edition (cambridge: harvard university press, 1998). and needless to say since the birth of primordial christianity in greece and parts of what would constitute today’s turkey, egypt, israel/palestine, and syria, orthodox christianity in its greek foundations are more aligned with eastern orthodoxy extending to russia, then they would with ‘western’ roman catholic and protestant christianity. see stephen morris, the early eastern orthodox church: a history, ad 60-1453 (jefferson, north carolina: mcfarland & company, inc., 2018). 38. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 3, 22. in a future work, it would be very interesting to explore how ambedkar arrives at these two criteria of ‘utility and justice’ and compare and contrast his ideas with the enormously influential philosophy of justice in the anglo-american world, namely that of john rawls. bringing in the rawlsian framework into the study of the philosophy of religion in a non-western, colonial and decolonial context, such as ambedkar’s hindu-dominated india of the early to mid-twentieth century, raises tantalizing possibilities for future scholarship. for a summary of john rawls’s life-long quest to philosophize about justice, see his justice as fairness: a restatement (cambridge: harvard university press, 2001). perspectives on emancipation editorial and introduction “i can’t breathe”: perspectives on emancipation from caste laurence simon articles a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published philosophy of hinduism part ii rajesh sampath caste, the origins of our discontents: a historical reflection on two cultures ibrahim k. sundiata fracturing the historical continuity on truth: jotiba phule in the quest for personhood of shudras snehashish das documenting a caste: the chakkiliyars in colonial and missionary documents in india s. gunasekaran manual scavenging in india: the banality of an everyday crime shiva shankar and kanthi swaroop hate speech against dalits on social media: would a penny sparrow be prosecuted in india for online hate speech? devanshu sajlan indian media and caste: of politics, portrayals and beyond pranjali kureel ‘ambedkar’s constitution’: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? anurag bhaskar, bluestone rising scholar 2021 award caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india indulata prasad, bluestone rising scholar 2021 award caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy subro saha, bluestone rising scholar honorable mention 2021 clearing of the ground – ambedkar’s method of reading ankit kawade, bluestone rising scholar honorable mention 2021 caste and counselling psychology in india: dalit perspectives in theory and practice meena sawariya, bluestone rising scholar honorable mention 2021 forum journey with rural identity and linguicism deepak kumar caste a global journal on social exclusion dr aw in g on p ap er ; 3 5x 36 c m ; s av i s aw ar ka r c e n t e r fo r g lo b a l d ev e lo p m e n t + s u sta i n a b i l i t y t h e h e l l e r s c h o o l at b r a n d e i s u n i v e r s i t y volume 02 :: issue 01 april 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste http://brandeis.edu/j-caste joint editors-in-chief laurence r. simon brandeis university, usa sukhadeo thorat (emeritus) jawaharlal nehru university, india editor joseph k. assan brandeis university, usa reviews editor jebaroja singh st. john fisher college, usa senior editorial assistant afia a. adaboh brandeis university, usa editorial assistant for public outreach & communications jaspreet mahal brandeis university, usa production editor vinod kumar mishra indian institute for dalit studies, india university librarian matthew sheehy brandeis university, usa ojs technical manager brian meuse brandeis university library, usa caste a global journal on social exclusion perspectives on emancipation volume 2, issue 1 editorial advisory board kaushik basu, c. marks professor of international studies and professor of economics, cornell university, usa; former chief economist of the world bank; president, international economics association; former chief economic adviser to the government of india krishna bhattachan, professor emeritus of sociology, tribhuvan university, nepal kevin d. brown, professor of law, maurer school of law, indiana university, usa ipsita chatterjee, associate professor, department of geography and the environment, university of north texas, usa ashwini deshpande, professor of economics, ashoka university, india meena dhanda, professor in philosophy and cultural politics, university of wolverhampton, united kingdom jean drèze, honorary professor, delhi school of economics, university of delhi, india ashok gurung, associate professor, julien j. studley graduate program in international affairs , the new school, new york, usa john harriss, professorial research associate, department of development studies, soas, university of london, united kingdom eva-maria hardtmann, associate professor and director of studies, department of social anthropology, stockholm university, sweden susan holcombe, professor emerita of the practice, heller school for social policy and management, brandeis university, usa sushrut jadhav, clinical associate professor of cross-cultural psychiatry, university college london; consultant psychiatrist & medical lead, focus homeless services, camden & islington nhs foundation trust; clinical lead, c & i cultural consultation service; founding editor, anthropology & medicine journal (taylor and francis, united kingdom); research associate, department of anthropology, soas, london, united kingdom chinnaiah jangam, assistant professor of history, carleton university, canada s. japhet, vice chancellor, bengaluru central university, bengaluru, india sangeeta kamat, professor of education, university of massachusetts at amherst, usa joel lee, assistant professor of anthropology, williams college, usa david mosse, professor of social anthropology, soas, university of london, united kingdom samuel l. myers, jr., roy wilkens professor of human relations and social justice and director, roy wilkins center for human relations and social justice, humphrey school of public affairs, university of minnesota, usa balmurli natrajan, professor and chair, department of anthropology, william patterson university, usa purna nepali, associate professor, kathmandu university, nepal katherine s. newman, senior vice president for academic affairs, university of massachusetts system, torrey little professor of sociology, usa martha c. nussbaum, ernst freund distinguished services professor of law and ethics, law school and philosophy department, university of chicago, usa devan pillay, associate professor and head, department of sociology, university of witwatersrand, johannesburg, south africa thomas pogge, leitner professor of philosophy and international affairs, yale university, usa christopher queen, lecturer on the study of religion, and dean of students for continuing education (retired), faculty of arts and sciences, harvard university, usa jehan raheem, former founding director, evaluation office, united nations development programme and former undp resident representative, burma (myanmar) anupama rao, associate professor of history, barnard and columbia universities, usa amilcar shabazz, professor, w.e.b. du bois department for afro-american studies, university of massachusetts at amherst, usa a.b. shamsul, distinguished professor and founding director, institute for ethnic studies, the national university of malaysia kalinga tudor silva, professor emeritus of sociology, university of peradeniya, sri lanka; research director, international centre for ethnic studies, colombo, sri lanka harleen singh, associate professor of literature, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, brandeis university, usa ajantha subramanian, professor of anthropology and south asian studies, social anthropology program director, harvard university, usa abha sur, scientist in the science, technology and society program; senior lecturer, program in women and gender studies, massachusetts institute of technology, usa goolam vahed, associate professor, history, society & social change cluster, university of kwazulu-natal, south africa gowri vijayakumar, assistant professor of sociology and south asian studies, brandeis university, usa annapurna waughray, reader in human rights law, manchester law school, manchester metropolitan university, uk cornel west, professor of the practice of public philosophy, harvard divinity school, usa copyright © 2021 caste: a global journal on social exclusion issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste table of contents editorial and introduction “i can’t breathe”: perspectives on emancipation from caste laurence simon ....... v-viii articles a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published philosophy of hinduism part ii rajesh sampath ....... 01-16 caste, the origins of our discontents: a historical reflection on two cultures ibrahim k. sundiata ....... 17-29 fracturing the historical continuity on truth: jotiba phule in the quest for personhood of shudras snehashish das ....... 30-46 documenting a caste: the chakkiliyars in colonial and missionary documents in india s. gunasekaran ....... 47-66 manual scavenging in india: the banality of an everyday crime shiva shankar and kanthi swaroop ....... 67-76 hate speech against dalits on social media: would a penny sparrow be prosecuted in india for online hate speech? devanshu sajlan ....... 77-96 indian media and caste: of politics, portrayals and beyond pranjali kureel ....... 97-108 ‘ambedkar’s constitution’: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? anurag bhaskar bluestone rising scholar award, 2021 ....... 109-131 caste-ing space: mapping the dynamics of untouchability in rural bihar, india indulata prasad bluestone rising scholar award, 2021 ....... 132-152 caste, reading-habits and the incomplete project of indian democracy subro saha bluestone rising scholar honorable mention, 2021 ....... 153-173 clearing of the ground – ambedkar’s method of reading ankit kawade bluestone rising scholar honorable mention, 2021 ....... 174-188 caste and counselling psychology in india: dalit perspectives in theory and practice meena sawariya bluestone rising scholar honorable mention, 2021 ....... 189-201 forum journey with rural identity and linguicism deepak kumar ....... 202-218 © 2022 mahitosh mandal. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. thought caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 11–30 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.367 dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anti-caste thinkers from colonial bengal, india mahitosh mandal1 abstract this article debunks the myth that bengal is a casteless land or that bengalis have no understanding of caste, by excavating, from within a dalit historiographical framework, the rich and heterogeneous anti-caste politico-intellectual tradition launched and carried forward by the dalits in colonial bengal. due to the paucity of space, it focuses only on three among sixty dalit communities residing in bengal and demonstrates the radical edge of five diverse anti-caste thinkers, namely, harichand thakur, guruchand thakur, mahendranath karan, rajendranath sarkar, and mahendranath mallabarman. through a critical rejection of nationalist, marxist and subaltern historiographies and interrogation of the brahmanical appropriation of bengal’s anti-caste tradition, it foregrounds the independent and self-critical intellectual history of the dalits of colonial bengal. it exposes the epistemic violence suffered by dalit thinkers and reformers in the textbook historical narratives that glorify a brahmanical bengal renaissance and highlights the neglected discourse of dalit resistance and renaissance that had taken place at the same time in the same province. it shows how these anticaste organic intellectuals fought the brahmanical supremacists during the anti-british movement led by the brahmins and upper castes, and how their agendas of selfrespect and redistribution of wealth conflicted with the swadeshi movement. finally, the article demonstrates that while in the history of the anti-caste movement, phule, ambedkar, and periyar justifiably occupy much of the discursive space, a significant and unacknowledged intellectual and political contribution was also made by their contemporary bengali counterparts. keywords dalit historiography, dalit resistance, dalit renaissance, anti-caste thought, colonial bengal, bengal renaissance 1assistant professor of english, presidency university, kolkata, india email: mahitosh.eng@presiuniv.ac.in, mahitosh2020@gmail.com 12 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 introduction: conceptualizing dalit historiography of bengal kancha ilaiah, a leading anti-caste thinker of our time, noted in a 2018-lecture held in kolkata that, “in bengal, there is a caste cancer without diagnosis” (c.s. bhattacharya, 2018, september 22). he emphasized that there is casteism in bengal but bengalis have failed to make sense of and articulate its gravity. by extension, he implied that bengalis have been unable to launch any effective anti-caste movement. it is undeniable that resistance against casteism is not as strong, scathing, and successful as it is to be found in indian states like maharashtra—the land of the phules (jyotirao phule and savitrivai phule) and babasaheb (b. r. ambedkar), and tamil nadu—the land of periyar (e.v. ramasamy). but it might be problematic if one takes ilaiah’s comment at a face value and imagines a total absence of anti-caste resistance in bengal. instead, this article investigates the reason someone like ilaiah might be compelled to reach such a conclusion. it is now well-known among those researching the caste question in bengal that the discourse of caste had been completely sidelined and repressed for thirty-four years in the communist regime in postcolonial bengal. the state-sponsored massacres of dalits in the morichjhapi island, the public denial of the existence of “backward castes” by the chief minister jyoti basu in the context of mandal commission agitations (mandal, 2021, may 17), and the murder of nine dalits in the nandigram violence (teltumbde, 2010, pp. 168–169) are some of the instances of how the repressive state apparatus of the communist regime had maltreated the dalits and sidelined the caste question in bengal. this has been supplemented by nationalist and marxist historians who, under the garb of writing the history of bengal’s anti-colonial resistance and excavating its subaltern history, reinforced a brahmanical and class-centric interpretation of history, thereby suppressing and ignoring the caste question. none of the history textbooks for school students in bengal mention anything about anti-caste movement in colonial bengal although these are replete with references to the so-called bengal renaissance. the nationalist historiography was developed to glorify the so-called powerful resistance the caste hindu bengalis had put forth against the british raj, be it politically, or in terms of revivalism and reformation. the subaltern studies group (ssg) of historians, on the other hand, reduced the gramscian notion of the “subaltern” to the proletariat or the classsubaltern and substantially ignored the multiple other forms of subalternity including those related to caste, religion, race, and territory, the last three being proposed by gramsci himself (green, 2011, p. 394). it is the class-centric dimension of subaltern historiography informed by marxian political philosophy that completely prevented the possibility of the emergence of an anti-caste or dalit historiography in bengal. it may not be completely out of place to note that the bulk of the members of the ssg group are brahmins and that their assumptions remain deeply brahmanical. gayatri chakravorty, for instance, argued that the subaltern cannot speak because either she cannot be found in the elite and colonial documents or she is embedded within the dominant discourse only as an “other” (green, 2002, p. 16 & spivak, 1995, pp. 27– 28). nevertheless, while looking for non-elite archives, the ssg historians did not necessarily explore the archives produced by the dalits or even the tribals. the castesubalterns of bengal made use of the print culture brought to india by the british and from the later nineteenth century onwards they started documenting their struggles and creative output, largely in the vernacular bengali but also occasionally in english. rup dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anti-caste thinkers from colonial 13 kumar barman’s (2016) aptly titled article “yes! the scheduled castes can write,” therefore, produces a strong rebuttal against the brahmanical assumptions of the ssg. historians, not officially affiliated to the ssg, particularly sekhar bandyopadhyay, have also been writing on the caste question in bengal. bandyopadhyay though an ubiquitous presence in caste scholarship on bengal has nevertheless neglected to look into the vast range and heterogeneity of dalit archives of colonial and postcolonial bengal. therefore, almost condescendingly and sweepingly, he claims that the dalits of colonial bengal could not transcend brahmanical “imagination” and launch any substantially subversive protest (bandyopadhyay, 2004, p. 38). if one reads his works one is forced to feel that bengal did not witness any radical anti-caste movement. but nothing could be far from the truth. on the other hand, a recent book by dwaipayan sen (2018) elaborately analyses the historical importance of jogendranath mandal (1904–1968) as a dalit leader during and in the aftermath of india’s independence from the british colonial rule and the decline of dalit politics following his mysterious demise. while mandal had been a towering dalit leader and perhaps the most significant ambedkarite from bengal, he was certainly not the only anti-caste thinker either in colonial or postcolonial bengal. nor was the namasudra sub-caste, to which he belonged, the only dalit caste from bengal to have launched and been launching anti-brahmanical resistance. therefore, this article seeks to highlight the plurality and diversity of anti-caste thought in colonial bengal of which jogendranath formed just a part, however major, and thereby open up further possibilities of exploring the multilayered and multi-faceted anti-caste resistance in postcolonial bengal as well. this article argues that the long history of anti-caste movement in precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial bengal has not really been documented in english language scholarship or translations. whereas there are hundreds of pages written by the dalits in the vernacular bengali language that document dalit history, hardly any professional historian has referred to these. one example could be the eight volumes of poundramonisha reprinted by poundra mahasangha in recent times. these volumes comprise autobiographies, literary writings, political pamphlets, manifestoes and news reports produced by the poundras, a dalit community, in colonial bengal. a reading of these volumes—almost none of which has been translated into english nor referred to in any of the scholarly works including those of sekhar bandyopadhyay—will give one a fair idea of the history of anti-caste struggle of this particular dalit community. and, this is the output of just one dalit community from a specific historical period and if their contemporary publications are considered then their output would be much larger than eight volumes. bengal is home to sixty different scheduled caste communities. if one reads the literature and pamphlets produced by all these dalit communities and studies the scores of anti-caste organizations based in bengal, some of whom are explicitly named after buddha or ambedkar, then one might have to rethink the proposition that bengalis have failed to diagnose the cancer of caste or that they have no understanding of caste. but there is a barrier between a knowledge transmissible nationally and internationally and the knowledge produced locally, confined to vernacular language, and completely ignored by the class-centric and brahmanical scholarship. it is this barrier that justifies ilaiah’s statement. this article is an attempt to demonstrate the radical edge of anti-caste thought in five dalit thinkers from colonial bengal. positioned within dalit historiography— something totally absent in the bulk of the historians mentioned above—it intends to 14 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 be a critique of the marxist and nationalist historiographies that have monopolized bengal’s intellectual history. the article proposes that such historiographies are silent about a dalit renaissance and resistance that had taken place in bengal at exactly the same time when the so-called bengal renaissance happened. to emphasize the range of anti-caste thought and avoid homogenization (as found in sekhar bandyopadhyay, for instance, as mentioned earlier), it chooses four thinkers from two numerically large dalit communities (namasudra and poundra) and one thinker from a numerically small dalit community (malo). the thinkers discussed are—harichand thakur (namasudra), guruchand thakur (namasudra), mahendranath karan (poundra), rajendranath sarkar (poundra), and mahendranath mallabarman (malo). it may be mentioned that all these thinkers were also at the same time reformers from the untouchable communities and were committed to anti-caste and self-respect movements through political resistance and social organizations. that is why they might be described better as “thinker-reformers,” implying their intellectual output was intricately linked to their social commitment, and they were thus organic intellectuals. of course, a focus on just three communities does not do justice to fifty-seven other dalit communities residing in bengal. nevertheless, within the permissible word-length, this is the most one can do in an article that proposes to be one of the initiators of anti-caste discourse on bengal’s dalit history written by bengali dalits from a dalit point of view. this article uses the term “anti-caste” in the sense in which gail omvedt uses it in seeking begumpura: the social vision of anticaste intellectuals. for her, anti-caste movement is to be understood as “nonbrahman movement” and “dalit movement” (omvedt, 2016, p. 24). in a similar vein, dalit historiography is defined in this article as alternative histories written by dalit, non-brahman and ambedkarite intellectuals from within an anti-brahmanical, anti-hindu, anti-caste and buddhist perspective. this article argues that dalit historiography should be exclusively based on and inspired by an unequivocally anti-caste framework of thinking. a radical dalit historiography of bengal, this article contends, can emerge only through a critical rejection of nationalist and marxist (ssg being predominantly a class-centric enterprise) historiographies which have symptomatically glossed over dalit history in constructing bengal’s intellectual history. harichand thakur (1812–1878) harichand thakur is the earliest dalit thinker of colonial bengal. he was born in 1812 into a family of chandals, eventually renamed as namasudras,1 residing in the village of safaldanga in east bengal. harichand’s radicalism manifested in multiple areas including politics, religion, economy and education. he was critical of buddhism, vaishnavism, and vedantism, but arguably molded his religion, matuaism, through a combination of vaishnavism and shaktism. (his wife was shakta and the poet, tarak chandra sarkar, who documented his words in verse was a malo by caste and a shakta by religion). for harichand, buddhism, admittedly a philosophy that appealed 1the census reports demonstrate the trajectory of naming of the community: chandal (1872), namasudra or chandal (1891), namasudra (chandal) (1901), namasudra (1911). the struggle to replace “chandal” with “namasudra” was a part of the identity formation movement led by harichand’s son guruchand thakur along with assistance from many including the christian missionary c. s. mead. dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anti-caste thinkers from colonial 15 to the masses because of its anti-caste commitment (horilīlamrito quoted in mohanta, 2015, p. 170), degenerated due to its emphasis on ascetic life away from the family or grihodhôrmo (literally, family-centric religion). according to him, garhosthyo ashrom dhôri nôrôkul bnache/ grihike koriya bhôr sôkolei royeche/ tai dekhi grihodhôrmo sôkoler mul/ eikhane buddhodeb korilen bhul. this translates to: the humans are familial beings/ everyone depends on the family persons/ hence, girhodhôrmo is the root of all/ and buddha’s mistake was to ignore it. such ideas insisting on the family life are replete in horilīlamrito. another instance could be: grihete thakiya jar hôy vadhodôy/ sei se pôrom sadhu janibe nischôy (he who realizes divinity while living a family life is the greatest monk) (sarkar, 2016, p. 24). on the other hand, vaishnavism had turned the devotees of the early nineteenth century bengal into irresponsible religious beggars of alms and practitioners of unrestrained sexual acts. harichand observed how a clear caste division emerged among the vaishnavites themselves—the ‘lower caste’ and untouchable devotees were looked down upon by their upper caste and brahmin counterparts (sarkar, 2016, pp. 54– 55). furthermore, as noted by many including bandyopadhyay, harichand’s religion was critical of the vedantism of ramakrishna paramahamsa and the prevalent notion of renunciation involving giving up of desire for sexuality and wealth. instead, he wanted to foreground material desire over spiritual bhakti, dismissing the abstract and metaphysical idea of a brahman, the ultimate reality, as being of no use to the toiling masses (bandyopadhyay, 2014, n.p.). furthermore, he opposed the vedic religion and the brahmins on several occasions (ved-vidhi nahi mane na mane brahmôn and vedvidhi shoucacar nahi mani tai.) (sarkar, 2016, pp. 94, 138). the point is, harichand was not “influenced” by these religious traditions as sekhar bandyopadhyay would have us believe but radically opposed them to mold the distinctness of his political theology (bandyopadhyay, 2014, n.p.). harichand’s theology was a spiritual discourse structured in terms of material requirements of the poor dalits. his famous dictum hate kam, mukhe nam (work with hands, sing god’s praise with mouth) is therefore to be considered as an aphorism against metaphysical, non-materialistic, abstract theologies (sarkar, 2016, pp. 23, 55, 73). this is how the matua religion of harichand thakur avoided being an “opium of the people” to borrow a phrase from karl marx. marx argued that “the abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is a demand for their true happiness” (marx, 1982, p. 131). harichand’s religion, unlike brahmanical religions, did not promise illusory happiness. it did not ask the devotees to concentrate on the happiness in the there and then while suffering in the here and now. instead, it inspired them to achieve material success in this world and that alone could be the source of spiritual happiness, according to him. this is uncannily similar to how protestantism gave moral sanction to the economic prosperity of the christian (prosperity being a sign of divine “grace”), a fact elaborated by max weber (2001) in his classic work. one could in fact talk about a matua religion that supported the spirit and pursuit of capitalism. harichand was a dalit among the dalits. he faced overlapping forms of discrimination due to being a) a dalit and b) a poor peasant. several revolutionary moments from his life attest to his experience and resistance to casteism. he was invited 16 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 to a funeral ceremony which the brahmins refused to attend because they did not want to be at the same place as the chandals. harichand could not take this lying down and subsequently launched his anti-brahmanical agenda. harichand found that the dalits had been suffering from dire poverty lacking lands for cultivation. he asked them to till the waste lands (potit jomi) and harvest rice (sarkar, 2016, pp. 71–73). he emphasized that dalits needed to be economically empowered to eventually overcome the state of being downtrodden. hence, he foregrounded the economic pursuit: grihosther mulbhitti ôrthôniti bôte/ banijye bôsoti lokkhi ei bani rôte (money is the familial base/ the goddess of wealth blesses the man of commerce); or ôrthoke ônortho bôla kôtobôro vul (it is a grave mistake to consider money as worthless) (horilīlamrito quoted in biswas, 2015, p. 30). furthermore, he realized that the key to the community’s success is to make it free of superstition and bring education to them. to this end, he inspired his son to set up the first school for dalits in the village of orakandi (biswas, 2015, p. 31). he dealt a blow at brahmanical patriarchy by promoting equality between men and women, prohibiting polygamy (ek nari, brohmochari), and empowering women through education and job prospects (sarkar, 2016, p. 192). in addition, harichand motivated the dalits to organize, participate, and lead in politics because political and administrative power was considered crucial for their liberation. he wanted them to become “raj-shokti.” the religion of the matuas, harichand emphasized, was not meant for the namasudras alone. it was open to all dalits, embraced even muslims, and preached inter-dining for all. in this way, it aimed at developing into a bahujan religion (horilīlamrito quoted in thakur, 2015, pp. 18–19). harichand, himself uneducated, gave twelve commandments which offer a glimpse into his philosophy, although, one should mention, these do not encompass everything he said or asked his followers to do: “1. always speak the truth. 2. look at women other than your wife as mothers. 3. love everybody in the world. 4. never practice casteism. 5. respect your parents. 6. beware of the temptations of the six senses. 7. do not condemn other religions. 8. give up outward monkhood and desire for ascetic life away from family. 9. sing hari’s praise but toil with the hands. 10. establish temples of sri hari. 11. pray daily with heads bowed down. 12. give yourself to sri hari” (quoted in sarkar 2015, p. 188, translation mine). when the theoretical and practical contributions of harichand and of guruchand (discussed in the next section) to the dalits and minorities are considered, one cannot help describing them as agents leading to concrete social change and reawakening of the ‘lower castes’. one critic has rightly described them in bangla as banglar ôbohelito lokayoto sômajer nôbojagôroner jôtharthoi dut or the harbinger of the renaissance for the neglected masses (tushar chattopadhyay quoted in baidya, 2015, p. 57). in fact, following dilip gayen, a poundra thinker, one could state that if ram mohan roy is the father of bengal renaissance (which, according to gayen was basically a brahmin renaissance) then harichand was the father of the mulnivasi, dalit and bahujan renaissance (gayen, 2021, p. 28). harichand’s work would be carried forward by his son guruchand thakur and his great-grandson pramatha ranjan thakur. dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anti-caste thinkers from colonial 17 guruchand thakur (1846–1937) arguably it was guruchand, harichand’s son, who extensively applied the philosophy of matuaism to the cause of dalit liberation. guruchand valued the education of the dalits as a topmost priority because education was a means of liberation and empowerment (sarkar, 2016, p. 144 & sarkar, 2015, pp. 191, 198). following his father’s instruction regarding the importance of education for the dalits, he founded the first ever school for the dalits in 1880 (approximately 30 years after the phules did so in maharashtra) in his own house in orakandi, eastern bengal. however, no teacher was available immediately because the brahmins refused to teach the ‘lower castes,’ until a dalit, raghunath sarkar of dhaka, came over and volunteered to do so. to ensure that such schools run smoothly, guruchand convened the first educational conference of the matuas in 1881 in dattadanga. approximately, 5000 representatives attended the conference. in the same year, under guruchand’s guidance, the namasudra welfare association was set up and representatives from twenty-two districts joined the association. in 1908, the first school for english education was founded by guruchand with assistance from the australian missionary c.s. mead. in 1932, the hari-guruchand mission was established in orakandi and the mission assisted in the establishment of a school for girls. by one account, guruchand established around 1882 schools in bengal, out of which 1067 schools were founded in the dhaka division alone (sarkar, 2015, pp. 191, 195; roy, 2019, p. 60). this pales the educational contribution of ishwar chandra bandyopadhyay, the much-glorified face of the bengal renaissance, who established, by one account, around thirty-six schools (sarkar, 2015, p. 195). and yet, it is ishwar chandra who is remembered as the archetypal educational reformer of bengal and guruchand’s revolution in educational field remains undocumented in the official intellectual history of bengal. apart from establishing schools, guruchand was instrumental in the dissemination of anti-caste thought through magazines and newspapers. he was the founder of the monthly journal nômosudro suhrid (friend of the namasudras, started in 1907) which was dedicated to excavating the history of the namasudras and discussing their empowerment and advancement. guruchand is described as the first namasudra journalist (roy, 2019, p. 55). he was the inspiration behind the setting up of at least three more magazines and journals during this time, namely, nômosudro potrika (1908), nômosudro hitoishi (1916), and pôtaka (1916). guruchand mobilized the dalit peasants, following his father’s footsteps. the chandals had a long history of resistance including their general strike of 1873 in which, as noted by w.w. hunter, they resolved “not to serve anybody of the upper caste in whatever capacity, unless a better position among the hindu caste than what they at present occupy was given to them” (hunter quoted in roy, 2019, p. 51). positioned within such a context, as early as 1900, guruchand advocated for tebhaga or the agenda that the peasants must be given two-third of the crops’ share and the landlords must have only one third. he organized them against the exploitative system of indigo plantation and destroyed the indigo farm of a british sahib in 1909 (das, 2015, pp. 216–218). he was the president in the peasant convention that took place in barishal in june 1922 and a key speaker in the 1933 provincial peasant convention 18 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 held in midnapore. unlike the upper-caste marxist historians and reformers, he was fully aware that the bulk of the poor peasants belonged to the ‘lower castes’ or outcaste communities; therefore, it was as much a struggle to overcome casteism as it was overcoming classism. perhaps, the most defining moment in guruchand’s movement was his refusal to participate in the nationalist movement launched by the congress party under the leadership of m.k. gandhi and chittaranjan das. gandhi wanted to rope in the dalits in his anti-british struggle. however, guruchand flatly told chittaranjan who had written a letter to guruchand for support on gandhi’s instruction, that their struggles were different. for guruchand, a freedom struggle that was focused on gaining independence from a foreign enemy by those who kept intact their enmity and injustice towards the downtrodden in the native land was a form of hypocrisy. dalits needed, first and foremost, an emancipation from casteism and poverty caused by the caste hindus and they did not have the luxury to participate in the swadeshi movement and gandhi’s non-cooperation movement (haldar, 2021, pp. 412–416). for guruchand, the so-called freedom struggle was concerned with the freedom of the few while he was concerned with the freedom of all the oppressed communities. in fact, guruchand developed close association with the british and fully utilized the provisions for the ‘lower castes’ prepared by the british government. his 1906-meeting with sir lancelot hare, the then lieutenant of east bengal and assam, was historic in the sense that he acquainted lancelot with the plight of the namasudras. afterwards lancelot ensured that thirty-one communities from bengal were included in the list of the scheduled castes from bengal and they could thereby avail various opportunities provided by the government (roy, 2019, p. 59). furthermore, under guruchand’s leadership, fourteen dalits held deputation to the british government in 1907 and consequently, from 1907, dalits earned the right to government jobs under the proportional representation of the community in public employment act passed the same year (sarkar, 2015, p. 194). guruchand’s was a total movement. like his father, he was ready to embrace everybody within his fold—all dalit and ‘lower caste’ groups from kumbhokar, kopali, mahishya, to das, chamar, poundra, tnaati, malakar, and even minority groups like muslims. this was truly a resistance of the subaltern, and more specifically, the caste-subaltern (haldar, 2021, p. 144). his contribution, though ignored by the caste hindus who launched bengal renaissance, did not go unnoticed by the british. he was awarded the title of peasant leader, won the gold medal, and came to be known as nômosudro-kulopoti (an undisputed leader of the namasudras). mahendranath karan (1886–1928) many leaders, thinkers, and reformers emerged among the poundras in colonial bengal. mention may be made of srimanta naskar, hemchandra naskar, raicharan sardar, and benimadhav haldar all of whom fought for the cultural recognition of the poundras, derogatorily called “pod,” as kshatriyas. they criticized the use of the word “pod” in the early census report in the preparation of which many brahmin and caste dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anti-caste thinkers from colonial 19 hindu officers were involved, and launched an organized resistance to change their name to “poundra kshatriya.” this was another major identity movement in colonial bengal since it involved hundreds of members of a single dalit community. it was not simply an attempt to replace a derogatory word (pod) with a sophisticated term (poundra). but it was supplemented by research into the history of the community and revival of their past glory. in this sense, poundra movements in colonial bengal too contributed to dalit renaissance. their intellectual output was huge, and in many cases, was published in several dailies and monthly magazines and journals. it is possible to enlist at least eight such magazines published by the poundras at various points in colonial times: bratya kshatriya bandhov (started in 1910) edited by raicharan sardar and gopalchandra dutta, protigna (1918) edited by mahendranath karan and bhavasindhu laskar, kshatriya (1920) edited by jogendranath roy and prasannakumar barma, poundra kshatriya sômachar (1924) edited by kshirodchandra das and mahendranath karan, sotyojug (1927) edited by sureshchandra koyal, dipti (1927) edited by digambar sahityaratna, sôngho (1935) edited by rajendranath sarkar, and poundra kshatriya (1938) edited by rajendranath sarkar, patiram roy, kunjobihari roy, and digambar sahityaratna. it was mahendranath karan, a poundra from midnapore, who wrote the first ever english treatise on the history of the poundras, titled a history and ethnology of the cultivating pods (1919), arguably the earliest anti-brahmanical text written in english by a bengali dalit. it was published by raicharan haldar on behalf of all bengal bratya kshatriya samiti. it may be mentioned that the term “bratya kshatriya” was rejected by karan later and the arguments provided for the same are discussed at the end of this section. the title of the 1919 work is precise, particularly the expression “cultivating pods” who are distinguished by him from “fishing pods.” the so-called pods were of different kinds—the aryan pods and the non-aryan pods. the pods described as mlechhas, beef-eaters or fishing pods were allegedly of non-aryan origin from the deccan areas. however, the cultivating pods to whom mahendranath himself belonged were, according to him, of aryan origin. according to karan, even though they were derogatorily called chasha (“an abusive and contemptible word” for farmers), agriculture as a profession had been synonymous with them and was not historically looked down upon (karan, 1919, p. 14). the brohmoboibôrto puran mentions a few characteristics of an aryan poundra (“charitable, physically strong, benevolent, worshipping the devas and living by cultivation”) and according to karan all these are present in the present-day cultivating pods (karan, 1919, p. 30). in the book which he wrote in english so that the british administrators and ethnologists could take a note of it, he argues why the cultivating pods are to be called “poundra kshatriyas” and must not be confused with the mixed castes (varna sônkor) nor be categorized as “depressed class” (karan, 1919, pp. 17, i). karan offers a detailed history of the poundras based on references to the scriptures. he associates the term to sri krishna himself who was known as “pundôrikaksho” or the eye of pundar or poundra. as argued by karan, in the hôribônsho puran (chapter 35), it is mentioned that basudeb, the father of sri krishna, had a son called pundra, from the mother sutanu, who eventually became a king (karan, 1919, p. 36). thus 20 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 poundras were the descendants of king pundra, and, therefore, were kshatriyas. the term pod was a corruption of poundra, poundarika, padmaja, or padma. the land where the poundras lived or settled in came to be known as poundradesh. that the poundras were of high status, according to karan, is proved by the fact that they were not prohibited from temple entry and that they enjoyed high social dignity in the sixteenth century. karan refers to a list of twelve castes, grouped as bratya kshatriyas by manu who mentions that three (poundras, udras, and dravidas) of these twelve castes were exempted from being mlechhaised, i.e. being “excluded from all religions” (karan, 1919, p. 64). in other words, the poundras in reference to manu had had their religious rights intact. according to karan, that the poundras are not mlechhas is indicated by the similarity of their language, manners, and customs to those of the hindus or brahmins (karan, 1919, pp. 4, 6). if poundras enjoyed the status of the kshatriyas how did they lose it and degenerate to the level of the shudras? the reason given by karan is similar to the one furnished by ambedkar in who were the shudras? poundras were deprived of upanayana. indeed, as karan observes, poundras fell from their status due to living “unministered” by the brahmins or being deprived of sacred rites (karan, 1919, p. 18). this happened due to the wrath of parashuram, as per the scriptures, who was on a mission to annihilate the kshatriyas. kshatriyas hence took “refuge in the hills and forests lying beyond the range of the brahmin’s formidable axe. some kshattriyas [sic] fled to other countries where they began to live in disguise of sudras [sic], having given up sacred threads” (karan, 1919, p. 39). perhaps, a major effect on the poundras was that of buddhism to which they converted and which distanced them further from brahmanical rites. bengal remained an area where brahmanical civilization was yet to extend to for a long period of time and, according to karan, it was considered “a prohibited area for the hindus on account of its buddhist connection” (karan, 1919, p. 45). in fact, bengal or banga was held in low esteem and “mere trampling over its soil required re-sanctification” (karan, 1919, p. 46). this is indicated, according to karan, in a few possibly interpolated verses of anusasôn pôrbo of the mahabharata where brahmins are found cursing the poundras to a shudra state of life because they converted to buddhism and refused to accept brahmanical supremacy. however, from the eleventh century onwards, the buddhist converts started embracing brahmanism, the kayastha group of kshatriyas being the first (karan, 1919, p. 48). poundras were condemned as jôl-ôbyaboharyo (not as ôsprishyo/ untouchable) or that group of the shudras “whose water is not accepted by brahmins” (karan, 1919, p. 55). in fact, those brahmins who performed sacred ceremonies for the poundras were excommunicated. karan ends with the suggestion that the only way for the cultivating pods to get back their glory is to perform ceremonies “in obedience to the directions prescribed by the sastras [sic]” and thereby restore their “former prestige” and re-install their “original status” (karan, 1919, p. 74). although karan refuses to group the poundras as depressed class (this will be challenged by other poundras), his text contains common motifs of dalit texts like pro-british, anti-independence (against immediate independence from the british dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anti-caste thinkers from colonial 21 rule), and anti-brahmanical stances. even though he, like many others, ascribed a high social status and past glory to the poundras, their maltreatment by caste hindus was a fact and karan knew it. nor is his text silent about such maltreatment. one could argue that by desiring to reinstall an original kshatriya status and by distinguishing themselves from the mlechhas or those considered untouchables in some scriptural terms, karan was not ready to annihilate caste but to simply reinstate an original varna system. but one needs to be empathetic here. karan’s text was thoroughly antibrahmanical. in fact, the reclamation of kshatriyahood in itself was subversive vis-àvis brahmanism. but the most important point was to reclaim human personality. it was a matter of self-respect of the community and to reawaken confidence in themselves, such historical and scriptural excavation was required. the need to do so arose also from the experience of being maltreated by brahmin and upper caste officers in the census department who used every opportunity to project the poundras derogatorily as pods (the word ‘pod’ sounds similar to the bengali word ‘pnod’ which is a slang for anus and is still used to abuse the poundras). karan’s text, therefore, needs to be seen in the context of a series of self-respect movements launched by the dalits in colonial bengal. it might not have opposed casteism as scathingly as periyar’s self-respect movement had proposed to do but the attack on brahmanical hegemony, particularly the scriptural sanction of brahmanical supremacy through corrupt interpolations, by non-brahmins and dalits must be taken note of.2 apart from the english text, karan wrote few others in bengali and one of these needs to be mentioned here, namely, poundra kshatriya bônam bratya kshatriya (poundra kshatriya versus bratya kshatriya, 1927). herein he strongly argues that the name “bratya kshatriya” should be dropped and “poundra kshatriya” should be used instead. quoting the manusmriti, he argues that twelve castes fell from kshatriya status due to not being ministered by brahmins, and poundra is one of them (karan, 2013, p. 126). poundras, unlike jhal, malo and five other castes, were historically designated as actual bratya kshatriyas (this is discussed further later on). even though they fell from their kshatriya status, poundras, for karan, are not bratya kshatriyas. although this logic seems problematic, and also inconsistent with his theorization in the english text, what karan seems to be indicating is that poundras did not lose their status altogether and that they were not designated as untouchables. this is a text written seven years after the english text and by this time the poundra movement had undergone many upheavals. therefore, it was considered confusing to categorize the poundras as bratya kshatriyas and identify them with untouchables or even jhal-malo communities. falling from grace but not being bratya (literally meaning “outsider”)— this is a tricky logic. karan’s conviction, however, is infectious here, and he is completely in opposition to the likes of raicharan and benimadhav both of whom pushed for their community’s designation as bratya kshatriyas. karan reiterates that pundra was one of five sons of king boli and bratya means one who is fallen from the rites, without being ministered by brahmins. an additional argument is included: even if the poundras fell from grace and were considered “bratyas,” to continue the term 2periyar, for instance, stated that “amongst dogs you don’t have a brahmin dog and pariah (untouchable) dog. among donkeys and monkeys we do not find. but amongst men you have. why?” (periyar, 2016, n.p.). 22 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 to designate the community is antithetical to their movement for self-respect (karan, 2013, p. 132). he, therefore, puts his foot down: one must not use this term! he quotes sharat chandra chattopadhyay in his support because sharat chandra opposed the use of the term “bratya” (karan, 2013, p. 134). poundras were not fallen: they were descendants of kshatriyas who were source of the name, poundradesh (the land of the poundras), unlike the malos who derived their name from their place of residence, i.e. the malabar part of the country. what is fascinating about these arguments is that they constitute an intra-community (within a specific dalit community or across dalit communities) debate, thereby developing an anti-caste intellectual tradition not controlled/ regulated/ overshadowed by a brahmanical big other. this is where my reading of dalit history of colonial bengal differs from that of sekhar bandyopadhyay who argues, as mentioned already, that dalits of colonial bengal were subsumed by brahmanical imagination. rajendranath sarkar (1903–1979) important poundra organizations were arguably concentrated at three key places in colonial bengal: south 24 parganas and calcutta (important representatives included raicharan sardar, benimadhav haldar, srimanta naskar, and hemchandra naskar), midnapore (mahendranath karan), and khulna (rajendranath sarkar and suniti sarkar, among others). whereas key spokespersons of calcutta, south 24 parganas, and midnapore were focused on reviving their past glory through redefining themselves as poundra kshatriyas instead of pod, those from khulna, though they supported such movement, were more concerned about the then-prevailing poverty and backwardness of the larger poundra community. when in the early twentieth century, the british government created the provision for reservation of jobs for a list of backward communities, and included the poundras in it, raicharan sardar as the secretary of poundra kshatriya samiti and others including hemchandra naskar violently protested the move. allegedly, hemchandra naskar stated that he refused to be in the same list which included dom, among other ‘lower castes.’ there was a strong split among the poundras, and raicharan sardar, with support from colleagues from south 24 parganas, wrote to the concerned authority to remove the poundras from the list. this was resisted by rajendranath sarkar and others from khulna who wrote a letter asking for inclusion. following this tussle, all leaders and supporters of the poundra movement agreed to meet in a conference on this subject held on 20 april 1935 in ballygunj (calcutta). in this conference, the khulna representatives, fearing organizational split, momentarily gave in to the demands of raicharan and hemchandra who then wrote another letter confirming their collective stance to not include poundra in the list. however, once rajendranath and his team were back to khulna they immediately wrote yet another letter confirming their position and demanding the inclusion of the poundras in the list of scheduled castes (sarkar, 2013, pp. 72–76). what makes rajendranath one of the uncompromising, radical, and prudent thinkers among the poundras is his pragmatism to reflect on the present condition of the poundras rather than dwelling on a once-upon-a-time glorious identity of the dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anti-caste thinkers from colonial 23 past. he certainly had difficulty in opposing as towering a figure as raicharan who had been a personal mentor to him and whom he, like scores of others, looked up to as their leader. however, he did not let his personal weakness or emotional vulnerability get in the way of a movement that was meant for the liberation and advancement of the collective. he was strongly convinced of the need to accept the opportunity of governmental protection for the poundras because, without this, they would never be able to come at par with the caste hindus, let alone compete with them. he believed that the governmental provisions would help the poundras get electoral representation, educational advantages, and job opportunities. unlike others, for him, the fight for recognition of the kshatriya background of the poundras was not in conflict with their inclusion in the list of protected castes. we should note that many backward caste communities, celebrating their past glory and high caste status, refused the government’s proposal and were eventually excluded from the list. their condition in postcolonial bengal is pathetic and as rajendranath as a practicing lawyer witnessed, many from these communities approached him later on to procure them false scheduled caste certificates for availing jobs, which he refused to grant (sarkar, 2013, p. 76). the advancement of the poundras today, whatever be the scale, owes much to the fight for reservation led by rajendranath. such a radical move made by rajendranath was deeply rooted, one could argue, in the dire poverty in the midst of which he, like many other poundras, lived. his educational pursuit was repeatedly affected due to his inability to pay for school and college fees. he moved from khulna to south 24 parganas for schooling but eventually returned because the promise of fees being waived was not kept. later on, he could study at a college only because the fees were reduced for him thanks to the intervention of mahendranath karan. in addition, he experienced caste-based discrimination and was maltreated as an untouchable on multiple occasions. in his autobiography jibankatha—which is the second poundra autobiography, the first one being raicharan sardar’s deener atmakahini ba satya-pariksha—he documents many such instances. first, when as a child he went to see a durga idol and stood on the stairs of the temple, he and his companions were rebuked and were threatened to be beaten up had they stayed or returned there. while leaving, they saw that the stairs were being washed with cow urine (considered holy by the caste hindus). their touch was considered to have polluted the sacred hindu space (sarkar, 2013, p. 39). second, in a school near tala, khulna, where he had been enrolled, the teacher told him in front of his classmates that he could not become anybody in life and that education was of no use to him due to his ‘lower caste’ peasant background (sarkar, 2013, p. 38). third, in his college days, he and his classmates participated in the non-cooperation movement of gandhi and all his classmates were admired by the principal of the college. however, when the principal came to know that rajendranath was from a ‘lower caste,’ he immediately changed his behavior and an offended rajendranath left the place and eventually distanced himself from the movement (sarkar, 2013, p. 49). many more instances of this kind, including how he was discriminated by his upper caste colleagues because he was a dalit lawyer (sarkar, 2013, pp. 65–66, 109–110) are grouped as jater name bôjjati (humiliating the ‘lower castes’ in the name of caste purity) in rajendranath’s autobiography. 24 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 the point here is that rajendranath was one of the few poundras who were not only very sensitive to casteism but also fully sensitized about how casteism functions and how it could be resisted. in the face of being maltreated as untouchables, it was not enough to make a counter-claim that poundras were not untouchables or outcastes because historically they had been kshatriyas. such a claim for recognition of their glorious past would not, according to him, bring an end to discrimination. what was required was to empower the poundras with financial capital and cultural capital— both of which were guaranteed by the protective measures of the british raj—and thereby overcome their backwardness which was a socio-historical reality. in other words, rajendranath’s singular contribution to the dalit resistance in bengal was to ensure that the poundras were on the receiving end of the redistribution of wealth, a possibility opened up by the new policies of the british raj. for him, it is redistribution of wealth that was as important as the struggle for cultural recognition. echoing critics radha sarkar and amar sarkar (2016, pp. 14–16) who, among others, developing on nancy fraser’s theorization of recognition, argue that the question of material redistribution must necessarily be combined with that of cultural recognition in the context of dalit politics, one could say that it is rajendranath who, through demanding redistribution through reservation, completed the poundra resistance and renaissance initiated through the politics of recognition by mahendranath karan, raicharan sardar, and others. rajendranath’s contribution to anti-caste movement was much greater in scope than the above account. he contributed to the poundra community in various capacities including as the founder of the khulna poundra kshatriya chhatrasangha (1922), president of poundra kshatriya chhatra parisad (1927), editor of the journals sangha (1935) and poundra kshatriya (1938), first poundra lawyer of the khulna district, poundra chairman of khulna local board (1936), elected people’s representative (1931-1942 and 1946-1958) and dalit candidate for the congress party (eventually becoming a minister in 1958). however, rajendranath remained loyal to congress for long and refused to join the scheduled castes federation even after the insistence of jogendranath mandal who became a minister in the central cabinet of pakistan after 1947 (sarkar, 2013, p. 97). mahendranath mallabarman (dates not available) mahendranath mallabarman was a malo thinker and not a rajbanshi as has wrongly been claimed by swaraj basu (barman & sarkar, 2020, p. 33). having the surname “barman” does not necessarily mean one belongs to the rajbanshi caste. mahendranath was arguably the sharpest malo thinker—a theorist even—of colonial bengal and this is demonstrated in his masterpiece dwitiyo varna kshatriya o jhal mal tôtvo (1914). the term “tôtvo” here means “theory” and true to it, he theorizes the history and identity of the malos as having kshatriya roots. the challenge for him, of course, is to explain how an original kshatriya group transformed into malos, a fishing community. to accomplish this, he comes up with an extremely insightful critique of the hindu scriptures. dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anti-caste thinkers from colonial 25 his first critique is an interrogation of the purusha-sukta verse of the rig veda which mentions that four varnas were born from four body parts of the purusha or brahma. drawing on vishnupuran which mentions that brahma was born after the entire world was created, mahendranath argues that brahma, therefore, could not have been the creator of the world or of the varnas (mallabarman, 2020, p. 63). he questions the authenticity of the myth of chaturvarna further by also mentioning, as in vishnupuran, that kshatriyas are said to have been born from the chest and not the arms of brahma (mallabarman, 2020, p. 61). as a matter of fact, he evokes the vedic texts wherein even the peasant wives (mallabarman, 2020, p. 49) are said to have composed hymns and wherein no birth-based caste division is mentioned except for guna and karmabased grouping (mallabarman, 2020, p. 64). thus, if the vedas have to be considered as the most authentic texts or if manusanhita has to be considered to be authoritative sanhita then one has to also explain the inconsistencies and interpolations that might have corrupted these and other hindu scriptures. he thereby concludes that the scriptures are to be taken with a pinch of salt and one needs to be careful while drawing any conclusion from them. such interrogation of the scriptures reveals the potential resistance to the so-called “sanskritization”—or emulating “the customs, rites, and beliefs of the brahmins, and the adoption of the brahminic [sic] way of life by a low caste”—as formulated by the sociologist m.n. srinivas (1952, p. 30). it is in this context that mahendranath launched scathing criticism against brohmoboibôrto puran. a few verses in this text describe the mal (malo) community as a mixed caste (anuloma/ pratiloma) being born from a woman of fishing community. he argues that these verses are interpolations (mallabarman, 2020, p. 82) and that this puranic text comprises 3000 such interpolated verses which could never have been written by vedvyasa (mallabarman, 2020, p. 82). the truth is to be found in manu, he argues, who mentions the mals (malos) as having kshatriya roots. he further adds that the malos were aryans by blood. in fact, mahendranath mallabarman engages in a critical hermeneutic approach to the scriptures and reaches the conclusion that the malos certainly belonged to the high social status and had been kshatriyas in ancient times. he quotes passages from manu to argue that jhals/mals were actually the children of bratya kshatriyas and savarna women. malos were not anuloma or pratiloma or mixed caste. rather, they belonged to dwitya or second varna, that is, the kshatriyas. however, according to him, they were a special category of the kshatriyas, i.e. bratya kshatriyas. how are the kshatriyas and bratya kshatriyas different from each other? for mallabarman, bratya kshatriyas were those kshatriyas who could not, for whatever reason, undergo upanayana or the sacred thread ceremony at the right age. different varnas (except the shudras) had different ages for upanayana (brahmins: 16 years, kshatriyas: 22, vaishyas: 24), and those who passed a particular age limit without upanayana became bratya kshatriyas. similarly, there were bratya brahmins and bratya vaishyas. bratyas were not shudras, mallabarman emphasizes; they were potential dwijas (twice-born). it is just that they did not undergo the ceremony of being born a second time. unlike the shudras, he argues, bratya kshatriyas were entitled to religious rites. he even refers to the fifteenth kanda of atharba veda which praises the bratyas as those who are worshipped by the dwijas; as having rights to learn the 26 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 vedic wisdom again; as possessing positive attributes like generosity; and as being a harbinger of divine blessing to their hosts (mallabarman, 2020, p. 91). all these indicate that being a bratya kshatriya was not a matter of shame or disrespect but it was a matter of pride. calling oneself bratya kshatriya also meant that one was much above the shudras in the varna ladder. thus, the malos were not shudras but respectable bratya kshatriyas. one is struck by how mahendranath mallabarman’s interpretation of bratya kshatriya is opposed to that of mahendranath karan. for the former, the term bratya is not an attribute of disrespect while for the latter it is. but mallabarman gives a proper scriptural justification for his claim whereas karan, somewhat under the influence of sarat chandra chattopadhyay, gives a literal reading of the term and dismisses it as derogatory. the history of being bratya, for mallabarman, is not a history of shame; for karan, it is. one should mention that the poundras had originally started calling themselves bratya kshatriyas before karan opposed it. karan had furthermore demonstrated that the poundras, unlike the malos, are not included in the list of bratya kshatriyas mentioned by manu, which is true. nevertheless, the rejection of the term bratya, for karan, is not just based on its absence vis-à-vis the poundras in the scriptures but also, as mentioned, because it is a pejorative term. for mallabarman, it is clearly not a pejorative term. it is these internal debates and disagreements surrounding naming in the process of identity-formation that make the dalit intellectual tradition so critical and independent of the brahmanical discourse which could not, unlike what sekhar bandhyopadhyay thinks, subsume the imagination of the dalits. the final argument provided by mallabarman about malos being kshatriyas is very innovative. if malos were kshatriyas then how come their profession is fishing? his primary argument is that a change of profession is allowed in the scriptures and unlike byabhichar (sexual promiscuity or lack of chastity), swôkôrmotyag (leaving one’s assigned profession) does not cause a fall from one’s varna status. if the karma or occupation fixed by the shashtras is not enough for a living then a brahmin, for instance, can engage in the karma of three other varnas. sri krishna likewise engaged in gochôron (looking after cows) or worked as sarothi (charioteer). it is only when sexual and marital relation happens outside the specific varna, or sexual immoralities are engaged in, that one loses the varna status. accordingly, fishing is a profession that anyone from any of the varnas can undertake. fishing is also nothing to be condemned because vyasdev himself was the son of a dhivor (fisher) woman, according to mallabarman, and still was worshipped by the entire hindu society. arjun, a brahmin, is shown in the mahabharata, as aiming his arrow at a golden fish which, according to mallabarman, symbolically implies that fishing was permissible to the brahmins as well. given that fish is a common food, all varnas have engaged in fishing. however, it is the logic of the kshatriyas being predominantly in charge of fishing as developed by mallabarman that adds to his intellectual innovation. fishing involves killing or catching the fishes with weapons. weapons are for the use by the kshatriyas. hence, fishing suits as a kshatriya profession—it is their swadharma (mallabarman, 2020, pp. 99, 103–105). therefore, there is no contradiction in being a malo fisher and being a kshatriya at the same time. it is the innovativeness, logicality, and sharpness of his argument that makes mahendranath mallabarman an important dalit thinker of colonial bengal. however, dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anti-caste thinkers from colonial 27 from his interpretation, it is not clear whether bratya kshatriyas became who they became, in course of time or due to some societal injustice. the exact difference between the shudras and the bratya kshatriyas is also uncertain because, as babasaheb ambedkar argues, shudras too were kshatriyas, the descendants of king sudas, who were deprived of upanayana by the brahmins (ambedkar, 2014, pp. 118–130, 150– 151, 206–209). nevertheless, what one finds in this analysis for sure is the desire on the part of malos, similar to the poundras, to highlight that they are not shudras, nor are they untouchables. their resistance to being treated as untouchables took them in search of their history and revival of scriptural references and socio-cultural reformation. how much it helped them to deal with the material backwardness is a different question and had perhaps been addressed by only a few (like rajendranath, harichand and guruchand). but the revivalism and reformation engaged in by them is indicative of a vibrant but forgotten anti-brahmanical renaissance that took place at the same time as the brahmanical bengal renaissance. conclusion multiple bengali dalit communities organized and mobilized themselves, convened scores of conferences and meetings, opened independent journals, magazines, and newspapers, and published innumerable texts in the colonial period under the british rule. thanks to colonial modernity, capitalism, use of the printing press, and intervention of the british in social matters (albeit in their own interests), dalit communities like the poundras, namasudras, malos, rajbanshis (a major community represented by the well-known figure panchanan barma, among others, whose contribution to anti-caste movement in colonial bengal could not be discussed in this article due to the paucity of space) and others plunged into self-respect movements. from closely analyzing and criticizing the scriptures to launching independent socially transformative religious movement and then debating and eventually accepting the colonizers’ provisions for protective measures including redistribution of wealth and proportional representation, the colonial period was a series of politically, socially, and culturally vibrant moments for the dalits. the reformation measures undertaken by the dalit groups were nothing short of revolutionary and the theoretical debates produced by them were unprecedented. thus colonial bengal witnessed a dalit or caste-subaltern or rural renaissance-cum-resistance that the official history of bengal, dominated by marxist, brahmin/ brahmanical, nationalist, and urban historians, has failed to adequately and sufficiently take a note of. the history of bengal renaissance—which reserved no place for the emancipation of the ‘lower castes’, outcastes, and dalits—is still celebrated from school textbooks to university discourses as the greatest moment of indian freedom movement. but whose renaissance was bengal renaissance? whose interest did it serve? from 1858 to 1900 not a single dalit student was admitted in the university of calcutta (haldar, 2015, p. 90). the brahmin teachers of sanskrit college resigned en masse when kayastha students (not even the shudras and dalits) took admissions there. vidyasagar resigned from a mainstream theatre committee of calcutta when girish ghosh proposed that women actors from ‘lower caste’ and prostitute quarters will be recruited as actors (r. bhattacharya, 1998, p. 9). almost all 28 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 the reformers and revivalists were ultimately in favor for retaining the caste system and brahmanical supremacy, and no effective resistance was built against the evils of casteism. almost the entire landscape of bengal renaissance was populated, with a few exceptions, by brahmin men (ram mohan roy, ishwar chandra bandyopadhyay, keshub chandra sen, debendranath tagore, bankim chandra chatterjee, and others) serving the interests of brahmin patriarchy. bengal renaissance, therefore, was predominantly a brahmanical renaissance of, by, and for brahmin men. an overemphasis on its glory would be tantamount to committing an epistemic violence to the dalit renaissance and resistance that had taken place at the same time in the same province. the above analysis has hopefully made it clear that, unlike what sekhar bandyopadhyay and others think, dalit resistance and renaissance in colonial bengal was not overshadowed by brahmanical consciousness or controlled by brahmanical imagination. the wide range and heterogeneity of dalit thought and the long period of time across which the relevant debates evolved demand that we talk about an independent dalit intellectual tradition and history that developed in colonial bengal. in fact, the writings of mahendranath mallabarman and mahendranath karan, the latter being explicitly called a historian who wrote multiple treatises, go to the extent of developing anti-brahmanical, sometimes even anti-scriptural methodology of historywriting and, therefore, an alternative dalit historiography. but scholarship on colonial bengal is largely silent about it. if caste hindu historians from bengal, who have been dominating academia for decades, are silent about the dalit history and historiography of colonial bengal, almost exclusively written in the vernacular language, then one cannot blame kancha ilaiah and others who have no access to the vernacular literature, for claiming that bengalis have failed to diagnose the cancer of caste. acknowledgement an early version of this article was presented on 30 october 2021 at the online international conference on ‘anti-caste thought: theory, politics and culture’ organized by the university of wolverhampton. dag erik berg who chaired my session and the two anonymous reviewers gave valuable feedback. meena dhanda provided me constant guidance and encouragement. i benefited from my conversations with manohar mouli biswas, dilip gayen, and rup kumar barman. i purchased primary materials using the global engagements fund 2020–21 (university college london) and remain indebted to laila kadiwal and lotika singha. i express my gratitude to all of them. references ambedkar, b.r. (2014). who were the shudras? in vasant moon (comp.) dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches volume 7. new delhi: dr ambedkar foundation, pp. 11–227. baidya, s. (2015). matuaism: nôtun ek sômaj bilpober digdôrshon. in n. biswas and j. haldar (eds.), sri sri harichand thakur swôrno sônkolon. kolkata: aikatan, pp. 57–80. dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anti-caste thinkers from colonial 29 bandyopadhyay, s. (2004). caste culture and hegemony: social dominance in colonial bengal. new delhi: sage. bandyopadhyay, s. (2014). popular religion and social mobility in colonial bengal: the matua sect and the namasudras. in s. sarkar and t. sarkar (eds.), caste in modern india vol.1, (n.p., epub file). ranikhet: permanent black. barman, r.k. (2016). yes! the scheduled castes can write: reflections on creative and assertive writings of the scheduled castes of colonial bengal. contemporary voice of dalit, 8 (1), pp. 47–61. barman, r.k. and sarkar, k (eds.). 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(1995). can the subaltern speak? in b. ashcroft et al. (eds.), the postcolonial studies reader. london: routledge, pp. 24–28. sen, dwaipayan. (2018) the decline of caste question: jogendranath mandal and the defeat of dalit politics in bengal. cambridge: cambridge university press. srinivas, m.n. (1952). religion and society among the coorgs of south india. bombay: asia publishing house. teltumbde, a. (2010). persistence of caste: the khairlanji murders and india’s hidden apartheid. london: zed books. thakur, k.k. (2015). sômaj biplobe matua dharma. in n. biswas and j. haldar (eds.), sri sri harichand thakur swôrno sônkolon. kolkata: aikatan, pp. 17–24. weber, m. (2001). the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. (trans.) talcott parsons. london: routledge. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 125–154 february 2020 issn 2639-4928brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i1.96 © 2020 vivek v. narayan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited mirrors of the soul performative egalitarianisms and genealogies of the human in colonial-era travancore, 1854-1927 vivek v. narayan1 (bluestone rising scholar 2019 award) for pradeepan pampirikunnu, with gratitude and in loving memory of an all-too-brief conversation abstract scenes of avarna castes (slave and intermediate castes) pondering their reflections recur throughout the history of anti-caste struggle in the princely state of travancore in colonial-era south india. these scenes represent what i will call performative egalitarianisms, which are repetitive enactments in the performance of everyday lives that embody claims to equality against the dehumanizing caste codes of colonial travancore. in this paper, i will describe three scenes that represent distinct yet intertwined routes for the flows of egalitarian discourses in colonial kerala. the concept of equality emerged in travancore, first, via enlightenment values of the british protestant missionaries, or soulful enlightenment; second, as non-dualistic equality of narayana guru, or repurposed advaita; and third, through the discourses and practices of a tamil religious cult called ayya vazhi, or radical siddha saiva. in viewing the flows of egalitarian discourse through the lens of performance, i demonstrate the method of intellectual histories in the repertoire which allows us to investigate how particular conceptual frameworks and discursive modes are transmitted, transformed, and embodied by people for whom these ideas are, quite literally, a matter of life and death. the intentional, productive, and empowering relationship between universals such as equality or humanity and the particular claims of anti-caste struggle in kerala leads to a politics of practice that i describe as repurposing universals. the centrality of the notion of the human in the anti-caste politics of colonial-era travancore leads me to refer to these flows of egalitarian discourses and the political struggles that they empowered as genealogies of the human. in sum, i analyze the genealogies of the human in colonial-era travancore by focussing on three scenes exemplifying performative egalitarianisms: soulful enlightenment, repurposed advaita, and radical siddha saiva. 1assistant professor, department of humanities and social sciences, iit gandhinagar, india e-mail: v.v.narayan@gmail.com 126 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 i this paper reconstructs three scenes from colonial-era travancore pertaining to the everyday lives of avarna (slave and intermediate) castes. in each of these scenes, the avarna castes gaze at their reflections, asserting interiority, reclaiming selfrespect, repossessing dignity, and ultimately, recuperating their humanity. these scenes represent and document what i will call performative egalitarianisms, which are repetitive enactments rooted in the performance of everyday lives that embody claims to equality against the quotidian dehumanizations of caste codes. in colonialera travancore, as elsewhere in what is today kerala, the caste codes of jati maryada (caste-based forms of respect, or caste-based rules and norms) governed all aspects of social behaviour.1 by prescribing and enforcing minute details of everyday behaviour, jati maryada made castes legible, and ultimately, governable. set against the historical backdrop of jati maryada, the three scenes i analyze in this paper help trace the flows of egalitarian discourses in colonial travancore. they reveal not only the existence of egalitarian discourses but show that the avarna castes understood these discourses as such and took them up in ways that enacted, and inspired further enactments of, equality. in other words, not only do these scenes represent three routes for egalitarian discourse in colonial travancore, but they also document the performances of everyday life through which we can discern the uptake of these concepts in the everyday lives of the avarna castes. the first scene is drawn from archival records of an interview conducted by the missionary john hawksworth (1855a, b) with slaves cherrady and thewatthan in 1854. this scene exemplifies the first route of egalitarian discourses emerging from enlightenment universal values via british protestant missionaries, which i call ‘soulful enlightenment.’ the second scene depicts sree narayana guru’s installation of a mirror as an idol in a temple in kalavankodam in 1927. this scene embodies guru’s reinterpretation of advaita vedanta as non-dualistic equality, or ‘repurposed advaita.’ the final scene portrays one of the ritual practices of the ayya vazhi (the way of the father), in which followers salute themselves in the mirror before entering a temple of the ayya vaikundar cult2 (1838 – present). this scene represents theological discourses and documents practices of worship of the ayya vazhi that drew upon older notions of universality and corporeality from the tamil yogic practice of saiva siddhanta, which i call ‘radical siddha saiva.’ i reconstruct these scenes from sources such as newspapers, missionary ethnographies, and oral historical accounts to identify distinct yet intertwined routes for the emergence of egalitarian discourses in travancore. for each of these routes, i read archival records that show discursive articulation of egalitarian concepts alongside interpretations that reveal the uptake of these concepts in the repertoires of embodiment. what’s important for me is, in short, not only showing that egalitarian ideas existed in the three discourses i trace, but equally, that they were understood and taken up as such in popular consciousness in ways that inspired further enactments of equality. my dramaturgical logic for assembling these three scenes depends, in large part, on their potential to reveal the enactments of equality in everyday life. this hybrid method straddles the archive and the repertoire to seek clues that reveal the lived experience of the avarna castes in order to attempt an intellectual history in the repertoire of embodiment. the pathbreaking work of sanal mohan (2015) has guided my efforts, where, following his example, i have tried to seek mirrors of the soul... 127 clues for the lived experience and intellectual formations of the avarna castes from colonial missionary ethnographies. intellectual histories in the repertoire provide a way to understand the ideas of unlettered people; to ask how particular conceptual frameworks and discursive modes are transmitted, transformed, and embodied by people for whom these ideas are, quite literally, a matter of life and death. along with identifying three routes for the flows of egalitarian discourses in colonial travancore, this paper demonstrates a method of doing intellectual history in the repertoires of embodiment. i show here that analysing discourse, representation, and performance, by accessing sources in the archive and the repertoire, leads us towards the genealogies of the human in colonial kerala. central to these flows of egalitarian discourses is the notion of the soul. as a substance at once immanent and transcendent, the soul holds particular importance to these performative egalitarianisms by providing a conceptual language in which to assert the a priori humanity of the avarna castes, as well as to exercise their capacity for action and transformation. the discourse of the soul derives primarily from the christian evangelical discourse of british protestant missionaries. for the missionaries, the soul designated, first, that which was a priori human, or human interiority; second, that which enabled human beings to act intentionally, or human agency; and, third, that part of the human which could be transformed through the discourse of sin and repentance, redemption and salvation, or transformative self-possession. this notion of the soul suffused the newly constituted public sphere in colonial travancore and made its way to non-christian forms of worship such as the movements led by narayana guru and ayya vaikundar. the soul, with its multiple valences of interiority, agency, and mutability, conceptualised and articulated egalitarian discourses in the language of a universal humanity. by designating that which characterised a human being, the notion of the soul organised missionary abolitionist discourse in colonial travancore around the figure of the human. the soul provides, therefore, a vivid marker through which to trace the suffusion of egalitarian discourses and the concomitant notion of the human in colonial travancore. these genealogies of the human are, like all genealogies, not a search for point of origin, but a delineation of paths of descent and emergence.3 my argument here is not that egalitarian discourse had its origins in the enlightenment values of british protestant missionaries, but rather, that the enlightenment provided one route of descent and emergence for the concept of equality that was repurposed with enthusiasm by the avarna castes. these routes are necessarily plural, appearing rarely, if ever, in singular form. moreover, these genealogies of the human are also, invariably, compromised egalitarianisms: if soulful enlightenment was qualified by its colonial context, both repurposed advaita and radical siddha saiva exhibited an emerging sentiment of hindu communal consolidation in response to conversions as well as a barely-concealed misogyny in discourse and practice. the heterogeneity of these genealogies and the acceptance of their compromised natures allow us to trace egalitarian discourse in the real and messy world that steers clear of the temptation to overemphasise such contradictions, or—worst of all—discredit the radical impulses of such historical movements by deconstructing their contradictions. such a focus on the compromised egalitarianisms in everyday life can help us understand the contingent and always-imperfect processes of political struggle through intellectual histories in the repertoire. 128 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 through intellectual histories in the repertoire, i attempt to trace here the ways in which universal values and particular contexts interact to empower anti-caste political struggle. i am interested here not only in the emancipatory possibilities of the imagination afforded by universals—the concepts of equality, and shared common humanity—but of the particular struggles that emerged through the situated and contingent practices of repurposing universals. the historical appropriation of a universal value such as equality or humanity to suit particular political contexts such as the struggle against caste in colonial travancore is a double process that bends the universal claim to fit the particular issue, and expands the particular to universalistic proportions. such practices of contingent and historical appropriation that articulate particular claims in universalistic language for strategic purposes i call ‘repurposing universals.’ i will now turn to each of these three scenes to describe the genealogies of the human in colonial-era travancore which reveal how the avarna castes repurposed universals to advance their particular political claims. ii scene one soulful enlightenment: suffering slaves and the sufferance of christ the first scene depicts the slaves of travancore seeing parallels between the body and suffering of christ with their own person and experience. a rare published interview from 1854 (hawksworth, 1855 a, 1855 b) exemplifies the numerous conversations between slaves and missionaries that affirmed the ordinary lives4 of slaves and helped recuperate their humanity. q. can we see god? a. yes. q. how? with the heart. q. can we see him with the eye? a. we cannot now. q. did not the disciples see christ? a. yes. q. how was that? (he being god.) a. he came among us (men) and walked with us. q. had christ hands and feet, &c., as we have? a. yes. q. what nature had he? a. he took ours. this interview sets up a mirroring between the suffering of slaves and that of christ, and, significantly the verisimilitude between their human natures. in other words, this interview not only witnesses slave suffering but also asserts their a priori humanity. missionary recognition of slave humanity makes their records replete with detailed reports of the lived experience of slaves—the imponderabilia of encasted everyday life5—which bear traces of deeply felt conversations.6 amongst these conversations, the interview by the colonial missionary john hawksworth (1815–63) of the church mission society (cms) (and, in all probability, the native missionary george matthan7) with the slaves cherrady and thewatthan, is rare for including a transcript of the conversation which affords us a glimpse of these everyday interactions. this interview—henceforth, hawksworth, cherrady, and thewatthan—was originally published as ‘questions by a missionary, and answers by travancore slaves, taught in a school of the church missionary society’ in the madras church missionary record mirrors of the soul... 129 of february 1854, (mateer, 1883)8 and subsequently reprinted as ‘the travancore slaves’ in the missionary register of november 1854 (hawksworth, 1855 a), and as ‘the slaves of travancore,’ in the church missionary intelligencer and record of january 1855 (hawksworth, 1855 b). hawksworth, cherrady, and thewatthan was intended to demonstrate, one version declared, that the ‘gospel of christ is restorative in its action.’ the interview was specifically framed as evidence of how christian faith can effect a transformation in ‘the most degraded, the most apparently hopeless and deeply sunk and [raise] them up to that dignity of character’ (hawksworth, 1855 b) that is, the gospel would restore the degraded slaves—note the discourse of degradation with the implication of a priori humanity—to their full human selves characterised by self-respect and dignity. ‘i should say,’ prefaces hawksworth in one version, that ‘the manner in which these answers were given was most satisfactory, and interested me very much.’ hawksworth’s notes on ‘the manner’ in which they spoke suggests the self-possession of cherrady and thewatthan who calmly recounted the travails of their everyday lives. as representatives of a section of humanity degraded by caste, cherrady and thewatthan demonstrated their humanity as speaking and suffering subjects. the act of prayer recuperated the inner worlds of the slave castes, and restored to them their humanity in full. in the brief extract from hawksworth, cherrady, and thewatthan above, we see the rhetorical operation of recognizing the first meaning of soul, which was to emphasize the inalienable interiority of the human. cherrady and thewatthan answer that we can see god with ‘the heart.’ that is, through the interiority that characterises the human soul, or that which makes us human. the following questions and answers underscore this relation between interiority and humanity. christ, they say, ‘came among us (men) and walked with us.’ the humanity of slaves and the human form of christ in christian doctrine are equated here to argue again for the inclusion of slaves within the category of humanity. the elaboration of ‘hands and feet, etcetera,’ equates his ‘nature’ with that of the slaves to assert that christ took the form of slaves. they assert later in the interview that we ‘must pray with all our heart.’ once again, they were asserting in the language of the gospel, the inalienable interiority of their human souls. missionary discourse had it that the recuperation of their human souls was made possible through the gospel, which allowed them to come into their own as suffering subjects and articulate human agents. in fact, they demonstrated not only the worthiness and possibility of redeeming the souls of slaves but attested that such transformation was already well underway. they performed in other words, the collective suffering of the slave population in eloquent terms. the notion of collective social suffering is significant to encasted subjectivities. sanal mohan (2015) argues that missionary abolitionist efforts drew upon ‘enlightenment ideas of equality and liberty and constructed slavery discursively’ in order to critique it as ‘a modern phenomenon.’ missionary efforts to engage slaves included, critically, collecting information on the lived experience of slave castes which, as mohan points out, discursively ‘constituted the suffering slave and helped evolve a language of resistance’ irrespective of whether slaves converted to protestantism or not (2015, 48-9). for mohan, then, the recognition of slave suffering and its narration as a modern phenomenon paved the way to recuperate their humanity and articulate anti-caste politics. 130 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 mohan is not alone in placing the experience and articulation of suffering at the centre of anti-caste politics. suffering occupies the central conceptual and ethical category in br ambedkar’s navayana buddhism, where he reinterprets the buddhist doctrine to give it anti-caste political form. here, dukkha becomes the equivalent of ‘exploitation and poverty’ caused by the ‘exercise of power by one person or class over another.’9 indeed, dukkha, in this sense of social suffering is, ananya vajpeyi (2012) asserts, ‘constitutive of the very identity of the untouchables[.]’ social suffering is ‘the modality in which they experience their being in the world—especially since society, from their perspective, is created by and for those with caste.’ ambedkar’s dukkha is to be understood, cautions vajpeyi, ‘not as individual, karmic suffering, but as collective, social suffering.’ social suffering, as theorised by kleinman, das, and lock (1997), refers to the human experience of horrors and brutalities that the structures of social life enable and legitimize. this concept of social suffering ‘brings into a single space an assemblage of human problems that have their origins and consequences in the devastating injuries that social force can inflict on human experience’ (pp ix-x) their understanding of social suffering explicitly refuses the dichotomies of the individual and the collective, and the local and the global; a fact of particular significance to encasted subjectivities. such an emphasis on suffering is always a double-edged phenomenon, argues alexander weheliye (2014) in the context of trans-atlantic slavery: while discourses about the suffering slave recognised black humanity, they also ‘subjugated black subjects in much more insidious and elaborate ways than de facto enslavement’ (p 12). that is, if suffering recognised the human soul, this discourse also trapped suffering subjects into other modes of subjugation that denied their agency. yet, as mohan (2015) points out, missionary recognition of the humanity of suffering slaves played a role in their transformation under colonial modernity. a careful parsing of these narratives of suffering also helps to identify the agency of the slave castes in ways that do not further subjugate them through historiography. this is what i’m attempting here: to unpack archival records that help us understand the social and political transformation in the avarna castes of travancore through their encounter with egalitarian discourses. to narrate suffering was not to remain relegated to a suffering subjectivity, for social recognition led to political transformation. for the slaves of colonial-era travancore, the epistemology of sin and repentance provided an imaginative terrain in which to narrativize, and therefore begin to transform, suffering, and to conceptualize modern concepts of justice, equality, and autonomy. in missionary discourse, the figure of the ‘thief on the cross’ exemplifies the epistemology of sin and repentance, as well as the eventual reinstatement of justice. hawksworth, cherrady, and thewatthan discuss the thief on the cross: q. if a thief becomes afraid of god, and lessens his stealing, is it enough? a. no use—must obey god’s commandments entirely. q. if the thief, hearing this, gives up thieving, will he be saved? a. he must beg pardon. q. yet all cry for pardon at death? a. should cry before. q. but the thief on the cross cried then, and was saved: how was that? a. by faith. q. can we obey precisely? a. only by god’s grace. q. can we think holy desires without this? a. we cannot. q. who puts these holy desires into our minds? a. the holy spirit. mirrors of the soul... 131 the first generic thief they discuss is a direct reference to the regular practice among the agrestic slaves of what we might call ‘subsistence stealing.’ denied even adequate food upon which they could survive, slaves resorted to stealing grain, cattle, and other goods for subsistence. their subsistence stealing was structurally necessitated by the far worse, socially-sanctioned structural stealing by savarna overlords. in other words, subsistence stealing was not a question of morality, but of survival (mohan, 2015 p 96-7). although stealing contained a ‘hidden transcript of everyday resistance practices’ (mohan, 2015; scott, 1985), as a form of resistance, it remained below the radar, and could not accommodate any conception of transformation of the abjected situation of slaves. it is such hidden transcripts, represented by the generic thief, that missionary instruction encourages slaves to disavow in colonial kerala. the transformation they encourage is that of the biblical ‘thief on the cross’—a repentant one who understands the doctrine of sin and wishes to mend his ways. the conversation makes it clear that such repentance ought not to be opportunistic by crying for pardon at the hour of death, but rather that it ought to be a performance of everyday life according to reformed principles. the doctrine of sin and practices of repentance held, for slave castes, a simultaneous acknowledgement of their interiority, agency, and capacity for transformation. this polyvalent recognition of the human souls of slaves is indicated through the shorthand of the holy ghost. in response to the question—‘who puts these holy desires into our minds?’—cherrady and thewatthan answer, ‘the holy spirit.’ that is, their interiority (‘minds’) are imbued with the agential desire for change (‘holy desires’) to realise their unnameable capacity for transformation (‘the holy spirit’). the simultaneous acknowledgement of external influence, internal transformation, and self-possession acted as the context within which slaves conceptualised their agency—the key second meaning of ‘soul’ in missionary discourse. facilitating the narration of transformative self-possession in everyday practices through biblical metaphors was one way in which missionary intervention acted as one route for egalitarian discourses in colonial kerala. this sense of transformative self-possession articulated in the language of sin and repentance stands in contrast to forms of worship that surrogated slave abjection. in another report from 1855, hawksworth describes an idol of worship, which was in ‘the image of a murdered slave’ (hawksworth, 1855a, 1856 p 92). a few weeks ago a slave brought an idol to the bungalow. he himself had worshipped it until he learned the religion of christ. his story about the idol, which i have had confirmed from other quarters, is singular. the idol is the image of a murdered slave, and was made and set up by the murderer to appease the spirit of his victim. the shocking mutilation of the body, and other particulars, have been narrated, proving that several must have committed the crime. one of the suspected parties destroyed himself a short time ago. perhaps nothing could be a clearer or more affecting proof of the moral degradation of the slaves, than the fact of their regarding as a deity what they believed to be the image of a murdered slave, and actually worshipping it. we need not subscribe to the missionary’s condemning attitude towards ‘heathen’ practices of worship, nor affirm his unshakeable faith in christianity, to learn about the spiritual lives of slave castes before christianity, and their transformation through 132 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 colonial modernity. hawksworth reads the mutilated body represented in the idol as evidence of lynching, as opposed to random violence. he further notes that one of the perpetrators ‘destroyed himself’—suicide, perhaps—suggesting that it was widely known who the perpetrators were, which would be entirely in keeping with the public and spectacular nature of lynching. hawksworth ultimately notes that ‘nothing could be a clearer or more affecting proof of the moral degradation of the slaves, than the fact of their regarding as a deity what they believed to be the image of a murdered slave, and actually worshipping it.’ the performative violence of lynching, which constitutes the slave body as subject to terror and enfleshment, is surrogated here through the everyday act of worshipping of the idol.10. but for hawksworth, such surrogation represents nothing more than moral degradation because he sees no evidence of transformative self-possession. such worship remembers constitutive violence, but does not transcend it, or attempt to change the conditions for its existence. moreover, the representation of ‘shocking mutilation of the body’ makes commonplace the encasted subjection of breaking slave bodies. far from the transformative self-possession that informs the discourse of sin and repentance, such surrogation enacted, for hawksworth, the naturalisation of encasted violence and, ultimately, perpetuated the cycle of encasted subjection (hartman, 1997). in using the miraculous powers of the gospel as shorthand for the work of individual and collective transformation and the everyday performance of self-possession it wrought, hawksworth presents a valuable insight into both the self-evident biases of missionary discourse, and, far more importantly, the impact of missionary activity upon the everyday lives and imaginations of slave castes. the discourse of sin and repentance points to the third meaning of ‘soul’ in missionary discourse: that which can be transformed or redeemed in a human life. apart from such transformative self-possession, which missionary discourse presents, naturally, as evidence of the restorative power of the gospel, and the understanding of the discourse of sin and repentance that articulated individual and collective transformation, what impressed hawksworth was the lack of exaggeration and overstatement. his reassurances—which, presumably, addressed his british peers—attested to the veracity of these slave narratives. ‘there was no attempt to represent things,’ hawksworth hastens to add, ‘as worse than they actually are, but rather’—with the forgiveness that befits christian charity—‘to soften the case.’ the act of forgiveness is the construction of a new self that elevates its spirit through recourse of spiritual values.11 when an unnamed slave declared, ‘amid sobs and tears, the deep depravity of his own heart,’ he was performing new selfhood rooted both in the eloquence of his suffering and the potential of his transformative agency (hawksworth, 1855). through these narratives, the slave castes not only began to make sense of their social suffering—their dukkha—but began to demonstrate the process of asserting transgressive agency by embodying individual and social transformation. the discourse of sin and redemption, while offering modalities to articulate individual and social transformation, also gave slave castes a language to assert their selfhood and agency. the emphasis upon forgiveness performed the renewal of slave selves, their spiritual ascension to a position of foregoing reactionary retribution and granting pardon. mirrors of the soul... 133 in one version, hawksworth ends the interview with a report of a redeemed soul. ‘last week, a slave woman—who, some months ago, was forsaken by her husband because she would attend the sunday-school—died in peace. her last words were, “i am entering heaven.”’ (1855 a, p 473). hawksworth concludes, ‘such are some of the effects of the gospel among the slaves.’ the slave woman’s fervent hope that she was entering heaven brings together the experiences of spiritual ascension and the redemption of slave humanity through religion. the slave woman’s last words express the hope of what tm yesudasan calls ‘matharohanam,’ or religious ascension. in his important study of the relationship between christianity and the anti-caste movement in kerala—baliyadukalude vamshavali, or a genealogy of the scapegoats—yesudasan refuses the term ‘conversion’ and offers instead his influential formulation of matharohanam, which i translate as ‘religious ascension.’ the term ‘conversion,’ points out yesudasan, applies only to those who switch allegiance from one organised religion, say hinduism, to another, such as christianity, or islam. in yesudasan’s view, given that slave castes in the nineteenth century were not considered to belong to hinduism—or, indeed, any religion—their acceptance into the protestant church can only be understood as an ascension into the realm of religion. yesudasan’s formulation of religious ascension reveals the origins of his conceptual framework in the christian doctrine of ascension. but, this is not all matharohanam signifies: given the dehumanization and social death (patterson, 2018) that marked the lives of humans-as-property, acceptance within the social and communal life of the church initiated their ascension into the realm of the human. for yesudasan, then, the term matharohanam also denotes the ascension of the slave castes of nineteenth century kerala from ‘a completely unorganised and helpless situation’ to one of relatively ‘better circumstances.’12 that is, it describes their admission into the social realm of the human from the sub-human or non-human.13 if matharohanam is ascension into the realm of religion, it is also, equally, ascension into the realm of the human. the testimonies of slave castes from the nineteenth century, when read through yesudasan’s theoretical contributions, suggest that there existed a growing common sense among the slave castes of matharohanam: theirs was not so much a switching of allegiances, but a simultaneous ascension into the spiritual realms of religion and humanity. it is in this sense that i have argued for enlightenment universals via british protestant missionaries to provide one genealogy of the human in colonial travancore. cherrady and thewatthan were enacting much else besides rote-learning of the gospel teachings when they saw reflections of themselves and their experience in the body and suffering of christ. this narrative mirror held for them a recognition not only of their suffering but of their inalienable human interiority and with it, the hope of transformation. this scene represents the flow of enlightenment universal values via british protestant missionaries and documents the performances of everyday life through which the slave castes repurposed those values to articulate their particular political claims. 134 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 scene two repurposed advaita: worshipping an idol of the self in 1927, narayana guru (1855-1928) consecrated a temple at kalavankodam, near cherthala, with a mirror inscribed with ‘om’—signifying, quite simply, that the divine was to be found within the self. every time guru’s followers worshipped the mirror at kalavankodam, they performatively asserted that the fullness of a human being was worthy of adoration. nearly a century after its consecration, this temple continues to be a popular destination for followers of guru. fully appreciating the significance of the performative egalitarianism in the kalavankodam mirror installation requires reading two of guru’s best-known works that led up to it: jati nirnayam [a critique of caste] of 1914, and the older, atmopadesha satakam [one hundred verses of self-instruction; henceforth as] of 1897. in jati nirnayam, guru coined the phrase that has since become the de facto slogan for the sree narayana dharma paripalana yogam14 in particular, and the anticaste movement in general: ‘oru jati our matham our deivam manushyanu’ [one caste, one religion, one god for man]. guru begins this short poem with a species-level argument: humanity marks a human being just as bovinity marks a cow. what does not make a human is ‘brahminhood and such.’ significantly, he uses the word ‘jati’ to denote species. the second stanza is the famous slogan in which he repeats jati, using the insistent rhythmic drive of the bi-syllabic word interspersed with the staccato oru (one) to slide between his precise usage of jati-as-species, and the more commonly understood usage of jati-as-caste. the third stanza adds the critical argument that a species is that which can beget offspring. this is an argument guru would return to in a later work, jati lakshanam [a syntax of caste] (c. 1921), giving it a greater emphasis on corporeality: ‘do not ever ask/ “who you are (by caste)?”/ because the body itself/ tells you of that truth.’ in jati nirnayam, guru continues the species-level argument in the thesis stanza: ‘of the human species/ is a brahmin born/ as is a pariah too./ where is the caste difference, then,/ amongst the human species?’ this is a familiar advaitic trope: maya (illusion) occludes our perception, preventing us from separating the real rope from the imaginary serpent. the human species (manushyatvam) is the reality, articulated in the true category of jati-as-species, while caste differences are false appearances articulated as jati-as-caste. the image of the human and animal unequally yoked together that haunts the history of caste in kerala15 certainly exerts its influence upon guru’s rhetoric, though this is not all that he articulates here. for guru, the human-animal comparison allows him to elevate his arguments to universalistic proportions, and also allows him to return to the individual human self. the last two stanzas reveal this rhetorical maneuver in operation. the penultimate stanza brings the weight of scriptural authority to bear on the issue. guru points to the sage parashara, the mythic author of the puranas, as being ‘of a pariah woman/ was born the great sage.’ lines referring to parashara’s son, ved vyasa, the mythic author of the vedas and the mahabharata, and vyasa’s mother satyavati, follow as if to illustrate the possibilities of greatness that lay within the realm of the human irrespective of caste. guru says, ‘“even the sage who/ condensed the vedic secrets/ into great aphorisms,/ was born of the daughter/ of a fisherman.’ mirrors of the soul... 135 these lines also self-reflexively refer to guru himself, for he was born an ezhava. if these great sages were born of pariah and fisher castes, and they are the authors of the puranas and the vedas respectively, then how can the caste distinctions be true to the scriptures? does guru suggest then that all humans are the same? the final stanza ends on a note that provides an answer by asserting the primacy of the self. species-wise, does one find, when considered, any difference between man and man? is it not that difference exists apparently only individual-wise? here, he raises two questions: the first rhetorically restates his central thesis, while the second, returns to the perceiving subject—the autonomous human self. the first being more or less self-explanatory, it is the second rhetorical question in the final verse of the poem that interests me. in it, guru deploys three significant poetic devices. first, he appears to say, on the surface, that if humans are one species, as argued throughout the poem, then any differences whatsoever are at the level of the individual. second, through this explicit thematic closure from the species-level argument in the first half of the poem to the individualistic argument in the final stanza, guru effects a movement from the universal to the particular. at the beginning of the poem, he brings the weight of universals (species, humanity, manushyatvam) to bear on the particular (individual differences), while in the final stanza, he expands the particular (the individual self, the person) to universalistic proportions (the human). the concluding phrase in the last line ‘vyakthibhagathillalle bhedamirunnidu’ (individual differences) establishes this rhetorical closure with the famous opening phrase of the first line ‘manushyanam manushyatvam’ (man’s humanity). the conceptual unity between these two lines lies in the relationship between vyakthi (person, or individual) and manushan (the human): the autonomous self and the figure of the human. this return to the primacy of the self in the final stanza is a revealing example of the discursive and performative efforts to claim subjecthood and personhood that i am calling genealogies of the human. some two decades before jati nirnayam was published, and nearly thirty years before the kalavankodam mirror installation, guru had crystallized the central ideas of repurposed advaita in his landmark work, the as. this long philosophical poem of a hundred verses foregrounds its central themes in its first eleven verses: first, consciousness; second, ascendance of the individual self to universal human consciousness; third, images of spiritual depth; fourth, figures of transformation; fifth, transcendence of ‘hell’; and finally, the articulation of particular historical claims in the language of repurposed advaita. i will take up each of these themes in turn below to elaborate upon repurposed advaita. consciousness is the underlying theme that unites as, and indeed, all of guru’s works. consciousness appears in a number of ways throughout as. first, it appears as the transformative entity that is both within and without the human subject (1, 2). here it denotes the transformation of the subject. second, consciousness is the non-dualistic principle that unites the object known and the knowing subject (3). here it compares to karu, a key concept of narayana guru’s that i discuss below. third, consciousness 136 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 appears in contrast to, on the one hand, sleep (5), and on the other, to mindless impulses (6). consciousness here demands something more than wakefulness, and suggests intentional living with self-mastery. it is the ‘one priceless lamp’ that is ‘never lit, nor ever blown out’ (5). in verse 8, guru expounds on this idea further: consciousness is the ‘weapon of a radiant inner clarity/ that fills one’s entire being’ and it can shoot down the flighty senses.16 fourth, consciousness holds the promise of transcendence of ‘hell’: the man who ‘subjects himself to tapas [penance]/ never has to confront hell’ (9). (the hell denotes here, as i will discuss later, the dehumanizations of caste-bound colonial kerala.) the second theme—the ascendance of the individual self to universal human consciousness—is encapsulated in the first verse of as. permeating the knowledge which brilliantly shines at once within and without the knower is the karu; to that, with the five senses withheld, prostrate again and again with devotion and chant. knowledge here is both immanent and transcendent: it permeates ‘at once within and without’ the knowing subject. the recuperation of the inner realm, the unfettering, so to speak, of the human spirit, is an abiding concern in guru’s work. for the perceiving subject here is not merely the knower (ariyunnavan) but ‘one who transcends empirical knowledge,’ or arivilumeriyarinnitunnavan (yati and guru, 2003) such transcendence moves from an immanent empirical experience of the five senses to the universal consciousness or the indefinable karu. this concept, usually translated into english as the core, lies at the heart of guru’s repurposed advaita. the karu is the universal consciousness—‘that alone,’ in guru’s famous phrase (as 4)—which unites the knower and knowledge of absolute reality. such knowing is, the commentator nitya chaitanya yati points out, ‘not an interaction between the subject and the object, but a transformation of the subject’ (yati and guru, 2003, p 1). yati compares karu to the blacksmith’s mould in which is poured molten metal: the mould of knowledge (arivu) is consciousness (arivu) (yati and guru, 2003, p 3). the conceptual generalization of all these moulds called the karu, or the core (yati and guru, 2003, p 2-4). the relationship between the absolute/ universal consciousness or knowledge (arivu) and the subjective/ particular knowledge (arivu or thannarivu) is the karu. in a later work, arivu [knowledge/ consciousness] (c. 1887-97), guru further demonstrates his nondualistic conception of subjective knowledge and universal consciousness by using the same word for both: arivu. thus, for guru, the individual self is transformed through an encounter with the world, and subjective/ particular knowledge (arivu or thannarivu) melds into a universal consciousness (arivu). the poem contains numerous images of depth—the third theme—which read as metaphorical representations of spirituality. these images of depth stand as metaphors for interiority and profundity. verse 3 exemplifies the images of depth in as. external worldly phenomena such as the five elements of earth, fire, water, air, and ether, are, ‘when contemplated/ […] like waves rising in rows,/ from the treasury of the watery deep, without any/ separate reality whatsoever” (3). this verse uses the oft-repeated advaitic marine imagery of the waves and the depths to suggest the inextricable relationship between the subjective self and the universal consciousness. mirrors of the soul... 137 this image metaphorically represents interiority, endurance, and profundity. the rows of waves are, obviously, a surface phenomena. guru begins with the surface phenomena to show its relationship to the watery deep. the waves are, moreover, not merely surface phenomena, but are inextricably linked to the watery depths. ‘the waves’, which stands analogous to the subjective self, is inseparable from the depths of universal consciousness. thus, the image first suggests interiority, which is inseparable for guru from universal consciousness. moreover, the waves do not merely disappear but, in being possessed of inward depth, they endure. the theme of the subject enduring through consciousness of actions over time is the theme of verse 6, where he asks whether an individual caught in ‘fleeting urges’ can ‘become enlightened as to the truth/ that is always immutable’? (6) guru’s rhetorical question here both establishes, and puts pressure on, the relationship of ephemeral actions and enduring consciousness of the self, or self-possession. the waves and the depths of verse 3 set up this non-dualistic relationship of ephemeral action (fleeting urges, or crashing waves) and enduring consciousness (immutable truth, or the treasure of the watery deep). the relationship of interiority and endurance makes the ocean a ‘treasury of the watery deep’ (jalanidhi) for it suggests, according to guru, the profundity of the human spirit. the human spirit is, guru repeatedly points out in his writings, inseparable from the cosmic absolute reality, like the waves and depths. what makes the individual consciousness of the self a profound entity is its relationship with the absolute. the waves arise from the treasury of the watery depths. figures of transformation that appear frequently in as make up its fourth major theme. such transformation is a recurring motif in as; indeed, it is, as the title indicates, the stated objective of the poem. the image of the waves i discussed above indicate one kind of transformation characterised by relentless change. such ‘fleeting urges’ exist in a dialectic bond with the immutable truth (6) just as the waves and the ocean depths (3). a second figure of transformation appears as a kind of merging of the self with the infinite, or the absolute. verse 4 exemplifies this kind of transformation in its exhortation to bridge the distance between the knowing subject and known object by merging with the absolute, or to ‘become that alone.’ here, guru suggests that self-possession begins and ends in universal consciousness of an infinite, absolute reality. this consciousness—the precious lamp that is neither lit nor extinguished (5)—is what guru exhorts his readers to remain cognizant of as they ‘go forward’ (5). consciousness of the absolute and transformation of the self exist, for guru, in a relationship of continuous interiority and exteriority. such a möbius strip-like conception binds the individual self and universal consciousness, or the particular subject and the universal value, within a continuum of mutual causality. guru advocates a third figure of transformation: the meditating subject. in verse 8, the meditating figure masters external sensory phenomena with ‘the weapon of a radiant inner clarity/ that fills one’s entire being’ (8). as noted in the present tense of ‘fills one’s entire being,’ as well as its imagery of attaining fullness, the act of meditation represents, for guru, the slow process of transformation of the self. such transformation is critical, suggests guru, because it saves the meditator from having to ‘confront hell’ (9). 138 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 transcendence of ‘hell,’ the fifth major theme, presents the object of the transformative practice of meditation. although guru never explicitly defines what ‘hell’ might refer to, the following stanzas (reproduced in full) offer an explanation. “tell me who are you sitting in darkness?” one asks. on hearing this, the other, in order to know, asks in return, “who are you?” the answer to both these questions is the same. what is spoken of as ‘i’, ‘i’, by each when well-pondered upon, is found to be not many but just one in true essence. the i-senses divergingly, of course, are many, and, therefore, in and through the sum total of the many assuredly endures the one essential content of ‘i’. (as 10, 11; guru, 2006, 237-8) i read these two verses as representations of the caste ‘hell’ of colonial kerala. guru is concerned here with the closed world of subjection circumscribed by the caste codes of jati maryada. it was common practice, as i pointed out earlier,17 for castes to shout out particular phrases that identified caste and therefore helped maintain the spatial codes of ‘distance pollution.’ the maintenance of spatial codes required that caste be made visible at a distance. the embodied codes of attire and accoutrement—a palmleaf umbrella signaled a namboodiris, for instance, while brass bangles and stonebead necklaces indicated pulayas—answered that need. this is the world of caste subjection that in verse 8 guru characterises metaphorically and literally as being in the dark. the metaphorical darkness exists because caste-bound kerala society denies, for guru, the psychic non-dualistic unity of being. in literal darkness, guru depicts two individuals asking each other to reveal their caste. we can surmise the answer guru imagines from jati nirnayam: ‘manushyanam manushyatvam,’ or a human characterised by humanity. the following verse suggests that the ‘i’, ‘i’ (aham aham) that each answers in vain is ‘not many’ but ‘just one in true essence’” (11). while this may appear to be a standard advaitic discourse which depicts and denies externalities in order to assert an essential psychic and cosmic unity, guru’s rhetoric here achieves much more when one remembers the context of jati maryadas. the ‘i’, ‘i’ answer that guru gives, uses a heavily sanskritised malayalam word, ‘aham,’ that stands in weighty contrast to the more common ‘njan.’ in a world where the slave castes referred to themselves as ‘adiyen’ or ‘this slave’ through linguistic caste codes, and in which the ascending scale of caste reverence meant that even landowning nairs referred to themselves as ‘adiyen’ when speaking with namboodiris, such assertion of self through the use of the weighty ‘aham’ represents an astonishing claim to subjecthood. this is, ultimately, what makes as so significant in the history of colonial kerala: it exemplifies guru’s metaphysics of equality which i have called repurposed advaita. it was the same sense ‘i’, ‘i’ (‘aham aham’)—a self-conscious elevation of bodies abjected and degraded by jati maryada to a kind of dignified personhood that enabled them to experience the transformative effects of self-possession—that informed guru’s consecration of the mirror at kalavankodam in 1927. mirrors of the soul... 139 in his philosophical works and political actions, guru drew upon the brahminical discourse of advaita vedanta to elevate the encasted individual subject to an anticaste universal consciousness. he states his central philosophical principle in simpler terms in the darsana mala [garland of visions] of 1916: ‘atmaiva brahma’ (atman is brahman) (8.4). here, as everywhere in his work including the as, guru appears to say that the individual self is the absolute reality; the soul is the godhead; and this human is all of humanity—manushanam manushatvam. this simultaneous process of, on the one hand, recuperating the human soul hitherto crushed under the dehumanization of jati maryadas, and, on the other, elevating it to the cosmic consciousness, is the greatest contribution of narayana guru’s repurposed advaita. in guru’s repurposed advaita, which provided a second genealogy of the human in colonial kerala, non-dualistic philosophy found an anti-caste edge that it never had before, and hasn’t regained since. scene three radical siddha saiva: saluting the dignified self the ayya vazhi (henceforth, av), or the way of the father, which follows the teachings of ayya vaikundar a.k.a. vaikunda swamy (c. 1809-1851) prescribes a number of important rituals that continue to be practised by believers at sacred sites known as pathis and at smaller shrines known as nizhal thangals. a notable characteristic of these rituals is the emphasis upon self-presentation: during acts of worship, men appear, even today, wearing a turban on their heads. (while women devotees of the av are not easily distinguished today from non-devotees, as they were, in the early nineteenth century, among the first to adopt the blouse, or kuppayam.18) such care in self-presentation, as performative acts asserting self-respect and dignity, is institutionalized in the av through ritual. one such ritual provides the action in the following discussion of the third and final scene exemplifying the genealogies of the human in colonial-era travancore. before entering the shrine in swamithope—literally, the swami’s grove, a town named after vaikundar, which acts as headquarters for the av—turbaned devotees view and salute their dignified selves in a mirror. as with repurposed advaita, the av too held that the divine was to be found within the self, and what was worthy of worship was the fullness of humanity. prior to ritually reaffirming their humanity, they also take a ritual bath known as the tuvayal tavasu—or the penance for self-purification (literally, the washing penance)—which included bathing in the sea thrice everyday and eating simple vegetarian meals of rice and green grams once a day (ponniah, 2014; patrick, 2017). this emphasis on purification of the individual body was part of the larger logic of saiva siddhanta. as mohan points out, the discourse of hygiene in terms of bodily practices as well as food habits played a central role in both the ongoing exclusion of slave castes as well as in missionary reform. on the one hand, savarna castes justified the exclusion of slave castes from the church on the grounds that ‘if not caste at least one should consider cleanliness as health sciences advice.’19 missionary reform, on the other hand, introduced modern medicine and hygiene whose positive impact upon the slave castes they often noted with satisfaction (mohan 2015). such missionary zeal in disciplining bodily practices resonated with avarna leaders: mohan discusses poykayil yohannan’s advocacy of personal hygiene and cleanliness in the early 140 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 twentieth century, while chandramohan (2016, 132-135) points out narayana guru’s frequent exhortations against the ‘filthy’ profession of toddy tapping and in favour of personal hygiene and cleanliness. in all cases, the discourse and practice of personal hygiene arose from the modern notions of self-respect and dignity that was profoundly attractive to the avarna castes. as a precursor to the anti-caste movements of yohannan and guru, the av’s emphasis on ritual acts of cleaning within its worship formed part of this sweeping discourse of self-respect and dignity that characterizes the genealogies of the human. bodily cleanliness was, for vaikundar—much like it was for the missionaries, yohannan and guru—an inseparable analogue of spiritual cleanliness.20 indeed, missionaries who saw vaikundar’s enterprise as a competitor in the conversion marketplace were forced to acknowledge, albeit somewhat begrudgingly, the superior hygiene of av followers. ‘it is true,’ one missionary conceded, ‘that their bodies and their houses are more cleanly [sic] than those of the rest.’21 a society of equals the discourse of hygiene and body cleanliness became one way to assert shared common humanity amongst the slave castes, amidst other conceptions of modernity and equality. religious movements in colonial kerala—protestant missionaries, narayan guru, poykayil yohannan, and ayya vaikundar, to name only a few—made concerted attempts to refashion the encasted bodies of slave and intermediate avarna castes. such refashioning of the body was inseparable from asserting the dignity and self-respect central to modern notions of the human. and as mohan (2015, 121) points out, any conception of modernity was, for the slave castes, inseparable from the discourse of equality. in the av, the discourse of hygiene led to the performance of what vaikundar called the ‘samatva samajam,’ or, the society of equals.22 the usage of the word samatva in the name of the organization bears unpacking, for the term exists in similar form in many indian languages. the intellectual historian aishwary kumar discusses the valences of ‘samata’ in ambedkar’s discourse to point out that the term yields ‘not “equality” as a passive condition,’ which would be samaanta, but rather that it suggests ‘the “equal-ness” of a living being grasped at the moment of its coming into the world.’ this notion of equality—samata—is ‘not a moral precept’ but ‘an equalness grounded in a person’s inalienable right of being and becoming’ (kumar, 2015, pp 48). in other words, this understanding of samata suggests that it is best understood not as a universal condition—whether in a social, moral, legal, or constitutional sense— but as a political claim that seeks inclusion of particular lifeworlds within the ambit of the universal. throughout, i understand equality in this sense of a situated claim to the universal rather than an actually existing universal condition; that is, as a repurposed universal that provides intellectual heft to particular political claims. in the case of samatva samajam too was making a similar claim to the universal, a situated claim against the dispossessions of caste and the subjugation of hierarchy, to argue that they too could belong as humans to a society of equals. by ritualizing its meetings23, the samatva samajam pointed out that, in fact, they already did. the flag of the av—saffron with a white vertical mark (naamam) in the middle— today commemorates the memory of this society of equals, and interpellates all worshippers as members of this society of equals. the organising principle of this society of av is universal love—or, in the words of one historian, ‘indiscriminating mirrors of the soul... 141 love’24—as evidenced by the name of the flag: anbu kodi, or the flag of love. the stated objective of samatva samajam was to unite all humanity under the anbu kodi. other aspects of ritual worship in the av included cooking food with water drawn from a communal well called the munthiri kinaru, or the ‘well of sweet water’.25 (today, the ritual includes bathing in water from the well.) a communal well was rich in significance for an anti-caste movement given that colonial-era travancore maintained separate wells for the castes as another mode to practice untouchability. in such a context, the name of the well—munthiri kinaru—could not have failed to promise the sweet dream of a society built on principles of equality. in caste-ridden colonial travancore, the act of drawing water from the munthiri kinaru and washing and cooking with it would have performed the promise of equality. this becomes especially true when considering that the act of dining too was ritualised in the av. the communal act of interdining—jointly enjoying a communal meal irrespective of caste—was preceded by a ritual call: ‘ayya, saappadalama?’ or, ‘ayya, can we eat?’ the call was followed by a ritual response—‘saappadalam’(you may eat.) the significance of this ritual call-and-response is not lost on the ethnographer and religious studies scholar james ponniah, who points out that such a practice ensures that ‘everyone has been served,’ which, in a hierarchical society, ‘inculcates a sense of absolute equality among the human beings gathered at the table.’26 the ordinary and the metaphysical, or the mundane and the mythic be it the tuvayal tavasu (washing penance), or drawing water from the munthiri kinaru (well of sweet water), or the communal dining with its call-and-response, the rituals of av institutionalised everyday practices to enact individual self-respect and dignity as well as communal solidarity. these acts contested caste in the realm of the ordinary and the everyday, but caste—as we know well following ambedkar’s famous call to destroy the authority of the shastras27—is inseparable from the metaphysical realm. these ritualised everyday practices, which we might think of as codified ordinariness, had their scriptural analogues in the metaphysics of the av. like the repurposed advaita of narayana guru, the av too worked against caste simultaneously in the realms of the ordinary and the metaphysical. the metaphysical thought of the av—written, or compiled, by one of vaikundar’s senior disciples, hari gopalan citar—are largely to be found in two canonical works: a primary scripture called the akilathirattu ammanai, or the world collection of ballads (henceforth, akilam), and a secondary work, the arul nool, or the book of grace, which offers commentary on the akilam. these texts compile myths that offer fantastical renditions of history that narrate the past, interpret the present, and conjure visions of a future. these myths provide not only an affective version of history— history, as roland barthes had it, turned to nature (2012, p. 254-6)—but they also provide an interpretive framework for lived experience that inspired further action. myth formed, for followers of the av, narratives about the past, present, and future that enabled them to understand and change their personal/individual and political/ collective identities. chief amongst these narratives was the unique yuga theory of av, which substantially reworks and subverts the better-known brahminical version drawn from sanskrit philosophy. the brahminical yuga theory articulates what romila thapar (2013) calls ‘cosmological time’ since the time of the dharmashastras and the mahabharata, 142 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 which are dated approximately to the beginning of the christian era. the yuga theory conceptualises time as a cycle called the mahayuga (or, the great age, or an eon). in this version, each mahayuga consists of four lesser yugas (ages or epochs), each of decreasing durations: krita/ satya (4800 years), treta (3600 years), dvapara (2400 years), and finally, kali (1200 years)28. a characteristic of yuga theory is ‘moral decline and a falling off of the rules of social behaviour from the first [krita/ satya] to the fourth [kali].’” from its earliest articulations, yuga theory was, thus, inextricably tied to caste mobility: in the mahabharata, god prophecies that ‘all four social orders will adopt the same dress and the same ways’ in the kali yuga (pollock, 2006, p. 71). the linear moral decline of yuga theory imagines a ‘downward slide’ from a utopian past to a degraded present: with the tenth incarnation of vishnu, kalki, bringing about ‘the end of lawlessness’ and the ‘usurpation of power by the low castes.’ (thapar, 2013, p. 203) as always, the codification of caste hinged upon policing the sexuality of women, so the vision of moral decline in the kali yuga included the violation of rules of conduct by women (sarkar, 2002, p. 14)29. the presence of the mlecchas, thapar points out30, is an important reason for the decrease in the duration of each subsequent yuga. the mleccha was a catch-all term for those outside the four-fold brahminical imaginary of the varna system, and included forest-dwellers, untouchables, and—significantly, in the context of the kali yuga prophecy in the mahabharata—nomadic conquering tribal chieftains and kings such as the śakas, who consolidated their rule across the gangetic plains beginning with c. 80 bce. at the time of the composition of the kali yuga prophecy in the mahabharata, the śakas were well-established and the threat posed by mleccha kings to the varna social order was well-understood. the kali yuga prophecy in the mahabharata decreed, ‘the mleccha king […] will destroy the four social orders, recognising all those that had previously gone unrecognised… the śakas will destroy the good conduct of his subjects and their devotion to their proper tasks’ (pollock, 2006, p. 71). the particular vision of moral decline and social turmoil that the kali yuga prophecy narrated in its earliest articulations hinged upon caste mobility and the presence of powerful mlecchas. both these plot devices—so to speak—would illuminate the vision of anti-caste politics in the yuga theory of av mythology. first, let’s consider the vision of moral decline. the unique yuga theory of av includes eight ages: neetiya yuga, chatura yuga, nedu yuga, kretha31 yuga, treta yuga, dvapara yuga, kali yuga, and dharma yuga (ponniah, 2006). the first three and the last are unique to the av, and have no correlates in brahminical yuga theory. evil—or ‘kroni’—is present in all the yugas and its destruction in the first age by vishnu did not lead to its annihilation, for parts of it were reborn in each subsequent age. in the kali yuga—also the age of ayya vaikundar—evil is born as kalineesan. kali takes over the hearts of all people and begins to rule the world from within. an oft-quoted verse from akilam attests to the ubiquity of evil in kali yuga: ‘kali enral eli allave, kanaiyali ventame,’ which translates to ‘kali is not a mouse and you do not need any hammer to kill it’ (ponniah, 2006, p. 70). the moral decline in the eight-fold yuga theory of av was not a linear progression. after the great evil of the kali yuga came the age of justice: the dharma yuga. this final yuga would be a utopian era of justice characterised by ‘one religion and one caste’ and would be ‘free from crimes and vices.’32 fighting the evil within, or kali, gave mythic articulation to everyday practices of self-fashioning to assert dignity mirrors of the soul... 143 and respect, while the figure of the kalineesan—the embodiment of evil—cast the hereditary ruler of travancore, swati thirunal (1813-1846), as a mythic villain. publicly referring to the king as ‘kalineesan’—literally, the evil of kali, or the kalioppressor—invited the state’s attention, which imprisoned vaikundar for over 110 days (ponniah, 2016; pandian, 1992). the dharma yuga followed the great churn of the kali yuga in av’s mythology, suggesting that dharma was not simply moral decline, but something to be struggled for and established by fighting the evil of kali. av’s yuga theory thus gave mythic articulation to the egalitarian imagination that powered their mundane practices. caste mobility became for av a means to resist moral decline, in contrast to brahminical yuga theory, which saw moral decline as a consequence of caste mobility. this distinction cannot be overemphasized: for brahminical yuga theory, dharma was lost due to caste mobility and had to be reinstated, while for the av yuga theory, dharma was to be established by resisting the moral degradation of caste. let us now turn to the second plot device of the presence of mlecchas. vaikundar appropriated this plot device too to advance his political agenda. the mlecchas of his time were, of course, the colonial officials and missionaries. although his teachings drew upon christianity and indeed benefitted immensely from the catalysing presence of the missionaries, vaikundar referred to missionaries as venneesan, or the ‘white evil/ oppressor.’ the rule of the mlecchas was a time, like in the brahminical yuga theory, in which moral decline accelerated. unlike brahminical yuga theory, however, in the av, this was because the mlecchas—the white oppressor, or venneesan— worked hand in hand with the embodiment of evil, the kalineesan, embodied by the king of travancore, swati thirunal. the historian mss pandian (1992) points out that vaikundar ‘could accuse both the neesan (king) and the venneesan (colonizers) simultaneously.’ vaikundar claimed to be the son of vishnu, an avatar whose purpose is to defeat kalineesan and ‘wipe out the evil of kali from the people’s minds’ and instill ‘thoughts of dharma’ (ponniah, 2014). while positioning himself as the son of god appropriates a noticeably christian mythic trope, it also adopts the avatar, or incarnation, narrative, which has been a particularly efficient mythic mode of appropriating non-brahmin deities and narratives within the brahminical fold. the historian dd kosambi characterises the dashavatar myths of the ten incarnations of vishnu as mechanisms of assimilation.33. the trope of incarnation allowed vaikundar to assimilate the social turmoil born of anti-caste sentiment within the kali yuga myth, while simultaneously allowing him to claim to be the son of god: reconciling, in the paradoxical way that only myth can, both the desire for egalitarianism and a messianic exceptionalism into one popular movement. through particular renewals of these two plot devices—visions of moral decline, and presence of mlecchas—av mythology subverted brahminical yuga theory and articulated new social imaginaries of an egalitarian society that inspired and sustained anti-caste political action. such metaphysical conception of justice was inextricably linked to their everyday practices enacting self-respect and dignity, meshing together the mundane and the mythic in deeply empowering ways. 144 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 av and saiva siddhanta although av was decidedly syncretic in its discourse and practice, it demonstrates significant continuities with the traditions of saiva siddhanta. saiva siddhanta is a philosophical doctrine whose followers engage in the worship of shiva through discourse and performance. the discursive aspects of saiva siddhanta are textualised in the scriptural works, the agamas or the saivagamas, and the siddha canon that is still referred to as the tamil veda. the first of these—the agama scriptures—are dated to the centuries between the buddha and the beginning of the common era (5 bce to 1 ce). their antiquity forms one reason why saiva practitioners consider the agamas to be on par with the vedas, which are typically dated to 1200-900 bce. another reason for the importance of the agamas lies in their antipathy towards the brahminical social order. ‘the agamas do not emphasise the supremacy of brahmins,’ says the indologist hw schomerus (1879-1945) in his study of saiva siddhanta, ‘so the brahmins may well have opposed them, and certainly did see to it that they were not widely known’ (1979, p 6). the agamas, as a philosophical school whose antiquity is comparable to the vedas and whose texts evince anti-caste sentiment, would find enthusiastic uptake in the anti-caste struggles of colonial south india. the performative aspects of saiva siddhanta were equally important, and these ritual practices and corporeal techniques are referred to simply as yoga or, more accurately, siddha yoga (zvelebil, 1993). the siddha yoga shares its objectives with the better-known hatha yoga, namely, liberation from bondage through bodily practices. the orientalist scholar of religion mircea eliade describes siddhas, or adepts of the saiva siddha traditions, as those ‘who understood liberation as the conquest of immortality.’34 such liberation from bondage is of critical importance to saiva siddhanta, and derives from a central tenet which organises the three modes of reality. this central tenet is common to all saiva siddhanta thought and categorises reality in three modes: pati (god), pasu (soul), and pasam (bondage). this three-fold conception of reality, popularly referred to as pati—pasu—pasam, or god—soul— bondage, both defines the saiva world of the transcendent divinity, immanent spirit, and mundane matter, and distinguishes it from the chief doctrinal rival: advaita. as i described in the previous section on narayana guru, advaita emphasises knowledge (arivu) of the absolute reality (karu, or the singular unitive core of existence) through self-realization (thannarivu). in simple terms, the divine and the human entities were not separate, or reality is conceptualised non-dualistically, which gives the school its name: a-dvaita, literally, non-dualism. in contrast, saiva siddhanta has a determinedly dualistic conception of the divine (pati) and the human (pasu), which it reconciles by putting into play the third term unique to it: pasam, or bondage. the relationship between pati and pasu are forged through pasam: that is, the soul reaches out to god through various forms of bondages. these bondages are also impurities that keep the soul apart from the divine, and are also referred to as mala, or the impure. saiva doctrine recognises three forms of mala that characterize pasam; namely, anava mala, maya mala, and karma mala. the key point i want to foreground here is the philosophical claim of saiva siddhanta that the bondage of the soul with the divine is characterised by impurities, and that liberation of the soul by breaking free of these bonds requires purifying oneself. saiva siddhanta typically opposes seeking metaphysical and discursive knowledge mirrors of the soul... 145 through purely speculative methods (zvelebil, 1993). this was an approach in sharp contrast to the speculative and discursive mode of inquiry that advaita favoured, and a major point of distinction. the saiva siddhantin emphasis on the practical and the empirical would be especially important to the ayya vazhi, as well as other more overtly neo-saivite35 movements in colonial south india, for it provided them with a philosophical framework within which to articulate anti-caste ideas. transgressing caste codes became, in part, a matter of seeking to elevate one’s consciousness through practice: if av intertwined bodily and spiritual cleanliness36 in rituals such as the tuvayal tavasu (washing penance), then such practice had close affinities with the philosophical discourses of saiva siddhanta. thus the key point of liberation of the soul from bondage through removing impurities is a central idea in the discourses, rituals, and popular practices in saiva siddhanta. this trope became the philosophical cornerstone which provided the basis for radical siddha saiva to articulate anti-caste ideas, and eventually, emerge as a genealogy of the human. av drew upon this three-fold conception of reality in saiva siddhanta, and sought liberation of the soul through the removal of impurities. in doing so, it finds a place within the emerging historical milieu of colonial south india in which saiva siddhanta was being positioned as a universal religion (bergunder, 2011; raman, 2009; vaitheespara, 2011). iii the three scenes i described and analyzed above— soulful enlightenment, repurposed advaita, and radical siddha saiva—represent the major routes of egalitarian discourse in colonial-era south india. the significance of identifying these discrete yet entangled routes of egalitarian discourse is two-fold: first, in pointing to multiple interrelated sources of the self that characterised colonial modernity and the explosive potential it held for the avarna castes, we can foreground the radical political agency of the avarnas. out of the tumult of this period rose the radicalism of the avarnas, stealing fire, so to speak, from what heavens they could reach. second, the hybrid methods adopted here demonstrate ways of doing intellectual histories in the repertoire that can help trace the ideas of unlettered people. the view of intellectual history here is anti-elitist and high-stakes: it is a politics of ideas forged in the rough and tumble of everyday organising in the real and messy world. the dramaturgical and performance-centric reasoning that informs this work arises out of a conviction that selves are always performed—done, undone, and redone—in the repertoires of embodied action. moreover, such a performance-centric reasoning does not pretend to schematise that which cannot be fully understood. for instance, i do not ponder what came first: a realisation of injustice, or an articulated notion of egalitarianism, or a performative reconstitution of the self? while the dominant mode of intellectual history seeks to identify these flows, the method of doing intellectual histories in the repertoire that i propose here focuses on identifying the scenario (historical background), the action (political agency), and the resultant altered scenario (political consequences). ultimately, intellectual histories in the repertoire oscillate between the universal and the particular in revealing ways. the three scenes i discuss represent the heterogeneity of the genealogies of the human in colonial kerala, and accommodate their compromised natures. the compromised natures of egalitarianisms in everyday 146 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 life remind us of the contingent and always-imperfect processes of political struggle. in exploring the relationship between a universal claim such as equality and its particular political contexts such as that of anti-caste politics in colonial-era travancore, intellectual histories in the repertoire elucidate not only the emancipatory possibilities of the imagination afforded by universals—the concepts of equality, and shared common humanity—but the particular struggles that emerged through the situated and contingent practices of repurposing universals. by oscillating between the universal and the particular, embodied intellectual histories do not relegate the agency of political actors within their context, but accommodate the fact that people think and act out of their context.37 the historical appropriation of a universal value such as equality or humanity to suit particular political contexts such as the struggle against caste in colonial travancore is a double process that bends the universal claim to fit the particular issue, and expands the particular to universalistic proportions. such practices of contingent and historical appropriation that articulate particular claims in universalistic language for strategic purposes i have called repurposing universals. these three scenes of the avarna castes gazing at themselves in the mirror instantiate acts of repurposing universals. as repetitive actions that constitute new beings and worlds organised around equality, these acts exemplify performative egalitarianisms that lay claim to the right to have rights (arendt, 1976 p. 277). central to the strategic acts of repurposing universals is notion of the human. as human beings thingified by caste, the slave castes found missionary discourse of soul— as a sign of a priori humanity, intentionality and agency, and worldly transformation— profoundly attractive. the language of the soul, with its potential to recuperate and reassert the humanity of slaves and avarnas, conjoins the notion of the human to the concept of equality. if the actions of performative egalitarianisms exemplify the routes of egalitarian discourses, then the notion of the soul stands as metonym for inalienable humanity. together, egalitarian discourses and the concomitant notion of the human constitute what i have described here as genealogies of the human in colonial-era travancore. when the avarna castes gazed at their reflections, what they saw in the mirror was their human souls and, in the background, a society whose caste norms withheld recognition of their humanity. these performative egalitarianisms filled the hearts of the avarna castes with a desire for change that sought an egalitarian society. acknowledgements i would like to thank the editorial team of j-caste for the recognition and encouragement offered by the bluestone rising scholar prize. in the spirit of acknowledging the privilege afforded by caste, i would like to note that i am a nondalit who tries to practice anti-caste politics. i dedicate this essay to the memory of the scholar, thinker, novelist, activist, and teacher, pradeepan pampirikunnu. in many ways, this essay owes its existence to an all-too-brief conversation with pradeepan sir, whom i met in kozhikode during a fieldwork trip in the summer of 2016. having read and admired his brilliant work in english and malayalam, i sought his advice as i was beginning to work on egalitarian discourses in colonial kerala, which, at the time, i understood to have emerged through two routes: enlightenment and advaita. after having listened to my description, pradeepan sir pointed out in his friendly and unassuming manner that i needed to mirrors of the soul... 147 look into saiva siddhanta as a possible third genealogy for egalitarian discourses. i left the brief meeting greatly inspired to learn more about saiva siddhanta, which, up until that time, i had barely heard of. i hoped to show pradeepan sir a draft with all three routes, but that was not to be—i heard, with great sadness, of his death due to a road accident in december 2016. i am grateful for his brilliance and generosity and for having fundamentally changed my research in one brief encounter. i thank him, above all, for his scholarship which continues to teach all of us who can no longer benefit from his presence. references arendt, hannah (1976). the origins of totalitarianism, new york: harcourt brace jovanovich, publishers. ambedkar, b.r. 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(2014). habeas viscus: racializing assemblages, biopolitics, and black feminist theories of the human, durham: duke university press. yati, nitya chaitanya, and narayana guru (2003). that alone, the core of wisdom: a commentary on ātmopadeśa śatakam, the one hundred verses of self-instruction of narayana guru. new delhi: d.k. printworld. zvelebil, kamil (1993). the poets of the powers: magic, freedom, and renewal. lower lake, california: integral publishing. mirrors of the soul... 149 endnotes 1. the caste codes of jati maryada governed all aspects of social behaviour, and can be organised broadly in three domains: spatial codes, which choreographed the exact distances to be maintained between castes; embodied codes, which made caste visible from a distance through attire and accoutrement; and linguistic codes, that enregistered speakers within the caste hierarchy through vocabulary, voice, and attitude. 2. named after its messianic founder, ayya vaikundar (1809-1851), this cult continues to thrive as the ayya vazhi (or, the way of the father) in the kanyakumari district of today’s tamil nadu. until 1956, this area was considered a part of the erstwhile princely state of travancore. this cult and vaikundar himself played a significant part in the historic channar lahala, or the revolt of the channars (1822-59) that are known in colonial records as the breast-cloth controversy or the upper-cloth disturbances. see sheeju n.v. (2015) the shanar revolts, 1822-1899, south asia research, 35( 3), 2015, pp. 298–317. 3. i am drawing upon foucault’s influential theorisation of genealogy here. see michel foucault, “nietzsche, genealogy, history,” the foucault reader, ed. paul rabinow, new york: pantheon books, 1984, 76-100. see especially pp. 77-86. 4. i am echoing charles taylor’s contention that modernity is characterized by the “affirmation of ordinary life,” which distinguished the new epoch from previous ages. in agreeing with and echoing taylor’s pithy phrase, i do not mean to suggest that modernity is a european font in which the slaves of south india were baptized out of their servitude. rather, i find it helpful to think with taylor’s description of the religious origins of modernity in protestantism—what michael gillespie calls the “theological origins of modernity”—and to trace protestant missions as one significant route through which modern conceptions of the self took hold in south india. an assumption i work from in this paper is that emancipatory ideals are not necessarily more or less attractive or effective should they be homegrown; rather, oppressed communities—slave and avarna castes here—pursue their emancipatory politics within actually existing historical conditions. these egalitarianisms are, always, compromised in the nature of much practical politics, but such heterogeneity should point not to the irreconcilability of ideals but to the ingenuity of the oppressed. 5. to repurpose bronislaw malinowski’s famous phrase in which he identifies fieldwork as a method of “observing and recording [the] imponderabilia of actual life and of typical behaviour” (pp. 20, original emphasis). see bronislaw malinowski, argonauts of the western pacific: an account of native enterprise and adventure in the archipelagoes of melanesian new guinea. prospect heights, ill: waveland press, 1984 [1922]. print. 6. we have any number of archival records of missionaries reporting with great feeling on their converts’ fervor. they are typically framed as evidence of the power of the gospel that miraculously appeared during routine transactions between the missionary shepherd and his flock of new believers. see, for example, henry baker, the hill arrians of travancore: and the progress of christianity among them. london: wertheim, macintosh, & hunt, 1862, pp. 26. 150 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 7. hawksworth notes in one version that the “two men who gave these answers came to me at my request, and answered in the presence of another native, who explained my words occasionally, when necessary.” this unnamed interviewer was almost certainly the renowned native missionary george matthan who held charge of the mallappalli area and often worked alongside 8. no extant copy available. original cited in subsequent reprints, “the travancore slaves” in the missionary register, nov 1854. 471-473, and “the slaves of travancore” in the church missionary intelligencer and record, january 1855. 22-24. full citations below. samuel mateer cites the original version in his classic ethnography, native life in travancore, 1883, pp. 302-3. 9. for an insightful discussion of the political dimensions of ambedkarite buddhism, see vidhu verma’s ‘reinterpreting buddhism.’ the two phrases i quote are from verma, (2010 pp. 60), and she is, in turn, citing ambedkar, (1987 pp. 184), in the first phrase, and shabnum tejani, (2007 pp. 63), in the second. 10. i am drawing upon the work of veena das (2018) in thinking of the performative aspects of violence and its ability to constitute subjectivity. enfleshment refers to alexander weheliye’s theoretical contribution in habeas viscus, where he points out that the assemblage of flesh (viscus) and person (habeas) is made visible through the process of “enfleshment,” which adjudicates who counts as human and who doesn’t (2014). enfleshment refers to the transaction between racialized violence and the experience of suffering which shapes our definitions of humanity. joseph roach’s cities of the dead theorizes surrogation (1996), which refers to the transmission of cultural memory and the remaking of identity through the ongoing processes of substitution. 11. i am thinking here of joram haber’s performative view of forgiveness, which emphasizes the performative act of overcoming resentment in the act of forgiveness. sanal mohan too makes a similar point in his analysis of the missionary henry baker’s reports of slaves risking death to visit their former masters in order to seek, or grant, forgiveness. “[t]he equality of the master and the slave,” writes mohan, “was emphasized by the slave in the dungeon [where baker reports he was imprisoned] as he prayed to god to forgive all his own sins and those of his master’s too. a prayer like this is only possible if the slave felt himself to be the equal of his master, indeed better—in that he could seek forgiveness for the master.” (mohan 2015, 100, emphasis mine.) 12. see tm yesudasan, baliyadukalude vamsavali [a genealogy of the scapegoats], pp. 3, my translations. yesudasan goes on to define two kinds of matharohanam: transitive religious ascension, such as through acceptance into protestant christianity or islam; and intransitive religious ascension, such as through the apparatuses of the ethnographic state or through those of modernist hindu reform movements. yesudasan borrows linguistic metaphors to distinguish between active or transitive matharohanam (sakarmaka matharohanam) and passive or intransitive matharohanam (akarmaka matharohanam). where transitive matharohanam emphasizes self-authored agential action, intransitive matharohanam denotes the passive condition of being acted-upon. he further identifies two sub-categories of intransitive matharohanam: those created by ethnographic state apparatuses (census, penal codes, proclamations, gazettes etc.), and coerced conversions, including reformist reclamation of converted slaves as hindus. elsewhere, yesudasan makes a brilliant argument that interprets mirrors of the soul... 151 narayana guru as precisely such a reformist movement. see tm yesudasan, “aruvippurathinte marupuram” [“the other side of aruvippuram”] in karutha deivangalum nagna sathyangalum. [black gods and naked truths.] 69-71. pp. 71. 13. it bears saying here that i am talking about the social construction of these categories of human, sub-human and non-human through caste. i am not questioning the humanity of slaves, however commodified, nor do i consider such a brutalizing system to be natural. it did, however, exist—and the social construction of this system is what i am referring to here through that three-fold distinction. the undeniable and resilient humanity of the slave-as-thingifiedhuman is in fact, the overarching subject of the larger work—stolen fire—to which this paper belongs. my thinking on this subject is considerably informed by alexander weheliye’s helpful theorization in habeas viscus. 14. the sree narayana dharma paripalana yogam (sndp), was founded in 1903 as a community organization that organized ezhavas through the teachings of narayana guru. its genesis lay in the aruvippuram temple consecration by guru, and an earlier avatar of the organization founded in the 1890s was called the aruvippuram temple trust. in today’s kerala, the sndp is a powerful organization that has considerable political and economic clout. 15. in the 19th century travancore, it was common practice to yoke slave castes and cattle to a plough. throughout the 19th century, british protestant missionaries bore witness to the dehumanization enforced by jati maryada. their gaze— colonizing and “civilizing” though it certainly was—performed two vital functions: first, it defamiliarized the everyday brutalities of caste; and second, it expresses disapproval, even outrage, based on their professed egalitarian cultural norms rooted in enlightenment universal values. a story about thomas gajetan ragland, a missionary who founded the cms mission in tinnevelly (today, thirunelveli in southern tamil nadu), shows the operation of this defamiliarizing gaze. the missionary biographer amy carmichael writes that ragland was “filled with compassion for the slaves, especially after seeing one of them unequally yoked with an ox pulling a plough.” see amy carmichael, ragland, pioneer, madras: s.p.c.k. depository, 1922. pp. vi. see also “memorial of the rev. thomas gajetan ragland, b.d.” in the church missionary intelligencer and record, vol ix, feb 1859, 25-28. 16. the logocentric rationale here where the senses present a threat that must be shot down with a gun is typical of the deep-seated misogyny in guru’s poetry. in fact, he deploys such phallic imagery as a form of mastery over the senses on more than one occasion. if i do not devote much attention to this irrefutable aspect of guru’s poetry, it is because my argument is trying to trace the flows of these compromised egalitarianisms rather than judge their purity of intention. similarly, i do not pay particular attention to the racist assumptions that the missionaries often espoused. ditto for the misogyny in the ayya vazhi. as i pointed out earlier, genealogies of the human are also always compromised egalitarianisms. my interest here, and elsewhere, is how exactly the slave castes repurposed these compromised egalitarianisms to further their political ends. 17. see footnote 1 on jati maryada. 152 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 18. the channars a.k.a. nadars, who make up the bulk of the ayya vazhi followers were early adopters of christianity in the 19th century, amongst whom missionary influence included propagating a bodice fashioned as the kuppayam. when the third phase of the channar lahala broke out in the late 1850s, in fact, over the right to cover their breasts with a cloth draped over the kuppayam. see sheeju nv. “the shanar revolts, 1822-1899.” south asia research, vol. 35, no. 3, 2015, pp. 298–317. 19. from an early edition of deepika in 1910; qtd. in mohan, modernity of slavery, 32. 20. see the illuminating discussion about the prds and the discourse of hygiene in mohan, modernity of slavery, 177. 21. lms report, 1892; qtd in pandian, “meanings of ‘colonialism’ and ‘nationalism’,” pp. 180. see mss pandian, “meanings of ‘colonialism’ and ‘nationalism’: an essay on vaikunda swamy cult,” studies in history, 8,2, 1992 <https://doi.org/10 .1177/025764309200800202>. 22. see sarveswaran, “sri vaikunda swamikal,” 9-10; pandian, “meanings of ‘colonialism’ and ‘nationalism’,” 178-81; selvanayagam, “counter-liberation and cult-formation,” 249. pandian terms the society of equals, samathuva sangham, which translates to organization of equality. i have used samatva samajam based on scholarly consensus. 23. in a fascinating ritual that points to the irreconciliable tension between egalitarian principles and the messianic origins of samatva samajam, a chair is ceremonially covered in a white cloth in a meeting of the society. this chair is thought to be ayya vaikundar’s seat, and is referred to as the asana, or the seat, and his spirit is believed to attend these meetings. to point out the obvious: an egalitarian society cannot easily be reconciled with a spirit who presides over meetings in god-like fashion. but such are the always already compromised egalitarianisms of the real and messy world. 24. the phrase is pandian’s: see “meanings of ‘colonialism’ and ‘nationalism’,” 181. i understand his usage to mean “non-discriminatory love” in the sense that it did not discriminate between human beings, as opposed to “indiscriminating” in the sense of lacking discernment. in any case, i prefer the less confusing usage of “universal love.” 25. see pandian, “meanings of ‘colonialism’ and ‘nationalism’,” 181; sarveswaran, “sri vaikunda swamikal,” 7. a literal translation of munthiri kinaru would be the well of sweet grapes, but the south indian idiomatic usage of grapes to mean sweet does not translate well into english. the well of sweet water remains true to the spirit of the tamil usage. 26. ponniah, “alternative discourses of kali yuga in av,” 77. i do not believe values such as equality can ever be “absolute,” nor are they simply “inculcated,” as if it were merely a process of disciplining and rendering bodies docile. those differences notwithstanding, i am broadly in agreement with the substance of ponniah’s claim. 27. for ambedkar, the “real remedy” for caste is “intermarriage” (annihilation of caste, 285). however, caste is “a notion; it is a state of mind” which calls for “a notional change” (286). given that caste has a “divine basis” (289), the only way to effect this notional change is “to destroy the belief in the sanctity of the shastras.” “not to question the authority of the shastras” is, for ambedkar, “an incongruous way of carrying on social reform” (287). ambedkar asserts that it mirrors of the soul... 153 is impossible to destroy caste without also destroy the hindu scriptures whose tenets espouse and legimitise the caste system, eventually concluding that the task at hand was to “destroy the sacredness and divinity with which caste has become invested. in the last analysis, this means you must destroy the authority of the shastras and the vedas” (289). see ambedkar, br. annihilation of caste: the annotated critical edition. ed. s anand. introduction. arundhati roy. new delhi: navayana, 2014. print. 28. these years are not human years, but a mythic construction of time rooted in what was believed to be a day in the life of brahma. these years of all four yugas added up to 12,000, which constituted the mahayuga. a 1000 mahayugas made up one day in the life of brahma. for an illuminating discussion, see thapar, the past before us, 201-3. 29. see sumit sarkar, “colonial times: clocks and kali-yuga,” beyond nationalist frames, 10-37, pp. 14. my claim relating caste to the policing of women’s sexuality is derived from the influential work of br ambedkar and uma chakravarti. see ambedkar, b. r., and sharmila rege. against the madness of manu: b.r. ambedkar’s writings on brahmanical patriarchy. new delhi: navayana, 2013. print. also see chakravarti, uma. “conceptualising brahmanical patriarchy in early india: gender, caste, class and state.” economic and political weekly. 28.14 (1993): 579-85. jstor. web. 30. it is important to point out here that thapar, as well as the historian sumit sarkar and the linguist and literary historian sheldon pollock, have persuasively historicized and contextualized the yuga theory in ways that categorically refute the orientalist overemphasis on cyclical time and what orientalist scholarship saw as a lack of historical traditions. it was yuga theory in particular that led numerous orientalist scholars such as mircea eliade to assert that the notion of time in south asia is cyclical, or—worst of all—that south asian cultures do not have a sense of history. eliade’s theory of the eternal return, in particular, was inspired by yuga theory. thapar provides a magisterial argument against such orientalist scholarship in her magnum opus, the past before us. 31. although the spelling differs slightly, this age corresponds to the krita/ satya yuga in brahminical yuga theory. note that the kretha yuga in av has no connotations of a utopian past and is not, therefore, a satya yuga. 32. sarveswaran, “sri vaikunda swamikal,” 10. his summation is derived from akilam, p4. p thankiah nadar, ed. ahila thirattu ammanai, nagercoil, 1935. [sarveswaran transliterates akilathirattu ammanai as spelt in the title, but i prefer the now-standard spelling and its corresponding abbreviation, akilam.] 33. while remaining true to kosambi’s intent, i have slightly modified the language from “mechanism of the assimilation” to “mechanisms of assimilation.” (kosambi, 1964, p. 170; also p. 205). 34. i cite orientalist scholarship here to point out their understanding of saiva traditions, and not, of course, to uncritically adopt their colonialist notions of civilizational difference. 154 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1 35. it is important to bear in mind that the av is a syncretic tradition with pronounced vaishnavite doctrinal influence. however, its practices and theological discourses draw considerably from the neo-saivite tradition of 19th century tamil nadu. 36. in a vivid parallel, poykayil yohannan of the pratyaksha raksha deiva sabha (prds) made similar claims, and the tradition of protestant revivals and dream revelations that he came out of that gave him legitimacy. once again, reason and ecstasy, and bodily cleanliness was an analog for spiritual purity. for a detailed and illuminating discussion, see sanal mohan, modernity of slavery. 37. this claim of mine bears more than a little trace of aishwary kumar’s thinking, which i wish to acknowledge here. his important book, radical equality, traces transnational flows that characterize the political thought of gandhi and ambedkar, and attempts “an archeology of the decisive and precarious turn in anticolonial thought toward the question of equality, an archeology that attempts to determine not merely the context but the order of conceptuality—the origins, structures, and modulations of concepts—within (and in excess of) which the contours of modern political thought were redrawn in twentieth-century colonial world” (2015, p. 30). while that is the closest he comes to stating outright his interest in tracing that which exceeds the limitations of context, he has, in a number of private conversations, made such claims in less ambiguous terms. in this talk, he says more directly that we “think not in a context but to grow out of it.” aishwary, russell berman, and robert harrison. “what is intellectual history and why does it matter?” introductory remarks by sojourner ahébée. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myie80qzr-w> see 00:38:00-00:42:00. a transcript of the relevant section: “if context is our only game in town, we will never actually unpack the true power of ideas, and their transformative promise. we think not in a context but to grow out it.” (00:39:39-00:40:00) © 2022 gaurav j. pathania. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 207–210 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.390 dalits and the making of modern india author: chinnaiah jangam (2018) publisher: oxford university press (2017) rs. 750.00 ($37.95)., pp. xiii-247 isbn: 9780199477777 reviewer: gaurav j. pathania assistant professor of sociology and peacebuilding center for justice and peacebuilding eastern mennonite university email: gaurav.pathania@emu.edu colonialism and nationalism serve as vantage points to understand the historicity of modern india. many celebrated leaders of modern india, such as m.k. gandhi, jawaharlal nehru, and bankim chandra chattopadhyay, presented the mainstream notion of nationalism to counter colonialism or colonial rule in india. they represent the ideology of hindu elites to signify an underlying unity of hindu consciousness. in the twentieth century, the only real challenge to this “mainstream” nationalism came from dr. b.r. ambedkar’s imagined nationalism through his philosophy of prabuddha bharat (enlightened india) and the nationalist discourse through the dalit resistance to hindu (brahmanical) hegemony. ambedkar, one of the founding fathers of modern india, offered a thesis to annihilate the caste system. the debates with his political opponent, m.k. gandhi, have served as popular texts that are highly cited sources in academia. drawing upon ambedkar’s conception of nationalism, the book, dalits and the making of modern india (2019), by canada-based indian historian, chinnaiah jangam, critically challenges the unitary notion of nationalism and colonialism. one of his key arguments is that particularised understandings of “nationalism” are undoubtedly susceptible to change. drawing upon archival sources on the madras presidency and andhra region, the volume draws from several untold narratives and shines light on the contribution of dalits to the formation of a unique nationalist discourse. 208 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 with his lucid writing style, jangam divides the volume in three sections concluding with an epilogue: 1) dalits and the colonial conjuncture, 2) making of the self and political identity, and 3) dalit imagination: an egalitarian ethics. each section centers on the dalit experience and unfolds the historical realities that failed to document the untiring struggle of dalits for social justice. this struggle coincides with the colonial developments in india affecting every walk of life. for example, for centuries, brahmans had a monopoly over education. the british government opened schools in villages to all castes without discrimination is evidence of democratisation of education that directly benefitted the socially marginalised groups especially dalits who were victims of untouchability practices. the volume offers a historical analysis of these democratic shifts that led to anti-caste resistance. jangam challenges the dominant narrative by documenting the stories of democratic, egalitarian dalit consciousness that has been excluded from the mainstream hindu narrative. thus, the author challenges a unitary construction of the nation and its imagination. in his words, “dalit imagination of the nation and nationalism significantly altered the meaning of nation” (204). the book provokes the reader to critique the idea of nation. “from ancient times to the postcolonial present, dalits have been articulating anticaste ideologies, and aspiring to an egalitarian, ethical society based on principles of social equality and human dignity (5)”. “dalit” has been the most researched category in contemporary indian social sciences. until the late 1980s, dalit was primarily used as a category of reference for caste, yet caste as a category did not gain much critical reflection by scholars. with the rise of dalit literature in the 1990s, the interests of understanding the epistemology and ontology of caste started gaining ground in indian academia as well as in the west. jangam critically presents the history of nationalism in the telugu public sphere and justifies how dalits remained a solid contributor of nationalism through their anticolonial struggle at the grassroot level. in this context, the author makes an important point that dalits developed a different concept of nation and nationalism, and made securing a commitment to social equality, human dignity and egalitarian democracy–a pre-condition for the independence of the country (11). while explaining the complexities of caste and class in colonialism, jangam claims that “no south asian scholars has to date employed the concept of internal colonialism…”(137). this is an important observation. however, my own study on the formation of telangana state was published at the same time using this concept to demonstrate how telangana served as an internal colony to andhra. the first state reorganisation commission in 1955 also pointed out the same danger of telangana subjugation by the “andhra settlers” (see pathania, 2018). erasure of anti-caste epistemology the political resistance of dalits can be measured in terms of how successful they have been in expanding the meaning of democracy; in other words, in forcing civil society to acknowledge their presence and agency, and to embrace their agenda. dr. ambedkar in his writings on the origin of untouchability (1948), traces the historical dalits and the making of modern india 209 legacy of dalits’ resistance and anti-caste tradition. centuries of oppression and material deprivation institutionalized by religious scriptures articulated dalit’s sense of self-worth. the abuse left a deep “ontological wound of self-negation and selfesteem,” which the author refers to as “self-doubt” (6). the book connects the precolonial, anti-caste cultural memory with the ideological forms, which were used by dalits to counter the colonial brahmanical trajectory of modernity (5). historians who eulogise gandhi’s non-violent struggle often overlook ambedkar’s satyagrahas (peaceful non-violent protests). he led the most popular mahad satyagraha. jangam portrays how dalits have tried to mobilise themselves by organising political rallies, public meetings, and temple entry satyagraha. the most significant contribution of this chapter is that the author views dalit consciousness as a continuum rather than fragmented between precolonial and anti-colonial struggles. the author carefully presents the details of ambedkar’s struggle to secure civil and political rights for untouchables by organising them into a political community (188). he briefly mentions the ambedkar-gandhi debate on hinduism and concludes that “gandhi refused to accept equality as a religious and ethical necessity” while addressing the untouchables’ claim of rightful status as equals (189). these movements represented a fundamental cultural revolt against the caste system. a prominent caste scholar, gail omvedt (2011), notes that the cultural revolution that had begun in colonial india—and been heralded in struggle and dialectic process long before that—remained incomplete (312). the mainstream hindu narrative served to erase their precolonial heritage of anti-caste consciousness, thereby rendering dalits rootless. dalit imagination and politics are very much in tune with the nationalist imagination (204). in the epilogue, jangam suggests that the “roots of contemporary brahmanical hinduism became entangled with the structural foundation of the state, thereby threatening to undermine the ethical and egalitarian principles…”(213). in short, what dalits have been struggling with in their daily life today is their political struggle to establish modernity as opposed to deeply entrenched brahmanism in india. jangam duly highlights the critical role played by the vernacular political actors and unfolds the linguistic politics of telugu-speaking regions of the erstwhile madras presidency. this region had witnessed the presence of dalits in the politics of nationalism that ran counter to both the colonial and brahmanical project of nationalism. jangam views it as “upper caste brahmanic nationalism” (211) bringing forth the untouchables’ culture as counter to the ongoing brahmin dominance. through the experience of several dalit activists in early twentieth century telugu-speaking madras presidency, jangam underscores the ongoing ideological tension between gandhians and the ambedkarites on the question of untouchability. the book devotes significant attention to the politics and ideology of bhagya reddy varma, who was the founder of the brahmo samaj movement in hyderabad. reddy was a social worker, journalist, publisher and writer who made a tremendous contribution in the area of education during the nizam rule. reddy started the most popular magazine bhagyanagar patrika. he proposed that the medium of instruction should not be urdu but rather the mother tongue of the students. reddy was a flagbearer of telugu nationalism and further, defined lower castes as adi-hindus. jangam, in his 210 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 historical analysis, critically evaluates the content of this publication. in his words, “the patrika reveals the contradictions in the cultural and ideological articulation of bhagya reddy, especially the way in which he oscillates between the construction of a separate identity and history for untouchables, and attempts to integrate them into the hindu social and cultural processes within in the reformist framework (149).” the author also highlights reddy’s leadership contribution in the modernization of the capital city of hyderabad that brought education and employment opportunities to the untouchables (163). this eventually led to dalit resistance to brahmanism from the nineteenth century onwards. amidst this, bhagya reddy who accepted the reformist hindu agenda, was accepted by the brahman reformers (164). with the aid of extensive archival work of krishna patrika and reform committee reports, jangam demonstrates the political articulations of dalits in telugu-speaking areas (140) and concludes that the pre-colonial counter-cultural memory is rooted in anti-caste ethics and anti-caste imagination of dalits. the insightful analysis of india’s colonial history makes dalits in the making of modern india a valuable resource for the scholar exploring modernity, nationalism and anti-caste movements. in this probing and thoughtful work, jangam establishes several claims on the basis of the comprehensive and exhaustive archival work. the work is even more relevant in contemporary india which is undergoing ideological churning. the meaning of communal and secular are manipulated by the ruling class who have mastered sectarian politics. it is a time when india needs more “imaginative power” or “invincible imagination” which jangam claims can serve as an “antidote to communal nationalism.” references ambedkar, b.r. (1948) the untouchables: who were they and why did they became untouchables? new delhi: amrit book co. government of india. (1955). report of the state reorganisation committee. delhi: government printer. pathania, gaurav j. (2018). the university as a site of resistance: identity and student politics. new delhi: oxford university press. omvedt, gail (2011). cultural revolt in a colonial society: the non-brahmin movement in western india, delhi: manohar. © 2023 preeti. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 167–171 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.468 ‘dalit feminist theory: a reader’ editors: sunaina arya and aakash singh rathore publisher: routledge year: 2020 reviewer: preeti phd scholar, school of education studies dr. b.r. ambedkar university, delhi email: preeti.19@stu.aud.ac.in this reader is a compilation of eighteen essays written by academics, feminists and scholar-activists from a dalit feminist perspective. the editors, sunaina arya and aakash singh rathore introduce the book by theorizing dalit feminism underpinning its ontology and epistemology. critiquing the academic discourse of feminism which predominantly questions gender inequality on a single axis as a fight against patriarchy, arya and rathore pose the important question, ‘why dalit feminist theory?’. although the dialogue on dalit feminist standpoints started during the 1990s, the core of the book lies in attempting to legitimize dalit feminist theory due to the ubiquity of the caste question in indian society, which cannot be overlooked in any circumstances. thus, the book revisits the indian feminist discourse for feminists to critique the gatekeeping that ‘upper caste’ privileged feminists did to represent the issues of all women by homogenising the category of a woman based on a few percentages of upper caste women, leaving out dalit, bahujan, adivasi and minority women who form a much larger percentage in comparison. the book is an important read due to its critical engagement and initiation of a dialogue with indian feminists to argue the need for dalit feminist theory in reshaping indian feminist discourse. 168 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 the book is divided into six parts tracing the history of the feminist movement to contemporary times, reflecting on the understanding of indian feminist discourse from the dalit feminist standpoint. it lays out the foundation for a dalit feminist theory, reexamining and critiquing the indian feminist discourse which often erased the voices of women from marginalised communities. part i contextualises the debates between indian feminism and dalit feminism. in the first essay, menon argues that intersectionality as a concept is less important in the indian context. for example, menon emphasizes how a profession like sex work deserves respect as they choose to do this work. at the same time, the authors question the very aspect of choice and argue that dalit women would choose another job over sex work if they could maintain their dignity while earning comparable pay. john and gopal later in the book also criticised menon on an understanding of the intersectional analysis in indian feminism. they emphasize the immediate need for attending to the feminist issues in india from an intersectional framework, as it has been disregarded by mainstream feminist nivedita menon earlier. for example, one of the arguments that nivedita menon asserts in refuting the concept of intersectionality is by claiming that a person carries one significant identity at a given point in time. hence, intersectionality is itself an ‘empty location’. such an argument discredits the theorisation of the concept, which has been countered by gopal and john, that once again, menon is looking at the categories of caste and gender in isolation; hence, there is no such thing as a single identity to a person. chapter 2 problematizes the contemporary theory of gender, and it argues that a woman is not a homogenous category. it further explains the linkages between caste, gender, class and community through specific events of history and the role of ‘women’ in them as feminist subjects. the authors contend that the events represented in the mainstream media obscure the whole caste, class and gender linkage so much that the categories of dalits and women comprise only male and upper caste, respectively. chapter 3 presents the excerpts on the category of ‘dalit patriarchy’ by scholars such as gopal guru, uma chakravarti and v.geetha which are critiqued by the editors who believe that such categories only misdirect the whole feminist movement and strengthen the already present divisions among each other. arya (2020) critically analyses the formulation of the term dalit patriarchy and explains that the coinage of the very term is vague. no caste group is devoid of patriarchy, but coining the terms for them differently will only further the divisions as it discredits the role that brahmanical patriarchy plays in it. there’s no denying that patriarchy affects dalit women equally, but brahmanical patriarchy should be questioned and critiqued. part ii of the book historicises and contextualizes the concept of dalit feminism. paik (chapter 4) reviews the position of dalit women and tries to resolve dalit women’s questions, claiming that dalit women don’t simply comply or resist. instead, they exercise agency in their ways according to their present contexts. she exemplifies her position by providing instances where dalit women usually exercise agency via negotiating with the power structures. the article concludes by discussing the aspects of dalit women’s activism, including the origin, participation, forming alliances and ‘dalit feminist theory: a reader’ 169 networks, issues they raised and negotiating between public-private while engaging in activism. the political engagement of dr ambedkar has been discussed throughout the chapter in detail which had a powerful impact on dalit women. sonalkar (chapter 5) discusses dalit women’s politics by examining the category of ‘ambedkarite women’, precisely the women who participated in the ambedkar movement. thus, it can be analyzed in the post-ambedkar era when dalit women started to produce and contribute to dalit literature as much as dalit men; they acknowledged the efforts of ambedkar in these testimonies of freedom and liberation. similarly, rege in chapter 9, analyses that dalit women have been powerful agents of social reforms and contributed to phule-ambedkarite politics, schooling, literature, and academic realms of life as opposed to the dominant narrative which only see them as victims of power structures. rege (chapter 6) extends the political aspects of dr ambedkar’s life and delves into aspects of his personal life. mainstream feminism observes dr ambedkar as not ‘feminist enough’ in his personal life on the account that his wife ramabai was not encouraged to engage in the politics of freedom movements he was leading. thus, rege critiques these arguments by historicizing and bringing out the truly personal accounts of babasaheb’s life and how he had an equal relationship with ramabai. part iii delves into the aspects of dalit women’s lived experience and contextualises dalit ‘difference’. rege (chapter 7) analyses how violence is a persistent concern for dalit women due to their particularly vulnerable position which lies at the intersection of caste, class and gender as they have to work in the public realm for everyday survival. rege further emphasizes the flaw of indian feminism, which contributes to feminist theory on a single-axis framework and fails to recognize this intersectional difference. bharti exhibits several instances from hindu epics and analyses how dalit women are represented in a demeaning manner with no respect and humanity as they are not considered pure and expected to bring misfortune (chapter 8). y.s. alone also brings a different perspective by bringing the idea of aesthetics that has been challenged through art within contemporary artistic practises and responding to the demeaning representations of dalit women as portrayed in the dominant narrative (chapter 8). part iv historicizes and traces the idea of intersectionality, where it originated first, and how it adds to the theorization of feminist discourse. this part problematizes the academic engagement on feminism which originated from the perspective of most privileged white women in the west. due to the lack and neglect of these first world feminists, black feminist thought emerged, which established the realities and struggles of black women who are marginalized based on both gender and race in their daily lives. crenshaw developed the idea of intersectionality based on black women’s “difference” from white women who have a racial advantage, filling the gap in first world feminism discourse that had neglected to address the problems of all women (chapter 10). similar to how american feminism developed, indian feminism was influenced by caste-privileged women who failed to understand dalit women’s experiences and further marginalized them. guru contends that the socio-economic and political deprivation of dalit women over a long time has resulted in differences 170 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 in how they speak and live (chapter 11). rege (chapter 12) issues a disciplinary challenge to indian feminism by claiming that the inclusion of dalit diversity is a prerequisite for establishing “real feminism”. part v contextualizes the concept of intersectionality and the need for the same in india. aloysius et al. argue that dominant caste feminists often disregard the castebased exploitation of women that poses greater risks to dalit women due to their caste location in the varna system. therefore, dalit feminists argue for a multiple-axis framework to understand the difference in the position of women due to the different locations occupied by women of different castes in this structure (chapter 13). tharu (chapter 14) theorizes that gender and caste are linked, which is further complicated by class structure. hence, the burdens multiply, rendering dalit women at the lowest pedestal and marginalizes them to an extent that further invisiblised them in the society including scholars and intellectuals. part vi consolidates the book by arguing the need for a legitimate theory from a dalit feminist standpoint, which will require a close look at the contemporary feminist discourse, questioning its flaws and re-defining the issues of feminist politics from the vantage point of third world women. a critique of modern feminist writings in india is provided by julie stephens, who contends that the term “non-western women” is a fabrication insofar as it avoids a true engagement with its own “past” while fighting against western hegemony (chapter 16). stephens also draws attention to how mainstream feminists have misappropriated the term “experience” in third world feminism. smita m. patil uses categories from marx, mignolo, and oyewumi to make the case that dalit feminist thought poses a challenge to the veracity of knowledge and offers an epistemic turn for feminist thinking that must be acknowledged and adopted to advance the effectiveness of indian feminist discourse (chapter 17). kanchana mahadevan critiques the experience-theory dichotomy, which also presents a perceptive alternative that advocates theorizing by the collective shared experience of individuals who live, share, and communicate experience in a scholarly manner (chapter 18). that is, a real theorization can only be made when the subjects and the objects of feminist inquiry are the same. dalit feminist theory claims to address the gap in third world feminism by attending to the absent linkages of caste and gender-based experiences of women. however, it falls short of providing third world feminism’s different discourses due consideration. mohanty (2015), analyses that the category of ‘third world woman’ is not monolithic but it has a geographic, historical, and cultural basis. the term ‘third world women’ entails many classifications on the intersection of caste, class, gender, religion, sexuality, region, culture, etc. the book is missing a perspective on current feminist politics based on religion and queer theory. nonetheless, the book engages seriously with the feminist discourse, analyzes its pitfalls and suggests measures to the privileged ‘upper-caste’ feminists who engaged earlier. the book especially calls on ‘dalit feminist theory: a reader’ 171 young feminists to correct the wrongdoings of the past by rethinking and revisiting the ground realities and lived experiences of dalit women. references arya, s. (2020). dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism. caste: a global journal on social exclusion, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 217–228. mohanty, c.t. (2015). under western eyes: feminist scholarship and colonial discourses. in colonial discourse and post-colonial theory. routledge, pp. 196–220. © 2023 l. david lal. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.503 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 288-305 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste in search of a utopian society: situating ‘dalit’ conversions in contemporary india l. david lal1 abstract religious conversions, particularly those originating from marginalized communities, have been a subject of scholarly investigation in colonial and postcolonial india. dalit conversions, in particular, have been examined not only as an attempt in exercising freedom of conscience but also as an act encompassing various dimensions. the existing body of literature on dalit conversions has recognized them as instances of social protest, group assertion, a direct challenge to caste-based dominance, the pursuit of egalitarianism, and the quest for selfrespect. although discussions surrounding dalit conversions to different religions have intensified in post-independence india, conversions to islam and christianity have received notable attention. it is widely acknowledged that dalit conversions stand in opposition to the principles of caste system, religious hegemony, and homogenization. this article by examining the instances of dalit conversions that have taken place in independent india, delves into three significant aspects: first, comprehending the acquired religious identity of dalits; second, exploring the aspirations of dalit converts; and third, examining the construction of a utopia within the context of the adopted religion. additionally, the article argues that dalit conversions should not be regarded as an endpoint but rather as a transformative journey into an envisioned utopia. keywords caste, religion, dalit conversions, acquired identity, utopian society 1assistant professor, department of humanities and social sciences, indian institute of information technology guwahati, guwahati, assam, india e-mail: david@iiitg.ac.in in search of a utopian society: situating ‘dalit’ conversions in contemporary india 289 introduction conversion…as a social rebirth, a gaining of a new identity, a way in which the dalits were leading. —gail omvedt (1992) numerous scholars have extensively explored the phenomenon of conversion as a response to caste-based oppression. the marginalized dalit community, enduring grave caste atrocities, often sought relief by abandoning their traditional faiths and embracing alternative religions. instances of mass conversions among disadvantaged segments of society to foreign religions have been observed since the medieval era (bayly 1999; robinson & clarke 2003). particularly during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a significant migration of marginalized groups occurred, with many finding sanctuary in christianity. notably, in the 1930s, approximately half of india’s roman catholic population converted through mass movements, and a substantial proportion of protestants also resulted from such collective conversions (picket 1933). this trend gained momentum after 1850 when missionary groups collectively decided to challenge caste inequalities and discrimination within christian communities. the compelling desire for brotherhood, human dignity, and solidarity among oppressed castes propelled them towards seeking freedom and liberation at any cost. consequently, conversion to christianity, akin to previous conversions to islam, represented an ardent endeavour to break free from the stranglehold of the caste system. some scholars posit that lower-caste converts to islam and christianity viewed these religions as social alternatives to their status. by embracing islam or christianity, lower-caste indians were better equipped to challenge the social presumptions upheld by the upper castes (sikand 2003; dale 2003). similarly, hindu converts found solace in sikhism as a means of escaping the discriminatory caste system (juergensmeyer 1988). however, bayly (2004) contends that motivations for conversion should not be solely attributed to changes in social status or structure. conversion does not always entail a complete transformation of beliefs and practices. in fact, early converts to islam in south india were equally driven by the pursuit of other desired attributes, such as power and sacred energy (bayly 2004). the multifaceted motivations behind conversions underscore the complex and dynamic nature of the phenomenon. in contrast, certain scholars argue that conversions to christianity before india’s independence were primarily motivated by the desire to break free from castebased discrimination, with dalits being at the forefront of seeking out missionaries. however, this endeavor was met with strong opposition from individuals belonging to the upper castes (lobo 2001). eaton (1997) posits that indians actively participated in the conversion process, integrating aspects of external religions into their preexisting worldviews rather than blindly adopting foreign ideas. this underscores the agency of dalits in embracing a new faith, signifying a deliberate search for meaning 290 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 and autonomy (sebastian 2003). additionally, folk or popular religion emerged as a vehicle for promoting egalitarianism and ending oppression (puniyani 2005). the bhakti movement and its influential leaders, such as kabir, ravidas, chokamela, and nanak, profoundly challenged social hierarchies and vehemently condemned caste and untouchability (omvedt 2008). this movement served as a bridge between major religions, fostering interfaith dialogue, promoting social equality, rejecting elitism, advocating for the role of women, and advancing anti-caste egalitarianism (puniyani 2005). moreover, buddhism has been regarded as a rebellion against the oppressive brahminical hinduism that was introduced to india by the aryans. esteemed scholars, including bishop azariah, have emphasized buddhism as a means of resistance against the oppressive brahminical hinduism, thereby becoming significant for the indigenous non-brahminical people, now identified as dalits. dr. ambedkar, after his highly publicized conversion away from hinduism, founded navayana buddhism, striving to dismantle caste barriers. he revisited history, reviving a lost moment against casteism, and utilized buddhism as a tool to restore the longdenied dignity of dalits (tartakov 2003). it is noteworthy that ambedkar’s impetus for change primarily originated from his desire to leave hinduism and establish a utopian social order for the downtrodden and marginalized. the establishment of navayana buddhism, guided by ambedkar, prominently revolves around the principle that human distinctions should be based on individual actions rather than familial lineage, reflecting a central objective of dalit conversions (tartakov 2003). this article delves into the concept of utopia that underpins dalit conversions, as they strive for equality, liberty, and social dignity. it explores how dalit conversions represent acts of acquiring a new social identity in contrast to their ascribed identity within the rigid social system. the article examines how dalits navigated through this system to envision a utopian world within their new religious affiliation. the article adopts two main perspectives: first, it analyzes mass conversions of dalits to christianity, islam, sikhism, and buddhism, and their motivations to denounce the caste order. second, it delves into the purpose behind these conversions. religious conversion and dalits in india: a short background the phenomenon of religious conversion among dalits has a rich historical context and has been a recurrent event spanning various time periods. dalits have consistently shown a proclivity towards adopting different religions and embracing new religious movements over an extended duration. the understanding of conversion in the indian context has evolved across different historical epochs. christian conversion can be traced back to as early as the first century a.d., marked by the arrival of one of jesus’ disciples in kerala. during the medieval period, there were notable instances of mass conversions to islam, while in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, india witnessed significant instances of ‘collective conversions’ to christianity (picket 1933; jenkins 2007; caplan 1980). in search of a utopian society: situating ‘dalit’ conversions in contemporary india 291 the advent of islam in india occurred shortly after its inception in the seventh century a.d, permeating various regions of the country. in the southern region, islam made its entry through present-day kerala, situated on the malabar coast in south india (bahauddin 1992). arab traders, who had been engaging in trade with india even before the time of prophet muhammad, were instrumental in spreading the religion. these traders, during their frequent voyages to the malabar region, established marital bonds with local women, resulting in the proliferation of islam in the area (robinson & clarke 2003). accompanying these traders were sufi saints, whose preaching and the appeal of an egalitarian faith inspired numerous local individuals, particularly from lower social strata, to embrace islam (kurup 1991; oddie 1991). it is important to note that such instances of conversion were not confined to the pre-colonial and colonial eras. for example, the mahars of maharashtra have undergone conversion to buddhism, a process that persists to this day. additionally, conversions to the bahai faith, as well as to jainism and islam, have been documented among various groups (garlington 1977; bayly 2004). in line with various reformist and emancipatory movements aimed at promoting egalitarianism and eradicating caste-based practices from society, guru nanak founded the sikh religion. sikhism vehemently criticized the prevailing practices of social exclusion and discrimination based on caste, offering an alternative to the existing unequal social order (marenco 1974). the tenth guru further institutionalized the principle of equality by introducing the ceremony of amrit or khande ka phul, wherein participants partake of nectar from the same bowl. during the original ceremony in april 1699, several dalit men embraced the sikh faith and underwent the amrit initiation (talha 2008). this significant event solidified the idea of equality within sikhism and fostered inclusivity among its followers, transcending the barriers of caste-based discrimination. in the post-independence era of india, there were several noteworthy cases of religious conversion. one significant instance was the mass conversion of dalits to buddhism in 1956, spearheaded by dr. ambedkar. on 14 october 1956, during the auspicious occasion of vijaya dashmi, dr. ambedkar and nearly 400,000 of his followers arrived at their spiritual destination in nagpur, maharashtra, marking a momentous occasion in the history of dalit empowerment and their embrace of buddhism (sangrakshita 1986; rodrigues 2002; pandey 2006). another remarkable religious transformation occurred in 1981 in meenakshipuram, a lesser-known village in tamil nadu, where hundreds of untouchables, commonly referred to as dalits, converted to islam (wankhede 2009). around 200 dalit families participated actively in a collective conversion ceremony, symbolizing their adoption of the islamic faith. the meenakshipuram conversion was shaped by a complex interplay of socio-economic and political factors. dalits in the region had long endured social discrimination and economic marginalization entrenched within the hierarchical structure of the hindu caste system. this deep-rooted disparity led to pervasive discontent and frustration within the dalit community. the promise of emancipation 292 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 and improved socio-economic prospects offered by islam served as a compelling impetus for the dalits to pursue this mass conversion. the convergence of their profound sense of alienation with the aspirational promise of social upliftment under the islamic framework played a pivotal role in motivating the dalit community to embark on this transformative journey (mathew 1982). furthermore, there have been recurring incidents reported in newspapers across various parts of the country regarding dalit conversions or the threat of conversion. in 2017, more than 2,000 dalits in aligarh expressed their intention to convert to islam.1 in the same year, over 100 dalit families in sharanpur, uttar pradesh, threatened to convert to buddhism.2 similarly, in 2019, over 3,000 dalits in coimbatore district, tamil nadu, protested against untouchability by threatening to convert to islam.3 in hindaun, rajasthan, in 2019, agitated dalits also contemplated converting to islam.4 in 2022, more than 450 dalits in shorapur, karnataka, took a decisive step to abandon hinduism, seeking to shed the stigmatizing label of being considered “untouchable.”5 furthermore, in 2023, forty individuals from eight dalit families in theni, southern tamil nadu, embraced islam due to their distressing experiences of living among upper-caste hindus.6 these instances are emblematic of the motivations and aspirations that lie behind religious conversions among dalits. the phenomenon of religious conversion among dalits represents not merely a change in religious identity but also serves as a potent means of social empowerment and emancipation from the oppressive structures of the caste system (kanungo 2008). the decision to convert is driven by a desire for dignity, equality, and liberation from the shackles of social hierarchy, prompting dalits to seek refuge in alternative faiths and belief systems (bayly 2004; eaton 1993). these conversions reflect the agency and conscious search for meaning among dalits as they navigate the complexities of their social environment and engage in a transformative process that transcends mere religious affiliation (sebastian 2003). such conversions are deeply rooted in historical and contemporary struggles for social justice, and they represent a paradigm shift from passive subjects to proactive seekers of social change and dignity (richardson 1985). overall, the phenomenon of dalit conversions in post-independence india represents a complex and dynamic interplay of socio-cultural, political, and religious factors, underscoring the significance of religious conversion as a means of striving 1https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/over-2000-dalits-threaten-to-convert-to-islam-in-up/ articleshow/58781064.cms 2https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/dalits-threaten-to-convert-to-buddhism/ article19100513.ece 3https://www.onmanorama.com/news/india/2019/12/27/dalits-conversion-to-islammettupalayam-wall-collapse-mudaliyar-coimbatore.html 4https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/sick-of-upper-caste-brutality-angry-dalitsthreaten-to-convert-to-islam-in-rajas/310558 5https://theprint.in/india/called-untouchable-in-2022-why-hundreds-of-dalits-in-karnatakaembraced-buddhism-last-week/1170024/ 6https://telanganatoday.com/eight-dalit-families-convert-to-islam-in-tn-alleging-upper-casteatrocities in search of a utopian society: situating ‘dalit’ conversions in contemporary india 293 for equality, liberty, and social dignity among marginalized communities. it serves as a transformative process that redefines not only religious identities but also societal power dynamics, ultimately contributing to a more egalitarian and inclusive social fabric (pandey 2006). motivations and aspirations behind dalit conversions this section delves into the multifaceted motivations and aspirations driving dalit conversions in post-independence india using theories from sociology, psychology, social identity perspectives. it highlights conversion as a transformative process fostering equality, liberty, and social dignity among marginalized communities. conversion as social and religious remonstration the dalit converts exhibit a notable proclivity towards embracing new religious ideologies, often engaging in collective conversion processes that center around their caste identities. these group conversions give rise to conflicts and tensions as the converts grapple with the establishment of their transformed social positions. it is essential to recognize that conversion entails not only an individual’s shift in status but also a comprehensive restructuring of social dynamics. interestingly, when discontentment arises among marginalized castes, they turn to religious expressions as a means of transcending the oppressive constraints imposed by the caste system and elevating their social standing. the pursuit of enhanced social status consistently acts as a significant driving force behind large-scale conversions, intricately intertwined with their spiritual dimensions. according to copley (1994), conversions from hinduism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are the result of a multifaceted interplay of psychological, political, cultural, and often spiritual motivations. the minds of dalits are not passive vessels awaiting external religious influences; instead, their conversions are deeply rooted in centuries of oppression, religious subjugation, and social bondage. the conversion of dalits, marked by heightened religious consciousness and a significant departure from traditional practices, takes place despite formidable challenges. it represents not merely a radical personal transformation but rather a profound shift in social connections and behavior, as individuals abandon their previous belief systems. dalits actively engage in planning, decision-making, and shaping their life experiences before renouncing their traditional religion. they embody proactive seekers, characterized by a sense of “autonomy” and an inherent “search for meaning” in alternative faiths. conversion as process, not event conversion represents a profound and intricate journey involving a process of identity transformation, engendering a utopian vision, and paving the way for an equitable society. it transcends a mere change of religious affiliation, particularly in the context of dalit conversion. this transformative endeavor reflects their pursuit of utopian ideals, which serve as the bedrock for achieving social equality and liberation. 294 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 heredia (2007) argues that characterizing conversion as an abrupt, isolated, and irreversible event, following the traditional passivist perspective, oversimplifies its intricate nature. instead, it is imperative to acknowledge the necessity of a brief period of assessment and observation to comprehend the consequences of conversion for both the individual and the community. this process entails a gradual transformation of existing belief systems, wherein new sets of beliefs and practices are integrated alongside pre-existing ones, often symbolized through certain initiation rituals. gauri vishwanathan (2001) emphasizes the present challenge of viewing conversion not as an endpoint but as a starting point for knowledge and communication. adopting a process-oriented perspective allows for seamless connection between the initial phase and subsequent stages, without fixating solely on the intervening events. this dynamic process unfolds fluidly, navigating complexities as it traverses from the individual to the social and from the psychological to the socio-cultural realm. for dalits, conversion may initially stem from experiences of discrimination and injustice, evolving into a religiously motivated form of protest. nevertheless, the transformative journey does not culminate there; rather, dalits must assert and establish their newly acquired religious and social identities within their new religious framework. consequently, conversion becomes an ongoing process rather than a single isolated event. conversion as paradigm shift the conversion motivations explore the two overarching paradigms, ‘activist’ and ‘passivist,’ that have shaped the scholarly discourse on religious conversion. focusing on the ‘activist’ paradigm, the study delves into its implications in understanding dalit conversion in india. the ‘passivist’ paradigm perceives religious conversion as a process that happens to individuals, driven by external forces, and rooted in deterministic views of human behavior. however, a paradigm shift has been witnessed, reflecting changes in social psychology and sociology (kuhn 1962). the ‘activist’ paradigm views conversion as a product of an actively engaged seeker who exercises volition and agency in embracing a new religious belief system. this perspective emphasizes the role of the convert in shaping their own identity and personhood. conversion entails a profound shift in one’s sense of ultimate grounding or core reality, leading to a paradigmatic change in behavior and religious practices (richardson 1985). various disciplines such as psychology, anthropology, sociology, and politics contribute to understanding conversion. the ‘activist’ paradigm has gained prominence in recent times, providing insights into the motivations behind religious affiliations (snow & machalek 1984). applying the ‘activist’ paradigm to dalit conversion highlights the transformative role of agency in the pursuit of social and spiritual emancipation. the ‘activist’ paradigm deepens our comprehension of the complex interplay between individual agency and societal context in the conversion process. the ‘activist’ paradigm offers a nuanced and dynamic perspective on religious conversion, especially in the context of dalit conversion in india. acknowledging individual agency and choice as drivers of conversion underscores its transformative impact on identity. in search of a utopian society: situating ‘dalit’ conversions in contemporary india 295 identity shift: from ascribed to acquired the notion of identity has undergone a significant transformation in the post-structural period, marked by a shift from ascribed to acquired identities. political theorist charles taylor (1989) and psychologist roy baumeister (1986) have elucidated the modern shift towards subjective and customizable identities, allowing individuals to fashion their religious, educational, occupational, sexual, and domestic roles. in medieval times, identity was predominantly ascribed by societal norms, encompassing one’s religion, occupation, and economic status. however, in the modern era, identities have become less deterministic and more amenable to individual choices. this shift has resulted in a revival of identity with post-modernist characteristics. the existence of acquired identities presents a critical challenge for social identity researchers, as it allows individuals the flexibility to adopt multiple identities that are not fixed. traditional social identity theories, emphasizing group membership salience as the primary determinant of identity, may overlook the role of individual choice in shaping identity development. while social identity theory researchers often prioritize the salience of group membership in identity development, this view may be overly deterministic, neglecting the influence of individual agency. the malleability of acquired identities implies that individuals can exercise control over their self-concept and social roles (giddens 1991). the shift from ascribed to acquired identities holds particular relevance in the context of dalit conversion. as dalits embrace new religious affiliations, they exercise agency in crafting their identities beyond the constraints of the castebased social hierarchy. the concept of salience, a key force driving identity shifts according to social identity researchers, highlights the influence of situational factors rather than fixed characteristics in shaping individual identities. this fluidity underscores the dynamic interplay between individual choice and societal dynamics. the transformation of identity from ascribed to acquired in dalit conversion challenges conventional deterministic views and emphasizes the significance of individual agency. understanding the complexities of acquired identities is essential for comprehending the multifaceted nature of dalit conversion and its implications for social identity theory. understanding utopian ideals within the context of dalit conversions dalits, who have endured historical oppression and social marginalization within the hierarchical caste system, have pursued religious conversion as a mechanism to transcend their circumstances and envisage an ideal society liberated from castebased discrimination. within this pursuit of utopia, religious conversion assumes a pivotal role by providing dalits with an avenue to contest prevailing social norms and entrenched practices that perpetuate caste-based inequities. through the process of conversion, dalits not only acquire a new religious identity but also cultivate a 296 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 collective consciousness aimed at dismantling caste-based hierarchies and advancing principles of social justice. ambedkar, conversion and utopia the theory and model elucidating the phenomenon of conversion in india find their most profound exposition through the lens of a prominent figure who meticulously strategized and scrutinized the conversion of dalits for a remarkable span of twentyone years. dr. bhimrao ambedkar, after publicly announcing his own conversion at yeola on 13 october 1935, firmly declared, “it was not my fault that i was born an untouchable. but i am determined that i will not die as a hindu” (gore 1993). dr. ambedkar’s perception of the social backwardness and exclusion faced by dalits underscored the notion that such discrimination was deeply rooted in the legitimate religious sanctions of hinduism itself. in his unwavering critique, he portrayed hinduism as an oppressive religion, perpetuating a hierarchical system of graded inequalities that condemned dalits to live in a state of subservience under the mercy of caste hindus. initially, dr. ambedkar embarked on a mission of reform, seeking to address the unequal and exploitative social order within hinduism. in 1924, he founded the bahiskrit hithkarni sabha, guided by the motto, “educate, agitate, and organize,” and launched movements of satyagraha to challenge caste oppression. throughout this period, he pursued his agenda within the fold of hindu culture and religion, advocating for equality through agitations demanding access to drinking water in the chowkdar tank campaign and various temple entry movements (jaffrelot 2006). however, as time passed, dr. ambedkar’s perspective evolved, and he expressed his aspirations more assertively through his correspondence with bahiskrit bharat, stating, “we seek equal rights in society. we will strive to achieve them as far as possible while remaining within the hindu fold, or if necessary, by disentangling ourselves from this futile hindu identity” (heredia 2007). this marked a significant shift in his approach, underscoring a growing inclination towards seeking liberation from the constraints of hinduism and embracing a new identity as a means to attain the cherished goal of equality for dalits in society. having encountered obstacles in his attempts to bring about meaningful reforms within the inflexible framework of hindu social structure, dr. bhimrao ambedkar made a decision to openly renounce hinduism. his unwavering optimism regarding the attainment of equal status for dalits beyond the confines of the hindu fold compelled him to reassess and refine his approach to the movement. dr. ambedkar firmly believed that the emancipation of dalits lay outside the confines of hinduism, rather than within it. his endeavor aimed at liberating dalits by establishing their rights through political power, transcending the limitations imposed by the current religious and social order. in his speeches published later under the thought-provoking title ‘muktikonpath’ (meaning the path to liberation), and by the buddha dhamma in search of a utopian society: situating ‘dalit’ conversions in contemporary india 297 education society of india, dr. ambedkar articulates his vision of a utopian state that lies in the conversion of dalits. according to me, this conversion of religion will bring happiness to the dalits and to the hindus. so long as you remain hindu, you will have to struggle for social intercourse, for food and water and for inter-caste marriages…by conversion, the roots of the quarrel will vanish…this path of conversion is the only right path of freedom which ultimately leads to equality.7 ambedkar was of the opinion that conversion would establish a utopian society based on equality, liberty and overall well-being and a happier existence (beltz 2005). ambedkar interrogated caste hinduism and tunnelled a way out from it through the practise of conversion. he critically examined the structure of caste-based hinduism and sought an escape from its confines through the act of conversion. for ambedkar, the perpetuation of caste was an inevitable outcome of brahmanic hinduism, with untouchability standing as its most degrading manifestation. therefore, he asserted that “conversion” is of paramount significance for dalits, just as self-government is crucial for india, as both share the same ultimate goal (ambedkar 1989). ambedkar’s vision of utopian dalit conversion encompasses two crucial dimensions: the social and religious aspects, and the material and spiritual aspects. he identified sympathy, equality, and liberty as indispensable factors for individual upliftment, and viewed conversion as a transformative process, moving away from the stagnant confines of traditional beliefs and practices (ambedkar 2004). this transformative shift, brought about by adopting a new name and religion, engenders a comprehensive change in one’s identity. in elucidating the reasons behind his decision to change his religion, ambedkar expounded further on the utopian ideals of conversion during a conference in bombay on may 30–31, 1936. “…convert for getting organized. convert for becoming strong, convert for securing equality, convert for getting liberty, and convert so that your domestic life may be happy.”8 conversion emerged as a powerful instrument of unity, organization, and emancipation for the marginalized, a theme recurrent in dr. ambedkar’s extensive body of writings. in his seminal work “the annihilation of caste” (moon 1979), he perceives caste as a complex interplay of cultural conflicts, political maneuvers, and ideological deceptions. subsequently, in “who were the shudras?” he frames caste as a class struggle between the brahmans and non-brahmans (moon 1990). a more elaborate exposition of this argument is evident in “the untouchables,” where he 7speech published in ‘mukti kona patha’ (which is the liberation path?) (extracts of marathi text were edited by khairamode (caritra, vii: 87–89) and by the buddha dhamma education society of india 1992. 8b.r ambedkar’s written speech in marathi at the conference held in bombay on may 30–31, 1936. this speech was first published in the maharastra government ‘s special issue, ‘lok rajya’ brought out on april 16, 1981. it had been translated into english by vasant moon and was first published with ‘oppressed indian’, the organ of bamcef. also published in the jantak lehar, jalandhar (punjab) vol.3, no.4, april 1986. 298 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 posits that the ascendancy of brahmanism over buddhism resulted in the suppression and oppression of tribals and dalits by the caste hindus. ambedkar further advances his ideas through works such as “revolution and counter revolution” and “buddha and karl marx,” forging a cohesive ideology to fortify his advocacy for buddhism (moon 1987, 1979). importantly, he elucidates buddhism as a liberation theology rather than solely a spiritual source, presenting his vision of buddhism as navayana. for a distinct segment of the dalit community, the conversion movement represents a form of protest. the underlying meanings and objectives behind dalit conversions were centered on dismantling the hierarchical structure of the caste-based society. this entailed advocating for an egalitarian ideology and a just value-system that the society had not been founded upon, as these elements were deemed pivotal in shaping mass consciousness and identity. hence, a dual thread of logic ran through the entire fabric of the conversion movement, emphasizing equality and self-respect. the objective was to generate a propelling force that would elevate dalits from a position of humiliation and subordination to one of social and cultural elevation (pillai 1982). dr. ambedkar, recognizing the transformative potential of dalit conversion, embraced buddhism himself, marking a momentous beginning for historically oppressed and marginalized communities. he established navayana buddhism as a new vehicle for their emancipation and identity (tartakov 2003). subsequently, large numbers of mahars and chamars in maharashtra and jatavs in uttar pradesh embraced the utopian worldview during 1956–57 (beltz 2005; jaffrelot 2006). the dalit movements denouncing hinduism did not conclude with ambedkar; his utopian vision continues to inspire successive generations to experience conversion. dalits sought to shed their traditional lower caste social identity and embraced conversion as a means to embrace modernity (gold 1994). significantly, these studies have consistently demonstrated that conversion constitutes a highly disruptive act capable of altering india’s demography and character. thus, their vehement support for conversion through social organization can be regarded as justified from multiple angles. as ambedkar espoused, conversion serves as a means to attain autonomy, challenge the prevailing status quo, and usher in a new social order. the dalit conversion movement embodied elements of utopianism, as it sought to effect social action and instigate transformative change (rodrigues 2002). ambedkar and his followers staunchly asserted that the motivation and intention behind dalit conversion were not driven by economic or political gain; rather, it served as a powerful tool of protest to secure social acceptance. this social transformation held immense potential to benefit the untouchable communities profoundly (ambedkar 1989). eaton, in his astute observations, challenges the prevailing assumption that dalits were passive recipients of conversion, rather than active agents in their decision-making. he points out that dalits made reasoned choices, incorporating elements from various religious traditions into their pre-existing utopian worldviews, thereby demonstrating thoughtful engagement rather than mere acceptance of foreign ideas (eaton 1993). this assumes significance when examining the dalit conversion through the lens of dalits themselves. their perspective encapsulates the concept of in search of a utopian society: situating ‘dalit’ conversions in contemporary india 299 emancipation from the entrenched caste-based subjugation, which forms a pivotal element in the aspiration to establish a utopian realm for the newly converted, facilitating a purposeful and significant existence. fissures in utopia despite the fervent aspiration of dalit conversion to establish an egalitarian and dignified utopian society rooted in principles of equity and self-respect, the persistent existence of caste-based prejudice and hierarchical stratification within diverse religious frameworks, including christianity, islam, and sikhism, belies the professed tenets of parity and repudiation of bias. a study conducted by louis (2007) pertaining to scheduled caste (sc) converts to christianity underscores that post-conversion, the overall social and economic circumstances of ex-untouchables remain comparable to those of non-converts within the same caste thus require recognition and reservation. notably, despite adopting christianity, dalit christians remain subjected to subjugation perpetuated by caste hindus. evidently, the transition to christianity did not effectuate a change in the oppressors’ mindset, as they continue to subject dalit christians to untouchability and discrimination, often forcing them into reliance upon caste hindus for sustenance. throughout different historical periods, dalit christians encountered varying forms of discrimination and social exclusion within the christian domain. in response, they engaged in challenges against caste-based practices both within and outside the church. discrimination and exclusion within the church compelled them to advocate for integration, triggering conflicts between dalit christians and highercaste christians.9 in the context of institutional exclusion, dalit christians struggled for representation and equitable treatment. despite constituting a significant portion of the catholic population in tamil nadu, dalits remain vastly underrepresented among priests, nuns, and bishops. the imbalance underscores the exclusion perpetrated by higher-caste christians against marginalized sections of society. depicting the same in “karukku,” bama (in her autobiography) shares her experiences with christianity as a dalit woman in india. her portrayal of christianity is deeply intertwined with her 9during mass conversions and subsequent periods, dalit christians confronted the marginalization of their community within the church. instances such as a legal dispute by a group of caste christians against the bishop of trichiropoly in 1916 highlighted demands for caste privileges in church premises. these disputes centered around issues like separate entries, exclusive ownership of church property, and segregated seating arrangements for dalit christians and caste christians. similar incidents, such as the episode involving the celebration of ‘our lady of seven dollars’ festival in 1936, illustrated the tensions between different groups over traditional practices. for more read, chandra mallampalli, christians and public life in colonial south india, 1863-1937: contending with marginality, london: routledge currzon, 2004; j. massey, india 50 years of independence: 1947-1997, dalits: issues and concerns, delhi: b.r publication corp., 1998; john webster, religion and dalit liberation: an examination of perspectives, new delhi,manohar publications, 1999; james massey, dalits in india: religion as a source of bondage or liberation with special reference to christians, new delhi: manohar publishers, 1999; duncan b forrester, caste and christianity, london: curzon, 1979. 300 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 exploration of identity, social struggles, and the search for liberation from caste-based oppression (bama 2012). similarly, dalits who embraced islam underwent a parallel experience characterized by the persistence of caste-based hierarchies and discriminatory practices that ran counter to their envisioned utopian aspirations. prominent scholarly works by muslim researchers have brought to light the existence of caste practices within muslim society. imtiaz ahmad’s influential research, “caste and social stratification among muslims in india,” and ali anwar’s recent work in hindi, “masawat ki jung: pasemanzar bihar ka pasmanda musalman,” have effectively unveiled the reality of caste among indian muslims.10 the grading of ajlaf (non-ashraf lower caste) castes is based primarily on the perceived impurity or pollution associated with their occupations, along with physical proximity to ashraf castes during services. this hierarchical arrangement mirrors practices observed in christianity. the discrimination against lower-caste muslim converts has given rise to a distinct social group within muslim society known as dalit muslims. a comparable scenario unfolded within the contexts of sikhism and buddhism, wherein the emergence of caste divisions gave rise to distinct groups known as mazhabi sikhs and dalit buddhists. despite sikh doctrine’s rejection of caste, caste divisions persist in social practices.11 within sikhism, the dalit sikhs are bifurcated into two categories: mazhbis 10in northern india, the term ‘zat,’ equivalent to the hindu ‘jati’ or caste system, is used to denote caste. the ashrafs and non-ashrafs are collectively referred to as ‘oonchi zat’ (high caste) and ‘neechi zat’ (low caste) respectively. interactions between these two groups are governed by established patron-client relationships within the jajmani system. the patrons, belonging to the high caste, are known as jajmanis, while the clients, comprising various occupational castes of the low castes, are referred to as kamin. the kamins, in a hereditary relationship with the dominant ashraf lineage, provide specialized services to them for customary remuneration. they receive housing sites and land leases for cultivation from their jajmans. for more, bahauddin, k.m., kerala muslims: the long struggle, kottyam: sahitya pravarthaka co-op society, 1992; robinson, rowena and clarke, sathianathan, (ed.) religious conversions in india: modes, motivations and meaning, nd: oup, 2003; alam, anwar, ‘democratisation of indian muslims’, economic and political weekly, vol. 38, no. 46, november 15, p. 4881, 2003; bhatty, zarina, ‘social stratification among muslims in india’, in m n srinivas (ed.) caste: its twentieth century avatar, new delhi: penguin, 1996. 11punjab’s censuses in 1881 and 1921 listed over 25 castes within the sikh community, encompassing jats, khatris, aroras, ramgarhias, and others. dalit sikhs are divided into two segments: mazhbis (rangretas) and ramdasias (ravidasias). mazhbis, formerly chuhras (sweepers), reside mainly in the majha sub-region and are noted for their potential as soldiers. rangretas are a subset of mazhbis. ramdasias and ravidasias are chamars who converted to sikhism, with ramdasias primarily engaged in weaving and ravidasias in leatherwork. for more, marenco, ethene k., the transformation of sikh society, portland: haip press1974; saberwal, satish, ‘receding pollution: intercaste relations in urban punjab,’ sociological bulletin, new delhi, vol. 22, no. 3, september 1973; kaur, ravinder, ‘jat sikhs: a question of identity,’ contributions to indian sociology, new delhi, vol. 20, no. 2, 1986; verma, archana b., the making of little punjab in canada: patterns of migration , new delhi: sage, 2000; ibbetson, sir denzil, punjab castes, punjab: language department, 1883, rpt. 1970; juergensmeyer, mark, religion as a social vision, the movement against untouchability in 20th century punjab, berkeley: university of california press, 1981; juergensmeyer, mark, in search of a utopian society: situating ‘dalit’ conversions in contemporary india 301 or rangretas, traditionally engaged in scavenging and cleaning, and ramdasias and ravidasias, chamars who converted to sikhism (puri 2004). notwithstanding their rigorous adherence to sikh precepts, these groups are confronted with social isolation, being excluded from religious ceremonies and maintaining a hereditary stigma. dalit sikhs, despite converting to sikhism, grapple with enduring hierarchies and disparities that undermine the overarching principle of caste equality advocated by sikh teachings. in each of these instances, a dissonance becomes evident between the professed doctrines extolling egalitarianism and the tangible realities faced by marginalized factions, particularly dalits or those relegated to lower castes, who remain ensnared in cycles of marginalization, exclusion, and disparate treatment within their respective religious enclaves. these religious contexts unveil an intricate interplay between theological teachings and social conduct. while religious doctrines may ardently endorse notions of parity and denounce discriminatory practices, the persistence of historical and cultural influences has engendered the perpetuation of caste-derived hierarchies and exclusionary behaviors. the ordeals encountered by dalits within these religious settings accentuate the enduring complexities inherent in translating theological precepts into substantive societal transformation. the emergence of ‘ghar wapasi’ poses an additional obstacle to the nascent realm of utopia. initiated by hindu revivalist organizations, spearheaded by arya samaj under the guidance of dayanand saraswati during the nineteenth century, this movement laid the groundwork for reabsorbing converted christians and muslims into the hindu fold through the establishment of the shuddhi sabha, or purification council (vandevelde 2011). the impetus gained momentum in the early twentieth century, propelled by swami shradhananda’s leadership in orchestrating the ‘ghar wapasi’ or homecoming initiatives, particularly evident in the united province where conversions of muslims took place (gupta 1998). in the late 1990s, the shuddhi movement experienced renewed vigour, with hindu organizations embarking on the conversion and reconversion of dalits and tribal communities under the banner of ‘ghar wapasi’ (katju 2015). this process aimed to reclaim dalits who had previously converted to christianity and islam, bringing them back into the fold of hinduism. ‘ghar wapasi’ not only impedes dalit conversions to christianity and islam but also augments the demographic composition of hindus. by reasserting the presence of formerly converted hindus, particularly dalits, during census enumerations, this phenomenon underscores the potential numerical strength of the hindu population. consequently, this development poses a challenge to the conceptual framework envisioned by dalits through the avenue of dalit conversions, as the ‘ghar wapasi’ movement undermines the creation of a new utopian paradigm. despite these dynamics, it remains noteworthy that a substantial number of dalits continue to convert to buddhism, christianity, and islam each year. notably, despande and bapna’s report from 2008 does not reveal significant disparities between dalit hindus and those who religion rebels in the punjab: the social vision of untouchables, delhi: ajanta pub. 1988; ram, r., internal caste cleavages among dalits in punjab, economic and political weekly, vol. 52, issue no. 3, 21 jan., 2017, pp. 54–57. 302 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 have converted to christianity, islam, buddhism, and sikhism, particularly concerning socioeconomic indicators. however, it is important to acknowledge that conversion, as explored in previous discussions, extends beyond mere pursuit of material wellbeing, encapsulating profound psychological and spiritual implications. conclusion religious conversion holds a significant place in the dalit struggle for liberation and the pursuit of a casteless utopia. by embracing alternative religious identities, dalits challenge the hierarchical structures of the caste system and envision a society founded on principles of equality and justice. the process of conversion empowers dalits, enabling them to reclaim their agency and engage in socio-religious transformations aimed at dismantling caste-based discrimination. as dalits continue to assert their rights and pursue their vision of utopia, religious conversion remains a crucial tool for their empowerment and emancipation. the phenomenon of dalit conversions in india presents a compelling narrative of agency, resilience, and aspiration for a better social order. extensive scholarly exploration reveals that conversions were not merely a response to caste-based oppression but represented a dynamic process of identity transformation. the multifaceted motivations behind conversions, ranging from seeking liberation to challenging social presumptions and pursuing desired attributes, highlight the complexity of the phenomenon. dalits actively engaged in the conversion process, shaping their identities by embracing alternative faiths as a means of breaking free from discrimination and seeking autonomy. the bhakti movement and the emergence of buddhism further exemplify the efforts to challenge social hierarchies and promote egalitarianism. the quest for a utopian society lies at the heart of dalit conversions, providing them with a sense of equality, liberty, and social dignity. the article emphasizes that dalit conversions should not be seen merely as a shift from one religion to another, but as a journey of acquiring a new social identity and envisioning a transformative world. the motivations and aspirations behind these conversions reflect the deeply ingrained desire for a just society, free from the shackles of caste-based discrimination. to understand the complex nature of dalit conversions, it is essential to adopt a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses historical, sociological, psychological, and religious perspectives. such comprehensive analysis can shed light on the intricate interplay of individual agency and broader societal forces that drive the process of conversion. in conclusion, the phenomenon of dalit conversions in india is a testament to the resilience of a marginalized community striving for social justice and dignity. by embracing alternative religious identities, dalits assert their agency and actively shape their destinies. the transformative nature of conversions challenges traditional paradigms and emphasizes the multifaceted motivations behind this significant social phenomenon. understanding the dynamics of dalit conversions can pave the way for a more inclusive and egalitarian society, where individuals are empowered to transcend the barriers of ascribed identities and pursue the path of self-determination. in search of a utopian society: situating ‘dalit’ conversions in contemporary india 303 references alam, a. 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(1999). religion and dalit liberation: an examination of perspectives. new delhi: manohar publications. zainuddin (2003). islam, social stratification and the empowerment of muslim obcs. economic and political weekly, vol. 38, issue no. 46, 15-21 november, pp. 4898-4901 © 2022 rajesh raushan, et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 345–364 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.450 caste and socioeconomic inequality in child health and nutrition in india: evidences from national family health survey rajesh raushan1, sanghmitra s. acharya,2 and mukesh ravi raushan31 abstract this study is on caste inequality in child health outcomes: mortality, malnutrition and anaemia for the year 1998/99 to year 2019/21 and examines the association of socio-economic factors with outcomes. disparity ratio (dr) and concentration index (ci) are computed to examine inequality in outcomes. the association of socio-economic factors was modelled using logit regression. the study finds marginalised group were more likely to have poor health outcomes. the disparity ratio found increased among sc and st compared to others during 1998-99 and 2019-21. the value of the concentration index was found high on u5mr among sc and st. among sc and st, the child health outcome greatly varies for poorest and richest. odds ratio is 40-60 per cent higher for sc and st compared to children belonging to others. on socio-economic factors; land ownership and wealth status contribute significantly but house ownership not so. caste-based inequality is still impacting health and nutrition of children in the country. the more focused inclusive policy and clustering of marginalised groups at regional level can be helpful in improving health and nutrition of marginalised children concentrated in different regions with equity lens to push the sdg goals. keywords caste, land, mortality, malnutrition, sc/st, ses 1assistant professor, indian institute of dalit studies (iids), new delhi, india email: rajesh.rajiips@gmail.com 2professor, centre of social medicine and community health, jawaharlal nehru university (jnu), new delhi, india 3assistant professor, international institute of health management research (iihmr), new delhi, india 346 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 introduction inequities in health constitute one of the main challenges for public health globally. globally, socioeconomic status (ses) or social position as measured by social determinants; such as education, income or occupations having association with a wide range of health indicators (braveman & gottlieb, 2014; darin mattsson et al., 2017; feinstein, 1993; wilkinson, 2002; williams, 1990). in the indian context, socioeconomic status is a reflection of social stratification manifested through the caste system (mishra, 2006) and caste has been considered broadly as a proxy for socio-economic status and poverty (borooah, 2012; childers & chiou, 2016; kulkarni et al., 2020; subramanian, et al., 2006). in india, within the axis of socioeconomic and cultural dimensions, ethnicity is studied widely through social/caste groups, which play a significant role in shaping health outcomes (acharya, 2013; baru et al., 2010; bora et al., 2019; borooah, 2010; nayar, 2007; raushan, 2020; raushan & mutharayappa, 2014; raushan & prasad, 2017). poor social and economic status of those castes lower on the caste hierarchy is bound to have an influential effect on health (dommaraju et al., 2008; kulkarni et al., 2020; mohanty, 2011; thorat & madheswaran, 2018). it also causes depletion to the developmental aspects of the country’s health policy. caste-based inequalities in health have two broader perspectives: first, castebased social and economic deprivations regulate health outcomes of different castes like sc/st and place them at the bottom of the caste ladder and others caste on the top. scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and in some cases the other backward classes are considered as poor and socially disadvantaged groups (acharya, 2013; nayar, 2007; raushan, 2020; raushan & acharya, 2018; thorat & neuman, 2012). second, disadvantage and discrimination endured by the low and poor caste keep them away from the mainstream and dissuades them from availing health and healthcare facilities and impedes their responses to health and healthcare ultimately leading to poor health outcomes (acharya, 2013; baru et al., 2010; borooah, 2010; raushan, 2020; raushan & acharya, 2018). most of previous studies have divided caste groups into sc/st and non-sc/st except few which considered each social group as a separate group (raushan & acharya, 2018; raushan & mutharayappa, 2014; subramanian, et al., 2006). importantly there are emerging trends of caste-based studies on health outcomes getting noticed (bora et al., 2019; prasad & raushan, 2020). sc and st are not the homogenous groups and have their own cultural traits (although within the group there is heterogeneity) but the case may be the same for obc and forward caste. even within a group like st, which is located in central india may be different from st of north-east, west or south india which needs separate investigation considering a different approach to generate policy-level evidence. caste and socioeconomic inequality in child health and nutrition in india 347 improvement in child health is a key indicator on progress towards the third goal of the united nations’ sustainable development goals: a universal guarantee of a healthy life and well-being at all ages. among them; mortality, malnutrition and anaemia are the key indicators. mortality as a negative outcome has been used as an indicator to measure the status of child health and also the overall health status of the country. the association between caste and child mortality is well documented across literature (bora et al., 2019; deshpande, 2002; mohindra et al., 2006; nguyen et al., 2013; ram et al., 2016; raushan et al., 2016; sahu et al., 2015; subramanian, et al., 2006; vikanes et al., 2010). studies discuss malnutrition at early ages leads to poor child growth and development (walker et al., 2005) on the one hand and a higher incidence of morbidities and mortalities on the other hand (walker et al., 2007). malnutrition is responsible for nearly half of all deaths among children under five years, and together with poor diets, is a major driver of the global burden of disease. at least 57 countries are experiencing serious effects of both under nutrition, including stunting and anaemia, and adult overweight and obesity (haddad et al., 2015). anaemia in young children is a serious concern because it can result in impaired cognitive performance, low behavioural and motor development, coordination, language development, and scholastic achievement, as well as increased morbidity from infectious diseases. iron deficiency anaemia used to be regarded as one of the ‘top ten risk factors’ for death (dubey et al., 1994). during the first decade of twentyfirst century, india was the largest contributor to child anaemia among developing countries (pasricha et al., 2010). several studies have discussed that socio-economic status of a household is one of the factors responsible for high mortality, malnutrition and anaemia among children. studies have found that caste differences in infant and child mortality are substantially reduced when parental socio-economic characteristics are held constant (ram et al., 2016). dommaraju et al. (2008) has found a complex relationship between caste and child mortality and postulated that although there are inter-caste inequality but it does not mean that there are no differences within the lower caste groups and those differences can be explained by the disparity in economic positions occupied by the group (dommaraju et al., 2008). household income, poverty, and mother’s education are the strongest factors that influence child nutrition in developing countries (glewwe, 1999). association of caste and child health inequality has been found significant in many studies (borooah, 2004; nayar, 2007; prasad & raushan, 2020; ram et al., 2016; saikia et al., 2019; subramanian, et al., 2006) and require further investigation with a new approach. previous studies have provided ample evidences of poor outcome on many health and healthcare indicators among sc/st than the rest (nayar, 2007; prasad & raushan, 2020) but the progress and current scenario of child health inequality along caste and socio-economic lines is missing. hence, this study is framed 348 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 to examine the inequality in child health and malnutrition and its linkage with socioeconomic factors that alter child health in the country. it is important for policy drive that includes the development and wellbeing of every individual as persisting disparity and inequality have remained issues of concern in the policy domain. data and methods the data used in the study is the latest available indian version of demographic and health survey data i.e., national family health survey (nfhs)-5 collected during 2019/21. however, the previous three rounds of nfhs-2: 1998/99, nfhs-3: 2005/06 and nfhs-4: 2015/16 is also used in the study. internationally, nfhs is demographic health survey (dhs) version for india; a large-scale cross-sectional survey that provides estimates from demographic and health parameters at national and state levels. however, for the first time, nfhs-4 had provided estimates at the district level for some of the selected demographic, health and healthcare indicators. nfhs-5 also adopted a two-stage sample design. details of the sample size, design, and sample weight can be obtained from the nfhs reports (iips & icf, 2022). nfhs-5 collected data from a total of 6,36,699 households. the study is based on health, nutrition and anaemia among the children born in the last five years at the time of the survey during 2019/21. in nfhs-5, there were a total of 2,32,920 children under five years of age. of those; 47,848 are from sc; 47,118 from st; 89,093 from obc; 36,573 from others and the remaining 12,228 either don’t know their caste identity or information is missing. hence, the caste group specific analysis is restricted to 2,20,632 children for this specific study. outcome variables the outcome variables are child health and nutrition indicators. globally, mortality is used to evaluate progress on health status whereas stunting, underweight and anaemia are considered to evaluate the nutritional status of children. on nutrition; stunting reflects the inability to receive adequate nutrition over a long period of time and is also marked by recurrent and chronic illness. underweight is a composite index of height-for-age and weight-for-height. it takes into account both acute and chronic malnutrition. iron deficiency is one of the leading causes of disability in developing as well as developed countries , well known as anaemia. for the purpose; on mortality-neonatal mortality rate (nmr), infant mortality rate (imr) and under five mortality rate (u5mr) is considered. on nutrition; underweight, stunting and anaemia is considered. mortality rate is calculated per 1000 live births whereas malnutrition is calculated on proportion of children having specific kind of caste and socioeconomic inequality in child health and nutrition in india 349 malnutrition. as per the world health organisation, recommended cut off points of less than minus two standard deviations is considered for underweight and stunting (who, 2006). for anaemia, the hb level below 11 g/dl is considered as anaemic (iips & icf, 2022). exposure variables the independent variable is caste groupsscheduled caste (sc), scheduled tribe (st), other backward classes (obc) and others, as per govt. of india classification of caste into four broader social or caste groups. the scheduled caste (sc) and scheduled tribe (st) are among the most disadvantaged caste groups having poor to poorest socio-economic development. the obc are considered low in the traditional caste hierarchy. whereas others is the caste category which have higher social status and are well-off on socio-economic development (raushan, 2020). indicators pertaining to economic status and educational level are considered for the reflection of socio-economic status. for economic status; own land, housing and wealth index is considered. mother’s education is considered for level of education variable. statistical analysis univariate, bivariate and multivariate methods is performed to find the factors associated with caste and socio-economic inequality in child health. progress on health outcomes and disparity ratio (dr) across the social groups is calculated for the selected variables at four different time points: 1998/99, 2005/06, 2015/16 and 2019/21 considering the last two decades. state level map provides areas of high mortality at regional level for u5mr among sc and st. however, some states and uts have been dropped where sample children of ages below five years born in the last five years were less than 30 for a specific caste group. based on the latest round of data, a total of 20 interaction groups considering caste and wealth index is constructed to understand socio-economic differentials in child health indicators. further, income-based inequality for sc and st children are measured on concentration index (ci) and concentration curve (cc). finally, logit regression is performed, first only with social groups and then independently for land, housing and wealth index to understand the differential risk of each factor on poor health outcomes. finally full model is employed considering gender and mother’s education, other than indicators of economic status as discussed previously. the results of logit regression are presented through odds ratio at five per cent significance level. somewhere, 10 per cent significance level is considered and appropriate justification is provided for the same. 350 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 concentration index income-related inequality in child health and malnutrition using wealth score as the economic indicator is calculated using concentration index (ci) and the concentration curve (cc), and a binary outcome variables. in the study, wealth score is used as a proxy of income widely used in health studies across the world. the concentration index is defined as twice the area between the concentration curve and the line of equality. the concentration curve is obtained by plotting the cumulative proportion of outcomes against the cumulative proportion of the population ranked by the economic indicator (world bank, 2008). it can be written as, ci= 2*covw (yi, ri) where, yi = outcome of the ‘i’th individual ri = fractional rank of the ‘i’th individual (for weighted data) on hh economic status ‘covw’ = weighted covariance. the value of ci quantifies the extent of inequality and varies between +1 and -1. a negative value indicates concentration of specific outcome among poorest/poor and the curve lies above the line of equality. in case of positive value, the opposite happens. the larger the absolute value, the greater the inequalities. index value zero reveals absence of socio-economic inequality. logistic regression the association of socio-economic factors are regressed on binary logistic regression. logit regression models relationship between a binary response variable (p) and one or more explanatory/predictor variables (x). the model is like as follows: logit (p) = log {p/ (1-p)} = α +βx; where, x is explanatory or predictor variable of p. or, logit (p) = b0 +b1x1 +b2x2 +--------+ bkxk or, log (p/1-p) = b0 +b1x1 +b2x2 +--------+ bkxk. where, x1, x2, ------xk are predictor variables and (p/1-p) is the odds. odds ratio is used to compare the odds for two groups, in the same way that the relative risk is used to compare risks (westergren et al, 2001) and it can be understood as odd ratio = odd ratio = p/(1−p)q/(1−q) where, p and (1-p) is the probability of occurring and not occurring for the first group, and q and(1-q) is the probability of occurring and not occurring for the second group. caste and socioeconomic inequality in child health and nutrition in india 351 results of the study progress on child health outcomes in india, progress on child health outcomes have been widely accepted and are the reflection of various programme and policy interventions during the last two decades. looking at indicators like mortality, malnutrition and anaemia; continuous decline has been observed. however in case of anaemia, an increase is also observed as reflected from 2019/21 nfhs data. across caste lines, continuous decline except for anaemia has also been observed for all the groups between 1998/99 and 2019/21. however, marginalised caste groups like scheduled caste and scheduled tribe continue to have the highest rates of mortality and malnutrition. looking at mortality, sc children have the highest neonatal death per 1000 live births across all the groups. however; on malnutrition and anaemia, the highest prevalence is found among st children throughout the study period. it is also observed that there is no much difference between sc and st children on the said indicators. like in 1998/99; nmr, imr and u5mr is found 53/1000, 83/1000 and 119/1000 among sc whereas it was 53/1000, 84/1000 and 127/1000 among st children. in 2019/21 it is declined to 29, 41 and 49 per 1000 for sc to 29, 42 and 50 per 1000 for st children respectively. same is found for malnutrition and anaemia is pervasive from figure 1 and appendix table 1. caste disparity in health outcomes the persisting disparity and differentials in child health of marginalised and better-off groups have remained issues of concern in the policy domain. here, disparity ratio (dr) has calculated for sc and st children at four time points spanning over two decades is presented in table 1. on all the indicators under study; the dr is found high for sc and st at all four time points, with exception for nmr among st during 2005/06. another interesting point is that the disparity ratio on all the three indicators of mortality has increased over the period for both sc and st compared to others. among sc for nmr, the dr is increased from 1.31 in 1998/99 to 1.42 in 2005/06 and 1.50 in 2019/21. for imr and u5mr it is found increased from 1.34 to 1.41 to 1.45; and 1.44 to 1.45 to 1.49 respectively. among st; dr for nmr also found increased from 1.31 to 1.35 to 1.48; for imr it increased from 1.36 to 1.38 to 1.49; and for u5mr, it remained 1.53 in 1998/99 and found same as in 2019/21. on underweight and stunting, the dr is found highest for sc and st to others in 2005/06. however over the last two decades, dr has been found either to decline or remained same as of the previous round. the same has been found in the case of anaemia. it is noted that the dr for anaemia is found almost same in 2019/21 compared to 1998/99 for both the sc and st to others children. but, we can’t clearly pose here that the pattern of disparity ratio is same, either for sc or st and consistent on all the indicators under the study. even dr for indicators of malnutrition and anaemia among st to others is found more than sc to others over the study period. 352 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 98/99 05/06 15/16 19/21 98/99 05/06 15/16 19/21 98/99 05/06 15/16 19/21 98/99 05/06 15/16 19/21 sc st obc others nmr imr u5mr underweight stunting anaemia figure 1: progress on mortality, malnutrition and anaemia among children: 1998/99 to 2019/21 source: calculated by authors using various round of nfhs data table 1: disparity ratio in outcomes among sc and st in india (with respect to others): 1998/99 – 2019/21 nmr imr u5mr uwt stn ane sc to others 1998/99 1.31 1.34 1.44 1.30 1.27 1.07 2005/06 1.14 1.07 1.07 1.41 1.32 1.13 2015/16 1.42 1.41 1.45 1.34 1.39 1.13 2019/21 1.50 1.45 1.49 1.30 1.30 1.06 st to others 1998/99 1.31 1.36 1.53 1.36 1.30 1.10 2005/06 0.98 1.00 1.16 1.62 1.32 1.20 2015/16 1.35 1.38 1.49 1.55 1.42 1.17 2019/21 1.48 1.49 1.53 1.48 1.37 1.09 uwt: underweight, stn: stunting, ane: anaemia source: calculated by authors using various round of nfhs data socio-economic inequality in health outcomes inequality in health outcomes constitutes a major policy challenge and a widely used measure is socioeconomic status (ses) measured usually on social determinants like education, caste, income or occupation. as in the case of india, caste and economic status plays a major role in shaping the outcomes, but how it contributes within specific caste group is less studied. hence, how economic status makes a difference caste and socioeconomic inequality in child health and nutrition in india 353 within the sc and st groups, are central to this section. with the increasing economic status irrespective of the caste group affiliation, the health outcomes improve. like among sc; the nmr is almost 2.5 times lower among richest compared to the poorest, it was 2.5 times and 2.8 times low for imr and u5mr. the pattern is found consistent among st also with 2-2.5 times lower among richest than the poorest. the same has been found in the case of underweight and stunting among both sc and st as close to two times differences between the poorest and richest but in case of anaemia, it is found 1.1 times less among sc and 1.2 times less among st. details on prevalence are provided in table 2. table 2: socio-economic inequality among sc and st on health and nutrition in india, 2019/21 per 1000 per cent nmr imr u5mr uwt stn ane sc poorest sc 39 52 70 44 49 73 poorer sc 31 44 54 37 41 71 middle sc 23 36 43 31 37 70 rich sc 24 32 40 27 31 67 richest sc 16 21 25 21 26 67 st poorest st 32 46 56 45 45 77 poorer st 30 42 53 38 40 73 middle st 22 35 40 34 36 73 rich st 18 24 27 27 29 67 richest st 15 22 22 25 21 63 india 25 35 43 32 36 68 source: calculated by authors using fifth round of nfhs data another inequality measure, concentration index (ci), is also widely used and pervasive to reflect the concentration of inequality. ci is calculated for sc and st on selected indicators and provided in table 3. the convention is that the index value takes a negative sign when curve lies above the line of equality, indicating disproportionate concentration of the health variable among the poor. here, for all the indicators, the generated sign is negative for sc and st reflects the concentration of high mortality, malnutrition and anaemia among the poor children. among the sc, the inequality is higher for under five mortality, lower for underweight and stunting to lowest for anaemic children. among st, the inequality is observed high for under five mortality to lower for underweight and anaemia and lowest for stunting. based on these two groups, it can be added here that that the inequality is high among sc children compared to the st children (figure 2). 354 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 scheduled caste u5mr underweight anaemia scheduled tribe u5mr underweight anaemia figure 2: concentration curve for mortality, malnutrition and anaemia among sc and st children in india, 2019/21 source: calculated by authors using fifth round of nfhs data table 3: concentration index for mortality, malnutrition and anaemia: 2019-21 u5mr underweight stunting anaemia ci std. error ci std. error ci std. error ci std. error sc -0.139 0.012 -0.079 0.022 -0.052 0.015 -0.018 0.002 st -0.092 0.012 -0.074 0.019 -0.003 0.013 -0.022 0.002 india -0.172 0.006 -0.092 0.011 -0.045 0.007 -0.029 0.001 source: calculated by authors using fifth round of nfhs data results of logistic regression analysis in this section; results of u5mr, underweight, stunting and anaemia based on logit regression analysis is presented. the risk of poor health and nutrition is presented using odds ratio at five per cent significance level. however, for some economic variable caste and socioeconomic inequality in child health and nutrition in india 355 especially for land, significance level is considered at 10 per cent. this can be found in table 4-6. the risk of poor health and malnutrition across caste groups is presented in table 4. the relative risk is found highest among sc followed by st with reference to others caste children. for instance, sc and st children carry 51 per cent (or: 1.51, p<0.001) and 30 per cent (or: 1.30, p<0.001) more risk of under five mortality than the others caste children. in case of underweight and stunting it is 65 per cent and 48 per cent more among sc (p<0.001), and 61 per cent and 58 per cent more among st children with reference to others caste children. significantly, there were 25 per cent more anaemic children among sc. although, there was 3 per cent less anaemic children among st compared to others caste children but not extracted significant. table 4: odds ratio of child health and nutrition in india, 2019/21 u5mr n=220632 underweight n=200319 stunting n=199760 anaemia n=173919 or p>z or p>z or p>z or p>z social groups (ref=others) sc 1.51 0.000 1.65 0.000 1.61 0.000 1.25 0.000 st 1.30 0.000 1.48 0.000 1.58 0.000 0.97 0.121 obc 1.26 0.000 1.47 0.000 1.37 0.000 1.07 0.000 cons 0.03 0.000 0.32 0.000 0.42 0.000 1.91 0.000 source: modelled using fifth round of nfhs unit level data table 5: odds ratio of child health and nutrition regressed on own land, housing and wealth index in india, 2019/21 (controlled on social group) u5mr underweight stunting anaemia or p>z or p>z or p>z or p>z land and house (ref: no) own land in rural 0.81 0.001 1.05 0.079 1.05 0.089 1.02 0.582 own house in urban 1.24 0.160 1.04 0.518 1.05 0.380 1.02 0.718 own land and housetotal 0.90 0.052 1.07 0.007 1.06 0.013 0.98 0.383 house but no land in urban 1.42 0.092 0.93 0.437 1.03 0.691 0.87 0.078 house but no land total 0.99 0.918 1.01 0.849 1.03 0.456 0.83 0.000 wealth index (ref: poorest) poorer 0.81 0.000 0.71 0.000 0.77 0.000 0.84 0.000 middle 0.63 0.000 0.58 0.000 0.63 0.000 0.81 0.000 richer 0.55 0.000 0.46 0.000 0.49 0.000 0.73 0.000 richest 0.38 0.000 0.34 0.000 0.38 0.000 0.68 0.000 source: modelled using fifth round of nfhs unit level data 356 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 in table 5, results of logit regression is presented for the economic variables modelled on different dependent variables. the odds ratio is presented for such economic variables like own land, own house and wealth index. it can be understand that each variable is controlled independently in separate model for the respective dependent variable. for land and housing, the mix picture emerged. in rural areas having own land reduces the risk of under five mortality by 19 per cent (p<0.001) whereas on malnutrition and anaemia it increases the risk by 2-5 per cent at 10 per cent significance level. whereas having own house in urban areas although contributes high in case of under five mortality and revealed 25 per cent more death but found insignificant. for other dependent variables also, own house in urban areas does not have much impact in altering the health and nutritional status. there is the possibility that quality of housing in urban areas may trigger the impact in the opposite direction. when considering own land and housing, the risk of under five mortality is found 10 per cent less but for rest of the variables it appears as it was expected. considering own house but no land in urban areas increases mortality by 42 per cent (p<0.10) but found 13 per cent less on anaemia at 10 per cent significance level. however, those having own house but no land irrespective of rural or urban, having 17 per cent reduces risk of anaemia significantly (or: 0.83, p<0.001). on wealth index; with increase in wealth status; the level of mortality, malnutrition and anaemia reduces. it is found highly significant across all wealth categories on all the dependent variables (table 5). table 6: results of logit regression on child health, malnutrition and anaemia in india, 2019/21 death underweight stunting anaemia n=33381 n=30617 n=30518 n=26587 or p>z or p>z or p>z or p>z social group (ref=others) sc 1.14 0.183 1.35 0.000 1.33 0.000 1.18 0.000 st 0.93 0.509 1.05 0.258 1.08 0.086 0.83 0.000 obc 1.10 0.317 1.29 0.000 1.20 0.000 0.97 0.492 sex (ref=male) female 0.84 0.003 0.89 0.000 0.87 0.000 0.98 0.401 own land (ref=no) yes 0.85 0.077 1.04 0.350 0.99 0.879 1.18 0.000 own house (ref=no) yes 0.98 0.808 1.00 0.955 1.04 0.376 0.86 0.000 wealth index (ref=poorest) poorer 0.85 0.025 0.72 0.000 0.81 0.000 0.88 0.002 middle 0.63 0.000 0.66 0.000 0.69 0.000 0.86 0.000 richer 0.52 0.000 0.53 0.000 0.57 0.000 0.81 0.000 richest 0.44 0.000 0.43 0.000 0.49 0.000 0.76 0.000 caste and socioeconomic inequality in child health and nutrition in india 357 death underweight stunting anaemia n=33381 n=30617 n=30518 n=26587 or p>z or p>z or p>z or p>z mother’s education (ref=no education) primary 0.77 0.005 0.85 0.000 0.90 0.013 0.90 0.020 secondary 0.76 0.000 0.76 0.000 0.76 0.000 0.80 0.000 higher 0.48 0.000 0.55 0.000 0.58 0.000 0.66 0.000 constant 0.08 0.000 0.72 0.000 0.91 0.038 2.88 0.000 source: modelled using fifth round of nfhs unit level data table 6 presents full model on selected dependent variables controlled on variables of economic status and mother’s education level. the socio-economic factors, especially wealth index and mother’s education contribute significantly among caste groups on all the selected dependent variables but not the land and housing for all dependent variables. executing the anaemia level differences along different levels of wealth and education are found large. like, on under five mortality richest households having 56 per cent less deaths with reference to poorest households (p<0.001). this has been found to be 57 per cent, 51 per cent and 24 per cent in case of underweight, stunting and anaemia. on gender, females have significant advantage of 11-16 per cent less mortality and malnutrition. own land is found significant only on under five mortality (or: 0.85, p<0.10) and anaemia (or: 1.18, p<0.001). whereas own housing is not found significant excluding for anaemia. here, it can be added here that along the different indicators of economic status, wealth index seems robust indicator reflecting the significant factors across all the dependent variables like mortality, malnutrition and anaemia in this study. however, more studies pertaining to land and housing can strengthen the caste based inequality in health and malnutrition in india. discussion and conclusion the country development on human and socio economic indicators especially on the health front is well recognised in terms of declining mortality and increasing longevity. the global concerns for equality and equity as manifested since alma ata declaration to sustainable development goals (sdgs) have pushed it further. despite the positive changes, there have been noticeable differences on health outcomes other than access to healthcare services along caste and socio-economic line as evident from the studies (acharya, 2013, 2018; baru et al., 2010; bora et al., 2019; v. borooah, 2010; childers & chiou, 2016; kulkarni et al., 2020; nayar, 2007; prasad & raushan, 2020; raushan, 2020; raushan & acharya, 2018; raushan & mutharayappa, 2014; raushan & prasad, 2017; subramanian, et al., 2006). this paper examined progress on child health indicators among different caste groups. magnitude of disparity, socio-economic inequality to differential effect of socio358 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 economic factors such as land, house ownership and wealth index including education remained major concerns of this paper. it is the first of its kind of study that included a wide range of child health indicators and examined along the caste lines. novelty of the study is that the disparity ratio for sc and st is calculated at different points of time over 1998/99 to 2019/21 for the first time and brings out the regional level concentration of u5mr among sc and st at the state level (map 1). using the latest data, economic inequality is measured for each caste group. economic factorsown land, own house and wealth index is modelled independently with caste group and extracted the differential effects of each factor on child health and malnutrition. map1: state level disparity in under five mortality (u5mr) among sc and st in india, 2019/21 (per 1000) note: nas: not adequate sample to calculate u5mr the findings of the study are robust and revealed that even after consistent efforts towards pushing to equity through national level policies, programme and intervention; marginalised groups are bearing the increased burden of child mortality, malnutrition and anaemia during the study period1998/99 and 2019/21. the previous studies had come up with more or less similar findings but those studies were cross sectional in the nature (acharya, 2018; bora et al., 2019; childers & chiou, 2016; deshpande, 2002; prasad & raushan, 2020; raushan, 2020; raushan & acharya, 2018). although there is a continuous decline except for anaemia evident across the caste group, sc and st children still have the highest rates of mortality and malnutrition. it is also noted that there is not much difference between sc and st children on those indicators. to deepen the concentration of death among sc and st at regional caste and socioeconomic inequality in child health and nutrition in india 359 level, u5mr is calculated. more or less a high u5mr is found to be similar in states of central and eastern india with some limitations as evident from map 1. the findings are in the line of previous studies and strengthen the findings of the study (saikia et al., 2019). emerging evidences reveal that disparity ratio (dr) seems high for sc and st during 1998/99 to 2019/21. notably, disparity ratio was found increased for nmr, imr and u5mr for both sc and st to others during the period. on underweight and stunting, the dr is found to be highest for sc and st to others in 2005/06. throughout, the dr on malnutrition and anaemia among st appears more than sc. although, dr has found to be either declining or remained similar like as the previous round on malnutrition and anaemia. however, we cannot clearly pose a statement that the pattern of disparity ratio remained consistent for sc or st, needs careful interpretations. as assortment of studies have finds that socioeconomic status (ses) plays a major role in shaping inequality in health outcomes (braveman & gottlieb, 2014; darin mattsson et al., 2017; dommaraju et al., 2008; kulkarni et al., 2020), we constructed socio-economic groups based on caste and wealth index, is an addition. it brought out that with increasing economic status irrespective of caste group, the health status improves. notably within sc and st; poorest than richest are having two to three times high mortality and malnutrition. the inequality based on ci value that was found negative for sc and st on all the selected indicators reflects the concentration of high mortality, malnutrition and anaemia among poor children (glewwe, 1999; nguyen et al., 2013; subramanian, et al., 2006). however, among sc and st, the inequality is high on under five mortality and low on underweight and stunting to lowest for anaemia. even within these two caste groups, inequality seems more among sc compared to the st children. further, different indicators pertaining to economic status like land, housing and wealth index is modelled independently and revealed a mixed picture. in rural areas having own land reduces the risk more for mortality than the malnutrition and anaemia significantly (rammohan & pritchard, 2014; vu et al., 2021). whereas having own house in urban areas does not have a greater impact on turning down mortality and malnutrition. there is the possibility of structure, location and quality of housing in urban areas triggering the impact in opposite direction (thomson et al., 2013). as there is evidence that although marginalised people have own house in urban areas but for most of them it’s just like a shelter and in many cases it cannot be compared with own housing facility of better-off households in urban areas (vaid & evans, 2017; nix et al., 2020). in case of wealth index, with improving levels, the level of mortality, malnutrition and anaemia reduces. it is found highly significant across all the levels for all the dependent variables in the study (braveman& gottlieb, 2014; childers & chiou, 2016; csdh, 2008; darin mattsson et al., 2017; dommaraju et al., 2008; kulkarni et al., 2020; subramanian, et al., 2006) and validating the findings 360 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 of the previous studies. here, it can be added that along the different indicators of economic status; wealth index seems a robust indicator altering mortality, malnutrition and anaemia among children significantly in the study. the study contributes to the persisting disparity and inequality in child health and nutrition in india across caste lines with a high burden among sc and st even though progress is emancipated among such groups. along the socio-economic inequality among caste groups in india, the finding of the study made significant contributions and strengthen the previous studies (acharya, 2013, 2018; baru et al., 2010; bora et al., 2019; borooah, 2010; childers & chiou, 2016; raushan & acharya, 2018; subramanian, et al., 2006). in rural areas, having land pushes one to positive change, but having housing in urban areas needs deeper investigation with structure, location and quality of housing and linkages with health outcomes. the effect of education is also found significant across all the indicators under the study and consistent with other studies (csdh, 2008). however, more studies pertaining to land and housing can strengthen the caste-based inequality in child health and malnutrition in india. finally, caste-based inequality is the reality of india impacting the health of the people. an inclusive policy needs to be more focused at regional levels where such marginalised groups have high concentration and poor outcomes along with poor socio-economic development (raushan & acharya, 2018). references acharya, s.s. 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(1990). socioeconomic differentials in health: a review and redirection. social psychology quarterly, pp. 81–99. 364 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 appendix table table a1: progress on mortality decline between 1998/99 to 2019/21, india caste group year nmr imr u5mr uwt stn ane sc 1998/99 53.2 83 119.3 53.5 51.7 78 2005/06 46.3 66.4 88.1 48 54 72 2015/16 33 45.2 55.9 39 43 61 2019/21 29.2 40.7 48.9 35 39 70 st 1998/99 53.3 84.2 126.6 55.9 52.8 80 2005/06 39.9 62.1 95.7 55 54 77 2015/16 31.3 44.4 57.2 45 44 63 2019/21 28.8 41.6 50.3 40 41 72 obc 1998/99 50.8 76 103.1 47.3 44.8 72 2005/06 38.3 56.6 72.8 43 49 70 2015/16 30.5 42.1 50.8 36 38 59 2019/21 24.3 34.1 40.5 31 35 65 others 1998/99 40.7 61.8 82.6 41.1 40.7 73 2005/06 40.7 61.8 82.6 34 41 64 2015/16 23.2 32.1 38.5 29 31 54 2019/21 19.5 28 32.8 27 30 66 source: calculated by authors using various round of nfhs data ****** © 2022 g.c. pal. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 223–244 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.451 being insider-outsider: public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india g.c. pal1 abstract the pivotal role of community level workers in the delivery of public services is well-recognized. but, they often fail to provide equal opportunities to all ‘eligible’ beneficiaries to utilize a variety of public services. although several predisposing household factors are held responsible for inequalities in access to the public services, in recent times, one factor that has been recognised as critical to such unequal access is the ‘exclusionary nature of social relations’ based on social identity embedded in the social life of village community. it is also argued that certain sections of the population are deprived of equal access to public services due to their social identity, which is different from service providers. however, the question remains–whether it is the social identity of users or providers of public services that is critical to unequal access to various services? what will be the extent of utilization of public services when the social identity of both users and providers of the services remain same? do the social dynamics of the community life play any role in the delivery of public services? this essay addresses these questions in the context of delivery of integrated nutrition and healthcare services at the community level under the largest national flagship scheme of integrated child development services (icds). drawing evidence from a larger sample survey of over 4000 household beneficiaries and 200 service providers, the essay sheds light on how the delivery of healthcare services is fraught with social injustice due to dominant socio-cultural norms around social identity despite the values of healthcare centres to cater to the health needs of all sections of society. keywords public policy, social identity, village community, delivery of healthcare services 1director, indian institute of dalit studies, new delhi, india email: gcpal24@gmail.com 224 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 introduction public policy prescribes specific norms and guidelines for the delivery of public services in order to fulfill a set of objectives. functionaries in public institutions are expected to deliver public services in a specific manner, and address the needs of all sections of society. while majority of public institutions function within larger social contexts, there are institutions which operate within local social structures. given that dominant socio-cultural norms, beliefs and practices at a societal level often become salient to influence the thoughts and behaviours of individuals (hogg, 2015), this may have implications for the service providers working in close association with the community in particular. the health sector of india has witnessed significant improvement in public health infrastructure in the forms of availability of public health centres and sub-centres, and community health centres. however, inequities in access to healthcare services continue to persist. despite the expansion of public sector healthcare facilities, socioeconomically disadvantaged groups continue to derive lower benefits from various health services. macro level data based on national level survey validates inter-group inequalities in various health outcomes (iips, 2017). it is often argued that this has much more to do with poor living conditions and lack of access to healthcare facilities (unicef, 2013). they are mainly affected due to inequities in the availability, utilization and affordability of health services (baru et al., 2010). in recognition of the concern of persistence of group inequalities in access to nutrition and healthcare facilities, while the national health policy (nhp) -2017 has a specific focus on most socio-economically vulnerable groups (nhfw, 2017), the national nutrition strategy (nns) prioritizes interventions to address nutrition and healthcare needs of various target groups (mwcd, 2017). evidently, public policy initiatives on nutrition and health include a ‘multi-sectoral strategy’ to strengthen the delivery of the integrated nutrition and health services. in this regard, the role of the national flagship scheme of integrated child development services (icds) is assumed most significant. given that basic health care services are largely provided at public health centres and community health centres with the aim of reaching out to all sections of people, lower access of marginalised communities to healthcare facilities raises questions not only on the functioning of the service delivery system but also the health delivery behaviours of service providers. in the context of village community, one factor that has been recognised as critical to the inequality in access to various public resources and services is the phenomenon of ‘exclusionary nature of social relations’ based on social identity of people. a body of literature around the social identity framework (tajfel, 1982) establishes that in a stratified society, various social identities not only govern the intergroup social relations but also shape the behaviours of individuals towards each other primarily based on social categorization into ‘in-group’ and ‘out-group’ (tajfel and turner, 1986). socio-psychologically, the need to maintain a distinct identity through downward comparison (wills, 1981) serves as a psychological function for the differential behaviours towards each other (hogg, 2015). being insider-outsider: public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india 225 in the indian context, caste has been a prominent social identity category and caste-based discrimination is one of the most complex human rights issues. in line with the social identity framework, the hierarchical structure associated with caste and identification of members with their caste group remains salient to influence individual behaviours significantly. the quest for necessitating caste identity frequently urges individuals to indulge in reproducing the discriminatory rules of the caste system (jaspal, 2011) and this effects the structure of opportunities (hoff and pandey, 2006). the significant role of caste identity in accessing public resources and services, particularly in rural areas has been documented extensively. but, this is largely seen from the perspectives of high and low caste groups in general, with scant and limited focus on the social identity of the service providers in the delivery of public services. in the healthcare system at the community level, the public functionaries like the auxiliary nurse-midwife (anm) and anganwadi workers (aww) form the major proportion of health workers cadre. although, an anm provides health services to women and children in public health sub-centres, she also plays a key role in providing healthcare at the community centres like awc along with aww as per the healthcare needs of the community. while anm provides specific services to women and children, the aww plays an important role in health services like weight monitoring, visiting pregnant women to understand healthcare needs, providing supplementary nutrition, visiting newborn children, referring for health services, and educating adolescent girls about healthcare. these workers, irrespective of their caste identities, are expected to deliver healthcare services in compliance with service delivery norms. however, in the delivery of all nutrition and health services under icds at a community level, the aww plays a vital role in close association with target groups. their performance determines the extent of utilization of these services. the question that this essay explores is: are there any variations in the access to specific healthcare services across caste groups in villages with low caste and high caste aww? following the universalization of icds in 2005, there has been an expansion of the nutritional and health intervention nets. a network of community-based centres, popularly known as anganwadi centres (awc) remains the focal points for delivery of integrated nutrition and health services. although, the operational aspects of awc have been examined over the years, the equity and inclusion aspects in relation to delivery of various nutritional and health services remain a major concern (borooah, 2012; gill, 2012; nac, 2011; pal, 2016). several studies clearly indicate not only poor health status of people from socially-marginalised groups but also lower access to healthcare facilities (acharya, 2013; acharya and pal, 2017; bansod, salve and jungari, 2022; baraik and kulkarni, 2014; baru et al., 2010; borooah, 2010, 2018; george, 2016a, 2018; james, 2016; nayar, 2007; raushan and mamgain, 2021; shah et al., 2006). studies also indicate discriminatory practices in delivery of health services based on social identity (acharya, 2010, 2013; george, 2018; thapa et al., 2021). however, there are studies which indicate unequal access to nutritional and health services delivered under the icds (borooah, 2012; mwcd, 1015; maity, 2016; mittal and meenakshi, 2015; sinha, 2006; swain and kumaran, 2012); besides 226 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 discriminatory and exclusionary practices against certain sections of people based on their group identities (diwakar, 2014; mamgain and diwakar, 2012; mander and kumaran; 2006; pal, 2016, 2021). avoidance of home visits by the community level service providers based on social identities of healthcare seekers is a common practice of exclusion and discrimination (acharya, 2010, 2013; pal, 2016; shah et al., 2006). during delivery of various health services at institutional and household levels, while a few typical discriminatory behaviours of service providers are explicit, many occur in subtle manner. the linkages between social identity and healthcare thus assume significance when we look at the group inequality in health status, deprivation of health facilities by certain groups, and evidence of exclusionary practices during delivery of health services, and consequently unequal access to health services. despite considerable research on inequities in healthcare, a significant knowledge gap exists with regard to the nature of exclusion and discrimination faced by different marginalised groups in accessing nutrition and health services at a community level. the effect of the social identity of the service providers on delivering nutrition and health services under the icds remains a neglected issue. for example, the evidence on various forms of discriminatory practices or behaviours against low caste beneficiaries as a rule is linked to the social identity of the high caste service providers and community members. one of the most dominant views is that the high caste identity of the service providers and their unfair treatment against low caste people has implications for their unequal access to nutritional and healthcare services. but the question that arises is: in villages where the service provider is from a lower caste, will it affect the utilization of healthcare services and health-seeking behaviors of low and high caste groups differentially? in recent times, few studies draw attention towards the social identity of healthcare providers in the context of denial of access to health services. george (2016b) while looking into inclusion in healthcare delivery system using macro level data concludes that denial of access to health services for marginalized groups occurs due to lack of accessibility to health services and the practice of discrimination by various healthcare personnel at public health centres like, doctors, nurses, assistants, anm, etc. however, the argument is made based on macro level data on the social profile of healthcare personnel at public health centres which may not adequately reflect actual discriminatory behaviors. at the interpersonal level, the personnel like doctors and nurses might not have awareness of social identity of care seekers in many cases, to manifest any unfair or exclusionary behaviours. in another study, verma and acharya (2017) examine discrimination in the context of the caste identity of the anm as health service providers from public health centres. it focuses on the experiences and perceptions of beneficiaries in relation to the social identity of the service providers and vice versa. the study indicates how the caste of health service providers and seekers shape their perceptions towards each other, leading to limited social interaction between them and inequity in healthcare services. however, these observations are based on a relatively small sample and case study approach. further, the study has being insider-outsider: public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india 227 a specific focus on service providers like anm who visit villages intermittently and households rarely, and health seekers use to have limited interaction with anm for specific health services delivered mostly at care centres (awc) or in a location away from a low caste locality. this essay draws attention towards some research questions in the context of delivery of and access to healthcare services under the icds at the community level. these include: how do the social identities of the ‘targeted’ beneficiaries and service providers under icds matter in access to healthcare services? do low and high caste households have equal access to healthcare services provided through communitybased centres like awc? are there any differences in access to healthcare services in the villages with low and high caste aww? what challenges do the low caste aww face in delivery of healthcare services in mixed-caste villages? thus, special attention is given on the utilization of various healthcare services delivered by the service providers with different social identities, and understanding the challenges that low caste service providers face in delivering services to diverse social groups. an attempt is also made to understand institutional and household determinants of utilization of healthcare services, and psychosocial implications of differential access to healthcare services, and unfair behaviours of service providers. the essay, thus takes a holistic approach to understanding the complex linkages between the caste identity of care seekers and service providers, and access to healthcare services at a community level given dominant social-cultural norms based on social identities of people. methods and data base this essay is primarily based on community level data collected during 2012–13 through a large sample survey of over 4000 households and 200 service providers (aww) at awc spread across nearly 200 villages in three states. a multi-stage sampling method was used to select mixed caste villages whereas purposive sampling was used to select sample households across social groups as beneficiaries of healthcare services under icds. household data was primarily collected from women because of their overall knowledge about how they utilize services and a limited data from small children of households. further, the service providers under icds interact largely with women and children while delivering various healthcare and nutritional services. data was collected using a household schedule designed specifically for the study purpose. the household data were supplemented by over 200 focus group discussions (fgds) with women from different social groups. service providers’ data primarily included experiences and perspectives of aww in relation to delivery of various services across social groups and challenges that they face during service delivery at a community level. data was collected using an institution interview schedule to document facilities and functional aspects of awc and details about experiences of main functionary (aww). besides, institutional data included observations of normal functioning of awc. thus, data sets included issues 228 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 on the delivery and utilization of various healthcare services, besides other information about household beneficiaries. the analyses based on both quantitative and qualitative data have been structured around the specific research questions, mentioned earlier. key findings the findings discussed in the following sections are related to access to healthcare services across social groups at a community level under the icds scheme, experiences and perspectives of beneficiaries of healthcare services, access to healthcare services in the villages with low caste and high caste aww and challenges that the service providers face during delivery of healthcare services, household and institutional determinants of healthcare services, and psycho-social implications of unequal access to health services. differential access to healthcare services this section addresses the question: what are the intergroup differentials in the access to healthcare services provided by awc at the community level? the differentials examined across social groups (low and high caste) in access to different health services by target groups include children between ages 0–6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers and adolescent girls. as per the icds norms, most health services are to be delivered at household levels. for this, visits of aww to households/hamlets of different social groups remains critical. results indicate that the frequency of visits of aww to households vary across groups with a higher number of aww visits to high caste households. the differentials in home visits would have bearings on access to specific health services. the results however show that low caste households have relatively higher utilization of overall health services as compared with high caste households. (see table 1) with the exception of home visits by the service provider within one week of the birth of a child and growth monitoring of children between 0–3 years of age, low caste households show higher utilization of a majority of services for different target groups. the difference between percentage share of low caste and high caste beneficiaries was found the highest for services like supplementary food during a prior pregnancy (10 per cent), followed by weighing and monitoring the growth of children between 3–6 years (9 per cent), immunization of children between 3–6 years (8.2 per cent), and janani suraksha yojna (jsy) entitlements (5.8 per cent). it was lowest for the service of immunization of children 0–3 years and health-related counseling for women. as per the norms, during pregnancy, women are entitled to supplementary nutrition for six months. although the percentage share of women receiving supplementary nutrition in the form of ‘take home rations’ during pregnancy is conspicuously higher for low caste women (58 per cent) compared with high caste women (48 per cent), a majority of women beneficiaries (86 per cent) receive it for up to two months. however, a higher percentage of high caste women receive it beyond two months or for a higher number of days. for example, while about 13 per cent low caste women receive supplementary nutrition beyond 2 months, the figure for high caste women is about 19 per cent. being insider-outsider: public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india 229 results show that a relatively higher percentage of children between 0–3 years from low caste (80 per cent) are beneficiaries of at least one health service than high caste children (75 per cent). however, it varies for different services like care after birth, immunization, vitamin a supplements, health check-ups and weight monitoring. while the percentage of children between 0–3 years who are beneficiaries of growth monitoring and immunization does not show group difference, a higher percentage of high caste households are beneficiaries of home visits by aww within one week of childbirth, and a higher percentage of low caste households are beneficiaries of vitamin a supplementation. among the healthcare services, the percentage of beneficiaries was considerably higher for immunization and growth monitoring for both age groups of children between 0–3 years and 0–6 years. the fact is that immunization is a programme activity for children and growth monitoring is one of the regular activities. in contrast to no group difference for children between 0–3 years in access to immunization and growth monitoring, a considerably higher percentage of low caste children between 3–6 years have access to these services. the latter may be due to a higher percentage of registered low caste children in awc, opening better opportunities for access to these services at an institutional level. notably, adolescent girls have the worst access to nutrition and health-related services. only about 6–9 per cent adolescent girls utilized services like nutrition and health education/counseling and ifa supplementation. the percentage of adolescent girl beneficiaries is found relatively higher among low castes. table 1: percentage of households across social groups which receive health and nutritionrelated services for women, children and adolescent girls category specific services low caste (in percentage) high caste (in percentage) pregnant women and lactating mothers tt injections and health check-ups 35.6 32.5 iron and folic acid supplementation 33.0 30.1 supplementary food during a prior pregnancy 58.2 48.3 monitoring of weight 31.4 28.8 health-related counseling 48.9 48.2 janani suraksha yojna (jsy) entitlements 29.6 23.8 counseling on feeding behaviours 20.7 24.6 0-3 year children home visits within one week of birth 30.5 34.2 weighing and growth monitoring 57.1 58.6 immunization 62.4 62.3 vitamin a supplementation 49.2 45.9 3-6 year children weighing and growth monitoring 70.8 61.9 immunization 68.1 59.9 adolescent girls nutrition and health education/ counseling 9.4 6.0 ifa supplementation 9.7 7.7 source: field survey 230 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 contrary to studies showing a lower access of socially excluded groups to various public services, the low caste households have a higher utilization of nutrition and healthcare services provided through icds at the community level. however, the question remains as to whether the group differences indicating better access to many health services among low caste households, is ‘supply-driven’ or ‘demand-driven’. when many of these services are highly required by low caste households and with lack of better alternatives, they might have higher demand and reach out for various services when compared with high caste households. this may be investigated in future research by looking at the processes of accessing various services. to some extent, this can be understood later from the analysis of differences in service delivery at two delivery points: institutional and household. another critical issue is that although low caste households have higher utilisation of various health and nutrition services, are there identity-based exclusionary bias and discriminatory behaviors during delivery of services? in view of the limited scope of this essay for a detailed study of this aspect, some cases in point are discussed in the following section. results based on fgds indicate different forms of discriminations experienced by low caste beneficiaries in access to health services. according to household data, 62 per cent low caste households report that high caste aww do not come inside/enter their houses. as shared by low caste women in some villages: ‘high caste aww rarely visits houses of low caste to extend assistance to pregnant and lactating mothers. in this village, a three-month pregnant low caste woman even did not get tt injection.’ ‘high caste aww does not come to our hamlet rather distributes supplementary nutrition from her house.’ ‘till today no member from our hamlet has seen aww. there is [a] reason for not coming here. she is [the] daughter-in-law of [a] high caste who does not like to come to our house.’ when responding to the question of whether the aww touch children and women while providing health services like weighing and providing polio drop?, nearly half of the low caste households report in negative terms. this is also substantiated by statements made by low caste women during fgds, as below: we do not like to visit anm due to preferential treatments to high caste women. anm does not visit low caste colonies but visits high caste colonies regularly whenever she comes to [the] village. while she provides health services to high caste households in their colonies, [she] asks aww to call low caste women to high caste localities for health services. although anm visits village just once every month, she normally performs her duty sitting at awc. both anm and aww sit at awc only. low caste women have to walk to awc to visit them and get their health check-up even being insider-outsider: public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india 231 during the pregnancy, and also have to bring their small children for health services. both anm and aww practice untouchability when they deliver health services like weight monitoring and body check-up. low caste women do not want to come to anm, as they do not receive proper timely information, besides discrimination that they face in the form of preferential treatment. despite the fact that we reach the awc first, we are asked to sit or stand outside awc for long whereas high caste women occupy space inside awc. we remain vulnerable to aggressive gestures, abusive words and other caste-related derogatory remarks. during the last stage of pregnancy and the first few weeks of delivery, women normally do not want to go to awc for a check-up because of the risk of moving out and waiting for long periods for immunization. as anm does not visit low caste localities and many women do not come to awc meeting, many pregnant women and lactating mothers are deprived of timely immunization and other health-related services. yet, anm will sometimes visit the high caste localities for health check-ups due to pressure from a few high caste persons. low caste women also report similar experiences of discrimination when they go to the awc to receive supplementary nutrition. given the focus of the essay on health services, their experiential accounts in this regard are not discussed. social identity, service providers and utilisation of healthcare services the anganwadi centres (awc), one of the last rungs of the government system, is largely located within community. a majority of awc functionaries belong to the village community and serve as community workers. they play key roles in providing healthcare and nutrition services nearer to home although many health services under the icds are delivered in coordination with other health workers from the formal primary health care system. but, unlike other health functionaries, aww as a public community worker in the care centre (awc), remains connected with each household in the community on a regular basis, and facilitates linking households to many health facilities. although public health facilities have increased over the years, still people mainly from socio-economically marginalised groups in villages find it difficult to have easy access to these facilities. the aww, as a local resident worker, facilitates the processes for better utilisation of health services. within the public policy framework, when there is always a need to ensure accountability with the community, the role of aww remains crucial given the delivery of several integrated public services under icds for different ‘target’ groups, including strengthening and facilitating access to healthcare services and also offering referral health services. 232 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 the critical question that has been a major focus of this essay is: does the caste of the aww, the main service provider in the community care centre (awc), matter in access to and utilisation of health-related services? in specific terms: are there differences in the utilisation of health services by the eligible household beneficiaries across social groups in the villages with low caste aww (lc-aww) and high caste aww (hc-aww)? this section presents some findings based on household data on utilization of health services in relation to the caste of the aww in villages. as a practice, aww play a role in providing health services in collaboration with anm from the nearest health centre. but in case of certain health services, the aww plays a significant role. the results reveal that the access to nutritional and health services by the households varies by the social identity of the aww. the data indicates a perceptible difference in the home visits of low and high caste aww to households of different social groups to provide various services including health services. while 62 per cent households in villages with lc-aww report frequent visits of aww, 51 per cent households in villages with hc-aww respond the same. the disaggregated data by the caste of households indicates that a higher percentage of high caste households (62 per cent) report the visits of lc-aww compared with 52 per cent reporting visits of hc-aww. this is further corroborated by visits of aww for specific services, for example, visiting the newborn child at home. while 42 per cent households in villages with lc-aww report aww visits for this purpose, only 25 per cent households in villages with hc-aww report the same. both low and high caste households had similar responses on the visits of lc-aww and hc-aww for newborn child. the factor of ‘avoidance of home visits’ is found to be important behind the dislike towards the awc. in villages with lc-aww, only 7 per cent households attribute the non-visit of aww as the cause of disliking the awc, whereas 15 per cent households in villages with hc-aww have similar responses. further, a higher percentage of households (41 per cent) report visits of hc-aww to similar caste and well-off households compared with lc-aww (26 per cent). thus, findings suggest that lc-aww make more home visits to both low and high caste households than the hc-aww. the views of the household respondents on aww home visits to an extent corroborated with aww self-reporting. a considerably higher percentage of lc-aww (77 per cent) than hcaww (64 per cent) report their visits to individual households. thus, it is evident that more visits are made to high caste households by both high and low caste aww either due to preference or pressure. hc-aww frequently avoid visiting low caste households due to caste bias. the differences in the visits of lcaww and hc-aww are however not found consistent with access to certain health services. for example, growth monitoring of children between the ages of 0–3 years and 3–6 years is found to be better in villages with hc-aww. a higher percentage of low and high caste households receive growth monitoring for children between 0–3 years in villages with hc-aww (61 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively) compared with lc-aww (54 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively). the corresponding figures being insider-outsider: public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india 233 for children 3–6 years are 34 per cent and 37 per cent respectively in villages with hc-aww, and 27 per cent and 22 per cent respectively for villages with lc-aww. in contrast, a higher percentage of households (31 per cent) in villages with lcaww report immunization of children of 0–6 years than villages with hc-aww (24 per cent). a higher percentage of both low and high caste children are being immunized in villages with lc-aww. while responding to whether the aww examines persons by touching them while providing services like vaccination and weight monitoring, about 55 per cent households in villages with lc-aww gave a positive response while 45 per cent households in villages with hc-aww had a similar response. as reported, in many cases hc-aww manage to provide these services with the help of other community members. with the higher home visits by lc-aww, a higher percentage of households across social groups show satisfaction with the behaviour of the lc-aww (45 per cent) compared with hc-aww (36 per cent). this is true for both low and high caste households. a higher percentage of low and high caste households (47 per cent and 44 per cent respectively) show satisfaction with the behaviour of lc-aww compared with hc-aww (35 per cent and 37 per cent respectively). although the main reason for dissatisfaction is ‘non-performance of duty’ by aww, a higher percentage of households (16 per cent) attributed ‘unfair/dishonest practices’ as reasons for dissatisfaction with hc-aww compared with lc-aww (7 per cent). the equity and inclusion aspects of the public services to a great extent are determined by the performance of service providers. this however needs to be understood from the constraints and challenges that the service providers face in the delivery of public services because of their group identities. understanding the challenges of public community workers like aww in delivery of interlinked health and nutrition services, would have implications for delivery of public services at a community level. the data revealed that a considerably higher percentage of lcaww (56 per cent) than hc-aww (37 per cent) feel the pressure to provide services to high caste households on priority basis. similarly, another one-third of lc-aww and 17 per cent of hc-aww report pressure to provide services at the homes of high caste groups. overall, half of the aww report facing some kind of problems during home visit. the reported problems are related to ‘not seeking advice on immunization and family planning’ (26 per cent), ‘non-availability of many low caste parents during home visits due to working outside home’ (20 per cent), and ‘demanding for work which are not part of aww duties’ (16 per cent). about half of the aww report that all parents did not show interest in sending their children to the awc. of these, a majority of aww (57 per cent) report that children belonging to general caste and obc (those are economically well-off) do not send their children to awc. out of these aww, 48 per cent cite reasons such as ‘feeling bad’ due to the ‘presence of other poor and low caste children’, ‘do not want to make their children sit with low caste children with dirtiness [sic] as a matter of social position and self-respect.’ further, the presence of lc-aww in awc also deters many high caste parents from sending their children. consistently, 234 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 a higher percentage of lc-aww (76 per cent) reports it to be a problem compared with hc-aww (49 per cent). there are evidences to show that lc-aww often have to work within social constraints because of the identity-based discriminatory practices in community life. however, only eleven per cent of lc-aww report experiencing discrimination while providing certain services, may be due to fear of reporting such a sensitive issue. some common forms of discrimination reported include: not being allowed to enter a high caste house to provide health services, maintaining physical distance, and refusing to accept services from them. as a few lc-aww are of the view: ‘in villages, discrimination based on caste is a common practice, if we go to a high caste home they never allow us to go inside.’ although the awc remains a focal point of delivery of icds services, the aww have to coordinate with other health functionaries like anm, asha, nurse and doctor in providing health services like immunization, vaccination and polio drops. the responses of household respondents and aww indicate that the visits of health officials have not been regular. the doctors’ services at a community level are mostly confined to referral services. their visits to villages have been non-existent. thus, there has been a weak link between beneficiaries and high level health service providers. however, while a majority aww report a good relationship with other health workers like anm and asha, only 12 per cent report difficulties in coordinating with these health workers allegedly due to their non-cooperation. at the community level, a village pradhan (head of village) as part of local self-government remains the focal point of contact between officials under the local governance system and people of the village community. he/she plays an important role in many decision-making processes so far as the delivery of public services is concerned. it is assumed that low caste village heads may have some influence on service delivery for low caste people. an analysis of household responses in 75 mixed–caste villages with information about the social identity of the pradhans working since last one year reveals that in 16 villages with low caste pradhans, the level of awareness about health services and home visits by aww is found higher than in villages with high caste pradhans. for example, 60 per cent of low caste households in villages with low caste pradhans report aww home visits compared to 54 per cent household in villages with high caste pradhans. however, the presence of low caste pradhans does not guarantee better access to several health services by low caste households. the actual benefits of health services in the villages with low and high caste pradhans provides mixed results. while villages with a high caste pradhan have better access to services like weight monitoring of children, and health counseling and supplementary nutrition for adolescent girls, in villages with a low caste pradhan, households have better access to the services like health counseling for women and follow-up visits for newborn children. being insider-outsider: public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india 235 factors affecting utilisation of healthcare services the world health organization proclaims that health cannot be achieved by medical care alone, social factors are equally important (who, 2010). although it puts down two broad categories of social determinants: structural conditions and health system, several factors operate around them at multiple levels. importantly, while highlighting priority areas that need public policy attention, it draws attention towards the limited access to healthcare among certain sections of people due to exclusion (acharya and pal, 2018). in india, various health programmes, mainly system-driven, have not helped all communities equally, thus resulting in the health disparities between different sections of the population defined in terms of social identities such as caste, ethnicity, class, region, etc. the high level expert group instituted by the former planning commission of india recognised that it would be difficult to attain and sustain universal health care without action on the wider social determinants of health (planning commission of india, 2011). the national health policy (nhp, 2017) clearly recognises the role of social and environmental determinants in the context of promoting health. thus, the complex interplay of social and health system related factors in health outcomes, always asks for understanding major challenges in achieving equity in healthcare. based on a meta-analysis, thapa et al. (2021) establishes a wide range of factors that limit access to health services among socio-economically marginalized groups. while the previous sections provide an overview of the inequities in utilization of health services by different target groups, and healthcare behaviours of the service providers in relation to their social identity, this section examines the role of some householdrelated factors (e.g. caste, education of head of family, and membership of members in committees) and institution-related factors (i.e. distance between households and awc, caste of service providers, and frequency of home visits) in the utilisation of health services by different target groups. the results based on logistic regression analyses are briefly discussed in the following sections. results (table 2) show that the caste of the household does not play a significant role in the access to healthcare services by pregnant women and lactating mothers although high caste women have better access to health counseling. while low caste women demand for many health services as a better option for them, high caste women receive them as per their requirement and as reported by aww earlier mostly due to preferential treatment. however, families with the membership of a member in any committees increase the chances of access to health counseling (β = 1.00), health check-ups (β = .90), and weight monitoring (β = .83) by pregnant women and lactating mothers. for those families with a lower level of education of the head, there is more likely utilisation of services like health counseling (β = -.76) and weight monitoring (β = -.42) by the women. 236 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 table 2: determinants of utilisation of healthcare services by pregnant women and lactating mothers independent variables dependent variables health counseling health check-ups weight monitoring reference category other category β se β se b se low caste household high caste household .17 .11 -.04 .10 -.04 .10 non-literate primary and above -.76* .11 -.14 .10 -.42* .10 no membership membership 1.00* .13 .90* .18 .83* .13 within 0.5 km about 1 km and above -1.29* .39 -.73* .24 -.41 .25 < 5 hours of awc functioning > 5 hours of awc functioning .79* .10 .05 .09 .59* .09 less home visit more home visits 1.73* .13 1.03* .09 1.19* .09 low caste service providers high caste service providers -.52* .10 -.20** .09 -.26* .09 source: field survey; se= standard error; * p > .01; ** p > .05 alongside, among institutional factors, the lesser the distance between household and awc (care centre), more likely is the utilization of all three healthcare services. understandably, higher the home visits of the service provider (aww), higher the likelihood of utilization of all healthcare services. similarly, higher is the hour of functioning of awc, there is more likely utilization of services of health counseling (β = .79) and weight monitoring β = .59). in awc with high caste aww, there is a higher likelihood of health counseling by women (β = -.52), possibly due to the factor of social acceptance by women from both caste groups. from the results, it appears that institution-related factors to a greater extent determine the utilization of healthcare services by the target women compared with household factors. it also suggests that the supply side factors are important in the utilization of health care services by pregnant women and lactating mothers. the results also indicate that factors like membership of family member, education level of head of family, distance of awc, and caste of aww play a significant role in utilization of health counseling by adolescent girls. these factors also significantly influence the utilisation of ifa supplementation. the likelihood of utilisation of health counseling and ifa supplementation by high caste adolescent girls increases with high caste service providers. table 3 shows factors that determine the utilisation of healthcare services by children from both the 0–3 and 4–6 years age group. caste plays an important role in growth monitoring of children between 0–3 years, indicating higher growth being insider-outsider: public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india 237 monitoring by high caste households (β = .30). the group-specific service like followup visits for children between 0–3 years is determined by the education of the head (β = -.55), membership (β = .53), distance of awc from households (β = -1.64), caste of aww (β = -.65), home visits of aww (β = 1.74), and hours of functioning of awc (β = .60). factors which determine the utilisation of healthcare services, mainly growth monitoring of children in both 0–3 and 4–6 years are: membership of family member, caste of service providers, home visits of service provider and hours of functioning of awc. the higher the education level of the head of the household, the less likely of growth monitoring of children between 4–6 years ((β = -.39), but the education does not play a significant role in growth monitoring of children between 0–3 years. it may be due to the fact that often, parents irrespective of their education, do not like to go for growth monitoring of small children due to certain beliefs associated with it. as evident from aww responses, they sometimes face difficulty in providing services like weighing children and counseling to women on health-related issues due to social taboos. in many villages, high caste parents do not send their children to awc when the aww are from low caste. this is reinforced by the findings that greater the distance between household and care centre, the lesser likelihood of growth monitoring for children 0–3 years (β = .56). further, higher the home visit of aww, it is more likely that children will have access to various health services including weight monitoring. but, the notable aspect is that with the exception of the distance factor and home visits, no other factor plays a significant role in the immunization of children between 0–3 years, but almost all household and institutional factors determine access to immunization for 4-6 years. the difference may be attributed to the nature of health services like immunization being a programmatic service of the state for specific age groups. table 3: determinants of utilisation of healthcare services by children, 0–3 and 4–6 years independent variables 0–3 years children 4–6 years children follow-up visits growth monitoring immunization growth monitoring immunization reference category other category β se β se β se β se β se low caste household high caste household .10 .10 .30* .10 .16 .11 .11 .10 -.05 .09 non-literate primary & above -.55* .10 -.18 .10 -.17 .10 -.39* .10 -.30* .09 no membership membership .53* .12 .56* .13 .25 .14 .97* .13 .78* .13 within 0.5 km about 1 km and above -1.64* .40 -.54** .25 -.55** .24 -.43 .26 -1.02* .27 < 5 working hours of awc >5 working hours of awc .60* .10 1.12* .09 -.16 .10 1.09* .09 .33* .09 no/very less home visits more home visits 1.74* .12 1.23* .09 .66* .95 1.26* .10 1.00* .09 low caste providers high caste providers -.65* .10 -.31* .09 -.10 .10 -.21** .09 -.29* .09 source: field survey; se= standard error; * p > .01; ** p > .05 238 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 the results thus point to many factors— locational, operational and behavioral— that determine the utilization of health services by different target groups. among householdrelated factors, membership and education level largely influence the utilisation of services. the caste identity of service providers plays an important role in the utilization of some health services by women and children. contrary to beliefs that many clinical issues affect low caste, a variety of social determinates play a vital role in unequal access to healthcare services. inequity in healthcare: psychosocial implications when we talk of caste, inequity and discrimination in healthcare system, it brings the debate of how the dominant cultural practices of discrimination that creates psychosocial conditions effect one’s mental and social well-being. caste-based inequity impacts an individual’s opportunity to have access to basic public resources and services, and in turn, upon their physical and psychological health. the basic premise is that inequality in utilization of any public services like health, damages the quality of social relations, one of the most important ways that inequality affects the quality of life (wilkinson, 2005). the extents to which people are involved in local community life also confirm the socially corrosive effects of inequality (wilkinson and pickett, 2007). the inequality is sometimes linked with psychosocial health (chandra, 2009). despite public policy and institutional guidelines and principles in delivery of public services, the persistence of caste-based inequity creates dejected and deserted situations for low caste groups—both as consumers and providers of health services. some disadvantages witnessed in public service delivery are common to all social groups, mainly due to failure on the supply side or gaps in the operational aspects. however, many disadvantages are a function of discriminations in delivery of services. one of the most perceptible evidence of discrimination is found in fewer aww visits to low caste households either voluntarily or under pressure from others. this limits not only access to healthcare but also knowledge about health problems and information about possible cures. there are evidences of specific discrimination against low caste at the time of service delivery, for which the service providers are held responsible as they are expected to work as per professional ethics rather than community norms. these would not only effect the utilisation of services but also other psychological aspects in terms of loss of faith in institutional norms and health-seeking behaviours. attention is drawn to the consequences of discriminatory practices to shed light as to how some of the disadvantages due to unequal access to health services besides behavioural manifestations of service providers are intensified for low caste. the data confirms that most service infrastructures are located in places closer to high caste habitations. it creates not only physical distance between service delivery points and low caste households but also social distance between social groups within the community. with the distanced service delivery points (awc), the physical distance becomes even wider by the occasional visits of service provider. thus, the distance factor limits the move of both beneficiaries and providers. this isolates being insider-outsider: public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india 239 low caste groups physically and socially, and affects access to health services. the locational disadvantage coupled with other challenges due to fewer visits of service providers accentuates the problems of pregnant women and lactating mothers from low caste, forcing them travelling to awc for essential services. as many do not have other provision of healthcare except awc, they live with this reality, which deviates from the norms of public service delivery. very often, aww instead of visiting the low caste households to pass information, prefer to call a meeting in a place outside their hamlet. for example, monthly health camps/programmes are held either at awc or community places located in high caste localities. as a practice, aww in collaboration with anm provides health services at awc or in a ‘liking place’ at a high caste locality. it is expected that the pregnant women and lactating mothers travel to these places to receive health services. this puts low caste women at additional disadvantages. as evident from fgds with low caste women, they sometimes avoid such meetings at high caste localities because of past experiences of exclusionary bias such as sitting away from women of high caste, waiting for longer, being subject to ‘casteist remarks’ and rude behaviour of service providers, exposing them to humiliating situations. these service delivery points become deterrents for low caste women, leading to lower access to vital information about health-related issues. verma and acharya (2017) find exclusionary practices have negative implications for the health-seeking behaviours of the low caste groups. however, the service delivery mechanism sometimes makes low caste women helpless as they cannot dare to complain against it, and even if they do, it may not help them much. as low caste women in a few fgds express: ‘we do not complain because we know, no action will be taken, rather she (aww) will scold us.’ ‘to whom should we complain? no one listens. if aww knows, she will fight.’ ‘aww says that nothing will happen complaining against me. in turn, you will suffer. the supplementary nutrition material will stop.’ ‘people from our community do not complain, because we are poor. rich people will start pressurizing. no one listens to poor.’ the results also suggest that low caste households have relatively higher access to the institutional ‘in-house services’ (i.e. services provided in awc) whereas high caste households to the ‘out-house services’. the findings also indicate that the awareness level of low caste women about various aspects of health services under icds is lesser than high caste women. this ‘awareness gap’ is wider between social groups particularly on issues related to frequency of weighing children and referral services. it is clear that the social identity of service providers matters in the utilization of health services by different social groups. as observed, there is a lot of hesitation among high caste parents to send their children to the awc where aww are from lower castes 240 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 (mander and kumaran, 2006; pal, 2016). this type of exclusionary bias frequently eases the process of exclusion of low caste and creates social conditions that intensify ‘feelings of inferiority’ among low caste beneficiaries and threaten their dignity. when we talk about such humiliating behaviours, the role of service providers remains critical. but, sometimes this is reinforced by the indifferent behaviour of service providers themselves. given that caste norms at a community level very often dominate the process of service delivery, this results in not only unequal access to healthcare services or limited access to certain services under discriminatory conditions, but also brings several adverse consequences that intensify social disadvantages. discussion and conclusions in recent times, inequalities in health status and access to healthcare services across socio-religious groups have been widely documented. while macro level official data points to the poor outcomes on several health indicators among the socio-economically marginalised sections of society, empirical evidences indicate their differential access to health services. in light of the persistence of group inequity in access to interrelated nutrition and health services in india, this essay looks into factors that affect utilization of healthcare services with a special focus on the social identity of users and providers of the healthcare services. based on the experiential accounts of a large sample survey of household beneficiaries and providers of healthcare services, the essay identifies a few areas of concern that need special attention. the essay reaffirms that the social identity of caste marginalizes low caste people in a multifarious manner in their access to healthcare services. despite specific norms and guidelines for the implementation of various healthcare programmes, the dominant caste norms at a community level interfere with the delivery of healthcare services. it is not only the low caste identity of users of services but also of service providers that matters in differential utilization of healthcare services. the delivery services are largely influenced by the local social environment in which they live and work as public service providers. the service providers from low caste group even fail to do justice for low caste people under social compulsions. the service providers across caste groups remain indifferent to the day-to-day concerns of low caste beneficiaries, in turn bringing multifaceted challenges for them. the public policy focuses on universal access to healthcare services. still, healthrelated programmes have a specific social orientation in the delivery of healthcare services wherein marginalised groups always remain a priority in delivery of services. the unequal access to such services across social groups raises concerns over the supply side deficiencies, particularly the accountability and behavior of service providers. the major public policy concern remains on how to address the effects of the social identity of providers of health services at a community level in ensuring equality in utilization of the services when the local social structure is entrenched in a hierarchical system. being insider-outsider: public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india 241 while high caste service providers in a pursuit of maintaining high caste identity and autonomy, tend to show differential behaviours towards low caste users of health services, low caste service providers, on the other hand, under the influence of dominant social norms, face conflict in course of providing health services to different social groups. this minority face many challenges including the experience of differential treatment while delivering health services to different social groups. being in a weak ‘social position’, they have to comply with dominant social norms in the course of delivery of health services under compulsions. low caste service providers are ‘avoided’ or ‘neglected’ by the high caste people during delivery of services while high caste providers themselves avoid visiting low caste households for service delivery. given that high caste people can have access to alternative health services without taking any kind of help from low caste service providers, hence, this may not have much implication for them. however, for the low caste people, fewer visits/interactions of high caste service providers to low caste people matter. with the castebased social order at a village level, sometimes both low caste service providers and beneficiaries are forced to accept the way high caste people or service providers accept it. thus, the low caste service providers sometimes have to deliver health services under certain compulsions whereas high caste providers work with much liberty. it is interesting to note that when the low caste aww faces difficulties in providing health services during her visits to high caste households because of her caste identity, the high caste aww makes fewer visits to low caste households. they can refuse to visit low caste households as it may be accepted by the social norm. thus, in mixed-caste villages, the healthcare behaviours of service providers with different social identities may not always be intended behaviours, but takes place due to the interplay of social identity and local social norms. as a matter of fact, health policy framework and community level health system in india have not been well-found to address exclusionary practices based on social identity, affecting delivery of and access to healthcare services. given that public health services are the only options for marginalized groups including low caste groups, when low caste service providers cannot ensure health services within their own community due to dominance of other socio-cultural norms, this is a challenge for achieving inclusion in the health services. since, 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(2007). the problems of relative deprivation: why some societies do better than others. social science and medicine (special issue), 65(9), pp. 1965–1978. who (2010). a conceptual framework for action on the social determinants of health: debates, policy and practice, case studies. geneva: world health organization. available at: http:// www.apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/44489/1/9789241500852_eng.pdf © 2022 c. jerome samraj. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. forum caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 442–457 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.374 manifestations of academic untouchability in india: exclusionary practices that subvert reservations in admissions in higher education c. jerome samraj1 abstract the notions of ritual purity and pollution hierarchically grades people according to their castes, and this hierarchy is socially expressed in terms of unequal rights to space, and the idea of ‘untouchability’ is socially realized either in terms of a complete denial or the most inferior participation. as a corrective measure of the historical injustices to certain sections of the society, the state and union governments in india have enacted reservation policies in education and employment. nevertheless, the administrators of several institutions show reluctance in implementing reservations in letter and spirit, despite the fact that the university grants commission has emphasized about proper implementation of reservations at various points in time. the demand for proper implementation of central educational institutions (reservation in admission) act, 2006, subsequently amended in 2012, in pondicherry university exposes how an ambiguity inherent in the act’s amended version has been used to justify the systematic exclusion of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe doctoral aspirants in several departments of the university. based on interactions with the university administration, the essay attempts to understand the politics behind the method of implementing reservations in admissions in higher education. it emphasizes that the bodies governing higher education should provide proper directions in regard to the implementation of the act. it further calls for the establishment of administrative mechanisms, directly under the apex regulatory bodies, to oversee implementation of reservation policies in all the government educational institutions. keywords cei act 2006, cei amendment act 2012, reservation, roster, scheduled castes, 1assistant professor, department of economics, school of management, pondicherry university, puducherry, india email: jeromesamraj@gmail.com manifestations of academic untouchability in india: exclusionary practices 443 scheduled tribes, other backward classes the context given the structural inequalities in indian society, education has been the only hope for upward mobility for people belonging to socio-economically and culturally oppressed communities. the reservation policies enacted by the union and state governments in india are intended to facilitate educational opportunities for people from socially vulnerable backgrounds. in may 2016, a student belonging to the scheduled caste (sc) category had applied to the phd programme in mass communication in pondicherry university and had secured the fourth place in the all-india entrance examination conducted by the university. there were two seats in the phd programme in mass communication, and having secured the fourth rank this candidate should have been called for an interview. but the university called three students from the unreserved category who had secured the first three ranks and three other backward classes (obc) students. when the scheduled caste (sc) candidate sought a clarification, he was told that since there were only two seats in the mass communication programme, one seat had been allotted to a general category candidate and the other to an obc candidate. since no seat was allotted for scs that year, he was not called for an interview. the department of electronic media and mass communication in pondicherry university has eight faculty members and offers phd programmes in electronic media and in mass communication. five out of the eight faculty members guide doctoral students. in 2016, there were 14 phd scholars enrolled in the phd programme in electronic media and 21 in the mass communication programme. among these scholars, two were sc and one st, and all three had been granted the rajiv gandhi national fellowship even before they had been admitted to the course. also, these sc and st students were admitted under the general category. according to the rules, three seats in electronic media and five seats in mass communication programmes should have been reserved for students from sc and st categories. this means that the university did not allot seats to sc and st candidates under the reserved categories. this is the reality in many departments where the number of faculty and the number of eligible guides is less than 10. the minimum period of completion of a phd degree is three years, and it is very common to see phd scholars taking twice as many years to complete their doctoral research. therefore, phd vacancies may not arise in departments as regularly as in the case of postgraduate or undergraduate courses. when the intake is less, and this continues for a few years, then it will amount to a systematic exclusion of sc and st communities as it has been the case in many departments of pondicherry university. the student representatives and faculty members of the pondicherry university raised concerns regarding this matter in a meeting with the administration in february 2016.1 the authorities agreed that the existing reservation policies were unjust in 1in february 2016, the students organised a protest and raised several demands, including the lack of certain basic amenities, following which they were invited for a meeting. several demands, including the provision of three months’ time for students belonging to the sc and 444 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 regard to the sc and st communities and added that the administration was only implementing the existing policies, and that any changes to these could only be carried out by the parliament. while initiating the process for a policy change would be time consuming, the adoption of the roster system could accommodate the sc and st students in research programs under the existing policies. reservation roster is a method to allocate an emerging position in a particular cadre by considering the existing number of posts and allocations already made to different categories of the reserved/ unreserved depending upon proportional reservation.2 this system was suggested with a view that, social groups which could not be allotted seat(s) in a particular year can be allocated seats in the subsequent admissions. however, the pondicherry university administration replied that there was no rule that directed the university to follow the pointwise reservation roster in admissions. with changes in reservation policies and other relevant communications not being placed in the public domain, the stakeholders—that is, faculty members, students, and the faculty, non-teaching, sc-st employees or students’ associations—are ignorant of the rules. this ignorance makes them accept the oral replies from the administration personnel at face value. the possibility of reserving seats for sc and st categories when the vacancies are less than eight remain bleak. therefore, this essay attempts to understand the politics behind the method of implementing reservations in admissions in higher education, especially in phd programs, based on the interaction with university administration. understanding cei act, 2006 and amendment act, 2012 the university grants commission (ugc) has time and again emphasised upon the strict implementation of reservation rules. in a letter dated 23 march 2016, the ugc undersecretary stated: i am directed to inform you that it has been observed that some of the central universities have not maintained the point wise reservation roster. therefore, it is to inform you to frame the point wise reservation roster as per rules framed by the govt. of india. further, it is also to inform you that as per instructions of govt. of india/ugc, the educational institutions receiving grant-in-aid from central government have to follow the prescribed percentage of reservation i.e. 15 per cent for scs, 7.5 per cent for sts and 27 per cent in obcs in the matter of teaching and non-teaching posts as well as in admissions to various st communities facing financial difficulties to pay their fee, were discussed in the presence of the then registrar (i/c) and the vice chancellor (i/c). as the finance officer, deputy and assistant registrars were also present in the meeting, the feasibility and modalities of implementation were immediately discussed, and two demands were met by the authorities. incinerators were installed in the women’s hostels to dispose of sanitary napkins, and the sc and st students who were admitted in 2016–17 were exempted from paying the fees immediately, and could pay within three months. 2for a detailed explanation about rosters, see https://persmin.gov.in/dopt/brochure_ reservation_scstbackward/ch-05_2014.pdf manifestations of academic untouchability in india: exclusionary practices 445 courses except minority educational institutions under article 30(1) of the constitution. (ugc 2016a) the ugc joint secretary, in a letter dated 3 june 2016, directed the universities to follow the provisions of the central educational institutions (reservation in admission) act, 2006 (hereafter, the cei act) and the amendment act, 2012 in admissions along with directions regarding reservations in non-teaching and teaching positions (ugc 2016b). section 3 of the cei act, 2006 states that: 3. reservation of seats in central educational institutions: the reservation of seats in admission and its extent in a central educational institution shall be provided in the following manner, namely: (i) out of the annual permitted strength in each branch of study or faculty, fifteen per cent seats shall be reserved for the scheduled castes; (ii) out of the annual permitted strength in each branch of study or faculty, seven and one-half per cent seats shall be reserved for the scheduled tribes; (iii) out of the annual permitted strength in each branch of study or faculty, twenty-seven per cent seats shall be reserved for the other backward classes;”3 (goi, 2007). all the policy documents on reservation call for reservations in the following order: 15 per cent for scs, 7.5 per cent for sts and 27 per cent for obcs. the implementation of reservation policy based on percentages alone may be acceptable in cases where the number of available seats is more than eight, as each of the categories would get their share as per the proportions prescribed by the cei act. for example, if there are two seats in a particular department, 50 per cent of these have to be kept unreserved. therefore, only one seat will be available for the general category and one would be reserved. when the proportions are applied, 0.54 seat (27 per cent of two) will be due to obcs, o.3 for scs, and 0.15 for sts. since the share of obcs exceeds 0.5, the first reserved seat will be allotted to an obc candidate. therefore, one seat will be reserved for a sc candidate only when there are four seats in a course (15 per cent of four is 0.6) as the share of scs is more than 0.5. in the case of sts, their share will cross the 0.5 mark only when there are seven seats. but given the 50 per cent capping on reservation, four will have to be kept unreserved, two seats will be allotted to obcs and one seat to sc. hence, one seat is allotted to sts only when there are eight seats available in a particular course or department in an academic year (pondicherry university 2016b, 2016c). therefore, if a department continues to admit three candidates for ten consecutive years, approximately twenty students would have got admission under the unreserved (general) category, ten or more students would be admitted under the obc category, and no seats would be allotted to candidates belonging to the sc or st categories. this might be true in departments where there are fewer number of eligible research 3this was duly communicated to registrars of all central universities by the ugc no f 362/2003 (cu) dated 8 january 2007. 446 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 supervisors.4 therefore, it can be said that, the method of allocating seats based on percentage prioritises reservation of the socially dominant over that of the oppressed. this method becomes a serious problem in cases where the annual intake is less than eight seats. however, some sections of the cei act, 2006 were amended in 2012 and the following provisions were added to section 3 of the principal act: provided that the state seats, if any, in a central educational institution situated in the tribal areas referred to in the sixth schedule to the constitution shall be governed by such reservation policy for the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and the other backward classes, as may be specified, by notification in the official gazette, by the government of the state where such institution is situated: provided further that if there are no state seats in a central educational institution and the seats reserved for the scheduled castes exceed the percentage specified under clause (i) [section 3 of the principal act] or the seats reserved for the scheduled tribes exceed the percentage specified under clause (ii) [section 3 of the principal act] or the seats reserved for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes taken together exceed the sum of percentage specified under clauses (i) and (ii), but such seats are(a) less than fifty per cent of the annual permitted strength on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of this act, the total percentage of the seats required to be reserved for the other backward classes under clause (iii) shall be restricted to the extent such sum of percentages specified under clauses (i) and (ii) falls short of fifty per cent of the annual permitted strength; (b) more than fifty per cent of the annual permitted strength on the date of immediately preceding the date of commencement of this act, in that case no seats shall be reserved for the other backward classes under clause (iii) but the extent of the reservation of seats for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes shall not be reduced in respect of central education institutions in the specified north-eastern region.5 (emphasis added) (goi, 2012). the provisions quoted above attempt to provide a solution when the number of seats reserved for the scs and sts exceed the stipulated 15 per cent, and 7.5 per cent, or 22.5 per cent if both taken together. clause (a) of the amended section 3 discusses the 4it is also not clear whether the ugc/ the ministry of human resources development (mhrd) obtain and maintain department wise annual admission data from all the universities so that they can oversee the proper implementation of the reservation policy. even if the universities include this data as a part of their annual report, it is not clear whether the ugc has a mechanism to check how effectively the policy has been implemented. also, the question that needs to be looked into is what kind of administrative penalties are imposed on universities/departments/ authorities that do not implement the reservation policy in each department. 5this was amendment was duly communicated to registrars of all central universities by ugc letter f. no 35-19/2008/cu dated 28 september 2012. manifestations of academic untouchability in india: exclusionary practices 447 scenario where seats reserved for scs and sts exceed 22.5 per cent but are less than 50 per cent. it suggests that given the 50 per cent cap on reservation, the percentage of reserved seats remaining after allotments to scs and sts shall be given to the obcs. this clause does not say that the reservations for scs and sts shall be made after ensuring reservations for obcs. rather, it says that the reservations for obcs shall be made only after ensuring reservations for scs and sts. if the percentage of seats reserved for scs and sts exceed the stipulated 15 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively, the number of seats “required to be reserved” for the obcs shall be restricted. therefore, it is clear that reservations for scs and sts are prioritized over the reservations for obcs. since reservation is a social justice mechanism devised by the government, such a prioritization has serious socio-economic, political and historical reasons behind it. however, there is a possibility of confusion when one reads clause (b) of the amended section 3. the clause states that in case the reservations for scs and sts exceed 50 per cent no seats shall be reserved for obcs. it further states that the number of seats reserved for scs and sts shall not be reduced in respect of central educational institutions in north-east india. since clause (b) has to be read in conjunction with other paragraphs of the amended section 3 quoted above, that define the context, there are two ways in which the clause can be interpreted. first, the jurisdiction of the amended section 3 may be understood as pertaining only to central educational institutions in the north-eastern region. second, the said clause can also mean that the number of reserved seats for scs and sts shall be reduced in central educational institutions in all other regions except the north-east.6 further, it can also be stated that, the jurisdiction outlined in clause (b) could very well be used to deny the prioritisation of reservations for scs and sts provided in clause (a), saying that the amendment pertains only to the north-eastern region.7 6the personnel in administration have a peculiar way of reading laws/policies/statutes and have enacted these according to their convenience. here, their interpretation is that the amendment act, 2012 does not say that the seats reserved for scs and sts shall not be reduced in the entire country. rather it only specifies that the seats reserved for scs and sts shall not be reduced in the central educational institutions in north-east india. so, reducing the percentage of seats allotted to scs and sts in rest of the country is not wrong. 7it is worthwhile to note here that during our discussions with the administration regarding adopting roster system in phd admissions, the administration said that there is no rule that compels the university to adopt it. when it was specifically asked if there is any rule that prevents its adoption in admissions, the deputy registrar (academic) responded that has not been adopted since there is no rule mandating the university to follow it in admissions. however, neither the officers concerned, nor the students and other faculty members were aware of the cei act 2006, or its 2012 amended version during that meeting. while the personnel in administration look for clear rules to facilitate admissions of the oppressed, the ambiguity that arises due to the lack of clarity is always used to the advantage of the socially dominant. the very act of allocating the first reserved seat to the obcs without any direction is an evidence for this. 448 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 this ambiguity was exploited by the pondicherry university administration to justify their exclusion of sc and st candidates in phd admissions when the intake was less than four and eight, respectively in a reply dated 25/11/2016 to national commission for scheduled castes (ncsc).8 in response, the pondicherry university administration stated in paragraph 21 that “the university has strictly implemented cei act 2006 and is following reservation percentage as prescribed in it. the cei amendment 2012 cannot be implemented in the rest of india and the extent of its application is only for those north eastern region specified in it.”9 it is worthwhile to note here that section 4 of the cei act, 2006 which includes the list of all institutions exempted from this act does not include pondicherry university, and this clause has not been amended thereafter (goi, 2007). given the inherent ambiguities in the amendment act, 2012, the entire claim of the stakeholders belonging to sc and st communities was seen by the pondicherry university administration as “totally false, misconstrued and illogical.”10 nonetheless, the two hundred thirty fourth report on the central educational institutions (reservation in admissions) amendment bill, 2010 (henceforth, the 234th report), which examined the amendment bill, provides a better insight (goi, 2011).11 3.3 b. more than fifty per cent of the annual permitted strength on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of this act, in that case no seat shall be reserved for the other backward classes under clause (iii) and the extent of reservation of seats for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes under clauses (i) and (ii) shall, notwithstanding anything contained in section 6, be 8the author had represented this issue of non-implementation of reservations as per cei act and denial of reservations for sc and st in phd admission to the national commission for the scheduled castes, and this is quoted from the university’s response to the author’s complaint “para wise remarks on the petition filed by (…) to national commission for scheduled caste (ncsc),” pu/dr/aca2/2016-17/295 dated 07/12/2016. 9paragraph 21 of the “para wise remarks on the petition filed by (…) to national commission for scheduled caste (ncsc),” pu/dr/aca2/2016-17/295 dated 07/12/2016. the deputy registrar stated that “further, he (…) has no right or business to make his own interpretation and ask the university to reduce the reservation percentage to obc which is also a statutory right given by goi to a particular sector of people.” it is clear from their communication that the university administration has twisted the demand to ensure reservations for sc and st as a demand to reduce the reservations for obc. this way of posing the demands raised on behalf of one social group as motivated against another social group and thereby deny reservations to scs and sts only endorses the concerns raised by this article. it is to be noted here that the authorities involved in the preparation this reply to the ncsc and those who endorsed and forwarded are neither sc nor st. 10para 21 of “para wise remarks on the petition filed by (…) to national commission for scheduled caste,” letter pu/dr/aca2/2016-17/295 dated 07/12/2016. 11two hundred thirty-four report on the central educational institutions (reservation in admissions) amendment bill, 2010 was presented to the rajya sabha on 25 february 2011 and to the lok sabha on 25th february 2011) by the rajya sabha department related parliamentary standing committee on human resource development. manifestations of academic untouchability in india: exclusionary practices 449 (i) reduced to fifty per cent of the annual permitted strength in the academic year immediately succeeding the commencement of the central educational institutions (reservation in admission) amendment act, 2010, in respect of a central educational institution situated in any area other than the specified north eastern region; (ii) not reduced in respect of a central educational institution situated in the specified north-eastern region. (emphasis added) (goi, 2011). the amendment act, 2012 retained the first three paragraphs of section 3 contained in 234th report, including clause (a). but clause (b) of the amended act does not include the sub-clauses (i) and (ii) as mentioned in the report which clearly demarcate the jurisdiction of the cei act. looking at the sub-clauses i and ii quoted above, it is clear that clause (a) applies to all central educational institutions in every region other than the specified north eastern region, and clause (b) applies to central educational institutions in the north-east. further, paragraph 3.5 of the 234th report (quoted below) categorically says that sc and st reservation is a compulsory component of the reservation policy. while […]. the committee is also aware of the fact that reconciliation has to be made between 50 per cent cap on reservations and 27 per cent obc quota. the committee is of the view that obc percentage is to be decided by taking sc and st reservation as a compulsory component. since the extent of reservation is 50 per cent whatever remaining after fulfilling the sc/st reservation may go to obcs.12 (goi, 2011, pp 17–18) it can also be inferred from section 5 of the cei act, 2006 that “mandatory increase in number of seats” is only to facilitate reservation for obc, and hence no central educational institution is authorized to reduce the allocation for sc and st categories in order to allocate seats for the obcs. this is also emphasized in the 234th report that obc reservations have to be made after reserving seats for the scs and sts. hence, as per the cei amendment act, 2012 if a department calls for four seats, two seats are unreserved and one seat each for sc and st categories is reserved. and this 15 per cent and 7.5 per cent for scs and sts, respectively are not the maximum, as clauses (a) and (b) of section 3 of the amendment act, 2012 discuss the modalities when the reservation for scs and sts exceed their stipulated percentages. when this combined percentage exceeds 22.5 per cent, the act says that the seats have to be increased in order to accommodate the obcs in such a way that the remaining percentage of reserved seats shall be allotted to the obcs even if it is less than 27 per cent. in that case, four seats should be increased to six seats and one seat shall be allotted to the obcs, and this brings the reservations for scs and sts below 50 per cent in states other than north-east india. the amendment act, 2012 also states that when the seats reserved for scs and sts exceeds 50 per cent in central educational institutions in north-east india, then there shall be no seats for obcs. overlooking 12please see clause 3: section 3: “reservations of seats in central educational institutions under the title recommendations/observations at a glance,” (goi, 2011). 450 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 the recent communications from ugc, instructing the universities to follow the amendment act, 2012, the pondicherry university administration has reduced a social justice mechanism to a mere statistical tool and accommodated sc and st ph.d., aspirants only when the share of scs or sts exceeded 0.5 seats taking the department wise annual intake into account. therefore, the allocation of seats in regions other than the north-east would be: table 1: comparison of allocation of seats across categories total intake current method of allocation in pondicherry university13 method as per cei act and amendment act14 unreserved sc st obc unreserved sc st obc 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 3 2 1 2 1 4 2 1 1 2 1 1 5 3 1 1 3 1 1 6 3 1 2 3 1 1 1 7 4 1 2 4 1 1 1 8 4 1 1 2 4 1 1 2 therefore, a central university in regions other than the north-east may provide representation to scs, sts and obcs when there are six seats in a department. however, if the percentage proportions have to be maintained then there need to be eight vacancies in a department in an academic year. while some universities adopt the strategy of accumulating eight seats in each department to ensure representation to all categories, some universities, such as the pondicherry university, do not do so.15 in this scenario, the university calls for phd admissions without declaring seat allocation across categories, and invites applications openly. if there is more than one seat, the university allots the first reserved seat to an obc candidate. this method of allocation could be justified only if the university adopts the roster system as other categories left out in one year shall be accommodated in subsequent admissions. by not adopting the roster in admissions, the university systematically denies reservations to the sc and st categories. also, this manner of allotting seats to the obcs not only violates the 13this is evident from the details of phd admissions uploaded by various departments in the university website. for details see pondicherry university 2016b, 2016c, 2016d. 14this table is presented so as a counter to the pondicherry university’s practice of calling for phd admissions even when there is just a single seat available in a department. the cei amendment act, 2012 treats sc and st reservations as a compulsory component of the reservation policy and obc reservations as reconciliatory. hence, a central institution cannot choose to allot seats to obc candidates before allotting seats to the sc and st students. strictly going by the provisions of the amendment act, 2012, the institutions in regions other that the north-east cannot call for admissions if the annual intake is less than six. 15it can be observed form the 2016-17 prospectus that pondicherry university has called for phd admissions even if there is one seat in a department. it should also be noted here that in 2017-18 admissions, the university has made minimum four seats to call for phd admission and one seat has been allotted to sc, the allocation is not as per cei amendment act 2012, as it continues to exclude sts in departments where the annual intake is less than eight. manifestations of academic untouchability in india: exclusionary practices 451 cei act but is also against the spirit of social and distributive justice envisaged by the reservation policy. the pondicherry university authorities have argued that obcs are allotted seats because a higher proportion of seats are reserved for them and not because they are given preference over scs and sts. in a reply to a right to information (rti) query on the role of the liaison officer of the special reservation cell in the pondicherry university in the process of admissions, the assistant registrar replied that the cell is not involved in the admission process and the entire process is executed by the academic section.16 excluding a few departments where the number of eligible supervisors are more, most departments with fewer eligible guides have called for admissions to less than eight seats for several years, and, therefore, have systematically denied reservations to sc and st categories continuously. even in 2016, about 31 departments called for admissions to six or less phd seats, amounting to a total of 115 seats in which not even a single seat was reserved for sts and no seat was reserved for scs in 14 departments where the intake was less than four. it is to be noted that two departments had advertised even for a single phd seat, and if they continue to do so, even the obcs will be denied reservation. as per the provisions contained in the cei act, 2006, a department in a central educational institution cannot admit students unless six seats are available. however, even those departments where there are six seats, the university has chosen not to reserve seats for sts, but have allotted two seats to obc candidates and one to the sc applicant. table 2: total number of phd seats (less than eight seats per department) in 2016–17 method of allocating seats across categories total open sc st obc currently allocated by the university 115 63 17 0 35 as per cei (tentatively computed taking sc and st reservation as compulsory) 115 63 28 17 7 difference 0 0 -11 -17 28 source: computed by the author based on information from pondicherry university prospectus 2016–17. therefore, a central university can ensure the representation of all categories of reservation only if it adopts the roster system. while a few central universities follow the roster system in phd admissions, the pondicherry university has declined this demand citing the ugc guidelines,17 and have continued to systematically exclude sc 16“the admission matters have been dealt with by academic section. the reply may be sent to the applicant directly by the academic section,” pu/src/ar/rti/2016/ dated 07/10/2016. 17for details see clause 9 (b) in the ugc “guidelines for strict implementation of reservation policy of the government in universities, deemed, to be universities, colleges, and other grant-in-aid institutions and centers,” p 3. 452 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 and st students from being admitted to phd programs by conducting admissions even when there are one or two seats. however, the policymakers should take keen note of the argument made by the university about the roster system. in their reply to the ncsc, in addition to clause 9 of the ugc guidelines, the university stated that: even if roster is adopted, only the 7th point will go to sc and the 14th point will go to st; whereas the university is now providing seat to sc at 4th vacancy and st at 8th vacancy. moreover, as per the act 2006 reservation is to be provided on the annual strength and there is no provision for a running roster or carry forward. moreover, nowhere in the cei act (2006) or in the amendment act (2012) the word “roster” has been mentioned and the university has been strictly following all the guidelines issued in this regard.18 what has not been stated explicitly in the above quoted point is that if the roster is accepted for implementation, the categories that were excluded in a particular year will get their due in subsequent years. the details of phd admissions declared by a few departments in the university website proves that the university authorities’ claim that the university is implementing reservations according to the cei act is false as sc candidates have not been allotted seats when the intake is less than 4, and sts have not been allotted seats in many departments even when seven to eight candidates have been admitted (pondicherry university (2016b, 2016c, 2016d). the university administration has justified their act by arguing that the cei amendment act, 2012 does not apply to the pondicherry university. their reluctance to follow ugc’s recent guidelines proves their unwillingness to implement the reservation policy as per the cei amendment act. 2012 as it clearly prioritizes reservation for scs and sts over obc reservation. it is the bitter truth that the university went ahead to complete the admission process in 2016 even after strong objections were raised by sc and st students, faculty members, and pondicherry university sc/ st employee welfare association. while the phd admission was kept in abeyance owing to a mismatch between the policy and the method that university followed, in a meeting held on 10 august 2016, the registrar cited “oral instructions” from the ugc and subsequently ordered the departments to proceed with admissions. however, in his reply to an rti query on the matter, the ugc joint secretary categorically denied this and stated that “there is no convention or relevance of anything called as ‘oral instruction’ nor was any occasion or reason for the same here in this matter.” notwithstanding this, the deputy registrar (academic) in her reply to the pondicherry university sc/st employees welfare association (pusc-stewa), stated that the “university is implementing 15 percent for scs, 7.5 percent for sts, and 27 percent for obcs” and it is worthwhile to note here that the cei act has not been referred to in this letter.19 moreover, the details of admission presented in the annual 18para 3 of “para wise remarks on the petition filed by (…) to national commission for scheduled caste,” letter pu/dr/aca2/2016-17/295 dated 07/12/2016. 19pu/as/aca-2/ph.d. admission/2016-17/184 dated 25/08/2016. manifestations of academic untouchability in india: exclusionary practices 453 report of the university proves that this claim made by the deputy registrar in her reply can hardly be substantiated with department wise data. it can be observed that in 2013–14 several departments did not admit sc/st students even when the intake was more than ten students in phd programmes.20 a number of other departments where the intake was less than four did not have sc candidates and several departments with an intake of less than eight did not have st candidates. thus, the facts are contrary to the claim made by the deputy registrar (academic) and even the then vice-chancellor (i/c) is also reported to have given a similar statement to the press (senthalir s. 2016b). while the university has responded to the ncsc that the amendment act, 2012 does not apply to the pondicherry university, in a response to the ugc and ministry of human resource development (mhrd) the deputy registrar (academic) stated that “the admission to the phd programme in the university has been completed as per the central educational institutions (reservation in admissions) act 2006 and as amended in 2012.”21 given these two responses, it will not be an exaggeration to call this a systematic exclusion of sc and sts from phd programs by the university authorities as willful. it should also be noted that university administration has presented different facts to different bodies. need for an effective monitoring system the way pondicherry university has implemented reservations necessitates a serious introspection because a central educational institution which is governed by acts and statutes of the parliament has avoided implementing the directions received from the ugc and mhrd. why should an institution run by the government not implement schemes meant for the upliftment of the scs and sts? does the government take a serious note of institutions undermining the authority of the ministry and governing bodies such as the ugc? the failure of these institutions to effectively implement the reservation policy points towards the fact that mere communication of these policies to universities alone is inadequate to ensure the deliverance of social justice, and it is high time that the policy makers realise this. in regard to the rti query “whether the communications from ugc regarding implementation of reservation in admissions and appointments are displayed in the university website?,” the pondicherry university administration replied that “all communications on reservation policies on appointments received from ugc are not displayed in university website. reservation is adopted and followed in appointments/promotions as per government of india policies.”22 this reply demonstrates the unwillingness of the authorities to keep the public and the stakeholders informed about policy changes and did not provide a reason for this practice. it is also to be noted that this reply is silent about the reservation policy followed in admission. the very non-transparent state of affairs raises serious doubts 20see table 8.2 details of sc/st student admitted to various courses, presented in 28th annual report of pondicherry university for the year 2013-2014, pp 227–28 21reply written by the deputy registrar (academic) to the ugc and mhrd— no: pu/as/aca2/reser./2016-17/273 dated 21/11/ 2016. 22pondicherry university circular number pu/estt/nt-i/ii-5/540/2016/208 dated 27/8/2016. 454 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 whether the policies enacted by the government are seriously followed, and if so, why are these circulars not made available in public domain? the resultant ignorance about policy changes among the stakeholders reduces implementation of government policy in a public institution to a matter of administrative discretion and benevolence of individuals in positions of power. in this context, unless the personnel in administration respect the rights of vulnerable sections, the government institutions cannot achieve the goal of social and distributive justice. nevertheless, the implementation of a significant social justice mechanism like reservations cannot be dependent on the whims of a benevolent administrator. hence, it is better to create administrative mechanisms to prevent subversion of social justice mechanisms and to ensure that the system cannot be used for the vested interests of individuals in decision-making authority. while the cei act, 2006 and its 2012 amended version were communicated to the registrars of all central universities, we encountered a group of administrators who were ignorant about these rules even in june 2016. the only document they seemed to be aware of were the ugc guidelines put forth in the year 2006. it is once again a mockery of the system that the administrators cite guidelines as a counter to a central act enacted by the parliament of the country. unless the personnel in decisive positions share the concern / ideals of the state with regard to social justice and empowerment, the policy initiatives by apex bodies governing higher education institutions in india would never be implemented in letter and spirit. the pondicherry university example amply demonstrates that that administrations can follow policies of exclusion despite repeated representations made by the stakeholders. an institutional mechanism should be in place to ensure that the policies are implemented as intended by the government rather than being subverted by the vested interest of individuals in administrative capacity. in this context, the intervention of the liaison officer of the special reservation cell of pondicherry university and the response of the university administration to that is an example of how the members of dominant social groups use their position to further their vested interests. on 5 july 2016, the liaison officer of pondicherry university has moved a file seeking details of students admitted across social categories to phd courses since 2007. the section officer of the academic section in response to that noted, 4) moreover, when the issue’ regarding reservation in ph.d. admission is under consideration of the university authorities, moving a file by the special reservation cell unilaterally to the academic section without any approval of the higher authorities seeking details for a longer period of 10 years with an observation that reservation has not been followed in the university as per the norms of the govt. rules is not good office practice. it may cause unnecessary embarrassment to the university. 23 23special reservation cell note file no pu/src/lo/2016/02 dated 05/07/2016 obtained through rti. the liaison officer had sent two reminders and he had been subsequently transferred from that post and another person has been appointed as the assistant registrar of the special reservation cell, and not as liaison officer. though the transfer is claimed as manifestations of academic untouchability in india: exclusionary practices 455 this remark has to be seen in the light of the responsibilities and privileges vested with the liaison officer as laid down by the office memorandum issued by the department of personnel and training of the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions 3. cases of negligence or lapse in the matter of following reservation and other orders relating to the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes, the persons with disabilities, and the other backward classes coming to the light through the inspections carried out by the liaison officer or otherwise, should be reported/ submitted by him to the secretary/additional secretary to the government of india in the respective ministry/department or to the head of the department in respect of offices under the heads of department, as the case may be. the concerned secretary/ additional secretary/head of the department shall pass necessary order on such reports to ensure strict compliance of the reservation orders by the appointing authority concerned. (goi, 2013). thus, the administration’s reply not only hinders the liaison officer from discharging his responsibilities but also denies the independence vested upon the position as it condemns his initiative of seeking relevant information about phd admissions across different reserved categories as “not good office practice.” the difficulties faced by the stakeholders belonging to sc and st categories to ensure proper implementation of reservation as envisaged by the cei act and the recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee talk volumes about the discriminatory tendencies prevalent among individuals holding administrative positions. things could have been a little different if the apex bodies had also clarified the method in which the representativeness of sc, st and obc communities has to be ensured in educational institutions. the pondicherry university example clearly demonstrates that any ambiguity in rules will be exploited in favour of the socially dominant, which automatically proves to be a systematic exclusion of scs and sts. it is disappointing and depressing to realize that the scs and sts have to take up a relentless fight even to implement a right that is already granted by the parliament. these experiences indicate that the system that is currently in practice is insufficient to ensure proper implementation of both social justice mechanism and also welfare measures. given the vulnerabilities of scs and sts, the ugc and mhrd should place a system that compels the institutions to report with evidence that the policy changes/ welfare measures are implemented without any deviation within a specific time period. rather than deputing an officer within the university as a liaison officer, the liaison officer should ideally be an autonomous authority appointed by the ugc / mhrd or the national commission for scs or national commission for sts so that they are not controlled by the administrative hierarchies within an institute. such a setup “normal administrative actions,” replacing the liaison officer with assistant registrar need not be accepted as “normal.” 456 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 would protect a proactive liaison officer being transferred at will by the university administration. further, there cannot be a worse atrocity than a government servant holding a responsible position failing to implement the welfare measures and social justice mechanism brought in by the government itself. taking the number of students/ families who are adversely affected by non-implementation of policies, this is much worse than crimes/ violence that affect individuals as it produces irreversible outcomes and the loss is incurred by the most powerless and vulnerable sections in a casteist society. given that these decisions are taken by public officials, it is high time that the government realizes that these are not unintentional lapses, rather these are systematic denials in the guise of ignorance. hence, the ugc/mhrd should take serious note of how the cei act, 2006 and amendment act, 2012 are implemented and issue directives to universities to ensure the representation of all vulnerable sections in each and every program in every department. given that they have not implemented roster in admission since 2006, the governing bodies of higher education should ensure that the university should declare backlog vacancies in phd as it does in recruitment. the regulatory bodies should contemplate punishment as per the provisions of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (prevention of atrocities) amendment act, 2015 and other acts if any of the reserved categories are excluded systematically. personnel who undermined the constitutional right to equality and other safeguards of the oppressed should be held guilty of discrimination and be punished stringently. such administrators should be publicly blacklisted as discriminators and should be prevented from occupying any administrative post in the future. only such stringent action would protect the sanctity of administrative positions in education which is undoubtedly the most significant pillar to facilitate an inclusive economic and social development. article note this article is an outcome of series of initiatives by faculty members, students, and pondicherry university sc st employees welfare association to ensure the proper implementation of the cei act in the pondicherry university. thanks are due to lakshmanan, valarmathi, singson, and thambidurai, for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. this article is also benefited by several discussions with sc and st faculty members of pondicherry university who had been involved in several deliberations, and thanks are due to them. the views expressed in this article are mine. references senthalir s. (2016a). implement reservation in ph.d. admissions. the hindu, 21 august, 2016 http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/puducherry/implement-reservation-in-phdadmissions/article9013934.ece manifestations of academic untouchability in india: exclusionary practices 457 ——. (2016b). reservation act not implemented: students. the hindu, 24 september, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/reservation-act-notimplemented-students/article9144334.ece the hindu. (2016). protesters seek quota in phd admission. 12 august http://www.thehindu. com/news/cities/puducherry/protesters-seek-quota-in-phd-admission/article8977028.ece deccan chronicle. (2016). malayali student fights pondicherry university. october 7, http:// www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/071016/malayali-student-fightspondicherry-university.html government of india. (2007). central educational institutions (reservations in admission) act 2006, gazette of india, extraordinary, part ii, section i, no 5 dated january 4, 2007, duly communicated to registrars of all central universities by ugc no f 36-2/2003 (cu) dated 8 january 2007. government of india. (2011). two hundred thirty-four report on the central educational institutions (reservation in admissions) amendment bill, 2010, (presented to the rajya sabha on 25 february 2011), rajya sabha department related parliamentary standing committee on human resource development, rajya sabha secretariat, new delhi. http://www.prsindia.org/ uploads/media/centralpercent20educationalpercent20institutionspercent20scr.pdf government of india. (2012). central educational institutions (reservations in admission) amendment act 2012 gazette of india extraordinary, part ii, section i, no 33, june 20, 2012, duly communicated to registrars of all central universities by ugc letter f. no 3519/2008/cu dated 28 september 2012. government of india. (2013). subject: -nomination of liaison officer and setting up of cell in each ministry/department for enforcement of orders of reservations in posts and services of the central government. no.43011/153/2010-estt.(res.), ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions (department of personnel and training), 4th january. pondicherry university. (2016a). 2016-17 prospectus. https://backup.pondiuni.edu.in/sites/ default/files/downloads/prospectuspercent202016-17_210616.pdf pondicherry university. (2016b). provisional admission to the phd degree programme dept. of english. 19-08-2016, https://backup.pondiuni.edu.in/news/provisional-admission-phddegree-programme-dept-english pondicherry university. (2016c). phd admission provisional select list dept. of mathematics. notification, 22-9-2016, https://backup.pondiuni.edu.in/news/phd-admission-provisionalselect-list-dept-mathematics ——. (2016d). phd (french) admission 2016-17 provisional list of selected candidates. 22-82016, https://backup.pondiuni.edu.in/sites/default/files/admission_ph.-.d_french22082016.pdf ugc (university grants commission). (2016a). subject: revised estimates for 2015–16 under non-plan of central universities — regarding point wise reservation roster. f.no 212/2015 (cu) dated 23 march 2016, http://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/6320608_reservationpolicy.pdf, pg 2. ——. (2016b). subject: implementation of reservation policy in admission and appointment. f.no.59-6/2012 (cu) dated 3 june 2016, http://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/6320608_ reservation-policy.pdf ——. (2006). guidelines for strict implementation of reservation policy of the government in universities, deemed, to be universities, colleges, and other grant-in-aid institutions and centers. ugc, new delhi, www.ugc.ac.in/.../4130592_guidelines-reservation-policy-ofthegovernment.pdf © 2022 navin narayan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 245–262 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.442 enculturalising casteism in health care in india navin narayan1 abstract immunology depends on culturing technique, practice, and procedure. society depends on culture. the change in the enculturing technique has always got promoted and accepted, while a change in indian society is discouraged and not accepted despite claims of change happening. the ‘society of india’ heavily depends on casteism and ensures all mechanisms for keeping it functional without change. by accepting culturing techniques from immunology, privileged indian society developed a new technique with the old ethos that may be called ‘culturing casteism’. it has a deep presence in both spheres of health: ‘sociology of sufferer’, namely, the healthcare seeker and ‘sociology of supremacy’, namely, the healthcare profession and professional. this essay explores the way casteism is cultured in both spheres. the essay’s main aim is to understand and define the existence of casteism in health. the data establishes that the domination of privileged castes exists and is nurturing casteism in health. privileged castes have captured the whole (health) sector while the dispossessed and deprived have been trying hard to ‘catch’ the care. keywords caste, dalit, casteism, health, health profession and social justice, doctor and patient, india introduction the problem of poverty and disease unabatedly haunts the developing countries. despite faring better than many developing countries on several counts, india has been plagued by diseases of different kinds, where millions go with scant or without medical care. it is worthwhile to study the sick component of indian society systematically, and the social aspects are much more relevant to the system’s normal functioning. 1programme manager, action aid, jaipur, india email: navinjnu@gmail.com 246 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 therefore, a sociological analysis of ‘patients’ (or care seekers) and the medical profession in the indian context assume great significance. social stratification in india is a prominent symptom of illnesses of all kinds, both social and physical. hence it is imperative to understand social stratification. in a most general sense, it is a sociological concept that refers to the fact that both individuals and groups of individuals are conceived of as constituting higher and lower differentiated strata or classes. in the terms, it has some specific or generalized characteristics or set of characteristics. in the caste stratification systems, individuals are permanently assigned a social position purely because of caste. however, the indian government has made caste barriers illegal. yet, india is the most famous example of a caste system. indian society is broadly divided on the varna ashram model, and it is also considers caste in practice and function. however, prominent features of caste hierarchy exist on occupational superiority, which can be tagged as decision-makers in the system. brahmans were priests and holders of opportunity of religious knowledge—now education holders, kshatriya were rulers and warriors, vaishya were traders and merchandizers, and the rest were shudra who were assigned the duty to work for the above three varna. untouchables are out of the varna system based on their occupation primarily, skinning, sweeping, and other occupations that as a result of which they are not directly in touch with persons of any varna—that is why they are known as untouchable. untouchables are historically considered so inferior that they were forbidden to mingle with upper varna groups on the streets. in india, untouchables continue to face ‘exile’ within systems. the phrases ‘sociology of sufferer’ and ‘sociology of supremacy’ shall be used for subjective purposes in this essay. those at the margins of access to healthcare facility, utilization, and primary facility for ‘good’ health will be considered under ‘sociology of sufferer’. the phrase ‘sociology of supremacy’ will be used for both, individuals and institutions of care provisioning. healthcare providers are those trained and educated by an institution and/or certified to provide the service with professional ethics to their ‘clients’ (care seekers), and the institutions/hospitals/chain of hospitals are the facilities providing services to sick. theorizing caste and explaining casteism: past is present this understanding provides the backdrop to explore the construction of casteism as a social, economic, and political category, given the historical background of indian society. also, its effect on dalits due to discrimination, exploitation, and atrocities continues because of traditional subordination, thus affecting their position in indian society today. the origin of caste and untouchability lies deep in india’s ancient past. the evidence of those origins provided by the archaeological and literary sources is, at best, circumstantial. we now have not hard and clear facts but various competing theories that have proved challenging to substantiate convincingly (webster, 2007). there are three schools of thought in the origin of untouchability. they are racial enculturalising casteism in health care in india 247 and /or conquerors vis-a-vis native, religious, and economic (shah g., 2002, p. 11). none of these explanations about the origin of untouchability is a conclusively proved fact. infact, casteism has been cleverly introduced by the privileged in all human institutions. therefore, no single cause can explain untouchability. it is deeply rooted in indian history and the agrarian social order that dominated the indian economy through the british period and remains the most significant economic sector even now. although the relation of india’s rural untouchables to this social order has shifted in subtle ways in the past two centuries, there remain pervasive continuities, especially in meaning and cultural construction with this deeply rooted past (michael, 2007, p. 20). hence the most apparent feature of hindu society1 is its division into caste. perhaps the untouchables earlier and the most straightforward western image is embodied in the term ‘outcaste’. in this view, being untouchable is beyond the reach of hindu culture and society and almost cultureless (michael, 2007, p. 14). this phenomenon had been studied by missionaries, colonial administrators-turned-historian and ethnographers like abbe dubois and his contemporary dr frances buchanan—from 1792 to 1823 and 1799, respectively—and later by nesfield (1855), risley (1908), senart (1930) and bougle (1971). as articulated by dubois, the earlier outcaste image implies a significant disjunction between the higher caste hindu and lower caste untouchable or outcaste. the term ‘outcaste’ expresses the distinction (michael, 2007, p. 18). the ‘occupational factor’ comes first in senart’s understanding of the origin of caste. celestine bougle, an early theoretician of the indian caste system, came up with more concrete characteristics and fundamental principles of caste. he defines caste as: heredity, hierarchy and repletion or isolation of the group from another, and found all three principles interrelated, which form a unique institution called ‘caste’. he further pointed out that the caste hierarchy was determined less by an occupations’ usefulness or complex nature than by their relative purity and impurity. hutton (1963), the last administrator scholar to review the existing theories of caste, remarked that although most of these theories had contributed to the subject, they generally emphasized the phenomena ‘rather than the causes of caste system’. his theory finds criticism for ignoring the fact that ‘caste is primarily a system of interreacted groups’ in which differences in the distribution of economic and political power are expressed through a cultural language such as restrictions on commensality and matrimonial (jaiswal, 1998, p. 34). despite receiving heavy criticism, hutton’s theory shows that caste is not a sudden artificial creation but an organism that evolved gradually through a multiplicity of factors. even though hutton regards the caste system as a composite unit of many cells, each functioning independently and, as such, unduly minimizes the importance of those socio-economic and cultural bonds which sustain the system, making it an organic whole. his study remains a classic investigation into the origin, nature, and function of caste. later, sociologists shifted the focus to a search into origins, which they regarded as ‘speculative to synchronic’ studies of caste based on fieldwork. two authors, 1hindu society implies a system exists in indian society because the majority of the population, around 81 per cent are the followers of this religion. 248 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 particularly, f.g. bailey and louise dumont, on this subject and other social anthropologists have aligned themselves with one theory (dumont, 1957, 1960, 1966, 1970). two prominent dalit thinkers during british india engaged with untouchables and their situation through two different theories. jyotirao phule (b. 1827–1890) propagated the ‘invader theory’ as a prominent reason for the low status of untouchable and untouchability. jyotirao phule, now popularly known as mahatma phule, portrayed aryans2 as ‘invaders’ and lower caste people as ‘original inhabitants’ of india and described arya culture along with the caste system (phule, 1991) as alien to these original people whom he termed bahujan samaj.3 on the other hand, ambedkar rejects the ‘race theory’ and propagates the ‘religious theory’ of untouchability. he argued, “there is no evidence in the vedas of any invasion of india by the aryan race, and it is having conquered the dasyus and dasas3 who were supposed to be natives of india’’ (ambedkar caste origin) (ambedkar, 1946, pp. 57–82, quoted shah, 2002, p. 22). according to him, there was no racial distinction between the aryans and the dasas.4 as far as physical characteristics were concerned, there was hardly any difference, he argued, between the brahmin and untouchables belonging to the same region. untouchable, scheduled caste and dalits these three words seem to have different meanings and differentiation, but they are synonymous in connotation and used for those at the margins. specific terms come into existence at different time points and evolve over a period, changing from a different time. they were called ‘untouchable’ during the ancient/historical past, ‘scheduled caste’ during the british and ‘dalit’ in the present discourse. the word ‘untouchable’ was used in communication in the vedic times by society. the ‘scheduled caste’ came into existence during the british period for administration and identification based on deprivation, and the term ‘dalit’ came into use correctly and effectively in india after independence. they are used by the liberal thinkers and the untouchables/schedule castes as an assertive term, portraying the struggle to resent discrimination and fight for their rights simultaneously. now all three words are interchangeably used in any discourse on caste in indian society. the term ‘dalit’ has been embraced in academia and media within the country and aboard alike. despite the interchangeability, there is a need to explain the origin of these words as follows. in practice, there has been a tendency since the vedic times to emphasize birth as a criterion for membership of varna, viz., brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, and shudra. the idea of varna has initially been based on race, culture, character, and profession. it takes account mainly of man’s moral and intellectual worth and is a system of classes that appears neutral (kane, 1941, p. 1). the birth-based criteria for allocation of varna gained supremacy over others in subsequent scripts of the smritis, purana 2has also been claimed by brahmin. 3majority community, except for brahmin, kshatriya, and vaisya. 4hindi meaning of an enslaved person. enculturalising casteism in health care in india 249 and upanishad. these were the written codes of conduct projected as the norms for all. the privileged groups promoted the idea as evident historically, which continues the process of strengthening it such that it has metamorphosed in the kind of ‘acceptance’ that birth-based allocation to varna/jati even in present times. finally, this birth-based idea is mainly accepted by the residents of this country as the sole criteria of status until death (ibid., p. 2). the very contradictory concept popularly used in indian society and academics is that “varna is the origin of caste”. previously, the essay used the term “savarna” as a club of four varnas: brahmin, kshatriya, vaisya, and shudra. the brahmin varna does not have any other caste, similar to kshatriya and vaisya. is shudra having any caste in varna? the answer will be “yes”. that is why there are so many castes within shudra varna. it means varna is not the origin of caste. hence practically, caste is the origin of ‘occupation’; hence all the different occupations emerged from shudra varna and were assimilated as ‘servant of all three varna’ and compelled to do duty to serve them without any rights, as created by god. almost all the shudra communities and occupation names are similar to nai,5 badhai,6 gadria, etc.7 caste is the prime decider of occupation and positions. there are some occupations (on the pretext of using the word duty) that can occur without touching, like cleaning/collecting human excreta or carrying a dead animal. almost all untouchables do sweeping, skinning-related work that can happen without human touching and in isolation. untouchables live on the outskirts of their village and near ponds, and always in the southern part of villages. the wind direction in the indian climatic conditions is from east/west to south. therefore, the wind should first touch the ‘savarnas’ and then reach the ‘avarna’, the ‘untouchables’, to avoid ‘pollution’. dalit8 is a marathi word meaning ground, broken, or extracted to pieces. it gained a new cultural context when two movements in maharashtra—the state ambedkar lived and worked—in early 1870 used this word to define the agony of a social group constituted of untouchables to assert their rights as human beings. one was known as dalit panther, and another was dalit literature. dalit panther supported consciousness and uprising on the social-cultural front while dalit literature did so through writings. eleanor zelliot (1992), in her book from untouchable to dalit, writes about this transition “by substituting the word black for dalit. the reader can immediately understand that a phenomenon comparable to the american black panthers and black literature has surfaced among the lower castes in social and literary affairs in western india. like the american movements, the dalit panther and dalit school of literature represent a new level of pride, militancy, and 5barber to cut hair, body massage and other work regularly during marriages, funerals. even the womenfolk of the community are assigned the duty to serve women of the three other varnas even during delivery and rituals. duty is compelled based on compulsion and not on choice. 6badhai is a carpenter who does wooden work, making even beds/cots. 7gadaria is shepherd who rears sheep. ‘gadar’ is the hindi word for sheep. 8marathi is a dialect spoken in the state of maharashtra and written in hindi script. 250 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 sophisticated creativity. the marathi word dalit like the english word black was chosen by the group itself and used proudly. even in the english press, the unfamiliar marathi word must be used”. she further writes, “none of the normal words— untouchable, schedule caste, depressed caste, gandhi’s euphemism, harijan—had the same connotation”. dalit implies those who have been broken, ground down by those above them deliberately and actively. there is in the word itself an inherent denial of pollution, karma, and justified caste hierarch (zelliot, 1992). now, in india, those castes under a legally recognizable identity as the protected group are called schedule caste (sc), schedule tribe (st) and other backwards caste (obc). all these historically dispossessed communities comprise the demographic majority of india, around 104 crore (1040 million) out of 130 (1030 million) crores as per government data. sixteen per cent are sc, and 8 per cent are st; government highlights no official percentage of obc, but in jobs, 27 per cent representation (called reservation) for 50 per cent of the population of obc. hence the total population of obc would be around 54 per cent. by adding the population of all the dispossessed community: sc (16.2 per cent), st (8.2 per cent),9 obc (54 per cent) around 80 per cent population of india as per census of 2011. there are many other religious communities other than hindu, such as parsi, christian, sikh, buddhist, muslim, and jain. schedule caste status is given to those from hindu or sikh and buddhist religion (only an untouchable can convert to this). even dalits who converted to christianity are not given the legal identity of schedule caste, while their social status remains the same. schedule tribe is from any religion. the numerically highest minority is muslim, in which 90 per cent are covered into obc also called pasmanda10 within the muslim religion. there are many invisible communities known as a de-notified community (felony or civilization; ambedkar) in india—ancestors of roma and sinti of europe and the usa—also out of the census because of ‘invisibility’. the legal status of castes (sc, st, obc and none) is a principal matter of state, not the union, so that the same caste may have a different legal identity in different states. however, the social status will be the same in line with discrimination, exclusion, and atrocities. class-caste in india: analogue or alien the relationship between the ideas of caste and class has been a matter of controversial discourse. some say that caste is analogous to class and that there is no difference between the two. others hold that the idea of castes is fundamentally opposed to that of class. it is necessary to emphasize one feature of the caste system that has not been referred to before. although caste is different from and opposed to the notion of class, the caste system—as distinguished from caste—recognizes a class system which is somewhat different from the graded status referred to above. one does understand how the hindus were graded and divided into so many castes. further, castes get divided into different classes or castes. the hindu is caste conscious, and he is also 9office of the registrar general & census commissioner & ministry of home affairs, 2021. 10synonyms of classification of ajlaf and arjal together in muslim religion except for ashraf. enculturalising casteism in health care in india 251 class conscious. whether one is caste conscious or class conscious depends on the caste; one comes in conflict with one’s own identity. if the caste with which he comes in conflict is a caste within the class to which he belongs, he is caste conscious. if the caste is outside the class to which he belongs, he is class conscious. anyone seeking necessary evidence on this point may study the non-brahman movement in the madras and bombay presidency. such a study will undoubtedly indicate that “to a hindu caste periphery is as accurate as class periphery, and caste consciousness is as absolute as class consciousness” (ambedkar, 2017, p. 152). in general, a caste-based society and economy are in which property rights, as well as occupations, are heredity, compulsory and endogenous. the organisational scheme of the caste system is based on the division of people into social groups (or caste) in which the civil, cultural, religious, and economic rights of each caste are predetermined or ascribed by birth and made hereditary. moreover, endogamy remains the central feature of the caste system. however, the assignment of civil, cultural, and economic rights is unequal and hierarchical. the system also provides a regulatory mechanism to enforce the social and economic organisation through the instruments of social ostracism (or a system of social and economic penalties) and reinforces it further with justifications from the philosophical elements in the hindu religion (thorat, 2004). this feature of caste makes society’s institution rigid, stubborn and changeresistant. these features imply that the hindu social order is based on three interrelated principles. these predetermine social, religious, and economic rights among the caste and provide intense social, religious, and economic ostracism supported by social and religious ideology to maintain the hindu social order. in ambedkar’s view, the doctrine of inequality is the core, the heart, of the hindu social order. what is essential is that the philosophical elements of hinduism also directly or indirectly support this system. he also observed isolation and exclusion (social and physical) of untouchables as a unique feature of the hindu social order. the principle of rank and gradation governs the caste system as the rights increase in ascending order from the untouchable to the brahmin. it is a hierarchical interlinked system. graded inequality based on birth exists and is nurtured too—no rights, only duty and punishments given to untouchable or dalit. the rights increase as the varna hierarchy is ascends towards the brahmins, who have all the rights and no punishment. ambedkar recognised caste as a system of social and economic governance. the organisation of production and distribution is essential based on specific customary rules and norms, which are unique and distinct. within this framework, castes are artfully interlinked in a manner such that the rights and privileges of the higher castes become the disability of the lower caste, particularly the untouchables. in this sense, in ambedkar’s view, caste can exist only in plural numbers, and there cannot be such a thing as caste as a singular phenomenon. castes need to be conceived as a ‘system’ of societal governance interlinked in unequal measures of societal, cultural, religious, and economic relations with each other (beteille, 2011). 252 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 profession in class structure the close association between caste and occupation in the traditional social system of india is widely known. against this background, it is instructive to know the caste background of those who take to modern occupations for which none of the castes had any legitimate claims. the most significant change in the occupational structure, mostly in advanced industrialist societies during this century, is the growth of white-collar jobs such as clerical, technical, scientific, administrative, managerial, and professional occupations. in recent years, the professions have been the fastest growing sections of the occupational structure and increased the complexities of trade and commerce, giving rapid growth to professions. trade and commerce are occupations of vaisyas in indian society. indian industrialists are from these segments, and these professions are in the clutch of these sections (damodaran, 2018). it is pertinent to recall that the old system of chaturvarna made a distinction between the first three varnas, the brahmans, kshatriyas, vaishyas and the fourth varna, namely the shudra; the first three ‘classes’ are the regenerated classes. the shudra is the unregenerate class. the first of the varnas were entitled to wear the sacred thread and study the vedas. vaisya was/ is for business and trade. the shudra was entitled to neither, so they were regarded as the unregenerate class. in a society where education is a private service and to be purchased by the consumer based on the strength of the family’s economic resources, entry into those professions, which require significant investments of time and funds, invariably remain restricted to the rich. inequality in education and class/caste are significant because they are the basis for social distinctions. sociologists agree that the nature of the society largely determines whether some people are more affluent or more powerful than others (coser et al., 1983, p. 158). even when steps are initiated through appropriate social policies to facilitate the entry of deprived sections onto these occupations, given the persistence of traditional disabilities, the erstwhile deprived categories will, in all probability, not be equipped to avail of these opportunities. this gap between the provision of opportunities and utilization of opportunities (bondre, 2013) is vast and can be narrowed only by taking drastic measures favouring the deprived. health for justice and justice for health: equality without equity in most counties, the justice system serves the wealthy and powerful quite well, so also in india. similarly, justice for the health of the wealthy and, worse, deprived living in an unequal society (dias & welch, 2011). thus, it is all about social inequality. why does it exist, and how does it affect everyday life? why is it tolerated in a society dedicated to the ideal of equality? inequalities of wealth and power underline many of the world’s problems. enculturalising casteism in health care in india 253 in indian society, brahmanism is a way of theory, discipline, or conceptualization to understand the social function or sociology of indian society. similarly, marxism is to understand the function of the political economy of western society. marxism is silent on sociology; without sociology, political economy cannot be understood adequately in indian society. a different ‘ism’ is required to understand indian society practically, which is amdekarism. ambedkar confronted the western authors against their racial notions of caste. ambedkar said that western writers opted for race roots of the origin of caste because they impregnated themselves with colour prejudice. he blamed other western authors—emile senart to hh risley, including jc nesfield and denzil ibbetson, for defining ‘caste’ as a unit by itself and not as one within a system of castes (kumar, 2014). ambedkar as a thinker studied indian society in addition to the western with its peculiar way of functioning based on the core system that is different from western society called the “caste system”. this system continues to be the driving force in indian society even today, discussed in detail initially in the conceptualization. here the focus is to understand ambedkar’s views on indian society and consider them as an approach called “ambedkarism” to study indian society. ambedkar defines the nature of indian society as structurally rigid, with unequal power relations and exclusion based on birth. birth is the decisive point in indian society. in his book annihilation of caste (2013), ambedkar writes in the preface that: “i shall be satisfied if i make the hindus realize that they are sick men of india and that their sickness is causing danger to the health and happiness of others”. health and illness: contradictory correlation health is dependent upon economics. and one’s economic situation is based on social and psychological mindsets. both are interdependent, but psycho-social is hidden, and its visibility is based on economics. social identity is the foundation stone of economics, and economics is the foundation stone of health. health interlinked with one’s living condition. that is why one’s health condition can be considered as a ‘creator’ of symptoms of illness. health is the deciding factor in illness. illness refers to the absence of ill health, and vice versa; health is the absence of illness. the perception of ‘illnesses and ‘health’ is governed by the economic propensity to access care (gwatkin, 2000). the ‘action taken’ stage, which is assumed to follow the recognition of the ‘symptoms’ of illness (or health) in the health culture model, is largely determined by economically driven access. it, therefore, means ‘wealth is health’ and not ‘health is wealth’. the concepts of health and illness are neither clear-cut nor objectively factual. they are but subjective experiences which are historically and culturally bound and therefore need to be understood in a context (thorat, 2009). many approaches concerning the social dimension of health, illness, and medicine have been developed in the past years. the sociological approach is very illuminating and helps us understand 254 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 the relations between health, illness, medicine, and society. similarly, the theories and concepts developed around health-illness and medicine in time are affiliated with social, financial, and cultural conditions. they interact dynamically due to various social, financial, political, cultural, environmental, and other factors that affect health and illness. the systemization of medical knowledge in a society is also related to social relationships, standards, institutions, social structure, and the organization of social life (kadda, 2010). several sociological perspectives such as parsonian or functionalism, the marxist perspective of political economy, social constructionism, feminism and medicalization, biomedical approaches and holistic approach have also been employed over the years to understand health and illness as social phenomena. these approaches are helpful to understanding the societal aspect of health-as-wellness and illness-as dysfunction by putting them together at intersections with the issues of gender, class, knowledge, and power. ‘sociology of supremacy11’ and sociology of sufferer’12: fact and figure there are two dimensions in this section which capture the holistic picture of healthcare in india. the first section examines the supremacy in healthcare businesses, the second explores the ambit of healthcare professionals, and the third construes dalit people’s lives based on field data. sociology of privatization of healthcare in india: examining supremacy sociology is the systematic study of human society. does it provide evidence and explanations of ‘how society works’? sociology can be considered as the actions of individuals and groups, patterns of similarities and differences between people within a single society and between societies of the distribution of social resources, and economic and political power. sociology is concerned with studying individuals— social actors and agents operating in the social world and trying to understand how the social world works—by investing in how social structures and relationships develop, persist and change. social and cultural factors play a critical role in the dynamics of economic and political systems. the hindu social order is universally recognized as a uniquely indian approach to philosophical and worldly affairs, and its complexity has inflexibilities which cause backwardness, rigidity, and unchanging stereotypes. considerations of caste community and clan relationship persist at all levels and in all spheres of activity, whether industry, bureaucracy, or politics (veit, 1976). 11supremacy is a symptom of the brahman tantra (system) based on birth and diluting/not furnishing democracy with the support of religion by hook or by crook and still holding onto all the spheres—business, trade, professionalism, academics, even the mechanism of a democratic system such as politics and bureaucracy. 12based on occupations mainly related to skinning, sweeping, weaving, and washing, 1231 castes are in the schedule. enculturalising casteism in health care in india 255 ‘the colonial period and pro-independence struggle substantially altered indian conception of ‘how society should be organized’. the congress party, later recognized as the party of independence, began its life in 1885 as an organisation of upper class, urban india, who sought greater privileges from the british within the then existing order of colonial rule. it owed its strength to the combinations of mass support in rural india, its intellectual elites’ political and organizing role, and the financial contributions of nationalist-inclined industrialists’ wealthy landowners. thus, when the congress became india’s ruling power, its choice of economic policies was affected by commitments to various factions of the party and a strong desire not to alienate any of its supporters (veit, 1976, p. 25). the aspirations of mass supporters and elites, industrialists and landowners, were undisputedly opposite. nonetheless, almost all the diverse interests within the congress had (and still have) symbolic representation. generally, the real power has been kept in the hands of the politically active urban petty traditionalist and the newly emergent rural upper-middle class. the ‘bombay plan’ or the ‘tata-birla plan’ in 1944 was the first collective effort made by the bourgeoisie giant businesses to outline the path of advancement for independent india. they wanted a national government to exist at the centre, which would have complete freedom in economic matters. the ‘people’s plan’ proposed that the land and underground riches (mineral resources) would be the collective property of the nation, and heavy industries and banks would be subject to state control. small agricultural producers were to be free from all other taxation, except local rates, largescale cooperative agriculture, minimum wages, etc. a third plan known as the ‘gandhian plan’ was different from both these plans and the general stand taken by the national planning committee. author of the gandhian plan, shriman narayan agrawal, said, “i feel that these plans have not considered the special cultural and sociological foundations on which our economic planning in india must be based; merely copying western plans, whether the capitalist or socialist type, will not do; we must evolve an indigenous plan with its roots firmly in the indian soil” (namboodiripad, 1974, p. 32). the decade before the attainment of indian independence, was one of intense discussion on the necessity, possibilities, and general direction of planning the postindependence economic setup that the country went through. these discussions led to the emergence of three distinct groups of thinkers on the question of planning: the left radical, the frankly capitalist and the gandhian. the conflict of trends represented by these three groups has left a clear imprint on post-independence planning (ibid.). this discussion concludes that except for democracy, which modern india has never challenged as an objective, india has had so many ideological differences to prevent anyone’s approach from becoming dominant. in practice, for each policy objective—democracy, egalitarianism, nationalism, and centralism—there are several counter objectives. these include: authoritarianism, elitism, internationalism, and decentralism. in 1948, india announced its first industrial policy resolution, regarded as a retreat from socialism. nehru defended it because the economy was weak and that the achievement of india’s economic development required the full participation of the private sector (pavlov, 1975, p. 90). 256 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 health problems and health practices are community-specific and deeply embedded within ecological, social, economic, and political systems. these profoundly influence the size, extent, and nature of community health problems. while the public health system evolved on the health and development committee (or joseph bhore committee) in 1946, the private sector is not new to the indian health service system. it was a predominant mode of service for the well off. bhore committee (1946), mudaliyar committee (1962), junglewala committee (1967), kartar singh committee (1973), srivastava committee (1975), and bajaj committee (1986) mainly brought effective healthcare and shaped the path of the healthcare system in india. in addition, the chopra committee (1948), mehta committee (1957), renuka roy committee (1960), jain committee (1966), krishna committee (1982) and mehta committee (1983) were constituted for different tasks and objectives. different committees, constituted over a while, show that the ‘idea of health’, which was articulated by sir joseph through the committee’s recommendations, was being defeated gradually by the government. over the period, ‘health’, perceived holistically, has been reduced into health services via family planning to healthcare services. later, the idea of ‘health for all through the international agenda based on the alma ata declaration-health for all by 2000 ad’ was implemented. the goal remained unattained by many countries, including india, and the ‘deadline’ was pushed to 2010. it was seemingly subsumed by the mdgs and sgds subsequently. examining and investigating the much-talked international agenda for achieving health and wellbeing is pertinent in today’s context to know whether it is serving the purpose of ‘health’. sociology of doctors: indian scenario healthcare professionals are a significant entity in the sphere of health. a doctor is the leading actor in the therapeutic process of healthcare delivery and is solely responsible for people’s health. these men and women are trained as professionals by medical institutions to take care of the sick and cure illness. in short, social, economic, and political opportunism affects careers. all the more, when the social system of india is a hierarchical ranking system often represented as a ‘ladder’ in which there are differences in access to social resources, individuals at the top ranks have more access. at the same time, those at the bottom lack social resources also called structured inequality (international encyclopaedia of sociology, 1972). the social background of doctors becomes an essential indicator in two ways. the first strong indicator is the social mobility among scheduled caste communities in the profession and their acceptance as doctors and entrepreneurs. second, who are these doctors; what are their caste, tribes, religious affiliations, etc. by analysing this, we can understand the social fabrics, opportunities, and chances of becoming doctors. scarce studies on the basic scenario of a doctor’s profession—not on the sociology of doctors—were undertaken by medical sociologists till the 1980s. few systemic studies of medical professionals, in general, have been done, but not of the persons ‘who are in the profession’ or ‘persons studying the discipline enculturalising casteism in health care in india 257 of medicine’. professional issues have been studied, but issues of the profession have remained neglected when it is much needed to understand the very diversity which exists in india. some sociological studies have also been conducted on doctors in the making, that is, on medical students, their background characteristics, professional socialisation, work value and professional aspirations by rao (1966). in 1972, madan (1972) examined both aspects—health professionals and organisational aspects of health professionals in ghaziabad city of uttar pradesh. another study by madan (1980) does provide important work on ‘doctors and society’. similarly, the occupational roles and structures of doctors and nurses were studied by oomen (1978). in 1979, venkata ratnam located his study in the southern part of india—tamil nādu—on medical services and the social background of doctors and nurses in hospitals. the study conducted by ramalingaswami (1980) stands out in that it examined the social background of medical students and estimated the cost of medical education. this study contributed to understanding the aspirational resources and barriers to actualising aspirations. chandani (1985) worked on a sociological exploration of the medical profession to examine the social background of doctors, while nagla (1988) dealt with the socio-cultural background of doctors, their attitudes towards their profession and measures of satisfaction. most of these studies are focused on medical sociology by a sociologist. they were/are entirely silent or ignored to study, understand, and discover the causes of non-participation/almost nil participation of the dalit section in the profession. investigating social identity and its influence on the medical profession leaves much to be explored. despite the policy of protective discrimination pursued by the government of india, the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other backward communities are not represented in prestigious professions such as medicine, as studies show (narayan, 2017). the primary condition for entry into medicine as a profession calls for substantial economic investment. it is the economic resource base of one’s family and an appropriate cultural base and social capital for the aspiring individuals, which determines the aspiration and entry into the profession. a minimum level of socioeconomic development is a prerequisite for even utilising the unique benefits extended to underdeveloped social categories. on the one hand, they do not seem to have attained the basic minimum level of socio-economic development, which is a prerequisite to entering the profession. the spread of education is minimal among scheduled caste and scheduled tribes compared with its spread among the total population. on the other hand, it seems clear that in a hierarchically organised society, unless specific policies are consciously evolved and vigorously implemented to protect the interest of the underdeveloped social categories, they are not likely to be represented in prestigious professions. group-specific policies are becoming more relevant and propose better outcomes. 258 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 for example, data on the same aspect gathered for the doctoral research13 has exemplified some of the observations made in the preceding paragraphs. the field data suggested that there were twenty-two health service providers, including jarrah14 and quacks. half of the doctors did not have any professional degree. most of them had worked as ʻassistants in trained doctorsʼ clinics and had opened their own ʻclinicʼ. nearly 83 per cent of doctors were from twice-born15 communities, the club of brahmin, kshatriya and bania, two out of twenty-two doctors were women. the majority of doctors were the followers of hindu religion. sixty per cent were native dwellers of this block16 which comprised the study site. there were only eleven as far as degree holder doctors were concerned. all were from twice-born castes. among them, two had mbbs degrees, three had mbbs and other medical degrees, and six had bams/bhms degrees-bachelor of ayurvedic and medicine science (bams) and bachelor of homeopathic and medicine science degree—both acquired after studying at university-recognized colleges for three years. hence, the fact is that despite reservations in medical education, not even a single trained doctor or even quack has a clinic in the vicinity of the schedule caste localities. education is still a matter of a family’s social and economic capacity. in the area, schedule caste is so poor that becoming a doctor is a distant dream to many parents and having a successful clinic in the area is also one of the dreams. sociology of sufferer the sufferer is a noun and synonym for the victim, casualty, subject, target, martyr, object, patient, and case. though a ‘disease victim’ might be anyone, but the ‘sufferer’ would be unable to access health services, opportunities of access and utilisation and equality in the domain. after all sociology of economics will play a decisive role. in this parlance, the objective of this section is to analyse ‘who becomes and remains the sufferer.’ as mentioned earlier, the meaning of sociology of sufferers expands its wings on all synonyms in field data collected for the phd.17 this section’s qualitative and quantitative data are collected from four villages in agra district of uttar pradesh, 13collected for phd thesis submitted to csmch, jnu in 2017. 14urdu word for quacks, basically a traditional healer. 15twice-born is the english meaning of the sanskrit word “dwij”. dwijcan only is a male member—not woman—of the first three varnas in brahminical hindu society: brahmin, kshatriya, and vaisya. the first birth is from the mother’s womb, and the second is spiritual after ‘upanayan sankskar’. first birth, meaning born from the mother’s womb, is impure till upanayan sansakar. the purity is considered after upnayan sanskar. that is why the word dwij came into existence. 16shamashabad is the block’s name located in agra district of the state of uttar pradesh. it is india’s highest populated state, bigger than pakistan, and very politically active on dalit issues, where a dalit woman has became chief minister of the state three times. it has a significant number of dalits. agra is famous for the taj mahal and manufacturing shoes and leather items in india and abroad. 17collected for phd thesis submitted to csmch jnu in 2017. enculturalising casteism in health care in india 259 india. identification of villages has been done based on differentiation in all four villages, such as different percentages of dalit, different powerful community that dominates and mixed population in the percentage of socially dominants, shudra, and dalit. the percentage of dalits in all four villages is different. the identity of the dominant caste and classification of health centres can be as two sub-centres, and the rest two are non-sub centres. two hundred respondents were studied in this research. half of the respondents were from scheduled castes, the rest were from obc, and the others were from the historically privileged castes. an alarming situation emerged based on the details provided by them. the endeavour has been to understand and define the existing situation to establish the ‘sociology of sufferers’ and use the data of narratives. a set of indicators was included in the respondents’ schedule to understand access and utilisation of healthcare services as ‘sufferers’ from schedule castes. health perception and the components of health and illness as health as ‘illness’ were explored. hindu religion is prominent in the villages. more than half (60 per cent) have studied up to class five. education is still a matter of the privileged caste and has a robust correlation between caste and poverty. availability and access to basic facilities are essential prerequisites of good health. access to water facility, electricity, toilet and availability of rooms, kitchen, bathrooms, personal transport facility and even the type of pds—public distribution system (subsidised food grain, monthly)— card are significant parameters that directly correlate with good health. seventy-two per cent have a separate water source and are not allowed to fetch water from others even in an emergency. only nine per cent of sc houses have toilets in their home. landlessness among schedule caste communities is very high, and families are heavily dependent on subsidised food grain (only 17 per cent have subsidised food grain card). irregularity in the opening of pds shops makes the situation worse. pds shops are allotted or run by a local politician or family or relatives. scheduled caste communities live in unhygienic conditions at the corner of the village without any basic facilities, insufficient water availability, food availability and consumption, and in overall poverty compared to other social groups. the overall health conditions of the people of india are not satisfactory, and this implies that those from scheduled castes sections of the population would be miserable (shah & et al., 2006). the causes for discrimination are many and exist in healthcare access, and non-dalits are governed by age-old beliefs and stereotypes to continue practising discrimination (acharya, 2010). the sc and st in india have faced historical and continuing forms of discrimination and deprivation, and this is obliviously reflected in the incidence of poor health conditions among them relative to the others (deshpande, 2000; borooah, diwakar, et al., 2014; dwivedi, 2017). the socially weaker sections have higher mortality rates and poor nutritional conditions. the women and children who form the marginalised sections receive less health care than their ‘others’ counterparts. the data indicated that the conditions are worse for sc than the others, and therefore, the scheduled sections of the population are miserable. 260 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 some questions have been used to know about the number of rooms, availability of kitchen or separate kitchen space and bathrooms as an indicator for primary facility required for human existence. it has also been used as an indicator of their economic situation. only 4 per cent of dalits have kitchen space, while 21 per cent of the privileged community has the same, and 89 per cent have pucca (made of bricks) rooms. a considerable difference in the availability of primary facilities in their house reflects a life full of stress and a poor economic and living environment. theoretically, being poor and excluded, schedule caste communities are more prone to seasonal disease and chronic illness than other social groups. data reveals the well-established fact of poverty and illness around the health status of dalits in india (ramaiah, 2015). narratives from the field of dalit respondents have also been penned down on aspects of availing government health facilities equally, including personnel behaviour. people are afraid to complain about the staff member of insufficient time being given, because of the fear of mistreatment by personnel against whom the complaint has been made or his supporters. “doctor does not listen. they do not pay attention to any complaint,” was the observational ‘complaint’ shared by one respondent. they also said, “jaan phahchan ho to kaam hota hai anyatha nahin. (if you know any staff member, you are likely to get some attention; otherwise, no attention is given to patients).” also, one statement by a respondent reflected that they felt comfortable consulting the doctor(s) from their community. however, the doctor(s) from other communities often make them feel ‘different’ and therefore are ‘scared’ to talk to them. “mariz ka apni samaj ke doctor se baat karte huye himmat badata hai. (patients get confidence when talking with doctors and staff from their community.)” they feel that casteism is a potent symbol of social capital, which strongly supports their community and suppresses others. conclusion: reclaim the rights the exclusion, discrimination, and ‘suffocation’ aspects of being born as a dalit in indian society completely missed out on the ambit of public health researchers and policymakers. even government studies or data gathering exercises report disparity among social groups but do not consider them ‘causes of caste’. as a result, caste appears and gets reported as a mere social factor such as age, sex, literacy, occupation, etc., but one is unable to extract its effect. it is a policy blunder that considers the caste but not its effect. until last year, india has had four rounds of nfhs reports (national family health survey) (the fifth was released in 2020) that boldly reflect disparity among different social groups. however, the policymakers still refrain from accepting and addressing them as policy matters. it should address both preventive and promotive levels. the disparity in health service outcomes among different social groups should be considered a result of discrimination which has a legal bearing. therefore, the responsible person should be held accountable. social diversity should be respected in spirit and encouraged at all levels of the system by providing significant space for people from diverse backgrounds. orientation of health personnel enculturalising casteism in health care in india 261 on the caste question should be part of their study and training, and sensitivity should be enforced and ensured in the curriculum. the nfhs and other micro-level data are solid evidence that discrimination exists, but nothing has been put in a system to weed out discrimination. hence, a policy intervention is immediately required. references acharya, s.s. 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(1992). from untouchable to dalit. delhi: manohar publication. © 2022 malarvizhi jayanth. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. culture caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 137–152 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.352 struggling for freedom from caste in colonial india: the story of rettaimalai srinivasan malarvizhi jayanth12 abstract rettaimalai srinivasan (1860–1945), a dalit leader in colonial india, argued that there were two kinds of freedom struggles being waged in the region–one against the british and the other against caste. his autobiography, published in tamil in 1938, is likely the first dalit autobiography, and along with his other papers, pamphlets, and speeches comprises a potent anti-caste archive that is yet to be studied. in these texts, srinivasan defined untouchability as a complex of social and economic practices and emphasized the role of dalit leadership in undoing these practices. as his work indicates, the freedom struggle against caste required a re-signification of caste names and untouchability itself and an increased representation of dalit groups within governance. by seeking to turn the name of the pariah caste into one that could be used with pride, he continuously grappled with the question of self-representation and an appropriate vocabulary to do so. his definition of untouchability as intimately linked with agrarian labour lies at the heart of his emphasis on the importance of dalit representatives governing and leading people from these communities towards freedom. keywords dalit, dravidian, representation, pariah, colonial india, dalit autobiography, self governance 1king’s college, university of cambridge research fellow in slavery and its impacts king’s college, king’s parade, cambridge – cb2 1st email: mj596@cam.ac.uk 138 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 introduction in the anti-caste dalit view in colonial india, the project of representation required re-signifying caste names and groupings, and—in order to ensure both the undoing of caste disabilities and the full participation of lower-caste groups in the democratic process—making space for leadership from their own communities.122 the struggle for anti-caste representation was also at loggerheads with nationalist projects, as was most famously exemplified in mohandas gandhi’s fast against allowing the depressed classes (as dalits were known in colonial india) separate electorates—a provision of electoral reform that had been formulated and presented by dr. b.r. ambedkar (1891–1956) and rettaimalai srinivasan (1860–1945) at the round table conference in london. srinivasan’s writings and speeches at this conference and elsewhere show that arguments for representative government in british india were formulated as part of anti-caste—and not just nationalist—struggles. while ambedkar’s national contributions have received some attention, the manner in which the many meanings of representation coalesce in the work of srinivasan is yet to be addressed. srinivasan attended the round table conference in 1930 to 1931 with dr. ambedkar and participated in various struggles to improve dalit representation both in the southern administrative bloc known as the madras presidency and across british india, arguing that dalit political representation was crucial to righting the offence of untouchability. through a forthcoming translation of his autobiography, which is the oldest known dalit autobiography, and a recently-published collection of his writings and other papers related to his work, it is possible to reconstruct how srinivasan’s work in representing his political life, the caste he was from, and the depressed classes more generally feeds into his definition of untouchability in relation to agrarian labour—a definition that led to his belief in the importance of leadership drawn from dalit communities in order to erase caste disabilities. the case for dalit leadership of their own communities or the project of representative government that srinivasan advances—i will argue—is marked by these three meanings of representation: (1) representation of the political self in the autobiography, (2) of a specific caste within the madras presidency region, and, (3) of the depressed classes across british india. this history will show how anticaste claims were advanced in the struggle for representative government and how categories like ‘pariah’ and ‘dravidian’ were re-signified through such movements, thereby continuing to shape contemporary political formations. representing the self srinivasan summarised his life and work in a short text that appears to be the first dalit autobiography. though dalit literature—with an emphasis on dalit autobiography— is generally dated to the 1990s, work by srinivasan and his contemporaries pushes this date further back by several decades.3 srinivasan’s autobiography is currently the 1see parthasarathi muthukaruppan (2014) for an introduction to the use of the term ‘dalit’ in political mobilization. 3parthasarathi muthukaruppan (2017, p. 65) documents the rise of tamil dalit literature in the 1990s, starting with the publication of bama’s autobiographical novel karukku in 1992. the work of srinivasan’s colleagues in anti-caste struggle, including that of ayothee thass and m.c. raja, is discussed later in this article. struggling for freedom from caste in colonial india: the story of rettaimalai srinivasan 139 earliest known text in the genre. he likely wrote this autobiography at around the same time that dr. ambedkar was writing his autobiographical notes titled ‘waiting for a visa’, dated to around 1935–1936 (ambedkar, 1993). while dr. ambedkar’s notes would eventually only be published in 1990 (ambedkar, 1993, p. 661), srinivasan’s autobiography was published in tamil in 1938. reprints followed in 1999 and 2017. this makes the autobiography one of the oldest, if not the first, dalit autobiographies. srinivasan presents his autobiography explicitly as a political biography, noting that it was a record of his work for his community. remarks about his early life and his account of his wife, for instance, feature as little more than asides. he writes in his preface that the autobiography is a record of the social history of his people and of their hard work directed towards uplifting their community. while scholars have attended to the political meaning of late-twentieth-century dalit autobiographies in conjunction with their literary quality, srinivasan’s work is relentlessly focused on the political work of its author.4 its brevity and matter-of-fact presentation have more in common with the political pamphlet—a genre srinivasan wrote in as well—than other genres. for this reason, this article seeks to locate the text within a political context, rather than explore its literary value. the text lays much emphasis on srinivasan’s work as a dalit leader. it begins with a felicitation offered by the revenue collector of chingleput, summarizing the work that srinivasan has done for his community. it then moves into srinivasan’s voice, briefly sketches his childhood and early work and discusses his publication of a journal titled “paraiyan” (which may be translated as ‘the pariah’ in english)5 starting in 1893 in a bid to reclaim a name used with disgust and elevate it to respectability. after mentioning his attempts to travel to london and the detour to south africa that followed, he offers a summary history of caste as an external imposition upon the indigenous dravidians of southern india. he devotes a paragraph to the petition against conducting the civil services exam in india—a petition that is provided in fragmentary form at the end of the autobiography. it is his view that the labour commissioner, intended to support the welfare of the depressed classes, was established in response to this petition. he documents the political mobilizations intended to meet and felicitate various british administrators as formative of “adi dravida society”.6 he sketches the difficulties faced in educating children from this community, despite some desultory government efforts to do so. he moves on to discuss his work in the legislative assembly of the madras presidency, discussing the laws he brought in to undo the exclusions produced by caste practice, and briefly mentions his contemporary m.c. raja’s similar work. he writes of his visit to london for the round table conference, discusses the contradictions of joint and reserved constituencies and the problem of temple entry. he declares his antipathy towards religious conversion, arguing that those within the depressed classes were not hindu. he goes on to criticise the leadership of the indian national congress and gandhi, writing that he signed the poona pact out of pity for the 4raj kumar (2010), for instance, sketches the differences between dalit personal narratives and more nationalist work in the genre. 5as noted later in the article, the word ‘pariah’ in english stands in for all ‘out-caste’ groups, while srinivasan was using the tamil word to refer to the specific caste he was from. 6the use of the terms ‘dravidian’ and ‘original dravidian’ or ‘adi dravida’ are discussed at length later in the article. 140 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 latter. a brief aside about his wife follows, just before he concludes this very brief tour of his life history. the autobiography was published with three appendices—the first being the petition against the civil service exam (which the author notes was similar to that submitted by the muslims), the second being a summary of his legislative work opening public spaces to all, and the third a summary of the poona pact for subsequent electoral regimes following the round table conference. as this summary indicates, and as srinivasan himself declares in the preface, the autobiography was intended to be a political biography, largely concerned with documenting the ways in which he sought to improve the well-being of both his caste and dalit groups more generally. this is of relevance to his life project of improving the condition of dalit groups though leadership that is drawn from their ranks. srinivasan’s tamil autobiography used to stand alone, as a fragmentary text with little other evidence to support its claims. the first lines and sections of an appendix were found to be missing in the 1999 reprint. there were no other available sources with which to reconstruct his anti-caste work and philosophy. this text is now, however, bolstered by a wealth of newly discovered and published material. gauthama sanna (2019) has collated several documents related to srinivasan into a volume that stands tribute to the long history of dalit resistance and liberation and provides fresh insights into how the freedom struggles against caste and colonialism could undercut each other. a forthcoming translation of his autobiography will further be accompanied by newly-discovered english material, including an open letter addressed to gandhi,7 all authored by srinivasan. these new sources allow us to reconstruct srinivasan’s anti-caste thought in far greater detail than had been possible before, showing how the many meanings of representation coalesce in srinivasan’s work. representing the caste before the widespread use of ‘dalit’ as a revolutionary term, dalit pride was expressed in various ways, some of which might seem exclusionary in contemporary times. srinivasan, for instance, ran a journal named after the pariah caste, starting in 1893 (balasubramaniam, 2017; srinivasan, 1999). copies of this publication have not survived. he sought to reclaim the name of his caste, a name used with disgust and disdain (viswanath, 2014), in this endeavour. while it must be noted that the category of the ‘pariah’ was used a stand-in for all untouchable castes in some colonial 7this open letter, published in english and dated to 1921, was recently discovered in the british library, london, and is critical of the non-cooperation movement for undercutting the government that was seeking to improve the condition of dalit groups. it begins by differentiating the freedom struggles against caste and colonialism and offers a summary of the history of caste, based on the aryan invasion theory. he describes dalit migration to south africa as offering a means to improve their lot and complains that this was stymied by gandhi’s agitations. he documents the problems with the notion of equal rights as he summarizes the inequality to which dalits were subject, how they were not allowed into schools, the minimal redress offered by the limited options for self-government in this community and the difficulty with seeking redress for these issues before elite caste magistrates. he cites his petition against conducting the civil services exam in india to buttress his claims. he refutes the stereotypical views of the community held by elite caste groups. he suggests that the only way forward— seeking full participation in the mainstream—is being blocked by gandhi’s non-cooperation movement. the letter is signed with a south african address in natal and dated 1921. struggling for freedom from caste in colonial india: the story of rettaimalai srinivasan 141 documentation of the time, srinivasan was likely using it to refer to people of his caste. he details the reasons for having established this journal in his autobiography in the following (translated) words: [h]e who says, ‘me! i!!’ of himself and speaks the truth of his caste without fear or embarrassment and celebrates his freedom, he will lead a respectable family life with good property and eternal peace. therefore, unless a member of the pariah caste comes forward and says ‘i am a paraiyan’, he will not be able to celebrate freedom and will remain oppressed and a pauper. therefore, i published a journal crowned with the name ‘paraiyan’. it was published in october 1893. it was a small monthly with four pages. it cost 2 annas a copy. people of my caste, the ones called ‘paraiyar’, endorsed it with great enthusiasm. the advertisements for the journal and the first print run cost rs. 10. in two days, some 400 copies were sold inside chennai city. in three months, the journal became a weekly, and after two years, there was a printing press. the journal spoke in favour of that section of society called paraiyar, sought the support of the government and discussed the codes of good conduct. wherever this section of society gathered, there they discussed this journal with great enthusiasm. (srinivasan, 1999, pp. 20–21)8 while copies of this journal have not survived, it is possible to deduce that it was part of a vibrant dalit print culture of the time. this is indicated scholarship on the journalism of his brother-in-law and contemporary ayothee thass (1845–1914), based on reprinted copies of his journal ‘tamilan’, which may be translated as ‘the tamilian’ (dickens, 2021; rajangam, 2019; jayanth, 2019; ayyathurai, 2011; ponnoviyam, 2010; anbarasan, 2009). this scholarship shows how thass used creative etymology and critical reading of tamil literature to argue for tamil country’s buddhist past and, relatedly, to argue for reading those of the pariah caste as being the original buddhists, who were sidelined by those claiming elite caste identity. thass’ critique of brahmin dominance and elite caste nationalist aspirations has also received some attention (geetha and rajadurai, 2011, p. 40, pp. 60–66). besides thass’ journal, which was the primary staging ground for his arguments, balasubramaniam’s (2017) groundbreaking research on dalit journalism in southern colonial india shows the existence of a dalit print public between 1869 and 1943, formed by multiple journals and reading constituencies through the late-nineteenth to early-twentieth centuries. thus, we have a small but growing body of work dedicated to recovering dalit writings and print publics, expanding our knowledge of dalit political and literary activity in colonial india. srinivasan’s work can be read as part of this emergent print culture—his writing spanned autobiography, journalism, petitions, and pamphlets to educate the public. while thass is studied as a theorist of caste and how it may be undone, srinivasan’s later work, in particular, is understood as primarily concerned with representation in government.9 through the freshly available archive of sources now available, however, it is possible to go further and document the multiple forms of 8translation mine. 9rajangam (2008), for instance, reads his work after joining the legislative assembly as related to the political—marking a shift from srinivasan’s earlier interest in the history and literature of his people (pp. 61–62). 142 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 representation his work encompassed. he reads untouchability as a complex of social, political, and economic injunctions, and caste as an external imposition, going on to argue for leadership from dalit castes to lead the way out of caste subjugation. he deploys the category of ‘dravidian’ in an anti-caste manner, reading the subjugation of lower castes—including untouchability and agrarian servitude—as the outcome of an ‘aryan’ invasion. his critique of elite-caste and nationalist interventions against caste all underscore his belief in dalit leadership for undoing caste in british india. dravidian to original dravidian: the language of anti-caste work while srinivasan’s anti-caste representative work is yet to get its due, the work of intermediate castes working toward similar ends is better known.10 we know, for instance, that the former nationalists who would go on to lead the non-brahmin movement in the madras presidency issued a manifesto in 1916, arguing that indians were not ready for self-rule, since it could lead to the tyranny of brahmins (pandian, 2008, p. 1). this argument that brahmin dominance would follow from nationalist aspirations—a claim promptly denounced as ‘unpatriotic’ (geetha and rajadurai, 2011, p. 1)—has a longer history that remains to be told. in 1893, srinivasan led a petition against the nationalist demand for conducting the civil services exam in india, arguing that it would lead to brahmin dominance and poor treatment of lower-caste groups (srinivasan, 1999).11 since the two landmark studies on the anti-caste movement in tamil country (geetha & rajadurai, 2011; pandian, 2008) do not mention srinivasan, our knowledge of dalit political activity in colonial india remains fragmentary. the genealogies of political movements and the categories they deploy are thereby obscured. to seek the genealogy of the category of ‘dravidian’, which srinivasan substituted for ‘pariah’ in his later work, we have to attend to the vocabulary srinivasan uses to denote dalit groups. given that srinivasan was a national leader, his interactions with other national leaders are a source to understand the significance of his vocabulary. 10the reasons for the erasure of dalit political history in the anti-caste history of tamil country have been debated. some have suggested that this erasure was deliberate. karthick ram manoharan (2020) sketches these discussions before going on to argue that the non-brahmin leader periyar (as e.v. ramasamy naicker was affectionately known) engaged with the work of ambedkar and stood by the dalit cause in his work. 11this document begins by declaring that the petition was from those of the pariah caste, who formed an estimated 25 percent of the population of madras presidency. it is described as similar to the petition from muslims against conducting the civil services exam simultaneously in england and india. it argues that doing so would unfairly benefit the brahmins, who do not compare favourably with the british when it comes to the administration of justice. since brahmins were primarily responsible for the infliction of untouchability on those of the pariah caste, this would be detrimental. the document notes that the pariah caste were ‘the highest class among those who do agricultural labour’ and were subject to many cruel forms of exclusion. these practices were not unique to villages and could be found in the big city of madras as well, the petition notes. it concludes by saying the pariah caste could become ‘a tower of strength’ for the british if they were allowed to continue accessing education as before—a feat that would be impossible under a brahmin-dominant administration. translation mine. (srinivasan, 1999, pp. 53–60). struggling for freedom from caste in colonial india: the story of rettaimalai srinivasan 143 he appears to have maintained a cordial—if combative—relationship with gandhi.12 in a published interview with gandhi, he is recorded as saying that “the depressed classes community was not consulted when you chose to call them harijans. large sections of the people resent the name harijan” (sanna, 2019, p. 287) dated december 22, 1933. while rejecting the term ‘harijan’ to refer to dalit people, srinivasan uses the descriptors adi dravida, pariah, depressed classes and scheduled castes. all these terms can be found in his autobiography. in a pamphlet discussing agitations for temple entry, dated to 1938,13 he defines adi dravida as encompassing the 86 scheduled castes (sanna, 2019, p. 301). the term adi dravida is derived from the ‘dravidian’ which has primarily been associated with the non-brahmin movement—a social and political movement challenging brahmin hegemony from the early twentieth century onward. while this movement finds no mention in srinivasan’s work, traces of the history of its dominant category of dravidian can be found in srinivasan’s work and in the work of another little-studied dalit leader of the time, m.c. rajah (1883–1943). rajah writes about the pariah caste: the caste hindus have called them for a long time pariahs. whatever be the derivation of the name, this word uttered by a caste hindu tongue, conveys everything that is mean and despicable today and means the opposite of all that is holy and respectable…so they sought for a name which would indicate that they were the first inhabitants of southern india and had nothing to do with that most inhuman of human institutions, caste. they wanted a name which would point to their racial and territorial origin. disliking the name eurasian, the eurasian community took to themselves the name ‘anglo-indian’. the non-brahmin caste hindus, disliking the name sudra took to themselves the name dravidian. when the question of a name for the community was considered some thirty-two years ago, it was decided that they should be called adi dravidas to distinguish them from “sudras”, who had now taken the name dravidians or dravidas. adi means original, pure and unalloyed as in “adi saivas, adi sankarachariar, adi lakshmi, adi bagavan, adi sivan, adinarayan, adi-kesavan, adimulam”, etc. (raja, 1925, pp. 30–31)14 12he mentions having gandhi’s friendship in his autobiography. in his interview with gandhi cited after this note, he writes in english, “my dear mahatmaji,we were old friends in south africa; we crossed swords at the round table conference in st. james palace; we joined hands and entered into a compromise at yerrawada; we became friends again and we are met here together to concert ways and means for ameliorating the condition of the depressed classes” (sanna, 2019, pp. 282-283). 13starting with the declaration that adi dravida referred to the 86 scheduled castes (referring to the list drawn up in 1935 of dalit castes), the tamil pamphlet sketches a history of caste as produced by an aryan imposition and goes on to argue that the adi dravida had attained several advancements under british rule. in an attempt to undo these advancements and to absorb them into the hindu fold, the idea of temple entry is now being propagated, he writes. after sketching the history of temple entry bills in the legislative assembly, he argues that temple entry is unnecessary and may be rendered mandatory if the adi dravida were not careful. he concludes by praising the king of travancore for having issued a proclamation opening temples to all castes and says that the adi dravida must garland and celebrate his statue that was to be installed in madras shortly. translated summary mine (sanna, 2019, pp. 301–307). 14titled ‘the oppressed hindus’, this english book documents the suffering of dalit groups in the madras presidency, noting that the arrival of the british had ameliorated their condition. he argues that these groups were converting in large numbers to christianity to escape the poor 144 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 rajah, who identifies as president of the second south indian adi dravida congress and the honorary secretary of the madras adi dravida maha jana sabha,15 also uses the terms adi dravida and adi andhra to refer to dalit groups. in his words, then, dalit groups started calling themselves adi dravida to differentiate themselves from the non-brahmin caste groups mobilizing under the name dravidian. by 1925, then, the intermediate non-brahmin castes were calling themselves dravidians. srinivasan, who had his differences with raja (sanna, 2019, pp. 160–161), sketched a similar history of caste in his open letter to gandhi, dated 1920: dravidians are ancient inhabitants of south india, immigrated from indooceanea submerged land or some other parts of the world. their language is tamil. high literature can be found in that language written by their ancients long before ceylon was separated from the main land india. there were lords (perumans) among them, also kings and saints.…taking advantage of changes caused by invaders, brahamins (sic) (priests they were), and hindus, who got into the caste bondage, gradually oppressed and crushed the dravidians down, calling them outcastes and other degrading, defamatory, and insulting epithets, such as chandalas (miserable wretch) puliya (corrupted person) paraya (stranger or belonging to another) panchama (a fifth class) and untouchable; calling even their saints as “untouchable saints.” they would not allow the dravidians to pass in village public streets, use water in tanks or ponds in the village commonage, enter in temples, touch a brahamin or caste hindu or any article belonging to him. they were debarred from trading, for they were untouchables. they were kept under bondage for generations by the usuperous (sic) landlords and the usury of money lenders. they were kept under serfdom, so that they could not claim their former rights and privileges. in other words the dravidians were subjugated by the subtle non-violent, nonco-operation methods of the brahamins. srinivasan reads untouchability as the outcome of invaders crushing the indigenous dravidian people in his open letter to gandhi, terming this process the outcome of the ‘non-violent, non-cooperation of brahmins’, poking sly fun at the nationalist agitations of the time. the system of untouchability served to keep them under the yoke of caste and unable to regain their former glory, in his view. he goes on to argue that gandhi’s political leadership in south africa shut off avenues of work and savings for dravidians—the original inhabitants of the south indian region. in his autobiography, he notes again the exclusions upon which the system of caste is treatment at the hands of the caste hindu. he writes that the past glory of the adi dravida people was decimated by the aryan intrusion and speculates on the etymology of various words used to describe dalit groups. he argues that several extant customs pointed to the former greatness of these groups. he writes about government departments established for their welfare and concludes by arguing against reading a madras labour strike as a labour movement. 15this adi dravida mahajana sabha existed atleast from 1891—a fact indicated by srinivasan joining the sabha at this time. see the speech delivered by the chingleput collector in srinivasan’s autobiography. struggling for freedom from caste in colonial india: the story of rettaimalai srinivasan 145 premised and rues that dalit communities have been absorbed into ‘aryan caste rules’. in his autobiography, he writes: when the aryans settled in our country and created the rules of caste, the dravidians – who are now called pariah, panjamar and adi dravida – were subject to much misery because they refused to give in. they lived as a separate society, in a separate space called the cheri. they created their villages with such things as their own temple, pond, priest, village head, panchayat members, washerman, barber, burial ground, burning ghat, and the customs of widow remarriage and divorce. …instead of openly celebrating their freedom, they have been absorbed into the aryan caste rules. those people have kept them under control. i tried to collect them into a large community, that they may ask for and enjoy their rights (srinivasan, 1999, pp. 24–25).16 in his 1938 english pamphlet on temple entry, srinivasan writes again, “when the aryan race invaded india those of the dravidian race in south india, who repulsed the introduction of the caste system were oppressed, expelled from the towns and kept out of reach of the caste converts and treated them as untouchables” (sanna, 2019, p. 310).17 srinivasan, raja, and thass (geetha and rajadurai, pp. 92–105), then, all proffer a similar theory on the origin of caste. in their view, the practice of caste was not indigenous to the region, had been imposed by invading outsiders, and that the resulting processes of excluding the ones who refused to practice caste led to the exclusions on which untouchability was premised. in making these claims, these dalit leaders were participating in the scholarly consensus of the time. trautmann (2006) has shown that languages and racial groups were twinned in early nineteenth-century european language study (p. 34). the development of ‘dravidian proof’ or evidence for the dravidian family of languages was thereby used to formulate the aryan invasion theory. this theory held that light-skinned aryans invaded and mixed with darkskinned dravidians to produce some contemporary distinctions including caste (p. 225). this theory was part of a scholarly consensus. therefore, when ayothee thass and rettaimalai srinivasan repeated the claim, they were not fabricating history— they were, on the contrary, participating in this consensus and citing then-prevalent scholarship on indian history, while also giving it an anti-caste interpretation. these understandings of history shaped the anti-caste civic associations that emerged under srinivasan’s leadership. he had joined the adi dravida maha jana sabha in 1891—showing that using adi dravida for dalit groups was an established practice when he began to use dravidian in place of pariah or panchama. these fluid 16translation mine. 17the english pamphlet makes for interesting comparative reading with the tamil version of the pamphlet. after summarizing the history of caste using the aryan invasion theory, he argues that the depressed classes were misrepresented to the british administration in the early part of their presence in india, but were now coming into their own due to the ‘impartial british administration’. he argues that temple entry was a ruse for absorbing the depressed classes into the hindu fold and takes a strong stance against it (sanna, 2019, pp. 310–312). 146 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 naming conventions were associated with improved political representation and with political movements led by dalit leaders. srinivasan notes in his autobiography: [t]he ones who were called by many names including pariah, panchama and depressed classes, were now called adi dravida, given the right to participate in the government’s administration and had ministerial posts. people of this caste were appointed as ministers and mayors in legislative assemblies, municipalities, local boards, panchayats and given other administrative posts, high posts in the civil service, that they may grow in wealth and education. besides this, the efforts i put into gathering this caste to make it an important part of society were also an important reason for their progress. the mahasabha of the people of this community continues to function. the name was changed in the course of time. the madras depressed classes federation and the scheduled castes party are conducted by respectable members of this community. they have also selected me as the leader for this. (srinivasan, 1999, p. 31) 18 srinivasan repeatedly emphasizes that leadership from within dalit groups was vital to improving their condition. here, he says that improved representation within governance would allow dalits to “grow in wealth and education”. all that was denied by caste could, in other words, be granted by participating in governing. this passage implies that the denial of respectability for low-caste names could feature among these potential reversals. the necessity of such reversal and leadership drawn from dalit communities can be deduced from his definition of untouchability. representing and re-signifying untouchability in relation to agrarian labour srinivasan’s 1928 supplementary memorandum submitted to the simon commission,19 which was intended to propose constitutional reform, offers a definition of untouchability that is distinct from colonial understandings of caste as occupation or societal function. in his words, “untouchability is a device adopted by high-caste men to live upon low caste people by dislocating them from all social, economic and political privileges. it is a public offence committed under cover of social customs and religious observances” (sanna, 2019, p. 136). in other words, the religious reasons given for the practice of untouchability were merely a ruse to exploit low caste people and enact the social, political, and economic dominance of upper caste groups. this definition of untouchability is of a piece with srinivasan’s emphasis on agrarian labour as the primary occupation of dalit groups. the agrarian servitude 18translation mine. 19the english supplementary memorandum, in srinivasan’s words, was intended to show “the condition of the depressed classes before and since the advent of british rule, their political advancement, the effect of the introduction of english education, the indianization of the services, the local self-governing institutions, the revenue department, untouchability, conversion, depressed classes welfare, dominion status and the granting of full self-government” (sanna, 2019, pp. 112–113). struggling for freedom from caste in colonial india: the story of rettaimalai srinivasan 147 that people from dalit castes have been subject to has received some recent scholarly attention (jayanth, 2020; viswanath, 2014; major, 2012). mohan (2015) has attended to the emancipatory movements that emerge from among the former agrarian slave communities in the kerala region. the majority of those among the depressed classes were associated with agrarian labour, according to leaders from colonial india. in a joint statement submitted to the round table conference by b.r. ambedkar and rettaimalai srinivasan, likely dated to 1931,20 they write that dalit groups “…cannot consent to subject themselves to majority rule in their present state of hereditary bondsmen… [e]mancipation from the system of untouchability must be[come] an accomplished fact” (sanna, 2019, p. 173). they note that the poverty among this group is enforced by prejudice, differentiating them from ‘the ordinary caste labourer’ (p. 184). in the main memorandum submitted to the simon commission,21 srinivasan describes the depressed classes as mainly agricultural labourers who “…form the backbone of the revenue administration” (p. 108). srinivasan writes that “we have always been on the soil and attached to it…[e]very argument religious, social or political is used by them to keep us in a state of serfdom” (p. 109). he argues for ensuring that agrarian labour from the lower castes is paid in “coin” rather than “unwholesome grain” (p. 111). those branded untouchable, in srinivasan’s view, propped up the revenue administration, since land revenue derived from agrarian land was the primary source of income for the british administration. srinivasan, therefore, reads untouchability as a complex of economic, political, and social restrictions and seeks the emancipation of the untouchable agrarian labourer from bondage into wage labour, all while shrewdly appealing to the british administrators to protect a vital source of their income. in the round table conference statement cited earlier, ambedkar and srinivasan go on to describe the social boycott of rebellious people from the depressed classes as among the most effective methods for suppressing them. they describe the various ways in which untouchability is inflicted—showing how “orthodox classes have used their economic power as a weapon against those depressed classes in their villages, when the latter have dared to exercise their rights” (sanna, 2019, p. 176). they list the ways in which boycott should be made an offence while making an argument for separate electorates for the depressed classes in the first ten years of the reformed electoral system and reserved seats thereafter (sanna, 2019, p. 181). the quest for electoral representation, therefore, is rooted in their understanding of the dalit condition in colonial india. since social boycotts could coerce dalit groups to act against their interests, they turn to the idea of a separate electorate as a means of producing dalit representation. while srinivasan would later differ with ambedkar on 20the statement lays out the conditions under which the depressed classes would consent to “majority rule in a self governing india”: equal citizenship, free enjoyment of equal rights, protection against discrimination, adequate representation in the legislatures, redress against prejudicial actions or neglect of interests, special departmental care, and representation of the depressed classes in the central cabinet (sanna, 2019, pp. 173–187). 21the memorandum notes the various exclusions used to uphold untouchability and requires the following for inclusion in the constitution: representation (of the depressed classes) in the legislatures, representation in the government, representation in the services, improved economic position, and improved access to education (sanna, 2019, pp. 108–112). 148 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 the question of the emancipatory potential of conversion to other religions (srinivasan, 1999, p. 45),22 their joint statement and srinivasan’s other writings all emphasise the significance of dalit political representation.23 his definition of untouchability as a complex of economic and social restrictions which has been given a religious veneer is at the heart of his ambivalence to causes such as temple entry and conversion to other religions. likewise, his understanding of the multiple forms of coercion that dalit groups could be subject to underlies the need for dalit political representation and leadership. self-rule for the depressed classes, its necessity and national significance srinivasan’s critique of the nationalist demand for self-rule was accompanied by demands for better dalit representation within the existing administration. the demands laid out by the dravida mahajana sangam in 1891, for instance, included punishment for those that ridiculed the pariah using their caste name, and—pertinent to the point being made on political representation—equal respect for those from the depressed classes for running panchayats and municipalities (geetha and rajadurai, 2011, p. 54). “[t]he removal of untouchability,” srinivasan notes during the round table conference in 1930, “depends upon the vesting of political power in the depressed classes”. he finds that there is no other alternative after his forty years of experience working among them. in a speech delivered to the conference during the second session in 1931, he notes that “[a]bolition of untouchability by law will not suffice” (sanna, 2019, p. 214). since it would require administrative action as well, the depressed classes must have power in the legislative and executive arms of government (p. 215). his rejection of gandhi’s leadership and of his vocabulary for describing dalit groups must be read in the context of his belief in leadership from within dalit castes for advancing the community. while he believes that the community would be best helped by itself, he adds caveats to the manner in which this action should be taken: some among the depressed classes say that: “the evil spirit called untouchability has taken full possession of the caste hindus. they will not be able to exorcise it by themselves. if we take up the stick, we will be able to drive it out of the country in a year. if revolution is born, justice will be born.” revolution will create terrible miseries and, i would say that it would take a long while to recover from it. enmity, hatred and arrogance are sinful. 22conversion was a national question and one on which he differed from ambedkar. he attacked olcott for introducing buddhism to dalit groups and told ambedkar that dalits were not hindu and therefore did not need to convert—stances that he documented in his autobiography. he sees nationalist temple entry and anti-untouchability movements as self-interested interventions by the caste hindus, to prevent the depressed classes forming “a big, distinct, strong community”. in the english pamphlet on temple entry, dated to 1938, he writes that the depressed classes were “…more keen on bettering their economic condition than on temple entry…[e]ntering hindu temples will take them to the fringe of the caste system to be called a fifth caste and thus into the hindu fold.” (sanna, 2019, p. 311) 23viswanath (2018) has argued that ambedkar moved away from this belief in representation, seeing it as a necessary but not sufficient means for dalit liberation. struggling for freedom from caste in colonial india: the story of rettaimalai srinivasan 149 it would be more helpful to learn political intrigue and work toward capturing power. for this, the adi dravida community must be strengthened. we see the caste hindus setting goats against each other, sitting and weeping when a goat is drenched and then springing into a flock and looting it when necessary. we need to move them aside and bring to heel those who cheat society for power and money. the congress and the caste hindus conduct governance in the manner of home rule. they continue to struggle to achieve complete home rule. before they achieve this, the adi dravidar must stand in opposition to them and strengthen their caste and bring themselves ashore as rapidly as possible. in my experience, until the caste hindus realise that doing otherwise would bring loss and difficulty to them, they will not give way to the depressed classes. we must engage in social service that supports society (srinivasan, 1999, pp. 48–49) here he explicitly argues against revolutionary movements against caste, further underscoring his belief in the advancements that can be effected by leaders from lower-caste groups in political work. that this is his theory of anti-caste work is a case that can be made based on his autobiography as well. conclusion the definition of untouchability as an economic and political process, accompanied by the use of dravidian and other terminology in anti-caste manner, is—as instantiated by the open letter to gandhi—at odds with the nationalist crusades for self-rule and against untouchability. one such nationalist crusade that srinivasan agitated against was the demand to conduct the indian civil services exam in india. his petition against the exam being held in india, which was addressed to the commons of britain and ireland in parliament, presented a scathing critique of brahmins for whom, srinivasan argues, western education is only a thin veneer. he shows that caste is not simply a problem of the villages but continues to structure life in the big city of madras. that this is no idle anticipation can be readily shown, not only from the condition of affairs in the remote mofussil, where caste is still paramount and sways with a rod of iron, and the rustic mind exhibits all the immobility of ignorance, but also in the capital city, madras, where pariah boys are severely excluded from that typical hindu institution, pachaiyappa’s college, and where, in that great brahmin centre, mylapore, a street exists,-and that street forming one of the boundaries of the residence of the brahmin judge of the madras high court,-in which may be seen a sign board, declaring the way ‘no thoroughfare, pariahs prohibited’ and threatening certain pains and penalties, should they not give good heed. (srinivasan, 1921–24) these strictures on the education and movement of dalit people show that, in srinivasan’s view, that the brahmins “are utterly unfit to share in the administration” and reiterate that caste was not only a problem of the villages (as one might infer from 150 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 his characterization of dalit groups as agrarian labor) but persisted in the urban centre of the madras presidency. this awareness of continuing discrimination, therefore, across urban and rural centres influences his critique of the nationalist aspirations. srinivasan contrasts the two freedom struggles underway in late colonial india in his open letter to gandhi: “while it is considered 330,000,000 of indians are kept under subjection by the british, it should equally be considered that one-fifth (66,000,000) of that population is kept under perpetual oppression by the other four-fifths.” (srinivasan, 1921–24, p. 1) he goes on to note that british administration gave this one-fifth a chance at freedom. his attitude toward british administration remained marked by an ambivalence. here he noted that they might help the depressed classes attain freedom, in other places he is critical of their lack of interest in this cause. srinivasan’s usage of pariah or dravidian to refer to those from the ‘depressed classes’ show that he is still grappling with the question of how best to reclaim shameful names (m.c. rajah, in the passage cited earlier, also grapples with this question of nomenclature. thass famously rejected the pariah name altogether, preferring to refer to the caste as the original buddhists). the tension between calling his community pariah and dravidian shows that he was actively grappling with the question of selfrepresentation. srinivasan, in reclaiming the identity of being of pariah caste or of being a despised dark-skinned dravidian, is deploying caste identity in an anti-caste manner. he uses a category associated with disgust and exclusion with pride to undo the shame associated with the identity. he further demonstrates that the category of dravidian was still fluid and available for appropriation in 1921. by 1925, according to m.c. rajah, the intermediate non-brahmin castes had begun calling themselves dravidians—a term that has persisted into the present political formations in the region.24 however, the long dalit engagement with and use of this category has not been given its due in the scholarship on the histories of the dravidian movement.25 this grappling with naming is significant to anti-caste mobilisation because it is among the earliest signs of an oppressed group cognizing its condition. on recognising that a name has been rendered shameful and disgusting, dalit leaders chose a variety of ways to reclaim or reject such naming conventions. in srinivasan’s rendition of this process, dravidian and pariah become anti-caste, changeable nomenclature, and names that were given or adopted within history rather than timeless and immutable. while srinivasan is slightly better-known in tamil country and, through his work with ambedkar at the round table conference, as a part of anti-caste history, it is important to see his life as a part of national history, as in conversation with the anticolonial struggle. his relationship with gandhi, his attitude towards nationalist projects 24sanal mohan (2015) documents the struggles of the dalit leader, ayyankali, who was fighting the landlessness and illiteracy that was a result of former enslavement, echoing the political struggles of srinivasan. a charismatic preacher drawn from the ranks of the formerly-enslaved, yohannan, used ‘adi dravida’ to refer to all those who had suffered slavery in travancore (p. 285). 25pandian, for instance, notes the dalit critique of the non-brahmin movement towards the conclusion of his book and speculates that it may now be time for dalit groups to inhabit the dravidian category, ignoring the longer history of the dalit use of the dravidian terminology (pp. 239–240). struggling for freedom from caste in colonial india: the story of rettaimalai srinivasan 151 like conducting the civil service exam in india, his work as part of the round table conference, his views on temple entry and his legislation rendering public spaces truly public, all put him firmly in conversation with the struggle for freedom from british rule, while advancing the struggle for freedom from caste. his work shows the diversity of thought and political activity in the anti-caste freedom struggle—this dalit intellectual heritage is a crucial counterpoint to the theories about ‘uplift’ that infantilize dalit people. his work further indicates the regional support structures that held up and advanced the work of national leaders like dr. b.r. ambedkar, showing that they were fighting similar battles at the national and regional levels. i have shown that srinivasan defines untouchability in political, economic and social terms, rejecting ritual explanations for the practices associated with the exclusion of low caste groups from full social participation. he deploys the category of dravidian and pariah in anti-caste manner as part of his political project to improve dalit political representation. srinivasan’s political interventions and writing allow the reader to construct srinivasan’s theory of caste and the significance of anti-caste political movements. the various projects he undertook as a legislator, pamphleteer, national anti-caste activist, and head of regional caste associations, all contributed towards building a public sphere. democracy depends on such work.26 the work of rettaimalai srinivasan, therefore, must be reclaimed for national and anti-caste history. references aloysius, g. (2010). dalit subaltern self-identifications: iyothee thassar and thamizhan. new delhi: critical quest. ambedkar, b.r. (1993). dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 12 (v. moon, ed.). ———. (1993). waiting for a visa. in v. moon (ed.) dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 12 (pp. 661–691). education department, government of maharashtra. anbarasan, n. (2009). pandit c. iyodhi doss (1845-1914): the father of tamil nationalism. chennai: new century book house. ayyathurai, g. (2011). the foundations of anti-caste consciousness [ph.d.]. columbia. balasubramaniam, j. (2015). dalit journals in colonial madras (1869–1943). economic and political weekly, 55(42), pp. 7–8. ———. (2017). cūryōtayam mutal utayacūriyan varai: talit italgaḷ, 1869-1943 [from the cūryōtayam to the utayacūriyan: dalit journals, 1869-1943]. kalachuvadu publications. dickens, l. (2021). caste-less tamils and early print public sphere: remembering iyothee thass (1845–1914). south asia research, 41(3), pp. 349–368. available at: https://doi. org/10.1177/02627280211034858 geetha, v., & rajadurai, s.v. (2011). towards a non-brahmin millennium: from iyothee thass to periyar. samya. jayanth, m. (2019). literary criticism as a critique of caste: ayothee thass and the tamil buddhist past. the journal of commonwealth literature, 54(1), pp. 84–95. available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0021989417710066 ———. (2020). abolishing agrarian slavery in southern colonial india [ph.d.]. university of chicago. 26balasubramaniam (2015) and dickens (2021) make cognate arguments regarding the significance of dalit contributions to the formation of a public sphere. 152 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 kumar, r. (2010). dalit personal narratives: reading caste, nation, and identity. hyderabad: orient blackswan. major, a. (2012). slavery, abolitionism and empire in india, 1772-1843. liverpool: liverpool university press. manoharan, k.r. (2020). in the path of ambedkar: periyar and the dalit question. south asian history and culture, 11(2), pp. 136–149. available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/19472498.2 020.1755127 mohan, s. (2015). modernity of slavery: struggles against caste inequality in colonial kerala. new delhi: oxford university press. muthukkaruppan, p. (2014). dalit: the making of a political subject. critical quarterly, 56(3), pp. 34–45. ———. (2017). tamil dalit literature: aesthetics, politics, and life narratives. biography, 40(1), pp. 64–76. pandian, m.s.s. (2008). brahmin and non-brahmin: genealogies of the tamil political. ranikhet: permanent black. ponnoviyam, a. (2010). paṇṭitar ayōtitāsar oru kaṇṇōṭṭam [pandit ayothee thass: a perspective]. siddhartha pathippagam. rajah, m.c. (1925). the oppressed hindus. madras: the huxley press. rajangam, s. (2008). tīndapadāta nūlkal [untouched books]. aazhi publishers. ———. (2019). peyaralinta varalāru: ayōttitācarum avarkāla āḷumaikaḷum[a history of erased names: ayothee thass and his contemporaries]. kalachuvadu publications. sanna, g. (2019). reṭṭaimalai cīnivācan: eluttukaḷum āvaṇaṅkaḷum, tokuti 1[rettaimalai srinivasan: writings and documents, collection 1]. aazhi publishers. srinivasan, r. (1921). reply to the questionnaire on the organisation of the services from retamalay srinivasam, member of the madras legislative council and founder of the dravida mahajana sabha, representing the deprived classes (unapproachables and untouchables) of southern india, with an additional memorandum; petition of the pariahs of madras and its suburbs; ‘an open letter from retamalay srinivasam, retired civil servant, natal, to mahatmaji m.k. gandhi, amhedabad, india’ dated natal, 5 july 1921 (durban, 1921); resolution of the dravida mahajana sabha, madras, protesting against the abolition of the office of the labour commissioner and the protector of the depressed classes (4 december 1921) (ior/q/11/20 no.795). british library. srinivasan, r. (1999). tivān pahatūr iraṭṭaimalai srīnivāsan avarkaḷ jīviya carittira curukkam [summary of diwan bahadur rettaimalai srinivasan’s life history]. dalit sahitya akademi. trautmann, t.r. (2006). languages and nations: the dravidian proof in colonial madras. berkeley: university of california press. viswanath, r. (2014). the pariah problem: caste, religion, and the social in modern india. new york: columbia university press. ———. (2018, april 26). what defines a permanent minority?: comparative reflections on ambedkar’s evidence before the southborough committee. fifth dr. b.r. ambedkar lecture, university of edinburgh. © 2022 helen chukka. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 203–206 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.376 memory, grief, and agency: a political theological account of wrongs and rites author: sunder john boopalan publisher: palgrave macmillan year: 2017 reviewer: helen chukka phd candidate-department of hebrew bible lutheran school of theology at chicago e-mail: chukkash@gmail.com juxtaposing racial and caste-based discrimination, evidenced in “brutal” and “ordinary wrongs,” sunder john boopalan traces the intricacies of discrimination and humiliation faced by dalits in india and the african americans in usa. relying on incidents and experiences in india and the usa, boopalan exposes the violence meted out to individuals from dalit and african american communities for ordinary human actions. memory, grief and agency challenges the dominant theological articulations of the processes of grief and elevates the agential role of memory and grief in transforming structural wrongs. it argues that “rituals of humiliation” can be redressed through “rites of moral responsibility.” the pragmatic framework of the book offers critical lenses to any reader to interrogate implicit violence in uncritical and ordinary human behavior. the foundational claims that advance the thesis of memory, grief and agency are fourfold: first, “wrongs have ritualistic character”; second, wrongs can be categorized as “brutal wrongs and everyday ‘ordinary’ wrongs”; third, wrongs emerge from “uncritical examination of social conditions”; fourth, “wrongs are socially conditioned corporeal habits” (21). the first step towards the goal of arguing for an agential and transformative role of memory and grief is a discussion around social conditioning and violent identities. by establishing a theoretical foundation for the “rituals of humiliation,” boopalan unfamiliarizes the familiar and familiarizes the unfamiliar. 204 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 identifying racism and casteism as structural wrongs, the book first delineates the ways in which such wrongs are systematically and socially conditioned. violence is perpetrated against bodies that move “out of place” yet find sanction in religious, cultural, legal, and social logics. this legitimization allows such wrongs to permeate into all domains of life without punitive consequences. employing the category of “rituals of humiliation,” the author exposes the historicity and the problematic continuity of violence faced by the racial and caste oppressed communities. avoiding abstraction in the definitions of caste, the text describes the several “rituals of humiliation” experienced by dalits that are often glossed over as ordinary. the “ordinary” and uncritical human behaviors and actions give rise to “violent identities,” normalizing and continuing the “wrongs.” second, the text shifts from a discussion on the theorization of caste to theorization of the grammar of bodies. it demonstrates that just as rituals which are often external, perpetuate or give rise to violent identities, so do corporeal habits. racialized experiences of dalit and black bodies are often understood as “inviting.” “racialized outbursts” (65) are claimed to be triggered by racially marked bodies. the text terms the ‘triggers’ as “socially conditioned corporeal habits” (65). these habits, rather than being triggered by the targeted bodies, are rooted in the “logics of domination and discrimination” (83). in the absence of discriminatory words, “bodies communicate a message” (85). to claim unintentionality is to be uncritical to the inherent logics derived from the impulse to maintain a power dynamic between the dominant and dominated communities. corporeal habits are inherited, adopted, learned, and performed. spontaneous bodily performances prevent critical evaluation to inform the body to perform consciously in the presence of different bodies. a conscious attention to the bodily impulses can evoke ethical responsibility to transform “violent identities.” by carefully examining the ways in which violence is perpetrated by bodily responses that are inherited and adopted, the text suggests that such socially conditioned habits can only be transformed by fostering “life-affirming corporeal habits” (107). third, the text draws attention to the theological unease with remembering wrongs. engaging the work of miroslav volf and oliver o’donovan, the text challenges the dominant articulations of grief over wrongs as a weak bodily action that continues the vicious cycle of violence. the text reclaims grief as a theological or perhaps spiritual act (my emphasis) that enables the memory of wrongs possible. the wrongs of the past are the lenses to understand the wrongs of the present. ‘knowing’ should be accompanied by “grieving over remembered wrongs [for, it] engenders positive agency and the transformation of violent identities” (115). miroslav volf and o’donovan challenge the “active remembrance of wrongs” (115) and suggest that such remembrance have adverse consequences. the text contests their theological reluctance to acknowledge the “positive agential role of grief” (157). o’donovan’s theological claims are centered around the limitations of human memory, the “vengeful” nature of human beings, the rejection of human vulnerability, and the need to view justice as an eschatological vision. the text identifies the several ways in which victims and sufferers are “vilified” for remembering wrongs that need redressal. volf posits that memory, grief, and agency: a political theological account of wrongs and rites 205 in memorializing ‘memory’ victims can turn violent and resort to violence rendering “evil for evil” (132). he proposes that memory should lead to reconciliation; if not for reconciliation, “memory” can turn to hatred and violence. engaging the scriptures superficially, o’donovan and volf oppose the agential role inherent in memory. the text questions the loopholes in their theological arguments and uplifts ‘memory of historical wrongs’ (143) as agential. the text articulates the importance of an active memory of wrongs of the past in preventing such wrongs in the present. “an active memory of wrongs” (145) benefits the survivors in promoting solidarity, challenges the perpetrators to ethically evaluate their actions, and facilitates onlookers of their role in forming violent identities. fourth, the text counts on the knowledge and “common” experience of grief to emphasize its transformative role. defying the dominant definitions of grief that are understood primarily in “stages” which is expected to be overcome, the text proposes a “continuous” grief. boopalan uplifts “continuous” grief of the vulnerable against structural wrongs as an epistemological site that can help the privileged to interrogate the violent identities they perpetrate. the text resorts to the “goodness of human being” (150) to extend oneself to understand and grieve for others. by grieving, the dominated communities seek “redress and not retribution or vengeance (153).” the “multi-dimensional” grief is categorized as having an “internal work” (170) and “external work” (156). while the internal work enables individuals to pay attention to the formation of violent identities and be cognizant of the social conditions that perpetuate wrongs, the external work erases binaries and promotes solidarities between communities irrespective of differences. although the text elevates the significant role played by both internal and external grief work, it is conscious of the ambiguities of grief and doesn’t undermine the “devastation” that grief causes to people. it elevates grief as a positive “agential work [that] has a theological force” (173). it disallows articulations of hope and justice as otherworldly expectation and suggests redressal of injustice and wrongs in earthly time and space. fifth, the text demonstrates that the continuous presence of “in-group/out-group identities” (186) hinder the formation of solidarity beyond differences. many resort to religion to justify and legitimize the articulation of in-group/out-group differences. the complicity of religion in acts of humiliation against the marginal groups should be rectified by locating theological imagination in the grief of the survivors. boopalan suggests, “a liberative political theological imagination critically remembers dominant racialized and casteist plots that are violent and offers in their violent in-group/outgroup differences via agential grief (201).” the theological task is to affirm the agency of grieving bodies. the grieving bodies, when conscious of the social conditions that caused the grief, resist forces that humiliate and discriminate. such resistance to the “rituals of humiliation” enables communities to “move out of place” and defy the casteist and racist structures. the task of “moving out of place” applies to all categories of people: to survivors, to the perpetrators and everyone in-between. the theological action of “moving out” transforms casteist and racist impulses into conscious and critical “re-ordering.” 206 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 addressing a wider theological audience in india and the usa, sunder john boopalan’s book provides a framework to address “structural wrongs,” be it casteism or racism as discussed in the book, or sexism, ableism, totalitarianism, etc. the text systematically and creatively presents the agential role of memory and grief and exposes that “rituals of humiliation” are manifested both in “brutal” and “ordinary” wrongs. although boopalan provides a clear distinction between the dominant and dominated, oppressor and oppressed, privileged and peripheral, he does not undermine the “rituals of humiliation” perpetuated by those occupying the in-between spaces. the task of resistance and grief pertains to all groups—to survivors, perpetrators, and the bystanders. while he describes an overall account of “rituals of humiliation,” the intricacies and power dynamics within the marginal communities and the “rituals of humiliation” within those have not been addressed. an engagement with the “ordinary wrongs” experienced by women within the suffering communities would make this book a methodological resource for feminist theologians engaged in the struggles of minority groups globally. © 2021 timothy loftus. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 265–280 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.326 ambedkar and the buddha’s saṅgha: a ground for buddhist ethics timothy loftus1 abstract the saṅgha is one of the three jewels of the buddhist tradition. while undervalued in many other anglophone iterations of buddhist modernism, ambedkar’s approach to buddhism placed a reconceptualized saṅgha at the center. where traditional accounts often limit the boundaries of saṅgha to ordained monks and nuns, ambedkar sought to include all lay buddhists within its frame. he suggests that the role of the saṅgha is not, as many traditional accounts might suggest, the personal liberation of the monks and nuns who join it, but instead social service directed toward the community at large. ambedkar’s commitment to the development of a religion that champions egalitarianism naturally lead to his inclusion of women as full participants in his image of the saṅgha, despite the historically patriarchal limits placed on them in many traditional buddhist settings. this wide-tent approach to the saṅgha, along with its emphasis on service and egalitarian principles, are defining features of ambedkar’s unique approach the buddhist tradition. keywords ambedkar, ambedkarite buddhism, buddhist ethics, buddhist sangha, women in buddhism, ambedkar and gender introduction while there exist numerous social scientific treatments of dr. b. r. ambedkar’s buddhist conversion movement, religious studies treatments remain relatively few. social scientists have historically approached dr. ambedkar’s interest in and conversion to buddhism as instrumental and have framed it as politically 1phd candidate dept. of religion temple university, philadelphia, pennsylvania, united states e-mail: timothy.loftus@temple.edu 266 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 expedient,1 while euro-american buddhist studies scholarship has largely ignored dr. ambedkar’s unique approach to buddhism. where it is treated, it has been accompanied by caveats regarding its novelty, with reference to an orthodox “buddhism” often defined by traditional received western buddhism.2 this received buddhism is characterized by its emphasis on meditation and pursuit of individual spiritual liberation and by its emphasis on textual authority. dr. ambedkar’s modernist approach to buddhism, though, emphasizes the ethical and meliorative dimensions of the tradition and largely ties its liberation from suffering to engagement, justice, and egalitarianism practiced together with self-cultivation. combined with dr. ambedkar’s position from the margins as a dalit, this difference in emphasis and position has often rendered his buddhism less than visible in the euro-american buddhist studies academy. this article aims to explicate some of the core ambedkarite buddhist theological content from inside the tent of religious studies. specifically, it explores the theological work that the buddhist concept of saṅgha, or community, does in service of dr. ambedkar’s approach to buddhism. what follows is an exploration of his unique and idealized frame for the saṅgha, the theoretical roots for his perspective on the saṅgha, and finally his writing on the place of women in the saṅgha. dr. b. r. ambedkar outlined four core problems to be solved before the modernization of the buddhist tradition, the religion he saw as uniquely suited to modernity, could be complete. the first problem relates to clarifying the reasons for the buddha’s renunciation while the second and third ralate to the teachings on suffering and karma, respectively.3 the final problem that ambedkar explicitly set out to settle in his writing on buddhism, and which will be explored in this article, was related to the proper understanding of the buddhist saṅgha, or more specifically, the role of the bhikkhu.4 he asks, what was the object of the buddha in creating the bhikku? was the object to create the perfect man? or was his object to create a social servant devoting his life to service of the people and being their friend, guide, and philosopher? this is a very real question. on it depends the future of buddhism. if the bhikku is only a perfect man he is of no use to the propagation of buddhism, because though a perfect man he is a selfish man. if, on the other hand, he is a social servant, he may prove to be the hope of buddhism.5 on display in ambedkar’s framing of this question is his commitment to approaching the buddhist tradition through the lens of the social. the two loaded choices he presents in answer to the question he poses, those of a selfish and reclusive mendicant or an engaged guide of the people, intentionally reveal his implicit position and frames his presentation in contrast with that of other, here unnamed, presentations of the saṅgha; presentations that frame the saṅgha as, in his terms, a “perfect” though “selfish” body. ambedkar sees this question as critical, or “a very real question,” on which the future of buddhism depends, and as such, can be argued to be the central problem 1see: (zelliot, 2004, p. 168), (jaffrelot, 2006, pp. 119–142) 2see: (king, 2009, p. 161), (queen et al., 2003, pp. 22–24) 3(ambedkar et al., 2011, p. xxix) 4bhikṣu (sanskrit) and bhikkhu (pāli) –monk or religious mendicant 5b. r. ambedkar, aakash singh rathore, and ajay verma, the buddha and his dhamma: a critical edition (new delhi ; oxford ; new york: oxford university press, 2011), xxxi. ambedkar and the buddha’s saṅgha: a ground for buddhist ethics 267 related to the creation of his religious movement. insofar as ambedkar approaches the buddhadharma as a project aimed at shaping a religion that is compatible with democratic values, the center of his buddhism is naturally, in some ways, the saṅgha. for this buddhism to be this-worldly oriented and other-facing, concerned with the establishment of a moral ground and a religion of principles, he must deal with the reality of monks and nuns who, in their decision to leave the world and remain cloistered in monasteries, have historically often not acted as the “devoted social servant” of the people. in characteristically direct style he states: the bhikkhu sangha in its present condition can therefore be of no use for the spread of buddhism. in the first place there are too many bhikkhus. of these a very large majority are merely sadhus and sannyasis spending their time in meditation or idleness. there is in them neither learning nor service. when the idea of service to suffering humanity comes to one’s mind every one thinks of the ramakrishna mission. no one thinks of the buddhist sangha. who should regard service as its pious duty the sangha or the mission? there can be no doubt about the answer. yet the sangha is a huge army of idlers.6 ambedkar addresses this problem by applying an hermeneutic of suspicion, suggesting that the buddha, an eminently rational and care-oriented individual in ambedkar’s estimation, would have necessarily established the original saṅgha in accord with those qualities. for ambedkar, a rational buddha whose activity was animated by a desire to uproot injustice and oppression, grounded as they are in the power imbalance between a priest class and those at the margins, would have necessarily created a saṅgha driven by an ethic of care; one actively engaged with the laity and one that would model compassion for those around it. the buddha that ambedkar is appealing to here is the buddha who exhorted the bhikkhus to work actively for the welfare of all beings at the end of the first rains retreat.7 saṅgha as a model community in most euro-american buddhist approaches to buddhism, of the three jewels of the buddhist tradition, the saṅgha is often given short shrift in favor of a presentation of the jewels of buddha and dharma. explorations of the jewel of dharma has allowed for fruitful academic crosscultural philosophical investigation and psychological self-help applications in popular approaches to buddhism. the jewel of the buddha, likewise, is also given more weight in comparison. a scientifically compatible buddha who, for the educated and often elite western receivers of the tradition, can play the foil to the culturally familiar christian creator god has played a central role in the construction of buddhism in the west.8 for ambedkar though, the jewel that takes center stage in his modernist reception of the buddhist tradition is, in some ways, 6b. r. ambedkar, “the buddha and the future of his religion,” dr. babasaheb ambedkar writings and speeches, volume 17, part 2, pp. 107. https://www.mea.gov.in/images/attach/amb/ volume_17_02.pdf 7dharmachari lokamitra notes, “at the end of his first post enlightenment rainy season retreat, the buddha exhorted his first disciples to travel the roads and pathways of for the welfare and happiness of the many people (bahujana hitaya, bahujana sukkhaya).” (lokamitra, 2004) 8see (lopez, 1995) and (lopez, 2012) https://www.mea.gov.in/images/attach/amb/volume_17_02.pdf https://www.mea.gov.in/images/attach/amb/volume_17_02.pdf 268 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 the saṅgha. this shift in emphasis from other english-language modernist receptions of buddhism is perhaps one of the reasons for the relative dearth of literature on ambedkarite buddhism in the west. where ambedkar sees the saṅgha as the heart of the tradition, wester receivers often see little of it in their quest to mine the tradition for its wisdom teachings on liberation for the individual seeking personal spiritual enlightenment. for ambedkar, the saṅgha becomes the vehicle through which the work of social transformation, his ultimate goal, can actually take place. ambedkar opens his discussion of the buddhist saṅgha in the buddha and his dhamma by noting the ways in which the buddha’s idea of parivrāja differs from that of the “old parivrajakas.” he notes, the buddhist bhikku is primarily a parivrajaka. this institution of parivrajaka is older than that of the buddhist bhikku. the old parivrajakas were persons who had abandoned family life, and were a mere floating body of wanderers. they roamed about with a view to ascertain the truth by coming into contact with various teachers and philosophers, listening to their discourses, entering into discussion on matters of ethics, philosophy, nature, mysticism, and so on… these old type of parivrajakas had no sangh, had no rules of discipline, and had no ideal to strive for. it was for the first time that the blessed lord organized his followers into a sangh or fraternity, and gave them rules of discipline, and set before them an ideal to pursue and realise.9 ambedkar is keen to contrast, as he presents it, the individual-focused practice of renunciation exemplified by the wandering sādhu tradition with that of his sociallyoriented buddha. ambedkar contends that the buddha’s practice of renunciation is special because for the first time it centers human relationships and community, or, as ambedkar frames it in enlightenment-inspired terminology, “fraternity.” in this sense the buddha’s followers are not renouncing society writ large, but society as conceived and ordered by the brahminical system. to renounce in this context means to consciously form a new social order that centers a relational morality in place of the individual path to personal liberation as practiced by previous renunciates. following the vinaya, ambedkar taxonomically divides the buddhist saṅgha into two parts: the śrāmeṇera as anyone who takes the ten precepts and the threefold refuge,10 and the bhikkhu, or fully ordained person. where ambedkar’s presentation takes a unique turn is in his attempts to answer a question regarding the buddha’s intended audience for his ethical teachings. did the buddha intend his teachings on prescriptive action only for the bhikkhus and bhikkhunis (female renunciants) or did he intend for those teachings to apply to householders as well? ambedkar argues that the buddha had householders as well as monastics in mind. this idea is central to ambedkar’s reconceptualization of the saṅgha. he intends to make the saṅgha into an exemplary community that can serve as a guide for the wider society, and as such, he envisions it as necessarily engaged. he notes, 9(ambedkar et al., 2011, p. 222) 10“the entrants into the sangh were divided into two classes: shrameneras and bhikkhus. anyone below twenty could become a shramenera. by taking the trisaranas and by taking the ten precepts, a boy becomes a shramenera.” (ambedkar et al., 2011, p. 223) rathore and verma note that ambedkar is referencing mahāvagga i: 56 here. ambedkar and the buddha’s saṅgha: a ground for buddhist ethics 269 . . . the blessed lord also knew that merely preaching the dhamma to the common men would not result in the creation of that ideal society based on righteousness. an ideal must be practical, and must be shown to be practicable. then and only then do people strive after it and try to realize it. to create this striving, it is necessary to have a picture of a society working on the basis of the ideal, and thereby proving to the common man that the ideal was not impracticable but on the other hand realizable. the sangh is the model of a society realizing the dhamma preached by the blessed lord. this is the reason why the blessed lord made the distinction between the bhikkhu and the upasaka.11 [emphasis added] for ambedkar, the proper motivation for joining the saṅgha, either as a śrāmeṇera or a fully ordained bhikkhu, is to provide service to the world, not to retire from the world in search of personal liberation. it is worth noting that ambedkar’s reconceptualization of the saṅgha here is similar in some ways to other twentieth century buddhist modernist reform movements in asia, including the work of a.t. ariyaratne and the sarvodaya shramandana movement in sri lanka and sulak sivaraksa’s and buddhadasa bhikkhu’s influence in thailand, among others.12 for ambedkar, the buddhist saṅgha is the social organization par excellence. it required of its members a commitment to equality and a simplicity in living that could serve as a model to all. ambedkar is keen to dispel what he sees as common misunderstandings that buddha’s teachings were intended only for the bhikkhu. he argues that while references to the bhikkhu are found all over the canonical material, he argues that a rational, care-oriented buddha would have certainly had the laity in mind when presenting his teachings. he points to the five precepts, the eightfold path, and the pāramitās as evidence in themselves that the buddha was primarily concerned with the whole of his followers, not simply with those who had received full ordination. he states: merely because the sermons were addressed to the gathering of the bhikkhus, it must not be supposed that what was preached was intended to apply to them only. what was preached applied to both. that the buddha had the laity in mind when he preached: (i) the panchasila, (ii) the ashtanga marga, and (iii) the paramitas, is quite clear from the very nature of those things; and no argument, really speaking, is necessary. it is for those who have not left their homes and who are engaged in active life that the panchasila, ashtanga marga, and paramitas are essential… when the buddha, therefore, started preaching his dhamma, it must have been principally for the laity.13 ambedkar notes that the historical practice of privileging the saṅgha resulted in an only loosely organized laity and he argues that while there was a formal ordination ceremony for joining the saṅgha, there did not exist a similar path of commitment for the laity. a natural consequence of this, he argues, was that members of the buddhist laity tended toward opportunistic religious seeking. this failure of the buddhist tradition to create a commitment ceremony, or dhamma-diksha as ambedkar terms 11ibid., 232. 12see (queen & king, 1996) 13(ambedkar et al., 2011, p. 238) 270 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 it, was a contributing factor to the decline of buddhism in india.14 in his inclusion of the additional twenty-two vows during his dhamma-diksha ceremony in nagpur in 1956, ambedkar links his presentation of the dharma with his vision for the saṅgha and attempts to correct this oversight of the earlier buddhists by committing the laity to the buddhist teachings. the very nature of the bhikkhu for ambedkar demands social service. he sees it as the primary motivation for taking parivrāja and in this sense, his presentation of the buddha’s decision to leave home reflects this. when the buddha, faced with a decision to accept the sakya sangh’s decision to wage war on their neighbors or to be exiled from the community as described in the buddha and his dhamma, siddhārtha chooses the latter. he is motivated by a desire to minimize the material and emotional suffering that will result from the decision to wage war. likewise, in regard to the motivation for the bhikkhu to take parivrāja he states, a bhikkhu leaves his home. but he does not retire from the world. he leaves home so that he may have the freedom and the opportunity to serve those who are attached to their homes, but whose life is full of sorrow, misery, and unhappiness and who cannot help themselves. compassion, which is the essence of dhamma, requires that everyone shall love and serve, and the bhikkhu is not exempt from it. a bhikkhu who is indifferent to the woes of mankind, however perfect in self-culture, is not at all a bhikkhu. he may be something else but he is not a bhikkhu.15 while ambedkar emphasizes the social responsibilities and the role of compassion in the ethical imperative of the monk, it is worth noting that he does not reject the role of personal religious cultivation. in the story of siddhārtha’s path to buddhahood, for example, ambedkar presents siddhārtha as inducing “his companions to join him in practising meditation”16 and he states, “siddharth believed that meditation on right subjects led to development of the spirit of universal love.”17 and at the end of the biographical section of the buddha and his dhamma, ambedkar states clearly that mental self-cultivation is essential to the buddhist path. he states, “if mind is comprehended, all things are comprehended. mind is the leader of all of its faculties… the first thing to attend to is the culture of the mind.” he goes on, “whatsoever there is of good, connected with good, belonging to good – all issues from mind… the cleaning of the mind is, therefore, the essence of religion.”18 there are numerous passages in the buddha and his dhamma that stress the necessity of self-cultivation, particularly amongst the ordained saṅgha for true and lasting social change to take 14on the lack of dhamma-diksha, ambedkar states, “this was a grave omission. it was one of the causes of the which ultimately led to the downfall of buddhism in india. for this absence of the initiation ceremony left the laity free to wander from one religion to another and, worse still, follow them at one and the same time.” (ambedkar et al., 2011, p. 238) 15(ambedkar et al., 2011, pp. 232–233) 16ambedkar, rathore, and verma, 9. 17(ambedkar et al., 2011, p. 9) 18(ambedkar et al., 2011, p. 62) ambedkar and the buddha’s saṅgha: a ground for buddhist ethics 271 place and highlight the need for the development of wisdom alongside compassionate action. ambedkar states: is the bhikkhu to devote himself to self-culture, or is he to serve the people and guide them? he must discharge both functions. without self-culture he is not fit to guide. therefore he must be a perfect, best man, a righteous man and an enlightened man. for this he must practice self-culture.19 pradeep gokhale has noted the ways in which ambedkar is at times wrongly charged with totally ignoring the role of meditation in his teachings. he has suggested that ambedkar’s subordination of the role of meditation has parallels in other asian buddhist modernist movements and suggests that ambedkar’s approach to meditation can be compared to sulak sivaraksa’s and is consonant with other engaged buddhist approaches in its presentation of meditation as supplemental to social engagement.20 origins of the saṅgha i argue that the theoretical origins of ambedkar’s thought regarding the saṅgha can be found in his work, the untouchables: who were they and why they became untouchables.21 while the saṅgha is not explicitly addressed by ambedkar in the untouchables, his perception of who the early buddhists were is significant for an understanding of his conceptualization of how the saṅgha should be rightly conceptualized in the present. in the untouchables, ambedkar undertakes an historical reconstruction of the conditions that gave rise to untouchability. he concludes, in brief, that contemporary dalits are heirs to classical-period indian buddhists. the preface of the book makes clear that his methods are necessarily limited by a significant dearth of evidence and as such, is more of a hypothesis than a work of historical scholarship. he notes that scholarship in india had traditionally been dominated by brahmins and consequentially the idea of “untouchability” as an object of study had long been overlooked, leaving little data for use in understanding how the practice of untouchability arose.22 ambedkar sees his efforts, therefore, as a correction, writing the wrongs done by brahmin scholars of the past and present. in a move that anticipates foucault and asad, ambedkar deploys an historical methodology that skillfully weaves together a reconstructive narrative while skirting the boundaries between evidence-based historical scholarship and speculative fabrication.23 he likens his work to that of an archaeologist, who through the piecing together of artifactual data, can reproduce a coherent picture of a city or a paleontologist who can reconstruct an extinct animal based on disparate bones and teeth.24 in short, his argument is that the root of untouchability, which according to ambedkar’s theory came into existence as a practice only around 400 ce, originates in the “contempt and hatred” of buddhists by brahmins. ambedkar considers and rejects 19(ambedkar et al., 2011, p. 232) 20(gokhale, 2020, p. 270) 21(ambedkar, 2018) 22(ambedkar, 2018, p. xi) 23for a more detailed treatment of ambedkar’s method of writing history from below, see s. anand and alex george’s commentary on the untouchables, (ambedkar et al., 2019, p. 68) 24(ambedkar, 2018, p. xiv) 272 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 arguments that untouchability is rooted in racial or occupational differences and instead argues that it was in the larger social transition from nomadic social organizations to settled agrarian communities that created the conditions in which some peoples found themselves outside of the newly developing village. he terms these people “the broken men,” who resisted urbanization and lived in tension and conflict with the wealthier and more powerful settled communities. they are “broken” because while previously they had tribal identities within which they found community and power, conflict with the increasingly dominant settled people broke them down into smaller and disparate groups that could no longer effectively resist the power of the settled communities.25 in ambedkar’s reading, during the buddhist golden age of india, which he dates from the ashokan period to around 400 ce, many of those broken men, along with much of the subcontinent, adopted buddhism because it offered a source of authority outside of the brahminical system, within which they existed at the margins. this marked them as particularly loathsome to the brahmins in that in addition to their stigmatized status as outsiders to the village, they were also proponents of a rival religious tradition. in answer to the question of why not all buddhists became “untouchables,” why only the broken men, ambedkar points to the practice of beef eating amongst the broken men, which, in combination with their buddhist identity, gave rise to their untouchable status.26 ambedkar’s thesis here, while perhaps curious at first, is that in competition with buddhists for supremacy, brahminical religionists adopted many of the ethical and metaphysical stances of their more powerful buddhist opponents, often in an exaggerated and imitative way, in a bid to regain power. his argument in this work regarding the power of imitation and its role in the formation of caste is an idea that ambedkar originally developed and advanced decades earlier in his 1917 work castes in india where, in reference to french sociologist gabriel tarde, he suggests that the practice of endogamy and the power of imitation were the initial key components in the establishment of castes in india.27 here again, he appeals to the power of imitation, in particular in regards to dietary practices, to explain the formation of untouchability. he notes the textual evidence for the existence and widespread practice of beef eating and animal sacrifice (particularly that of cows) in pre-śramaṇic vedic india and suggests that the pressure exerted by the ethically oriented śramaṇic religionists produced an overzealous appropriative response from the brahmins. ambedkar theorizes that the brahmins rejected their increasingly unpopular practice of animal (cow) sacrifice and adopted an even stricter (than the buddhists), totally vegetarian diet. he suggests that the buddhist saṅgha, driven primarily by the ethical practice of ahṃisa and by a theological rejection of vedic ritual injunctions, were practicing an ethically conscious form of mindful eating; consuming meat as it was 25ambedkar’s argument here strikingly anticipates james scott’s work in the art of not being governed and against the grain: a deep history of the earliest states, where he explores the origins of the state and the persistence of stateless people and their resistance to the nation-state project from the margins. see (scott, 2017) and (scott, 2009) 26see ambedkar, the untouchables who were they and why they became untouchables, chapter 10. 27ambedkar notes, “this propensity to imitate has been made the subject of a scientific study by gabriel tarde, who lays down three laws of imitation. one of his three laws is that imitation flows from the higher to lower or, to quote his own words, ‘given the opportunity, a nobility will always and everywhere imitate its leaders, its kings or sovereigns, and the people likewise, given the opportunity, its nobility.’” b. r. ambedkar, castes in india, delhi: siddharth books, 1945; 2009, 26 ambedkar and the buddha’s saṅgha: a ground for buddhist ethics 273 offered but were not, at the time, strict vegetarians. when the buddhist golden period ended, this form of strict brahminical vegetarianism and reactionary cow worship, adopted initially in response to buddhist hegemony, then appeared to have always already been a brahminical practice in contradistinction to the less restrictive buddhist concerns about ethical eating. taken together, brahminical hatred of buddhists and disgust for beef eating created the conditions for the rise of untouchability. those broken men who continued to identify as buddhists and who remained eaters of beef became literally untouchable. ambedkar turns to the manusmriti to demonstrate that brahminical aversion toward the “broken men” was already established before the dominance of buddhism in india28 and he suggests that as brahminical power grew and that of buddhism declined, their aversion developed into the practice of untouchability. he states: this antipathy can be explained on one hypothesis. it is that the broken men were buddhists. as such they did not revere the brahmins, did not employ them as their priests and regarded them as impure. the brahmin on the other hand disliked the broken men because they were buddhists and preached against them contempt and hatred with the result that the broken men came to be regarded as untouchables.29 he appeals to various sources of brahminical textual material to support his claim that the brahmins harbored a deep-seated hatred towards buddhists. he again points to the manusmṛiti and sanskrit nāṭya30 works, such as the mṛicchakaṭika, to demonstrate anti-buddhist animosity.31 an example he cites from the manusmṛiti states, “if a person touches a buddhist or a flower of pachupat, lokayata, nastika and mahapataki, he shall purify himself by a bath.”32 the framing of contemporary dalits as lineage holders of the anti-brahminical buddhist holdouts, the “broken men,” has several obvious advantages. first it provides a plausible empowering narrative for contemporary dalits while simultaneously flipping the script on the dominant, brahminically-inflected version of south asian history. as such, it narrates a version of history where dalits are not inheritors of the karmic deeds of their past lives, as brahminical religionists would maintain, but instead, they are the successors of a people who, for centuries, once ruled over their current dominators. contemporary dalit suffering can be contextualized as a low 28ambedkar references manusmṛiti chapter 10, verses 51–56. for example: x.51 – but the dwellings of the chandalas and the shvapakas shall be outside the village, they must be made apapatras and their wealth (shall be) dogs and donkeys. x.52 – their dress (shall be) the garments of the dead, (they shall eat) their food from broken dishes, black iron (shall be) their ornaments and they must always wander from place to place . . . see (ambedkar, 2018, pp. 25–26) 29(ambedkar, 2018, p. 73) 30nāṭya – sanskrit – a play (theatrical), performing arts 31on ambedkar’s use of the mṛicchakaṭika for support in the untouchables, george and anand note that ambedkar may be stretching a bit in his reading of anti-buddhist sentiment. see (ambedkar et al., 2019, p. 66) 32(ambedkar, 2018, p. 74) 274 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 point in an ongoing struggle between the righteous and their corrupt oppressors; not a reflection of some degraded inherent nature. religiously, it associates the movement with a tradition, or in sanskritic terms, a sampradāya. more specifically, those dalits who convert (back) to buddhism are simultaneously both newly becoming buddhists while also returning from the wilderness, back to a home they had forgotten they belonged to. in this sense ambedkar’s vision of the saṅgha is rooted in a pre-sangh parivar, bottom-up version of ghar wapsi.33 women in the saṅgha while ambedkar’s writing often defaults to the traditional epicene masculine pronouns, his awareness of gender inequity was markedly progressive. drawing on the tradition of the non-brahmin equality movement instigated by savitribai and jyotiba phule in nineteenth century maharashtra, ambedkar’s mobilizing efforts amounted to a broad tent movement that reached out to marginalized people in terms of caste, class, and gender and as such it was the first successful large scale mass mobilization movement of “untouchables” across india.34 in ambedkar’s early work, castes in india,35 he argues that functionally, the practice of endogamy is the key defining feature of caste and he suggests that consequently the control of women is fundamental to the maintenance of the caste system. because caste, in his frame, is principally about regulating and limiting marriage and there are only so many available men or women for marriage at any given time, the policing of women’s life choices became essential. he argues that practices like sati (widow burning), enforced widowhood, or childhood marriage arrangements arose as necessary practices for the maintenance of caste in this sense. he points to the manusmṛiti frequently to highlight the openly prescribed rules that outline who is allowed to marry whom, and he emphasizes the ways in which women are explicitly described as property in the text. for ambedkar, to truly understand caste in india an appreciation of the way in which the subjugation of women is at the base is necessary. as pratima pardeshi has noted in consonance with ambedkar’s analysis regarding the regulation of women’s bodies in the maintenance of caste, these practices are exploitative of women and thus ambedkar underlines the fact that castes are maintained through the sexual exploitation of women. it is only through the regulation and control of women’s sexuality that the closed character of the castes can be maintained; in this sense, he argues that women are the gateways to the caste system.36 33ghar wapsi – (hindi) “return home,” is a term that refers to the hindu right’s attempts to “reconvert” non-hindu south asian people “back” into the hindu fold. it is based on a hindutva ideology that maintains that all south asians were originally, at some point in the past, hindu before they were forcibly or coercively converted by outside forces. much of the rhetoric of the proponents of ghar wapsi focuses on the “reconversion” of christians and muslims in particular, who are presented as having fallen victim to the depredations of colonial era christian missionaries and mughal period islamic authorities. 34(pawar & moon, 2008, p. 21) 35(ambedkar, 1945) 36pratima pardeshi, “ambedkar’s critique of patriarchy,” in (ambedkar, 1945) ambedkar and the buddha’s saṅgha: a ground for buddhist ethics 275 and again, in highlighting the ways that ambedkar’s anti-caste position is also necessarily feminist: the subordination of women will not automatically end with the end of capitalism. ambedkar argues that to achieve this purpose the caste system and patriarchy will have to be attacked. the subordination of women cannot come to an end in a caste-based society and it is therefore women who must lead the struggle for the annihilation of caste. he sees organic links between the struggle against the caste system and the struggle for the liberation of women. thus, the idea of women’s liberation is intrinsic to his ideology and not a token add-on.37 as the first law minister of india, ambedkar’s efforts to advance the hindu code bill in 1950 sought to establish protections and rights for women in the areas of marriage and divorce, guardianship and adoption, and inheritance and property ownership, all of which were severely regulated in pre-independence india. he undertook extensive study of the textual and theological justifications behind the orthodox hindu resistance to gender equity and highlighted the ways in which hindu textual appeals were illiberal. in short, as pardeshi has rightfully noted in ambedkar’s feminism, he sought to make political and public what had been personal and private.38 this was met with such stiff resistance from his political opponents that his version of the bill was ultimately defeated and it marked the end of his political career.39 given ambedkar’s deep abiding concern for the rights of women and his awareness of the ways in which patriarchy was inextricably linked to the maintenance of a dominant hindu social order, he was naturally concerned about the undeniable patterns of patriarchal domination in the history of the buddhist tradition. in a piece published in the maha bodhi journal entitled “the rise and fall of the hindu woman,” in response to what he perceived to be unfair attacks on buddhist gender inequality, ambedkar mounts a strong defense of the buddhist tradition’s record on women.40 in it, he considers the ways in which the buddha could potentially be found guilty of oppressing women. first, he turns to a passage in the mahāparanibbāṇa sutta that suggests the buddha viewed women as objects of potential defilement.41 37ibid., 144. 38see pratima pardeshi, “ambedkar’s critique of patriarchy,” in gokhale, classical buddhism, neo-buddhism and the question of caste, 144. 39for details of the hindu code bill proceedings, see (keer, 2018, pp. 417–425) 40ambedkar states, “in the journal of the maha bodhi for march 1950 there appeared an article on “the position of women in hinduism and buddhism” by lama govinda. his article was a rejoinder to an article which had appeared in eve’s weekly of january 21, 1950, and in which the buddha was charged as being the man whose teachings were mainly responsible for the downfall of women in india. lama govinda did his duty as every buddhist must in coming forward to refute the charge. but the matter cannot be allowed to rest there. this is not the first time such a charge is made against the buddha. it is often made by interested parties who cannot bear his greatness, and comes from quarters weightier in authority than the writer an eve’s weekly can claim. it is, therefore, necessary to go to the root of the matter and examine the very foundation of this oft repeated charge. the charge is so grave and so vile that the readers of the maha bodhi will, i am sure, welcome further examination of it.” https://www.mea.gov.in/ images/attach/amb/volume_17_02.pdf, 109 41ambedkar references chapter 5, verse 9 of the mahāparinibbāna sutta: “how are we to conduct ourselves, (asked ananda) with regard to womankind ? as not seeing them, ananda. but if we should see them, what are we to do ? not talking, ananda. but if they should speak to us, lord, https://www.mea.gov.in/images/attach/amb/volume_17_02.pdf https://www.mea.gov.in/images/attach/amb/volume_17_02.pdf 276 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 ambedkar argues, first, that this passage should be regarded as a later interpolation by male monastics for two reasons. first, he appeals to reason and notes that because of the large gap in time between the events of the sutta and when they were actually written down there is ample occasion for error. this is all the more likely, he suggests, when considering that it was primarily male monastics writing for a male monastic audience. after appealing to caroline rhys davids for support, who also expresses suspicion about the providence of the passage in question, he applies his hermeneutic of suspicion and concludes that any anti-woman sentiments were most likely merely heuristic, aimed at maintaining male celibacy and not literal statements about the nature of women. he states: there is therefore nothing very extravagant in the suggestion that this passage is a later interpolation by the bhikkhus. in the first place the sutta pitaka was not reduced to writing till 400 years had passed after the death of the buddha. secondly, the editors who compiled and edited them were monks and the monk editors compiled and wrote for the monk. the statement attributed to the buddha is valuable for a monk to preserve his rule of celibacy and it is not unlikely for the monk editor to interpolate such a rule. ambedkar doesn’t stop here though. he then engages in a more rigorous comparative text-historical sutta investigation to determine the passage’s authenticity. by comparing other suttas in the dīgha nikāya that contain passages from the mahāparanibbāṇa sutta he notes that none replicate this particular passage. he also notes that chinese versions of the sutta lack the passage in question.42 he then turns to some of the charges made against ananda at the first council, namely those that suggest it was he who allowed women into the saṅgha and as such committed a grave error. ambedkar again, suggests that this position is inconsistent with the actions and words of the buddha in numerous other places throughout the sutta material. he offers various examples, noting, where are the facts? two examples at once come to mind. one is that of visakha. she was one of the eighty chief disciples of the buddha with the title of “chief of alms-givers’. did not visakha at one time go to hear buddha preach? did she not enter his monastery? did the buddha act towards visakha in the manner he directed ananda to act towards women? what did the bhikkhus present at the meeting do? did they leave the meeting? the second instance that comes to one’s mind is that of amrapali of vaisali. she went to see the buddha and gave him and his monks an invitation for a meal at her house. she was courtesan. she was the most beautiful woman in vaisali. did the buddha and the bhikkhus avoid her? on the other hand they accepted her invitation-rejecting the invitation of the licchavis who felt quite insulted on that accountand went to her home and partook of her food.43 what are we to do ? keep wide awake, ananda.” b.r. ambedkar, “the rise and fall of the hindu woman,” https://www.mea.gov.in/images/attach/amb/volume_17_02.pdf , 109 42b.r. ambedkar, “the rise and fall of the hindu woman,” https://www.mea.gov.in/images/ attach/amb/volume_17_02.pdf , 111. 43ibid., 109. ambedkar and the buddha’s saṅgha: a ground for buddhist ethics 277 while acknowledging that the buddha did indeed advise the monks to be careful around women, ambedkar suggests that he did so because his primary concern was with guarding their commitment to celibacy, not with any sense of an inherent inferiority of women.44 in an argument that perhaps holds less water, he reasons that the bhikkhuni saṅgha was made inferior to the bhikkhu saṅgha because of practical concerns regarding the need for the more experienced male monastics to teach the newer, less experienced women, not because they were considered less than the men.45 he saves perhaps most of his energy, though, for contrasting the conditions of women in the brahminical tradition as presented in the manusmṛiti. he states: it is important to understand the reason why the brahmins debarred woman from taking sannyas because it helps to understand the attitude of the brahmins towards woman which was in sharp contrast with that of the buddha. the reason is stated by manu. it reads as follows: — ix. 18. women have no right to study the vedas. that is why their sanskars (rites) are performed without veda mantras. women have no knowledge of religion because they have no right to know the vedas. the uttering of the veda mantras is useful for removing sin. as women cannot utter the veda mantras they are as untruth is. although manu was later than the buddha, he has enunciated the old view propounded in the older dhanna sutras.46 ambedkar then argues that it is in this context, that of brahminical oppression of women, that the buddha’s decision to admit women to the saṅgha should be viewed. he suggests the decision to subordinate women monastics to their male counterparts pales in comparison to the ways in which the brahminical order subjugates them and that consequently, the buddha’s decisions should be viewed in light of his social context, by admitting women to the life of parivrajika, the buddha, by one stroke… gave them the right to knowledge and the right to realize their spiritual potentialities along with man. it was both a revolution and liberation of women in india…this freedom which the buddha gave to the women of india is a fact of far greater importance and out-weighs whatever stigma which is said to be involved in the subordination of the bhikkhunis to the bhikkhu sangha.47 this concern for the status and place of women in the saṅgha can be found in the buddha and his dhamma as well. ambedkar dedicates a chapter to the “conversion 44he notes, “it is also true that the buddha was dreadfully keen in maintaining celibacy. he was painfully aware of the fact that, to use his own words, “women doth stain life of celibacy”. but what did he advise? did he advise the bhikkhus to shun all contact with women? not at all. he never put any such interdict. far from doing any such thing what he did was to tell the bhikkhus that whenever they met any women, do ye call up the mother-mind, the sister-mind, or the daughtermind as the case may be i.e. regard a woman as you would your own mother, sister or daughter.” ibid., 114. 45ambedkar reasons, “by entrusting the work of training the bhikkhunis to the bhikkhus, their relationship became one of teacher and pupil. now does not the relationship of teacher and pupil involve some authority for teacher over the pupil and some submission or subordination on the part of the pupil to the teacher? what more did the buddha do?” b. r. ambedkar, “the rise and fall of the hindu woman,” https://www.mea.gov.in/images/attach/amb/volume_17_02.pdf 46ibid., 119. 47ibid., 119. https://www.mea.gov.in/images/attach/amb/volume_17_02.pdf 278 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 of women,” and narrates a version of the admission of the women in the saṅgha in direct terms. in his version, ananda approaches the buddha on behalf of the buddha’s stepmother, mahāprajāpatī, to advocate for their admission. the buddha initially rejects his request, but ananda repeatedly presses him, then the venerable ananda asked the blessed one, ‘what can be the ground, lord, for your refusal to allow women to take parivraja?’ ‘the lord knows that the brahmins hold that the shudras and women cannot reach moksha (salvation) because they are unclean and inferior. they do therefore not allow shudras and women to take parivraja. does the blessed one hold the same view as the brahmins? has not the blessed one allowed the shudras to take parivraja and join the sangh in the same way he has done to the brahmins?...’48 the buddha is quick and forceful in his reply, “ananda! do not misunderstand me. i hold that women are as much capable as men in the matter of reaching nibbana. ananda! do not misunderstand me, i am not an upholder of the doctrine of sex inequality.”49 the buddha then, following ambedkar’s logic in the “the rise and fall of the hindu woman,” goes on to explain that his previous refusals to admit women into the saṅgha were based on practical concerns and not because he felt women inferior.50 ambedkar’s presentation of siddhartha’s wife, both in the time before his decision to take parivrājā where she is depicted as a supportive companion, and after his return, when she chastises him for his absence as well as the way in which his stepmother initially resists his decision to leave home but eventually gives her blessing all reflect ambedkar’s commitment to humanizing the women of the life story. siddhartha’s wife, yaśodharā, responds to the news of her husband’s decision to leave not with tears and grief, but with strength, with full control over her emotions, she replied, ‘what else could i have done if i were in your position? i certainly would not have been a party to a war on the koliyas. your decision is the right decision. you have my consent and my support. i too would have taken parivraja with you. if i do not, it is only because i have rahula to look after. i wish it had not come to this. but we must be bold and brave and face the situation…” (ambedkar et al., 2011, p. 23) ambedkar depicts her not only accepting his decision, but granting her consent and blessing; a markedly progressive reversal of traditional gender roles not only for the fifth-century bce but for contemporary south asia as well. conclusion ambedkar accomplishes much of the work of establishing his new buddhism through the construction of his re-conceptualization of the buddhist saṅgha. the story of buddhism in the west has often been told through the lens of the contemplative, filtered by the discourses of modernity and the biases toward individualism and meditation that come with them. the saṅgha, in this reading, is a support for the individual to achieve personal liberation through self-cultivation and is often ancillary 48(ambedkar et al., 2011, p. 108) 49ibid., 108. 50ibid., 108. ambedkar and the buddha’s saṅgha: a ground for buddhist ethics 279 to that project. the reception of buddhism could perhaps be as compellingly told through the lens of saṅgha as its monastic orientation has given incredibly detailed thought about how to function in intentional social settings via the vinaya, an exhaustive treatment of pragmatic ethics as applied in monastic communities. this is how ambedkar is approaching the tradition, with the saṅgha at the center. his decision to favorably position the dalit community in india within a long historical arc, that of the civilization struggle between a “religion of rules” called brahminism and a morally-oriented, egalitarian buddhism, supplies much-needed ground for his nascent pragmatic religious movement. he appeals to the early saṅgha to demonstrate that, as buddhists, they were once dominant in india and commanded the respect and fear of the brahminical religionists. in his reading, they articulated a universalizable ethic of care, that, thanks to the buddha’s rationality and commitment to compassion, is as applicable today as it was 2500 years ago. ambedkar’s historical reconstruction project, which seeks to read a universalizable ethic back into ancient indian history was not limited to his movement alone. many of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century indian renaissance figures, such as vivekananda and m. k. gandhi, were engaged in similar reconstructive projects. where their projects sought to ground their ethical frame in vedāntin non-dual spirituality, ambedkar appeals to a pragmatist-inspired universalizable morality grounded in the śramaṇa tradition’s critique of brahminist religion. ambedkar’s commitment to a meliorative new buddhism places the saṅgha on a pedestal in an effort to model a community composed of individuals who are working toward egalitarianism and a just social order. as such, ambedkar’s chief conversation partner is marx, with whom he agrees about the end, the dissolution of private property, but not about the means.51 for ambedkar, the means is the buddhadharma, with its therapeutic project for the individual and its social program in the form of the saṅgha that can affect real change at the base. ambedkar’s sense that religion, in the form of an enlightened religion of principles, is necessary for moral orientation marks the divergence of his thought from that of marx. ambedkar displayed a surprising awareness and concern for the upliftment of women in india at the time. as pawar and moon note,52 ambedkar’s advocacy for women’s rights predates his time in america, suggesting that his family background, his exposure to phule’s work, and his personal disposition all played a role in his awareness in this regard. he portrays the buddha in the buddha and his dhamma as also being explicitly concerned for the welfare of women and goes out of his way, as fiske and emmrich note,53 to depict a buddha who shows no patriarchal prejudice and a saṅgha with humanized women represented. references ambedkar, b. r. (1945). castes in india. new delhi: siddharth books. — (2018). the untouchables: who were they and why they became untouchables. new delhi: maven books. 51see (singh rathore, 2007) 52(pawar & moon, 2008, pp. 157–158) 53adele fische and christoph emmrich, “the use of scriptures in b. r. ambedkar’s the buddha and his dhamma,” in (reconstructing the world : b. r. ambedkar and buddhism in india., n.d., p. 117, fn 107) 280 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 ambedkar, b. r., george, a., anand, s., & ilaiah, k. (2019). beef, brahmins, and broken men: an annotated critical selection from the untouchables, who were they and why they became untouchables? new delhi: navayana; new york: columbia university press. ambedkar, b.r., rathore, a.s., & verma, a. (2011). the buddha and his dhamma: a critical edition. new delhi: oxford university press. gokhale, p. (2020). ambedkar and modern buddhism: continuity and discontinuity. in p. gokhale (ed.), classical buddhism, neo-buddhism and the question of caste. new delhi: routledge india, pp. 257–274. — (2021). classical buddhism, neo-buddhism and the question of caste. new delhi: routledge india. jaffrelot, c. (2006). dr ambedkar and untouchability: analysing and fighting caste. delhi: permanent black. jondhale, s., & beltz, j. (eds.). (n.d.). reconstructing the world: b. r. ambedkar and buddhism in india. new delhi; new york: oxford university press, 2004. keer, d. (2018). dr. ambedkar: life and mission. mumbai: popular prakashan press. king, s. b. (2009). socially engaged buddhism. honolulu: university of hawai’i press. lokamitra, d. (2004). the centrality of buddhism and education in developing gross national happiness. in karma ura, karma galay, & center for bhutan studies (eds.), gross national happiness and development: proceedings of the first international seminar on operationalization of gross national happiness. thimpu: center for bhutan studies, pp. 472–482. lopez, d. s. (ed.). (1995). curators of the buddha: the study of buddhism under colonialism. chicago: university of chicago press. — (2012). the scientific buddha: his short and happy life. new haven: yale university press. pawar, u., & moon, m. (2008). we also made history: women in the ambedkarite movement. new delhi: zubaan. queen, c. s., & king, s. b. (eds.). (1996). engaged buddhism: buddhist liberation movements in asia. albany: state university of new york press. queen, c.s., prebish, c.s., & keown, d. (eds.). (2003). action dharma: new studies in engaged buddhism. new york: routledge curzon. scott, j.c. (2009). the art of not being governed: an anarchist history of upland southeast asia. new haven: yale university press. — (2017). against the grain: a deep history of the earliest states. new haven: yale university press. singh rathore, a. (2007). what can buddha teach a marxist?. in m. bhalchandra & a. singh rathore (eds.), buddhism and the contemporary world: an ambedkarian perspective. new delhi: bookwell, pp. 97–106. zelliot, e. (2004). ambedkar’s world: the making of babasaheb and the dalit movement. new delhi: navayana press. © 2022 swarnavel eswaran. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. culture caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 153–170 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.365 maadathy-an unfairy tale: caste, space, and gaze swarnavel eswaran1 abstract this essay engages with maadathy (dir. leena manimekalai, 2019) to explore how space is constructed as a marker of caste and interrogate the concomitant intersection of caste and gender in a divided community. through the retooling of myth, maadathy explores the horror at the heart of a patriarchal society that is invested in caste as a means of oppression, violence, and inequity. however, such a perverse agenda comes back to haunt the community, which is invested in destroying an adolescent girl without any concern for her desires and finally trying to deify her and find a way for the catharsis of their guilt. untouchability runs as a subtext throughout maadathy as yosana and her family are marked, even more inhumanely and unjustly, as unseeable people, wherein the onus to be not seen falls on them. they are abused verbally and physically when they are going about their mundane chores. nonetheless, the focus on the joyful demeanor of the pleasure-seeking yosana through the lacanian lens of the gaze initially enables the understanding of the yearning for subjective mastery from the other side of the village community whose men repeatedly target and try to contain her. however, yosana’s gaze does not allow itself to be domesticated. the jouissance of yosana, marking her singularity as the casteless adolescent girl, troubles those who want to contain and destroy her effervescence and, even after her death, continues to haunt them as they are blind to the impossibility of knowing the secret of her desire. keywords maadathy, leena manimekalai, tamil cinema, dalit cinema, caste, gaze, lacan introduction this essay engages with maadathy (dir. leena manimekalai, 2019) to explore how space is constructed as a marker of caste and interrogate the concomitant intersection 1associate professor, department of english and the school of journalism michigan state university email: eswaran@msu.edu 154 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 of caste and gender in a divided community. maadathy creates its own mythical space, which is timeless to examine the continuing hegemony of a relatively higher caste, just above in caste hierarchy, in the rigidly casteist tamil society. through the retooling of myth, it explores the horror at the heart of a patriarchal society that is invested in caste as a means of oppression, violence, and inequity. however, such a perverse agenda comes back to haunt the community, which is invested in destroying an adolescent girl without any concern for her desires and dreams and finally trying to deify her and find a way for the catharsis of their guilt. this essay will focus on the way maadathy engages with caste and gender in the context of religion to explicate the way caste subsumes gender and is intricately intertwined with religion in enabling men to assault and pulverize women without any moral responsibility or legal scrutiny. in maadathy, areas surrounding tirunelveli, particularly the forest region surrounding the tamira bharani river in papanasam, are invoked by shooting on location and matching such a space in locations near virudhunagar. according to director leena, it was difficult for her to get permission to shoot in areas surrounding papnasam, in tirunelveli district, as mundanthurai, with its tiger sanctuary, and the adjacent regions are reserved (forest reserve) areas, not accessible for shooting. therefore, leena has combined the shots of the forest and river in areas near virudunagar, where she was born, with the shots on the locale of villages near papanasam.1 therefore, one could argue that maadathy, like many of her other films, has a touch of the personal. the essay, thus, engages with leena’s intervention as a feminist filmmaker through the representation of female desire in a masculinity-driven, rigidly casteist space. the performative aspect of the film, mainly through veni (semmalar annam), the mother of the protagonist yosana (ajmina kassim), is analyzed through the lefebvrian analysis of space as explicated by ceri watkins (2005) in the context of theater. such an analysis delineates the otherwise overlapping categories of space as expounded by the iconic lefebvre and sheds light on the performative aspect of veni as she goes about her everyday life in quotidian spaces. untouchability runs as a subtext throughout maadathy as yosana and her family are marked, even more inhumanely and unjustly, as unseeable people, wherein the onus to be not seen falls on them. they are abused verbally and physically if inadvertently they fall into the view of the members, higher in the caste hierarchy when they are going about their mundane chores like picking up firewood as in the case of veni or just wandering in merriment like yosana or even when they are walking to the workplace of the spot by the river where they wash the clothes as washer people. the washing of the menstrual cloth is foregrounded in the film as we distinctly see veni aggressively washing the stains by stomping with her feet and venting out the anger after she is cunningly isolated from her husband by the members of the community from the village on the other side, from where the dirty clothes arrive, and violently raped. therefore, her gesture of silent but angry protest is not only against the debauched men but also the women who are silent enablers, despite her cleansing of their clothes of bloodstains that they do not want to touch. however, this is far removed from yosana’s silently walking away with the (stolen) shirt of a young 1telephonic conversation with leena manimekalai, 5 oct. 2021. maadathy-an unfairy tale: caste, space, and gaze 155 man (panneer), spread over her shoulder, subtly expressing her joy. veni’s gestures and behavior have an element of pathos, propelled by her heavy and gloomy heart, unlike the sprightly young yosana, who is looking forward to the company of her (non-human) friends in the forest (gopinath 2021). the focus on the joyful demeanor of the pleasure-seeking yosana through the lacanian lens of the gaze initially enables the understanding of the yearning for subjective mastery from the other side of the village community whose men repeatedly target and try to contain her. however, yosana’s gaze does not allow itself to be domesticated. later, the possessed woman in the village, who signifies the desire of the community, through her role-playing in a male-centric world drives the fantasy of a new temple for the village/caste deity. the final segment of this essay details how when desire and its source––the incomprehensible gaze of yosana––are sought to be resolved through the fantasy of the temple, it leads to an encounter with the gaze and enables the eruption of the real regarding the horror surrounding caste in maadathy. the jouissance of yosana, marking her singularity as the casteless adolescent girl, troubles those who want to contain and destroy her effervescence and, even after her death, continues to haunt them as they are blind to the impossibility of knowing the secret of her desire. importantly, maadathy treads a contentious terrain––the caste hierarchy within the dalit community. one of the reasons why there are no films or earlier documentaries on the puthirai vannar community; they generally remain on the fringes even in the discourse surrounding the dalits. they are classified as scheduled caste by the state, and there is only a book about them in tamil by professors c. lakshmanan and ko. ragupathi, theendamaikkul theendamai: puthirai vannar vazhvum iruppum/ untouchability within untouchability: lives and times of the puthirai vannars (2016). the foreword for the book was written by imayam, the sahitya award-winning dalit writer, who wrote about the puthirai vannars in his seminal novel koveru kazhuthaigal/beasts of burden (1994). imayam’s novel and theendamaikkul theendamai foreground puthirai vannars’ predicament as being the lowest in the caste hierarchy. the latter’s detailed research questions the framing of easy binaries regarding caste and sheds light on its complexity and intricate structure, as expounded by dr. ambedkar. for instance, the difficulty of proving their profession when the state requires them to bring a donkey and washing equipment to verify regarding caste certification. it does not take into consideration that generally, the puthirai vannars do not have a secure and stable place to live as they are constantly targeted and forced to be unseeable, thus often forcibly displaced and compelled to move from place to place. the book talks about how they used to wash the clothes and perform the cleansing of dead bodies for other dalits, higher in the hierarchy. but leena locates a small village in tirunelveli district and focuses on the puthirai vannar community, where such activities and oppression continue. nevertheless, leena as an outsider and an experienced filmmaker, through her framing of the people inside/ from the village and those who are forced to live outside its limits, shifts the binary revolving around hierarchy into one of those drunk with caste, the caste-full and the casteless puthirai vannar community, in the spirit of babasaheb and periyar regarding oppression and self-esteem. 156 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 apart from reframing hegemony and oppression as a binary between the caste-full and the casteless people, where the traditional (spatial) divide between oor/village and cheri/colony is rearticulated as the community inside and outside the village, the significance of maadathy lies in it being the work of a woman filmmaker. karthick ram manoharan, in his discerning essay, “being dalit, being tamil: the politics of kabali and kaala” (2021), compellingly argues for how kabali (dir. pa. ranjith, 2016) as a significant dalit film is hero-driven, whereas kaala (dir. pa. ranjith, 2018), though similarly having rajnikanth for the hero, differs in the hero being the enabler of the community to unite and fight against its hindutva antagonist. karthick’s framing is also helpful for us to discuss mari selvaraj’s films: pariyerum perumal (2018) and karnan (2021) regarding the hero/(dalit) masculinity and the community. as karthick astutely showcases in his essay, the discourse surrounding rama/aryan and ravana/ dravidian has been profound for dravidian ideologues and politics. nonetheless, the predicament of sita/women also has to be shed light upon and brought center stage. leena does that with maadathy by interrogating caste (instead of race). one could trace a link between sita’s life in the forest and yosana’s––their ecofeminist impulses uniting them. more importantly, not only being untouchable but unseeable as well as blindness plays a crucial role in maadathy. therefore, lacanian meditations on (the encounter with) the gaze offer the rich theoretical framework to study the extremity/enormity of oppression surrounding caste, in the context of visibility/vision, in maadathy. the context of leena manimekalai as a feminist filmmaker and maadathy as part of contemporary dalit cinema starting from mathamma (2002), leena has two decades of experience as a committed filmmaker who began her career as a documentarian. while she has been making documentaries regularly, sengadal (the red sea, 2011) and maadathy mark her as a significant fiction filmmaker as well. mathamma engaged with the arunthatiyar community in mangattucheri near arakkonam. arunthatiyars belong to the dalit community and are lower in the hierarchy, like the puthirai vannar community in maadathy. one could see the two decades of work of a significant filmmaker being bookended by her preoccupation with the virulence of the caste system as it keeps destroying the lives and livelihood of people by oppressing them through exclusion and oppression both in the material and the mythic world in the name of inhuman sacrifices. in particular, those who are the lowest in the hegemonical and unscientific construct of caste hierarchy. consider, for instance, the predicament of young female children who are offered to the deity in mathamma, not unlike yosana in maadathy. additionally, there are many remarkable films in leena’s repertoire that address the predicament of women at the intersection of patriarchy, gender, and caste system, as exemplified by goddesses (2008)––the film which won deservingly for her the golden conch at the mumbai international film festival, arguably one of the best in the world for documentaries, despite its politicization in recent years. leena’s feat is unparalleled among documentarians in tamilnadu. goddesses engages with the lives maadathy-an unfairy tale: caste, space, and gaze 157 and times of three extraordinary women who challenge and subvert the patriarchal norms and gender hierarchy by successfully pursuing professions generally marked as male: fishing, grave-digging, and funeral-singing, not unlike leena herself. think of sengadal, the first feature-length film to meaningfully address the sri lankan-tamil issue in the backdrop of the predicament of fisher people in dhanuskodi, rameswaram. as with her engagement in foregrounding the plight of the almost invisible puthirai vannar community in maadathy, leena has always been a pioneer. maadathy: caste, gender, and mythmaking as spaces of oppression and denial the reception of maadathy foregrounds the discourses surrounding dalit chetna or dalit consciousness when it comes to writing about dalits, whether in literature or films. sharankumar limbale, in his path-breaking book on dalit criticism, defines it as “the revolutionary mentality connected with struggle” (2004, p. 12). for him, “ambedkarite thought is the inspiration for this consciousness … dalit consciousness is an important seed for dalit literature; it is separate and distinct from the consciousness of other writers. dalit literature is demarcated as unique because of this consciousness” (p. 32). he leaves no room for ambiguity: “by dalit literature, i mean writing about dalits by dalit writers with a dalit consciousness” (p. 1). laura e. brueck, the eminent scholar on hindi literature, gives us an idea about the complex and diverse ways the concept of dalit chetna is harnessed: “it can, at times, refer to the notion of political awareness, in the sense of consciousness-raising among certain sections of the dalit population, and at other times refer to a collective notion of identity among diverse dalit communities” (dalit chetna). in this context, the response of dr. thol thirumavalavan, the dalit activist/thinker and the leader of viduthalai chiruthaigal katchi (liberation panther party) from tamilnadu, attains significance. he responded to maadathy, after watching the film at the chennai independent film festival on leena’s invitation, by appreciating the film and pointing to the space needed for the agency of dalit women.2 leena is a feminist writer/filmmaker who has a rich corpus of work over the last decade. she has many dimensions, like being a poet, publisher, and activist. against this backdrop, i am invested in analyzing maadathy regarding leena’s locus as a committed filmmaker who is invested in anti-caste and feminist discourses, whose earlier award-winning documentary goddesses, like much of her other films, engages with caste, class, and gender. in this essay, i want to focus on maadathy’s representation of caste and gender through space for its critique of masculinity and the misogynistic tamil culture. anindita datta draws from joan wallach scott’s definition of gender as predicated on “perceived differences between the sexes and a primary way of signifying relationships of power” (scott, 1988, p. 42) and judith butler’s “styles of the flesh” (butler 1990, 1993) to foreground how gender is socially constructed not through biology but performance or performing gender to be more precise, and in the case of madaathy, through an “incessant activity performed... with or for another” 2ibid. 158 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 (cited in datta, 2021, p. 2) to argue for how such performances, which have their own history and are socially determined, are rooted in particular spaces and geographic locale. thus, according to datta, the nature of space or location by itself determines to a large extent the manner in which ‘the styles of the flesh’ or gender are performed. conversely, these performances of gender may then, in turn, go on to constitute specific kinds of gendered spaces … essentially, therefore, both gender and space eventually co-create each other (2021, p. 2). datta posits the idea of regional genderscape, particularly in the context of india, which has resonances for the way gender is constructed through space in maadathy. veni’s performativity and the space in maadathy are intertwined, as discussed in detail later. however, even regional seems too broad a term to engage with the plight of the adolescent protagonist yosana of maadathy, who is marked in the film as the lowest in the caste hierarchy and personifying the most virulent oppression from men. since we do not see her with other friends or relatives, any kind of rubric to explain her loneliness, alienation, and exploitation in terms of caste or gender seems inadequate to fully understand her predicament in a dangerously violent and ferociously casteist society. the official press kit of the film informs us about yosana as belonging to the “unseeable” among the dalits: puthirai vannaar is an ‘unseeable’ dalit caste group, in southern india. their forced occupation is to wash clothes of other dalits, the dead and the menstruating women. this film is a tale about a young girl who grew up in puthirai vannaar caste group and how she came to be immortalised as their local deity, maadathy … india is a land of subaltern deities. each deity has an unique legend and these legends are often interwoven with socio-historic tropes of india. —(maadathy, 2019) anavan kudiyiruppu, the area around which a significant portion of the film was shot, is not far off from papanasam, which is easily accessible through buses––there are direct buses from chennai and all the big cities and towns in tamilnadu and bangalore city and trivandrum. yet anavan kudiyiruppu, the small village, on the other side of the ghats is not known much in tamilnadu. along with her casteless people.3 it also undermines the general notion of the contemporary surveillance era 3as i go onto focus on and analyze maadathy, i prefer using the term “casteless” for yosana and her family belonging to the puthirai vannar community, as all of them are not vannars or washer people, though donkey as a signifier is ubiquitous in the film. for instance, according to leena, mr. murthy, who plays the village head in the film, is a retired govt. officer. similarly, for the people on the other side of the village, i have used “caste-full” to indicate their being intoxicated with caste pride/arrogance. they are not marked in the film as dalits, though the extra texts like the press kit, says so. besides, some among the devendrakula vellalars in the area are also questioning the label of dalit to address their caste identity. maadathy-an unfairy tale: caste, space, and gaze 159 where nothing escapes the possibilities of looking at and gazing back in return. caste and its tentacles defy the ubiquity of the foucauldian panopticon and its reach in this digital era, where tamilnadu is notorious for its cctv culture, even in rural areas. more importantly, maadathy set in contemporary times foregrounds the failure and betrayal of the majoritarian hindu society to fulfill the spirit of babasaheb ambedkar instilled in the indian constitution regarding the various means to achieve economic democracy (jadhav, 1991). the plot revolves around the lives and times of yosana (ajmina kassim), her mother veni (semmalar annam), her father sudalai (arul kumar), grandmother (stella raj), and the wandering mystic––her grandfather. in her quest, the lonely yosana too wanders into the forest and the river and seeks company with animals and birds. she identifies and sympathizes with a foal––the baby donkey that has moved away from the group, just like her, to explore the landscape secretly. this quiet side of yosana’s life in a pristine and mythical landscape is contrasted with the lived reality of her mother’s anxiety surrounding yosana’s future and her carefree and vivacious nature. her mother goes about the chore of washing clothes with the help of her father and steps out only for work and hurries back home not only because she is “unseeable” but mainly to keep away from the eyes of depraved and debauched men. she similarly wants to protect her daughter, who would not share her concerns in her pursuit of the mysteries surrounding nature as well as desire. one of the remarkable scenes in maadathy is when yosana is hiding behind a rock and later, desiring a closer view, moves further and ducks underwater as she sees a young man, relieving himself of his clothes, jumping in nude head-on into the water, and swimming. such a scene shot from an adolescent girl’s perspective is unparalleled in indian cinema in the way it punctuates the female desire to explore the mystery surrounding the male body and sexuality. she would later be grabbing the stolen shirt, which panneer had left to dry on the rock after washing, and walking away smelling it. such tender scenes are juxtaposed with the harsh realities of her mother washing the clothes with menstrual blood and working hard to prepare the fire for steaming a considerable load of clothes, and later, her father waiting in the vicinity but yet hiding from the pyre of the corpse awaiting the clothes of the dead to be washed with a bottle of country liquor as the tip. besides, her mother inadvertently attracts a curious woodcutter’s attention as she rushes to hide behind the tree with her. nevertheless, his hypocrisy is revealed, when after looking back and searching for her in vain, he spits on her vessel that she left on the way while rushing to hide. more sadly, all of her mother’s apprehensions come true when she is molested on her way to work and raped against her will. later yosana, too, is subject to the same fate by a group of young men who were at odds till then, in the backdrop of the festival to celebrate the new temple built by the village community. leena bookends the film with the myth of maadathy, the village deity who took her form from the tragic narratives of a young woman like yosana, whose life was nipped in the bud in a casteist and conservative society which does not seek the truth behind the dark realities of its cathartic rituals. her anxieties regarding a grown-up daughter mark yosana’s mother, and her behavior recalls bordieu’s concept of the habitus as “the way society 160 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 becomes deposited in persons in the form of lasting dispositions, or trained capacities and structured propensities to think, feel and act in determinant ways, which then guide them” (wacquant, 2005, p. 316, cited in navarro, 2006, p. 16). additionally, bordieu was invested in exploring the cultural phenomenon of “misrecognition” to foreground the possibility of “reflexive sociology,” which according to him, “while uncovering sources of power and illuminating reasons that explain social asymmetries and hierarchies, offers a good chance of producing real knowledge about a given context and, as a result, is a powerful tool to enhance social emancipation.” (navarro, 2006, pp. 15–16). nevertheless, such reflexivity and emancipatory possibilities are foreclosed for veni due to the massive burden of work and the isolation of her family from the larger community in the name of caste and the denial of interacting with her kith and kin who live on the other side of the river. veni’s “propensities to think, feel and act” are thus subsumed by the helplessness of living in a porous bubble that is prone to violent attacks by the virulently masculine universe outside undergirded by the gradations of caste hierarchy and hegemony. yosana’s world is far removed from her mother’s. her pristine world is mythical as it encompasses the colorful flora and fauna, though it keeps reminding us of the dangers lurking around the corner in its emptiness, where often we see her alone, for relatively long stretches of time. we get the sense of reality only through the intrusion of people from the village, like when yosana stealthily watches panneer who comes with his donkeys and swims. after the bath, panneer comes out of the water and searches for the shirt he had left to dry on a rock nearby in vain. he also looks for the missing young donkey in the group that he had brought with him to bathe. thereafter, he reluctantly moves away with the other bathed donkeys, searching along the way for the lost young one. meanwhile, we see yosana moving away from the camera with the shirt spread over her shoulders and back. this is a poignant moment in the film where tactility of cloth is used as a signifier of desire in contrast to the general use of clothes by a washerwoman, like her mother in the film, and the marxist alienation of labor where the source of oppression could be traced through the huge pile of clothes to be washed. more importantly, the casteist oppression is punctuated when veni breaks down after her rape by one of the lecherous men who gets her husband drunk and violently pulls her away and rapes her when she is hurrying to avoid the anticipated tentacles of caste and its violent and ghastly masculinity. all she could do to take out her anger and helplessness was shout at her husband, whom she had forewarned, and scrub hard with her feet the unyielding bloodstains on the menstrual cloth in the river water. veni’s reaction is thus an affirmation of the foreboding sense of gloom she projects as someone who could foresee the way caste structure plays out, foreclosing any hope or agency for someone like her. this contrasts with yosana’s vivacity and throbbing of life in her exploration of nature, seeking friendship with animals, and looking for human contact and warmth. because of this element of the natural and uncontainable energy in her, she is loved by her grandmother, who coddles her by treating her injured barefoot with herbal paste when she visits her after one of her strolls into the forest. we also see her mystical grandfather suddenly arriving at the door, uninvited and unwelcome by her grandmother, who offers a small packet maadathy-an unfairy tale: caste, space, and gaze 161 (probably with the sacred ash), and her grandmother reluctantly accepts it and adds the content to her mix of the paste. the grandfather who has deserted the family seems to use the garb of the mystic to become visible/seeable to the casteist world outside where such irrationality resonates. nevertheless, in one of the critical moments in the film, as yosana is on her stroll, she suddenly comes across this older man––her grandfather–– in front of her, and she is astonished, like us, to see him fall flatly (at her feet) on the ground at a distance. his reverential gesture of falling with head down and hands folded up in front of her prefigures her later transition to the deific maadathy. in stark contrast is the mundane and predictable world of veni, where caste seems to offer no reprieve and the expansive nature, unlike in the case of yosana, seems to close in and become increasingly confining, stifling, and claustrophobic. it is as if the entire nature, encompassing her permeable and wall-less home, has become a haunted house, and she is performing to the diktats of this dark dystopian figure––caste (oppression/ hierarchy/hegemony). veni’s performance, unlike yosana’s spontaneity, begs the question of performance in the context of space. more importantly, because all her fears regarding yosana’s future ultimately come true despite her garrulous nature of speaking her mind and expressing her concerns and anxieties, as if to ward them off, and scoffing at the nonchalance of her husband and the dispassionate mother-in-law and the ebullient yosana. it also recalls ceri watkins’s “lefebvrian analysis” of space in the context of theater. the representation of space, the first one in the triad, which is not concrete, “is the dominant space in society and is a conceptualized space constructed out of symbols, codifications and abstract representations” (watkins, 2005, p. 209). watkins sees parallels in “the text or script, the deputy stage manager’s book, the composer’s score, and various ‘notes’ from the director, producer, composer, designer, etc.” (p. 212). in films, we may translate this as the shooting script, which, like a blueprint, includes the details of the backdrop and the dialogue for the scenes, apart from the notes of the chief technicians like the cinematographer, music composer, choreographer, production designer, among others. spatial practices, the second one in lefebvre’s taxonomy, which “embraces production and reproduction, and the particular locations and spatial sets characteristic of each social formation” (lefebvre, 1991, p. 33), resonates with, according to watkins, “the accepted and acceptable spatial practices of the theatrical context, on which the actors draw, along with the representations of space, to develop a framework for the performance” (watkins, 2005, p. 213). it includes accepted norms of the theatre, like “‘knowing your lines well enough’ and ‘giving the right cue,’ or definitely ‘not grandstanding or upstaging another actor.” (ibid.) in cinema, we can see the parallels not only in taking and giving the cues for other actors, particularly in close-ups and remembering your lines, but also taking the lights, generally from the catwalks above, by getting to the right marks on the floor. spaces of representation, the last one of the triad “are the space of lived experience, it is space ‘as directly lived through its associated images and symbols, and hence the space of “inhabitants” and “users”’ (lefebvre, 1991, p. 39, original emphasis; cited in watkins, ibid.). watkins links this to the “awareness of the cast to the role that actual physical space … plays in any performance” (watkins, ibid.) she also points to the 162 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 “the emphasis the cast placed on the final rehearsals taking place in the same physical space, with the same costumes, props etc. as the final performance” (ibid.). semmalar annam, playing the role of veni, attracts our attention through her performance because of all the reasons enumerated earlier. she is dramatically intense in her delivery of dialogue, and her retorts are sharper, reflecting her finesse and sharpness with cues as a professional with more experience than others, but the last one–– spaces of representation is significant for us. in maadathy, the actual physical space is the unlimited space of the forest, the actual physical space of the film, often delineated by the space that opens in front of the camera. the diegesis horizontally is limited by the frame but vertically extends, as it is a natural landscape, often till the horizon. in significant scenes, we can see yosana wandering away or towards the camera in her joyful explorations, or in contrast, veni often hurrying to her work spot with clothes or rushing back to her home with yosana by her side or trying to evade the men, warning her husband from joining them, as she is on her way to the river. while the actual space inhabited by yosana parallels the expansive forest region with the river, veni’s is constrained and narrow, often contained by the enclosed path surrounded by the trees. in critical moments, like the rape sequence, she is framed from the back walking away from the camera. her looks (back at the camera) allude to the constant fear caused and the threat posed by the thing behind her. the danger is personified by the men who intrude into her terrain to lure her husband away and violate her in isolation, thus breaking the casteist and social taboo of her “unseeability” when it does not fit their salacious nature. the relatively softer version of the woodcutter, too, expresses his depravity through the action of obnoxiously spitting (at her belonging). it is remarkable that the only glimpse we have of the other side of the village, as opposed to the green but barren landscape inhabited by veni and her family, has to do with the process of the construction of a temple for maadathy, the village deity. it begins with the woman who is possessed during what seems to be a day of festivity and through the spirit of the goddess that has come to occupy her orders for a temple to be built. we see the village men and the priest standing in reverence in front of her and obeying her orders by promising a bigger temple (in place of the smaller one behind them). since this is the only sequence, with a linear progression of scenes––the possession to the process of gathering the money and the building of the temple––that is in parallel cut with the quotidian lives of veni and yosana, and later, the tragic and violent gang rape of yosana on the very day of the temple festival to install and consecrate the statue of the goddess in the newly erected temple, it attains significance as the space of casteist virulence and oppression which was unseeable for us from veni’s perspective thus far. the possession of the village woman provides the entry as it mirrors veni’s performance, bordering on the neurotic, albeit the difference is in veni as a casteless and helpless woman around whom the tentacles of caste are increasingly tightening its demonic and inhumane grip. her doppelganger, the privileged and “castefull” woman, engulfed by the charged and frenetic people of her caste, marked by the devotion to the common deity, too, performs neurotically as the possessed woman to give vent to her feelings as a woman, who has shifted the gear from being a slave to the sacred at the intersectionality of gender and seems to regale herself at the obeisance maadathy-an unfairy tale: caste, space, and gaze 163 of the symbols of patriarchy––the enforcers of the illogical caste hierarchy, who are hypocritical and morally corrupt, recalling lacan’s words, “the subject in question is not that of the reflexive consciousness, but that of desire” (lacan, 1998, p. 89). nonetheless, she is intoxicated with caste, as her utterances are rhetorical. she has no uncertainty about the point of her enunciation at the intersection of caste/religion, thus recalling ambedkar and periyar’s theorization of caste as intricately intertwined with hindu religion (ambedkar, 2011; manoharan, 2020, p. 10). her gender-bending is at the aural level since the possession offers her the “masculine” voice to order rather than suggest or request. thus, she symbolizes the schizoid woman at the intersection of caste and gender. her caste-fullness is in polarity to her powerlessness as a woman who could only connive and be an enabler of the casteist lechers around her. more importantly, she is a signifier of caste who has solidified without the renewal or reinstitution of desire, and possession could be read as a momentary interruption. laura mulvey’s theorization of all gaze (man and women) as that of male while watching a hollywood film is instructive here (mulvey, 1975). however, one could stretch the linear understanding of the mastery of the (lacanian) gaze further. in this case, too, one could argue the possessed woman is performing to the men around and their scopophilia. however, through her appropriation of agency through a spirit, she denies any pleasure of looking at her body, although she draws attention to her performance. instead of being commodified on the screen, she inhabits the subjectivity of men to order and force their subservience to her roleplaying as an agent of the divine or the imbiber of divinity. her ephemeral posture of power works because of the seamlessness between the point of address and reception. there are no questioning or doubts about her authority as the uniformity of caste and its unquestionable faith in rituals erases any possible rupture. thus, caste (and religion) precedes and subsumes her identity as a woman, marking her as one full of caste pride/hegemony, flaunting her commitment to caste/clan through her being the chosen one of their kuladeivam/ kuldevata––the deity for their kul/clan, thus acceptable to the men around her, as they comply with her orders by agreeing to build a temple instantaneously. it is important to note here that such a performance in a milieu of generally lecherous men, as exemplified by the actions of men in the film, is possible only under an altered state of being possessed by a spirit from elsewhere. to that extent, her agency is contained as she is not behaving on her own accord as a normative woman from a traditional village. ultimately, she is allowed her freedom as a member of kul/clan or, more precisely, caste in this case. one could argue that this space, like the house of norman bates in psycho, is gazing at the haunted veni. but it complicates our understanding of the subject and the object. here the inanimate space of the object is animated as it is occupied and marked by the (hierarchically above) caste/ people inhabiting it, thus occupying the subject position. the oppressed veni and her family are objectified as exploitable and expendable. todd mcgowan responding to, joan copjec’s criticism on the misconception of the gaze and claim that “film theory operated a kind of ‘foucauldinization’ of lacanian theory” points to the way it changed from the idea of mastery in his early essay on the mirror stage to the way it becomes “objective rather than a subjective gaze” later 164 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 when it “becomes something that the subject encounters in the object.” (copjec, 1994, p. 19; mcgowan, 2003, p. 28). after addressing the limitation of the reductive reading of lacan regarding the mastery of the gaze and interpellation of the audiences into the dominant ideology, mcgowan points to lacan’s investment in the mysterious/obscure object posited in the other. for lacan, “desire is the desire of the other.” the subject posits the objet petit a as the point of the other’s secret jouissance, but the objet petit a cannot be reduced to anything definitively identifiable in the other. to paraphrase lacan, this object is in the other more than the other. the jouissance embodied in this object remains out of reach for the subject because the object exists only insofar as it is out of reach (mcgowan, 2003, p. 32). this later lacan’s theorization of desire as motivated by objet petit a has relevance for the understanding of the core of maadathy. one thing which remains uncontainable in the film is the jouissance of yosana despite the tentacles of caste spreading around her, intruding into her innocent life, and finally raping her to death. lacan describes jouissance as “not purely and simply the satisfaction of a need but as the satisfaction of a drive” (lacan, 1997, p. 209). it is thus not reducible to the satisfaction of something instinctual. literally, in the case of yosana, it is exemplified in the way she cares for the lost baby donkey after the scene where she walks away with the shirt. she is more bothered about leading it back to its fold as she could not bear its isolation and tears. however, it would be normal if love were to be her primordial need at that age, particularly after the scene of her surreptitious body-watching. but her instinctual needs shift to caring for the foal, which seems in consonance with her love for the fishes, monkeys, and the rabbit. her joie de vivre driven by empathy is in contrast to the death-drive driven aggression of the people from the other side. only when we see the possessed women, maadathy offers the reverse shot of the people in the village. retroactively, it dawns on us it has been from their point of view––the people of caste––the casteless yosana and her people have been showcased thus far. though yosana’s strides in the outdoors on uneven terrains mirror her free-spirited interiority and are not anticipating any onlookers. on the contrary, the source of veni’s anxiety is revealed as the community which gathers around and is tied through caste. the signifier gets displaced from the woodcutter to the rapist to the libidinous and neurotic community, wherein a woman is allowed to perform in the public sphere only when there is an imbalance between the body and the spirit, particularly at the intersection of religion and the invocation of the spirit from above, alluding to the line between inclusivity and exclusivity marked by the irrationality of caste. what is absurd here is the yearning for the sensorial experience of a spirit that is otherwise untouchable and unseen by a community that wants to segregate people in the name of caste and the pretext of untouchability and unseeability. veni’s gazing back, however, is not troubling for them. extending mulvey’s thesis, predicated on early lacan’s theorization of the mastery of the gaze, veni’s performance is in their comfort zone of lending herself to their subjective mastery of her gaze, thus enabling her cooptation into their ideology of an oppressive caste structure and hegemony. in contrast to veni’s submissive nature, maadathy-an unfairy tale: caste, space, and gaze 165 yosana’s pursuit of happiness and her jouissance troubles them as they cannot find the key to the secret of her jouissance, which they lack and want to possess, not unlike the alien spirit that comes to animate their dispirited life. yosana’s gaze eludes their grasp. “even when the subject sees a “complete” image, something remains obscure; the subject cannot see the other at the point at which it sees the subject. the gaze of the object gazes back at the subject, but this gaze is not present in the field of the visible.” (mcgowan, 2003, p. 33). the framing of yosana in the film exemplifies her as the object gazing back but “not present in the field of the visible.” for instance, when she unexpectedly comes across someone, she hides behind an adjacent tree, and we see her getting admonished through the sound/voice. such a reaction is seen in tandem with her mother as well. later, when she is raped, it is nighttime, and she is in darkness––we could hear her exhausted and feeble pleas to the drunken young men to leave her. when she is with the monkeys, she is composed from a low angle. during other key moments, like when she is watching panneer swim, we see her hide behind a cavernous rock and later under water. at home, too, she is sleeping as her mother and father stealthily move away when they feel amorous. when her grandmother is applying the herbal paste for healing her wounds, she is again composed in low light from the only source of the lantern inside the house. similarly, we see her sneak away from the camera with the shirt, albeit joyfully. the mythos-driven representation of yosana is framed within the film as a mise-en-abyme ––the scene that prefigures the narrative trajectory of the film––when we see her own grandfather prostrating in front of her. however, we are precluded from knowing her response since the reaction shot is denied to us. additionally, and more importantly for our discussion here, the source of yosana’s jouissance, the objet petit a, is obscured as she inhabits the realm of the sacred, particularly in the shot where we see a parrot resting on her left shoulder as she walks away from the camera, recalling the iconic goddesses like madurai meenakshi or andal, and the profane, marked by her curiosity regarding male nudity, simultaneously. the desire of the other thus remains indecipherable, though the milieu in which she lives, and the low lights and angles in which she is framed are suffused with sensuosity and desire. yosana–– the casteless object in this case to the caste-full subject, occupying the village sphere––disallows the perception of her (returning) gaze through the multiplicity of the porous/overlapping spaces she occupies, ranging from the physical and sensorial to the mythical. mcgowan points to the general tendency of hollywood in using fantasy as a trope for closure and the resolution of the dichotomy between desire and gaze as encompassing its lack in objet petit a after analyzing duel (dir. spielberg, 1971) [ibid., pp. 33–40] and citizen kane (dir. orson welles, 1941) [pp. 35–37] for the way they remain true to the obscurity of the gaze by concealing the antagonist truck-driver and secret regarding the rosebud. initially, film theory engaged with lacan to interrogate “the relationship between fantasy and ideology (fantasy and the symbolic) rather than on the relationship between fantasy and the gaze (fantasy and the real)” [ibid., p. 39]. therefore, fantasy was deemed negative as it offered the space for spectators to be deluded and interpellated, and the theorists took upon the responsibility of revealing the ideological underpinnings of the symbolic and alerting spectators to the dangers of 166 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 pleasure. however, according to mcgowan, “when we focus on the gaze as objet petit a, fantasy ceases to be simply negative. fantasy, for lacan, has a double role in the experience of the subject” (p. 40). in maadathy too, the fantasy of building a temple–– an imagined space, an enormous and ornate alternative to the existing rudimentary functional one––is seen as the resolution to the issue of the obfuscation of the objet petit a––the secret of the object in the gaze posited by the community at large, outside yosana’s family. the possessed woman’s desire is posited against yosana’s gaze, and the solution is sought through erecting a temple. as the signifier of the voice of the community, the possessed woman mobilizes through her rhetorical utterance the entire village to participate in collecting funds and building the temple. since yosana’s divinity is already alluded to, the fantasy of the temple seems like a logical extension. consider, for instance, the scene where after performing a small ritual, the team from the village with the priest leave after having measured and chosen the piece of rock for what seems to be the first pillar of the temple to be constructed. after they move, carrying the chosen piece of rock covered with the yellow cloth, we see yosana arriving at the rock and looking down at them from the top. her attention is drawn to the offering for the goddess they left–the guava, pomegranates, and bananas. yosana’s acceptance of what is offered to the goddess is juxtaposed with her jouissance of relishing the fruits and sharing them with her friends, the monkeys, who relish them like her. the saintly (offering) and the sensorial (gratification) are juxtaposed in positing yosana as grounded and simultaneously ethereal––one of the ways the objet petit a is obscured. however, objet petit a itself is a product of misrecognition, particularly when we think of it as presence rather than as absence in a subject: desire for lacan, as it is manifest in the mechanisms of language, is the attempt to attain or understand that which is missing from the being of the subject, which is the objet a. the objet a is that around which desire circulates, that upon which fantasy is constructed, and that which is the product of méconnaissance. (lacan, 1977, p. 22). (hendrix, 2019) therefore, between desire and its lack, as objet petit a, in gaze, fantasy is invoked for resolution. in a film like schindler’s list (dir. spielberg, 1993), the protagonist oskar schindler himself plays the fantasy figure to resolve the obscured gaze of the nazi commandant amon goeth (ralph fiennes). mcgowan details how “goeth’s gaze does not remain an impossible object throughout the film. through the [father] figure of oskar schindler (liam neeson), spielberg domesticates this gaze and thereby deflects its trauma” (p. 38). schindler is thus able to free a thousand jews and shield us from goeth and “the real through the enactment of a fantasy” (p. 39). but as detailed by mcgowan, like in the case of blue velvet (dir. david lynch, 1986), fantasy need not always be regressive, deployed in the service of ideology (pp. 41–42). “even though fantasy is a retreat from the gaze and a screen obscuring the gaps in the symbolic order, cinema has the ability to employ fantasy in a radical way” (p. 43). it could also enable our encounter with the gaze, like in the case of maadathy, wherein maadathy-an unfairy tale: caste, space, and gaze 167 the domestication of the gaze of yosana is denied, despite the increasing aggression against her, from the verbal to the physical. her violent death also provides the transition of her family members to the public sphere of the space around the temple, right at the heart of the village. until then, as spectators, we are the witnesses to the events on both sides––the caste-full village, inhabited by people full of their caste arrogance/ aggression, and the casteless yosana and her family with a porous home posited in the outskirts amidst a forest with a river running through it. but yosana’s traumatic death erases the divide and paves the way for her family to directly encounter the village people in front of the newly built temple. the gaze of the community looking at yosana’s family as they mourn their irreplaceable loss is emphasized in this sequence. it resonates with the catastrophic preceding sequence, wherein yosana’s rape and death are parallelly cut with the rituals in the newly constructed temple, signifying the closure of the gap between the village and the outskirts/forest area and the folding of the disparate places, revolving around yosana’s home in the forest and the village sphere, into the space in front of the temple where villagers are forced to see and react to the unseeable yosana’s family’s lamentation of her loss. when the sequence begins, we see yosana with the shirt (of paneer) in her hand, taking shelter under a cavernous rock. after a while, as it gets darker, we see four young men arriving with bottles of liquor and empty coconut shells, and they start drinking. through their discussion, we come to know that paneer and his rival, who quarreled and fought because of money, before realizing that the village headman had cheated them during the fund collection for the temple, are also part of the group. however, they come together, ironically, in their show of masculinity against the helpless yosana. as they take turns to violently rape her, it is dark, and with the torchlight on their hand, we get a feeble glimpse of yosana before we see the torch rolling over on the ground. the fleeting close-ups of her frightened and quivering face covered with her hair are juxtaposed with sound from the speaker in the temple where the song praises the hair and the tresses, and the heart and the (thousand) eyes of the goddess maadathy. paradoxically, she remains blind to the plight of yosana, who is pleading with her savage rapists to let her go. in this scene, too, yosana as object gaze is rendered obscure through her disorientation due to terror and dismay and the simultaneous glorification of the body parts of the deity––desecration and consecration are juxtaposed. thereafter, the depleted and ebbing yosana musters enough of her feeble energy to crawl and climb over a nearby donkey, almost dropping dead on it. the donkey transports her to the village.4 here one could argue that the fantasy regarding the temple reaches its limits. if the temple signifies the most unpolluted of the space dreamed by the people of the village as their ideal spot regarding purity, the presence of the corpse of yosana at its entrance creates a rupture. additionally, the heartrending lament of her mother and grandmother not only intrudes and creates a rupture in the dividing line regarding touch and visibility but by their transgression into the temple space pollute 4the parallels with the donkey in bresson’s acclaimed au hasard balthazar (1966) are striking here: both the donkeys “bear the burden of mankind” (vaux, 2004). see for details, on bresson and au hasard balthazar: vaux, sara anson (2004), divine skepticism: the films of robert bresson, retrieved nov. 15. 2021, from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/ divine+skepticism%3a+the+films+of+robert+bresson.-a0125407684 168 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 and blur the boundaries of the sanctum sanctorum of caste and its hierarchy/structure, punctuated by the cursing of the community by veni and her mother-in-law, who throw their handful of mud on them. the caste-full people overcome the momentary inertia due to the shock of having been touched by the untouchable and seen the unseeable, and they call upon each other for responding to the shattering of social norms and taboo by violently punishing veni and her family. thus, the fantasy regarding a space of purity reaches its limits and snaps on its edges, mainly because of the presence of yosana as the stain. such an image of the limit of fantasy enables an “encounter with the gaze.” we see the goddess whose eyes (in the newly sculpted statue) were opened through a ceremonial ritual the night before, watching the pristine pillars and roof (carved out of stone) collapse around her. her face too gradually morphs into that of yosana––the maadathy now. the free spirit of yosana finds a seated/stable body in the statue of the deity: the object (which returns the) gaze becomes visible now. nonetheless, the jouissance of yosana/maadathy will not allow her circumscribing within the narrow space of the interiors marked by the pillars and the roof––the key to the secret of her jouissance far exceeding the limiting and dichotomous idea of purity. here it is important to note lacan’s engagement with painting, particularly the anamorphosis––the distortion in art that requires a particular angle or device to view–– in holbein’s ambassadors. the large skull depicted by holbein clouds the painting and is decipherable as such only from a “radically oblique angle.” (iskin, 1997, p. 55). in maadathy, the precarity of yosana and her subjectivity casts a shadow disallowing our perception of any intent look. furthermore, unlike in a painting, or a sardine can, which is static, the movement of the camera is compounded by the meandering subjectivity of yosana in maadathy. only when her face/head is morphed onto the body of the statue does the slanted view become possible due to the fissure in the transposing of the human with the inanimate. more importantly, the encounter with the gaze leads to the eruption of the real: as the entire village, drunk with caste pride, aggressively marches with (mud and stones in) their clenched fists toward veni and family, they are frozen and simultaneously blinded. it is not possible to belong to a caste and see the reality around as it is, uncolored by prejudice and irrationality. yosana as maadathy, therefore, renders the world unseeable to the caste-full people. the people propelled by their death drive, exemplified by their repeated (and only) acts of aggression, finally turn in inside and self-destruct themselves, as explicated by freud (smith, 2010). indeed, they cannot have a clue about the world of yosana throbbing with life, let alone the secret of her desires. caste as a signifier of the horror of darkness within human hearts blinds people to see the unfillable void in their objective to oppress and destroy, thus, leading them to rape and kill and look in futility to the key for jouissance elsewhere, and in envy try to appropriate the unfathomable/ uncontainable. nevertheless, the real escapes language or signification in terms of the profound impact it produces. particularly in the end when, as part of the framing device to conclude the story, we see the woman who comes looking for her husband who had gone to the nearby thatched hut to get a piece of cloth for his (suddenly) menstruating wife, at the very beginning. we discover him, too, blinded among the people of the maadathy-an unfairy tale: caste, space, and gaze 169 village with a red bloodstain on the back of his shoulder in his white shirt, frozen in the concluding painting––the narrative had begun with the first one in the row. the bloodstain, a signifier of the menstrual blood, thus, runs as a subtext providing the canvas to weave a narrative on the jouissance, of an adolescent girl, which eludes the grasp of an unwaveringly casteist society that is blind and frozen/dead. finally, as the young wife rushes out in horror from the thatched hut, the camera pans on the mountain to frame the tranquil yosana, quietly standing there at a distance, uncontainable and undeifiable. to conclude, i would like to refer to roja suganthy-singh’s insightful review of maadathy (2021, p. 409). recalling the free and wandering spirit of yosana and her intricate ties with the fauna, she points to the presaging of the alluring “cavetomb” by maadathy’s narrative where all the apprehensions of her mother turn into reality in a casteist society: “ever since yosana emerged from her womb as a girl, a dalit girl, a dalit vannar girl—she knew that the stars lined up in that order to determine her fate.” while her mother’s fears come true to haunt us regarding the inescapable stranglehold of caste, the concluding shot of the “water lover” yosana among the mountains, her natural abode, recalls the rabbits, quails, monkeys, donkeys, and the parrot, and punctuate her ecofeminism, thus alluding to the other much-needed and hopeful alliances to realize the objective of babasaheb ambedkar regarding the annihilation of caste. references ambedkar, b.r., rathore, a.s., & verma, a. (2011). the buddha and his dhamma: a critical edition. new delhi: oxford university press. bruek, laura r. (2006). dalit chetna in dalit literary criticism. seminar. retrieved nov. 15, 2021, from https://www.india-seminar.com/2006/558/558%20laura%20r.%20brueck.htm butler, judith. (1990). gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. new york and london: routledge. ———. (1993). bodies that matter: on the discursive limits of “sex.”. london and new york: routledge. copjec, joan. (1994). read my desire: lacan against the historicists. cambridge: mit press. datta, anindita. (2021). (ed.) gender, space, and agency: exploring regional genderscapes. oxon and new york: routledge, p. 2. gopinath, swapna. (2021). maadathy and ecofeminism. publication delayed due to covid. hendrix, john s. (2019). the desire and the gaze of jacques lacan. docs.rwu.edu. retrieved nov. 15, 2021, from https://docs.rwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1045&context=saahp_fp imayam. (1994). koveru kazhuthaigal/beast of burden. chennai: crea. iskin, ruth e. (1997). in the light of images and the shadow of technology: lacan, photography and subjectivity. discourse, 19(3) [spring 1997], pp. 43–66. jadhav, narendra. (1991). neglected economic thought of babasaheb ambedkar. economic and political weekly, 26(15), pp. 980–982. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4397927 lacan, jacques. (1963). the seminar of jacques lacan. book x: anxiety 1962-1963, trans. cormac gallagher. retrieved nov. 15, 2021, from: http://esource.dbs.ie/handle/10788/160 ———. (1977). écrits, a selection, trans. alan sheridan. new york: norton. 170 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 ———. (1978). the four fundamental concepts of psycho-analysis. (trans.) alan sheridan. new york: norton. ———. (1997). the ethics of psychoanalysis, 1959-1960: the seminar of jacques lacan, book vii, (trans.) dennis porter. jacques-alain miller (ed.), new york: norton. ———. (1998). the seminar book xi: the four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis. (trans.) alan sheridan. jacques-alain miller (ed.), new york: w.w. norton. lakshmanan, c. and ragupathi, ko. (2016). theendamaikkul theendamai: puthirai vannar vazhvum iruppum/untouchability within untouchability: lives and times of the puthirai vannars. chennai: pulam pathippagam. lefebvre, henri. (1991). the production of space. oxford: blackwell. limbale, s. (2004). towards an aesthetic of dalit literature: history, controversies, and considerations. (trans.) alok mukherjee. new delhi, orient longman. maadathy. (2019). press kit. chennai: karuvachy films. manoharan, karthick r. (2020). freedom from god: periyar and religion. religions, 11(1): 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11010010 mcgowan, todd. (2003). looking for the gaze: lacanian film theory and its vicissitudes. cinema journal, 42(3), pp. 27–47. mulvey, laura. (1975). visual pleasure and narrative cinema. screen, 16(3), pp. 6–18, https:// doi.org/10.1093/screen/16.3.6 navarro, zander. (2006). in search of a cultural interpretation of power: the contribution of pierre bourdieu. ids bulletin, 37 (6), 11-22. retrieved nov. 15, 2021, from https://www. powercube.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/navarro.pdf ram manoharan, karthick. (2021). being dalit, being tamil: the politics of kabali and kaala. in tamil cinema of the twenty-first century: caste, gender, and technology. eds. velayutham, selvaraj and vijay devadas. london and new york: routledge, pp. 52–65. roja suganthy-singh. (2021). film review––caste, gender and fire in maadathy: an unconventional fairy tale. caste: a global journal on social exclusion, 2(2) [oct.-nov.], pp. 407–410. https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.347 scott, joan wallach. (1988). gender and the politics of history. new york: columbia university press. smith, robert rowland. (2010). death-drive: freudian hauntings in literature and art. edinburgh university press. vaux, sara anson. (2004). divine skepticism: the films of robert bresson, retrieved nov. 15. 2021, from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/divine+skepticism%3a+the+films+of+robert +bresson.-a0125407684 watkins, c. (2005). representations of space, spatial practices and spaces of representation: an application of lefebvre’s spatial triad. culture and organization, 11(3), pp. 209–220. editorial essay caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2, pp. xi–xxiv october 2020 issn 2639-4928 doi: 10.26812/caste.v1i2.235 © 2020 sunaina arya. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. brandeis.edu/j-caste theorising gender in south asia: dalit feminist perspective sunaina arya1 patriarchy in the south asian context is inherently linked with the caste system. therefore, patriarchal practices and beliefs have an origin in the social ideology of caste. the caste system divided the hindu population into social groups called castes. moreover, it compartmented the rights and dignity to each caste in an unequal and graded manner. the rights and dignity get reduced as we go down in the caste hierarchy from highest (brahmin) to high (kshatriya) to middle (vaishya) to low (shudra) and lowest (atishudras, or dalits or ‘untouchables’).1 the socalled ‘untouchables’ are placed at the bottom of caste hierarchy, hence have no rights except to serve the castes above them. importantly, all the castes have been made exclusive and separate from each other through the institution of ‘endogamy’ i.e. marriage within the same caste. to preserve endogamy it was necessary to put restrictions on women with regard to marriage (and individual rights) and penalization for violation of the same. a unique feature of this system is that women, irrespective of their caste, have very less individual rights—economic, social and religious, since women were the gatekeepers of ‘caste purity’ (as we shall learn in first section). violent force or, social ostracism were applied as main instruments to keep in place caste related rules, including gender rules that have been going on for centuries. the dalit women who are at the bottom of caste hierarchy suffered doubly— not only denial of rights (economic and educational) and individual freedom as ‘untouchables’, but also as ‘lower’ caste women. this vertical structure of caste and the horizontal strata of patriarchy render dalit women fall lowest in the class hierarchy. thus, they face intersectional violence which goes bypassed in the contemporary mainstream writings of savarna feminists. the present picture of south asia does not depict an advancement on human rights of dalits, specifically of dalit women. what is more disturbing is that the caste norms and practices against dalit women, have not disappeared in spite of laws against them. they are the raison d’être for the persistence of sexual 1senior research fellow, centre for philosophy, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india e-mail: sunainaarya9@gmail.com xii caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 exploitation of dalit women even today. put another way, the past is alive in the present with modified practices. this article reflects on this ugly statute of past against dalit women through theoretical efforts to understand its genesis, using phule-ambedkarite scholarship. it is organized into three sections—beginning with the brahmanical theory of patriarchy, unveiling denial of agency to dalit women, and probing marxist/ liberal approaches—to argue for dalit feminist theory as the positive answer to this graded inequality. present south asia as a legacy of brahmanic history we witness many caste based violent incidents where gender also plays an important role and vice versa, even today. amid the covid-19 pandemic outbreak, many cases of brutal gang-rape and murder of dalit women have come to the fore.2 the recent horrendous gang-rape of a 19-year-old dalit woman by four rajput/kshatriya men3 has got international media attention as reports about the nature of injuries inflicted on the victim came to be unveiled.4 the rapists had reportedly cut her tongue, broken her spinal cord and attempted to murder her.5 she died struggling for her last breath in delhi’s state-owned safdarganj hospital on september 29, 2020.6 but the uttar pradesh police has been denying the crime,7 they even burnt her body in night against the hindu cremation norms while pushing away her family members already in despair.8 moreover, savarna meetings have been held in defence of the alleged rapists mobilizing four neighbouring villages, while there is no protection to the manisha’s family fighting for justice in such circumstances. there were hassles and delays involved in every step—registering the case, media coverage of the crime, providing medical care, initiating the investigation. this police brutality, and threats of savarna men, with failing state apparatus, resulted in nationwide outrage from non-savarna communities over her death. the protests crossed national boundaries with placards and hashtags such as #hathrashorror #dalitwomenlivesmatter #upcmresign and so on swarming popular social media sites. unfortunately, september 29 is mourned in dalit history as the anniversary of the 2006 khairlanji massacre, wherein a dalit woman and her daughter, and two sons were stripped, paraded naked and murdered by the maratha men of the village. before being murdered, both the women were gang-raped.9 indian judicial system has failed to provide equal justice to dalit women as is available to savarna women, as seen again in 2016 kopardi violence.10 more vulnerability to dalits and impunity to savarnas is a pattern found in crimes against dalits.11 since khairlanji, data released by the national crime records bureau (ncrb) on atrocities against dalits show a tremendous rise in maharashtra, with major crimes like murder and rape being highest.12 in 2019, maharashtra registered 2,719 cases of atrocities against dalits and and adivasis (tribes or indigenous people).13 worldwide agitation against the hathras caste-crime could not prevent similar incidents of gang-rape and murder of dalit women by savarna men. an 8-year-old raped in balrampur, a teen raped in bulandshahr, in azamgarh, another rape again in hathras district of uttar pradesh (u.p.).14 theorising gender in south asia: dalit feminist perspective xiii there has been an increase in the absolute number of cases of sexual violence against dalit women since 2014 in u.p. the number of cases of sexual violence against dalit women in the state increased from 1188 in 2014 to 1568 in 2019, with high of 2026 in 2016. the average number of rapes cases during 2011-2013 was 1735 which increased to an average of 2490 cases in the state during 2014-2016. what is even more disturbing is that at least thirteen percent of the women victims in last six years, between 2014 and 2019, are minors. in one of these years, their share shot up to twenty one percent. this sorry situation is not limited to the most populated state of india; a high rise in caste atrocities is reported from the southern states also. tamil nadu recorded eighty-one caste-based atrocities, forty-one cases of assault, fourteen murders, five cases each of rape and attacks on couples who married outside their caste, four deaths of dalit manual scavengers, three cases each of humiliation of dalit panchayat presidents and discrimination against dalit government servants, two cases each of honour killings and desecration of statues of dr b. r. ambedkar, and one incident each of discrimination in school and bonded labour. moreover, dalits were prevented from burying their dead in the common graveyard, and a dalit graveyard was also desecrated. all these cases have been committed within a short spam of four months, march-june 2020. such caste-crimes have been increasing since the pandemic lockdown month in india i.e. march 2020.15 tamil nadu has seen at least forty percent increase in caste atrocities against dalits since the beginning of the covid-19 lockdown in india.16 in the neighbouring state kerala, 712 cases of atrocities against dalits (and 182 against adivasis) were registered in 2016 as against 696 in 2015 and 712 in 2014.17 andhra pradesh state reported over 150 cases of atrocities against dalits between march and july this year.18 atrocities against dalits, mostly girls and young men abound in the predominantly hindu country of nepal, where inter-caste alliances are not only taboo but end up in honour killings notwithstanding legal safeguards.19 a 12-year-old dalit girl was raped and murdered in a temple in bajhang district of nepal last month. bodies of a dalit lad and his three friends were recovered from a river after a row over an inter-caste marriage.20 there are many many such cases of caste-crime.21 this commonality of violence against dalits results from a caste-conscious psyche that transcends national boundaries.22 a couple is killed by local authorities viz. khap panchayat or, by their parents or guardians or powerful ‘high caste’ landlords, with the idea of preserving the caste ‘honour’.23 practising and enforcing the rules of caste as assigned to a particular caste group is considered honourable, while defying them is regarded with disdain or contempt. this caste/clan ‘honour’ stands threatened when a couple commits the audacity of choosing their partner themselves, defying caste norms. challenging endogamy (intra-caste marriage) is perceived as an invitation to rape, murder, gang rape before murder, burning alive, and such drastic forms of violence. the plight of dalit women is similar across south asia.24 in pakistan too, dalits are the worst victims of discrimination, kidnapping for ransom, rapes, false blasphemy cases, and poverty.25 in bangladesh, dalit girls and women are victims of prostitution and human trafficking for bonded-labour, who lie at the bottom of the caste pyramid.26 unlike xiv caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 other south asian countries, bangladesh has no official recognition of caste-based discrimination despite almost 5.5 million population of dalits, which renders their lives even worse.27 thus, we find systematic injustice, indignity and inequality for dalits (more so with dalit women) in the socio-cultural, even legal, context of south asia. these empirical facts leave us wondering why the twenty first century world witnesses such heinous crimes against dalits, dalit women and such most marginalized communities in the subcontinent. one essential element is the persistence of caste,28 as observed in the murders of dalits for reasons such as wearing jeans, for riding a horse on their wedding, for eating ghee (rarified butter). in other words, dalit assertion of equal human rights receives violent backlash from savarnas. a major loophole in addressing these cases lies in perceiving caste as distinct from gender and vice versa. our mainstream feminists have done enough to separate the caste question from gender discourse which shocks the world at the brutal crimes against dalit women. the need of the hour is to bring into public discourse the inherent link of caste with gender. this is not talked about often, because one would need to read and acknowledge the contributions made by india’s most educated and vocal champion of equality, dr b.r. ambedkar, who also happened to be a dalit. the caste-dominated intelligentsia feels insecure to bring forth ambedkar’s scholarship given their inability to challenge what i call ‘brahmanical superiority complex’ that can be compared to ‘white supremacy.’ twin-sisters: caste and gender b.r. ambedkar’s scholarly analysis of caste, castes in india: their mechanism, genesis and development, proves that patriarchy is a twin-sister of brahmanism.29 brahmanism can be understood in form of ‘graded inequality’, that each and every member in the hindu social order has been allocated a predetermined position of privilege or, deprivation based on first their caste and then gender. the categories of caste and gender are employed together to sustain endogamy, i.e. the absence of intercaste marriages. ambedkar deliberates upon evil social practices like child marriage, forced widowhood, sati and such. he explains the concept of ‘numerical equality’ within a caste community as the underlying reason behind such rituals.30 when the numeric balance of a particular caste gets disturbed by uncertain deaths, the gender disparity yields a potential for inter-caste alliances. in cases of an accidental death of a husband, a ‘surplus woman’ is created, while the opposite situation creates a ‘surplus man’. in order to balance the surplus woman, sati pratha was prescribed by the brahmin priests where a widow was persuaded to immolate herself in the funeral pyre of her deceased husband. it is firstly found in the code of vishnu, which mentions that a woman ‘after the death of her husband should either lead a virtuous life or ascend the funeral pyre of her husband.’31 pedagogical revolutionary jyotirao phule criticised this tradition, ‘have you ever heard of a man performing ‘sataa’? men can marry many times, [but] the same is not allowed to women. . .’32 he highlighted the unequal differentiation between women and men in the name of religious faith. thus, british theorising gender in south asia: dalit feminist perspective xv governor-general lord william bentinck outlawed the practice in december 1829 by the bengal sati regulation. but the practice of sati is still revered in our social culture, and cases of sati enforcement have been found also in this century.33 temples which were built in name of sati victims are still maintained, where special prayers are held twice a day glorifying sacrificed women of the past as sati mata.34 madhya pradesh state had reported such cases 2006 and 2002.35 uttar pradesh had such cases reported in 2005, 2002, 1999, 1994 while maharashtra witnessed a suspected sati case in 2015.36 however, legal restrictions and raised consciousness among women has made it difficult to manipulate them into becoming sati. the second ritual imposed on women was that of enforced widowhood by brahmins. a widow had to alienate herself from all kinds of colours, festivals, delicious foods, daylight, wedding ceremonies, deity worships, and such occasions regarded as sacred. she was not allowed to marry another man and was consigned to live a colorless and joyless life. she was forced to spend the rest of her life alone in dark and await death. social reformer jyotirao phule was the first person who ‘attacked the interconnectedness of knowledge, human rights, caste, and gender by starting schools for dalits or untouchables in 1848 and widow homes for brahmin women in 1854. he thus ‘challenged brahmanical practices in their discrimination against lower castes and the restriction of the sexuality of uppercaste women’, writes historian shailaja s. paik.37 these reforms had brought major improvements, but a major part of our rural society still follows such norms to control the sexuality of women. both of the above rituals were advocated for the situation of a surplus woman in a particular caste and continue to be observed by and large. but, a surplus man is neither expected to be immolated on the funeral pyre of his wife, nor devote the rest of his life only chanting the name of his deceased wife. there could not be any rites or prescriptions against the wishes of a man, since the man has been the maker of the law. man has been an asset while woman has only been seen as a means to fulfil his whims and desires. the man has been the measure of all things in this brahmanical world. only women had to be sacrificed; also in the cases of ‘surplus man’ because ‘[t]he only place where [a woman] can be independent of [her husband] is in hell.’38 therefore, a third mechanism for maintaining this numerical balance was invented: child-marriage. as the term implies, a girl child from the same caste was married to a widower. thus, we see strict control over women’s sexuality has been the only means to maintain endogamy. that is why, honour killing is one of the horrific forms of murder in the caste-ridden indian subcontinent. this strong link between caste and gender can be seen in almost every issue/ incident related to either of them. for example, savarna women during the antimandal commission agitations rendered it visible through their placards which read ‘we don’t want unemployed husbands’ and ‘we want employed husbands’.39 when reservation for other backward caste (obc) was introduced in government jobs as recommended by mandal commission, women from ‘upper’ castes opposed it with their endogamous perspective or same-caste marriages. it is visible that these savarna women failed to reflect on two crucial possibilities during the post-mandal era. first, xvi caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 they didn’t consider themselves as the competitors to obcs, rather they protested on behalf of their ‘potential husbands’.40 second, the heterosexual savarna women could not imagine getting married to obc or shudra or ‘middle’ caste men. this historical event exposes how a caste based situation is deeply linked with one’s gender location and vice-versa. a more recent example comes from the difference between mainstream savarna feminist and dalit feminist critique of #metoo movement.41 while dalit feminists expressed their concerns regarding access of technological means to dalit women, savarna feminists published a collective statement from the kafila blog criticising the ‘name and shame’ uprising.42 ironically, these mainstream feminists who loudly advocate ‘my body, my rights’ have argued for bourgeois ‘due process’ for the matters of sexual harassment. also their disregard of dalit feminism is explicit in the title, ‘statement by feminists…’ itself. this means that those women calling out names of their harassers are not ‘feminists.’ moreover, it is implied that only the authors of this statement are ‘feminists’. evidently, dalit feminist scholarship has been impudently ceremented in the mainstream feminist articulations. let us see some other ways in which caste degrades dalit women lives that they are most vulnerable to sexual violence.43 brahmanism: denial of dignity to dalit women religious practices like devdasi, murali, jogini or jogtini sanction young girls from dalit families to devote their entire lives in the service of priests. in the name of faith, their parents give away these girls to authorities of local temples. the brahmins succeed in convincing those naive people that their dalit girls are the ‘chosen ones’ for the service of god. since dalits have been historically prevented from entering into temples, they perceive this narrative as an opportunity to connect with god. these girls are mostly between four and nine years (pre-menstrual) age when dedicated to temples. the illiterate rural dalit families fall prey to this brahmanical conspiracy and push their young girls into a life of exploitation in the hands of priests. sexual exploitation of dalit women has its roots in such obnoxious practices which were designed by brahmins for gratification. the young dalit girls living as a devdasi, murali, jogini or jogtini are made to do chores like cleaning up temple premises, serving as domestic help to priests, and inevitably forced to provide sexual favours to them. they are coerced to put up with physical mistreatment, mental harassment and sexual exploitation on an everyday basis. devdasi (slave of god) is also often considered as gaondasi (slave of the village), who is raped by all and any man of her village. their bodies go through multiple abortions and no one cares for the babies born out of such abusive alliances. these women are never accepted in society and end up into prostitution for a living. even the girl children born and brought up in such circumstances cannot escape this wretched life of prostitution. in this way, the descendants of such outcaste dalits fall into stigmatized occupations void of dignity. historically, it is evident that caste plays the primary factor in sexual labour in our part of the world. thus, humiliating jobs like theorising gender in south asia: dalit feminist perspective xvii bar dancing, ‘sex work’ or prostitution are populated by dalits, ‘lower’ caste muslims, trafficked adivasis and other minorities even today. the marxist feminists argue for a liberal standpoint on the occupations of ‘sex work’ and bar dancing like menial jobs. from a liberal perspective, nivedita menon writes, ‘there is no more or less agency exercised in ‘choosing’ to work as a domestic servant… with minimum dignity... than there is in ‘choosing’ to do sex work’. in the same context, she also mentions the first pan-india survey of sex workers which concluded that about seventy one percent of female sex workers prefer this occupation because of inadequate and insufficient pay in other occupations. clearly, the woman in so-called ‘sex work’ opt for this profession because they have very limited choices, that is, either to be exploited in domestic and other kinds of works which don’t help them run their house or to be exploited in prostitution which helps them financially to run their house. notably, all the options open to them are void of dignity. these women technically may be called an agent but the restriction of opportunities available to them leaves the sole option of prostitution for their financial needs. if these women are provided with a job of similar pay but avail them dignity, obviously they will choose that over prostitution. another argument presented by menon is that unlike we do not seek to abolish the institution of marriage because of women’s subordinate condition rather we tend to improve the laws ensuring women’s respect and dignity, we should not seek abolition of ‘sex work’.44 one of the problems in her argument is ignoring the difference between women in the institution of marriage and women in prostitution. an important aspect of this difference is the othering of ‘sex workers’ by the women in marriage institutions. a woman’s dignity does not reduce in getting married while it clearly does when she becomes a prostitute. our socio-cultural norms give the highest respect to a married woman but leave all disdain for women in prostitution. moreover, savarna feminists themselves regard prostitution as ‘a necessary evil’ arguing that this saves the ‘respected’ women from toxic men.45 clearly, the savarna women feminists seek to prevent themselves from the lust of toxic men while justifying for marginalized women’s exploitation, instead of arguing for the improvement of men’s toxicity. a discomforting objection from dalit feminist standpoint is that these savarna feminists choose to be academics, writers, spokespersons, and hold such positions of power and authority to merely theorise ‘sex-work’ (and not practice it). this difference between the position of savarna mainstream feminists and dalit feminists can also be observed in the response to the maharashtra government’s ban on bar dancing in 2005. maharashtra home minister explained the reason behind this ban that it ‘perverts the morals of our young men.’ consequently, marxist feminists opposed the ban based on their liberal understanding resisting ‘moral policing’, whereas dalit feminists welcomed the ban. dalit feminists argued that this ‘semirespectable’ occupation eventually led these women, from marginalized castes, into an inescapable life of prostitution. rehabilitation of the women losing their job was the demand of dalit-bahujan feminists. since women’s sexuality is linked with their caste-class locations, debates over sexuality cannot be held in isolation. recent reports from national crime records bureau (ncrb), national federation of dalit women xviii caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 (nfdw) and national campaign on dalit human rights (ncdhr) establish the structural violence rendering dalit women most vulnerable. ncrb evidences that at least four dalit women are raped everyday in india.46 this is based on only the reported cases while we all know that hardly half of such cases actually get reported. thus, we see that mainstream savarna feminists fail to understand that ‘caste determines the division of labour, sexual division of labour and division of sexual labour’.47 the single-axis framework of mainstream savarna feminists not only sidelines dalit women issues, but their articulations show their disregard of intersectional feminism theorized by b. r. ambedkar and dalit advocates of ambedkarite feminism. brahmanical othering of ambedkarite feminism as we discussed earlier dr. ambedkar championed the cause of women with his seminal contribution to the theory of caste, and gender along with his pragmatic contribution of hindu code bill in the indian constitution. savarna feminists accuse him of being not feminist enough with their selective and erroneous reading.48 mainstream critics point at half line from his speech to the women in kamathipura49 that he called them a ‘shame to the community’. turning blind to the systematic sexual exploitation of dalit women and the survey reports proving same, the savarna women evidence a bourgeois abstraction in their favour. ambedkar advised in the same speech that women should refuse to ‘live under conditions which inevitably drag [them] into prostitution’.50 in his dialogue with the women ‘sex workers’ in kamathipura, he focused on the casteordained linkages between labour and sexuality in the historical context of sexual exploitation of dalit women which is explained in the previous section. a marxist feminist critique of some crucial acts of hindu code bill argues for the advantages availed to women over men in matrilineal practices, observed in few parts of india. menon writes, ‘the hindu succession act (hsa) nullified the better position of daughters under matrilineal laws, making sons equal inheritors’.51 this worry of equating the position of sons and daughters needs to be put in broader context. making sons equal inheritors in the property should not be seen as disempowering daughters. her criticism adheres to an extremist position where men are rendered in subordinate situations. the goal of feminism is to avail justice and equality to each and every citizen irrespective of their gender, caste, class, region or sexuality, etc identities. rege, in the same context, points to remind mainstream savarna feminists that the bill sought to equalise the status of men and women.52 mainstream savarna feminists’ attitude towards dalit feminism is evident in their repeated use of the phrases like ‘us-them’, ‘feminism and other political initiatives’,53 ‘feminism and other voices’, and so on. they reduce dalit feminist thought into mere ‘informant’,54 ‘poetry, short stories and other forms of writing’,55 as opposite to theoretical, academic, intellectual, scholarly research contributing to the feminist knowledge production. this ‘us’ refers to the feminist scholars who are the readers as well as the writers, whereas ‘them’ is used to denote dalit women. the savarna feminist writers regard dalit women as native narrators or the object of their study, rather than an equal contributor to the feminist discourse. urmila pawar, meenakshi moon, theorising gender in south asia: dalit feminist perspective xix wandana sonalkar, shailaja paik, sharmila rege, cynthia stephen, gail omvedt, gopal guru, samita sen, padmini swaminathan, s. j. aloysius, j. p. mangubhai, joel lee, et al explicate and elaborate dalit women’s contribution in indian freedom struggle, against sexual violence, for women’s rights and education. their writers prove that dalit women have been the backbone of the history of feminism. but, the mainstream savarna feminists have by-passed this rectifying body of knowledge and refused to acknowledge dalit women’s contribution to gender justice. the brahmanical othering of ambedkarite feminism signals the privileged location of savarna feminists which facilitates them to ignore, underestimate, and undermine dalit women’s efforts for nation building. mainstream savarna feminists appropriate the context of intersectionality for their difference based on race and location in south asia, while they reject the same for internal differences based on caste. while dalit feminists appreciate and celebrate intersectionality as a crucial tool for advancing gender justice, savarna feminists reject it calling it ‘western’ or colonial.56 nivedita menon argues that the idea of being dalit, muslim, north-eastern, rural, etc ‘destabilizes’ the political thrust of gender based issues. this position refuses to recognize the ‘multiplicity’ of an individual’s identity and henceforth is restricted to single-axis framework. as deliberated earlier, seeing women as a homogenous category is counterproductive in this socio-cultural strata based on caste. caste needs to be seen in its relation with gender and importantly gender must be analyzed in its concrete relation with caste. meena gopal and mary e. john have put forward extensive critique of menon’s argument from a dalit feminist standpoint position57. dalit feminists regard intersectionality as ‘an excellent candidate’ which facilitates feminist endeavours for gender justice, recognizing the uniqueness of a particular individual situation in the broader social structure. since dalit nonmen fall at the bottom of our society, their caste-class-gender-sexuality leaves them most vulnerable to systematic violence, exploitation, oppression, discrimination and deprivation58. therefore, intersectionality helps us comprehend the exact reality which further empowers us to provide gender justice for each and all. another important problem introduced to feminist discourse is the savarna women’s proliferation of the vague notion of ‘dalit patriarchy’. as discussed in my article ‘dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism’, their attempt to refocus the question of patriarchy towards dalit community depicts a lack of commitment to resolve and address brahmanical patriarchy.59 it is obvious that the understanding of brahmanical patriarchy does not leave a scope of falling into the incorrect concept of dalit patriarchy. since savarna women feminists’ approach towards gender justice is misdirected, a dalit feminist rectification proves to be the only method to address, comprehend and smash brahmanical patriarchy. rege’s understanding of this savarna enterprise flags a brahmanical conspiracy, to reserve gender equality only for themselves and throw the baggage of caste-patriarchy on the shoulders of dalit women alone. thus, it is not only their caste-class location but also their intention to not work for ‘real feminism’.60 a real feminism encompasses, at least in theory, a commitment to gender equality, gender justice and dignity to each and every womxn (women, along with non-binary sexually marginalised groups). since xx caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 patriarchy in south asia is brahmanical in nature, only a dalit feminist theory can offer a vantage point, with active voices of dalit womxn individuals. conclusion: a dalit feminist rectification we have seen from above three sections, how caste and gender go hand-in-hand in the south asian context which mainstream feminists fail to understand. the growing number of horrendous crimes like hathras, khairlanji, bajhang, bhanwari devi,61 can only be addressed from a dalit feminist standpoint position. in all such cases, a woman lives at the most vulnerable juncture with intersections of her multiple identities. the unique kind of discriminatory aspect subjects her to violence which she may not face if she would belong singularly to any of social, cultural, economic, political, regional, categories. for instance, the hathras fighter manisha might have escaped rape but not murder had she been a dalit man; she might have escaped death had she belonged to an urban ‘upper middle class’ family, having access to immediate medical facilities; whereas, she might have escaped both gang-rape and attempt to murder had she been a savarna woman. therefore, our legal interjection needs an intersectional framework along with radical judicial reform (as it is over-populated by savarna men). our social structure of intersectional hierarchies puts a dalit woman in situations where she falls prey to the dominant supremacist communities. ‘in the absence of such critiques of brahmanical, class-based hetro-patriarchies, the political edge of sexual politics is lost. no politics committed to a caste based society can overlook sexual politics. it is therefore important to revision it rather than give it up or pose the savarna women alone as the only needy constituents of such a politics.62 there is an utmost need to recognize the ‘difference’ between the lives of savarna and marginalized dalit-bahujan-adivasi women. the unfortunate gap in mainstream savarna feminism can only be rectified by a dalit feminist theory, which seeks to develop a complete conceptual framework for south asian feminist thought by lodging the dalit question into its core cluster of concerns. i conceive this as a ‘dalit difference’, which would serve as the focal point for reforming brahmanical feminism. dalit feminist theory: a reader (routledge, 2019) initiates such development offering a departure point in feminist articulation.63 in order to prevent the unfortunate exhaustion addressing appropriation which is prevalent more today than ever before, as discussed in the third section, a dalit feminist theorizing must centre on dalit lived experience and advanced by those who are the actual stakeholders. endnotes 1 the first three categories of brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya castes are also referred as ‘savarna’, because they are respected in the varna system of hinduism. 2 no country for women: india reported 88 rape cases every day in 2019, india today, september 30, 2020. retrieved from https://www.indiatoday.in/diu/story/no-country-forwomen-india-reported-88-rape-cases-every-day-in-2019-1727078-2020-09-30. 3 lauren frayer, indians protest over gang rape of a woman of marginalized caste, npr news, september 30, 2020. retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2020/09/30/918846746/ indians-protest-over-gang-rape-of-a-woman-of-marginalized-caste. theorising gender in south asia: dalit feminist perspective xxi 4 soutik biswas, hathras case: dalit women are among the most oppressed in the world, bbc news, october 9, 2020. retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asiaindia-54418513. 5 dipsita dhar, hathras rape: a caste continuum, outlook, october 1, 2020. retrieved from https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-heres-why-caste-matters-when-adalit-woman-is-raped/361253. 6 hathras gang rape: india victim’s death sparks outrage, bbc news, september 29, 2020. retrieved from https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-heres-why-castematters-when-a-dalit-woman-is-raped/361253. 7 hathras case: a woman repeatedly reported rape. why are police denying it?, bbc news, october 10, 2020. retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54444939. 8 isdn statement, rapes of dalit women and impunity for dominant caste perpetrators must end now, international dalit solidarity network, october 7, 2020. retrieved from https:// idsn.org/rapes-of-dalit-women-and-impunity-for-dominant-caste-perpetrators-must-endnow/. 9 khairlanji massacre: on 10 yr anniversary of brutal attack on dalits, maratha agitation gains momentum, firstpost, september 28, 2016. retrieved from https://www.firstpost. com/politics/khairlanji-massacre-on-10-yr-anniversary-of-brutal-attack-on-dalits-marathaagitation-gains-momentum-3023870.html. 10 vivek deshpande, khairlanji massacre: from khairlanji to kopardi, full circle in 10 years, the indian express, september 28, 2016. retrieved from https://indianexpress.com/article/ india/india-news-india/khairlanji-kopardi-rape-case-maratha-protests-3053443/. 11 attacks on dalit women: a pattern of impunity broken people: caste violence against india’s “untouchables”, human rights watch report, 1999. retrieved from https://www. hrw.org/reports/1999/india/india994-11.htm. 12 somak ghoshal, a decade since the chilling khairlanji massacre, little let-up in crimes against dalits, huffpost, september 29, 2019. retrieved from https://www. huffingtonpost.in/2016/09/29/a-decade-since-the-khairlanji-massacre-theres-been-no-letup-i_a_21483135/. 13 ncrb: maharashtra records increase in cases of crime against scs, the indian express, october 1, 2020. retrieved from https://indianexpress.com/article/india/ncrb-maharashtrarecords-increase-in-cases-of-crime-against-scs-6654357/. 14 yogi’s up turns into rape state: after hathras & balrampur, 8-yr-old raped in azamgarh, a teen in bulandshahr, national herald, october 1, 2020. retrieved from https://www. nationalheraldindia.com/india/yogis-up-turns-into-rape-state-after-hathras-and-balrampur8-yr-old-raped-in-azamgarh-a-teen-in-bulandshahr. 15 jeya rani, tamil nadu: blanket of silence over caste-based atrocities during covid-19 lockdown, the wire, july 30, 2020. retrieved from https://thewire.in/caste/tamil-nadudalit-tribal-violence-atrocities-covid-19-lockdown-silence. 16 kavitha murlidharan, across tamil nadu, caste violence has increased during the lockdown, say activists, the wire, may 3, 2020. retrieved from https://thewire.in/caste/ tamil-nadu-caste-atrocities-lockdown. 17 arun m, atrocities against dalits on the rise in kerala shows crime data, the new indian express, april 18, 2018. retrieved from https://www.newindianexpress.com/ cities/kochi/2018/apr/08/atrocities-against-dalits-on-the-rise-in-kerala-shows-crimedata-1798522.html. 18 prudhviraj rupavath, andhra pradesh saw over 150 atrocities against dalits in past 4 months, newsclick, july 31, 2020. retrieved from https://www.newsclick.in/andhrapradesh-saw-over-150-atrocities-dalits-past-4-months. xxii caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 19 they killed our son and now they are killing justice, nepal times, may 2020. retrieved from https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/they-killed-our-son-and-now-they-arekilling-justice/ and https://www.recordnepal.com/wire/news-the-wire/killing-in-the-nameof-caste/. 20 the bajhang rape and murder case, the record, september 27, 2020. retrieved from https://www.recordnepal.com/wire/features/the-bajhang-rape-and-murder-case/. also see https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/09/29/harsh-laws-are-prepared-but-not-alwaysimplemented-effectively-past-records-show-1601343638. 21 maya bishwakarma’s gang rape and murder, the himalayan times, june 2018. retrieved from https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/five-held-for-gang-rape-murder-made-public/ and https://kathmandupost.com/opinion/2019/01/25/from-tika-to-ashes. 22 kalyani and sarita pariyar, what is similar between india and nepal? dalit atrocities, newsclick, august 27, 2020. retrieved from https://www.newsclick.in/what-is-similarbetween-india-and-nepal-dalit-atrocities. 23 see angira pasi’s murder case in the record, may. 2020. retrieved from https:// www.recordnepal.com/perspective/opinions/supposed-suicides-point-towards-policeincompetence/; ajit mijar murder case, retrieved from http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ urgent-appeals/ahrc-uac-093-2016/ and https://www.recordnepal.com/timeline_slider_ post/2016-2/. 24 caste discrimination: a global concern, a report by human rights watch for the united nations world conference against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. durban, south africa, september 2001, retrievable at https://www.hrw.org/ reports//pdfs/g/general/caste0801.pdf. 25 atrocities against dalits in pakistan: the champions of human rights wear blindfolds!, article, august 6, 2018. retrieved from https://thearticle.in/news-abroad/atrocities-againstdalits-in-pakistan/. 26 dalit women in bangladesh, isdn (international dalit solidarity network), january 6, 2016. retrieved from https://idsn.org/key-issues/dalit-women/dalit-women-in-bangladesh/. 27 dalit rights activists break new grounds in south asia, un women, july 24, 2018. retrieved from https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2018/7/feature-dalit-rights. 28 shivam vij, dalit women often face sexual violence because of, yes, their caste, the print, september 30, 2020. retrieved from https://theprint.in/opinion/dalit-women-often-facesexual-violence-because-of-yes-their-caste/513991/. 29 b. r. ambedkar, dr babasaheb ambedkar writings and speeches, vol. 1, p. 14. 30 b. r. ambedkar, baws, vol. 1, p. 10. emphasis added. 31 vishnu xxv. 2, cited by pandita ramabai sarasvati, the high caste hindu woman, delhi: facsimile publisher, 2015, first published in 1888, p. 99. 32 jotirao phule, ‘stree aani purush [woman and man]’, in sarvajanik satya dharma (1891), in samagra vangmay [collected works of mahatma phule], ed. nivedita menon argues that the idea of being dalit y. d. phadke, 4th ed. (mumbai: literary and cultural society of maharashtra state, 1991), 446–49. of course, there is no such word as ‘sataa’; this is phule’s ironical language to suggest a male sati, cited in shailaja s. paik, forging a new dalit womanhood in colonial india: discourse on modernity, rights, education, and emancipation. journal of women’s history, johns hopkins university press, vol. 28 no. 4, winter 2016, 14-40, p. 37. 33 india: 32 years ago roop kanwar’s sati forced rajasthan to rewrite laws, but, she is revered alongside deities, gulf news, september 22, 2019, https://gulfnews.com/amp/world/asia/ india/india-32-years-ago-roop-kanwars-sati-forced-rajasthan-to-rewrite-laws-but-she-isrevered-alongside-deities-1.1569158864978. theorising gender in south asia: dalit feminist perspective xxiii 34 decades after india outlawed sati, a temple to a victim in bundelkhand draw scores of devotees, scroll.in, april 7, 2018, https://amp.scroll.in/article/874185/decades-after-indiaoutlawed-sati-a-temple-to-a-victim-in-bundelkhand-draws-scores-of-devotees. 35 india wife dies on husband’s pyre, bbc news, august 22, 2006. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/ hi/south_asia/5273336.stm. 36 suspected case of sati in lathur, woman’s body found from hush and’s funeral pyre, the indian express, april 1, 2015, https://indianexpress.com/article/india-others/suspectedcase-of-sati-in-lathur-womans-body-found-from-husbands-funeral-pyre/lite/. cops rule out ‘sati’ after woman’s mysterious death, the indian express, april 3, 2015, https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/cops-rule-out-sati-after-womansmysterious-death/. 37 shailaja s. paik, ‘forging a new dalit womanhood in colonial india: discourse on modernity, rights, education, and emancipation’, journal of women’s history, vol. 28, no. 4, winter 2016, 14-40, johns hopkins university press, p. 17. 38 pandita ramabai sarasvati, the high caste hindu woman, delhi: facsimile publisher, 2015, first published in 1888, p. 99, *. 39 sharmila rege, ‘dalit women talk differently a critique of ‘difference’ and towards a dalit feminist standpoint position’, economical and political weekly, vol. 33 no. 4, oct. 31 nov. 6, 1998, ws39-ws46, p. ws43. 40 these woman are acculturated to observe fasts like teej vrata, karva chauth etc for the long life of their husbands, while there has been no tradition where a man offers such devotion for his wife. 41 with a host of other issues, there are discernible differences between the ways that dalit feminists understand #metoo versus the mainstream indian feminist take. for example, dalit feminist cynthia stephens has pointed out that the #metoo movement has been largely oblivious to the voices of dalit women, and this in spite of the fact that a dalit feminist, raya sarkar, first brought the movement to attention in india. 42 nivedita menon, ‘statement by feminists on facebook campaign to ‘name and shame’, kafila – 12 years of a common journey, october 10, 2017. retrieved from https://kafila. online/2017/10/24/statement-by-feminists-on-facebook-campaign-to-name-and-shame/. 43 sumi sukanya dutta, four dalit women are raped every day, with several on multiple occasions, the indian express, may 19, 2019. retrieved from https://www. newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/2019/may/19/four-dalit-women-are-rapedevery-day-with-several-on-multiple-occasions-1978741.html. 44 nivedita menon, seeing like a feminist, new delhi: penguin india and zubaan books, 2012, p. 180-182. 45 prachi patil, motherhood and sex workers in mumbai, phd thesis submitted to centre for study of social systems, jawaharlal nehru university, july 2018. 46 national crime records bureau, crimes in india 2019, ministry of home affairs, government of india. retrieved from https://ncrb.gov.in/en/crime-india-2019-0. 47 sharmila rege, ‘the hegemonic appropriation of sexuality: the case of the lavani performers of maharashtra’, contributions to indian sociology, vol. 29, issue 1-2, cited in sharmila rege, ‘dalit women talk differently: a critique of ‘difference’ and towards a dalit feminist standpoint position’, economical and political weekly, 1998, p. ws-44. 48 sharmila rege, b. r. ambedkar’s writings on brahmanical patriarchy: against the madness of manu, new delhi: navayana, 2013, p. 24. 49. y. s. alone, chapter 8 in dalit feminist theory: a reader, edited by sunaina arya and akash singh, oxon, london, new york: routledge, 2019, pp. 25-39. 50 ibid., p. 151. emphasis added by sharmila rege, p. 146. xxiv caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 2 51 nivedita menon, seeing like a feminist, 2012, p. 27. 52 sharmila rege, b. r. ambedkar’s writings on brahmanical patriarchy: against the madness of manu, 2013, p. 208. 53 susie tharu and tejaswini niranjana, ‘problems for a contemporary theory of gender’, subaltern studies ix: writings on south asian history and society. edited by shahid amin and dipesh chakrabarty, new delhi: oxford university press, 1996, pp. 232-260. 54 uma chakravarti, ‘in her own write: writing from a dalit feminist standpoint’, india international centre quarterly, vol. 39, no. 3/4, winter 2012 – spring 2013, p. 137. 55 ibid., p. 143. 56 chapter 1 in dalit feminist theory: a reader, pp. 25-39. 57 chapter 15 in dalit feminist theory: a reader, pp. 188-190. 58 chapter 13 in dalit feminist theory: a reader, pp. 173-181. 59 sunaina arya, ‘dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism’, caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, february 2020, pp. 217–228 (issn 2639-4928). 60 sharmila rege; j. devika, kalpana kannabiran, mary e. john, padmini swaminathan, samita sen, ‘intersections of gender and caste’, economical and political weekly, vol. xlviii, no. 18, may 4, 2013, pp. 35-36. 61 see ‘introduction: theorising dalit feminism’, in dalit feminist theory: a reader, edited by sunaina arya and aakash singh rathore, 2019, routledge, pp. 1-22. 62 sharmila rege, ‘real feminism and dalit women: scripts of denial and accusation’, economical and political weekly, vol. 35, no. 6, february 5-11, 2000, pp. 492-495, p. 493. emphasis added. 63 for details, see https://www.routledge.com/dalit-feminist-theory-a-reader/aryarathore/p/book/9780367278250. © 2023 rolla das. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. forum caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 154–166 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.428 un‘casting’ universities: examining the intersections of inclusive curriculum and dalit pedagogies in a private university in bangalore, india rolla das1 abstract despite india’s constitutional dream to achieve equity and justice, caste still remains an issue of concern. especially in the context of education, reports indicate a disparity in access and participation across gender, caste and other parameters (hickey & stratton, 2007). the prevalence of caste-based discrimination across universities and dalit student suicides continue to be widely reported (anderson, 2016; niazi, 2022; shantha, 2023; nair, 2023). while the university grants commission, especially mandal commission and the thorat committee have placed certain recommendations, many universities fall short of implementing the same and even if they do, they don’t percolate to an informed student/ faculty/ administration policy (sitlhou, 2017). lack of a welldefined policy, its implementation and the disconnect between curriculum and pedagogy has resulted in an erasure of the discourse on caste within higher education institutions. furthermore, the disconnect has promoted a sense of alienation in educational institutions wherein some students graduate from school or universities without any exposure to caste as a social problem and some students face humiliation routinely. this project is an autoethnographic study of classrooms in a private university in bangalore to understand the gaps that emerge from the disconnect between curriculum, pedagogy and comprehension of students about caste and present an alternative pedagogical paradigm that is situated, participatory, historical and critical. keywords higher education institutions, caste, bangalore, private universities, dalit pedagogy 1assistant professor, department of english and cultural studies, christ university, bangalore, india email: rolla.das@christuniversity.in un‘casting’ universities: examining the intersections of inclusive curriculum 155 introduction universities are not insulated from societal stratifications. beteille (2007) argued that universities in the twenty-first century need to adopt policies that are compositionally diverse and socially inclusive. albeit challenging, but attainable if universities in conformance with the constitutional ideas, engaged with academic distinction and social inclusion simultaneously. unfortunately, the latter is compromised in most contexts. universities have become spaces where caste stratifications between dalit and non-dalit students are reinforced and dalit students routinely encounter “overt and covert discrimination based on caste” (maurya, 2018; ovichegan, 2013, quoted in maurya 2018) which forces them to dropout (anveshi law committee, 2002; vasavi, 2007). in this context, classrooms become important spaces to navigate these volatile social stratifications. abhaya (2021) iterates that higher education classrooms “have possessed the radical potential of allowing an instructor to discuss liberatory possibilities” through “critiques of traditional societies” (abhaya, 2021, p. 2). on the contrary, the presence of caste in classrooms and the resultant discriminations have been reported widely (singh, 2021; jogdand, 2017). jogdand (2017) observes that “caste permeates the indian classroom and obliterates creation of a space where one participates in a collaborative activity of knowledge as an equal and worthy person. the classrooms, in the experience of dalits, instead, work as sites where one confronts the brutal reality of caste.” social stratifications mark their presence quite overtly in classrooms and “who does/does not see caste in classroom, is associated with caste privilege” (pan, 2022; mittal, 2020). hence, while on one hand, upper caste students claim “caste as a practice of the past and denies witnessing it in contemporary society” (2020, p. 106) often denying its existence (pan, 2022), on the other hand, students from the marginalised communities maintain silence (mittal, 2020) or look for alternative articulations of their identities. even if the curriculum shows the potential of an equitable discourse, the disconnect between curricula and pedagogy affect classroom engagements. in addition, teacher motivations affect the comprehension of students and their critical awareness significantly (mittal, 2020). if “the ideology, curriculum, and pedagogy become tools through which power is used to secure social control” in classrooms (jogdand, 2017; giddens, 1984), a pedagogy that is critical, situated, historical and attempts to understand the experiences of the marginalised communities with care (jogdand, 2017; biko, 1971) could make classrooms more inclusive and less humiliating. autoethnography as methodology this is an autoethnographic account of my experience as a teacher in a private university in bangalore. autoethnography is a “first-person inquiry into the researcher’s own experience of a given phenomenon” to understand and examine personal experiences to critically reflect on cultural scripts (adams, jones & ellis, 2015). autoethnographic 156 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 studies have examined narratives of teachers in educational institutions (ernst & vallack, 2015; granger, 2011; hayler, 2011; trahar, 2013; wilson, 2011) to reflect on issues, data and methods which have not been foregrounded in other approaches. autoethnography considers everyday encounters, diary entries from classroom observations as important sources of data because stories emerging from them show how people “make sense of their worlds and their lives (richardson, 2001, 2008 quoted in ernst & vallack, 2015) which help us understand the “unseen” and “untheorized” aspects of experiences. this article is a reflection of my experience of teaching a specific course, additional english (between the years 2017–2023) which follows a university mandated curriculum. additional english is a general course on literature that is offered across departments, including arts and humanities, commerce, and sciences to undergraduate students. it includes texts or selections from larger works that aim to critically engage with the ideas of nation, culture and other social issues. it is taught for 45 hours wherein the faculty engage with the students 3 hours per week. additional english is designed for both first and second year students (2 semesters per year). while the syllabus for the third and fourth semesters facilitate an understanding of cultural, social, religious and ethnic problems across the world, the first two semesters have writing specifically from india, pakistan, sri lanka and bangladesh. the curriculum presents critical narrativisations of a nation; its location in the indian subcontinent; familiarizes students with the literary narratives of the nation; helps in developing critical thinking skills that allow a revisiting of their ideologies, and enhances language skills across curriculum. the course aims to initiate students “into becoming more culturally, ethically, socially and politically aware” (reading diversity, 2022) to understand the tension that emerges from two distinct discourses: the anti-colonial and anti-caste discourses. pan (2022) argued that “while the colonial curriculum was disjointed from the socio-religious and economic realities of india’s feudal, patriarchal and casteist society, the nationalist models of education promoting ‘unity’ against the colonizers did not question the internal contradictions and hierarchies produced by caste (batra, 2020; rege, 2010)”. the vision of ‘unity’ was challenged by the inherently stratified indian society which justified caste differences “as rewards or retributions for one’s actions in earlier lives and sanctified them through religion” (naik, 1979, p. 42, quoted in pan, 2022). in light of such discourses, phule and ambedkarite pedagogies and dalit discourses in curriculum were seen as dissent and “antinational” (rege, 2010). while in traditional curricula, educational privileges are justified by caste and patriarchy (naik, 1979), the course i taught presented a critical orientation of the paradigms of nationalisms and implications of caste and colonialism in education. pedagogical interventions: amnesia to uncasting the curriculum i have been teaching this course for the last 7 years (2016-2023). teaching caste in classrooms is a difficult task, both pedagogically and ideologically and teachers need to un‘casting’ universities: examining the intersections of inclusive curriculum 157 engage with the curriculum to present a critical perspective (george & madan, 2009). students often render caste as “exotic” and “distant” (shankar, 2017; mittal 2020). hence, discussing caste in classrooms requires historicizing it and making students aware of their preconceptions. while some students could be aware of the four-fold classifications, they might not be aware of the inter and intra caste complexities, the labels and hierarchies and how pervasive it is in everyday experiences. on the other hand, students from diverse demographic profiles might connect with the “dalit aspirations for freedom, dignity, self respect and equality” differently unless a context is presented (tharu & satyanarayana, 2013, p. 15). this is important to address for universities in bangalore. since bangalore retains its status as a sought-after city for educational opportunities, students from different states and varied demographic profiles enrol for varied courses, especially undergraduate studies in bangalore. while there is an inherent assumption that caste is “erased” in such urban spaces, i argue that caste operates in a significant manner in these spaces and is reflected in classroom interactions overtly or covertly. to reflect on caste in such classrooms, therefore, required me to engage with curricula, pedagogy and classrooms historically, critically and in a situated manner. the triadic node: curriculum, pedagogy and classroom interaction curriculum mittal (2020) in her study of class comprehension among school students observed that there is a gap in comprehension about questions on caste. while select curricula show an indication of presenting, critiquing and sensitising students about caste and its atrocities, there still remains a chasm. can student-driven interactions and their comments provide an alternative approach to address these questions? can adding personal life narratives and experiential reflections of both dalit and non-dalit students (the acknowledgement of the latter’s autonomy over self-categorisation should be prioritised (jogdand, 2017), motivating them to engage in informed debates or exposing them to statistical information, policy documents and historical references provide a more inclusive classroom space? in agreement with mittal (2020), i understand that while curricula can be designed to foster a sense of empathy and awareness, “the curriculum, however, does not produce knowledge by itself. it is imperative to understand how the text is transmitted and received” (mittal, 2020). pedagogy, therefore, becomes a significant aspect of the classroom experience. pedagogy reflective autoethnographic pedagogy chooses to “offer personal vulnerability for scrutiny from students” as they “create a safe space for students to share their experiences and struggles involved in making ethical and ideological choices” (abhaya, 2021). while i presented information about caste, taking indications from the 158 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 leading questions presented in the teachers’ handbook circulated by the coordinator, i was acutely aware of the pedagogy i was adopting. hence, i presented narratives from my everyday encounters. before engaging with a sociological, historical or textual analysis, i narrated instances of discrimination that i faced. another important intervention in my pedagogy was informed by what pan (2022) narrates as veering towards dalit pedagogies informed by the pedagogy of phule and ambedkar (henceforth pa) which appeals teachers to situate and historicise caste. this implies that my adopted pedagogy had to be consciously dynamic and inclusive, critical and opposed to “narration sickness” (freire, 2010) wherein the teacher remains a ‘narrating subject’ and her students, ‘patient, listening objects’ (freire, 2000, p. 71). pa pedagogy requires me, the teacher, to be aware of their teaching methods, be conscious of whether my discussions are creating classroom spaces wherein dialogues, contestations and resistance can nurture self-dignity and inclusivity. these underlying pedagogical motivations required me to orient the students to constitutional ideals, the historical context of mandal commission (1980) and thorat committee report (2007), the necessity of affirmative action, and finally offering statistical and documentary evidence showing the continuation of castebased discrimination. for instance, i presented the national family health survey (nfhs) data which shows that “among the women in the age group 25-49 who have anaemia, 55.9 % are dalits” whereas “the national average among indians is 53%”. furthermore, nfhs data also shows that “the average age of death for dalit women is 14.6 years younger than for higher caste women” (masoodi & sreevatsan, 2018). i asserted that the caste system as practiced in india is a means by which individuals are socially differentiated through class, caste, gender, religion and so forth. albeit, caste is not the only means of differentiation in societies, however, “it becomes a problem when one or more of these dimensions overlap each other and become the sole basis of systematic ranking and unequal access to valued resources like wealth, income, power and prestige” (mittal, 2020). i informed them that the indian caste system is considered a closed system of stratification, which means that a person’s social status is derived from and obligated to which caste they were born into. i spoke about how caste system “limits on interaction and behavior with people from another social status” (deshpande, 2010) as it maintains an index of permissible manoeuvres that are possible, for example, limits of changing professions, limits of establishing marital connections, and a near-fixed hierarchical stratification of individual castes (dumont, 1999; mittal, 2020). i had to connect caste and religion to argue that caste is often invoked, acknowledged and justified through a discourse on religion (ambedkar, 1936; pingle & varshney, 2006). i clarified that we find caste-based practices in other religious communities in india (ahmad, 1962, quoted in mittal, 2020). the continuing classes included discussions on how unfortunately, socio-political and economic shifts have not altered their existence or perceptions completely. the idea of a nation as un‘casting’ universities: examining the intersections of inclusive curriculum 159 an “imagined community” that overpowers, supersedes the caste-based identities and argues for a composite identity has been an issue of conflict or challenge for policymakers (mittal, 2020). on the contrary, current socio-political situations have permitted caste to operate in different ways within the nation and beyond. teaching them and based on my encounters with students within classrooms and outside, it did feel that my discussions had left two sets of impressions: i am pro-reservation and therefore, “those people’’ possibly referring to a person with radical and activist inclinations and second, i can be approached for any discussion on equity and justice. i delve now into three case studies wherein students engaged, debated and analysed what they learnt in class. each of these classes were discussing the same curricula. however, the pedagogy adopted was changed to suit the classroom dynamics. disciplines have significant effects on the ontological and epistemological perspectives of students in a classroom (kumashiro, 2001). case study 1: humanities classroom while discussing the historical, social, economic and cultural aspects of caste, i requested the students to reflect and analyse in their own way, the issues pertaining to caste and what role, they thought, educational institutions played in such contexts. in the introductory classes, i received very few responses. the next few classes, students approached me personally and narrated incidents of discrimination. i asked for their consent to anonymize and speak about these experiences to which they readily agreed and suggested that they prefer this method instead of speaking out in class. in another incident from the same class, during the introductory lecture, an undergraduate student from my class shrugged and said, “it’s too distant ma’am; this is a long time back. it’s not now”. a “teachable moment” (govinda, mackay, menon, & sen, 2020) indeed. to this, several others joined and argued that socio-economic class should be the primary marker and not caste. i realized at that moment that my secondary references and discussions perhaps presented a certain narrative that prioritises class and not caste. i probed further and asked about the secondary references and statistical evidence to which they responded with complete silence. it felt as if this information did not conform to their expectations and hence remained unprocessed. i feared that probing deeper would mean that i am imposing on them. i provided a range of materials to read from including advertisements, films, essays to news reports along with documentaries. as i was wrapping my class for that day after a discussion on access and participation of dalit students in classrooms, one student said, “i am a dalit and i will be in this classroom”. silence ensued (see pariyar, gupta and fonseka, 2022 for a discussion on caste among nepali diaspora). the student did not conceal her caste affiliation in spite of being aware of the complex dynamics of the class. slowly, few other students started sharing experiences of caste-based discriminations and asserted that university classrooms have become clinically sanitized for holding discussions such as these. it is in these moments, students, by asserting agency over 160 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 self-categorisation, which is inherently contingent, reveal what is meaningful to them at a given moment. belonging to a group does not automatically indicate that the person is psychologically involved with the group or the group membership is meaningful to them, especially “when one is a member of a devalued group in society autonomy over self-categorisation is often under pressure” (jogdand, 2017). this was an important moment which revealed how students can transform classroom spaces by undoing “narration sickness” (freire, 2007) and respond to “historical victimisation” and “psychological distancing” (jogdand, 2017). case study 2: commerce classroom i had scheduled a debate session on the need for affirmative action. this was a conscious choice to make students from commerce who are generally insulated from sociological discourses on caste to unpack their own perspectives. additionally, the demographic profile of these classes is quite distinct from arts/humanities classrooms—commerce classrooms are more varied in their class-caste compositions. three students out of 97 in the class signed for the motion (affirmative action is required) and the discussion ended with a very tense moment in the class. few students who were against the motion quickly escalated the discussion by attributing caste markers to individual students and citing concerns with meritocracy in indian universities. few students, later, came and disclosed that they appreciate what i aspired to do but also disclosed that it is quite intense for many of them. these classes become overwhelming for them as other subjects, while based on economics and nation, in contrast to the ones i taught, force them to have an apolitical approach towards individuals and identities, erasing any form of discourse centring around caste. this experience will be discussed later as it made me reflect on the need to understand the volatile nature of caste-based discussions in classrooms. case study 3: science classroom the science class was supposed to study whether class or caste was prevalent in india. this was done primarily to counter the neoliberal tendencies to conflate caste and class and present them as different structural inequalities. the students conducted a survey; respondents were mostly in the age group of 18–26 from the same university but from different courses. while 71.1 per cent of their respondents claimed that india faces a more severe form of caste-based discrimination rather than class (28.9 per cent), 57.7 per cent of the respondents claimed that the system of reservation is unfair, 14.1 per cent considered it fair and the other 28.2 per cent were uncertain of the fairness. for most of the respondents the solution for caste eradication was education. few respondents further argued that financial help should be given to the “needy” irrespective of the caste or financial conditions. some of these arguments based on merit versus social justice were already challenged in my class. hence, my interest was to understand the un‘casting’ universities: examining the intersections of inclusive curriculum 161 students’ approaches whom i had taught. i asked for their personal reflections on the data which presented a complex issue. i had shown them a documentary called, “india untouched: stories of a people apart” (stalin, 2007). one student wrote, the notion of doing an analysis on this topic crossed my mind after watching the documentary “india un-touched” in the class which changed my opinion about making reservation a class-based affair. the idea was to know if people still believed in the caste system and being superior or inferior to somebody just because they belonged to a particular caste and it turns out that people still believed this. it was the smaller proportion who did believe in this orthodox ideology but for a developing nation like ours, that number is dangerous. when it comes to being discriminated or discriminating on the basis of class (financial status), the numbers were no less. if amongst a small sample of 80 we can get responses where people admit that they have been discriminated and they have discriminated people on the basis of caste or class then the bigger picture must be scary for a country of 1.31 billion population and approximately 5000 and more different castes. the caste system in india is a complicated web of several castes where each caste is discriminated from the other. when the system of reservation was taken as the complimentary question to the analysis, people believed it should either be caste-based, class-based or there should not be any reservation at all. i, personally, am of the opinion that there should not be any reservation and if it is to be there, it should be merit based. help should be given only if there is will to work hard and earn the desired position. this was an important narrative. the student was able to comprehend the issue, understand its complexities and situate their position within the argument. pan (2022) mentions that “as a counter-hegemonic discipline, dalit studies ‘challenges the objectivity of knowledge and endorses the view that different belief systems and contradictory interpretations are possible’ (yesudasan, p. 621)” (pan, 2022, p. 6). the aim of a critical pedagogy is not to convert or homogenise opinions but rather allow a space for articulating individual political choices. the student reflected on the latter and felt a sense of ease to differ from what was presented in the class. i see that as an unintended yet promising possibility: the possibility of plurality in articulations. on the contrary, another student from the same class, echoing quite a few others, wrote that, i feel that the problem is still existing in the country only because of the mentality of some people, this kind of discrimination should be removed from the society and all people should be treated equally without any priorities. it can only be achieved by providing good quality education to the coming generations and creating awareness among people. [sic.] education can be transformative. the student articulated the need for a sense of criticality to achieve the same. what was important is their perspective wherein they 162 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 asserted the need for achieving equity together, in solidarity with the marginalised; the latter considered significant for transformative abilities of education (rege, 1998). case studies 1, 2 and 3 are from the introductory lectures from diverse classes. the next excerpt is from case study 4 wherein in conformance with dalit pedagogy (pan, 2022), i attempted to historicise caste using a literary text. i was teaching meena kandaswamy’s “becoming a brahmin” which presents a sharp critique of india’s continuing legacy of casteism and especially focusses on gandhi’s approach to eradicating casteism. the poem is performative, and iterates the impossibility of that vision. i spoke about how the “algorithm” presented like a code reminds one of “mendelian eugenics which was practiced by the nazis to produce a purely aryan population” (venkateswaran, 2021). the trajectory of a shudra woman becoming a brahmin by marriage and becoming a mother to his children presents a chilling critique of bio-racist ascriptions of caste prejudices and narrativises recurrent incidents of castebased violence and killings. the automated and technical tonality of the text adds to the indifference that has been meted out to the discourses centring caste. continuing with venkateswaran (2021), the poem is a reminder of dr ambedkar’s response to gandhi’s “toleration and catholicity” of hinduism. dr ambedkar had called such approaches “indifference or flaccid latitudinarianism” (ambedkar, 2020, p. 345). i reminded the students that many scholars opine that gandhi’s approach towards caste system, his naming of people as “harijan” who were problematically referred to as “untouchables” continued the colonial legacy and made healing unredeemable, justice unattainable and an aspiration of socially and culturally sanctioned dignity unfeasible. a discussion on brahminical patriarchy that controlled women and caste had to be brought forth for a nuanced understanding. however, i didn’t present one narrative. i carefully placed the ideas of gandhi, b r ambedkar and meena kandaswamy as an author and presented the interpretation of the two thinkers and activists so that the students can form their own ideas regarding the same while being informed about certain factual details, such as the document pertaining to the discussion held in tirupur between gandhi and b r ambedkar. a student from the class narrated their understanding of the class discussion. they presented a sense of nuanced criticality in their analysis of meena kandaswamy’s poem as a satire. they said, it is considered as a satire, mainly because of the fact that the highest relationship that could exist between a dalit and a brahmin, is that of a servant master relationship. even though it is a rare occurrence that a caste as low as a dalit could work in the accommodation of a brahmin. now while talking about social stigma, it isn’t considered “brahminish” to marry a shudra, as it downcasts the brahmin and his social status would be so downtrodden as compared to what an elevated status he had, the brahmin wouldn’t generally do it. considering these points and the usage of the word “beautiful”, while un‘casting’ universities: examining the intersections of inclusive curriculum 163 mentioning the type of shudra girl in the first step of the algorithm itself is a way of how meena kandaswamy tries to present a satire on the basis of the caste system. the student was able to understand the perspective that is underlying the poem: the perspective of challenging brahminical hegemony in the knowledge traditions and social structures. the interpretation presents the critical interpretation of the circularity and thereby, absurdity in expecting dalit perspectives to be objective and impartial. the student was able to understand the categories and uncover the idea of history and violence intimately linked to the people. this was perhaps the closest that i could reach to implementing a dalit pedagogical approach (pan, 2022) which argues for a historical and situated sharing of knowledge. transitioning from “narration sickness” towards dalit pedagogies: identities and vulnerabilities these experiences made me reflect on my position as a teacher. the comprehension emerging from the classrooms were not identical. most students felt that they were exposed to uncomfortable yet factual details. while few students could demarcate the concerns and identify few important issues that distinguish class and caste-based discriminations, others continued with the class-caste overlap. did i fail to convince everyone in the class? the experience in the commerce classrooms did leave an impact on me. how do i ensure the safety of the voices who choose to speak out? the students who voiced their opinion were not from marginalised communities and were allies. however, given that the debate happened in a classroom which had students from marginalised communities, the incident exposed the discriminatory attitudes of many of their own friends. how should i have unpacked the varied semiotics of silences in class? the exposure of caste affiliations of individual students and explicit opinions could have led to unintended consequences of identification. while many individuals disapprove of identity concealment (others may continue to adhere to for safety) (pariyar, gupta & fonsenka, 2022), the classroom spaces can be volatile and the ensuing implications could be difficult to negotiate for the marginalised students and teacher. how must teachers, who do not come from a homogenous group in terms of social locations, identities and intent, take these issues to class, especially since each of these have an influence on students and their learning (thapan, 2009)? afterthoughts through this study, i wanted to understand the interactions between curriculum, pedagogy and students’ comprehension of caste. specifically, i wanted to examine how pedagogy and curricula are designed to address caste in university classrooms which have people from diverse demographic profiles. in line with dalit pedagogy, 164 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 i believe that the discourse on caste can be participatory, inclusive and reflective if individual subjective experiences from diverse social (caste) and cultural backgrounds are brought forth and acknowledged. this would contribute to the work done by tharu and satyanarayana (2013) in bringing forth inclusive textbooks. i hoped that the adopted pedagogy could demonstrate the possibilities of challenging “narration sickness” and present an enabling educational environment that does not erase caste but rather presents it within a framework of pedagogy that acknowledges the personal, historical and social (pan, 2022). i did see a significant difference in how classroom dynamics evolved and transformed—students from dalit and non dalit communities responded, articulated and narrated their understanding, privileged students who were initially complacent or uninformed about caste atrocities were able to understand continuing systemic discrimination and students from marginalised communities exercised autonomy over their self construal and responded in diverse ways. these interactions created a non-hegemonic discursive space. for discussing caste, individual classrooms should be contextualised and navigated differently to develop dynamic pedagogical choices, prioritising discussion and challenging “narration sickness”, albeit with the anchoring of the course in a conscious ideological context. this is in line with the recommendations of the national curriculum framework (2005) which requires educational spaces to discuss and resolve issues pertaining to social justice and discrimination, including caste. this approach will provide a platform to discuss caste within the university so that the erasures of caste discourses are unpacked, encountered and understood using curricula and autoethnographic narrations of both students and teachers. references abhaya, n.b. 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(2021). challenging brahminical patriarchy: the poetry of meena kandasamy and usha akella. journal of comparative literature and aesthetics, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 144–152. © 2022 nemthianngai guite. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 335–344 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.446 addressing hegemony within the system of medicine for an inclusive and sustainable health system: the case of traditional medicine in india nemthianngai guite1 abstract there is growing interest and belief in the effectiveness and efficacy of the traditional system of medicine and its sustainability within the health system. the domination and superiority of biomedicine over traditional medicine have been visible from postcolonial time to till date. at the same time, there is also an increased attempt to streamline and harmonize the diversity of the traditional system of medicine with the modern system of medicine. however, it has often resulted in detrimental outcomes for many traditional health practitioners, including the system of medicine they practice. the dominance and interplay of the power relationships and social structural inequalities are not discussed and deliberated extensively in the published literature as one of the crucial reasons for medical hegemony. therefore, the essay’s objective is to address the hegemony in traditional medicine regulation, professionalization, commoditization and intellectual property rights. in doing so, an attempt has been made to argue for the traditional care providers such as bonesetters and dais (traditional birth attendants) whose services remain undermined due to their social identity, often overlooking the difficult conditions in which they provide care. this may give us a more inclusive and sustainable health system perspective. the traditional medicine system and the care providers, deserve the long denied respect from the medical care and health science community; and better recognition, preservation and protection of their skills. keywords system of medicine, hegemony, traditional medicine, biomedicine, regulation, professionalization, commoditization, intellectual property, traditional knowledge, marginalisation 1associate professor, centre of social medicine and community health, school of social sciences, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india email: nguite@jnu.ac.in 336 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 introduction globally the health system is dominated by the experimental concepts of the biomedical system of medicine, which is often called modern western scientific medicine, allopathic medicine, and conventional medicine. it explains health in terms of biology and attaches importance to learning about body structure (anatomy) and systems (physiology). it has brought innovations with consistent research and updating knowledge. the infectious diseases that were the primary cause of high mortality are now conquered. management of high-risk cases, surgical interventions, etc., has brought in marvels in the health sector. nevertheless, the presence of a traditional system of medicine is equally undeniable, even though the domination of biomedicine can be seen in all spheres of the health sector, from primary to tertiary levels of care. the traditional system of medicine (tsm) explains health in terms of ecosystem and community-specific health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs, which are embedded in the community worldviews and value systems. the knowledge incorporates to plant, animal and mineral-based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises. the medical application may be singular or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well being. going by the world health organization (who) estimation, it is estimated that 80 per cent of the population depends on tsm in certain african and asian countries. further, who stated two critical goals in its newly published traditional medicine strategy 2014–2023. the first goal is to support the member states in harnessing the potential contribution of traditional medicine to health, wellness and people-centred health care. the second is to promote traditional medicine’s safe and effective use by regulating products, practices, and practitioners (world health organization, 2013). the stated goals echoed the ethos of sustainable health in tune with the sustainable development goals of reaching the last mile, where no one is left behind in achieving health for all. at the same time, sustainability of health is all about the availability, accessibility, and affordability of health services through different medical and health care systems. however, the differential in access to health care and systems of medicine produces health inequality and inequities when there is a barrier in access to resources and services. studies and writings on the genesis of modern public health amidst the industrial revolution and colonial past informed us that tsm was prominent in knowledge domains and commercial purposes. various disciplines such as sociology, medical geography, anthropology, ethnobotany, pharmacology and industry—the pharmaceutical industry have engaged with the question of traditional medicinal knowledge and traditional healing within medicine. while there is acceptance and acknowledgement of tsm globally, there has remained a sense of undermining their importance in more than one way. for instance, an increased attempt to streamline the diversity of tsm has often resulted in detrimental outcomes for many practitioners. addressing hegemony within the system of medicine for an inclusive and sustainable health system 337 in the study by guite and reddy (2021),1 it was found that there have not been any schemes for the upliftment of the skills of traditional healers and practitioners. when the interviews were done with the modern health care workers, they discourage mothers to utilize the traditional birth attendants (tbas) for child delivery. according to one medical officer, “even though the tbas might have abilities and experience in helping to give birth but they are not well equipped for emergencies”, she mentioned, “if a mother suffers from postpartum haemorrhage then there is 90% chance the mother will die in the hands of tbas, which can easily be treated in the hospital”. according to some traditional healers, there have also been instances where they were given a warning not to continue their practice of healing by the health care workers. such incidences and situations highlighted why who proposed training the tbas in developing skills and understanding the mechanism to reach the hospital. further, the ever-decreasing power of the traditional healers and practitioners in their medical practices can be seen throughout the evolution of tsm from postcolonial to globalization in india. for instance, the traditional healers in the study (guite and reddy, 2021) also shared that they have expectations from the government. they believe that they have been neglected. they are not allowed to make use of their potential. they expect the government to provide life skill programs to the healers to enhance their capability, provide incentives to the certified healers to make them effectively work and help them effectively make full use of their potential. therefore, as informed by the study, one can conclude that the dominance and interplay of the power relation and social structure within the system of medicine are there but not discussed and deliberated extensively in published literature. therefore, the objective of the essay in addressing the hegemony in traditional medicine regulation, professionalization, and commoditization and intellectual property rights is to have a more inclusive and sustainable health system. hierarchies within the system of medicine the colonization period in india by the britishers saw an increase in interactions of tsm and biomedicine. it resulted in the propagation of scientific rationalization and obstruction of tsm by the british colonizers. it further weakens the power of the tsm medical practitioners in folk and spiritual medicine, whose practice is considered irrational and therefore disregarded. on the other, it textualized and standardized classical medicine, such as ayurveda and unani (wujastyk, 2008), as they saw classical medicines as more reliable, with rational, central, discrete theories (prakash, 1999). analysis of research writings on medical hegemony and hierarchies within the system of medicine, reveals that there is the dominance of biomedicine over classical medicine and the classical over folk and spiritual medicine. majority of the folk and spiritual medicinal care providers are affected by their individual and 1“traditional healing practices and health care utilization among mother and children: a study of four north-eastern states of india”, major research project funded by icssr (ministry of human resource development), new delhi. 2021. 338 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 group’s identity which is more often than not, at the lower social rank, in addition to the medical hegemony and hierarchy. while the government of india has made efforts in the last three decades to bring tsm into the central fold of health care provisioning by creating separate departments and then ministries within the health and family welfare ministry, there is a clear hierarchical position of one over the other. for example, the state patronage of biomedicine followed by the recent ayush ministry giving importance to the centuries-old codified and classical systems like ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha and homeopathy and down below is the lesser-known but widely prevalent non-codified folk traditions (national policy on indian systems of medicine and homeopathy, 2002). the folk and local healing systems serve the most marginalized who cannot afford private care or reach inaccessible public health services and non-functional primary level care in a few places. they depend solely or partially on the folk healers, who do not charge the patients much. for generations, the folk healers have served the community at doorsteps with utmost humility and generosity. the state now recognizes their wisdom and abundant knowledge of flora/ fauna. ayush is documenting the folk practices, but anxiety and mistrust are building among the healers who are not benefiting from sharing their knowledge. the advent of allopathic medicine created distrust in tsm and accentuated the gap between western and traditional medicine. it also left many without care due to inaccessible regimes as far as the western systems of medicine were concerned. the notion that what was ‘local’ needed to be ratified by the ‘global’ pushed the tsm to the periphery thereby paving way for certification. certification has enhanced the utilization of the care services, as evident from government reports. however, the question is certifying whom? do we need to certify a knowledge system, which has existed for generations, by much recent history, and much shorter training span system of medicine? therefore, an enquiry into the fundamental causes of the inequities created in the system of medicine needs to be highlighted. when it comes to explaining social inequalities and health outcomes, various theoretical points of view ranging from structural to cultural and behaviour explanations have been approached to answer questions about why gender, class, race, and caste-based differences produce and treat health inequalities as an artefact. similar arguments are put forward to question the existing power relations in the study of the system of medicine as an artefact. why is one system of medicine considered superior, rational and scientific to the other? is the inequality natural or manufactured? alternatively, this has to do with the social and economic background of the medical practitioners in a given system of medicine. are the disparities in the differential social identities the culprit? is it because their position in the social ranking laying at the lower end, renders them devoid of the kind of power available to the other system of medicine? is it the power dynamics between the traditional healers and the western allopathic care providers (and users)? or, because ‘knowledge’ has remained the preserve of the few at the higher social rung, the advent of the western allopathic healing system provided space for usurping the ‘knowledge’ from those to it belonged? perhaps these questions are struggling to seek answers from various addressing hegemony within the system of medicine for an inclusive and sustainable health system 339 quarters, especially those who claim concerns about traditional medicinal knowledge and healing traditions. let us explore pertinent issues of concern which lead to some challenging questions in harmonizing modern and traditional systems of medicine. regulation and marginalization the official and legal recognition of the traditional system of medicine in the indian health care system is an attempt to create national ownership by including and excluding certain forms of traditional medicine. in this process, the healers or traditional medical practitioners who are not registered with the respective national medical councils are not legally allowed to practice. this means that only those practitioners with certification by the central council for indian medicine can practice. for example, under the officially legalized “indian medicine,” only vaids and hakims with government certificates are certified to practice (berger, 2013). marginalization of certain traditional medicines is also observed in the list of medicines approved as national medicine in india. the government showed support only for scientific forms of traditional healing (habib and raina, 2005), following the legacy of the colonizers as power was in the hands of people who were educated under the colonial system. marginalization of local health traditions such as folk and spiritual medicine is done in the name of being unscientific and irrational. the indian systems of medicines (ism) under the ministry of ayush, recognizes seven traditional systems of medicine—ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, unani, siddha, sowa rigpa, and homeopathy. the diversity of traditional medicine is altered by officially adopting national medicines, thereby creating a barrier and thus marginalizing certain medicines. even though folk medicine was recognized and endorsed as mainstream traditional medicine for the first time in the national policy on indian systems of medicine and homeopathy by the indian government in 2002 (payyappallimana, 2010) there are specialist traditional medical practitioners such as bonesetters, massage therapist (for muscle and nerves problems) who were still marginalized as their knowledge was not textualized (lambert, 2012). similar is the case with visha (poison) healers and folk psychiatric healers. they are excluded from the indian systems of medicine because of their oral-only and regionally diverse traditions. the situation of the dais (midwives) is no better. they are neither traditional practitioners nor skilled birth attendants. they are still marginalised even if they are the ones who attend emergency child deliveries in remote rural regions where there is the absence of modern medically trained gynaecologists or midwives. a study by guite and reddy (2021)2 highlighted the hardship and marginalisation faced by the dais and healers in north-eastern states of india. the quality control of india (qci) with the help of ayush has been certifying the competent healers and north east christian university (necu), dimapur, nagaland acts as the third party facilitator by facilitating the certification process. there are two steps in certifying the healers, 2“traditional healing practices and health care utilization among mother and children: a study of four north-eastern states of india”, major research project funded by icssr (ministry of human resource development), new delhi. 2021. 340 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 first, the healers are interviewed on their knowledge and abilities of healing and the next step is the healers are made to show the demonstration of their healing process and if ayush finds them competent enough, then they are certified. many traditional healers are made aware of necu and qci certification but still many are unaware of it, therefore if awareness and widespread seminars can be made for the healers so that all the healers’ capabilities can be enhanced and they can work more effectively. the study also found that after 2005 a dai training programme was created in certain states to bring midwives into mainstream modern health services (sadgopal, 2009). professionalization in public health professionalization in public health refers to establishing suitable educational and professional standards for medical practitioners of a different system of medicine. this is done basically to protect the public against unqualified practitioners by establishing qualifying boards. professionalization in public health reflects broader institutional, social and political forces. the government of india set up systems to professionalize them through universities, allowing direct control over medical practitioners and ownership of traditional medicinal knowledge. universities and institutions were created to train, educate, conduct research and provide a degree in the classical system of indian medicine. for instance, the national institute of ayurveda, homoeopathy, unani, siddha, yoga, panchakarma, and naturopathy were set up by the indian government. the council for scientific, industrial research (csir) and the ministry of health and family welfare collaborated to set up the traditional knowledge digital library (tkdl) in 2002 on codified traditional knowledge to preserve knowledge and counter biopiracy (http://www.tkdl.res.in/accessed on 14 may 2022). the professionalization process adopted pulled power away from the local indigenous practitioners and demonstrates the heavy influence of biomedicine in all spheres. the social and economic backgrounds of the traditional medicine health practitioners were not considered in the whole process of professionalization. the institutions and universities created were not inclusive in their approach and pedagogy. besides the marginalization and exclusion of traditional health care providers, there was a realization that the dominance of biomedicine continues in the curriculum and in understanding the cause and nature of diseases. the unique holistic characteristics of understanding health and illness were diluted in the name of science. the dominance of biomedicine was acknowledged in the 2002 national policy on indian systems of medicine and homeopathy. it stated that the “component of modern medicine should be reduced, and study of sanskrit in ayurveda discipline and urdu and persian in unani discipline should be incorporated in the curricula” (national policy on indian systems of medicine and homeopathy-2002). professionalization and regulation of the traditional system of medicine should therefore be inclusive and be modified to allow culturally sustainable and its niche in public health. addressing hegemony within the system of medicine for an inclusive and sustainable health system 341 globalization and commoditization of traditional medicine the nature of traditional medicine is characterized by the inclusion of the social and the natural sciences. anthropological studies and field observations describing the local use of nature-derived medicines are the basis of multidisciplinary scientific enquiries. it helps sustain local health care practices and demonstrates relevance in modern societies with therapies related to ageing, and chronic and infectious diseases. however, the intensified globalization and economic liberalism, which allows the interchange of knowledge and easy access via international trade using different communication and technology platforms, further excluded and marginalized the traditional health care providers, who do not have access to modern technological communication. so globalization led to another trajectory of reducing power from the traditional practitioners. the state regulatory mechanism for streamlining the trade of herbal, aromatic and medicinal plants is weak due to the trade secrets involving forest officials, dealers and pharmaceutical companies. the traditional health providers were restricted from accessing the community forests due to improper extractions and extinctions of certain plant species of high international trade value. they are blamed for all the ecological imbalance and destructions because they are easy targets to cover up the nexus between forest officials, private dealers, and pharma companies (both national and international) involved in mass extractions from the wild (guite, 2014). the profit from the selling of traditional medicine and indigenous medicinal knowledge is not shared with the local traditional health providers, even though they are the health care custodians and primary care providers to the community people who have no access to modern health services. the commodification of traditional medicine, information sharing and straightforward marketing strategy of herbal, aromatic and medicinal plants brought about by globalization further excluded traditional health care providers socially, institutionally and politically. the era of globalization also witnesses the rise in consciousness among the local traditional health providers and the formation of professional bodies and associations to fight for their right to ownership of knowledge and benefit-sharing. the era also led to discussions of different aspects of traditional medical knowledge in several international forums, including who3 and the wto (world trade organization).4 intellectual property the outcome of globalization is the commodification of traditional medical knowledge, and growing commercial and scientific interest. as discussed earlier, the 3who (world health organisation) promotes the use of traditional medical knowledge for health care. see who fact sheet no. 134 “traditional medicine”, www.who.int/mediacentre/ factsheets/fs134/en/.accessed on 14 may 2022 4the wto’s work on access to medicines and ip issues relating to public health is guided by the doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health; this clarifies the flexibilities in ip rules available to governments under the wto’s agreement on trade related aspects of intellectual property rights (trips). see www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/who_wipo_ wto_e.htm. accessed on 14 may 2022 342 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 modern system of medicine derived drugs and vaccines based on natural resources and associated knowledge. on the other hand, traditional medicine and its related knowledge are authentic to the specific social and cultural context of the indigenous communities. however, the growing commercial and scientific interest in traditional medicine systems calls for respect from the medical science community, better recognition, preservation and protection. in traditional medical knowledge, medicinal use of herbs is often associated with genetic resources. for instance, the kani tribe of south india has shared their knowledge of the medicinal plant ‘arogyapaacha’ for a sports drug (world bank, 2004; wipo, 2004; wipo, n.d). the existence of genetic resources is in nature and not the creations of the human mind. therefore they cannot be directly protected as intellectual property as the knowledge is in the public domain. they are, however, subject to the access and benefit-sharing regulations under international agreements (wipo, 2004). in order to prevent erroneous patents on traditional medicine, various international and national initiatives were sought. the world intellectual property organization (wipo) is primarily concerned with the “protection” of the intellectual property of traditional medical knowledge. it means protection against unauthorized use by third parties. the wipo intergovernmental committee on intellectual property and genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore (igc) seek to develop an international legal instrument that would provide adequate protection of traditional cultural expressions/folklore and traditional knowledge (including traditional medical knowledge) and address the ip aspects of access to and benefitsharing of genetic resources. one key example is the traditional knowledge digital library created by the council of scientific and industrial research (csir), the ministry of science and technology, and the ministry of health and family welfare in india (ministry of dst and ministry of ayush 2022). the library documents traditional medicinal practices in india. it presents the information to be checked by international patent offices, thereby preventing the granting of erroneous patents on traditional medicines. however, not all the traditional medical knowledge could make it to the digital library. the knowledge holders face social, educational, economic and infrastructure barriers. they are pushed to the periphery in commoditization in our global economy, which further reduces the power of traditional practitioners. often, local practitioners using traditional medicine knowledge are not given their due credit (reddy, 2006). while it is essential to place traditional medicine globally, local medicinal practitioners should be given deserved credit and financial benefit for their work. conclusion as the world moves ahead in the twenty-first century, we must take a balanced and inclusive approach. let us acknowledge that the traditional system of medicine and its medicinal knowledge provides a pathway to social and economic development. the marginalization of the traditional system of medicine and its practitioners, in the name of regulation, professionalization, commodification and intellectual property addressing hegemony within the system of medicine for an inclusive and sustainable health system 343 has to be stopped. the manifestation of social structural inequalities in the system of medicine and its providers is visible. we need to work in line with positive discrimination to bring about equality in the system of medicines. the knowledge possessed by traditional health practitioners deserves to be protected, promoted, and strengthened like modern health practitioners. inferiority and superiority status based on science and rationality of a system of medicines are manufactured and can be prevented and avoided. the ancestral knowledge of the indigenous communities and traditional healers or practitioners can be explored to inculcate the ethos in multiple disciplines. this would most certainly bring the much-needed balance in achieving the united nations sustainable development goals, which aim to leave no one behind. where the world is fast losing its natural resources, promoting traditional knowledge (tk) could become an initiative for its reconstruction in post-covid 19 scenarios. the traditional knowledge (tk) is in the discourse not only in medicinal knowledge but also in international discussions on a host of issues—food and agriculture; biological diversity, desertification and the environment; human rights, especially the rights of indigenous peoples; cultural diversity; trade and economic development. the tk has also moved towards the centre of policy debate about intellectual property (ip). this also leads us to some challenging questions. is the ip system compatible with the values and interests of traditional communities and their system of medicine, or does it privilege individual rights over the community’s collective interests? is there the uneven power dynamics playing up too? these are pertinent questions to be addressed for bringing the due acknowledgement to the traditional health systems and its practitioners. references banerjee, m. (2002). power, culture, and medicine: ayurvedic pharmaceuticals in the modern market. contribution to indian sociology; 36(3), pp. 435–467. berger, r. (2013). from the biomoral to the biopolitical: ayurveda’s political histories. south asian history and culture, vol.4, issue 1, pp. 48–64. guite, nemthianngai. (2014). global discourse and local realities towards indigenous medicine, scholar’s press, omniscriptum gmbh&co.kg, germany. isbn: 978-3-63971823-2 guite nemthianngai and reddy, sunita. (2021). traditional healing practices and health care utilization among mother and children: a study of four north-eastern states of india. major research project funded by icssr (ministry of human resource development), new delhi. habib, s., raina, d. (2005). reinventing traditional medicine: method, institutional change, and the manufacture of drugs and medication in late colonial india. in: asian medicine and globalization. ed. joesph s. alter. pennsylvania: university of pennsylvania, philadelphia, 2005. pp. 78–88. lambert, h. (2012). medical pluralism and medical marginality: bone doctors and the selective legitimation of therapeutic expertise in india. social science & medicine; 74, pp. 1029–36. ministry of dst and ministry of ayush (2022) representative database of ayurvedic, unani, siddha and sowarigpa formi=ulations. traditonal knowledge digital library. initiative of council of scientific & industrial research (csir), ministry of dst; and ministry of ayurveda, yoga & naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy (ayush) http://www. tkdl.res.in/ accessed 15 february 2022. 344 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 national policy on indian systems of medicine and homoeopathy-2002. http://indianmedicine. nic.in/writereaddata/linkimages/7870046089ayush%20%20n%20policy%20ism%20 and%20h%20homeopathy pdf accessed april 2022. payyappallimana, unnikrishnan (2010). role of traditional medicine in primary health care: an overview of perspectives and challenging. yokohama journal of social sciences, vol. 14 no. 6 http://www.academia.edu/1441655/ accessed 15 february 2016. prakash, g. (1999). another reason: science and the imagination of modern india. princeton: princeton university press. reddy, sita (2006). making heritage legible: who owns traditional medical knowledge? international journal of cultural property;13 (2), pp. 161–188. sadgopal, mira (2009). can maternity services open up to the indigenous traditions of midwifery? economic and political weekly. 2009; 44(16), pp. 52–59. who (2013). who traditional medicine strategy 20142023. geneva: world health organisation. http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/traditional/trm_strategy14_23/ en/http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/traditional/trm_strategy14_23/en/ accessed 15 april 2022.wipo (2004). world intellectual property organisation magazine. https:// www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/pdf/2004/wipo_pub_121_2004_11-12.pdf#page=11. accessed on 22 march 2022. wipo (n.d) using traditional knowledge to revive the body and a community. world intellectual property organisation (wipo). https://www.wipo.int/ipadvantage/en/details. jsp?id=2599. accessed on 22 march 2022. world bank (2004) case study two: india value addition to local kani tribal knowledge: patenting, licensing and benefit-sharing. world bank organisation report. pp. 103–124. http://web.worldbank.org/archive/website00297c/web/images/kani.pdf accessed on 24 march 2022. wujastyk, d. (2008). the evolution of indian government policy on ayurveda in the twentieth century. in modern and global ayurveda: pluralism and paradigms. ed. dagmar wujastyk and frederick m. smith. albany state: university of new york, p. 48. © 2021 balmurli natrajan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 381–390 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.343 spotted goddesses: dalit women’s agency-narratives on caste and gender violence author: roja singh publisher: lit verlag gmbh & co. kg wien, zurich (2018), and zubaan, delhi (2019) reviewer: balmurli natrajan professor of anthropology dept. of community & social justice studies, william paterson university of new jersey e-mail: natrajanb@wpunj.edu how does one write about a social institution and social relation that is constituted by violence, but one that has become normalized in society such that the violence is viewed only in its dramatic expressions as an ‘atrocity’, an abnormality, an exception to its existence? how does one write about a social phenomenon whose end one wishes to see? how does one write about domination without making the victims into mute objects or free subjects? how does one write with a verve and tenor that conveys the urgency of a world desperately seeking change, while acknowledging the need to submit to analysis? such questions demand writing that foregrounds accountability (who are our accounts of reality really for?) and perspectivism (from what location do we as writers speak?). jebaroja suganthy-singh’s book, spotted goddess: dalit women’s agency narratives on caste and gender violence deftly places such questions in the mind of a reader, by making them think about how caste, the institution and phenomenon in question above, would appear through the experiences of say, chitra, a dalit woman born into historically constructed conditions and identities of caste, gender, sexuality, class and religion that put her to work from the age of five in stone quarries owned by terrorizing caste groups self-aware of their own command over the social distribution of wealth, power, and status. or, of rani, a dalit mother whose questioning of a patently unjust practice of ‘two-tumblers’ (a cultural practice of segregating and stigmatizing dalits at roadside tea-stalls by 382 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 forcing them to drink in a separate cup from all others) resulted in a caste grudge being nurtured by caste communities over twelve years and the subsequent abduction, rape, and torture of her daughter vijaya. or, of kalai, a feisty and fiery dalit feminist leader whose everyday battles (for others and her own self) against caste, patriarchy, and class domination are exhaustive but who knows that any flagging of the spirits would be detrimental to her entire community. the book brings together an array of stories about how caste kills sociality, the spirit to live and commune, humanity in humans, and imagination in the young. it is simultaneously about the indomitable and indefatigable spirit and energies of justiceseekers resisting caste and demanding dignity. choosing to not occupy a general archimedean point when narrating or accounting for caste, the author instead speaks from particular locations, the spaces occupied by dalit women in the chengalpattu, pudukkottai, and puduppatti regions of tamil nadu, india. she throws her lot with fanon’s ‘wretched of the earth’—the ones who clean (y)our toilets, the ones whose calloused and chafed hands speak a history and bear a burden for all of us, the ones whose bodies are made grist for the purificatory kilns of caste, the ones whose imagination and dreams need to be crushed so that (y)our sons and daughters can have the dignity of education, residence, and livelihood. in its insistence on invoking a humanness in the very spaces that are designed to obliterate and extinguish it, the book raises questions about what it means to be human. but the book does this, not from the heights of a (now dead and buried) humanist subject—a knowing autonomous subject yet unaware of its own hubris and conditions of its own possibilities—but from the depths of an ordinary and intellectually honest subject muddling through and mulling over a life that appears unfathomable in its brutality and injustice. as the author puts it, “enraged by these atrocities, and my own ignorance, but at the same time…deeply muddled in my inability to act immediately” (13). this book is then neither straightforward ethnography nor airy theoretical treatise. it has gripping ethnographic moments, captures subjects ‘speaking’, sets up the background and historical context, is reflexive about the power relations and interstices within which the authorial self interweaves ‘speaking subjects’, insists on the distinctive nature of dalit women’s experience without essentializing, probes and collects narratives of expression of experience and longing in the midst of brutalization, advances theoretical concepts to account for reality, and takes on the mantle of activism unashamedly as an intellectual form of accountability. it is rich and demanding of the reader. the book’s aim is to bring attention to the voices of dalit women, especially dalit women leaders—“desirous voices in change-seeking and change-making” (14) who bring to light the ordinary narratives of dalit women’s “suffering, punishment, and change-making-rebellion” (15). lest the reader suspect the book of simply ‘giving voice’ or letting the subaltern speak in ways that make the interpreter innocent (what spivak has called, the “ventriloquism of the speaking subaltern”, 1999: 254), the book is not in that mold either. its subjects are crafted by the author—not simply assumed as knowing subjects. thus, dalits are not essentialized but viewed as heterogenous and inevitably intersected by class and gender within community, and stories of ‘subalterns’ are framed on a stage and proscenium that are consciously erected by the author. consequently, the (mimetic) re-presentation of reality occurs without a disavowal by the author who dons the mantle of (political) representative in writing this book. indeed, the book intends to, and succeeds, in “inserting the subaltern into spotted goddesses: dalit women’s agency-narratives on caste and gender violence 383 the long road to hegemony” (spivak, 310)—a result of the author’s long and persistent engagement with ‘transnational feminism’ (the book is itself part of a series by that name) without making “missionary claims” (about ‘saving’ the subaltern). if the nonrhetorical spivakian question is “can the hegemonic ear hear” (barret, 2004), then the question has two referents: the subaltern testimonies in the book, and the book itself as a testimony. the above attempt to locate the book within an intellectual milieu dominated by the faultlines of the politics of knowledge becomes necessary due to the possibilities that this book may itself be silenced within academia by dismissing it as an activist’s platform. the book makes two explicit arguments—that caste needs to be viewed as a system of violence-punishment, and that dalit women are agentive subjects operating on and through the ‘difference’ that constitutes them as untouchable subjects. despite the book’s subtitle, the reader comes away with a view that it would be wrong to simply think about ‘caste violence’ as if it is an effect of an institution. rather, the book makes a strong case for viewing caste as violence and provokes us to think about why speaking about ‘caste violence’ (or the violence of caste) begs the question of whether there is anything but violence in, of, for, and about caste. viewing violence as the raison d’être of caste is powerful in that it problematizes the variety of functions served by caste that are regularly valorized—caste as identity, belonging and community. consequently, the agency of dalit women (the second argument above) is available only through their negotiations of this violence. it is here that the author brings into relief the way that caste as violence produces, distributes, organizes, and consumes ‘difference’ in its construction of casted and (out)casted, and gendered and sexualized subjects. here, the author characterizes dalit women’s agency as ‘earthy humanness’—a dalit ethic of care that is unconditional, based on identification with others as a mode of claiming humanity, dignity and justice for all, and grounded in lived experiences of dalit women characterized by the restlessness for change, subversion, transgression, and protest (19). reminiscent of ambedkar’s concept of manuski, earthy humanness also resonates with more recent works such as that of shailaja paik who speaks of a dalit “womanist-humanist complex” (2021a: 127) and shows the multiple elements of manuski (2021a:129–30), and that of nate roberts (2016) whose work on dalit religions in slums in tamil nadu brings into relief the notion of “to be cared for” as a way of provisioning the constitutive lack in caste— i.e. caring for others. the book additionally makes one argument in passing (how do religious symbols shape anti-caste praxis—a point i explore later in this review), and one methodological intervention (how to view dalit subjects as interlocked in forms of oppression and exploitation and intersected by class-caste-gender-religion—a point i pick up below). an implicit third argument in the book is that caste cannot be viewed outside of its dependence on patriarchy and sexual domination. this argument is self-evident in every part of the book—and therefore needs articulation. it is congruent with other scholars who have long conceptualized the deep roots of ‘caste-patriarchy’ (omvedt, 1986), ‘caste-patriarchal bargain’ (chakravarti, 1998), and most recently as ‘sex-gender-caste complex’ (paik, 2021b). the book provokes us to think about how sexuality—in this case the masculinity of dominant caste men which privately wields power over dominant caste women—depends upon the public and routine humiliation and emasculation of dalit men, and public shaming and hence subservience of dalit women whose sexuality is sought to be domesticated/controlled due to its purported 384 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 lack of ‘culture’ or ‘civility’ even while being the object of desire of casted subjects. the characters in this book demonstrate how caste boundaries are routinely and emblematically inscribed (as punishment and reward) on the bodies of men and women who transgress them. viewing caste as violence and as caste-patriarchy allows us to further note that caste-patriarchy manifests itself in brutal and banal ways, an optic of power that is hinted at by the author’s explorations of the simultaneous visibility and invisibility of dalit women. we tend to ‘see’ or ‘hear’ about caste-patriarchy only when the brutality is no longer possible to deny; when violence erupts publicly—in the form of what is known ‘caste atrocity’—an unfortunate term since it makes caste as violence appear exceptional as if everyday life under caste-patriarchy is not already atrocious. nonetheless, caste-patriarchy is also banal, operating silently and invisibly in our everyday lives, as a ‘normal’ structuring force—part of our ‘traditions’, institutions and practices such as patrilineality, arranged marriage, ‘traditional’ family roles, and purity/pollution rituals. we can never understand the brutality of caste patriarchy without understanding the banality of its violence. for, it is the banal that grants ‘impunity’ to caste-patriarchy by framing transgressions of caste order as a ‘threat to the social order’ and therefore demanding the ‘reiteration of difference within hierarchy of power’ (geetha, 2016:286). we see this ‘impunity’ at work in the regularity of the banal violence of caste-patriarchy—when dalits sport moustaches, appear well-groomed, dare to ride a horse as grooms, appear in public wearing ‘good’ or modern clothing, neatly comb their hair, seek or even excel in modern education—all because these are viewed as the entitled cultural and ritual markers of dominant castes. the banal leads to the brutal, in an eerie confirmation of freud’s ‘narcissim of small difference’, wherein a minor difference holds the key as a trigger for a violent attack (1930). the book begins with a brief prologue that introduces caste and untouchability to a lay audience and quickly establishes the strong presence of ‘dalit women’ as historical subjects formed in the crucible of caste-patriarchy. we are also given a glimpse into the author’s journey of growing up in india and current location as a scholar-activist in the usa, and the various actors, institutions and historical moments that shaped her own sense of identity. the literateur emerges when the author speaks of the oral histories of dalit women in this book as “splatter narratives [rising from within a mortar] dodging a pounding pestle” (12). the metaphors are haunting since the rest of the book gives glimpses into the mortar (i.e. caste-patriarchy as a system) that breaks dalits, and the pestle (i.e. violence including punishment) in the hands of the pounders who use it in the normal unfolding of their everyday lives. the introductory chapter centers the author’s ‘restlessness for change’—a feature that also characterizes the main inspirations for and protagonists of the book—kalaimagal arumugam (or kalai) and rani periasamy. the author pithily identifies the centrality of ‘difference’ to caste and untouchability thus: “difference is the identification of the one to be violated” (42). ‘difference’ becomes an anchor that allows the author to lay out her theoretical apparatus for shaping the narratives in the book. this is in the footsteps of a long line of scholars from guru (1995) to rege (1998) to paik (2021a)—all of whom usefully explore the ‘difference’ of dalit women. the author underscores the limits of the label ‘feminism’ as used in the indian context where the existential reality of caste communities differs fundamentally from those of dalit communities. as an alternative canvas, drawing upon the fine-grained work of swarr and nagar (2010), she looks toward ‘transnational feminism’ since it spotted goddesses: dalit women’s agency-narratives on caste and gender violence 385 is constituted by both intersectionality and difference (born of the dialogues between white urban middle-class feminists and black, native, and chicana others, and the postcolonial selves across the international division of labor and histories). this allows the author to speak of the need for a constant, vigilant and “thoughtful bonding across borders” (especially the borders of nation, culture, ethnic, other identities, 30). the chapter forcefully advances the author’s view of “difference as a verb” that enables a “praxis of ‘difference’ as a positively subversive act that dalit women live into [sic] as a way of life—a spontaneous cultural practice affirming dalit female identity” (38). the next three chapters provide the background context for the substantive and ethnographic chapters that follow). chapter one brings into relief a much-effaced fact— that dalit women are at the forefront of dalit struggles in very concrete and impactful ways—be it in the form of writing resistance poetry or other forms of expression such as songs, dance, theater, and social protest, building organizations across india for dalits, and working as community organizers, trainers, lawyers, and union leaders. we learn that the subject position of being a dalit woman is simultaneously “visible and invisible, touchable and untouchable, undesirable and sexually available” (60), and this enables, nay, requires them to work pragmatically and innovatively through “trans-cultural, trans-national, and trans-authoritative” practices, and frequently with allies—dalit men for sure, but also men and women from caste communities—a theme that recurs in the book since it is critical for kalai’s work. having established the historical centrality of dalit women in making the present, chapter two cuts a short path through the forest of caste theory. skirting the bulk of theorizations about caste from sociology, anthropology, and history, it takes one strand from dumont—the ideology of purity and pollution—as a “strong ground” for caste (61). this is not without value despite the several critiques of dumont especially that his account of caste falsely subordinates power or politics to status and ideology (barnett et al., 1976). the author instead clearly shows the complementarity of power and ideology by underscoring the political character of caste as (ideologically) constructing dalits as stigmatized, ‘dirty’, and as essentially polluted, and hence permanently pathologized as other. the chapter also explores, albeit in a not so productive way, the ‘racial’ basis of caste and the dravidian/aryan distinctions—a view that is at odds with the scholarly consensus on rejecting racial theories of caste (chairez, 2018; kumar, 2016). the concluding part of the chapter locates christianity as an alternative for dalits under colonial and postcolonial conditions, the need to view dignity as a need especially for dehumanized populations, and the ways that the rise of hindutva makes conversion into the greatest transgression and hence deserving of punishment. given the earlier section, the reader could be reminded of the historical documentation of how the christian views of robert caldwell, monier williams, as also william jones converged with their need to have a racial theory of both, caste and south indians (dirks, 2001). the next chapter builds upon the ideological basis of caste (purity/pollution) to ground caste practices in texts. here the key idea is that the ideological domination of caste depends on the holding of ideological texts as ‘sacred’ (or at least as incontrovertible) and hence the meting out of punishment in social life in accordance with the characters of iconic stories within the texts. the chapter therefore explores the manusmriti (a text made iconic by ambedkar), and the stories of soorpanaka in the ramayana, and hidimba in the mahabharatha. it shows, with some force, the ways that certain populations are stigmatized as ‘different’ and hence as marked bodies 386 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 for punishment, reviling, mockery, exclusion, and exploitation (including sexual). while the author is right about treating ‘myth as archetype’, having a relation to social relations (98–99), such a translation from text to social relations needs to be viewed as far from simple reflection. people do not simply imitate text. rather, texts, stories and characters are constructed as cultural models learned in the thick of social life, and become key shapers of human actions, especially making actions durable and patterned over time, or what social scientists now call ‘practices’ (schatzki et al., 2001). people learn schemas of ‘right’ behavior, ‘right’ relations in their cultural repertoire (culture as well as mind), and these change or get reinforced continually through experience and participation in rituals of community belonging—the site for identity formation. that is what makes caste into a dynamic phenomenon, showing continuity with change over time across modes of political economic changes. it helps us explain how (and why) caste persists even when its hierarchies are produced and reproduced within specific contexts rather than being fixed and timeless reproductions. here, we finally get a glimpse of mariamman, the spotted goddess, who operates as an icon and an index for dalits, especially dalit women. as the author powerfully points out, “dalit spirituality is not about striving to run beyond this world of dilemmas but about making the dilemma of life an experiential reality to be embraced” (105). dalit women then actually identify with mariamman (hence as icon)—a goddess who has fallen from an exalted status and grace, been cursed by dominant actors, bears marks on her body as an ‘outcasted’ being. the social being of dalit resembles the marginalized and stigmatized one in the realm of the gods. further, the ambiguous state and status of mariamman—as one inflicted by disease and yet prayed to as a healer of disease, a self who is suffering and yet one who is capable of liberating—is an index of the lived experience of dalits who have to reach deep into their own selves to operate on the ideologically produced ‘difference’ that is the root of their socially imposed oppression. the author’s narrative about mariamman also converges here with the recent arguments that ‘dalit religion’ (or ‘slum religion’) transcends hindu and christian affiliations and is characterized by a moral universalism and pragmatic orientation to this-worldly problems (roberts, 2016; see also roberts, 2019). the next four chapters (4–7) form the ethnographic core of the book. it is here that we see how kalai and rani and the scores of other dalit women who resist caste, patriarchy, and class exploitation in pudokkottai district, personify mariamman. as the author observes, they are the spotted goddesses—suffering and healing in their liberatory struggles (164). we learn here about the organizations, dr. ambedkar women and children regeneration and development program (or da) and thai (tamil for mother) which is a residential program for dalit girls founded by kalai (and where rani works as a key staff member). da has been working for decades on everyday and institutionalized forms of casteism. these include responding to rapes, threats, kidnapping, maiming and killing of dalits, and destruction of the meagre property possessed by dalits on an almost daily basis; seeking formal residency rights for dalit communities living in precarity; seeking to eradicate manual scavenging (a bonded labor practice wherein dalit women from particular castes are condemned to clean the dry toilets of caste communities and physically dispose the feces); fighting for the right of dalits to bury their dead in a dignified manner; protesting to end the entrenched and debilitating impacts of illicit liquor brewing within dalit communities, a business that is a nexus of local politicians, religious leaders, and the underground economic overlords with the connivance of the police; seeking wages for ritually unpaid work spotted goddesses: dalit women’s agency-narratives on caste and gender violence 387 (such as beating the dappu); and fighting to eradicate long-standing cultural rituals that degrade dalits especially dalit women (such as the ritual of forcing newly-wed dalit women to sleep first with a dominant caste man on their wedding night). notably, da operates with the assistance of individuals from across the caste and religious spectrum (138) largely due to the incredible foresight and relational skills of kalai who has built long-lasting relations with people who can use their power to resist caste in its local operations. thus, the women of da are engaged in activities as varied as writing petitions, learning to demand the filing of firs (first information reports of crimes against dalits at police stations, frequently the most critical site for ensuring any modicum of justice within the law), staging protests and ‘sit-ins’ to running retraining programs in tailoring, bag-making and other skills for those rescued from manual scavenging, building sangams or local collectives of self-help groups, helping dalit families to apply for and acquire the ration cards that helped with food insecurity, and running local schools and hostels for girls. the rich documentation of the life work of kalai and rani and others is captured by the author as a “demand” by “restless leaders” for “a real human life of dignity” (158). kalai and rani appear here as ‘fierce’—a subversive reappropriation of being caste as untouchable (166), one unafraid to risk everything (as rani put it, one with thunichal or ‘daring courage’, 171). chapter seven invites the reader to consider how widespread this restlessness for change is. it documents the various oral traditions especially songs and poetry from chengalpettu district, in which the ‘spontaneous activism’ of dalit women shaped by their earthy humanness comes alive with meaning, poignancy but also always celebrating dalit female identity even while reminding the singers and listeners about the oppressive conditions and precarity of their social being. one such song is a ‘coming of age’ for a dalit girl. the author reflexively notes how the dialogue within the song between the mother and her young daughter simultaneously celebrates the beauty of the girl even while warning of the lurking dangers of caste punishment for being presumptuous about dalit beauty (197). it also underscores the existential stress, anxieties, and real worries for the safety of all dalits in a society that takes away their right to dignity and self-worth. many of these songs are also social inversions and transgressions in which dalit women perform acts that they are normally excluded from in caste society, and in this sense are indictments of social reality. the frequent use of metaphors and fantastic features (e.g. dalit women with multiple eyes) are also noted by the author as ways of subverting the negative stereotypes of dalits, proclaiming the power of inner strength, a “transcendence of the victimized and exploited bodies of the singers”. and yet, the author wonders at the end how meanings of such songs are enunciated, and the inscrutability of such moments of self-fashioning. the penultimate chapter, on the writings of bama, one of the best writers on caste and patriarchy in tamil, bring us back to the early arguments of the author—that the structure called caste is held in place by, among other things, the text and the code which forms the language context within which caste actors play out casted roles. bama’s writings are one of the most searing critiques of caste that produce deep insights into the hold of caste on social life but also point to the ubiquitous existence of rebellions, transgressions and subversions of caste by dalits. the chapter is based on the author’s reading of two of bama’s novels—sangati (1994) and karukku (1992) and an oral interview with the writer. the value of bama’s writings is that she is able to not only locate dalit women as speaking subjects within a matrix of intersecting oppressive 388 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 forces of gender, caste, class and even religion (both hinduism and christianity), but shows how the codes of caste are regularly invoked and (re)inscribed as authoritative vehicles for norms such as songs, proverbs, exemplars (even legendary ones) each of which exercises authority over dalit women and men. the story of mariamma which the author explores in some depth, especially brings out the sexual politics of caste—masculinity, femininity, violence, ‘selective visibility’ of dalit women and their bodies, normalization of oppression, and the reproduction of community (i.e. caste) boundaries and caste domination. the interview with bama seamlessly leads to the concluding chapter where the author shares her personal journey which includes her own coming to consciousness of her casted identity, and a brief tracing of the moments of conversion to christianity in her ancestral history. again, we see the trepidations and normalcy of the visibility /invisibility binary with regards caste, and the care, efforts, and courage needed to come to caste consciousness as a dalit woman. this book fulfils a historical role. it responds to the call of our times for viewing and making space for dalits to be leaders. it does this by showing how dalit women have been leading the struggle against caste for a long while and speaking to the nonhegemonic ear about what is needed to annihilate caste. their earthy humanness or unconditional ethic of care strikes at the root of caste’s uncaring and hence deeply anti-social character. the book is also a useful foil against the twin temptations of caste as identitarian politics and caste blindness. it demonstrates how leaders such as kalai and rani forge links with allies while foregrounding dalit women’s experience, and consequently craft an inclusive caste-conscious anti-caste political community. dalit politics, this book attests, is always an anti-caste politics and dalit identity is an anti-caste identity. in this sense it validates the view that “castes cannot be annihilated by dalits alone” but requires the active participation of all castes, especially privileged castes (teltumdbe, 2005:213). finally, i find the complex figure of mariamman useful for negotiating the links between caste as a historical, material and symbolic social formation on the one hand, and the particular ideological formations we call ‘religion’ (christianity, hinduism in this case) on the other. the infructuous debates over the hindu character of caste are in need of updating. to the author’s insight that caste is a “culturally rooted social stratification patented through religion” (22), one is prompted to recall two other insights from scholarship. the first is that this ‘patent’ (with religion) has considerably weakened if not expired; see for example sheth (1999) on the secularization of caste, and mosse (2012) on how christianity can be viewed as ‘descaralizing caste’ or ‘denaturalizing inequality’ rather than upending caste. the second is that the secularization of caste does not preclude the continued ritualization of caste; here the classic work views caste as the emblematic “organization for ritual” in india and closely tied to ‘kingship’ and its legitimation (see hocart, 1950). as noted earlier, the politics of small and ritualized difference triggers caste-patriarchal violence and its punishment (far more than in class violence) and this is due to the fact that a primary function of caste is to maintain a social order that ensures social reproduction of caste monopolies. consequently, it is (secular) ‘culture’ today which is the chief ‘camouflage for caste’ in modern and multicultural india, legitimating ‘difference’ to serve the need for the mixophobic character of caste and enable the continued monopolization of wealth, power, and status (natrajan, 2012). when invoked by dalits, mariamman enables fierce fighters even as she is herself feared (and ‘set apart’ in the apartheid of caste), liberates the casted self even as she spotted goddesses: dalit women’s agency-narratives on caste and gender violence 389 is herself inflicted by caste the disease, inhabits the same space/spectrum as the caste hindu amman/devi even while challenging the root of hindu sociality, and revitalizes dalit energies even when she is casted as enervating. it is a case of the “master’s tools” being turned against the master to rattle the house of caste, even though it may be limited as audre lorde (1983) cautions. to rework the words of marx and ambedkar, the spotted goddesses such as kalai and rani in their life work, speech and actions are indeed signifiers of the ‘soul of soulless conditions’, the ‘heart of a heartless world’ and the ‘sigh of the oppressed’, and their religion, far from dulling their senses, makes them the rising phoenix capable of annihilating caste. references barnett, steve, lina fruzzetti, and akos ostor. 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(2001). the practice turn in contemporary theory. routledge: london. spivak, gayatri c. (1999). critique of postcolonial reason: towards a history of the vanishing present. cambridge: harvard university press swarr, amanda and richa nagar. (eds.) (2010). critical transnational feminist praxis. suny press: new york. teltumbde, anand. (2005). anti-imperialism and the annihilation of caste. ramai prakashan: thane. © 2021 ashim shil et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 327–340 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.317 exclusion of tribal women from property inheritance rights: a study of tripuri women of india ashim shil1 and hemraj p jangir2 abstract the tripuri tribe from the state of tripura constitutes around 50 percent of the total tribal population and can be found in all eight districts of the state. the tribe follows its own culture and tradition in terms of marriage and other customary practices. this study investigates the role of gender in inheritance of property among the tripuri tribe and how tripuri women are excluded from ownership of property. it also attempts to discover how property ownership affects their income and position in the household. the study has been conducted in the districts of west tripura and dhalai. focus group discussion and interview schedules are employed as methods for collection of data. results show that while 20 out of 54 married women from rural areas of west tripura have inherited property, only 2 out of 13 married women have inherited property in the urban area. in comparison with west tripura, dhalai features a low ratio among women in inheriting property (only 4 out of 38 married women). a few causes include low level of literacy, slow urbanization and less inter-community marriages. the reasons for not inheriting property include: a woman failing to live up to the concept of a ‘good sister’ in the brother’s eyes, son needs property to care for parents, cost of marriage is borne by brother or parents so no right to claim, and to avoid unnecessary conflict in the family. in this manner, societal perceptions prevent women from claiming the legitimate share of their ancestral property. keywords tripuri tribe, property rights, exclusion and social perception 1ph.d, research associate, women’s studies centre, tripura university, suryamaninagr, tripura 2ph.d scholar, indian institute of dalit studies (iids) new delhi e-mail: shilashim86@gmail.com *corresponding author hemraj p jangir e-mail: hemraj82339@gmail.com mailto:shilashim86@gmail.com mailto:hemraj82339@gmail.com 328 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 introduction tripura has a plural society consisting of a population belonging to diverse religious communities. the social structure is the result of cultural assimilation between tribal and non-tribal communities. the tripuri community is the largest ethnic group among the nineteen tribes residing in tripura. they are scattered amongst the eight districts and constitute 50.76 percent (census of india, 2011) of the total tribal population of tripura. the participation of tribal women in agriculture is a longstanding surviving practice or tradition in tripura. the tripuri community follows their own traditions, customary laws, and practices in marriages, childbirth ceremonies, death rituals, and cultivation rituals. but interestingly they do not have any specific custom for property inheritance. this tribal community adopted settled cultivation and in the context of government policies to abolish the practice of jhum or shifting cultivation, land rights emerged as crucial. in recent times, forest right act (fra) has become a significant tool to confer land rights to tribal forest dwellers. land ownership documents are often mandatory to access the benefits of different government schemes based on land, credit from the bank, etc. both land ownership and adequate housing are necessary for the full realization of human potential. the universal declaration of human rights, article 17, states: “everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others; no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.” in this context, it becomes relevant to identify the pattern of land ownership and how tripuri women are excluded from inheritance of land ownership. patterns of property ownership among tripuri community there are various accounts of intergenerational property transfers and gender plays a significant role in this process. this section deals with the role of gender in accessing inheritance of property rights among women in general and tripuri women in particular. this section also explores the contrasts in access to property rights and related issues. inheritance among tripuris devolves from father to son and the eldest son generally gets the major share (deb barman, 1983; bhowmik, 2003; barooah, 2009). according to tripuri customary laws and practices, the male is the absolute owner of family property, whether self-acquired or inherited and he holds the right to dispose any such property (barooah, 2009). the father distributes his property between the sons in his old age to avoid possible disputes after his demise. sometimes, the father is pressurized by the adult sons to distribute the property. on occasion, the incapability of the father to look after his property forces him to divide the property among his adult sons. but in many cases, the property is partitioned after the death of the father. in some instances, it has been found that after the death of the father, his sons inherit two-thirds of the property and the remaining one-third is distributed equally between the mother and daughters. if the mother’s property is registered, then the daughter becomes the legal inheritor of her mother’s property. if a tripuri man has more than one wife, sons of the second wife also get an equal share of their father’s property. the adopted son of a person also has the right to inherit his foster father’s property (bhowmik, 2003). exclusion of tribal women from property inheritance rights: a study of tripuri women of india 329 the human rights resolution 2005/25 aspires for women’s equal ownership, access and control over land. it also advocates that the equal right to own property and adequate housing are necessary for the full realization of human potential. the right to property, especially the right to inheritance of property is one of the most debatable rights because of its association with the political, economic, cultural and religious belief of a nation. in rural india, less than 2 percent of women inherit landed property (lahoti & swaminathan, 2016). it has been argued by agarwal (2003) that though the legitimate share of land property is a significant entry point to the empowerment of women, in reality the gender-based constraints on society influence the accessibility of women to their legitimate share of property rights. often, the community and customary practices also discourage women from accessing their right to landed property, especially among the tribal women. tribal women across geographical boundaries are usually governed by customary laws and practices and continue to be deprived of ownership of property especially through inheritance rights. sometimes, these customary laws are in contradiction with the constitutional laws and court interventions uphold gender equality in access to property ownership of women. the argument for ownership of land or property by women rests on the premises that (a) it is her right to inherit parental or husband’s property (b) ownership of property acts as a security for women (c) property ownership also improves her position in the household and improves her entitlement to income. social exclusion the concept of social exclusion emerged in academic discourse recently and it correlates with poverty, inequality and socio-economic injustice (kabeer, 2000). silver (2011) opined that “social exclusion is nothing but an active relationship between two group i.e. excluders and excluded”, the former use specific mechanism(s) to push the latter out and deny them equal access to resources. thorat (2013) defined social exclusion as the denial of equal opportunities. he says, “it is an unfair practice that being imposed by a social group upon another which leads to inability among latter group to participate in the political, economic and social aspects of the society”. therefore, social exclusion can be explained as a process through which one group excludes another from equal access to social, economic and political resources on the basis of their group identity. and in turn, it leads to poverty, loss of status in society, lack of recognition and also humiliation of the excluded group. there is a need to understand the concept of social exclusion from the perspective of tribe and gender. therefore, the present study is an attempt to deal with the issue of social exclusion from the perspective of tribal women of tripura. though there exist several studies on issues faced by the tribes of tripura, there is hardly any discussion on the property rights of tribal women. thus, this article attempts to trace the exclusion of property ownership among the tripuri women and the role of gender in this context. research methodology a field survey was conducted in the west tripura district and focus group discussions (fgds) conducted in dhalai district of tripura. the survey area was selected purposefully to include urban and rural areas, so that a suitable sample of tripuri urban 330 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 and rural households maybe obtained. survey and fgds are used as methodological tools to assess the circumstances of tripuri women with respect to property rights. the population of west tripura district is predominantly non-tribal and intermixing between the two communities is commonplace. tribals could follow and speak in bangla, hindi or english. individual interviews of 78 selected tripuri women from takarjala, mohanpur, champaknagar and agartala were conducted using a semistructured interview schedule. however, individual interviews could not be conducted in gandachara in dhalai district as the tribal women were unwilling to communicate with outsiders. gandachara is one of the most remote places where the population is predominantly tribal, speaking only in local kokborok. communication with the women individually proved to be difficult even in the presence of interpreters from their community. however in a group, they were found to be communicating well. in this circumstance in gandachara, we have conducted fgds in four villages; these are taraban, pakhi tripura para, bhagaban tilla and ratha para where 38 women participated in the fgds. the article consists of three sections. the introductory section i states the objectives and describes the methodology followed. section ii describes the pattern of property ownership among tripuri community and the contemporary debates on gender-based constraints in access to the rights of property ownership. section iii presents the findings of the field survey and makes concluding observations. result of the 78 tripuri women surveyed from selected rural and urban households of west tripura district, 38 women, i.e. 48 percent are found to have property of their own. as noted in nfhs (2015–16), in tripura, 57.3 percent women from all communities own houses or land individually or jointly with others (nfhs-4). a reason for the high percentage of land-ownership among women might be attributed to the amended hindu succession act (2005). even amaral (2017) identified the causal effect of improved inheritance rights on women’s wellbeing by utilising an exogenous change in inheritance legislation that impacted india’s hindu society: the hindu succession act (hsa). our field survey discovered three types of landowners: women with inherited property, purchased land in their names and joint pattas on land. among the 54 married women of the sample from rural areas of west tripura district, 20 women (37 percent) have inherited property. one of the four widows in the sample inherited parental and conjugal property. two deserted women received support from their parents in terms of share in property. in contrast, urban areas of west tripura district only have two (2) out of thirteen (13) married tripuri women with inherited property. however, we discovered a different picture in dhalai district. from the 38 tripuri women who participated in the fgds, only four (10 percent) women have inherited property. twenty-five women accrued property through patta (deed) under land distribution programme of the government or fra, 2006. these 25 women (65 percent) have received the joint pattas of forestland. the remaining 9 women (23 percent) stay in the khash land. none of the women have purchased land. exclusion of tribal women from property inheritance rights: a study of tripuri women of india 331 table 1: sample distribution on marital status, income and education in west tripura district s. no. west tripura district 1 marital status gram panchayat adc village corporation total married 24 30 13 67 unmarried 2 0 1 3 deserted 2 0 0 2 widow 2 2 2 6 2 source of income agriculture/animal husbandry 6 17 0 23 daily wage labourers 7 2 0 9 government job 10 0 5 15 private job 2 0 0 2 other 1 6 3 10 housewife 4 7 8 19 3 educational qualification post graduate 3 0 1 4 graduate 3 0 2 5 higher secondary 5 1 3 9 secondary 6 4 6 16 primary 12 20 4 36 adult literacy 1 7 0 8 source: authors, based on fieldwork, 2019 according to our data, in dhalai district a reason for low inheritance is that the concept of inherited property has not developed among the tripuri community as it has in west tripura district where literacy, urbanization and inter community exchanges are prevalent. in our study area at dhalai, the tripuri communities for generations inhabit forestland, so they do not have any individual property as such. one woman (55 years of age) expressed her views in fgd: i got married under the dafa rang custom where my husband gave ₹600 as bride price to marry me. i along with my two sisters did not get any property through inheritance. the reason behind not getting inheritance of property was the mindset that after marriage women are not entitled to inherit property. i did not get any patta land for survival. i have no children and i am staying with one of my sisters. i maintain her expenses through the amount i am getting on social security pension and mgnrega. i am unaware of the legislation of equal rights of women to inherit parental property. but my perception is that if such law is there then it reduces the tension between family members and everybody can be happy. ownership of property is expected to ensure a better life to the women by providing security of income and food safety and also enabling them to participate in household 332 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 decision-making. the types of landed property that women inherit also reflect gendered practices. usually women receive inferior land as their share in parental property (agarwal, 1994). however, as shown in the table 2, tripuri women received productive land or property through inheritance. yet none of them are found to use the property because those happened to be located at a distance far from their residence. a woman may have the legal right to inherit property, but if the law is not enforced or the claim is not socially accepted, it may remain merely on paper. it is commonly observed that the patriarchal family structure puts pressure on women to give up their share in order to benefit the male counterpart. table 2: types of inherited property of tripuri women in west tripura district types of land number of owner(s) a part of house 4 a plot of in commercial area 2 a plot of plain land 6 agricultural land 7 rubber plantation 1 tilla and jungle 5 total persons 25 source: field survey, 2019 reasons for not inheriting property as mentioned in the discussion on west tripura district, inheritance is the main method of property ownership for women. further investigations revealed additional reasons why many women did not inherit property. see figure 1. total persons 25 source: field survey, 2019 reasons for not inheriting property as mentioned in the discussion on west tripura district, inheritance is the main method of property ownership for women. further investigations revealed additional reasons why many women did not inherit property. see figure 1. figure 1: reasons for women not inheriting property source: field survey, 2019 these reflect the deeply entrenched social taboos against women claiming a share in parental property. in this study, we found that 41 percent women of the tripuri community did not claim or gave up their claim to inherit their ancestral property. a primary reason for doing so in favour of their brothers was to be a 'good sister'. another reason is that in a society like the tripuri community, when a bride moves to her inlaw's house after marriage, then it is assumed that the sons will live with the parents and take care of them. therefore, the property would go to the sons as a means of financial support for their elderly parent's care. sometimes the lack of social security for women compels them to see brothers as the source of security, especially in case of a marital dispute. in effect, indicating that legal rights in the inheritance of property do not guarantee the actual rights on it. another reason for not demanding the ancestral property is the cost of marriage. in tripuri society, dowry is generally not practised but figure 1: reasons for women not inheriting property source: field survey, 2019 exclusion of tribal women from property inheritance rights: a study of tripuri women of india 333 these reflect the deeply entrenched social taboos against women claiming a share in parental property. in this study, we found that 41 percent women of the tripuri community did not claim or gave up their claim to inherit their ancestral property. a primary reason for doing so in favour of their brothers was to be a ‘good sister’. another reason is that in a society like the tripuri community, when a bride moves to her in-law’s house after marriage, then it is assumed that the sons will live with the parents and take care of them. therefore, the property would go to the sons as a means of financial support for their elderly parent’s care. sometimes the lack of social security for women compels them to see brothers as the source of security, especially in case of a marital dispute. in effect, indicating that legal rights in the inheritance of property do not guarantee the actual rights on it. another reason for not demanding the ancestral property is the cost of marriage. in tripuri society, dowry is generally not practised but it is a common social practice to give gold and jewellery, furniture and other gifts to the newly-wedded couple. they also incur huge costs to arrange food and wedding expenses towards relatives and community members. the family of the bride often has to sell or mortgage their land property to meet the expenditure given social expectation. thus, at the time of property distribution, the marriage cost is counted as the cost of property the daughter or sister was supposed to get. our study indicated that 15 percent of the women surveyed had given up their share in parental property on the pretext of the expenditure incurred during their marriage. property rights and economic well-being of tripuri women apart from inheritance, another way to acquire property is through purchase. it is interesting to note that both in urban and rural areas about 19 percent of tripuri women are found to be owners of land which has been purchased. in urban areas, only 3 out of 16 women (18 percent) have purchased land. in rural areas, 12 out of 62 (19 percent) women are owners of purchased land. however, they do not have de facto rights on the property as the land was purchased by their husbands in their names. they are owners in name only. our field survey revealed interesting facts in both the rural and urban contexts. several tribal women became land owners through government programmes. in west tripura district, 13 out of 52 women, i.e. 24 percent married women, have received patta of forestland in the tripura tribal areas autonomous district council (ttaadc) areas jointly with their husbands. conferring user rights to forestland by issuing joint pattas to the households by the government is likely to exclude single women who are widowed or deserted or are unmarried and living alone. a 65-year-old widow narrated her story as below: i have five siblings including three sisters. i also got married under the dafa rang custom where my husband gave rs 500 as bride price to marry. i, along with other siblings, did not receive any property through inheritance as my father has no property. we used to stay in the forest land and jhum cultivation was our main source of survival. so, the concept of inheritance does not arise to us. this widow received 3.5 acre of patta land from the government. however, this land is about 8–10 km. from her place of residence. for that reason, her land is cultivated by her daughter who is a deserted woman. jhuming on that patta land is the main 334 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 source of survival for her and her daughter. her daughter ploughs the patta land, shares the crops and grains such as rice, chilli and til (sesame seeds) with her widowed mother. she also shares the amount that she earns by selling other jhum products and ensures monetary support for her mother. a woman with land in her name does not only aid the landholder, but it also gives financial support to other women in a similar crisis situation. in dhalai district, where about 65 percent women have received joint patta, only 18.18 percent women are involved with productive activities like rubber, betel nut plantation, etc., and are earning a sum of around rs 20,000–25,000 per annum. amongst the patta holders, 41 percent are unable to perform any productive activity due to lack of funds. very few respondents applied for loan against patta. it is also found that those who have received the loan spent the amount to purchase motorcycles, make payments for the marriage of a daughter or for other purposes. most of them are reluctant to take loans as they are apprehensive of the banking system and are afraid that would not be able to repay the loan. our survey indicated that they have limited level of understanding on the banking system and they do not want to entertain the complications of administrative process. they said, “if we take a loan, then how will we repay the loan? and also we do not have much understanding about the banking system.” if they are unable to repay the loan, then they will have to deal with the police or bankers. except jhuming or daily wage work they have few alternative sources of earning. property inheritance right and marital choice in communities where daughters are allowed to marry within the close kin or cross cousins, there is a greater possibility of land remaining in the hands of the natal family. therefore, in such communities it is seen that the property inheritance by daughters is less or they are given the responsibility to work on the field (agarwal, 1994). table 3: inheritance of ancestral property and marital choice category own not own married within the community 24 47 married with in a different community 1 4 unmarried 0 2 total 25 53 source: field survey, 2019 in many communities, including the tripuris, marriage between different communities is not very common. if a woman gets married to someone from a different community, then there is a chance that she will forfeit her right to inheritance. of the five tripuri women marrying outside the community, only one got a share of parental property. female literacy and property ownership literacy is one of the factors that affect a woman’s ability to claim and manage land in several ways. for example, it can be one of the perimeters in women’s knowledge of exclusion of tribal women from property inheritance rights: a study of tripuri women of india 335 laws and legal rights, their capability to deal with official procedures in relation to land claims. education also enhances their knowledge on new agricultural technologies and practices, self-confidence and bargaining power. table 4 shows how the education levels of tripuri women result in the inherited property registration in their names. table 4: property registered and level of education education level of the respondents inherited property registered inherited property not registered total post graduate and above 1 3 4 graduate 1 1 2 higher secondary 2 2 4 secondary 1 2 3 upper primary 2 5 7 lower primary 3 0 3 illiterate 2 0 2 total women 12 13 25 source: field survey, 2019 table 4 shows a dichotomy in relation to the level of education and property registration. it shows that highly educated, i.e. only 1 out of 4 postgraduate women registered the inherited property in their name. their reluctance to register their property is comparable to women with lesser level of education because either they are economically well off, or they are single daughter or they are staying at their parental home. property ownership and household decision-making power of women is also interlinked. there is a common perception that if women have much land then they can make more independent decisions on household issues or may act as the head of the household. in our study, out of 38 tripuri women who are property owners, only six have the role of head of the household. it is interesting to note that all of them are either widowed or deserted. in the case of married women, the husband is the head of the household and it is the husband who makes all major decisions. tripuri men have direct and indirect control and decision-making power in the family, even when women own property. property ownership and domestic violence feminist scholars who have studied the property rights of women have shown the correlation between violence, especially domestic violence, and women’s property ownership. amaral (2017) has expressed that the chances of inheriting property by women reduce conditions such as dowry payments, spousal violence, etc. a research study (panda and agarwal, 2005) indicates the correlation between ownership of property and violence against women. it is evident that 29 percent non-propertied women had experienced some form of physical violence and 49 percent women had experienced some form of psychological violence. the study also exposed that only 3 percent propertied women faced dowry-related violence. these two studies reflect that 336 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 if women have property ownership, then the violence against them can be less than that faced by non-propertied women. there is different information found in the national family and health survey, 2015–16 where women have higher ownership of property, but spousal violence is also higher than in other states. table 5: land ownership and domestic violence against women in india state land owned by women (%) domestic violence (%) manipur 69.9 53.1 andhra pradesh 44.7 43.2 bihar 58.8 43.2 jharkhand 49.7 34.0 telangana 50.5 43.0 odisha 63.5 35.2 madhya pradesh 43.5 33.0 source: national family and health survey, 2015–16 table 5 indicates that in manipur where women own the highest percentage of property, is also recorded the highest percentage of spousal violence. in madhya pradesh, domestic violence against women is lower than other states while property ownership of women is also low. two pertinent issues in this regard arise with panda and agrawal’s claim. panda and agrawal (2005) look at violence as a dependent variable and study specific cases where both dependent and independent variables, i.e. property ownership and domestic violence are exclusive of each other. however, the nfhs 2015–16 data does not show any exclusive correlation about whether they are the same set of people or how many non-property owners are the victims. our study shows related evidence discussed in table 6. table 6: property ownership and violence against tripuri women violence done by propertied non-propertied in-laws 4 0 husband 3 0 both 2 1 total 9 01 source: field survey, 2019 out of seventy-eight tripuri women, we found that ten women faced domestic violence by the husband or in-laws. the data indicates that women (9 out of 10) have property in their name but incidents of domestic violence are not reduced. the question emerges on the actual control of women on land property. in reality we have seen that the purchase of land in the name of women normally depends on the initiative of men. sometimes, to avoid the deed registration fee and government tax, women became the namesake-owners of the land. figure 1 shows several gendered factors for women not inheriting property. alcoholism, adultery, sexual dissatisfaction in married life may exclusion of tribal women from property inheritance rights: a study of tripuri women of india 337 also increase the percentage of spousal violence against women. in contrast, we must remember that the fear of reporting to the police, fear of being made an ‘outcast’ from family and society, restrictions on women’s movement, fear of marital breakdown and alternative shelter, lack of support from local administrations, lack of transportation, and the economic independence of women from other economic resources also reduces the percentage of reports of spousal violence against women. discussion rights are defined as claims that are legally and socially recognized and enforceable by an external legitimized authority. however, when the laws and legitimate authority are prejudiced by traditional gender roles and norms it is very difficult to enjoy those rights that have been confirmed for women. there are several ways in which women have the ‘rights’ in land property but stereotypically are denied access to the land. inequality in access to land rises from social and cultural constructions of gender which affects women’s rights especially in land. rights in landed property are also positional and regional features. in many societies, cultivation is not women’s work. it is predominately done by men. in several states in india, additional land is allowed to be cultivated only by adult sons but not by adult daughters (agarwal, 1994). a woman may have the legal right to inherit property but this may simply be on paper if the law is not enforced or if the claim is not socially accepted. it is often observed that the patriarchal family structure puts pressure on women to forfeit her share in favour of the male counterpart. it is commonly observed that when the husband dies, the widowed woman is given a lower position than the children. she is considered as ‘beneficiary’ and can be ‘willed out’ from her deceased husband’s property (agnes, 2009). this gender-based disparity in access to inheritance property of widowed women is not only restricted to the santhal women, it is true for widowed women in general. the deep-rooted patriarchal notions of indian society do not allow women to have landed property. such norms however are by no means limited to india. the traditional gender performance and social customs have been preserved in modern laws in many countries. for example, chinese law specifies that after a woman marries into another village, she should forego her share of land to the parental village and in return she would receive a share in the village or household she marries into (kelkar, 2014). this patriarchal worldview that underwrites the property rights of women has been a subject of bengali women’s writings in british india. in the writings of anurupa devi (1949), the author argues that as men are the main bearers of a lineage, property should accumulate to them because women after their marriage move into different lineages, this property is best protected if it remains under male control. but in contrast, saralabala sarkar argued that the lack of property rights to women gives rise to a “slave mentality” amongst women. she also described women without property rights as “meek”, “dependent” and “needy”. unless they are given property rights, they will not get the scope to learn the mastery over property (majumdar, 2003). 338 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 another area of gender constraint that nityo rao points out is the pathetic situation of a santhal woman of dumka district of jharkhand where she faced exceptional occurrences of gender-based barriers in relation to customs, marriage and property rights. a 32-year-old widowed woman faced social obstruction to plough her deceased husband’s land by members of her marital house. the reason behind the social obstruction was that she had no son and she had no option to get married again because of the fear of losing her deceased husband’s property (rao, 2005). having legitimate guarantee on property rights generally means that the person has actual rights over landed property. however, in the case of women, it always follows the existing societal norms and values and ironically discourages women from asserting their right to inherit property. for example, the maluki ain community in nepal only favours inheritance of property by the daughters if they are unmarried and above 35years of age. scholars like bina agarwal critically analyses these issues in her writings. according to her, from the lens of gender it is incorrect to assume that legal ownership carries the actual control of women on land. many women let down their shares in paternal land in favour of their brothers to be a ‘good sister’. it is common social practice that married women need the husband’s consent to alienate her landed property and some communities like the jaffna tamils in sri lanka under the sawalami legal code have made it a part of their customary code (agarwal, 1994). sometimes the lack of social security of a woman compels her to look to the brother as the source of security, especially in cases of marital dispute (agarwal, 1994). the position of women in a family also indicates that the economic status of a woman cannot be judged by the economic status of her family. without women’s independent income sources, a woman cannot be independent in her rich parental or marital homes in case of widowhood and marital dispute (agarwal, 1994). the household work, child and elderly care are still a woman’s responsibility. the sexual mores and women’s freedom of movement in indian society indicates that the legal rights in inheritance of property do not guarantee the actual rights of women in inheritance of property in deed. there is a correlation between female possession of property and violence against women. data suggests that the violence against women in relation to access to their property rights is on the increase. a study (panda and agarwal, 2005) which looked at a sample of 502 women, found that only 34 percent women have owned immovable property, 29 percent non-propertied women had experienced some form of physical violence and 49 percent had experienced some form of psychological violence. the same study also exposed that only 3 percent propertied women faced dowry-related beating by her husband or in-laws, paralleled with 44 percent of the property-less. during a personal conversation with the chairperson of tripura commission for women on 21 january 2016 at her office, it came to be known that there are several cases of witch-hunting in tripura that have been rooted in the desire to grab the landed property of women. but surprisingly the annual report of tripura commission for women (annual report, april 2013-march 2014) reported that not a single complaint of witchhunting was registered under the commission. the report also shows that in terms of exclusion of tribal women from property inheritance rights: a study of tripuri women of india 339 ‘overview’, the registered complaints (district-wise) in the commission, the highest, i.e. twenty-two cases of property-related issues were registered from west tripura district, while cases of domestic violence, matrimonial disputes or maintenance are also highest in west tripura district (annual report, 2013–2014, pp. 18–19). conclusion the present-day tripuris, particularly those staying in urban or semi-urban areas are commonly influenced by the hindu succession act. as an outcome, the womenfolk are also entitled to inherit an equal share with their counterparts. but in rural areas, family members sit together and distribute the land among the offspring. in our study, we observed that most rural women consider the provision of equal share on ancestral property to be in favour of women, but at the same time they also said that traditional thinking continues to prevail such that women should not have property or they cannot be a property owner. this societal perception prevents women from demanding their legitimate share of their ancestral property. in conclusion, the affirmative action by the state has enabled the tripuri women to become owners of land or property, particularly in areas which are economically backward and remote. in the advanced areas, age-old tribal practices are on the wane in the wake of modernization. gradually, tripuri women are becoming aware of their constitutional rights. however, deeply-entrenched prejudices against giving rightful share to the women in parental property continue to be evident in the tripuri community. 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(2013). caste, social exclusion and poverty: concept, measurement & empirical evidence. critical quest: new delhi. tripura commission for women and national commission for women (2006), land rights of women in tripura. a monograph based on a research study, new delhi. © sandeep kumar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 144–153 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.319 hariprasad tamta: father of shilpkar revolution in india sandeep kumar1 abstract uttarakhand is a region replete with social diversity. this can be observed in its culture, customs and language. the social perspective of these diversities is outwardly similar but in the social and economic perspective the discrimination between dalits and upper castes can be easily seen. the shilpkar (the term used for dalit caste) here also suffer from untouchability, inequality, humiliation and discrimination like dalits of other areas. munshi hariprasad tamta fought against these inequalities and untouchability throughout his life to educate, create awareness and provide leadership to the shilpkar during the british and post independence era. hariprasad tamta: the father of shilpkar revolution has remained anonymous in the local history of uttarakhand. this article attempts to re-analyze the personality, political and social works of hariprasad tamta and to provide new insight into the shilpakar struggle. alongside, an attempt has also been made to redefine the prevailing concept of social scientists to define the ideology of hariprasad tamta as class interest and pro-british. keywords shilpkar, consciousness, contempt, suppression introduction hariparasad tamta was named as himshilpi for supporting dalits & their wellbeing (shilpkar referred to in the hills). in the extreme times of social discrimination, he ignited a new consciousness in the heart of shilpkar by standing firm even in adverse conditions like the himalayas, as no less than a guide in establishing humanity and social equality. the life of the shilpkar then and even today is still very sore. even today, shilpkar face social discrimination, disdain, boycott, untouchability and social stigmas which make their life more painful. hariprasad tamta is not less than that 1assistant professor, department of history, government degree college, baluwakote, uttarakhand, india email: sk411625@gmail.com hariprasad tamta: father of shilpkar revolution in india 145 jyotipunj, which will burn itself and provide the path of illumination to the shilpkar society with its own light. not knowing that the full moon of the month of shravan that had risen on 26 august 1887 would always be remembered as a new chapter in dalit history, hariprasad tamta was born on this day. his father’s name was govind prasad and mother’s name was govindi devi. there were two brothers and one sister in the family, the brother’s name was lalta prasad and sister’s name was kokila devi. his father govind prasad was a famous trader of copper, due to which his family background and status was better than others in the shilpkar community, and his family was respected in society. at the age of 14, he was married to panna (parvati devi), a resident of pahal village, according to the wish of his father. she was a soft spoken, cultured, kind and dalit loving woman like hariprasad tamta. after the death of his father in childhood, he came under the protection of his maternal uncle krishna tamta, who was then a famous businessman of almora city. krishna tamta was a leading social worker, under whose guidance he moved towards social service. the early and middle education of hariprasad tamta was completed in diggi bangla school and mission school respectively. he had good knowledge of hindi, english, persian, urdu, and kumaoni languages that is why he also assumed the title of munshi. hariprasad tamta’s role is significant in bringing forward shilpkar suffering from social and economic difficulties in the social sector. he died on 23 february 1960 at prayag, the place of confluence. hariprasad tamta has an important contribution in giving a new conceptual dimension to the shilpkar consciousness. the factors that were involved in the formation of this consciousness were contempt and oppression. this contempt and oppression has been with the shilpkar for centuries. shilpkar have always been considered as bearing an inferiority complex by the oppressors, which they have used only to fulfill the principle of social, economic, and religious superiority. hariprasad tamta had to bear the brunt of oppression and contempt throughout his life. babasaheb bhimrao ambedkar had suffered with the same disgusting and contemptuous mentality throughout his life, the same situation was also in the kumaon, getting education was like an arduous dream for the shilpkar’s. weaker sections and untouchable persons were not allowed to enter into any school at that period of time (tamta, 1995). untouchables did not have the right to sit on the mat like the upper castes. the upper caste persons would abhor untouchables. hariprasad tamta wrote in the editorial of “samta” on 6 may 1935 in the context of contempt and harassment: “even after a long time, i.e. 25 years, i have not been able to forget that incident of 1911. the coronation of george vth took place in 1911 and happiness was celebrated all over india. i and my brother [had] not got the right to celebrate this in the court which was held for the celebration on the honor of coronation in almora badreshwar. still i remember that people had even said that if you “people like me (untouchable)” attend this event then there is a possibility of insurgence. thanks a million to those peoples for such a thing that they woke me and my brothers from the sleep”. 146 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 the above incident took place in this manner: on the fixed day, hariprasad tamta and his maternal uncle krishna tamta got ready and set out to see the court. when he reached badreshwar maidan, he saw the pandal and the podium, the cloth was given by hariprasad and the podium was decorated with it. it was a beautiful scene. when both of them reached near the stage, they saw that there were chairs, they put their hands on two chairs and intended to sit, at which moment two upper caste individuals came there. the upper caste individuals did not allow them to sit on the chair, and using very contemptuous language said, ‘how dare you sit on par with us? stay in your position, you people are untouchables, your place is out there, look from there.’ krishna tamta said that we have given a lot of money. they shouted again, ‘if you donated, will you sit next to us, get out from here or else there will be insurgence (ram, 2014).’ in the words of bhikhu parekh, for the removal of contempt due to lack of social recognition, the dominant culture should be strongly criticized and the structure of economic-political power should be changed unequally. hariprasad tamta wanted the complete abolition of the elements of the structure of contempt of shilpkar. the aims and objectives of tamta sudhar sabha, the first shilpkar organization established by munshi hariprasad tamta in 1905, were as follows: ● to propagate education among all the sub-castes of the untouchables. ● to encourage youth to acquire proficiency in art and handicrafts. ● establishment of cottage industries in hilly areas. ● to inform people about health. ● to find out schemes for the mental development of youth. ● to create awareness among the people about their backwardness. ● to inculcate moral values in the youth. ● finding employment/self-employment avenues for youth (ram, 2014). in 1914, tamta sudhar sabha was renamed as kumaon shilpkar sabha. tamta was elected unanimously as the president of kumaon shilpkar sabha. he remained its president for life (ram, 2014). the following works were done by the shilpkar sabha for the benefit of the shilpkar: ● demand from the government and district and municipal boards to make elementary education compulsory and free in kumaon. ● in kumaon, the shilpkar should get the right to send representatives to the panchayat, district and municipal boards and to the council according to their numbers, like the muslims. ● like in the punjab province, some pieces of land should be provided to the shilpkar. ● make arrangements to open more schools for shilpkar according to section77 of the provincial legislation. hariprasad tamta: father of shilpkar revolution in india 147 ● our fellow countrymen, those called upper caste have invented the word dom for us out of hatred and malice. this is a hindrance to our progress. therefore, the government should immediately reject it from official documents and use the word shilpkar in its place. ● a branch should be opened in every village of the sarva kumaoni shilpkar conference, which should do the following: prohibition of child marriage, promote widow marriage, drug prevention, publicity for health and virtue, education and home crafts, etc. art skills should be promoted among men and women. every shilpkar should give at least rs. 2 to the assembly at the end of every crop or six months so that the shilpkar bank can be established by which expenditure should be made for the education of shilpkar’s, social reform (sharma & sharma, 2015). (the above demands were placed in the shilpkar’s conference by the shilpkar’s sabha kumauon at deyolidanda, almora.) ● apart from this, the kumaon shilpkar sabha, under the leadership of hariprasad tamta, in its suggestion submitted to the delimitation commission in 1935, asked to reserve a seat for women in kumaon. and on january 9, 1941, organized the first shilpkar teachers conference at almora narsinghwadi. the biggest problem in the context of harassment and contempt was having a respectable name and identity. the shilpkar is not focused only on one name or caste group, but it is an invented journey of identity, which has progressed historically by discarding the abhorrent names like dom, untouchable, etc. the shilpkar’s name and identity have arisen against the culture of marginalization, oppression, and exploitation, that they have received over the centuries as a result of the caste system. in the traditional uttarakhand society, the position of the shilpkar was that of an outcast society, from which not only the upper castes kept a distance, but this entire social group was considered polluting and infectious. they were often considered worthy of impure rituals or deeds such as leatherwork, animal carcasses, rubbish removal, etc. the struggle for the name and existence of the shilpkar is the result of a long struggle journey, for which many ideological levels were fought. limiting it to the struggle of just one person is equivalent to tying the shilpkar’s ideology to a limited scope. on the other hand, an ideology of the shilpkar leadership struggled to get the name of the shilpkar on the basis of persuasion and applications from the british government. at the same time, the second ideology of the shilpkar leadership inspired the struggle of identity not only to include the shilpkar in the mainstream by sanskritizing them, but by connecting them with the stream of the national movement, the work was done to link the struggle of the shilpkar’s name and identity in the national perspective. the first call for the name shilpkar was made by the nationalist leader lala lajpat rai. in the janeu program held in sunakia in 1913, he condemned the lower caste people from being called untouchables by the upper castes and asked to use the name shilpkar in its place because they are good artisans. hariprasad tamta sent a report to this effect to the british government. but after not getting any positive 148 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 assurance, hariprasad tamta, along with khushiram (a supporter of gandhian and arya samaji ideology), sent a report named shilpkar to the british government in 1925 in the shilpkar’s conference of doolidanda. and continued to put pressure on the british government for this. finally, in 1926, the british government notified the shilpkar caste, accepting the demand of hariprasad tamta. in this way the shilpkar’s completed the first battle of their name and existence. till 1920, to reach almora, the journey could only be done by foot. these mountain hikes were very painful. hariprasad tamta started hill motors transport company in 1920 to facilitate the commuters from almora to nainital-haldwani (amar ujala, 5 june, 2000), and also established training institute for drivers in haldwani. it is worth mentioning here that almora was a city of intellectuals and rich people. if it is called bhadralok of uttarakhand, then it will not be an exaggeration. and the mainstream party of the freedom struggle, the congress had an epi center in uttarakhand. still, this important problem went unnoticed, because the main objective of the freedom struggle was to get political power and to get only a few facilities of representation in those times. social problems were not referred to independently. this was replaced as a post-independence problem. the year 1925 proved to be a revolutionary year in the history of the shilpkar class of uttarakhand. this year hariprasad tamta organized two huge shilpkar conferences. the first conference was held in narsinghbadi in 1925 and the second conference was held at deyolidanda on 24–25 september (samata swarna jayanti, 1984). through the 1925 deyolidanda shilpkar conference, he created a new social consciousness and a sense of respect among the shilpkar. with the efforts of hariprasad tamta and leaders of the arya samaj, a grand shilpkar’s conference was organized at a place known as granite hill near almora. this was a historic convention. it was the first step in indian history when the british government provided 30,000 acres of land to the landless shilpkar class. reservation in local seats, free education, army recruitment, a local bank and free land grants were demanded in the conference. the speakers complained to the british government that the upper castes did not allow them to use their own flourmills, their cattle were driven away from the pasture. they were refused a share of the crops from the land on which their ancestors had been tilling. all this when the freedom movement was raging in the region (joshi, 2012). on the one hand, the war of liberation from colonial rule was being fought on the principles of liberty, equality and justice, while on the other hand the horrific form of caste hatred against the low caste shilpkar of their own region continued. when the shilpkar’s organizations demanded the allotment of land for the shilpkars, the administration started thinking of a solution to this issue. land areas were identified for building their houses. although these were not in the main city areas, but in the forests adjacent to the towns. if this is not the case, the upper caste anger would be provoked. in this regard the deputy commissioner of almora wrote to hariprasad tamta in 1934 – ‘dear raisaheb, i am happy to inform you that the government has approved the proposed shilpkar colony’ (joshi, 2012). on the basis of the above facts, it is to be noted that the landless shilpkar were removed from the main administrative hariprasad tamta: father of shilpkar revolution in india 149 centers and towns areas by the bhadralok and congress leadership of the freedom movement and given land on the forest side, or urged the british government for this. the important fact here is that most scholars consider these areas made of land allotted to them, which have been named as harinagar, related to gandhi’s harijanuplift movement, but in fact these areas are named because of the efforts made by hariprasad tamta, related to his own name. many villages were named after hariprasad tamta like haripur in champawat, harinagar in nainital (which is in nathuwakhan, aksoda, chandadevi) and harinagar, harikot, haripur, etc., in almora. during the poona pact and the second round table conference in 1931, hari prasad tamta fully supported babasaheb ambedkar in the matters of dalit representation and reservation and fulfilled his responsibility by sending a telegram to london on this issue to be with ambedkar and by declaring him a dalit representative in the round table conference. it is worth mentioning that gandhi continued to refuse ambedkar as a dalit representative. the importance of liberation for shilpkar’s creativity is known from hariprasad tamta’s personal life. he started the publication of hindi weekly paper samta in 1934 with the aim of including the shilpkar in the mainstream and to give a public platform to the problems of the shilpkar. hariprasad tamta’s personal thoughts also affected his family, his niece lakshmi devi tamta was the first dalit graduate of uttarakhand and the first woman editor (samta). in 1934, hariprasad tamta used to say: do not take out the swords, nor the swords, if the cannon is suitable, then take out the newspaper (khechonakamnoko, natalwernikalo, gertoapmukabil ho, to akhbarnikalo) when mahatma gandhi came to almora in 1935, hariprasad tamta presented a copy of samta. gandhi said to him, ‘i was very surprised that how did you choose such a beautiful name?’ at present, samta, the weekly paper is operated from tamta printing, press hari niwas, thana bazaar, almonda. samta newspaper was published at a time when casteism was at its peak. the year 1934 has been of special significance for all the depressed classes of india, including the people of uttarakhand. the uttar pradesh depressed class organized a conference on 7 january 1934 in lucknow. hariprasad tamta presided over the conference where thousands were present. after this a meeting was convened in kanpur on 11 march 1934 and hariprasad tamta was elected the president of kanpur depressed classes association. seeing his popularity, the then government appointed him as a special magistrate in 1935 (samta, 10 july,1935). in the uttar pradesh legislative assembly in 1937, he was elected unopposed as an mla from gonda. in 1940, hariprasad tamta donated his land in the city area for the establishment of a high school in almora. whereas before this the big upper-caste wealthy class of the 150 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 city had refused to donate their land to the high school management, and tamta had started building hotels on that land. but in the desire to help the future generation, he donated that land without caring about his expenditure. such an example of human goodwill and inspiration will be rarely found in history. apart from this, he also established “gyanodaya hostel” for the students of the shilpkar’s (samta, 12 february 2004), and also opened a night school for the shilpkar. on 9 january 1941, the first conference of shilpkar teachers of district almora was organized by hariprasad tamta under the chairmanship balkrishna patwari at narsinghbadi. as hariprasad tamta was concerned about women’s empowerment, he opened a women’s craft school in her home. thus, hari niwas also came to be known as mahila shilp vidyalaya. hariprasad tamta used to pay 15 rupees per month to each female trainee on his behalf. in 1943, there was a terrible famine in north india. due to the second world war, the british were ignoring this problem faced by the indians. the shilpkar class was affected the most in the hills due to starvation, due to poverty and social status. at such a time, hariprasad tamta opened cheap galley shops in kumaon, so that the poor could get food items at affordable rates. in 1944, an infectious disease called influenza made a big attack in the hills. the most sick were the shilpkar. in these difficult circumstances, tamta appointed 1500 scouts, whose job was to provide free medicines from village to village. he himself used to bear all the expenses. such a true lover of humanity is rarely seen in history. in august 1941, as a distinguished citizen of india, the third battalion of the pioneer regiment honored rai saheb hariprasad tamta with the guard of honour at lucknow. he was the first indian civilian to receive the guard of honor from the army. hariprasad tamta was a member of the municipal board almora from 1941-44. he was elected the chairman of almora municipality in 1945. the upper caste people did not like that their head should be of a shilpkar class. the residents of almora were facing the problem of drinking water for a long time. when hariprasad tamta took over the post of municipal president in 1947, he tried to solve the water problem, and proposed dol water project. the scheme was beneficial as well as economical. but due to the personal interests of some people, this plan was not allowed to be implemented. one of the reasons for this was that this plan was brought by a shilpkar. the indian constitution came into force on 26 january 1950. caste discrimination and caste prejudice started showing its effect in administrative work. on 13 february 1952, a no-confidence motion was passed against hariprasad tamta. in the context of this no-confidence motion, he said: “i knew it was certain to happen, but it was not certain that it would happen so soon. i can claim with confidence that not a single illegal or illegitimate or partial act has been done by me and i am fully satisfied that i have performed my duty with complete truth and honesty. on this occasion, i would like to say that i have no complaints against my opponents. i am grateful to all the hariprasad tamta: father of shilpkar revolution in india 151 citizens of the city who have shown complete faith in me by taking out a procession in thousands of signing and sending telegrams and letters to the authorities. i am good at this goodwill and full trust of people” (tamta, 1995). in 1953, he was the senior vice president, district board, almora. hariprasad tamta had a special contribution in the electrification of almora city. on 13 october 1953, govind ballabh pant had said in reference to hariprasad tamta: ‘tamtaji has done a very good job of development and maintenance of almora city. in the context of temples, hariprasad tamta had said – ‘what can be the benefit of entering temples made of brick-lime and stone with conditions. god can be worshiped everywhere. he is not imprisoned in their (hindus) temples’ (jigyasu, 1934). hariprasad tamta was given the title of raisahab on 03 june 1933, and was the first shilpkar of the hill area to get the above honor (ram, 2014). “he is presented by a large section of historians and social scientists within the pro-government image or pro-british image. one reason for this is that the politics of congress was opposed by hariprasad tamta, krishna chandra tamta, etc., leader of the alternative movement of shilpkar. he demanded the creation of an independent situation for the shilpkar. “ambedkar’s remarks on the nationalist character of the congress and the representation of the whole of india during freedom struggle fit right – it would be foolish to assume that since the congress is fighting for the freedom of india, it is also fighting for the freedom of the people of india and fighting for the smallest person. the question that congress is fighting for freedom is not as important as the question of whose freedom the congress is fighting for (roy, 2019) .” like ambedkar, hariprasad tamta strategically sought to maintain neutrality in the face of the colonial state. it was not possible for the resourceless shilpkar to fight their two rivals simultaneously. he did not want to end and waste his limited resources on many fronts. he was attacking the roots of imperialism and all those so-called nationalists who were trying to eradicate colonial imperialism, but outright denied the internal imperialism that they were doing to the shilpkar (teltumde, 2016). the colonial administration did nothing to change the discriminatory treatment of shilpkars. instead of removing the caste system, the british did the work of polarization. the provision and encouragement of separate schools for shilpkar, digging of wells, special government assistance were part of this polarization. the leader of the shilpkar movement (hariprasad tamta) was aware that if the british had not ruled india, they would not have been free from their caste shackles. all the leaders of the anti-caste movement were fully aware that the colonial strategy of the british was to exploit the people by creating discrimination, yet they used this as an opportunity to conduct their liberation struggles. in the context of the strategy of the british colonialists, the d.l. seth explanation is important: “the colonial state adopted a dual character: their first role was that of a superior brahmin in which he determined 152 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 the conflict between caste superiority and social existence according to the traditional hierarchies and it redefined the rights of its weak and poor subjects and helped to save the colonial, political economy of the state from emerging aggression. at the same time, the british colonialists induced the people to organize so that they could represent themselves in politics in the sense of caste identity and participate in the economy on their terms established by the colonial polity” (teltumde, 2010). the institutions set up by the colonialists formed political representations. hariprasad tamta was actively involved in the state intervention to bring the shilpkar into the modern realm, as this promised legal and social equality, but not in practice. here the fact becomes important that the shilpkar’s discourse and consciousness are often given a second fiddle. a large section of historians and social writers term the consciousness against the colonial rule as the real consciousness. it is defined as a national movement against imperialism, those with other views have been portrayed as supporting the british government or anti-national movement. the same marxist ideology has been spreading the shilpkar as a class narrow ideology. and on the basis of class consciousness, while limiting the discussion of the shilpkar on economic basis, it completely denies social cozenage. it is important to note here that hariprasad tamta was financially prosperous. and as a resident of bhadralok under the british rule, he was given the title of rai bahadur. but socially, they were the last rung of people who were harassed from time to time by the bhadralok residents of uttarakhand on the basis of religious and social representation. his position therefore was equal to that of an economically poor shilpkar, and perhaps even worse. this was because they had the consciousness against that oppression, and also the means to fight against that oppression. but due to their socio-caste identity, they also endured that internal social oppression throughout their life, which the shilpkar society has been suffering from centuries. but they have been successful in awakening the suppressed consciousness which dreams of establishing an egalitarian society. hariprasad tamta’s life as a whole is a source of such human sensibilities, values, creativity, struggling inspiration, under whose influence even the light of the sun shining in the sky seems to be zero. he had envisioned an era without conservatism, social discrimination, untouchability, superstition dissipated, gender discrimination, free and selfless politics in that era when scientific ideological emptiness was at its peak and freedom of expression was a daydream. in such an era, hariprasad tamta, who envisioned the shilpkar’s new consciousness and social harmony and transformed it into reality, gave a sweet path to the consciousness of the navrangs in the dawn of a new rise to the future generation, will surely make his place in history one day. hariprasad tamta: father of shilpkar revolution in india 153 references amar ujala, bareilly, 5 june 2000, p. 14. jigyasu, chandrika prasad (1934). dalit samunanjali, almore: samta prakashan, p. 3. joshi, anil k. (2012). british response to dalit question in kumaon: 1925-1947, proceedings of the indian history congress, vol. 73, p. 956. kumar, dinkar, arya shilpkar figures of uttarakhand, shri girdhari lal arya, sahitya akademi lucknow, p. 72. ram, pani (2014). krantidoot rai bahadur hariprasad tamta: ek jeevan sangharsh, new delhi: samyak prakashan, pp. 61, 66. roy, arundhati (2019). ek tha doctor ek tha sant ambedkar-gandhi dialogue, new delhi: rajkamal prakashan, p. 38. samta swarna jayanti special issue, almora, 1 august 1984, p. 9. samta, 10 july 1935, ed. samta, 12 february 2004. sharma, d.d. & sharma, manisha (2015). social and communal history of uttarakhand, haldwani: ankit prakashan, pp. 210–211. tamta, dayashankar (1995). krantidoot, samta prakashan, almora, p. 4. teltumde, anand (2010). opposing imperialism and abolition of castes. delhi: granth shilpi (india) pvt. ltd., p. 109. teltumde, anand (2016). ambedkar and the dalit movement. delhi: granth shilpi (india) pvt. ltd., p. 67. © 2021 zeeshan husain. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. review essay caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 397–406 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.324 retro-modern india author: manuela ciotti (2010) publisher: routledge publications, new delhi reviewer: zeeshan husain phd research scholar, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi e-mail: zeeshanhusain@gmail.com for the past two decades or so, modernity has been getting re-examined by experts from several disciplines as diverse as philosophy, architecture, painting, literature, cultural studies and social anthropology, among others. consequently, the enlightenment and its project have been critiqued on various fronts. some of the most serious criticisms made against ‘modern’ knowledge are that of racism, misogyny, orientalism, colonialism, and for the past few years, islamophobia as well. to a certain extent, the present scholarship accepts that modernity is not a universal phenomenon and it has significant limitations. what are those limitations and to what extent are many projections of modernity still relevant? which arguments are valid, and which ones are not? amongst the arguments advanced by modernity, which ones are worth keeping and which ones are not? is it one singular modernity or there are multiple contextual modernities? retromodern india (2010) tries to answer some of these tough theoretical questions of the present age. the book is an exercise in social anthropology and takes ethnography as the methodological tool. the writer, manuela ciotti, gives us a systematic view of the modern self of a marginal social group in india. her position is that of understanding modernity as much a non-west phenomenon as it is western. chamar modernity the book is an enlarged version of her doctoral dissertation. it is based on a fieldwork conducted in a village in uttar pradesh in india. this village, which she calls manupur, is located a few kilometres away from banaras city, a city known across the world for its sanskritic cultural heritage. an ethnographic fieldwork was carried out for twenty-one months from 1998 to 1999, with further short mailto:zeeshanhusain@gmail.com 398 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 visits till 2005. ciotti interviewed three generations of chamars from both genders. this ethnography focuses on a single caste, namely, the chamars who are considered untouchables as per hindu social order. the book is rich in ethnographic details, and sociological concepts are interspersed throughout the text. the overall narrative is a dialogue between theory, concepts and field observations, all weaved in a seamless fashion. the leitmotif, in the fabric thus weaved, is the chamar life-world. it is this life-experience of a single ex-untouchable caste which is the focus of the book. ciotti has coined a neologism ‘retro-modernity’ (p. 35) and it certainly hits the bull’s eye to understand dalits in modern india. in simple terms, ciotti argues that for the chamars, their past, present and future are deeply embedded into each other. this entanglement is so strong that the chamars are moving ahead in their conceptual framework of time by constantly referring to the past. this past is itself imaginary and emanates from the present life circumstances. thus, the present/modern is located in past/non-modern and that past/non-modern itself is re-created in the imaginings of the present/modern. in her own words, “in order to be modern in contemporary india, the chamars appropriated the features of a past modernity” (p. 12). in the introduction chapter, ciotti delves deep into the recent debates surrounding modernity, rather ‘alternative modernities’ (p. 36). she coins the term chamar modernity to make the point that chamars have their own version of modernity which is overlapping with, yet different from, the modernity as we understand it in common parlance. this ‘past modernity’ is situated not in the west, but within indian history and culture (p. 20). ciotti’s site of observation is local, supra-local and national (p. 21). modernity, for her, has two forms—metropolitan and provincial—which are ‘not mutually exclusive but a web of juxtaposed fields of powers, economies and identities’ (p. 16). for chamars, modernity and development are synonymous. but chamars are not the beneficiaries of economic growth since india adopted the privatisation (lpg) model. rather they are logically on the losing side, as scheduled castes (scs) would not get reservations in private sector jobs and education. thus their chances of improving their status as middle class get slimmer. ciotti places her concept of modernity more in the discursive space than in the material one. hence it is the aspiring middle class which displays the tendency of ‘retro-modernity’, modernity as status, not telos (p. 38). there is one small point made in the book which is worth mentioning here as details will emerge later. ciotti (p. 36) uses the term ‘reproduction’ to state how chamars imitate the lifestyle of the nineteenth century indian middle classes which was a product of colonial modernity itself. the second term which she uses is subversion by which she means a dalit movement for human rights and dignity. recently, a few thinkers have stressed on ‘subversion’ to understand dalits in india. retro-modernity is exactly that tension between ‘reproduction’ and ‘subversion’ (p. 35). the second point is ciotti’s disagreement with dipesh chakrabarty’s (2002) distinction between elite and subaltern/peasant classes (p. 43). for chakrabarty, elites understand secularreligious binary, but not the subalterns. ciotti submits that such a distinction is not justified because if that were the case, we would not witness most of the upper and middle class people supporting the hindutva ideology and a party rooted therein. the book tells us, albeit indirectly, that ‘chamar modernity’ is in favour of dalits, muslims and women while ‘high caste hindu modernity’ is against these vulnerable groups. retro-modern india 399 the subtitle of the book provides us with an equally important facet of the book. it tells us about the empirical-cum-conceptual arguments of the book. it places the chamar self at six fields: changing political economy, weaving occupation, modern education, their religious belief, rising political consciousness and transforming gender roles. it is the interplay of these six fields that makes a chamar modern, or retro-modern in their outlook. these fields are never understood as separate but as a web of factors mutually affecting each other. political economy and the making of modern chamar retromodern india locates the formation of chamar identity in the political economy at local, regional and national levels. it says how, with a changing agrarian economy, the chamar self has changed as well. some portions are dedicated to political economy at the national and international levels, but the book quickly narrows down to regional and local economies. at the level of uttar pradesh, land remained central for control as zamindari abolition remained ineffective, though ciotti could have said why the state of uttar pradesh (up) never saw a serious redistribution of land. one reason, as zoya hasan (1988) tells us, was the resistance of gb pant against ra kidwai’s plan to implement land redistribution. this meant that rural chamars were mostly agricultural labourers while urban chamars were employed as industrial labourers. few scs who got land titles never got the right to cultivate their land. work and ritual statuses were closely tied, and up had, what is often called, jajmani system (p. 68). manupur had the same pattern where brahmins, thakurs, and kayasths were landlords, in control of social relations as well (p. 74). chamars preferred to work within the village and the nearby benares city (p. 77). chamars in eastern up had neither done leatherwork nor carried carcass for at least four generations. citing the seminal essay ‘dalit movements in india’ (1999) by nandu ram, ciotti says that eastern up chamars fought against the humiliating practice of post-partum rituals done by chamar women where the chamar women had to cut the umbilical cord of the new born. no major outward migration was observed by ciotti during her fieldwork. it was in the 1930s that the chamars started to work in the handloom weaving industry (p. 72). weaving was the first urban occupations for the manupur chamars (p. 73). most of the master weavers were muslims and they trained chamars for sometime before employing them as workers (p. 73). this shift of patron-client relationship from high caste hindu landlords and chamar peasants to muslim weavers and chamar workers brought about a series of effects altering the social relations among these groups. older ties got broken and newer ones formed. chamars were now free from the almost bondage-type working conditions to fairly conducive labour relations. another aspect is jobs for the aspiring middle class chamars. chamar youth showed preference for government jobs over private ones. this is quite unusual as government jobs are way too few to cater to any social group. as per ciotti’s own survey in 1999, government salaries contributed to the livelihood of 10 per cent of the chamar households. but what is the reason for the chamar non-preference for private jobs? ciotti never asks this question, sadly. i, personally, would submit that this happens due to the rampant discrimination which youths face at the hands of their high caste hindu bosses. 400 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 tani-bani of chamar-muslim relationship our conceptualisation of self is always in relationship with others; thus, being is equally a becoming. for manuela ciotti, chamars of benares have an extremely cordial relationship with the muslims in the nearby region. this positive image of muslims is located at two nodal points—the occupation of weaving and the memory of anti-muslim pogroms. weaving gave birth to interdependency between muslims and chamars that was much better than the jajmani system of old. ciotti states how chamar weavers got interest-free loans, better wages, flexible work timings, friendly working conditions and no stigma of untouchability while working under muslim weavers. this was also because muslim weavers themselves were from middle/low ranking castes. thus, no serious conflict of ritual status ever occurred between them. as stated earlier, this has been happening since the 1930s onwards when chamars got involved into weaving under the guidance of muslim master-weavers. daily commuting to benares city, riding a bicycle became a common thing among the manupur chamars. ciotti argues that the weaving occupation loosened the tight grip of caste which was based on stigmatised work. here she disagrees with nicolas dirks (1992) and bs cohn (1987), who argue that colonialism consolidated caste. weaving broke, partially though, the older jajmani bonds where rural chamars were labelled outright as untouchables when they worked as sharecroppers under brahmin, thakur and kurmi landlords. ciotti also departs from the usual marxist understanding of ‘working conditions’ where only measurable entities like wages, sanitary conditions, workers safety, timing, etc., are considered. she believes that as anthropologists, our task should also be to understand the experiential aspect of ‘working conditions’. it is here that the chamars felt more liberated under muslim weavers than under dominant caste landlords. all these together were a new and welcome experience for chamars. closely associated with the weaving aspect, is the rise of anti-muslim sentiments in eastern up. citing the work by n. kumar (1988), ciotti discusses how the sari became the main artefact within the silk weaving industry in banaras. weaving helped muslims gain socio-economic prominence and this created status anxiety among the rich hindus. traders and moneylenders like marwaris, sindhis, gujaratis, agrawals and khatris based in banaras city despised this growth and peddled antimuslim sentiments. sadly, the middle ranking castes among the hindus fully bought this sentiment and embraced the militant form of hinduism. they started committing violence against not only muslims but also dalits (gooptu, 1997). as a consequence, business was badly affected both in terms of economic growth and social relations. one pogrom took place in 1939. hindu traders stopped transacting with muslim weavers, which further made chamars vulnerable. in such situations, chamars found themselves to be the victims of resurgent hinduism despite getting their untouchables stigma reduced over time. this again consolidated their ties with muslims, and they found solace in their own religion—ravidasi. this has been my experience as well with chamars in 2020 when i visited banaras. i found chamars to be extremely sensitive to the muslim question and considered all religious minorities as their own— manav manav ek samaan. retro-modern india 401 sadly, this weaving part was on the wane while ciotti’s fieldwork approached its completion. younger generation chamars were freer from muslim master-weavers but again dependent on high caste hindu traders in the city. this made them partially dependent upon contingencies of a global market and vulnerable to casteist overtures as well. modern education as liberation next to political economy and weaving, is the importance of education in the making of the modern chamar self. ciotti’s findings are almost similar to what has been reported across india about the significance of modern education among dalits. education for manupur chamars is not merely acquisition of skills and a step towards employment— though their enthusiasm for education is as strong as that of brahmins—it is far more profound than this instrumental understanding of education. for chamars, parhe likhe hona (to be educated) not only means to be literate and skilled but also to be refined in character and thought. modern education is the only form of education that chamars received as the doors of traditional ‘hindu’ knowledge were closed on both women and shudras. it was the colonisers who opened the door for everyone. till today, we find high caste hindu men opposing affirmative action programs for women, sc, st and obcs in educational institutes. this refinement in character is an interplay of modern education with social status and political orientation. an educated chamar supports his wife, remains aware of the politics of uttar pradesh, leads a frugal life, is critical of brahmanism/ hinduism, avoids liquor, has family planned, and has some social standing gained through cultural capital. it is this well-educated section among the chamars, which is re-writing the dalit history through the prism of social justice (p. 120). ciotti observes that education is not reproducing the social inequalities but is levelling differences. a few college youths told her that casteism is deeper and hidden among the urban educated high caste hindus than the rural ones. despite increasing social status, manupur chamars were aware that the congenial behaviour of brahmins over the past few years is because of changing power dynamics rather than any change in heart. the best part of chapter 4, is the use of works by marc bloch (1989) differentiating between traditional and modern knowledge and how chamars completely reject their traditional knowledge in favour of the modern one. one, however, does not understand fully why ciotti places growing political awareness among the chamars solely due to modern education, perhaps an error drawn from the assumptions of dipesh chakbaraty and sudipta kaviraj. it is the same education which has become a tool at the hands of high caste hindus to oppress muslims, dalits and women. interestingly, ciotti herself makes it clear earlier that the chamar self is a web of interaction among education, religion, occupation and political economy. ravidasi chamars: religion as social justice one of the strengths of retro-modern india is its theoretically sound approach towards religious beliefs of the chamars. manuela ciotti must be applauded for using the work 402 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 of anthropologist talal asad (1993) and his understanding of religion as a historical product of discursive formation. who is a hindu and who is not, is looked at through asad’s lens. hinduism remains an anthropological category shifting its meaning across time and space. citing the work of mark juergensmeyer (1982) on ad dharm movement in punjab, ciotti states that religion for dalits has remained a central force for social movements since long ago. it is here that the book is at its best. religion, for dalits, is not antithetical to modernity, but a part of it. the religious-secular binary does not hold in the dalit lifeworld, indeed in anyone’s lifeworld. ciotti critiques the inadequacy of the enlightenment framework to understand human behaviour and thought. following asad, the book says that religion is constitutive of modernity and not opposed to it. this includes ambedkar’s adoption of buddhism. chamar lifestyle is different from caste hindus in many ways. this non hinduness of dalits in up, has also been mentioned in other anthropological works (searlechatterjee, 1994). for example, they have their own rituals, they eat pork, have their own minor temples, and bury their dead (p. 152). since the 1990s, the chamars have stopped calling brahmin priests. they have their own interpretation of satya narayan katha, they support inter-caste marriages, reject hinduism, and accept saints kabir and ravi das. due to the rise of the bsp, some showed interest in buddhism while most considered themselves to be hindus for namesake. there were also a couple and two women who became christians. ciotti’s usage of the term ‘genealogical amnesia’ borrowing from carsten (1995) tells us why manupur chamars do not remember their own ancestors, reject brahmanical versions of their lowly origin, and have their own myths of origin around adi hindu theme. ‘chamars have selected which past to emphasise’, ciotti quips. the non-hinduness of the chamars takes a distinct form during anti-muslim pogroms. chamars find themselves stuck between two extremes—caste hindus as attackers and muslims as victims. citing the works of zoya hasan (1996), mary searlechatterjee (1994) and nandini gooptu (2001), ciotti says that militant hinduism, though supported by urban high castes, percolates down to middle order castes. this has been twice the case with 1930s and late 1980s up. urban hindus became antimuslim while rural ones became anti-dalit. as stated earlier, upward mobility of muslims and dalits led to status anxiety among high caste hindu traders and middle caste hindu workers. one is surprised to see the situation still persisting where middle order castes are re-playing their roles as ‘warrior defenders of hinduism’, a phrase used by gooptu (2001) while describing communalism in up during the 1930s. this led to two things—consolidation of chamar-muslim relationship and spread of saint ravidas’ message. the chamar self is intermeshed with the twin figures of ambedkar and ravidas and no conversation would occur without mentioning either of the two, reflects ciotti. banaras might be a centre for brahmanical hinduism, but chamar subjectivity negates this powerful discourse. social equality remains the core of the preaching of saint ravidas, a fourteenth century saint. quoting vijay prasad (2000), ciotti says that the ideology of ravidas and an independent location in the economy gave chamars a distinct subjectivity. perhaps this also explains how shiv narayani and satnampanthi chamars also have the same idea of religion– a practical philosophy for social justice. retro-modern india 403 party politics for life and justice another important source of the chamar modern self is politics. for chamars, politics is an inextricable part of their lifeworld. in manuela ciotti’s words, ‘chamar politics revolved around the most intrinsic features of the community’s social persona.’ using a work by paul brass (1965), the book says how the poor (which consisted of mostly dalits and muslims) were in patron-client relationship with the congress government. interviews with villagers show that indira gandhi was revered among dalits and muslims for her garibi hatao program. from the late 1980s onwards, the discourse of the bsp started gaining ground in banaras. chamars knew what ‘bahujanwaad’ (rule by plebeians), as well as ‘manuwaad’ (rule by patricians) was. this book accepts how, more than the material rewards, it is the discourse of development that influenced chamars. the author details how both material and symbolic benefits accrued to dalits whenever mayawati got power. this includes fulfillment of sc-st quota in government jobs, ambedkar village scheme for rural development and renaming of districts after bahujan icons. if ciotti agrees with corbridge and harris (2001) on the concepts of ‘material’ and ‘symbolic benefits’, we find her disagreeing with kanchan chandra (2000) on the concept of ‘ethnic parties’. for ciotti, bsp was not a chamar party but a group of all marginalised castes and groups. her interviews showed her how deeply chamars were influenced by the image of ambedkar but only few talked about buddhism. much of the hinduisation of scs can be attributed to the poona pact which made scs dependent upon caste hindus for their welfare. this aspect could have been elaborated a little more. the hinduisation of scs is a deliberate plan by the indian state. despite all these, the book tells us how ‘chamars’ preferred this term and found ‘harijan’ to be casteist. the term ‘dalit’ was used only during political meetings and had little relevance for the chamars of banaras. chamar women and modernity ethnographic accounts have always faced one major limitation, that is, fieldwork with women participants. fieldwork for women ethnographers is also more challenging than for men. manuela ciotti must be applauded for doing fieldwork in a patriarchal set up and bringing out the hitherto hidden aspect of rural women of up. ciotti interviews a number of women from chamar caste and unlocks the interaction among social development, change in gender relations and modernity. there is no denying that gender relations among the dalits are different from high caste hindus. chamar women have been working outside their houses for centuries, are outspoken and enjoy greater sexual freedom. no reported cases of dowry and female foeticide were heard of by ciotti. it is here that we see how dalit women have an edge over high caste hindu women as far as making life choices is concerned. this is peculiar to dalit women as even brahmin women are not allowed to marry non-brahmins. chamar modernity is equally a cause and an effect of these historically empowered women. modern education and the consequent new middle class have brought certain changes in this narrative. 404 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 ciotti, in her signature style, again uses two hermeneutic tools to understand chamar women subjectivity. n. kumar (2005) delineates ‘historical’ and ‘anthropological’ women—the former is an urban, middle class, educated, high-caste hindu who was active in the anti-colonial struggle while the latter is the rural, poorly uneducated, low caste woman who had little idea about the national struggle. the former is assumed to be urbane while the latter is rustic. both chamar men and women, while becoming middle class, are imitating the lifestyle of the high caste hindus of the colonial period. thus, modernity again takes a retro turn. chamar women receive education and reproduce a higher class status but are equally burdened by newer norms of domestication. this gender roles reproduction among the newly middle class chamars draws its repertoire not from local hindu elites but from the nationalist imaginings of the nineteenth and twentieth century hindu elites. ciotti critiques the concept of ‘capital circulation’ by bourdieu (1986) positing that it is not a gender-neutral process. increase in cultural capital leads to a slight decrease in freedom of younger chamar women. still men preferred educated and working women for marriage and supported them during participation in village panchayat elections. while dalit women are supported by dalit men, caste hindu women are opposed by their own family and kinship men. thus, the reproduction of class among the chamars is never unilinear. as mentioned earlier, there are many elements in the making of the chamar self which make chamar modernity quite different from the usual caste hindu modernity. one feels slightly disappointed to see no proper mention of inter-caste and inter-faith marriages among the chamar women—one of the biggest indicators of women empowerment. nevertheless, one strong point which the book makes is that chamar women do have a significant contribution in the imagining of india as a nation. limitations and way forward retro-modern india succeeds in telling the story of a formerly untouchable caste in india. i have few quibbles and a doubt about the method used in the book. all along the text, ciotti has used the term ‘hindu-muslim riots’ by which she actually meant anti-muslim pogroms. she uses the phrase ‘low castes’ by which she means exuntouchables and not ‘backward classes’. there is the usage of the expression ‘urban middle class of colonial times’ by which she actually means hindu urban middle class. she has made mention of ‘direct and mediated dominance’, the concepts used by jeffery, jeffrey and jeffrey (2008) but not elaborated upon it. in the same way, ciotti could have elaborated much more deeply on the importance of reservations in education and jobs. much of the desire for government jobs comes from the fact that the untouchables can get middle class jobs only through reservations due to extreme casteist environment in both education and jobs. she has mentioned that in the 2005 village election, a chamar won the seat. this was the first time a dalit became a village chief which became possible only due to the reservation of seats for scs. ciotti merely mentions that even backward class hindus preferred brahmin pradhans but has not asked why? it is in this context, i want to raise a methodological question to retro-modern india 405 the book at hand. how can one understand one’s self without looking at it through the eyes of others? our selves are constitutes of both self-image and the image which others have of us. both images influence each other. how do chamars find themselves vis-à-vis caste hindus? how does the untouchability line influence this? are welleducated middle class chamars accepted by caste hindus? why did educated chamar youth tell ciotti that they face deeper and subtler casteism in cities? recent scholarly works point out a change of form, not lessening, of casteism. readers should know that like chamars/dalits, muslims and christians are also considered as untouchables in the hindu social order. the chamar modern self is equally forged through such event interactions of daily experiences of humiliation, casteist political institutions, and exclusionary discourses. the chamar self and a desire for social justice become synonymous with each other. nevertheless, the book makes a significant contribution to our present understanding of modernity, indian society, uttar pradesh culture and dalits. it must be read by social anthropologists to understand indian society in general and dalits of uttar pradesh in particular. bibliography asad, t. (1993). the construction of religion as an anthropological category. in t. asad, genealogies of religion: discipline and reasons of power in christianity and islam. baltimore and london: the johns hopkins university press, pp. 27-54. bloch, m. (1989). literacy and enlightenment. in k. shousboe, & m.t. larsen, literacy and society. copenhagen: akademisk forlag, pp. 15–37. bourdieu, p. (1986). forms of capital. in j.g. richardson, handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. new york: greenwood press, pp. 241–258. brass, p.r. (1965). factional politics in an indian state: the congress party in uttar pradesh. an authors guild backinprint.com edition. carsten, j. (1995). the politics of forgetting: migration, kinship and memory on the periphery of the southeast asian state. journal of the royal anthropological, 1(2), pp. 317–335. chakrabarty, d. (2002). habitations of modernity: essays in the wake of subaltern. chicago: university of chicago. chandra, k. (2000). the transformation of ethnic politics in india: the decline of congress and the rise of the bahujan samaj party in hoshiarpur. journal of asian studies, 59(1), pp. 26–61. cohn, b.s. (1987). an anthropologist among the historians and other essays. delhi: oxford university press. corbridge, s., & harris, j. (2001). reinventing india: liberalization, hindu nationalism and popular democracy. new delh: oxford university press. dirks, n.b. (1992). castes of mind. representations: special issue: imperial fantasies and postcolonial histories, pp. 56–78. gooptu, n. (2001). the politics of the urban poor in early twentieth-century india. cambridge: cambridge university press. — (1997). the urban poor and militant hinduism in early twentieth-century uttar pradesh. modern asian studies. vol. 31(4), pp. 879–918. 406 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 hasan, z. (1996). communal mobilization and changing majority in uttar pradesh. in d. ludden, contesting the nation: religion, community, and the politics of democracy in india. philadelphia: university of pennsylvania press, pp. 81–97. hasan, z. (1988). power and mobilisation: patterns of resilience and change in uttar pradesh politics. in f.f. frankel, & m. rao, dominance and state power in modern india: decline of a social order vol. 1. new delhi: oxford univerty press, pp. 133–203. jeffrey, c., jeffery, p., & jeffery, r. (2008). degrees without freedom? education, masculinities, and unemployment in north india. stanford: stanford university press. juergensmeyer, m. (1982). religion as social vision: the movement against untouchability in 20th-century punjab. berkeley: university of california press. kumar, n. (2005). mothers and non-mothers: gendering the discourse of education in south asia. gender and history, 17(1), pp. 154–82. kumar, n. (1988). the artisans of banaras: popular culture and identity, 1880–1986. princeton: princeton university press. prasad, v. (2000). untouchable freedom: a social history of a dalit community. new delhi: oxford university press. ram, n. (1999). dalit movements in india: a macro-sociological analysis. in a. kumar, nation building in india: culture, power and society. new delhi: radiant publishers, pp. 231–256. searle-chatterjee, m. (1994). urban untouchables and hindu nationalism. immigrants and minorities, 13(1), pp. 12–25. — (1994). caste, religion and other identities. in m. searle-chatterjee, contextualizing caste: post-dumontian approaches. oxford: blackwell publishers, pp. 147–168. © 2021 kancha ilaiah shepherd. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 391–396 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.344 dalit-bahujan feminism: a newly emerging discourse kancha ilaiah shepherd former director centre for the study of social exclusion and inclusive policy maulana azad national urdu university, hyderabad e-mail: kanchailaiah@yahoo.co.in dalit feminist theory: a reader edited by: sunaina arya and aakash singh rathore routledge india, 2020 dalit feminist theory: a reader is a collection of essays written by feminist writers in india. feminism as a school of thought emerged in india in the early 1980s and since then, several scholarly works have been produced by feminists. towards the beginning of the movement, there were two distinct groups of scholars, both educated in the english medium. the common factor in both groups was that the scholars all came from the dwija1 castes (brahmin, bania, kayastha, khatri and very few kshatriya). the difference lay in the political positions which informed their standpoints—one group were liberal democrats, the others were marxist feminists. after the 1990 mandal movement, a third ideological school started to emerge. they foregrounded caste as a theoretical framework in understanding man-woman relations in india, as opposed to their predecessors who only theorized from the framework of class and democratic institutions. the editors of this book have chosen to reproduce several essays written by both marxist and liberal democratic, non dalit-bahujan women writers and in doing so have made clear their dalit feminist position. sunaina arya is a young dalit woman ph.d candidate and research scholar in the field of philosophy. the 1dwija is a term for the people from the castes considered higher in the caste strata, who regard themselves as twice-born, and hence a pure form of hindus. 392 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 second editor, aakash singh rathore, whom i recently discovered in the academic domain, despite having come from kshatriya family background, collaborated with her. what is interesting to note is they took a very strong dalit position, in this case a dalit feminist position. generally, dwija male intellectuals in india or abroad, write on women’s issues without grounding themselves on a serious feminist position. i am glad that rathore being a kshatriya, co-edited this book with an emerging dalit feminist philosopher. in 2012, on the occasion of my retirement from osmania university, susie tharu, an early leading feminist of india, described me as a ‘male sister of feminism’.2 i am not sure whether i deserve that description. but it is true that from the genesis of the anti-caste movement, dalit-bahujan leaders like mahatma phule, babasaheb ambedkar and periyar ramasamy all centered on the liberation of women. dalitbahujan feminism has its roots in the writings and work of savitribai phule and mahatma jyotirao phule, who were founding leaders and educators who worked to bring about caste consciousness among the depressed castes in the nineteenth century. in the twentieth century, ambedkar took a clear theoretical stand on man-woman equality, including property rights for women. his stance on sex work, like his stand on aryan migration and existence of race relations in india, are coming up for contested discussion in the present times.3 in this volume, the position of nivedita menon (the only shudra nair woman feminist of repute i know) on sex work is discussed at length. arya and rathore have positioned themselves for abolishing sex work, which has historically dehumanized dalit-bahujan women as a consequence of their position on the margins of society. it is not dwija women or highly educated women who are employable in other sectors, but dalit-bahujan women who are forced to take up sex work as a job. sex work in the devadasi4 form or bar sex work form is that which dalit women are forced into; whereas globally, many women who are employable in other sectors might chose sex work as work for livelihood (chapter 8). importantly, the inherent caste system complicated and spiritualised sex work in india. we must also examine that while sex work is mainly the job of dalit-bahujan women in india, permanent widowhood—in some cases from childhood days onwards, with a condemned life in kashi dens is often the only a life of brahmin or other dwija women (as brought to light by the film water)5—this too dehumanises women as human beings. the condemned widowhood and brahminic child marriage, 2kancha ilaiah, understanding feminism: on being a male sister of feminism, frontier, vol. 46, no. 18, november 10–16, 2013. retrieved from https://www.frontierweekly.com/archive/ vol-number/vol/vol-46-2013-14/46-18/46-18-on%20being%20a%20male%20sister%20 of%20feminism.html 3see my review of tony joseph’s book early indians (2018) with a title, early india: goats and brahmins, mainstream, vol. lviii, no. 29, new delhi, july 4, 2020. retrieved from https:// www.mainstreamweekly.net/article9591.html 4devadasi is a tradition of devoting young dalit girls to temples in name of service to the god, where eventually they are sexually exploited by the temple priests and have no return from a sexually exploitative living. dev literally translates as god and dasi as female slave. 5water is a bollywood movie released in 2007, available at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hp35okfv0m8 https://www.frontierweekly.com/archive/vol-number/vol/vol-46-2013-14/46-18/46-18-on%25252520being%25252520a%25252520male%25252520sister%25252520of%25252520feminism.html https://www.frontierweekly.com/archive/vol-number/vol/vol-46-2013-14/46-18/46-18-on%25252520being%25252520a%25252520male%25252520sister%25252520of%25252520feminism.html https://www.frontierweekly.com/archive/vol-number/vol/vol-46-2013-14/46-18/46-18-on%25252520being%25252520a%25252520male%25252520sister%25252520of%25252520feminism.html https://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article9591.html https://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article9591.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp35okfv0m8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp35okfv0m8 dalit-bahujan feminism: a newly emerging discourse 393 and sati were more barbaric than sex work. however, today these institutions are gradually being abolished. the dwija women are among the most educated and most globally mobile women from india. the dalit-bahujan women are denied such opportunities (part iii). when i characterised the patriarchies in india as ‘dalit-bahujan democratic patriarchy’ and ‘brahminic patriarchy’ based on their open productive and reproductive participatory man-woman relations, many dalit feminists also disagreed with me.6 the dwija feminists condemned me as a binarist in everything. but is it not a fact that historically the dalit, adivasi,7 shudra women never had to live as permanent widows? is it not true, that the dwija women not only lived as permanent widows from childhood days and had to go through sati—a brutal murder of women till the british made laws to abolish such a system? do dwija women living in the villages have the right to work in the production fields along with other male members in india even now? they do not. does that right not exist for all dalit-bahujan women even today (see chapters 5 and 9), unless they are brahmanized? this is uncritical support of a culture which disallows women to participate in productive work with other men based on the misogynistic premise that women are promiscuous. this brahmanic practice is also observed within muslim communities. the culture of not allowing women productive work has caused destruction of their creative energies and has kept india underdeveloped when compared to china, its neighbouring country. however, chinese women under communist patriarchy are also prevented from holding higher positions in productive work. the communist feminists of india did not examine these practices of communist countries. in india, the liberal constitutional democracy gave scope to dwija women to enter into every state sector. dwija women have accepted women’s reform over caste reform. this has led to indira gandhi’s emergence as the first woman prime minister in the late 1960s. in their professional endeavours, dwija women were aided by english education, introduced by william carey, the protestant missionary reformer and thomas babington macaulay from 1817 to 1834. even in the twenty-first century, dalit-bahujan women have not entered into that english medium education. this is despite savitribai phule who gave a call for their english education a long time ago (chapter 4). the future of the dalitbahujan-adivasi women depends on the future course of english medium education for girls of those communities. dalit-bahujan feminism has to look at the roles of women in productive work and accessibility to public spheres of life. the dwija women now have better exposure to global forms of man-woman relations because of english education, which dalitbahujan women do not have. but they are still anti-productive labourers because, ironically, educated dwija women think that production is pollution. a cursory examination of dwija women feminist writings would show how indifferent they 6refer to kancha ilaiah, why i am not a hindu: a shudra critique of hindutva philosophy, calcutta: samya, 1996, sixth reprint in 2002. 7adivasi is a social term for the indian constitutional category scheduled tribes for the communities who live close to nature, and modern technological resources have not reached them yet. 394 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 are to basic agrarian and artisanal production. their discourse operates within the brahminical textual narratives. their absence in productive fields is as visible as that of dalit-bahujan women in urban high-end jobs and markets. therefore, a common english medium school education in government and private schools should be included in the main concerns of dalit-bahujan feminists. the present focus of dalit scholars is around land ownership and reservation—both in education and employment. the regional language education of the dalit-bahujan community cannot produce high-end thinkers. in the present situation, the dalit feminist writings by dalit women would be as weak as the writings of dalit-bahujan men in the general theoretical discourse. quality english medium education alone can produce writers and thinkers who produce books of high quality. dr. b.r. ambedkar’s life and works have proven this. in regional languages, several dalit women writers have been producing plenty of writings on the struggles of dalit women in their day-to-day life—struggles which are unknown to the dwija or the ‘upper’ shudra women, as they have not dealt with them at any time in their known history. a few of them—very young dalit women, not so much shudra/obc women,8 are writing in english to re-frame the feminist discourse in a fresh way, which rightly is called ‘dalit feminism’ and they describe themselves as dalit feminists. their critique of writings about women, especially dalit women is a positive development. they are re-examining phule, ambedkar and other dalit writers from their own experience and perception (part ii). this in turn gives new hope for further theoretical possibilities. sunaina arya’s efforts show this promise.9 dalit-bahujan feminism has a long way to go. it is certainly in its budding stage (part vi). the only comparable school is that of black feminism, which has thrown up many powerful writers in the recent past (chapter 10). dalit feminist theory: a reader, though has together a variety of feminist writings in one place, with a useful introduction with a theoretical perspective to develop dalit-bahujan feminist ideology further (part iv). dalit-bahujan feminism should not operate merely around sexual division of labourers within the home, kitchen, urban markets and urban working spaces as the dwija feminist women’s writings do. dalit feminist theory must not only engage with untouchability which the dalit women suffer exclusively—but from a position 8obc is an abbreviation for other backward castes, which a constitutional term for the shudra communities who are regarded higher over dalits/‘untouchables’/scheduled castes but lower than dwij/savarna or so-called upper caste communities, as per hindu caste hierarchy. 9read sunaina arya’s ‘theorising gender in south asia: dalit feminist perspective’, editorial article in special issue on ‘legacy of gender and caste discrimination’ of caste: a global journal on social exclusion, vol. 1, no. 2, october 2020, pp. xi–xxiv; ‘ambedkar as a feminist philosopher’, chapter 4 in gender and racial justice, vol. iv of b. r. ambedkar: a quest for justice (five volumes box set), edited by aakash singh rathore, oxford university press, 2021, pp. 89–113; ‘dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism’, caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 1, no. 1, february 2020, pp. 217–228; ‘khader’s feminist ethic against imperialism: proposing a pluriversal philosophic resolve’, for the book symposium on decolonizing universalism: a transnational feminist ethic (oup, 2019), journal of global ethics, vol. 16, no. 3, taylor & francis group. may 2021, pp. 371–387. dalit-bahujan feminism: a newly emerging discourse 395 of strength acquired from their productive labourers and the democratic space they inhabit in the village settings of both home and production fields. though villages are casteist social units as ambedkar rightly observed, the dalitwadas10 in themselves are democratic, productive and redistributive locations.11 man-woman relations must change across india by using positive structures that already exist in human societies the world over and also within india. dalitwadas are poor and hardworking, but not exploitative units like brahminwadas. productive labourers is an agent of change, but leisure, which the brahminic women seek as a mode of living, is anti-human. dalit feminism must set a new agenda for the feminist ideology of women writers of india. that will be possible when dalit-bahujan feminists operate outside the theoretical trap that dwija women laid in india—casting the subject of woman as compliant with the brahminical patriarchal roles. the brahminic texts should not trap the dalit-bahujan feminist discourse which should take inspiration from dalit-bahujan women who made history in their fight with their socio-political and economic circumstances, as well as with oppressive men. the narratives of dalit-bahujan goddesses like pochamma and maisamma are inspiring. also, there are numerous modern women like savitribai phule, ramabai ambedkar, chakali ilamma (a dhobi12 woman in the telangana armed struggle),13 sammakka and sarakka who fought the kakatiya rulers in the thirteenth century, warangal forest area and became well known figures. there are many such examples in every state in india, who should be dalitbahujan women’s role models. the only essay that goes against the genre of dalit feminism, which the editors critically review in this volume is that of nivedita menon—‘a critical view on intersectionality’ (chapter 1). though menon is a shudra nair woman, she does not accept her shudra position as socially, spiritually controlled and exploited by brahminism. that is her weakest point (part v). nair women historically suffered inhuman sambhandham14 relations at the hands of brahmin men. her de-recognition of intersectionality emerges from her caste blindness, which is located in the editors’ introduction.15 the marxist feminist school also looked at indian man-woman relations from a class point of view that does not recognize the indian specificity of caste. dalit-bahujan feminism does not hold much water unless it is rooted in the caste consciousness of the woman writer involved. the women writers who came from upper layer of shudra (only a few of them are english educated and engaged in writing) like 10dalitwada is a term for the segregated settlement (the most infertile land of the village) where only dalit people are placed, in order to prevent dwija communities from getting polluted by contact with dalits who are considered lowest in the caste hierarchy. wada literally means a housing settlement. 11see kancha ilaiah, dalitization not hinduization, in why i am not a hindu: a shudra critique of hindutva philosophy, calcutta: samya, 1996, sixth reprint in 2002. 12dhobi is a caste traditionally linked with the profession of washermen or laundrymen, which is one among the dalit/‘untouchable’ communities. 13sanjeev gumpenapalli, chakali ilamma: a revolutionary woman, published in indian women in history volume of feminism in india, december 28, 2017. retrieved from https:// feminisminindia.com/2017/12/28/remembering-chakali-ilamma/ 14see kancha ilaiah, untouchable god, calcutta: bhatkal & sen, 2013. 15for details, see sunaina arya, an enquiry into ambedkar as a feminist philosopher. m.phil dissertation, centre for philosophy, new delhi: jawaharlal nehru university, 2017, july 26. https://feminisminindia.com/2017/12/28/remembering-chakali-ilamma/ https://feminisminindia.com/2017/12/28/remembering-chakali-ilamma/ 396 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 nair, reddy, kamma, lingayat and vokkaliga, naiker, jat, patel, maratha and others did not know how to handle caste consciousness. they face discrimination by dwijas in many spheres in various ways, since they need to work with dwija women given their placement outside the fold of caste-based reservation. but dwija women also do not treat them as equals because they know that they are shudra. from the lens of food culture, shudras are meat-eaters with agrarian roots which the dwija women do not have. they face a very strange situation. under the influence of dwija women, they understand that class position gives them some space to theorise. but class theorisation does not have much meaning in india, as india is primarily a caste society. this is also true for a majority of south asia.16 the remaining essays in this volume are written by either by dalit women or men, or sympathetic brahmin women, or women from a christian background. many of them claim that they do not believe in religion or birth in a particular religion or caste. but a reader’s awareness of the background of the writer makes all the difference. ignoring religion in the feminist analysis avoids a key lifeline of women. rather, it is seen that women cling to religion more than men today. feminism of the dalit-bahujan school based on the experience of women, would be different from that of men. feminist theory emerged based on the ‘experience’ as the basis of analysis and the ‘personal is political’. nevertheless, dalit feminist theory: a reader is an important source for many further studies and is indispensable, especially for young research scholars. 16see sunaina arya, ‘theorising gender in south asia: dalit feminist perspective’, editorial article in special issue on ‘legacy of gender and caste discrimination’ of caste: a global journal on social exclusion, vol. 1, no. 2, october 2020, pp. xi–xxiv. © 2022 antony arul valan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. culture caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 171–188 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.355 pariyerum perumal and a periyarite note on political engagement antony arul valan1 abstract what was in the rhetoric of periyar that moved an entire people in a direction that has continuing political relevance? how does his style respond to concerns about how we may engage within contemporary political formations, especially given that his work continues to resist being co-opted by his detractors? analysing the formal elements of a 1931 speech by periyar, delivered at nagapattinam, i investigate the movements in his rhetoric which repeatedly mobilises the self as a site of political action. i argue that periyar’s presentation of the self provides a distinct avenue of political engagement that substantiates the notion of inner conflict as crucial to the development of the titular hero in the 2018 tamil film pariyerum perumal. methodologically, i draw on the work of the relational psychoanalytic thinker d.w. winnicott; in particular, his concept of ‘playing’, which refers to the creative moment of passionate immediate engagement with the other that opens up a potent space of understanding and is vital for survival. i show how charting out the various dimensions of this moment of creative play in these two works is crucial to further our understanding of the politics of periyar and the journey of pariyerum perumal. keywords caste, psychoanalysis, periyar, pariyerum perumal, literary analysis, film studies 1phd candidate, department of english, ashoka university, sonipat, haryana, india email: antonyarulvalan@gmail.com 172 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 i may have unconsciously sought respect, but the truth is i actually pursued only infamy for myself. be that as it may. – periyar (1931, p. 279; translation mine) these words taken from a speech by periyar e.v. ramasamy (1879–1973; hereafter, periyar) delivered at nagapattinam on 3 october 1931 are a remarkable instance of a crack in an otherwise coherent image of the self that he is usually understood as presenting to his readers (or listeners, in this particular case). following the tentative nod to a possible unconscious desire for respect from others, periyar states that his actions which instigated outrage were motivated by the desire for disrepute. it is fascinating that periyar embodied this struggle of opposing forces within himself, and it appears as fissures in rare instances. the space opened up by this quirk serves the narrative arc in his rhetoric which repeatedly mobilises the self as a site of political action. the work with the self in this speech provides a distinct avenue of political engagement that, i argue, substantiates the notion of inner conflict as crucial to character development in mari selvaraj’s 2018 tamil film pariyerum perumal. in the first section of this article, i present the critical literature on films, caste and psychoanalysis that have been formative to my thinking and the writing of this article. in the second section, i offer a reading of the structure of the film and in the process tease out the nature of political engagement that the lead character grows into through working out his cognitive crisis. drawing on the formal learnings from the film, i then closely read the movements in periyar’s rhetoric to show how the nature of engagement delineated through the mind of pariyan has been demonstrated in practice. i conclude this article by sketching the stakes of this argument. the critical literature it is imperative at the outset to present the theoretical literature which this article builds on and enters into dialogue with. my method of critical engagement is literary, that is, close-reading for form and content, and in this article, i stage a conversation between a particular film and a particular speech, both engaging and modifying the discourse around caste through a particular articulation of the self. therefore, i rely on a small section of the wide and sprawling secondary literature on films, caste and selfhood from the tamil land and beyond, and borrow from disciplinary contributions in film theory, sociology/anthropology, rhetoric and psychoanalysis. tamil films have had a long history with social movements. s. theodore baskaran, prominent film historian, has painstakingly documented the early history of tamil cinema in the message bearers (1981) and the eye of the serpent (1996). he notes that political consciousness seeped into tamil film-making as early as 1929, when a. narayanan’s film dharmapathini took up gandhi’s campaign for prohibition by depicting how addiction to alcohol disrupts domestic peace, and was quickly followed by bringing to screen the anti-untouchability rhetoric enshrined in the story of the medieval bhakti poet nandanar in raja sandow’s nandanar or the elevation of the downtrodden in 1930 (baskaran, 1981, p. 85). pariyerum perumal and a periyarite note on political engagement 173 baskaran documents the local elite’s revulsion to the cinematic medium in these early years and shows how, with the quickening pace of the nationalist movement, filmmakers and actors (along with the established theatre firmament) who vociferously supported political activities soon became a ‘powerless elite’ (ibid., p. 98). with the tamil film reaching and beginning to cater to the aspirations of the large illiterate masses by the mid-twentieth century, and freedom from colonial rule at hand, baskaran notes, nationalist fervour was supplanted in favour of a distinctive tamil consciousness, and this reached its apogee in kothamangalam subbu’s 1953 film avvaiyar, which collapsed at least three distinct historical personages into one legendary poetess who also symbolized mother tamil deriving legitimacy from murugan who is presented unequivocally as the deity of the tamils (1996, pp. 22–23). this was soon to be followed by what baskaran calls ‘the era of the dialogue-writer and the cinema of dissent’, marked by propaganda films written and produced by scholar-politician screen and stage writers most of whom would soon form the dravida munnetra kazhagam (dmk) party. there were also formal innovations unique to the landscape that moulded the trajectory of the content of the tamil film: when rural electrification became a reality, baskaran observes, the classical and folk traditions began to be amalgamated in varying degrees (1996, p. xv); and with the ascendancy of ideologues in filmmaking, ‘speech’ became a pivotal rhetorical device that the cinematic medium exploited to its fullest potential (ibid., p. 34). the dialogues and speeches in films such as r. krishnan and s. panju’s parasakthi (1952) and l.v. prasad’s manohara (1954), dialogues penned by five-time chief minister of tamil nadu m. karunanidhi, were in terms of the camera angle and forceful delivery ‘meant for crowds in a political rally’ (baskaran, 1996, p. 67). speech and film, then, have an entwined and enmeshed history in tamil politics, and i take this formal insertion of speech within films as a guide for the near-filmic momentum i demonstrate in periyar’s speech later in the essay; that is, borrowing on methods of reading film content to closely read that speech. this is where we will leave a historian’s perspective on tamil films and move to another historian’s perspective on the history of the dravidian movement which gave birth to the dmk. it is only appropriate at this juncture to introduce the colossus of the movement, periyar. the radical anti-caste iconoclast periyar continues to be an intellectual and rhetorical behemoth in tamil civil society since the early twentieth century. born to a wealthy landowning family in 1879, periyar cultivated an acute political awareness as a child and took up political posts early on in his working life despite missing out on formal education. in 1919, he began making a mark in the larger political movements of the time when he joined the indian national congress (inc). after six years of active involvement in the initiatives of the party, he resigned from the congress in 1925. precipitating this break away from what was perhaps the most impactful counter-colonial force in the subcontinent was the inability of the party’s organisational apparatus to take a decisive stand against caste discrimination. this felt need for a critical inward gaze in social movements would come to mark his over fifty-year-long writing and lecturing life that was dedicated to subjecting the society he lived in and its political formations to sustained critical scrutiny. no 174 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 one was spared his incisive analysis, neither his detractors, nor his supporters, but most importantly not periyar himself. the movement he began in 1925 came to be known variously as the self-respect movement, after the philosophy it espoused; or the dravidian movement, after the ethno-linguistic turn the politics of the movement later took. periyar had dissolved an erstwhile electoral political party which he led called south indian liberal federation (or the justice party) in 1944 and established the non-electoral party dravidar kazhagam (dk) that same year, with the sole aim of realising the mission of the self-respect movement and eradicating caste, among other social evils such as the subjugation of women. in 1949, a large faction of the dk broke away and formed the dmk ostensibly to protest periyar’s marriage to the much younger maniammai, but actually due to a fundamental disagreement about contesting electoral politics. the dmk would further split into a series of parties in the coming decades, but that party and one breakaway party—the all india anna dravida munnetra kazhagam (aiadmk)—have successfully managed to stay in power in tamil nadu since 1967. since we have seen that the movement founded by periyar has consistently worked on the plank of anti-caste resistance, it would be instructive to learn about the nature of the persistent and pernicious enemy that movement was engaging with: brahminism, the ideological script of power that normalises caste order. in her speech/ article ‘brahminism and the anxieties of history’ (2002/2015), v. geetha documents how brahminism flexibly worked its way through challenges to its existence in the face of late colonial modernity, independence and later. she details the critical moments when anti-caste intellectuals such as iyothee thassar, periyar, s. gurusamy and ambedkar mobilized the tools of modernity to challenge the authority of brahminism and demonstrates how even if brahminism could not sustain its fraudulent logic, it creatively engaged with these issues of difference and inequality and thereby preserved its potency to prevail till this day. under the colonial government, when brahminism encountered legal and social injunctions which granted privileges and capital to castes lower in the caste hierarchy, it mobilised a rhetoric of reform that ensured the relevance of scriptural authority, only decrying its mistaken interpretation and practice. when brahminism encountered legislative reform, it turned the problem on its head by claiming legitimacy under the rubric of nationalism. when the subcontinent was inching towards freedom, geetha notes that periyar’s challenge to a narrow notion of freedom without self-respect for the cause of an independent nation would only result in the institutionalisation of a casteist nation state. this was met with gandhi’s formulation of fighting the evils of the caste system as an inner ethical and spiritual struggle for caste-hindus. thereby, according primacy to the morally-aware individual self of the caste-hindu, who has to convince no one else but himself. in both these avenues, geetha notes that the manoeuvres that brahmin political agents carried out were in essence ‘an exercise in self-regard’ (2002/2015, p. 17). she uses the term ‘narcissism’, which has striking resonances in the psychoanalytic literature, when she argues for how brahminism encountered the self in all these problematic sites and did not permit its critique but rushed to preserve it and shore up its hegemony: ‘the peculiar narcissism that felt implicated in all matters from the sexual to the social, the pariyerum perumal and a periyarite note on political engagement 175 political to the spiritual, proved extremely significant: it granted the brahmin the right to define and redefine the social world’ (ibid., p. 22). in other words, it appears as if the brahmanical subject repeatedly wondered and enacted the answer to the question, ‘how can i think of myself as a modern individual and yet reconcile my antiquated casteist beliefs?’ it is this notion of the self, as coherent individual bearing rights, refusing to engage, that periyar seems to puncture, and i will return to this later in this article. tamil films have taken a similar route along the trajectory of this conception of selfregard that geetha delineates. damodaran and gorringe (2017) note that the political message was dravidian in tamil films until the 1970s, where the emphasis lay on the valour of the protagonist who would defend the vulnerable. much of the audience’s reception to the ‘image-trap’ of these films were to identify with their abject position in need of rescue, as m.s.s. pandian (1992) argues in the case of the three-time chief minister of tamil nadu m.g. ramachandran (mgr). damodaran and gorringe’s central argument, however, is that films since 1985 are replete with thematic and visual structures which move away from exclusive focus on the hero and extend into his community, i.e. films begin to valorise the intermediate castes as a community and the authors refer to it as nativist/neo-nativist cinema. the valour noted in the dravidian (and mgr period) in this mode was now accented with the intermediate caste hero’s honour which rests on preserving the family and caste loyalties and thereby violently marginalizes dalits. they call this potent brand of films ‘madurai formula films’, which celebrate violence and argue for social dominance of one particular caste—in this case, the thevars: ‘[the film] has fuelled caste conflicts, resulting in an exaggerated sense of caste pride and an emphasis on caste symbolism that has periodically pockmarked the southern regions of the state with violence, and continues to inform caste politics today’ (damodaran and gorringe, 2017, p. 22). the visual and spoken language of these films reify stereotypical notions of patriarchal inheritance and constitute in the tamil polity what it means to belong to a particular caste; in other words, they reconfigure notions of selfhood in the service of violent ends within members claiming affiliation to those assertive castes. the 2010s mark a significant moment in tamil filmmaking, when directors identifying with their dalit identity began making films that secured popular support beyond rigid identarian demographics, while also garnering critical acclaim. karthick ram manoharan (2021) makes an argument about conceptions of the self with regard to the dalit heroes in two recent tamil films by pa ranjith, kabali (2016) and kaala (2018). drawing on the work of the psychoanalytic theorist frantz fanon, manoharan focuses on how the titular central character of kabali identifies himself as tamil, a universalist position in the context of a film that focuses on the struggles of malaysian tamils, when he is constantly viewed by both his adversaries as dalit. on kaala, manoharan’s point draws on another universalism that is predicated on the nature of the tamil community’s self-definition vis-à-vis the ramayana through the interventions of the dravidian movement, epitomized in pulavar kuzhandai’s 1946 work ravana kaviyam. that this aspect of a tamil imaginary, a fictive mythology created to serve the political demands of a movement, gets creatively adapted in a 176 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 film on dalit oppression as kaala lays claim to a universalism that exceeds narrow identity politics, manoharan argues. the central problem with a narrowly-conceived brand of identity politics, after all, is the definitive certainty with which selfhood is constructed, without any permission or accounting for quirks or inconsistencies. this is along the lines of the ‘real site’ of untouchability that sarukkai models for us as the ‘person who refuses to touch the untouchable’ (2012, p. 186); that is, untouchability can be located in the visible brahmin self who finds meaning through the dalit self that has to be made invisible. the identarian recognition and encounter of the brahmin self is predicated on a violent erasure of the humanity of the dalit self. how then do we engage with our own selves without reducing the other? the fabulous pariyerum perumal is an answer in engaging anti-caste politics creatively with frameworks of the community that the long history of tamil cinema has generated, and arguably far surpasses all recent tamil films in granting a conflicted interiority to its central character without participating in the politics of erasure of the other. in my reading pariyerum perumal resonates with a distinctive theorisation of engagement with the other—called ‘playing’—in the works of the relational psychoanalyst d.w. winnicott to whose contribution we will now turn. one can read for winnicottian ‘play’ when one is looking for engagement, interaction or confrontation, and the anxieties and resolutions incumbent upon such contact. winnicott (1971) draws on the children’s world of playing, kids play with each other (or with a toy or with an idea, such as ‘look there’s the crow, eat this quickly!’) only if they believe in the creative potential of the space they are capable of building. within a facilitating environment, the child tries to overwhelm the other person/thing/ idea confronting it, and emerges in delight when that object has survived (ibid.): the child invests the faculties of its mind to creatively imagine the space between the self and the other, and it plays with the object, i.e. the other, and is delighted when that object survives that aggression. this relationship with the surviving other and the creativity it entails is essential even in adulthood. what follows then is that we are able to play only when we do not doubt the stability of our relationship, and in that moment of play we try and test endurance. this is how meaning is made, belongingness is forged and beliefs are instituted. this moment of creativity, according to winnicott, ‘belongs to being alive’ (1971, p. 91). in other words, every waking moment of our life is marked by our playing with people, with ideas, with struggles. how am i working with this notion in the context of political engagement and caste? i would like to approach this question with the help of a reading of the poignant note that rohith vemula left behind. this work by a ‘glorious thing made of stardust’ urges us to re-evaluate our practice of engagement. let me cite a few lines from his letter and attempt to say what they mean in this context: i always wanted to be a writer. a writer of science, like carl sagan. i loved science, stars, nature, but then i loved people without knowing that people have long since divorced from nature. our feelings are second handed. our love is constructed. our beliefs colored. our originality valid through artificial art. (vemula, 17 january 2016) pariyerum perumal and a periyarite note on political engagement 177 rohith was denied a place to stay by his university. the state denied the scholarship he deserved. the society denied the dignity he was entitled. but, more importantly, all of us denied the space we could have facilitated for his creativity to emerge. he wanted to be a writer of fine prose. he wanted to think and write about the natural world, and he was disappointed when people around him had closed off their rich inner worlds to him. all art is artificial to vemula because the art that engagement outside of ourselves (i.e. with nature) brings has been forgotten. winnicott says that the decision to end one’s life is because one is unable to creatively make sense of the struggle for making meaning, when one is unable to play. at that decisive moment one only wants to end the struggle; one is exhausted. that is why on the winnicottian couch ‘when a patient cannot play the therapist must attend to the major symptom before interpreting fragments of behaviour’ (winnicott, 1971, p. 64). if we are unable to play, we must begin to learn to play to stay alive. in the world of the dalit protagonist of pariyerum perumal, we encounter this struggle for survival in the face of multiple attempts at extinguishing his life, and pariyan continues to fight it out physically where physical force is necessary but more importantly with mental fortitude when structural forces threaten pariyan’s sense of self-regard. that is, while he has to face the threat of death every day, his inner world needs to grow into a life of its own because the prevalent societal forces prevent him from realising the wholeness of his interiority, enabling him to be able to creatively engage with the world outside him and play. before we delve deeper into the film, it is necessary to consider another strain of thinking on the powers of persuasion of the dravidian movement that has informed this article. we began this critical survey with impressing the genre innovation of filmic speeches in the dravidian model of filmmaking, but what do we know of the vitality of public speeches that were delivered to political audiences that the movement inherited? in his study of orations just before the emergence of the self-respect movement from 1905–1919, bernard bate argues that vernacular oratory ‘played an infrastructural role in the transformation of tamil society and the production of modern forms of politics, or at least the politics that came to dominate the twentieth century’ (2013, p. 146). he rues the lack of scholarly work on this form of political rhetoric and attributes it to the assumption that speech is ‘natural and pan-human, that people must have always orated’ (p. 160). his argument, however, shows that the innovations in stage-speaking enabled a politics that took political action, which was until then confined to the elites, to the masses and ‘entailed a new kind of agency on the part of an entirely new genre of political actor, the vernacular politician, who could now turn toward and evoke the participation of people formerly thought to be irrelevant at best and irrational and dangerous at worst’ (ibid., p. 162). in an earlier magisterial volume titled tamil oratory and the dravidian aesthetic, bate had focused on what he refers to as the ‘centamil revolution’ as he trains his eye and ears to the displacement of the colloquial register of the diglossic tamil language with the high register (centamil) in public oratory and how that was necessitated to embody ‘a “proper” distinction between leaders and the people, a political distinction between the dmk and the congress party, and a civilizational distinction between the dravidian and the indo-aryan civilizations’ (bate, 2009, p. 183). this new mode of speech, bate observes, different from the 178 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 unornamented speech of periyar and in so weaning away from their political mentor, the dravidianist speakers invented a neo-classical tradition that was tied to notions of antiquity as a way to adapt to the changing circumstances of confrontation: now they were no longer dealing with the british, they were struggling with their own in a quest for control and power. bate adds that there is a formative paradox in this scenario: how can a movement that would go on to garner populist support effectively wielding this elite language? he shows us that the legacy of the centamil revolution relied on persuading its constituents that the modern turn the paradigm took was not really a succession of tradition but rather a reaffirmation of the old tamil tradition which in the context of the nascent pan-indian national identity was new; in other words, the modernity that the dravidian paradigm entailed was a ‘newness of old things’ (ibid., p. xvi). this modernity was working against the modernity ushered in by periyar through his ordinary language. the site of that modernity enjoined by periyar, a consequence of subjecting social structures and constructions of the self to reason, in my view was the self. this self—contradictory and conflicted, because of the essential tyranny of reason—can be satisfactorily read and examined when the language is not affected, i.e. when it is shorn of linguistic acrobatics that derive its force more from ingenuity than honesty: much similar to the need for free association as a prerequisite for a rewarding therapeutic relationship on the psychoanalytic couch. the central crisis in pariyerum perumal mari selvaraj’s pariyerum perumal is the story of the titular dalit character (hereafter, pariyan, played by kathir) who enters law college, befriends his classmate jo (anandhi), and ends up facing the wrath of jo’s father (g. marimuthu) and cousin sankaralingam (lijeesh) because they see him as growing too close to her. how he survives the attempts to humiliate and murder is the narrative arc of the rest of the film. this summary, however, does not map on to the three-act structure of the film. if we consider the villain figure in the elderly thatha maistry (karate venkatesan), who is commissioned to kill boys and girls, men and women across castes who have fallen in love, then we would read the romantic entanglement of pariyan and jo as the central conflict of the film. we would of course be on stable ground, because we could draw on the prevailing violence surrounding inter-caste unions, and the travails entailed in inter-caste romance would appear to be the force propelling the narrative. however, we do not witness any instances of desire flowing between the lead characters that could even be remotely construed as imbued with the conventional tropes of erotic or conjugal enrapture. in fact, for the entirety of the film, pariyan is practically asexual; he is not constructed in the mould of the hypermasculine figure of desire that has come to dominate indian cinema, he sternly opposes his friend anand’s (yogi babu) efforts at characterising his relationship with jo as romance, and encounters the limits of everyone’s understanding when a friendly teacher reads their relationship as romantic love. the flow of desire, instead, is from pariyan towards self-preservation and development; it is as if the character is consciously working on building his arc through the narrative. he joins college because he is falsely implicated in an instance pariyerum perumal and a periyarite note on political engagement 179 of theft, and his mentor-grandfather imbues in him the desire to study law, in order to be able to do some good for his society. if at all there is desire, it is to survive— the personal extending into the communal—through the workings of his mind. this single-minded determination looking forward into inner development finds its first obstacle in language. during his first class in college, in what is ironically an instance of looking back—the history of courts course—he is faced with incomprehensibility. he just cannot understand a word the teacher says because she lectures in english. he is subjected to ridicule for his honest and forthright request to be taught in a language he and indeed everyone in class is used to. driving home this point even further is yet another round of singular humiliation he (and anand, albeit initially) faces at the hands of the professor of english. since he is unable to follow the notes dictated in class, he pretends to jot down points and instead draws rows of circles in his notebook. the professor snatches his notebook and asks jo to read what he has written. when she says she cannot read circles on a piece of paper, the professor says out aloud ‘read what he has written: egg … egg … egg … egg … egg … egg …’ the class erupts in laughter and pariyan is humiliated for occupying a seat in the college through reservations. it is this set up that brings upon his arc an interaction with jo for the first time, when he approaches her and she offers to help him with english and follows it through the rest of the film. pariyan’s engagement in this first act is unabashedly motivated towards working on himself—narratively cemented in a scene by his insensitivity to jo’s bleeding hands, when he is only concerned if she would be able to write the assignment on his behalf as she had promised. the incident propelling the narrative begins at around the mid-point in the narrative when he is humiliated, thrashed, urinated upon and threatened by jo’s family for simply coming too close to her, when he accepts an invitation from jo to attend a wedding in her family. this conflict is presented again in the register of incomprehension—pariyan cannot understand the visceral hatred of people he has just met in his life. since jo does not get to meet him at the wedding, thanks to her family locking him up in a room in an attempt to break his spirit, she confronts him in class and asks why he did not turn up. pariyan lies to her. it is in this scene that we first see an inkling of desire in the register of the romance flowing from jo to pariyan. she is angry and annoyed with him that he cannot relate to her feelings, and furiously walks away saying they will not talk to each other until she wants to talk to him herself. this expression of desire follows casteist logic—the right order of conduct always flows in a dictatorial route from the upper caste body to the lower caste body—and at this moment the logic of realism is bent in favour of conflict in pariyan’s inner world. when jo walks away, the classroom has been purged of its furniture and the blackboard is filled with rows of circles, the pivotal visual metaphor for incomprehensibility and tool of humiliation early in the film. this conflict is instantiated with the surrealist song ‘naan yaar’ (‘who am i?’) and the arrival into the frame of pariyan’s pet dog, karuppi, whose killing at the hands of an upper caste gang we witness in gory detail right at the outset of the film. the artistic genre of surrealism attempts to harness the creative potential of the unconscious by what may seem an irrational assemblage of symbols and otherworldly realities. with this formal break in 180 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 the narrative, the film asks us to focus on the turmoil in pariyan’s inner world. this crisis of the self in the face of attempts at his life is resolved at the end when he is able to tell jo’s father, ‘as long as you are the way you are and expect me to be the dog, nothing will change. everything will remain the same.’ it is towards this realisation that the film wants us to reach. the film neither presents this resolution as preserving the status quo, nor as a refusal to admit change in the social fabric (i.e. the persistence of casteism through altered mechanisms), but as a realisation that the fight is still on for pariyan. that pariyan may yet have to face attempts on his life in the hands of jo’s family tomorrow; that no change has happened outside of him but a world of change has occurred inside him. it is on this premise, that the film asks us to do a reading of the shifts within pariyan’s mind which i would like to investigate through two conversations. in the first interaction from the film i would like to analyse, jo meets pariyan outside the hospital where his father has been admitted after being jeered at by jo’s cousin and his friends for being effeminate, stripped, thrashed and made to run for his life. jo closes her eyes and says she doesn’t have the courage to look at him in the face and express what she then says: i’ve told my dad, mom, brother, everyone at home how much i like you. i don’t know what they all feel about that. but i have feelings. i keep feeling that i should be with you. that i should come and live with your father, mother, everyone in your family. it is wrong of me to think all of this about you, without your permission. i know. but i should tell you this someday, shouldn’t i? that’s why i’ve told you this today, with my eyes shut. you don’t have to respond to any of this. my desire is only this: can we go back to being the way we were? the first day i saw you; you were sitting in the last bench and introduced yourself as pariyerum perumal babl with a line on the top. will you be that pariyan? tell me you will be that pariyan, only then i will open my eyes. (translation mine) we will be able to note the significance of the construction of jo as a caste-blind dominant caste heroine in this film that is deeply embedded in working against the steady build-up of caste forces. in narratively literalising her blindness the film is conscious and incisive in its study that the hero is inexplicably torn between choosing to burst her bubble of blindness and maintaining the fiction because pariyan sees her as his only ray of hope (post-caste future). to extend this further, when we consider the placement of this dialogue, it is after this scene that pariyan faces what is perhaps the first instance of him fighting back without running away from the threat of destruction. pariyan would physically overpower thatha maistry, fights back when jo’s nephew and his friends turn up to finish the work thatha maistry couldn’t do, and struggles with the very-human urge to kill any and all of his assailants. returning to the scene being analysed, as viewers we are privy to thatha maistry’s assignment to murder pariyan, and we see him hovering in the margins of the scene, blurred out by the blindness staged by jo. both jo and pariyan are unaware of being observed by thatha maistry. one may argue that jo’s playful language in this dialogue and her character pariyerum perumal and a periyarite note on political engagement 181 arc—which is all but a definitive point in this film—both point to the conventional fair-skinned heroine fantasy that popular contemporary tamil films are replete with. however, i would urge us to look at the scene as depicting an adult who is ignorant, childish, at times brattish. importantly, jo is fearful of her sexuality, but determined to make something of the charge with which that desire possesses her. she is incapable of understanding the world around her, but is invested in carving out a potential space of creativity outside of her. the internal contradiction in the speech excerpted above is remarkable in staging a moment of play: she basically says, i will tell you without telling you that i desire you and that should create a future that is the past. to pariyan that is incomprehensible; he has outgrown that past, how can he grow down? he smiles through his tears endearingly. that smile, in this reading, is representative of him having found in his interlocutor a playing child, and the subtle realisation that he has just learned a new detail about jo and, in his mind, he has to shift in the way he engages the pernicious problem she presents. the second scene i’d like to read is the climax, which is an interaction between pariyan and jo’s father. after having been at the receiving end of multiple assaults on his life and severe violence in the hands of goons hired by jo’s father, pariyan manages to escape alive. jo is unaware of all of this and brings together pariyan and her father to a meeting over tea. when she goes to buy tea for them, jo’s father repentantly asks pariyan why he hasn’t revealed any of his struggles to jo. if we follow the interactions between pariyan and jo’s father in a previous scene, we know that pariyan has already answered this question. perched atop the hood of jo’s father’s car, pariyan tells him that the love of his daughter is a charity bestowed on him by pariyan’s conscious act of not turning jo against her own father by telling her the truth. but, then, in the climax, jo’s father and indeed we as audiences ask him again: why doesn’t pariyan turn jo against her father? pariyan gives us another explanation. he says that he knows how much jo loves her father and that is the reason. both these reasons border on paying homage to the edifice of heteronormative patriarchy that fuels the villain in the narrative: casteism, the network of forces that evacuates a person’s self-regard and ties it to the regard of the clan they belong to and motivates them to excesses of violence. in response, jo’s father says that he knows that jo loves pariyan as much as she loves him and enquires if pariyan did not have reciprocal feelings for jo. having dealt with the same question from two other well-meaning characters in the narrative, pariyan has by now arrived at a meaningful resolution of the conflict of incomprehensibility in him. the interaction is as follows: pariyan: i don’t know. before i could understand it, you tore me to pieces. but your daughter is very lucky, she can say what she feels openly, anywhere. look at me. i have to die so many times, before i can say what i feel. jo’s father: sorry! you are a good person. you will become all that you wish to be. study well. ok? i can only say this for now. what else can i say. let’s see. things can change tomorrow right? who knows! pariyan: i know sir! as long as you are the way you are and expect me to be the dog, you want me to be. nothing will change! everything will remain the same. 182 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 in the space of three exchanges, pariyan makes the interaction pedagogic both for jo’s father and the audiences. it is true that as long as attitudes towards others do not change, oppressive structures are not going to be dismantled. it is also true that education is not going to make caste differences disappear. however, if we draw our attention to the throw-away remark about conversations that pariyan begins with we may see this differently. pariyan locates himself as someone who cannot speak without dying. in perfect alignment with the winnicottian notion of creativity, he ties life to the ability to engage and converse. if he needs to speak he has to have suffered countless deaths. besides the fact that he has had to struggle to keep his life throughout the film to be able to say these few words to jo’s father, will pariyan still survive after this conversation? the threat of jo’s desire still hangs over him, and jo’s father, even if he is apologetic, still asks pariyan to focus on studies. the workings of caste network have been left untouched and pariyan’s caste identity will follow him everywhere. we can attempt an answer if we ask the question: has a conversation at all happened in this series of exchanges? in an earlier episode of violence and humiliation in the film, jo’s father tears up and admits to a thrashed up pariyan, drenched in someone’s urine, that he is helpless under the command of casteism; in other words, jo’s father implicitly admits that he is nobody without his caste. the violence that falls on pariyan, therefore, does not have a face. that seems to have been the case with his interlocutor in this scene as well. pariyan is able to say all of this to jo’s father because he isn’t there to engage. pariyan could die after this showdown because he has spoken to no one in particular. he hasn’t been able to creatively engage with any person. but the difference here is, pariyan has worked on what has bothered him all this while—the throttling sense of incomprehensibility; he has come to understand it as an idea and has overwhelmed it. the implication of this reading, then, is not that the caste-blind upper caste heroine is the prime mover of this coming-of-age narrative, but that pariyan learns to play and creatively engage with the struggle he faces, and that begins midway through the narrative when he asks a question of his own self ‘who am i?’ the formal shift from realism to surrealism, a moment of creative rupture in an otherwise straightforward narration then becomes exciting because the very real world outside is not engaging with pariyan and he is moved to discover and confront his rich inner world. the conversation with jo outside the hospital then is a significant witness to the growing comfort pariyan feels with his own self, because he demonstrates being able to hold the frustration of having to deal with the complicated challenges of an adult– child, desire–non-desire. if his journey began with self-preservation, it has blossomed by now into a strength that is required to deal with the precariousness that we open ourselves to when we focus on our inner world. we will all run the risk of being jo if we do not recognise the import of these political stakes of the film. at this juncture, one might wonder how this kind of engagement that demands shifts in the inner world can come to bear on contemporary political movements. is this reading of pariyerum perumal merely an attempt at theorizing and abstracting from the real world of struggle and political action? we are, after all, in a time of steady right-wing ascendancy, marked by the co-option of anti-caste struggles and leadership, pariyerum perumal and a periyarite note on political engagement 183 even scholarship and rhetoric as can be seen in the multiple instances when the current ruling dispensation has invoked ambedkar to justify its casteist/communalist stances (neelakandan, 2017; banerjee, 2021; for an academic engagement with this appropriation, see guru, 1991; teltumbde, 2015). in this milieu, periyar stands as one unforgettable figure, long gone yet constantly resisting appropriation and consistently persisting as a thorn to those in power. the predominant response to periyar among his detractors is of mischaracterisation and revulsion (for instance, neelakandan, 2018). periyar would have smiled at the nature of this continuing legacy. it was after all periyar who said: if i am seen as someone possessing divine powers, people will not think carefully about my words. if i am called a rogue, my words will be carefully scrutinized. … therefore, since my words should not suffer the respect accorded to these works, since they should receive the careful attention they deserve, all those who declaim that i am a rogue or that i am someone who accumulates a lot of money or a thief are all people who have helped me. (periyar, 1931, p. 278) it appears as if periyar is raring for a fight and he calls for a worthy opponent who would carefully ‘scrutinize’ him. the rhetoric of this speech is marked by the clarity of thought and simplicity of articulation that has come to define our understanding of periyar’s works. it is at this juncture that we will now begin to focus on periyar’s presentation of his self that could help develop our understanding of engagement as working on the inner world as it happens in pariyerum perumal. the crisis of the self in periyar periyar begins that speech with the following words: you were all calm and the leader has instigated you into asking questions. i haven’t come to pick a fight. how can i run if someone comes charging at me? i am not foolhardy to think that i can resolve all your doubts. i speak what occurs to me, what i consider to be right. accept what you consider to be right. … you don’t have tell me even if you think what i say is right or wrong. think over what occurs to you. correct yourself. i do not have any objections, no objections whatsoever, to the fact that what i speak will be ridden with mistakes. (ibid., p. 276) his practice of adding cautionary statements against taking his words as the gospel truth, but to rather ponder over his ideas and bring their rational minds to bear on his words is fairly common across his works. what stands apart in this instance, however, is his drawing our attention to the inevitability of confrontation with him. in what will turn out to be an ironic twist in the speech, he begins by stating that he is not interested in a confrontation. but the kind of confrontation he is not interested in is the one where he would have to turn back and run. he gives an example of this kind of confrontation 184 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 by drawing on material immediately available to him: wall graffiti he notices at the venue. on the way to the place where food was served, periyar says he noticed graffiti abusing him and his wife. in response to these graffiti, supporters of periyar have responded with graffiti targeting others. he leaves this material evidence hanging and goes on to decry the sainthood conferred on m.k. gandhi and thiruppalakudi masthan and warns against the misfortune that entails treatment of humans as people with divine powers. he ridicules the ritual practices of worship accorded to both and questions the relevance of their work in tangible materialist terms (‘what is the benefit accrued to the country because of these people?’ he says in as many words). stating that he has dedicated his life to being an iconoclast and that it would be his misfortune if he is turned into an icon himself, he states that those who do not hold him in regard and respect are those who have helped him uphold his principles. they are his true friends because they would not rummage through their powers of rhetoric to justify the dangers and problems caused due to the words and actions of their icon. he considers such rhetorical manoeuvres ‘dangerous results’. he says: therefore, since my words should not suffer the respect accorded to these works, since they should receive the careful attention they deserve, all those who declaim that i am a rogue or that i am someone who accumulates a lot of money or a thief are all people who have helped me. (periyar, 1931, p. 278) he invites rebuke, but the actual demand he places is on the intellect of his interlocutor who must work towards developing the faculty of critical scrutiny. one may argue that periyar was mistaken in assuming that shaking his listener into revulsion need not necessarily entail careful attention (as can be seen in the case of contemporary critics referenced earlier). could we place this in comparison to the bait that he throws at his listeners right at the beginning of his speech, when he declares that he does not want to hear from them if he is right or wrong, but that their own thinking will inevitably lead them to correct themselves, while almost immediately maintaining that what he says will be riddled with mistakes. this formative contradiction that periyar trains us to inhabit is crucial to understanding the potency of the resistance of his rhetoric to co-option. it is a register of speech quite distinct from the academic intonation of an ambedkar. this is not to say that ambedkar did not playfully work out other registers in his writing and speeches or that periyar was not academic in his works. in fact, in this same speech periyar urges his listeners to investigate the material forces that led to the production of such literary works as the bhagavad gita, when he says: ‘it is popular because we have been told that it was spoken by god and applies to every human alive today, and we have been rendered incapable of asking the questions “who was the man who really spoke those words? why did he say what he said?”’ (ibid.). my intervention has been to focus rather on the mechanics of his rhetoric, the intricate weaving into an extempore speech a device that disturbs the cognitive balance of his listeners. this friction, i contend marks the first stone thrown into the field declaring that periyar is ready to play. periyar finishes his train of thought on the graffiti right at the middle of his speech by explaining that he is happy that such graffiti are written on walls because he is now pariyerum perumal and a periyarite note on political engagement 185 sure that he is successful to a certain extent. it is here that the epigraph that began this article occurs and it is interesting that its position structurally divides the speech into neat halves. there appears in periyar’s assured tone a distinct turn marked by tentativeness. he addresses a question often posed to him as an anti-caste crusader: ‘will you marry off your daughter to a paraiyan?’ periyar responds to this question in a way that is consonant with his practice. he says that it is the wrong question to ask because the self-respect project is against treating one’s daughters ‘as a thing given away in marriage’ but ‘to facilitate co-habitational arrangements’ between a consenting woman and man. however, quickly we reach the crux of a difficulty he has to surmount. this speech is probably delivered to a largely non-dalit audience, because it draws attention to the oppression dalits face(d) in the region at the hands of the shudra castes. many to most of his supporters were drawn from the shudra castes, and therefore, when he chastises his listeners as ‘distilled idiots’ if they continued to hold the belief that their ‘shudra’ tag will vanish without abolishing the ‘paraiya’ tag, one can get a sense of the unease that would have rippled through the crowd. although, the central concern he seems anxious to import to his audiences is that ‘efforts made for the welfare of the adi-dravidas are actually for the benefit of all nonadi-dravidas and non-brahmins as well’ (ibid., p. 280), he immediately follows this definitive proclamation with a disclaimer about his changing stances. he addresses what could have been a pressing concern amongst his followers at that time: what do we make of a leader who somersaults in his opinions? he does not lambast consistency nor does he take the route of inevitability of change to respond to these criticisms. he places another contradiction in his rhetoric. he acknowledges that rational thinking would have to be mobilized when he exhibits any shocking reversal of position, and that they needed to figure it out for themselves if his motives are in tune with the changing times or if they are selfish. simultaneously, however, he also asks them why it concerns them that he changes at all. he says: i may have changed my opinion many times in the past. i may have somersaulted many times. i may have done it for selfish reasons too. i may have been a chameleon. how does that affect you? don’t you pay for it and appreciate it when an actor puts on various guises and acts on stage? would you consider yourself cheated? think of us that way, come over, listen to us and leave. (ibid., p. 281) while demanding a kind of interaction that is abrasive and intelligent, periyar also wants his listeners to not take him seriously. this sudden toss from a call to rationality to an obliging indulgence of the performative drama of his rhetoric comes to a moment of cognitive crisis borne out of the momentum that has built up till then and the distinctive demands of the audience when periyar says: ‘in fact, i am unsure if what i say today are conclusive to me. anyway, given the current circumstances, and given the paucity of time—it can also be said that i am holding back—i am going to measure my speech and discuss only a few things.’ this dramatic performance has come to a screeching halt a full two pages before the speech can actually end. periyar is here on the brink of exceeding the materialist in him. he has till now given us instances of 186 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 his critical method of investigating texts and ritual practices, he has even justified his changes by citing the forces (changing times and selfish interest) that make him move. this moment, when he is holding back, however, is a moment of an inner conflict, not in the mode of incomprehension as we saw in pariyerum perumal, but in the mode of the here-and-now political action. periyar seems to hold back and measure his speech because of something that is happening right there and then; it could be something as banal as paucity of time, but it could also be that he had whipped up the sensibility of his interlocutors to a peak beyond which even if he would be adding to his performance it would be overdone. we may never know. there is no point speculating on a particular event that could have happened, because this really is a speech that has come down to us because it was published in kudi arasu over a week after it was delivered. if it was indeed an insignificant utterance it could have been edited out of the reprint by the editor, who was periyar himself. he seems intent on etching his uncertainty, his moment of stumble as a demonstration of the changes he has been speaking about until then—an instance of form mimicking the content. this instance of fragility appears like an invitation to his audiences, in 1931 and 2022, to confront him, to bring out their aggression in their engagement with him. he urges us to play with him. what follows this call to play is a call to action to rise in fury when someone calls them shudras and a short critique of gandhi’s brand of nationalism. he ends the speech by quoting rabindranath tagore’s identification of ‘[i]rrationality, superstition, caste divisions [and] communalism’ as the primary problems the country faces, rather than subjugation by a foreign power and takes another dig at gandhi and the congress. his parting words in that speech draw us back to the precarity of playing, when he says: ‘our philosophy is opposed to god and religion, which are ideas that directly feed varnashrama and capitalism. i myself cannot be sure of where else our philosophy will take us. therefore, be courageous and employ your rationality for any purpose’ (periyar, 1931, p. 283). periyar was not calling for courage only because rationality stands opposed to structural forces of oppression that would close ranks and violently suppress the workings of the critical mind. that he was. but, more interestingly, his rhetoric also shows that when one plays as he did, one opens oneself to conflict that is directed into the inner world throwing it into upheaval and shift, in the mould of what encounter with incomprehension did to pariyan. we had observed a tonal shift in the speech after the utterance of what has become the epigraph of this article. when periyar says he may have unconsciously sought respect, he isn’t of course referring to the unconscious in freudian terms. this article is not an attempt at a psychobiography of periyar, because the unconscious is by definition inaccessible when one is alive and thinking, let alone when one attempts to unearth it through an analysis of a speech by an author long gone. what this article has been, however, is to explore the salience of the self as a site of political action, and the necessity of conflict that is not oriented outwards but into the rich complexities of the inner world. gleaning insights of formal rupture and engagement to read for confrontation and recognition of a changing self within the parameters of the film have enabled me to read periyar’s speech as exceeding the materialist and contingent on performative and self-reflexive conditions, apart from the established marxist pariyerum perumal and a periyarite note on political engagement 187 mode of reading periyar’s thought (see, ‘gramsci: periyarai purinthukolla’ [‘gramsci: to understand periyar’] rajadurai and geetha, 2017, pp. 845–94). this exercise has come to remind us that oppressive structures in place are in fact populated by people with inner worlds requiring a violent jolt, a rhetorical device crucial to periyar’s performance. this article has, therefore, studied the ways in which a film character and a social revolutionary show instances of such conflict and how these instances have been crucial to the politics they embrace and enable them to survive. acknowledgements i would like to thank my advisor, rita kothari, for her encouragement and inputs, and the anonymous reviewers for help in making this article better. my gratitude to amrita sekhar for her incisive feedback on multiple versions of this paper, and to deepan kannan for his critical comments. i thank ashley tellis for the opportunity to develop and teach a course online on periyar, and for asking a formative question on periyar’s interiority. my phd colleagues at ashoka university—nitya pawar, malay bera, abhilasha sawlani and tanvi chowdhary—generously contribute to creating a nurturing critical space where i first presented and firmed up the ideas in this article. i would like to dedicate this article to the memory of my father, s. gnanapragasam, who passed away in the second wave of covid, two days after i received news of the acceptance of this abstract. references banerjee, abhishek. 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(1971/2016). playing and reality. reprint. new york: routledge. © 2022 meena dhanda and karthick ram manoharan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. editorial caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 1–10 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.398 freedom from caste: new beginnings in transdisciplinary scholarship meena dhanda1 and karthick ram manoharan2 the ten papers included in this special issue of j-caste on ‘freedom from caste: anticaste thought, politics and culture’ are a culmination of a long process of selection. we received fifty-five abstracts to a call for papers issued in february 2021. we had invited academic papers focusing on the anti-caste thought of important theorists, thinkers and movements in south asia. in recent scholarship, new critical works have engaged extensively with the writings of dr. b. r. ambedkar (1891–1956), the most celebrated of anti-caste theorists but to a lesser extent with periyar e.v. ramasamy (1879–1973), the iconoclastic anti-caste leader from the state of tamil nadu and a central figure in dravidian politics. their precursor, mahatma jotirao phule (1827–1890), one of the most prominent anti-caste leaders in the colonial period and founder of satyashodak samaj in the state of maharashtra in india, along with his wife savitribai phule, has also increasingly become the subject of academic study. our aim was to invite new scholarship bringing their thought into conversation with each other, and beyond, to develop a deeper understanding of radical humanism embedded in anti-caste thinking and thus to understand the meaning of freedom from caste in its fullest sense. we were particularly interested in an exploration of lesser-known anti-caste thinkers especially from the ‘regions’, and marginalized communities in south asia. our leading questions were: how have anti-caste themes emerged in cinema, literature, and poetry, and how does anti-caste thought inform social and political movements and vice-versa? how have left, feminist and ecological movements dealt with caste? we 1professor of philosophy and cultural politics, university of wolverhampton, wolverhampton united kingdom email: m.dhanda@wlv.ac.uk 2marie skłodowska-curie research fellow, university of wolverhampton, wolverhampton united kingdom email: k.r.manoharan@wlv.ac.uk 2 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 sought critiques of the impact of religion on anti-caste discourse, its possibilities and limitations, including, but not limited to, discussions on conversions, hindu reform movements, the neo-buddhist movement, modern sikhi, islam and the pasmanda question, and the work of christian missionaries. contributors were encouraged to offer analyses of anti-caste thought from a range of perspectives of cultural theory, sociology, linguistics, history, political theory, area studies, or philosophy. following the life-lessons of iconic anti-caste thinkers, we hold that anti-caste thought or thought of how to end caste is as much a matter of practice, of changing the way we do things, as it is about theorising. in this special issue we were seeking linkages between thoughts encapsulated in texts and the manner in which these thoughts of bringing about the end of caste get enacted in practice. we must also state why it is important now to pay attention to the thought of these people. there are two main reasons. firstly, it is very easy to celebrate these thinkers as mere icons—indeed, various political formations seek to appropriate them—but we want to locate the importance of these thinkers in the social and historical context from which their thought arose. these people were exceptionally alive to the demands of their times and faced life-long struggles. secondly, there is a danger of misappropriation and celebration coming from perspectives that may be fundamentally contrary to the core of these thinkers’ works: for instance, it is not uncommon to witness right wing politicians, with antithetical views to the anti-caste thought of ambedkar, trying to appropriate him. as anand teltumbde warned of the tactics of the hindu right two decades ago: ‘once it realised the difficulty in directly opposing dr. ambedkar, it adopted its proven strategy of cooptation’ (teltumbde, 2003, p.78). we have to remind ourselves of the thinking which grounds the actions, policies and principles of anticasteism to resist the seduction of this insidious appropriation. an ongoing further concern is one of positionality: always there in the background is the question of the standpoint of the political agent. a certain kind of identity politics has led sometimes to the odd conundrum that one wants to write about anti-casteism but a question mark is raised about one’s privileged positionality and right to be speaking. we take caste as a problem which everyone has to deal with. we do not think that this responsibility is only of those who by birth status are made direct victims of casteism. being born in a privileged background enjoins specific responsibilities towards dismantling caste: it’s not an expression of privilege to fight against caste, it is a categorical duty (jaoul and dhanda, 2021). the papers that finally made it to publication following a rigorous process of blind review offer a rich variety of perspectives, covering a range of themes, and making bold, thought-provoking and theoretically rich analyses of anti-caste thought. prior to submissions to j-caste for blind-review, some of the contributors made paper presentations in a 2-day conference on ‘anti-caste thought: theory, politics and culture’ convened by the guest editors at the university of wolverhampton on 29–30 october 2021, (a full recording of the conference proceedings in nine videos freedom from caste: new beginnings in transdisciplinary scholarship 3 is available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=plnjcggsu2jhnumvtqyf-tzd9f1tq0u1p). the conference was a part of the project freedom from caste: the political thought of periyar e.v. ramasamy in a global context, funded by the european union’s horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the marie skłodowska-curie grant agreement no 895514. here contributors had the benefit of expert comments from the chairs of panels. to the conference contributors who could not be included in our special issue, we suggest making submission to future issues of j-caste. in naming ‘anti-caste thought’ as the subject of our conference we took something important for granted: that anti-caste thought was a distinct body of knowledge worth examining intellectually. for too long we have been held back by recurrent discussions about the meaning of the ‘term’ caste, and its usefulness in capturing group identifications that are evidently at work on many levels in the lives of south asians. in the uk, we have faced trenchant opposition to including caste within the scope of race as a protected characteristic in the equality act 2010. in public debates on this topic, we are accused of colonial consciousness, of self-hatred, and worse, of instigating hatred against hindus, just because we raise the caste question. the language of anti-colonialism has also been weaponised to shield the interests of a misplaced nativism (dhanda 2015). by foregrounding anti-caste thought, we wanted to offer a secure platform for discussion amongst those who are willing to engage in serious reflection about the limits and possibilities of anti-caste thought. we wanted critical readings of the great and the good—our friends, our own heroes and heroines, our idols—because we know that to offer such readings we need to read diligently and with attachment. the quest for freedom from caste is not new. several religious movements in south asia have envisioned a society without casteism, but their method of challenging caste was mainly in the domain of the spiritual. it was with the onset of colonial modernity that caste began to be seen as a secular problem and several movements and leaders arose to challenge it. they imagined freedom from caste not just as an escape from spiritual restrictions and religiously sanctioned hierarchy, but as a way of articulating new forms of social life unshackled from the ‘graded inequality’ of caste, through novel means of political consolidation and mobilization. the path to freedom from caste was conceptualised differently by iconic anti-caste thinkers. for phule, a united front of the oppressed castes, reclaiming their histories, welcoming modern education and opposing upper-caste domination was a step towards freedom from caste. for periyar, the founder of the self-respect movement, a rationalist ought to have no attachment to nation, state, god, religion or language, and in a humanism guided by rationalism, he found the possibility of freedom from caste. babasaheb ambedkar devised robust civil and political rights for the protection of the caste-oppressed, enshrined in the constitution of independent india, and sought freedom from caste in nothing short of the ‘annihilation’ of caste, which he personally espoused through righteous living by the twenty-two vows of his navayana buddhism. 4 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 these three anti-caste thinkers are known well in their regions and beyond. phule is seen as an important dalit-bahujan thinker in india (omvedt, 2008). with the rise of global dalit activism in the 21st century and a corresponding academic interest in dalit politics, history and culture, scholarship on ambedkar’s extensive writings has reached new heights (omvedt, 1994; jaffrelot, 2005; yengde and teltumbde, 2018). a five-volume collection of essays b.r. ambedkar: the quest for justice (5 vols., oup, 2021) was featured in a book panel we hosted with the editor aakash singh rathore, in discussion with kancha ilaiah, kanchana mahadevan and mathew baxter at the wolverhampton october conference. while periyar is a household name in tamil nadu and is routinely commemorated by dravidian and dalit parties, the complex nature of his thoughts has only just begun to reach a wider audience. recent scholarship (anandhi et al., 2020; baxter, 2019; kalaiyarasan and vijayabaskar, 2021; manoharan, 2020, 2022; venkatachalapathy, 2017) has pushed the boundaries of existing work on periyar and has sought to place him in global conversations on identity, political economy, secularism, socialism and social justice. this special issue on ‘freedom from caste’ contributes to this growing literature. this special issue is divided into three sections—anti-caste thought, politics and culture. in addition to the selected papers for these three sections, an independent article on caste-based discrimination among the nepali diaspora in the san francisco bay area, usa by prem pariyar, bikash gupta and ruvani w. fonseka is included in the policy arena regular feature. this article adds to the growing literature on the global reach of caste beyond south asia. the uk equality and human rights commission project caste in britain (2013–2014) led by dhanda included examples of caste discrimination experienced by nepali migrants to britain. this article shares findings from a usa focussed study of twenty-seven dalit migrants from the hill regions of nepal. many of them have faced caste discrimination in housing, microaggressions in interpersonal relations, and workplace caste prejudice, severe enough to affect their mental health. the absence of explicit policies covering caste discrimination leaves them insecure, pushing them at times to hide their dalit identity rather than taking recourse to anti-discrimination laws. evidence of caste discrimination globally makes it ever more pertinent to find means of challenging the malady of caste by examining the strength of anti-caste thought, and its materialisation in politics and culture. finally, this issue includes two book reviews: helen chukka reviews sunder john boopalan’s memory, grief and agency: a political theological account of wrongs and rites and gaurav j. pathania reviews chinnaiah jangam’s dalits and the making of modern india. the first section of papers dwells on anti-caste thought, featuring lesser-known thinkers from west bengal and tamil nadu, and a paper that critiques the intersectional feminist discourse in india. anti-caste thought at the turn of the twentieth century was immersed in the complex parameters of the emerging nationalist imagination. the figures who gained prominence were at the forefront of negotiations with the outgoing british colonial government. thus, ambedkar’s arguments with gandhi, are freedom from caste: new beginnings in transdisciplinary scholarship 5 well known by now (dhanda, 2020; kumar, 2015; omvedt, 1994; rathore, 2017) but there were others too who were quietly chipping away at the edifice of caste built over millennia, as the papers included here demonstrate. mahitosh mandal’s ‘dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anticaste thinkers from colonial bengal, india’ debunks the idea that bengal is casteless. he argues that the existence of multiple anti-caste social/political organizations in bengal for over a century, the proliferation of bengali dalit literature in the past few decades, and the eclectic documentation of dalit atrocities in mainstream newspapers, all demonstrate that bengal as a casteless land is a myth. mandal picks five dalit intellectuals from three dalit communities (there are sixty in all in bengal), and challenging nationalist, marxist and subaltern historiographies from the state, he foregrounds the contributions of these thinkers, highlighting how they were critical of caste supremacy and the swadeshi movement. the paper theorizes the indigenous and complex anti-caste intellectual tradition of bengal, excluded from the intellectual history of bengal. it argues that bengal renaissance was fundamentally an upper-caste hindu renaissance that did not (effectively) address the issue of caste subalternity. ignoring the parallel dalit renaissance, mandal argues, is ‘epistemic violence’. shrinidhi narasimhan’s ‘between the global and regional: asia in the tamil buddhist imagination’ looks at the tamil dalit-buddhist thinker iyothee thass’ sakya buddhist society and explores how this organization, founded in 1898, imagined the tamil dalits as indigenous buddhists and examines its intersection with other asian buddhist revivalist movements of the day. using the category of ‘pararegional’, narasimhan engages with how thass and his sakya buddhism dealt with transregional developments in buddhism, even while they remained grounded in regional intellectual and socio-cultural traditions. thass, she claims, aimed to locate the tamil dalits in a ‘global community of faith’. her paper reflects on how thass and the movement he led not only reinterpreted the past but also reimagined place, and thus she brings critical geography into conversation with historical analysis to rethink the spatial and temporal contours of late nineteenth and early twentieth century anticaste movements. santvana kumar and ekata bakshi in their paper ‘the dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse: a critique of its intersectional reading of caste and gender’ highlight the limitations of ‘mainstream’ indian feminisms, including their intersectional variants, in their approach to caste and gender. the authors argue that, despite its utility in highlighting the specificities of caste and the oppression of dalits in discussions on gender, intersectionality nevertheless homogenizes the category of the ‘dalit woman’, and thus, seek to destabilize these readings. kumar and bakshi reflect on post-partition experiences of rehabilitation in west bengal and caste violence in uttar pradesh to argue that dalit women and upper-caste women need to be read as relational categories, and in this process, try to complicate the understanding of intersectional feminism. 6 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 the second section looks at anti-caste politics, with papers on the political movement of the ezhava community in kerala, periyar’s approach to the politics of region, and how institutional dravidian politics approached the issues of representation and redistribution. the ‘region’ has been seen in relation to the ‘centre/nation’ often in terms of linguistic nationalism. ideas of regionalism significantly influence political discourse in not just the south indian states, but also in maharashtra, punjab, west bengal and the north-eastern states. the politics of both ‘region’ and ‘nation’ is affected by, and in turn shapes, the politics of caste. in his now classic work nationalism without a nation in india, aloysius argues that the elites in india used an anti-colonial cultural nationalism to enable themselves to take over the modern nation-state, while also defining the nation in terms of archaic traditions. on the other hand, political nationalism was articulated by leaders from the ‘region’ like ayyankali, phule, periyar and mangoo ram, as a pluralist concept to defend the interests of the diverse masses (aloysius, 1997, pp. 148–149). the articles in the section contribute to the debates on ‘region’ and ‘nation’, by critically foregrounding the issues of caste and social justice. anish kk in his paper ‘conceptions of community, nation and politics: the ezhavas of south malabar, india and their quest for equality’ draws attention to the political movement of a populous subaltern caste in kerala, the ezhavas. drawing attention to how the ezhava movement was critical of the congress-led indian anticolonial movement, anish notes how the formation of the ezhava political identity contended with the various broad political currents of the time. anish makes a case for considering the ezhava assertion in the colonial period as an ‘autonomous anti-caste movement’ and notes how they broadened the public sphere by articulating an anti-caste ideology and challenging the dominance of the brahmins through counter-narratives. ganeshwar’s paper ‘periyar’s spatial thought: region as non-brahmin discursive space’ foregrounds periyar’s ‘politics of space’ as a radical attempt to subvert the cultural logic of hegemonic indian nationalism which, ganeshwar argues through his reading of periyar, sustained caste privileges. engaging with the theoretical framework of henri lefebvre, ganeshwar claims that to periyar, the region was a ‘counter-discursive space’ that would facilitate the movement of non-brahmin politics from rarity to materiality, further asserting that periyar’s movement popularized the tamil region as a force with a distinct set of egalitarian values, bringing about an amalgamation of regional and non-brahmin consciousness not with a nostalgia for cultural pasts, but by prioritizing an ethic of self-respect. vignesh karthik kr and vishal vasanthakumar in ‘caste, then class: redistribution and representation in the dravidian model’ build on kalaiyarasan and vijayabaskar’s work the dravidian model (2021) to claim that in the political programme of the dravidian parties that were at the helm of the state in tamil nadu since 1967, social justice was given as much priority as economic development. the authors claim what underpins this approach is the impact of periyar’s thought, freedom from caste: new beginnings in transdisciplinary scholarship 7 especially his position that caste inequalities must first be addressed before the question of class could be. in this, the authors highlight the strong differences which periyar had with communists in tamil nadu. they further argue that the approach of periyar and his followers in the dravidar kazhagam and the dravida munnetra kazhagam led to some of the ‘strongest affirmative action reforms seen in india’, noting how different policies in the state led to a largely inclusive development. the last section deals with cultural interventions and their significance to conversations on caste. this section features papers on a bengali novel about a dalit leader from that state, the autobiography of a tamil dalit leader, and two articles on recent critically acclaimed anti-caste tamil films. as far as tamil cinema is concerned, scholars have drawn attention to how attacks on superstition and caste, and a promotion of social harmony have been hallmarks of films influenced by the dravidian movement (hardgrave jr, 1973; sivathambi, 1981). others like pandian (1996) have noted how the medium of tamil cinema itself challenged elite (caste) culture and opened up possibilities for blurring the lines between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture. much has been written on the interconnections of cinema and politics, notably, how this has been influenced by and in turn influences, the tamil social landscape (jacob, 2009; prasad, 2014; pillai, 2015). more recent scholarship, such as the essays in the volume tamil cinema in the twenty-first century (velayutham and devadas, 2020), critically look at caste and anti-caste themes in contemporary tamil films. in the ‘dravidian cinema’ of the 1950s and early 60s, addressing casteism and promoting an anti-caste message were mandatory. the more explicitly anti-caste films in the twenty-first century were based on this foundation, and new generation filmmakers like pa. ranjith often refer to films like parasakthi (1952), directed by krishnan-panju and written by m. karunanidhi, as inspirations. arul valan contributes to these debates through his reading of pariyerum perumal (2018). however, not much scholarly attention has been paid to independent tamil cinema and especially to the work of women directors. eswaran remedies this neglect in his paper on leena manimekalai’s maadathy (2019). suhasini roy’s ‘barishaler jogen mandal: construal of the undisputed dalit leader of undivided bengal through a twenty-first century bengali novel’ critically looks at debes ray’s 2010 bengali novel barishaler jogen mandal. the novel is based on the life of jogendranath mandal, an important leader of the namasudra dalit community, and revisits the socio-political arena of undivided bengal. roy undertakes a bakhtinian reading of the novel, and notes how it navigates into history, pushing the disciplinary boundaries of reading and interpreting history. she explains how mandal’s politico-ideological agenda of establishing separate/distinct political identity for the dalits and in bengal’s context finding solidarity with their muslim counterparts in the agrarian population was lost in the post-war years and abandoned by the new nations since 1947. as a historical novel grounded in a dalit lifeworld, roy claims that the novelization of the life of mandal is in itself an act of resistance, given its account 8 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 of the plurality of the nation and the centering of dalit self-declaration and sudra autonomy as ‘sudratva’. malarvizhi jayanth in ‘struggling for freedom from caste in colonial india: the story of rettaimalai srinivasan’ brings attention to a tamil dalit leader rettamalai srinivasan’s work. jayanth states that srinivasan’s autobiography, written in 1938, was the ‘oldest known dalit autobiography’ and reads this work along with his other writings to emphasize srinivasan’s important contributions to the anti-caste discourse. srinivasan was ambedkar’s contemporary and attended the round table conference in 1930–31 along with him, and was involved in struggles in the madras presidency in the colonial period to improve dalit political representation. to srinivasan, representation of dalits and leadership of their own communities was crucial to challenge the social hurdles they faced. through a critical reading of his life history, jayanth shows how categories like ‘dravidian’ and ‘pariah’ were re-signified by srinivasan and how they continue to influence contemporary cultural and political ideas. swarnavel eswaran’s paper ‘maadathy–an unfairy tale: caste, space, and gaze’ undertakes a lacanian reading of the film maadathy (2019) directed by independent tamil filmmaker leena manimekalai. eswaran uses the lacanian concept of ‘gaze’ and the lefebvrian concept of ‘space’ to understand the creation of mythical space in the film and its representation of caste and gender issues. maadathy is based in south tamil nadu and revolves around a girl from the puthirai vannar dalit community. the puthirai vannars are among the most oppressed dalit castes in the state, an ‘unseeable’ caste, whose issues are often not addressed by mainstream dalit formations. the film provides an insight into their world, and eswaran’s paper highlights the different axes through which manimekalai brings their lives to the fore. antony arul valan’s ‘pariyerum perumal and a periyarite note on political engagement’ undertakes a psychoanalytic reading, relying on the work of d.w. winnicott, of tamil filmmaker mari selvaraj’s pariyerum perumal (2018). this film shows the struggles of pariyan, a protagonist from a scheduled caste in south tamil nadu (from the devendra kula vellalar caste, many leaders of which community resist the ‘dalit’ identity) for education, empowerment, and recognition as equal. apart from the film, a key text for valan’s article, the other main reference point he uses is a speech delivered by periyar in nagapattinam in 1931, to ‘explore the salience of the self as a site of political action’. valan charts out the dimensions of ‘creative play’ in these two works to understand the anti-caste message of periyar and pariyerum perumal. the articles presented in this issue showcase diverse struggles for freedom from caste in the modern period, from colonial times to contemporary times. there will, very likely, be biases, prejudices and blind spots which escape critical scrutiny. and there is no guarantee that we are in a better position in the present to make conclusive assessments of inherited knowledge. however, to give truth and critical thinking a chance to succeed, it is crucial to foster academic freedom. anti-caste thinkers need freedom from caste: new beginnings in transdisciplinary scholarship 9 the protection of this space of freedom more now than ever before. we invite the readers to engage with the transdisciplinary, contemporary scholarship on anti-caste thought on offer here as a freely available resource, to draw upon in intellectual and political pursuits of social transformation towards a caste-free world. we would like to convey our thanks to the panel chairs of the ‘anti-caste thought’ conference—gajendra ayyathurai, dag erik berg, gaurav pathania, malini ranganathan, scott stroud and selvaraj velayutham, for their enormously beneficial and thoughtful feedback on papers, some of which are featured in this issue. we thank the reviewers for j-caste who gave their time generously. anti-caste thought is produced like all thought in particular circumstances. intellectual histories enable us to chart the webs of interaction—the opening or closing of doors—the serendipities that create the possibility of the birth of new ideas. it seems opportune to note at this point that the conditions for jointly writing this editorial were constrained by personal circumstances. writing under distress caused by the untimely death on 22.2.22 of her younger brother, raj dhanda, meena wishes to dedicate this special issue to him. a multiple fracture in her arm from a fall during her bereavement added to the strain, and towards the nail-biting finish, the production process was jolted by her covid infection. as guest editors, we owe a huge debt to the joint editors-inchief and the production team at brandeis university for their patience and efficiency in working around these mishaps and ensuring timely production of this special issue. references anandhi, s., manoharan, k.r., vijayabaskar, m., & kalaiyarasan, a. (eds.) (2020). rethinking social justice. hyderabad: orient blackswan. aloysius, g. (1997). nationalism without a nation in india. new delhi: oxford university press. baxter, m.h. (2019). two concepts of conversion at meenakshipuram: seeing through ambedkar’s buddhism and being seen in evr’s islam. comparative studies of south asia, africa and the middle east, 39.2, 264–81. dhanda, m. (2015). anti-casteism and misplaced nativism: mapping caste as an aspect of race. radical philosophy, 192, july-aug, 33–43. dhanda, m. (2020). philosophical foundations of anti-casteism. proceedings of the aristotelian society, vol. cxx, part 1, 71–96. doi: 10.1093/arisoc/aoaa006 hardgrave jr., r.l. (1973). politics and the film in tamilnadu: the stars and the dmk. asian survey, vol. 13, no. 3, 288–305. jacob, p. (2009). celluloid deities: the visual culture of cinema and politics in south india. lanham, md: lexington books. jaoul, n. & dhanda, m. (2021). confronting denials of casteism: an interview with prof meena dhanda, a uk-based anti-caste academic activist. south asia multidisciplinary academic journal (samaj) [online], vol 27, online since 26 october 2021, connection on 27 april 2022. url: http://journals.openedition.org/samaj/7610; doi: https://doi.org/10.4000/ samaj.7610 10 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 jaffrelot, c. (2005). dr ambedkar and untouchability: fighting the indian caste system. new york: columbia university press. kalaiyarasan, a., & vijayabaskar, m. (2021). the dravidian model: interpreting the political economy of tamil nadu. cambridge: cambridge university press. kumar, a. (2015). radical equality: ambedkar, gandhi, and the risk of democracy. stanford, california: stanford university press. manoharan, k.r. (2020). in the path of ambedkar: periyar and the dalit question. south asian history and culture, 11:2, 136–149. manoharan, k.r. (2022). periyar: a study in political atheism. hyderabad: orient blackswan. omvedt, g. (1994). dalits and the democratic revolution: dr ambedkar and the dalit movement in colonial india. new delhi/thousand oaks/london: sage publications. omvedt, g. (2008). seeking begumpura: the social vision of anticaste intellectuals. new delhi: navayana publishing. pandian, m.s.s. (1996). tamil cultural elites and cinema: outline of an argument. economic and political weekly, vol. 31, no. 15, 950–955. pillai, s.e. (2015). madras studios: narrative, genre, and ideology in tamil cinema. new delhi: sage publications. prasad, m.m. (2014). cine-politics: film stars and political existence in south india. hyderabad: orient blackswan. rathore, a.s. (2017). indian political theory: laying the groundwork for svaraj. london and new york: routledge. rathore, a.s. (ed.) (2021). b.r. ambedkar: the quest for justice. 5 vols. new delhi: oxford university press. sivathambi, k. (1981). the tamil film as a medium of political communication. madras: new century book house. teltumbde, a. (2003). ambedkar on muslims. mumbai: vak publication. velayutham, s., & devadas, v. (eds.) (2021). tamil cinema in the twenty-first century: caste, gender and technology. oxon: routledge. venkatachalapathy, a.r. (2017). from erode to volga: periyar evr’s soviet and european tour, 1932. in m.k. palat (ed.), india and the world in the first half of the twentieth century (pp. 102–133). london and new york: routledge. yengde, s., & teltumbde, a. (eds.) (2018). the radical in ambedkar: critical reflections. new delhi: india allen lane. © 2022 k. m. ziyauddin. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 263–284 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.443 situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers to sanitation workers in india k. m. ziyauddin1 abstract this essay is an outcome of a long ethnographic account of an occupational group that remains low-paid, polluting in nature, and historically considered menial. in india, various names are used to refer to the people, but they are called hadi/hari caste in bokaro, jharkhand state. the essay examines the exclusionary process deeply rooted due to the occupational association with sanitation, cleaning of toilets, and all work that is not carried out by other castes and communities. the oral histories of the hadi community brought in by intensive fieldwork demonstrate how occupational association brings a different level of social status by changing the workplace. in the last two hundred years (somewhat after 1802 a.d.), this community has not found the fruit of change that many other deprived groups could receive in reality; instead, they live in a dilemma to be urban but consistently remain at the margin. further, there has not been a single study locating hadis as one of the most marginalized and discriminated caste groups and they are never addressed in the policy framework except a few1 on the same caste groups of chas town2 in jharkhand. the services of hadis played a pivotal role in the life of the new township in the sixties. nevertheless, where and how they survived over a few decades is examined in india this research. sociologically, communities and occupational groups like hadis find an apt example of discrimination and exclusion even in twenty-first century india. keywords dalits, manual scavengers, exclusion, jharkhand, ethnography, hadi caste, sanitation worker, safai karamchari 1assistant professor, department of sociology, school of arts and social sciences, maulana azad national urdu university, hyderabad, telangana state, india e-mail: ziyakm@manuu.edu.in 1ziyauddin, k. m. 2016. occupation and dignity of unseen population: yes they are manual scavengers, journal of exclusion studies. 6 (2): 125-140. 2ziyauddin, k. m. 2017. experiencing exclusion among dalits: a sociological study of bauris and hadis, journal of social science and humanities research, vol. 2, issue-2, feb. pp. 106-118 264 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 introduction india is multi-cultural, diverse in works and occupation, historically complex, and a socially stratified society. some writings manifest and ignite feelings of celebration to the spirit of historical multiculturalism and the vividness of diversity that stands true. the scientific journey of researchers studying people and their occupations could involve: ● discrimination ● deep-rooted unequal social structure ● an unglorified caste-based occupational association to the people’s lives. a few communities and castes did not even find correct mentions in the census of india documents, historical textbooks and social scientists’ writings. hadi caste families felt neglected—when individuals carrying out documentation exercises miswrite their names or caste names while doing survey or official work. one of them is the hadi caste, a sub-caste of mehtar, referred to as manual scavengers at the pan india level. they go by more than a dozen distinct titles, yet they all refer to the same thing: a standard and single occupation; in other words, one occupation with a wide range of names (ziyauddin, 2017; ziyauddin, 2021). the hadi caste is one of the lowest ranking castes groups among twenty-two scs listed for the jharkhand state (district handbook bokaro, 2011) and settled in bokaro, dhanbad (jharkhand) and purulia (west bengal), comprising around 500 households (ziyauddin, 2016). historically, hadis are engaged in menial occupations, including serving the royal families in the region. by serving for more than one generation, their job remained less respectful until they helped royal families and were not seen as unclean as it is now. in 2011, the census of india mentioned three castes (hadi, mehtar and bhangi) in one category of occupation of manual scavenging and sweeping. the census of india’s subsequent reports reveals officials’ and census enumerators’ apathy and ignorance in conducting census enumeration on hadis. hadi’s caste is referred to as hair in census documents with mehtar and bhangi (indian census, 2001); afterwards, like hari, hadis are referred to as hair (census of india, 2011). another type of exclusion is imagining their caste names having been misspelled and incorrectly mentioned. hadis, angered by the way their names were spelt and reported said, “why can’t you find mistakes in the names of any other castes except my people” santu hadi emphasized. though they are misspelt in census reports, hadis assert themselves as hadi caste and not as hari. volume iv, compiled by russel and lal states, “the bengal name hari is supposed to come from haddi in bengal which is supposed to derive from ‘haddi’ a bone’ and is the bone gatherer and was [to] familiar early settlers of calcutta” (1916, pp.216–217). in volume iv and volume i (1916, p. 367), russel and lal described “hadis as the sweepers” and a bone gatherer synonym of mehtar, the sub-caste of mehtar in bengal. situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers 265 castes’ names and titles have changed in the past, even in his study in mysore; m. n. srinivas (1942) found caste names changed in census records. it is thus not surprising that hadis are spelt as hair or hari in different census records. altogether, the three mentioned castes in the state stand out as 58,242 (census of india, 2011). in urban jharkhand, 36,044 and 22,198 were rural figures of the total population. historically, the demand for both urban households’ toilets and public toilets compared to rural areas in the state has been higher than in rural due to significant chunks of the population being urban. the population of hadis, mehtar, and bhangis (formerly manual scavengers) in the studied district (bokaro) are 10,581 out of 58,242 persons in the state. they comprise 5,286 rural and 5,295 urban at the district level. almost an equal number of people reside in rural and urban areas at the district level. it is crucial to consider that chas is the most populated town in the bokaro district. further, chas town employs many sweepers (manual scavengers) who are hadi. unlike studies (like shyamlal in rajasthan and pathak in bihar) that show sanitation workers are more urban than rural, hadis’ bring interesting dissimilarities in various ways. the population appears almost equal between urban (5,286) and rural (5,295) in this research field. the scattered population of hadis tells another fact that the region of dhanbad, bokaro, purulia, etc., has had a more prominent presence of sanitation workers (erstwhile manual scavenger workers) in the last few centuries. second, muslim rulers brought the toilet system into west bengal province that ruled for long. the arrival of the british empire, initially the east india company into trade and commerce that gradually converted as an established empire, also influenced local royals and kings in most of their lifestyles and standard of living. dhanbad became the first area to get underground mining by the british administration, and it is still referred to as the coal capital of india. the coal mining also brought new sub-urban settlements and regions in large numbers across jharkhand (earlier chota nagpur division of bihar), creating demand for toilets. it is essential to consider that coal and other mining industries existed in the bokaro (a part of district dhanbad before 1991) region even during british rule. each mining site also had residential settlements for the workers employed in the mines. hadis are engaged in cleaning jobs in the residential colonies of mine employees and live nearby. thus they are dispersed in bokaro and dhanbad. out of 35 wards of chas town, five wards were added after the chas municipality was converted into chas municipal corporation on 9 february 2015 (census of india, 2011; chas municipal corporation, 2015). the field site of this study, hadi cooli, falls under ward 11. this ward has a population of 3,632 and has 646 households referred to as sweepers, but local folks call them hadis, a synonym for sweepers. i have tried to describe and analyze the various living aspects of hadi’s settlement, the people themselves, household census, amenities, schools, the problems, work and everyday life, and related aspects of health and illness. 266 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 population and linguistic speaking diversity of hadis the linguistic population of hadis at all india level, largest clusters of them are associated with bengali-speaking families (5,81,000 bengali speakers), followed by oriya 21,200; hindi 1,26,000; rangpuri 44,000; bhojpuri 38,000; maithili 4,600; santali 4,400; kui 2,400; kharia 1,700; kurux/kurukh 1,500 and magahi 1,400 (jhosua project, 2014). similar to hadis, bhangis are also widely populated, as shyamlal (1981) writes. interestingly hadi castes are kept in different constitutional categories in different states, unlike bhangis and mehtars. himachal pradesh categorizes the hadi caste under the other backward classes (obcs) category. though, they are put in the scs category in all other states of india. majority of hadis’ population resides in 10 states of india. in descending order, it would be: west bengal (5,89,000); orissa/odisha (2,24,000); bihar (1,06,000); jharkhand (84,000); uttar pradesh (8,300); himachal pradesh (2,100); andaman and nicobar islands (1,600); chattisgarh (1,500); tripura (1,000) and meghalaya (1,000) and in small numbers both across and outside india. india’s neighbouring country, bangladesh, has a population of 59,000 hadis who speak rangpuri as their primary language. they follow the religious rituals and faith of hindus (joshua project world, 2014). in general, the details of hadi’s population are limited and not representative due to the lack of a countrywide survey and differences in the mention of castes by state. further, there is a lack of an extensive sociological study on the hadi caste compared to other social groups. for instance, research on the bhangi of rajasthan studied by shyamlal (1992), sachchidananda (2001), and pathak (1991) wrote extensively based on their fieldwork studies in bihar. whereas the writings of srivastava (1997) on bhangi/ mehtar in the book ‘manual scavenging in india: a disgrace to the country’ are some significant reflections that pose questions why manual scavenging remained as a practice even in twenty-first century india. geeta ramaswamy (2005), on the manual scavenging castes in andhra pradesh, elaborated on the plight of manual scavengers in her book ‘india stinking’. however, hadis as a caste group did not find the attention of any researcher. one does not get a proper reference about the hadis even in the edited volume of the people of india3 series for bihar that includes jharkhand in part i and part ii. scanty references that hadis existed and have been engaged in menial occupations of manual scavenging are found in the census of india documents, 1991, 2001 and 2011. a survey by the committee on ‘improvement of living and working condition of sweepers and scavengers’ headed by ipd salpa on the sweeper pourakarmiks in karnataka working in various municipalities in the state shows that 3kumar suresh singh. 2008. people of india series for bihar that includes jharkhand in part i and part ii. anthropological survey of india. situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers 267 besides the scheduled castes, there are muslims, christians, lingayats, kurubas, and mudaliars engaged in this profession. it proves that members of different castes and communities have also taken up this vocation mainly due to economic compulsions. however, debates on how various occupations based on birth and caste are a reality in non-hindu communities demand further research. hence, this paper is limited to lowcaste hindus’ caste and occupational history. another report in frontline shows the existence and continuity of such practice in many states (venkatesan, 2005). there is also a mention in this chapter about the entry of tribal youth as a sweeper in chas town, mainly employed in private hospitals. my research is one such initial intensive and qualitative study on hadis in india, elaborating and examining the community’s life extensively and how they suffer exclusionary practices in multiple ways. hadi cooli as a site of discrimination bokaro town is classified as class i, chas as class ii, and bokaro steel city are classified as an urban agglomeration in 2011 all india town directory of census enumerations. chas is governed by the nagar parishad (municipal corporation). after the state government passed the jharkhand municipal (nagar palika) act, 2011, the term ‘nagar parishad’ became popular (jharkhand municipal act, 2011). the chas municipality was created on january 21, 1977. according to the 2011 census report, chas town has 35 wards with 141,640 people, with 74,727 men and 66,913 women. the town’s population density is 338 people per square kilometre, up 23.19 per cent from 1991 to 2001 and it grew at 6913 in the year 2011. hadis working population by sex females outnumber males 167 to 139 in a hadi cooli population of 306 people. the sex ratio in chas (nagar parishad) is 895, lower than the state average of 948. though in hadi cooli, several factors have contributed to the improved status of female sex proposition. the number of females in the 0–9 year age group is 43, compared to 37 males. between the ages of 50 and 59, the proportion of females and males changes, with eight females and five males. further, in the 60 years and above age group, there are six males and twelve females. the underlying fact in this data is an unequal number of males and females. still, these observations of the lesser numbers of males in the older age groups reflect a different aspect of hadi’s life. the shorter longevity of males is also attributed to their occupation and heavy addiction to liquor. it is reported that hadi men died earlier than women due to their higher liquor habits. the health status degrades due to the continued consumption of low quality locally made liquor. hence, the sex ratio of hadis may be better not due to hadis’ preference for girl children but due to the high incidence of male mortality in the old age groups as well. 268 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 tracing history and lineage of hadis in chas region the maharaja of kashipur, maharaja bhuvaneswari prasad singh deo, in the purulia district, governed the territory until 1947 and opposed british rule to establish an independent state. hadis first settled in the kashipur area of purulia district, a nearby district of bokaro with a long history of cooperation, and then dispersed throughout the region. in bokaro and chas town, a few senior-most hadi caste people maintain that the area’s raja imported their forefathers from other states to labour in their houses and forts. this claim is supported by land records that reveal hadi settlements in the chas region dating back nearly 200 years. hadis in hadi cooli have a long history dating back to the maharaja of kashipur, who granted them state favour and enabled them to reside in the beautiful region of chas, now hadi cooli. the land was given to them by the zamindar of the chas region. this information is supported by land records, which reveal that the local king allocated some land to the first inhabitants in 1802 (map 2.2). hadis themselves reported that most of them worked for the ruling families until the end of the kingship of the maharaja of kashipur. later there was a change in the geographical and territorial entity of manbhum4 to dhanbad, which affected hadis’ life. due to historical facts and being a joint ruler in the past, hadis in bokaro district had common bonds with the families of their caste in purulia district, west bengal. hadis of chas identify themselves as maghaya hadi, different from hadis living in purulia, bengali hadi. the history of settlement helps to understand how hadis continued doing traditional occupation and examine their occupational conditions. ramesh hadi (69) and somesh (62) narrated that the local kings were brahmins (or brahmans) and were paid high respect due to the patronage given to hadis. both of them said, “hamni ke budha purna ke raja zameen dalae halau aur vehe zameenva par hamnee baes galiye. baaede mein konhon soche na partil ke hamni kae zameen kamae aur aadmi logan boaidh jitae. ab kahan jeebin, badi samasya hau. chas mein konhon zameen nae hau ke hamni liye paarbin. joria thheen kutchau nae bachal hau.” “it is literally said that raja gave some land to our ancestors who first settled in chas, and we all continued living on the same piece of land. no one thought that in years to come, our family would expand and that very land would be a problem to us. there is no land in chas which we can buy. even land near joria (an earlier natural stream turned into the drain) is sold, and houses have come up.” the settlement of hadi 4in 1833, district manbhum was made a separate district out of the jungle mahals district and the headquarters at manbazar. just five years later, headquarters was transferred to purulia in 1838, which is closely located to chas at fifty kilometers. in independent india, manbhum district was again partitioned between bihar and west bengal under the states reorganization act and the bihar and west bengal (transfer of territories) act 1956 in 1956 ad (purulia district profile, 2014). in the same year, dhanbad was given a separate status of a district that included present-day chas town. situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers 269 cooli can be read and seen in the following map 1.1.5 it also provides sociological insights as to how habitations in india have been patterned by social distancing and occupational purity and pollution. map 1.1: hadi cooli the families find it challenging to understand the de-sanskritization in their community life over the last few decades. the patronage of raja provided some social respect to hadis. hadis differentiated themselves and claimed higher social ranking as they worked for raja’s families, similar to bhangis in western rajasthan who claimed higher social ranking who worked in upper castes families than those who worked for dhobi castes (shyamlal, 1981). 5the map was prepared after the fieldwork and dr. navin narayan finalized it. 270 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 khortha is one of the recognized languages in the state of jharkhand. perhaps for this reason, except for one hadi household in purulia, who later settled after getting a job, all kinship ties are traced within the neighbouring districts of bokaro in jharkhand state but not in purulia; however, it is not far away in terms of considerable distance. it is also vital that there are no government lands in the vicinity of hadi cooli where they could settle down temporarily, as discussed with hadis. generally, some land is found that is neither owned by individuals nor by the government, known as “gair majurwa zameen” (lahiri-dutt, krishnan, and ahmed, 2012). the government can use such lands for community purposes, and at times people also use them until the government takes over. the absence of gair majurwa zameen near hadi cooli also minimized their residential expansion. they got confined in the same land, which was enough when the first settlers constructed their houses and settled down in the present hadi cooli. people narrated that except hadis, most people had some land, and they used to pay taxes to the ruler at the time. the misree (brahmins were referred to as misree earlier, and the colloquial term for the ruler in the past was misree (mishra) would send his revenue staff to collect taxes from each house as per the landholdings and available assets of the agriculturalist or farmers in chas. the team in charge would also use a drum to inform the households about his visit to the localities. the revenue collectors gave hadis an exemption in the regular tax collected from all the families. this fact denotes that this area was under the raja of kashipur, and he promoted local zamindars to run the administration and collect revenue (purulia district profile, 2014). hadi’s oral narration of their past is a testimony to the fact that they lived and worked in the estate of the local king, maharaj of kashipur. it is also reported that a few hadis worked in the houses of landlords and zamindar in the chas region. such stories are transferred from one generation to the next. although most elders, including ramesh hadi, the oldest and most vocal man, pointed out that hadis had better social status in his time than the later period and years after the decline of maharaja’s rule. the stigma associated with hadis took rigorous forms, and they became the most discriminated caste among all the lower castes. the old generation provided several narratives of being humiliated and discriminated against as children born into hadi families. the identity of a child was also associated with the work performed by their parents. ramesh says, “i was not allowed to have a cup of tea in the tea stall at chas bus stand. if at all i insisted, tea would be poured in an earthen cup (kulhad). after putting the tea in an earthen cup, a hotel helper would be asked to keep the cup down on the floor, and i would then pick it up to sip it. i felt degraded and would mostly avoid going to the tea stall.” situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers 271 there are a few commonalities from the past to the present in a hadis’ life. senior elders reported that the nature of work has relatively changed in the last generation. shailender hadi said, “we used to live filthy life at an early age due to dirty work and had less number of dresses. we were also less in number than the available workers. now our children and new generation live a decent and good life. they can use washed clothes; eat better food than us; what else you can see as a good chance than this.” the work and occupation have not entirely changed, but the stigma and discrimination have significantly reduced. a noticeable change took place like work. twenty years ago, houses in chas had a large number of dry latrines and sandas6 that needed regular cleaning. an informal understanding existed between the households and hadis. five rupees were paid to clean the lavatory and the connected drain or outflow pipes for each house. such an arrangement would give hadis everyday earnings to take home. the change in latrine system, dry to flush based, has changed the mindset of the households. it is noticed that now people do not hire hadis for everyday cleaning until there is a blockage and major cleanings are required. families are doing the cleaning jobs themselves. a large proportion (40 persons) of the total (75 male) hadi men workers have got employment in chas nagarpalika (municipality) as sweepers. the land records available with ramesh hadi show the lineage of hadi families having been settled at hadi cooli of chas town since 1802. ramesh’s sister dhulia devi, a widow, lives in hadi cooli. dhulia lives with her younger son, jhomda hadi. the other two sons, somda and komda, reside separately with their respective wives and children in hadi cooli. the diagram (chart 1.2) prepared with the help of land records available with ramesh hadi in the form of khatiyaan7 shows that it was 1802 ad that the first person (narayan hadi) of hadi lineage settled in chas. khatiyaan paragraph refers to the original land records kept with the owners, which shows the family history of hadi caste in chas. as per the same land records at the disposal of ramesh hadi, out of the nine members shown in the lineage, only three continued to live in bokaro district in hadi cooli. the ancestors settled at chas are gadaghar hadi (also known as manu hadi), manik hadi (also known as makun hadi) and ganesh hadi. the other seven members migrated to other localities and regions within the state (as told by ramesh hadi). there are 36 of the 51 households who belong to the above mentioned three persons, and the remaining households are either of those who came from other localities and settled at hadi cooli or grooms who moved in uxorilocally after marrying a woman who is a daughter in hadi cooli in chas and settled there. 6sandas word rooted in sanskrit origin and the term is used for toilet. 7khatiyan is called land records. 272 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 chart 1.2: lineage of hadi cooli hadi sub-castes hadis can be further divided into four sub-castes. one of the four sub-castes, maghaya hadi, is settled in hadi cooliin chas. the three sub-castes, who have not been studied are: sahir hadi, digar hadi and bengali hadi. the other sub-castes have settled in different districts of jharkhand and neighboring states like west bengal. the data on three sub-castes are not collected and analyzed, demanding further research be conducted. as maghaya hadis have associated with the kings in the past, they assert themselves as higher in social status than the other three hadi sub-castes. situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers 273 it is believed that only families belonging to maghaya hadi are found in dhanbad, hazaribagh, ranchi, purulia, giridih and ramgarh districts in the state. ramesh hadi finds it challenging to provide community details to give the date and year-wise information. the data of elder hadis have been most relevant to bring out the social history of hadis in the chas area. i was informed that the four sub-castes are found among hadis, but the younger generation is unaware. a few hadis were observed sitting and learning about their history, but mostly they were not interested. the newer generations are not able to connect with the account of hadis. the last older generations may take away all the social history with them if they don’t share it with the present age. only a few elders in hadi cooli discussed maghaya hadis during a couple of meetings, and a group discussion clarified the facts and understanding related to sub-groups. a few interviews were also held with the hadi elder women and men residing in another village, mahar basti. the elder hadis, who pondered over and illustrated the occupation and work of hadis in the past, found that hadis was left with fewer choices after raja’s rule was taken over by the british. in several interviews with mostly senior members, namely ramesh, somesh, pintu, goli, haribabu, jagdish hadi, shailender hadi, and panbabu hadi who supported the data, they said, “our elder had less choice after the rule of raja was taken over. gradually the relatives of raja left kashipur. hadis adopted doing other menial jobs, mainly removing excreta and cleaning jobs. the existence of mada (mines area development authority) in dhanbad provided opportunities to hadis in chas. the cleaning job in government offices continued to remove dead animals and carcasses as there was no chamar caste in chas urban area.” as goli said, “except for us, most castes had agricultural lands. in this condition, our job continued in menial and polluted works and transferred from one to another generation traditionally.” in response to the researcher’s question, “why did you take up manual scavenging as your occupation?” pintu responded and said, “hamni ke itihaas ke jaen ke kee karbeen hao. ab hamar baap-dada yehe karo halae are hamro ekre main laga dal hathin. ye batvaa hamni kee jaanbeen puchae ke konhon reeti naae hau. bus kartae jau yehe hau hamni ke budhha-purna ke niyam.” “what would you know about our history? my father and grandfather were doing this occupation, and they also put me into the same. we never thought of reasons. there is no way of questioning why we chose and practiced manual scavenging. just keep doing our job is what we have learned from our elder community members.” gradually, hadis found themselves getting engaged and occupied with scavenging jobs and the social status of hadis reduced as polluted caste groups. still, this data is only reported by senior members, as mentioned previously. the younger generations believe that it is their traditional occupation inherited from their parents. now the assertion to report the social history of hadis are recorded in the data that there is the degradation of hadis’ work status from ghoda sahej to manual scavenging. maghaya means a sub-caste to bhumihars in this region, as claimed by ramesh hadi. hadis in hadi cooli belongs to ghoda gotra. as per the memory of the 69-yearold ramesh hadi, initially, it was only three households that settled in hadi cooli, 274 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 chas and the available lands where they settled belonged to three paternal brothers. however, a significant social fact emerges that there is a gradual and subtle change in using the caste surnames as hari. a few use hari, while a large number continue to use hadi. the census of india has misspelled their original caste surname ‘hadi’ and has mentioned hadis as ‘hair’ in the census report 2001—a term that is unrecognized by hadis in written or other references. occupational structure the research focuses upon manual scavengers who are engaged in a certain manual occupation as their traditional jobs. sachchidananda (2001) rightly observes that manual scavenging has received proper attention, neither about its inception nor its existence, desirability, or epistemology. in the volume prepared by vasant moon in ‘writings and speeches of bhim rao ambedkar’ published in 1989, ambedkar writes once an untouchable always he remains an untouchable, similarly, hadis have remained sweepers once born as sweeper. this expresses the existing concerns and reality of dalits and this context still finds relevance in the data on hadi cooli. the above illustration of ambedkar meant that a sweeper remains a sweeper throughout the life due to his ascribed status and birth in caste that does not change once born in a particular caste family. most hadis assert that in the last three centuries, their socio-economic situations have worsened. they live in a prejudiced world and are surrounded by caste-based social interactions. rajen harshe (2013) reviewed the forms of prejudice mentioned by gyanendra pandey (2013) as more or less ‘universal’ and refers to ‘natural’. as hadis too shows certain changes in their occupation, in the past, several castes have attempted to change their castes from one to another. m.n. srinivas in his published paper on ‘an obituary to caste system’ illustrates other changes as brought about by technological changes and how those products are transforming the lives of villagers who are governed by caste and traditional occupation. he illustrated the changes brought by new technologies in occupation like barber, shifting into market and cash-based work, washerman opening laundry. however, a few castes could not adopt new technological changes due to certain limitations. for instance, hadis have not been able to transform their work because sweeping jobs are to be done at the work-place like, office, house and similar with jobs removing garbage from streets and roads. the change can be brought gradually in the nature of work, to use gloves; tools etc. to clean the garbage and drains etc. sweeper could never follow the better way of some castes. the nature of work of hadis requires them to visit workplaces unlike a barber and washerman. he describes how those products are transforming the lives of villagers who are governed by caste and traditional life occupations. a few examples are, “edible oil is now produced in factories and they have rendered the oil presser and his bullock drawn wooden press….the barber and the washerman, two essential castes, have had to change their working styles” (srinivas, 2003, p. 457). this change is taking place in those castes’s for whom occupational technology is finding situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers 275 technological way out but a lesser quantum of change is noticed in the work of manual scavengers (mentioned earlier), hadis’ sweeping job. the continuation of sweeping occupation has perpetuated discrimination but the forms of such discrimination have started changing. people still call hadis as hadis (when they want to call a mehtar) but not by names; it reflects a kind of prejudice against one occupational caste like hadi. the ethnographic data provides the continuation of unequal treatment meted out to hadis but the forms and crudity has changed over the period of the last one generation. there is quite a visible change as mentioned earlier by somesh and ramesh that the tea stall was also place of discrimination and prejudice against hadis. such forms of discrimination show a gradual change in the market place and also while visiting temples. hadis are now allowed to pray. the attempt to change their surnames is not very visible although the names of some children have kumar and hari but not hadi as their surname. this needs further study to illustrate whether it is a deliberate attempt or a normal act. unlike the study of tulsi patel’s paper, ‘stigma goes backstage: reservation in jobs and education’, which shows that there is a conscious attempt by the first generation parents who worked as sweepers (safaiwala) in offices to hide their caste identity and had gone through humiliations. tulsi patel writes, “it is not surprising that people from the sc category react in ways to avoid their traditional caste or surnames and use the relatively caste neutral surnames, such as kumar, pal, ram, lai, chand and nath. they also prefer to use surnames used by higher castes to hide their caste identity and the anticipated ensuing humiliation in life. some of these surnames are singh, vyas, guru and charan. parents, especially fathers who have been in jobs through the reserved quota have given their first names as surnames to their children to conceal their quota category identity, such as kapoor, chand and swaroop” (patel, 2008, p. 104). one does not find deep data on hadis’ attempt to change their surnames. the existence of hadis as their surnames identifies their occupational category in the eyes of others. the level and forms of unpleasant experiences at the workplace vary from one person to another. the field data makes it true to quote that an ‘untouchable’ caste would remain lowest in the caste rankings, would remain excluded and this system of stratification functions systematically (michael, 2007). hadis have not been able to benefit from the several welfare schemes perhaps due to their hesitation in approaching the concerned offices. there is also a mindset inherently found among hadis that they are lower among all the other castes. it is for these reasons as well that, in general, have been called by various names in the past, such as ‘untouchables’, ‘harijans’ (a glorified term, coined by narsimha mehta later adopted and popularized by mahatma), ‘exterior caste’ (a term used by j.h. hutton), ‘depressed classes’ (a term used by british officials). nayak (1995) in his paper writes that a brahmin would not do any other job like a cobbler or scavenging. similarly an untouchable would not recite the vedas. this reality connects to all those occupational groups including hadis in chas who 276 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 would not perform prayers in temples. he further describes the caste and the practice of inequality in different forms. as regards the notion of pollution we may look at an interesting account given by aiyappan in his study on the nayadis in 1937 (see srinivas, 1952), caste members of nayar stay at a distance of 7 feet when a nambudri brahmin is present. iravan people must stay at a distance of 32 feet; a cheruman caste should stay at 64 feet and a nayadi between 74 to 124 feet like the other castes (nayak, 1995). this account would merely be humorous if it were not the case that some of the above-mentioned notions are still prevalent, even though in a diluted form in certain quarters of india. such strict social distance is diluted at a minimal level and this crude form does not reflect in hadi cooli. the respondents in the field also narrated the practice of discrimination in the past that was visible. goli hadi, 52-years-old, works as a sweeper, narrated, “during my childhood, in all eating joints (dhabas), i was not given space inside the hotel. tea was not served directly by hand of the worker at the stall either. most tea stalls keep kulhad (earthen cups). tea was served in the same cup to everyone but our cup would be kept at some point and i would pick [it] up. now my son does not believe me when i tell him about my childhood stories.” the household census data shows there are 113 hadis in the age group 0–14 years. this figure includes both boys and girls, and they are a working population in hadi cooli. however, out of 61 hadi youth in the age group of 15–24 years, 18 males and 10 females are working. out of 53 hadis in the age group 25–34 years, 21 are working men and nine are working women. the number of working women decreases in the age group of 35–44 years as there are only three women in comparison to 23 men out of a total of 34 hadis. table 2.1 provides the distribution of workers in the age group of 15 years and above among the hadis. no one under the age of 14 years is reported to be working. the hadis are found engaged in their caste occupation which continues even today. only one person among the 105 hadi workers is found to be doing non-caste work. jhomda hadi, 33 became the only exception in the entire hadi cooli, working in a private firm, tata indicom, as an office clerk. he spends the entire day in an office unlike his friends who go back home in the afternoon. but he finds comfort due to the nature of his work. it is an office equipped with an air conditioner. during an interview he questions, “why does the birth in a certain family and caste restrict us from the freedom of choice in all aspects of life and work?” most are overly dependent on available jobs and consequently spiraled in their traditional occupation. although it gives both a sense of security and over-dependency, the result is rarely helpful in bringing a change in their life. jhomda asserts, “i am the only hadi who has completed graduation (b.a.) and i am not doing my caste based occupation unlike my friends and peers in hadi cooli.” this is true of caste based communities that are still found to be engaged in the same or similar occupation for generations and this fact is much more prevalent among the low castes in the region including hadis. the hadis are not exploring other avenues of jobs and other jobs as such, rather they find it easier to take up sweeping situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers 277 jobs. it is the sector where there is little chance of competition from other castes than hadis themselves. it is in this milieu that hadis have retained their traditional occupation and have been unable to find a way for social mobility. his life in hadi cooli is completely different than at his workplace. the existence of hadis reflects the reality and continuity of manual scavenging in different names (sweeper) of my study’s caste in the state of jharkhand. the onus does not lie on the state machinery due to the fact that hadis are now called sweepers therefore they do not fall into the group of people doing scavenging. but the works of hadis are similar. there is a possibility of a drastic reduction in the number of scavengers as most who got employed in government and state offices were named as sweepers or safai karamcharis. hadi castes were already into scavenging occupation but mostly employed in the municipality way back from 1977 onwards and continued to do work in the sanitation department of the municipal corporation. the nomenclature changed but the work of hadis continued to remain the same. households living in/at margin as per the household composition census data collected, there were 51 households in hadi cooli. the total population of 51 hadi households is 306, of them 139 are male, and 167 are female. it is important to note that in such a small population there are 19 widows and one divorced woman. one widow, dhulia, 65-years, lives with her son and daughter-in-law in hadi cooli. she is the younger sister of ramesh hadi. another woman, bijla devi, a divorcee, lives with her two unmarried daughters. her husband, kamal, is married to a woman in ranchi and settled in his father-in-laws’ house. no widower was found at the time of data collection. among the six surviving old age males, four worked at bokaro steel plant and other two were in private jobs. lakhicharan worked in icici bank and haribabu at a private office. the better working conditions at the offices of bokaro steel plant (bsl), like bokaro general hospital (bgh), administrative block (adm) building, etc., kept them a little away from hazardous working conditions and less liquor consumption too. this difference between steel plant employees and others was found during interviews. steel plant employees reported having the best health care services at bgh that could help to diagnose disease or illnesses. somesh and ramesh are examples who benefited from bgh health facilities. having heart surgery for ramesh hadi has been only possible due to the facility of bgh for the staff. the manual workers in steel plant offices and municipal corporation live at the two extremes of margins due to their varied income category and status associated with the work. marriage practices the average number of persons per household in hadi cooli is six. the walls of a few houses are common to each other. krishna hadi and binod hadi are brothers and their houses are in one homestead but it has two different households settled there. 278 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 similarly, ramesh hadi and his sons live in one building whereas his married daughter lila devi and son-in-law ganesh live on the other side of hadi cooli. they were given a small house after their marriage by ramesh hadi (lila’s father) and were helped to settle down in hadi cooli. there is a very close familial interaction between them. ramesh’s sister, dhuria devi is also settled in hadi cooli. she lives with her younger son jhomda hadi. the other two sons, komda and somda, also reside in their separate household with their respective wives and children on the same compound. pintu and goli’s houses are next to each other and have a common wall between their houses. the number of married persons is 160 including 19 widows and one divorced woman. there are 9 men and 57 women who were married in the age group of 10–17 years while 48 men and 23 women were married in the age group between 18–24 years. only three men were married late, i.e. in the age group of 25–31. but none of the women fall in this category. marriage happens early among hadis. however, the average age at marriage is increasing from 15 to 20. pintu was married when he was 12 years of age and his wife was younger than him. his father liked the bride when he saw and met her at one of the weddings. despite his repeated request to delay, he was told that her burden is not an issue, “once you start earning things will be alright.” but his elder son married at the age of 24 years and other children are still unmarried. one son, vishnu is 19-years-old and the daughter is 18 years. but he has not made up his mind to marry them off quickly. he opines that 20 years is a normal age when a girl should be married and a boy can marry even later than 20 years. even boys do not wish to get engaged and settle down early. it increases the burden on their shoulders and in this way their youth is numbered. a large number of women married before attaining 18 years of age and a few men as well. fifty-seven women married between 10 and 17 years. this is quite high in a total of 80 married women in contrast to nine men in the age group of 10–17 years. the household composition of hadis shows that they have both simple and complex households. of the 51 households, 23 are complex and 28 simple households. jhomda, his wife and a child live with his mother and two of his brothers reside separately with their respective wives and children. jhomda said, “i wanted to live with my mother whereas my elders did not prefer that. they wanted to live separately so that their households get a better life, good food and daily complaints are minimal.”however, it has been found that lower castes prefer to live in simple households once they get married (shah, 1996). married sons moving to live in a separate household is common. the number of simple and joint households is almost equal. the younger generations want to live in a separate household as each one of them earn and contribute to the household. it is also true that lower castes preferring to move into a separate household after they get married is a common practice. a.m. shah writes that, “the emphasis on joint household was greater among higher castes and classes, who formed a small section of the society, than among lower castes and classes, who constituted the vast majority of the population” (shah, 1983, p. 3). this becomes the obvious fact that hadis’ preference to a simple household is not uncommon but similar to many other lower castes in the background literature of a.m. shah. individual earning, the choice situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers 279 to spend on their wives and children, preference of food, and type of recipe becomes important to hadis to an extent that makes them shift in a simple household after marriage. however, very limited land in hadi cooli and lack of saving or money in hand restricts them to move immediately into a newer house. a few of them got support from their in-laws’ families to construct a new house after marriage. at times parents and other relatives also helped. kinship network is typically based on blood ties, marriage or adoption. marriages are arranged with matches outside hadi cooli following marriage within the ghoda gotra. this practice is contrary to gotra exogamy, i.e. not to marry within the same gotra. the avoidance rule of marriage is limited to the paternal lineage. they avoid marrying a person with whom there is a known lineage association. in other words, a ghoda gotra groom does not marry a woman from ghoda gotra if she is known to be an offspring of a man related to the male line within a traceable depth of ghoda gotra. otherwise, marriage can take place as told by ramesh hadi. but all of them do not belong to the same gotra in the surrounding region of chas. they do not marry the children of their father’s siblings. this practice is seen until traceable generations in the male line. however, marriage alliance is arranged within maghaya hadi, one of the four sub-castes of hadis mentioned earlier in this chapter. the localities of married women in hadi cooli are scattered at different places in the above-mentioned districts. sanitation and sewage conditions besides economic distress, there is a lot of struggle for basic amenities such as water and sanitation. the area surrounding hadi cooli has three ponds that dry up during peak summer. due to the absence of public or private wells, deep bore, etc., the hadis are mostly dependent upon these ponds, as ponds cater to the needs of bathing and washing for the hadi and other castes. the open ponds do attract stray animals, drains of neighboring houses adding to the filth and dirt into it. except for one hand pump installed by municipal corporation and another one at bauri cooli, there is no other source of drinking water. the condition of the sewage system in the town is very poor. it is essentially a public health concern for all but hadis have the worst situation in their cooli. ramesh hadi said, “how can there be such an insensitive government although the head of the state is represented by a native tribal, shibu soren, then chief minister of the state, one of the most neglected social groups of indian society?” times of india in its ranchi edition on may 23, 2011, reported that jharkhand perhaps is the only state in india that does not have even a sewage treatment plant at a time when the world is moving ahead with a mission of total sanitation and a hygienic environment under millennium development goals (mdgs) across the globe. the important towns like ranchi, bokaro, and dhanbad having more than two million people, exist without this facility. further, the increasing contamination of groundwater is affecting the drinking water through wells, hand pumps, and tube wells that are the main source of water 280 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 for the poor population including hadis. the state stands at the bottom of the list in the implementation of the total sanitation scheme against the national average of 63 percent as only 41 percent of households in jharkhand have toilets in the state. the absence of sanitation and toilets adversely affects everyone in general but women in particular. one of the documents of the world health organization (who, 2008: cited from rebecca, 2008, p. 172) points out that “sanitation is a cornerstone of public health.” the lack of toilets not only challenges the dignity of hadi women but also exposes them to bacterial infections. females and males still practice open defecation. there is no data to discuss the increasing problem in open defecation due to crowding as open defecation free (odf) is not a problem. source: fieldwork, 2012 photograph 1: krishna hari’s two private flush toilet at hadi cooli, chas photograph 1 shows the two flush toilets that remain mostly unused in krishna hari’s house. his house is better constructed but the rooms are very small and congested. however, there is one corner in the courtyard allocated for prayers. there are a large number of households that have some familial association with first settlers. in an interview in the field, the deputy commissioner (dc) of bokaro especially reiterated that bokaro stands out for its greenery in the entire state but the adjoining town of chas is a contrast to it. bokaro has been one of the well-planned and developed towns much before its separation from bihar. but the development is purely confined to the industrial civic areas of the steel plant and chas is left out. men and women have to fetch water from a distance. they find it difficult to walk long distances and one does not know exactly where water would be available. situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers 281 as a few men use cycles to go farther. in the afternoon most hadi men get free from work; hence they find it easy to do this job. however, a constant effort and appeal are addressed to the municipal corporator to provide a deep borewell in the hadi cooli locality. they say it is under consideration. apathy in schooling and educational interest a primary school is located at the outskirts of hadi cooli, closer to bauri cooli and muslim mohalla. the school has children from all three localities hadi, bauri and muslim. there are five teachers in the school. it is a small building of four rooms and one large veranda. in front of the school, a deep well was sunk as a source of water for the school. this well was used to fetch drinking water by the muslim mohalla and bauri cooli. but it has now dried up and is filled with garbage. the school has no source of water these days. a number of children are enrolled but they barely attend classes. during the midday meal, the children return to school and enjoy the food. teachers find it difficult tomanage the regularity of attendance. as a teacher stated, “it is very difficult to teach children from lower castes. their parents do not bother about the progress of their children. most parents from hadi cooli do not visit school and even when their children do not turn up to the school even for a month sometimes. ``the educational level of hadis is quite low as shown in table 2.5. a larger number of them are illiterate among both male and female. not a single woman is found who reached class 11, except for jhomda hadi who completed graduation. the lapses in regular schooling are another serious problem in hadi upliftment. after primary schooling, only a few enroll in the high school located at a distance of three kilometers east of hadi cooli. but they hardly attend school. the apathy towards education is dominant in the minds of hadis, including the youth. youth are aware of the son of a tea stall, who studied in a common school, ram rudra high school, and he qualified for an officer’s job (probationary officer) in the state bank of india. in an interaction with young children, they had less interest in talking about education. conclusion exclusion is a perceived and lived reality to the hadi community and as a polluting caste group. educational backwardness is rampant among the hadis. almost every day a discussion on educational backwardness took place in the field while i was there. the socio-economic condition does not allow them to spend on their children’s education. schooling is free for all sc children in government schools. uniforms are given. though several children got uniforms and books, they are still not made available to every hadi student. neighboring localities resided by the bauri caste show that they have started sending their children to school as they are aware of the jobs in the government sector 282 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 through reservation. but hadis are found to be unsure about such avenues outside their traditional jobs. a strong perception among hadis exists that degrees will neither bring prosperity nor feed them. they have to work daily without failing to earn a minimum amount. food and clothing are essential items in the life of every hadis. in the whole of hadi cooli only one, jhomda hadi is a graduate but he is unsuccessful in people’s perception. he tried his best to find a good job but a simple graduation degree did not help him. he was not ready to revert back to the same sweeping and scavenging job. it was very difficult for jhomda to survive in such an environment where education does not have significance in earning for everyday living. there is one bangla (bengali) medium middle school located near joria and it gives an edge to bauri cooli due to its location. there are no success stories in the lives of the hadi community. most parents do not aspire to encourage and educate their children as it is believed that after spending years of time and money on education there are still no job opportunities. their only hope is for the children if they overcome the deprivation and attain higher education. life in hadi cooli is relatively different in several aspects. hadis have to follow their work that demands different working hours than most other jobs. community solidarity is observed and the same can be noticed when the elders pass any information to anyone. any new visitor will be asked and enquired upon his / her purpose to visit hadi cooli. the young children primarily spend time among themselves except school-going students who have friends outside the hadi cooli. the lives of hadis have been changing but there is less social mobility. bhangis in rajasthan started following customs and traditions of upper castes and have shown the process of sanskritization as shyamlal (1984) writes. there is diversity in the occupation of bhangis in rajasthan but hadis do not show many variations, except two households doing other jobs; one person has a grocery shop in a portion of his own house, and other works as an office staff at tata indicom retail shops in the private sector. in ‘the bhangis’, shyamlal (1984) found they were engaged in nine other occupations. the study is 30-years-old when private-sector employment had lesser avenues in a town like jodhpur. but the growing industrial and urban sector would have increased the opportunity for bhangis as it has also helped hadis in chas. but hadis in chas has retained their own occupation of sweeping than diversifying into other jobs. thereby nomenclature changed, spatial expansion of the town changed, demographic and population size has increased but what has not changed is the same occupation carried for generations. traditional occupations of sweeping, cleaning drains and toilets is the main work that the hadi community does even today that keep the discrimination and multiple forms of exclusion as an essential part of their sociocultural life even today. the social history, occupational background and spatial location multiply their agony and pain to live in poverty and on the margins. present generations have no idea of their lineage that may die or fade away by the time elders pass away. in the eyes of the administration and state, hadis are occupational caste groups that do find work situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers 283 in sanitation and cleaning jobs of the municipal corporation. hadis also cater to the sanitation job in the private sector on a casual payment basis keeping them on their toes every day. it would be interesting to observe in future, if other caste members and a few tribal youth start joining into sanitation and menial jobs on the formal set-up like hospitals and nursing homes. a negligible number is found in the field data. will the arrival of a new workforce reduce the discrimination meted out and social distance kept with hadis sustain for longer time in future? new research in the future would have to take this aspect into consideration while studying hadis as an occupational caste group to understand new phenomena. though their exclusionary journey from workers to sanitation workers continues even today despite various efforts and policy initiatives, they are still manual scavengers by occupation, and sweepers/sanitation workers by name. references atluri, t. 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(2017). experiencing exclusion among dalits: a sociological study of bauris and hadis. journal of social science and humanities research. vol. 2, issue 2. © 2022 anish kk. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. politics caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 69–88 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.357 conceptions of community, nation and politics: the ezhavas of south malabar, india and their quest for equality anish kk1 abstract this article discusses caste reforms, anti-caste ideas, and thoughts on nationalism amongst ezhavas of south malabar in the madras presidency. the discourses of equality, the right to the public, the process of community formation, ideology, and the mode of struggle for emancipation are examined. the question of caste, by what means the aspirations of the lower castes were addressed in the uniting project of reformed hinduism and nationalism is addressed. by capturing disagreements, conflicts, consensus, and the politics of ‘sub-nationalities’ within the ‘national,’ the generic view of national movement as a single, homogeneous consensus project is contested. towards the end, the article contends that ezhavas’ assertions imply the presence of an “autonomous anti-caste movement” in the south malabar region. this article also proposes that the dichotomy of colonialism versus nationalism, and the portrayal of south indian politics as a sectarian competition for british patronage, limits the opportunity to comprehend localised movements and their vernacular expressions. keywords south malabar, caste reforms, ezhavas, nationalism, anti-caste struggle, religious conversion, autonomous anti-caste movement introduction colonialism played a role in reshaping india’s pre-modern institutions. the impact of colonialism on institutions was indeed uneven and varied across regions. competing 1phd candidate school of development studies, tata institute of social sciences deonar, mumbai, maharashtra, india email: anishkunj@gmail.com 70 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 notions of community, nation, and nationalism also emerged during this time (aloysius, 1998a). the social standing of colonial subjects and engagement with modernity shaped their reactions. then responses of lower caste communities in south malabar, india’s “blackest spot” on the untouchability map, the land of inequality, are considered for the study (kumar, 1992; nayar, 1996). south malabar witnessed uprisings against the state, social injustice, and oppression, but the region and the issues received little scholarly attention. aloysius (1998) observes, if the majority of the egalitarian, pragmatic, rationalist discourses and dispositions originating from power as resistance are hidden under the multiplicity of local and vernacular idiom, it is an issue of historiography. so, taking the cue from biographical accounts, archival sources, ethnographic fieldwork, i try to examine the discourses of equality, publicness, community formation, ideology, and modes of struggle for emancipation. this article progresses through the social history of ezhavas of kerala. finally, through this study of late nineteenth and early twentieth century south malabar, i attempt to address the issue of caste, specifically how the aspirations of the lower castes were addressed in the unifying project of reformed hinduism, nation and nationalism. caste was firmly founded as a dominant force in the public realms of law, politics, and education. by the middle of the nineteenth century, caste associations were already evident, they had risen, and their numbers and influence were parallel to the increase in political literacy (rudolph and rudolph, 1960). caste associations grew in size, and for recognition of their identity, they looked to the imperial state as well as their own histories. for instance, in west and south india, non-brahmans questioned assumptions that they could easily be incorporated into congress brand of nationalism and early dalit leaders, like ambedkar (o’hanlon, 2002). the lower castes of west india, by ideologically challenging their lower status, recognized that ritual hierarchy coupled with the impacts of british colonialism had led to social injustices in a number of areas, including politics, religious practice, and education (o’hanlon, 2002; omvedt, 1976). in south india, nadars and ezhavas are the two lower castes that have moved from low status in caste society to communities possessing power and control (hardgrave, 2006; templeman, 1996). the ezhavas forms a numerically large middle caste in kerala, and their caste organisation, sri narayana dharma paripalana yogam (sndp), was founded in 1903. the middle class among the ezhavas, imbued with ideals of individualism, humanism, democracy, and reason, wanted to change the conservative, obscurantist, caste-ridden society (chandramohan, 1987). the sndp evolved from the uniqueness of local society and derived strength from the oppressive nature of government (jeffrey, 1974). the sndp attempted to bring ezhavas together by publications, local societies, branches, networks, labour unions, conferences, educational institutions, literary gatherings, litigation, trade fairs, and inter-dining. primarily addressing the ezhavas, the narayana movement urged to abandon caste markers and internally reform into ‘samudayam’ or community (jones, 1989; kumar, 1997). then the idea of community is completely contradictory to the overarching concept of nation as it ‘de-imagining nation’ (reghu, 2010) interestingly, the formation of consciousness is viewed as a result of colonial modernity and western influence, as are the lower castes’ assertions. the arrival of westerners was said to have sparked several social reform movements, including the conceptions of community, nation and politics: the ezhavas of south malabar, india 71 ezhavas (pullapilly, 1976). while the ezhava movement is known as a socio-religious reform movement it also contains multiple streams, one of which is an evolving socioreligious stream, and another which is more elitist, secular, and political (heimsath, 1978; jones, 1989). colonialism contributes to societal restructuring and creation of ethnic groups; inevitably, each group emerges as an autonomous ethnic identity, and the ezhavas forged a new identity by the end of the colonial period (kurien, 1994). in terms of typology, one strand of the lower caste movement is based on hinduism, while the other is grounded on ethnic or western ideologies with an egalitarian component. the ezhava movement falls into the first type (jaffrelot, 2003). despite many of these well-received works, the dichotomy of colonialism versus nationalism, and the depiction of south indian politics as a sectarian fight for british patronage, limits the potential for understanding localised movements and their vernacular expressions. also, the dominant theories like ethnicization and sanskritization narrow the extent of exploring diverse claims of lower castes in various regions. while recognising the merits of these approaches, this article suggests that caste oppression, the desire for new opportunities brought about by colonial modernity, and the aspiration for a fair share of social resources and power drove the ezhavas to get organised. kerala renaissance or social reforms were spearheaded by individuals who embody different religious traditions, and by several caste associations. these caste associations serve as agents of modernity, welfare and improvement organisations, transforming traditional hindu india’s social institutions into democratic pressure groups (bailey, 1963; rudolph and rudolph, 1960). the role of social reformers was to guide social transformation, i.e., to push modernity with a progressive effect on individuals and groups (heimsath, 1978). social reform is seen as the first step in the national movement, and supporters of narayana guru are regarded as the forebears of the kerala national movement (namboodiripad, 1968). if this claim is accepted, the national movement must be viewed as a single, homogenous consensus making project. when this happens, we lose sight of disagreements, conflicts, compromise, and the politics of many ‘sub-nationalities’ within the ‘national.’ the beginnings of caste associations can be traced back to indian responses to the state’s caste identification and classification, and these modalities influenced the birth of caste organisations, or ‘sabhas,’ that protect the dignity of the people it represents (cohn and guha, 1987; molony, 2018; srinivas, 1968). the dyarchy constitution also encouraged the rise of associations claiming to represent specific communities (arnold, jeffrey, and manor, 1976). even so, the influence of the sndp in south malabar, specifically in palakkad remained limited until the mid-1940s. here, the ezhava movement had a different structure and agenda, and it was closer to madras politically. this defies popular view that the narayana movement, which originated in travancore, fostered and shaped lower caste movements in other regions. instead of being united under a single caste association, the south malabar ezhavas experimented with the sanskritization model of emulation, abandoned religion, underwent religious conversion, and became politically active. therefore, this study does not fit into lowercaste movement typologies or lend itself to a broad view of caste associations. 72 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 south malabar ezhavas as a caste the ezhavas form a backward hindu caste in the kerala state. if we go by the conventional classification of castes, the ezhavas come under ‘untouchable’ or ‘polluting’ varna castes (innes, 1997). the ezhavas are said to be outside the four varnas of brahmin, kshatriya, vaisya, and sudra, but they are the highest among the ‘excluded castes’ and hold a middle position in the caste hierarchy (aiyyappan, 1965). as per one interpretation, they are foreigners who emigrated from ceylon (alexander, 1949; baden-powell, 1892; logan, 1951, 1951; thurston, 1909). the name chova, another name of ezhava is believed to be the altered form of sevaka, servant (day, 1863). there are claims that the ezhavas were a martial sect (aiyyappan 1965; menon, 1962; thurston, 1909). their primary activities included planting palm trees and producing toddy, coconut fibre, and jaggery. among them were woodcutters, boatmen, fishermen, merchants, schoolteachers, and ayurvedic practitioners (buchanan, 1988). colonialists kept much of the existing socio-economic systems in place without making significant changes, and they approved customary laws that favoured brahmins and caste hindus (baden-powell, 1892). resulting, ezhavas in south malabar had a lower social status, with limited opportunities for education, employment, political representation, and visibility in the public sphere. in reality, malabar had to wait till the end of british colonialism for an educational upsurge because virtually little had been done to educate backward communities (innes, 1997). also, property relations, political and economic conditions, and educational policy had historically been less conducive to educational growth (shea, 1959). that said, because of their improved economic status and closer social proximity to hindu castes, ezhavas were the besteducated among the untouchables, providing them with better educational prospects (chandramohan, 1987). western education was the ‘passport’ to government jobs, therefore getting a good education was absolutely critical (suntharalingam, 1974). there were just a few university graduates among ezhavas in the early 1900s, but they were unable to find meaningful employment (chami, 1936). almost all of malabar’s land, both cultivated and uncultivated, was private property owned by brahmins as their “janmam” birthright, which grants them full absolute ownership of the soil. the majority of ezhavas were tenant farmers with different types of rights or workers, with little potential for advancement. ever since its inception, sndp gave thrust to promote industry among community members (sanoo, 2018). though the influence of the sndp was limited in palakkad, a few individuals ventured into lucrative businesses and professions, resulting in the creation of a small middle class. because of british-led social and economic changes such as excise regulations, they benefited from the manufacturing and distribution of liquor and toddy (bailey, 1957). notwithstanding modest gains in socioeconomic and educational attainment, caste oppression persisted, which contradicted their achievements. beside that, ezhavas were underrepresented in public services and elected bodies including taluk board, district board, municipality, and legislative council. the lack of representation in government had aroused considerable discontent, so the ezhava leaders made it a high political priority. conceptions of community, nation and politics: the ezhavas of south malabar, india 73 early efforts for reforms and to reconfigure the social the first instance of organised reforms among ezhavas in palakkad was the construction of the yakkara temple, founded in december 1907 under the patronage of vijananodhayam yogam. the people that started the movements, as said by chami (1936), were those who “entered the public service with the ideas of civility.” reforming religious customs, life-cycle rituals, promoting occupations, progress in education and agriculture, bringing prosperity, and providing scholarships to poor students were all priorities of yogam. narayana guru used to send his disciples to the yakkara temple to talk about religion, ethics, education, and commerce (sanoo, 2018). following the erection of hindu deity images in the temple, the practise of doing pooja in ezhava homes gradually grew. such practices drew ezhavas closer to the brahminical system of worship, ‘sanskritising’ people who were kept outside of hinduism in the name of purity and pollution (aiyyappan, 1965). the ezhavas’ sense of oppression, however, was unaffected by sanskritization (nieuwenhuys, 2004). the ananda samajam was another influential movement among the ezhavas. brahmananda sivayogi of alathur sidha ashramam, built a branch at kannadi, and campaigned among the locals. samajam persuaded people about religious superstitions by citing examples of priestly brahmins’ rejection of customs and embracing modern education and professions. after all, this persuasion was only possible by comparing brahmins who had made progress in pursuit of modernity. these early methods for internal caste reform were necessary in gradually reconfiguring the social. colonial encounter of ezhavas british colonial rule established a well-organized governance system by codifying ruling procedures, legislation, defining private and public, enumerative programme, standardisation of language and script, english education, and so on. the colonial project is often seen as ‘civilizing mission’, ‘control and command’, ‘modernizing’, ‘knowledge gathering’ (bayly and bayly, 1999; chatterjee, 1986; cohn, 1996; dirks, 2001; edney, 2009; irschick, 1994; mitchell, 1991). yet, as pandian suggests, colonialism also provided the ground for articulating new forms of identities (pandian, 2007). while many subjects viewed colonial rule as oppressive and subjugating, ezhavas had a wider perception. for instance chami writes (1936): the coming of westerners is the primary reason for modern civilisation and growth of ezhavas. the sense of equality and liberty began to rise among ezhava with the removal of ignorance within the community by the general education systems. they began to form organisations and nourished institutions under their community. as a result, even educated people have begun to rise among the poor ezhavas, who received western education, began to understand the taste of liberty. they understood that acquiring knowledge, education, organisations and freedom is necessary for the goodness of the community. while colonialism remained violent, the alliance of colonisers and caste hindus continued to deny lower caste their rights; nonetheless, colonialism also provided paths to emancipation for some oppressed groups. colonial dominance appears to be fluid, 74 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 complex, and contextual in this case of ezhavas, instead of rigid and hegemonic. the condition of colonialism cannot be described as monolithic with regard to the lower castes. depending on their social hierarchy, it was experienced differently by various castes. certainly, the ezhavas were victims of colonialism, but their exclusion was due to madras’ peculiar socioeconomic and political condition, in which education and employment were denied. the colonial bureaucracy required english-educated natives with scribal skills and educational credentials to fill various administrative positions. brahmins were ahead of other caste groups in terms of english proficiency, which was essential for government jobs, teaching, and politics (irschick, 1969; washbrook, 2010). brahmins made up about three percent of the population, and yet their presence in the colonial bureaucracy, modern professions like law, and the leadership of the indian national congress was greater and more apparent (fuller and narasimhan, 2010; pandian, 2007; suntharalingam, 1974). this brahmin dominance in public life hampered the prospects of many non-brahmin castes and depressed classes, culminating in the 1916 “non-brahmin manifesto.” as earlier stated, ezhava marginalisation was primarily conditioned by underrepresentation in government, inadequate educational opportunities, limited occupational mobility, and denial of access to the public. the question of employment for the educated and representation had already became one of the central issues in the political scenario of madras (suntharalingam, 1974). rather than engaging in conflict, ezhavas attempted to resolve issues through petitions and memorials. petition serves as testimony of self-formed collectives that provided the basis for modern associative life (balachandran, 2019; raman, 2019). despite the use of a variety of rhetorical tropes and discourses, petition writing allowed people to express their grievances, opposition, and claims to the government in a discursive way (jaffe, 2019). this evolution of petitioning occurred within new forms of the public sphere, where individuals or collective petitions play an important role (o’hanlon, 2019). representatives of the thiyya-ezhavas of malabar presented governor pentland with a memorandum when he visited calicut in 1917. the technique of considering ‘non-brahmin’ as a homogeneous category in elections prevented ezhavas from sending their caste members to the council, so special representation in local bodies was sought. they claimed that the existing system only serves the interests of dominant castes, as the majority of hindus are never represented. the response of ezhavas evinced that the non-brahmin category was not an inclusive political community of equals, but rather existed to protect the exclusivity of dominant castes (basu, 2011; jeffrey, 1977; manikumar, 2020). while these communities were critical of government policies and the unholy alliance between brahmins and the government, they regularly sought to resolve grievances within the framework of state power. conferences as venues of political pronouncement many communities formed ‘sabha’ or caste associations, to work for social progress. these sabhas appeared to be increasingly forming alliances and gaining political conceptions of community, nation and politics: the ezhavas of south malabar, india 75 significance. in 1919, the yakkara temple hosted a significant yogam of ezhava aristocrats. depressed classes mission leader shanmugam mudaliyar was an invitee to this meeting. he reportedly said (chami, 1936): “brahmin and other upper castes have begun to harass the lower castes before long; it continues even in the present day. one of such harassment is not allowing people to walk in the public roads. they speak about the home rule to accomplish their purposes. if they get home rule, we have to be worried that they would be able to keep the lower castes away from the road where you are now free to walk. to accomplish objectives, they strategically came inside our people and made them home rule member with their influence and force. there were a few instances of riots because of speaking against the home rule. we lower caste should not believe in what they say, if you do believe without thinking, our efforts will become futile”. in madras’ evolving politics, even middle castes like ezhava were frequently engaging with depressed classes to make political declarations. non-brahmin leaders, in their attempt to establish a greater political alliance, strongly supported adi dravida’s claim to social equality just before the montagu-chelmsford reforms. prominent non-brahmin leaders have conducted many conferences to get lower castes close to their doctrine (basu, 2011). delegates at the yakkara gathering were unified in their conviction that seeking progress under the british was preferable to falling at the feet of high-ranking castes who mistreat lower castes. the meeting agreed not to support the home rule league in any form due to their dislike of non-brahmin leadership in the national movement. ‘nation’ was thought to be the only legitimate thing worth fighting for, and any deviation from this drew the ire of nationalists. after the montagu–chelmsford reforms of 1919, dyarchy system of governance was introduced. the size of the provincial legislative assemblies has increased. the madras government designated some members of the depressed classes to the newly formed legislative council. m.c. rajah, r. veerian and rettamalai srinivasan vehemently voiced numerous issues of the depressed classes in the council (viswanath, 2014). communities like ezhavas always sought the cooperation of these representatives in raising grievances before the government. local ezhava organisations with varying agendas and structures also proliferated. ezhava samajam taluk yogam was founded in august 1922. dravida samajam was founded in 1923, with participation from a few brahmins, nairs, and other castes, and it was the first time upper castes participated in an ezhava gathering. this samajam envisions the common ethnic identity of ‘dravida’, transcending the exclusive caste identity of ezhava. but, it was closed as ezhava members objected to congress supporters’ anti-government stance. in april 1923, around one thousand delegates attended the ezhava mahayogam conference in kannadi. education, industry, agriculture, employment, rituals, publishing, scholarships, self-help groups for wage workers, government recognition, tenancy reforms, the removal of untouchability, and voting rights were among the topics on the conference’s agenda. after being denied access to caste-hindu temples, the conference resolved to boycott temples and allow lower castes to enter ezhava worship places. 76 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 another ezhava mahayogam meeting in kannanur in march 1923 discussed economic prosperity, religious conversion, and community solidarity. an adi-dravida session was arranged at the same venue after the ezhava discussions. clearly, the ezhavas sought alliances with other oppressed castes. as the depressed class, comprising the pulayas, had five members nominated to the legislative council and the ezhavas had none, the decision to unite with the depressed classes was a necessary outcome of such a political situation. these small organisations proved effective in emphasising upper caste violence, under-representation, backwardness, irrational rituals and customs, and the desire for progress, in addition to opposing numerous widespread caste practises. political crusades the distinction between ‘community’ and ‘political’ has blurred as the two have become increasingly interdependent. the new political aggregation based on caste and religious identity further shaped indian politics. the elites, posing as spokespersons for the hindu mahasabha, the muslim league, the christians, or the south indian liberation federation, claimed to represent broad, homogeneous constituencies (omvedt, 1976). new types of political subjectivity emerged as the madras presidency underwent significant radical political reforms. with the arrival of the non-brahmin movement and the awakening of adi-dravida sections of society, there was a critical political mobilisation (washbrook, 1975). depressed classes realised that participation in political power was the universal cure for their ills. despite its local intent, the ezhava movement went further, successfully establishing links with the growing provincial politics. the wealthy upper castes dominated the leadership of the congress and the home rule league. obviously, this has generated a repulsive attitude among the avarnas towards the nationalist movement. somewhat uncomfortable relations between ezhavas and home rule league exposes the undercurrents in nationalist politics. as, in september 1917, ezhavas of palakkad wrote to theosophist, home rule leader subrahmanya iyer when there were no favourable steps even after a year since annie besant’s ruling in 1916 to allow lower castes in the public roads (chami, 1936; menon, 2011). throughout, the league leadership showed great antipathy towards the untouchables (ambedkar 1946), because caste was seen as a matter to be resolved only at the level of ‘social’. it was the view that the caste issue could never be fixed at the ‘political’. the home rule movement spoke a language of autonomy by refusing to recognize caste (pandian, 2007). thus, the intensified ideological struggle between home rule, nationalists and ezhavas lasted for long as a lacuna that cannot be overcome. caste actually prevented brahmins and lower castes from forming alliances to fight the british. up for the state, up against the congress under the leadership of congress, the national movement gained ground in the early 1920s. gandhi had evolved as the undisputed leader of the movement and then became an indispensable figure in politics. congress launched the non-cooperation movement in 1920 in response to the ‘wrongs’ of punjab and khilafat (sarkar, 1989). despite its conceptions of community, nation and politics: the ezhavas of south malabar, india 77 national character, non-cooperation campaigns were ‘mostly scattered and sporadic, and they grew out of stresses and strains in local society’ (baker & washbrook, 1975). the south malabar ezhavas, like many religious leaders, moderates, and non-brahmin parties, opposed gandhi’s move. the fundamental root of their schism was congress’s incitement of public hatred against the government through speeches and meetings. meanwhile, khilafat got ground in south malabar and gained backing from the leadership of non-cooperation (armitage, 1921). the british completely lost control over ernad and valluvanad taluk of south malabar for several months as khilafat and non-cooperation spread throughout the district (sarkar, 1989). the first priority of the government was to maintain law and order and create legitimacy among the people to continue british rule in india. therefore, the government unhesitantly collaborated with the dissenting groups. in november 1920, the government called on soberminded men to take comprehensive measures to assist law and order (reeves, 1966). notably, the interests of nationalists and the lower castes were diametrically opposed rather than mutually beneficial. while the national movement strived to unite people in support of the expulsion of imperial forces, the lower castes were more concerned with plans for their upliftment, with group solidarity being seen as the essential condition for progress. this position was definitely at odds with the concept of “nation” and the nationalist movement. also, the national movement was thought to be a ploy used by caste hindus to further their own interests. so, the ezhavas voiced their strong opposition to gandhi’s call for a boycott of schools, courts, and government institutions. unwilling to face repercussions for supporting organisations that cause problems for the government, ezhavas resolved to participate in and support all steps taken by the government to maintain order. the government launched counter-programme conferences, circulated leaflets, and issued prohibitory orders where necessary. years of upper-caste and non-brahmin oppression had compelled the ‘untouchables’ to side with the british (basu, 2011). in june 1921, palakkad saw the first wave of anti-noncooperation protest rallies. following that, a series of meetings were held to persuade people of the opportunities to natives in administration, non-discriminatory policies, and impartiality that ensure people’s welfare. all such rallies intended to generate public support for the government while openly condemning nationalists. exhortatory speeches by officials and local notables were the main tactic used, another being the act of pledging “loyalty’ to the state (reeves, 1966). from 1921 july to march 1922, ezhava workers instituted about fourteeen such yogams in palakkad. the dissenting ezhavas have effectively used anti-non-cooperation stand to turn their community into an acquiescent, political community, active recipient of imperial government policies. the national movement’s pursuit for a single ‘national’ agenda was clearly complicated by regional power dynamics, mobility aspirations, and lower caste assertions. right to the public-ezhavas and kalpathy entry several claims-making articulations of community, and its redefinition through collective activities in public space, have received scholarly attention (freitag, 1989; price, 1991). since 1919, depressed-class representatives continued to exert pressure on the government to establish their right of access to public spaces (viswanath, 78 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 2014). the government could no longer ignore the efforts of various social groups seeking permission to enter public spaces, forcing officials to issue an order in their favour. the madras government issued g.o. no. 2660 al&m on september 25, 1924 (no. 1009/1924 of august 25th) concerning depressed classes’ access to public roads, wells, and the freedom to travel freely along any public road or street in town or village throughout the presidency. the government’s decision and order were widely circulated, with most newspapers in the presidency publishing them. following the order, the depressed classes worked tirelessly to invoke the law that guaranteed the right to ‘public.’ the law provided an opportunity for the government to demonstrate its commitment to its citizens while also allowing lower castes to make collective public claims. the order was printed and distributed, along with a statement encouraging ezhavas to make use of their right to enter public streets during the kalpathy cart festival, which was to take place from november 13 to 15, 1924. in malabar, streets or villages known as agraharam are exclusively reserved for using brahmins, and kalpathy is one such place. after all, the road is being built with public funds, and tiyya and ezhava were never permitted to enter these streets. m.p. raghavan, an ezhava lawyer, informed officials of their intention, reminding them that the brahmin street is public as it is maintained with municipal funds (viswanath, 2014). the palakkad division officer assured raghavan that there would be no opposition to attending the festival, and that there would be no conflict. officers ensured that ezhavas would be assigned a spot and that they would be sent in smaller groups so that they could see the festival and return. the municipal chairman was in charge of finding sites for the group to gather. as per government order and the collector’s guidance, eighty ezhavas arrived at the festival venue around 3 p.m. on november 13, 1924. they gathered in three groups to watch the festival. as the ezhava returned, they were blocked by the brahmins and assaulted with sticks and stones. some fled to save their life, and injured persons were taken to the hospital. surprisingly, the entire event occurred in front of police and other government officials. the ezhavas had sought prior permission from officials and had given written notice; however, the government failed to protect them from the ferocity of brahmins. furthermore, the entry was based on the legislature’s decision that there would be no opposition to entering public roads. those who entered kalpathy streets included prominent ezhavas like lawyers, magistrates, district board members, and wealthy individuals, but their socioeconomic status did not shield them from being victims of caste violence. brahmins made correspondence with municipal authorities to prevent ezhavas from entering kalpathy. similarly, in madras, tamil brahmins have protested most vehemently against the opening of public space—roads and highways—to the free passage of paraiyans (washbrook, 2010). the government banned the ezhavas under section 144 of the indian penal code, and brahmins were allowed to hold the festival. these incidents show the differential treatment meted out by the state on its citizens and perpetual violation of ‘rights’ of depressed classes. the kalapathy incident also prompted questions in madras’ legislative council. krishnan nair’s motion for an adjournment to discuss the government’s policy in issuing an order prohibiting ezhavas and others from entering kalpathy during the car festival was denied by the president (anon 1925). the depressed classes representative conceptions of community, nation and politics: the ezhavas of south malabar, india 79 r. veerain raised the issue in the legislative council, care of which the kalpathy disturbance gained political dimensions. c.p. ramaswamy iyer, the member in charge responding to the questions said: ‘the order was to have effect only during the car festival; that it was not intended to question the right of any community to enter the public highways and was only to preserve law and order. the government left the matter to the discretion of local official, the government were satisfied that there were possibilities of disturbances at that time at kalpathy necessitating the promulgation of such an order. the government policy was always to maintain the principle that every one of his majesty’s subjects had the rights to pass through the public highways, but they held that where the rights pertained to a particular road, it had to be established by regular judicial proceedings’. the issue is that if the government truly wanted to ensure that everyone has equal access to public spaces, why would it advocate for rights to be established through litigation? the government’s refusal to interfere gave savarna violence legitimacy. the ezhavas’ unwavering belief that they could only be liberated under colonial rule is now being called into question. such an unconcerned government response exemplified ‘brahman raj,’ or brahmin-british collaboration (price, 1989). the colonial government always acted in the interests of the upper castes, ensuring the upper castes’ dominance (hardgrave, 2006). the kalpathy incident sparked a mixed reaction in many parts of the country. t.k. madhavan, sndp secretary and swami sathyavruthan visited palakkad to initiate reconciliation steps, consulted local leaders, condemned the incident and sought resolutions. since the fight against untouchability has become a concern for the congress, five hundred caste hindus gathered in akathethara, the seat of the palakkad rajas, to condemn the incident. sadasiva iyer, a liberal brahmin, of hindu samajam, dharmika brahmana sangha, summoned a meeting in madras at ymca hall on november 1924. consultations were also held in the last week of december 1924 at kozhikode and at calicut bank on 20 november 1924. around this time, several presidency districts reported depressed classes revolting against social disabilities (armitage, 1921). the lower castes adopted litigation to establish their rights on numerous occasions. the lower castes continued to fight for civil rights, but importantly none of these struggles gained significant support from gandhi or the congress. as ambedkar contends, untouchables had initiated satyagraha movement to establish their right to draw water from public well and enter public temples (ambedkar, 1946). between 1924 and 1930, gandhi and the congress do not appear to have taken any significant measures toward the abolition of untouchability, nor do they appear to have undertaken any projects that would benefit untouchables. kalpathy incident triggered intense debate among ezhavas on religious conversion. the moplah revolt and the struggle in kalpathi have created the fear of ‘religious conversion’ all over india. as a result, south malabar attracted the attention of hindu reform leaders, religious organisations, particularly shuddhi and sangathan movements (congress, 1924; gupta, 1998; natarajan, 1925c). the hindu organisations realised the ‘vast field for the work of social uplift in malabar for those interested in the elevation of the depressed classes’ which will avoid conversion of avarnas to other beliefs (natarajan, 1925b). 80 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 the hindu mahasabha stressed the need of self-defence training since the moplah revolt. the hindus were militarised by forming a ‘citizen army’ of a thousand people in palakkad to defend the town from possible rebel moplah attacks (vaze, 1921). the arya samaj began organising reconversion to bring back those who had converted to islam shortly after the revolt. these events in south malabar demonstrate the depths of hindu anxiety, and how that anxiety was channelled into a military-style spectacle. the positioning of certain gender symbols, pictures, and themes helped to establish and discuss the identity of hindus (gupta, 1998). the various expressions of the extremist hindu community, have historical roots, particularly during the colonial era. the arya samaj took advantage of the situation in kalpathi, hurriedly their activists begin to work. gradually ezhavas started joining arya samaj as a last resort to escape from untouchability, formed sabhas and opened a branch in palakkad. twelve ezhava arya samajis walked through kalpathy agraharam on october 31, 1925, along with arya samajam worker brahmachari vedhabandhu. upon seeing them, around two hundred brahmins came, pelted stones and sticks on them, an ezhava received a lathi cut on the head and a brahmin youth was stabbed (natarajan, 1925d). the madras non-brahmin confederation conference held at madras on 19 december 1925 passed resolutions ‘condemning the action of the authorities in prohibiting the entry of untouchables and arya samaj converts into the streets of kalpathy’(mitra 1925). upper caste outrage, aggression and disdain are not limited to malabar. frykenberg portrays tamil brahmins’ indignation at the proselytizing practices of christian missionaries in madras (frykenberg, 1981). at a time of significant threat, in november 1925, the police informed arya samajis that they did not have any opposition against them entering kalpathy street and sent two police officers to guard the street. officials cautioned the brahmins that no one could prevent arya samajis from entering kalpathy. the brahmin street continued to be a stage for the restoration of self-respect of ezhavas even one year after the main struggle. the ezhavas wearing the holy thread entered kalpathy as they desired, through this method (anon 2002). in the meantime, arya samaj organiser, president of bharatiya hindu shuddhi sabha, shraddhanand went sivagiri to meet narayana guru (sanoo, 2018). arya samaj joined kerala crusades mainly to encourage low castes to maintain their hindu identity (heimsath, 1978). shraddhanand is someone who, after the malabar rebellion, turned to shuddhi and the reclamation of the untouchables. throughout 1922, he negotiated with congress to provide financial help for his schemes. only after congress had refused to engage in the movement did he renounce his affiliation with congress and turn to the mahasabha (gordon, 1975).the crux of the hindu sangathan expression was that hinduism and its ideal representations should be given priority in the nation building agenda of congress (ghosh, 1994). lala lajpat rai contributed to shradhanand a portion of funds collected for anti-untouchability work (natarajan, 1925a). the activities of arya samaj in kerala had created a furore, and they faced opposition from orthodox hindus. sradhanandh’s quick visit underlines the fact that arya samajis had succeeded in getting narayana guru’s silent approval for their work (sanoo, 2018). when guru was asked to send out a statement in favor of arya samaj, guru said he had no opposition. caste hindus, however, could not accept arya samaj’s interference and approached the court. p.c. sankaran, an ezhava convert to arya samaj was charged for defiling worship place and insulting the brahmins by conceptions of community, nation and politics: the ezhavas of south malabar, india 81 entering within the polluting distance of laxminarayan temple. this case ended in his acquittal, ultimately. the quashing of this case, clearly proves that the ezhavas on becoming converts to arya samaj drop their ‘theendal’ and therefore cease to be polluting castes. this solved the problem of ezhava converts to arya samaj, but not that of unapproachability. this entire performative, involving orthodox brahmins, arya samaj, and the converted ezhavas, shows just how religious symbols and narratives have become a critical platform for the reinforcement of upper-caste dominance and group identities (gupta, 2011). finally, arya samaj had obtained a ruling from the high court of madras that all members of the public have equal rights in public streets and that one segment of society cannot exclude another section from using public roads. though the old notion of communal space and hereditary privilege fades, and more refined ideas of “human” and “public” emerging, shuddhi did ‘protect’ hindus (frykenberg, 1981; hardiman, 2007). the aftermath of kalpathy struggles given the influence it has had on the social and political sphere, we should cautiously consider the implications of the kalpathy struggle. around a hundred ezhavas converted to christianity, arya samajam, and islam, infringing on hindu social order and brahmin hegemony. twenty of them converted to christianity, while the other sixty joined the arya samajam. at the end of the two-year-long struggle, the robust stance of the brahmins miserably failed, along with christians and arya samajis, hindu mahasbha, many ezhavas gained right, freedom to enter kalpathy agraharam street (natarajan, 1925e). the ezhavas who had been converted to christianity for entry into kalpathy returned to the community. just a few of them remained with christianity and arya samajam. the arya missionaries warned ezhavas about the dangers of adopting foreign religions and pushed them to struggle for their rights within hinduism (natarajan, 1926). the hindu leadership was concerned by the deliberations and initiation of the proselytization activity, and devised several methods to prevent more conversions. social reform movements sought solutions within hinduism rather than turning to other religions; even minor deviations were not tolerated. thus, most converts faced strong opposition from society and family members, and were frequently shunned by the community. after all, they were afraid to fight for equality as their lands were controlled by the upper castes, making resistance and confrontation hard. resources are vital as it gave oppressed and marginalized people with new institutions and political agency, enabling new discourses for social transformation (mohan 2006). the quest for liberation-religious conversion in theory, ezhavas’ attempt was not to discover a new type of piety, of worldview, to live according to a distinct religion, or to embrace a new religion. the main aim of religious conversion was to achieve liberation from caste harassment, and this was the primary purpose of the entire debate on conversion. they argued that it would be better to convert to another religion than expecting the madras government to implement orders for right to travel, and conversion should be the non-violent policy towards caste hindus (chami, 1936). 82 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 sahodaran ayyappan, while reacting to kalpathy rejected the gandhian position of ‘saving caste even for the removal of untouchability’ (gandhi 1927, 1934, 1998). though stressing buddhism as the most effective way to annihilate caste, he advised ezhavas to follow narayana guru’s ‘one caste one religion’ priciples. rao saheb ayathan gopalan, brahma samajist, reminded ezhava samajam secretary that those who want to convert to christianity should not be doing self-deception. hindu maha sabha secretary aandha priyan cautioned that the number of other religions is increasing through conversion. in kannanur, the ezhavas hosted a conversion sabha, in which religious leaders spoke on each religion and ezhavas were invited to their faith. k.t. madhavan had the opinion that religious conversion is inevitable. a five-member committee was formed for campaigning in favour of religious conversion. in april 1925 four persons converted to christianity and changed their names. thirty people converted to christianity and entered kalpathy agraharam street shortly after. although, the madras presidency had the largest number and variety of christians in british india, basel evangelical mission (bem), st sebastian church, melarcode syrian catholic were the only christians in palakkad. from 1902 onwards it came under the bishop of coimbatore, a mostly tamil-speaking congregation and bem was under the control of the whites. finally, the priests of the marthoma church from travancore came to palakkad and baptized ezhavas (john, 1998). staying at thenkurissi pandiyottu kalam, priests of marthoma syrian church began their work from 1926. they spread the gospel through house visits, individual or open meetings, distributing pamphlets and bible copies in many places. with the relentless coaxing by the priests, nine men and two women took baptism and entered the marthoma church in october 1926. women volunteer groups were formed to work with women, taking into account the cultural traditions of palakkad. in between october 1926 to 1932, about fifty-two individuals, including men and women, took baptism, became christians under the marthoma church. all these baptized individuals were publicly known personalities and affluent landlords, and maintained a high economic status. in addition, people have also been converted to islam on numerous occasions since 1926. kesavan, brother of e.k. chami, changed to abdul razak. however, in palakkad taluk, only four ezhavas had converted to islam. there existed a strong belief among the ezhavas that they were originally sinhalese from ceylon. c. krishnan of mithavadi, ayyakutty judge of thrissur, k. ayyappan of kochi, c.v. kunjiraman travancore had already embraced buddhism (sanoo, 2018). six buddhist groups visited malabar in between 1918 and 1935. the buddhist mission was operational in a few amsams of palakkad taluk. kannannur buddha samajam had organised a huge meeting in 1924. about fifty individuals took pancha sheelam at thachangad buddha religious meeting. later, palakkad buddhist mission formed by joining small units (chami, 1936). by this means, the oppressed discovered a new religion in opposition to mainstream religious discourses. the features of a new religion of oppressed take shape according to the life situation, as a new interpretation, deliberate appropriation, modification, or outright rejection of old beliefs (aloysius, 1998b). in gandhi, seeking refuge spiritual and political questions of the ezhavas remained unsolved even after their conversions and long struggles. gandhi, for example, received two delegations conceptions of community, nation and politics: the ezhavas of south malabar, india 83 during his ezhuvas, led by sukumaran, t.m. chamiappan, and p.c. gopalan. when the ezhavas inquired about accepting other religions as a solution to their problems, gandhi told them to stay in the hindu fold, fight, and find solutions through the hindu mahasabha. gandhi had no opposition to the joining of ezhavas to arya samaj or brahma samaj. while gopalan argued that the redemption of his group lies either in conversion to other faiths or in non-participation in the fight for swaraj, however, the ezhavas wanted to know whether a purified hinduism would be possible. gandhi’s response was ‘yes’, and he said that he wasn’t going to be a hindu and he couldn’t survive (gandhi, 2000b). gandhi’s conviction was that untouchability was foreign to hinduism, and as reformers were seeking to eradicate the ‘blot’ of untouchability, that conversion was no solution (gandhi, 2000a). the program of swadeshi, in addition to boycotting foreign goods, stood for the safeguarding of traditional institutions and “hinduism” from christian missionary work (gandhi, 1967; mallampalli, 2004). gandhi believed that ‘india stands in no need of conversion from one faith to another,’ warned against ‘denationalisation,’ and argued that ‘the great faiths of india’ are sufficient for nationbuilding (gandhi 1959, 1969). though gandhi recognised untouchability as a crime against god, he assumed that it would end if upper caste attitudes changed (gandhi 1921, 1933, 1939). this gandhian stance on caste had far-reaching implications for the anti-caste struggle in india. the quest for the potential of spiritual salvation, moral upliftment, non-hindu self by conversion was effectively trampled on by shuddhi, sangathan, and gandhian social reform. reformed hinduism, and the overarching force of nationalism, conquered dissenting nationalities, crushing all lower caste resistance. towards a theory of anti-caste communities seeking upward mobility often have rejected their subjugated position and created a new history. instead of placing brahmin authority at the centre, they questioned the very foundation upon which brahmin power was built. for instance, jyotirao phule recreated maratha history by narrating a story about aryan invaders seizing power from the native kshatriyas, and targeted the divine authority of brahmin (o’hanlon, 2002) (phule and deshpande, 2002). iyothee thass argued about tamil buddhist history in relation to the parayas’ caste status (ayyathurai, 2011; rajadurai and geetha, 1998). dr.palppu, co-founder of the sndp, had made an attempt to write ezhava history. despite the fact that many people attempted to write, he found it unworthy of publication (kumar, 2014). influential ezhava thinkers, including palpu, held that ezhava had originated from the buddhists of ceylon. in ezhava charithram (1936), elamandham chami articulates that ezhavas are buddhists. to support this claim, he compared ezhavas of malabar and sinhalas of ceylon based on socio-cultural similarities, physical appearances, and religious faith (buddhism). he goes on to say that by disobeying the brahmins, the ezhavas were forced to accept a low social status, gave up their ancient religion, and began worshipping hindu religious sacraments, causing their ancient religion to fade away. he rationally rejects hinduism and caste hierarchy by invoking a buddhist past. chami also wrote a treatise on buddhist religious practises called ‘buddha dharma pradeepam’ (1931), which aimed to popularise buddhism. in 1931, odannur chathu, 84 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 an ezhava sanskrit scholar wrote jathidaithyaari. chathu expertly deconstructs the cunning within texts like manusmrithi, proving that knowledge is a universal right, using a dialogical method. he rejects sacred books because it contradict humanity’s core values of equality and fraternity (chathu, 1931). by narrativizing and invoking the past, these writings advanced an anti-caste worldview centred on fraternity and equality, which also transformed into new practises and discourses (mohan, 2006). both rejecting indian lineage and invoking foreignness are attempts to distance oneself from the hindu social order. these utterances effectively dissected upper caste dominance and its ideology, despite its limited scope. conclusion there is a large body of literature about ezhava movement. filippo and caroline osella have argued that ‘modernity together with a generalised commitment to progress, appears as integral to ezhavas’ self-defined identities, embedded in community identity’ that was forged through the long process of reforms and mobilisation (osella and osella, 2000). this article also depicts the long process of mobilisation and reforms aimed at fostering a sense of ‘samudhayam,’ or community, rather than creating ethnic identity. dominant paradigms like ethnicization and sanskritization narrow the extent of exploring diverse claims of lower castes in various regions. caste oppression, the desire for new opportunities brought about by colonial modernity, and the aspiration for a fair share of social wealth and power drove the ezhavas to get organised. the ezhava movement kept its developmental agenda while becoming largely a political movement. though conversion was once a hot topic in the mid-1930s, the religious question faded as the izhavas achieved several of their objectives. members of the movement were drawn to new secular ideals of socialism and marxism as part of their continual battle for equality (jones, 1989; menon, 1994). the congress was slow in adopting the lower castes. caste, region, class, and religion, along with their issues, were not incorporated into the abstract and homogeneous nationalism (mannathukkaren, 2022). lower castes tried to restructure and broaden the public sphere by articulating the fundamentals of anti-caste ideology, the imaginations of nation, community, and sociality. the existing framework of knowledge, ideology, performative aspects linked to caste has been challenged. the alleged dominance of brahmins has been questioned by prudently constructed counter-narratives. they aimed at the construction of an ‘alternative public’ and public opinion through publishing and history writing. while the hindu reform movements sought to create a unified hindu identity, the ezhava campaign was adamantly opposed to the creation of a homogeneous hindu community. it is argued that lower caste politics in kerala differs significantly in ideology and political orientation and had not followed a single trajectory. lower caste assertions appears to be inherently linked with existential conditions and specific location of castes in the hierarchy. thus, these instances are uneven and many-sided. i contend that ezhavas’ assertions imply the presence of an “autonomous anti-caste movement” in the south malabar 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(ed.) c.j. baker and d.a. washbrook. london: palgrave macmillan uk, pp. 150–203. © 2023 gaurav j. pathania et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 03–23 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.470 caste identities and structures of threats: stigma, prejudice, and social representation in indian universities gaurav j. pathania1, sushrut jadhav2, amit thorat3, david mosse4, sumeet jain511 abstract caste is a complex ontological construction. despite several anti-caste movements and constitutional provisions, caste exists in the indian psyche as part of everyday life. even in the advent of globalization, caste continues to foster social and economic inequalities and exclusion in newer forms and perpetuates violence. the available research on caste-based stigma and humiliation provides a limited understanding as it deals with dalits only; and ignores caste-hindus (uppercaste) agency. based largely on qualitative data collected at an intense three-day workshop, including two focus group discussions and a year-long ethnography, this article illustrates the micro processes of everyday life experiences of castebased stigma and humiliation among university students, academic staff and administrative staff. it explores subtle and overt caste discrimination, prejudices and stereotypes existing in the spatial morphologies of indian higher education, its perpetuation on campuses and its impact on students’ psyche. it highlights the dearth of scholarship in this area of caste identity and stigma; and proposes nuanced questions for future research to understand why universities in india are turning into places of social defeat for dalit and obc students. the article argues the basis of caste discrimination and humiliation in universities is not the same as it exists in other social institutions. instead of asserting conclusions on this matter we set out justifiable lines of inquiry. there are two issues that this 1assistant professor of sociology and peacebuilding, eastern mennonite university, harrisonburg, virginia, usa 2professor of cross-cultural psychiatry, university college london, uk 3assistant professor, center for the study of regional development, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india 4professor, social anthropology, school of oriental and african studies (soas), london, uk 5senior lecturer in social work, school of social and political science, university of edinburgh, uk corresponding author gaurav j. pathania e-mail: gaurav.pathania@emu.edu 4 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 article examines: first, how students in indian higher education evolve strategies for coping with threatened identities. second, what structural repair in higher education is required to heal the wounded (caste) psyche? keywords dalit, caste, stigma, mental health, wellbeing, passing, higher education understanding changing higher education landscape between january 1, 1995 and december 31, 2019, india lost more than 1,70,000 students to suicide, according to the national crime record bureau.1 higher education in india is known as a key driver of economic growth as well as a pathway for achieving social equality. scholars believe these existing inequalities in education not only emanate from social and economic, but also, they are further accentuated by the higher education system itself. universities claim to be spaces of ‘casteless modernity’, but recent studies argued that this space of ‘casteless modernity’ is implicitly upper-caste (deshpande, 2013; pathania & tierney 2018; singh, 2013; subramanian, 2015, 2019; vithayathil; thomas 2020). there are two observations this article discusses and conceptualizes: (a) higher education (despite its expansion and diversification) is dominated by upper-castes, (b) for privileged groups (students and staff) ‘caste-less merit’ has become an (implicit) idiom of caste privilege, based on their special capacity to deny/invisiblize caste as a source of advantage. despite the least implementation of reservation policy in education,2 one cannot ignore the complexities among non-dalit (unreserved) castes. due to reservation, dalits suffer double discrimination, or as deshpande (2015) calls it, face a “doublestigma”3 effect. the non-dalit caste becomes culturally, socially, and politically dominant in order to maintain their upward social and cultural mobility in indian society (paul, 2007). in admissions into courses such as engineering or medicine in view of the reservation scheme, a dalit applicant’s grade is viewed as a mediocre entry grade, and considered not acceptable, as it could undermine the aspirations of high-achieving non-dalit students, and lower the standards of the profession (panini, 1996; naito, 1997). understanding caste in the indian higher education landscape the traditional landscape of higher education in india has changed significantly at the start of the twenty-first century, due to the rampant growth of private institutions. 1one every hour: 10,335, last year saw most student suicides in 25 years, times of india, september 7, 2020 2not even 3 per cent of iit faculty are dalits, tribals, justice news, january 1, 2019. https:// www.justicenews.co.in/not-even-3-per-cent-of-iit-faculty-are-dalits-tribals/ 3dalits are stigmatized both for their caste identity and as recipients of the state provision in the form of quota/ reservation policy. caste identities and structures of threats 5 despite expansion, it has not changed the fact that the spaces of higher education are dominated by upper-castes and “lacks diversity” (kumar, 2016; rathod, 2023; sabharwal & malish, 2017). however, the most recent study of an elite campus by pathania & tierney (2018, p. 10) observes that the ‘hallways of elite institutions do not transcend existing prejudices and stereotypes.’ despite all the development, such issues remained unresolved. studies also highlight discrimination and everyday ‘problems’ of academic and non-academic life of dalit students (malish & ilavarasan, 2016; narwana & gill, 2020; ovichegan, 2013; pathania & tierney, 2018; sukumar, 2022; verma & kapur, 2010). for such privileged groups (students and staff) ‘casteless merit’ has become an (implicit) idiom of caste privilege, based on their special capacity to deny/invisibilize caste as a source of advantage. the issue of drop-outs in higher education needs to be addressed. between 2016 and 2019, around 2,400 students have dropped out of iits, half of which are scs and sts. on these issues, the new education policy 2020 is completely silent (pathania, 2020). identity threats in higher education caste is a unique form of discrimination because of its concealable nature. the look or appearance are illusory in the case of caste. in everyday interaction, there is a presence of “intrusive archeology of caste” (jogdand, 2013). a lower-caste individual constantly faces the threat to his identity. for example being asked about a surname to find out about one’s caste. this often occurs in the case of lower castes as their surnames reveal or hide their caste. bayetti et al. (2017, p. 35) in their studies on the construction of professional identities of psychiatrists, highlights that there are the “other” identities operationalized during the professional training, and what may be the “emotional cost of doing so”? the authors suggest further qualitative ethnographic research to unpack these challenging and vital questions. a threat to identity occurs when the processes of identity, assimilation-accommodation and evaluation are, for some reason, unable to comply with the principles of continuity, distinctiveness and self-esteem, which habitually guide their operation (breakwell, 1986, p. 47). the discussion on caste identities in higher education is centered on “quota” versus “non-quota” or “reserved” versus “general”. (a) language as “structure of threat” (b) classroom as a “structure of threat” (c) (sur)naming as “structure of threat” in casteist societies the existing dominant social representation poses a threat by stigmatizing the ‘reserved’ category. it dos this on a number of fronts: historical roots (kelvin, 1984), economic and social. but more importantly it is the grip of social representation upon the minds of the lower caste students who face continuing negative stereotypes. the social representation which slowly but surely erodes self-esteem, and threatens identity, could account for much of the depression, insecurity and anxiety among quota students (sukumar, 2013). 6 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 the evolution of identity entails continual and a dialectical relationship between personal and social identity (breakwell, 1983, p. 12). the structure of identity should not be confused with its content (breakwell, 1986, p. 18). according to breakwell, the actual contents of an identity are not static and it shifts according to the social context within which the identity is situated. as tajfel (1981) pointed out, individual values cannot be independent of social stereotypes. this is partially how threat arises, when the individual learns that a new social position carries a negative social value. the distinctive contribution of this article is to look at the context of universities, and to make the point that discrimination in universities is not the same as it exists in other social institutions. this becomes important, as universities are seen by the marginalized as spaces and means of escaping their lived places and contexts. it argues for the distinctive conditions on campuses and the implication of discrimination here. how do dalit and obc students face the obstruction and discrimination in their pathways to higher education and what strategy do they opt to cope up? discrimination is considered as one of the most damaging factors when it comes to stress or distress that leads to social isolation and social exclusion. theoretically speaking, social representation is essentially a construction of reality. it reflects dominant systems of belief and values in presenting and accepting interpretation of objects, persons or events (breakwell, 1986, p. 55). identity process theory suggests that if the identity principles are obstructed, the process will be unable to function satisfactorily, which will result in threats to identity (also see jaspal, 2011, p. 33). this article elaborates breakwell’s idea of social representation and tries to understand the caste-based discrimination by understanding the impact of stigma attached with caste-based reservations as well as caste-based stigma and how it leads to an emotional rupture. the social representation has two roles: when it comes to reservation: first, to attach a definite form to reserved /category students by locating within a social category with distinctive characteristics; second, it acts as a template prescribing how reserved/dalit student actions should be explained and interpreted. the social representation of the reserved therefore, effectively erect a stereotype of them which depicts their psychological and social qualities. it also explains how quota people should be evaluated. the way the reservations system works, and is perceived, assigns sc/sts (i.e. all dalits/tribal regardless of ability) to the category of the ‘non-meritorious’, those who are ‘the caste-infected’; the implicit assumption being that ‘merit’ is an upper-caste characteristic,4 or merit belongs to the upper-castes (purveyed in a claim that merit is casteless, which of course it is not)—perhaps is found more in science than arts/ humanities disciplines? this means (in this view) either that dalits do not belong in the university (as a category they are ascribed the status of a subordinate laboring class); or if they do reach the university, they should occupy the non-meritorious ‘reserved’ 4caste-lessness has come to mean “merit” and “anti-reservation”, largely by a section of dominant castes and elites in contemporary india who specifically call for caste-blind enumerations (deshpande, 2013, p. 38). caste identities and structures of threats 7 category. sc/sts who enter the university under the open or non-reserved categories or sets are doubly ‘out of place’ and singled for sanction. moreover, there are issues and challenges of being ‘first generation learners’ and hailing from rural households, receiving their school education in their regional language (kamat et. al., 2018, p. 15) while having to interact with city-based english-medium educated students in higher education. thus, student interactions and relations across identity groups of caste, rural-urban, nationality, religion, language, and gender are an important metric of campus climate (ibid). social policy on caste focuses on the disadvantages of particular groups, treating caste as a static or residual problem addressed through remedial provisions, safeguards and complaint-handling, rather as a dynamic relational problem that might be subject to the state’s general duty to address inequality and discrimination in economy and society (thorat & attewell, 2007; thorat & newman, 2010). in her report on campus climate in india, kamat et. al. (2018, p. 13) highlighted three major categories: 1) first generation, 2) rural and 3) language. first generation learners are relatively poorer than the second generation learners and generally they are below or near the poverty line. the process of navigating through spaces of higher education generates various struggles and strategies to deal with existing caste stigma, stereotypes and distress. stigma promotes and reinforces social isolation (farina et al., 1992; link et al., 1997; mehta et. al., 2015), and universities have become the sites of embodiment and reification of stigma (especially caste-related). constitutionally, sc, st and obc students have seats reserved (15 per cent, 7.5 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively) both in institutions of higher education as well as in public sector employment. colloquially they are called (reserved) category students or quota students. ‘category students’, recount their experiences of prejudice from other students, teachers as well as administrative staff. kumar (2016) highlights how, at the prestigious delhi university, dalit girls are humiliated by the question, “quote se aayi ho ya kothe se aayi ho” (have you come through reservation or have you come from a brothel? here the word quota rhymes with the hindi word for brothel ‘kotha’). similarly, guru points out how words such as sarkari damad (son-in-law of the government) and other phrases are used to humiliate reserved category people. just as the group is stigmatized as a permanent carrier of dirt, waste and disease, the whole segregated space they inhabit or are relegated to sometimes symbolizes the same and becomes a threat to the “clean” and “normals” (as goffman refers to the non-stigmatised). therefore, even spaces can evoke a sense of nausea or anxiety (sibley, 1995). such spaces, therefore, can become “stigma symbols” in a goffmanian sense that is a sign which is “effective in drawing attention to a debasing identity discrepancy” (goffman, 1986, p. 45). an anti-caste scholar n. sukumar (2008, p. 17) writes about his students’ experience of hostel life at hyderabad central university: ‘comments like bakasura and kumbhakarna (negative characters from hindu mythology) are commonly made by the non-dalit students and mess workers. abusive comments like “pigs”, 8 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 “government’s sons-in-law”, “bastards”, “beggars”’, etc., and comments which question paternity are quite common…’. similarly, humiliation is faced by reserved category teachers who report experiences in classrooms, staff rooms, in dealing with staff in residential quarters and hostel canteen halls. they expressed that they experienced many forms of subtle and overt behaviors, remarks, etc., from noncategory students, faculty and administrative staff. n. sukumar (2008) states: “every dalit or reserved category student in a ‘meritorious’ higher educational institution dies a little every day”. although other students from poor or rural families also face problems, the daily experience of social exclusion adds a huge and uniquely negative dimension to the lives of quota students. the fact that a large number of dalit and adivasi students have committed suicide5 (karthikeyan, 2011; patel et al., 2012) clearly indicates the widespread prevalence of caste discrimination in the indian education system, which perceives them as ‘non-meritorious’ and not fit to belong there. in 2008, senthil kumar, a dalit student at the university of hyderabad, committed suicide. professor n. sukumar who prepared a report on this suicide highlighted ‘murky realities of caste discrimination in our universities’ (senthil kumar solidarity committee 2008, p. 10). the national commission for for dalit human rights (ncdhr) in their draft prepared to contribute to the rohit act recommends the government ‘to provide arrangements for appropriate psychological, emotional and physical support in the form of counseling, security and other assistance to the victim if s/he so desires or needs’ (ncdhr draft 2016, p. 17). in 2006, a dalit student committed suicide due to caste humiliation by hostelmates in india’s top medical school. in response, the government of india formed the professor thorat committee to investigate the matter.6 the humiliation of reserved category students continues even in the coaching industry for higher education (henry & ferry, 2017, p. 3; subramanian, 2015)—as revealed by the multiple mechanisms the institution employs to eliminate and sanction students from the marginalized groups, particularly sc and st students, thus contributing to the differential value of the academic titles it delivers. non-dalit individuals, privileged in their caste identity, are likely to remain disinterested towards the dalit community (ovichegan, 2014, p. 375). along with highly visible caste and associated symbolic violence against sc students, teachers’ perception that sc and st students are ‘unteachable’ (anveshi report 2002) had a negative impact on their educational experience (malish & ilavarasan, 2016). thus, from policy to institutional landscape, the university serves as a crucial site of display of public perceptions, stigma, stereotypes and prejudices. 5https://www.thelancet.com/action/showfulltextimages?pii=s0140-6736%2812%2960606-0 6“committee to inquire into the matter of allegation of differential treatments of sc/st students in all india institute of medical sciences”, new delhi. one of the striking findings of the committee was that about 76 per cent of the respondents reported that the examiner during the viva had asked the caste background; about 84 per cent mentioned that their grades were affected because of their caste background. caste identities and structures of threats 9 method the study was funded through an international partnership and network mobility grant from the british academy to bring together scholars from the uk and india working in the area of caste. this research is based on qualitative ethnographic research methods that included field observations, focused group discussions, and field logs. the study was carried out between september 2016 and august 2017. two focus group discussions (fgds) were organized in delhi at a university among students and teachers from four major universities in delhi in september 2016. the respondents were selected using a purposive sampling method to include representation across gender, age groups and social categories. a mixed sample in terms of seniority, age and gender was chosen to maintain heterogeneity and to avoid power differences. an attempt was made to select students and faculty members from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. the aim of the fgds was to understand the lived experiences of students and teachers who experienced caste-related distress. fgds were audio recorded and then transcribed. a thematic analysis was conducted by authors, grounded in different disciplines including psychiatry, medical anthropology, social work, sociology and economics. an email list and a website were created to maintain the network among scholars. the material shared through these networks is also used in the article. pseudonyms are used in this article to ensure the confidentiality of respondents. table 1.1: representation of social categories faculty fgd (19) student fgd (18) m f sc st obc gen. m f sc st obc gen. 14 5` 6 4 2 7 10 8 8 3 1 6 focus group interviews were conducted from a phenomenological approach to understand students and teachers’ personal and educational experiences and processes, in order to understand caste-based stigma and prejudice. phenomenology is grounded in the focus of the participants’ experiential world, that is, how they view and make meaning of their lived experiences (creswell, 2003; sokolowski, 2000; starks & brown trinidad, 2007). it relies on lived experiences to understand how meaning is created through perception and contributes to a deeper understanding of these lived experiences by exposing traditional assumptions (sokolowski, 2000). this approach served as a valuable tool to elicit student perceptions of school power and influence in their lives. findings and analysis names, categorization and pre-higher education experiences of discrimination and distress school is a crucial site where childhood takes shape. many popular dalit autobiographies such as om prakash valmiki’s joothan (2008) and sheoraj singh bechain’s my childhood on my shoulders (2018) present the lived experience of humiliation 10 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 and discrimination faced by dalit children in the schools. in our fgds, while sharing about their caste-related humiliation, every respondent started with their childhood experiences of discrimination. their narratives reveal a world in which dalit life remains an endless struggle. even after achieving academic credentials, dalits feel compelled to keep proving to themselves and to the upper castes that they are indeed capable and talented. in a rigid and strict structure of indian society, there are various mechanisms of identification. in indian society, its identification is generally through surnames as it denotes one’s caste. a participant (a) who was named after dalit icon dr. b.r. ambedkar discusses the stigma associated with his name. he went to pre-school in a city, and his family changed his name just to avoid any trouble with the name ambedkar. he shares his story: my name was alok for two years when i was in kindergarten, but when i had to write an entrance examination, my official name “ambedkar” had to be brought back on a certificate. this was an embarrassment for my uncle with whom i was staying in the city. but in the village you are made aware of your identity very soon because your locality is different from others7 but when you are moved to a different location, you are called by your caste name or whatever. my introduction to caste or being from a lower caste was from my childhood itself.8 another participant, gautam, whose primary schooling was in a village, shares a contrasting experience: i think in villages an individual does not feel discriminated against because since childhood he lives in his area/mohalla,9 which is separated from others. everyone knows each other, and every caste resides differently in their specific location. everything is segregated, and you grow up with this and therefore you don’t feel it. but in cities, everyone mixes with others and there is a curiosity to know about others. gautam mentions that caste-related distress does not emerge in a day or two, or in a year but it takes its shape through various incidents in childhood. as our surname roughly indicates our caste, it has a deep impact on a student’s psyche. gautam shares his schooling experience: any new teacher coming to class was more interested in wanting to know who [caste-wise] this person was and what his caste was. i tell my name to them and they would say, “aage kya?” (what comes after your first name?). over 7dalits or the ex-untouchables have always lived in segregated hamlets, little away from the main village area. 8from a focus group discussion with university students on september 15, 2016 at jnu, new delhi. 9hamlet. caste identities and structures of threats 11 a period of time, i developed this habit of staying silent. somehow from 6th to 10th [grade], i did not speak anything in class. i did not make any friends. i was alien to my own class. they [teachers] slapped my face but i promised myself that i wouldn’t say anything. whenever new teachers came, my heart started beating so fast, thinking that he would ask me about my name. and when they did, they would ask in a very derogatory manner: aaage peeche kuch hai ki nahi? (is there anything after your first name?). to know my caste, they will always be starting from the top [of the varna system]: brahim ho? rajput ho?.. arre, kaun ho bhai? [are you brahmin, rajput? … who the hell are you?]. i never answered this question. in those six years i remained silent.10 there are official mechanisms which re-establish these themes as social stereotypes that are reproduced in the education system. a university professor who himself faced discrimination since his childhood as a child laborer, studied through distance education and managed to become a schoolteacher and later a college teacher. he is also a theater artist and managed to ‘act out of his caste11 due to his personality and indistinct surname which is used by both upper and lower castes. with a smile on his face, he explains with lots of conjectures, guesses and all that (stammers) ultimately, society wants to understand you under the category of caste. it might take years. for example, in my case it took them 20-30 years, and they have not been able to figure it out (the entire group burst with laughter). it is very enigmatic.12 the participant whose teachers harassed him over his name continues his story and the impact on his behavior: during my school days, for five years, i could not speak (due to fear) and starter stammering. my father was taking me to different places and it was not going away. but when i left the school, i was the only one from my batch who opted for government school because there i felt safe and developed leadership qualities. when i went to college, can you believe that i became the best speaker from college to state level declamation contests?13 the vignettes above illuminate how ‘silence’ is a coping mechanism along with hiding one’s stigmatized identity but it is also the manifestation of subtle forms of discrimination existing in our education system. this silence represents those who are and/or feel ‘unwelcome’ and ‘unwanted’ in school or university (also see nambissan, 2009). toni morrison (1995), in her essay, site of memory describes a character: “the language of her grief is silence. she has learned it well, its idioms, its nuances. over the years, silence within her small body has grown large and powerful”. according to 10from fgd with college and university teachers on september 14, 2016 at jnu, new delhi. 11comments by moderator of the fgd. 12from fgd with college and university teachers on september 14, 2016 at jnu, new delhi. 13ibid. 12 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 verma (2016), silence is a behavior that is “preceded by several stages of language, cognition, and emotional states involving underlying belief systems hidden to the speaker of silence” (106). he further states that ‘pedagogy is often reduced to a method to manage hierarchies’ (108). in short, silence is the reflection of existing social hierarchies. during fieldwork, it was found that a large number of dalit and obc students could not complete their studies and de-registered from the university as they were not helped by their supervisors. such departures from a reputed institution occur with an element of shame. this shame leads to the situation of alienation. in general, teachers’ reactions to such situations are: ‘i don’t understand why they (dalit students) do not speak up. even when they come to my office to discuss, they generally remain silent. there might be several reasons behind this, but i don’t ask about their personal life’. this is an issue of ‘stereotype threat’ as dalit students are constantly worried about how they are judged—that their achievements are perceived as lesser—which impacts self-confidence and then performance by comparison to those not living under the negative stereotype. thus, it is important to recognize the emotional aspect of silence (sue, 2015, p. 126). therefore, disclosure of their caste identities makes them even more vulnerable to various kinds of prejudice and discrimination. such behavior, according to maurya (2018, p. 24) “attributing dalit students’ academic achievements to quota, and using implicit humiliating comments [by the upper castes] based on negative caste stereotypes.”14 language, etiquette, and silence language is an important medium of social interaction. bernard cohn’s (1985) famous phrase “command of language and the language of command” reveals an important component of cultural capital, namely, the ease and familiarity with the dominant language, both in a narrowly linguistic sense. a large section of students, especially lower caste students who come from rural backgrounds find it difficult to adjust to a comparatively cosmopolitan campus environment as language becomes a basic hindrance to their social interactions. though some campuses have formed ‘linguistic empowerment cells’ to provide basic training in english grammar they have not yielded any significant results. fgd data shows that language is used as a negative stereotype associated with lower castes. a professor, belonging to the scheduled tribe at india’s top university shares her experience when she was teaching at a college in tamil nadu: “…one very senior professor said to me in hindi, “jab tum muh kholti ho to pata nahi chalta ki tum aise background se ho”[when you open your mouth, i can’t make out that you come from such a background]. i asked what do you mean by that, sir? he said, “because you speak such good english”. 1421 year-old student kills self at osmania university, protest erupts, the times of india, december 3, 2017. caste identities and structures of threats 13 similarly another respondent, a dalit scholar who is also an activist shares his experience with his upper caste friends after revealing to them his ‘chamar’ caste identity: “i used to get a reply like, “why are you kidding? you don’t look like them.” that’s when i understood that these [upper caste] people judge us on the basis of our dress, our physique, our way of talking and our education, and so on.15 commenting on the attitude of upper caste classmates, dev, a dalit student from the department of journalism at jamia milia islamia university states that, “it is very common for them to comment on their appearance and clothes: “yaar bhangi ban ke aa gaya/chamaar ban ke aa gaya?” (your dress makes you look like chamar or bhangi? referring to the lower castes of cobblers or street sweepers). professor sukumar (2008, p. 15) explains how ‘dress codes, language skills and general “étiquette’’ influence the relationship between different groups. gestures, body language…more than anything it’s body language (to exclude)’. further, an upper caste teacher at a college highlights his interaction with his students: i observed it is only the upper caste students who speak and ask questions, (pause) because lower caste people are made voiceless in classrooms. i feel the distress of dalit and tribal students in my class, which disturbs me. therefore, by initiating a positive debate on affirmative action, i try to settle down my distress.16 choose ‘silence’ and ‘submissiveness’, or ‘hiding’ as options. this is another form of stigma management. “stigma management is an offshoot of something basic in society, the stereotyping or “profiling” of our normative expectations regarding conduct and character; stereotyping is classically reserved for customers, orientals, and motorist, that is, persons who fall into very broad categories and who may be passing strangers to us” (goffman, 1986, p. 51). stigma is imbued with certain notions of power. goffman conceptualizes the spoiled identity by claiming that stigma reflects societal norms and expectations. institutional mechanisms the classroom is an important space where students experience a teacher’s authority as a knowledge giver. shifrer (2013, p. 476) in his study on high school students suggests that teachers may have more power than parents to use stigmatized labels on students. in india, due to the age-old caste hierarchy, the classroom serves as a hierarchical space of discrimination, as a majority of the teachers in the education system are upper caste. our fgds with teachers highlighted a trend in undergraduate colleges (of delhi university) regarding the appointment of teachers and allotment of classes to teachers 15from a focus group discussion with college and university teachers on september 14, 2016 at jnu, new delhi. 16ibid. 14 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 and students. in every college, students in a particular field, say sociology, are divided into various sections of classes and these sections are formed on the basis of a merit list. this does not make for a socially integrated classroom. a senior faculty highlights the general process: “in the first list of merit you don’t find sc/st/obcs students. in a section we will find the upper caste [students], b section we will find more of the obc students and in section c, you can find more sc/st [students].”17 in the past few years at jawaharlal nehru university (jnu), obc and sc students performed very well in the written portion of the mphil admissions exam but did not eventually gain admission. through a right to information act file, it was learned that in the viva-voce portion of the exam, lower caste students were given 1 or 2 and sometimes 0 points. this reveals institutional biases in the selection process. instead of making socially inclusive rooms, institutional ‘entrapment’ forces them to remain in their ‘section’ and their ‘quota’. moreover the purpose of conducting interviews is also suspect. while all those who clear the entrance examination are at par with each other and have adequately displayed their subject knowledge, the question then arises, what is the purpose of or objective of conducting a viva? is it then some kind of identification process? students from marginalized groups are usually first or second-generation learners. many of them are facing senior faculty members in universities for the first time. an interview setting can be extremely intimidating. the interviewee is sitting alone on one side facing at times 7 to 10 faculty members. in such situations more than memory, subject knowledge, future research plans, etc., a candidate’s cultural capital, confidence, language skills get tested. while students from economically and socially well-to-do backgrounds would understandably be expected to do much better than the first or second-generation learners from poor and socially backward groups. they are inexperienced, under greater stress to perform as a lot rides on such interviews for them and they have fewer options as opposed to the well-off students, who have many more opportunities to study and/or work, relying on their social-network to cash on (deshpande & newman, 2007). at the same time, the interviewers are able to discern the regional origins, class, social background (broadly) and are free to make judgments based on their own personal stereotypes or even biases or prejudices. the ‘subjective’ evaluation is indeed, subject to all the above-mentioned qualifications of both aspiring students and the interviewing faculty members. conversation about caste, untouchability stigma a recent telephonic survey called the social attitudes research for india (sari)18 conducted by researchers at r.i.c.e19 and j.n.u, asked respondents about their beliefs 17from a focus group discussion with college and university teachers on september 14, 2016 at jnu, new delhi. 18sari (social attitudes research for india) uses a sampling frame based on mobile phone subscriptions, random digit dialing, within household sample selection, and statistical weights to build representative samples of adults between 18-65 years old. a small research team carries out the interviews. 19research institute for compassionate economics (https://riceinstitute.org) caste identities and structures of threats 15 on untouchability, reservations and inter group marriage amongst others. the first round of the survey, asked male and female respondents, “kya aapke parivar me kuch sadasya chuachhoot ko mante hain? (do some members of your family practice untouchability?”) in delhi and rural and urban uttar pradesh. in rural u.p around 62 per cent and in urban u.p 52 per cent of the women reported that at least one person in their family practiced untouchability (from coffey et al., 2018). this percentage was around 40 per cent for women and 28 per cent for male respondents in delhi. similarly, another study found that across india in 2011, among 30 per cent of households, at least one member practices untouchability (thorat & joshi, 2015). what this shows is that ideas of and practices around caste, untouchability, purity and pollution are still pervasive. it’s part of childhood socialization, leaving lasting influences on young children, which even the schooling system fails to address and finally are carried onto the higher education level, where these issues and ideas are not addressed in any institutional manner. besides the classroom, the science lab is another crucial site of discrimination and hierarchy. neha shares her conversation with a hostel mate who is doing research in natural sciences at one of india’s top universities. she says that by the third year of her doctorate degree, only two or three dalit scholars continued their studies. she states, “in the laboratory, during lab work, many upper caste scholars dilute the chemicals of dalit students and spoil their results often.”20 such a caste-based evaluation of one’s scientific experiments begins from the first day of their academic careers, when their guide asks about their caste. there are several cases where due to such bullying, lower caste scholars often leave the elite institutions and move to lesser-known institutes where they can concentrate on their results. lack of institutional mechanisms of the notion of privacy in india gives authority to academic staff/faculty to publicly shame students by identifying them by their caste. for example, the list of names of admitted students and obtained marks is generally on public display. similarly, in most of the universities during registration of new students, separate counters are set up for sc/st/obc and unreserved ‘general’ category students. this is a classic example of institutional caste-based discrimination that blatantly violates sc/st student’s basic dignity and right to privacy. an anti-caste author, yashica dutt writes: “all these universities seem to be following the same playbook on how to exclude dalits” (dutt, 2019, p. 76). individual agency and suicide during the fieldwork of this study, a research scholar and an activist, muthukrishnan rajini krish of jnu21 ended his life by hanging himself. his suicide led to debates across campuses. student bodies blamed the university for his death calling it 20shared by a fgd participant on an online network on may 17, 2016 at 12:17 pm. 21on april 13, 2017, a dalit m.phil student of india’s most politically vibrant campus jawaharlal nehru university hanged himself 16 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 an ‘institutional murder’.22 amidst such arguments, missing was the debate on his complex struggle, of how krish dealt with his dalit identity. his facebook posts reveal that it was his dream to study in jnu and he appeared four times for the entrance and in these four years he revised his research proposal 25 times. his profile picture was one of him standing next to the statue of nehru23 on campus. his name was muthukrishna but he was known as ‘rajini’ krish because he was a big fan of rajini kant, a popular film star from tamil nadu. many of his facebook posts reveal him mimicking rajini kant’s dialogue and style. he was popular among friends for cracking jokes and always smiling. ‘it is hard to believe that the most lively and jolly person amongst us committed suicide’ his friend exclaimed.24 his facebook posts also reveal a kind of isolation that despite having lots of friends, he chose facebook to express himself, and he lived in complete isolation. in 2016, university of hyderabad student, rohith vemula (whose suicide led to nation-wide protests), wrote in a letter25 to the university administration that university authorities should “make preparations for the facility of euthanasia for students like me” (dhillon, 2017). suicide is the consequence of multiple factors such as psychiatric disorders and interpersonal distress (boahen-boaten et. al., 2017, p. 376; mythri & abenezer, 2016; who 2016). durkheim (1951) argues that suicide is not simply a personal choice an individual makes in response to stress but also a phenomenon which reflects social constraints or turbulences in institutions or structures (e.g. employing organizations, educational institutions, and social providers) meant to buffer the individual against stress. on the contrary, our ethnographic observations reveal that many studentactivists including dalit activists as well as teacher-activists find suicide to be a cowardly act. they proudly refer to dr. ambedkar, birsa, phule, periyar and marx who ‘fought the fight’ for the downtrodden. a dalit professor angrily comments: i don’t even want to talk about suicide. such [people who commit suicide] are very selfish individuals. their crisis or problems or discrimination are not anywhere close to what ambedkar faced. yet ambedkar never gave up. he fought and struggled for the entire society. most activists across parties perceive life in binaries: cowardly and brave; bourgeois and proletariat; exploiter and exploited; upper and lower caste. in these binaries, from the socio-cultural to the ideological level, there is little or no importance given to individual agency. university campuses and student activism is the reflection of these ideological binaries (pathania, 2018). existing ideologies also represent similar tendencies. in his social integration theory, durkheim (1951) suggests that suicide risk is heightened when there is a breakdown of social ties between the individual and the 22bapsa (birsa ambedkar phule student association) poster: “against institutional murder of muthukrishnan” march 15, 2017. 23jawaharlal nehru, the first prime minister of independent india. 24from an interview of his friend satish on may 1, 2017. 25letter dated december 18, 2015 that was made public. [accessed on march 8, 2016. https:// indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/give-euthanasia-facilities-rohith-wrote-t o-v-c/] caste identities and structures of threats 17 social group. in this context, universities, in terms of their education and activism, fail to integrate those who struggle with their stigmatized caste identity. mosse (2018, p. 433) calls the idea of caste “as an imprisonment of the mind”, which is experienced by dalits as devastating, hurtful, even traumatic humiliation. such ‘‘dignity humiliation”—the rejected claim to equality (lindner, 2010), is a source of distress, turning the universities to which they gain access, into places of defeat for ambitious dalit students or faculty (deshpande & zacharias, 2013; guru, 2009; jadhav et al., 2016). the bearing that this has on the tragic deaths by suicide of talented students in elite institutions needs careful inquiry, but it has without question disrupted the public narrative of casteless modernity. sc/st students and faculty enter a system that, in this way, overtly offers the promise of equality and recognition, while at the same time covertly removing that possibility through structurally-driven practices of discrimination and exclusion. to be humiliated in a dignified space (of higher education) means to “suffer an actual threat to or fall in one’s self respect” (statman, 2010). gopal guru says that ‘[i]t could be argued that humiliation is a modern phenomenon which occurs within the conditions that make it possible for the servile to acquire both assertion and autonomy so necessary for self-respect.” (guru, 2009, p. 10). the expectation of equal treatment in universities creates particular conditions for a form of humiliation that is psychologically dangerous in a certain way that leads to alienation, exclusion and distress among students. more exclusion causes more negative emotions. when the salience of self is high and the network of others, within a network that is extensive, emotional reactions will be strong. verification of identity will thus generate more intense positive emotions, where failure to have an identity will produce strong negative identity. negative emotions in self, such as embarrassment, shame, and guilt, lower self-esteem (turner & stets, 2005, p. 119) and “labeling the other impure and subhuman is psychological ethnocide”.26 in other words, universities are becoming “socially toxic” spaces for lower caste students. the reports of who have highlighted that india has one of the highest suicide rates in the world ranking, “particularly the developed and more educated south india. they have also pointed out that age specific suicide rates is from 15–24 years. mosse (2012) in his studies on south indian society concludes that caste has turned inward and now resides as a feeling inside the mind and heart. it functions in both the minds of the victim and of the tormentor, the lower and the upper caste. it takes the form of horrific violence such as rape, lynching, murder or arson perpetrated by the more powerful against the powerless, especially dalits (jadhav et al., 2016). it also serves as a mediator between poverty, caste and social suffering (mosse & jadhav, 2014). all of this has a deeper impact on the human mind. in brief, ‘heart-mind’ is about matters of worry, concern and suffering which are common and socially acceptable, but ‘to discuss “brain-mind” problems invokes heavy social stigma’ (kleinman, 2012, p. 94). 26https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/india-news-calling-the-other-impuresubhuman-is-psychological-ethnocide/304575 (accessed: april 2, 2022) 18 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 when a mental health condition is seen as a matter of the loss of control of the heartmind by the ‘brain-mind’, this means loss of status and respect (izzat) which are part of an individual’s cultural identity’. as a matter of fact, psychological research on caste has not paid enough attention to the fact that disadvantaged groups like dalits might not internalize their devaluation willingly but develop strategies to overcome negative evaluation and protect their esteem (branscombe, schmitt & harvey, 1999). this is a systemic oppression that keeps dalits away from intellectual resources. conclusion and future research questions the article attempts to highlight that humiliation (and fear of humiliation) is an emotional engine that intensifies along with expanding aspirations, assertions of autonomy (social or economic) and has serious mental health effects. discriminating on the basis of caste amidst the expectation of equal treatment “can be experienced by dalits as devastating, hurtful, even traumatic; and it is this kind of distress that our data points to, including the part it might play in the tragic deaths by suicide of talented students in elite institutions. as much as we admit to the persistence of caste discrimination and stigmatization as a problem plaguing higher education campuses, there is also a constant denial or attributing of depression, distress and suicides to incident-specific situations with total disregard for links with the larger social milieu of exclusion. undoubtedly, there are incident-specific reasons, but it cannot be a coincidence that for every 25 cases of suicide, 23 are dalits (nayar, 2017). the trend suggests a structural relationship between caste identity and suicide. it requires an examination of the different forms and experiences of discrimination to understand what triggers suicide. it needs to be emphasized that for policy makers, caste-based discrimination and depression has been unchartered territory of higher education. also, in the indian higher education system, “a genuine dialogue between health and social science is still missing” (jadhav, 2012). intergroup contact can reduce intergroup bias by fostering more fluid, continuous, and inclusive social identities, but higher education in india does not show positive signs of bridging this gap the way in which the south asian social system of caste produces social suffering, the consequences of which include poor psychological wellbeing. the neglect of caste in public health research in general and mental health in particular, strongly impacts wellbeing. there is lack of data on subjective wellbeing (fontaine & yamada, 2014, p. 407); the available research centers on caste and the humiliation are more centered on the “plights of dalits” (jadhav, 2012). the above-mentioned data underscores how the overall higher education landscape and environment is severely affected with caste prejudice. it highlights how upper caste agency is also affected by caste stigma. with changing times and social mobility, the binaries of upper and lower castes are not as obvious as they may appear. especially with the changes brought about by policies of affirmative action, there is dilution in the traditional caste structure. satish deshpande observes that ‘[u]pper caste caste identities and structures of threats 19 identity is such that it can be completely overwritten by modern professional identities of choice, whereas lower caste identity is so indelibly engraved that it overwrites all other identities’ (deshpande, 2013, p. 32). therefore, future research needs to be looked at in this light: a) how are universities becoming places of social defeat? b) are our educational institutions able to transform dalits into academic resources? c) do indian universities have any mechanisms to deal with caste-related distress that leads to suicide? d) how different institutional habitus produce different impacts on dalit students?27 therefore, we suggest that more studies should be conducted in state-run institutions to understand students’ distress. these are the special conditions that give rise to discriminatory practice against dalits (sc/st) staff and students which will be illustrated by our data. as in tilly’s (1998) theory of ‘‘durable inequality”, caste involves processes of both ‘‘categorical exclusion” and ‘‘opportunity hoarding”. moreover, the effects of caste are such as to operate quite differently (sometimes inversely) on upper and lower castes (mosse, 2018, p. 430). the nature of the experience of this discrimination, humiliation and their psychological or mental health effects requires another specific theoretical framing: jadhav, mosse & dostaler (2016) draw distinction on evelin lindner’s (2010) distinction between ‘honor humiliation’ and ‘dignity humiliation’ arguing that universities illustrate a shift from the ‘honor-humiliation’ associated with the subjugation of dalits within caste orders of graded status and entitlements and which involves ritual humbling and ‘knowing your place in a social order’; to ‘dignity humiliation’ which involves violation of claims to acknowledged rights to equal treatment, membership, opportunity, recognition etc. in a similar vein, dalits involve “the making salient of caste and all its social judgments” in places where caste is not meant to be salient (mosse, 2018, p. 433); this is a modern form of power over dalits. there is an urgent need to “reinvent” mental theory and it should be informed by local suffering, caste included (jadhav, 2012). it is a matter of dialogue with one’s own personal and collective memory (ibid.). it is also a matter of dialogue between disciplines. social sciences is considered a very complex image of being very abstract and sacrosanct, needs to be revised and social sciences insights needs to be incorporated in the ‘clinic’.28 although clinicians have devised “effective methods for healing traumatized people, they have done little to expand our understanding of how individual (caste-based) traumas29 are socially constructed and also afflict collectives and influence ongoing and protracted conflict dynamics” (rinker & lawler, 2018, p. 151). when we think of linking social science with “clinic”; we are thinking of linking social suffering with the collective historical trauma of caste. in this regard, universities can serve as healing sites for both upper and lower castes. 27the proposal for india’s first university only for dalit students to come up in hyderabad by 2018. [hindustan times, hyderabad. july 6, 2017.] 28in an interview (see jha 2020). 29although trauma is primarily understood as an individual human experience, it often generalizes to symptoms in collective social settings (rinker & lawler, 2018, p. 151). 20 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 acknowledgement the paper is part of the project “distress, discrimination and the higher education in india” and supported by the international partnership and mobility award 2016 of the british academy, uk. references anveshi law committee (2002). caste and the metropolitan university. economic and political weekly, vol. 37, no. 12, pp. 101–102. bartky, sandra lee (2004). on psychological oppression. in lisa held and peg o’connor (eds.) oppression, privilege & resistance: theoretical perspectives on racism, sexism, and heterosexism (pp. 24–36). ny: mcgraw hill. bechain, s.s. 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(2003). therapeutic landscape and the first nation peoples: an exploration of culture, health and place. health and place, vol. 9, pp. 83–93. © 2022 ganeshwar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. politics caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 89–106 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.358 periyar’s spatial thought: region as non-brahmin discursive space ganeshwar122 ‘to change life,’ ‘to change society,’ these phrases mean nothing if there is no production of an appropriated space. — henri lefebvre13 abstract even as historical studies of the conceptualisation of the region in tamil nadu invariably trace it back to the early dravidian movement, ‘region’ is seen as peripheral to periyar’s radical anti-caste thought in existing scholarship. this flows from both a limited focus on the spatial aspects of periyar’s thought and a narrow conceptualisation of space itself. diverging from the dominant physicalist view of space, this article views periyar’s politics of space as a radical attempt to subvert the cultural logic of hegemonic nationalism that sustained caste and its privileges through modernity. outlining periyar’s criticism of the nation as a ‘dominated space’, it explores periyar’s conception of dravida nadu as an ‘appropriated space’ that attempted to further the pursuit of self-respect as a rationally conceived regional utopia. by doing so, the article tries to contextualise periyar’s spatial thought not as secondary to his anti-caste politics but as its fullest expression. keywords periyar, space, region, caste, indian nationalism, tamil nationalism, dravida nadu introduction much of the existing scholarship on the dravidian movement traditionally theorises the self-respect years of the dravidian movement, led by e.v. ramasamy periyar, 1m.phil., department of political science, university of delhi, india email: ganeshwarbaarath@gmail.com 1(lefebvre, 2009, p. 186). 90 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 as a primarily anti-caste movement and the latter part of the dravidian movement led by the dravida munnetra kazhagam (d.m.k.) as more spatially oriented and regionalist. it is argued that periyar’s anti-caste thought is deterritorial, concerned with universal themes of equality and justice and by spatialising the early dravidian thought, d.m.k deradicalises the anti-caste zeal of the self-respect movement.2 even as historical studies of the conceptualisation of the region in tamil nadu invariably trace it back to the early dravidian movement,3 region is seen as peripheral to periyar’s radical anti-caste thought. this flows from both a limited focus on the spatial aspects of periyar’s thought as well as a limited conceptualisation of space itself. as political geographer and urban theorist edward soja explains, the ‘physicalist view of space has deeply influenced all forms of spatial analysis, whether philosophical and theoretical or practical and empirical’, imbuing all things spatial with a ‘lingering sense of primordiality and physical composition, objectivity, and inevitability’ (soja, 1980, p. 209). if there is anything we have learnt from the pioneering work of henri lefebvre, it is that space is inherently political and that organised social space, as opposed to contextual space, is never explained solely by nature, history or culture. lefebvre argued that, in modernity, there is a passage from production in space to production of space where it is interposed by mediations and mediators with reasons derived from knowledge, ideology and meaning systems.4 lefebvre argued that all social systems produce space within the framework of the society they exist in and they enact a logic of homogeneity and repetition making the social relations reproducible. this makes the spaces we inherit ‘dominated spaces’. a society transforming itself cannot accept space as produced by the existing system because while doing so it inherits the mechanisms of reproduction of existing structures (lefebvre, 2009, pp. 186–194). a transformational politics of space becomes crucial for lefebvre not because it is autonomous from or superior to politics of social relations but precisely because it is intertwined with it. lefebvre argues that while dominated space is oriented towards the reproducible, it is inevitably surrounded by the non-reproducible elements, sometimes proposing a ‘counter-space’. transformational politics has to mobilise the contradictions of space to threaten its reproducibility and thereby, ‘appropriate’ the space. this article argues that periyar’s spatial politics was motivated by such a critical understanding of space—that spatial relations were inseparable from social relations. this article argues that it was only because periyar was convinced that the annihilation of caste was non-negotiable for the pursuit of self-respect, that the articulation of an alternative spatial politics became critical for him. periyar was convinced that indian nationalism as the ‘purest manifestation of political brahmanism’ conceived the nation as a dominated space that would ensure the reproduction of caste and, therefore, to subvert the cultural logic of indian nationalism became inevitable for the pursuit of self-respect. this article puts forward that it was towards this end that he mobilised his vision of rationally conceived regional utopia, as an appropriated space, as lefebvre 2for a clear exposition of this position: pandian (1993). 3such a genealogy is traced in: barnett (2015) and geetha & rajadurai (1998). 4contextual space corresponds to the passive space where production takes place while social space is the space that is produced by and produces social relations. production in space does not disappear in social space but is oriented differently. periyar’s spatial thought: region as non-brahmin discursive space 91 would call it. in this article, through a close reading of periyar’s critique of indian nationalism and careful construction of his regional utopia, i intend to contextualise periyar’s spatial thought not as secondary to his anti-caste politics but as the fullest expression of it.5 a structural turn in periyar’s anti-caste thought early in his political life, periyar prioritised the politics of social change above the pursuit of power. this was how periyar reasoned his joining the madras presidency association, the non-brahmin branch of the indian national congress, over the justice party. periyar’s discomfort with the justice party brand of politics was that it prioritised the pursuit of power by non-brahmins to the harder work of reform of society, and by doing so, it reduced the issue of caste to that of brahmin domination. this deep suspicion of power politics made the gandhian constructive programme attractive to periyar in the early days of his political life. he championed gandhian constructive work and the non-cooperation movement in tamil nadu. he remarked that as gandhi had already been appropriated by the congress brahmins, the non-brahmins should, at least, try and appropriate gandhian constructive work. he considered that the justice party pursuing the ‘politics of vote and council’ did not seem disturbed by the practice of untouchability or the broader adi dravida cause (geetha & rajadurai, 1998, pp. 212–213). for these reasons, he still considered the gandhian social programme to be valuable because he believed it could address the issue of untouchability, build a popular base and ideological credibility for the non-brahmin movement. even after exiting the congress, v. geetha and rajadurai write, he continued to find gandhi’s insistence on spinning, abolition of untouchability and prohibition ‘worthwhile and useful principles of action and conduct’ (ibid). while he repeatedly condemned the congress brahmins for working against wider tamil interests and wondered why gandhi remained silent in the face of it, he remained convinced that khadi, non-cooperation and national unity were imperative in the fight for human dignity. this changed gradually with the indifference and unyieldingness of congress leaders in their refusal to address the issue of social inequality, and was accelerated by a series of declarations made by gandhi defending varnashrama dharma himself during his successive visits to tamil nadu. despite efforts to persuade gandhi to modify this position, gandhi remained adamant in his public support for varnashrama dharma. during his visit to madras in 1927, he applauded the brahmins as ‘finest flowers of the country’ for preserving varnashrama dharma and warned the non-brahmins for trying to rob it of its fragrance (pandian, 2007, p. 191). these continued statements angered the non-brahmin leaders of the tamil country who felt that whatever gandhi’s intentions were, he was adding strength to the brahmin conservatives of the madras 5the difficulty in theorising periyar comes from the fact that periyar did not write in an academic fashion. the major sources of his thought are his speeches and writings, where he wrote as he spoke. here even though periyar does not resort to an alliterative or poetic language, he employs a great deal of rhetoric and appealing argumentative devices which sometimes lend themselves to crude oversimplified analysis. but when one avoids such a literal interpretation, we find in periyar a powerful critique of dominant ideologies and discursive practices which is what the article aims to lay out. 92 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 presidency who were strongly against any measure for reform or representation. even for periyar, who continued to support gandhi despite his complete fallout with congress, these statements proved to be the final straw. he declared, “if we are to follow the mahatma’s creed, we will slip into the very abyss of that untouchability we are attempting to abolish. we have been patient, very patient and tight-lipped but today in the interests of abolition and self-respect we are, sadly enough, forced to confront and oppose the mahatma.” (as cited in geetha & rajadurai, 1998, p. 287) periyar later revealed that he met gandhi in mysore to discuss his ideas regarding the necessity to abolish brahmin hegemony and that gandhi not only refused to consider the arguments valid, but also made it clear that he indeed believed in varnadharma, in principle and form (ibid). this led to a complete fallout, and periyar decided not to meet gandhi again. periyar became convinced that gandhi wasn’t an exception in the congress but a crucial player in the construction and deployment of congress-brahmin hegemony. within a few years, he would become severely critical not only of gandhi but of khadi, gandhian constructive programme and the nationalist movement itself. these disagreements represented not personal resentment, but a structural turn in periyar’s thought concerning caste and brahmanical ideology. periyar became convinced that the nationalist movement not only lacked commitment towards the annihilation of caste but considered such a project detrimental to their cause. the question that began to pre-occupy periyar was this: why was it that the anti-colonial nationalist movement that polemised extensively about poverty and degradation of masses was unable to address social inequality as manifested in caste, which for periyar was the single greatest threat to national unity. the answer for periyar could only be that the national movement simply did not see caste as a threat to indian unity but as its very basis. unity without fraternity: interrogating indian unity as periyar became disillusioned with the political practice of gandhian nationalism, he subjected its philosophy, discourse and practice to serious ideological interrogation. periyar criticised the indian national movement for seeking to create a unity that wasn’t based on egalitarianism and therefore was bereft of any real sense of fraternity. the sole purpose of this unity was to enable action against colonialism to further the nationalist cause of swaraj. for periyar, achieving swaraj always remained secondary to achieving social equality. periyar had embraced gandhi’s vision of swaraj because he thought it held a promise for egalitarianism and was amply clear that without this promise, swaraj meant nothing to the vast majority of the poor and oppressed. for him, the sidestepping of this question of egalitarianism was the biggest betrayal of the nationalist movement for swarajya. even as gandhi largely widened the support for the national movement by recasting indian nationalism in ethical and moral terms, he retained an inegalitarian and explicitly hierarchical view of society that is varna dharma in his vision of the indian nation. benedict anderson famously wrote, “the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship”. “ultimately it is this fraternity that makes it possible, over the past two centuries, for so many millions of periyar’s spatial thought: region as non-brahmin discursive space 93 people, not so much to kill, as willingly to die for such limited imaginings”, he added (anderson, 1983, p. 7). but how did a profoundly inegalitarian indian nationalism under gandhi popularise itself? what does it reveal about the space that it envisioned? gandhi’s nationalism might not have sustained itself simply through communal passions. but periyar argued that indian nationalism was unable to embrace fraternity, which was inconsistent with brahmanism and therefore embraced an egoistic passion consistent with it. while gandhi elevated himself as a mahatma through the practice of his philosophy, he also elevated swaraj from a mere political ideal to a moral ideal. the emerging nation was now a moral imperative. the urgency of a united national consciousness given that the morality of the cause of swarajya thrust the cause of unity and self-rule into the status of the ‘political’ and confined the cause of human dignity and self-respect to merely the ‘social’. periyar challenged this through the self-respect movement. bringing to the forefront of politics the idea of self-respect, he pitted selfrespect against self-rule and questioned the morality of the latter without the former (geetha & rajadurai, 1998, pp. 284–285). periyar consistently refuted moralising the political end of the nation because he considered that it made the nationalists oblivious to the barbarity and dehumanisation that was ingrained in the national self. he insisted that anyone who pretended that a nation free from british rule but still plagued by the dehumanisation called caste was somehow a moral ideal was being deeply immoral. contrary to the nationalistic attribution of purity and divinity to the motherland, periyar labelled the country that sheltered the barbarity of untouchability and discrimination as ‘wretched’. “men should not touch each other, see each other; men cannot enter temples, fetch water from the village pond: in a land where such inhuman practices are rife, it is a wonder that earthquakes have not destroyed us, volcanoes not burnt us; it is a wonder that the earth has not split at its heart and plunged this land into an abyss, that a typhoon has not shattered us.” (ibid., pp. 272–273) periyar argued that the nationalists who were convinced of the urgency of the moral project of national self-rule were bound to be incapable of recognising the horrors that plagued this country that were indigenous to this land. not only were they indifferent to the horrors, more often than not, they also ventured to defend it. in an article titled “the madness of nationalism”, periyar wrote that one can remain a nationalist in india only when he agrees with the most regressive ideas and practises of its most reactionary masses. he held that the word nationalism had become a tool through which leaders can ignore the cause of upliftment of their people and keep them forever as backward classes and asked those who believe in an egalitarian project to stay away from it (periyar, 2008, pp. 111–117). as early as 1927, periyar declared that his position is that the concepts of ‘nation’ and ‘nationalism’ are fraudulent from their very foundation as they are constructed to obscure our reality. he considered that the national movement fundamentally set up the social space of the nation in a way that ensured the social reproduction of caste relations for perpetuity in the emerging nation. i identify three important ways in which periyar argued indian nationalism ensured the reproducibility of caste: (i) universalisation of the sectariancommunal (ii) nationalisation of brahmanism (iii) conversion of caste relations into capital relations. 94 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 universalisation of the sectarian-communal periyar believed that the facade of nationalist unity was but a cloak for its partisan interests. in his words, “nationalism is communalism that doesn’t announce itself gleefully” (periyar, 2008b, p. 84). he added that he was ready to bear the label of a communalist for advancing the politics of oppressed classes but insisted that nationalists do not become non-communal because of their universalist rhetoric. the universal rhetoric of congress leaders, he argued, preserved the collective interests of those benefiting from the traditional social order by precluding any critique of it. the karachi resolution of 1931, which vowed to protect the beliefs and practices of people of faith from regulation, was clearly communal and sectarian because while it argued for drastic changes in the formal domain of politics, it only prescribed status quo in the social domain, thus preserving narrow sectarian interest.6 “when he argues that every varna has a right to profess their beliefs, gandhi is being communal. when it is arguing that all religious beliefs have to be safeguarded from government interference, the congress is being communal. when he asks us to act in a way that no beliefs of individuals from any caste or class are hurt, the ‘bolshevik hero’ nehru is being communal. when it doesn’t allow those without the knowledge of hindi to its working committee, the congress election committee is communal. when he asks for separate schools, temples, and ponds to be constructed for the use of untouchables, mr malviya is being communal”. (ibid., p. 164) and this sectarian-communalism, for periyar, was not nationalism corrupted, but its very core. he elaborated that as the western world is organised as classes, in western countries, nationalism represents bourgeois class interest, and as indian society is organised as castes, indian nationalism represents brahmanical class interest (ibid., p. 85). if nationalism’s primary message is that the power should be indianised but impedes any debate over the principle on which this power should be wielded, periyar asks what else can this be called but sectarianism. even as periyar always opposed the moralisation of empty nationalism, he would soon identify and dub it as the moralisation of brahmanism. he argued that resolutions passed by brahmins in varnashrama dharma conferences and resolutions passed by nationalists in congress conferences were essentially the same, only phrased differently. indeed the latter is more dangerous than the former because the former only ask the state to not interfere in their discriminatory sectarian practices, but the latter pledges to safeguard them through the state. but just like how a cult denounces every other cult, nationalism is quick to denounce any attempt at power-sharing as ‘sectarianism’. when the oppressed, tyrannised, and dehumanised masses begin to express their difficulties and their interests without any empathy, the nationalists decry it as sectarianism. for 6the karachi resolution, for the first time, listed out a list of socio-economic principles that a future indian state would adhere to. but periyar and the self respecters found the promises of the congress hollow, especially as they followed the execution of bhagat singh and his comrades, whom they strongly believed gandhi and the congress betrayed. they also insisted that the philosophy that the resolution adopted to end poverty without ending class distinctions was akin to ending untouchability without ending caste distinctions. but it was the section 14 and the section 17 of the charter of rights discussed at karachi which assured ‘the state will not interfere in religious matters’ and not ‘wound the susceptibilities of any of its citizens who profess opinions or a creed different from their own’ that periyar repeatedly criticised as shielding the caste society against any reform. for more on self respecters critique of karachi resolution: (geetha & rajadurai, 1998, 443-447) periyar’s spatial thought: region as non-brahmin discursive space 95 nationalists who want to build a nation that is nothing but an exhibition of different and unequal castes, classes and religions, periyar asks what damage is caused by these classes having their own representatives. periyar’s criticism of the sectarian nature of gandhi and congress was expressed most strongly during the second roundtable conference and the poona pact. periyar and the self-respect movement resolutely took the side of dr. ambedkar and mr. rettaimalai srinivasan, who insisted on separate electorates for the adi dravidas and condemned the ‘political cunningness’ of mr. gandhi.7 gandhi’s proclamation of himself as the sole representative of adi dravidas and his ridicule of ambedkar’s right to represent his people generated much anger and resentment among the adi dravidas of tamil nadu, and the self-respect movement took upon itself the role of channelising and directing this rage. articles, editorials, protests and demonstrations by prominent self-respecters condemning gandhi and congress were organised throughout the tamil country. between 1932 and 1944, kudi arasu published 37 articles in support of various political positions of dr. ambedkar (manoharan, 2020, p. 139). when the poona pact was signed, periyar condemned it as gandhi’s cunningness prevailing over adi dravida welfare. a kudi arasu editorial argued that gandhi would put his life at risk to prevent a separate electorate for adi dravidas was proof of the fact that ‘gandhi and congress were intent on wrestling political control from the british only to enthrone the authority of varna dharma’. it was clear that congress wanted power from the british but were afraid of the power slipping to the adi dravidas as it would ‘undermine the basis for the desired brahminical dominance in a future, free polity’. prominent self-respecter guruswami wrote in kudi arasu that the gandhi who argued that he doesn’t want swaraj without the abolition of untouchability was long gone, and this gandhi was no different from those hindus in devakottai who demonstrated the ‘worth of their hindu faith’ by setting fire to adi dravida homes8 (periyar, 2008, pp. 19–24) (geetha & rajadurai, 1998, pp. 346–347). nationalisation of brahmanism the persistent theme in periyar’s critique of indian nationalism was its attempt at the nationalisation of hinduism. the early nationalist movement majorly derived its passions from the perceived glory of the country’s hindu past, and this has remained a reinforcement for nationalist passion for many ever since. however, gandhi’s nationalism was anchored not simply on the perceived glory of the past but on a new, and in many ways original, ethic. this wielded itself as acceptable and appealing to a larger public. but this supposedly new ethic, periyar argued, preserved in itself the core of an older tyrannical ideology, that of brahmanism. this nationalism not only sheltered the traditional oppressive ideology but also manifested it in the modern language of pure politics. this inflexion of politics and religion rendered 7for more on the ‘intellectual comradeship’ between ambedkar and periyar: (geetha, 2017) and manoharan, 2020) 8though the incident refered to here is unclear, a kudi arasu editorial written two months ago on july 24, 1932 refers to frequent attacks on and plunder of dalit households at devakottai, a small village in the sivagangai district of tamil nadu. the editorial alleges that the zilla collector, sub-collector and judge, all being brahmins, turned a blind eye towards the atrocities. it is significant that a hindu report records that mr. gandhi visited devakottai two years later in 1934 to broker peace between the nattars (kallars) and dalits. 96 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 religion more immune to criticism and made politics less conducive to reform. this way, gandhi had truly nationalised brahmanism. this was periyar’s central critique of indian nationalism. this inflexion of old in the new was what periyar sought to expose, for he was convinced that it is imperative for progressive politics to challenge and dislodge the old tyrannical social ideology. a new that retained the old was both inherently amoral and politically counterproductive. thus periyar took upon himself the task not only of critiquing the old, brahmanism, but exposing the old in the new nationalism which was but ‘the most complete expression of political brahmanism’ (geetha & rajadurai, 1998, p. 306). a satirical fictional conversation between a ‘puranic propagandist’ and a self-respecter published in kudi arasu sheds light on this (periyar, 2008b, pp. 187–191). lamenting that the divinely ordained authority of the puranas has been completely destroyed by the rationalist propaganda of the self-respect movement, the ‘puranic propagandist’ says it is only because of congress he still gets to do puranic sermons, and without it, he would simply have to torch his puranas. when the self-respecter asks how he can do puranic sermons on the stages of congress, which is a nationalist organisation for self-rule, the puranic propagandist replies that there isn’t much of a difference between the two types of sermons and if he simply adds ‘long live mahatma gandhi’ and ‘vande mataram’ no one would find the difference. he only has to call mahatma gandhi not a regular human being, but a divine incarnation as hinted by the mahabharata for the purposes of a holy battle, after which he can go on talking about the greatness of ramayana, mahabharata and bhagavad gita and no one in the audience would realise it is a puranic sermon. periyar, through satire, tries to make transparent what is obscured—the nationalist movement sustained itself by infusing religious, brahmanical values in a new political vocabulary and therefore breathed new life into it. if the language and discursive power of religion served to justify exploitation and oppression in the past, periyar argued it is precisely what nationalists achieved, albeit through a shrewdly modified vocabulary. this ‘brahmanised’ nationalism cannot tackle the hierarchisation of society and the subsequent dehumanisation of the non-brahmins because they have been moralised in the same scriptures that were being touted to define the national character. the legitimacy of the scriptures and faith that sustain the hierarchy has to be challenged, and therefore, nationalism that breathes life into it also has to be challenged. the transcript that kudi arasu published of the conversation between gandhi and periyar in 1927 reveals periyar’s conviction (manoharan & ramani, 2021). he tells gandhi that hinduism is different from the other religions because the spiritual core of hinduism is so vacuous that those who have attained power through it will keep refashioning it to sustain the convenient hierarchy of the caste system. the brahmins are cheering on gandhi because he has not been able to produce a fundamental change in the hindu society, and they believe they can use him for their ends. even if gandhi does manage to produce a fundamental change somehow, periyar argued, hinduism is very capable of producing another mahatma who will reverse the change. thus, for periyar, the task of social change is impossible without challenging the legitimacy of hinduism, which only serves brahmanical interests and a nationalism that wouldn’t venture to do it is ultimately useless for the cause of self-respect. this was the key to his opposition to hindi as well, which is often misread as ‘linguistic chauvinism’. the attempt by the nationalist movement to impose hindi on the entire country as essential for national unity, periyar thought, was but a repurposed attempt following the failure to revive sanskrit for sustaining the relevance of aryan periyar’s spatial thought: region as non-brahmin discursive space 97 sanskritic civilisational and religious values which are fundamentally inegalitarian. by imposing hindi in schools in the veneer of nationalisation, periyar thought it was tulsidas’ ramayana that was being nationalised. for the self-respect movement, hindi represented everything they resisted for the last two decades—caste power, brahmanic dominance, scriptural authority and the fictions of nationalism (geetha, 1999, p. 2). conversion of caste relations into capital relations periyar believed that behind the façade of the gandhian spiritual economy through rural reconstruction, larger systemic change in the realm of production was setting up a powerful baniya class that carried a disproportionate indirect influence over national politics. after his soviet trip in 1932, periyar became convinced that the struggle for self-respect should necessarily include, along with the struggle against the old social order, a struggle against the emerging capitalist order that only strengthens the former. historian a.r. venkatachalapathy infers from a secret police report that the colonial government, paranoid about the ‘red spectre’, suspected that periyar showed an urgency in propagating the communist doctrine by organising more than 40 meetings within three months, expressing ‘unbound admiration for the russian regime’, and harbouring the ‘intention to end the present administration and establish a socialist form of government’ (venkatachalapathy, 2017)! even though paranoid, police report’s observation about periyar’s ‘unbound admiration’ for soviet russia was not far-fetched. in the months following his soviet visit, periyar leaped praise on the efforts of the soviet government towards destabilising religious authority, poverty alleviation and city planning. periyar often drew inspiration from the russian revolution and adapted marxist concepts innovatively for the indian context. the victory of the russian revolution, periyar suggested, was in their realisation that ‘to overthrow god is to overthrow the authority of rich men’ and ‘to abolish religion is to abolish forces sustaining the social inequality’ (periyar, 2008, pp. 191–194). periyar refashioned his earlier critique of hinduism in marxist terms. he dubbed the brahmin as a ‘birth capitalist’ as he converted his birth into economic and social capital and god as the ‘stone capitalist’ to explain the material exploitation that brahmanism facilitates (omvedt, 2011, p. 243). while addressing conferences of dalits who have embraced christianity, periyar suggested that they should not be swayed by the promises of salvation offered by christian priests but should follow the example of the christians of russia to demolish the authority of the church and its priests and establish a society of equals (subagunarajan, 2018, pp. 38–39). he argued that the future to be constructed had to be a socialist world in which authority built on private wealth and power would have no rightful place (periyar, 1981, pp. 374–376). state paranoia translated into police action against periyar, his family, and his party, forcing periyar to declare that he was withdrawing his socialist programme for the sake of his larger self-respect movement. though periyar gave up overt advocacy of the socialist programme, the criticism of, what he dubbed as, ‘the brahmin-baniya nexus’ remained central to his politics. indeed, s.v. rajadurai argues that this critique hardened after 1936 when the cooperation between the indian big business class and the congress reached new heights. rajadurai argues that the provincial governments formed by congress in 1937 reflected this in many ways. first, the newly elected provincial governments implemented severe anti-labour laws gaining the confidence of the business class, but to the dismay of 98 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 labour unions. the bombay industrial disputes act of 1938, for example, sought to to illegalize strikes occurring without exhausting the arbitration machinery. it also made recognition of the unions conditional on the acceptance of the arbitration machinery, and provided more stringent punitive measures for participation in illegal strikes (sharma, 2004, p. 792). the madras government insisted that they supported conciliation and not arbitration but regularly used police forces inside and outside factory premises to ‘regulate’ workers and branded union activists as extremists and sought to curb their activities (krishna, 1992, p. 1504). second, the congress won over the trust of the business class by ensuring the complete independence of the colonial bureaucratic apparatus during their provincial governments between 1937–1939, the disintegration of which the industrialists did not like. and third, native industrialists like g.d. birla and purushotham thakurdas openly expressed their happiness that nehru’s occasional socialist tendencies did not translate into congress policy resolutions and appreciated gandhi’s role in making sure that the congress remained committed to supporting indian industrialists (rajadurai, 2003, pp. 154–156). rajadurai argues that it was these major changes that made the north indian baniya class a continuous target of periyar who saw congress’ nationalism as a facade for brahmin-baniya interests. he began to argue that the nationalist movement was more interested in ensuring a seamless transfer of the economic advantage for the baniya classes in the pre-modern economy to the modern national economy than it was interested in the freedom of ordinary people. he even argued, this was the actual purpose behind the spinning of khadi. the reason for making the entire country spin khadi, periyar believed, was not to help the ordinary masses but the mill owners of gujarat and mumbai. periyar quipped gandhi only had two friends, the north indian businessman and the south indian brahmin. these were the only people he respected and listened to. for others, he had nothing to offer but the task of spinning and a verbal assurance that he was against the practice of untouchability. but even this was dependent on what the mill owner and the brahmin might have to say at the moment (periyar, 2008b, pp. 87–88). periyar considered that hindi imposition, hindu communalism and the gandhian constructive programme were all aimed at maximising the profit of north indian baniya businessmen and minimising external competition from other groups. periyar argued the motive behind pushing hindi education beyond all odds was not just to establish a unity but specifically unity desirable for the baniya classes, a seamless homogenous market that spoke in a single language in independent india (see: rajadurai, 1998, pp. 387–398). hindu communalism was consciously propagated by hindu capitalists who sought to preserve existing tensions among castes and conflict with muslims to ensure that others do not enter the arena of industrial capitalism where they exercised dominance (rajadurai, 1993, p. 164). periyar considered the gandhian constructive programme not just to be inadequate, but consciously counter-revolutionary. the gandhian programme of village reconstruction, periyar argued in 1936, anticipated the problems of the new capitalist order and attended to it. for example, it asked how labourers thrown out of work by the expansion of machines can sustain themselves. but periyar argued that the question that begs to be asked was why should there be a distinct group called the labourers and another called the capitalists. periyar considered that by romanticising periyar’s spatial thought: region as non-brahmin discursive space 99 villages instead of extending to them the comforts of the city, gandhi gave a spiritual justification to the labourer-capitalist hierarchy, similar to the justification varnashrama dharma provided to the caste hierarchy. just as the brahmin leeched off the manual physical labour of the non-brahmin castes by adjudging it as their dharma, periyar argued, the city leeched off the village’s physical labour by attributing moral value to it. in other words, he argued that ascriptive hierarchies of the caste order were only strengthened by the occupational hierarchies of the capitalist order and the spatial hierarchy of village and town strengthened these hierarchies instead of challenging them. periyar argued that while gandhi presents the public a moral choice between nature and technology, the choice gandhi obscures is between using technology to perpetuate existing as well as new hierarchies and using technology to abolish such hierarchies for an egalitarian socialist future (periyar, 2013). periyar’s fierce critique of the north indian business class neither brought him closer to the dravidian business class, nor brought the dravidian business class close to periyar. when the communist party daily jana sakthi accused periyar of using the ‘birla’ name to scare the working class and divide them into aryans and dravidians and ensuring the prosperity of the dravidian capitalists, periyar published a harsh response through his daily viduthalai. he argued that the self-respect movement’s commitment to socialism has been consistent and that it was the movement that popularised communist doctrines in tamil nadu and translated communist works into tamil long before the communist party ventured to do so. he argued that all major capitalists of the tamil country have already surrendered to the congress party and no more small scale business people support dravidar kazhagam than they support the communist party. he argued that while he repeatedly insisted that his movement’s goals and the communist party’s goals were one and the same, the communist party continued to attack periyar for not accepting the nationalist consensus. he argued that while he is committed to a socialist future, he (unlike the communist party members) could not ignore the contradictions of carrying the tricolour in the left hand, red flag in the right hand, the sacred thread on the shoulders and the books of karl marx under their arms. while propaganda of communist doctrines were a regular feature of self-respect meetings, he asked why the communist party refused to question the exploitative practices of north indian business class, aryan brahmanical domination, and frauds committed in the name of hinduism in communist party meetings. to ensure self-respect for the dravidian masses, periyar argued the above questions should accompany the critique of capitalism, without which it will be ineffective and unsuccessful (viduthalai, 31.07.1947). periyar argued that the nationalist consensus heralded by the congress not only safeguarded brahmin-baniya interest but was inextricable from it. thus, for periyar, the national question and the question of labour were interconnected and the latter could not be resolved without resolving the former. as periyar thus systematically critiqued gandhi and the nationalist movement for preserving the hindu social order, the unilateral imposition of hindi in the schools of the madras presidency, became the immediate cause for the explosion of the demand for tamil sovereignty. periyar revolted against it as an attempt to infuse brahmanical values to school children, and this gave rise to the moment where he would most 100 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 acutely direct his antipathy of the indian nationalist project into a demand for tamil sovereignty. ‘tamil nadu for tamils’: periyar and the tamil region organising a huge gathering with about 50,000–70,000 people along the beach of madras, periyar raised the slogan of “tamil nadu for tamils” in an impassioned speech starkly different from his general tone of rationalist inquiry (kalimuthu, 2011, p. 72). “we tamils have lost 50 years due to this wretched nationalism. we have labelled anyone who wanted to usher progress to this country and its people as anti-national, disloyal, selfish and heretic and failed to utilise them. we kiss and worship the very legs that kick us. we wholeheartedly revel in their shit. we’ve lost our dignity. we’ve lost our senses. we’ve become slaves to others. is this why a tamil should live?” “at least now, “tamil nadu for the tamils” should become an article of faith with the tamils. tattoo your hands with the slogan ‘tamil nadu for tamils’. write on the walls of each of your houses that ‘tamil nadu is for the tamils’. imagine an outsider sitting in your home and declaring that he is the master of your house. think if there can be a greater shame and degradation for us. get ready. destroy the chains that have been imposed on tamilnadu. tamil nadu is for the tamils! tamil nadu is for the tamils!! tamil nadu is for the tamils!!!” (periyar, 2008c, pp. 222-223, translation mine) however, this was only the immediate cause for the explosion of the demand for regional sovereignty. a longer historical view of what propelled periyar to undertake this demand is necessary to understand periyar’s spatial thought. a quick summary of the series of events from the 1930s that propelled periyar and the self-respect movement to take up the demand for tamil sovereignty would shed light on periyar’s rationale for his complete rejection of the national space. 1. periyar strongly believed that the poona pact, by foreclosing the possibility of separate electorates for dalits in india, limited the radicalism of anti-caste politics, effectively sacrificing dalit interests for national unity. 2. the resolutions of the karachi conference prescribed a policy of non-intervention in religious affairs that assured that no attempts would be made to regulate people in matters of belief and practice. this for periyar indicated that independent india would constitutionally prohibit attempts to challenge the poisonous core of brahmanical ideology in the name of the right to faith. 3. periyar grew highly sceptical of the increasing influence of brahmin-baniya nexus in determining indian politics. periyar considered the north indian baniya businessman and south indian brahmin had gained a disproportionate say in national politics which ‘nationalised’ their self-interests. 4. a socialist alternative still held a promise for cultivating a meaningful national unity towards egalitarianism. the lack of a credible anti-fascist socialist alternative to challenge gandhian nationalism meant that this also was not an available option (see: rajadurai, 1998, pp. 64–82). periyar’s spatial thought: region as non-brahmin discursive space 101 5. the rule of congress in provinces, best exemplified by rajagopalachari’s rule in madras presidency and their readiness to use the same colonial laws of repression to suppress dissent against brahmanical consensus, signalled for periyar that radical activism would be severely restricted in independent india. 6. the imposition of hindi in the garb of national unity was a formal attempt to cement brahmanical cultural hegemony throughout india and also create a national market readily available for baniya business classes in independent india at the cost of linguistic and cultural diversity. this became the final immediate cause of periyar’s call for a separate tamil nation. we see in periyar’s pointed critique of indian nationalism that it had in all functional realms of organisation of space instilled the logic of brahmanism to serve brahminbaniya interests. what made him gradually but resolutely adopt a sovereign tamil state as his political ideal was his firm conviction that the project of self-respect through annihilation of caste was impossible within the constraints of indian nationalism and the indian nation-state. non-brahmin sovereignty was inconceivable within a nation whose fragile unity was preserved through anxious conformity with its brahmanical core. but this project, he believed, was workable through a rationally conceived tamil state. for such a ‘rational’ conception, received and ‘natural’ commitment to the tamil region must be subjected to critical scrutiny and a tamil region has to be reconceptualised in a way that furthers the pursuit of self-respect. this is what periyar does through his conceptualisation of dravida nadu. in other words, periyar did not pit the northern region against the southern region but pitted the nation that is anxious about social reform against a region that anticipates it. his tamil utopia was a space of possibilities. de-fetishising the region periyar’s uncompromising rationalism meant that he was highly critical of narratives that prescribed the recreation of a hoary tamil past as a solution to the degradation of tamil lives. he consistently challenged the uncritical celebration of tamil literature as being embedded with the values along which tamil society had to be reorganised. he challenged the great virtuosity of tamil literature on two grounds. first, they lacked the rationalist scientific outlook that was needed to rethink our society and were too obsessed with religiosity. second, there was nothing liberatory in tamil literature for the tamil woman to whom it only prescribed chastity and devotion. for periyar, who made rationalism, annihilation of caste, and gender equality the cornerstones of his propaganda, tamil scholars’ indifference to these ideals was unacceptable. he held that in over a thousand years, tamil had not produced any scientific literature worthy of learning and had been completely immersed in religiosity. while he appreciated the tamil saivites’ critique of the obscenity and irrationality of aryan epics, he criticised them for not applying a similar lens of rationality to the long list of tamil devotional literature, be it periyarpuranam or kandapuranam. periyar’s radical views on gender show how untethered he was from tradition, indian or tamil. periyar viewed the family structure as fundamentally flawed, the purpose of which was to protect private property and restrict the capabilities of women. periyar advocated for the complete destruction of the family system as we know it. in his words, 102 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 “to discipline love and desire and direct it along particular channels and orient them towards particular persons does not seem to have any justification. to desire is human. to control it is to practise a kind of slavery” (geetha, 2015). observing that no country in the world has ever committed as many atrocities to women in the name of marriage as we have, he held that the rituals and holy sanctions functioned as a cover-up obscuring this abject enslavement (periyar, 1942, p. 32). he consistently insisted that patriarchy and caste reinforced each other and refused to prioritise one over the other. thus naturally, the gender vision of tamil literature greatly bothered periyar. when tamil scholars found in kambaramayanam and silapathikaram, two great tamil epics, mesmerising visions of a tamil utopia, periyar found these epics as embodying superstition and patriarchy. the glorification of kannagi’s chastity and devotion to her husband, who abandoned her, as a role model for tamil women was unacceptable for periyar. he expressed his distaste for tamil literature which had elaborate sensual descriptions of a woman’s body but attributed her with no qualities of intelligent thinking beings. while he received a lot of criticism from respected non-brahmin tamil scholars, he maintained his critique and even ventured to set these books on fire along with manusmriti and ramayana. while he generally celebrated thirukkural, the sangam era moral literature, for its insistence on equality, fairness and dignity of labour, he did not spare it of criticism for its insistence on chastity as a virtue particular to women. as a rationalist, a tamil nationalism stemming from the perceived glory of a hoary past and its virtues or simple antagonism to an ‘other’ never appealed to periyar and he never failed to contradict such visions. as karthick ram manoharan (2020, p. 166) rightly argues, periyar’s dravidian identity was ‘resistance identity’ which sought to provide space to voices silenced by nationalist discourse as against the ‘legitimising identity’ of indian nationalism. conceiving the region – actualising self-respect while periyar conceived the tamil region in modernity as a rationalist utopia towards the ideal of self-respect, he deployed the narratives of difference between ‘aryan’ and ‘dravidian’ that had been previously fashioned by precursors of the dravidian movement to cut the ties of tamils to brahmanical religion and practises. the narrative borrows from the earlier expositions of the saivites but goes far beyond them. periyar explains this narrative in his address to the ‘thiruvalluvar nanneri kazhagam’ (an organisation dedicated to advising the tamil public on virtuous moral life) in 1942 (periyar, 1996, pp. 3–13).9 india as a whole was the homeland of the dravidians. aryans came later. through various means, they pushed the dravidians to the south. from ramayana, where ram wins over the demon king of lanka; to kandapuranam, where shiva’s son is sent to the south to win over the demon king of the south, the aryan epics celebrated aryan victory and domination over dravidians as the victory of a new morality. the fact that these gods of the brahmanical religion, that mark 9it has to be insisted here that the factual accuracy of such narratives and their acceptance among contemporary scholars did not bother periyar. for him, like pandit iyothee thassar who considered “the future of the pariah could not be resolved or even imagined without constructing a past that would explain and condemn hinduism” (geetha & rajadurai, 1993, 2095), to explain and condemn the hindu past was an ethical imperative for periyar and a necessity for mobilising people against their past. periyar’s spatial thought: region as non-brahmin discursive space 103 the supremacy of aryans over dravidians, are worshipped by dravidians themselves is a reflection of hegemony achieved by brahmanism and the loss of self-respect of dravidians as a result. the aryan gods are served in the dravidian land by tales about the virtue of figures of complete devotion to the aryan gods, the nayanmars and the alwars. the entire corpus of bhakti literature is a celebration of this servitude. an attachment to the religion, its gods and myths, therefore meant for periyar, a passive acceptance of the shudra-hood and loss of self-respect. for reclaiming self-respect, one has to completely cut their ties with the religion, its gods, myths and ultimately the nation that is founded on them. here we see that periyar has deployed the creative hermeneutic exercises of tamil buddhist and saivite revivalists but while doing so, prioritised the loss of self-respect over the loss of culture or tradition. for him, the former was more fundamental and thus explained the latter. the quest for tamil sovereignty for periyar was thus, in essence, a quest for non-brahmin sovereignty that required a complete disavowal of brahmanical values. as geetha argues, “periyar’s agent of history was neither the shudra, nor an adidravida; nor was it a tamil or a dravida. instead, it was the non-brahmin historic bloc, in its entirety that was to undertake the tasks of creating a new social, economic and ethical order” (geetha, 2001, p. 163). to construct such a non-brahmin ethical order, he considered it necessary to sever the ties of tamils with sanskritic texts and practises and emerging national consciousness that sought to legitimise them. as a counter, periyar emphasised the civilisational ethos of the dravidian past by a liberal reading of tamil texts. periyar praised the classical tamil treatise of thirukkural for exposing the differences between the aryan and the tamil culture and civilisation and for prescribing the virtue of equality as a remedy for the aryan ills. he even went on to say that if a tamil is asked what religion he belongs to, he should say that he belongs to the “valluvar religion” (periyar, 1981, pp. 505–508).10 the dravidar kazhagam adopted the thirukkural and organised thirukkural conferences across tamil nadu to spread its values. he proclaimed that for the dravidians the kural was the only moral text of any value. (manoharan & ramani, 2021) he referred to the ancient tamil book of tholkappiam and interpreted its verses as an acknowledgement of the view that tamil values were corrupted after aryan influence and that they were corrupted in order to benefit them at the cost of others (periyar, 2007, pp. 134–135). he often reiterated that concepts like atma (soul) and jati (caste) were alien to tamils as there is not even an equivalent to such terms in tamil. periyar also referenced ancient sangam literature to argue that the concept of marriages and their rituals were never present among ancient tamils and that sangam literature only referred to romantic relationships between men and women and never to an irrevocable bond of marriage as in the present. periyar also played a huge role in popularising the usage of the name ‘tamilnadu’, meaning tamil country, to refer to the tamil speaking areas. even as the name is found in silapathikaram and is scattered sparsely through medieval literature, the name had not been in public parlance for centuries. for at least the last three centuries before periyar, the tamil country was referred to as the madras presidency. periyar popularised the name in the tamil public sphere. prof. kalimuthu notes that starting from 1927, periyar continuously used the 10it has to be insisted here that periyar’s position was not that tamils should adopt a ‘native’ religion. he has even, in other instances, advocated conversions to islam and accepting the creed of the buddha to combat untouchability. 104 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 name ‘tamilnadu’ to denote the tamil-speaking areas in his speeches and writings in kudi arasu (kalimuthu, 2011, p. 67). the usage of his term was not accidental or mechanical but an attempt to insist upon the primacy of ‘tamilness’ as a marker of cultural identity to people immersed in nationalist passions. but unlike the saivites or language purists, periyar remained clear that recreating the hoary tamil past was not the way out of the degradation of tamils. thus even as the distinctiveness of the dravidian past was wielded by periyar to delegitimise the virtue assumed of the brahmanical religion and indian nationalism that guards it, the legitimacy of the dravidian counter imagination rested not in the glory of its hoary past but in what he characterised as the dravidian ethic of self-respect and rationalism. in his own words, his receptiveness to and appreciation of tamil was a rational choice. “if i consider that my country will not help my ideals, will not help to foster them, i shall forthwith quit it. similarly if my language is not conducive to my ideals or the advancement of my people to or to their living with self-respect, i will promptly discard it and follow what is useful. if i love tamil, it is because i am aware of the advantages i expect through it and the measure of loss that will occur by the absence of it” (periyar, 1981, p. 549) he explained the rationale for his claim that tamil sovereignty was necessary for self-respect in simple terms. for any society to gain liberty from an oppressive class, society or country, it is important that people of the society are made to realise the denigration they have attained due to their submission to the oppressive class. the work to bring this consciousness is the project of self-respect propaganda. but, indian nationalism derives its unity by obscuring this history of oppression and preventing the emergence of this consciousness through a web of discursive restraints. when such attempts are made, it derides these attempts branding it as divisive and antinational and doesn’t hesitate to directly suppress it when it wields power. therefore, the consciousness of the loss of dignity cannot arise until tamils accept the discursive boundaries of indian nationalism. tamil sovereignty facilitates the non-brahmin to free himself from the hegemonic grip of brahmanism by stripping it of its political form (periyar, 1996, pp. 8–10). distilling brahmanism as the ideological essence of indian nationalism, as manoharan has argued elsewhere (manoharan, 2019), he argued that the discursive space of the nation formed the vital frontier between the rarity and materiality of non-brahmin politics. the region, for periyar, was the counter discursive space that would enable the ascendency of non-brahmin politics from rarity to materiality. “like the societies that preceded it, socialist society must produce its space”, lefebvre argued, “but in full consciousness of its concepts and potential problems”(lefebvre, 2009, p.191). in periyar’s conceptualisation of the region, we see such a careful exercise. the self-respect movement contributed immensely to the popularisation of the region as a counter-hegemonic force incorporating a distinctive set of egalitarian values to the tamil region. it favourably read an egalitarian trait into tamil literature and history and popularised it as an antidote to inegalitarian brahmanical values that were unchallenged and indeed reinforced by the national movement. it brought an amalgamation of regional consciousness and non-brahmin consciousness not by emphasising the region’s historical or cultural values but by fundamentally investing periyar’s spatial thought: region as non-brahmin discursive space 105 the region with this ethic of self-respect. this is the political dimension of the regional consciousness that periyar propagated which has facilitated large scale social change in tamil nadu. the assertion of tamil identity through cultural distinctiveness, when deprived of this political and ethical dimension, cannot mount an egalitarian critique of the dominant articulations of indian nationalism which periyar critiqued as shielding a rigid and hierarchical social order and thus risks the danger of seamless integration into hegemonic culture and discourse. this article aims to be an effort towards resuscitating the political dimension of 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(why this state of degradation?). chennai: kayal kavin books. venkatachalapathy, a.r. (2017, september 18). periyar’s tryst with socialism. the hindu. © 2022 suhasini roy. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. culture caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 123–136 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.361 barishaler jogen mandal: construal of the undisputed dalit leader of undivided bengal through a twentyfirst century bengali novel suhasini roy1 abstract barishaler jogen mandal is a bengali novel by debes ray, published in 2010 from kolkata, india. the book revisits the socio-political arena of bengal during the final decade of colonial rule by construing namasudra politician jogendranath mandal (1904 –1968) as the central figure. this article studies the novel as a literary appendage to anti-caste thought—as an attempt to reclaim the dalit history of the nation and re-establish the significance of j.n. mandal in the history of anti-caste politics. my reading of the novel reflects bakhtinian perspective of inseparability between form and content. the novel traces evolution of j.n. mandal’s political disposition through novelisation of history, while addressing the nation building processes in late colonial south asia and developing conceptual understanding of dalithood in terms of imposed powerlessness as well as wisdom and culture acquired in the intimate connection they share with the habitat through everyday struggle for survival. i argue that the author develops his locus throughout the novel by adopting j.n. mandal’s own standpoint. with adherence to a definite sudra perspective, the text navigates history, challenging many of the discipline’s standardised interpretations. it engages with the discourse of power by strategically situating itself at the peripheral locus of the dalit life-world, and develops the narrative of power as it would appear from that fringe. by doing so, it effectually calls for a conceptual inversion of power, re-centring it in terms of dalit history. keywords jogen mandal/ jogendranath mandal; bengal 1937–1947; novelisation; bengali novel; caste-system; schedule caste politics; debes ray 1assistant professor, department of history, shibpur dinobundhoo institution (college), west bengal, india & ph.d research scholar, department of history, university of calcutta, west bengal, india 124 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 the mutuality of relationship between social sciences and literature is well-recognised in current academia. dalit literature, for example, occupies an increasingly significant place in caste studies—the unique autobiographical approach of dalit literary tradition remarkably expanding our understanding of subaltern life-world. the present study, however, engages with the discourse connecting caste and literature by underpinning the versatility of novel as a literary genre. reviewing a contemporary bengali novel based on anti-caste politician jogendranath mandal, this article develops a critique of the history of caste in late colonial bengal. it analyses the novelistic representations of the caste system, dalit life-realities, caste politics and its relation to wider nationalistic politics and state. by exploring the novel’s powerful stand against the elements of sustained caste-hindu domination in the society and politics of contemporary india, this study partakes to the discourse that connects caste studies with literary theories. barishaler jogen mandal (jogen mandal of barisal) (ray, 2010) is a bengali novel by debes ray (1936–2020), published in 2010 from kolkata, india. this over1000 page book revisits the socio-political arena of undivided bengal, and locates it within the broader indian and wider imperial contexts during the final decade of colonial rule, by construing namasudra1 politician jogendranath mandal (1904–1968) as the central figure. the author delves into the socio-cultural edifices of caste in bengal through the depiction of the deltaic-riverine eastern bengal as the quintessential namasudra habitat. the novel depicts j.n. mandal’s entry into politics from a humble background in light of the widening opportunity for dalit entry into mainstream politics with the act of 1935 and the ensuing provincial elections in 1937—mandal, though himself elected from a general seat, was representing a ‘moment of political awakening’. his rise to the height of the undisputed namasudra leader in undivided bengal has been chronicled in relation to the complex and layered ideological and interest groups that interplayed in the mainstream politics of pre-independence bengal. his distinct political line that focused on politico-ideological departure and autonomy from varna-hindu superiority, according to the novelist, is a significant phenomenon in the history of bengal’s caste movement. mandal demanded political participation for the most downtrodden sections of bengali society—the dalits and the muslim masses who were historically pushed to the social and political periphery. his leadership, for the time being, did ensure political representation of these marginalised groups at the provincial, and potentially at the national level of politics. by identifying strata of marginalisation present in colonised political existence, and probing into the roots of rapidly increasing communal tensions in bengal, the text, at the same time, problematises our understanding of ‘nation’, as the concept evolved in india’s colonised public life. the author argues that conceptual underpinnings of nationalism, despite attributes of colonial derivative, presented multivarious political possibilities through pluralistic and sometimes contradictory imaginations of desh and jaati and therefore questions the exclusivist trends in (and readings of) nationalism as 1earlier known as chandala (or chaadaal in bengali), namasudra is a downtrodden community in bengal that belonged outside and below the four-fold varna strata. the community acquired the name namasudra in the process of engagement in an upward social mobility movement during the colonial decades. barishaler jogen mandal: construal of the undisputed dalit leader of undivided bengal 125 a product of elite domination. our perception of the history of indian nationalism, he remarks, needs to go beyond the elite tropes. the novel unfolds the multiple layers in the operation of power politics—including issues like colonial authoritarianism, to right-wing manoeuvring and ego conflicts between national and provincial level congress leadership—as it construes j.n. mandal’s political career in the late 1930s and early 1940s. the space for dalit political participation and their acceptance within nationalistic politics that mandal searched for, as the undisputed namasudra leader, was lost during 1946–47 in the context of political marginalisation and heightened communal tension in war and famine-ridden bengal, and in the haste of political manoeuvring for transfer of power. the novel is an attempt towards re-reading and de-coding of history to search for the factors that caused not only mandal’s political failure, but his eventual erasure from popular memory. the narrative of his political life and its potential must remain a significant phase in the history of dalit struggle, more so in the context of the current rise in right-wing politics that increasingly attempts to mould dalit politics. with these concerns, in this article, i share my experience of reading of the novel. this article contemplates the novel for being a literary appendage to anti-caste thought and intends an analytical understanding of the dalit perspective represented in it. debes ray’s novels are characteristic in their representation of peripheral life world. he started writing in the 1950s and in his seven-decades long literary career has produced over forty novels, hundreds of short stories, and a number of non-fictional work including literary critique and studies on literary theory. born in a hindu uppercaste middle-class family in a small town in north bengal, he was politically involved with the communist parties since an early age and his literary endeavours should be placed within the urban left intellectual milieu of that time. though he became distant from direct party politics later, imbued in his writing is a strong belief in marxist ideology, blended with his litterateur’s self-commitment to represent the polyphonic reality of his time. multifarious life-realities in post-colonial south asia form the theme of his writings and his works reflect life in its ‘totality’—achieved through realistic and intricate contextualisation of the individual in her/his lifeworld. this pursuit for artistic totality reinforces a belief that art, though a representation and thus innately superficial in nature, must conform to the realities of the lived world. novelisation, in his writing, is an aesthetic experience that implicates new signifier(s) to the individual’s mundane and everyday life-moments by situating it in the wider spatial-temporal canvas. he is a critic of the essentialization of the west-centric notion of novel as a literary genre and emphasises the need and scope for integrating indigenous knowledge and storytelling formats in novel writing (ray, 1994). continuous experimentation with forms is indeed a key feature of his novels. we will see how many of these traits are present in barishaler jogen mandal. the author has premised his work on a theory of inseparable mutuality of form and content in the making of this novel. the novel recreates the past through exquisite narration, dynamic conversations, realistic characterisation of historical figures and narrative reconstruction of events using detailing as a key technique. as a novel founded on history, it adheres to absolute factual authenticity (ray invested 126 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 much time and effort to collect data for the novel) and the text deserves merit for the historical depiction of jogendranath mandal, a relatively less studied figure in current scholarship, and for the analytical framework with which the author explains political events and situations during 1937 and 1947. composed during the early years of the twenty-first century, it provides a rich ground for colligating our contemporary experience with this crucial phase in the history of the indian subcontinent. however, merely an appreciation for the narrativization of history would indicate a very limited reading of the text. the distinctive reconstruction of history in this novel is a product of the author’s cognizant perspective and theoretical position. the novel addresses the evolution of j.n. mandal’s political disposition through novelisation of history, and at the same time embraces his own viewpoint for revisiting the familiar history of nationalistic politics of the time. the author defines his locus in the novel through j.n. mandal. by espousing him, the text develops and articulates its position that situates itself at a farthest point in the spectrum of power. with adherence to this definite shudra perspective, the text navigates history, challenging many of the discipline’s standardised interpretations and in the process problematising our understanding of dimension and scope for dalit political thought. throughout the expanse of the novel, the author exercises fluent interchangeability between his own voice and that of his protagonist. at the crux of this dynamic engagement with jogendranath mandal lies a fundamental affinity the author shares with his protagonist. the novel holds on to this historical figure not only for his life account, but also for framing the ideas and theoretical foundation for the novel. the author here has tasked himself to reconstruct life-stories of mr. mandal by adopting his own standpoint. in other words, the approach of the novel is not only to expound but to adopt mandal’s own standpoint to revisit politics of his time and utilise this perspective to form an understanding of our contemporary politics. in that sense, j.n. mandal is simultaneously the purpose and the subject for this novel. the novel is an attempt to reconstruct nation-building processes in late colonial south asia from the viewpoint of this dalit leader.2 the author subscribes to this primary point that the modern history of south asia would remain incomplete without its understanding and interpretation from a dalit standpoint. throughout the stretch of the novel, ray highlights the institutionalisation of power in everyday living through his exploration of caste system, colonial authority, communalism, nationalistic politics with its social predispositions, and other socio-cultural circumstances that regulated life in late colonial bengal. the text engages with the discourse of power by strategically situating itself at the peripheral locus of dalit life-world, and develops the narrative of power as it would appear from that fringe. by doing so, it effectually calls for a conceptual inversion of power, recentring it in terms of dalit history. the novel is significant in anti-caste studies featuring two vital aspects: first, it is a literary attempt to reclaim dalit history of the nation and second, in connection to the 2twentieth-century bengal’s caste-politics doesn’t identify itself with the term dalit. debes ray has used sudra in the novel. in this article i have interchangeably used both terms to denote politics and identity of the dalits. barishaler jogen mandal: construal of the undisputed dalit leader of undivided bengal 127 former, it re-establishes the significance of j.n. mandal, an almost forgotten figure,3 in the history of bengal’s anti-caste politics. i intend to present my reading of the novel in four interconnected but thematically divided sub-sections dealing with the author’s conceptualisation of sudra identity as being defined and redefined in history in terms of social and political structures of power (and powerlessness); dalit politics in relation to nationalistic political formulations; distinctiveness of j.n. mandal’s political thought; and the eventual failure of his political line in the backdrop of war and famine-ridden bengal during the final years of transfer of power. my reading of the text endeavours to decode the narrative of power that has been portrayed and challenged in the novel through the author-subject union. sudratva the novel understands dalit life reality and identity formation in connection to structural and ideological administration of power in everyday life. constant marginalisation and conscious degradation of their cultural world stands at one end of the spectrum of sudra life. at the other end lies the unbound wonders that take place in lives sustained through labour and archaic coexistence with nature. the author indicates how this second aspect induces an inbuilt structural autonomy for sudra existence, beyond the domination of power. the novel is thus an attempt towards redefining sudratva (dalit-hood), while conceptually extending its relation to power beyond the trope of domination-hegemony. j.n. mandal belonged to the namasudra community that for long inhabited the riverine deltaic tracts of eastern bengal, was traditionally engaged in various labourintensive and menial occupations, and since the late nineteenth century experienced a process of social mobilisation (sanyal, 1981) facilitated by introduction of cash crops like jute that brought a degree of economic stability for some within the community and utilising the new socio-cultural opportunities in the advent of british rule. the meaning of sudratva is reconstructed through persistent and well-manifested references to the socially entrenched forms of upper-caste domination in the namasudra life. belonging to the lowest level of caste hierarchy, to serve the upper-caste objective of sustaining status quo, is what defines sudratva. it is through continued degradation of the sudra’s social and cultural status that the upper castes reinforce their privileged position within the hindu society. sudratva, in this sense, is the flip side of the scheme of power. by focusing on dalit life-world, the author searches for an alternative understanding of sudratva that accepts the latter as a prominent social reality but endeavours to challenge the elite-constructed meanings of it. an embedded narrative within the novel retells an incident where a zamindar penalised and restrained a sudra by cutting his tongue off for his ostensible audacity of failing to convince a sahib when asked to provide a full name during an interrogation, 3scholarship on bengal’s caste politics, for long, has failed to comprehend j.n. mandal’s role. for example, sekhar bandyopadhyay has discussed him little (bandyopadhyay, 2004). recently, dwaipayan sen’s publication, however, is a significant attempt towards amendment (sen, 2018) 128 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 that a dalit’s lowness implicates he shouldn’t even deserve a surname. incidents like this are inevitably ingrained in dalit collective memory, violent and forced subjugation had been, and continues to be, such an incessant part of their life. reading the novel in 2021, a reader may draw reference of a recent incident that received some degree of media attention— the hathras rape case in 2020 (up),4 where the victim’s (a young dalit girl) tongue was taken off in a final blow of violence. entrenched in deliberate and ruthless modes of silencing for generations, sudratva, no doubt, is the ‘tongue of a cut-off tongue’. hegemonic relations are often so engraved in dalit life and subjugation so allpervasive that an illusory harmony is created and entailed in the habitual forms of cohabitation with the upper castes. [t]he namasudras are so mingled, in everyday life, with the brahmin-vaidyakayastha households, that both the parties observe the diverse strictures of untouchability almost unconsciously, producing no apparent discord. due to such long-standing relationship, many namasudras… unwittingly imagine unified brahmin-shudra life to be real—can a brahmin sustain himself without the sudra’s labour? likewise, can the sudras even breath [sic] without a brahmin’s shadow over them? rules of untouchability, jalchal-jal-achal, taboos on touch and food—all these strictures, enduring hundreds of years of sustenance, are now so solid that neither the brahmin nor the sudra need to remember the boundary…it genuinely creates an illusion of oneness…as if, these [the strictures] are external to actual living… (ray, 2010, p. 299) but even the apparent imperceivability of boundary is undoubtedly an illusion, effectively maintained only to sustain the implanted injustice in social practices of caste hierarchy. the depreciative sudra existence, as essentially entailed in everyday practices of labour and work, is also intimately connected to the surroundings—the land and the environment to which the community belonged. sudratva thus shares material as well as conceptual inseparability with the landscape and in turn gives a specific character to it. the author explores this mutuality of relationship in the context of the namasudras and their habitat of the deltaic-riverine plains of middle and south bengal. namasudra predominance in the bils (marshland) of khulna, jessore, faridpur, barisal, dhaka, comilla, and pabna can be traced back to the early colonial decades— presumably in consequence of 1770s bengal famine that uprooted a large section of peasants and following the 1778 dhaka flood that created these bils and chars, some of whom may have resettled in these marshlands. situated at a geological confluence connecting the catchment basins of bengal’s major rivers and their tributaries with the deltaic estuaries of sundarbans, this marshy swampy land is an assemblage of thousands of everchanging and often unpredictable waterbodies. life-forms here are essentially determined by habits of water, and humans may make living possible in this uncertain marshland only through profound ecological knowledge and intensive 4for details see https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/hathras-gangrape-case-dalitwoman-up-police-6669922/ barishaler jogen mandal: construal of the undisputed dalit leader of undivided bengal 129 labour. the namasudras and faraiji muslims are primary agriculturalists here who had transformed the landscape into a remarkably high-productive agricultural zone. in the author’s terminology this ‘mythical-mysterious’ landscape is the sudrabhoomi— land of the sudras. if cultural-ecological marginality of sudrabhoomi and the community’s socioeconomic desperation are at one end of the sudratva spectrum, at the other end it touches upon the eternal connection that human labour shares with habitat in the history of civilisation. intimate cohabitation with water and the wisdom to produce crops, a large variety of high-quality rice, in the marshlands, are key features of namasudra life. water and cultivation are thus prevalent in the community’s folk repertoire, producing legends of mythical crops that magically harvest within a single night and enables the mother goddess to provide even for the insatiable begging hands of the god. in the author’s explication, myths like this happen essentially in the context of everyday struggle for survival through labour, and are sustained to reinforce the community’s right to its produce. such cultural constructs are integral to sudra living and identity. ray evinces how the conceptual underpinning of mandal’s political philosophy was essentially rooted in sudratva—both in terms of the lived realities of marginalisation, and in affective spatiality of belongingness. reconstruction of the namasudra life world is a central theme of the novel, not only for its reflection on mandal’s background, but for providing the theoretical foundation upon which the author rebuilds the political history of late colonial bengal and posits j.n. mandal within it. to comprehend dimensions of his politics, however, we need to trace the novel’s trajectory that locates the dalits in relation to the history and discourse of indian nationalism. colonialism, nationalism, and the dalits in nation-building processes debes ray develops a critical understanding of the history of indian nationalism in this novel. the last decade under colonial rule, in his observation, was crucial for giving final shape to the concepts of ‘nation’ that emerged and were rehearsed in the subcontinent’s public life for the preceding two centuries. the formation of the first provincial governments by the indians in the 1937 elections following the government of india act of 1935, despite the restricted nature of native autonomy, was a significant step towards the political realisation of the indian nation. the author identifies how the pluralistic possibilities in historical imaginations of ‘nation’ were politically underplayed, making partition inevitable. the text engages with existing academic scholarship in formulating a nuanced understanding of indian nationalism. debes ray is critical of many strands in the historiography of indian nationalism including negation of nationalistic politics as a powerplay (as done by the cambridge school) (seal, 1971) and the ‘derivative discourse’ and fragmentary models of nationalism (chakrabarty, 2002; chatterjee, 1993). ray believes that the conceptual affinity of nationalism with european enlightenment and western rationality rendered an imbued modernity. at the level 130 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 of practise, however, a colonised or capitalistic socio-political setup accounted for its self-contradictions. while the indian political leaders were struggling to construct achievable visions for a free indian nation, the colonial administration was keen to exploit/utilise their dilemmas. throughout, indian nationalism retained a strong caste hindu and elite bias/character. hindu nationalism aimed to engulf all alternate visions for the nation—in a similar vein of brahmanism’s attempt to absorb the sectarian, ethnic and even religious diversities within its fold. the indian national congress, despite being the largest and most significant nationalist organisation, failed to go beyond its hindu character. its failure to acknowledge jinnah, to utilise a non-hegemonic position of the muslim league to represent muslim politics even in 1937–38, and to befriend the alternate muslim political groups, especially those in the muslim majority provinces, resulted in rapid estrangement of muslim population from the mainstay of india’s freedom movement and, in turn, to politico-religious consolidation of identity. by the 1940s the alienation became complete with the muslim league’s two nation theory, and the gulf unbreachable in context of heightened communal tension, thus finalising the triumph of orthodoxy in both communities. it is true that the british government’s ‘divide and rule’ policy nurtured communalism, yet, it was essentially rooted within the indian social hierarchy. nationalism, thus, should be comprehended in relation to both what it was and whom/what it excluded—the limitations as well as the possibilities it contained. the author’s understanding of dalit politics is premised on this theoretical understanding. due to the elite character of nationalist politics, both the lower castes and the muslims remained largely dissociated from the mainstay of bengal’s political sphere. some communities, including the namasudras, underwent what is called the ‘social mobilisation’—a socio-religious movement consequential to the betterment of the socio-economic position of some members within the community and aimed to achieve greater acceptance within the caste hierarchy through renewed self-proclamation. matua sectarian movement of the namasudras exemplifies this process of social mobilisation. the first matua guru denounced the nationalist movement and instructed his followers to be loyal to the british rulers. roots of this loyalty should be traced in the social and educational opportunities dalits could enjoy due to colonial intervention in indian society. however, since the 1920s, some amongst the educated and socially established members of dalit communities associated themselves with mainstream indian politics. most leaders from the dalit communities achieved political eminence as part of their social accomplishment, through which they managed to uplift their status to meet that of the upper caste bhadraloks. these leaders often joined one or more of the existing political parties like the inc, the kpp and the hindu mahasabha. while they remained emotionally connected to the community and wished for their own people’s betterment, their political activities failed to identify dalit agendas or promote dalit political solidarity. in bengal, thus, dalit politics was under-pronounced for long, a fact that perhaps prompted some scholars to argue that caste discrimination was unimportant in modern bengal’s social hierarchy. debes ray offers a critique of this formulation through his portrayal of j.n. mandal, with whom, he shows, a new and promising phase of dalit politics began in bengal. barishaler jogen mandal: construal of the undisputed dalit leader of undivided bengal 131 j.n. mandal’s brand of dalit politics: ‘sudras are not hindu’ j.n. mandal stepped into politics by contesting the legislative assembly elections of bengal in 1937 as an independent candidate in a general seat from maistarkandi. he came from a poor namasudra family who earned from boat-making and other menial jobs. by 1937, he was already a bright young lawyer in barisal high court. his humble origins coupled with the indepth knowledge of local issues which he highlighted during election campaigns, accounted for his acceptability among the namasudras and the muslims—the newly enfranchised mass of barisal. his victory in 1937 against the congress candidate, who was a local zamindar and nephew of legendary nationalist aswinikumar dutt, implied that a significant section of barisal’s urban educated bhadralok recognised this son of the soil as pioneer of a new political awakening in the aftermath of the government of india act (1935). though ambedkar failed to ensure separate electorate for dalits due to gandhi’s staunch opposition, the award of 1932 was indeed an important stepping stone for the scheduled castes who were granted reserved seats. it enabled the dalit population to get substantial political representation for the first time. mandal was the most promising candidate amongst the newly elected sc mlas, and he became the first secretary of the bengal assembly’s independent scheduled caste members league, created after declaration of election results. thus, the bengali scheduled caste leadership accredited him as an able leader to carry forward dalit solidarity. under mandal’s leadership, independent scheduled caste mlas did not provide support to the first kpp-muslim league coalition government in bengal but maintained an issue-specific negotiable position. throughout, mandal’s political strategy was to extract political gain for the dalits utilising sc numerical presence in the assembly. his major political decisions, including his refusal of fazlul huq’s offer of ministership in 1939, and joining as law minister in nazimuddin and surawardi’s governments should be explained in terms of this prudential approach and politicoideological integrity imbued in his personality. j.n. mandal realised that the true source of his power lies with the newly enfranchised scheduled caste-muslim combination of voters, and always prioritised political accountability towards them. immediately after acquiring mla-ship he took initiative to renovate a local school at agailjhara, named after namasudra activist bhegai halder. in 1940 he assisted the leftist leaders to organise mahilara krishak sammilan (peasants’ gathering at mahilara) and participated with the muslim and namasudra cultivators in the excavation of an irrigation canal. during the devastating bhola cyclone that wiped out lower bengal, he made it a priority to reach the affected areas in person at the earliest, even risking his life, to take account of the situation and to ensure the quickest manoeuvring of relief. these are only a few illustrations from the novel reflecting his passion, leadership quality and political commitment. a staunch anti-communal stand has been highlighted as another significant aspect of mandal’s political disposition. the novel depicts several episodes in his political career where he was at the forefront in mitigating communal riots. his experiences made him aware that what surfaced as ‘hindu-muslim riot’ often involved caste-hindu ploy of manipulating namasudras into enmity against the muslims. he recognised 132 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 class affinity among scheduled castes and the muslims, and this understanding is reflected in his unhesitant declaration that namasudras should withdraw themselves from getting involved in the hindu-muslim riots to protect the caste-hindus. he was keen to propagate dalit-muslim cordiality based on an understanding of their shared social and economic constraints in the bengali countryside. in traditional namasudra worldview, power functioned within the purview of upper-caste hindu domination that envisioned recognition by the caste-hindus and inclusion within the fold of the ‘bhadralok’ as its ultimate objective. j.n. mandal reversed this conceptual-epistemological framework of power through his politics. he exclaimed that his goal is not to transcend the sudra identity to meet that of the castehindus, but to demand the rightful share in the nation-building process by remaining a sudra, who, irrespective of the position hindu society grants or denies them, are entitled to enjoy equal political rights as citizens. ‘shudras are not hindu’—this exclamation in fact implies a different and bolder sudra concept of power that poses a direct challenge to caste-hindu supremacy. this political disposition contradicts the harijan project of gandhi, the most powerful voice within the fold of indian nationalism. the novel illustrates how mandal comprehended gandhi, despite his reverence for the great political leader, as his ultimate opponent. rather, he embraced ambedkar’s leadership, founding the bengal branch of the scheduled castes federation. as a leader forwarding bengal’s dalit politics, j.n. mandal needed to address the interface between dalit identity and nationalist politics. this includes reshaping his perception on the anti-colonial struggle and redefining his position in relation to the multifaceted politics of nationalism. he brought himself out of dalit’s positional indifference about terrorism and radical nationalism. his affinity with the bose brothers—sarat and subhas bose, and especially his personal friendship with subhas whom he regarded as a political mentor, brought him close to the liberal trends within congress politics. he also developed friendship with the communist leaders. all these substantially broadened his political perspective, though he never got formally affiliated to these parties. he contested for calcutta municipal council election in 1940. later, as a councillor he got involved in the calcutta scavenger’s movement, opening possibility for wider dalit solidarity with a potential to incorporate nonbengali and urban sectors within bengal’s scheduled caste politics. his keen interest on international politics, especially during the war years, reflects his intention to expand the horizons of dalit politics. ray makes his audience aware that for j.n. mandal, a self-made politician conscious of remaining rooted to his background while keen on acquiring power, political consciousness required resolution of contradictory images of power. mandal hailed from a peripheral sudra community, and while he transcended the dalit reality of powerlessness by raising demands for rightful share of power and political participation, he never dissociated himself from the world of the people he was representing. his political exclamation that ‘sudras are not hindu’ is to be understood as a direct outcome of this ideological integrity. ray demonstrates how mandal’s life and thought contested the discourse of nationalism and pose a direct challenge to the self-congratulatory nation building processes that allowed an abysmally limited, if barishaler jogen mandal: construal of the undisputed dalit leader of undivided bengal 133 any, space for the dalits. this straightforwardly anti-varna hindu approach, while it became the distinctive aspect in mandal’s political line, experienced very limited approval from the high rank of bengali scheduled caste politicians of the time. neither were his people, the namasudra and muslim mass of east bengal, prepared to grasp this ideological position as a political line. it was mandal’s personal charisma and leadership qualities that appealed to them, but for the majority, the opportunity for exercising political right was too new and required mindful renunciation of the caste system. mandal presented a unique and promising political opportunity for bengali scheduled caste politics, being a product of and taking advantage of the possibilities offered since the communal award, but the moment was lost during the final years of colonial rule and amidst the imperial war, as we will see in the next section. denial ‘denial’ as the heading for final part of my discussion of the novel, denotes the situations and processes that rendered bengal’s interest forfeited during the closing phase of colonial rule, with the outcome of the cause of bengal’s scheduled caste politics manifoldly overthrown. british war policies devastated bengal’s countryside in unprecedented ways, the 1943 famine bearing its most disgracing testament. while the inevitability, as war strategy to combat japanese invasion, of policies such as scorched-earth, denial, and acquisition of boats—a lifeline in east bengal countryside, is still being questioned; their horrifying consequences are definitive.5 it caused unprecedented havoc in bengal’s social and political fabric. the author novelized j.n. mandal’s experience with war and famine-ridden bengal in several sections, the titles of which are telling: ‘juddhakshetre probesh’ (entry into the battle-field), ‘be-kabul desher tollash’ (in search of the denied land), ‘aloukik aaro tallash’ (some more of the un-worldly/mythical search), and ‘loukik kichu protikaar’ (some worldly remedies). in debes ray’s novelistic manifestation, for mandal, it was the time when his most familiar world was transformed into ‘unreal/unworldly’ (oloukik)— …the world is scraping yourself off from the water that sustains you, along with the crop you cultivate from within that water, the water now must become unidentifiable and devoid of any human touch, and so does the people who belong here with that water—the shudras, once exiled from mainland and now rooted in these waterbodies for thousands of years, —must find themselves uprooted… jogen was crossing over these denied water-world, in search for these uprooted folks… he was walking through, though his feet were never touching the ground or the water underneath. (ray, 2010, p. 983) in inevitable cruelty of the grand imperial war, the government and military were penetrating into the lives of common people with unprecedented alacrity, intervening in their everyday life and economy, and uprooting the majority of them. for people’s leaders like j.n. mandal, it was an acutely exasperating and hapless time when 5recent scholarship provide detailed analysis on bengal’s war experience and consequence of colonial policies (mukherjee, 2016) (mukerjee, 2010). 134 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 people—both his charges and his strength—were dying and suffering, their known world soon becoming non-existent. he desperately and relentlessly worked for organising relief, utilising the little that could be manoeuvred amidst administrative confusion and chaos of war-years. the political profile of the subcontinent was also undergoing transformation. at the national level, gandhi was already a lone figure launching the quit india movement, calling his fellow countrymen for a final battle against the empire, and responding to conditions of increasing penury. irreconcilability of the breach between the indian national congress and the muslim league was more than evident, as exemplified in failure of the cripps mission (1942) and the cabinet mission (1946), and resulting in jinnah’s declaration of direct action day (august 16, 1946) on the day of the formation of the constituent assembly. the post-war british government, on the other hand, was as manipulative as ever to ensure a hasty and less deplorable exit. narrow self-interest of politicians and power groups raised ugly heads within the environment of intense uncertainty and political turmoil. bengal’s provincial politics was increasingly being sidelined in national politics, a trend that started with marginalisation of subhas bose by congress right-wing elements and gandhi in 1939. relation between all india congress committee (aicc) and bengal provincial congress committee (bpcc) was a strained one for long, and by the end of the war, there was no heavy-weight leader from bpcc representing bengal at the national forum. communal polarisation already reached its zenith, triggering great calcutta killing (august,1946), noakhali riots (october, 1946), and other perpetual massacres. political underrepresentation, coupled with famine and communal tension, furthered marginalisation of the dalit cause. j.n. mandal’s politics lost its ground—he was being opposed by a section of scheduled caste leaders (including p.r. thakur) who criticised his proclamation of dalit self-determination as a distinct social group claiming political right, and instead preferred a reconciliatory position in relation to wider (and more powerful) castehindu society. geopolitical marginality of bengal, the catastrophe induced by the colonialimperial war, the famine, and the unprecedented degree of communal tension— all these conglomerated in the final years of british rule to the result of complete relinquishment of the scheduled caste’s political autonomy. mandal vehemently opposed india’s partition (august 1947). he was nominated by jinnah, a muslim league representative at 1946 interim government, at the cost of disapproval from his own people, both muslims and dalits, who by then were too polarised to accept it. facilitating ambedkar’s electoral win from bengal for constituent assembly was one of mandal’s final successes. the novel bids adieu to this exceptional historical figure at a juncture when he joins pakistan’s cabinet in 1947. ending words of the novel narrates his journey in karachi express to join pakistan ministry. as the train departs, mandal embarks on yet another uncertain path with the aim of establishing sudra’s political identity. ray writes, “jogen requires to see himself, a sudra, the single representative of the past thousands of years of vision, that is called india. he is going to pakistan. to remain truthful to that dreamt homeland… who else, other than a sudra, would take the responsibility?” the novel does not cover the story of how mandal had barishaler jogen mandal: construal of the undisputed dalit leader of undivided bengal 135 to escape from pakistan in 1950, in the face of continued riots and the authority’s brutality towards the minorities, and how he had to spend his final years in calcutta. conclusion historical novels undertake the task of re-reading and sometimes un-reading history and through engagement with history, at the same time, it enables readers to reconnect with that past. the final decade of colonial rule had unprecedentedly impacted the lives of the people of the subcontinent. it also cast final shape to the conceptual underpinnings of statehood that would determine relations between the states and people for the nascent independent nations since 1947. in barisaler jogen mandal, the author points to the pluralistic nature of political concepts of nation in colonial india. hegemonizing tendencies of varna hindu ideologies were prevalent—sometimes even to the effect of obliterating alternative and resisting versions from the purview of discourse—but not omnipresent. mandal’s political line presents one such alternative that the novel attempts to reinstate in our collective memory. it encourages the readers in a dialogue connecting the reinterpretations of history and our present experiences concerning caste politics and social realities of caste. the novelistic call for reorientation is founded on the belief in the potential of the novel as a literary genre to represent the totality of the lived world. the past comes alive in the novel through an expert navigation between fact and imagination. the text meticulously uses standard historical data and maintains a striking degree of authenticity in factual details and reconstruction of historical personalities. the author develops character attributes of the historical figures through realistic, lively and humorous conversations. narrativization, while recreating the ambience, is intertwined with sharp analytical interludes. throughout the novel, the author reorients our understanding of caste and its relation to power by redefining sudratva. the concept of sudrabhoomi has been invoked to problematise the conceptual binary that explains varna hindu-sudra relationship exclusively in terms of hegemony-subordination. while accepting sudratva as a conscious and direct state of powerlessness, the author points to the parallel realities of sudra life—realities that empower sudras through the wisdom they achieve by their labour and survival strategies, their embodied presence and intimate understanding of their habitat. j.n. mandal’s political philosophy and practise reveal a bold attempt to fight the entrenched social and political forms upper caste superiority. he attacked varnahindutva at the very core by proclaiming sudra autonomy. this perpetual call for dalit self-declaration, as traced in the novel, had its root in dalit life-realities itself. in this sense novelisation of mandal is in itself an act of resistance. ray, in a self-reflective section at the end of the novel, explains how as a twenty-first century author, every day and incessant news of violence and injustice acted as a direct drive in his construal of mandal. he reminds the reader that episodes of antiepics are present ever in the histories and heritage of civilisation. he develops the novel and its hero, j.n. mandal as one such episode of resistance—anti-epic—in the history of south asia. this novelisation of mandal, in this sense, is the author’s call for his literary audience to decode history and rethink our understanding of past and present structures of power. 136 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 references bandyopadhyay, s. (2004). caste, culture and hegemony: social dominance in colonial bengal. new delhi: sage publications india. chakrabarty, d. (2002). habitations of modernity: essays in the wake of subaltern studies. chicago: university of chicago press. chatterjee, p. (1993). the nation and its fragments: colonial and postcolonial histories. princeton: princeton university press. mukerjee, m. (2010). churchill’s secret war: the british empire and the ravaging of india during world war ii. new york: basic books. mukherjee, j. (2016). hungry bengal: war, famine and the end of empire. oxford: oxford university press. ray, d. (1994). upanyaser natun dharaner khonje. kolkata: dey’s publishing. ray, d. (2010). barishaler jogen mandal. kolkata: dey’s publishing. sanyal, h. (1981). social mobility in bengal. calcutta: papyrus. seal, a. (1971). the emergence of indian nationalism: competition and collaboration in the later nineteenth century. london: cambridge university press. sen, d. (2018). the decline of the caste question: jogendranath mandal and the defeat of dalit politics in bengal. cambridge: cambridge university press. © 2023 asang wankhede et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 109–129 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.429 the human dignity argument against manual scavenging in india asang wankhede1, alena kahle2 abstract in this article, we argue that manual scavenging and the 2013 act which prohibits it are unconstitutional as they violate human dignity, the prohibition against untouchability, and the right to life enshrined in the constitution of india. we bring out contradictions and limitations in the supreme court’s jurisprudence on manual scavenging and show that it misses out on deploying its own strong antiuntouchability and human dignity-based jurisprudence in the judicial treatment of manual scavenging. this progressive jurisprudence outlaws all forms of social exclusion and does not allow for any exceptions to the right to human dignity. we then propose a framework which outlines the unconstitutionality of the very practice of manual scavenging through an in-depth and conjoint analysis of the indian constitutional jurisprudence on prohibition untouchability, right to human dignity and right to life. a conjoint reading of the three principles brings out the real potential of the indian constitution in safeguarding the rights of manual scavengers, a feat which must begin with a complete abolition of all forms of scavenging work without exception. arguing against the acceptability of allegedly “safe” sanitation work, we propose an alternative framework to understand and critique manual scavenging, without which a complete eradication of manual scavenging is impossible. keywords manual scavenging, caste discrimination, untouchability, dalits, sanitation work, human dignity 1dphil(law) candidate, university of oxford, uk 2advocacy officer, the london story, the hague, the netherlands corresponding author asang wankhede e-mail: asang.wankhede@law.ox.ac.uk 110 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 introduction if one paid heed only to the statements of the indian government, the conclusion reached would be that manual scavenging—the manual cleaning of human faeces in the sanitation chain—is long eradicated. in fact, government actors, including the social justice minister, claim that there have been no deaths through manual scavenging (varma, 2021), and sanitised discourse around “sanitation workers” deems the problem sorted and ready for the archives. despite decades of activism, it is blatantly clear that manual scavenging remains invisible and misunderstood. manual scavenging, which is performed by workers according to a recent large-scale survey 97.25 per cent come from the dalit community (mahatme, 2021), the formerly “untouchables”, continues rampantly across urban and rural india, everywhere from household latrines to governmental sewer lines and waste treatment plants. with non-governmental organisations, as well as the majority of scholars, asserting that the way forward is to enforce the existing law on manual scavenging, we beg to differ. in particular, we criticise the judiciary, which has long been hailed as the sole state actor to take manual scavenging seriously, and ask to what extent the supreme court of india (sci)’s approach to eradicating manual scavenging is sufficient in doing so. in this article, we present manual scavenging as a violation of human dignity, and hence of the right to life, and dissect the different facets of the practice that lead to infringements of dignity. we show that the sci has not treated manual scavenging at par with other violations of dignity. the sci has not made connections between its strong constitutional jurisprudence on untouchability and the right to life, and manual scavenging, resulting in compromising and apologetic conclusions on manual scavenging. we finally propose an approach the sci could take in order to incorporate a proper understanding of manual scavenging more in line with its own precedents and the constitutional interpretation. rather than making sanitation work “safer”, we argue for a recognition of the unconstitutionality of the existing law on manual scavenging, as it does not address the violations of dignity that confront sanitation workers daily— not just those without safety equipment. unless a complete prohibition is put in place, the eradication of manual scavenging will remain a distant reality. structure of article we first revisit existing criticisms of the government’s approach on manual scavenging to establish that there is a clear consensus that the executive, and to some extent the legislative, approach manual scavenging without properly incorporating an understanding of caste and non-technical considerations. we then highlight that the prohibition of employment of manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act, 2013 has been commended for incorporating a recognition of the wider social context within which manual scavenging occurs, but that it nonetheless does not go far enough as it uncritically considers sanitation work with safety equipment completely acceptable. building on existing criticism of the 2013 act, we then proceed to ask whether the the human dignity argument against manual scavenging in india 111 supreme court of india (sci), which has otherwise been hailed for being proactive and a defender of social justice, has criticised the act. after laying out our methodology and aims, we take a step back, and clarify key terms in the debate that are often conflated. we then identify what is problematic about manual scavenging and establish that given the backdrop of caste, the very act of engaging with human faeces becomes a violation of dignity. having established that manual scavenging is at its core a human dignity problem, we then turn to the sci’s jurisprudence on human dignity to show that there is a strong legal case to be made that all engagement with faecal matter must be prohibited, regardless of safety equipment. however, we show that the sci has only strongly affirmed the right to dignity in its jurisprudence on the right to life and the prohibition of untouchability— but not in its jurisprudence on manual scavenging, even in the much-commended cases delhi jal board vs. national campaign for dignity and rights of sewerage and allied workers and others (2011), and safai karmachari andolan vs. union of india (2014). in each, dignity is invoked either not at all, or merely symbolically, in its manual scavenging judgements. in light of this evident discord, we propose a line of legal reasoning that would adequately link the existing sci understanding of dignity with manual scavenging, and argue that this would result in declaring the parts of the 2013 act unconstitutional that permit engaging with faecal matter. criticism of the executive and legislative interventions the executive and legislative of the indian government have been amply criticised in scholarly literature for their approach to manual scavenging. such criticism includes that it focuses on constructing sanitary latrines instead of taking a systems-approach and addressing issues in the entire sanitation system, or that it focuses on rural at the expense of urban india (ingole, 2016). notably, these criticisms appear to now be slowly addressed—leaving only the third, and most vocal, scholarly criticism of its approach: that its laws and policies focus on technical solutions to eradicating manual scavenging while leave unaddressed the role of caste in causing and perpetuating manual scavenging (bhowmick & purakayastha, 2016; coffey & spears, 2017; doron & raja, 2015; gupta, 2016; katiyar, 2014; permutt, 2011; ravichandran, 2011). these authors have also highlighted that the eradication of manual scavenging has featured only as an afterthought or formality in the government’s wider sanitation efforts. the swachh bharat mission, for instance, professes to aim at eradicating manual scavenging and constructing sanitary toilets, although efforts have consistently focused on the latter. in fact, some scholars have highlighted that not just is the current approach insufficient to eradicate manual scavenging, but it also actively contributes to its worsening. ghosh (2019) highlights that swachh bharat “implicitly rel[ies] on this form of labour, without concern for the lives, safety and working conditions of such workers” (p. 192). authors have argued that this hyperfocus on sanitary toilets stems from a “deification of defecation without addressing the real issue of the politics of dirt [emphasis original]” (bhowmick & purakayastha, 2016, p. 164), and linked 112 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 this to ritual pollution within the brahmanical belief system. it is through this lens that authors have argued that the executive’s approach is simply not concerned with eradicating manual scavenging, as constructing sanitary toilets is an exercise in distancing ritually polluting material from non-dalits. this criticism of the government’s approach in schemes and policies also extends to its legislative approach. the prohibition of employment of manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act, 2013 is the culmination of a near decade-long legal struggle to hold state governments accountable for their failure to take steps towards ending manual scavenging. indeed, especially practitioners have commended that the act sees manual scavenging as a social justice rather than sanitation issue, that “it recognizes a constitutional obligation to correct the historical injustice and indignity suffered by manual scavenging communities by providing alternate livelihoods and other assistance” (human rights watch, 2014, p. 5), and that it “explicitly adopts an understanding that manual scavenging is [...] against the spirit and essence of the constitution of india” (koonan, 2021, p. 157). regardless of praise for the social awareness embedded in the act, there is a small amount of literature that critically points out the shortcomings of the legislative provisions in achieving its objective of eradication. after all, the act explicitly states that “a person engaged or employed to clean excreta with the help of such devices and using such protective gear, as the central government may notify on this behalf, shall not be deemed to be a ‘manual scavenger’.” authors have highlighted that this amounts to only a “conditional prohibition”, and provides a partial justification for the exploitation of dalits (koonan, 2021; wankhede, 2021; wilson & singh, 2017). as wankhede (2021) has shown, the 2013 act has the following limitations: first, according to the definition of manual scavenger in section 2(1)(g), a person fails to qualify as a manual scavenger after being provided with protective equipment. therefore, a person continues to be engaged in dehumanising work but is altogether excluded from corresponding rehabilitation benefits. second, this “conditional prohibition” revitalises an approach of a 1976 legislation—of prohibitions with conditions, which was abandoned in 1993, and therefore constitutes regression. third, this conditional prohibition perpetuates social exclusion, entrenches historical discrimination based on caste hierarchy and excludes manual scavengers through a change in their legal status. critiquing the judicial discourse? despite ample existing criticism of the executive and legislative, the fact that the sci deemed the enactment of the 2013 act sufficient to end the ongoing mandamus on the public interest litigation before it appears to be largely overlooked in existing literature. in fact, the only criticism of the sci relates to its engagement with the previous act on manual scavenging of 1993, where permutt argues, for instance, that the court “has passively relied on the states to implement policies to eliminate manual scavenging, without any accompanying active enforcement action” (permutt, 2011, p. 283). other criticism of the judiciary is even older, and not specific to the sci; mandal (2008), for instance, shows that judicial actors in the 1960s explicitly justified manual scavenging the human dignity argument against manual scavenging in india 113 on grounds of alleged inalienable “customary rights” of manual scavengers to clean the toilets of a particular household. that the sci would let a law with loopholes suffice as the grand culmination of a public interest litigation is a puzzle. despite putting in place “progressive safeguards” through interim orders, the sci’s final judgement in the landmark safai karamchari andolan case is disappointing as it fails to acknowledge the limitations of the 2013 act, thereby perpetuating—rather than addressing—manual scavenging (wankhede, 2021). since the sci has in other cases established itself as a “guardian of human rights”, or even “fearless activist” directly tackling divisive issues head-on (permutt, 2011, p. 281), we build on wankhede’s (2021) previous article to scrutinise in detail why the sci should have questioned the conditional prohibition. methodology in this article, we are broadly concerned to what extent the supreme court’s existing approach to eradicating manual scavenging is sufficient in doing so. coming to a grounded and nuanced answer to this question requires tackling several underlying questions, such as understanding what the court’s approach is, and what “eradicating” manual scavenging even requires. it is therefore as much an empirical as it is a normative project. importantly, legal research and research on the coherence and adequateness of a given piece of jurisprudence in relation to another is never a neutral or objective act (munger & seron, 1984). law does not exist in isolation, and neither do the people making conclusions about law. in our case, our article is rooted in a deep concern about manual scavenging, and a desire to inform social activists, judges and others who want to take active steps to counter it. in fact, when we first discussed writing this article, it was in order to inform future public interest litigation. all research that such as ours stems from a concern with social justice is inevitably normative. to build up our normative argument, we employed methods associated with the integrative literature review, a “form of research that reviews, critiques, and synthesises representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated” (torraco, 2005, p. 356). on the basis of an integrative literature review on manual scavenging, we then came to a preliminary hypothesis on what judicial approach would be needed to adequately tackle manual scavenging, arguing that it must strongly rely on human dignity. it is not our claim that this human dignity argument will completely eradicate manual scavenging, but only that it is a vital starting point to seriously consider the project of eradication. importantly, our research goes beyond mere doctrinal examination of judicial interpretation, a method that we largely follow in critically evaluating the judgements of the sci. instead, we both critique the legal basis itself and discern empirically whether the approach of the sci is consistent with its approach in other cases. combining both doctrinal legal methodology and critical insights, we investigate 114 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 “to what extent” the sci’s approach is sufficient in eradicating manual scavenging, therefore asserting in a positivist manner that courts hold power, while also rejecting the idea that courts have the sole correct interpretation of the law. as our research stems from a concern with social justice, we are acutely aware that the legal system offers ways to both legitimise oppressive social relations or challenge them. our partially doctrinal analysis is therefore rooted in a lens that actively seeks out ways in which judicial discourse legitimises or perpetuates harm. this rather liberal understanding of “doctrinal” research resonates with the tradition of critical legal studies, in that we “document and [...] map the incoherent and illogical underpinnings of liberal legalism which reveal the myriad ways in which law legitimates inherently unequal social relations.” (munger & seron, 1984, p. 257). while we could have presented our findings with reference to sociological theory, we chose to refer to other jurisprudence. this is because our research is practically oriented, and we found it important to root our argument in the language and frame of reference of the legal system and the sci itself (vranken, 2010). manual scavenging as a human dignity violation the “manual” in manual scavenging our research question asks to what extent the supreme court of india’s approach to eradicating manual scavenging is sufficient in doing so. before proceeding to answer what its approach has been, we find it necessary to carefully examine what precisely is meant with manual scavenging, and what would be needed to “eradicate”—rather than just “improve” or “counter” it. in this context, we also want to take the opportunity to clarify terms that are often conflated, and expound our understanding and use of each. by “sanitation workers”, we refer to those who are otherwise referred to as “safai karamchari”, who are “all sorts of workers engaged in cleaning jobs, including those who handle dry and wet waste, and those who sweep” (dubey, 2018, p. 50). the reason we use the english term sanitation work is simply to be able to comfortably address an international audience. the term safai karamchari itself was introduced into the legislative context by activists who wanted to make a clear distinction between the identity of a manual scavenger, and the occupation of working with waste (human rights watch, 2014). according to the legal definition, manual scavengers are those sanitation workers who, through the lack of adequate protective equipment, engage directly with faecal matter. as the remainder of our article shows, this definition is flawed in its emancipatory potential. suffice it to mention here, even the existence of safety equipment does not mean that a sanitation worker will not be in direct touch with faecal matter at all; too big or too small equipment, or unforeseen circumstances for which insufficient tools have been given, can quickly result in a situation where a clear distinction between “sanitation worker” and “manual scavenger” becomes muddled. additionally, sweepers also frequently have to manually clean human waste in areas where people openly defecate, making the distinction between sanitation work the human dignity argument against manual scavenging in india 115 and manual scavenging fluid (human rights watch, 2014; walters, 2019). therefore, as the legal definition of manual scavenging simply is not accurate, we for practical purposes consider “manual scavengers” to be not just those sanitation workers who engage with human faecal matter without protective equipment, but to strictly be any person who engages with faecal matter and liquid waste. this includes tasks all along the sanitation chain in urban and rural india, such as cleaning open defecation spots, latrine, drain, and sewer cleaning, and septic tank desludging. manual scavengers are united by the fact that those employed are disproportionately dalits, “untouchables” outside the hindu caste system. overall, according to a 2021 survey of 43,797 manual scavengers by the union social justice and empowerment ministry, 97.25 per cent were dalits, compared to their share of population of 16 per cent (mahatme, 2021). this figure excludes workers who are not hindu, as they are not recorded as dalits in the census. the true number of dalits is expected to be even higher, as entire hindu communities have in the past converted to another religion to escape the “untouchable” label (thorat, 2021). as they failed to do so, with caste discrimination being carried into their new religion, there are also dalit manual scavengers from other religions and scheduled tribes (lee, 2015). the problem with manual scavenging having established that the boundaries between “manual scavenging” and “sanitation work” that government discourse has attempted to establish are flawed and of little use, we consider it necessary to scrutinise whether it is appropriate to say that sanitation work becomes unproblematic in the presence of safety equipment. as we show, the need to eradicate manual scavenging comes not just from the fact that those engaged in manual scavenging die prematurely and are stuck in a cycle of poverty. while these are indeed important issues that must be tackled, manual scavenging more fundamentally involves a complete denial of equal rights. here, we take a step back and ask what exactly “the problem” with manual scavenging is, as this is a basis for establishing what then must be done in order to fully “eradicate” manual scavenging. as we emphasise, caste sanctions and caste discrimination lie at the core of the problem. in official government discourse on manual scavenging, policymakers and legislators recognise problems associated with the practice of manual scavenging, but limit this to the discussion of a lack of fair working conditions, severe health problems, and premature death. the underlying problem associated with manual scavenging, from which the other problems arguably stem, has less of a spot in the limelight. manual scavengers, in addition to the direct and visible violence such as death, are subjected to immense structural and cultural violence rooted in caste and untouchability (shahid, 2015). “untouchability” as an institution, as shah et al. (2006) have aptly described, “refers not just to the avoidance or prohibition of physical contact [with an untouchable] but to a much broader set of social sanctions” (p. 21). shah et al. (2006) narrate how untouchability is contemporarily exercised through “forced inclusion in a subordinated role”, in which individuals are forced to perform “publicly visible acts of (self-) humiliation and subordination [...] such as [...] standing 116 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 with a bowed head, not wearing clean or ‘bright’ clothes” (p. 21). being forced to perform unpaid or underpaid work, or being denied property, are more examples of modern manifestations of untouchability (singh et al., 2019). notably, it is not the case that untouchability is practised only in rural india; instead, caste-based discrimination continues in urban india, although often taking on new forms (singh et al., 2019). former manual scavengers in particular are consistently considered as incapable of property ownership and entrepreneurship, including by the very government officials who make decisions about whether to provide them loans (joshi & ferron, 2007). especially children suffer extremely under the social sanctions imposed against their scavenging parents (walters, 2019). importantly, these acts are de facto instances of forced subordination, and lead to the denial of financial support, housing, and other necessary bases for living an adequate life. as discussed earlier, as many as 97.25 per cent of manual scavengers surveyed by the government of india were dalits, in addition to an unknown proportion of those from other religions who converted from hinduism to escape their dalit caste identity. notably, dalits themselves have a system of graded inequality, as specific sub-castes among dalits are assigned sanitation work, and ostracised by dalits of a higher caste standing. this is relevant, as we show later, as it matters little for the proper eradication of manual scavenging as a concept whether a manual scavenger receives safety equipment or not, and whether their immediate experience of engaging with faecal matter ceases to be directly injurious to their health and life. as walters (2019, p. 53) writes: “faeces is a polluted object, the job of removing and disposing of faeces is a polluted occupation, and the individual and sub-caste prescribed to do such work are polluted individuals and groups.” by the very fact that they work with ritually and physically polluting objects—excrements—they are ostracised and subjected to inferior living conditions (walters, 2019). neither governmental schemes nor the 2013 act incorporate an accurate understanding that even sanitation work with equipment is deemed ritually polluting and thus leads to severe social ostracism. it is therefore not sufficient to make the immediate experience of engaging with faecal matter less or non-hazardous to humans. rather, the problem at hand is that mere engagement with faecal matter leads to social exclusion, stigmatisation, being treated as an untouchable and systemic violence (the problem with manual scavenging). in other words, it must be recognised that the problem is with the very job of a person working in sanitation. that there is any dignified version of manual scavenging is a complete myth, which in turn perpetuates social exclusion and systemic violence faced by dalits involved in the practice. manual scavenging, untouchability, right to life and human dignity: the judicial discourse of the supreme court of india in the previous sections, we have highlighted that manual scavenging is harmful not just because it is harmful to health, but because merely engaging with faecal matter is considered ritually polluting, and thereby leads to severe social exclusion, stereotyping the human dignity argument against manual scavenging in india 117 and stigmatisation of the individuals. the problem with manual scavenging, we have shown, is ultimately the one of human dignity. existing literature has already highlighted that the predominant governmental approach to manual scavenging does not incorporate an adequate understanding of this. less scrutinised, however, is the approach of the indian judiciary. as introduced earlier, we seek to investigate to what extent the approach to eradicating manual scavenging of the supreme court of india (sci) is sufficient in doing so, to which the discussion now turns. this section provides an account of the deployment of human dignity as a fundamental right under the indian constitution by the sci in its judicial discourse. as we understand it, the sci has discussed the principle of human dignity broadly in three ways: manual scavenging and human dignity; untouchability and human dignity; right to life and human dignity. this section deals with the first two of these categories, to show that human dignity is merely discussed ornamentally in manual scavenging jurisprudence. the next section will analyse the third category and show that the sci has a wide-spanning and emancipatory understanding of human dignity elsewhere that it could adopt in its manual scavenging jurisprudence. by discussing these categories separately, we work towards a critical assessment of the way human dignity as a principle and fundamental right is reflected in the judicial discourse on manual scavenging, untouchability, and generally. this will help identify shortcomings in the legal argumentation of the sci and help construct our main argument that the sci does not adopt an approach that can eradicate manual scavenging. in contrast with a recent paper (gupta, 2022), we categorically leave out an analysis of principle of human dignity in international human rights law instruments and jurisprudence of the un human rights committee, as we firmly believe that such an exercise of borrowing from western debates ignores the vital resource that existing indian jurisprudence emanating from a conjoint reading of the principles of the indian constitution provide to anchor any critique or normative analysis. manual scavenging and human dignity to date, only two cases by the sci have concerned relevant questions of law pertaining to manual scavenging: the public interest litigation in safai karmachari andolan (ska) vs. union of india, filed in 2003, and the case filed against the delhi jal board (djb) in 2011. in both the ska and the djb case, the issue at hand was the nonimplementation of laws prohibiting manual scavenging and compensation for sewer deaths. in both, the sci invoked human dignity sporadically, and even then merely emblematically. beyond the cases of ska and djb, the judicial discourse of the sci in indian young lawyers association and state of maharashtra vs union of india (2018) is notable. these cases discuss the human dignity principle and manual scavenging, while addressing, respectively, the larger questions of untouchability and social exclusion faced by women, and discrimination faced by dalits. when we outline the limitations of the first two judgements, we draw largely on the latter, as they provide 118 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 a helpful framework to understand the overlap of human dignity, manual scavenging, untouchability and right to life in indian fundamental rights jurisprudence. as a perceived landmark judgement in anti-caste jurisprudence in india, ska provides for a range of measures to try and completely eradicate the practice of manual scavenging, and outlines the responsibility of the central government and state governments towards eradication and rehabilitation. as the case was treated as a continuing mandamus for several years, the judgement motivated the government to bring about the 2013 manual scavenging act to replace the previous 1993 act. therefore, while the case had originally been a petition seeking enforcement for the 1993 act, the sci deemed the 1993 act insufficient. as we show below, however, the 2013 act is grossly inadequate, too, as it is founded in the sci’s judicial discourse which fails to recognise that any engagement with human faeces is a violation of human dignity. ska does not discuss how manual scavenging violates the principle of dignity. the discussion is only limited to how the practice of manual scavenging is “squarely rooted in the concept of the caste-system and untouchability”. that it does not discuss how manual scavenging violates dignity does not mean it does not mention the concept at all. the sci refers to international conventions and covenants prohibiting the practice of manual scavenging, and cites articles 1 and 23(3) of the universal declaration of human rights, which invoke dignity language. however, where the court mentions dignity, it does so tangentially and as a linguistic tool. in paragraph 23.2, for instance, it claims that governments must “provid[e] support for dignified livelihood to safai karamchari women in accordance with their choice of livelihood schemes [emphasis added].” this apparent complete absence of a human dignity approach in critically assessing the 1993 act and introducing the new 2013 act in the case that is a landmark in the manual scavenging jurisprudence leaves a critical legal void. the predecessor to the ska, the sci in djb (2011) also only symbolically evokes human dignity language. djb was a civil appeal emanating from the order of the delhi high court directing the delhi jal board to award compensation to the families of deceased sewer workers. the significance of the judgement, at the outset, is that it promisingly describes the inherent nature of the sewer work and its relation to the human dignity of sewer workers. however, the sci notes that sewer workers are forced to carry out the work of manually cleaning sewers because of persisting poverty and due to a lack of alternative livelihood options. the court puts forward the case that the compelling power that forces people to work in sewers in “most unfavourable conditions and regularly face the threat of being deprived of their life” is poverty–which stands in stark contrast to the conclusions we made earlier about caste (para 3 and 20). on the nature of sewage work undertaken by sewer workers, the sci recognises it as “inherently hazardous and dangerous to life.” importantly, the emphasis of the sci in outlining the hazardous and life-threatening nature of work points to the larger limitations of the judicial discourse in ska, which excludes sewer work and the human dignity argument against manual scavenging in india 119 only considers dry latrines. furthermore, the sci in djb argues that the inherently hazardous nature of the work means it has an explicit obligation to do justice: in this scenario, the courts are not only entitled but are under constitutional obligation to take cognizance of the issues relating to the lives of the people who are forced to undertake jobs which are hazardous and dangerous to life. (para 32) this recognition of its constitutional obligation is central to our critique of the sci’s own failure to adequately instrumentalise human dignity as a fundamental right to address the perpetuation of manual scavenging in general. the sci in djb only superficially outlines the relevance of human dignity. it rules that it is the constitutional duty of all the major constituents of the state, the legislative, executive and judiciary, to “protect the rights of every citizen and every individual and ensure that everyone is able to live with dignity [emphasis added].” in paragraph 27, it also reiterates that the definition of the right to life in indian jurisprudence is expansive and “means the right to live with dignity, free from exploitation.”1 overall, while the sci in djb and ska cites relevant jurisprudence, including acknowledging human dignity as an inherent right, it in neither case incorporates this understanding holistically. instead, mentions of human dignity appear to be symbolic, as they do not meaningfully inform the court’s conclusions to the questions of the case. in the following, we now turn to the invoking of human dignity in the sci’s jurisprudence on untouchability, to assess the judicial approach. untouchability, human dignity and right to life the interrelation between the offence of untouchability, the aim of the complete prohibition of the practice of untouchability and the inherent human dignity principle involved in the constitutional prohibition can be found in the two landmark judgements of indian young lawyers association and ors. vs. the state of kerala and ors. (2019) and union of india vs. state of maharashtra and ors. (2020). these cases are relevant not just as comparison in similar subject matters, but also because the sci frequently refers to manual scavenging as an example of a violation of human dignity and right to life. indian young lawyers association, or colloquially known as the ‘sabrimala case’, concerned the constitutionality of the complete exclusion of women between ages 10 to 50 from entry into the lord ayyappa temple in sabrimala. though the case specifically concerned the social exclusion of women, justice chandrachud in his separate concurring opinion discussed the content and scope of the constitutional 1 cites in para 27 the following cases: chairman, railway board v. chandrima das (2000) 2 scc 465; common cause, a registered society v. union of india (1999) 6 scc 667; especially kharak singh v state of u.p. and state of maharashtra v. chandrabhan tale.); bandhua mukti morcha v union of india; maneka gandhi v. union of india; and board of trustees of the port of bombay v. dilipkumar raghavendranath nadkarni. 120 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 prohibition of untouchability under article 17 of the constitution, and emphasised that human dignity is within the constitutional scope of the untouchability prohibition. rooted in the trinity of dignity, equality and liberty, the fundamental rights that form the foundation of the constitutional makeup categorically reject all forms of social exclusion, and imagine social reordering based on a constitutional order that promotes justice, equality, dignity and liberty of all individuals. in the sci’s opinion: human dignity postulates an equality between persons. the equality of all human beings entails being free from the restrictive and dehumanizing effect of stereotypes and being equally entitled to the protection of law. our constitution has willed that dignity, liberty and equality serve as a guiding light for individuals, the state and this court…in a constitutional order of priorities, these are values on which the edifice of the constitution stands. they infuse our constitutional order with a vision for the future-of a just, equal and dignified society. intrinsic to these values is the anti-exclusion principle. exclusion is destructive of dignity. (para 300) this linkage between the anti-exclusion principle and dignity is foundational to the court’s analysis of article 17 on untouchability, as it recognises graded inequality and the theory of ‘purity and pollution’ on which the practice of untouchability is based. the sci then cites two underlying moral justifications for the prohibition of untouchability as an enforceable fundamental right: first, “untouchability” is violative of the basic rights of socially backward individuals and their dignity. second, the framers believed that the abolition of “untouchability” is a constitutional imperative to establish an equal social order. (para 323) under this backdrop, the prohibition of untouchability is meant to oppose all forms of exclusion and give constitutional backing to the vision of a more equal society. the central aim of the prohibition of untouchability is emphatically rooted in the dignity of those persons who were historically subjugated due to their identities in caste hierarchy: by abolishing “untouchability”, article 17 protects them from a repetition of history in a free nation. the background of article 17 thus lies in protecting the dignity of those who have been victims of discrimination, prejudice and social exclusion… article 17 must be construed from the perspective of its position as a powerful guarantee to preserve human dignity and against the stigmatization and exclusion of individuals and groups on the basis of social hierarchism… the constitution has designedly left untouchability undefined. any form of stigmatization which leads to social exclusion is violative of human dignity and would constitute a form of “untouchability”. the drafting committee did not restrict the scope of article 17. the prohibition of “untouchability”, as the human dignity argument against manual scavenging in india 121 part of the process of protecting dignity and preventing stigmatization and exclusion, is the broader notion, which this court seeks to adopt, as underlying the framework of these articles. (para 341–342) [emphasis added] additionally: the (untouchability prohibition) guarantee against social exclusion based on notions of “purity and pollution” is an acknowledgment of the inalienable dignity of every individual. dignity as a facet of article 21 is firmly entrenched after the decision of nine judges in k.s. puttaswamy v. union of india (“puttaswamy”) (2017) 10 scc 1. (para 355) [emphasis added] in the indian young lawyers association judgement, social exclusion linked to untouchability is therefore consistently recognised as a violation of human dignity. thus, according to the sci: individual dignity cannot be based on the notions of purity and pollution. “untouchability” against lower castes was based on these notions, and violated their dignity. it is for this reason that article 17 abolishes “untouchability”, which arises out of caste hierarchies. article 17 strikes at the foundation of the notions about “purity and pollution”. (para 343) we will build upon this understanding to critically evaluate the problem with the judicial discourse on manual scavenging further below. the sci critically observes that despite the constitution guaranteeing every human being the inalienable right to dignity, dalits continue to face indignity and social oppression. the sci here also refers to manual scavenging, and recognises that “a section of dalits has been forced to continue with the indignity of manual scavenging”. in fact, the sci even cites gidla, coffey and spears’ finding that manual scavengers face dual-discrimination, not only from the upper-castes but also from within dalit communities, wherefore the manual scavenger caste is the most marginalised subcaste among dalits. the sci expressly writes that: manual scavengers have been the worst victims of the system of “purity and pollution”. article 17 was a promise to lower castes that they will be free from social oppression. yet for the marginalized communities, little has changed… the dalits and other oppressed sections of society have been waiting long years to see the quest for dignity fulfilled. security from oppression and an opportunity to lead a dignified life is an issue of existence for dalits and the other marginalized. (para 346) this, the court—in a case not explicitly about manual scavenging—expressly recognises that manual scavengers are the worst victims of untouchability, dual stigma, humiliation, social exclusion and discrimination, which violates their fundamental 122 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 right to human dignity. this stands in stark contrast to the discussion in ska and djb, which are explicitly about manual scavenging but do not make such a connection. the above analysis of the judicial discourse also supports the first major argument of this article, which we have laid out further above: manual scavenging is rooted in social exclusion based on the notions of purity and pollution, and violates the much acknowledged inalienable guarantee of dignity. before analysing the next judgement, union of india, it is important to point out that sci jurisprudence on the guarantee against social exclusion is not limited to untouchability prohibition only. in what is a categorical recognition of other types of social exclusion apart from untouchability, the court has directly recognised “the guarantee against social exclusion would emanate from other provisions of part iii, including articles 15(2) and 21.” (para 357) the sci thus reads of different fundamental rights conjointly, and highlights how different practices can fundamentally violate the constitutional scheme founded on dignity, justice, equality and liberty. the striking feature of union of india, a case where the constitutionality of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes (prevention of atrocities) act, 1989 was in review before a constitutional bench, is the vast range of questions that the court poses in its analysis of untouchability and manual scavenging. acknowledging the “ignominy and abuse” that scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, to which dalits belong, have been suffering for centuries, the sci commented: they cannot enjoy equal civil rights. so far, we have not been able to provide the modern methods of scavenging to harijans due to lack of resources and proper planning and apathy. whether he can shake hand with a person of higher class on equal footing? whether we have been able to reach that level of psyche and human dignity and able to remove discrimination based upon caste?...we see sewer workers dying in due to poisonous gases in chambers [sic]. they are like death traps. we have not been able to provide the masks and oxygen cylinders for entering in sewer chambers, we cannot leave them to die like this and avoid tortious liability concerned with officials/machinery, and they are still discriminated within the society in the matter of enjoying their civil rights and cannot live with human dignity. (para 45 and 49) [emphasis added] the sci further links this absence of human dignity to not just the prohibition of untouchability, but the right to life: under article 21, the right to life includes the right to live with dignity. basic human dignity implies that all the persons are treated as equal human in all respects and not treated as an untouchable, downtrodden, and object for exploitation. it also implies that they are not meant to be born for serving the elite class based upon the caste. (para 46) the human dignity argument against manual scavenging in india 123 the judicial discourse in union of india expressly recognises the importance of the human dignity principle in the lives of manual scavengers, and categorically concludes that manual scavengers cannot live with dignity in violation of their constitutional rights. human dignity in indian constitutional law drawing on the above analysis, this section maps the indian human dignity debate under article 21 of the constitution. the above analysis has shown that the concept of human dignity in indian fundamental rights jurisprudence has been expansively interpreted and has been oriented at understanding human suffering. it is beyond the scope of the section to map all the cases which interpret human dignity; this section will focus on landmark judgements that explain human dignity as generally understood in fundamental rights discourse. the interpretation of the right to life under article 21 of the indian constitution to include the right to live with human dignity was first conceptualised as an enforceable right in francis coralie mullin v. administrator, union territory of delhi (1981). in the judgement, the sci held that “every act which offends against or impairs human dignity would constitute deprivation pro tanto of this right to live.” though the sci at the time reduced human dignity to the provision of “bare necessities of life”, subsequent jurisprudence has built upon this interpretation and imbued the right with real expansive content. the content and the meaning of the right to life with human dignity has been recently analysed and summarised in the landmark judgement of the five-judge constitutional bench in navtej singh johar v. union of india (2018). in discussing consensual sexual conduct between two homosexual adults, human dignity assumes a central position. the sci unanimously holds that human dignity is integral to the right to life guaranteed under the indian constitution. in paragraph 127, the sci holds that dignity is an “inseparable facet of human personality” and that dignity is at the pedestal of “a sacrosanct human right and sans dignity, human life loses its substantial meaning.” the sci further engages with case law of the apex courts from various jurisdictions across the world, as well as international human rights law, and summarises that there is a unanimous global agreement that constitutional courts are obligated to “protect the dignity of every individual, for without the right to dignity, every other right would be rendered meaningless.” (para 268.6) summary to summarise, we have made three key findings: first, case law on the right to life in indian fundamental rights discourse explains that human dignity is a fundamental and inalienable human and constitutional right. second, sci jurisprudence on untouchability has indeed recognised that manual scavenging is an inherent violation of human dignity through the social exclusion and stigmatisation it is linked to. however, third, there is a complete absence of human dignity analysis in case law 124 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 explicitly on manual scavenging itself. neither the landmark judgement of ska nor of djb critically evaluate human dignity as a legally protected good. the three strands of jurisprudence—untouchability, right to life, manual scavenging—provoke many important questions pertaining to the existing understanding of manual scavenging by the legislature and judiciary. our discussion now turns to a critical analysis thereof. sci’s failure to take its constitutional obligations seriously this section provides a further in-depth critique of the absence and narrow conception of human dignity from manual scavenging jurisprudence. it shows that this narrow conception of human dignity in ska and djb constitutes a failure of the judiciary to take seriously its constitutional obligations to take cognisance of the plight of the manual scavengers and of the problems with the conditional legal prohibition. the complete absence of critical engagement with the concept of human dignity is complemented by a differential interpretation and differential application of dignity language for manual scavengers from the generally understood meaning. as existing untouchability jurisprudence has shown, the sci expressly recognises that manual scavengers face the worst manifestations of social exclusion and untouchability violating their inherent dignity, a fundamental constitutional right. however, this conclusion neither finds mention in jurisprudence that is explicitly on manual scavenging, nor has this jurisprudential understanding been deployed to challenge the constitutionality of manual scavenging. we therefore contend that the sci’s approach to eradicating manual scavenging does not give manual scavenging the treatment it is due—of unconstitutionality. having established that the judicial discourse of the supreme court lacks an incorporation of its conclusions and argumentations made elsewhere, and therefore treats manual scavenging differentially when it truly matters, we can now turn to answering our research question: to what extent is this approach sufficient in eradicating manual scavenging? as we show, the problem with the approach is not simply that it has loopholes and is inconsistent with wider sci jurisprudence. rather, we argue, the central issue is that this leads to a refusal of the judicial and legislative regimes to take cognisance of the harmful effects of the legal prohibition and safeguards on manual scavenging, which de facto is permissible in law. as seen from the preceding analysis, the sci in its interpretation of human dignity has reiterated its constitutional obligations to take cognisance and address social exclusion and violations of human dignity. after all, the 2013 act that followed ska only conditionally prohibits manual scavenging (wankhede, 2021): it allows human engagement with faecal matter if provided with safety equipment. as we established earlier, this does not end the harms of manual scavenging, as the mere engagement with faecal matter leads to serious social exclusion.2 the legal prohibition and safeguards therefore render 2this understanding is embedded in the social and cultural connotations that stigmatize dalits for their engagement with faecal matter. however, we intentionally leave the empirical question of the human dignity argument against manual scavenging in india 125 the plight of manual scavengers invisible by not taking constitutionally mandated cognisance of the social exclusion of dalits that manual scavenging causes. as the preceding analysis points at a complete absence of the human dignity understanding in manual scavenging jurisprudence, the direct assent given to the 2013 act by the sci in ska informs the debacle of the judicial discourse in not only failing to critically evaluate the legislative reforms, but also in considering the legislative interventions to be a panacea for eradicating the practice. commenting on the 2013 act, the sci in ska held: for over a decade, this court issued various directions and sought for compliance from all the states and union territories. due to effective intervention and directions of this court, the government of india brought an act called “the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act, 2013” for abolition of this evil and for the welfare of manual scavengers. the act got the assent of the president on 18.09.2013. the enactment of the aforesaid act, in no way, neither dilutes the constitutional mandate of article 17 nor does it condone the inaction on the part of union and state governments under the 1993 act. what the 2013 act does in addition is to expressly acknowledge article 17 and article 21 rights of the persons engaged in sewage cleaning and cleaning tanks as well persons cleaning human excreta on railway tracks. [emphasis added] the sci here explicitly claims two things: first, that the 2013 act was brought in force for the “abolition” of manual scavenging and the “welfare” of the manual scavengers. second, that the 2013 act does not dilute the constitutional mandate of article 17, which prohibits untouchability, and acknowledges the right against untouchability and social exclusion and right to life with human dignity. this finding of the sci remains unchallenged and unreviewed in judicial discourse and academic writings on manual scavenging in india. we find ourselves in complete disagreement with the sci’s approach that empathises with the legislative reforms by way of the 2013 act. we submit that in doing so, the sci adopts a narrow view of the guarantees against social exclusion and right to life with human dignity as understood in the indian constitutional jurisprudence. had the sci better appreciated the central premise of human dignity and anti-exclusionary principle in the indian constitutional framework, it would not have arrived at the finding that 2013 act furthers the guarantees under articles 17 and 21. whether nurses, care workers, end of life careers, hospital orderlies etc, face similar forms of stigmatization and social exclusion undertaking the work, as it demands a comparative study of how other societies in absence of caste-based discrimination and untouchability treat their essential workers who dispose of faces disposal of faeces. we are grateful to prof. barbara harris-white, university of oxford for pointing this out and for her indepth review of this article. 126 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 a new argument for the unconstitutionality of manual scavenging the sci’s approach and corresponding judicial discourse is a major contributor towards perpetuating manual scavenging. this is the case even though the sci has, on the issues of untouchability and the right to life, provided a solid basis for argumentation that could contribute more to the eradication of manual scavenging. given our outline of manual scavenging above as a violation of human dignity, existing human dignity jurisprudence would in our view help adequately in problematising the very act of manual scavenging, with or without the protective equipment, and the conditional prohibition under the 2013 act. our critique provides a clear path ahead to argue for the unconstitutionality of both the very practice of manual scavenging and the 2013 act, which we assert the sci must take in order to advance towards its eradication. the foundation of the argument for the unconstitutionality of manual scavenging as we envision it is to challenge the permissibility of manual scavenging in any form. in short, there are four reasons why we argue this, based on the integrative literature and case law review from above: 1. there is no dignified way to do manual scavenging. protective equipment does not ensure the dignified treatment of manual scavengers. adding a medium in between interactions with faeces does not do away with social exclusion due to the persistence of purity and pollution. 2. the physical safety and health of so-called sanitation workers therefore does not comprehensively provide human dignity. 3. the fundamental right discourse on untouchability, human dignity and the right to life prohibits any form of social exclusion. by extension, any practices that further untouchability and other forms of social exclusion are also unconstitutional. 4. the constitutional discourse on the right to life puts an obligation on constitutional courts to protect the human dignity of all individuals. the courts must facilitate measures that enable an individual to have a substantive realisation of the right to dignity. 5. since constitutional courts are obligated to undertake judicial review of practices and legislation which derogate from the fundamental rights in chapter iii of the indian constitution, we submit that the apparent unconstitutionality of manual scavenging should not go unnoticed. this analysis also allows us to conclude that the 2013 act cannot survive the constitutional test. this is due to the violence in the legislative approach which makes the plight of manual scavengers invisible through a change in the identity of “manual scavengers” to “sanitation workers”, which neglects the caste-related discrimination and social exclusion that these communities continue to face, despite the change in the terminology and provision of protective equipment. the human dignity argument against manual scavenging in india 127 the legislative imagination of how to eradicate manual scavenging falls blatantly short of a holistic understanding. as discussed in depth earlier, it holds that providing safety gear definitionally converts a manual scavenger into a sanitation worker (wankhede, 2021). the 2013 act therefore gives legal legitimacy to the practice of manual scavenging by turning its formal character from “manual scavenging” to “sanitation work”, a binary we have established is misguided. this “new regime” articulates sanitation work as devoid of caste discrimination, stigma, humiliation, exclusion and discrimination, despite the fact that engagement with faecal matter itself is considered ritually polluting, and that almost all “sanitation workers” are dalits. the conditional prohibition therefore allows manual scavenging to continue despite the goal of completely eradicating the practice. to allow the idea of purity and pollution to continue under the garb of sanitation work and invisibilising manual scavengers is a violation of the constitutional right against untouchability and the right to life with human dignity, and does not stand the constitutional test manifested in the expansive and anti-exclusionary right to life. we contend that there are therefore at least three things the sci must do to in order for its approach to logically build on its own precedent: 1. it must take cognisance of the fact that its own jurisprudence on manual scavenging blatantly sidelines human dignity. 2. it must understand any engagement with faecal matter as unconstitutional. 3. it must rule that the 2013 act, or at least the conditional prohibition of manual scavenging it contains, perpetuates manual scavenging and is unconstitutional. a judgement of the supreme court that would adequately reflect the realities of manual scavenging, therefore, may be one that imposes a moratorium on all human engagement with faeces. given that constitutional rights trump any other considerations, ensuring the constitutional right to dignity would entail prohibiting all sanitation work in which people need to interact with faecal matter, and mechanising the entire process. references bhowmick, s., & purakayastha, a.s. 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(2019) 11 scc 1 navtej singh johar v union of india, (2018) 10 scc 1 safai karmachari andolan (ska) v union of india (2011) 11 scc 224 union of india v state of maharashtra (2020) 4 scc 761 © 2023 anand mehra. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.681 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 185-195 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the bir sunarwala: an uncharted dalit land movement of haryana, india anand mehra1 abstract dalits are the lowest social group in the indian caste hierarchy, formerly known as ‘untouchables’. they have been subjected to centuries of discrimination, violence and continue to face widespread social exclusion and economic deprivation. in rural areas, dalits are often forced to live in segregated quarters and are denied access to common resources such as wells, temples, schools and land. they are often forced to do the most menial and degrading work, such as manual scavenging and cleaning toilets. this exclusion and humiliation are rooted in their lack of access to socio-economic capital, namely, land. as the world’s primary source of wealth, land plays a significant role in the life of rural communities, transforming into a socio-economic reality. dalits are historically landless; in this outbreak, they participated in various land movements to access land. landless dalits and other agricultural labourers fought alongside peasants for better wages, land ownership and to end the practice of forced labour. however, dalit struggles always remain subordinate to peasant struggles. in this context, this study examines haryana’s rarely documented and majorly unknown dalit land movement that took place in 1973 at bir sunarwala village of jhajjar district of haryana. additionally, this study seeks to highlight the significance of the bir sunarwala land movement within the broader framework of the dalit movements in india. keywords bir sunarwala, nazul land, dalit movement, land struggle, social movement 1doctoral candidate, department of political science, faculty of social sciences, university of delhi, india e-mail: anandmehra444@gmail.com 186 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 land and its importance land has been the most crucial source of power and authority for centuries. dalits were historically deprived of landholdings. according to ambedkar, “religion, social status, and property are all sources of power and authority, which one man has to control the liberty of another” (ambedkar 1979: 45). the caste system and the practice of endogamy restrict property to a particular caste and social group with traditional inheritance and restrictions. due to these caste regulations, dalits were subjected to bondage labour and experienced extreme poverty. they were unable to purchase land due to lack of resources. ironically, even if they have money, they are prohibited from buying land in various parts of the country. for instance, the land alienation act of punjab of 1900. it stated that dalits were not permitted to own land, even if they had the capacity, because they were not recognised as agriculturalists. they were forced to work as landless labourers (ambedkar 1989: 23). ambedkar called these caste-generated problems primarily economic in nature. in this context, stressing the importance of the economic empowerment of dalits, he gave the reference of yudhishthira from mahabharat: when the army of kauravas and pandavas came face to face on the battlefield of kurukshetra, yudhishthira saw bhishma, drona and other great persons on the kaurava’s side. he thought he should go and seek the blessing of those elders. therefore, he kept his arms on the ground and went to them. they had to bless yudhishthira. however, they realised their position, and before yudhishthira could ask them why they were with kauravas, knowing fully well that they were on the wrong side, they replied out of shame that man is a slave of money; money is nobody’s slave. this being the truth, o king yudhishthira! kauravas have bonded us with money. the same situation is with untouchables (jadhav 2015: 65). such is the power of money, and the same is true for land, particularly in rural areas. land is an important asset that indicates the economic position and serves as a proxy for social and political strength (sridevi 2020: 207). since the so-called ‘uppercaste’ monopolised land and other resources, ambedkar termed the dalits as under “corporate bondage” (kumar 2020: 40). in this vein, ambedkar recommended the formation of a settlement commission to build distinct villages for dalits (kumar 2020: 49). he argued that the key to raising the social standing of the dalits is possible through their economic independence. to improve their lives, the government must provide them land. he stated: unless and until doors are open to them where they can find gainful occupation, their economic emancipation is not going to take place. they are going to remain slaves, if not slaves, serfs of the land-owning classes in the villages. there can be no doubt on that point at all. now, sir, out of these gainful occupations i personally feel no doubt that the most important thing on which the bir sunarwala: an uncharted dalit land movement of haryana, india 187 government ought to concentrate is the giving of land to the dalits. they must be settled on land so that they might obtain independent means of livelihood, cease to be afraid of anybody, walk with their heads erect and live fearlessly and courageously (ibid.: 41). it was anticipated that by implementing these remedies, cultivable wasteland, government land, forest land, and pasture would be redistributed to dalits, resulting in two interconnected outcomes: landholding would provide a source of livelihood and a reasonable income for dalits in village society, and land ownership would eventually lead to dalit’s economic independence from rural society (ibid.: 51). ambedkar wants state assistance in the execution of these reforms. he observed that: if the state refrains from intervention in private affairs, economic and social, the residue is liberty. but…to whom and for whom is this liberty. obviously, this liberty is liberty to landlord to increase rents, for capitalists to increase hours of work and rescue the rate of wages…in other words, what is called liberty from the control of state is another name of dictatorship of private employers (ambedkar 1979: 425). research methodology this research adopts a historical method to unwind the movement. to collect data from parliament library, lok sabha debates and haryana state legislative assembly library, an archival method is applied. to ensure inclusivity and accuracy, snowball sampling is used to trace the participants who played pivotal roles in the movement. additionally, the interview method is judiciously applied for the collection of insightful narratives from participants about the movement. furthermore, thorough content and textual analysis were used to extract relevant information from newspapers and movement-related pamphlets. dalits and land: an envisioned utopia the implementation of the indian constitution in 1950 created a new political and social landscape in india. one of the most pressing issues facing the new government was the need to redistribute land in order to establish parity among different social classes. the constitution itself enshrined the principle of land reform in both the preamble and part iv of the constitution, which pertains to the directive principles of state policy. furthermore, land reform has been incorporated into the ninth schedule to expedite and facilitate the smooth implementation of diverse legislative measures (mohanty 2001: 3857). however, the process of land reform proved to be long and arduous. over the years, various committees and commissions were established to study the issue and recommend policies. despite these efforts, land reform has not been fully implemented in india. this is due to several factors, including the resistance of large landowners, the lack of political will, and the issue’s complexity. 188 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 it was observed that dalits were not part of debates on land reform initiatives. they were kept aside, landless, in poverty and unemployed. the deeply entrenched intersectionality between land and unemployment in the life of dalits has been shown through various studies. g. nancharaiah’s analysis of land records in the village of kanchakoduru over the years 1930, 1948, 1965, and 1982 revealed that for the year 1930, the brahmins controlled 77 per cent of the total land, non-brahmins about 21 per cent and dalits only about 2 per cent of the whole land (sridevi 2020: 176). dalit households work primarily as casual labour in agriculture and non-agricultural chores, accounting for 52.6 per cent of total working households, compared to 21 per cent for non-sc/st/obc households (ibid.: 170). similarly, in 2000, just 16 per cent of all scheduled caste (sc) households cultivated land as owner-cultivators, compared to 41 per cent of non-sc/st households. taking farm and non-farm activities into account, only 28 per cent of sc rural households have some access to capital assets, compared to 56 per cent of non-sc/st households. inadequate access to agricultural land and capital gives sc employees no choice but to turn to manual wage labour. as a result, there was an extraordinarily high level of (manual) wage labour among sc. in metropolitan areas, one-third of sc are casual labourers, compared to only 7 per cent of non-sc/sts. nsso 70th round report on household ownership and operational holdings—2013 shows that sc, who make up 20.06 per cent of total households, own just 9.2 per cent of total land, which is less than half of their proportion of total households, while non-sc/st/obcs, who make up 23.23 per cent of total households, own 32.03 per cent of total land (ibid). these statistics show that caste is still perpetuated, increasing inequality and unemployment. in such conditions, the idea of land reform captivated dalits, but implementing the land distribution process failed. the working group on the development and welfare of dalits during the eighth five-year plan (1990-1995), in their report (august 1990), observed that “agricultural ceiling laws have merely been a failure. as against the estimated availability of surplus land of about 30 million hectares, only a little over 7 million acres have been declared surplus and only 4.5 million acres of land were distributed to about 4 million beneficiaries” (ibid). consequently, the dalits did not reap the benefits of land reform as the deeply ingrained caste system vehemently resisted any attempts of reform. the resistance from dominant castes hindered the fundamental underpinning of equitable land distribution, leaving the dalits further marginalised and excluded from the transformative effects of land reforms. the case of haryana haryana’s case is no exception when it comes to the pursuit of land reform. this failure can be traced back to the overwhelming control exerted by the dominant caste of haryana, i.e., ‘jats’ over political power, further consolidating their economic and social dominance. as the primary owners of more than 80 per cent of the state’s land, jats have effectively monopolised the benefits stemming from both the green the bir sunarwala: an uncharted dalit land movement of haryana, india 189 revolution of the 1970s and the ongoing urbanisation and industrialisation processes (wss 2014: 33). this exclusive access to resources has entrenched their position, making it increasingly difficult for dalits to challenge their status and leading to a perpetuation of inequality and disparities in the region. jats constitute the single largest caste group, with 24 per cent of the population of haryana. dalits are the next largest group at around 20 per cent. nevertheless, 86 per cent of arable land in the state is under jat ownership, and dalits hold less than 2 per cent of land (ibid.: 24). land ownership and control of a large amount of land in the state provided jat’s social superiority and enabled them to control the labour of those lower in the caste hierarchy. jats exercise authority over the shamilat (common) lands in the village, which, by law, should be accessible to all community members for various purposes such as cattle grazing, playground activities, and festivals. however, jat-controlled panchayats often employ the strategy of fencing off the shamilat land, either as a form of social boycott or to force the entire dalit community out of the village. landless dalits work as ‘siri’ (bonded labourer) in the fields of jat landlords. an oft-quoted saying at jat chaupals is: “a jat who has not tasted his siri’s wife and daughter is not a true jat” (ibid). caste violence and sexual abuse against dalit women have been the primary methods to suppress the dalit community and firmly place them in their assigned position at the lowest rung of the caste hierarchy. this pattern of abuse serves as a tool of control, ensuring that the dalit community remains oppressed and subjugated, unable to challenge the prevailing social order. a recent dreadful incident occurred in bhagana village of hissar district of haryana, where dalits demanded their right to access shamilat land for their livelihood to gain autonomy from the oppressive control of jats. in a horrifying act of ‘retaliation’, perpetrated primarily by the powerful jats in haryana, four innocent dalit girls from the bhagana village were abducted and brutally raped. the incident is a tragic reminder of the systemic injustices and violence faced by dalits striving for equality and justice (chakravarti 2018: 170). for months, dalits protested at jantar mantar, seeking land outside bhagana village due to intimidation in their hometown. such social silence is a routine play in the life of every dalit. as rightly put by ambedkar: untouchable has found himself greatly handicapped in his struggle for free and honourable life. the hindu has the police and the magistracy on his side. in a quarrel between the untouchables and the hindus, the untouchables will never get protection from the police or justice from the magistrate. the police and the magistracy are hindus, and they love their class more than their duty. but the chief weapon in the armoury of the hindus is economic power which they possess over the poor untouchables living in the village (ambedkar 1991: 420). due to lack of socio-economic power, dalits are victims of exploitation, subjugation and humiliation in all walks of life. against this grim backdrop, dalits waged a relentless struggle, pouring their very lifeblood into the fight for access to land as a means to attain a life of dignity and respect. 190 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 dalit land movements across india: their necessity and significance dalit land movements are a series of social movements that dalits have waged to secure land rights and abolish discrimination against them in the land market. one of the earliest and most crucial dalit land movements was the mahar watan movement, launched in maharashtra in the early twentieth century. this movement was led by ambedkar, who argued that mahars, a schedule caste, had a historical right to the land they had been cultivating for generations. the movement eventually secured land rights for mahars and served as a model for other dalit land movements. many dalit land movements across india have happened decades since the mahar watan movement. while they have achieved varying degrees of success, they have all played a role in raising awareness of the issue of landlessness among dalits and demanding that the government must take action to address this issue. through relentless struggle, dalits were able to secure land rights in states such as punjab, uttar pradesh, bihar, andhra pradesh, karnataka, and several others. these dalit land struggles were fairly documented and recognised. some of the most notable dalit land movements include: bihar’s well-known bodhgaya land movement (bglm). in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the oppressed dalits and other historically disadvantaged castes revolted against the mahant (priest). the mahants of bodhgaya maths controlled a vast expanse of land, around 9,500 acres, blatantly violating land ceiling laws. at this time, the simultaneously surging tide of the jp movement acts as a catalyst. through their struggle, the bahujans of bodhgaya secured the rights to more than 1,000 acres of fertile, well-irrigated land. notably, among these lands, a remarkable 110 acres were specifically registered under women’s names, highlighting their unwavering dedication and fortitude (chowdhury 2020). this decade-long youth-led movement was the first in the history of social movements to have successfully secured land rights for women, mostly dalits. similarly, operation bhumi dakhal dehani (giving possession) was a significant land reform initiative undertaken in the state of bihar in 2007 under jitan ram manjhi, the first dalit chief minister of bihar. various camps were set up in villages, and police and tax authorities helped dalits take possession of the land. it aimed to address historical injustices in land distribution. it sought to reclaim land illegally occupied by dominant caste landowners, that was allotted to dalit communities. when the operation was completed in 2018, around 40,000 families, 25 per cent of those eligible—were still without land due to litigation (gokhale 2019). operation bhumi dakhal dehani sought to rectify disparities by identifying and reclaiming land wrongfully taken from dalits. the initiative intended to provide land security and tenure rights to dalit families, uplifting their socio-economic conditions and reducing their vulnerability to exploitation and oppression. however, it is essential to note that despite such rigorous efforts, challenges persisted in the implementation process. political and socio-economic resistance from dominant caste landowners often obstructed the full realisation of land rights for dalits. additionally, bureaucratic the bir sunarwala: an uncharted dalit land movement of haryana, india 191 inefficiencies and corruption posed further hurdles in the successful execution of the operation. similarly, dalits in punjab’s sangrur district, where 90 per cent of dalit farmers are agricultural labourers, occupied 6,475 hectares of unoccupied land in 2014 and demanded titles. punjab has india’s most significant dalit population. they have accused the state of not enforcing regulations that reserve public land for dalits to cultivate and housebuilding. the zamin prapti sangharsh samiti (movement to gain land) organisation started a protest and warned the state it would intensify its protest drives if the land is not legally granted to them (moudgil 2019). eventually, they reserved the promised panchayat land. these movements of dalits for their rights and emancipation extended well beyond the boundaries of north india, reaching into the realms of the south as well. throughout the country, dalits engaged in numerous remarkable movements, each carrying the weight of their collective aspirations. the dalit’s in andhra pradesh mounted a struggle in dosapadu village between 1956 and 1995, where the government granted 105 acres of land to 45 households from landless dalit communities in andhra pradesh’s dosapadu hamlet for their social upliftment. unfortunately, wealthy landlords took over the property and converted it into aquaculture ponds. against it, with the assistance of the communist party of india (cpi) worker wing, agricultural workers union (awu), the victims launched a land struggle in 2007 and ensured their rights (cariappa 2022). likewise, in kerala, in 2007, dalits and adivasis occupied parts of a 25,000-hectares rubber plantation in chengara, pathanamthitta, where 93 per cent of dalit farmers are farm labourers. they criticise the state for faulty land reforms. the reforms only included intermediaries like renters, who were an historically privileged caste, not farm labourers, who were dalits or adivasis. the reforms excluded plantations from giving up extra land. the landless could not receive large estates like chengara (sreerekha 2012). all these movements have faced significant challenges, including lack of government support, opposition from historically privileged caste landowners, and caste violence. however, they have also achieved significant successes in securing land rights for thousands of dalits. undoubtedly the landscape of academia and mainstream literature in india extensively documented these remarkable movements and registered the profound nationwide impact of dalit activism. however, amidst this comprehensive coverage, haryana’s bir sunarwala dalit land struggle remains shrouded in obscurity, neglected by the mainstream narrative. not only was this pivotal movement left out of the public discourse, but a conspicuous absence of any comprehensive study on its significance and the subsequent socio-economic upliftment of dalit beneficiaries. the magnitude of this oversight becomes apparent when considering the monumental impact the movement had on the lives of dalits in the region. the battle for land rights symbolised their resolve to break free from oppression and presented a beacon of hope for a dignified existence. perhaps, the lack of scholarly attention and media coverage has hindered a broader understanding of the movement’s nuances and significance in 192 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 empowering dalits socially and economically. it is crucial for this historical chapter to be thoroughly explored, analysed, and brought to the forefront, not only to honour the struggles and sacrifices of those who fought for justice but also to shed light on the transformative outcomes it yielded for the dalit community. this article is an effort to rectify this historical oversight and undertake comprehensive research on the bir sunarwala dalit land struggle, which is imperative. by doing so, we can illuminate a significant aspect of india’s socio-political landscape, celebrating the resilience and tenacity of the marginalised while learning valuable lessons about pursuing social justice and equality for all. bir sunarwala land movement of haryana in 1953, the punjab government, member of the estimate committee chaudhary chand ram, with the help of chief minister of punjab sardar pratap singh kairon, passed an order to give nazul land (i.e., government land utilised for non-agricultural purposes like construction, road, market, or any other public use, or issued on long-term lease) to landless dalits. it was given on lease, and a co-operative society was formed to allocate land between 72 villages in united punjab. in continuation of this process, in 1965, the punjab government allocated 2,596 acres of nazul land to landless dalits in bir sunarwala village of jhajjar district (now in haryana). astonishingly, in july 1973, it was dispossessed in the name of the establishment of ‘sainik school’ and ‘seed farm’ under the chief ministership of bansi lal (secretariat 1973: 244). there were around 151 dalit families whose livelihoods were attached to that land. they worked on the land as tenants. against this government order, the republican party of india (rpi) launched a satyagraha. however, when rpi felt it was not gaining momentum, they asked chaudhary chand ram to lead this struggle. chaudhary chand ram was a well known dalit leader of haryana. on the request of rpi and as a matter of pride of the community, he led this satyagraha with the pledge on august 1973 in the ambedkar bhawan, delhi, “either i will get the land of my people and go alive to haryana, or my dead body will go to haryana” (ram 2007: 2). he formed the harijan sangharsh samiti and started a satyagraha on 27 august 1973, along with 27,000 followers in delhi. satyagraha lasted for 113 days, in which more than 25,000 satyagrahi were arrested and put into the jails of aligarh, patiala and tihar jail in delhi. many people lost their lives in this land struggle (ibid). as observed in the statement of member of parliament jyotirmoy bosu on 22 december 1973; i want to make a submission. i had talked to home minister, and i had written 19 letters to hon’ble speaker that 25,000 harijans of haryana had been arrested, and three of them died in the jail, and five women gave birth to children in the jail, and they were not treated as patients but as prisoners and subjected to inhuman treatment and no blankets and no quilts were supplied to them, and no charpai were supplied to them. and yet this government claims to be a great friend of the harijans (secretariat 1973: 168). the bir sunarwala: an uncharted dalit land movement of haryana, india 193 police atrocities also took place on the dalits of bir sunarwala. as one of the participants of the movement, ranbir singh narrated: when the order was passed to take back the land of bir sunarwala, police started their intervention in the cultivated land of bir sunarwala. then people used to plough their fields with camel and oxen. in that intervention with police brutality, one camel was killed in bir sunarwala. against the government’s order and police brutality agitation started on delhi’s wellington crescent marg (now mother teresa crescent road), where hundreds of people participated in this agitation. it was the time of monsoon, and we protesters continued the agitation on heavy rainy days; for subsistence, we ate jamun, and sometimes meals came from villages, but we continued our agitation in such harsh days. eventually, government came on the table. then member of parliament, buddha priya maurya, came to the site of the protest and assured the protesters that you would get your land back, and he requested the protesters to stop the agitation…then one person raised a voice that we would not go anywhere. we have nothing left for livelihood; the government snatched our land, and the police even killed my camel. in such a tense agitation, buddha priya maurya again reassured that kindly have faith in the government and that you would surely get your land. on that promise, the agitation ended. however, after some months, when the government took no action, then the full-fledged movement was started from dr ambedkar bhawan, panchkuiya road, delhi, under the leadership of chaudhary chand ram on 27 august 1973. the entire movement was completely peaceful and based on the value of ahimsa. however, due to the intensity of the agitation, protesters were put behind bars. three people died in jail; they were entitled to shaheed (martyr), and a huge morcha (protest) was carried out with their dead bodies on the roads of delhi. meanwhile, bansilal, then chief minister of haryana, came to haryana bhawan delhi. subsequently, hundreds of protests from harijan sangharsh samiti encircled haryana bhawan with the slogan “mangi roti mil gai jail, ye dekho indira ke khel” (we asked for bread, got jail, watch this play of indira). a huge backlash happened, and we (protesters) were arrested and put into jails. various leaders supported us in jails, like dr abas malik (rpi), khadak singh (jan sangh), and swami agnivesh (ex. education minister of haryana). dr abas malik gave a speech to us in jail and stated, “ghabraiye mat agitation jaari rahega” (do not worry, the agitation will continue).” it is exciting to note that chaudhary chand ram’s wife, smt. durga devi was always there in this entire movement. such was the devotion of our leader to the community. when the agitation was at its peak, police came to arrest chaudhry chand ram at night, and we protesters burned the fire as it was the 194 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 time of winter. and we told the police, “hum apne neta ko leke bahot satark hai” (we are cautious about the security of our leader), and the police went back without arresting him. finally, this struggle ended with the intervention of indira gandhi and central minister buta singh on 22 december 1973, the land ownership of 2,596 acre land was assured to these dalit tenants. as stated by then home minister shri ram niwas mirdha in the lok sabha: i am glad to inform the house that according to the statement issued by shri chand ram, the agitation has been withdrawn. this statement was issued after consultation with the chief minister, haryana, who in his statement agreed to refer these demands to an ad hoc committee to be appointed by him. as regards vir sonarwala (bir sunarwala), the chief minister of haryana has stated that all the 151 evicted harijan families would continue to be allowed to cultivate the land in the village of vir sonarwala until it is possible to provide them with alternative cultivable land on the basis of permanent ownership rights (ibid.: 169). with his relentless struggle, chaudhary chand ram provides land in bir sunarwala and various parts of haryana, including chandnagar and faruknagar. chaudhary chand ram was elected to the punjab legislative assembly in 1952 and the punjab legislative council in 1958. he became minister of state for harijan welfare in 1962 and welfare and justice minister. as a minister, chaudhary chand ram displayed unwavering dedication toward dalit empowerment within the haryana state assembly. championing the rights of dalits, he fearlessly raised his voice, calling for equitable land rights and opportunities for their progress. recognising the serious need for socioeconomic upliftment, he took significant steps in allocating panchayati land to dalits across various districts in haryana. in many ways, his vision and actions mirrored the spirit of ambedkar, who also ardently advocated for the independence and selfreliance of dalits. chaudhary chand ram’s efforts went beyond mere rhetoric; he worked tirelessly to ensure that dalits could live with dignity and autonomy as a landowning class. bir sunarwala’s struggle fulfilled the constitutional vision for land allocation to landless dalits for their upliftment, but it did not get due space in the mainstream. though there were various newspapers in haryana during the phase of this movement, especially the tribune and haryana tilak but none of them covered this historic land struggle of dalits. fortunately, chaudhary chand ram, in his lifetime, started and edited various newspapers like naya samaj, kamau and jagta insaan (19542015), which documented this movement. these newspapers covered various issues of disadvantaged sections at that time when no major media talked about the plight of the dalits. the bir sunarwala land movement distinguishes itself from other dalit movements in various noteworthy aspects. first, it witnessed a massive participation of protesters, the bir sunarwala: an uncharted dalit land movement of haryana, india 195 with over 25,000 individuals being arrested during the course of the movement. second, the entire agitation unfolded in the nation’s capital, further adding to its significance. last, despite its historical importance, the bir sunarwala land struggle continues to remain relatively obscure in the broader context of dalit movements. references ambedkar, b.r. (1979). dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches (vol. 1). education department, govt. of maharashtra. ———. (1989). dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches (vol. 5). education department, govt. of maharashtra. ———. (1991). dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches (vol. 9). education department, govt. of maharashtra. cariappa, n. (2022, august 16). retrieved from news click: https://www.newsclick.in/andhrapradesh-dalits-mount-land-struggle-dosapadu-village chakravarti, u. (2018). gendering caste through a feminist lens. new delhi: sage publications india. chowdhury, d. (2020, november 2). “aurat, harijan aur mazdoor, nahin rahenge ab majboor!”—the clarion call of bodhgaya land movement. retrieved from feminism in india: https://feminisminindia.com/2020/11/02/bodhgaya-movement-bihars-dalit-womenequal-land-rights/ gokhale, n. (2019, june 7). dalits fight against all odds for promised lands across india. retrieved from business standard: https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/dalitsfight-against-all-odds-for-promised-lands-across-india-119060700157_1.html jadhav, n. (2015). ambedkar: an economist extraordinaire. new delhi: konark publishers pvt. limited. kumar, a. (2020, january 1). b r ambedkar on caste and land relations in india. review of agrarian studies, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 37–56. mohanty, b.b. (2001). land distribution among scheduled caste and tribes. economic and political weekly, pp. 3857–3868. retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/4411206 moudgil, m. (2019, august 8). how punjab’s dalits fight over a piece of land for dignity, not profit. retrieved from business standard: https://www.business-standard.com/ article/current-affairs/how-punjab-s-dalits-fight-over-a-piece-of-land-for-dignity-notprofit-119080800118_1.html nancharaiah, g. (2021). b.r. ambedkar, economic development and dalits in post-independence india. new york: taylor & francis group. ram, c.c. (2007, october 14). meri ram khani meri jubani. jaagta insaan. haryana: jaagta insaan. secretariat, l.s. (1973). lok sabha debates ninth session on november 30, 1973. new delhi: lok sabha secretariat. retrieved july 22, 2023, from https://eparlib.nic.in/ bitstream/123456789/2806/1/lsd_05_09_30-11-1973.pdf ———. lok sabha debates, ninth session on december 22, 1973. new delhi: lok sabha secretariat. retrieved july 20, 2023, from https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/2518/1/ lsd_05_09_22-12-1973.pdf sreerekha, m.s. (2012). illegal land, illegal people: the chengara land struggle in kerala. economic and political weekly, pp. 21–24. sridevi, g. (ed.). (2020). ambedkar’s vision of economic development for india. new york: taylor & francis group. wss. (2014). speak! the truth is still alive land, caste and sexual violence against dalit girls & women in haryana. women against sexual violence and state repression (wss). c e n t e r fo r g lo b a l d ev e lo p m e n t + s u sta i n a b i l i t y t h e h e l l e r s c h o o l at b r a n d e i s u n i v e r s i t y caste a global journal on social exclusion volume 3 :: number 1 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste caste: a global journal on social exclusion is collaborating with jstor to digitize, preserve, and extend access to our journal se ar ch in g; in k dr aw in g on p ap er ; 2 7x 19 c m ; s av i s aw ar ka r meena dhanda and karthick ram manoharan – guest editors editorial and introduction articles thoughtthought politicspolitics cultureculture dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anti-caste thinkers from colonial bengal, india mahitosh mandal between the global and regional: asia in the tamil buddhist imagination shrinidhi narasimhan the dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse: a critique of its intersectional reading of caste and gender santvana kumar and ekata bakshi conceptions of community, nation and politics: the ezhavas of south malabar, india and their quest for equality anish kk periyar’s spatial thought: region as non-brahmin discursive space ganeshwar caste, then class: redistribution and representation in the dravidian model vignesh karthik kr and vishal vasanthakumar barishaler jogen mandal: construal of the undisputed dalit leader of undivided bengal through a twenty-first century bengali novel suhasini roy struggling for freedom from caste in colonial india: the story of rettaimalai srinivasan malarvizhi jayanth maadathy – an unfairy tale: caste, space, and gaze swarnavel eswaran pariyerum perumal and a periyarite note on political engagement antony arul valan freedom from caste: anti-caste thought, politics and culture policy arena book reviews "when i tell them my caste, silence descends": caste-based discrimination among the nepali diaspora in the san francisco bay area, usa prem pariyar, bikash gupta and ruvani w. fonseka memory, grief, and agency: a political theological account of wrongs and rites helen chukka dalits and the making of modern india gaurav j. pathania majority of the research papers in this issue were presented at the conference ‘anti-caste thought: theory, politics and culture’ convened by the guest editors at the university of wolverhampton, uk on 29-30 october 2021, as a part of the project freedom from caste: the political thought of periyar e.v. ramasamy in a global context funded by the european union’s horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the marie sklodowska-curie grant agreement no. 895514. joint editors-in-chief laurence r. simon brandeis university, usa sukhadeo thorat (emeritus) jawaharlal nehru university, india editor joseph k. assan brandeis university, usa reviews editor jebaroja singh st. john fisher college, usa senior editorial assistant afia a. adaboh brandeis university, usa editorial assistant for public outreach & communications jaspreet mahal brandeis university, usa production editor vinod kumar mishra indian institute of dalit studies, india university librarian matthew sheehy brandeis university, usa ojs technical manager brian meuse brandeis university library, usa caste a global journal on social exclusion freedom from caste: anti-caste thought, politics and culture volume 3, number 1 editorial advisory board kaushik basu, c. marks professor of international studies and professor of economics, cornell university, usa; former chief economist of the world bank; president, international economics association; former chief economic adviser to the government of india krishna bhattachan, professor emeritus of sociology, tribhuvan university, nepal kevin d. brown, professor of law, maurer school of law, indiana university, usa ipsita chatterjee, associate professor, department of geography and the environment, university of north texas, usa ashwini deshpande, professor of economics, ashoka university, india meena dhanda, professor in philosophy and cultural politics, university of wolverhampton, united kingdom jean drèze, honorary professor, delhi school of economics, university of delhi, india ashok gurung, associate professor, julien j. studley graduate program in international affairs , the new school, new york, usa john harriss, professorial research associate, department of development studies, soas, university of london, united kingdom eva-maria hardtmann, associate professor and director of studies, department of social anthropology, stockholm university, sweden susan holcombe, professor emerita of the practice, heller school for social policy and management, brandeis university, usa sushrut jadhav, clinical associate professor of cross-cultural psychiatry, university college london; consultant psychiatrist & medical lead, focus homeless services, camden & islington nhs foundation trust; clinical lead, c & i cultural consultation service; founding editor, anthropology & medicine journal (taylor and francis, united kingdom); research associate, department of anthropology, soas, london, united kingdom chinnaiah jangam, assistant professor of history, carleton university, canada s. japhet, vice chancellor, bengaluru central university, bengaluru, india sangeeta kamat, professor of education, university of massachusetts at amherst, usa joel lee, assistant professor of anthropology, williams college, usa david mosse, professor of social anthropology, soas, university of london, united kingdom samuel l. myers, jr., roy wilkens professor of human relations and social justice and director, roy wilkins center for human relations and social justice, humphrey school of public affairs, university of minnesota, usa balmurli natrajan, professor and chair, department of anthropology, william patterson university, usa purna nepali, associate professor, kathmandu university, nepal katherine s. newman, senior vice president for academic affairs, university of massachusetts system, torrey little professor of sociology, usa martha c. nussbaum, ernst freund distinguished services professor of law and ethics, law school and philosophy department, university of chicago, usa devan pillay, associate professor and head, department of sociology, university of witwatersrand, johannesburg, south africa thomas pogge, leitner professor of philosophy and international affairs, yale university, usa christopher queen, lecturer on the study of religion, and dean of students for continuing education (retired), faculty of arts and sciences, harvard university, usa jehan raheem, former founding director, evaluation office, united nations development programme and former undp resident representative, burma (myanmar) anupama rao, associate professor of history, barnard and columbia universities, usa amilcar shabazz, professor, w.e.b. du bois department for afro-american studies, university of massachusetts at amherst, usa a.b. shamsul, distinguished professor and founding director, institute for ethnic studies, the national university of malaysia kalinga tudor silva, professor emeritus of sociology, university of peradeniya, sri lanka; research director, international centre for ethnic studies, colombo, sri lanka harleen singh, associate professor of literature, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, brandeis university, usa ajantha subramanian, professor of anthropology and south asian studies, social anthropology program director, harvard university, usa abha sur, scientist in the science, technology and society program; senior lecturer, program in women and gender studies, massachusetts institute of technology, usa goolam vahed, associate professor, history, society & social change cluster, university of kwazulu-natal, south africa gowri vijayakumar, assistant professor of sociology and south asian studies, brandeis university, usa annapurna waughray, reader in human rights law, manchester law school, manchester metropolitan university, uk cornel west, dietrich bonhoeffer professor of philosophy and christian practice, union theological seminary , usa copyright © 2022 caste: a global journal on social exclusion issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste table of contents editorial and introduction meena dhanda and karthick ram manoharan – guest editors ....... 01-10 articles thoughtthought dalit resistance during the bengal renaissance: five anti-caste thinkers from colonial bengal, india mahitosh mandal ....... 11-30 between the global and regional: asia in the tamil buddhist imagination shrinidhi narasimhan ....... 31-48 the dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse: a critique of its intersectional reading of caste and gender santvana kumar and ekata bakshi ....... 49-68 politicspolitics conceptions of community, nation and politics: the ezhavas of south malabar, india and their quest for equality anish kk ....... 69-88 periyar’s spatial thought: region as non-brahmin discursive space ganeshwar ........ 89-106 caste, then class: redistribution and representation in the dravidian model vignesh karthik kr and vishal vasanthakumar ........ 107-122 culture culture barishaler jogen mandal: construal of the undisputed dalit leader of undivided bengal through a twenty-first century bengali novel suhasini roy ........ 123-136 struggling for freedom from caste in colonial india: the story of rettaimalai srinivasan malarvizhi jayanth ........ 137-152 maadathy – an unfairy tale: caste, space, and gaze swarnavel eswaran ........ 153-170 pariyerum perumal and a periyarite note on political engagement antony arul valan ........ 171-188 policy arena "when i tell them my caste, silence descends": caste-based discrimination among the nepali diaspora in the san francisco bay area, usa prem pariyar, bikash gupta and ruvani w. fonseka ........ 189-202 book, essay, film review memory, grief, and agency: a political theological account of wrongs and rites helen chukka ....... 203-206 dalits and the making of modern india gaurav j. pathania ....... 207-210 © 2022 rama v. baru and seemi zafar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 383–404 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.444 social inequities in private health sector workforce in india: religion, caste, class, and gender rama v. baru1 and seemi zafar2 abstract the health workforce is hierarchical in structure in terms of skill mix and social composition. most of the studies on the health workforce are focused on the number of personnel in the public sector. the private sector that has a large presence employs a significant percentage of the total health work force but there is little reliable data on the numbers involved. this is largely due to the lack of regulation of the private health services. apart from the numbers involved in both the sectors, a few studies have shown the relationship between the work and social hierarchy in health services. while the public sector has a more diverse mix of social backgrounds due to affirmative policies, the private sector ownership is mostly dominated by an upper and middle caste-class combine. there is an underrepresentation of minorities and women as owners of private health services. the gendered nature of work is visible with the middle and lower rungs constituted by mostly women and men from lower caste-class combine. the terms of work, working conditions and wages paid for this category of workers amounts to exploitation with no forum for redressal. this essay draws together some primary work and references to secondary research and anecdotal evidences to build the scenario of social inequities among the workforce in the private health services. keywords health personnel – doctors, nurses, paramedics; permanent and temporary workers; occupational hierarchy; social inequity; caste; class; gender; religion; private health care 1professor, centre of social medicine and community health, school of social sciences, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india email: rama.v.baru@gmail.com 2researcher, centre of social medicine and community health, school of social sciences, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india 384 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 introduction the estimates of healthcare workforce, from all past censuses and surveys has drawn attention to a significant deficit in all categories of workers, and a substantial urban bias in their geographical distribution. the analyses of these data sets have mainly focused on the public sector. since the launch of the nrhm in 2005, the indian government has engaged in increasing the training institutions for all categories of health personnel—doctors, nurses, technicians and other paramedics to close this gap. in order to increase supply of health personnel there has been an effort to establish medical, nursing and allied disciplines with the involvement of both the public and private sector. recent data shows that the public to private ratio of medical colleges is almost equal at the all india level but there are state variations. the south and west states have a higher proportion of private medical colleges while the east and some north states have a higher proportion of public medical colleges (baru and diwate, 2022). however, all other categories of the health workforce are trained in private colleges across the country. the privatisation of nursing, technical, paramedical and allied health disciplines is widespread in india. there is however little effort for regulating the quality of those who are being trained. the gap in terms of selfregulation, accreditation and quality assurance is glaring for private medical, nursing, technical, paramedical and allied health disciplines that requires serious study and policy engagement. however despite these efforts, recent research presents a rather grim picture on both the quantity and characteristics of healthcare workers in india. k d rao employs three macro data sets to arrive at estimates of the different cadre of health workers. these include the census, nsso and professional councils. his analysis points to considerable variation in the availability and distribution of doctors and other cadre of health workers across states in india (rao et al., 2011). a larger proportion of them are in the private sector across cadres (see figure 7 as cited in rao et al., 2014). apart from a significant shortage in many categories of workers, a considerable proportion of personnel are unqualified, especially within the private sector and rural areas. baru (2004) finds the private sector often hiring poorly qualified staff at paramedic levels who can be paid less, in order to contain costs. even doctors with bams degrees are preferred over mbbs because they can be paid lesser salaries (baru, 2004). india has one of the most highly privatised healthcare systems in the world—both in terms of finance and delivery. in 1996, the private sector accounted for 54 per cent of rural hospitalization and 70 per cent of urban hospitalization. by 2000 the private sector included as much as 93 per cent of all hospitals and 64 per cent of all beds nationwide (radwan, 2005). the private health sector is highly heterogeneous in nature with providers ranging from qualified specialists to unqualified persons and quacks, practicing different systems of medicine and healing forms, in highly diverse organisational setups (baru, 2005). early scholars documented concerns on the poor quality of care in the private sector. there were problems with diagnostic and treatment practices, inadequate facilities and equipment, malpractices like over prescribing and social inequities in private health sector workforce in india: religion, caste, class, and gender 385 unnecessary investigations, exorbitant charges, etc. (nandraj et al., 2001). however despite the size and scale of the private sector, data on the private health sector and the personnel remains fragmented and under reported. government sources record data for public sector personnel, but not for the private sector. records for health personnel from other systems of medicine, like ayush also are also inadequate and largely self-reported. as a consequence, little is known about the structure and dynamics of the health workforce. this essay seeks to pull together the magnitude, social characteristics and working conditions of healthcare employees in the private sector, through an extensive review of literature, primary data, relevant reports of civil society organisations and newspaper reports. methodology the essay is based on an extensive literature review on the condition of health workers employed within the vast private health sector in india. the essay employs both secondary data and anecdotal evidence arising from primary studies conducted within private sector settings on the conditions for work. owing to a dearth of data and information on the private health sector, the authors piece together evidences from small sample studies to arrive at a meaningful analysis. the study strives to understand these findings on the private sector work conditions along two axes—first, the work conditions within the public health sector, and second, the social background of these workers. a juxtaposition of the occupational hierarchy within health services along with the social hierarchy in terms of their religion, class, caste and gender of the workers, and the resultant dynamics of healthcare work in the private sector. the sources of data for the essay are government reports, research publications, reports of civil society, e-newspapers, journals and periodicals. for newspaper reports and other published data, google search engine, with specific search words like: “private sector staff india”, “caste and class of health workers in private hospitals,” “nurses in private hospitals”, “dearth of staff in hospitals”, “nurses strikes in india”, “harassment in hospitals”, “caste background of nurses”, “ward boys and cleaning staff”, etc., were done. search engines of few newspaper websites like the times news network, the hindu, the indian express, the hindustan times were also used to locate older news clippings. the authors focussed on news articles published in the period post 2000. further digital library platforms offered by jstor and google scholar were used to derive research papers that engaged with facts and descriptions on work in the private sector. apart from these two sources, government of india reports on indian health workforce—like census and nss survey data was also utilised. who reports and papers were also consulted. data collection from all these sources was conducted between 14 june 2021 and 31 january 2022. data and research on the private health sector in india has always been scanty. not only is data not recorded, there is also a considerable effort from the private players to not share vital information about their services, protocols, processes, user charges, 386 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 number of service providers, etc. accountability and monitoring mechanism by the government have been very weak. efforts from private organisations and individual researchers to conduct studies and collect data from the private health sector are almost always met with considerable opposition and hindrance. as a consequence, very little information and data is available on private healthcare sector in india. the studies on health workers in general are biased for the excessive representation of doctors and nurses. while studies on private sector employees are anyway very few, the existing work focuses primarily on doctors and nurses and does not pay adequate attention to allied staff that comprise technicians, physiotherapists, laboratory workers, pharmacists, nursing orderlies, cleaning and sanitation staff. the views and perceptions of these paramedics and ancillary workers are rarely recorded. work on gender also omits another category of women workers consisting of helpers and ayahs. this comes as a serious drawback, as the authors found it very difficult to make an assessment on the caste and class background, and dynamics of working conditions of these health workers within the private sector. the following paper discusses the dominant themes that emerged out of the literature review—namely a low density of qualified workers, the caste and class background of health personnel, low remuneration and forms of employment for different categories of health staff, feminisation of low paid work, sexual harassment at workplace, and weak unionisation of private sector employees. health personnel in the private health sector in india: present scenario and concerns low density of qualified health workers authors rao et al. (2016) quote data from a study using census 2001 data which has estimated “the density per 10,000 population of all health workers as 20.1 (4.7 qualified), of allopathic doctors as ranging from 6.1 to 8.0 (2.6 qualified) and nurses and midwives as 6.1 (0.6 qualified)” (anand s, fan v. 2016 cited in rao et al. 2016).1 comparing these figures with 2011-2012 nss estimates, the authors found a density of 20.9 health workers per 10,000 population. the estimated densities by cadre were as follows: allopathic doctors as 5.8 (3.3 qualified); nurses and midwives as 7.6 (3.1 qualified); dentists as 0.4 (0.3 qualified); ayush practitioners as 1.3 (0.6 qualified); health associates2 as 5.8 (1.8 qualified); and traditional practitioners as 0.1 (0.0 1authors sudhir anand and victoria fan (2016) provide data on health care personnel from census 2001 using ‘density per lakh population’. authors kd rao, et al. (2016) convert the figures to ‘density per 10,000 population in order to facilitate comparison with other studies. 2the category of workers health assistants and associates are engaged in administrative, managerial and other support activities. health associates and assistants directly support other health workers involved in service delivery. this group (0.81 million as of january 2016) included health assistants, sanitarians, dieticians and nutritionists, optometrists and opticians, dental assistants, physiotherapy associates, pharmacist assistants, and so on. a second group – other support staff (1.25 million) included clerks, cashiers, tellers, housekeeping and restaurant social inequities in private health sector workforce in india: religion, caste, class, and gender 387 qualified) (rao et al., 2016). a more recent study using nsso 68th round data (july 2011-june 2012) estimated the density as 29 health workers per 10000 population. with educational adjustments this figure reduced to 16 per 10000 populations (karan et al., 2019). in a 2021 published study, karan et al. use data from national health workforce account (nhwa) 2018 and periodic labour force survey 2017–2018 of the national sample survey office (nsso) to find that “stock density of doctor and nurses/midwives are 8.8 and 17.7, respectively, per 10,000 persons (all india). adding the stock of dentists and traditional medicine practitioners to this gives a total stock density of 34.6 doctors per 10.000 persons for india. however, density of active workers (as estimated from the nsso) of doctor and nurses/midwives (without adjusting for adequate qualification) is estimated to be 6.1 and 10.6, respectively. the density further drops to 5.0 and 6.0, respectively, after adjusting for the adequate qualifications. total active worker density is estimated to be 26.5 and 16.7, respectively, before and after adjusting for qualifications.” the authors also add that “the density of allopathic doctors and nurses who are active in labour market are as low as 6.1 and 10.6, respectively, per 10,000 persons (16.7 in total), which is well below the who threshold of 44.5 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 population.” (karan a et al., 2021) the health personnel data with its education adjustments highlighted the large presence of unqualified providers in india’s health workforce. overall, there are 1.4 million unqualified health workers in india, representing 56.4 per cent of the health workforce. by cadre, this meant: 42.3 per cent of allopathic doctors, 58.4 per cent of nurses and midwives, 27.5 per cent of dentists, 56.1 per cent of ayush practitioners, and 69.2 per cent of health associates did not possess the necessary qualifications. further, the presence of unqualified health workers is higher in rural (71.2 per cent) compared to urban (48.8 per cent) areas.3 the distribution of qualified health workers was also skewed towards urban areas; 77.4 per cent of all qualified workers were in urban areas, even though the urban population accounted for only 31 per cent of the total population (rao et al., 2016).4 service workers, personal care, protective service staff, garbage collectors, other sanitation workers, and so on. these support staff perform crucial roles which are imbedded in the overall health service delivery. 3the weighted estimates for unqualified health workers in rural india were: 69.1 per cent of allopathic doctors, 68.2 per cent of nurses and midwives, 62.9 per cent of dentists, 74.3 per cent of ayush practitioners, and 75.8 per cent of health associates. qualified female health workers constitute almost half of the qualified health workforce. 4the density of qualified health workers was 22.7 per 10,000 population in urban areas, as compared to 3.0 per 10,000 population in rural areas. the maldistribution was higher for allopathic doctors (density 11.4 times higher in urban areas), as compared to nurses and midwives (5.5 times higher in urban areas). almost all the dentists were in urban areas. 388 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 while the above statistics are cumulative that includes the public and private sectors, available estimates show that the situation of private health sector is much worse. in both rural and urban areas, around 70 per cent of the health workers were privately employed in the nongovernment sector (rural, 67.0 per cent; urban, 74.0 per cent). more than 80 per cent of allopathic doctors in urban (87.1 per cent) and rural (83.5 per cent) areas were engaged in private employment. similarly, more than 90 per cent of dentists (rural, 96.7 per cent; urban, 91.9 per cent) and ayush practitioners (rural, 95.5 per cent; urban, 93.9 per cent), and around 70 per cent of health associates in both rural (68.3 per cent) and urban (75.5 per cent) areas were working in the nongovernment sector. however, among nurses and midwives, 48.8 per cent of those in rural and 59.8 per cent of those in urban areas were privately engaged (rao et al., 2016). in both rural and urban areas, around 70 per cent of the health workers were privately employed in the nongovernment sector (rural 67.0 per cent; urban 74.0 per cent) (rao et al., 2016). occupation-wise, the proportion of doctors employed in the private sector is far higher compared with nurse and midwife and other health workers. for ayush and dental practitioners, their share in the public sector is less than 10 per cent. however, approximately 45 per cent of trained nurses and midwives are employed in public sector institutions (karan et al., 2019). the authors further elaborate on distribution of all health workers by types of institutions and find more than half (53 per cent) of workers are self-employed in sole proprietorship or partnership entity; and only 6 per cent in big corporate companies with public or private limited status (see chart) (karan et al., 2019). social inequities in private health sector workforce in india: religion, caste, class, and gender 389 the macro analysis of big data sets does not provide insights into the structure, dynamics and the social composition of health workers in the private sector. the essay draws on small studies on the private sector to get a better understanding of the conditions of workers. a study of private hospitals in chennai highlighted the poor adherence to norms— both in terms of infrastructure and staff composition. the study pointed to a dearth of staff at all levels of the work hierarchy. it also highlighted the strong dependence of private hospitals on government doctors with a significant percentage of the latter acting as consultants in the former (muraleedharan, 1999). an earlier study of private nursing homes in hyderabad also showed the inter relationship between the public and private sector with a large proportion of government doctors acting as consultants in small and medium nursing homes. this resulted in diversion of patients from the public to private sector who had to pay for care (baru, 1998). a study of 24 private hospitals in mumbai (nandraj, 1994) found that majority of hospitals employed unqualified staff. only one had a postgraduate doctor, while ten hospitals had doctors trained in other systems of medicine (as quoted in baru, 2004). employing unqualified staff compromised the quality of care being provided in these hospitals. one would agree with rao et al. (2016) who points to the dilemma of the complexity of dealing with unqualified providers. on the one hand they provide health care to populations that do not have access to qualified providers, while on the other hand, their lack of proper training becomes a source of concern. hierarchy in the health workforce in the public and private sectors: religion, class, caste and gender the available studies on the social characteristics of the workforce in health care are few and tend to provide a fragmented insight in both the public and private sectors. analysing the world health survey (2003) by who and iips (2006) on health systems performance assessment, duggal (2014) points out that while there is 390 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 some information on the class background of the households of physician, it does not provide information on religion or caste. the analysis of this data shows that the bottom or lowest three quintiles did not have a single physician whereas the top quintile accounted for 83 per cent of all physicians. when it comes to nurses, 61 per cent belonged to the top two quintiles while the bottom two quintiles had only 19 per cent. a higher proportion of the support health staff (37 per cent) belonged to the bottom quintile as compared to the physicians and nurses. duggal (2014) further examines 2001 census data for the caste background of health professionals, and finds that, “for physicians the variances from the proportion in the population for each social group is highly negatively skewed for the scs and sts, the deficits being between 50 and 80 percent, but for the “others” group it is in excess between 10 to 15 percent. going down the hierarchy to nurses and paramedics the variances become narrower and one sees a few excess ratios for sc and st, notably for the category of sanitarians and nursing/midwifery. for the st, the nursing and midwifery categories surprisingly show a huge excess of over 100 percent. the author asserts that despite affirmative action policies the sc and st have been unable to break the glass ceiling of the upper caste control over the health professions, especially physicians of all types.” (duggal, 2014). sobin george’s study found that with the exception of associate professionals of nursing, midwifery and ashas, the share of dalits among the hierarchy of work in the health sector is far below compared to other social groups. it is under-represented as a proportion to their total population in both rural and urban india. the health worker population ratio across social groups shows that only middle and upper caste has adequate and in some cases over representation among all health related professionals. these include general medical practitioners, specialists’ doctors, trained nurses, technicians and associated health staff. while the upper and middle castes constitute a little less than 24 per cent of the population in rural india, their share is 40 per cent in the occupational category of health professionals, 70 per cent in nursing professionals, 34 per cent in health associate professionals and 26 per cent in nursing and midwifery associate professional (george, 2015). the other side of the story is the underrepresentation of certain social groups, especially scs and sts. while sts and scs have a population share of 11 and 21 per cent respectively in rural india, their corresponding shares in the category of health professional are 1.3 and 16.5 per cent respectively. in rural india, the under representation of scs is found to be the highest in the nursing profession. urban india also follows a similar trend of under representation of sts in all categories. for scs it was most pronounced in the category of general and specialist doctors in urban areas. while the population share of scs in urban india stands at a little less than 15 per cent, their share in the category of general and specialist doctors is only 5.5 per cent (george, 2015). in short, the data indicates that there is visible social inequities in private health sector workforce in india: religion, caste, class, and gender 391 over representation of middle and upper caste groups and under representation of lower castes and scheduled tribes across the work hierarchy of care providers such as doctors and nurses. the all india averages mask interstate variations in terms of social composition of the health workforce. a study on earnings of nurses in gujarat provided some trends on the class background of nurses. “on an index of assets owned by their households, 26 per cent of nurses working in private hospitals fell in the lowest quintile of asset ownership, compared to 10 per cent of permanent public sector nurses and 22 per cent of temporary public sector nurses” (seth, 2017). her study also showed that nurses who were able to secure a permanent government job had a very low percentage of sc and st nurses in comparison to the private sector. “a wide range of earnings reported by similarly qualified and practiced nurses in this study suggests the presence of multiple labour markets for nurses in india.” (seth, 2017). while caste disaggregated data for other paramedics like technicians, nursing orderlies, pharmacists, ambulance drivers, etc., is very scanty, however, the above analysis shows how the health sector hierarchy mirrors the hierarchy in the social system, and there is a clear gradient in the entitlements and emoluments accessible to people from different castes and classes. the doctors belong to the upper and middle castes. among the middle and lower rungs of the hierarchy consisting of nurses, paramedics and technicians is mostly dominated by middle castes in the public sector. however, one section of workers—whether in public or private sector is exclusively from the lower castes and marginalised groups, namely cleaning and sanitation work. a study by society for labour and development with delhi’s public health service employees noted “the dominance of upper castes among the physicians, while the lower castes were concentrated among occupations such as ward boys, sweepers, security personnel, chowkidars” (sld, 2015). understanding the religious composition of healthcare workers is another challenge as data on this aspect is non-existent. studies by oomen (1978) and madan (1980) on the public sector in health found that doctors were mainly upper caste hindus. minorities like muslims and christians were very few among the doctors (as quoted in baru, 2005). a study of the private healthcare sector in hyderabad (1998), where there is a considerable proportion of muslims, did not find any significant representation among doctors. majority of doctors were upper caste hindus (baru, 1998). this was broadly in concurrence with the status of employment of muslims in the economy and social sectors. the sachar committee report 2006 showed an acute exclusion of muslims from the formal economy. using nss 61st round data, the percentage of regular salaried or wage non-agricultural workers employed within government and large private sector for muslims was lower than all other socio religious categories, even lower than scs/sts and obcs among hindus. 392 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 table 1: percentage of regular salaried/wage non-agricultural workers in each src employed in govemment/public & large private sectors: 2004-05 while their representation within the health sector workforce is not analysed, statistics on composition of occupational groups showed the domination of hindus, followed by muslims and then other minorities for the category of ‘physicians and surgeons’ in both urban areas and rural areas. however for the category ‘nursing and other technicians’, the proportion of muslims was far lower than other minorities. this implies that the participation of muslims in healthcare workforce fares worse than scs, sts, obcs and other minority groups. table 2: percentage distribution of all (principal & subsidiary) workers by two digit occupational groups for each srcs, 2004-05 the representation of christians in the healthcare workforce is also very limited. christians formed the bulk of nurses in early years, when both hindu and muslim women did not enter the profession. however, the remuneration of these nurses was very low, and they belonged to the lower socio economic strata (baru, 2005). the author notes “they were predominantly christian and were motivated by the need to serve humanity. the proportion of muslims, scs and sts among nurses was indeed very small” (baru, 2005). however in recent years, with better remuneration, the participation of hindu women has increased. lower caste hindu women were always dominant among untrained caregivers. using data from enterprise survey 1996, baru notes that “females belonging to scheduled caste category dominate the individually owned enterprises in health in rural areas. these largely included trained and untrained workers like dais who are traditional birth attendants and other healers.” (baru, 2005). among anms, iyer et al. (1995) note that two-thirds belonged to upper and middle class hindus, while sc and sts constituted only one-fifth of workers. a very small proportion comes from muslims and christians (as quoted in baru, 2005). for other categories of workers, religion-based disaggregated data is unavailable. yet, the above trends affirm that hindus dominate the profession of doctors, nurses social inequities in private health sector workforce in india: religion, caste, class, and gender 393 and technical staff. christians show a better representation among nurses but little among doctors, technical staff, and other paramedic workers. the muslims have a very low presence among all categories of health workers, and data on private sector employees—who are temporary and untrained remains unavailable to analyse. underpaid and overworked the remuneration paid by the private health sector has no benchmarks or predefined standards. different organisations pay different scales to the workers, which are very low in comparison to the scales paid by the public sector. the women in particular face discrimination and disadvantages in wage, due to hierarchical structures and gender stereotypes that shape occupational segregation (who, 2019). patil et al. (2012) study on working conditions in public and private hospitals of satara city found significant disadvantages for the private sector workers. data on salary drawn by public and private sector employees showed that for all categories of workers, the average salary drawn by private hospital employees was 4.56 times lower than average salary drawn by government hospital employees. while government employees were entitled to casual leave, sick leave, paid and maternity leave, none of these were available to the private sector employees. provident fund, gratuity and family pension were benefits only accruing to government sector employees, and private sector had no such social security provisions. a study of nurses in gujarat reported that 49 per cent of nurses working in private hospitals and as temporary employees in public facilities—belong to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, and were estimated to earn 9 per cent less than similarly qualified and practiced nurses from general caste categories. further 18 per cent of nurses working in private hospitals did not have formal nursing qualifications. and last, nurses working in private hospitals and as temporary employees in public facilities earned less than the minimum wage stipulated by the government of india. the same study also finds that “permanent public sector nurses were estimated to earn 105 percent more than private sector nurses with the same qualifications, years of work and caste background.” (seth, 2017) these findings resonate with the general trend of exploitation of workers within the private sector across the hierarchy, the lowest rungs suffering the most. understaffing has direct implications on workload, and this coupled with being underpaid manifests in extreme exploitation of workers, especially within small hospitals and polyclinics. the corporate and bigger private hospitals still adhere to the minimum standards laid by who owing to better accountability from the government, and remuneration standards are much better. however, they represent a miniscule proportion of the private sector. in 2010, nurses from top private hospitals in delhi held protest strikes against their employer and the government. this was against significant wage differentials in the public and private sector. “while the salary offered to a fresh nurse in a public sector hospital before the implementation of the sixth pay commission recommendations was in the basic scale of ` 5,500, the total salary of a nurse in a private hospital 394 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 who has completed the general nursing-midwifery degree5 (which takes 3 and half years after 10+2 years of schooling) ranges anywhere from ` 2,500 to ` 6,000. the difference is all the more glaring after the implementation of the sixth pay commission recommendations in public sector hospitals, and has triggered the current wave of strikes” (nair, 2010). the for-profit private sector uses the strategy of paying lower incomes to staff in order to increase profits. in pursuit, practices like understaffing, replacing trained and qualified nurses with under-qualified personnel is common. sreelekha nair (2010) observes that many small private hospitals pay nurses less than the minimum wage and flout regulations regarding employment benefits and leave packages. nurses are being replaced by nursing aides, auxiliary nurses and untrained assistants, who can be paid just ` 1,000 to ` 1,500 and are made to perform nursing duties including giving injections for which they are not trained. the working conditions for nurses can also be very challenging with adverse nurse-patient ratios of 1:30 to 1:50 in the private sector. facilities like restrooms and changing rooms are also not provided in most private settings. a nurse activist observes that “most of india’s nurses work in private hospitals, which are largely unregulated and do not follow the norm of having nurse-patient ratios of one to every four. nurses work 9 to 14-hour days, often doing double shifts. many nurses are required to sign contractual bonds with their employers withholding their educational certificates as guarantee” (mahindrakar, 2016). withholding of certificates is a common practise in private hospitals to prevent the trained and qualified nurses from leaving the job, and treat them like bonded labour. biju explains this practise often stems out of desperation to earn soon as many nursing students take loans to complete their education. with a decline in opportunities in the public sector, private hospitals have cashed in on the opportunity to adopt exploitative practices. they often ask candidates to execute service bonds and deposit ` 25000 – ` 75000 at the time of joining service. the management also impounds original certificates to prevent inter-firm migration. often they are paid only part salaries which also is also given irregularly (biju, 2013). thus, most nurses in the private sector have to contend with lower wage rates and a lack of job security. they are commonly employed on temporary contracts, which are renewed every time the contract expires. such mechanisms allow the private hospitals to push these specialised and trained workers into the non-formal economy, devoid of rightful incomes and upward mobility. legislative attempts to standardize private medical care have also been opposed by many states and powerful professional bodies, such as the indian medical association. for instance, the clinical establishment act of 2010—which prescribes minimum standards for services to be provided by a variety 5general nursing and midwifery (gnm) and bachelor of science in nursing (bsn) are the two main nurse training programs in india, and their graduates are generally employed as a-grade staff nurses in hospitals. auxiliary nursing and midwifery (anm) is a shorter, 2-year certificate course whose graduates assist a-grade nurses in hospitals or work in public primary health facilities. social inequities in private health sector workforce in india: religion, caste, class, and gender 395 of clinical establishments and requires private clinical establishments to register with the state, maintain records of the care they provide and display rates of the services they offer—has only been adopted by few states (seth, 2017). these practices are not restricted to small and medium nursing homes but it is also seen in the corporate hospitals across states. corporatisation and privatisation of healthcare has led to further exploitation of nurses and nursing ancillary staff. with international immigration, there has been a supply crunch in nursing labour. the scarcity of registered nurses, instead of valorising nursing labour, has led to an increase in the hiring of unregistered nurses, nursing aides and attendants. whether it is the public or the private sector, there is a growing reliance on a pool of semior untrained labour that represents the most informal and casual end of the workforce. the nursing labour market is a pyramidal market with the bottom over-represented by female casual employees struggling with low wages and status, stigma, and no labour rights (ray, 2020). the condition of other workers like technicians, paramedics, cleaning and sanitation staff, ambulance drivers, among others is no better. they are hired as temporary workers, and paid a very low remuneration, irrespective of whether qualified and experienced. but more glaring are the consequences of understaffing, owing to which most of these staff are multi-tasking, and fulfilling any roles where a need is felt—whether or not they are trained. a newspaper report on shortage of paramedics revealed that a sanitation worker would bandage patients, plaster casts and even worked in the laboratory, besides his own cleaning work. “it is not part of my duty, but a cleaner’s work is not hectic. and there is a major shortage of paramedic staff, particularly at nights, so we help the doctors and laboratory staffs,” he says (singh, 15 january 2014). the union of paramedics claim that although official data is missing, but approximately 70 per cent paramedics in the country are not trained for the jobs they do (singh, 15 january 2014). “such cases of multitasking by paramedics is a very common sight, and untrained workers are doing paramedics’ work in most government and private hospitals in the country, in the words of union activists.”6 a survey by health ministry’s national initiative for allied health sciences and the public health foundation of india in december 2012 also highlighted the acute shortage of qualified paramedic staff in the country. health activists and doctors blame the lack of a comprehensive central legislation to monitor paramedics for the present situation. “they say in the absence of a central law, there are no standard minimum qualifications for the appointment of paramedics such as nursing assistants, laboratory assistants, compounders, x-ray assistants, etc. to make matters worse, only five states have set up paramedic councils for drafting standards for education in the sector. few among these are also very nascent. in such a scenario, it is left to health centres and laboratories to appoint paramedics and decide their qualifications.” (singh, 15 january 2014). 6kaptan singh sehrawat, the then general secretary of the joint forum of medical technologists of india (jfmti), an umbrella body of paramedics in the country, as quoted by jyotsna singh in ‘down to earth’ (2014) 396 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 but health activists also warn of the negatives of having a pool of qualified paramedics, because despite being qualified, it might not result in private hospitals and labs recruiting them. singh’s study quotes a union leader as saying: “what will the degree holders do if there are no takers? those who are unskilled or less skilled are ready to work at a much lower wage, while the skilled demand more money. recruiters, especially private bodies, do not care about skills” (singh, 15 january 2014). thus, it leads to greater frustration among the graduates and they are trapped in the cycle of exploitation and low remuneration. owing to the significant outreach of the private sector, it has also led to mushrooming of ill-equipped private institutes across the country often on false promises of government jobs. this is also the case with nursing institutes and pharma courses. non accredited institutes offer degrees which are not recognised, and their graduates are ineligible for work within any big hospital. they thus get employed at very low salaries by smaller hospitals and clinics, and with exploitative conditions. regulating private institutes is also now an imminent challenge, but union activists say: “steps to strengthen the education system will not help unless there are rules to govern recruitment.” (singh, 15 january 2014). similar ethos was seen in a study on motivational level of physiotherapists in four cities of north india. the two dimensions which had the highest scores were salary and job security. two other interesting findings were greater satisfaction levels among male workers compared to women, and among higher qualified physiotherapists in comparison to others (gupta et al., 2013). the study however failed to give any explanations for these differences, and comparison between public and private sector employees, despite having collected responses from both settings. the pharmacist is another crucial worker in the health system who dispenses medicines, however this task is mostly done by a supporting person who is less qualified. sabde’s study on private pharmacies in state of madhya pradesh revealed interesting facts—one, only 12 per cent pharmacists had the minimum formal qualification; and two, 88 per cent of these qualified persons worked in urban areas. sabde warns that poor education of dispensing pharmacists has been identified as a leading cause of irrational use of antibiotics. the prevalent perspective about pharmacists is never as health professionals, rather as traders (sabde, 2011). the situation of cleaning and sanitation workers, the nursing orderlies, and ambulance drivers (also referred as ancillary workers) are quite similar across both private and public sector owing to outsourcing. even if the site of work is a public facility, the workers from these categories are supplied by a private contractor. this implies, almost all workers in these professions are engaged in the private economy. a report by workers solidarity (2000) on the private hospitals in delhi noted the trend of hiring contract workers initiated by new private sector hospitals. the report also cautioned how the practise was also being emulated by older private hospitals, which until had offered permanent employment to grade 4, namely, sweepers and security guards. the report noted that contracted staff were overworked—to the extent of doing 5 consecutive shifts owing to shortage of staff, poor salaries, constant job insecurity and no provisions for lunch time. the report also noted how contracted workers were fired social inequities in private health sector workforce in india: religion, caste, class, and gender 397 since they had complained to the labour commissioner. the contractors were reported to change the posting of these employees in order to prevent them from collectivising and forming unions (worker solidarity, 2000). a study on outsourcing within a tertiary public hospital in kolkata, west bengal showed the flouting of minimum wages by the contracting agency when remunerating cleanliness staff. the interviews also exposed delayed remuneration to these workers, and a denial of protective gear from infections owing to exposure of hospital waste (roy, 2010). sexual harassment and feminisation of work the nurses form the largest category of hospital employees. approximately 70 per cent of nurses, midwives and community health workers are female; the share of female doctors is much lower than a third. female doctors comprise only 17 per cent of the doctors in the country (rao, 2014). a who report records the adverse occupational gendering in healthcare: across countries, most physicians, dentists and pharmacists are men, while women are overrepresented in the ranks of nurses and midwives. the same report records that women health workers earn on an average 28 per cent less than men (ray, 2020). the health sector is a highly gendered space, where women historically have been relegated to a secondary status. the realm of doctors, which is dominated by men, is seen as the ‘cure’ part, while nursing which is dominated by women, is seen as the ‘care’ aspect of healthcare practise. the task of nursing is usually seen as more caring than curing, an extension of stereotypical feminine qualities (ray, 2020). gender bias in healthcare is seen with respect to specialities like cardiology and surgery viewed as male bastions, while gynaecology and microbiology are regarded as more women-friendly. the private sector is mainly dominated by male doctors-turned-entrepreneurs. a study of private nursing homes in hyderabad revealed that the medium and small nursing homes are promoted by spouses who are doctors. here, again it is the husband who is the main owner while the wife occupies a secondary position in the partnership. the private and public limited enterprises are mostly promoted by male entrepreneurs. it is in only in family promoted enterprises where there are no male heirs, that daughters are allowed to manage the company as seen in the case of apollo hospital promoted by dr pratap reddy. the nursing profession on the other hand is dominated by women. the division between curing and caring is clearly gendered. the feminisation of the health workforce begins with the nurses and is seen in the lower rungs of the work hierarchy in both public and private hospitals. this hierarchical opposition reinforces a nurse’s secondary role within health institutions. the secondary role is further reflected in the gendered wage gap and adverse working conditions. stereotypes of nursing as natural female, caste norms and various stigma reinforce the low valuation of care work (wichterich, 2020). the historical and sociological literature suggests that the low wages nurses are paid in india might be a reflection of their low status in the health system and society. studies conducted in other countries, such as mexico, bangladesh and the us, also document the prevalence of negative gender and class-based dynamics in the work 398 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 environment of nurses (seth, 2017). shelby garner, et al. (2014) explain how historical religious and cultural factors have shaped the attitudes about nursing among society in india thus contributing to the limited nursing workforce capacity. the work of women outside of the home that involved touching strangers and exposing them to potentially infectious materials was viewed as “polluting within hindu and muslim cosmology”. as a consequence, nursing was relegated as a low caste position, and early nurses in india saw a predominance of christian women. studies on the rise of nursing profession in india note that a shortage in the number of trained nurses was on account of a highly negative and sexualised image of the nurse. “in the beginning, a nurse was considered a prostitute or an assistant of a doctor in a clinic or a small hospital, expected to perform non-nursing duties, work that was menial and intensive physical work, including night duties, within unsatisfactory and crowded living conditions making it highly unattractive…low standards of education among those who went for a nursing job made it unattractive in the eyes of the educated. these notions culminated into a relatively low status of nurses in the health care hierarchy and the visible dominance and even harassment by power-wielding male doctors that have engendered a social stereotype of women who work as nurses” (abraham, 2004). these stereotypes get reflected in workspace as well. studies have shown that a high percentage of nurses in india are women who face sexual harassment and lack of physical safety as a part of the poor working conditions that they face (seth, 2017). chaudhuri’s study (2007) found sexual harassment routinised in the everyday lives of the women health workers, especially nurses. the women who had experienced harassment were reluctant to complain, fearing loss of jobs or being stigmatised, and most were not aware of formal channels for redress. the perpetrators could be anyone in the hospital—fellow male doctors, persons in administration, and even patients and their relatives. the author analysed such violence embedded in patriarchal gender inequities, which even superseded other power relationships, e.g. in the case of male patients or administrative staff harassing nurses, young male doctors harassing their female colleagues or non-medical staff such as stewards, sweepers, peons and ward boys harassing their female peers. the study also highlighted that very few cases of sexual harassment were actually reported. victims were scared to confront the system, since social norms inadvertently placed the blame on the victims. further, recognition of power dynamics and the implications in terms of job security, loss of reputation and risk of dismissal also suppressed the women from seeking justice. this exposes the power imbalance even in spaces where numerically women are higher, and shoulder a significant responsibility. respondents were well aware that if the perpetrator was a person in authority, action was unlikely to be taken against him. many reported fear of dismissal, loss of income, blocking of promotion and victimisation in work assignments (for example, inconvenient duty hours). these fears are greatly magnified if the women worker is on temporary post or working on contract, unfortunately the norm in private sector. social inequities in private health sector workforce in india: religion, caste, class, and gender 399 basu (2020) writes about the extreme exploitation of ayas—another category of care providers whose numbers have increased more than the nurses, however their remuneration and emoluments continue to be very low and exploitative. the study based on private health sector in siliguri, west bengal notes the transformation of nursing homes to limited companies owing to mergers and acquisitions by corporate giants, however, labour relations continuing to be informal especially for care workers who remain semi or unskilled. the remuneration paid to ayas was found to be determined by multiple stakeholders like the hospital management which fixed the wage rate, however, the amount was paid by the patients’ families. the daily wage rate ranged between ` 150 to ` 170, with the exception of a super speciality hospitals where they received a monthly salary of ` 3200 (basu, 2020). recent strikes and protests have been the only channel through which some benefits have accrued to these strata of workers. while unionisation of these workers was long non-existent. the nurses were earliest to collectivise, paramedics and outsourced staff have more nascent unions. biju explains—as nursing services have been commercialised over the past two decades, thousands of nursing institutes emerged between 2002 and 2005, especially in the southern states. many young nurses formed associations such as the indian professional nurses association, delhi private nurses association, and the united nurses association to demand better working conditions. in may 2015, there was attempt to unite all nursing associations of india (biju, 2013). the unionisation of nurses in kerala’s private sector, and their subsequent success in increasing wages forced corporate hospitals in delhi, hyderabad and chennai to announce new pay packages, in order to prevent the exodus of nurses back to kerala. however union activities are never given space in the private sector, and many times workers had to face the brunt of organising protests. in december 2009, staff nurses of the batra hospital in new delhi went on strike demanding basic facilities and minimum basic salary of between ` 10,000 and ` 15,000. they succeeded in getting the salary hike but those nurses at the forefront were fired on disciplinary grounds. in the public sector, nurses protesting working conditions are sometimes sent to difficult locations or may be refused leave (mahindrakar, 2016). a study of delhi private hospitals showed that only 30 per cent of their expenditure was on salaries, while in public hospitals, it was close to 80 per cent. even the meagre 30 per cent mainly goes to the consultants who have higher salaries in the private sector. the proportion of wages paid to consultants has shot up over the years, due to which adequate pay scales due to paramedic and support staff is not paid. and consequently much of the class 4 has been contracted out (baru, 2004). conclusion drawing on a variety of research articles and primary work on the private sector, this essay has shown the complex intersection between the social and work hierarchy in secondary and tertiary health service institutions. the available studies on social background of health workers in public and private hospitals are few and mostly in 400 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 urban areas. while there is a recognition of the gender division in the hierarchy of work, there is little focus on religion, caste and class. religious backgrounds are not foregrounded adequately especially with respect to representation of minorities. it is quite clear that majority of owners in the private sector are hindus belonging to the upper and middle castes and male. however the nursing, paramedical and support staff constitute diversity in terms of religion, caste and class. the over representation of marginalised groups in these categories is higher in the private sector as compared to the public sector. this is largely due to the hiring of personnel who are semi or unqualified by the private sector as a means to save labour costs with exploitative terms of work. poor wages, long hours of work, lack of secure employment, leave and pension benefits are glaring for the lower levels in the work hierarchy in the private sector. these practices amount to extractivism as discussed by wichterich (2020). as she opines: “the notion of extractivism marks the intensified commodification and exploitation of the resource labour in social reproduction for the purpose of managing crises situations without burdening the state or the health industry with additional costs and responsibilities. it is a mode of accumulation in markets of social reproduction and health. while the deflated term exploitation highlights the offender– victim relationship, the concept of extractivism stresses the structural power relation in the political economy.” (wichterich, 2020). the term aptly defines the case with much of the private health sector in india that thrives on the vulnerability inflicting the majority of labour force, in addition to the nurses. workers from lower caste and class background, who are often not adequately qualified, bear the brunt as they are deemed unfit for well remunerative jobs. formal jobs in professions of paramedics (barring some nurses and few technician roles) are fast converting into contracted and non formal jobs, where an outsourcing partner hires the workers on temporary terms. the exploitation is higher is smaller cities and rural areas, where no alternatives for employment exist. this exploitative system thrives on non interference by the government agencies, particularly the health ministry, which should ideally be setting standards of workplace compliance and remuneration standards in accordance with qualifications. far from any accountability and compliance system, the government has also adopted contracting in of health workers thereby displacing recruitment of permanent ones. the covid-19 pandemic has brought considerable focus on the further exploitation of health workers in both the public and private sectors. the role of the unions has been very prominent in speaking against the oppression within the system. there have been numerous attempts by nursing unions, unions of ambulance drivers, and paramedics to pressurize the governments in enforcing workers’ rights for minimum wages, better working conditions and social security from the contracting agencies. the response from the government has been weak and half-hearted. despite the covid-19 pandemic the government’s stance to improve working conditions and wages of the health workforce is wanting. a news article published in april 2021 social inequities in private health sector workforce in india: religion, caste, class, and gender 401 reported that “private ambulance network stanplus was reported to be handling ten times more volumes of work since the preceding month of march 2021 and could find only one trained personnel for every four open paramedic positions, and was hiring paramedics staff at almost 50 per cent pay hike.” this demand surge came from more covid care centres being commissioned and home icu setups being offered. 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brandeis.edu/j-caste towards an alternative epistemology of resistance: a reading of pulayathara by paul chirakkarode against the backdrop of dalit christian liberation movements in kerala, india bincy mariya n.1 abstract religious conversion in kerala was an immediate solution for the lower caste people who sought to break free from the slavery and structural inequalities of caste. though proselytization was accelerated by egalitarian and emancipatory ideologies, it became a shift from one oppressive, exploitative social fabric to another hegemonic structure composed of institutionalized religion underlined by casteist ideologies. christianity in kerala turned out to be brahminical and catered to the interest of upper-caste christians. despite its egalitarian claims, discrimination unabashedly pervaded the churches of kerala. dalit liberation movements in the twentieth century heralded by both the dalit and dalit christian leaders profoundly influenced the public life of kerala and brought a new paradigm to the slave castes. such changes were reflected in the literary articulations of the period also. this article examines how the dalit christian discourse is inaugurated in malayalam novels as the result of the dalit christian liberation movements in the twentieth century. by employing textual analysis as the research methodology and intersectionality as a theoretical lens, this article analyses paul chirakkarode’s pulayathara (1962) and examines how the dalit christian liberation movement in the twentieth century is instrumental in shaping an alternative epistemology and dalit christian identity. keywords dalit christian, kerala, caste, epistemology, novels, dalit liberation movements, dalit identity 1doctoral research scholar, department of humanities and social sciences, indian institute of science education and research, bhopal, india e-mail: bincyvincent26@gmail.com 254 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 introduction the early twentieth century witnessed many progressive, political, and intellectual movements in kerala, among which the dalit liberation movements were considered counter-hegemonic movements that made deep inroads into the caste-ridden social fabric of kerala. most remarkably, the transformative social movements heralded by leaders from slave castes such as ayyankali, poykayil appachan, pambady john joseph, kallara sukumaran and so on brought unprecedented changes in the sociocultural and political life of the oppressed castes (madhavan 2008). dalit mobilization in the twentieth-century led to the formation of modern civil society (mohan 2016) and the dalits started reclaiming their space not as ‘abject beings’ (butler 2011) but as subjects with distinct identity politics. their collective resistance turned into fearless declarations of dalit identity and agency. the dalit identity politics stemmed from the realization that they have been an oppressed social group for centuries. the dalits started analyzing the factors that hindered them from social inclusion and challenged all the ‘givenness,’ constructedness, and a priori. by emphasizing their oppressed status and understanding their distinctiveness as a community with the shared experience of exploitation and subjugation, the dalits tried to emerge from brahmanical hierarchy and related oppressive structures. nineteenth-century kerala witnessed the mass conversion of dalits seeking emancipation from the multilayered oppressive structure of the caste system. though dalit and dalit christians shared the same history of caste discrimination, their journey to integrate themselves into christianity brought dalit christians to a different trajectory (michael 2010). most remarkably, the dalit christians had to deal with two internalized forms of power, one is from institutionalized religion and the other is a casteist society. caste is a common factor in both systems. the former is double-edged as it is an assemblage of religious dogmas and caste practices (gladstone 1988). since dalit christians were denied any form of capital accumulation, including epistemic access, they turned into ‘christian untouchables’ in the initial phases of conversion. caste-appellations were also common even after religious conversion (koshy 1968). moreover, the upper caste converts rigorously practised the structural hierarchies of caste inside the church (fuller 1976). dalit christians were subjected to a trail of multiple discriminations that often overlapped and contributed to aggravating their marginality. they realized that their multiple identities as dalits, a christian minority, and a socially and politically oppressed community had only exacerbated their predicament. when they understood the need to emerge as a collective to address their multilayered marginalities that have not been adequately addressed in the reformist agendas of popular progressive movements, christian theology, and elitist historiography, dalit christian assertion emerged. it is imperative to note that the presence of the dalit christian leaders at the forefront of dalit liberation movements of the twentieth century opened a new epoch for the dalit christians in kerala (mohan 2015). they enunciated an alternative history of resistance, bringing new vigour and vitality to the resistance of the towards an alternative epistemology of resistance: a reading of pulayathara 255 marginalized.1 the dalit christian liberation movements resuscitated them from the state of ‘abject agrestic slaves’ to assertive dalits. their resistance took diverse shapes, and dalit christians started using their epistemic agency to question caste privileges and prerogatives of the upper castes. this article seeks to understand how the dalit christian liberation movements in kerala launched an alternative dalit christian epistemology and identity. the alternative epistemology of dalit christians in kerala can be theorized as an evolving discourse of resistance that envisages emancipatory and liberatory epistemic interventions to find a space in the church as well as in society. it is initiated through dalit theology, dalit liberation movements, and dalit christian literature. the quest for a distinct identity, that equally approves and acknowledges their dalitness, as well as christian identity, led dalit christians to develop dalit christian theology. it emerged as a counter-hegemonic theology in the 1980s and questioned the very core of indian christian theology and christian historiography that excluded the dalits and their intersectional inequalities (prabhakar 1989; mandal 2020).2 dalit theology focuses on the differently situated position of dalits and their unacknowledged historic realities inside the church. in “dalit christians and identity politics in india,” wyatt considers dalit theology as a political theory with the potential to reinterpret the faith in terms of dalit experiences (wyatt 1998: 18). through their theological expositions, the theologians and the leaders of the liberation movements tried to connect the gospels with the everyday experiences of the dalits in church and society. the contributions of poykayil appachan should be highlighted here. appachan questioned the unabated brahminic monopoly in the christian evangelical discourse through his songs. he also emphasized the need for an alternative history for dalit christians since their history is enmeshed with the history of dominant christianity (sekher 2019; mathew 2020). in kerala, dalit christian liberation movements and dalit theology disseminated the idea that religious conversion and spiritual upliftment alone could not help them escape the oppressive structure of caste. soon, dalit christians realized the transformative potential of dalit literature and the possibility of using it to voice their dissent. in “crafting words and creating dalit histories” shailaja menon observes how their life writings facilitate dalits in their political act of building identity and revisiting their history. menon writes, “these dalit life narratives based on experiential epistemology situate them as historical agents by relocating, reforming and reconstructing the dalit identity as a challenge to the brahminical oppressive social order” (menon 2022: 153). dalit literature chronicles 1the pulaya, paraya and kurava castes were the most oppressed caste groups in kerala. they were considered untouchables and used as slaves by the upper caste hindu and syrian christian landlords. though they were converted to christianity, they faced most atrocious experiences from the casteist patriarchal society and brahmanical christianity. 2it was aravind p. nirmal, during his speech titled, “towards a shudra theology” at the carey society of the united theological college, banglore in 1981 who articulated dalit theology as a protest or counter theology against the dominant indian christian theology which is immensely indebted to advaita vedanta or vishishtadvaida in its codification and exposition. 256 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 the unmediated lived experience and everyday histories of struggle. for dalit christian writers of the twentieth century, literature became a major instrument to address their ‘being nowhere’ situation. their writings often mirrored the stark realities and glaring disparities of their lives, as they were placed at the intersection of caste and religion. they unearthed the interstice between what the church preached and what occurred inside the church in real life through their writings. most importantly, the single-axis framework of foregrounding dalits as a homogenized category has been questioned with the emergence of dalit christian writers in the literary scenario. though dalit christian literature did not flourish as a distinct genre in kerala, dalit christian writers in the twentieth century succeeded in shaping an alternative dalit epistemology. the renaissance spirit evoked by the liberation movements and dalit theological discourse in the twentieth century brought a new paradigm to malayalam novels as well. though brahmanism was deeply ingrained in christianity in kerala, it was neither highlighted nor questioned in nineteenth-century literature. missionary literature also got popularized during this age. however, most of the writings emphasized the progressive aspects of conversion and the material benefits it brought, under which the innumerable plights of dalit christians got erased (paul 2021). in the early writings of the nineteenth century, dalit christians were either ignored or they were clubbed within the homogenous dalit discourse. for instance, in saraswatheevijayam (1892), potheri kunhambu problematizes the casteist ideologies in society and he considers conversion as a solution to defy the inequalities. in the novel, most of the converted christians are represented as happy and content (mathew 2020). kunhambu depicts marathan, the protagonist as a reformed individual who got his education from the mission school and experienced christianity as an egalitarian fold. however, the underlying realities of the dalit christian’s life remained unaddressed (menon 1997). the absence of dalit christian writers is one of the major reasons behind the misrepresentation or underrepresentation of dalit christians in nineteenth-century malayalam novels. since the slave castes were denied basic rights to have access to land, education, and human dignity, it was difficult for dalit christians to assert themselves through literature or any other socially sanctioned medium in their early phases. so, their intersectional identities and innumerable exploitations from a casteridden society, church, and state were left unattended in the literature of the nineteenth century. dalit christian liberation movements of the twentieth century brought tremendous change in the literary scenario by inaugurating dalit christian discourse in malayalam literature (mathew 2020). both dalit and non-dalit writers began to consider dalit christians as a distinct category in their writings. as mathew rightly pointed out, “…the dalit conversion and dalit christian literature from the twentieth century can be considered the ‘insider’s version’ of conversion and post-conversion experiences” (mathew 2020: 56). by textualising their life and shared experiences, dalit christian writers carved out the complexities of dalit christian lives which were scantily recorded in nineteenth-century malayalam literature. at this vantage point, this article finds the relevance of configuring the impact of dalit christian liberation towards an alternative epistemology of resistance: a reading of pulayathara 257 movements in twentieth-century malayalam novels by analyzing paul chirakkarode’s pulayathara (1962). this article primarily focuses on pulayathara for some specific reasons. the rationale behind the selection of pulayathara is its significance as the first novel in malayalam by a dalit christian writer. moreover, this article intends to show how a novel written by a dalit christian writer became a site to disseminate the dalit christian discourse. in the beginning, the article delves deep into the history of reformist movements heralded by dalit christian leaders to emphasize their instrumental role in shaping dalit christian identity and epistemology. later, with the theoretical lens of intersectionality, it elaborates on how chirakkarode inaugurated a movement of dalit christian assertion through novels in kerala by writing this novel. methodology the primary methodological framework selected for this study is intersectionality, a theory propounded by kimberly crenshaw to understand how different axioms of inequalities operate together and how it leads to the multiple oppression of people, especially black women. crenshaw criticizes the single-axis framework employed by the feminist and antiracist discourse to address the issues of black women and advocates for an alternative analytical framework to bring forth the nuances and different shades of discrimination which have been completely undermined in mainstream feminism and antiracist politics (crenshaw 2013). this article uses intersectionality to initiate an in-depth inquiry into dalit christian subjectivity, which is often overlooked in dalit discourse’s overarching framework. by employing intersectionality, we find that though the brahmanic interpolations in the church made a clear boundary between the upper-caste christians and the dalit christians, christian historiography and theology were less concerned about the differences and discriminations that the dalit christians have been confronting inside the church. through the textual analysis and close reading of pulayathara, this article aims to find how dalit christians are differently situated in the church and society and examine how the overlapping oppressive structures aggravate the marginality of people in the lowest rung. it also discusses the role of dalit christian liberation movements in understanding the intersecting inequalities and the way it leads to the formation of dalit christian discourse in the church and society. revolution and representation: transformative social movements and leaders of the slave castes the dalit liberation movements in kerala were a backlash against the abhorrent and repugnant caste practices that existed in society and the church. it was the channar rebellion (1853–1859) heralded by channar women that opened an era of resistance of the marginalized social groups in kerala. the channar rebellion is hailed as one of the first recorded resistances against the oppressive hegemonic structure in kerala (gurukal & varier 2018). it is observed that other women from the oppressed communities 258 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 were also inspired by the channar rebellion and thus also started agitations for their right to cover their breasts. their agitation extended till 1859. the channar rebellion was followed by the mukuti agitation, kallumala and irumpuvala agitation. all these agitations were primarily aimed at revoking age-old systems and beliefs perpetuated by the brahmin preceptors (valsa 2018). thereafter kerala society witnessed an array of progressive movements. ayyankali (1863–1941) played an irreplaceable role in inspiring dalits for their collective resistance. ayyankali did not consider religious conversion as an immediate solution for caste oppression, and he paid attention to the revival of the oppressed castes in general (1878–1939). poykayil sree kumara guru or poykayil appachan’s entry made dalit christian discourse an epicentre of discussion. he formed a separate sect called prathyaksha raksha daiva sabha (prds) and embarked on the spirit of liberation through songs and spiritual practices (sekhar 2010). appachan burned the bible as form of protest against institutionalized religion. pambadi john joseph is another prominent figure who staunchly stood for the emancipation of dalit christians. converted dalits under the leadership of pambadi john joseph organised cheramar mahasabha in 1921 and submitted a memorandum before the british government about several inequalities and untouchability they faced from upper-caste christians (john 2018). the contributions of kallara sukumar in the dalit and dalit christian assertion also cannot be ignored. sukumaran delineated the unmediated experiences of his community and challenged the brahmanical bureaucracy that denies basic rights to the oppressed caste through his writings.3 sukumaran opposed the pervasiveness of institutionalized religion and the presence of an incongruous caste system that prevented dalit liberation and emancipation. he realized that unless the dalits liberate themselves from the shackles of the slavish past and the bonds of religion, they would not be able to find a distinct space in society. at the age of seventeen, he started an organization, peerumedu taluk harijan federation, which emerged as a clarion call for the revival of dalits of all the oppressed castes. the harijan and awkward christian federation were also merged with his organization. in 1972, they changed the name of the organization to all kerala harijan federation. with the farsightedness of sukumaran, it soon flourished as an assemblage of schedule caste, scheduled tribes and backward christians and emphasized the integral development of dalit and other backward communities through economic, educational, and political empowerment. the array of leaders from the previous slave castes did not end there. kerala witnessed minor and major dalit and dalit christian assertions after the glorious epoch heralded by these leaders. since they were exposed to the world of words through missionary modernity (mohan 2015), major leaders of the dalit christian assertion realized the possibilities of using their writings to initiate organized protests. they made use of this linguistic modernity to envisage new hope, aspiration, and political action among the slave castes (paul 2019). paul chirakkarode was not an exception. with the publication of pulayathara, chirakkarode heralds a 3his parents converted to christianity to get rid of caste oppression. they christened him marcose. but later they denounced christianity as they realized the persisting caste practices in the church. towards an alternative epistemology of resistance: a reading of pulayathara 259 shift in the literary representation of dalit christians in malayalam novels. until then, the dalit christians were either embedded under the category of dalits or completely ignored in the literary imagination. chirakkarode’s novel departs from such erasures (thankamma 2019). pulayathara marked a significant moment in dalit writing in kerala through dalit christian assertion thereby creating scope for an alternative discourse. it is a discourse of discontent and dissent against brahmanical christianity and casteist kerala society. imagining an anti-caste utopia in pulayathara chirakkarode is drawn into an anti-caste utopia in pulayathara and anticipates sociocultural and political upheavals in a dalit christian’s journey towards an egalitarian social structure. like the other leaders of the progressive movements, chirakkarode also did not envisage religious conversion as a sole panacea for the multiple marginalities of the dalits. instead he highlighted the intersecting inequalities and post-conversion dilemmas that dalit christians confronted inside the church. by drawing on incidents and situations from the past and present as well as visualizing an egalitarian social order for dalits in the future, the novel serves its purpose of providing a comprehensive analysis of the dalit christian life and identity formation in a casteist society and brahmanical christianity. this section of the article discusses how chirakkarode envisioned an alternative public and the construction of an alternative epistemology. in “social space, civil society, and dalit agency in twentieth-century kerala,” sanal mohan discusses how the influence of missionary modernity led to the creation of an alternative public from the slave castes (mohan 2016: 75). in their journey towards social transformation, they eventually understood that the definition of “public” itself varies, depending on one’s social location (raj 2013). it was a moment of departure for dalits, and they started thinking about independent political mobilization. according to raj, despite their decisive role in progressive social movements of the period to form an alternative “civil society”, the dalits could not ensure their upward social mobility. raj writes, “whether in political or new social movements, we find that the dalit participants failed to gain mobility precisely because they lacked the economic, social, and symbolic capital to survive the different kinds of repression or backlashes that each of these movements came to face (raj 2013: 56). however, in the latter half of the twentieth century, the radical movements of dalits in kerala took new forms, and they began to reclaim what had been denied to them for centuries. assertion through writing and literature is a major example. the individual articulation of collective memories that emanated through shared experiences marked the formation of an alternative epistemology of the dalits. in pulayathara, chirakkarode critically engages in the question of dalit christian identity instead of offering a mere aesthetic experience of novel reading. the novel is woven around an important question—is the dalit christian any better off than he was before conversion? it was the same question that resonated in the dalit christian liberation movements of the twentieth century. though the process of transgressing 260 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 the boundaries of caste itself was considered a progressive act on the part of the dalits (mohan 2017; singh 2023), conversion did not make a marked difference in their birth-based identity as slave castes, instead, it made them ‘christian untouchables’. though the dalit conversion was a mass movement, integration into christianity was not easy because of the presence and persistence of a caste inside the christian churches. brahmanical hinduism has been supplanted by brahmanical christianity. as a result, the initial threshold that the religious conversion created did not last for long. a comprehensive analysis of pulayathara reveals how unique dalit christian issues are and how differently they have been positioned in casteist society and brahmanical christianity. the novel emphasizes the need to consider dalit christians as a separate category of analysis and it reveals the problems of employing a single-axis framework to deal with the issues of dalit christians. an intercategorical intersectional lens would examine such groups that are situated at neglected points of intersection and expose the intricacies of the lived experience of the members of those oppressed social groups. (mccall 2005). it is observed that at the intersecting point of religion and caste, dalit christians were severely tormented. in the novel, chirakkarode exposes the atrocious experiences that the dalit christians confronted from such intersecting points. the upper caste christians in the novel profusely exercised caste practices and retained untouchability, endogamy, and spatial segregation. moreover, they constructed separate churches and cemeteries to avoid close contact with dalit christians. even though the church did not promote birth-based categorization, it leaned towards the interests of the syrian christians. they claimed brahmanical lineage and apostolic foundation and found a stronghold in the church. at the same time the fivefold discrepancies—from the state, caste hindus, fellow hindu dalits, upper caste christian communities, and the subgroups of dalit christians—made dalit christians silent and subservient in the initial phase of conversion (michael 2010). according to crenshaw, accepting multiple identities is a politicization process (crenshaw 1989). but the progressive social movements of the period made dalit christians rethink their different positioning due to their multiple identities. it brings a perspectival shift in people regarding the atrocities and indignities heaped upon vulnerable groups. crenshaw writes, “for all these groups, identity-based politics has been a source of strength, community and intellectual development” (crenshaw 1989: 1242). in the second part of the novel, the dalit christians realized their intersecting identities as dalits, christians, and politically disadvantaged groups and used the same to initiate a dalit christian collective and dalit identity politics. in the first part of the novel, chirakkarode draws his characters from two different generations to highlight the transformation to their identity. the novel begins with the life of thevan pulayan and his son kandankoran who worked as bonded labourers of narayanan nair, a prominent upper-caste landlord of anjilithara. thevan represented a generation that completely subsumed their identity and lived like passive subjects. the landlord never considered them as humans with distinct selves and desires. instead, their identity is defined only in terms of their labour. chirakkarode writes, towards an alternative epistemology of resistance: a reading of pulayathara 261 “a labourer was not supposed to think for himself. even if he did, he could not say it aloud. it was forbidden. when thampuran decided, the worker murmured his assent. that was how it had been for generations” (chirakkarode 1963: 8). sadly, the generation represented by thevan pulayan internalised their marginality and it prevented them from defying the caste codes. though they suffered more, they were despondent before the oppressive structure. thevan’s imposed identity prevented him from recognizing his worth. but his son, kandankoran stood for the dalit collective who aspired to liberate themselves from bondage and their slavish past. the renewed dalit consciousness and rejuvenated self that the dalit liberation movements brought made him fight back against the oppressive structures. kandankoran, who represented the young generation of pulayas, was reluctant to conform to the image of the agrestic slave. his reluctance to fit the characteristics that conformed to the agrestic slaves indicates the structural changes that occurred in society through dalit assertion and progressive social movements in the twentieth century. the first part exposes the life of dalits in brahmanical hinduism whereas the second part of the novel vividly portrays how brahmanical christianity functions to re-assert the marginal identity of dalits. it delineates the life of dalit christians in a mission land. though dalits converted to christianity with the hope that they would be treated humanely, christianity failed to dismantle the hegemony of caste echelons. for instance, pathrose and other dalit christians in the novel were tenants of the hilltop church. like the upper caste feudal landlords of the nineteenth century who strictly observed caste hierarchy, the church also exercised its power over dalit christians. being ignorant about their rights, the first-generation dalit christians in the novel blindly followed the church. chirakkarode writes about the clear division in the church and the incapability of first-generation dalit christians to understand their submissiveness. he writes, “their fate was to sit on the floor. but they had no complaints about it. that was because they had never considered this a grievance at all. for them, even to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of those upper castes was a privilege.” (chirakkarode 1963: 55) structural inequalities operated diversely inside the church. it leads to their blind submission before the caste and brahmanical christianity. the “new christians” were constantly reminded that the church was generous enough to accommodate them in the mission land. for instance, custodian thomas threatens the converted christians by saying, “you must lead the life of a godfearing obedient christian. you are living on mission land, aren’t you? remember that and respect the upper caste” (chirakkarode 1963: 152). by interpreting their life and homogenizing their experiences with other christians, the church ignores their slave identity, years of servility and the brunt of exploitation. it can also be considered as a strategy employed by the church to silence the dalit christians and divert them from the organized protest against the unjust ecclesiastical order. unlike their forefathers, the young generation of dalit christians in the novel represented by paulose, thoma, and several other nameless dalit christian characters began to assert their identity and initiated a collective protest when they realized the intersecting inequalities in the church. it signifies the influence of the progressive movements in the twentieth 262 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 century. paulose asks, “when low caste folk became christians, they still experienced exclusion. they were kept at a distance. why was all this done if caste superiority existed within the church? was it not better that the pulayar and parayar did not join the church?” (chirakkarode 1963: 101). his lashing criticism against the syrian christian landlords and the double standards of the church indicates the emergence of the discourse of discontent among the second-generation dalit christians. gradually, the first-generation dalit christians also began to think about the futility of relying completely on brahmanical christianity. they started raising questions. it implies that the politicized dalit identity they imbibed from the dalit christian liberation movements provoked both the first and second-generation dalit christians to introspect about their marginal status. chirakkarode describes the inner turmoils of thoma to validate this. he writes, “he was a new christian! but what change did it create? a few drops of baptismal water had fallen on his head and custodian thomas gained one more slave. that was all…” (chirakkarode 1963: 151). this section of the narrative is inextricably linked to poykayil appachan’s ideals, which demanded a courageous break from the constricting religious fold. the identity of the writer must be highlighted here. being a dalit christian writer and activist, chirakkarode employed a different writing style. most significantly, he understands the need for a language of resistance to broaden the scope of their assertion. through paulos in the novel, who wants to protest against the indelible injustice inside the church chirakkarode emphasises this. he writes, “there were many things he wanted to say. there were many things against which he wanted to object. but he had not yet acquired a clear language. that would take time. perhaps he might die and dissolve in the mud without saying anything” (chirakkarode 1963: 154). it implies that chirakkarode envisions the emergence of a language through which dalit christians can question the structural hierarchy of caste and brahmanism. the novel ends with this sentence, “the meeting was about to begin. the new generation has decided to speak” (chirakkarode 1963: 197). it implicates their urge to be heard and the realization that progressive changes would happen only through people with a politicized dalit identity. most of the chapters of the novel end with valid questions. by raising such questions, chirakkarode invites his readers to engage in the dalit christian discourse and identity politics. raising questions and asking questions to each other are major strategies to redefine the dalit identity. through his characters, whether they are major or minor, chirakkarod raises valid questions about the pervasiveness of caste inside the church and society. most importantly, his questions leave a sliver of hope in dalits, and it ignites a spirit to assert their identity rather than deny it. he writes, “it was possible that the next-generation worker would rise against the landlord. would that be the beginning of a struggle?” (8). the optimism in these lines is directly connected to the anti-caste utopia he imagines through dalit christian liberation movements. towards the end of the novel, dalit christian characters realized the need for a revolution within and in their community. they rejected religion and elitist historiography which made them untouchables forever (singh 2023). they never towards an alternative epistemology of resistance: a reading of pulayathara 263 considered conversion as utopian rather they continued to question the structural hierarchy of caste that existed in the church. a renewed consciousness made the dalit christians redefine their status from defenceless agrestic slaves to determinant dalits. the young generation of dalit christians developed a language of resistance to challenge the pre-ordained structures of caste. they were aware of their political rights and vigilant about the structural changes that occurred in society. once they realized the worthlessness of institutionalized religion, the second-generation dalit christians directed themselves towards collective political action, which is closely aligned with the ideology advocated by pambady john joseph and kallara sukumaran. the dalit christians in the novel understand that their idealized anti-caste utopia would not soon be realized. it demands relentless struggles and collective assertions. they were aware of how crucial it was to provide their children with sufficient capital to combat systemic injustices. one such resource with emancipatory potential is education. major figures of the progressive social movements of the twentieth century, including ayyankali, poykayil appachan, pambady john joseph, and kallara sukumaran, equally agreed that education has an instrumental role in dalit emancipation. similarly, in pulayathara, chirakkarode also exposes the incapability of conversion in transforming the birth-based identity of the dalits and emphasises education as a tool that enables dalits to break their centuries of silence. they acknowledged the emancipatory potentials of education and envisioned an egalitarian social structure through the young generation of dalits. thoma’s response to his son’s baptism proved that they idealized a utopia of dalits by educating the coming generation. thoma did not want another dalit to be offered to the church as a slave. thoma says, “edi, i am a pulayan. i will live in the field. i will work for daily wages. i will stay where i can, but… but i will send my son to school, educate him. i will not let him become some landlord’s slave. you wait and see.” (chirakkarode 1963: 197). education plays a vital role in the construction of dalit identity. it enhances their understanding of the situations and circumstances that make them an oppressed category. moreover, education helps dalits learn about their rights in society. thereby, they will be able to speak for themselves rather than waiting for someone else to represent them. pulayathara calls for a nuanced examination of the various modalities and ways in which twentieth-century dalit christian liberation movements developed alternative epistemology. the novel shows the attempt towards an epistemological assertion through the insertion of an alternate history from the perspective of the dalit christians. their epistemology constitutes a distinct dalit christian discourse which does not conform to the caste formula of hindu brahmanism and brahmanical christianity. it questions the hegemony rather than being accustomed to their marginality. most importantly, it makes them the makers of their own history and challenges the elitist historiography that silenced them for centuries (menon 2022). the dalit christians realize their historical marginalization and the factors that have caused them to be positioned differently in the church and society. the kind of epistemology that pulayathara proposes encourages the radical reshaping of the dalit identity and steers towards a just society. it promotes an idea of selfhood untouched by any form of 264 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 oppression, discrimination, and exclusion. they realized the multiple structures that perpetuate exclusionary practices and started addressing the same systematically through collective protest and literary and cultural endeavours. in pulayathara, chirakkarode established a “world of words” for the dalit christians. the language that his characters employed outraged the upper caste because it was unusual for a slave caste to speak a resistance language. for instance, in the beginning, none of the dalit characters in the novel dared to utter even their names. in fact, they never used ‘i.’ instead, they addressed themselves as ‘lowly ones’, adiyan, pelen and so on.4 but being part of a dalit collective, they started developing a sense of self and transformed their slave identity into a distinct dalit identity. by proudly saying “i am a pulayan”, thoma and other dalit christians in the novel declared that they are no longer slaves of either religion or caste. such recognition itself is a catalyst that accelerates their emancipation proclamation through political assertions, education, and writings. the novel advocates the need for standing together for the cause of dalits and it repels the agents of any institutionalized religion from acting as custodians of dalits. all these progressive ideas are extensively drawn from the dalit christian liberation movements and theological interventions that occurred during chirakkarode’s lifetime and he employed literature to navigate and protest against caste-driven society and religion. conclusion dalit articulation has veered towards two purposes which are complementary and overlapping in nature: assertion and resistance. for dalits, asserting their identity is a political agenda and dalit identity-based mobilizations continue to question the hegemonic social norms. chirakkarode used his epistemic agency to record their unwritten history of resistance amid a sociocultural and political milieu in kerala that entirely erased the intersectional identity of dalit christians and the compounding inequities it brought them. thereby, he launched a dalit christian discourse in malayalam literature. he focuses on the potential of literature to delve more into the political dimension, through which dalits could revisit their history and reinvent their subjectivity (zecchini 2018). chirakkarode’s interventions to highlight the issues of dalit christians in the literary imagination are commendable because he situates them as a distinct political subject. instead of merely mapping all the aspects of dalit christian life, chirakkarode interrogates specific problems and highlights the intersecting inequalities that existed in brahmanical christianity. an intercategorical intersectional inquiry shows dalit christians are distinctively placed at the intersection of multiple overlapping, oppressive structures. as crenshaw points out, the issues of exclusion cannot be adequately addressed by placing them into the already established analytical framework. rather an intersectional analysis is essential to show how differences in identities create specific kinds of oppressive situations (crenshaw 4both the dalits and dalit christians had to use such terms to indicate their lowest status. the upper caste christians as well as hindus used terms such as ‘pulaya christian’, ‘paraya christians’, ‘avasa christians, ‘poocha christians’, etc., to refer to the dalit christians. they used such terms to differentiate the upper castes from the lower castes. towards an alternative epistemology of resistance: a reading of pulayathara 265 2013). here, crenshaw emphasizes the transformative potentials of intersectionality as an analytical framework as well as practice. similarly, in pulayathara chirakkarode demands an alternate analytical paradigm to specifically address the issues of dalit christians. in the novel, the search for their roots unpacks several unheard stories of oppression and dalit christians began to assert their identity by extracting impetus from their shared experiences of inequality and injustice. it leads to the formation of their identity and alternative epistemology. here, the dalit identity they bring forth does not entail shame, but it marks the moment of assertion towards an anti-caste utopia. pulayathara transcends the conventional contours of elitist historiography by constantly questioning and challenging them through a language of resistance. it finds a distinct place in the larger sphere of dalit literature by transforming the ‘abject subjects’ into political subjects with distinct voices and agency. most importantly, it contributes to the larger objective of the production and dissemination of knowledge about the history of dalit christians. moreover, pulayathara invites the readers and the larger public to engage in the dalit christian discourse and it encourages everyone to be actively involved for the cause of the most marginalized. references ambedkar, b.r. 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(2018). ‘no name is yours until you speak it’: notes towards a contrapuntal reading of dalit literatures and postcolonial theory. in j.k abraham and j.mishari-barak (eds.), dalit literatures in india. london: routledge india, pp. 68–85. © 2022 s. muralidhar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. forum caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 421–441 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.452 appearing in court in india: challenges in representing the marginalised s. muralidhar*2 abstract this article reflects on the challenges faced in the process of improving access to justice and representation of the marginalized communities in the legal system. the author has drawn reflections from his own career as a human rights lawyer. explaining this, the author first highlights the barriers faced by marginalized communities in the legal system, and then narrates the challenges faced by those who seek to represent the marginalised or espouse their causes. the emphasis of the article is on understanding what it means to be a marginalised person facing the barriers of the system. lastly, the article suggests institutional measures to approach the challenges thrown up in the process of representing the marginalised. keywords access to justice, representation, ambedkar, marginalized, legal profession background this article is an edited version of the lecture delivered by dr. justice muralidhar (chief justice, high court of orissa) on 14 april 2022 as a part of cede’s1 second *chief justice, high court of orissa, india 1cede is a network of lawyers, law firms, judges, and other organisations and individuals, who are committed towards reforming the indian legal profession. it was founded in april 2021 by disha wadekar (lawyer, supreme court of india), anurag bhaskar (assistant professor, o.p. jindal global university, india), and avinash mathews (lawyer, supreme court of india). since its inception, cede has been organising annual dr ambedkar memorial lectures. the first inaugural lecture in 2021 was delivered by dr. justice dy chandrachud (judge, supreme court of india) on the topic “why representation matters”. the editors of the journal are grateful to cede team (community for the eradication of discrimination in education and employment), for facilitating the process of publishing this article in the journal. 422 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 annual dr ambedkar memorial lecture on the topic “appearing in court: challenges in representing the marginalised”. introduction it is a privilege to be invited to speak on the occasion of the birth anniversary of dr. ambedkar and the completion of one year of the launching of the community for eradication of discrimination in education and employment (cede). a year ago, three young lawyers anurag bhaskar, disha wadekar, and avinash mathews, came together to launch this self-empowering initiative, cede, which provides opportunities in education and employment to those belonging to the marginalized communities in india with special focus on dalits, adivasis, other backward classes, and indigenous communities.2 one of the laudable objectives of cede is to increase the representation of the marginalized communities in the legal profession in india. it is the last-mentioned endeavour that has prompted the choice of the topic for today’s lecture. the many years of active practice as a litigator provided me with an opportunity to study the legal services delivery system from close quarters. being a lawyer on the panel of the supreme court legal services committee for close to 15 years, a member of the committee for two terms, and an amicus curiae in a number of cases involving public interest and human rights, helped me understand the complexity of the issues that require to be addressed while discussing the theme of access to justice. representing many of the marginalised groups in court made me ponder over questions for which there were no easy answers then. i doubt it is easier now, although the complexity of the issues is better acknowledged in the empirical and research work done in the past few years on the working of the indian legal system. one such study is the report published in october 2021 by the american bar association centre for human rights on “dalit justice defenders in india” (american bar association, 2021, chapter iii). i will have occasion to refer to it later in this talk. i seek to briefly set out what i propose to speak on. in the first part of the talk, i wish to add to our understanding of whom we consider to be a person in need of legal services and in that context whom we understand to be a ‘marginalised’ person. next, i wish to focus on the barriers that a marginalised person encounters in the legal system and how the system has responded to the problem. i ask: can we really understand what it means to be a marginalised person facing the barriers of the system? third, and this is an important part of the talk, the challenges faced by those who seek to represent the marginalised or espouse their causes. the final part of the talk will dwell on how we should be approaching the challenges thrown up in the process of representing the marginalised. 2cede (community for the eradication of discrimination in education and employment), https://www.cede.co.in/home appearing in court in india: challenges in representing the marginalised 423 i. who are ‘marginalized’ in justice? at a very basic level, every person denied justice in the broadest sense of the term, and who has to perforce engage with the legal system for redressal, is in need of legal services. the indian constitution acknowledges persons who by birth, descent, caste, and class have been denied justice over generations.3 it envisages the state coming up with affirmative action programmes and policies to redress such historic injustices.4 these include those belonging to the scheduled castes (sc)/ dalits, and scheduled tribes (st)/ adivasis, socially and educationally disadvantaged classes, economically deprived classes and a whole host of others including religious minorities, sexual minorities, differently abled, and children in conflict with the law. then there are ‘status offenders’ like sex workers,5 vagrants,6 mentally ill,7 and many others whose very existence and every activity is criminalised and therefore very often find themselves on the ‘wrong’ side of the law. thus begging,8 street dwelling,9 prostitution,10 wandering of mentally ill persons11 and vagrants12 are all treated as law-and-order problems and dealt with in the criminal justice system. it is a matter for concern that at least 20 states in india still have anti-beggary criminal laws (scroll, 2017). only in delhi (harsh mander & anr v. union of india, air 2018 del 188) and j&k (suhail rashid bhat v. state of jammu & kashmir 2019 scc j&k 869) have the laws been struck down by judicial verdicts. then there are the de-notified tribes13 who have, for long, been the victims of police atrocities. those coming in conflict with the law in these situations 3constitution of india 1950, art. 15. article 15 of the indian constitution recognizes and secures the citizens from discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste sex or place of birth. 4constitution of india 1950, art. 38. article 38 of the indian constitution recognizes that the importance of state in providing social, political and economic justice to its citizens. 5while the term sex workers are not defined, the term prostitute is referenced to the act of prostitution mentioned in section 2(f) of the immoral traffic (prevention) act, 1956. section 2(f) defines prostitution as any ‘means for which the sexual exploitation or abuse of persons for commercial purposes or for consideration in money or in any other kind. it describes “prostitute’ to be construed accordingly. 6the bengal vagrancy act, 1943 describes ‘vagrant’ as a person found asking for alms in any public place or wandering about or remaining in any public place in such condition or manner as makes it likely that such person exists by asking for alms but does not include a person collecting money or asking for food or gifts for a prescribed purpose. 7mental illness is defined in section 2(s) of the mental healthcare act, 2017. 8currently 20 state legislations criminalize begging and provides incarceration for those found to be begging. some of these are ‘the andhra pradesh prevention of beggary act, 1977’, ‘the assam prevention of begging act, 1964’ and ‘the bihar prevention of begging act, 1951.’ 9id at 3. immoral traffic (prevention) act, 1956, s. 2(f) 10immoral traffic (prevention) act, 1956, s. 2(f). section 2(f) defines prostitution as any ‘means for which the sexual exploitation or abuse of persons for commercial purposes or for consideration in money or in any other kind. 11id at 5. mental healthcare act, 2017, s. 100 12id., at 4. 13the tribes that were mentioned in the criminal tribes act, 1871 were required to register with the local magistrate as per section 8 of the said act with any such required information. if such information was not specified as per notice mentioned in section 9, such members of the tribes 424 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 are invariably those below the poverty line and a ‘high risk group’ for whom legal aid is an absolute necessity. they are to be acknowledged as unwitting consumers of legal services. there is also problem with excluding certain categories of persons from the ambit of legal services. early legal aid schemes statutorily sought to disqualify those arraigned in cases involving offences under the law prohibiting gambling, consumption of alcohol or the offences of defamation and adultery from receiving legal aid (muralidhar, 2004, pp. 50, 60). under article 22 (3) (b) of the constitution of india, the right available to every person who is arrested, to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice, is not available to a person who is arrested or detained under any law providing for preventive detention.14 consistent with this bar, s.11 (4) of the national security act, 198015 and s.8 (e) of the conservation of foreign exchange and prevention of smuggling activities act, 197416 bar the right of a detenu to legal representation in proceedings before the advisory board which examines the need for continuing the detention. this to some extent has been addressed by section 12 of the legal services authorities act, 1987 (lsaa), in terms of which every person who is in custody is entitled to legal aid. no exception is made for cases in which custody is by way of preventive detention. and yet, under section 13 lsaa,17 a legal aid functionary could refuse legal services in a criminal case on the ground that no prima facie case exists. then we have the pernicious prospect of a bar association resolving that no member lawyer will defend a certain kind of ‘accused’: a person accused of committing what is termed a terrorist act (press trust of india, 2008). this despite the fact that the supreme court has outlawed it18 (press trust of india, 2013). ccould be penalized under provisions of the indian penal code, 1860 this was replaced with habitual offenders act, 1952 that de-notified these tribes of their criminality. 14article 22 (3) is an exception to the provisions mentioned prior to it in clauses (1) and (2) that protect the persons from arbitrary arrest and detention. article 22(3)(b) mentions that such provisions are not applicable to any person who is arrested or detained under any law providing for preventive detention. 15section 11(4) of the national security act, 1980 describes the procedure for advisory boards that “shall entitle any person against whom a detention order has been made to appear by any legal practitioner in any matter connected with the reference to the advisory board; and the proceedings of the advisory board and its report, excepting that part of the report in which the opinion of the advisory board is specified, shall be confidential.” 16s.8 (e) of the conservation of foreign exchange and prevention of smuggling activities act, 1974 refers to the advisory boards mentioned sub-clause (a) of clause (4), and sub-clause (c) of clause (7), of article 22 of the constitution that “ a person against whom an order of detention has been made under this act shall not be entitled to appear by any legal practitioner in any matter connected with the reference to the advisory board, and the proceedings of the advisory board and its report, excepting that part of the report in which the opinion of the advisory board is specified, shall be confidential;” 17section 13(1) of the legal service authorities act, 1987 describes the criteria for entitlement of legal services. the provision mentions that ‘persons who satisfy all or any of the criteria specified in section 12 shall be entitled to receive legal services provided that the concerned authority is satisfied that such person has aprima facie case to prosecute or to defend.’ 18a.s. mohammed rafi vs state of tamil nadu air 2011 sc 308. the court in the following case opined: ‘it is against the great traditions of the bar which has always stood up for appearing in court in india: challenges in representing the marginalised 425 the indian criminal justice system provides, for those willing to see, a stark depiction of the intersection of law and poverty. prof. upendra baxi states that the words ‘poverty’ and ‘poor’ suggest the passivity of the ‘poor’ (baxi, 1988, p. 8). “everything about the ‘poor’ and ‘poverty’”, he says, “is defined in terms of a lack: powerlessness, apathy, disorganization, alienation and anomie are some of the major attributes we use to define and describe the ‘poor’. this cluster of attributes define the ‘culture of poverty’ which is a culture of multiple disabilities, and lacks, transmitted across generations” (ibid). noted scholar barbara harris white prefers the term ‘destitution’ and its myriad forms to describe what those in poverty experience. she describes ‘economic destitution’ as “having nothing”; ‘social destitution’ as “being nothing” and “political and law induced destitution” as “having no rights and being wrong”; each of which results in denial of ‘personhood’ or ‘full citizenship’ (2002, p. 86). while tabling the final draft of the indian constitution before the constituent assembly on 25 november 1949, dr. ambedkar reminded everyone that: “on the social plane, we have in india a society based on the principle of graded inequality. we have a society in which there are some who have immense wealth as against many who live in abject poverty” (ambedkar, 1948). that scenario continues to plague indian society even seven decades thereafter. he was also prophetic that despite independence, we could not call ourselves truly democratic unless we ensured ‘social democracy’. he was not sanguine about this. he prophesied that “in our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value” (ambedkar, 1948). we are yet to dismantle the structures that marginalise a sizeable section of our population. thus, we still have many among us who are engaged in manual scavenging, sewer cleaning, rag picking and in forced labour or begar, doing all our ‘dirty work’ at the cost of their dignity and right to life. and then, poverty need not be understood only in economic terms. as the allen committee that was commissioned by robert kennedy, then the attorney general, in 1960s in the usa to study poverty and the criminal justice system observed, poverty is also a “functional incapacity to obtain in adequate measure the representation and services required by issues, whenever and wherever they appear” (attorney general’s committee,1963). thus, a married woman belonging to the higher or middle-income group who is a victim of domestic violence and finding herself incarcerated in her marital home in an upper-class neighbourhood may still be deprived of legal services. the definition of ‘marginalized’ it would seem is thus not as simple as one might want to believe it to be. it is thus entirely possible that a person in india on account of her social or economic disadvantage is denied legal services. we may be creating a set of ‘social’ and ‘economic’ outcasts through law. defending persons accused for a crime. such a resolution is, in fact, a disgrace to the legal community. we declare that all such resolutions of bar associations in india are null and void and the right minded lawyers should ignore and defy such resolutions if they want democracy and rule of law to be upheld in this country. it is the duty of a lawyer to defend no matter what the consequences, and a lawyer who refuses to do so is not following the message of the gita’; 426 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 ii. barriers for the marginalized the ‘marginalised’ enter the legal system in a variety of ways, very often involuntarily. they come in as victims of crime—crimes against humanity, mass crimes, hate crimes, caste (national crime records bureau, 2020a, p. 34) and communal crimes (ncrb, 2020b, p. 33) and atrocities—as witnesses to crimes and atrocities, as complainants, as victims of forcible evictions, of neglect, of poverty, of natural and man-made disasters, of human conflicts including caste and communal riots. and of course, they come in as persons suspected of committing crimes. twenty one per cent of the undertrial population of 3.72 lakhs (ncrb, 2020c, p. 68) and 21 per cent of the convict population of 1.13 lakhs belong to the sc. 37.1 per cent of the convicts and 34.3 per cent of the undertrials belong to the obcs (ncrb, 2020d, p. 64). the corresponding percentages for muslims is 17.4 per cent and 19.5 per cent respectively (ncrb, 2020e, pp. 63 and 67). and yet, these are the persons who are likely to find it difficult to come forward to fight for their rights. again, to quote dr. ambedkar: ask those who are unemployed whether what are called fundamental rights are of any value to them. if a person who is unemployed is offered a choice between a job of some sort, with some sort of wages, with no fixed hours of labour and with an interdict on joining a union and the exercise of his right to freedom of speech, association, religion, etc., can there be any doubt as to what his choice will be. how can it be otherwise? the fear of starvation, the fear of losing a house, the fear of losing savings if any, the fear of being compelled to take children away from school, the fear of having to be a burden on public charity, the fear of having to be burned or buried at public cost are factors too strong to permit a man to stand out for his fundamental rights. the unemployed are thus compelled to relinquish their fundamental rights for the sake of securing the privilege to work and to subsist (ambedkar, 1947, pp. 409–410). the formal legal system in india is a legacy of the british legal system. for many a ‘marginalised’ person, navigating the formal legal system is a nightmare. law professor stephen wexler is fairly accurate when he says: “poverty creates an abrasive interface with society; poor people are always bumping into sharp legal things” (wexler, 1970, p. 1050). there are many barriers to accessing justice that a marginalised person faces. the laws, rules and processes are mystifying and befuddling even for an educated, literate person. the laws are themselves structured to discriminate against the poor. specific examples are the anti-beggary laws that criminalise poverty,19 the immoral traffic prevention act that criminalises sex 19id., at 6. other laws also include ‘the haryana prevention of begging act, 1971’, ‘the himachal pradesh prevention of begging act, 1979 and ‘the karnataka prevention of begging act, 1975’ appearing in court in india: challenges in representing the marginalised 427 work,20 the juvenile justice law that delivers the street child into the arms of the law21, and even the municipal laws that criminalise acts of encroachment of public spaces22 by street dwelling homeless persons and hawkers. the system works differently for the poor. the beggars courts, the juvenile justice boards,23 and the mahila magistrate courts24 are often the first points of encounter for the poor with the legal system. a visit to any of them in a metropolis in india will bear out the truism that the system works unequally for the poor and the rich. many undertrials continue to remain in jail despite grant of bail because of their inability to arrange surety bonds (singh, 2018). for long, sexual minorities and trans persons have had to live in fear of the criminal law processes. even after section 377 ipc25 was read down, first by the delhi high court in naz foundation (naz foundation v government of nct of delhi & ors (2009) 111 drj 1 (db)) and later by the supreme court in navtej johar (navtej singh johar v. union of india air 2018 sc 4321), and even after the declaratory judgment of the supreme court in nalsa (national legal services authority v. union of india & ors air 2014 sc 1863) in 2014 affirming the full citizenship and personhood of trans persons, it is a struggle on the ground for sexual minorities to cope with their daily lives. the changes it seems are happening ‘with all deliberate speed’,26 a phrase that translates as ‘very gradually’. to tackle the inequality and inequity of the formal legal system, we have institutionalised the delivery of legal services through the lsaa.27 we have a four20immoral traffic prevention act 1987, s.4. the provision mentions the punishment for those living on the earning of prostitution as ‘any person over the age of eighteen years who knowingly lives, wholly or in part, on the earnings of the prostitution of any other person shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both, and where such earnings relate to the prostitution of a child, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than seven years and not more than ten years.’ 21juvenile justice (care and protection of children) act, 2015, s. 2(14)(ii). section 2(14) (ii) describes that a ‘child in need of care and protection’ is a child who is found begging or living on the street’. 22delhi municipal corporation act, 1957 23id., at 20, s.4 describes that juvenile justice boards shall be established in every district responsible for exercising the powers and discharging its functions relating to children in conflict with law under this act. 24mahila magistrate courts are courts that deal exclusively with cases concerning offences against women in india. while at the sessions level they deal with cases concerning prostitution, kidnapping, rape and cruelty, these special courts at metropolitan level also deal with cases of domestic violence. 25indian penal code, (1860), s. 377. the provision criminalised homosexuality as it mentioned ‘whoever voluntarily has carnal inter course against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with1[imprisonment for life], or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.’ 26brown v. board of education of topeka, 347 u.s. 483 (1954). the court concluded its judgement on desegregation to the lower federal courts to ‘enter such orders and decrees consistent with this opinion as are necessary and proper to admit to public schools on a racially nondiscriminatory basis with all deliberate speed the parties to these cases.’ 27id., at 16 428 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 tier mechanism with the national legal services authority (nalsa),28 the state legal services authorities,29 the district legal service authorities30 and the taluk committees.31 we also have a legal service committee in every high court. we have attempted providing not just legal representation but legal services as well.32 both at the pre-litigation and post litigation stages.33 we have schemes that are meant to provide a complainant, a victim and a suspect legal assistance at every stage of the criminal justice process. and yet as justice u u lalit, executive chairperson of nalsa noted recently, “only 1% of the total criminal cases heard in the courts of law get legal aid from the offices of legal services authorities across the country” (buradikatti, 2021). the two reasons he identified were (i) lack of awareness and (ii) more disturbingly “they don’t perhaps have confidence in the set-up of legal aid” (ray, 2021). the fact remains that quality of legal aid is a concern. the marginalised who are the recipient of legal services do not really have a choice. this is a paradox because article 22 talks of guaranteeing a person arrested with a lawyer of her choice.34 in the constituent assembly, while debating the wording of article 15a (later to be article 22 in the final draft), dr. ambedkar adverted to the suggestions made in regard to the right of an accused person to consult a legal practitioner. with a view to removing ambiguity, he said: “i am prepared to add after the words ‘consult’, the words ‘and be defended by a legal practitioner’ so that there would be the right to consult and also the right to be defended” (cad, september 15, 1949). he also explained that the words “legal practitioner of his choice” had been deliberately used “because we do not want the government of the day to foist upon an accused a counsel whom the government may think fit to appear in his case because the accused persons may not have confidence in him.”35 this lack of confidence in the legal aid lawyer is a reflection of the general approach to ‘welfare services’ by the providers, and the perception that this is an act 28the legal service authorities act 1987, s.3. section 3 mentions about the constitution of national legal service authority to exercise all powers and necessary functions that are “conferred on the central authority under the act.” 29the legal service authorities act 1987, s.6. section 6 mentions about the constitution of state legal services authority to fulfill all functions and exercise all powers “conferred on or assigned to the state authority” under the said act. 30the legal service authorities act 1987, s.9. section 9 mentions regarding the constitution of district legal services authority to exercise all powers and necessary functions that are “conferred on or assigned to the district authority” 31the legal service authorities act 1987, s.11a. section 11a mentions regarding the constitution of the taluk legal services committee for every taluk or mandal. 32the legal service authorities act 1987, s.4. section 4 describes the various functions of the national legal services authority in undertaking various schemes and establishing policies to provide legal aid, including but not limited to allocation of funds, organizing of legal aid camps, settlement of disputes. 33the legal service authorities act 1987, chapter via. chapter via recognizes the pre-litigation conciliation and the establishment and procedures for permanent lok adalats. 34constitution of india 1950, art. 22. 35id., at 21 appearing in court in india: challenges in representing the marginalised 429 of ‘charity’ rather than the right of the person in receipt of such services. it impinges on the dignity of the person. i call it the ‘ration shop syndrome’. the poor believe that if you are getting any service or benefit for free, or it is substantially subsidised, then you cannot demand quality. beggars can’t be choosers is the stoic response that keeps the poor going. in a critical study of the public defender system in the usa, charles silberman found that defendants, who were represented by legal aid lawyers, said ‘he’s not my lawyer, he is the legal aid’, and that in the court “when judges ask who the lawyer is in the case at hand, legal aid lawyers typically answer, ‘i’m standing up for this case,’ not ‘i’m representing this client,’ let alone ‘i’m representing mr. jones’” (silberman, 1978). the laws and the legal system also appear to work differently for the marginalised. recently, a supreme court two-judge bench of justice dy chandrachud and justice b v nagarathna noted that several members of the sc/st community “face insurmountable hurdles in accessing justice from the stage of filing the complaint to the conclusion of the trial” and that they “specifically suffer on account of procedural lapses in the criminal justice system” (hariram bhambhi v. satyanarayan & anr air 2021 sc 5610). the press report of the hearing (that appeared in the hindustan times delhi edition of 31 october 2021) quoted the bench as saying that due to the fear of retribution from members of upper caste groups, ignorance, or police apathy, many sc/st victims do not register complaints in the first place and even if they do “the victims and witnesses are vulnerable to intimidation, violence, and social and economic boycott” (anand, 2021; jyoti, 2021; bisht, 2020). the bench is reported to have noted that, “this results in low conviction rates under the sc/st act, giving rise to the erroneous perception that cases registered under the act are false and that it is being misused. on the contrary, the reality is that many acquittals are a result of improper investigation and prosecution of crime, leading to insufficient evidence” (anand, 2021; jyoti, 2021; bisht, 2020). indeed, the statistics put out by the ncrb on the conviction rates in sc/st cases bear out these remarks. in 2020, the pendency of trials of offences under the sc and st act was 96.5 per cent (jayati, 2021). only 216 cases from the 50,291 crimes against scs in 2020 resulted in convictions. 3,192 cases resulted in acquittals (jayati, 2021). the above scenario is equally true in cases of communal riots and mass crimes. where the trial is able to be insulated from the local pressures, there is a greater chance of reaching the goal of justice. illustratively, these would include the cases of burning of dalit households in mirchpur village in haryana (where the trial was shifted to delhi) (hindustan times, 2018a; singh, 2018), or mass killings of muslims in hashimpura in up by the pac (again the trial was shifted to delhi) (hindustan times, 2018b) or the case of rape and murder of a bakkerwal girl in kathua in jammu (the trial was shifted to pathankot) (mahapatra, 2018) or the gujarat riot cases (best bakery and bilkis bano cases, both shifted to maharashtra) (press trust of india, 2004). in each of these instances, the trial itself had to be transferred to different states since there was no assured witness protection programme for the marginalised, who became soft targets for intimidation. 430 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 then within the formal legal system there are the problems posed by ‘hidden’ and other ‘costs’ that have to be inevitably borne by recipients of legal aid. here i have the unedifying task of quoting my own work “law, poverty and legal aid: access to criminal justice”: one disincentive for a person to avail of legal aid offered is the problem of uncompensated costs that have to be incurred. legal aid schemes do not account for the ‘hidden’ costs incurred by those brought involuntarily into the system either as victims or as accused. while the legal aid programme may pay for court fees, cost of legal representation, obtaining certified copies and the like, it usually does not account for the bribes paid to the court staff, the extra fees to the legal aid lawyer, the cost of transport to the court, the bribes paid to the policemen for obtaining documents, copies of depositions and the like or to prison officials for small favours. legal aid beneficiaries do not get services for ‘free’ after all. at the end of a long litigation, where the person emerges innocent, he is not awarded the costs of the litigation. thus, the amount of time and money spent on establishing innocence remains unrecoverable and non-compensable. equally it is a loss to the victim of the crime and to the taxpayer whose money has gone into funding the entire prosecution exercise. (muralidhar, 2004) law professor deborah rhodes (2009) in her piece titled “whatever happened to access to justice” has this to say: …not all barriers to justice are in the judicial system; some are part of a larger problem of economic disadvantage (massachusetts: access to justice commission, 2007). many factors affect the justness of the legal process apart from the adequacy of legal assistance: the substance of legal rights and remedies; the structure of legal processes; the attitudes of judges and court personnel; and the resources, expertise, and incentives of the parties (engler, 2006). on almost all of those dimensions, as law professor marc galanter famously put it the “ ‘haves’ come out ahead” (galanter, 1974). studies abroad have shown, and this is true to a large extent in india as well, that there is a parallel system involving the police and the mafia that derives benefits from the activities of criminalizing prostitution, beggary, and other activities of the marginalised (frey, et al., 1981, pp. 239–249). there exists a system of pre-paid legal services for those involved in organized crime rackets and other criminalized activities (campana, 2017). professional criminals are able to engage lawyers and obtain bail for those made to beg by them. they are also able to arrange sureties and professional bonds. in the context of sex work, the recent sanjay leela bhansali film ‘gangubhai kathiawadi’ (bhansali, 2022) starring alia bhat focuses its lens on the nexus between the brothel owners, the political class and the police. this is a vicious quagmire that the marginalised are unable to liberate themselves from. are the alternate dispute resolution (adr) systems within the formal legal systems a solution to the problems of the marginalised? as they presently stand, the appearing in court in india: challenges in representing the marginalised 431 options of mediation and arbitration do not seem to be available to the poorest among the litigants particularly since they find themselves ensnared in the criminal justice processes or face forced evictions, homelessness, displacement, and a myriad issues in confronting the state. they, however, do feature largely in lok adalats with their claims for either motor vehicle or land acquisition compensation and are asked to ‘settle for less’ as it were. legal scholars marc galanter and jayanth krishnan term this phenomenon as ‘bread for the poor’ (galanter & krishnan, 2004, p. 789). the marginalised also feature in ‘jail adalats’ where they have the hobson’s choice of longer periods of incarceration as opposed to admitting to guilt in petty offences for a premature release but with the tag of a ‘previous conviction’ (paliath, 2020; commonwealth human rights initiative, 2009). there do not appear to be dignified spaces rendering complete justice to the marginalised litigants in the adr arena, as yet. that may be an area that needs further exploration. non-formal systems are perhaps the first choice for the rural and urban poor, deterred as they are by the prospect of having to engage with the formal system. but here again while the caste panchayats might offer solution to some civil disputes, it is doubtful that they are truly representative institutions when it comes to some of the critical issues concerning the marginalised (inabanathan & sivanna, 2010). particularly, when it comes to cases of crimes against women, caste-based discrimination and violence, cases of inter-caste runaway couples, the track record of the informal systems has not been encouraging.36 for the marginalised, traversing the legal system whether formal, alternate or non-formal, is a daunting task, full of uncertainties and perils. iii. challenges in representing the marginalised i will now explore what representing the marginalised in courts entails. that takes me to understanding how the ‘bar’ is organised. is the bar democratic? is it a place of ‘equal opportunity’? is it diverse? or does it mirror to a large extent the social and economic inequalities that are ubiquitous in indian society, and home to the biases that plague social life (ahmed & suryam, 2021). the study on “india’s grand advocates” by marc galanter and nick robinson is fairly well known in legal circles (galanter & robinson, 2013). these two legal scholars have stated that “despite repeated inquiries” they could not identify any scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward class advocates, who are regarded as part of the elite strata of lawyers (galanter & robinson, 2013, p. 16). i suspect that the legal service institutions may not be faring any better. do we know how 36in re vs. indian woman says gang-raped on orders of village court published in business & financial news dated 23.01.2014, (2014) 4 scc 786. also note, shakti vahini v union of india (2018) 3 scc 1 , the court issuing directions to state governments and law enforcements in prevent honour killings observed that “once the fundamental right is inherent in a person, the intolerant groups who subscribe to the view of superiority class complex or higher clan cannot scuttle the right of a person by leaning on any kind of philosophy, moral or social, or self-proclaimed elevation” 432 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 many of the legal aid panel advocates are dalits? what percentage of the arbitrators, mediators, counsellors, conciliators do they constitute? the study i referred to, to begin with, on ‘dalit justice defenders in india’ makes an important contribution to our understanding of the lack of diversity in the bar (aba, 2021, p. 12). after conducting interviews with lawyers, former and current judges, academics and others that in the high courts, the study concludes that “the bar is dominated by lawyers of upper castes and well to do families with a network of connections” (aba, 2021, p. 15). some of the respondents admitted that “in lower courts, caste plays a role in getting clients” (aba, 2021, p. 16). one of the conclusions drawn from the interviews conducted was that “structure of the legal profession is based on the ability of an individual to secure references, resources and have a network, all of which are difficult in an environment with caste discrimination.” the study also reveals very tellingly that bar associations have historically been dominated by upper class males (jain & tripathy, 2020, p. 11). the lawyers belonging to marginalized have experienced indirect discrimination, being asked to perform relatively unskilled tasks in law offices. there is also tendency to type-caste lawyers from dalit and other marginal groups. a woman lawyer, who described herself as “the first generation bahujan lawyer” without any caste networks of financial support, found the journey to be a “lonely experience” and found the attitude of senior counsel as patronizing and loaded with notions of charity (jain & tripathy, 2020 p. 21). she was treated as “a token or diversity candidate” and importantly, she stated that “the dignity of being a colleague was missing.” the study found that lawyers belonging to dalit and adivasi communities working on human rights cases risk being labelled as ‘maoist’ or ‘naxalite lawyers’ (jain & tripathy, 2020 p. 21). the same study mentions a positive development that has taken place in the form of the national dalit movement for justice (ndmj) which has brought dalit and adivasi advocates together on a platform for intervening in dalit atrocities cases in court (ndmj, 2020). the ndmj claims to have trained 2000 lawyers across the country so far (ndmj, 2020, p. 22). i am aware that the centre for social justice in ahmedabad too has done considerable work in this area. these are not one-off initiatives. several individual lawyers and smaller groups and organisations are confronting these challenges on a daily basis.37 however, all of this is not yet enough. the legal profession as it is presently structured does not necessarily provide a level playing field to all those entering into the system in various capacities: as a litigant, as a suspect in a criminal case, as a victim of crime, as a person denied justice, as a witness and accused, as a lawyer and even as a judge. the legal profession to a large extent mirrors the inequalities and the biases of the society. the cab rank rule38 by which the legal profession purportedly operates, does not work for those who cannot afford cabs in the first place. the marginalised, to use a 37some of the organisations working on representation of dalit, adivasi and other marginalized communities are all india dalit mahila adhikar manch, human rights law network, all india democratic women association, lawyers collective and project 39a. 38cab rank rule oblige a lawyer to accept any cases appropriate to their experience in the field of practice void of the nature of case, identity of the client or any other factors that might appearing in court in india: challenges in representing the marginalised 433 rough analogy, traverse the legal system by foot or in overcrowded buses or trains, very often at personal risk to their life and safety. the luxurious sedan that charges a higher tariff is largely out of reach, even when infrequently they do get a ‘token’ joy ride. occasionally, you will have a top-notch senior lawyer do a case or two completely pro bono, and with positive outcomes (sharma, 2009; anand, 2019; live law, 2021). but for most other cases in the indian subordinate courts, where the marginalised largely meet their destiny with choice less stoicism, the informal rules by which the bar functions are dictated largely by a supply and demand situation: where competent lawyers are in short supply and therefore, they are in great demand. in almost every rung of the structured hierarchy of the legal profession, more than 80 per cent of the work is controlled by less than 20 per cent of the lawyers who are usually referred to as the ‘active practitioners’ of any bar. these active practitioners would have their own class and caste biases in how they approach cases, in how they prioritise their work and how they treat their clients. more than a century ago, gandhiji commented that the law courts in india are perhaps the most “extravagantly run” (sharma, 2019; gandhi, 1962). he noted that “several thousand rupees had been known to be to have been charged in india. there is something sinful in a system under which it is possible for a lawyer to earn from ̀ 50,000/to ̀ 1,00,000/per month. the legal practice is not – and ought not to be – a speculative business. the best legal minds must be available to the poorest at reasonable rates” (hindustan times, 2018b). in a documentary titled ‘all rise for your honour”, the director sumit khanna depicts the plight of an elderly rural woman trying to get an affidavit that she needs in a civil dispute, signed by her son who is lodged in a jail in varanasi.39 even with the help of the film maker, and all of this on camera, a sum of ̀ 1500/has to be spent just on getting the affidavit attested by a notary magistrate who travels with them to the jail to get the affidavit signed by the prisoner in his presence. all this only to be told later that it was not necessary at all. it is a telling commentary on the way the legal system in the courts is plagued by the ignorance of laws and procedures among lawyers, which works to the disadvantage of those already marginalized. self-representation, i.e. the litigant appearing in person, is not really an effective alternative. they often face the seemingly insurmountable barriers of legalese and court etiquette, which are tools of persuasion cultivated by the bar over the years. on a lighter note, in an episode involving an elderly litigant appearing in person in court, during abstention from work by the bar, the judges interrupt his submissions saying: ‘babuji, aap jo keh rahe hain, ham samajh nahi paa rahen hain. aap vakil rakh lo”. to which the elderly litigant responds: “kamaal hai, samajh aap ko nahi aa rahi hai aur vakil mujhe rakhna hai?” discriminate against the client. this promotes access to justice and interest of the client by providing them an appropriate opportunity to be defended. 39all rise for your honour, pbst india, youtube<https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=wmevno9ssg4> accessed on 20th april 2022 434 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 but occasionally you do have the type of dedicated and conscientious lawyer that we saw naseeruddin shah play in govind nihalani’s ‘aakrosh’,40 rajkumar rao play in hansal mehta’s ‘shahid’,41 and southern star surya play chandru in gnanavel’s ‘jai bhim’.42 the lawyers in those stories are the ones that we must get the young entrants to the bar have as role models. and, among the younger generation of lawyers that i see in courts i do come across one or two that have that potential. such lawyers at present are a small number and in great demand. they too are stretched beyond their resources, and at times this dilutes their efficacy. unfortunately, there is a tendency of late to view appearing for the marginalised as making a political choice. these decisions have the potential of marginalizing those representing the marginalized. they are not the high-flying ambitious career-oriented lawyers. they plug away at cases knowing that the system is weighted against their clients. the lawyer vinay vora (played by actor vivek gomber) in the marathi film ‘court’ by chaitanya tamahane is one such.43 yet, some of them who stand up for ‘unpopular’ causes that don’t meet the approval of the dominant voices in society, face stiff resistance: they face threats to their lives, boycotts and expulsions by the bar associations, and even unwanted intrusions by law enforcement agencies. however, their presence in the court does lend legitimacy to the legal system which is essential for upholding the rule of law. there are also the civil society groups that have for many years been working with the marginalised—with the homeless,44 the sex workers,45 the children in conflict with the law,46 the slum dwellers,47 the rag pickers,48 the manual scavengers49 and sewer cleaners—helping them organise, question state and police excesses, demand protection and enforcement of rights. there are also para legal workers that help the marginalised avoid or exit institutionalisation by their interventions. the system needs all of them for its legitimacy. the marginalised need them for their survival. a larger and less intimidating space has to be provided for these non-state players in the system. 40govind nihalani’s ‘aakrosh (1980) 41hansal mehta’s ‘shahid’ (2012) 42tj gnanavel ‘jai bhim’ (2021) 43chaitanya tamahane ‘court’ (2014) 44some civil society organizations working for the homeless persons include aashray adhikar abhiyan, rainbow homes, butterflies and udayan care. 45some civil society organizations working with the sex workers are durbar mahila samanwaya committee, kat-katha and saheli sangh. 46healing dove foundation supports rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents into the mainstream society. https://healingdovefoundation.org 47some of the civil society organizations supporting slum dwellers are youth for unity and voluntary action (yuva) and humane universal good deeds network. other organizations also include center for sustainable development (nagpur), uday foundation, goonj and give india. 48some of the civil society organizations supporting the rag pickers are arunodhaya, atmashakti trust and toxics link. 49some of the civil society organizations working with manual scavengers-safai karmachari andolan, association for rural and urban needy (arun), sulabh international social service organisation, and jan sahas. appearing in court in india: challenges in representing the marginalised 435 iv. addressing the challenges finally, i come to the question: how do we enable the marginalised to meet the challenges? first, we need to acknowledge that the marginalised largely view the legal system as irrelevant to them as a tool of empowerment and survival. their experience tells them that it operates to oppress, and that they have to devise ways of avoiding it rather than engage with it. without fundamental systemic changes that enable erasing to some extent this negative perception of the legal system, and the legal profession in particular, mere changes in the system of legal services delivery by themselves may not enthuse greater engagement with the system, however promising the results may seem. it is bound to be viewed with suspicion. to begin with we need to revive the discussions around de-criminalising many of the survival activities of the poor including pavement dwelling, encroachment, hawking, begging, sex work. we have to act more on legal institutional reforms. for e.g., finding alternate, less coercive ways of running nariniketans (singh, 2015), observation homes for boys and girls, beggars’ homes instead of modelling them on the penal custodial institutions (aidasani, 2021). prof. deborah rhodes highlights for us the kind of questions we might want to ask in our approach to reforming the legal services delivery system. “should individuals be entitled to assistance on all matters where fundamental rights are at issue, or only where their claims seem meritorious? when should they receive lawyers’ help, and when would other forms of aid be sufficient? how should legal aid providers allocate assistance between individual representation and collective impact work such as lobbying, organizing, and test-case litigation? and most important, how should those decisions be made?” (rhodes, 2004). test-case litigation can be an effective tool for bringing about systemic changes. there are lessons to be learnt from the manner in which the civil rights movement in the usa went about litigating the issues of discrimination. professor charles ogletree’s seminal work titled all deliberate speed (ogletree, jr, 2005) describes in detail how the early work of test-case pioneer prof. charles hamilton houston for the naacp50 to seek parity in payment to white and black teachers in public schools, paved the way for later litigators like thurgood marshall, who went on to become a judge of the supreme court of the usa, to bring forth simultaneously in a range of courts spread across states, cases concerning segregation in public transport, public facilities, universities, schools and so on. brown v. board of education did not happen overnight.51 it was a culmination of many years of patient struggle and perseverance 50national association for advancement of colored people 51brown v. board of education emerged from 5 cases concerning racial segregation in schools in the united states and clubbed as a national issue before the supreme court of the united states in 1952. these 5 cases argued before the representative state court of appeals were belton (bulah) v. gebhart [1952, delaware], bolling v. sharpe [1952, washington d.c], briggs v. elliott [1952, south carolina], davis v. county school board [1952, virginia] and brown v. board of education [1952, kansas]. out of the 5 cases, belton (bulah) case achieved substantial claim for the plaintiffs as it allowed the 11 school children to be admitted to all-white school. 436 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 with conviction and painstaking fact-gathering for presentation in the court. basically, a lot of hard work. and then, there has been a constant struggle to get the tangible results of such test litigation realised in the succeeding years without diluting brown. the follow up order in brown that the us supreme court handed down in september 1955 (brown v. board of education 349 u.s. 294 (1955)), one year after brown, basically permitted the consequential changes of desegregation to be only gradually implemented. it used the phrase ‘with all deliberate speed.’ the nalsa judgment of the supreme court of india (national legal services authority v. union of india &ors air 2014 sc 1863) that recognises the full citizenship and personhood of transgenders is another such test-litigation that is yet to witness the tangible effects on the ground. prof. ogletree himself spent a large part of his early professional life honing his lawyering skills with the public defender service in washington dc. he emphasises that if any system of public defender has to be effective, there can be no compromise on the quality of professional competence of its lawyers (ogletree, jr, 2005, p. 90). in more contemporary times, the pro bono work of lawyer bryan stevenson in the usa, devoting his energies to getting innocent black convicts released from death row is inspiring. in his book, just mercy, bryan tells us how a conscientious lawyer handling cases of the marginalised needs to be emotionally and mentally strong, politically aware, professionally competent and be prepared to take on a hostile system with calm and fortitude (stevenson, 2014). how do we improve the quality of legal services here in india? to begin with, we need to attract the better if not the best available legal talent for legal services. since fees is such an important incentive for a lawyer to take up a case, it is necessary to ensure that the fees paid to the legal aid counsel representing indigent accused, in criminal trials involving grave offences, is the same as is paid to the prosecutor. the fact is that there is no scarcity of financial resources with the legal services authorities. it is the distribution of the resources that needs paying attention to. even if it is a salaried system, the salary must be commensurate with what the lawyers would usually and reasonably charge private clients.52 here we cannot pick the high end of the tariff but the ‘mean’ to ensure that the legal aid lawyer does not lose out for taking up a legal aid case. to expect senior lawyers to take up the cases as ‘pro bono’ would not be doing justice to the clients. they would always be made conscious that they are recipients of ‘charity’ or ‘beneficial treatment’ which does not respect their dignity and enable them to demand accountability from the counsel. for trials involving complex issues and tasks, the services of a combination of a senior and junior lawyer should be able to be offered.53 52national legal services authority (free and competent legal services) regulations, 2010, s. 8(12). the provision mentions minimum honorarium to be paid to retainer lawyers in different legal services committee. further note ‘recommendation of nalsa about minimum fee payable to panel lawyers’, https://nalsa.gov.in/acts-rules/guidelines/minimumfee-recommended-by-nalsa-for-panel-lawyers accessed on 21st april 2022 53justice u.u. lalit interview with hindi hindustan shashi shekhar and shyam suman noted in good quality legal aid possible only if senior lawyers join outreach drive’: sc judge justice uday u lalit, hindustan times (november 14, 2021)https://www.hindustantimes.com/indiaappearing in court in india: challenges in representing the marginalised 437 second, and important, we need to ask how do we orient the lawyer to take up the cases of the marginalized? how do we get the lawyer to understand what it means to be a marginalised person having to navigate an intimidating and alienating legal system? can we get the lawyer to truly understand how the marginalised person feels and thinks? how do we ensure that the legal aid lawyer is thoroughly professional in understanding all the nuances of the law and is able to match the opponent in terms of competency? the legal aid lawyer would do well to remain aware that legal aid is not charity: it is the basic right of the marginalised. the consumers of legal services must be consulted at every stage of the case. they should be patiently listened to. they cannot be made to lose control over their case. they must have a say about the course of action or strategy to adopt. if pleadings are in english, and the client cannot understand that language, it has to be read over and explained in the language that they understand. offering services pro bono or at state expense does not entitle the lawyer to make concessions and statements in court, that do not correctly reflect the client’s position or ends up compromising their position. it could be a political position, it could be a position on facts. at all times, the persons for whom one is representing must be kept in the loop and informed about everything that is happening in the court. nothing must be done in the court without their consent. also, there can be no room for cynicism. if the system appears broken, we are part of it and we need to do our bit to fix it. when the marginalised still have hopes of the system, lawyers who care can hardly afford to give up hope. last, to increase representation of the underprivileged and marginalized in the legal profession one has to begin early. one has to begin with law colleges. initiatives like idia (increasing diversity by increasing awareness),54 the brainchild of late prof. shamnad basheer, are indeed welcome. the presence of the underprivileged in law colleges is by itself not enough. they need to be handheld through the law course and thereafter till they are placed with seasoned lawyers or law firms.55 the bar council and bar associations need to emulate the idia model on a larger scale. there has to be mentoring of young lawyers belonging to marginalised groups by the more seasoned lawyers. the bar council of india can float a scheme offering stipends to promising young lawyers for the first two years of such mentorships, to help them find their feet in the profession. there is much to be done. and it needs to be done now. we have the resources. we must find the will. news/justice-u-u-lalit-interview-good-quality-legal-aid-possible-only-if-senior-lawyers-joinoutreach-drive-101636828193113.html accessed on 21st april 2022 54‘increasing diversity by increasing access’, https://www.idialaw.org accessed on 19th april 2022 55increasing diversity by increasing access offers mentorship opportunities to underprivileged law students and trains them with soft skills and access to internship opportunities, https:// www.idialaw.org/idia-programs/ accessed on 21st april 2022 438 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 acknowledgement the author acknowledges mohd. arsalan ahmed, aligarh muslim university for his assistance in editing the article in the format required by the caste: a global journal on social exclusion. the editors of caste: a global journal on social exclusion gratefully acknowledge the editing assistance of prof. anurag bhaskar at jindal global law school, sonipat, and disha wadekar, independent advocate practicing in the supreme court of india. references -(2020a). table 1a.4, ipc crimes (crime head-wise & state/ut-wise) crime in india report (p. 34) 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(june 2002). working paper number 86, a note on destitution. http://workingpapers.qeh.ox.ac.uk/repec/qeh/qehwps/qehwps86.pdf retrieved on 19 april 2022. © 2023 yuvraj singh. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 54–74 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.411 the exclusion of bahujan schoolchildren: an anti-caste critique of the national education policy 2020, india yuvraj singh1 abstract this article explores the link between education policy and the social reproduction of caste, with a special focus on the national education policy 2020 (nep 2020). it traces the shape of exclusion that bahujan schoolchildren experience in the indian school system by attempting to analyse, and build a coherent understanding of, caste-based exclusion in the sphere of school education. the article is organised in two parts, both of which use the nep 2020 as an anchor to study the nature of educational inequality. the first part maps the outer contours of educational inequality, engaging with the issue of unequal access to schooling. the inner contours of educational inequality, that is, the internal processes of schooling that engender exclusion, are examined subsequently. at the kernel of this study is the complex relationship between education and power. in essence, the present article delineates the myriad ways through which the nep 2020 contributes to the processes of social reproduction, particularly the mechanisms through which it conduces to the hegemony of historically privileged caste groups in the society. keywords education, caste, nep 2020, exclusion, bahujan, educational inequality, caste and education, ambedkar, phule, schooling, school education, social reproduction introduction in 1882, jotirao phule addressed the hunter commission (formally, the indian education commission), airing the concern that the (british) government’s education policies served the wellbeing of ‘brahmins and the higher classes only’ and left ‘the masses wallowing in ignorance and poverty’ (deshpande, 2002, p. 103). this article, 1independent researcher e-mail: ysingh.work@gmail.com the exclusion of bahujan schoolchildren 55 focusing on the national education policy 2020 (henceforth nep 2020),1 argues that the situation today, after more than 140 years of phule’s submission, remains all but unchanged. the ‘masses’ that phule referred to were the shudras and ati-shudras—the working, labour castes and ex-untouchables. social scientist kancha ilaiah shepherd (2019) uses the term ‘dalitbahujan’ to represent the masses—the ‘people and castes who form the exploited and suppressed majority.’ for the purpose of this article, however, i’m using the term ‘bahujan’ in lieu of ‘dalitbahujan’ to denote the masses. more specifically, i’m using bahujan as an umbrella term representing the scheduled castes (scs), scheduled tribes (sts), and other backward classes (obcs) cutting across religion, ethnicities and geographies, as well as denotified tribes (dnts), nomadic tribes (nts) and seminomadic tribes (snts).2 while a growing body of scholarship has accentuated higher education institutions as sites of exclusion for marginalised castes (see: subramanian, 2019; sukumar, 2023), there has been relatively less emphasis on school education. the focus of this article, therefore, is on examining the ways in which schools in india become spaces of social and educational exclusion for students belonging to historically marginalised castes. in and through this examination, the article also seeks to delineate the relationship between the nep 2020 and the persistence of caste. why does school education in india continue to be plagued by caste-based inequality? this article, situated at the intersection of scholarship on sociology of education and anticaste theory, and drawing from a range of secondary data such as autobiographical narratives of bahujan authors, quantitative data from multiple surveys, and findings from independent and institutional studies, aims to illuminate the continued exclusion of bahujan children in the indian school system. the theoretical underpinning of this article is derived from an ambedkarite framework, to which the philosophy and scholarship of b.r. ambedkar are foundational. further, the ideas of antonio gramsci on education, which strongly resonate with ambedkar’s views (paik, 2014), form the theoretical bedrock of this article. importantly, the ideas of jotirao phule on education also inform this article. linking phule, ambedkar, and gramsci is particularly relevant here because of their shared interest in the ‘interlinkage between political hegemony and pedagogic practices’ (ibid., p. 77). further, i use the gramscian concept of hegemony within the broader ambedkarite framework, as ambedkar and gramsci are both ‘subversive,’ and ‘ambedkar and his own caste background do not sabotage gramscian categories.’ (guru, 2013, p. 90). i also bring theoretical insights from critical educational 1for all references to the nep 2020, see ministry of human resource development. (2020). national education policy 2020. government of india, https://www.education.gov.in/sites/ upload_files/mhrd/files/nep_final_english_0.pdf 2the limitation of this article is that it doesn’t address the graded inequality within bahujans. i don’t recognise bahujan as a monolithic category in itself, as scs and sts continue to face discrimination and violence at the hands of the dominant obcs. 56 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 theorists, particularly henry a. giroux and michael w. apple, which are valuable in understanding the interconnections between education, hegemony, and resistance. this article is structured in two parts. the first part examines the exteriority of educational inequality by exploring the surface of what constitutes educational exclusion. in other words, what impedes bahujan children from getting an education in the first place? in this part, i present a panoramic view of exclusion by looking at the taxonomies of schools and uncovering what i call the ‘chaturvarna school system.’ i use the term chaturvarna school system to signify the existing school system wherein children from marginalised castes are accommodated in the bottom tiers of schooling. in the second part, the article shifts gear and studies the interiority of educational inequality, that is, the exclusion exercised through curricula, pedagogies, classroom processes and the quotidian life of the school. drawing theoretical insights from ambedkar, i conceptualise the ‘pedagogies of brahminism,’ which refers to the pedagogies that suppress bahujan students. an important dimension of this article is to examine the role of the state in the reproductive functions of education. the state in this article is not regarded as a fixed object or a thing. rather, it is seen as a constantly evolving entity that is always in the process of formation, shaping and being shaped by multiple forces (apple, 2003; gramsci, 1971). it is helpful, amidst this constant movement, to use education policy as an anchor for understanding the role of state intervention in reproductive functions of education. the nep 2020, therefore, emerges as an important apparatus in this article to see the relationship between the state and schooling. in both parts of the article, i critically decode the restructuring of the education landscape stipulated by the nep 2020 to argue that it consolidates the existing systemic inequalities that disproportionately affect the most vulnerable children. the article concludes by highlighting the urgent need of examining caste-based exclusions in schooling in order to devise effective anticaste interventions that can challenge upper-caste dominance. through this work i hope to articulate the complex dynamic between education and power, add my voice to the phule-ambedkarite cause of de-brahminising education, and strive towards the aim of abolishing caste-based exclusion in schools. the exteriority of educational inequality schools in india are part of a complex, hierarchical and multi-layered school system. the structural hierarchy of the indian school system has been accentuated by several scholars. in a broad classification, mehendale & mukopadhyay (2019) recognise six types of schools in india: (i) government-funded and government-managed ‘open to all’ schools, run by local authorities and funded by state government; (ii) governmentfunded and government-managed ‘specified schools,’ run by central state government for a certain target population; (iii) government-funded and privately-managed schools such as grant-in-aid schools, bridge schools, special schools; (iv) privatelyfunded and privately-managed ‘secular’ schools—a diverse set of schools, ranging from elite high-fee-paying schools to low-fee-paying schools; (v) privately-funded the exclusion of bahujan schoolchildren 57 and privately-managed ‘minority’ schools—religious and linguistic minority schools; (vi) privately-funded and privately-managed school for ‘specified’ groups—schools for children with disabilities, schools run by non-governmental organisations for disadvantaged children, etc. social anthropologist a.r. vasavi identifies as many as nine layers of schools: [t]here are in reality nine types of schools which vary by the cost of schooling, medium of instruction, type of board exams, and management structure. these include (i) ashramshalas (for adivasi/tribal regions); (ii) state-run government schools (including municipal, corporation and panchayat schools); (iii) stateaided but privately managed schools; (iv) centrally aided special schools such as the kendriya vidyalayas, navodaya vidyalayas and “military schools”; (v) low-fee paying, state-syllabus private schools; (vi) expensive private schools including the “public school” chains; (vii) religious schools (pathshalas and madrassas run by religious institutions and trusts); (viii) alternative schools run by independent or non-profit organisations; and (ix) international schools (vasavi, 2019, p. 2). however, this official classification does not illuminate the ways that schools are class-and-caste stratified. therefore, a much broader classification, but a more useful one for the purpose of this article, is done by velaskar (1990) and nawani (2018), in which they categorise schools into four echelons: (i) elite, unaided private schools, often having affiliation with international curriculum, populated by children coming from the affluent families; (ii) government central schools and the good quality private aided/unaided schools; (iii) private aided/unaided schools of average quality; (iv) regional government/local body schools and the low budget private schools, which cater to the poorer sections of the society. in this classification, the resemblance between the school system and the varna system becomes discernible (nawani, 2018). just like thousands of castes and subcastes fall into four varnas (brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra), the schools in india can be seen to be falling into the aforementioned four echelons. in other words, schools in india can be seen as a part of a four-tiered school system, akin to the chaturvarna structure. these schools differ from each other on several parameters. in the upper echelons, schools are generally better equipped with resources to foster students’ learning. in effect, the quality of education one has access to is contingent on their milieu, that is, while the schoolchildren coming from economically disadvantaged backgrounds receive poor quality education, their counterparts from privileged backgrounds get the best. it is of important here to think about the intersection of class and caste, for caste ‘has historically shaped the very basis of indian society and continues to have crucial economic implications even today’ (omvedt, 1982, p. 14). in an analysis of ‘caste composition of classes,’ madan observes that caste ‘clearly continues to have an impact upon who is the most wealthy and powerful in this country,’ and ‘seems to have 58 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 a substantial impact even upon who is at the bottom of the class structure’ (2020, p. 42). that only 22.3 per cent of the country’s ‘high caste hindus’ own 41 per cent of the country’s total wealth (tagade et al., 2018) substantiates it. in this light, it would not be an overstatement to say that bahujan children, by and large, populate the schools falling in the lower echelons, thereby receiving poor quality education. this is what i refer to as the ‘chaturvarna school system’—a school system in which the students from marginalised castes are accommodated in the lower echelons of schools. dalits,3 as avarna castes, are outside the chaturvarna structure, which means that dalit children are, predominantly, either accommodated at the bottom of the chaturvarna school system or kept out of it altogether. this is corroborated by a survey conducted by social & rural research institute in 2014, which illuminates that nearly one-third (32.42 per cent) of the 6 million out-of-school children in india are dalits (see table 1). the chaturvarna school system, in and of itself, promotes children well-endowed with caste capital, ‘favouring the most favoured and disfavouring the most disfavoured’ (bourdieu, 2008, p. 36). the upshot of this is that those students who are already at the margins are segregated even before they enter the school-gate. it is not surprising, then, that sc, st and obc children have the highest out-of-school percentage. table 1: social group wise out-of-school-children in the age group 6-13 social group total no. of children (age 6-13) out of school children percentage sc 60772699 1966027 3.24 st 23991282 1007562 4.2 obc 71899270 2206001 3.07 others 47424023 884639 1.87 all 204087274 6064229 2.97 source: national sample survey of estimation of out-of-school children in the age 6-13 in india, social and rural research institute (2014) another aspect of the chaturvarna school system is that it reflects not only in the children that are out of the school system but also those who are pushed out of it. an analysis of u-dise 2016-17 data done by rte forum4 reveals that the dropout rates of sc, st and obc children are much higher compared to the ‘general’ category children in the primary and upper primary levels (see figure 1). it is also important to note that muslim students also have significantly high dropout rates of 7 per cent in the primary level and 10.11 per cent in the upper primary level. azam (2020) has pointed 3the term ‘dalit’ in this article has been used in line with its usage in the popular discourse, to refer to former ‘untouchable’ caste groups, which the indian constitution recognises as ‘scheduled castes.’ 4right to education forum. (2018). status of implementation of the right of children to free & compulsory education act, 2009 (2017-18). retrieved last on may 5, 2023, https://www. careindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/status%20report18.pdf the exclusion of bahujan schoolchildren 59 out that educational exclusion of muslim students cannot be solely attributed to rising communalism, as caste also plays a critical role in it. figure 1: average annual dropout rate 2016-17 source: status of implementation of the right of children to free & compulsory education act, 2009, right to education forum (2018) in the sections to follow, i will expound on how the nep 2020 mandates the chaturvarna school system, as well as some other aspects of the policy that render the access to schooling unequal. disregarding the common school system one of the proposed solutions to the problem of unequal access is the common school system (henceforth css). first conceptualised by american educator horace mann in 1830s, common schools were supposed to be tax-funded public schools, attended by all children in the neighbourhood regardless of their social backgrounds (maniar, 2019). in india, it was under the education commission 1964–1966 (also: kothari commission) that the idea of establishing a css was formally proposed for the first time. the commission, taking note of the differentiation in the education system, observed that there is a ‘segregation in education itself – the minority of private, fee-charging, better schools meeting the needs of the upper classes and the vast bulk of free, publicly maintained, but poor schools being utilized by the rest’ (ncert, 1970, p. 14). to address this problem, the commission envisaged common schools ‘which will be open to all children, irrespective of caste, creed, community, religion, economic conditions or social status’ (ibid., p. 15), with the aim of bringing ‘the different social classes and groups together and thus promote the emergence of an egalitarian and integrated society’ (ibid., p. 14). as opposed to a uniform school system, the commission envisaged css as a system where every school is ‘intimately involved with its local community’ and ‘regarded as an individuality and given adequate freedom’ (ibid., p. 463). 60 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 subsequent to the kothari commission, both national policy on education 1968 and national policy on education 1986 upheld the idea of css. however, owing to various reasons, its implementation remained a failure. now, coming after a gap of 34 years, the nep 2020 has entirely abandoned the idea of css, exacerbating the differential arrangement of schooling. that schools are instrumental in structuring human societies is a long-standing idea in the field of sociology of education. they mould children, weave the fabric of future and shape the collective ethos of communities. a segregated school system, therefore, reproduces segregation in the society at large. it was for this precise reason that both ambedkar and gramsci, albeit in different social contexts, emphasised the significance of common schools for all students as a means of challenging social hierarchy (paik, 2014). by eschewing the idea of css, then, the nep 2020 sanctions the reproduction caste-based segregation, and caste, in the society. neoliberal shifts against constitutional vision of education jotirao phule was a proponent of free public education. in the memorial addressed to the hunter commission, he mentioned that ‘the entire educational machinery’ must be handled by the government and that both ‘higher and primary education require all the fostering care and attention which government can bestow on it’ (deshpande, 2002, p. 110). dr. ambedkar, much like phule, was in favour of state-funded education. knowing that most children from historically disadvantaged castes wouldn’t have the means to study if education was not incentivised by the state, he resisted the commercialisation of education: ‘[t]he education department is not a department which can be treated on the basis of quid pro quo. education ought to be cheapened in all possible ways and to the greatest possible extent’ (ambedkar, 2019b, pp. 40– 41). during the framing of the indian constitution, ambedkar played an instrumental role in the inclusion of article 45, which directed the indian state to provide free and compulsory education to all children until the age of 14 years. over the decades, however, india has seen the commercialisation of education that ambedkar was wary of. it was the national policy on education 1986 that heralded a shift in favour of privatisation, reducing the role of state in the provision of public education. a more drastic change in the school-education landscape happened in 1991, when the economic reforms in conformity with international monetary fund (imf) and world bank ushered in the neoliberal restructuring of education. the state was obliged to begin structural adjustment programs (saps), reduce the expenditure on education, allowing the market a greater degree of freedom to intervene in the sector. subsequently, world bank-sponsored projects—beginning with district primary education program (dpep) in 1994 and followed by sarva shiksha abhiyan (ssa) in 2000 —dismantled the public education system. these reforms led to the state’s abdication of its constitutional responsibility of providing free education of equitable quality to all children, mushrooming of low-cost private schools across the country and further layering of the school system. consequently, marginalised caste schoolchildren, largely dependent on state-funded schools, were excluded from the exclusion of bahujan schoolchildren 61 education. this neoliberal shift in education is mirrored in other sectors, such as housing and healthcare, where market-based approaches have heightened and capitalised upon brahminical legacies to further exclude bahujans from essential services. from 2005 onwards, the annual status of education reports (aser) began highlighting the poor literacy and numeracy skills of students, particularly in government schools, consolidating the dichotomy between public and private school performances and ‘further supporting the political economy of privatisation’ (raina, 2020a, p. 3). following this, the eleventh five-year plan (2007–2012) proposed the engagement of the indian state with the corporate sector for the delivery of social services, highlighting public private partnership (henceforth ppp) as an important strategy for the development of education (tilak, 2016). in 2009, enactment of the right of children to free and compulsory education (rte) act was met with contestations on several grounds, such as excluding children between the ages of 0-6 and 14-18 years from its ambit, weakening the civil society movement for a css and legitimising the existing multi-layered school system (see sadgopal, 2010; teltumbde, 2012). since 2016, five major policy documents have come out, forming the base work of nep 2020 (raina, 2020b), namely (i) the subramanian committee’s report, npe 2016; (ii) its companion text, draft nep 2016; (iii) niti aayog’s ‘three year action agenda,’ 2017; (iv) the kasturirangan committee’s report, draft nep 2019 and; (v) niti aayog’s ‘the success of schools: school education quality index,’ 2019. all these antecedents of the nep 2020, raina asserts, advocated the amplification of neoliberalisation of school education. in 2020, world bank’s 5718 crore project— strengthening teachinglearning and results for states (stars) got the union government’s approval. it is currently being implemented in six states across india under the samagra shiksha scheme. the project, unsurprisingly, envisions a greater role of non-state private entities in the education sector. it is in this context that the nep 2020 has come out, bulldozing the ground to make way for private entities. veiling the word ‘private’ under the guise of expressions ‘public-spirited private’ and ‘philanthropic private,’ the policy advocates the privatisation of school education. the first expression—‘public-spirited private’—is baffling. it appears as though the policy is imagining a private enterprise that places public interests before its own—a highly unlikely scenario. the second expression— ‘philanthropic private’—has connotations of philanthrocapitalism. thorup (2013) explains that one of the key tenets underpinning philanthrocapitalism is that there is no conflict between the market and the common good. he notes that philanthrocapitalism as a phenomenon expresses the idea that capitalism is the solution (read: not cause) to the existing problems and propounds that the market should be extended to the hitherto state-run services. this aligns with a neoliberal vision of education, that is, market should administer the provisioning of education (tooley, 2000). it appears, then, that the policy’s mandate that ‘the private/philanthropic school sector must also be encouraged and enabled to play a significant and beneficial role’ (nep 2020, 8.4) and its call ‘for the rejuvenation, active promotion, and support for private philanthropic activity in the education sector’ (nep 2020, 26.6) are in line with the 62 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 ethos of philantrocapitalism. in a similar vein, the policy uses ‘public philanthropic partnerships’ as a euphemism for ppp. this is to avoid the flak that ppp has received for being an incompatible partnership between the weak state and the powerful private sector, which ‘often end(s) in favour of privatisation of education’ (tilak, 2016, p. 8). this policy-led, unprecedented espousal of privatisation of school education is antithetical to the indian constitution, which envisioned education as a public good as opposed to a private commodity. online education and unequal access the covid-19 pandemic-induced proliferation of digital education has cast light on the massive existing digital divide between the haves and have-nots in india. access to online education is a significant problem, especially for students from marginalised sections residing in rural parts of the country with limited or no access to internet. several studies have shown that the access to digital infrastructure is inversely proportional to the socio-economic disadvantage. an analysis of nsso data reveals that only 4 per cent of sc and st students and 7 per cent obc students have access to computer with internet (reddy et al., 2020). the massive disparity in resources— electricity, internet, smartphones, computers, study-space, etc.—means that the virtual classrooms alienate bahujan students from education. this has been substantiated by a survey-based report (scholarz, 2021), which showed that sc and st children were the most affected during the course of school closure owing to the pandemic. according to the report, only 4 per cent of rural sc/st children were studying online regularly, as opposed to 15 per cent among other rural children. notwithstanding, the nep 2020 lays a great emphasis on the promotion of online education. although it mentions that the digital divide must be addressed, it ‘appears to place the onus of ensuring digital access on the household rather than the state’ (taneja, 2021). the interiority of educational inequality so far, i’ve focused on exclusions that children face before entering the school. here i want to shift the attention to the deeply violent spaces inside the school. giroux (2016) refers to the ‘pedagogies of repression’ as pedagogies that obscure the role that education plays in distorting history, silencing the voices of the marginalised and thwarting the relationship between learning and social change. it is crucial to recalibrate our understanding of pedagogy as a repressive tool in the indian context, where caste is omnipresent. drawing on giroux’s insights, and ambedkar’s understanding of brahminism, i use the term ‘pedagogies of brahminism’ (pob) to interpret the repressive functions of pedagogy in relation to the marginalised majority (bahujans) in india. ambedkar contended that brahminism is a socio-political ideology that negates the spirit of liberty, equality and fraternity.5 in this regard, caste is ‘nothing but brahminism incarnate’ (ambedkar, 2019a, p. 77). in a society where caste is the 5presidential address by dr. babasaheb ambedkar at the g.i.p railways depressed caste workers’ conference, nashik, 1938. the exclusion of bahujan schoolchildren 63 primary determinant of life and death, pob relates to the pedagogies that reinforce systems of domination, generate conditions of social reproduction of caste and caste-based inequalities and, ultimately, supress bahujan students. accounts in dalit literature have explicitly illuminated the overt discrimination (punitive measures, corporal punishment, verbal abuse, humiliation and segregation, etc.) that dalit children are subject to in schools (see: ambedkar, 2019c; kamble 2018; pawar, 2013; pawar 2015; valmiki, 2003). several independent and institutional studies have also repeatedly highlighted the overt forms of discrimination against bahujan children (see: balagopalan and subramanian, 2005; centre for equity studies, 2014; nambissan, 2009). this overt discrimination is the most visible part of the pob, forming up its surface. here, i would attempt to cast light on the hidden, subterranean parts of the pob. phule reimagined education as a trutiya ratna (third eye or third jewel), which enables the oppressed to understand their oppression, critically engage with the world and strive for liberation. phule’s vision of education as an instrument of emancipation finds resonance throughout the twentieth century in the works of ambedkar, gramsci and freire (paik, 2014). ambedkar, for instance, identified education as a liberating force that could stimulate the transformation within and empower the marginalised to fight against the pro-caste brahmin orthodoxy. the sequence of words in his famous slogan ‘educate, agitate, organise’ is indicative of the transformative character of education. for gramsci, too, education was vital for subaltern groups to develop selfconsciousness about their active role within the society. brazilian educator paulo freire was strongly influenced by gramsci (mayo, 2015; paik, 2014). despite having some contrasting views, gramsci and freire share important connections, as they ‘both regarded education as political’ (mayo, 2015, p. 128), and maintained that it provides the oppressed the conditions for self-reflection, and overcoming their oppression. freire’s work has been influential in shaping critical pedagogy, which stresses upon the impossibility of a supposed ‘neutrality’ of education (apple, 2012; freire, 1970; giroux, 2011; hooks, 1994). the notion that education is ideologically neutral not only allows the power to become invisible, thereby safeguarding the existing power dynamic, but also treats the viewpoint of the dominant as the unstated and undisputed normative centre. critical pedagogy puts forth the idea that education doesn’t exist in a vacuum, isolated from politics and power, that ‘it is intimately connected to multiple relations of exploitation, domination, and subordination—and very importantly to struggles to deconstruct and reconstruct these relations’ (apple, 2013, p. 23). i want to use the inextricability of education and power as an entry point onto the terrain of the politics of knowledge. the examination of the politics of knowledge is a crucial way of understanding the relationship between education and power (apple, 2003), for it offers us important questions—such as: ‘whose knowledge is of most worth?’ (ibid., p. 7)—that are closely connected with the exercise of hegemony by dominant groups. gramsci proposed a dialectical formulation of hegemony as a dynamic confluence of coercion and consent. he referred to hegemony as the ability of dominant groups 64 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 to establish the ‘common sense’ of society by gaining the consent of the weaker sections (gramsci, 1971). to put it differently, hegemony, in gramsci’s terms, means the diffusion throughout society of an entire consciousness that supports the interests of dominant classes, which, in a caste society, is brahminical consciousness. the production of hegemony is not a natural occurrence; it requires deliberate efforts in specific sites such as the family, workplace, and the school (apple, 2012, p. 16). gramsci’s succinct insight that ‘[e]very relation of “hegemony” is necessarily an educational relationship,’ (1971, p. 350) suggests that education, in its broadest sense, is central to the functioning of hegemony. in the following sections, i will unpack the role of internal mechanisms of schooling in reproducing upper-caste hegemony in cultural and economic spheres. here, too, i will look at the nep 2020 to show how it reinforces the pob, and perpetuates the processes of cultural and economic reproduction. cultural reproduction the perspective that schools function as important social sites for the perpetuation of ideological hegemony of the powerful groups by validating and reproducing their culture and forms of knowledge emerges strongly from the work of french sociologist pierre bourdieu. bourdieu (1986) refers to ‘embodied cultural capital’ as those snowballed effects of family and class history that become an innate part of the person. in the indian setting, caste becomes a significant contributor to the embodied cultural capital. drawing from experience, kancha ilaiah shepherd elaborates on how schools play a particularly crucial role in transmitting the brahminical culture: ‘[i]f our culture was dalitbahujan, the culture of the school was hindu’ (shepherd, 2019, p. 14) and ‘[d]alitbahujan life figured nowhere in the curriculum. we had been excluded from history. in fact, it appeared that our history was no history at all’ (shepherd, 2019, p. 54). he further notes that the language and morality of the school-textbooks have no connection with the lived reality of the marginalised majority. there is a dearth of studies in india that have analysed the school curriculum with respect to caste. pioneer work done in this direction was done by kumar (1983), wherein he drew a similar conclusion, describing the school curriculum as ‘a means of subtle control’ (p. 1571), which serves to assist sc and st children in internalising the symbols of ‘backwardness.’ more recently, in an analysis of odia school textbooks, nayak and surendran (2021) identified seven types of caste bias, with ‘invisibility’ bias being the most prominent. they infer that ‘textbooks strengthen and reinforce the already existing caste-based prejudices’ and normalise the ‘upper-caste way of life as not only dominant but also desirable’ (p. 329). the covert ways in which the pob operate is also reflected in the quotidian life of the school: the practice of brahminical rituals during morning assembly (for example: saraswati vandana), or the denial of eggs in mid-day-meal, which is rooted in casteism (karpagam & joshi, 2022) and so on. schools validate certain forms of knowledge, ways of speaking and conducting oneself, values, dispositions, mannerisms and customs that are inherent in someone born and brought up in an upperthe exclusion of bahujan schoolchildren 65 caste household. the pob alienate bahujan children from their cultures, invalidate the knowledge forms of their communities, and actively encourage a sense of inferiority in their psyche. economic reproduction in the 1970s, the idea that schools in a capitalist society function to reproduce the class structure came to be widely accepted (see: bowles & gintis, 1976; willis, 1977). althusser (1970) contested that schools serve as important sites in the reproduction of capitalist relations of production. according to him, schools, as ‘ideological state apparatuses,’ not only performed the reproduction of the skills and rules of labour power but also the reproduction of the relations of production. bowles (1971) termed it ‘unequal education’—an education system that serves to reproduce the social division of labour. in the indian context, ambedkar’s insightful observation that caste system is not merely a ‘division of labour’ but also a ‘division of labourers’ (2019a, p. 47) tells us that a school system entrenched in the practice of caste would reproduce casteordained division of labour. the pob would instil in students the temperament that reproduces the class divide between dominant and marginalised castes. moreover, schools in the upper echelons serve as avenues that lead to the best colleges and thereon to elite occupations (velaskar, 1990). students stuck at the bottom of the chaturvarna school system are not able to experience education as something that can lead them to well-paying jobs. both exteriority and interiority of educational inequality (factors such as: unequal access, poor quality of public education, pob) coalesce to legitimise the restriction of bahujan students to the lower rungs of economic ladder. in the next section, i further explore the ways in which the nep 2020 sanctions cultural and economic reproduction. nep 2020 and bahujan exclusion at its onset, the nep 2020 states that ‘[t]he rich heritage of ancient and eternal indian knowledge and thought has been a guiding light for this policy’ (p. 4). this is a particularly anti-bahujan credo, considering the fact that in the ancient india, shudras and ati-shudras were forbidden from the pursuit of education. the injunctions of the ancient hindu code manusmriti (or the laws of manu) denied education and agency to women too, which brings us to the intersection of caste and patriarchy. in a brahminical society, structures of caste and gender are intensely interlinked—those who are at the intersections of marginalised caste identities as well as marginalised gender identities face discrimination on both these accounts. a recent study conducted in four south indian states showed that dalit transgender persons are subject to most amount of violence in the schools (centre for law and policy research, 2019). looking from the lens of intersectionality, therefore, the aforementioned credo of the policy appears particularly rooted in brahminical patriarchy, therefore particularly discriminatory against bahujan women, against, in fact, all identities at the intersection of marginalised castes and genders. 66 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 absences to understand how the nep 2020, as a guiding document that determines the school curriculum, contributes to the processes of cultural reproduction, it is useful to study what is absent in the policy. to begin with, the word ‘caste’ does not find any space in the nep 2020, apart from inevitable references to term ‘scheduled castes.’ another troubling absence is of the word ‘reservations’ and/or ‘affirmative action.’ these absences reveal the deliberate attempt to present the education ecosystem in india as casteless, notwithstanding the fact that caste is a damaging condition and caste-based discrimination in schools and universities is an everyday reality for bahujan students. to understand why caste as a damaging condition does not figure as a problem in the policy, edelman’s insights are imperative. he explains that the ‘problems come into discourse and therefore into existence as a reinforcement of ideologies, not simply because they are there’ (1988, p. 12). such absences occur, in part, because powerful groups resist the ‘consideration of practices from which those groups benefit’ (edelman, 1988, p. 13). these absences, or deliberate erasures, suggest that the policy devaluates the experiences of bahujan students, thereby approving of the existing caste-based inequalities. in effect, it not only hinders any resistance to the caste system that may arise but also justifies its acceptance. another aspect is the absence of bahujan lives and history in the school curriculum, which has been an unvarying characteristic of education in india (nayak & surendran, 2019; shepherd, 2019; valmiki, 2003; xaxa, 2011). the nep 2020 worsens this exclusion by erasing the contribution of bahujan scholars: the indian education system produced great scholars such as charaka, susruta, aryabhata, varahamihira, bhaskaracharya, brahmagupta, chanakya, chakrapani datta, madhava, panini, patanjali, nagarjuna, gautama, pingala, sankardev, maitreyi, gargi and thiruvalluvar, among numerous others, who made seminal contributions to world knowledge in diverse fields such as mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy, medical science and surgery, civil engineering, architecture, shipbuilding and navigation, yoga, fine arts, chess, and more (nep 2020, p. 4). all the aforementioned scholars are a part of the brahminical tradition/knowledge structure. the contributions of anticaste reformers such as savitribai and jotirao phule, dr. b.r. ambedkar and ‘periyar’ e.v. ramasamy (to name a few) are ignored by the policy document (sadgopal, 2020). needless to say, these absences in the policy manifest in the school curriculum: most schools in india do not teach anticaste thinkers. further, the epistemic contributions of tribal communities to agriculture, forestry, and natural resource management also remain unrecognised (ibid). menon (2020) points out that gautama (buddha) is mentioned as a scholar produced by the indian education system, not as the pioneer of a religious movement that challenged the hierarchical, caste-ridden hinduism. the exclusion of bahujan schoolchildren 67 hidden curriculum and the reinforcement of caste laws another prominent absence in the policy is of hidden curriculum. the concept of hidden curriculum is not new. it refers to, ‘the norms and values that are implicitly, but effectively, taught in schools and that are not usually talked about in teachers’ statements of ends or goals’ (apple, 2019, pp. 86-87). hidden curriculum propounds a network of tacit rules that establishes what is legitimate and what is illegitimate. children learn more from various social encounters in the classrooms than from the everyday formal teaching, and so more than official/formal curriculum it is the hidden curriculum that determines what students learn in schools (giroux, 1978). more often than not, the hidden curriculum operates in ways that reify the dominant culture. in the context of capitalist societies, for example, bowles and gintis (1976) propose that the norms, values and skills that get transmitted through hidden curriculum characterise the relations of class interaction under capitalism. the indian society, on the other hand, is marked by the ubiquity of caste: ‘turn in any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path’ (ambedkar, 2019a, p. 47). the social dynamics of the daily classroom interactions, then, is also underpinned by caste-laws. consequently, hidden curriculum in the indian classrooms plays a key part in reproduction of social relationships that are based on caste-laws, and, in turn, upholding the institution of caste. the hidden curriculum is a function of the personal position of the teacher (singh, 2021). because the dominant culture in india is informed by the notions of brahminism, teachers become the primary actors in reinforcing the brahminical ideology in the classrooms through the hidden curriculum. given this context, it is imperative that the teachers be sensitised on the subject of caste and asked to introspect their individual caste locations. at present, however, no anticaste teacher training program exists in india, and the nep 2020 fails in acknowledging the presence of hidden curriculum, let alone proposing a caste sensitisation program for teachers. the legitimisation of caste-based vocation to understand how the nep 2020 contributes to the processes of economic reproduction, it is worthwhile to revisit the recent amendments in the child labour laws. the child labour (prohibition and regulation) amendment act, 2016 (clpra act) stipulates that a child is allowed to work if they are helping their family or family enterprise after school hours or during vacations. the act defines family as the child’s ‘mother, father, brother, sister and father’s sister and brother and mother’s sister and brother,’ and family enterprise as ‘any work, profession, manufacture or business which is performed by the members of the family with the engagement of other persons’ (ministry of law and justice, 2016). these definitions open up a slew of possibilities of child labour to flourish, allowing the child to work in settings that any of their family members own, or where any of their family members are employed (ganotra, 2016). given that children coming from socio-economically disadvantaged families (often trapped in 68 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 intergenerational debt bondage) work with the consent of family members, allowing children to work in ‘family enterprise’ is tantamount to legalising child labour. it is also heavily linked with caste system and the perpetuation of caste system, for it forces upon oppressed caste children their traditional (read: caste-based) family occupations. bahujan children, accounting for the largest section of child labourers in india, are the most affected by it, goaded into exploitative labour. the act also allows adolescents (those between 15-18 years of age) to work in non-hazardous activities, and substantially reduces the occupations coming under the ambit of hazardous occupations (ganorta, 2016; mander, 2016). in consequence, it opens up a plethora of settings for adolescents to work, endangering their lives. these amendments in child labour laws are compounded by the espousal of vocational education by the nep 2020. asserting that there is ‘no hard separation’ between academic and vocational education, the policy stipulates that the vocational training of students would begin from grade 6 onwards (nep 2020, 4.26). this legitimisation of caste-based vocation would push bahujan children into the spiral of labour, forcing traditional family occupations upon them, tethering them at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. additionally, the policy states that: schools/school complexes will be encouraged to hire local eminent persons or experts as ‘master instructors’ in various subjects, such as in traditional local arts, vocational crafts, entrepreneurship, agriculture, or any other subject where local expertise exists, to benefit students and help preserve and promote local knowledge and professions (nep 2020, 5.6). across india, the parents of a large portion of bahujan children are agricultural and/or daily wage labourers, employed in the farms of village landowners or the manufacturing units in the locality. the clpra act, coupled with this clause, creates a loophole that allows children to work as ‘vocational trainees’ with their elder family members as labourers. through these stipulations, the policy opens up the avenues for the perpetuation of caste-ordained occupations, mandating the renewal of the castebased hegemony in the society. that these reforms are brahminical is underscored by the fact that they resonate with the position of bal gangadhar tilak—‘the most celebrated icon of brahmin nationalism’ (dwivedi et al., 2021)—on the issue. tilak was firm that the curriculum of peasants’ children should be separate from the curriculum of other children, that traditional occupations should be an essential part of the peasants’ children’s curriculum (rao, 2008). the nexus of caste and patriarchy also becomes evident in tilak’s stance, for he opposed the establishment of girls’ schools too, arguing that education will make women immoral (ibid). acutely aware of the caste-patriarchy nexus, jotirao phule, along with his wife savitribai phule, started the pioneering movement for the education of not only shudras and ati-shudras, but also of girls/women. the exclusion of bahujan schoolchildren 69 language policy: mandating bahujan subordination the shifts in language policy in nep 2020 contribute to reproduction in both cultural and economic domains. the nep 2020 highlights the importance of promoting classical languages. however, it gives a privileged position to sanskrit over other classical languages, mandating that the language will be offered ‘at all levels of school and higher education’ (nep 2020, 4.17). it overlooks the fact that sanskrit education has brahminical roots—historically marginalised castes were denied it, forcing them into agrarian production and menial work. the endorsement of sanskrit is compounded by the promotion of regional languages over english: ‘wherever possible, the medium of instruction until at least grade 5, but preferably till grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional language’ (nep 2020, 4.11). the implementation of this policy-clause could lead to a situation where a large section of bahujan children will be unable to access english education. while this is being framed as a decolonisation effort (hindustan times, 2022), it is crucial to recognise that in the indian context, true decolonialisation must also involve de-brahminisation. historically, english education has overwhelmingly been available only to brahminical classes in india. this is rooted not just in cultural systems, but structural and political-economic systems: as hoarders of landed wealth, brahmins were able to channel agrarian accumulation into elite urban education and white-collar education, which has simply reproduced the privilege of english language skills. it has helped them to accumulate immense cultural, social and economic capital. the postindependence government policies, too, thwarted the entry of english education into bahujan communities: after 1947 in spite of dr. b.r. ambedkar’s insistence to recognize english as national language and must be taught in government schools the nehru government relegated english teaching to private school education and the regional languages were adopted as teaching languages in the government schools. this policy denied equal rights in the education system and language played a key role in that denial of ruling class language to the poor and lower castes (shepherd, 2019). in india today, english language holds the promise of upward socio-economic mobility. it is a crucial factor in obtaining a well-paying job in a competitive, globalised economy. despite the absence of any scriptural injunctions against learning english, the brahminical classes maintain a monopoly over its use (anand, 1999, p. 2053). this perpetuates social hierarchy, with bahujans remaining at the bottom stratum of the socio-economic structure, and subjected to continued subordination. for this reason, shepherd (2011) has advocated for a two-language policy, which involves teaching the syllabus in both english and a regional language. 70 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 unsurprisingly, tilak was against the english education for the peasants’ children. he believed that it would embolden them to break the boundaries set by caste, breaking, consequently, the caste system itself (rao, 2008). the nep 2020-ordained denial of english to the masses, then, is not only a violation of the indian constitution that gives all children the equality of opportunity, but also a way of maintaining intact a castebased social order. conclusion using the nep 2020 as an anchor, this article has delved into the ways in which schooling contributes to upper-caste hegemony. but hegemony is never in statis: ‘hegemonic power is constantly having to be built and rebuilt; it is contested and negotiated’ (apple, 2003, p. 6). the sense of flux and conflicts associated with hegemony suggests that there is always space for counterhegemonic projects. phule and ambedkar recognised education as a tool to create counterhegemonic solidarities against brahminism. any counterhegemonic project today must take into account the evolving nature of educational exclusion. to this end, this article has sought to map the inner and outer contours of caste-based educational exclusion in schools. one possible approach to address the unequal access to schooling, as presented in the article, is to promote a ‘common school system’ that can counter the existing ‘chaturvarna school system.’ similarly, inside classrooms, anticaste pedagogies oriented towards cultivating critical consciousness in students could constitute a challenge to the pob. rege (2010) suggests that ‘phule-ambedkarite-feminist’ (paf) pedagogies, as opposed to the pob, ‘may be seen historically as constituting one school of critical pedagogy’ (p. 92). in the context of higher education, we are now witnessing the emergence of bahujan scholars who are beginning to assert themselves, and envisioning equitable futures for educational systems and practices. the resistance in school education, however, still remains sporadic and limited. situated as we are now amidst the double assault of right-wing hindu nationalism as well as neoliberalism on education, it is of paramount importance to analyse the nature of exclusion that bahujan schoolchildren are experiencing in order to reinvigorate the resistance to the brahminical-neoliberal forces. towards the end, then, i would like to call for more elaborate interrogations of how existing modes of schooling contribute to the persistence of caste. such interrogations offer the possibility to expand our understanding of the forms, textures and shapes of caste-based educational exclusions, which is crucial in devising policies, structures, mechanisms and pedagogies grounded in anticaste epistemology and geared towards an inclusive praxis. to reiterate, the utopia of just and egalitarian schooling will continue to elude us until there is a rigorous reflection on the subtle and farreaching ways in which education services the structures of power. the exclusion of bahujan schoolchildren 71 acknowledgements i am grateful to dr. malini ranganathan for giving valuable comments and feedback on an earlier draft of this article. i would also like to extend my appreciation to dr. radhika gorur and dr. yamini narayanan for their helpful insights. lastly, i thank the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions. references ambedkar, b.r. 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(1990). unequal schooling as a factor in the reproduction of social inequality in india. sociological bulletin, vol. 39, no. 1/2, pp. 131–145. xaxa, virginius (2011). the status of tribal children in india: a historical perspective. ihdunicef working paper series. children of india: rights and opportunities. retrieved last on march 24, 2023, http://www.ihdindia.org/ihd-unicefwp-pdf/ihd-unicef%20 wp%207%20virginius_xaxa.pdf © 2023 sandhya balasaheb gawali. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. bluestone rising scholar award, 2023 doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.603 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 403-416 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste narratives from the margin: sexual harassment and strategies of resistance sandhya balasaheb gawali* abstract in india, the sexual harassment of women at workplace (prevention, prohibition and redressal) act 2013 completed its ten years in april 2023. however, this is a crucial time to review its effects, provisions, and the awareness about the act, and how much it has percolated at the grassroots level. consequently, we must pay attention to the voices from the margin in order to comprehend the situation and need to bring these voices to the center to point out the lacuna and challenges of the act as well as strengthen the discourse around the sexual harassment of women at the workplace. the study based on empirical findings, focuses on experiences of women workers at a wholesale vegetable market in pune1 and follows an ethnographic approach. the article argues that mainstream discourse on sexual harassment does not acknowledge experiences of women from the bottom of the socio-economic margins and it is a caste-blind gender discourse. caste shapes women’s experiences of sexual harassment at workplace differently and sometimes to mitigate the risk, women apply different strategies and build alternative mechanisms to combat sexual harassment at the workplace. keywords sexual harassment, strategies of resistance, gender and caste introduction the sexual harassment act 2013, in india, identifies women as a more vulnerable category to different forms of sexual harassment at the workplace in comparison with men. however, scholars (dr. punita sodhi v/s union of india and others 2010, gawali 2019: 288) have argued that the experience of sexual harassment is a subjective *research scholar, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india email: sandhyagawali@gmail.com 1pune is a city in maharashtra state of india. 404 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 phenomenon. caste, class, religion, gender, and other social identities can shape women’s experiences differently, and social institutions such as caste, workplaces, and educational institutes aggregate and sometimes help to normalize forms of harassment and violence against women. the mainstream discourse around the sexual harassment of women at the workplace is dominated by upper caste, class, urban, educated, and women in formal workplace settings. therefore, their experiences of sexual harassment are more visible in the mainstream (rowena 2017, rao 2018). the recent #metoo movement epitomized the fact of lack of representation of diverse groups and limited reach. there is a scarcity of studies on women’s experiences in informal workplace settings, and of rural, lower caste, lower class, and uneducated women. how do these women from the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid encounter the daily experience of sexual harassment and violence? how do their experiences of sexual harassment differ according to their social location? how do caste, class, and gender matter at the workplace? and, last but not least, what are the mechanisms and support systems available to them? there is a need to bring marginalised women’s everyday experiences to the center to provide essential insights into dealing with the sexual harassment of women in the workplace. keeping these questions in mind, this article explores marginalised women workers’ experiences of sexual harassment at the workplace. the data has been drawn from the more extensive ph.d. fieldwork. the research study was conducted at the wholesale vegetable market in pune, maharashtra, and involved participatory observations and in-depth interviews with 88 women workers. to safeguard women respondents’ identities and uphold confidentiality, their real names have not been used and initials have been utilised in place of their full names. the problem that has no name: from recognition to sexual harassment act 2013 there is a substantial, in-depth body of literature on workplace sexual harassment of women. prior to 1997, however, there was no legal term to describe sexual harassment despite the fact that women experienced it. several incidents, such as those against aruna shanbag2 and rupan bajaj3 took place, but due to the absence of terminology and a legal framework, these cases received less public attention. after a long struggle, rupan bajaj got partial justice. several women faced sexual harassment in their daily lives but were in a dilemma of how to define it. in addition, vibhuti patel (2005) argues that since the early 1980s sexual harassment at the workplace has remained one of the central concerns in the women’s movement. the issue emerged for discussion, 2aruna shanbag was nurse in mumbai’s kem hospital. she faced a brutal sexual attack by her co-worker in the hospital. see shreelekha nair (2015) aruna shanbaug and workplace safety for women: the real issue sidestepped, indian journal of medical ethics. 3rupan bajan was working for the indian government as finance assistant. she faced sexual harassment from her senior officer mr. k.p.s. gill. see chander suta dogra (2018) a retired ias officer on how the #metoo movement can use her case against k.p.s. gill, wire narratives from the margin: sexual harassment and strategies of resistance 405 in india, in the 1980s and gained momentum in the 1990s. pratiksha baxi (2001) argues that the category of eve-teasing (sexually colored remarks or taking physical advantage) finds widespread use in the 1990s. varied forms of harassment that women were facing in public spaces were registered by the police under the molestation and outrage of the modesty of women. however, baxi (2001) points out that women were differentiating between eve-teasing and sexual harassment. eve-teasing was seen as less harmful and sexual harassment as more dangerous. still, no legal framework was available for sexual harassment. thus most complaints were filed under the ipc sections 3544 and 509.5 further, baxi (2001) argues that the eve-teasing discourse helped in later articulating sexual harassment terminology. in 1992, bhawaridevi’s case marked a turning point in the understanding of sexual harassment at the workplace and the inter-relation of caste, class and gender shaping her experiences of sexual assault. the rajasthan high court’s decision, in bhawaridevi’s case, epitomized caste patriarchal6 values by refuting the rape accusations by arguing that it is impossible for upper caste family members to rape a lower caste woman (pandey 2017). the judge ignored the long history of caste norms of ‘purity and pollution’ co-existing with the rape of caste-oppressed women by ‘upper caste’ men who otherwise treated the women as ‘untouchable’. the rajasthan high court failed to give justice to bhawaridevi and acquitted the accused. later, after constant efforts and struggle by bhawaridevi and women’s organizations, in 1997 supreme court of india legally defined sexual harassment of women at the workplace as an offence and enacted vishakha guidelines to deal with the sexual harassment issue. however, the guidelines were a temporary solution. it was after 16 years that the vishakha guidelines were finally replaced by sexual harassment of women at the workplace (prevention, prohibition and redressal) act, 2013. similarly, in 2012 after the delhi gang rape case, justice verma committee amended criminal law and added ipc section 354a to define sexual harassment. however, in the long journey of the struggle against sexual harassment, bhawaridevi did not get justice but remained a powerful figure in the struggle. during the pinjra tod and #metoo, dalit movements and scholars emphasized how bhawaridevi’s case was an example of caste-based violence, but got failed to adopt and replicate in the act. several scholars (rowena 2017, rao 2018, kowtal 2019) have criticized the mainstream discourse on sexual harassment for being insufficiently attuned to how caste, class, gender, and religion structure experiences of sexual harassment. the discourse around caste in relation to sexual harassment 4indian penal code (ipc) 354 section stands for outrage of women’s modesty through several acts like sexual remarks, touching, pinching and so forth. 5indian penal code (ipc) 509 section stands for insult to the modesty of women by making sounds or any gesture which creates uncomfortable feeling. this section also recommends punishment for such acts. 6caste patriarchy upholds the privileges of dominant caste males. for more, see sunaina arya’s work dalit or brahmanical patriarchy. 406 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 first started in the spaces of higher education. a study by vandana (2020) underscores that dalit woman students often get targeted and humiliated by male professors and colleagues. dalit girls’ sexual harassment experience is not merely based on gender but has the connotation of caste and class backgrounds. young dalit women student scholars raised critical questions about the mainstream discourse of sexual harassment at the workplace through pinjara tod, which sought to challenge the mainstream movement and showed their disagreements with the campaign’s hierarchical and discriminatory approach (gawali 2019: 290). jenny rowena (2017) argues that mainstream discourse around the question of sexual harassment is caste-blind gender discourse. she points out that lower caste women in india are majorly situated in the informal sector, and sexual attacks that they face in the workplace are closely tied to the vulnerability of their workplace and caste locations (rowena 2017). further, she argues that, while enacting the vishakha guidelines, scholars did not emphasize and look at the complexities of caste. the definition of sexual harassment act majorly focuses on harassment which is sexual in nature and does not talk about violent forms such as rape, sexual assault, violence, character assassination, public humiliation, and so on. on a similar line, pallavi rao argued that upper-caste women consistently dominate the discourse around sexual harassment and dalit, bahujan, and adivasi women’s voices and existence were erased or were not taken cognizance of (rao 2018: 1). all these scholars criticized the mainstream discourse and emphasized on bottom up discourse. therefore, there is a need to bring all these important aspects together and build a comprehensive discourse around sexual harassment. there is a need to explore, understand and acknowledge the everyday sexual harassment experiences of marginalised women. by exploring these experiences, one can extend solidarity and fight a legal and social battle so marginalised women can live with dignity and enjoy their fundamental rights. as sharmila rege points out, ‘knowledge’7 has emancipatory potential when produced from specific social locations. if we produce knowledge from dalit women’s perspective, it will create a more emancipatory space because dalit women’s experiences are embedded in unequal power relations and exploitative structures of the society. thus, it will not stick into the ‘experience’ but underline how these experiences are shaped in unequal power relations (1998: ws-40). therefore, it is necessary to explore marginalised women’s experiences and understand the question of sexual harassment from their perspective. when we understand their experiences, we will get to know more insights and the forms of harassment that they face in their daily lives. this subjective experience of sexual harassment and assault can lead toward theorizing experiences of marginalised women. sexual harassment at the workplace: narratives from the margin as several scholars (rowena 2017, rao 2018, kowtal 2019) argued for the importance of listening to marginalised women’s experiences to understand the issue comprehensively, i have tried to incorporate women’s narratives in this section. the 7subjective experience as a form of knowledge production. narratives from the margin: sexual harassment and strategies of resistance 407 field study was carried out in pune’s wholesale vegetable market (mandi) from the first week of april to the second week of july 2022. although women play a significant role in the market economy, male employees have historically predominated the market/mandi.8 several productive tasks such as segregation of rotten goods, filling goods sacks, loading goods in vehicles, stitching gunny sacks, picking over stones, pests in grain, and so forth, are done by women workers. however, their nature of work is not given much respect and importance; as a result, they are not recognised as essential workers but rather as supplemental workers. the majority of women workers belong to scheduled castes (61),9 obc (3),10 st (1),11 dnt and vjnt (8),12 ur (14),13 and muslim (1)14 categories. there is a history of migration. women workers migrated to the urban city for several reasons, such as lack of resources, in search of livelihood, abandonment by husband/family members, and so on. in the cities, they were forcefully thrown into the labour market with no preparation or protection. they adopted menial labour and remained outsiders in the local area. sometimes the outsider identity became a ground for their discrimination and humiliation in public spaces. the majority of women have been working in the market for more than 15 years. there is a range of ages, from women who are 27 years old to those who are over 60. however, in my participatory observation, i found that adolescent girls also accompany their mothers to the workplace and work with them. out of 88 women, 37 are married and stay with their husbands and children, 34 women are widowed, and 17 women are deserted. the women’s caste, age, and marital status have an inter-connection with their experiences of sexual harassment at the workplace, which i elaborate below. narratives of women workers in the market also shed light on non-sexual harassment, which has caste connotations such as character assassination, remarks based on social location, physical appearance, etc. these narratives suggest that forms of humiliation based on gender and caste should be acknowledged in the discourse on the sexual harassment of women at the workplace. in my field interviews, women workers accepted the existence of sexual harassment at workplace. women in the market experience multiple forms of sexual harassment on daily basis. in the participatory observation, i found that middlemen 8market (capital m) stands for wholesale vegetable market, pune. 9scheduled caste is a constitutionally designated group of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. 10 other backward classes was constitutionally recognised by the government of india in the 90s. obcs are described as socially and educationally backward classes in india. 11 scheduled tribe is a constitutionally designated group of people indigenous who are socially and educationally backward. 12 de-notified tribe and vimukta jati nomadic tribe group of people were notified as born criminals during the british rule under the criminal tribe act 1871. in 1992, government of india repealed the criminal tribe act. from then these communities are known as denotified. 13 unreserved category referred as general or socio-economically forward category. 14 muslim is a person who believes or follows islam religion. 408 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 and male hamals15 often tease women using double-meaning words. in one incident, i was standing in the onion shop, and women workers were filling onions in the sacks and two hamals were standing next to them. suddenly a male hamal said to a woman, “don’t you sweat while doing?”16 and he and his male colleague laughed out loud. ‘while doing’ has a sexual sense. the woman got anxious and replied, “you speak nonsense”17 and moved aside. after that hamal started explaining that he was talking about work and, again, he laughed. the woman got so uncomfortable that she went directly outside the shop. in the second observation, some pala18 women were segregating rotten potatoes and filling good quality potatoes in the sack at the metal shed. one woman in the group was approximately 31-years-old, and had a dusky/dark skin tone. a middleman was asking all the women to work quickly, and while asking, began to call out the women by their names. however, he called this woman “kale (blackish) go fast and get some tea and water for me”.19 her face twisted in a grimace of unwillingness, but she could not resist him. her physical appearance becomes a means to humiliate and pass pejorative comments at workplace. these pejorative comments violate the dignity of a person and create a humiliating environment at the workplace. still, act 2013 does not talk about pejorative comments which are closely linked to sexuality. sometimes pejorative comments and character assassination at the workplace are linked with a person’s social location and works in a very subtle manner. for instance, in the same metal shed, l r and her 14-year-old daughter s r were working together. the middleman asked them “yadi work fast”.20 yadi’s literal meaning is mother, but mostly this word is used to underline the social position of lamani (banjara) women. yadi does not have respectability but is a word to differentiate and mark lamani women as a whole. workers in the market frequently make fun of lamani women, their language and mark them as outsiders. middlemen, hamals, and women workers often term lamani women as lamani tanda.21 in informal conversation, women and men often claimed lamani women as thieves and corrupt women. according to them, lamani women steal onions and potatoes in large amounts and never tell the truth. however, there is an open secret that a majority of women steal goods while working but the offence is majorly placed on the shoulders of lamani women. this kind of character assassination and misinformation occurs on a daily basis. this assassination of character and labeling of the lamani community as thieves comes from the general understanding of criminal tribal act, which brands the lamani community as criminal 15 coolie/porter 16 participatory observation and field notes, 22/06/2022 17 ibid. 18 women those do segregation of rotten potatoes are known as pala women. 19 participatory observation and field notes, 25/04/2022 20 ibid. 21 lamani is also known as banjara. they are nomadic trading caste in india. tanda literary meaning is community/settlement. narratives from the margin: sexual harassment and strategies of resistance 409 and habitual offenders. while the act does not exist now, the criminalization of this community takes place on a day-to-day basis. the third observation of offensive comments embedded within a double meaning also came from informal talk. while talking with a woman and a male hamal about garlic, a woman worker from a neighboring shop entered into the conversation and started talking with the woman worker. suddenly a male hamal said “aali zombadi22” (zombadi has come). i got shocked because i was aware of the local meaning of zombadi. it refers to a person who tries to make sexual advantages or urges for sexual intercourse. he was making fun of her. later, the woman worker with whom i was talking said,“zombade is her surname. do not misunderstand. here, we people make fun”.23 for other workers, it is a fun but it is difficult to understand how that woman would have felt. it was a deeply insulting and humiliating experience that she experiences on a regular basis. her surname became a mean of humiliation. in india, an individual’s social location can be easily identified by their surnames, and they are mostly lower caste people with degrading names and surnames such as dagadu (stonelike), kachare (garbage-like), ghadhave (donkey-like). others use these surnames to humiliate and make fun. they also quickly mitigate the severity of the situation and normalize things by making jokes and masking their intentions. however, no one thinks of how deeply such comments and experiences break women apart. in male-dominated spaces, women frequently become an object of fun and humiliation. vivek kumar, a sociologist draws attention to the typology of violence against dalit women. he argues that there are several types of vernaculars sayings, which are used by people, especially upper caste people, to humiliate and ridicule lower caste people (kumar 2019: 146). thus, women face humiliation and violence due to their social locations and the nature of their occupations. apart from the participatory observation, women’s lived experiences of sexual harassment are harsh and humiliating in nature which displays the lacunas of the mainstream discourse on sexual harassment as to how the act has failed to identify humiliating working environments. women workers emphasised that staring remains a prevalent form of harassment. they struggle against the unwanted male gaze as underscored in informal talk: “how many people should we face? if we bend down and start filling the sacks, men look at us”.24 this kind of subtle experience of sexual harassment women face on the regular basis but do not discuss much as it is a regular feature for them. while talking about her experience in the market, n p a deserted women from grain market who belonged to mang (scheduled caste) community underlined that men do stare in the market. “earlier, i used to dress up well. as you see, my complexion is fair. i used to put sindur in hair parting, wear gajara (flower garland worn in the hair), colour hair. it was my first or second day of work in the shop. our sheth (shop owner) asked me my caste. i said mang. he got astonished and 22 participatory observation and field notes, 05/06/2022 23 ibid. 24 informal talk with onion market women, 12/05/2022 410 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 said, no bai (woman). you are lying. you do not look like mang. you look like from our caste. he is marvadi. my living standard was different at that time, so he passed such a comment”.25 here it is crucial to understand that people do not think that lower caste women too can live dignified lives and do what they want. ‘you do not look like’ is itself a casteist comment made to perpetuate the stereotypes about the lower caste communities and control their sexuality by appearance, what to wear and other factors. n p tai’s experience shows that marginalized women get excluded from the mainstream forms of beauty, and they generally get associated with dark skin complexion, less etiquette, quarrelsome personalities, and less attractive characteristics. thus, when her shop owner saw her, he was amazed and inquired about her caste location. this shows that the notion of beauty is less related to physical features and more based on caste locations. further, n p tai (sister) added, “male hamals used to stare at me and come after me, but i never pay heed. however, some women spread rumors about me. they used to say bai (woman) has come from a brothel. they judged me due to my appearance and categorised me as a sex worker. then, one day v g, a union activist, called me outside the shop. i was terrified. i thought she would hit me, but she said, you do not get afraid. i am with you. she explained to other women that i am not a sex worker. her living style is different than us. she is from our caste. her husband has abandoned her. then a woman said, if her husband abandoned her, how can she dress up like that? then v g maushi consoled me and asked me to come to work in simple clothes. after that, i did not dress up, and now i do not feel like wearing nice clothes and dressing well”.26 n p tai’s character assassination and public rumour mongering enormously hurt and lowered her confidence. this incident onwards, she stopped wearing what she preferred. these kinds of small but not unimportant factual details need to be read very carefully to understand the lived experiences of marginalized women and how their sexuality and mobility are controlled at the workplace and caste becomes a great factor in increasing their marginalisation. women workers also faced sexual harassment in the form of taking physical advantage. consider the details of s s maushi (aunty) about an incident that occurred to her. s s maushi is a middle-aged widowed from a mahar caste. while narrating the incident, her hesitation was clearly visible through her body language. she rubbed her thumb on her other fingers and avoided eye contact with me. she said, “mostly young women do face sexual harassment from dalals (middlemen). a few years back, i experienced sexual harassment from a dalal. i used to work in his shop. he trades chilly and onion. he frequently used foul language and humiliated me referring my caste location. i always stood firm and talked back to him. one day, he asked me to pour an onion sack on the ground. i said, this is not my work. let hamal come. he will pour it down. also, i did not pour it down because it was too heavy. he insisted me to pull the sack and drop it down. so, i went near the sack and started pulling. suddenly, 25 interview with n t in the grain market, 11/05/2022 26 ibid. narratives from the margin: sexual harassment and strategies of resistance 411 he came from my back, grasped me from the back side, and said, pull it like this…”.27 she acted the moment to me using her hands how he grabbed her from the back. as soon as she realized his misbehaviour, she turned back and pushed him away. the next day, she narrated the whole incident to the woman activist in the market. a woman activist approached the union office and reported s s’s complaint. the union called the middleman, asked him to pay 500 rupees to the mathadi board28 as penalty, and freed him from the charges. after that incident s s started to work in a new shop. the union neither helped her to search for a new shop nor took the right cognizance of the complaint. s s’s narration exemplifies the situation of powerless women who belong to the bottom of the caste hierarchy and overtly face humiliation and non-cognizance from social structures such as the workplace and union. this example also shows that when women report their experiences of sexual harassment, they face retribution. in s s maushi’s case, she lost her work and suffered from trauma and humiliation, which did not get recognised, and no one reached out to her after the incident to console her. it might be difficult for her to work in a different shop within the same market because she faces the accused person on a day-to-day basis. in the market, touching, patting the back of a woman is common and taken for granted by male workers. r r, a 27-year-old deserted woman, who works in the onion market emphasized that, “when i was working at a potato shop there men colleagues used to stare at women and touch inappropriately”.29 while narrating the incident, she pointed to the waist area and shoulder. she added that, ‘after touching men pretend it as normal and bad intention-less’.30 whereas, while sharing her agonizing experience about sexual harassment s s, a 41-year-old sweeper said, “there are so many bad experiences. if you want to come and work in the market, you must keep your izzat (honour), laz, lajja, sharam (shyness) outside the market. also, where should we file our grievances? if our condition had not worsened, then we would not have come here to work. this is bazaar (market). do you know what the market means? here butchers are large in number. most of the time, men stare and pass comments and discuss with other men. so, what can we do? if we go and tell these things to the authority, he will also look with the same gaze. no one questions men, but women are easy targets. if a woman’s pallu31 gets slightly away, people will say she is a whore”.32 s s tai has rightly pointed out that they cannot approach and file their grievances due to the unavailability of a mechanism. most of the people, sexual harassment is not an issue. thus, no one pays attention on prevention. the vegetable market does not have an internal committee to deal with sexual harassment cases. similarly, women’s economic conditions bring them to this work, and their work conditions are such 27 interview with s s at home, 02/04/2022 28 formal set up constituted under the mathadi act 1969. 29 interview with r r at home, 16/04/2022 30 ibid. 31 the loose end of a sari. 32 interview with s s in the market, 09/05/2022 412 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 that they cannot take risks. it might backfire on them. similarly, women have often raised the question of honour. “no one wants to spoil their honour, so they do not go and approach higher authority”.33 in various studies, scholars (v. geetha 2017, anagha sarpotdar 2016, 2020) have pointed out that women do not approach formal mechanisms due to shame and stigma. they have a constant fear that people will not believe in them, make fun, or gossip about them. in addition, there is a persistent fear of losing a job. therefore, women do not come forward and file formal complaints. strategies of resistance despite the apathetic approach of authorities towards the sexual harassment issue, women resist and actively refute male dominance, and forms of harassment in the market. in my participatory observation, i found that women negotiate and adopt two different strategies to mitigate the risk of sexual harassment and being judged by male co-workers and clients. i observed that widowed and deserted women challenge patriarchal notions of an ideal woman and who can wear symbols of married women and who cannot. almost all widowed and deserted women wear mangalsutra34 and put bindi35 on their foreheads. generally, social norms forbid widowed and deserted women from wearing these markers of marriage. in india, people can easily differentiate between married and unmarried women with the help of symbols such as mangalsutra, jodvi (toe ring), and sindur (red power applied by married women). these symbols are visible markers of women’s marital status. i initially saw these as a mark of autonomy and revolution. they seemed to have transgressed traditional boundaries and claimed autonomy over their bodies. when i asked some women when and why they decided to transgress these boundaries, their answers were more interesting and related to the practicalities of their lives. u g, a deserted woman from an onion shop said, “this is a market, and you will find end numbers of personalities here. i wear mangalsutra to make people perceive that my husband is alive and living with me. similarly, when the workload is huge and the owner does not allow me to leave early, i tell him that my husband drinks and beats me so relieve me from duty early”.36 this is not only the story of u g, but of many other women. symbolically women are signaling that they are not available and have male support at home. if women do not wear mangalsutra, they face various questions. thus, to avoid unwanted questions about their marital status, women wear it. widowed and deserted women in the market think that claiming their marital status will lead to more vulnerability. they do not have the support of male members of the family and thus, they will become an easy target to prey and an object of harassment. claiming their actual marital status would send a message that ‘they are available’. women in the market are aware that in male-dominated spaces, they 33 ibid. 34 it has seen auspicious tread/necklace in hindu religion. this necklace is tied around the neck of the bride by the groom during the wedding ceremony. 35 it is small marker worn by majorly hindu women on the forehead. 36 informal talk with u g in the onion shop, 12/04/2022 narratives from the margin: sexual harassment and strategies of resistance 413 are more vulnerable and prone to harassment. thus, they strategically deal with the issue by not sharing their marital status. by wearing these symbols, women show that they are not available to other men, and their body and sexuality is controlled and maintained by marriage bonds. this shows that women use patriarchal symbols to refute patriarchal values and as a strategy to be safe. women workers’ second strategy is adjusting to the environment and emulating the talk of their male colleagues. as s v from the vegetable and r s from grain market shared, when they first came to the market, they felt uncomfortable. men talk in double-meaning tones. earlier, the women workers did not know the meanings. after a few months, they also learned the language and started using bad/abusive words and talking back. now, men rarely try to mess with them. while sharing their experience, there was a smile on their face as they have won. similarly, several women underlined the importance of talking back, being bold and courageous while working in the market.37 if they observe a man teasing or stalking, they grab and beat that man. s d from fruit market underscored, “when will market committee take action on our issue? till that time, why should we wait for justice?’ if a man harasses a woman, we collect 5 to 10 women and beat him up so he would not behave in the same manner”.38 women’s narratives show that they negotiate and apply different strategies to mitigate the experiences of harassment. similarly, women build alternative mechanisms to deal with the issue. it shows that women do not have much faith in the union committee. union also does not follow due process to address the women’s issues. s s is a woman activist in the market said that women who have problems approach her. sometimes she takes the issue to the union office, and most often she resolves it through the process of conciliation or on mutual terms. however, there is no clarity that on what terms and conditions do these processes take place? do women get a fair chance of representation and justice? what are the drawbacks of handling such sensitive matters outside the redressal mechanism system? however, when the matter goes to the union, what happens one can speculate from the s s maushi’s case. the union summoned the accused, admonished him, and asked him to pay rs. 500/as a fine. in my opinion, the decision was abrupt and unjust. it did not follow due process and diminished the seriousness of the matter, which in turn shows the apathy towards women’s issues. despite the act and legal provisions, women are not able to get justice. act and the legal provisions have remained in the name only. there is a lack of implementation and monitoring of the legal provision. it is time to re-evaluate the sexual harassment act 2013 and bridge the gaps as soon as possible. lack of redressal mechanism and support system women workers sometimes deal with the sexual harassment issue on a personal level, and sometimes they approach the union members. however, they do not get justice 37 market perceived as a filthy, bad place for respectable women to work due to negative connotation attached to it. for more read dipesh chakrabarty. 38 interview with s d in the fruit market, 19/04/2022 414 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 every time. there is an apathetic approach from the union and market committee as well. the market committee did not constitute a committee on sexual harassment or make women and other workers aware of local committee39 against sexual harassment. the majority of women workers are unaware about internal and local committees. they do not know whom to approach and how to file a complaint. they do not know where the district office is—how to get there, who will pay the cost of travel so and so forth. at the market, most women are daily wage workers and earn rs. 1 per sack, and that rs. 1 further gets divided if women work together in a group. some women said, sometimes they manage to earn rs. 30 to rs. 50 per day. in this case, they cannot afford the cost of travel, print outs of complaint copies, and other costs. women from the outskirts cannot access places in the city easily, and it takes time to travel. there is high chance that they will lose their daily wage if they travel to a district office to file their complaint. a research study done by martha farrell foundation and pria underlined that, out of 655 districts in india, only 29 per cent of districts constituted local committee according to the act, 2013 (2018:7). women workers in the informal sector approach a local committee as a last recourse but, if the mechanism is not in place, where will these women go? without awareness, how can women from the informal sector get to know of a local committee’s provisions? therefore, there is need to rethink the district to block/village level assistance, mechanism system and create easy access to these mechanisms and support systems. similarly, there is need to ensure establishment and proper set up of local committee. after listening to the experiences of marginalised women, i conclude, women face sexual harassment at the workplace, sometimes overtly and covertly and their social location plays a vital role in sharing experiences differently. their experiences of sexual exploitation and harassment are different and have never been heard or brought forward in the mainstream. women from marginalised background are more vulnerable at the workplace, and their experiences of sexual harassment are frequently characterised as a serious matter of offence. they often face humiliation due to caste. women working in the market face sexual harassment from their co-workers and higher authority personnel, and most of the time, these harassers belong to upper caste backgrounds. however, on a personal level, women try to reduce the risk of sexual harassment by adopting several strategies. therefore, there is need to think critically on the sexual harassment discourse and incorporate voices from the margins to strengthen the discourse and the provisions of the act. the act should address the violent and caste-based humiliation, which forms an offensive working environment. similarly, while talking about strengthening the mechanism, one needs to understand the critical aspect of caste location, family and community safety. it has been seen in the atrocity cases and also in bhawaridevi’s case how her husband had been targeted 39 local committee is district level committee for those who does not have internal committee against sexual harassment at the workplace. workers from informal sector can approach to local committee to file sexual harassment complaints. narratives from the margin: sexual harassment and strategies of resistance 415 and beaten up to teach a lesson to bhawari.40 similarly, in the caste-based atrocities rape of women and emasculation of men is common. thus, family and community safety becomes a competing priority with holding the perpetrator accountable such that a woman may choose not to speak out after being violated. therefore, providing assistance and safety to the survivor is important. simultaneously, transparent and democratic mechanisms can be ensured through adequate representation from the marginalised community background. while the constitution of the internal committee 2013 act underlines that senior women should be presiding officers and one member from law, social work background but it does not specify the social location of members. thus, there is a huge possibility that due to the lack of knowledge about how caste and gender matters at the workplace, one may lose the main core of the complaint. therefore, the act and new guidelines should consider these factors. bhawaridevi’s experiences of sexual violence related to her caste oppression are not center to the policymaking. thus the act lacks a crucial part. now there is time to address these past mistakes. through policymaking one can incorporate marginalised women’s experiences at the workplace to make democratic, transparent, sensitive and accessible mechanisms at the workplace. acknowledgement i would like to thank dr. trina vithayathil for her valuable comments on the article. references arya, s. (2020). dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? rethinking indian feminism, caste: a global journal on social exclusion, vol. 01, issue 01, pp. 217–228. available at:https://journals. library.brandeis.edu/index.php/caste/issue/view/3/full%20issue baxi. p. (2001). sexual harassment. seminar, #505 https://www.india-seminar.com/2001/505. htm gawali, s. (2019). unpacking the sexual harassment of women in the context of the #metoo and the pinjratod campaigns: feminist understandings. jindal global law review, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 287–302. geetha, v. (2016). undoing impunity: speech after sexual violence. new delhi: zubaan. kowtal, a. (2019). building a feminism that centres the voices of oppressed. wire. available at:https://thewire.in/caste/building-a-feminism-that-centres-the-voices-of-the-oppressed kumar, v. (2019). the nature of violence against dalit women. in gender and violence in historical and contemporary perspectives. (eds.) jyoti atwal and iris flessenkamper. new york: routledge, pp. 141–152. martha foundation (2018). who safeguards a woman’s right to a safe workplace? a study of local committee across india using rti data. available at: https://www.marthafarrellfoundation. org/uploads/article_category/1598972840_1555302838_rti%20study%20pdf.pdf 40 bhawaridevi’s husband faced tremendous violence. he got beaten up and after that in front of him five members from the same family raped bhawaridevi to show his and bhawaridevi’s social place in the society. village ostracised them after the incidence. 416 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 patel, v. (2005). the history of the struggle against sexual harassment. info change news & features. pandey, g. (2017). bhawaridevi: the rape that led to india’s sexual harassment law, bbc. available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-39265653 rao, p. (2018). caste and losha discourse. communication culture and critique. pp.1–4. rege, sharmila (1998) dalit women talk differently. economic and political weekly, vol. 33, no. 44, pp. ws39–ws46. rowena, j. (2017). what can we do with sexual violence hall of shame?, raiot challenging the consensus. available at: https://raiot.in/the-sexual-harassment-discourse-a-bahujanwomans-perspective/ sarpotdar, a. (2017). implementing or ignoring the law on sexual harassment? economic and political weekly, vol. 51, issue no. 44–45. ———. (2020). examining local committees under the sexual harassment of women at workplace act. economic and political weekly, vol. lv, issue no. 20, pp.51–58. v. geetha (2017). sexual harassment and elusive justice. economic and political weekly, vol. 52, issue no. 44. vandana (2020). dalit girls and sexual harassment in the university. indian journal of gender studies, vol. 27, no. i, pp. 33–54. © 2023 vinod kumar mishra. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 24–45 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.654 caste and religion matters in access to housing, drinking water, and toilets: empirical evidence from national sample surveys, india vinod kumar mishra1 abstract this article aims to provide a systematic analysis of inter-group inequality in access to good quality housing and basic amenities. it also attempts to discuss the socio-economic determinants of accessing housing and basic amenities. the article provides evidence of social identity-based discrimination by implying econometric analysis of decomposition methods. the findings of the article demonstrate that social group identities such as caste and religion play a significant role in determining the sufficiency, continuity and quality of housing and basic amenities. inter-group inequality in accessing these essential services is significantly high in both rural and urban areas. the results of logistic regression model and decomposition method used in the article shows that social identity-based discrimination reduces the sufficiency and quality of housing and basic services availed by marginalized social groups such as scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and religious minorities. it can be argued from the analysis that right to adequate housing in terms of good quality dwelling and access to drinking water and sanitation is adversely affected by social exclusion and discrimination experienced by marginalized social groups. keywords inequality, discrimination, exclusion, adequate housing, inclusive policies introduction provision of basic amenities available to the households define the standard of living of the households and greatly determines the quality of life and wellbeing. thus, right 1assistant professor, indian institute of dalit studies, new delhi, india email: vinodcsrd217@gmail.com caste and religion matters in access to housing, drinking water, and toilets 25 to adequate housing, one of the fundamental human needs does not comprise mere housing but also decent minimum housing which meets households concerns (young & lee, 2014; myers, 2016). adequate housing has a significant effect on the socioeconomic well-being of the household (aizawa et al., 2020; kenna, 2008). access to sufficient drinking water and sanitation is a basic human need. however, as per the un world cities report 2022, more than one and half billion people are living in inadequate housing conditions and lack access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities. in asia, approximately 57 per cent of urban households lack proper access to toilets (asian development bank, 2016). goal 6 of the united nations sustainable development goal (sdgs) recognised basic human rights to water and sanitation and aims to ensure availability and sustainability of water and sanitation. similarly, article 11 and 12 of the international covenant of economic, social and cultural rights (icescr) provides obligation at the international level with respect to sanitation while recognizing the right to an adequate standard of living. human rights to water and sanitation emphasizes that irrespective of social-economic background, access to adequate services should be equal (cullet, 2019). poor quality housing and basic amenities to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes remain a critical issue of concern. poor and vulnerable social groups often lack access to good quality housing and basic amenities due to low and irregular income and therefore lack of affordability. although, economic factors such as income, poverty and inequality determines access to basic amenities and good housing, social stratification of caste and religion also affect access to public goods like water and sanitation. thus, caste and religion based social stratification affect access to good quality housing and better civic amenities (balasubramanum et al., 2013). due to social exclusion and discrimination, marginalised social groups are wholly or partially denied access to civic amenities which often has adverse consequences on the households well-being, particularly health (borooah et al., 2015; thorat & newman, 2007). caste-based discrimination causes inaccessibility or limited accessibility to good quality and basic amenities. social identity-based discrimination and structural inter-group inequality causes higher poverty among marginalised social groups. empirical studies suggest that the quality and nature of basic amenities available to the people depend upon the social composition of the locality. substantial inequality in distribution of good housing and basic amenities persists in rural as well urban areas (bansode & swaminathan, 2021). as indicated by various empirical studies conducted on housing market discrimination (thorat et al., 2015; vithayathil et al., 2016; mishra, 2020), marginalised households have limited access to basic amenities and are at the receiving end of unfriendly behaviour from a majority of social groups living in their locality. these vulnerable social groups not only experience discrimination in accessing housing— both rental and owned—but are also forced to vacate their houses and suffer other unpleasant consequences and compromises in the form of higher prices for similar units in comparison to dominant social groups, long commuting distance for work, access to poor basic amenities and other social and psychological consequences. thus, denial of housing due to social identity-based discrimination imposes a social as well 26 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 as an economic cost to the disadvantaged groups (thorat et al., 2015; mishra, 2020). inadequate access to water and sanitation to the socially excluded groups causes adverse consequences on health and social well-being. vulnerable social groups, particularly migrants living in informal settlements like slums, face difficulties in accessing water and sanitation at an affordable cost. despite public policies on housing, water and sanitation, inter-group inequality in access to housing and basic amenities continue to persist. the gradual withdrawal of the government as a supplier of housing to the poor and marginalised had diverse implications on socially excluded communities. poor design, limited coverage and poor implementation of public policies on housing and basic amenities have further increased the inter-group inequalities. residential segregation also has a significant impact on the disparities in the quality of housing and basic amenities (krivo & kaufman, 2004). access to adequate housing is an important determinant of household well-being and it encompasses the quality of the dwelling unit, basic amenities such as water, sanitation and bathing facilities. lack of access to adequate safe drinking water and sanitation facilities not only has an adverse impact on the health of the households but also compromises dignity and quality of life (murthy, 2012). accessing safe sanitation not only prevents disease but is also essential for privacy and self-dignity. lack of adequate sanitation and bathroom amenities increases vulnerability for women and gender-based violence (mishra, 2021). lack of access to safe and private sanitation makes women unsafe and they are often victims of violent sexual assaults while accessing public sanitation facilities (sharma et al., 2015; rauch, & helgegren, 2014; ellis & feris, 2014; collender, 2011). households without access to water and sanitation for the exclusive use of the household, leads to dependancy on public sources of water and on-site sanitation. social equity in accessing water and sanitation is essential to reduce inter-group inequality in access to these civic amenities (alankar, 2013). however, discrimination is often practiced by the state agencies, which are the main supplier of water and sanitation in urban areas. there are biases in favour of a higher income locality. not only is the duration and quantity of water supply less but the quality is also very poor in low income locality in comparison to high income locality. in most urban centres, intra and inter-locality difference in supply of drinking water is high. thus, inequities in distribution of water to the marginalised social groups and economically poor locality are not accidental but institutionalized (alankar, 2013). the article analyses the inter-group disparity in access to good quality housing and basic amenities. the determinants and discrimination in access to basic amenities for marginalised social groups have been analysed through regression and decomposition analysis. the article is structured into four major sections. section 1 details the intersocial group inequality in access to good quality housing and basic amenities. the results of logistic regression models have been discussed in section 2 which explains the determinants affecting access to housing basic amenities. analysis of social discrimination in accessing good quality housing, water and sanitation has been done through decomposition method in section 3. the last section of the article summarises major findings of the data analysis and offers recommendations to the policy makers. caste and religion matters in access to housing, drinking water, and toilets 27 the analysis of the article is based on unit level data from national sample survey, 76th round on drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and housing conditions. the statistical methodology of the article is explained in the next section. methodology logistic regression model in this article, the determinant of access to basic amenities has been analysed using logistic regression model. let y = 1 if household have access to basic amenities and y = 0 if the household does not have access to basic amenities. xi represents explanatory variables, such as rural-urban, gender, household size, household head’s education, monthly per capita consumption expenditure for the ith individual and income. yi = β1 + β2xi + ui (1) in this model, it can be assumed that every household has two alternatives – access to basic amenities or not. let us assume that ui1 and ui0 are the utilities a household ‘i’ attaches with access to amenities or not. if the household has access to basic amenities, then ui1 > ui0 otherwise, ui1 < ui0 similarly, if a rational household maximizes its utility, in that case: probability [yi = 1] = probability [ui1 > ui0] probability [yi = 0] = probability [ui1 < ui0] in such a situation, the probability for the household can be written as (mcfadden, 1974): probability [yi = 1] = this is a reduced form of the binomial logit model, where xi represents the vector of independent variables for the ith individual and the stochastic term ũ follows a logistic distribution. decomposition method in this article, the discrimination based on social identity in accessing basic amenities has been measured through decomposition method. in this method, the gap in the outcome variable for two social groups is decomposed to measure how much proportion of the gap is due to the social group identity. for adequate housing, the probability of accessing basic amenities has been calculated for the two social groups. the gap in the probability is disaggregated into two components. the first component explains the proportion of gap due to endowment/economic factors. thus, this part of the gap will be removed if both social groups have similar endowment. however, the second component, the remaining gap will not be covered even if there is improvement in endowment or economic variable. the second component is termed as unexplained gap which is due to discrimination based on social identity. thus, the decomposition analysis helps to measure the role of discrimination in explaining the inter-group inequality (khan, 2022). 28 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 the fairlee method (1999) helps to explain the decomposition method. the differences in the coefficients of the two groups in the regression equation can be used as a measure of discrimination. the gap in the outcome variable can be attributed to the discrimination or endowment gap. in this model the coefficients of the privileged groups obtained from the regression analysis are assigned to the marginalized social groups to estimate the predicted probability of accessing basic amenities among them. if there is no discrimination, this predicted probability should be the same as their actual probability of accessing better quality basic amenities. the gap between this estimated probability and actual probability of accessing good quality basic amenities among the marginalized social group is a measure of discrimination. however, the gap between this predicted probability and the actual probability among privileged groups is a measure of the gap in the outcome variable attributed to the difference in the endowment. in this article, the decomposition method is used to estimate the difference in the probability of accessing good quality basic amenities between privileged and marginalised social groups (hindu high castes/scheduled castes, hindu high castes/ muslims, hindu high castes/other backward classes). the household size, gender, location, household head’s education, monthly per capita expenditure and income are used as explanatory variables in the model for the decomposition analysis. to calculate the decomposition of gap in the outcome variable between two groups (say a for privileged group and b for marginalized social group), define jy (where j = a or b) the average probability of the binary outcome for group j and f as the cumulative distribution function from the logistic distribution. following fairlie (1999), the decomposition for a non-linear equation, y = f(x β̂ ), can be written as: endowment gap. in this model the coefficients of the privileged groups obtained from the regression analysis are assigned to the marginalized social groups to estimate the predicted probability of accessing basic amenities among them. if there is no discrimination, this predicted probability should be the same as their actual probability of accessing better quality basic amenities. the gap between this estimated probability and actual probability of accessing good quality basic amenities among the marginalized social group is a measure of discrimination. however, the gap between this predicted probability and the actual probability of ownership among privileged groups is a measure of the gap in the outcome variable attributed to the difference in the endowment. in this article, the decomposition method is used to estimate the difference in the probability of accessing good quality basic amenities between privileged and marginalised social groups (hindu high castes/scheduled castes, hindu high castes/muslims, hindu high castes/other backward classes). the household size, gender, location, household head‘s education, monthly per capita expenditure and income are used as explanatory variables in the model for the decomposition analysis. to calculate the decomposition of gap in the outcome variable between two groups (say a for privileged group and b for marginalized social group), define jy (where j = a or b) the average probability of the binary outcome for group j and f as the cumulative distribution function from the logistic distribution. following fairlie (1999), the decomposition for a non-linear equation, y = f(x ̂ ), can be written as: , n )xf( n )xf( + n )xf( n )xf( = y-y b bb i n =1i b ab i n =1i b ab i n =1i a aa i n =1i ba bbba                   ˆˆˆˆ where nj is the sample size for social group j. b̂ and  a are the coefficients for marginalized and privileged groups respectively, x b i and ax are the endowments for marginalized and privileged groups, respectively. the first term in brackets represents the part of the gap attributed to differences in distributions of x, and the second term represents the part due to differences in the identity-based processes determining levels of y. the second term also captures the portion of the gap due to group differences in immeasurable or unobserved endowments (khan k., 2022). an equally valid expression for the decomposition is: , n )xf( n )xf( + n )xf( n )xf( = y-y a ba i n =1i a aa i n =1i b bb i n =1i a ba i n =1i ba aaba               in this case, the marginalized social groups‘ coefficient estimates, b̂ are used as weights for the first term in the decomposition, and the privileged groups‘ distributions of the independent variables, ax are used as weights for the second term. unequal access to quality housing quality of housing is an essential component of adequate housing and determines the household well-being. the national sample survey data provides information on quality of housing into three categories—good, satisfactory and bad. analysis of inter-group inequality in terms of quality of housing suggests that scheduled caste (sc) and scheduled tribe (st) households have lower access to good quality housing in comparison to dominant social groups. this trend is witnessed both in rural and urban areas. table 1: quality of housing by social groups: 2018 social groups rural urban good satisfactory bad good satisfactory bad st 26.2 52.1 21.7 49.3 36.8 13.9 sc 27.2 53.4 19.4 44.6 43.0 12.4 where nj is the sample size for social group j. bβ̂ and β a are the coefficients for marginalized and privileged groups respectively, x b i and ax are the endowments for marginalized and privileged groups, respectively. the first term in brackets represents the part of the gap attributed to differences in distributions of x, and the second term represents the part due to differences in the identity-based processes determining levels of y. the second term also captures the portion of the gap due to group differences in immeasurable or unobserved endowments (khan, 2022). an equally valid expression for the decomposition is: endowment gap. in this model the coefficients of the privileged groups obtained from the regression analysis are assigned to the marginalized social groups to estimate the predicted probability of accessing basic amenities among them. if there is no discrimination, this predicted probability should be the same as their actual probability of accessing better quality basic amenities. the gap between this estimated probability and actual probability of accessing good quality basic amenities among the marginalized social group is a measure of discrimination. however, the gap between this predicted probability and the actual probability of ownership among privileged groups is a measure of the gap in the outcome variable attributed to the difference in the endowment. in this article, the decomposition method is used to estimate the difference in the probability of accessing good quality basic amenities between privileged and marginalised social groups (hindu high castes/scheduled castes, hindu high castes/muslims, hindu high castes/other backward classes). the household size, gender, location, household head‘s education, monthly per capita expenditure and income are used as explanatory variables in the model for the decomposition analysis. to calculate the decomposition of gap in the outcome variable between two groups (say a for privileged group and b for marginalized social group), define jy (where j = a or b) the average probability of the binary outcome for group j and f as the cumulative distribution function from the logistic distribution. following fairlie (1999), the decomposition for a non-linear equation, y = f(x ̂ ), can be written as: , n )xf( n )xf( + n )xf( n )xf( = y-y b bb i n =1i b ab i n =1i b ab i n =1i a aa i n =1i ba bbba                   ˆˆˆˆ where nj is the sample size for social group j. b̂ and  a are the coefficients for marginalized and privileged groups respectively, x b i and ax are the endowments for marginalized and privileged groups, respectively. the first term in brackets represents the part of the gap attributed to differences in distributions of x, and the second term represents the part due to differences in the identity-based processes determining levels of y. the second term also captures the portion of the gap due to group differences in immeasurable or unobserved endowments (khan k., 2022). an equally valid expression for the decomposition is: , n )xf( n )xf( + n )xf( n )xf( = y-y a ba i n =1i a aa i n =1i b bb i n =1i a ba i n =1i ba aaba               in this case, the marginalized social groups‘ coefficient estimates, b̂ are used as weights for the first term in the decomposition, and the privileged groups‘ distributions of the independent variables, ax are used as weights for the second term. unequal access to quality housing quality of housing is an essential component of adequate housing and determines the household well-being. the national sample survey data provides information on quality of housing into three categories—good, satisfactory and bad. analysis of inter-group inequality in terms of quality of housing suggests that scheduled caste (sc) and scheduled tribe (st) households have lower access to good quality housing in comparison to dominant social groups. this trend is witnessed both in rural and urban areas. table 1: quality of housing by social groups: 2018 social groups rural urban good satisfactory bad good satisfactory bad st 26.2 52.1 21.7 49.3 36.8 13.9 sc 27.2 53.4 19.4 44.6 43.0 12.4 in this case, the marginalized social groups’ coefficient estimates, bβ̂ are used as weights for the first term in the decomposition, and the privileged groups’ distributions of the independent variables, ax are used as weights for the second term. caste and religion matters in access to housing, drinking water, and toilets 29 unequal access to quality housing quality of housing is an essential component of adequate housing and determines the household well-being. the national sample survey data provides information on quality of housing into three categories—good, satisfactory and bad. analysis of inter-group inequality in terms of quality of housing suggests that scheduled caste (sc) and scheduled tribe (st) households have lower access to good quality housing in comparison to dominant social groups. this trend is witnessed both in rural and urban areas. table 1: quality of housing by social groups: 2018 social groups rural urban good satisfactory bad good satisfactory bad st 26.2 52.1 21.7 49.3 36.8 13.9 sc 27.2 53.4 19.4 44.6 43.0 12.4 hobc 36.9 50.1 13.1 59.4 34.9 5.8 hhc 44.4 46.1 9.5 67.3 28.5 4.2 muslims 33.6 52.2 14.3 47.9 43.1 9.0 rest 55.4 37.0 7.5 68.7 28.2 3.1 total 34.7 50.4 14.9 58.2 35.0 6.9 source: nsso, 76th round, 2018 table 1 also shows that proportion of households living in bad quality housing is highest among scheduled caste households. analysis based on table 1 also indicates rural-urban disparity, as the proportion of good quality housing is higher in urban areas than in rural areas. this trend is witnessed for all social groups. unequal access to drinking water availability of adequate and continuous supply of water at affordable prices is essential for household well-being (aizawa et al., 2020). since independence, varied plans and programmes have been initiated in india to provide safe drinking water to rural as well as urban households. har ghar jal (access to water for all the households) is one of the recent initiatives by the government to provide drinking water to all households in india. physical accessibility of water in terms of exclusive use for the households is crucial. the availability of drinking water in the premise of the house and for the exclusive use for the households is considered most convenient and suitable. nsso provides information regarding the nature of availability of water sources such as: for exclusive use of households, for common use in the housing units, access to water source in the neighborhood, restricted use for public, unrestricted use for public, restricted community and unrestricted private source. in this section, inter-group inequality in access to water source has been analysed with respect to three types: exclusive use for household, common use in the building 30 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 and unrestricted public source. the data given in table 2 indicates that exclusive use for households, unrestricted public and common use in the housing unit are the main sources of water for households. table 2 shows that the inter-social group inequality in accessing exclusive water source is quite high. at aggregate level, while high castes have highest proportion (61 per cent) of households having access to source of water for exclusive use of households, the corresponding figure for scheduled tribe and scheduled caste households is 28 per cent and 45 per cent respectively. further, the data analysis from table 2 also indicates that unrestricted public source of water is higher for marginalized households particularly those residing in rural areas. the proportion of households depending upon common water source in the housing structure is higher in urban areas for all social groups. in comparison to scheduled caste and scheduled tribes, inter-group inequality is lower for muslim households. table 2: principal source of water by social groups social groups rural urban total exclusive common use unrestricted public exclusive common use unrestricted public exclusive common use unrestricted public st 25.4 6.9 54.7 43.9 19.8 17.7 28.3 8.9 49.1 sc 44.1 9.2 35.4 46.9 18.1 16.9 44.8 11.4 30.9 hobc 51.9 8.5 27.7 53.5 18.5 9.3 52.4 11.6 22.0 hhc 56.7 9.1 22.0 66.3 13.4 7.4 61.7 11.3 14.4 muslim 55.0 14.2 20.3 57.6 16.8 11.4 56.0 15.2 16.9 rest 74.6 7.1 10.9 69.8 11.2 6.3 72.3 9.1 8.6 total 48.6 9.2 30.5 57.5 16.3 10.3 51.7 11.6 23.6 source: nsso, 76th round, 2018 for urban households in india, the pattern of access to water source is different from rural areas. the data in table 2 shows that the proportion of households accessing water source exclusive to the households is higher in urban areas than rural areas for all social groups and the proportion of unrestricted public source is lower for urban households. however, inter-social group inequality still persists in urban areas as the highest (nearly two-thirds) proportion of households from high caste has access to water sources for the exclusive use of households. in urban areas, more than half of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households do not have access to water sources for exclusive use of households. more than half of the proportion of muslim and obc households has provision of water sources in their housing units. access to water source for common use in the dwelling units in urban areas is highest for scheduled tribes, scheduled caste and obc households. unequal access to drinking water by tenure status of housing unit tenure status of housing unit also affects the provision of basic amenities. security of tenure and provision of essential services are inter-linked. security of tenure enables caste and religion matters in access to housing, drinking water, and toilets 31 the resident to invest their income in upgrading the quality of basic amenities in the dwelling unit. in this section the difference in the availability of water source in the owned and rented housing unit has been analysed. based on the data given in table 3, it can be argued that the households living in owned housing unit have higher access to exclusive source of drinking water than rental housing. table 3: source of drinking water by tenure status social group owned rental exclusive common use unrestricted public exclusive common use unrestricted public st 58.5 5.0 22.29 31.0 33.2 8.0 sc 57.8 8.2 19.65 30.8 34.0 10.7 hobc 68.6 8.0 10.55 32.5 32.2 7.2 hhc 77.6 6.4 7.62 45.6 25.8 6.5 muslim 67.0 11.0 11.42 37.5 29.0 10.5 rest 80.6 4.3 5.91 41.3 30.2 5.5 total 70.1 7.7 11.13 37.1 30.1 7.8 source: nsso, 76th round, 2018 however, inter-group inequality still persists in owned housing unit. while the highest, 77.6 per cent high caste households, have access to water source for exclusive use of households, this is significantly lower for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (58 per cent). approximately two-thirds of obc and muslim households have access to drinking water for exclusive use of households. thus, we can argue that despite owning a housing unit in urban areas more than 40 per cent scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households do not have provision of water for exclusive use of households and depend on other sources. the availability of water sources for the households living in the rented accommodation in urban areas shows a significant pattern as more than half of the households among all social groups do not have access to exclusive water sources. however, among social groups high caste households have highest, 45 per cent access to exclusive water source. among the households living in rented accommodation, access to common source of water in the housing unit is significant among all social groups and highest, where 34 per cent scheduled caste households reported to depend on this. unequal access to sufficient drinking water throughout the year access to sufficient drinking water throughout the year is very significant for the household well-being and essential component of right to adequate housing. the intergroup inequality in accessing sufficient drinking water throughout the year has been analyzed for rural, urban, slum and non-slum. 32 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 table 4: access to sufficient drinking water throughout the year social group access to sufficient drinking water throughout the year rural urban slum non-slum total st 81.1 85.0 72.5 87.0 81.7 sc 88.2 89.3 84.9 89.9 88.4 hobc 87.6 91.6 86.6 91.9 88.8 hhc 86.9 92.9 89.6 93.1 90.0 muslim 93.4 88.3 78.2 89.3 91.4 rest 90.8 91.7 81.9 92.1 91.3 total 87.6 90.9 84.0 91.5 88.7 source: nsso, 76th round, 2018 table 4 indicates that access to safe drinking water throughout year is lowest for scheduled tribe households. in urban areas, 15 per cent scheduled tribe and 10 per cent scheduled caste households do not have access to sufficient water sources throughout the year. further, if we analyse the availability of sufficient water for different social groups living in slums, the findings indicate that among all social groups, the high caste have better access to drinking water throughout the year. it can be argued that in comparison to other social groups, scheduled caste and scheduled tribe face highest deprivation in getting access to sufficient water throughout the year. interestingly, urban households have better access to drinking water than rural households. unequal access to quality toilet facilities accessing safe and private toilet facilities are essential for a secure and healthy life of household members particularly women, elderly and adolescents (pearson & mcphedran, 2008). access to sanitation for exclusive use of households also saves time and energy which brings economic and other benefits in terms of utilizing the saved time in economic and other essential activities. in this section, inter-group inequality in access to toilet has been analysed. availability of toilet for exclusive use of households access to toilet can be analyzed in terms of its availability for the exclusive use of households, for common use of households in the building, public/ community latrine without payment. among these categories, availability of toilet for exclusive use for households is considered the most suitable for privacy, dignity and well-being of the households. the data given in table 5 clearly indicates that nearly 77 per cent urban households have access to toilet for exclusive use of households which is higher than rural households. however, nearly 50 per cent households living in slums do not have access to toilet for exclusive use of households and have to depend upon common or public toilets. caste and religion matters in access to housing, drinking water, and toilets 33 table 5: access to toilet for exclusive use of households sector exclusive use of household common use of household in the building public/community toilet without payment other rural 63.2 7.3 0.24 28.71 urban 77.6 15.6 1.5 3.8 slum 50.9 15.6 12.0 10.6 non-slum 79.6 15.6 0.69 3.23 source: nsso, 76th round, 2018 analysis of inter-group inequality in access to toilet shows a significant trend. the data given in table 6 suggests that at aggregate level, proportion of households having toilet facilities is highest for high caste households. nearly 80 per cent high caste households have access to exclusive toilet in their houses. while only 57 per cent scheduled caste and scheduled tribe and nearly 67-68 per cent obc and muslim households have access to toilet for exclusive use of households. using common toilet in the dwelling unit or sharing with other households in the building is highest among muslim households. table 6: inter-group inequality in access to toilet for exclusive use of households: 2018 social group rural urban total exclusive use of household common use of household in the building other exclusive use of household common use of household in the building other exclusive use of household common use of household in the building other st 56.0 6.4 36.7 67.6 17.4 11.6 57.8 8.1 32.8 sc 54.4 7.4 37.3 66.2 19.9 8.9 57.3 10.5 30.4 hobc 63.4 5.0 31.1 76.9 17.1 4.0 67.6 8.7 22.6 hhc 76.8 7.8 14.7 84.0 12.2 0.77 80.5 10.1 7.4 muslim 64.1 15.3 19.3 76.1 16.6 3.5 68.7 15.8 13.1 rest 85.4 4.9 9.3 87.4 9.7 1.4 86.4 7.3 5.4 total 63.2 7.3 28.7 77.6 15.6 3.8 68.1 10.1 20.2 source: nsso, 76th round, 2018 inter-group inequality in accessing the toilet for rural households shows a similar pattern. although, access to toilet for exclusive use of households is lower for marginalized social groups, it is highest for high caste households. in comparison high castes have nearly 75 per cent households with access to toilet for the exclusive use of households, the corresponding figure for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe is nearly 54 per cent. however, in rural areas, the dependence of households for other sources is higher for all social groups. for urban households, the availability of toilet for exclusive use of households is higher than the rural households. inter-group inequality in access to toilet is significantly high in urban areas as well. in urban areas, highest 84 per cent high caste households have access to exclusive toilet while nearly one-third of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households do not have access toilet for exclusive use of households. similarly, 76 per cent urban muslim households have access to 34 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 latrine facilities for exclusive use of households. using common toilet in the building is quite high for the marginalized social groups such as scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and muslims in urban areas. use of public or community toilet is quite low for all social groups in urban areas. thus, based on the discussion in this section, we can conclude that inter-social group inequality is significantly high in both rural and urban areas, which intends to suggest that social group identity plays a very significant role in determining the quality of essential services accessed. unequal access to bathroom availability of bathroom in the housing unit is considered essential for maintaining privacy to the household members and improving quality of life. access to bathroom is an important component for right to adequate housing. the availability of bathroom can be studied in various categories: bathroom for exclusive use of households, common use of households in the building, public/community with and without payment, others and no bathroom facilities. access to bathroom has been analysed for rural, urban, slum and non-slum. in the next section, inter-social group inequality in access to bathroom has been also analysed. the data in table 7 illustrates significant rural-urban and slum-non-slum disparity. the analysis suggests that while nearly half of the proportion of rural households does not have access to exclusive bathroom, the corresponding figure for urban areas is 75 per cent. in rural areas, more than 43 per cent households do not have specific bathroom facilities but depend upon other sources such as make-shift structures for bathing. in slum areas as well, nearly onefourth of the households do not have well-defined bathrooms and depend upon other types such as temporary arrangement, etc. table 7: access to bathroom sector access to bathroom exclusive use of household common use of household in the building public/ community use without payment public/ community use with payment others no bathroom rural 50.3 6.1 0.07 0 43.4 0.25 urban 75.0 15.9 0.15 0.01 8.8 0.16 slum 59.3 13.2 1.26 0.04 25.9 0.25 non-slum 76.2 16.1 0.05 0.01 7.5 0.15 source: nsso, 76th round, 2018 analysis of inter-group inequality for bathroom shows that like other basic amenities, marginalized social group households have lower access to bathroom for exclusive use of households than high caste households. this trend can be observed for aggregate, rural and urban level. however, in comparison to rural households, urban households have better access to bathroom. thus, inter-social group disparity is noticed in urban areas as well. the data given in the table clearly shows that 82 per cent of high caste households in urban areas have bathroom for exclusive use of households which is caste and religion matters in access to housing, drinking water, and toilets 35 highest among all social groups whereas more than 40 per cent scheduled tribes and more than 35 per cent scheduled caste do not have bathroom for exclusive use of households. table 8: access to bathroom for exclusive use of households social groups rural urban total exclusive use of household common use of household in the building others exclusive use of household common use of household in the building others exclusive use of household common use of household in the building other st 35.5 5.9 58.3 59.7 20.4 19.2 39.2 8.1 52.4 sc 41.7 5.8 52.2 63.4 19.9 15.9 47.0 9.2 43.3 hobc 53.6 5.0 41.1 74.0 17.9 7.9 60.0 9.1 30.7 hhc 65.4 6.7 27.7 82.4 12.4 4.9 74.2 9.7 15.8 muslim 45.2 9.3 45.2 72.2 15.8 11.7 55.7 11.8 32.2 rest 81.0 5.8 12.7 87.8 9.8 2.3 84.3 7.8 7.7 total 50.3 6.1 43.4 75.0 15.9 8.8 58.7 9.4 31.5 source: nsso, 76th round, 2018 quite a significant proportion of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households in urban areas depend upon sharing the common bathroom in their dwelling. in comparison to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe, muslim households have better access to bathroom. in rural areas, except high caste households, other social groups have very poor access to bathroom. more than half of the proportion of rural scheduled caste households does not have access to bathroom. thus, based on the analysis of this section, it can be argued that similar to other amenities, inter-group inequality persists in access to bathroom as well. the analysis manifests that in comparison to urban areas, inter-group inequality is higher in rural areas. factors affecting access to basic amenities in india: logistic regression analysis multiple socio-economic factors determine essential amenities accessed by the households. in this section, the socio-economic determinants of access to three basic amenities, viz., drinking water, toilet and bathroom has been analysed through logistic regression model. as per the model, the determinants which impact the quality and quantity of basic services availed by the households are: geographical location of the dwelling unit, i.e. rural, urban, gender of the head of the households, household size, income and educational background of the head of the households. besides, social identity such as caste, ethnicity and religious background play a significant role in access to basic amenities to the households. 36 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 factoring affecting access to safe drinking water: results of logistic regression in this section, socio-economic determinants of access to safe drinking water have been analysed through logistic regression model. the analysis of the logit model given in table 9 shows that the odds of accessing water for exclusive use of households is 5 per cent lower for urban households than rural household. the logit analysis also shows that if the education level of the head of the household is more than higher secondary, the probability of getting access to water source exclusively for the households would be 26 per cent higher. the logistic regression model also shows that the size of the households determines the odds of access to exclusive water source for the households. muslim households have 8 per cent higher probability of getting access to exclusive water source. in comparison to high caste households, scheduled tribe households have 70 per cent lower probability of getting access to exclusive water sources. the gap is quite significant which indicates the pathetic condition of access to water resources for the tribal households in india. the logistic regression model also indicates that scheduled caste households have 34 per cent lower probability of accessing exclusive water source for the households. similarly, obc households also have 14 per cent lower probability of getting access to exclusive water source than high caste households. income of the households has significant impact on the probability of accessing exclusive use of water source for the households. the logistic regression results are significant as shown in the model. based on the analysis of logit model, it can be concluded that apart from the education and economic factors, social identity of the households play critical role in determining access to quality services. table 9: result of the logistic regression: access to exclusive water source access to exclusive source of water odd ratio std. err. z p>z [95% conf. interval] urban (ref: rural) 0.95 0.0002 -237.4 0 0.95 0.95 female (ref: male) 1.02 0.0002 140.1 0 1.02 1.03 education 1.26 0.01 33.6 0 1.24 1.28 household size 1.36 0.0003 1513.8 0 1.36 1.36 muslims (ref: hindu) 1.08 0.00 277.72 0.00 1.07 1.08 other religious minorities (ref: hindu) 1.38 0.00 821.03 0.00 1.38 1.39 st (ref: hc) 0.30 0.00011 3311.1 0 0.30 0.30 sc (ref: hc) 0.66 0.00018 1533.0 0 0.66 0.66 obc (ref: hc) 0.86 0.00019 -669.4 0 0.86 0.86 income 1.96 0.00043 3034.0 0 1.96 1.96 _cons 0.00 0.00 3233.4 0 0.0033 0.0033 prob > chi2 0.00 pseudo r2 0.0682 source: author’s calculation from nsso, 76th round, 2018 caste and religion matters in access to housing, drinking water, and toilets 37 logistic regression results for access to toilet the results of logistic regression for access to toilet for exclusive use of households show that in comparison to rural households, urban households have 7 per cent higher odds of accessing exclusive toilet for the households. similarly, femaleheaded households have 7 per cent higher odds of getting access to exclusive toilet. the education level of head of the households have a significant role in determining the quality of basic amenities. the head of households having education more than higher secondary have 68 per cent higher odds of getting access to toilet for exclusive use of the households than those households who have lower education level. size of the households also determines the quality of toilet accessed by the households. the result of the logistic regression shows that in comparison to hindu households, muslims households have only 3 per cent lower odds of access to toilet for exclusive use of households. among social groups, scheduled caste household have very low probability of getting access to toilet for exclusive use of households. in comparison to high caste households, scheduled caste households have 49 per cent lower probability of having toilet for exclusive use of household. similarly, in comparison to high caste, scheduled tribe households have 38 per cent lower probability of accessing exclusive toilet for the households. the obc households also have 29 per cent lower odds of accessing toilet for exclusive use of households. table 10: result of the logistic regression: access of household to exclusive toilet access to exclusive toilet odd ratio std. err. z p>z [95% conf. interval] urban (ref: rural) 1.07 0.0003 244.3 0 1.066 1.067 female (ref: male) 1.07 0.0002 369.7 0 1.07 1.08 education 1.68 0.0004 2152.0 0 1.68 1.68 household size 1.17 0.00 3386.9 0 1.17 1.17 muslims (ref: hindu) 0.97 0.0003 -87.1 0 0.97 0.98 orm (ref: hindu) 1.68 0.0008 1048.2 0 1.67 1.68 st (ref: hc) 0.62 0.00024 1262.1 0 0.62 0.62 sc (ref: hc) 0.51 0.00016 2173.1 0 0.51 0.51 obc (ref: hc) 0.71 0.00019 1294.8 0 0.71 0.71 income 3.79 0.001 5058.7 0 3.790 3.794 _cons 0.00 0.00 4746.47 0 0.00 0.00 prob > chi2 0 pseudo r2 0.107 source: author’s calculation from nsso, 76th round, 2018 the logistic regression model shows that income of the households has greater impact on the probability of accessing exclusive toilet for the household. the logistic regression results are significant as shown in the model. the analysis of the logit 38 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 model clearly shows that the social identity of the households greatly determines the access to toilet amenities despite targeted universal coverage of the public policy on sanitation. logistic regression results for access to bathroom logistic regression model for access to bathroom for exclusive use of households shown in table 11 indicates that in comparison to rural households, urban households have 24 per cent higher probability of accessing bathroom for exclusive use of households. education also has significant impact on the probability of accessing bathroom for the households. a larger household size also increases the odds of accessing bathroom as shown in table 11. similar to other basic amenities, access to bathroom for exclusive use of households is also determined by the social and religious identity. the logit model shows that in comparison to hindu households, muslim households have 19 per cent lower probability of accessing exclusive bathroom for the household. apart from religious identity, the socio-ethnic identity of the households also plays a significant role in determining the access to bathroom. in comparison to high caste households, the probability of accessing bathroom is 49 per cent lower for scheduled tribe households while it is nearly 41 per cent lower for scheduled caste households. similarly, obc households have 15 per cent lower probability of accessing bathroom for exclusive use of households. as shown in the model, income of the households has stronger effect on the odds of accessing the exclusive bathroom facility in the housing unit. the logistic regression results are significant as shown in the model. table 11: result of the logistic regression: access of household to exclusive bathroom access to exclusive bathroom odd ratio std. err. z p>z [95% conf. interval] urban (ref: rural) 1.24 0.00032 829.5 0 1.238 1.239 female (ref: male) 1.09 0.0002 455.8 0 1.092 1.093 education 1.73 0.0004 2378.8 0 1.73 1.73 household size 1.22 0.00 4195.4 0 1.21 1.22 muslims (ref: hindu) 0.81 0.0002 -755.7 0 0.81 0.81 other religious minorities (ref: hindu) 1.70 0.0008 1117.6 0 1.70 1.70 st (ref: hc) 0.51 0.00020 1746.2 0 0.51 0.51 sc (ref: hc) 0.59 0.00018 1731.4 0 0.59 0.59 obc (ref: hc) 0.85 0.00021 -652.5 0 0.85 0.85 income 7.72 0.0022 7297.8 0 7.72 7.72 _cons 0.00 0.00 7235.9 0 0.00 0.00 prob > chi2 0 pseudo r2 0.1876 source: author’s calculation from nsso, 76th round, 2018 caste and religion matters in access to housing, drinking water, and toilets 39 discrimination in access to basic amenities: decomposition analysis in this section, the discrimination in access to basic amenities such as water, sanitation and bathroom has been analysed by implying decomposition econometrics techniques. the decomposition analysis has been done for access to three basic amenities exclusive to the household: water, toilet and bathroom. as discussed in methodology section of this article, the decomposition method disaggregates the factors explaining the intergroup gap between different social groups. apart from endowment factors such as income, geographical location, education, etc., social identity-based discrimination also determines the access to essential services to the households. discrimination in access to drinking water: decomposition into endowment and caste discrimination the decomposition results given in table 12 explain the gap between scheduled caste and high caste as far as access to exclusive source of water for the household is concerned. the results show that 49 per cent gap in access to water source is explained by endowment factors while remaining 51 per cent is not explained by endowment factors. this means that the 51 per cent difference in access to exclusive source of water for scheduled caste in comparison to high caste is due to caste identity-based discrimination for scheduled caste households. table 12: decomposition result for exclusive water: sc vs hc total number of observation 1,69,080 number of observation, hc 90072 number of observation, sc 79008 probability of access to water source for exclusive use of household, hc 0.654544 probability of access to water source for exclusive use of household, sc 0.487127 difference 0.167417 total explained 0.081718 percentage explained 48.8 percentage not explained (discrimination) 51.2 source: author’s calculation from nsso, 76th round, 2018 the decomposition results shown in table 13 explain the gap between obc household and high caste households. the analysis shows that the endowment factors explain nearly 62 per cent gap between obc and high caste households as far as access to water source for exclusive use of households is concerned. the remaining gap of 38 per cent is not explained by the endowment factors. thus, 38 per cent gap in accessing water source for the obc and high caste is due to caste identity. the decomposition results for the availability of water source for exclusive use of household between muslim and high caste household is given in table 14. the 40 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 result shows that the endowment factors explains nearly 88.4 per cent gap between muslim and high caste households while remaining 11.6 per cent is not explained by the endowment factors. thus, nearly 11.6 per cent gap between muslim and high caste household is due to muslim identity. table 13: decomposition result for exclusive water: obc vs hc total number of observation 2,41,086 number of observation, hc 90072 number of observation, obc 151014 probability of access to water source for exclusive use of household, hc 0.654544 probability of access to water source for exclusive use of household obc 0.567094 difference 0.08745 total explained 0.054286 percentage explained 62.1 percentage not explained (discrimination) 37.9 source: author’s calculation from nsso, 76th round, 2018 table 14: decomposition result for exclusive water: muslims vs hc total number of observation 1,57,528 number of observation, hc 90072 number of observation, muslims 67456 probability of access to water source for exclusive use of household, hc 0.654544 probability of access to water source for exclusive use of household: muslims 0.612137 difference 0.042406 total explained 0.037506 percentage explained 88.4 percentage not explained (discrimination) 11.6 source: author’s calculation from nsso, 76th round, 2018 thus, based on the decomposition results, it can be concluded that scheduled caste households have to face caste-based discrimination which reduces their access to water sources for exclusive use of households. discrimination in access to toilets: decomposition into endowment and caste discrimination in this section, discrimination in access to toilet for exclusive use of households has been analysed. the decomposition results shown in table 15 explain the difference in accessing toilet between scheduled caste and high caste household. the decomposition result shows the impact of discrimination in denying exclusive toilet for scheduled caste households. the result given in table 15 shows that less than 24 per cent difference is explained by endowment factors while remaining 76 per cent is not explained by caste and religion matters in access to housing, drinking water, and toilets 41 endowment factors. the analysis based on the decomposition result clearly shows that more than three-fourth differences between scheduled caste and high caste household is due to discrimination experienced by the scheduled caste household due to their social identity. table 15: decomposition result for exclusive toilet: sc vs hc total number of observation 1,69,080 number of observation, hc 90072 number of observation, sc 79008 probability of access to toilet for exclusive use of household, hc 0.832347 probability of access to toilet for exclusive use of household, sc 0.594382 difference 0.237964 total explained 0.093949 percentage explained 23.8 percentage not explained (discrimination) 76.2 source: author’s calculation from nsso, 76th round, 2018 the decomposition results shown in table 16 explain the difference between muslims and high caste households to endowment factors and non-endowment factors. the result clearly indicates that nearly 49 per cent difference is explained by endowment factors while more than 51 per cent difference is not explained by the endowment factors. this may be attributed to discrimination experienced by muslim households in comparison to high caste households. thus, more than half of the difference between muslim households and high cast households is due to discrimination faced by muslim in accessing toilet for the exclusive use of household. table 16: decomposition result for exclusive toilet: muslims vs hc total number of observation 1,57,528 number of observation, hc 90072 number of observation, muslims 67456 probability of access to toilet for exclusive use of household, hc 0.832347 probability of access to toilet for exclusive use of household, muslims 0.722025 difference 0.110322 total explained 0.053623 percentage explained 48.6 percentage not explained (discrimination) 51.4 source: author’s calculation from nsso, 76th round, 2018 based on the decomposition analysis of this section, it can be argued that social identity-based discrimination experienced by scheduled caste and muslim households adversely affects access to sanitation. 42 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 discrimination in access to bathrooms: decomposition into endowment and caste discrimination in this section, discrimination in accessing bathroom for exclusive use of households for marginalised social groups have been analysed through decomposition analysis. the results given in table 17 explains the gap in accessing bathroom for exclusive use of households for scheduled caste households in comparison to high caste households. the decomposition results shows that nearly 54 per cent gap between these two social groups is explained by the endowment factors while remaining 46 per cent is not explained. thus, 46 per cent difference between scheduled caste and high caste in accessing bathroom is due to the discrimination faced by scheduled caste for their caste-based identity. table 17: decomposition result for exclusive bathroom: sc vs hc total number of observation 1,69,080 number of observation, hc 90072 number of observation, sc 79008 probability of access to bathroom for exclusive use of household, hc 0.768447 probability of access to bathroom for exclusive use of household, sc 0.487997 difference 0.28045 total explained 0.152568 percentage explained 54.4 percentage not explained (discrimination) 45.6 source: author’s calculation from nsso, 76th round, 2018 the decomposition results for difference in accessing bathroom for obc and high caste households given in table 18 shows that the endowment factors explain the 63 per cent difference between these two social groups while remaining 37 per cent is not explained by the endowment factors. thus, 37 per cent difference may be attributed to caste-based identity for obc households in comparison to high caste households. table 18: decomposition result for exclusive bathroom: obc vs hc total number of observation 2,41,086 number of observation, hc 90072 number of observation, obc 151014 probability of access to bathroom for exclusive use of household, hc 0.768447 probability of access to bathroom for exclusive use of household, obc 0.606639 difference 0.161808 total explained 0.101943 percentage explained 63.0 percentage not explained (discrimination) 37.0 source: author’s calculation from nsso, 76th round, 2018 caste and religion matters in access to housing, drinking water, and toilets 43 similarly, table 19 explains the difference in access to bathroom for muslims and high caste households. the decomposition results shown in the table indicate that endowment factors explain nearly 48 per cent difference between muslims and high caste households. thus, nearly 52 per cent difference is not explained by endowment factors. table 19: decomposition result for exclusive bathroom: muslims vs hc total number of observation 1,57,528 number of observation, hc 90072 number of observation, muslims 67456 probability of access to bathroom for exclusive use of household, hc 0.768447 probability of access to bathroom for exclusive use of household, muslims 0.590784 difference 0.177663 total explained 0.085615 percentage explained 48.2 percentage not explained (discrimination) 51.8 source: author’s calculation from nsso, 76th round, 2018 this may be attributed to the discrimination faced by muslim households in accessing the bathroom for the exclusive use of household. thus, more than half of the difference between muslim and high caste household is due to discriminatory practices against muslim household in comparison to high caste households. discussions and conclusion the article examines the provision of adequate housing for marginalised social groups in india. the essential components of adequate housing such as access to good quality dwelling unit and access to basic amenities such as drinking water, sanitation and bathroom for exclusive use of households have been systematically analysed. apart from analysis of inter-group inequality in access to the above components of adequate housing, socio-economic determinants affecting their access have also been analysed. based on the analysis, it can be argued that inter-group inequalities in access to good quality dwelling units and other basic amenities is alarmingly high in both rural and urban areas. location of the dwelling units such as slum and non-slum also significantly affect access to good housing and basic amenities. among all social groups, intergroup disparity is high for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households followed by muslim. this trend is observed in both rural as well urban areas. scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households not only have lower access to safe drinking water, they also do not get sufficient drinking water throughout the year. similarly, intergroup inequality in access to toilet and bathroom amenities is higher for marginalised social groups in comparison to high caste. it emerges from the analysis that apart from income and educational attainment of the households, caste, ethnicity and religious identity also determines the quality of housing and basic amenities accessed by the 44 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 households. the results of logistic regression model suggest that the probability of accessing good quality basic amenities such as water, sanitation and bathroom are lower for marginalised social groups in comparison to dominant social groups. the article also analyse the discrimination experienced by marginalised social groups while accessing basic amenities for exclusive use of households. the results of decomposition analysis disaggregate the role of endowment factors and discrimination in determining quality of basic services accessed by marginalised social groups. the decomposition analysis intends to suggest that apart from endowment factors which plays significant role in determining access to better and adequate housing for all social groups, discrimination and exclusion based on social group identity adversely affect marginalised social groups. scheduled caste and muslim households have lower access to good quality dwelling and basic amenities due to caste and religious identity based exclusion and discrimination. these vulnerable groups are often denied equal access to housing and basic amenities due to prejudices and biasness against their social identity. based on the data analysis in this article, it can be argued that apart from the general public policies, it is imperative to formulate group specific public policies for housing and basic amenities. the public housing programmes should be formulated and implemented in such a manner which promotes inclusiveness in these programmes and reduces inter-group inequality. the right to adequate housing which is essential for dignified life and well-being should be guaranteed to all social groups. the right to access to clean water and hygienic living conditions must be regarded as basic rights to all human being irrespective of social and economic backgrounds. funding the article is based on some of the research findings of the study entitled ‘housing rights and marginalised social groups in india’ undertaken by indian institute of dalit studies, new delhi and funded by rosa luxemburg stiftung, south asia. acknowledgement the author expresses since thanks to dr khalid khan, assistant professor, iids for his support in data analysis. references aizawa, t., helble, m., & lee, k.o. 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(2014). ‘equal right to housing’ in hong kong housing policy: perspectives from disadvantaged groups. journal of housing and the built environment, november 2014, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 563–582. © 2023 maya suzuki. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.687 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 196-212 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste socio-spatially segregated experience of urban dalits and their anti-caste imagination: a study of the balmiki community in delhi, india maya suzuki* abstract over the last three decades, india has experienced rapid economic development and social and cultural transformation. questions arise as to how minorities secure their livelihood and what strategies are being devised for the same. and, what vision of the future do they have in mind? in this article, i will focus on the dalit community in north india. fieldwork conducted on one such disadvantaged group, the urban balmikis (known as the sweeper caste)1 in delhi, is drawn upon to examine as a case study. balmikis have a high rate of migration to urban areas, which is due to their historical background of being employed in the sanitation sector of municipalities and the ministry of railways since the colonial times. the name of the community, balmiki, is derived from worshipping “bhagwan valmik,” a legendary saint and composer of ramayana. it began to take root as a name with positive connotations among the sweeper caste in north india around the 1920s and 1930s. because of this historical development, it is often accused of discrediting dalits who dissent from hindu values and for hindering dalit solidarity. however, if one listens to the claims of the balmikis, they do not necessarily consider themselves “hindus”. for example, during my research, a frequent response to questions about religion was the statement, “we are forced to be hindus”. in contrast, the words that immediately follow, “we are balmikis,” are restated. by focusing on the beliefs and ambiguity of self-identity of the balmikis, this article attempts to examine their anti-caste imagination. it then poses the question as to how that imagination is intertwined with everyday experiences and collective grassroots movements. keywords delhi, balmiki, sweepers, segregation, urban dalits, anti-caste *associate professor, faculty of international relations, daito bunka university, japan email: mayasuzuki.edu@gmail.com 1in this article, the terms “balmiki” and “valmiki” are used almost interchangeably as community names. the caste name “balmiki” reflects the pronunciation of the prevailing vernacular language, hindi, and panjabi, and is in widespread usage among local dalits. socio-spatially segregated experience of urban dalits and their anti-caste imagination 197 introduction over the last three decades, india has experienced rapid economic development and social and cultural transformation. this includes considerations of how minorities secure their livelihoods and strategies devised for the same. this article focuses on the dalit community in north india. fieldwork conducted on one such disadvantaged group, the urban balmikis (known as the sweeper caste) in delhi, is examined as a case study. this article is based on data collected from a survey conducted among 135 balmiki households chosen from three districts (new delhi, northwest and south) of delhi between 2006 and 2014 and recent interviews with balmiki sweepers conducted in february 2020. to consider and protect privacy of informants, personal and regional names are pseudonymized in this article. balmikis have a high rate of migration to urban areas, which is due to their historical background of being employed in the sanitation sector of municipalities and the ministry of railways since colonial times. according to the 2011 census, though the balmiki caste (577,281/20.5 per cent) is the second-largest scheduled caste (sc) group after the chamars (1075,569/38.2 per cent) in delhi, yet the balmikis do not have a significant presence in contemporary dalit movements. while ambedkar’s ideology is supported by the community, they do not actively participate in the buddhist conversion movement or bsp’s [bahujan samaj party (bsp)] political activities. the name of the community, balmiki, is derived from worshipping “bhagwan valmik,” a legendary saint and composer of the ramayana. the name balmiki began to take root as a name with positive connotations among the sweeper castes in north india in the 1920s and 1930s. due to this historical development, it is often accused of discrediting the dalits dissent against hindu values and hindering dalit solidarity. however, from the claims of the balmikis, it emerges that they do not necessarily consider themselves hindus. for example, during my research, a frequent response to questions about religion elicited a seeming hesitancy to be a hindu. alongside, words that often followed were, “we are balmikis.” from a historical perspective, prashad’s (2000) study deals with the social history of the sanitation labor castes in delhi. prashad details the history of the caste before and after independence, drawing on the pre-independence census, geography, and rare government reports on the living and working conditions of the sweeper castes. his study explores the community history when a particular group had joined the municipal sanitation department. lee (2015) historically illuminates a religious identity and naming of the lal begis in lucknow. these studies reveal the history and identity formation of how multiple caste groups came to call themselves balmikis. by focusing on the beliefs and ambiguity of self-identity of the balmikis, this article attempts to examine their anti-caste imagination. it then poses the question of how that imagination is intertwined with everyday experiences and collective grassroots movements. the research question raised here is about how spatially segregated experiences and stigma affects their sense of “us” and enhances solidarity among the communities. 198 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 socio-spatial segregation in cities it is not uncommon to see streets and localities named after communities, such as harijan basti, balmiki colony, and chamar mohalla. these are known as low-caste names and may cause stigmatized experiences and discriminatory sentiments against the residents of the locality. in addition, stereotypes of insecurity, gambling, drinking, and odor seem to be deeply rooted in these areas (ganguly 2018a). using ethnographic research in the cities of lucknow and benaras in the north indian state of uttar pradesh, lee (2017) highlighted how the segregation of the sanitation labor caste is inscribed in space and sensoria. therefore, local residents and activists have often demanded that governments change the caste-related names in the form of collective protests.2 social and spatial segregation along caste lines is not just a past phenomenon, especially for dalits. recently, there has been a significant amount of scholarly literature on caste-based segregation and exclusion in major socio-economic areas, such as residential patterns, rental housing markets, labor markets, and higher education (deshpande & newman 2007; dupont 2004; ganguly 2018a, 2018b; jodhka & newman 2007; kamble 2002; madheswaran & attewell 2007; thorat & attewell 2007; thorat et al., 2015; vithathil & singh 2012). in previous studies, castebased discrimination and exclusion were largely assumed to be the future of rural areas. however, recent studies have collected data from metropolitan cities, including the national capital region where it appears that caste favoritism and the social exclusion of dalits and muslims have entered private enterprises (thorat & attewell 2007: 4144). the concept of segregation opposes that of cohabitation, but it is noteworthy that the common experience of segregation can serve to enhance the feeling of “us” or togetherness among disadvantaged communities such as dalits who live together (cohabit) in the same colony. place is important in the history of dalit protests and movements. this is because a place can function not only as a home for living, eating, and conducting religious ceremonies (including marriages, births, and funerals) of community members but also as a source of collective action and protests. in the case of the balmikis, their place of residence has also been a source of (union) leaders and activists. balmikis working in government (central/state/municipal corporation) sanitation departments are generally entitled to a flat in government colonies (known as “sweeper colony”) to live in until their retirement. they share time and space, mostly within a homogeneous caste group. in this context, inhabitants construct their socio-spatial environment and sense of security and solidarity. in the 2apart from grassroots protests, the maharashtra government announced in december 2020 that it would be abolishing caste-based names of localities across the state and replacing them with names of freedom fighters, social reformers, and ideologues. social justice minister dhananjay munde explained that the aim of this decision was to solidify the notion of national integrity. the maharashtra government has already dropped the usage of the word “dalit” from official communication, papers, and certificates.https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ other-states/maharashtra-to-drop-caste-names-from-localities/article33234784.ece (accessed on 17 december 2020). socio-spatially segregated experience of urban dalits and their anti-caste imagination 199 next section, i discuss the dalit neighborhood in delhi from a case study based on a relatively old municipal colony of balmiki sweepers. residential patterns of balmikis in delhi delhi is divided into nine districts: northwest, north, northeast, east, new delhi, central, west, southwest, and south. based on the 2011 census data and her field study, ganguly (2018b) points out that when we compare balmikis’ presence in each district with the population of scs in the district, new delhi has the highest concentration (49.2 per cent), followed by the south (27.4 per cent) and south west (26.5 per cent). this pattern is in close agreement with suzuki’s (2015) findings. in the next section, i will describe a municipal colony located in the new delhi district. a municipal sweeper colony colony a, located near the center of delhi, close to the president’s residence, combined government offices, and the parliament, is surrounded by collective dwellings for central government employees, delhi city, and new delhi city. as the percentage of scs among the residents (23.4 per cent) was higher than the average value throughout delhi (16.7 per cent), many people of sc backgrounds are likely gathered in this colony as government employees. two interesting characteristics of the sc composition in the new delhi district are that it is the only district in which balmikis outnumber chamars to form the largest sc group, and many sc government employees are balmikis. colony a was constructed as new delhi municipal council (ndmc) employee housing in 1969 and 1970, and nineteen four-story buildings are located in the district. each building comprises approximately 15 flats, for a total of 288 flats. the residential population is estimated to be at least 1,440 people based on the average household size in the colony. only ndmc employees qualify for residence; therefore, at least one member of each household must be an employee of the ndmc. about 20 per cent of the monthly wages of each household head are deducted as rent, and the family may live in it until the ndmc employee retires. in colony a, opinions concerning homeownership differed between officials and residents, causing severe problems dating back to their construction. this reveals the relationship between the sweeper community and the indian national congress, the governing party, when they were constructed. since this is considered a case of the appropriation of gandhi’s view of the sweeper caste, the author wishes to include historical episodes in colony a based on interviews with residents. the name of colony a, bāpū dhām, means a “place where gandhi stays or lives” in hindi. this suggests that gandhi was somehow linked to events leading to the establishment of the district. in 1969, the movement to celebrate gandhi’s 100th birthday grew among gandhians. colony a was established to improve the lives of poor lower-class government employees (sweepers in particular) as part of the sc support policies. on april 9, 1970, attendees of the celebration of the district’s 200 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 completion included prominent indian congress party parliamentarians, such as the then prime minister, indira gandhi (1917–1984) and president v.v. giri (1894–1980). there are two stone monuments: one is beside a small temple where the saint valmiki is enshrined near the entrance to the colony, and the other is constructed on land deep within the colony. the quadrangular stone monument placed on the grounds of the valmiki temple is engraved with inscriptions and pictures, and the three sides display the words of gandhi concerning anti-untouchability and the three-monkey design (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil) is engraved.3 gandhi viewed untouchability as the worst stain on the hindu religion and launched a movement to abolish it (the harijan movement) in the mid-1930s. from this stone monument, it is possible to discern the situation in 1969, when the congress party government, which inherited gandhi’s harijan movement, constructed colony a as a project to commemorate gandhi’s centenary celebration. another stone monument constructed inside the colony bore an engraved epithet (in english) with the following words (figure 1): “keep your house clean. frontage of your house clean. the whole city shall be clean.” – v. v. giri figure 1. stone monument was established in colony a. (photographed by the author) the engraved text of the message from the then president giri contains the word “clean” three times, perhaps indicating a message to the municipal sanitation workers. was this message, addressed to municipal sweepers, inscribed merely to encourage them in their labor? or can we say this call for cleanliness possibly reflects on the 3the three-monkey design is seen around the world, but in india, it is said to have originated from the teachings of gandhi, who always carried an image of the three monkeys and taught people to not see evil, hear evil, or speak evil; these tenets are extremely familiar to indians as gandhi’s three monkeys. this stone monument is now in extremely poor condition and is severely damaged. most of the engraved text and pictures is covered with sand and is illegible, but they can be seen if the monument is washed with water. socio-spatially segregated experience of urban dalits and their anti-caste imagination 201 unclean status of dalits? the author asked the residents about this interpretation, but did not get a clear answer. the author’s survey revealed that most residents of colony a were employed as municipal sweepers. they reported that before the construction of colony a, they lived several kilometers to the north in a slum that then existed around ndmc employee housing, known generally by the name mandir marg.4 residents of mandir marg were also municipal sweepers, and in this connection, this colony was well known as the place in which gandhi stayed temporarily to publicize the harijan movement in 1946. as asserted by the residents of colony a, during the 1960s and 1970s, the government forcefully implemented a slum clearance project, removing slums from central delhi. the government offered people employed as sweepers by the ndmc, colony a as a relocation site situated close to their workplaces. the aspect that invited confusion was the speech by president giri at the completion ceremony in 1970, in which he stated, “i dedicate this land to you who are poor,” and the attitude of the authorities who urged the people to relocate. according to chouhan, who had lived there since the beginning, almost everyone relocated; this was interpreted as meaning that they could obtain their own house. chouhan retired from the position as the post-assistant sanitary inspector in the ndmc sanitary division and participated in negotiations as a representative of the organization conducting a movement to restore ownership to residents of colony a, called the harijan society improvement committee (harijan samaj sudhar samiti) (formed in 1970).5 the leadership of the resident movement for ownership was formed by union members, arising from the homogeneity of municipal balmiki sweepers who shared the balmikis’ plight and a sense of neighborhood formed in colony a. balmikis in delhi, regardless of whether they undertake sanitation jobs, try to maintain their caste solidarity by celebrating several anniversaries, such as safai mazdoor diwas (sweepers’ day, on july 31) and valmiki saint jayanti (in october). they also hold meetings and organize collective protests when atrocities against the balmikis occur. in 2020, serial rape-murder cases occurred in uttar pradesh (up), followed by protests by balmiki organizations. these incidents and anniversaries have become an opportunity for balmikis to work together and shape a sentiment of “us” and neighborhood beyond the physical geographical locality. the plight of balmiki sweepers caste is a crucial contributing factor towards social inequality, as can be observed between non-dalits and dalits and amongst dalit caste groups. in delhi, balmikis often experience the poorest circumstances in terms of education and employment opportunities (suzuki 2017). according to the 2011 census, the population of balmikis in delhi is approximately 5.8 lakh, and they constitute 21 per cent of the scs, being the second largest population after chamars (approximately 1 million, 38 per cent of 4residents of the colony were interviewed by k.l. meena, former assistant sanitary inspector in the ndmc sanitation division (october 1, 2005, bāpū dhām). 5interview in bāpū dhām on october 1, 2005. 202 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 the scs). balmikis have a literacy rate of 67.4 per cent, the lowest among all scs (78 per cent) in delhi (government of india 2011). additionally, economic mobility among the balmikis has also stagnated. according to an article published in 2005, 99 per cent of delhi’s government sanitary workers were from the balmiki community in 1995 (labor file november–december, 2005, p. 11). during the author’s fieldwork from 2003 onward, comparable information was collected from local balmiki sweepers, residents, and sweeper union leaders at the municipal corporation of delhi. the privatization of the government sanitation department, in which sweepers are employed by municipal corporations and central/state governments, has accelerated since the 2010s, leading to the de-regularization of employment and weakening of trade unions. many balmikis who have been engaged in government sanitation departments are now facing insecurity and fear of unemployment in the near future. at the time of the author’s survey in 2019–2020, the monthly income of household heads was approximately 40,000 rupees (about 560 usd) for pacca (permanent) sweepers and ranged from 10,000 to 12,000 rupees (around 140 to 168 usd) for kaccha (temporary) sweepers and 4,000 to 5,000 rupees (about 56 to 70 usd) for contract-based sweepers. a pacca sweeper is a regular or permanent sweeper who is paid as per the pay scale fixed by the government. along with a salary, they are entitled to government facilities, such as housing, gratuity, promotion, pension, and medical care. kaccha sweepers are those who work with the government or municipality or any agency of the state government. kaccha sweepers are engaged temporarily but are supposed to be regularized in service after a certain period. contract sweepers are those engaged by a contractor under a written agreement for a short period and are paid according to prevailing wage rates in the state. private contractors, to whom work is outsourced by the government or local agencies, are called government contractors, which include many ngos such as sulabh international. the contract sweepers are paid according to the wage rate fixed by the government. however, contract sweepers with private contractors lack the scope to obtain regular/permanent employment in the future because they are not entitled to a permanent job by the government. the author’s interviews with the sweepers demonstrated that each category of sweepers faced difficulties. for example, because contract-based and kaccha sweepers need to pay a proportion of their wages to their contractors, they are not paid their full wages and receive half of their wages. while permanent sweepers are officially supposed to receive proper benefits (family allowances, medical care, and other necessary supplies), they claim they have not received them. safety gear such as gloves, gumboots, and masks, along with the timely payment of salaries, cashless medical cards for treatments, and the clearing of pending arrears, have been the demands of sanitation workers.6 6“amid covid-19 outbreak, delhi’s sanitation workers demand safety gear, masks,” indian express. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/coronavirus-lockdown-few-masks-nogloves-or-sanitisers-complain-mcd-sanitation-workers-6336100/, accessed on april 4, 2020. socio-spatially segregated experience of urban dalits and their anti-caste imagination 203 these difficulties seemed to worsen after the covid-19 outbreak across the country. joginder bahot, president of akhil bharatiya safai mazdoor (absms) and a sweeper of the municipal corporation of delhi (mcd), said, “after the outbreak of covid-19, we are forced to clean (the whole) city, but how can we work safely without protective suits and masks? kuch nahin (nothing)!” bahot continued to explain to the author, “we used to be provided uniforms, soaps, and oil by the mcd before; but now, nothing. we need to work with our own clothes, and they get easily dirty and unusable.”7 although bahot and other members of the absms and the mcd sweeper union have raised the issue to the corporation and the delhi government and have gone on several strikes, their demands have not yet been met. meanwhile, there is an ongoing political battle and disagreement over matters of the sweepers’ unpaid salaries and needful supplies between the aap-led delhi government and the bjp-led mcd. many absms activists concur with the opinion that the plight of delhi’s municipal sweepers has worsened since the mcd was replaced by three new bodies in 2012: the north, south, and east delhi municipal corporation.8 considering these balmiki sweepers’ plight, when the costs of rent, food, electricity, water, and other life essentials were deducted from their salaries, they had almost no money left in hand. they set the balance aside for their daughters’ dowries or religious rites, and there was almost none left to invest in the education of their children. in 2007, electric meters and yellow cables were installed throughout the city under the pretext of “preventing the theft of electricity” to run the electrical industry more efficiently. the people of the colony studied in the survey looked up at the cables reproachfully, saying, “those have doubled electricity prices. i have to pay up to 3,000 rupees every alternate month. what can we do, who do not have steady jobs?” along with complaints about daily expenses, the author often heard people express uneasiness about their homes. employees working as sweepers may live in housing for public employees in the center of delhi to be close to their workplaces as they qualify for public housing if even one member of a household is an employee. the author’s survey confirmed three residential patterns among the balmiki people of delhi. the first is the government (municipal) employees’ housing pattern, namely, continued residence by generations of people who work as sweepers. the second pattern is ensuring housing by obtaining land in a resettlement colony after removal from a slum where people live. in the third pattern, when a government permanent employee from a sweeper household (which has been occupying government employees’ housing) retires, the family purchases a public dwelling in the city with their savings, taking advantage of the housing support policy of allotting funds to scs. turning to links with the balmiki movement discussed later, many movement leaders obtained assets using the third residential pattern. 7interviewed on march 7, 2020, delhi. here is another similar case in the covid-19 pandemic: https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/north-corporation-sanitationworkers-not-paid-salaries-for-march-civic-body-says-govt-yet-to-release-funds/storyqdmkundcpzvtxvty8qvq2i.html (accessed on december 16, 2020). 8the delhi municipal corporation (amendment) act 2011(delhi act 12 of 2011). 204 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 during the 1970s and the 1980s, it was comparatively easy to obtain a home in the city using the second and third patterns; however, in recent years, heavy investment in land has rapidly increased land prices to levels beyond the reach of the balmiki people in the low-income class. life in delhi is becoming increasingly harsh. at the same time, the first pattern, government employees’ housing, is not homeownership but offers convenience—they are close to their workplaces and their children’s schools—and motivates the balmiki people to choose to work as sweepers in successive generations. “we are balmikis”: as a recognizable self-identity in this section, i will focus on the history of the worship of sage bhagwan valmiki in the balmiki community and examine how it has become critical in forming the community’s identity. the name of the community, balmiki, is derived from the worship of bhagwan valmik, a legendary saint and composer of ramayana. it began to take root as a means of positive self-identification among the sweeper community in north india in the 1920s and the 1930s. due to this historical development, it is often accused of discrediting the dalits who dissent against hindu values and hinder dalit unity. however, during my fieldwork in delhi, it is clear that they do not necessarily consider themselves hindus. for example, a frequent response to questions about religion was the statement, “we are forced to be hindus.” in contrast, the words that immediately follow, “we are balmikis,” have been restated. considering these responses, it is important to examine the ambiguity of self-identity in the historical context. demographical transition table 1: scheduled caste population by religious community in delhi (2001 and 2011) 2001 2011 hindu sikh buddhist hindu sikh buddhist all sc 98.69% 0.90% 0.50% 98.88% 0.92% 0.20% chamar 98.57% 0.40% 1.10% 99.24% 0.33% 0.43% chuhra/balmiki 99.89% 0.10% 0.00% 99.93% 0.05% 0.02% kathik 99.78% 0.20% 0.00% 99.86% 0.11% 0.03% koli 99.87% 0.10% 0.10% 99.84% 0.11% 0.05% dhobi 99.82% 0.10% 0.10% 99.89% 0.11% 0.01% balai 99.92% 0.10% 0.00% 99.95% 0.03% 0.02% source: government of india, census of india 2001 and 2011: delhi: sc series-14: tables on population by religious community table 1 illustrates the percentage of the majority groups of scs in delhi by religion. of the total sc population in 2001 and 2011, hindus (98.69 per cent in 2001 and 98.88 per cent in 2011) constitute the majority. compared with other scs, the relatively high percentage of chamars in the buddhist9 population ratio (1.10 per cent in 2001 and 0.43 per cent in 2011) suggests that the community followed ambedkar’s ideas and his conversion movement. ambedkar, the icon and leader of the dalit movement, 9indian buddhists are often referred to as “neo-buddhists,” and some criticize that this terminology creates discrimination by distinguishing them from buddhists outside of india. socio-spatially segregated experience of urban dalits and their anti-caste imagination 205 renounced hinduism and converted to buddhism shortly before his death. census data on buddhist beliefs in delhi demonstrate that believers are heavily skewed towards certain castes, suggesting regional and caste differences in the spread of the conversion movement. table 2 illustrates the population trends (1961–2001 census) of the various castes that are known for sweeper castes in delhi. the figures demonstrate that the proportion of chuhras (renamed balmikis) tends to be overwhelmingly high among the five caste groups: 68.0 per cent in 1961, 79.57 per cent in 1971, 89.54 per cent in 1981, 94.81 per cent in 1991, 96.67 per cent in 2001, and 97.25 per cent in 2011. however, the number of bhangis10 declined significantly: 27.9 per cent in 1961, 18.27 per cent in 1971, 8.75 per cent in 1981, 3.94 per cent in 1991, 2.47 per cent in 2001, and 1.97 per cent in 2011. although we have not been able to obtain data to determine the reasons for the decline in bhangis, it is difficult to consider any likely reason to leave delhi, where non-agricultural employment opportunities can be expected and migrate to other regions. rather, what the author assumes is the possibility that the caste name of bhangi, which has been condemned as a derogatory term, may have been changed to balmiki by collective choice. further research is required to clarify this issue. table 2: population of sweeper castes in delhi (1961-2011) 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011 po pu la tio n r at io o f p op ul at io n am on g fiv e ca st es po pu la tio n r at io o f p op ul at io n am on g fiv e ca st es po pu la tio n r at io o f p op ul at io n am on g fiv e ca st es po pu la tio n r at io o f p op ul at io n am on g fiv e ca st es po pu la tio n r at io o f p op ul at io n am on g fiv e ca st es po pu la tio n r at io o f p op ul at io n am on g fiv e ca st es 1 chuhra (balmiki) 52743 68.0% 107680 79.57% 222638 89.54% 367303 94.81% 500221 96.67% 577281 97.25% 2 bhangi 21637 27.9% 24720 18.27% 21752 8.75% 15277 3.94% 12773 2.47% 11665 1.97% 3 chohra (sweeper) 3088 4.0% 2551 1.89% 3272 1.32% 2854 0.74% 2567 0.50% 1638 0.28% 4 mazhabi 107 0.1% 338 0.25% 858 0.35% 1802 0.47% 1814 0.35% 2829 0.48% 5 lalbegi 28 0.0% 36 0.03% 134 0.05% 192 0.05% 85 0.02% 167 0.03% total 77603 135325 248654 387428 517460 593580 source: government of india, census of india 1961; 1971; 1981; 1991; 2001; 2011 from chuhra to balmiki in choosing the name balmiki as self-identification, rather than “hindu” or “dalit,” we can also read an attempt to distinguish themselves from other dalits. when and how did the self-designation “balmiki” become widespread among the community? this dates back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and events in northern india and punjab. through british colonial policy, indians were classified according to religion and quantified as a population group. this trend was accelerated by the morley-minto reforms of 1909, which introduced a system of separate elections by religion. this marked the beginning of the religious affiliation of the people of the indian subcontinent. as british rule spread throughout india and society entered a 10the caste names are not used to derogate the feelings of any person or community. 206 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 period of social change, there was a growing movement among the dalits to convert to other religions so as to escape discriminatory practices within the hindu caste hierarchical society. among bhangis and chuhras, some converted to christianity and sikhism. activists of hindu reform groups, concerned about this, developed a movement to incorporate the dalits into the hindu community in north india. among the most famous are the activities of arya samaj (as). one of the as activists was a brahmin, amichand sharma. in 1936, he published a pamphlet entitled śrī bālmīki prakāś, which he distributed among the chuhra community, explaining that the ancestors of chuhras originated from bhagwan valmik. thereafter, the legend of the community’s origins in rishi valmiki became widespread among the chuhras (leslie 2003; prashad 2000). the impact of as’s activity among the chuhra community was reflected in the census data of the time: according to the 1881 census, chuhras listed the names of islamic saints, lal begh and bala shah as the gurus they followed. gradually, however, the name bala shah was replaced by bal mik or bal miki, and by the 1930s, chuhras were identified in the census as bal miki or hindu, and such self-identification was formed (hase 1994; ibbetson 1916; leslie 2003; prashad 2000; saberwal 1976).11 establishing faith while valmiki worship was spreading, especially among the chuhras of punjab, balmikis as a caste group was consolidated through the census and other colonial schemes. under these processes, valmiki worship was developed through the following activities. first, valmiki temples began to be erected in north india. caste associations called balmiki sabha were formed under the influence of the arya samaj and organized in jalandhar (punjab) in 1910 and delhi in 1926. today, every year in late october, the balmikis of north india celebrate the maharishi valmiki jayanti,12 occurring between the festivals of dussehra and diwali. valmiki temples in delhi attract devotees from all over india and abroad. as the time of the year approaches, cultural events and gatherings are held by balmiki organizations, especially in north india. in delhi alone, there are as many as 500–700 valmiki temples, both large and small. the main venue is a temple on mandir marg road in the center of delhi. on the occasion of maharishi valmiki jayanti, religious leaders gather to perform rituals for the worship of bhagwan valmiki. a large number of balmikis visit temples with their families and relatives, including small children to older adults (figures 2, 3). 11with regard to the chuhras worship of the valmiki saint, previous studies have suggested the possibility that it might have existed prior to the arrival of the arya samaj. in any case, there is a strong possibility that the worship of saints was enhanced by the activities of the arya samaj (leslie 2003: 195). 12some states recognize it as a legal holiday (such as delhi). india is a multi-religious country and has established various sectarian holidays at the central and state levels. the establishment of statutory holidays is considered such an important issue that it can itself become a campaign goal for religious organizations. socio-spatially segregated experience of urban dalits and their anti-caste imagination 207 figure 2, figure 3: the celebration of valmiki jayanti at bhagwan valmiki mandir of mandir marg of delhi. (photographed by the author) valmiki temple in delhi with gandhi and g.d. birla the main valmiki temple (bhagwan valmiki mandir) in delhi was built on mandir marg, central delhi, around 1937.13 an interesting episode concerning g.d. birla (1894–1983), a famous indian businessperson and supporter of m.k. gandhi, must be noted, as it provides insight into the historical connection between gandhi and balmikis in delhi. g.d. birla is known to have financially supported gandhi’s independence movement and the construction of the valmiki temple in delhi. considering that gandhi made this temple the basis of his harijan movement, as described below, it can be inferred that birla’s donation was made at gandhi’s request. at about the same time that the valmiki temple was built, birla built the lakshmi narayan temple (popularly known as the birla temple) on the same street, only 500 meters away, in 1938. this temple is currently one of the most famous hindu temples in delhi, attracting numerous worshippers and tourists. thus, the two temples were built simultaneously on the same street. why is this? although both are hindu temples, there are clear differences between the worshippers who gather there. while all hindus, regardless of caste, visit birla temple, it seems almost exclusively the members of balmikis who visit valmiki temple. this suggests that perhaps the reason that the two hindu temples were built on the same street in 1937 and 1938 was to prevent the dalits (balmikis) and caste hindu worshippers from being in the same space. furthermore, this can also be understood in terms of indicating the limits of gandhi’s harijan movement of temple entry for dalits (prashad 2000: 102–107) (figure 4). 13regarding the history of the temple’s establishment, some informants claim that the temple was already in the same location before 1937. according to the priest of the temple i interviewed in 2010, there is a history of 150 years. 208 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 figure 4: bhagwan valmiki mandir at mandir marg of delhi. (photographed by the author) what is the relationship between the valmiki temple in delhi and gandhi? gandhi chose valmiki temple in delhi as a place where he could effectively promote his harijan movement. the room in the temple where gandhi stayed was preserved and kept open for visitors. the desk, pen, glasses, and charkha (a manual spinning wheel)14 used by gandhi were displayed. in addition, the surrounding walls were decorated with portrait photographs of jawaharlal nehru and other congress leaders who had visited gandhi, as well as stafford cripps (1889–1952), louis mountbatten (1900– 1979), the governor-general of india, and other prominent figures. photographs of indian and british politicians and activists adorn the walls. little is it known today that the temple was not only a place where caste hindus could highlight their connection to the upliftment of dalits through the harijan movement but also an essential space that perhaps determined the political landscape15 (figures 5, 6, and 7). figures 5,6,7. pictures from valmiki temple, new delhi (photographed by the author) 14aiming for the independence of india’s rural economy, gandhi appealed for production activities of handspun cotton yarn and hand-woven cotton cloth by charkha, which had been used in india since ancient times. the charkha is a symbol of gandhi’s anti-colonial movement. 15in addition to the valmiki temple in mandir marg, there were two other places that gandhi chose to stay in delhi before and after india’s independence: birla house, his private residence, where he lived from september 9, 1947 to january 30, 1948; from september 9, 1948 to january 30, 1948; and where he spent the last days of his life. it is also where he was assassinated. after that, birla house was managed by the government and opened to the public in 1973 as the gandhi smriti (gandhi museum). the second site is kingsway camp in north delhi (near delhi university), where in 1932 gandhi established the harijan sevak sangh (hss). later, the name was changed to valmiki bhawan and it became one of the centers of the harijan movement. gandhi stayed there temporarily between 1934 and 1938. socio-spatially segregated experience of urban dalits and their anti-caste imagination 209 narratives on the history of valmiki temple in delhi the above discussion of valmiki worship and its establishment is based on previous studies and the author’s field research. in the course of my fieldwork in delhi, i noticed a difference in opinion between previous studies and the balmikis regarding the history of temple construction. according to previous literature, the temple was built around 1937 with contributions from birla. however, balmikis, whom i interviewed, told a slightly different story. for example, saint krishna vidyarthi, the temple’s superintendent and sadhu representative in 2010, after giving the author a tour of the temple and gandhi’s room, described the temple’s history as follows: the temple has a history of 150 years, including the period when it was a kachcha (unprepared, made of earth) and was restored to its present state in 1937. when the temple was a kachcha, it housed a small school opened by balmikis for the community itself. when gandhi decided to stay here, there was a suggestion to close the school, but gandhi proposed that he himself participate in education (especially sanitary education) as a teacher, and the school remained for some time afterward.16 [emphasis mine] what characterizes sadhu’s narrative is the historicity of the temple’s 150 years and the subjective role of the balmiks. he recognizes 1937 as the year the temple was restored and emphasizes the 150 years of history by noting that the temple had existed before the restoration. this also indicates that it is older than birla temple on the same street. in addition, he speaks of the “school opened by the balmikis” and focuses on the cohesiveness of the community. it also provides the community’s view that gandhi is perceived as an outside participant. based on the objective of capturing the agency of balmikis, this study attempts to focus on what people consider “fact” at present and how they narrate the past. from sadhu’s narrative, we can see spontaneous self-recognition rather than one who worships bhagwan valmiki only under the influence of gandhi and as. inter-caste conflict over valmiki worship in the previous sections, i examined bhagwan valmiki worship in north india and delhi from a historical context and its relationship with the as, gandhi, and birla. it is necessary to understand that valmiki worship within the community was formed in the context of such historical dynamics. finally, it is necessary to mention the conflict of opinion within the balmikis over bhagwan valmiki worship, which was not accepted by all members of the balmiki community. even if one belongs to the balmiki jati determined by birth, whether or not one follows valmiki worship is a different matter. in particular, converts to buddhism are negative about the name, saying that it is merely “a name that panders to hinduism.” for example, bhagwan das (1927–2013), a buddhist convert and ambedkarite, criticized valmiki worship in his community as an influence of the 16august 8, 2010, at valmiki temple in delhi. 210 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 hinduization of the dalits by caste hindus and opposed the name valmiki (das 2011: 54–56, 68–71). in addition to das, other highly educated balmikis have negative opinions on valmiki worship. however, both positions are recognized regardless of education, occupation, or region. it is also possible that for those who take the surname of valmiki, this may be based on strategic motives. for example, regarding the adoption of the valmiki surname by the author of joothan, ganguly (2009) analyzes the following: his eventual adoption of the name “valmiki” is not an endorsement of his community’s assimilation under a majoritarian hindu ethnos and ethos. it is, rather, a defiant and ironic gesture, daring the upper-caste citizen to take him on as a “recognizable” dalits, one who is not shamed of his identity but intent on “shaming” the privileged citizen into recognizing it as a legitimate one. the adoption of “valmiki” as his last name is also a mark of his protest at his own community’s desire to hide behind an upper-caste bourgeois identity in its path to upward social and professional mobility (ganguly 2009: 437, emphasis by the author, ganguly) in an interview with omprakash valmiki about his surname,17 the author asked, “do you worship bhagwan valmiki?” he pointed to the statues of buddha and ambedkar placed in the room and replied, “no, i only follow dr. ambedkar and buddhism.” it seemed to indicate that taking the valmiki surname and adhering to a religion other than hinduism do not conflict but “coexist” and are acceptable to him, despite the contradiction. more specifically, this situation of coexistence is observed not only among individuals but also in balmiki organizations as they adopt a method of reconciling different ideologies. the following photograph illustrates the proposed method. (figure 8) figure 8: the portraits of b.r. ambedkar and valmiki saint at a balmiki community function. (photographed by the author) the figure illustrates the portraits of ambedkar and valmiki displayed next to the stage during a meeting of a balmiki organization. thus, the movement attempts to unite its members and develop its activities by incorporating the leading symbols that conflict with each other in terms of ideology within the caste. 17august 30, 2011, at omprakash valmiki’s home in dehradun. socio-spatially segregated experience of urban dalits and their anti-caste imagination 211 in light of the above, the balmiki identity can be summarized as follows: in contemporary north india, the caste name balmiki as a self-identification is more widely established than bhangi and chuhra, and there is disagreement within the caste over valmiki worship. nevertheless, no other name can replace balmiki for them, and it is certainly the name for community cohesion and collective identity in the current context. in everyday life, it is a source of self-respect for the community. leslie’s study of valmiki immigrants in britain persuasively points out that “bhagwan valmik is the community’s god and guru, its jagat guru or ‘world teacher.’ he also represents everything that they have lost: earthly power, religious authority, personal honor, and pride.” (leslie 2003: 76). considering these situations, the case of the balmiki as hinduized should not be easily declared.18 rather than worshipping or not worshipping valmiki as a paramount factor, we need to focus on how they strategically utilize the name valmiki (balmiki), which has already been established as a form of self-identification for their community development. after all, balmiki identity can be considered in building interrelationships with others, despite contradictions, conflicts, and ambiguities. conclusion by focusing on the beliefs and ambiguity of self-identity of the balmikis, this article attempts to examine their anti-caste imagination. for balmikis with limited socioeconomic capital, it is practically difficult to make a clear break with hinduism or convert to another religion, such as buddhism. thus this community seems forced to obtain jobs in the sanitation department of the municipality as it is more secure. the case study of balmikis in delhi indicates the clear break-up may not be the only way to demonstrate the anti-caste imaginaries. discarding hindu values (as dr. ambedkar and other dalits follow) and strong anti-hindu sentiment would be possible in a context of socio-economic ascent and the fostering of self-respect and solidarity within the community. the case of balmiki in this study may show under what conditions it is possible to develop them. ※this paper is a revised version of the following report. suzuki, maya. (2021). securing livelihood entitlements and space: a case study of balmikis in delhi. in takako inoue (ed.), survival strategies of minorities in south asia: from inclusion and exclusion toward cohabitation (japan society for the promotion of science, grant-in-aid for scientific research (c), 18k11826): 63-80. references das. b. (2011). in pursuit of ambedkar: a memoir. new delhi: navayana. deshpande, a. and newman, k. (2007). where the path leads: post-university employment expectations. economic and political weekly, vol. 42, issue 41, pp. 4133–4140. 18prashad’s study (2000) provides excellent insight, but i disagree with his overestimation of the influence of hindu supremacist forces on the balmikis and his depiction of the 1984 massacre of the sikhs as a balmiki-oriented mob. see kolenda’s (2003) counterargument to this. 212 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 dupont, v. 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(eds.) law and democracy in contemporary india: constitution, contact zone, and performing rights. palgrave macmillan, pp. 169–189. thorat, s. and attewell, p. (2007). the legacy of social exclusion: a correspondence study of job discrimination in india. economic and political weekly, vol. 42, issue 41, pp. 4141–4145. thorat, s., banerjee, a., mishra, v.k. and rizvi, f. (2015). caste and religion matters in access to urban rental housing market. economic and political weekly, vol. 50, issues 26–27, pp. 47–53. vithathil, t. and singh, g. (2012). spaces of discrimination: residential segregation in indian cities. economic and political weekly, vol. 47, issue 37, pp. 60–66. © 2022 sanghmitra s. acharya. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. editorial caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 211–222 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.453 health disparity and health equity in india: understanding the difference and the pathways towards policy sanghmitra s. acharya1 health is essential in all spheres of everyday life. it is crucial for well-being, longevity, and for availing economic and social opportunity. therefore, resources and services needed to be healthy to go beyond medical care. living and working conditions which promote health assume greater importance as they have the potential to reduce the need for medical care (daniels, 1981; daniels et al., 1999). therefore, the discourse on health needs to begin from the socioecological framework and move towards the biomedical through the biopsychosocial. the health promoting elements require to be distributed according to need, rather than treated as commodities which can be accessed based on one’s economic propensity. evidences are aplenty that health status is contingent to health promoting environment, and imbalances in this environment are likely to produce disparities, inequities and inequalities in health. disparities, inequities and inequalities in health it is necessary to understand that health disparity is embedded in health differences linked with economic, social, and environmental disadvantages. as evident from the healthy people (2020), ‘health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater social or economic obstacles to health based on their racial or ethnic group, religion, socioeconomic-status, gender, age, or mental health; cognitive, sensory, or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion.’ in this definition, economic disadvantage refers to inability to purchase goods and services, due to low income. social disadvantage includes economic disadvantage, one’s position in social hierarchy based on economic resources, ethnicity, caste, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. these characteristics often determine the behaviour of others towards the ‘self’ and the group to which ‘self’ may 1professor, centre of social medicine and community health, school of social sciences, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india email: sanghmitra.acharya@gmail.com 212 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 belong. the environmental disadvantage refers to a poor neighbourhood with social disadvantages. therefore, achieving health equity is possible only when social determinants of health address poverty (marmot, friel, bell, houweling, taylor, & commission on social determinants of health, 2008; williams, & mohammed, 2009; adler, & stewart, 2010; braveman, & gruskin, 2003); discrimination (williams, & mohammed, 2013; braveman, egerter, & williams, 2011), and work environment (burgard & lin, 2013; pickett, & wilkinson, 2015) in which people are born and continue to live. poverty and discrimination accentuate vulnerabilities, including powerlessness (wallerstein, 1992), lack of access to resources, services, and opportunities—all of which are crucial for good health. achieving health equity requires eradicating barriers and improving access to the resources known to affect health. these resources primarily include work opportunities (burgard & lin, 2013), education (cutler, & llerasmuney, 2006; egerter, braveman, sadegh-nobari, grossman-kahn., & dekker, 2011); housing (banerji et al., 2018; gordon-larsen, nelson, page, & popkin, 2006); and healthcare services and health-promoting environment (gordon-larsen, nelson, page, & popkin, 2006), particularly for those who lack access to resources and have poor health (daniels, kennedy, & kawachi, 2000; marmot, 2015). health and well-being can be impacted positively for everyone, but should be prioritised for the excluded or marginalized groups (rawls, 1971; pickett, & wilkinson, 2015). thus, poverty and discrimination emerge as core causes of health inequity. health equity and health equality—both engage with improving outcomes and increasing access to services, especially for underserved populations and marginalized groups. ‘health equality’ means giving the same opportunities, care, and services to all. for instance, a medical professional may offer the same service, or provide the same information to all, without taking cognisance of any plausible risk. the likely assumption is that everyone has been treated equally and therefore, they are not biased. health equality, therefore, focuses on treating everyone the same and ensuring equal access to healthcare. health equity, however, aims to end, or at least minimise institutional and discriminatory barriers that create inequality. the factors within the healthcare system (racism, casteism and sexism); as well as factors outside the healthcare system (poverty and unequal distribution of resources and opportunities) come under the fold of health equity. it is based on the principles of fundamental justice with a goal to ensure equal access to quality healthcare and good health. it emphasises on distributive justice requiring more support and resources to the underserved, excluded and the marginalised populations. this issue of the journal has engaged with such realms of health. the essays assorted for this issue have addressed the question of health inequality and health equity; and in doing so, the endeavour has been to understand health differences and health disparity. the essay on ‘public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india’ authored by g. c. pal, engages with community and the delivery of services through the intersections between the public policy processes, dynamics of social health disparity and health equity in india: understanding the difference and the pathways 213 identity of care service providers and users, and the consequent access to healthcare. pal, in doing so, highlights that the delivery of healthcare services is fraught with social injustice. the dominant socio-cultural norms around social identity supersede the intent of the healthcare centres and the providers to address the health needs of all. this essay brings together the superimposition of inequality and inequity in understanding delivery of care. from the perspective of the providers, health equality has been addressed as they impart care and other related service to all without any difference. however, the differential access to resources due the social identity makes it imperative to ensure that the healthcare providers recognise the impact of social determinants of health and strategize for addressing them as important. a doctor, for instance, has to acknowledge that some people may have limited access to healthy food. therefore, they would be required to plan the ways to overcome this deficit and minimise the risks for health. thus, health equity approach takes into account differences in socio-cultural characteristics, access to resources, and economic status (daniels, 1981; daniels, kennedy, kawachi, 1999; braveman, gottlieb, 2014; dwivedi, 2017). structural hierarchies and health navin narayan’s essay raises some moot questions of structural hierarchies and juxtaposes them on the notion of health justice—drawing from equity framework. in most countries including india, as the author argues, the justice system functions in favour of the wealthy and powerful while the underprivileged remain devoid of justice given the context of health equality. he traces the connect between social stratification moorings and access to healthcare and corroborates that in an unequal society, the underprivileged remain entrenched in deprivation and marginalisation (dias & welch, 2011) which affects their health (braveman, 2006; 2010;) all the more when the health professionals adhere to the principles of equality rather than equity (whitehead, dahlgren, 2006). thus, social inequality affects everyday life in which health is intrinsically intertwined. the author argues that in a society dedicated to the ideal of equality, evidence of equality remains non-existent, sporadic at best. he draws an engaging parallel with the science of immunology to explain this persistent inequality. the culturing technique from immunology has been used by the privileged indian society for culturing casteism through the sociology of sufferer—or the healthcare seeker—and sociology of supremacy’—of the healthcare profession and professionals. the author highlights that casteism is cultured in both these spheres; and uses empirical evidence to establish the dominance of privileged groups in nurturing casteism in health. it is illustrated that the privileged groups occupy best of professional as well as care seeking realms by virtue of their privilege. some essays in this special issue of the journal focus on specific population groups to reflect on their health through realms of inequality, disparity and equity. the essays reflect on ‘health disparity’ which needs to be seen as different from ‘health difference’. while the empirical evidence suggests that different groups have different 214 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 health outcomes, yet health disparity is not the same as health difference. while difference is reflected through biological markers, health disparities are due to social values which lead to differences that are unjust and preventable. the essay on hadis by k. m. ziyauddin traces the historical disadvantages which have perpetuated health inequalities and hampered the processes of minimising disparities in health. the author traces the historical journey of the hadis in asserting themselves and opting out of their conventional cleaning occupations in search of alternatives. he also highlights their contribution in building urban spaces. their engagement in sanitation work keeps the urban environment clean, while they experience health hazards of varying degrees. health disparities, are socially influenced, and cause different but preventable outcomes across different social groups—as is evident in the case of hadis. very little has been studied about this community— certainly not from the perspective of health. the author adds a new dimension to the existing discourse by engaging with the question of right to city for these crusaders of cleanliness. through the empirical evidences, the author exemplifies their exclusion from the city—which they sanitise at the cost of their own health—to the margins, both metaphorically and physically. the pandemic in a just society, everyone has to have a fair chance to be healthy, since health is integral to well-being—physical, economic and social. health differences can be understood by the following example. uterine cancer affects women aged 50 years and above. those less than 50 years are less likely to be affected. therefore age is the factor causing illness differential. however, if women with certain socio-economic characteristics (such as low income and low social rank) are affected more than the others, then it is health disparity. this is a difference that is unjust and preventable. disparities are socially influenced and cause different but preventable outcomes among groups. in some cases, health equality can overcome disparities, especially when the disparities are due to unequal treatment. the studies on covid-19 address this aspect. the state was providing safeguards to everyone ‘equally’ without any distinction. but this equality could overcome disparity in certain situations. differentially endowed care facilities and ill-prepared care providers were restrictively addressing the needs of the underprivileged as compared to the privileged population—both socially and economically. by and large, ‘equal treatment’ accentuated the pandemic. care provisioning for the privileged groups is likely to have minimised the disparity among them, but not across the social groups—broadly the privileged (or advantaged) and the underprivileged (disadvantaged). the essay on media coverage of covid-19 and portrayal of the marginalised population by achla p tandon raises questions on the role of media in inducing prejudice, stigmatising and inflating social inequality. the media’s portrayal of ‘infectors’ with specific labels, based on religion (muslims), region (north-east india), and work (biomedical waste/sanitation/ cremation related) aggravated the health disparity and health equity in india: understanding the difference and the pathways 215 already existing prejudices. it affected the already vulnerable health of all; but more of the disadvantage groups. media reporting was selective. covid-19 induced health inequality was reported as disparity, when the need was of health equity in order to address the differential needs of the people, infected as well as affected by covid-19. the author highlights that the crowdsourced data and the online platforms reflected on the multiple vulnerabilities of those who were stranded in the camps consequent of the lockdown. it is noteworthy that the larger share of these people were from socially and economically marginalised groups. the unprecedented health emergency required to be dealt with caution while reporting the situation, or the safety protocol or the perils of those in need of healthcare. mainstream media was minimal in reporting on the marginalised population in the camps and as they travelled to their place of origin amidst the lockdown. much of the information on such groups was made available by the non-government/community-based organisations. taking this issue of marginalised population and covid-19 forward, the essay by dilip diwakar g. et al. focusses on the migrant workers, more than 90 per cent of whom are from underprivileged populations synonymous with the administrative categories of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and the other backward classes. to understand about their health and livelihood issues during covid-19, the authors have tracked the rural-ward distress migration of the informal sector migrant workers in kerala. engaging with health equality notion, the authors use the state mechanism to address covid-19 in general and its impact on the dalits (scheduled castes) migrant workers in particular. using the mixed method approach, the authors examine the lives, livelihoods, and healthcare utilisation by the migrant workers; and lived experience of interstate dalit migrant workers who have adopted kerala as their workplace. while the quantitative analysis of empirical evidence suggests that health disparities not only existed, but were accentuated by covid-19, the narratives drawn from the field for qualitative analysis reiterate the higher vulnerabilities among the dalit migrant workers. health equity is the principle underlying a commitment to reduce—and, ultimately, eliminate—disparities in health and in its determinants, including social determinants. pursuing health equity means striving for the highest possible standard of health for all people and giving special attention to the needs of those at greatest risk of poor health, based on social conditions. medical education is often an issue relegated to the background by academics in the area of health as well as education. khalid khan draws from his training in economics to confront some stark markers of differentials leading to inequality. he explores access of the students belonging to diverse background, to medical education in india. using secondary data and robust statistical techniques, he highlights that the social inequalities precede social injustices and thus affect access to a career in medicine which is linked to the caste/ethnicity and religious identities. the author focuses on the differential access to medical education which is aggravated for the students from the underprivileged background. the high cost of medical education in itself becomes a negative factor in creating enabling environment for the underprivileged. the probability of attending medical courses is relatively lower for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and the muslims than the 216 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 hindus high caste as has been illustrated by the author as supported by data. the essay captures social inequalities and disparities to comment on the access to medical education in the light of it high cost. allopathic supremacy in medical hierarchy the discourse on health inequality or disparity usually engages with the healthcare system predominated by the allopathic supremacy. despite the rich legacy of alternative systems and local healing traditions, the advent of allopathic medicine systematically eroded the existing systems. supported by the market, largely pharmaceuticals, the local systems embedded in ayush and local healing were relegated to secondary positions. the process also affected the care providers, many of whom, such as bone setters and traditional birth attendants, for instance, have a specific social identity (acharya, 2022). they mostly hail from scheduled communities—both caste and tribe. aptly titled ‘addressing hegemony within the system of medicine for an inclusive and sustainable health system: the case of traditional medicine in india’, the essay authored by nemthianngai guite, showcases the dominance and interplay of the power relations and social structural inequalities. she illustrates that power relations and social structural inequalities are crucial to encourage and perpetuate medical hegemony. the author’s commentary on codification of and regulations for traditional medicine systems, raises some pertinent question on inequalities in health—of yet another kind—in professionalization, commoditization and in access to intellectual property rights. the initial superiority attributed to the allopathic medicine is due to the ‘supremacy of the ‘developed’ west as compared to the ‘developing’ and colonised oriental countries including india’. however, at present the transition is largely due to differential access to medical education (see khalid khan’s article); and medicine systems for care-seeking as well as care-provisioning. the author argues for the due recognition to the practitioners of traditional medicine systems; and preservation and protection of their knowledge for inclusive, equitable and sustainable health system. caste identity-induced inequality similar to covid-19 specific studies, raushan et al. examine caste identity-induced inequality in child health outcomes such as mortality, malnutrition and anaemia. using the nfhs data of two decades, the authors examine the association of socioeconomic factors with child health outcomes through disparity ratio (dr) and concentration index (ci). the association of socioeconomic factors was also tested using logit regression. it was found that the marginalised groups were more likely to have poor health outcomes as compared to the other. this essay becomes relevant in the context of the public policies. health equality ensures for all the same opportunity to access healthcare, while health equity prioritizes justice. the authors draw a connect between the two by emphasising on the need for transition from same opportunity to all, to prioritising access to the most needy, thereby moving towards health equity. for the public policy process, the authors allude to an intersection between equality-based health disparity and health equity in india: understanding the difference and the pathways 217 approach, whereby everyone would get the same healthcare funding and services; and an equity-based approach, where by access to care services would depend on the care seekers’ needs. for example, all the hadis engaged in the cleaning occupations (see ziyauddin’s essay), would have the option to have a regular medical check for their infections, etc., and fitness test to carry out the work. this essay establishes the persisting disparity and inequality in child health and nutrition with high burden among the underprivileged populations of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes despite the affirmative action induced progress in emancipating some such groups. public spending on health: we need to invest more the policy environment for health in india inevitably crosses paths with health investment. given the low share of public spending on health, despite increase post covid, we still remain one of the countries with lowest public health spending: 1.0 per cent of the gdp. even countries like bhutan (2.5 per cent), sri lanka (1.6 per cent) and nepal (1.1 per cent ) with lower national income, spend more on their people’s health. notably, india’s per capita public expenditure on health increased from ` 621 in 2009–10 to ̀ 1,112 (around $16 at current exchange rate) in 2015–16. however, it is still nominal, compared with other countries. switzerland spends $6,944 on health per capita, the united states spends $4,802 and uk $3,500. the union budget 2021–22 proposed to increase healthcare spending to 2.2 trillion indian rupees ($30.2 billion). the need to enhance public health spending to at least 5 per cent of the gdp has been proposed for a very long time. the pandemic affected all sectors, but the already weak health sector was worst hit. the government increased the expenditure on public healthcare in 2021–22 by 73 per cent from 2020–21 to ` 4.72 lakh crore (economic survey, 2022). according to the national health accounts estimates for 2014–15 (mohfw, 2016), the government health expenditure (ghe) per person per year is only ` 1,108, or about ` 3 per day. in contrast, the out-of-pocket expenditure (ope) of ̀ 2,394, accounts for 63 per cent of the total health expenditure. the who’s health financing profile for 2017 shows 67.78 per cent of total expenditure on health in india was paid out of pocket, while the world average is just 18.2 per cent. it is noteworthy that if such is the scenario for all, then given the marginalisation and exclusion of the underprivileged population, ghe of ̀ 3 per day is likely to further reduce for the underprivileged groups. indrani gupta’s essay titled ‘health investments to reduce health inequities in india: do we need more evidence?’ co-authored with avantika ranjan, illustrates this. authors categorically states that inequalities in health outcomes and treatment-seeking behaviour contribute the most to multi-dimensional poverty. high out-of-pocket spending continues to be a critical for india’s health sector, as, they reiterate, the negative impact of continued low of public investment on health. they illustrates with the covid pandemic reflecting on the inept preparedness of the country to address the health needs due to the pandemic. the authors have unequivocally advocated for a resilient health sector which can be put in place by improving the infrastructure, 218 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 recruiting personnel, and enhancing supplies and training. while this essay does not deal with social identity-induced inequalities, the authors rest their argument on regional and economic disparities leading towards inequalities in health. they also relate these persistent inequalities with the covid situation. drawing from the evidence that most poor are among the underprivileged groups—largely the scs and the sts, their observations on multidimensional poverty and its linkage with health outcomes mark the accentuated vulnerabilities of the underprivileged groups. taking this forward is the essay on the hierarchy in the health workforce in the public and private sectors authored by rama v. baru and seemi zafar. this essay adds to the idea of enculturing casteism in health (see navin narayan in this issue). intersecting religion, class, caste and gender, the authors reiterate that the health workforce is hierarchical in structure (skill and capacity); and social composition. this essay highlights that most of the studies on the health workforce have focused on the public sector, although the private sector in health has a significant share of the total health workforce. baru and zafar hinge on the existing literature and relevant data— drawn from primary and secondary sources, to inform that there is under-representation of minorities and women as owners of private health services. the authors also highlight the gender bias in the health workforce whereby the middle and lower rung positions are occupied by women and men located at the lower end of the caste-class hierarchy. in contrast, those at the higher end of the social rank are also located at the higher work hierarchies. drawing from the statistics on composition of occupational groups, the authors reiterate that there is domination of hindus, followed by muslims and other minorities respectively as ‘physicians and surgeons’. as ‘nursing and other technicians’ too, proportion of muslims was lower than other minorities. the authors observe that the representation of christians in the healthcare workforce reduced with increase in participation by hindu and muslims women. corroborating the earlier work (baru, 2005; iyer et al., 2005) they reiterate that these nurses were mostly from the underprivileged groups and their remuneration was very low. the untrained workers like dais (traditional birth attendants) were predominantly from the scheduled castes; and about two-thirds of the auxiliary nurse midwives (anms), were upper and middle class hindus, while only one-fifth were from underprivileged communities (scs and sts); and a negligible share was from the muslims and christians. this essay establishes the connect between social inequalities and access to resources needed to become care providers, thereby also reflecting on social disparities which perpetuate the inequalities in access to medical (and para medical) education (see khalid khan in this issue). access to medical education is determined by disparities which are socially influenced, very often, unjust and therefore preventable. better socio-economic propensities, act as enablers for access. among those who can access, some reach higher positions in their work hierarchies while the others have to settle for lower positions in their work hierarchies. thus, given the differential access to resources consequent of marginalisation, the outcomes are different. however, these differentials which act are the barriers in access, are preventable through affirmative action policy. however, it is noteworthy that while state’s motive of affirmative action as defined, health disparity and health equity in india: understanding the difference and the pathways 219 is to bring about parity between historically deprived and the advantaged population groups, the social reality induce prejudices and biases which inevitably demand more competence from the deprived to be able to prove themselves equal to the privileged. sub-group disparities the differences in access to health resources are analysed to understand disparities among dalit sub-castes in the essay authored by kanhaiya kumar. the author examines the disparities in socio-economic status of various sub-castes within scheduled castes, drawing from a study located in a selected district of uttar pradesh, the state with largest population in india. using mixed method approach, perceptions about health, illness and disease have been studied to provide the context of the prevalence of morbidity across subcastes among scs. the concentration curves based on the primary data and quantitiative methods, reflect on the disparities in out-of pocket expenditure, possession of landholding and income among the sub-castes within the scs (or dalits). the author corroborates that like major social groups (scs, sts, obcs) and others) have differences and disparities, there are differences in access to health resources among various sub-caste of dalits (scs) too. using the empirical evidences, the author establishes that these disparities are a function of an intersection between social identity, socio-economic status and geographic location of healthcare services. therefore, it is imperative to understand and identify the differences and distinguish them from disparities within sub-castes. this will enable one to overcome the gap between their health needs and accessibility to healthcare services; and also build a transition from health equality to health equity. for instance, the most marginalised sub-caste is likely to be worst affected by a given illness condition as compared to the least marginalised sub-caste. when adjusted for social, economic, infrastructural and environmental differences, such as access to quality care, distance and availability of the health providers, there is no significant difference in morbidity conditions between the most and the least marginalised sub-caste. this suggests that preventable issues account for the higher morbidity among the most marginalised sub-caste group, rather than any pre determined differences. these issues include access to quality care, the type of care a person receives, and social inequality that undermines health (daniels et al., 1999; deshpande, 2000, goli et al., 2013; george, 2015). health disparities, equality and equity: why we need to know the difference health disparities and health equity are interlaced. health equity connotes social justice in health. in other words, no one is prevented from availing the opportunity to be healthy, because of belonging to a historically disadvantaged group(s). health disparities enable measuring progress toward achieving health equity. low health disparities reflect on greater health equity. this can be achieved by selectively improving the health of those who are economically and socially disadvantaged, not by providing equal access to all; or by impairing the health of the privileged or advantaged groups (keleher, & murphy, 2004; whitehead, dahlgren, 2006). 220 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 health inequality and disparity are known to be discriminatory. it is difficult to identify and prove intentions and actions as discriminatory. the often extended reason is that medical practitioners are wedded to the hippocratic oath and hence have very little scope for discrimination. but as humans, located in the hierarchical social structure, greater harm to health may be done as a result of unintentionally discriminatory processes and structures (williams, mohammed, 2009; borooah, 2010). considering that the discrimination no longer exists, processes and structures which persist as the socially sanctioned prejudices and biases —religious and ethnic segregation, caste based exclusion, call for enforcement of affirmative action for ensuring access to health resources—ranging from medical educational and training and care. even when the conscious intent to discriminate is often not recognised and passed as unintentional, such intent perpetuates economic and social disadvantages and influences health consequences across generations and population groups. the essays in this issue of the journal may not have addressed the human rights issue as central to health, but all are knitted through the understanding and addressing of the links between health equality and equity; difference and disparity. the authors converge in thinking about the transition from equality to equity; and distinguishing between health difference and disparity; and alluding to the need to work toward minimising the disparities in the process of enhancing health equity. the human rights principles of non-discrimination and equality are inevitable in addressing health disparities. these principles are based on equal rights (to health) for all. the state is obligated to promote health through public policies and affirmative action embedded therein. the state is also required to prescribe policies that are prejudiced and discriminatory against particular social groups. therefore, predominance of health literature from equality perspective needs to be understood from disparity and equity lens. in addition to the articles based on the theme of this special issue, two more articles feature in the forum section. in his article, chief justice, high court of orissa s. muralidhar has touched on the theme of access to justice and legal representation of the marginalised communities in the indian justice system. he has not only highlighted the challenges faced by the marginalised communities, but has also tried to make comprehensive suggestions towards institutional reforms in the justice system. the article by c. jerome samraj discusses the manifestations of academic untouchability and exclusionary practices in admissions in higher education institutions. the essay attempts to understand the nature of the practice of untouchability in higher educational institutions in india and the politics behind the method of implementing reservations in admissions in higher education institutions. references acharya, sanghmitra s. 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(1992). powerlessness, empowerment, and health: implications for health promotion programs. american journal of health promotion, 6, pp. 197–205. © 2022 santvana kumar and ekata bakshi. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. thought caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 49–68 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.364 the dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse: a critique of its intersectional reading of caste and gender santvana kumar1 and ekata bakshi2 abstract the dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse is a product of diverse movements born from different histories. these diverse feminist movements continue to inadequately provide a comprehensive and inclusive theorisation of the relationship between caste and gender. dalit feminist movements have successfully made ‘dalit women’ a critical part of the dominant feminist discourse and have confronted it for including a caste framework as imperative to understanding the women’s question. but the question of caste within the dominant feminist discourse has largely remained confined to reading and understanding the dalit woman through the intersectional framework. intersectionality is useful in providing a framework for categorising the dalit woman and for highlighting the lacunae in understanding the intersections of caste and gender in existing discourses. yet, when framed through the overarching lens of difference, it occludes the contingent co-construction of the savarna woman and dalit woman as categories, as well as the complicated relationality between these two categories. treating intersectionality as difference, also ironically posits the dalit women as a homogenous and essentialised category. this category is over-determined by vulnerability, exploitation, and, violence. thus, the entire spectrum of experiences inhabited collectively by women placed under this category is erased. this article attempts to elucidate these arguments by focusing on west bengal and uttar pradesh. as two researchers from different locations, both disciplinary and socio-political, one a savarna-feminist-ethnographer, the other a dalit-feminist-legal-researcher, we then seek to understand what adopting a holistic anti-caste methodology rather than simply ‘doing intersectionality’, means while inhabiting both these locations. 1phd candidate, centre for women’s studies, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india 2phd candidate, centre for women’s studies, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india 50 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 keywords intersectionality, post-constitutional feminism, difference, lived experience, essentialization, homogenization, anti-caste feminism introduction in contemporary times, being ‘intersectional’ is in vogue, in academia and beyond. we can see a growing popularity of ‘intersectionality’ as a concept since 2014.i increasingly used in popular discourses and conversations over the last decade or so, academics have recognized it as a buzzword (davis, 2008). the idea of intersectionality, however, first took concrete shape in the discipline of law, particularly from black feminist critiques of the legal process. over the years it has become an important analytical framework in other disciplines and has moved beyond simply being an academic theory, to a ‘way of being’. ‘being intersectional’ is seen both as a political and theoretical position, as well as a methodological tool. the interaction of multiple identities and their experiences of discrimination and exclusion at multiple intersections have been avidly theorised in feminist studies through wide methodological variations. feminist writings assert that intersectionality, broadly, cannot be defined. the core critique as well as the potential of intersectionality in feminist thinking lies in the lack of a clearly defined intersectional methodology (nash, 2008; davis, 2008). the article seeks to develop a critical understanding of the concept of intersectionality, as deployed in the indian context. while, the term intersectionality was not used by the mainstream indian feminist movement in its early stages, the idea was invoked in terms of its assertion of difference—difference shaped by the postcolonial indian context, as compared to euro-american white feminisms. post the 1990s, intersectionality entered the indian feminist lexicon, following dalit feminist assertions. these assertions drove home the point that the experiences of dalit-bahujan women were different from that of upper-caste women, whose experiences had formed the basis of the indian feminist movement. being inspired by black feminist thought, these assertions subsequently emphasised the importance of understanding dalit women’s lives as being shaped by the intersection of caste and gender. it also became an important tool in legal battles for seeking justice in cases of violence against dalit women. however, we argue that in the present context it is important to uphold the importance of the concept of intersectionality in politico-legal praxis, while simultaneously critiquing the deployment of this concept by upper-caste feminist academia. by focusing on two case studies, we argue against reading the intersectional category of the dalit woman as a self-standing homogenous category. the first case study emphasizes the importance of understanding how the category of dalit women is co-constituted with the category of the upper-caste woman, making it imperative to read the two categories together. through an ethnographic work on dalit/bahujanii women of partition-migrant families, in a non-metropolitan town in west bengal, it tries to contest the myth that the partition led to the shattering of traditional structures of caste and gender, in bengal. it argues that upper-caste women’s public presence, especially in paid labour, in the aftermath of the partition did not lead to the dismantling the dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse: a critique of its intersectional 51 of the caste-gender system. rather upper-caste women used their caste privilege to simultaneously distinguish themselves from dalit women and devalue their labour for their own benefit. upper-caste women’s empowerment then was directly related to the continued oppression of dalit women. the second case study argues against reading the category of dalit women as a homogeneous category over-determined by violence and oppression. it highlights that in post-constitutional india, dalit women have asserted their agency and self-hood in various ways despite facing marginalization. it compares two incidents of caste-based violence in shabbirpur and hathras, uttar pradesh respectively. the argument here is that differential degrees of political and economic mobility have led to differential possibilities of resistance. dalit women in shabbirpur put up a spirited resistance against upper-caste violence. this resistance was built upon ambedkarite politics and its evolution into constitutional rights for dalits. it is such socio-economic mobility and assertion of political agency by dalits which has brought incidents such as hathras, to national focus, rather than upper-caste benevolence. the article begins by providing a short history of the evolution of intersectionality as a theoretical and methodological category in feminist thought. concurrently, it also briefly focuses on its use as a legal concept. it then tries to map the history of how the intersection of caste and gender has been theorized in the indian context. such theorizations, subsequently coalesced in the evolution of a ‘dalit feminist standpoint’. it then tries to map some of the ways in which intersectionality and its (ab)uses have been called into question by anti-caste feminists. taking this critique forward, the article tries to situate these debates through two ethnographic examples and provide some possible ways to critically rethink the concept of intersectionality for an anticaste politics. ‘intersectionality’the concept: its evolution, critiques, and contemporary significance in india for the purpose of this article, it would be essential to understand the historical trajectory of the concept of intersectionality. the critical legal studies and critical race theory movements, in the united states, during the 1970’s, brought with it a radical questioning of the law and its interaction with race. critical legal studies theorists claimed that the law was devised to maintain the status quo of society and therefore, the law continues to be biased and discriminatory against marginalized communities. simultaneously, black feminist writings such as that of critical race theorists bell hooks (1984), audre lorde (1984) and patricia j. williams (1991) asserted that decentring of the white, western, heterosexual, middle-class woman is critical for feminist discourse and feminist politics. their work asserted the necessity to read the two categories of ‘woman’ and ‘black’ to illustrate differences. in this process they complicated the understanding of discrimination and exclusion. taking these critical interventions in legal philosophy and feminist movements further, kimberlé crenshaw (1989) devised “intersectionality” as a method to question and lay bare the bias of the legal system, through the metaphor of a road intersection. she argued racial discrimination and gender discrimination were two separate roads and at the intersection of these roads lie the experiences of black women, therefore, the term ‘intersectionality’. 52 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 intersectionality and its deployment as a concept came to be severely critiqued in the recent decades. bilge (2013) has argued that the potential of a concept cannot be divorced from its concrete uses. as in the case of other travelling theories, intersectionality fell prey to widespread misinterpretation, tokenization, and displacement as it travelled across disciplines and geographies. to bilge (ibid.) an important marker of the success of intersectionality as a tool depends on whether its introduction leads to the empowerment of subordinated groups or is it instead used to further subjugate them. she argues that co-optation of intersectionality by ‘disciplinary feminism’ works to cover up disciplinary feminism’s “own strategic situation... and its racial privilegewhiteness” (p. 415). claiming a broadened history of the intellectual trajectory of intersectionality represents white feminist thought as intersectional thought, undermining the specific contribution of women of colour. another critique of intersectionality is that it essentializes categories, eliminating complexities and differences. this is what mccall (2005) explicates through the concept of anticategorical complexity and intracategorical complexity. anticategorical complexity according to mccall (ibid.) is linked to feminist poststructuralists who deconstruct and reject essentializing social categories. they interrogate the concept of boundary-making of categories itself in the face of irreducible social complexities. secondly, the intra-categorical complexity is connected to black feminism and focuses on specific social groups which are neglected points of intersections” (mccall, 2005). she endorses an intra-categorical approach as a possible way out which requires a strategic adoption of existing analytical categories, while maintaining a critical stance towards them. intersectionality has allowed overlapping identities of gender, caste, class, race, queer, and disabled, etc., to be incorporated into an analytical framework for judicial and legal praxis. it provides for a theoretical framework to deconstruct multiple forms of discrimination in a court of law, which then has the potential to embed an antidiscrimination ethos in society. yet, comprehensive understanding of intersectionality as an analytical framework is non-existent in indian legal praxis and jurisprudential thought till date. indian legal praxis reads the category of the dalit woman through a singular lens of violence, i.e. ‘atrocity’iii and it fails to read the multiple forms of discrimination that form the experiences of dalit women at the intersections of caste, gender, class, and region. atrocity judgments fail to take into account the complex functioning of caste through land, power, and regional hierarchies and its impact on dalit women’s experiences. until the indian legal system does not utilise the intersectionality framework as a judicious tool for adjudicating cases of atrocity and discrimination, dalit women’s struggle for equality and basic human rights will continue to remain flawed (rao, 2009; kumar, 2020). thus, the idea of intersectionality continues to be an important tool for anti-caste politics and legal activism. even though the battle to introduce an intersectional understanding to the recalcitrant and casteist indian judiciary continues to be a long and frustrating one, intersectionality has become part of disciplinary, mainstream, feminist common sense. yet, such common sense has reduced it to a simple assertion of dalit difference from upper-caste women. the complex relationality between upper-caste/dalit women and the former’s complicity in the oppression of the latter is eschewed. simultaneously, the dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse: a critique of its intersectional 53 the lens of difference has led to non-upper-caste, especially dalit women, being seen as a homogenous category, over-determined by violence and oppression. differences within the category of ‘dalit women’ are papered over despite the multifarious paths to self-assertion taken by dalit women in post-constitutional india. the consequence of such an understanding has been that any possibility of locating agency in the biographies of dalit women leads to a questioning of their ‘authentic’ dalitness and marginalisation. thus, it becomes important to critique its current usages while upholding its importance. we now attempt to expand on these arguments through reading intersectionality and its trajectory in indian feminist discourse. theorizations of the intersection of caste and gender in indian feminism the idea of intersectionality entered indian feminism through dalit feminist thought. it argued that caste and gender are interlocking systems that produce specific experiences for women situated at the intersections of these systems, i.e. dalit women. paik (2014) and ghosh and banerjee (2018) situate the beginning of an intersectional thinking, especially in relation to the categories of caste and gender, to jyotirao phule (1991) and savitribai phule (2011). they saw caste and gender as parallel but mutually reinforcing categories of marginalities that shaped one’s socio-economic reality. this legacy was taken forward by periyar (2009), who argued that the brahmanical order created dual marginalities for the lower castes and women which could only be undone by renouncing caste privilege and religious faith. these ideas are in continuity with ambedkar’s theorization that “the superimposition of endogamy on exogamy means the creation of caste”, making caste and gender intersecting systems (ambedkar, 2002, p. 246). intersectionality over the years has become a pertinent method for dalit feminists to theorize the experiences borne out of the intersection of caste, class, and gender. patil (2017) argues that though the women’s movement in india attempted a sophisticated analysis of the inter-relations between class and gender, it never “addressed the problem of dalit women as fundamental caste-based indian reality” (ibid., p. 3). it was only in the 1990s, that the dalit feminist critiques posed serious challenges to established feminist canons (rege, 2006). [2] it questioned the “limited reading of the materialist determinants of brahmanic knowledge producers/systems that cut across the spectrum of political ideologies” (patil, 2013, p. 38). dalit feminist politics also pointed out to the patriarchal biases within and amongst dalit politics, spurring guru (1995) to argue that dalit women need to ‘talk differently’. dalit women’s autobiographies in vernacular languages provide for the first source of reading dalit women’s experience and difference. urmila pawar’s (1988) autobiography aaidan (weave of my life) is an intimate and explicit account of her struggles while attempting to learn the skills of reading and writing. her work popularly put forth the perplexing realities of dalit women’s lives. bama’s (1992) autobiography karukku, which was translated from tamil, is a quest of the self. it narrates her stigmatized life as a dalit student and her rage when it struck her that she would not be rid of caste, whatever she studied, wherever she went. these writings are 54 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 an expression of pain, struggle, and suffering whilst clawing their way out of a life of discrimination and exclusion to a life of self-assertion and self-hood. furthermore, during this time, critical contributions by dalit women activists and scholars articulated and conceptualized dalit women’s difference. gail omvedtiv (1979) as early as 1979 coined the, now popular, marker for dalit women: “downtrodden amongst the downtrodden”. in her trailblazing ethnographic interaction with a dalit woman agricultural labourer, omvedt delineated the notion of the dalit woman’s “double oppression.” this interaction for omvedt led us to reading ‘dual vulnerability’ in the lives of dalit women—one that of violence and discrimination within the homes, and the other being outside the home. urmila pawar and meenakshi moon (1989), for the first time, provided for a history of dalit women’s experiences and participation in the dalit movement. this crucial piece brought forth, through an ethnographic study, dalit women’s journey of self-assertion and self-representation rooted in ambedkarite politics these writings by dalit women brought to life their protests and rebellions rather than just violence and victim-hood that have come to mark the category of the dalit woman. ruth manorama (1992) elaborated on the notion of “downtrodden amongst the downtrodden” dalit woman through a historical reading of caste. she intricately laid out its implication on the dalit woman’s identity as “thrice burdened”. vasantha kannabiran and kalpana kannabiran (1991) wrote that the caste question is enmeshed with the woman’s question. when understanding oppression, caste and gender are “twin mediators” from the onset. these writings laid out the “double oppression”, “thrice burdened”, and “downtrodden amongst the downtrodden” as markers of dalit women’s identity. through this language dalit feminist movement and scholarship asserted for the caste, class, and gender intersection as being critical to mainstream feminist discourse. it laid the path for the creation of autonomous dalit women’s organizations which then, strengthened and led the struggle for human rights advocacy and implementation of anti-discrimination policies, at the national and international level. it is the result of such activism and critique that then led the mainstream indian feminist discourse to bring in a caste critique essential to its politics and praxis. it led to the development of dalit feminist standpoint heavily utilizing the concept of intersectionality over the years. subsequently, it came to be argued by upper-caste feminist academia that an intersectional dalit feminist standpoint should be taken up by upper-caste theorists for holistic and robust feminist formulations (rege, 2003, 2006; v.geetha, 2016; rao, 2003, 2010, 2018). it can be argued that dalit feminist standpoint, as established by dalit women, was the result of reorganization and political theorization of their lived experiences. this was done through a sustained participation in anti-caste politics. alosiyus, mangubhai, and lee’s (2017, 2020) work deserve special mention in this regard. this seminal work, through a quantitative and qualitative study, explicitly used intersectionality as a theoretical framework to analyse dalit women’s experience. they argued that the patriarchal violence against dalit women, especially sexual violence, is not an archaic remnant of the caste system. such violence plays an important role in the agricultural economy, where it is used to keep dalit women tied to the subsistence economy and continuously devalues their labour. the dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse: a critique of its intersectional 55 within upper-caste academic feminism intersectionality subsequently came to be highly critiqued and defended as well. on the one hand, menon (2020) argued that intersectionality, when applied as a universal category, becomes a tool in the hands of the neo-liberal regime. shah and lerche (2017), similarly privileged the political economy approach over the intersectionality approach, as a theoretical method. on the other hand, feminists like john and gopal (2020) argued in favour of intersectionality, as a method, which challenge existing structures while offering an important corrective to the propensity of indian feminism to think in a single-axis manner. ghosh and banerjee (2018) further argued that the essence of intersectionality is in “the acknowledgement of mutually constitutive nature of social categories and the consequent location of groups”. an important way of doing so is by focusing on the lived experience of subjects placed in different categories. a focus on lived experience according to them is not divorced from an understanding of structures, rather it deepens such an understanding. theorizing lived experience, however, is a complex terrain. it is not a given fact, waiting out there, to be retrieved (sen chaudhuri, 2018; mahadevan, 2020). lived experiences of the marginalized become critical standpoints through their involvement in political struggles, as seen in the case of dalit women theorizing their own lived experiences (harding, 2004; jagger, 2004). the same does not hold good for all kinds of academic enterprises trying to understand/re-present the experiences of dalit women, where the element of biographical experience as well as political struggle is not always present (herbert, 2020). when non-dalit women take up the study of dalit women especially through the lens of difference and (in)visibility what happens is an essentialization of difference (sen chaudhuri, 2018). in this kind of an analysis the difference in lived experience is over ridden by the claim that despite differences, between dalit and upper-caste, all women are similarly victimized by the kind of oppression they face. a concrete example of this kind of theorization is the concept of dalit patriarchy—where it is argued that while upper-caste women face brahmanical patriarchy in their homes, dalit women face dalit patriarchyespecially in contexts of social and political mobility (sanskritization). herbert (2020) and arya (2020) both vehemently argue the empirical adequacy of the concept of dalit patriarchy. they also posit that it is theoretically misleading to assume dalit patriarchy as a separate system which is equivalent to brahmanical patriarchy. upper-caste women as much as uppercaste men benefit from the imposition of caste-patriarchy on the lives of dalit women, arguably more than dalit men. conversely, difference can also lead to claims that dalit women’s experiences are completely different from that of the upper-caste woman. when experience is acknowledged as completely different, it either makes lived experiences of uppercaste women completely opposite to the dalit woman, or the difference is fetishized so much that it becomes an isolated difference that is absolutely compartmentalized. jenny rowena (2012) argues that fetishization and celebration of the dalit woman’s sexual agency by upper-caste women, in contrast to that of themselves, is ultimately inimical to the cause of dalit women. it seeks to preserve the traditional boundaries between these two categories, rather than dismantling them. both paik (2018) and rowena (2012) argue that the simplistic idea of difference, often translates into the 56 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 argument that dalit women, with socio-economic mobility, through the process of sanskritization, consent to increased patriarchal control. upper-caste women on the other hand, are understood to exhibit increased feminist tendencies through experiences of socio-economic mobility. paik (2018) goes on to argue that this conception is inadequate and the problem lies in the interlocking ‘technologies’ of caste, gender, sex which make dalit women “especially vulnerable to accusations of immorality and vulgarity”. paik (2014) also highlights the multifarious experiences and trajectories of dalit women in post-constitutional india. the variations in educational access resulting in socioeconomic mobility leads to a variegated experience of marginalization as well as resistance, thus impacting the theorization of dalit women’s lived experiences. our set of interventions draw upon such critiques to question dalit feminist standpoint as emerging out of simply ‘re-presenting’ dalit women’s lived experiences in academic enterprises and seeks to nuance the idea of re-presentation itself. let us illustrate these two sets of concerns with examples from our respective case studies. intersectionality and relationality: the partition and its telling in west bengal this section seeks to rethink the feminist theorization of the partition and its aftermath in west bengal by taking dalit women, situated at the intersections of caste, class, gender, labour and region, as its protagonist. it argues that even though the uppercaste researcher cannot come to possess a dalit feminist standpoint, it is possible to relationally listen to dalit women’s recounting of their experiences. this leads us to challenge existing feminist canons, as well as leads the researcher towards a selfreflexive questioning of her own privilege and categories of analysis informed by such privilege. such relational listening brings to sharp focus the co-constitution of the privilege of upper-caste women and marginalization of dalit women, obscured by a simple lens of difference. it then questions easy uptake of intersectional thinking by upper-caste feminists, urging them to arrive at a politics of allyship by unlearning, rather than assuming it as an a-priori axiom. the partition of british india (1947) is a watershed moment in south asian history. it forced millions of people to lose their homes and become ‘refugees’. while the state-sanctioned nationalist narrative in india attempted to depict this as a necessary cost of independence, the refugee counter-narrative resisted such an understanding of the partition. in continuation with this trend in west bengal, a state which received maximum refugees along the eastern border, the refugees emphasized the human cost of partition. the statist strand blamed the refugees for their own dismal fate. against this, the refugee narratives highlighted their heroic struggles while constantly focusing on their victim status. they tried to draw attention to the government’s apathy towards their extreme socio-economic vulnerability and highlighted their resilience and selfreliance in rehabilitating themselves. they simultaneously sought to define their victimhood through middle-class upper-caste (bhadralok) norms, where women’s public presence was seen as a source of trauma (sen, 2011, 2014). bengali feminists sought to contest this narrative of trauma in their theorizations. the dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse: a critique of its intersectional 57 in the aftermath of the partition, having become refugees, women of the uppercaste refugee families had to take up the role of breadwinners ‘giving up their own desires’. this was due to the financial exigencies of their situation. the bhadrmahila (upper-caste genteel women) construction of femininity based on a brahmanical patriarchal system had so far prevented upper-caste women from working publicly in paid labour. even though participation in paid work by upper-caste women, came from a place of serving the feminine duties of providing for the family after the partition, feminists celebrated this as empowerment. they argued that whatever be the cause of this large-scale participation of upper-caste women in paid work, it pushed women towards education and employment. these gendered gains were then continued in the future generations as well, especially in refugee families (bagchi, 2007; chakravarty, 2005; chakravarty, 2016). the historiography of gendered labour in colonial bengal, as done by sarkar (1989), sen (1999), chatterjee (1993), banerjee (1990), however, points to the fact that women’s engagement in public labour in the cities of bengal was not a new phenomenon. women who were traditionally engaged in public labour were largely dalit/bahujan women (hari, muchi, bagdi, dom). upper-caste women who engaged in public labour, were mostly widows abandoned by their families. historical contingencies pushed them to take up informal kinds of employment as domestic servants, washer women, etc. ray and quayum (2009) and sen and sengupta’s (2016) work point out further feminization and gradual cheapening of domestic work in post-partition bengal, whereby it was largely dalit/bahujan women who took up such work. given this background, researcher one’sv work sets out to ethnographically understand the sc/obc’svi refugee women’s experiences of post-partition rehabilitation and in particular their experiences of paid labour. it takes asansol, a non-metropolitan city of west bengal as the context for a study. refugees from government camps who were largely dalit/bahujan were sent to asansol to support its industrial development. the case of asansol, a primarily industrial context is interesting because it may be argued that the dissociation from the rural-agricultural economy might mean greater freedom from caste-based structures which have been associated with the ruralagricultural setting. yet, it is interesting to note that post-partition when women from sc/obc backgrounds in asansol had to seek paid-employment, they invariably found themselves in the most exploited professions in the informal sector. these professions largely, also had a historical trajectory of being associated with dalit/bahujan women, such as domestic work, the work of being ayahs (‘unskilled’ caregivers in the medical profession), selling wares in the market or doing piecemeal contractual labour from a home-based set up. a detailed study of secondary literature on colliery labour which was the major industrial enterprise in asansol’s period of formation and growth as an urban centre, found that industrial labour in asansol had always been extremely exploitative and caste-based. a significant proportion of the dalit/bahujan labour in the collieries were, however, women. after independence the proto-slavery like conditions of industrial labour engagement became difficult to sustain and even more difficult to replicate given the professed ideals of the new nation-state. under these circumstances, dalit/ 58 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 bahujan refugee-labour from camps became a suitable alternative to support the industrial expansion of asansol. refugee-industrial labour was predominantly male because colonial policies together with the gendered ideals of the bhadraloks, pushed out dalit/bahujan women from blue-collar formal employment. the refugee families who came to asansol previously owned small plots of land or were engaged in petty trade or less frequently formed the lowest rungs of the colonial professional class. a pervasive socio-political insecurity augmented by the flight of upper-caste hindus in positions of power, in an islamic state guided their decisions to migrate. upon migration they had little to fall back upon having lost their means of subsistence and became dependent on government help, as camp refugees. the minimum socio-economic security they enjoyed in the camps was lost once they came to asansol from the camps. industrial expansion in asansol was yet to begin in full swing and in the initial phases they took up piece-meal work, including that of building roads, laying down railway tracks, and so on. they were paid by the government on a contractual basis. later the opportunities of employment became available in the industries but the remuneration was extremely low. most families in this study could not afford to take up such employment and continued in informal employment such as that of masonry, carpentry, welding, and selling wares such as clothes, food, etc. the women of these families had to often, simultaneously take up paid employment in professions mentioned above because their husband’s income was inadequate and erratic. those who could continue in formal employment however, improve their conditions, especially after nationalization of many industries. many such families were able to educate their future generations—both sons and daughters, and their children were able to find formal employment. but very few were able to continue in formal employment because of wide-scale industrial closure that began to haunt asansol in the 1980s and got expedited in the following three decades. industrial closure also meant that for the subsequent generations of these refugee families who were not able to secure enough educational capital there were very few opportunities of formal employment, especially in the public sector. they were mostly forced to join the informal sector. in the informal sector jobs were gender segregated—with men taking up jobs such as masonry, carpentry, selling flowers, driving e-rickshaws. women worked as domestic workers, ayahs, selling vegetables, snacks and sometimes flowers. these jobs barely provided for survival let alone the possibility of economic mobility or stability. even if slim possibilities of financial mobility existed in the jobs performed by men, such was entirely absent for those performed by women. under these circumstances, entry into paid labour did not provide women with any sense of fulfilment or empowerment as work continued to be highly exploited and stigmatized. it was rather a survival need—both for herself and for her family. experiences of paid work were therefore, invariably communicated through the trope of kashta (struggle). kashta involved the physical exhaustion involved in doing menial work, the exploitation involved in terms of low wages and violation of work contracts and having to shoulder the burden of house work along with doing paid work. being able to quit paid work remained one of the aspirations of these women. most, however, were not fortunate enough to quit work and had to continue to work till very advanced the dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse: a critique of its intersectional 59 ages given their financial conditions, making it one of their biggest kashta. daughters and daughters-in-law could escape paid work by marrying into families that would provide for them, but in case of crisis they were thrown back to precarious, lowpaid informal work. to keep their daughters and daughters-in-law from taking up paid work of the kind they were involved in was one of their primary aspirations. these sentiments are succinctly captured in the excerpt of an interview below: yes i will never be able to get over this kashta…as long as i live this will eat into me, yet, if my son is not able to manage, can i just watch him suffer being a mother…being a mother can i just sit at home and eat? …i am there, therefore i am selling vegetables, now if i am not there, will she ( her daughterin-law) go to sell vegetables? will my son let her go? no… have i not taught my son that?... he will not ask the women of his house to go and work… he will never do such a thing as her husband. thus, differential experience of rehabilitation and paid labour by women from sc/ obc families, as compared to upper-caste women becomes an important way to re-think the partition narratives in west bengal. yet, this difference can only be understood relationally (sen chaudhuri, 2018). if upper-caste women’s absence from paid labour is crucial for the functioning of caste as a system, the question which becomes important is on what terms did her entry into paid work happen in postpartition west bengal? how did such a change negotiate with the functioning of caste as a system? we argue that, following tharu (1996) if we understand ‘brahmanism as…constantly updating its patriarchy’ (p. 1315) by revising and renewing its extraditions, a provisional answer can be found in the observations made by ray (2020), about the gendered dynamics in the care industry in west bengal. she argues that upper-caste women, post the partition, were forced to take up jobs in the medical care sector, a profession that was hitherto considered demeaning because of its encasted association with bodily substances. being largely a preserve of dalit women, the profession was also stigmatized and sexualized. but when upper-caste women were forced to enter the profession, they did so as nurses and not as ayahs. even though both these jobs were associated with caring, the profession of nursing carried with it an idea of skill, expertise that was unavailable to the ayahs. upper-caste women had the social, cultural, and educational capital to establish themselves as skilled, unavailable to dalit women. further, these women chose to negotiate with the pay and stigma associated with the profession of caring precisely by distinguishing them from the ‘other women’ in the profession. these distinctions that they sought to emphasize were that of their ability to be in their profession through selfless sacrifice, their educational and professional training and so on. the qualities emphasized closely resonated with the tropes through which bhadramahilavii femininity and respectability had been established in late colonial bengal. thus, upper-caste women entered the nursing profession not by transgressing caste norms but by reinforcing them albeit in an ‘updated’ way. these arguments can be extended to understand upper-caste women’s entry into paid work in post-partition bengal in general, i.e. it can be argued that when upper-caste 60 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 women sought employment in post-partition bengal, they chose to enter white-collar employment as they had the requisite social and cultural capital for the same. they then negotiated the transgression caused in brahmanical patriarchal order by their engagement in public labour by reasserting their caste status and respectability, by claiming a chaste, sacrificial, skilled, educated professional self. they distinguished themselves from dalit women who were already engaged in public employment and were understood as unchaste, vulgar, uneducated, and unprofessional in the public discourse. these distinctions were also key to maintaining the differential remuneration that upper-caste women and dalit women received for their public labour. this is why an act that was once transgressive, i.e, upper-caste women’s entry into paid work, in a few decades could become a mark of bhadralok progressiveness and could be absorbed within the caste order. as pointed out by ray and qayum (2009) when women went out to work, it did not necessarily bring any change in the gendered division of household labour. it was the domestic help and the care worker whose labour came to substitute the domestic labour of upper-caste women as they went out to work. having access to cheap domestic labour which has come to be increasingly feminized and lower-casteized was then crucial to the empowerment of upper-caste women. we argue that it is only within such a history that dalit women’s refusal to work, whenever they can afford to, should be understood. otherwise, even though the idea of refusal comes from “lived experiences” of dalit women there is no readily available way of reading such refusal as emerging from their struggles. reading from an uppercaste feminist standpoint of sanskritization, even when engaging with experiences of dalit women, it is possible to read such refusal as strengthening of brahmanical patriarchy with caste mobility. when dalit women write about their lived experience there is already a specific political project within which they are writing about their lived experience. but how do we think about upper-caste women trying to understand the lived experience of dalit women? following mills (2007) it can be argued that if one’s lived experience is shaped by privilege it is only understandable that this privilege simultaneously works to obscure the workings of such privilege in one’s own life. in other words, if caste entitles upper-caste women with privilege, the precise function for upper-caste feminists re-presenting dalit feminist standpoint would be to also obscure this privilege and the idea of the ‘self’ as a product of that privilege. now, if one begins to study dalit women without consciously engaging with this privilege it is possible that this will lead to a representation that reproduces and reinforces their marginalization rather than questioning it. at this point it must be mentioned that such engagement with one’s privilege is not a guarantee of undoing it. it is likely that questioning of such privilege and consequent frames of understanding produced by it through self-reflexivity will be partial and will require sustained political engagement. thus, we argue that a dalit feminist standpoint arising from biographical experiences and political struggles is unavailable to the upper-caste feminist because of her privilege. it might be possible for her to develop an anti-caste standpoint provided it leads to a questioning of her own privilege, her privileged frames of understanding, and her own complicity in the oppression of dalit women. but what kind of political praxis can lead to a selfthe dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse: a critique of its intersectional 61 reflexive questioning of privilege? is it one of feminist allyship as suggested by ghosh and banerjee (2018)? the answer is both yes and no. we argue that when approached through an already formed position of allyship the deployment of intersectionality serves to obscure the relationship between the oppression of dalit women and that of the uppercaste woman’s privilege. this creates a false equivalence between the experience of upper-caste women and dalit women. this is simultaneously a political question and an epistemic question. it is not possible to read lived experiences without categories and it is obvious that when non-dalit women try to interpret and understand dalit women’s lives they bring already loaded feminist categories with them such as labour, respectability, honour and so on. but building bridges between dalit feminism and upper-caste feminism in this context cannot work on a pre-existing idea of what it is to have feminist subjectivity. rather it requires us to understand how different feminist subjectivities and categories such as ‘choice’, ‘empowerment’ and so on are produced through different relations of privilege. thus, the assumption of allyship between upper-caste women and dalit women cannot be a starting point of anti-caste political praxis but has to be arrived at, through a process of the former un-learning and questioning of inherited categories, including feminist ones. intersectionality and the notion of the homogenous dalit woman researcher two’s viii work attempts to read two distinct moments of violence against dalit women in the state of uttar pradesh. the first incident took place in 2017 in the village of shabbirpur in western uttar pradesh.. the second incident is that of the hathras rape-case which took place in 2020 also in western uttar pradesh. by contrasting how dalit women chose to understand and narrate their experience of violence in the two instances we seek to destabilise a homogenous understanding of the category of the dalit woman. in the initial phase of researcher two’s fieldwork, through conversations with the pradhans (village headman) in villages surrounding saharanpur, she learnt that chamars (dalits) were the numerically preponderant and politically significant caste in the region. many of them owned sixty to ninety acres of land and they were mostly farmers. economic and social mobility among the dalits in this region can be read simultaneously with dalits owning land, for about three generations, in this agriculturally rich part of western uttar pradesh. the researcher interposes that this economic and social mobility amongst dalits, is essentially linked to the functioning of land, power, and hierarchy in a specific regional and temporal context. such functioning then impacts, disrupts, and complicates the intersection of caste, class, and gender. first, land acquisition by dalits through land reforms, in a thriving agricultural region, has provided them with a sense of power previously non-existent (srinivas, 1959). second, the rise of dalit bahujan politics has allowed dalits to move away from untouchability and violence as an everyday reality. this identity formation of dalits in this region is a result of post-constitutional ambedkarite politics and movements, this pushes us towards reading the identity of dalits through regional and temporal specificities and through a lens of non-homogeneity. 62 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 whereas hathras—a town three hundred kilometres south of saharanpur, provided for a contrasting reality of caste. in the village where the rape took place the thakur (upper-castes) community was the dominant caste in the village. the thakursix comprised more than half of the families in the village and the dalits were just about fifteen families (roychowdhary, 2020). though agriculture is not the caste-based occupation of the thakurs, in western uttar pradesh they traditionally owned large areas of cultivated land. for the cultivation of this land they hired labourers who have worked for them for generations (dasgupta, 1975). social mobility for dalits (valmiki) in this region varied from that of dalits (chamar) in saharanpur.x socio-political mobility of dalits directly impacted the extent to which dalit communities experienced caste-based violence and their experiences of resisting it. taking social mobility as important to dalits and their experiences, we now look into the two instances of saharanpur and hathras. the chamars in shabbirpur, saharanpurxi on the occasion of ambedkar diwas (14 april 2017) wanted to put up a statue of ambedkar in their local ravi dass temple.xii but the thakurs in the village protested and complained to the village administration. the administration in turn forbade the chamar community from putting up the statue. following this, on may 5 in the neighbouring village, thakurs had planned a procession on the jayanti (birth anniversary) of maharana pratap. thousands of thakurs carrying swords and metal rods, and even carrying petrol in bottles, passed through the chamar village playing loud music and shouting slogans. the chamar community protested against this, claiming the thakurs had not taken prior permission from the administration for the procession. the chamars said that subsequently the thakurs took a few rounds of the area on their bikes, shouting provocative slogans like, “rajputana zindabad (long live rajputana), ambedkar murdabad (death to ambedkar)” and “maharana pratap zindabad” (long live maharana pratap), before they moved towards the ravi dass mandir” (naskar, 2017). following this an uppercaste thakur entered the ravi dass mandir, broke the idol and allegedly urinated on it. the dalit community started pelting stones at the thakurs and violence ensued with many houses in the chamar village being set on fire. researcher two in her attempt to ethnographically locate this experience of violence and its narration by dalit women in shabbirpur tried to understand their lives and routine before the violence broke out. she argues that her ethnographic conversations with these women made it evident that all of them claimed to be aware of their rights, their caste, and their identities. in a conversation with a young girl in the village the researcher asked whether she knew about her own caste and how she felt about it. the girl responded; “haanji, meri ek friend apne school bag mein sticker laga ke aayi thi “the great chamar” usko thakur ladke ne bol dia isko hataa, toh humne uss ladke se ladai kari.” (“yes, once a friend of mine came to school with a sticker on her bag which said “the great chamar”, a thakur boy told her to remove it so we fought with him”). they all stated that they did not fear violence, abuse, or harassment by upper-castes around them. they asserted if such a situation arose in the future, they were ready to fight back and put them—the thakur men, “back in their place”. they spoke about a long history of retaliation by the chamar community in their village, “hum toh darrte nahi hai, koi kuch bolta hai toh usko wapas jawab dete hain.” (“we are not scared, if someone (upper-caste) says something to us, we retaliate”). the dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse: a critique of its intersectional 63 discussing the day the violence broke out, it was stated that men from the village had sent most of the women away and only a few girls stayed back. during an earlier conversation with the village pradhan, researcher two was specifically asked to talk to the girls, marking their recognition of the courageous resistance they had put up. he said, “inn ladkiyon ne bahut himmat dikhai aur wapas ladai kari hai, aap inse zaroor baat karna.” (“these girls have shown great courage and have fought back, you should certainly speak to them”). continuing this conversation with the women in the village, asking them whether they were scared for themselves during the provocation by the thakurs, they stated that they are the warriors of babasaheb and know their rights. “babasahebxiii ne humein samvidhan diya hai jisse humein saare adhikar diye gaye hain, hum dabenge nahi inn logon se” (baba saheb has given us the constitution in which we have rights, we are not going to bow down to them). these conversations push us towards claiming a new dalit feminist subjectivity. this subjectivity asserts itself through a language of constitutional rights and caste-based activism, even when marked by violence. now we move a little further south from saharanpur to hathras. on september 14, 2020, a nineteen-year-old dalit girl was raped and severely injured in a field two hundred meters away from her home, in an upper-caste dominated village. she was gangraped by four upper-caste men from the same village. incidents such as hathras are normalized instances in the lives of a large number of dalit woman throughout india. hathras is by no means a sporadic incident of sexual violence against women, or exclusively against dalit women. the case gathered, for the first time, national attention and outrage. violence against dalit women finally was in the news headlines. what distinctively caught the attention of the nation (after about seventy years of legal mechanisms being in place for atrocities against dalits) was the blatant erasure of sexual violence against the victim by the state and its prosecution arm, i.e. police administration and judiciary. the victim’s brother stated that “nobody listened to us… the police said “just take her from here. she is being dramatic and just lying here. do you want to trap us?” (kumar and suresh, 2020). it was only when dalit politicians and activists intervened that the case was filed. a local journalist who witnessed the rushed cremation of the body, before the investigation took place, stated that the police kept her family and the media away from the funeral pyre (ibid.). such actions by police and bureaucratic officials are ordinary and occur brazenly in atrocity cases. this form of conduct by police and government officials is not, and never was, an isolated incident. this is the narrative behind the majority of rape cases and incidents of sexual violence against dalit women. despite an exhaustive and protective legal framework in place, which guarantees equality and basic human rights, the dalit woman’s experiences with the law in post-constitutional india provides little relief or justice. this is due to the way violence against dalit women is directly correlated with the way power and hierarchy function, however, it is integral to take into account specific regional and temporal contexts as essential elements to this correlation. in most upper-caste dominated villages where rape and sexual violence occur brazenly, similar to that of the incident in hathras, cases are not reported because the uppercaste control the police officials in the village (irudayam, mangubhai, & lee, 2014). it was the political and academic outrage that pressured government officials and legal 64 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 authorities to take up due process for this case, otherwise, the hathras incident could have easily been another lost case of atrocity. the difference in the experiences of dalit women in hathras and saharanpur push us towards questioning the relationship between caste, power, land, and hierarchy when reading the lived experience of dalit women. these case studies from uttar pradesh lead us to argue for non-homogeneity in the lived experiences of dalit women. it pushes us towards complicating caste and it’s functioning through socio-political mobility in post-constitutional india. the complex equations of land, power, and hierarchy impact the intersection of caste and gender in different ways. the incident in shabbirpur alert us to the reality that a section of rural dalit women in northern india are aware of their rights and caste-based oppression, as well as claim their dalit identity. this identity is not just defined by exceptional forms of violence. the narration of their experiences thus, push us to complicate what it means to identify and be identified as a dalit woman in post-constitutional india. hathras in contrast is the routinised form of exceptional violence faced by dalit women. this moment finally put the intersection of caste and gender outside of dalit feminist movements, politics and scholarship and into mainstream debates and discourse. it put forth the injustice perpetrated on and ignorance of the dalit woman’s body in the indian legal system. this case provided for a critique of the indian legal system lacking the critical reading of intersectionality as crucial to legal framework. it marked out why deployment of intersectionality as a legal tool is crucial for the implementation of rights guaranteed to dalits in post-constitutional india. yet, shabbirpur is a reminder that in post-constitutional india access to social and economic mobility has provided dalits access to economic, bureaucratic, and academic institutions. this assertive struggle of claiming political rights has led to an aggressive dalit rights movement and dalit feminist movement, in not only academic scholarship but in social and political spaces as well. these movements have in turn forced the dominant upper-caste sociological, legal, historical, and feminist scholarship to include the caste question and particularly the dalit woman’s question as critical to disciplines and discourses. it is because of such trajectories of self-assertion experienced by dalit women and their consequent activism enabled by the same, that instances such as that of hathras have been able to come to national focus. to ignore such trajectories is to fall prey to the casteist reading of the category of the dalit woman, which is over-determined by violence and vulnerability. this ignores the multiplicity of the lived experience of dalit women enabled by the post-constitutional access to rights. dalit women’s difference when reduced to experiences of exceptional violence and vulnerability limits the possibility of recognising subtler forms of structural violence. it retains the binary understanding of the ‘saviour’ upper-caste women and ‘victim’ dalit women, rather breaking down such boundaries. furthermore, it inhibits the possibilities of a feminist anti-caste politics that can learn valuable political lessons from the resistances of dalit women in the face of structural oppression. the dominant post-constitutional indian feminist discourse: a critique of its intersectional 65 conclusion in conclusion we argue that a simplistic reading of the intersectional category of the dalit woman through the lens of difference is inadequate and depoliticizing. to bring out the real possibilities of the intersectional method, it is not enough to just simply make visible the difference between dalit women and upper-caste women. such a focus on difference has two implications—it neutralizes the critical import of theorising from the perspective of dalit women and essentializes the category of the dalit woman. our critical reflections on post-partition experiences of rehabilitation in west bengal through a gendered lens makes it evident that dalit woman and uppercaste women need to be read as relational categories. intersectionality done in this way, does not rule out the possibility of allyship. rather it raises important questions for the upper-caste feminists before they become allies of dalit women in the project of ‘re-inventing’ themselves as anti-caste. the instances of shabbirpur and hathras provide us with case studies to complicate the possibilities of intersectionality and widen its possibilities as a political project. this complicating of intersectionality through the discipline of sociology becomes beneficial for the judicial process. this merging of disciplinary frameworks in feminist discourse and practice holds the possibility of building bridges in interdisciplinary feminist knowledge production. we further argue, that unravelling the possibilities of an anti-caste feminism, through a focus on lived experiences of dalit women, is only possible when feminism can learn from dalit women, rather than trying to situate them within its existing theoretical and political frameworks. analysing dalit women’s lived experience through the lens of non-homogeneity has the potential to help feminism re-think its own history, its complicity in deepening discrimination and oppression. simultaneously, it also has the potential to help feminism (un)learn what it means to be a feminist. references ambedkar. b.r. 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(2014). the myths refugees live by: memory and history in the making of bengali refugee identity. modern asian studies, 48 (1), pp. 37–76. 68 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 endnotes i. due to its growing popularity, intersectionality as a term, made its way into the oxford english dictionary in 2015. it calls it a sociological term meaning “the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage; a theoretical approach based on such a premise.” ii. this case study is part of a larger doctoral project. even though this article focuses largely on the experiences of dalit women, the thesis focuses on experiences of both dalit and bahujan women, hence the usage here. iii we use the term ‘atrocity’ as used within the indian legislations to define caste-based violence against dalits. here, we also argue that when caste-based violence is viewed through the legal lens of ‘atrocity’ it fails to take recognize the complex forms of violence and subtler forms of discrimination that also make up for the lived experiences of dalits. iv even though this section largely seeks to situate the political theorizations by dalit scholars and activists, we find that gail omvedt’s contributions to analysing the intersections of caste and gender, at a time when dalit feminist thought and politics was in its nascent stages, is crucial to the evolution of dalit feminist theory. v researcher one writes from the location of an upper-caste, critical feminist ethnographer. vi dalit/bahujan women in the context of the research identified themselves through constitutional categories of scheduled castes and other backward castes, here after when specifically mentioning the respondents of the research will be referred to as sc/obc women in the following sections. vii upper-caste, genteel women from traditionally land-owning castes. viii researcher two writes from the location of dalit feminist legal researcher. ix thakurs, though identify as a warrior (kshatriya) caste, they are landowners in most of northern india, including bihar, rajasthan and u.p. x see for details after silent revolution: marginalised dalits and local democracy in uttar pradesh, north india, satendra kumar (2017). xi shabbirpur is a village twenty-five kilometres outside of saharanpur xii ravi dass was a popular dalit saint. many dalits from the chamar in northern india, specifically uttar pradesh are devout devotees. xiii ambedkar called lovingly by his followers. in memory of siddalingaiah this issue is dedicated to siddalingaiah, the face of kannada literature, whose warm and gentle presence radiating kindness, succumbed to covid 19, on june 11, 2021. may his memory be a blessing! i must have a word with you o cactuses and thorny plants; i must put a question to the moon who borrows his light; i should free the beautiful rose from thorns. wells are waterless and ministers speechless constables move about like thorny bushes, o world, i must have a word with you. excerpt from ‘maatada beku’ by siddalingaiah margin and transcendence © 2021 laurence simon. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.375 editorial and introduction caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. vi–x october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste editorial laurence simon two years ago, we published the first issue of caste: a global journal on social exclusion. one objective was to encourage and raise the standard for academic research into traditional birth-based, rigid, hierarchical systems of discrimination, the influences of which persist in the present despite constitutional provisions and laws against their iniquitous nature in south asian countries. few university courses across the united states, even those on south asian religions, histories and societies incorporated caste studies into their syllabi. important intellectuals and social movements associated with caste were absent or played cameo roles. one of our editorial advisory board members, the celebrated philosopher martha nussbaum, once said about her own studies in literature many years ago that if women were absent from the curriculum, they were invisible, they did not count. one reason for the absence of caste studies is that caste is a hidden discrimination in america and is only now emerging as an issue in the public domain. except for those of south asian background, caste is merely a vague concept from a foreign land. yet african american studies in the 1930s were more sensitive to histories and realities of oppression. they recognized caste in the plight of the descendants of enslaved persons in such classic ethnographies as hortense powdermaker’s after freedom: a cultural study in the deep south,1 and john dollard’s caste and class in a southern town2 both of which are discussed more recently in such reviews and commentaries as jane adams and d. gorton’s “southern trauma: revisiting caste and class in the mississippi delta”3 and the more extensive allison davis et al., deep south: a social anthropological study of caste and class.4 1powdermaker, h. (1939). after freedom: a cultural study in the deep south. the viking press. 2dollard. (1937, 1949). caste and class in a southern town. double day and company. 3adams, j. and gordon, d. (2004). southern trauma: revisiting caste and class in the mississippi delta, american anthropologist, 106(2), pp. 334-345. retrieved from https:// doi.org/10.1525/aa.2004.106.2.334 4davis, a. gardner, b.b., & gardner, m.r. (1941, 2009). deep south: a social anthropological study of caste and class. university of south carolina. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.2004.106.2.334 https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.2004.106.2.334 editorial vii another possible reason for the absence of caste studies in many american universities may be the predisposition of faculty who believe that caste discrimination is a thing only of the past or, for some, perhaps turning a blind eye to an embarrassing or controversial tradition. brandeis being the first university in the united states to incorporate caste into our official non-discrimination policy has been influential with other universities, a few of which have followed suit. in a future issue, we will explore progress toward greater awareness of caste in scholarship and public affairs. our journal is committed to honest and critical scholarly analysis of caste-like systems of discrimination throughout the world. this commitment emanates from the founding of the university in 1948 when the trauma of the european genocide was still palpable and when jews and other ethnic and racial minorities, and women, were confronted with discrimination in higher education in the united states. the founders established a nonsectarian research university that welcomed faculty and students of all religions and ethnicities. eleanor roosevelt of the united states holding a poster of the universal declaration of human rights. lake success, ny, november 1949. un photo a fervent supporter of the university’s founding was eleanor roosevelt who served on brandeis’ board of trustees from 1949 until her death in 1962. the widow of u.s. president franklin d. roosevelt, she was appointed in 1946 by president harry truman as a delegate from the u.s. to the united nations general assembly. in that role, she inspired and chaired the drafting committee for the universal declaration of human rights. article 1 of which reads: all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. they are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. this too was the founding principle for caste: a global journal on social exclusion and enlightens each of the articles and poems in the current issue. viii caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 introduction laurence simon and sukhadeo thorat rajesh sampath’s article a commentary on ambedkar’s posthumously published “philosophy of hinduism” – part iii continues his multi-part analysis of one of b.r. ambedkar’s core texts. in part i sampath walked the path ambedkar took to arrive at his criteria for “justice” and “utility” which sampath sees as shaping the modern conception of religion. in part ii sampath dove further into ambedkar’s concern that the dominant religious orientation of indian society “forecloses the possibility of individual equality, freedom, and dignity.” part iii now examines ambedkar’s engagement with the classics of hinduism’s philosophy. ultimately, ambedkar is undeterred in his original critique of the social and moral failures of the caste system, thereby intimating ambitious possibilities for its eventual eradication. and in carefully framed arguments, sampath asks: “how does the ‘concern’ for the ‘preservation’ of life as the ‘basis’ and ‘core’ of religion [not the ‘incidental means’ of ‘magic, tabu, totem, and fetish’ (ambedkar, 2014a, p. 10)] become perverted into a logic of discipline and desire to humiliate, degrade, and ultimately vanquish any ounce of dignity in what it means to be a human being?” we await sampath’s part iv. paul divakar namala’s norm entrepreneurship at the un – dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent traces the journey of organizations representing dalit and communities discriminated on work and descent in raising their concerns with united nations agencies about human rights violations and abuses. divakar, one of their leading analysts and advocates, pinpoints critical issues facing these communities of more than 260 million people subjected to social exclusions from caste and analogous systems. he speaks of the rising tide of their voices in international forums calling for recognition of their right to life and dignity and “to evolve norm emergence leading to norm adherence.” divakar expresses concern with the limitations of the core international human rights instruments in addressing the diversified forms of discrimination in asia and africa and urges expansion of the concept of work and descent to be inclusive of them. timothy loftus’ ambedkar and the buddha’s saṅgha: a ground for buddhist ethics explores ambedkar’s reconceptualized saṅgha placing ordained monks and nuns at the center of his vision for social service helping the laity toward justice and egalitarianism and driven by an ethic of care. loftus in a clear and articulate prose explains “the role of compassion in this ethical imperative of the monk.” he describes ambedkar’s efforts “as a correction, writing the wrongs done by brahmin scholars of the past and present.” loftus contrasts ambedkar’s vision not only to those traditional views but also to the popular understanding in the west. “the story of buddhism in the west has often been told through the lens of the contemplative, filtered by the discourses of modernity and the biases toward individualism and meditation that come with them.” and finally, he brings us back to ambedkar’s world, contrasting a “religion of rules” called brahminism as against “the religion of principles” with the “morally-oriented, egalitarian buddhism” of social engagement. introduction ix christopher queen’s reading dalit autobiographies in english: a top ten list introduces us to dalit autobiography which he describes as having joined protest poetry in the genre of dalit literature. he says that his readings identified “recurring themes of social exclusion, poverty, patriarchy, survival and assertion….” queen is a seasoned and astute interpreter of cultural india and presents his top ten list of dalit autobiographies as “a needed corrective to mainstream portraits of modern indian social history.” he begins with a personal history of early encounters with indian writers and activists which set the stage for him to see the writings in their true contexts. he reviews authors who describe worlds of exclusion and pain such as the involuntary criminals forced into thievery and whole tribes classified as “habitual offenders” under the influence of the caste system. queen though also relates the lightness and irony of siddalingaiah’s marvelous work as well as the “intimate vignettes” where “we encounter blinding hunger and disease, confinement and squalor in village and city slums, violent death by suicide and murder…. but we also meet kindly teachers… enduring friendships.” queen beautifully and with deep passion unfolds the mind and emotion of dalits through the self-experience of writers whose inner lives had found no expression in mainstream literature. joseph kweku assan’s ethnic identity, discrimination and the shaping of remittance culture in ghana continues the journal’s exploration of birth-based discriminations outside of south asia. his article discusses the influence of ethnic identity on remittance patterns and shows that migrants from ethnic groups with strong internal cohesion and less assimilation remit more that those from more ethnically heterogeneous groups. the study also shows that migrants from matrilineal ethnicity remit more than those of the patrilineal group. assan’s work highlights the importance of a researcher’s deeper understanding of socio-cultural values and traditions among marginalized and deprived ethnic minority households. ishita roy’s a critique of sanskritization from dalit/caste-subaltern perspective explores the social purpose of sanskritization in which, according to m. n. srinivas, a ‘low’ caste or tribal group changes its customs, rituals, or ideology toward those of ‘high’ castes in order to claim a higher position in the caste or social hierarchy. roy compares the thoughts of srinivas and ambedkar to understand the inner purposes and impacts of sanskritization and concludes that it is essential to critique the process from a dalit point or view. rather than seeing it as a process of mobility and fluidity with caste structures, we understand instead its reinforcement of the very continuity and sustenance of the caste system. many low castes are today, however, influenced by a process of social change that speaks of their inherent dignity, equality and freedom of mind and body. ashim shil and hemraj p jangir in their exclusion of tribal women from property inheritance rights: a study of tripuri women of india report on the role of gender in inheritance of property and how the traditional common exclusion of tripuri women from property ownership affects their income and position in the household. change does not come easy though as the authors show a correlation between female possession of property and violence against women in relation to access to their property rights under law. affirmative action by the state has advanced the cause of tripuri women to transcend the age-old practices of exclusion though the path is still long ahead. shriyuta abhishek and nanda kishore kannuri in their on the margins of healthcare: role of social capital in health of migrants in india present the x caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 findings of their study showing a link between social capital and healthcare access especially among women, disabled and elderly people. as the concept of social capital has remained largely unexplored in public health in india, this study is timely given the immensity of pressure internal migrants are under in the pandemic. the study adopts the who’s framework for the social determinants of health and relates it to a social capital assessment as influenced by caste. roshni babu’s tending immanence, transcending sectarianism: plane of mixed castes and religions explores the notion of hybridity in ambedkar’s reflections on mixed castes and the origin of untouchability. babu utilizes ganeri’s idea of ‘dissent from within’ to understand the dawning ‘dalit milieu’ which babu gracefully and insightfully describes as “commanding assent-worthiness whereby adjoining communities constituting the least privileged in the caste system, and emergent fragmented communities, communities of mixed castes and half-castes, and half-religious minorities, communities who have been looking for a more inclusive secular platform, all find themselves clamoring to mobilize this canon under various names, whereby one of the more encompassing canopies of becoming assumes the form of becoming ‘dalit’”. in this issue’s forum we have expressions of inner realities, longing and a search for transcendence from two young and inspired poets. ari varutada a poem by chandni girija reflection a poem by gaurav j. pathania and finally, we are pleased that caste: a global journal on social exclusion has recently been selected to collaborate with jstor to digitize, preserve and extend access to our journal. © 2022 dilip diwakar g., et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 299–318 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.447 impact of covid-19 on livelihood and health experiences of migrant labourers in kerala, india dilip diwakar g.1, visakh viswambaran,2 and prasanth m.k.21 abstract covid-19 is the most consequential crisis in our memory and has affected everyone irrespective of class, caste, gender and ethnicity. the pandemic also exacerbated pre-existing inequalities, and those who were marginalised took the brunt of the unprecedented crisis. inter-state migrant workers was one such community who were at the intersections of marginalisation. mostly they belong to economically poor scheduled caste/tribe and backward communities. most of them are agriculture labour, and often due to poor rains and unemployment they migrate to other states for better employment and wage. this essay explores the confluence of elements that helped kerala to manage the covid-19 pandemic during the first wave, march to may 2020. the study adopted mixed method, about 132 migrant workers were interviewed using a structured schedule and 10 case studies were collected. the study finds that a majority, 92 per cent are sc/st/ obc, education level less than high school and economically very poor. the study examined the measures taken by the government to address the crisis and how it helped to address the need and concerns of the migrant workers. it also captured the life, livelihood, healthcare utilisation and overall experience of interstate dalit migrant workers who reside in kerala. keywords covid-19 pandemic, migrant workers, healthcare, livelihood, housing i. introduction some of the disturbing images of india’s lockdown came from the exodus of interstate migrant workers, leaving cities and towns and returning to their home states. with 1assistant professor, department of social work, central university of kerala, kasargod, kerala, india 2research scholar, department of social work, central university of kerala, kasargod, kerala, india corresponding author dilip diwakar g. e-mail: dilipjnu@gmail.com 300 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 bags perched on their heads, children in their arms, and swollen feet, they walked back to their native states as the lockdown paralysed their employment and livelihood. the supreme court of india took ‘suo motu’ cognisance of their plight and ordered the state and central governments to take action to address the needs of the stranded workers (bandhua mukti morcha vs union of india, 2020). however, at the same time, a small state in india, kerala, stood up, took timely interventions, and efficiently handled the crisis. at that time, kerala won international praise for the way it handled the pandemic (viswambaran & diwakar, 2020). kerala’s ability to diagnose and track viruses and other infections was praised by multiple global media such as the bbc, the guardian, and washington post, among others (masih, 2020; biswas, 2020; kurian, 2020; faleiro, 2020). the indian council for medical research (icmr) has lauded the containment strategy and kerala’s robust public healthcare system and said it refers to the kerala model for testing and containment strategies (pti, 2020). though the pandemic affected everyone, some took the brunt of the unprecedented crisis. the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing inequalities as those who were marginalised on the basis of different identity markers had to deal with the worst (diwakar & viswambaran, 2022). inter-state migrant workers was one such community who were at intersections of marginalisation. most of them are agriculture labours, who migrate to other states for better employment and wage. in most cases they belong to scheduled caste/tribe and other backward communities. this essay explores the confluence of elements that helped kerala manage the reverse migration crisis and examines the experience of interstate migrant workers who reside in kerala. even though there are many factors that have contributed to this success, however, i) a robust healthcare system, ii) swift governmental response and, iii) community participation are the three pillars that allowed kerala to manage the first wave of the pandemic (who, 2020). despite kerala having several constraints such as low per capita income, dependence on foreign remittance, and low agricultural output, the state displayed tremendous achievement rates in health outcomes. this is generally attributed to intersectoral factors such as the emancipatory social movements, the spread of education, political awareness of the people, and investment in healthcare infrastructure. it has been claimed that all sections of people in kerala have benefitted from these progressive and timely policy initiatives (isaac et al., 2020; sadanandan, 2020). a state’s efficiency and its effectiveness can be better judged by how it treats the most vulnerable sections. interstate migrant workers are a significantly vulnerable population of a state, because they don’t have any social support mechanism other than the state administration. migration is a phenomenon that primarily happens due to inter-regional and intra-regional disparities at the macro level and due to the lack of employment opportunities and resulting low standard of living at the micro-level (pandey & mishra, 2011). several factors like language barriers, cultural bias and low education levels put inter-state migrant workers at a disadvantage. studies exploring the living conditions of the interstate migrant workers show that they often have to impact of covid-19 on livelihood and health experiences of migrant labourers in kerala, india 301 live in shanty houses and have limited access to sanitation facilities and safe water. (surabhi et al., 2007). while looking at the health access and utilisation of migrant workers, factors like lack of awareness about the provision of health facilities, lack of confidence in accessing the health services due to apprehensions about approaching the healthcare system, language barriers, cultural bias and patriarchal dominance affects the interstate migrant workers from accessing healthcare services (babar, 2011; john et al., 2020). on top of these factors, in india, the laws relevant to the social security of interstate migrant workers were not effectively and appropriately implemented. covid-19 lockdown has further exacerbated the vulnerabilities of migrant workers (john et al., 2020). immediate concerns faced by migrant workers during the first phase of covid included matters related to joblessness and loss of livelihood, food security, paying rent for house, healthcare expenditure, anxieties about family’s safety and apprehensions about the future (mofhw, 2020; singh, 2021). ii. factors contributing to better public health care system in kerala the region, which later became the modern state entity known as kerala, had a comparatively better health infrastructure than other parts of india. a historical analysis of social development in kerala is required to understand the reasons for this advantage. we need to take a brief detour from the health aspects and focus on the history of the malayali (native speakers of the malayalam language) people and their shared sub-nationalistic “pride”, which is important to understand how kerala had the foundations enabled to counter the first wave of covid-19 crisis in an efficient manner. kerala had a concept of organised healthcare for centuries. families of practitioners of indigenous systems like ayurveda handed their traditions from generation to generation. people were used to approaching caregivers when they were sick rather than turning to self-treatment (kutty, 2000). but this tradition cannot be seen as public health as it was not accessible to all people because of the fragmented nature of kerala society. kerala society was highly fragmented on the lines of caste, class and ethnicity, which prevented the concept of public healthcare from materialising. till the end of the eighteenth century, social development in kerala remained latent. this latency was caused by the caste system in kerala, which was perhaps the most brutal and most oppressive of any other state in india (desai, 2005). there were strictly enforced injunctions on the use of public facilities, such as roads, wells, temples by lower castes, and elaborate specifications of the physical distance allowed between each caste (franke & chasin, 1992). this practice of alienation ensured that there was no common identity. the lack of common identification meant that there was little support for collective welfare and virtually no demands for the provision of social services (singh, 2010). however, this changed after the arrival of christian missionaries. the developments in the eighteenth century caused by a domino effect of their arrival constitute an important turning point in kerala history (washbrook, 302 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 1994). missionaries used the promise of access to education and healthcare to further their proselytising efforts. protestant missionaries who arrived in the early nineteenth century considered education to be a necessary prerequisite for their religious work (tharakan, 1984). by the middle of the nineteenth century, missionary societies also opened the first allopathic dispensaries and provided instruction in hygiene and public health (ramachandran, 1998). this missionary work was an attack on the foundations of the caste system and paved the way for the questioning of this religiously-sanctioned hierarchy that facilitated caste. as a result of lower castes getting access to education and health facilities, people from lower castes started to convert to christianity. this, along with british-initiated advancements such as granting proprietary rights to land tenants, and opening wastelands for cultivation, created a new class consisting of middle-level agrarian workers, artisans and traders. these strata were primarily from syrian christians and the ezhava caste (isaac & tharakan, 1995). the creation of a newly-empowered section led to an asymmetrical condition, i.e. the new section was economically improved but still socially discriminated. the economic advancements of these previously ‘avarna’ (outside the varna system) castes caused them to unite and revolt against the unjust social practices that they were subjected to. this resulted in several socio-religious movements that were formed with the intention of fighting against upper caste dominion. narayana guru who urged the followers to strengthen through organisation and liberate through education and ayyankali who called out the oppressed sections to promulgate an indefinite boycott of agricultural operations till the right of education was accessible to them were all products of this movement (tharakan, 1998). figure 1: factors contributing to better public healthcare system in kerala impact of covid-19 on livelihood and health experiences of migrant labourers in kerala, india 303 due to the power of these social movements and out of the fear of large-scale conversions, and also seeing that the reform movements were garnering power, other monarchies of present-day kerala, travancore and cochin monarchies, were forced to initiate reforms that abolished caste restrictions which fostered unprecedented economic mobility across caste lines which in turn got reflected in the general public’s access to health and education (singh, 2010). the expenditure on public health by the travancore kingdom saw a six-fold increase during the period between 1900 to 1945. in the 1941–42 period, 25 per cent of total expenditure on the medical department was allocated toward measures designed to stem the outbreak of diseases such as cholera and smallpox, which had been a causative factor of high mortality, particularly among the vulnerable factions (singh, 1944). the renewed focus on social policies was bolstered by reform movements that ensured equal distribution and access to public goods. as a result, mortality rates started declining steadily in the 1920s, and by 1940 kerala had the lowest death rate among the major states in india (thresia, 2014). another important development that needs to be noted is the aikya kerala movement, a campaign that aimed to consolidate all malayalam-speaking regions and create a united malayali homeland. this began around the 1920s and led to the emergence of a “kerala-wide consciousness of shared community” (chiriyankandath, 1993, p. 650). due to a combination of all these historical factors, kerala state was already at an advantage at the time of its formation in 1956. one indicator of the government’s commitment to health services provision is the proportion of government expenditure set apart for health, and in this aspect, the state’s budget allocation for health was considerable (kutty, 2000). the historical factors mentioned above resulted in creating a democratic environment in the state where two major political parties, communists and the congress party, had to engage in tightly contested electoral races. these tight electoral races and alternation of administrative power heightened government responsiveness to popular pressures. social welfare emerged as a key area of competition between political parties in kerala as each government attempted to outdo the other in the extension of the social security net (venugopal, 2006). as a result, investment in education and healthcare remained a consistent policy of all elected governments in kerala, irrespective of their political leaning. this tradition of government support for health development has been a catalyst for the advancement of healthcare in the state (kutty, 2000). the thrust in public funding in public health took a hit during the period between the mid-1970s to the early 1990s due to the fiscal crisis that the state faced (george, 1999). at the same time, reports on the private medical institutions in kerala by the government show that the state saw a marked increase in the number of private hospitals. more significantly, private hospitals have outpaced government facilities in the provision of hi-tech methods of diagnosis and therapy (kutty, 2000). it is safe to say that, at present, kerala has a healthy division of labour between the public and private sectors. along with these factors, having proper sanitation, drinking water facilities, clean air, and nutritious food have contributed to an overall healthy environment. the rich history and characteristic features of its population have made several scholars note that public health in kerala stood a cut above the rest of india. 304 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 iii. kerala government initiatives for inter-state migrant workers kerala, since its formation in 1956, has had inter-state migrant workers. in the beginning, it was from the neighbouring states of tamil nadu and karnataka. labour migration beyond south india began with the arrival of inter-state migrant workers from odisha (peter et al., 2017). perumbavoor in ernakulam district and kallayi in kozhikode were flourishing timber industry hubs during that time and were home to several migrant workers. later in the 1990s, kanjikode in palakkad emerged as a hub of the iron and steel industry which heavily relied on the labour force from bihar. in 1996, after a supreme court ban on forest-based plywood industries in assam, those who lost their job due to the ban, migrated to perumbavoor, which became a new hub of plywood industries. the profile of the inter-state migrant workers varies as per the native place of the worker, sector of engagement and location of job opportunity (peter, 2020). various organisations such as the centre for development studies (cds), centre for migration and inclusive development (cmid) and department of labour and skills (dols) have always been at the forefront of collecting data and providing insights to the government. the kerala migration survey in 1998 by cds was the first large-scale household survey that exclusively focused on the issue of migration in india. these insights were used to create meaningful policy initiatives to address the vulnerabilities of the migrant worker population and improve their living standards. kerala is the first indian state to enact a social security scheme for migrant workers (srivastava, 2020). as part of the 13th five-year plan, kerala constituted a working group on labour migration that looked into the concerns of the migrant population and recommended several legislative and psychosocial welfare initiatives to better their working and living conditions. several welfare initiatives such as ismwws (interstate migrant workers welfare scheme, 2010), aawaz insurance scheme (2017), and apna ghar housing scheme (2019) were taken up by the state government. however, these initiatives were not always outright successful. ismwws went defunct after gaining momentum; aawaz insurance scheme overlapped with ismwws and is criticised for being a cover for law enforcement agencies to collect their biometric data (sreekumar, 2019; peter et al., 2020). the only housing facility functioning in the apna ghar programme in the entire state offers a total of only 620 beds and is created to meet the requirements of single male migrants (desai, 2019). iv. kerala government responses to covid-19 pandemic the grassroots level organisations—kerala’s robust panchayat raj system—mobilised support for contact tracing and supported the quarantined and disease-affected families. they were also responsible for running community kitchens which were responsible for feeding people who were unable to do so due to the india-wide impact of covid-19 on livelihood and health experiences of migrant labourers in kerala, india 305 lockdown (viswambaran & diwakar, 2020). the government was also the first state in india to announce an economic package worth ` 20,000 crore as a relief to the state affected by covid-19 on 19 march 2020 (dhs, 2020). while the lockdown in india was characterised by apathy towards the migrant workers, kerala set an example in handling the issues. community kitchens were equipped across the state, and helpline numbers and tele-counselling facilities were arranged by the state labour commissionerate (hrln, 2020). however, on 29 march, an incident took place that was considered to be a blot on the kerala’s covid-19 response. a gathering of inter-state migrant labourers flooded the streets of kottayam with the demand that they need to be sent back to their homes. the protest caught the state administration off guard, but the situation was efficiently defused within hours (the new indian express, 2020). an inquiry into the reasons for the protests showed that one of the major causes of discontent among the inter-state migrant labourers was over the kerala style food that was provided for them by the community kitchens. this issue was immediately solved by taking steps to ensure that they had a diet that was preferable for their taste buds. but it wasn’t adopted as a consistent policy. the government also took care of their other needs, such as places to recharge mobile phones and arranging provisions for recreational activities and games such as chess and carroms (hrln, 2020). another major transformation that happened is how the state replaced the terminology used to classify them. earlier, government records used the term “migrant workers”, but they have been classified under the term “guest workers” ever since the crisis. even while migrant protests sprung up in other parts of the country, kerala hasn’t seen any such protest since the first one (arnimesh, 2020). v. methodology the aim of the study is to examine kerala’s response to the covid-19 pandemic and how it has affected the inter-state migrant workers. the study adopts an exploratory research design, as there are not many studies which have examined this particular phenomenon. the study used a mixed method, both quantitative and qualitative data was collected to understand the phenomenon. the study was conducted in ernakulam district, quantitative data was collected from 132 migrant workers from 5 different locations using a structured interview schedule. as the study focussed on the concerns of the dalit migrant workers, case study method was used to understand their specific concerns. purposive sampling method was used to select the respondent for the study. a systematic review of literature on history of public healthcare system in kerala, government initiatives for migrant workers and response to covid-19 pandemic was done to understand the issue and the research gaps. the qualitative data focussed on the life experiences of the migrant workers in kerala. their livelihood, employment, access to healthcare facilities, housing and social security of the migrant workers during covid-19 pandemic. 306 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 vi. analysis and key findings this study has two parts, the first part is the analysis of the quantitative data and the second part is the analysis of qualitative data. the quantitative analysis covers the socio-demographic profile of the respondents, crisis faced by migrant workers during covid-19, services received during the first phase of lockdown, issues of housing & paying rent and access to healthcare facilities. i) socio-demographic profile of the respondents socio-demographic analysis of the migrant workers was done to understand their caste, native place, age, educational status, occupation, type of migration and for how many years were the migrant workers employed in kerala (table 1). understanding sociodemographic details is very important to locate the study and to understand the findings in a comprehensive manner. altogether about 132 respondents were interviewed from the study area of which 34.8 per cent (46) of the participants belonged to the sc/ st workers, about 56. 8 per cent (75) are backward class and only 8.3 per cent (11) are from general community. it is clear that 92 per cent are from socially backward community belonging from sc/st and backward class. a majority of these migrant workers have come from west bengal (38.6 per cent), followed by assam (28.8 per cent), bihar (15.2 per cent), odisha (14.4 per cent) and tamil nadu (3 per cent). an analysis of the age-wise distribution has shown that a majority, 55.3 per cent are in the age group 26–35 years, 24.2 per cent between 16–25 years, 13.6 per cent between 36–45 years and 6.8 per cent between 46–55 years. table 1: socio-demographic profile of the respondent socio-demographic characteristics frequency percentage caste category sc/st 46 34.8 obc 75 56.8 general 11 8.3 native place of participant assam 38 28.8 bihar 20 15.2 odisha 19 14.4 tamil nadu 4 3 west bengal 51 38.6 age 16-25 32 24.2 26-35 73 55.3 36-45 18 13.6 46-55 9 6.8 education level illiterate 19 14.4 primary 29 22.0 impact of covid-19 on livelihood and health experiences of migrant labourers in kerala, india 307 socio-demographic characteristics frequency percentage middle 31 23.5 high school and above 53 40.2 occupation construction site 45 34.1 factory/industry 51 38.6 daily labour 33 25.0 other job 3 2.3 type of migration temporary 122 92.4 seasonal 10 7.6 years spent in kerala 6 month – 2 years 22 16.7 3 years – 9 years 66 50.0 10 years – 12 years 22 16.7 13 years and more 22 16.7 source: based on the field data collected for this study during 2022 the data analysis has found that 40.2 per cent of the migrant workers had education of high school and above, followed by 23.5 per cent with middle level education, 22 per cent had primary education and 14.4 per cent were found illiterate. about 38.6 per cent of the migrant workers were employed in factory/industry, 34.1 per cent worked in construction field, 25 per cent of the migrant laborers were daily laborers and a small section of workers were engaged in working in other jobs. while analysing the nature of migration it was noted that majority (92.4 per cent) of the migrant workers were temporarily settled in kerala and they visit their hometown during festivals, functions and other emergencies. the remaining 7.6 per cent of workers were seasonal migrants. majority 83.3 per cent of the respondents have been working and residing in kerala for more than 3 years. of these, about 33 per cent have been working in kerala for more than 10 years. only 16.7 per cent of the respondents have reported they are working in kerala for 6 months – 2 years. from this it is clear that a majority of the respondents have spent sufficient time in kerala to have an opinion on any specific aspect. ii) crisis faced by migrant workers during covid-19 the analysis of the data shows that 91 per cent of migrant workers have lost their job during the first lockdown period (march to may 2020). because of the loss of their jobs, those migrant workers had to face a huge financial crisis. 308 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 table 2: crisis faced during lockdown 1 (march to may 2020) covid lockdown 1 (march to june 2020) sc/st/dn others1 total over all totalyes no total yes no total yes no lost job 40 (87.0) 6 (13.0) 46 80 (93.0) 6 (7.0) 86 120 (90.9) 12 (9.1) 132 financial crisis 40 (87.0) 6 (13.0) 46 80 (93.0) 6 (7.0) 86 120 (90.9) 12 (9.1) 132 not had 3 meals in a day 7 (15.2) 39 (84.8) 46 13 (15.1) 73 (84.9) 86 20 (15.1) 112 (84.9) 132 not had nutritious food 5 (10.9) 41 (89.1) 46 12 (14.0) 74 (86.0) 86 17 (12.9) 115 (87.1) 132 source: based on the field data collected for this study during 2022 even though there was a huge financial crisis, about 85 per cent of the migrant workers’ food security was ensured and they managed to have 3 meals a day. moreover, when explored further on the quality of food, about 87 per cent of the respondents have reported that they had nutritious food during lockdown period (table 2). though, there were a few concerns raised by the migrants on the food provided by the panchayat through community kitchens, however it met the nutrition requirements of the respondents. table 3: services received during the first phase of lockdown (march to may 2020) services received during lockdown 1 (march to may 2020) sc/st/dn others total over all total yes no total yes no total yes no free food ration by state authorities 10 (21.7) 36 (78.3) 46 13 (15.1) 73 (84.9) 86 23 (17.4) 109 (82.6) 132 grocery kit from panchayat or state 23 (50.0) 23 (50.0) 46 36 (41.9) 50 (58.1) 86 59 (44.7) 73 (55.3) 132 employer provided food grains and vegetable kit 12 (26.1) 34 (73.9) 46 39 (45.3) 47 (54.7) 86 51 (38.6) 81 (61.4) 132 food from community kitchen 4 (8.7) 42 (91.3) 46 8 (9.3) 78 (90.7) 86 12 (9.1) 120 (90.9) 132 ngo or philanthropist provided food kits 1 (2.2) 45 (97.8) 46 4 (4.7) 82 (95.3) 86 5 (3.8) 127 (96.2) 132 free food ration under pradhan mantri garib kalyan yojana 1 (2.2) 45 (97.8) 46 3 (3.5) 83 (96.5) 86 4 (3.0) 128 (97.0) 132 source: based on the field data collected for this study during 2022 1others includes both backward class and general impact of covid-19 on livelihood and health experiences of migrant labourers in kerala, india 309 even during such a huge financial crisis, this was achieved only because 74 per cent of the migrant worker’s received free food grains from various government and other agencies. table 3 data revealed a majority 45 per cent of respondents have received grocery kits from the panchayat and about 39 per cent respondents received food grains from their employer. moreover, about 17 per cent of migrant workers have received free food grains from ration shops and 9 per cent have received food from the community kitchen. nearly 7 per cent of respondents have received food grains from philanthropists, ngos, and other sources. some of the respondents have received food grain from multiple sources. however, there is another concern that 15 per cent of the migrant workers could not get 3 meals in a day during lockdown and 12 per cent said the food was not nutritious. the data has been further disaggregated by caste category as there was no significant variation across the group in receiving food grains it was not considered for further examination. iii) housing and accommodation table 4: issues of housing and paying rent services received lockdown 1 (march to may 2020) sc/st/dn others total over all total yes no total yes no total yes no house rent was waived off by the owner 21 (45.7) 25 (54.3) 46 35 (40.7) 51 (59.3) 86 56 (42.4) 76 (57.6) 132 free food and accommodation 16 (34.8) 30 (65.2) 46 28 (32.6) 58 (67.4) 86 44 (33.3) 88 (66.6) 132 unable to pay rent 5 (10.9) 41 (89.1) 46 7 (8.1) 79 (91.3) 86 12 (9.1) 120 (90.9) 132 unable to meet basic needs (electricity bills, mobile recharges, etc.) 3 (6.5) 43 (93.5) 46 9 (10.5) 77 (89.5) 86 12 (9.1) 120 (90.9) 132 source: based on the field data collected for this study during 2022 concerning the financial crisis and jobless situation of the migrant population, house owners understood the difficulties of migrant workers to pay house rent. table 4 shows that about 42.4 per cent of house owners were waived off their house rent during the first lockdown (march to may 2020). moreover, it was also found that 33 per cent of migrant workers have received free food and accommodation from their employers. however, 9 per cent of the migrant worker’s house rent was neither waived off nor taken care of by the employer. so, they faced difficulty in paying the house rent. nearly 9 per cent of workers also expressed that they had difficulties in meeting their basic needs like paying electricity bills, mobile recharge, etc. 310 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 iv) access to healthcare facilities access to healthcare institutions and utilisation of health services is a concern for migrant workers. as they work in unorganised sector they are vulnerable to many health hazards, however, they were not covered under any social security schemes. during the time of any health emergencies when they have to visit a hospital for treatment they have to skip a day of work without payment, and this puts them at peril. while covid-19 affected everyone irrespective of their socio-economic condition, the poor and marginalised suffered significantly. table 5: access to healthcare covid lockdown 1 (march to june 2020) sc/st/dn others total over all total yes no total yes no total yes no unable to purchase required medicines 3 (6.5) 43 (93.5) 46 0 (0) 86 (100.0 86 3 (2.3) 129 (97.7) 132 difficulty in consulting doctor for common illness 3 (6.5) 43 (93.5) 46 1 (1.2) 85 (98.8) 86 4 (3.0) 128 (97.0) 132 source: based on the field data collected for this study during 2022 however, the analysis of access to the healthcare institutions and purchasing medicines during the lockdown period shows a positive sign in kerala. table 5 shows that only about 2.3 per cent were unable to purchase medicines and 3 per cent had difficulty in consulting doctors for common illness. otherwise, the remaining 97 per cent of respondents did not face any problem in access to and utilizing health facilities. v) qualitative analysis to substantiate the quantitative data and to know the plight of the dalit migrant workers, a case study was collected from 10 migrant workers. this qualitative analysis gave a deeper insight on the i) access to food and accommodation, ii) provision of healthcare and, iii) financial security of the migrant workers. the case study was conducted only with the male workers, that was a limitation of this analysis. impact of covid-19 on livelihood and health experiences of migrant labourers in kerala, india 311 however, the information collected was enriching and gave a comprehensive picture on the above-mentioned aspects. figure 2: thematic analysis of life of migrant workers in kerala 312 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 figure 3: provisions for food and accommodation the responses of the participants corelated with the quantitative data, that their needs for provisions for food and accommodation were taken care of by the appropriate government initiatives. almost all the participants have expressed that they were very anxious and worried when the central government has announced a sudden lockdown, they were apprehensive about how to meet the food requirement for them and their family. ‘when the lockdown struck, i felt very anxious about the life and how i am going to meet the basic requirements such as food and accommodation.’ (case 2) the respondents said that the state machinery took appropriate measures to address the food security concerns by providing free grocery kits, free food rations, impact of covid-19 on livelihood and health experiences of migrant labourers in kerala, india 313 food through community kitchen and financial assistance (case 1, 5, 7 and 10). apart from the government, the employer, recruitment companies and the contractors were very considerate and took care of the employees. ngos also played a vital role in addressing their food concerns (case 1, 2 and 10). however, case 3 reported difficulties in receiving food kits from a ration shop. the cases 1, 2, 6, 8 and 9 reported that the recruitment company took care of their accommodation. case 10 reported that the house owner waived off his rent for two months. case 4 did not got any waive-off, he was forced to pay the rent, however he got an extension of time to pay his rent and he “did pay it off later”. figure 4: provision for healthcare 314 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 all the respondents of the study reported that they have availed healthcare services. cases 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 received healthcare from healthcare workers of state public health institutions. some (cases 7 & 8) also reported of taking medical treatment from private hospitals. under normal circumstances, if they want to avail any treatment for minor illness during weekdays, they visit private hospitals in the evening, otherwise if they have to go to a government hospital, they have to lose a day’s work. during the weekend and for major illness they prefer the government health facility. cases 6, 7, 8 and 10 reported that regular visits and support from public healthcare workers were much appreciated. figure 5: financial security case 3, 4 and 5 reported that they were dragged into debt during the lockdown. it was a very challenging time for the migrant workers during the first phase of lockdown, even though food and accommodation had been taken care of by the government and the employer to certain extent. however, to meet other expenditures they had to borrow money. usually in kerala no one would give them a loan, so they borrow money from fellow migrant workers or from their friends and relatives from their hometown. during the lockdown even fellow migrant workers did not have a job, so they borrowed money from their hometown to meet expenses. “case 5 reported that he was not having money but the local shop keeper was extremely understanding and helped him out”, otherwise he would have faced more difficulties to meet everyday needs. vii. conclusion it is clear from this essay that successful tackling of covid-19 pandemic or any other emergency situation cannot be done by a single entity like an individual, ngo, pri, government, employer. etc. usually, it is achieved only by working together, with direction from the government and with the active support of the pri, ngos, citizens and other stakeholders. even within the government, convergence of various departments is required to achieve success. impact of covid-19 on livelihood and health experiences of migrant labourers in kerala, india 315 in kerala’s fight against covid, while the government heralded the effort, this fight was well appreciated and collectively backed by people and other stakeholders. this is characterised by several factors, namely, an efficient public health infrastructure with dedicated medical professionals & health activists, an efficient bureaucracy that works together with the government with a sense of direction and a civil society that willingly cooperates at times of crisis. another interesting aspect which needs appreciation is that in general during a crisis, the state government struggles to meet the concerns of their state people, and so they would be least concerned about migrants. however, in the case of kerala, they have addressed the concerns of their people and alongside took care of the needs of migrants. in the case of kerala, the study finds a majority, 92 per cent of migrant workers belonged to sc/st/obc. their education level is low, economically they are extremely poor, and they have faced marginalisation on the basis of their caste identity in their hometown. all these factors pushed them out of their state, and they have migrated to kerala in search of better employment and wage. however, the migrants residing in kerala have reported that they have better living conditions and were happy in kerala as compared to their home state. their livelihood, income, healthcare provisioning, food and accommodation has been well taken care of in kerala. migrant workers all over india suffered during the pandemic, however with the foresighted vision of the kerala government and the efficient pri, ngos and other stakeholders the situation was handled effectively. the quantitative and the qualitative data shows the life of migrant workers both 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(2014). social inequities and exclusions in kerala’s ‘egalitarian’ development. monthly review. available at: https://monthlyreview.org/2014/02/01/social-inequitiesexclusions-keralas-egalitarian-development/ viswambaran, visakh and diwakar, dilip g., ‘together’: the story of how kerala flattened the corona curve (april 27, 2020). available at ssrn: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3589882 who. (2020). responding to covid-19-learnings from kerala. available at: https://www. who.int/india/news/feature-stories/detail/responding-to-covid -19---learnings-from-kerala © sudhanshu shekhar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 130–143 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.418 sanitising india or cementing injustice? scrutinising the swachh bharat mission in india sudhanshu shekhar1 abstract occupational competence and division of labour in india have historically been linked to social institutions of caste, class and gender. labour related to sanitation and waste disposal has perpetually been assigned to the most backward caste groups. the reality of the caste system and the revulsion of upper caste groups from any physical contact with dirt and human waste, or with people dealing with waste and sewage, has had many implications for the state of sanitation and cleanliness in india. the national policy on sanitation and its flagship program the swachh bharat mission (sbm), seems to ignore this caste reality and the conditions of people involved in waste and sanitation-related activities. sbm focuses on infrastructure building for ownership and access of toilets and not on dealing with sludge and sewage, conditions of sanitary workers and their rehabilitation. the technology used in the toilets being constructed, their sustainability, safety and retrofitting needs also requires critical assessment. any policy for a sanitised india or swachh bharat will only be successful if it considers the notion of caste, of ritual pollution associated with human waste and dirt in india and removes the shackles of caste that have chained few marginal communities to such occupations, thereby making the enterprise of sanitation and cleaning in india truly egalitarian and democratic, in the sense of opportunities and participation. keywords caste, occupation, sanitation, waste and sewage, swachh bharat mission, scavengers 1phd candidate, department of social work, university of delhi, india e-mail: sudhanshu7277@gmail.com sanitising india or cementing injustice? scrutinising the swachh bharat mission in india 131 labour, sanitation and waste in india all of us, especially those born in small towns and cities of india, might have witnessed a sight wherein a group of people, working in tandem, take out dark, dense and putrid sludge from a manhole, a chamber or uncovered drains, to clear up the sewer line and allow the septage to flow through. i witnessed this same act on the twenty-first of may last year (2022), in the resettlement colonies of karawl nagar in north east delhi. half a dozen, half-naked men, with bare torsos, were trying to unclog a drain connected to a chamber, with the help of long and sleek bamboo sticks. one of them entered the chamber connected to the drain, with another watching over him, to ascertain where and how much sludge is stuck in the drain line connected to the chamber. soon enough he took out a mass of thick black sludge, congealed together with plastics and refuse, with his bare hands, asking his compatriot to pass him a shovel, to clear all that is still stuck in the drain. the sight of a fellow human trying to grasp semi-solid faecal sludge with his uncovered hands would have been nauseating for most of us, leaving behind a sombre experience. there may be several inquisitions which surround us, in the wake of such an experience, like, why do these people agree to do such work? why didn’t they have any instruments or modern equipment for doing this? why do they still have to enter a manhole? and maybe, who are these people? this article is an attempt to engage with some of these catechisms, in particular, and india’s waste and sanitation landscape in general. the destiny of labouring classes in india has historically been linked to social institutions of caste, gender and ethnicity (harriss-white & gooptu 2001, thorat & newman, 2010). in mediaeval times, proscriptions over occupational choices were enforced by the ideals of the varnashrama dharma, elaborated in the rigveda’s dharma shastras. the varna system divided society into four varnas and a group of outcastes. the four varnas are brahmins, kshatriyas, vaishya and shudras, for those who cannot be assigned any of the four varnas, allegedly for their grievous sins of a past life, become the outcastes, the untouchables, or the dalits. the varnas, as suggested, also dictated the type of labour and occupational engagement of each of the five social classes, where all labour relating to waste, sanitation and such activities which were considered ritually polluting, like dealing with carcass of dead cattle, cremation and burial rites, etc., were enforced on the lowest sub-castes (jati) among the outcaste dalits. in the narada samhita, we find that of the fifteen duties of slaves, one was the disposal of human excreta. similarly, in vajasaneyi samhita from the yajurveda, chandalas were termed as slaves, engaged in the disposal of human waste. however, excavations at harappan civilisation (3000–1500 bce) sites lothal and dholavira1 in gujarat have shown that people had waterborne toilets in each house, which were 1the site of dholavira is not mentioned in the source text, although, it has been added because recent exploration has found that it too had similarly developed sanitary systems as lothal, during the harappan civilisation. for more information on this see; unesco. (2021) dholavira: a harappan city. unesco world heritage centre. https://whc.unesco.org/en/ list/1645/ 132 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 linked by drains covered by burnt clay bricks, much before the vedic texts were written. the drainage system was very developed and had manholes and chambers to facilitate operations and maintenance. as the indus valley civilisation declined, the science of sanitary engineering also suffered a setback (ramaswamy, 2005). the consolidation of caste-varna consciousness accelerated during british rule. as aloysius explains (1999) that caste was not omnipresent as a social formation and was only peculiar to certain areas in early india, the river valleys in particular. it was only through what he terms ‘collusive colonialism’ that a compact between religion and nation emerged, leading to the re-historicisation and legitimation of a caste-varna system or the brahminical social order. this collusion between the dominant castes and the foreign elites leads to the rise of state power among the dominant castes and establishes the essentialist and quasi-sacred nature of caste across india. in the words of srinivas, as quoted by aloysius (1999, p. 163), ‘the establishment of pax britannica has set the caste free from the territorial limitation inherent in the prebritish political system’. the essentialization of caste, during imperialism, was aided by the dominant castes who tried to compensate for the setbacks to sanitary sciences while also ensuring the ritual avoidance of dirt and filth (especially human excreta) as stated in their vedic texts. it meant that the practice of manual scavenging, i.e. handling human excrements with bare hands gained enormously and became widespread during the british rule, as they legitimised and systematised it, while urbanising, setting up army cantonments and municipalities (prashad, 2000; ramaswamy, 2005). hence, occupational choices, especially in regions where caste consciousness was strong and hegemonic, got governed by an intricate system, which dictated who was adroit for a particular occupation, based on the position of the caste/sub-caste, in which he was born, within the hierarchical scheme of the caste system. if born outside the four varnas, as an outcaste, one had to profess such a job which was considered ritually polluting. as prashad notes (2000, p. 30), ‘the colonial officials did not invent caste nor did they invent the relations between the landlords and the wage workers, but they certainly intervened in clear and specific ways to set certain customs above others as the legal norm.’ among such interventions was their setting up of municipal corporations and creation of a system of sanitation for their urban centres, this system was built upon the labour of landless farm labouring dalits, who were forced to migrate from rural centres to urban areas, mainly because of the british agrarian policy and taxation policy, which privileged the landholding peasant castes and its needs, as they were important for their trade and production (prashad, 2000; ramaswamy, 2005). in the endeavour to ensure sanitary living conditions in urbanising centres for the army and administrative personnel, the imperialists were aided greatly by the nationalists, agitating for freedom. the nationalists were largely convinced by the language of modernity, with the need for civic consciousness and public health. as chakrabarty (1992, p. 544) puts it, ‘they both seek to make the bazaar, the street, the mela-the arenas for collective action in pre-british india benign, regulated places, clean and healthy, incapable of producing either disease or disorder.’ nonetheless, the nationalists’ concern for sanitising india or cementing injustice? scrutinising the swachh bharat mission in india 133 public health and sanitation did not translate into a concern for those who were being burdened with cleaning and sanitary activities, namely the lowest sub-castes among dalits. even gandhi, who symbolised the moralistic leadership of the struggle against imperialism, did not directly challenge the notion of ritual pollution associated with sanitation, contrarily he vouched for the appropriateness of varnasaharma, as the foundational ethos of hindu society, which gained currency among the mainstream political discourse of the nationalist movement. ‘rather than remove the prejudice against sanitation and urge others to join the sanitary corps, the gandhian solution, for the most part, entailed a valorisation of dalits as sweepers, not now to be seen as the lowest occupation, but indeed as the highest’ (prashad, 2000, pp. 112–113). having lost their traditional occupations, and struggling to survive in urban centres, the landless dalits were coerced into taking up jobs as scavengers and sweepers. they provided the colonial rulers with a cheap and accessible source of labour to maintain a largely primitive and manually run system of disposing of waste and maintaining sanitation. in this way, the colonial interventions aided by (caste hindu) nationalists ensured that the labour of the dalits gets institutionalised as labour meant for sanitary work, in the newly developed towns and cities. like in and around delhi, the bhangis, the mehtars, the chuharas and the valmikis, all dalits sub-caste groups who used to be farm labourers, were inducted as sanitary workers, responsible for cleaning human and other wastes from the urban municipalities and even today they continue to constitute an overwhelming majority of sanitation workforce in the region (prashad, 2000). this entrapment of dalit labour as that meant for most defiling activities, in the urbanising cities, was contradictory to the belief of most thinkers, including ambedkar, who ‘thought that along with other modernising processes, urbanisation would offer the untouchables a much-needed opportunity to walk out from the constraining dark hole (in ambedkar’s view, the village system based on caste was a dark hole)’ (guru & sarukkai, 2012, p. 90). this, as ambekar also realised, was quite distant from reality. as sanitary systems and their constituent labourers got institutionalised, the casteist subconscious of most hindus, middle and upper castes and dalits also got strengthened. the dalits instead of showing revulsion towards what they do, internalised it as their destiny, rationalising scavenging in the name of security and fixed income and began to exercise hereditary claims over toilets and latrines which they cleaned generationally (singh, 2014). in the minds of the caste hindus in urban areas, the ritual pollution associated with dirt and waste in turn polluted those dealing with it. this led to such implications wherein all that is dirty got personified into and as a class or community of individuals and to be ritually pure is to maintain distance from both dirt/waste and such class or community of individuals. guru (and sarukkai, 2012, p. 91) pointing in a similar direction elaborates that, ‘in their (caste hindus) perception, untouchables were mobile dirt and dirt was mobile untouchability.… the untouchable’s image as ‘walking dirt’ was chained to his or her physical association and the experience of being ‘a walking dirt’, was sustained through the static nature of space.’ this static nature of space around which dirt and those associated with it 134 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 are imagined has dire consequences for what qualifies as ‘matter out of place’ in the indian social environment. the hindu caste order’s obsession with purity and pollution principles, ironically, never led to a concrete science of sanitation and waste disposal, and this again points to the expendability of the untouchable’s bodies in the perception of caste hindus (geetha, 2009). the task of sanitising contemporary india, therefore, would have to take into consideration the institutionalised nature of ritual pollution associated with dirt, human waste and the labour of dalits. many previous interventions to sanitise the country have not achieved desired results or gained pan-nation popular support. most of them happened to be caste agnostic in essence which can be attributed as a limitation and a reason for the continued uncleanliness of india or an aswachh bharat. a brief mention of a few prominent sanitation programmes, implemented in independent india, their framework, overall aim and quantum of success achieved, would help in contextualising the previous claim. sanitation and public health first find mention in government documents in 1954, as a part of the indian government’s first five year plan. however, no concrete interventions were set in motion to improve sanitation as succeeding governments prioritise the growth of core industries, food security, and other developmental concerns. as a result, the 1981 national census delivered a rude awakening, that the rural sanitation coverage across the country was merely one per cent (kumar, 2022). hence, the administrators of the country, for the first time, realised the need for a dedicated policy for the development of sanitation facilities and in 1986, the central rural sanitation programme (crsp) was launched. the crsp focused not just on building sanitation facilities, thereby providing dignity and privacy to women, but also on the relationship between proper sanitation and health, which impacts the quality of life of the rural population (ddws, 2007). for all its investment and infrastructure development, the coverage of proper sanitation facilities increased marginally under the crsp programme (hueso & bell, 2013). with the failure of crsp, to tackle the incessant lethargy of growth in sanitation coverage, the total sanitation campaign (tsc) was introduced in 1999. the tsc reformulated the existing policy (crsp) to make it more ‘community led’ and ‘demand driven’ by stressing on human resource and capacity development, information, education and behavioural change communication to increase awareness and generate demand for sanitary facilities, with the ultimate aim to provide ‘sanitation for all’ by 2012 (ddws, 2007). however, tsc, like crsp, remained unsuccessful, as it demonstrated a declining rate of net growth in overall sanitation coverage wherein population growth outstripped latrine construction and the number of rural households without latrines increased by 8.3 million. the reported progress under the programme was also exaggerated when compared with the data from the national census of 2011 (hueso & bell, 2013). acknowledging that tsc has not lived up to its objectives, the government renamed and relaunched it as the nirmal bharat abhiyan (nba) in 2013. the nba was again renamed and relaunched in 2014, as the swachh bharat mission (sbm). ‘this history alerts us that name changes are not synonymous to changes in policy content’ (kedia, 2022, p. 2). sanitising india or cementing injustice? scrutinising the swachh bharat mission in india 135 susan chaplin (1999) highlighted three factors that have prevented a successful sanitation movement from being replicated in india, in the way it happened in the uk, europe and all of the west, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, they include; the political and administrative inability of local governments in india, suggesting weaknesses in the local municipalities, which apart from being a colonial remnant, are institutionally marginalised, lack capacity and finance to maintain infrastructure for proper sanitation and are immersed with political interference. second, there is an absence of a ‘threat from below’ as the trade union politics in india, apart from being on a downturn, has largely remained limited to the formal sectors of employment. the unions have failed to acknowledge the nature of employment in the indian unorganised sector. the workers in the unorganised sector, like most of those in the sanitation and waste economy, have historically been migrants, who came to expanding urban centres as they lacked the means to produce. the inexhaustible mass of unskilled labour which came to urban centres meant that the supply of manpower was always above demand leading to the commodification of labour and dissolution of powers to collectivise and bargain among the workers in unorganised economies, as among the dalits who provided the sanitation services. third, as modern medicine, science and technology developed, the middle classes (mostly caste hindus and ashraf muslims) were able to insulate themselves from epidemic diseases, foul odours and unkempt spaces, by monopolising whatever services the state/municipalities provided and isolating themselves in gated communities. this leads us to a scenario wherein any endeavour to clean india has not been reinforced by the pressures of a popular movement led by unions/collectives or by the sensitivities and civic consciousness of a burgeoning middle class. india remains unclean and, in the waste, and sanitation landscape, caste still remains the cornerstone for dividing labour, as proficiency for the occupations relating to sanitation and waste is still perceived as an ascribed virtue of individuals, which depends upon the subcaste (jati) they belonged to. this is the reality upon which one finds that another effort to clean india has been unveiled by the present indian dispensation, by renaming nba and sufficiently increasing the fund allocated for sanitation, i.e., the swachh bharat mission (sbm). the swachh bharat mission: claims and context the sbm phase i was unveiled on october 2, 2014 by the prime minister, with the target of making india clean, or at least free from open defecation, in the next five years. there are two sub missions under the sbm: sbm rural and sbm urban. the sbm rural intends to make gram panchayats open defecation free (odf), sanitised and clean. it also wants to improve the levels of cleanliness in rural areas through solid and liquid waste management activities (ddws, 2017). the immediate objective of sbm in rural areas is to make sanitary latrines accessible for private households thereby improving sanitation coverage, and subsequently, it seeks to develop community-based solid and liquid waste management systems. along similar 136 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 lines, the sbm urban targets to achieve a hundred per cent odf status, a hundred per cent scientific waste management, and change in the behaviour of the masses through ‘jan andolan’ (mohua, 2021). this course of action is quite unusual from a public policy perspective, in the following two senses, first, if one considers proper sanitation as a public good, requiring public investment, then any government policy should try to maximise the value of the public investment by funding public sanitation infrastructure (sewage lines, public toilets, solid and liquid waste management, treatment plants, etc.), at the same time incentivising people to invest in their own private sanitation facility. however, the sbm’s approach is to subsidise the one-time construction of private sanitation facilities that mainly provide private benefits to those who have the ability to build and maintain them. second, by just focusing on providing subsidies for private infrastructure, the policy subtly shifts the burden of managing solid and liquid waste and developing, operating and maintaining public infrastructure for it, on the public (kedia, 2022). this implies that conventional social relations, regarding sanitation and waste management, will get consolidated, as access to toilets increases and so does the public demand for maintaining toilets and disposing of sanitary waste. the sdg india index and dashboard prepared by niti aayog, the apex policy think tank of the government, shows that all the districts under the sbm rural have 100 per cent sanitation coverage and india is now verified to be odf (niti aayog, 2020) this claim of india being odf was first made by the government of india on october 2, 2019, at the end of phase i of the programme. however, this assertion has not gone uncontested, by both government and non-government institutions. a survey released by the national statistical office (nso) one month after this claim was made, in november 2019 titled ‘drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and housing conditions in india’, claimed that ‘about 28.7 per cent of rural households across india still lacked access to any form of latrines. moreover, 3.5 per cent of those who have access to latrines, don’t use it’ (the hindu data team, 2020). other studies have also contended government’s claim, like the one reported by the institute of labour economics in january 2019, which maintains that despite a significant increase in toilet ownership in rural india, ‘the fraction of people who now own a latrine, but who nevertheless defecate in the open, did not change between 2014 and 2018’ (gupta et al., 2019). this research study tracked changes in 1,558 households of 157 villages of bihar, madhya pradesh, rajasthan and uttar pradesh and showed that 50 per cent of the population in these states still defecated in the open, indicating no improvement. this same study also reported on the survey conducted by deshpande & kapur (2018) in udaipur, rajasthan between april and june 2017 for the accountability initiative of the centre for policy research, which found that of 82 per cent of toilets constructed in gram panchayats of udaipur, only 70 per cent were functional and only 49 per cent were used regularly. the subsidy provided under the scheme has also been found to be insufficient, as a study exploring the perspectives on open defecation and latrine use, in rural bihar, found that ` 12,000 provided by sbm-rural, for latrine construction was not enough to cover the costs for poor households (jain et al., 2020). this has sanitising india or cementing injustice? scrutinising the swachh bharat mission in india 137 also been corroborated in another study2 and considering the fact that sbm urban provides a much lower subsidy (of ` 6,500), we are left to ponder how this amount would be sufficient for toilet construction in urban areas. this contrast and relative insufficiency of subsidy among rural and urban areas again point to poorly envisioned policy goals as we circle back to the deficiencies in the policy design. apart from access and ownership, another aspect which impacts regular toilet use is the functionality and safety of the toilet constructed which is predicated by the technology used. the department of drinking water and sanitation (ddws) (earlier a ministry) suggests that the twin pit pour flush toilet (ttpf) technology has been found to be the most responsive technical option in most geographies (ddws, 2017) but it does allow for changes to the toilet technology or modification to ttpf toilets, depending upon the local context. interestingly, in a study conducted by wateraid india about the quality and sustainability of toilets being constructed under sbm, the key findings included: tppf was used in 57 per cent of households, single pits in 22 per cent and septic tanks in 21 per cent. the study further stated that 31 per cent of the constructed toilets, nonetheless functional, were in fact unsafe (srivastava, 2019). the tppf latrines recommended by the government for rural households need to be emptied once full. this has resulted in many people wanting to get larger pits constructed, as they would not require frequent emptying. however, building larger pits increases the cost of constructing toilets beyond the amount of subsidy. the emptying of sludge from latrines is also another cost which the toilet-using household have to bear by hiring labourers or tankers, and ‘[a tanker] is a big cost. they take ` 2000, ` 2500 if poor people don’t have it, of course, they’ll defecate outside’ (jain et al., 2020, p. 6). this points to the persistence of revulsion among caste hindus, from having anything to do with their faecal discards, which is considered ritually polluting. instead, they opt to incur costs in hiring services, from sources of labour which they regard appropriate for such work, that is, mostly the lowest sub-castes among dalits in that specific geography. in fact, most types of technology that have been used for constructing toilets under sbm would require manual removal of sludge from pits, at some point, if not retrofitted and connected to piped sewage disposal systems. like the tppf toilets, recommended by ddws, which consist of two alternating pits connected to a pour flush toilet, where blackwater or greywater is collected in the pits and allowed to slowly infiltrate into the surrounding soil. over a period of time, the solids are dewatered and the sludge that remains has to be removed manually (tilley et al., 2014; tayler, 2018). septic tanks, which are also very commonly constructed, ‘retain solids, supernatant liquid and scum, and must be regularly desludged’ (tayler, 2018, p. 17). similarly, other self-contained, on-site systems of sanitation like the single pit toilets, will also require removal of partly digested faecal sludge at frequent intervals (tayler, 2other research has also found that for the type of toilet preferred in rural india, the cost of construction of ` 12000/is not enough. may refer to; gupta, a., khalid, n., desphande, d., hathi, p., kapur, a., srivastav, n., vyas, s., spears, d. & coffey, d. (2019). changes in open defecation in rural north india: 2014-2018. iza discussion paper no 12065. 138 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 2018). an estimate suggests that a septic tank will need to be pumped out or emptied every five years, if it is serving 10 people, if it is serving 100 people it will need to be desludged every six months (doron & jeffery, 2018). another estimate suggests that septic tanks designed and operated using best practices will require desludging at an interval of 2-4 years (tayler, 2018). the unpropitious state of india’s sewage system makes it even more obvious who will service these pits once they start filling up, and needing to be emptied. gatade (2015, p. 32) notes that ‘the equation between excreta and pollution in hindu society has led to the scandalous neglect of sewage management.’ by 2020, as per the central pollution control board, of the 72,368 mld of sewage which was generated, only 20,235 mld, or about 28 per cent was captured by sewage in towns and cities and ended up at treatment plants (cpcb, 2020). even in urban areas, as of the last census, only 32.7 per cent of india was serviced by sewers (goi, 2011). hence, the emptying of pits and the handling of waste is indeed fundamental, but it remains largely undiscussed in policy documents of sbm phase i. in recent times, while cleaning of septic tanks and pits in unsewered urban areas has become a well-established service, still ‘the guidelines of sbm-urban say almost nothing about how contained sludge is supposed to be collected and transported when the toilets and pits are emptied’ (prasad & ray, 2019, pp. 339–340). the cleaning up of pits and tanks, which was a requirement for urban households is fast becoming a reality in rural india as well, replacing the cleaning of dry latrines. those carrying the burden of cleaning remain unchanged. in order to improve the system of solid and liquid waste management in villages, through developments in public infrastructure for waste collection and sewage disposal, the budgetary provisions for sbm rural do provide funds under the head of solid liquid waste management (slwm) activities. this funding may well be considered a proxy indicator for the elimination of some of the most degrading menial jobs and improvements in the working conditions of those employed in the waste and sanitation economies, by acquiring better equipment and modern technologies. the funding under slwm activities is capped at ` 7 lakh, ` 12 lakh, ` 15 lakh and ` 20 lakh for gram panchayats having up to 150, 300, 500 and more than 500 households, respectively. under phase one of sbm rural, the grand total of expenditures from the government of india on slwm activities accounted for less than 1 per cent of all expenditures on sbm till 2018. in 2018-19 only 4 per cent of total goi’s expenditure under sbm was on slwm and in 2019-20 (till 3 july 2019), on average, only 5 per cent of total expenditure from the sbm funds was on slwm. this underscores the dismal state of funding for slwm activities under sbm-rural. if we consider the state-wise trends, in 2018-19, states like kerala (83 per cent of total allocation), himachal pradesh (72 per cent), haryana (37 per cent) and andhra pradesh (24 per cent) managed significant expenditure on slwm, whiles states like uttar pradesh, karnataka, madhya pradesh, rajasthan, gujarat, bihar and odisha reported zero expenditure on slwm activities. similarly, in 2019-20 (till 3 july 2019) of the total funds allocated to states under slwm activities, the highest share of expenditure sanitising india or cementing injustice? scrutinising the swachh bharat mission in india 139 was done by mizoram (91 per cent of total allocation), meghalaya (30 per cent), uttarakhand (21 per cent), and himachal pradesh (20 per cent). conversely, 26 states and uts reported no expenditure on slwm out of goi’s sbm funds (kapur & deshpande, 2019; kapur & malhotra, 2020). on parallel footing, the sbm urban, in its first phase, also provisioned for funds to improve solid waste management systems and out of the total funds allotted, 68 per cent were released by goi from october 2014 till september 30, 2019, with only five states and uts receiving cent per cent allocation under the mission, including andhra pradesh, assam, gujarat, and tamil nadu. whereas, ten states and uts received less than 50 per cent of the total allotted funding including uttar pradesh (45 per cent), kerala (43 per cent), west bengal (41 per cent), and uttarakhand (22 per cent). of all the funds received under this head, only 40 per cent were utilised by the states and uts (till september 30, 2019) where four states and uts, namely arunachal pradesh, manipur, nagaland, and puducherry, spent 100 per cent of the swm funds received from goi, on the other hand, 5 states and uts, including kerala, reported zero expenditure on swm (kapur and malhotra, 2020). this further highlights the priorities of central and state governments when it comes to improving the solid and liquid waste management systems and eradicating caste-based menial jobs that pervade them. as discussed, the hierarchies of caste prejudices are interwoven with the tasks of cleaning and transporting human waste (doron & jeffery, 2018). the sbm as a policy intervention, with its dedicated focus on private infrastructure, access and ownership, has it seems, remained reticent to recognise those who labour to provide for the availability, affordability and perpetuity of sanitary services, even with a dismal system of sewage and waste disposal. it is as if the policy isolates itself from the indian social context and starts from an objectivated and detached stance of just cleaning india. however, as mary douglas’s seminal work on ritual pollution and purity tells us, ‘dirt … is never a unique, isolated event. where there is dirt there is a system’ (2003, p. 36). the sbm, in its non-recognition for the system of caste operating within the sanitation landscape, has all the potential to transmogrify into a structure which further institutionalises caste prejudices, in the medium and long run. in the sanitation and waste sector, the sbm continues to trammel upon the occupational choice of the dalits and reeks of retrogression towards a colonial past. in spite of the uninspiring performance during sbm phase i, as the discussion earlier mentions, the sbm phase ii (2020–2025) has already shifted the goal post. the sbm rural, in this phase, focuses on the management of biodegradable waste from agriculture and husbandry, maintenance of odf status and disposal of solid and liquid (ddws, 2020). sbm urban also shifted focus to wastewater management, disposal of garbage, management of faecal sludge, and more public awareness (mohua, 2021) however, without provisioning for trunk infrastructure and public toilets, without mandating sanitation standards and practices by law, without taking mismanaged urban local bodies to task and nudging those citizens who can afford private toilets to link up with trunk infrastructure, the sbm presents itself only as a poorly designed conditional cash transfer scheme (kedia, 2022). 140 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 the policy document about the guidelines for phase ii of sbm mentions that ‘sanitation workers and safai mitras, a largely ignored section earlier, have become a key stakeholder for the mission, with initiatives being taken to ensure safe, healthy and improved living conditions for them, and providing them with better livelihood options, dignity and respect’ (mohua, 2021). although, nowhere in the document one finds mention of specific initiatives which have indeed improved living conditions, ensuring safety and health, providing dignity, etc., to the sanitation workers. the same document mentions ‘used water management’ as a new complement included under phase ii of the mission with two objectives: i) to safely collect, treat and reuse all used water to the extent possible and stop the discharge of untreated used water into water bodies or the open environment, ii) to collect, treat and reuse by-products from faecal matter and septage. but it does not lay out any provisions for how will the management of faecal sludge and septage be affected, especially from on-site sanitation systems (like septic tanks), apart from suggesting that urban local bodies may procure desludging/ cleaning equipment, or give contracts to private operators for this task. as researchers have shown, the cleaners of these septic tanks are mostly dalits, who clean and dispose of the faecal sludge, without any form of protective gear and there is usually no designated place of dumping this sludge, which leads to indiscriminate disposal at sites like storm drains, open manhole and/or farmlands (prasad & ray, 2019). in many urban metropolises, the task of cleaning tanks and pits is now undertaken using trucks or other vehicles fitted with vacuum pumps and suction hoses, but this has its own limitation, as such vehicles cannot reach everywhere, even in urban areas, and are yet to penetrate rural settings. the fact remains that even in urban municipalities most sewage workers still have to enter sewers on a regular basis and also come into direct contact with human excreta in course of their work (ingole, 2016), thus any claims by any institution regarding mechanisation of these processes remains disputed. the government of india outlawed the practice of manual scavenging through two acts, first in 1993 and then in 2013 by passing the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act. if one defines manual scavenging simply as dealing with human excrement with bare hands, then the legislature has not translated into any prohibition. in the act, the definition of the practice of manual scavenging is quite conservative, with a specific focus on dry latrines and carrying of faecal waste with hands, rather than on any act which pertains to human contact with faecal waste. the enforcement of the provisions of the act is also lacklustre. the rules laid down under the act state that no sewer worker should physically enter a manhole, however, in case of an aberration, only such a worker who has received proper training can enter a manhole or chamber, provided he is accompanied by a team of three, with one supervisor and the chamber has been tested, by holding a lead acetate paper over its opening, for inflammable or harmful gas. in the municipal corporation of a modern city like pune, ingole (2016) found that the sewage workers employed had not received any form of training whatsoever before entering a chamber and to judge the presence of combustible, toxic gases, they mostly used light a matchstick and hold it at the mouth of the sewer. this does provide a hint as to why ‘22,000 sanitation workers sanitising india or cementing injustice? scrutinising the swachh bharat mission in india 141 reportedly die every year servicing india’s sewers, sewage treatment plants, and septic tanks’ (tyagi, 2017, as mentioned in prasad & ray, 2019, p. 339). these deaths and the indignation of dealing with someone else’s filth would not be ameliorated by just the construction of new toilets, which by themselves most certainly would not lead to the creation of a swachh bharat. the sbm, in order to achieve any semblance of success, would need to merge the construction of physical infrastructure with the social construction of a consciousness that enables the decoupling of caste and human waste in indian society. the prevalence of caste consciousness in indian society was witnessed in two significant accounts of deaths that took place in february 2017. one was a dalit research scholar from the university of hyderabad. he had died by suicide, hanging himself, not before writing a poignant note. the reason behind it was a clash on campus between his dalit organisation and a bharatiya janata party-affiliated student organisation, which led to his subsequent ostracisation and institutional boycott, compelling him to suicide. the other account of death was of four dalits who had died of asphyxiation after entering a septic tank at a chennai hotel. both these deaths found their way to a front page of a leading english daily, the hindu, with varied prominence and column space, as the suicide of the research scholar garnered greater attention. doron and jeffery (2018) in the book claim that ‘both these stories of appalling, avoidable deaths relate to problems of sewage, public sanitation, and ideas about purity in india.’ this thought-provoking assertion is indeed suggestive of the all-pervasive nature of caste ideology in india and its operation within and outside the spheres of sanitation. the death of these individuals were not accidents, rather being born as dalits were for all of them ‘fatal accident’.3 conclusion the landscape of sanitation and waste in india presents unique challenges for its static composition and hereditary association. the dalits or the untouchables are the ones who continue to carry the disproportionate burden of cleaning india. the flagship program to clean india, sbm, focuses on toilet construction and sanitation coverage and then doubles down these aspects through financial commitments and institutional arrangements specific to the program. in its larger vision to clean india, the program fails to see or purposely ignores the reality of caste that pervades the sanitation and waste collection operations across india. this strategic blindness of the state and of its interventions in sanitation is not a recent phenomenon, conversely, from colonial times all endeavours to sanitise public spaces in india have been framed with the assumption that labour from a certain community (the most backward castes among dalits) would be easily and widely available to deal with the filth of the society. administrators, whether imperialists or nationalists, do not have to regulate what they do not see. 3the research scholar, who died by suicide, in his last note refers to his birth as a ‘fatal accident’. for more on this, kindly see; the wire. (2019) https://thewire.in/caste/rohith-vemula-letter-apowerful-indictment-of-social-prejudices 142 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 the sbm, similarly, does very little to challenge this assumption while doing a lot to strengthen the institutionalised nature of sanitation work in india, as it focuses on front-end aspects of access and use of toilets and ignores back-end aspects like removal, transportation and safe disposal of discarded waste. what this suggests is that as access and ownership of toilets increases, the question of removal and disposal will also become starker, and so would the need for services to haul and dispose of faecal waste from toilet pits. this article starts with a narration, which tries to convey the transformative potential embedded in the act of seeing. the deliberate sight of the phenomena of cleaning sewers by a fellow human is revolting and enduring. it leaves with us a moral disgust towards the sensibilities of indian social organisations. it makes it obvious that a ‘swachh bharat’ cannot be achieved till caste hindus keep perceiving some of our own as ‘aswachh bharatiyas’. references aloysius, g. 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(2014). compendium of sanitation systems and technologies, 2nd revised edn, dübendorf: swiss federal institute of aquatic science and technology (eawag). © 2022 vignesh karthik kr and vishal vasanthakumar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. politics caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 1 pp. 107–122 april 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v3i1.348 caste, then class: redistribution and representation in the dravidian model1 vignesh karthik kr1 and vishal vasanthakumar2 abstract dravidian parties believe that changes to the economic structure will not lead to social justice if the upper/dominant castes continue to exclusively possess social capital. to them, and later, to the successive dravidian party governments, economic justice was not possible without first ensuring social justice. this view was held by the stalwarts of the dravidian movement such as periyar e.v. ramasamy (periyar henceforth), the subject of this engagement, and actualised by leaders such as c.n. annadurai and m. karunanidhi, whose electoral politics was a means to empower subaltern groups in tamil society. we contend that periyar was the chief aggregator of the ideas put forth by earlier social justice ideologues, and an effective disseminator of the dravidian political ethos among the masses, making his contribution comprehensive and unique. through an analysis of the approach of dravidian party governments towards affirmative action, administrative reform and legislation, and through comparisons of the performance of tamil nadu in terms of development indicators with other states, we reveal the profound influence of periyarist thinking on the dravidian movement and state praxis. the quest of the dravidian movement for social justice did not just focus on class inequalities but on caste inequalities, which it saw as a propagator of class inequalities. keywords caste, class, dravidian model, tamil nadu, periyar, welfare 1king’s college london 2independent researcher email: 1vignesh.rajahmani@kcl.ac.uk, 2vishalvasanth1494@gmail.com 1we borrow the phrase dravidian model from kalaiyarasan and vijayabaskar (2021) in which, model signifies the functioning of a system wherein multiple variables be social, political or governance interact towards delivering systemic outcomes. they contend that mobilisation against caste inequality can yield both dignity and development. 108 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 introduction analyses of the impact of prominent social activists tend to be delimited by the specific issues—caste and race inequality, gender discrimination, communalism—they fought. this issue-centric approach is illuminating per se, but can benefit immensely from examining movements in their entirety, i.e. recognising the multidimensional assaults on the prevailing social order. periyar e.v. ramasamy (periyar henceforth) as a social activist contributed to strengthening the social justice agenda in tamil nadu in a way that merits wider analysis incorporating the hitherto under-studied aspects of his activism. his radically reformist activism was firmly focused on recognitionredistribution-representation, the staples of any justice movement, but studies of his contribution have not paid sufficient attention to the economic component of the social justice gestalt: redistribution. the south indian state of tamil nadu is known for the dravidian movement that married progressive affirmative action policy with a relentless struggle for greater autonomy for states within india’s federal framework and, increasingly, it is recognised for its ability to democratise economic growth. this success entails not only redistributing the benefits of economic growth, but also predistribution of opportunities and resources that enable people to participate in the growth process. existing literature on tamil nadu pertaining to the scope of the article can be classified into two categories. one is of literature, including ramaswamy s. (1997), geetha v. & rajadurai s.v. (1998), subramanian n. (1999), pandian m.s.s. (2007) manoharan k.r. (2017), who elaborated and critically examined the role of prominent activists including periyar. later, they examined the role dravidian parties played in changing social relations within ‘caste society’. they highlighted the activism against systematic and graded discrimination emerging from caste as a lived practice, and the possibilities and limits of their approaches. pandian, ramaswamy, subramanian and manoharan differed in their evaluation of the potential and outcomes of the dravidiantamil subaltern construct. while subramanian contended that the movement could contain ethnic conflicts between seemingly hostile groups, he noted a differential impact on caste groups based on their relative ritual status and agility. pandian traced the genealogy and possible futures of the non-brahmin construct and periyar’s contributions. ramaswamy typologised the different kinds of activists ranging from u.v. swaminatha iyer to c. rajagopalachari and their contribution to political developments in tamil nadu. geetha and rajadurai discussed the contributions of anti-caste leaders from iyothee thass to periyar towards forging non-brahmin politics. ramaswamy expressed concerns over periyar’s support for tamil identity, while pandian noted, within the non-brahmin construct, concerns over conflicts between lower castes and the dalits. manoharan engaged with the limits of periyarist understanding and explored the tensions between the universalism and particularism in his anti-caste discourse. however, all of them concurred on the vital role of periyar in widening the anti-caste political repertoire across communities within the dravidian-tamil construct. at this juncture, we contend that periyar is not necessarily caste, then class: redistribution and representation in the dravidian model 109 the figurehead of the dravidian movement but the aggregator-in-chief of the ideas put forth by activists before him and a guiding light for the generations that followed. the other category of literature including harriss-white (1996, 2013), kalaiyarasan and vijayabaskar (2021) discussed the nature and quality of socioeconomic development in tamil nadu in the context of the changing political economy of the country and tamil nadu in particular. harriss-white (1996) had argued that government policies and investments induced the formation of agro-industrial capital, which helped the subalterns find mobility. however, the development state induced different outcomes across communities. for instance, there is sub-par representation of dalits in business sectors (harriss-white et al., 2013). kalaiyarasan and vijayabaskar (2021) provide an account of how tamil nadu (or the dravidian model) makes room for broad-based growth and development across communities, better than the rest of the country. however, they note that populist mobilisation within the state needs to reorient to address emerging complications in the social and economic realms. though the abovediscussed literature discusses the interplay between economic policies and their impact on social justice, it sees dravidian parties and their policies as the vectors for such discussions. our article traces the influence of periyar and his ideas on the dravidian parties’ redistributive policies. social empowerment and economic mobility were non-negotiable goals of the dravidian movement, which held the clear-eyed understanding in public policy theory and praxis that the latter is impossible to achieve without the former. for instance, in his introduction to the serialised tamil version of the communist manifesto he published in 1931 in his weekly magazine kudi arasu “republic”, periyar considered the caste system the single biggest obstacle to communism in the indian subcontinent. in a public meeting twelve years later, in 1943, he challenged his communist friends to recognise and annihilate the discriminatory caste system which distributes privileges to brahmins and shudras according to their status in the caste hierarchy before they aspired to introduce and expand communism. (ramasamy e.v., 2005) in other words, changing the economic structure will not have progressive outcomes if the brahmins (and banias) continue to wield the levers of social power. this in a nutshell is the worldview of the leaders of the dravidian movement such as annadurai and karunanidhi, who took electoral politics as the route to empower subaltern groups in tamil society. we present a careful analysis of their pragmatic policy-making approach, which can potentially reveal the profound influence of periyarist thinking on the praxis that grew around the quest for social justice. over the years, it has become clear that, within the ambit of political conflict, struggles for recognition were taking precedence over struggles for redistribution (fraser, 1997). it was important not just to deal with class inequalities but deep-rooted caste concerns as well, for the latter disallowed the members of oppressed castes from accessing precious physical, social and cultural capital. social justice politics, seen through the periyarist lens, prioritises the critique of caste-based inequalities and brahminism over economic inequalities. 110 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 affirmative action as an effective means to redistribution alongside representation in his essay ‘new times in tamil nadu’ pandian (2011) notes that the politics of the dravida munnetra kazhagam [dravidian (land) welfare association] (dmk henceforth) was built around two principal ideological planks: caste-based social justice and tamil identity. such politics emerged as a critique of caste hierarchy and brahminism, coupled with continuous improvisations in the reservation system for government jobs and seats in educational institutions for the lower castes. since the 1950s, the communists in tamil nadu regularly criticised periyar, annadurai, and subsequently the dmk, for stressing on caste and not class. to the communists, it was evident that casteism survived because of class-based rule. the president of the “forum of thought” best articulated the periyar-led dravidar kazhagam’s [dravidians’ association] (d.k) disagreement with the communists: it is unfortunate that communists believe indian social problems can be solved by economic means. indian society is a caste society and class conflicts are only secondary. the caste structure is forming a super layer over the new class structure. for example, in the newly established industrial colonies, the scavenger settlements are constructed separately from the rest. so the old caste society is being imposed on an industrial society. the class-minded trade unions, mostly led by communists, do not see this problem because their leadership is dominated by high caste people.2 these ideological underpinnings of periyar, the dk, and dmk paved the way for some of the boldest and strongest affirmative action reforms seen in india. they sparked a debate that is still heatedly discussed in india. even as the writers of the indian constitution generally agreed that graded and ascriptive inequality needed substantial redressal, they often differed on the methods to do so. ajantha subramanian (2019) noted that one of the major points of debate was around the appropriate constitutional language of social differentiation—specifically, whether caste should be accorded legal recognition. she notes that in refusing to accord the individual citizen primacy over the caste collective, opposing the coupling of caste with class criteria, and exceeding the 50 percent ceiling on reservation, dravidian party governments3 disregarded the liberal norm of formal equality. it can be argued that the sustained resistance of dravidian party governments against formal equality also led to a shift towards finding a balance between merit and affirmative action. formal equality did not seem to hold as much importance as redressing historic social injustices. this can be seen in multiple reforms of successive chief ministers; annadurai, karunanidhi, mg ramachandran (mgr), and jayalalithaa. 2meeting of the rationalist forum and forum of thought, coimbatore, april 1972 as quoted in charles ryerson’s regionalism and religion: the tamil rennaisance and popular hinduism. 3in the context of this article, by dravidian party governments we mean the governments led by the dmk and the all india anna dravida munnetra kazhagam [all india anna dravidian (land) welfare association] (aiadmk). caste, then class: redistribution and representation in the dravidian model 111 in 1970, the first backward classes commission, commonly known as the sattanathan commission, constituted by the karunanidhi-led dmk government, reported that the higher classes within the backward castes have been gaining disparate advantages from the quota system. in turn, this was hampering the aspirations of the smaller and more backward classes. in response, the commission proposed in its report the creation of a separate administrative category for the most backward castes and a fixed quota for them. in 1971, the reservation for other backward classes (obcs) increased from 25 to 31 percent and the reservation for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (scs and sts) from 16 to 18 percent. later, the aiadmk, led by mgr toyed with the idea of reservations based on economic criteria, which the dmk vehemently challenged. the aiadmk was routed in the 1980 parliamentary election. the social justice discourse the dmk popularised, combined with competitive electoral compulsions, led mgr to raise the reservation quota for the obcs to 50 percent. in 1989, karunanidhi returned to power and responded to the agitations by vanniyars (a lower backward caste group) with a 20 percent reservation within the obc quota for the most backward castes including denotified communities. in this way, he sought to check the disproportionate influence of a few dominant backward castes (kalaiyarasan and manoharan, 2018). after a supreme court directive, the tamil nadu government constituted the ambashankar backward classes commission in 1982 to review the enumeration and classification of ‘socially and educationally backward’ groups. it found that 87 percent of the state population was eligible for reservation, based on which the government further expanded the list of backward classes to include lower-caste converts to christianity and islam, bringing the total to 69 percent—the highest in the country. however, the most significant turning point was karunanidhi wholeheartedly supporting the prime minister v.p. singh coalition government in implementing the mandal commission’s recommendations. the mandal commission recommended 27 percent reservation for the obcs in central government and public sector enterprises, raising the total reserved seats to 49.5 percent. this was immediately challenged in the supreme court leading to the landmark indra sawhney vs. union of india judgement. tamil nadu’s political stance on reservation came through in two key arguments against the 1992 judgment. first, state counsel siva subramanium forcefully argued against the exclusion of a “creamy layer” from the ambit of obc reservation. he contended that it was “a mere ruse, a trick, to deprive the backward classes of the benefit of reservations.” second, he said the 50 percent ceiling was arbitrary, especially in states like tamil nadu, where the enumerated backward caste population was over 80 percent. subramanium heralded tamil nadu as a model state with its long history of reservation dating back to 1921 and where the quota has steadily grown to 69 percent at the time. (subramanian, 2019, p. 213). here one can clearly identify the emphasis on education in the dravidian movement as a method to propagate its social justice and economic development goals. this emphasis has roots in a long legacy of innovation in affirmative action, starting with periyar who set the precedent when he resigned from the indian national congress in 1925 after his resolution demanding caste112 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 based reservation in government institutions was disallowed in the kancheepuram conference of the tamil nadu congress (pandian, 2007, cited in kalaiyarasan and vijayabaskar, 2021). in 2007, the dmk also provided a 3.5 percent quota each, for muslims and christians within the obc share of 30 percent. in 2009, karunanidhi introduced the tamil nadu arunthathiyars (special reservation of seats in educational institutions including private educational institutions and of appointments or posts in the services under the state within the reservation for the scheduled castes) act to ensure representation for the most marginalised among the scs, providing them with a 3 percent sub-quota within the sc quota. in his seminal work, capital and ideology, thomas piketty (2020) has aruged that redistributive measures have contributed immensely to reduce inequalitites, especially caste-based privileges amongst oppressed castes. use of state legislative assembly and parliament to further social justice in an interview on 16 february 1965, a correspondent of pravda, the official organ of the communist party of the soviet union, asked karunanidhi about the goals of the dmk. karunanidhi responded that the goals were social justice in society, rationalism in culture, socialism in economy, and democracy in politics. the route to achieve these goals, he said, was via the parliament.4 the use of parliament by the dravidian chief ministers (annadurai, karunanidhi, mgr, jayalalithaa) resulted in legislations that had social justice and economic justice effects. the dmk government amended the hindu succession act, 1956, to ensure equal shares for women in ancestral property. the party introduced numerous schemes, including the anjugam ammaiyar inter-caste marriage assistance scheme and the dr dharmambal ammaiyar memorial widow remarriage scheme, as incentives that undermine caste and gender hierarchies (kalaiyarasan and vijaybaaskar, 2021). karunanidhi’s biographer a.s. paneerselvam (2021) notes that in his first term as chief minister, karunanidhi emerged as an important interventionist in the state legislature. his interventions on hindi imposition, police reforms, the budget deficit and the attempt by the union government to control items listed in the concurrent list were powerful articulations, especially when demanding the union to share power. they make their point by delving deep into constitutional provisions and the best practices that make a polity truly federal in character. his speeches provided an idea of social justice beyond caste-based reservation and targeted affirmative action. it was inclusive and implementable. karunanidhi prioritised social reform over all others in his first stint as chief minister. the tamil nadu agricultural labourer fair wages act, 1969, was enacted to enforce the payment of fair wages to agricultural labourers in the cauvery delta region and penalise landowners who exploited labourers. another act in the same year would ensure all tenancy rights and interests were maintained in the revenue records for the first time. in the following year, the tamil nadu land 4quoted from https://www.epw.in/engage/article/m-karunanidhi-dravidian-sun-sets caste, then class: redistribution and representation in the dravidian model 113 reforms (reduction of ceiling on land) act, 1970, was passed to reduce disparities in landholdings by reducing the land ceiling limit from 30 standard acres to 15 standard acres (one acre is 0.4 hectare). these reforms matured in the form of a specialist university to develop agriculture, learning and research in the agricultural sciences through the tamil nadu agricultural university act, 1971. seen together, his agrarian and land-related laws were the first bundle of administrative measures that targeted the development of rural tamil nadu. in response to multiple demands from small construction worker unions in tamil nadu, the tamil nadu manual workers (regulation of employment and conditions of work) act was passed in 1982. this act defined manual worker and principal employer and covered different groups of informal workers within the construction industry. it stipulated that workers, contractors, and subcontractors must register with the board. today, there are 34 welfare boards in the state covering a range of occupations. in 1994, the tamil nadu manual workers (construction workers) welfare scheme came into force. the benefits of this scheme include accident compensation, natural death compensation to survivors, funeral assistance, marriage assistance, maternity assistance, crèches for children of construction workers, education assistance for two children per family, assistance to buy spectacles and pension. welfare schemes and legislations such as these legally empowered many workers in the unorganised sector. tamil nadu also has welfare boards for transgenders and the differently-abled, a step towards creating a social security net for the extremely marginalised. annika wetlesen (2010) defines legal empowerment as a process in which the law is applied to increase the control people have over their lives and their extent of political participation. with regard to labor rights, collective organisation of the working poor increased opportunities for decent work, and social protection are key elements in the legal empowerment process. administrative reform although detailed analyses of every administrative reform and its impact on the dravidian movement are beyond this article’s scope, a few reforms, though by no means exhaustive, stick out to illustrate the influence of periyarist thinking on the praxis of the dravidian movement. according to ryerson (1988), periyar held up a system of ethics that blended a ‘scientific socialism’ with a non-theistic interpretation of tamil literary texts. the tincture of romantic nationalism that evr brought to his message of radical socialism gave that socialism much of its appeal. this socialism carried forward by dravidian governments was well reflected in administrative reforms that worked equally to improve the dignity of people, as much as their life chances. these reforms focused on ensuring the rights of oppressed castes and, overall, had a long-term programmatic commitment and generally sought to address caste-based biases as a method of economic empowerment. paneerselvam (2021), noted that the administrative reforms initiated by karunanidhi had a profound impact and vastly improved the delivery capabilities of the state. one of the earlier and more critical reforms included the 1973 administrative 114 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 reforms commission. it recommended that the existing part-time village officers be replaced by regular, transferable public servants who should form part of the revenue hierarchy. based on this recommendation, in 1975, karunanidhi promulgated an ordinance that abolished the system of hereditary village karnam and headmen and replaced them with village officers recruited by the tamil nadu state public service commission. this reform had implications from an economic and a social front. a hereditary village headman system allowed for the concentration of resources to few families and thereby a lot of the social capital. during this tenure, karunanidhi banned hand-pulled rickshaws and introduced cycle rickshaws instead, insisting that no man is beneath another to stand and pull a rickshaw. tamil nadu is the first state in post-independence india to introduce free mid-day meals for school children. the scheme, however, has its antecedents in the justice party rule in the madras presidency during the colonial period. the scheme acquired new life again under the chief ministership of k. kamaraj, through the slogan of ‘combating classroom hunger’ in the 1950s (rajivan, 2006). the programme retained children in schools and effectively reduced dropouts, especially those from a lower-caste and class background, and was further expanded from 1982 onwards by mgr. the dravidian model was not just to create social justice and welfare institutions but also for rapid industrialisation and economic growth. paneerselvam again notes that accelerated industrial growth happened only with karunanidhi’s creation of the state industries promotion corporation of tamil nadu (sipcot) in 1971. sipcot was responsible for establishing industrial estates across the state and creating land banks that proved very useful when the indian economy opened up in 1991. in 1999, karunanidhi was also responsible for the it boom in the state with the setting up the first tidel park,5 an information technology (it) park in chennai. to improve social harmony and reduce caste-based discrimination, karunanidhi introduced samathuvapuram (equality village), a housing scheme where a village of 100 houses was to be created. forty of these homes would be for dalits, twentyfive for backward castes, twenty-five for most backward castes, and ten for other communities. each village was to have one community hall and one burial ground. by 2001, over 145 samathuvapurams were created across tamil nadu. notably, despite such efforts, the scheme could not be scaled up owing to restive social tensions. tamil nadu for long has been lauded to have one of the best healthcare systems in the country. kalaiyarasan and vijaybaskar (2021) argue that the state’s better outcomes in health and nutrition have been made possible by ensuring relatively more equitable access to public health services and ensuring better utilisation. considering the mushrooming of large private hospitals across the state, the dmk government also launched the ‘kalaignar kaapitu thittam’, also known as chief minister’s comprehensive health insurance scheme, which provides health insurance. it was aimed at families living below the poverty line for life-saving treatment of up to rs. 1 lakh. 5tidel is a joint venture between tidco (tamil nadu industrial development corporation) and elcot (electronics corporation of tamil nadu). caste, then class: redistribution and representation in the dravidian model 115 given the dmk’s experience of implementing a slew of social welfare policies and the relative success rates achieved in the state, the party’s tryst with its variant of a universal basic income (ubi) scheme underlines the periyarist praxis within their policymaking approach. in march 2021, the president of the dmk made an electoral promise in their manifesto that every woman in the state would get rs. 1000 as monthly income support. on the face of it, the monthly transfer constitutes over 13 percent of the average monthly spending of a rural household6 in the state (2017). more importantly, the monthly income support was conceived as ‘urimai thogai’ or a rightful entitlement, not a gift transfer or homemakers’ wage. also, women are addressed as ‘kudumba thalaivi’ or family heads and not ‘illathu arasi’homemakers. such a conception radically expands the number of households covered and foregrounds the dignity of the beneficiaries. in his address on 7 march, m.k. stalin promised that households that hold commodity ration cards are eligible to receive the monthly transfer. as of january 2020, there are 20,231,394 ration cards in tamil nadu of which 49,472 (0.2 percent) are non-commodity cards.7 the former chief economic adviser of india, arvind subramanian, wrote in the economic survey of india, 2016, that a universal basic income promotes many of a society’s basic values that respect all individuals as free and equal. it promotes liberty because it is anti-paternalistic and opens up the possibility of flexibility in labour markets. it promotes equality by reducing poverty and efficiency by reducing waste in government transfers. the universal nature of the scheme makes it a lot more effective with lower leakages, as argued by scholars.8 the idea of this scheme is to guarantee a decent minimum income to women, which otherwise fails all tenets of justice. policy in comparative perspective dreze and sen (2013) attribute the relative success of tamil nadu on various development indicators to a long history of collective action, which in turn resulted in political mobilisation amongst the oppressed castes. a policy paper published by the centre of government and delivery of the tony blair institute for global change compared the economic trajectory of two indian states: uttar pradesh and tamil nadu. titled ‘inclusive growth in tamil nadu: the role of political leadership and governance’, the evidence-based paper pointed out that in 1960–61 these two states were not so different across several measures related to development. it further states that in 1960, the rural poverty rate in tamil nadu checked in at just below 70 percent, much higher than uttar pradesh’s rate of 48 percent. however, after nearly five decades of dravidian party regimes, often severely criticised, the situation is vastly different. according to the study, ‘by the year 2005, tamil nadu’s per capita income outpaced 6see p. 38 of https://www.nabard.org/auth/writereaddata/tender/1608180417nabardrepo-16_web_p.pdf 7see https://cms.tn.gov.in/sites/default/files/documents/foodcp_e_pn_2020_21.pdf 8see https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-return-of-targeted-cash-transfers/ article26155629.ece 116 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 uttar pradesh by 128 per cent—a gap more than twice as big as it was in the early 1960s. and in 2009–10, tamil nadu’s rural poverty rate dropped to nearly half that of uttar pradesh (21.2 percent versus 39.4 percent), and its urban poverty rate was less than half of uttar pradesh’s (12.8 percent versus 31.7 percent)’ (akileswaran, 2021). it is even more prudent to compare tamil nadu with india’s largest economy, maharashtra and gujarat, whose supposed development model led to the rise of narendra modi and the bjp. a report published by the niti aayog in association with the united nations ranked states on where they stood compared to others on the sustainable development goals (sdgs). tamil nadu stands a tied second amongst all states in india in the composite sdg index, while maharashtra stood at rank 9 and gujarat at rank 10. moreover, in sdg 1 (“no poverty”), tamil nadu ranks first in india, whereas gujarat stood at rank 16 and maharashtra at rank 17 across all states in india. in sdg 2, “zero hunger”, tamil nadu ranks 7 among all states and the highest amongst big states, whereas gujarat and maharashtra lie at the bottom of the table. gujarat ranked 18 and maharashtra at 20. ensuring basic amenities and aspiring to provide equal opportunities to all by different dravidian governments is seen by tamil nadu’s performance in sdg 4, “quality education”, tamil nadu ranked at 5 amongst all states whereas maharashtra came in at 8 and gujarat at rank 17 (niti aayog, 2020). moreover, an analysis by kalaiyarasan and vijayabaskar (2021: 19) found that tamil nadu has significantly reduced poverty across caste groups. for example, the gains scs made in the rate of poverty reduction between 1993–94 and 2011–12 in tamil nadu is 43.1 percentage points, which are significantly higher than gujarat at 34.3 percentage points. if there is something called periyarist gaze on dravidian rule or economics, then it is marked by the democratisation of opportunities in a caste society and then ensuring basic amenities as entitlements alongside reducing economic disparities. an analysis of the affirmative-action reforms, administrative reforms and legislation are intended to show a periyarist influence on dravidian policies, which in turn acknowledges the efforts of the social justice ideologues that periyar contributed to, furthered and democratised as he transformed the activism into a mass movement. while the leaders of the dravidian parties’ governments have attributed their policies to periyar, we do not fixate on a narrow causal argument between periyar and dravidian policies of social justice and economic development or a firm attribution of such outcomes to a favourable environment that the region enjoyed. while one could argue that states like uttar pradesh have fared so poorly because of factors other than lacking a periyaresque figure, we draw from pandian (2007, p. 7) to argue that a deterministic approach based on just contexts and landscapes would trivialise people’s efforts. it would end with us disengaging from the praxis and movements led by activists and reformers like periyar in tamil nadu. caste, then class: redistribution and representation in the dravidian model 117 communism, communists and brahmins in late 1931, periyar was on a year-long tour of europe, with an essential stop at the soviet union. periyar contrasted his time in the soviet union with his time in britain, france, greece, and germany. he noted that although they were “democratic nations, russia alone has no unemployment. there are a few beggars, but all old or infirm, and the state supports them”. (venkatachalapathy, 2017). the impact of the soviet union on periyar was significant. upon his return, periyar asked the members of his selfrespect movement to desist from using honorifics and urged them to use “thozhar” or comrade instead. according to venkatachalapathy (2017), periyar popularised this usage, and the communists adopted it later. moreover, his fascination with communism and the soviet union extended to naming newborn children (a popular custom in tamil nadu where elders are asked to name children) “russia” or “moscow” or “lenin”. however, periyar soon began to see that communism or even an approach towards eradicating material/asset-based inequalities wouldn’t work because of caste’s primacy in indian society. contrasting with the soviet union, he said, “since the western countries did not have caste, they had to wage a class war before communism could be reached. here, owing to the presence of caste, it is necessary to wage a caste war before achieving communism” (periyar, 2009: 1647, as cited in manoharan, 2019). later, periyar gave numerous reasons for ending his friendship with the communists. he charged them, among other treacheries, with “secret attempts to convert dravida kazagham branches into communist party units.” yet the fundamental reason was the brahmin preponderance in the tamil communist leadership and what the kazagham would have us believe to be its logical consequence, tamil communist subservience to north indian domination (harrison, 2015). periyar asserted, “in a country where there are no common rights, communism would only strengthen those who have been enjoying greater rights,” adding that abolishing the privilege of brahmins and the upper castes would result in going half the way towards the communist ideal (periyar, 2009: 1647, as cited in manoharan, 2019). the communists could not mount a sustained critique on periyar’s thoughts beyond the notion that he didn’t extend his seemingly material conception of religion to see the relationship between the methods of production and social, cultural and political values (sivaraman, 2013, 109). the breakaway of the dravidian movement from communism also stemmed from the critique that the communist movement in tamil nadu only looked upon the need for material equality and class relations. it failed to look into the themes of memory, identity, myths and superstitions, something that the justice party, dk and its offshoots have addressed to varying extents. sivaraman herself notes that the communists did not adopt a clear policy on periyar based on study or analysis. (sivaraman, 2013, p. 116). the welfare state brought forth by successive dravidian governments since 1969 focused on inclusive growth, i.e. social justice coupled with economic development. the dravidian movement clearly did not just focus on class as an essential factor for mobilisation but focused on caste inequalities as a propagator of class inequalities. 118 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 harrison (2015) reports the following comment by periyar in an interview on december 14, 1952. “the communists have their office at a foreign place, bombay or delhi, and they are just as interested in exploiting our country as any of the other foreigncontrolled parties. besides, most of the communists leaders are brahman. ramamurthi is a ‘pucca brahman’.” what periyar meant by brahman / brahmin got clearer with time and the politics propagated by his lieutenants annadurai and karunanidhi. even b.r. ambedkar shared periyar’s scepticism of the indian communists. to quote from volume 17 of babasaheb ambedkar’s writing and speeches, “the communist party was originally in the hands of some brahmin boys-dange and others. they have been trying to win over the maratha community and the scheduled castes. but they have made no headway in maharashtra. why? because they are mostly a bunch of brahmin boys. the russians made a great mistake in entrusting the communist movement in india to them. either the russians didn’t want communism in india-they wanted only drummer boys-or they didn’t understand”.9 both periyar and ambedkar shared a similar scepticism of indian communists while also believing that communism did indeed have a role in bringing about social justice in india. the sustained criticism continued to be that communism didn’t consider caste inequalities because the communist leadership consisted of proletariat upper-caste men. the dalit critique of the dravidian movement there has been sustained criticism from scholars such as hugo gorringe (2011a), rajangam s (2011), karthikeyan damodaran (2018), among others, that caste continues to be at the centre of politics in tamil nadu not despite but because of the dravidian parties (damodaran et al., 2012) with the claim that the non-brahmin movement was precisely that, a non-brahmin movement, not an “anti-brahmin” movement. having wrested control from the brahmins, the intermediate castes monopolised power in return (damodaran, 2012). subramanian (2002, p. 126) argued that dravidian parties ‘increased political participation, aided the representation of the emergent strata, enriched civic life, and thus strengthened pluralist democracy’. social pluralism, he explains, refers to the proliferation of autonomous associational forms that are tied neither to the state nor to each other. however, as gorringe (2011b) noted, this social pluralism has not been inclusive of dalit aspirations and that there has been a “dravidian” read lower castes hegemony over tamil politics. this critique goes back to the early political days of the dravidian movement, where, by stressing language rather than class, the dmk (and later the aiadmk) attempted to create an imagined community of tamils and avoid acting upon its politically sensitive election pledges on land reform, dowry and caste. sustained violence against dalits by lower-caste groups like the vanniyars and thevars have cast a shadow over dravidian notions of justice. however, anti-caste leaders like thol thirumavalavan of the vck have pointed out that the dravidian movement and the panthers movement fostered economic, educational, developmental and political assertions by the dalits that have led to intermediate castes falling back 9baws vol-17, part-1, page 406, dr b.r ambedkar caste, then class: redistribution and representation in the dravidian model 119 on brute caste pride as a weapon to defend their dominant status.10 thirumavalavan has gone so far as to say that he views periyar in the same light as ambedkar (gorringe, 2017, p. 38). the case of devendra kula vellalars,11 hitherto called the ‘pallars’, have also engaged with periyar in their claims to recognition and redistribution, albeit differently from that of the fellow dalit caste groups like paraiyars. gross (2017, pp. 176, 292, 381) argued that while periyar’s influence on contemporary devendra politics was mixed, prominent leaders invoked his ideology and regarded him to be the pioneer of the anti-caste and subaltern movement. not discounting the brutalities that members of the lower castes inflict on the dalits, she argues, the relative economic decline of the lower and land-owning castes has (vis-à-vis the dalits, who now have access to education and resources), unsettled the previously dominant caste groups. the social relations that were once well-defined are now complicated and in flux. at the same time, manoharan (2019: 289) highlighted the politics of containment versus that of appeasement practised by the dmk and the aiadmk respectively in their approach towards thevars and their attempts towards establishing dominance. to borrow nancy fraser’s framework (fraser et al., 2004), we should think about welfare politics not only in terms of who gets what but also who gets to interpret people’s needs. the politics and legacy of periyar’s self-respect movement have allowed for political claims-making in terms of group identity. however, periyarist thought on self-respect and dignity has also vested in people a claim to be full partners in social interactions. karthik k.r.v. and ajaz ashraf (2019) show the relative upward economic mobility that scs in tamil nadu have had thanks to multiple socialist welfare policies compared to states like uttar pradesh. in analysing the intergroup average annual per capita income in uttar pradesh and tamil nadu by looking at the indian human development survey 2011–12, they found that the average per capita income of scs in uttar pradesh was rs. 11,762/-, while in tamil nadu, it was rs. 28,109/-. the dravidian movement succeeded in aggregating a range of social groups marked by class, caste, linguistic, religious and ethnic diversity by establishing a chain of equivalence across these groups and communicating a political logic of difference vis-à-vis elite nationalism and caste elites (kalaiyarasan & vijayabaskar, 2021, p. 43). amit ahuja (2019) noted that multiple socio-cultural movements have led to the broad basing and mainstreaming of dalit grievances in states like tamil nadu and maharashtra as against states like uttar pradesh and bihar. however, it is worth noting that the quality of participation of dalits through electoral politics has continued to remain limited, with the number of ministerial positions given to dalits low and the portfolios assigned to dalits often not prominent. at the same time, the aspirations of dalits has been marked by periods of considerable support like the sub-categorised quotas for lower dalits or apathetic silences and worse use of state machinery to reinforce discrimination and dominance. 10see https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/dalits-targeted-for-their-upwardeconomic-mobility-leaders/article15617026.ece 11devendra kula vellalar is a group of castes formerly referred to as pallars. they were a part of the list of scheduled castes that were predominantly agricultural workers in southern tamil nadu. after years of assertion to be referred to as the devendra kula vellalar that signifies their’ sons of soil’ and ‘primal agricultural clan’ status as against pallars—a word that has become a discriminatory slur in common tamil parlance. 120 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 1 notwithstanding the chequered impact of the dravidian policies on social and economic fronts within the state, the current chief minister of tamil nadu, mk stalin, announced an all india federation for social justice12 in his republic day address in 2022. the idea hints at the importance of political pragmatism in finding allies in the quest for social and economic justice in the larger indian context, a practice that periyar consciously undertook, which explains his camaraderie with multiple activists fighting for various causes. periyar had vociferously defended independent dalit politics. he believed that separate social-political organisations for untouchable castes were necessary and was opposed to intermediate castes seeking a position of pride within the system of brahminism (manoharan, 2020: 8). similarly, manoharan also argued that periyar did not want to assume leadership of the dalits and sought to be a comrade in their fight for self-empowerment with the idea of fighting not for the equality of castes but the removal of caste as an identity-marker, an ambedkarite approach. such an understanding becomes a lot more compelling today when the state witnesses restive conflicts between lower castes or dalits. as a response, tall anti-caste leaders like thol thirumavalavan of the viduthalai chiruthaigal katchi continue to locate answers in the periyarist thought and approach. in sum, notwithstanding the dravidian parties’ mixed success, the periyarist gaze at social justice is a continuous instinctual-subalternising mechanism that foregrounds social justice as a precursor to economic justice in the quest for making an equitable society. while one of the markers of social justice—caste—is being continuously dealt with, questions of gender are gathering momentum with time. the redressal of the concerns raised by women and people from the lgbtqia+ community, while simultaneously addressing the newer complexities within the caste matrix that complicate class inequalities, will test the limits and possibilities of the sustenance and comprehensiveness of the dravidian political mobilisation. acknowledgements we wish to sincerely thank dr. dag erik berg for his comments and feedback on the earlier version of the article presented at anti-caste thought: theory, politics and culture, a two-day online conference organized at the university of wolverhampton on 29th and 30th october 2021. further we extend our heartfelt gratitude to professor meena dhanda and dr. karthick ram manoharan for organising an invaluable conference. we would like to thank pragya singh for her feedback on the pre-final draft. lastly, we would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their feedback. references ahuja, a. 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(2010). legal empowerment of workers in the informal economy: the case of the construction industry in tamil nadu, india. journal of asian public policy, 3(3), pp. 294–308. available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17516234.2010.536346 © 2024 shweta suresh ahire. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.910 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 237-258 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste psychology behind rejection of caste-based reservations in the private sector: a mixed method study among dalit buddhists in india shweta suresh ahire1 abstract in a mixed method study focused on the urban ghettos in mumbai, maharashtra— matunga labour camp, shell colony, p.l. lokhande marg, and ramabai nagar—a sample of buddhists (n=162) reported variations in support of reservation in the private sector. it was discovered that a minuscule section of them have come to reject caste-based reservations in the private sector. using mixed methods, combining a descriptive statistical analysis of survey data and a reflexive thematic analysis of interview data, this article attempts to explore the psychological motivations underlying the rejection of reservation in the private sector. the analysis suggests that a section of dalits want to perceive themselves as equally “meritorious” as the upper castes. this is however a reaction to a deep feeling of inferiority, reflecting internalization of the psyche of the oppressors. besides, the fear of being marked out as a ‘dalit’ at the workplace is more pronounced by availing of reservation. this sustained fear of getting stigmatized stems from internalizing “disgust” and believing the stereotypes held by the upper castes. the discomfort with self-identity also leads to a cognitive dissonance that perpetuates itself in practices like concealing caste identity. ultimately, this rejection is rationalized by advancing the claim that reservation in the private sector will reinforce caste identity. this article contributes to understanding the psychological grounds for negative attitudes towards reservation in the private sector among dalit buddhists. keywords dalit-buddhists, private sector, caste-based reservations, feeling of inferiority, caste identity, psychology of caste, mixed methods 1assistant professor, political science, vpm’s joshi-bedekar college (autonomous), thane, maharashtra email: ssahire@vpmthane.org/ ssahire@vpmthane.org 238 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 introduction indian society has been a deeply hierarchical one nestled, as it is, in the edifice of the caste system. the caste system has been a source of inequality and exploitation. at the lowest rung of the caste hierarchy were placed the dalits, who have since been oppressed, marginalised, and subjected to discrimination. considered to be “untouchables”, they had to face the worst kind of restrictions and hardships as a result of being denied access to all and any possible sources of income and education. dr. ambedkar, father of the indian constitution and crusader of social justice, rightly pointed out in his annihilation of caste (1944) that, “as an economic organization caste is therefore a harmful institution, in as much as, it involves the subordination of man’s natural powers and inclinations to the exigencies of social rules” (as cited in moon 2014: 48). acknowledging the historical injustices, in the post-independence period, the indian constitution provided special provisions for disadvantaged groups in order to bring them into the mainstream. as sheth (1987) has noted, the entire package of reservations aimed to address three fundamental concerns: to eliminate social and religious disadvantages, to enable all socially disadvantaged groups to participate on an equal footing with others, and to safeguard the interests of all the groups, also known as the weaker sections, against all sorts of social injustice and exploitation. the intellectual and political contributions of dr. babasaheb ambedkar were crucial in bringing the reservation policy. his efforts in this regard date back to the preindependence period, beginning in 1919 with the submission of a statement to the southborough committee to the forging of the poona pact in 19321 (thorat & kumar 2008: 2). the affirmative action provisions were severely contested in the constituent assembly. they were challenged once again when the underprivileged groups started to make use of the democratic procedures and constitutional guarantees in the 1970s and 1980s (thorat, aryama & negi 2005, foreword by shah: ix). large-scale political debates, including agitations, notably in north india, erupted in the 1990s after the central government announced the implementation of the mandal commission report, which further increased the pre-existing quotas for the other backward classes (obcs) by another 27 per cent (deshpande 2013: 1). thus, the policy of reservation has been one of the most contentious issues in india. reservation or affirmative action policies have been a central theme in the intergroup conflict between the caste-dominant and the dominated in india. it was also utilized to humiliate the dalits by calling them “sarkar che jawai” meaning sons1the political ramifications of the poona pact are a matter of several discussions. kanshiram has attacked the nature of the dalit politics that sprang from it. he argued that the making of independent dalit leaders after ambedkar was hindered since the electoral chances of popular scheduled caste politicians became significantly reliant on their good ties with non-dalit voters. hence, chamchas, or stooges, came to the fore instead of real and genuine leaders. see, abhay kumar dubey (2001). anatomy of a dalit power player: a study of kanshi ram. in ghanshyam shah (ed.), dalit identity and politics. sage publications. psychology behind rejection of caste-based reservations in the private sector 239 in-law of the government who attract special treatment among many other things.2 gudavarthy (2012) also echoed the same argument to show how dalits are stigmatized and reminded that what they are receiving is a type of “charity and not parity” (p. 55). today, in the neo-liberal economy, there has been a withdrawal of the welfare measures of the state. the policies of liberalization, privatization, and globalization have led to the shrinking of the public sector. it severely restricted the number of job opportunities in the public sector, resulting in fewer prospects for sc/sts and obcs in government administration and state enterprises (thimmaiah 2005: 745) therefore, the traditional policy of reservation has become redundant or rather has been virtually abolished. additionally, the dalits continue to struggle in the new economy. many studies, for example weisskopf (2004), thorat, banerjee, mishra & rizvi, (2015), deshpande (2011), thorat & attewell (2007), and jodhka & newman (2007), show the prevalence of market discrimination in india. this research indicates how hiring strategies and practices based on the notion of caste in the private sector and corporations have been detrimental to dalit interests. since familial networks3 frequently play a large role in access to jobs, caste remains an important aspect in both economic and social life (omvedt 2005: 137). in light of this context, it is critical to examine how dalits feel about the extension of reservations into the private sector. therefore, i wanted to investigate whether there is a section of the buddhist community in mumbai that has come to reject reservation, or, to put it another way, holds a negative attitude towards reservation in the private sector, and if there is, what psychological motivations may be responsible for it. reservations in india: psychological aspects in india, not everybody among the dalits has equally benefitted from the reservation policies. however, it did help to create a small middle class among the dalits. jogdand (2017) has similarly argued that the reservation policy has not improved the condition of the greater scheduled castes (sc) and scheduled tribes (st) masses; rather, it has aided in the development of a “microscopic middle class” inside the community itself. moreover, it also offered social security to the beneficiaries and their family members (jogdand 2017: 2). hence, the reservation policy brought positive changes by assuring social mobility to a sizeable section of the marginalized masses. however, social mobility came at a psychological costs discussed below. 2in an interview with sunil kadam, a prominent social and political activist, this issue was raised. 3ghanshyam shah (2017) has argued that in the neoliberal era since individuals are unable to rely on the state, they are driven to seek protection in primordial social organizations, which is broadly referred to as ‘social capital’. he shows that this has resulted in the revitalization of the old cultural ethos, which legitimizes and strengthens caste relationships. see, ghanshyam shah. (2017). neo-liberal political economy and social tensions. economic & political weekly, 52(35), 62–70. 240 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 in his seminal work, goffman (1963/2009) describes stigma as “an attribute that is deeply discrediting.” dalits have endured the stigma associated with being at the bottom of the caste hierarchy since ancient times. many studies have shown that reservation has led to the additional stigmatization of the dalits or scheduled castes. for example, patel (2008) investigates the stigmatised typical image of incompetence built around the scheduled castes (scs), who have benefitted from reservations in education and services for the earlier seven decades. she contends that stereotypes are a potent tool in everyday encounters and that the use of frozen images constructs stigma. she also deals with the issues of deflecting stigma through various means like concealment of caste names and changing surnames which form a part of impression management (p. 105). gudavarthy (2012) has also argued that the system of reservations in india has the particularly crippling drawback of causing several social groups to increasingly experience different types of public humiliation, anger, and abuse. he further substantiates this by referring to fraser (2008), who argues that stigmatisation is a mode of “adding the insult of misrecognition to the injury of deprivation”(p. 55). deshpande (2019) also shows that university students who receive affirmative action (hereafter aa) benefits are stigmatised by their peers, but they may not internalise their peers’ beliefs of their low worth. she further contends that it is not possible to draw the conclusion that weakening or doing away with aa would lessen stigma towards target groups. besides, jogdand, khan & mishra (2016) have also drawn attention to the evident stigmatisation and humiliation of reservation beneficiaries. they argue that claims such as, there has been a decline in merit and efficiency in education and administration due to the increasing admission of candidates from the reserved category, are manifestly humiliating since such claims undermine centuries of victimisation and add to the stigmatisation of the beneficiaries (p. 556). in short, it can be said that stigmatization has been a major psychological consequence of the policy of reservation. and to escape this stigmatization individuals have adopted various means. what remains to be explored is how the dalits feel about reservation, particularly in the private sector. present research the demand for the reservation in the private sector has been a relatively recent one. it came to light after the bhopal conference of 2002 organized by dalit intellectuals and activists with the support of the congress government in madhya pradesh under the leadership of digvijay singh. the bhopal document, an outcome of this conference, reflected the aspirations of a small yet influential dalit middle class. it stressed the necessity of economic empowerment of the dalits. among other things like more reservations in higher education for improved academic accomplishments, it made a strong case for a share in business/industry through policies based on affirmative action in the private sector, and professional jobs in the emerging, higher-paying economic sectors (pai 2014: 45). psychology behind rejection of caste-based reservations in the private sector 241 given this context, it becomes intriguing to look into what the buddhists, the most numerous among the dalits of maharashtra, think about the extension of reservation to the private sector. as gokhale (1993) has argued, the buddhists or erstwhile mahars are a distinct community among the dalits of maharashtra for two reasons. indeed, due to their functional role in village society, they occupied a unique position among the lower castes. furthermore, under the direction and leadership of dr. b.r. ambedkar, the key architect of the indian constitution, the mahars became the very first untouchable community to revolt against the adversities and disabilities posed by the exploitative caste system (gokhale 1993: vii). they have been the most assertive among the dalits of maharashtra. through this study focused on the four ghettos of mumbai—matunga labour camp, shell colony, p.l. lokhande marg, and ramabai nagar—i attempted to acquire their perspectives on the reservation in the private sector. it was discovered that a minuscule section of them have developed a negative attitude towards reservations in the private sector. this article, thus, attempts to explore the psychological motivations underlying the rejection of reservation in the private sector, thereby, establishing a linkage between caste and psychology. method as this article attempts to explore the psychological motivations underlying the rejection of reservation in the private sector, a mixed-method investigation was utilised. the quantitative phase was carried out first, followed by the qualitative phase. the purpose of this arrangement was to first identify those who reject reservation in the private sector and then explore their psychological motivations for doing so. in study 1.1 the researcher undertook charting of the buddhist community’s preference on the said question and looked for variations between the select ghettos with the help of a likert-type question. this research required respondents who “strongly disagree”, “disagree” or “neither agree nor disagree” to the question, “there should be reservation in the private sector”. study 1.1 made it possible to identify such respondents. once this phase was completed, the researcher went on to study 1.2, wherein unstructured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with such respondents. a reflexive thematic analysis was undertaken to discuss the findings of this phase. the analytic process for the same has been discussed in detail later. the sample and two phases of this research are as follows: sample table 1 shows the demographic composition of the sample. a total of 162 respondents were identified for this study. responses from people of diverse age groups, education levels, sex, etc., were sought. about 40 respondents were identified from each area so that the differences become visible and proportionality will be maintained. 242 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 table 1: demographic composition of the sample n=162 number percent gender male 94 58.02 female 68 41.98 age 18-30 years 49 30.25 31-40 years 23 14.2 41-50 years 28 17.28 51-60 years 31 19.14 above 60 years 31 19.14 education up to 9th 21 12.96 10th to 12th 66 40.74 undergraduate 9 5.56 graduate 44 27.16 post-graduate 20 12.35 marital status married 94 58.02 divorced 1 0.62 widowed 19 11.73 single 48 29.63 annual income up to 1 lakh 27 16.67 1-3 lakhs 63 38.89 3-5 lakhs 20 12.35 5-8 lakhs 36 22.22 8-12 lakhs 9 5.56 12-15 lakhs 6 3.7 above 15 lakhs 1 0.62 study 1.1 in the initial stage, the researcher began by mapping the perception of the buddhist community over the issue of reservation in the private sector. a likert-type question was administered to all the respondents. as there was no priori probabilistic structure for identifying the population, a cluster sampling approach was followed. the locations were carefully selected after confirming that the bulk of the locals were buddhists. as a result, these locations might be considered “dalit spaces or ghettos” or simply “areas with a preponderant buddhist population.” four clusters selected from mumbai city were, namely, p.l. lokhande marg, ramabai nagar, matunga labour camp, and shell colony. the interviews and discussions were conducted primarily in marathi and took place in private buddhist homes as well as public settings like baudha vihar (such as sugat vihar in sahakar nagar or supparak baudha vihar in p.l. lokande psychology behind rejection of caste-based reservations in the private sector 243 marg). the respondents were often highly amiable and ready to express their opinions. they freely shared their ideas as if it was a duty towards their community. p.l. lokhande marg is a slum locality in chembur. the dwellings are mostly one-story. two-story houses are also present. but mostly in such cases, the attic serves as a dwelling area. the living conditions were deplorable. narrow lanes, crowded dwellings, and public toilets, all of which are typical of slum areas, can be found here. for the first data collection, housing societies like ajanta, sahdeep, mahatma phule nagar (number 2), etc., were included. these societies are further divided into chawls. for instance, the sahdeep society has the katare chawl, salve chawl, and jagtap chawl. ramabai colony is also a slum settlement on the eastern express highway in ghatkopar. in comparison to the p.l. lokhande marg slums, the living conditions here are improved. many of the homes were well-furnished and had their own private bathrooms. with the 1997 ramabai killings, which saw 10 dalits killed during police firing amid demonstrations over the desecration of a statue of dr. babasaheb ambedkar, this locality gained national attention. since then, ramabai ambedkar nagar has been a hub of dalit activism. people frequently gather around the babasaheb ambedkar monument near gandhkuti vihar and d.b. pawar chowk to debate and discuss various concerns. while in matunga labour camp, the majority of the chawl-style buildings are three stories tall. singleand double-story chawls are still present, however, they are further split into several wards. formerly, this region was renowned for housing the migrant working class, mostly those who worked for the railways or the numerous textile factories that were originally located in bombay. ever since dr. babasaheb ambedkar’s time, the matunga labour camp has served as the dalit movement’s stronghold. it was a focal point for both the workers’ movements and the ambedkarite movement. in contrast to this neighbourhood, shell colony or sahakar nagar is home to dalit families who are employed in white-collar occupations and are a member of the dalit middle class. here, both samrat ashok nagar and everest society are decent neighbourhoods with bungalow-style row homes. besides, there are also four-storied buildings like the nalanda society, bahujan seva society, and others. these societies have a preponderant buddhist population.4 the fact that the living conditions here are good sets it apart from a ghetto, nevertheless. procedure this was entirely android and odk-based data collection. the responses that were saved were automatically coded as 1 for strongly disagree, 2 for disagree, 3 for neither agree nor disagree, 4 for agree and 5 for strongly agree. 4all these co-operative housing societies were established as part of the “pwr 219” housing scheme, which aimed to give people from backward classes and oppressed groups access to homes. this plan required a 90:10 ratio, meaning that 90 per cent of the members had to fall under the backward category and 10 per cent under the open category. 244 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 results and discussion table 2: overall frequencies for “there should be reservation in the private sector.” n=162 frequency percent strongly agree 94 58.02 agree 37 22.84 neither agree nor disagree 6 3.7 disagree 24 14.81 strongly disagree 1 0.62 total 162 100 table 2 shows that 58 per cent of the respondents strongly agreed that there should be reservation in the private sector, followed by 23 per cent of the respondents who also agreed to the question. while almost 15 per cent of the respondents disagreed that there should be reservation in the private sector. this shows that the majority of the respondents support reservation in the private sector. table 3: location-wise frequencies for “there should be reservation in the private sector.” n=162 frequency percent ramabai nagar strongly disagree 0 0 disagree 5 3.09 neither agree nor disagree 1 0.62 agree 5 3.09 strongly agree 29 17.9 p.l. lokhande marg strongly disagree 0 0 disagree 5 3.09 neither agree nor disagree 2 1.23 agree 9 5.56 strongly agree 24 14.81 shell colony strongly disagree 0 0 disagree 10 6.17 neither agree nor disagree 0 0 agree 12 7.41 strongly agree 20 12.35 psychology behind rejection of caste-based reservations in the private sector 245 matunga labour camp strongly disagree 1 0.62 disagree 4 2.47 neither agree nor disagree 3 1.85 agree 11 6.79 strongly agree 21 12.96 total 162 100 it can be gathered from table 3 that only a minority of respondents (total 14.82 per cent) disagree that there should be reservations in the private sector. such respondents are found more in the area—shell colony compared to the other areas. in terms of percent, shell colony has 6.17 per cent of respondents who disagreed which is double that of the others. as discussed earlier, shell colony is comparatively better off than the other three areas. the respondents here have a better standard of living due to their white-collar jobs and are a part of the dalit middle class (dmc). among such respondents who disagreed, there is an urge to dissociate from the stigma of the past. also, they have access to resources like good education, which gives them the impression that they can get by with or without reservation. besides, they felt that their children were as “meritorious” as the upper castes and hence can survive in the open competition. this aspect has been discussed further in the results of the thematic analysis. study 1.2 in the second stage of this study, only those respondents who marked their responses as “strongly disagree”, “disagree” or “neither agree nor disagree” to the question, “there should be reservation in the private sector” were identified. in total, 31 such respondents were found. with the help of unstructured interviews and focus group discussions, an attempt was made to gain in-depth insight and understanding of their position. as this problem is treated qualitatively, an attempt was made the examine the respondents’ thought processes. each of these interviews and discussions was then transcribed along with the field notes for thematic analysis. analytic process the reflexive thematic analysis was largely similar to that suggested by braun & clarke (2006, 2012) you will find descriptions of many techniques that psychologists and others have developed to help them pursue a shared understanding of why humans think, feel, and behave the way they do. these are the tools that we use to conduct our rational analyses. the variation was that a subset of 10 interviews was read first to look for potential themes. the sample required that the ten interviews from shell colony be read first since it had the most number of respondents in the “disagree” category and no respondents in the “neither agree nor disagree” category, whereas, all the other areas had some respondents in the “neither agree nor disagree” category. 246 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 further, the initial codes were written. while doing the coding, the researcher took a more interpretative stance than a descriptive one in an attempt to accommodate the context of the respondent’s argument. sometimes, even for a single piece of the data, more than one code was used. for instance, lines like majhe colleagues vegveglya jaatiche aahe, koni mala vicharla tarch mi jaat sangto. tasa hi jaati peksha maitri mahatva chi. tyanchya sobat diwali vagaire sajari keli tari kahi harkat nahi. (english translation: my colleagues belong to different castes, if somebody asks me about my caste only then i reveal it. as it is friendship is more important than caste. there is nothing wrong with celebrating diwali or other festivals with them.) this was coded as “desire to be anonymous” and “desire to assimilate”. subsequently, each of the remaining interviews was similarly coded. the researcher decided which potential themes to pursue and to identify the presence of those themes in the text of the remaining transcribed interviews. further, any miscellaneous and ancillary theme was also noted. after going through all the transcripts the researcher reviewed, modified and developed certain themes that aptly captured the psychological motivations behind the rejection of reservation in the private sector. analysis and discussion as shown in the fig. 1, the researcher developed six themes which discuss the respondents’ psychological motivations behind rejecting reservations in the private sector: theme 1: internalizing upper-caste notion of merit theme 2: internalizing the disgust associated with dalit identity theme 3: illusion of the ten-year limit on reservation theme 4: reservation in private sector will reinforce caste theme 5: anonymity of city-life will be compromised theme 6: hopelessness and scepticism about its utility figure 1: various themes identified psychology behind rejection of caste-based reservations in the private sector 247 internalizing the upper caste notion of “merit” as kalantzis, cope & issaris (1988) have pointed out, the primary function of the “merit” principle is to sort human resources in a certain manner. however, the idea of merit is conditioned by culture and formed through history. yengde (2019) has argued that those who enjoy the privileges of caste, their cultural and social capital5 becomes ‘merit’. one might acquire merit, if one enjoys privileges like access to good schools, educated parents, cultural bonds, and community networks. ultimately, as mehta (2005) has also discussed, the pertinent question that arises is who gets to decide what merit is (p. 211). therefore, in a caste society like india, merit is a relative term. with the help of numerous other research, crosby, ferdman & wingate (2001) have pointed out that meritocratic policies in the united states, although seeming to be race-blind, have in fact helped to sustain and even expand privileges for whites. furthermore, the criteria employed to determine “merit” in most organisations are based on majorityculture norms. in a similar vein, omvedt (2005) argues that words like “merit” enable us to overlook or push aside the reality of unending social identity-based exclusion and discriminatory processes in society. thus, they are misleading and insulting (p. 206). this word has frequently been used by the upper castes in their defence of the private sector’s effectiveness as a result of the absence of quotas in the private sector. they think that reservations will reduce productivity and render private-sector businesses just as inefficient as those in the public sector. mostly while rejecting reservation in the private sector, the respondents would claim that “we are as meritorious as the brahmins”. here, brahmins are taken as the reference group by the respondents. these had internalized the interpretation of merit based on upper castes’ hegemonic definition of “merit”. a respondent (female, 46) had contended that, we don’t need the crutches of reservation, our children are as qualified as those of the brahmins. it is not that we have progressed because of reservation. it was mainly babasaheb’s ideas and philosophy that brought us ahead in life. another respondent (female, 51) argued that, amchi mula general madhun pan spardha karu shaktat. ti pan tyanchyach itki hushar aahet. savarnanpeksha ti kuthech kami nahi. (english translation: our kids can compete even in the general category. they are also as smart as theirs. they are no less than the savarnas.) this form of feigned superiority complex is but a reaction to a deep feeling of inferiority. while it masquerades as a positive self-perception, such an argument 5according to pierre bourdieu, social capital is formed via relational networks, particularly institutionalized ones such as the family. he refers to the social milieu in which human beings are socialized as a “habitus.” individuals thus conform to the rules and behaviours of their group in order to gain from the system. see, elaine m. power (1999). an introduction to pierre bourdieu’s key theoretical concepts. journal for the study of food and society, 3(1), 48–52. https://doi.org/10.2752/152897999786690753 248 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 turns out to be self-destructive in a larger context since the buddhist community lacks the kind of cultural and social capital that is essentially needed to construct “merit” in the neo-liberal set-up. it is also a fallacious argument since the actual purpose of reservation is to enable the participation of marginalised sections, granting equity in opportunities, thereby, fostering social justice. while subscribing to dr. ambedkar’s ideals does result in intellectual, spiritual, and societal upliftment, it does not serve as a shield against social and economic inequality and discrimination. thus, they have internalised the brahmanical worldview and prefer to interpret “merit” in absolute terms. alternatively, it also shows that they have internalised the positive stereotypes surrounding the upper castes. jogdand (2023) demonstrates this with the help of an example of how engrossed reading and being smart is associated with being brahmin, while dalits are stereotypically taken as “intellectually inferior” reflected in the reluctance to see a dalit doctor (p. 45). the cultural indoctrination makes the respondents hold the brahmins as a reference group. this form of cultural imperialism has been formulated by young (1990) wherein a dominant group’s experience, culture and interpretation of social life is imposed on the oppressed group. further, she believes that it leads to double consciousness because one’s being is determined by two cultures: a dominant culture and a subordinate culture (1990: 60). this is also the case with buddhists. so while they say that the brahmins are “meritorious” and hold that they are also “meritorious” like them, they also acknowledge the contribution of dr. ambedkar’s ideas and philosophy. internalizing the disgust associated with dalit identity it was found that the respondents also rejected reservation in the private sector because they felt that it portrayed them in a negative light. a respondent (male, 27) had maintained that, with reservation, people assume that even those with 35 percent marks are able to get into respectable institutions. they do not realise that the difference in the cut-off for the reserved category and the general category is not much, so they blame us for stealing their seats. they do not want to be labelled as “reserved category” or “dalit” as it is taken to be synonymous with “unmeritorious” or “indolent”. they would wish to refrain from reservation in the private sector to escape this stigma of dalit identity which equates itself with poor academic performance. this demonstrates that they have internalised the disdain of the upper castes towards dalits and the “reserved category” and seek to escape that disgust through the rejection of reservation. it is indeed, surprising, that such a thought process could come up at a time when most assertions based on caste revolve around the demand for reservations. even dominant castes like jats, gujjars and marathas are protesting for this exact demand today. psychology behind rejection of caste-based reservations in the private sector 249 this is symptomatic of internalized oppression. as rosenwasser (2002) has argued, internalized oppression is when members of a group come to believe the negative messages and stereotypes that others hold about them. marginalized groups learn to despise themselves rather than see that these detrimental views are ingrained in them by a socioeconomic political system that pushes them to blame themselves and their people (rosenwasser 2002: 54). so, despite understanding that it is not true that all scs are unmeritorious, these respondents felt guilty to such an extent that they declined reservations in the private sector. they are also sometimes compelled to dispel those negative stereotypes by not revealing their dalit identity. some of them recollected anecdotes about how they were singled out in schools or colleges due to sc scholarships or freeships. a respondent (male, 45) shared his experience: in school, the teacher would read out our names loudly and scold us that if we did not fill out the sc freeship form, we will have to pay the full tuition fees. after this, the entire class would mock us. and we would feel isolated. they do not wish to undergo similar humiliation at the workplace. they would like to assimilate into the culture even including the festivals of the majority, at least, in the public sphere.6 as david & derthick (2013) have shown, internalized oppression is related to lower levels of enculturation and higher levels of assimilation. this, therefore, brings out the necessity to create space for buddhist culture and ideals. alternatively, van den berghe (1987) has noted that people assimilate and acculturate when doing so is clearly in their best interests. people generally prefer to remain as they are, that is, to maintain their ethnic identity, in the absence of such personal benefits to change (p. 186). hence, an individual’s sense of deriving benefits from the system plays an important role here. a lot, therefore, depends upon the willingness of the buddhist populace to develop their own cultural symbols. illusion of the ten-year limit on reservation among those who rejected reservation in the private sector, a common reason was the belief, rather ill-founded notion that dr. ambedkar was in favour of having the reservation system only for a span of ten years after its implementation. a respondent (male, 23) argued that “babasaheb had said that reservation must be only for ten years”. he said, 6in one of the houses in matunga labour camp, during the ganesh festival, a ganpati idol was installed. the reason was that their granddaughters were obstinate and insisted on getting it because all of their friends had placed ganpati idols in their homes. the buddhist community often looks down on such families. recently, a well-known marathi theatre and film actor too enraged his buddhist-dalit community by installing an eco-friendly ganpati idol. see, chandan haygunde. (2017, august 31). buddhists worshipping ganesh face ‘harassment, threat of social boycott.’ the indian express. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/maharashtrabuddhists-worshipping-ganesh-face-harassment-threat-of-social-boycott-4821602/ 250 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 respondent: baryach lokkanna mahit nahi aahe pan babasahebanna pan hech hava hota ki daha varshanpeksha jast aarakshan nako. (english translation: lots of people don’t know but even babasaheb wanted that reservation should not be for more than 10 years.) his friend (male, 27) backs him up by saying, ho mala pan mahit aahe. mi ek post vachili hoti fb var tyat hech mhantla hota, aplyach mansane takli hoti. (english translation: yes, even i know. i had read a post on facebook which said the same, it was posted by a fellow buddhist.) the same argument is utilised by the upper castes shrewdly as a defence whenever there is a debate about reservations. this is also a vile strategy to make the oppressed masses believe that it is high time that they should give up reservation. as sarkar (2022) has noted, this type of argument tries to make the oppressed castes feel guilty by making them think that they have benefited from reservation for far longer than they should have or were intended to and that their refusal to give up these privileges is now the root of social inequality. recently, one of the judges on the bench that presided over the case involving the constitutional validity of reservation policies for economically weaker sections made a similar argument. according to him, “the idea of baba saheb ambedkar was to bring social harmony by introducing reservation for only ten years” (ananthakrishnan g. 2022). this falsehood of the ten-year limit on reservation policies has made inroads into these predominantly young buddhist minds. they have come to believe that they are adhering to babasheb’s ideas while in fact, they are unknowingly consuming false propaganda. such misinformation is frequently shared via numerous social media sites. in reality, reservations for disadvantaged groups in public employment and educational institutions did not have a time limit. as bhaskar (2022) has shown, ambedkar was never in favour of a set time restriction of 10 years for political reservations for scs and sts. dr. ambedkar asserted for a ‘larger time’ (bhaskar 2022: 6). ignorance about this has led them to believe that if babasaheb did not want reservations for more than 10 years, there must be some logic behind it. such a thought process has also motivated them to reject reservation in the private sector. this also points towards improper inculcation of dr. ambedkar’s thoughts and inadequate socialisation, mainly, of the buddhist youth into dr. ambedkar’s life history and philosophy. reservation in the private sector will reinforce caste it was found that respondents would also think that reservation in the private sector will reinforce caste. a respondent (male, 47) assuming a rational posture argued that, jo paryant aapan jatichya aadhare aarakshan ghenar, toh paryant jaat nasht honaar nahi. mi tar mhanto shaalet pan jaat lau naka (english translation: till the time we psychology behind rejection of caste-based reservations in the private sector 251 keep availing caste-based reservation, caste will not be destroyed. i say, do not even put your caste category during school admissions). another respondent (female, 29) remarked, mala kamble adnavaacha sthal aala hota. mi nahi sangitla. pawar, more asta tar theek asta. tari pan jaat ashich jaat naste. category madhun aalyavar te aplyala veglach dhartat. khasgi kshetrat arakshaana mule jaat ulat ajun pakki hoil ani vadhel. (english translation: i had got a marriage prospect with the surname kamble. i rejected it. had the surname been more or pawar, it was fine. even then, caste is not going to disappear. once you are appointed through the reserved category, they hold us as “different”. reservation in the private sector might strengthen caste and bias.) it was gathered that such respondents believed that since a bitterness has already developed towards them because of savalatis (colloquial marathi word for reservation benefits and concessions), reservation in the private sector would further aggravate the resentment and also jealousy felt by the others towards their community. they held that extension of reservation in the private sector would also give the upper castes another arrow in the quiver to attack them. one respondent (male, 47) used the phrase, aadhich makad tyat maddya payala (literal translation: already a monkey and now on top of it drunk too! which means bad getting worse) to explain this phenomenon. another respondent (male, 25) echoed the same thought process, even if a boy from our community becomes a bureaucrat, he is identified as dalit ias or dalit ips officer. similarly, if there are quotas in the private sector, it will strengthen the already present resentment against our community. first, it shows that although reservation policies have not introduced caste, in a casteridden society like india, the upper castes are unwilling to accept dalits in top positions and stigmatize them for being beneficiaries of reservation. second, the respondents have extrapolated this to argue that the same would happen with reservation in the private sector. hence, they tend to argue that reservation in the private sector will reinforce caste. anonymity of city life will be compromised for a few young respondents, dalit identity was not a very significant factor or rather it was inconsequential. they harped on having friends from other communities and felt that it was not necessary to carry their identity at workplaces or the public sphere. they feared that affirmative action would bring the stigma of ‘being dalit’ back again. one respondent (female, 28) contended that, at the office nobody cares about my caste so why should i go and tell them that i am a buddhist….all my close friends know about my identity and they are okay with it. but others tend to judge you on that, so it’s better to disclose my identity only when asked about it. 252 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 in their study on attitudes towards affirmative action as a function of racial identity, schmermund, sellers, mueller, & crosby (2001) found that support for affirmative action was highest among people for whom group identity was the most significant component of a sense of self, among people who were most proud to be black, and among people who think that oppressed minorities should create alliances. similarly, considering dalit identity as secondary and trying to subdue it by being anonymous was a tendency among these respondents. they had come to like the feeling of being “anonymous” in the public sphere. another respondent (male, 39) remarked that, mumbai sarkhya shahara madhe yevda farak padat nahi. office madhe koni swatahun jaat vicharat nahi. jast punjabi, sindhi aani gujarati aahet. tar swatahun sangnyachi garaj padat nahi. aata amhala performance varun bagitla jaata, mag amhala jaati varun baghitla jaanar. (english translation: in a city like mumbai, it does not affect much. nobody asks about caste at the office. many are punjabi, sindhi and gujarati. so the need to go and tell them on my own doesn’t arise. now they look at us through our performance, then they will look at us through caste.) those young respondents who were already employed in the private sector were comfortable not disclosing their dalit-buddhist identity unless asked explicitly and specifically. due to surname similarities, the majority of them were assumed to be from the intermediate castes. for instance, surnames like pawar, shinde, more, kadam, jadhav, etc., are often found even in the dominant and intermediate castes. therefore, they have not experienced any overt discrimination as such. with the coming of quotas in the private sector, they will be expressly marked as dalit. with this, the anonymity of city life will be compromised. it will be difficult for them to move around as a “non-dalit”. this was mainly found among respondents in shell colony and matunga labour camp. the thought process that quotas in private jobs would rob them of this anonymity stems from social conformity and partial acculturation. as naudet (2014) and guru (2018) have shown, it becomes problematic for the dalit middle class to relate with their group of origin when they move from one social class to another. they want to dissociate with their caste fellows because it reminds them of their repulsive or embarrassing past.7 hence, they try to fit in the new social class group by arguing against reservation even if they might have benefitted from it. the tendency to mask their caste identity or to keep it hidden for as long as possible is a product of this dissonance. 7gopal guru (2018) depicts how the maharashtra dalit middle class sought a reprieve from their humiliating history. their previous lives had become so repulsive that they did not wish to be reminded of it. this he says was apparent when some dalit middle-class families forbade their family members from viewing the tv series ‘najuaka,’ which centred on a dalit woman’s horrible ordeal (pp. 147-148). psychology behind rejection of caste-based reservations in the private sector 253 the rest of the ghettos are well-known “dalit bastis”, therefore a mere utterance of their place of residence invokes suspicion in the other person’s mind about their caste or community. a respondent from ramabai nagar remarked that “the moment they say that they are from ramabai ambedkar nagar, they are taken as ‘jai-bhim wale’ or there is some suspicion about that in the other person’s mind.” thus, while ghettos have become safe spaces to assert and preserve their own identity, they nevertheless are stigmatised for living there. hopelessness and scepticism about its utility it was observed that respondents had little hope that reservation in the private sector would be of utility since they felt helpless within the already-existing system of reservation. disillusionment with the existing system of reservation was conveyed by a respondent (male, 36) as follows: eighty per cent of our bahujan population is fit tightly in the fifty per cent reservation bracket because of the court judgement. in that too, those who are needy are fighting with those who are comparatively well-off. getting admission to a good school itself has become so difficult. our applications are rejected because we stay in ramabai nagar. how much difference will reservation in the private sector make? another respondent (female, 53) said, aajun pan amhi jhopdyatch aahot, bmc chya jhaadukhatyat jast dalit samaj aahe. arakshanamule kahich changlya huddyavar gele, mothya flat madhe gele. khasgi kshetrat arakshane tech hoil. (english translation: even today we live in slums. most of them working in the sanitation department of the brihanmumbai municipal corporation are from the dalit community. only some have achieved respectable posts and live in huge apartments. the same might happen after reservation in the private sector.) schmermund et al. (2001) have argued, with respect to african americans that their reactions to the affirmative action policy may also be influenced by their personal experiences with it. the same can be said about the respondents from the buddhist community. such respondents felt that they have already faced enough hardships and cannot rely on the state for their emancipation. they feel alienated and left to fend for themselves. thus, they have become sceptical about the ameliorative effects of affirmative action in the private sector. additionally, they were also not in the mood to assert or undertake protests to demand such reservations. a respondent(male, 48) contended that, baudha samajanech ka rastyavar utrun andolana karaychi? amhi ladnar aani fayda dusaryanna honar mhanje mehnat kare murga, anda khaye fakir. (english translation: why should only the buddhist community step out onto the roads and protest? we will fight for it and others will simply enjoy the fruits of our labour). 254 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 many respondents harboured resentment towards maharashtra’s non-buddhist scs,8 believing that buddhists are the only community that takes to the streets in protest, while non-buddhist scs come to reap the benefits of buddhist protest and assertion. they claimed the same thing happened during rallies in support of obc reservations and mandal commission, or in protest of dalit atrocities. further, they also argued that many of the sc candidates elected to the maharashtra legislative assembly were non-buddhist dalits. therefore, there was doubt in their mind that despite a strong assertion by the buddhist community over the issue, it would be of lesser utility to them. however, when posed with the question that countries like the united states do have affirmative action and diversity policies which even indians have come to benefit from, the respondents were appreciative of the us’ efforts towards inclusion and diversity but felt hopeless that anything of that sort would happen in india. 9 conclusion this study found that a tiny section of predominantly young, middle-class, welleducated or employed dalit-buddhists disagree that there should be reservations in the private sector. it is surprising that despite being one of the most assertive communities among the dalits of india, a section of the dalit-buddhist masses is unaware of the academic studies on job market discrimination, ill-informed about ambedkar’s ideas and thoughts, and, therefore, lack group solidarity.10 this study 8political parties like shiv sena also played a major role in creating a rift between the dalits of maharashtra. it appealed to the non-buddhist dalits in the early 1990s to join shiv sena and favoured them while criticizing and singling out the buddhists. see, suhas palshikar (2004). shiv sena: a tiger with many faces? economic and political weekly, 39 (14/15), 1497–1507. also, milind dhaware (2013). disunity and fragmentation among dalit castes of maharashtra. international journal of innovative research and practices, 1(9), 23–37. 9the cisco and baps lawsuits show that south asians transported caste inequality and discrimination with them to the united states. seattle became the first city in the united states to outlaw caste discrimination on february 21, 2023. earlier, notable higher education institutions in the united states such as harvard university, brown university, brandeis university, and the university of california davis have incorporated caste into their antidiscrimination policies in recent years. however, as samos (2023) has argued more rigorous global interventions are needed to bring any real transformation. see, sumeet samos (2023, march 3). what does seattle caste discrimination ban mean for india?. outlook. https://www.outlookindia.com/national/what-does-seattle-caste-discrimination-ban-mean-forindia--news-267013 besides, dalit employees in the us wish for non-south asian managers as they offer fair treatment because they are not aware of caste. this demonstrates the persisting menace of caste. see, rohit chopra & ajantha subramanian (2022, february 11). the movement to outlaw caste discrimination in the u.s. time. https://time.com/6146141/ caste-discrimination-us-opposition-grows/ 10this lack of solidarity can also be attributed to neo-liberalism. jagannathan and packirisamy (2019) discuss the lack of solidarity fostered by neoliberal social relations though they have examined it in the context of academic labour, intellectual, love, and personal lives, the underlying idea is that individuals are unable to connect with one another because they keep their vulnerabilities to themselves owing to the spirit of competitiveness and entrepreneurship that neoliberal social relations characterise and impose. see, jagannathan & packirisamy (2019). psychology behind rejection of caste-based reservations in the private sector 255 shows that their cognition is largely affected by castebased stigmatization. the insidious way in which upper-caste notions and ideas have seeped into their psyche points towards “internalized oppression”. the negative stereotypes have permeated their minds and thereby associating with dalit identity has become uncomfortable. acculturation and social conformity dictate that they argue against reservation despite having benefitted from it. while ambedkar’s ideas and thoughts are highly respected, falsification and appropriation of his ideas by the hegemonic castes have misled the buddhist youth into believing that reservation has stayed for a much longer time than was intended. ultimately, the reinforcement of caste is being blamed on affirmative action or reservation policies, which is nothing but another hegemonic idea that has been internalized. this is an exploratory study; no quantitative conclusions regarding the precise group of people who reject reservations in the private sector are drawn from it. it would need more data to demonstrate that particular factors, like income or age, and other social psychological processes influences this rejection. the article also acknowledges that this can be a future area of research that can be accomplished with the help of a larger data set. furthermore, the thematic analysis that was used attempted to reflect the requirements of the sample. the emphasis here was on the issue at hand and the question that has to be answered. notwithstanding these limitations, this article highlights the psychology behind rejection of reservation in the private sector among few dalits. in addition, this article emphasises the need to bridge this gap between the academia and masses. the organic dalit intellectuals can make a greater impact on sensitizing the buddhist masses about these matters and enlightening them about the more sinister and modern forms of exclusion. in the absence of which, this minority will remain mere consumers of propaganda, unconscious of their own exploitation. finally, we must also note that the majority of respondents in the study believe that there should be some sort of affirmative action, necessary to protect their interests in the neo-liberal era. several countries, including the united states, south africa, northern ireland, and malaysia, have enacted anti-discrimination policies for social groups subjected to discrimination in the labour markets (thorat 2005: 336). it is high time that india initiates certain policy and institutional changes to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion in the private sector. it is also clear that we need to develop a more targeted approach to mitigate the negative impact of caste-based stigmatization on the minds of dalits. references ananthakrishnan, g. 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(2015). urban rental housing market: caste and religion matters in access. economic and political weekly, 50(26/27), 47–53. thorat, s., & kumar, n. (2008). b.r. ambedkar: perspectives on social exclusion and inclusive policies. oxford university press. van den berghe, p.l. (1987). the ethnic phenomenon. praeger. weisskopf, t.e. (2004). affirmative action in the united states and india: a comparative perspective. routledge. yengde, s. (2019). caste matters. penguin viking. young, i.m. (1990). justice and the politics of difference. princeton university press. © 2022 khalid khan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 319–334 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.448 inequality in access to medical education in india: implications for the availability of health professionals khalid khan1 abstract this study examines the access of students from diverse backgrounds to medical education in india. it shows how inequalities existing in society may entail significant social injustices with regard to access to a career in medicine. the study is based on data from secondary sources. the major part of the analysis is from the periodic labour force survey, 2019–20; all india survey on higher education, 2019–20; and national sample survey data on social consumption, education 2017–18. it is observed that the availability of health professionals is very low overall but it is even lower among underprivileged groups. there are indications of a better share of salaried health professionals among underprivileged caste/ethnic groups probably due to the presence of affirmative action but inequality prevails in self-employment and high quality occupations, thus reflecting the inequality prevalent in society. however, the pattern among muslims is different from the caste/ethnic groups as the share of regular salaried workers is lower and self-employed is higher among muslims. the study shows that access to medical courses is linked to family background depicted by caste/ ethnicity and religious identities. the availability of medical education in general is very low. the situation is further aggravated for students from underprivileged backgrounds. the high cost of medical courses combined with the dominance of self-financed courses and private unaided institutions may make it inaccessible to students from weaker sections of society. in fact, the probability of attending a medical course is relatively lower for scheduled castes/scheduled tribes (scs/ sts) and muslims than hindu high castes (hhcs). the low average expenditure of medical courses confirms the low quality of education accessed by the student from underprivileged backgrounds at every level. it is important to note that education of the head of the family emerges as the most important predictor for access to medicine education. similarly low household size also improves the probability of attendance. it is thus important to improve the access to medical 1assistant professor, indian institute of dalit studies, new delhi, india email: khan.khalid7@gmail.com 320 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 education through establishing new educational institutions with affordable costs. the challenge is to ensure equal access for students from underprivileged groups so that the existing inequality in the availability of health professionals may be addressed. for this, affirmative action for the students from poor families and first generation learners may be worthwhile to address the problem of inequality of access to medical education. such policies would also improve the availability of health professionals from the underprivileged socio-religious background which in turn would play an instrumental role in ensuring better access to healthcare services for patients from underprivileged communities. keywords higher education, choice, employment, inequality introduction the years of school are considered as one of the most important factors that lead to improved labour market outcomes (card, 1999). however, this approach does not take the quality of education into consideration. with improving access to education to a large section of society, the years of education can’t determine the labour market outcomes effectively, rather specialisation becomes an important factor (altonji, 2015). studies indicate that the earning gap across colleges major is notably high (altonji et al., 2012) and increasing (altonji et al., 2014; gemici & wiswall, 2014) over time. despite continued expansion of higher education, the equity in access to higher education is still a major concern; it becomes highly exclusive when access to professional courses is examined (khan, 2022). much research focuses on overall access to higher education, while comparatively lesser research focuses on courses. the focus on medical education is completely absent so far higher education in india is concerned. the study on medical education is scant despite the fact that the availability of trained medical practitioners is significantly low and numerous students migrate outside to get a medical degree in the wake of low number of seats and high fees. the existing literature suggests a severe shortage of healthcare workers in india (kasthuri, 2018). india is categorised among the most severe crisisfacing countries in terms of human resources in health (karan et al., 2019). the situation is more worrisome as observed by the representation of underprivileged groups in such prestigious courses. this study investigates the broad inequities in the availability of health professionals and access to medical education recognizing that the underrepresentation of underprivileged groups is not random but systematically connects to their group identity. this study fills the gap in literature in the wake of the paucity of research focused on the postsecondary major choice. the study attempts to capture the influence of students’ background, parental influences and occupational background of the family as a proxy for students’ social and cultural capital, which are linked in part to their major choices in higher education (astin, 1993; carrico & matusovich, 2016; simpson, 2001). inequality in access to medical education in india: implications for the availability 321 data and methodology this analysis covers three important aspects of medical education. first, it examines the labour market outcomes in relation to the medical education at aggregate level and across different groups. second, it examines the status of medical education in india and the status of different social and religious groups. and third, the study analyses the attendance in medical education and factors affecting it. the analysis is based on the data from three prominent datasets. the analysis of labour market outcomes examines the estimated number of workers and their distribution by gender, social and religious groups using periodic labour force survey data, 2019-20 (plfs). the number of workers engaged in health-related industrial activities is considered as a proxy for the measure of the number of health professionals. the group of industries comprises three types of workers in healthrelated activities. first type (type 1) covers workers engaged in activities of general and specialized hospitals, sanatoria, asylums, rehabilitation centres, dental centres and other health institutions that have accommodation facilities, including military bases and prison hospitals. the second type (type 2) of workers covers those activities that can be carried out in private practice, group practices and in hospital outpatient clinics, and in clinics such as those attached to firms, schools, homes for the aged, labour organizations and fraternal organizations, as well as in patients’ homes, medical practice activities and dental practice activities. the third type (type 3) includes activities related to nurses, masseures, physiotherapists or other paramedical practitioners, activities of independent diagnostic/pathological laboratories, activities of independent blood banks and other human health activities not elsewhere classified (including independent ambulance activities). this is to note that type 1 activities are highly specialised in nature and are linked to institutional activities, type 2 is largely privately operated activities while the type 3 covers activities that assist health services. the three types of industrial groups are analysed by gender, social and religious groups and across rural and urban areas. another way of estimating the number of health professionals is based on the occupational status of the workers. the occupational classification of workers provides information about the health professionals engaged as physicians and surgeons in allopathic, ayurvedic, homeopathic, unani system; dental specialists; veterinarians and health professionals not elsewhere classified except nursing. this group of occupation largely covers doctors and hence may be treated as a high quality occupation. the analysis based on the all india survey on higher education (aishe, 2019– 20) examines course enrolment related to medical sciences covering all types, though paramedical sciences is excluded from the analysis. the analysis of attendance in medical courses is based on the 75 th round national sample survey data on household social consumption: education, 2017-18 (nss). the variation in access to medical education by social and economic background is explored in the analysis. the course covers attendance of all types, viz., certificate, diploma, graduate, postgraduate and higher. we explore the access to medical education as a function of gender, race/ethnicity, and economically disadvantaged status. the 322 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 social and religious groups are combined to identify socio-religious groups, namely, schedule tribe (sts), schedule castes (scs), hindu other backward castes (hobcs), hindu higher castes (hhcs) and muslims. additionally, the access to private unaided institution for medical courses is also investigated. this shows inequality in access to medical courses by gender, race, and socioeconomic status (and the intersections among those demographics). the econometric analysis is based on nss data. the analysis is confined to the age group 18–35 years. the first model analyses the access to medical education for the population in the age group 18–35 years. the second model examines the access to medical education with regard to other types of higher education, while the third model analyses the access to medical education against the access to other courses at graduate and above levels. health professionals in india the plfs, 2019–20 data shows that there are nearly 4.8 million health workers in india. the figure is higher for male than female, 2.5 million and 2.3 million, respectively. the corresponding figure is 0.36 million among tribals, 1.1 million among scs, 1.64 million among obcs and 1.7 million among forward castes (hhcs). the figure widely varies across religious groups also. there are 0.30 million health care workers among muslims, while this figure is 0.28 million for christians, 0.12 million among sikhs and 0.10 million among buddhists. the health workers comprise 0.47 per cent of the total population aged 15 years & above with share being relatively higher for male than female, 0.49 per cent and 0.45 per cent, respectively. this figure is highest among hhcs at 0.59 per cent followed by 0.54 per cent among scs, 0.38 per cent among obcs and 0.41 per cent among tribals respectively. the figure is relatively lower among muslims across religious groups whose 0.27 per cent population under consideration are engaged as health workers. this is relatively higher among other religious minorities (table 1). table 1: availability of health workers, 2019–20 number percentage pop. m 2.49 0.49 f 2.26 0.45 st 0.36 0.41 sc 1.09 0.54 obc 1.64 0.38 hc 1.67 0.59 muslims 0.30 0.27 christians 0.28 1.20 sikhs 0.12 0.71 buddhists 0.10 1.31 rural 1.75 0.26 urban 3.00 0.94 total 4.75 0.47 source: periodic labour force survey, 2019–20 inequality in access to medical education in india: implications for the availability 323 there is very high disparity in availability of health workers between rural and urban areas. there are 1.8 million health workers in rural areas while the figure is nearly 3 million in urban areas. this is a concern as nearly 68 per cent of the population resides in rural areas while the urban areas comprise 32 per cent of the total population. this is evident from the remarkably high rural-urban disparity in terms of workers population ratio. nearly 0.26 per cent of the 15 years & above population is engaged as health workers whereas this figure is close to four times in urban areas, 0.96 per cent (table 1). the majority of the health workers are engaged as regular/salaried (rs) worker, though it widely varies across different groups. nearly 84 per cent of the total health workers are engaged as rs workers. this figure is relatively higher for female than male which is indicative of gender-based norms as women are allowed to work in secured high paying jobs. the share of self employed (se) workers is almost four times higher among male than female. a similar pattern is observed among scs/sts wherein more than 90 per cent workers are engaged as rs workers, though figures are 83.9 per cent and 78.2 per cent for obcs and others respectively. this probably may be due to the inclusive role of government sector as affirmative actions are available for scs/sts in employment. however, their presence among se workers is far lower than obcs/hhcs reflecting the impact of identity-based patterns that are highly prevalent in the social sphere in india. only 7 per cent and 9 per cent of sts and scs workers are engaged as se workers while the figures are 16 per cent and 21 per cent for obcs and hhcs respectively. the figure for muslims is lower in rs jobs than hindus and other religious minorities, 76.6 per cent among muslims as against 85 per cent among hindus and 83.7 per cent among other religious minorities. however, the share of se is far higher among muslims which implies that muslims end up mostly as self-employed health workers instead of rs works. the share of rs by types is roughly similar in rural and urban areas. the share of casual workers is negligibly low at aggregate levels and among the different groups as well. this is indicative of high quality employment in terms of job contracts and social security benefits prevalent in medical profession (table 2). table 2: health workers by type of works, 2019–20 se rs cl total male 23.7 75.9 0.41 100 female 6.1 93.3 0.53 100 st 6.8 93.2 0 100 sc 8.5 91.4 0.2 100 obc 15.6 83.9 0.48 100 others 21.1 78.2 0.73 100 hindu 14.5 85.0 0.52 100 muslims 22.8 76.6 0.59 100 orm 16.3 83.7 0 100 rural 14.9 84.7 0.39 100 urban 15.4 84.1 0.52 100 total 15.2 84.3 0.47 100 source: periodic labour force survey, 2019-20 324 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 nearly 62.1 per cent of the workers are engaged in health-related activities while 14.1 per cent are engaged in medical and dental practice and 23.8 per cent are engaged in other human health related activities. consistent with the share of rs workers, a relatively higher share of workers among female than male and scs/sts than obcs/ hhcs are engaged in hospital related activities. however, this is not the case for religious groups as a relatively lower percentage of muslims than hindus and other religious minorities are engaged in hospital activities. the other human health activities which are of relatively lower preference than hospital related activities comprises 27.3 per cent of workers among female and 20.7 per cent of workers among male. this activity comprises 26.3 per cent workers among sts and 21.6 per cent among obcs and 27.7 per cent among hhcs. the figure is 31.6 per cent among muslims while it is 21 per cent among hindus and 21.6 per cent of the workers among other religious minorities. the share is roughly similar in rural and urban areas (table 3). table 3: health workers by industrial categories hospital activities medical & dental practice other human health male 59.7 19.6 20.7 female 64.5 8.2 27.3 st 62.2 11.5 26.3 sc 68.8 9.6 21.6 obc 58.0 14.3 27.7 others 61.6 17.4 21.0 hindu 62.4 14.1 23.6 muslims 52.7 15.7 31.6 orm 65.3 13.2 21.6 rural 60.9 15.0 24.1 urban 62.7 13.6 23.7 total 62.1 14.1 23.8 source: periodic labour force survey, 2019–20 the number of health workers according to the occupational classification which shows high quality occupation is 0.848 million at all india level. the figure is higher among higher caste followed by obcs, scs and sts respectively according to the social groups. there are only 0.046 million health professionals as per the occupational classification among muslims. the figure is similar for other religious minorities also. the rural-urban disaggregation shows 0.214 million and 0.634 million health professionals in these areas, respectively. the number is far higher among male than female, 0.684 million and 0.164 million, respectively. the percentage distribution also reveals that scs/sts, obcs and muslims are underrepresented in terms of share. muslims are the least represented group followed by sts and scs respectively. nearly, 81 per cent are male while only 19 per cent are female indicating that female are inequality in access to medical education in india: implications for the availability 325 seriously underrepresented in this occupational category. similarly, three-fourth of health professionals are confined to urban areas while the share is 25 per cent in rural areas (table 4). table 4: health workers by occupational categories total (million) share (%) male 0.684 80.7 female 0.164 19.3 st 0.057 6.7 sc 0.117 13.8 obc 0.246 29.0 others 0.428 50.4 muslims 0.046 5.4 orm 0.045 5.3 rural 0.214 25.2 urban 0.634 74.8 total 0.848 100 source: periodic labour force survey, 2019–20 access to medical courses so far the access to medical courses is concerned, the enrolment is close to 19.8 lakh in medical sciences and 28,400 in paramedical courses. in terms of gender wise composition, female constitutes 61 per cent of the total enrolment in medical sciences while the corresponding figure for male is 39 per cent. this shows that medical sciences is highly female-oriented. however, the female-centric enrolment is confined significantly to the lower level of education in medical sciences (fig 1). table 5 shows the share of medical courses in total attendance/enrolment in higher education at aggregate level 2.5 per cent of the total attendance takes place in medical courses. the figure is lower for scs/sts but it is slightly higher than the overall average for muslims. this course comprises nearly 2 per cent of the total attendance among scs/sts while this figure is 3 per cent among muslims. the aishe data shows a higher share of medicine in total enrolment. it comprises nearly 6 per cent of the total enrolment while the corresponding share is 5 per cent among scs/sts and 5.6 per cent among muslims. table 5: share of medicine in total attendance/enrolment st sc muslim total nss, 2017–18 1.6 2.2 3.1 2.5 aishe, 2019–20 5.0 5.0 5.6 5.5 326 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 51.7 46.1 44.3 40.5 38.1 32.1 24.5 27.8 38.9 48.3 53.9 55.7 59.5 61.9 67.9 75.5 72.2 61.1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 phd mphil pg ug pg dip dip cer int total male female fig 1. gender-wise share in enrolment in medical science by level of education the share of females in enrolment at a certificate level is nearly 76 per cent but it continues to reduce as one moves up to higher levels of education and reduces to 48 per cent at ph.d. levels. the high share of enrolment of women at lower levels of education indicates that a large number of women join the medical sciences to earn a livelihood which is consistent with the social norm imposed upon them. the majority of students are enrolled at undergraduate level. the figure is relatively lower among scs and sts while it is higher among muslims. at aggregate levels, nearly 66 per cent of students study at undergraduate levels. this share is 72 per cent among muslims, 57 per cent among scs and 54 per cent among sts. the share of diploma is higher among sts and scs than the aggregate level. it is relatively lower among muslims. the share of pg is also relatively lower among scs/sts though it is higher among muslims. the share is lower than aggregate level among muslims also. similarly the share of phd is lower than aggregate level among all the three underrepresented minorities but it is relatively higher among muslims followed by sc and st respectively. in order to compare the performance of different groups enrolment per thousand population in 18 to 23 years population is used as an indicator. the enrolment in medical sciences is only 13.0 per thousand of the total population in the age group 18–23 years. this share is 10.3 for male and 18.0 for female. the figure is lower among sts and scs at 7.5 and 7.9 respectively while it is lowest at 5.5 for muslims. the gap vis-à-vis aggregate levels is high for undergraduate courses wherein only 4 per thousand students are enrolled in medical courses for underprivileged groups while the corresponding figure is 8.5 at aggregate level. thus, the representation of underprivileged groups is very low in medical courses (fig. 2). inequality in access to medical education in india: implications for the availability 327 1.2 6.6 1.9 9.7 1.6 10.6 4.4 16.6 0.44 4.0 3.1 7.5 0.53 4.5 2.8 7.9 0.52 4.0 1.0 5.5 1.4 8.5 3.1 13.0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 pg & abv ug dip total m f st sc mus total fig 2. share of enrolment per thousand population (18–23 years) by level of education the distribution of enrolment by level of education reveals that while a relatively higher number of scs/sts students are enrolled at diploma levels, their share at graduate and higher levels is low. however, the share of undergraduate level for muslims is higher than overall average. notably, the share is higher for scs/sts in diploma courses than muslims which leads to high gap at aggregate level. the low access to medical courses is a common problem for all the underprivileged groups. however, the low representation at higher level is specific to scs/sts only (table 6). the pattern among the three underprivileged groups shows that medical education for muslims probably confines to their economically well-off section while weaker sections among scs/ sts join short-duration medical courses to earn livelihood. consequently, the share of higher level of education is relatively better among muslims than scs/sts despite lower number of enrolment per thousand 18-23 aged population among them. table 6: access to medical courses by level of education, 2017–18 st sc mus tot ph.d 0.08 0.16 0.26 0.46 m.phil 0.01 0.00 0.02 0.04 pg 5.8 6.6 9.1 10.0 ug 53.5 57.4 72.1 65.7 pgd 0.26 0.21 0.23 0.31 dip 39.5 35.0 17.9 23.1 cert 0.86 0.65 0.17 0.39 int 0.00 0.01 0.17 0.03 total 100 100 100 100 source: all india survey of higher education, 2019–20 privatization and household expenditure on medical education as per the aishe, 2019–20 data, more than half of the total enrolment in medicine takes place in self-financed courses. it comprises nearly 55 per cent of the total 328 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 enrolment in medicine. the share is slightly lower among scs and sts whose 52 per cent and 48 per cent of the total enrolment respectively takes place in self-financed courses. a relatively higher share of muslim students are enrolled in self-financed courses, 59 per cent. table 7: share of self-financed courses in total enrolment in medicine self-financed share in total enrolment in medicine (%) st 49275 48.0 sc 135038 51.5 muslims 65267 58.8 total 1097468 55.4 source: all india survey of higher education, 2019–20 the share of unaided institutions is higher at lower levels of education, i.e. the private sector is highly concentrated in short term courses. as one moves upward in terms of level of education, the share of unaided institutions continues to reduce. nearly 75 per cent of the total attendance at higher secondary levels takes place in private unaided institutions. for diplomas, this figure is 18 per cent at secondary level and 48 per cent at hs level and 35 per cent at graduate & above levels. however, unaided institutions comprise 44 per cent of the total attendance at graduate level. the corresponding figure is nearly 29 per cent at post graduate & higher levels. table 8: attendance in medicine course by type of institution & level of education level gov. aided unaided nk total secondary 98.3 1.7 0 0 100 hs 22.5 2.7 74.8 0 100 diploma secondary 71.6 10.7 17.7 0 100 diploma hs 27.0 22.7 47.9 2.34 100 diploma grad & above 43.7 20.7 35.1 0.46 100 graduate 35.5 21.0 43.5 0 100 pg & above 44.9 26.3 28.5 0.35 100 total 38.0 20.6 40.9 0.57 100 source: 75th round national sample survey, 2017–18 the share of attendance by types of institutions also indicates higher dependence of underprivileged groups on unaided institutions. the private unaided institutions constitute nearly 41 per cent of the total attendance at aggregate level. however, this share is only 28 per cent among hhcs. the corresponding shares are 62 per cent and 52 per cent among sts and scs respectively. the high share of private unaided institutions among scs/sts might be possible due to a high share of diploma courses among them. the share is 44.5 per cent among hobcs and 37 per cent among muslims. this is to note that the higher share of scs/sts in unaided institutions coexisting inequality in access to medical education in india: implications for the availability 329 with a lower share in self-financing courses might reflect their lower representation in self-financed courses in government and aided institutions. the management-wise distribution of enrolment misses out on the self-financed courses in government and aided institutions where it is highly likely that students from privileged backgrounds might be concentrated. the high share of unaided institutions among muslims again confirms the hypothesis of medical education being confined to a minuscule economically well-off section among them. the minority institutions might also be playing an instrumental role in the provision of medical education to a small section of the community. however, the community as a whole is lagging in terms overall access to medical education behind all the other social and religious groups. table 9: attendance in medicine course by type of institution st sc hobc hhc muslim rest total government 19.5 21.3 35.3 47.7 53.1 12.9 38.0 aided 18.0 26.5 20.2 22.3 10.2 25.8 20.6 unaided 62.3 52.0 44.5 28.4 36.7 61.1 40.9 nk 0.19 0.27 0 1.56 0.1 0.26 0.57 total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 source: 75th round national sample survey, 2017–18 the expenditure incurred on medical courses in an academic year is shown by types of institutions and socio-religious groups (table 10). nearly ` 57,000 is spent by a household in an academic year. the expenditure incurred by the underprivileged groups is lower than those belonging to the well-off groups. the figure is highest for hhcs followed by hobcs, muslims, scs and sts respectively. the average expenditure by type of institutions reveals a huge difference between government and private institutions. interestingly, the expenditure is highest in private aided institutions followed by unaided and government institutions. the expenditure is nearly ` 20,000 in government institutions while it is ` 83,900 in private aided institutions and ` 78,300 in private unaided institutions. this is to note that higher average expenditure in aided institutions than unaided institutions is attributed to the higher average expenditure among the underprivileged groups, namely, scs/ sts/hobcs. the average expenditure in private unaided institutions is ` 1.14 lakh for hhcs which is highest among every socio-religious group. this figure is ` 77.8 thousand for hobcs while it is ` 37.4 thousand for sts and ` 41.8 thousand for scs. the average expenditure among muslims is also relatively higher than the other underprivileged groups but lower than hhcs. it is ` 79.9 thousand among muslims. a similar pattern is observed in private aided and government institutions wherein the average expenditure is higher for hhcs/hobcs than sts/scs. the expenditure is lowest for government institutions. in government institutions, the figure is lower for muslims than hobcs/hhcs. it is a matter of further inquiry whether low expenditure 330 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 of muslims is attributed to their participation in low cost short duration courses or in government supported courses in minority institutions. table 11 shows the expenditure by level of education. the average expenditure is higher at higher levels of education among every group. this is to note that the average expenditure is higher for hhcs/hobcs at every level except pg & higher level wherein muslims have the highest expenditure. the expenditure at pg & higher level is highest among muslims followed by scs, hobcs, hhcs and sts respectively. this pattern changes at the graduate level. the figure is highest for hhcs followed by hobcs, muslims, scs and sts at graduate levels respectively. the fact that the average expenditure is lower for the underprivileged group for a particular level of education reflects low quality of medical education among them. the relatively higher expenditure among muslims and scs at pg & higher level demands further inquiry. table 10: expenditure in medicine course by type of institution (in academic year) groups government aided unaided nk total st 16967 39811 37398 42663 33864 sc 13077 53698 41830 24999 38804 hobc 24276 84165 77776 60174 hhc 20946 112672 114058 34521 68085 muslim 9768 62411 79900 25039 40846 rest 53913 54607 93541 73164 78339 total 19699 83900 78290 34596 56936 source: 75th round national sample survey, 2017–18 table 11: expenditure on medicine course by level of education (in academic year) level st sc hobc hhc muslim rest total diploma secondary 13459 14563 5878 20119 6626 61495 8837 diploma hs 21265 25079 34137 37142 15195 35647 28519 diploma grad & above 43589 26523 42769 33508 23532 53498 34604 graduate 46968 57955 82288 85827 74801 111947 80813 pg & above 17642 125255 91569 79456 147742 61271 94610 total 33864 38804 60174 68085 40846 78339 56936 source: 75th round national sample survey, 2017–18 econometric exercise the econometric analysis is based on the three models as shown in table 12. the table shows the odd ratio for the three models. model 1: attending courses related to medicine vs. not attending. this model is used for examining the factor affecting access to medical education in the age group between 18 and 35 years. inequality in access to medical education in india: implications for the availability 331 model 2: attending courses related to medicine vs. other course in higher education. this model is used for those attending higher education in the age group between 18 and 35 years. model 3: attending post graduate & high level in course related to medicine vs. lower level of medical courses. this model is used for those having graduate and above level in the age group between 18 and 35 years. the independent variables used are socio-religious groups, gender, education of the head of the households and size of the household. for social groups, sts, scs, hobcs, hhcs, muslims and rest are considered. the education of the head is a binary variable comprising those having level of education upto primary/middle against higher level of education. gender is a binary variable comprising male and female. size of the households is a continuous variable. table 12: result of the logistic model access choice level st 0.384 0.554 0.497 sc 0.644 0.780 0.787 hobc 0.627 0.790 0.903 muslim 0.963 1.061 0.865 rest 1.363 0.806 0.897 head’s education 4.575 2.277 2.827 female 1.687 2.385 2.528 household size 0.659 0.680 0.570 _cons 0.007 0.047 0.051 observation 1,36,372 23,237 19,252 pseudo r2 0.1022 0.0984 0.1577 source: based on 75th round national sample survey data, 2017–18 note: all coefficients are statistically significant in model 1, the odds for attending medical courses is 62 per cent lower among sts than hhcs while this gap is 36 per cent for scs and 37 per cent for hobcs. the odds for muslims is 4 per cent higher than hhcs. the education of the head of the family significantly improves the probability of access to medical courses. similarly, the odds for attending medical courses is higher among female than male. the higher the size of the household the lower are the chances of attending medical courses which is understandable as larger households may have lower capacity to finance expensive medical courses than smaller households. model 2 also shows the similar result with a few differences. the odds for attending medical course is lower by 45 per cent among sts, 21 per cent lower for scs, 10 per cent lower among hobcs than hhcs. the odds is 13 per cent higher for muslims than hhcs. the odds for attending higher education is higher for female 332 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 than male in this model also. the education of the head of the household continues to affect the attendance in medical courses positively. however, the higher household size reduces the chance of joining medical courses. model 3 shows that the odds for attending higher education is lower by 50 per cent for sts, 21 per cent for scs, 10 per cent for hobcs and 13 per cent for muslims than hhc. the odds for female continues to be higher than male. the role of household size and head’s education also remains the same. thus, the education of the head of the household remains the most prominent factor affecting access to medical education in all three models. the lower household size also improves the access to this course. the probability of attendance for female remains consistently higher than male in all the three models. the access of underprivileged caste and religious groups is lower than hhcs in all the models. however, the probability of attendance of medical courses vis-à-vis other courses in higher education for muslims is higher than hhcs. conclusion this study examines the access of students from diverse background to medical education in india. it shows that inequalities existing in society may entail significant social injustices with regard to the access to a career in medicine. it is observed that the availability of health professionals is very low overall but is even lower among underprivileged groups. if one considers the share of high quality occupation by different groups, the inequality becomes stark and remarkably high. there are indications of relatively better concentration of regular jobs among health professionals belonging to the underprivileged social groups probably due to the presence of affirmative action. however, the concentration of self-employed health professionals is relatively higher among muslims. this pattern reflects the impact of caste/ethnicity-based prejudice in the social sphere leading to the lower concentration of caste/ethnic groups in self-employment on the one hand and high concentration of self-employment among muslims due to seggregation and the absence of affirmative action in employment for muslim minorities on the other hand. one may note that the inequality is high in access to medical education which also indicates that the prevailing inequality among health professionals is linked to the existing inequality in higher education. the analysis further shows that the access to medical education is linked to the family background as depicted by caste and religious backgrounds. the access of underprivileged caste/ethnic groups, namely, scs/sts is lower than hhcs. similarly, the access of muslims is lower than the hhcs. apart from identity, the existing inequality is related to economic background as well. the household size and education of the head of the family is used as a proxy to capture the impact of family background on access to medicine courses. inequality in access to medical education in india: implications for the availability 333 the share of unaided institutions and self-finance courses is notably high in medical education. more than half of the total enrolment in medicine takes place in selffinanced courses, while 41 per cent of the total enrolment in medicine takes place in private unaided institutions. the concentration of unaided institutions is higher at lower levels of education. the concentration of unaided institution is high among scs/ sts also probably due to the high share of short-term courses among them. this is also evident from the low expenditure on medical courses among scs/sts in every type of institution. the high share of unaided institutions among muslims again confirms the hypothesis of medical education being confined to a minuscule economically well-off section among them. the minority institutions might also be playing an instrumental role in the provision of medical education to a small section of the community. however, the community as a whole is lagging in terms overall access to medical education behind all the other social and religious groups. the average expenditure among the underprivileged groups is also lower than hhcs. the average expenditure is higher at higher levels of education among every group. the fact that the average expenditure is lower for the underprivileged group for a particular level of education reflects low quality of medical education among them. the econometric analysis shows that head’s education remains the most prominent factor affecting access to medicine courses in all three models. a lower household size also improves access to this course. the access of females remains consistently higher than males in all the three models which might be due to gender-based norms in higher education as medicine is considered a suitable profession for women. the access of underprivileged caste and religious group is lower than hhc in all the models. however, the probability of attendance of medicine courses vis-à-vis other courses in higher education for muslims is higher than hhc. thus, the challenge is ensuring equal access for students from underprivileged groups so that the existing inequality in the availability of health professionals may be addressed. for this, affirmative action for students from poor families and first generation learners may be worthwhile to address the problem of inequality of access to medicine courses. such policies would also improve the availability of health professionals from varied socio-religious backgrounds which would 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(2019). size, composition and distribution of human resource for health in india: new estimates using national sample survey and registry data. bmj open 2019;9:e025979. doi:10.1136/ bmjopen-2018-025979 kasthuri a. (2018). challenges to healthcare in india: the five a’s. indian journal of community medicine: official publication of indian association of preventive & social medicine, 43(3), pp. 141–143. available at: https://doi.org/10.4103/ijcm.ijcm_194_18 khan, k. (2021). choice of higher education in india and its determinants. international journal of economic policy studies. available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42495-021-00077-y © 2023 d.p. singh et al. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 75–91 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.497 importance of caste-based headcounts: an analysis of caste-specific demographics transition in india d.p. singh1, srei chanda2, l.k. dwivedi3, priyanka dixit4, somnath jana5 abstract caste has always been a subject of socio-political segregation in india. inequality across caste is prominent for varying health and development outcomes, which is a subject less researched till date. four rounds of national family health surveys (1–4) conducted in the last 25 years are analysed to portray the fertility and mortality differentials across castes/ tribes. the article signifies, that distinct inter and intra-caste differences in association with the region of residence are present that must be taken into consideration while understanding the health outcomes. despite a decline in the fertility and child mortality rates in india, caste-wise differentials suggests that the decline is associated with the socioeconomic position and transition experienced by these groups. though schemes and benefits are targeted towards backwards castes, however, sub-castes under each caste are far from realization of those benefits at equal pace. realization of the developmental processes among castes is a matter of proper enumeration and intricate research that rationalize the distributive and affirmative policies of india. keywords caste, socio-economic inequality, total fertility rate, child mortality, nfhs, india 1professor, school of research methodology, tata institute for social sciences (tiss), mumbai, india 2independent researcher, jaipur, rajasthan, india 3professor, dept. of survey research & data analytics, international institute for population sciences (iips), mumbai, india 4assistant professor, school of health system studies & school of research methodology, tata institute for social sciences (tiss), mumbai, india 5doctoral scholar, international institute for population sciences (iips), mumbai corresponding author srei chanda e-mail: srei1988@gmail.com 76 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 introduction the ongoing debate on enumeration of population on the basis of caste to measure development has become pertinent in the political paradigm of india. in the demand of socio-economic and caste census, several political bodies are asking the government to start conducting a caste-specific census. a prominent paradigm observes that the development of social communities is devised on the basis of caste reservation in india. caste is a fundamental construct to measure the social stratification in india (deshpande, 2001). this has been a source of understanding of the persisting structural inequality in social and economic dimensions (borooah et al., 2014). the fertility and mortality outcome of the population across castes are understudied in demography. the importance of the caste system is well recognized particularly in the context of india, and previous literature dated to over 2500 years hold evidence for the existence of caste as social hierarchy (macdonell, 1914). the evolution of the caste system demarcates the social strata, occupational contributions and material possession in terms of individual and social capital (borooah et al., 2014; deshpande, 2001). eventually, social classification further gets associated with the ideology of class, which remains closely connected with sociological or related research. in that context, the research is focused upon a broad classification of caste category such as forward or unreserved, scheduled castes (sc), scheduled tribe (st) and other backward castes (obc). the knowledge regarding these caste categories is limited as scant sources provide information across specific castes and sub-castes underlying it. since castes and, also necessary to mention, religions are related with socio-economic status (kumari & mohanty, 2020), hence demographic and health outcomes vary to a great extent in that regard. to date, major demographers or social scientists are forced to consider caste as an aggregated group in large datasets despite several classifications constructed within the caste groups mainly due to data inadequacy. moreover, the literature available to study the demography of caste in india is severely scattered and concentrated on a few regions of india (corrie, 1995; pallikadavath & wilson, 2005; ramesh, 2008). the formal demography of caste can be a matter of general interest to social scientists. caste has been included in vested political interests till date. in the development paradigm, a detailed study on caste has hardly been seen. in developed nations, inequalities observed among social groups has been widely documented (cai & morgan, 2019; yang & morgan, 2003). as we are devoid of such scope yet, the limited understanding of the reserved caste categories as a minority group can be largely interrogated, henceforth. to fulfill that, one has to argue about subcastes and their social-economic position in relation to who receives a programmatic benefit in the country. however, the understanding in demographic outcomes in an indian context remains largely unfulfilled with the current database as the last full enumeration of the population with the indicator of caste was done in 1931 by the registrar general of india (rgi, 1931). castes are categorized primarily into brahmin, kayastha, vaisya, importance of caste-based headcounts 77 shudras and untouchables. the first three castes are designated as forward caste categories (borooah et al., 2014). other than the forward castes, several other castes such as sc, st and several subcastes of obc are considered in the reserved caste categories by the indian constitution. there are several divisions under each caste depicting the stratification associated with the occupation they are engaged in. yet, no national data source is available to enumerate different sections of population on the basis of their sub-castes at present. the census of india recognizes that the proportion of population for sc and st has increased between 1961-2011. the proportional share of reserved castes such as obc has increased between 1999-2009 across religious categories (bharti, 2018). constructs of caste have intruded into religion. a large section of the muslim population is considered in the other backward class (obc) categories. moreover, several religious groups are largely represented by particular castes. for instance, buddhist or neo-buddhists in india are represented by the sc population (kulkarni, 1994). the concept of lower or backward castes is associated with the untouchability leading to social exclusion and marginalization which results in poor development. as societal change is interwoven into the socio-economic structure of the population, therefore, the pace of demographic transitions is influenced by the complex dynamics of it. demographic processes like change in fertility, mortality or migration are used to comprehend such changes in the population. the disadvantageous position of the caste groups with regard to their social and economic context highlights the demand to understand the inequalities persisting in society through segregated categories of castes or sub-castes. a necessary pre-requisite to measure health inequality is to measure the fertility and mortality outcome of the population. selection bias in mortality towards low socio-economic groups has been documented in several literatures, which prompt us to associate with the wealth and standard of living among the subgroups (beydoun et al., 2016; subramanian et al., 2006). the concept of social segregation is deeply interwoven with the occupational constructs of the population which determine the adult or child mortality of any given population (fujishiro et al., 2017). standard occupation and earning lead to better access to education and in turn health facilities. this helps to decipher a change in fertility or mortality outcomes. through programmatic concepts, it can be argued that despite providing reservations and relaxation in several social welfare schemes, many sub-castes are yet to get considered in the process. an inability to reap the benefit of it might hinder development at a socio-economic front rather than the demographic front. in fact, the existence of intra-caste differentials among minority castes in association with socio-economic factors is potent enough to influence the access to a social safety net (goli, maurya, & sharma, 2015; manjula & rajasekhar, 2015; mishra, veerapandian, & choudhary, 2021; pankaj, 2019). therefore, a huge disparity within the social sub-groups cannot be solely explained by the education or occupation interventions alone. a typical disparity in healthcare access has always been observed among the minor social groups in india. this is evoked by 78 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 the possible difference in health behavior and practice, which can certainly influence the measure of health of any population such as fertility and mortality. studies also argued that the concept of caste remains much more stringent in rural setups, and in urban areas development percolates more easily across castes due to sanskritization and westernization (bharathi, malghan, & rahman, 2019; shah, 2007). the way in which population across different castes reaps the benefit of development from the community and society can change the behavior and practice among the population extensively. measurement of fertility and mortality among children for a considerable span of time would reflect the progression of the castes in india. fertility choice is maneuvered through social and economic values associated with the individuals, and mortality is influenced by the unique combination of the socio-cultural and economic agents at different stages of child growth. targeted intervention to improve the mortality and fertility behavior in india could essentially be modified in the social groups if a barrier is not present or policies are designed effectively. since population growth rate influences the social and political dynamics in terms of reservations for the backward castes, it becomes essential to estimate and explore the level of fertility and child mortality across castes. the results will be important to understand the tempo of change in demographic transitions in india in terms of practices adhered to by social groups. data to measure the different caste-wise fertility and child mortality of the population we have utilized four rounds of national family health survey (nfhs) data of india. the demographic and health survey, which is known as national family health survey (nfhs) is a central to itemize the demographic and specific health parameters mainly focused upon the reproductive and sexual health of the population since 1992-93 (nfhs-1). though it could give a broad overview of castes across states of india, however, the benefit of such information has been remarkable as it allows one to analyse the differentials in various demographic and social-economic behavior. in india, the caste distribution shown by the socio-economic caste census (2011) is 19.7 per cent sc, 8.5 per cent st, 41.1 per cent obc and 30.8 per cent others / general category. it was a privilege for us, social scientists, to explore the major dimensions of demography across the caste categories consistently with all four rounds of nfhs data. since the survey interrogates specific sub-castes under each broader caste, we have meticulously identified each type of sub-caste from those four rounds of nfhs in this study. nfhs-1 (1992-93), nfhs-2 (1998-99), nfhs-3 (2005-06) and nfhs-4 (2015-16) have been conducted among 89,777 ever married women of 13-49 years in 24 states and nct delhi, 90,000 ever married women of 15-49 years in 26 states, 124,385 women aged 15-49 and 74,369 men aged 15-54 in 29 states, 699,686 women of age 15-49 and 112,122 men of age 15-54 in 29 states and 7 union territories, viz. importance of caste-based headcounts 79 (international institute for population sciences (iips), 1995; international institute for population sciences (iips) & icf, 2017; international institute for population sciences (iips) & orc macro, 2000, 2008). as it attempts to capture information over four consecutive rounds in last two decades and more, the detailed representation of the survey across different caste categories would unfold detailed trends and patterns of population across castes in india. the sampling followed is a multistage sampling with probability proportion based on population size. the missing value indicates the system missing/ skipped, caste not reported indicates that during the survey if a respondent replied ‘don’t know’ on the question of caste, and others are those who are not categorized for a classified caste in the study. we have tried to segregate the castes and sub-castes after a thorough and rigorous literature review and perusing a large number of online and offline sources. the distribution of those sub-castes across different rounds of surveys has been documented and then the study has tried to capture the measure of fertility and mortality in india. castes are divided with respect to actual information on caste categories, language spoken, religion followed, ethnicity, occupational status, etc., which makes it complex caste categories considering the exclusive social and economic construct of that particular group. in the fertility measure, total fertility rate (tfr) and in mortality measure, neonatal mortality rate (nmr), infant mortality rate (imr), and under 5 mortality rate (u5mr) has been used. the overall estimation for fertility and mortality is also calculated at the national level. for the study, we have utilized stata 15.1 software. method methodology for estimating fertility rates fertility rate was calculated in two steps. first, using a stata code to transform the birth history data in a table of birth. second, we are using poisson regression to compute the fertility rates from birth history data (schoumaker, 2012). more specifically, let, xi be the random variable that denotes the number of birth (xi be the realization of xi) is assumed to follow a poisson distribution with mean 𝜇𝑖 8 under 5 mortality rate (u5mr) has been used. the overall estimation for fertility and mortality is also calculated at the national level. for the study, we have utilized stata 15.1 software. method methodology for estimating fertility rates fertility rate was calculated in two steps. first, using a stata code to transform the birth history data in a table of birth. second, we using poisson regression to compute the fertility rates from birth history data (schoumaker, 2012). more specifically, let, xi be the random variable that denotes the number of birth (xi be the realization of xi) is assumed to follow a poisson distribution with mean 𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖 p(xi=xi|𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖) = …………………….(1) the mean 𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖 = ( fertility rate (𝜆𝜆i)*exposure (ti)), further, log (𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖) = log (𝜆𝜆i ) + log (ti) ………………………….(2) log (𝜆𝜆i ) is linear combination of independent variables , thus , log(𝜆𝜆𝑖𝑖)=𝛼𝛼+f1(𝑎𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑒)+f2(𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑣𝑣𝑎𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑖𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑠𝑠) ……………………….(3) now for five years age group we makes dummy variables, in the form . log(𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖)=log(𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑖)+(𝛼𝛼+∑ ) α is the constant term; 𝐴𝐴w𝑖𝑖 are dummy variables for the six age groups from 20–24 to 45–49; and we have the first age group (15–19) is the reference category. so, fertility rate (𝜆𝜆i) = exp (𝛼𝛼+∑ ) predicting fertility rates for a specific age group (e.g. 20–24 years) is straightforward. the dummy variable a is equal to 1 for the specific age group and 0 for the other age groups; the rate comment [ag4]: press! a level heading comment [ag5]: press! b level heading (1) the mean 𝜇𝑖 = ( fertility rate (𝜆i)*exposure (ti)), further, log (𝜇𝑖) = log (𝜆i ) + log (ti) (2) log (𝜆i) is linear combination of independent variables , thus , log(𝜆𝑖)=𝛼+f1(𝑎𝑔𝑒)+f2(𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠) (3) now for five years age group we makes dummy variables, in the form . 8 under 5 mortality rate (u5mr) has been used. the overall estimation for fertility and mortality is also calculated at the national level. for the study, we have utilized stata 15.1 software. method methodology for estimating fertility rates fertility rate was calculated in two steps. first, using a stata code to transform the birth history data in a table of birth. second, we using poisson regression to compute the fertility rates from birth history data (schoumaker, 2012). more specifically, let, xi be the random variable that denotes the number of birth (xi be the realization of xi) is assumed to follow a poisson distribution with mean 𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖 p(xi=xi|𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖) = …………………….(1) the mean 𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖 = ( fertility rate (𝜆𝜆i)*exposure (ti)), further, log (𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖) = log (𝜆𝜆i ) + log (ti) ………………………….(2) log (𝜆𝜆i ) is linear combination of independent variables , thus , log(𝜆𝜆𝑖𝑖)=𝛼𝛼+f1(𝑎𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑒)+f2(𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑣𝑣𝑎𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑖𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑠𝑠) ……………………….(3) now for five years age group we makes dummy variables, in the form . log(𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖)=log(𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑖)+(𝛼𝛼+∑ ) α is the constant term; 𝐴𝐴w𝑖𝑖 are dummy variables for the six age groups from 20–24 to 45–49; and we have the first age group (15–19) is the reference category. so, fertility rate (𝜆𝜆i) = exp (𝛼𝛼+∑ ) predicting fertility rates for a specific age group (e.g. 20–24 years) is straightforward. the dummy variable a is equal to 1 for the specific age group and 0 for the other age groups; the rate comment [ag4]: press! a level heading comment [ag5]: press! b level heading α is the constant term; 𝐴w𝑖 are dummy variables for the six age groups from 20–24 to 45–49; and we have the first age group (15–19) is the reference category. 80 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 8 under 5 mortality rate (u5mr) has been used. the overall estimation for fertility and mortality is also calculated at the national level. for the study, we have utilized stata 15.1 software. method methodology for estimating fertility rates fertility rate was calculated in two steps. first, using a stata code to transform the birth history data in a table of birth. second, we using poisson regression to compute the fertility rates from birth history data (schoumaker, 2012). more specifically, let, xi be the random variable that denotes the number of birth (xi be the realization of xi) is assumed to follow a poisson distribution with mean 𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖 p(xi=xi|𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖) = …………………….(1) the mean 𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖 = ( fertility rate (𝜆𝜆i)*exposure (ti)), further, log (𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖) = log (𝜆𝜆i ) + log (ti) ………………………….(2) log (𝜆𝜆i ) is linear combination of independent variables , thus , log(𝜆𝜆𝑖𝑖)=𝛼𝛼+f1(𝑎𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑒)+f2(𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑣𝑣𝑎𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑖𝑎𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑠𝑠) ……………………….(3) now for five years age group we makes dummy variables, in the form . log(𝜇𝜇𝑖𝑖)=log(𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑖)+(𝛼𝛼+∑ ) α is the constant term; 𝐴𝐴w𝑖𝑖 are dummy variables for the six age groups from 20–24 to 45–49; and we have the first age group (15–19) is the reference category. so, fertility rate (𝜆𝜆i) = exp (𝛼𝛼+∑ ) predicting fertility rates for a specific age group (e.g. 20–24 years) is straightforward. the dummy variable a is equal to 1 for the specific age group and 0 for the other age groups; the rate comment [ag4]: press! a level heading comment [ag5]: press! b level heading predicting fertility rates for a specific age group (e.g. 20–24 years) is straightforward. the dummy variable a is equal to 1 for the specific age group and 0 for the other age groups; the rate is then equal to the exponential of the sum of the constant and the coefficient of the corresponding age group (20-24). 9 is then equal to the exponential of the sum of the constant and the coefficient of the corresponding age group (20-24). 𝜆𝜆20−24=[𝛼𝛼+𝛽𝛽20−24] so tfr = 5*{exp(𝛼𝛼)+(exp (𝛼𝛼+∑ )} methodology to compute child mortality rates we calculate child mortality rate using the stata package syncmrates, which calculate child mortality rates using dhs data by simple direct method (masset, 2016). the child mortality rate is calculated as the quotient of the numerator divided by the denominator for each type where, numerators is defined as the number of deaths to live-born children during a specified age range and specified time period. nmr is measured by considering deaths at ages 0 to 30 days, including deaths reported at age zero months. similarly, imr is measured at ages 0 to 11 months, including deaths reported at ages 0 to 99 days and the u5mr is measured at ages 0 to 4 years, including deaths reported at ages 0 to 59 months and 0 to 99 days. the denominator considered is the number of surviving children at the beginning of a specified age range during the specified period of time. results pattern of fertility among castes/ sub-castes at national and selected state level table 1 depicts the distribution of study samples interviewed across different caste categories in four rounds of nfhs represented at the household level. in nfhs, the total number of subcastes identified is 32. in nfhs-1, the percentage share of prominent upper or forward caste found to be brahmin (7.3 per cent), upper caste (2.36 per cent), kayastha (1.3 per cent), and rajput (4.7 comment [ag6]: press! b level heading comment [ag7]: press! a level heading comment [ag8]: press! b level heading methodology to compute child mortality rates we calculate child mortality rate using the stata package syncmrates, which calculate child mortality rates using dhs data by simple direct method (masset, 2016). the child mortality rate is calculated as the quotient of the numerator divided by the denominator for each type where, numerators is defined as the number of deaths to live-born children during a specified age range and specified time period. nmr is measured by considering deaths at ages 0 to 30 days, including deaths reported at age zero months. similarly, imr is measured at ages 0 to 11 months, and the u5mr is measured at ages 0 to 4 years, including deaths reported at ages 0 to 59 months. the denominator considered is the number of surviving children at the beginning of a specified age range during the specified period of time. results pattern of fertility among castes/sub-castes at national and selected state level table 1 depicts the distribution of study samples interviewed across different caste categories in four rounds of nfhs represented at the household level. in nfhs, the total number of subcastes identified is 32. in nfhs-1, the percentage share of prominent upper or forward caste found to be brahmin (7.3 per cent), upper caste (2.36 per cent), kayastha (1.3 per cent), and rajput (4.7 per cent). beside upper castes, other castes are marked are jat-gurjar (3.1 per cent), yadav (1.9 per cent), kurmi (3.86 per cent), service caste, i.e. kumhar (3.17 per cent), sc (4.92 per cent), st (3.25 per cent), musahar (0.14 per cent), walmiki (0.46 per cent). religious minorities such as muslims share 5.3 per cent of the sample. in nfhs-2, the proportional share of the forward castes in the sample is found to be lesser to the proportional share of the forward caste found in nfhs-1. more than 40 per cent of the sample shows a missing data about the particular castes they belong to. the extra castes named in this round are obc open (0.07 per cent), ansari julaha (0.41 per cent), and language (0.5 per cent). religious representation of the caste shows muslims are 3.37 per cent and christian 0.7 per cent. around 4.3 per cent did not report their caste and 42.6 per cent claimed missing, explaining no knowledge of their castes. in the nfhs-3 and nfhs-4, the importance of caste-based headcounts 81 upper caste represents similar share in the sample except kayastha, which is found to be 1.12 per cent in nfhs-3 and 0.4 per cent in nfhs-4. however, naidu-nadar/ kapu nair caste, which is a prominent upper caste in karnataka and some southern states show a higher share in nfhs-4 (5 per cent) when compared to other rounds of nfhs. the backward castes like yadav, kurmi, kumhar, sc, st, khan pathan, and ansari julaha indicate a substantial share in the total sample of nfhs-4. it was also found that yadav, service caste, i.e. kumhar, sc, st, ansari julaha and khan pathan show an increase in the sample share from the nfhs-3 to 4. the share of respondents who didn’t report their caste is 5 per cent in nfhs-3 and nfhs-4. despite a high missing response in the previous rounds, in nfhs-4 it dips to 32.7 per cent. table 1: distribution of the caste categories among households selected in across national family health survey of india-1, 2, 3, 4 nfhs1 nfhs2 nfhs3 nfhs4 caste group n percent n percent n percent n percent brahmin 6,454 7.29 5,643 6.19 5,882 5.39 26490 4.4 upper caste 2,092 2.36 980 1.07 894 0.82 2545 0.4 kaystha 1,180 1.33 1,025 1.12 1,224 1.12 2332 0.4 rajput 4,173 4.71 4,142 4.54 3,404 3.12 17571 2.9 naidu nadar kapu nair 1,034 1.17 1,764 1.93 1,856 1.7 30258 5 bania 2,319 2.62 2,024 2.22 3,408 3.13 18271 3 maratha 41 0.05 1,393 1.53 1,595 1.46 10597 1.8 jat-gurjar 2,783 3.14 2,512 2.75 2,139 1.96 9940 1.7 yadav 1,681 1.9 2,660 2.92 2,908 2.67 25559 4.2 kurmi 3,415 3.86 1,679 1.84 2,136 1.96 16014 2.7 service caste -kumhar+ 2,805 3.17 3,398 3.73 3,527 3.23 33244 5.5 vishkarma 1,042 1.18 1,658 1.82 2,161 1.98 10505 1.7 muslim 4,699 5.31 3,074 3.37 3,128 2.87 20669 3.4 khatik dusadh 953 1.08 1,496 1.64 1,657 1.52 12799 2.1 sc 4,357 4.92 4,361 4.78 5,490 5.03 51761 8.6 st 2,874 3.25 2,441 2.68 3,703 3.4 31706 5.3 fisherman 524 0.59 589 0.65 469 0.43 3314 0.6 lodhi-others 159 0.18 306 0.34 749 0.69 4986 0.8 mixed caste-bengali, bhagat 2,369 2.68 4,093 4.49 755 0.69 6341 1.1 musahar 121 0.14 97 0.11 101 0.09 1241 0.2 walmiki 406 0.46 570 0.63 685 0.63 3266 0.5 obc open 62 0.07 83 0.08 997 0.2 sindhi 157 0.18 184 0.20 105 0.1 693 0.1 khan pathan 518 0.58 813 0.89 1,340 1.23 9483 1.6 buddhist boudha 687 0.78 147 0.16 168 0.15 1523 0.3 ansari julaha 374 0.41 1,211 1.11 8938 1.5 sikh 1,447 1.63 596 0.65 664 0.61 6158 1 jain 365 0.41 289 0.32 404 0.37 1198 0.2 christian 2,780 3.14 621 0.68 809 0.74 4214 0.7 language 457 0.50 518 0.48 1590 0.3 caste not reported 5,627 6.35 3,920 4.30 5,514 5.06 30396 5.1 missing 31,497 35.57 37,828 41.48 50,354 46.18 196910 32.7 total 88559 91196 109041 601509 n.b. not classified group is many castes name with small number which could not be specified to the above major groups. 82 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 figure 1 shows the tfr of study sample across selected sub-caste/ caste groups in india.1 the figure has included brahmin and upper castes from forward caste, maratha, jat-gurjar, and yadav from backward castes, kumhar, walmiki, and vishkarma from the service castes, and muslim, mixed castes—bengali and bhagat and buddhist boudha from the remaining sections of the castes. mixed castes are those social subgroups involved in multiple and/or a wide range of occupations for instance-agricultural activities, service sectors, or any other occupational types. despite belonging to the same social subgroup, they represent a diverse economic status. results also indicate that maratha had tfr more than five (5) during nfhs-1 and other selected castes clustered between tfr 3-4. over the course of the survey, the change in the tfr of the castes has shown a variation and in nfhs-4 though the fertility showed a convergent pattern, yet the range of tfr that is represented by these castes have shown a wide variation. 25 figure 1: estimates of fertility (total fertility rate) across castes in 4 rounds of nfhs (1-4) in india 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 nfhs1 nfhs2 nfhs3 nfhs4 tfr brahmin upper caste maratha jat-gurjar yadav service caste -kumhar+ walmiki vishkarma muslim mixed caste-bengali, bhagat buddhist boudha christian figure 1: estimates of fertility (total fertility rate) across castes in 4 rounds of nfhs (1-4) in india pattern of child mortality among castes/ sub-castes at national and selected state level figure 2 represents the estimation in neonatal mortality across selected castes in 4 rounds of nfhs. a clear decline in the nmr has been observed across rounds of nfhs. in nfhs-4, the neonatal mortality shows a convergence. the highest nmr is represented by the mixed caste bengali and bhagat in nfhs-1 (70) in nfhs-1 and it declined to nmr 20 in nfhs-4 representing a sharp decline after nfhs-3. the upper caste has a relatively lower nmr than previous mixed caste, however, the pattern of decline in nmr has been observed to be similar to those. the decline in nmr for the christian, maratha along with upper caste in nfhs-4 was found to be remarkable in perspective to the nmr found in the previous rounds for these castes. among the 1the national family health survey (nfhs)-4 (2015-16) collects data at the district level that has aimed around 1000 hhs. as a result, the large sample size has been considered for the survey than its previous rounds, which gave state level estimations. importance of caste-based headcounts 83 yadav caste, the decline was not found to be very significant. walmiki does not show any noticeable improvement in the nmr across all the rounds of nfhs. 26 figure 2: estimates of neo-natal mortality rates across selected castes in 4 rounds of nfhs (1-4) in india 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 nfhs1 nfhs2 nfhs3 nfhs4 nmr brahmin maratha jat-gurjar yadav service caste -kumhar+ walmiki vishkarma muslim mixed caste-bengali, bhagat buddhist boudha christian figure 2: estimates of neo-natal mortality rates across selected castes in 4 rounds of nfhs (1-4) in india 28 figure 3: estimates of infant mortality rates (imr) across selected castes in 4 rounds of nfhs (1-4) in india 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 nfhs1 nfhs2 nfhs3 nfhs4 imr brahmin upper caste maratha jat-gurjar yadav service caste -kumhar+ walmiki vishkarma muslim mixed caste-bengali, bhagat buddhist boudha christian figure 3: estimates of infant mortality rates (imr) across selected castes in 4 rounds of nfhs (1-4) in india figure 3 represents the estimated infant mortality rates of the selected caste across four rounds of nfhs in india. the pattern of decline in infant mortality has been found to be distinct and no noticeable convergence has been observed here across the rounds of nfhs. during nfhs-1 to 3, the imr has shown a sustained decline, while in nfhs-4 these castes show a sharp decline in imr. other than upper caste, christian and maratha, which show a sharp decline in imr during nfhs-3 to nfhs4, no other caste is noticed with a significant change in imr. figure 4 represents the 84 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 estimates of under 5 mortality rates across castes in four rounds of nfhs in india. the level of decline in u5mr from nfhs-1 to 4 shows a divergence in the mortality pattern. castes such as walmiki and maratha who were positioned relatively lower in the u5mr in nfhs-1 are declined to the lowest. jat-gurjar, mixed castes, namely, bengali bhagat and muslim have found to achieve a similar level of u5mr in nfhs4 though they were at different levels of mortality in nfhs-2 & 3. 29 figure 4: estimates of under5 mortality rates (u5mr) across selected castes in 4 rounds of nfhs (1-4) in india annexure: table 2: estimates of fertility (total fertility rate) across castes in 4 rounds of nfhs (1-4) for india india tfr caste nfhs1 nfhs2 nfhs3 nfhs4 kaystha 3.6 2.7 1.7 1.6 rajput 3.4 2.9 2.6 2 naidu nadar kapu nair 3.2 2.4 1.6 1.7 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 nfhs1 nfhs2 nfhs3 nfhs4 u5mr brahmin upper caste maratha jat-gurjar yadav walmiki service caste -kumhar+ vishkarma muslim mixed caste-bengali, bhagat buddhist boudha christian figure 4: estimates of under 5 mortality rates (u5mr) across selected castes in 4 rounds of nfhs (1-4) in india discussion this study is the first ever attempt to envisage the demographic outcomes of population segregated by castes in india. at this juncture when many castes claim reservations, adherence for distributive and affirmative actions, this research would provide a classic example of the fertility and mortality trends of the population belonging to the particular caste over around 25 years. our study finds a long-term transition in fertility and child mortality across different caste categories in india. first, forward castes have displayed a significant and large decline in fertility along with the religious subgroups or castes such as sikh, jain, christian, and sindhi. the tfr of these castes have reached way below the replacement level of fertility, which suggests a greater focus required to maintain the population size in the long-term. second, decline in child mortality in terms of nmr, imr, and u5mr have shown a decline and convergence for the selected castes. however, there is no uniform decline observed in child mortality among forward castes and religious castes. muslim and other islamic castes have shown better child mortality outcomes, although the fertility outcome of those did not show a decline relative to the backward caste categories in the study period. last, there remains an intra-caste inequality while looking at the fertility and mortality rates across four rounds of nfhs found in the study. the differentials in demographic outcomes among reserved/ backward and unreserved caste are often measured in terms of development indicators such as education, employment, minimum wages, health care access, etc. forward castes have importance of caste-based headcounts 85 an upper hand in possessing material resources, better opportunities to modify life chances and achieve improved economic wellbeing. a desire towards children has been on the decline among the upward castes in india. in contrast, the reserved and deprived castes, which are often considered to be minority, are unable to decline the fertility to maintain their kinship as a motive to conserve their socio-economic status(chamie, 1977). this study shows a similar pattern in such contexts illustrating a higher tfr among the reserved/ backward castes at a national level. this pattern can be well explained by the fertility model given by bongaarts in 1978. primarily, the proportion of population getting married or age at marriage can be a vital factor to explain the fertility pattern. the increase in the age at marriage mainly due to educational improvement and higher opportunities for the employment of women has supported the decline in fertility among forward castes. the study has depicted that scs and sts are observed to have a lower median age at marriage, mainly due to cultural norms and lower educational attainment (saxena & mohanty, 2013). moreover, improvement in child marriage among the backward castes in the empowered action group states of india such as up, bihar, rajasthan, etc., has been found to be lower than that of forward castes and obc measured through the nfhs-3 (2005-06) data. development to the backward castes has been supported by other literature that suggests the sc group of musahar has seen an increase in child population by 1.5 per cent in 2001-11. increase in fertility in this caste community could be explained by the lower development, untouchability, and marginalization practiced in the society (singh, 2016). marriage and social mobility can explain the fertility behavior of the population sub-groups. inter-caste marriage among the forward castes results in similar fertility behavior in the population. there remains a concept of sub-sub-caste within a prominent caste. marriage within such sub-castes might not help to escalate better health behavior and hence, demographic outcomes. studies also provide evidence that among illiterate or low educated individuals, homogamy has been found to be higher in rural areas, whereas, it is contrasting for those residing in urban areas in india (borkotoky & gupta, 2016). in a particular state, the fertility decline is also explained by the proportion of schedule castes, muslim and urban population out of the total population (das & mohanty, 2012). the presence of cultural norms, taboos, beliefs among the backward classes such as st women would increase the likelihood of conception at a younger age (singh et al., 2020). women empowerment has been a crucial tool in the fertility transitions in india (panandiker & umashankar, 1994). mehrotra (2006) argued that upper castes don’t generally follow endogamy. caste mobility in that situation becomes a possibility. considering the religious caste such as muslim, several scholars mention that this religious caste is known to maintain horizontal equality as per the textual norms of islam, however, in south asia it adopted vertical hierarchy (akbar, 2017). it changes along with the change in associated geography and neighbouring communities. ansari jualaha is a caste which is basically positioned lower among muslims. but in bihar, they are placed at the middle position in the caste hierarchy of muslims (akbar, 2017). the social position of the caste and diversity across region could improvise the demographic behavior significantly. 86 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 the geographical location of the castes in turn decides the decline in tfr in a great extent. the heterogeneity of any particular caste in larger caste categories should also be considered, when we measure the changes. for instance, jat gujjar are categorized to be obc and st in the few designated states of india. the analysis shows a decline in the fertility rate among jat gujjar, however, the overall child mortality is found to be high. on an obvious note, st population residing in the rural areas would have a lesser chance to access basic resources and improve rigid cultural norms. the sample distribution of the jat-gujjar community in our study has shown the proportional distribution for urban sample as varying between 12-19 per cent. therefore, a section of this caste community faces several deprivations and remains far away from developmental benefits. however, the transfer of certain behavior from urban to rural community of any particular castes has been claimed to be rapid (shah, 2007). as a result, imbibing practices such as family planning, childcare, immunization, etc., should be more easily transferred among the population. since the concept of caste is rural (shah, 2007), hence, the structural composition of the castes in the villages of any state can decipher the social and demographic attitude of the population. further, evidence from nfhs-4 data shows that a relatively higher proportion of under 20 years aged sc/st women are giving birth to their first child (40 per cent) than non-sc/st mothers of under 20 years (35 per cent) (bora, raushan, & lutz, 2019). hence, there remains a higher likelihood for under five deaths among reserved caste categories. difference in the time of child mortality among dalits and adivasis explains the deficiency in the accessible services in several parts of india (ram, singh, & yadav, 2016). child mortality differentials are already noted to be true for the hindus and muslims at a national level. bhat & zavier (2005) argued about the presence of major concentration or clustering of muslims in a formation of ghetto and mostly in the urban areas. access to health facilities is most crucial to control child mortality than the fertility of population. living in urban areas offers a higher chance to acquire knowledge, access and development. while backward castes such as st, fisherman, musahar, etc., have shown to be residing mostly in the rural areas or urban fringes representing lower developmental outcomes. linguistic castes show mixed caste categories and hence, demographic outcomes are conclusive enough to be discussed. however, decline in child mortality outcome among bengalis and bhagats can be explained on the basis of educational achievement, better access to public health facilities and by observing fertility transitions for a lengthy period of time (dyson & moore, 1983). caste inequality varies across states in india. the northern states are known for a higher intra-caste inequality, leading to greater chaos in population (george, 2015). intra-caste inequality can result in differentials in the fertility and mortality transitions in the last 25 years. our study finds that several castes such as yadav, kurmi, etc., secure a higher socio-economic position and achieve the benefit far more prominently than any other in the obc categories. therefore, it can be deduced from this study importance of caste-based headcounts 87 that lower position subgroups within a caste still experience a low development due to a persistent gap in the availability and accessibility of the schemes, programmes and policies. receiving support from the government is compromised as we observe power hegemony within a caste. often, castes, which are the most downtrodden, suffer the most in terms of primary healthcare services in rural areas. our study shows that castes such as vishkarma, khatik dusadh, musahar, etc., placed in lower strata of caste hierarchy show a higher rate for child mortality. the mortality outcome of obc open and other obcs have been found to be lower from the few upper castes. it is due to obcs placed at a higher position than scs or sts, and thus reap the benefit from developmental programmes. that signifies a greater monopoly in terms of social inclusion and access to basic resources by the obcs (george, 2015). this article could capture the indicators by segregating the caste with the utmost effort. the categorization of the caste in a particular reserved category in a particular state is subject to the particular socio-economic status of the respective state. our study could not capture the change in the population share of caste groups in the representative sampling as nfhs do not consider the sub-castes in the sampling frame. we were also limited to identifying those particular socio-economic status in reference to selected states while performing the analysis. it opens a scope for further detailed analysis in this particular issue. data set identifying the castes or communities in particular along with the other socio-economic determinants, health outcomes and wellbeing measure could capture the inequality in the population more comprehensively. numerous individuals could not have reported the castes or sub-castes perhaps due to lack of awareness or low education or socio-political reasons. as a result, a large proportion of the sample has been placed into missing and not reported categories. to be able to capture this information would enrich our study in a great extent. conclusion caste has been a measure of social inequality which has been envisaged by the demographic outcome in our study. the decline in fertility and child mortality is associated with the underlying deep-rooted socio-economic inequality that persists heavily in our society. the forward castes are more likely to reap the benefits of development earlier than the backward castes. however, a decline in fertility would impose negative socio-economic consequences. moreover, few selected subcastes within a major caste show skewed patterns of development as they cornered themselves with bargaining power and privilege to control the position, resources and benefits. thus, equity must be evoked through state 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(2003). how big are educational and racial fertility differentials in the u.s.?. social biology, vol. 50, nos. 3–4, pp. 167–187. importance of caste-based headcounts 91 annexure table 2: estimates of fertility (total fertility rate) across castes in 4 rounds of nfhs (1-4) for india india tfr caste nfhs1 nfhs2 nfhs3 nfhs4 kaystha 3.6 2.7 1.7 1.6 rajput 3.4 2.9 2.6 2 naidu nadar kapu nair 3.2 2.4 1.6 1.7 bania 3.5 2.8 2.9 2.2 kurmi 3.5 2.7 2.4 1.9 khatik dusadh 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.1 sc 3.4 2.9 3.3 2.3 st 3.5 2.9 2.9 2.3 fisherman 3.7 2.7 3.2 2.2 lodhi-others 3.1 3.4 3.2 2.7 musahar 3.4 3.5 5.9 4.8 obc open 2.5 2.4 1.5 sindhi 3.1 2.8 1.6 1.7 khan pathan 3.4 3.8 3.4 2.5 ansari julaha 3.5 2.8 3.1 2.7 sikh 3.3 2.7 2.2 1.6 jain 3.1 2.7 1.5 1.3 language 2.9 1.8 1.7 caste not reported 3.4 3.2 2.8 2 missing 3.4 2.8 2.5 2.1 table 3: estimates of neonatal mortality rates (nmr), infant mortality rate (imr), under 5 mortality rate (u5mr) across castes in 4 rounds of nfhs (1-4) for india india nmr imr u5mr caste group final nfhs1 nfhs2 nfhs3 nfhs 4 nfhs1 nfhs2 nfhs3 nfhs 4 nfhs1 nfhs2 nfhs3 nfhs 4 kaystha 66.3 60.1 45.3 26.3 61.3 74.8 55.7 34.1 69.2 67.9 63.1 48.4 rajput 68.7 61.2 44.8 30 75.2 71.3 63.9 42.3 81.2 78.5 76.1 51.2 naidu nadar kapu nair 63.2 60.3 47.7 18.1 69.7 63.5 57.5 24.7 76.9 73.6 68.2 36 bania 59.6 54.6 45.8 28 77.2 72.1 65.1 39 85.6 84.2 79.6 49.4 kurmi 59.7 56.3 42.8 23.7 72.3 67.3 59.9 31.5 77.5 76.3 69.5 39.3 khatik dusadh 58.9 51.3 46.3 49.7 77.5 73.2 68.6 66.2 89.6 85.6 81.7 77.4 sc 65.2 58.4 55 35.2 79.6 74.1 68.2 48.9 85.4 91.3 84.2 58.1 st 63.2 56.9 48.7 31.2 76.3 72.3 69.7 42.3 81.2 84.2 76.2 66.6 fisherman 60.2 53.1 46.2 30.7 70.5 66.3 60.9 39.2 90 85.6 81.5 43.7 lodhi-others 55.3 51.9 45.2 44.6 82.1 78.1 73.5 62.1 95.6 90.5 85.7 79.1 musahar 60.3 56.2 47.7 45.1 80.5 79.3 63.6 57.8 102.5 95.6 89.4 81.2 obc open 49.7 40.1 27.2 18.6 74.1 66.5 56.2 26.1 75.4 70.1 56.2 29.6 sindhi 63.5 31.2 22.8 16 55.3 39.7 22.8 16 62.3 50.2 22.8 16 khan pathan 59.4 49.3 45 29.9 79.6 73.2 67.7 49.5 89.8 86.3 82.4 54.6 ansari julaha 55.2 47.5 36.1 31.9 78.9 70.5 65.7 44.4 89.4 84.1 67.4 55.6 sikh 52.3 44.6 32.2 25.5 52.3 47.6 38.4 36.1 83.2 69.8 43.9 38.7 jain 42.6 37.6 26.9 11.7 48.7 39.6 25.4 16.1 53.2 40.1 15.6 16.1 language 50.2 44.6 36 34 60.1 55.6 42 47.8 78.2 63.2 43.3 61.6 caste not reported 55.6 50.4 44 21.4 67.6 67.2 59.6 31.8 91.3 86.6 79.9 38.2 missing 59.8 52.3 42.7 27.7 66.5 61.3 53.7 38.8 96.3 89.1 83.6 48.9 © tanuja harad. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 46–53 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.333 a critical lens to understand gender and caste politics of rural maharashtra, india tanuja harad1 abstract ‘sairat’, is a highly acclaimed movie and is the highest grossing marathi film till date. it was one of the biggest hits of the marathi films industry and screened for many months in theaters after the release. ‘sairat’, a marathi romantic drama film portrays the construction of hegemonic masculinity and its relation to the controlling of women’s sexuality. the movie centers around controlling women’s sexuality, portraying dominant masculinity and brutal killing due to transgression of caste (in the form of inter-caste marriage) in rural maharashtra. in july 2016, an upper caste girl was raped and murdered by lower castes at kopardi village soon after the release of the movie. the rape and murder of the girl led to protests all over maharashtra. the protesters and leaders of the upper caste community alleged that the rape and murder of a girl was provoked by the movie, ‘sairat’. this article takes the protests as a provocation to take a closer look at sairat’s gender and caste politics. this article explores the way hegemonic masculine identity has been manifested through control over women’s sexuality and their mobility, and violence against women. the hegemonic masculinity has been constructed based on unequal gender and power relations between men and women, dominant and lower caste men. keywords film, gender, caste, sexuality, femininity, masculinity introduction in july 2016, after the rape and murder of a young upper caste girl in kopardi village, maharashtra, political leaders from various parties asked for the critically acclaimed 1project officer, commonwealth human rights initiative (chri) new delhi, india e-mail: tanuja.harad@gmail.com a critical lens to understand gender and caste politics of rural maharashtra, india 47 marathi movie ‘sairat’ to be banned. ‘sairat’, directed by nagraj manjule, depicts the love story between archie (leading female character), who hails from a dominant caste family, and parshya (leading male character), a boy from a denotified tribe. the movie was one of the biggest hits of the marathi film industry and was screened in theaters for many months after its release. following the case of the sexual assault of the young girl in kopardi, individuals from a high caste community started protesting against ‘sairat’, claiming that the movie was responsible for encouraging dalits to desire and marry upper caste girls (deshpande, 2016). according to the protesters, the movie was also harmful because it showed dominant castes in bad light (joshi, 2016). the article tries to delve into, how sairat’s representation of the upper caste community led to protests against the film. what do the protests themselves reveal about the upper caste community? this article takes the protests as a provocation for a closer look at sairat’s gender and caste politics. most critiques of the movie have focused on the inter-caste relationship at the heart of the film. however, scant attention has been paid to how the movie depicts hegemonic masculinity and femininity in the context of the caste society of rural maharashtra. this article examines how sairat portrays the violence of hegemonic masculinity, depicting how it significantly rests on the regulation of women belonging to the community. the article argues that the movie highlights how the construction of the dominant caste identity rests on unequal gender roles and power relations, manifesting as control over the sexuality and mobility of women. in addition to its depiction of an inter-caste love story, the film’s depiction of gender roles also contributed to the backlash it faced from the dominant caste community. research methodology the article is based on a review and analysis of the portrayal of dominant masculinity in a marathi movie, ‘sairat’. relevant literatures were searched through by using the keywords, caste, gender, sexuality, femininity, movie, masculinity in electronic bibliographic databases such as jstor, and epw, newspapers, magazines, and other web portals were also reviewed to prepare the article. literature review ‘sairat’ is situated in a longer tradition of indian movies that use the heterosexual love story as a backdrop to discuss other social issues. according to virdi (2003, p. 181), “these kinds of films assert the individual’s rights against feudal structures associated with vested familial interest: the authority of the father, the state, and the unwritten rules of endogamy with caste, class and community”. what makes ‘sairat’ distinct from other films of the genre was the way in which it highlighted caste. ‘sairat’ brought the focus back on caste issues at a time when caste is increasingly being constructed as irrelevant within discourses of law and by the upper caste hindu society. 48 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 dr ambedkar (1918) rightly points out in his book castes in india: their mechanism, genesis and development, that endogamy is central to the caste. the mechanism of caste is nothing but the mechanism of endogamy (ambedkar, 1918). by keeping an inter-caste heterosexual love story at the center of the film, sairat highlights how the regulation of women’s sexuality is the key to maintaining caste endogamy. through its portrayal of the leading character archana (archie), the movie offers a nuanced understanding of the intersection of caste and gender identities, by depicting how women might use their caste location to exercise agency, express sexual freedom, and to resist socially constructed femininity. however, the movie suggests that any exercise of such agency and freedom is ultimately limited in the context of a caste patriarchal society where the violence of dominant caste masculinity reigns supreme. ‘sairat’ and its portrayal of dominant castes archie is the daughter of a sugar baron and local leader and is depicted as a bold and confident girl. archie also belongs to one of the high castes. in the context of rural maharashtra, upper castes occupy a dominant position, holding control over land, politics, educational institutions, sugar factories and other cooperative sectors. in the movie, archie’s father attempts to construct his family as a modern and progressive one, claiming that upper caste families like theirs don’t restrict their daughters from enjoying various kinds of freedom. in the movie, archie draws power from her dominant caste status and as the daughter of a politician and a landowner, to enjoy freedoms such as riding bikes and tractors, roaming in the village, and going to the well for swimming. she is shown as having access to many things without any restrictions. archie is also seen riding a heavy bike, royal enfield and tractor, heavy vehicles associated with masculine strength and power. she is also seen to be teasing and bullying the local boys. her boldness rests primarily on her dominant caste identity, and presumably offers a different ideal of femininity from the ones commonly seen in indian movies. archie’s subversive femininity can also be seen in her relationship with parshya. unlike usual depictions of heterosexual romance, archie falls in love with parshya not because of his aggressive masculinity but because he is handsome, intelligent, and gentle. however, the movie compels the viewer to question such an understanding of dominant caste femininity as progressive and liberated. even as archie is seen as occupying different spaces, she was under the surveillance of men from her families as her brother was continuously checking her movements. the control becomes most violent at the moment archie expresses romantic and sexual desire. she falls in love with parshya in the movie, who hails from the pardhi community, a denotified tribe. once her family learns about her relationship, archie comes to be prominently marked as carrying the honour of the family. as a way of ensuring caste endogamy, her marriage is decided within her own caste against her wishes. it is not just her marriage that restricts her autonomy; archie is also denied the other freedoms which she used to have access to earlier. ‘sairat’ thus demonstrates how the safeguarding of a critical lens to understand gender and caste politics of rural maharashtra, india 49 caste structure is achieved through the highly restricted movement of women or even through female seclusion (chakravarty, 1993). a close reading of this movie demonstrates the exceptionality of archie’s bold and confident femininity. her friend, swapnali, probably from the same caste of archie, but not with the political and economic clout that archie’s family has, remains passive in the movie. even archie’s mother remains passive, in keeping with her role as the ideal high caste housewife. she is not seen anywhere with her husband in public spaces or at political meetings. swapnali and archie’s mother can be considered as more representative of hegemonic caste women of rural maharashtra. through the characters of swapnali and archie’s mother, ‘sairat’ challenges dominant castes claim to progressive gender relations, showing how the caste identity is dependent on controlling its women’s sexuality, maintenance of patriarchal structures and power relations often mediated through land ownership (gawali, 2017). through ‘sairat’, we see how the power and privileges of dominant caste communities rest on an aggressive masculinity that seeks to control both women of all castes and men of oppressed castes. the violence of hegemonic masculinity is reiterated at various points in the film. both archie’s father and brother, prince, are shown to be angry, aggressive, and entitled hegemonic men. archie’s father and brother enjoy a high degree of impunity in their village not only because of their wealth but because of their dominant caste position, highlighted through the connections that they have with the police and those in the government bureaucracy. their wealth and clout make them the rulers in the village. after knowing about archie and parshya’s love affair, archie’s brother thrashes the lower caste boys and drives their families away. within the context shown in ‘sairat’, hegemonic upper caste masculinity exists in such a way that even if the threat to life is not overtly visible against the “lower” caste groups, a small indication of the threat becomes enough to drive a lower caste family away from their own village. the movie also shows how the power of the dominant caste communities is perpetuated by passing on these norms of aggressive masculinity from one generation to the other. prince does not think twice before slapping his teacher who hails from an oppressed caste (marginalized) community. his act of violence is normalised and justified by his father and his community. instead of condemning the son’s violent behaviour, archie’s father encourages it. he explains to the teacher how he should obey rather than punishing his son, and he does not stop there but also has the teacher transferred to another place. in doing so, archie’s father ensures that the generation imbibes the norms of aggressive upper caste masculinity, carrying forward the caste and patriarchal legacy of the high caste community. ‘sairat’ offers a critical perspective on the norms of femininity and masculinity within the dominant caste communities present in rural maharashtra. however, as connell (2005) argues, there is not one masculinity, but many different masculinities, each associated with different positions of power. masculinity emerges at the intersection of caste, religion, class, sexuality, gender, and other identities. ‘sairat’ highlights how norms of masculinity and femininity are shaped by the caste relations 50 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 of particular contexts. we see this in the changing relationship between parshya and archie. archie’s dominant caste status is well-known to those in her village and thus, she is able to tease parshya while the two of them live in the village. as discussed earlier, such a relationship between parshya and archie can be seen as subverting hegemonic norms of femininity and masculinity. however, once parshya and archie elope to hyderabad, there is an instance of parshya slapping archie. such an act would be unthinkable in the village where archie’s dominant caste family exerts pervasive power. however, on first moving to hyderabad, both parshya and archie retain a sense of anonymity. the temporary sense of anonymity allows their caste status to be irrelevant, which enables parshya to subvert the norms of masculinity and femininity associated with their caste, and thus slaps archie. this subversion is only temporary; the violence of dominant caste masculinity is restored when archie’s brother murders both archie and parshya for their transgression of endogamy. thus, the movie demonstrates the pervasive violence of dominant caste masculinity. protests against ‘sairat’ by the dominant castes ‘sairat’ was released in april 2016, and it became the biggest hit in the marathi film industry. for many months, the movie was screened in theaters. few months after the movie’s release, in july 2016 in the village of kopardi, the police accused dalit men of the gangrape of an upper caste girl. within a short time, the incident was taken up by the media and it was broadcast across maharashtra. soon, people started protesting against the incident across maharashtra (sinha, 2017). while the sexual assault of the upper caste girl was seen as the immediate trigger behind the protests, the protests soon became an instrument for the upper castes to reclaim their caste dignity and pride. a key feature of the protests was the anger of dominant castes against the director of ‘sairat’, nagraj manjule. according to the protesters, ‘sairat’ was responsible for encouraging dalits to desire and marry upper caste girls. they claimed that incidents of lower caste men harassing upper caste women had increased after the release of the movie. another significant feature of the protests was the claim by protesters that the movie’s depiction of the dominant caste community was inaccurate (tare, 2016). interestingly, the very nature of the protests raises questions about the gender relations within the community. it needs to be noted that as part of the protests against the incident at kopardi, upper castes organised more than fifty marches. however, every single one of these marches was a silent march. given that dominant caste men have in the past organized loud and violent protests, what explains the choice of silent protests in this instance? it is worth noting that what differentiated the protests against the kopardi incident from previous protests was the presence of upper caste women at the forefront of the protests. the kopardi protest was among the first time that dominant caste women were out in public protests (aasbe, 2019). the presence of the women at the forefront of the protests might be read as an instance of women claiming a critical lens to understand gender and caste politics of rural maharashtra, india 51 leadership roles. however, the choice of the silent protest as a tactic complicates this understanding. to take the presence of dominant caste women as protesters in the public sphere as an indication of their empowerment also ignores the terms that defined their presence. as discussed, the protests against the kopardi incident were among the first instances that dominant caste women had occupied the public sphere as protesters. these women have rarely protested issues of gender-based and sexual violence that exists in their communities. women who were part of the protests against the kopardi incident too did not raise concern about patriarchy that exists within their own communities. instead, their protests were aimed at protecting the diminishing caste privileges of their brothers and fathers. in doing so, they prioritized the pride and honor of their community over the issues of gender-based and sexual violence that they experience on an everyday basis. thus, any understanding of how dominant caste women were pushed into leadership roles during the protests against the kopardi incident must take into account how these women were active participants in protecting their community’s masculine interests. the protesters’ reading of ‘sairat’ and their protest against the movie also reveal the gender relations that are characteristic to the upper caste community. dominant caste men claimed that the movie portrays the dominant caste community in the wrong way.1 the question this provokes is whether the opposition of the upper caste men was against the aggressive and violent dominant masculinity depicted in the movie or against the sexual agency displayed by archie, a higher caste woman. hence, it can be argued that the dominant caste protests against ‘sairat’ must be understood in terms of their opposition to the character of archie since she is shown as an upper caste woman who asserts her sexual rights. not only does archie challenge the rules of caste endogamy by going against her family and choosing parshya as her partner, but she expresses her sexuality in a way that transgresses the norms of appropriate femininity and sexuality expected from upper caste women. the norms of caste and patriarchy within dominant castes dictate that women’s sexuality should always be seen as a private matter and any discussion of sexuality by women, if at all, be expressed within the closed walls of the house. upper caste women talking about sexuality in public would be seen as challenging the dominance of the men of their community. in sairat, archie flirts with parshya in public spaces and in doing so, she asserts her sexual rights in the public domain. archie not only asserts her sexuality but she does so openly and outside the wall of her house. her choices challenge the norms of sexuality and femininity considered appropriate for upper caste women, and hence, she faces extreme violence within the movie as a way of restoring the honour of the hegemonic caste community. conversely, the presence of upper caste women as protesters in the public sphere in the kopardi incident was accepted and glorified by the community. it needs to be noted that the women protesters were silent on the matter of their rights as women. 1refer https://www.loksatta.com/manoranjan-news/sairat-movie-insulting-marathacommunity-in-maharashtra-says-nitesh-rane-1243852/ 52 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 no woman protested against the violence meted out to archie by dominant caste men in the movie or argued that women like archie should have agency and freedom. the acceptance of the women protesters within the dominant caste community reveals that the community provides space for women to appear in the public sphere. in doing so, they perhaps seek to highlight the progressiveness of the dominant caste community, much like archie’s father’s initial claims in ‘sairat’. however, the protests reveal that dominant caste women’s political participation is allowed only when women are complicit in maintaining caste patriarchy and caste hegemony. any public assertion of sexual rights would pose a challenge to hegemonic masculinity. hence, we see the relative absence of protests led by women against the forms of gender-based-andsexual violence that they face from men within their community. conclusion it can be concluded that the movie ‘sairat’ and the responses to ‘sairat’ reveal the norms of masculinity and femininity within the dominant caste community. while the caste community makes claims to progressiveness based on the limited space offered to women in the public domain, it is evident that the presence of women in public is contingent on upholding caste pride and the dominance of hegemonic masculinity. as ‘sairat’ reveals, the source of power and privilege of the dominant caste community rests on an aggressive and violent masculinity. hegemonic masculinity assumes responsibility for controlling the sexuality of women and punishing transgressions of caste privileges and caste endogamy. it is in this context that the protests against the sexual violence at kopardi must be understood as upholding the hegemony of the upper caste community, rather than as protesting gender-based and sexual violence. acknowledgement i would like to thank sujatha subramanian, a ph.d research scholar at the ohio state university, usa for her support and feedback in the formulation of the article. references ambedkar, b. r. (1918). castes in india. indian antiquary, may, 1917. journal of the royal asiatic society, vol. 50, no. 3-4, pp. 622–624. available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/ s0035869x00052187 asbe p. (2017, december 29). (jijau’s daughters, bhimai’s daughters…), available at: https://rightangles.in/2017/12/29/hate-crimes/ chakravarthy, u. (1993). conceptualising brahmanical patriarchy in early india: gender, caste, class and state. economic and political weekly, vol. 28, pp. 579–585. connell, r. w. (2005). masculinities (2nd ed.). university of california press: los angeles. available at: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520246980/masculinities deshpande, h. (2019, august 29). the maratha-dalit divide. open the magazine. available at: https://openthemagazine.com/society/the-maratha-dalit-divide/ a critical lens to understand gender and caste politics of rural maharashtra, india 53 gawali, s. (2017, january 23). maratha kranti (muk) morcha: when will maratha women cross the threshold? round table india. available at: https://roundtableindia.co.in/index. php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8945:maratha-kr%0aanti-muk-morchawhen-maratha-women-cross-the-threshold&catid=119&itemid=132 joshi, y. (2016, may 5). sairat, film on honour killings, irks maratha outfits. hindustan times. available at: https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai/marathi-film-on-caste-issuesruffles-feathers/story-srqasou2ksqsbfhjlbaylk.html sinha, a. (2017, november 29). explainer: kopardi rape & murder case that fuelled maratha unrest. the quint. available at: https://www.thequint.com/explainers/explainer-kopardirape-and-murder-case-sentencing tare, k. (2016, july 20). sairat responsible for rising rapes in the state, say maharashtra legislators. india today. available at: sairat responsible for rising rapes in the state, say maharashtra legislators india today virdi, j. (2003). the cinematic imagination [sic]: indian popular films as social history (1st ed.). rutgers university press: new jersey. available at: https://www.rutgersuniversitypress. org/the-cinematic-imagination/9780813531915 loksatta team. (2016, may 28). loksatta. available at: https://www.loksatta.com/manoranjan-news/sairat-movie-insulting-marathacommunity-in-maharashtra-says-nitesh-rane-1243852/ © 2024 grigoris markou. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.417 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 371-392 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste populism, anti-populism and minorities: governmental discourses and policies on the romani people in greece grigoris markou1 abstract the early 21st century has witnessed a significant rise in extreme nationalism, racism, and xenophobia, deeply affecting the rights of minorities such as the roma, who have historically faced systemic discrimination and racism. given that many political leaders who downplay minority rights often engage in populist discourse, a debate has emerged about the relationship between populism and minority rights. while many scholars argue that populism inherently undermines liberal principles like the protection of minorities, the question remains whether populism is necessarily anti-pluralist and anti-minority. what about the case of left-wing populism? furthermore, why is the relationship between anti-populism and minorities often overlooked? in this article, we examine the relationship between populism, anti-populism, and minorities through the case of two different governmental discourses in crisis-ridden greece. specifically, we focus on the governmental political discourse and policies of the populist syriza (2015-2019) and the anti-populist nd (2019-2023) on roma, with the aim of showing that populism is not necessarily anti-pluralist, while anti-populism is not always pluralist, as both phenomena can follow inclusionary or exclusionary logics. keywords populism, anti-populism, minorities, roma, syriza, nd introduction we live in a time that is characterized by the explosive rise of extremism, nationalism, racism, and xenophobia. this is reflected in the escalation of racist discourse and the high numbers of racist violence targeting various social groups, including jews, 1department of balkan, slavic and oriental studies, university of macedonia, greece email: grmarkou@gmail.com and grmarkou@uom.edu.gr 372 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 roma, migrants, and muslims (nwabuzo, 2019, pp. 12-13),1 as well as in the election outcomes, with radical and extreme right-wing parties espousing nationalist and xenophobic ideas gaining substantial support (wang, 2021).2 in several cases, these parties present an exclusionary populist cloak, opposing the domestic and foreign political and economic establishment, as well as migrants, refugees, and minorities in general, putting their rights and status in danger. in addition, anti-minority logic is not limited to rhetoric but often manifests in state laws. there are governments in europe and beyond that pursue anti-immigration and anti-minority paths (fernandez, 2019; baer, 2021). one of europe’s largest ethnic minority/groups that face diachronically blatant discrimination and racism that keeps it in poverty are the romani people (renzi, 2010, p. 40). mcgarry (2017, p. 1) notes that roma “is one of the most marginalized groups in europe”. the economic and the pandemic crisis seems to have caused them even greater problems, leading to larger anti-romani discrimination (frazer & marlier, 2011, p. 6; matache & bhabha, 2020). for example, in italy, according to scholars, the (exclusionary) populist matteo salvini of lega (cervi, 2020), has expressed a romaphobic discourse, framing roma as a threat to cultural values (cervi & tejedor, 2020), while in hungary, as baer underlines, orban has instrumentalized muslim refugees and the romani community for political purposes, capitalizing on popular xenophobia and racism (baer, 2021). more than a few political leaders who underestimate the rights of minorities often express a mixture of nationalist and populist discourse and performance. their discourse is usually based on nationalism, as the nation functions as a central signifier, however, in many cases, it is accompanied by populist elements.3 for that reason a debate has opened up about the relationship between populism and minorities. for a section of scholars, the connection between populism and anti-minority logic is not surprising, as populism tends to undermine liberal features like minority protections, mainly because it seeks to promote and protect the rights and interests of the majority (mudde, 2013, pp. 3-4; weyland & madrid, 2019, p. 16). is populism necessarily an anti-pluralist and anti-minority phenomenon? what about the case of left-wing populism? what if anti-minority discourse is connected to nationalism and xenophobia and not populism? furthermore, why do we avoid examining the relationship between anti-populism and minorities? in this article, we focus on the relationship between populism, anti-populism, and minorities through the case of two different governmental discourses in crisis-ridden greece. in that period, populism and anti-populism emerged as a crucial ideological cleavage in the greek public sphere (stavrakakis, 2014, p. 509), directly affecting 1 between 2014 and 2018, racially motivated crimes have been increased in many eu member states (nwabuzo, 2019, pp. 12-13). 2 in greece, even a neo-nazi organization entered into the parliament (yilmaz, 2014, p. 218) and remained there for some years. moreover, in the election of 2023, three far-right parties managed to enter to the parliament (fallon, 2023). 3 for a discursive theoretical perspective on populism and nationalism, see: de cleen and stavrakakis 2017. populism, anti-populism and minorities: governmental discourses and policies 373 discursive and performative repertoires. the coalition of the radical left (syriza) launched a fierce populist attack against the establishment mainly for their austerity policies, finally managing to rise to power in 2015, while new democracy (nd) accused the radical left of expressing dangerous populism that threatened democracy, managing to return to power in 2019. the multiple crises, austerity policies, political discourses, and governmental policies have directly affected minorities and vulnerable social groups who were in dire economic and social circumstances. was populism a factor that negatively affected their status, or not? after analyzing the main characteristics of the notions of the minority, the phenomena of populism and anti-populism, as well as the theoretical discussion on their relationship, we examine the governmental political discourse and policies of the populist syriza (2015-2019) and anti-populist nd (2019-2023) on roma. in greece, there are thousands of romani people who live in difficult conditions and have been clearly affected by the economic and pandemic crisis and governmental policies. how did the two recent governments approach the issues of the roma community? can we confirm the argument that populism undermines the rights of minorities, or not? what about anti-populism? we analyze populism and anti-populism as discourses through the methodological tools of the essex school of discourse analysis. our aim is to demonstrate through the greek case study that populism is not inherently anti-minority or anti-pluralist, just as anti-populism is not invariably pluralist. both phenomena can embody either inclusionary or exclusionary logics. the notion of minority and the romani people over the years, various definitions of the concept of “minority” have emerged, with numerous references to minorities and their rights found in international organizations, constitutions, political manifestos, newspapers, and academic literature. however, it seems that there is not a widely accepted definition in the international community, despite the efforts of the un. furthermore, modern documents and treaties on minorities lack a definitive definition of the concept (valentine, 2004, p. 445), likely due to the complexity of the phenomenon. the first attempt to define ‘minority’ occurred in 1930 under the league of nations, when the permanent court of international justice (pcij) defined the concept of “community” (namely minority) in the context of the mutual voluntary exchange of the greek-bulgarian communities as outlined in the neuilly convention of 27 november 1919: “the “community” is a group of persons living in a given country or locality, having a race, religion, language and traditions of their own and united by this identity of race, religion, language and traditions in a sentiment of solidarity, with a view to preserving their traditions, maintaining their form of worship, ensuring the instruction and upbringing of their children in accordance with the spirit and traditions of their race and rendering mutual assistance to each other” (pcij, 1930, p. 21). 374 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 many scholars of international law adopt the interpretative approach proposed by un rapporteur francesco capotorti, who identified several specific characteristics of a minority. these include its relatively smaller numerical size compared to the rest of the population, its non-dominant position within society, distinct cultural, traditional, religious, or linguistic features, and a sense of solidarity aimed at preserving its collective identity. (capotorti, 1977) some years later, the next un rapporteur, jules deschênes, offered a definition of “minority” that closely aligned with capotorti’s earlier definition (deschênes, 1985, p. 31). today, the united nations high commissioner for refugees (unhcr) defines a minority as: “an ethnic, religious and linguistic group, fewer in number than the rest of the population, whose members share a common identity. members of minorities commonly share ethnic, religious, linguistic, and/or cultural characteristics that differentiate them from the majority, and generally seek to maintain these distinguishing identities. at the same time, the characteristics that define minorities vary widely from one context to another” (unhcr a). building on these definitions, it is evident that minorities can be categorized into various types, including ethnic,4 religious, linguistic, and others. in addition, some researchers identify additional dimensions within the concept of minority, referring to “minorities within”, like “women, children, gay men and lesbians,5 religious dissenters and linguistic minorities within minorities” (eisenberg & spinner-halev, 2005, p. 5). minorities are not always officially recognized by states (morel, 2006, p. 125) and as a result do not fully enjoy their rights. however, as morel (2006, p. 125) argues, they can be recognized “through direct constitutional recognition of groups, or through indirect policies or programs such as identification in census data”. the problem is that the non-recognition of their minority status (and the reference to them as a vulnerable or marginalized community) would deny them the extensive body of law on minority rights (morel, 2006, p. 128). since their rights as a minority are not fully recognized, it is easier to deal with discrimination. minorities and indigenous peoples are often marginalized socially, economically, politically, and culturally in many societies, thus encountering obstacles to manifesting their identity (unhcr b). even though minorities have specific rights under the international human rights framework and laws (un human rights office), they can still be victims of serious human rights violations, conflicts, and persecution. in this article, we focus on the case of the romani people, who are considered by most of the literature an ethnic 4“an ethnic group generally shares a common sense of identity and common characteristics such as language, religion, tribe, nationality, race or a combination thereof” (un, 2018, p. 91). 5sexual minorities include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, whom their rights are often being violated (math & seshadri, 2013). populism, anti-populism and minorities: governmental discourses and policies 375 minority or an ethnic group (von dem knesebeck, 2011, p. 1; ahmed, 2011, p. 174). the european commission supports that: “the roma are europe’s largest ethnic minority. out of an estimated 10 to 12 million roma living in europe, approximately 6 million are citizens or residents of the eu. many eu roma are still victims of prejudice and social exclusion, despite the discrimination ban across eu member states. the umbrella-term ‘roma’ encompasses diverse groups, including roma, sinti, kale, romanichels, boyash/rudari, ashkali, egyptians, yenish, dom, lom, rom and abdal, as well as traveller populations (gens du voyage, gypsies, camminanti, etc.).” (european commission) nevertheless, according to horvai (2012, p. 112), the categorization of the romani people as an ethnic minority “oversimplifies complex issues related to self-definition and the social construction of the identity”. mcgarry (2010, p. 2) argues that “roma are unlike other ethnic minority groups as they are a transnational minority without a kin state. additionally, they are not united along linguistic, religious, familial, occupational and class lines and they are not territorially concentrated.” however, horvai (2012, p. 113) notes that the definition of transnational minority “raises questions related to citizenship and the protection of legal rights in the national context.” regardless of their status, there are specific legal frameworks that protect the romani people (horvai, 2012, p. 113). in conclusion, in many countries the representation of the romani people in decision-making structures is negligible and their size is often underestimated because they are undocumented, which limits their access to public services (abdikeeva & mrg partners, 2005, p. 1). even in countries where conditions are relatively better for them, they still face numerous challenges. diachronically, romani people deal with blatant discrimination and racism, keeping them in poverty (renzi, 2010, p. 40). the economic crisis has put them in an even worse position. cienski and escritt (2019) stated that the economic slump hit europe’s roma particularly hard, as they have been facing obstacles in finding a job in the formal economy, while they have been among the first to lose their jobs during the crisis. in addition, anti-roma racism has increased during the pandemic crisis. as matache and bhabha argue, “from slovakia to romania and bulgaria, states have enacted disproportionate or militarized measures targeting romani neighborhoods or towns. some of these measures are driven by a racist narrative that casts roma as a collective health and safety threat” (matache & bhabha, 2020). racist discourse and behavior against the roma has been explained through some terms like “anti-gypsyism” (mirga-kruszelnicka, 2018), “romaphobia” (mcgarry, 2017) and “anti-roma racism” (matache & bhabha, 2020). according to mcgarry (2017: p. 1), “romaphobia is the hatred or fear of those individuals perceived as being roma, gypsy or traveller; it involves the negative ascription of group 376 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 identity and can result in marginalization, persecution and violence”.6 regardless of the definition one chooses, the reality remains the same: romani people continue to suffer from discrimination and racism. populism, anti-populism, and minorities in much of the literature, populism is associated with an anti-minority logic, undermining minority rights and denying the liberal principles intended to protect them. many populism scholars support the idea that populism calls upon a homogeneous people with one single general will against the establishment/the elite, characteristics that do not allow for the representation of the interests of the minority. for instance, mudde and kaltwasser (2017, p. 81) argue that “populism holds that nothing should constrain ‘he will of the (pure) people’ and fundamentally rejects the notions of pluralism and, therefore, minority rights as well as the ‘institutional guarantees’ that should protect them.” moreover, kaltwasser considers that populism can use the notion and praxis of majority rule to circumvent minority rights, negatively affecting liberal democracy (kaltwasser, 2012). for müller (2014, p. 487), “while populism does not oppose the principles of representation and the practices of election, it necessarily has to deny any kind of pluralism or social division: in the populist imagination there is only the people on the one hand and, on the other hand, the illegitimate intruders into our politics, from both above and from below, so to speak.” weyland and madrid (2019, p. 16) note that, “populism rests on majoritarian notions of politics that diverge from the fundamental goal of liberalism to protect minorities against the potential abuse of power.” however, not all approaches to populism adhere to this logic. there are indeed populist and nationalist examples around the world with antiminority governmental discourse and/or policies. baer notes that orban in hungary has instrumentalized for political purposes muslim refugees and the romani community, while having also targeted the lgbtq minority (baer, 2021). moreover, a project in the columbia human rights law review notes that the trump administration in the us had undermined human rights, paving the way for expanded immigration detention and deportation, ordering the construction of a border wall, suspending refugee admissions to the united states for a period of 120 days, separating over 2000 children from their parents at the border, etc. (the trump administration human rights tracker). is populism inherently anti-minority, and does it systematically infringe upon the rights of vulnerable social groups? in this article, we distance ourselves from the aforementioned approaches. following the essex school of discourse analysis, we consider populism as a discourse (with both linguistic and non-linguistic elements)7 that separates society into two opposing camps, the “people” and the “elites/establishment”. according 6 mcgarry (2017, p. 5) writes: “i use ‘romaphobia’ in preference to other similar terms such as anti-tsiganism or anti-gypsyism partly because ‘gypsy’ and ‘tsigan’ are considered offensive and many prefer the endonym ‘roma’.” 7 for laclau and mouffe, discourse is a network of meaning that articulates both linguistic and non-linguistic elements (laclau & mouffe, [1985] 2001, pp. 107-108). populism, anti-populism and minorities: governmental discourses and policies 377 to ernesto laclau, populism is “the dichotomic construction of the social around an internal frontier” and “the discursive construction of an enemy” (laclau, 2005, pp. 38-39). populism calls upon the popular subject against the political and economic establishment that promotes its own interests against the interests of “the many”, forming a chain of equivalence and providing specific meaning to the new discursive construction. hence, in populism we have two important features, “people-centrism” and “anti-elitism” (stavrakakis, 2019, p. 94). in contrast to approaches that perceive populism as an anti-pluralist phenomenon with homogeneity within its people, discourse analysis does not necessarily recognize a homogeneous popular subject. thus, the people can be constructed through the combination of heterogeneous demands (katsambekis, 2020). according to mouffe, “as a collective will created through a chain of equivalence, the people is not a homogeneous subject in which all the differences are somehow reduced to unity” (mouffe, 2018, p. 62). after all, mudde and kaltwasser (2013), who follow the ideational approach, have referred to inclusionary populist cases that include different social groups (demands) within its people.8 furthermore, discourse analysis does not recognize predetermined characteristics within populist discourse, while it analyses populism through the relationship between key signifiers (nodal points) and the other signifiers. there are no specific pathological elements of moralization within populism, while they can be found in a plethora of discourses (stavrakakis & jäger, 2018, p. 560). in short, populism does not contain predefined elements at its core, taking different forms depending on the signifiers that surround it. thus, while many approaches that characterize populism as a moralistic or pathological phenomenon recognize an exclusive link between populism and antiminority discourse, our theoretical and methodological framework does not. besides, conceptualizing populism as inherently anti-minority leads to the equation of different types of populism, leaving out of analysis a plethora of populist examples with distinct features. how can one exclude inclusionary populist parties that often promote and protect the rights of minorities? the central elements of a discourse surrounding the nodal point of “the people” can provide us with crucial information about whether it seeks the inclusion of the popular classes into the popular subject (inclusionary populism), or whether it excludes them due to racist/xenophobic reasons (exclusionary populism). mudde and kaltwasser (2013), who focus on different cases of populist parties and leaders in europe and latin america, underlined the fact that, in recent years european populism has been presented predominantly as exclusive (see radical right parties). while latin american populism is presented mainly as inclusive (see left-wing populism). according to stavrakakis, “in inclusionary populism “the people” operates as a fluid “empty signifier” without a fixed signified, while in exclusionary populism it usually refers back to a fantasmatic transcendental signified (the nation, race, etc.).” furthermore, according to him, “in inclusionary populism the dichotomisation 8 katsambekis identifies this paradox of the approach of mudde and kaltwasser (katsambekis, 2020, p. 64). 378 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 of the political space is arranged in a mostly vertical manner (up/down, high/low), while exclusionary populism involves a horizontal (inside/outside) dichotomic arrangement” (stavrakakis, 2018). filc notes that inclusive populism allows for the political integration of marginalized and excluded sections of the society, expanding the boundaries of democracy, while exclusive populism perceives the people as an ethnically or culturally homogeneous unit and excludes people or social groups on the grounds of racist or nativist reasons (filc, 2015). similarly, anti-populism can manifest in both inclusive and exclusive forms. what is anti-populism? anti-populist discourse is a strong criticism against the rise of populist parties through a fierce attack on populism and sometimes on the popular classes (markou, 2021, p. 203), which together with populism have formed an antagonistic landscape that organizes the political meaning of the new environment (stavrakakis, 2014). anti-populism, of course, even if it includes liberal elements, is not always inclusive. for example, in argentina, macri’s anti-populist and neoliberal administration created significant challenges for vulnerable social groups and minorities. macrism identified poor migrants as the primary perpetrators of crime through its immigration legislation (basok, 2019). additionally, “indigenous peoples continued to be criminalized and discriminated against”, while “migrants’ rights suffered significant setbacks” (amnesty international, 2018, p. 76). notwithstanding, anti-populist discourse is not necessarily anti-popular as some anti-populist parties and leaders adopt inclusive perspectives within their agendas. for instance, the communist party of greece has repeatedly denounced populism, advocating a democratic and inclusionary society.9 hence, it is not useful to predetermine populist and anti-populist discourses, as they can take different forms. after all, “both (pro) populist and antipopulist discourses can acquire ‘progressive’ or ‘reactionary’, democratic or antidemocratic forms” (stavrakakis, 2017, p. 3).10 populism, anti-populism and the roma in greece (2015-2023) in greece, many people are ethnically, culturally, or religiously different from the national majority. according to triandafyllidou and kokkali (2010), there are “coethnics”, such as ethnic greek albanians, there are “native minorities”, such as muslims and roma, as well as “migrant populations” like albanians, georgians, and ukrainians. however, miltos pavlou (2007, p. 2) underlines that the greek state acknowledges the existence of only one minority, the muslim of the western thrace, which is recognized through international treaties of the early twentieth century. it is true that romani are not recognized as an official minority11 [(except from muslim roma) (triandafyllidou & kokkali, 2010)], but they are legally and institutionally 9 for example, kke demands substantial and personalized support and integration measures for refugees (rizospastis, 2020). 10 more for anti-populism find here: markou, 2021. 11 there are greek political parties (and their mps) that have referred in their discourse to the roma as a minority, like syriza, mera25 (syriza, 2020; mera25, 2019). populism, anti-populism and minorities: governmental discourses and policies 379 identified as greek citizens12 (reach, 2021, p. 11), as they were granted citizenship in the 1970s (abdikeeva and mrg partners, 2005, p. 6). moreover, the greek roma13 are recognized as a “vulnerable social group” by the greek state (triantafyllidou & kokkali, 2010). despite romani people possessing characteristics that typically classify them as a minority—such as being fewer in number than the general population in a country and sharing a common identity—it is noteworthy that some roma reject the characterization of their community as an ethnic minority (abdikeeva & mrg partners, 2005, p. 6). maria tsampazi, syriza’s mep candidate in the 2019 european elections and member of the panhellenic confederation of the greek roma (ellanpasse), stated (avgi, 2021) that the greek romani people do not belong to an ethnic minority, observing that the racist treatment towards the “tsigans” is a phenomenon of the last thirty years: “greek tsigans have brazenly stated since 1971 at the world roma congress in london that since they have never been persecuted in greece and since there was no racist treatment of them by the greeks, they do not want to be described as an ethnic minority in their country” (avgi, 2021). in greece, vulnerable social groups and minorities, including the roma, were significantly affected by the economic crisis, austerity measures, and the recent pandemic. romani representatives have repeatedly highlighted that their problems have worsened with the onset of these major crises (antonopoulos, 2021). nevertheless, greek roma have long been facing social exclusion and discrimination, including the lack of adequate and permanent housing, poor health, low employment rates, unequal wages, illiteracy, and the stereotypical perceptions of a significant part of greek society (atsikpasi et. al, 2016, p. 398). greek governments periodically plan specific policies that attempt to promote their social inclusion through strategies on education, employment, healthcare, and housing,14 but they do not appear to have fully achieved their goal to this day. additionally, the recent rise of the conflict between populist and anti-populist parties—each advocating either inclusionary or exclusionary logic—may have also impacted their lives. did populist and anti-populist leaders and governments play a role in the deterioration of the position of the greek roma, or not? how did the syriza-led and nd governments in greece approach the romani people? does the evidence support the view of an “anti-minority populism”? 12more for the greek legislation for the roma in greece here: (social inclusion of the roma, 2018). 13in 2018, the special general secretariat for the social inclusion of roma recorded roma in greece, numbering them around 110000 (avgi newsroom, 2018). 14in greece, the first attempt to construct a coherent framework of political support for the social integration of the roma was in the mid-1990s. more on greek legislation and initiatives for roma integration here: (social inclusion of the roma, 2018). 380 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 syriza-led government (2015-2019): an inclusionary populist case? syriza is a left-wing party which, both in the opposition and during a period of its rule, expressed a strong populist discourse that called upon “the people” to oppose the domestic and foreign political and economic establishment, the traditional parties, corruption, austerity policies and neoliberalism (stavrakakis & katsambekis, 2014; markou, 2017). specifically, after its rise to power in 2015, the left-wing party maintained its populist discursive and performative elements but not so much its radicalism, continuing to place “the people” in a central position and against the establishment. nonetheless, it gradually reduced the intensity of its populist discourse, while its political decisions drove it away from part of the people (markou, 2021, june 14). at a time when many researchers analyzed the supposedly anti-pluralist character of populist parties, thus often equating left-wing and right-wing forces, there were scholars (markou, 2017; font et. al, 2021; katsambekis, 2019), who focused on a type of populism with inclusionary/pluralistic elements. syriza in power pursued a humanitarian agenda intending to support vulnerable social groups and minorities. after all, its political discourse constructed an inclusive popular subject (“the people” functioned as a nodal point) which among heterogeneous identities demands, included immigrants, the lgbtq community, romani people, muslims, and vulnerable social groups in general. moreover, despite the fact that syriza formed a coalition government with a radical right party (on the basis of a “popular front” against austerity policies), it maintained its inclusive agenda, promoting and voting policies in favor of minority groups. for example, the government of alexis tsipras recognized many of the rights of the lgbtq community, such as the civil partnership agreements between same-sex couples, the recognition of gender identity and the legislation that allows same-sex couples to foster children (katsambekis, 2019, p. 38). in addition, the syriza-led government implemented inclusive policies for immigrants, such as the law that grants greek citizenship to second-generation migrants (kotronakis, 2015). however, although syriza, while in opposition, frequently criticized governmental policies on immigration and refugees, it did not achieve significant progress on these issues after coming to power. although it demonstrated a willingness to address the issue from a new perspective—for example, by establishing a ministry of immigration policy—it continued to face significant challenges in practice. to exemplify, their living conditions in “reception and identification centers” were dire. it is characteristic that the european committee for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (cpt) of council of europe underlined in a report the unfavorable conditions that existed in reception centers in greece (cpt, 2017). let’s examine how syriza approached the roma. during his governmental rule, tsipras developed a special relationship with the romani people, having meetings with representatives and members of the roma community, referring to the discrimination they suffered and supporting their rights. tsipras’ political performance frequently populism, anti-populism and minorities: governmental discourses and policies 381 featured images highlighting his warm relationship with the roma, including hugs, warm greetings, and celebrations. the leader of syriza tried, as part of his populist discourse and performance, to show his undivided support for the roma. for example, when he visited a settlement in northern greece where roma live and people with different religious beliefs coexist, he stated: “regardless of the god we believe in and the color our skin is, we are human beings, we are citizens of this country and we must have equal opportunities and equal rights” (cnn newsroom, 2019). in 2019, the president of syriza welcomed, as the prime minister, representatives and members of the roma community in maximos (maximou) mansion on the occasion of world roma day and said: “today is a special day. it is a day dedicated to the roma. but i would say that it must be a day to remind all of us that there are no second-class citizens. unfortunately, this is not, especially in our time, something that is self-evident. this discrimination based on gender, racial origin must stop. and this is a battle that cannot be won overnight. it is a battle against prejudice, it is a battle against stereotypes” (tsipras speech, 2019). furthermore, a member of the panhellenic confederation of the greek roma (ellanpasse) participated in syriza’s european ballot in 2019, forming together with the other candidacies a mosaic of identities, cultures, and ideas. in the election campaign for the 2019 european elections, a large part of the roma community participated in syriza events, a fact that was negatively characterized by a part of the media and conservative citizens. the president of syriza reacted against racist views, saying: “we welcome them, there are no second-class citizens in greece” (protothema.gr, 2019). at the level of policies, the syriza-led government tried to tackle the extreme poverty and social exclusion of the roma through some crucial interventions. in 2016, it established a special general secretariat for the social inclusion of roma with law 4430/2016 (article 42) with the aim of implementing interventions in the education, employment, health care, and housing of the roma, monitoring and evaluating policies related to them and conducting research on their living conditions, etc. (lawspot.gr, 2016). the special general secretariat recorded romani people for the first time in greece, numbering them around 110,000, while mapping the 370 roma settlements/ camps to improve living conditions of the people (avgi.gr, 2018). moreover, special importance was given to strengthening the education of the roma. for example, the solidarity social income was granted to roma on the condition that their children go to school (government, 2017). in addition, the syriza-led government promoted interventions related to housing support and the improvement of the living conditions of the roma (law 4483/2017) through the transitional relocation of roma who live in makeshift or irregular accommodations to appropriately organized housing complexes with social support services (government, 2018; ziomas et. al, 2019, p. 13). finally, in 2019 the government planned to strengthen roma entrepreneurship within the 382 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 operational program “competitiveness-entrepreneurship-innovation” of the nsrf 2013-2020 (taxheaven.gr, 2019). overall, the syriza-led government seems to have moved more in an inclusive direction in its discourse and policies, but without bringing the desired results on immigrant and refugee issues. as an inclusionary populist party that constructed a heterogeneous popular subject, it put special emphasis on improving the lives of romani people through a few policies and interventions, without, of course, providing solutions to all their problems. the truth is that roma continued after the end of its rule to live marginalized and in poor living conditions. nevertheless, syriza’s efforts for roma inclusion were appreciated by a large part of the romani people. after all, the party received thousands of votes from them in the 2019 national elections. for example, in the dendropotamos region in thessaloniki, where many romani people live, syriza got 63.5 per cent of the votes, while on the contrary, new democracy got only 15.8 per cent (tovima.gr, 2019, july 10). evidence suggests that the syrizaled government demonstrated a notably greater emphasis on the inclusion of the roma compared to many previous administrations. new democracy back in power (2019-2023): a paradoxical example? nd returned to power in 2019 after four and a half years of syriza rule with a one-party government, securing 158 of the 300-seat parliament (tidey, 2019). nd is a right-wing party that combines liberal and conservative characteristics with a pro-eu stance. specifically, it exhibits a paradoxical character, characterized by a contradictory blend of rhetoric and ideas, oscillating between liberalism and nativism, with conservatism prevailing. its rhetoric does not always go hand in hand with its political action and vice versa. in recent years, especially after the electoral rise of syriza in crisis-ridden greece, nd has expressed a strong anti-populist discourse that considers populism one of the greatest dangers to (liberal) democracy (markou, 2021). its anti-populism stems mainly from the discourse of its leadership, while at the same time, there is a part of the party that flirts intensely with populism. nonetheless, its anti-populism is central to its political performance, directly affecting its relationship with vulnerable social groups. at the same time, nd embraces a nationalist logic on various issues, while its leadership discourse relies largely on the concept of security (safety), underlying the need to protect “our neighborhoods” and “our borders” (nd, 2019a). its rise to power came with the promise: “to lead greece out of the “stagnation” of the syriza years, deal with the refugee crisis, assert greece’s position on the international stage, and introduce technocratic governance following five years of “populist mismanagement” (tsimitakis & panayiotakis, 2021). the leader of nd, kyriakos mitsotakis, presents himself as a liberal politician who respects social diversity and believes in democracy based on the will of the many and populism, anti-populism and minorities: governmental discourses and policies 383 the protection of the few, underlying the importance of providing equal opportunities to everyone (toumasis, 2020). mitsotakis declares from time to time some statements against social discrimination (e.g. in the case of lgbtq people), highlighting the need to eliminate it (protagon team, 2022). however, these progressive statements do not present the whole picture of his party’s political discourse and performance. first, the president of nd refers to minority issues and rights only occasionally, primarily in the context of specific events or international days (e.g. international day against homophobia and transphobia). second, his references to vulnerable social groups and minorities in his public (pre-election) speeches are few and far between. for example, in his keynote speech in athens before the 2019 elections, the president refers to all greek citizens, including employees, farmers, professionals, retired, civil servants, unemployed, young mothers, and university students, but without focusing on minorities and vulnerable social groups, such as muslims, lgbtq community, migrants, etc. (nd, 2019, july 4). third, the mitsotakis’ administration implemented policies that weakened the position of vulnerable social groups in the country, including the (temporary) cancellation of issuing the social security number (amka) to “migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, unaccompanied refugee children and non-eu nationals” (pannia, 2021, p. 57). what about the romani? both in opposition and in power, the leader of nd does not appear to seek a close relationship with the roma or include them in his political agenda, and his references to them are infrequent. however, he presents himself as a politician with social sensitivities and an advocate for the social inclusion of the roma. specifically, nd president carries out some minimal actions to emphasize the importance of “equal opportunities for everyone”, such as his participation (whilst in opposition) in a football match against the greek roma team, with the aim of “breaking down prejudices and stereotypes” (news247, 2018) and his statement that all children should have equal opportunities, referring to roma families (tovima.gr, 2019, april 8). furthermore, in 2023 mitsotakis met roma families in katerini, where he promised the removal of social exclusions, as well as the inclusion and the assurance of equal access of the roma to public education and job opportunities (in. gr, 2023, june 10). nonetheless, a part of the party has expressed racist and provocative comments about the roma at different times, such as in the case of an mp of nd (former deputy minister of national defense), who expressed racist opinions about romani people, asking from them not to vote for him in the elections (ertnews.gr, 2018, march 3). the problem is that the party did not take decisive action against this kind of racist comment. at the policy level, nd promoted numerous initiatives for the social integration of the roma, such as inclusive educational programs. moreover, it planned to implement (after some years in the country’s governance), within the framework of the national strategy for the social inclusion of the roma (2021-2030), a strategy to combat poverty and social exclusion of the roma, strengthen their equal access to basic services and goods, prevent and combat stereotypes and discrimination against them and promote 384 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 their active participation in social, economic and political life (social inclusion of the roma, 2022, march 9). in the context of this strategy, the program “social integration and empowerment of the roma” was presented in june 2022, with the aim of solving serious problems of the roma (social inclusion of the roma, 2022, june 6). however, the initiatives and strategies for the inclusion of the roma present many problems and seem to be going at a slow pace. according to the president of ellanpasse and its legal advisor, once again a national plan for the roma is being drawn up without asking the opinion of the romani people. these actions concern mainly the roma in a state of extreme poverty (which means that not everyone is included), while the role of their higher-level body (ellan-passe) is not institutionally guaranteed anywhere (konstantopoulos, 2022). it is interesting that representatives of the roma community refer to the lack of communication between nd and the roma community, as the right-wing party does not often come into direct contact with them. additionally, during nd’s tenure, a number of initiatives and decisions undermined and violated the rights and interests of the roma. first, the “special secretariat for social inclusion of roma”, which institutionally recognized the social integration of the roma as a distinct public policy, was abolished by presidential decree [84/2019, article 7 (5)], while its services came under the new “general secretary for social solidarity and fight against poverty” (e-nomothesia.gr). second, according to the president of ellan-passe, thousands of roma children were excluded from distance education during the pandemic, because several camps lacked basic necessities such as electricity and running water (konstantopoulos, 2020). third, the state implemented no protective measures during the pandemic for the roma, who live under inadequate living conditions (andrianopoulos, 2021). fourth, there were many complaints of police violence against the roma.15 not without reason. for example, in october 2021, an unarmed young roma, who had stolen a car with two other persons, was killed by police fire after a police chase (varvantakis, 2021). in that case, the minister of development and investment and one of the two vice presidents of nd, adonis georgiadis, congratulated the police who had shot at the roma, because according to him they “did their job well and protected both their lives and society by defending themselves”16 17 (varvantakis, 2021).18 ellan-passe characterized it as a “murder of a 18-years old roma”, arguing that: “…the crime was committed by official state bodies with the seven police officers who fired 38 bullets against three unarmed young roma” (ellan-passe 2021, october 24). in 2022, a 16-year-old roma was killed 15ellan-passe has published statements on police violence against the roma (see: ellanpasse, 2022). 16see: (georgiadis, a. 2021). 17some days later, adonis georgiadis said: “the state must help them to find a job and be included in the society. but they must also understand that what they are doing confirms the stereotypes” (press project, 2021). 18varvantakis (2021), argues on this issue: “observers may wonder what exactly was heroic about a frenzied shooting of three unarmed young people, which led to the killing of one of them. the answer may lie in the identities of those who were shot at and their status in greek society.” populism, anti-populism and minorities: governmental discourses and policies 385 by the police during a pursuit because he did not pay 20 euros for gasoline at a gas station (tvxs.gr, 2022, december 22), while in 2023, a 17-year-old roma was killed by police gunfire following another pursuit (efsyn.gr, 2023, november 13). hence, despite the purported declarations and plans for the social inclusion of the roma, the approach taken by the right-wing government appears to result in their stigmatization and further marginalization. in summary, nd presents a paradoxical image overall, as it integrates both inclusive and exclusive elements in its discourse and policies on minorities. however, regarding the roma minority, despite mitsotakis’s declarations and some policy initiatives, his government has not done much to help them in practice. on the contrary, there have been instances where the roma have been marginalized and have experienced social discrimination. the government appears to lack an understanding of the problems faced by the roma community, as it does not engage in regular dialogue with them. consequently, romani people are often excluded from greek society—a concern that has been repeatedly highlighted by community representatives. conclusion through this analysis, we aimed to contribute to the academic discourse on the relationship between populism, anti-populism, and minorities by offering an alternative perspective on the issue and criticizing theories that posit a predetermined antipluralist element within populism. moreover, we examined how the romani minority was approached by both a populist and an anti-populist government in greece, aiming to highlight the inclusive and/or exclusive characteristics of their respective discourses and policies. as we have seen, on the one hand, syriza and alexis tsipras (2015-2019) expressed—more or less—an inclusionary populist discourse that embraced romani rights, promoting their social inclusion. despite that syriza failed to fully satisfy popular demands on the economic level due to memorandum policies (markou, 2017), the party made significant strides in advancing minority rights, although it did not resolve all the issues affecting these social groups. one of the most significant issues was its inability to find a solution to the immigrant and refugee crisis, as well as to improve the living conditions of these people in the country. on the other hand, the anti-populist kyriakos mitsotakis and his party demonstrated a paradoxical performance, characterized by some inclusionary and numerous exclusionary elements in their discourse and policies on minorities. regarding the roma minority, the nd government appears to have promoted their marginalization rather than their social inclusion. the example of syriza fully confirms our argument that populist discourse can construct a heterogeneous and democratic popular subject, without being necessarily anti-minority, while the case of nd proves that anti-populist parties may advocate for the inclusion of marginalized groups, however, their discourse and policies are not 386 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 always fully inclusive in practice. the greek case shows that the anti-minority logic does not necessarily go hand in hand with populism, while underlining the importance of studying the anti-populist discourse and its effects on specific vulnerable social groups. finally, it is important to highlight two key issues raised by this article. first, the paradoxical stance of nd towards minorities prompts us to reconsider the efficacy of the “inclusionary” and “exclusionary” approach. while nd occasionally flirts with right-wing radicalism and incorporates many exclusive elements in its discourse and policies, it is not certain that it can be characterized as a (fully) exclusionary party, particularly given that its leader frequently advocates for the inclusion of some minorities. second, the fact that syriza, despite largely expressing an inclusionary populism, failed to address the issues faced by immigrants and refugees in greece raises questions about the extent to which a political party can fully implement its inclusionary policies or ideas within the existing post-democratic and neoliberal capitalist context. it is true that even when a party comes to power with an inclusionary agenda and good intentions toward minorities and vulnerable people, it may struggle to effect substantial change if it does not confront the prevailing political and economic framework. thus, even when inclusionary parties are in power, not all minorities necessarily experience an improvement in their living conditions. this implies that a government seeking to present itself as progressive should not merely address the immediate problems faced by minorities, 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(2019). espn thematic report on national strategies to fight homelessness and housing exclusion: greece. european social policy network (espn). brussels: european commission. © 2024 manas patra. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.676 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 498-509 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the visible ‘caste gaps’ amid an ‘invisible’ caste system in west bengal, india: a study of discrimination in bengali society manas patra1 abstract the invisibility of the caste system in bengal is so firmly ingrained in the psyche of the upper-caste bengali hindu population that any acknowledgement of the same by the bhadralok class appears to be a pipe dream. this moral high ground of the bhadralok directly stands antithetical to the rampant cases of caste-based discrimination in the aforementioned state on a regular basis. however, this very inconspicuous nature of the caste system in bengal has been hogging the centre stage of academic attention in recent years and has become a well-studied phenomenon in the process. several scholars have catapulted fresh discussions on the visibly strong undercurrents of the caste system in bengal and accorded a new legitimacy to the different ways in which caste caters to exclusion and discrimination on socioeconomic lines. still, bengal’s caste system remains relatively mild and lenient in popular perceptions compared to other states, owing to its strong pedigree as a cultural hotbed. amid this invisibility of caste in public understanding, the economic (and occupational), religious, ideological and cultural gaps exuding from the allegedly ‘invisible’ caste system between the ‘bhadralok’ class and the marginalised communities are ironically very visible. nevertheless, such existing caste gaps in several fields have remained relatively unexplored as there is not a great deal of scholarship acknowledging the tangible presence of these gaps. therefore, i have, in my article, attempted to analyse these patent apertures and the lack of reciprocity in occupational, cultural and ideological transactions between the bhadralok and the so-called ‘chotolok’ as the byproducts of the deeply ossified caste hierarchy in bengal that has gradually whittled away the human agency of the state’s severely disadvantaged marginalised groups. keywords bengal, caste system, discrimination, bhadralok, intelligentsia, marginalised, chaturvarna, occupation, functional specialisation, graded hierarchy, culture 1phd scholar, indian institute of technology, palaj, gandhinagar, gujarat, india email: manas.patra@iitgn.ac.in the visible ‘caste gaps’ amid an ‘invisible’ caste system in west bengal, india 499 introduction the caste system in bengal is a compelling discourse since, unlike the cow belt or certain south indian states, caste-based division is not overtly conspicuous in bengal, especially in the ‘discourse of bengali bhadralok/intelligentsia’ (chandra & nielsen, 2012) or in the politics of ‘bengali pharaohs’ (mukharji, 2017). contrary to other states, ‘where caste violence and caste-based political parties have a high visibility’ (bandopadhyay, 2016), bengal appears comparatively calm. this has, with time, given birth to the idea that the caste system is largely absent in bengal and has no palpable effects on the regular life of the bengali middle class, who are mostly seen as casteless. it is also generally perceived that caste does not exhort prodigious control over the politics of bengal, and over thirty-four years of communist rule, the influence of caste in the bengali political spectrum was virtually inconsequential. however, contrary to popular perceptions, the strong undercurrents of the caste system and its visibility in bengal have been provided with a new legitimacy through the back-and-forth debates from a plethora of social scientists with renewed vigour and enthusiasm such as uday chandra, kenneth bo nielsen, praskanva sinharay, sarbani bandyopadhyay, partha chatterjee, sekhar bandyopadhyay, dwaipayan sen, dayabati roy, etc. nevertheless, instead of focusing on the much-hackneyed question of the unobtrusiveness of caste in bengal, which has been the subject of contention among the academicians for many years, i have tried to highlight the burgeoning ‘caste gaps’ between the bengali bhadralok community and the so-called ‘chotolok’ classes (the marginalised groups). the reason for focusing on the existing caste gaps is due to their strange absence in modern historical and literary discussions and an eerie silence in acknowledging them even in the face of mounting evidence, especially by the bhadralok class. in an interview with ‘the wire’, sekhar bandopadhyay, while discussing the bengali bhadralok class and their apparent discomfort in accepting the bengali hindu caste system, quotes john bloomfield and mentions that the ‘bhadralok stood for the liberal, democratic society as long as their own privileges were not touched’ (gupta, 2019). although the gaps between bengali literati and the scheduled communities are well-known and obvious phenomena, documentation of these apparent lacunae in mainstream literature is limited and sporadic. regardless of their nature and origin, societies around the world prototypically function through an elite/non-elite binary, and bengal is no exception to this customary rule. however, bengal makes a captivating case owing to its middle class wielding limitless and unbounded political hegemony and socioeconomic ascendancy. we must look into four fundamental factors that played a pivotal role in creating and carefully maintaining these evident gaps. some of these elements may come across as dull and run-of-the-mill for their wonted and platitudinous nature. however, these factors are imperative to understand how deep-rooted the gaps have become over the years through a series of developments and transitions. these are as follows a) the metropolitan/peripheral socioeconomic division, b) a graded hierarchy, c) the consumption of culture and the inherent dissimilarities, and d) the disparity of the communist movement in theory and praxis. for this topic, notably, i have excluded the 500 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 relationship between the bengali bhadralok class and the scheduled communities in the colonial period. one of the reasons for such exclusion is that the british raj and the concomitant colonial factors made this phenomenon more convoluted than it appears now, with the britishers at the apex of the social order and the bengalis, irrespective of class or caste, at the very nadir. while the caste system was operating vigorously in every nook and corner of colonial bengal, this entire caste rhetoric amid an alien rule deserves a separate discussion. regardless, i have attempted to highlight the birth and steady progress of the bhadralok class, considering colonial developments and how their rise was intrinsically linked to the proliferation of the urban economy and the formation of the comprador class in bengal’s biggest metropolis, calcutta. the birth and the development of the bhadralok class: a short overview to begin with, one needs to be familiar with the working of the bengali middle-class intelligentsia. although the districts are heavily invested in the process of generating seemingly dominant traditional upper-caste figures, this bengali intelligentsia, i believe, is more of a calcutta / kolkata intelligentsia due to kolkata being the hotbed of the ‘babu culture’ and its imposing socio-cultural influence over other districts. the real reason behind the unstructured formation of bengali literati was probably a british attempt to formulate a class of bengali people who could work as a medium of communication between the raj and the rest of the bengali population. apart from this possible ‘safety valve’ to dissuade potential revolts and counter-offences, other factors that played their part in the making of this massive politico-social behemoth are 1) the internal trade between the ‘bengali zaibatsus’ and the east india company, and 2) the occidental influence of education, customs and culture. ‘zaibatsu’, or conglomerate, is a term that gained prominence during the meiji restoration in japan under the emperor mutsuhito. zaibatsus such as ‘mitsubishi’, ‘mitsui’, ‘sumitomo’, and ‘yasuda’ acted as ‘holding companies’ and ‘introduced organisational innovation to deal with the problems attendant on growth and diversification’ (okazaki, 2000, p. 1). although not as prodigious, potent and efficient to introduce widespread national reforms as the zaibatsus, several bengali large-scale family-owned businesses gradually developed that diversified the business sectors, introduced limited structural changes and increased the open cash flow in the market. during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, several upper-class and upper-caste bengal families began to get involved in trades like banking, finance, construction business, the manufacturing industry, the shipping industry, etc. the tagore family based in jorasanko, calcutta, was one such example. i would like to call these families ‘bengali zaibatsus’ due to their evident economic and largely overlooked cultural significance. they established a cordial relationship with the british for the smooth operation of their businesses, and colonial officials positively reciprocated with the intention of gaining revenue and not disrupting the business equilibrium. this reciprocity between the british and certain bengali families facilitated the transaction of ideas and cultures on both ends, with the the visible ‘caste gaps’ amid an ‘invisible’ caste system in west bengal, india 501 bengali bhadralok being influenced significantly greater than the british. although unofficial, the entry into the bhadralok domain always warranted the upper-caste tag. any upper-caste bengali with significant social and economic footing could become a member of the bhadralok community (sharma, 2013). most members of this middleclass bourgeois group were compradors involved in investment, trade, and other means of accumulating wealth and power through socio-political exploitation. moreover, their politico-social hegemony was further petrified through their dominance over literature and the print media. anindita ghosh argues that the ‘language’ produced through these mentioned mediums carved out a separate cultural identity for the middle class, known as the ‘new bengali’. subsequently, the urban literati used this ‘new bengali’ identity as a tool of dominance to clamp down on the ‘less privileged’ classes, including women and muslims (ghosh, 2002). this elite territory was predominantly a male domain laden with abject patriarchy. female transgression into this territory was an overwhelming task since it was perceived illogical and outlandish to mention women in the same breath as their uppercaste male counterparts. kadambini ganguly is the most striking example in this regard, as she was singled out for her aspiration to become an mbbs graduate by her male bhadralok colleagues. ‘maintenance of female virtues were incompatible with their social liberties’ for the bhadralok as they perceived ‘a vast majority of women as unchaste’ (karlekar, 1986, p. ws-27). the rise of the bengali bhadralok class does not adhere to a particular time frame. however, raja ram mohan roy was typically considered the one of the first members of this bhadralok tradition in bengal. roy mediated between the declining ‘persianized nobility’ of bengal (that somehow survived as the relic of the bengal sultanate) and an upstart group of petty bourgeoises (predominantly hindu bengalis). the sudden rise and development of this nouveau riche group around kolkata (calcutta) during the nineteenth century changed the dynamics and outlooks of bengali/kolkata (calcutta) literati. such development of the bhadralok class in the wake of british rule in bengal is an exciting phenomenon and needs a separate discussion. below is a brief timeline of events that birthed, shaped, and reshaped the bengali literati to a significant extent. the downfall of the muslim nobility the decline of the ‘persianized’ muslim aristocracy in the last half of the eighteenth century took place for two reasons: 1) with the establishment of the supreme court, urdu and persian were replaced with english, and many muslim nobles abruptly lost their jobs. their place was gradually taken up by the english-educated and westerncultured bengali hindu upper-caste groups (bhattacharya, 2021). as the hindu population adapted to this drastic change more swiftly and maturely than their muslim counterparts, they multiplied their power by grabbing important government posts under british rule. this covert usurpation, i believe, was the bureaucratisation of the upper castes at the time of need. 2) with the permanent settlement of 1793, the diminishing influence of the wealthy muslim groups was snuffed out entirely. they gradually lost their land, and correspondingly their hold over rural villages plummeted 502 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 rapidly (bhattacharya, 2021). the upper caste bengali hindus promptly capitalised on this steady death of the muslim nobility and took great strides in terms of social position and economic advancement. brahmo samaj-young bengal movement-pandit vidyasagar the chain of radical and reformist undertakings by bengali and foreign influencers created a significant ruckus over the rigid hindu social structure and wreaked havoc on the ‘true blue dyed-in-the-wool conservative’ who openly promoted antiquated hindu traditions. spearheaded by raja ram mohan roy and the brahmo samaj (1828), the earliest bengali hindu intellectuals discarded outmoded traditions, polarising maxims, and rampant discrimination. they, however, emphasised reinventing the positives of vedic culture. the organisation was later splintered between traditionalists (dwarkanath tagore, debendranath tagore) and radicals (keshab chandra sen, ananda mohan bose). as a result, the ‘new brahmo samaj’ (1863) and the ‘sadharan brahmo samaj’ (1878) popped up, and the bhadralok went to and fro with their ideas and principles. amid this civil war among the bengali nationalists, the ‘young bengal movement’ (in the 1820s) arrived on the scene with new-found enthusiasm. founded by henry louis vivian derozio and his bengali acolytes such as rasik krishna mallik, krishna mohan banerjee, ramgopal ghosh, dakshinaranjan mukherjee, ramtanu lahiri, and peary chand mitra, the movement brought forth rationale into the dogma-stricken hindu society. the young bengal was perhaps one of the first radical outfits across the indian subcontinent. their influence, although short-lived, was strong enough to instruct the young literati not to follow divisive customs religiously and be pragmatic in their general endeavours. the disciples of derozio, who were upper-caste hindu elite, became the primary ingredients of a newly emerging english-cultured bengali ‘babu’ class. derozio’s principles behoved them with the task of carrying the ideal of pragmatism forward even after their teacher’s death. while socially as charged as derozio and the members of the brahmo samaj, ishwar chandra vidyasagar’s case hangs alone from the rest. despite being part of the newly emerging enlightened stream of the bengali youth, it would be a gross misjudgment to classify vidyasagar as an archetypal bhadralok. he dwelled less on the politics of calcutta and more on the reconstruction of the fringes and margins of bengal. vidyasagar’s most significant achievement was advancing the ‘widow remarriage act’ (1856) ‘to remove all legal obstacles to the marriage of hindu widows’ (vidya, 1885, p. 2 as quoted in bhattacharya, 2019, p. 90). for its revolutionary nature, the act dealt a mighty blow to the outmoded hindu customs. apart from its historical and social significance, the act considerably impacted the discourse of the steadily expanding intelligentsia because of its reformist and liberal connotations. being ‘both a social elite and a man of the people’ (hatcher, 2020), vidyasagar acted as an agent between the rural masses of bengal and the debonair ‘babu class’ of calcutta. although vidyasagar transitioned into an elite later in his life, he never adhered to the ‘babu’ way of life. he went back and forth between the elitism of calcutta and the egalitarianism of the villages and consequently established himself as more of a trans-cultural figure. the visible ‘caste gaps’ amid an ‘invisible’ caste system in west bengal, india 503 vidyasagar showed how the elite should behave even with the accumulation of social, economic and educational capital in two contrasting social settings: one that is guided by wealth and prestige and the other that is regulated by poverty and misery. the counter-revolution (dharma sabha) organisational, structural and ideological rifts slowly emerged in the newly formed literati as intellectuals like raja radhakanta deb began drifting apart from the radical movement and invested their undivided attention in the re-identification of hindu culture and religion. deb (a hindu college student) founded the ‘dharma sabha’ (1830) and initiated a counter-revolution to withstand ultra-revisionist onslaughts. though he was one of the pioneers of women’s education in british india, he condoned and advocated the religious dogmatism of hindu culture. deb was one among many influential hindu personalities in bengal ‘who stood against the widow remarriage bill’ and argued that the ‘hindu shastras strongly prohibit the remarriage of widows’ (bhattacharya, 2019, p. 90). regardless, by the 1830s, the struggle for reforms and reinvention was solely concentrated between two hindu groups (traditional and reformist) as the muslims were no longer in their picture. hindus became their biggest supporters as well as their biggest enemies in bengal’s cultural revival. nascent bengali nationalism and its effects on the intelligentsia (bankim chandra chattopadhyay aurobindo ghosh abanindranath tagore) bengalis were the first to indulge in the idea and practice of nationalism in its art and craft. this development took place at a much later stage in the evolution of the bengali bhadralok groups. bankim chandra, in his writings (ananda math, 1882), aurobindo in his political campaigns and activities (alipore bomb case, 1908), and abanindranath in his paintings (bharat mata painting, 1905), spread the nascent nationalism across bengal. several revolutionary outfits, such as ‘anushilan samiti’ (1902) and ‘jugantar’ (1906), were established to launch counter-strikes on the oppressive british machinery. soon after, other states, such as punjab and maharashtra, partook in underground revolutionary activities and helped shape the movement further. a very curious development in the rhetoric of nationalism was that, in many instances, the traditional upper-class bourgeois bhadralok figures, emboldened with a largely unchallenged socioeconomic preponderance, became interchangeable with their middle-class counterparts. notwithstanding the certain bengali zaibatsus’, a significant chunk of the upper and middle-class intelligentsia, infused with the spirit of revolution against the british, were diluted with each other and often fought as a collective. thus, the rigid definition of the bengali intelligentsia was shattered, and the hardline approach of the sophisticated and high-class ‘gentlefolk’ against other classes was significantly softened. consequently, this curious and continued growth of the bengali bhadralok class in fragmented pieces amid occasional blips and turmoils turned into a movement: a vastly unostentatious movement but a movement nonetheless! with the gains of social capital, political space, and a virtually unabated economic paramountcy, bengali 504 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 literati soon became a force to be reckoned with! they gradually assumed the role of a new aristocratic class in the modern bengali cultural framework through their snobbish ‘westernism’ and elitist exhibitionism. further, with the development of two distinct occupational streams, as well as the petrification and the standardisation of professions in cities and villages, labour and labour services began getting distinguished in terms of prestige, respect, and monetary value. the (metropolitan/peripheral) occupational divisions in the nineteenth century a solidified division of labour in both cities and villages came into being through the construction businesses and the creation of petty bourgeoisie. metropolitan spaces, especially calcutta, had their own streams of occupations such as dealership, banking, finance, teaching and medical professions, bureaucracy, media, etc. on the other hand, peripheries were involved in traditional agriculture and other ‘lowly’ disciplines. although the birth of these professions is a natural phenomenon given the solidification of urban and rural spaces, the monopolisation of such urbancentric professions by the bengali ‘babu class’ created a division of labours between the ‘high ranks’ and the ‘low ranks’. such a division gave birth to discrimination on socioeconomic lines through the disparity of capital distribution. this drastic difference in occupations engendered two contrasting economies: the so called ‘stagnant’ village economy and the robust city economy. furthermore, these occupational divisions were further ironed out through a graded/positional hierarchy promoted by the bengali hindu caste system, which still remains thoroughly functional throughout peripheral bengal. the graded hierarchy although not sui generis to bengal, the society here predominantly functions in and through a system called the graded hierarchy, where specific jobs are assigned to particular groups of people without the possibility of outside intervention in this established framework of occupational divisions. to be more precise, each occupation has its designated function(s), and according to the bengali hindu society, it must be carried out by a systematic hierarchy of professions. although ludicrous in a modern democracy, this system is firmly ingrained in and functions through the concept of functional specialisation. the functional specialisation requires each community to be associated with its workforce area and excel in its art and craft. according to the bengali hindu chatur-varna practice (four-fold division), hierarchical structure and social order are maintained, stability and prosperity are ensured, and people forswear abhorrent practices such as avarice and jealousy by following this system. through this established hierarchy, restrictions in the choice of professions and employment came into existence and had been indurated in the process due to the lack of occupational mobility, visibility, and fluidity. certain services have gradually become conjugal acts with no likelihood of moving to other professions and climbing the social ladder. for instance, professions like weaving, pottery, and blacksmithing have traditionally been practised by specific bengali (hindu) communities such as karmakar, tati, kumor (pal), and their artisanship skill and the accumulated knowthe visible ‘caste gaps’ amid an ‘invisible’ caste system in west bengal, india 505 how are typically transferred from one generation to another. despite not being as socially petrified as the professions mentioned above, there are communities in bengal that can be identified with their specified areas of the workforce. these communities and their professions are mali (gardener), swarnakar/poddar (goldsmith), kaibarta (fishermen), kulu (oil extractors), nishad (hunters), methor (cleaners), dom/domba (performers of the last rite), etc. these professional differences are etched in stone predominantly due to unequal opportunities in education in the urban and rural spaces. education, especially higher education for these communities, is a distant dream. the young population is encouraged to carry the family legacy forward in specified ‘low-ranked’ services instead of indulging in education. unlike the cities, educational aspiration, for the most part, is deemed preposterous for not being a conventional choice in the peripheries of bengal. excluding the politically and economically progressive and prosperous communities such as the namasudras and the rajbanshis, the basic literacy rate of the marginalised population of bengal is 48 per cent (2011 west bengal data highlights). compared to them, the upper-caste literacy rate is a staggering 90.9 per cent (dutta & bisai, 2020). this graded hierarchy is not specifically a bengali phenomenon but an innate trait of the indian caste system. a pan-indian graded hierarchy was first vehemently advocated by madhav sadashiv golwalkar, who wanted the caste system to remain unscathed because of its functional specialisation (golwalkar, 1939, pp. 61-62). nevertheless, this occupational hierarchy has given birth to numerous professions and communities in bengal that are generally inconspicuous in other parts of india. such a solidified occupational division has restricted the communication and transaction of social and cultural capital between the scheduled communities and the bengali hindu literati. moreover migration to cities does not help these plebeians in terms of vocational amelioration as migrant labourers are quintessentially involved in unskilled and supposedly ignoble professions and, thereby, can not infiltrate the elite space. cultural dissimilarities culture always comes with the baggage of intellectual properties with inherent dichotomies although culture is created, shaped and reinforced by humans and societies in time. it generally follows two different streams of development and enforcement: organic and forced or imposed. organic cultural developments are willingly consumed and slowly embedded into societal roots in the fundamental unfolding of nature. it is a long and hectic process, and it may take decades or even centuries for a cultural phenomenon to be accepted among people irrespective of class, caste, wealth, or geographical location. forced cultural developments are introduced or indoctrinated through manipulation and coercion by authoritative machinery and are naturally not received well. however, cultures in a post-modern society are extraordinarily plastic and have become more pliable in a globalised world, especially in india. through liberalisation of the economy and the privatisation of the space, hybrid cultures of indian and imported variants of the west are absorbed by moderately wealthy upper castes and, to a meagre extent, the scheduled communities (educated creamy-layer and those who frequent the cities for menial labour services). the consumption of 506 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 culture in bengali villages is drastically different from that in the cities. in the spheres of society, economy, education, occupation, multimedia, way of life and mode of thinking, the urban and rural cultures and their subsequent consumption patterns can not be more different. i will provide a very limited example of the electronic and digital aspects of multimedia culture. to cite an example devotional bhakti is the most popular genre among the villagers in digital media as their ultimate means of solace. the implausible action genre that gained prominence during the early 90s can also monetarily take them away from the challenging reality. on the other hand, the suave occident and the glitz of modern orient in art-house-oriented digital mediums of expression have been dominating the metropolitan spaces for decades. i am not trying to argue that the village and city cultures are not undergoing changes, as it is an onerous task not to get regulated by the fusion of cultures in the midst of an increasingly malleable byproduct of twenty-first-century globalisation. for instance, as a pan-indian genre, action has a massive urban crowd. likewise, villages are slowly developing their art-house audience in limited capacities, too. however, villages are, in many cases, unknown and uncharted territories and far more difficult to infiltrate than the cities. the consumption of culture in cities is an amalgamation of indian and western conventions where the internal practices are blended with imported foreign traditions in multifaceted fashions. the villagers easily do not soak in the hybrid cultures promoted by liberalisation and globalisation. they in most cases prefer uniformity; hence their culture does not come across as hybrid as the cities. among the marginalised population across villages in india, digital media is not as popular as commonly perceived since the daily usage of social platforms is severely restricted. there are obvious exceptions, but the majority of the scheduled communities prefer radio over television because of financial instability, the absence of electricity, and maintenance issues. these massive cultural gaps and non-identical consumption patterns have severely limited and even downgraded the daily interaction between the ‘elite’ and the ‘non-elite’. as a ripple effect of this exclusion from mainstream society, these scheduled communities have now developed their own literature, including books, magazines, newspapers, and pamphlets that are mostly seen as meaningless propaganda or devoid of scholarship and academic integrity by the literati. such cultural mismatch and the resultant mutual distrust unknowingly advance discrimination between the ‘high-ranked’ and the ‘lowranked’ communities (specifically hindu communities) instead of promoting diversity amalgamation and fusion. the disparity of the bengali communist movement between theory and praxis despite the limited success of the land reform movement, ‘operation barga’ (1978), in its initial years to alleviate the collective socio-economic condition of scheduled communities, the left’s reactionary and exclusionary policies towards the dalits in bengal is a crucial narrative in the ‘left political’ that we often tend to ignore. touted as the shramik srenir sarkar (government of/by/for the proletariats), the left’s arrival in power in 1977 caused significant disruption and thoroughly altered the bengali the visible ‘caste gaps’ amid an ‘invisible’ caste system in west bengal, india 507 power dynamics. the bengal congress dwindled, and the idea of a separate tmc (from the inc) was not even impregnated by then. moreover, the presence of the bjp was virtually non-existent. cpi(m) and its allies (cpi, rsp, fb) had a clear path of decade-long political hegemony. with absolute power at the helm and no peer pressure or resistance from the dilapidated oppositions, the undeterred communists, at a point, became megalomaniacs, and their sense of entitlement replaced their sense of responsibility. on january 26, 1979, west bengal police patrol boats and bsf streamers enclosed the ‘marichjhapi’ island in the sundarbans and imposed an economic blockade on the locals. the struggling islanders, without access to food, water, and medicine, staged a protest. as soon as they protested, the police opened fire and went on a killing spree for several days. with an estimated death of 500010000 people, the then information minister of jyoti basu, buddhadeb bhattacharjee, remarked that ‘the island had been cleared of illegal immigrants’ (mandal, 2019). the marichjhapi massacre, although mostly unheard of, was the biggest state-sponsored massacre in the history of independent india. yet, this was not a one-off incident. the left government in bengal, in their three decades of rule, instigated several massacres, encroached upon people’s land, and carried out large-scale political persecutions. the grassroots-level cpi(m) leadership was a living-breathing propaganda machine designed to terrify the peripheral masses and conduct extermination programmes for those who refused to budge. the victims of the unregulated communist persecutions in bengal were primarily the namasudras. they did not have adequate socioeconomic privileges and political importance due to being early refugees. these namasudras were chiefly used as trump cards for vote bank politics. however, they were casually but promptly discarded once deemed unnecessary by the state. the other identical incidents that showcase the left intolerance towards the ‘marginalised’ are the ‘nanoor massacre’ (communist mercenaries maimed eleven landless agricultural labourers in 2000), the ‘sainbari killings’ (1970, two brothers and alleged congress supporters, pranab sain and malay sain were hacked to death by a communist outfit allegedly influenced by cpi(m) leader nirupam sen), the ‘nandigram massacre’ (2007, on a dispute over land acquisition for a special economic zone, the locals of nandigram fulminated. in response, police and some unidentified men wearing police uniforms killed fourteen people), and the ‘singur revolt’ (2008, ‘aboriginals’ were dispossessed of their land without ‘adequate compensation’ in the wake of the construction of a tata nano automobile factory at singur). the movement gained prominence when the main opposition leader, mamata banerjee, joined hands with the protestors and embarked on a fast-unto-death programme. the campaign initially became a success when the tata group had to leave singur amid an inflammatory political environment. notwithstanding tata’s departure, the disputes over land are still not resolved even in tmc’s regime). these examples are well documented in popular literature and indicate the most important missing element in the bengali communist movement: the organic inclusion of the dalits in the political process that cpi(m) purposefully overlooked for 508 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 many decades. the party ruled for thirty-four years in bengal axiomatically with both widespread support and state oppression. but at what cost? conclusion these leftist reactionary measures were not received positively by the dalits. the intelligentsia, surprisingly, remained aloof and inactive. further, the left also facilitated the rise of soft hindutva (gupta, 2021) with back-handed support from the bhadralok class. when the rss was working silently to build its base and growing leaps and bounds insidiously, the left, instead of halting the process of hindutva or stopping the rss altogether, adopted a policy of persuasion towards its bengali hindu population and tried to attend to their deep psychic wounds owing to partition (narayan, 2021). generally speaking scheduled communities did not reciprocate this soft hindutva in bengal as they openly viewed (and still view) the politics of hindutva as one of the potent weapons of discrimination that ceaselessly attempts to create a bastion of discordant schemes against the marginalised castes. for dalits, hindutva always facilitates coveted upper-caste superiority. moreover, many scheduled communities do not identify themselves as hindus; instead, they either identify then with other religions such as buddhism or call themselves animistic people with no traditional religion. therefore, any religious underpinning for the dalits is tantamount to manufacturing a ritualistic hegemony they vehemently denounce. thus, to recapitulate, it can be argued that the transactional, ideological and communication gaps that had long existed since the establishment of british rule in bengal were further dilated between the literati and their beggarly counterparts in a post-colonial framework. the bengali bhadralok class surprisingly made no attempts to bridge these apparent lacunae. instead, they wallowed in their self-created egotism, blithe and inertia and wherefore perpetuated the ‘us and them’ binary in bengal’s variegated socio-political spectrums. funding this research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. conflict of interest the author declares that there is no conflict of interest. acknowledgement i would like to express my sincere gratitude to my doctoral supervisor, prof. madhumita sengupta, for her constant support and encouragement in terms of ideas, suggestions and feedback for this article. the visible ‘caste gaps’ amid an ‘invisible’ caste system in west bengal, india 509 references bandyopadhyay, s. 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(2000). the role of holding companies in pre‐war japanese economic development: rethinking zaibatsu in perspectives of corporate governance. social science japan journal, 4(2), 243-268. sharma, k.l. (2013). readings in indian sociology: volume ii: sociological probings in rural society. india: sage publications. vaidya, n.k. (1885). a collection containing the proceedings led to the passing of act xv of 1856. bombay. © 2023 smita m. patil. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.675 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 383-402 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste raving with equality? on protean forms of caste and gender in the women’s/gender studies departments in india smita m. patil1 abstract women’s and gender studies in the twenty-first century have transformed the question of theory and praxis across the globe. as a discipline, it is waging its struggle against diverse forms of power and patriarchy. women’s studies in india started its own unique trajectory from the 1970s onwards. however, dalit feminism critiqued the metanarrative of indian feminism in the 1990s. dalit feminists argued that they are oppressed on the basis of caste, class and gender. dalit feminism subverted the internal and external patriarchy through its own powerful methodology and tropes. it debunked the partial, brahminic, indian feminism and its conspicuous silence on the relations of caste, gender, class and patriarchy. dominant feminists included dalit feminist discourse in the curriculum in a patronising fashion. paradoxically, the social composition of those academicians was confined to the upper caste/class locations. this article engages with the experiences of dalit women academicians who teach in the department of women’s and gender studies in india. it explores forms and practices of caste, class, and gender discrimination in such departments. these forms of domination and subordination show the contradiction between practice and theory. it reflects on the moral and ethical positioning to unpack the everyday caste violence that operates in the educational institutions. it maps the politics of women’s and gender studies in india. this article analyses the possibilities and impossibilities related to dalit feminist engagement with capabilities and intersectional approaches in women’s and gender studies in india. the main thrust is to examine the real and utopian dimensions of the assertions of dalit women academicians. keywords women’s and gender studies, caste, dalit, patriarchy, feminism 1assistant professor, school of gender & development studies, ignou, new delhi, india email: smita.sanu@gmail.com 384 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 introduction the social and political context of the disciplines and transfer of those ideas demonstrate the relations of power, knowledge and academia across the globe. societal control and its subversion through modern politics and knowledge related practices have unleashed new trajectory of reason. debates around reformation, renaissance, enlightenment and counter enlightenment embody the conflicts and consensus around the trajectory of (un) reason. however, global thought is critiqued for its patriarchal approaches. it opened new ways for articulating resistance. assertions that determine the foregrounding of counter thought to the oppressive ideas have to be situated to grapple with the history of ideas. there are ways in which the epistemological foundation of a discipline is analyzed. struggles that led to the establishment of a particular discipline resulted in the epistemological foundation like that in the case of ethnic studies (shih & lionnet 2011: 18). the epistemological foundation of hegemonic women’s and gender studies in general and dalit feminist perspectives in particular have to be revisited in order to understand the character of domination and oppression. social and political awakening related to the votes and education of women to that of the larger questions of body and sexuality departed from the erstwhile patriarchal thought and practices. nineteenth and early twentieth century first wave feminism to that of second wave feminism from the 1970s onwards led to the emergence of unique thought and praxis. the advent of women’s studies and gender studies needs to be understood in the backdrop of the aforementioned epistemic and political transformations. there are various readings related to the emergence of women’s and gender studies. these disciplines are considered as broadly embedded in the marxist framework and postmodern approaches (eagleton 2003). alain badiou explored whether feminist philosophy raised any serious challenge to the anti-philosophy in theory (badiou 1999). on the other hand, frederic jameson categorized the new subjects of history in the post-1960s such as women and blacks that challenged the class approach. balkanization of class-based approaches in the context of the formation of ethnic studies and women studies were untainted by the theory (jameson, cited in shih & lionnet 2011:13). as anna donadey observed, “...when the civil rights, feminist and decolonization struggles of the 1950s to 1970s began to infiltrate the academic curricula in the 1970s, and when works of writers of color became integrated into the curriculum in the 1990s, this new configuration unsettled the centrality of the “dead white male” canon resulting in the bitter so-called culture war of the 1990s” (donadey 2011: 62). thus, shui-mei shih and francois lionnett stated that the theory generated the cult of the other like that of ethnic studies and women’s studies (shui & lionnet 2011: 8). one of the central questions related to any discipline or sub-discipline is that whether it has acquired the status of a theory within the field of social sciences and humanities. irrespective of the nature and the conceptual rigor of the ethnic and francophone studies, it could not attain the status of theory (shih & lionnet 2011: 14). however, structuralism and post-structuralism need to be questioned in order to understand the space of women’s and gender studies. post raving with equality? on protean forms of caste and gender 385 structuralist -high claims related to the death of the subjectivity have demonstrated its approach to new subjectivities in a patronising manner. women and minorities thus were incorporated into a post structuralist pantheon in superficial manner (shih & lionnet 2011: 11). the geopolitics of theory also reflect the history of erasures and denials grounded in the whims and interests of a hegemonic scholastic community. for instance, francophone studies differed from the depoliticized versions of theory in united states. paradoxically, it has not acknowledged the political and intellectual personalities such as that of giles deluze to frantz fanon and aime cesaire while creating space for the dialogue across feminism, gender, sexuality and ethnic studies (shih & lionnet 2011: 19). eurocentric, patriarchal conceptual realms consequently established its reign through conscious exclusions of insurgent thoughts from the margins. oppressed sections in india also had to challenge the dominant religious order and its dictates related to knowledge. anti-caste movements in india fought for the rights related to education. organic intellectuals from the subjugated castes had to tackle the brahmanic readings of colonialism and nationalism as well. dalit studies, for ramnarayan rawat and k. satyanarayana, as a critical space read dalits as sidelined subjects. it is also studied as a field that re-reads the indian society and history. dalit studies is evaluated through the popularization of the category of ‘dalit’ through the dalit panther movement in the 1970s in maharashtra. it unleashed the critique to the gandhian term, harijan. academic discourse from 1970s started following the term, dalit that emerged through the vernacular debates. questions of humiliation and dignity that emerged through the dalit vernacular narratives in the twentieth century became part of the south asian academic realm through the entry of dalit academicians in the 1990s (rawat & satyanarayana 2016: 1–30). nevertheless, women’s studies became part of the academia in the same period. emergence of women’s and gender studies in india women’s studies in india have been generating distinct, conceptual categories and forms of praxis. the trajectory of women’s studies in india signifies its vibrant and diverse theoretical and action-oriented perspectives. the entry of the discipline also needs to be examined in its historical context. women’s movements in the developing countries have been challenging the status quo. some among them have radically differed from the initial anti-status quo groups. it is also noted that initial forms of women’s movement were caught in the societal order. for instance, it could not discuss how to annihilate inherent caste hierarchy within the women’s movement. new forms of such assertions happened in chaotic manner (freeman 1973: 792–811). it lacked cohesive approaches that link the various streams of women’s political articulations. at the global level, different ideological strands within feminism have also created its own wilderness as well as strength (showalter 1981: 179–205). thus, caste in the indian context of the women’s studies and women’s movement remains unexplored. gender relations in pre-colonial india were observed as that of religious sanctions and oppressive practices (chakravarti 2018; ketkar 1979; kumar 1997). during the 386 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 colonial era, public and private realms of the women’s questions evolved through the contentions of colonial authorities, british feminists, and indian elites (chitnis & wright 2007). the women’s assertions in the 1950s and 1960s were silent when compared to the later phases. still, politics against neoliberalism emerged through the women’s organizations in india (armstrong 2018). nationalist groups, social reform, and leftist streams were the vibrant ideological streams within the indian women’s movement (kasturi & majumdar 2016, kumar 1997; sarkar & sarkar 2008). therefore, one has to investigate the fields of the social and political forces that changed the direction of the women’s movement in india. towards equality report (1974) paved the fundamental ground for the birth of women’s studies in india (bagchi 2013). the idea of the ‘indian association of women’s studies’ emerged at the first national conference on women’s studies in india in the year 1981 (howe 1981). women’s studies is conceptualised as “the intellectual arm of the women’s movement” (majumdar cited in bagchi 2013). mary john argues that women’s studies, along with other political movements in the 1970s and 1980s engaged with modernity in distinct fashion (john 2005: 47–48). it probed the nature of oppressive traditions. patriarchy in the indian context was challenged through the rare, political awakening of the women’s studies. however, it is being questioned whether women’s studies can move out of its status as an elitist discipline. in addition to it, whether women’s studies in india have really been able to come out of its eurocentric and brahmanic ideological-paradigms or not. social composition of the academicians in the domain of women’s and gender studies in india reflects the dominant caste-based indian society. feminist groups and women’s movement thus have been limited to the exclusive epistemic domain of upper castes-class in india. according to m.s. sreerekha, “women’s studies” in india are being studied through its representation in the dominant academic institutions (sreerekha 2016: 64–68). in addition to its ideological and historical background, it is quite often asked whether it is a dominant discipline or a marooned discipline due to the patriarchal nature of the disciplinary space. it is observed that women’s studies and dalit studies are marginalized due to their epistemic challenges to orthodox indian society. the radical nature of women studies is being depoliticized due to civil society organizations and patriarchal consensus within educational structures (sreerekha 2016: 64). feminist struggles are forced to limit its politics of change and reform in the time of fundamentalism and orthodox politics (majumdar 1999: 36). scholars have been critiquing the potential and challenges of women’s studies. there are critiques that study the superior nature of women’s studies and its impossibilities linked to the casteclass allied prerogatives of women’s studies. there were apprehensions regarding its elitist nature. women’s studies, for vidyut bhagwat, can reach the people through distance education in addition to the dominant forms of education. the homogenous and isolated nature of earlier debates in women’s studies constrained its popularity across people from varied social strata. women’s studies and its engagement with different streams within the social sciences and humanities have to capture the nuances of the social and political lives of women (bhagwat 2002: 235–243). critiques within raving with equality? on protean forms of caste and gender 387 and outside the women’s studies movement led to the articulations around caste and gender relations in the 1990s onwards. however, the entry of globalization, politics of international actors, funding agencies and so on brought drastic changes in the nature of women’s studies that move beyond the category of women’s studies to that of gender’ studies. eventually the naming of the department from women’s to gender studies also changed the pedagogy and curriculum. vibhuti patel has observed that, “in the 21st century, a move from women’s studies to gender studies is gaining ground in the mainstream academia” (patel 2023: 33). however, it is important to explore the dalit feminist take on women’s and gender studies. dalit feminist critique to women’s and gender studies current issues of dalit women academicians show the complex nature of casteclass, gender and patriarchy. dalit women academicians have to confront patriarchal misogynistic forces within the academic power structures. language of oppression is central to the academic spaces as well. the sexist language of the upper caste peers create psychological repercussions among dalit girl students (kumar cited in rathod 2023). dalit women faculty members face similar experiences on an every day basis. as part of caste discrimination, an associate professor from delhi university was slapped by an upper caste colleague (shankar 2021) her right to marry outside her caste is also questioned by the male faculty. this incident shows the ways in which the privacy and dignity of dalit women academicians is questioned by the caste and patriarchy equations at the larger societal level (the wire 2022). the patronising language of the educational discourse carries sophisticated forms of patriarchy and casteist approaches against dalit women. this incident demonstrates a miniscule form of the larger oppression. dalit feminists started a distinct discourse on caste and gender in the postindependence period (guru 1995 & rege 1998). the category of dalit feminism emerged in the state of maharashtra in the 1990s. further it was established at the national level through national federation of dalit women on 11 august 1995 at new delhi. dalit feminists questioned the mainstream feminists’ uncritical approach towards caste. they positioned mainstream women’s movement as brahmanic in nature and dominated by upper caste women. they critiqued the state, mainstream feminism, and forms of inequality through the framework of dalit women’s experiences. dalit women analyzed their oppression outside their caste as central to their articulation. they also talked about their lower status due to their subjugation outside their community by larger society and within their own caste-community. gopal guru analyzed the ways in which “external”, and “internal” patriarchy structure the oppression of dalit women. they realized that their issues are not addressed in the conceptual terrain of brahmanic feminism. recognition on these lines prompted them to articulate their own issues as different from that of the hegemonic indian feminism. it also impacted the vernacular dalit assertions. ironically, dalit feminist knowledge production was gradually coopted by the upper caste academicians due to their social 388 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 and cultural capital. they were able to translate those vernacular dalit debates around caste and gender and related themes due to their proficiency in english language and networks within the dominant academic system. emergence of dalit feminist assertions needs to be viewed as a succinct academic response to these rare, historical interventions of intellectuals from the oppressed castes. based on the anti-caste conceptualization and annihilation of caste practices from jotiba phule, savitribai phule, chhatrapati shahu maharaj, b.r. ambedkar, mukta salve, tarabai shinde, periyar e.v. ramasamy naicker, ayyankali and others, dalit feminists theorized the caste, gender and patriarchy linked gendered oppression. dalit women scholars have to undergo hardships while pursuing higher education to create their own spaces in brahminic research institutes and organizations (neelakandan 2022). hence, the struggle of dalit women in academia needs to be documented. dalit studies in general and dalit feminism in particular can delineate the contradictions of the ‘social’ and the ‘political’ in the context of caste, gender, and democracy. similarly, scholars who have studied the contours of race and gender too assert the conscious denial of race and gender in the towering space of global women’s studies. therefore, it is asserted that the existence of race and gender as a discipline in educational institutions needs to be studied in its specific context. what are the modes through which marginalized social stratifications like that of dalits are received in the hegemonic academic space of majoritarian-dominant /upper caste and class communities? subjugated identities in the realm of academics are perceived by the dominant caste and academics-policy groups often in an indifferent fashion. such writings have different ideological takes on the social and political questions of hegemonic academics and knowledge production. race/ racism-related questions in education, for instance, are suppressed through the interests of dominant races’ ideology (gillborn 2008). one can argue that racist ideology and practice operate through its systematic and sophisticated modes. the psychological stages of the teachers from oppressed communities are hampered by the power equations of the dominant communities. irrespective of the legacy of black women’s political activism, they are unacknowledged in political spaces (simien 2004: 82). there is a dearth of studies that explore the relations between caste, lower castes, and the teaching profession. though, this article tries to explore the experiential complexities of dalit women academicians in the departments of women’s and gender studies. methodology extensive qualitative interviews of twenty dalit women academicians from central and state universities across india were conducted to engage with the multifaceted and specific form of their discrimination within the women’s and gender studies departments. their age group was twenty-five to fifty years. some of them were permanent and others were on the basis of contract. as a dalit feminist, who teaches women’s and gender studies debates, i conducted in-depth interviews to interact with dalit women scholars. while narrating it, i use the terms, women’s/gender studies. raving with equality? on protean forms of caste and gender 389 these interviews thus depart from the separation between the subject and the object (oakley 1981 and cook & fonow 2008). the contradiction and power relations between the researcher and the researched are addressed in this article. in addition to these facets of this article, dalit women have a better understanding of their own standpoint. the emphasis on the experiences of dalit women academicians thus obliterates partiality. hence, the method here is to be more objective and focused on experiences. at the same time, research on these academic travails of dalit women academicians is nonessentialist because it has larger goals of liberating feminist studies from brahmanical patriarchy. it directs us towards the emancipatory politics based on idea of justice, equality, and liberty. in smithian manner, it reflects on academic women and their exclusion through the ideological structure (smith 2008). it attempts to capture vexed, existential questions of those dalit women scholars in the hegemonic, brahminic women’s/gender studies departments in india. the anonymity of the respondents is maintained to consider the ethical standards that are essential in research related to marginalized communities. the following questions were asked to the respondents: (i) how do you look at your entry to higher education and women’s /gender studies department as an academician? (ii) do you think your social location has impacted your presence in the women’s/gender studies department which in general is monopolized by upper caste academicians? (iii) what are your experiences on the caste equations that operate in the women’s/gender studies department in particular? (iv) do you think that dalit women scholars in women’s /gender studies are able to transform their experiences into critiques of brahminic women’s/gender studies? (v) is it possible to forge solidarity across the women’s /gender studies scholars from marginalized communities across the globe? (vi) what do you think about postcolonial, diasporic women’s /gender studies, academicians who deal with caste and gender questions? (vii) do they identify with scholars from the oppressed section scholars from india? (viii) do you think that the intersectionality approach has the potential to address the existential and disciplinary contradictions of the women’s /gender studies scholars from the margins of caste-based indian society? the next section attempts to thematically present the arguments drawn from their interviews. it will register the voices of dalit women faculty members in the departments of women’s and gender studies. their responses are complex and even challenge the possibilities and limits of the questions. articulations of the respondent are mixed in a peculiar fashion and few aspects can be spelt out. puzzles of caste, gender and academic mobility have dalit women been able to enter the public sphere or not? their journey is tedious due to various factors. a majority of dalit women academicians belong to poor, lower middle class and middle-class backgrounds. their experiences related to their higher education and social mobility varies in eastern, western, northern and southern parts of 390 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 india. first generation-dalit women from northern and eastern india struggled hard to secure higher education. they had to face poverty and patriarchal bias from their home and relatives. family believed that if the boy /their brother pursued higher education, then it would benefit the family. patriarchal approach towards the education of girls is gradually changing as well. on the contrary, second and third generation dalit women from western and southern india are able to attain higher education and jobs. instead of dire financial status, dalit women are able to convince their parents regarding the importance of higher education. babasaheb ambedkar and anti-caste icons from respective regions influence their educational aspirations. mothers of dalit women from south and western india think that higher education provides dignity and financial autonomy for their daughters. some of the dalit women resisted early marriage and migrated from their village to urban areas in search of higher education and jobs. most of these dalit women were influenced by groups of anti-caste activists who introduced them to radical, anti-caste literature during their student days in urban areas. financial insecurity affected their higher education. some of them had to drop out and were forced to work for one or two years. some among them did part-time/informal jobs in addition to their regular education. however, they recognized that theory is essential for praxis. it made them actively become part of democratic forms that engaged with the social and political articulations of women. despite their inhibition they articulated their issues in front of a public audience. the political interventions of dalit women became problematic for their upper caste women colleagues in the department of women’s and gender studies. upper caste women faculty members in such departments opined that dalit women academicians are getting academic jobs only due to reservation policy. dalit women academicians who work as contractual faculty also expressed the professional insecurity. they are not shortlisted for regular jobs for the unreserved-academic teaching jobs. they also said that special recruitment for scheduled caste-academic positions is also not taking place in many universities. therefore, they are forced to undergo certain forms of precarity due to caste-driven educational systems. those who work as contractual faculty have to undergo awkward catsteist behaviour from the permanent/regular-upper caste women faculty members. dalit faculty members position women’s and gender studies as an epistemic space that strengthens praxeology (bourdieu 1996: 139). they also pointed out that one should not detach theory from practice and further argued that these women’s and gender studies departments depart from the usual literary, social sciences and humanities approaches that are obsessed with the high forms of theory. focus on one particular discipline cannot initiate larger social and political transformation. it is also noted that faculty members who are from the discipline of english language and literature reduce the women’s and gender studies to that of debates related to literature. moreover, their approaches towards women’s studies resonate some of the rare voices that emerged in the context of the interlinkages between english literature and women’s studies in india (rajan 2008: 66–71). however, women’s studies and gender studies have the potential to challenge the ascribed identities. it can challenge the dictates of a patriarchal social raving with equality? on protean forms of caste and gender 391 system. a majority of dalit women academicians therefore argue that interdisciplinary approaches can engage with the changing social, political and economic realities. at the same time, they critiqued the ironical nature of the gap between the theoretical dimensions and praxis inherent in the women’s/gender studies discourse in india. they are skeptical about the so-called radical claims of the women’s movement in india. the egalitarian nature of the social sciences in the midst of the arguments for theory against empirical approaches is already contested in india (guru 2002: 5003– 5009). it led to debates on the necessity of doing theory and engaging with praxis in the backdrop to the dalits and social sciences in india. dalit women academicians thus examine the disciplinary and institutional nuances of the field of brahminic women’s and gender studies. work space in the midst of caste most dalit women academicians agreed that they face caste discrimination on day-to-day basis from their upper caste women colleagues. upper caste colleagues usually make caustic comments related to lower caste location, lack of merit, physical appearance, body language, complexion of dalit women. they also maintain norms of purity and pollution by avoiding dalit women colleagues during lunch hours. dalit women expressed this as a heinous extension of commensality in the so-called, modern higher educational institutions. consequently, their colleagues often say that dalit women academicians challenge the stereotypes of dalits. dalit women academicians consider this oppressive attitude of their upper caste colleagues as anti-constitutional in nature. they observed that dalit faculty members from other departments only support them to fight against a caste-based educational order. through the experiences of the dalit women academicians from the northern-eastern region, it can be noted that acute caste-based discrimination is central to the educational spaces of those regions in comparison to that of the southern and western regions. they further noted that dalit women academicians who are renowned for their academic achievement have to face severe forms of caste discrimination. upper caste faculty members cannot even tolerate their physical presence. dalit women faculty also share about their limitations. they said that newly joined faculty cannot fight against the caste discrimination due to their period of probation. their assertion thus is curtailed in various ways. sarah jane aiston and chee kent fo argued that academic women are forced to undergo certain forms of silence due to the complex links between the social, political and institutional, oppressive structures (aiston & chee 2020). caste-based discrimination has been acquiring new forms and twists in their academic life. upper caste colleagues maintain constant surveillance over those dalit women academicians who publish in reputed academic journals/books and receive fellowships, awards and so on. dalit women academicians also described how upper caste women faculty members from women’s and gender studies write on dalit studies, dalit feminism and related debates at the national/international level and simultaneously exploit and discriminate the labor and perspectives of the dalit women academicians. they even harass junior dalit women 392 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 academicians rather than encouraging their educational pursuits. caste thus recurs and haunts the life opportunities of dalit women academicians. it is exhausting for them to explain the subtle and varied nature of such discrimination. sarah jane aiston and chee kent fo theorized that such a stage of inexplicable dilemma is an extension of micro-inequities. these are the moments of silencing or inequities that operate at the higher level of inequity in the academic-work place. it is posited as something that cannot be proved and tangible in its expositions (aiston & chee 2020). caste thus has engulfed departments and educational spaces in multiple ways. among twenty interviews, one dalit faculty member shared her experience of caste. it occurred around 11’o clock, august 2014 when she had to go to an upper caste faculty member’s room for official work. the senior upper caste faculty who was present there remarked to another junior upper caste faculty, “oh these chuda chamars (an abusive term used for the lower castes in north india) are entering into academic jobs”. that incident shocked her. she waited for the head of the department, a lady from an upper/dominant caste-class location to inform her about the behavior of the colleague. after narrating her experience to the head of the department, hardly any disciplinary action was taken against them and neither was any effort made to make them understand that they should behave in a civilized manner. the head of the department requested the dalit academician to forgive them rather than lodging a complaint against them. the dalit academician cited ambedkar’s pioneering work, annihilation of caste in which ambedkar argues that, “caste is a notion; it is a state of the mind. the destruction of caste does not mean the destruction of a physical barrier. it means a notional change” (ambedkar 1979: 68). administration in upper caste ways dalit women academicians criticized the dearth of proper mechanisms through which they can register their grievances. they said that complaints related to caste-based discrimination and harassment had to go through the head of the department in many departments and forwarded to further divisions. a vicious nexus of administration division based mostly on upper caste are able to manipulate various bodies and committees. in order to support the faculty members who indulge in caste-based discrimination, they include a dalit faculty member who is not bothered about the dalit question as head of the committee. thus, they force the dalit academicians to withdraw the complaint. a majority of departments are dominated by upper casteclasses women and men with cultural and social capital. therefore, upper castes are able to flaunt their vested interests at the curricular and administrative levels. in case of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, faculty members are appointed only due to affirmative action in india (neelakandan 2022). neelakandan analyzed that inclusion of dalits through reservation policies/affirmative action coexists with the exclusiondiscrimination based on caste in higher education. caste-based academic networks of upper caste academicians thus reaffirm the primitive caste ideology and related practices. however, dalit women academicians from maharashtra, tamil nadu and raving with equality? on protean forms of caste and gender 393 kerala actively engage with the politics around institutions and disciplines, issues of discrimination, justice and so on. some have sought legal assistance. they also mentioned the delayed justice associated with cases of caste discrimination. the institutional cultures of othering, forces them to reflexively engage with their own social location and larger community. dalit women academicians also acknowledged that some intellectuals from their communities shaped their worldviews and prepared them to fight any form of injustice. they provoked the dalit women academicians to challenge academic caste-class privileges. dalit women academicians compare them with the highly articulate, academicians from privileged caste-class backgrounds. they argue that such dominant academicians are the epitome of academic double standards. the dissonance between the public and private interventions of the upper-dominant caste-class academics functions through their denial of caste in the public space and practicing/believing the caste at their personal level. they are able to position themselves as progressive in the public space. they gain such authority through the figure of “public intellectuals”. the public is contaminated with the ideology of caste and they are able to maintain their caste-based power and hierarchy with the academicians from lower castes. further, some of the casteist, conservative faculty members claim themselves as socialist and marxist feminists. they also claim their expertise to teach and research on dalit politics, dalit studies, and gender studies. dalit women academicians consider it as their choice. but they opine that one must be inquisitive about their political predicaments. therefore, dalit women academicians need to question the nature of their politics. aren’t they just portraying themselves as progressive academicians by claiming their expertise in women’s/ gender studies and dalit studies? why are these upper/dominant caste faculties not able to come out of their casteist and patriarchal mentalities? how does a so-called politically conscious academic operate in a complex, caste-ridden indian academic scenario? how do they dilute the legacy of feminist politics and struggles? dalit women academicians thus constantly question the opportunist tendencies of the upper caste academicians. classroom conspiracies the upper caste colleagues usually question the writings that challenge the relations of caste, gender and knowledge. the head of the department usually tease dalit women academicians by saying that courses lack quality and comment that students are unhappy with their courses. often, they instigate students from their own (upper) caste against the dalit faculty members. faculty members and students from upper caste backgrounds consider such courses based on the issues and experiences of marginalized sections as threatening to their dominant-caste based identity/existence. upper caste academicians also use upper caste students as spies to monitor the activities of dalit academicians. upper caste students are provoked by the debates on mahatma jotiba phule and b.r. ambedkar. brahmin students thus stopped attending such courses and argued that the department of women’s studies promotes an anti-caste ideology. the 394 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 radical potential of women’s and gender studies are subverted through the casteist ideology and practices of both upper caste academicians and students. dalit women academicians, in the earlier phase of their careers hoped that women’s and gender studies departments may challenge caste and gender related power structures. they critiqued that such departments are in fact brahmanic in their social composition and ideology. upper caste academicians who specialise on dalit questions block the entry of the dalit women candidates to teaching positions. they shared their fear about the solidarity and intellectual interventions of dalit women academicians. a dalit woman academician recalled how she was badly treated by an upper caste colleague for raising the issues of dalit women at a conference organized by indian association of women’s studies. they are alienated from such forums and argue that dalit women should initiate separate academic platforms. they asserted the need to create a network with established scholars from the dalit community and the mere assertion of upper caste academicians on the basis of their postcolonial and marginalized status in the developed countries’ academic arenas will not transform the discipline without annihilating the caste educational culture in india. therefore, they believe that women’s and gender studies should move beyond such conceptual ghettoization. dalit women academicians also said that upper caste colleagues are least bothered about atrocities against dalit women. many faculty remembers faced stiff opposition from their colleagues during the introduction of the course designed by them on several themes and as part of including dalit studies. the dalit teachers have a different and critical approach towards the syllabus designed by the upper caste faculty members. ethical dimensions of such a radical project by dalit women academics impact the nature of pedagogy as well. it leads to critical thought of such projects. such pedagogy should have the pedagogical and philosophical practices that are critical to the intersections of caste and gender. the divide between theory and practice can be a misapprehension (villaverde 2008: 121). whether dalit women academicians are able to initiate political discussion about gender and caste remains a major challenge in the so-called world of objective scholarship. they believe that it should also withdraw from anti-intellectualism through critical perspectives. personal is political dalit women academicians also exposed the rhetoric of sisterly politics used by upper caste academicians in women’s and gender studies department. many of them said that upper caste women academicians make personal remarks and intrude into personal lives. one of the interviewees described how she has chosen to remain childless. as a result, an upper caste woman academician taunted her that women who do not produce children cannot understand motherhood, care and affection. this incident shows the persistence of brahmanic-oriented heterosexual approach that mocks the dalit woman academician’s choice to be childless. reiterating that upper castes are not going to transform their oppressive behavior, they should not preach ethics and morality to raving with equality? on protean forms of caste and gender 395 dalits. an upper caste academician’s writings on dalits are tailored according to the interests of market. dalit women academicians are aware of such intellectual pretensions. thus, dalit women academicians reflect on the ambedkarian premise that debunk the lack of ethics in a caste-based society. they reflect on the future of dalit feminism through its conceptual innovations and larger networks across the oppressed communities. they also visualise that reflexivity is essential to rearticulate the postcolonial, diasporic, intersectionality approaches. they are conscious of a circulation of caste-based logic that constantly challenges the competency of dalit women academicians. dalit women academicians unveil the manner in which upper caste academicians suppress the distinct voices of dalit women academicians. they argued that the language of civil society has appropriated the language of women’s and gender studies. research on india probed how civil societal discourse has culminated in depoliticizing the real social and political struggles (harris 2002). dalit women academicians critiqued the functioning of women’s and gender studies departments in particular and social science departments in general according to the ideology of global economic and developmental organizations. further, they observed that funding has impacted the critical edge of women’s and gender studies. upper caste women’s and gender studies scholars exhibit certain othering and patronising approaches towards the dalits. such dominant caste scholars typecast dalit women as individuals who don’t know feminism. dalit feminists lampooned such upper caste scholars who violate the spirit of feminist ideas and principles. they further said that a majority of upper caste scholars consider themselves as having expertise on all social and political issues. they opined that the university as an institution protects the interests of upper/dominant castes. in addition to the harassment of dalit women academicians, they hamper the academic potential of dalit students. hegemonic academic culture thus reproduces diverse patterns of discrimination. it is noted that, “…despite all the regulatory mechanisms, sc/st students are coerced to kill themselves on various campuses with unfailing regularity. the pristine imagination of the socially dominant communities exhibits a blind spot when it comes to dalit-bahujans co-inhabiting their elite habitus. these gatekeepers are adept at extinguishing any tremors in their spotless spaces and the transgressors are often shown the door in many subtle ways” (sukumar 2023: 171). therefore, one can argue that the retrogressive ideology of upper caste women negates the presence of dalit woman in seemingly theoretically radical spaces of women’s and gender studies. dalit women academicians also show that upper caste academicians are against the entry of dalit candidates to doctoral studies. upper caste teachers who select dalit doctoral candidates also discriminate against them throughout their research. it further destroys the academic growth of dalit women doctoral students. upper caste teachers thus obstruct the dalit women students and their teaching career. dalit academicians argued that conceptual transformations in the field of postcolonial, diasporic, intersectionality approaches should overcome the logic of victimization. dalit women academicians admit their constraints related to their personal spaces. they expressed how they learnt the keywords related to women’s and gender studies 396 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 through their shift from their non-academic spaces to that of academic spaces. they further commented that upper caste women academicians consider dalit women’s articulations as ingrained in identity politics. thus, dalit women academicians argue that upper caste academicians deny the existence of caste to oppress dalit women. such a position enables them to justify their caste dominance. upper caste colleagues harass them by allocating extra teaching hours and tedious administrative work. they create problems for the promotion of dalit women teachers by not allowing them to attend refresher and orientation courses. some dalit women academicians recollected how the head of the department would shout at them in the presence of other faculty members. non-dalit academic staff are recruited to teach women’s studies courses. at the same time, dalit women visiting faculty members receive insults from regular/ visiting upper caste faculty members. relations of social location within academic space have to be examined in relation to the continuities and discontinuities of academic communities and disciplines. theoretical possibilities and challenges epistemic priority of dalit feminist critique demonstrates that dalit feminists can produce authentic perspectives of the dalit women’s realities. questions of the dalit women-women’s/gender studies academicians can be looked at in the light of capabilities approach and intersectionality. these critical theoretical approaches probed to explicate the existential and epistemic specificities of dalit women academicians. the capabilities approach is studied as one that espouses gender equality in the western context. capabilities can be deployed to scrutinize inequalities and therefore the wellbeing of women from the oppressed castes has to be read against the cultural and social capital of upper/dominant caste women. the capability approach, for robeyns, challenged the conventional social science readings that impact the lives of the people. it is observed that amartya sen’s approach could shift meaningfully away from the reductionist understanding of consumption and social mobility. a feminist is analyzed as one who has the potential to understand the women/gender question beyond financial welfare and there as one who can initiate a dialogue with capabilities approach. robeyns delineates how gendered inequality can be interpreted via the capability approach. based on capabilities approach, it can be argued that unfreedom and gender inequality embedded in caste enslave the dalit women academicians. amartya sen regards freedom as a central idea of capability to analyze gender inequality (sen, cited in robeyns 2003: 62). the category of capability is also critiqued by arguing that amartya sen has not enlisted the capability which is essential to judge inequality (robeyns 2003: 62). wellbeing and inequality can be assessed through the ethically individualistic and non-individualistic essence of the capability approach (ingrid, cited in robeyns 2003: 65). ethics is absent in a caste-based society. caste-based atrocities prove that caste-based order does not give any space and scope to ethics. however, amartya sen has criticized readings on inequality that underestimate diverse people with the same raving with equality? on protean forms of caste and gender 397 utility functions. those approaches therefore underestimate the social differences as well (sen, cited in robeyns 2003: 66). indeed, the social differences-based reading of capabilities approach has to take cognizance of the specificity of dalit women’s social worlds. robeyns analysed (dalit) women as individuals who need to be studied in the backdrop of the peculiar forms of capability and impending inequality (robeyns 2003: 62). along the lines of the capability approach, one can argue that dalit women academicians face diverse problems in the market and non-market spaces (robeyns 2003: 66). robeyns calls for a feminist capability approach that does not ignore the interlinked nature of the gendered dimensions of society. such reading departs from nussbaum’s perspectives that invite a definite list of capabilities. martha nussbaum’s reading imagines a universal theory of good that unanswered the question of culture and context (robeyns 2003: 68). it discusses the colonizing undercurrents of universalizing the language of justice (nussbaum 1999: 229). thus, the universal approach in the capabilities approach is helpful to evaluate the capabilities and inequality of dalit women. the idea of liberty should have access to the material realm to articulate the rights. what happens to the rights of the dalit women in the social and political worlds of caste and democracy? economic empowerment has the role of providing liberty to different sections of people (nussbaum 1999: 230). caste determines the capital formation and caste-class equations shun the possibility of the economic mobility of the dalit women in particular and dalits in general. combined capabilities, for nussbaum, have to be achieved through securing institutional and material spaces. human choice and freedom have the potential to guard traditional rights and liberties. wellbeing is nourished through political rights (nussbaum 1999: 238). as discussed earlier, dalit women’s assertions are being monitored in caste-based, patriarchal, superior worlds. women have to confront unequal levels of capability that threaten their justice (nussbaum 1999: 243). justice for dalit women is negated at different levels. dalit women academicians thus have different social and political trajectories that are ideologically different from the overall, homogenous dominant caste women located women’s/gender studies theoretical project. their assertions therefore carry a distinct theoretical character. in addition, to the questions of capabilities, the social spaces of dalit women academicians in women’s/gender studies also asserts the necessity to articulate the intersections that determine their social and political worlds. dalit feminists restate the relations of caste, class, gender, and patriarchy. the intersections of subjugated social location and identities within the dominant ideological frameworks demonstrate the complexities of oppressed lives. intersectionality can be invoked here to rethink the academic pursuits of dalit women academics. race and gender linked to inequality have become central to the global research on race. it is analyzed that black women cannot isolate themselves and they have to fight at multiple levels (simien 2004: 84). kimberlé crenshaw (1991) argues that social power that explains difference may empower the oppressed categories. it is emphasized that the tensions between identity politics and dominant conceptions of social justice led to the marginalization of race and gender. the problem with identity politics is that it is not 398 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 able to map the nuances of intersecting multiple identities. it is perceived that feminist and anti-racist assertions could not grapple with the intersectional social locations ingrained in the lives of women of color. it is opined that the “black community must move away from the position of singular activism for the good of the movement” (robinson, cited in simien 2004: 85). black feminism fights against sexism, racism, gendered oppression, and heterosexism as part of the project of social justice rather than polarizing the movement (ransby, cited in simien 2004: 85). crenshaw demonstrates the nature of structural intersectionality and probes how the identity of women about race and gender determines the experiences of black women and argues that feminist and antiracist groups have sidelined the issues of violence connected to women of color through political intersectionality. the construction of culture in the lives of black women is explored through the category of representational intersectionality. she stated that these identities intersect and offer possibilities to question internal and external hierarchies. thus, it helps us move beyond the identity of the community (crenshaw 1991: 1241–1299). praxis in this direction should reflect on the life situations and life chances of the marginalized sections (crenshaw 1989: 168) critiques to intersectional theory have found their place in conceptions and praxis related to mental health. intersectional wellbeing and theoretical takes on social justice are being explored through an assemblage of conceptual realms and decolonial intersectionality (warner, kuritis & adya 2020: 1–16). critiques are also pointed out as the politics of violence, interpretive violence, and hermeneutic marginalization (may 2014: 94–112). black feminists have studied racism and sexism but paid little attention to a marxist understanding of oppression and exploitation (smith 2013-2014). dalit women’s questions cannot be equated with the political struggles of black women. black feminists are far advanced in their theoretical and politic approaches. dalit feminists have to engage with theoretical positions of intersectionality to foreground the peculiar nature of the social and the political spaces that decide the mobility of dalit women. if subjugation happens through the intersections in the context of caste and gender like that of race and gender, it is possible to have such comparative readings related to caste, race and gender questions. intersectional theorists have addressed the question of caste and dalits in india. in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, particularly in writings of mahatma phule, b.r. ambedkar, savitribai phule, mukta salve and tarabai shinde show the intersections of caste, class and gender. moreover, the critique on intersectionality needs to be recognized as well. for instance, patricia hill collins and sirma bilge critiqued the reductionist approach towards intersectional approaches. it is investigated that there is a tendency to reduce the intersectional approach to nations of north america and europe. they argue that how scholars from india are using the intersectional approaches while explaining the anti-caste activism of savitribai phule. they also mapped the intersections of the global, social movements among dalits and other oppressed sections. intersectional approach is researched in the context of the intersectional positions on the assertions of dalit women (kannabiran, cited in collins & bilge 2020: 159). social reproduction of labor and its precarious nature of day-to-day livelihood can be traced to the intersections raving with equality? on protean forms of caste and gender 399 of caste and gender in the context of dalit women laborers (raman 2020). besides, dalit women academicians revitalise the big questions of capabilities and intersections related to caste and gender in the indian context. dalit feminist approaches have to return to the narratives of the dalit women academicians to grapple with their epistemic-existential predicaments. conclusion dalit women academicians’ accounts debunk how women’s and gender studies in india are reproducing the ideology of caste. it delves into the rhetorical space of upper caste women scholars who use the educational institutions to maintain their caste-based power. dalit women scholars thus interrogate the women’s and gender studies’ embedded realm within the larger space of brahminic academic patriarchy and consequential erosion of sisterly politics. they theorise how their life chances are being curtailed through systemic caste-perpetuating, public institutions. the contemporary educational policy regime leverages the privatized educational monopoly and its consequential erosion of reservation policies. they also have to challenge the ideology and power structures related to socially regulated economiceducational orders. economic and cultural injustices are analyzed in the context of social politics of redistribution and cultural politics of recognition (fraser 2008: 43). the political economy of contemporary education and caste-gender conflicts in the context of the shift from the public to private educational institutions also constrict the epistemic and political assertions of dalit women academics. the right to education and social mobility of lower caste women academicians in a caste-based, patriarchal world strangely coexists with the changing forms of state and law. therefore, accumulation of cultural and social capital by these academicians is being obstructed in multiple ways. the agency of such minor sections of dalit women academicians in the larger context of the legacy of anti-caste movements offer a certain utopia to scuttle the caste, gender and patriarchy within the discipline and academic spaces. at the same time, the remnants of caste-based patriarchy prompt them to remain as cynics. dalit women academicians thus initiate dialectical engagement with social reproduction through public-privatized educational spaces. acknowledgements i thank anonymous reviewers and the editorial team members for valuable insights and comments. 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(2008). feminist theories and education. new york: peter lang. warner, leah, tugce kurtis and akansha adya (2020). navigating criticisms of intersectional approaches: reclaiming intersectionality for global social justice and well-being. women & therapy, vol. 43, issue 3–4, pp. 1–16. © 2023 tausif ahmad. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 92–108 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.401 politics of recognition and caste among muslims: a study of shekhra biradari of bihar, india tausif ahmad1 abstract the caste system among muslim society has long been an ignorant point of debate in academia. but in recent times it emerged as a thoughtful discourse. the sociological study finds that muslim society of india is divided into three major social groups, ashraf, ajlaf, and arzal. most muslims of india belong to the latter two groups. the present study is an attempt to give an insight into an arzal caste known as shekhra. shekhra has an occupational history of bone picking. the article will discuss how the struggle for social recognition harmed their demand for redistributive justice (reservation). they have been included in the central obc and in ebc in bihar. however, later, reservation has been denied because of their self misrecognition as sheikh biradari. the study is an attempt to explore the reasons behind it and suggests the possible way to find a solution. keywords muslim, caste, ashraf, ajlaf, shekhra, sheikh, recognition, reservation introduction the concept of social justice in independent india has long been limited mainly to the landless and underprivileged people within non-muslim society. the social hierarchy and division within muslim society were not considered urgent and serious themes of study. for instance, social categories such as pasmanda and dalit muslim have not been accepted as part of social and academic discourse in india. albeit, in hindu society, categories like dalits and obcs have been studied rigorously, and a large volume of literature has been produced so far. due to the politicisation of lower caste followed by intellectual discourse, the problems and concerns related to the obcs and dalits were considered a serious category for social and public policy. as a result, the 1ph.d. research scholar, department of political science, school of social science, indira gandhi national open university, new delhi, india email: tausif.ahmad12@gmail.com politics of recognition and caste among muslims: a study of shekhra biradari of bihar, india 93 subaltern groups mentioned earlier have benefited in comparison to the dalit muslim and pasmanda muslim. in indian muslim society, besides the fact that nowhere in their sacred texts (the qur’an and hadith) does the implication of social stratification exist, they have been practicing the caste system over the years, which they usually call “biradari” (ahmad, 1978, p. 256). on the one hand, they amplify the notion of masawat (equality) in the religious realm, but on the other hand, in the societal realm, there are castes that matter the most. according to imtiaz ahmad, they are not like the hindu caste system. they occupy a middle ground between islam’s egalitarian principle and the very structure of indian muslim society. imtiaz ahmad dubbed them “caste-like features.” (ibid.) muslim society in india is divided into three distinct caste groups.1 the first is ashraf (noble), which comprises foreign-origin muslims from arab countries, iran, turkey, afghanistan, and others, including the native converts from upper-caste hindus like brahmans, rajputs, kayasthas, and others (ansari, 1960). the ashraf category has four castes, namely syed, sheikh, mughal, and pathan. the syed and sheikh tend to relate themselves to the arabs, whereas the rest of the two caste groups, mughal and pathan, consider themselves of central asian and afghan origin (ahmad, 1967). these ashraf groups are usually, but not necessarily, landowners, religious leaders, and political leaders as well. the second category is notably known as ajlaf (lowly), which comprises clean occupational castes. this category includes various castes such as ansari, rayeen, mansoori, saifi, qureshi, and others. the third and lowest one is the arzal (excluded), which is somehow the equivalent of hindu dalits.2 in this category, castes like, halalkhor, nat, pamaria, hajjam, dhobi, and other unclean occupational castes are included. although earlier, some studies had been done on lower-caste muslims in the context of bihar. there has been scarce anthropological studies done on individual muslim castes. and as far as shekhra biradari is concerned, no socio-political and anthropological study has been conducted. this article is willing to fill those academic gaps. alongside, the article also aims to engage with the politics of recognition critically. the central question here is about the struggle for recognition and redistribution of the shekhra biradari of bihar. for a long time, the shekhra caste, which used to do menial jobs, was despised, and misrecognised by the society. 1it is important to note here that the three-caste group first recognised in the 1901 census in muslim society. however, it recogmises arzals quoting that, ‘those muslims with which no other mohammadens wants to associate them’. meanwhile, the same happened in later censuses till the 1931 census. because after this there was no caste census done. later, after independence, the first backward commission kaka kalelkar commission followed the census of 1901 and accepted the first two caste groups among muslims ashraf and ajlaf. however, in 1990 after the implementation of the mandal commission, the three caste groups among muslims got legitimised. 2see the detailed study on different castes in, ansari, gaus. muslim castes in uttar pradesh. lucknow: ethnographic and fol culture society uttar pradesh, 1960. anwar, ali. msawat ki jung: pasemanjar bihar ke pasmanda musalmaan. (in hindi) new delhi: vaani prakashan, 2001. and, ansari, ashfaq h. (ed.) 2007, basic problems of obcs and dalit muslims, serial publishers: delhi. 94 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 because of the demeaning treatment they received from society, they changed their social identity from shekhra to sheikh, because shekhra is a demeaning identity that does not receive proper respect, since lack of due respect inflicts harm and self-hatred (taylor, 1991, 1994). social recognition is the essential element of one’s idea of self for due recognition, which, according to taylor, is “a vital human need” (ibid., p. 25). the lack of social recognition compelled shekhras to change their identity and call themselves “sheikh.” the latter question intersects with the former because of the dilemma on their self-identity of becoming someone else; they are confronted with the challenge of redistribution (reservation). the politics of redistribution claimed by nancy fraser is about claims that lower castes make to get their share of economic opportunities through policies such as reservation in public institutions (singh, 2020). shekhra, being a bone collector, was not only demeaned by society but also kept resourceless, uneducated, and unemployed. according to nancy fraser, the politics of recognition and redistribution is a claim of social justice (fraser, 2003). she believes that combining recognition and redistribution completes the concept of social justice. according to fraser, without redistribution, there would be no recognition, and without redistribution, recognition would not do any good.3 the same line of argument is fit for the shekhra biradari. this article primarily deals with the origin of shekhra biradari, their social position and their struggle for recognition and redistribution. furthermore, this article shows that how contradictory have become these two aspects of recognition and redistribution for the shekhra biradari? the article is part of my ongoing doctoral research work. the issue of shekhra biradari came before me during the fieldwork for my theses in vishshariya village of bhargama block of araria district, which was conducted between september 2019 and february 2020. the whole debate, discussion, and argument are based on the personal interviews conducted with some of the most important people in shekhra biradari and the documents, letters, and notes provided by them. the shekhra biradari: brief discussion on origins of the community irrespective of ample studies concerning the muslim caste system, anthropological studies on different muslim castes still face the challenges of minimal resources. the shekhra community is one such community with a dubious past and no written documents. however, they try to find their linkage in different documents and records. shekhra (also written as shaikhda or shaikhra and also known as gujarati sheikh) is a muslim community in gujarat, also found in the districts of ahmadabad and baroda, that is known for its devotees of the sufi preacher bala shah.4 according 3nancy fraser proposes in her book “redistribution or recognition? a political-philosophical exchange” a “perspective dualist” analysis that casts the two categories as co-fundamental and mutually irreducible dimensions of justice. for details see the ‘introduction’. 4gazzeteer of bombay presidency, vol. ix, part. ii, government central press, bombay, 1899. pp. 69–70 politics of recognition and caste among muslims: a study of shekhra biradari of bihar, india 95 to azeemuddin, the shekhra of seemanchal migrated from gujarat,5 but they do not believe in any relation between the shekhra of seemanchal and the gujarati sheikh or shekhra. there are probably two reasons for this. the gujarati sheikh or shaikhda never practiced bone picking, and the shekhra of seemanchal do not believe in the bala shah, in whom the gujarati shaikhda has faith. while searching the words shekhra/shekhda/shaikhda/shaikhra on the internet, nothing is found about this caste. in an online rekhta dictionary, the word shekhra (written as shaikhda) means “scornfully, son of a sheikh.”6 the shekhda/shekhra muslims of bihar must not know this meaning. however, the shekhra biradari of bihar has its own narrative about the community, which entails distinct historical roots about their origin because of its less well-recorded history. within shekhra biradari, most people do not recognise themselves as “shekhra,” but as “sheikh”. well, shekhra biradari was involved in a menial job equivalent to the hindu‘chamar’ caste in the beginning.7 this was the reason for their attempt of changing their identity from shekhra to sheikh. according to a sociological study, no caste claims that it arose from a shameful social practice, which is why castes attempt to elevate their social status through a process of social mobility instead (sinha, 2010). in other words, shekhra biradari is an “ancestorless” community (castes which have lower status or whose heredity is not prestigious)8 which is why it can be found that there is/was no interest to get to know their history, except among those who fight for their reservation. the latter is now attempting to trace the historical origin of their caste. albeit lack of records there has been some mention in different sources. for example, “punjab castes” (1916) followed the 1881 census mentioned shekhra as a ‘contemptuous diminutive of sheikh’ (ibbetson, 1916, p. 210). jabir hussain in“bihar ki pasmanda muslim abadiyan” (in urdu) also mentioned shekhra as pasmanda biradari (hussain, 1994, p. 11). sheikh wahajuddin wrote in his book, kulhaiya sheikh siddiqui ki origin (in urdu) that in 1760-70, four dynasties came to the west from bengal. a third of them settled in dehti village9 and called themselves shekhra.10 5the shekhra biradari is written in different ways everywhere. while shekhra writes himself as shekhda (in hindi), in gujarat it is written as shaikhda or shaikhra. since, here the article is about the shekhra community of seemanchal of bihar, i have used the word which is used by the bihar backward classes commission and national backward classes commission, the word is written as ‘shekhra’. 6https://rekhtadictionary.com/meaning-of-shaikhdaa 7interview with razi ahmad secretary of shekhravikasparishad, and deputy chief of jd(u) of araria in his residence on january 21, 2020. 8see details in, gillette, j.ancestorless man: the anthropological dilemma. the scientific monthly, 1943 57(6), 533-545. retrieved on march 8, 2021. from http://www.jstor.org/stable/18232. also kranath, dilip.‘caste among muslims’, in ansari, ashfaq, h. (ed.) basic problems of obc & dalit muslims, new delhi: serial publications. 2007. pp.66-87 9dehti is a village in araria districts, known for the population of shekhrabiradari 10wahajuddin, sheikh muhammad. kulah haya sheikh siddiqui ki origin. patna: the print line, 2005. 96 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 qamar shadan in his book tareekh e purnea (in urdu) also makes mention about shekhra biradari.11 except for these, there are no detailed written records about this biradari. azeemuddin, an ex-minister and mla in the bihar government (1990-1995) and the founder and chief of ‘shekhra vikas parishad’ (shekhra development council)12 addressed shekhra people in 2011 in the town hall in araria district and delivered his presidential speech. in this speech, he elaborated on the origin of the biradari. here is a translation (by the author) of the written version of his speech.13 according to him, the history of shekhra caste in araria district dates to the era of aurangzeb when saif khan was made a faujdar of purnea at the request of nawab murshid quli khan of bengal. the army that came with him included the soldiers of gujarat and the shekhra caste of gujarat also came in the area of purnea whose original profession was to collect bones and work as a beggar. going into the depths of history, the roots of shekhra caste go through gujarat and punjab and north-western border province. in the book of h.a. rose in a glossary of the tribes and castes of punjab and imperial gazetteer of india, punjab vol. ii indicate that the profession of ‘chuhra,’14 the hindu slum caste of punjab, was to choose bones and act as a beggar and many of them converted to islam. the shekhra community has its origins in this chuhra caste, a branch of which is still found in ahmedabad and baroda in gujarat. shekhra caste is specifically mentioned in satish c. mishra’s, muslim communities in gujarat. it is possible that some shekhra families, along with soldiers from gujarat, reached purnea during saif khan’s time. after defeating bir shah of birnagar,15 when saif khan started to rule the area of purnea, he also populated the shekhra caste here.” shekhra vikas parishad’s proposal notes state that, “the shekhra caste is socially, economically, educationally, and politically backward, depressed, exploited, and marginalised due to working menial jobs, resulting in this arzal caste being kept separate from society’s mainstream. on account of the ancestral profession of collecting the bones of dead animals, they have been considered an abomination.” 11shadan, qamar. taareekh e purnea (in urdu) qamar nizami ma’roof ganj, gaya, patna: city print bihar, 1991. 12shekhra vikas parishad (shekhra development council) founded by ex-minister of bihar azeemuddin in 1993 for the movement in support of the reservation of the shekhra biradari. the organization continues to work and fight the new challenges that have emerged after this but could not find solutions. 13his speech is available in pamphlet form in hindi, translated by the author. 14report on the census of punjab taken on february 17 1881, para 295 part iv, p.154. there is a mention of chuhra caste, but no mention of bone collecting but scavenging. however, there was also muslim chuhra caste. 15the problem is with the shekhra community of araria district, but mostly the people of bhargama block suffer more of this. since this study is based on bhargama block, the discussion of birnagar is also needed because birnagar is a village in bhargama block. politics of recognition and caste among muslims: a study of shekhra biradari of bihar, india 97 besides this, there is another oral narrative of the history of this caste. according to the narration,16 they were initially and originally ‘bone collectors’. the word shekhra originated from the word “seeker” which means ‘bone’ thus, the collector of bones called ‘seekra’, which eventually turns into the shekhra.17 the word transformation from ‘seekra’ to ‘shekhra’ is also an influence of ‘sheikh’.18 the work of bone collecting is considered a demeaning job as per the conventions of society. hence, they were kept out of mainstream society and forced to live on the outskirts of their villages. they have continuously migrated from one place to another, but eventually settled in araria district. most of them gradually left their traditional occupation as the demand for bones declined over time, and they shifted to other occupations. many sociological writings have corroboted this shift of occupation by lower castes over time. archana sinha wrote about the traditional occupational caste, elucidating that “during british colonial rule, the rigidity of the indian caste system was withering. different castes were being inculcated in every field of work, but not in the organised sectors” (sinha, 2010). however, after they leave their conventional job of picking up bones and choose another kind of occupation, it cannot get them into better socioeconomic conditions, despite the fact that their educational, economic, and political conditions have worsened. however, as they transitioned from their traditional occupation of bone collecting to mainstream society, they began to refer to themselves as “sheikhs” rather shekhra in order to elevate their social status. the ‘sheikh’ and the process of “sheikhisation” among various muslim castes the sociological fact is that communities have no permanent identities, and these identities are constantly changing. caste and communities in india have no biological basis but have been given assumed identities and hierarchies based on social and political grounds. with the passage of time, the identities of various castes, tribes, and communities changed. castes and communities that have acquired economic and political power have been able to enhance their status in the hierarchy of the caste system over time (joshi, 2015, p. 4). the phenomenon of shekhra biradari identifying as “sheikh” did not alter their sociological realities but their nomenclature. however, shekhra is not a unique case in this respect. in hindu society, there has been a practice of raising oneself or at least appearing tall, whereby the adaptation of the name, surname, lifestyle, and dialect of the upper castes has been termed ‘sanskritisation’ (srinivas, 2003). similarly, in muslim society, a group or individual’s socio-economic upward mobility has been termed as ‘ashrafisation’ (vreede-de-steurs, 1969, p. 56; 16interview with mr. ashfaque in his residence in the village vishhariya on november 27, 2019. ashfaque himself is from shekhra biradari and a teacher in vishhariya high school, in the bhargama block of araria district and is working for the reservation for shekhra. 17for the work of bone collecting, they still called by other biradari by various derogatory words like ‘haddi chunwa’ (bone pickers), and ‘haddi chussa’ (bone suckers). 18in the words of razi ahmad, secretary of shekhra vikas parishad, and deputy chief of jd (u) in araria. personal interview done on january 21, 2020 at his residence in araria. 98 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 ghosh, 2018, p. 181). the definition of ashrafisation is the process of social mobility by which people in lower positions imitate the upper caste people’s lifestyles, customs, manners, etc., so that they are placed in the upper caste category (momin, 1978, p. 141). ghaus ansari calls them pseudo-ashraf. he writes, it has been a common practice on the part of the lower caste individuals to claim ashraf descent along with a rise in socio-economic status. there are numerous instances in almost all towns of uttar pradesh where low caste persons, who have attained a higher economic status, felt it degrading to remain members of their caste. they almost always look upward on the social scale. whenever they have felt that their caste status is below their social status, they attempt to add some of the ashraf titles to their names, and then they claim ashraf descent (ansari, 1960 p. 38). ashrafisation includes certain aspects like parda practice (the islamic veil system), emphasis on dini talim (religious education), use of good urdu language, not letting women out for work, etc. (momin, 1978; hasan, 1994). ashrafisation is more about the social system than the class system, reflecting a higher economic status, which often leads to a change of either the family or biradari name (ghosh, 2018, p. 182). but here with shekhra biradari, the case is different from ashrafisation.the shekhra biradari, who had amassed wealth, education, and jobs at the time, attempted to elevate their social standing within the muslim community by naming and claiming to be sheikh. this process of struggling for social recognition i call “sheikhisation.”19 why have i called it sheikhisation? there are various reasons for this. sheikhisation is a less intense process than ashrafisation. ashrafisation is meant to be a cultural or value aspect that sheikhisation is not. sheikhisation is beyond ashrafisation in a sense that it does not necessarily acquire the value or cultural traits of ashraf muslims, but it claims to be one of them, e.g. sheikh. in this process, the most common phenomenon is related to the only caste, e.g. sheikh. furthermore, here is a question as to why most of the lower caste muslims want to be called “sheikh.” sheikh is the upper caste category (ashraf), and there are about 28 sub-castes or categories among the sheikhs.20 so it is easier to claim one caste to be a sheikh than other castes, i.e., syed, mughal, and pathan. this whole process is nothing but the struggle for social recognition, because many sociological studies have revealed that the lower castes do not get the respect they want for their status of being lower caste. when they do not get their due identity two things happen on this matter, either they hide their real identity or they change it as happened in the case of shekhra. as written earlier, shekhras were bone collectors, which was a menial job. people identify them as untouchables. they were outcasted and lived outside the 19see ahmad, t. “the paint of muslim society: population, politics, and reservation”, islam and muslim societies: a social science journal, vol. 14, no. 2, 2021 20people’s group of india: discovering every tribe, nation, language and people. https:// peoplegroupsindia.com/profiles/shaikh/ politics of recognition and caste among muslims: a study of shekhra biradari of bihar, india 99 village. however, by the time they changed or left their jobs, they saw the need to change their identities as well. however, this is not the only case. the various types of literature show how lower caste people attempted to claim the title of sheikh at the time. now the first question needs to be addressed: who is the sheikh? imtiaz ahmad writes about this caste, the word ‘sheikh’ literally means the ‘chief’ (sardar) or agua in arabic. it is used respectfully for a clan, family, or head of a family. but in india, the word has gained a relatively special meaning and is indicative of a status group. in the entire subcontinent, it is used for individuals who claim to be descendants of the arab quraish clan of prophet muhammad or a close companion or friend (sahaba) of the prophet. such persons are generally considered noble from birth in india and like syed, moguls, and pathan. like the syeds, mughals, and pathans, the sheikhs also have a very high status in the idealised system of social staging of muslims (ahmad, 1978 p. 179). in fact, “sheikh” comes just after the syed in the hierarchy. it is also noteworthy that the sheikh is not a caste in itself; it is divided into many different sub-groups (ibid., p. 181). those who are trying to identify themselves as “sheikhs” are probably unaware of this. in the below section, i will discuss some examples of sheikhisation among low-caste muslims cited by different scholars and authors. buchanan accounts of 1809–10 stated that the “low fellows” among the muslims “tend to assume the title sheikh, implying highly coveted arab origin” (buchanan, 1928). according to satish c. mishra, the term “sheikh” can cover a community of no definite origin; more precisely, since an individual can call himself a sheikh and this epithet can be claimed by any person of uncertain caste, a group of persons who have no definite associations can be covered (misra, 1985, p. 115). imtiaz ahmad writes about the lower castes’ claims to be sheikhs. the total number of persons claiming affiliation with the sheikh caste was 1300000 in 1931, and this number was 150 per cent more than those claiming the same in 1901. if we remember that no one came from arabia between 1901 and 1931, then this remarkable growth was not possible in any way other than the slow and gradual inclusion of the members of other castes in the sheikh category. the available evidence also seems to indicate that the sheikh category has always been a little too open and variable. dynamic groups seeking a new status identity have often used the sheikh category to improve their status. for example, it is easier to convince a sheikh than syed’s claim because the sheikh’s status can be easily claimed. it is essential for dynamic groups claiming a superior status to add their lineage to an arab historical figure (ahmad, 1978, p. 184). ali anwar writes, “in the 1891 gaya census report, there are only a few descendants of the early muslims who settled in india.” further information is found in the report 100 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 that mullick (oil pressure, also known as teli), who claims to be a separate sect, is completely classified as a sheikh (anwar, 2001, p. 98).21 he further writes that, weavers are prominent among the muslims of the lower line. most of them demand the wrongful right be included in the sheikh caste. in the same book, he further writes,“in 1911, the census officer of bihar, referring to the flood of records in this regard, wrote that the weight of the applications seeking to be graded among the upper castes in the weight of their castes was increased. this aggressive entry was seen not only among hindus but also among muslims. in the same report, it was said that between 1901 and 1911, muslim rajput suddenly started calling themselves pathan, ‘khan’ replaced ‘singh’. on the other hand, all the lower caste muslims, weavers, washermen, barbers, oil pressures, etc. started aspiring for the status of the sheikh themselves. but the muslims of the elite did not recognise him. similarly, the lower-class muslims also did not give them the recognition of high rating (ibid, p. 99).22 ayyub rayeenin his book bharat ke dalit musalman (in hindi) describes that, people of different castes in different places were also affected by an inferiority complex. many small-caste people were not able to shy away from calling themselves, sheikhs and khans. this shows that as the majority community, the caste classification within the muslim community is not only irresponsible, but the upper-class muslims also have respect in the society, due to which some small caste people are affected, instead of their original caste, ashraf muslims do not shy away from revealing caste, whereas, due to this behaviour, they do not get a reservation for backward, backward classes. he further adds that backward and extremely backward castes socially identify themselves as one of the ashraf castes. but when it comes to the government jobs and other welfare schemes, they secretly get a certificate of their original castes (rayeen, 2013 p. ii-iii).23 according to him, this is nothing but an inferiority complex that these lower castes have. mohammad sajjad writes in muslim politics in bihar: changing contours that, “henry miers elliot also confirmed this observation, saying that most of them claiming to be sheikhs were non-aryans (non-persians, non-arabs, and non-turks, that is, were local converts)” (sajjad, 2014, p. 292). this is true: “the category of sheikh is perhaps the fussiest and most fluid among the indian muslims; much lower caste muslims have entered this category” (alam, 2009). there are various studies that show similar trends among lower muslim castes. but the question is why they commit such acts. the next segment is about the same question. 21translated by author 22translated by author 23translated by author politics of recognition and caste among muslims: a study of shekhra biradari of bihar, india 101 the dichotomy of social recognition and redistributive justice the first backward commission the kaka kalelkar commission of 1955 and the bp mandal commission of 1980 placed shekhra in the category of ‘other backward classes’ because of their socio-economic condition.24 for the first time, they have given the reservation benefit in 1962 in bihar, where they have listed it in bc-i.25 after the implementation of mandal commission in 1990, shekhra biradari got listed in 1993 as bekhra instead of shekhra.26 it got corrected to shekhra in 1997.27 despite their inclusion in the purview of obc reservation, they were also involved in the struggle for recognition at a social front. in this case, recognition and redistributive justice have become conflicting. since upper castes do not fall under any reserved category, those seeking social status must leave the reservation. for social recognition, they claimed to be identifying themselves as sheikh. the discussion about why the shekhra biradari refused to identify as shekhra can be found here. the problem with the reservation which will be discussed in the segment below in shekhra biradari arose when the reservation for backward classes in the panchayat election was arranged in bihar. this is also mentioned in the press note dated february 13, 2014, issued by the shekhra development council. according to mr. razi ahmed,28 there were two candidates from mirzapur kothi (a village in forbesganj, araria) on the seats reserved for women from backward classes. one was the wife of mr. ahad, and the other was the wife of k.n. vishwas. while mr. ahad belonged to the shekhra biradari, k.n. vishwas belonged to the mandal caste (both included in the obc). the election is won by ahad’s wife, prompting k.n. biswas to write to the bihar backward classes commission, complaining that in araria, the people fighting and winning elections with shekhra caste certificates are actually a sheikh caste. “therefore, it is requested to the commission that, because of the subject’s sensitivity, the caste certificate should be given only to real shekhras after local investigation and the mention of the caste in the cadistriel survey, c.a. khatian, before issuing shekhra caste certificates.” (letter dated february 17, 2007). this leads to huge confusion within the authority; hence the authority stopped issuing certificates, saying that they would first investigate it. however, this was not a single case.29 there were multiple cases like this that went before the authority. there have been other instances of people running for office under the name shekhra biradari, only 24presidential speech of azeemuddin on february 6, 2011, at shekhra conference held by shekhra vikas parishad in town hall araria. 25in 1962 and 1964 by the welfare department (retrieved from the letter of k.n. vishwas dated 08-04-2016 and late mp of araria (2014-2018) taslimuddin, dated 28-02-2016. 26central list of obcs: state: bihar, entry list-76. http://www.ncbc.nic.in/user_panel/ gazetteresolution.aspx?value=mpicjsl1alt5iq8e5shcb9azw5zegrbykgfg48ogip4fjy6won7b1j2zce3l0ao 27http://www.ncbc.nic.in/writereaddata/9635221885460481701.pdf 28interview done on 21st january, 2020 in his residence. 29the recent similar case of vishhariya village of bhargama block is khushboo ara vs state of bihar, 31 august 2021 in the high court of judicature at patna, civil writ jusrisdiction 102 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 to discover after a complaint that he was not shekhra.30 but after a while, it involved politics, and the matter stretched both sides. since then shekhras have suffered from not having the obc certificate. many of the people i met told me that they lagged behind in the socio-economic realm because they could not get the certificate. the problem does not lie only on the outside of the community—there is also an issue within the community (biradari). the whole shekhra biradari is divided into two different dimensions. the first dimension comes from those people who have some landholding or a job or business. they are those who are less concerned with politics, government jobs or benefits of reservations, etc. they strongly claim that they are “sheikh” by caste and not shekhra, ignoring their lineage. when asked about the proof of being an upper-caste sheikh, they claimed they have a khatiyaan (landowning document) from 1954. according to that document, their ancestors had the prefix “sheikh” with their names. they even demonstrated that the prefix “sheikh” was commonly used with every name of their forefathers. when i investigated about other biradaris, it came to light that, irrespective of caste differences, every caste has used the prefix “sheikh” with their names. still, be it ansari/momin, kunjra/rayeen, jat muslims, kulhaiya, duniya/mansoori, or other castes of araria district, they all have the same prefix. however, the point to be noted is that using the “sheikh” prefix does not defy castes but is used as a courtesy title such as “sir,” “mr.,” or “shri.”31 however, they all have been added to the obc list. nonetheless, castes are denoted as “musalmaan” in that land-owning document for all muslim biradari. however, there is no evidence of such a caste in bihar. and this is a cross-caste phenomenon. just because in their documents, their ancestor’s name has the prefix of “sheikh,” they claim to recognise them as sheikh, while this claim is false. when asked about the obc reservation, they rejected it because they needed to accept their backwardness and their true identity (shekhra). on the other hand, they have to abandon the claim of sheikh. they do not want to belittle themselves at the expense of their social standing. here is the main struggle: social recognition. hence, they reject any kind of reservation. the story of shekhra is similar to that of the “kurmi” caste, who believe they are upper caste and have been degraded by obc reservation (satyendra, 2018, p. 46).32 however, because of the ground reality, a group of people from the same caste have been demanding reservation. shekhras were inducted in central obc in 1996 (entry list 76),33 but after a few years when the government discovered that these people carrying shekhra biradari certificates were not genuine shekhra but of sheikh caste, they stopped issuing certificates. the fight begins from there with those who are educated, non-land owners, and job seekers. they are those who want a reservation case no. 2408 of 2021. here is the link of full details to the case, https://indiankanoon.org/ doc/45036882/ 30similar case is related to the other panchayat of the district. see, dainik jagran, ‘shekhranahin sayyad jaatikehain mukhiya ejaz, 24 november 2012. retrieved on 22 march 2021 from https://www.jagran.com/bihar/araria-9878630.html. 31https://peoplegroupsindia.com/profiles/shaikh/. 32translated by author 33http://scbc.bih.nic.in/obclist.html. politics of recognition and caste among muslims: a study of shekhra biradari of bihar, india 103 in educational fields and jobs. they want to be recognised as a backward caste so that they can get a reservation. shekhra biradari, which was earlier used to get the obc certificate, has been stopped from getting it because it is believed and claimed by some of them that they are not shekhra because they do not do the jobs that shekhra biradari is supposed to do. meanwhile, a new dimension in this issue emerged from the political front. all such cases came up when those who already had the backward class certificate got the benefit of reservation in local elections. seats were reserved for backward castes and women in each category in the 2006 panchayat election. these factors motivate them to fight for the obc reservation. exogamous marriages are uncommon among one-another. the majority of inter-caste and biradari marriages occurred as a result of eligibility for panchayat elections. a person accepts this marriage as pure political intercourse. three such cases came up, which show that this community is divided among itself for political gain. a family wins the election of the village head with his old caste certificate; those who are denied this benefit filed a case based on the fact that the candidate is not backward but is a sheikh. on this basis, his candidacy should be canceled. according to ashfaque, three such cases have been reported so far.34 a group that has previously obtained a certificate, is doing a good job, and wants its children to benefit from it is constantly trying to ensure that the biradari is recognised and benefits as shekhra. on the other hand, some have not been able to take advantage of reservations, and they also believe that this reservation is not going to benefit much; they constantly oppose the identity of their neighborhood and village. shekhra, as a bone-picking caste, will reduce their dignity and self-respect in society. the entire community, or, say, shekhra society, is divided in this dual identity battle. according to ashfaque and aslam beg, it is true that a good chunk of the population, not all, are the descendants of shekhra biradari. those who built good houses amplify their economic status and spontaneously claim to be sheikh by the time they had earned it. because of their strong claim, the rest of the people are suffering from their exclusion from the reservation benefit. whenever there is a matter of identifying oneself, most of them claim to be sheikh, which creates conflict between them. one accuses another of impersonating a sheikh, while another accuses the first of lowering his status for the sake of reservation benefits. the problem the issue of shekhra biradari not receiving an obc certificate arose after k.n. vishwas filed a complaint with the bihar state backward classes commission in 2007, alleging that the people of bhargama block who receive an obc certificate for shekhra biradari are sheikh. however, until 2006, many people from vishhariya village and bhargama blocks had an obc certificate. but after the allegation of them being sheikh and making fake certificate in the name of shekhra, they stopped getting obc certificate. after this, the shekhra biradari began fighting for what they had 34interviw done on november 27, 2019. 104 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 lost. for example, the same person, k.n. vishwas, whose letter created the confusion, wrote a letter again on april 8, 2016 to the state commission for backward classes of bihar to issue certificates to the shekhra biradari. in this letter, he has given a detailed description of the backwardness of the community and demanded to issue obc certificates to them. this time he did so, because he was a legislative assembly candidate from the rashtrya janta dal (rjd) and was fighting from the forbesganj constituency, where a large chunk of the shekhra community resides. but still, the problem remains unsolved. as far as fighting for the rights are concerned, there are two organisation that are fully determined to get justice, shekhra vikas parishad (the shekhra development council) and the national shekhra united front. according to aslam beg, a member of the national shekhra united front and a founder of the apna adhikar party (aap), local politics is driven by caste consciousness, which is also responsible for their plight. the leaders, who are not from their caste, have been involved in stopping to get a certificate. according to aslam beg,35 to get back their rights they also went to the home secretary of bihar, amir subhani, to solve the problem, and he too gave directions to the lower authorities. but because of the local politics and the lack of will of the concerned authorities, they do not issue certificates. “as a result, our new generation of students who are studying and require reservation benefits is being harmed. there is no leadership from the community in the parliament or in the legislative assembly to raise our concerns. their struggle goes unheard due to a lack of political leadership.” razi ahmad shared an authority letter that the concerned authority gets from the department of personnel in bihar. the letter here is the last and latest. the letter mentions the issuance of a certificate to district magistrate on july 24, 2018. according to the instructions, by letter dated shekhra development council, district araria, lettersvp/04/2018, dated – 09.07.2018 attention has been drawn to the difficulties faced by the members of shekhra caste in obtaining caste certificate. including this, it is requested to take appropriate action. (photocopy) it is worth mentioning that in the circular number (9) of the departmental circular no. dated, the following records are considered appropriate for proof of caste certificate of the father/ancestor of the applicant/applicant: (9.1) revenue records (e.g. khatiyans, donations, land related documents, land related records allotted to the landless, etc.). (9.2) in case of non-availability of the records mentioned in the condica, the inspection report can also be made the basis for caste certificate, as and when the situation arises. therefore, in the provision of departmental letter number-673, dated-08.03.2011 condica-(09) laid down in the departmental circular number guide, the shekhra caste 35interview done on 27 november, 2019 in his residence in vishhariya village of bhargama block, araria district. politics of recognition and caste among muslims: a study of shekhra biradari of bihar, india 105 is not mentioned in the revenue record (i.e., muslim / muslim inscribed in place of caste). caste certificate can be issued: i. in the name of the applicant/applicant’s father, grandfather, caste certificate of shekhra caste has been issued in the past, and then the caste certificate can be issued on that basis. ii. after an investigation by the panchayat secretary, revenue staff, and zonal inspector, it will be mentioned in the report that the applicant/applicant belongs to the shekhra caste. it is recommended to issue a caste certificate. in the light of the above, the applicant/applicant should be directed to issue the shekhra caste certificate to the subordinate officers so that the candidates of the shekhra caste as per the status quo to get the certificate.’36 however, this was not the only letter issued by the higher authority, but there were several others. when i talked to the concerned authority, they said that they given explicit instructions to the lower authority (the circle officer of a block) to issue certificates to the shekhra biradari. however, even authorities are confused about the biradari because the difference between sheikh and shekhra is blurred. neither shekhra nor their neighbor from another biradari accepts them as such but “sheikh.” ashfaque points out that, “the other backward muslims do not want us to get the same benefit as they are getting. hence, the authority concluded that there is no such community, and the scenario remains the same.” mr. ashfaque and aslam beg both agree that there is a communication gap between them and authority. according to them, they have pleaded with the authority to once again conduct a survey in their community so that they can get a real picture of the biradari, but the authority refuses to do so. they claim that the problem is getting worse by the day as other block residents become aware of it. according to them, “since only this reservation is widely available to shekhras (and other backward muslims), we do not have another place to go and we must fight for this.” the main trouble is happening to the circle officer of bhargama block. nonetheless, the fact is that they are eligible to get dalit reservation for their background, but the community which was getting the benefit of obc reservation are not able to avail of it when they need it widely. conclusion to conclude, we have reached a point where we can see the dichotomy of caste or caste groups between social status (recognition) and redistributive justice (reservation). on the one hand, there is a race to prove oneself as an upper status group, whereas on the other hand, there are many groups that are fighting for the reservation. the government needs to keep a meticulous eye on this. it is their responsibility to truly identify one group. the government should not only listen to those who are justifying themselves as sheikh but also listen to those voices that are demanding social justice. this is not 36for original document which was issues in hindi, please visit https://state.bihar.gov.in/gad/ content.html?links&page=old%20circulars%20and%20notifications 106 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 the only cause; several castes earlier identified themselves as sheikh, but now are demanding the obc reservation. shekhras number almost five million in bihar and are spread across more than 145 villages,37 most of them are socially, economically, and politically weak, and under-represented. most are uneducated, and the educated ones are unemployed. they are largely labor migrants who have no choice but to migrate because they cannot find work where they were born. the national commission for backward classes has said that to prove backwardness, a lack of adequate representation in education and services could be considered. one such community is the shekhra biradari, which has significant educational and economic backwardness. their political representation is limited to local bodies. there is enormous labor migration among the community, and all are unskilled labourers. whatever survey was conducted about the shekhra biradari, it was done without a proper attitude and without caution. the shekhra people even claim that the surveyors did not inquire about all the members of society. moreover, the people they went to were the same people who do not hold back from calling themselves sheikh. they also maintain that the other communities under other backward classes (obcs) also do not want this biradari to take advantage of reservation. subsequently, these people give the impression that they are not shekhra but sheikh. the government and officials have paid little attention to the shekhra biradari movement and demands. they are not so numerous politically that their voice can reach the government. caste-based occupations did, in fact, end with the passage of time and the development of the economic system, particularly among muslims. in such a case, the shekhra biradari’s work was completed with the passage of time. but their social, economic, and political situations did not change much with time. the government and the people in power will have to take care of finding the right solution so that they do not fall prey to any kind of legal exploitation. the fact is that even today, they are living their lives only after doing petty jobs. most of the people work as daily wage labourers, rickshaw poolers, agricultural labourers and so forth. the fact of sc reservation is that people in the scheduled caste category are rarely engaged in their caste work, but they constantly receive the benefit of reservation. reservations must be made in light of today’s socioeconomic and political circumstances. as far as the sheikh is concerned, it is proven that a large section of the people who are socially, economically, and politically backward have called themselves sheikh. that is why ejaz ali (founder of the all india backward muslim morcha and pioneer of the dalit muslim movement) labeled them “new sheikh” and advocated for their inclusion in the obc category (anwar, 2001, p. 46). shekhra biradari, after all this confusion and negligence, said that they would continue their fight until they got their rights back. they even say that for now, our political agenda is for this reservation only; whoever will give us a reservation, our vote will go to them. 37presidential speech of azeemuddin, an ex-minister of bihar government (1990-1995). politics of recognition and caste among muslims: a study of shekhra biradari of bihar, india 107 acknowledgment first of all, i am grateful to mr. ashfaq, who during my field work in vishhariya village on shekhra biradari made me aware of the problem of shekhra biradari and provided me the necessary documents. apart from him, i would also like to thank mr. aslam beg and mr. razi ahmed who helped me further for deep understanding of the problem of shekhra biradari. lastly, i am very thankful to my supervisor prof. jagpal singh for continuous encouragement and giving me the correct theoretical framework to analyse and articulate the issue. references ahmad, imtiaz. 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(in urdu). patna: the print line. © 2022 kanhaiya kumar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3 no. 2 pp. 405–420 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v3i2.449 differences in access to health resources: an analysis of disparities among dalit sub-castes in uttar pradesh, india kanhaiya kumar1 abstract this essay is based on an empirical study conducted in sonbhadra district of uttar pradesh. it argues for the need of sub-caste level analysis among dalits as regards their access to health resources. making use of both quantitative and qualitative data, the disparities in the socio-economic standing of various sub-castes within scheduled castes are discussed. the perceptions about health, illness and disease provides the contextual information about the prevalence of various health conditions while the concentration curves reflect the disparities in out-of pocket expenditure, landholding and income among various sub-castes within dalits. the case reports of the respondents facilitate an understanding of the intersection of social identity, economic status and spatial inaccessibility of health services as barriers in accessing health care services. the essay suggests that the differences in access to health resources among various sub-caste of dalits is a function of intersection of social identity, socio-economic status and geographic location of health care services. there is a greater need to identify the differences and challenges within sub-castes to overcome the gap between their health needs and accessibility of health care services. keywords caste, social stratification, social identity, access to health care services introduction it is widely acknowledged that socio-economic inequities shape people’s experiences of health and their access to care services. the commission on social determinants of health report (2008) has been a milestone document as regards the shift in understanding 1icssr post-doctoral fellow, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india email: kanhai81_ssh@jnu.ac.in 406 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 about health and health inequalities. it drew attention to the bi-directional relationship between health and social environment. the social environment or social determinants of health vary across and within countries as per the context. caste is one of the important social determinants of health in the indian context. quite often, it intersects with other structural inequalities and shapes people’s experience of health and access to health care services. it plays an important role in constituting the social environment as caste status mostly determines whether people get ample opportunities to get educated, are gainfully employed or lead a life of dignity, and consequently, healthy and fulfilling lives. caste-based hierarchical structure of indian society creates unequal spaces for different social groups. caste exhibits a level of differentiation, which is frequently visible in terms of norms, values, culture, disabilities, discriminations and social restrictions of varied nature to govern the society. social stratification is a social hierarchy of social differences implying that indian society is divided into caste and sub-castes. it is one of the social institutions prevailing in india since time immemorial (gupta, 1991; mukherji, 1999; sharma, 2007; beteille, 2013). various studies also highlight that caste-based discrimination leads to poverty and material deprivation among dalits.1 the differences in socio-economic status among different social groups is also a function of the caste-based discrimination and deprivation. these multiple deprivations also create developmental deficit in their social life (haan, 1997; thorat and deshpande, 2001; shah, 2002; nayar, 2007). even after seventy-five years of independence and despite the provision of constitutional safeguards, dalits face discrimination in social, economic, health, and political spheres. indian society is a caste society and most economic, political, educational and socio-cultural activities or opportunities revolve around the idea of caste. due to the ongoing injustice and lack of equal opportunities, scs and sts occupy the lowest ranks in society nationwide. the extent of suffering, however, varies from region to region, caste to caste, and even within a sub-caste across the country. in the health sphere too, dalits have limited access to nutrition and health services because of their poverty, illiteracy, low educational attainment, and discriminatory practices in accessing the health services. borooah (2010) argues that people’s health outcomes are influenced by their social group and there is a ‘social gradient’ in health outcomes in india. some studies also note that as compared to non-dalits, the utilization of health services are lower among dalits (ram et al., 1998; kulkarni and baraik, 2003; baru et al., 2010). acharya (2007) drew attention to the varying degrees 1dalit is the word chosen by the castes at the bottom of indian social hierarchy to describe them. it does not figure in the indian constitution at all. it is the term asserting identity and unity. in the constitutional parlance and govt. of india documents use the term “scheduled castes” (scs) over dalits. differences in access to health resources: an analysis of disparities among dalit 407 of discrimination among dalits in accessing health services in the states of gujarat and rajasthan. the national family health survey (nfhs) also found that there is a significant difference between the scheduled caste and non-scheduled on various health indicators. in india, large-scale surveys such as nfhs, nsso and ihds mainly focus on inter-group inequalities. using the nfhs data, deshpande (2001) constructed caste deprivation index and exhibited regional variation in inter caste disparities in india. several studies have used secondary data from these large-scale datasets to reflect inter caste inequalities in access to health services, health outcomes and utilization of health care (baru et al., 2010; george, 2015; shaikh et al., 2018; bansod et al., 2022). these studies have clearly enhanced our understanding about differences in health indicators, access and utilization of health care services across social groups. since, the analysis of data from these large scale datasets rarely go beyond social groups, the intra-caste level inequalities mostly remain uncaptured/hidden. the micro-level studies or studies with statistical simulation or counterfactual study designs attempt at predicting the associations between variables (goli, doshi & perianayagam, 2013) or within group inequalities (deshpande, 2000; goli, maurya & sharma, 2015). still, there have hardly been any primary studies that acknowledge and explore the intra caste inequalities among dalits with respect to access to economic and health resources. this essay attempts at mapping differences among sub-castes of dalits while accessing the health services in the rural villages of sonbhadra district of uttar pradesh. it also attempts at exploring the factors that restrict their access to health services and how their socio-economic status, primarily a function of their caste status, acts as a barrier. the caste-based social inequalities and multiple levels of deprivation have been operational since time immemorial and have not only resulted in the inter group inequities in access of health services but also lead to intra group inequalities among various sub-castes of dalits. george (2015) also argues that it is important to take subcastes as analytical categories because discrimination is gradual even within the same jati-based social group. further, differences in health status within social groups are often a function of intersections of identity differences between subgroups of population based on their sub-caste, class, gender, economic or geographic characteristics. social group health indicators are summary measures of subgroups of the population, and as such, they masquerade part of the inequality in the population (murry, gakiduo & frenk, 1999). the large-scale data though helpful in understanding the population or inter-group level analysis, does not give a nuanced understanding of differences at the individual-level characteristics and their intersections such as age, sex, education, caste and sub-caste status, social network, occupation and social 408 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 capital. the primary studies, on the other hand, may not be very helpful in drawing generalizations but have the potential to capture the specifics of contexts and causal mechanisms required to understand a specific research question. objectives the main focus of the study was to understand the plausible factors for differences in accessing health resources among the sub-castes of selected scheduled castes. the objectives of the study included: i. to understand the health perception and the structural factors that shape the health seeking behaviour. ii. to contextualise the determinants of differences in access to health resources in the socio-economic standings of various sub-caste among dalits. iii. to understand the barriers in access and utilization of health resources. data the study was conducted in two villages of sonbhadra district, uttar pradesh. the selection of villages was based on the composite index (on social amenities and social facilities), developed by using the district census hand book (dchb),21 census of india 2011. however, for the purpose of this essay, to facilitate an in-depth analysis of selected scheduled castes and their sub-castes, we are using data from one of the selected villages. two scheduled castes, namely, chamar and dharkar were selected. these two castes had a sufficient number of sub-caste households in the village. a total of 200 households were selected. the three reported sub-castes among chamars included chamar, ravidassia chamar and dhusiya chamar while those from dharkar caste reported four sub-castes namely, benbansi, bansphor, lakharhara and kharush. a total of thirty households from each sub-caste were selected except for kharush where only twenty households were selected for the study. method the study uses a mixed method approach. the household data was collected using household interview schedule. further, in-depth interviews and group discussions were carried out with the selected respondents. the qualitative data reflects the health perceptions of research participants, health seeking behaviour and the factors that 2the district census hand book (dchb), census of india provides data at the village level for demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population and gives information on civic amenities and social facilities. it gives information about the availability of educational and health facilities, drinking water, post office and telegraph services, communication, bank and credit societies, and recreational facilities etc. differences in access to health resources: an analysis of disparities among dalit 409 shape the health seeking behaviour. the concentration curves are plotted for various sub-castes to reflect inequality in income, land ownership and out-pocket expenditure on health. the narratives from the research participants are integrated to contextualise the findings from the concentration curves. findings this section discusses the perceptions about health and ill-health as reported by the participants. the nature and patterns of diseases and preferences of treatment among various sub-castes are also reported. however, following the sociological approach, as suggested by keleher and murphy (2004), the notions about health and ill-health are contextualised in social, political, economic and structural dimensions. thus, understanding of health is broadly recognized by the range of social, economic, cultural and environmental factors which give an idea of understanding health in terms of people’s capacity to have access to resources that they need to be healthy, and to adapt, respond to or control the challenges and changes in the environment that surrounds them. perceptions about health the most cited response for the perception about health, as regards the frequency was in the form of the absence of disease. one of the respondents from chamar sub-caste shared perception about health as: ‘one who is not suffering from any disease and does not feel any weakness while engaging in any kind of work is healthy.’ (n, 38 years, chamar sub-caste). a female respondent from the dhusiya sub-caste shared her perception about health as the absence of any ailment and ability to perform day-to-day activities without feeling tired as follows: i often feel very tired. i face many difficulties managing all the household chores. also, several other tasks such as collecting firewood and fetching water make me extremely tired. i do not consider myself healthy, as i feel tired all the time. being healthy means someone who does not feel tired, can work without any ailments. (r, 42 years, housewife) thus, though different respondents reported their varied perceptions about health, most respondents perceived health as ‘a condition devoid of any disease or bodily discomfort’. the ability to carry out their everyday activities without any pain or discomfort was also frequently reported as a state of being healthy. perceptions about ill-health ill-health was identified as illness or disease and the two were perceived to affect the bodily function and, consequently, the state of health. the distinction between the illness and disease was based on the perceived severity, duration and the expenditure incurred to cure a condition. ‘illness’ was largely perceived to encompass minor 410 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 diseases which could be treated without accessing medical facilities. the ‘disease’, on the other hand, was identified as a major ailment and required medical attention. further, some serious conditions of diseases were even perceived to be fatal. the most reported illnesses among various sub-castes in the selected village included headache, body ache, joint pain, itching, fever and cold-cough. there were, however, differences in the prevalence of a specific illness among households belonging to a particular sub-caste. hence, the respondents reported certain health problems that affected their family members frequently. for instance, the respondents belonging to the lakarhara sub-caste whose occupation included working in the forest area attributed itching and skin-related problems largely to their work environment. thus, the respondents often traced the causation of illness to their natural or work environment. patterns of diseases the health profiling suggested prevalence of malaria, diarrhoea, tuberculosis, jaundice and kidney stone among the study population. however, the prevalence of certain diseases such as diarrhoea, jaundice and kidney stone was higher among the chamar and ravidasiya chamar. the participants from dhusiya sub-caste also suffered from these ailments but the prevalence of diarrhoea was highest among them compared to other sub-castes of chamars. among the dharkars, snakebite, diarrhoea and complications arising from the consumption of local liquor were frequently reported. as regards the higher incidence of snakebite among dharkars, since their work requires them to visit forest and the same may be responsible for higher incidence of snakebite. complications arising from consumption of local liquor and snakebite were also reported as some of the most common causes of death in the study village. among women, death during childbirth was also frequently reported. many respondents reported that the lack of health infrastructure in the village that could handle complications during pregnancy and childbirth was one of the reasons for higher incidence of death among pregnant women. determinants of differences in differential access to health services as discussed earlier, there are differences in access to health services across the two dalit sub-castes. an attempt is made to understand these differences from the vantage point of their socio-economic standing, quite often a manifestation of their caste status, income and landholding status. this section discusses the disparities in out-of-pocket health expenditure, landholding and monthly household income within each of the selected castes. differences in access to health resources: an analysis of disparities among dalit 411 out-of-pocket health expenditure the data on out-of-pocket health expenditure is plotted along a concentration curve and reflects the inequality in expenditure within the two sub-castes (figure 1 and figure 2). the same substantiates the findings from the qualitative data discussed above. 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29c um ul at iv e pe rc en ta ge o f o ut -p oc ke t e xp en di tu re cumulative percentage of sub-caste concentration curve of out-pocket expenditure on health among chamar rank% chamar ravidasiya dhusiya figure 1: out of pocket expenditure on health among chamars 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 c um ul at iv e pe rc en ta ge o f o ut -p oc ke t ex pe nd itu re cumulative percentage of sub-caste concentration curve of out-pocket expenditure on health among dharkar rank% bentbansi bansphor lakarhara kharush figure 2: out of pocket expenditure on health among dharkars landholding status figure 3 indicates the landholding status among respondents from different subcastes of chamar caste. the disparity in this suggests that none of the respondents from chamar sub-caste reported being landless while some of the respondents from ravidasiya and dhusiya sub-caste had no land. the selected village came under the ambedkar gram vikas yojana (agvy) initiated by the bhaujan samaj party (bsp) government and at that time, land was leased to the landless households. therefore, 412 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 most of the respondents from chamar sub-caste had the land. one respondent, aged 42-years, drew attention to government initiatives, through which those belonging to the scheduled castes could get land on patta. acquiring land on patta led to a change in the traditional caste-based occupations. it transformed the pattern of primary occupation among the dalits who could then also engage in cultivation. eventually, their economic situation improved, and they could even purchase a small amount of land. as regards the landholding, very few respondents (from the chamar caste (about 3.3 per cent) owned land. similarly, figure 4 shows the inequality in landholding status among various sub-castes of dharkars. when compared to chamars, the inequality within various sub-castes of dharkars is more stark. 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 c um ul at iv e pe rc en ta ge o f l an d d is tr ib ut io n cumulative percentage of sub-caste concentration curve of land distribution among chamar rank % chamar ravidasiya dhusiya figure 3: land distribution and sub-caste level differences among chamars 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29c um ul at iv e pe rc en ta ge o f l an d d is tr ib ut io n cumulative percentage of sub-caste concentration curve of land distribution among dharkar rank % bentbansi bansphor lakarhara kharush figure 4: land distribution and sub-caste level differences among dharkars differences in access to health resources: an analysis of disparities among dalit 413 table 1 also reflects that all the chamar sub-caste households had some land while landlessness was still prevalent among other sub-castes of chamar. the landlessness was more prevalent among those belonging to dharkar caste. even among those who hand some land on lease, stark differences could be observed across various sub-castes. sub-caste based differences in landholding suggest that the differences within scheduled castes must also be acknowledged and efforts are required for their upliftment. table 1: distribution of land ownership by caste and sub-caste sub-caste/ caste nature of land ownership total number (%)landless leased patta owned p+l p+o chamar -07 (23.3) -02 (6.7) 13 (43.3) 08 (26.7) 30 (100) ravidasiya 04 (13.3) 02 (6.7) 10 (33.3) -08 (26.7) 06 (20) 30 (100) dhusiya 06 (20) 01 (3.3) 10 (33.3) 01 (3.3) 07 (23.3) 05 (16.7) 30 (100) total chamar 10 (11) 10 (11) 20 (22) 03 (3.3) 28 (30.8) 19 (20.9) 90 (100) bentbansi 06 (20) 15 (50) --07 (23.3) 02 (6.7) 30 (100) bansphor 07 (23.3) 09 (30) 09 (30) -05 (16.7) -30 (100) lakarhara 08 (26.7) 01 (3.3) 15 (50) -06 (20) -30 (100) kharush 09 (45) 05 (25) 06 (30) ---20 (100) total dharkar 30 (27.3) 30(27.3) 30(27.3) -18(16.36) 02 (1.7) 110(100 income the respondents from chamar and ravidasiya sub-castes had monthly household income in the range of ̀ 6,000-10,000 and they were mainly involved in cultivation or agricultural labour. the monthly household income of respondents from dhusiya sub-caste was found to be between ` 5,000-8,000/-. they were mostly engaged in agriculture and daily wage labour and invariably respondents from all dhusiya households pursued pig farming. this occupation was important for their economic mobility but the same was not considered a ‘clean’ occupation. those from the chamar and ravidasiya sub-castes often ridiculed them for engagement in pig farming and living in unclean environment. dhusiya were, thus, considered as lowest among the chamar caste. the concentration curve of the household income among sub-castes of chamar caste is plotted as figure 5. it shows the disparity in income among various sub-castes of chamar caste. figure 6 reflects the differences within sub-castes of dharkar caste as regards the monthly household income. the income range of bansphor is better when compared to other sub-castes among dharkars. the relatively higher monthly household income of bansphor is due to their occupational engagement as bamboo basket weavers and almost all family members in the household were engaged in the occupation. among respondents from bentbansi and lakarhara, not all the household members were engaged in any economic activity. 414 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 figure 5: concentration curve of hh income of chamar caste figure 6: concentration curve of hh income of dharkar caste barriers to access and utilization of health resources as discussed earlier, the severity of health conditions determined whether the research participants considered a specific health condition worthy of medical attention. home remedies and alternative treatment methods such as approaching traditional healers were the most preferred treatment methods. the participants approached medical facilities only if these most readily and economic courses of treatment proved differences in access to health resources: an analysis of disparities among dalit 415 ineffective. some of the case reports from the field elucidate this pattern for various health conditions as follows: the course of treatment for malaria u, a 45-year-old woman from the lakarhara sub-caste with a monthly household income of ` 7,000 reported that her husband suffered from malaria and could not survive. she narrated the course of cure as: my husband had returned from the forest and complained that his body ached badly. he even had a fever and felt very weak. as soon as he returned from work, he told that he needed to go to the healer in the village. he returned with some herbal powder and had that with water. he waited for a day. since he could not get any relief, he then went to the doctor (without any medical education and training) in the village. the doctor gave him some tablets. he did not get any relief even after taking medicine. but we hoped and wished that his condition might improve. after waiting for two days, we could see that his situation was getting worse than before. he could barely walk and shivered all the time. it was then that we (she and her elder son) decided to take him to the private hospital at myorpur. my son took him to the hospital by a bicycle. the doctor there gave him 2-3 injections and sent back home. the same night he passed away. the entire course of treatment came to be around ` 2,000-3,000, and still, my husband could not be saved. in the above narrative, we find that the course of treatment ranged from a traditional healer to the private hospital. subsequently, the cost of treatment also varied from a minimal amount to almost half the amount of monthly income of the given household. the delay in availing a treatment from the private hospital also indicates that the economic burden of treatment from a private facility was avoided by seeking alternative resorts to treatment. the given case also highlights that since there was no government health facility in the village, the residents had to rely on whatever health resources were available in their close vicinity. a similar pattern of resort to cure was observed among respondents from chamar sub-castes. and they also resorted to cure at the level of the village itself. even those who were relatively well-off and belonged to the socially dominant subcaste accessed private health care services in the event of the severity of the disease. it is thus evident that the accessibility of health services emerges as a crucial factor in shaping the course of health care. it is, however, to be noted that households belonging to sub-castes with better socio-economic standing and conveyance had a relative advantage of accessibility to healthcare services situated at a distance compared to those without means. the course of treatment for the ill-effects of consumption of local liquor the consumption of local liquor was observed to be high in the selected village. however, the respondents from the dharkar caste reported the ill-effects of 416 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 local liquor consumption as most severe among other diseases. one of the key respondents even shared that there have been instances of death resulting from the consumption of local liquor. g, a respondent aged 52-years from the dharkar caste and bentbansi sub-caste informed that his 29-year-old son frequently consumed local liquor and would often fall sick. the local doctor was frequently approached for the treatment who in turn would inject saline into his blood to cure him. however, in one such instance, he was extremely sick. the local doctor was also scared of his condition. he refused to provide any treatment and asked them to take him to the town. though it was very late at night, they immediately took him to a private hospital at myorpur. the doctor at the private hospital got him admitted. he stayed at the hospital for two days after which he was discharged. the reported cost of treatment at the hospital came to be around ` 4,000. since the respondent belonged to the bentbansi sub-caste among the dharkars, he could take his son to a distant health facility via a personal conveyance and also spend an amount close to ̀ 4000 for the treatment. here, it should be noted that the economic disparities across and within sub-castes differentially shape the choices regarding the course of cure. one of the households from the bentbansi sub-caste who did not have money and other means for the treatment of ill-effects of the local liquor reported the loss of life of one of their male members. care during pregnancy and childbirth there were no health facilities in the village that could cater to the needs of pregnant women. specifically, many women reported the need for health facilities in the village that could handle complications during pregnancy and childbirth. there were also instances of death of pregnant women during the childbirth as follows: n, a 47-year-old respondent belonging to the dhusiya sub-caste with a monthly household income of ` 7000 shared how her daughter-in-law lost her life during the childbirth as follows: r was 19 years old at the time of her first pregnancy. she was pregnant by nine months. she suffered from pain in the stomach and called me for help. i rushed and brought dai along with me. dai examined r and told that she could not handle her case. r was crying in pain and was taken to chc myorpur, where no doctors were available at night. in such a situation, we took her to a private hospital called nath nursing home where she was operated after that. she delivered a child but the doctors could not save the mother. we were asked to pay ` 4,000 as the cost of operation. it is quite likely that the time required to travel to reach the chc, unavailability of a doctor(s) at the chc, and consequent shift to the private nursing home led to loss of time in getting the medical aid and led to the maternal death. the above case highlights differences in access to health resources: an analysis of disparities among dalit 417 the loss of life of a woman during the childbirth primarily due to the lack of basic health facilities. access to health resources the access to health resources, specifically the spatial accessibility of health care services appeared to be one of the major challenges in accessing health care. the poor socio-economic status of the research participants from certain sub-castes exacerbated the challenge. some of the participants from certain sub-castes such as chamars who owned a conveyance could manage to reach a public or private health facility situated at a distance of 10–15 km from the village. those from dhusiya sub-caste and all the sub-castes of dharkar with a relatively lower level of income lacked means to avail these health care facilities and if at all, they managed to access, they seemed to appear to have lost a lot of time trying to cure the ailment by other means that were far more economic and readily available at the village level. the time lost in accessing health care facilities situated at a distance also proved fatal at times. table 2 shows the availability or non-availability of nature of health resources at the village level and the distance of various public and private health care facilities from the village. table 2: nature and availability of health resources in the study village health resources distance number community health centre, primary health centre 10+ km 00 maternity and child welfare centre, family welfare centre 5-10 km 00 sub centre, hospital allopathic, hospital alternative medicine, dispensary, mobile health clinic na 00 asha <5km 01 nutritional centres-icds, nutritional centres-anganwadis centre, within village 01 **healer, local doctor (bengali doctor) within village 02 ** resources reported during the fieldwork table 2 shows that most healthcare institutes are situated far away from the selected village and the respondents often reported challenges in accessing these health resources. the primary health centre and community health centre (myorpur) were situated at distance of more than 20 km. some of the respondents from chamar and ravidasiya sub-caste reported that they were able to reach chc myorpur during any health emergency or complication during pregnancy and childbirth since they had their own vehicle. the district hospital at robertsganj was also more than 100 km away and the same posed a challenge in access to health care services. a private hospital was located in dudhhi at a distance of about 40 km. the respondents reported accessing the same if they were referred from the government hospital. however, few of them could afford the expenditure at this private facility. one of the dhusiya chamar respondents shared that his family member was admitted to a private hospital after consuming the 418 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 3, no. 2 local liquor. however, he did not survive as they took a lot of time in taking a decision whether to take him to this private hospital. as mentioned earlier, accessing public or private health facilities was more challenging among the respondents from the dharkar caste. many people from dharkar caste lost lives due to complications arising from consumption of local liquor. not only the distance of health services but also their poor economic condition constrained their access to health services. the unavailability of injections to cure snakebite at the public health facilities was also reported as a reason for death among some of the respondents from lakarhara sub-caste. some of the respondents even reported that they felt there was no value of their life. some of the respondents from dharkar caste also reported visiting charitable hospitals located at renukut in sonbhadra district, uttar pradesh and singrauli (madhya pradesh). the respondents reported visiting these hospitals for operations to remove kidney stones and to get treatment for fractures of bones. since they did not have to spend any charges on the treatment at these hospitals, they preferred visiting the same over private hospitals which were not at all affordable. however, even to visit these charitable hospitals, the respondents had to manage to arrange for the travel cost, which was certainly far lower than the treatment cost at private hospitals. it appears that the population in the selected villages were deprived of basic healthcare services owing to unequal development. further, various sub-castes among dalits experienced varying levels of marginalization as per their socio-economic status, mostly an outcome of being trapped in the caste system and its interaction with other inqualities manifesting in caste-based occupations, landlessness and consequent poverty. discussion this essay discusses the differences in access to health resources among the sub-castes of selected scheduled castes in the study village. it attempts to reflect the intersections of caste identity, socio-economic standing and spatial accessibility of health resources as determinants of differential access to health resources. most of the studies in access and utilization of health care services compare the differences across social groups. this study attempts to draw attention towards the differences within already marginalised social groups. the sub-caste level analysis reflects the heterogeneity and challenges specific to certain sub-castes within selected dalit castes. there is a greater need to acknowledge the disparities within scheduled castes so that they are not ‘left behind’. despite the constitutional safeguards, the historical injustice against dalits seems to continue. the same gets reflected in higher levels of illiteracy, engagement in caste-based occupations, and lack of opportunities to make strategic choices for socio-economic mobility. there have been certain sub-castes within scheduled castes that have been able to climb the socio-economic ladder to a certain extent. the intersectionality acts both as a challenge and enabler as per the context. differences in access to health resources: an analysis of disparities among dalit 419 the essay suggests that there is a clear gap between the health needs of the study population and spatial accessibility of health care services. this gap is wider for respondents from certain sub-castes as their socio-economic standing further inhibits their access to health care services. the out-of-pocket expenditure during health emergencies pushes those from a certain sub-caste further down the vicious cycle of poverty and underdevelopment. in order to have a just and equitable society, it is important that the needs and challenges of the most marginalised are identified. this essay is a humble attempt towards reflecting the challenges of certain sub-castes among dalits in access to health resources. references acharya, s. 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(2001). caste system and economic inequality: economic theory and evidence. dalit identity and politics, new delhi: sage. © 2024 sanghamitra parida, krushna chichuan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.2117 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 447-457 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste from a wretched past to an uncertain and undignified future: the open secret of manual scavenging in india sanghamitra parida,1 krushna chichuan2 abstract india promises liberty, equality, justice and fraternity with dignity of life through the constitution to every citizen without any discrimination. however, a particular section of society has been deprived of these promises due to their birth, gender and occupation. this section happens to be part of the generically termed ‘dalits’ who are the lowest of the lower castes among the hindus. they are known as manual scavengers who carry human excreta and clean dry latrines, sewers, and septic tanks more often with bare hands. this practice of manual scavenging is involuntary in nature. the scavengers not only suffer from extreme forms of social exclusion but also gross violations of human rights and dignity. however, ironically, despite several efforts as well as denial of its existence by the government, this inhuman practice still continues to exist in india. in fact, it has given birth to a new subtle form of untouchability which is an anathema to the constitutional promise. therefore, the main aim of this article is an investigation of the nexus between caste and occupation. this article, in fact, suggests that for the annihilation of this practice, there is the need for an inclusive approach and overall behavioural change. keywords caste, social exclusion, untouchability, dalit, manual scavenging introduction ‘incredible india’, ‘shining india’, ‘new india’, ‘largest democracy with the longest written constitution’, are the some of the oft-used epithets by which india aspires 1assistant professor, department of political science, science, ravenshaw university, cuttack, odisha, india 2assistant professor, department of political, dcac, university of delhi, new delhi, india e-mail: 1sanghamitra@ravenshawuniversity.ac.in, 2krissjnu@gmail.com 448 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 to be known in the world. it also claims to espouse the philosophy of vasudhaiva kutumbakam. be that as it may, india acquired its identity through its modernist living document titled “the constitution of india” which promised a future based on the values of liberty, equality, justice and above all fraternity, to all citizens. in consequence, it assures the dignity of every individual. this promise has, however, not entirely materialized in the last seventy years of india’s independence as a historically marginalized section of society is being deprived of this constitutional promise because of their birth, occupation, and gender (chakravarti, 2012). this particular section is known by the rubric ‘manual scavengers’. the practice of manual scavenging is mainly due to the continuation of the hierarchical and hereditary-based caste structure of india, which is involuntary in nature (government of maharashtra, 1990). they are discriminated and deprived in every sphere including social, economic, educational, cultural, religious, and political. their location itself in the mainstream is considered so impure that they are forced to live outside villages, not allowed to go to temples, shops, bathing ghats and access other basic services. even after death they are not allowed to cremate the body in the graveyard. it can therefore be said that the stigma a manual scavenger faces, begins from his/her mother’s womb and remains even after death. considering the precariousness of the life condition of these people, any sort of remediation of their life’s situation depends largely on the recognition of who they really are. who are the manual scavengers? the answer to the question as to who is a manual scavenger is mainly drawn from official government documents. it took over four decades for independent india to come out with a formal definition of the idea of manual scavenging. for it was only in 1993 that the employment of manual scavengers and construction of dry latrines (prohibition) act, gave a definition of who is a manual scavenger albeit a narrow definition. as per this act, a manual scavenger is ‘a person who is engaged in or employed for manually carrying human excreta’ (the act, 1993). after exactly two decades, this definition was expanded in 2013 with the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act whereby a manual scavenger refers to “a person engaged or employed on a regular and frequent basis by an individual or local authority for disposing of, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit into which human excreta from insanitary latrines is disposed of, or on a railway track, before the excreta fully decomposes” (the act, 2013). however, as argued above, it is well known that manual scavengers are, invariably, drawn from a group of people popularly known as the dalits, who were/are considered as the lowest of the low castes within the caste system in india. they are known by different names in different states in india, for example, bhangi, balmiki, mehtar, hadi, dom, thoti, chachati, etc. (ravichandran, 2011). in fact, it is in this disgraceful occupation that the ugly intersectionality of caste and gender is prominently noticeable. from a wretched past to an uncertain and undignified future 449 the varna system under the hindu social order divides indian society among the hindus into four categories, namely, brahmins, kshatriyas, vaishya and shudras and based on their birth into any one of these, an individual is assigned specific duties and roles in it. in other words, in the indian social structure, occupation forms the core of the social, political, economic and ritual relationship (singh, 2020). needless to say, this system authorizes that the brahmin’s job is to conduct prayers, kshatriyas to be rulers, the vaishyas to do business and the shudras responsibility is to provide services to the upper three castes. however, there is a hapless category of people known as the untouchables or outcastes or dalits who fall outside this four-fold categorization of hindu society. they are assigned the worst and most degrading works like pig rearing, butchering, skinning of dead animals, manual scavenging and other so-called ‘dirty works’ of society. thus, it is incontestable that the purely caste-based work of manual scavenging is the most inhumane and degrading activity one can think of. more perniciously, rather than simply remaining an occupation, a social identity is forced upon those who are made to do this humiliating work. therefore, there remains an inalienable relation between caste and occupation as far as the dalits doing such demeaning work and thereby making nonsense of the popular claim that there does not really exist caste-based occupation in the india of today.1 in fact, society itself believes strongly that the dalits are born to do a large number of unclean occupations despite the constitution and laws prohibiting caste-based practices. undoubtedly, due to enormous social and economic compulsions, the dalit people are compelled to not leave these undignified occupations. having said so, however, it needs to be underlined that as far as the work of manual scavenging is concerned, not all the sub-castes that fall under the broader category of scheduled castes or dalits do this work. manual scavenging, therefore, is a sub-caste based occupation. that is to say, it is fair to say that all the people who are known as the dalits are not manual scavengers but it is for sure that all those people who do manual scavenging are necessarily dalits. this certainly is in expected lines considering the truism of the indian caste system being one based on graded inequality and hierarchy. therefore, there exists a hierarchy within the different sub-castes that falls under the category of scheduled castes as some are engaged in relatively clean occupations like fishing, cleaning clothes, barber, etc., who actually enjoy better social status. on the other hand, there are other sub-castes engaged in so-called unclean works like manual scavenging, skinning of animals, butchery and so on. it may not be wrong, therefore, to say that sub-castes who do these ‘dirty’ works are exploited not only by the so-called upper castes but they also face the wrath of other sub-castes among the dalits. however, despite the existence of data (from both government and civil society) about the number of people engaged in the practice of manual scavenging, yet there is hardly any data available on the specific sub-castes among the scheduled castes who 1it is interesting to note that priesthood is one of the glaring examples of occupations sanctioned by the caste system as it is an occupation which is socially and culturally reserved for the brahmins. 450 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 are engaged in it. in fact, most data about manual scavengers generically mentions them as dalits without specifying their sub-castes. additionally, people engaged in manual scavenging have different caste nomenclatures in different states of india. what is common to all of them however is that these communities are regarded to form the lowest strata within the category of dalit. in fact, the very names of these subcastes are unabashedly casteist and highly derogatory. for example, in north india, they have different names like bhangi, balmiki, chuhra, halalkhor, lalbegi, mehtar, mazhabi, etc. in east india, they are known as dom, har, hadi, hela, and sanei, etc., and mukhiyar, thoti, arundharthiyar, chachati, pakay, dravidar, relli, etc., are in south india. in west and central india, they are known as mehtar, bhangias, halalkhor, ghasi, olgana, zadmalli, barvashia, metariya, jamphoda and mela, etc. (ilo, 2014). patriarchy and manual scavenging besides caste, patriarchy is also a major factor in manual scavenging. the majority of manual scavengers happen to be women who have no other option but to inherit this despicable job from their mothers/mothers-in-law. though there is no government data on the number of female manual scavengers, but surveys conducted by different organizations like human rights watch 2014, rastriya garima abhiyan 2011, india exclusion report 2019-2020, sulabha international and others reveal that over 90 per cent are women manual scavengers. further, this number is high among young married women. in general, households with dry latrines prefer women to clean the excreta. one major reason for the concentration of women in manual scavenging occupation is the traditional jajmani system, i.e., ownership rights to clean a select number of dry toilets, which ties generations of women to the job of manually cleaning the dry latrines in the village (barti). thus, manual scavenging, where the dalits and, particularly, women among dalits are forced to carry human excreta and clean dry latrines, sewers, septic tanks more often with bare hands, is an occupation which has its origin/root from the caste and patriarchy system in india (chakravarti, 2012). in general people also prefer to hire women as they find women doing the manual scavenging work at their homes works out to be more convenient and beneficial for them. their work gets done in exchange for some used clothes, leftover food or a few rupees. in fact, there are numerous instances where women manual scavengers were given as little as rs. 10-20/(singh, 2020). moreover, these women do not have the option of exercising their agency to refuse the work. if at all they do so, they have had to face the wrath of people, both from their own community as well as outside. in fact, research done by human rights watch (2014) shows that whenever women from these communities refused to do manual scavenging work they have been subjected to hatred, violence and social boycott. as such, there is persistent pressure exerted on these women from their families, village, and community to continue this generational inhuman practice. a study conducted by r. singh and ziyauddin (2009) poignantly shares the story of women manual scavengers in ghazipur, uttar pradesh where some women tried to challenge their social and economic status by changing their from a wretched past to an uncertain and undignified future 451 jobs. in effect, because of their ‘act of defiance’, due to a social boycott and lack of support from both private and governmental agencies they were forced to return to their original profession. also, women who gathered the courage to quit are not left with any other viable livelihood alternative for which they possess the required skill set. in fact, rehabilitation programmes undertaken by the government are also highly gender biased. in this context, it may not be out of place to mention the gender bias that women manual scavengers face. the gloves and t-shirts that are provided to them are largely useless because these are made keeping mainly men in mind. therefore, women often use their stoles or a section of their sarees to cover their face while working. the protective gear does not provide substantial protection to the women manual scavengers. as per the report of rashtriya garima abhiyan 2018, this practice is largely responsible for the poor health condition of women manual scavengers. the study observed that they suffer from numerous health problems, e.g. nausea and headache, anemia, diarrhea, vomiting, jaundice, tuberculosis, skin infections, and so on as they are exposed to unhygienic conditions on a regular basis. hysterectomies (surgical removal of uterus) are high among women manual scavengers, which sometimes, can also lead to the removal of ovaries (hussain, 2022). another survey done by the bundelkhand dalit adhikar manch under the leadership of kuldeep baudh also attests to this fact that due to the toxic work environment, hysterectomies are increasingly high among women manual scavengers of jalaun (uttar pradesh). reasons for its continuance there are several factors held to be responsible for the existence and continuation of the practice of manual scavenging. inexplicably, some of these factors are rarely discussed either in official documents or in the scant literature pertaining to it. we argue, therefore, that this oversight is partly responsible for the failure in the eradication of manual scavenging in our society. in fact, many of these factors seem to have helped to make manual scavenging ‘legitimate’ in the eyes of the manual scavengers. to begin with, it is often not taken into account that in our society it is assumed, more so by the manual scavengers themselves, that they are destined to do scavenging work only. that is, god has given them birth to do this work. needless to say, this blind assumption is mainly due to prevailing societal norms and beliefs that have acquired a sense of legitimacy with its long-standing robust presence. due to this societal-made unwritten law, they have also taken for granted that these pathetic conditions are either due to evil work in their previous birth or god’s order or wish for them to accomplish in this birth (parida, 2016). unfortunately, this factor has scarcely been taken into account at the governmental level. this is where the role of research in policy making comes in. moreover, partly due to the prevalence of this fatalistic attitude, manual scavengers are scarcely aware of their rights. in fact, more often than not, they consider these laws as simply farcical. 452 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 the second reason is the officially recognized one which is to do with the continuation of the existence of dry/insanitary latrines (latrine which requires human excreta to be cleaned or handled manually either in an open drain or pit into which the excreta is discharged or flushed out before the excreta fully decomposes) particularly in rural and urban slum areas (the act, 1993). as long as dry latrines exist, it is impossible to eradicate the practice. even today there are many villages in india where we will not find a single sanitary latrine with the modern flush system. in addition to this, a weak drainage system in india also stands in the way to root out the practice of manual scavenging. contextual to this practice, is the stigma/taboo attached to toilets in our society, wherein toilets are generally kept away from homes at a safe distance. from a hygiene point of view it is understandable but it also strongly correlates to the fact of the presence of dry, insanitary latrines. lastly, the above two factors largely depend on the third one which stands in the way to annihilate the practice. it is partially the lack of interest by the government. in fact, one could certainly add the culpability of the myriad number of ngos, think tanks, academicians, and scholars for being part of this serious neglect to address the issue of manual scavenging by not really devoting the attention it truly deserves. of course, in no way we are trying to claim here that the government(s) has/have simply not tried to do anything. but the point essentially is that the very existence of manual scavengers today even after more than seven decades of independence does gesture towards an apathetic attitude of the government(s). during the elections, the issues of the dalits become the ‘hot topic’ for political parties of every hue but discussions on the occupation of manual scavenging, for some reason, remain to be the least attractive (mander, 2014). many cases of manual scavenging are underreported. the laws that are made for this are also not strictly implemented and followed up. furthermore, few ngos are actively working in this field. if at all, the ngos that are working in this field are mainly centered in urban or semi-urban areas (nigar, 2018). of course, there are some ngos who claim to work in the rural areas as well, but, sadly, they have failed to arrest the act of manual scavenging there. the above discussion points to the fact that the existence of manual scavenging and its resultant consequences falls squarely foul on the emancipatory scheme of the indian constitution. is the constitution panacea to manual scavenging? the practice of manual scavenging which is purely based on exploitation, deprivation, injustice and inequality contradicts the basic provisions of the fundamental law of the land. if this is so, then it is a reasonable question to ask that are not the constitutional provisions themselves, or for that matter, the application of them, both necessary and sufficient to be the panacea of this shameful practice? it is well known that the preamble to the constitution of india emphatically promises justice, liberty, equality, fraternity (assuring the dignity of the individual) for all citizens of india. in fact, these from a wretched past to an uncertain and undignified future 453 values have been amplified more concretely in the sections on fundamental rights and directive principles of state policy of the constitution. for example, article 14 proclaims that the state shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of laws within the territory of india. it means that all are equal in the eyes of the law. however, one tends to believe that this is so only on paper. in fact, the state has (equal protection of laws) failed to protect this particular section of the citizens. according to article 15, the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, and place of birth or any of them. there should be equal access to shops, public restaurants, hotels, and the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort without any discrimination. going against this principle, manual scavengers in many parts of india are not even allowed to enter temples, go to shops, bathing ghats and access other basic services. their location itself in the mainstream is considered so impure that they are forced to live outside the village. article 16 declares that there shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the state and no citizen shall be denied this on the grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent or place of birth. one needs proper education in order to get equality of opportunity in the area of employment. in fact, the interplay between caste and occupation stands in its way to making proper use of ‘equality of opportunity’. as per article 17, the practice of untouchability is not only abolished and its practice in any form forbidden, but it is also an offence punishable in accordance with the law. though the term untouchability has not been clearly defined, but it is understood as that social practice where some people are deprived and discriminated solely on the basis of their birth. manual scavengers who are untouchables among untouchables are at the receiving end. further, the practice of manual scavenging as it exists today both in the public and private spheres provides a new, subtle form of untouchability which is an anathema to the constitutional promise. in this context, guru (2000) rightly argues that in the present context, terms like exploitation, domination and suppression have to be replaced by the term marginalization. this form of marginalization is both social and cultural marginalization. it may safely be argued that it is a new form of the practice of untouchability. moreover, though not justiciable under the scheme of the constitution, it is certainly a fundamental direction to the state in policy formulation, within the directive principles of state policy, article 46 directs the state to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of people, and in particular, of the scs and sts and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. from the above articles it is clear that discrimination and exploitation in any form on the basis of caste is strictly prohibited and also a punishable offence. at the same time, it is directed to the state to protect the weaker section and take different steps for their upliftment keeping in mind the injustices they faced in the past and present forms of discrimination. it is therefore incumbent upon the state to fulfill the constitutional promise and ameliorate the condition of this hapless section of people. 454 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 measures taken by the government of course, the government of india has formed different committees and commissions, and also introduced various schemes to address the problem and for prohibition of manual scavenging. some of these are malkani committee, pandya committee, valmiki malin basti awas yojna, schemes for welfare and rehabilitation of manual scavenger, total sanitation campaign, self-employment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers, national scheme of liberation and rehabilitation of scavengers (mander, 2014). in fact, the first major legislative step to eradicate manual scavenging was taken in 1993, known as employment of manual scavengers and construction of dry latrines (prohibition) act, 1993 which came into force from 26/01/1997. under this act, construction and maintenance of dry latrines and employment of persons to clean them was prohibited (the act, 1993). but as per the house listing and housing census, 2011, released by the registrar general of india, about 7 lakhs out of more than 26 lakh insanitary latrines are serviced by humans (annual report, 2017-2018). the act of 1993 did not bring much success. to address the problem and make it a serious offence the government of india brought another apparently ‘stringent’ act in 2013 known as prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act, 2013 with three main objectives: a) elimination of insanitary latrines b) eradication of manual scavenging and c) rehabilitation of manual scavengers in alternative occupation (the act, 2013). in addition, a national survey of manual scavengers in 170 districts of 18 states was conducted by the ministry of social justice and empowerment, in 2018-19. as per the survey, 34,749 manual scavengers were identified. a total of 49,354 manual scavengers have been identified in the national survey up to 31/3/2019 (annual report, 2018-19). a bitter truth clearly reflected from the data is that this practice is very much in existence in india. campaigning to eradicate manual scavenging there are numerous organizations both at the local and national level that have been campaigning to end the inhuman practice of manual scavenging. the most prominent organizations include the safai karmachari andolana, maila mukti yatra, dalit solidarity network, bhimyatra, rashtriya garima abhiyan (rga), sulabha international, and the social awareness society for youth (sasy). it is through these organizations that we are able to obtain the reality of this practice. the safai karmachari andolana, which covers most states of india, aims to educate those engaged in manual scavenging about their rights and entitlements. its demand is not only restricted to the elimination of this evil practice but also to modernize and mechanize the sanitation system. in fact, it claims that its demand is for the liberation of manual scavengers rather than their empowerment (d’souza, 2016). the mahila mukti yatra conducts campaigns in various states where it creates awareness and inspires those engaged in the practice to liberate themselves from this undignified work. the rashtriya garima abhiyan (rga) is another campaign working since 2000 from a wretched past to an uncertain and undignified future 455 for the eradication of manual scavenging. its main objectives are to fight for the dignity of the manual scavengers, create awareness about this socially imposed practice, ensure education for their children, and work for their development. as a result of this campaigning, around 7,000 individuals, of which the majority are women, have quit the practice of manual scavenging (rashtriya garima abhiyan, 2011). the sulabha international, active since 1970, has been campaigning against this practice. however, it is more focused on the working conditions of women manual scavengers and also emphasizes on strong women economic empowerment programmes with the help of skill development programme. finally, the social awareness society for youth (sasy) is an important dalit human rights organization working in tamil nadu, the state where the highest number of deaths of manual scavengers has been reported. this organization focuses largely on matters related to manual scavenging, sewer tank deaths, and incidents of caste-based discrimination against sanitary workers and related incidents in government schools in tamil nadu (the hindu bureau, 2023). sasy rightly claims that a majority of cases are not recorded properly. in fact, most cases emerge only when a person dies while cleaning septic tanks. above all, sasy makes the most pertinent point that it is the combination of caste and poverty that is largely responsible for the continuation of the reprehensible practice of manual scavenging. are we genuinely serious about it? what is unfortunate is the fact of a ‘politics of denial’ by the indian state as well as the units/states within india as they claim the non-existence of manual scavenging. in fact, as recently as july 2021, the union minister of state for social justice and empowerment has denied in parliament that any death has taken place in the country due to manual scavenging. on the contrary, bezwada wilson (national convenor of the safai karmachari andolana) has painstakingly pointed out that 472 manual scavenging deaths were recorded in india during 2016-2020 and 26 deaths took place in 2021 (the hindu, 2021). this persistence of the occupation violates the basic sense of dignity promised by the constitution, which is premised upon, to use rawlsian language, the primary good of ‘free choice of occupation against a background of diverse opportunities’ (rawls, 1971). further, as argued above, the practice of manual scavenging as it exists today both in public and private sphere provides a new, subtle form of untouchability which is an anathema to the constitutional promise (guru, 2000). hence, we need to ask ourselves, as to why this practice continues to exist even after seven decades of independence. if it is about occupation as gandhi says, have we ever seen/heard any upper caste person doing scavenging work in the homes of lower caste people? this makes one concur with ambedkar that it is not only about occupation, in fact, it is more than that which is about ‘purity-pollution’ of the caste system. as per hindu tradition, there are two sorts of occupations, viz., pure work and impure work. the filthy and unclean occupations (scavenging), which the untouchables perform, are impure work and are done by the scavengers (ramaswamy, 2011). 456 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 therefore, it is clear that the fundamental law of the land which itself acts as a charter of social reform has failed to address this issue. this is against constitutional morality and is nothing but a fraud on the constitutional promise. for the scavengers not only suffer from an extreme form of social exclusion but also gross violations of human rights and dignity. hence, it is necessary to challenge the politics of denial of the state and thereby the blatant violation of the constitutional promise with regard to one of the most disadvantaged sections of indian society whose past and future happens to be a story of wretchedness, uncertainty and indignity. in lieu of conclusion the act of both 1993 and 2013 prohibited this practice but this, unfortunately, seems to be on paper only. it is the abdication of both legal and moral responsibility on the part of the government and society respectively. it is unfortunate that there are many villages in india, where people are hardly aware of the laws relating to manual scavenging. paradoxically, where some people are well aware, they try to hide it. this shows that societal irrational beliefs have been superseding the modernist project of the constitution. therefore, as a concluding remark, this article would like to propose that every manual scavenger should be made aware of his/her rights. of course, knowing about somebody’s right is not sufficient until there are alternative modes of occupation and other benefits in order to get rid of the practice of manual scavenging. for this purpose, proper study and surveys need to be carried out in villages with the active involvement of government agencies, civil society organizations, activists, academicians and so on. in fact, committees should be formed in every region comprising dalit youths of that area. for there is every possibility that these cases may not be reported. above all, to use the cliché, there is need for proper implementation of laws and stringent punishment for those who violate it. besides this legal force, the moral responsibility lies on each one of us to make possible ‘behavioural change’. references annual report (2017-18). ministry of social justice and empowerment. government of india, new delhi: salasar imaging systems. retrieved 18 november 2019. http://www. socialjustice.nic.in annual report (2018-19). ministry of social justice and empowerment. government of india. sub urben press. retrieved 12 january 2020. http://www.socialjustice.nic.in barti manual scavenging in india: literature review. dr. babasaheb ambedkar research and training institute, barti, pune. https://barti.in/upload/pdf/manual_scavenging_report.pdf chakravarti, u. (2012). in her own write: writing from a dalit feminist standpoint. india international centre quarterly, 39(3/4), 134–145. d’souza, paul (june 15, 2016). clean india, unclean indians beyond the bhim yatra. economic and political weekly, 26(27), 22–27. government of india (1993). the employment of manual scavengers and construction of dry latrines (prohibition) act, 1993. retrieved 20 january 2015. https://labour.gov.in/sites/ default/files/theemploymentact1993.pdf from a wretched past to an uncertain and undignified future 457 government of maharashtra (1990). dr babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol.7. retrieved 15 march 2019. http://drambedkarwritings.gov.in/content/writings-and speeches/ dr-babasaheb-ambedkar-writings-and-speeches-vol-7.php guru, g. (2000). dalits from margin to margin. india international centre quarterly, 27(2), 111–116. human rights watch (2014). cleaning human waste: manual scavenging, caste, and discrimination in india. human rights watch report, 2014. https://www.hrw.org/ report/2014/08/25/cleaning-human-waste/manual-scavenging-caste-and-discrimination-india hussain, zoya and hera rizwan (13 october 2022). why uterus removal is common among india’s manual scavengers. trtworld. https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/why-uterusremoval-is-common-among-india-s-manual-scavengers i., shruti (2020). of sewage, struggle and the state: caste and contractorization in contemporary sanitation work. india exclusion report 2019-2020. centre for equity studies. ilo (2014). resource handbook for ending manual scavenging. international labour organization 2014. http://www.dalits.nl/pdf/resource handbookforending manualscavenging.pdf legislative department (2013). the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act, 2013. ministry of law and justice, retrieved 13 may 2016. http://legislative.gov.in/actsofparliamentfromtheyear/prohibition-employment-manualscavengers-and-their-rehabilitation-act nigar, shazia (2018). under modi, cesspool existence of india’s ‘manual scavengers’ worsen. asia times, 04.07.2018. parida, s. (2016). manual scavenging and its effects on dalit women in india. in s. nayak (ed.), combating violence against women (163–174). new delhi: kalpaz. ramaswamy, g. (2011). india stinking: manual scavengers in andhra pradesh and their work. new delhi: navayana publication. rashtriya garima abhiyan (2011). eradication of inhuman practice of manual scavenging and comprehensive rehabilitation of manual scavengers in india. ravichandran, b. (2011). scavenging profession: between class and caste? economic and political weekly, 46(13), 23–25. rawls, j. (1971). a theory of justice. us: belknap press. singh, rajeev and ziyauddin (june 2009). manual scavenging as social exclusion: a case study. economic and political weekly, 44(26–27). manual scavenging as social exclusion: a case study | economic and political weekly (epw.in) singh, vikram (2020). manual scavenging: the role of government and civil society in against discriminative practice. social work & society, 18(2). the hindu (31 july 2021). govt.’s denial of manual scavenging deaths flayed. new delhi. the hindu bureau (7 january 2023). poverty, caste-discrimination at the root of manual scavenging, reveals study, the hindu. © 2023 sephora jose. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. bluestone rising scholar award, 2023 doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.620 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 417-436 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste when fists write (of) the past: conceptualising dalit historiography through the cultural productions of dravida varga aikya munnani sephora jose1 abstract dalit historiography is the narrativization of the past from a dalit perspective purposive of critiquing existing traditions of indian historiographies and/or producing alternate histories. it is the discourse through which historiographical erasures and misrepresentations are challenged through narratives that recover and reinterpret the past from anti-caste standpoints. this counter-discourse reorients historiography and transforms historical understandings by recognising caste as a structuring principle of history. this article attempts to theorise dalit historiography as a resistance epistemology by outlining its methodological and thematic aspects through a study of dcuf cultural productions. dcuf (depressed class united front) is an adi-dravida community named dravida varga aikya munnani that emerged as an anti-caste politico-religious group in 1950s kerala under the leadership of pj sabharajthirumeni. to understand the politics of the alternate history articulated by dcuf, the article first maps the field of mainstream kerala historiography to which dcuf cultural productions may be seen as a historiographical response. dcuf cultural productions, as an articulation of dalit historiography, intervene in the epistemology of this mode of history writing by placing caste as the fulcrum of history by giving an alternate picture of the past vis-à-vis the origins of caste, its manifestations and anti-caste resistance. this study foregrounds the political valence of history in dalit struggle and the ongoing negotiations between dalit communities with the mainstream vis-à-vis history and history writing. keywords anti-caste, dalit historiography, kerala historiography, dcuf, counter-epistemology, caste-enslavement, adi-dravida 1research scholar, indian institute of technology, kanpur, india email: sephorajose44@gmail.com 418 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 introduction as an epistemic discourse about the past, historiography has inextricable connections with power structures, making it a tool of domination and resistance. therefore, historiography, or the narrativization of history, is a dynamic realm constantly in flux despite the general assumption of history as an unchanging fixity. this shift from understanding history as a chronicle of events to that of narrativization of the past, as priya satia observes, crumbles assumptions of a universal past of progress (“decolonising indian history” 32.13), which has been ingrained as part of the cultural common sense. such a redefinition enables critiquing history for its embeddedness in the dominant epistemological structures and values. as david arnold argues, this redefinition of history as narrativization also enables history for the “restitution of the lives, experiences, worldviews, and mindsets of people who are systematically excluded from history or given only a marginal role” (“decolonising history: method or fact” 56:43) and helps to repair the systemic failures of history to understand, interpret and theorize historical positions that are set outside the dominant domain (55:39). historiography, thus, becomes a medium for resistance and political redress. dalit historiography is the narrativization of the past from a dalit perspective purposive of critiquing existing traditions of indian historiographies and/or producing counter histories. it is the discourse through which historiographical erasures and misrepresentations are challenged through narratives that recover and reinterpret the past from anti-caste standpoints. this counter-discourse reorients historiography and transforms historical understandings by recognizing caste as a structuring principle of history. central to dalit historiographic discourse, critique and counter-creation have been articulated vis-à-vis content and methodology in history writing. indian dalit historiography critiques the dominant colonial and nationalist historiographies as well as the counter-hegemonic history writing attempted by marxist and subaltern historians, all of which are seen to enact erasure and misrepresentation of caste and dalit agency in history. the counter-narratives articulated by dalit historiography use caste as the structuring principle in history to recover erased histories/ caste-relevant themes and re-interpret the flawed/inadequate dominant historiographic representations. the shift in the evidential paradigm followed in mainstream historiography also marks an epistemic intervention from an anti-caste standpoint and therefore deserves analytical attention. this paper attempts to exemplify and theorize dalit historiography as a resistance epistemology by outlining its methodological and thematic aspects through a study of dcuf cultural productions. dcuf (depressed class united front) is an adidravida2 community named dravida varga aikya munnani that emerged as an anti2the adi movement claims that the indigenous native people were dispossessed from their native land by the aryan usurpers and denigrated as untouchables under aryan socio-religious hegemony. while the movement spread under various names such as adi-dharm, adi-hindu, etc., in the northern part of the country, it was called the adi-dravida movement in south when fists write (of) the past: conceptualising dalit historiography 419 caste political-religious group in 1950s kerala under the leadership of pj sabharaj thirumeni, himself a dalit. despite staging powerful anti-caste activism, which extends to the social, economic, and ideological realms, dcuf’s contributions are absent in the narratives of kerala history, even in kerala dalit historiographic discourse. considering the geo-cultural location of dcuf and the specificity of kerala’s history, an understanding of mainstream kerala historiography becomes essential to decipher the historiographical interventions of dcuf. attention to the regional specificity of the movement’s history is important not only because caste is an endemic reality but, more importantly, because indian historiography is effectively the history of the indian heartland constituted by the northern regions. mainstream kerala historiography shows the agrarian expansion as a much later historical event as compared to the rest of india. the trade-based society in kerala moved to agriculture in the eighth century ad after the brahmin incursions from the regions of karnataka. this picture of brahmin incursion is starkly different from mainstream nationalist and dalit indian historiographies, which present aryan arrival through the lens of desi/videsi and north/south, respectively. unlike in other parts of the country, when caste developed in kerala, it did not branch out neatly based on the varna principle. the considerable demographic proportion of the foreign traders constituted by christians, jews, and muslims in kerala, who engaged in occupations related to the transportation and exchange of goods, altered the way caste developed in kerala (shankaran nambootiripad 22). unlike mainstream indian historiography which documents the aryan invasion of the indus valley and the gangetic plain, mainstream kerala historiography presents the arrival of brahmins in kerala as incursive, characterised by ideological manipulation and establishment of hegemony (menon 162). although the land relations, as they appear in mainstream indian historiography were caste-based, manifested as landlordism/janmi system, slavery as an economic institution of exploitation and transaction of dalit/slave castes does not appear in indian historiography. kerala also has a distinct history of colonial rule. in indian historiography, the pre-colonial era is valorised as the golden age of vedic civilisation, disrupted by muslim invasions in the medieval period and imperialism. unlike many other indian states, kerala, before its birth in 1956, was divided into three princely states, viz. malabar, kochin and travancore. while the colonial rulers directly ruled malabar through british residents since the late eighteenth century, kochin and travancore remained as princely states under monarchical rule till 1949. mainstream kerala historiography exemplifies the requirement to look at the ‘regional’ as the former is not a subset of mainstream indian historiography. kinds of mainstream kerala historiography recognition of the specificity of kerala history demands attention to the historiographic trends in kerala. the mainstream discourse of kerala history principally manifests india, premised on the reclamation of dravida indigeneity through the recovery of its social, cultural and material aspects. 420 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 two trends, the political and the economic, emphasizing the structures of rule and systems of production, respectively. the political history of kerala the political histories of kerala focus on structures of power defined by the ruling classes/authorities/the state. it adopts a top-down perspective from locations of power, inevitably chronicling rule systems, rulers, and social classes which are part of the administrative systems. consequently, it presents history as driven by individuals in power and the ruling classes, systems as designed and regulated by those in power, while ‘the people’, when mentioned, appear primarily as subjects that are acted upon. as the definitional and representational criteria of ‘community’ become political role and social status, those who do not wield power in the political machinery get ignored and / or sidelined. this state-centric historiographic paradigm does not talk about the role played by the dalits, tribals and fisherfolk as political agents. this mainstream historiography presents the medieval/post-aryan era as the golden age characterized by remarkable growth in political power, economy, art and literature. brahmin incursions which culminated in the arrival of ritually superior priestly brahmins called namboothiris are shown to have resulted in aryanisation—a process of effecting socio-political and economic changes as well as the establishment of brahmanical hindu hegemony. mainstream kerala historiography presents aryanization as a non-violent process attained primarily through brahmin intelligence (menon 46, shreedhara menon 162). though caste is stated to be the determinant of social relations of power, socio-political formations like caste and class appear in this historiographic framework only as depoliticized socio-cultural categories. therefore, caste is normalized and sanctioned as a cultural norm beneficial for sociopolitical stability and economic welfare. however, practices like agrestic slavery and untouchability are mentioned as social evils to be reformed/abolished. caste-based practices like untouchability, seen as part of superstitious beliefs, are mentioned as social evils which are not under the purview of politics and, therefore, ought to be reformed through social movements. the periodization adopted in such political historiography of kerala also aligns with the state-centric framework that chronicles the reigns of various structures of the state. the dominant pattern of periodization divides the long timespan broadly into five periods; the pre-perumal rule/ sangham era, perumal rule, the monarchical rule of the princely states, colonial rule, nationalist movement and the formation of united kerala. in other words, aryanization, the development of kingdoms, the growth of colonial powers, and the nationalist call for an independent nation-state are the epochal moments in this historiography, reaffirming the metanarrative of the state. the economic history of kerala the other historiographic framework in mainstream kerala history foregrounds the economic relations of production. this historiographic strand understands historical realities as rooted in the economy constituted by the material conditions of production when fists write (of) the past: conceptualising dalit historiography 421 and land relations at a particular historical moment. the state becomes secondary in this paradigm while the power-holding authorities are defined in terms of class. in this framework, state power structures become reflections of the economy and its shifts. economic history identifies society in terms of classes, depending on their relationship with land and production. the difference of economic history vis-à-vis its historiographic emphasis on economy rather than the state/political structures translates into a reversal of the historical view and sees historical changes welling up from the ground (the material relations of production) to the top (the state defined as structures of control of production). economic histories add caste in the narrative as an influential factor in class formation, exemplified in the nature of property ownership, methods of resource allocation, and forms of surplus extraction. it acknowledges caste-based land ownership in kerala, which translates into diminishing economic and social power down the caste ladder. this historiographic tradition traces history in terms of the shift from tribal economy to agriculture and the later shift to trade and cash cropping in the colonial capitalist economy. caste is seen to originate in the agrarian phase, marked by new rigid land relations and particular labor systems to maximize production, leading to the emergence of groups called jatis. the economic shift from the tribal economy to the agricultural economy also becomes the basis for the formation of the state to extract the surplus. such economic histories project the relationship with land as the determining criterion of the socio-economic identity of individuals and groups. though jati is added in the narrative wherever it is seen to be relevant, the narrative revolves around the relationship between social classes determined by their position in the production process. therefore, caste becomes the invisible organizational logic for the formation of concrete classes/occupational categories which are emphasized. the representation of slavery is a significant aspect in mainstream historiography vis-à-vis caste. caste-based slavery is repeatedly recognized as an exploitative order from which land-owning classes benefitted. but the focus on the deprivation of the slaves reduced the history of slave upheavals to the history of dalit conversions to christianity as in ems’s narrative, or an absolute denial of slave resistance as in the history written by rajan gurukkal and raghavavarier. gurukkal and varier use the term ‘slavery’ interchangeably with bonded labor and servitude (8, 111,117, 202), blurring not just the transactional aspect of slavery but also its caste determinacy exemplified in the (mis)interpretation of the anti-slavery movement called prds as an emancipatory movement against serfdom. unlike these two historians, pk balakrishnan, illuminates the transactional nature of agrestic slavery, but presents it merely as an economic institution to extract labor (178). similar historiographic foregrounding of class can be seen in the historicization of the nationalist movement, anti-caste movements, etc., in the economic histories of kerala. the periodization in this historiographic tradition aligns with its goal to articulate the decisiveness of economic changes in history. the historical junctures that mark different economic configurations are identified as pre-feudal, feudal, colonial, and nationalist. the pre-feudal tribal economy was followed by agricultural expansion 422 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 in the post-aryan period, during which feudal land relations based on jati emerged. the history of the feudal period shows the hierarchized social organization of classes decided by specific roles in the production. the shift to the colonial period is marked by the integration of feudal-capitalist systems and the resultant shifts in production. the nationalist period is historicized as a period of anti-feudal anti-imperial resistance driven by the imagination of an independent nation-state. in this periodization paradigm, history is understood in terms of class relations, where caste is merely an additive factor. the evidential paradigm in mainstream kerala historiography historiography, having been defined as a political project with a specific agenda and strategies, makes the evidential paradigm followed in historiography significant. as a mode of knowledge generation, the historiographic methodology is embedded within dominant epistemic values. mainstream kerala historiography resorts exclusively to official artifacts and written documents as sources. written documents like administrative reports and trade records, census and economic surveys of the state, verified archaeological artifacts, and literary classics and epics and travel narratives are taken as historical sources and validated. analysis of dcuf cultural productions history is a significant category with which dcuf engages as part of its anti-caste politics. analysis of the cultural productions of dcuf, including songs, memoirs, customs, cultural symbols, architectural patterns, prayers, and speeches/sermons illuminates both critique and counter-creation as forms of such engagement with mainstream historiography. this section delineates the major historiographic critiques and counters in the cultural productions of dcuf and analyses their complex conversations with various mainstream historiographic traditions. critique of historiographic erasure dcuf’s critique of historiographic erasure is majorly constituted by two aspects. they criticize the brahmanical erasure of their indigenous identity as the adi-dravida tribe and their casteless cultural legacy. the critique against the mainstream historiographic erasure of dravidian history is compounded by their reclamation of the royal legacy as the descendants of benevolent and just dravidian kings of chera, chola, and pandya dynasties. as anuraj thirumeni, the former chairman of dcuf says, “poykayil appachan3 said that no alphabet is in sight about the history of his tribe/race. sabharaj said that we have our history. but we are alienated from history.”(personal interview 3 jan. 2021).4 dcuf sees this historiographic erasure as a deliberate tactic to alienate 3poykail appachan is a dalit leader who founded the anti-caste movement prathyaksha raksha daiva sabha (prds) in the early twentieth-century, kerala. dcuf worships him with reverence, as he is believed to be a divine incarnation for the liberation of the slave castes. 4all quotations from personal interviews are translated from malayalam, by the author. when fists write (of) the past: conceptualising dalit historiography 423 them from discourses of power and to perpetuate forms of caste servitude. one of the dcuf songs says, “the vamana leaders have thwarted the dravida voice the vamana leaders have wiped out the dravidian history” (personal interview 7 jan. 2021) in addition to erasing casteless cultural legacy, dcuf argues that mainstream historiography omits their resistance struggles against caste. they critique the mainstream historiography for its infrequent mentions of anti-caste leaders and movements. furthermore, they underline that dcuf movement and sabharaj are absent not only in mainstream history but even in the dalit historiography of kerala. anuraj thirumeni writes, “sabharaj thirumeni was one of the bravest leaders of the depressed class movements after the formation of kerala. he pioneered his social activism by forming the organization named dcuf in 1958. mainstream historians, dalit intelligentsia, and writers pretended not to have seen this movement and ignored it from historiography” (dravida prasthanam keralathil 3). the creation of alternate history recovery of ignored sources, perspectives, and experiences, along with reinterpretation of historiographic archives and existing representations, constitute the alternate historiography attempted by dcuf. the historiography of dcuf shows the creation and employment of unconventional sources. the memories and stories about sabharaj’s speeches in the streets about the liberation of the dalits abound in the narratives of the members of dcuf. sabharaj thirumeni engaged with the dalits through his evening meetings and study classes about slavery and their liberation. as satheeshan, one of the early followers of dcuf recalls, thirumeni, after his work in the quarry, would come to manchadikkari (an island primarily inhabited by a dalit population). his disciples and some of us would also accompany him. thirumeni would wear his angavasthram. after wearing that, whatever he says is motivated by a divine spirit. he would sing about the slave sufferings, about our ancestors who were sold off in the markets, those who were beaten to death, those who were yoked to the plow with bulls. everyone will repeat the songs after him. often people end up crying aloud. these memories will never fade. his voice was thunderous. (personal interview, 17 jan. 2021) another member of dcuf recalls, when thirumeni comes in the evening, i would also go with him. in those times, we used to do theatrical performances like plays, kadhaprasangam, etc. when thirumeni comes, we perform short kadhaprasangam (a performance art in which a story is narrated by mixing prose and poetry) and other things like 424 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 that. nothing else, he used to talk about our own problems, our experiences, our history. once when madhuchettan performed a kadhaprasangam, people were crying… so many times, villadichanpattu was also performed here; and people would come out of their houses to watch this, and they would return home only late. (personal interview 29 jan. 2021) these narratives indicate that the construction of history and its transmission in dcuf was a collective affair. history originates in people’s narratives and primarily survives through their memory. history appears here as a moving narrative characterized by fluidity and adaptability. dcuf employs unconventional sources such as memory, mythology, legends, cultural symbols, practices, oral literature, etc., alongside official-written sources as historiographic sources.the use of such texts is pertinent to the historiography of dalits, whose epistemic worldview and patterns of knowledge production are distinct owing to their position in the caste system. for instance, anuraj thirumeni, the ex-chairman of dcuf, remarks, “we haven’t printed more copies of those books. everyone knew the songs well, you know, so there was no need to print the copies.” (6 jan. 2020) the adoption of a caste lens also transforms the periodization followed in historiography. in dcuf’s archive, history is divided into periods, viz. the rule of the dravidian kings, aryan regime and centuries of enslavement, colonial modernity and renaissance, and the anti-caste activism of dcuf. in contrast to the mainstream historiography, dcuf historiography shows the historical junctures as driven by caste. however, the linear progression of history evident in their historiography resembles the mainstream historiographical projection of history as linear and teleological. recovery in historiography dcuf’s historiography based on an alternate evidential paradigm capacitates the recovery of ignored perspectives and experiences in historiography. recovery of dalit experiences and agency in the historiography of dcuf challenges the mainstream historiographic presentation of dalits merely as marginal laborers. dcuf’s recovery of experience is important not only because they employ experience as a category but also because of the specific way in which experiences are invoked. the historicization of experiences of enslavement and feudal servitude in the oeuvre of dcuf highlights the physical and emotional aspects of slave experiences from the perspective of the enslaved. this contrasts with the mainstream representation of slavery as an economic institution and highlights it as an anti-social and dehumanizing system. moreover, they invoke and link caste violence in contemporary times with the system of slavery and feudal oppression. experiences of caste slavery recovered in the historiography of dcuf enable an understanding of slavery as a social institution, different from its mainstream presentation as an economic institution defined by the exploitation of bonded laborers. in the dcuf narrative, the beginning of the enslavement is traced to the when fists write (of) the past: conceptualising dalit historiography 425 aryan invasion/aryan settlement, and the processes of establishing domination are detailed to show the scattering, oppression, and dehumanization of the slave castes. their narrativization of slave experiences and the historicization of slavery in terms of enslavement animate a shift of focus from the ‘slave’ to the ‘enslaved’. for example, haven’t you taken money by selling us in the markets? haven’t you put chains on our legs and hands? we are the descendants whose blood boils in anger you, monsters, never allowed us, the enslaved, to be free. (personal interview 26 dec. 2020) the enslavement of the adi-dravida in the aryan regime, the imposition of indignities like untouchability and caste names on them, and their denigration as slave castes are the major points in the narrative of enslavement. the architectural structures called mathrubhavanam and pithrubhavanam5 in the dcuf headquarters preserve the memory of their forefathers and foremothers who were sold off to faraway lands. the slaves do not appear as bonded laborers in these cultural texts but as dehumanized people who were denied their humanity. images of the separation of families, brutal punishments like burning and whipping, violent actions like rape, murder, transaction of humans, exploitative practices like tying men to the plow along with bulls, etc., that appear in their texts present the history of slavery from the perspective of the enslaved. the narratives are nuanced in detailing the social, material, and emotional, experiences of slavery, such as ostracization, oppression, exploitation, deprivation, dehumanization, and grief. the brutality of the physical punishments, sexual harassment, rapes, caste murders, etc., indicate the violent nature of the system. a member of dcuf recollects the horrors of slavery: during the time of slavery, the slaves were killed for anything. i remember my grandfather telling me he had seen men being forced to plow the land along with bulls. imagine what kind of cruelty it is! almost 80 years ago, a man lived here. as my father told me, there was a big callus on his shoulder due to the plow’s weight. during those times, my father used to go to thiruvalla. he had been a member of prds. and this vallyachan (the older man) was also in prds. the atrocities done to them were terrible. there were even slave markets in vechoor. there was a place called ‘chuzhalikkuzhy’in manjadikkari where the masters drowned many slaves. it is a whirlpool where four canals meet. and if/when a slave gets old or dares to disobey his master, he would be pushed into the ‘chuzhalikuzhy’ as punishment. in those times, most of the land in manjadikkari was owned by a family called ‘thuruthimaliyil’. there were panickars appointed by that family to kill the dissenting slaves. (personal communication 29 jan. 2021) 5mathrubhavanam and pithrubhavanam mean the house of the mother and the house of the father, respectively. dcuf headquarters have these temple-like structures in memory of their enslaved ancestors. they light the lamp in these regularly to pay respect to their foremothers and forefathers. 426 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 the objectification of the enslaved castes and their being exchanged as gifts and commodities, exemplify the extent of dehumanisation in caste-slavery. images of dalits working alongside bulls in the field, enslaved people being pushed down in the mud to bind the ridges, thrown into a whirlpool when they age and become incapable of working, recur in the cultural archive, unfolding the dehumanization in caste slavery that prevailed in kerala till the late nineteenth century. the coercion and control of labor in caste slavery are also articulated in the texts. another song in the cultural oeuvre of dcuf talks of the exploitation of the enslaved castes by control through coercion and fear. the narratives reveal that extreme poverty and deprivation of the enslaved communities strengthen the exploitative regime of caste slavery. ayyo (alas)! my hands and legs are falling weak i need to get some thal and thakara to eat. i shall drink the muddy water. but how can i stand this storm and cold don’t even have a place to rest my head! (13) the depiction of destitution in these lines when understood in the context of caste slavery is more complex in showing that material deprivation is a sign of social inequality and indignity. the enslaved are dehumanized to the extent that they do not even wish for clean water or good food. the social ostracization of the enslaved castes disallows them access to public space and basic amenities of life. the texts poignantly disclose a world of emotions highlighting the enslaved people’s grief, emotional connections, and familial bonds. this is particularly radical in the historicization of slave experiences as it unfolds the social and emotional life worlds of the enslaved. this powerful depiction of a world of the affected highlights the humanity and social subjectivities of the enslaved, both as individuals and as part of society. it draws attention to the social relations of the enslaved that have been discounted from mainstream historiographies. poignant images like that of a woman and her husband being sold off to distant places, slave families being separated, children who experience the horrors of orphanhood, etc., shift from the mainstream representation of slavery as a material institution to a depiction of slavery as a social institution determined by caste. this recovery of slave suffering expands both the mainstream and dalit kerala historiographic discourses by unfolding slavery as a social institution and pioneering documentation of slave experiences in historiography. dcuf recovers the history of anti-caste resistance primarily in terms of the major events and political leaders who led those events. in this recovery project, dcuf identifies the adi-dravida people as the original inhabitants of bharat and the blacks as belonging to the same race as the adi-dravida. this historiographic mission is also manifested in the renaming of places after the names of social revolutionaries like martin luther king, ambedkar, ayyankali, pandit karuppan, kp vallon, paradi abraham issac, etc. additionally, dcuf songs document the names of forgotten when fists write (of) the past: conceptualising dalit historiography 427 anti-caste leaders who worked with sabharaj thirumeni. as nd kumarji, sabharaj’s associate and disciple, writes, our misfortunes haven’t ended despite the emancipatory struggles of sri nm joseph, kandan kumaran, vellikkara chothi, paradi abraham, chathan puthoor ashan, kp vallon, nd ashirvadam, and krishnankutti. dravida children should wake up thinking and remembering the miseries suffered by simon yohannan, ayyankali, and poykayil thiru sabharaj thirumeni (8). an excerpt from thiru: pj sabharaj: orma, rashtreeyam, atayalam further exemplifies this pattern in dcuf historiography. “dcuf was rich with a line of great leaders like sabharaj. nd kumarji, s arumanayakam, kc ramankunj, pm nanappan, issac mathew, pj easho, pi andrews, pd simon chelakomb…kuttoor thankachan, cm baby charamkulam were some of those leaders” (34–35). furthermore, the book also recovers the history of women’s political engagement in the movement by recovering their names. to quote from the same book, “an important factor in the history of dcuf is the presence of women leadership and women-led movements. dr. mary k john, c a chellama, pp leelamma, c v mariamma stephen, kj annamma, ma sarojini…were strong women leaders of dcuf” (32). the invocation of the history of anti-caste resistance through the recovery of individual leaders conforms with mainstream nationalist and kerala historiographic paradigm that posits individual/event-centred history. while the historiographic framework follows the structure of the mainstream kerala historiography and indian nationalist historiography, in terms of content, it expands dalit kerala historiography by introducing many forgotten anti-caste leaders to dalit historiography. dcuf engages through history with the question of identity, primarily emphasizing aspects of indigeneity and lineage, aiming to foster self-respect and pride that emerge from historical awareness. recovery of the adi-dravida glory in terms of epistemic, material, and ethical superiority and contrasting this with the aryan regime as evinced in the historiography of dcuf is linked to the reclamation of a dignified indigenous identity. the idea of adi-dravida as the indigenous race composed of various royal gotras counters the indignities, impurity, and brokenness imposed on their being seen as enslaved castes or untouchables. dcuf presents the aryan invasion as a historical conquest through violence and treachery. they highlight the indigenous identity by foregrounding adi-dravida glory vis-à-vis knowledge/philosophical wisdom, social harmony, and material prosperity. dravidian rule is celebrated for maintaining the ideal or desired conditions of living with respect to social, ideological, and material aspects. the glory of the kingdom, as shown by their cultural texts, emanates from the egalitarian and corruption-free political climate created by the rule of just and benevolent kings. the image of a utopian time of truth, fraternity, and equality recurs in these texts. the people of dcuf often recite the popular malayalam song about ‘mavelinad’ (the ideal reign of mahabali) to reckon the adi-dravida reign. 428 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 under the rule of maveli people were treated as equals. in those times of harmony no harm or havoc touched any. no falsehood, no deceit not even a trace of dishonesty. no false measures, no lies. no anxieties, no diseases infant deaths were not even heard of. to quote from a speech delivered at the annual convention of dcuf, this (bharat/india) is our land. we are the descendants of a tribe that ruled this land. we are the adi-dravidas. our ancestors have authored vedas in this land; they have written epics in this land. our ancestors have written literature. so, we are the descendants of a group of great men who were writers, rulers, and philosophers. aryans are the aliens who came from antioch, rome, hungary, tibet, belgium, philippines, portuguese, british, arabia and other countries to rear cattle in our land. they came to our land and destroyed the rule of our land, which was based on truth, justice, and dharma. they killed our kings, they butchered our gurus, and they destroyed our leaders. they conquered india and called it a hindu nation. when the power was shifted to the aryans, the original people of the land, the adi-dravidas, became pulaya, pariah, and untouchable polluting creatures. (speech at the dcuf annual function 26 dec. 2020) these narratives contrast the social justice followed in dravidian times with the unjust and violent aryan regime. phrases like ‘aadiyardeepam’ (the light of the aadiyar),6‘aadiyamakkal’ (children of aadiyar), ‘rajakeeya-purohithakulam’(royalpriestly), etc., which appear in the cultural archive of dcuf indicate adi-dravida as a harmonious tribe which has a royal heritage. this depiction, in spite of fostering an alternate dignified identity, reproduces the brahmanical value system that defines the community in terms of its religious and political stature. in other words, reinforcing priestly and royal legacy as the premise of reclaiming dignity resonates with the brahmanical understanding of glory, and therefore, its anti-caste politics is about inverting the brahmanical hierarchy in terms of racial contradiction between the dravidians and the aryans. the ideological aspect of the indigeneity argument illuminates the epistemic superiority and philosophical richness of adi-dravida. as shown in the quotations earlier, dcuf claims a rich knowledge tradition that belongs to the tribe evinced in the existence of many philosophical texts authored and read by dravidian rishis and learned men and women: 6aadiyar in malayalam means the original people. when fists write (of) the past: conceptualising dalit historiography 429 hey dravidas, we are the native inhabitants you would fail to hold back tears if our story were told if the truth is said, the heart will break but we have a lot of historical truths to tell. the history of bharat, is not the story of the bhagavad gita; it is not the quran that is safely preserved. it is neither the ramayana, which extends to seven kaandhas7. nor the laborious huge work, bible. vyasa, the great sage, discovered the great text and found that it is composed by thiruvalluvar vyasa gained wisdom and had rewritten the text into sections8. (dcuf song, personal interview 17 jan. 2021) dcuf claims that thiruvalluvar was a wise man who belonged to the adi-dravida tribe. he authored the text thirukkural, a great treatise on multiple topics that pertain to human life. this work is claimed to have been taken over by the aryans. the text thirukkural contains the history of the land. but the savarnas did not approve it. vyasa9 had known about it in his vision and rewritten it into several sections like history, law, medicine, art, culture, education, information technology,etc. so, what thiruvalluvar had written, was the history of bharat. it is not the history of the fight between krishna and karna; it is not the history of ram and lakshman. (personal interview 17 jan. 2021) as these texts unfold, dravidian rule was based on their superior knowledges contained in the vedas and shastras. this is further exemplified in the artifact, the sword and the buckler placed in the dcuf headquarters, which symbolizes their royal legacy. it is designed with four dots at the center indicating four vedas and six dots in a circle indicating six sastras. the sword and the buckler represent the rule of the adi-dravida based on the vedas and shastras. despite indicating an epistemic domain comprising alternate moral and philosophical ethics, the use of the words ‘vedas’ and ‘shastras’denotes that dcuf’s discourse on dravidian knowledge resonates with the vocabulary of brahmanism that privileges the vedas and shastras as ultimate sources of wisdom. dcuf historiography also highlights that the adi-dravida were a prosperous and wealthy tribe.the material riches of the adi-dravida kingdom are highlighted by referring to their prosperous harvests, full granaries, golden throne, rishikulam (residence of the great gurus), etc. they claim ownership of numerous temples 7the ramayana is composed in seven sections. 8reference to the mahabharata, considered to be one of the most important texts in hindu mythology believed to be written by veda vyasa. 9vedavyasa is a hindu sage who is believed to have written the classic epic mahabharata. 430 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 and shrines/kavus, which were brahmanised in the post-aryan period. prabhuraj thirumeni says, [i]n this country, the scheduled castes built 186277 temples, 15000 kavus, 66667 kallambalam, and consecrated gods in these temples. if you check the history of vaikathappan, ettumanoorappan, kaduthuruthiyappan, thirunakkarayappan, or sabarimalayappan, 10 you will find them to be the ancestors of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. if they (brahmins) put a poonol (sacred thread) on these gods we will not accept. (prabhuraj thirumeni 26 dec. 2020). the regional location where dcuf traces its royal racial past is also significant in its historiographic politics. dcuf argues that they are the natives of bharat or india, which they expand as inter-national dravidian’s independent area. dravida appears as the linguistic identity of the adi-dravida tribe, who are shown to have originally inhabited india. dcuf equates the adi-dravida with the nagas and the asuras to claim that dravida is a pan-indian identity. “the ‘naga’ and the ‘dravida’ are two names of the same people. many will not accept that the dravidas and nagas were not only inhabitants of south india but were inhabitants of the whole of india, both north india and south india. but these are historical truths.” (thiru pj sabharaj:orma rashtreeyam atayalam 28). as one of the members of dcuf says, “the name ‘bharatham’ came not because bharata ruled here. sabharaj thirumeni had taught us that india is the land of dravidians. india means -international dravidians’ independent association.” (personal communication 6 jan. 2021). this approach marks an intervention in mainstream indian historiography through a creative appropriation of the mainstream nationalist historiographic framework. nationalist historiography which alleges the colonial and muslim conquests as the cause for the decline of glorious indian culture is changed by shifting the culpability of the nation’s fall onto the aryan invasion. but simultaneously, the idea of a glorious nation, premised on the idea of common roots vis-à-vis culture, history, and descent, is maintained. in other words, they subscribe to the modern idea of nation and call for the banishment of foreign aryan settlers by valorising the former. their reinterpretation of the word ‘india’ as international dravidians independent association, and demythologisation of ‘bharat’ as not ruled by bharata, indicate how it follows the framework of nationalism by infusing it with an anti-caste perspective defined as anti-aryan/anti-brahmin(ical). the identity reclamation in the narratives of dcuf also foregrounds lineage as a pertinent concern. they contrast their oppressed conditions in the aryan regime with the ideal rule of their dravidian forefathers. equating dravidians and asuras and keeping them in opposition to the aryan brahmins, dcuf highlights this contrast exemplified through the repeated reference to the legend of maha bali, who was betrayed and manipulated by the brahmin vamana. as narrated by one of the early associates of sabharaj thirumeni, “mahabali was the last dravidian king. since he 10deities consecrated in various hindu temples in kerala when fists write (of) the past: conceptualising dalit historiography 431 was great and invincible, they sought the help of brahma-vishnu-maheswara to defeat mahabali” (personal interview 17 jan. 2021). dcuf’s reclamation of their royal lineage is most evident in their naming pattern. sabharaj urged his followers to name their children after the great dravidian kings. all the members of deva jana samajam (the spiritual wing of dcuf) have names referring to kings such as thampuran (lord), thirumeni (revered), yajamanan (lord/ master), raj (king), etc. anurajthirumeni and mb manoj write, “the enslaved in india were once a community with self-pride and glory. understanding that history is the only path to their liberation. that is why appachi formed positions in the community such as rajarishis, devarishis, rajamathas, devamathas and rajakanyas”(thiru pj sabharaj: orma rashtreeyam atayalam 102). these names denote adi-dravida as the royal-priestly tribe. another member of dcuf recalls the naming ceremony of his daughter as follows, thirumeni had named my children. my eldest daughter is rani sumitra devi. my sons are niyathiraj chakravarthy and nayanaraj chakravarthy. and my youngest daughter is nrupa mol. when our last daughter was born, we sent him (thirumeni) a letter informing him about it and inviting him to the naming ceremony. i requested him to find a name for her. after three days, we got a letter. only this much was written on it; my address, appachi’s signature, and three names. when he came here the night before the ceremony, he asked my wife and me to choose one among those names. we both liked the name ‘anuraja’. so, we told him to name her as ‘anuraja’. appachi also said it is a good name. the next morning, after all the prayers, the ceremony began. appachi held her in his hands and was praying. while praying, he heard a humming voice in his ears, and then he said, “she is nrupamol.” we were surprised. (personal communication 29 jan. 2021) kaipuzha jayaraj, one among sabharaj’s early associates writes, we are coming singing the song of blood the song of blood, the song of struggle we are the worshippers of the satya-dharma we are the children of the rishi-bharata (n.p.) dcuf narratives trace their lineage to the dravidian kings who established kingdoms of chera, chola, and pandya kings, who are shown to have ruled dravidanadu, of which kerala was a part. according to the speech by one of the rajarshis at the annual function at mukkada, bharatam was ruled by the dravidas. the aryans, who were intelligent, mighty, and physically attractive, mingled with the dravida women and, through deceit, extracted the country’s secrets, financial sources, and ruling strategies. thus, the dravidians lost their country. many dravidian kings ruled even kerala. cheran, cholan, pandhyan, chenkuttaman, and chethara prathapan were powerful dravidian kings. (26 dec. 2020) 432 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 the depiction of the adi-dravida as the descendants of the dravidian kings is further exemplified in the words of satheeshan, a member of dcuf. he says, we were dominant in this land. we were the owners. but everything had been robbed from us, and we got enslaved. that means dravidians lost their glory after the reign of rulers like chera, chola, pandya, chenkuttaman, chethara prathapan and kotharani. mahabali was the last dravidian king. (personal interview 17 jan. 2021) the historiographic representation of royal legacy in dcuf conforms with the mainstream kerala historiography in its equation of the cheras to the native rulers of the regions of erstwhile kerala. it is significantly different from kerala dalit historiography, which shows the cheras as a royal dynasty in ancient tamilakam which plundered regions of kerala to amass wealth. as evinced in these narratives, dcuf privileges the political realm, similar to the political historiography of kerala. in contrast to dalit kerala historiography, which highlights the social realm, dcuf’s historiography defines the community in political terms, emphasizing on material prosperity and social harmony thanks to good governance. reinterpretation of history understanding history through the alternate framework of caste compels relooking and reinterpreting existing historiographic representations. identification of historiographic archives as historical validates the reinterpretation of archives and the narratives based on them. dcuf texts attempt such reinterpretation of historiographic sources and narratives to construct their alternate history. in contrast to the mainstream representation of aryan hegemony as effected through brahmin brilliance and possession of agricultural technologies, dcuf represents the establishment of aryan hegemony through violence and manipulation. this narrativization challenges the equation between brahmins and innate superior qualities by accentuating that aryan/brahmin superiority is a sheer matter of domination and not inherent prowess. the reinterpretation of the aryan invasion by dcuf highlights aryan treachery as the cause of the decline of the dravidian kingdom. dcuf texts emphasize the ideological control attained through the appropriation of dravidian knowledge traditions. the brahmanical appropriation of dravidian epics such as thirukkural and their vedas and shastras is a recurring argument in the historiography of dcuf, as discussed in the previous section. along with reclaiming their dignity through the reclamation of epistemic superiority, dcuf also underscore that the aryan invasion was violent and gory. as mj pandit writes, hey, crores dravida young people, go on and save our land. aryans the betrayers have invaded our land, bharat. (n.p) when fists write (of) the past: conceptualising dalit historiography 433 the violence and treachery of the aryans is further reiterated, the aryans, the most heinous tribe, aryans, the most wicked tribe, aryans who even lust after their mothers, a tribe with the most despicable culture, came to our land and destroyed the rule on our land, which was based on truth, justice, and dharma. they killed our kings; they butchered our gurus, and destroyed our leaders. they conquered india and called it a hindu nation. when the power was shifted to the aryans, the original people of the land, the adi dravida, we became pulaya, paraya,and polluting untouchable creatures. thus, pulayan, parayan, vedan, vettuvan, velan, ulladan, and adivasis became powerless. (speech at dcuf annual celebration 26 dec. 2020) the representation of kerala renaissance is another crucial concern in dcuf historiography which demands critical attention. while agreeing to the mainstream historiographic idea that the renaissance was pioneered by sree narayana guru in the nineteenth century attempting the reformation of individual caste groups, dcuf marks a rupture from this renaissance tradition and posits their movement as anti-caste defined in terms of the unification of caste groups to form a community. in one dcuf song, sabharaj thirumeni writes: nanu guru11 has come to console his caste he ignored the harijans don’t ever think that he came for our liberation. (dcuf viplava ganangal 10) although he critiques the renaissance movement for its inability to unify people across castes, these lines show adherence to the same approach that it critiques. this narrative also suggests an exclusionary identity politics premised on the harijan identity. furthermore, while claiming to be anti-caste, their self-identification as the harijan reinforces the gandhian reformist paradigm. kaipuzha jayaraj, one of sabharaj’s disciples, writes, hadn’t they tortured our fathers and mothers for the past thousand and eight hundred years! do you know anyone who has done anything for them? has budha, krishna, muhammed, or christ done something for them? has narayanan done anything for them? do you know the reason, dear brother? (dcuf sviplava ganangal n.p.) jayaraj’s poem critiques not only the renaissance movement but various religions in india for failing to resolve the caste problem. the lines indicate that all these religions are equally culpable in perpetuating caste. placing these religions, especially hinduism and buddhism, on the same line of critique, however, overlooks their historical differences in the engagement with caste via religion. the rejection of buddha and worship of ambedkar, who believed in the philosophy of buddha, is 11sree narayana guru was the pioneer of the ezhava movement in kerala. 434 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 another contradiction in their anti-caste discourse. as evinced in deva jana samajam’s (spiritual wing of dcuf) pantheon, dcuf forges a dalit identity premised on the history of indigeneity and enslavement, and worships anti-caste leaders from dalit/ slave castes such as dr. b r ambedkar, ayyankali, kp vallon, pambadi john joseph, poykayil appachan, and sabharaj thirumeni as the gurus and gods of the community. talking about sabharaj thirumeni, rajmohan thamburan, the chairman of dcuf, says, “appachi used to intervene in the problems of everyone. he never looked at the caste of anyone. he asked us to unite irrespective of sub-caste differences. adidravida is our identity. we had been enslaved. appachi used to say that history should unite us.” (personal interview 6 jan. 2021) as anuraj thirumeni writes, after the death of poykayil appachan in 1939 and the death of mahatma ayyankali in 1941, in post-independent india, the dalit discourse degenerated based on subcaste/religious identities. the same predicament continued even after the formation of the kerala state in 1956. though the democratic discourses and the community reforms tried to open up public spaces, kerala society continued to be divided based on caste and political parties which sided with specific castes. dcuf intervened in this context by stressing the need to unite beyond the sense of inferior consciousness, irrespective of these differences.(22) dcuf’s thrust on dalit identity as the enslaved is reinforced by mb manoj and anuraj thirumeni, [i]n some sense, dcuf is an organisation that expands the idea of prds (prathyaksha raksha daiva sabha/the divine church of visible salvation). simultaneously, it retains certain characteristics of ayyankali movement’s socio-political activism. also, it included the visions of the cheramar sanghams, which were focused on the issues of dalit christians. thus, clearly, dcuf shows a pattern of adopting the multiple strands of the dalit movement in the renaissance. (23) dcuf underscores that it needs to be marked in the discourse of renaissance for its revolutionary anti-caste stance. they highlight the unification of the subcastes as the distinguishing aspect of dcuf. they do this by focusing on the dalit participation in the renaissance movement and by aligning only with the movements of/by the dalit castes during the renaissance and later nationalist period. conclusion as exemplified in indian and kerala dalit historiographies, social formation is informed by caste, and looking at history from the perspective of the anti-caste when fists write (of) the past: conceptualising dalit historiography 435 communities necessitates recognition of history as the sum total of patterns of domination and resistance. putting the historiography of anti-caste communities like dcuf in conversation with the mainstream and dalit historiographies, this study reveals that dalit historiography is not an identity-based counter-project but an analytical one that narrativizes the past from a dalit standpoint. this interventionist standpoint, defined as anti-caste, is not necessarily oppositional to the mainstream traditions of historiography. the relationship between mainstream and dalit traditions of historiographies is a complex one that includes diverse kinds of negotiations vis-àvis historiographic content and framework. analysis of the cultural texts of dcuf exemplifies that their historiography primarily chronicles domination and resistance vis-à-vis the question of caste slavery. caste-based enslavement and antislavery/anti-caste movements occupy the heart of their historiography. dcuf presents enslavement as a political issue of invasion and dethronement, resulting in enslavement. in dcuf cultural texts, emphasis is on the ideological realm, highlighting their dignified identity as the royal descendants, and attempts it’s restoration through the reclamation of glorious history, knowledge and kingdom. the restoration of the dravidian kingdom is articulated by adopting the mainstream political historiographic framework of kerala. acknowledgement i acknowledge with gratitude, the cooperation of the people of dcuf in mukkada in the pathanamthitta district of kerala, who gave me access to their community functions and cultural oeuvre, which enabled me to do this study. i also acknowledge the analytical inputs and editorial corrections by dr. suchitra mathur, my ph.d. thesis supervisor and professor in the department of humanities and social sciences, iit kanpur, that have enriched this article. thanks are due to dr.sanal mohan, former professor, at the school of social sciences, m g university, kerala, for giving me access to the historical archive of dcuf, which he formulated as part of the british library’s ‘endangered archives programme 2009’. references aloysius, g. 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(2020). dcuf annual convention. 26 december. mukkada. © 2023 anusha renukuntla, ashok kumar mocherla. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.682 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 336-350 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the caste of campus habitus: caste and gender encounters of the first-generation dalit women students in indian universities anusha renukuntla1, ashok kumar mocherla2 abstract this article critically examines the university academic spaces and the campus culture determined by a particular form of the dominant habitus which is, in effect, actively excluding the first-generation women students belonging to the marginalized sections of indian society. as this dominant habitus is constantly reproduced on university campuses, with or without contentions, entering the academic spaces of indian universities for first-generation dalit women—who are deprived of both cultural and social capital—is invariably becoming a herculean task. therefore, this article analyses the concealed forms of dominant campus habitus that structurally create a conducive environment for privileged students and a rigid glass ceiling for first-generation dalit women students in their journey toward higher education. notwithstanding the limitations associated with their social status of being first-generation learners, the formations of alternative cultural capital and resilience of the dalit women students have been analysed from a feminist perspective, proving that one could overcome these social challenges through the acquired cultural capital. the analytical concepts and theoretical frameworks of this article have been developed based on empirical/ ethnographic data collected from women research scholars at a prominent university in south india. the narratives were collected in the academic year 2020–2021 through in-depth interviews and focused group discussions. keywords first-generation learners, university education, dominant habitus, intersectionality, acquired cultural capital, gender, and caste 1doctoral student, sociology, humanities & social sciences, iit indore, india e-mail: phd2101161008@iiti.ac.in 2assistant professor of sociology, school of humanities and social sciences, iit indore, india e-mail: ashokmocherla@iiti.ac.in the caste of campus habitus: caste and gender encounters of the first-generation 337 introduction the concept of habitus and forms of capital proposed by pierre bourdieu (1977) rightly enables us to understand the educational challenges and negotiations the first-generation students confront in their journey toward higher education. bourdieu (1977) observes that the concept of cultural capital refers to the collection of symbolic elements such as skills, tastes, posture, clothing, mannerisms, material belongings, credentials, and so forth that one acquires through being part of a particular social class. the habitus is the physical embodiment of cultural capital that refers to the deeply ingrained habits, skills, and dispositions that we possess due to our life experiences. for bourdieu, habitus denotes the “internalized structures” and “schemes of perception” in which the dominant social and cultural conditions are established and reproduced (bourdieu 1977: 86). hence, the habitus produces relationships of domination through its institutions, and one such social institution is a university campus in which the structural inequalities are recreated and normalized. across the globe, university education is seen as a social space that has the theoretical potential to transform the lives of individuals and eventually society towards the egalitarian paradigm by precluding the consequences of categorical inequalities such as gender, race, class, and ethnicity. the purpose of university education is the achievement of a particular expansion of outlook, turn of mind, habit of thought, and capacity for social and civic interaction (newman 1996: 15). but, dominated by the hegemonic intelligentsia that promotes the praxis of the dominant habitus, certain sections of students are privileged over their counterparts in the universities that are spaces mandated with the responsibility of countering unjust structural practices. therefore, every social space is characterized by its own expressive culture, and the university as a social institution has its normative ways of being (puwar 2004: 116). the codes of conduct on university campuses such as curriculum and pedagogy, evaluation of academic performance based on skills and knowledge, academic activities, the symbolic language used, mannerisms, dressing patterns, non-academic amenities, interactions, and so forth are produced/generated on lines of dominant culture, which effectively benefits students from affluent socio-economic backgrounds who merely need to re-conform to those established patterns. interestingly enough, these social privileges are taken for granted, by those students who are in an advantageous position, as certain sets of social practices are normalized and considered objective in the context of universities. on the other hand, students who do not share similarities with the dominant habitus suffer from limited economic, social, and cultural capital and are perceived as the ‘cultural other’ in the academic spaces, and are in constant conflict with the dominant habitus on campus. thus, educational institutions reflect and reproduce wider social patterns of power and sometimes become sites of policing, and regulation of wider social meanings associated with multiple cultural habitus that students bring along with them (sanjakdar 2011: 10). in the context of india, as beteille argues, universities opened new horizons both intellectually and institutionally in a society that had stood still in a conservative 338 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 and hierarchical mold for centuries. the universities were among the first open and secular institutions in a society that was governed largely by rules of kinship, caste, and religion (cited by guha 2007: 564). though the contribution of universities in promoting the nation towards progress is significant, its exclusionary practices against marginalized students such as allotment of a few admissions into academic programmes, judging their skills based on identity, not recognising their academic performance, negative slurs, smear campaigning, name calling and so forth cannot be ignored. with the established conventional glassceilings, the nature of universities in embracing diversity and inclusivity comes under contestation. for deshpande, the centres of excellence have not opened up their doors to the non-elite until recently and they have been dominated by the monopoly of the minority privileged sections (deshpande 2006: 140). owing to the dichotomous nature of both exclusion and inclusion, male students from upper caste social backgrounds are privileged and women, dalits, and tribes are excluded and systematically marginalized in institutions of higher education. indian universities, therefore, operate as the ‘gatekeepers to the upper caste kingdom in india’ as pointed out by tharu et al. (1998: 2702). deshpande (2006) observes, that elite higher educational institutions are hampered by caste apartheid, and students from lower caste backgrounds are denoted as deficient with preconceived assumptions, ignoring their inadequate educational training and lack of social and cultural capital. with these exclusionary practices in place, students from historically marginalized sections are systematically barred from attaining a university education. on the other hand, women students carry with them an intense burden of discrimination and exclusion on university spaces as gender relations are intricately woven into a system of hierarchical social relations and prescriptive codes of conduct determined by gender stereotypes. despite the deep-rooted, and patriarchal stereotypes and other social challenges, indian women have succeeded in entering universities in pursuit of higher education in the past six decades or so. though participation of women in higher education increased numerically compared to previous decades, even today the sex ratio of students on indian campuses is still unhealthy and lopsided in favour of men. feminist scholarship in sociology such as beauvoir (1949), harding (1986), & collins (1990) contest the establishment of dominant habitus, the nature of women’s subordination to men on the one hand and portray family and educational institutions as an important site of social reproduction which communicates the binary opposition of femininity and masculinity through socialization and gender stereotypes on the other. spivak’s (1988: 28) observation of female as subaltern seems to be still in the shadows in the indian context as university spaces continue to produce, and reproduce, both conventional and new categories of inequalities. often, women experience undesirable social encounters in university social spaces that are patriarchally-driven and deepens when their identity intersects with their social status of being first-generation learners. firstgeneration learners are those in their immediate families to attend college education. the condition of first-generation dalit women students is even worse, as they lack what pierre bourdieu (1986) terms, the three forms of capital, namely, economic, social, the caste of campus habitus: caste and gender encounters of the first-generation 339 and cultural capital which are necessary for any individual to make a decent living. dalit women undergo multi-faceted oppression pertaining to their first-generation status as the dominant habitus is not devoid of gender and caste. sukumar (2022: 12) observed that in the indian context, caste or other social identities, vernacular medium of education, and rural/urban are determinants of social reproduction in university spaces. when it comes to the context of first-generation dalit women students, on one side they are subjected to gender oppression from all men in general and men of their caste in particular. additionally, they undergo indifferent treatment from upper castes, as well as second-generation dalit women students. as rightly pointed out by b.r. ambedkar, “dalit woman is a most dalit among dalits.” (cited by swaroopa 1998). experiences of dalit women in higher educational institutions can be understood by the lived experiences of dalit women in rege’s (2006) writing caste/writing gender, reading dalit women’s testimonies. shantabai dhanaji dani who is a known woman leader of the ambedkarite movement in ‘ratrandin amcha...’ (for usthese nights and days (1990) explains her experiences in higher education coming from a rural background, bearing a village stamp on her appearance, eventually leading to humiliations on campus (rege 2006). kumud pawade, a dalit woman professor in sanskrit explains the lived experiences of dalit women in brahmanical academic spaces and disciplines through her book antasphot (thoughtful outburst 1981), ‘where women and dalits have been denied the right to study sanskrit, the fact that a shudra woman learning sanskrit challenged the brahmanical caste ideology on campuses. this resulted in humiliation from her own faculty colleagues taunting and branding her as ‘government-sponsored brahman.’’ correspondingly, first-generation dalit women students experience unwelcoming attitudes and are subjected to humiliation and discrimination in indian higher educational institutions. the self-worth of students from underprivileged backgrounds gets negatively affected due to their caste status (chadha 1997: 791–792). hence, this article is an attempt to unravel the lived experiences of contestations and negotiations of first-generation dalit women students while navigating the university campus spaces, determined by the dominant habitus where caste acts as the strong cultural capital to certain individuals and marginalizes the other. the educational trajectory of first-generation dalit women students, the unique challenges they confront in the process of learning, the significant role of non-academic spaces in reinforcing inclusion and exclusion, survival strategies of negotiations, and social agencies in contesting the conventional glass ceilings through the acquired cultural capital are significant lines of inquiries which this article aims to cover in the following sections. encounters in mounting the educational ladder the unique challenges experienced by first-generation students are not only influenced by their social status as first-generation learners, but also by other social factors such as gender, race, class, ethnicity, religion, and region (arch & gilman 2019: 997). 340 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 first-generation dalit learners face structural challenges as caste identity influences their representation in schools (nambissan 2006: 259). therefore, it is imperative to understand the social dimensions of their school education. in our present context, the educational journey of the first-generation dalit women students has been explored which has a greater impact on their academic opportunities and psychological wellbeing as they advance on the educational ladder. as a respondent from the field says: there was a primary school, meant for 1-5 grades, near the dalit hamlet. there is no school for secondary education in our locality, so i went to the upper primary high school (uphs) located in the colonies of upper castes. going to school every day was the biggest hurdle, as the distance was almost one kilometer and we had to go by walk. as the washrooms were not available nearby open fields were used for nature calls which i feel embarrassed about. there is no availability of teachers for science subjects hence clearing board exams was a tough job. due to the mid-day meals scheme attending classes in the afternoon was possible. after returning from school in the evening, being a girlchild i was obliged to do the household chores and often help my parents with the agriculture work. i hated sundays in my childhood as we were taken to the agricultural fields and made to work the whole day with no time to study at home. hence, until the time of intermediate (10+2), merely clearing the examinations was a major objective in my mind instead of focusing on scoring high. it is evident that the families of the poor status group are not able to provide improved home conditions and atmosphere for their children for better education, in comparison to others. the discriminatory practices and humiliation based on their social status in the educational spaces and among their peer group are part of the dalit women students’ everyday life from childhood, which has a major toll on their self-confidence and mental health. as one of the respondents says: our school is towards the upper castes’ households. as we pass by each lane drastic differences between our houses which are made of mud and their big houses with modern infrastructure can be noticed. my friends used to pass comments saying, ‘these people are low in status as they consume beef in their houses. i used to feel embarrassed and almost left eating beef. when i visited their homes occasionally, their parents asked me to stand outside. these things got imprinted on my mind from childhood and [i] used to consider myself and my community inferior to others. i became quite cautious from then to stop being friends with people belonging to upper castes let alone visiting their houses. hostile experiences and humiliation based on their caste status as ‘dalits’ are exhibited which eventually haunts the dalit students right from an early age where they do not even know what caste is. hence, first-generation status accompanied by the caste of campus habitus: caste and gender encounters of the first-generation 341 the intersection of gender and caste stands out as a double-layered barricade for firstgeneration dalit women students aspiring to pursue higher education. despite lacking parental guidance, and low economic and cultural capital, they manage to navigate their way into university spaces. but, being the minority among the majority-driven mainstream students hailing from affluent families, they come across undesirable experiences in higher educational institutions which need to be scrutinized & analyzed. the following section describes the phenomena. institutional inequalities and lived realities the manner in which first-generation women learners position themselves as women and dalit women in particular, along with analyzing how the intersection of class, caste, and space determine their access to educational opportunities and adaptation to the university campus are issues of grave concern. this unravels the layered forms of discrimination encountered by first-generation students when converged with the social identity of gender and caste in university settings, where a particular form of caste habitus is institutionalized and broadly viewed as normal. the ingrained exclusionary practices of universities hinder the emancipation and social agility of first-generation dalit women students at every level of the university hierarchy. the proportion of first-generation women research scholars at this university to the general population on campus is 42.86 per cent and the first-generation dalit women research scholars is merely at 3.57 per cent. the ratio of second-generation women research scholars in the general population is 57.14 per cent, and 25 per cent is the proportion of second-generation dalit women research scholars. hence, it is evident that the presence of women research scholars from privileged caste backgrounds is almost equal in both first and second generations. however, a very small proportion of dalit women research scholars are first-generation learners, which display their absence in urban-centric educational institutions with minimal representation. the chronicles of the first-generation dalit women learners who stand out as marginalised groups in university academic spaces with no cultural and social capital are explained further which visualizes their impediments in the process of registering a certain degree of creating achieved status. denied cultural and social capital for the first-generation dalit women students, availability of institutional assistance from the administration and faculty members is the major source of dependence. with no cultural capital, inadequate communication skills, and an english language barrier they tend to have less social capital, specifically, engagement and social connections with administrative staff, faculty, seniors, and fellow students. additionally, noninstitutional support such as recognizing their constraints and assisting them to overcome them by motivating faculty members, seniors, and colleagues, seems to be very minimal and almost absent. therefore, their attempt towards ‘fitting in’ into 342 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 higher educational institutions like universities is nothing short of a miracle. one of the field respondents highlights the same point: my parents know nothing about universities and higher education degrees like ph.d. i must take the whole responsibility for my studies and explore the available opportunities. doing a ph.d. in chemistry from a university is not a small thing and i have no idea about the admission process, selecting semester courses. the sight of a well-speaking administrative staff, faculty, and seniors was very intimidating for me to ask questions in english as i lacked proficiency. also, they were not ready to talk to me which was quite evident in their hostile gazes. due to a lack of awareness regarding financial fellowships availability on campus, i missed a one-semester fellowship too. so, in the initial days of my stay at the university, i struggled a lot to adjust and get my things done as i felt uncomfortable with my language skills and seeking help from strangers. academic space and double burden of identity indian universities are dominated by upper castes who act as gatekeepers for academic spaces through their exclusionary practices and discrimination. caste identity often becomes a source of rebuke and insult. such caste-based insults and rebukes combined with poor economic and social capital, tend to push the first-generation dalit women scholars beyond the boundaries of their tolerance. this is explicated by one of the respondents from the field: most of my fellow researchers refer to dalit scholars like me as ‘reservation batch’. i feel ignored by both my supervisor and seniors. my thesis supervisor once stated, ‘i committed some sin earlier may be due to which am teaching dalit students, who are equal to beggars’. he never spoke except to comment on the doctoral committee report. my seniors also consider me incapable and judge my subject knowledge irrespective of my academic excellence. i feel irritated when the male scholars from the dalit community also try to dominate and pass orders taking the advantage of same caste identity. women scholars from the upper castes and those who are financially better off tend to form their own groups and do not interact with people like me. the preconceived assumptions of faculty members and seniors that first-generation dalit women scholars are deficient because of their caste identity persist in indian universities. dalit women scholars endure oppression not only from men of other castes but also from their own castes. accordingly, women scholars from a privileged backdrop exclude dalit women scholars based on their poor socio-economic background. this scenario contests the patriarchal practices of men in general and dalit men in particular. first-generation dalit women scholars, therefore, undergo a double burden due to the non-egalitarian practices of the university system. the caste of campus habitus: caste and gender encounters of the first-generation 343 campus culture and retrieving non-academic spaces the unexplored accounts of first-generation students from marginalized communities provide us insights into the structural inequalities of indian universities. coming from a minority background and unequipped with sufficient knowledge and skills of the dominant habitus, the first-generation dalit women students converse with unfamiliar and impertinent environments upon their arrival at universities. this is because the dominant group can exercise their dominance merely by conforming to the status quo, while the marginalised must engage in rupture with their own habitus itself. the firstgeneration dalit women students undergo a transition in their social environment, which is to deal with stereotypes and stigmatizations accompanied by pressures of family expectations which together negatively impact their academic potential. cultural conflict upon entering the universities, first-generation dalit women scholars encounter a cultural shock, which is an experience a person may have when one moves to a new cultural environment that is different from one’s own (jhon et al., 2010: 54). with the transition in their life from traditional educational institutions to that of new university environments, the first-generation dalit women learners experience isolation and ‘feel out of place.’ this phase of adaptation to the new social environments of the university campus has the potential to bring out new social agencies of first-generation learners, which in turn paves the means for an inclusive environment on campus. one of the respondents of the study from the field stated as below: getting admission into a prominent university in hyderabad was the first independent decision in my life. i came to hyderabad alone for the first time without even knowing the public bus numbers in the city. i kept staring at the tall and concrete buildings and the crowded busy bus stops. with the help of my relative in the city, i reached the university. the first sight of the university campus made me feel, ‘am i going to study on such a big campus with a wide area, all greenery around, and well-built departments and hostel.’ i clearly remember my first day in our department which made my enthusiasm disappear in no time. i had the appearance of a village girl and everybody in the laboratory were well dressed and speaking in good english. the hostile gazes of people around me made me feel inferior and that made me isolate myself. though i liked the campus, the unwelcoming attitudes of people around me made me feel displaced. in hostels too i was shocked to hear about girls drinking alcohol, as i never encountered such things before back in my village. the habitus of first-generation learners is mismatched with the socio-cultural life at university, as they belong to ‘’the social strata that are far away from academic culture and who are condemned to experience that culture as unreal’’ (bourdieu and passeron 1977: 922). therefore, first-generation dalit women are at risk for limited educational 344 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 attainment with less social engagement in the campus culture and delayed adaptation. non-academic spaces like hostels, shopping complexes, cafeterias, annual university fests, and so forth are vital in opening possibilities for the socialization of the campus culture. one of the respondents narrates her experience, as below: since the hostel rooms accommodated one person it was comfortable and [i] could stay as i wished. in the initial days, going to canteens and shopping complexes in the university was utterly uncomfortable. fellow students used to sit there for hours and be involved in discussions, on the contrary, walking on campus roads also was scary for me. therefore, accessing the facilities such as the gym and sports complex was far beyond my thoughts. for the first annual university festival, my sister paid a visit to the campus. on the third day, which will be the last, we both went to the open ground where students were dancing. we were shocked to see girls wearing short dresses and all boys and girls dancing together freely. after that, i never went to the fest again. these experiences display the concealed forms of how the dominant habitus operates on the university campus. with the deepening cultural mismatch, assimilating into the campus ambience is challenging for first-generation dalit women scholars, as it demands delinking oneself from pre-existing habitus and obliging the new lifestyle. along with these confrontations of first-generation status, insolences based on their intersectional identity, such as stereotypes based on appearance, dressing patterns, skin complexion, food habits, give an insight into the dalit women scholars’ minorityness in university settings. nexus of physical attributes & cultural stereotypes on university campus the antagonistic aesthetic notions of dominant culture tend to marginalize dalit women based on the intersectional identity of women first, and dalit women additionally. judith butler (1990, 1993, 2004) argued the performativity of gender, which is a stylized repetition of acts as an imitation or miming of the dominant conventions of gender. the intersectional theorists have argued that they also are co-constituted with class, race, and ethnicity. accordingly, dalit women students are stigmatized based on their appearance, skin color, and dietary practices such as the consumption of beef on the hostel premises. one of the respondents from the field says: beauty plays a vital role in the way people treat us in academic spaces too. based on my appearance and less sophisticated dressing style i was always considered an average student and disrespected by people who have no idea about my academic performance. there is a common understanding in society that if a person is dark in color, she/he belongs to the dalit community, often seen in surprise if they are fair in their skin color, which is always linked to dalit identity. additionally, i was looked down upon by my colleagues for eating beef and following other cultural practices of dalits. the caste of campus habitus: caste and gender encounters of the first-generation 345 thus, in academic environments, young dalit women struggle with an inferiority complex due to the narrow definitions of beauty. there is a preconceived assumption in society that dalits are dark in color and people will be surprised to see a dalit with fair skin. these conditions throw light on the relation attached to caste and skin complexion, where it is assumed that all dalits are racially black, and if any dalit individual is of light skin tone, they are detached from their dalit identity and are seen as the mismatch of their caste. hence, the first-generation students are negatively stereotyped resulting in unfavorable university experiences that obstruct their academic performance. additionally, the pressure of family expectations places a double burden on first-generation dalit women scholars. dalit women as ‘most dalits’: daughters as passing birds with the existing patterns of academic stress and hostile workplace environments, first-generation dalit women scholars also endure marriage pressure differently. traditionally, getting married is considered a higher ideal for a woman than attaining a higher education and getting employment, due to the existing patrilineal practices. for dalit women, the pressure of marriage is increased due to their poor economic backgrounds. marriage proposals begin at the early age of 14 years, and dalit women learners are obliged to negotiate with families in every phase of their journey in higher education. this shows how the authoritarian and patriarchal social structures do not allow any free space for adolescent girls, particularly in certain sections that assign different reasons for the continuation of the practice of early marriages (ghosh 2011: 307–326). in terms of the pressure of marriage experienced by dalit women scholars, one of the respondents states: in the case of male children, parents beg them to study well, and, in our case, we must beg our parents to let us study. i felt my educational achievements were not valued when my parents were not happy regarding my ph.d. studies and kept worrying about the delay of marriage. their concern remains that, i was the only girl in our locality to attain higher education and remained unmarried until the age of 25 years. also, if i have higher educational qualifications, they must search for a groom more than my qualification which in turn may cost them more dowry. hence, the first-generation dalit women research scholars are the most dalits among dalits as stated by dr. ambedkar compared to their dalit male counterparts who are considered as the breadwinners of the family, contrarily female as ‘passing birds.’ they do not often enjoy readily available parental consent to the continuation of higher education and are considered deviant from family expectations. dalit women students always have to put in extra effort to convince parents before pursuing their higher education. withstanding the systemic oppression based on their interactional identity of gender, caste, and family pressure, how they adapt and negotiate with university spaces will be discussed further in the following section. 346 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 from excluded to exceptional: acquired cultural capital though the navigation of the first-generation dalit women learners into hierarchical university academic spaces is extremely tough, it is their agency in adapting to those settings through the possible contestation and negotiations that makes their untold stories exceptional. first-generation dalit women learners have developed their survival strategies to cope with the patriarchal and casteist exclusionary practices experienced in the university. the responses are non-homogenous with both confrontational and strategies of ignorance. how they adapt themselves to the university and the students who partake in caste politics is noteworthy. as stated by one of the respondents: it was hard for me in the initial days to be on campus without anyone to guide and support me. i ended up isolating myself for months. by the end of the first semester, i got habituated to the surroundings and academic culture. though i was discouraged and looked down upon by my supervisor and seniors, our poor family conditions were the major pushing factor to be strong. financial support in the form of university fellowship gave me some hope and i had some friends from the social sciences who used to discuss the issues of gender and caste discrimination in the university. this gave me awareness and exposure to the ideas regarding the marginalization of the oppressed and the anti-caste movements led by leaders like dr. ambedkar and periyar. so, i started accepting the fact that i was capable enough and that the narrow-minded attitudes of other students should be ignored. though there are students’ unions organized on lines of political ideologies, due to less availability of time and work pressure i was not an active participant. though the social environments of the first-generation dalit women scholars are different from the university, they constantly contested the conventional regressive notions and adopted acquired cultural capital in the university settings. in university social spaces the first-generation learners are exposed to new social assets such as education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, and so forth, which also enhance social interactions that eventually lead to acquiring cultural capital. this process depicts the potential of universities as an efficient social institution of reform in transforming the lives of individuals and society eventually towards the framework of sustainable equality. the transitional phase of the first-generation dalit women scholars from the excluded to the exceptions involves certain negotiations and contestation. the resilient covert forms of questioning the casteist slurs undertake certain costs that are striking and must be analyzed. one of the respondents says: i was advised to hide my caste identity to be free from ill-treatment and discrimination in the department. when my colleague asked about the certificates that needed to be submitted for fellowship, i sent my certificates through the mail, which included my caste certificate. another colleague of mine stopped me and told me, ‘do not send your caste certificate, they will get the caste of campus habitus: caste and gender encounters of the first-generation 347 to know your caste and you will be looked down upon. in my lab other girls who belong to the brahman community used to discuss among themselves, ‘why reservation is there, people must be given opportunities based on ‘merit’?’ when i argued with them, they stopped talking to me. so, to avoid such instances, i used to keep earphones and ignore such comments. the negotiations of the first-generation dalit women learners can be tacit, whereas, for the privileged sections of students, their caste is a strong cultural capital and shields them from the vulnerabilities of the first-generation status. on the contrary, first-generation dalit women students are advised to conceal their identity as dalits to escape from the exclusionary practices and discrimination based on their social identity being a ‘dalit woman.’ therefore, the habitus of caste in university is quite evident and it makes the lower caste women experience the university spaces as hostile ones. these hostile spaces needed to be contested and those modes of contestation acquired cultural capital to survive on campus. the multiplicity of voices of first-generation dalit women scholars in the process of challenging the institutional discernments and countering their structural inequalities are insightful terrains to examine. in a confrontational manner one of the respondents from the field says, i quote: the first thing dalit students need to learn is, ‘they are not inferior to anybody’ if the other caste people talk to us, then we must talk otherwise avoid them, if we are respected, then we should respect, if not, we should repeat the same. first thing, i will not feel inferior based on my caste identity and if someone tries to discriminate against me through words or actions, i will respond to them with a counterargument, ‘why should dalits be scared always?’ these instances arguably have their roots in the self-respect movement (1952) led by periyar e.v. ramaswamy to allow people to live a life of freedom from slavery. the perception that first-generation learners are not merely passive recipients of institutional inequalities but are also active agents in challenging them and carving out channels of social mobility. therefore, as stated by phule and ambedkar, education has been the major social agency in bringing change and giving a sense of self-respect in the lives of these first-generation dalit women research scholars in the hegemonic structures of educational institutions such as universities. education is considered the only hope for the dalit community to redeem themselves from the clutches of castebased discrimination and exclusionary practices. therefore, as stated by deshpande & zacharias (2013: 16), higher education is the most legitimate means for sustaining or justifying the existing social order, as well as changing or overthrowing it. with the lived experiences of the first-generation dalit women scholars in indian university spaces, it is observed that gender is a significant aspect in countering the mainstream casteist paradigms in contemporary times. 348 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 conclusion first-generation learners can accomplish a positive and intergenerational change by overcoming educational deprivation in the academic space the journey of firstgeneration students highlights a unique trajectory of contestations and struggle from elementary education to the university level with poor economic and socio-cultural capital. breaking the glass ceiling by way of reaching universities, dalit women scholars of the first generation are subjected to institutional inequalities leading to undesirable university experiences of systematic exclusion. being a minority among the university, the dominant campus habitus which is a new phenomenon to the firstgeneration dalit women learners, poses an additional burden on their coping methods and capabilities. this vividly depicted the social phenomenon of the ‘invisibilisation’ of the privilege to the students belonging to the upper castes and the marginalization of the students from dalit and other marginalized communities deepens with their intersectional identity of gender and caste. besides, the first-generation dalit women students undergo a transition in their social environment which is substantially radical to make themselves fit into university spaces. this process of coping and adjusting to the campus dominant habitus negatively impacts their academic performance, as the process takes time and a toll on them. on the other hand, irrespective of all the barriers, first-generation learners are exposed to new social assets such as education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, and so forth, and also enhanced social interactions that eventually lead to acquired cultural capital, which sometimes helps them succeed in their academic endeavors. it is to be noted that campus habitus is not devoid of caste and gender structures and the formations of alternative cultural capital that facilitates inclusive university campus experiences and just social relations for first-generation learners. references althusser, l. 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(1945). the problem of minority groups. indianapolis, in: bobbs-merrill, pp. 347–372. 2 notes i being a first-generation dalit scholar from a rural area, renuka who is 25-years-old from the mahbubnagar region of telangana state narrates her experiences of schooling. the unavailability of schools in and around her neighbourhood, poor quality of teaching, lack of basic facilities, and caste-based discrimination which is an everyday reality in rural india have been a part and parcel of her childhood. the cultural shocks experienced and the constant efforts to adapt herself to the new social environments of higher educational institutions are the central focus of her narrations. an in-depth interview was conducted from 7.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. on february 17, 2022. (ii, vi, vii, xi, ibid.) iii the respondents of the study include female research scholars from the 2nd year of their phd to 5th year scholars in basic sciences from a central university in south india. the quantitative data was collected through questionnaires in february 2020. the names and charaters of these narrations have been anonymised to protect the privacy of respondants and to maintain professional ethics. iv treating the dalit women scholars as people of less worth in the academic field and the intensification of their victimization is vividly explained by ramya, a 27-year-old dalit women scholar from a university at hyderabad, while conducting her interview on january 20, 2022, from 10.00 am to 11.30 am. this shows the double oppression of dalit women students in universities. (viii, xi, ibid.) v vani who is 28-years-old, explained diverse forms of stigmatizations based on the intersectional identity of gender and caste. the differential treatment received by them from faculty members, seniors, and classmates based on their gender and caste identities is highlighted by vani. this interview was held on january 04, 2022, from 4.00 p.m. to 5.35 pm in hyderabad. (x, xii, ibid.) © 2024 anilkumar payyappilly vijayan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. forum doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.627 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 314-331 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste poothapattu: sobs of a broken people, fragmented ethos, and the lost land anilkumar payyappilly vijayan1 abstract keeping three radical ideas of dr. b.r. ambedkar, which have not been seriously dealt with by mainstream indian/kerala historiography, at the backdrop, namely, the nagas and dravidians are the same people, the untouchables were buddhists, and india’s history as the history of mortal conflicts between buddhism and brahminism, the article attempts to study a malayalam poem that has attained a classical status in the language, poothapattu, to unravel the concealed layers of kerala’s past. drawing on the distinction the filmmaker sergei eisenstein establishes between the image and representation and on the insights provided by the sangham thinai conceptualizations, the article argues that in the pootham image created by the savarnna malayalees, one could see sedimentation of history, where representations of the untouchable population of different historical moments are fused into a complex image, attesting to the veracity of ambedkar’s radical ideas enumerated above. keywords dalit-bahujan history, poothapattu, pariah, buddhist philosophy, brahminism, sangham thinai, savarnna representation, image of the other, sacrificial myth, violence and non-violence mythically, two journeys, undertaken in two different directions, inform the demography and topography of kerala: kannaki’s and parasurama’s. while the kannaki of chilapathikaram journeyed from the east to the west, from madurai to kodungalloor, from tamil nadu to kerala, through the imposing mountains on the eastern border to the rocking waves of arabian sea on the western border, traversing the highland, midland, and lowland of kerala, the parasurama of keralolpathi traveled from the north to the south, from karnataka to kerala, traversing only the midland 1associate professor of english, government arts and science college, pathiripala, palakkad, kerala, india email: anilkumarpayyappilly@gmail.com poothapattu: sobs of a broken people, fragmented ethos, and the lost land 315 and avoiding the highland and lowland. the brahminic text keralolpathi gives a cautionary sermon as regards the highland and lowland: “he (parasurama) then tells them to stop the evil goddesses from the mountains by chanting evil mantras and avoid bad times by worshipping lord rudra…he further tells them to stop the water goddesses coming from the seashore by appeasing the satkarmamurti and ward off dangers during bad times by worshipping goddess durga” (keralolpathi 03-04). the two journeys roughly document the migratory movements of two different people: the people of the sangham age, who had, as attested by the recent pattanam excavation and also by the old testament and ancient historians like gibbon and pliny, engaged in trade relations with west asia, africa, the mediterranean, and china 2500 years ago and were later fragmented into various caste and religious groups (whose religious ethos in principle are opposed to hinduism), and the brahminic population which is believed to have migrated to kerala from ce sixth to ninth centuries, and was quite conscious of its distinct caste identity after having grabbed the land from the ancient layers of the population. what is most striking is the gendered nature of the journey: the ancient population had a woman as their mythical figure; the brahminic population a man. the indian philosopher debiprasad chattopadhyaya, in his work on the lokayata tradition, has touched upon this binary as the difference between the matriarchal tradition of the indigenous population that was based on agriculture and the patriarchal tradition of the vedic people. in chattopadhyaya’s formulation: the social importance of the sexes is correlated to the development of the economic life. the original pre-hunting stage was characterized by motherright. with the development of hunting, however, the social supremacy was shifted to male. in the post-hunting stage, among those people that developed pastoral economy this male-supremacy came to exercise even greater hold; among those, however, that discovered the agriculture, the situation was reversed. there was a revival of mother-right among them. with the further development of agriculture,-more specifically, with the introduction of the cattle-drawn plough to the field-this agricultural mother-right was finally overthrown. gods and goddesses are after all created in human image; these shifts in the social importance of the sexes were naturally reflected in the form of parallel shifts in the celestial sphere. deities representing the hunting and the pastoral stages are predominantly male whereas those representing the earlier stages of agriculture were predominantly female. (chattopadhyaya 241) what is to be borne in mind here is that this transformation of indian society from a predominantly matriarchal culture, where the primacy of the female principle over the male principle, of prakriti over purusa, of the matter over the ideal, is the built-in assumption, to a brahminic patriarchal culture in which “the entire cosmic order was conceived in terms of the original male” (245), was not a smooth one but was achieved in and through systematic violence, the misogyny of which could be plainly seen “in 316 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the ‘three typically indian institutions,’ namely, hypergamy, child-marriage and sati (burning of widows)”. the brahminic world order needed such “extravagant means” to break “the resistance of matriarchy” (254) because “the largest proportion of the indian population remained predominantly agricultural”, which is “the material basis of the female principle” (258). the systematic violence of brahminic patriarchy has an additional element to it when it comes to subduing the non-brahminic earlier population of kerala. they created a system of marriage and concubinage, which is not to be seen anywhere in the world. as per the system, only the eldest son in the brahminic household is allowed to marry; other brothers are allowed to engage in a non-marital sexual alliance with the women from the ancient population. since the body of these women were seeable and touchable, they could not be treated like the rest of the population but had to be given the varna status; they had to be incorporated into the brahminic varna system as the fourth varna, as the sudra, the menial class whose duty is to serve the other three classes. this was the birth of the caste known as nair from a stock of people whom b.r. ambedkar has identified as nagas or in today’s more popular parlance known as dravidians (dr. b.r. ambedkar. who were shudras. 296). in other words, nairs are the nagas with a difference; unlike other nagas, they are the nagas who have been assimilated into the brahminic order as seeable, servile, and touchable; they are the nagas who have put up the least resistance to patriarchal brahminism. barring the brahminized population of the nairs, the rest of the naga population were treated as panchamas, the fifth class, the absolute other of the varna system, by the brahminic order and had been given the status of the untouchable and unseeable. it was two religions from without, beyond the shores of the arabian sea, christianity and islam, that finally gave some of the unseeable and untouchable people, the brahminized nairs and even some brahmins an idea of a life outside the fold of hinduism once they embraced it through marriage or conversion. the nagas who refused to be coopted to the varna order had, as ambedkar had shrewdly understood and made explicit, a philosophical reason for doing so: their ethos was conditioned by buddhism. they had already imbibed the value of nonviolence (karuna and maitri) and the collective ownership of land and resources as a superior mode of being in the world, a sense which is most vividly articulated in the onam song written by sahodaran ayyappan recalling the golden period of prebrahminic kerala of maha bali as a time “when people were all alike and joyous in a world where there were no lies, deceits, diseases; where everybody happily worked together; where women were equal to men” (shekher, puthan keralam: kerala samskarathinte bauddha adithara). the emphatic reminder in the song that it was a time when women enjoyed equality clearly underscores that the time in question was not that of brahminical patriarchy! into this world of joyous camaraderie did enter the brahminic god vishnu, in the incarnate forms of two brahmin carpetbaggers from the north: parasurama with his axe and vamana with his deceitful feet which measured away all the land and life maha bali possessed, including his own life. poothapattu: sobs of a broken people, fragmented ethos, and the lost land 317 the onam myth, in other words, and the birth of the caste system and the untouchable population in kerala is a striking case, which attests to the veracity of ambedkar’s thesis that the untouchables were once buddhists (dr. b.r. ambedkar. the untouchables. 315). it was the moral and political resistance they put up against brahminism that caused their fall. but this aspect of kerala history, the buddhist past and the conflict between buddhism and brahminism, has never been a concern of the mainstream historiographers of kerala. there is a built-in tendency not to engage the period in question. this period has been relegated as a dark period because of the non-availability of textual evidence. this is, in fact, a result of a particular kind of imagination that structures mainstream historiography. how do we account for that imagination? in mainstream historiography, kerala is imagined as a space lying from the north to the south, which is clearly a reproduction, in the imagination, of the migratory movement of brahmins. the myth of parasurama, documented in the sanskrit text kerala mahatmyam and the malayalam text keralolpathi attests to this point. the myth forced into the popular psyche, officially and unofficially, celebrates the story that “kerala was formed by parashurama, one of the incarnations of lord vishnu, by throwing his bloodstained axe into the sea from gokarna. the axe landed at kanyakumari and the land between gokarna and kanyakumari was raised up as kerala” (naha). in short, the axe, on which imprinted a past of violence and murder, narrates, like in the western movies of hollywood, a bloodstained event that spread from the north to the south. to a great extent, the historiography of kerala has been built on this spatial configuration of kerala and the mythical events narrated in keralolpathi, minus the ideological content embedded in the bloodstained axe. as we mentioned earlier via the kannaki myth, in contrast to the mainstream cartographic imagination, another imagination already existed. but, unfortunately, this way of imagining kerala was totally obfuscated by mainstream historiography. this imagination follows the movement of the sun and the many rivers that abound in kerala: from the east to the west. here kerala is perceived as a landscape that stretches from the east to the west, from the mountains on the east to the arabian sea on the west, with the sea envisaged as the natural terminus of the journeys that both the sun and the rivers undertake. this journey that a civilization has undertaken along this direction, in parallel with the course of the sun and rivers; this journey of a people who were outside the fold of hinduism, was brutally erased or ignored by the mainstream historiography of kerala, the refusal resulting in a distorted understanding of the material and historical conditions and forces that had acted behind the creation of modern kerala. the erasure, on the one hand, has a historical continuity: it smoothly repeats and enacts the doctrine of exclusion that has historically been the built-in feature of the hindu world order. in other words, the mainstream historiography of kerala systematically erases the dalit and other lower caste populations from the purview of history. they are rendered invisible and untouchable by modern historiography, continuing the historical and political project of the hindu dharma of making some people untouchable or unseeable! on the other, the mainstream historiography enacts 318 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 another form of erasure: not only has it erased a people and rendered them invisible but it also has ensured that certain topographies in kerala remained invisible as well, namely, the mountains and sea. though much of the mainstream historiography casts doubt upon the historical exactness of the details given in keralolpathi, they all have something in common with the latter, which is, as pointed out earlier, nothing but methodological flirting with the doctrine of exclusion. what was later identified as the trademark feature of the kerala historiography, the over-representation of and the obsession with the hindu varna order passing as the history of kerala and the omission of the life-world of the adivasis, untouchables, backward communities, muslims and christians, had its beginning in keralolpathi. we see in keralolpathi a straightforward narrative aligning itself, thematically, with the hierarchical organization of life established by the varna system. a brahmin carves out a geographical space from the sea; brings a group of arya brahmins from the north, settles them there ensuring their separate identity from other brahmins, and teaches them the necessary martial skills needed for survival; brings from elsewhere another group of people to rule the place by being subservient to the brahmins and calls them the kshatriyas; and finally brings the sudras, again from elsewhere, to ensure that there are people to serve the brahmins. but at the same time, we must, by evoking the distinction the filmmaker sergei eisenstein makes between representation and image (eisenstein 12-17), be sensitive to a missing representation in the keralolpathi, which is crucial and makes the varna image present in the text a bit interesting. in the varna image, the vaishya representation is missing! though the text, as just mentioned, follows the logic of the varna system, it is surprisingly silent about the third varna, the vaishyas, the merchant class. the absence of the vaishyas has a strategic role to play. in fact, one could even say that it is precisely to erase the contributions of the vaishayas in the creation of this land that keralolpathi omitted the mountains and the sea from its discursive domain. even before the advent of the brahmins to kerala from the north, this geographic location, under various names, was known all over the world as one of the main centers of international trade. apropos of the structural role that keralolpathi played in setting the methodological terrain for later-day historiography, we must also pay attention to a point raised by abbas panakkal, namely, the fact that the name kerala is sanskritic in origin and that before the advent of brahmins to kerala this land had been known all over as malayalam. he writes, “the name for the place that is seen in keralolpathi before brahmins were created (by parashurama) is ‘malayalam’. in other words, at the time of the drafting of keralolpathi the name ‘malayalam’ was well-known. it was after brahminical ascendancy that for the first time the name kerala is used in keralopathi” (panakkal). noting the name ‘malai nadu’ that is inscribed on a stone in the temple of tanjavoor and dating back to ce 6th century, the urdu scholar shamsullah qadiri reminds us that it stands for erstwhile malabar, literally meaning the land of the mountains (21). poothapattu: sobs of a broken people, fragmented ethos, and the lost land 319 further, the language of malabar is very different from tamil. yet it is a branch of the dravidian language. because it is the language of a land where mountains (mala) abound that it got the name malayalam. because of the same reason the country also got the name malayalam and the people who speak the language became malayalee. when the word mala is compounded with bar, you get the word malabar. bar is a persian word. it means both country and excess. so, when the word bar is added to mala, it either means a mountain country or a place where mountains are seen in excess. (qadiri 21) when the dalit-bahujan population is expunged from historiography; when the name of their land is altered so shrewdly to ensure that they won’t claim their rightful share in it; when their cooperative mother-rights world is fragmented to make them zombies in a patriarchally ordained brahminical world as caste entities, where do the dalitbahujans attempt a reconstruction of their buddhist past that has been fragmented beyond recognition? despite all the strategies of concealment, fragmentation, and distortion of historical memory and evidence by the brahminic system, luckily, there survive many traces, which a highly trained mind alert to the iconography and ritualistic embodiment of dalit-bahujan population and the brahminic systemic strategies of erasure, can work through, much like a keats imagines a history from the pictures on an urn. the only trouble is that unlike keats we are not dealing with an urn that is fully present, but with a few pieces of an urn that is broken, with most of the pieces lost, an urn that evokes absence rather than presence! from the unclear images and broken lines on the surviving urn pieces, we have to first work toward the complete picture, the picture that was and is not. from there to the full weight and presence of history. from the broken to the impossibly complete, engaging in a process ambedkar always engaged: of endlessly attempting the unattainable, of creating a complete man from the broken men! one instance for that painful exercise is the poem poothapattu, by idasseri govindan nair. he wrote the poem based on the folk art of the poothan prevalent in the valluvanadan region of kerala and its myth. the poem, though very complex and paradoxical as befits poetry of the highest class, has nonetheless achieved a surpassing simplicity in its signification in the popular psyche of malayalam readers. the popular explication of the poem unequivocally states that the poem is the victory of motherhood and truth over the evil force that resorts to lies and treachery. what is celebrated here is the struggle, steadfastness, and perseverance a mother has shown in her attempt to find and save her boy who was abducted by the pootham with deceitful tactics. naturally, there would arise a question: why engage a poetic image of the pootham created by the savarnnas? why not simply dismiss it as “the exaggerated creations of a morbid and hostile imagination”? (oppert 88) no! this is, on the contrary, the perfect artifact formed by the sedimentation of history. or, in other words, in the pootham image of the savarnna fantasy one can, if you pay close attention, decipher 320 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the sedimentation of a host of histories. it is also an artifact that must be understood in the sense in which fanon placed ‘black soul’ as an artefact (“what is called the black soul is white man’s artefact.”) (fanon xv), where blackness is “overdetermined from without” (fanon 116). that is to say, in the pootham image created by the savarnnas and circulated among themselves, a vivid picture of the mind that is engaged in the process of overdetermining the other is discernable. what is thrilling is that the condensation of history and the projection of selflegitimizing fantasies onto the other is achieved through the creation of one of the finest poems written in the malayalam language, a poem that is on par with the best in world literature. in the poothapattu we have a poet fully immersed in the sangham poetic devices and techniques, totally avoiding the favorite forte of most malayalee poets, the sanskritized malayalam. the events in the poem take place in the three thinais, the kurinji thinai (mountain), the marutham thinai (the cultivable land), and the palai thinai (which is conceptually more like a desert, an arid place, but in the geographic context of south india it could be both the kurinji thinai and marutham thinai during the summer when everything dries up (anjumoorthi 42), with the rhythm and music of the poem, undergoes immediate change as the setting changes from one thinai to the other. the poet encapsulates a journey quite akin to the one kannaki had undertaken, from the east to the west, much like illanko adikal did when he wrote chilappathikaram. there is also a remarkable similarity between the poetic vision of both idasseri govindan nair and the poet of chilappathikaram. both of them wrote their work from the neithal thinai (the low land full of water bodies), looking up eastwards from the shores of the arabian sea: while illanko adikal did it from a few miles north of kodungalloor, idasseri govindan nair did it from ponnani, both places, surprisingly, share another similarity as the foci of muslim enlightenment in kerala! the simplicity we mentioned becomes very problematic the moment we pay closer attention to the structure of the poem. the poem unfolds in the form of a conversation between an elderly woman and the young kids in a savarnna family, the latter having just finished their evening prayer and is awaiting dinner, where in the very beginning itself, it is stated that the narrator is going to tell them a folk tale about the pootham. in other words, for the narrator, it is a myth about the pootham; the contemporary popular explication of the poem as the victory of motherhood is absent in the narrator’s scheme of things. the narrator’s story evolves through distinct stages. first, a description of the pootham, a scene quite familiar to the audience in question, is given. the body presented in the description is not an ordinary body, it is an embellished body, a larger-than-life image of a body that demands a look from its audience, a look verging on awe and fear. alas! before the over-embellished body makes its presence visible to the audience, they have already envisaged it through the sound its walking creates: the cacophony (“kalambalukal”) of the drum (thudi) and the brass anklets has already made it clear to the savarnna audience that the body approaching them is not an ordinary body but a body to be worshipped, or a body that has become a deity. the people immersed in the history of the caste praxis in kerala, at this point, can discern two things already: (1) the bare body hiding under the spectacle poothapattu: sobs of a broken people, fragmented ethos, and the lost land 321 of bright red and white, of garland, and of the decorated crown, is the body of an untouchable and unseeable. the drum-beat has already announced his caste status: he is a pariah. but even though he is a pariah, his body whose movement is accompanied by the sound of drums cannot be treated merely as the body of an unseeable thing as they are wont of doing because the moment the drum-beat is mixed with the cacophony of the anklets, it heralds divinity: he must be worshipped, through the cacophony of the drum and anklets and the spectacle of an embellished body, the unseeable body of the pariah has transformed into a seeable divine, the polluted become the sacred, the temporal the infinite. (2) the sound of the anklet heralding female divinity does not need much explication. it takes us to the heart of the kottavai-kannaki myth, the journey of the goddess of chastity from madurai to kodungallur with an anklet, and her merging with kottavai, the already worshipped goddess of war, the goddess representing the palai thinai, carrying the weapon, is a metaphoric capture of the emergence of a society, which had struck a balance between the differing pulls of expansion and domesticity. but, in the pootham, the sickle is remarkably missing! in other words, in the pootham there is something of kottavai-kannaki that remains but at the same time, something of the same kottavai-kannaki is missing! how do we account for this curious presence/absence? this is the moment at which one is forced to engage the question: is the word pootham a colloquial variant of the brahminic word bauddham, by which the brahminic logic has essentialized the philosophy of buddhism in some eternal truth statements? or in other words, in the pootham do we encounter a philosophic/historic moment in the non-brahminic indigenous population of kerala, who under the influence of buddhist non-violence decided to lay down their arms, just as the emperor asoka did after he turned to buddhism? after all, the sickle is not just a tool of the anthropologist to reap insights from our agricultural past but a metaphor for bloodletting, which it is plainly in kottavai. i don’t want to dwell on the answer to the rhetorical question just asked. instead, i will just point out a remarkable interjection that appears between the auditory and the ocular aspects of the pootham. immediately after the sounds of the approaching pootham are heard and just before the narrator describes the visual aspects of the pootham, the narrator exclaims: ayyayya! the interjection ayya is repeated twice! who is this ayyan, ayyo?... ayyan is none other than the avalokiteswara bodhisattva, who comes to your aid in all your great troubles. in an article titled “thiyyar” written in mithavadi in 1916, cv kunjiraman pointed out that in tamil the word ayyan means buddha or putharu. for more than thousand and six hundred years or, as the recent pattanam excavation indicates, ever since the buddhist missionaries of asoka had reached south india, kerala, and sri lanka in bc 3rd century and up to a period of ad 13th century, ayya was the abhayapadam and saranamantram that had got imprinted in the conscious/ unconscious sensorium and in the collective memory of the bahujans. that is why it has become the natural interjection of kids, who have no formal training in the language. not only in extreme danger but also in situations involving 322 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 excitement and happiness, we scream ‘ayyo’. it is a relic of the language, which has got solidified in the unconscious through thousands of years. (shekher, puthan keralam: kerala samskarathinte bauddha adithara 07) the second stage, as an answer to the question asked by the kids regarding the whereabouts of the pootham, recounts in detail the locus of the pootham’s caste and the history of its transformations. the kids are told that “it spends its daytime in the rocks (para-kettu) on the other slope of the hillock of the pariah, sending wide-open eyes outside through the tiny door.” the strategy of demonization effected through the lines is so perfect that the kids would invariably get the image of a treacherous creature, waiting to pounce on its prey the moment the latter lands within the pootham’s field of vision. but the obverse is the historical truth. in the wide-open eyes of the pootham is imprinted the unbearable anxiety of an unseeable life, whose movement during the course of daytime was terribly restricted, forcing the pariah to wander through the fringes and wastelands of savarnna society. every violation of the caste embargo, of the traveling restriction, would involve severe punishment, which could even culminate in death. the demonization, which begins to terrorize the minds of the kids, effectively hides another powerful historical insight bed rocked on the para and mountain on which the pariah resides. in his remarkably original work on indian history titled on the original inhabitants of bharatavarsa or india, the german philologist gustav oppert wrote more than a century ago about the pariah community that their name, in spite of its usual derivation from para or parai, should rather be connected with the original dravidian population, seems to me to admit of no question. the supposition that the pariahs are the drummer-caste and have obtained their name from that instrument appears to rest on a weaker foundation. it is most probably an afterthought, the more easily explicable since the lower classes delighted in the noise of the drum, and the name of the drum-beating class was transferred to the instrument by which the pariah made his presence known. the lute of the candala (the candela-vallaki, candalika, candalika, kandoli, kandoli-vina) is similarly named after the candala, and not the candala after the lute. moreover, the word para or parai is, except in malayalam and tamil, not found in the other dravidian languages in the sense of drum and at the same time as the name of the pariahs; for the pariah is called holeya in kanarese in spite of para signifying a drum, and in telugu he is known as malavadu, which word originally signifies mountaineer. if the pariahs were the caste of drummers, they would most probably be called so, wherever they are found in india. i regard the pariah as the representative of the ancient dravidian population, and as having been condemned to supply his name to the lowest layers of the society, as the ancient sudras after their subjugation gave their name to the sudra caste. it will be subsequently shown that the candalas are among the poothapattu: sobs of a broken people, fragmented ethos, and the lost land 323 gaudians, what the pariahs are among the dravidians. this connection is even indicated by the name of the candalas, which resembles those of the kandaloi, khands and gounds. i think the word pariah, the paravari of the maratha country, is intimately connected with the names of paratas, paradas, paravar, pardhis, parheyas, paharias, or maler, bars (bhars), brahuis, mars (mhars), &c, &c, and that it designates originally a mountaineer, from the dravidian root para, preserved in the malayalam para, in the tamil par and parai, and the telugu paru. (oppert, gustav. on the original inhabitants of bharatavarsa or india.) (oppert 32-33) only when things are understood from the vantage point provided by gustav oppert can we make explicit the logic behind another accusation leveled against the pootham: namely, it milks the cows and drinks it while the shepherds who accompany the cows take a siesta under the shades of leaves. at first, this seems to be an exact replica of the contemporary battle between the beef-eating dalits-bahujans and the brahmized savarnnas who worship the cow as a holy animal. before jumping into such easy generalizations, we must understand that the refusal to eat the meat of the cow was a practice that had existed among dalit communities themselves. this accusation, thus, could be understood, as marvin harris does, by locating its potential emergence in the pre-brahminic history of the indigenous populations, when the mountaineers came down from the rocks and settled down on the banks of the river, or, in other words, when pariahs became pulayas (owners of the land, where pula means, as opposed to jala (water), the land), both names indicating the geographic locations of the dwellers in the sangham thina fashion rather than carrying any brahminical caste associations. for the settled-down people, the cow became an economic necessity for agricultural production. when the brahmins appropriated this agricultural wisdom and made it a holy principle in absolute terms, the pariah’s beef-eating habit was posited as the root of their absolute otherness, thus hiding the very principle by which we can trace the influence of buddhist thinking in the food habit of pariah community. the meat of a dead cow is edible as far as buddhist teaching is concerned, provided it is not intentionally killed for human consumption. what is denied in buddhism is not the meat of the cow, but rather the meat of any animal killed specifically for human consumption. if the death of the animal is natural, that is, unintentional, unmediated by human agency, then the meat is consumable. from here onwards the demonization gets intensified. now the treacherous and violent past of the pootham is readily recalled. she was once a seductress and a goddess who accepted the sacrificial offering, including human sacrifice. initially, we see her as a girl who has just attained puberty, whose presence in fertility rites has been very well recorded by anthropologists. this is adduced as a logical explanation for an event that had already taken place: her role as the killer of the sacrificial victim and as the goddess who consumed the offering. the killer and the goddess merged into one. making an uncanny observation, rene girard, the french philosopher, writes: 324 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 in fact, there is nothing incomprehensible about the viewpoint that sees menstrual blood as a physical representation of sexual violence. we ought, however, to go further: to inquire whether this process of symbolization does not respond to some half-suppressed desire to place the blame for all forms of violence on women. by means of this taboo a transfer of violence has been effected and a monopoly established that is clearly detrimental to the female sex. (girard 39) in other words, she bleeds, and the shedding of blood is always already associated with death. the blood, the letting of which causes death, is, thus, impure, and the blood she lets every month is impure. hence, she is the primordial blood letter, the primordial cause of death. the mother goddess kottaiva, the earliest of the dravidian goddesses, mingles the sexual and the sacrificial in its most violent aspect. in the context of kerala, the transfer of violence onto the female body had an additional role to play. it was not just a transfer of violence to a female body of violence, as it happened elsewhere, but also a transfer of violence from one set of people to the other, from brahminized people to the indigenous population of the pariahs and pulayas and other untouchable castes, which very subtly hid the extreme form of violence typical of patriarchal brahminism. what got transferred (and disfigured) onto the female dalit body is the violence of the great sacrifice, the maha bali, enacted by vishnu’s incarnation, the vamana, the short-statured brahmin. in other words, in the onam myth, we see the violent manipulation of the brahmin class who grabbed the entire land belonging to the toiling mass and made them unseeable in their own land. as compensation for pushing him down to the nether world, of making him invisible in a world made and cultivated by his people, he is given a blessing by vishnu/vamana that bali will be allowed to visit his land once a year. unlike the pootham, whose past human sacrifice evokes fear, the maha bali, the great sacrifice by the brahmin male evokes no fear at all! no one even registers the fact that it was a sacrifice, a bali! this is the myth, which has culminated in the celebratory ritual purification of onam, the tricking of violence “into spending itself on victims whose death will provoke no response.” we must also mention another brahminical human sacrifice that transfers the impurity of blood onto the woman and dalit body at one stroke. the myth of mari amma (the transformed mother) is equivocal about how parasurama, the patriarchal son par excellence, has achieved these dual aspects of the transfer of violence. when demanded by his father, parasurama killed his mother with clinical perfection, in great style: he axed her head. but in the process, he killed an untouchable woman as well! according to a version of the tale, renuka fled to the locale of a lower-caste community, hoping that her brahmin son would not consent to follow her and execute her due to his high caste. however, the obedient parashurama cast aside his discomfort and swung his axe, beheading both his mother and a lower-caste woman who had risen to obstruct his matricide. when parashurama asked his poothapattu: sobs of a broken people, fragmented ethos, and the lost land 325 boon of restoring his mother, jamadagni offered him a magical pot of water that had to be sprinkled upon the head attached to the body of his mother. in his excitement, parashurama accidentally fused the head of the lower-caste woman he had slain with the body of his mother, which both his father and he had to accept. the head of the high-caste renuka was left behind in the community, retained as a shrine for the veneration of renuka-yellamma. (wikipedia. “renuka”) both these instances of patriarchal violence born out of an encounter between the original dravidian population and the migrant people are subtly hidden. instead, the myth of the impure woman/lower caste blood is projected as the absolute vice, a vice that existed before brahminic violence, an impurity, unless trapped in the holy structure of a ritual, will generate unending cycles of retributive violence. thus, she becomes the seductress, who snatches away those youngsters who travel through her way having lost their way (more literally, people who do not care about time and social status) and kills them atop the palm tree that resembles a high scraper with seven stories. even though it is the upper caste men, defying the caste interdictions, who venture into the way of the pootham and are thus made outcastes and proclaimed dead by their own people, she is blamed for having sucked out the last drop of blood from their vital bodies. she is the one who does the offering and receives it. the subtle evoking of the figure of the betel-chewing yakshi (the thamboola yakshi) in the image of pootham unravels the jaina interim period of kerala that occupies between buddhism and brahminism. it is an accepted fact that all the buddhist centers of learning in kerala were not directly snatched from the ancient dalit population and immediately, at a stroke as it were, converted to brahminic temples. rather, the process was slow and structural, stretching over centuries and leaving a traceable pattern. before the full takeover of the learning centers and their conversion to brahminic temples, there was an interim jaina transformation period in the history of most of the present-day temples, by which the iconography and belief system of the erstwhile dalit-bahujans were slowly distorted, fragmented, and erased beyond recognition. the many myths and stories of the nocturnal yakshis doing rounds even now capture the fundamental conflicts: the yakshi invariably tries to lure away a brahmin (mostly a brahmin youth), to whose assistance come brahminic texts/hymns. when the troubles created by the yakshi reach an unbearable proportion, she is nailed, like the crucified christ, on a pala tree, putting an end to all her seductive charms and moves (haridas 191-99). at first, this would seem very symbolic of a human sacrifice, where, as rene girard observes, “the function of sacrifice is to quell violence within the community and to prevent conflicts from erupting” (girard 15), the conflict being the incommensurability between the surviving buddhism and emerging brahminism. thus, yakshi being “either outside or on the fringes of society” (13) becomes the proper material for resolving the conflict. but why would she be invariably nailed onto a pala tree? why not other trees? why not other methods of torture and killing? with 326 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the question, we arrive at the root of the pala tree problem: pala is not just a tree, it is, in sangham literature, the tree representing the palai thina, the arid, uninhabitable land far away from the cultivable land! in the arrest of yakshi on a pala tree, in other reads, one reads painfully the history of the driving away of an entire population from their cultivable land to an arid, uninhabitable space on the fringes of civilization, forcing brutally on them, sickness, malnutrition, and worst of all illiteracy. like the greek tragedies of the classical past, the poem poothapattu is also structured on the sacrificial myth, which is not yet perceivable at the narrative level. the moment the frightened kids ask the ethical question “why do we give such an ‘asat’ pootham rice and mundu?”, we begin to perceive the reason behind the ritualistic appearance of the pootham in the savarnna world. grandmother immediately tells them that not giving rice and mundu is an act of papam, because the evil things narrated by her were done by the pootham in the past. these days the pootham is always sad. at this moment, all of a sudden, we are immediately at a heightened awareness of the philosophy of buddhism. we already know that in opposition to the sat-chit-ananda triad of the upanishadic essentialism, buddhism was concerned with a life-world centered around anicca (impermanence), anatta (non-soul), and dukkha (sorrow), a world around nothing, sunya. the pootham could never be the ever constant sat, the atman, of the brahminic thought. no wonder, the kids identified the pootham as such, as asat, in its blank immediacy, as nothing, as lacking an essential mode of being (omvedt 59). in other words, the pootham’s discarding of its violent past of bloody sacrifice could be attributed to the message of non-violence spread by buddhist monks. rather, the poem appears to engage in a philosophical operation that aims at the sat, the essence of the pootham. the next stage of the poem is precisely that. in the next stage, we temporarily leave the para, the rocks, and enter the fertile valluvanadan region around the aaru (river), probably bharatha puzha. we are in a different thinai. a child is born in the bungalow situated on the bank of the river. the intensity of the mother-child relationship, its infinite joy, is captured in poetry that is captivating. but once the child turns seven, there appears a separation: the reality principle, as in freud, takes over the pleasure principle. the child desires to go to pallikkoodam (learning centre), the child wants to become a man and take over his father’s duty. from here we gather that the child wears kuduma (knitted hair worn by brahmins). on his way to pallikkoodam (learning centre), the child first traverses the long stretch of paddy field, carrying the ezhuthani (stylus) and ola (papyrus). once he leaves behind the field, his travel up to that point anxiously watched by his mother, he enters a new landscape, the two lands separated by the presence of a huge arrayal tree, the peepal tree under which the buddha is said to have attained the enlightenment. here the mother completely loses sight of her child. suddenly we realize that the land just entered by the child is the same land that is surveyed by the pootham from its rocky abode all through the day. on seeing the child commuting, the journey of which is depicted through the sheer musicality of the non-sanskritized malayalam, the pootham is enthralled. poothapattu: sobs of a broken people, fragmented ethos, and the lost land 327 something inside the pootham is awakened. but the next line gives us a hint that it is the mother inside her that is awakened! the breasts are alive (like, probably, the breast of a lactating mother when she sees her kid). she turns into a girl-child and stands before the child with the kuduma, enticing him not to go to the pallikkoodam with the ezhuthani and ola. rather, she offers, she will teach him the scripts, by teaching him to write letters on tender mango leaves using the bud of jasmine as the pen. initially, he refuses her offer, citing the potential angry reaction of his male teacher who is awaiting him but then succumbs to her lovely enticements. he throws away the ezhuthani (stylus), which is iron, along with the ola (papyrus). immediately after he loses his grip over the iron, she takes him away. at the awaited hour, the child does not turn up at home. mother gets panicky and goes in search of the child, her anxiety partaken by the fish in the river (who become standstill), the newly-plowed soil, in the totally desolate field, sending a heave of sigh, and the owls who have just come out of their diurnal furrows in tree trunks, asking the reason for her fright. while making floral garlands with the kid under a poomaram (gul mohar tree), the pootham overheard the desperate sighs of the mother but did not give a damn about it. but the troubles would not end there! now the pootham tries to frighten her away by taking different forms varying from a whirlwind, rain, and forest fire, to tiger and leopard. the mother would still not yield. now the strategy changes to temptation: the pootham opens the rock which acts as the lid on the crest of the mountain, showing the richness of uncountable gold and diamonds lying underground. not even glancing once at the treasure, she plucks her eyes out, and like the red lotus of dawn (the sun), she places them before the pootham, saying that her child is for her more important than her eye-sight. unmoved still, the pootham finds a new opportunity. the mother is blind! making the jungle flame its magic wand, the pootham chants a mantra, forms an exact replica of the child and gives it to the blind mother. as the mother, infinitely joyous, touches the crown and hugs the replica, the mother, even with her blindness, realizes that she has been duped by the pootham. reaching the limit of her patience, she raises her hand to curse the pootham! the pootham is down on the ground, frightened, giving back the mother her child and sight. the mother has traveled, as in the upanishadic wisdom, from darkness to light: before the eyes that the mother opens there shines forth the bright moon from being. (nair) thus, the mother has her child! but what about the pootham? poor creature. infinite sorrow engulfs it, and as the mother and child are about to return, the pootham kisses the forehead of the child, weeping loudly and uncontrollably. on seeing this, smiling and with a tender heart, the mother allows the pootham to visit their household and see the kid once a year, just after the harvest in the month of makara is over, like the blessing maha bali got. the pootham agrees. but wait! it is a tragedy: the pootham has forgotten to ask where their house is located. the mother did not reveal it either. maybe she just forgot it. or she was afraid that if the pootham saw her kid again, it 328 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 would take away her child once more. who knows! exclaims the poet. now, every year after harvest, the poor creature visits every house asking the refrain: which is that household where the little one was born? laughing at its desperate gesture and inviting it to their house on the pretext that it is the little one’s house, they make it dance. in the loud beat of its drum, its heartbeat goes unheard. for the trained eye, the conflict between the mother and the pootham encapsulates ambedkar’s famous enunciation about indian history: “the history of india is a history of mortal conflict between buddhism and brahmanism” (dr. b.r. ambedkar. revolution and counter revolution in ancient india. 267) the pootham’s insistence to throw away the stylus made of iron and the papyrus, and her enticements to use tender leaves and the bud of jasmine give us the first clue about the conflict between a philosophy oriented towards producing sanatan truths (hinduism) and the buddhist philosophy oriented towards the dependent co-origination (paṭiccasamuppāda). unlike the marks on the papyrus, which could be, surpassing the immediate, the here and now, potential lies unto infinity, the scripts on the tender leaves would not outlast the day on which it is written. in other words, to use marshal mcluhan in a reductionist way, the medium is the message: the tender mango leaves, by its very appearance and tenderness and in contrast to the papyrus, inscribes a philosophy that proclaims that there is no permanence, fixity, or stability to the things around. the metaphor of the stylus does not stop at this epistemological level. the assertion by the poet that the stylus is iron emphatically proclaims its metamorphosis in situations of “mortal conflicts” mentioned by ambedkar as the defining feature of indian history: as weapon. the stylus can not only mark history but, as iron, also can remove people from history, by chopping their head off. or phrased differently, what is at stake is the conflict between violence and non-violence. to the young kid, to the to-be-initiated into the philosophy of violence, the pootham’s advice is categorical: throw away your weapon; that is not the way! but it is not the iron that posits the greatest difficulty to the reader but gold. the gold concealed by the pootham can, as we did a moment ago, easily be explained away as the material richness and diversity of the earth, for which the mother turns a blind eye. but if we ask: ‘is that all, does the metaphor explain everything, does the concealed gold, with its brightness, conceal something, like the letter in alan poe’s purloined letter did, concealing its own existence in the open?’ in other words, can we maintain that apart from being a metaphor for the material richness of nature, gold stands for itself as plain gold, as the most cherished object of international trade? this is an important question. the moment we ask if the forerunners of the dalitbahujan population of kerala had engaged in international trade since the 10th century bc, even the most celebrated official historians of kerala will turn a blind eye to the question, just as the mother did! their answer would be: yes, kerala had robust trade relations with west asia, the mediterranean, africa, and china, but they would never say who they were! the strategy is similar to the one by which the narrator introduced the pootham to the kids. the narrator would not directly state that the pootham is a poothapattu: sobs of a broken people, fragmented ethos, and the lost land 329 pariah, rather she would convolutedly put it that the pootham comes from the hillock of pariah, creating an image that pootham is a deadly creature concealed among rocks. ever since the details of the pattanam excavation emerged, dalit bandu n.k. jose, the unorthodox and one of the most insightful of historians, has finetuned and repeatedly hammered home the hard-hitting question he had been asking right from the 1990s onwards: in old tamil pepper is known as curry, and plantation as padappai. in many places in sangham poetry, there are references to curry-padappai; pepper plantations. scholars who have studied sangham literature maintain that sangham poetry was written during the first few centuries of ad. from foreign sources, it is evident that even before that period pepper had been exported from here. hence one can conjecture that even before the sangham period, the people here had started agriculture of various spices like pepper. who were those people who did it?... at that point in history, there were people in kerala who had the power and courage to bargain with foreign traders and sell the spices that had been reaped from the mountains and brought to distant ports in the arabian sea. as for the price of the spices, they collected gold coins from them. pliny complained that though the romans tried to pay the price in silver or other coins, malayalees did not accept it. (bandu 14) official historians may keep a safe distance from the question asked by dalit bandu n.k. jose, but the experience of the pulaya chieftain ayyan chirukandan in the 13th century, perhaps that original blood-shedding event that left a strong impression on the mind of the dalit population as to produce the myth of maha bali, is quite clear about the story of gold. there may be many accounts as to how ayyan chirukandan was killed: but the motive was always the same, jealousy, and it had to do with gold that ayyan possessed (meloth). in her search for the most intimate of her being, the mother of the brahminic world (but also could be the erstwhile mother of the pariah world, as the renuka-yellamma myth or the pariahi-vararuchi myth, or the evidence of the mitochondrial dna studies suggest), encounters the full force of a destructive nature all around her, from the whirlwind to the tiger, from the natural to the animal, which is a typical experience of a society expanding through difficult terrains and forests, during summer and rainy seasons. but the terrifying phenomenon of nature has no longer the power to stupefy her as to produce what the german philosopher hermann usener has famously called “the momentary deities”, which as the philosopher ernest cassirer has observed, “do not personify any force of nature, nor do they represent some special aspect of human life; no recurrent trait or value is retained in them and transformed into a mythicoreligious image; it is something purely instantaneous, a fleeting, emerging, and vanishing mental content” (cassirer 17-18). she has left behind that stage to engage in a neti, neti, neti (not this) kind of logical operation, to pierce into something beyond 330 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the immediate, into the unity behind all the diversity. it is precisely at this point the material richness of matter, of the here and now, of prakriti, of the unconscious, concealing behind every conscious metaphysical swerving away typical of vedanta philosophy is made bare by the pootham, by showing the material wealth it possesses. to the unconvinced mother, the pootham, repeating what the pottan theyyam did in the north malabar, made a mocking gesture that directly pierces through the hypocrisy of the simultaneous worship of the ideal and idol! pottan pulayan (the idiotic male pulaya) asked adi sankara the question: is it not the same blood that rushes through your vein and mine? then why engage in discrimination? the potti pariahi (the idiotic female pariah) goes a step further and shows the isavasyopanishad: “that is whole, this is whole” (purnamadah purnamidam). why bother? and laughs at the mother. like a teacher whose ignorance is caught red-handed by the students, unable to answer the question, the mother plunges into that final tactic most reverent saints were fond of: cursing the other! saying, “this is different.” and then run away with what you have got! no more encounters! references ambedkar, dr. b.r. (2014) the writing and speeches of dr. babasaheb ambedkar. volume 3 part iii. revolution and counter revolution in ancient india. dr. ambedkar foundation. ———. (1990). the writing and speeches of dr. babasaheb ambedkar. volume 7 who were the shudras? how they came to be the fourth varna in the indo-aryan society. the government of maharashtra. ———. (1990). the writing and speeches of dr. babasaheb ambedkar. volume 7. the untouchables: who were they and why they became untouchables. the government of maharshtra. anjumoorthi, sreedharan. (2010). thina siddhantham: charithravum varthamanavum. tattva publishing house. bandu, dalit. (2017). kerala janathayum pattanam gaveshanavum. hobby publishers. cassirer, ernst. (1953). language and myth. trans. susanne k. langer. dover publications. chattopadhyaya, debiprasad. (2012). lokayata: a study in ancient indian materialism. people’s publishing house. eisenstein, sergei. (1957). the film sense. trans. jay leyda. meridian books. fanon, frantz. (1986). black skin, white masks. trans. charles lam markmann. pluto press girard, rene. (2013). violence and the sacred. trans. patrick gregory. bloomsbury. haridas, v.v. (2016). yakshisankalpam. spcs. keralolpathi. (2013). sayahna foundation. meloth, kannan. (2023). mukundapurathe pulaya rajavu ayyan chirukandan. idaneram. naha, abdul latheef. (2019). axe of parashurama to get iconic niche. 16 november. www. thehindu.com. online. 20 march 2023. nair, idasseri govindan. “poothapattu.” n.d. malayalamkavithakal.com. 20 march 2023. omvedt, gail. (2003). buddhism in india: challenging brahminism and caste. sage publications. oppert, gustav. (2019). on the original inhabitants of bharatavarsa or india. alpha editions. poothapattu: sobs of a broken people, fragmented ethos, and the lost land 331 panakkal, abbas. (2019). keralam avaganikkappetta deshabhasha namagal. 20 november. online. 20 march 2023. “purnamadha purnamidam.” n.d. shlokam.org. online. 20 march 2023. qadiri, shamsullah. (2012). malabar. pracheena malabar. trans. v. abdul qayyum. other books “renuka.” n.d. wikipedia.com. 20 march 2023. shekher, ajay. (2018). puthan keralam: kerala samskarathinte bauddha adithara. the state institute of language. ———. (2022). sahodaran ayyappante onappattum kerala bauddha nagarikathayum. 08 september. online. 2020 march 2023. <https://campusalive.net/sahodaranayyappanonappattu-budhist-civilization/> endnote note: all translations from malayalam are by the author of this article. © 2025 prashant ingole. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.2478 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 1 pp. 185-189 april 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste concealing caste passing and personhood in dalit literature authors: k. satyanarayana and joel lee publisher: oxford university press year: 2023 reviewer: prashant ingole1 detected and undetected dalitness: the un/common narratives of caste concealment caste pursues you—it follows like a shadow, or a tail, or the ghost of a murdered brahmin. —“raw deal”, surajpal chauhan, 1999 (p. 90). concealing caste: passing and personhood in dalit literature (hereafter concealing caste) reminds of poisoned bread edited by arjun dangle (1992), an anthology and translations from modern marathi dalit literature that brought together poetry, autobiographical excerpts, and political essays. the book gave global academic currency to the world of the dalits (ex-untouchables). in a similar fashion but going beyond the marathi dalit literary context, concealing caste brings together selected short stories and excerpts from autobiographical writings. through these genres, concealing caste spotlights the history of eight decades. the narratives that appeared in the book were originally written in marathi, bengali, tamil, hindi, malayalam and 1department of humanities and social sciences, indian institute of science education and research, mohali, india e-mail: prashantingole23@gmail.com 186 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 telugu, as well as in english, spanning from 1930 to 2020 (pp. 5–6). along with an introduction, the book is divided into two parts: part one is titled short stories, that curates eleven short stories, and the second part is titled as autobiographical writings that brings eight autobiographical excerpts into discussion. interestingly, the book also adds a “glossary of terms, people and places” and a “glossary of castes and caste titles”. k. satyanarayana and joel lee, in their ‘acknowledgements,’ artistically state that this book is like a garden, the cultivation of many hands and imagination, which is the heart, soul, and substance of this book. dalit literary expression is a conscious reflection of phule-ambedkar’s sociopolitical and cultural movement. it is a reclamation of human rights and dignity. the authors of this book clearly mention that “ambedkar famously characterized the emancipatory project… ‘ a battle for the reclamation of human personality’… ‘personality’ in this usage denotes what is now often called personhood…the unmarked identity of the characters in the stories in this volume as nothing less than the desire to reclaim human personality” (p. 22). in the twenty-five-page introduction, the book not only addresses the readers and scholars of caste studies in indian academia, but also showcases a futuristic approach to advance the newly emerged field of research in american academia in particular and the academia in the west at large: critical caste studies (ayyathurai, 2021). the theoretical framework and critical themes in the book can help to mark and understand the ‘difference’ in reading caste and race. the co-authors of the volume hope that the book will generate a dialogue between dalit and african american literature by reading and analysing the narratives of ‘caste concealment’ and ‘passing’ (p. 23). the main focus of the volume is on caste concealment with a discussion on passing and personhood, but along with this, the book also touches upon assertion and acknowledgement in analysing the practising of “impression management” and “subversive deconstruction” (p. 15). to understand the text and the context, satyanarayana and lee deploy their theories from henry louis gates jr., elaine, ginsberg, sandra harvey, and erving goffman’s subversive deconstruction of social hierarchy that proceeds through passing (pp. 12–15), analysing through the traditions of ‘descriptive sociology’(p. 14). through goffman’s idea, satyanarayana and lee write, “the impression management framework reminds us that caste concealment is but one of many interrelated modes of self-fashioning in everyday life, and that its operations significantly overlap with the everyday performance of selfhood and belonging in terms of gender, class, religion, sexuality, occupation and other axes of identity” (p. 16). this seems a somewhat limited approach as baburao bagul could be one of many examples wherein he not only wrote short stories but also made an attempt to theorise the dalit discourse: e.g. bagul’s dalit sahitya: aajche krantividnyan 1981 (dalit literature: a revolutionary science of the present) is a ground-breaking work that theorises around the dalit experience. it subsumes and invisiblises the development of dalit theoretical tradition. nevertheless, with the help of theories on passing and caste concealment, the book asks some pertinent questions: ‘why expose a troubling revelation that invites criticism from the world?’ what insights can we gain from dalit writing on caste concealment and vice versa from the concealing caste: passing and personhood in dalit literature 187 literature on racial passing in the united states? what can dalit literature contribute to our understanding of hierarchy in sociology or anthropology, and how can literary studies benefit from the social scientific study of caste? the volume is drawn through its three aims. one is to analyse the ways in which caste hierarchies operate and affect with its new angle as the narratives are subverted in stories around caste concealment. the second aim of the volume is to open a new window to have a comparative dialogue between african-american traditions of emancipatory ideas, not emphasising ‘caste passing’ but examining caste concealment in the stream of passing literature to understand the human condition of one another. the third aim of the volume is to bridge the gap between literary studies and social sciences in general and dalit literature and caste, untouchability studies in particular. by bridging the gap both the disciplines can enrich and energize each other by dwelling into the lived experiences and social conditions of the depressed masses bringing into light an empirical mooring of social sciences. the book touches on three major themes, ‘identitarian performance’, ‘distribution of fear’ and ‘unmarked identity’. with the deployment of these thematic categories, this book explores the narratives of “protective concealment” (p. 4) of the self against the “protected ignorance” (alone, 2017) of the self of the dominant castes. the book explores the stigma and spectre of violence of caste and the ways in which it is attached to the social conditioning of the mindset of both the tormentor and the tormented. thereby, it becomes important to understand the terrain on which dalit writing is established, the lived realities of caste and everyday resistance. this volume focuses on reading and analysing dalit short stories and autobiographical writing. the names of the narratives divided into the two sections below are only mentioned to showcase the thematic difference in the ways in which this volume refers to them, but one can also read these texts differently beyond the suggested themes. performance of dalit selfhood, exchanging unmarked identities the quote mentioned in the beginning is from surajpal chauhan’s short story “raw deal.” it is a symbolic illustration of caste—the ghost of the murdered brahmin. it reflects the way caste is enforced invisibly in the hierarchical everyday social structure we live in. the narratives in this volume talk about auto-ethnographic sociological and anthropological hierarchical experiences of caste that draw critical attention towards the past and present caste portrayal. the caste acts and performs differently by maintaining the sociological positioning of a person. k. satyanarayana and joel lee write, “brahminhood is an act, kshatriya-ness a runaway show; dalit characters who successfully simulate these and other savarna statuses are careful observers and accomplished performers” (p. 16). in a general manner, we learn about caste experiences and fight against a hydra-headed monster called caste through dr. b.r. ambedkar. dalit activists, writers, and intellectuals follow his legacy to tell the stories of caste and their struggle against social discrimination and the ways in which it is performed 188 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 on an everyday basis. relating the dalit performance with the self, anupama rao, in her essay “representing dalit selfhood” (2006), writes the dalit self was performed as an artefact and, at the same time, was continuously created and destroyed. however, we do not have the same access to ambedkar’s interiority. this is not to say that ambedkar did not write or address people about his experiences of dehumanisation and the severity of caste-based hindu practices. nonetheless, a collective self that is denied social recognition—a dalit self that speaks of alienation from the nation that emerges as the basis of literary expression. for dalit short-story writers and authors of the respective autobiographies, ambedkar’s autobiographical text, his fight against the caste becomes a prime example to resist systemic exploitation. baburao bagul’s ‘when i hid my caste’ (1963), ajay navaria’s ‘new custom’ and ‘tattoo’ (2013), omprakash valmiki’s ‘sandstorm’ (2000), pratiba jeyachandran’s ‘in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit’ (1995), jai prakash kardam’s ‘no bar’ (2003), bhimarao ramji ambedkar’s ‘waiting for a visa1’, jai prakash kardam’s ‘my caste’ (1997), yashica dutt’s coming out as dalit: a memoir (2019) and, urmila pawar’s weave of my life (2003)—all of these mentioned narratives oscillate between the performance of the dalit self and un/ marked identities. they creatively express the revolt against the structural violence of caste and untouchability by inhabiting the unpermitted terrain of dominant social space by concealing caste. spectre of caste and the distribution of fear in this caste-rigid, violent indian society, one who belongs to a downtrodden community conceals caste because of the fear of identification that is distributed and engrained through the stigma and everyday dehumanisation of the dalit body. all the narratives mentioned below not only talk about the fear of the spectre of caste but also expose the casteism and pervasiveness of caste contempt. the narratives which deal with the fear of caste are as follows: omprakash valmiki’s short story ‘dread’ (2000) and his autobiographical writing joothan (1993), kausalya baisantry’s autobiographical writing doubly cursed (1999), manoranjan byapari’s interrogating my chandal life: an autobiography of a dalit (2017), shailaja paik’s the flood (2017), m.m. vinodini, ‘the parable of the lost daughter: luke 15:11-32’ (2008), surajpal chauhan’s “raw deal” (1999), sharankumar limbale’s ‘friend of the family’ (1984) and, c. ayyappan’s ‘madness’ (2008). the presented narratives are not fictional narratives, but they are descriptions of the realism in literary expression to show the prescription of caste the way it is written and performed that generates fear among the marginalised communities. these narratives are not an individual account of suffering and resistance, but they are the collective voice of the self. 1this text was written in 1935-36 and first published as a booklet by the people’s education society in 1990. in 1993 it was included in volume 12 of dr babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches published by the education department of the government of maharashtra. concealing caste: passing and personhood in dalit literature 189 conclusion it seems that the selection of the narratives in this volume is still mainstream drawn from the marginalised either because of the popularity of author’s name or because of their written account in the form of a short stories or autobiographical writings. many of these regional narratives are already available in the english language. there is enormous untranslated literary work of art in regional spaces, recognising and engaging with these works by bringing them into mainstream academic discourse is important. it is noteworthy that the present volume accomplishes the commitment of making dalit literary expressions visible and accessible worldwide through its new perspective. although the volume comparatively differentiates between caste concealment and racial passing in context to caste and race; however, it has always been the case to seek ally-ship in social movements and the dominant academic space of south asia. how much it helps to eradicate caste at the local level remains an unresolved quest. the anthology is a significant intervention in the discussion on critical caste studies as it showcases seminal moments of past and present in dalit writing. the book presents critically acclaimed writing produced locally and globally in the decades of resistance powerfully projected through literary expressions. it would have been a more concrete text for the field of critical caste studies if the book also would have incorporated comparative theoretical/analytical traditions of dalits and the blacks. nonetheless, the book is an important addition to the anti-caste intellectual tradition to understand the lived realities of caste discrimination, the stigma and humiliation. acknowledgements the author is grateful to neha w for her intellectual and affective inputs on the review of this book. references alone, y.s. (2017). caste life narratives, visual representation and protected ignorance. biography, 40(1), 140–169. ayyathurai, gajendran. (2021). it is a time for a new subfield: ‘critical caste studies’. https:// blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2021/07/05/it-is-time-for-a-new-subfield-critical-caste-studies/ accessed date: november 4, 2024. rao, anupama. (2006). representing dalit selfhood. seminar. https://www.india-seminar. com/2006/558/558%20anupama%20rao.htm accessed date: october 29, 2024. © 2024 rajesh sampath. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. commentary doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i1.2036 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 1 pp. 45-48 march 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the twilight of equality and the birth of fraternity: a commentary on chief justice chandrachud’s historic “brandeis lecture” rajesh sampath1 in his brilliant keynote address at the 6th international conference on the unfinished legacy of dr. b.r. ambedkar: law, caste, and pursuit of justice at brandeis university in 2023, chief justice chandrachud delivered hope and inspiration. for a chief justice of any modern democracy to admit that constitutions do not live in the ethereal abstraction of principles and concepts but are firmly embedded in societies is both surprising and refreshing. to quote his statement: “as judges we have to be increasingly cognizant of social reality and to understand that the law itself does not exist in a vacuum…” (chandrachud 2024: 2). in paying homage to the great dr. b.r. ambedkar, the chief architect of the constitution of independent, modern india, chief justice chandrachud acknowledges that the law has a greater responsibility than just addressing current issues where disputes over injustices occur. rather, the court must also ‘remedy historical wrongs’ (chandrachud 2024: 1), thus paving the way for a bold vision to rethink the role of law in society. since society is beset with historical and structural inequalities, then what the chief justice is asking for is a fundamental rethinking of the relationship between law and justice, which was the theme of the 2023 conference at brandeis university. the chief justice laid out five major parts to his keynote address. he first addresses what he means by “historical wrongs” (chandrachud 2024: 1). he then taps the deep knowledge and wisdom of dr. b.r. ambedkar whose twin achievements were birthing the modern democratic indian constitution while engaging in the lifelong social movement to eradicate the caste system in india, particularly the millennia-long oppression of the most vulnerable, namely the dalit peoples. in ambedkar’s work, the chief justice reads an “alternative framework of emancipatory constitutionalism to address historical wrongs” (chandrachud 2024: 2). he then argues that although “representation” is essential in any democratic polity, we need to go “beyond” it 1associate professor of the philosophy of justice, rights, and social change, the heller school at brandeis university, usa e-mail: rsampath@brandeis.edu 46 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 (chandrachud 2024: 1). what this means is that we need to see the constitution in a new way, one in a manner where it is possible to envision “social reformation apart from the idea of representation” (chandrachud 2024: 2). with this courageous step that proffers reformation of society, the ethical call to action transcends “courtrooms, and must be considered in the canvas of [a] larger social discourse on equality” (chandrachud 2024: 2). in drawing out the moral consequences of the chief justice’s opening remarks on the framework of his keynote address, we can articulate some initial conclusions. often, we see legal systems, and the judges who occupy them, as inherently conservative, not in terms of political positions per se; but rather, the law demands a fidelity to precedent and tradition. this is the slow blast furnace that invites perpetual scrutiny of such precedents, in which an overturning takes place not because of the passing social and political pressures of the day, but because the law must re-align itself with a new set of facts or advancements in different scientific and social scientific fields when they occur. in other words, the law is slow to change because it is the bulwark that maintains social cohesion, order, and stability so that democracies do not devolve into civil wars or chaos in both realms of ideas and practices. and so, for the chief justice of the world’s largest, most vibrant, and perhaps most complex democracy to suggest that ‘reform’ is key to ‘remedying historical wrongs’ (chandrachud 2024: 1) and engaging in social transformation in the quest for equity and fairness, not just equality and liberty, is quite breathtaking. like ambedkar, we do not have to keep apart the great social challenge to not only realize justice for all, but to undo longstanding structural and historical injustice; but instead of seeing law—the glue that holds all representative democracies together—as the enemy of change, it can be seen as an engine for radical transformation. it was inspiring to see the chief justice draw from the powerful theoretical frameworks in the u.s. context, such as critical race theory. starting in the late 80s, ‘crt,’ as it is known as an acronym, has questioned basic values that appear sacrosanct and neutral such as colorblind meritocracy in the post-civil rights era. in fact, such liberal ideologies based on individual rights conceal the fact that law plays a role in perpetuating social injustices. such present miscarriages descend from the pasts of slavery and segregation that lead to disparate outcomes in terms of equality and equity across the board—from voting to housing to education, particularly for black people and other marginalized racial and ethnic groups. racism is not just embodied in individual acts of hate, violence, and discrimination but is baked into the basic institutions of society down to the microscopic fibers of everyday life (delgado & stefancic 2023). similarly, in the indian context, the law should not be focused, exclusively, on individual crimes and atrocities. rather, it must redress the entire historical albatross of the caste system. this basic anatomy of indian society leads to unfathomable disparities today in terms of what the american philosopher of justice, john rawls termed as “primary social good”; the latter include “rights, liberties, and opportunities, and income and wealth…and a very important primary good is a sense of one’s own worth” (rawls 1999: 79). the twilight of equality and the birth of fraternity 47 seen from a wider conception of social justice, the law has a powerful role, alongside politics, systems of governance, and civil society, in maximizing the fair distribution of these goods. but in the mind of the chief justice, representation in democracy may be key, but when a society is saddled with prodigious historical evils, such as slavery in the u.s. or caste in india, then ‘reformation becomes necessary’ (chandrachud 2024: 6). passionately, he states that the: …social life of the constitution goes beyond tokenism and necessitates active engagement, active listening, and taking the perspectives and concerns of oppressed communities seriously. it means acknowledging the unique experiences and challenges faced by these groups and incorporating their input into policy development and implementation (chandrachud 2024: 15). the call for ‘activism’ is visionary and to follow through the implications on the chief justice’s profound reflection, the law embodies the life of a society. if society is bogged down by historical injustices, then reckoning of the past is required to transform the present. again, the inspiration of dr. b.r. ambedkar is illustrative. the highest ideals of equality and liberty in any democracy are obvious; but what is harder to achieve is the egalitarian dream of ‘fraternity,’ which brings forth a kantian imperative. indeed, the act of doing good for others must operate from the contentless law, the instinct as act emanating deep within oneself, of doing such good. therefore, the highest manifestation of individual freedom is not based on some predetermined injunction or prohibition that one finds outside of oneself, say in religion or a constitutional monarchy. it certainly cannot be based on caste, which forces upon groups a duty that cannot be justified, namely keeping some people at a lower level of the social and human order, for the sake of purity and hierarchy. rather, it must come from within the individual alone, to which no single substantive moral content can monopolize the free act of the individual to do good without that individual’s free assent to be governed and therefore self-governed as a moral law unto themselves. to achieve this pure democratic ethos in societies that have long-standing historical oppressions, such as the native american genocide and black slavery in the u.s. and the caste system and criminalization of tribal peoples in india, is that highest ideal for which we must strive. in conclusion, we quote the chief justice’s words on dr. b.r. ambedkar, which resonate far beyond the confines of the courtroom: dr ambedkar had focused on the value of “fraternity,” which he termed as “another name for democracy.” fraternity means mutual respect for each other. fraternity can only be achieved, if the dignity of everyone is recognized” (chandrachud 2024: 15). we find these concluding words by the chief justice remarkable. they point to an indomitable spirit on the quest to do what is right, blending humility with responsibility given the enormous power of the office he holds. we thank him for inspiring us with what may be recalled by future generations as a historic address. 48 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 references chandrachud, d.y. (2024, march). reformation beyond representation: the social life of the constitution in remedying historical wrongs. caste: a global journal on social exclusion. 5(1). delgado, r. and stefancic, j. (2023). critical race theory. nyu press. rawls, j. (1999). a theory of justice. harvard university press. © 2024 arpita anand. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.811 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 410-428 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste feminist pedagogy and peer relations in women’s studies classrooms: reflections on caste inequalities in indian higher education arpita anand1 abstract this article attempts to explore the nature of peer relations across caste locations in higher education in the indian context and the possibilities of pedagogical intervention in caste inequalities in the classroom. much of the discussion around caste in indian higher education has been limited to questions of access of marginalised caste groups alone, without taking account of the terms of this “inclusion” and the conditions of survival in higher education. with the shifts in the caste composition of students in recent decades, some reflections on the struggles of marginalised students have come forth, highlighting the extent to which the higher education system is ill-equipped to deal with a diverse student body. based on a qualitative study of five degree programmes in women’s studies, the article discusses peer relations in the context of efforts of women’s studies teachers to intervene in the dynamics among students given the varying degrees of diversity in the classroom. highlighting bitter divisions as well as attempts at solidarity among students across caste locations, it argues that addressing peer inequalities in the classroom must be part of feminist pedagogical work. furthermore, these strategies must go beyond “enabling” marginalised students and equally directed towards questioning the privilege of dominant students, otherwise the classroom will not be enabling for the best of marginalised students. keywords caste discrimination, higher education, feminist pedagogy, women’s studies, peer relations 1research scholar, centre for women’s development studies, dr. b.r. ambedkar university delhi, india email: arpitaanand12@gmail.com feminist pedagogy and peer relations in women’s studies classrooms 411 introduction questions of caste within higher education in recent decades have usually found space through discussions around reservations in admission—the debates around the mandal commission’s recommendations for reservations for other backward classes (obc) in employment and education, when these were implemented in public sector employment in the 1990s; and then in 2006, when the obc reservations were sought to be implemented in higher education (also popularly known as mandal ii). inevitably, these battles also (re-)generate questions about the need for reservations at all, including the already existing reservations for scheduled castes (sc) and scheduled tribes (st). the opposition to reservations in higher education—often from “eminent” scholars1—has meant that debates have been persistently focused on whether or not reservations are required and if so, what the best modes of implementation might be. as a consequence, much of the scholarship on the subject has been limited to questions of access of students from marginalised caste groups. there has not been a commensurate reflection on the conditions of survival and experiences of marginalised students once they are enrolled in higher education. the structural deficits that students face once they have entered higher education are largely neglected (xaxa, 2002; deshpande, 2016). it is student suicides that bring attention to caste discrimination but not much is known about the institutional cultures of higher education institutions that lead into such extreme consequences. some critical insights into these institutional cultures with respect to caste have much to say about the conditions of survival in higher education—discrimination and resistance to discrimination both emerge in these accounts (sukumar, 2013, 2022; singh, 2013; kumar, 2016). yet it is clear that the systemic bias against the marginalised is significant, and resistance itself can prove detrimental to the interests of these students. reservations thus are merely the beginning of story of inclusion and democratisation. through his experience of teaching political science at the university of delhi, n. sukumar (2023) has drawn attention to the resistance of academic institutions to teaching dalit bahujan thought, and the deep resonance such courses have for students 1two of the most well-known scholars to protest against mandal ii were pratap bhanu mehta and andre beteille, who resigned from the national knowledge commission to mark their disagreement (also see mehta, 2006). however, these positions should be seen within the larger discourse of merit and quality in higher education debates. the higher education system in india has been described as facing a crisis by many scholars and commentators over the past two decades, but there is no agreement as to what the nature of this “crisis” is. oddly, one framing of the “crisis” is about the “quality” of students. the issue of the “quality” of students, more often than not, is tied to the social composition of students, where quality of school education is spoken of with respect to students who enter higher education through reservations. this is part of a larger narrative where decline in the quality of higher education is posited against inclusion (beteille, 2008) in arguing that the expansion due to “political pressures of inclusion” has meant compromising on academic standards. the framing of the “crisis” of higher education as one of “quality” has been questioned by satish deshpande (2016) as emerging from the fact that elite institutions are not equipped to deal with the kinds of students inhabiting them with greater diversity in student composition. 412 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 from marginalised social locations precisely because these critical perspectives are completely absent in the rest of their curriculum. thus, even as the social composition of students is increasingly shifting, the curriculum and the classroom continue to be alienating for students from marginalised caste and gender locations. in the american context, victoria reyes (2022) has brought out that despite the shifts in social composition of universities and the proliferation of studies of identity and marginalisation, the lived experience of scholars from marginalised social locations reflects how they continue to be “academic outsiders” through various subtle and unsaid exclusions. such deeply ingrained, often subtle, forms of discrimination and exclusion in the context of caste inequalities in indian higher education have been critically analysed by n. sukumar in his incisive book caste discrimination and exclusion in indian universities: a critical reflection (2022). focusing on one aspect of how caste is experienced in the classroom, this article attempts to understand how peer relations evolve in increasingly caste-diverse classrooms of indian higher education, and what role critical feminist pedagogical approaches can have to deal with inequalities among students. the article has been drawn from my doctoral research that set out to study women’s studies degrees programmes but i found that these programmes were considerably shaped by issues emerging from the shifting student composition in the post-mandal ii context. my fieldwork data sheds considerable light on this aspect, as students from marginalised castes spoke at length about their struggles to survive in a system which appears to be designed to push them out. my doctoral research studied ma and research degrees in women’s studies at five universities across two regions—a state university (university a), a centrally-funded deemed university (university b), a non-metropolitan central university (university c), a metropolitan central university (university d) and a state university dedicated to the social sciences (university e). i conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with 163 students and 54 teachers at these universities over two years, 2016 and 2017. broadly, the classrooms under study were of two kinds—either composed of women of various caste-class backgrounds; or composed of women from various backgrounds and men from marginalised caste backgrounds. in the midst of my field work, the current funding crisis of women’s studies was just beginning to emerge. the model of five year planning was discontinued in 2017 under the present right-wing government; and since women’s studies centres are governed directly by the university grants commission their funding was tied to these plans. since then the status of women’s studies has been precarious with some centres being closed, and persistent uncertainty about the extension of funding to the existing ones. as mary e. john (2023a) has noted of the national education policy 2020, despite the repeated emphasis on multidisciplinarity, women’s/gender studies is not even mentioned in the document. in a recent volume on women’s studies in india, panchali ray and shadab bano discuss with reference to the present government: feminist pedagogy and peer relations in women’s studies classrooms 413 [t]hough the ugc has extended support to the wscs, it emphasises workshops, training, and gender sensitisation programmes at the cost of teaching and research. the trends in the development agenda set by transnational thinktanks (world bank, united nations and the international monetary fund) have seen a shift, with gender-mainstreaming as a core component in their various policies. however the focus is not to question patriarchy, but to use a language of empowerment that reflects the country’s aspirations to be an equal participant in the global order with developed nations. nowhere has the appropriation of women’s studies to suit the ends of the hegemonic social order been more apparent than the attempt at renaming ‘women’s studies’ to ‘women and family studies’ in 2005. (ray & bano, 2024, pp. 4–5) thus it is important to bear in mind that the marginality that women’s studies as a field faces in indian higher education conditions the possibilities of enabling feminist pedagogies, when it is constantly in danger itself. with the implementation of the mandal ii (obc) reservations since 2008, classroom composition in all five of my field sites has come to display growing social diversity as the enrolment in reserved seats has picked up some pace in the past decade. thus as questions of location have become sharper across universities because all classrooms are increasingly required to respond to the changing composition of students, for women’s studies this effectively means that the classroom is critiqued much more, particularly from an anti-caste perspective. it is also significant to note that the fieldwork for my doctoral research, beginning in january 2016, happened to coincide with rohith vemula’s death and thus this immediate context meant that the visibility and articulation of caste issues within higher education was much more across the duration of fieldwork than it had been previously been.2 this also meant that students across caste backgrounds were more willing to speak to me about these issues than would have otherwise been the case, given my dominant caste location.3 effectively then questions of caste within women’s studies classrooms have emerged in much sharper ways since 2016, even though women’s studies as a field has been focused on inequalities in higher education throughout, and often degree programmes attempt to align pedagogical strategies to feminist principles. the academic commitment to critical thinking in feminist classrooms appears to produce expectations of critical education, centred on ideas of feminist pedagogy. thus the ideas discussed in this article can be significant for other fields/disciplines that aim to teach critical thinking, particularly its relation to the social composition of the student body in higher education at present. 2in some of my field sites, questions of caste already had a significant presence in the university on account of regional and institutional histories but this was not true for the rest. in these remaining sites, it was after january 2016 that the caste question was acknowledged more visibly, though it had been raised in these campuses for many years prior to this. i found caste to be the central axis of discussions even in classrooms where the student composition was largely upper caste. 3i am a middle class cis-woman born into an upper-caste group of the sikh community. 414 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 in the classrooms under study, pedagogical issues were much emphasised by respondents and within that, peer relations and the “failure” of feminist pedagogy to address classroom inequalities. centring the experience of students emerges as a fundamental aspect of many writings on critical and feminist pedagogy, yet direct intervention in peer relations does not find much focus. further, much of the reflection on feminist pedagogy has come from teachers of feminist/women’s studies courses and programmes. this article seeks to understand the feminist pedagogical expectations emerging from students regarding pedagogical intervention in peer relations on account of inequalities of social location, focused on caste in this case. i rely primarily on the voices of students, but within the context of the pedagogical practices and expectations of teachers that, directly or indirectly, endeavour to initiate students into thinking about their social locations, privilege and marginalisation and what these mean for their classroom relations with their peers. even when absent as an active pedagogical intervention, in most classrooms peer relations did emerge as a prominent concern. some teachers also articulated an expectation that classroom teaching will impact how students from different locations engage with each other. thus the article attempts to understand these expectations and question whether and how these can be addressed within the space of a degree programme. the first section attempts to situate the question of intervention in peer relations within the existing scholarship on feminist pedagogy. the second section details the nature of peer relations across caste locations in the programmes under study, highlighting divisions as well as attempts at building solidarities. the third section discusses the dilemmas of intervening in peer relations as part of the feminist pedagogical work of women’s studies teachers. this entire discussion on what feminist pedagogy has to do with power dynamics among students in the classroom is premised on an abstract idea of the (feminist) pedagogue. the social location and institutional authority of the teacher and how it is tied to the logic of our universities that are rooted in a mainstream epistemic model, limits such possibilities necessarily. however, this aspect cannot be addressed within the scope of this article, and has been discussed elsewhere (see anand, 2024). locating the question of peer relations in frameworks of feminist pedagogy much of the scholarship on feminist pedagogy in the indian context has been by feminist sociologists (rege, 1995; chaudhuri, 2002; chadha, 2016; pujari, 2017; rayaprol, 2011; chari-wagh, 2018). rekha pappu (2002), in pointing out the absence of pedagogical thinking in the founding period of women’s studies, pre-empted the questions that have come to acquire significance with the establishment of degree programmes. she raised questions about the composition of students choosing women’s studies, the impact the course has on these students and how questions of the personal and experiential arise within the women’s studies classroom. her questions about diversity and how difference comes to be understood in women’s feminist pedagogy and peer relations in women’s studies classrooms 415 studies particularly resonate with the deeply charged contentions around caste that have emerged in my field data. sharmila rege (2010a, 2010b) subsequently wrote of feminist pedagogy within women’s studies programmes and the anti-caste framework of her feminist pedagogical thought intersects significantly with the views expressed in the programmes under study. the influences for most of these scholars have been paolo friere (1970) and bell hooks (1994). while the fundamental scholarship of hooks is useful to think about the pedagogical issues in women’s studies classroom, freirian critical pedagogy proves to be less directly relevant in its assumptions of universalist, abstract categories of teachers and students. given that the pedagogical contentions are centred on caste in the programmes under study, i found critiques to critical and feminist pedagogies by elizabeth ellsworth (1989) and kathleen weiler (1991) more relevant to analyse the ideas expressed by my respondents. across this body of scholarship on feminist pedagogy (rege, 2010a; chadha, 2016; pujari, 2017; ellsworth, 1989; weiler, 1991), centring student experience and the authority of the teacher are the two fundamental aspects of such a pedagogical approach that came to be significant in the ideas of my respondents. in this article, i will focus on the ideas of student experience, especially difference among students. the elements of pedagogical work that were specific to these programmes and tied to ideas of feminist pedagogy can be understood within two broad categories—the first pertained to teaching methods and the second to what i would term the ethical dimensions of the classroom. while teaching methods were tied to epistemic questions, these did often underlie ethical classroom practices. however, the ethical questions about questioning power relations in the classroom were emphasised much more by my respondents across the board. this ethical dimension of feminist pedagogy has to do with going beyond epistemic politics towards recognising social and institutional inequalities in the classroom and reducing hierarchy in peer relations as well as the hierarchy between teachers and students. thus, there is a set of ethics that the feminist classroom seeks to follow. with respect to peer relations, various kinds of group assignments are attempted by teachers across these programmes to sensitise students to their differences of location. classroom exercises such as the privilege walk, assignments on analysing the student’s own location and so on are also geared towards similar objectives. another example would be the bridge courses at university a focused on english language skills that are meant to shift hierarchy between english and non-english medium students. the underpinnings of these pedagogical practices are effectively rooted in a framework of critical education, even when this is not the explicit frame of reference, whereby the pedagogical intent is to enable students to locate their social positionality, understand the intersections of structures of marginalisation and privilege that mark their lives and accept that these unequal structures need to be transformed. these ideas emerged across all five programmes albeit in different and uneven ways. the epistemological politics that women’s studies as a field claims thus leads to a necessary engagement with modes of transacting the said epistemic framework and its implications for institutional practices. some women’s studies degree programmes and 416 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 teachers engage with these aspects more directly than others, yet in all the locations such pedagogical intent and expectations are markedly present. globally, the question of difference in the classroom has been a potent one in recent decades. a recent pedagogical guide by the american psychologist kathryn c. oleson (2023), attempts to deal with the pedagogical challenges of diverse classrooms, particularly focusing on micro-aggressions related to social identities in the classroom and offering a model of “productive discomfort.” the nature of issues she explores and addresses refer to higher education classrooms broadly; however for women’s studies classrooms the questions become much more complex and charged because of the subject matter at hand. feminist educators susan sanchez-casal and amie macdonald (2002) note: one of the ethical challenges of the antiracist feminist classroom is precisely the absence of a comforting boundary between students and the object of study; the feminist classroom collapses the difference between learning about the world ‘out there’ and investigating how students’ lives are implicated in that world—how the world ‘out there’ also operates in the classroom and turns students themselves into objects of study (2002, p. 5). while their observation pertains to feminist classrooms in women’s studies, ethnic studies and within disciplines, i find this aspect in the women’s studies courses in my sample as distinct from feminist courses within disciplines. the proximity to the object of study in women’s studies impacts this idea of critical pedagogy, i.e. of “identity” not only as object of study but also in terms of classroom dynamics and structural differences.4 4for the purposes of this article, i have used the framework of identity, referring to articulations of difference in the social locations of students, and their deployments of vocabularies of privilege and marginalisation to explicate these. in the larger doctoral project this article is drawn from, i located women’s studies in relation to the framework of identity knowledges as put forth by robyn wiegman (2012) in the american context. there have been a range of discussions in recent years about the concept of intersectionality in the indian context (see mary e. john, 2023b for a critical discussion). however, it appeared less useful here since the discussion primarily relies on the sharp critiques of caste difference in the classroom that emerged in the interviews. as mentioned earlier, the classrooms under study broadly had two types of social compositions – one, only women students, from both dominant and marginalised castes, or two, women from dominant castes, and both men and women from marginalised castes. when it came to difference and associated contentions in the classroom, caste became the primary axis of analysis. certainly the experiences of women students from marginalised castes would be marked by intersectional oppression, however this did not come through in my fieldwork as both men and women students from marginalised caste positions were focused on the caste-based tensions in their classrooms. it is also a strong possibility that my position as an upper caste woman would have made students from marginalised castes less inclined to discuss difference within; especially since, as i go on to discuss through examples, upper caste women in these classrooms often attacked men from marginalised castes on grounds of sexism and misogyny. feminist pedagogy and peer relations in women’s studies classrooms 417 this is an aspect that does not find much space in the scholarship on feminist pedagogy i have cited, yet the concerns about peer relations were at the forefront of the meanings of the women’s studies degree for students. inequalities and divisions within a classroom are common enough in every discipline and every institution, everywhere. what makes it a concern here is the fact that a more egalitarian and less hierarchical peer group is expected to be an outcome of feminist teaching. what students term the failure of the building of “feminist solidarities” among peers is framed as a failure of the women’s studies degree programme. moreover, programmes such as those at university a and university e do state or aim for such objectives in their course descriptions. the problem here is twofold—one, the nature of friendship and peer relations within academic settings, two, the difference of social location among students that conditions these relationships. of the former, there is globally some scholarship on the idea of “academic friendship”5 and while i do think that the nature of concerns that students bring up requires an analysis of what friendship itself can mean within an academic institutional space, this aspect will not find focus here. this is because the question of peer relations in these degree programmes was framed by students much more in terms of social hierarchies and how the women’s studies degree ought to enable them to build relationships with each other that reflect the idea of feminist politics that they study. there was also among teachers a concern as to whether and how students engaged with each other across social locationswhether it be an overt concern like group work exercises; or whether expressed by individual teachers as their frustration when observing discriminatory practices among students. in order to understand how and why peer relations are an aspect of pedagogical intervention, an aspect of “centring the experience of the student” that needs to be highlighted is how experience as a category of pedagogical intervention is problematised by assertions of difference by students of women’s studies. i now turn to these ideas of difference, focused on caste identity as they emerged in the classrooms under study. divided classrooms as much as most teachers sought to push women’s studies as an academic field, often they reported disillusionment with the pattern of “good” students from socially privileged locations understanding and prioritising academic debates and politics of knowledge production but displaying a gap between academic understanding and a sense of “real” understanding. these students were not focused on their privilege at any depth, nor did they question the tangible inequalities within the classroom. thus the central thread of pedagogical failure here was the inability of students to engage with inequalities within the classroom on account of the structures of privilege and marginalisation constructing their social location and that of their peers. 5for instance emmeche (2015), in a larger project to map the humanities in the danish context, attempts to analyse academic friendship through various sites of collaboration and conflict. the study however looks at the subjects as socially unmarked. 418 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 some teachers discussed how they found it problematic when students acquired the politically correct academic language of women’s studies, but nothing further by way of critical thinking, nor any academic-political commitment. among these teachers, a few also highlighted how political correctness in the women’s studies classroom could limit possibilities of learning (t13, interview, october 7, 2016). interestingly the axis/es of political correctness vary across locations. a women’s studies teacher at university d found that the students acquired the politically correct language of academic feminism, so that questions, doubts or positions that may be problematic did not emerge in the classroom. yet she noted greater slippages around caste as the women’s studies classroom did not necessarily make explicit positions on caste, nor offered concerted training in thinking critically about caste in her view. in contrast to this, a sociology teacher at university a argued that an automatic policing of problematic caste positions occurred in her classroom due to her obvious anti-casteist position. she had been trying to understand how this limited her critical engagement with students in certain ways (t6, interview, may 3, 2016). conflicts and discrimination: caste in the classroom in relation to a focus on identity in the academic debates in women’s studies, the question of who is speaking in the classroom also acquires significance. students who come from locations of privilege complained about having to be politically correct. in some instances, women students from upper caste, middle class locations expressed displeasure about the fact that they “have to be careful about what i say because of my privileged position” (r.e., interview, november 24, 2017), while some women students interestingly discussed how male students felt suppressed in the classroom, how they had to be quiet or speak in acceptable terms and how the discipline and classroom is “anti-men” (m.h., july 20, 2017; r.g., may 30, 2017, interviews). the male students in question however disagreed with such an assessment when they were interviewed. these examples of the privileged students claiming or being framed in a problematic discourse of “reverse discrimination” were not as frequent as i had anticipated—ironically, precisely because most students have picked up politically correct vocabularies. during the interviews there were often slippages for instance, one student spoke at length about her upper-caste english-educated middle class privilege, the associated social capital, while another was very passionate in discussing the critical thinking she acquired from her women’s studies degree and expressed a strong investment in the discipline. but neither student focused much on the rampant discrimination and inequality in the bitterly divided classroom and institution they belonged to. thus i discovered that while students overtly acknowledge hierarchies in the classroom and discuss how marginalised students do not find as much space, a deeper look at their interviews indicates that the larger tone is either of a “saviour complex” or directly contradicts such claims. this became most evident when hostile divisions were reported within the classroom in multiple batches across the field sites. in one such classroom, the divide was so severe that students were seated in two halves of the classroom—students from upper caste, middle class, urban, english speaking locations on one side and feminist pedagogy and peer relations in women’s studies classrooms 419 the students from marginalised caste-class, rural, non-english education on the other. such an overt expression of discrimination in a metropolitan graduate classroom today raises significant questions about the relationship between epistemological questions and pedagogical ones in women’s studies. in three field sites, there were particularly bitter divisions in almost all classrooms at both the master’s and research degree levels with contextual differences in the nature and degree of conflict. broadly, the students reported contentions around location and privilege with classroom peer relationships becoming a competition of political radicalism centred largely on caste. either the classrooms were divided along castelanguage lines, where the numbers of sc, st and obc students were adequate. the alternative scenario was of students from marginalised caste locations being a minority in numbers in the classroom and upper caste students battling each other to emerge as better anti-caste “allies,” in the process instrumentalising sc/st/obc students more often than not. i now discuss both situations through one example each, without identifying the institutions and classrooms involved. larger political questions structure peer relationships significantly, for instance, the question of upper caste students being good “allies” to anti-caste struggles emerges from taking positions on political issues, campus politics, decision making pertaining to their coursework, developing peer support systems and so on. with reference to course-specific decisions, in many classrooms, collective decisions about negotiating with teachers about timetable, assignments and the like led to verbally violent disagreements centred on caste. in a particularly extreme situation, one batch had two different class representatives as it became a question of caste and language based representation—one from the upper caste group of students and one from the group of sc, st and obc students. some upper caste students felt that this led to a tense bifurcation of the classroom but did not constitute a resolution, nor were students making an effort to bridge the gap anymore; the division was just accepted as it is (s.d., september 19, 2016; a.z., november 23, 2017, interviews). yet other upper caste students downplayed the social divide in the classroom, stating that earlier natural affinities of background brought people together but now they were working together quite well (a.a., interview, november 24, 2017). the divide became even more charged and bitter when a dalit male professor was accused of making sexist remarks by upper caste women students. the group of sc, st and obc students felt the remarks had been misreported and blown out of proportion and the accusations seemed particularly unfair and reflective of the casteist biases of the complaining students. upper caste professors had not been similarly called out for sexist or casteist remarks. thus it became a question of sexism vs. casteism and deepened the conflict. the group of privileged students moved between recognising their privilege and an invalidation of the privilege/marginalisation gap, with the general narrative as one of having “tried [to resolve the division] but it hasn’t worked out.” among the students from marginalised caste locations (many of whom were also from rural and non-english educational backgrounds), most were associated with ambedkarite movements and expressed strongly the divisions and discrimination they were facing in the classroom. yet despite this experience of political assertion and critical understanding of power, 420 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 they were not actually able to assert themselves in the classroom and were silenced within that space almost entirely. some were even apologetic about the divide in the classroom and what they perceived as their failure in trying to create harmony. one student discussed how perhaps they could not adequately understand the perspective of the dominant caste students either, while another went so far as to espouse a relativist view of experience, claiming that “all of us have different experiences that should be considered” in arriving at a resolution (b. h., interview, november 24, 2017). in another institution in another city, one master’s classroom was found to be similarly ridden with conflicts around lines of location, privilege and power structures in the classroom. while these contentions were also focused on caste, language and whose voice found space in the classroom, the proportion of students from marginalised caste backgrounds was much lower than upper caste students and as it turned out, it became a conflict between upper caste women about how to “allow space for marginalised voices” in the classroom, what constituted casteism and so on, with the marginalised caste students in question largely becoming passive reference points (m. a., interview, august 11, 2017). most of the upper caste women students described in detail the measures they undertook to reduce the space they took in class and how they were trying to “enable” marginalised caste students to assert their voice in the classroom (a.n., august 16, 2017; r.m., august 24, 2017, interviews); but some upper caste women students felt these attempts were patronising and problematic (c.y., interview, august 17, 2017) and that the effort to truly work through the inequalities in the classroom was not sustained but just an attempt to claim radical political positions around caste (h.r., interview, august 17, 2017). beyond these contentions about location and representation in classroom dynamics, outright discrimination and insensitivity from fellow students found significance in the experience of marginalised caste students. these ranged from upper caste students denying help for something as basic as the class schedule, to something as vicious as victimising marginalised caste students and using the details of their personal lives to make academic arguments in public spaces about “how oppressed these poor women were,” or worse yet questioning if they belonged in a women’s studies classroom since they could not fit the feminist criteria of these upper caste students (p.m., november 29, 2017; p.k., november 25, 2017, interviews). further, students reported how despite pointing out multiple times that they were unable to follow the class discussion in english and could follow the same arguments in the regional language, even in classes where both the teacher and almost all students were reasonably comfortable in speaking and understanding the regional language, the upper caste students continued to pursue discussions in rapidly spoken english. they did not even attempt to break things down in simpler english, or translate the main arguments, making marginalised students feel that these are deliberate attempts to exclude them and make them feel inferior (s.l., interview, november 25, 2017). thus across these institutions students from marginalised caste backgrounds vociferously expressed their pain at the everyday humiliation they faced on account of what they termed the hypocritical feminist politics of their upper caste classmates. they argued that these privileged students made high political claims in the classroom feminist pedagogy and peer relations in women’s studies classrooms 421 and within campus politics, especially around caste in the post-rohith vemula time, but were discriminatory in practice and did not acknowledge their own oppressive practices (r.j., november 27, 2017; a.i., november 27, 2017; m.s., august 17, 2017, interviews). indeed some believed that contentions over caste were overdone in campus politics and the classroom for instrumental purposes because they lacked “real” commitment to feminist ethics and politics and that upper caste students took advantage of the fact that they are better equipped to express the experiences of marginalised students on account of their social capital (a.i., interview, november 27, 2017). a few students also reported instances of privileged students giving a hard time to teachers from marginalised caste backgrounds, especially if the teacher was not proficient in english (t.r., interview, november 23, 2017). similarly the case of the dalit professor being branded sexist as discussed above was considered unfair and a case of “vilification” (a.p., interview, november 25, 2017). students thus felt that women’s studies also needs to take account of situations where students on account of social privilege can be oppressive towards the teacher coming from a marginalised location. one student framed this as a “lack of reflexivity of privilege of those in women’s studies” where the teachers were entirely focused on inclusion in the curriculum but not the exclusions and discrimination that privileged students practiced (t.r., interview, november 23, 2017). some privileged students did not prioritise these questions like other students in their classroom, nor spoke about addressing them, even as they acknowledged the existence of hierarchies among students, and how they materially benefit from their social privilege (r.m., august 24, 2017; l.j., november 27, 2017, interviews). that these students were focused on women’s studies as a theoretical enterprise meant that questions of the power dynamics of the classroom were theoretical problems of location and social capital. peer support systems in unequal classrooms in instances of efforts to develop peer support systems, results were mixed with caste locations determining much of the possibilities. one group’s attempt at having reading groups to deal with the dense course material resulted in painful conversations about how privilege and identity were structural and so long as such structural inequality existed, the reading group effort was experienced by marginalised caste students as a patronising “favour” causing them deep hurt. the upper caste students in question expressed considerable agitation and emotional turmoil wondering “if they would ever be good anti-caste allies.” the group however was driven by the persistent conviction of translating academic feminism into a practice of feminist ethics in their peer relations. in two different institutions, there were reports of somewhat successful peer support groups across social locations in certain batches. the interesting point of difference was that in one case, such efforts occurred entirely outside the degree programme while in the other it was understood by students as an outcome of pedagogical intervention. in the first case, one batch of students across caste locations 422 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 was able to build a peer support group for academic work successfully and conducted reading and assignment discussions in groups. in their opinion, they collectively felt intimidated by the teachers and lost because of the interdisciplinary course content, so they turned to each other drawing on their relative strengths as individuals and in terms of their diverse disciplinary trainings. the group was emphatic about the fact that their successful peer support system was not forged by the course content or classroom teaching, besides the fact that the classroom teaching was difficult for almost all of them in various degrees (d. j., june 9, 2017; s.j., july 13, 2017, interviews). in another programme, students brought out how group assignments where they were deliberately put into heterogeneous groups enabled them to understand how people from different locations have their own strengths and problems and therefore to work with people from different backgrounds (m.n., september 5, 2017; h.u., september 7, 2017, interviews). this in turn impelled them to critically reflect on their own social locations and how that has determined their trajectories and their everyday (u.r., interview, september 7, 2017). for instance, an assignment in their master’s first semester course required them to trace their family histories and discuss them in groups to understand each others’ locations and contexts and students described how such exercises helped them understand and look out for each other, such as stopping the teacher if a classmate is lost, translating arguments during lectures and so on (k.k., interview, september 6, 2017). one student argued that such pedagogical efforts helped them to understand “standpoint in practice” (h.u., interview, september 7, 2017). yet this pedagogical intent may not always translate into intended outcomes. in most cases, students are able to recognise and understand the structural difference in their locations but this does not necessarily translate into more egalitarian peer relations. what in a women’s studies classroom makes certain students think about their own privilege in a “real” sense but not others? the question to ask here, if there indeed is a gap between what students understand quite well academically but not in some tangible social sense, is why this would be a concern for a women’s studies degree and its possible pedagogical models? should it not be enough to impart the academic understanding of social justice? as it turns out, apart from the concerns of feminist ethics that participants in a women’s studies classroom may have, there are tangible ways in which such gaps play out in the classroom – and indeed impact the learning processes of students, both privileged and marginalised (any privileged student claiming reverse discrimination in a women’s studies classroom cannot be understood to be achieving the intended learning outcomes!). the tense and unequal equations among students determine which students find space in the classroom. feminist scholars discuss centring student experience as one of the foremost principles of feminist pedagogy as mentioned earlier. but it is equally important to think about which student experiences and voice claim epistemic and social space in the classroom. ellsworth (1989) and weiler (1991) have highlighted how privileged students get more space, as also about the range of experiences amongst the marginalised students. feminist pedagogy and peer relations in women’s studies classrooms 423 peer relations as a function of feminist pedagogical work the majority of students brought out that while there were many discussions and even harsh conflicts around caste, class, language amongst themselves, the course and their teachers did not take account of these. social location and identity were never explicitly discussed in the classroom and therefore they felt that the classroom was not equally open for all students—some termed it a failure of the feminist principle of “the personal is political” (h.b., july 5, 2017; m.h., july 20, 2017; a.j., august 14, 2017, interviews). these students recognised that they had collectively failed to develop a peer support system but rather had antagonistic relationships based on competition and pressure. one student quite directly stated that it marked the failure of women’s studies as a whole that their degree course did not enable them to build solidarities among themselves because there were significant hierarchies and structural problems in the classroom which they were unable to address (h.b., interview, july 5, 2017). another student argued that women’s studies research degrees train in disciplinary standpoints but do not foreground social standpoints (p.m., interview, november 29, 2017). students thus frame the women’s studies degree as holding some pedagogical responsibility for the social hierarchy among students within the classroom. teachers shared some of the strategies they have adopted. one found that teaching linda alcoff’s well-known essay “the problem of speaking for others” (1988) initiated much debate in the classroom and made students “reflect on the operations of the classroom and their politics,” therefore bringing to the surface questions of political positions. despite such efforts, she observed there was an “appropriation of privileged students working on dalit questions” (t42, interview, august 21, 2017). another mentioned how she gave students both regional language and english readings so as to enable them to develop peer systems where students can translate for each other (t35, interview, november 24, 2017). in one programme, teachers deliberately assigned diverse groups for students to understand the contradictions of the distance in their social locations. however, they also discussed some instances of social differences among students becoming more charged through group assignments. with reference to diverse classrooms and foregrounding “difference,” weiler notes that, [i]n settings in which students come from differing positions of privilege or oppression, the sharing of experience raises conflicts rather than building solidarity. in these circumstances, the collective exploration of experience leads not to a common knowledge and solidarity based on sameness, but to the tensions of an articulation of difference. such exploration raises again the problems left unaddressed by freirean pedagogy: the overlapping and multiple forms of oppression revealed in ‘reading the world’ of experience (weiler, 1991, p. 469). thus, pedagogical strategies that attempt to deploy some mode of peer group work can produce mixed results. in another programme, students shared how such pedagogical interventions were attempted by certain teachers but across different batches have been reported only as “patronising” and counter-productive – “the tendency of [teacher x] 424 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 to assign students to help others is problematic and often created tensions as students accused the ‘weaker’ students of not putting enough effort and getting frustrated” (c.y., interview, august 17, 2017). this narrative of “’weaker” students not pulling their weight was common enough in the mandatory group work too that was discussed above—but the critical difference is the pedagogical method deployed. assigning group projects is different from assigning “better” students to “help” “weaker” students—“remedial” efforts as students labelled these only reproduce the humiliation of students from marginalised caste-class backgrounds. in addition to this, students from marginalised locations talked about how the extra effort they required from even the well-meaning peers and teachers made them feel like they were a “burden” (a.i., november 27, 2017; m.s., august 17, 2017, interviews). some students believed that such peer group activities are conflict ridden and often break down but they are of value because they open them to a wider understanding of feminism and on a personal level, at least initiate a process of self-reflection which an individual may or may not take further. they reported that it is not the end product but process that is considered important and factored into assessments (h.u., september 7, 2017; u.r., september 7, 2017, interviews). therefore, as a pedagogical strategy, group assignments and other such exercises do hold potential to impact peer relations and how students understand social location and the axes of privilege and marginalisation that construct their own locations. there is a recognition by some teachers that pedagogical strategies may or may not work towards privileged students recognising their structural advantages, or marginalised students coming out better off with a sense of how the disadvantages they face are more structural than individual. often students understand these as epistemic questions but that does not necessarily translate into understanding them in their own social interactions. at best it can create some discomfort about the existing form of peer relations and friendships and how social and institutional interactions in general operate; at worst, students remain unaffected by the process in any real sense. the worst outcome is where the privileged become vociferous about “reverse discrimination” and develop a stronger idea of “merit”—such cases were also reported. in any case, teachers attempting such interventions acknowledged that even if students get some sense of discomfort and understanding through that discomfort, the space of a degree is not enough for some kind of radical transformation. this is echoed by ellsworth (1989) in her experiences of developing anti-racist feminist pedagogies in her course: by the end of the semester, participants in the class agreed that commitment to rational discussion about racism in a classroom setting was not enough to make that setting a safe space for speaking out and talking back. we agreed that a safer space required high levels of trust and personal commitment to individuals in the class, gained in part through social interactions outside of class—potlucks, field trips, participation in rallies and other gatherings. opportunities to ‘know’ the motivations, histories, and stakes of individuals in the class should have been planned early in the semester (1989, p. 316). feminist pedagogy and peer relations in women’s studies classrooms 425 as important as i think it is for feminist pedagogues to think about “social interactions outside of class,” this aspect did not feature in a significant manner in my data— partially because i never asked about this. thus for the purposes of the discussion here i shall keep the focus on student interactions within the classroom. even in classrooms where pedagogical interventions in peer relations are undertaken, there are of course disagreements among students as well as discrimination. yet the exercise of understanding each other’s location puts the battles up front rather than pushing them under the table. this in my view is the most critical aspect of feminist pedagogical work. based on the discussion above, it appears that classrooms where faculty intervention does not exist are much more highly polarised – the sources of such polarisation are obviously not merely the academic content and the classroom dynamics, but rather wider ones such as the nature of student politics, regional and institutional specificities. for instance, marginalised students everywhere reported being quite lost in the early semesters, not being able to follow the lecture or the discussion that english medium students lead, and having nurtured feelings of inferiority due to differences in the cultural capital of the students. what i find noteworthy is that these aspects do not find as much focus in classrooms with pedagogical intervention in peer relations as they do elsewhere and more importantly these do not lead into bitter divisions in the classroom, or a rejection of women’s studies teachers or the discipline for failing feminist ethics. the pedagogical effort to intervene in peer relations does not “resolve” the hierarchies among the socially diverse body of students but i would argue by making these power differences visible and enabling discussions around them, the teachers create a space to validate to some extent the discomfort and pain marginalised students experience in the classroom and provide academic legitimacy to their experience of marginalisation. the beginning point of ellsworth’s discussion of critical pedagogy in the context of the racism at her university is that the course she developed was premised on the existence of racism as an undeniable reality, not something the course would debate. the course was meant to focus on how to deal with racism pedagogically, not whether it exists or not. in my view, the promise of feminist pedagogical promises lies in the ability of teachers to institute exercises within degree courses to directly take a position on the power dynamics within a classroom; the impact of such interventions notwithstanding. within the institutional limits of the university, it is not feasible to expect that degrees can train students in the practice of feminist ethics and produce perfectly feminist students—if at all one can define what that would entail. certainly the outcomes and impact of feminist pedagogical intervention cannot be determined by the pedagogue. what is clear however is that the overload of the ethical expectations that this article has attempted to bring out necessitates a more direct pedagogical engagement with classroom dynamics. conclusion the attempt to foreground difference epistemologically at times involves pedagogic techniques that encourage students to reflect on their own social location, and since this occurs in a classroom setting, by extension, it means locating oneself in relation to peers. the pedagogical intent in this case cannot be interpreted as being limited to 426 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 the transaction of certain epistemological frameworks. inadvertently—or rather as an underlying impulse that the feminist teacher does not always want to make explicit— the pedagogical intent of these techniques involves an ethical component. in other words, utilising such techniques of understanding inequality and difference seeks to enable the student to understand and tangibly act upon the inequalities—at least in their immediate setting. thus in my view, feminist pedagogical techniques are directed at creating feminist classrooms. however these methods are not geared towards actually engaging with peer relations in any direct sense, yet this is the dominant expectation of students from feminist pedagogy more than the pedagogical strategies in and of themselves, my assertion is that the data brings out the merits of instituting feminist pedagogical practices within the curriculum. it is evident from the discussion above that the outcomes are mixed. the precise practices can provide possible models but these models are context-specific and even in the same programme, teachers reported having to adapt and evolve their pedagogical strategies with different batches of students. nor can there be any one model that can account for the overflowing expectations of feminist pedagogical ethics in women’s studies programmes. furthermore, with regard to the emphasis on good pedagogical practices in student narratives, an important pattern that i observed was that such positive accounts of feminist pedagogy acquired centre-stage in the accounts of marginalised students. privileged students, despite expressing much admiration and awe for these pedagogical practices, were much more focused on the personal impact in their lives. in my opinion, such patterns highlight that pedagogical strategies to enable marginalised students need to be combined with equally robust pedagogies to destabilise the privilege of students from socially dominant locations, at least within the classroom. certainly the strategies such as group assignments take account of and engage with both these aspects but the differential learning outcomes suggest that problematising privilege for the privileged student proves much more difficult—as it is in the social world in general. as discussed above, it remains a concern for some teachers that the women’s studies degree holds the possibility of enabling privileged students to acquire languages of marginalisation to enhance their epistemic, social and institutional power. therefore, as important as it is to develop support systems for marginalised students to overcome their structural disadvantages, unless the privilege of the dominant students is shaken meaningfully, the classroom will not be enabling for the best of marginalised students. acknowledgements i am grateful to my phd supervisor prof. mary e. john for her 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(2002). ethnography of reservation in delhi university. economic and political weekly, 37(28), 2849-2851+2853–2854. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4412348 © 2021 paul divakar namala. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2 no. 2 pp. 235–264 october november 2021 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i2.339 norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent paul divakar namala1 abstract human rights are rights inherent to all human beings. however, caste-based discrimination is one of the areas that most human rights mechanisms overlook. as a result of several interventions by dalit and human rights organisations, the erstwhile united nations body, in 2000, has termed it ‘discrimination based on work and descent’. the above dalit and other international organisations have also brought evidence before the un committee on the elimination of racial discrimination which has endorsed caste-based discrimination as part of the discrimination based on descent, in article 1 of the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (cerd). further, it was also brought to the notice of various special rapporteurs and un committees that communities discriminated on work and descent (cdwd) face severe human rights violations and abuses that continue to restrain the socio-economic development of these specific groups of people in several countries globally. dalit organizations and their solidarity bodies have gone ahead through a process of ‘norm entrepreneurship’ at the un levels. this article narrates and analyses the challenges and human rights consequences of caste and discrimination based on work and discusses the norm entrepreneurship journey of dalits and cdwd at the un level. keywords norm entrepreneurship, caste-based discrimination, dalits, communities discriminated on work and descent, modern slavery, treaty body, exclusion, intergenerational discrimination, cerd 1convenor, global forum of communities discriminated on work and descent (gfod), the inclusivity project (tip), new york e-mail: pauldivakar@theinclusivityproject.org 236 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 discrimination based on work and descent is any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on inherited status such as caste, including present or ancestral occupation, family, community or social origin, name, birthplace, place of residence, dialect and accent that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment, or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, or any other field of public life. this type of discrimination is typically associated with the notion of purity and pollution and practices of untouchability and is deeply rooted in societies and cultures where this discrimination is practiced.1 — prof. chin-sung chung human rights are rights inherent to all but … united nations several organs are the single most collective institutions for protecting and promoting human rights across the globe. the un asserts that human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. however, of a particular category of status, which has not sufficiently been stressed on or has not been mentioned or deemed to have been covered under one of the lists mentioned above, there is the possibility that the particular issue or community get excluded from being covered under the umbrella of guaranteed rights. awareness of caste-based discrimination and that of other communities and discrimination based on work and descent (dwd) has been as old as the un itself. while framing the universal declaration of human rights (udhr) in 1946, one of the considerations expressed by w.e.b. du bois,2 who was a proponent of the rights of afro-descendants, was how to include the concerns of the so-called ‘untouchable’ communities of south asia. this was also attempted again while evolving the international convention for the elimination of racial discrimination (cedr) in 1965, when it was presumed that the concerns of the so-called ‘untouchables’ would be handled with that instrument. after all these decades, it has been proved that it is an arduous task to include caste-based discrimination as one of the areas for human rights mechanisms to address. why? there may be three reasons for this gap. the decision to have an issue or name a particular community, under a convention or a resolution rests on the member states at the un. it is evident that there is a solid resistance to interrogate this issue of caste-based discrimination and genuinely seek its remedies by the member states. second, unlike many others, this is not a north-south issue between member states. in all the countries, caste-based discrimination exists; it is an issue within the 1human rights council. eleventh session 2–19 june 2009, agenda item 5. human rights bodies and mechanisms. final report of mr. yozo yokota and ms. chin-sung chung, special rapporteurs on the topic of discrimination based on work and descent. 1a/hrc/11/crp.3, 18 may 2009. retrieved from https://www. ohchr.org/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/ regularsession/session11/a-hrc-11-crp3.pdf 2w.e.b. du bois papers. series 1. correspondence letter from b. r. ambedkar to w.e.b. du bois. retrieved from https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums312-b109-i132 norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 237 borders of the member states. no country is ready to ‘wash its dirty linen’ publicly. therefore, there is a great deal of resistance, and even an active effort, to block any resolution or attempt to address this issue. several technical reasons are given to assert that the respective instrument or mandate does not cover the particular issues of castebased discrimination. third, there is an illusion that it is an internal matter and refers to a culture of the land and particular to one specific sub-region and therefore does not warrant un’s intervention. despite these barriers in accessing un mechanisms, dalit and human rights organisations have pursued the realization of a ‘norm architecture’ as the issues facing dwd communities are severe and have been for too long unaddressed, and if addressed in some countries, the implementation is relatively weak. it was recognized in the early years itself that there are major gaps in un norms in addressing caste and dwd concerns. issues facing cdwd cdwd, numbering more than 260 million people worldwide, are among the most marginalised and excluded peoples, many of whom are living in conditions of slavery often tied to descent. they transcend religious, geographical and ethnic boundaries and are a global phenomenon. previously described as communities who are affected by ‘caste and analogous systems’ of social stratification and ‘discrimination based on work and descent’,3 they are commonly known as dalits, roma-sinti, quilombola, burakumin, haratine, oru, shambara, amongst many other names and fall under the umbrella term ‘communities discriminated on work and descent’ (cdwd). the following are some of the specific types of human rights issues faced by cdwd. intergenerational discrimination and violation of fundamental human rights: cdwd faces intergenerational discrimination,4 exclusion from public resources and entitlements, and are routinely segregated5 despite constitutional and legal protective measures in many countries. in most countries, they are subjected to contemporary and even traditional forms of slavery.6 in asia, they face a particular form of exclusion and violence commonly known as ‘untouchability’.7 any attempt 3united nations general assembly. human rights council. thirty-first session. agenda item 3. report of the special rapporteur on minority issues. a/hrc/31/56, 28 january 2016. retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/ en/hrbodies/hrc/regularsessions/session31/documents/a_ hrc_31_56_en.doc 4united nations general assembly. human rights council. thirty-fourth session. agenda item 3. report of the special rapporteur on minority issues o her mission to iraq. a/hrc/34/5, 9 january 2017. retrieved from https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g17/002/44/ pdf/g1700244.pdf?openelement 5united nations general assembly. human rights council. twenty-third session. agenda item 9. report of the special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, mutuma ruteere. a/hrc/23/56, 2 april 2013. retrieved from http://idsn.org/wp-content/uploads/user_folder/ pdf/new_files/un/sp/hrc23_report_ sr_racism.pdf 6un committee on the elimination of racial discrimination (cerd). un committee on the elimination of racial discrimination: concluding observations. mauritania, 10 december 2004, cerd/c/65/co/5. retrieved from https://www.refworld.org/docid/42d2676f4.html 7un committee on the elimination of racial discrimination. concluding observations on the combined 17th to 23rd periodic reports of nepal: committee on the elimination of racial 238 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 to challenge discriminatory practices is countered with severe and extreme forms of violence. women and children among these communities bear additional layers of discrimination and violence. violence against women: girls and women among the cdwd face extreme forms of violence by wider society, are paid unequal wages, and are underpaid.8 there is a greater, significant proportion of unpaid work among these women. often women of cdwd face extreme violence, sexual assault, rape and even murder and mutilation as form of vengeance against the whole community. children of cdwd: they face extreme forms of violence and discrimination at schools and in society in several countries. practices of forced child labourers9 and trafficking are prevalent among them. poverty and hunger: cdwd are disproportionately affected by hunger,10 food insecurity and poverty, primarily as a result of systemic and systematic discrimination and the arbitrary nature of daily wage labourers regarded as ‘inferior’, their lack of social, economic and political power and reliance on volatile agricultural harvest due to climate change and other factors. insufficient data is available to paint a conclusive picture of malnutrition or undernourishment rates of cdwd. special measures need to be undertaken to ensure that the country and community-specific interventions are provided the most immediate needs of the most vulnerable regarding rights to food. exclusion and discrimination in education: cdwd face discrimination at all levels of education, from primary to higher to technical and professional education in most countries. cultural practices and beliefs deny millions the right to receive quality education. notions of ‘impurity’,11 child slavery, trafficking, and poverty are factors that prevent children, youth and adults of cdwd from receiving and accessing quality education. denial of access to water and sanitation: 2.2 billion people worldwide do not have secure access to safe drinking water. this has devastating consequences for the health of the affected persons and leads to poorer education prospects and is a threat to female empowerment since the burden of collecting water often falls on women and girls. to be noted here is that during the covid-19 pandemic, access to water, hygiene products and sanitation facilities were severely restricted for cdwd. cdwd discrimination. 29 may 2018. cerd/c/npl/co/17-23. retrieved from file:///c:/users/ admin/downloads/cerd_c_npl_co_17-23-en.pdf 8eduardo araújo and givânia maria da silva. racism and violence against quilombalos in brasil. confluencias. vol.21. no.2. 2019, pp.196-208. 9united nations. international covenant on civil and political rights. human rights committee. concluding observations on the second periodic report of nepal. 15 april 2014. ccpr/c/npl/ co/2. retrieved from https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/download. aspx?symbolno=ccpr/c/npl/co/2&lang=en. 10united nations. international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination. committee on the elimination of racial discrimination. seventieth session. consideration of reports submitted by states parties under article 9 of the convention: concluding observations of the committee on the elimination of racial discriminationindia. 5 may 2007, cerd/c/ind/co/19. retrieved from https://tbinternet.ohchr.org /_layouts/15/ treatybodyexternal/download.aspx?symbolno=cerd/c/ind/co/19&lang=en. 11united nations general assembly. human rights council. seventeenth session. agenda item 9. report of the special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, githu muigai. 25 march 2011, a/hrc/17/40/add.2. retrieved from https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/700115? ln=en norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 239 face additional challenges even during normal times due to exclusive social practices. during the covid-19 pandemic, cases in asia and europe emerged in which access to public water and sanitation facilities were either restricted or denied. this situation escalated in south asia during the summer months when infections peaked; dalits were prohibited from accessing public water/sanitation facilities for being considered ‘unclean’. despite such rampant discriminatory practices, governments fail to ensure access to these facilities across the globe for cdwd. access to housing and adequate shelter: during the covid-19 pandemic, the lack of adequate housing and shelter became evident when, during lockdowns and curfews, millions either did not have a home to go to or the virus was able to rapidly spread in inadequate and cramped conditions of housing. this problem is particularly pertinent for cdwd who are denied housing facilities and experience discrimination in housing conditions. alongside segregation in housing, other related problems need to be addressed to guarantee all persons, their economic, social and cultural rights to adequate housing and shelter. access to land and livelihoods: to achieve decent work conditions and alleviate some of the negative effects of the pandemic, land tenure and ownership have been claimed as a vital condition for cdwd. in brazil, the sahel and the large parts of south asia, land rights and land tenure and ownership remain a central demand for many cdwd and represents a multitude of possible consequences such as food security and economic opportunity, reduction of poverty and homelessness, etc. frontline healthcare workers and sanitation workers: conversely, frontline health care workers, sanitation workers, street cleaning workers, workers in the mortuaries and burial or crematoriums in several countries such as india, pakistan and nepal are almost exclusively from cdwd. they are being denied both personal protective equipment like masks or gloves, and they are excluded from the healthcare system by not having healthcare insurance or other support mechanisms. contemporary forms of slavery for millions: poor implementation of the existing legal framework at the national and international levels and the state’s apathy to tackle the issues of modern forms of slavery are of serious concern to cdwd. according to the latest available comprehensive data, 40.3 million people globally are facing the problem.12 with cdwd, factors like intergenerational discrimination, the perpetuation of social hierarchies, and restrictions to social mobility make these communities susceptible to contemporary forms of slavery. in addition, key features of modern forms of slavery are closely associated with the concept of cdwd, including debt bondage, forced labourers, child labourers, unpaid and underpaid work, trafficking and forced marriages. however, while discussing contemporary forms of slavery, cdwd is often ignored or invisible in the discussion, and the link between the established discriminations faced by these communities and contemporary forms of slavery is grossly overlooked. climate change: climate change is the most significant and severe contemporary global threat to the planet, which a decisive global action must stop. but what is worse is that climate change perpetuates inequalities and severely affects the most vulnerable, 12global slavery index 2018. retrieved from https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/ 240 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 particularly those whose livelihoods depend on natural resources. many cdwd are highly dependent on earnings from agricultural labourers and livestock, forests and other lands.13 with fewer to no resources and options to combat, mitigate or adapt, the internalization of discrimination and exclusion continue to deepen their state of deprivation and marginalisation. their locational, social and economic vulnerabilities place a greater strain on their adaptive capacity to climate change and ability to deal with shocks, stresses and change. discrimination in disaster relief and rehabilitation and in disaster risk reduction practices: cdwd face discrimination in several disaster risk reduction (drr) practices. this has been evidenced in several countries during several drr practices, including pre-disaster warnings, habitations located in vulnerable geographical areas, exclusion from rescue and relief measures, not being counted in rehabilitation entitlements and facing exclusion in rehabilitation measures. therefore, clear measures need to be framed to ensure inclusive measures and practices. access to relief and health care during covid-19 pandemic: several instances of discrimination were evident when accessing health care and other assistance during the pandemic. in fact, the existing discriminatory practices surfaced in their most blatant forms during the pandemic, impeding healthcare and state relief programs. discrimination in access to public finance and development: cdwd, especially women, children, people with disabilities and sexual minorities among them face exclusion in access to civic amenities including education, health care and other entitlements. within countries it is also observed that there is an inherent bias in the management of public finance management and in access to development. this is indeed a grim picture of cdwd across the regions. in some areas, the communities face extreme poverty and are subjected to severe human rights violations. the narratives from ground-level activists are even grimmer. this is evidenced by compilations from the un thematic bodies and special procedures mandate holders apart from the data generated from csos and human rights organisations working in respective countries. over the last two decades, from the year 2000 onwards, several organisations and individuals have made focussed and informed interventions to the un bodies through collated data and evidence on the issues of dwd in the wider societies, particularly among the asian, african and european and the latin american regions. these efforts have strengthened the network among cdwd and through these networks, they have made interventions into both the geneva-based un bodies and new york-based organizations. the norm entrepreneurship journey of dalits and cdwd at the un the dalit communities having experienced generation of the above forms of ‘untouchability’ resulting in discrimination, exclusion and violence, have persisted to address effectively through a process of norm entrepreneurship14 at national and un levels. this was initiated with the coming together of diverse groups of dalits 13amita bhaduri. impact of climate change on life & livelihood of dalits: an exploratory study from disaster risk reduction lens. new delhi: ncdhr and spwd. 2013. p. 3. 14the process of non-state actors creating new norms has been termed ‘norm entrepreneurship’ in international relations (ir) scholarship. florini (1996), p.375; finnemore and sikkink norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 241 and those in solidarity from several sections of society, initially in india, as national campaign on dalit human rights (ncdhr) in 1998, and then building up an international solidarity movement across northern countries, that is, the international dalit solidarity network (idsn) in 2000. asia dalit rights forum (adrf) was then initiated in 2009 to link the cdwd communities in asia. in early 2019, africa network of communities discriminated on work and descent against slavery (ands) was initiated with organisations working in senegal, mauritania, mali, niger, burkina faso mauritius, somalia and some pan-african networks. the international congress of communities discriminated on work and descent (icdwd) held in new york in september 2019 consisted of 121 representatives from twenty-four countries. they gathered to forge the global forum of communities discriminated on work and descent (gfod). over two decades, this journey moved towards building policy norms concerning human rights of the cdwd, initially with a dalit focus and later collectively with such communities as roma, burakumin, and haratine quilombola, etc. this journey may be seen in four phases since the emergence of the international covenant for elimination of racial discrimination (cerd): 1) pre-world conference against racism (wcar), 2) wcar and its prep, 3) cerd and hrc, and 4) un ga and ecosoc phase. pre-world conference against racism phase the first phase, pre-wcar phase, from 1996 till 1999: in 1996, cerd recognized human rights abuse and discrimination faced by scheduled castes and tribes15 referring to the continued discrimination and violence they face despite constitutional mechanisms. the international covenant on civil and political rights (iccpr) first noted severe shortcomings in the performance of the government of india and noted in the concluding remarks to the reports submitted in 1997 that ‘despite measures taken by the government, members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, as well as the so called backward classes and ethnic and national minorities continue to endure severe social discrimination and to suffer disproportionately from many violations of their rights under the covenant, inter alia inter-caste violence, bonded labourers and discrimination of all kinds’.16 in 2000, the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (cedaw) raised numerous questions on the plight of dalit women in response to india’s country report. there were only tentative and intermittent interventions made mainly to the cerd, human rights committee (hrc) and cedaw and the special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial (1998), p. 889 cited in corrine lennox. transnational social mobilisation and minority rights: identity, advocacy and norms. london: routledge, 2020. 15un committee on the elimination of racial discrimination (cerd). un committee on the elimination of racial discrimination: concluding observations, india, 17 september 1996, cerd/c/304/add.13. retrieved from https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aeeb10.html 16un human rights committee (hrc), un human rights committee: concluding observations of the human rights committee, slovakia. 4 august 1997, ccpr/c/79/add.79. retrieved from https://www.refworld.org/ docid/3ae6b032c.html 242 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. however, they did not raise much of a debate nor a serious step to take necessary action against discrimination and violence. these remarks were mainly due to the interventions of some international human rights organisations, and the participation of dalit rights organisations was very limited; the latter’s focus was mostly on the domestic measures, and that, too, mostly sub-national. wcar, durban and its preparatory phase the second phase was of wcar and its preparatory phase. in this phase the most notable process has been the emergence of dalit organisations both at a sub-national and national level in india. in this period, dalit csos had mobilised a host of human rights organisations—dalit and other international human rights organisations—to demand inclusion of caste-based discrimination in the list of causes for human rights violations. this is the beginning of ‘norm entrepreneurship’ taken up by the dalit movements and csos working for the cause of human rights and dalit rights. this was done through several diverse spaces that were identified by the dalit csos, and systematic interventions were made towards upholding the cause of dalit rights. as a preparation for the world conference, six regional experts’ seminars were held between 1999 and 2000 in geneva, warsaw, bangkok, addis ababa, and santiago de chile. the objectives of each seminar were to discuss the issues of priority concern for that particular region, advance the regional dialogue on racism, raise awareness, share information on the issues of racism and intolerance, and share the ‘best practices’ to serve as agenda for the future. the african regional seminar of experts on the prevention of ‘ethnic and racial conflicts in africa’ in addis ababa, october 2000, called for ‘in-depth study of the question of castes, in particular in africa’.17 in the asia pacific preparatory meeting held in tehran, april 2001, again the issue of caste-based discrimination (cbd) was raised by the dalit representatives of the csos. the admission of the government of nepal of the problem of caste discrimination against dalits in their country and their willingness to have the issue squarely addressed in the wcar was very encouraging to those who were raising the issue of caste discrimination.18 the united nations commission on human rights, acting as the preparatory committee for wcar commissioned the international human rights law group led by dr. gay mcdougal to prepare a draft agenda for the wcar conference. this was held in january 2000 in bellagio, italy. n. paul divakar of national campaign on dalit human rights (ncdhr)19 was among the invitees who participated in the bellagio consultation and raised the issue of cbd and the criticality of wcar addressing this crucial issue faced by a vast section of the global population. 17joint statement submitted by the federation internationale des ligues des droits de l’homme and the lutheran world federation to the sub commission on the promotion and protection of human rights, 17th august 2001. 18n. paul divakar and ajai m., un bodies and the dalits. in sukhdeo thorat and umakant. (eds.) caste, race, and discrimination: discourses in international context. new delhi: rawat publications, 2004. 19corinne lennox. transnational social mobilisation and minority rights identity, advocacy and norms. london: routledge, 2020. norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 243 two preparatory intergovernmental meetings were planned to bring further the concerns raised by the regional experts seminars and discuss and finalise the agenda drafted by the bellagio consultation. the first was held in geneva from 1 to 5 may 2000, and the second was also held in geneva from 21 may to 1 june 2001. in both these ‘prep coms’ (preparatory committee meetings) the dalit representatives were exceptionally well prepared and their participation was intense and focussed. in fact, at all the consultations, there were dalit representatives and other human rights organisations who were well equipped with evidence-based data and clarity of purpose to make a strong appeal that wcar must address cbd. it was during this wcar preparatory phase from the year 2000 onwards that the caste-based discrimination became globally visible and became a hotly contested subject for two parties as well as a matter of concern for un agencies csos on the one side, voicing ground-level concerns of increasing and persisting discrimination and violence against cdwd, and the member states on the other, shielding themselves from the international gaze against this heinous crime whereas office of the united nations high commissioner for human rights (ohchr) and members of several monitoring bodies like cerd supporting the stand of the csos and demanding inclusion of this issue of caste-based discrimination in the wcar documents and the un mechanisms. solidarity and support also came in from another major platform. the ngo conference at wcar, durban, strongly demanded the inclusion of ‘work and descent’ based discrimination in the discourse and document of wcar.20 the ngos at the conference came together to identify the continuing forms of exclusion, discrimination and violence faced by communities in different parts of the world. many representatives from asia and africa identified the issue of caste and analogous types of discrimination based on one’s birth as forms of ‘hidden apartheid’ requiring attention and addressal of the world community. a strong contingent of over 200 delegates of dalits from across south asia, the buraku people of japan, the osu and oru people of nigeria, the griots of senegal and other communities voiced that similar forms of discrimination exist and have not been recognized under any un treaty. specifically pointing out the context of women and children of these communities who were distinctly vulnerable to brutal forms of violence, the ngo conference recognized the role and task of individual states and the un as a body to eradicate work and descentbased discrimination, including caste discrimination and untouchability. on the opening day of the wcar on 31 january 2001, at the round table of heads of member states, the ncdhr was one of the three organisations invited to present their issue. paul divakar presenting the issue appealed to the heads of states to make necessary provisions to address the concerns of the 260 million people who are victims of caste discrimination in south asia and western africa. fidel castro, the then president of cuba, expressed shock that such a system is still being practiced but no resolution has come out from the roundtable on the issues of caste discrimination. at the ‘voices of victims’ programme organized as part of the official programme of the un world conference against racism, in 2001, manimalai, from tamil nadu, india, wife of slain panchayat (village council) president murugesan, presented her case. murugesan was dragged out of the public transport, beheaded and murdered in 20ibid. 244 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 broad daylight as he had dared to contest in the panchayat elections against the diktat of the dominant caste community. the irony was that the panchayat seat was reserved for dalits and murugesan enjoyed the right to contest! on 5 september 2001, the national human rights commission (nhrc), an independent body monitoring human rights violations in india and represented by justice k ramaswamy, made its statement at the wcar conference. referring to the two preparatory consultations organized by the commission within the country in preparation for the wcar and in the light of the myriad cases dealt with by the commission, justice ramaswamy stated that while india has formulated legislations, discrimination against scheduled castes (dalits) continued to be the reality and that member states, including india, must take this opportunity to address this vexatious problem while respecting the international human rights regime established under the auspices of the united nations, and accordingly observe the discipline of the treaties to which they are states parties.21 this was undoubtedly a big boost to the campaigning dalit organisations. one of the member states, barbados, observing the interventions brought by the dalit organisations and other international human rights organisations proposed a clause which was in the draft declaration and programme of action (ddpa) and this was included as para no.73 of the ddpa. para no.73 read as follows: ‘to ensure that all necessary constitutional, legislative and administrative measures, including appropriate forms of affirmative action are in place to prohibit and redress discrimination based on work and descent, and that such measures are respected and implemented by all state authorities at all levels’. the perseverance of the dalit organisations continued. the ngo representatives and survivors of caste and analogous forms of discrimination met with state representatives and un cerd members, including mary robinson, high commissioner for human rights, to submit written representations requesting that the conference recognizes this cdwd issue as of paramount importance. tearing down the wall of caste madam navi pillay, un high commissioner for human rights, ohchr, geneva in an opinion piece: tearing down the wall of caste,22 while receiving a group of representatives from caste-affected communities in asia including wilson bezwada of safai karamchari andolan (movement for the elimination of manual scavenging), who presented the high commissioner with a piece of brick from the wall of a torn down dry latrine, said that the brick symbolised the global struggle against the caste and discrimination based on work and descent. madam pillay also recognised that ‘untouchability’ is a social phenomenon affecting approximately 260 million persons worldwide. she also opined that the time has come to eradicate the shameful concept 21justice k. ramaswamy. ‘statement by national human rights commission, india at wcar’. in sukhadeo thorat and umakant. (eds.) caste, race and discrimination. new delhi: rawat publication, 2004. 22united nations human rights. opinion piece: tearing down the wall of caste. un high commissioner for human rights, ohchr, geneva https://newsarchive.ohchr.org/en/ newsevents/pages/displaynews.aspx?news id=9540&langid=e norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 245 of caste. ‘other seemingly insurmountable walls, such as slavery and apartheid, have been dismantled in the past. we can and must tear down the barriers of caste too.’ despite the intense advocacy of engaging with the state party delegates, raising international media visibility and generating support from a wide network of civil society organizations, para 73 referring to ‘discrimination based on work and descent’ did not find place in the ddpa. this was a great disappointment for dalit rights organisations. however, the fallout of this denial caught global attention. this also caught the attention of the ohchr and the un thematic conventions such as cerd and committee on economic, social and cultural rights (cescr) and other special rapporteurs as to why such a legitimate concern, a human rights issue concerning 260 million people could be set aside by the wcar. this gave impetus to all concerned bodies and organizations, both civil and un, push the cdwd issue to move towards its third phase. cerd and hrc phase the third phase of the norm entrepreneurship of cdwd rights is significant in carving out detailed policy framework to protect and promote the cdwd rights from several perspectives. there are five critical elements in this phase: (a) un cerd general recommendation 2923 on caste-based discrimination and communities discriminated by work and descent, (b) un sub-commission reports of special rapporteurs – goonesekere’s report; asbjorn eide and yozo yakota’s report culminating in the document ‘principles and guidelines for elimination caste and discrimination based on work and descent’ by yozo yokota and chin-sung chung, (c) un treaty bodies concluding observations with reference to caste discrimination (1991–2017),24 (d) un special measures and, (e) office of the high commissioner on human rights (ohchr) commissioned ‘guidance tool on descent-based discrimination: key challenges and strategic approaches to combat caste-based and analogous forms of discrimination’ to be used by the un agencies and other stakeholders in addressing caste-based discrimination,25 (f) parliamentary resolutions and motions and (g) parliamentary forums (a) cerd general recommendation 29: cerd has played a critical role in the international recognition of caste and discrimination based on descent in the un from 1996. dalit and human rights organisations have been engaging with cerd to address caste-based discrimination as a form of discrimination in order to take note 23committee on the elimination of racial discrimination. general recommendation 29, discrimination based on descent (sixty-first session, 2002). u.n. doc. a/57/18 at 111 (2002), reprinted in compilation of general comments and general recommendations adopted by human rights treaty bodies, u.n. doc. hri\gen\1\rev.6 at 223 (2003). retrieved from http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/cerd/genrec29.html 24idsn. 2021. caste discrimination and human rights– compilation of un references. retrieved from https://idsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/uncompilation-jan-2021.pdf 25united nations. 2017. guidance tool on descent-based discrimination: key challenges and strategic approaches to combat caste-based and analogous forms of discrimination united nations network on racial discrimination and protection of minorities. retrieved from https:// www.ohchr.org/documents/issues/ minorities/guidancetooldiscrimination.pdf 246 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 of (i) the several reviews of the country reports of india, nepal, bangladesh, burkino faso, japan, micronesia, uk and many other countries and (ii) the way caste-based discrimination was avoided in wcar. taking note of the appeals from the dalit organisations, cerd held a special session to address caste-based discrimination. general recommendation 29 of cerd reaffirms that discrimination based on descent includes discrimination against members of communities based on forms of social stratification such as caste and analogous systems of inherited status which nullify or impair their equal enjoyment of human rights; and condemns descent-based discrimination, such as discrimination on the basis of caste and analogous systems of inherited status, as a violation of the convention. it further endorsed that all states take ‘steps to identify those descent-based communities under their jurisdiction who suffer from discrimination, especially on the basis of caste and analogous systems of inherited status’ (general recommendation xxix on article 1, paragraph 1, on the convention (descent) of cerd). this is the first such direct pronouncement on addressing caste-based discrimination by any of the un convention monitoring bodies. it spelled out a set of good practices to address discrimination based on caste and analogous systems. cerd has been the most expressive on the subject of discrimination on work and descent including caste. it has made several concluding remarks while examining the country reports of bangladesh (2001), sri lanka (2016), japan (2001, 2010, 2014), uk 2003, 2011, 2016), yemen (2006, 2011), nigeria (2005), mauritania (2004), madagascar (2004), senegal 2002, 2012), chad (2009, 2013), mali (2002), ethiopia (2003,2009), ghana (2003), mauritius (1996, 2013), burkina faso (1997, 2013) and suriname (2015) a total of 16 countries and 39 citations on caste and dwd. in addition, several other treaty body conventions have cited on dwd and caste, which are detailed in annexure 1 and a little more in detail in the un treaty body section below. (b) un sub-commission and hrc: parallelly, another stream of actions were initiated by the dalit organisations through the erstwhile un sub-commission on protection and promotion of human rights. in 2000, the sub-commission entrusted r.k.w. goonesekere, its member from sri lanka, with the task of preparing a pioneering working paper on the subject in order to identify communities facing discrimination on work and descent, examine the existing constitutional, legislative and administrative measures for the abolition of such discrimination and to make concrete recommendations and proposals for the effective elimination of such discrimination as may be appropriate in the light of such examination. the sub-commission in 2004, appointed special rapporteurs asbjørn eide and yoko yakota who submitted their report on prevention of discrimination based on work and descent to the ecosoc. in this report both eide and yakota categorically identified caste or dwd communities found in the globe, including bangladesh, burkina faso, india, japan, kenya, mali, micronesia, nepal, pakistan, senegal, sri lanka and yemen. further, they found dwd identities in various diaspora in europe and americas and similarly discriminated communities existing around the world. norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 247 principles and guidelines for eliminating dwd – yozo yokota and chin-sung chung: this is the first such un instrument proposed by the two special rapporteurs which is a potential tool for elimination of dwd including caste and analogous forms of discrimination. unfortunately, in the transition process from un sub-commission to un hrc, this is one of the powerful instruments that has been left hanging in limbo as the hrc neither accepted this report nor rejected it. efforts are still being made to have the hrc adopt these principles and guidelines. (c) un treaty bodies concluding observations with reference to caste discrimination (1991–2017).26 in another parallel stream, dalit rights organizations and human rights bodies had intense and active engagement with the treaty bodies– cerd (1965), ccpr (1966), crc (1989), cedaw (1979) and cescr (1966). in this respect, the idsn must be commended a great part of this facilitation of dalit and cdwd voices from the ground to intervene with clear facts and figures and put forward recommendations in addressing the cdwd concerns. a total of 19 references were made by treaty bodies concerning 10 countries in africa—nigeria, mauritania, madagascar, senegal, chad, mali, ethiopia, ghana, mauritius and burkina faso. in eight countries in asia, middle-east and the pacific—micronesia, india, nepal, pakistan, bangladesh, pakistan, japan and yemen—wherein 65 observations have been made by the un treaty bodies observing the need to address either dwd or specifically caste discrimination. similarly, three observations in europe (uk) and one observation in the latin american region (suriname) have been made by the treaty bodies. this massive piling of evidence of pervasive global nature decisively brought out the prevalence and perpetuation of discrimination based on work and descent (for details, see table 1 in the annexure). table 1: details of the treaty bodies concluding observations with reference to caste discrimination (1991–2017). this table details country-wise concluding observations made by treaty bodies. the brackets after the country refer to the number of times treaty bodies have referred to caste or discrimination based on work and descent. country treaty bodies year of concluding observations bangladesh (7) ccpr 2017 cerd 2001 crc 2015; 2009; 2003 cedaw 2015; 2011 sri lanka (4) cerd 2016 crc 2010; 2018 cedaw 2017 ccpr 1991 cescr 2017 26idsn. 2021. caste discrimination and human rights– compilation of un references. retrieved from https://idsn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/uncompilation-jan-2021.pdf. 248 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 country treaty bodies year of concluding observations japan (10) cerd 2014; 2010; 2001 cedaw 2009, 2016 crc 2004; 2010 cescr 2001 ccpr 2014; 1998 united kingdom (3) cerd 2016; 2011; 2003 yemen (9) cerd 2011; 2006 cescr 2011; 2003 crc 2014; 2005; 1999; 1996 ccpr 2012 nigeria (1) cerd 2005 mauritania (3) cerd 2004 crc 2009 cedaw 2014 madagascar (1) cerd 2004 senegal (3) cerd 2012; 2002 crc 2016 chad (2) cerd 2013; 2009 mali (1) cerd 2002 ethiopia (2) cerd 2009; 2003 ghana (1) cerd 2003 mauritius (2) cerd 2013; 1996 burkina faso (2) cerd 2013; 1997 micronesia (1) crc 1998 suriname (1) cerd 2015 total number of concluding remarks on cdwd in treaty bodies cerd (39); crc (24); cescr (9); cedaw (14); cat (1); ccpr (8) asia (56); africa (19); middle east (9); europe (3); the americas (1) (d) the un special rapporteurs: table 2 in the annexure lists the twenty un special rapporteurs, un working groups or un independent experts who have made references addressing caste-based discrimination or discrimination on work and descent during the period 2005 to 2017.27 to be noted is that idsn has meticulously documented these data by culling out these references from the vast un sources. 27ibid. norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 249 table 2: list of un special procedure mandate holders who have made references and recommendations on caste and/or discrimination on work and descent s. no. un special procedure mandate holder 1 special rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance 2 special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences 3 special rapporteur on minority issues 4 special rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context 5 special rapporteur on the right to food 6 special rapporteur on the right to education 7 special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders 8 special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 9 special rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences 10 special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief 11 special rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation 12 special rapporteur on human rights and extreme poverty 13 special rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health 14 special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the freedom of opinion and expression 15 un working group on discrimination against women in law and practice 16 special rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions 17 special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association 18 special rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography 19 un working group of experts on people of african descent 20 independent expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons total no. of un special procedures mandates (20) with dwd or caste discrimination reference among the un special procedures mandate holders, there have been quite a few who have made consistent efforts to bring to light the dwd or caste discrimination in their reports to the human rights council. in 2009, a group of special procedures mandate holders have brought to light the issue of caste and other forms of discrimination in a joint memo as their significant contribution during the durban review conference (drc). rita izsàk-ndiaye, the un special rapporteur on minority issues, in march 201628 had consistently raised this issue and brought it to the notice of the hrc stating that dwd and caste discrimination constitute serious human rights violation prevalent 28rita izsák-ndiaye. report of the special rapporteur on minority issues. un. human rights council. 2016. retrieved from https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/831486?ln=en#record-filescollapse-header. 250 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 in several countries and that this needs to be urgently addressed. what is important to note here is that this brought ire to many states which expressed their displeasure against the mandate holder. what is to be highlighted here is that the norm entrepreneurship coordinated by the dalits and those in solidarity has been remarkable in this third phase. it generated a vast amount of data and evidence across all the continents on the prevalence of dwd and its effects on communities. moreover, the member states’ failure to effectively address the human rights violations has been brought out powerfully in this phase. general recommendation 29, after an intense thematic discussion at the cerd, is an important milestone of this phase. further, a significant contribution in this phase is the document of the two special rapporteurs, yozo yokota and chin-sung chung, namely, ‘the principles and guidelines to eliminate discrimination based on work and descent’, an essential tool for policy guidance, monitoring and review. later, as observed earlier, with the transition in the un structure of the sub-commission for protection and promotion of human rights to the hrc in 2006, the principles and guidelines for elimination of dwd was left in limbo. it was neither rejected nor accepted by the human rights council. needless to say, that the resolve of the member states to resist any appeal to address dwd began to get stronger in the period of the hrc. the un general assembly resolved to convene in 2009 the drc. it did not evoke much of a response from the ngos nor the member states as its relevance then was much debated owing to the contradictions that had surfaced in wcar among the various countries on such issues as racial discrimination, caste discrimination, reparation for colonial slavery, etc. dalit organisations, however, participated in the ngo events prior to and during the drc in 2009, although with only a handful of delegates including a small cultural team. what needs to be underlined here is that in the drc outcome document,29 no significant changes were visible regarding the position of the member states on the dalits and their concerns, and thus once again ‘work and descent-based discrimination’ was left out. however, the dalit organisations and those in solidarity with them did not give up the process of norm entrepreneurship but continued it perseveringly and persistently after drc. (e) guidance tool for un functionaries to address the concerns of dalits and descent based discrimination communities. due to repeated advocacy efforts of idsn and dalit groups, the ohchr prepared an inclusive guidance tool on caste-based discrimination in 2017, titled, ‘guidance tool on descent-based discrimination: key challenges and strategic approaches to combat caste-based and analogous forms of discrimination’. this tool is to be used by un agencies and other stakeholders in addressing caste-based discrimination. this is probably the first such instrument for the un functionaries on identifying the communities discriminated by descent, and what areas and the strategies are to be used to work with them. this phase has been the most effective in framing policies to address caste-based discrimination leading to the wider phenomenon of discrimination on work and descent. 29outcome document of the durban review conference. retrieved through https://www. un.org/en/durban review2009/pdf/durban_review_outcome_document_en.pdf norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 251 the mobilization of dalit communities and those in solidarity in the entire process of the preparatory conferences and during the durban world conference has galvanized other un bodies like the committee for elimination of racial discrimination and the sub-commission, and later the human rights council and the special measures of mandate holders had begun to evolve policy measures to address caste discrimination. to be recognized is that the cerd and other hrc bodies have captured the concerns of the cdwd from its myriad angles–from the civil and political rights, broad spectrum of social-political and cultural rights, economic rights and also individual and collective rights. more importantly, the cerd and other hrc bodies have also captured the geographical spread of the incidence of dwd in at least twenty-six countries–across asia-pacific including the middle east (8 countries) and africa (mauritania, mali, niger, senegal, ghana, nigeria, burkina faso, mauritius, somalia, ethiopia); the dalit diaspora in uk and usa have also been identified, thereby confirming this issue as a global concern with a un mandate to address it. however, the members states continue to resist strongly that (1) caste is not race, (2) countries already have laws to address this issue, and (3) it is an ancient system which will take its due course to disappear. at this juncture, the dalit organisations led by ncdhr and the idsn and all those in solidarity decided to make a shift in their strategy. this then marks the beginning of the fourth phase. the shift has a focus more on the global nature of dwd and to mobilise the communities across the world on this issue. the location of this has also shifted from geneva with the hrc to new york where the un general assembly and ecosoc functions. ( f ) parliamentary resolutions and motions. from 2006 to 2018 and beyond, several dalit solidarity bodies and leaders have urged their respective parliaments to take cognizance of the cdwd including ‘untouchability’ and caste-based discrimination across the world and to take necessary steps to address in all the areas as they deal with respective governments and also in their trade and development initiatives. prominent among them are the three resolutions passed by the european parliaments in 2006, 2012 and 2013 and the motion passed by the australian parliament in 2018. european parliament resolutions the first eu parliament resolution on the human rights situation of dalits in india was in 200630 which expressed concern over the lack of substantive eu engagement with the indian government, notably within the eu-india summits, on the vast problem of caste-based discrimination. the resolution urged the eu members of the joint action committee to develop dialogue on the problem of caste-based discrimination in terms of its discussions on democracy and human rights, social and employment policy and development cooperation. eu resolution reiterated its expectation that eu 30european parliament. human rights of dalits in india: european parliament resolution on the human rights situation of the dalits in india. 1 february 2001. retrieved from https://www. europarl.europa.eu/doceo/ document/ta-6-2007-0016_en.html?redirect 252 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 development programmes in india include specific measures to ensure that minorities such as dalits and adivasis and other marginalised communities, tribes and castes, are able to close the wide gap with the rest of the population regarding the attainment of the millennium development goals. due to the consistent concerns being raised in the un and related bodies by dalit solidarity bodies in the eu countries, eu parliament passed its second resolution31 in december 2013 which called for the eu to promote the draft un principles and guidelines for the effective elimination of discrimination based on work and descent as a guiding framework for eliminating caste discrimination, and to promote their endorsement by the un hrc. eu calls on the commission to recognise caste as a distinct form of discrimination rooted in the social and/or religious context, which must be tackled together with other grounds of discrimination, i.e. ethnicity, race, descent, religion, gender and sexuality, in eu efforts to fight all forms of discrimination; calls for the eu, in its policies and programmes, to consider people affected by caste-based discrimination as an identifiable group; the eu parliament urged the commission and the european external action service (eeas) to mainstream the fight against caste-based discrimination in eu legislation, policies and programming documents and to adopt operational guidelines for its implementation and called on the eeas to enhance monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to assess effectively the impact of eu action on the situation of people affected by this form of discrimination. the third eu parliament resolution passed32 in 2013 built on the previous two resolutions in 2006 and 2012. this resolution based its recommendation on the cerd general recommendation 29, the draft un principles and guidelines for the effective elimination of discrimination based on work and descent, published by the hrc and citing the serious concerns, observations and recommendations of the unhchr with regard to caste discrimination. it also took cognizance of the recommendations by un treaty bodies and un special procedures mandate-holders on the topic of caste based discrimination (cbd). this third eu resolution recognised that despite the steps taken by the governments of some caste-affected countries, caste discrimination and untouchability continue to be widespread and persistent, it encouraged the eeas to strengthen its policy and human rights dialogues and promote joint initiatives to eliminate caste discrimination with the governments of states, such as india, nepal, pakistan, bangladesh and sri lanka, where caste-affected communities are subjected to so-called ‘untouchability practices’, and, more broadly, to combat discrimination based on work and descent, which occurs in various countries, including yemen, mauritania, nigeria, senegal and somalia – which has gone unmentioned in agreements with many of these states. this third resolution also called for the inclusion of caste-based discrimination as a human rights issue in future eu human rights policies, strategies and action plans. 31european parliament. caste discrimination in india: european parliament resolution of 13 december 2012 on caste discrimination in india (2012/2909(rsp). 13 december 2012. retrieved from https://www.europarl.europa. eu/doceo/document/ta-7-2012-0512_en.html?redirect 32european parliament. caste based discrimination: european parliament resolution of 10 october 2013 on caste-based discrimination (2013/2676(rsp). 10 october 2013. retrieved from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/ document/ta-7-2013-0420_en.html?redirect norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 253 it urged the eu commission to provide stronger support for development projects combating caste-based discrimination as a serious human rights violation that exacerbates poverty, and to take this form of discrimination into account in all projects with a focus on education, women, access to justice, political participation or labourers in relevant countries. it specifically urged the commission to develop and apply castesensitive approaches in times of humanitarian crisis and ensure that humanitarian aid is delivered to all marginalised groups, including people suffering from caste-based discrimination. it also urged the commission and the eeas to include, where relevant, a ‘caste-based discrimination clause’ in all trade and association agreements, including affirmative action for dalits and similarly affected people in the labourers market and the private sector. as the sdgs were being discussed and being developed at that time in 2013, this resolution called for the eu to promote a caste-sensitive post-2015 development agenda, with the reduction of inequalities based on or aggravated by caste as a crucial and measurable goal, ensuring that caste discrimination is explicitly addressed as a major structural factor underlying poverty, and as a root cause of structural inequalities. australian senate motion33 senator lee rhiannon of the australian senate, in june 2018, placed a motion which was passed. she stated that there are over 260 million people across the globe, including around 210 million dalits in south asia who face discrimination based on work and descent, including caste and untouchability, as well as burakumin communities in japan and those in africa, latin america (quilombo) and europe (romani). she called on the australian government to develop and apply sensitive approaches in times of humanitarian crisis and ensure that humanitarian aid is delivered to all marginalised groups, including people suffering from dwd. she also urged the australian business partners to promote more inclusive recruitment and management practices in countries where caste discrimination is prevalent and to strengthen the policy and human rights dialogues and promote joint initiatives to eliminate dwd together with the governments of states, such as bangladesh, india, nepal, pakistan, and sri lanka. she urged australia’s international development program to provide support for projects combating dwd as a serious human rights violation that exacerbates poverty. (g) parliamentary forums. asia parliamentarians forum on dalit concerns (apfdc)34 is a forum of parliamentarians from south asia, which was formed to address the issue of discrimination and exclusion faced by the dalit and excluded communities. the forum came to exist at the south asian parliamentarians’ conference on ‘dalit concerns: enabling equity and inclusion’. it aims to engage with governance institutions and actors in south asian countries, individually and 33commonwealth of australia. parliamentary debates the senate motions discrimination based on work and descent. 27 june 2018. retrieved from https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlinfo/ genpdf/chamber/hansards/ bccfc0a7-1a8d-4257-b829-fa7e3b0f0fc7/0104/hansard_frag.pdf;filetype=application%2fpdf 34adrf. asia parliamentarians’ forum on dalit concern. retrieved from http:// asiadalitrightsforum.org/assets/publications/doc/65643492asia%20parliamentarians%20 forum%20on%20dalit%20concerns%20(1).pdf 254 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 collectively, to address dalit concerns in south asia. it also enables parliamentarians from across the region to share knowledge and learning that can strengthen the work being done in their respective countries towards promoting equitable and inclusive growth and development. international parliamentary forum on the dwd concerns (ipfod)35 parliamentarian representatives from nine countries formed the international parliamentarians forum on dwd with hon. meena biswakarma (parliamentarian from nepal) as the convener and hon. mohammad nur iftin (somalian parliamentarian) as co-convener. this international parliamentarians forum focuses on the engagement and interventions of parliamentarians on dwd issues, nationally and internationally, including before the un and its various organs. this forum also has support from some parliamentarians from europe. the ipfod members have decided to strengthen this forum in order to demand inclusive development for the peoples discriminated by work and descent at the un and at the domestic level in their respective countries. this forum is slowly growing in africa, asia and in other regions. the un general assembly and ecosoc phase dalits and cdwd have shifted their focus to intervene at the un general assembly and the economic and social council (ecosoc) to continue with a view to evolve norm entrepreneurship of developing policies which would effectively address dwd concerns. the previous 15 years were spent on the hrc mechanisms, mostly at the geneva hub of the un. considerable elements of policy for addressing discrimination based on work and descent including caste were developed at the hrc. a stalemate seems to have emerged at the hrc in geneva. treaty bodies and special rapporteurs and other mechanisms have noted, pointed out and directed member states that they have not got traction at the domestic front. at this stage there was a re-think on the strategy by the dalit groups, primarily headed by the adrf to shift gears and to strategise an effective theory of change for un to address dwd and also dalit and other concerns that have already been brought out during a decade and half. this phase of the involvement at the un general assembly can be seen in five areas of work: i) engage with the regional mechanisms of un hlpf to have a broader base and to build pressure from below; ii) intervene at the unga bodies – the hlpf of sdgs, financing for development and the un third committee; iii) build a global forum and expand the spectrum of dwd communities from asia to africa and latin america and to link with roma, sinti, gypsy and traveller groups in europe; 35trust africa. a week to speak on discrimination based on work and descent: leaving no one behind. retrieved from https://www.trustafrica.org/fr/les-ressources2/actualites/item/3453-aweek-to-speak-up-on-discrimination-based-on-work-and-descent-leaving-no-one-behind norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 255 iv) engage with the un member states to form an informal working group on cdwd; v) entry in the un desa – liaison body –to enter into the mgos coordination mechanism this strategy necessitated the need to evolve and strengthen a global platform of cdwd from across the regions. the first initiative was the asia dalit solidarity forum which brought actors together from dalit organisations in bangladesh, india, nepal, pakistan and sri lanka, who were primarily dalit rights forums or those in solidarity with dalit rights cause. buraku liberation league (bll) and their international movement international movement against all forms of discrimination and racism (imadr) functioning in japan and the dalit groups in malaysia initially also were connected but later it was mostly the south asian dalit rights groups who were actively engaged in the asian global network process. i) engaging with the regional mechanisms of un hlpf. adrf started its campaign for the inclusion of dwd in the regional mechanism in asia. un escap, based in bangkok, is the regional hub for the un sdg in the asia pacific region of un. the ngos in this region have formed asia pacific regional civil society engagement mechanism (aprcem), a civil society platform, aimed at enabling stronger cross constituency coordination and ensuring that all sub-regions of asia pacific are heard in intergovernmental processes at a regional and global level. adrf researched and brought out an advocacy note demanding a goal with the agenda to end caste, work and discrimination by 2030 through a publication ‘dalits and the post 2015 development agenda’.36 adrf continued with an appeal to address the concerns of dalits and dwd in the asian region and participated in the official un asia pacific forum for sustainable development (apfsd). through this, the regional platform was strengthened and the issues of dalits, mainly from south asia, were represented. the gain from this engagement with apfsd is that in 2019 a separate constituency has been allotted for ‘dalits and dwd’ for the concerns of dwd in general. ii) interventions at the un hlpf. adrf together with collaborating partners in asia, europe and north americas gathered at the un new york headquarters in order to engage with international ngos and un experts to appeal for elimination of dwd with the publication ‘260 million dalits appeal for inclusion in the post 2015 sustainable development goals (sdg)’.37 in fact, since the start of the un sdgs in 2015, adrf has been planning and organising several events by collaborating with several international organisations to highlight the need for inclusion of the concerns of dwd communities in achieving sustainable development goals. the prominent series of events were held, along with regions refocus and other international ngos in new york, when the sdgs were presented and accepted by the general assembly at un, new york in 2015. 36adrf. dalits and the post 2015 development agenda: addressing the hidden apartheid of millions will be key to the success of the sdgs. new delhi: asia dalit rights forum. retrieved from http://asiadalitrightsforum.org/ assets/publications/doc/13645922013.pdf 37adrf. 260 million dalits appeal for inclusion in the post 2015 sustainable development goals. new delhi: asia dalit rights forum. retrieved from http://asiadalitrightsforum.org/ assets/publications/doc/ 1142297951123.pdf 256 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 around 150 delegates were present from the south asia region together with the dalit diaspora from us and canada. nine parliamentarians from asia also joined this effort to include the issue of dwd rights in the sdgs. in the same year adrf participated in the civil society forum during the third international conference of financing for development (ffd) advocating for the financial inclusion of cdwd.38 measures suggested at the ffd were: (1) to address barriers to development due to dwd discrimination; (2) financial inclusion of the socially excluded, especially of gender and caste inclusion; and (3) targeted budget allocations for the intergenerationally excluded dwd communities. adrf participated in the sixth meeting of the inter-agency and expert group on the sustainable development goal indicators on 14 november 2017 at manama, bahrain, placing an appeal for a clear data disaggregation to monitor the development indicators for cdwd and other social groups. in 2016, adrf organised two side events: (i) ‘leave no one behind ensuring inclusion of the most marginalised and socially excluded communities in sdgs’ along with minority rights group international, civicus, asia development alliance, rural development centre, stakeholder forum for sustainable future and global call to action against poverty; (ii) another side event, ‘inclusion check: dalit and other marginalised women challenging inequalities in sdgs 2030’ was also held; several international ngos and members of the permanent missions at the un participated and expressed an interest to promote the concerns of the dwd communities in the sdgs. every year from 2015 onwards till 2019, dalit organisations headed by adrf have been organising a series of events, numbering eleven, to bring to light the concerns of dwd communities and placing suggestions for addressing them at the hlpf which is the monitoring body of the sdgs at the un in new york. adrf has also collaborated with several international organisations such as civicus, global call to action against poverty (gcap), amnesty international, asian development alliance, save, regions refocus, minority rights group international, development centre, stakeholder forum for sustainable future, dr ambedkar international mission in order to mobilise support to the cdwd cause. one notable feature is that the un women has actively supported and engaged with the cdwd groups to bring to light their concerns in the un hlpf. iii) to build a global forum for expanding the spectrum of dwd. the shift from a dalit-focussed advocacy to cdwd-based advocacy needed a theoretical framework for a common identity of dwd groups across the continents. the implication was the need to recognize and understand the disadvantages, restrictions and barriers faced by cdwd across the continents. a publication explaining the basis for this was brought out in 2018, namely, ‘a framework on discrimination based on work and descent, including caste’.39 38adrf. promoting inclusive economic growth of communities discriminated on work and descent (caste). new delhi: asia dalit rights forum. retrieved from http://asiadalitrightsforum. org/assets/publications/ doc/1102077081ffd3-new.pdf 39adrf. towards a unifying global identity: a framework on discrimination based on work and descent, including caste. new delhi: asia dalit rights forum. 2018. retrieved from norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 257 in november 2018, adrf organised exploratory network meetings with groups and individual leaders in africa—nairobi, kenya and addis ababa, ethiopia—on the discrimination based on work and descent. the similarities between the caste-based discrimination found in south asia and the social systems which caused enslavement of certain communities somalia, ethiopia, kenya and other east african countries were starkly clear and striking. following on the visit to east africa, adrf had discussions with groups from western africa facilitated by trust africa organization and then reached out to a group of organisations in the sahel region working with communities forced into the traditional forms of enslavement. following this, in april 2019 the dakar consultation was held on the theme ‘discrimination based on work and descent in africa exploring un mechanisms’ and organised by the inclusivity project, trust africa, asia dalit rights forum, amnesty international, dalit solidarity in deutschland, african regional unesco, save international, regional gcap and others. at the end of the consultation, the african groups met to decide on the formation of ands. with this ground work standing as backdrop, the international congress of communities discriminated on work and descent (icdwd) was held in new york from 21–23 september 2019 with 121 representatives from 24 countries. the aim was to forge a global forum calling upon the united nations and states parties to adopt effective measures toward ending all forms of discrimination and violence based on work and descent, casteism, antigypsyism, traditional and contemporary forms of slavery and other analogous forms of discrimination. accordingly, deliberating on the need to have a global forum of peoples similarly discriminated on work and descent, icdwd formed a global network and came out with the new york declaration to be presented to the united nations and member states and other international agencies. new york declaration: global call to eradicate discrimination and uphold human dignity and equality: 40 citing the preamble of the universal declaration of human rights (udhr); taking note of several attempts been made under international human rights law to eliminate discrimination and violence based on work and descent, casteism, antigypsyism, traditional and contemporary forms of slavery and other analogous forms of discrimination, while at the same time feeling appalled at the impunity manifested by state and non-state, the icdwd called on the united nations and its member states: (1) to adopt the ‘draft principles and guidelines for the effective elimination of discrimination based on work and descent’; (2) to declare a decade of dwd communities that will focus on combating discrimination and violence based on work and descent, casteism, antigypsyism, traditional and contemporary forms of slavery and other analogous forms of discrimination; (3) to establish a special united nations fund to support the effective participation of dwd communities in all national, regional and international processes geared towards eliminating discrimination and violence based on work and descent, casteism, http://www.ncdhr.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/648455134global-report-single-pageformat.pdf 40new york declaration. 24 september 2019, global call to eradicate discrimination and uphold human dignity and equality. retrieved from http://asiadalitrightsforum.org/assets/ publications/doc/new_york_ declaration_b9ja6.pdf 258 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 antigypsyism, traditional and contemporary forms of slavery and other analogous forms of discrimination; and (4) to adopt a declaration on the rights of the cdwd. the new york declaration also called on the member states: (1) to officially recognize the people, culture and the rich heritage of dwd communities; (2) to establish and implement various legal and policy frameworks, administrative and judicial instruments in order to accelerate equality and justice for all; (3) to ensure that there is no direct or indirect discrimination against women in all its forms; (4) to enact and strengthen national laws and policies that promote gender equality and prevent gender-based discrimination and violence; (5) to ensure accountability of all crimes against women and to end the culture of impunity; (6) to promote the rights and entitlements of children and youth of dwd communities in order to develop their potential to grow as full-fledged citizens; (7) to ensure equitable and proportional representation in governance to members of dwd communities, especially the women; (8) to evolve and implement plans, policies and programs in public and private sectors aimed towards sustainable economic empowerment of dwd communities; (9) to end all forms of state-sponsored violence and repression against dwd communities so as to ensure they live a secured life of equality and dignity; and (10) to establish an independent body of members of dwd communities in order to monitor and review the implementation process of sustainable development goals, 2030. iv) engage with the member states and parliamentarians. the advocacy efforts have been directed towards two other key areas—the permanent missions and the parliamentarians as they both are critical to evolving policy both at the un as well as at the domestic levels. in this area three roundtable meetings were organised with the permanent missions together with the parliamentarians. in september 2019, a roundtable meet was hosted by the permanent mission of the republic of senegal to united nations. ambassador cheikh ndiaye not only addressed the twenty-eight delegates from twelve countries from four continents including nine parliamentarians from six countries but also gave a commitment to take the dwd concerns to the un sdg process through the hlpf of sdgs which is the monitoring body for the implementation of the sdgs. another roundtable was organized jointly by the gfod along with the permanent mission of germany and the international parliamentarians forum on dwd during the un general assembly week in september 2020. this was a virtual meeting due to the covid pandemic. it had three objectives: (1) to build solidarity and fellowship among the mps based on dwd rights cause; (2) to evolve a charter of specific and concrete strategies for effective intervention on dwd issue at global/regional level; and (3) to outline concrete measures for building up ipfod (international parliamentarians forum of dwd) which can operate as an effective platform at global/ regional level. nine mps from several countries and the cdwd leaders from eleven countries participated and the german ambassador gave his commitment to represent this issue to the un third committee specifically on the issue of safe drinking water and sanitation. accordingly, a roundtable on the access to safe drinking water and sanitation rights for all was hosted by the permanent mission of germany along with the permanent mission of spain and was jointly organised by gfod with several international organisations. the roundtable discussed how the communities that are discriminated based on work and descent could be better organized and included in the task of norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 259 achieving sdg 6 and how the un could be engaged to support these efforts. starting with this roundtable, there is a greater openness and momentum among the permanent missions to discuss and act on the concerns of dwd communities. v) entry in the un desa—liaison body—so as to enter into the mgos coordination mechanism. another major breakthrough at the un general assembly cso processes is the formal recognition of the cdwd as part of the mgos—major groups and other stakeholders. mgos is a forum of csos categorized on the thematic or constituency groups that are recognised by the un desa. un desa upholds the development pillar of the united nations and is guided by the un sdgs processes. since the time of recognition of global forum of cdwds as a formal part of the ngo interventions in 2021 hlpf, cdwd leaders and youth have created space to be part of the panel in the official sessions of the hlpf, and have been selected by the mgos to intervene through formal statements on behalf of the cdwd communities and their concerns. this latest development is a major breakthrough in the norm entrepreneurship emergence and will lead to the point where possible resolutions may be taken in the future un assembly sessions. working towards a un declaration on the rights of cdwd cdwd number over 260 million spread across all over the globe in all the continents. as observed earlier, the most visible among them are the dalits of south asia and the burakumin of japan but since the year 2000, the presence of various cdwd has been established across all the continents. they do not have the same narrative of their origin but all of them undergo similarly severe human rights discriminations and violations due to (a) notions of purity and pollution, (b) segregated living, (c) forced unclean occupations and (d) the practice of endogamy. it is evidenced beyond doubt that cdwd across nations have been ‘enslaved’ within their own regions/countries. this phenomenon has happened much before the transatlantic slave trade to the northern countries took place. this ‘enslavement’ still continues in varying forms that are termed as ‘modern forms of slavery’, and in some countries traditional form of slavery still continues. cdwds face extreme forms of violence in a routine manner when they assert their rights to dignity, liberty, equality and right to life. another peculiar feature of the cdwd is that they have been dis-membered in their location of habitation. they are not present in one geographical section of the country or the region. even though their overall population percentage at the national level is quite large in proportion to that of other communities, they have been dis-membered into minute or small groups and have been kept under the domain of the settlement of the dominant castes/groups at the village or at a primary habitation level for the purpose of residing close to the dominant castes/groups and providing all kinds of menial services to them. this in fact is a manipulative strategy of managing a fairly large group of minority populations under the control of the dominant castes/groups. this has been found to be true not only within a given country but also across the globe. it can very well be said that this has been the reason for this dwd issue to have remained invisible for centuries and being able to survive international scrutiny for over a few decades. 260 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 2, no. 2 except for a handful of nation states who have ensured legislated rights protecting cdwd right to life in their territories, most dwd communities still continue their life of being vulnerable to and being exposed to exclusion and violence. in each of those countries where the dwd practices exist, there have been several attempts by the people to protect themselves by demanding policy frames from their governments to address these forms of discrimination and violence. in this respect, it is to be noted that this process of norm emergence is becoming stronger in south asia. historically, cdwd have attempted to reverse the dominant caste/group’s dismemberment strategy that has caused the communities to be split into small groups scattered all over the sub-national spaces. efforts in the south asian region brought the cdwd under one identity in the colonial period. dr. b. r. ambedkar, an icon of the dalits in south asia has given them the term ‘depressed classes’ which later was known as as scheduled castes and then further on as dalits. today this term has come to be accepted in most of the south asian countries. united nations took efforts to bring the concerns of these communities right at the time of constituting the universal declaration of human rights, the prime charter of rights of the united nations, but the attempts did not succeed. there is documentary evidence to show that w. e. b. dubois has reached out to dr. b. r. ambedkar who brought the concerns of dalits to the international audience, but for some reason the un did not bring the specific concerns of dalits into its legal purview. in contrast, however, the concerns of the racial minorities were brought within the legal framework of the un charter. recent decades, however, have seen positive trends. for the first time cerd recognized in 1996 that the term ‘descent’ does cover the concerns of scheduled castes and that of caste-based discrimination but this was strongly contested by some of the member states at the un. the member states led by india’s representatives stated that caste and race were different. and it was also argued that the caste system is not an ‘apartheid system’ where the state condones and that the country has constitutional provisions, legislative and administrative measures to curb the practice of caste-based discrimination. it was also contended that the member states have the ability to address the dwd concerns within the countries and so a un body like cerd does not have to deal with this type of issue. the wcar generated an intense discussion once again raising the concerns of cdwd. dalit groups along with many international human rights organisations also were instrumental in initiating intense debates with irrefutable evidences placed before the un bodies. however, it appears that some technicalities prevented wcar from bringing out a resolution on the cdwds in its declaration and programme of action. the norm entrepreneurship of the dalit groups continued, however, and they along with other solidarity bodies have generated enormous systematic evidence for the benefit of several un bodies—the treaty bodies, special rapporteurs, independent experts and also the office of the high commissioner for human rights. on the whole eighty-six recommendations were given by cerd, child rights committee, committee for economic, social and cultural rights, committee for the elimination of discrimination and violence against women, committee against torture and human rights committee, referring to dwd issues from all over asia, africa, middle east and the americas. twenty-one special mandate holders have officially addressed caste-based discrimination and used the term ‘discrimination based on work norm entrepreneurship at the un-dalits and communities discriminated on work and descent 261 and descent’ as distinct and different from race or ethnicity. the universal periodic review of the human rights council has several times raised the issue of dwd and caste-based discrimination, but the member states continued to resist reporting on the issues of caste-based discrimination. the dalits groups at this stage, therefore, shifted their strategy to (a) intervene in the un general assembly and the ecosoc bodies, keeping the sdgs as the primary focus, and b) build a gfod by involving asian dalit communities, african groups challenging traditional and modern forms of slavery, roma, gypsy, sinti communities from europe and quilombola communities from latin america. the burakumin communities from japan have expressed interest but have not managed to participate in the iccdwd held in september 2019. the gfod was constituted in the same year of the congress and it continues to challenges dwd and push for norm entrepreneurial engagement at the un. states of senegal, germany and spain have openly supported the issue of cdwd and appealed to the un to bring the issue to discussion in the un. given the experience of the past millennia, the cdwd have exhibited enormous amount of resilience, creativity, and fortitude to endure and survive through myriad, intersecting forms of oppression, discrimination and injustice. they have risen to stand in solidarity to claim their humanity, achieve full recognition of their status equal to all other citizens of nation-states. it is already twenty-five years since the first cognizance of the dwd issues had taken place with the formal endorsement of cerd in 1996. today, the dwd communities and organizations demand legitimate acknowledgement by the worldwide community, especially the un to recognise the right to life and dignity of the communities and to evolve norm emergence leading to norm adherence. they are also attempting to constitute a working group to promote and draft the declaration on the rights of cdwd. there are some critical lessons to be learnt from the experience of the groups, which while advocating the cause of the indigenous peoples, have managed to demand and get the un declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (undrip) even by crossing over the barriers from the states at the different stages of norm 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v e r s i t y caste a global journal on social exclusion volume 3 :: number 2 october 2022 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste health disparity and health equity in india: understanding the difference and the pathways towards policy sanghmitra s. acharya—guest editor editorial and introduction articles being insider-outsider: public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india g.c. pal enculturalising casteism in health care in india navin narayan situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers to sanitation workers in india k.m. ziyauddin media coverage and corona induced health emergency: understanding prejudice, stigma, and social inequalities in india achla pritam tandon impact of covid-19 on livelihood and health experiences of migrant labourers in kerala, india dilip diwakar g., visakh viswambaran, and prasanth m.k. inequality in access to medical education in india: implications for the availability of health professionals khalid khan addressing hegemony within the system of medicine for an inclusive and sustainable health system: the case of traditional medicine in india nemthianngai guite caste and socioeconomic inequality in child health and nutrition in india: evidences from national family health survey rajesh raushan, sanghmitra s. acharya, and mukesh ravi raushan health investments to reduce health inequities in india: do we need more evidence? indrani gupta and avantika ranjan social inequities in private health sector workforce in india: religion, caste, class, and gender rama v. baru and seemi zafar differences in access to health resources: an analysis of disparities among dalit sub-castes in uttar pradesh, india kanhaiya kumar caste, unequal status, and discriminatory access to health services in india forum book review a special article from the chief justice, high court of orissa, india ‘chains of servitude: bondage and slavery in india’ by utsa patnaik and manjari dingwaney manoj siwach, bharat, and babloo jakhar caste: a global journal on social exclusion is collaborating with jstor to digitize, preserve, and extend access to our journal un to uc ha bl e an d re li gi on ; m ix ed m ed ia ; 1 7x 11 c m ; s av i s aw ar ka r appearing in court in india: challenges in representing the marginalised s. muralidhar manifestations of academic untouchability in india: exclusionary practices that subvert reservations in admissions in higher education c. jerome samraj joint editors-in-chief laurence r. simon brandeis university, usa sukhadeo thorat (emeritus) jawaharlal nehru university, india editor joseph k. assan brandeis university, usa reviews editors jebaroja singh st. john fisher college, usa sanghmitra acharya jawaharlal nehru university, india senior editorial assistant afia a. adaboh brandeis university, usa editorial assistant for public outreach & communications jaspreet mahal brandeis university, usa production editor vinod kumar mishra indian institute of dalit studies, india university librarian matthew sheehy brandeis university, usa ojs technical manager tba brandeis university library, usa caste a global journal on social exclusion caste, unequal status, and discriminatory access to health services in india volume 3, number 2 editorial advisory board kaushik basu, c. marks professor of international studies and professor of economics, cornell university, usa; former chief economist of the world bank; president, international economics association; former chief economic adviser to the government of india kevin d. brown, professor of law, maurer school of law, indiana university, usa ipsita chatterjee, associate professor, department of geography and the environment, university of north texas, usa ashwini deshpande, professor of economics, ashoka university, india meena dhanda, professor in philosophy and cultural politics, university of wolverhampton, united kingdom jean drèze, honorary professor, delhi school of economics, university of delhi, india ashok gurung, associate professor, julien j. studley graduate program in international affairs , the new school, new york, usa john harriss, professorial research associate, department of development studies, soas, university of london, united kingdom eva-maria hardtmann, associate professor and director of studies, department of social anthropology, stockholm university, sweden susan holcombe, professor emerita of the practice, heller school for social policy and management, brandeis university, usa sushrut jadhav, professor of cultural psychiatry, university college london; consultant psychiatrist & medical lead, focus homeless services, c & i nhs foundation trust; clinical lead, c & i cultural consultation service; founding editor & editor-in-chief, anthropology & medicine (taylor and francis, uk); research associate, department of anthropology, soas, london, united kingdom chinnaiah jangam, assistant professor of history, carleton university, canada s. japhet, visiting professor, national law school of india university; formerly founding vice chancellor, bengaluru city university, bengalore, india sangeeta kamat, professor of education, university of massachusetts at amherst, usa joel lee, assistant professor of anthropology, williams college, usa david mosse, professor of social anthropology, soas, university of london, united kingdom samuel l. myers, jr., roy wilkens professor of human relations and social justice and director, roy wilkins center for human relations and social justice, humphrey school of public affairs, university of minnesota, usa balmurli natrajan, professor and chair, department of anthropology, william patterson university, usa purna nepali, associate professor, kathmandu university, nepal katherine s. newman, senior vice president for academic affairs, university of massachusetts system, torrey little professor of sociology, usa martha c. nussbaum, ernst freund distinguished services professor of law and ethics, law school and philosophy department, university of chicago, usa devan pillay, associate professor and head, department of sociology, university of witwatersrand, johannesburg, south africa thomas pogge, leitner professor of philosophy and international affairs, yale university, usa christopher queen, lecturer on the study of religion, and dean of students for continuing education (retired), faculty of arts and sciences, harvard university, usa jehan raheem, former founding director, evaluation office, united nations development programme and former undp resident representative, burma (myanmar) anupama rao, associate professor of history, barnard and columbia universities, usa amilcar shabazz, professor, w.e.b. du bois department for afro-american studies, university of massachusetts at amherst, usa a.b. shamsul, distinguished professor and founding director, institute for ethnic studies, the national university of malaysia kalinga tudor silva, professor emeritus of sociology, university of peradeniya, sri lanka; research director, international centre for ethnic studies, colombo, sri lanka harleen singh, associate professor of literature, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, brandeis university, usa ajantha subramanian, professor of anthropology and south asian studies, social anthropology program director, harvard university, usa abha sur, scientist in the science, technology and society program; senior lecturer, program in women and gender studies, massachusetts institute of technology, usa goolam vahed, associate professor, history, society & social change cluster, university of kwazulu-natal, south africa gowri vijayakumar, assistant professor of sociology and south asian studies, brandeis university, usa annapurna waughray, reader in human rights law, manchester law school, manchester metropolitan university, uk cornel west, dietrich bonhoeffer professor of philosophy and christian practice, union theological seminary , usa copyright © 2022 caste: a global journal on social exclusion issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste table of contents editorial and introduction health disparity and health equity in india: understanding the difference and the pathways towards policy sanghmitra s. acharya —guest editor ....... 211-222 articles being insider-outsider: public policy, social identity, and delivery of healthcare services in india g.c. pal ....... 223-244 enculturalising casteism in health care in india navin narayan ....... 245-262 situating hadis’ occupation and caste: exclusionary journey from manual workers to sanitation workers in india k.m. ziyauddin ....... 263-284 media coverage and corona induced health emergency: understanding prejudice, stigma, and social inequalities in india achla pritam tandon ....... 285-298 impact of covid-19 on livelihood and health experiences of migrant labourers in kerala, india dilip diwakar g., visakh viswambaran, and prasanth m.k. ....... 299-318 inequality in access to medical education in india: implications for the availability of health professionals khalid khan ....... 319-334 addressing hegemony within the system of medicine for an inclusive and sustainable health system: the case of traditional medicine in india nemthianngai guite ....... 335-344 caste and socioeconomic inequality in child health and nutrition in india: evidences from national family health survey rajesh raushan, sanghmitra s. acharya, and mukesh ravi raushan ....... 345-364 health investments to reduce health inequities in india: do we need more evidence? indrani gupta and avantika ranjan ....... 365-382 social inequities in private health sector workforce in india: religion, caste, class, and gender rama v. baru and seemi zafar ....... 383-404 differences in access to health resources: an analysis of disparities among dalit sub-castes in uttar pradesh, india kanhaiya kumar ....... 405-420 forum appearing in court in india: challenges in representing the marginalised s. muralidhar ....... 421-441 manifestations of academic untouchability in india: exclusionary practices that subvert reservations in admissions in higher education c. jerome samraj ....... 442-457 book review ‘chains of servitude: bondage and slavery in india’ by utsa patnaik and manjari dingwaney manoj siwach, bharat, and babloo jakhar ....... 458-462 © 2023 saroj shinde. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. bluestone rising scholar honorable mention, 2023 doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.604 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 437-445 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste “our poverty has no shame; the stomach has no shame, so we migrate seasonally”: women sugarcane cutters from maharashtra, india saroj shinde1 abstract during the season of sugarcane cutting, men and women seasonally migrate toward the sugar belt. drought conditions in their native districts are always highlighted as the reasons for seasonal migration. however, existing literature on sugarcane cutters emphasizes that mostly poor, lower caste, landless, small landholders, and resourceless people migrate to the sugar belt. even pregnant or lactating mothers are not an exception for seasonal migration and the work of sugarcane cutting. in maharashtra, issues like poor work conditions, labor rights, financial exploitation, hysterectomy among women, citizenship status, education, and health of sugarcane cutters are already in the discussion forums. after migration, these workers live without housing, sanitation facilities, and drinking water. for women, there is no social, economic, labor, and personal security. workers have to bathe, defecate openly, and drink untreated water. specifically, women have special health needs, and there should not be a compromise while accessing essential health services. considering the background information, this article considers questions like why women migrate in adversity and do women work for the sugar belt without facing any hardship? people at large relate the phenomenon of migration to human development or economic development. similarly, it is possible to study internal migration or seasonal migration. nevertheless, the analysis argues that seasonal migration of the poor, unskilled, illiterate, lower caste, landless, resourceless, and vulnerable cannot be connected to human development. instead, we can relate it to survival at large. significantly, the ignorance of the state towards these workers and their needs can be seen from the perspective of social exclusion. keywords women sugarcane cutters, seasonal migration, migration of vulnerable people, sugar belt, reasons for migration, social exclusion 1tata institute of social sciences, mumbai, india e-mail: shinde.saroj4@gmail.com 438 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 introduction after independence, agriculture policy favored the sugarcane crop, as also evidenced by a demand for sugar. consequently, sugarcane crop production increased in maharashtra. therefore, the setup of sugar factories was indispensable for processing sugarcane into sugar. meanwhile, the crop of sugarcane and its harvesting has a very long history. in india, the first sugar factory was established in 1784 in bihar. after independence, indian agriculture policies supported sugarcane farmers. an increase in sugarcane crop cultivation is the result of those policies. in maharashtra state, the first sugar factory was established in the district of ahmednagar in 1948. it came into operation in 1950 and was india’s first cooperative sugar factory. later, numerous private and cooperative sugar factories were established. all development related to sugar production directly or indirectly encouraged the seasonal migration of people toward the sugar belt (chithelen 1985; engineer 1997). due to the high output of sugarcane and the establishment of many sugar factories, the demand for labor increased. the seasonally migrated labor force from the drought-prone districts of maharashtra fulfilled that demand (chithelen 1985). therefore, a favorable agriculture policy, increase in sugarcane cultivation, the establishment of sugar factories, and seasonal labor migration were demand-driven processes (engineer 1997; patil 2013). even today, there is a supposition that drought conditions are the reason for the seasonal migration of sugarcane cutters. even if we agree with that assumption, then logically, all people from drought-prone districts should migrate to the sugar belt to cope with the drought. nevertheless, only poor, lower caste, and those without resources migrate toward the sugar belt. notably, both men and women are equally involved in sugarcane cutting. even pregnant or lactating women are not an exception for seasonal migration and involvement in sugarcane cutting. work conditions, work burden, and labor exploitation of sugarcane cutters are part of timely discussions in maharashtra. after migration, these workers are without any security; there is no housing, sanitation facilities, or drinking water provision. for women, there is no social and personal security. workers have to bathe, defecate openly, and drink untreated water (abbas 2016; bansode 2013; engineer 1997; kendre 2011; shinde 2019). despite such working conditions, people from drought-prone areas still prefer to work. this background gives us a context to explore the concerns of women sugarcane cutters. it also creates the space to underline the reasons behind seasonal migration and the involvement of women in sugarcane cutting. incidentally, in countries that produce sugarcane, sugarcane harvesting is mainly performed by men (santos et al., 2015; pobreza & azúcar 2007; luz et al., 2012). therefore, this article analyzes the reasons behind seasonal migration towards the sugar belt—the analysis of entry points for women to migrate highlights their negotiation at many levels. in addition, the nature of work and benefits of migration add relevance to the analysis of the reasons for the seasonal migration of women sugarcane cutters in maharashtra. “our poverty has no shame; the stomach has no shame, so we migrate seasonally” 439 methodology a qualitative study explored why women migrate toward the sugar belt—41 women were part of this study, 23 women were working for private sugar factories, and 18 for cooperative sugar factories. nature of work, work conditions, and the reasons for migration were the framing factors. the data collected through this exploration was primarily analyzed using thematic analysis. the overall study mainly highlights the reasons behind the seasonal migration of women toward the sugar belt. the research proposal of the study had sought an ethical clearance from the institutional review board, tiss mumbai. the ethical issues of the research were appropriately addressed by considering basic principles of human research, such as respect for participants, beneficence, and justice. results and discussion socio-economic profile of women sugarcane cutters similar to the prior research on sugarcane cutters in maharashtra, the present study features the dominant involvement of women from the lower castes. study participants were from lower caste categories such as sc, st, nt, and vjnt. almost 70.7 per cent of the respondents were scheduled tribe, belonging to communities like bhil, pavra, and varli. the remaining participants were from the different lower caste groups such as matang, vadar, banjara, and vanjari. along with lower social status, participants were from poor economic strata. most women were below the poverty line, as 27 women had yellow-colored ration cards. nearly 13 women were without ration cards. all the respondents migrated from 8 different districts of maharashtra, including districts like dhule, jalgaon, nandurbar, beed, parbhani, nashik, aurangabad, and jalna. some of the districts are drought-prone, and some have recognition of tribal districts. the age structure of study participants was as follows: ten women were below 18 years, nearly 28 women were between 18–24 years, and three women were above 25 years. as informed by the participants, 38 out of 41 women were married before 18 years. in terms of educational status, almost 82.9 per cent were illiterate. the remaining participants were educated up to secondary levels of education. the high proportion of illiteracy among these women is shocking. similar trends continue even among the children of the sugarcane cutters. on enquiring about the none to low levels of education, many women responded by saying, “why else would we be cutting the sugarcane then? sugarcane cutting is like school for us”. the poor educational status of women explains the endorsement for the practice of early marriage among this demographic. it is important to note that many respondents who reported secondary education could not read and write except for their signature and name. nature of work in sugarcane cutting, there is no structure for the workers to work. work starts anytime in the early morning and finishes at night. all workers are aware of the intensity of 440 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 toil during the working season. otherwise, there is no fixed time or working hours. workers have to work beyond their physical capacity. almost everybody who works as a sugarcane cutter faces body pain on a daily basis. during the daytime, after the work responsibilities on the farm, women go to the tent area to cook and return to the field as soon as they finish cooking. from the tent area to the working field, they have to walk. that distance could be less than a kilometer or more. these workers avoid breaks between working hours since they aim to complete their target of cutting sugarcane. based on the number of tons of sugarcane they receive their salary. in most cases, even pregnant / women with newborn babies endure the same work burden. nobody is happy to work as a sugarcane cutter. however, there is continuity in their migration and sugarcane cutting, which is maintained out of helplessness, poverty, debt, and the absence of any other alternative. many women experience weakness, body pain, giddiness, and other health problems. they have to compromise on their physical and mental health while working. exploitation, exclusion, poverty, debt, illiteracy, and compromised motherhood are words to describe their overall status as human beings. is seasonal migration beneficial or not? some of the participants said that seasonal migration benefits them to a level where they manage their survival. it was their only option to cope with drought and its consequences on their livelihoods at their native places. besides being optimistic about migration, it is not about becoming rich or uplifting the economic status. it is about survival, sustainability, and thriving. here, ‘ thrive’ meant to build a house and ensure the marriage ceremony of sons and daughters but not become rich. moreover, according to a few of the respondents, there are no benefits through this work, but to survive and escape the drought. more importantly, many participants could not answer whether migration benefits them or not. it is because most of them migrated for the first time. the rest of them had long work experience in sugarcane cutting, where they said benefits vary from season to season; there is no permanent benefit in sugarcane cutting. along with unfavorable work conditions and exploitation of these workers, these women live without social-economical security. they have to compromise their health, especially the reproductive health of women, and their children’s education. still, questions remain, despite having adversity at the destination, why do they migrate? why do only women from specific social groups migrate? why are women left without an alternative for seasonal migration and sugarcane cutting? reasons for migration in the context of sugarcane cutters in maharashtra, the people involved in the seasonal migration are often poor and landless. they migrate because of drought. this argument is valid in the larger sense, but we cannot apply it to all workers involved in sugarcane cutting. instead, there is a need to include a few more workers’ perspectives on the reasons for migration. from the view of the present study, women migrate because of the consequences of drought conditions—a factor which has received less attention in previous research studies. “our poverty has no shame; the stomach has no shame, so we migrate seasonally” 441 as women said, “there is no drinking water in my village, and i cannot afford to buy it”, or “i have land but do not have a water irrigation system.” moreover, they also mentioned that there is no work availability, and therefore their needs for food are not met in their native place. drought, water scarcity, debt, and work unavailability were the reasons to migrate toward the sugar belt. alongside, building houses and any other fulfillment of their wish was also the reason behind the migration. in short, workers’ migration and involvement in sugarcane cutting is not largely associated with economic yield, but rather about receiving the bulk of the money at once and in advance. there are many constructed reasons behind the seasonal migration specific to maharashtra. the migration of the sugarcane cutters is connected mainly with drought and its consequences, such as water scarcity and work unavailability, as also mentioned in the earlier analysis. however, certain sociological factors are attached to the reasons. those reasons are reflected in the replies of women when they say, “our poverty has no shame; our stomach has no shame, so we migrate.” entry points for women to migrate marriage as expressed by most women, marriage was the entry point where women enter the work of sugarcane cutting, this along with reasons like drought, water scarcity, and work unavailability. on the other hand, many get involved in seasonal migration and sugarcane cutting with their parents during their childhood, but without labor identity despite working along with their parents. however, marriage is the event where husband and wife together could be one pair (koyata), and they can deal with mukadum or contractors separately. an essential part of marriage being an entry point is, in indian culture or the culture of every caste or community, is that the marriage ceremony is a big event. it is significant even for poor people. this event requires money to perform different tasks, including giving dowry. in the present study, most respondents were poor or with subsistence levels in the economy. as informed by women, it has become the tagline that, “if you want to perform the marriage ceremony, collect money in the bundle and perform it.” the critical question is, who would be ready to give a considerable amount of money to poor people? which is a more convenient option for these poor people to choose? the answer is contractors or mukadum. the contractors give an amount in advance even before working for them. often, workers utilize that amount to perform the marriage ceremony of sons or daughters. thereafter, returning that amount to contractors becomes the duty of a newly married couple. therefore, after marriage, couples become regular seasonal migrants. hence, debt is also the reason for seasonal migration. however, soon after marriage, because of the high illiteracy rate and lack of awareness about family planning, these newly married women are likely to become pregnant very early. still, because of the burden of money or debt, women have no choice but to migrate even during pregnancy. after marriage, their entry into the work of sugarcane cutting later becomes an affair each year. they 442 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 continue to borrow money from contractors every year to meet their basic needs and keep their survival intact. therefore, in this seasonal cycle, women have to bear the burden of most of the loss. the loss is in physical distress because of the work burden. women also carry the loss in terms of mental health especially during their pregnancy. sometimes, because of seasonal migration and its continuous cycle, women do not get a chance to think about their reproductive health. poverty, sense of insecurity, and family disputes along with marriage as the entry point, extreme poverty, family disputes, and a sense of insecurity in the native place are equally responsible for the migration of women and their involvement in work. if a woman with parents, in-laws, or close relatives is involved in the seasonal migration for years, nobody will look after the woman. a similar context can be applied to the marriage of girls at a young age. if the woman chooses not to migrate, her parents or in-laws will not permit and let the woman stay alone in her native place. therefore, that insecurity creates a bridge of no option, and a woman has to migrate. moreover, it could also be said that the sense of insecurity comes from the extreme poverty level. therefore, poverty and subsequent insecurity are the entry points that together make women migrate and get involved in sugarcane cutting. in addition, based on the shared experiences of study participants, family disputes are also one of the crucial reasons for women to migrate. more specifically, if a woman has disputes with her in-laws or husband, she is left with only one option: seasonal migration and sugarcane cutting to secure her survival. visibility of the seasonal migration of sugarcane cutters from possible theoretical frameworks in particular, with the phenomenon of seasonal migration, some frameworks theoretically capture the phenomenon of migration. however, none of the frameworks comprehensively theorizes the seasonal migration of poor, lower caste and class, resourceless, and landless people. many have framed such migration of people as a survival strategy—a perspective that is inadequate. for instance, lee’s pull and push factors theory of migration highlights the positive and negative factors involved as the reasons for migration (lee 1966). there are a few more migration theories, like ravenstein’s laws of migration (ravenstein 1885) and wolpert’s model of migration (wolpert 1966). all these theories are inadequate to describe the seasonal migration of sugarcane cutters in maharashtra. however, the seasonal migration of women sugarcane cutters in maharashtra calls for an alternative framework: drought conditions at the native place and availability of work in the sugar belt are not just the push and pull factors, respectively, but their migration is beyond these two. they migrate to adversity, they live contrary to their native environment, and their migration cannot be linked with any aspect of human development. the theory that plays a vital role in visualizing the framework of the present study is the theory of social exclusion. social exclusion is “the denial of equal “our poverty has no shame; the stomach has no shame, so we migrate seasonally” 443 access to opportunities imposed by particular social groups upon others.” the process of exclusion partially or wholly excludes certain groups or populations from full participation in the society they live in. the outcome of social inclusion may vary in terms of deprivation of income, education, health services, political and citizenship rights, state resources, and many others (sen 2000; thorat 2008; judge 2014). seasonal migration as social exclusion amartya sen identifies two forms of social exclusion; active and passive social exclusion. in active social exclusion, there are deliberate attempts of the state/ government or agency to exclude particular groups. there is no deliberate attempt to exclude passive social exclusion, but specific groups are excluded passively through the social processes (sen 2000). on the other hand, sukhadeo thorat identifies social exclusion from the perspective of the caste system in india. he says, “social exclusion in india revolves around the societal institutions that exclude, discriminate, and isolate people based on their caste, ethnicity, religion, and gender” (thorat 2008; judge 2014). in the context of the present study, women’s seasonal migration toward the sugar belt realizes social exclusion. though the state or district authorities are not involved in making them move toward the sugar belt, they migrate because of social dynamics, such as lower socio-economic status. however, why do only illiterate, lower castes, poor, landless, small landholders, and resourceless women migrate toward the belt? suppose a particular geographical region, for instance, marathwada in maharashtra, faces drought conditions and its consequences—in that case, all the people from that region should migrate to avoid adversity. however, we find only certain groups of people migrate. hence, these realities give space to argue that the seasonal migration of particular groups of women is a form of social exclusion. conclusion particularly with the phenomenon of migration, we see people largely connect it with human or economic development. similarly, one can study internal migration or seasonal migration. however, we cannot connect the migration of poor, unskilled, illiterate, lower caste, landless, resourceless, vulnerable people to human development. instead of economic growth or human development, we can connect their migration with survival. the reasons for seasonal migration are social and political at large. based on that, one can raise the development issue of women from the lower socio-economic strata. the seasonal migration of women from lower socio-economic status reveals the regional disparity and caste vulnerability. in general, resourceless people migrate seasonally because they cannot cope with adverse conditions. along with drought conditions, the lack of work in their villages, lower social status, poverty, a sense of insecurity, marriage, debt, and family disputes are contributing factors to the seasonal migration of these women. the involvement of women, particularly in work with a 444 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 heavy burden, may cause loss. as a result, early marriage, early motherhood, high parity, compromised motherhood or reproductive health, etc., are common among this working group. surprisingly, the state is aware of the seasonal migration of these workers, including pregnant or lactating women. however, nobody has taken responsibility for these workers in terms of providing state services such as education, health, and citizenship rights. therefore, deliberate or non-deliberate negligence of the state creates the space to explore how women’s seasonal migration leads to their social exclusion at many levels. hence eliminating social disparities, regional imbalances, and vulnerable population pockets should be the core agenda of human development. declaration of interest the author declares no conflict of interest in the present research and writing. references abbas, r. (2016). internal migration and citizenship in india. journal of ethnic and migration studies, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 150–168. bansode, p. (2013). seasonal migrants and quality of life: sugarcane cutter migrants at destination and source. artha vijnana, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 366–381. betancourt, t.s., shaahinfar, a., kellner, s.e., dhavan, n., & williams, t.p. (2013). a qualitative case study of child protection issues in the indian construction industry: investigating the security, health and interrelated rights of migrant families. bmc public health, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 858. chatterjee, p. (2019). hysterectomies in beed district raise questions for india. the lancet, vol. 394(10194), p. 202. chithelen, i. (1985). origins of the cooperative sugar industry in maharashtra. economic and political weekly, pp. 604–612. gore, d., singru, s., fernandes, k., mhaske, m., babangre, s., gore, s. (2013). health profile of sugarcane harvester working in rural maharashtra, india. indian journal of applied research, vol 3(12) pp 451-453. jadhav, r. (2019, april 11). why many women in maharashtra’s beed district have no wombs. the hindu. available at: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/ why-half-the-women-in-maharashtras-beed-district-have-no-wombs/article26773974.ece jugale, v.b. (2012). migrant workers of sugar industry in maharashtra. journal of economic and social development, vol. 8, no. 1. kendre, b. (2011). socio-economic background and seasonal migration of sugarcane harvesting workers. international journal of humanity and social sciences, vol. 1, no. 2, p. 15. keshri, k., & bhagat, r.b. (2012). temporary and seasonal migration: regional pattern, characteristics, and associated factors. economic and political weekly, pp. 81–88. luz, v.g., corrêa filho, h.r., silva, a.j.n.d., laat, e.f.d., vilela, r.a.d.g., silva, f.o.c.d., & zangirolami, l.t.o. (2012). migrant labor and wear-out in manual sugarcane harvesting in sao paulo, brazil. ciencia & saude coletiva, vol. 17, no. 10, pp. 2831–2840. mane, c., & tadakhe, s. (2013). problems and prospects of sugarcane cutter migrants in karad taluka of satara district (maharashtra): a case study of sahayadri sahakari sakhar karkhna ltd. yashwant nagar karad. “our poverty has no shame; the stomach has no shame, so we migrate seasonally” 445 mulye, a. (2019, august 29). over 13,000 female sugarcane workers in beed have undergone uterus removal surgery, says probe panel. the new indian express. available at: https:// www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2019/aug/29/over-13000-female-sugarcane-labourersin-beed-have-undergone-uterus-removal-surgery-says-probe-pan-2026166.html pakhare, a.p., pawar, r., lokhande, g.s., & datta, s.s. (2014). does seasonal migration for sugarcane harvesting influence routine immunization coverage? a cross-sectional study from rural maharashtra. indian journal of public health, vol. 58, no. 2, p. 116. patil, n. (2012) studies on general status of migratory sugarcane harvest workers of ahmednagar district in maharashtra. international journal of science and research (ijsr). sen, a. (2000). social exclusion: concept, application, and scrutiny. asian development bank, manila, philippine. rocha, f.l.r., marziale, m.h.p., & hong, o.s. (2010). work and health conditions of sugarcane workers in brazil. revista da escola de enfermagem da usp, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 978–983. santos, u.p., zanetta, d.m.t., terra-filho, m., & burdmann, e.a. (2015). burnt sugarcane harvesting is associated with acute renal dysfunction. kidney international, vol. 87, no. 4, pp. 792–799. siddaiah, a., kant, s., haldar, p., rai, s. k., & misra, p. (2018). maternal health care access among migrant women labourers in the selected brick kilns of district faridabad, haryana: mixed method study on equity and access. international journal for equity in health, vol. 17, no. 1, p. 171. shinde, s., & rakshase, b. (2022). insights on the practice of hysterectomy among the women sugarcane cutters in maharashtra (india). feminist research, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 26–29. thorat, s. (2008). social exclusion in the indian context: theoretical basis of inclusive policies. indian journal of human development, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 165–181. https://www. aksharnama.com/client/article_detail/5481 accessed on 8/3/2022 https://www.aksharnama. com/client/article_detail/5518 accessed on 8/3/2022 © 2023 jatin. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. bluestone rising scholar honorable mention, 2023 doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.626 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 446-468 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste utilizing dalit autobiographies in history jatin1 abstract in the academic field, debates in the discipline of history largely contest whether the people whose narratives are absent in the dominant archives of knowledge, including dalits, can be considered as devoid of history. such contestations raise queries about the ways in which these groups form a sense of their past. in this light, can we consider cultural forms of narrative as reliable and ‘valid’ means to form an understanding of past, and to what extent? can the cultural narrative forms, particularly autobiographical accounts, be utilized to reflect on the past of these communities? what methodologies does such an approach demand, and what challenges does it pose? this paper shall grapple with these intriguing inquiries. it attempts to position dalit autobiographies and their utility in locating the sense of their past and in the larger knowledge production. this paper fundamentally proposes that dalit autobiographies can lend crucial insights into the history of dalit communities and beyond. these autobiographies can provide a perspective ‘from below’ and contribute to understanding how dalits made sense of their past into narratives. i argue that dalit articulation of their life experiences in the form of autobiographies not only rupture the assumptions of a singular past but also foregrounds the multiplicities and specificities to their everyday experiences. keywords dalit autobiographies, untouchables, history, caste, space, everyday, sub-castes, knowledge production 1phd scholar at the department of history, university of toronto, canada e-mail: jatin@mail.utoronto.ca utilizing dalit autobiographies in history 447 “softly but firmly she told him, ‘look, satyamurthy. your caste and my caste are not one. you are christians.’ she meant mala christians, untouchables. ‘we are brahmins. you are have-nots, we are haves. you are a communist. my father is for congress. how in the world can there be anything between us?’” — sujatha gidla2 “on one side of the road was (our community) settlement and on the other side were huge pucca houses (solid, built with durable materials) where high caste people used to live, who were employed in ‘good’ jobs (well paid, respectful, and secured). within (our) colony (the dwellers) were mostly untouchables, illiterate and labor. on one side of the road were the poor, illiterate, and on the other side of the road were the rich (and) educated. only one road divided them but it was a land-sky (like) difference among these two (sections).” — kaushalya baisantri3 “…and in villages, a man may be educated, he may wear a shirt and pants, he may even have a job with a good salary, but the real prestige lay in owning land. among untouchables, owning even a small piece of land is rare.” — sujatha gidla4 “let’s go to the park, i’ll eat some sweets, eat some sweets, spread out my mat, if somebody tears up my mat, i’ll call an ironsmith, if the smith’s hammer breaks, i’ll call a repairman, come on, let’s go to the park, i’ll eat some sweets.” — a hindi folksong recited in vasant moon’s autobiography5 introduction6 in the academic field, debates in the discipline of history largely contest whether the people whose narratives are absent in the dominant archives of knowledge, including dalits, can be considered as devoid of history.7 such contestations raise queries about 2sujatha gidla, ants among elephants: an untouchable family and the making of modern india, first edition. new york: farrar, straus and giroux, 2017. 3kausalyā baisantrī, doharā abhiśāpa, 1. saṃskaraṇa. (dillī: parameśvarī prakāśana, 1999), p. 28. translation, emphasis, and supplementary explanations are mine. 4gidla, ants among elephants, p. 34. 5vasant moon and gail omvedt, growing up untouchable in india: a dalit autobiography, asian voices. lanham, md: rowman & littlefield publishers, 2001, p. 81. 6i want to express my sincere gratitude towards all those who made this research possible. i am especially grateful to prof. malavika kasturi for her active guidance, support, and encouragement, which were fundamental to this paper’s development. i also want to thank my colleagues at the university of toronto, particularly sanchia desouza, madhavi jha, and shibi laxman, for their crucial inputs and reviewing the paper. 7a note on dalit terminology: dalit term is used to refer to the ‘ex-untouchable’ castes collectively. ‘untouchables’ are the historically marginalized and oppressed communities in 448 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 the ways in which these groups form a sense of their past. 8 as antonio gramsci has opined: for those who do not have history, have culture, thereby contesting the distinction between history and culture.9 culture and its manifestations are also intrinsically connected to power and shifting class relationships. in this light, can we consider cultural forms of narrative as reliable and ‘valid’ means to form an understanding of past, and to what extent? can the cultural narrative forms, particularly the autobiographical accounts, be utilized to reflect on the past of these communities? what methodologies does such an approach demand, and what challenges does it pose? this paper shall grapple with these intriguing inquiries. it attempts to position dalit autobiographies and their utility in locating the sense of their past and in the larger knowledge production. this paper fundamentally proposes that dalit autobiographies can lend crucial insights into the history of dalit communities and beyond. these autobiographies can provide a perspective ‘from below’ and contribute to understanding how dalits made sense of their past into narratives. i argue that dalit articulation of their life experiences in the form of autobiographies not only rupture the assumptions of a singular past but also foregrounds the multiplicities and specificities to their everyday experiences. the paper intends to respond to the suspicions about whether dalits can articulate in the existing power structures. in this light, the paper attempts to analyze gayatri chakravorty spivak’s argument critically, ‘can the subalterns speak,’ its reception, and its consequences for marginalized groups’ narratives and forms of articulation.10 this paper further suggests that dalit autobiographies demand to be referred to for not only the parochial purpose of retrieving the marginalized voices, but to treat them as alternative archives. with this approach, one can utilize the autobiographies for corroboration with the dominant archives, and to make sense of the past through margins with a bottom-up approach. to make a case for the utility of dalit autobiographies, this paper shall first contextualize it within the larger historiographical debate and comment on the marginalization of dalit autobiographical narratives. moving forward, i shall introduce the indian society who are ascribed the lowest status in the ‘caste-based’ social hierarchy, and are considered ritually polluting based on the hindu religious and ritual practices. dalit term originates from ‘dalita,’ fundamentally means ‘oppressed’ or ‘downtrodden’. this term was first used by mahatma jyotiba phule, and then by dr. b.r. ambedkar in 1928 in his newspaper bahiskrit bharat. later, this term was revived during the dalit panthers movement by dalit activists and intellectuals in 1970. i have employed the term to collectively refer to and make general conclusions in the context. for details, see: laurence simon and sukhadeo thorat, “why a journal on caste?,” caste / a global journal on social exclusion 1, no. 1 (february 14, 2020), https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v1i1.159. 8for details: ranajit guha, the small voice of history: collected essays. ranikhet: permanent black, 2009. 9a. gramsci, in q. hoare (ed.), selections from the prison notebooks of antonio gramsci, new york, 1980. 10gayatri chakravorty spivak, “can the subaltern speak?,” in colonial discourse and postcolonial theory: a reader, ed. patrick williams and laura chrisman (routledge, 1994), pp. 78–123, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315656496-13. utilizing dalit autobiographies in history 449 the three autobiographies chosen for analysis and discuss the methodology and approaches that the paper utilizes. this section will not only focus on the challenges in analyzing these autobiographies but also highlight the confines of disciplines in tackling them, thereby calling for a transdisciplinary approach. in the next section on knowledge, archive, and power, i foreground the thesis argument through a discussion on the conditions of knowledge production as well as the invisiblization of dalit autobiographies. the section highlights the positivist influences, absence of dalit narratives in the dominant archives, brahmanical hegemony and dalit exclusion in the knowledge production in indian society, and subsequent non-recognition of narrative forms like dalit autobiographies. it suggests how to navigate these challenges methodologically by treating dalit autobiographies on their own terms. in the following section, i analyze the three dalit autobiographies. by showing how dalit autobiographies can help in gaining understanding primarily in themes of gender and caste, spatial differences in practices of untouchability, and intersectionalities among the untouchables—i provide support to my claim that dalit autobiographies can be an indispensable source. additionally, my analysis would reflect on the influence of translations on dalit autobiographies and the politics of language to call for a critical and multidisciplinary approach for decoding dalit autobiographies. finally, i end the paper with a concluding note. contextualizing historiography a debate exists in the scholarly discourse about whether the genre of autobiographies can be considered a valid form of historical source, particularly in the context of south asia. on the one hand, positivist and western scholars not only rejected autobiographies as fiction but also considered the genre as specific to the west.11 interestingly, reynolds opined how the european critics, who were earlier not ready to take autobiographies beyond literary fiction, started to make claims about autobiography as an exclusively european or western genre.12 such claims, therefore, rejected the legitimacy of autobiographical accounts outside of the west, including in south asia. on a par, subaltern studies scholars like gayatri chakravorty spivak have questioned the ability of marginalized groups to articulate their narratives freely. on the other hand, a body of literature has emerged which takes into account the significance of autobiographies. it includes works of david arnold et al., anshu malhotra and siobhan lambert-hurley, sharmila rege, and tanika sarkar. this scholarship challenges the positivist contention of autobiographies as fiction and the idea of ‘the truth.’ this group instead argues for multiplicity of truths.13 malhotra and hurley argue that one’s version of truth can be fiction for the other.14 further, these works have shown how autobiographies, despite being a crucial genre in other 11anshu malhotra and siobhan lambert-hurley, eds., speaking of the self: gender, performance, and autobiography in south asia. durham: duke university press, 2015, p. 3. 12ibid., pp. 3–4. 13ibid., p. 23. 14ibid., p. 23. 450 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 parts of the world, are specifically neglected in south asia. 15 such scholarship has particularly pressed upon the power dynamics in knowledge production in indian society. specifically, the works of david arnold and sharmila rege underscore that in south asia the authority over knowledge is monopolized by dominant caste groups, particularly brahmins, as we shall discuss. moreover, to highlight the genre’s importance, malhotra and hurley have also argued that for certain communities autobiographies can be the only possible means of articulating their narratives.16 highlighting another importance, tanika sarkar argues that autobiographies provide a window for exploring the larger time period of the text and its readership. 17 hence, this group of scholars has shown how autobiographies can be a crucial form of literature and a tool to articulate the differences politically. while forms of narrative like autobiographies struggle to carve their own space, there are certain positive developments in the field. josiane and jean-luc racine in arnold’s book propound that there is a growing body of literature about untouchables which is primarily anthropological, including freeman (1979), moon (2001), and viramma (1995).18 in this paper, i shall build upon the scholarship signifying autobiographies. i support their contention, and through using robert darnton’s and james clifford geertz’s approach, i attempt to show how dalit autobiographies can prove crucial sources for history. my work aims to contribute to the debate by showing how autobiographies can lend insights that can enhance the existing understanding of dalits, their history, as well as practice of untouchability. building on the idea of multiplicity of truth, i extend it to argue for a multiplicity of pasts as well. my analysis of the three autobiographies challenges the monolithic understanding of dalit communities and the practice of untouchability by highlighting the intersectionalities within dalit communities and differential practices of untouchability in different spaces and geographical locations. methodology and three dalit autobiographies as case studies in this paper, i shall be closely engaging with the analysis of three dalit autobiographies of diverse background as my primary sources to address their significance for history. i shall deal with dalit autobiographies in both english as well as vernacular and the ones translated from the vernacular to english. the first one is kausalyā baisantrī’s doharā abhiśāpa, published in 1999. the second is vasant moon’s translated autobiography titled growing up untouchable in india: a dalit autobiography, published in 2001, originally published in marathi language with the title vasti. the third one is sujatha 15david arnold, stuart h. blackburn, and british library, eds., telling lives in india: biography, autobiography, and life history. bloomington: indiana university press, 2004, p. 14. 16malhotra and lambert-hurley, speaking of the self. 17tanika sarkar, words to win: the making of amar jiban: a modern autobiography. new delhi: zubaan, an imprint of kali for women, 2013, pp. 36–37. 18cited in arnold, blackburn, and british library, eds., telling lives in india: biography, autobiography, and life history, p. 14. utilizing dalit autobiographies in history 451 gidla’s ants among elephants: an untouchable family and the making of modern india, published in 2017. here, i shall foreground the rationale for choosing these autobiographies, the challenges in decoding dalit autobiographies, and the confines of the disciplines. by focusing on disciplinary limitations, i argue for a transdisciplinary approach to make sense of dalit autobiographies. the rationale behind the careful selection of these autobiographies has to do with a number of factors, including the specific perspectives and details that these texts have to offer. these accounts are chosen in the sense that they reflect on multiple intersectionality and diversity among the dalits as well as dalit autobiographies. some of the parameters which i took into account while making the selection were— based on gender: including both men’s and women’s autobiographies; on the basis of language: autobiographies written in the vernacular, translated in english, and written originally in english; on spatial basis: reflecting on the experiences of dalits based in different parts of the indian subcontinent; on the basis of subcategories: different untouchable castes, different subcastes, and dalits converted to other religions; on the basis of readership: addressing to local and global readership; based on the temporal and historical conjunctures these works came out; among other factors. this research design will enable highlighting the intersectionalities among dalits and thereby help nuance the understanding of diverse dalit pasts, and their everyday experiences. therefore, this set of autobiographies is promising in many respects and demands careful analysis. the task of making sense of these complexities in dalit autobiographies poses many challenges. clearly, these autobiographies consist of more complexities and pose unique challenges of analysis than the other narrative styles. to point out a few challenges, these autobiographies do not have a coherent, connected narrative. second, in many cases, the author tends to focus more on the life narratives of other people rather than themselves, which was evident in sujata gilda’s autobiography at many instances, as the paper shall discuss. third, the idea of time in these narratives is different as they do not follow a linear sense of time. for instance, let us look at kosalya baisantri’s autobiography. if judged from the point of the dominant historical narratives and writing styles, it possesses many inconsistencies. her autobiography does not follow linear way of writing, idea of time, and lacks a proper sense of chronology. in her work, she switches across temporal junctures and spaces frequently, at times from paragraph to paragraph, without necessarily marking the shift.19 evidently, her notion of time and sense of the past does not fit into the linear way of history writing. moreover, when these autobiographies are translated, it adds to the challenge of deciphering them. in the process of translation, as we shall discuss in the later section, the focus of the autobiography’s narrative can shift, which may have implications for the autobiographical consumption itself. therefore, in many senses, these autobiographies challenge the confines and assumptions of different disciplines, including history. in this context, the paper raises the question—despite aspiring to gain an understanding of the past, does one need to 19baisantrī, doharā abhiśāpa. 452 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 look at the dalit autobiographies through the lens of history and its methods only? here, i suggest that to deal with the challenges in analyzing dalit autobiographies, one must move across the disciplinary boundaries. the above discussion—about the involved complexities and varied aspects of cultural, temporal, societal, location, and linguistic context—adequately makes it evident that the task of analyzing such autobiographical narratives requires a diverse methodological engagement. while highlighting the need for multidisciplinarity in making sense of the cultural forms of narratives, cultural historian robert darnton beautifully opines: where the historian of ideas traces the filiation of formal thought from philosopher to philosopher, the ethnographic historian studies the way ordinary people made sense of the world. he attempts to uncover their cosmology, to show how they organized reality in their minds and expressed it in their behavior.20 this paper, therefore, proposes that understanding dalit narratives demand a much broader and multidisciplinary approach. in this paper, i utilize the methods of historical anthropology to analyze these dalit autobiographies and adopt the tools of critical linguistic analysis to comment upon the politics of language and translation. my primary methods and approaches include robert darnton’s attempt to make sense of different worldviews through cultural history and their articulation into cultural forms (such as folklores).21 further, i attempt to investigate the utility of dalit autobiographies through the methodology of ‘thick description’ as suggested by clifford geertz. i employ his method of analysis by systematically marking the structure of signification to contextualize the dalit narratives and their reception.22 within dalit narratives, like in doing ethnography—while faced with such an abundance of complex conceptual structures in dalit autobiographies, geertz’s suggestion would be of critical importance: doing ethnography is like trying to read (in the sense: of “construct a reading of’) a manuscript-foreign, faded, full of ellipses, incoherencies, suspicious emendations, and tendentious commentaries, but written not in conventionalized graphs of sound but in transient examples of shaped behavior.23 thus, the paper attempts to focus on how the life histories in the form of autobiographies get interpreted and made sense of socially, and are situated in the knowledge corpus. for a sound theoretical grounding, i make use of the scholarship emphasizing autobiographies, as discussed in the historiography section. with such a diverse, multidisciplinary, and alternative approach, one can engage with complex narratives like dalit autobiographies. 20robert darnton, the great cat massacre and other episodes in french cultural history. new york: basic books, 1984. 21ibid. 22elizabeth colson and clifford geertz, “the interpretation of cultures: selected essays,” contemporary sociology 4, no. 6 (1975), pp. 637–38, https://doi.org/10.2307/2064031. 23ibid., p. 10. utilizing dalit autobiographies in history 453 who’s writing about whom and how: on narrative, power, and knowledge the positivist idea of scientific and objective history, dominance of brahmins and upper castes in production of knowledge, and the contention about ‘can the subalterns speak’—says it all. this is precisely the reason why sources like dalit autobiographies have to struggle in finding legitimacy in the academic field. here, i examine the reasons for the marginality of dalit narratives both in academia and outside. not only is there a lack of narratives from the marginalized communities within the archives, but outside of the archives as well, articulations such as the dalit autobiographies have been sidelined. it calls for questioning what percolates to us as knowledge, who controls its production and dissemination, and who provides legitimacy to it. additionally, a pressing concern for me has been the way narrative and forms of narrative are perceived in a hierarchy of authority and legitimacy. gramsci has highlighted the role and relation of knowledge, hegemony, and power in his works. building on, i suggest that this narrative hierarchy clearly resonates with the existing power structure, and one needs to challenge it. in the context of dalit autobiographical narratives, i suggest looking at the phenomenon of invisiblization at two levels. first, in the global context due to the influence of enlightenment and colonialization. second, in the particular context of south asia and indian society, where brahmins and their formulated societal norms, including the varna system, provided brahmins the sole monopoly over charting and disseminating knowledge. in the global context, the positivist ‘archival turn’ and the focus on rational ‘fact’ and scientific ‘truth’ had a significant impact on what came to be recognized as knowledge and how the disciplines were shaped. given the emergence and shaping of the disciplines in europe, followed by the colonial conquests, the worldviews about the colonies and colonial societies were formulated in the west. if we trace from european imperialism, the colonial regimes controlled the powers and produced colonial knowledge forms, including law and cultural ethnographies, which ultimately described the colonies and their people. in multiple aspects, these forms continue as knowledge or have influence over it.24 clearly, knowledge production has been controlled by those who hold power and is utilized to maintain their dominance. in the case of south asia and its society, brahmins were the ones who exclusively enjoyed access to knowledge and controlled its production and dissemination. brahmins—who are a minuscule minority in the population, yet dominate knowledge production. brahmins and their formulated texts, such as dharmasastras, or codes of conduct for the society, continue to have an immense influence on the rituals and culture in indian society. these socially prevalent codes already put the untouchables or dalits outside of the varna order and prohibited dalits from all sorts of education 24however, this was not peculiar to the colonial empire. similarly, even in the precolonial period, such as the mughal empire in indian subcontinent, the state controlled the knowledge production and produced court chronicles, law books, among others. 454 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 and knowledge, including reading and writing.25 these long-prevalent societal norms have led to the creation of such hierarchal power structures which exist in the field of knowledge production till date. even now, dalit narratives, like their folklores and autobiographies, still struggle to find legitimacy and carve their space in the mainstream. sharmila rege intensifies the discussion on the implication of this brahmanical monopoly on the consumption of non-brahminic narratives and on the discourse on caste in the public sphere. rege has pointed out how brahmins’ dominance in knowledge production has had an impact on the public sphere as noticeable in the nineteenth century debates on caste. the discussion of caste in the public sphere was illegitimized and considered as the ‘betrayal of the nation.’ this strategy of confining caste to the private was challenged by the mobilization of satyashodhak, non-brahmin and dalit counterpublics.26 furthermore, rege discussed how even many reformists and nationalists confined the problem of caste to only purity and pollution and the concept of untouchability. these groups saw these ‘ills of the caste system’ as a hindrance to ‘larger “common good” like social unity.’27 therefore, they never really challenged the core exploitation of the caste system itself. sociologist g.s. ghurye too considered anti-brahman movement as a result of the divide and rule policy during british colonialism and was anxious about the decline of the priest system.28 these views show how brahmanical hegemony goes unnoticed in the public sphere despite its mammoth role, which i attempt to challenge here. writing on the autobiography of dalits, the authors josiane racine and jean-luc racine discuss different kinds of silences. the authors warn that the title of their work, ‘beyond silence: a dalit life history in south asia’, is not indicative of the silence on the part of the dalits. dalits do articulate their expressions. but it is the silence on the part of the dominant castes in the society who do not acknowledge their voices and knowledge. it is the silence arising out of the higher castes’ contempt and deliberate ignorance.29 recent works such as dipesh chakrabarty’s have shown how europe or the west has dominated the field of knowledge production for long and argue to do away with 25manusmriti, or manava-dharmasastra is one of the primary societal codes of conduct that has significance in indian society and its ritual practices. though it does not mention untouchability, which was added later to the hindu dharmasastras, it mentions the code for the lowest varna in the varna system, called shudras. some excerpts from the text on shudras include: “iv – 99. he (the twice born) must never read (the vedas) —– in the presence of the shudras.” and “i – 91. one occupation only the lord prescribed to the shudra to serve meekly even these other three castes.” source: velivada, last access: 16 march 2023. https://velivada.com/2017/05/31/ excerpts-manusmriti-law-book-hindus/ 26sharmila rege, writing caste, writing gender: reading dalit women’s testimonios. new delhi: zubaan, 2006, p. 25. 27ibid., p. 25. 28ibid., cited in rege, p. 25. 29cited in arnold, blackburn, and british library, eds., telling lives in india: biography, autobiography, and life history, p. 252. utilizing dalit autobiographies in history 455 the fetishism with europe and european dominance in academic discourse.30 however, such works do not shed light on the indian context, where similarly, brahmins dominate the power structure in knowledge production. therefore, there is a need to look beyond and utilize the critical approaches in different disciplines as a corrective. in this light, the works of bernard cohn (and his historical-anthropological approach), nicholas dirks, ann stoler, and b. axels—make us think and move a step beyond.31 these works trace a historical genealogy and characterization of what percolates to us in the form of archives and dominant forms of knowledge. ann stoler also draws attention towards the silences and violence in the production of the state archives and the ‘archival fever.’ using these approaches can make us critical of the assumptions about pristine nature of the knowledge, and aware of the violent silences in it. gramsci aptly puts it that the history of the subaltern groups is necessarily fragmented and episodic.32 since these disadvantaged groups have not been largely a part of the existing archives, or their voices have been either appropriated, represented, or lost. therefore, the traditions of memory in these communities are primarily performative and oral. however, recent forms of textual narratives, such as dalit autobiographies, have emerged from these communities. therefore, these autobiographies provide an excellent opportunity to explore and understand the worldview of these socially and epistemologically marginalized groups. gaining from the insights of the discussed scholarship and subsequently practicing the methods suggested along with a critical approach—i suggest that one can attempt to do away with the existing bias in the archives, disciplines, and academia. the idea is that one must challenge the positivist and linear understanding of the past that privileges certain narratives and genres. it must be done both at the level of disciplines and at the level of existing power equation within the knowledge production, where the dominant does not acknowledge the narratives of the marginalized and deny legitimizing it as authoritative knowledge. hence, while understanding the dalit autobiographical accounts, the brahmanical dominance in the society and academic circles need to be acknowledged. theory in praxis: analysis of the three autobiographies when we cannot get a proverb, or a joke, or a ritual, or a poem, we know we are on to something. by picking at the document where it is most opaque, we may be able to unravel an alien system of meaning. the thread might even lead into a strange and wonderful world view.33 30dipesh chakrabarty, provincializing europe: postcolonial thought and historical difference, new edition, revised, princeton studies in culture/power/history ser. princeton: university press, 2009. 31bernard s. cohn, an anthropologist among the historians and other essays / bernard s. cohn; with an introduction by ranajit guha. delhi: oxford university press, 1987; brian keith axel, ed., from the margins: historical anthropology and its futures. durham: duke university press, 2002; ann laura stoler, along the archival grain: epistemic anxieties and colonial common sense. princeton, nj: princeton university press, 2009. 32a. gramsci, selections from the prison notebooks of antonio gramsci, 1980. 33darnton, the great cat massacre and other episodes in french cultural history, p. 5. 456 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 let us focus on the three autobiographies that are picked for the paper. taking a cue from robert darnton, i ask: what do they have to offer, to unravel? starting their analysis from historical context, these three dalit autobiographies came out during or after the last decade of the twentieth century (1999, 2001, 2017). it is important to note that this was after the mandal commission, when identity politics was picking up in india and political parties were organizing around caste. dr. b.r. ambedkar, one of the most prominent dalit leaders whose enormous influence is discussed in all these autobiographies—was also awarded the most prestigious national award, bharat ratna, posthumously in 1990. this shows that, by this time, the nation state also attempted to recognize ambedkar as a national figure and his contribution to society and the nation. this recognition was due to ambedkar’s charismatic influence among dalits and other marginalized groups and their political organization. during this period, there was a growing sense of politics of numbers, organizing around identity, and pitching their voice among the untouchables. i suggest that this may be the possible reason why dalit literature and autobiographies have picked up during and after the 1990s. this section will be a theory in praxis, where i critically analyze the selected three dalit autobiographies to make a case for their crucial importance for history. i shall focus on exploring the richness of these autobiographies through the three themes: space and differential practice of untouchability, gender and caste, and intersectionalities and subcastes among untouchables. these detailed discussions attempt to rupture the assumptions of a singular past and foreground the diverse experiences of untouchability and intersectionality among dalits. space and caste these autobiographies vividly show how dalit experiences were diverse based on their geographical location and space, including region, classroom, basti or neighborhoods, temples, and nations. sujatha gidla’s, who was based in a different geographical area and then moved abroad, had a different experience of untouchability and caste structure as compared to moon and baisantri. however, despite being within the same region, even moon and baisantri had a starkly different lived experience, given their location in different localities and neighborhoods. in moon’s autobiography, it is clearly enunciated how the mahar world, particularly the community settlement of maharwada in the vidharbha region, was different from other localities even within the same regional area. mahars in vidharbha had a good standing and were relatively much more empowered and organized. they had comparatively better access to many basic rights and amenities as compared to the other untouchables, including mahars themselves in other regions. they were better placed in aspects such as education, involvement in trade, and martial activities such as akhadas or wrestling grounds, among others. “mahars of vidharbha were even better off than the mahars of the regions of maharashtra, 20% of the population, including in the city of nagpur.”34 34moon and omvedt, growing up untouchable in india, pp. xii-xiii. utilizing dalit autobiographies in history 457 in contrast, despite coming from the same regional area of nagpur (vidharbha) but not maharwada, kosalya baisantri experienced a significantly different level of challenges. the intensity of discrimination against untouchables was extremely high as compared to in maharwada, where vasant moon grew up. on the one hand, moon mentions how his brahmin classmates from the school visited him at his house when he was ill and drank water. contrary to this, in baisantri’s settlement, she and her elder sisters were the first untouchable women to join the school and receive an education. when she was attending school, no other girl students, who were all from the upper caste brahmins or low caste but upper class, were even ready to talk to her. she was ostracized by her classmates even when she impostored herself as a touchable hindu low caste and poor, and not even revealed her untouchable identity. evidently, she never had the courage to open up about her caste or invite her friends to her house because of the fear of being further discriminated. it was only at her marriage that she invited some of her friends at her neighborhood in the marriage function who were shocked knowing where she came from. moreover, the autobiographies highlight the differential practice of untouchability and caste norms in different spaces. this phenomenon corroborates the narratives portrayed in earlier works on untouchability, such as the portrayal of urban-rural differences in untouchable experiences in mulk raj anand’s novel.35 similarly, in baisantri’s autobiography, she discusses how in different spaces the consciousness of untouchable identity and norms differed. highlighting one such norm, she mentions how she was very uncomfortable with the way the saree’s corner, pallu, had to be held above the head only by the untouchable women.36 she points out the difference in how she walked freely like other brahmin girls outside her own settlement but within the settlement, she never had the courage to defy the norm. in another context, baisantri mentions how untouchables were not allowed inside the temples, and they would make their prayers outside the boundaries of the temple premise. however, she also discusses how she and her sister used to go to a ganpati temple after school to get prashad or eatable alms.37 the temple was outside their colony, where no one knew their caste identity. hence, the anonymity had spatially enabled her to defy the set norms of untouchability. in the guise of anonymity and for the lure of getting prasad/ food, the author and her sister used to enter banned spaces like temples—signifying the kind of escapes and their own ways of dealing with untouchability in the everyday. an interesting contrast of spatial experience of untouchability is visible in vasant moon’s case. while discussing his childhood, he mentions that he did not experience much discrimination from his upper caste teachers and brahmin friends in the classroom. however, outside of the classroom, when he went out to beg at a brahmin settlement near his own, he was brutally rebuked and shooed away.38 further, in the introduction of moon’s autobiography, eleanor zelliot also notes the inconsistencies 35mulk raj anand, untouchable. penguin twentieth-century classics. london: penguin, 1940. 36baisantrī, doharā abhiśāpa, p. 48. 37ibid., p. 46. 38moon and omvedt, growing up untouchable in india, p. 22. 458 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 in the practice of untouchability: mahars rolling bidis (cigars). zelliot’s argument is that caste is ‘relevant in a specific language area’. however, i argue that it is relevant in a specific ‘vasti,’ in moon’s words, a socio-spatial setting. though she is quoting the difference in the sociospatial setting but concluding it to be a different language region.39 further, the aspect of private and personal sphere, and accordingly, different degrees of inconsistency in the practicing untouchability and caste norms emerge out in these autobiographies. as per the caste norms, while in public space, the practice of inter-dining and sharing food was not allowed among the touchables and untouchables. however, in the private, baisantri mentions how an upper caste clerk used to ask for groceries and vegetables from her house, stay in her house to save money, but would not accept cooked food from her and even discriminate with her child. similarly, while her mother would go and sell the bangles in the touchalbes’ colony, the women would buy bangles from her because of cheaper and good quality but would take a bath after accepting them. when baisantri’s mother stopped selling bangles in the touchable colony due to an incident of discrimination, the women sent a messenger to ask for the bangles. kosalya baisantri, therefore, has opined that the upper castes and brahmins are hypocrites and selfish since they selectively apply the caste norms as per their own benefits. these everyday occurrences underscore the complexities of the changing practices and varying degree of untouchability along with the time, space, and context. gender, caste, and autobiography among multiple complexities involved, the intersectionality of gender within caste structures is one of the most crucial. gender plays a decisive role in how one would experience the world despite being within similar caste and social structures. on the theme of gender and caste, the most recent work of shailaja paik, the vulgarity of caste: dalits, sexuality and humanity in modern india, highlights that it is not just the caste structures that were exploitative for dalits, but also the gendered normative stigmatization of dalits and their culture. moreover, she argues that the masculinity of hindu society depended upon controlling, taming, and exploiting the dalit communities. dalit women and dalit communities as a whole could only achieve legitimacy if they followed the normative structure set by the upper caste for them. therefore, her work puts forth the intimate sex-gender-caste equation existing in the society.40 another takeaway from her work is that one cannot view the dalit caste studies as exclusive. to understand the non-dalit communities as well, one must take dalit studies into consideration to form a grounded understanding. gaining insights from her work, this section underscores the role of gender in complicating one’s understanding of dalits and their everyday experiences. 39ibid., pp. xii-xiii. 40shailaja paik, the vulgarity of caste: dalits, sexuality, and humanity in modern india, south asia in motion. stanford, california: stanford university press, 2022. utilizing dalit autobiographies in history 459 not only how different genders may have different experiences, but recent works have also noted how different genders might articulate their lived experiences, and their narratives quite differently. anshu and siobhan discuss how women may have different narrative styles to articulate their experiences. among the three case studies of this paper, the uniqueness or seeming ‘problem’ in sujatha gidla’s narrative is that she discusses more about the other characters than her own experiences. her autobiography is characterized by storytelling. gidla’s work may seem more like a novel which is written in such a way as to make the reader curious and keep them engaged throughout. at times, she has been making swaying comments and generalizations, and later responding to them through her narrative itself. however, what may seem like a problem might be a way as to how some marginalized and traumatized groups, such as women, articulate their narrative. as malhotra and siobhan’s book highlights, uma chakravarti examines three novels written by pakistani women on the partition of the indian subcontinent in 1947 that she understands to be “deeply autobiographical in sentiment.” in particular, she makes the point that the novel form allows the female authors to “speak for a larger feminine self beyond personal experience,” thus amalgamating the individual self with history at south asia’s “most intensely violent moment.”41 similarly, despite coming from the same region and same caste, a stark difference in the writing style can be observed between moon’s and baisantri’s writing. baisantri’s life history focuses on the struggles and dire realities of lived experiences as an untouchable. contrary to this, moon narrates his story focusing more on the aspects of resilience instead of the challenges, something that resonates with an element of pride in being able to escape the confines of untouchability. the differences in narration can be because of the location of the author. when moon is writing his autobiography, the way he narrates probably has to do with his gender, location, and the moment when he is writing. after being actively involved in dalit organizations for a while, he has risen to the position of being one of the most prominent ambedkarite activist and scholar— the one who was assigned the task of gathering and editing the works and speeches of dr b.r. ambedkar. therefore, it is probably his way of expressing how he escaped the odds of untouchability and the sociocultural structures of exploitation. a critical analysis of these autobiographies, that come from both men and women, reflects that certain taboos related to everyday and personal life were not brought up in the public discourse. the self in these writings is dissuaded from opening up about certain aspects which are considered ‘personal’ or tabooed and hence barred in public discussion. this includes the omission of discussion about the hardships related to maternity, menstruation, sexuality, and love affairs. despite immense discussion about child marriage, normalization of frequent impregnation of girls at a young age, multiple births and death of children, diseases and disability being a common part of the life of dalits, among others—the omission of relevant issues like maternal health, puberty, menstrual health, et cetera was striking as it went completely missing.42 such 41cited in malhotra and lambert-hurley, speaking of the self, p. 6. 42baisantrī, doharā abhiśāpa. 460 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 was the case even when baisantri, in her narrative, describes that in her community, having children was as normal as ‘drinking water,’ and conceiving and having children were distanced from sexuality through a divine explanation. she describes the understanding prevalent in the society: “children are what the god gives as per its wishes, what can one do in such a scenario.”43 it was considered as something natural, divine, and where the human did not have any say or control. on the gender equation, the autobiographies highlight a strong sense of patriarchy within the untouchable communities too. evidently, multiple marriages or widow remarriage seem to be a common practice within the community, and it is particularly smooth and favorable for men.44 there were instances of discussion on the skepticism about the sexuality of women, adultery, and its consequences for women. in the case of the widows, women were also stigmatized and restricted through certain social norms. while on the other hand, a widower had no social restrictions. additionally, it was normal for a man to have multiple marriages. in fact, having multiple wives was seen as a sign of prosperity and power. as baisantri describes, it was considered that having multiple wives reflected that one could afford to take care of a larger family. in the case of childbirth, despite having love for the daughters, there was preference given to the male child and male birth was celebrated. daughters, or unmarried women, were considered as ‘paraya dhan’ or other’s wealth by the parents. in kosalya’s family, a male child’s birth after six daughters was celebrated, and sweets were distributed in the colony. still, the author’s parents were considered as exceptions given that despite the social mood, they ensured education for their daughters.45 besides, baisantri’s narrative also reflects on the gender dynamics in the struggle for resources. it is reflected in the case description of the tap water contestations. it was mostly women who would be involved in the primary struggle and would attack the others not just physically but morally based on their normative “character” and use gender and normative behavioral based slurs against them. within the patriarchal structure, women’s empowerment significantly depended on the degree of autonomy, support, and power that women had in their own space, household, and domestic issues. in the case of kosalya baisantri, the author’s mother was able to take steps like educating all her daughters and son only because she had the autonomy and say in her own household. in addition, the author’s father was supportive of her mother, unlike in the case of her grandmother and grandfather or others in the community. according to her, this was the reason no other girl in her settlement could get proper education, and since no one else took women and their education seriously. 46 therefore, internal autonomy of women and familial support are significant factors in developing prospects of women empowerment among dalits. this kind of deeper reflection on the sensibility is absent in men’s autobiographies. 43ibid., p. 51. translations are mine. 44moon and omvedt, growing up untouchable in india, p. 19; baisantrī, doharā abhiśāpa. 45baisantrī, doharā abhiśāpa, p. 51. 46ibid., p. 47. utilizing dalit autobiographies in history 461 though moon acknowledges his mother’s contribution in his life and success, but does not reflect well on the larger gendered scenario. for dalit masses, most of whom were not only socially challenged but also financially deprived, education emerged as a means which was considered as one of the only ways to achieve social and economic mobility. while discussing women’s education, these autobiographies suggest that despite being in the educational institutions, untouchables are not really included into the institutions or could do well in the existing system. in many cases, they were highly challenged and compelled to take different courses to achieve things like accessing drinking water and socializing with classmates—something that might appear very mundane, simple, or accessible for the rest. the degree of challenges dalit women faced was much higher and more complex. even among dalits, the sensibility towards women’s education varied. the importance given to education also differed among different sub-castes in mahars.47 kosalya discusses the additional challenges in the process of getting sensitization on the front of women’s education. the task was onerous because, at that time, hardly anyone would believe that it was important for a dalit woman to get an education. moreover, given the poor economic conditions, paying for women’s education was seen as an unwanted investment— something which was unaffordable for most dalits any day. therefore, the initial local schools (jai bai’s school) and skill centres run by the missionaries were free of cost, and thus, attracted the aspirant dalit women. as soon as kosalya baisantri’s education started to depend on monetary investment, it again caused a backlash from the family due to the financial conditions. even after getting into the institution, baisantri’s experience of education outside of her settlement among other caste students was also a cultural and class shock.48 an interesting thing to note is that the kind of education and training skills provided to women were also based on their normative role as a mere housewife or an assistant to other workers. the ‘feminine’ skill set based on gender roles that were provided to them included how to take care of a patient, what to be done in emergency situations, cooking, weaving, et cetera. possibly, in some way, this supported and helped extend the existing labor distribution among the genders.49 in addition to this, what added to the challenges for women in getting education and training was the practice of child marriage. due to early marriages, women like kosalya’s elder sister were pushed into household, family structures, and motherhood. having multiple children, among other responsibilities, at a very young age would have killed all the possibilities of even thinking about pursuing education, informally or remotely.50 despite the existing odds, these autobiographies also indicate the emerging aspirations among dalit women. not only in the autobiographies of kosalya and sujatha, but in moon’s autobiography too, we catch a glimpse of women’s aspiration 47ibid., p. 52. 48ibid., p. 37. 49ibid., p. 38. 50ibid., p. 45. 462 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 towards education through her mother. in moon’s acknowledgment of his mother, he focuses on her education when women, particularly dalit women’s education was not a norm. he describes her aspiration and struggles in a patriarchal society. she worked as a laborer yet aspired to condition her children as the ‘best’ like the elites.51 such intricate inquiries into gender perspectives among dalits are made possible through these autobiographies. diverse untouchable communit (ies): castes, subcastes, and power hierarchy among dalits while engaging with dalit subjectivity, one must be cautious of the intersectionalities among dalits. in this section, i attempt to deconstruct the shallow consciousness of dalit-ness and foreground the diversity among dalit communities. my aim is to generate consciousness about and encourage the narratives of the diversity within communities among dalits—something that is unrecognized in the common understanding. ‘dalit’ is not a homogenous entity. it cannot be traced in the past as it is a term that emerged for the political organization of the most marginalized castes. therefore, there exist many differences, and even conflicts, among several untouchable castes and even within subcastes. whereas the autobiographies highlight that the untouchables shared a bond of common lived experience—untouchability, identity and its stigma, and caste-based exploitation—they are also self-critical in reflecting on the varying differences within the communities. for instance, the autobiographies discuss the differences in the customary cultural practices among different untouchable castes and subcastes. the practices of inter-dining and endogamy were also practiced among the other untouchable castes, and at times among different sub-castes as well. kaushalya baisantri discusses how inter-subcaste marriage was not prominent in her caste. she discusses that in general if a inter-subcaste marriage takes place, it was not legitimized by the community. she also discusses how certain sub-castes have developed well and are seen as comparatively ‘respectable’, while some, like her own, were considered ‘uncivilized’ and further looked down upon. besides, at the beginning of the paper itself, one of the quotes from gidla’s narrative shows how there were internal differences among christian converts based on their original caste status. at times there were internal hierarchies among the untouchables where they used to practice touchability and untouchability. some of the untouchable castes would practice untouchability among other fellow untouchable castes. kaushalya baisantri depicts these internal differences. she also discusses how tribals were neither literate nor rich, yet they were not untouchables. since these tribals provided labor at touchable houses, they also practiced untouchability with dalit communities. nonetheless, the higher castes and brahmins never used to let tribals touch them or their belongings. even when the tribals were allowed to work and provide labor at the houses of these touchable, there was a separate washing area outside with a separate tap for cleaning activities. once it was done, the touchables would perform re-cleaning with water and 51moon and omvedt, growing up untouchable in india. utilizing dalit autobiographies in history 463 only then take things back to their houses. despite this, these tribals also practiced untouchability with the untouchable castes, probably because of their work. sujata gidla also discusses the hierarchy among the untouchable castes as per their occupations. malas, the author’s caste, were village servants meant to do menial works, and madigas carried dead animals and used their hide to make leather.52 malas practiced untouchability or despised madigas due to their ‘impure,’ stigmatized occupation. here, one can notice that the caste logic of purity-impurity was being replicated and seeping among the untouchables themselves to create an internal hierarchy. these hierarchies were internal among dalits, since for the caste hindus they were all untouchables, all despicable to the core. similarly, moon mentions the differences among different subcastes and other untouchable castes at many instances. he further describes how internal caste differences hoped to be annihilated to form internal unity. this was one of the steps taken to organize the untouchables politically. he mentions how earlier separate subcastes had separate akhadas or wrestling grounds and there were internal contradictions, which were later resolved, and thus, the tensions among the subcastes were slowly waning.53 moon also mentions the case of the priestly caste within the maharwada. he discusses that even among the untouchables and under subcastes, there were priestly untouchables to perform rituals like brahmins. he mentions that it was because the brahmins did not provide their service to untouchables. however, these priestly subcastes were then considered as more pure and higher in the hierarchy as compared to the other subcastes among untouchables. on a separate note, baisantri discusses in her narrative how hierarchy was prevalent not only among upper castes and untouchables, but how lower castes also found it difficult to find acceptance among upper castes. she depicts how the two kunbi women students in her class, who were neither untouchables nor economically challenged, were still not able to mix with the brahmin girls.54 this clearly displays the hierarchy among the students in the class and their circles based on the caste hierarchy existing in the society, which does not necessarily have to do with economic means and material gains. how do we critically read dalit autobiographies: instances of language and translation language is the primary medium of articulation. however, its role is not limited to articulation alone. language too has its politics and complexities. naturally, then, the language influences the articulation and its reception. how does and to what degree does the language of articulation impact the narrative? what impact does translation have? does articulation in a native language or in another language make any difference? while focusing on the influence of language and translation, this section argues for a critical reading of dalit autobiographies. 52gidla, ants among elephants. 53moon and omvedt, growing up untouchable in india, p. 9. 54baisantrī, doharā abhiśāpa. 464 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 in the context of accessibility and politics of language, sharmila rege in her book opines ravikumar’s argument, an activist and writer of dalit movement in tamil nadu. he proclaims that though the increased translations would provide dalit literature more accessibility and expose casteism, he also warns that there is a ‘politics of selection at work in terms of what is translated and by whom.’55 further, malhotrahurley’s work also suggests that in the name of translation, the whites influence and shape the narrative.56 their work suggests that translations are much more complex than what they might appear on the surface. it has to do with the equations of power, hegemony, racism, colonialism, gender, and masculinity. among the autobiographical texts analyzed, language prompts turn out to be one of the significant factors in shaping their narrative. it is important to note that none of these three autobiographies are in the native language of the authors. vasant moon’s autobiography, though originally written in his native language marathi with the title ‘vasti’ (meaning ‘community settlement’), was translated into english by gail omvedt with an introduction from eleanor zelliot. this phenomenon had its own impact on the autobiographies and their consumption. a heavy influence of translators—their location, biases, and their perception of what stands as good articulation, probably to serve a specific type of readership, including mainstream academia—has varied consequences for moon’s autobiography. eleanor zelliot never fails to explain or connect how moon’s narrative has relevance for the western audience. she clearly points out that ambedkar’s political rights and legal approach vis-a-vis gandhi’s change of heart approach has relevance in american culture.57 in the case of gidla, as she moved out abroad, for her the audience consisted of north americans. therefore, it was natural for her to write in english. since this western audience barely had any idea about the caste system, it impacted her articulation and the narrative too. she would explain the caste system in comparison with slavery and racism and would provide her narrative with an exotic tinge through her writing style about dalit lives and south asia. in the case of baisantri devi, though her native language was marathi, she explains that she is writing in hindi because there is a dearth of dalit autobiographies in hindi. therefore, she aspires to be one of the pioneers of dalit women’s autobiography in hindi language.58 her limited knowledge of hindi or attempts to translate her thoughts from marathi to hindi could have added to some of the incoherencies and incongruencies in her work. in vasant moon’s autobiography, one can conspicuously note the changes that the translation can have on the narrative. in his autobiography, the translation led to fundamental changes, including the change in the title, focuses, and emphasis on what the translator thought the people needed to know. given that the translator of vasant moon’s autobiography, gail omvedt, was a trained academic activist with a grounding in the understanding of caste, proficiency in english, and was from europe— all these 55rege, writing caste, writing gender. 56malhotra and lambert-hurley, speaking of the self. 57moon and omvedt, growing up untouchable in india, p. x. 58baisantrī, doharā abhiśāpa. she states this in the introduction. utilizing dalit autobiographies in history 465 factors have a lot to do with the kind of framing that the book finally has. for example, she has a section in the introduction describing what is untouchability, primarily targeting the non-indian audience. this location greatly impacts and changes how the book is shaped and transformed. for example, kosalya baisantri never considered this vital as she was aiming at an indian, hindi-speaking audience who, by virtue, would know what the caste system is. in vasant’s autobiography, there are certain aspects that the translator problematizes. in her introduction, eleanor zelliot justifies the change of the title saying it makes it more ‘understandable’. also, she says that in moon’s story, many aspects are what you find in any poor urban neighborhood, but there is something “peculiarly indian.”59 this, in a way, fizzles the distinctions and uniqueness of untouchable castes’ living as labor. in my opinion, despite the translator being conscious of the fact, this approach or articulation probably does more harm than good to the purpose. further, there are multiple omissions and changes that come along with the translation. it also has to do with the impact of the intercontinental readership that shapes what comes out in the text. on the one hand, in the introduction of moon’s autobiography, the translator mentions that she has kept intact many names to retain the ‘taste’ of moon’s memories. zelliot also raises the omissions in moon’s work. she points out that he did not mention that mahars did not have the right to enter the temples until independence and no brahmin came to perform puja in mahar temples till then.60 however, zelliot also mentions that she has left out many names and has altered several, including the names of the neighborhoods and caste. it comes across as highly problematic how the translators in moon’s autobiography are changing the names of the caste to the occupations possibly to suit the convenience of the non-indian readers. how does it make sense not to mention the names of the castes themselves in a dalit autobiography? moreover, one of the names the translator used for the untouchable caste communities is the “pickpocket caste.61” zelliot does not even provide any reference to the caste’s actual name or any discussion about the category of ‘criminal tribes,’ thereby falling into the same trap of creating normative categories for different communities. similarly, the translator has changed some of the names of the neighborhoods too. further, in the context of the nomenclature of dalit castes, zelliot also mentions how certain castes prefer sanskritized versions of their names.62 i partially agree with this argument. however, it does not seem to be the case with the chamars, who are highly active in the anti-caste politics. it is important to note that despite all these differences, the autobiographies also highlight that the untouchable communities shared a bond of everyday lived experiences of untouchability—identity, stigma, and caste-based exploitation. the narratives tell us how, under ambedkar’s leadership, this shared experience ultimately helped unify untouchables in raising their voice against caste-based prejudice and 59moon and omvedt, growing up untouchable in india, p. ix. 60ibid., p. xv. 61ibid., p. xviii. 62ibid., p. xvi. 466 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 exploitation.63 gidla’s narrative also shows how satyam, an untouchable, was trained to think more about the divisions around the class and not caste due to his affiliation with the communist party. nonetheless, he along with other untouchable communities joined ambedkar in his quest to fight against the exploitative structures of caste. conclusion: their narrative, their truth, their past, their history what do such traces and utterances in dalit autobiographies tell us? can their ‘whispering’ also be considered as the ‘voices of history’?64 through this paper, i have shown that dalit autobiographies are crucial sources which demand to be utilized for making sense of the past and history of the untouchable groups, and about the contemporary period and touchable society too. however, the paper has demonstrated how the conditions of knowledge production and power have invisiblized knowledge forms like dalit autobiographies. in this paper, i have argued that the dual structures of positivist confines and brahmanical hegemony need to be acknowledged and challenged. my paper further presses upon the importance of dalit autobiographies by foregrounding their uniqueness. this paper shows how these autobiographies challenge the idea of linear progression and the linear notion of time in history. these accounts help tackle the assumptions of a singular past, identity, and everyday experiences. despite showcasing a sense of community, these autobiographies hold a remarkable level of consciousness of intersectionalities within their narratives, which makes them a critically rich historical source. they also provide a reflection upon such intricacies, including the challenges, struggles, aspirations, and escapes from dalits’ conditions in everyday. the cultural aspects and details in these autobiographies are so rich that are rarely found in any other archival sources. apart from the three themes of spatiality, gender and caste, and intersectionalities among dalits, there are many threads that these dalit autobiographies unfurl. it includes reflections on the impact of national-international events and structures, such as world wars and colonialism, on marginalized groups at the local level; intrinsic links of disease and disability with dalit lives; differential perspectives on themes like nationalism as well as on leaders including m.k. gandhi and ambedkar; and socially practiced escapes for social mobility. responding to gayatri chakravorti spivak’s contention on whether the subalterns can speak, this paper has presented a case of how dalit autobiographical accounts can be considered as a repository of their voices and histories.65 despite all the challenges and limitations of the autobiographical accounts, this paper has built a case and has argued: yes, they can. though the task may be daunting and onerous, however, as 63both vasant moon’s and sujatha gidla’s autobiographies reflect upon the indispensable role of b. r. ambedkar in fighting against untouchability and exploitative caste structures. 64guha, the small voice of history. 65spivak, “can the subaltern speak?,” in colonial discourse and post-colonial theory: a reader. utilizing dalit autobiographies in history 467 the paper shows, one can decode these autobiographies through a multidisciplinary approach, suitable methods, and undertaking a critical analysis. i uphold that dalit autobiographies are one of the critical forms of articulation of their voices, their truths, their sense of the past, and their history. references ambedkar, b.r. (2014). annihilation of caste. annotated critical edition. london: verso. anand, mulk raj. (1940). untouchable. penguin twentieth-century classics. london, england ; penguin. arnold, david, stuart h. blackburn, and british library (eds.) (2004). telling lives in india: biography, autobiography, and life history. bloomington: indiana university press. axel, brian keith (ed.) (2002) from the margins: historical anthropology and its futures. durham: duke university press. baisantrī, kausalyā. (1999). doharā abhiśāpa. 1. saṃskaraṇa. dillī: parameśvarī prakāśana. chakrabarty, dipesh. (2009). provincializing europe: postcolonial thought and historical difference. new edition, revised. princeton studies in culture/power/history ser. princeton: university press. chatterjee, nandini. (2020). negotiating mughal law: a family of landlords across three indian empires. cambridge: university press. cohn, bernard s. (1987). an anthropologist among the historians and other essays / bernard s. cohn; with an introduction by ranajit guha. delhi: oxford university press. colson, elizabeth, and clifford geertz. ((1975). the interpretation of cultures: selected essays. contemporary sociology 4, no. 6, pp. 637–638. https://doi.org/10.2307/2064031. darnton, robert. (1984). the great cat massacre and other episodes in french cultural history. new york: basic books. spivak, gayatri chakravorty. (1994). can the subaltern speak? in colonial discourse and postcolonial theory: a reader, ed. patrick williams and laura chrisman, pp. 78–123. oxon: routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315656496-13 gidla, sujatha. (2017). ants among elephants: an untouchable family and the making of modern india. first edition. new york: farrar, straus, and giroux. ginzburg, carlo. (1983). the cheese and the worms: the cosmos of a sixteenth century miller. new york: penguin books. gramsci, a. in q. hoare (ed.) (1980). selections from the prison notebooks of antonio gramsci, new york: international publishers. guha, ranajit. (2009). the small voice of history: collected essays. ranikhet: permanent black. malhotra, anshu, and siobhan lambert-hurley. (eds.) (2015). speaking of the self: gender, performance, and autobiography in south asia. durham: duke university press. moon, vasant, and gail omvedt. (2001). growing up untouchable in india: a dalit autobiography. asian voices. lanham, md: rowman & littlefield publishers. paik, shailaja. (2022). the vulgarity of caste: dalits, sexuality, and humanity in modern india. south asia in motion. stanford, california: stanford university press. parr, joy. (2011). ‘don’t speak for me’: practicing oral history amidst the legacies of conflict 1. journal of the canadian historical association vol. 21, no. 1 (may 9) pp. 1–11. https://doi. org/10.7202/1003040ar 468 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 rawat, ramnarayan s., and k. satyanarayana (eds.) (2016) dalit studies. durham, nc: duke university press. rao, anupama. (2006). representing dalit selfhood. seminar 558. available at:. http://www. indiaseminar.com/2006/558/558%20anupama%20rao.html rege, sharmila. (2006). writing caste, writing gender: reading dalit women’s testimonios. new delhi: zubaan. sarkar, tanika. (2013). words to win: the making of amar jiban: a modern autobiography. new delhi: zubaan, an imprint of kali for women. ———. (1993). a book of her own. a life of her own: autobiography of a nineteenth-century woman. history workshop, no. 36, pp. 35–65. simon, laurence, and sukhadeo thorat. (2020). why a journal on caste? caste / a global journal on social exclusion, vol. 1, no. 1 (february 14). https://doi.org/10.26812/caste. v1i1.159. stoler, ann laura. (2009). along the archival grain: epistemic anxieties and colonial common sense. princeton, nj: princeton university press. vansina, jan. (1985). oral tradition as history. acls humanities e-book. madison, wis.: university of wisconsin press. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.02676. © 2023 tauqueer ali sabri. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.704 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 469-472 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste book review scheduled castes in the indian labour market: employment discrimination and its impact on poverty authors: sukhadeo thorat, s. madheswaran, b. p. vani publisher: oxford university press, uk year: 2023 reviewer: tauqueer ali sabri project manager rosa luxemburg stiftung, south asia email: tauqueer.sabri@gmail.com the discrimination of scheduled caste in the labour market has been a matter of great concern. various empirical studies and literature have attempted to understand the nature, forms and consequences of discrimination. the book by sukhadeo thorat, s. madheswaran and b.p. vani brings out an important account on the caste-based discrimination experienced by dalits in the labour market. the authors systematically analyse the nature and forms of discrimination in the labour market. the book successfully attempts to quantify the magnitude of discrimination and its consequences on labour market outcome to the former untouchable, i.e. scheduled caste. based on the latest nsso data findings and employing rigorous statistical techniques such as decomposition methods, the book makes an important understanding on caste-based inequality and prejudices in wage and employment. indian society is divided on the basis of caste and religion. marginalised communities face discrimination on the basis of social groups they belong to rather than their individual characteristics. social exclusion and discrimination often manifests in social and economic transactions and affects the socio-economic wellbeing of socially excluded communities. due to denial of basic rights for livelihood, the socially marginalised communities are forced to live in acute poverty. 470 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 the analysis in the book is the further addition of the work on labour market discrimination done by the author (thorat & attewell 2007). in his seminal work, the author examined the nature and form of discrimination in job applications in the private sector in india. the author in his previous work on economic discrimination had systematically analysed the role of caste-based prejudices and stigma in reducing employment opportunities for the dalit labour force in india. the analysis in the book highlights that social identity-based discrimination and wage disparity have not reduced despite the affirmative action policies (duraisamy & duraisamy 2017). the book is divided into eleven chapters. the authors introduce the book by contextualising the role of the caste system and its impact on livelihood opportunities for people on the margins. the book presents a historical account of the exclusion of untouchables in employment opportunities. analysing the caste-labour relations, the authors argue that untouchables faced deep-rooted discrimination in accessing equal wage and employment opportunities. along with statistical evidence of caste-based discrimination, the book provides detailed theoretical discussion on the economics of caste-based discrimination in the labour and wage market. critiquing the academic discourse of studying labour market discrimination, the authors highlight that caste discrimination in employment has been systematically neglected in mainstream research. the research on caste-based discrimination had failed to recognize the problem seriously and ignores the discrimination factors in employment. besides, most of the research had failed to differentiate the nature of discrimination in the public and private sectors. it is noteworthy that this book provides comprehensive discussion on both private and public sector employment. explaining the classical economic theories of discrimination, the authors provide useful insights on the causes and consequences of employment discrimination and contextualise these theories in the indian context. one of the unique contributions of this volume is that it has successfully innovated and modifies the western theories of market discrimination in the context of caste in india. apart from theories of economics of discrimination, the book also provides crucial insight on dr ambedkar’s theoretical perspectives on castebased discrimination in employment, wage and occupation. the book also provides a deep understanding of the econometric methods of measuring discrimination in the labour market and its impact on income and poverty for dalits in india. the statistical techniques used in the volume help to validate the arguments on how social group identity determines access to labour market and the impact of discrimination in reducing the wage and income for marginalised social groups. the authors estimate the impact of wage and labour market discrimination in reducing income and thereby increasing the probability of dalits falling into poverty. analysing the labour force and workforce participation by social groups, the book highlights that former untouchable castes have to face both exclusion and inclusion. while they are excluded from the self-employed as well as high paid jobs, they are often forcefully included in low paid manual work. the empirical results discussed in the book provide conclusive evidence regarding the occupational segregation of scheduled caste in low paid and elementary occupations. the book provides comprehensive discussion on scheduled castes in the indian labour market: employment discrimination 471 employment discrimination experienced by the scheduled caste in the labour market. through decomposition econometric techniques, the authors attempt to understand the role of human capital endowments and discrimination in explaining difference in access to employment between scheduled caste and upper caste. thus, quantifying the caste-based advantage to the upper caste and disadvantage to scheduled caste, the book brings out that the discrimination in the probability of access to employment is much higher in the private sector in comparison to the public sector. the book also provides an important read on policy suggestions to eradicate discrimination in labour market. the authors argue that improvement in investments in human resources would certainly have significant impact on labour market opportunities but would not be sufficient to protect scheduled caste from discrimination. the authors also suggest various measures to reduce discrimination such as changes in the policies both in public and private, legal safeguards against discrimination and most importantly the need for reservation in the private sector. the book also explores unemployment discrimination encountered by scheduled caste in the labour market. discussing caste-wise disparity in the employment rates, the authors explain that the unemployment rate is higher for scheduled caste as they suffer both open and under-employment than other social groups. the book also questions the concept of demographic dividend in india by critically analysing youth unemployment and under-employment specifically youths from marginalised social groups. explaining the distressful situation of employment among the scheduled caste, the authors argue that scheduled caste youth not only suffer higher unemployment but also encounter longer waits for employment despite having higher education than upper caste. also, the likelihood of remaining unemployed is higher in urban areas than rural areas. it is imperative to not only enhance higher education particularly professional skills among scheduled caste youths, but also take policy measures such as deterrents to caste discrimination in hiring and equal opportunity in employment. another critical question which is addressed by the book is wage inequality experienced by scheduled caste workers while accessing labour market. the decomposition analysis implied in the book provides empirical evidence that social identity such as caste affects the wage inequality through discrimination and limited access to education and professional education. importantly, inequality in wages is lower in low paid jobs where the scheduled caste is segregated and wage gap is higher in tertiary sector employment, particularly in the private sector. lack of safeguards and regulations against caste discrimination in the private sector further aggravates the problem of wage inequality for dalit workers. historical injustices in the form of denial of right to capital assets and education continue to adversely affect the employment and wages to dalit youths. apart from affirmative policies, measures such as reparation to the dalits are critical to address the legacy of caste-based injustices. the authors also question the claim made by the private sector regarding merit and denial of discrimination by providing evidence of discrimination in hiring as well equal wages for dalits. the upward mobility in the job hierarchy in the private sector is marred by discrimination in wage earning faced by scheduled castes. there is constraint in terms of the upper limit of 472 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 a dalit moving into higher paid jobs due to caste discrimination. thus, the statistical analysis in the book provides systematic evidence of occupational discrimination and wage discrimination faced by dalit workers while accessing the labour market. a dalit worker has to face inequality in access to certain occupations and also unequal wages within the given occupation. the book also makes significant contributions in analysing the impact of discrimination in employment and subsequent loss of income due to wage discrimination on the poverty of scheduled castes in india. the econometric exercise related to employment and wage discrimination in the book reveals that despite having similar endowments, the probability of employment is lower for scheduled caste workers than upper caste workers. loss of employment opportunities and equal wages due to discrimination further aggravates the economic distress of scheduled caste households and pushes them into the poverty trap. the authors argue that apart from endowment measures to reduce poverty, eradication of discrimination in wage and employment would reduce poverty by 40 per cent. this is quite significant in terms of policy formulation for the eradication of poverty among socially marginalised groups. thus, apart from increasing the ownership of agriculture land and capital and education, it is essential to formulate a policy for eradication of caste-based discrimination to check the menace of high incidence of poverty among discriminated social groups. the book provides a critical understanding of the high incidence of poverty among scheduled caste and suggests policies to overcome the problem. ironically, scheduled caste continues to face restrictions in the occupations which were denied to them historically. the authors argue that in order to reduce inequality between scheduled caste and high caste, there is need for reparation or compensation along with affirmative action on education and employment. to conclude we can say that the book is an important read due to its critical engagement and initiation of a dialogue on inequality and discrimination in the labour market. references duraisamy, p. and m. duraisamy (2017). social identity and wage discrimination in the indian labour market. economic and political weekly, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 51–60. thorat, s., and p. attewell (2007). the legacy of social exclusion: a correspondence study of job discrimination in india. economic and political weekly, vol. 42, no. 41, pp. 4141–4145. thorat, s., and k. newman (2010). blocked by caste: economic discrimination in modern india. new delhi: oxford university press. © 2024 shradha parashari. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.2315 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 477-497 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste do teachers have in-group bias about student caste and socioeconomic status in india? shradha parashari1 abstract this article studies the extent of teacher’s in-group bias in occupational expectations and grading on the basis of a student’s caste and socioeconomic status. the article adopts an experimental approach and draws on data generated from 122 teachers from 19 schools in delhi, india. the caste and socio-economic status of students were randomly assigned to a set of essays written by them such that the assigned characteristics were not related to essay quality. the results show that high caste teachers hold higher occupational expectations from their in-group category and are biased against the low caste category. for instance, high caste teachers assign 0.53 per cent or 0.019 points higher occupational expectations to high caste students and assign 5.6 per cent or 0.19 points lower occupational expectations to low caste students. the magnitude of coefficients is small but significant at 5 per cent level (p value<0.005). in terms of marks assigned, results show, that high caste teachers assign 2.36 points or 3.22 per cent higher marks when the assigned characteristics belong to a high caste; indicating in-group bias/favor for the same caste. the coefficient is positive and significant at 5 per cent level (pvalue < 0.05). in contrast, high caste teachers are shown to be biased against low caste students as they assign 2.41 points or 3.41 per cent lower marks when the assigned characteristics is a low caste. given the ultra-competitive nature of schooling in india and the importance of grades in determining access to higher education in india, even a point disadvantage is substantial. keywords teacher in-group bias, grading, occupational expectations, caste, socio-economic status, delhi, india 1phd scholar, unu-merit, maastricht university, netherlands e-mail: shradhaparashari1@gmail.com 478 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 introduction across the globe, teachers play a vital role in molding students in ways that affect their academic achievement, and determine future options in life. in addition to being instructors, teachers serve as the gatekeepers for the academic progress of their students, and their opinions and impressions frequently have a significant impact on the paths that students take. however, biases, especially those pertaining to social categories like caste and socio-economic status (ses), have the potential to undermine the objectivity of these judgements, and may impede the chances that students have in life. the issue of in-group bias among teachers—favoring students who share the same caste and socio-economic status—is examined in this article along with its implications for educational equity. the propensity for people to give preference to members of their own group over members of other groups is known as in-group bias. the notion of social identity, which holds that people get a feeling of identity and selfworth from belonging to certain groups, is the foundation for this (tajfel & turner, 1986). when teachers intentionally or unintentionally give preference to pupils with a similar social background—such as the same caste or socio-economic class—it is referred to as in-group bias in the educational setting. caste and socio-economic status are two deeply interconnected social structures that profoundly influence people’s experiences and possibilities. according to deshpande (2010), caste is a traditional social structure that is common in nations like india. it divides society into rigid categories that frequently determine an individual’s social, economic, and educational opportunities. in contrast, socio-economic status refers to an individual’s financial situation, level of education, and employment status, and it affects their ability to access opportunities and resources (sirin, 2005). people from lower caste and lower ses sometimes suffer even more disadvantages because caste and ses interact in many ways. these socio-economic variables are extremely important in educational settings because they impact everything from children’s access to high-quality education to how teachers treat them. there is strong evidence of in-group biases in teacher methods for grading from empirical research. research carried out in several settings has demonstrated that educators typically give preference to students who belong to the same caste or economic background. hanna and linden (2012), for example, found substantial caste-based discrimination in grading in their study conducted in india. despite identical academic achievement, teachers gave greater marks to students from higher castes than to their peers from lower castes. there exists similar evidence of socioeconomic discrimination in evaluations of educators comes from western countries. according to a 2014 study by alexander, entwisle, and olson, teachers frequently gave students from higher socio-economic backgrounds higher marks even if their actual academic performance was comparable with that of students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. this discrimination in grading can be linked to teachers’ beliefs that children from higher socio-economic backgrounds are more capable, have more social capital and more help at home (alexander, entwisle, & olson, 2014). do teachers have in-group bias about student caste and socioeconomic status in india? 479 in schools, in-group bias manifests itself through a variety of psychological and social factors. stereotype activation is one such mechanism. based on a student’s caste or socio-economic status, teachers may have preconceived notions about their academic aptitude. for instance, stereotypes about students from lower castes or socio-economic backgrounds may suggest that they are less capable or driven, which may affect teachers’ expectations and test scores (rosenthal & jacobson, 1968). the pygmalion effect is another way by which a student’s actual performance is influenced by the teacher’s expectations regarding their abilities. higher expectations for ingroup students can reinforce the initial bias through increasing good interactions, extra support, and favorable evaluations (good, aronson, & inzlicht, 2003). in addition, social alienation and empathy gaps might be involved. assessors may be more sympathetic and connected to pupils from comparable social backgrounds, which could result in better evaluations and higher marks. research indicates that people prefer and have more empathy with those that they see as being similar to themselves, which supports this phenomenon (batson et al., 1995). in-group bias in teacher evaluation has a significant impact on equity in education. teachers who show preference for students in their own caste or socio-economic class reinforce social injustices and challenge the meritocracy of education. it is possible for students from underrepresented groups to be unfairly punished by earning lower grades even though their performance is equivalent. this can have an impact on their motivation, sense of self-worth, and future chances (farkas, 2003). furthermore, unfair grading procedures may help to maintain social hierarchy. one important factor influencing social mobility is academic performance, and children from lower caste and lower socio-economic origins may not be able to move up the social mobility ladder due to biased assessments. thus, social and economic inequality are sustained over generations and the cycle of disadvantage is further strengthened (breen & jonsson, 2005). a diverse strategy is needed to address in-group bias in education. implementing extensive teacher training programs with a focus on cultural competence and antibias education is one crucial tactic. these initiatives can support more equal grading procedures by assisting educators in identifying and mitigating their own prejudices (mckown & weinstein, 2008). in addition, structural adjustments to the educational system can lessen the negative effects of in-group bias. standardized testing and anonymous grading schemes are two examples of these modifications that can lessen the impact of teacher bias on student assessments. additionally, encouraging diversity within the teaching profession can be beneficial since a more varied set of educators may be less inclined to favor any one student group over another (villegas & irvine, 2010). additionally, research emphasizes how critical it is to create an inclusive school environment that promotes diversity and advances equity. individual teacher bias can be reduced in schools by actively implementing strategies to support students from different backgrounds. these strategies can foster an atmosphere where all students feel appreciated and supported (banks, 2015). 480 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 to combat in-group bias in grading on the basis of caste and socio-economic status, this article presents findings on whether teachers are biased or favor students belonging to the same caste and socio-economic status. methodologically, the article uses an experimental approach to identify a teacher’s in-group discrimination. data was collected on the actual characteristics (caste and socio-economic status) of teachers and the assigned characteristics of students via an experiment conducted in delhi, india. to this purpose, 10 students aged 13-14.5 years were invited to write essays on the topic “my future career ambition”. student’s caste and socio-economic status were then randomly assigned to essays such that assigned characteristics were not related to essay quality/actual characteristics. since, each of the 122 teachers graded 10 essays, the experiment generates 1,220 observations for analysis. consistent with the existing literature, it is hypothesized that teachers may have in-group biases towards students of their own caste and own socio-economic status. the remainder of the article is structured as follows. section 2 provides a novelty of this article. section 3 provides a literature review. section 4 presents the research methodology. section 5 presents the initial results. section 6 discusses the results based on ols model; section 7 provides a discussion and section 8 concludes. novelty this study examines teachers’ in-group bias in grading based on student’s caste and socio-economic status (ses), intending to add to the body of research already available on educational equity. although significant research has been done on discrimination in education in general, this study provides an entirely new perspective on how caste and ses interact with teacher evaluations as it seeks to fill various gaps in the literature and present fresh viewpoints in this field of study. few studies have examined the combination of caste and ses in teacher grading, even though previous research on these two demographic factors has frequently focused on them independently (hanna & linden, 2012; sirin, 2005). by examining how these interconnected identities (caste and ses) impact teacher grading, this study offers a more sophisticated understanding of in-group bias in educational settings. because it recognizes that single-axis studies have not adequately captured the experiences and biases faced by students, an intersectional/combination approach is crucial (crenshaw, 1991). although there is strong evidence of casteand ses-related biases in education in south asia (deshpande, 2010) and europe and usa (alexander, entwisle, & olson, 2014), this study attempts to bridge these findings in a setting where both factors are firmly ingrained. in settings where caste and ses are both prominent social categories, this approach enables a context-specific analysis of how historical and socio-economic hierarchies affect teacher behavior and student results. the study explores the social and psychological processes that give rise to ingroup bias in teacher evaluations. it provides a thorough analysis of how these biases appear in the classroom by looking at stereotype activation (rosenthal & jacobson, 1968), the pygmalion effect (good, aronson, & inzlicht, 2003), and empathy gaps do teachers have in-group bias about student caste and socioeconomic status in india? 481 (batson et al., 1995). this shows a better comprehension of the ways that biases influence educational evaluations. additionally, this study uses an experimental design where teachers grade essays and assign expectations for their students’ careers based on predetermined student traits. this analytical technique makes it possible to conduct a thorough analysis of the extent to which bias exists in the classroom. it is expected that the study’s conclusions will have a far-reaching impact on educational practice and policy. through the identification of distinct mechanisms via which caste and ses biases function, the research will contribute to the development of focused interventions aimed at reducing bias and advancing equity. the results of this study can be used to inform recommendations for teacher preparation programs, structural changes to grading procedures, and tactics to promote inclusive educational environments. furthermore, the study also seeks to advance theoretical frameworks concerning intergroup relations and social identity in educational contexts. through the integration of concepts from intersectionality theory (crenshaw, 1991) and social identity theory (tajfel & turner, 1986), the study provides a more thorough understanding of the ways in which social identities influence interactions and outcomes between teachers and students. future studies examining additional intersecting social categories in educational environments can be guided by this theoretical contribution. literature review understanding and resolving educational disparities depends on knowing whether teachers display in-group bias when assigning grades to students based on similar social identities like caste and socio-economic class (ses). with the use of theories like the pygmalion effect, stereotype threat, threat in the air, social identity theory, and intersectionality theory, this literature review delves into the research on in-group bias in education. these frameworks aid in clarifying the ways in which biases function as well as how they affect students’ academic performance. evidence of discrimination in grading in schools in the indian context research by thorat and attewell (2007) found that students from scheduled castes (sc) and scheduled tribes (st) face significant bias in educational settings, including in grading. their study, which involved an extensive correspondence survey of students and teachers, revealed that students from lower castes often receive lower grades than their upper caste peers, even when academic performance is equivalent. the researchers concluded that teachers, often unconsciously, harbor stereotypes about the intellectual capacities of lower caste students, leading to discriminatory grading practices. another study by deshpande and ramachandran (2019) highlighted that dalit students often receive less favorable evaluations compared to students from upper castes. their study showed that such biases are more prevalent in rural schools, where caste hierarchies are stronger, but also noted that even in urban settings, where caste discrimination might be more subtle, it still impacts the grading process. 482 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 a study by sarangapani (2003) found that students from low-income families are often graded less favorably compared to their wealthier peers. this study, which explored rural and urban schools across different states, noted that teachers’ perceptions of students’ backgrounds influence their expectations. as a result, students from poorer families were often subjected to lower academic expectations and received grades that reflected these biases rather than their actual performance. similarly, jha and kelleher (2006) found that ses-related discrimination in grading is particularly pronounced in schools where students from different economic backgrounds study together. in mixed schools, wealthier students often receive higher grades, while students from lowerincome backgrounds are seen as less capable, even when their academic performance is similar. the intersection of caste and ses is particularly problematic in indian schools. ramachandran (2004) documented how dalit students from low-income families were doubly disadvantaged in the grading process. teachers, influenced by both caste and economic biases, tended to assume these students were less capable of academic success, which resulted in them receiving lower grades than their upper caste or wealthier peers. the study showed that this intersectional discrimination is prevalent even in schools that claim to uphold egalitarian values. subramanian (2017) found that in addition to outright bias, teachers tend to show more leniency towards students from higher castes and wealthier backgrounds. these students are often given the benefit of the doubt in subjective assessments like essays and oral exams, while dalit and low-income students are graded more harshly. this has a cumulative effect on their overall academic records, limiting their access to higher education and perpetuating socio-economic inequalities. the pygmalion effect the pygmalion effect, sometimes referred to as the rosenthal effect, is a psychological phenomenon that shows that people/students perform better when an authority figure has higher expectations from them. the groundbreaking study by rosenthal and jacobson (1968) showed that teachers’ expectations could have significant effects on students’ performance. when teachers have high expectations from students they will give extra attention, encouragement, and positive reinforcement, which will improve students’ academic performance. in rosenthal and jacobson’s 1968 study, “pygmalion in the classroom,” for instance, teachers were given false data about their student’s potential for academic progress. instructors were informed that in the upcoming school year, a major intellectual growth spurt was anticipated for a subset of students who were chosen at random. according to the findings, these students surpassed their peers on iq testing at the conclusion of the school year. the study found that when students behave in ways that support the teachers’ expectations, it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy caused by the expectations of the teachers. teachers who have higher expectations of certain students probably interact with these students differently, that leads to this situation. students might perform better as a result of do teachers have in-group bias about student caste and socioeconomic status in india? 483 receiving increased attention, assistance, and encouragement. on the other hand, low expectations may result in less encouraging actions, which may impede the academic progress of students. the pygmalion effect in the context of caste and ses implies that teachers are biased towards students from similar backgrounds such as similar caste and socioeconomic status, which may lead to higher expectations for these students, resulting in preferential treatment. according to inzlicht’s study (2003), students’ demographic traits such as caste and socio-economic status may have an impact on teachers’ expectations, which in turn may affect how well students interact and are evaluated. because of this bias, educational disparities may persist when students from higher castes or socio-economic status (ses) receive better marks and greater support, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. stereotype threat when individuals become aware of negative stereotypes about their social group, they may feel anxious and perform worse. this phenomenon is known as stereotype threat (steele & aronson, 1995). students from lower caste or socio-economic origins may do worse in school because they fear that they confirm negative presumptions about their group’s ability. studies conducted by steele (1997) and spencer et al. (1999) have demonstrated that stereotype threat has a major effect on academic achievement. for instance, a 1999 study by spencer et al. examines how stereotype threat affects women’s math ability. both male and female undergraduate students who had strong backgrounds in mathematics participated in a series of studies carried out by the researchers. a difficult mathematics test was administered to participants under two different conditions: one that neutralized stereotype threat by stating that there were no gender differences on the test, and another that activated stereotype threat by telling participants that the test had previously revealed gender differences in performance. the findings showed that while the performance disparity between the sexes was much smaller in the no stereotype threat condition, women performed noticeably worse than males in the stereotype threat condition. these results imply that these stereotypes can seriously hinder women’s arithmetic ability by raising anxiety and decreasing working memory. in a similar vein, steele’s (1997) study investigates the idea of stereotype threat and how it affects the academic achievements of african american students. through a series of experiments, steele shows that when there is a greater chance of racial stereotype confirmation, african american students perform much worse on standardized tests. the study found that the psychological strain and anxiety brought on by being aware of unfavorable stereotypes is responsible for this decline in performance. the study also emphasizes the wider effects of stereotype threat, such as how it contributes to educational inequalities and restricts the academic and professional success of marginalized groups. in the present context of caste and ses, lower-caste students in india may feel more stressed and anxious during exams because 484 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 they are aware of the assumption that they are viewed as less capable under the present caste and socio-economic system. teachers’ preconceived notions and prejudices are strengthened when students perform poorly due to fear (jussim, eccles, & madon, 1996). threat in the air the phrase “threat in the air” refers to a larger interpretation of stereotype threat, which includes environmental elements that contribute to a persistent perception of being discriminated against or assessed based on one’s social identity (steele, 1997). this idea is pertinent in learning environments where students from underrepresented groups are conscious of the biases and lower expectations that their peers and professors hold. students from lower caste and lower-ses households may experience a persistent sense of threat at schools where caste and ses play prominent roles. this can have a negative effect on their academic engagement and performance. teachers’ biases can create a hostile learning environment in the classroom that undermines students’ selfesteem and hinders their ability to succeed academically (aronson & inzlicht, 2004). for instance, aronson and inzlicht (2004) investigate how stereotype threat affects african american and hispanic students’ academic performance and ability to self-regulate. the study explores how self-regulatory resources (mental and emotional capacities) might be depleted by exposure to stereotype threat, resulting in poorer academic performance and a higher risk of academic failure. the study shows through a series of experiments that students exposed to stereotype threat suffer from increased stress and cognitive load, which hinders their capacity to concentrate, persevere, and perform well on difficult assignments. social identity theory according to tajfel and turner’s (1986) social identity theory, people get a significant portion of their identity from the social groups they are a part of. according to this hypothesis, people are driven to prioritize their in-group above out-groups to boost their perception of self-worth. the study describes how in-group bias and out-group discrimination are caused by social identity, classification, and comparison processes. teachers may unintentionally give preference to students who belong to the same caste or socio-economic status (ses) since they consider them to be members of their own group. studies have demonstrated that this kind of in-group bias can take many different forms, one of which is biased grading procedures (dee, 2005). using a nationally representative sample of teachers and students, dee (2005) examines the effect that gender has on student achievement. in order to isolate the impacts of gender interactions between teachers and students on academic performance, the study used a quasi-experimental methodology. according to dee, students perform far better academically when they have a teacher of the same gender, especially in reading and do teachers have in-group bias about student caste and socioeconomic status in india? 485 math. boys exhibit a higher level of this impact, making noticeable progress under the supervision of male teachers. according to the study, gender dynamics in the classroom may have an impact on learning outcomes and experiences through mechanisms like gender-specific teaching approaches, role modeling, and differential expectations. differences in academic performance may result from teachers giving students from their own caste or socioeconomic status (ses) more positive feedback, allocating more resources, and setting higher expectations for them. the status quo of social hierarchies and the need to preserve a positive social identity promote this favoring. intersectionality theory crenshaw (1991) established the concept of intersectionality, which examines the ways in which different social identities interact to produce distinct experiences of privilege and oppression. intersectionality theory sheds light on the combined disadvantages that students who belong to various oppressed groups—such as those who are lower caste and lower ses—face when it comes to teacher grading. collins (2000) and cho, crenshaw, and mccall (2013) highlight the significance of taking into account several intersecting identities in order to fully comprehend the extent of bias and discrimination. due to the compounding effects of teachers’ opinions and stereotypes, students who are marginalized by both caste and ses may face more severe biases in grading. their educational chances and results may be more negatively impacted cumulatively by this intersectional disadvantage. it should be noted that intersectionality theory integrates with pygmalion effect, social identity theory and stereotype threat and act in the same way and reinforce each other in their bias. empirical evidence of in-group bias several empirical research that has examined in-group bias in educational contexts have shown how teachers’ social identities have an impact on how they grade assignments. for example, hanna and linden (2012) found that in india, even in cases when students from lower castes performed equally academically, teachers were much more likely to give preference to those from higher castes. as a result, these students received better scores than their classmates from lower castes. in a similar vein, alexander, entwisle, and olson (2014) found that teachers in the us frequently gave students from higher socio-economic backgrounds higher grades. teachers’ beliefs that students from higher ses backgrounds were more capable and received better home support were linked to this bias, which resulted in preferential treatment. dee (2005) examined the effect of teacher racial and ethnic biases on student performance and found that teachers tended to hold higher expectations from students who shared similar background and gave them better evaluations and feedback. this research lends credence to the idea that social identity-based in-group bias has a major impact on educational attainment. 486 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 implications for educational equity the existence of in-group bias in teacher evaluations bears noteworthy consequences for equitable education. teachers who show preference for students in their own caste or socio-economic class reinforce social injustices and challenge the meritocracy of education. it is possible for students from underrepresented groups to be unfairly punished by earning lower grades even though their performance is equivalent. this can have an impact on their motivation, sense of self-worth, and future chances (farkas, 2003). furthermore, unfair grading procedures support the maintenance of social hierarchy. one important factor influencing social mobility is academic performance, and children from lower caste and lower socio-economic origins may not be able to move up the social mobility ladder due to biased assessments. thus, social and economic inequality are sustained over generations and the cycle of disadvantage is further strengthened (breen & jonsson, 2005). research methodology this section outlines the research methodology used to test the research hypothesis. in general, it is difficult to uncover teacher’s attitudes of discrimination especially in terms of expectations and grades awarded. among others, the use of survey-based questions suffers from the possibility of social desirability bias as teachers are unlikely to confess to discrimination. furthermore, research on discrimination becomes difficult because discriminatory attitudes may not be intentional, and may lie in the sub-conscious and may arise from pre-conceived stereotypes. it is possible to uncover such issues, at least to some extent, by conducting field experiments. experiment overview the experiment took place in delhi in three stages. the first stage of the experiment, involved essay writing by 10 students aged 13-14.5 years on the topic “my future career ambition”. students were given a guideline to write essays so that their essays were similar in structure. the essays were collected and caste and socio-economic status was randomly assigned to essays such that one essay out of 10 was kept as a blind essay on which no manipulation of caste and socioeconomic status was done. in the third stage, a packet of 10 essays was graded by each of the 122 teachers. after grading was completed, packets were collected and payment was made to teachers to compensate for their time. each teacher was given about 4 euros or inr 400. table 1: experiment overview location indian capital; delhi first stage essay writing by 10 students aged 13-14.5 years on the topic “my future career ambition” second stage randomization of student caste and socio-economic status on essays such that one essay out of 10 was kept as a blind essay. third stage grading session by 122 teachers from 8 private and 11 government schools generating sample of 1220 observations. do teachers have in-group bias about student caste and socioeconomic status in india? 487 experiment details in the month of july, we went door to door to invite 10 students in delhi aged between 13-14.5 years to write an essay on the topic “my future career ambition’’. the essay writing took place under our invigilation in a hall at home, on a saturday when all the children were available. some children wrote the entire essay in front of us while others went back home and handed in the essay on the next day. children between the age group 13 to 14.5 years were chosen and the topic was not subject-specific, because we wanted essays which could be graded, such that every teacher who had a basic bed (bachelor of education) degree was eligible to check the essays. the essay title “my future career ambition” was selected for various reasons. first, it gave us an idea about the student’s career ambitions. second, the topic of the essay invited students to write about their occupational ambitions, parental occupations and background. this is important as providing information on their caste and class would seem natural rather than forced. we gave a guideline to students to write the essay. in the first paragraph, we asked students to introduce their interest and motivation related to career ambition and occupational paths. in the second paragraph, we asked students to write about their parental occupation/background and how it motivated their career ambition. in the third paragraph, we asked students to write, what they had done so far to achieve their career ambition (extracurricular activities, study interests, reading). in the fourth paragraph, we asked students to write about struggles that they may have faced to achieve their career ambitions. in the fifth paragraph, we asked students to mention how their goal if achieved would contribute to society. all essays were written in english. second stage: randomizing caste and socio-economic status on essays the aim of this article is to assess whether teachers discriminate in holding occupational expectations and whether these expectations perpetuate discrimination in grades awarded based on student’s caste and socio-economic status. to identify this, student’s caste and socio-economic status was randomly assigned to the essays such that one essay out of 10 was kept as a blind essay on which caste and socioeconomic status was not assigned. randomization is expected to ensure that caste and socio-economic status assigned on the essays is not related to essay quality or actual student’s characteristics. it must be noted, that only student’s caste and socioeconomic status was adjusted in the essay. everything else, including the spellings and structure remained exactly the same as written by the students. to ensure that teachers noticed the assigned caste and socio-economic status on the essays before grading it, we asked teachers to respond to three multiple choice questions before grading and after having read the essay. teachers were told, that this served as a check that they had read the essay carefully. in the first question, 488 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 teachers had to mention student’s ambition. in the second question teachers had to mention student’s caste and in the third question, teachers had to mention student’s socio-economic status. this ensured that teachers had read the essay carefully and did notice student’s caste and socio-economic status before grading. teachers were asked to mark the essay out of 100 and also rate the essay out of 5 for the question “whether the student will be able to achieve his/her career ambition”. a score of 0/5 indicates that teachers have low expectations in terms of student’s achieving his/her ambition and score of 5/5 means that teachers have the highest possible expectations in terms of student’s achievement of his/her career ambition. third stage: grading session by teachers we obtained a list of all private and government schools in delhi affiliated to the cbse (central board of secondary education) and then randomly selected 100 schools out of that list and then sent an email to all the schools which had provided their email address; requesting them to allow us to conduct research at their school. in the email, we explained the brief idea of the research ensuring that the actual intent of the experiment was not revealed. we visited those schools first which had accepted the email/request and granted permission to conduct the research at their school. later, we visited other schools based on principal’s recommendation. finally, the schools which accepted the brief idea of research and allowed access to teachers, became a part of the study. in total, 122 teachers from 8 private and 11 government schools participated in the research. each teacher was requested to grade a packet containing 10 essays on the basis of content, style and language thus generating 1,220 observations for analysis. teachers were also requested to fill the three multiple choice questions based on the essay, after reading but prior to grading. this was done to ensure that teacher’s notice student’s caste and socio-economic status before grading the essay. after grading, teachers were requested to fill a survey form which obtained information on a list of teacher characteristics. the questionnaire included questions on teacher’s gender, age, education status, years of teaching experience, school type, location of school and total time taken to grade the essays. results table 2 depicts the teacher’s in-group bias in holding occupational expectations in terms of student’s ambition and marks awarded on the basis of interaction of teacher’s caste and student’s caste. the figure demonstrates that high caste teachers may hold higher occupational expectations and also assign higher grades to their in-group category. for instance, high caste teachers assign 0.2011 points (5.5 per cent) higher occupational expectations and 2.54 points (3.47 per cent) higher marks to high caste students relative to low caste students which is significant at 5 per cent level. in contrast, low caste teachers do not appear to be biased against high caste category as do teachers have in-group bias about student caste and socioeconomic status in india? 489 they hold 0.13 points (3.58 per cent) higher occupational expectations and assign 0.66 points (0.8 per cent) higher marks to high caste category relative to low caste. this result is however not significant. table 2: teacher’s in-group bias in occupational expectations and marks based on interaction of teacher and student caste variable teacher expectation given out of 5 marks assigned out of 100 low caste teacher and low caste student 3.5 (0.73) 74.89 (13.16) low caste teacher and high caste student 3.63 (0.71) 75.55 (10.66) high caste teacher and low caste student 3.42 (1.0) 70.62 (19.69) high caste teacher and high caste student 3.6 (0.88) 73.16 (16.74) high caste teacher and blind caste student 3.86 (0.81) 79.33 low caste teacher and blind caste student 4 (0.47) 79.7 (7.43) note: standard errors are given in brackets. the graph further reveals that both high caste teachers and low caste teachers hold highest occupational expectations from the blind category and also award maximum marks to the blind essay, significant at 5 per cent level. furthermore, table 3 depicts how teachers of high caste and low caste, award marks and hold expectations based on student’s socio-economic status. table 3: expectations and marks awarded based on interaction of teacher’s caste and student’s ses variable teacher expectation out of 5 marks out of 100 low caste teacher and low ses student 3.55 (0.71) 75.26 (12.06) low caste teacher and high ses student 3.57 (0.74) 75.1 (12.16) high caste teacher and low ses student 3.47 (0.98) 70.62 (18.71) high caste teacher and high ses student 3.55 (0.91) 73.17 (18.10) note: standard errors are given in brackets the table shows that both high caste teachers and low caste teachers may be biased against students from low socio-economic status in holding occupational expectations. based on table 3, high caste teachers hold 0.08 points (2.3 per cent) lower occupational expectations from low socio-economic status category relative to high socio-economic status category, significant at 5 per cent level. similarly, low caste teachers also hold 0.02 points (0.56 per cent) lower occupational expectations from low socio-economic status students relative to high socioeconomic status students, however this is not significant. 490 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 consistent with these results, there is also a bias in grading as high caste teachers assign 2.55 points lower marks to low socio-economic status students relative to high socioeconomic status students, significant at 5 per cent level. low caste teachers in contrast, are not shown to be biased against lower socio-economic status category while grading as they assign 0.16 points higher marks to low socio-economic status category relative to high socio-economic status category. this is however not significant. results from ordinary least square linear regression model this section will explore teachers’ in-group (same caste) and out-group (different caste) bias on the basis of interaction of teacher’s characteristics and student’s characteristics and aims to identify the origins of teacher’s discrimination in terms of who discriminates. the average effect of the interaction of teacher’s caste and assigned student ‘s caste on occupational expectations table 4 presents results for the average effect of interaction of teacher’s caste and assigned student’s caste on teacher’s occupational expectations after controlling for grader fixed effects and student’s socio-economic status. each row in the table represents an individual ols regression. the results demonstrate that high caste teachers hold higher occupational expectations from their in-group category and biased against low caste category. for instance, high caste teachers assign 0.53 per cent (ols estimate/mean of estimate*100) or 0.019 points higher occupational expectations to high caste students and assign 5.6 per cent or 0.19 points lower occupational expectations to low caste students. the results are significant at 5 per cent level. the magnitude of coefficients is small but significant at 5 per cent level (p value<0.005). the low caste teachers however, are not shown to favour or discriminate in holding occupational expectations on the basis of a student’s caste as the coefficients show an insignificant result. table 4: average effect of interaction of teacher’s caste and assigned student’s caste on occupational expectations separate ols regressions ols teacher expectation constant high caste teacher_ high caste student 0.0194** (0.066) 3.41** (0.02) high caste teacher_ low caste student -0.193** (0.069) 3.59*** (0.031) low caste teacher_ high caste student 0.137 (0.102) 3.49*** (0.015) low caste teacher_ low caste student -0.128 (0.122) 3.50*** (0.01) grader fixed effects yes yes student’s ses yes yes n 899 899 standard error in parentheses **p < 0.05, *p < 0.01, *** p< 0.01 do teachers have in-group bias about student caste and socioeconomic status in india? 491 the average effect of the interaction of teacher’s caste and assigned student ‘s caste on marks table 5 presents the results for the average effect of interaction of teacher’s caste and assigned student’s caste on marks assigned after controlling for grader fixed effects and student’s socio-economic status. each row in the table represents an individual ols regression for the same. results show that high caste teachers assign 2.36 points or 3.22 per cent (ols estimate/mean of estimate*100) higher marks when the assigned characteristics belong to high caste; indicating ingroup bias/favour for the same caste. the coefficient is positive and significant at 5 per cent level (pvalue < 0.05). in contrast, high caste teachers are shown to be biased against low caste students as they assign 2.41 points or 3.41 per cent lower marks when the assigned characteristics is low caste. the coefficient is negative and significant at 5 per cent level, demonstrating discrimination of high caste teachers against low caste students. however, for the low caste teachers, the results are insignificant which depicts that low caste teachers may not discriminate or hold in-group bias on the basis of student’s caste while grading. table 5: average effect of interaction of teacher’s caste and assigned student caste on marks separate ols regressions ols marks student constant high caste teacher_ high caste student 2.36** (1.04) 70.72*** (0.54) high caste teacher_ low caste student -2.41** (1.09) 72.95*** (0.51) low caste teacher_ high caste student 1.46 (2.15) 71.62*** (0.24) low caste teacher_ low caste student 0.102 (2.15) 71.62*** (0.24) grader fixed effects yes yes student’s ses yes yes n 900 900 standard error in parentheses **p < 0.05, *p < 0.01, *** p< 0.01 overall, the results from the above 2 sections suggests that the discrimination against low caste students arises from high caste teachers and not from the low caste teachers. high caste teachers are shown to favour their in-group category that is high caste category and are discriminate against low caste category in holding occupational expectations and grading. average effect of interaction of teacher’s caste and student’s socio-economic status on occupational expectations table 6 presents the results for the average effect of interaction of teacher’s caste and assigned student’s socio-economic status on occupational expectations after 492 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 controlling for grader fixed effects and student’s caste. each row in the table represents an individual ols regression for the same. table 6: average effect of interaction of teacher’s caste and assigned student ses on expectations separate ols regressions ols teacher expectation constant high caste teacher_ high ses student 0.074 (0.058) 3.46*** (0.02) high caste teacher_ low ses student -0.058 (0.05) 3.52*** (0.03) low caste teacher_ low ses student -0.019 (0.065) 3.49*** (0.016) low caste teacher_ high ses student -0.019 (0.063) 3.49*** (0.016) grader fixed effects yes yes student’s ses yes yes n 899 899 standard error in parentheses **p < 0.05, *p < 0.01, ***p< 0.01 results show that both high caste teachers and low caste teachers may discriminate against students from low socio-economic status as high caste teachers hold 1.67 per cent (ols estimate/mean of estimate*100) or 0.05 points and low caste teachers hold 0.53 per cent or 0.019 points lower occupational expectations from low socioeconomic status students, respectively. the coefficients hold a negative sign but are not significant. the high caste teachers may favour high socio-economic status students as they hold 2.08 per cent higher occupational expectations from them but the coefficient is small in magnitude and insignificant. these insignificant results thus depict that teachers may not discriminate or favour students on the basis of socio-economic status in holding occupational expectations. this further suggests, that a student’s caste may still be a dominant factor that may lead to teacher’s discrimination in expectations in the current era of economic development and high socio-economic status only acts to mitigate the discrimination faced by low caste category. average effect of interaction of teacher’s caste and student’s socio-economic status on marks awarded table 7 presents results for the average effect of interaction of teacher’s caste and assigned student’s socio-economic status on marks after controlling for grader fixed effects and student’s caste. each row in the table represents an individual ols regression for the same. results demonstrate that high caste teachers favour high socio-economic status students while grading and discriminate against low socio-economic status students. do teachers have in-group bias about student caste and socioeconomic status in india? 493 for instance, high caste teachers assign 2.37 points or 3.25 per cent (ols estimate/ mean of estimate*100) higher marks when the assigned characteristics belong to high socio-economic status and assign 2.42 points or 3.42 per cent lower marks when the assigned characteristics belongs to low socio-economic status. the coefficients are significant at 5 per cent level. however, for the low caste teachers the coefficient on marks assigned is insignificant which depicts that low caste teachers may not hold a bias for or against different socio-economic status category students in awarding marks. therefore, the overall results suggest that teachers may not discriminate on the basis of student’s socio-economic status in holding occupational expectations but while grading, high caste teachers favour high socio-economic status students and discriminate against low socio-economic status students. hence, teacher’s discrimination is more likely to run only along lines of caste in holding occupational expectations; but discrimination does run along class lines when teachers grade essays/ work of low socio-economic status and high socio-economic status students. table 7: average effect of interaction of teacher’s caste and assigned student’s ses on marks separate ols regressions ols marks constant high caste teacher_ high ses student 2.379** (0.89) 70.71*** (0.414) high caste teacher_ low ses student -2.42** (0.90) 72.95*** (0.54) low caste teacher_ low ses student 0.839 (1.28) 71.63*** (0.244) low caste teacher_ high ses student 0.715 (1.092) 71.65*** (0.244) grader fixed effect yes yes caste yes yes n 900 900 standard error in parentheses **p < 0.05, *p < 0.01, *** p< 0.001 these results are a matter of concern because marks awarded not only determine student’s rank and admissions to universities but also affects their motivation to pursue higher education. discussion the empirical results of the study on teacher in-group bias are summarized in this section, with a particular emphasis on whether or not teachers exhibit in-group bias or preference toward students based on socio-economic status (ses) and caste. the results are compared to comparable findings from earlier research to place the findings in the larger body of literature. the study also discusses the possible study limitations and future research directions. 494 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 according to the study, teachers often demonstrate in-group bias by giving preference to students who belong to similar socio-economic backgrounds and castes. even in instances in which their academic achievement was comparable, students from higher castes and backgrounds with higher ses backgrounds obtained better scores than their peers from lower castes and backgrounds with lower ses. this bias was clearly seen in the grading methods. the results show that high caste teachers hold higher occupational expectations from their in-group category and biased against low caste category. for instance, high caste teachers assign 0.53 per cent or 0.019 points higher occupational expectations to high caste students and assign 5.6 per cent or 0.19 points lower occupational expectations to low caste students. the magnitude of coefficients is small but significant at 5 per cent level (p value<0.005). in terms of marks assigned, results show, that high caste teachers assign 2.36 points or 3.22 per cent higher marks when the assigned characteristics belong to high caste; indicating ingroup bias/favour for the same caste. the coefficient is positive and significant at 5 per cent level (p value < 0.05). in contrast, high caste teachers are shown to be biased against low caste students as they assign 2.41 points or 3.41 per cent lower marks when the assigned characteristics is low caste. these findings align with the social identity hypothesis by tajfel & turner (1986) that people acquire self-esteem from their group memberships and are likely to favor students who share their group identification. moreover, the results of this study are consistent with research carried out by hanna and linden (2012) who discovered that low caste students were subjected to discrimination by upper caste teachers. in line with the results of the current study, teachers were seen to assign lower grades to students from lower castes than to their peers from higher castes. according to dee’s (2005) study on racial and ethnic biases in the us, teachers frequently held students who shared their background to higher standards and gave them better evaluations. this is consistent with the in-group bias that the current study’s high-caste teachers showed. additionally, alexander, entwisle, and olson (2014) demonstrated how students’ socio-economic status (ses) affected teachers’ assessments, with higher ses students receiving more favorable evaluations. this confirms the recent finding that high-caste teachers give higher marks to students from higher socio-economic backgrounds. burgess and greaves (2013) examined teacher bias in the uk and found that teachers gave greater marks to students who shared their ethnic background, which is consistent with the results of this study and highlights the prevalence of in-group favoring. similarly, mckown and weinstein (2008) emphasized how prejudices within the teaching profession can affect the way that teachers interact and set expectations for students. the results of this study were further supported by the observation that teachers were more likely to have higher expectations and more favorable interactions with students who shared their racial or ethnic origin. do teachers have in-group bias about student caste and socioeconomic status in india? 495 limitations of the study the results of the study are context-specific and might not apply to different educational or cultural contexts. to further understand the prevalence and effects of in-group bias worldwide, future studies should examine it in a variety of settings. moreover, it’s possible that the study’s experimental setup left out important details about the complexity of interactions in actual classrooms. longitudinal and observational studies may offer more information. furthermore, the study’s main indicators of bias were grading and occupational expectations, which would not account for all instances of discrimination or favoring. future studies should use a variety of measures in order to offer a more thorough comprehension of in-group bias. future research directions future studies must take into account the scenarios provided. longitudinal studies that monitor the academic trajectories of students, for example, can offer more comprehensive insights into the cumulative effects of in-group bias on educational attainment and social mobility. furthermore, by comparing research across cultural and educational contexts, cross-cultural comparisons might improve our comprehension of how in-group bias functions worldwide and pinpoint context-specific elements that affect its incidence and consequences. finally, intersectionality should be included in studies. in order to create a more nuanced understanding of how many social factors interact to impact educational experiences and outcomes, future research should examine the intersectionality of caste, ses, and other social identities (e.g., gender, race, and ethnicity). conclusion one significant issue that undermines educational equity and feeds societal inequality is in-group bias in teacher grading. research from a variety of settings shows that teachers frequently give preference to students who belong to the same caste or socio-economic class, which biases assessments and disadvantages students from underrepresented groups. targeted interventions, including teacher preparation, structural changes, and the development of inclusive school environments, are needed to address this problem at both the individual and institutional levels. educational systems can move toward more equal procedures that guarantee all students have the chance to thrive based on their merit and talents by identifying and resolving in-group bias. the study shows how teachers’ social identities affect their expectations and assessments of students, underscoring the important role that in-group bias plays in educational environments. these results highlight the necessity of focused initiatives to combat bias and advance equity in education. through the integration of concepts 496 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 from intersectionality and social identity theory, the study offers a thorough framework for comprehending and resolving in-group bias in educational settings. it takes a variety of approaches to create more inclusive and equitable learning environments that address the structural as well as the individual causes of bias. references alexander, k.l., entwisle, d.r., & olson, l.s. 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(2010). diversifying the teaching force: an examination of major arguments. urban review, 42, 175–192. © 2024 disha wadekar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. introduction doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i1.2038 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 1 pp. 18-26 march 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste redefining justice: legal scholarship in critical caste studies disha wadekar1 background in october 2023, brandeis university’s caste: a global journal on social exclusion held the sixth international conference on the unfinished legacy of dr. b.r. ambedkar, centered on the theme “law, caste, and the pursuit of justice.” the idea behind the conference was to explore the relationship between caste and law and establish the groundwork for developing anti-caste jurisprudence. at the conference, the chief justice of india, dr. justice d.y. chandrachud, delivered the keynote address titled “reformation beyond representation: the social life of the constitution in remedying historical wrongs.” during his address, the chief justice highlighted several key points. first, he noted that the institution of law has often been used to maintain existing power structures and institutionalize discrimination, leaving behind a legacy of injustice that still shapes the lives of marginalized social groups. second, he discussed how dr. ambedkar attempted to institutionalize social revolution through the law. third, he mentioned that arguments in courtrooms often demonstrate a constant struggle between the constitutional aspects of the law and entrenched social practices. fourth, he referred to dr. ambedkar’s characterization of “social practices” as a law within itself, imposing social sanctions and violence on those who do not comply. last, he emphasized the need for society to adopt a radical agenda through constitutional means that target structures of discrimination. in this background, i will reflect on the significance of integrating a critical analysis of law and legal systems within the critical caste studies movement. this is significant for two reasons. first, legal academia and scholarship in india, which is largely dominated by the oppressor castes, has been mostly “caste-blind.” the only exception to this has been the discussions surrounding affirmative action and some of the most grotesque caste-based atrocities. second, the anti-caste scholarship has, for 1lawyer, supreme court of india; llm candidate, columbia law school, fulbright scholar, co-founder cede email: dmwadekar@gmail.com redefining justice: legal scholarship in critical caste studies 19 the most part, ignored the field of law in examining how caste and casteism are deeply entrenched in our contemporary laws, policies, and institutions. the notion that law facilitates racial subjugation is a theoretical framework advanced by critical race theory (crt) scholars. crt originated in the american legal academy in the 1970s and expanded to other fields of study during the 1980s and 1990s (crenshaw et al. 1995). crt scholars argue that racism is not always explicit and overt but is deeply and pervasively entrenched in our structures, such as laws, policies, norms, and practices. crt was a response to critical legal theory, which ignored the questions of race and racism when analyzing the legal systems. critical caste theory or critical caste studies (ccs) is a discipline that has been inspired by crt in america and partially took root due to the discontent amongst anticaste scholars around the invisibilisation of caste in mainstream scholarship but also as a need to produce original scholarship on caste. in particular, in 2016, the suicide of a scholar from the dalit community, rohith vemula, sparked a radical conversation on caste. in his suicide note, he wrote: “my birth is my fatal accident.” this incident led to street protests and started a renewed conversation on the ways in which caste has been institutionalized and the need for a critical study of caste in contemporary times. although the coinage and popular use of the term “critical caste studies” is new, its roots and evolution are in anti-caste thought. critical caste studies, regardless of when it was recognized as a distinct discipline, can be traced back to the works of jyotirao phule and dr. ambedkar, two leading anti-caste thinkers in india from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, respectively, who raised questions about the structures and patterns of exclusion that reproduce the caste system. phule, dr. ambedkar, structures of discrimination, and ccs interestingly, in his book gulamgiri or slavery, written in 1873, phule referred to the system of caste as a system of slavery while also dedicating the book to nineteenthcentury americans who abolished slavery. he theorized how the brahmins devised various ways to perpetuate their interests (patil 1991). phule’s writings reveal a distinct field that studies the invisible structures that reproduce brahmanical supremacy and privilege, akin to what crt scholars have identified as “critical whiteness studies” (applebaum 2016). dr. ambedkar referred to the caste system as a system of “graded inequality” (ambedkar 2020a). like phule, dr. ambedkar also critiqued india’s ruling castes. he argued that the intellectual class in india is just another name for the brahmin caste, and so long as this class is opposed to reform of the caste system, the chances of annihilating the system are remote. in emphasizing the grip or hold of the caste system on society through social norms, customs, and practices, he referred to the caste system as the “law of caste” (ambedkar 2020b). according to dr. ambedkar, caste persists as a legal code with harsh penalties for the violation of its rules: “castes have no mercy for a sinner who has the courage to violate the code” (ambedkar 2020b). 20 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 his theorization of the intricate relationship between caste and law in ancient india is foundational to the ccs. moreover, dr. ambedkar traces the legal function of the caste system long before figures like manu, who implemented a legal-religious code called “manusmriti”. he notes, “one thing i want to impress upon you is that manu did not give the law of caste and that he could not do so. caste existed long before manu. he was an upholder of it and therefore philosophized about it…” (ambedkar 2020b). it is, however, unfortunate that the foundations of critical legal studies laid down by dr. ambedkar have not been adequately explored to understand how the caste system is reproduced through contemporary law and legal systems in india. this exploration of the law, legal norms, and institutions, therefore, presents a significant task before critical caste theorists in india. over several decades, scholars have examined various dimensions of caste, such as social practices, economic relations, gender, and sexuality (thorat & kumar 2009; paik 2023; rao 2009; rege 1998; thorat, madheswaran & vani 2023). in recent times, there has been a growing interest in the field of ccs. ayyathurai (2021) argues that the reason behind the lack of traction for the critical caste studies project is the inadequate critique of caste in academia. his argument is based on two key points: first, “brahmin-power, which has religiously, culturally, politically, and economically propagated a caste-based segregation of indian society throughout pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial history, has been ineffectively problematised” (ayyathurai 2021); and second, “the critical caste studies’ raison d’être comes from the failure of south asian humanities and social sciences to pin down caste/casteism as the selfprivileging groups’ invention and imposition of social supremacy” (ayyathurai 2021). paik conceptualizes “critical dalit pedagogy,” which “centres the interconnections between caste, class, ‘public’ institutions such as education and ‘private’ realms like the family, gender, desire, marriage, and sexuality from the vantage point of stigmatised dalit women” (paik 2022). there have been ccs formulations on the relationship between caste and technology (shanmugavelan 2022), caste and business (bapuji, chrispal, vissa & ertug 2023), caste and psychology (pathania, jadhav, thorat, mosse, & jain 2023), caste and knowledge production (kisana 2023), among others. however, these discussions often overlook the role of law as a crucial element to be examined in the context of caste studies. critical race theory and critical caste studies: some theoretical endeavours in the last decade, legal scholars such as sumit baudh have designed courses such as “critical race theory and caste” (baudh 2018). the course description notes: “crt illuminates the core phenomenology of law in the u.s. and its relationship with race. some of the questions, vocabulary, and conceptual frameworks––that are imminent in this scrutiny––of race and law––could be useful for examining the relationship between caste and the law in india. could crt, a theory that has originated in the redefining justice: legal scholarship in critical caste studies 21 u.s., be useful for illuminating the relationship of law and caste in india?” (baudh 2018). this inquiry presents an interesting avenue in the ccs movement while also raising important questions about the extent to which crt can be directly applied to the caste question in india. for instance, can the framework of intersectionality apply to cases involving the prevention of atrocities (poa) act? the court’s invocation of intersectionality involving a disabled dalit woman has been criticized for increasing the burden of proving what led to the offense – “whether it was her caste, gender or disability” (singhania 2021). crt scholars achiume and carbado (2021) have argued for a dialogue between crt and twail (third world approaches to international law) to understand systemic racism globally. their article highlights the “related ways” in which both crt and twail scholars have “contested the legalization of white supremacy,” “problematized the degree to which regimes of inclusion can operate as mechanisms of exclusion,” presented “critiques of colorblindness,” “engendering either criticism or willful disattention or non-engagement by mainstream scholars in both fields,” and reimagined “law’s emancipatory potential for racial justice and substantive equality, while remaining clear-eyed about the limits and costs of such engagements.” the work of achiume and carbado can be expanded to gain further insights into how racist colonial practices interacted with existing domestic social systems such as caste. specifically, it is important to examine the impact of the racist colonization mission in south asia and its relationship with the pre-existing internal colonizing system of caste. scholars like vasanthi venkatesh (2022) have sounded a note of caution in the development of such international legal scholarship on race and racism. she proposes the centering of caste-marginalized voices in developing a truly “critical” international law scholarship. she highlights how scholars coming from oppressor caste locations, writing on subaltern perspectives, tend to dismiss the oppressed caste perspectives. venkatesh stresses the necessity of moving towards a “counterhegemonic legal order,” which requires “critical international law scholarship to scrutinize claims of subaltern, ‘critical’ global south narratives, which may unconsciously reinforce epistemological hegemony.” on this point, to examine the relation between caste as a legal system of oppression and colonization, i had previously argued, “dr. babasaheb ambedkar’s writings provide a framework to understand the pre-colonial foundations that led to colonial and post-colonial criminalization of certain communities” (wadekar 2022). the emphasis on pre-colonial internal colonization1 in south asia through the law of caste thus questions the narrow domain of decolonization studies, which restricts itself to colonial-era exploitation. the study of pre-colonial caste rules indicates that the subsequent colonial oppression in india and other countries was not in isolation. scholars have shown that the british colonizers colluded with the existing caste 1i have borrowed the term from gutiérrez (2004), who used the term “internal colonialism” to argue, “as a colonized population in the united states, blacks and chicanos suffered the effects of racism, were dominated by outsiders, much as colonial subjects in the third world, and had seen their indigenous values and ways of life destroyed.” 22 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 system to the advantage of the oppressor castes (yang 1985; piliavksy 2015). mukul kumar (2004) argues that the constitution of notions of crime and community-based criminality under the criminal tribes act of 1871 was a result of this collusion. the decolonization project fails to recognize this crucial aspect, which now has emerged as a feature of ccs. by inspecting legal systems and their historical evolution during the pre-colonial and colonial eras, scholars can reflect on the intricate ways in which caste-based oppression has been institutionalized over time. legal studies as a key component of critical caste studies a question also emerges as to why the study of the interrelationship between law and caste has focussed on the emancipatory potential of law rather than analyzing it as a site of violence. in the us, crt scholars have examined law as both source and site of violence and argue that modern law is not objective or neutral. this inquiry emerged from the reconstruction era efforts in the us, which, in the garb of constitutional reform, were followed by the retrenchment of racist laws and policies (alexander 2010). the indian constitution, india’s founding document, has been a caste-conscious document since its inception. this is in contrast to the “color-blind” american constitutionalism—an approach criticized by gotanda (1991). he argues that the concept of color-blind constitutionalism employed by the us supreme court is a racial ideology that promotes white racial supremacy. the indian constitution recognized substantive equality, abolished untouchability, provided punishment for this practice, granted the equal and universal adult franchise, provided affirmative action (quotas) for oppressed castes, and so forth. thus, it was assumed that law could serve as a positive tool in the anti-caste discourse. existing legal scholarship on caste in india, therefore, has mainly focussed on the “nonimplementation” of the law as a challenge to equality and has not probed into the inherent limitations of the law in securing justice for the marginalized castes. critical caste studies: the way forward ccs must examine how contemporary laws and legal systems continue to perpetuate and reinforce caste inequalities. for instance, the judgments on affirmative action by the indian supreme court were instrumental in creating a stereotype that students and professionals coming from oppressed castes lack merit (bhaskar 2021). despite the existence of robust protective legislation like the prevention of atrocities (poa) act, numerous court judgments have perpetuated caste-based gender stereotypes, particularly against caste-marginalized women. in sexual violence cases, for instance, courts often uphold an unrealistic standard of “ideal victimhood,” reinforcing stereotypes of caste-marginalized women as “promiscuous” and undermining the credibility of their evidence (wadekar 2021). laws, such as the habitual offenders act, continue to target denoted tribes who were historically branded as “born criminals” redefining justice: legal scholarship in critical caste studies 23 (un cerd 2005). the contemporary legal system in india, therefore, relies on and shapes the social discourse on caste and casteism. one major task before ccs is to examine patterns of indirect discrimination and the disparate impact of certain laws and policies on marginalized castes. the doctrine of disparate impact evolved in griggs v. duke power co., 401 u.s. 424 (1971), in the us, provides that a policy that appears to be neutral on its face may still have a disproportionate impact on a protected group, and must therefore be examined accordingly. this doctrine has been applied by the supreme court of india in the navtej singh johar case (2018 insc 790) in reading down section 377 of the indian penal code that criminalized homosexuality. this opens the avenue for legal remedies in cases of institutional discrimination, which have not been addressed in the poa act. the suicide of dalit scholar rohith vemula and the protests that followed brought the discussions on “institutional discrimination” to the forefront. institutional discrimination highlights that acts of discrimination are not a result of individual prejudice alone but are deeply entrenched within institutions and are structural in nature. ccs, therefore, has a crucial responsibility to explore how the law can hold not only individuals but also institutions accountable. however, the current discussion concerning caste and law is mainly focused on the effectiveness of criminal statutes such as the poa act and the demand for more severe punishment despite the persistent low conviction rates in these cases. criminal law primarily captures individual intent and overt forms of discrimination, often failing to address the hidden and structural forms of casteism that exist in areas such as education, housing, and employment. scholars in the us have examined how government policies can create segregation in housing, educational disparities, etc. (bonilla-silva 2003; rothstein 2017). existing works in india have also identified housing and job discrimination (thorat, banerjee, mishra & rizvi 2015; mishra 2023). ccs must scrutinize government policies or the impact of judgments such as the zoroastrian cooperative housing society case (2005 (5) scc 632) that may either facilitate housing discrimination or uphold inaction to prevent discrimination. ccs must also scrutinize the ideology of caste-blindness in diluting constitutional guarantees like affirmative action. gotanda (1991) contends that the adoption of colorblind ideology (“our constitution is color-blind”) by the united states supreme court serves as a mechanism to uphold white supremacy, as it absolves white americans of accountability for their accrued intergenerational privileges. from the perspective of dominant white americans, constitutional guarantees of non-discrimination suffice and even provide a pretext for further power consolidation, as they invoke nondiscrimination arguments to maintain the status quo. criticism against affirmative action in india, particularly quotas for scheduled castes (sc), scheduled tribes (st), and other backward classes (obcs), echoes similar sentiments, suggesting that formal equality measures are adequate and substantive equality measures are discriminatory and anti-meritocratic. ccs necessitates an examination of how caste-blind critique of the constitutional guarantees for the caste-oppressed is used to accumulate more power for the oppressor castes. 24 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 furthermore, ccs stands to gain from reassessing the conventional liberal understanding of law as a tool for justice. in this regard, a reading of derrick bell and dr. ambedkar can prove insightful. bell’s (1980) conception of interest convergence helps us understand how the rights of the oppressed are only advanced when they converge with the interests of the oppressor. fanon, in “black skin, white masks” (1952), articulates that the only thing we get is “white liberty and white justice.” the framework of interest convergence is on the lines of dr. ambedkar’s critique of the liberal notion of rights. in ‘annihilation of caste’ published in 1936, he observes, “few object to liberty in the sense of a right to free movement, in the sense of a right to life and limb.” he continues that the same people would object to the liberty of the oppressed to benefit from “the effective and competent use of [their] powers.” ccs would benefit from moving beyond the abstract association of law with justice and scrutinizing the liberal oppressor caste beliefs about legal rights and justice that prevent the seizure of brahmanical power. it is essential to analyze whether liberal conceptions of legal reforms aid in the freedom of marginalized social groups. ccs, thus, should focus on analyzing the interplay between law, power, and caste-based inequalities. legal systems, both old and new, have played a dominant role in shaping and perpetuating caste oppression. by analyzing laws, judicial decisions, and legal proceedings from a critical caste lens, scholars can identify how legal systems have failed to protect the rights and dignity of individuals belonging to caste-marginalized groups. ccs is now being supported as a separate study field by institutions such as brandeis university. there is a huge scope for legal scholarship to contribute to the development of the ccs movement in the coming years. acknowledgments i would like to thank anurag bhaskar for his valuable comments. i would also like to thank kendall thomas, vasanthi venkatesh, laurence simon, sukhadeo thorat, and vinod mishra for their support. references ayyathurai, g. 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(2021). rejecting ideal victimhood. economic & political weekly. 56(23). ———. (2022). understanding civil liberties from an ambedkarite perspective. the leaflet. https://theleaflet.in/understanding-civil-liberties-from-an-ambedkarite-perspective/ yang, a. (1985). crime and criminality in british india. university of arizona press. © 2025 rajesh komath. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.2475 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 1 pp. 190-198 april 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste caste matters in public policy issues and perspectives edited by: rahul choragudi, sony pellissery and n. jayaram publisher: routledge south asia edition year: 2023 reviewer: rajesh komath* intersection of caste and public policy caste, as an institution, transforms with the changing lives of social groups and individuals in india. but this is not a tale confined to india alone; it has crossed oceans, taken root in faraway lands where indians have settled. caste, like a story, travels and changes, a riddle whispered across borders. it shifts its form, speaks in new tongues, and bends to the shape of the spaces it occupies. yet, in some rural corners, caste reveals its cruellest face. dr. b.r. ambedkar once said that indian villages are dens of ignorance, and in these places, caste can take on its most oppressive form. despite its many disguises, one truth remains: caste denies justice, equality, and fraternity. it stands against the ideals of freedom and human dignity, as amartya sen explores in his reflections on justice.1 caste weaves itself not only into the fabric of society but also into the minds of people, forming a “caste of the mind”—a reality both social and psychological. over time, its grip loosens, but caste persists, shaping the interests and dynamics of our society and politics. the policy of any nation should reflect the life-worlds of its people. yet, too often, public policy is shaped by the vision of elites, imposed from above, and far *associate professor of the school of social sciences, mahatma gandhi university, kottayam e-mail: komathrajesh@gmail.com 1amartya sen. (2009). the idea of justice. penguin books. caste matters in public policy: issues and perspectives 191 removed from everyday realities. in this process, the true experiences of the people are ignored. private interests often steer the content of policy, raising the question: how truly “public” is public policy? scholars frequently critique this, as policy documents reveal the mindset of those in power. in india, the influence of caste is unmistakable in how the government operates. the system and the life-worlds of certain groups have become inseparable. ideally, policy should embrace the diverse life-worlds of various communities, addressing both structural concerns and the lived realities of those on the margins. caste, as a defining element of the indian experience, must be recognized as a lived truth within policy. the book under review offers a clear analysis of how caste and policy intersect in india, calling for frameworks that are more inclusive and attuned to the complexities of society. it looks closely at caste in its changing forms, unravelling the subtle ways it intersects with public policy in india. it delves into matters of social security, internal reservations, the classification of “most backward classes,” the presence of caste in other religions, its place in the census, its influence in markets, the role of service castes, and its mark on urban planning. the book shines a light on how caste drives policy and how, in turn, policy shapes caste. through rich case studies and empirical stories, it explores how caste breathes and evolves across states like andhra pradesh, delhi, karnataka, punjab, tamil nadu, telangana, and west bengal. there is a view that caste in india was hardened by the colonial practice of censustaking. in this view, part of the blame for caste’s persistence is placed on british rule. yet caste existed as a core part of social life long before the british arrived. what the census did was turn caste into a political calculation, shaping its role in the years to come. efforts at protective justice, like affirmative action, have sometimes sparked resentment toward those who benefit from these policies. the debates around the mandal commission in the 1990s deepened this resentment, leading to unrest, anger, and division. while the representation of scheduled castes (scs) and scheduled tribes (sts) in jobs, education, and government has gradually improved, it has made only through the reservation policy. but, 27 per cent reservation for other backward classes (obcs) marked a turning point. this has led to a sense of division in society— about half of the population falls under “general” categories, and the other half under “reserved” categories. as government jobs and opportunities shrink, elite caste groups have grown more concerned, fuelling their opposition to the reservation system. this situation reveals the deep intersectional dynamics of caste, politics, and public policy in india. the book is divided into three parts. the first part addresses the national context of caste census and its enumeration, examining how caste is problematized within and outside its conventional boundaries, and its interfaces with the state, market, and culture. it traces the history of the census from colonial times to the present, highlighting how caste classifications have evolved. a notable aspect of the narrative is the fluidity of caste status: castes that were considered superior in one context were later reclaimed as inferior in post-independence india. similarly, certain groups 192 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 initially claimed higher caste status in early enumerations, only to assert a lower status in subsequent periods. this section underscores the strategic use and manipulation of caste for purposes of classification, segregation, and objectification. the second part presents diverse perspectives on caste from various indian states. it discusses the implementation of the scheduled caste sub-plan and the scheduled tribe sub-plan in alignment with the planning commission’s allocation of funds aimed at improving social protection measures for marginalized communities. the impact of these plans on development indices is explored through case studies from karnataka, andhra pradesh, tamil nadu, west bengal, and delhi, each of which reflects the distinctive dynamics of caste in india. the third part examines the existence of caste beyond hinduism, demonstrating how caste has permeated other regions and religions, operating as a rhizomatic structure. it explores caste hierarchies among sikhs, christians, and muslims, providing illustrative case studies that reveal the particularities of caste in these religious contexts within india. the chapter “caste in and out of place: state, market, and culture” explores how caste is strategically employed both within and outside its traditional context to pursue status and social capital. while democracy ideally presupposes individual choice that collectively shapes social decisions, the practice of caste in india positions the state as an interest group, often functioning as an executor of varna and caste systems. an illustrative example is the jat community, which has mythologized its hereditary origins by claiming noble status as “ancient rulers,” yet has also sought recognition as an other backward caste (obc) in the formation of subsequent governments. this indicates that the behaviour of the indian state is shaped by the dynamics of caste in each region. rather than focusing on the self-development of individuals as citizens, governmental actions are frequently driven by group interests. consequently, public policy in such contexts often becomes a private policy serving caste-based interests. the chapter “enumerating caste in the census: is it useful for public policy?” by n. jayaram, critiques the role of caste in public policy. jayaram argues that the modern form of caste in india is largely a colonial construct, shaped by the enumeration of census data. the british colonial administration used caste as a tool to divert indian resistance against colonial rule, redirecting focus towards caste-specific issues, which ultimately led to the objectification and essentialization of caste in indian society. jayaram contends that caste-based enumeration is not conducive to the formation of sound public policy. the chapter draws on william bruce cameron’s (1963, p. 13) observation that “not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts,” suggesting the intersection of caste and public policy. d. rajasekhar and r. manjula’s analysis of the scheduled caste sub-plan (scsp) and tribal sub-plan (tsp) in karnataka highlights the critical role of stakeholder awareness and access to various social security schemes in determining the success of these initiatives. the issue of information asymmetry is particularly significant. although schemes aimed at the economic and social upliftment of scheduled castes (scs) and scheduled tribes (sts) in karnataka existed prior caste matters in public policy: issues and perspectives 193 to the enactment of the scheduled caste sub-plan and tribal sub-plan act of 2013, which earmarks one-fourth of the state’s budget for the development of scs and sts, the effectiveness of these schemes largely depended on how well they were communicated to the target population. the 2013 act, however, served as a significant governmental intervention to ensure better outreach and impact. the data analysis on awareness and access to social security schemes for eligible households reveals several key findings: (a) awareness of pension and scholarship schemes was higher among sc/st households compared to other caste groups. (b) in the case of contributory schemes such as old-age pensions, destitute widow pensions, and scholarships (both pre-metric and post-metric), households belonging to dominant caste groups demonstrated greater awareness. however, access to social security schemes for informal workers was comparatively higher among sc/st households. (c) on average, disadvantaged caste groups accessed 1.18 schemes, while dominant caste groups accessed 1.88 schemes. this indicates that the introduction of the 2013 state policy has significantly benefited lower sections of society compared to the situation prior to its implementation. the progress can be observed in the increased allocation for the sc/st sub-plan, rising from rs. 6,135 crores in 2013-14 to rs. 14,339 crores in 2016-17. this demonstrates the successful flow of social security benefits to sc and st households as a direct result of the policy. the transition from the policy as an idea to policy as practice is thus evident in these outcomes. the chapter titled “addressing graded inequality among the scheduled castes: internal reservation as a strategy” by arvind narrain and basawa prasad kunale explores the social dimensions of untouchability within the scheduled castes and raises concerns about equitable access to opportunities. the authors emphasize the need to address disparities among the most vulnerable sections of society, advocating for attention to the “vulnerable within the vulnerable.” in the context of andhra pradesh, the formation of the madiga reservation porata samithi (mrps) emerged in response to the perceived disproportionate advantages enjoyed by the mala community, who were seen as monopolizing the benefits of the state’s reservation policy, to the detriment of the madiga and other marginalized subgroups within the sc community. the demand for internal reservations within scs is framed as part of a broader discussion on ensuring fair distribution of benefits among all segments of the scheduled castes, and this issue is also relevant to discussions around other backward classes. the authors, citing various court judgments, argue that judicial decisions must be grounded in the “social and economic realities” of the country. this point is especially pertinent in the context of increasing privatization, which has led to the downsizing of government departments and a decline in public sector employment— traditionally a key avenue for implementing reservation policies. however, the paper refrains from advocating for the extension of reservation policies to the private sector as a means of dismantling the entrenched social hierarchies and challenging the meritocratic framework that disproportionately favors the upper castes in india. instead, the authors focus on the internal dynamics within the reservation system and 194 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 the need for judicial decisions to reflect the socio-economic context in which these policies operate.2 the chapter titled “a history of reservation policy,” authored by r. saravana raja, explores the intersection of caste and politics in the context of tamil nadu. in addition to scheduled castes (scs) and scheduled tribes (sts), the inclusion of categories such as backward classes (bcs), most backward classes (mbcs), denotified communities, and minorities broadens the scope of reservation in the state. the political dynamics of backward communities have driven electoral debates, and the historical conflicts between brahmin and non-brahmin discourses have significantly shaped tamil nadu’s political landscape. tamil nadu currently implements a reservation policy that allocates 69 per cent reservation to backward communities—26.5 per cent for bcs, 3.5 per cent for bc muslims, 20 per cent for mbcs and denotified communities, 18 per cent for scs, and 1 per cent for sts. this policy notably deviates from the supreme court’s judgment, which limits reservations to below 50 per cent. such a framework would be inconceivable in most other states in india, raising the question of why tamil nadu is an exception. answering this question requires an exploration of the historical trajectory of the justice party and the articulation of non-brahmin concerns, the influence of periyar and the self-respect movement, and the political strategies of the dravida munnetra kazhagam (dmk) and anna dravida munnetra kazhagam (admk). the intense political mobilization around backwardness expanded the scope of reservation, positioning it as a crucial mechanism for addressing issues of social justice and safeguarding marginalized communities within the state’s policy of welfare. why is the politics so anti-brahmin? the answer lays behind the data that in the competitive examinations for the provincial civil service which were held between 1892 and 1904, out of 16 successful candidates, 15 were brahmins. the social reality of dominance was so intense and deep. dmk followed the politics of anti-brahmanical formation of the state that take into account the life-world of the backward communities while admk took a central position accommodating conservative as well as reforming concerns of the people. the binary of brahmin and non-brahmin conceptual articulation has thus, paved a political trajectory to articulate backward politics in tamil nadu. rahul chorangudi’s ethnography of a coastal village in andhra pradesh discusses economic prospects, protective discrimination and the changing hierarchy. it explains 2this discussion should be considered in the context of the recent supreme court of india judgment in civil appeal no. 2317 of 2011, which raises significant questions regarding the right to equal opportunity guaranteed by the constitution. the central issue debated was whether the sub-classification of scheduled castes for the purposes of reservation is constitutionally permissible. while the state already has mechanisms in place to address the representation of various castes within the government system, such as special recruitment drives that extend opportunities specifically to certain castes within the scheduled castes, the judgment appears to misinterpret the concept of “graded inequality” in relation to reservations for the scheduled castes. by overlooking the nuanced socio-economic disparities within the sc community, the judgment fails to adequately address the need for a more equitable distribution of opportunities among the subgroups within this historically marginalized population. caste matters in public policy: issues and perspectives 195 lower caste migration to the middle east for lucrative jobs as the principal factor that gave them better economic status in the village, while upper castes lose their economic advantages as landlord due to the failure of cultivation and changing nature of agriculture. upper castes like rajus and kepus did not wish to migrate as the land is abundant and the patron-client relationship in the traditional jati order placed them above lower castes like malas, setti balijas, and goudas. lower castes were able to get benefits from the government only when they made initial progress through the migration to persian gulf. this economic betterment changed the structures of caste and their relationship with other upper castes in the village. it is by becoming economically sound that lower castes like the malas articulated their civil rights. the scs and sts (prevention of atrocities) act of 1989 gave them courage to respond to the caste atrocities inflicted upon them by rajus and kepus. this ethnography therefore brings forth a pattern of lower caste assertion that the economic base is the primary condition for the lower caste to articulate and seek benefits from government policies such as protective discrimination. this led to a change in the nature of hierarchy in the village. understanding the civil rights and protective measures of the state towards scs, upper castes came to terms with a dialogue to make issue with the humiliation and recognition of the scs. the problem of scs are evidently reflected in the electoral dividend of parties and candidates. three questions are primarily posed here to understand the caste and hierarchy dynamics in the village. what happens when a well-meaning ideal of equity encounters the fluidity of socio-economic hierarchy in a dynamic neo-liberal economy? what roles do material fortunes or lack of it, coupled with the rights guaranteed by the state, play in realising one’s political ambitions? and what can the policy offer its intended beneficiaries in a neo-liberal economy when it is implemented in a political scape evolved to emphasise primordial jati identities? the neo-liberal possibility of getting out from the village and migrating to other regions and places to work as labour for the companies and corporations tremendously changed lower caste economic conditions and opened space for new kinds of aspirations and freedom to assert themselves to emerge as a new political self. ethnography suggests that lankapalli is a curious case where a neo-liberal economy has helped not the traditionally affluent jatis with superior social capital, but those lacking it. the next chapter take us to the case of west bengal and argues that caste and public policy never addressed the issues of the lower castes in the state policy. it is titled “caste and public policy: a case of west bengal” by antara ray. a 34-year-old ministry led by left front in west bengal eulogised class over the primary issue of caste because of the blindness of critical insights. the bhadralok politics of congress as well as communist parties had not seriously encountered the politics of caste in the state. rather, their priorities were to solve the problems of refugees due to the partition of bengal. however, upper caste refugees were given land on the southern parts of kolkotta, and most of the poor and low caste people were sent off to farflung places by the state. but, badralok politicians disregarded caste dynamics and made it invisible from public discourse. the left, thus subverted the significance of 196 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 caste to establish its ideology of class struggle. at the same time, it is so visible in the public and private lives of bengalis. anthropological studies in 1980s found that, in rural areas, school feats continued to be segregated on the basis of caste. the left undermined the intersection of caste and class in bengal which is similar in the case of kerala with an exception that is upper caste’s concerns were well met by the state. the proliferation of government-aided institutions mostly run by upper castes and powerful religious minorities were not ready to follow the constitutionally mandatory reservation of employment in these sectors. the salaries are paid by the state but appointments are made by caste/religious-based managements. in west bengal, a little direction in this regard is somehow visible in the policy document of the tmc (trinamul congress) governments since 2011 under the leadership of mamata banerjee. the chapter illustrated a communist case that west bengal has always been highly influenced by western ideologies, but these ideologies and worldview could not dismantle the entrenched institution of caste. in the chapter “development policies and marginal groups: case study of dhobis in delhi,” subhadra mitra channa examines the marginalization of dhobis (traditional washer communities) within the context of urban development policies in delhi. dhobis, like other marginalized occupational castes in india, have historically provided essential services that cater to society’s basic needs—such as scavenging, laundering, leatherworking, and basket weaving. these occupations are traditionally associated with “untouchable” castes, a classification that spans both rural and urban india, underscoring a deeply rooted socio-cultural stigma. the dhobis in delhi, whose labour involves laundering the clothing of upper and middle-caste residents, perform tasks that include washing garments worn by individuals, as well as bed linens, towels, and clothing from menstruating women, the sick, and new mothers—items regarded as ritually impure within caste-based belief systems. this labour-intensive process results in a symbolic transfer of pollution from the upper castes to the dhobis, reinforcing their social status as “untouchable.” channa’s analysis also traces the socio-spatial positioning of dhobis in the city’s development trajectory from colonial times to the present. historically, dhobi communities were strategically situated near the residences of elites to ensure timely services, yet their social and political visibility remained severely limited. despite the growth of the city and the expansion of markets driven by commercial and tourism sectors, which increased the demand for dhobis’ services, urban planning processes have largely neglected the needs of this group. for instance, dhobi communities lack sufficient infrastructure, such as washing ghats and water access, critical for their work. the chapter highlights that while some dhobis have adapted by becoming intermediaries with large hotels and commercial establishments, the city’s planning frameworks fail to integrate their essential services, rendering them invisible within the urban landscape. consequently, dhobis have remained a politically marginalized group with limited capacity to advocate for their rights in the civic life of delhi. their exclusion from urban planning reflects broader patterns of social marginalization, caste matters in public policy: issues and perspectives 197 where certain labour practices, despite their importance to the city’s functioning, are systematically overlooked in public policy and urban development strategies. the third part of the book explores caste dynamics beyond hinduism, with paramjit s. judge’s chapter, “despite equality: sikhs and the caste issue,” focusing on the complex interactions between caste and sikhism. judge argues that while sikh religious doctrine theoretically rejects caste and untouchability, the social realities among sikhs have been shaped significantly by caste-based distinctions, particularly due to historical and colonial policies. british colonial policy reinforced caste affiliations by establishing canal colonies in east and central punjab, where land was allocated primarily to agriculturist castes, such as jats, sainis, and rajputs. these groups benefitted substantially from land allotments, which also extended to british soldiers upon their retirement. additionally, caste-based recruitment in the british indian army further entrenched caste identities by officially recognizing and promoting certain groups, notably the sikhs, as part of the “martial races”. this colonial objectification of caste reified its link to public policy, casting a long shadow on the socio-political structure within sikh communities. this caste legacy influenced the constituent assembly debates, in which sardar patel argued for the political representation of specific sikh castes, citing social realities that contradicted sikhism’s egalitarian ideals. we could emphasize dr. b.r. ambedkar’s assertion that untouchability in hinduism is a stigma that persists across other religions in india, suggesting that social stigmatization based on caste transcends religious boundaries. thus, despite sikhism’s theoretical rejection of caste, the lived experiences of lowercaste sikhs reveal that caste-based discrimination remains a persistent challenge, carried over from socio-historical structures into the religious and social fabric of sikh identity in india. the second chapter of this section examines caste discrimination among christians and muslims in india and advocates for a reassessment of the state’s policy on affirmative action. as seen in the case of sikhs, caste identities persist among formerly “untouchable” communities even after conversion to christianity or islam. studies indicate that caste structures have survived the process of religious conversion. within christian communities, converts from marginalized castes are often labeled as “new christians,” while those from higher castes are recognized as “upper-caste christians.” this distinction is particularly visible in practices within these groups; for example, upper-caste christians and those from former untouchable castes are often buried in separate cemeteries, a practice that is evident in south india. in the presence of elite syrian christians, dalit christians are still expected to remove their head coverings, reflecting enduring social hierarchies. similarly, pulaya christians may not be offered food in the homes of syrian christians or may be served on inferior dishes. parallel to this, muslims in india display a varna-like caste hierarchy, where groups are classified as ashraf, ajlaf, and arzal. the ashraf group includes sub-categories such as syed, sheikh, mughal, and pathan, with internal hierarchies persisting among these subgroups. the ajlaf category is traditionally treated as “low caste,” and practices like endogamy among siddiquis in uttar pradesh reinforce their group identity and higher 198 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 social standing within the caste hierarchy. these patterns indicate that caste-based discrimination, traditionally associated with hindu society, is also replicated in other religions in india. given these persistent caste dynamics, there is a strong case for extending protective measures and affirmative action policies to marginalized groups within indian christian and muslim communities.3 in the epilogue on the intersection of caste and public policy, sony pellissery proposes a framework for integrating caste considerations into policy analysis. this framework addresses four key stages of the policy process: agenda-setting, policy formulation, decision-making and adoption, implementation, and the feedback or evaluation loop. recognizing the critical role caste plays at each of these stages, pellissery emphasizes the need for caste to be adequately considered within indian public policy frameworks. the discussion in this book, therefore, critiques public policy literature, particularly that originating from american and european contexts, for its limited capacity to account for policies within socio-culturally diverse states. the book, both empirically rigorous and analytically robust, reveals the resilience of caste in the daily lives of individuals, despite its frequent invisibility within state policy in india. this analysis underscores the importance of re-evaluating policy frameworks to reflect and address the complex realities of caste, calling for a more context-sensitive approach to public policy. 3it is in this context that a report by the justice ranganath mishra commission for religious and linguistic minorities (2007) recommended scheduled caste (sc) reservation for dalit converts to christianity and islam. © 2024 shubham kumar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.2464 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 525-531 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste ‘the foresighted ambedkar: ideas that shaped indian constitutional discourse’ author: anurag bhaskar publisher: penguin random house india year: 2024 reviewer: shubham kumar1 introduction dr. b.r. ambedkar is popularly celebrated for his role in drafting the indian constitution. his commitment to the annihilation of caste, his advocacy for social justice, and his tireless work for the inclusion of the oppressed communities into the social and political fabric of india, laid the foundations for the egalitarian principles of modern india (thorat & kumar, 2009). however, only a handful of scholarly work dealt with exploring ambedkar’s contributions in the framing of the indian constitution. these include raosaheb kasbe’s marathi book dr. ambedkar ani bhartiya rajyaghatana, translated in english as dr. ambedkar and the indian constitution (kasbe, 2016) and dc ahir’s dr. ambedkar and the indian constitution (ahir, 1997). these works focus on the constituent assembly debates to highlight ambedkar’s key role in the framing of the constitution. in the foresighted ambedkar, anurag bhaskar extends this exploration to a broader historical context, highlighting ambedkar’s influence not only during the constituent assembly (1946-50) but also in the preceding three decades. bhaskar argues that understanding the constitution-making process should encompass negotiations dating back to 1919, illustrating how ambedkar shaped key moments leading up to setting up of the assembly. bhaskar also provides a detailed examination of several critical historical events that previous works have not discussed, such as ambedkar’s role in the framing of the government of india act 1935, his constitutional arguments against possible secession from india by the erstwhile princely states, among other topics. the book 1advocate, supreme court of india email: kumarshubham2309@gmail.com 526 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 also demolishes several myths spread against dr. ambedkar, such as that he wanted to burn the constitution, or that he wanted quotas in jobs and education to end after a period of ten years. in other words, bhaskar offers an in-depth and meticulously researched exploration of ambedkar’s constitutional philosophy, situating his contributions within a broader, multidimensional framework that intertwines global constitutionalism, the struggles of anti-caste movements, and the ever-evolving discourses on rights, justice, and governance. bhaskar’s work thus provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of ambedkar’s vision for a democratic society rooted in the principles of social justice and substantive equality, a vision that continues to resonate in contemporary debates on democracy and governance. constitutional evolution and ambedkar’s radical engagement at the outset, the book traces ambedkar’s early rise, positioning his socio-political development within the context of colonial india’s deeply entrenched caste system. ambedkar’s journey was marked by his education and exposure to liberal democratic ideals, human rights discourses, and social reform movements, which profoundly shaped his perspectives on how to address the deeply discriminatory and hierarchical structures of indian society (omvedt, 1994). his formative years were spent grappling with the reality of being born into an ‘untouchable’ caste, and yet, his academic achievements, notably his education at columbia university and the london school of economics, and his wide reading of global history, provided him with the intellectual tools to envisage a radically different future for india. in this initial section, bhaskar meticulously charts ambedkar’s rise from a personal and symbolic subaltern trajectory, marking him as a representative figure challenging hegemonic social structures through constitutional means. following this, the book delves into the constitutional discourse that predated ambedkar’s involvement and its evolution during and after his interventions. bhaskar carefully situates ambedkar’s work in the context of colonial constitutional reforms, such as the government of india acts, which while laying the groundwork for limited self-rule, remained exclusionary, particularly toward oppressed castes (b. ambedkar, 2014). ambedkar’s engagement with constitutionalism, therefore, represented both a continuation of and a radical departure from prior constitutional discussions. while colonial constitutional reforms sought to preserve the interests of the ruling elites, ambedkar infused his constitutional philosophy with a strong egalitarian ethos, anchored in social justice and the need to dismantle caste-based oppression (bhaskar, 2021). through this analysis, bhaskar highlights how ambedkar’s vision for india’s future was rooted in the recognition that the country’s social hierarchies could only be effectively challenged through the creation of a just and inclusive legal and political system. a significant portion of bhaskar’s work is dedicated to exploring ambedkar’s ideas on popular government and citizenship, which form the crux of his democratic vision. for ambedkar, democracy was never a matter of mere procedural formalities, ‘the foresighted ambedkar: ideas that shaped indian constitutional discourse’ 527 such as elections and majority rule, but was fundamentally concerned with the material realization of social and economic justice. democracy, in ambedkar’s view, had to be substantive—concerned not only with the protection of individual political rights but also with the redistribution of resources and opportunities in ways that would enable marginalized communities to participate fully and equally in the political process (b.r. ambedkar, 2010). bhaskar draws extensively from ambedkar’s speeches, writings, and debates within the constituent assembly to critically examine how ambedkar’s insistence on the link between political democracy and economic justice was instrumental to his broader constitutional vision. ambedkar firmly rejected the notion that democracy should be limited to the understanding of numerical majorities and electoral outcomes. instead, his conception of democracy was rooted in the recognition that india’s deeply hierarchical social structure necessitated constitutional mechanisms that would protect the rights of minority groups, particularly dalits and other oppressed castes (nussbaum, 2016). bhaskar’s analysis of this aspect of ambedkar’s thought is particularly illuminating, as it highlights how ambedkar sought to create a constitutional framework that would transcend the formal legal equality of citizenship and instead actively protect the rights of marginalized communities through institutional safeguards. this section offers a thorough analysis of ambedkar’s efforts to create a substantive democracy, one that was not only formally democratic but also rooted in the principles of social justice, inclusion, and equality. one of the most significant contributions that ambedkar made to modern constitutional thought is his pioneering work in shaping the language and framework of rights within the indian constitution. bhaskar devotes considerable attention to analyzing ambedkar’s role in drafting key provisions that not only guaranteed civil and political rights but also extended the scope of constitutional protections to include socio-economic rights. ambedkar’s vision of rights was far-reaching and transformative, moving beyond the narrow confines of the liberal tradition’s focus on individual liberties to include a broader commitment to collective justice, especially for historically marginalized and oppressed communities. ambedkar’s innovative approach to constitutional rights is vividly illustrated in bhaskar’s discussion of his efforts to intertwine personal freedoms with social justice. for ambedkar, political democracy could not exist in isolation from social and economic democracy. he believed that the protection of civil liberties had to be accompanied by measures to ensure the equitable distribution of resources and opportunities (austin, 1999). this section of the book delves deeply into ambedkar’s advocacy for affirmative action provisions—such as reservations in education and employment for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes—as essential tools for dismantling caste-based discrimination. in this regard, a crucial aspect of ambedkar’s constitutional vision, as bhaskar underscores, is his incisive critique of the historical privileges conferred upon dominant castes. ambedkar’s advocacy for affirmative action policies, aimed at supporting oppressed castes, was grounded in his understanding of justice as both distributive and compensatory (bhaskar, 2021). 528 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 bhaskar’s analysis of ambedkar’s approach to affirmative action is particularly thought-provoking, as he examines how ambedkar rejected the system of generation privilege and hegemony over institutions, that disproportionately benefited dominant castes, and instead articulated a vision of justice that recognized the need for remedial measures to address historical injustices and systemic inequalities. by juxtaposing the privileges of dominant castes with his advocacy for affirmative action, bhaskar reveals the sophisticated nature of ambedkar’s constitutional thought, which sought to strike a balance between individual rights and the need for collective social justice. through a close reading of ambedkar’s speeches, writings, and debates during the drafting of the constitution, bhaskar illustrates how ambedkar’s work on rights extended beyond merely protecting individuals from state interference. instead, ambedkar sought to create a constitutional framework that would actively address the socio-economic disparities that had historically disadvantaged marginalized communities (austin, 1999). bhaskar’s analysis of this aspect of ambedkar’s work reveals how he envisioned the indian constitution as a living document, one that would evolve to meet the changing needs of indian society. ambedkar’s efforts to weave together individual liberties with the imperative of collective justice, bhaskar argues, remain a “cornerstone”—borrowing the term from granville austin—of india’s constitutional ethos, establishing a foundation for a more inclusive and equitable society. the book also explores key episodes in ambedkar’s political career, such as the mahad satyagraha, which bhaskar describes as a crucial moment in ambedkar’s legal and constitutional thought. ambedkar’s struggle for the basic right to access public water sources became symbolic of a broader assertion of equality and human dignity (jangam, 2017). bhaskar examines the mahad satyagraha as both an act of resistance against oppressive social structures and as a formative moment in ambedkar’s evolving ideas on constitutionalism and social justice. labelling this episode as the “first walk to freedom,” bhaskar situates it within ambedkar’s larger legal and political philosophy, revealing how such acts of civil disobedience informed his later work on the indian constitution. one of ambedkar’s most radical contributions to india’s constitutional framework, as bhaskar highlights, was his advocacy for universal adult franchise. at a time when widespread illiteracy and deeply rooted hierarchical divisions pervaded indian society, ambedkar’s insistence on equal voting rights for all citizens, regardless of caste or class, was both revolutionary and forward-thinking. bhaskar provides a nuanced examination of the socio-political milieu in which ambedkar articulated his arguments for universal suffrage, emphasizing the radical nature of this proposal in a context where political participation had been historically restricted to the privileged classes (bhaskar, 2021). for ambedkar, universal suffrage was not merely a procedural mechanism for expanding political participation; it was a fundamental pillar of his vision for a truly democratic india. by championing equal voting rights, ambedkar sought to empower the disenfranchised and ensure that the voices of the marginalized, especially those from oppressed castes, would be heard in the political arena (nussbaum, 2016). bhaskar traces the enduring impact of ambedkar’s advocacy ‘the foresighted ambedkar: ideas that shaped indian constitutional discourse’ 529 on democratic participation in india, underscoring how his push for universal adult franchise continues to shape the struggle for equality and representation in contemporary indian society. in addition to his focus on constitutional rights and justice, bhaskar devotes significant attention to ambedkar’s ideas on the structure and functioning of government. ambedkar’s commitment to a system of checks and balances, his emphasis on the need for an independent judiciary, and his insistence on federalism as a means of addressing india’s diverse social and linguistic landscape are all carefully examined in the book. bhaskar draws on ambedkar’s contributions to key debates in the constituent assembly to illustrate how his approach to the structure of government was informed by both his deep understanding of constitutional theory and his pragmatic awareness of the unique challenges posed by india’s social and political realities. bhaskar’s examination of ambedkar’s constitutional philosophy also touches on his views regarding the relationship between law and social change. for ambedkar, the constitution was not a static document but a living one that should evolve to meet the changing needs of society (b.r. ambedkar, 2010). bhaskar highlights ambedkar’s recognition that legal reforms, while necessary, were not sufficient in themselves to achieve social justice. ambedkar understood that deep-seated social structures, particularly the caste system, required more than just legal solutions; they needed sustained social and political efforts to dismantle. nonetheless, ambedkar saw the constitution as a powerful tool for initiating and supporting social change (austin, 1999). by establishing legal principles of equality and justice, the constitution could serve as a foundation for broader social reforms aimed at eradicating caste-based discrimination and ensuring the inclusion of marginalized communities in all aspects of indian life. in this context, bhaskar examines ambedkar’s views on the limits of constitutionalism in effecting social transformation. while ambedkar was a staunch advocate of using constitutional means to achieve social justice, he was also acutely aware of the potential for laws to be subverted by entrenched interests. bhaskar draws on ambedkar’s writings and speeches to illustrate his concerns about the possibility that the constitution’s egalitarian principles could be undermined by dominant social groups who sought to preserve their privileges. ambedkar’s insistence on the need for continuous vigilance in protecting the rights of marginalized communities is a recurring theme in bhaskar’s analysis, underscoring his belief that constitutional democracy required active participation and engagement by all citizens to ensure that the principles of justice and equality were upheld. relevance of ambedkar’s vision in contemporary debates the book also delves into ambedkar’s critical reflections on the challenges of implementing constitutional ideals in practice. bhaskar explores ambedkar’s observations on the gap between the lofty principles of the constitution and the reality of social and political life in post-independence india. ambedkar was deeply concerned that without meaningful social and economic reforms, the constitution’s 530 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 promises of equality and justice would remain unfulfilled (austin, 1999). bhaskar’s analysis of this aspect of ambedkar’s thought reveals his pragmatic understanding of the limitations of constitutional law in addressing deeply ingrained social inequalities. ambedkar’s emphasis on the need for continuous social and economic reform as a complement to constitutional change is a central theme of the book, offering readers a comprehensive view of his broader vision for social transformation. in the final sections of the book, bhaskar turns to a discussion of ambedkar’s legacy and its relevance to contemporary constitutional debates in india. ambedkar’s foresight in addressing issues such as caste-based discrimination, the protection of minority rights, and the need for social and economic justice continues to resonate in modern constitutional jurisprudence. bhaskar provides a detailed examination of how ambedkar’s ideas have influenced key judicial decisions in india, particularly those related to affirmative action, the right to education, and the protection of minority rights (indra sawhney vs union of india and others, n.d.). by tracing the enduring impact of ambedkar’s constitutional philosophy on contemporary legal and political discourses, bhaskar demonstrates the ongoing relevance of his thought in shaping india’s democratic institutions and legal frameworks. bhaskar notably argues that while ambedkar’s constitutional vision laid the groundwork for legal protections and affirmative action policies, much work remains to be done in realizing the full promise of social justice. in this context, bhaskar’s discussion of ambedkar’s legacy serves as both a reminder of the transformative potential of constitutionalism and a call to action for those who continue to fight for a more just and inclusive society. the final chapter of the book critically engages with the ongoing discourse regarding the so-called ten-year limit on reservations, effectively dismantling the notion that such measures should be restricted to a predefined period. ambedkar argued that the historical and deeply entrenched context of oppression required a more flexible and adaptive approach to affirmative action—one that is responsive to the changing socio-political landscape rather than constrained by arbitrary deadlines (bhaskar, 2022). another positive aspect of the book is that it is written in simple language, devoid of any jargons or verbose content. such writing style makes it easier for a non-legal reader to engage with the content of the book. the book undisputedly establishes dr. ambedkar as a leading figure who shaped india’s constitutional trajectory. as the author himself noted, the book is about indian constitutional history. in narrating the contributions, bhaskar builds on the scholarship on various facets of ambedkar’s philosophy. for instance, he quoted shailaja paik (2022), whose work on ambedkar’s perspectives on gender and its intersection with caste offers insight into his wider social philosophy. in expanding the scholarship on ambedkar, bhaskar reveals how his vision of equality extended beyond the boundaries of caste to encompass a more comprehensive approach to human dignity and equity (kumar & preet, 2020). reading bhaskar’s book along with the previous scholarship on his engagement with buddhist principles, western philosophical traditions, or indian intellectual discourses would expand the reader’s understanding of his conceptions ‘the foresighted ambedkar: ideas that shaped indian constitutional discourse’ 531 of justice and democracy. such an examination would not only deepen the reader’s grasp of ambedkar’s philosophical lineage but also emphasize the moral and ethical dimensions of his approach to law, governance, and human rights. bhaskar ends his book reflecting on the unfinished legacy of ambedkar. another interesting project which the author could take is an exploration of ambedkar’s representation in popular culture, literature, and art, showcasing the cultural dimensions of his legacy beyond legal and political frameworks (jangam, 2017). this would highlight how ambedkar’s ideas resonate across various media, underscoring their impact on indian society as a whole. such a perspective would add a richer, multidimensional view of ambedkar’s influence, illustrating how his thought has permeated and shaped not only legal and political landscapes but also cultural and social consciousness in modern india. the foresighted ambedkar by anurag bhaskar is a comprehensive and insightful exploration of ambedkar’s constitutional philosophy and its enduring impact on indian democracy. bhaskar’s work stands as a testament to ambedkar’s foresight in addressing the deep-rooted social and political challenges facing india, and it serves as an important resource for scholars, students, and anyone interested in understanding the foundational principles of india’s constitutional democracy. references ahir, d. (1997). dr. ambedkar and indian constitution (2nd ed.). low price publication. ambedkar, b. (2014). dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vols 1–17. mumbai: education department of the government of maharashtra. ambedkar, b.r. (2010). the essential writings of b. r. ambedkar (v. rodrigues, ed.; 8. impr). oxford university press. austin, g. (1999). the indian constitution: cornerstone of a nation. oxford university press. bhaskar, a. (2021). “ambedkar’s constitution”: a radical phenomenon in anti-caste discourse? caste, 2(1), 109–131. https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v2i1.282 bhaskar, a. (2022). the myth of the ten-year limit on reservations and dr ambedkar’s stance. contemporary voice of dalit, 2455328x221101674. https://doi.org/10.1177/2455328x22 1101674 indra sawhney vs union of india and others, 1993 air 477 (supreme court of india). jangam, c. (2017). dalits and the making of modern india (first edition). oxford university press. kasbe, r. (2016). dr. ambedkar and the indian constitution. sanay publication. kumar, s., & preet, p. (2020). manual scavenging: women face double discrimination as caste and gender inequalities converge. economic and political weekly, 55(26–27). https://www. epw.in/engage/article/manual-scavenging-women-face-double-discrimination-caste-gender nussbaum, m.c. (2016). ambedkar’s constitution: promoting inclusion, opposing majority tyranny. in t. ginsburg & a. huq (eds.), assessing constitutional performance (1st ed., pp. 295–336). cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781316651018.011 omvedt, g. (1994). dalits and the democratic revolution: dr. ambedkar and the dalit movement in colonial india. sage publications. thorat, s., & kumar, n. (2009). b.r. ambedkar: perspectives on social exclusion and inclusive policies. oxford university press. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=95hlpwaacaaj © 2023 akanksha sanil. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.502 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 267-287 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste revisiting inequality and caste in state and social laws: perspectives of manu, phule and ambedkar akanksha sanil1 abstract the constitution, as a formal legal document, reflects a commitment to secure to all citizens, equality, justice, and liberty, as a non-negotiable duty of the state. the nature and context of present society, however, is embedded in its sociocultural development through civilisations. this study aims to engage with such a manifestation of state power as revealed in the text manavdharmashastra, that marked the origin of codified social laws to derive legitimacy and establish a ‘divine’ authority to rule. subsequently, the pioneers to critique the dysfunctions of manu’s social laws became a subject of interrogation by social reformers like jyotirao phule and dr. bhimrao ambedkar. methodologically, our effort will be to weave together an intertextual analysis based on scientific observation of the case of caste subaltern, through three widely acknowledged texts— manusmriti, phule’s slavery (gulamgiri), and ambedkar’s annihilation of caste, on ideals of society and governance, in order to present a historical legacy into the origins of social hierarchy as an institutional mechanism to perpetuate inequality among subjects. the aim is to develop an approach to evaluate the ancient political thought of manusmriti, and probe contradictions and realism in actions, with explicit excerpts of relevant texts, to authenticate the credibility of facts and its alignment with the central thought. the article eventually attempts to suggest alternatives to secure the vision of an ideal indian society that aims to disintegrate the institution of caste. keywords caste, manusmriti, state, social laws, governance, constitution 1research scholar, department of political science, university of delhi, india e-mail: akankshakumar94@gmail.com 268 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 introduction inequality is commonly understood as an unequal distribution of resources and opportunities. however, the underlying cause of inequality lies in ‘domination’ (jodhka 2018). hence, any analysis that attempts to question structures of inequality must necessarily be located within the “particular framework of history, culture and social configuration” (ibid.). in india, contemporary inequality, in particular, inequality among specific identity groups, is largely an outcome of historical exclusion and marginalisation, perpetuated through the institution of caste as a critical marker of social stratification. therefore, interpreting inequality from this perspective demands that glories and illusions of religious-scriptural traditions be evaluated within the domain of academic research, to reveal its systemic and operational imperfections. this is because, the nature and context of present society is embedded in its sociocultural development through civilisations. the ancient indian logic behind the establishment and organisation of social order has been a conscious effort to obligate disadvantages, exclusion, and marginalisation, institutionalised through the code of manu—a widely acknowledged work on social laws in india. the text is known for its caste and patriarchy-based approach to design a hierarchical categorization of society, that codifies conduct and actions, for instance, personal hygiene, manner of attaining knowledge, diet, marriage, interpersonal relations, and spiritual aspects, into a legally bounded system. the authoritativeness of the text may be perceived from the prerequisite of european conquest to uphold hindu law code as a legal sanction, rather than a spiritual or religious narrative of colonial subjects.1 unlike this law code, the constitution of india, as a formal legal document, became an embodiment of an accommodative, socially sensitive, inclusive, and aspirational society. it reflects a commitment to secure to all citizens, equality, justice and liberty, as a nonnegotiable duty of the state. this article tries to weave together an intertextual analysis based on scientific observation of the case of caste subaltern, through three widely acknowledged texts— laws of manu (manavdharamshastra), jyotiba phule’s slavery (gulamgiri), and b.r. ambedkar’s annihilation of caste, on ideals of society and governance. these texts are significant as they present a historical legacy into the origins of social hierarchy, its influence on the nature of nineteenth century colonial india, and the responses through constitutional values. the aim is to develop an approach to evaluate ancient political thought of manavdharmashastra, and probe contradictions and realism in actions, with explicit excerpts of relevant texts, to authenticate the credibility of facts and its alignment with the central thought. 1as naegele (2008) notes, “europeans “discovered” the law code of manu about the same time as the united states was adopting a constitution, in the 1790’s, when a british judge sent to india, sir william jones, learned the ancient indian language of sanskrit, translated the law code of manu and published it.” revisiting inequality and caste in state and social laws 269 interpreting varna, caste or jati the textbook view of caste presents it as an ancient institution based on the ideas of varna, karma and dharma, most explicitly elaborated in the classic hindu text manusmriti (jodhka 2018: 112). while manusmriti does not explicitly mention the word ‘caste’, it governed individual conduct and social interactions based on the belief that the organisation of the hindu social order2 was divinely ordained through a system of hierarchy that was institutionalised on the notion of ‘purity and pollution’. this was achieved by the mechanism of distinctions based on varna. the varna system established the hindus into four mutually exclusive and hierarchically ranked categories. beyond the four varnas were the atishudra or achhoots (the “untouchables”), ‘who by virtue of being classified as the avarnas (those without a varna) occupied the lowliest position in contrast to the savarnas3 (those with a varna)’ (deshpande 2011: 19). this intergenerational transfer of hierarchy defining one’s social standing in the overall structure was inscribed in ritual terms by a codified framework, that structured almost every aspect of social and economic life of people for centuries. the second related element that naturalised a caste order was the karma doctrine. according to it, the present life of a person is a link to the infinite chain of subsequent births and rebirths, and that, the birth of each in a specific (varna) position is an outcome of their own past deeds. therefore, the only way to improve the prospects of a better future birth was to adhere to, and perform well, the role considered appropriate for the stratum in which one was born. finally, with regards to the concept of dharma in ancient india, it must be noted that, dharma governed the criteria of human behaviour and social duties, as adherence to it was stated to be beneficial not only for the individual, but also for the overall welfare of society at large (meena 2005: 578-579). in the text manusmriti, dharma has been conceptualised as a creation of ‘divine power’ established on the idea of religion and spirituality for the execution of ‘right duties’4 in all aspects of human life. according to this, the only ‘attachment’ that mankind must have, shall be the attachment towards one’s dharma, for the text declares that dharma alone, guarantees realisation of the divine creator (ibid.: 579). the ‘caste system’—which essentially communicates the reference to the indigenous term jati—originally started with the four-fold varna classification mentioned above. however, as is known, the operative category is no longer determined 2while the work has a standalone focus (and, a conventional one) on hinduism, it is important to remember that all religions (especially in south asia) have an inherent system of social stratification, similar to the indian caste system. in this context, deshpande (2011) gives a brief insight on the manifestation of the system within buddhism (pp. 22-23). 3ambedkar identified two major classes of castes based on varna division in society: savarna and avarna. within savarna, there are two classes—dvija castes (twice born high castes) and castes of shudra status. similarly, the avarna has three groups—tribes, nomadic tribes and those belonging to the category of untouchable castes. (bagade 2012: 35) 4according to chapter vii verse 27 of manusmriti, a ruler who uses his power to properly protect the caste order, will achieve all desires, wealth, and spiritual merit. on the other hand, one who misuses it for personal interests, will end up in destruction. 270 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 by varna, but individual jatis. this categorisation of jatis is more commonly based on personal claims of its members regarding their respective varna affiliations. whatever may be the contradictions in such narratives, the nature of the caste pyramid has traditionally been standardised to an imagination that is characteristic of a vast population of “lower castes” to assume the bottommost position. it is equally important to highlight, that caste divisions between the so-called “high” or “low” distinction is most often indicative of the historically subjugated “untouchable” cluster of jatis that were together identified as a specific social category in government schedule during the colonial period. these were subsequently referred to as the scheduled castes (and similarly, the scheduled tribes). it may therefore be interpreted that, any investigation into the origins of caste and subsequent transformations thereon, necessitates that the emergence of untouchability be analysed in proper perspective. the foundation of untouchability has its roots in the religious-scriptural tradition of indian society. ambedkar argued that ‘untouchability was an infliction and not a choice’ to ensure compulsory segregation (ambedkar 1989 [2014]: 5). in untouchability and stratification in indian civilisation, shrirama (2007) presented a historical study of ancient texts to understand the phenomena of untouchability and the process of its institutionalisation within the system of hindu social stratification in india. he has eloquently demonstrated how newer invasions gradually transformed social status based on racial differences to one based on ritual purity among the aryan elites and the pre-aryan settlers. according to him, “…the metaphysical doctrine of karma has provided a powerful rationalisation for inequality based on birth and made it acceptable to the wide masses” (p. 49) to recall, the doctrine of karma, as articulated for the first time in the upanishads implies that, birth in a certain position is directly linked to one’s own past deeds. in order to improve later births however, it is imperative to adhere to and perform the assigned role of the varna to which the person is born (ibid.: 49). the process of establishment of a four-fold hierarchy to the institutionalisation of low status to shudras, and the subsequent formation of untouchability, can be broadly divided based on three significant textual evidence. to begin with, rig veda5 (the oldest scripture) with the composition purushasukta is the first to mention all four ranks together with their occupations, tracing a mythical origin of each to be symbolically related to different parts of the body of the purusha (shrirama 2007: 57) or the ‘divine creator’. in later samhitas and brahmanas, for instance, the taittiriya samhita and aitareya brahmana, the so-called “low” status assigned to shudras was institutionalised. the 5it is important to highlight that, “in the rig veda, the word ‘varna’ clearly refers to the colour of skin and hair of the people of two different races, the aryan varna and the krshna varna. nowhere in the rig veda is the word varna used for the four-fold stratification of society. though the two classes, brahmin and kshatriya are mentioned often, the word varna is not used to denote them. even in the purushasukta, where the origin of the four classes is described, the word varna does not occur” (shrirama 2007:. 49). revisiting inequality and caste in state and social laws 271 relationship of shudras with other three varnas was reasserted through the social laws of manu. in this context, manusmriti asserts that, …the dominance of priestly elites and the hierarchy based on varna was to be re-established not only through religious prescriptions but by the full might of the king and the state (through the power of punishment or dand). (ibid., 2007: 72) it is therefore, that the position of the king was instituted to ‘preserve’ the varna order. the text declared that, “the king has been created (to be) the protector of the castes (varna) and orders, who, all according to their rank, discharge their several duties”. (chapter vii verse 35) similarly, the occupational division of vaishya and shudras was propounded in the verse, “(the king) should order a vaisya to trade, to lend money, to cultivate the land, or to tend cattle, and a sudra to serve the twice-born castes”. (chapter viii verse 410) it further provided in manusmriti that, ‘a shudra, being unable to find service with the twice-born (a term associated with the three “higher-order varnas”) may engage in mechanical occupations such as handicrafts’ (chapter x verse 99-100) as their alternative duties. in any case however, it was impossible for the shudra to be entitled for ownership of wealth or property (chapter viii verse 416-417). it is necessary to mention the fact that, (though) manu assigns low position to the vaishyas and shudras (it) does not mean that he was not aware of their functional utility. in fact, he enjoins the king to ensure that the people of the vaishya and shudra varnas continue to perform the work prescribed for them because if these castes ‘swerved from their duties, the world would be thrown into confusion’. (shrirama 2007: 73) given the ongoing discussion about origins of the caste system, it is essential to consolidate the extensive revelations by the most widely known ideological critique of such stigmatised classification of social identities. beginning from the nineteenth century, the most noteworthy challenge to the institution of caste as a form of systemic structural inequality was first posed by the social reformer and thinker jyotirao govindrao phule. this became an equally imperative question for ambedkar who began to search for a possible redressal for the same nearly a century later. with time, ambedkar became a notable critique of manusmriti and emphasised on the noninterference of socially codified laws of manu to the dynamics of state functions so as to attain a just and equitable social democracy that respected the dignity of all. the association as chairperson of the drafting committee of the constituent assembly enabled him to incorporate through consensus, his core beliefs and values as an institutionalised mechanism that supported the primacy of law over individual interest 272 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 or passion. ambedkar analysed the varna-caste relation by identifying the similarities and differences between the two. according to him, varna and caste are identical in their de jure connotation. both connote status and occupation. status and occupation are the two concepts which are implied both in the notion of varna as well as in the notion of caste. varna and caste, however, differ in one important particular. varna is not hereditary, either in status or occupation. on the other hand, caste implies a system in which status and occupation are hereditary and descend from father to son. (mungekar 2017: 17–18) as ambedkar’s inquiry on the origins and growth of varna-caste system suggests, the evolution of varna into several castes is an evolution in the opposite direction (bagade 2012: 25). it must be noted that, ambedkar categorically rejected manu as the originator of the caste system (ambedkar 1916: 19). nonetheless, he held that regimentation of caste identity emerged from the recognition that social status and occupation ought to be governed by the logic of hereditary succession (mungekar 2017: 18). it is in this respect that ambedkar contextualised religious sanctions to uphold caste hegemony and the indiscriminate degradation of shudra and untouchable castes. as a matter of fact, understanding the term “caste” becomes essential in order to differentiate it from the term “jati”. typically, the belief is that caste translates as jati in english terminology.6 in the words of galanter (1984), jati is “an endogamous group bearing a common name and origin, membership in which is hereditary, linked to one or more traditional occupations”7 (p. 7). it is to say, while ‘jati is not visually ascriptive’ (deshpande 2011: 28), an individual may conveniently be placed under a particular jati based on the last name (surname) of the person.8 therefore, while varna ranking is visualised as a pan-indian scheme, and castes are conceptualised as a set of regional and subregional groups, the term “jati” is representative of the local caste hierarchy. therefore, while the article acknowledges the conceptual conflicts between varna and caste, it intends to relate both in a rather comprehensive perspective, and recognizes them as objects of individual or group identity that has an influence on inequality, exclusion and marginalisation. 6“caste” is not an indigenous indian term but has its origins in the portuguese word casta. there is no exact equivalent in indian languages for the word caste (galanter 1984: 6). probably, theoretical ambiguities on jati, made the term caste correspond directly to the former. 7in general, the term jati means kind or genus, commonly seen as natural units of society each representing a distinct variety of human possibility. therefore, jatis are bound to exhibit geographical variations. 8this, however, becomes problematic to ascertain due to two reasons: one, when people voluntarily decide to drop their surnames or prefer to use generic and not jati-specific surnames; two, as jatis are regional categories, same surname may belong to different jatis across/within states (deshpande 2011: 28–29). revisiting inequality and caste in state and social laws 273 dharamshastra, knowledge and the state the classification of major literary sources for the history of india are broadly categorised under shruti (i.e. vedas) and smriti (i.e. dharamshastra) texts.9 the term “shastra” broadly connotes an organised compilation of ‘knowledge’—“social, political, economic, religious, ethical, and aesthetic dimensions” (sinha 2011). it is rightly noted that “the title of the work poses a problem for the readers, because the text is known by two different names, manusmriti and manavdharmashastra.”10 (ibid.). nonetheless, the work is considered a “synthesis of philosophy, religion and law”. any shastra text is acclaimed as a comprehensive treatise on knowledge. while considerable analysis have been attempted by scholars on the shastra tradition through another ancient classical text arthashastra, the manner of social conduct enforced within the domain of statecraft in the text has either remained unfamous or uncovered. the thematic contribution of this text on diplomacy and statecraft, often gains primacy over the nature of its cooperative state machinery that gave importance to institutional patronage of dvijas for an efficient functioning of the state. according to chalam (2020: 110), “in the hierarchy of the state, the ministers, who were in general drawn from among the brahmins, came first and then the purohits enjoyed the highest status…the vaishyas have cooperated with the king in carrying out the internal and external trade. thus, the dvijas had the opportunity to run the state in the past and in the present”. nonetheless, it is equally important to mention that later dharamshastra, specifically the manavdharamshastra, borrowed theoretical concepts such as the idea of saptanga rajya—the state consisting of seven inter-related functions—from the text arthashastra (singh 2019). the purpose here, to include reference of arthashastra is in synchroneity with the ideation that, privilege and domination by virtue of ‘acquired knowledge’ within systems of dharamshastra tradition, caused exclusion and marginalisation of some social groups. it is in this context, that the term ‘spirituality’ needs further analysis. a common impression of the term evokes a sense of communication of the self, with an invisible mystical power, embodied through the use and abuse of religion. this understanding of spirituality naturalizes the exercise of ‘divine authority’ to control individual-social conduct and ritual behavior. when such spirituality is located within the religiouscultural notion of hindu social order, what effectively develops is the varnadharma categorization of people, as revealed in the text manusmriti. the concept of state in ancient indian political thought, is a complex theorisation of the institution defined in terms of its basic features that includes among others, a definite territory and a ‘divine monarch’, vested with authoritative and coercive capabilities. the existence of this institution as ascertained by historians and political 9shruti texts are considered divine revelations, that which is heard; smriti texts are recollected works of man. (singh 2019; sinha 2011) 10this article uses the terms manusmriti and manavdharmashastra interchangeably to refer to the text in question. 274 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 scientists, reveal that “vedic political organizations were pre-state social formations, and proto-states or states in indian history first materialized in the post-vedic period when the primary egalitarian ethos of the tribal society in the mid-ganga valley gave way to the class-stratified society in which monarchy and aristocratic oligarchy and coercion were needed for the perpetuation of inequalities of property”11 (singh 2011: 10). considering the differential treatment granted to ‘divinely created unequal beings’ in manusmriti, the logic of governance, that is, the authority to make rules to regulate rights and duties, punishments, and rewards—became a natural tendency. accordingly, this exposition helps us understand how, in order to ensure continuity of the ‘divinely crafted’ laws of manu, political and institutional structures were organized to maintain a stratified social order and perpetuate inequality—of opportunity, resources and human dignity. it is observed that, “all hierarchies—and especially the inequalities of caste, class, patriarchy, etc.—were built on the claims of knowledge (both of the secular and supernatural religious variety)” (mani 2012). within this discussion therefore, it is intriguing to examine the ‘knowledge’ discourse through realms of—what constitutes ‘knowledge’, who ‘owns’ it, and the ‘power of knowledge’. the focus here, however, is to interpret the domain of knowledge, independent of the western conception, and in fact, within the framework of its brahmanical textual construction. structurally, a hegemonic knowledge—its constituents, realization, dissemination and enforcement—was largely restricted to religious sanctions of dharma. therefore, knowledge of dharamshastras became a source of power to establish an intellectual domination of the brahmanas in ancient india, and thereby, essentially command spiritual adherence from the remaining varnas. the concept of dharma in ancient india implied that, acceptance of dharma became a means to regulate human behaviour as it was stated that dharma is beneficial for the welfare of both the individual and society. in this way, dharma recognised both individual behaviour and the social duties. this view made ‘dharma not only a base for spiritual and moral development but equally a base for stable and regular system’ (meena 2005: 577). specifically, the context of dharma used in the text manavdharamshastra is the creation of the ‘divine power’ established on the idea of religion and spirituality, for “the execution of right duties” in all aspects of human life. according to this notion, the only ‘attachment’ that mankind must have shall be the ‘attachment towards one’s dharma’, for the text declares that “the accumulation of dharma” alone, guarantees realization of the divine creator or the supreme god. it will therefore be interesting to apply the vision of dharma envisaged in manusmriti to the complexities of state functioning. in this regard, manu is considered as the “first to systematize the science of government and administration” (sinha 2011: 20) and the text as the propounder of the ‘divine theory of the origin of state’ (meena 2005; sinha 2011). according to it, the king is a divine creation of god to protect all 11the nandas and the mauryas of magadh were the first to establish such a large-scale state. (singh 2011) revisiting inequality and caste in state and social laws 275 creatures. “for, when these creatures, being without a king, through fear dispersed in all directions, the lord created a king for the protection of this whole (creation)”. (chapter vii verse 3) thus, it was assumed that, “god originated both the dharma and state power at the same time. due to this, dharma made the king responsible towards the god” (meena 2005) and the text declared that the king is free from accountability towards anybody in the world. however, it must be noted that manusmriti validates subservience of the ‘divine’ king towards honour of the ‘great deity’ (chapter ix verse 319)—the brahmanas—“on account of superiority of his origin”, that they be regarded as “the lord of all castes” (chapter x verse 3). therefore, it is conclusive to state that, constraint and coercion as tools of state power to enforce dharma, was embedded in the assigned duties of the king. according to chapter vii verse 27, a ruler who uses his power to properly protect the caste order, will achieve all desires, wealth, and spiritual merit. on the other hand, one who misuses it for personal interests, will end up in destruction. in other words, “unless dharma upheld caste hierarchy, unless righteousness was bound to caste order, unless justice was one with danadaniti (rule of force)” (mani 2012), the strength of “dharma” would become insignificant. thus, ‘knowledge’ as defined through the ancient textual tradition of dharmashastra, ‘blurred the boundary between faith and reason, hierarchy and harmony, and their sole goal being power’ (ibid.). within this discussion it is important to highlight that, unlike textual sources of knowledge, oral forms of knowledge have traditionally been most closely associated with those commonly known as shudras according to the varnadharma system (shepherd 2020). this was because during the pre-colonial era, the shudras were denied access to learning of ancient education. in the present age, perhaps, this has gradually transformed as a means for creative expression of their consciousness. in fact, in the anti-caste discourse, the use of new-age mediums of modern forms of entertainment has emerged as a widely popular mode of assertion—the phase of what is referred to as ‘dalit cultural resistance’ to caste subjugation and humiliation. indeed, “brahmanic control over knowledge” remained the prerogative of those socially dominant within the caste structure, and “brahmanical forms of knowledge were critical in the establishment and maintenance of caste” (mani 2015). thus, knowledge and education in the context of ancient learning implied strategies of domination and exploitation, rather than an individual’s liberation through reason and upward mobility. in this reference, john fiske’s observation on knowledge is important. according to him, “knowledge is power, and the circulation of knowledge is part of the social distribution of power” (apple 2000: 179). caste and colonialism: continuity and change from manavdharamshastra theories and documentation that links brahmanism and colonialism suggests that “caste is a colonial construction: almost a fabrication of the population surveys and 276 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 census reports” (mani 2015).12 in this regard, a brief understanding of the history of the colonial administration in india is worth revisiting. the regulating act, 1773 was a landmark legislation that introduced a new administrative machinery for the british east india company (eic), from the hitherto exclusively commercial entity, to govern the land and its people. thus, the necessity for a comprehensive and uniform governance structure through 1773 act, created the foundation of central administration in india. this meant that colonial rule heavily relied on textual prescriptions of both religious denominations, i.e., hindus and muslims—that overpowered local realities. attempts to translate indigenous hindu texts, including manavdharamshastra therefore, became foundational for the evolution of the colonial judicial system to govern the hindu population. another aspect of the advent of colonialism on the institution of caste in india was the emergence of caste-based enumeration through conduct of official census in the nineteenth century. the census was a direct survey of population; instead of surmising or using textual references (samarendra 2011). this implied that individual questionnaire-based survey determined the presence of varna hierarchy, instead of interpretation of sanskrit texts. while such assessment had no uniformity in the method adopted, the purpose of the census was meant to count the population and classify it according to age, sex, religion, caste, occupation, among other categories. such an enumeration exercise “started from census of the north-western provinces in 1865, and it continued to be a prominent part of the colonial census till 1931” (ibid.). it was realised gradually that the empirical caste census faced contradictions in terms of text and practice. the varna-based classification failed to adequately represent the entire population of the indian society. thus, probably for the first time, ‘the state’ (even if it was colonial), ‘questioned the credibility of the propagator of this model – manu’ (ibid.). the fact that the so-called ‘outcastes’ or those outside the varna scheme did find mention in the caste census, the definite criteria for their identification was explicitly mentioned in the 1931 census. the criteria to define such groups was determined by the degree of social restrictions and discrimination applicable on them. for instance, their inability to be served by barbers, tailors; inability to enter hindu temples, and use public resources such as roads, wells or schools, became part of such criteria (singh 1997). it was, in fact, this idea of untouchability, that restricted them from using or accessing natural and public resources (bagade 2012: 33). thus, colonial rule institutionalised the categories of caste-based divisions through conduct of official census. it is in this perspective that social reformers such as jyotiba phule and b.r. ambedkar viewed the inability of colonial rule to correctly recognise the plight of the bottommost section of the population. this, according to them, was attributed to their use of “brahmin spectacles” (phule 1873) to position people within indian social structure. phule was convinced that the advent of british rule in india largely freed “the shudras from the physical (bodily) thraldom (slavery)” (ibid.,: 27). nonetheless, 12in this regard, some other works include imagining india by roland inden 1990 and castes of mind: colonialism and the making of modern india by nicholas dirks 2002. revisiting inequality and caste in state and social laws 277 he acknowledged the inadequacy of the british government to initiate equitable distribution of welfare to the masses, especially the neglect of primary education, which he believed to be critical for the emancipation from “mental slavery” (ibid.,) of the downtrodden. thus, phule’s attitude towards the colonial government was as hostile as it was towards, what he referred to as ‘bhats’ (brahmins). on the other hand, ambedkar, in his struggle against caste and untouchability, sought to awaken the identity of this social category for ‘self-respect and self-esteem’ (bagade 2012: 35). he asserted that, “we must have a government in which men in power, knowing where obedience will end and resistance will begin, will not be afraid to amend the social and economic code of life.” (dr babasaheb ambedkar, writings and speeches, vol. i: 505.) religion, social laws, and the state: locating self, family and the social the relationship between spirituality and religion has already been substantiated within this article. religion is ordinarily perceived as a ‘way of life’, often accommodated in everyday majority-minority political binaries. however, such a commonsensical understanding tends to overlook the influence of social construct on the economic and political dimensions of equality. then, in order to trace the ancient logical interconnectedness between religion, social laws of manu, and the state, it is pertinent to approach the issue from the axis of what is broadly referred to as ‘governance’13 within the state-society relationship. in this regard, the interplay of governance dynamics in the ancient state essentially implied, an arrangement that influenced interactions among institutions of power, that determined individuals’ choices that had an impact on both the individual and collective action. the article identifies three forms of governance—the individual or self, social relations, and kingship and administration. these are understood as interrelations and interactions of individuals between and within varnas, essentially dvijas and shudras as two distinct units. while the first two are dealt with in this section, the third pillar of kingship and administration has already been elaborated in the previous sections. for a focused analysis, the article intends to look at the question of caste-based marginalization from the perspective of occupation (livelihood) and gender (family and household). the reason for this lies in the theory of varna-sankara or mixed varnas, according to interpretation of the text manusmriti, which declares that apart from the three dvijas—brahmana, kshatriya, vaisya—and shudra, “there is no fifth varna” (chapter x verse 4). while it recognizes varna-sankara, two critical aspects necessary for the maintenance of social identity and to ‘avoid varna-sankara’ are through conduct of ‘legitimate marriage’ and prescribed occupational duties. 13the article acknowledges non-availability of a single, uniform definition of governance. the effort, therefore, was to chart the understanding and contextualize it within the theme of the article. 278 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 caste, occupation and livelihood rules of occupational division of each varna and the economic organization of labour were an important aspect of social identity in the manavdharamshashtra. accordingly, the text prescribed ‘brahmana to teach the veda, kshatriya to protect people, and vaisya to trade as their most ‘commendable occupation’’ (chapter x verse 80). it acknowledged that hierarchies created as a result of the relationship between varna and occupation existed even in times of distress, when one is compelled to forgo his assigned means of subsistence based on varna. however, in such situations, it attempts to promote what is referred to as ‘downward occupational mobility’, that is, each preceding varna may perform an occupation of the succeeding varna but can never adopt the mode of life of their preceding varna. this rule was uniformly applicable to all varnas. the identification of one’s caste, based on hereditary nature of occupation has been a unique feature of division of labour in india. “division of labour as elaborated by adam smith and explained by marx is a practice where the process of production is divided into different stages, like 18 sequences of pin making, and each process is perfected by one. this raises productivity. but in india, each occupation is held by a caste and the finished product is produced by the family or caste by following all the processes of caste occupation” (chalam 2020: 13). socially marginalized groups, including the scheduled castes (scs) and certain artisan castes, have been historically characterized as involved in specific occupations that maintain their labour supply restricted to those. however, the social history of india reveals that such an ‘assignment of work based on specific varna’ can be located in the text manusmriti. it is to be noted here, that the ‘process of production’ is equally important as the ‘end-product’14 produced by such castes. for instance, in manusmriti (chapter x verse 99; chapter x verse 100) knowledge and occupation of crafts (“mechanical work”) has been assigned to shudras. it is often said that the past does not remain in the past; its legacy continues to influence contemporary notions of skills/acumen attached to individuals. for example, processing of raw leather and manufacture of specific footwear, as two distinct occupations are included as a consolidated work of scs. indeed, lack of occupational mobility failed to improve their income, livelihood, and wellbeing conditions (chalam 2020). ambedkar rightly noted that, “as an economic organization caste is therefore a harmful institution, inasmuch as it involves the subordination of man’s natural powers and inclinations to the exigencies of social rules.” (ambedkar 1936: 37). this is where marx’s emphasis on the “unchangeableness of asiatic societies” is to be understood in context of the socio-economic character of labour in india. it is 14for the purpose of this article, end-product also includes services delivered by the castes in question. revisiting inequality and caste in state and social laws 279 interesting that k.s. chalam (2020) in his book, political economy of caste in india, attempts to formulate what he calls as the ‘caste mode of production’ (cmop) as part of marx’s asiatic mode of production, “as an analytical tool to understand the indian situation”. in his work, annihilation of caste, ambedkar relates caste with limits to occupational mobility of individuals; “…that caste system is not merely a division of labour. it is also a division of labourers.” (ambedkar 1936: 36). according to him, this “division of labourers” was based on the hindu social structure that is characterized by hierarchy, rigidity, and individual efficiency and competency that depended on one’s caste. the contemporary empirical findings suggested by studies conducted on the question of interlinkages between caste and occupation on food and beverages business and dominance of a particular caste among sanitation workers in a way reinforces these arguments. to elaborate, a 2013 research paper by ashwini deshpande and smriti sharma at the delhi school of economics, ‘used data from the third and fourth rounds of the indian micro, small and medium enterprises survey to show that the share of sc-owned firms in the food and beverages category was much lower than the national average and the average for other social groups. the authors also found that scs had a disproportionate ownership of leather-related industries’. thus, historically while, ‘caste divisions took place on the basis on occupations, within one occupational caste group divisions of sub-castes took place on the basis of what kind of labour/service/products provided or what technique of production employed were by particular groups/people’ (bagade 2012: 30). a paper published in 2021 categorically shows the existence of a peculiar occupational pattern among ‘urban regular salaried workers aged between 15 and 65 years’ using data from the 61st round of national sample survey (nss), employment and unemployment corresponding to the year 2004–05 and periodic labour force survey (plfs) 2017–18. its findings reveal “that in 2017–18 sc (scheduled caste) workers’ share in the middleand low-level occupations was high (70.56%) compared with the hc (high caste) (47.23%). the share was particularly high in elementary occupations,15 followed by service workers, shop and market sale workers, craft and related trade workers, plant and machinery operators, and assemblers. conversely, the sc share in better quality occupations was low (29.43%) compared to the hc (52.77%). the better-quality occupations include legislators, senior officials and managers, professionals, technicians and associated professionals, and clerks” (thorat et. al., 2021). according to the paper, inter-caste differences is equally significant in terms of employment rates and wage earning both in the public and the private sectors. what is worth mentioning is that not only unemployment rates among scs is high, but “discrimination in the probability of access to employment is much higher in the 15according to the national classification of occupations, 2004 elementary occupation includes cleaners and helpers; agriculture, forest and fisheries labourers; labourers in mining, construction, manufacturing and transport; food preparation assistants; street and related sales and services workers; refuse workers like garbage collectors, sweepers, etc. (thorat, et al., 2021) 280 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 private sector compared to the public sector” (ibid.). this is intriguing and offers a possible evaluation metric in policy-making, especially in context of the discourse on privatisation as a mechanism for economic restructuring, growth and development. it not only points to its logical relatedness to caste prejudices practiced in regular salaried employment, but also demonstrates that differences both in endowments factors (such as education, professional skills, work experience, and others) and due to discrimination faced in employment and wage rates in the labour market, compel greater representation of scs in low-earning occupations in the informal sector (ibid.). the paper further indicated other factors that influence occupational attainment such as childhood influences, influences due to personal characteristics, and latent discrimination constraints occupational choice or entry among scs. further, on the implications of caste disparities in labour market, it suggests that legal and policy measures are necessary to ensure adequate representation of sc in their workforce to make it more inclusive and non-discriminatory. diversity and inclusion, including perspectives on intersectionality within caste and gender, are not mere rhetoric, but instead form part of the constitutional framework and values built in response to structural inequality as an outcome of stratification of identities based on caste. caste, gender and household the law of marriage, as emphasised in the text manusmriti, marks the beginning of grihastha ashram—the order of life to be followed by a householder. according to manusmriti, it is stated that, a shudra can only marry a shudra woman; a vaishya can marry any of the two; a khastriya can marry a woman from his caste or any woman from the caste below him; while a brahmin is eligible to marry a woman from any of the four castes (chapter iii verse 13). within this scheme, ambedkar observed that “low-caste women were made sexually accessible to the high-caste men” (bagade 2012: 27) as his observation on caste and gender were made in the broad spectrum of caste hierarchy. while the text delves deep into an elaborate classification of marriages, a careful observation indicates that statements around marriage-related ritual ceremonies remain absent. moreover, the interchangeableness in the use of words ‘women’ and ‘wife’ is significant enough to point towards the role of women as restricted to ideal ‘wives’ alone. it is essential to note that notions of “ideal women” within the text is representative exclusively of dvija women (wife). it declares that marital associations with a shudra women causes loss of one’s varnadharma (chapter iii verse 14-19). aspects related to household and family—roles within caste and social relations— represents an intrinsic predominance of a ‘patriarchal authority governing social relations between men and women’. it is worth mentioning that protection of women (wife) is considered the “highest duty of all castes” (chapter ix verse 6), as it is stated that “a woman is never fit for independence”(chapter ix verse 3). this indicates an implicit presupposition according to which, while women (wife) may be a source of dishonour or ruin to herself and her family caused either by separation from husband, disloyalty, or even drinking liquor, but the only way she could bring honour is by duly revisiting inequality and caste in state and social laws 281 performing the duties of a ‘virtuous wife’ (chapter ix verse 27). relatedly, the idea of “honour” within the text is based on two aspects – one, where it is overtly associated with women’s chastity, and the other, where the cause of such reverence of women is presumed as necessary for the welfare of family, explicitly her male relations, i.e. “father, brothers, husbands, and brothers-in-law” (chapter iii verse 55-57). the language of the text manusmriti views women as unworthy of respectful social dealings. it therefore employs the logic of domination and subordination to establish control over women—physical, social, and psychological—and ensure their perpetual patriarchal dependency. this dependency transcends to include the economic dimension, as it considered women as ineligible for ‘ownership of wealth or property’ (chapter viii verse 416). the only recognized inheritance right of women pertains to stri-dhana (chapter ix verse 194)—a women’s sole possession for life. clearly, the rules concerning women not only legitimises their subjugation, but also deprives them of their access to knowledge, and restricts their self-determining, autonomous social position. in particular, the concept of gender, family and household are interwoven around ideals of “womanhood”. manusmriti was probably among the first in the series of ancient texts to have introduced certain degenerative practices, which compelled the indian legal and constitutional machinery to introduce and influence several social policies of the state, especially those directed towards gender equality and women empowerment. to illustrate, some such practices includes child marriage (the ‘child’ is a girl according to chapter ix verse 94), forbidding widow remarriage (chapter ix verse 65), legalizing dowry (chapter ix verse 194), restricting women’s mobility to household work (chapter ix verse 11), women’s liberty to marry someone of her choice (chapter ix verse 92), her share in father’s property (chapter ix verse 127), importance of male offspring “putra” (chapter ix verse 137). interestingly, the common perception towards specially -abled persons is also largely a contribution of manusmriti, which relates bodily formations to sinful activities; with the degree of sin committed determining the level of change in physical appearance or mental abilities (chapter xi verse 53). the above analysis therefore suggests that sanctity of regressive attitudes on the question of identities around caste or gender, are intricately linked to what ambedkar referred to as ‘rules of religion’ (ambedkar 1936) as warranted by social laws under manavdharamashastra. he was convinced that religious reform meant, that religion itself should be grounded on doctrinal values of cooperation, dignity and worth of all, that encouraged free and just opportunity for all to participate, one that consciously discarded segregation, prejudices, and privileges. one’s religiosity must necessarily be divorced from indoctrination of mind and heart, that may extend to superstition and bigotry (phule 1873: 20). this necessitates a conscious deconstruction of mythology, traditions, and beliefs shaped by “the code of cruel and inhuman laws” (phule 1873)—a methodological innovation initiated by reformer phule (bagade 2012) in nineteenth century india. in one of his most powerful writings, gulamgiri (slavery) published in marathi in june 1873, phule visualised societal divisions as a continuum of two extremes; one whose existence was defined 282 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 by perpetual poverty, exploitation, and ignorance, and provision of material support to all other groups above them. the other constituted those literate castes who, through their inherited authority from religious-scriptural traditions and subsequent privileges, monopolised benefits from english education and clerical or professional employment in the british administration. dr. y.d. phadke, an eminent scholar on phule noted that, in his book sarvajanik satya dharma pustak, jyotiba phule warned against “persistent demands for indianisation of the administrative services”, for he was convinced that, “if accepted, (it) would lead to brahmanisation of the services in india” (phule 1873: 15) the interconnections between phule and ambedkar on the idea of religion is wellelaborated by the eminent scholar gail omvedt in an excerpt from her book buddhism in india: challenging brahmanism and caste. she noted that for both phule and ambedkar, ‘hinduism’, in its present form was not a true religion and that finding a true religion implied freeing the masses from brahmanic slavery. just as ambedkar’s final and major book was to be the buddha and his dhamma, so the concluding written work of phule’s life also focused on religion—the sarvajanik satya dharma pustak, published just after his death. in it, he gave a savage critique of the vedas, the ramayana and mahabharata stories, and undertook the effort to formulate a religious alternative: a true religion as universal; founded on reason and truth and rejection of superstition; anti-ritualistic; ethical; equalitarian, not recognizing caste or ethnic differences, and especially admitting the equality of women (omvedt 2012). towards annihilation of caste: is hatred more powerful than solidarity? the “system of priestcraft” (phule 1873: 18) so established to entrench the institution of caste not only meant an unequal order, but it also perpetuated a ‘psychological hatred’ emanating from the unjust social order, and “the commonest rights of humanity were denied (to) the shudra-atishudras” (phule 1873). according to phule, “it was difficult to create a sense of nationality so long as the restriction on dining and marriage outside one’s caste was observed by people belonging to different castes”. (phule 1873: 15) interestingly, his efforts culminated in the formation of the satyashodak samaj (truth seekers’ society) in september, 1873 in maharashtra. the organisation was a ‘non-brahmanical alternative to the then existing social reform organisations’ (harad 2021), and was founded on phule’s own ideological framework that aimed to ‘deconstruct the hegemony of enslavement’. till today, ‘satyashodak weddings resist brahmanical rituals’—where, both the bride and bridegroom ‘write their own vows’, which they recite in front of guests on the wedding day (harad 2021). for ambedkar, it was the caste apparatus that prevented hindus from forming a real society or nation—a thought that echoed with phule’s idea. he believed, that a society does not segregate individuals and impede collective cohesion, but caste revisiting inequality and caste in state and social laws 283 consciousness in order to assert notions of hierarchical superiority and purity prevents solidarity among hindus. he argued that, ..inter-dining and inter-marriage are repugnant to the beliefs and dogmas which the hindus regard as sacred. caste is not a physical object like a wall of bricks or a line of barbed wire which prevents the hindus from co-mingling and which has, therefore, to be pulled down. caste is a notion, it is a state of the mind. the destruction of caste does not therefore mean the destruction of a physical barrier. it means a notional change. (ambedkar 1936: 64) any reform is a conscious attempt to initiate institutional or human behavioral transformations. in annihilation of caste ambedkar declared that, caste (social aspect) prevented all reform (economic and political aspects), whether based on individual assertion or group authority. this may be contextualized in the contemporary period, with everyday cases of caste violence and atrocities. while manusmriti acknowledges ‘act of violence’ as the ‘worst offence’, it introduced certain ‘rules concerning selfdefence of twice-born men’, that legalized violence done by them, if they are obstructed in “performance of their duties”. this, according to it, is neither a sin, nor does it make guilty those who commit such an act (chapter viii verse 348-351). the commonality among all incidents is found in the ‘magnitude of alleged crime’ committed, that range from eating in front of upper-caste men, or owning and riding a horse, wearing a pair of royal footwear generally worn by upper-caste members, viewed as acts of resistance to caste norms and a sign of reversal of domination. the dynamics of such violence within urban spaces and among emerging nascent middle class who have benefitted from affirmative action (chakravartty; subramaniam 2021) are manifested differently. instances of spatial segregation and physical violence then are either largely hidden or numerically low, compared to subtle, yet powerful forms of social ostracism, discrimination, and humiliation. international media reports in 2021 on the technology conglomerate cisco systems inc., exposed realities of caste inequalities in a liberal society such as the united states. in the case, a dalit engineer alleged that he was “ousted as beneficiaries of indian affirmative action”. on complaints to relevant authorities within the company, he was “retaliated by denying him opportunities for advancement”. the cisco case is another addition to the already existing literature of such cases in india. there exists abundant scholarly work that reflects a peculiar pattern of caste discrimination that equalizes merit with one’s caste identity. castebased affirmative action, that intended to widen opportunities for such communities to explore their capabilities through education, have exposed them to continuing realities of fierce opposition and stigmatisation of their worth and their social alienation. what exists then, are ‘victims of caste-oriented psychological hatred’. the evaluation thus suggests, that traditionally asymmetrical power relations and social capital based on caste-based identities are primarily responsible for reproduction and revival of ideological faith in the hierarchical social system that supports a superiority-inferiority structure. 284 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 ambedkar’s political approach to social reform was based on the constitutional safeguards to acknowledge indifference and neglect of certain sections. his association as chairperson of the drafting committee of the constituent assembly, enabled him to incorporate, through consensus, his core beliefs and values, as an institutionalised mechanism that supported the primacy of law over individual interest or passion. therefore, ambedkar’s ideal of a caste-less society reflected his emphasis on equality, liberty and fraternity. for ambedkar, to treat individuals unequally based on their ‘effort’, required that they must be treated equally so far as birth, family name, education, parental care, inherited wealth are concerned (ambedkar 1936). liberty for him meant full utilization of people’s capabilities without enforcing control on their choices. however, an idea that is truly directed towards caste annihilation was his conception of fraternity. for him, fraternity implied that, there should be varied and free points of contact with other modes of association. in other words, there must be social endosmosis. this is fraternity, which is only another name for democracy. democracy is not merely a form of government. it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. it is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellowmen. (ambedkar 1936: 49) he believed that unless notions of ‘collective honour’ are transformed to ‘honour of individual dignity’, irrespective of caste identities, it was difficult to emulate in practice the three core values. this was because, according to him, effectiveness of assertion— of belief, independence, and interest—depended on tolerance and unprejudiced nature of acceptance of assertion. if there was anything that withheld such acceptance, it was the sacred nature accorded to religious sanctions, ‘that punished dissenters with excommunication’ (ambedkar 1936: 48), for he argued that “religious was social and religious was sacred” (bagade 2012). thus, “without using any force individuals are socialized by caste system and subjugated in the world of caste habits”—a form ambedkar identified as “psycho-social regimentation of caste” (bagade 2012: 22). thus, …it must be recognized that the hindus observe caste not because they are inhuman or wrong-headed. they observe caste because they are deeply religious. people are not wrong in observing caste. in my view, what is wrong is their religion, which has inculcated this notion of caste. if this is correct, then obviously the enemy, you must grapple with is not the people who observe caste, but the shastras which teach them this religion of caste. (ambedkar 1936: 64) a pertinent issue therefore, should be to question, if conformity to constitutional principles enforced through law alone can be a real mechanism for emancipation of those socially disadvantaged. the discussion on anti-discrimination law indicates that progressive legislations constitute an important part in the effort to address problems of revisiting inequality and caste in state and social laws 285 inequality and social prejudice. however, as edward burke, an irish social philosopher observed, “law can punish a single solitary recalcitrant criminal. it can never operate against a whole body of people who are determined to defy it. social conscience is the only safeguard of rights. if social conscience is such that it recognizes the rights which the law chooses to enact, the rights will be safe and secure.” further, while priorities of modern governments to equality and liberty can be addressed to some extent through its social policies, the fact is, that fraternity can neither be legislated nor can it be cultivated within a policy framework. then, it becomes imperative to explore alternatives for disintegration of the ideology of caste and how it governs within state and society. the article attempts to identify three such alternatives. first, the observation that caste identities tend to mobilize masses politically, implicitly assumes that political participation can be a mechanism to counter dominant traditions of caste-based inequality. however, this must be premised on concerted action by what phule called “a united collective of the oppressed to counter social forces of caste hindus” (phule 1873). second, a rediscovery of the institutional foundations of religion. in this context, ambedkar was convinced that religion must be grounded on doctrinal values of cooperation, dignity and worth of all, and one that encourages free and just opportunity of participation to every being. as systems of belief, religion must consciously discard inequality, segregation, and prejudices. third, a greater role of pedagogy in education for a moral empowerment of young minds—a teachinglearning methodology that demonstrates virtues of equality, fraternity, and justice among others, as noble qualities worthy of conscious nurturing. broadly, it involves an assimilation of sociological and psychological approaches to develop their consciousness, and humane sensibilities that denies violation of individual dignity based on complex socio-religious norms. conclusion civilizations evolve through efforts to change. this becomes true despite continuous and rather regressive resistance. the text manavdharamshastra is a unique combination of society and law—a contrast to democratic ideals of equality, liberty, fraternity, and justice. as representative of the state’s divine power, it established the hindu social order that marked origin of the use and abuse of codified social laws, to derive legitimacy and perpetuate inequality among subjects. it demonstrated how a traditionally unequal distribution of rights, privileges, and dignity manifests itself in the contemporary age, as varied forms of inequality—social, economic, and political. subsequently, the pioneers to critique the dysfunctions of manu’s social laws became a subject of interrogation by social reformers like jyotirao phule and dr. bhimrao ambedkar. phule believed that the marginalised experience of injustice, deprivation and humiliation, transcended their everyday episodic social and political life, and was a feature of structural hierarchy based on ‘superiority of birth’ and access to opportunity and resources. this eventually validates the existing researches, that such asymmetries in equal opportunities, created a foundational impact on their access 286 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 to education, health, and employment, that gradually widened both material and moral degradation, which together constituted a significant marker of policy intervention since independence. the nineteenth century challenge to the institution of caste as a form of systemic structural inequality posed by phule, became an equally imperative question that ambedkar sought to address a century later. ambedkar too became a notable critique of manusmriti and emphasised on the non-interference of socially codified laws of manu to the dynamics of state functions, to attain a just and equitable social democracy, that respected the dignity of all. a key theme throughout the article has been to highlight that the purpose of power is not only to demand social control, subordination and exercise restraint on immoral conduct, but also to introduce and nurture social change and transformation through ethical and political values in policy and practices that are based on a larger understanding of the inherent societal structure. references ambedkar, b.r. (1936). annihilation of caste. new delhi: pod only publishing. apple, michael w. (2000). cultural politics and the text. official knowledge. london: routledge. bagade, umesh (2012). ambedkar’s historical method: a non-brahminic critique of positivist history. lecture delivered on 28 april 2012 at the centre for the study of social sciences, school of social sciences, jawaharlal nehru university: new delhi. buehler, george (1896). laws of manu. sacred books of the east, vol (xxv), london: oxford university press, reprinted 2012. chakravartty, paula and subramaniam, ajantha (2021). why is caste inequality still legal in america?. the new york times, new york: 25 may 2021 available at: https://www.nytimes. com/2021/05/25/opinion/caste-discrimination-us-federal-protection.html?smid=tw-share chalam, k.s. (2020). political economy of caste. new delhi: sage publications india. dr babasaheb ambedkar, writings and speeches, vol. i, pp. 133, 505. cited in sukumar, narayanan (2011), ambedkar: democracy and economic theory. m.p. singh and himanshu roy (eds.) indian political thought: themes and thinkers. new delhi: pearson education. harad, tejas (2021). rites and wrongs: how satyashodhak weddings resist brahmanical rituals. caravanmagazine.in, 1 july 2021. available at: https://caravanmagazine.in/communities/ satyashodhak-marriages-resist-brahminical-rituals ingole, prashant (2019). ambedkarite protest music and the making of a ‘counter public’. newsclick.in, 13 october 2019. available at: https://www.newsclick.in/ambedkariteprotest-music-dalit-panthers-cultural-protest jodhka, surinder s. et al. (2018). introduction. inequality in capitalist societies. new york: routledge. khare, vineet (2019). the indian dalit man killed for eating in front of upper-caste men. bbc hindi, uttarakhand: 20 may 2019. available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asiaindia-48265387 kishore, roshan (2016). the many shades of caste inequality in india. livemint.com, 21 october 2016. available at: https://www.livemint.com/politics/ino3tfmyvsd6vvgudwxb8h/ the-many-shades-of-caste-inequality-in-india.html revisiting inequality and caste in state and social laws 287 mani, braj ranjan (2012). the politics of knowledge and caste. countercurrents.org, 20 march 2012. available at: https://www.countercurrents.org/mani200312.htm ——— (2015). beyond the fairy tales of india. countercurrents.org, 07 march 2015. available at: https://www.countercurrents.org/mani070415.htm meena, sohan lal (2005). relationship between state and dharma in manusmriti. the indian journal of political science, vol. 66, no. 3. naegele, charles j. (2008). history and influence of law code of manu. theses and dissertations. available at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/theses omvedt, gail (2012). jyotiba phule: the universal religion of truth. roundtableindia.co.in, 11 april 2012. available at: https://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&vi ew=article&id=4981:jotiba-phule-the-universal-religion-of-truth&catid=115&itemid=127 phule, jyotirao govindrao (1873). slavery. trans. p.g. patil. bombay: government of maharastra. samarendra, padmanabh (2011). census in colonial india and the birth of caste. economic and political weekly, vol. 46, no. 33. accessed on 20 july 2021. shepherd, kancha illiah (2020). the shudra civilisation. countercurrents.org, 08 december 2020. available at: https://countercurrents.org/2020/12/the-shudra-civilization/ singh, m.p. (2011). kautilya: theory of state. indian political thought: themes and thinkers. (eds.) m.p. singh and himanshu roy. new delhi: pearson education, p. 10. sinha, nalini (2011). manu: social laws. indian political thought: themes and thinkers. (eds.) m.p. singh and himanshu roy. new delhi: pearson education. singh, upinder, (repr.) (2019). understanding literary and archaeological sources. a history of ancient and early medieval india: from the stone age to the 12th century. noida: pearson india. singh, yogendra (1997). sociology of social stratification. social stratification and change in india. new delhi: manohar publishers & distributors. srinivas, m.n. (1962). varna and caste. caste in modern india and other essays, bombay: asia publishing house. tharoor, shashi and abraham kurian arvind (2021). a kerala model for anti-discrimination law. the hindu, new delhi, 12 july 2021. thorat, sukhadeo., madheswaran s., vani b.p.,(2021). caste and labour market: employment discrimination and its impact on poverty. economic and political weekly, vol. 56, no. 21. accessed on 27 june 2021. the indian dalits attacked for wearing the wrong shoes. 19 june 2018. available at: https:// www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44517922 (name and place of author not explicitly found) indian lowest-caste dalit man killed ‘for owning horse’. 31 march 2018. available at: https:// www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-43605550 (name and place of author not explicitly found) © 2024 maria zafar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.1741 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 335-341 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste ‘henri tajfel: explorer of identity and difference’ author: rupert brown publisher: routledge year: 2019 reviewer: maria zafar1 abstract the year 2019 marked the birth centenary of henri tajfel, a social psychologist known most widely for the social identity theory, which he developed with his doctoral student john turner. over the years, social identity theory has found relevance in many academic fields beyond social psychology. coupled with this academic legacy are recently surfaced claims of sexual harassment, particularly during tajfel’s tenure at the university of bristol. the 100th anniversary provided an opportunity to visit the man beyond his academic contributions and take stock of where his intellectual legacy stands today. in henri tajfel: explorer of identity and difference, rupert brown, emeritus professor of social psychology at the university of sussex and one of tajfel’s early phd students, brings to life not only the scientist but the man himself, warts and all. from tajfel’s birth and early life in an environment ripe with interethnic conflicts to his later intellectual achievements (possibly) guided by his own experiences, brown vividly portrays tajfel’s life. he traces tajfel’s experiences of anti-semitism and war, post-war work educating and rehabilitating jewish children and displaced people, unconventional academic journey, and the nagging sense of being an outsider that clung to him for most of his life. focusing on tajfel’s intellectual contributions, brown details their emergence and impact on then-dominant social psychology approaches. an 1phd candidate, department of humanities and social sciences, indian institute of technology delhi, india e-mail: maria.zafar@hss.iitd.ac.in 336 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 engaging and insightful read, the book will interest social scientists engaged in intergroup relations research and help them think critically and creatively about their work. to social psychologists, the book also serves as a reminder to do social psychology that truly is social. keywords henri tajfel, social psychology, social identity theory, intergroup relations henri tajfel at 100: revisiting the life and impact social issues like prejudice, inequality, exclusion, and oppression have long interested social scientists across disciplines. indeed, any discipline by itself will fail to do justice to the vast complexity of such phenomena. sociologists, historians, political scientists, economists and psychologists alike have used different lenses to contribute to our understanding of these issues. social psychology, with its emphasis on the various contextual influences operating upon individuals, offers a unique vantage point for examining these issues: individual personalities and predispositions are considered important predictors of prejudice towards another group, but the variability in the expression of that prejudice is studied as contingent on many other situational and contextual factors. a key framework in contemporary social psychological work on intergroup behaviours is the social identity approach. comprising the social identity theory (tajfel 1974; tajfel & turner 1979) and the self-categorization theory (turner et al. 1987, 1994) (e.g., reicher et al. 2010), the approach emerged out of the work initiated by henri tajfel and colleagues in the 1970s. since its inception about 50 years ago, the social identity theory has significantly influenced many areas of social scientific research, including intergroup relations, prejudice, stereotyping, discrimination, and social change. its central concepts such as social identity (contrasted with one’s personal identity) have found resonance in fields beyond social psychology. political scientists, business and management researchers, and health psychologists draw upon its core premises and find creative ways of expanding its relevance to different domains of the social world. these ideas have made tajfel and the social identity theory popular among different academic disciplines. with such a legacy, henri tajfel has been one of social psychology’s most influential theorists. the year 2019 marked his birth centenary and provided an opportunity for a more in-depth look at the man beyond his academic contributions. in henri tajfel: explorer of identity and difference, rupert brown, one of tajfel’s early phd students and an acclaimed social psychologist in his own right, does just this: brown paints a vivid portrayal of tajfel’s life, his triumphs and tribulations, successes and failures, strengths and limitations as an academic but most of all, as a human. published as part of the european monographs in social psychology, the book can broadly be considered to have two sections. a longer, in-depth section (comprising ‘henri tajfel: explorer of identity and difference’ 337 seven out of eight chapters) traces the life—personal and academic—of henri tajfel from birth to death. a shorter but equally well-researched section (the last chapter) critically evaluates two of tajfel’s contributions to social psychology: the european association of social psychology (easp), of which tajfel was one of the founding members, and the social identity theory (sit), a theory aiming to explain intergroup behaviour. adopting a chronological order for the former section and drawing upon a myriad of sources, brown weaves a tale of hardships, creative endurance, intellectual rise, and untimely demise. he does so in a manner suitable to readers from different backgrounds: psychologists and non-psychologists alike can easily follow the book as brown avoids jargon and, when necessary, goes to great lengths to explain technical concepts, phenomena, and often entire experiments. those familiar with sit, however, like brown himself, may often find themselves pondering over the potential impact of these experiences on tajfel’s ultimate development of the sit and its key concepts. tajfel was born a jew in poland in 1919. that was a time of political turmoil in the country and rising anti-semitism there and elsewhere. world war ii and its devastation were to follow soon after. owing to a lack of official and personal documents, correspondence, and records from the time, tajfel’s experiences of these events would perhaps have been the most difficult to bring to life in a book. brown, however, does an admirable job of piecing together tajfel’s experiences and thoughts in the early years of his life and during the war. often, this is done by describing the general political climate of the time, experiences of jews in general or of tajfel’s other family members, and extrapolating to how tajfel himself might have lived and experienced, for example, any conflicts pertaining to his identities as a jew and a pole. his years spent as a prisoner of war in germany, too, are mainly described drawing upon what we know about the workings of german prison camps in general. while a needed strategy for when little is known about the particulars of tajfel’s life, such descriptions sometimes feel impersonal and as background information. wherever possible, however, these general descriptions are sprinkled with personal documents and photographs or anecdotes that give the story some personal touch. this reliance on the general is no longer a concern in the later, post-war chapters, which focus primarily on tajfel’s various academic engagements: his pursuit of degrees, employment experiences, venture into academia, evolving research interests, and research outputs, among others. an important strength of these chapters is the accessibility to non-expert audiences. brown explains in detail all psychological phenomena or concepts that tajfel worked on, providing layperson explanations with real-world examples and detailed descriptions of the empirical studies conducted, thus catering to different kinds of audiences. more informatively, these research undertakings are juxtaposed with the research trends and debates of the time: we understand what dominant approaches to doing social psychology were back then and how tajfel’s work added to the field’s advancement. at the same time, only little information about his personal (family) life is strewn in; few sentences about his relationship with his wife and sons find mention. 338 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 to cover the chapters in a little more detail, chapters 1 through 7 cover tajfel’s life from birth to death. they are differentiated by different ‘transition points’ in his life. they follow developments in his personal and academic life while highlighting his intellectual and scientific contributions to the field. the early chapters poignantly describe years spent in a context marred by interethnic conflicts and anti-semitism and yet calls for assimilation in a nation that also treated its jewish minority unkindly. henri’s five-year stay at a german stalag as a prisoner of war is a highlight of these early chapters. the shifting nature of identities (from a polish jew to a french jew to a prisoner of war) is beautifully captured in the way brown refers to henri at certain points in the story: he starts with heniek, which later becomes henri, and during the war, merely “prisoner 14988”. in these early years and those of the war, brown also makes interesting attempts, albeit conjectures, at linking henri’s life experiences to his later work, such as the emphasis he placed on the categorization process or the decision to focus on stigmatized groups. for example, henri’s pervasive sense of being a ‘foreigner’ or an ‘outsider’, even after achieving significant academic success, is often highlighted, and its implications for his life’s work are ruminated upon. the book picks up pace with the chapters focusing on henri’s academic career— his stints at durham, oxford, palo alto, and bristol, with fellowships and shorter visits to other places. henri is painted as a visionary interested in a “radical new vision of psychology” that brought the field and its researchers out of their highly controlled labs and into people’s everyday lives. even in his initial work on perceptual overestimation, henri was attuned to the implications the findings could have for the perception of groups. his propensity for ingenuity in research methodology, theory building, and rejecting reductionism in favour of studying people’s environment is evident early in his career. with a later narrowing of interest to more applied or social action-based social psychology, henri begins to foray into central social psychology areas like conformity, prejudice, and stereotypes. his academic engagements throughout his career portray an almost frenetic man: running to conferences, securing various grants, publishing numerous papers, and engaging in science communication. a key strength of these chapters lies in the attention they pay to henri’s intellectual contributions before the widely known social identity theory. for example, his work on categorical accentuation is well discussed; brown traces the path from henri’s early work on visual perception of physical objects to his later theorising on prejudice and stereotyping following the same principles. the new look approach to perception understood perception as going beyond mere objective properties of the stimulus object. rather, proponents of the approach considered equally important what the stimulus object is, who the perceiver is, and what the perceiver’s expectations, social background, values and motivations are. henri was intrigued by this new vision of psychological theorising—one that was more reflective and cognizant of the real world and that took psychological experiments and research questions out of the constraints of a laboratory setting. a consistent finding in visual perception was that people overestimate physical properties such as size and weight of valuable and culturally significant objects. in his work in this area, henri proposed and empirically ‘henri tajfel: explorer of identity and difference’ 339 demonstrated that people do not just overestimate physical properties but also accentuate differences at both ends of the weight/size continuum—that is, among the valued objects, not only are heavy (big) objects perceived as heavier (bigger) than they are, but light (small) objects are also perceived as lighter (smaller) than they are. the range of size (weight) estimates is wider in the condition with valued objects. henri took these findings and theorising outside the lab to the external world and foraying into the areas of prejudice and stereotyping, examined how people make judgements about groups. viewing categorization as a process that provides the basis for one’s social identity and stereotyping as inevitably accompanying categorization, his early work provided emerging evidence for many influential findings, such as people’s tendency to accentuate differences between groups while minimizing differences between individuals within a group. at the same time, brown does not soft-pedal henri’s limitations, providing an overall balanced and honest description of his subject. without any whitewashing, we are made privy to henri’s neglect of his teaching and supervision duties, his proclivity for making unwanted advances towards female colleagues, and his bitter academic rivalries. we are presented with the story of a man at once ambitious and remarkable but not without shortcomings. interestingly, the idea that henri is widely credited for—the minimal group experiments—is revealed to have come from prior work of jaap rabbie following a similar paradigm and seeking to answer the same question (what are the minimal conditions under which ingroup and outgroup differentiation occurs?). rabbie’s work and findings ignited in henri a curiosity about the effects of mere categorization. devising multiple minimal experiments of his own, henri demonstrated ingroup favouritism due to mere categorization as a robust phenomenon. more than the experimental design that only differed from rabbie’s in some respects, the interpretation of these findings reflected true ingenuity: ingroup favouritism was posited to arise out of reliance on one’s social identity to differentiate oneself (and their group) from another in an intergroup situation (billig & tajfel 1973). this work marked one of the first allusions to the concept of social identity. the allegations regarding sexual harassment of women students (see also young & hegarty 2019, 2020), in particular, have had implications for how henri tajfel’s legacy is seen today (e.g., brown 2020). in light of these claims, the european association of social psychology, which henri had helped establish and which used to give out the henri tajfel medal for lifetime achievement, announced their decision to rename the award (keil 2019). opposed by some and lauded by others, the decision generated much discussion in the academic community (for example, on academic twitter (now called x) and via open letters to the easp). as a culture, we are still far from resolving the debate about separating the art from the artist (recall the furore over j.k. rowling’s transphobic statements). in the case of henri, thinking of his life and legacy in light of these allegations proves even more challenging as the man has been dead for decades, and the allegations have come out long after the fact. due care needs to be taken in applying contemporary social norms to judge academic interactions in the 1960s 340 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 and 1970s. brown makes a valiant attempt at giving due consideration to both the scientist’s achievements and the man’s failings; neither overshadows the other. he argues that tajfel’s failings do not diminish the value of his scientific contributions; it is still possible to engage with tajfel as a scientist. in the book’s final chapter, brown evaluates henri’s contributions to social psychology, including the social identity theory. social identity theory has its origins in the minimal group experiments henri had conducted. but it involved him going beyond minimal groups and thinking about how natural groups interact given the realities of power, status, and resources. here, too, brown does a laudable job, especially of tracing how the theory evolved between the two publications often cited for it (tajfel 1974; tajfel & turner 1979) and how it has found applicability in originally unintended contexts and fields. different approaches to the theory are explored and critically examined—sit as a theory of intergroup conflicts or a theory of identity, for example. its limitations, the questions it fails to answer, and conceptual and theoretical additions to/extensions of the theory also receive adequate attention. in contemporary social psychology, sit, along with its ‘cognitive extension’, the self-categorization theory (turner et al. 1987, 1994), has evolved into more of an approach or meta-theory than a theory (e.g., reicher et al. 2010). some discussion on sct, then, would have added to the last chapter. overall, the book is a praiseworthy and candid attempt at bringing henri tajfel to life. as has happened (entirely unintentionally) with this review, readers start by getting to know tajfel and come out knowing henri—a man as inspiring in his personal struggles as in his intellectual contributions. after world war ii, henri returned to france an orphan, “homeless, jobless, and stateless” (p. 44). he spent the early years of his career working different jobs and balancing his studies, work and family. his unconventional (yet ultimately successful) academic journey—one marked by hurdles both personal and political—is testimony to his grit and resolve. perhaps most striking is the man’s response to one of the most harrowing experiences one can imagine— henri survived the holocaust not with any bitterness or hatred but with a determination to understand such atrocities. in one of his correspondences referred to in the book, henri notes: “… all or nearly all of my academic work has been based on a simple question: how could people have done that to other people?” (p. 195). in many such ways, brown weaves a tale of henri’s fortitude and determination. appreciating these struggles and achievements in no way implies condoning henri’s behaviour towards women. on the contrary, it is rather indicative of people’s remarkable ability to see and resist oppression in some cases while ironically playing into the same power dynamics in others. the book is also a significant contribution in terms of its usefulness to intergroup relations researchers. regardless of their discipline, such researchers may find henri’s ideas and academic contributions of use to their work. one critical idea captured in the book is henri’s emphasis on social change (e.g., tajfel 1972) and his view of humankind as agentic and active as opposed to passive recipients of the fate of their group. social identity theory addresses questions such as: under what conditions do ‘henri tajfel: explorer of identity and difference’ 341 disadvantaged groups resist their oppression? what are the various ways in which they do so? the theory, thus, also functions (partially) as a theory of power and provides an avenue for exploring collective action for social change among minority group members. furthermore, henri was a keen advocate for interdisciplinarity in studying intergroup behaviour: he did not believe that psychology alone could explain prejudice, for example. brown touches upon an unwillingness in henri to draw boundaries between disciplines. in today’s time of specializations in niche disciplines, often at the cost of even cursory knowledge of related ones, it will perhaps not be a bad thing to (sometimes) experience a “crisis of identity” like henri and consider just how far psychology (or sociology or political science) alone will take us in understanding the social world. references billig, m., & tajfel, h. (1973). social categorization and similarity in intergroup behaviour. european journal of social psychology, 3(1), 27–52. https://doi.org/10.1002/ ejsp.2420030103 brown, r. (2020, april 16). reals of recognition. the british psychological society. https:// www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/realms-recognition keil, t. (2019, august 1). renaming the tajfel award. european association of social psychology. https://www.easp.eu/news/itm/renaming_the_tajfel_award-947.html reicher, s., spears, r., & haslam, s.a. (2010). the social identity approach in social psychology. in m.s. wetherell & c.t. mohanty (eds.), sage identities handbook (pp.45–62). sage. tajfel, h. (1972). experiments in a vacuum. in j. israel, & h. tajfel (eds.), the context of social psychology: a critical assessment. academic press, 69–122. ———. (1974). social identity and intergroup behaviour. social science information, 13(2), 65–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/053901847401300204 tajfel, h., & turner, j. (1979). an integrative theory of intergroup conflict. in w.g. austin & s. worchel (eds.), the social psychology of intergroup relations. brooks/cole, 33–48. turner, j.c., hogg, m.a., oakes, p.j. reicher, s.d., & wetherell, m.s. (1987). rediscovering the social group: a self-categorization theory. blackwell. turner, j.c., oakes, p.j., haslam, s.a., & mcgarty, c.a. (1994). self and collective: cognition and social context. personality and social psychology bulletin, 20, 454–463. https://doi. org/10.1177/0146167294205002 young, j.l., & hegarty, p. (2019). reasonable men: sexual harassment and norms of conduct in social psychology. feminism & psychology, 29(4), 453–474. https://doi. org/10.1177/0959353519855746 ———. (2020, april 16). psychology has a sexual harassment problem. the british psychological society. https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/psychology-has-sexual-harassment-problem © 2025 angel sophan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2472 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 492-496 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste dalit kitchens of marathwada author: shahu patole publisher: harpercollins year: 2025 reviewer: angel sophan1 when i first picked up the book dalit kitchens of marathwada written by shahu patole, a few lines from the blurb caught my eye, ‘this book presents the poor man’s patchwork plate, one devoid of oil, ghee, and milk.’ i could not help but ask myself: what else could be used? i could only think of water as a common linkage between mainstream and marginalized kitchens. however, the caste-based politics of water knew no bounds (freed, 1970; wahi, 2022). in the preface, the author has done an excellent job of placing critical questions as food for thought, garnished with humor, yet punch in the gut style of writing. the author raises a simple yet profound question: why are vegetarians obsessed with us? he strings a brilliant argument by juxtaposing the sattvic diet, expectations set out on sattvic diet eaters, and reality. sattvic people are meant to be satshil (good-natured). it refers to natural and good food for the soul. it also means tasty, rich, and substantial food loved by the man of goodness (dolphijn, 2006). nevertheless, are not the sattvic diet eaters the torchbearers of the caste and class system? so why is their diet not reflected in their persona? the preface is ended with a quote by a verse by sant eknath, vivad vadhe he to adham lakshan bhaktiche karan na sadhe yene. it is translated as, “to challenge something (in this spiritual discourse) or get into a debate is a sin and a sign of stupidity. if you indulge in such behavior, all your 1doctoral candidate, school of psychological sciences, christ (deemed to be university), bengaluru, karnataka–560029 e-mail: angel.sophan@res.christuniversity.in dalit kitchens of marathwada 493 devotion and spiritual progress is futile. reflecting on these lines, patole concludes the preface, “i am glad that i am stupid and my devotion and spiritual progress is wasted” (p.xvi), and sets the tone of rebellion and criticality for the entire book. this book, dalit kitchens of marathwada, an english translation by bhushan korgaonkar of the original marathi title ‘anna he apoorna brahma,’ details the dietary practices of the mahar and mang communities of marathwada. they are two prominent dalit communities, among others from maharashtra. the book primarily focuses on how mahar and mang communities’ culinary practices evolved over centuries, significantly shaped by discrimination and resilience. patole passionately writes about caste, religion, food, and politics. the book has 12 chapters, ranging from an introduction to the mahar and mang communities, festivals, and different recipes for non-vegetarian and vegetarian food for the said communities. it ends with the 1972 famine and its impact on the rural food culture of marathwada. in the first and second chapters titled, ‘what about us?’, ‘inclusion and validation’, the author contextualizes the mahar and mang communities, their historical background, varied sub-castes within the communities, corresponding traditional occupations, and how their recipes never found a place in the mainstream culinary space. i could not help but think, if ‘recipe’ itself is an elite word? shanahan and colleagues (2012) write that recipe books may seem quite natural today in kitchens, but they were once a new and fashionable genre intimately connected to social and cultural change. the earliest medieval culinary manuscripts were anonymous, although later, it was found that all were authored by men who were professional chefs working in royal and noble kitchens. later, women from upper-class aristocratic backgrounds started leading in writing recipes (see, shanahan et al., 2012). patole narrates how the identity of marathwada and maharashtra is equated to dishes belonging to the upper caste/class. for instance, puran poli (sweet dish), kande pohe (sweet dish), etc., are associated with the maharashtrian identity. he also details the marriage rituals of these two dalit communities, duties undertaken by the bride and groom’s side, and how shidori (sweet dish) is a highly significant element in the wedding, which can break or make future relationships. the author says the preparation of sweet dishes undertaken by the so-called lower castes does not add sugar, jaggery or tamarind, making us ponder other alternatives. in chapter four, ‘what does ‘non-vegetarian’ mean for us?’, it becomes evident that there are no alternatives; it just does not exist. food is prepared in the absence of these ingredients. most of the meat involves rakti (blood), jeebh (tongue), bheja (brain), gana (windpipe), etc. an eerie pattern was noticed in the list of ingredients, and it ends within 3 or 4 requirements at the maximum. everything is mainly cooked with salt, turmeric, and chilli. ginger-garlic paste and coriander are optional. here, optional does not refer to the cook’s discretion, but rather, it indicates accessibility and affordability of that ingredient. dried fat is also used as a substitute for oil for frying. food and eating have always been markers of social class distinction. eating also refers to a symbolic system that reflects social, religious, political, economic, and aesthetic aspects. bourdieu’s study (de morais sato et al., 2016)., conducted in france 494 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 from 1963 to 1968, resulted in two conclusions: the taste of luxury/freedom and the taste of necessity. the taste of luxury was established among dominant social classes whose privileged access to certain types of food and cultural capital was necessary to appreciate these specific types of food. the taste of necessity was more characteristic of the working class. it was also found that the higher the class, the healthier the food practices. in chapter six, ‘kaaran (sacrifice of a male buffalo)’, the author details the duties of potaraj (a troupe of male artists who perform religious songs, storytelling and puja). in concluding the chapter, he explores a few myths of the pre-vedic and post-vedic periods surrounding the sacrifice of a male buffalo; highlighting their casteist and sexist implications. these myths demarcated the distinction between how brahmins are symbolized versus the dalits. to the extent that if a brahmin woman finds out her husband is dalit, she immolates herself or jumps into a well. a dalit husband is considered the male buffalo, and hence, the sacrifice of the male buffalo is carried out to reduce the goddess’s wrath. i can only hope and pray that the current and future generations realize the inherent casteist nature and view these vedic myths with criticality. as the book progresses, the writing shifts from critical to casual/ non-scholarly; it feels like an onlooker’s observation. for instance, in chapter seven, ‘other meats’, usage of the terms like “addiction” (p.149) can cause serious repercussions when used lightly to represent a community and locality. addiction refers to a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity having harmful physical, psychological or social effects typically causing well-defined symptoms upon withdrawal or abstinence (merriam-webster, n.d.). in the book, the paragraphs written under the title ‘addiction’ had only the process of making the liquor and how men drank during certain occasions only and how it can potentially lead to domestic abuse at home. there was a strong undercurrent of patriarchy flowing through the pages and how women are tied to the kitchen inseparably. for instance, in chapter ten, titled ‘chapati, puran poli and more’ the author writes, “making these bread were invariably women’s work” (p.245); similarly in chapter twelve, ‘the 1972 famine and its impact on the rural food culture of marathwada’ he writes that “the invention of motor facilitated the advent of grinding machines. women were the happiest when these machines reached villages, as this innovation reduced their toil considerably” (p. 327). in chapter three, ‘starvation and survival’, the author asserts, “after men finished their meal, the women, especially the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law would eat together from the same plate” (p. 52). correspondingly, in chapter four, “women still do not get to eat in the first serving. they are usually the last ones to eat and have to make do with whatever leftovers came their way.” (p. 93) foregrounding the above passage, the author could have also addressed the triple intersectionality faced by dalit women—caste, class, and gender; and the toll it takes on their health, especially given that they often eat last if anything remains. it has been shown that women bear the primary responsibility for family eating practices. dalit kitchens of marathwada 495 providing food for the family socially constructs the identities of women and mothers (beagan et al., 2008). i also wonder why the book’s original marathi and english titles are entirely different; the marathi title (anna he apoorna brahma, “the original verse anna he poorna brahma means food is the complete truth. prayer asserts that consuming food is not just about filling the stomach but it is a sacred act and the title of this book proclaimed food is an incomplete reality” (p. xxi) captures a subtle act of rebellion, while the english title has a more descriptive language. the act of rebellion could have also been retained in the english title. with the mention of marathwada in the title, i expected the book to explore dr. ambedkar’s influence on the region’s food culture. in 1978, marathwada witnessed widespread violence following the renaming of marathwada university to dr. babasaheb ambedkar university, leading to the killing, rape, and displacement of thousands of dalits (soni, 2017). dr. ambedkar was instrumental in establishing several educational institutions in both bombay and the underdeveloped marathwada region (sukumar, 2011). given the history of marathwada, it has been a region of activism particularly related to caste and social justice. the activism inevitably seeps into the food culture of the region. according to guru (2019), in the cultural history of dalits in maharashtra, dead cattle were traditionally given as dowry within dalit households. however, the mahars willingly abandoned this practice, led by ambedkar, who encouraged them to embrace dignity and self-respect. their dietary habits also shifted dramatically—from murdada (meat from dead cattle) to hatfatka (meat acquired through hunting) and eventually to toliv (meat from a slaughtered animal). the book, however, fell short of capturing these significant nuances and acts of resistance within the community, neglecting the inherent political nature of food. even though a section is dedicated to references, a significant limitation of the book is not having notes to explain corresponding references. the references were hindi/marathi texts; if available, the translated version could have provided an english translation. so, it was hard to follow up or read further on the historical facts mentioned. usually, books and cookery shows leave an element of excitement and salivation for the viewer, but this book was a stark reminder to look within oneself. reading the pages felt like traversing through a different civilization in itself. a civilization born out of discrimination that grew from the margins, and trauma filled in each bite. upper caste leftovers became the centrifugal force in planning diets in dalit communities. the india community cookbook project (pujary et al., n.d.) aims to preserve india’s culinary heritage by digitizing it—maharashtrian cuisine from soopshastra (1875), considered the first book on marathi cuisine, to more recent works, including cookbooks from the thanjavur maharashtrian and saraswat brahmin communities. although i haven’t reviewed all the books in the list, dalit kitchens of marathwada stands out as more than just another addition; it challenges a space typically dominated by upper-caste dishes and cooking methods. a deeper analysis of this would be valuable, highlighting how food is political and which ‘cuisines’ gain mainstream recognition. 496 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 reading this book led me to reflect on the term ‘non-vegetarian’. we have all encountered it in restaurants, menu cards, conversations around diet and cuisines, but what does it imply? the term ‘non-vegetarian’ automatically implies a vegetarian centric worldview, framing vegetarianism as the societal norm and other diets as deviations. let us try to understand it statistically with the metaphor of a normal probability curve, it positions vegetarianism at the mean, signifying societal acceptance, while ‘nonvegetarian’ diets are seen as deviations, with foods like chicken closer to the mean and others like beef and pork pushed to the periphery as stigmatized or ‘deviant.’ this hierarchy also reflects biases, reinforcing social inequality and marginalization of communities based on dietary practices, underscoring how language particularly terms like ‘non-vegetarian’ can perpetuate cultural power dynamics. going forward, i hope we remain cognizant of the political nature of food and language surrounding it. patole’s book holds up a mirror with a scathing reflection of caste, class, and other privileges perpetuating injustices. it highlights society’s silence and complicity towards marginalized communities’ pain. as a reader i could not help but wonder how these communities coped with adversity, oppression, and cruel demarcation that penetrates their very being. as the question lingered, the book provided the answer: ‘ati zaala ani hasu aala’ (if it becomes too much, just laugh it off). it certainly is a testament to the community’s struggles. more than just a documentation of their resilience, the book is also a call for action, urging everyone to confront biases and break these seemingly unbreakable societal shackles. references beagan, b., chapman, g. e., d’sylva, a., & bassett, b.r. (2008). it’s just easier for me to do it: rationalizing the family division of foodwork. sociology, 42(4), 653–671. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038508091621 de morais sato, p., gittelsohn, j., unsain, r.f., roble, o.j., & scagliusi, f.b. (2016). the use of pierre bourdieu’s distinction concepts in scientific articles studying food and eating: a narrative review. appetite, 96, 174–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.09.010 dolphijn, rick. (2006). capitalism on a plate: the politics of meat eating in bangalore, india. gastronomica, 6(3), 52–59. https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2006.6.3.52 freed, s.a. (1970). caste ranking and the exchange of food and water in a north indian village. anthropological quarterly, 43(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.2307/3316562 guru, g. (2019). food as a metaphor for cultural hierarchies. in de sousa santos, b., & meneses, m. (eds.), knowledges born in the struggle: constructing the epistemologies of the global south (1st ed.) (pp. 146–161). routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429344596 merriam-webster. (n.d.). addiction definition & meaning. merriam-webster. retrieved october 1, 2024, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/addiction pujary, a., gupta, k., & pal, m. (n.d.). maharashtrian cuisine. the indian community cookbook project. retrieved october 1, 2024, from https://www.indiancommunitycookbookproject.com/maharashtriancuisine shanahan, m. (2012). dining on words: manuscript recipe books, culinary change and elite food culture in ireland, 1660–1830. irish architectural and decorative studies, 15, 83–97. soni, p. (2017). flames in the shadows: the marathwada riots and the struggle for dalit liberation [senior theses, trinity college]. trinity college digital repository. sukumar, n. (2011). ambedkar: democracy and economic theory. in m. p. singh, & h. roy (eds.), indian political thoughts (pp. 211-239). pearson. wahi, n. (2022). the evolution of the right to water in india. water, 14(3), 398. https://doi.org/10.3390/ w14030398 © 2023 kristina garalytė. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.683 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 230-252 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste imagining an anti-caste utopia through food: dalit student politics in hyderabad, india kristina garalytė* abstract this article explores the connection between food and utopia within the dalit student movement. research data was gathered during the multi-stage ethnographic fieldwork in the university campuses in new delhi (jawaharlal nehru university, university of delhi) and hyderabad (osmania university, the english and foreign languages university) during 2013 and 2014 (total seven months). seeking to demonstrate the centrality of the beef symbolism in the local dalit student movement in hyderabad, this article provides a content analysis of “beef anthem”, written and performed by dalit student activist ns chamar,1 contextualizing it with fieldwork observations and interviews with the dalit activists. this article uncovers multilayered meanings and strategies surrounding beef issue allowing one to understand how through the symbol of beef, the dalit activists in hyderabad reimagined themselves and strategized their movement in the context of the strengthening right-wing politics. keywords dalit movement, caste, beef, utopia, student politics introduction in 2009-2015, the beef issue rocked universities’ campus life in hyderabad and new delhi. it began in 2009, when madiga2 student organization, the dalit students’ union, at the university of hyderabad set a beef stall during campus’ sukoon *institute of asian and transcultural studies, vilnius university email: kristina.garalyte@fsf.vu.lt 1even though the author of “beef anthem” gave a permission to use his original name in the article, due to the research ethics requirements and personal security reasons, his name, as all other names of interlocutors, are coded. ns chamar is the pseudonym that the author of “beef anthem” chose himself. 2madigas are one of the largest scheduled caste groups in andhra pradesh and telangana states. imagining an anti-caste utopia through food: dalit student politics in hyderabad, india 231 festival. in the following years, through the students’ network the idea spread to other indian universities. in 2011, beef was consumed publicly in the english and foreign languages university in hyderabad. in 2012, a beef festival was organized in the neighboring osmania university. in both places, public beef eating on campuses led to confrontation between the festival participants and their opponents, mostly rightwing student groups. in 2012, there were also attempts by certain leftist “lower” caste student groups to organize beef and pork festival in jawaharlal nehru university in new delhi. however, the initiative remained on the level of public debates without an actual realization due to the legal obstacles.3 while in the university of hyderabad beef stall has been maintained during sukoon festivals, in the following years, it failed to remerge on other campuses. the beef issue again came to prominence among dalit and progressive students in 2015, when beef bans were implemented by the maharashtra state government. however, in most of the discussed campuses public beef consumption remained a utopia, a matter of debate and online activism, rather than an actual practice.4 why did beef become a bone of contention on university campuses? dalit and other marginalized students in hyderabad and new delhi were dissatisfied with the food being served at university canteens. the arguments they used were not only about the absence of beef in the menu, the food certain groups prefer, but more broadly, about the imposition of upper caste vegetarian food habits upon culturally diverse students’ groups and the non-representation of the marginalized groups’ culture on campus public space and their subsequent stigmatization. there are studies that show how certain food practices (e.g. vegetarianism and beef taboo) serve as a means to maintain cultural “purity” and social superiority of the dominant groups and resultant stigmatization of those who have different food habits, be it “lower” castes, religious minorities or indigenous communities (chigateri 2008; kikon 2022). therefore, it is quite natural that food, specifically beef, was taken by dalit students as a symbol to challenge discriminatory social norms and taboos, and express their utopian dream of the inclusive future. keeping in mind the value of holy cow in hindu culture, the beef festivals, whether actually enacted or at the level of public debates, ignited passionate discussions and physical confrontations. public beef eating on campuses was not a simple act of marginalized food consumption, but rather a social and political protest, accompanied by public discussion and the spread of certain socio-political discourse. besides dalits 3delhi agricultural cattle preservation act, 1994 prohibits slaughter, sale and transportation of agricultural cattle, and also the possession of its flesh. in 2012, relying on this act, the administration of jnu temporarily barred a student from campus activities and sent notices to three additional students. this action was taken due to their involvement in organizing a festival centered around beef and pork consumption, which was seen as a potential source of disturbance on the campus (upadhyay 2016). 4for more about beef festivals on campuses, see gundimeda 2009, pathania 2016, sébastia 2017. 232 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 and other marginalized students, the beef festivals managed to attract a handful of various liberal and progressive students who found beef as a powerful symbol to critique prevalent social structures (caste), food hegemony (vegetarian normality) and right-wing politics, espousing these norms and values. even though temporary and episodic, the beef issue allowed the educated marginalized youth to articulate their utopian visions of indian society. seeking to demonstrate the centrality of beef symbolism in the local dalit student movement in hyderabad, in this article, i provide a content analysis of “beef anthem”, written and performed by ns chamar,5 dalit activist at osmania university, contextualizing it with my observations and interviews with the dalit activists. this article relies on the ethnographic data gathered for my phd research on dalit student activism in new delhi and hyderabad. i conducted the first stage of research in jawaharlal nehru university and the university of delhi from march to june 2013 and the second stage of research in osmania university (ou) and the english and foreign languages university (eflu) in hyderabad from january to march 2014. my understanding of dalit student politics on these university campuses relies on 64 semi-structured and unstructured in-depth interviews with student activists and faculty members primarily from the dalit background but not limited to them. the dalits, whom i interviewed, were from diverse caste, regional, religious and political backgrounds. in this article, i mostly rely on the material from my fieldwork in hyderabad, because beef issue as a political strategy among students emerged there and had much stronger visibility than in new delhi. in hyderabad, interviews were conducted in english mostly with males as they were referred to me by other students or faculty. when away from the field, i kept following dalit students online, mainly on facebook, which allowed me to be updated with the happenings on campuses while not being there physically. i must admit that this research paper lacks women’s perspective because during my fieldwork i did not get a chance to communicate directly with female dalit student activists in hyderabad, though i had a few conversations with dalit student activists in new delhi.6 when necessary for the analysis, the material from new delhi will be involved in this article as well. the analysis of “beef anthem” and interview material with students will uncover multilayered meanings and strategies surrounding the beef issue allowing one to understand how through the symbol of beef, dalit activists in hyderabad reimagined themselves and strategized their movement in the context of the strengthening right-wing politics. 5i got the permission and even encouragement from the author to use his original name and the lyrics of “beef anthem”. however, due to the research ethics requirements and personal security reasons, i code his name in this article. ns chamar is the pseudonym that the author of “beef anthem” chose himself. 6the visibility of female dalit activists was rather limited on osmania campus, as the central place in public happenings was usually taken by men. however, dalit student activists were aware about this injustice existing within their own community and the movement, and they made attempts to provide some space and visibility for the female perspective. imagining an anti-caste utopia through food: dalit student politics in hyderabad, india 233 beef, caste and politics even those hardly familiar with indian culture know that the cow in india has a holy status. the popular understanding of the indian holy cow can be read in the words of s.m. batra: the cow is held in great reverence by the hindus. she occupies a place closer to the divine and there is hardly any temple where the cow does not figure prominently. the concept of sacredness of the cow is deeply ingrained in the thoughts, feelings, and aspirations of hindus so much so that her protection and care is considered as a religious duty. there is a strong abhorrence for killing and eating the flesh of a cow. they have become so inviolable that in big cities they wander unmolested through the busiest traffic. even a bull that gores a man to death may not be touched. the mere slaughter of a cow has led to many communal riots during pre as well as post-independence period leading to a loss of several human lives and valuable property in india. (1986: 163) how has the cow been gradually turned into such all-encompassing symbol of hindu culture as batra describes? historical research seems to suggest that in vedic and postvedic times, cow was sacrificed in rituals and was a preferred food for brahmins. as a number of scholars argue, the change in practice happened after a series of encounters with cultural “others”, buddhists, muslims and british colonizers, which made hindus gradually change their culinary habits to delineate community boundaries and maintain their cultural difference from other religious and social groups (jha 2010; lodrik 2005). even though often seen as a uniting cultural symbol, the cow in india for centuries has been a divisive “political animal” (desquesnes 2016). in the beginning of the twentieth century, the cow issue gained unprecedented significance in the context of the indian independence movement, when the construction, consolidation and polarization of hindu and muslim identities was at its peak.7 hindu reformist organization arya samaj and its proponent dayananda saraswati travelled throughout india establishing cow protection societies (heimsath 2015: 294). sandria b. freitag has examined the development of the cow protection society (gaurakshini sabha) in uttar pradesh. according to her, all the reformist nationalist organizations, though conflicting at times “worked to achieve together that important and new goal: consciousness among hindus that they constituted members of an identifiable community” (1980: 605). the cow was invoked as a uniting hindu symbol of both urban and rural population as, “[o]nly the sacred cow could have easily bridged the gap between great and little 7freitag noted that before the indian independence movement, there were no homogenous hindu and muslim communities and identities. what mattered for people at that time were their caste, kin and village as identifying principles. freitag saw the crystallization of hindu and muslim identities as an internalized colonial project: “at first members of the groups merely used the labels against the british for their own purposes, but in time the labels took on a reality they had not had” (1980: 598). 234 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 traditions, between urban searches for community identity and rural values” (p. 614). organizations preoccupied with cow protection started targeting not exclusively muslims but also other communities (such as banjaras and chamars) that had cowrelated occupations, lifestyles and habits (p. 607). cow-oriented motives also emerged in the landmark political opposition between the two leaders of indian independence movement—m.k. gandhi and b.r. ambedkar. gandhi in the broader context of his non-violence ideology (ahimsa), stated: and it was some such argument that decided the rishis of old in regarding the cow as sacred, especially when they found that the cow was the greatest economic asset in national life. and i see nothing wrong, immoral or sinful in offering worship to an animal so serviceable as the cow…cow slaughter is indefensible on moral grounds. (as cited in chigateri 2008: 19) for gandhi the cow had the meaning of spiritual and economic assets and had a special importance in the development of the new nation state. meanwhile, ambedkar, the ideological opponent of gandhi and the leader of the untouchables, took a rather materialistic and much more down to earth approach ranking hindu communities by their eating habits distinguishing shakaharis (vegetarians), from mansaharis (meat eaters), and separately pointing out beef-eating mansaharis (chigateri 2008). in ambedkar’s perspective this three-fold division corresponded to the caste hierarchy. beef consumption of dead animals for him was the main reason behind the practice of untouchability and meant a major source of caste stigmatization for the untouchables. hence, one can see that already since the times of the indian independence movement there emerged a split in the meaning of cow in terms of spirituality (gandhi’s vision) and materiality (ambedkar’s vision). the independent indian state had to search for an equilibrium regarding the holy cow, finding a consensus between conflicting communities and ideologies. a compromise was reached in article 48 of the constitution of india. it foresaw that the indian state should be “prohibiting the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle” (government of india 2007: 23). however, this principle was implemented differently in various indian states in the post-independence period, some of the states continuing with beef consumption and others passing legislations banning cow slaughter. the spread of the criminalization of cow slaughter and beef consumption has been continuing and strengthening in the last decades (“the states where cow,” 2015; sayeed 2021). in the post-independence period, cow and beef issues entered the sphere of electoral politics consolidating the hindu vote bank and heightening communal tensions. christophe jaffrelot demonstrated how in the 1960s right-wing groups used cow slaughter banning initiatives, alongside other religious and cultural issues as political propaganda at the time of elections. the cow slaughter issue was taken up to consolidate the hindu vote bank and to deter it from the secular congress party, for which muslims and other minorities usually voted (1996). imagining an anti-caste utopia through food: dalit student politics in hyderabad, india 235 in the 2014 general election, the bharatiya janata party (bjp) followed an already well-tested strategy of using hindu religious symbolism for political mobilization. in the party manifesto it proclaimed among other points that, “in view of the contribution of cow and its progeny to agriculture, socio-economic and cultural life of our country, the department of animal husbandry will be suitably strengthened and empowered for the protection and promotion of cow and its progeny” (bharatiya janata party 2014: 41). their election campaign was based on popular slogans modi ko matdan, gai ko jeevedan (“vote for modi, save the cow”), bjp ka sandesh: bachegi gai, bachegi desh (“bjp’s message: save the cow, save the country”) (roy 2014). at the time of elections all major national and international news headlines announced that india under the congress rule was the world’s number one exporter of beef (kannan 2014), a fact that the party found to be instrumental for election campaign. internet memes soon appeared showing flourishing cow farms under the future bjp government and this was contrasted with cow slaughterhouses under the congress rule. with the bjp coming to power in the central government in 2014, the cow protection sentiments and policy has been gaining momentum. in 2015 in the state of maharashtra, the local government passed legislation criminalizing cow slaughter in the state, leading muslim butchers, minority groups and even some parties into protests (shaikh 2015; johari 2015). hundreds of students at hyderabad universities (uoh, ou and eflu), led mainly by the dalit organizations, staged protests against the beef ban in maharashtra, publicly indulging in kalyani biryani (famous hyderabadi beef and rice dish) (“maharashtra beef ban sparks,” 2015). more recently, in january 2021, karnataka prevention of slaughter and preservation of cattle act, 2020, came into effect criminalizing the slaughtering, buying, selling and transporting all types of cattle, and prescribing punishments from monetary fines (rs 50,000 and rs 5 lakh) to up to seven years’ imprisonment (sood 2022). in recent years, cow and beef issues emerged not only in politics, but what is most important, also affected the everyday lives and relations of ordinary people, both in urban and rural localities. chigateri enlisted several cases in which cow was a main cause of religious (anti-muslim) and caste (anti-dalit) conflicts and ensuing violence (lynching dalits and muslims for supposedly killing a cow, repetitive communal attacks on muslims celebrating eid etc.).8 right-wing groups attempted to censor academic writing and teaching syllabus by erasing the traces of beef-eating practices of hindus which was seen by them as contradicting the hindu holy cow sentiment (2008: 15–16). in 2014, there was a notorious scandal related to the national daily the hindu prohibiting its staff to bring beef dishes into a common canteen room, which supposedly caused discomfort for the majority of vegetarian upper-caste staff members (kumar 2014). many of these cases indicate that behind beef issue stands a strong religion and caste sentiment, and that attempts to prohibit beef entering public spaces are actually attempts to sustain upper-caste dominance and its cultural hegemony. 8cow vigilantism has strengthened in the last decades leading to numerous injuries and killings of muslims and other minority communities (human rights watch, 2019). 236 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 these incidents bring us to a more general discussion of the role of food in caste relations. the edited volume caste in life: experiencing inequalities (2011), in which famous indian scholars and journalists describe their personal experiences of caste, aptly demonstrates how many of the caste practices were essentially constructed through food. one of the authors, anthropologist balmurli natrajan drawing on his own personal experience argued: the banality of caste is best seen in non-dramatic aspects of everyday life, such as food – the conception of what is food, its production…preparation, the conviviality or lack thereof that accompanies its consumption, etc. although food-sharing as a marker of caste is on the decline, largely due to the onset of certain aspects of modernity...distinctive food practices continue to provide occasions where caste reveals itself. or, shall we say, food is still a key site where people perform, produce and reproduce caste. intimately shaped by caste, or even constituted by caste, food in the indic context verily contains a ‘surplus of meanings’ perhaps like no other cultural setting in this world. (2011: 35) if caste hierarchy and caste identities are intimately related to food practices, accordingly, the dominance of certain castes corresponds to the dominance of certain food habits or food cultures. it results into naming what is normal and what is not, what is acceptable and what should be denounced and banned. g. arunima, reacting to the incident related to the hindu, aptly argues that “[t]he neologism ‘non-vegetarian,’ created by vegetarian india itself speaks volumes, and makes the country possibly the only one in the world where meat is not called by its name!” (2014). however, food is not just a means of dominance but also the locus of emancipatory imaginaries and a means of resistance in india and beyond. guru nanak, the founder of sikhism, introduced the practice of langar—the sharing of food irrespective of religious beliefs, social background, caste, color, age, gender, or societal rank which was a revolutionary idea in the back then caste-ridden society. it is also known that m.k. gandhi at some point of his spiritual and political career expressed positive ideas about inter-dining and did not see it as a contradiction of the varna order. in other contexts, and closer to the current times, several authors have analyzed how different communities employed food as a medium to communicate the critique of the dominant discourse and assert alternative identities. psyche williams-forson has shown how an african american comedian in the stand-up comedy “bigger and blacker” mocked racial prejudges using chicken as a stereotypical referent of african american identity (2008). dylan clark has demonstrated how punk sub-culture indulged in raw and rotten foods to define their subculture identity and to critique american mainstream culture, characterized by: “corporate capitalism, patriarchy, environmental destruction, and consumerism” (2008: 19). similarly, in certain dalit groups, beef does not indicate merely a social stigma, but also a means of self-assertion. c.j. arun showed how imagining an anti-caste utopia through food: dalit student politics in hyderabad, india 237 paraiyars, the sc community in tamil nadu, re-evaluated parai drum9 and beef—the prior symbols of pollution10—into positive symbols of dalit culture. arun reported how paraiyars in tamil nadu staged a cultural performance that featured a drumming competition between a brahmin and a paraiyar. the paraiyar, winning over the exhausted brahmin stated: do you know the secret of my energy? i eat beef every day. your sambar (lentil and vegetable stew, mostly eaten in these parts by brahmins who are vegetarian) is useless. come tomorrow and i will ask the butcher to give you a half kilo of beef and 250 grams of bone. (arun 2007: 100) arun’s account indicates that the paraiyar community “de-polluted” themselves by re-evaluating the symbols with which they were traditionally associated. the symbols of the beef and parai drum that before had constituted the main source of paraiyars’ pollution and subordinate position became the source of paraiyars’ pride and superiority.11 similarly, james staples observed that around 1999-2000 christian dalits of coastal andhra region began changing their perception towards beef eating re-signifying it from social stigma to a positive identity symbol (2017). however, apparently, this was a short-lasting change, as he reported about the “decline in beef’s potency as a positive symbol” within these communities since 2004 largely due to the state’s anti-slaughter politics, economic and environmental concerns (2018: 70). he also briefly reports about the rejuvenation of beef issue in the beef festivals on hyderabad university campuses around 2012, however, suggests that this was a largely campus-related issue not finding wider resonance among “ordinary beef eaters [who] are often more circumspect in celebrating their habits” (p. 74). beef has also been a central theme in kancha ilaiah’s (also known as kancha ilaiah shepherd) thought for many years. he can be considered the most visible public intellectual in india with regards to beef question. ilaiah’s most recent and eloquent piece on beef titled “no democracy without beef: ambedkar, identity and nationhood” was published as an introductory article in the recent navayana’s edition of amebdkar’s “the untouchables” (2020) thus establishing his position as a follower of the historical leader of the dalit movement. in his earlier article published in 1996, iliaiah states about beef: 9in the context of the telangana dalit student movement, the dappu drum, equivalent to the tamil parai has come to represent the dalit counter culture. 10one of the traditional occupations of paraiyars was beating the parai drum during funeral ceremonies. 11hugo gorringe challenges the idea that parai drum in the paraiyar community is unanimously perceived as a symbol of resistance against upper castes. he reveals that some paraiyars object the celebration of the drum as a community symbol, claiming that this “merely perpetuates [their] degradation” (gorringe 2016: 1). i observed similar disagreement over the movements’ strategies in the context of asura counter culture when some movement’s participants questioned whether the counter culture can indeed be subversive if it communicates through the religious symbolism of the dominant culture. 238 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 the food rights of people form part of their civil and democratic rights. no religious community can ban the food of another religious community until and unless a particular community turns cannibal. so also no caste can ban the food of another caste. the discourse that vegetarian food is morally superior has no validity for those who are historically habituated to eat meat and beef. among many castes and communities in india, for example, a festival cannot be imagined without meat. vegetarian food in such communities is treated as inferior food. if a guest is served with vegetarian food, it is considered a humiliation. among many castes and communities there are jokes that ridicule vegetarianism. indian society has been co-existing with all these practices and must be allowed to do so…. if beef is banned it will be the beginning of the end of the country’s multiculturalism. (ilaiah 2017) ilaiah relates beef to the questions of democratic rights, multiculturalism and identity, prophetically proclaiming the current majoritarian upsurge in indian politics and society. this significantly differs from the ambedkar’s discourse on beef. when referring to beef, ambedkar was mostly preoccupied with the historical past and avoided addressing political actualities. if in ambedkar’s writing we do not feel a sentiment of pride in the discourse of beef, ilaiah’s tone is overtly proud, assertive and encouraging. he even slightly mocks vegetarian food habits. in his later writings it gets clear that beef constitutes a key issue in his ideological program of dalitization— the creation of an alternative indian society based on democratic, inclusive and multicultural principles that stem from the social experiences and worldview of the marginalized. there are several accounts that show how beef issue functioned in the field of campus politics. gaurav pathania interpreted beef festivals on university campuses in terms of counter-hegemonic assertion of the marginalized groups. he, however, also critiqued this strategy as replicating the strategies of their opponents (pathania 2016). for balmurli natrajan, beef strategy reinforces culturalization of caste identity which limits the capacity of the dalit movement to turn into the liberatory anti-caste movement that goes beyond one group’s culture (natrajan 2012, 2018). instead of trying to evaluate beef strategy and its possible effects for the larger dalit movement, in this article i seek to delve into the complex ideas and meanings that surround beef issue within dalit student activism and how beef enabled dalits to imagine and communicate the ideas of the anti-caste future. i contribute to the work of brigitte sébastia who provided a participatory account on beef festival in osmania university in 2012 also focusing on “the plurality of discourses on beef consumption” (2017: 105). in her account, “beef anthem” figures episodically, nevertheless, it is not taken as a central focus of analysis, which is the core idea of this article. “beef anthem” and its multiple meanings beef ideology in a quintessential form can be found in “beef anthem” created by ns chamar, a madiga by caste, who back then, during my fieldwork in 2014, was a phd imagining an anti-caste utopia through food: dalit student politics in hyderabad, india 239 student and activist at osmania university. he created “beef anthem” specifically for the beef festival in osmania university in 2012. since then, it has been performed many times on various occasions on campus and beyond becoming a significant part of the political repertoire of the local dalit student movement. “beef anthem” is interesting to look at as it reveals the complexity of meanings that are invoked in the construction of beef as a symbol of the anti-caste utopia. the dense text of “beef anthem” is embedded in the longer history of the dalit movement, social and political realities of the osmania campus and ns chamar’s personal life story; a blend which has come to represent the dalit “political act in performance” (redmond 2013: 8). it is necessary to understand that anthems as a genre are not simple texts, but rather gain their full meaning only through performative practice. shana l. redmond in her work on anthems in the african american diaspora noted: these sonic productions were not ancillary, background noise—they were absolutely central to the unfolding politics because they held within them the doctrines and beliefs of the people who participated in their performance, either as singers or listening audience. those involved in the performance were actively engaging in a quest for alternatives to their political present. (2013: 8) “beef anthem”, though a rather recent creation, was gaining the central stage in the local dalit student movement in hyderabad which reveals its mobilizing and community-building potential. ns chamar, the author and key performer of “beef anthem”, popularly called the local bob marley or michael jackson, would appear on stage in many cultural programs held on the osmania university and the english and foreign languages university campuses, and his anthem became a sort of protocol during several dalit political gatherings. “beef anthem” contains layers of meanings that dalits on campuses shared in envisaging their own alternatives to the oppressive social and political present. in the following, strophe by strophe, i seek to unpack these complex imaginaries and their meanings. there is a general assumption that untouchables’ demeaning position in caste society was because of their long-standing association with a dead cow’s body, which was seen by hindus as being extremely polluting. untouchables were obliged to practice dirty professions such as removing dead cows’ carcasses from roads, skinning them and producing various leather goods. due to the scarcity of food and the overall lack of various resources, some untouchable communities consumed dead cows’ meat. already b.r. ambedkar elaborated on the interrelationship between beef consumption and untouchability in his text “untouchability, the dead cow and the brahmin,” in which he stated that, no hindu community, however low, will touch cow’s flesh. on the other hand, there is no community which is really an untouchable community which has not something to do with the dead cow. some eat her flesh, some remove the skin, some manufacture articles out of her skin and bones. (2010: 184) 240 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 louis dumont reaffirmed this understanding by stating that beef eaters and leather workers constituted the lowest ranks of the indian caste hierarchy. he emphasized that “if you eat beef, you must accept being classed among the untouchables, and on this condition your practice will be tolerated” (1980: 80, 191). in “beef anthem”, surprisingly, we hear a completely different tone:12 we resemble black lotus we have been shining like a black sun we have been singing very beautifully we have been learning very easily we have been standing very healthy reason for all these things is beef. the first strophe of the anthem twice invokes black color in quite paradoxical manner to describe lotus and sun, objects that have bright and shining quality. the pronoun “we”, appearing in the beginning in nearly all lines of the strophe, indicates that it intends to define the qualities of the dalit community. the usage of black in this context, stands as an indirect referent to the dark complexion of the dalit folks, however, here through the association with sun and lotus it is used not in a derogatory but rather celebratory manner. in these lines, the anthem essentially claims that dalits are proud of what they are, with all their qualities—abilities to sing beautifully, learn easily and stay healthy, quite contrary from what casteist society perceives them to be—without talent, physically repulsive and mentally inferior. the following refrain explains, from where these qualities and abilities emerge: beef secret of my energy beef secret of our knowledge. “we were born with beef, chamars, madigas”, ns chamar told me during an interview, thus proudly declaring that beef constitutes the habitus of his community.13 the single line of refrain of the anthem asserts power and pride in beef consumption. the physical repulsion generally associated with beef and which is the pre-dominant notion in the hindu caste society goes unmentioned. instead, one hears about all the positive qualities that beef provides. while vegetarian hindu culture perceives beef as religiously polluting, and as any meat, supposedly disgusting and bad for health, the anthem contradicts this notion by stating about beef: 12there is some degree of variation and flexibility in the usage of lyrics during various performances. sometimes certain strophes are omitted and certain words can be replaced by synonyms. 13this can be contradicted by sébastia’s account. according to her, “[t]he students’ claim for beef as their own food culture is, however, debatable. among the dalit students i met at ou, rare are those who eat beef at home. because of its condemnation by hindu higher castes and its ‘famine food’ identity, bovine meat is no longer prepared in many families.” (sébastia 2017: 115). some of my dalit interlocutors in new delhi and hyderabad, had sentiments towards cow and did not support beef eating. others began experimenting with their food habits only on campus for the first time in their lives. imagining an anti-caste utopia through food: dalit student politics in hyderabad, india 241 it’s fantastic – it’s aesthetic it’s our favorite – it’s native it’s delicious – it’s dearest it’s marvelous – it’s precious. how can one understand this act of the resignification of taste? in distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste (1996), pierre bourdieu analyzed how taste relates to one’s social position in society and how it is generally employed in marking social difference: tastes (i.e., manifested preferences) are the practical affirmation of an inevitable difference. it is no accident that, when they have to be justified, they are asserted purely negatively, by the refusal of other tastes. in matters of taste, more than anywhere else, all determination is negation; and tastes are perhaps first and foremost distastes, disgust provoked by horror or visceral intolerance (‘sick-making’) of the tastes of others… aversion to different lifestyles is perhaps one of the strongest barriers between the classes. (1996: 56) bourdieu proposes that tastes of the dominant classes tend to dominate the tastes of other social classes. if we were to re-apply bourdieu’s class analysis to the indian context of caste relations, we could say that in india vegetarianism is largely associated with upper caste hindu culture that was transmitted to the “lower” levels of indian society through the process of “sanskritization” (srinivas 2013). eventually, it has become the widespread form of taste hegemony, which dominates over others either through the imposition of vegetarian food habits or the social stigmatization of those who do not comply with the dominant norms of vegetarian normality. n. sukumar in his auto-ethnographic piece aptly described the trajectory of the evolution of his taste and simultaneously cultural selfhood when his family began rising through the social ladder. he reveals that in his childhood, beef was a valued food in his community, but once his father got a bureaucratic job, due to social pressure, beef had to be replaced by cleaner meats. he got back to beef consumption through the association with the dalit movement at the university of hyderabad that enabled him to reinvestigate his cultural selfhood with regards to food consumption (sukumar 2015). the anthem attempts to re-signify the taste of beef and simultaneously re-signify social norms and boundaries. stigmatizing and having an aversion towards beef eaters, the vegetarian hindu culture draws boundaries between upper and lower-castes, hindu and non-hindu communities. the anthem indulges in the subversive aspect of taste. it re-signifies beef from aversive to delicious, and also similarly to the dominant discourse, puts beef as a marker of reversed social boundary. while the dominant vegetarian hindu discourse takes beef as a marker of exclusions and stigmatization, “beef anthem” employs it for the assertion of an alternative culture and values from those of the dominant society. we have been eating tasty beef we have been struggling against the state 242 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 we hate hierarchy in the world we hate casteism in the soul we hate patriarchy we love matriarchy every quality got from shia (beef). the strophe is framed in terms of dichotomous oppositions. it declares what dalits have been “struggling” and “hating,” that is, “state”, “hierarchy”, “casteism” and “patriarchy”. while the critique of social hierarchy, casteism and patriarchy is a common line within the larger dalit movement, the critique of the state can be seen as a product of the specific cultural context—the telangana state and the osmania university campus’ environment where the communist movement has been particularly vibrant throughout several decades. in this condensed form, the anthem refers to the history of state, caste and gender oppression that has characterized indian society for centuries and which is seen as a major source of dalits’ suffering. the mention of matriarchy deserves a longer explanation. i noticed that dalit activists from hyderabad, when talking about religion, tend to stress their autonomy from the dominant hindu tradition and refer to their local religious beliefs and practices where feminine goddesses play a central role. jitesh, a senior dalit activist from the university of hyderabad, a place where beef counter culture first started, noted: so vedic, i mean brahmanical practices are clearly demarcated from dalit practices. their yajnas [rituals] and the gods are different from [ours]. we have no god basically. dalits do not have any god. we worship god, but [our] god does not have a form. he’s anywhere, everywhere. so, if we have god that is goddesses only. we don’t have male gods. elama, pochama, maisama, uppalama, budiposhama all these are female goddesses…but brahmins have male gods. all the gods of brahmins are male. male-centric worship. and we are female-centric worshipers. and they don’t eat beef, we eat beef. ok, we don’t, i mean, we don’t eat vegetables in the festival. we used to have meat in the festivals. whatever the festival [we are] eating meat, whether it is chicken, mutton, beef. sankranti, dussehra, divali, any festival, we eat mutton. but brahmins do not eat…culture for them is domination, culture for us is resistance. simple, for them – domination, for us – resistance. here we can see how relating to religion and beef, jitesh constructs the notion of the dalit cultural autonomy and difference from the dominant upper-caste hindu culture. it is not the “great” hinduism, but “little,” female-centric hindu traditions that dalits grew up with. in his view, instead of worshiping patriarchal vegetarian hindu gods, dalits worship various meat-eating goddesses. similarly, “beef anthem” with the reference to matriarchy infuses beef with feminine values. however, despite these references in the anthem, i got the impression from my personal communication with festival participants that the beef festival was mostly attended by male students. women’s abstention from participation in the celebration might be explained by the imagining an anti-caste utopia through food: dalit student politics in hyderabad, india 243 fact that beef festivals both at ou in 2012 and at eflu in 2011 were accompanied by the expression of emotional outrage leading to violent student clashes, reactions that usually pertain to masculinist cultures of protest preventing women’s participation. the anthem is not only explicit about what it denounces. it refers to an alternative social world with different values that existed in the past: my forefathers were brave warriors each warrior fought bravely each emperor ruled morally mercy human mahishashura kind-hearted narakashura courageous ravanashura natural eve thataka they had enriched fraternity they had extended equality they had founded social freedom they had started transformation they have eaten cow mutton it’s an entire dravidian culture they had started transformation. the anthem historicizes the hindu religious mythological narrative stating that the values of dalits—fraternity, equality and freedom—were prevalent during the reign of various asura kings. in the ancient hindu religious texts as well as in the popular hinduism, asuras are depicted as dark-skinned demons that brought chaos to the world but were eventually conquered by the hindu gods. in this strophe, asuras are depicted not as mythological demons but rather as inheritors of dravidian culture, that prevailed in the indian subcontinent before the aryan invasion. asuras and their reign is represented as a sort of golden pre-aryan age during which asuras, not mythological figures, but historical dalit predecessors, though being powerful, ruled in a courageous and kind-hearted way, spreading fraternity, equality and social freedom. these qualities of asura dravidian kings supposedly come from beef. they indirectly, in aesop’s manner, are opposed to cruel vegetarian hindu gods, while the morally superior asura-dravidian social and political order—to the hierarchical caste society. asura narrative is not an absolutely new line of thought within the anticaste movement in india. jotiba phule, a nineteenth century social reformer, already encouraged to rethink hindu mythology and its characters (omvedt 2017). this also resonates with the dalit students’ practice to stage asura martyrdom commemoration days on the osmania, eflu and jawaharlal nehru university campuses. the last strophe of “beef anthem” takes an unexpected turn. it states that it was not only asuras who ate beef and mutton, but also a range of intellectual, religious, historical and popular figures: socrates, aristotle, plato, buddha mohammed, jesus, marx, ambedkar 244 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 newton, einstein, stephen hawking martin luther, malcolm max stalin, lenin,14 lincoln, che guevara bob marley, serena williams paul robeson, michael jackson all the legends are beef eaters. while right-wing politicians and supporters, drawing their evidence from hindu epics, increasingly epitomize ancient indian culture as an origin of modern knowledge and science (rahman 2014; lakshmi 2015; macaskill & nair 2014), the dalits turn their gaze to the west. the anthem refers to socrates, aristotle, plato, newton, einstein, and stephen hawking as if trying to assume that their intellectual abilities are stemming from beef consumption, though it is unclear if the author had any proof of their food practice. nevertheless, the qualities that these foreign personalities represent stand out in the anthem as symbols of rationality and logic and are opposed to the “irrational” spirituality which surrounds the holy cow symbolism. following this line of thought, dalits would argue in a vein of rational choice that beef is a source of proper nutrition since it is a cheaper protein, the best food for workers to be strong since lentils (dal) is expensive and unaffordable.15 arjit, a dalit student activist from jnu originating from andhra pradesh/telangana where beef-eating is a prevalent practice, told me while comparing dalit visual appearance in new delhi and hyderabad: but workers, you see them, you can’t imagine workers looking like this in andhra…physically their look is different there, [they are] built different there. food i think is the way they have controlled us to be weak in the north. what he meant here is that namely the imposition of vegetarianism on the north indian dalits was a conscious strategy of upper castes to starve and weaken untouchables. apparently, for some dalits from the telangana or andhra pradesh states, beef is a source of physical and mental strength and does not bear a meaning of social stigma. furthermore, by invoking martin luther, malcolm x and abraham lincoln, the anthem draws parallels between the dalit and the black civil rights movement in the usa of the 1960-1970s. this discursive trajectory has been set in motion by the dalit panther movement since 1972 and is elaborated further by the dalit students on the osmania campus in a form of performative celebrations. for example, dalits in ou annually commemorate simultaneously in december ambedkar’s and nelson mandela’s death anniversary, while in february – malcolm x’s death anniversary. 14pro-communist activists whom i spoke to did not critically reflect about the negative aspects of communist ideology, its leaders and politics in the larger context. also, they were not much aware about the tragic effects communist ideology and rule had in the eastern europe and the baltic states. 15sébastia notes that dalit students often referred to the report produced by veena shatrugna from the national institute of nutrition that highlighted the nutritional qualities of beef. this report strengthened students’ position on the need to de-stigmatize beef and provided them with scientific and rational arguments (2017: 115). imagining an anti-caste utopia through food: dalit student politics in hyderabad, india 245 these initiatives stand as an attempt to learn from the success story of the civil rights movement. instead of invoking indian pop-culture icons, which in dalit understanding usually represent high caste groups, the final lines of the anthem refer to popular music and sport icons of black origin, in a way suggesting their artistic and physical skills come from beef consumption. what is relevant in these icons is not only their blackness, but also their international recognition. in this vein, the anthem calls beef as “a pure international brand,” which contrasts with right-wing attempts to exalt the cow as a sacred, all-encompassing symbol of national indian culture. thus, the anthem tries to suggest a different vision of dalits—not as backward and local, but forward, modern and international. this sentiment resonates with the larger feeling among the telangana dalits that they were backward and not exposed to colonial and capitalist modernity in contrast to the dalits from the andhra region. interestingly, some dalits did not have a negative approach towards the colonial past because colonial administration was seen as empowering dalits. it began the policy of reservations designated for the upliftment of the marginalized communities. dalit leader b.r. ambedkar was trained in the western education system and positively related to the values of western modernity. contemporary dalits prioritize english as a language of empowerment and this idea is strongly promoted by certain intellectuals and ideologues such as kancha ilaiah shepherd who stated that “[t]his shared international language would allow them to live as equal and respectable citizens of the global community” (ilaiah shepherd 2022). in uttar pradesh there is even a dalit temple created for the english goddess (pandey 2011). finally, in the lines of this strophe, one can see obvious parallels with ns chamar’s life story—his early involvement with the christian church, the communist party, and later exposure to the dalit movement and recent career within the all india majlis-e-ittehadul muslimeen party. his personal life story is thus reflected in the anthem, producing a broader political narrative of the movement. the reference to buddha, mohamed, jesus, marx, che guevara and others represents dalits’ attempts to shape broader alliances across religious and political spectrums. it also tries to solve inner divisions prevalent within the dalit movement, especially in terms of religious and political differentiation. in an interview, ns chamar noted: they [right-wing students] believe god and they come outside, they are doing political movement. celebrate rama, vivekananda, hedgewar. like that… but christians – only jesus. they are not connecting ambedkar, phule. all christians in india – they belong to dalits only. but dalits are divided. when they are attached [to] jesus, they are not accepting ambedkar, phule…oh jesus, please tell our people [that] your one shape is dr. baba saheb ambedkar. ns chamar assumes that the right-wing draws its power from the ability to fuse various icons into one ideological fold, which is seen by him not as a religious sentiment, but a political strategy. in a similar vein, “beef anthem” embraces buddha, mohammed, jesus, marx, ambedkar and other historical and contemporary personalities to provide 246 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 an inclusive political alternative. the anthem reflects the broader realization that the success of the dalit movement largely depends on the integrational capacity to include various subaltern communities under its fold. beef in the anthem stands as a uniting symbol upon which various taste-alliances among minority communities can be constructed. interestingly, the anthem does not use the term dalit anywhere, thus the supposed listener and the wider audience is rather open-ended. “beef anthem” in performance on may 3, 2015, ns chamar organized a cultural program on the osmania campus in front of the arts college building with fully-fledged stage arrangements—huge posters, stage lighting and sound system.16 the program was called bheem drum. jai bheem is a common greeting phrase among dalit activists across india, referring to b.r. ambedkar, while drum refers to dappu—an occupational and also artistic symbol of madigas. the program was intended to showcase the voices of various dalit bahujan artists who wrote and sang against the caste system (manuvada). as the poster states, “the actual aim of the bahujan artists is to fetch state power to bahujans by being aware and conscious perennially”.17 “beef anthem” was performed at the culmination of the program. ns chamar appeared on stage accompanied by a team of students, mostly guys cheerfully dancing and singing on the stage, dressed in jeans and specially designed blue bheem drum t-shirts. a recently departed revolutionary balladeer gaddar also rose onto the stage in a modern outfit instead of his regular mass attire thus stylistically synchronizing with the dalit movement. at the center of the poster advertising bheem drum celebration one sees a dappu drum as if referring to the centrality of madigas in the local dalit movement. not by coincidence, since ns chamar, the author of “beef anthem” and the key organizer of the program, belongs to the madiga sub-caste group. madigas’ cultural and political assertion might be explained by their subordinate position in the traditional caste hierarchy and contemporary class relations. madigas political assertion began as a protest against malas, who are also dalits but of higher caste and class status. due to various reasons (higher caste status, exposure to colonial modernity) malas managed to benefit better from the governmental reservations compared to madigas. therefore, in the late 1990-ies there began the madiga dandora movement seeking the categorization of sc reservation quotas.18 the university campuses in hyderabad witnessed similar fragmentation among the dalit students. the dalit student union, that initiated beef stall at the university of hyderabad in 2009, had split from the ambedkar students union (largely represented by malas) to defend the interests and causes of madigas. they took the beef issue as a symbol of community culture and as a strategy to draw wider support and gain more power in campus politics. its 16i did not have a chance to attend bheem drum celebration myself, because it happened after my fieldwork, therefore, while discussing the event i count on the material circuating online. 17from the bheem drum poster. 18regarding the reservation subcategorization issues and mala-madiga conflict see, muthaiah (forthcoming) and rao (2009). imagining an anti-caste utopia through food: dalit student politics in hyderabad, india 247 important to mention that beef is eaten by many other non-dalit groups, therefore, madiga students at the university of hyderabad and later osmania university took it as their key political symbol and major strategy to attract support from nonmadiga and even non-dalit students. gundimeda notes that dsu’s beef stall in the university of hyderabad at the sukoon celebration was supported by the wide range of organizations—student federation of india, the ambedkar students union, the tribal students association, the north eastern students forum, the telangana students association, and the bahujan students front (gundimeda 2009: 133–134, 145). the sub-caste differentiation was also present in the dalit student politics on osmania campus, as there was a separate group representing malas interests, that is all mala student association (amsa). meanwhile, madigas at ou tended to embrace their madiga identity within the larger bahujan framework which allowed them to assert madiga identity while shaping broader solidarities. hardly leaving any empty space and overcrowded with symbols, the poster of the bheem drum program characteristically reflects the scope of the dalit student movement in osmania university. similar to “beef anthem”, the poster targets diverse student groups and is loaded with different ideological influences. the desired solidarities can be seen through the multitude of various historical icons and contemporary personalities depicted in the poster. the biggest portraits are of b.r. ambedkar and jotibha phule, key icons of the dalit bahujan community, one relating to the sc, another—to the obc groups, according to these two ideological icons’ caste backgrounds. behind them, in the right left-hand corner one can see buddha and on the upper right—kanshi ram, the historical and contemporary anti-caste ideologues. in between these two, at the top of the poster there is a row of local leaders, including those of the indian subaltern communities, african american and muslim origin. the poster, highlighting its pro-feminine orientation, places women icons in the middle of the poster to be surrounded and protected by the many of the dalit bahujan men. below the image of the dappu drum and the festival’s title bheem drum: the rhythm of bahujans,19 there is a row of telangana movement icons and festival participants, who come from both dalit and left political camps. they are separated by the burning guitar which stands as a symbol of modernity and dalit bahujan energy, as if declaring publicly, “our fury is burning” (hardtmann, 2003). in the poster the predominant colors are blue, red and green, thus addressing three separate communities—dalits, communists and muslims. thus, there is obvious semantic correspondence and an overlap of political objectives between the text of “beef anthem” and the idea of the bheem drum program. it is also important to note that the strategy of the symbolic redefinition of beef is employed not only to change dalits’ self-perception and to form broader anti-caste alliances. beef issue had its outward audience. keeping in mind the value and meaning of the cow in hindu culture, beef counter culture appears not only as an integrational, but also prevocational strategy. it seeks to challenge the type of politics and ideology, 19i want to draw attention to the fact that the poster does not use the term dalit, but instead that of bahujan, thus addressing the wider audience. 248 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 which is built on the symbolism of the holy cow, purity/pollution rules, vegetarian normality and, most importantly, hierarchical caste relations. similarly, c.j. arun has argued that paraiyars in tamil nadu purposely instigated confrontation with uppercastes since “they come to realize that they could assert themselves in the village only by creating conflicts” (2007: 93). this becomes clear if we look to the reaction the beef festivals instigated. the beef festival at eflu in 2011 led to the stone throwing by the students in opposition and the destruction of the festival place. the beef festival at ou in 2012 was held under police presence on campus that sought to prevent clashes between the conflicting student camps but eventually failed to prevent the burning of a media van and the injury of a student. in 2015, before the beef festival at ou, raja singh, a member of legislative assembly declared that, “i have resolved that i will make every effort to prevent this festival, which i believe hurts the sentiments of hindus” (janyala 2015). i have come across a poster on facebook that calls cow protectors to march to ou in protest of the beef festival. at the center of the poster stands raja singh, with a red tilak on his forehead, dressed in a white shirt and orange scarf around his neck. in his extended hand, singh holds a sword as if intending to punish those who dare to eat beef and desacralize the gai mata (“mother cow”), which is seen on the upper left corner of the poster, depicted as containing various hindu gods within her body. these examples indicate that beef issue worked successfully not only as a community building, support base expanding, but also as a confrontational strategy that managed to agitate the oppositional groups and bring beef issue even to the national media attention. conclusion far from being simply a food item, beef in contemporary india reveals a nexus of caste, politics and community sentiments. it functions as a communicative issue through which social relations are negotiated and politics is being performed. the construction of vegetarianism as a cultural norm can be viewed as a discursive practice of the dominant, which marginalizes or stigmatizes those who fail or reject to follow the norm. it is not surprising, thus, that counter culture initiatives of the marginalized and subordinated groups were also framed through the same communicative sphere of food, which functions both as a source of cultural constitutedness and a means of subverting cultural norms. if the food is a constituent of oppression and discrimination, it was also logically taken up as a source of alternative values. “beef anthem” within the contemporary dalit student movement stands as an encouragement to embrace dalit identity and not to be ashamed of eating beef. infusing beef with various positive qualities, the anthem seeks to boost dalit self-respect and its outward image, as if suggesting that if beef is re-evaluated, the dalit position in indian society can change too. the anthem re-constitutes the general notion prevalent among dalit activists in hyderabad, that because of their marginalization dalits have different and supposedly superior moral values. it is dalits’ different social experience imagining an anti-caste utopia through food: dalit student politics in hyderabad, india 249 and essentially their segregation from the dominant religion and society that renders them the “better” people. besides being a dalit community symbol, beef was also an attempt to search for broader solidarities that are seen as an inevitable trajectory in forming the alternative anti-caste future. beef strategy enabled the questioning of the entrenched social hierarchies, inequalities and division by forming minority alliances on campus and, most importantly, gave more public visibility to anti-caste utopias. on campuses in hyderabad beef issue, indeed, managed to temporarily unite people coming from very different communities, regions, castes and classes. under different circumstances, it could have been possible to inquire further if beef issue could result into actual and long-lasting political solidarities among various marginalized groups on campus and beyond and whether campus-based beef politics could have a potential to resonate beyond campus walls. with the beef issue literally disappearing from the dalit student political repertoire in the last few years, the question that could still be relevant today is how dalit activists retrospectively evaluate the effectiveness of 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(2008). more than just the ‘big piece of chicken’: the power of race, class, and food in american consciousness. in c. counihan& p. van esterik (eds.), food and culture: a reader. new york and london: routledge, pp. 342–353. © 2024 brahma prakash. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.1764 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 342-357 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste power, performance, and the limits of contemporary animism as a (de)colonial perspective for indian caste society brahma prakash1 abstract “contemporary animism” or what is often termed as “new animism” has emerged as one of the most powerful perspectives to understand and decolonize the indigenous cultural practices and knowledge systems in recent years. brahmanical hinduism (or neo-brahmanism) is considered as a cultural-religious practice that still carries undercurrents of animism in india.2 animist beliefs have remained strongly embedded in brahminical religious and cultural practices, such as belief in the existence of soul, persona and so on. this article argues that the ethos of neo-brahmanism is not only antithetical to the perspectivism of contemporary animism, it rather offers a model that can be termed as ‘inverted animism’ or the cultural practices that tend to colonize the radical potentials of animism. such hinduism as hegemonic cultural practices disrobe the environment from its personhood, even fetishizes the person, and turns them into objects. it is an ‘animism’ that goes against its own spirit by colonizing the personality of the object, materials and other entities. keywords new animism, decolonization, brahminism, caste society, perspectivism and adivasis 1assistant professor, theatre and performance studies, school of arts and aesthetics, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india email: prakash.brahma@gmail.com 2 the debates around what is hinduism, brahmanism and buddhism are far more complex. scholars like lal mani joshi see current hinduism as an offshoot of brahmanism. in his view, the elements of shramanic culture and buddhism were assimilated by the brahmanical culture and resulted in what we now term as hinduism (see joshi, 1970:77). joshi terms the current cultural-religious practices as neo-brahmanism or hinduism. i am formulating my reading in the light of joshi’s formulation of the hinduism that incorporated the elements of buddhism, jainism, tantricism, animism, and various other strands but on its own principles and conditions. power, performance, and the limits of contemporary animism as a (de)colonial perspective 343 the spirit bound despite having a great admiration for much contemporary scholarship on animism (bird-david, 1999; graham, 2005, 2014; descola, 1996; de castro, 2015), one needs to be cautious about its potential use for decolonization in the indian socio-cultural context. my concern has to do with the animated world of brahmanical hinduism, which, on the one hand, offers fascinating modes of interaction between humans, and nonhuman worlds but, at the same time, colonizes this interaction to produce hierarchies based on the caste system—a contradiction that turns the emancipatory potentials of new animism upside down. while non-human beings such as birds and animals find their personality in the animated world of hinduism, they acquire their caste-based dispositions in this constitution.3 for instance, where the bird haliasatur indus is considered as part of the brahmin caste with the name brahminy kite, the milvus migrans or pariah kite is thought of as untouchable in many parts of south india (pariah or paraiyar being the untouchable caste in tamil nadu).4 likewise, one finds names of snakes, birds and trees named in line with caste distinctions. wendy doniger has shown how dogs have been viewed as dalits in indian literatures (2014, pp. 488– 500). not only humans but the non-humans’ world is also judged based on the division of purity and impurity following the caste ideology. like humans, non-humans are similarly placed in the hierarchies. in other words, the caste-based values of hinduism become the main criteria to judge them and situate them in their respective orders and associations. the article problematizes the way hinduism uses animism to reinforce caste hierarchy and to present aspects of ‘animism’ as a tool and conception to do this. for scholars working at the intersection of anthropology and philosophy, the new (approach to) animism marks an ontological turn in the field of humanities and social sciences. it destabilizes fundamental assumptions of the field such as what it might mean to be human, a person or to be in a relation. the approach positioned itself in the indigenous worldviews which can be located in the light of the larger discourse of the decolonization and human-beyond human discourse of the ecological concerns. the set of relationships with the new approach can be termed as radical animism. however, this idealistic approach of new animism needs to be properly contextualized in its specific socio-cultural contexts. my main concern is the relationship between animism as it discussed by many scholars as an emancipatory perspective and the 3 in the absence of any specified texts on religious beliefs and practices, it becomes difficult to pin down the principles of the religion on which the criticisms can be posited. with varying cultural practices and contradictory belief systems, it is always complex to synthesize its ideology, structure and core arguments. mainstream hinduism has already consolidated and legitimizes specific sets of beliefs and practices that can be considered as point of reference in this work. it can be also argued that while hinduism is a complex world of beliefs and has many forms across different regions in india, it shares a number of common features concerning the fundamental perspectives on life, death and living beings. hindus, for instance still worship their ancestors, natures and animals in various forms. 4 pariah has become a denigrated synonym for the outcaste in several indian languages. the term is used like ‘nigger’ in racial society, a term to use ethnic social group. pariah caste has traditionally been associated with drumming and menial jobs. 344 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 animist structure that exists in the hindu caste society. drawing from the critical readings proposed by graham (2005), descola (2013) and de castro (2015), the article problematizes animism as a possible decolonizing perspective in a caste-based society. it shows the power and limits of animism as a decolonizing perspective in india, unless there is an attempt to reclaim the radical animism from the indigenous discourse, as it is taking place in the case of many indigenous movements in india (such as in the demand of sarana religion in jharkhand). the article points to the relational approach of hinduism (informed by strong currents of brahmanism) based on hierarchies and argues on the (im)possibility of new animism to make a critical turn in the postcolonial context without fundamentally acknowledging the cultural context of animism—is ontology just another name for culture? what is at stake here is not the decolonization of brahmanism as a culture of animated belief, but the decolonization of the colonized world of animism itself. identifying this problem is vital for two important reasons in the contemporary indigeneity politics in india. first, india has a significant number of indigenous populations, often referred as adivasis (aboriginal people or original habitants) who largely follow animism. at the outset of escalating neo-liberal and neo-conservative polices of the indian state in which adivasis have to be “sacrificed” for the progress and development of the nation, adivasi communities are facing the direct brunt of the state on various issues including those of displacement, citizenship, customary laws and on the issues of cultural appropriations by resurgent hinduism—where the aim is to reinforce brahmanical ideology. such hindu religious groups have been actively trying to appropriate indigenous beliefs by reinterpreting adivasi myths and texts to serve its own end. it can be argued that decolonization for the indigenous communities in india have to fulfill both the aims, i.e., decolonization from the colonial legacies as well as decolonization from the hierarchical brahmanical beliefs. second, the animism of indigenous people is more in the vicinity of the decolonial perspective proposed by contemporary animist scholars than the elements infused in brahmanical encoded hindu cultural practices that has gone through an “ontological change” by positing hierarchies at the centre. can we say that the radically posited animism of non-brahmanical traditions went through an ontological turn in castebased hinduism? in a different context, aparecida vilaca (2015) asks, ‘do animists become naturalists when converting to christianity’? he considers an ontological turn in the light of the ontological change that happens in the shifts of socio-cosmological views, as happened in the case of modernity. elaborating on the amazonian tribe wari, he argues that in the conversion to christianity, a complex and a non-linear transition between the two ontologies seem to have happened. what do such similar transformations suggest in relation to the practices of animism in the hindu world? however, the animist beliefs of brahmanism cannot be merely viewed as an appropriation of indigenous knowledge forms; it can be rather considered as a parallel to new animism. it is rightly so because the brahmanical inscribed culture and the indigenous societies both practice some deep tenets of animism; however, their perspectives of animism remain different. marine carrin (2018) has pointed out a power, performance, and the limits of contemporary animism as a (de)colonial perspective 345 similar connection in the context of “hinduisation” of indigenous belief systems in the tribal region of jharkhand in india. she argues how the same cult object may have a different meaning for the indigenous santhals and for the hindus who believed in the caste system (2018, p. 119). the problem becomes acute when we discuss how hinduism and tribal societies interface in indian society and the (re)shaping of animism in the new sites of cultural appropriations. it can be argued that brahmanism might have promoted an animated world of beliefs in its residual practices but in its very principle, it goes against the principles of radical animism by resisting the transformative potential of the latter. my concern here is not to analyze how these transformations or appropriations might have taken place in hinduism. it can be largely seen through a socio-political change in the society overall which led to the shift in ontological entity. this includes the historical changes and the formation of class and caste-based societies and development of agriculture and industry and different hierarchies that brahmanism tends to perpetuate. the colonialism has also played a vital role in the shift of ontology while subsuming various aspects of animism of those societies. povinelli (2016) has examined how the state and neo-liberal forces have appropriated vitalist, and animist practices of indigenous communities in australia, and how vitalism is the last vestige of the late neoliberal society. we can problematise this animated relationship by analyzing how capitalist ideology has influenced the animist world through the fetishization of objects, and, in a related sense, by exploring how animation helps to uphold and transmit capitalist and corporate ideology. we can take examples of the corporate animation industry in which capitalist entertainment corporations have exploited what is essentially an animistic logic (forgacs, 1992, p. 363). disney preys on and appropriates animism in order to cater childhood into global circulation as a commodity. in doing so, it creates what forgacs terms ‘a utopian realization of a world of complete freedom’ (1992, p. 363). a similar case can be observed in the case of mainstream hinduism where the animist logic is used to domesticate and exploit other human and non-human personalities. by positing animist world of hinduism, the article shows how animism works merely as a tool to justify its relational world. despite some radical changes in the world of beliefs, hinduism still believes in worshipping nature, animals and ancestors unlike the clear separation of human and animals that largely happened in the case of christianity as part of european modernity (vilaca, 2015). nevertheless, hinduism appears to subvert the fundamental relational logic of radical animism that has been taken for granted in contemporary scholarships. in a radical change, it brings hierarchies into a relational perspective: that is, the obvious hierarchy that can be seen in human and animal relationships and between human and human relationships. they could be only seen and accepted as subservient in the relational terms. scholars have rightly pointed out how ‘the separation between humans and animals is associated with the constitution of a given natural universe’ (vilaca, 2015, p. 6). in this subordination and domestication of animals, descola sees this shift from an animist ontology to an analogical ontology (2013, p. 388). 346 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 hinduism de-subjectivises animals and gives them secondary status. while animals still maintain an autonomous subjectivity in the indigenous beliefs, they are largely domesticated in hinduism. for instance, a lion becomes a mount for the powerful hindu deity durga, an owl for hindu goddess lakshmi and similarly other deities can be seen riding other birds and animals. arguably, the independent existence of non-human beings ceases to exist. in this regard, the works of animist kajarhem and sprenger (2015) offers a specific framework to understand this complexity in the asian context. most importantly, how the very domestication of animals in an agrarian society promotes domestication of animal relationships and symbolism, and therefore the animist practices. he underlines a distinction between the animist principles of castro, kohn and others who work on animist practices of the tribal communities of the amazonia, and mainland south east asian animisms which are emerging from hierarchical agricultural societies. the amazonian communities see animals (usually often in the relation of game/prey) as another that has to be imagined, captured, sought into a relation, therefore expanding their cosmologies into non-human actants. kajarhem, then uses the many examples of south east asian mainland animisms (many of which are hindu in origin, or from the theravada buddhist practices), where he argues that because animals are now domesticated, they now incur a relationship of ownership with the human. he states that in agricultural societies, animism prevails but it is turned into one of sacrifice (the animal is the homo sacer), and therefore, they become part of one of hierarchies, property and ownership. the relationship to the other which marks amerindian knowledge, what i have termed as radical animism, is thus turned into a relationship of the self in this case. it is one of intimately knowing the animal (hence animist), but also converting it into one of value—socio, economic and moral. it can be argued that it is a world where anthropomorphism slides into anthropocentricism (and anthropocentric practices like the caste system are reflected in animist knowledge). though his work does not speak of hinduism proper, one can see a fundamental resonance between arhem’s work, and animisms of agricultural societies, of which the hindu caste society is an example. arhem’s work is also interesting in the sense that his works lies in the interstices of global south/ east cultures without being necessarily decolonial in perspective. it rather recognizes the violence and hierarchies of these practices. moreover, his readings complicate the inherent decolonial claims of the animist world. the other relevant transformations can be observed in the changing worldview of the so-called low-caste hindus. the animist beliefs among the low castes maintain more regional and ecological currents and remain relatively more dynamic than the animated worldview of the upper caste because of their socio-cultural contexts and beliefs in the spirit world (prakash, 2019). it can be argued that interactions and relations are already performed in the entrenched world of upper caste hindu ideology. when it comes to the relationship between the upper caste worldviews and the low caste worldview, it is the hegemonic worldview of the upper caste that plays a more crucial role and subverts the dynamic relational mode prevalent among the animist views of the low castes. in the background of the emerging debates of new animism, power, performance, and the limits of contemporary animism as a (de)colonial perspective 347 it becomes pertinent that we underline this shift in the context of local socio-cultural hegemonies. the shift in approaches on animism from a derogatory to critical term requires that we clarify what this move consists of in terms of thinking about an animist worldview. as discussed by several scholars (de castro, 2014; bird-david, 1999), this is a shift from animism as part of anthropological construction to animism as part of the vital strategy of decolonization. the shift has changed the terms of seeing, mode of interactions and ways of engaging with the human-non-human world. it happened in two major ways: while the earlier anthropologists viewed animist societies with a great suspicion, the new anthropologists view it as an emancipatory paradigm at the outset of colonization and widespread ecological concerns. for example, de castro gives his anthropological work with the tupis an epistemic charge—that he levitates what is merely ethnographic fieldwork into conceptual claims about ontology and species relations. the new animism has reversed the nature and culture poles seeing nature as particular and culture as universal. in this case, multinaturalism replaces the notion of multiculturalism.5 the new approach claims to reposit indigenous knowledge from various positions; however, in the lack of criticisms of the internal colonization, it appears to be another ethnocentricism. the existing problem has also to do with the existing approaches in the new animism which has been narrowly focused on a settler colonial framework.6there is no discussion on the experiences of the peasant community or for that internal colonization that could be part of an indigenous worldview itself. in this construction, the native becomes the absolute other to the european settler. it can be argued that the narrow historiographic framework of castro and many other animists do not capture the complexities of asian animism. any decolonial perspective cannot undermine the hierarchies within because often this hierarchy creates alliances with the external forces. in this regard, kenyan writer, wa thiong’o suggested moving the center in two senses, in the postcolonial contexts ‘between nations and within nations’ (1993). his site of criticism is parallel both to the external colonization as well as internal colonization. it can be observed that the shift in the discourse of animism has not paid enough attention to issues of the internal colonization in parallel to offering a critique of colonialism and capitalist exploitation. otherwise, there is an inherent danger that the emancipatory project of animism will subsumed to another sort of ethnocentrism in the contemporary discourses. it is true that contemporary animism has emerged as one of the most powerful perspectives in the decolonial discourses. it has challenged conventional scholarship and radically influenced the various ways indigenous knowledge and worldviews were perceived. even though the new animism 5in de castro’s view, multinaturalism could be understood as the opposite of the multiculturalism. it designates a unity of mind and diversity of bodies. in multinatural perspective, culture is viewed as the form of the universal and nature as the particular (2014: 56). 6the problem has its root in the history of the colonial encounter with the indigenous people. since the first knowledge of amerindia came to europe through columbus and other european settlers, scholarship also tends to focus on this divide between the european settler and the indigenous forest dwelling native. 348 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 perspective has not yet significantly influenced postcolonial scholarships in india, one needs to be cautious of uncritically using the perspective in indian and south asian contexts. new animism as a decolonizing perspective animists see the presence of a lifeforce in humans and as well as in nonhuman beings, including what we normally perceive as things—tree, stone, river, mountain and soil. things are supposed to possess life principles or life force, what is commonly termed as jeeva or jeevi in many indian languages. santhal indigenous communities of india believe that ‘he who has jeeviis able to move.’ they believe that they have jeevi inside their bodies. they all have agency and potency to transform themselves. one who believes in the animist world also sees the existence of soul and spirit in language and “abstract” words. thus, we can say that in such situation the word also acquires animating presence besides being performative. the affect and meaning of word not necessarily appears in its performative dimension but also in its lively animated being. for example, the word is called shabd-jeeva (word life) and any violence on it is considered equally serious as physical and psychological violence. animism was earlier viewed and interpreted through the colonial lens in which animists were viewed as low creatures or backward people who were unable to understand the difference between nature and culture: between persons and things, life, death and metaphors, symbols and the living words. animism was fundamentally seen as an epistemological error in those approaches. for several anthropologists and scholars, animism was based on an erroneous, unscientific observation about the nature of reality (graham, 2005). however, animism has acquired a new force in the contemporary animism. the new animism has not only decentred the colonialist approach, it has also decentred the narrow humancentric approach that assumes colonization of non-human beings as the central prerogative in order to become human. the actions of non-humans are also considered “intentional, planned and purposive.” like humans, non-humans also participate in everyday exchanges of relationships. they participate in kinship systems and ceremonies with human, as well as maintain their own kinship systems and ceremonies (harvey, 2005, p. 102). things do not remain as things to be acted upon but equally act and participate in the works and ceremonies. this approach has not only changed the human and object relationship, it has also challenged how persons are to be treated beyond the confined boundary of identity and subjectivity. what davi kopenawa said about white people: ‘white people do not think very far ahead. they are always too preoccupied with the things of the moment’ (2013, p. 12). i would like to mark three underlying radical principles of new animism which are opposed to the so-called animated world of hinduism informed by brahmanism. in the first case, new animism challenges the limited view of the human-centric world. second, it has challenged the division between nature and culture, in fact, the idea of nature becomes cultural. and in the third case, the relationship between ‘object’ power, performance, and the limits of contemporary animism as a (de)colonial perspective 349 and ‘identities’ is enacted through personification and not through objectification as it happens in capitalism. apart from these shifts in fundamental principles, we can also discuss how new animism has placed ontology rather than anthropology (the sociology of knowledge) and epistemology in the centre. the strategic location changes the relationship between nature and culture and established nature as particular and cultural as a universal category. and beyond nature and culture division, nature is viewed as what descola would term ‘the society of nature’. in cannibal metaphysics, de castro (2014) argues for the tupian mode of thinking (based on the worldview of the tupinamba tribe who inhabited the brazilian coast in the seventeenth century) which offers a new kind of ontological prior-thinking from the others’ positions. descola has suggested that the human tries to understand the humannon-human relationship through four modes of identification based on interiority and physicality. interiority stands for self-reflexive inwardness and physicality stands for the dispositions enabling a physical action. the aspects of interiority and physicality offer us an interesting way of understanding this relationship. so, while in the case of totemism, the object possesses elements of physicality and interiority analogous to a human being, in animism, the object has a similar interiority but a different physicality. it is believed that humans and all the kinds of non-humans with which humans interact have different physicality. in naturalism, the object is devoid of interiority but possesses a similar kind of physicality. in animism, human interiority is lodged in different kinds of bodies or they simply wear different kinds of skins. this background is important as it helps us in examining the hindu world of animated beliefs and their potentials for decolonization. the animated world of hinduism animist belief is strongly embedded in hindu religious and cultural life, such as in the belief in the existence of the soul (even after death) and even in the worship of tree and stone and so on. however, i argue that hinduism is antithetical to the ideology and the perspectivism of radical animism or what has been postulated as new animism. the dominant hinduism, the point of reference here disrobes the nature from its personhood. it tends to fetishize the personhood of the non-humans which ultimately becomes an expression of a soul without spirit. in other words, the soul has to be purified from the infliction of the spirits. spirits rather get imprisoned and lose their fluid energy and vitality that marks their movements and relations in the new animism. this does not mean that animism in hinduism is immobile and is signified as static. what changes is basically what relation different bodies may imbue with it. this does not mean that the relationship to objects is always changing. this change has to do with the historical process of colonization in which meaning making shifts and every process or shift is seen as having a new ontology, instead of multiple relationalities. thus, it can be argued that while hindu cosmologies and amerindian/new animist thought start off from a similar point, hinduism makes a regressive turn with a moralpolitical enshrined in caste society. this is an animism that goes against its own spirit 350 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 by colonizing the personhood of the object, materials and other non-personal beings. the hierarchical ideology is so deeply embedded in hinduism that any manifestation of animated being carries the graded distribution of the sensible. for all these reasons, much of the participatory world of animism becomes a terrifying world of hierarchy. in a paradox, a religion that is based on animism sees spirits and animism with contempt. while it justifies colonized aspects of animism, it sees archetypal animism as a threat. the sense of being immersed in a sentient world is part of some of the major cultural practices of the adivasi and low caste communities. without any discrimination, they will sing the praise of both human and non-human personhoods. they worship river, boat, plant, animal, fire, sky and the six directions supposed to be possessed by the spirits. all these objects were supposed to have their specific traits (personality). the communities treat these objects as spirits and deities of that particular non-human entity. they believed that like humans, non-humans also interact and express their emotion and feelings. a basket will talk to a broom and the broom can talk to a ‘real’ human being. in the new development, adivasi communities are moving out of the worldview of the animated world of beliefs to the image worship form of institutionalized hinduism which tends to fix the traits and limits the relational approaches. for example, the sun was supposed to be an active force in agricultural society. from day to night and from one season to other, the sun will acquire different traits, but in the image worship of hinduism, the sun as an active force gets diluted and gets uniformity and retains only specific representations. the same applies to the river deity, ganga who is worshipped both in iconic and non-iconic forms. it can be argued that the animated beliefs of hinduism have radically changed the relational approaches of animism. in the animist understanding, a stone was imbued with spirits, but in the new worship, a stone has to be consecrated to become a sacred object. a stone has become an idol and represents human personhood rather than nonhuman personhood. so, an idol can be anthromorphic as well as symbolic but it is jeeva which transforms the stone into a stone god. this creates another problematic of the mode of relation in hinduism. in this constitution, hinduism subsumed some stones as inanimate. it has created some as ceremonial objects and emptied their personhood— other than human persons. the stone that has imbued values now acquires the value in ritual exchange; the exchange value becomes the basis of new personhood. e.b. tylor in his book, primitive culture (1871) observed stone worship in tamil nadu in which community members place five stones in a field. they daub them with red colour which can be viewed as erstwhile practices of animist beliefs. tylor (1871) observed that these stones were then named after the five pandavas of the mahabharata epic. but what is entailed of turning the five stones into five pandavas? do they acquire a certain amount of uniformity contradicting their own dynamic nature of perspectivism? let us consider an ideal situation of stone personality in animism. the stone will have a relational approach; its position will change in a given situation. in one situation it may participate in kinship and ceremonial events, in another situation it may have a dialogue with a tree and a hunter. in another famous story of the ramayana, ahalya, who was the wife of a much older sage gautama power, performance, and the limits of contemporary animism as a (de)colonial perspective 351 was seduced by indra and reciprocated with desire. for this act of infidelity, she was cursed by gautama to turn into stone, to be later purified by rama. her turning into a stone indicates her loss of agency and personality. while hinduism still maintains the possibility of personality interactions, it appears that it also takes out the personality imbued in stone. levi-bruhl used the word ‘participation’ to characterize the animistic logic in which ‘inanimate objects’ like stones and mountains are often thought to be alive. inverted animism of hinduism animist beliefs within hinduism are not just an appropriation of indigenous knowledge forms. indeed, some aspects of hinduism remain animistic in nature. while animism clearly refers to the beliefs about spirits, we also need to understand what that belief and spirit might mean in a specific context. how does the activity called ‘believing’ manifest itself in a cultural context? how is it done and how is it recognized by observers? (graham, 2005, p. 4). one of the main emphases of new animism is that life is lived in relation with others. descola sees this ontological change when a kind of minority relation becomes hegemonic. this can be understood as a triumph of brahmanism in indian society. he argues, certain ways of treating ‘others’ that are present in a minor form in one mode of identification sometimes come to play a more predominant role that soon renders them incompatible with the ontological regime in which they have developed; and this makes it necessary to alter that ontological regime or transfer to another mode of identification that is better suited to a different way of treating. (descola, 2013, p. 366). descola considers the possibility of more than one ontology co-exisiting within the same community, organized in a hierarchical relation. there can be a dominant ideology but it does not completely erase the residual presence of the other ontologies. anima (breath, life, spirit) can be translated as atman or jeeva in many indian languages. i am not using atman as it brings contradictory interpretations. jeeva could be used as possible working translation for the soul and spirit in hinduism. jeeva or jeevi is also a widely accepted term beyond caste, communities and regions in india. in some indian languages (e.g. hindi), animism has been translated as jeevavad. the translation of spirit as jeeva still makes a vital connection in this context. jeeva is life, the vital force in the human and non–human world that marks it as the centre of animism. the kathopanishad tells a story of a bird with one belly and two mouths, one representing atma and the other jeeva. jeeva is considered as the unit of existence conscious of its physical being. it is bound by good or bad actions which gives its place in the hierarchy. but what is the basis of good and bad actions? it is the imitation of the model of brahman that characterizes action as good and bad. jeeva enjoys the physical and gross things, as it has a body that feels appetite. because of the physical 352 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 body and its appetites, jeeva experiences hunger, thirst, sleep, anger and all such states. the physical body which jeeva possesses is the fleshy covering, which it casts off at its death. but other than the physical body, the jeeva has what is called a subtle-body. while the physical body dies, the subtle body survives death and accompanies the individual jeeva beyond death. prana (refers to energy, life or breath) is considered as the most powerful individual vivifying principle in jeeva which permeates both animate and inanimate objects. in phenomenal experience of the animated beliefs, one is caught up with jeeva experience. one of the core formations of hinduism has been to move away from the phenomenal body to noumenal body. in the formation of its hegemonic ideology, hinduism emphasizes that the pure consciousness in jeeva is purity of atman (soul) and the ultimate reality is brahman. hinduism in its institutionalized thinking deploys some important key terms to define itself. it believes that karma (action) has to follow dharma (duty) to achieve the highest realm of brahman. thus, it can be argued that brahman is the model that defines the relations and actions. they are already performed in the light of brahman. in vedic thought, brahman is the impersonal or non-personal generative principle which underlies all forms of manifestations. such hinduism creates uniformity and limits the possibility of unfolding relations. on the other side, brahman is unchangeable quality unlike prakriti (nature), which is changeable. so while the animism of hinduism believes in the idea of changing nature and in the universal self they are not relational in this sense and thus appear to lose its possible perspectivism. in this mode of relation, the ultimate causal level of ‘person’ is not attached to the transient. the ultimate goal of the atman (self) is to merge into the brahman (the self) and the finality of this destination therefore brings closure to the spaces and dialogues. the model in a way resists the transformative potential of the self and nature. it is often argued that with good karma, there is a possibility that a low caste personality can acquire the personality of the upper caste and it is possible that because of bad karma, brahmins may turn into untouchables in the next life. however, the real essence of karma is to follow one’s ascribed caste duty to achieve the highest status of being in the graded pyramid. the point has been well argued by vijay mishra, the brahminical orthodoxy who were traditional arbiters on questions of knowledge put a mechanism in place which stipulated that the self came into being already karmically formed (an earlier life experienced the present human condition) and self-representation or self-definition could not be removed from both an earlier life-experience and future life stages. (1998, p. 21). since hinduism also believes in the afterlife determined by the supreme being, it marks another closure to the possibility of being and becoming. one of the core principles of hinduism advocates getting rid of the birth-death cycle. to get moksha (salvation), one needs to transcend this bondage that could be only possible by merging with the brahman. the nature of the transmigration of a soul into a reincarnated self as another caste human or non-human is controlled by hierarchization of karma and how power, performance, and the limits of contemporary animism as a (de)colonial perspective 353 it is contradictory with the unchangeable nature of the soul. unlike the personality of the new animism, hinduism believes in selfhood which is largely confined to the self goal. it believes that the soul will bear time and again unless moksha is not achieved. in this case not everyone is capable of achieving personhood and moksha. one can compare it to the santhals world of beliefs in which everyone who dies is capable of becoming bonga and becoming the centre of relations. the goal of moksha (liberation) in hinduism is to be set free from the cycle of action, reaction, and interaction. mishra rightly underlines that ‘there is then, a prior system that acts as a template, as a sanctioned pattern’ (1998, p. 21). the arguments clearly exemplify that hinduism is not interested in the mode of interactions based on perspectivism and participation facilitated in the animism. what we see is the “animist” world of hinduism which is self-colonizing in nature and resists the emancipatory potential of the [new] animism. this also shows that animism needs to be placed in a cultural context before it can be claimed as ‘decolonial’ perspective. in the case of hinduism, animism as a strategy of interaction goes against the very tenets of animism and merely works as tools of colonizing in a caste-based society which believes in purity and impurity and in the assumption of the supremacy of knowledge. the dominant form of hinduism believes in moving from aparaavidhyaa (lower form of knowledge) to paraavidhyaa (highest form of knowledge). the aim of the highest form of knowledge is brahmaajijinaasa. hinduism believes that aparaavidhyaa is a lower form of knowledge carried out through the senses. the aparaavidhyaa comprises all empirical and objective knowledge. the aparaa form of knowledge in hinduism is considered to be limited to the finite world. against this lower form of knowledge, such hinduism wants to posit the knowledge of brahman as the highest form of knowledge which cannot have relational position. it is rather an absolute form of knowledge. the division of knowledge becomes the foundation of knowledge practices in india so much so that aparaavidhyaa is dismissed as knowledge. one of the powerful manifestations of beliefs in hinduism is engendered through daan (ritual gift) culture. marcel mauss (1990) has argued that gift objects themselves are ‘in some degree souls and gift exchangers operate as ‘things’ in these interactions’. drawing on the works of mauss, graham argues that gift exchanges are integral to relational definitions of personhood and central to debates about ontology (2005, p. 12). as we know, hinduism maintains an elaborate system of daan-punya (earning blessing through gift exchange) culture. but the facet of hinduism that has not been discussed yet is the foundation of relations through gifts. hindus worship different objects and deities to achieve wealth and blessing. most hindu rituals are centred on the gift-exchange ceremony, from gau-daan (cow as gift) to kanyadaan (daughter as gift). the question that can be posed here is what is happening in this gift-exchange culture that exchanges the souls but without the spirits that imbues life energy. let us take an example of maoris who as per the animist beliefs will return birds that are caught back to the forest considering that it was an immoral and antisocial act. however, in the case of hinduism, it would be highly impossible because the dominant social has taken over the participatory mode. here again arhem becomes important because 354 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 he explicitly traces a relation between the domestication of animals which produces different gift/ownership relations than predatory forestbased animist practices do. what hinduism did to animism this thought can be examined in various relations and objects of hinduism. one of the kernels of hinduism is the belief in panchamahabhutas (five cosmic principles) made of five bhutas (spirits). it is believed that the body is made of these five spirits—earth, water, fire, air and akasha (space). often, these five spirits have been also translated as the five principles. in this relation, gopal guru argues that, the structural device [ of hinduism, inserted ] involves the conversion of the ecological (five principles) into the sociological (hierarchical). in sociological reading panchamabhute acquire different and perhaps negative meanings through deploying the ideology of purity-pollution, which is so central to the former. the conversion is sustained by the asymmetries of power that robs the panchamahabhute of their positive meaning. people do not follow the moral basis of the metaphysics of panchamabhute when they act. (2012, pp. 206–207). the argument by guru shows how ecological principles have been transformed into sociological principles by reinstating the human at the centre of the subjectivities. it also suggests how panchamabhutas are reduced to the principles by eliminating their spirits. the ecological has merely become an entity to support the social formation. the ideology of purity-principles has not been derived from animism but from brahmanical ideology that postulates the absolute validity of this division. guru rightly points out that ‘how their material interest and the cultural need to draw relative superiority over others seriously undermine the validity of metaphysics as the universal framework that provides moral orientation to social interaction among people’ (2012, p. 207). purity and pollution become the essence of the personhood as in the case of brahmany kite and pariah kite in tamil nadu and dhobiyachirayin (washerman bird) in north india.7 the need to remain socially superior has led the upper caste to convert the ecological into the sociological and the natural into the cultural category. let me explain this in terms of the politics of converting the panchamabhute (five life elements) into instruments that are deployed to reduce some section of society to ‘walking carrion’, a degraded entity filled with a deep sense of repulsion. this transmutation, which is produced by the politics of the preservation of the hierarchically superior self, has serious implication for these five principles. they stand discredited; they are robbed of their vital meanings. 7shilpashastrasare replete with caste ascription to non-human objects. vishnudharmottara purana divides stones into varna categories such as brahma as shuklavarnashila (satvika), kshatriya as raktavarnashila (rajasi), vaisha as pitavarnashila (rajasi) and shudra as krishnavarnashila (tamasi) along with different types of stone black, smith, chunar sandstone and others. similarly, brhatsamhita teaches and classifies woods into different categories. power, performance, and the limits of contemporary animism as a (de)colonial perspective 355 each of these five elements—the spirits of life has been colonized in the hierarchical thinking of hinduism. earth, which was considered the maternal force in many animist societies, is considered ritually polluting in the hindu world of animated beliefs. in fact in the tantric sect of hinduism ritually polluting earth becomes the site of worship. using ritual pollution to assign a negative quality to earth goes completely against the vital force that earth was supposed to inhabit. we can observe a similar pattern with other principles, so for example, water is used to create what guru says ‘a perennial division’, thus rendering some bodies ritually pure and others as eternally impure not only marks the caste division among humans but also among the non-human world. fire is another example of the animated belief which is considered very powerful. in hinduism fire has become another source of this purity and impurity division. if earth is intrinsically impure, fire is intrinsically pure. fire acts as the purification agent in hinduism. in the sati-system of hinduism, widowed (it represents the state of impurity) and immoral women were not only burnt to death because she has violated the feudal moral order but they were also put into the fire to be purified. by going through the fire-trial, the women were supposed to purify their souls. guru (2012) gives several such examples where fire is used as purifying element, it cleanses the spirit. similarly, guru (2012) asks but in what condition does air become an impure substance. he argues that ‘it can be objectionable [because it is impure] only if is converted from its being natural and hence as a pure substance into a source of a contamination’ (p. 209). it can be argued that hinduism has converted animism into a morphology in which the archetype of animism gets castified. while the principle elements acquires the quality of purity and impurity, caste moves from being a matter of sociology to one of eschatology and cosmology. what guru (2012) explains about the panchmahabhutas (five powerful spirits) describes the larger phenomenon of what might have happened with the spirits and animated beliefs of animism with radical potential. it can be argued that caste society uses the logic of animism to displace the spirit and personhood of the human as well as nonhuman subjects. it tries to enslave these agencies by bringing them under the materiality of caste. this could be an effect that some objects and animals become pure and others become impure. in result, it is not only human society which has a caste-like structure but objects and animals also obtain the similar personhood (selfhood) in the larger structures of feeling. the shift from archetypal animism to hinduism also shows the shift from perspectivism to absolutism. in the animist belief, humans and non-humans could have changed their appearance at will, so that real identity becomes difficult to ascertain. the caste world of hinduism resists the permeable boundaries and creative power of animism and merely reduces it to serve its own aim. tupi or not tupi is the question this article analyzes the ontological changes brought out by hinduism in the archetypal animism. it shows how animism is accommodated in the brahmanical ideology of hinduism. the point is not to root for any authentic animism but to show the changing 356 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 socio-cultural contexts in which animism is placed, within capitalism or religious contexts. animism co-exists with various cultural practices and belief systems at the present; it cannot be seen as cut off from those practices and influences. dominant hinduism has produced a peculiar relationship with animism in india that appears to go against the very tenets of animism. it has also to do with the ontological changes brought out by hinduism in the model of animism. though i am not specifying the reasons of this development, however this development cautions us to critically analyze animism before taking it as a new approach of decolonization. placing animal and human relationship, danny naveh and nurit bird-david (2014) have argued how the movement of animals and plants no longer carry their personality. what i have termed as the inverted animism of hinduism is increasingly becoming the basis of ritual and festival of the dominant hinduised society in india. it looks as if hinduism has been successful in objectifying relations and therefore the mode of relations and being in the world. on the one hand, it has tried to produce the separation by constantly working to purify relations. and on the other, it has produced the separated world by constantly demeaning others. it is not only animals that loose the agency but by marking a whole low caste community at the pedestal of animal, hinduism tries to de-subjectify the community from their agency and potency. hinduism offers an elaborate system of defining human and non-human relationships. but the animated worldview of hinduism creates a complexity not only for the communities who follow it but also for scholars working towards the decolonization of approaches and methodologies in the field of culture. the complexity can be read in the light of the problem that de castro (2014) asked in cannibal metaphysics. using shakespeare’s famous question, he insists that ‘it is not “to be or not to be” that is the question’, it is ‘tupi or not tupi that is the question’. how should one reconcile with the animist world of hinduism which at a time offers us a perspective that resists the colonial mode of thinking but at the same time colonizes the world internally. the point is not to decolonize hinduism but to show how mainstream hinduism in india has created a system of colonization that employs tools of animism to colonize the spirits and societies of radical animism. the question also needs to be posited that can we consider the radicalism of animism in relation to other religions, culture and society beyond the locations of indigenous communities? acknowledgments i sincerely thank pujita guha and sukhadeo thorat for her important feedback on the initial draft of the essay. references arhem, kaj, & guido sprenger (eds.) 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(2012). the cracked mirror: an indian debate on experience and theory. new delhi: oxford university press. harvey, g. (2005). animism: respecting the living world. adelaide: wakefield press. ———. (2014). the handbook of contemporary animism. london: routledge. joshi, lal mani. (2007). brahmanism, buddhism, and hinduism. delhi: critical quest. marcel mauss. (1990). the gift: the form and reason for exchange in archaic societies. london: routledge. prakash, b. (2019). cultural labour: conceptualizing the ‘folk performance’ in india. new delhi: oxford university press. tylor, e.b. (1871). primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art, and custom. london: j. murray. vilaca, aparecida (2015). do animists become naturalists when converting to christianity? discussing on ontological turn. the cambridge journal of anthropology, 33(2), 3–19. mishra, vijay (1998). devotional poetics and the indian sublime. new york: suny. povinelli, elizabeth a. (2016). geontologies: a requiem to late liberalism. duke university press, 2016. © 2024 gaurav j. pathania. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. cultural expression doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.671 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 332-334 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste gaurav j. pathania*1 *assistant professor of sociology & peacebuilding, eastern mennonite university, virginia, usa email: gaurav.pathania@emu.edu मेर� क़लम मेरे अ�फ़ाज़ जूठन खा रहे थे जब तक, तो सब चुप थे, सब ठ�क था “जूठन”1 �लख �दया तो बवाल हो गया वो कहते ह� असर मुझसे �क ये तुमने सा�ह�य का या मज़ाक बना रखा है तुम सा�ह�य का मतलब �बगाड़ रहे हो बताओ! सा�ह�य भी कभी द�लत होता है? म� चुटक� लेता हँू ... �क यार! जब इस देश म� कुदरत क� �ठतम रचना 'मनु�य' जब नीच, शु�, अछूत, मलेछ, और द�लत हो सकता है तो ये सा�ह�य कौन बड़ी बात है? असल म� तु�हारे दरवाजे पे तो कबसे उिजयारा है सा का, सा�ह�य का, मेरे पास तो एकखौफनाक, �ठठुरती ल�बी काल� रात है ..... पर अब मुझे फ है, नाज़ है य��क अब मेरे पास कलम है, अ�फ़ाज़ ह�। और तु�हे डर है, य��क .. … ए.सी. कमर� म� मखमल� �ब�तर पे बैठकर कॉफ़� पीते हुए गर�बी, लाचार� और शोषण का जो स�दया�मक वणन तुमने �कया है वो मेरे जीवन क� एक छोट� सी दा�ताँ के सामने फ़�का �दखाई पड़ता है सार� प�व�ताऔर धा�मकता को अपने भीतर समा लेने वाल� िजस गाए का दधू पीकर तु�हार� बनभौट� ने �सफ कमकांड रचे ह� मरने के बाद त�ुहार� उसी गाय को चाचा क� छुर� से भी तजे �गध� क� च�च से बचाते हुए उसी के मांस क� सड़ांध म� हमारे ‘मुद�हया’ ने न जाने �कतने 'तुलसी2 और ‘वा�मी�क’ उपजे ह�। …अब तु�हे डर है, य��क मेर� कलम इ�तहास के प�नो को चीरती हुई तु�हारे सारे कारनाम� को इंसा�नयत के तराजू म� तौलती है मेरे अ�फाज� म� लय है, धार है, तीखापन है एकल�य के तीर� क� तरह मेर� क़लम तु�हार� थोथी गरुता के सारे राज़ खोलती है और तुम अब बौख़लाकर कहते हो, �क मेर� कलम बहुत बोलती है।। 2 तलुसी (�ोफेसर तलुसी राम िजनक� आ�मकथा “मदु�हया” है।”) यहाँ तलुसी और वा�मी�क उन द�लत सा�ह�यकार� का �तीक है िजनक� लेखनी जा�त �था और उससे उपजी अमानवीयता को पणूतः नकारती है। 1 ओम�काश वा�मी�क क� �लखी "जठून" �हदं� द�लत सा�ह�य क� पहल� आ�मकथा है िजसने न�बे के दशक म� सा�हि�यक जगत म� एक नया �वमश शरुू �कया था। मेर� क़लम मेरे अ�फ़ाज़ जूठन खा रहे थे जब तक, तो सब चुप थे, सब ठ�क था “जूठन”1 �लख �दया तो बवाल हो गया वो कहते ह� असर मुझसे �क ये तुमने सा�ह�य का या मज़ाक बना रखा है तुम सा�ह�य का मतलब �बगाड़ रहे हो बताओ! सा�ह�य भी कभी द�लत होता है? म� चुटक� लेता हँू ... �क यार! जब इस देश म� कुदरत क� �ठतम रचना 'मनु�य' जब नीच, शु�, अछूत, मलेछ, और द�लत हो सकता है तो ये सा�ह�य कौन बड़ी बात है? असल म� तु�हारे दरवाजे पे तो कबसे उिजयारा है सा का, सा�ह�य का, मेरे पास तो एकखौफनाक, �ठठुरती ल�बी काल� रात है ..... पर अब मुझे फ है, नाज़ है य��क अब मेरे पास कलम है, अ�फ़ाज़ ह�। और तु�हे डर है, य��क .. … ए.सी. कमर� म� मखमल� �ब�तर पे बैठकर कॉफ़� पीते हुए गर�बी, लाचार� और शोषण का जो स�दया�मक वणन तुमने �कया है वो मेरे जीवन क� एक छोट� सी दा�ताँ के सामने फ़�का �दखाई पड़ता है सार� प�व�ताऔर धा�मकता को अपने भीतर समा लेने वाल� िजस गाए का दधू पीकर तु�हार� बनभौट� ने �सफ कमकांड रचे ह� मरने के बाद तु�हार� उसी गाय को चाचा क� छुर� से भी तजे �गध� क� च�च से बचाते हुए उसी के मांस क� सड़ांध म� हमारे ‘मुद�हया’ ने न जाने �कतने 'तुलसी2 और ‘वा�मी�क’ उपजे ह�। …अब तु�हे डर है, य��क मेर� कलम इ�तहास के प�नो को चीरती हुई तु�हारे सारे कारनाम� को इंसा�नयत के तराजू म� तौलती है मेरे अ�फाज� म� लय है, धार है, तीखापन है एकल�य के तीर� क� तरह मेर� क़लम तु�हार� थोथी गरुता के सारे राज़ खोलती है और तुम अब बौख़लाकर कहते हो, �क मेर� कलम बहुत बोलती है।। 2 तलुसी (�ोफेसर तलुसी राम िजनक� आ�मकथा “मदु�हया” है।”) यहाँ तलुसी और वा�मी�क उन द�लत सा�ह�यकार� का �तीक है िजनक� लेखनी जा�त �था और उससे उपजी अमानवीयता को पणूतः नकारती है। 1 ओम�काश वा�मी�क क� �लखी "जठून" �हदं� द�लत सा�ह�य क� पहल� आ�मकथा है िजसने न�बे के दशक म� सा�हि�यक जगत म� एक नया �वमश शरुू �कया था। मेर� क़लम मेरे अ�फ़ाज़ जूठन खा रहे थे जब तक, तो सब चुप थे, सब ठ�क था “जूठन”1 �लख �दया तो बवाल हो गया वो कहते ह� असर मुझसे �क ये तुमने सा�ह�य का या मज़ाक बना रखा है तुम सा�ह�य का मतलब �बगाड़ रहे हो बताओ! सा�ह�य भी कभी द�लत होता है? म� चुटक� लेता हँू ... �क यार! जब इस देश म� कुदरत क� �ठतम रचना 'मनु�य' जब नीच, शु�, अछूत, मलेछ, और द�लत हो सकता है तो ये सा�ह�य कौन बड़ी बात है? असल म� तु�हारे दरवाजे पे तो कबसे उिजयारा है सा का, सा�ह�य का, मेरे पास तो एकखौफनाक, �ठठुरती ल�बी काल� रात है ..... पर अब मुझे फ है, नाज़ है य��क अब मेरे पास कलम है, अ�फ़ाज़ ह�। और तु�हे डर है, य��क .. … ए.सी. कमर� म� मखमल� �ब�तर पे बैठकर कॉफ़� पीते हुए गर�बी, लाचार� और शोषण का जो स�दया�मक वणन तुमने �कया है वो मेरे जीवन क� एक छोट� सी दा�ताँ के सामने फ़�का �दखाई पड़ता है सार� प�व�ताऔर धा�मकता को अपने भीतर समा लेने वाल� िजस गाए का दधू पीकर तु�हार� बनभौट� ने �सफ कमकांड रचे ह� मरने के बाद तु�हार� उसी गाय को चाचा क� छुर� से भी तजे �गध� क� च�च से बचाते हुए उसी के मांस क� सड़ांध म� हमारे ‘मुद�हया’ ने न जाने �कतने 'तुलसी2 और ‘वा�मी�क’ उपजे ह�। …अब तु�हे डर है, य��क मेर� कलम इ�तहास के प�नो को चीरती हुई तु�हारे सारे कारनाम� को इंसा�नयत के तराजू म� तौलती है मेरे अ�फाज� म� लय है, धार है, तीखापन है एकल�य के तीर� क� तरह मेर� क़लम तु�हार� थोथी गरुता के सारे राज़ खोलती है और तुम अब बौख़लाकर कहते हो, �क मेर� कलम बहुत बोलती है।। 2 तलुसी (�ोफेसर तलुसी राम िजनक� आ�मकथा “मदु�हया” है।”) यहाँ तलुसी और वा�मी�क उन द�लत सा�ह�यकार� का �तीक है िजनक� लेखनी जा�त �था और उससे उपजी अमानवीयता को पणूतः नकारती है। 1 ओम�काश वा�मी�क क� �लखी "जठून" �हदं� द�लत सा�ह�य क� पहल� आ�मकथा है िजसने न�बे के दशक म� सा�हि�यक जगत म� एक नया �वमश शरुू �कया था। my pen, my words 333 my pen, my words all was right and all was quiet as long as we ate your leftovers. but all hell broke loose the moment we wrote “leftovers”. they often say to me that i have degraded literature to a travesty, a mockery “can literature ever be dalit?” i snapped back: in this country, if nature’s most beautiful creations, human beings can be “lower”, “outcaste, “shudra” and “untouchable” then why the big fuss about literature? the truth is, the golden hour of literature has been shining in your courtyard for centuries while my lot is a fearful, shivering, long, dark night. but now i am proud, i am happy for now i have a pen and i have words. and you seated in your plush chair in your air-conditioned room sipping your coffee are afraid because the poverty, helplessness, and exploitation that you transformed into beautiful prose falls flat in front of even a small incident from my life. you, having drunk the milk of the cow that you say manifests purity have produced only meaningless rituals in your conceit once dead, the same cow becomes untouchable for you we bring it to our graveyard (murdahiya3)1 saving it from the vultures’ claws that are sharper than a knife in its stench of rotten meat 3“murdahiya,” the autobiography of professor tulsi ram, was hailed as a masterpiece of dalit literature when it was published in 2010. 334 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 our murdahiya, the home of animal carcasses have sprouted innumerable tulsis and valmikis4. now, you fear that my pen tearing through the pages of your history will weigh your deeds on the scales of humanity. my words have rhythm, edge and the sharpness of eklavya’s52arrows my pen rips the veil of sanctity and rejects your vacuous teaching and now, you say, furiously that my pen talks far too much! 4here tulsi and valmiki symbolize dalit writers whose literary works unequivocally denounce the caste system and the inhumanity it fosters. 5eklavya (a character in hindu epic, the mahabharata) was said to be the greatest archer in the world. rejected as a student by dronacharya (revered as one of the greatest gurus in hindu mythology), the guru to the pandava royal princes because eklavya was an adivasi (tribal) and considered outcaste, eklavya learned archery through self-study by practicing in front of a clay idol of dronacharya. after he came to the attention of the pandavas and dronacharya through his skill, dronacharya, who had promised the pandava prince, arjuna, that he would make him the greatest archer in the world, demanded eklavya’s right thumb as his guru-dakshina, the traditional payment to a teacher by a student. eklavya cut off his thumb to oblige his guru. this act made the royal prince arjuna the greatest archer in indian mythology. गौरव जोगी पठा�नया, विज�नया क� ई�टन मेनोनाइट यू�नव�सट� म� समाजशा�� के सहायक �ोफेसर ह�। उनक� क�वताएँ जातीय भेदभाव के �ख़लाफ़आवाज़ बुलंद करती है । पोय� सोसाइट� ऑफ़ इं�डया ने उ�ह� 2016 के रा��य पुर�कार के �लए नवाज़ा है । उनक� पहल� पु�तक “यू�नव�सट� एज ए साइटऑफ़ रे�ससट�स:आयड��टट� एंड �टूड�ट प�ल�टस”ऑसफ़ोड यू�नव�सट� से �का�शत हुई । वतमान म� �ोफेसर पठा�नया �व�व�तर�य अंबेडकर� आंदोलन पर शोध कर रहे है। 2024 म� डॉ. पठा�नया ने एवा डुवन क� हॉल�वुड �फ़�म origin म� डॉ.अंबेडकर का �करदार �नभाया है। �हदं� क� पहल� द�लतआ�मकथा "जूठन" से �े�रत यह क�वताआदरणीय ओम �काश वा�मी�क जी को धांज�ल है। ये क�वता मूल रूप से 2009 म� �लखी गईऔर इसे जवाहरलाल नेहरू �व�व�वयालय के कायम के दौरान सुनाया गया था िजसक� अ�यता ी वा�मी�क जी कर रहे थे। क�वता का दसूरा भाग 2011 म� जोड़ा गया जो �क �ोफेसर तुलसी राम क� द�लतआ�मकथा "मुद�हया" से �े�रत है। this poem is a tribute to the esteemed om prakash valmiki, the author of the first dalit autobiography in hindi, "joothan" (leftovers), published in 1997. originally penned in 2009, it was recited during an event presided over by mr. valmiki. in 2011, it underwent revision to incorporate "murdahiya," another dalit autobiography authored by professor tulsi ram. my pen, mywords all was right and all was quiet as long as we ate your leftovers. but all hell broke loose the moment we wrote “leftovers”. they often say to me that i have degraded literature to a travesty, a mockery “can literature ever be dalit?” i snapped back: in this country, if nature’s most beautiful creations, human beings can be “lower”, “outcaste, “shudra” and “untouchable” then why the big fuss about literature? this poem is a tribute to the esteemed om prakash valmiki, the author of the first dalit autobiography in hindi, "joothan" (leftovers), published in 1997. originally penned in 2009, it was recited during an event presided over by mr. valmiki. in 2011, it underwent revision to incorporate "murdahiya," another dalit autobiography authored by professor tulsi ram. the poem is originally written in hindi. the english translation is by richa dube (a seattle based writer); anurag (popularly known for his podcast anurag minus verma); and annika taneja (a delhi-based editor and translator). © 2024 justice p. s. narasimha. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. forum doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.2290 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 302-313 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste justice for the marginalized in a constitutional democracy justice p. s. narasimha* abstract this article draws attention to the historical context of the criminal tribes act 1871 to throw light on how colonial logic worked with the existing caste structures in india to produce a unique form of legal and social disadvantage for these communities. it deals with how the constitutional promise of equality recognizes these historical wrongs and places responsibility on society and the state to correct them. the article then discusses the social and legal challenges that these communities continue to face even today. lastly, it proposes that we must inculcate dr. ambedkar’s articulation of fraternity not only in our laws, but more importantly, in our society and psychology in particular, as the way forward—towards freedom, equality, and justice. keywords justice, constitution, democracy, constitutionalism, marginalized, oppression, denotified tribes, discrimination background this article is an edited version of the lecture delivered by justice p.s. narasimha (judge, supreme court of india) on 6 september 2023 at the community for the eradication of discrimination in education and employment (cede),1 vimukta diwas lecture.2 * judge, supreme court of india 1cede is a network of lawyers, law firms, judges, and other organisations and individuals, who are committed towards reforming the indian legal profession. it was founded in april 2021 by disha wadekar (lawyer, supreme court of india), anurag bhaskar (assistant professor, o.p. jindal global university, india), and avinash mathews (lawyer, supreme court of india). since its inception, cede has been organising several lectures on issues related to the marginalized communities. 2the vimukta diwas (or liberation day) is marked on 31 august each year on the occasion of the repeal of the criminal tribes act, 1871 in 1952. the cta criminalized several marginalized castes and indigenous communities. justice for the marginalized in a constitutional democracy 303 introduction i would like to thank the community for the eradication of discrimination in education and employment, or cede in short, for inviting me. i am delighted to deliver this lecture on the occasion of vimukta diwas. cede is a network of lawyers, law firms, judges, and other organizations and individuals, who are committed towards reforming the indian legal profession.1 cede works towards improving the representation of minorities like dalits, adivasis, other backward classes, nomadic and denotified tribes, transgender persons, persons with disabilities, and people from north east india within the legal profession and judiciary. i take today’s lecture as an opportunity to further their conversation on justice for these communities, specifically in the context and in light of vimukta diwas, which is celebrated every year on 31 august. this date marks the repeal of a colonial law called the criminal tribes act. this law was enacted by the british in 1871, and it criminalized entire communities of people as being “criminal tribes’’. every person who was born into these communities was branded as a criminal and subjected to police verification, arrest, and violence based on their birth. the act continued to remain in force even after our independence in 1947 and the establishment of our constitutional republic in 1950. it was repealed only on 31 august 1952, when the so-called “criminal tribes” were de-notified. vimukta diwas is celebrated as a day of independence by people belonging to denotified tribes (bajrange, gandee & gould 2019). in fact, it is for us to celebrate more than them. in today’s lecture, what i propose to do is to locate the history of unfreedom and inequality that these communities faced and discuss the path to justice for them through our constitutional democracy and values. first, i will draw attention to the historical context of the oppressive law to throw light on how colonial logic worked with the existing caste structures in india to produce a unique form of legal and social disadvantages to these communities. then, i will deal with how our constitutional promise of equality recognizes these historical wrongs and places responsibility on society and the state to correct them. things do not stop here because mere constitutional declaration is not sufficient. legal reform and the guarantee of fundamental rights do not mean that discrimination has come to an end. i will discuss the social and legal challenges that these communities continue to face even today. lastly, and as a practical measure, i will propose that we must inculcate dr. ambedkar’s articulation of fraternity not only in our laws, but more importantly, in our society and psychology in particular, as the way forward—towards freedom and equality. the origins and impact of criminal tribes act 1871 let us discuss the act first. to fully understand the origin of the criminal tribes act, we must note two things. first, criminal activity was seen as biological and habitual in nineteenth-century britain. this meant that when a person committed crimes, it was 1https://www.cede.co.in/ 304 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 attributed to him being born a criminal and being a criminal for his whole life. the imposition of this idea in the indian context brings me to my second point, which is that the british understood india as a collection of castes, where each caste was seen as a homogenous unit committed to a hereditary occupation (yang 1985). these two assumptions of the british on criminality and the caste system underlay the criminal tribes act. james fitzjames stephen, who is credited with introducing the indian penal code (ipc) and indian evidence act, reflected these assumptions when he introduced the criminal tribes act, and i quote: ...when we speak of ‘professional criminals,’ we...[mean] a tribe whose ancestors were criminals from time immemorial, who are themselves destined by the usages of caste to commit crime, and whose descendants will be offenders against the law, until the whole tribe is exterminated or accounted for in the manner of thugs. (yang 1985) this is what his perception was. these words show a deep-rooted bias of british and indian society in criminalising these communities. with the colonial project of codification and uniformisation of law, a pan-indian juridical order was established that criminalised several tribal, nomadic, and lower caste communities by dubbing them to be ‘criminal tribes’ (kamble, kumar, and chowdhury 2023). the people who were labelled as being “born a criminal” hence faced “double discrimination” as they were oppressed and ostracised within the social order of india’s caste system and at the same time by the legal order introduced by the colonial masters. criminalisation was not sudden in the case of these communities. as we know, many of them also participated in the freedom movement. history therefore indicates that several indigenous communities had revolted against the colonial administration prior to the mutiny of 1857 (minj & soren 2021). even in the mutiny of 1857, the british regime saw indigenous communities as the facilitators of goods and weapons. consequently, they sought to maintain law and order through extreme measures such as the criminal tribes act. the act contained provisions that empowered local governments to designate “any tribe, gang or class of persons” as a criminal tribe if they were “addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences”. the people of these communities were required to register themselves at local police stations and report their whereabouts on a daily basis (bokil 2002). any travel or change of residence required official permission. these communities faced not just discrimination, but also systemic control over their daily lives (bokil 2002). in 1897, the act was amended to make the penalties even more severe (report on the criminal classes in the bombay presidency 1908), because the freedom movement had intensified by that time. children between the ages of 4 to 13 years could be separated from their parents and placed in so-called reformatory settlements (reddy & raju 1999) which often resemble prisons, with barbed wire compounds and restricted freedom (glover 2005). these settlement camps were also sites of forced labor (tucker 1923). justice for the marginalized in a constitutional democracy 305 another aspect of this act that is less-studied is that it also criminalised the lives of hijra communities in the north-western provinces. under part ii of the act, the police would maintain a register of transgender persons who were suspected of kidnapping, castration, and sexual activity that was penalised under section 377 of the ipc. the police were given powers of surveillance over the hijra persons who were prohibited from wearing female clothing or performing in public, and children were also taken away from their households. part ii of the act characterised the entire community as criminal and deviant by virtue of their identity. this part was repealed in 1911, which is why hijra communities are not considered denotified tribes. however, we must recognise the oppressive effect of this law on them and their persistent association with criminality under police acts, anti-beggary laws, and anti-sex work laws which is prevalent as of today (hinchy 2019). the criminal tribes act was entirely repealed in 1952, marking a critical step towards acknowledging the injustice meted out to these communities. the ayyangar committee which was constituted to enquire into the law found that it violated various constitutional promises of equality, liberty, freedom, dignity, abolition of untouchability, and prohibition of forced labor. based on these, the committee recommended the repeal of the law (criminal tribes enquiry committee, 1949). in this way, the constitution enabled recognition of historical wrongs and provided a language of rights to question the historical injustices. correcting historical wrongs through the constitution what happens after the advent of the constitution? the constitution was formulated as a forward-looking societal blueprint, carving out significant provisions of fundamental rights. these rights uphold the essential principles of freedom and equality for citizens, and also dignity most importantly. the drafters crafted an intricate framework that prioritizes the advancement of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other backward classes. the framework, reflected in various constitutional provisions, is a testament to our collective resolve to build an equitable and harmonious society. the golden triangle of articles 14, 19, and 21 embodies the values of equality, liberty, freedom, life, and dignity for all persons. in no unclear terms, these provisions guarantee equal rights to those belonging to marginalised communities. within the equality provisions, one of the most profound declarations is article 17, which unequivocally abolishes the practice of untouchability. article 46 serves as a beacon of hope, charging the state with the duty to provide special attention to the educational and economic advancement of these marginalised communities. this mandate is aimed at shielding them from the clutches of social injustices and exploitation that have hindered their progress for far too long. article 15(2) of the constitution embodies a fundamental principle of equality and non-discrimination. this provision ensures that no citizen is subjected to any form of discrimination based solely on factors such as religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, or their intersections. article 15(4) lays 306 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 down a clear roadmap for their progress by providing specific provisions for their advancement. article 16(4) provides for affirmative action for marginalised social groups in public employment, and it is a facet of the fundamental rights chapter. and then we have article 23 and article 24, addressing human trafficking, forced labor, and child labor, holding particular significance for denotified tribes. so these are articles not just given as a protection, but are intended to ensure direct benefits to the denotified tribes. they reiterate our commitment to safeguarding their rights and dignity. we must be cautious however in not mistaking the guarantee of these rights as automatically translating to a change in the material conditions of society. these are constitutional declarations. it is the obligation of the constitutional authorities therefore to translate our constitutional promise to reality—whatever has been thought of, believed, and put forth in the constitution. in an unequal society, authorities are under an active obligation to prevent any form of discrimination and reduce inequalities. it cannot be an excuse for the authorities to say that society is unequal and that they are performing their role neutrally. having read the constitutional mandate, i will now focus somewhat on those who are to implement the provisions of the constitution. in an unequal world, staying neutral amounts to leaving the weaker and the oppressed in their situation. in that sense, authorities not performing their roles and responsibility amounts to perpetuation of these inequalities. it is only through the substantive efforts of our legislature, executive, and judiciary that the spirit of the constitution is entrenched in our society. it is not merely the institutions that we are talking about; a reason why the final concluding speech of dr. ambedkar at the end of the constituent assembly debates is significant to remember. i quote: however good a constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it, happen to be a bad lot. however bad a constitution may be, it may turn out to be good if those who are called to work it, happen to be a good lot. (constituent assembly debates 1949) so, therefore, a great amount of responsibility falls on those who occupy constitutional positions and positions thereafter in governance. however, does it really stop there? is it merely those who are in a constitutional position and those who are in governance who must take responsibility? my speech today says that we must travel beyond that. constitutional safeguards in the context of denotified tribes let me first deal with the constitutional safeguards for the denotified tribes. our law-makers and political leaders at the time of independence envisaged affirmative action and reservations as ‘compensatory discrimination’ essential to undo the historical wrongs faced by marginalized communities, to uplift them to an equal status as the majority. social welfare also played a significant role in the development of these communities. the ayyangar committee that recommended the repeal of the law also placed responsibility on the central and state governments to provide welfare to the denotified tribes (gandee 2020). justice for the marginalized in a constitutional democracy 307 in terms of constitutional protections, however, the cause of the denotified tribes did not extensively feature in the deliberations and debates of the constituent assembly. the issue of oppression and violence faced by these communities was brought up largely in the context of article 19(1)(d), which guarantees the right to freedom of movement. h.j. khandekar, one of our constitutional fathers (constituent assembly member), was the only assembly member who brought up this cause in the assembly debates (gandee 2020). he stated that a fundamental right to freedom of movement is necessary to fight against the restrictions placed on “criminal tribes” under the act. so what we thought is a general right of article 19(1), ensuring benefit to all, actually had direct impact that it will enure to the benefit of these communities who are otherwise restricted, as they were to report even after the repeal. however, the caste-based disadvantages faced by these communities were not explicitly addressed in the discussions on equality provisions. these communities instead received the benefits of affirmative action by being included in the list of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other backward communities (gandee 2020). so what then are the contemporary challenges that we are going to face? i have divided them into a few specific instances. one challenge is lack of consistency. contemporary challenges lack of consistency while being included within the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (sc/st) list extends the benefit of equality provisions to these communities, the challenge of classification adds another layer of complexity to their struggle. although some denotified tribes subgroups are included in lists of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, the lack of uniformity across states creates inconsistency. this lack of consistency has led to anomalies where tribes are categorized differently in various regions. for instance, the ‘phanse pardhis’ are recognized as scheduled tribes in maharashtra, while their counterparts, the haran shikaris and gaon pardhis, are designated as vimukta jatis and nomadic tribes (bokil & raghavan 2016). such inconsistencies underscore the urgency to establish a coherent and uniform classification system that ensures equitable treatment across the nation. it also adds an enormous amount of litigation; maybe a time has come to answer this. the lack of a uniform approach in their administrative classification also excludes them from using the framework of other beneficial legislation like the sc/st atrocities act 1989 to report against acts of oppression. the absence of specific safeguards weakens their ability to combat human rights violations effectively (jenkins 2006). the bhiku ramji idate report of the national commission for denotified nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes took note of this situation and recommended the separate and explicit inclusion of denotified and nomadic tribes in the sc/st act and within constitutional safeguards (idate commission report 2017). 308 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 disproportionate criminalization another challenge is disproportionate criminalisation. these legal protective measures are essential because the social stigma against these communities remains deeply ingrained despite the repeal of the criminal tribes act. the criminal tag continues to haunt them, perpetuating a cycle of bias and discrimination. this social stigma has legal repercussions when we note that some criminal laws are still disproportionately used to target members of these communities. the habitual offenders act was introduced in 1952 as a substitute to the criminal tribes act. while many provisions regarding restriction of movement, registration of habitual offenders, and police surveillance continued, the key difference was that the habitual offenders act did not associate criminality with certain communities but with individuals. however, the individuals who were labeled as habitual offenders largely hailed from denotified tribes. there is also a lack of a common definition of who is a habitual offender, and police manuals in certain states still define a habitual offender with reference to the caste of the person (bokil & sonavane 2020). the police continue to formally and informally administer the law with the assumption that members belonging to these communities are inherently criminal (bajrange, gandee & gould 2019). even other laws like the wildlife protection act, indian forest act, prevention of cruelty to animals act, excise laws, and anti-beggary laws are deployed in a discriminatory manner (sonavane & bokil 2020). these are practical problems. social stigma in education and employment the third challenge is social stigma in education and employment. beyond the laws, denotified tribes also face discrimination in education and employment. the ayyangar committee noted that employers refused to employ persons belonging to denotified tribes, as they perceived them to be of criminal nature (report of the criminal tribes act 1949-1950). the educational journey of denotified tribes is also fraught with pervasive discrimination. a report indicated that within the walls of educational institutions, students from denotified tribes often find themselves marginalized, considered to be backbenchers, and subjected to neglect from teachers (hebsur 1981). their peers further exacerbate their struggles by branding them as unintelligent, perpetuating stereotypes that hinder their academic progress. this critical issue underscores the imperative need for comprehensive sensitization programs among educators and students alike. a crucial aspect is an examination of the educational status of the denotified tribes which shows that about 61 per cent of their members are illiterate (korra 2017). the sad part of schooling is that there are numerous children from denotified tribes who drop out of schools and colleges every year (korra 2017). a major factor for drop out is the absence of identity certificates which deprive the children of denotified tribes from getting scholarships, therefore, they do not get the encouragement needed to send their children to schools and colleges. while education holds the promise of transformation, barriers like social discrimination, poverty, and societal oppression impede their children’s access to learning. justice for the marginalized in a constitutional democracy 309 fraternity as the way forward what is the way forward? we have seen the repeal of the act, examined the constitutional promise, considered the new statutory scheme, and we have also observed the rules and regulations establishing and formulating the entire regime of laws and beneficial legislations. yet, it has not fully worked. there is something more we need to do. it is not merely in the law, but a matter more fundamental which goes beyond the letter of the law. it lies in the attitude, belief, behavior, and habits. from the accounts, we observe that the problem is not only a legal one but more of a social and psychological one. it is therefore imperative for us to move beyond the realm of legal protections and rights in seeking to address the issues faced by marginalised communities. the constitutional authorities cannot work in isolation; citizens must play an important role in ending social discrimination and holding the state accountable to its promise of equality and upliftment. a higher obligation rests on those communities who reaped the largest benefit with no semblance of the trappings which marginalised communities have faced. so the biggest responsibility, at this time, is not on the obligation of the state, but is about the obligation of the general citizenry, specifically those who receive the best benefit all through, without any kind of hindrance. let us recall the words of dr. ambedkar, which is a little longer quote, but i think a very important one. it is in these words that he underlines the importance of social democracy as being necessary for achieving our constitutional vision. he said: we must make our political democracy a social democracy as well. political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy. what does social democracy mean? it means a way of life which recognizes liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life. these principles of liberty, equality and fraternity are not to be treated as separate items in a trinity. they form a union of trinity in the sense that to divorce one from the other is to defeat the very purpose of democracy. liberty cannot be divorced from equality, equality cannot be divorced from liberty. nor can liberty and equality be divorced from fraternity. without equality, liberty would produce the supremacy of the few over the many. equality without liberty would kill individual initiative. without fraternity, liberty, equality could not become a natural course of things. it would require a constable to enforce them. (cad 1949) therefore, what he is talking about is the belief and the trust you have in this trinity, and have complete confidence, and live with the fraternity. he continued: we must begin by acknowledging the fact that there is a complete absence of two things in indian society. one of these is equality. on the social plane, we have in india a society based on the principle of graded inequality, which is elevation for some and degradation for others. on the economic plane, we have a society in which there are some who have immense wealth as against 310 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 many who live in abject poverty. on the 26th of january 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. in politics, we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. in politics, we will be recognizing the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. in our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. (cad 1949) we should test ourselves as to how far we have achieved and gained this situation of one citizen, one person, one value. how long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? how long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? if we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. we must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment, or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which the assembly has [so] laboriously build up. (cad 1949) in dr. ambedkar’s articulation, fraternity is what enables the materialisation of a society of liberty and social and economic equality. it is only when fraternity becomes a way of life that the conflict of liberty and equality can be resolved as accommodation, inclusion, and cooperation with the needs of disadvantaged communities as socially valuable. dr. ambedkar understands fraternity as a “sense of common brotherhood of all indiansif indians being one people. it is the principle which gives unity and solidarity to social life” (cad 1949). it is only through this sentiment of mutuality, unity, oneness, and brotherhood that our fundamental rights will be safeguarded. the sentiment emerges from your strong belief. thus, unless we believe in that and move forward with that belief, the constitutional legal infrastructure, which is of course so necessary, will not attain its completion till the psychological intention marries and merges it together, and gives its total effect to what we believe. but we must not mistake unity and solidarity to mean sameness or homogeneity. our idea of fraternity must not be at the cost of diversity and acceptance of difference; rather, fraternity must be the foundation for equality of those who deviate or are different from the majority. marginalised citizens must be united into the majority not through demands of assimilation into the mainstream but through access to institutional and structural remedies that redress the disadvantage suffered by them and allow them to maintain their difference, thereby fostering values of plurality and multiculturalism (gupta 2007). such an understanding of fraternity must be socially and psychologically inculcated within our country. dr. ambedkar was not only influential in drafting the fundamental rights, but he also acknowledged that they must be protected by the social and moral conscience of society. if social conscience is such that it is prepared to recognise the rights which the law proposes to enact, rights will be safe and secure. but if the fundamental rights are opposed by the community, then no law, parliament justice for the marginalized in a constitutional democracy 311 or judiciary can guarantee them in the real sense of the word (moon 2020). our social and psychological attitude must change from one of discrimination, stigma, and exclusion to equality and inclusion. this change is possible through the feeling of fraternity, which dr. ambedkar has also characterized as love. in a letter which he has written to mr. a.v. thakkar in 1932, he wrote: the touchables and the untouchables cannot be held together by law… the only thing that can hold them together is love. outside the family, justice alone, in my opinion, can open the possibility of love, and it should be the duty of the anti-untouchability league to see that the touchable does, or failing that is made to do, justice to the untouchable. (moon 2020) the letter is eloquent. drawing from this idea of fraternity, i propose that communities who have been oppressed need to be treated with a sense of institutional empathy. where does the burden lie? it is with the institution-holders. it is their obligation to treat the marginalized communities with empathy, to take an extra mile, extra step. ‘empathy’ by those in power should not turn into a ‘paternalistic’ or a ‘savior’ approach. that is to say, we must understand the issues and take into consideration the struggles of marginalized communities, rather than impose our own worldview. first, members of marginalized communities should not only be treated as someone who needs saving. we must treat them as equal citizens, who are conscious of what they need. second, we must not stop at merely recognising the problem, and should take active steps to question even our own privileges, and to state poetically—make dignified room for those who were kept out of houses. within the legal profession itself, we have much work to do to ensure better access and representation of marginalized communities at par with everyone else. a report by the american bar association highlights the barriers faced by individuals belonging to the dalit community in entering the profession (aba 2021). such barriers are also faced by other minorities like women, persons with disabilities, adivasis, obcs, denotified tribes, and gender and sexual minorities. therefore, in the legal fraternity, we must create spaces for students and professionals from marginalized communities. we must adopt steps to have adequate representation of marginalized communities in the bar and the bench. that is why at this stage i wish to congratulate the very imaginative way in which cede was constituted. these are the additional steps, those extra miles that need to be taken. what is needed is not merely providing the individual benefit, but rather institutioning the steps as cede was created. it is in that manner that we need to proceed with individual law firms, those who are in a startup phase, wherein a few extra steps must be taken. it is my suggestion that every senior advocate should recruit and mentor at least one member from the marginalized communities in their chambers. however, i must add a caveat that such mentoring needs to be accompanied very, very importantly by dignity and patience. patience is a very important word—as a routine or as an obligation that ‘yes, we need to do it’. sometimes, people take a step and then forget 312 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 about it or do not remind oneself that somebody has been taken in. therefore, for that little extra step to continue requires some amount of patience. that patience is again important, else it will have negative consequences. it should not be done only to resemble ‘tokenism’, but rather a humanist approach is needed. this practice can even be institutionalized through the regulations of the bar council of india. till such practices are institutionalized, voluntary acts of inclusion by senior members of the bar can lead to major change, as young professionals from marginalized communities whom we mentor today may become successful professionals of the future, who may even change the world. the supreme court of india has tried to do so by adopting a ‘diversity’ clause in the new scheme for recruiting law clerks. we need to make efforts to make the legal profession inclusive. statistics show that only 80 out of the total 4,434 candidates, who applied for the law clerks/research associate examination conducted recently in june 2023, were scheduled tribes; a number which is not even 2 per cent. this shows that even at the stage of application, we are not able to reach the scheduled tribes. this is a systemic problem. we must make active efforts to ensure that the law does not remain a profession of only certain communities, who have been historically dominant and power-controlling. by taking active efforts, we will not only recognise the social problems, but also create structures of justice for the marginalized. unequal access to resources and opportunities has kept these oppressed communities trapped in a cycle of marginalization and oppression that is difficult to break. it is important now, more than ever, to speak and more importantly act on issues that have contributed towards the alienation and oppression of historically marginalized communities. after independence and the adoption of the constitution, the marginalized communities in india chose to show faith in the constitutional framework, despite facing continuous challenges and discrimination. only when those in power and also those who are not in power but are sufficiently endowed, make active efforts to remove barriers of injustice, can the marginalized communities retain their faith in the constitutional justice system. it is with this commitment i thank cede, all the founders, members actively associated with cede, and team live law. i thank the audience, though it is online, for patiently listening to me and letting me share my thoughts, having spent so many years as a lawyer and also a few years as a judge. references american bar association, center for human rights (2021). challenges for dalits in the south asia legal community. chapter iii: dalit justice defenders in india. retrieved on february 16, 2024. https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/human_ rights/justice-defenders/dalit-india-chapter-3.pdf ayyangar, ananthasayanam, tiwari, vn. singh, gurbachan. thakkar, a.v. chaliha, k. biswas, j.k. (1949-1950). the report of the criminal tribes act enquiry committee. retrieved on february 16, 2024. https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.20454 justice for the marginalized in a constitutional democracy 313 bajrange, dakxin kumar, gandee, sarah. & gould, william. (2019). settling the citizen, settling the nomad: ‘habitual offenders’, rebellion, and civic consciousness in western india, 1938-1952. volume 54(2) modern asian studies. 337. https://doi.org/10.1017/ s0026749x18000136 bokil, milind. (2002). denotified and nomadic tribes: a perspective. economic and political weekly. 37(2). bokil, milind. & raghavan, vijay. (2016). women and children as victims and offenders: the case of denotified tribes in india. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-08398-8_27 bokil, ameya & sonavane, nikita. (2020 may 29). why charan singh bolts his house from inside. retrieved on feb. 16, 2024. https://article-14.com/post/why-charan-singh-bolts-hishouse-from-inside-and-out-before-he-sleeps constituent assembly of india debates (cad), volume xi (1949). retrieved last on february 16, 2024. https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/763285/1/cad_25-11-1949.pdf criminal classes in the bombay presidency, the government central press, bombay retrieved on feb. 16, 2024. https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.11653/page/n7/mode/2up datta, dipankar. (2006). towards affirmative action. india international quarterly. 150. gandee, sarah. (2020). redefining disadvantage: untouchability, criminality and ‘tribes’ in india. https://doi.org/10.1177/0257643019900089 glover, william. (2005). objects, models, and exemplary works: educating sentiment in colonial india. the journal of asian studies. 64(3), 539–566. government of india archaeology (1908). notes on the criminal cases in bombay presidency. retrieved on feb. 16, 2024. https://ignca.gov.in/asi_data/15004.pdf hebsur, r.k. (1981). the havanur commission on backward classes: an analysis. the indian journal of political science. 42. hinchy, jessica. (2019). governing gender and sexuality in colonial india. cambridge university press. idate commission report. national commission for denotified nomadic semi-nomadic tribe. retrieved on feb. 16, 2024. https://socialjustice.gov.in/writereaddata/uploadfile/idate%20 commission.pdf jenkins, c. (2006). constructed criminality and contemporary solutions for denotified tribes. kamble, rahul. kumar, ritesh. & chowdhury, arnab.(2023). ostracized by law: the sociopolitical and juridical construction of the ‘criminal tribe’ in colonial india. history and anthropology. 1–21. korra, vijay. (2017). status of denotified tribes: empirical evidence from undivided andhra pradesh economic and political weekly. 61. minj, s nolina. & soren, rahi. (2021, june 30). remembering santal hul, a 19th century struggle against imperialism. retrieved on feb. 16, 2024. https://thewire.in/history/santalhul-revolution moon, vasant. (ed.) (2020). dr babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches. reprint, vol. 1. retrieved on feb. 16, 2024 https://www.mea.gov.in/images/attach/amb/volume_01.pdf ———. (ed.) (2020), dr babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches. reprint, vol. 9. retrieved on feb. 16, 2024. https://www.mea.gov.in/images/attach/amb/volume_09.pdf. radhakrishna, meena. (2001). dishonoured by history: ‘criminal tribes’ and british colonial policy. orient blackswan. tucker, f. de. l. booth. (1923). the criminal tribes of india . journal of the royal society of arts. london. 71, 158–166. yang, anand a. (ed.) (1985). crime and criminality in british india. university of arizona press. © 2024 divya dwivedi. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.1754 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 97-120 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the psychomachia of caste and psychoanalysis in india divya dwivedi1 abstract psychoanalytic theory has been invoked to study gender, race, and colonialism, especially indian postcoloniality, and its claims to cross-cultural relevance have also been interrogated in indian scholarship from these perspectives. given that caste determines nearly all aspects of life of both the upper and lower castes in india, a discussion of caste through psychoanalysis and vice-versa is conspicuous by its absence. this is consistent with the fact that the wider discipline of psychology has not adequately confronted the tremendous scale of suffering generated by caste-based inequality in the indian subcontinent. rather than assume the value of psychoanalysis in understanding the lived experiences of and attitudes towards caste, we can initiate a reciprocally interrogative encounter between caste and psychoanalysis with a view to examining the psychomachia of caste in contemporary life. the question of psychoanalysis in india should begin with the acknowledgement of two facts: the psychic dimension of suffering that is inflicted on the lower castes by the social order, and the psychic dimension of the denial or verneinung of caste by the upper castes. we will then see how the psychomachia of caste cannot then be treated in the isolation of the clinic but requires sociogenetic theorization or sociodiagnostics (in fanon’s sense) and social transformation. caste might prove to be the most insightful site for developing a political, that is, emancipatory psychoanalysis which would have to exceed the clinic and intervene in social transformation. keywords caste, psychoanalysis, psychomachia, verneinung, sociogenesis, hypophysics, scalology, dalit 1department of humanities and social sciences, indian institute of technology delhi, india email: divyadwi@hss.iitd.ac.in 98 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the psychomachia of caste and psychoanalysis in india the wider discipline of psychology has not adequately confronted the tremendous scale of suffering generated by caste-based inequality in the indian subcontinent (jadhav 2012; jogdand 2023). even though the psychoanalytical clinic does not enjoy prominence in the mental health landscape in most parts of the world, it is an important alternative to the increasingly criticized dominance of medicalized and psychiatrized mental health approaches (leader 2011). equally, psychoanalytical theory occupies a very significant place in certain dominant traditions of humanities and social science research, including in literary, cultural and political theory, in gender and critical race theories (see for instance bhabha 2013; nandy 2000). this is reflected in the fact that despite being marginal to the indian mental health field, psychoanalysis has been prominently invoked to study gender, race, and colonialism, especially indian postcoloniality, and its claims to cross-cultural relevance have also been interrogated in indian scholarship from these perspectives (boni & mendelsohn 2023). even those like ashis nandy (who calls himself a “political psychologist”) have engaged with the freudian legacies and attempted to psychoanalyze “indian” society (2000). given that caste determines nearly all aspects of life of both the upper and lower castes in india, a discussion of caste and specifically of the lower castes’ experience of caste-based suffering through psychology in general and through psychoanalysis in particular is conspicuous by its near absence. when it has been discussed by a practitioner and theorist such as sudhir kakar, it has been confined mainly to analyses of the upper caste psyche and the psychosocial dynamics of males in the upper caste family (2012). this pattern of selective invocation accompanied by an avoidance of explicit discussions of caste is at least meaningful and should prompt an examination. rather than assume the value of psychoanalysis in understanding the lived experiences of and attitudes towards caste, we can initiate a reciprocally interrogative encounter between caste and psychoanalysis with a view to examining the psychopathologies of caste in contemporary life. among the numerous critical updations and modifications of psychoanalysis, and its various branches and ‘schools’, it may be best for our purposes that we initiate this encounter through reference to sigmund freud himself, the best known and most widely read psychoanalyst outside of the closed circuits of specialization. from freud onwards, psychoanalysis implies a theory of civilization corresponding to its clinical locus. according to these civilizational criteria the psychic fitness of the individual and the techniques of its restoration are determined by the theory. it is between these two interdependent domains that “health” and “mental health” of people is broached by psychoanalysis. in the case of india, and the subcontinent altogether, the civilization itself sustains the malaise of caste-based oppression, thus raising two questions for psychoanalysis: ● what would be a psychoanalytical theory of the contemporary social order of caste which we may hope to examine the way freud examined his own contemporary world? the psychomachia of caste and psychoanalysis in india 99 ● and, what notion of “health” attaches to a clinic in which psychoanalysis would seek only to restore the fitness of a suffering patient so as to adjust back into a casteist world which may have engendered the suffering in the first place (as frantz fanon, the martinican anti-colonial thinker and psychiatrist had warned in the context of colonial racism)? giving the same importance to caste as fanon gave to race and racism vis-à-vis psychoanalysis, the exploration of psychoanalysis in india should have a new beginning which starts by acknowledging two facts: psychomachia or the psychic dimension of suffering that is inflicted on the lower castes by the social order, and verneinung or the psychic dimension of the denial, as we will see, of caste by the upper castes. verneinung or denial (and verleugung or disavowal related to it) is the phenomenon according to freud where the realities of either the external social world or the forces within the unconscious are not acknowledged (freud 2006; laplanche & pontalis 2022). the withholding of conscious acknowledgment may be an involuntary and unconscious process at the level of the individual psyche, but as a tendency evident in public and institutional life, verneinung must be grasped at the level of socio-political forces. hence, both the conscious and unconscious motivations for the disavowal of caste in psychology and psychoanalysis in india—which are in themselves always coarticulated—will be revealing. “passion is better than disavowal,” a therapeutic maxim goes (kerr 2015: 361). a psychoanalytical exploration of a caste-based civilization makes it incumbent on us to critically supplement the relatively a-political character of psychoanalytical diagnosis by attending to politics as the contestation of caste towards its annihilation as b.r. ambedkar envisaged it. psychomachia of caste psychoanalysis reminds us that our understanding of social reality cannot begin from an archimedean point outside the psyche, but rather should take as its point of departure the lived experience of social meaning and the associated pleasures, sufferings, trauma, doubt, anxiety, and affective identifications and disidentifications with significant others. in the subcontinent and in its diaspora, all these phenomena are determined at the deepest levels by caste which has a primarily birth-based and parentally defined character. the social order of caste generates specific kinds of suffering, both physical and psychic (jadhav et al. 2016). crimes of honour killing, lynching and rape as collective caste punishments, stigmatization through verbal abuse invoking caste identities, and many forms of material expropriations are widespread, while the socio-economic indicators for the majority population of india remain abysmally low as indicated by the indian poverty line (thorat & newman 2012). the infliction of suffering is socially sanctioned and often legally excused, including a variety of social and penal incarcerations—economic boycott, social isolation, jail as undertrial,1 suicide—and painful death where lynching is often preceded by humiliating acts of disrobing, parading, soiling and invasion of the helpless bodies 1see kisana & hole (2023) and the reports of project 39 on death row convicts. 100 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 (irudayam et al. 2014). the suicide notes of dalit students who are driven by the lived experience of caste in elite educational institutions to kill themselves, are only a part of the unseen archives of caste-based suffering (punia 2023). generations of dalit poets, activists, and scholars have given expression and testimony to it. for example, kanshi ram, a 22-year-old mason looking for a job in israel amidst the current war in gaza, recently reflected on the significance for him of the journey to a zone of death in search of livelihood: “people like us are at war with society, and internally with our souls, from the time of our birth” (kumar 2024). the war in the soul is psychomachia, and its psychogenesis must be understood as, in fact, sociogeny as fanon called it (1986: 4). a lay person, poor and of lower caste, with a technical qualification of an iron bender and a “working understanding of english” has been able to express a psychomachia—war within the soul, for which the greek word was psyche—which professional psychologists have neglected.2 psychiatrist and academic sushrut jadhav, who is himself dalit, has described himself as being a rebel in the clinic, posing to his discipline questions such as: how does caste shape individual psyches and determine collective mentalities? how and why does caste-ism impact upon the inner lives of both the perpetrators and their victims; how can their psychological wounds be healed? how is caste-related victimhood constructed, experienced and contested through a cultural psychological language? […] how is it psychologically constructed and managed, both individually and collectively? what might be the cultural pathologies of the psyches of perpetrators of caste-ism? […] to what extent does caste-ism and racism overlap or differ in their psychological antecedents and consequences? (jadhav 2012) all these questions should also be posed to discussions of psychoanalysis in the indian context thus far. the first question requires an account of how caste as a civilizational principle comprehends people’s lives and impacts their mental health. it does so by reducing them to their “immediate identity and nearest possibility” in the words of the dalit scholar rohit vemula who committed suicide because of discrimination on the university campus (vemula and henry 2016). immediate identity is the attribution of caste to a person because of the parents to whom she/he is born. caste is hypophysical since it holds value (superior/inferior) to be intrinsic to human nature and it institutionally ascribes graded value to a person pre-defined as having an immutable nature (mohan & dwivedi 2019). the caste order holds people to be born-as upper or lower caste because of the parents they are born-to. the production of identity by positing born-as in the immediacy of born-to is hypophysics (dwivedi 2023). at birth itself, an individual is defined in all respects according to caste. an individual is not considered to be a personality evolving and mutating through dynamic 2new initiatives have emerged on the margins of the field to address the mental health challenges of lower castes, including we belong for students, the mariwala health initiative, the diploma in anti-caste mental health practices offered narrative practices in india, and the work of maitri gopalkrishna, a drama therapist and counselling psychologist. the psychomachia of caste and psychoanalysis in india 101 exchange with the surrounding world, but a bundle of unchangeable qualities or merits (guna) and corresponding imperatives (dharma) and privileges inherited “by birth”. words for birth and caste are etymological twins if not the same: janma (birth) and jāti (caste). in this way, intelligence, worth, beauty, fruits and punishments of action, success and failure in this life and even the next—in short, value—are held to be transmitted in the nature of the born body. civilizationally, a scalology corresponds to this hypophysical logic of the intrinsic and permanent residence of value in our nature (also etymologically derived from natus, birth). the “curse of caste” as bhimrao ambedkar (1979) called it is that it is not just the intergenerationally frozen identity belonging to a group: “caste in the singular number is an unreality. castes exist only in the plural number. there is no such thing as a caste: there are always castes” (p. 20). this inter-group hierarchy arranged by graded inequality enables the castes of upper or higher value to denigrate the castes assigned “lower” values while confirming their own supremacy and thereby justify their power to dominate the lower castes for exploiting them through the combination of duty and right. by “caste” we should therefore understand the name of the structuring principle of a scalology in which the value of each caste is fixed on a scale of superiority, purity, touchability, and freedom. the denigrate-dominate function of caste hypophysics and scalology was formulated as social imperative (dharma) which allowed the upper castes to a) maintain sufficient distinction from each other to preserve specific privileges distributed among themselves—land and other resources, governance, monopoly of force, sacrality— and b) simultaneously regularize and regiment their distance from the lower castes: just sufficient proximity to receive their services and labors without having to share with them the privileges or disrupting the genealogical inheritance of the inequalities. all the while, the upper castes kept their religion strictly to themselves, including temples and other domains of sociality, which were all based on descent. hence the proscription of commensality and exogamy, whose hyopophysical doctrine of the consecration of value in born nature—janm-jāt—was prescribed by one of the upper castes (brahmin, custodians of scriptures), and whose scalological operationalization and social reproduction was enforced by another (kshatriya, rulers and warriors).3 castes are ceremonial societies eternally repeating their respective caste regularities or dharma and thus ceremonially repeating the scalological order—the upper castes doing so with pride, the lower castes forced to do so with the experience of denigration and exploitative domination. thus, the denigrate-dominate function instituted inferiority by birth as the material as well as psychic regularities of racialized oppression and stigmatization— what fanon called lived experience (expérience vécu) in the fifth chapter of black skin white masks—on the scale of populations and centuries (1986). it distributes differential imperatives for the upper and the lower castes. in this pyramidal bauplan, 3the punishments for these crimes against the scalology of caste are excommunication (expulsion from the caste and withdrawal of livelihood or hukka-pani) and honor killing (extinguishing of life and reproductive freedom). 102 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the populations of the upper castes have been a numerical minority throughout this period and the lower castes a numerical majority. its tenacious regularity can be gauged from the fact that even today, of upper castes who are less than ten per cent hold most of the elected positions, and more than ninety per cent of positions in judiciary, financial institutions, academia, media, and culture industry. in the haunting words of the suicide note left by vemula (2016), “never was a man treated as a mind” in india since a mind is capable of interacting with the components of the immediate and mediate world, of thinking and imagining it otherwise, of introducing change in the functions and regularities of the components. the hypophysics of caste is inimical to treating man as a mind because the mind can and will dissociate the value soldered into birth and nature and will revaluate it. the mind can dissociate the racializing pre-definition that caste finds in the child so that other destinies can be discovered and cultivated in her. it will also dissociate groups from their functional isolation in the pre-fixed scalology of caste and invent new functions. the mind can invent new functions for people, spaces and objects outside the caste-prescriptions, and can create new social and political conditions—laws and institutions to materialize these new functions (mohan & dwivedi 2019). the polynomia of the mind threatens the ceremonial society and the law-giving perspective of upper caste supremacy. the mind is polynomial since it approaches the world as capable of being regulated under multiple laws rather than confined under one eternal law (the sanatana dharma where the means is itself the end since observance of caste rules is the means to the ends of reproducing the caste order). the ceremonial society of caste therefore seeks to decrease individual and collective polynomia as well as the freedom to choose the functions into which one prefers to be isolated. caste-blindness or verneinung among the upper castes is a function of this conflict, between caste hypophysics and polynomia as is psychomachia among the lower castes. thinking psychoanalysis in india therefore requires that we critically and politically reinterpret its metasychological concepts through polynomia and functional isolation, recognizing them at work through different functions and effects in the existence of both the oppressors and the oppressed of the caste order. verneinung: evasiveness of caste and health humanities “never was a man treated as a mind” is the briefest complete definition of a castebased society—and of any systemic racism. vemula’s words and his suicide confront us with the stunning and yet mundane fact that the discipline of psychology and the institutions of mental health in india have not concerned themselves with the play of caste in the “mind” whose theory and health are the very reason for their existence. jadhav’s last question about anti-racist interventions is especially revealing given the long history of critical assessments of the deleterious impact of systemic racism on the psyche and the psychology of perpetration of racism in the colonial context (feagin 2006; hook 2012). in this context, race theories and racist practices of slavery, segregation, and the stigmatisation of coloured bodies hypophysically associate them the psychomachia of caste and psychoanalysis in india 103 with bundles of inherited civilizational traits (omi & winant 2015). the experience of colonialism in india has driven the research of the past several decades in nearly all disciplines of the humanities and social sciences, often drawing explicitly upon anti-racist thinkers and academics, in particular fanon, who himself engaged both critically and creatively with psychoanalysis to theorise and clinically treat the psychic life of the victims of racism (bernasconi 2023; khalfa & young 2018; hook 2008; boni & mendelsohn 2024). the wretched of the earth described the “tinctures of decay” among the algerians under french occupation suffering from depression, stupor, impotence, anxiety, and suicidal ideation (fanon & farrington 1963: 200, 204, 217, 225, 234). hypophysics and scalology form the architecture of both racism and caste (dwivedi 2023). the victims of caste did draw inspiration and solidarity from the history of anti-racist literature and scholarship (immerwahr 2007; natarajan & greenough 2009). however, although the academic and public spheres in india have promoted analogies between colonial racism and the “indian” experience, they have at the same time dismissed and suppressed the analogies between racism and caste (thorat & umakant 2013. as the social psychologist yashpal jogdand (2023) notes: indian psychologists have […] demanded decolonization of psychological sciences but have not made much effort to address the internal colonialism dalits experience in indian society. the psychological thoughts of chiefly mainstream hindu texts and thinkers such as patanjali, gandhi, aurobindo, and others have been studied and taught in indian universities (dalal and misra 2010). anti-caste perspectives and radical thinkers such as ambedkar have been relegated to non-scientific spheres. as a result, psychology in india and elsewhere has remained caste blind. (37) caste blindness can be explained by the fact that academics in this discipline—as in all other social sciences and humanities—are predominantly from the upper castes where the lived experiences are different and other psychological priorities prevail. when scholars and practitioners of psychic life look for the “indian psyche”, they see only their own immediate identity. for instance, the prominence given to discussions of widow burning, meditation, and “wellbeing”, which are phenomena that do not fall within the horizon of the lower castes, is the index of a collective and institutionalized choice to isolate their discipline to the theorisation and care of upper caste concerns alone. indian engagement with psychoanalysis, as found in the writings of ashis nandy and sudhir kakar, too has evaded the discussion of caste while proposing “indian” critiques of psychoanalysis based on the cultural difference between “india” and the “west”; the diversity of upper caste gods is asserted (boni & mendelsohn 2023) but the hierarchy of caste goes unmentioned in the portraits of “indian culture” advanced in such critiques. the resistance to psychoanalysis as such by nandy (1983 & 1995, nandy & boni 2023) and kakar (kakar & boni 2023) is precisely symptomatic. they oppose the occidentality of psychoanalysis and the western ego-ideal of rationality 104 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 and secularism to the exceptionality of “indian culture” (defined, for them, by its upper caste mythology). they also oppose the individualism of psychoanalysis (and of the west) and the oedipal western nuclear family to the exceptionality of the “indian” joint family where the upper caste child passes at the breasts of many mothers and wetnurses rather than suffer the lacanian lack (see kakar 2012: 146–50). they do not disaggregate “indian” into the real caste divisions which determine the different lived experiences of the upper and the lower caste family lives. then, the programmes hitherto undertaken to decolonise “indian psychology” and address its cultural locus are the products of a universalisation of the upper caste psyche and lifeworld to the whole of “india” and “indian civilization” (davar 1999: 181). jadhav has suggested that the knowledge generated by the indian social sciences should be brought into dialogue with the studies of “health” including mental health (2012). we should even consider this a new imperative since the social sciences and theories of psychology and psychiatry are the academic domain that should mediate between the domain of the clinic and that of the world, and this is what we call “health humanities”. this imperative cannot be pursued until the evasiveness of caste is scrutinized. postcolonial scholarship insisted that caste was a construct of colonial epistemology reflected in the “ethnographic state” which reified caste “fluidity” through the census and the attendant legislations and policies of electoral representation based on statistical determination of the people (see dwivedi 2023, kisana & hole 2023). the social sciences have been as caste blind as the disciplines of health and mental health. why is it that a blindness watches over a society that has been civilizationally comprehended by caste? why does academic evasiveness accompany a social practice that for the larger part of its history had survived by ascribing, signifying, and apellating everyone’s caste identity and not permitting anyone to evade its detection and consequences in everyday life? ethnographies and statistical analyses of surveyed speech cannot by themselves suffice to explain these real phenomena which condition the everyday experience of caste and the ways in which the different groups in the graded inequality or scalology of caste engage in meaning-making—including denial—with respect to it. the psychoanalytical concept of verneinung (naysaying) explains denial or negation as an involuntary speech act in the domain of the clinic, occurring due to a shift in the relations between the conscious and the unconscious parts of the psyche and, by extension, of social and public life. the conscious part judges, acts, and evaluates reality, and the unconscious is where our impulses, instincts and the drives which impel them are lodged along with the repressions acting on them on behalf of a world that cannot accommodate or satisfy them. negation is consequent upon repression. it functions in conscious speech to mention a repressed content but in negative form as that which is there in thought but is not intended or is denied. in the famous late essay of 1925 titled “verneinung”, freud (2006) proposed that “negation is a way of taking cognizance of what is repressed; indeed, it is a lifting of repression, though not, of course, an accepting of what is repressed” (p. 667). for instance, a patient tells the psychomachia of caste and psychoanalysis in india 105 the analyst that he saw a woman in his dream “but it is not mother”. the need to add this negation would not have arisen unless the recollection of the dream woman was already associated with “mother.” conversely, the recollection could not have arisen until a “not” chaperoned this thought. verneinung is a way for the unconscious to allow the repression to be lifted and “mother” to appear to the conscious by adding a “no”. in the indian social sciences, the syntax of negation can be heard as follows: we see poverty / backwardness / malnutrition, but it is not caste. we see the same effects as produced by institutional racism, but caste is not like racism. repression is a formation of unconscious content (not a force acting on prior content) which results from the interaction of forces acting on a shared locus—human beings in socio-political regularities. psychoanalysis: the unconscious, repression, and the ego-ideal we can understand the psychoanalytic concept of repression and all the subsequent operations ensuing, such as negation, in terms of the dynamic between the functional isolations which can generate “nearest identities” on the one hand and the mind’s polynomia on the other. pure polynomia without any isolation into function is unrealizable. instead, there are degrees of polynomia or the capacity and freedom of the mind to be functionally isolated under multiple laws, such as when a scientist is also a writer, an educator is also an activist, and a thinker is also a journalist. the psyche—which is a different concept than the mind—is historico-cultural for the very reason that it is formed through the functional isolation of the mind’s polynomia under civilizational conditions. the psyche can neither think nor feel absolutely everything. it does so only according to the functional isolations of these two powers—of thinking and feeling—into psychic regularities at different levels. in psychoanalysis, these regularities can also be considered the organs of the psyche—the ego which is conscious, and the id and ego-ideal (also known as super-ego) which are unconscious. for freud (2001), “very powerful mental processes or ideas exist […] which can produce all the effects in mental life that ordinary ideas do […], though they themselves do not become conscious” (p. 3949). these psychical processes can be called the unconscious. the passage of ideas from the unconscious to the conscious entails the transformation of those unconscious ideas in keeping with a censorship since all unconscious ideas, feelings and desire cannot be accommodated or expressed in an inter-personal social world. social imperatives require the suppression of some pleasures, the postponement of others and their sublimation (into a different kind). this primary function is repression (“two principles of mental functioning” in freud 2001: 2550-2558). it works by means of a “resistance” encountered, and can be understood as the differential of the impulses that proceed from the internal 106 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 world outward and those compulsions that act on the person from the external social world. the repressed ideas persist in the unconscious along with unrepressed ones (freud 2001), and continuously seek expression in the conscious. when repressed ideas re-assert themselves and are opposed by social imperatives and by morals as the internalized form of the latter, they are confronted with two possibilities of unpleasure: that of being denied satisfaction, or else that of discomfiture vis-à-vis the social law if they are satisfied despite its pressure. a path has to be chosen to achieve pleasure with minimum unpleasure—an economy within the psychic apparatus which subserves the social and political economy which freud called the pleasure principle or the reality principle. this path involves a further transformation of these ideas: condensation, that is, the concentration of several such ideas into a particular thought; and “displacement” or substitution of an acceptable thought for the repressed, unacceptable one (see interpretation of dreams in freud 2001). by means of substitute ideas and images, the process of repression produces dreams, fantasies, jokes, freudian slips, art works, and other effects in everyday discourses, including verneinung (negation). the ego or the conscious self is “that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world through the medium of the perceptual conscious system” (freud 2001: 3950). it is the isolation of polynomial mental processes into specific psychic regularities and is thus itself a function and effect of repression rather than a universal homogeneous “i” —universal theories of “self” are therefore useless for a psychology of caste. the ego in turn furthers the process of repression in accordance with the “reality principle” which involves the task of thinking (instead of blindly desiring), that is, evaluating and judging what the mind encounters. the ego turns away from the thought of repression itself, so as to completely repress it, thus necessarily forgetting that it is repressing at all, and leading to the splitting of a part of the ego itself which thus becomes unconscious. we can say that the unconscious is not a definite repressed content at all but rather it is the very polynomia of mind due to which the psyche can undergo multiple and changeable functional isolations. though continuously criticized and modified, psychoanalysis has served as a powerful theory of civilization because of the important role accorded to social milieu in producing not only psychic effects but in shaping the very formation of psychic organs. in light of the way polynomia and functional isolation, in inverse proportion to each other, describe man’s relation to his social milieu, we can redefine psychoanalytic repression as the result of the specific disproportion between: i) the actual functional isolations that specify the existing regularities of society, and ii) the pure polynomia of man (the unconscious can say and think everything) which can never be realized in experience but is necessary for finding freedom from existing regularities in order to imagine new regularities which entail their own functional isolations. the psychomachia of caste and psychoanalysis in india 107 the most important organ resulting from this disproportion specific to each individual in relation to her social milieu is the ego-ideal or i-ideal, more popularly known as the superego. freud defined it as a level within the ego or “a differentiating grade in the ego” whose function is repression, reality-testing, punishing, controlling and directing (2001: 3821). it is therefore no longer entirely conscious but rather unconsciously judges and polices the ego, the agent that might be swayed by the drives. pleasure is submitted to the “pleasure principle”, which is effectively the “reality principle” or the determination of the ratio of how much and which form of satisfaction can be achieved while prolonging life and securing the expectations of future pleasure. psychopathologies are the products of the ratios negotiated by each individual with respect to the world and society starting from the immediate society or the family. each ego-ideal is the index of social laws and family circumstances which are culturally and historically variant. thus, the theory of id, ego and ego-ideal forming a circuit of proportions and disproportions with the external social reality comprises metapsychology and frames the account of both phylogeny and ontogeny. ontogenetically, before the child is confronted with the oedipal triangle, it only knows the pleasure or unpleasure in terms of sensations perceived through its own body, presumably with the regular rhythms of feeding and expelling. thus, the first cathexis (discharge and application) of the libidinal drives is auto-erotic in relation to itself and without sensing a distinct other. in the so-called “oedipal situation” the child is faced with the withdrawal of the immediate source of satisfaction, usually the mother, whether due to the father’s or family’s needs, or her worklife or her own needs. these new compulsions issuing from outside its previous rhythms and incomprehensible to it are experienced by the child as a violent intrusion which may be represented by or affixed to the father, whence freud’s and the psychoanalytic tradition’s term for it: the law of the father. it is not defined by the actual father, and can command the caregiver (mother or father) in a way that the child cannot but wants to do. the auto-erotic cathexis has to be redirected to another object for satisfaction. by her very withdrawal, the source of care now appears as “mother” and the child’s desire may take the shape of having the object of/like her. the child may thus form an “anaclitic” attachment, leading it to make object-choices similar to the mother. this also entails that the child identifies with the objects that the mother appears to love, where the desire takes the shape of being like her object-choice (for instance the father). alternatively, the resolution of the oedipal complex may take a different trajectory of having the objectchoice which she has (the father), while being like her, that is, identifying with her (“some neurotic mechanisms” in freud 2001: 3901). while freud’s gendered identifications were conservative and heteronormative, their metapsychological structure is insightful: one identification has the character of wanting to have the object and the other has the character of wanting to “be like” the object and therefore desire what it desires. having and being are both generators of identifications in the same psyche with respect to its immediate society. identity therefore cannot be theorized in terms of a one-to-one correspondence between the self and the social group, especially in a scalological caste order. group identity too is 108 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 a double identification of having-in-common and being-in-common. philosophically, psychoanalysis allows us to think beyond generalizations such as in-group and outgroup relations, so that we can ask how social groups, especially in the inter-group relations and hierarchies, are organized through identifications of “having (objects) in common” and of “being-like each other” (dwivedi 2020; nancy 2023). caste as a hypophysical scalology installed social imperatives regarding both types of identifications, as we will see through ambedkar. the ego-deal formed in the individual as a precipitate of the conflicting identifications is the moral agent of the social world and its law of sexual difference, operating within the individual her/himself and regulating the two types of identifications in one’s social life. the social-imperative function performed through the ego-ideal, or what can be called the father function as a shorthand, is communicated and symbolized through language in the form of symbols which communicate the sources of the imperative. it is represented in discourse in every society and every stage of civilization through symbolized imperatives—totems, ancestors, patronym, honour, and even gods.4 psychoanalysis traditionally calls this social imperative function by the name “father” although it is quite independent of actual fathers. the name of the father (as symbol for the meaning of a social imperative) is more powerful than actual fathers and mothers. such symbols are transmitted as archaic inheritances often resistant to change. interrogating the father function and the father’s name in the symbolic sense can offer a site to confront caste and psychoanalysis with each other. given the racialized social order of caste, the first question to be put to psychoanalysis is whether the archaic inheritances of the social imperatives specific to a socio-historical context—and their internalization as ego-ideals along with their corresponding shared symbols or “father” functions—is solely unconscious, or does it also get expressed in public discourse as well. accordingly, we should also point like fanon towards the “sociogeny” rather than phylogeny or ontogeny of those publicly symbolized father-functions which are mediated by the graded inequality of castes and of actual fathers and mothers in it. studying the sociogenesis of castebased identifications, social imperatives, ego-ideals and corresponding “fathers” requires that we historicize and locate the political agencies that regulated differential identifications in modern india. conflict of imperatives: resistances and laws the earliest surviving description of caste recorded by the upper castes—who also designated themselves as “arya” (noble, higher)—is the puruśasukta hymn of the 4based on the theory of identifications and ego-ideal, freud also proposed an elaborate and rightly criticized account of the group bond, group behavior vis-à-vis charismatic leadership, group conflicts, and types of groups such as religious communities, armies and political parties in his 1921 book massenpsychologie und ich-analyse (2004). it offered a theory of the internal connections between phyolgeny and ontogeny or the emergence of the individual psychology through “archaic inheritance”, that is, past formations of the psyche-civilization relation. for an analysis of its anti-political character which psychoanalysis in india should eschew, see dwivedi 2020. the psychomachia of caste and psychoanalysis in india 109 rigveda followed by the account of varna-ashrama-dharma or the law of varnas (colour coded qualities of four major caste groupings) in the canonical manu smriti (olivelle & davis 2018, witzel 1997; chakravarty 2000). their continued and even augmented invocation today by powerful caste-ist organizations like the rss indicates the epochal work done to attain such a depth of cultural memory or archaic inheritance among the upper castes. these groups did not share this inheritance with the lower castes for identifications of the type “having (things) in common”— things such as their wells, kins, and temples —nor for and of “being-like each other” in attire, language, and salutations. if we give the name “brahminism” to the hypophysical scalology of caste (dwivedi & mohan 2024), then its application to the psychoanalytic theory of identification reveals an anomaly: the plural number of castes would not allow all castes to have the same father function even as the upper castes, especially brahmins gave the law. in other words, unlike freud’s theory, caste could not even brook the idea of a common father (or common gods) of all castes for fear of identification. identifications had to be calibrated and segregated scalologically. kakar (2012) selectively analysed the “indian psyche” based on the relation of upper caste males to their father function, but did not attend to the same in the case of the lower caste, especially the outcastes who were considered to be born (of) other, which means not of the same progrenitor as in the rgvedic myth (pp. 146–150). although the subcontinent has been the crossroad of multiple cultures and civilizations (subrahmanyam 2015), this influx and co-mixing of customs and ideas could not introduce a significant disruption of the caste order. on the contrary, caste spread into all incoming cultures and religions inhabiting the subcontinent (ansari 2023). however, in modern times this anomaly had to be addressed since it would contradict the idea of national and religious unity of all “hindus”, which the upper castes needed to project for supremacy in the new political structures developing and being negotiated from the later nineteenth century onwards (dwivedi et al. 2021). european, especially british, colonialism marked the first material disruption of the comprehending law of caste by introducing a new legal and moral authority, compromised as it was by its own denigrate-dominate function of colonial extraction and civilizational hypocrisy. colonial interventions in the laws and cultures of the subcontinent were not experienced uniformly by “natives”, but rather they often disrupted the upper caste self-assurance in its supremacy and disrupted the immurement of the majority people to lower caste occupations and lack of modern education. colonial educational and legal policies allowed the lower castes for the first time to escape traditional occupations, and acquire modern knowledge (o’hanlon 1985; dwivedi et al. 2021). these disruptions to the traditional patterns of caste became the condition of possibility for challenges to upper caste supremacy by lower caste political groups to irrupt in the mid-19th century in all parts of india, especially in bombay presidency (now maharashtra) with mahatma jotirao phule, the brilliant intellectual and activist. the destinal character of caste hypophysics began to fork into a new possible destiny created by the egalitarian critiques and mobilizations of the lower castes. this moment introduced the new regularities of census and proportionate 110 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 representation which could transform previous social divisions from dharma inequality to new civil rights and duties. an anti-caste future thus appeared on the civilizational horizon nearly 150 years ago, but its realization was very quickly resisted by the upper castes. they experienced a new political exigency when the advent of british imperial rule began to prepare a new democratic framework for self-rule in the subcontinent according to the principles of proportional representation. the conventional definition of “modern” prevalent in the upper caste academic and public spheres refers to the adoption of modern institutions of governance and the forms of constitutional democracy—set up from the early twentieth century onwards—by the upper castes who received the transfer of power from the departing british imperialists in 1947. while these constitutional forms and norms were forged under the visionary leadership of the anti-caste thinker, jurist, and dalit leader dr. ambedkar, it was the upper castes that populated the new institutions and controlled the power to govern under them. hence, “modern” india witnessed the re-organization of some components of society like elections, laws, the judiciary, universities, and newspapers which were specified under “western” egalitarian and secular rules of a shared public realm in which everyone could identify with everyone in being an equal citizen. however, these enlightened components were co-articulated—like a bullock cart with tube tyres—with the older, more powerful components of financial power, inherited primacy in access to elite education and employment, and the very ability to make and break laws, which continued to be specified by the caste law of unequal identification. psychoanalysis and india: social imperatives, civilization and state the first acts of civilizational repression in the indian subcontinent must be traced in order to understand contemporary psychomachia and the negation of caste. the colonial disruption of caste scalology revealed the polynomia of the people called “lower” and produced new functional isolations—mahars could become professional soldiers and defeat the peshwa army, a mali (phule) could become the first theorist of egalitarian education in india, an untouchable child could become a flamboyant lawyer and chair of the constituent assembly. to inhibit these new functions, the old and undisguised language of caste could not carry forward in the arena where the transfer of power was negotiated without having to undergo the process of condensation and displacement in order to repress the reality of caste which had begun to intrude into the public domain through the ambedkar’s discourse. in his famous speech in 1936 titled the annihilation of caste, ambedkar (1979) noted the persistence of a fundamental characteristic of society as its elites were debating the form of the new nation taking birth: “hindu society as such does not exist. it is only a collection of castes” (50) and “[t]hat is the reason why hindus cannot be said to form a society or a nation” (50). the criteria for forming one was to have something in common rather than simply having similar things while remaining the psychomachia of caste and psychoanalysis in india 111 in exclusive zones except during exploitative transactions, which he called the “antisocial spirit” of so-called hindu society. such criteria specifies the true meaning of community (having and being in common), which is how ambedkar also explained fraternity: an ideal society should be mobile, full of channels for conveying [communicating] a change taking place in one part to other parts. in an ideal society there should be many interests consciously communicated and shared. there should be a variety of modes of contact with other modes of association […] this is fraternity, which is only another name for democracy. (57) we can understand this as: having in common the polynomia of all members of society as the common project of sustaining everyone’s freedom. the three citations from ambedkar made thus far form the syllogism of the new law, the new social imperative, and the meaning of modernity. they can also constitute the fundamental opening to psychoanalysis of caste-based suffering on the one hand and caste-based supremacism on the other. in order to trace the dreamwork with which the upper caste discourse had to respond, and then map the distance between the clinic and civilization, we can grasp the syllogism (in italics) as follows: a1) castes exist only in the plural number, as components of a collection organized by dharma or the law of the denigrate-dominate function; a2) on the subcontinent, “nation” and “hindu society” does not exist as the collection of caste does not allow having something common among all, and therefore, the ceremonial repetition of the functional isolation of people under the denigrate-dominate function is anti-social and does not form a society; a3) an ideal society should be mobile, with a variety of modes of contact, so that many interests can be consciously communicated and shared. therefore a society can only be formed under new laws (historical appearance of a new ego-ideal) which specify new enabling regularities for increase of polynomial: new conditions for free choice of education, of occupation, of partners, and free creation of enterprises and identifications (friends and families) rather than reproduction of caste identifications and caste belonging. freedom is polynomia (poly-nomos or multiple laws) rather than anomia (absence of laws). pure polynomia with zero functional isolation is therefore impossible and can never be achieved (like the lacanian real). instead, polynomia is the precondition for mobile and changeable functional isolations as ambedkar outlined for fraternity, and can be realized in higher or lower degrees in any regularity. from the perspective of the anti-caste syllogism, the new regularities proposed for post-independence india revealed themselves as measurable in terms of whether they increased or decreased polynomia of the human being. this revelation is shrouded by the postcolonialist 112 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 theoretical categories of “tradition” and “modernity” which mis-define modernity as anxiety about tradition and therefore repress the encounter with polynomia. then, polynomia is the unconscious, and the repression of it by the millennial order of caste is the repression of the repression. anti-caste thought and mobilization was the beginning of the analysis of the malaise of civilization in india and of the psychopathologies of this ceremonial anti-society. we can see phule and ambedkar as the first analysists of india, the precursors of psychoanalysis here as they created the conditions for caste to emerge into public discourse accompanied with its negation. the upper caste supremacists, whether they were revivalists or reformists, offered resistance to analysis which generated the first series of negations. one clear and impactful instance of resistance was gandhi’s opposition to ambedkar’s mahad agitation and demand for separate electorates in the mid 1930s. at the very moment of ambedkar’s 1936 speech “annihilation of caste” came gandhi’s verneinung (negation) in the form of a reformulation of the old laws, which we can understand as the modern syllogism of caste: g1) the scalological collection of castes or varna-ashrama-dharma is (the essence) of eternal hindu religion (sanatana dharma) and indian society, and hind swaraj will be its restoration; g2) modern ideals of equality, commensality and inter-marriage among castes and religions are the superstitions introduced by (western) civilization; g3) the ancient sages or “forefathers” gave this law to indian civilization which has lasted for 3000 years because it ceremonially preserves the limits of caste, village, and sexual-dietary-ritual action. therefore, this law constitutes the egoideal which the polynomia of the mind transgresses and which must re-assert its moral-legal authority. this syllogism has many variants since gandhi, where the function of the “forefathers” is always the same—giving the law of caste—under the various names of the forefathers: upper caste supremacism, brahminism, tradition, indian culture, indigeneity, native subjectivity, hinduism, hindu way of life, and so on. corresponding to the choice of the name of the father, the discourse too takes its name: orthodox, revivalist, traditionalist, reformist, nationalist, liberal, postcolonialist, subalternist, hindutva. this game of the father’s law and the father’s name is well understood through psychoanalysis which shows that the actual father is merely one of the many agents of the ego-ideal or the function of judgement, evaluation and auto-correction on behalf of the law (the prohibitions and prescriptions) imposed by the external world. the caste law imposed by a caste civilization needed a change of “father” figures and names at the first moments of being challenged. the transfer of power from the british rulers back to the old upper caste rulers was therefore accompanied by a transfer of names (which is the analogue of psychic transference or the projection of the existing feelings towards the father to the analyst in the clinic): the invention of a father of the nation the psychomachia of caste and psychoanalysis in india 113 and the nomination of m.k. gandhi in this “father”. the ceremonial anti-society of the collection of castes had two possibilities: 1. to re-organize the components under a new comprehending law of democracy which had in fact been birthed in letter—the constitution—and which already had its new father, b.r. ambedkar, the father of the constitution as he is called; or 2. to maintain the old law of caste with its old logic of hypophysical paternity in the puruśasukta and manu, but now also present it in a new mask of national and religious unity and similarity. gandhi was this old-new father because his uninterrogated language of communal harmony and non-violence was regulated by the law of caste. he himself entered the game of the father’s name by baptizing the oppressed outcastes as “harijan” to reiterate that they were not born of proper fathers (but of caste mixing as asserted in manu smriti) and at the same time to pretend that the god “hari” had fathered them although the scriptures did not assert this. the “father of the nation” was therefore the name that could symbolize the place of both the caste reality and the verneinung and evasion of caste. this “father” could be defended so long as the relevant war was against the “west” and european colonialism, that is, so long as the war against caste led by ambedkar did not have to be avowed even though it was declared and being fought. indian psychologists have been of service in this negation through the decolonial agenda to which jadhav and jogdand have pointed. “ambedkar”, “father of the constitution”, “annihilation of caste”, “social justice”, “bhim”, “babasaheb” – these are not all names of fathers or even all proper names but rather the synonyms of the other “father” function which symbolizes the new ego-ideals of egalitarianism, of the democratic law of freedom, and of politics as the common project of holding polynomia in common. this law has enabled another game of names which marks the resistance to the law of caste and to its father’s names: “dalit” displaces “chuhre ke” (caste slur referring to manual scavenging) and “harijan”, “dalitbahujan” (majority) displaces “hindu majority”, and “liberty, equality, fraternity, justice” displace manu smriti and hind swaraj. ambedkar (his name, statues, life and works) displaces prajapati, manu, and gandhi. with this displacement, and despite all upper caste resistances, emerges the “now” of modernity as an origin of something other than the ceremonialised past. one possible interpretation of dhasal’s numerous annual poems and others like “now, now” which nominated ambedkar as the force as well as the polynomial symbol of new laws, new beginnings and new directions, is that they are archives of the generative power of the egalitarian social imperative in india. in an autobiographical essay, the social scientist sukhadeo thorat (1993) too testifies to ambedkar as an ego-ideal when he describes his search for a new social identity that he sought as an alternative to the caste ego-ideals which he was determined to reject. the legacy of the reckoning with the forked destiny of caste civilization has been that today, private discourse remains the ceremonial discourse shaped by caste, as does private life, where people’s names more or less directly announce their caste 114 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 identities, and caste occupations are used when identifying people often in place of their given names—for lower castes, mali, paravan, and chuhra as recorded in the famous dalit autobiography joothan by omprakash valmiki; and for the upper castes, pandit-ji, sami, nair. matrimonial columns in newspapers explicitly identify the castes which are sought after, and even those lower castes which “need not apply”. every token of these invocations of caste recalls the caste hypophysics of birth and caste abuses are invariantly a reminder of one’s paternity and ancestry: “chuhre ke” or “(born) of sweeper” and “pulayadi-mon-ey” or “son of pulaya”. on the other hand, public discourse in and about “india” is structured by the conflict between the law of caste through the denigrate-dominate function with its corresponding language of inherited inequality, and the modern law of equality implemented through the official hierarchy of the parliamentary election, cabinet, courts, police and civil service with its corresponding language of constitutionality. these resistances and conflict generate the psychopathologies of caste which are a function of repression, negation, and denial since phule began writing and even before that as recent researches on anti-caste tamil 17th and 18th century thinkers show (ayyathurai 2024, 111-116). the turmoil expressed by the aforementioned anti-caste writers is largely evaded by psychologists like kakar (2012). he analyzed what he called the “guilt” and “considerable emotional stress” that an upper caste person, for example, a bania experiences due to the “conflict between rational criteria of specific tasks and institutional goals rooted in western social values” and “his own deeply held belief” that he must put his family and caste members’ interests first (pp. 149–150). strikingly, he did not analyze the stress of the lower castes or furnish evidences of upper caste guilt, or demonstrate how considerable the stress is especially when considered alongside the suicides of the lower castes. psychomachia and the dawn of another psychoanalysis since there are few clinics to recognize and address the pathologies of psychomachia where living breathing sufferers can narrate their symptoms, psychoanalysis as the talking cure—which has talked not only to analysands on the couch but to the works of literature, religion, and art—can be brought into an encounter with the other archives of this psychomachia of caste. poems, autobiographies, literature form such an archive along with responses given to an occasional journalist and suicide notes on the few occasions when they are left behind. then, a great ethics must prepare for this encounter in which neither psychoanalysis nor caste must be taken at their extant articulations. for this reason, only a tentative outline of psychomachia can be drawn from the scenes of suicides—the walls separating a dead student from the campuses or homes which cannot address her vulnerability, and the locks drawn from inside by a soul that sees no path leading from the door to a liveable world. as in vemula’s note, symptomatic names can be found in other notes too. recently a teenager from the valmiki community killed herself under pressure of a national engineering entrance test, writing to her parents: sorry, i am loser, worst daughter. the word “loser” comes the psychomachia of caste and psychoanalysis in india 115 from the language of caste which disguises birth-based privileges as “merit” and calls those “loser” whom the casteist reality of our world has not given the conditions to compete. the word “worst daughter”, however, may whisper another language: of the aspiration to educate oneself and become a “good” daughter” annulling the “bad” birth in the caste that the world considers “worst” (dwivedi 2024). the aspiration to exit the conditions imposed by caste is already overdetermined by the liberal meritocracy (punia 2023, pathania et al. 2023) which masks the modern ego-ideal of constitution. it is never clear which law and which father are being avowed. the aspiration is then not a straightforward intentional state but rather it is a strong wish engendered by the modern super-ego of legal equality but repressed when confronted with the actual external reality which is hostile to the wish. and what that external reality is, given the game of masks—are we an egalitarian country or the same “old stuff” as in dhasal’s poem. are we dreaming that we are in the now? this too is a decision whose burden falls on the already fragile soul: either the beloved law of equality is a lie or the fault lies with the daughter. freud’s influential essay “mourning and melancholia” explored the structure of such fatal decisions in which the ego faces the choice of negating either what it has taken to be real (whether the social reality of parents, entrance exams, job markets, and caste abuses, or the legal ideality of modern nation, egalitarian constitution, meritocracy, and aptitude tests) or the worthless being that it (ego-ideal) judges itself (ego) to be by comparison: the patient represents his ego to us as worthless, incapable of any achievement and morally despicable; he reproaches himself, vilifies himself and expects himself to be cast out and punished […] commiserates with his own relatives for being connected with anyone so unworthy […] extends his self-criticism back over the past; he declares he was never any better. this picture of a delusion (mainly moral) inferiority is completed by […] an overcoming of the instinct which compels every living thing to cling to life. (freud 2006: 584, emphases added) suicide appears as a self-punishment following upon a self-criticism, self-denigration, and self-abasement. in modern india, where excommunication and lynching take both physical and verbal forms, the law of caste judges (denigrates) and punishes (dominates) not only in old ways which continue in both towns and villages, but also in new ways that are modulated in accordance with the mask of egalitarianism. thus, something like an introjection—turning of the ego’s power of destruction/aggression/ consumption towards itself as the object to be finished according to freud—is maneuvered which intensifies self-denigration and self-harm. the account of such melancholia and suicidal depression, preponderating among dalitbahujan students in urban institutions calls for a fanonian emphasis on “sociogenesis” of psychopathologies of racism (p. 4). in hindsight, it is evident that sociogenesis itself becomes visible only in the perspectives of the oppressed groups who, to use fanon’s phrase, suffer in the their bodies and souls differently from the oppressing groups. 116 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the clinic fails the oppressed because of a theoretical failure which is itself a political failure: neither psychological theory not clinic include the lower caste perspective. as fanon wrote in wretched of the earth: we have since 1954 in various scientific works drawn the attention of both french and international psychiatrists to the difficulties that arise when seeking to ‘cure’ a native properly, that is to say, when seeking to make him thoroughly a part of a social background of the colonial type. (1963: 200, emphasis added) without a politics that changes the social background, the clinic will welcome the oppressed not to cure—which will never properly happen—but to rehabilitate her to the world of oppression which, of course, is organized to profit from her suffering in the “social background” of poverty, self-doubt, humiliation (jogdand 2018) and denigration. for a long time, elite educational institutions did not admit dalit students with the excuse that there were not enough qualifying candidates; the architecture of institutionally assisted suicides complements this phenomenon as the student “opts out” herself (punia 2023). hence, jogdand (2023) concludes that, “for those who strive toward bringing dignity and civility to indian society, only a critical psychology with anti-caste vision will provide scope for resisting and eliminating caste—the root cause of humiliation” (p. 59). variant syntaxes of verneinung (negation) can be heard in public and scientific discourse today where the negative is implicit: “caste is consensus” (it is not oppression); “caste is religious belief shared by the upper and the lower alike” (it is not denigration by the former of the latter); “caste is culture and tradition” (it is not the right object for annihilation); “caste exists only in the obsession of the anti-caste crusaders” (it is not discrimination); “forget caste, we are a modern country”; “rise above caste, don’t you have anything else to talk about?” it is easy to imagine how this verneinung prevails in the clinics too, where it may contribute to the worsening of a dalit-bahujan patient. the “not” of resistance and repression in the clinic finds its equivalent in the world (civilization) in the form of physical acts of negation and denial: pogroms, lynchings, velivadas (dalit ghetto), forced suicides. the first step to intensify the anti-caste imperative is to lift and acknowledge the negation of caste in social sciences and health humanities in general and psychology in particular. since verneinung, as we saw, indicates the return of the repressed unconscious ideations without yet the acknowledgement of the repression itself, the negation of caste by the upper caste spheres of the scalological world of india the psychomachia of caste and psychoanalysis in india 117 is the sign or symptom of a disproportionate articulation between the dominant regularities of caste and the emergent regularities of constitutional democracy which themselves came about through negotiations and compromises between the upper caste supremacists and the anti-caste fighters for freedom. it is the symptom of an unresolved and unstable war of forces which is itself treated as unmentionable— untouchable—in the upper caste sphere, and is hence repressed: the resistance to this repression, that is, the attempt to “lift” and then “accept” it, is also resisted. the second step would be to show by the example of its own failure in the clinic that a critical psychoanalysis of caste is not possible without an accompanying political struggle to change the social milieu and intervene in external reality. since ego-ideals are formed under the pressure of social reality, psychology will always be the instrument of the persecution of the lower castes, whether by their own ego-ideals or by casteist ego-ideals of the upper caste psychologists and analysts who dominate the theory and the practice, and bring their own caste imperatives and negations into the clinic. psychoanalysis has been criticized, revised, adapted and widely deployed in clinics in europe where it provides an alternative and/or supplement to pharmaceuticalized mental healthcare. the lacanian emphasis on language, as seen in the british psychoanalyst darian leader’s work, indicates the possibilities in psychoanalysis to relate to the sufferer through her own narrative, speech, as well as silence, rather than be reduced to a dosable body. as a theory of civilization and of society and politics, it can furnish resources to conceptualize and grasp those aspects of social life that are structured by evasiveness. however, it can also prove to be a retrogressive and universalizing theory of society and politics unless contextually specific sociogenesis of psychopathologies. this might even make of psychoanalysis a tool for further evasion and verneinung of caste. acknowledgement of verneinung would then constitute a new and necessarily social and political process that cannot begin in the clinic but must take place in civilization itself. this process is none other than politics or the fight to acknowledge caste as the systemic racism of inherited inequality which must be addressed as that which is to be annihilated. references ambedkar, b. r. 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(1997). inside the texts, beyond the texts new approaches to the study of the vedas ; proceedings of the international vedic workshop, harvard university, june 1989. dep. of sanskrit and indian studies, harvard university. © 2024 smita m. patil. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.2309 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 458-476458-476 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste politicising the public space: on dalit women sanitation workers in india smita m. patil1 abstract caste determines the life worlds of people in india in particular and south asia in general. historically, it is observed that caste has conditioned the nature of public spaces. upper castes can appropriate the public spaces legitimized by caste ideology and practice. however, colonial and post-colonial india witnessed changes in the caste system due to its (modern) legal interventions. paradoxically, caste persists in its crude and subtle forms. it has also acquired new forms in post-independent public spaces. caste determines certain bodily dispositions within the so-called public spaces. the ambiguous nature of modernity and the weight of tradition have drastically transformed the public space. a socially regulated economy and public institutions are determining the people, space, and mobility of the castes, too. this article investigates the nature of the stigmatized labour of dalit women sanitation workers (who come under the manual scavenging community) within diverse public urban spaces. it analyses the various questions related to the dalit women sanitation workers who work in select public universities, urban housing colonies, and slums in delhi, india. it probes the dalit women sanitation workers’ day-to-day life in caste-ridden spaces of urban“public” spaces. one of the central questions that needs to be addressed is whether the socioeconomic space of these dalit women workers has changed in contemporary india. why do dalit women have to do stigmatized work in public spaces? how are purity and pollution reinforced in elusive ways? thus, it initiates a critique of the indian feminist understanding of public spaces. this article acts as a way to engage with the epistemic priority of women sanitation workers to problematize brahmanic feminism in india. can there be any social-political engagement with the public space in the case of dalit women sanitation workers? at the level of theory, this article critiques the dominant-habermasian idea of the public sphere and nancy fraser’s counter-public to reflect on conceptual practice grounded in the dalit women sanitation workers and public space. keywords caste, gender, dalit, sanitation, work, public space 1associate professor, school of gender & development studies, ignou, new delhi, india email: smita.sanu@gmail.com politicising the public space: on dalit women sanitation workers in india 459 “their orthodox pity is no taller than a falkland road pimp it’s true, they haven’t raised any ceremonial tenet for us in the sky after all, they are the feudal lords; they’ve locked all light in their vault in this lowered life imposed on us, not even a pavement belongs to us they’ve made us so helpless; being humans become nauseating to us we can’t find even dust to fill up our scorched bowels the rising day of justice, like a bribed person, favours only them while we are being slaughtered, not even a sigh for us escapes their generous hands” —“their orthodox pity”, namdeo dhasal introduction sanitation workers are extolled by the state and several government institutions in contemporary india. during and after covid-19, the “scavenging community” is highlighted in the “public” spaces and given a certain kind of recognition by showering of rose petals, flowers and garlanding. suddenly, a new vocabulary for them has emerged in the so-called “public” spaces. they became the “protectors,” “warriors” and “viragana,” in the language of the public spaces. these tropes had acquired different forms during the first phase of covid-19. social media platforms like x (formerly known as twitter), facebook, and instagram abounded with hate trolls against the dalits (ex-untouchables), saying that lower castes should die with covid-19. the manner in which the word bangi is used in popular and social media discourses reveals the caste-bias towards sanitation workers (katulkar, 2023, p. 10). as per casteist trolls, it was further written that they deserve death because they are the beneficiaries of reservation policies. simultaneously, notions of purity and pollution from colonial to post-colonial times polarised the social equations during the pandemic (patil, 2021). the construction of the hygiene of the nationhood is also contested (irshad, 2021, pp. 23–40). the sanitation women workers in particular and overall manual scavenging community therefore, have a different trajectory of work, labour, and stigma in caste-based-neoliberal india. this article investigates the nature of stigmatized labour of dalit women sanitation workers (who come under the manual scavenging community) within diverse public urban spaces. it analyses the various questions related to the dalit women sanitation workers who work in select public universities, urban housing colonies, and urban slums in delhi, india. it probes the dalit women sanitation workers’ day-to-day life in caste-ridden spaces of (urban) ‘public” spaces. a central question to be addressed is whether the socio-economic space of these dalit women workers has changed in current india or not. why do dalit women have to indulge in stigmatized work in public spaces, which is based 460 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 on caste? or does their caste location force this type of work upon them? how are purity and pollution reinforced on them in elusive ways? what circumstances forced them to do this form of work? how do they look at their life in the context of their work? how do they see the larger societal approach to them and their work? how does this form of work affect their health? are they aware about the laws, technological developments and their rights? thus, the article also offers a critique of the indian feminist understanding of public spaces and acts as a way to engage with the epistemic priority of women sanitation workers to problematize brahmanic feminism in india. can there be any social-political engagement with the public space in the case of dalit women sanitation workers? at the level of theory, this article attempts to offer critiques to the dominant-habermasian idea of the public sphere and nancy fraser’s counter-public to reflect on conceptual practice grounded in the lives of dalit women sanitation workers and the public space. before delving into the intricacies of their life circumstances grounded in caste-class-stigmatized occupations, one has to return to the core debates around the working classes and labour across the globe. ideas and departures conditions of working classes are changing throughout the world. the nature and meaning of work and labour categorizes the people. it further leads to various ideologies of the status quo and its linkages to forms of power. occupations, thus, are being read in the more extensive views around the category of labour. one question that still looms large is whether the idea of work has to be romanticized or the work itself has to be dismantled. debates on abolishing the work have unleashed new conceptual tools to look at the challenges of the workers. it is noted that anarchists and the exponents of the new left have constructed robust critiques of the category of work (jager, 2018). dominant understandings of labour often tend to ignore the interlinked social dimensions. it is embedded in the social spaces and the construction of knowledge. thus, the geopolitics of the ideas (mignolo, 2011) of labour demands diverse and context-specific readings. marxist feminist accounts on workplaces, households, and social reproduction are limited due to their understanding of the nation-state as the macro-realm for social reproduction than exploring global social transformations (ferguson & david, 2014, p. 2). therefore, marxist questions around labour were later questioned by the afro-american thought. catherine lu argues that the oppressed social locations and states complicate the lives of vulnerable sections belonging to certain races, genders, and classes (lu, 2014). questions of race, labour, and postbellum capitalism are probed in the works of w. e.b. du bois (major, 2022). consequently, post-racial society witnessed several critiques and debates around the category of ‘labour’ through diverse lens of class, race, gender, ideology and praxis. the political writings of black leftist-feminist women have articulated the connections between race and work (burden-stelly & jodi dean, 2022). it can be observed that indian conditions of caste, gender and labour have a different trajectory from the aforementioned geopolitics of ideas around class, race and gender. in order to unearth politicising the public space: on dalit women sanitation workers in india 461 the peculiar social and political dimensions in an indian context, it is essential to probe the concept of the public in india. it is connected to the vicissitudes of modern democracy. in the milieu of democracy, rights are granted to the citizens, which create new possibilities for people across various social stratifications. critiques of democracy through the perspectives of contradictions between the social and the political help us to explore the situatedness of dalits. ambedkar analyzed how caste operates as the notion of the mind (ambedkar, 1989, p. 68). the existence of caste at the psychological level becomes the dominant “public”. in other words, the public operates within the dominant ideological space of the caste. the multiple dimensions of caste, gender and work thus have to be deciphered via rigorous methodological approaches. research methodology this article is based on a qualitative research method that focusses on different narratives of dalit women sanitation workers. it captures their lived experiences through interviews of 15 women sanitation workers. the names of the respondents are changed to maintain respondent confidentiality. the age group of the respondents is 20–57 years and snowball sampling method is used. interviews were conducted in the city of delhi. their lives revolve around the universities, urban housing colonies and slums. thus, the interviews can map the various layers of their social locations, home and work places. interviews of two faculty members from the manual scavenging community were also carried out to explicate the changing contours of caste, occupations and development. the author of this article conducted the interviews in hindi and later translated them into english. as a dalit, the author previously knew some of the respondents. it helped to gain their trust during the interview sessions. still, most of them denied providing interviews at the premises of their work place, fearing that they will lose their job if they were reported to their immediate heads, like the contractor, administration, or the supervisor. therefore, interviews were conducted at their homes. the questions were the following: why dalit women have to do stigmatized work in public spaces which is based on the caste system? what circumstances forced them to do this form of work? how do they look at their life in the context of their work? how do they see the larger society’s approach towards them and their work? how does this form of work affect their health? are they aware about the laws, technological developments and their rights? the idea of the public operates as a larger theoretical background to these questions. it is important to go through some of the rudimentary and nuanced dimensions of the category of the public. analysing the public while analysing the debates on public sphere, the critiques have created different momentum globally. in order to engage with the debates on ‘public’ in habermasian perspectives, one needs to go back to the genealogy of that debate. habermas argued 462 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 that cultural and social differences should be explicated to differentiate from abstract political practices to ensure equality. consequentially, autonomy in private lives via individual rights can be interpreted if the concerned people are able to foreground it in the public dialogues (habermas, 1998, pp. 210–225). paradoxically, the equal rights to coexistence and cultural forms of life may be problematic for the caste-bound patriarchal space of sanitation women workers. the question of the public changed in the discourse on the public in the later perspectives. this article does not engage with all those perspectives. the select perspectives are deliberately chosen because that helps to deepen the core theoretical concerns of this article. debates around the creolization have raised major challenges to contemporary theories and political struggles of the marginalised sections. in the case of the social and political theories’ deep meditations on the creolisation of the political, it is argued that “our approach would be to consider the historical development of modern western societies as entangled in the complex construction of three expressive spheres: the public, the private and the subaltern” and further suggested that “…the civility of [a] pronounced public sphere and a secluded private sphere despite their apparent gendered opposition, owed its western hegemonic meaning to regulatory civilization, resourced by and defined against a subaltern sphere-the slaves, the colonised, the natives and the racially segregated others” (hesse, 2011, pp. 58–59). as a result, the vital question to be raised is whether dalit women sanitation workers act as a counter public in the nancy fraserian sense? fraser argued that “the subaltern counter publics are…parallel discursive areas where members of subordinated social groups invent and circulate counter discourses, which in turn permit them to formulate oppositional interpretations of their identities, interests and needs” (fraser, 1990, p. 67). therefore, dalit women labourers questions have to initiate the theoretical departure from the feminist nuances in fraser’s subaltern counter publics. the social nature of the public space, especially in the context of the dalits, has to be analysed with that of their predicaments about the social/public space. one has to also investigate the relationships between experience and workplaces and how dalits experience those work places. in the backdrop of critical readings, how can work locations be understood as a factor that constitutes the vicious work environment? for example, numerous respondents analyzed the persistence of caste-based hate against sanitation workers as central to the workplace. hence, hexis (bourdieu, 1977) of dalit sanitation women workers reverberate within the social hierarchy. social spaces thus condition their bodies and existential predicaments. it is vital to ponder theoretical shifts that emanated around the changing nature of the bodily dispositions and caste. gopal guru argued that, “first, in india, the discourse on untouchability is built up around the idea of touch. unlike other societies, socially dominant groups within india have developed a distinct understanding of touch. the idea is embedded in their minds with enormous power to fragment, discipline, segregate, and quarantine large chunks of humanity. what is so distinct about touch is its moral `economy,’ which achieves this fragmentation with no investment of power; that is to say, it is withdrawal from, rather than engagement with, bodies that creates the other the untouchable. thus, politicising the public space: on dalit women sanitation workers in india 463 touch is powerful because it privileges some bodies through insulation rather than assimilation” (guru, 2006). modern law has transformed the conflictual-social corollary. however, power and consequential inequality operate in peculiar ways. in the henri lefebvrean sense, social space is a product of the (caste-linked) society (lefebvre, 1991). as a result, the relational facets of space in the case of dalits have to be analyzed with the authentic social, psychological, and economic conditions of dalits. the social nature of labour thus debunks the panegyrics on a homogenized understanding of labour and labourers. caste in its various forms determines the social and political milieus in india. it is core to the social profile of south asia. the social regulations impact the political system in india (ambedkar, 1989, p. 222). it determines the nature of the “public” space as well. though the indian feminist understanding of public spaces has been influenced by the intersections of feminism, marxism, and postmodern understandings, the debates on the public and private spheres in india have been peripheral to the social and political interlinkages. the ideas of private and public have to be revisited against the social backdrop of the changing forms of caste. there were new possibilities offered by the reform movements and freedom struggle (aloysius, 2005). nevertheless, those debates on social reform movements and freedom movements need to be more adequate in examining the various levels of the public and private in the case of dalits. in order to map the specific nature of an understanding of the public, one has to rethink the public against the backdrop of anti-caste assertions. it can be argued that the critiques within social and political engagements from the marginalized sections add reflexive dimensions to existing democratic articulations. the complicated boundaries between the public and private categories can be understood through the voices of dalit women sanitation workers. groove of the wretchedness a dalit labourer who does not have property is forced to return to menial caste-based occupations. they become cynical about the caste-driven occupational world. most of them are not able to access public education due to poverty and lack of cultural capital. landed dominant and middle castes cum political class regulate the economy in peculiar ways. the indian political order that oscillates between caste and neoliberal economic flagellations also reorient the caste-based labour-subjectivities in a dubious manner. one also needs to be cautious about the dalit interpretations of feudalsemifeudal indian conditions and the dominant perspectives, especially the left-oriented accounts on feudal and semi feudal conditions. feudal and capitalist phases of patriarchy are based on the control of the labour of the women and the distribution of its surplus (holter, 1984, pp. 178–179). caste-based feudal and semi-feudal conditions enslave the dalit women sanitation workers to socially regulated -neoliberal indian patriarchy. many respondents mentioned that they had to face sexual harassment from the contractor. the precarious and informal nature of their occupation thus pushed them into forms of patriarchy. one of the crucial questions that have to be answered 464 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 is whether dalits engage and recover themselves in this sort of labour or not. are they able to confront the larger challenges related to labour? the socially regulated indian economy determines the social mobility of the dalits in general and dalit women in particular. what are the methodological problems engendered in analysing similar conditions of dalits and dalit women? it is important to enter in to the debates on labour in the indian feminist accounts and caste-gender-labour in the dalit accounts. as part of the dalit women sanitation workers larger issues, it is essential to ruminate on the dimensions of migration and labour. research on migrant labour highlights the complexities related to dalits. it is observed that, “social group profiles of migrants do not match with the overall high level of work participation among scs. lower social and caste status propels/compels greater involvement of women in paid work. however, in the context of urban women migrants such pattern is not visible. this clearly means that more diversified and less stigmatised service occupations in urban areas, have obviously opened up more opportunities for upper caste women than for traditional female workers, who are drawn more from sc and st” (neetha, 20172018, p. 18). employment of women therefore is gauged through the category of the labouring poor (neetha, 2013). the labouring poor are fragmented on the basis of caste, gender and labour. dalit labourers’ alienation is to be rearticulated in the context of private property and labour. does their estranged labour have anything to do with their property or not? dalit workers are co-opted into a system of caste that further alienates them. freedom in a marxian sense is inadequate to probe the case of dalit labour. caste, labour and alienation of dalit women thus arrest their freedom in deleterious fashion. time also has to be counted in relation to the labour of the sanitation women workers. the continuity of labour has to be understood in the context of caste. there are synchronic and diachronic dimensions to the category of labour. it becomes a recurrent category throughout their life. the questions of skilled and unskilled workers and its separation from knowledge formation have been central to academic and activist circles. does capitalism erase the differences between the skilled and unskilled labour? work and workers have to be read within the brahminic political economy of capital. dalit labour processes within brahmanic capitalism have to be understood in relation to the pre-capitalistic dalit labour process. such an endeavour will help us to analyse the shifting contours of specific labour process. dalit labourers from colonialism to that of neoliberal globalisation have a different trajectory altogether. a key aspect in the case of the sanitation women workers is the exploitative nature of work. economic and caste-based conditions push dalit women and men to this form of work. the cardinal question is if this form (sanitation work) of wage can be justified or not. is there any mode of production through which dalit women’s labour question can be addressed? dickenson described how women without paid jobs are not related to capitalist means of production. they produce commodities without use value (dickenson, 1997, p. 131). caste and labour and its extension to the neoliberal phase of capitalism ramify the various issues related to dalit women sanitation workers. a large number of respondents said that, “we are forced to work even without wage, respect and dignity therefore is a distant dream.” what are the politicising the public space: on dalit women sanitation workers in india 465 current conditions of the questions of labour across the globe? the issues of labour are linked to the ascendency of neo-fascism in the context of the divided and fragile leftist political formations. it is further noted that the left has a conflicted approach on neoliberal globalization. however, it is against the dominance of finance against globalization. these political changes lead to the end of trade unions (prabhat patnaik & utsa patnaik, 2023). henry bernstein observed that classes of labour, gender and caste lead to the active and passive reserve army of labour (bernstein, 2023, p. 61). the question related to division of labour can be seen as complicated in the case of dalit women labourers. caste and un/free labour in india expose the crude and direct forms of bondages and oppressions. economy operates within the complex social order (neetha, 2013). the unheard voices dalit articulations in different indian states have their modes and ideological resonances. some have tried to or have been engaging in internal social reform in the hindu religion. during the interview, the women sanitation workers responded that the arya samaj movement impacted hindu religion and their socialization. they further added that mahatma gandhi influenced their families, and they introduced themselves as harijan. one of them said, “gandhiji said that they (sanitation workers) are the children of god, harijan, and therefore, they have to purify themselves; they should do the work of cleaning toilets.” a radical breakthrough by babasaheb ambedkar’s ideas and history of political practices brought changes in the lives of those who know his struggle to uplift dalits via constitutional rights. ambedkar’s engagements with buddhism paved the way for the political awakening of some of these women. thus, the quest for reform within hinduism and the radical critique of hinduism also reappear in the context of the idea of the public. the adjective, public, therefore, in the space of dalits has to be reformulated according to the epistemological moorings of dalits. in parallel cases, the “public “as a category and practice becomes a space of contradictions. most dalit women sanitation workers mentioned how caste and their occupation impact their quotidian life. some mentioned their existence as caught in the dangerous zone of caste and labour, adding that they cannot escape from this sort of vicious social formation. domestic violence is a common phenomenon among the sanitation women workers’ homes; therefore, it needs to be seen as the response of the oppressed dalit to the larger forms of caste-based humiliation in the public space. hence, one can argue that internal patriarchy thus is created through the external caste-based patriarchy. as gail omvedt informs us of how social patriarchy turns out to be part of the power relations in the dominant-violent indian society (omvedt, 2000, p. 6). the majority of women said that even if they wish to come out of unhealthy, caste-stigmatized work, they cannot exit the public spaces related to caste labour. they are branded as “garbage” since they are marginalized or ghettoized into a particular area. most of them are conscious of the manual on caste-based residential 466 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 segregation of sanitation workers. they further said that the dominant space of the public thus looks at them as someone who carries the stigma and filth from generation to generations. most respondents, irrespective of their religious orientations and ideological inclinations, articulated that the dominant society reproduces their caste bias in everyday life and looks at them from the perspective of highly toxic untouchability. it has to be annihilated in order to debunk the relations of caste, gender, and labour, conflictual realms that decide society and the public. caste is analyzed as an ideological, social realm that divides the labourers and the labourers (ambedkar, 1989, p. 47). women are also conceptualized as the gateway to the caste system (ambedkar, 2004). for instance, it operates through the hindu religious-social order. gender is also conceptualized as an abstract labour (holter, 1984). relations of caste, gender, and labour structure the social cum public space of the dalit women labourers. nevertheless, a position like that cannot ignore the fundamental intersections of caste and gender in india. in the context of dalit women, the nature of education and economic-demographic complexities are unexplored (neetha, 2013), and it raises pertinent questions of gender and lower caste-working class. shubham kumar and priyanka preet noted that 95 per cent to 98 per cent of 1.2 million manual scavengers are women. a gender-based approach is needed, as the caste-based approach. these women are pushed into abhorrent practices of dumping the placenta post-deliveries, clearing sewage, carrying filth in cane baskets, cleaning dry latrines, and so on. they face social exclusion and sexual harassment in their day-to-day work. they are forced to do menial work for meagre wages of rs. 10/to rs. 20/-, with meals for cleaning dry latrines during festive occasions. some are forced to work without any payment. their children face discrimination in educational institutions (kumar & preet, 2020). moreover, while doing this research, some respondents emphasized the ways in which they are kept apart at their workplaces, which one can call ‘public spaces’ like universities and hostels. many women working in the universities said, “these women, who teach in these universities hardly look at us or talk to us. we are not allowed to sit in the corridor or corner of any corridor or public spaces to eat food on the university campus by many female faculty members. if by mistake, any of us happens to sit in public spaces, especially when they are unwell, female faculty members used to shout at them.” other respondents mentioned that female students in hostels and universities do not allow them to touch drinking water. some offer water (in old plastic bottles) in order to avoid bad fortune. this type of inhuman approach stems from the rituals and superstitions related to caste and hindu religion. some are conscious of the differences based on caste and gender among women. they mentioned the stark differences based on the social locations of lower and upper-caste women. dalit feminists have critiqued brahmanic authorship and intellectual subordination of the dalit women. sisteriarchy grounded in epistemic hierarchy undermines the egalitarian claims of the hegemonic feminist movements in india (patil, 2013). dalit feminist existential and political predicaments related to gender and property must be addressed differently. there are hegemonic, brahmanic constructions of dalit women. brahmanic feminist and women’s/gender studies in india have ideological and epistemological limitations politicising the public space: on dalit women sanitation workers in india 467 in theorizing the peculiar social and political worlds of dalit women (patil, 2023). globally, the geopolitics of hegemonic feminism thus is limited because it is informed by brahmanic feminist accounts related to india. dickenson discusses the neo-colonial trap in the essentialisation of third-world women (dickenson, 1977, p. 122). work inside and outside the home, therefore, requires critical readings. it acquires different implications in the case of the dalit women sanitation workers. housework outside the home has to be differentiated (dickenson, 1977, p. 122). is it possible to differentiate work in the context of dalit women in general and dalit women sanitation workers in particular? dalit women sanitation workers from the lower economic spectrum have different natures of work inside and outside their home. at the level of caste, sanitation women workers do not have to face caste discrimination within their homes and their more extensive caste networks. at the same time, the world outside is casteist in nature. they are alienated from domestic work, forced to do external sanitation work, and manual scavenging. a large of number of respondents pointed out the burden of carrying this occupation from their ancestors to contemporary times. scholars have also discussed that the unnatural conditions of sexual division of labour have to be seen in relation to property and labour (dickenson, 1977, p. 126). dalit women’s ownership of their labour is imposed and determined through caste, and they are deprived of all forms of social, cultural and political capital. some sanitation workers said that those who got jobs at university are lucky due to their access to education. they further mentioned that a lack of education denies their survival and dignity, saying that they had to enter into these occupations at a very early stage of life due to poverty and the demise of their family members. they are forced to continue it even in their old age. approximately eleven of them mentioned that their relatives continue to clean open drains, septic tanks or pits, sewer railway tracks, open defecation, etc. remarks like, “our women (dalit women) mostly do this form of work” are heard. like other respondents, they reiterated that the stigma of being a ‘scavenger’ constantly haunts them. they stated that some tried to come out of this “dirty work.” however, people do not accept them, even their presence in their homes, or as domestic help or cook. an upper caste faculty member from the university remarked to another faculty member (who is from the community of manual scavengers) that, “you are from the caste of (manual scavengers), whatever you may achieve or bring any change in yourself, you will remain as lower caste”. talking about how she had to hear caste abuse from an upper caste university teacher, she was told by a particular university teacher and her senior and junior teachers/ faculty members “not to come in front of them.” another dalit lady-faculty member recollected that an upper caste lady faculty member/colleague told her that she is from the caste of manual scavengers. contractual jobs, thus, do not provide any form of social security to these sanitation women workers. the social location of dalit women sanitation workers is caught in the caste-determined property, gender, and labour. a rigorous understanding of the dalit labourer may unpack the mystified construction of the dalit labourer. indian feminism has a distinct take on the contradictions related to the property of women. gender and land rights-related 468 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 research have not addressed the intricacies of caste, gender, and property (agarwal, 2023). those accounts could not deal with the relations of property and dalit women. however, a distinct approach to studying the caste and labour relations in the context of dalits has to be taken, especially to reflect on dalit women sanitation workers. the means and modes of production in the case of dalits have to be mapped in its entirety. sanitation women workers’ question of work and labour is distinct in nature. they have to survive by selling their caste-based, stigmatized labour. the real questions that must be raised are who forced them into this occupation. why are they ambivalent about the entire mechanism of caste, work, and labour? anti-caste cum labour movements’ constant struggles to eradicate obnoxious forms of labour have to be remembered in the context. those movements and assertions emphasized the nature of the social in the context of the mind and the body. there were attempts to liberate them from the psychological and social burdens associated with stigmatised forms of labour. dalit movements critique the rest of the non-dalit, upper caste dominated/brahmanical ideology-driven political organizations in their approach to decent work and struggle against the caste of labour. while analyzing women’s social space, it is necessary to revisit the debates on structure and agency. social mobility in a patriarchal society needs to be measured through the intersections of race, caste, and ethnicity. structure and agency can be stigmatized due to diverse social locations and the geopolitics of hegemonicfeminist knowledge. eurocentric and partial dominant feminist understandings must be differentiated based on their epistemic undercurrents. in other words, it suffers from certain epistemological limitations in engaging with non-european feminist epistemological investigations. thus, the question of the public and its conflict with various social spaces leads to big questions related to social complexities within the nation-state. the gendered deployment of the public, therefore, has to imbibe politics of citizenship and belonging (phadke, 2012). the structure and work in the case of dalit women sanitation workers are debilitating their self-dignity and social mobility. brahmanic feminist accounts that essentialized the agency of the dalit women have to be challenged by unfolding the nuances of caste, gender, and labour. radical transformation through law? it is observed that, “even after 73 years of independence, manual scavenging is a blot on our collective conscience that refuses to disappear, despite the landmark legislation in the form of prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act, 2013…and a supreme court judgment in the safai karamchari andolan and ors v union of india and orscase (2011)” (kumar & preet, 2020). why does manual scavenging persist even after the ban? questions of law in the case of manual scavengers raise concerns related to destigmatize labour and questions of livelihood. what is the role of national action for mechanised sanitation ecosystem (namaste)? as a technology, it has been able to create the impression that it is can lessen the stigma related to manual scavenging. is there any kind of organization? do politicising the public space: on dalit women sanitation workers in india 469 the left-based political organisations address the question of manual scavengers? if so, what are their ideological prerogatives? are they informalized and contractual workers or not? the existence of manual scavengers reminds us of the perpetual link of labour to caste. activists and workers link this form of work as a form of slavery. therefore, whether our modern legal system through its reforms can annihilate the stigma remains a quandary. it is noted that, “on september 6, 2013, the indian parliament passed the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act, 2013 (2013 act), committing itself yet again to ending manual scavenging. seven months later, on march 27, 2014, the indian supreme court held that india’s constitution requires state intervention to end manual scavenging and “rehabilitate” all people engaged in the practice. this meant not only ending the practice but also ending the abuses faced by communities engaged in manual scavenging.” (hrw, 2014). educated dalit youth are forced to return to caste-based occupations. upper castes exert physical violence over those dalits who resist various forms of caste-based labour. it is observed that “india’s constitution bans the practice of untouchability, and the protection of civil rights act, 1955, prohibits compelling anyone to practice manual scavenging. aimed specifically at ending manual scavenging, the employment of manual scavengers and construction of dry latrines (prohibition) act, 1993 (1993 act), declared the employment of manual scavengers and construction of dry toilets to be punishable with fines and imprisonment. superseding the 1993 act, the 2013 act goes beyond prohibitions on dry latrines, and outlaws all manual excrement cleaning of insanitary latrines, open drains, or pits. and, importantly, it recognizes a constitutional obligation to correct the historical injustice and indignity suffered by manual scavenging communities by providing alternate livelihoods and other assistance” (hrw, 2014). however, the shift from social movements to non-governmental organizations (ngos) in the legal discourse is a distinct development. the litigation around manual scavenging, as explored by alena kahle and sagar kumbhare, needs to be understood in the context of the various issues faced by dalit ngos. dalit actors find themselves caught between caste rules and modern laws related to sanitation work and manual scavenging. the social control and social change in the trajectory of dalit ngos reflect in the potentials and limits related to the law. the political and legal opportunities for dalit actors create challenging questions for caste-based bureaucracy. these institutional structures do not recognize the gravity of the work done by dalit women. instead of the political institutions and modern laws, the ideological realm of the hegemonic caste-ruling classes endorses caste-driven polluted work. the opportunity structure of the dalit ngo is assessed through its right to information requests and manual identification of the court cases through a database. the path towards the elimination of heinous caste-driven work for dalits is arduous in nature (kahle & sagar, 2023, pp. 77–96). the persistence of manual scavenging, which is a form of sanitation work, despite legal interventions, has to be viewed as a banality of everyday crime. the complicity of larger society in legitimizing forced labour leads to a certain form of social abuse. this form of majoritarian consensus related to sanitation work arises from the continuous, 470 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 conscious imposition of caste-based occupations. there is an inherent violence in those forms of social exclusion. drawing on ambedkar’s perspective, one becomes a sanitation worker or scavenger not because of their work, but because of their caste and birth. the violence legitimised through caste-based occupation is analysed as genocidal in nature. the intention that constructs the sanitation work or crime is caste. it designates birth and caste as central to the practice of crime/sanitation worker or manual scavenger. the citizenry that permits the reproduction of such work results in the crime of indifference. the detached attitude of the larger society thus legitimizes manual scavenging (shankar & kanthi, 2021). hence, the issues of sanitation worker or manual scavengers are completely deprived of their lack of access and entitlements. their economic rights are affected due to their caste-driven nature of work. it impacts their civil, cultural, and political rights. it further strengthens their living mode of exclusion. in other words, they are excluded from political participation. it affects their social and economic opportunities. manual scavengers thus are wholly sidelined from the economic, political and social terrain (singh & ziyauddin, 2009, pp. 521–523). therefore, most dalit women sanitation workers are sceptical towards the laws and debates related to rights. some admitted their ignorance about the laws. these gaps in understanding laws and rights question the dalit development in northern india. for example, illiteracy and not having basic facilities like proper food, shelter, and water to live a decent life creates fundamental questions regarding ongoing development. it is asserted that, “the noncondition-based complete prohibition approach based in recognition of human dignity has to be invoked in addition to ‘complete rehabilitation and complete mechanization of sewage work’” (wankhede, 2021). the valorisation of “safe sanitation” work has to be critiqued to altogether abolish manual scavenging (wankhede & alena, 2023). for instance, almost all respondents said that, “indian society is like a zamindar to manual scavengers.” so, their work is part of a custom based on the caste system. they also mentioned that a hooligan-like society is hardly afraid of laws. the law is constantly violated in the case of lower castes. they explained that this kind of work is also like a caste atrocity in their lives. therefore, the gap between the existing legal developments and the continuum of caste-labour-occupation is being questioned by dalit women sanitation workers. they questioned the superficial grounds of the shifts from customs to modern laws. according to them, nothing has changed through laws and legal interventions. thus, one must accept that the life of sanitation women workers and the scavenging community has not changed so far. apostles of liberation through technology and future? irrespective of the advent of a “robot manual scavenger”/first manhole cleaning robot, “bandicoot” in kerala and sewer-jetting machines in andhra pradesh (preet & chaturvedi, 2019), why does manual scavenging remain in other states in india? time-related to the labour of dalit women workers may change according to the technological development. does it bring any radical change in their self-dignity and identity? the replacement of dalit labourers by machines may result in the annihilation politicising the public space: on dalit women sanitation workers in india 471 of caste, which is also a matter of contention. however, has labour brought any radical change, as marx envisaged? the transformative nature of labour in the writings of marx (dickenson, 1997, p. 128) is antithetical to the indian questions of caste, gender, and labour. the question of technology and the changing nature of untouchability pose severe challenges before the policy regime on labour. it is analysed that “within the government program itself, there is no proposal to invest in mechanized cleaning via collection tanks. the lack of investment acts directly on the caste system, as it requires employing dalit labour in manual cleaning. with this, the caste system remains a contemporary structure, based on an organization founded on the relationship between purity and impurity, with the violent line of untouchability that sustains it” (alves, 2022). caste itself continuously challenges the ideas of science and rationality in india. technology is also detested by the upper castes for its effective ways of questioning social inequalities. dominant societal and political approaches towards technology may also reveal the nature of the public debates around manual scavenging. let us ponder upon the future of women who are part of sanitation work. can the oppression of dalit women sanitation workers be interpreted as structural injustice? macro-level transformation is essential to eradicate structural injustice (wolff, 2024). it can be observed that the societal agents who resist change are maintaining their dominance. (haslanger, 2024). structural inequalities are aggravated through vulnerabilities such as precarity and fragility. these vulnerabilities are linked to “the social” (schiff, 2024). structural inequalities can be explored beyond the binary oppositions of agency and structure. most theorists travel this conceptual route. is it possible to divulge and divert from that conceptual path? how far can such debates be developed? is decolonial thinking on the hegemonic constructs of gender and caste helpful or not? there is a tendency to romanticize the past. internal colonial caste-based conditions of dalits (ambedkar, 1989, p. 80) foreground different critiques on colonial and neo-colonial developments. the romanticizing of the past also leads to celebrating its oppressive continuum. global transformation of the precariat in the oppressing, neo-liberal economic era coexists with the economic crimes of the global rich. rights and governance have been reduced to certain forms of algocracy (aneesh, 2006). thus, “the features of exploitation today can only be understood by placing social reproduction and its brutal colonization by capital at the centre of value generation. if we do not embrace an inclusive theory of value, we cannot theorize capitalism and its meaning for millions of workers.” (mezzadri, 2023, p. 69). the legal discourse will be able to engage with the questions of the “accepted customary rights” to that of crime in the current social order (koonan, 2021) in a radical fashion. a crucial aspect is whether dalit women sanitation workers can survive the new socio-economic realities and politicize the public. end of conscience? can a society repent for its numerous caste-driven crimes and discrimination? this premise is pivotal to the premises of dalit women sanitation workers. as one of respondents, sita asked “is this society not ashamed of pushing only certain sections 472 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 of that society into the degraded work?” this question has to be analyzed beyond the cynicism that taints the assertions of dalits. can such caste-male-based order be annihilated by modern society or not? the diverse shades of the narratives of lower caste women sanitation workers invoke the genuine spirit of democracy. it has the potential to circumvent the aspirations for democracy within the limits of crony capitalism. dalit women, from their lessons from nauseating, sanitation/manual scavenging show the shallow structure and form of depoliticized political systems. it also probes the potentials and possibilities of social movements and civil societal formulations. debates on the repression of various capital(s) in the context of the development of dalit women sanitation workers also debunk the geopolitics of ideas related to castegender bind, and hegemonic developmental discourses. the ways to solve the castebased work through legal developments coexist with the persistence of the policy regime’s take on technology in the field of sanitation and manual scavenging workers. these policy dilemmas and political inertia on the issues of caste-based work, for dalit women sanitation workers, unveil the pitfalls of the debates on reason, science, and technology. they (women workers) position it as a quandary linked to a polarized, social order and consequential division of labour. death is also analyzed as an offer from an inhuman caste-inflicted societal space. health issues of dalit women labourers lead us to rethink debates around caste, gender, and public health. these suppressed voices also question the credentials of the feminist and women’s movements. they pose a significant question around the vestiges of caste, gender, and sanitation / manual scavenging irrespective of the egalitarian claims of brahminic women’s and feminist movements in india. these sanitation women workers are able to challenge homogenous political constructions around class by deciphering the intersections of caste, gender, and occupation. it has the potential to challenge debates on marxian perspectives and praxis around class, caste, and labour. the aforementioned social and political reflections of dalit women re-configure the idea of the public through its rigorous interventions. conclusion purity, pollution and caste have become recurrent practices in the changing ideological forms of caste. the plight of sanitation women workers remains the same even after 77 years of india’s independence. though in 1944, babasaheb ambedkar established the union of sanitation workers and exhorted sanitation workers to give up traditional caste-driven occupations (lal, 2018, pp. 79–81), still the dalit community have a long way to go and constantly struggles against the odds. ambedkar’s main aim was to end untouchability and annihilate the caste system. numerous dalit civil society organizations are tirelessly working to provide a respectful and dignified life to the sanitation workers. however, dalit feminists in particular and the dalit community in general should be vigilant towards the forthcoming challenges for the most deprived and marginalized community of sanitation workers. dalit feminists have to take part in the continuous struggle against the changing forms of ideology of caste, gender politicising the public space: on dalit women sanitation workers in india 473 and work. they need to forge solidarity with other dalit organizations and leaders in order to ensure the social and upward mobility of the dalit women sanitation workers. educated women from the community of sanitation workers have to strengthen their ideological positions and praxis through ambedkar’s perspectives and buddhism. it may lead them to reorient their social and political struggles. references agarwal, bina (2023). gender and land rights revisited: exploring new prospects via the state, family and market. journal of agrarian change, 3(1), 184–224. aloysius g. 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(pp. 12—30). united kingdom: oxford university press. © 2024 bianca cherechés. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.1744 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 143-159 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the rhetoric of dalit psychological suffering in meena kandasamy’s the gypsy goddess (2014) bianca cherechés1 abstract this article attempts to demonstrate that somatic trauma caused by caste-based oppression does not stop in the bone but has the ability to penetrate the inner psyche of dalits in multiple and unexpected ways. the novel the gypsy goddess (2014) serves as a comprehensive repository of wronged and misinterpreted historical events, but also lays bare the impact that systemic forms of oppression can have on people’s mental health. while mainstream trauma theory has been the model used by many scholars for decades to address trauma, uncritically universalising this generalised concept of ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’ (ptsd) (american psychiatric association, 1980) risks rendering the specificity of longterm pain suffered by oppressed groups, such as dalits, invisible and unknowable. thus, many are the scholars who have called for an expansion of the scope and a revision of the dominant conceptions of trauma and recovery. therefore, in order to examine the impact of casteism from a psychological dimension, this article discusses trauma as ‘a spectrum of conditions’ rather than a single response (herman 1992), considering the cumulative degradation and subtle effects of ‘insidious trauma’ (root 1989; 1992), the generational transmissibility of trauma and its pre-traumatic stress (pretss) reactions (bond & craps 2017). drawing on the omnipresent connection between the individual and the collective in the gypsy goddess, the ‘founding’ nature (lacapra 2014) of dalit trauma and the combination of ubiquitous exposure to historical loss and endless structural absence of basic human rights are also key aspects. keywords caste, dalit, trauma, psychology, ptsd multidirectional suffering 1university of zaragoza, spain email: bc@unizar.es 144 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 introduction as william faulkner once wrote, “the past is never dead. it’s not even past” (1996: 85). in fact, the legacies of the past continue to resonate in complex and controversial ways, especially those connected to violent episodes. somatic trauma, for instance, does not stop at the bones, but has the ability to transition from physical to internal scarring. the pain and agony that have afflicted the body of dalits for generations have permeated their inner selves to such an extent that one of the most recurrent themes in dalit literature is the mental anguish and emotional terror that result from experiencing and witnessing suffering. meena kandasamy’s debut novel, the gypsy goddess (2014), recounts the culmination of a conflict in kilvenmani, a village in the nagapattinam district of southern tamil nadu, between dalit agricultural labourers and their oppressive upper caste landlords.1 the narrative revolves around the village landlords’ refusal to provide fair wages to the lower caste workers, leading to a retaliatory response from the dalits, organised under the communist party of india. the consequences of this clash are tragic. on the night of december 25, 1968, the landlords dispatched rowdies to attack the rebellious workers. although most of the men were able to escape and save themselves, the majority of women, children, and elderly individuals remained in the village. they sought refuge in a hut, but the attackers trapped them inside and set the hut ablaze, resulting in the death of 44 people. in the subsequent weeks, most of the culprits were declared innocent, and all evidence of the crime was destroyed. meanwhile, the victims of the massacre were falsely accused of murder and armed rebellion, and they were imprisoned. while this is not the first time an author has been inspired by or tried to do the historic event justice, very few have written so vividly about the first-hand experiences of people left voiceless and without agency.2 kandasamy felt the need to counteract vague and biased research papers and newspaper articles on the tragedy through a “domestic dramatic-traumatic tale” (2014: 13) through which the victims could somehow speak their truths.3 apart from physical and sexual abuse, forms of emotional and psychological violence against marginalised communities have pervaded for 1one of the concerns raised by critics like kavita bhanot (2014) is the novel’s ambiguous and overall evasive portrayal of the intricate connection between caste and class in the dalit struggle. while the novel acknowledges this problem, it merely highlights its existence without thoroughly examining its implications. the analysis in this article will primarily concentrate on the caste-related themes presented in the novel. 2seven years after the event, tamil writer indira parthasarathy released the first novel about the massacre, kuruthipunal (river of blood) building on the moral and existential dilemmas of characters belonging to different social strata, which is why the novel is said to have digressed from the original issue and betrayed the cause. in 2000, writer solai sundara perumal published sennel (the red grain), presenting the event as a class uprising. in 2007, the writer paataali wrote keezhai thee (the fire from the east) as an account of how the judiciary failed the marginalised. 3describing herself as a “first-generation woman novelist […] working in a second language from that third-world country”, kandasamy acknowledges the expectations placed upon her. the rhetoric of dalit psychological suffering 145 centuries in india, with little to no legal, social or political support for the victims. in her attempt at representation, kandasamy strives to expose the impact that systemic forms of oppression have on mental health and the array of psychological problems that stem from physical violence and abuse. in the subsequent lines, this article aims to illustrate that the somatic trauma resulting from caste-based oppression extends beyond mere physical manifestation, delving into the inner psyche of dalits through various, often unforeseen, avenues. using the gypsy goddess as a repository of historically distorted events, the article aims to showcase how the repercussions of such trauma are intricately woven into the fabric of dalit experiences and how relying solely on the conventional trauma theory and its symptomatic framework overlooks the distinct and enduring pain endured by marginalised communities like the dalits. trauma paradigm ‘trauma’ was officially acknowledged by the american psychiatric association (apa) in the 1980s under the title ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’ (ptsd),4 and included the symptoms of what had previously been called shell shock, combat stress, delayed stress syndrome and traumatic neurosis as a response to both human and natural catastrophes (american psychiatric association, 1980). taking as a basis apa’s definition, cathy caruth defined ptsd as, a response […] to an overwhelming event or events, which take the form of repeated, intrusive hallucinations, dreams, thoughts or behaviours stemming from the event, along with numbing that may have begun during or after the experience, and possibly also increased arousal to (and avoidance of) stimuli recalling the event. (1995: 4–5) caruth clarifies that it is not the event itself—which may or may not be catastrophic, and may not traumatise everyone equally—that defines trauma or the distortion of that event; rather, it is its reception and, more specifically, its belated or failed integration into one’s psyche that defines trauma (p. 6). furthermore, the fact that the victim is possessed by the event through insistent ‘reenactments’ not only serves as testimony, many would anticipate nothing more than a simplistic and unrefined narrative lacking depth or sophistication (2014: 13). 4the word ‘trauma’ comes from the greek word for ‘wound’ and it was not until the late nineteenth century that the notion of ‘psychological trauma’ began to take root, thus connecting the origins of the trauma paradigm with the onset of western modernity and the ‘shocks’ of modern life (luckhurst 2008: 19). in january 1978, ‘catastrophic stress disorder’ —eventually renamed ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’(ptsd)— was added to the diagnostic and statistical manual (dsm-iii-r). ptsd was first established as a reaction to a catalysing event “outside the range of usual human experience” and a re-experience of that event which could include recurrent and distressful memories, dreams, sudden acting, numbing or hyperalertness, sleep disturbance, survival guilt, memory impairment, and avoidance of activities that arouse the recollection of the event (american psychiatric association 1980: 236–238). 146 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 but also bears witness to the force of an experience that was never fully registered as it occurred (p. 151). roger luckhurst attributes these ‘reenactments’ to an involuntary repression of the traumatic memories, making them inaccessible to conscious recall, but recurring later in the form of hallucinations, flashbacks, or nightmares (2008: 3). the resistance of these memories to reworking and recategorisation could lead to their fixation, what pierre janet has called idée fixes (1895). while the academic discourse in india has largely overlooked the trauma experienced by victims of caste discrimination,5 the personal and subjective accounts of these individuals are gradually surfacing in poetic and autobiographical narratives, frequently reflecting several symptoms associated with trauma (ganguly 2009; heering 2013; nayar 2011). the gypsy goddess portrays a variety of responses to the traumatic event, including distressing nightmares (2014: 203), cases of schizophrenia (p. 201), moments where characters vividly relive the burning sensation “all over again” (p. 220), and hallucinations. one of the victims, letchumi, was left with a peculiar ‘strangeness’ in her head that would not fade away, however much she tried to fight it: “she had become so dizzy that police battalions and hired rowdies and armed landlords kept running away […] and the dead chased them through her, ear to ear, in unceasing weaves” (p. 199). on a particular day, letchumi could not bear the mental agony any longer and confided in a neighbour, expressing that she felt “a hundred fights inside her body and nobody retired to take rest and their madness made her fly” (p. 199). the impact extended beyond her mental state, leading her to harm herself occasionally (p. 199). she firmly believed that the spectres possessing her mind were her deceased mother and friends, fighting to break free: “her complaints varied, but the relentless throbbing never stopped […] again and again, she collapsed in the chaos” (p. 199). expressions of psychological impact such as these represent the continuation of the traumatic process, which can give rise to other affective and cognitive sequelae such as hypervigilance, anhedonia and alexithymia—the reduced capacity for pleasure and happiness (krystal 1978)—anxiety, panic and numbing—or ‘affective anaesthesia’ (minkowski 1946). thus, as caruth concluded, it is not just the moment of the event but “the passing out of it that is traumatic; that survival itself […] can be a crisis” (1995: 9). one of the victims affected by the severe consequences in the gypsy goddess was left without speech due to the profound impact: “death had driven a dagger through him, muting him […] his voice trapped in his head and his words stuck in stranger corners” (2014: 206), exposing once more how trauma can penetrate both the mind and body. kandasamy ponders how those who live in dire conditions and are subjected to inhuman treatment can be expected to find any semblance of “satisfaction, contentment, pleasure or the pursuit of happiness” (p. 78). however, studies on people who have experienced frequent traumatic events have shown that their psychophysical problems are much more complex than those described in the diagnostic criteria for ptsd. the diagnostic concept of disorders of 5some exceptions to this are cháirez-garza (2018), guru (2009), jodhka (2015), and jogdand (2023). the rhetoric of dalit psychological suffering 147 extreme stress not otherwise specified (desnos), for instance, describes the more subtle and characterologically imprinted effects of long-term, chronic trauma (van der kolk et al., 1996). this category recognises that survivors of prolonged abuse may undergo somatic, dissociative and affective sequelae, such as personality changes and vulnerability to repeated harm. through dissociation, voluntary thought suppression, minimisation and, sometimes, outright denial, victims of prolonged violence may even learn to alter an unbearable reality by developing paralysis of initiative, apathy and helplessness (herman 1992: 381). as kandasamy puts it simply, the living in kilvenmani lack life. everyone is something else: there are the ones who do not eat, the ones who do not talk, the ones who do not bathe, the ones who do not step outside their homes, the ones who do not step inside their homes. it is strange the way in which the village has exchanged its sorrow for insanity. (2014: 211) the impact of continuous depreciation and the lack of core identities can lead one to assimilate impotence, to internalise a ‘learned helplessness’ (seligman 1975). regardless of what they say or do, dalits are at risk of being abused, discriminated against or singled out because of their caste. this has undoubtedly led to a perpetual state of anxiety, fear, disrupted sense of oneself, and dissociation, to name but a few effects. most of the victims in the novel suffer from a blockage that prevents them from reacting to, and even acknowledging, what has happened to them, and it is the very unassimilated nature of the event that comes back to haunt them. one of them is “caught between his fear and her lack of any idea of what happened. the terror talks to her body in strange ways. she shivers when she is alone” (kandasamy 2014: 201). on the other hand, there are also victims who do not experience traumatic pathologies in the way proposed by mainstream scholars such as caruth (1995). an example of this is the fact that traumatic amnesia does not seem to occur in the case of dalits. not only do they have their suffering imprinted on their bodies as a constant and inescapable reminder, but manifesting and talking about their suffering seems to be a necessary process. however, instead of being used as evidence of the massacre, the rupture and incoherence of the statements in court lead the commission to question the victims and ultimately dismiss their testimonies for lack of consistency. as one of the victims complains, “they found everything we said to be faulty, unreliable, contradictory, smacking of falsehood, lacking in credibility and an afterthought, so they refused to accept any of it” (p. 254). kandasamy denounces that “a story told in many voices is seen as unreliable” (p. 234). she adds: perhaps [they] wanted a single story: uniform, end to end to end. the ‘once upon a time, there lived an old lady in a tiny village’ story. sadly, we are not able to tell such a story… […] we were bound to lose. because we do not know how to tell our story. because we do not rehearse. because some of us are tongue-tied. because all of us are afraid and the fear in our hearts slurs the truth in our voice. (pp. 234–35) 148 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 thus, many scholars have pointed out the limitations of this paradigm when trying to account for the injustices and inequalities suffered by oppressed groups whose misrecognition and misinterpretation have been overlooked and normalised. it is increasingly imperative to review the supposed universal validity of western definitions of trauma and recovery and broaden the focus to accommodate and recognise other responses. multidirectional suffering lucy bond and stef craps are two of the scholars who have signalled significant blind spots in caruth and apa’s categorisation of ptsd. they consider the definition as biased and unmindful of psychodynamic perspectives, and restricting the kinds of experiences that can be recognised as traumatic, thus legitimising the suffering of certain subjects—generally western—over others—peripheral individuals and communities (bond & craps 2017: 37–38). they find two aspects particularly problematic: one is its exclusive focus on sudden and unexpected catastrophic events which ignores the chronic psychic suffering caused by structural violence such as racism, classism and other forms of structural oppression. as they explain, “the cumulative impact of the often subtle everyday discriminations and humiliations inflicted on the victims of such forms of oppression can be as profound as that of spectacular and instantaneous acts of violence” (pp. 108–109). what they are asking for is an understanding of the long-term consequences of traumatic experiences stemming from institutionalised oppression that can remain unresolved for decades, and even generations, in the socially othered. the other limitation they point out, attributable to its rootedness in western conceptions of personhood, is the tendency to consider trauma as an individual phenomenon. this not only complicates approaches to collectivist societies, but also dodges supra-individual conditions that enable traumatic abuse, such as political oppression, social exclusion, and economic deprivation (pp. 108–109). feminist psychotherapist laura brown also disagrees with apa’s definition of trauma, particularly regarding the nature of traumatic events as “outside the range of usual human experience” (american psychiatric association 1980: 236–238). brown argues that the human experience referred to in diagnostic manuals often means male human experience and, consequently, the range of human experience becomes the range of what is normal and usual in the lives of white, young, healthy, educated, middle-class, christian men. in such a setting, trauma is “that which disrupts these particular human lives” (brown 1991: 121). but the reality is that many traumatic experiences are “well within the range of human experience” (p. 121), as traumatic ‘potentials’ to which victims accommodate. kandasamy exposes the undeniable impact of caste-based trauma on women, particularly due to their vulnerability as potential victims of rape and gender violence, contributing to the establishment of a specific space for their experiences. yet rather than solely emphasising their victimhood, the gypsy goddess brings to light the pivotal role played by dalit women in their village’s pursuit of dignity and liberation. the rhetoric of dalit psychological suffering 149 these women fearlessly confront their oppressors and willingly jeopardise their lives to safeguard their humanity and strive for a better future. this is evident not only through the novel’s title, which pays homage to the revered female figure, but also in its portrayal of the dalit woman within the larger community: when women take to protest, there is no looking back. […] sometimes their demands are related to women alone […]. most of the time, they fight for everybody. […] the jails are full of fighting madonnas. they are not afraid. they are not afraid of arrests. they are not afraid of hurt. […] the landlords punish these shrill-voiced women by stripping them almost naked and tying them to trees and whipping them in front of the whole village. the police punish them by making them kneel and walk a few miles on their knees until they have no choice but to crawl. these blows do not break them. they are bold beyond the bruised skin and the bleeding knee. (2014: 75–76) a related strand of criticism spearheaded by michael rothberg’s influential work on ‘multidirectional memory’ (2009) has called for a comparative approach to memory that explores historical violence through a cross-cultural framework. rothberg offers an alternative to the ‘competitive memory’ model according to which the capacity to remember historical tragedies is limited, and any attention to one tragedy inevitably diminishes our capacity to remember another. he suggests that we consider memory as multidirectional, that is, “as subject to ongoing negotiation, cross-referencing, and borrowing” (p. 3). in line with this alternative conceptualisation, judith herman proposed capturing the normative and everyday aspects of trauma as ‘complex ptsd’ (1992). as she comments, complex ptsd understands responses to trauma as ‘a spectrum of conditions’ rather than as a single disorder, ranging “from a brief stress reaction that gets better by itself and never qualifies for a diagnosis, to classic or simple post-traumatic stress disorder, to the complex syndrome of prolonged, repeated trauma” (p. 119). subjection to continuous and systematic coercive control certainly produces profound alterations in the identity of the victim. psychotherapist maria root coined the term ‘insidious trauma’ (1989, 1992) for the cumulative degradation and effects of oppression that are not always blatant or overtly violent, but nonetheless threaten the victims’ basic well-being. she also acknowledged the power of post-traumatic symptoms to filter through generations when belonging to that group means a constant lifetime risk of exposure to certain trauma; those for whom insidious trauma is ‘a way of life’ (1989, 1992). many scholars agree with trauma’s potential to pass down through generations, especially among socially oppressed groups, making a case for the intergenerational nature of trauma. bond and craps, for instance, argue that children of survivors inherit memories of catastrophic events that they themselves did not experience, which they call ‘transgenerational legacies’ (2017: 85).6 6recent research in epigenetics has suggested that trauma may travel across generations in a much more literal way. they argue that trauma can leave a chemical mark on a person’s genes 150 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 in the gypsy goddess, kandasamy primarily focuses on specific instances of violence rooted in caste discrimination, leading up to or culminating in the massacre. however, the author emphasises the importance of going beyond this trauma and recognising the pervasive oppression endured by dalits (2014: 19). she shifts perspectives and combines first-, second-, and third-person narrations to add to the polyphonic nature of the novel but, more significantly, to demonstrate the pervasiveness of trauma on a daily basis. we read about the rape of a fourteen-year-old girl at the hands of the landlords (p. 34), the kidnapping and murder of a labourer at the hands of caste-hindus for religious reasons (p. 35), the mass arrest and rampaging of labourers and the whipping and stripping of their wives for daring to protest (pp. 72, 76, 77), among many other cases. thus, characters either endure a multi-layered, continuous traumatic life filled with overwhelming and violent events or have inherited their ancestors’ fear, alertness and submissiveness. either way, it is a ‘trauma-continuum’ (nayar 2018: 332) with an ‘endless impact’ on their lives. given this generational burden of traumatic memory, bond and craps have proposed the concept of ‘trauma of the future’ or pre-traumatic stress (pretss) reactions. they argue that past-related ptsd symptoms are found to be mirrored by similar future-related ptsd symptoms, what paul saint-amour has called the “traumatizing power of anticipation” (2015a: 17).7 this can include intrusive images and nightmares about future negative events, avoidance behaviour and increased arousal to stimuli associated with traumatic events (bond & craps 2017: 126). the gypsy goddess illustrates the power of casteist oppression to create anticipated suffering on dalits, revealing how fear of a potentially impending disaster can be as traumatic as a real one. the “ripple effect of terror” (2014: 111) made the victims foresee their fate and silently wait for death (p. 217). as one of them declares, “the future had been tied to the past, so we hear our history over and over again. we always ended up hearing this history wherever we started” (p. 218). collective victimhood the individual suffering embodied in the gypsy goddess, as in most dalit texts, is closely related to the individual’s social position, thus linking the individual plight of a dalit to the scars on the dalit social body. trauma, as bond and craps put it, not only blurs the boundaries between mind and body, memory and forgetting, speech and silence, but cuts across the internal and the external, the private and the public, the individual and the collective (2017: 5). that is passed on to the next generation. although this trace does not cause any direct genetic mutation, supporters of this theory argue that it can alter the mechanism whereby the gene is converted into functioning proteins (carey 2018). according to benedict carey, if these studies are validated, it would imply that we inherit a certain imprint of our parents’ and grandparents’ experiences, particularly their hardships, which subsequently affects our own daily well-being and potentially that of our children as well (2018). nevertheless, the scientific community has not reached a consensus on such claims. 7sigmund freud also considered anxiety as a shield against traumatisation, instead of a source of it (as cited in saint-amour 2015b). the rhetoric of dalit psychological suffering 151 there is no doubt that the collective consciousness does not work in the same way as an individual psyche. kai erikson (1976) distinguishes between the psychological nature of individual trauma and the social nature of the collective one. on the one hand, he understands individual trauma as “a blow to the psyche that breaks through one’s defences so suddenly and with such brutal force that one cannot react to it effectively” (pp. 153–54), while collective trauma is “a blow to the basic tissues of social life that damages the bonds attaching people together and impairs the prevailing sense of community” (p. 154). the main difference, therefore, is that collective trauma works its way insidiously into the consciousness of the group members, thus lacking “the quality of suddenness” (p. 154) normally associated with trauma. although they are different, there is still a powerful connection between the individual experience of trauma and the collective one (p. 101).8 jeffrey c. alexander (2012) suggests that the constant exposure to violence and oppressive discourse marks a group’s memories and consciousness forever and changes its cultural identity in fundamental and irrevocable ways, leading to the formation of a collective type of trauma (p. 3). in line with this, cathy caruth concedes that just as there is a damaged body, one can speak of a damaged social organism (1995: 188). she also highlights the centripetal and centrifugal tendencies of trauma (p. 186) arguing that communal trauma may give victims the feeling that they have been set apart and made special, creating a spiritual kinship, a source of communality or a sense of new identity. martha wolfenstein called this the ‘post-disaster utopia’ (1957), as if survivors, digging beneath the masses of debris, discover a communal body and use its remaining resources to recover and consolidate. hence, despite the potential disorientation and harm inflicted upon a collective by a crisis or catastrophe, there exists a transformative capacity to convert it into a cultural ‘big bang’ or a ‘founding trauma’ (lacapra 2014: xii). this phenomenon is evident within the dalit community, where individual trauma paradoxically strengthens their sense of collective identity and solidarity, enabling them to attribute their suffering to a common adversary. in the gypsy goddess, the dalit ‘body’ extends beyond the individual’s biological body; the surviving or traumatised body becomes embedded within the social body to such an extent that the suffering transcends the individual and assumes a systemic nature that impacts the community’s social fabric. another factor contributing to the collective memory of dalits in the novel is the deliberate absence of main characters, whether good or bad,9 even when specific incidents of oppression are elaborated upon. this strategy serves the purpose of attributing oppressors with a broader, more universal embodiment and invoking wider solidarities (kumar 2010: 233) but also to blur any clear-cut distinction between the particular and the general, adding to the universal dichotomy of ‘them’ versus ‘us’ on issues such casteism. 8freud also affirmed this concordance between the individual and the mass in moses and monotheism (2010). he assumed that “the masses, too, retain an impression of the past in unconscious memory traces” (151). 9gopalkrishna naidu, a caste-hindu and the leader of the paddy producers’ association, stands out from the rest as he is ultimately assigned the blame for the massacre. this occurs after he drafts a petition to the government, pleading for action against the ‘communist agitators’. 152 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 in the same way that a collective experience of suffering can result in a feeling of collective victimhood (bar-tal et al. 2009), which can be self-perpetuating and operate as cognitive schema, the shared suffering of dalits can create a sense of ‘dalit victimhood’ and an ontological corporeal and spiritual crisis. however, dalit victimhood is being reinterpreted and deconstructed in the novel through a process of ‘becoming’, a social repositioning of identity that involves recognising, deconstructing and reinterpreting the sense of imposed victimhood. ‘becoming’ occurs, in the words of william connolly, “when a culturally marked constituency, suffering under its current social constitution, strives to reconfigure itself by moving the cultural constellation of identity/difference then in place” (1996: 255–256). it is a paradoxical politics whereby “new cultural identities are formed out of old energies, injuries and differences” (p. 261). the novel is not only a blunt denunciation of casteist brutality, but a ‘vehicle of emancipation’ and an instrument of revolt and transformation that encourages turning anguish into anger. the author writes with an awareness of anger, which she talks about in a constructive way, as an important piece of dalit struggle and survival, connecting it with the identity of the characters in the book. anger not only informs the novel but is used as an empowering tool for both the writer and the characters. anger prevents the village from “disorienting itself”, it “keeps the people together, injects them with life, provides them a reason to live, pushes them into action” (2014: 202), but it also helps them to “conceal unknown fears” (p. 115) of what the future holds for them and their families. loss, absence and recovery despite the creation of a collective identity of fellow sufferers who can aspire to join forces and speak with a common voice, collective and cultural trauma can be problematic.10 while some theorists assume that trauma affects communities in a similar way to individuals, others have questioned the indiscriminate extension to larger entities and have suggested considering collective and cultural trauma as social rather than psychological constructs. one of these scholars is dominick lacapra, who highlights the importance of distinguishing between historical loss and structural absence (2014). lacapra considers loss as the product of discrete memory-bound historical events resulting from the removal or destruction of a person, place, or thing, which he calls ‘historical trauma’. structural absence or ‘structural trauma’, on the other hand, is not 10cultural trauma and collective trauma both involve the impact of traumatic events on social groups or communities. cultural trauma focuses on the enduring psychological and social effects of trauma on a specific culture or society, disrupting their values and collective identity. it may be expressed through collective memory, narratives, symbols, and rituals. in contrast, collective trauma refers to the psychological and emotional impact on a collective entity, such as a community or nation, leading to shared distress, loss, and disorientation. it can have longterm effects on social cohesion, trust, and individual well-being within the affected group (alexander 2004). the rhetoric of dalit psychological suffering 153 an event but the absence of foundations—be they referential, ideological, theological, or some other structural component that has never existed. as lacapra puts it simply, “one cannot lose what one never had. absence is the missing of an absolute” (2014: 50). although the two concepts interact in complex ways, history and memory remain different modes of inscription (p. xx).11 for lacapra, failure to narrow down the traumatic source and exposure to this easy conflation can lead to an unhealthy elevation of victimhood, to obscure the status of historical victims, and to ‘unreflexive’ processes of overidentification with the suffering of others—what he calls ‘vicarious victimhood’ (p. 116). furthermore, since traumatic experiences engender a potentially endless crisis of survival, the entanglement of discrete instances of historical loss with the foundational problem of structural absence may also thwart the process of recovery. however, the blurring of absence and loss bears witness to the impact of trauma and the post-traumatic mental state, with disorientation, agitation, or even confusion as clear markers (p. 46). it precisely attests to the way in which one remains possessed or haunted by the past and finds it difficult to distinguish between the two. dalit texts tackle endless exposure to suffering, which contains an underlying feeling of loss: loss of home, land, family members and culture. however, the fact that this suffering has lasted over time through several generations and has sprung from different sources makes it difficult to reduce it to particular events.12 the crisis of humanity that they have endured—and continue to do so—is generally attributable to being the ‘other’. along the same lines, although there is a specific historical fact of rupture that has caused the loss of homes and family members, the victims in the gypsy goddess suffer a structural absence of human rights, dignity and equal opportunities. there is, thus, a tension between the idea that dalits actually become dalits through the experience of oppression—in other words, that casteism and its oppression forged their identity—and the need to recover a sense of cultural selfhood that somehow ‘predates’, ontologically, historically and ethically, this identity of suffering. if we base human rights on the principle of human dignity, this narrative highlights situations where certain individuals, due to their caste background, are clearly disenfranchised. the suffering experienced by dalits is deeply rooted in history, evident in the countless instances of oppression, discrimination, and violence they have endured over time. additionally, the enduring effects of historical trauma on subsequent generations represent transhistorical suffering. this recognises that the 11according to lacapra, the conversion of absence into loss can manifest as a ‘misplaced nostalgia’ that prompts a quest for a utopian politics of some original unity, wholeness, security, or identity that others have ruined or polluted (2014: 58). this can lead to anxiety, melancholic paralysis, or manic agitation and may raise hope that this state may be eliminated or overcome. conversely, when loss is mistaken for absence, endless melancholy, impossible mourning, and interminable aporia can emerge. 12untouchability has an intricate origin that is difficult to pinpoint in a straightforward manner or attribute to a single event or cause. therefore, it would be inappropriate and reductive to completely dismiss historical trauma in the dalits’ case and ascribe their suffering to simple cumulative absence. 154 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 consequences of past injustices can persist across generations, impacting the social, psychological, and economic well-being of dalits in the present. therefore, it may be appropriate to view dalit trauma as a combination of both historical and transhistorical suffering, considering the interplay and contribution of these factors to the current state of dalits. one of the reasons behind lacapra’s insistence on discerning loss from absence is the importance of not dwelling on trauma and working towards recovery. he proposes two seemingly opposite responses to trauma: acting-out and workingthrough. as discussed before, after an overwhelming and shattering event that escapes normal registration in the victim’s memory, the event may somehow register in the traumatic memory and be relived in the present in an uncontrolled, unconscious and, at times, compulsively repetitive manner, breaking temporal distinctions and inhibiting action—a phenomenon denominated by lacapra as the symptomatic ‘acting-out’ of trauma (2014: 88–89). the phenomenon of acting-out is repeatedly illustrated in the gypsy goddess, especially in chapter 10, titled “mischief by fire”, in which the fire that charred the lives of forty-four dalits is agonisingly described. the lack of punctuation turns the entire chapter into a single sentence, mirroring the shattered, convoluted, and distorted memory of the survivors: and in desperation a mother throws her one-year-old son out of the burning hut but the boy is caught by the leering mobsters and chopped into pieces and thrown back in and in that precise yet fleeting moment of loss and rage everyone realizes that they would die if their death meant saving a loved one and that they would die if their death meant staying together and that they would die anyway because it would not be as disastrous as living long enough to share this sight and so alone and together they prepare to resign themselves to the fact that they have mounted their collective funeral pyre (kandasamy 2014: 164) lacapra posits that trauma victims should embark on an effort to “articulate and rearticulate affect and representation in a manner that may never transcend, but may to some viable extent counteract […] that disabling disassociation” caused by trauma (2014: 42). it involves a process of gaining critical distance on traumatic experiences and recontextualising them, a working over trauma that lacapra calls ‘working-through’ (p. 90). but while this is the desirable outcome, he advises against completely discrediting the process of acting-out, stating that it is not only inevitable in some cases, but even necessary. he argues that most trauma victims display an unavoidable “tendency to repeat which, if not confronted, tends to take place in a blind and unchecked manner to return as the repressed or to recur as the dissociated” (p. 143). likewise, working-through does not mean a complete avoidance of suffering or a direct harmonisation between past and present; rather, it implies “coming to terms the rhetoric of dalit psychological suffering 155 with trauma, including its details, and critically engaging the tendency to act out the past” (p. 144).13 locked in compulsive repetition and possessed by the past, the victims in the gypsy goddess seem trapped within the traumatic event. but the repetition itself may also be a homeopathic process that allows, to some extent, some critical distance and resumption of life if the victim can relinquish his/her attachment to the past. a male eyewitness named ramalingam, who had to testify before a commissioner, workedout through his traumatic memories page after page in run-on sentences (2014: 167– 182). he narrates: “that day dangles in front of my eyes all the time, i know it scene by scene, it is more clear to me than this moment, it is more real to me than the two of us here, talking” (p. 174). but, as painful as it might be, putting his memories into words helps him not only to claim a wrong, but also to put the pieces together. jacques derrida developed the idea that there is no point of time of pure origin, but only an always-already absent present that he called ‘hauntology’ (1987), like spectres that cannot be ontologised and, consequently, will continue to problematise or haunt historical discourses. in such scenarios, derrida proposes an interminable mourning— or mid-mourning—that implies working over and through traumatic experiences through a constant reenactment of the traumatic event, potentially leading to its understanding and inclusion in one’s conscious psyche (p. 335). this approach may be considered when addressing trauma in communities whose oppression is problematic to trace and pigeonhole, such as dalits. it could serve as a productive form of partial mourning in the negotiation of unsettled experiences and as an acknowledgement that trauma may never be fully resolved. against the assumption that “the impossible, aporetic or melancholic response is the only appropriately ethical condition” for a post-traumatic ‘afterwardsness’, roger luckhurst has proposed ‘resilience’ as a “positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity” (2008: 210). along the same lines, the concept of ‘post-traumatic growth’ encompasses the positive change that the individual might experience as a consequence of facing a traumatic event (calhoun & tedeschi 1999: 11). due to changes in self-perception, interpersonal relationships and life philosophy, traumatic experiences can take the form of a greater appreciation for life, closer relationships with others, the visualisation of new opportunities, a sense of increased personal strength, or spiritual change. the gypsy goddess celebrates resilience through quotes like the following: “life, weighed down by death, weary of destruction, goes on” (2014: 195). but what is more interesting is the idea that those who have been wounded or hurt physically are lucky insofar as their pain grounds them and “prevents them from hurtling down into the worlds, from disappearing into the abyss” (p. 202). however, while resilience and post-traumatic growth serve as a reminder of the plurality of responses to trauma, they should be approached with a sceptical eye to 13lacapra based his formulation of ‘acting-out’ and ‘working-through’ on freud’s psychoanalytical concepts of ‘melancholia’ and ‘mourning’. contrary to lacapra’s approach, however, freud (1917) recognised melancholia (melancholie) and mourning (trauer) as mutually exclusive reactions to loss. 156 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the extent that they can generate a ‘negative sublimity’ or fidelity to trauma (lacapra 2014: 22). victims of traumatising events may resist the process of working through due to the perception that by doing so, one is betraying those who were overwhelmed and consumed by that traumatic past. the unbearable thought of having survived the dead “when the mourning village fed its dead ancestors, placated their tormented souls and told them to rest in peace” (kandasamy 2014: 206) tempts one of the survivors to contemplate the idea of taking his own life. dalits’ burden is such at times that it is beyond them to “try and make meaning out of the randomness of death” (p. 196) to which they are still too often exposed. conclusion as this article has attempted to demonstrate, somatic trauma caused by caste-based oppression does not stop in the bone, but has the ability to penetrate the inner psyche of dalits in multiple and unexpected ways. the gypsy goddess serves as a comprehensive repository of wronged and misinterpreted historical events, but also of the impact that systemic forms of oppression can have on people’s mental health. mainstream trauma theory has been the model used by many scholars for decades to address trauma, identifying symptoms as intrusive reenactments, hallucinations, flashbacks, nightmares (caruth 1995; american psychiatric association 1980), or affective and cognitive disturbances such as anhedonia and alexithymia (krystal 1978) or numbing (minkowski 1946). this paradigm has also come to recognise the more subtle effects of prolonged abuse, including somatic, dissociative and affective sequelae (van der kolk et al. 1996). although to different degrees, this symptomatology of trauma is revealed in the gypsy goddess, proving that dalits can indeed be called trauma victims. however, uncritically universalising this generalised concept of ptsd risks rendering the specificity of long-term pain suffered by oppressed groups invisible and unknowable. not all victims experience traumatic pathologies in the way proposed by mainstream scholars. for instance, traumatic amnesia does not seem to occur in the case of dalits. the victims in the gypsy goddess not only have their suffering imprinted on their bodies as a constant and inescapable reminder, but talking about their suffering seems to be a necessary and cathartic process. many are the scholars who call for an expansion of the scope and a revision of the dominant conceptions of trauma and recovery. some of the most significant points made are that trauma does not arise only from sudden and unexpected catastrophic events nor is it just an individual phenomenon (bond & craps 2017), that there is ‘a spectrum of conditions’ rather than a single response to trauma (herman 1992), that the cumulative degradation and subtle effects of oppression are ‘insidious trauma’ (root 1989, 1992), and that trauma has a generational transmissibility, meaning that there is a ‘trauma of the future’ or pre-traumatic stress (pretss) reactions (bond & craps 2017). the rhetoric of dalit psychological suffering 157 the connection between the individual experience of trauma and the collective one (alexander 2012) is omnipresent in the gypsy goddess. as the distinction between private and public breaks down, descriptions of localised individual corporeal suffering are extrapolated to broader contexts of collective pain. as such, the pain is shifted towards the community, thus universalising the singular and implying that any dalit would have had the same experience. and, while a crisis or catastrophe might damage the community, it may also transform into a ‘founding trauma’ (lacapra 2014), or a trauma that paradoxically becomes the valued or intensely cathected basis of an individual or a group’s identity. repeated subjection to disempowerment and denial of autonomy has undoubtedly caused socially mistreated and alienated dalits to develop and internalise a destructive psychological system of self-hatred and communal insecurity. but, in addition to the dramatic loss of identity or the tearing of the social fabric, their collective trauma has paradoxically also led to a process of identity consolidation, as kandasamy demonstrates. but collective or cultural trauma can be problematic as it can blur the difference between historical loss and structural absence (lacapra 2014) which, among other consequences, can frustrate the process of recovery from trauma. in this case, while the gypsy goddess seems to focus on a ubiquitous exposure to loss, it also sheds light on an endless structural absence of basic human rights. the gypsy goddess portrays an in-between category of acting-out and working-through, a mid-mourning (derrida 1987). by remembering and talking about the pervasiveness and harassment of their traumatic experiences, dalits not only compulsively and uncontrollably relive them, but also process them to some extent. therefore, in the case of communities whose oppression is difficult to track and pin down, partial mourning and acknowledgement that the trauma may never be fully resolved are valid and necessary approaches. kandasamy reminds readers that her community is defined not only by their traumas, but also by the irrepressible desire to survive, thrive, and have their stories told. still, as the cultural foundations of the community are called into question and the ‘we’ is reconstructed from sheer victimhood to resistance and assertion, kandasamy makes it painfully clear that no amount of research, awareness and empathy can replace lived experience. the consequences of caste-based oppression need to be addressed and more conversations need to be had about the particular psychological needs of 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(1957). disaster: a psychological essay. free press. © 2024 harish s. wankhede. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.693 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 393-409 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste from panthers to political dalits: revisiting the legacy of dalit panthers in india harish s. wankhede1 abstract the panthers had created a rupture from the earlier pattern that ambedkar has strategized to integrate the dalits as one of the important political subjects of the modern nation state. the panthers deviated and invested in two radical ideological traits; the civil right movement in the us (including the black panthers’ party) and radical marxism (indian naxalite movement) to transform ambedkar’s social theory into an aggressive brand of transformative politics. the panthers showed open discomfort with the given liberal model of democratic politics and attempted to shift the traditional dalit political ideology into a revolutionary force. though the panthers’ innovations have impressed the urban dalit youths and intelligentsia, it failed miserably in forming a concrete political alternative at the regional or the national level. i have concluded that, with the rise of bahujan samaj party (bsp), the dalits were introduced to an improvised liberal political agenda, different from the earlier variants of ambedkar’s participatory politics and the panthers’ militant rhetoric. it shows that the dalits are more convinced and engaged with the liberal-democratic model and consciously refute the militant and radical methods for political actions. keywords ambedkar, dalit literature, bsp, radicalism, naxalism, maharashtra, pragmatism “we will build the organization of workers, dalits, landless, poor peasants through all city factories, in all villages. we will hit back against all injustice perpetrated on dalits. we will well and truly destroy the caste and varna system that thrives on the people’s misery, which exploits the people, and liberate the dalits. the present legal system and state have turned all our dreams to dust. to 1assistant professor, centre for political studies, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india email: enarish@gmail.com 394 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 eradicate all the injustice against dalit, they must themselves become rulers. this is the people’s democracy. sympathizers and members of dalit panthers, be ready for the final struggle of the dalits.” (dalit panthers manifesto, 1973) since the beginning of the 1970s, the nation had started witnessing a widespread disillusionment among the marginalized sections against the political rhetoric of development and social justice, offered by the ruling elites. various fragments of society (women, peasants, students, adivasis (tribes), etc.) whom earlier had posed their faith in the progressive developmental agenda of the state had started their independent movements to articulate an organic opposition towards achieving a substantive form of social democracy and economic justice (sangvai, 2007, p. 111). the dalit panthers (dp) emerged in such widespread turmoil of the new people’s movements in the 1970s. from its notable emergence in the poor urban alleys of mumbai till its downfall in the late 1980s, in a very short period of time, it has achieved a cult status with a remarkable impact in restructuring the conscience of the subaltern communities, especially of the urban dalit youths. it has articulated one of the most daring and militant political ideologies for the socially marginalized groups that disturbed the political establishment with its revolutionary zeal and alternative language of resistance. however, within a decade, such an impressive force is relegated to the margins with only some memorials available in the literary-folk traditions in maharashtra. in the contemporary dalit discourses, there are only a handful of cultural activists that may claim to have carried the radical legacy of the panthers. this article investigates two questions. first, it examines the rupture that the panthers had created in the earlier strategies and political program that ambedkar had initiated to integrate the dalits1 as the important political subjects of the new nation state. the panthers combined two radical ideological traits; the civil right movement in the us, including the black panthers and the radical marxism (indian naxalite movement) to transform ambedkar’s social theory into an aggressive brand of transformative-revolutionary politics. the panthers showed open discomfort towards the liberal democratic politics and judged it as a system that serves the interest of the social elites. therefore, the panthers opined that a complete uprooting of the ‘bourgeois-brahmanical’ institutions is a must to insure justice against the social maladies and economic injustices. though the panthers overtly legitimized the idea of romantic militancy as an appropriate form for the emancipatory struggle, it failed to engage the dalits into its revolutionary program or even in building a popular mass mobilization of the downtrodden people. within a decade of panthers’ arrival, its radical euphoria collapsed and the organization became defunct. 1dalit is a political term, mainly used as a synonym to represent the scheduled castes (regarded as ‘untouchables’ in the traditional brahmanic hindu social order). jyotiba phule used this marathi word to name the most marginalized social groups and it was later adopted by ambedkar to represent the same in his journalistic writing paddalit (crushed under feet), dalitoudhdhar (dalit emancipation) etc. literally it means crushed, broken or oppressed. dalit panthers provided it a positive and dignified meaning by placing it against the given political identities like gandhi’s harijan (god’s people) and other socially degraded low caste identities. from panthers to political dalits: revisiting the legacy of dalit panthers in india 395 second, i have argued that panthers’ sudden decline showcases that the dalit masses were ill prepared for such an aggressive brand of political activism. instead, the liberal-democratic format for political participation remained the preferred choice of the dalit masses. especially in the case of uttar pradesh, it is visible that distinct from the panthers’ appeal, the dalit politics under the leadership of kanshi ram reinvents the relevance of democratic politics by adopting improvised social strategies and would soon emerge as an influential mass movement. i have concluded here that with the rise of bahujan samaj party (bsp), the dalits were introduced to a new language of political presence, different from the panthers’ variant. after witnessing the shortcomings of classical ambedkarite politics and the utopia of panthers’ militant rhetoric, the bsp initiated new strategies for political mobilization, introducing the dalits as new leaders in democratic battles. the party was successful in creating a new ‘political dalit’ that is more convinced and comfortable with the idea of achieving political power through a greater politicization of the social identities, rather than the aggressive and separatist methods presented by the panthers. from passive liberals to lumpen proletarians: the origin of the dalit panthers the context ambedkar introduced the dalits as compulsory participants in the new democratic institutions. it was a revolutionary turn as the modern constitutional legality promoted the ex-untouchables as significant participants in state power and provided opportunities for their economic mobility. in the first two decades of the new republic, the dalits showed their uncritical allegiance to the political system with a poised hope in the national project of political and economic development. the congress party utilized the dalit constituency as its natural ally in winning the elections over the heightened agenda of social justice but hardly awarded the dalits influential positions in political and state institutions. the new realm only produced a handful of selfengrossed dalit middle class individuals with a declined sense of self-respect and lack of political ambitions. on the other hand, the vast dalit majority remained excluded from the benefits of political developments and capitalist growth and suffered under precarious social and class conditions. the post-ambedkar dalit leadership also remained passive as its party, the republican party of india (rpi) had limited organizational strength and lacked innovative strategies to build impressive political mobilization.2 very soon factionalism popped up within the party on flimsy issues, allowing the congress party to appropriate the disgruntled dalit leaders. an influential rpi faction formed electoral-alliance with the congress party and its leadership turned into a ‘client’ to the dictates of the ‘patron’ 2in the late 1960s, the republican party of india (rpi) under dadasaheb gaikwad did mobilize peasants and dalits on crucial issues of land rights but soon failed to remain united as the sole political heir of the ambedkarite legacy. 396 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 leadership (jogdand, 1998, p. 1072). importantly, the socio-economic context remained almost unchanged for the majority of the dalits as the rigid upper caste hegemony continued as a regular norm. dalits face visible discrimination and atrocities and were condemned to survive under poverty and ghettoized locations. the panthers emerged as a reaction to the growing atrocities (teltumbde, 2020). though the dalit political class raised these issues, it lacked the commitment, honesty and courage that could have led the masses towards a better social and political arrangement. the panthers emerged as an attack over the widespread pessimism attached to the dalit identity in the post-ambedkar period. it evolved in the early 1970s, at a juncture when the independent political capacities of the dalits (under rpi) had little impact and it mostly operated as a submissive force under the dictates of the congress party. in the absence of a vibrant political alternative and ideological merit, dp was welcomed as the true harbinger of the conscious dalit subjectivity. the panthers was sporadically established in mumbai in 1972 by a bunch of newly educated dalits, young artists, poets, unemployed youths and social activists mainly to articulate a critical militant dalit response without fear and compromise.3 it was poised to build an ideological response against the social elite hegemony, insensitive and corrupt political and bureaucratic order and also against the opportunist, stoogelike behavior of the dalit leadership (murugkar, 1991). it evoked a new language of protest based in the rooted experiential episteme of the social wretchedness and class exploitation, arguing that the question of poverty was misplaced in the contemporary dalit movement (omvedt, 2011, p. 77). it stood distinctively from the mainstream dalit political movement and its ideological goals as it wanted to place the dalits at the centerstage of political deliberations by bringing the issues of rape, violence and atrocities in the mainstream discourse. the dp movement was one of the most imaginative exercises within the dalit discourse. it promoted a radical dalit agency to draw a political roadmap different from the conventional liberal model of democratic politics adopted by the postambedkar dalit leadership. it proposed a militant rejection to the integrationist ideals of nationalism, secularism and constitutional justice to promote a romantic vision for the future, imagining the downtrodden mass as the ruling class. the panthers gave an élan that only after the complete overthrow of the caste system, alongside a call for the reforms in modern institutions (as it protects the interests of the social elites), would real justice to the poor and the dalits will be achieved. the activism of the wounded souls the first few years of the dp activism were marked by sudden mobilization of youths over the growing incidents of caste atrocities, rapes of dalit women and social violence/boycott of the caste hindus against the poor dalits.4 the incident that 3raja dhale, j.v. pawar, namdev dhasal, avinash mahatekar, latif khatik, baburao bagul and bhai sangare are recognized as the leading collective behind the forming of the dalit panthers on 9 july 1972 in siddharth nagar, mumbai. 4the incidents of dalit women being paraded naked by the dominant caste hindus of the village have hovered over dalit consciousness. the case of dalit boycott in bawda and sexual assault from panthers to political dalits: revisiting the legacy of dalit panthers in india 397 brought the panthers into the limelight of maharashtra’s politics was the anti-dalit worli riots of 1974. the panthers had decided to boycott the bombay central (north) parliamentary bye-election to protest the growing cases of caste atrocities (jogdand, 1991, p. 82). the dp’s public meeting at ambedkar maidan, worli on january 5, 1974 was disturbed by anti-social elements from the nearby upper caste localities. the miscreants started hurling ‘stones and soda bottles’ from the neighboring buildings causing injuries to the people and created a situation of riot and conflict. the police reached there immediately only to protect the interests of the dominant castes. the police mercilessly lathi-charged the gathered people (including women and children), fired teargas bullets and also arrested numerous dalits, while taking ‘virtually no action against the perpetrators of violence’ (mody, 1974, p. 44). dp leaders raja dhale and latif khatik were arrested along with 19 dp activists. the situation of riot continued in the following days as the police assisted the rioters in unleashing a long violence in the predominantly dalit residential location of bdd chawl (colony).5 on 10 january when the dp organized a peace procession at parel, demanding inquiry over the biased role of the police and immediate release of the dp leaders, it was further attacked by shiv sena activists, resulting in clashes in which a dp activist, bhagwati ramji jadhav, was killed on the spot.6 a year before the worli riot, the panther as an organization came into news over a fiery article in a marathi magazine sadhana by raja dhale. it denounced independence day (15 august) as “black independence day” (kala swatantray divas) and made strong comments against the national flag questioning the legitimacy of independence over the pretext of growing atrocities against dalit women (dangle, 1992, p. 253). the shiv sena and jan sangh (party which was a precursor to the current bhartiya janata party) demonstrated at the sadhana office demanding dhale’s apology (rao, 2009, p. 189). members of the panthers’ overwhelmingly endorse dhale’s line and observed that year’s independence day as the black day. further, dp leader namdeo dhasal was also arrested for making inflammatory remarks on the same issue. the radical and aggressive tone of the article was debated heavily amongst the dalits, along with the concerns over the arrests and atrocities against the dalit activists. this event and later the worli riots brought the panthers in the mainstream political discourse of on two dalit women in brahmangoan (both in 1972) was discussed significantly within the panther’s circle. the inability of the political class that represents dalits (mostly rpi) to deliver justice to the victims has further motivated the panthers to think about direct mass actions. 5the maharashtra government set up a judicial enquiry committee over the worli-naigaon riots, headed by the then chief justice of the bombay high court, s.b. bhasme. he submitted his detailed report in 1976, mentioning the close connection between the police, the upper caste lumpen gangs and the shiv sena activists in instigating and prolonging the violence and atrocities against the neo-buddhist dalit community. 6economic and political weekly (epw) published a news report of the same incident. it gives a detailed account of atrocities committed by the upper castes under the patronage of shiv sena and the police personnel. it is also mentioned how the growing might of the panthers were seen as a threat to the political establishment. (see “attack on dalit panthers” epw, vol. 9, no. 3, jan. 19, 1974) 398 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 mumbai.7 the dalit residential colonies of the city (dadar, parel, worli, naigaon, taddev, bhiwandi) became central locations for demonstrative actions. it created several situations of conflict, especially against the assertions of the shiv sena which was equally struggling to establish its political base in the same region (rao, 2009, p. 189). the dp also measured itself as a compatible and capable force that could challenge the sena’s lumpen chauvinism through counter violence. in both cases, the involvement of the shiv sena as an arch rival to the dalit cause made the conditions violent and conflicting. the dp leadership showed its readiness to counter such attacks and converted the political battle into a street fight between two caste gangs. it presented the panthers as fearless and aggressive law-breakers, resembling the heroic persona of ‘angry young man’, different from their corrupt and passive political counterparts. though their political acts and actions are not admired by the general masses, including the dalits, the panthers were able to promote themselves as a serious and committed group for a greater moral cause. very soon, the panthers became a state-wide phenomenon with a loose but widespread network of chhavnis (branches), influx of new members, indulging in a series of socio-political acts, organizing processions and public meetings to highlight the precarious conditions of the dalits.8 compared to the sena, the panthers hardly achieved any significant form of organizational structure and mostly remained mobile and active whenever cases against dalit atrocities appeared in the newspapers. the dp activists would visit the site of the atrocity and try to mobilize people for demonstrative action. the speeches would be infused with rhetoric of violent revenge, social tension and coercive pressure tactics.9 such acts, for the first time introduced the dalits as capable beings who wanted to end caste oppression without direct support from state institutions. literature as everyday life no! no! no! a triple rejection, to your economic, social, political, mental, religious, moral and cultural pollution you ever-living, ever luminous sun! 7excerpts taken from raja dhale’s interview, telecasted on a marathi news channel (jai maharashtra) on the 40th anniversary of the dalit panthers. 8in 1974, it is estimated that there were 25,000 dp members, mostly the neo-buddhist mahars (deliege, 1999, p. 170). 9namdeo dhasal narrated one such incident to a marathi news channel. in bhugaon, a dalit pregnant woman was raped by the upper caste landlord’s son. she committed suicide the next day. dhasal immediately mobilized close to 2000 people in pune with petty arsenal (hockey sticks, latthis and swords) and barged into the village to give justice to the victim, against the failure of the police and politicians. the panthers encircled the house of the culprit and decided to give the final judgment over the rape case by burning the whole house. however, they were stopped by the local mla, and with the promise of immediate relief and fair judgment the panthers withdrew their violent protest. from panthers to political dalits: revisiting the legacy of dalit panthers in india 399 your every touch brings a contagious disease. but i am a new sun independent, self-illuminating, possessed of new spirit i reject your culture. i reject your parmeshwar (the almighty) centered tradition. i reject your religion-based literature. … i have taken into account the unceasing battles. i may bend but i won’t break. the dp movement influenced the dalit writings and added a radical and militant fervor to its language. the above-mentioned poem by v.l. kalekar, a dalit poet, depicts the conscious contempt against the hindu caste order and the readiness to counter it. it reflects the confidence and courage of the dalits as the vanguard of socio-political change. the dalit literature groomed new idioms and expressions against the standard, morally loaded aesthetics and sophistication represented in mainstream marathi literature. it created a realistic imagery about the unheard and unseeable dalit lives in the rural and urban ghettos and introduced readers to the hidden filth and degraded living conditions, like that of mumbai slums, prostitutes and the excluded dalit bastis. the autobiographies, stories and poems revolve around the theme of extreme caste atrocities, cruelties, humiliated personalities, powerlessness, forced prostitution and perpetual despair in dalit’s everyday world (zelliot, 1978, pp. 84–86). in the plays of dalit rangbhoomi (dp’s theatre group), the artists would consciously enact the brutal rape incidents or the scenes of lynching/murder of the dalits, not to sensationalize the issue but to depict the everyday inhumanity that rules the dalit living spaces. the classical expediency of socialist-liberal analogy appeared too sophisticated and alien to address the precarious and degraded living conditions of the dalits and therefore writers and poets (like namdeo dhasal, j.v. pawar and baburao bagul), intellectuals (raja dhale and arun kamble) and public speakers (bhai sangare) utilized harsh and even patriarchal/filthy tones available in the daily colloquial vocabulary, to voice frank and fearless opinions. panthers’ major influence in the social discourse is to present the dalit as an aggressive social identity that is ready to confront adversaries with violent means. the new ‘dalit-self’ rejected the passive, downtrodden, unintelligent identity to cherish a new modern consciousness as a robust free being. the panthers’ literature envisaged an enlightened community that treats each individual with dignity and provides them equal access to the entitlements of a modern society. it was a resurgence of a sovereign ‘self’, liberated and motivated for complete social transformation. for example, dhasal’s ‘dalit panthers’ manifesto’ that outlined the organization’s ideological goals, 400 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 refused the material doles that the benevolent liberal state offered to the dalits, as it made them submissive to the authority of the social elites. instead, the panthers were poised to claim the whole system: we will not be satisfied easily now. we do not want a little place in the brahmin alley…we want the rule of the whole land. we are not looking at persons but at a system. change of heart, liberal education, etc., will not end our state of exploitation. when we gather a revolutionary mass, rouse the people, out of the struggle of this giant mass will come the tidal wave of revolution. (see joshi, 1986, p. 146) the literature provided them an accessible platform to express their sentiments and vision without fear and prejudice. the dalit writings became a tool to conceptualize and imagine the socio-political sphere different from the given order. the poetry, prose, essays and the biographies centered over the dalit wretched life is not only pessimistic and dark narrations of their sufferings but simultaneously it projects a visionary human agency of dalit consciousness, eager to revolutionize the crippled, violent world into a liberated space for human equality and peaceful co-existence (shaikh, 2021, p. 15). the radical political ideology panthers improvised the dalit identity as a poised collective adjective. they tried to reach out to a larger section of struggling people, offering them an ‘hermeneutic ability’ to recover the historic meaning of the past (guru, 2001, p. 98). the panthers provided modern and materialistic significance to dalit identity and crafted a ‘proud’ dalit-self, ready to engage in the democratic deliberation as a free person. such aspiration rejected the bracketed and humiliating denominator like the hindu asprushya or gandhi’s harijan (zelliot, 2001, p. 130) and invited the ex-untouchables to view themselves as torchbearers of a revolutionary movement. panthers redefined the political ideology for dalit emancipation by evoking ambedkar not as a mere parliamentary social democrat but as a crusader for a complete revolutionary praxis. dp was inspired by the ongoing civil rights movement by african americans in the us. however, the panthers were more inclined towards its radical version. for example, the aggressive black panthers movement during its radical phase, showed its antagonism against the passive non-violent, assimilationist model proposed by martin luther king jr. and other white reformist leaders. the dalit panthers drew inspiration from the early works of black panthers leaders and cultivated its image as a radical revolutionary and in their performative texts showed readiness to even adopt violent means for self-defense. during a crucial phase of the radical black panthers movement, certain leaders questioned the possibility of an alliance with the white radicals and liberals (middlebrooke, 2019) and criticized the assimilationist affirmative action policies (meister, 2017, p. 21), the dp also advocated critical distrust from panthers to political dalits: revisiting the legacy of dalit panthers in india 401 towards the democratic politics in india and called for its complete transformation. they suggested a rediscovery of the independent cultural and religious merit rooted in the newly gained ambedkarite consciousness (shaikh, 2021, p. 19). the marxist socio-political movement further influenced the dp. the rise of the socialist countries under the leadership of communist russia was also imagined within the dalit discourse as the inevitability of marxist doctrine towards achieving a complete proletariat international revolution by the working classes. in india, because of their most disadvantaged position, the dalits can relate directly to the proletariat imagination (especially in the naxalbari movement) with an organic capacity to wage revolutionary struggle. however, within the dalit discourse, marxism is interpreted not only as a class-specific political theory but also as a tool to understand how the ruling social elites have re-structured the caste system and retained their dominant control over major institutions of power. influenced by militant ‘black power’ ideology and radical marxism, the panthers bonded ambedkarite principles to develop a new indigenous language of revolution, emancipation and justice in india. powered with a new language of social revolution, they fearlessly reprimanded the polity for protecting the class-caste interests of the social elites and even called the independence of the nation a farce against the downtrodden masses. it looked at the political power with rosa luxemburg’s sense of ‘internal colonialism’ and termed the brahmanical elites as the new brown masters of the black dalits and adivasis slaves. the panthers adopted a militant language of resistance and opposition against the inclusivist rhetoric of the passive civil rights movements, political democracy and constitutional justice (slate, 2012, p. 130). the dp followed this political line and improvised the language of social protest, using violent contempt against the feudalbrahmanical order. the panthers had an overt suspicion towards the integrationist social justice model and on occasion argued to launch a revolutionary struggle to establish a socialist order. on its normative aim, the panthers claimed that all the oppressed groups who suffered religious and economic exigencies must be unified as ‘dalits’ and thus offered a new indigenous nomenclature for the proletariat masses in india.10 it was a grand imagination of creating a collective notion for the oppressed groups with a radical adherence to political ideologies that promised revolutionary transformative objectives. the panthers created a complex mosaic of varied revolutionary ideas mainly to carve a distinct space in the bourgeois democratic milieu. in this respect it departed from the socialist-liberal elegance that ambedkar had adopted to characterize the dalit politics. 10the dalit panther’s manifesto published in 1973 is an important document that shows the ideological imagination that the intellectuals have offered. it defines dalit as “a member of scheduled castes and tribes, neo-buddhist, the working-people, the land-less and poor peasants, women, and all those who are being exploited politically, economically, and in the name of religion.” (see joshi, 1986, p. 145) 402 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 the panthers departure towards the left and marxist praxis soon became the reason for ideological conflicts as sections amongst the panthers (led by raja dhale) decided to stick to the canonical features of the ambedkarite movement (peaceful struggles, buddhism and demands for constitutional rights) and regarded the dhasal faction as a sporadic ‘infantile disorder’. navayana buddhism was pitched as a competent theological model against the rigid brahminic society and looked upon the wider anticaste movements to generate organic ideological resources. the debate produced a rich anthology over caste-class relationship and hoped to see a promising convergence of marx and ambedkar to evolve a revolutionary political ideology. the churning and the decline the slippages and factionalism dp was a poorly conceived organization with no financial resources, social capital or political support. soon the panthers witnessed factionalism over ideological issues between dhasal and dhale (marxist versus buddhist) and the growing criticism from the rpi leadership. also, the leaders and the activists were often booked and harassed by the police, which began to affect the activists. as there were no resources to contest the police cases in the court, the fear and threat of police action often demoralized the activists from taking part in the protest demonstrations. after indira gandhi’s sudden declaration of emergency (1975-77), one panthers’ faction collided with the socialist movement (influenced by jp narayan) and opposed the imposition (dighe, 2013), whereas the left leaning dp leader, especially namdeo dhasal supported indira gandhi’s authoritarian regime (rao, 2009, p. 350). there was widespread disturbance and indiscipline within the dp (like the hostile accusations between dhasal and dhale), and only at certain local levels, the panther showcased their organizing capacities through militant protests and mobilizations, especially to organize protests against the cases of caste atrocities. for example, in 1977, a handful of dp activists demanding special safeguards to the neo-buddhists had courageously disturbed a huge political rally of the then home minister charan singh at shivaji park in bombay. however, on most occasions it remained a defunct political force and only sporadically showed its presence. in late 1978, a major faction amongst the panthers under the leadership of gangadhar gadhe joined the greater dalit struggle for the renaming of the marathwada university after ambedkar, popularly known as namantar andolan (movement for renaming). the dp aggressively campaigned for the cause and faced heavy police repression. this movement received unprecedented media coverage and activists felt the need to build a national dalit organization. in march 1979, the bhartiya dalit panthers (bdp) was formed in new delhi, aiming to launch new branches in the northern state of india, uttar pradesh (up).11 11the first president of bdp, bapurao pakkhidey wished to attach the dp activism with the political front of rpi in up, however because of internal differences and petty politics, the from panthers to political dalits: revisiting the legacy of dalit panthers in india 403 the panthers emerged again into political news in 1987 with the publication of ambedkar’s writings the riddles of rama and krishna. the shiv sena reacted heavily against the text as it contains critical remarks against the vedas and depicts hindu deities with objectionable narratives. the sena called for its ban, mobilized the dominant castes and decided to publicly burn the volume (joshi, 1992, p. 50). it was countered by panther activists, resulting in large incidents of street fighting on streets of bombay. like earlier, the panthers mode of protest during this event too was instant and aggressive. especially in mumbai, the remnants of panthers tried to build their presence against the growing fear and threats of the shiv sena, however nothing much was achieved and it soon collapsed. founding leaders of the panthers (like dhasal and dhale) adopted various political options, contested elections or worked in the literary field. the reasons for the collapse this unique exposition of radical alternative was short lived and at the beginning of the 1990s it completely collapsed. the activism of the panthers was not a planned strategic exposition towards achieving petty bourgeois political objectives but in contrast it was reactionary, disturbing, sudden and sometimes even violent acts of resistance. it operated with a deepening urge to break away from the conservative social bondages, economic exploitation and absence of the dalits in dominant political locations. however, there was no match between their utopian ideological goals and the practical circumstances in which the panthers were operative. hence, the panthers tried to achieve a grand task without preparing its own ground for such a huge battle and thus periodically declined as a movement. anand patwardhan’s mega documentary ‘jai bhim comrade’ depicts the decline of the robust dalit political consciousness, its loose camaraderie with the left ideology and the uneven, unethical nature of the dalit political class in providing leadership to the real cause. he comprehensively showed the actual pathological condition of the dalit movement today and succinctly criticizes it for remaining distanced from the radical tone of ambedkarite-left alliance only to play a second fiddle to the feudal-bourgeois political outfits. in general, assessment for the downfall is seen in the incapacities of the young leadership to mediate between the ideological planks under which the movement must operate. the infamous ‘dhasal-dhale clash’ eventually converted into personal accusations that resulted in the faction in the panther movement (omvedt, 2001, p. 153). both groups contested the primacy of ideological orientation that should dictate the political and emancipatory strategies of the movement. dhasal indicated his open allegiance with the communist party of india (cpi) and insisted on collective struggle against class and caste exploitation. on the contrary, dhale opted for the buddhist conversion movement as an exclusive ambedkarite strategy that has the capacity to dethrone the brahminical hegemony to carve a new religious and cultural identity of bdp was officially dissolved in 1990s, allowing its members to take their political calls independently. (see jaoul, 2007, p. 191) 404 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 the dalits. dhale eventually expelled dhasal from the panthers in october 1974 (rao, 2009, p. 192).12 further, the attempts to forge an ‘ambedkar-phule-marx’ alliance by political outfits like sharad patil’s satyashodhak communist party and bharat patankar’s shramik mukti dal introduced new players in the caste-class debates in maharashtra. it tilted the balance of political debate more towards class perspective, making the buddhist agency a mere social phenomenon. the second response about the decline claims that the leadership, intellectuals and the audience for the dp’s activism remained restricted within the mahar and the neobuddhist communities. the panthers presented an abstract unity of all the dalit castes including the adivasis, however the other sub-castes within the dalits (matang, mang, chamar and mehtar) in maharashtra have shown little interest in joining the panthers. at their respective local activism, the residents (including muslims) regarded the panthers as passionate and righteous campaigners for justice,13 however it has not transformed the stereotype that dp has remained an exclusive mahar movement. the third critical assessment argues that the leaders of the dp opted for more liberal alternatives and accepted the dictums of political democracy. the leading activists and leaders opened their independent political shops only to bargain for petty profits from the big political master of the congress party (wankhede, 2005). further, the breakup of rpi in multiple factions divided the activists of the panthers. its linkage with the factions of rpi and failure to provide political alternatives during elections delegitimized their character as the real voice of the poor dalits. further, the dp also failed in forming political or social alliances with other struggling groups (rural dalits, adivasis, working classes, naxal movement and muslims) and hardly developed a comprehensive synthesis on the ‘class-caste’ ideological debate (guru & chakravarthy, 2005, pp. 146–47). the popular agitation built against caste atrocities, for students’ fellowships, reservations and employment soon dried up in the absence of a competent mobilizer, the needed resources and organizational strength. finally, it is observed that mumbai, one of the most important locations of panthers activities, came under the direct threat and control of the regional parochial political party, the shiv sena. mumbai politics was dominated by the communalparochial leadership, which clamped down heavily against dalit activism and on many occasions restored police brutalities including killing innocent dalits in police firings. the fragmented dp is restricted to operate only in the dalit ghettos under the fear of retaliation and police atrocities. it remained vibrant at the literary front with its philosophical content, but its radical posturing as street fighters died down suddenly after the 1990s. further, those who remained committed to the revolutionary political 12interestingly, namdeo dhasal joined the shiv sena and became an early proponent of the ‘shiv shakti-bhim shakti’ political alliance. the other leader, raja dhale had earlier collided with one faction of prakash ambedkar’s rpi (bahujan bharip mahasangh) but later launched his own organization, phule-ambedkar vichardhara. it showed that those ideological debates were not the central issues by which the dp started vanishing from the public sphere. 13contursi a. janet has conducted comprehensive fieldwork on the panthers’ movement in maharashtra between 1985-86 and has mentioned this aspect about the activists, especially in the bhimnagar slum of pimpri-chinchwad district. (see contursi, 1986) from panthers to political dalits: revisiting the legacy of dalit panthers in india 405 culture of the movement have been haunted and harassed by false police cases and tagging them as naxalites as indicated in recent incidents.14 the above-mentioned reasons have qualified merits to understand the decline of the dp movement in maharashtra. however, it is still unconvincing to accept the fact that at today’s juncture there is almost no one in maharashtra to claim the heroic imagination that the panthers envisaged as a revolutionary strategy for social emancipation. i would argue that though panthers created a successful rumble in the socio-political atmosphere, it was never seen as a serious challenge to the political establishment. the romantic and utopian radicalism of the panthers was short lived mainly because of the impractical assessment of concrete political conditions based on certain canonical principles. the adventurist class-caste international alliance for complete revolution or the fanatical over-assessment of imagining india as ‘prabuddha bharat’, both undermine the other democratic credentials in which society operates. the panthers created a greater valorization for a casteless-classless society emphasizing heavily on the idea of caste antagonism. such extreme criticality towards the usage of caste identity in the political field further arrested their capacity to think in a more imaginative way about how to indulge other social identities in the struggle. here, with the emergence of bahujan samaj party (bsp) under the leadership of kanshi ram, produced a new dynamic alternative that challenged the utopian considerations of the panthers with a more rational and practical political arithmetic. the post-panthers’ dalit politics: the arrival of bsp’s political pragmatism distinct from panthers’ zealous and radical approach towards democratic politics, kanshi ram adopted a liberal standpoint to build the dalit movement. this model emerged as a subtle critic of the panthers’ program and ideas, evoking innovative strategies to build a new innings of dalit politics. to find a viable political alternative, kanshi ram initially experimented by building a trade union style organization, identical to the non-political assertion of the dps, called the backward and minorities communities employees federation (bamcef) in pune in 1973. simultaneously, he also formed a ‘quasi-political party’ called dalit shoshit samaj sangram samiti (ds4: committee to fight for the community of exploited and oppressed) in 1982 in maharashtra mainly for agitational politics and to spread political awareness among the dalits (sudha pai, 2002, p. 109). ds4 was motivated to spread awareness about ambedkar’s political ideology, especially in areas where people are ‘ignorant about the life and mission of ambedkar’ (kanshi ram, 1982, p. 125). both socio-political experiments by kanshi ram were intrinsically built on the model earlier championed by the panthers in maharashtra, 14the prosecution of cultural activists (sheetal sathe and sachin mali) of kabir kala manch under the unlawful activities prevention act is one such incident. the state has branded them as absconding naxalites. anand patwardhan’s documentary ‘jai bhim comrade’ has considerably highlighted the plight of these activists. 406 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 to assert an aggressive communitarian identity of the dalits, initiating campaigns, mobilization and agitations to engage the socially deprived masses.15 however, kanshi ram also learned that such ‘agitational’ politics was not yielding good dividends in the electoral democracy and therefore changing the nature of political activities became imperative.16 bsp is the result of such deliberation. with the rise of bsp in 1984, the celebrated political term ‘dalit’ now has to contend with a new popular collective term called the ‘bahujan’ (literally the “majority mass”). it connotes a discursive front of socially marginalized communities and religious minorities that purports to ‘challenge the majoritarian claims of an aggressive hindu nationalism’ (ganguly, 2002, p. 332). in the post-ambedkar period, this imaginative new political slogan emerged as a comprehensive tool to organize the socially marginalized groups as a new democratic force against the other nationalist formations. kanshi ram presented this vision by giving a practical road map of social revolution based on the idea of social engineering. the idea of bahujan was one of the most imaginative political categories, which he coined to overturn the dominant generalisation that sees the dalits as the submissive participant (through reservations) or aggressive claimants (pressure tactics through the agency of agitation, like the panthers). bahujan identity is crafted as a democratic political alliance between the politically deprived caste groups under the leadership of the dalits. it elevates the dalits as a master category in the formation of bahujan, leading the coalition of all the deprived social communities to challenge the conventional ruling elites. this alternative based on a majority-minority dichotomy (bahujan versus the social elites) though mimics the classical marxist category, improvises it with gramscian cultural attire, making it suitable to the indian context. bsp enthralls the dalits as the leading agents of democratic change and builds dynamic aspirations for political power within them. panthers, on the other hand, has this hypothesis that political power will be inaccessible to the dalits (due to the demographic limitations and incapacity in resource mobilizations) and only by forcing the establishment with radical overtones, can the dalits improve their conditions. bsp’s sharp electoral ascendency in uttar pradesh proved that the panther’s hypothesis is untenable as it established the dalits as a significant force in mainstream politics. thus, the bsp departed from the canonical objectives of the dp and provided new ideological goals, a powerful organizational capacity and robust aspirations to challenge the ruling establishment. 15in 1983, ds4 organized a ‘unique’ ‘100 days social action campaign’ in which hundreds of cyclists under the leadership of kanshi ram traveled all over india (thirty-five districts/ seven states/3000 km.) campaigning against caste atrocities and mainly to promote dalits as a new independent political force of national stature. a cycle is utilized as the new weapon of the poor to organize democratically in public places. (see joshi, 1986, pp. 109–117) 16bamsef was strategically created by kanshi ram to build a financial resource and ideologically oriented cadres with the support of strong middle class government employees. with it, he launched ds4 mostly to mobilize the dalit sections. his first attempt to contest the assembly elections (1982) in haryana on 46 seats had minimal success. from panthers to political dalits: revisiting the legacy of dalit panthers in india 407 bsp undermined all the three canonical values that the panthers stood for during the days of activism and drifted comprehensively from social questions towards a political agenda. first, the bsp valued and granted political space to the caste identity rather than building a hypothetical ‘enlightened’ community through buddhist conversion. buddhism appeared as a blockage in creating a social platform of the bahujan that represents various aspirations (social, economic and political) of the marginalized groups, whereas buddhism suggests an exclusive new social identity, traditionally related to the mahar caste.17 second, the bsp stood away from the ‘leftist’ model of aggressive politics of agitation, political vendetta through street violence and symbolic protests for gaining immediate socio-cultural benefits from the state. the party also showed restraint in politicizing the cases of dalit atrocities, caste discrimination and non-fulfillment of reservation quotas in government jobs. it hardly presented any flashy charter of economic demands or even argued that distribution of land will resolve the issues of poverty and marginalization. the bsp had no affiliated mass organizations based on professional/communal or caste affiliations and even distanced itself from the functioning of the bamcef. finally, the bsp further showed political aversion to the intelligentsia and the middle-class values of political correctness. it remained distanced from the populism created by the media, academic disciplines and also from building a superior ideological merit in the battle of political ideas. instead, it invested in building a quasisecretive strategic plan for mobilizing the dalit masses by utilizing an indirect mode of communication specifically related to the given caste/community.18 dalits were framed as new political masters who can manipulate, converse and pragmatically use the democratic subjects for political gains without any recourse to ethical judgment. the bsp advanced the ‘political dalit’ as a matured agent, different from the panthers’ modes that emphasized on the emotive caste exclusivity and militant resistance. conclusion: examining the appropriate revolutionary model the panthers produced new revolutionary ideals different from the liberal-bourgeois passivity offered by dalit politics and the accommodative nationalist rhetoric of the social elites. it imagined a militant political alternative against the hegemonic appropriation of social and political assets by the upper caste elites and its lackeys. the unemployed urban youth became the new aggressive voice of the movement that employed street protests, mass agitations and emotive speeches to produce a militant socio-political consciousness amongst the dalits. the language that the panthers had introduced was inspirational and radical but was also stuffed with rhetoric of religious proximity (buddhism) and anti-constitutional violent jargons (radical marxism). such complex duality with unclear political guidelines failed to capture the dalits’ 17kanshi ram established ‘buddhist research center’ exclusively for religious activities and to keep the political sphere secular by not mixing in religious activities (see kanshi ram, 1982). 18badri narayan in his extensive study of oral history, folklore, myths and local traditions demonstrated that the bsp has developed an indigenous model of mobilization by creating and politicizing local caste heroes. (see narayan, 2006) 408 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 political imagination and distanced them from panther’s revolutionary endeavor. the dalit masses instead, trusted the liberal-constitutional framework and showed more inclinations towards the political parties that raise their concerns in the field of electoral democracy. though the dalit panthers movement appears as an unsustainable revolution, it emerged as a political catalyst that announced the arrival of the dalits as a dynamic political force. kanshi ram, by establishing the bsp, groomed the panthers’ idea with liberal values and inspired the dalits to play a central role in power politics. the bsp borrowed the political ethics and social consciousness from the dp but instead of giving it more radical revolutionary attire, it adopted a prolonged strategy of democratic participation and political mobilization. kanshi ram’s reformed sociopolitical alternatives suited the dalits’ political claims and allowed them to escape the panthers’ radical rhetoric. the bsp appeared as the competent political party of the dalits, with an ambedkarite vision and concrete political objectives. it soon sidelined panthers’ rhetorical and romantic claims to convert the dalit masses as radical revolutionaries of the marxist-maoist brand. instead, with the bsp’s pragmatic and politically correct ways, the dalits returned to the ambedkarite canons, following the liberal progressive path against the panthers’ call. references contursi a. janet (1993). political theology: text and practice in a dalit panther community. the journal of asian studies, 52(2) (may), 320–339. dangle, arjun (1992). the poisoned bread. bombay: orient longman limited. deliege, robert (1999). the untouchables of india. oxford: berg publishers. dighe, sunil (2013, july 9). the dalit panthers’ first leap. new delhi: indian express, retrieved from http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-dalit-panthers-first-leap/1139570/ (6 nov. 2013). ganguly, debjani (2002). history’s implosions: a benjaminian reading of ambedkar. journal of narrative theory, 32(3) (fall). guru, gopal & chakravarthy, anuradha (2005). who are country’s poor: social movement politics and dalit poverty. in raka ray and mary fainsod katzenstein (eds.), social movements in india: poverty, power and politics. oxford: rowman and littlefield publishers. guru, gopal (2001). the language of dalit-bahujan political discourse in ghanshyam shah (ed.), dalit identity and politics. new delhi: sage publications. jafferlot, christophe (2003). india’s silent revolution: the rise of lower castes in north india. new york: columbia university press. jogdand, p.g. 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global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 1 pp. 41-44 march 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste remedying historical wrongs: plain-speaking in the time of india’s rise manoj mitta1 while adjudicating a gender justice question in the supreme court in 2018, dr. justice d.y. chandrachud made a profound observation about the circumstances in which the constitution of india had come into being. he held that the constitution was the “end product” of not just the well-known struggle against colonial rule but also “a struggle of social emancipation going on since centuries and which still continues”. the reference to the social struggle as one of the two causative factors is indeed profound, especially since this complexity has been largely missed by historians. the omission on their part is despite the telltale sign that the freedom fighters who dominated the constituent assembly chose a caste equality champion, dr. b.r. ambedkar, to play the crucial role of chairing its drafting committee. it was therefore apt that justice chandrachud recalled his 2018 judgment in a lecture he delivered at brandeis university five years later on the subject of “remedying historical wrongs”. of the several insights offered by him in his lecture on 22 october 2023, this one jumped out at me because of a personal reason. my recently published book, caste pride: battles for equality in hindu india, revealed some of the legal aspects of the social struggles that had preceded and followed the making of the constitution. the significance he attached to the social struggle vindicated, to my mind, the revelations made by my book. at the same time, there is a divergence too. it’s on the unlikely but remarkable progress made during the colonial period on the social front, in terms of norm-setting and extending the concept of equality to the lowest layer in the caste hierarchy. given that these legal developments were hitherto overlooked, it is understandable that justice chandrachud does not touch upon them. instead, he makes this otherwise unexceptionable remark that “the legal system has often played a pivotal role in perpetuating historical wrongs against marginalised social groups”. the systemic bias was most glaring in the case of “the laws in ancient and medieval india” which had, 1author, caste pride: battles for eqaulity in hindu india email: manojmitta@gmail.com 42 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 as pointed out by justice chandrachud, “sanctions against the communities whom we now call as dalits”. this is a huge admission for the chief justice of india to make at a time when the country is swamped by a rhetoric of reviving its ancient glory or restoring its status as vishwaguru or world teacher. he deserves all the more praise for acknowledging the unpalatable truth that the traditional pattern of inequality has extended to the modern era as well. the example he cited was the egregiously discriminatory policies “highlighted” by ambedkar of the peshwa regime in poona which survived till 1818. whether the british conquest of the peshwa regime should be mourned as the end of the last hindu empire or celebrated as an emancipatory event for dalits is still a politically fraught debate, which is the backdrop to the ongoing bhima koregaon case in which several activists have been allegedly framed. what is as debatable is the equivalence drawn by justice chandrachud between the peshwa regime and british india: “the colonial rule was no better in india.” the examples he cited to buttress this claim included legal scholar marc galanter’s finding that the british colonial courts “refused to rule in favour of oppressed castes, when it came to matters of personal law and religious customs”. to be sure, in a bid to play it safe, the colonial courts did tend to side with conservative hindus rather than reformists (even if they happened to be at times from upper castes). historians have however under-explored the wealth of archival evidence showing that the colonial regime was no monolith. it had its share of reformists. take the issue of representation which is significantly pertinent to justice chandrachud’s lecture. “the idea of representation,” he says, “was an essential ingredient of remedying historical wrongs”. yet, because of the gaps in the mainstream history of caste, the lecture misses a civilisational breakthrough made by british india in giving representation to untouchables on a legislative forum. the breakthrough took place in 1919 when the governor of the madras presidency lord willingdon, as brought out by my book, nominated m.c. rajah to the madras legislative council. since the electorate of the time (confined as it was to a sliver of the indian elite) was unlikely to elect an untouchable, willingdon chose the nomination route. this paved the way for the enactment of a statutory provision to that effect, in order to give untouchables a voice in lawmaking. for the far-reaching precedent he set with rajah, willingdon deserves an honourable mention in history as neither the congress party, which led the freedom struggle in india, nor the justice party, which went on to pioneer social justice in madras, had made any such demand at the time for integrating untouchables. another unsung hero of the colonial administration was viceroy lord irwin who ruled out all objections to the enactment of the first ever law against untouchability. the enactment itself had been pulled off in madras in 1926 against all odds by a legislator from the untouchable community, r. veerian. this too was a civilisational breakthrough for india as a discriminatory practice that had for centuries been considered a religiously sanctioned way of life for upper caste hindus was overnight transformed into a penal offence. remedying historical wrongs: plain-speaking in the time of india’s rise 43 given that such watershed moments came to light only through my book, it’s not surprising to come across here the popular misconception that the colonial rule made little contribution towards remedying historical wrongs. an irony that cannot however be ignored relates to a historic episode from ambedkar’s own life, uncovered by an earlier book written by dalit scholar anand teltumbde, mahad: the making of the first dalit revolt. it flies in the face of the common assumption that the colonial courts never upheld the right of lower caste members to ignore discriminatory customs. dr. teltumbde’s book provides a counter example embodied by the swift conviction and imprisonment in 1927 of nine caste hindus who had assaulted untouchables the same year for daring to draw water from a public tank at mahad under ambedkar’s leadership. let me clarify though that such illustrations, which bust the colonial stereotype, do not in the least detract from the overall thrust of justice chandrachud’s lecture, namely, the need to look beyond representation in order to deal with the challenge of “reformation” as part of “the social life of the constitution”. in effect, exploring how the constitution functions within the broader context of a society, “impacting not only the legal and political spheres but also the cultural, economic and social aspects of citizens’ lives”. as a corollary, his idea of reformation is to ensure that the marginalised and underrepresented communities “not only have a seat at the table but also have a meaningful voice in decision-making processes”. in other words, just meeting the statistical goals of affirmative action and diversity is hardly enough. the minimum that any country with pretensions of being a liberal democracy should seek to achieve is to provide an effective say to its minorities and historically oppressed groups. much to his credit, justice chandrachud makes it clear that despite its undoubtedly sound constitutional framework, india still has a long way to go before it can claim to have carried out such a reformation. indeed, he is as candid about india’s present as he is about its past. in what he frames as “social law vs. constitutional law”, justice chandrachud says that the arguments in courtrooms demonstrate that there is “a constant tussle between constitutional aspects of the law and entrenched social practices”. he adds that this could be construed as “the gap between the aspirational values of the constitution and the social realities of the day.” clearly, “social realities of the day” is a tacit reference to the current environment in which there is rampant weaponisation of mixed marriages, live-in relationships, dietary preferences, clothing choices and other such matters of personal freedom. he could well have added that if the struggle against social evils like caste did not get its due in the nationalist history of the colonial period, it’s because the oppressors in the political struggle were foreigners while the oppressors in the social struggle were india’s own elite. there is also an allusion in the lecture to growing ultra-nationalism where he discusses the diverse ways in which people engage with or interpret the constitution. “while one set of elites critique the constitution as a document of foreign inspirations, the oppressed social groups have used the language of the constitution to demand their rights.” for reformation to happen in the teeth of such an ideological conflict, 44 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 justice chandrachud puts the onus on the privileged classes that have thrived on caste inequities. he says, “(t)he initiative is needed not from those who have been oppressed but from those who have been oppressors”. as if that was not radical enough, he adds: “the society therefore needs a collective agenda, where the power of the historical oppressors is constantly questioned.” india would do well to pay heed to this call to action. the urgency of reformation, as defined by justice chandrachud, is most evident from the persistence of the violence engendered by caste. on this, he has some words designed to shake the privileged out of their state of denial. in fact, those words are derived from one of his own judicial orders of 2021: “atrocities against members of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are not a thing of the past. they continue to be a reality in our society even today.” his lecture improves on that admission as he says that, “despite legislations prohibiting caste-based discrimination, incidents of violence against the protected communities are on the rise.” (emphasis added) having quoted several supreme court judgments to show “the transformative potential” of the constitution, justice chandrachud acknowledges that there were also those that did not serve that lofty purpose. “some of the judgments have been criticised for being regressive, and have been overturned for the right reasons.” he could well have confessed that there have also been judgments that have been criticised for being regressive but have still not been overturned. about five months prior to his lecture, the supreme court rejected a plea to review its 2022 judgment which had upheld by a 3:2 majority the introduction of a quota exclusively for the poor among the upper castes. the minority judgment had held that the exclusion of the poor among the lower castes from that quota in educational institutions and government jobs violated the fundamental right to equality. even so, the review petition was rejected without any hearing in the court or giving any reasons for the decision. as such, it is not a decision that sits comfortably with the egalitarian spirit animating justice chandrachud’s lecture. © 2023 n. sukumar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.678 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 306-318 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste teaching dalit bahujan utopias: notes from the classroom n. sukumar* abstract the production of knowledge in india operates within a rarefied domain enclosed within the structures of caste, class, ethnicity and gender. this has enabled the unabashed peddling of one-dimensional epistemology of glorifying the past, justifying the prevalent social hierarchies and manufacturing consent for the existing social order. periodically, the status quo was interrogated and the resultant debates are secreted within the pages of history. rarely if ever, these contestations become a part of the pedagogy thereby igniting a quest for a more emancipatory social apparatus. this is not surprising as the reproduction of the symbolic power needs to be closely guarded. the ancient world considered land as the paramount resource and wars were waged to capture more territories. for the industrialized societies, capital was the source of sustenance but in the modern era, privilege and power based on knowledge is the magic mantra, the currency of socio-economic relations. this article revolves around the attempts made by the researcher to introduce a full-fledged course on dalit bahujan political thought1 at the masters level in delhi university. this intervention was opposed by the entrenched academia hailing from the privileged castes who wished to perpetuate their brahmanicalweltanschaung. the texts/readings prescribed for the course were sought to be banned by the higher authorities. the pantheon of thinkers who advocated an indian version of liberation theology was never engaged with at an ideological level. the everyday engagements with the students who joined the course and their interactions in the classrooms provide a multi-layered understanding of negotiating utopias. this article is based on discussions with various stakeholders—academic committees who decide on pedagogy, feedback from students and classroom engagements for more than five years. keywords pedagogy, dalit bahujan epistemology, classroom, knowledge production *professor, department of political science, university of delhi, india email: nsukumar@polscience.du.ac.in 1two years back, the university’s higher academic bodies removed the term ‘political’ from the title. teaching dalit bahujan utopias: notes from the classroom 307 pedagogy and knowledge construction as pointed out by john fiske, knowledge is never neutral; it never exists in an empiricist, objective relationship to the real. knowledge is power, and the circulation of knowledge is part of the social distribution of power. the discursive power to construct a commonsense reality that can be inserted into cultural and political life is central in the social relationship of power. the power of knowledge has to struggle to exert itself in two dimensions. the first is to control the “real,” to reduce reality to the knowable, which entails producing it as a discursive construct whose arbitrariness and inadequacy are disguised as far as possible. the second struggle is to have this discursively (and therefore socio-politically) constructed reality accepted as truth by those whose interests may not necessarily be served by accepting it. discursive power involves a struggle both to construct (a sense of) reality and to circulate that reality as widely and smoothly as possible throughout society.2 one of the institutions through which this sense of reality is constructed and circulated is through schools. for some groups of people, schooling is seen as a vast engine of democracy: opening horizons, ensuring mobility, and so on. for others, the reality of schooling is strikingly different. it is seen as a form of social control, or, perhaps, as the embodiment of cultural dangers, institutions whose curricula and teaching practices threaten the moral universe of the students who attend them. while not all of us may agree with this diagnosis of what schools do, this latter position contains a very important insight. it recognizes that behind spencer’s famous question about “what knowledge is of most worth?” there lies another even more contentious question, “whose knowledge is of most worth?”3 the university in india habermas considered universities as essential for society’s progress, but the fact that it contains within itself the seeds of the reproduction of social lifeworlds, meant that constant vigilance is required to unleash its transformative potential. hence, education has always been viewed as a contested terrain especially in highly unequal societies. heuristically speaking, education is perceived as serving one of two purposes in society. it either serves to ‘domesticate’ and strengthen the existing relations of power and therefore perpetuates the ills such as socio-economic, cultural and environmental, critiqued throughout its corpus of literature, rendering conditions of oppression as non-existent or else it serves to ‘liberate’ in contributing to the ushering in of a new world in which principles of social justice and ecological sustainability are upheld. reflecting on the lived realities of dalit-bahujan students in the university, p. thirumal4 argued that the reproduction of everyday institutional embodiment 2john fiske (1989). reading the popular. boston: unwin hyman, pp. 149–50. 3michael apple (2000). cultural politics and the text: official knowledge, 2nd edition, london: routledge, pp. 42–60. 4thirumal p. (2020). dominant bodies and their ethical performances: violence of caste embodiment in higher educational institutions. economic and political weekly, january 18, vol.lv, no. 3, pp. 36–40. 308 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 that displays a direction and an intensity that allow dominant bodies to realise their unfinished being. thirumal demonstrates this process of embodiment as revealed in the cultural world of the upper castes in three phases; the domains of cellular, intellectual and social reproduction. he refers to caste-plaining in everyday discourse. the universities are organized like elite clubs which need to be barricaded against the entry of the rustic/mofussil riffraff. it will undermine the cosmopolitan character of these institutions. “the backward as a servant, ‘subziwala’, dhobi’ or cobbler is all right, but god forbid if his children were to rub shoulders with you. teaching agricultural economics is relevant but heaven forbid if you have to teach it to the lesser devi lals of the world. the biologist garret hardin used the picture of the lifeboat to convey a basic idea in sociobiology. picture an ocean where a lifeboat full of rich people is floating. swimming around them are the poor. the question is, should one go to the aid of the poor and backward or let them drown? hardin argues that the poor are irredeemable and going to their aid may sink the boat. only our elite do not use the language of sociobiology. we talk the language of merit as justice assuming that life is a race without handicaps”.5 unfortunately, the national education policy (hereafter nep) fails to provide a roadmap to create truly egalitarian institutions which would influence society. the nep document commences with a scientific axiom by pointing out that 85 per cent cumulative brain development is completed by age 6. the reality is that as of 2022, india would have had 46.6 million children who are stunted, and 25.5 million children with low weight for height.6 the mid-day meal scheme is one of the largest nutrition programs in the world and various studies have shown its positive benefits on learning outcomes.7 however, when food is spiritualized at the cost of nutrition, the nutrition levels get adversely affected. such stunted children lose the race even before the starting gun has fired.8 the nep aspires to restore the ‘indianness’ of the education system and envisages that the curriculum and pedagogy should be “rooted in the indian and local context and ethos in terms of culture, traditions, heritage, customs, language, philosophy, geography, ancient and contemporary knowledge, societal and scientific needs, indigenous and traditional ways of learning etc”.9 on the one hand, there is a lot of talk on dismantling rote learning, making the students think creatively and innovatively. 5vishwanathan shiv (2000). democracy, plurality and indian university. economic and political weekly, september 30, p. 3604. 6https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/india-has-one-third-ofworlds-stunted-children-global-nutrition-report/articleshow/66865016.cms?from=mdr, accessed january12, 2021. 7shreya roy chowdhury, the correlation between midday meals and learning outcomes. available at: https://idronline.org/the-correlation-between-midday-meals-and-learningoutcomes/ accessed march 19, 2019. 8n. sukumar and shailaja menon, https://www.roundtableindia.co.in/storming-libraries-achhedin-and-the-new-education-policy/accessed august 4, 2020. 9national education policy (nep), 2020, ministry of human resource development, government of india, p. 16. teaching dalit bahujan utopias: notes from the classroom 309 how is it possible when the template of what constitutes ‘indianness’ and who is identified as an ‘indian’ is already laid out by the state? will the pedagogy be comfortable discussing north east cultures and cuisines or dalit food habits/festivals? the story of the breast tax in kerala mysteriously vanished from ncert textbooks. in the name of rationalizing school syllabus after the pandemic, chapters on the mughals were deleted from the high school history syllabus. chapters on democracy and diversity, popular struggles and movements and challenges to democracy have been deleted from class 10 textbooks. the ncert had rationalised the cbse syllabus for classes 6 to 12 during the pandemic, where chapters were temporarily excluded from the curriculum.10 the emergence of religious obscurantism and its glorification in the academic domain has only promoted half myths and spurious science. even during the pandemic when quacks were peddling cow urine as a medicine or the public ritual of beating utensils and lighting candles to banish the disease, any official policy which states its objective of promoting scientific temperament is laughable. when the powers that be frown on any expression of dissent and scholars/artists have been jailed on flimsy excuses, how will critical pedagogy be encouraged? “to make it easier for both governments as well as non-governmental philanthropic organizations to build schools, to encourage local variations on account of culture, geography, and demographics, and to allow alternative models of education, the requirements for schools will be made less restrictive”.11 the fine print makes it clear that saraswathi shishu vihars and vanvasi kalyan ashrams will be legitimized under the garb of philanthropic organizations and there will be fewer bottlenecks to set them up. since the party in power finds terms like secularism, socialism, republic to be problematic, the nep document is silent on them. in the indian context, the production and circulation of knowledge operates in a rarefied domain under an aura of sacrality. only ritually pure and sacred teachers can impart knowledge and similarly, the students need to be in a state of ritual purity while accessing this knowledge. indian academia thrives in a self-contained cocoon. to illustrate: in his obituary on the celebrated social scientist ranajit guha who passed away recently, ramachandra guha makes an interesting observation, “a more serious weakness is ranajit guha‘s bengal-centred-ness. guha often refers to himself as “indian”, but it appears that the one province of india he has any real interest in is his own. bengali ideas and individuals are often compared and contrasted to ideas and individuals in the west. however, the name of [br] ambedkar does not, so far as i can tell, appear in the book (there is no index), nor that of [anti-caste icon jyotirao] phule or ev ramaswami [also known as periyar] either. surely they (and other thinkers) would have made an interesting counterpoint to the likes of bankim and rabindranath”.12 10 https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/story/ncert-syllabus-rationalisation-politicalparties-challenges-democracy-chapters-deleted-2387531-2023-06-01, accessed june 11, 2023. 11 nep 2020, op. cit., p. 12. 12 ramachandra guha, https://scroll.in/article/1049508/from-one-historian-to-anotherremembering-ranajit-guha-who-redefined-indian-historiography, may 23, 2023. 310 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 similarly, an edited work-‘an intellectual history for india’,13 addresses the power of ideas in the making of indian political modernity. the ideologues range from rammohan roy, maulana azad, b.g. tilak, mohammad iqbal and mahatma gandhi. there is virtually no discussion on any other oppositional intellectual tradition. this brings to mind the pertinent observation, “introspection about their own location in society has not been too common among indian historians….what is neglected is the whole question of the conditions of production and reception of academic knowledge, its relationships with different kinds of common sense. we lack, in other words, a social history of historiography”.14 many communities are not privileged enough to possess histories which also reflects their precarious position in the socio-cultural hierarchy. as trouillot observed, “history is the fruit of power, but power itself is never so transparent that its analysis become superfluous. the ultimate mark of power may be its invisibility, the ultimate challenge, the exposition of its roots.”15 thus the possession of history scripted or otherwise, is a privilege seldom granted equally. there are myriad examples of many dalit intellectuals who languish due to lack of academic attention. g. aloysius points out that “social crises in subaltern life had begun to throw up organized activities as early as the middle of the 19th century,” though such actors “still await the historiographers and social scientists to unearth and install them in their legitimate niches of history”.16 till the 1990s, scholarly works on b.r. ambedkar or jyotiba phule were rarely seen in the market or libraries. a notable shift since the 1990s has been the recognition of dalits as actors in india’s history. new attention has been devoted to the contributions of dalits to the shaping of modern india, both in terms of their political struggle and in the recognition of their key leaders. this is in marked contrast to the absence of attention to dalit struggles and intellectual agendas in english-language publications and mainstream academic writings in the long twentieth century.17 thus, the trajectory of knowledge production in india continues to reflect the paradigms of the socially dominant communities. through various modes of discourse, this scholarship continues to valorise traditional caste practices. to illustrate, ashis nandy wrote an essay reprimanding and mocking the indian feminists who were protesting the rup kanwar sati incident in 1987, saying that they were unable to understand the value systems of india and were enthralled by the west.18 along 13 shruti kapila (ed.) (2012). an intellectual history for india. cambridge: cambridge university press. 14 sumit sarkar (1998). writing social history, delhi: oup, p. 1. 15 michel-rolph trouillot (1995). silencing the past: power and the production of history, boston: beacon press, p. 19. 16 g. aloysius (1998). religion as emancipatory identity: a buddhist movement among the tamils under colonialism, chennai: christian institute for the study of religion and society, p. 49. 17 ramnarayan s. rawat, k. satyanarayana (eds.) (2016). dalit studies, durham, nc: duke university press, p. 9. 18 divya dwivedi, shaj mohan and j. reghu, the hindu hoax: how upper castes invented a hindu majority,https://caravanmagazine.in/religion/how-upper-castes-invented-hindumajority mohan, january 1, 2021, 49 and j reghudivya dwivedi, shaj mohan and j reghu teaching dalit bahujan utopias: notes from the classroom 311 similar lines, dipesh chakrabarty has claimed that nature is ‘coeval’ with supernatural powers. he dismisses all monotheisms to claim a peculiar superiority for ‘polytheism’, easily recognisable as hinduism. ‘i take gods and spirits to be existentially coeval with being human’, he writes in his book provincialising europe. chakrabarty states that different cultures and places determine their own forms of thought, and such forms cannot be tested against other standards. an obvious implication of this position is that newton’s laws of motion would hold only in the united kingdom and particles will conform to ‘the standard model’ only in the united states. he also argues that india was already a republic before colonial rule, referring to upper-caste rule through panchayats. nandy, in a 1979 essay, went so far as to consider traditional cultural practices as an alternative to modern technology. the self-assertion of the upper castes and the justification for their continuing social dominance in these texts often take place through semantic contortions and theoreticised language. rajeev bhargava uses the term ‘vertical diversity’ to refer to the caste order, masking its exploitative character by giving it the positive connotation of diversity. he goes on to contrast this vertical diversity with ‘horizontal diversity’, by which he refers to many religions existing in the subcontinent. the implicit injunction in such verbal acrobatics is to celebrate and foster diversity of both kinds—an upper-caste dream since the nineteenth century— rather than challenge the oppression wrought by this ‘vertical diversity’.19 a similar case is evident in the discipline of philosophy in delhi university which provides a paper on gender but does not include any topic or reading on caste even in the section on indian philosophy. focus on ‘hindu’ philosophers alone gives a misleading impression that hindu philosophers are the only important figures in indian philosophy debates. in a similar manner, brooks criticized the absence of mention of dr. b.r. ambedkar in a. raghuramaraju’s book, debates in indian philosophy: classical, colonial and contemporary (2007).20 as argued by umesh bagade, ambedkar evolved new conceptual methodological tools to write the social history of india. he argued that caste operates as economic system of surplus appropriation based on the principle of graded inequality and exploitation. he used caste-class as a category of social analysis. he explained the linkages between caste and patriarchy and explained the nature of caste consciousness. his exploration and interpretation of india’s history and culture have immensely contributed to the evolution of the philosophy and methodology of non-brahmin historiography.21 unraveling the epistemicide the formulation of the syllabus in any institution is a pedagogical exercise tinted with ideology. unless the knowledge-power nexus is deconstructed, the hierarchy of power 19 ibid., p. 49. 20 damni kain (2022). how the absence of caste in curriculum aids the presence of caste in pedagogy. contemporary voice of dalit, sage publications, doi: 10.1177/2455328x211066185, pp. 1–12. 21 umesh bagade, ambedkar’s historical method: a non-brahmanic critique of positivist history, https://www.jnu.ac.in/sites/default/files/9th%20dr.%20ambedkar%20memorial%20 lecture.pdf accessed on december 25, 2021. 312 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 will persist in the struggle for cultural capital. any discipline in this respect, is like an enclosed space with its own set of ascriptive norms and hierarchies. such academic politics are made invisible by communicating ideas and researches in a specialist language that serve the dual function of warding off the non-specialists and concealing the hierarchical power politics of its practitioners.22 the brahmanical pedagogy seeks to produce docile subjects. thus it is essential to democratize the pedagogy and social relationships in the university spaces. michel foucault coined a term, ‘regimes of truth’ while referring to a discourse that holds certain things to be ‘truths’. he interrogated the power structures of society which produced knowledge and truth. critical pedagogy, feminist pedagogy, and antiracist pedagogy are responses to education, which has often been exclusionary and functioned to assimilate students by normalizing dominant knowledge and values through the hidden curriculum.23 education continues to maintain the dominant system through the recent corporatization of higher education, where education becomes a commodity/service, provided by faculty/staff, and consumed by students.24 at the same time, education can be a site for resisting dominant ideologies, for example, through courses that foster critical analytical skills. these critical pedagogies challenge the hidden curriculum and critique the banking system of education. in addition, these pedagogies critique the positivist assumptions of knowledge, of an objective and universal truth, which fails to acknowledge the embedded eurocentrism and male privilege. these approaches critique the power relations in knowledge production, which can be oppressive as well as oppositional and transformative. as freire stated, ‘[t]he solution is not to “integrate” them [the oppressed] into the structure of oppression, but to transform that structure so that they can become “beings for themselves”.25 one of the first critical epistemic engagements was ushered in by jyotiba phule, who in his marathi play ‘trutiya ratna’ drew complex linkages between religiouscultural and educational authority and re-imagines education therefore as the trutiya ratna (third eye) that has the possibilities to enable the oppressed to understand and transforms the relation between power and knowledge.26 ambedkar believed that acquisition of fresh knowledge is a necessary precursor of every step in social progress. doubt is a precondition of inquiry and inquiry leads towards knowledge. painstaking efforts and sacrifices are needed to produce new knowledge. the brahmin, being selfcontented, cannot labour or make any sacrifices for the acquisition of new knowledge.27 22 bourdieu pierre (1988). homo academicus. trans. peter collier. cambridge: polity. 23 darder, antonia, marta p. baltodano, and rodolfo d. torres (2009). critical pedagogy: an introduction. in the critical pedagogy reader. (eds.) antonia darder, marta p. baltodano and rodolfo d. torres, new york: routledge, pp. 1–20. 24 mohanty, chandra tapalde (2003). feminism without borders: decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity. durham and london: duke university press. 25 kyoko kishimoto (2018). anti-racist pedagogy: from faculty’s self-reflection to organizing within and beyond the classroom. race ethnicity and education, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 540–554. 26 sharmila rege (2010). education as trutiya ratna: towards phule-ambedkarite feminist pedagogical practice. economic and political weekly, october 30, vol. xlv, no. 44, pp. 80–98. 27 b.r. ambedkar (1987). writings and speeches, government of maharashtra, vol. 4, p. 8. teaching dalit bahujan utopias: notes from the classroom 313 according to him, ‘brahmin subjectivity was so conditioned that it could not critically engage with sanskrit scriptures and therefore was incapable of ascertaining historical truth’. he stated: ‘brahmins, as learned men, are class-conscious; they are not intellectuals who are emancipated from class conditioning. they are severely limited by the anxiety to preserve their interests. the subjective position of the brahmin does not allow his intellect full play with honesty and integrity. the brahmin scholar’s search is not for accomplishing historical truth but is intended to maintain sanctity of sanskrit scriptures. he defends the scriptures with the view of defending brahminicprivileges. his concern for upholding the prestige of the social system built by his forefathers prevents him from searching for the historical truth. as a result, brahmin scholar engages himself with fixing dates and tracing genealogies’.28 a similar logic can be applied to the dominant non-brahmin castes too. hence, it is not surprising that there exists what gopal guru would term as the epistemological isolation of the dalit. the strict observance of a language code, protocols, body language and ground rules effectively converts seminar halls into a hostile space that very often inflict humiliation on the dalits who then feel nervous or intimidated to enter such structures. ultimately, dalits are denied access to knowledge and its articulation. they are also denied the critical faculty to interrogate the dominant mode of thinking.29 pedagogy and social identities i joined the department of political science (delhi university) as a faculty in 2001. i belong to an untouchable30 community, availed the provisions of affirmative action as promised by the indian constitution, and was fortunate enough to get formal education in institutions which had socially progressive teachers. in addition, i was also nurtured by various political groups on the campuses which influenced my social consciousness. for more than two decades, i was the only teacher representing the marginalized communities in my department. officially, i was recruited to teach indian political thought and gradually started paying close attention to the syllabi. my research areas were on ambedkarite ideology and caste conflicts. i was asked to teach gandhian thought and action (subsequently the paper was dropped). along with this, i also taught themes in indian political thought. in the process, i realized that a teacher can cherry pick the thinkers/themes he/she chooses and exclude the rest. to exemplify, one can teach only ram mohan roy, vivekananda, etc., as part of indian reformation and ignore any critique or new ideas proposed by phule or pandita ramabai. i insisted that there should be a paper revolving only around thinkers and included ambedkar, 28 b.r. ambedkar (1990). writings and speeches, government of maharashtra, vol. 17, pp. 240–241. 29 gopal guru (2002). how egalitarian are the social sciences in india?. economic and political weekly, december 14, p. 5006. 30 according to brahmanical scriptures, untouchables were the outcastes of the hindu social order and were historically denied education and other economic, political and socio-cultural resources. even if they overcome this stigma, they are considered as extremely low in the social order. 314 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 mohammad iqbal31 and m.n. roy, among others as part of modern indian political thinkers. additionally, from 2008 till date i offered various papers on similar themes such as dalit politics in india, ideating dignity and texts and marginality for the mphil program. a colleague of mine from a socially dominant community expressed astonishment that i am offering courses based on political theory. this prompted me to reflect as to whether they were questioning my teaching abilities, because after all, i am a ‘quota appointee’. at a subterranean level, they might also have been threatened that gradually their hold over pedagogy is being encroached upon and challenged.32such epistemological imperialism is a sad reality of knowledge production and works to safeguard the rituals and protocols of academia.33 this reflects the skewed nature of the prevailing knowledge system. the germination of an idea, the drafting of a course, seeking approval by the department council and committee of courses, to the larger university bodies is a journey fraught with contestations. to illustrate, when the course, understanding ambedkar was proposed in delhi university for undergraduates, the counter questions were: why devote a course only on ambedkar? why not gandhi and ambedkar and why not ambedkar with other social thinkers? for the established academia, the idea of ambedkar is indelibly associated with caste and his ideas on nationhood, gender, economy, etc., are of no consequence. though this course is very popular amongst undergraduate students, many colleges do not encourage students to opt for this elective course. the irony is that very few teachers are familiar with ambedkar’s work to deliver the course. these courses frame the idea of caste as a socio-cultural construct, within a historical and political context. further, such hierarchies are not based on individual prejudices solely but a system of graded inequalities maintained and strengthened through the unequal distribution of power and material resources, backed by statist authority. unlike other forms of discrimination, caste inequities are sanctioned by religious scriptures. an intersectional approach is extremely essential (caste, gendered identities, sexualities, cultural habitus and race) to unravel the idea of exclusion and discrimination. it is also particularly important that these marginalized communities are not portrayed as ‘victims’ of an unequal social order but are agential beings bearing certain inalienable rights and capable of speaking a counter narrative. these courses are based on the original writings of thinkers/ideologues that challenged the dominant brahmanical ‘regimes of truth’ and democratized the idea of freedom, justice and human dignity. as the course commences with the challenge posed by the buddha to brahmanism, there is a historical trajectory interwoven with the social and political changes in the sub-continent. kabir and ravidas are usually taught as bhakti 31 this particular thinker has been dropped from the undergraduate syllabi in 2023. 32 n. sukumar (2021). embodied memories: a journey with ambedkar, social scientist. south asia: personal narratives, social forces and negotiations. (ed.) achla tandon, gopi tripahty and rashi bhargava, ny: routledge, p. 144. 33 for an in-depth discussion on caste and the indian academia, refer chapter 1 in caste discrimination and exclusion in indian universities: a critical reflection, london: routledge, 2022. teaching dalit bahujan utopias: notes from the classroom 315 poets, but the course seeks to analyse their poetry from a critical political lens—the idea of an utopia embedded in ravidas’s ‘begumpura’ (a city without sorrow) similarly, jyotiba phule’s ‘ghulamgiri’ was dedicated to the black people of the united states, reflecting a universal concern for the dignity of the oppressed everywhere. tarabai shinde’s seminal work, ‘a comparison between men and women’ is seldom used in the classroom as it critiques patriarchy and caste. ambedkar’s ‘prabuddha bharat’ or periyar’s ‘dravida nadu’ discussed utopias both in intellectual and spatial terms. it also exposes the student to the notion that the idea of ‘caste’ has been continuously challenged in indian history and there are multiple narratives which contest the assumed linearity of political ideologies. even the titles of the texts used as references create a sense of unease amongst the entrenched ideologies. to discuss caste and patriarchy, ambedkar’s text/readings, ‘rise and fall of hindu women’ and ‘critique of caste and the hindu social order’ are discussed in the classroom. the standing committee on academic affairs of delhi university34 found the term ‘hindu’ problematic while revising the courses for the four year undergraduate program. these readings revolve around a specific social category and its related issues, removal of the specified term would make the texts pedagogically redundant. similarly, a course dealing with ambedkar’s philosophy was sought to be removed from the syllabi for undergraduate students. in a strategic move, a course on ‘veer’ savarkar (a prominent hindutva ideologue) was introduced for undergraduates and the constituent colleges of delhi university who wish to seek political favours will choose to only teach savarkar’s thought and discourage marxist, feminist, liberal and anti-caste perspectives. classroom composition my entire academic journey has been in public institutions, from government schools, college to the university where now i teach. increasingly, public schools/colleges/ universities are patronized by the marginalized social groups, female students and those who are linguistically challenged in the neo-liberal socio-political order. in the past three decades, south india has leap-frogged into technical and professional education with the help of hefty private investment. comparatively, in the hindi heartland (north india) investment in education has taken a back seat. hence, there is an increasing migration to delhi by students seeking admission to various arts and humanities courses. one needs to keep in mind that the majority of the students who opt for political science in delhi university (the intake is abnormally high—at least 600 students join the regular masters programme), apart from the students who join the open learning programme, are from the hindi medium, financially weak and socially marginalized. this is also fuelled by the demand to enter government service at various levels. for girl students, having a continuity of education till marriage is useful. in south india, the felicity of english (the language of the market) 34 nishu malik, delhi university recommends dropping the word “hindu” from the titles of two chapters, https://www.duupdates.in/delhi-university-recommends-dropping-the-word-hindufrom-the-titles-of-two-chapters/ accessed may 25, 2023. 316 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 meant that other job opportunities are available and students are not dependent only on government service. interestingly, more girls (majorly ‘upper caste’), dalit and other backward caste students opt for these courses. many students who opted for the courses on social exclusion: theory and praxis, democracy and human rights in india, dalit-bahujan political thought and ambedkar in contemporary india gave the feedback that such courses democratized the academic space. they became curious about the alternate epistemologies and their contemporary relevance. while transacting the course, training students about their writing skills, sensitizing them on gender and caste issues is very challenging. as social darwinism is being confronted in the classroom, hindutva groups in the university are deeply rattled. for the purpose of this article, only the feedback from the course—dalit bahujan political thought is being discussed. the feedback was divided into four broad themes: 1) how is this course different from other ‘dominant’ political thinkers? 2) pedagogical relevance of the course 3) why are such courses required? 4) personal experiences shared by the students 5) quality of teaching and reading materials provided and, 6) suggestions to further improve the course. to the feedback for the query as to how this course is different from the usual political thinkers that are part of the syllabus, the students responded that ideas of phule, ambedkar, periyar, tarabai shinde, etc., ran counter to what they had believed and it was more radical especially around caste and gender. referring to the pedagogical relevance of such courses, the students commented that such ideas should be introduced at the secondary school levels to familiarize students with critical thinking. they further observed that science students should be made aware of such ideas. for many girl students, the classroom space provided an opportunity to discuss themes around gender, caste and sexuality which is difficult within the family space. many girl students shared that it is for the first time they have debated ideas around marriage, chastity, biological determination, etc., about which periyar spoke about so eloquently. the text, ‘women enslaved’ by periyar was much discussed by students and as one female student opined, “i realized that there is nothing wrong in asking questions as many social customs can be traced back to religious scriptures.” tarabai shinde’s ‘stri-purush tulana’ also made an impact on many students. according to a female student, “during my post graduate course, i was introduced to radical social thinkers like ambedkar and periyar which helped me to understand our society better. i realized how patriarchy worked as i experienced and witnessed emotional and physical violence in my family. my dream was to educate myself and be capable enough to escape from these hurdles”. another student pointed out the course helped them to critique the prevalent knowledge production where only the political ideologies of gandhi or nehru are taught in the classroom. a few students gave a very emotional feedback. “after reading the anti-caste debates, i have become more sensitive and more aware about social problems. i wish ‘to be the change’ and fight social injustices.” “we got to know about the marginalized social groups, the reasons for their oppression and how these narratives need to be countered”. debates on nationalism, gendered reforms teaching dalit bahujan utopias: notes from the classroom 317 and freedom livened up the class. many socially marginalized students found their life-worlds reflected in the readings as in their opinion, ‘upper-caste teachers’ would often glorify caste and patriarchy in the classroom. the course proved to be socially engaging and sensitized many students. the major problem was the lack of adequate reading materials in the hindi language. only very few original writings of the anticaste thinkers are available in hindi. for the question as to why such courses are required, many students shared their personal experiences of discrimination and how they gradually gained courage to speak about their experiences because of the readings which challenged the preconceived social ideas. it reflected the perspectives of the subaltern people. the readings forced many students to reflect critically about their social location and entitlements. the deep-seated prejudices and everyday practices around food choices/clothing/language were questioned and gradually deconstructed. some students pointed out that they wished they had such courses at the school level to answer questions on discrimination and marginality. conclusion the courses discussed above also reflect a work in progress as new themes and readings are added based on the students’ feedback. there is also continuous tension to negotiate with the various academic bodies which find such courses disrupting their social dominance. in the past decade, the teaching community and classrooms are becoming polarized on political ideologies and debates often turn nasty. earlier too there were political differences but the discussions were conducted in a civil manner. the scope for dissent has grown narrow. apart from classroom pedagogy, even the research agenda is sought to be ‘nationalised’ and themes around caste, social exclusion, marginality, human rights, gender and sexuality studies are considered ‘unfit’ for research. they challenge the idea of a homogenous cultural universe so essential for the majoritarian worldview. the students of the universities of cambridge and bouremouth had launched a campaign a few years ago, ‘why is my curriculum white’. whiteness is powerful because it’s unmarked and normalised. whiteness is the dominant framing position, hiding itself behind concepts of universality, rationality or commonsense. whiteness reproduces itself by appearing natural and unquestionable. to dismantle the white curriculum, the unmarked nature of whiteness must be exposed. the white curriculum (re)produces hierarchies of knowledge, but never in isolation from other structures of power. whiteness is intrinsically linked to, and therefore reproduces, power and thought which is racialised as white, psychologically/physically fit, wealth-rich and heteropatriarchally/cisgenderly male. the curriculum is white because it reflects the underlying logic of colonialism, which believes the colonised do not own anything— not even their own experiences.35 on similar lines, in the indian context if we were 35 8 reasons the curriculum is white by the ‘why is my curriculum white?’ collective, ucl march 23,2015, https://novaramedia.com/2015/03/23/8-reasons-the-curriculum-is318 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 to pose the question—why is my curriculum brahmanical? it would lead to a seismic shift in academia. similar to ‘whiteness’, brahmanism is the default paradigm to make sense of the socio-cultural habitus of our society. brahmanical knowledge produces hierarchies which justifies the regimes of truth and elevates it to the supernatural dimension. these regimes can never be dismantled through human endeavour but only if one is privileged enough to take birth in a particular social order. for aeons, the lived experiences of the dalit-bahujans were mediated through their social superiors and were never a part of the classroom. the subversion of knowledge is essential to liberate the mind. braj ranjan mani quotes savitribai phule, the first indian woman teacher and poet, “arise, awake, educate – smash traditions, liberate”. savitribai further notes, ‘freedom comes from a mental fight, an intense personal struggle as well as a collective one for transformational change. an ignited consciousness—and a freedom struggle based on it—is known by many names; emancipatory education is one of them. such education opens our eyes, enables us to understand the world as it is and dream about the one we want to live and work in. it enables us with voice and choice, and paves the way for freedom and reconstruction. a movement from darkness to light, the promise of education is nothing less than remaking the world where justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an overflowing stream’. it is heartwarming to note that gradually dalit scholars in various institutions have introduced courses dealing with dalit culture, politics and histories, social systems, the political economy of caste, social exclusion, specialized courses on the intellectual contributions of phule, ambedkar, periyar, etc. in order to end the epistemic isolation of the dalit-bahujans, we need to follow john dewey’s ideas. according to dewey, education stands for the “transmission” of beliefs and language, “expectations” and “occupations,” “standards” and “aims,” and “habits of doing, thinking, and feeling.” furthermore, education enables the adaptation of social life to changing circumstances: it stands for the “transformation” of beliefs, standards, habits, etc. hence, for dewey, social life and education are two sides of the same coin. that is, “life is a self-renewing process. what nutrition and reproduction are to physiological life, education is to social life”.36 the interrogation of received wisdom is essential for citizenship education. years ago, jyotiba phule while addressing the education commission in 1882 at poona, made a pertinent observation, that state intervention is essential for the middle and lower classes so as to ensure not only monetary investment but also to preserve neutrality as india has multiple creeds and sects.37 unfortunately, the present ideology is to privatize education to the detriment of the marginalized communities. white/#:~:text=the%20curriculum%20is%20white%20because,not%20even%20their%20 own%20experiences. 36 john dewey 1916 (1980). democracy and education. in j.a. boydston (ed.), john dewey. the middle works, 1899–1922, vol. 9. carbondale/edwardsville: southern illinois university press. 37 rohini mokashi-punekar (2023).the third eye and other works: mahatma phule’s writings on education. orient blackswan, p. 200. © 2025 kahul sivatejaa. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.1758 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 1 pp. 116-130 april 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste struggle for emancipation and dalit consciousness in the autobiography my father baliah kahul sivatejaa1 abstract dalit life narratives as a genre from the telugu states are of recent origin. unlike life narratives in marathi, hindi, and tamil languages, few from the telugu states caught the attention of scholars. despite this, y.b. satyanarayana, a teacher and writer from telangana wrote an auto/biography, my father baliah, in 2011 making it a valuable addition to the stream of dalit life writings. it narrates an inspiring story of three generations spanning across two centuries. originally written in english, this life narrative serves as an important intervention in the social history of india because it is a product of a dalit agency where the story is written from the point of view of dalits, a perspective often marginalized by mainstream narratives. using this life narrative, this article attempts to deal with the cultural politics of dalit literature, the dynamic between the dalit life narrator and the dalit community, the implications of writing dalit literature in english, and more importantly the need to recognize dalit agency in colonial modernity with the ultimate objective of making a case for dalit emancipation. keywords dalit literature, dalit life narratives, dalit consciousness, colonial modernity, dalit writing in english, y.b. satyanarayana introduction beginning from the 1960s, dalit literature in the form of poetry, novels, essays, drama, and songs has been instrumental in challenging the canon of indian literature that is either heavily fraught with a patriarchal and caste-ridden hindu consciousness glorifying the pre-colonial past or in the guise of modernity, restricts the discourse on caste to the traditional, inadequately educated rural spaces thereby rendering caste as a matter of the past. for a long time and perhaps even today, indian literature both written 1m.a. (english language & literature), phd research scholar, osmania university, hyderabad, telangana, india e-mail: sivatejaa003@gmail.com struggle for emancipation and dalit consciousness in the autobiography my father baliah 117 in bhashas (regional languages) and english, fell short of taking a radical view on caste and offering solidarity with the political and cultural movement of dalits. dalit writers have been challenging such trends and notions to present an alternative perspective on indian society with an intention to bring about change using the intellectual legacy of buddha, phule and ambedkar. this perspective or what is popularly called as dalit consciousness advocates equality, self-respect and human dignity, which is antithetical to the hierarchical and discriminatory brahmanical/savarna (caste hindu) ideology. dalit literature has consistently countered the representation of dalits by non-dalits as “objects of pity, helpless, child-like” (mukherjee, 2004, p. 8). this misrepresentation which was particularly observed in the writings of “upper” caste social reformers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, snatched away the agency and lived experience of dalits. later, in the postcolonial india, dalit writers had to build a cultural base inspired from 1970s dalit panthers movement to reveal the discrimination, suffering and exploitation of dalits right under the nose of the liberal and democratic indian state. this cultural project required representing the authentic experience of dalits and employing realism that demanded a solidarity with the dalit movement instead of a realism that pleaded for sympathy. this movement which started in maharashtra slowly inspired other states such as karnataka, andhra pradesh, and tamil nadu leading to the emergence of the most celebrated genre in dalit literature, i.e., the autobiography. it’s safe to say that this genre made dalit literature popular across india. the autobiographies were published in various bhashas beginning with marathi in the 1970s and followed by hindi, tamil, telugu, kannada, malayalam, and odia. some notable works such as daya pawar’s baluta (originally published in marathi in 1978), kumud pawde’s antasphot (originally published in marathi in 1981), baby kamble’s prisons we broke (originally published in marathi in 1986), omprakash valmiki’s joothan (originally published in hindi in 1997), vasant moon’s growing up untouchable in india (originally published in marathi in 1995), bama’s karukku (originally published in tamil in 1992), exposed the ugly truth of graded inequality, i.e., the caste system that has been lurking under the much-celebrated veil of diversity and national unity of india. those works represented simultaneously the awareness of being oppressed and the consciousness of change which are fundamental to dalit movement. this generated a distinct set of literary aesthetics through which dalit literature was able “to make it possible to talk in the language of caste” (kumar, 2018, p. 57). today, other than realism, dalit writers have been exploring various genres and narrative techniques where works such as kusumabale by devanoora mahadeva (1988), cho. dharma’s koogai (2005), des raj kali’s shanti parav (2009) employ elements of fantasy, horror, magic realism and experimental aesthetics. however, there are important reasons to consider as to why dalit writers made autobiography almost synonymous with dalit literature. as dalit literature is inextricably entwined with dalit political movement, dalit writers felt that autobiographies could act as testimonies thereby creating a much bigger political impact than other genres such as poetry, drama and fiction (abraham & misrahi-barak, 2018, pp. 21–22). apart from political movement, dalit literature also has the objective of recontextualising the 118 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 rhetoric around history and culture. dalit writings wanted to look at history and culture from the point of view of the marginalized which helped in understanding how savarna consciousness always acted as an undercurrent in determining not only the popular notions around history and culture but also the interventionist methodologies such as subaltern studies and postcolonial studies. these methodologies have either collapsed caste into class or did not privilege the lived reality of dalits according to which caste becomes a constituent factor in historical, cultural and political consciousness. hence, dalit writers resorted to life narratives that had the scope to retrieve the history and culture of dalits by which they can act as the “site of counter-memory to power”. (kumar, 2018, p. 60). life narrative is the term that is being used today to discuss self-referential writings such as autobiographies as the “term autobiography is inadequate to describe the extensive historical range and the diverse genres and practices of life narratives and life narrators in the west and elsewhere around the globe” (smith & watson, 2001, p. 4). dalit writers and scholars further understand the category of life narratives as “critical life narratives” to describe the patriarchal caste-ridden indian society or testimonio to emphasize both a group’s oppression and a sense of agency in the dalit narratives. critics such as gopal guru, bhikhu paarekh, and raj kumar have tried to discover the socio-historical context responsible for the emergence of self-referential writings in indian literature. kumar (2004) points out that “the consciousness of new individuality during british rule and loosening of the community bond gave rise to the subjectivity necessary in autobiographies” (p. 52). similarly, bhikhu parekh locates the british colonial period during which “modern individualism and rationalism” were introduced whereby “access to western literature offered the necessary intellectual tools for writing autobiographies” (1989; as cited in kumar, 2004, p. 52). hence, it is safe to argue that “autobiography as a practice is linked to individualism that articulates itself in the conditions of modernity” and “in india, writing autobiography, therefore, is a modern phenomenon” (guru, 2017, para. 1). though the same context of modernity and individuality led to the indian autobiographies—initially written by “upper” castes and then followed by dalits—the dalit life narratives represent a consciousness different from the “upper” caste ones. kumar’s (2004) observation substantiates this difference when he writes: even when successful, none of them [dalits] has celebrated life achievement. this is in contrast to the upper caste indian autobiographies who have invariably recorded their achievements in different fields with a sense of selfsatisfaction and celebrated their glories and power in public. dalits are not sure about their social positions and hence they seem to be insecure till the very end of their autobiographies. they use their community culture and identity for dalit solidarity and self-assertion like an ethnographic account rather than as a personalized self (p. 200). the objectives and issues that predominantly feature in dalit life narratives also constitute what margo perkins calls “rewriting the self” where “struggle against the struggle for emancipation and dalit consciousness in the autobiography my father baliah 119 socially dominant untouchable identity is a fundamental battle for dalit writers as they attempt to undermine old definitions with new imaginations” (2000; as cited in hunt, 2014, p. 199). similarly, dalit life narratives are also identified as countering the “silence and misrepresentation of dalits” (rege, 2006, p. 13) and a “source of intrusion in the calm, contemplative and reflective mode of autobiographical writings” (kumar, 2018, p. 60). guru (2017), as mentioned earlier, talks about the influence of bourgeois society on the development of indian autobiographies where the individual self “i” becomes prominent (para. 1). then the question arises as to how an individual dalit self in the autobiographies can speak for its community when dalit consciousness is fundamentally concerned with establishing a political subject called dalit. however, pandian argues that “dalit life narratives have violated genre boundaries by depleting the “i”—an outcome of bourgeois individualism—and by displacing it with the collectivity of the dalit community” (rege, 2006, p. 13). but a more nuanced analysis of this individual-community dynamic is given by hunt (2007) in her discussion on hindi dalit autobiographies where she complicates the notion of the dalit individual “self” representing the dalit community. she talks about the “complex picture of dalit subjectivity where the protagonist (i) and the dalit community (we) are inextricably linked in a complex web of meaning, yet without loss of either the individual or the community” (2007, p. 551). she also writes, “by reinforcing a certain presence of individuality, emotional interiority and intellectual life, dalits claim their status as equal human beings without threatening their simultaneous claims to a communal identity” (p. 557). therefore, we can argue that the complexity of dalit life narratives lies not only in their challenge to the savarna representations but also in the tension between representing their individual self and collective self. hence, one has to understand how the genre of dalit life narrative negotiates with categories such as caste, class, religion, and gender and in this regard, this article aims to bring out how y.b. satyanarayana’s (2013) my father baliah becomes an exemplary text to not only discuss those issues but also to make a case for dalit emancipation. this article is divided into three sections which establish my father baliah as an important intervention in the context of socio-cultural history of dalits, argue for the importance of english for dalit articulation, and discuss the dalit agency in the context of colonial modernity respectively. the concluding section identifies the limitations within the chosen text and attempts to contemplate the appropriate direction that dalit cultural movement needs to take. my father baliah – an important intervention dalit literature in telugu-speaking states was not only influenced by ambedkarite politics but also shaped by the movements which arose owing to the specific sociopolitical history of those states. these include the dalit nationalist movement of the 1920s and 30s which fought against the brahmanical hegemony in the indian independence struggle; the telangana armed rebellion in the late 1940s in which the peasants rose against the oppressive landlords under whom they were forced to do bonded labour; the naxalite movement of the 60s and 70s to which the landless and the exploited dalits supplied cadre but the movement’s leadership failed in offering a 120 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 radical response to the caste question because of its preference to the identity of class; the rise in atrocities against dalit communities in 70s and 80s among which the horrific 1985 karamchedu massacre led to a popular dalit mahasabha (congress) movement in andhra pradesh which highlighted the importance of establishing a solid political front for dalits; the dandora (clarion call by drum beat) movement which spoke for the relatively more exploited sections among dalits and the centenary celebrations of ambedkar and phule coupled with debates over backward castes’ reservation in the 90s and finally the more recent writings of the twenty-first century which brought women writers and experimentation to the spotlight in order to represent a distinct dalit world-view. these movements led to a rich repertoire of dalit writings in this region in various forms such as poetry, songs, plays, short stories, and personal narratives. this article attempts to establish that the autobiography my father baliah published in 2013 enables one to get the sense of complex history and social life of dalits as seen through the inspirational journey of the author’s family. although in the introduction, this article had autobiography in focus, it is difficult to strictly confine my father baliah to any one genre. the text is divided into two parts, namely, narsiah’s world and satiah speaks. the first part deals with the stories of the author or life narrator’s great-grandfather (sr. narasiah), grandfather (jr. narasiah), and father (baliah) and is narrated in the third person point of view. the second part completely deals with baliah and his family narrated in first person by the author. hence, the narrative spans three generations and two centuries. satyanarayana himself says in the preface that the story of the first part is based on whatever his father has told him making it an oral history and an auto/biography—biography inserted within an autobiography. however, even in the second part where we have satyanarayana narrating his story, the focus of the narrative is less on satyanarayana himself and more on the struggle of his entire family, making it a family chronicle. in addition to this, it is also has elements of social history—writing history about the marginalised sections using lived experience—where the author depicts the life of dalits during the times of feudal, colonial, and post-independent telangana. the second part is a life narrative where baliah becomes a “significant other” whose story is “deeply implicated in the narrator’s and through whom the narrator understands her or his own self-formation” (smith & watson, 2001, p. 65). first, this text serves as an important intervention in the social history of india because it is a product of a dalit agency where the story is written from the point of view of dalits, a perspective often marginalized by mainstream narratives. one of the distinct features of dalit literature is to engage with the project of “cultural politics” reconstituting “the terms of cultural and political discourse in india” (kumar, 2018, p. 57). satyanarayana (2013) in his preface, reveals the intention of writing about his family as: it is time we started writing our own histories. the stories written by brahmins beginning with ‘once upon a time, there lived a poor brahmin …’ should stop now. i feel that it is not my family alone but every dalit – and non-dalit – who should know about our past in order to create a better future (p. 16). struggle for emancipation and dalit consciousness in the autobiography my father baliah 121 second, autobiographies also have legacy motives for passing memory on to one’s posterity. satyanarayana states that he has written the life narrative for his granddaughter to preserve their family history. this could be understood as not only preserving history but also acknowledging its “potential for reshaping the future” as he implied earlier (smith & watson, 2001, p. 21). throughout the text, even when he is narrating his great-grandfather and grandfather’s story, satyanarayana (2013) in an auto-ethnographic style, gives a detailed description of the cultural and social life of dalits. this makes his life narrative a rich repertoire of india’s subaltern culture. in some instances, through these cultural descriptions, satyanarayana tries to situate dalit culture in stark contrast with savarna culture. his description of priesthood serves as an example—“unlike in brahminism, where the priest is a brahmin, male and hierarchical, and the varnashrama dharma is institutionalized, there are no priests for these deities, and every untouchable is a priest unto himself or herself” (p. 27). but he mentions this when he was commenting about the superstitions among dalit communities during the time of his great-grandfather. similarly, when describing his parents’ marriage, he writes, “unlike the brahmin priests, the baindlaina rendered just one sanskrit shloka ‘shuklambara dharam …’ to solemnize the wedding” (p. 59). he talks about this baindlaina (a person who performs weddings among the untouchable castes) for the last time when the brahmin friends of his brother were mocking him for his non-brahmanical accent and also as he knew only one shloka (p. 153). based on these observations, this article argues that though satyanarayana was trying to point out how distinct dalit culture is and how it has more egalitarian features such as priesthood irrespective of caste, and women being allowed to carry the bier of the dead, he was also viewing that culture with a critical eye. this criticism becomes even sharper when he laments the fact that the belief in certain superstitions among dalit communities such as “witch-hunting, sorcery, and persecution of—and incantations against—evil spirits” eventually paralyzed the leg of one of his nieces (p. 162). this tendency among dalit life narratives to simultaneously assert the recovery of dalit culture and to maintain a critical distance from the same culture has been well discussed by hunt (2007). she argues that “dalits have struggled against externally ascribed untouchable identity in an effort to redefine their caste community in positive and self-assertive terms” (p. 546). however, she also cautions about the cost of this positive self-assertion in the form of “ambivalences” with which dalit autobiographies “struggle to reconcile their low-caste identity with their current urban middle-class status and their claims to represent all members of dalit community are challenged” (p. 545). this argument looks fair but instead of viewing it as an ambivalence, it is important to recognize the potential of dalit writers themselves offering an internal critique in achieving emancipation from all forms of oppression and for all dalits. this article believes that my father baliah subscribes to such emancipation and also overcomes the unfortunate tendency of “drifting away from a sense of collective movement” observed in second-generation dalit life narratives (devaprakash, 2019, p. 17). this is so because, throughout the narrative, the 122 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 author never finds it problematic to identify with the dalit community. this becomes evident as the narrator on multiple occasions shows how dalits have internalized the caste hegemony and the need to come out of it and whenever he or his family members faced any humiliation, he expressed his concerns not in personal but collective terms. for example, when his grandfather fails to explain why the “upper” caste teachers won’t allow baliah to school, satyanarayana (2013) writes: narsiah had no answer to his son’s argument; he was unable to explain to his son the laws of manusmriti, that sage manu had codified everything about the hindu way of life, and untouchables had, for centuries together, been segregated. sin and punishment – papamu and dandana – are infallible tenets of hindu laws regarding sudras and untouchables. this ideology conditioned the minds of the untouchables to believe that they would be committing a grave sin if they went against this law (p. 37). satyanarayana also repeatedly makes it a point that compared to other dalits, his family is better privileged. commenting on the life of dalits in the railways he writes: the family, unlike other untouchable families, actually lived a comfortable life, though not in luxury. there was no struggle for food, shelter and clothing as the wages from the railways took care of these necessities. this was the case with most untouchable families working in the railways. they could even think of educating their children. for these very reasons, these families were also alienated from their own communities in the villages (p. 43). though the entire narrative is about how baliah’s family rose out of poverty and untouchability, the author’s repeated reference to their relative privilege could be understood as his intention to inspire his community to move to the cities and get empowered through education. this becomes clear when satyanarayana (2013) in his preface acknowledges—“we could very easily have been in the same state as impoverished dalit families living in villages” (p. 14)—if not for his grandfather’s decision to migrate away from the village and join the railways along with his father’s uncompromising insistence on providing education for the children. satyanarayana writes, “that migration had changed the course, not only of his own life, but also of the generations to come” (p. 56). therefore, instead of viewing the narrator of my father baliah as a relatively privileged dalit middle class individual, his work should be read as a “conscious textual intervention in the making of a homogenous dalit community which otherwise is fragmented” (kumar, 2018, p. 61, note 9). choice of english caste and english my father baliah is an important text for its choice of language, i.e., english. dalit writings are mostly written in the bhashas (indian languages other than english) and struggle for emancipation and dalit consciousness in the autobiography my father baliah 123 they have gained prominence across the country due to their translations into english. one reason why dalit literature is mostly associated with bhasha literature could be because of the regional character of the dalit movements in post-independent india. as discussed earlier, maharashtra holds the distinction of being the foremost state in building the necessary cultural base for the movement which was taken up by other states subsequently at different junctures depending on their own states’ socio-political circumstances. another reason could be the reluctance of postcolonial indian writing in english to privilege caste over class and religion thereby rendering caste as ultravires to the modern individual citizen of india. vivek dhareswar makes an elaborate argument regarding this issue when he writes: the postcolonial elite in india has used english, both as language as much as a semiotic system symbolizing modernity to impose their secular categories on the social world. this modern subjectivity framed in english has allowed caste to be the private domain suffused with the vernacular (1992; as cited in menon, 2006, p. 3). therefore, the choice of english in texts like my father baliah should be read as an attempt to speak the language of caste in english. dalits and english most dalit writers still choose bhashas over english, maybe because english is not the dominant lingua franca among the majority of the indian subaltern groups thereby falling short of representing their life and culture. nevertheless, english has its own advantages when it speaks about caste. kothari (2013) writes, “by being foreign, english does not normalize and legitimize caste, and by being an ex-colonial language with global reach, it becomes empowering” (p. 61). she also finds english to be conducive to constructing a nationwide dalit consciousness. she writes, “english helps redefine identity and imagine a pan indian dalit unity while also allowing a vocabulary of human rights” and also with respect to the inadequacies of english in representing dalit life, she asserts that “english’s potential to translate the dalit life from fatalism to an identity of rights outweighs considerations of its distance from indian reality” (p. 67). reading not only the present text which was originally written in english but also other dalit texts translated into english, one cannot escape observing the delegitimization and denormalization of caste. aspiration for english in my father baliah modern dalit literature has always been oriented towards speaking the language of human rights and human dignity. its politics has always been for encouraging the oppressed sections to fight for their own advancement. this is reflected in their texts which often depict modernity as the means of empowerment. english education and migration to cities signify that modernity in those dalit texts. we can see this 124 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 recognition of english education as an enabler of empowerment reflected in the present text when the narrator writes: having seen the lifestyle of higher-level and upper-caste staff, he wanted to ensure that his brother learnt english. . . . it was the first attempt in the yelukati family to learn english, another attempt to achieve a better life. (satyanarayana, 2013, p. 69) in another instance, he writes: very few students from the untouchable community (like my brother) were in the english medium, and these students had a good chance of securing better jobs after graduating through matriculation, for english was desirable in government jobs. (satyanarayana, 2013, p. 134) the narrator also frequently mentions his affinity towards the english language and how his father used to feel proud about his children speaking in english. thus english education for dalits implies a better chance to compete with “upper” castes and achieve self-respect and liberation. even in the dalit literature written in bhashas, the dalit writers tend to privilege aspiration/liberation over backwardness by differentiating the characters who speak modern dialect of a language and its marked register. this has been used by dalit writers for resisting the stereotypical representations of dalit characters by non-dalits where the dalit character always speaks the marked register and the non-dalits speak the modern dialect. as laura brueck (2014) writes, “. . . for a character to speak in a ‘marked’ (simplified, non-modern standard) version of hindi is to exhibit a deficiency of dalit chetna [consciousness], to be characterised not only as ‘rural’ or ‘traditional’ but more specifically to be condemned as ‘backward’” (pp. 104–105). however, my father baliah, unfortunately, is one of the few dalit life narratives originally written in english in the body of dalit writing from the telugu region. the only other such life narrative coming from telugu community is sujatha gidla’s (2017) ants among elephants. dalit life narratives in english are also uncommon among dalit literature from other states. we have only a handful of such texts like d.r. jatava’s (2000) a silent soldier, balwant singh’s (1997) an untouchable in the ias, i.d. pawar’s (1981) my struggle in life, and ashok bhoyar’s (2001) encounter with dronacharya. my father baliah holds a distinct place among these narratives because, on the surface level, it seems to be telling a simple inter-generational family story but it skilfully embedded a wide variety of themes within that story as discussed in this article. nevertheless, dalit narratives in english did not gain as much prominence as translated works like bama’s (1992) karukku or omprakash valmiki’s (2003) joothan did. however, the situation looks hopeful with the publication of yashica dutt’s (2019) coming out as dalit, which has garnered widespread popularity recently due to its honest representation of dalit middle class life particularly focussing on the struggle for emancipation and dalit consciousness in the autobiography my father baliah 125 precarious situation of contemporary dalits where economic progress falls short in improving their social status and therefore are left with no choice but to blend in with the “upper” castes by hiding their dalit identity. therefore it is time that dalit literature recognizes the importance of writing in english taking inspiration not only from my father baliah but also from dr. ambedkar himself who “was far-sighted in realizing the importance of writing all his works in english” (anand, 1999, p. 2056). dalit agency in the colonial modernity speaking of modernity, it is important to look at the source of modernity and its encounter with dalits in india. the distinguishing feature of my father baliah that holds our attention throughout the narrative is the description of the lives of dalits working in the railways that were established in nineteenth-century british india. jr. narasiah was the first in the family to grab a job in the then nizam–guaranteed state railway (nsr) which later merged into the indian railways. though it was the nizam who owned the railways, it was the british who built and operated it (kuncheria, n.d., p. 7). that’s why we find a british officer, sir franklin, who not only gave baliah a job, but also saved him in one instance by restoring his job. yelukati ramaswamy changes his name to baliah upon the insistence of sir franklin so as to get back to his job. baliah later took his first son balraj to sir franklin to request a job in the same railways. the narrator describes sir franklin as a “young british officer, and nice to the class iv employees [mostly dalits and sudras], often helping them in times of need” (satyanarayana, 2013, p. 72). the institutions and changes brought during the colonial period such as railways, english education, postal services, and missionary activities had a significant disruptive effect on the colonized societies beginning from the nineteenth century. the mainstream response to these changes brought in during the colonial period is understood as colonial modernity. menon (2006) defines colonial modernity as “the specific contradiction between a rhetoric of universal modernity and a practice of accommodation with existing fault lines of power, tradition, and custom is what characterizes colonial modernity in india” (p. 76). there could be two ways of understanding this aspect. one is that british colonialism was only able to affect small changes to the pre-modern structures of oppression like the caste system so as to retain their rule which ultimately led to partial liberation for the subaltern communities. the other way of viewing this is that colonialism under the guise of modernity was only trying to exploit the indian society by dividing it based on caste and religious lines i.e., divide et impera (divide and rule). this second way of considering colonial modernity mostly constitutes the mainstream response to colonialism in the form of nationalism and sometimes postcolonialism putting the entire blame on the colonial rule for indian maladies. the problem with this position is that it “frames colonialism as a homogenous and singular structure of oppression. it does not sufficiently explain the different responses of various social groups within society” (rao, 2022, p. 187). this is what the first way of viewing colonial modernity reflects though it still finds the 126 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 liberation inadequate. however, it is extremely important to recognize the agency of the subaltern communities whereby they negotiated with the opportunities opened up by the colonial institutions to emerge as modern individuals free from the traditional markers of subordination. this is what this article points out as dalit agency in colonial modernity which is aptly represented by my father baliah. as mentioned earlier, jr. narasiah’s decision to move out of the village and join the railways during the period of twentieth century pre-independent india changed the lives of baliah and his family forever. the narrator describes this change as follows: he [narasiah] was happy to be thus liberated from slavery under feudal lords. that migration had changed the course, not only of his own life but also of the generations to come. he felt this intensely since he perceived the change in the atmosphere and in the new lifestyle that they had since come to adopt in the city. he was even happier for his son, who had become literate. he could never have foreseen this, but he knew now that subsequent generations would also receive an education. (satyanarayana, 2013, p. 56) the narrator also traces the source of this change when he writes: it was a strange situation: untouchables, who were outcasts and segregated in every village, were suddenly living in the same quarters [railway quarters] as sudras! the environment had changed, and now they had the means to learn many new things, not just about work, but about society and social structures too. in many ways, it was the british indian era that opened the doors of development to the untouchables. (satyanarayana, 2013, p. 35) echoing lefebvre’s notion of social space being a social product, the narrative gives a contrasting picture regarding the organization of space in the feudal, caste-ridden village and the modern grade-based railway quarters in colonial towns and cities. the narrator delineates the social space of sr. narasiah’s village as follows: a village has the perfect hindu caste set-up with all the characteristic features codified by manu. it has two types of dwellings, varna houses and avarna huts, separated by either a boundary or a well-maintained distance. in order to avoid pollution (from the casteless untouchables) through wind to caste hindus, the houses of each varna (caste) are built in such a way that the wind blows from the dwellings of the brahmins to the rest of the village. untouchable (avarna) houses are located in the east and the main village in the west, since the wind always blows from west to east. houses are built in ascending order of the caste hierarchy from east to west – sudras, vaishyas, kshatriyas, and brahmins. the houses of those belonging to the productive caste (the sudras) cluster together, and towards the east, finally, is the agraharam, brahmins’ dwellings – the ‘beginning’ of the village. (satyanarayana, 2013, p. 18) struggle for emancipation and dalit consciousness in the autobiography my father baliah 127 on the other hand, the narrator describes the life in a modern place like tandur as follows: “this was the first time in baliah’s career that he had been posted full-time at a big station and was living in quarters where different classes of workers stayed. the size of the quarters differed according to the grade of the employee.” (satyanarayana, 2013, p. 18) dr. ambedkar argued regarding such caste-based segregation in indian villages that led to the “ghettoization” of the “untouchables” and therefore contrary to gandhi’s village republics, he urged dalits to leave the villages and move to the cities (1989; as cited in prasad, 2021, p. 134). therefore, cities for dalits act as sites of transformation “in which new individuals can be forged as subjects unmarked by subjection” (menon, 2006, p. 94). this transformation is rightly described by satyanarayana (2013) when he writes: the untouchables who lived in the railway colony enjoyed the same freedom as the higher castes. there wasn’t any social restriction here. in colonial times, cantonment areas and railway colonies were ‘free zones’ for untouchables, where they could aspire to better social lives, and earn their livelihoods like caste hindus. (p. 81) similarly, there is also a significant difference in the subjectivity of sr. narasiah, a dalit living under the mercy of an “upper” caste landlord in a caste-ridden village, and baliah, a dalit railway employee living in modern towns and cities. for example, in narasiah’s village, dalits generally do not object to the “upper” castes’ disrespectful way of addressing them as “narsiga” for narasiah (satyanarayana, 2013, p. 19). also, narasiah’s extent of internalization of caste hegemony is so deep that he feels “relieved” when the landlord instead of beating him to death, allows him to retain two acres of land out of the fifty acres that were gifted to narasiah by the nizam (satyanarayana, 2013, p. 20). on the other hand, baliah was exposed to colonial spaces like railways which developed a strong desire in him to educate his children so that he could see them working as higher officials in the railways. although baliah is also used to “upper” castes treating him as an “untouchable”, he nevertheless dares to stand up for his dignity. this is seen when the narrator details the way baliah deals with his superiors: he [baliah] told his superiors to expect respect only when they gave respect; there had to be reciprocity. the officials would address him as ‘baliah’ rather than ‘baliga’, an appellation they would have used for a subordinate. it was now known in the railway circuit that baliah would not have borne this patiently. he objected to officials addressing their subordinates with contempt. he also politely refused to do the personal work of the stationmasters, such as going to the market or taking their children to school, or washing their clothes. 128 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 because of this perceived insubordination, he was transferred many a time, but baliah never had any regrets. (satyanarayana, 2013, p. 91) unfortunately, some scholars with savarna consciousness tend to consider colonial modernity as problematic as they glorify the “pre-modern or pre-colonial and of everything that seems to have remained immune to the invasions of colonial modernity” (pouchepedass, 2000; as cited in zecchini, 2018, p. 74). this would only lead one to revert to the language of hierarchy and discrimination instead of fighting for liberty and equality. based on the above observations and inferences, this article argues that colonial modernity has an enabling role in the development of a consciousness of equality and dignity among dalits like baliah. conclusion my father baliah depicts the changes that the yelukati family has seen over three generations by pointing out the trajectory of the caste system/untouchability during that period. the article believes that during the time of sr. narasiah, and his son, untouchability presented itself glaringly just like the sound of a howling steam engine. whereas when it comes to the time of baliah and later his children balraj, abbasayulu, satyanarayana, and others, the caste system became antithetical to the modernity infused via colonialism. however, it did not vanish altogether. instead, it transformed into subtler forms by silently lurking under the modern institutions thereby posing a threat to the struggle for dalit emancipation. in the above section, the article has argued that colonial modernity encouraged the upliftment of dalits through modern education and employment. however, as the narrative indicates, the “upper” caste people and also the sudras were unable to shed their superiority/purity claims over dalits not only within colonial institutions but also in post-independent india. for example, satyanarayana (2013) complained that even after “the untouchables gained entry into jobs in the railways and into the railway quarters, and started living alongside the sudras in the same areas, sometimes even the same buildings”, the “sudras still tried to maintain untouchability, though” (p. 35). similarly, after celebrating the fact that dalits were able to enjoy equal rights within the railways, he cannot resist stating the reality in which “the caste hindus still tried to avoid contact with the untouchables for fear of pollution” (p. 81). in addition to this, the narrator also mentions that “the highercaste drivers and brahmin guards still preferred the sudras to the untouchables when it came to carrying their boxes” (p. 103). for argument’s sake, one could agree that it is too soon to expect the discrimination to die when we are talking about the colonial period as colonial modernity and also the social reform movements started creating an impact only from the nineteenth century. but as satyanarayana narrates his own experiences occurring in the 1970s and 80s, we come to notice that the caste ideology still continues to influence the attitude of “upper” caste people. the discrimination came in the form of opposing reservations, doubting the academic and professional struggle for emancipation and dalit consciousness in the autobiography my father baliah 129 potential of dalits, refusing to give houses for rent, etc., ultimately rendering dalits vulnerable in modern india as well. this frustrates the narrator as he writes: no constitutional safeguards so far had really helped the hapless dalits; they still remained excluded, segregated and untouchable in free india. the mindset of upper-caste hindus had not changed much in spite of the relentless efforts of dr b.r. ambedkar. (satyanarayana, 2013, p. 207) therefore, acknowledging dalit agency in colonial modernity is as important an issue as it is to continue the struggle for dalit emancipation using both constitutional means and cultural struggle to build on the achievements secured during the colonial period. lastly, the article finds the representation of women’s lives in the narrative to be problematic. because, narasamma, the wife of baliah, and the mother to not only satyanarayana but also to her other 11 children, has endured a far more arduous struggle than baliah and other family members yet her voice is not given adequate presence in the whole narrative. this reveals a tendency common to most of the dalit male autobiographies where “woman is projected as a sacrificing mother or a mother patiently enduring pain and suffering but very rarely as the agency for change” (guru para. 6). except for this limitation, my father baliah is an indispensable piece of dalit writing that sets the stage for engaging with significant historical, social, political, and cultural issues thereby powerfully advocating for a radical transformation of indian society. references abraham, joshil k. & juidth misrahi-barak. 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(2003). joothan: a dalit’s life (a. p. mukherjee, trans.). new york: columbia university press. (original work published 1997) zecchini, laetitia. (2018).’no name is yours until you speak it’: notes towards a contrapuntal reading of dalit literatures and postcolonial theory. in j.k. abraham & j. misrahi-barak (2nd ed.), dalit literatures in india (pp. 68–85). oxon and new york: routledge. © 2025 kalinga tudor silva, mark e. balmforth. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. editorial and symposium introduction doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.2577 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 1 pp. 01-07 april 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste a symposium on caste in sri lanka and the sri lankan diaspora: an introductory note kalinga tudor silva1, mark e. balmforth2 in comparison to the expanding body of literature on caste in the indian subcontinent, caste in and connected to sri lanka has received relatively little attention in contemporary academic research, policy debates and social development interventions. this is perhaps the result of a widely held view on the island that even though caste was important in the past, it no longer exists as a vital social institution. though there may be an element of truth in this observation, we feel that the actual reality is far more complex. caste may seem to be dormant in day-to-day public life, but one need only consider its role in the selection of marriage partners or the operation of both national and local electoral processes to see that caste remains a ubiquitous factor of life on the island. while open discussion about caste is almost completely absent in contemporary sri lanka (uyangoda, 2000; silva, sivapragasam, and thanges, 2009), this cannot be interpreted to mean that caste is dead or dying in sri lankan society. on the contrary, there are many caste-instigated frictions in various communities across the island. for instance, reports from the north indicate a certain resurgence of caste practices in former war-affected areas following the end of war and the cessation of the strict censorship of caste imposed by the liberation tigers of tamil eelam (ltte) (e.g., kuganathan, 2022). there is also evidence that suggests that caste continues to play a role in social, economic and political dynamics affecting access to limited resources such as land, drinking water, employment and political power (lall, 2015). difficulties encountered by internally displaced people from disadvantaged caste backgrounds to secure their original land or move to alternative sites include a combination of caste discrimination in the land market, a lack of resources, the inability to influence state policies (thanges, 2015; silva, 2020) as well as the denial of access to cemeteries (wickramasinghe, 2023). caste may also seem to be dormant in central and southern regions in sri lanka. however, caste continues to play a role in marriage partner selection, land 1professor emeritus, university of peradeniya, sri lanka 2visiting scholar, mcgill university, canada e-mail: 1tudorsilva@pgihs.ac.lk, 2mark.balmforth@mcgill.ca 2 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 tenure, temple rituals, politics, economic relations and the performing arts (silva, sivapragasam, and thanges, 2009; reed, 2010; simpson and de silva, current issue). despite these facts, caste information is not collected in the state’s population census or in any other official social surveys in sri lanka, including in official assessments of poverty. this makes it difficult to pinpoint the role of caste as a facet of social and economic discrimination, such as in land ownership, unemployment, migration patterns and access to social services. in the meantime, there has been considerable interest in caste in sinhala, sri lankan tamil and malaiyaha (up-country) tamil communities in sri lanka, and in dissertation research particularly based in overseas universities (e.g., räsänen, 2015; douglas, 2017; thanges, 2018; esler, 2019; balmforth, 2020; kuganathan, 2021). against this background and spread out over the coming issues of caste: a global journal of social exclusion, this symposium will provide a forum for scholars and social activists to initiate an open discussion about caste in sri lanka. jvp, ltte and the articulation of social unrest in sri lanka studies indicate that underneath the apparent disappearance of caste from public life, the resentments of disadvantaged or oppressed caste groups may have played an important role in activist and social unrest movements of the twentieth century, including the jvp uprisings against the state in southern sri lanka in 1971 and 19871989 as well as in the tamil insurgency against the state from 1983 to 2009. this is not to say that these movements were exclusively caste-based. the jvp uprising was driven by a mix of ethnonationalist, class and caste grievances to establish a mass political movement against the status quo. the caste rumblings within the jvp were reflected in the non-goyigama leadership of the movement. the founding leader, rohana wijeweera, and many of the national level leaders came from sinhala coastal castes, with karawas overrepresented among them. some of the rank and file in particular localities also came from so-called depressed caste groups such as the bathgama and wahumpura, who were excluded by dominant castes from access to land and government employment (obeyesekere, 1974; jiggins, 1979; gunaratne, 2008). the jvp clearly deployed caste while recruiting its cadres at the village level (jiggins, 1979; chandraprema, 1991; ivan, 1993). however, caste was not featured at all in its political campaign and the program of social reform as a political party once it entered the democratic process even after it became the ruling party in the country in 2024. this suggests that despite their egalitarian ethos, caste was instrumentalized rather than genuinely and openly critiqued as an instrument of social injustice and discrimination even among the so-called political left. comparisons could be drawn between the way the ltte and the jvp negotiated caste. as was the case with the jvp, the ltte mobilized a mix of ethnonationalist, class and caste grievances in launching their struggle against what they perceived to be a sinhala state. the ethnonationalist agenda was clearly more significant in the ltte, presenting itself as a national liberation struggle seeking to establish a tamil homeland and an independent state in northern and eastern sri lanka. the leadership of the a symposium on caste in sri lanka and the sri lankan diaspora: an introductory note 3 ltte also came from outside the dominant vellalar caste who controlled established electoral politics in the predominantly tamil regions of northern and eastern sri lanka. the charismatic ltte leader, v. prabakaran, came from the karaiyar caste, the structural equivalent of the karawa of southern sri lanka. we do not have accurate information on the overall composition of the membership of the ltte, though evidence suggests that a disproportionate number of tiger cadre were from oppressed caste groups (räsänen, 2015). this is also confirmed by information on internally displaced people, who remained in camps many years after the end of war (silva, sivapragasam, and thanges, 2009; silva, 2020). like the jvp, the ltte did not center the critique of caste in its political campaigns or internal organization of the movement. however, open discussion about caste was banned in order to deliberately prevent caste from becoming a divisive force within the tamil nationalist struggle (räsänen, 2015; silva, 2020). there were also efforts to promote equality through measures such as recognizing all fallen ltte cadres, regardless of caste, as war heroes in the cemeteries established by the ltte (wickramasinghe, 2023). like the jvp, the ltte did not seek to comprehensively deal with caste-based discrimination, for instance in matters such as access to land, services and public sector employment. the ltte efforts to silence caste talk may have worked during the war when the ltte was effectively running areas under their control, but caste discrimination was restored in numerous areas once the ltte was overpowered by the state in 2009. conflict over access to cemeteries is just one example of the resurgence of caste in the post-war era. the social unrest articulated by the jvp and ltte obviously reflects the diverse forms of inequality in the form of caste, class, gender and ethnicity and they cannot be reduced to one dominant form of inequality that overdetermines politics in sri lanka. caste may be hidden or silenced by dominant forces in society but it also triggers social unrest and violent struggles against the status quo. victor ivan, who was a key player in the jvp uprising in 1971, once explained that “these uprisings are not purely caste or class struggles. it is more meaningful to analyze them as a curious mixture of both caste and class. i do, however, think that those who joined the movement because they were subjected to caste oppression were the most agitated group in the movement. they were not the leaders or the forerunners of the movement, but a key group of fully committed fighters who suffered heavily as the counter insurgency operations targeted such communities” (1993, p. 120). both the jvp and the ltte mobilized widespread resentment in these communities that held local gate keepers from privileged backgrounds responsible for the closure of pathways to upward social mobility such as education and white-collar employment. the origins of this collection this symposium had its start in long-term conversations between the editorial team at j-caste and kalinga tudor silva about finding creative ways to expand the journal’s collection of sri lanka-based research, while at the same time building awareness on the island of the journal and its publishing priorities. following the sixth annual 4 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 conference on the unfinished legacy of dr. b.r. ambedkar held at brandeis university in october 2023 and hosted by the j-caste team, mark balmforth was solicited to collaborate with silva to put together a collection of essays on caste in sri lanka. this led to a call for papers released in may 2024 that received more than thirty-five submissions, far more than we could ever reasonably include in the collection. over the next several issues of j-caste, we will be releasing a select number of these papers. caste in southern sri lanka three of the papers published in this symposium deal with caste in sinhala society in southern sri lanka. the first, by kalinga tudor silva, argues for a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society. according to his view, the specificity of and challenges for caste must be understood not only in terms of challenges from the angle of social justice and human rights but also in terms of environmental justice and sustainability of caste occupations in the context of limited natural resources. interspecies dynamics between the endemic cinnamon plant in southwestern sri lanka and the salagamas have developed in response to the demand for sri lankan cinnamon from local and colonial rulers from the precolonial era onwards. the demand for cinnamon was high throughout the colonial era and the shift from foraging of wild cinnamon to the domestication of cinnamon stabilized the role and position of the salagama in sinhala society despite their ostensibly “foreign” roots in kerala. as for the mutually supportive interspecies dynamics, the endemic cinnamon plant enabled the “outsider” salagama to become an indispensable unit of the sinhala caste system and facilitated a section of the caste to achieve phenomenal social mobility during the nineteenth century. the cinnamon plant itself survived endangerment caused by indiscriminate foraging following its adoption in smallholder agriculture in southwestern sri lanka under the stewardship of the salagamas. a number of recent developments have however posed new challenges for the mutual coexistence between the plant and the caste. they include challenges for sri lankan cinnamon in the global market due to a lack of branding, an absence of quality control and challenges to smallholder agriculture from changes in land use practices caused by urbanization, fragmentation of landholdings and class polarization resulting in the formation of a subaltern group of paid cinnamon workers. caste and the social history of this industry are completely ignored in the ongoing public and private sector efforts to address these issues through technological and market interventions. how this will play out in social and economic terms is unclear. the second paper in the symposium is by bob simpson and premakumara de silva and it explores three types of cultural ambivalence towards and among the drummer caste in southwestern sri lanka, drawing on long-term ethnographic study at sites in the benthara valley in the western province and the nilwala valley in the southern province. one type of cultural ambivalence is the attitude towards the caste by society at large. next, they consider ambivalence towards the drummer caste by the a symposium on caste in sri lanka and the sri lankan diaspora: an introductory note 5 state, and finally, mixed attitudes towards drumming within the caste itself. building on prior research by reed (2010), simpson and de silva find that while the beravas became perceived bearers of cultural legacy epitomizing sinhala buddhist heritage, they have a more ambiguous position within the neoliberal framework that came to prominence from 1977. the paper highlights how the drummer caste reacted against resulting ambivalences in the context of radical politics by organizations such as the jvp. some gave up drumming and dancing altogether, while others took advantage of new opportunities opened up by the tourist economy. the third essay in the symposium, titled “recasting the brahmin,” is by praveen tilakaratne. the essay illustrates how caste has been hidden in plain sight within sinhala literature by examining two writings of the doyen martin wickramasinghe who hailed from koggala near galle town. this essay emphasizes that sinhala literature privileges ethnicity over caste in the selection of themes, reflecting the broad public silence surrounding caste noted earlier. tilakaratne states that, “in public culture and literature, however, an air of silence continues to envelope caste. curious it is, then, that the body of work of perhaps the most prolific and influential sinhala writer and public intellectual of the last century, martin wickramasinghe (1890-1976), is checkered with references to caste”. the two selected works of wickramasinghe, bava tharanaya (crossing the cycle of existence) and bamunu kulaye bindavatima (fall of the brahmin caste) provide both an epistemic critique and an allegorical narrative of caste. in the view of tilakaratne, however, this is a useful literary device to sensitize the sinhala reading public about caste at a time when caste became politically salient in southern sri lanka due to the jvp uprising and open discussion about caste using caste names and lived experience was considered inappropriate. caste in the sri lankan tamil diaspora an important facet of the continuing vitality of caste in sri lankan society is its deployment among members of the sri lankan diaspora overseas. this includes the tamil and sinhala diasporas in canada, the usa, the uk, australia, new zealand and various countries across europe. there again, caste has come into play in partner selection, and in diasporic involvement in community activities such as temple construction and social development. in marital partner selection, matrimonial web sites have been established, mechanisms have been developed to secure visas for marriage partners from sri lanka and customary arrangements such as marriage ceremonies have been established following appropriate caste practices as revealed in some recent studies (e.g., maunaguru, 2019). where caste endogamy is violated, honor killings have been reported, for instance in a well-known 2007 case in the greater toronto area. mark p. whitaker’s “caste, space, and retail religiosity in tamil toronto” presents two seemingly contradictory views about caste in toronto’s sri lankan tamil diaspora, based on a generation gap. whitaker finds that members of the generation who emigrated to canada tend to treat caste as part of an important cultural heritage 6 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 that must be preserved in order to sustain tamil culture in a foreign land. the first generation to be born and raised in canada, in comparison, is reticent about caste and sees it as an inappropriate transplant that makes it more difficult for tamils to assimilate within canadian society. reflective of the older generation’s perspectives, tamil hindu temples in toronto that serve as community cultural centers also deploy caste as part of a cultural heritage that includes tamil language, culture, and music, and believe it must be preserved in order for this heritage to survive in a foreign environment. while there is an emerging anti-caste opinion in the new generation, open discussion about caste remains limited to bourgeoning activist circles. how these apparent contradictions will be resolved may determine the future of caste in the sri lankan tamil diaspora. in summary, these papers highlight that caste remains an important social issue in sri lanka as well as in the sri lankan diaspora. the prevalent view that caste will naturally disappear over time due to the impact of modernization, globalization and non-recognition of caste by the state is challenged by the evidence presented here. this symposium is a wakeup call to researchers, activists and policy makers to recognize that caste is among us and that we should not be deceived by the prevailing silence about and denial of caste in sri lanka and among sri lankans overseas. acknowledgements the authors wish to express our deep gratitude to larry simon, sukhadeo thorat, and vinod mishra at j-caste for their support for this project. we also want to extend our thanks to the twenty-plus anonymous reviewers who have provided feedback on more than a dozen papers for this symposium, despite what has been a deeply trying time for both the sri lankan and usa based academic community. this symposium is dedicated to the memory of three exemplary sri lankan scholars lost during the preparation of this collection: gananath obeyesekere, janaki jayawardena, and harshana rambukwella. may their commitments and our memory of them live on in our work. references balmforth, mark e. (2020). schooling the master: caste supremacy and american education in british ceylon, 1795–1855. phd diss., columbia university. chandraprema, c.a. (1991). sri lanka: the years of terror: the j.v.p insurrection, 1987-1989. lake house bookshop. douglas, aimee. (2017). caste in the same mold again: artisans and the indignities of inheritance in sri lanka. phd diss., cornell university. esler, dominic. (2019). under the giant’s tank: village, caste, and catholicism in postwar sri lanka. phd diss., university college london. gunaratne, h.m. (2008). life means not to kill. john clifford holt. gunasinghe, newton. (1990). changing socio-economic relations in the kandyan countryside. social scientists association. ivan, victor. (1993). prachandathwaya, avihinsava and viplavaya. godage brothers. a symposium on caste in sri lanka and the sri lankan diaspora: an introductory note 7 jiggins, janice. (1979). caste and the politics of the sinhalese. cambridge university press. kuganathan, prashanth. (2021). learning, language, and life: war, migration, and cultural transformation at the juncture of english speech practices in northern sri lanka. phd diss., teachers college columbia university. kuganathan, prashanth. (2022). of tigers and temples: the jaffna caste system in transition during the sri lankan civil war. in sociology of south asia: postcolonial legacies, global imaginaries, edited by smitha radhakrishnan and gowri vijayakumar, 235–265. springer international publishing. lall, aftab. (2015). access to water and sanitation in jaffna, sri lanka: perceptions of caste. working paper 28. centre for poverty analysis. https://www.cepa.lk/wp-content/ uploads/2020/09/2017-lall-access-to-water-and-sanitation-in-jaffna.pdf maunaguru, sidharthan. (2019). marrying for a future: transnational sri lankan tamil marriages in the shadow of war. university of washington press. obeyesekere, gananath. (1974). some comments on the social backgrounds of the april 1971 insurgency in sri lanka (ceylon). journal of asian studies 33 (3): 367-384. räsänen, bahirathy jeeweshwara. (2015). caste and nation-building: constructing vellalah identity in jaffna. phd diss., university of gothenburg. reed, susan a. (2010). dance and the nation: performance, ritual and politics in sri lanka. university of wisconsin press. silva, kalinga tudor. (2020). nationalism, caste-blindness, and the continuing problems of war-displaced panchamars in post-war jaffna society. caste: a global journal on social exclusion 1(1), 51–70. silva, kalinga tudor, p.p. sivapragasam, and paramsothy thanges. (eds.) (2009). casteless or caste-blind? dynamics of concealed caste discrimination, social exclusion and protest in sri lanka. kumaran press. thanges, paramsothy. (2015). caste and camp people in jaffna: land ownership and landlessness. colombo telegraph, december 8. https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index. php/caste-camp-people-in-jaffna-landownership-landlessness/ thanges, paramsothy. (2018). conflict-induced migration and shifting caste relations: resisting and reproducing hierarchies in post-war sri lankan tamil space. phd diss., university of east london. uyangoda, jayadeva. (2000). the inner courtyard: political discourses of caste, justice and equality in sri lanka. pravada 6, no. 9-10: 14–19. wickramasinghe, kamanthi. (2023). dispute over kinthusity cemetery as caste issue surfaces. daily mirror online, 8 february. https://www.dailymirror.lk/news-features/dispute-overkinthusity-cemetery-as-caste-issue-surfaces/131-253736#:~:text=the%20cemetery%20 land%20in%20question%20comes%20under%20their%20purview%20and,at%20the%20 closest%20possible%20site © 2024 yashpal jogdand. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. editorial and symposium introduction doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.2288 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 49-72 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste laying the ground for a critical psychology of caste yashpal jogdand1 abstract the psychological underpinnings and processes of caste have remained obscure. this special issue of caste: a global journal on social exclusion focusing on caste and psychology is an initial contribution that lays the ground for developing a critical psychology of caste. in this introductory article, i situate the special issue in the historical and contemporary context. i show that the historical roots of psychological approach to caste go deep. the revolutionary thinking and activism of mahatma jotirao phule and dr. babasaheb ambedkar provided a useful foundation for a critical psychology of caste to flourish. unfortunately, this foundation remained under-appreciated in the subsequent academic and social engagement on caste. next, i review the contemporary research on the psychological dimension of caste and highlight emerging themes that illustrate contemporary approaches. i argue that there is need of a collective endeavor in the form of a new field of study, namely, ‘critical psychology of caste’, to integrate divergent perspectives and contributions addressing the psychological dimension of caste. the special issue is a small step in that direction. keywords caste, race, psychological science, dalit, racism, casteism, decolonization, ambedkar introduction the caste system is one of the most complex and oppressive social orders existing on earth today. expectedly, the scholarship on caste is vast and nuanced (for reviews, see bapuji et al. 2024; gupta 2005; jodhka 2015; mosse 2018). despite the deeper insights offered by the extensive literature on caste, its psychological underpinnings and processes have remained obscure. comparing caste with class in great britain and race in the united states, we find a theoretical and empirical vacuum concerning 1department of humanities and social sciences, indian institute of technology delhi, india e-mail: yaj@iitd.ac.in 50 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 psychology. while there are scientific bodies of work addressing the psychology of class (argyle 1994; kraus & stephens 2012; manstead 2018) and the psychology of race (richeson & sommers 2016; salter & adams 2013), we are yet to turn our analytic gaze towards the psychology of caste. this special issue of caste: a global journal on social exclusion focusing on caste and psychology is an initial contribution that lays the ground for developing a psychology of caste. the special issue takes a critical approach to address the relationship between caste and psychology and emphasizes the value of asking the right questions. why must we take psychology seriously? why must we ask the right questions in addressing the psychology of caste? psychology as a form of power psychology as a scientific discipline came into existence in the mid-19th century. writing what came to be later known as the first textbook of psychology, pragmatist philosopher and psychologist william james (1890) defined psychology as “the science of mental life, both of its phenomena and of their conditions” (james 1890: 26). while james agreed that mental phenomena such as cognitions, desires, feelings, decisions, memory, and the like are the core focus of psychology, he challenged the positions of spiritualist and associationist approaches that abstracted mental phenomena from their context. james argued that mental phenomena do not exist in a vacuum, but there are social conditions (including the human brain and physiology) under which they arise, function, and direct human behavior. the scope of psychology was thus construed as broad and included the antecedent conditions of mental phenomena and their resultant consequences. james (1890) emphasized that the psychologist’s most interesting task is to engage in what he called “the quest of the conditions” (p.3). over a century has passed since james’ seminal textbook. psychology in the meantime has become a very influential, dynamic, and multifaceted science taught, researched, and practiced worldwide. notwithstanding many achievements, psychology has not adequately addressed the myriad social conditions and populations across the world. psychology has postured itself to be representative of the whole of humanity. still, most psychological theory and research emanates from a highly unrepresentative and psychologically peculiar sample of humanity located in the euro-american context characterized as “weird” (western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic henrich et al. 2010). as a result, there has been epistemic exclusion of experiences, theories, methods, and indigenous epistemologies of the global south in psychology. the most concerning aspect of psychology however relates to the way it has dealt with conditions of structural oppression and systemic inequity. recently, the american psychological association (apa), a powerful scientific and professional organization established in 1892 that dominates psychological teaching, research, and practice in every corner of the world, formally apologized for its role in supporting racial hierarchy and oppression of people of color (apa 2021). an act of apology is underpinned by a sense of moral failure and a feeling of laying the ground for a critical psychology of caste 51 guilt. what moral failure led to apa’s apology? moral failure refers to psychologists promoting, perpetuating, and failing to challenge racism, racial discrimination, and human hierarchy. psychology has a history of psychologists actively taking racist positions and using science to defend racism and the eugenic movement (kamin 2012). guthrie’s (2004) book, even the rat was white, provides an overview of historical developments in psychology that constructed whiteness as a human norm while forming a priori assumption that african people are inferior. psychologists offered solutions to human suffering, almost exclusively in terms of individual adjustment, leaving the social order conveniently unaffected (fanon 1967; richards 2012). there is still widespread denial, distancing, and hypocrisy in addressing racism in psychology (richards 2012). durrheim (2024) draws attention to how white supremacy is maintained in psychology by “conversational silencing” in which the realities of racism and the operation of power are ignored under the guise of doing good science. overall, psychology has worked as a technique for legitimizing racism and ignoring power inequalities and structural determinants of human oppression. in india, psychology has perpetuated the caste order and denigrated the dalits and lower castes (jogdand 2023). in this sense, psychology should be construed as a form of power that is used to control, influence, and coerce dalit and black/african people. however, power is a double-edged sword and can also be used to challenge oppression (turner 2005). some psychologists took a reflexive stand and criticized the racist practices and perspectives within the discipline. they made efforts to harness the power of psychology to mobilize social change. the doll studies by psychologists and civil rights activists mamie and kenneth clark showed how racism and segregation affected black children, leading to the landmark judgement of brown vs board of education that ended racial segregation in us education (adams et al. 2008). the psychological impact of societal inequality and oppression in the context of racism and colonialism was theorised (fanon 1967; martín-baró 1994; sartre 1948). moscovici (1976) criticized the tendency among psychologists to naturalize the social order, delegitimize social change, and discourage resistance. specifically, social psychologists have been at the forefront of examining societal inequality and oppression. they have addressed the issues of class, gender, racism, and/or colonialism and developed an influential body of theory and research examining group processes and intergroup relations in multiple contexts (brown & pehrson 2019). social psychologists have contributed to a scientific understanding of prejudice, stereotypes, stigma, social identity, leadership, and emotions underpinning social stasis and change (dixon et al. 2012; haslam et al. 2013; reicher 2012; subasic et al. 2012). over the last few decades, various critical, feminist, discursive, intersectional, and decolonial approaches have emerged that challenge mainstream euro-american psychology’s dominance while proposing new theoretical and methodological innovations (adams et al. 2015; reicher 2011). most contributions in this special issue take a cue from these developments in psychology and adopt critical vigilance in asking the right questions. before we discuss 52 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 further details of the special issue, it is important to situate it in the historical context. in the next section, we will look at historical discourse on the psychology of caste. historical roots of critical psychology of caste it is said that psychology has a long past but a short history. the history of psychology as a scientific discipline started from 1879 when wilhelm wundt established a psychological laboratory at university of leipzig. however, the long past of psychology refers to the fact that discourses on mind, consciousness, cognition, emotion, thought and language have been around us for thousands of years (hergenhahn & henley 1997). in the same vein, while psychology as a discipline was invoked to study caste in the early 20th century, the discourse on the psychological dimension of caste goes back for thousands of years. the concern for the social mind enslaved by the brahminical construction of the varna-caste-gender system has been an important aspect of ideological struggle for social equality in indian history (ambedkar 1987; patil 1982). buddha’s liberatory message for humanity proclaimed the centrality of cultivating the social mind to end human suffering (ambedkar 2011). buddhist philosophers dignaga and dharmakirti developed radical cognitive theories prioritizing faculties of reason and direct experience. these theories uprooted the epistemological foundations of the caste order by negating eternal ontological status accorded to birth-based caste identity (verma 2020). the classical buddhist anti-caste text vajrasuchi of ashvaghosha interrogated ‘what is brahmin-ness?’ and exposed the hollowness of brahminical selfhood while negating legitimation of human inequality (asvaghosha 1831). buddhist philosophers also challenged the beliefs and attitudes emanating from the varna-caste order. a famous verse1 in dharmakirti’s 7th century text pramāṇavārttika refers to pride in high caste, the belief in the authority of the vedas, desiring merit from bathing, and practising self-denial for the eradication of sins as inferential marks of stupidity (sen 2020). later, the bhakti movement particularly kabir, guru nanak, ravidas, and tukaram called out the brahminical arrogance and interrogated the perceived reality constructed by the caste system while evoking the ideal of a casteless, classless society (omvedt 2011). analysis of the oppressor’s mind and mental slavery of the oppressed the depressed and downtrodden masses in india were freed from the physical (bodily) slavery of the bhats as a result of the advent of the british raj here. but we are sorry to state that the benevolent british government have not addressed themselves to the important task of providing education to the said masses. that is why the shudras continue to be ignorant, and hence, their ‘mental slavery’ regarding the spurious religious tracts of the bhats continues unabated. (phule 1873/2008: 8) 1 laying the ground for a critical psychology of caste 53 jotirao phule, a nineteenth century radical thinker and activist, developed the firstever systematic psychological approach to understand and dismantle caste-based exploitation and tyranny of brahmins. as the above quote from his revolutionary book ‘slavery’ illustrates, phule’s conceptualization of slavery and freedom included a critical psychological approach. phule showed the connection between knowledge and power that underpinned the mental slavery in the caste system (bagade 2023). he advocated the value of education in freeing the lower castes and women from the mental slavery of the caste system. he called education a “third eye” (tritiya ratna) a metaphor for critical consciousness (cf. freire 1996) among those exploited and oppressed for centuries. importantly, phule pioneered a dual psychological approach that included a focus on the oppressors as well as the oppressed. his work simultaneously exposed the cunning mind of the caste oppressors and the subjugated mind of the oppressed shudra-atishudra (lower castes and untouchables) and women. tarabai shinde, the first indian feminist philosopher, pioneered the analysis of brahminical patriarchy and subjugation of women. her work exposed male hypocrisy and women’s mental anguish in indian society. jotirao phule and tarabai shinde together provided a scientific basis to understand the mental slavery of people oppressed by caste and brahminical patriarchy (bagade 2019). on this foundation, dr. b.r. ambedkar further enriched and developed this critical psychological approach in the twentieth century. ‘psychology of caste’ and ambedkar’s psychological thinking to my knowledge, the first formal invocation of the term ‘psychology of caste’ is found in historian and sociologist s.v. ketkar’s (ketkar 1909: 28) study of caste. ketkar considered the psychological reasons for the existence of caste. he analyzed two critical aspects of the caste system, endogamy and hierarchy, to illustrate the psychological basis of strong attachment and feelings of superiority towards one’s caste (ingroup) and repulsive attitudes towards other castes (outgroup). after ketkar’s invocation of ‘psychology of caste’ in 1909, it is in the scholarship and activism of dr. b.r. ambedkar (revolutionary thinker, leader of the oppressed and a maker of modern india; hereafter ambedkar), that we find the first full expression of ‘psychology of caste’ as a scientific and political engagement. ambedkar engaged with the american functional school of psychology by william james and john dewey (for details on american functionalism, see buxton 1985; for ambedkar’s engagement, see stroud 2023) and group mind tradition in social psychology (ambedkar 1989). extending phule’s critical psychological approach, ambedkar saw social dominance of the savarna hindus and the mental slavery of the untouchables as inter-related. he therefore critically analyzed hindu shastras (sacred texts) as the sources shaping social dominance-oriented consciousness among hindu upper castes and simultaneously worked to unravel the cognitive and affective dimensions of dependency and inferiority among untouchables. bagade (2019) makes a nuanced reading of ambedkar’s theorization of caste slavery and highlights his psychological insights on development of caste consciousness. he shows that ambedkar rejected mahar watan, a land grant and hereditary office that tied the mahars (an untouchable 54 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 caste in maharashtra) to menial jobs in the village economy, not only due to the inherent economic exploitation but also due to the damage to the self-respect that kept mahars psychologically weakened (bagade 2019: 45). ambedkar argued that dismantling the social and economic bases of caste and untouchability will not be enough; social and economic changes must be accompanied by efforts to change the consciousness of people: “caste is a notion; it is a state of mind. the destruction of caste does not, therefore, mean the destruction of a physical barrier. it means a notional change” (ambedkar 1936/2004: 60). ambedkar examined the myriad beliefs and attitudes developed among people as a result of the peculiar nature of the caste system. he pointed out that graded inequality—an arrangement that ranks caste groups by unequally assigning economic, educational, and civic rights in a graded manner—has most pernicious social psychological consequences, mainly destroying the possibility of intra-caste and inter-caste solidarity and subsequent damages to societal wellbeing. graded inequality creates an affective climate in which various castes harbor feelings that form “[an] ascending scale of hatred and descending scale of contempt” (ambedkar 1987: 48). in addition, ambedkar approached emotions as group-based performative entities critical to building solidarities and mobilizing collective action (jogdand 2023). ambedkar’s mobilization discourse is replete with his innovative usage of cognitive and affective categories. for instance, ambedkar mobilized his followers to contest the “hintva”, the amputated selfhood imposed by the caste system, by invoking and orienting a collective feeling of humiliation among them (jogdand 2015; reicher & jogdand 2016). ambedkar’s invocation and reinterpretation of buddhism provided necessary social psychological resources to heal from the intergenerational psychological damage suffered by untouchables (zelliot 2001) and reconstruct the world on the foundation of maitri (loving-kindness) and karuna (compassion) (beltz & jondhale 2004). closing thoughts the roots of critical psychology of caste go deep. the anti-caste thinking and activism of phule and ambedkar provided a useful foundation for a critical psychology of caste to flourish. unfortunately, this foundation remained under-appreciated in the subsequent academic and social engagement on caste. specifically, psychologists remained distanced from caste and ignored the anti-caste psychological thinking of phule and ambedkar (jogdand 2023). as we shall see next, the interest and effort to address the psychological dimension of caste continued in various ways but there was limited growth of the ‘psychology of caste’ as an autonomous field of study. themes in psychological study of caste: contemporary approaches in the last seventy-five years, various scholarly efforts contributed to understanding the psychological dimension of caste in the dynamic socio-political environment. a systematic review is needed to take stock of important theoretical and empirical trends laying the ground for a critical psychology of caste 55 and explore future directions. in the limited space of this article and at the risk of oversimplification, it may be useful to point out a few themes in the existing literature. below, i highlight themes that illustrate contemporary approaches to psychological study of caste issues. in developing these themes, i was tempted to make a distinction between approaches from psychology and that from other disciplines. however, such a distinction felt spurious in terms of understanding the phenomenon. an interdisciplinary approach is necessary to address the complex nature of caste/casteism. dalit selfhood dalit literature from 1960s onward started unravelling various psychological aspects of both oppressor and oppressed in the caste system and provided critical insights into development of selfhood in the caste society. an important contribution of dalit literature to the psychology of caste was that it unraveled the ambivalent and cognitively dissonant nature of the brahminical mind while also showcasing the social/psychological struggle of dalit men and women against stigma, humiliation and loss of meaning (see bama 2012; kamble 2008; naimishray 1995). particularly, revolutionary dalit writer baburao bagul’s writing showcased the resistance and resilience of dignified dalit self in the dehumanizing and humiliating casteist world (see ḍāṅgaḷe 1992; satyanarayana 2019). sukhadeo thorat (1979) crafted one of the most insightful analysis of the development of dalit selfhood. using autobiographical insights, he analyzed the psychological damage suffered by dalits and outlined the psychological process of rejecting a stigmatized caste identity and simultaneous formation of a new assertive, dignified and rational identity. the ethnographic work by hardtmann (2009) has illustrated what guru (2009b) calls as ‘rejection of rejection’ by dalits through various coping strategies (e.g. satyanarayanan & lee 2023) as well as autonomous mobilizations for social change. contrast these contributions with the psychological research in india that emphasized the deficient nature of dalit selfhood. rath and sircar (1960) reported that lower-caste groups prefer terms that exhibit a sense of caste inferiority and self-abasement. similarly, anant’s (1967) analysis of personality patterns along the caste hierarchy emphasized that untouchables have a ‘deficient personality’ (p. 393). subsequently, majeed and ghosh (1989) suggested that dalits feel inferior as they suffer from ‘affective syndrome crisis’—a deep-seated, unresolved identity crisis. the failure of indian psychologists to understand dalit selfhood has roots in the deficiency model in western/eurocentric psychology that scientifically positioned white middleclass people as the norm in terms of intelligence, cognition, personality, self-concept and the like against which the psychology and culture of black people was evaluated and interpreted as inherently inferior (robinson 2013). as a result of borrowing assumptions from the deficiency model, this psychological analysis ignored dalit agency and ultimately fed into the notion of caste-based inferiority. 56 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 psychoanalysis psychoanalysis has a long history in india. girindra shekhar bose, chairman of the calcutta university department of psychology in the 1920s, was closely associated with sigmund freud and became a pioneer of psychoanalysis in india. despite having a good start, psychoanalysis in india could not make a sustained growth and remained distanced from mainstream psychological scholarship (akhtar & tummala-narra 2005; mishra 2021). however, some attempts to approach caste through psychoanalysis are noteworthy. radical marxist thinker and activist sharad patil (2003) tried to integrate sigmund freud’s concept of the unconscious mind with marxism and the buddhist philosophy of vasubandhu, dignaga and dharmakirti. patil proposed that the indian social consciousness is split into ‘caste conscious’ ( ) and ‘caste unconscious’ ( ). patil argued, in an unequivocal freudian sense, that caste-related conscious behavior and conscious thinking is but a tip of the iceberg; all caste-related behavior and thought processes are motivated by the unconscious mind created by the caste system. while patil invoked the concept of the unconscious mind, dundes (1997) tried to explain caste and untouchability using freudian psychosexual stages of development through the analyses of two hindu folktales. for dundes (1997), caste hierarchy, untouchability, and toilet training in indian society are intimately connected with each other. he argued that certain toilet training practices creates what he calls as ‘pollution complex’ among upper castes. in other words, his rather potentially dumontian argument is that, “fear of faeces…lies at the very heart of the indic caste system” (dundes 1997: 64). sudhir kakar (1978) addressed the development of caste consciousness in upper caste hindu family. highlighting the dominance of upper caste hindu themes in the indian psychoanalysis, davar (1999) argued that indian psychoanalysis is essentially a hindu psychoanalysis that works as a caste and patriarchal imposition on hindu women and women of other castes and religions. methodologically, i think an important limitation in psychoanalytic studies on caste has been to approach caste as some kind of intrapsychic issue to the exclusion of its intergroup and systemic properties. dwivedi (2024; this issue. see below for more details) reviews the mainstream psychoanalytic engagement with caste and suggests an alternative approach. it remains to be seen whether psychoanalysis can revive itself and develop capacity to provide a scientifically and politically viable avenue to address the question of caste. habitus sociologists have used several terms to theorize the internalization of social structures in the individual mind. the taste, dispositions, embodied feelings, but most prominently bourdieu’s idea of “habitus” has been proposed to capture the psychological dimension of caste. bourdieu has defined habitus in terms of ‘dispositions’: ‘social in origin, acquired in infancy, embodied, durable, transposable, hierarchical and reproductive of the social context within which they originated. dispositions frame subsequent laying the ground for a critical psychology of caste 57 activity and homogenize individuals exposed to the same local social circumstances.’ (bourdieu 1994). taking a cue from bourdieu, gorringe and rafanell (2007) proposed ‘caste habitus’ as a pivot between individual and society, between subjective and objective, between psychological and social while studying the embodiment, protest and change in caste experiences: “one’s social position within a particular caste informs one’s ‘caste’ habitus. this habitus results in the internalization of specific embodied characteristics, which constitute hierarchical boundaries and, consequently, structure relationships with other castes.” (gorringe & rafanell 2007: 98) caste habitus does shed some light on reproduction of caste; however, as gorringe and rafanell point out, it does not adequately explain protest and resistance within caste system (p. 101) (see also bourdieu 2017). increasingly, researchers have been using the concept of habitus to conceptualize the psychological impact of caste identity in the indian educational context (khanal 2024; malish & ilavarasan 2016; renukuntla & mocherla 2023). lived experience and social interactions some scholars have challenged the abstract theorization or idealization of caste and emphasized the value of a phenomenological approach to understand the social reality of caste and untouchability. this intervention is replete with psychological insights on dalit experience and untouchability. guru and sarukkai’s work on the nature of experience, selfhood, and theory provide deeper insights into approaching the psychological dimension of caste (guru & sarukkai 2012). guru and sarukkai define the lived experience as lack of freedom conditioned by the hierarchical caste structure that pushes dalits outside of boundaries and treats them as repositories of dirt. in an illuminating dialogue, guru and sarukkai debate the nature of untouchability. while sarukkai explored the philosophical foundations of untouchability by analysing the phenomenology of “touch”, guru considered the implicit presence of untouchability in constraining everyday social interactions. drawing on both indian and western traditions, sarrukai argued the importance of untouchability within the brahmin tradition and explained how untouchability is an essential requirement of brahminhood supplemented and outsourced to dalits. while sarrukai located the source of untouchability in the brahmin self, guru emphasized the implicit presence of untouchability in social interactions and proposed adoption of an archaeological method: “due to the compulsion of the modern conditions, untouchability both as practice and as consciousness, finds it difficult to remain on the surface of social interaction as was the case in the feudal past. modernity forces it to slide further down to the bottom of the hierarchical mind.” (guru & sarukkai 2012: 203) 58 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 guru and sarukkai argue that the category of experience should be taken seriously to theorize social reality. they attempt to highlight psychological underpinnings of caste and untouchability through embodied experiences, and develop an analysis that navigates the boundaries of mental/material, mind/body, individual/social. the phenomenological approach does not limit itself to the individual but foregrounds the lived experience of oppressed collectives such as dalits. guru’s (2009a) ground-breaking work on theorizing humiliation by foregrounding dalit experience addressed the normative and psychological bases of social interaction in the caste context. importantly, caste-based humiliation was conceptualized as a psychological rather than a physical injury that involves disrespecting and demeaning dalits and lower castes, damaging their self-respect, attacking their human dignity, and causing them moral hurt and pain. this influential work has not only made interventions into the fields of political and moral theory, but also provided a direction for developing a social psychological conceptualisation of humiliation (jogdand, khan & reicher 2020). guru and sarukkai (2019) further examine the nature of the ‘everyday social’ focusing on embodiment of the social through the perceptual capacities of sight, touch, sound, taste, and smell. they map the margins, intersections, and complexities of the ‘everyday social’ in indian society by juxtaposing it with the mind, self, experience, and the action of the individual and the collective. while discussing the social ontology of social self, guru and sarukkai (2019: 119) draw upon the developments in psychology and evaluate the categories of collective mind and collective self. they discuss the possibilities of the group mind, the ‘we-self’, and how it might relate to the individual, while also locating the cognitive, affective, and behavioral contours of the social self of caste. guru and sarukkai’s analysis transcends the boundaries of conventional sociology, metaphysics, and phenomenology while developing psychological foundations for a liberatory politics of the oppressed in the caste system. a key contribution of guru and sarukkai’s work has been to highlight the importance of theorization and methodological innovation required to understand lived experience and social interaction in the caste society. the psychological grounding of this work has influenced the research on uncovering patterns of stigma, discrimination, and exclusion in the caste context. collective victimization: patterns of experience and response violence against dalit and adivasi communities remains an immutable feature of indian society (kabiraj 2023; sharma 2015; teltumbde 2011). various extensive scale surveys have confirmed the continued practice of untouchability in india (shah et al. 2006; thorat & joshi 2020). social exclusion and discrimination have been noted as persistent issues affecting dalits, adivasis, and muslims in india (thorat & neuman 2012). dalits are stigmatized due to their association with “dirty work” that includes tasks such as cleaning and manual scavenging (jodhka 2016) and entrenched beliefs about their relative “meritlessness” compared to upper castes in intellectual domains (nambissan 2007; subramanian 2019; thomas 2020). addressing the negative impact laying the ground for a critical psychology of caste 59 of caste-based inequality, violence, and oppression on dalits, adivasis and women in various societal, economic and organizational settings is a significant concern among many scholars. many studies directly or indirectly include a focus on addressing the psychological impact of caste identity by invoking constructs such as stigma, social identity, exclusion, and discrimination. this is one of the thriving areas of research and has helped uncover various patterns of experience of and response to stigma, discrimination and exclusion across multiple domains. i discuss few representative attempts below. jaspal’s (2011) study discussed the identity processes underpinning caste-based stigma and social exclusion. replicating the stereotype threat effect (i.e., fear or anxiety regarding confirming negative stereotype of ingroup; steele & aronson 1995) in the caste context, hoff and pandey (2006) showed that caste identity constitutes a stigma for dalit school children; mere public revelation of caste identity (compared to the condition when caste identity is not revealed) in an exam situation lowered cognitive task performance of dalit school children. in the context of higher education, deshpande (2016) showed that despite competent academic performance, dalit students experience the stigma of being beneficiaries of affirmative action (castebased quota policy). in the context of the urban labour market, thorat and colleagues (2012) have shown that caste identity matters and shapes the patterns of discrimination and exclusion faced by dalits and muslims. pal (2015) has identified patterns of exclusion and violence affecting mental health of dalits. some studies highlighted the experiences of invisibility, neglect and precarity experienced by dalit workers in the cleaning profession (e.g., rabelo & mahalingam 2019). jogdand (2015; 2023) has examined the impact of caste-based humiliation using a social psychological approach. researchers often make eclectic choices for using psychological theories and methods in their studies, suggesting that there is no clear pattern of conceptualization and operationalization of psychological constructs in the caste context. it is however worth noting that scholars are increasingly invoking novel social psychological constructs such as ‘microaggression’ (rathod 2017, 2022) to shed light on psychological processes underpinning caste-based stigma, exclusion, and discrimination in the higher education context. notably, bhoi and gorringe’s (2023) edited volume, caste in everyday life, takes the psychological approach seriously to understand everyday workings of caste and brings together contributions that interrogate the experience of and response to caste-based stigma, discrimination and exclusion in multiple settings and among various communities. corroborating the pattern discussed earlier in the context of dalit selfhood, many studies—including the ones in bhoi and gorringe’s volume—provide empirical support to the position that dalits (especially dalit women) do not passively accept their devaluation and victimization but engage in ‘identity struggles’ to negotiate the conditions of stigma and precarity (e.g., mendonca et al. 2024), contest the meanings of discrimination (e.g., deshmukh et al. 2024) and develop intersectional solidarity with other oppressed groups to challenge the ongoing victimization (see nair & vollhardt 2020). 60 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 health, wellbeing, and clinic caste identity is a significant stressor affecting health and wellbeing of dalits (jadhav et al. 2016; jogdand 2017). recent scholarship has identified caste-based health disparities (acharya 2022) in the indian population. dalits and adivasi (scheduled caste and scheduled tribe) experience poor health and wellbeing (ramaiah 2015; thapa et al. 2021) and have poor access to healthcare (baru et al. 2010). dalits and adivasis also experience relatively poor mental health compared to the higher caste hindus (gupta & coffey 2020). dalit students in indian higher education establishments face increasing risk of self-harm and suicide (pathania et al. 2023; sukumar 2022). these trends suggest the need for interventions that help address individual suffering but also underpinning socio-structural factors. although there has been increasing interest in addressing the health impact of caste, class and gender across multiple domains (baru et al. 2010; chowdhury et al. 2022; johri & anand 2022; khubchandani et al. 2018; komanapalli & rao 2021; kowal & afshar 2015; mahapatro et al. 2021; patel et al. 2018; shaikh et al. 2018; the lancet 2014; uddin et al. 2020), there are issues within the disciplines of psychology and psychiatry that dampen the efforts for developing meaningful solutions to the impending health crisis in india. sushrut jadhav, a clinical psychiatrist and medical anthropologist and one of the foremost voices in the psy-fields who has raised the question of caste, attributes this failure to the deep-seated caste bias in theoretical discourses and practices in clinical psychology, psychiatry and mental healthcare settings in india. jadhav has shown that clinical practices in india have not taken the ecological context of mental health seriously (jadhav et al. 2015) and, as a consequence, have not adequately developed a culturally valid orientation and diagnostic assessment criteria to address the suffering experienced by dalits and lower castes (bayetti et al. 2017; jadhav 2004; jain & jadhav 2008). relevantly, sawariya (2021) has identified various issues within the counselling psychology training and practice that excludes caste from its consideration. sawariya shows that clinical settings are often unaffordable and inaccessible to dalits and the therapeutic alliance (i.e., an affective relationship between counsellor and client throughout the counselling process) in the clinic is dominated by the caste structure. clearly, the priority is not just to address the concerns of the health and wellbeing and improving the access to healthcare but also to address caste blindness of theory, method and practices in the fields of clinical and counselling psychology and psychiatry. beliefs and attitudes an important aspect of research on beliefs and attitudes is that these studies shift the analytic focus on the oppressors in the caste context. as noted earlier, researchers have given most attention to examining the experience and impact of caste among those oppressed by the caste system. however, it is equally important to examine the cognition and motivation of the upper castes who oppress others. as a result, despite laying the ground for a critical psychology of caste 61 the critical importance of the caste-related beliefs and attitudes persistent in the caste system, there has been relatively limited research addressing these issues. scholars have focused on various beliefs and attitudes that underpin, mediate, and (re) produce caste in everyday life. ramaswami mahalingam, cultural psychologist and one of the pioneering researchers on the cultural psychology of caste, has developed insights into essentialist beliefs and attitudes regarding caste identity. essentialism refers to the psychological belief that there are essential and immutable differences between social groups. using a novel experimental paradigm of brain transfer across caste (brahmin/dalit), gender (male/female) and class (rich/poor), mahalingam (2003) showed that essentialist beliefs of caste differences are pervasive across indian society but these beliefs are generally informed by power and social location, such that brahmins are more likely than dalits to endorse essentialist beliefs of caste differences as those beliefs validate the higher status of the brahmins. the essentialist caste beliefs are entrenched in indian society and shape the way indian children are socialized. dunham and colleagues (2014) found that by the age of ten most indian children become aware of caste identity and develop an implicit preference for highcaste groups. the caste system shapes indian children’s beliefs about intellectual ability, motivation, and achievement in life (srinivasan et al. 2016). by the age of five to nine years, indian children develop caste-related biases and mistrust/ignore dalits, who are perceived to be dirty (rottman et al. 2020). baby ziliya and manjaly (2020) experimentally proved that upper castes still dehumanize dalits as emphasized in the hindu sacred literature. cotterill and colleagues (2014) examined the hindu beliefs of karma underlying the legitimation and persistence of the caste system (for a critique, see jogdand et al. 2016). blanchar and eidelman (2013) showed that the belief in longevity of the caste system makes it seem more legitimate and defensible. an important aspect of studying the psychological aspects of beliefs and attitudes is to focus on prejudice and stereotypes in the society. thorat and colleagues (2016) show prejudice as a factor underlying the persistent denial of reservations to dalits. using a nationally representative dataset, amit thorat and colleagues (2020) confirmed the prevalence of regressive caste and gender attitudes among indians. while the concepts of prejudice and stereotypes are popular in caste-related discourse, the scientific studies examining caste-based prejudice and stereotypes are surprisingly rare. after some attention to the topic of caste-based prejudice and stereotypes for few decades after indian independence, indian psychologists (even those who built their international career by studying this topic) distanced themselves from it (see, this issue, sharma & jogdand 2024). this should have been a thriving area of research given the availability of complementary theories and methodological advancement. closing thoughts where are we going with all these strands of research addressing the psychological dimension of caste? three observations could be made here. first, what is researched as part of the psychological study of caste is exceedingly eclectic and solitary. there are some insightful studies that develop theory; some make 62 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 useful empirical contributions. however, such studies shine alone and are not further developed into programmatic strands of research. as a result, a theoretical confusion and empirical vacuum prevails regarding psychology of caste. second, it is not too difficult to bring divergent theoretical notions and empirical findings together into a harmony and set up an agenda for future research. however, this is only possible when psychological study of caste is done as a collective action rather than an individual intellectual project. given the enormous complexity of the caste system, a community of scholars with sustained commitment is needed to make a meaningful academic and policy impact. third, as the breadth of contributions outlined in earlier sections signifies, it is possible to imagine a ‘critical psychology of caste’ as an interdisciplinary and autonomous field of study that investigates the dialectics between caste society and the individual mind. the problems for critical psychology of caste are genuine, and they could be addressed not just by importing theories and methods from adjoining fields but also by developing new theories and methods from dalit perspective. current issue this special issue is the first collective and systematic attempt to undertake a psychological study of caste issues. most contributors of the special issue are young scholars. barring a few, most of them were writing their first academic article. they have broken several barriers within the discipline to ask the right questions and develop meaningful answers. what is common among all contributions is the awareness of the power relationship constituted by psychology as a form of knowledge. in this sense, all contributions take a critical stance towards psychological constructs while utilizing their potential to unravel the complex issues in the caste system. they invoke multiple psychological theories and/or approaches ranging from psychanalysis to social identity approach in social psychology and use both qualitative and quantitative methods. the contributions develop new theoretical insights and contribute new empirical findings enriching existing knowledge base. sharma and jogdand develop a social psychological approach to caste prejudice. they show the limitations of existing theory and research on caste prejudice that limits its scope to personality and individual differences, rendering the analysis reductive and depoliticized. inspired by the social identity approach in social psychology (reicher, spears & haslam 2010), they develop a group-level psychological conceptualization of caste prejudice and show its utility using a correlational study examining the contemporary expression of casteism, namely the denial of caste-based reservations and endorsement of blatant caste discrimination. a key empirical finding in their study is that glorification of caste identity rather than mere psychological attachment to caste, was found to be strongly linked to caste prejudice. through innovative theoretical approach and empirical contribution, sharma and jogdand prepare the ground for a systematic programme of study in the causes, correlates, consequences, and reduction of caste prejudice. laying the ground for a critical psychology of caste 63 divya dwivedi re-introduces psychoanalysis to study caste and shows its utility to address somewhat oppositional dimensions of ‘the psychomachia of caste in contemporary life’ among dalits and ‘the denial or verneinung of caste by the upper castes’. she interrogates psychoanalysis in india both as a theory of clinic and of the civilization and warns that psychoanalysis could become a retrogressive and universalizing theory of society and politics unless a contextually specific sociogenesis of psychopathologies could be developed. relatedly, she shows how psychoanalysis in india became a tool for further evasion and verneinung of caste. moving beyond the traditional usage of freudian conceptual categories, she proposes a sociogenetic psychoanalysis of caste or what could be called in fanonian lexicon as sociodiagnostics (fanon 1967) aimed at radical social transformation. g.c. pal reviews existing research on caste and highlights how this work overlooks the psychological complexities underpinning caste based oppression. he reflects on dr. ambedkar’s psychological exposition of the caste system and shows its relevance to understand the persistence of the caste system. he then explicates ‘identity threat’ as a psychological process involved in the persistence of caste discrimination and violence in contemporary india using various social psychological frameworks. bianca cherechès juxtaposes dalit psychological suffering with the existing psychological theorization of trauma and recovery. through a critical reading of meena kandasamy’s novel the gypsy goddess, recounting the 1968 kilvenmani caste atrocity, she highlights multiple and insidious ways the somatic trauma of caste oppression affects the mental wellbeing of dalits. she interrogates the universal validity of the trauma paradigm dominant in the fields of psychiatry and clinical psychology especially the relevance of post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) while exposing its limitation to explain the dalit psychological suffering and resistance. bianca cherechès argues for expanding the theoretical scope of trauma and recovery as well as mental healthcare practices to include collective victimhood experienced by historically oppressed groups such as dalits. mukherjee, agarwal, tandon and meena undertake a reflexive thematic analysis (braun & clarke 2006 2019) of narratives of dalit victimization and dalit resistance in educational spaces. building on the current social psychological theory and research into collective victimhood (vollhardt 2020), they show how dalit individuals make sense of their victimization and cope with and resist casteism. mukherjee, agarwal, tandon and meena highlight experiencing microaggression, deficit intergroup contact, caste stereotypes and upper caste disgust as some of the ways through which caste order victimizes dalits. however, they underscore that such victimization is rarely accepted by dalits. they highlight several aspects of dalit resistance and resilience that include acts such as seeking higher education, reclaiming classroom space, endorsing affirmative action, confronting oppressors, and building solidarity and selfrespect within the community. fatima, zafar and thangal provide a methodological guide to undertake psychological research on caste issues in light of the conformity bias (moscovici 1976) prevalent in the existing research (for review, see jogdand et al. 2016). they discuss 64 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 barriers both within and beyond discipline that obstruct asking the right questions and undertaking a rigorous enquiry into issues of caste and casteism. fatima, zafar and thangal argue for taking a value position while conducting psychological research on caste and caution that theoretical naivety or a lack of critical stance can result in blaming the victims of oppressive systems. they suggest a culturally and contextually sensitive approach while navigating conceptualization and operationalization in empirical studies examining the nature and implications of caste/casteism. vikas kumar choudhary considers aspects of memory and collective remembering embedded in caste politics in india. he highlights that construction and access to memories is shaped by the power relations embedded in the caste system. using ethnographic notes from the sites of important dalit monuments in uttar pradesh, he argues that the collective memory of indian society is based on caste ideology and places dalits as subservient to upper caste politics. in response, the dalit movement attempts to consolidate collective memory by creating anti-caste counter-memories to challenge the hindutva meta-narratives and appropriation of dalit icons. jidugu kavya harshitha focuses on the complex links between caste, language and colorism in india. she analyses the dalit experiences of caste discrimination and colorism using linguistic registers and the concept of indexicality. she demonstrates how linguistic expressions reinforce caste hierarchies by assigning unequal social value to darkness and fairness among dalit and ‘savarna’ upper castes. she uncovers a pattern of attributions where caste identity shapes the meaning of skin tone. jidugu kavya harshitha shows that ‘savarna’ upper castes with fair skin are seen as a beauty ideal but those with dark skin tones are also perceived as socially acceptable due to linguistic references to royalty and goddesses. in contrast, dalits with darker skin tones are dehumanized and perceived as impure and those with lighter skin tones are seen as arrogant, undeserving, and deceitful. shweta ahire presents a counter-intuitive finding of dalits themselves rejecting castebased reservations in the private sector. she explores the motivation underpinning this rejection using a mixed method approach in a sample of predominantly young, middle-class, well-educated or employed dalit-buddhists in mumbai, india. shweta ahire highlights the perils of stigmatized caste identity that dalits have to navigate in their everyday life and shows that the rejection of caste-based reservation is rooted in the internalized caste stigma that leads one to distance oneself from the ingroup. she emphasizes need for further research into internalized oppression among dalits. angel sophan engages in conversation with the individuals/groups who define themselves as upper castes and invites them to consider how food reflects the psychology of caste oppression in india. she explores the history of food practices and shows how control of food choices are part of discrimination and social exclusion of dalits and adivasi communities even today. using the ‘psyche of the oppressor’ framework (sophan & nair 2023), she invites the upper caste reader to critically consider the brahminical imposition of vegetarianism in indian food culture and resultant stigmatization of individual and communities as impure. laying the ground for a critical psychology of caste 65 in addition, the current issue contains two selected papers from the sixth international conference on the unfinished legacy of dr. b.r. ambedkar – “the american question: ambedkar, columbia university, and the “spirit of rebellion” by scott r. stroud and “buddhist roots of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy” by christopher queen. in the forum section of the current issue, we have a special article from justice p. s. narasimha, supreme court of india, entitled “justice for the marginalized in a constitutional democracy” and an article on “poothapattu: sobs of a broken people, fragmented ethos, and the lost land” by anilkumar payyappilly vijayan, followed by gaurav pathania’s bilingual (hindi and english) poem, “my pen, my words”. finally, in the book review section, maria zafar reviews rupert brown’s biography of henri tajfel one of the most influential social psychologists and author of the social identity theory. concluding thoughts the special issue brings psychology in communion with caste. it defines new problems for enquiry and re-analyses the old problems in the new light. the necessity of psychological study of caste is stressed throughout the special issue. yet we must also reflect on the limitations of psychological explanation. having experienced the nazi holocaust as a polish jew, henri tajfel wanted to explain how the holocaust was psychologically possible. he arrived at the conclusion that the ‘explanations’ of social conflict and social injustice cannot be mainly or primarily psychological. the ‘psychological’ is but a part of a complex puzzle. however, he also believed that a psychological inquiry is necessary and could lead to new solutions. while psychological explanation may be limited, “at the same time, a modest contribution can be made to … the unravelling of a tangled web of issues.” (tajfel 1981: 7; emphasis original). a critical psychology of caste can, therefore, certainly play its part in the unravelling (and annihilation) of the tangled cobweb of the caste system. acknowledgement i thank prof. sukhadeo thorat (emeritus, jnu, india), prof. laurence r. simon, (brandeis university, usa), dr. vinod mishra, indian institute of dalit studies (production editor, j-caste) and rest of the j-caste’s editorial team. they provided incredible support in bringing together this volume and were stoically patient with queries and delays. i dedicate this special issue to the memory of late prof. sahebrao gaikwad, who taught psychology at dr. babasaheb ambedkar college of arts and commerce, nagsenvana, aurangabad, maharashtra, who with his non-judgmental attitude and wisdom helped me appreciate the power of psychology. 66 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 references acharya, s. s. 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(2001). from untouchable to dalit. manohar. © 2024 sonja thomas. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. forum doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.2308 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 510-520 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste caste, christianity, and the invented moral panic of ‘love jihads’ sonja thomas1 abstract in this article, i explore how dominant caste christians in the state of kerala, india have perpetuated a false narrative of “love jihads” while at the same time have pushed campaigns for dominant caste christian women to have more children. i focus on the syro-malabar catholics; an eastern rite of catholicism and part of a larger group of christians called the “syrian christians.” the syrian christians are, and have historically been, dominant caste and are recognized by the kerala state and other religious groups as such. since the literal reproduction of religious and caste hierarchies is only possible through endogamous (arranged) marriages, controlling women’s bodily autonomy and their sexual agency are a function of brahmanical patriarchy, or the intersections of casteism and patriarchy. i thus trace over a decade of incidents where unsubstantiated claims of “love jihads” have been raised by the syro-malabar hierarchy, and how these claims are often accompanied by initiatives aimed at encouraging syro-malabar catholic women to have more children. while south asia studies and feminist studies have examined the invented moral panic of “love jihads” in a hindu/muslim frame, it is important to contextualize how and why dominant caste syro-malabar priests, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals have also used the charge of “love jihads” to whip up communal panics that are both casteist and islamophobic at their base. keywords love jihad, christianity, kerala, endogamy, arranged marriage, brahmanical patriarchy, gender, sexuality introduction in early september 2021, syro-malabar catholic bishop joseph kallarangatt alleged that muslim men were initiating a “narcotics jihad” in the state of kerala, india and a 1associate professor, colby college, 4000 mayflower hill, waterville me 04901 e-mail: smthomas@colby.edu caste, christianity, and the invented moral panic of ‘love jihads’ 511 “love jihad” against syrian christian women. the remarks drew protests from kerala’s muslim community and counter protests from dominant caste syrian christian faithful who supported the bishop. the protests and counter protests shut down public life and were widely reported not just in kerala, but across india. but this is not the first time that the “love jihad” invented moral panic has been invoked by the syro-malabar catholic hierarchy. the bishop’s remarks sit within a well-placed pattern of events shaped by brahmanical patriarchy—a casteist patriarchy that syrian christians have supported for centuries. in this article, i trace the recent history of fabricated “love jihad” allegations in dominant caste christian enclaves in an effort to explain how this invented moral panic is shaped by and works to uphold brahmanical patriarchal norms. often accompanying the invented moral panic of “love jihads” are calls for syro-malabar catholic women to have more children. additionally, the allegations of “love jihads” are often embedded in statements urging the central government to protect syrian christian socio-economic interests in private schools and/or their dominance in the natural rubber cultivation. i argue that the links between “love jihads,” campaigns for more children within the faith, and the protection of dominant caste christian economic interests are made obvious when we explore how caste and class power is engendered and maintained; through heteronormative and patriarchal controls over women’s bodily autonomy and sexual agency. thus, i argue that a feminist lens is necessary to understand caste and religious communalism embedded in the dominant caste christian clergy’s investment in pushing forth, without evidence, the idea of “love jihads.” i focus specifically on a group of dominant caste christians known officially as the “syro-malabar catholics.” the syro-malabar catholics are part of a larger dominant caste christian group called the “syrian christians.” of all the denominations that fall under the umbrella of “syrian christians,” (which includes orthodox syrian christians, marthoma christians, and knanyana christians, amongst other sects), the syro-malabar rite of catholicism is the largest. the syrian christians are called “syrian” not because they are from syria, but because their sacred language is syriac, a dialect of aramaic and the language spoken by jesus/early christians. “syrian” language differentiates them from those who practice in the latin language—often associated with european missionaries and the western world. “latin” catholicism was brought to india by the portuguese who largely converted muslims and hindus from the fisher castes on the kerala coasts in the late sixteenth century. thus, there is a caste difference between latin catholics in kerala and the syro-malabar catholics. i myself am of syro-malabar lineage. even though i did not grow up in a malayalee community, nor was i baptized in or attend a syro-malabar church, i am a descendent of syro-malabar catholics. since casteism is a form of descent-based discrimination, it is important to explain my positionality upfront as my heritage comes from this dominant caste community. the syrian christians believe they were brahmins converted to christianity by st. thomas the apostle in the year 52 ce. “believe” is the key word here. in truth, 512 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 kerala did not have a thriving brahmin community in the first century. brahmin dominance only started to take hold in kerala somewhere between the seventh-tenth centuries. even though the brahmin origins of the syrian christians cannot be proven, the syrian christian community believes those origins to be true. this belief is then supported by casteist realities embedded in everyday practices. in turn, these everyday casteist practices are institutionalized in schools, places of worship, the government, and in workplaces. the syrian christians became merchants and landowners and their accrued generational wealth led to economic, social, and political power in the caste stratified society. the syrian christian copper plates of 849 ce document their dominant caste status in kerala. through the centuries, the syrian christians have strengthened ties to dominant caste hindus, culturally, politically, and economically. these alliances within castes across religious boundaries often happen at the expense of other minority groups. in other words, dominant caste affinity trumps christian religious affinity. by the twentieth century, when dalit christians attempted to buy/own land, they were met with “stiff opposition” from the syrian christians (mohan, 2015, p. 41). they joined forces with the dominant caste hindu nairs to protest land ceilings and land redistribution laws brought by the communist-led state government in 1956. today, the syrian christians remain the largest landowners in kerala (zachariah, 2006, p. 28). they are considered “forward caste” while latin catholics qualify as obcs in kerala. there is an assumption that kerala, being an educated state, has moved beyond casteism. this is buttressed by the phenomenon of “castelessness” where dominant caste peoples who benefit from the caste system invisibilize their own caste and universalize their experiences as the hegemonic norm. as ajantha subramanian has argued, dominant castes “are able to inhabit a universal worldview precisely because of a history of accumulated privilege, a history that allows them a unique claim to certain forms of self-fashioning” (2015, p. 296). the castelessness of dominant castes then goes undertheorized as caste is seen only in its effects, not in the workings of its power. in studies on caste and minority religions, we must look at how the castelessness of dominant caste christians works to exculpate dominant caste peoples from being held accountable to the ways in which they participate in the caste system. for as satish deshpande has elaborated, “caste can be understood only if we pay as much attention to it when it is invisible or infra-visible as we do when it is hypervisible or ultra-visible. whether it is represented as a chosen goal or claimed as an actual achievement, castelessness holds the key to caste” (2013, p. 33). in addition, the study of caste cannot be conducted in its entirety unless we examine caste through a feminist lens. it is the belief that endogamous unions have occurred from time in memorial that makes it seem, to many, that caste is ancient and immovable and inevitable. feminist scholars of caste stress the importance of understanding the intersections of casteism and patriarchy (brahmanical patriarchy) (chakravarti, 1993; chakravarti, 2013; omvedt, 2000; paik, 2014). heteronormativity and controlling dominant caste women’s movements and sexual choices while simultaneously creating a system by which sexual violence against dalit bahujan caste, christianity, and the invented moral panic of ‘love jihads’ 513 women is sanctioned and perpetrators of gender-based violence are indemnified is how casteism works. often, because the caste of dominant castes are invisibilized, castebased marriage norms are little interrogated by dominant caste community members. uma chakravorti’s book gendering caste through a feminist lens begins with a powerful image to illustrate this point. during the anti-mandal agitation in delhi, dominant caste women held signs that said, “we don’t want unemployed husbands.” as chakravorti explains “what these placards were saying was that these girls would be deprived of upper caste ias husbands. but what they were also saying was that the obc and dalits who would now occupy these positions in the ias could never be their potential husbands” (2013, p.1). the arranged marriage system engenders caste boundaries and maintains hierarchies. endogamous unions literally reproduce these hierarchies. for syrian christians, that which is called “tradition” circles around marriage and childbirth (thomas, 2016). while many syrian christian traditions have changed or disappeared— such as traditions in clothing—the traditions that remain are ones that are centered on the marriage ceremony and the birth of a dominant caste child: tying the minu at marriage, stepping over the threshold with a lighted lamp, ayurveda medicines during pregnancy, giving the baby gold and honey to ensure fair skin, and syriac naming practices. marriage and childbirth, then, are what remain sacred to upholding the boundaries around what constitutes the group. it is these “traditions” that will never disappear because marriage and childbirth are what literally reproduce caste and religious divisions into the next generation. as feminist scholars have explained, dominant caste women in kerala are monitored and vilified for stepping out of the “good woman” norm (sreekumar, 2009; devika, 2007). however, while dominant caste christian women’s movements are highly monitored, they do benefit from the caste system when they adhere to the boundaries of the “good woman” norm, often at the expense of “other” women who cannot afford to live such a life structured by surveilled domesticity. bishop kallarangatt’s statement on “love jihads” and “narcotic jihads” did not come out of thin air. rather, it is embedded in the way that those who support and benefit from the brahmanical patriarchal system work to control dominant caste christian women’s sexual agency while simultaneously depicting dalit bahujan and muslim sexuality as something to be feared/guarded against. “love jihads” and “have more babies” the current literature on “love jihads” has focused on the hindu right and islamaphobia in postcolonial india. for instance, charu gupta has written “hindu women, muslim men: love jihad and conversions” tracing how the hindu right has historically whipped up communal fear over muslim men “stealing” and “forced converting” hindu women into islam (gupta, 2009). similarly, mohan rao’s “love jihad and demographic fears” focuses on the hindu right and the invented panic that the muslim “other” is numerically overtaking a hindu majority (2011). david strohl, 514 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 has written about morality and “love jihads” and how “the imagined threat of muslim men conspiring to marry hindu women presupposes an idealized form of collective moral order.” (2019, p. 32). jyoti punwani’s article, “myths and prejudices about ‘love jihad’” contains interviews with people in hindu/muslim interfaith marriages (2014). studies on indian religions often focus on hindu/muslim relations. indeed, the “other” of the indian hindu majority is the muslim minority. thus, when we think of religion we tend to think of hindu/muslim relations. and when we think of caste, we tend to think about caste only in hinduism. christians, as a mere 2 per cent of the population, are an asterisk of minorities in india. further, there is an assumption that caste is only working in christianity when hindu dalits convert to christianity. in this assumption, the perpetrators of casteism are always hindu, not christian. those oppressed by caste are assumed to be former hindus even if the conversion to christianity happened generations upon generations ago. caste in christianity is therefore lesser studied and the nuances of casteism across religions is lesser theorized. that said, we can see a similar pattern between the hindu right and dominant caste christian’s use of “love jihads” to address anxieties around demographic decline. the “other” overtaking “us” is a common trope used by those in power to try and retain that power by stoking communal fears of an imagined looming threat. in the early decades of the twentieth century, the syrian christians were the most numerous christians in the state of kerala. outmigration and family planning in the syrian christian community, however, resulted in declining numbers over the decades. today, the syrian christians represent just under half of kerala’s christian population and that number continues to drop. meanwhile, the birthrate amongst muslims in the state is on the rise. in turn, anxieties over the community’s future and tensions between the dominant caste christian minority and the muslim minority have increased (varghese, 2022). despite being a minority within the minority, though, the syrian christians have political and socio-economic power in the state and beyond. in other words, these fears of the muslim “other” dominating the dominant caste christian “us” is not the reality. however, it is a successful trope politically because a fear of declining numbers correlates to a fear of declining influence in politics and power (not to mention the potential declining monetary donations to the church). to guard against declining numbers, two things must happen: first, women within the community need to have more babies, and second, women within the community cannot marry outside the group. thus, for well over a decade, the syro-malabar church has initiated a series of campaigns and statements encouraging syro-malabar catholic women to have more children alongside warnings against “love jihads.” 2007 was declared the “year of the family” by the kerala catholic bishop’s council (kcbc) and campaigns were initiated to encourage women to have more children. in 2008, the kcbc issued a statement on private education which also included a promise for new incentives for catholic women having more children (“catholic bishops slam single-window,” 2008). these two statements coincided with a huge campaign in 2008 to ban a 7th caste, christianity, and the invented moral panic of ‘love jihads’ 515 standard social science scert textbook. the syro-malabar hierarchy wanted this textbook banned because it depicted a “love jihad” mixed marriage where a hindu woman married a muslim man. as a result of these protests, the textbook was reviewed by expert committees and then reinstated with a modified lesson on caste and religion that removed the mixed marriage story (thomas, 2018, pp. 115–146). by 2011, the syro-malabar church was offering incentives for families having a fifth child including free education, free health care, and bonds that would mature when the fifth child came of age (“catholic church to india,” 2011). two years later, syro-malabar cardinal, george alencherry, penned a pastoral letter warning the faithful against entering into non-sacramental mixed marriages. in this pastoral letter, the cardinal took the time to additionally encourage syro-malabar catholic women to have more children (“campaign against intercaste marriage, 2022). in january 2014, the kcbc released a circular letter against inter-caste marriages and against family planning. that same year, the council issued yet another statement warning the faithful about selfies, whatsapp, and “love jihads.” the statement warned: “extremism and religious fundamentalism are growing in our state. there is an increase in the trend of youths and children being trapped in love affairs and taking them into terrorism and other danger zones. hence, children should be taught to grow in the catholic faith.” (qtd. in phillip, 2022). in 2015, bishop mathew anikuzhikkattil warned, without any evidence whatsoever, that christian girls were growing up without values and without guidance in the faith and were being enticed into relationships by muslims and ezhuva (bahujan) hindus. bishop anikuzhikkattil accused the ezhuva caste group, the sndp, and (all) muslims of abducting christian girls in “love jihads.” while the kcbc backtracked on these statements after sndp outcry, bishop anikuzhikkattil’s allegation of “love jihads” was supported by a very prominent archbishop, joseph powathil, and by many faithful (“kerala catholic bishops divided,” 2015). in september 2019, fr. antony thalachelloor, secretary of syro-malabar media commission, stated in a press release that christian girls were being targeted by religious terrorists. also in that month, george kurian, vice chairman of the national commission for minorities wrote to home minister amit shah asking the central government to investigate “love jihads” by muslims against christian girls in kerala. also in that year, a pastoral letter from the archdiocese of changanacheri warned that the syro-malabar catholic community was in decline. a syro-malabar media commission statement released in january of 2020 claimed that christian girls were being targeted and killed in “love jihads,” again, without any evidence (“christians girls are being killed,” 2020). in january 2021, syrian christian hierarchy met with prime minister narendra modi to discuss issues of minority rights in education and, of course, “love jihads” (“christian leaders meet pm,” 2021). in july 2021, bishop kallarangatt announced in an online meeting the launch of new incentives for syro-malabar couples having many children. they released a poster declaring 2021 the year of the family (again). the poster explained that for parents married after the year 2000 and having 5 or more children, the church would give financial assistance of rs. 1500 to the family. the poster also promised that having 4+ children would qualify the family for free education, and after 516 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 the birth of the fourth child, the mother would receive free medical maternal care paid for by the church. following all this was syro-malabar bishop joseph kallarangatt’s “love jihad/narcotics jihad” statement. i cite these syro-malabar campaigns and statements in chronological order for 3 reasons. first, to explain how the most recent “love jihad” panic is not new in dominant caste christian circles, but something that the syro-malabar hierarchy has repeatedly and, without any evidence, put forward for years. second, to explain that “love jihads” is not just an islamaphobic campaign of the hindu right. it is an islamaphobic campaign supported by dominant caste christians as well. third, to point out that for dominant caste christians, so called “love jihads” seem to always accompany campaigns for syro-malabar catholic women to have more children. it is this third point where we can understand how caste power is functioning here. for embedded in the idea of “more children” is the unstated reality of the endogamous union: the hierarchy wants more syro-malabar catholic children. similar to the placard that uma chakrovorti observes dominant women holding during the antimandal commission protests: the sanctioned marriage—the only marriage that can be imagined—is a dominant caste marriage. the idea that dominant caste “girls” (for they are often infantilized in the “love jihad” rhetoric) are “abducted” implies that dominant caste women lack agency and are in need of protection from dominant caste men and from the state. as feminist scholars of ethnic conflict and nationalisms have discussed, women’s bodies act as vessels marking the boundaries between ethnic groups (mostov, 2004; copelan, caste, christianity, and the invented moral panic of ‘love jihads’ 517 1994). when one group is threatened—in this case by the self-inflicted demographic decline of the community—protecting “our women” takes on symbolic properties and the patterns that ensue are quite predictable. in this patriarchal frame, “our women” become first and foremost vessels of reproduction. in this, the “abduction” of women is the “abduction” of the property of the community. women in the community might be revered as mothers, but their bodies are under constant surveillance and are controlled because the “other” is always portrayed as a threat to the entire future of the community. in the invented “love jihad” panic, a syro-malabar catholic woman cannot be allowed to choose a mixed marriage or to be anything but heterosexual. the whole system demands compulsory heterosexuality and “the traffic in women” where women have no rights to their own body (rubin, 1975). any agency is reformulated as an “abduction” where the “other” men are perpetrators of a crime, and women are deemed incapable of making decisions on their own. notice that none of the syro-malabar hierarchy’s discussion of “love jihads” contains panics about syro-malabar catholic men marrying ezhuva women or muslim women. in the intersections of casteism and patriarchy, dominant caste men not only claim their “own” women’s bodies, but also sexual access to dalit bahujan women’s bodies. as isabel wilkerson writes, “the dominant gender of the dominant caste, in addition to controlling the livelihood and life chances of everyone beneath them, eliminate[s] the competition for its own women and in fact for all women” (2020). therefore, when men in the community marry outside, they are never seen as “stolen” nor does it factor into anxieties of demographic decline. rather, dominant caste masculine entitlement to all women’s bodies is assumed. there are also caste implications in the charge that (all) muslims are the “abductors” of syro-malabar catholic women. in kerala, a history of tenancy, fishing, and agricultural labor links the muslim community in particular ways to a working class identity associated with dalit bahujan caste labor. while there is class and caste stratification amongst muslim groups in kerala today, as a group they qualify as obcs (mathur, 2011, p. 133). bishop anikuzhikkattil’s 2015 statement on “love jihads” is specifically against marriages between syro-malabar catholic girls to (only) bahujan ezhuva hindus and to (all) muslims. bishop anihuzhikkattil does not decry a match between a dominant caste nair hindu man and a syro-malabar catholic woman because such a hypothetical interfaith marriage would be within the similar dominant caste. nor does he decry a dominant caste orthodox christian man marrying a syromalabar catholic woman. both these hypothetical marriages would be dominant caste men claiming sexual ownership over “their” dominant caste women. it is only when dominant caste women are allegedly marrying bahujan hindu men or any muslim man that it becomes a so-called “love jihad.” this is why the rhetoric of “love jihads” is both casteist and islamaphobic at its base. 518 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 reform? after bishop kallarangatt’s allegation of “love/narcotics jihad,” other syromalabar priests defended and repeated the allegations. but at a mass at a church in kuravilangad, four nuns who also supported a sister survivor of clerical sexual assault, walked out of a church where a priest repeated the “love jihad/narcotics jihad” allegations (“dissident nuns,” 2021). father paul thelakat, former spokesperson for the syro-malabar church, has also spoken out against bishop kallarangatt’s remarks (“csi, muslim youth federation,” 2021). there were syrian christians who protested in solidarity and allyship with the muslim community in kerala in september 2021. there are syro-malabar catholics advocating for reform. this shows how some in the community understand how brahmanical patriarchy functions. it also shows how some in the community are willing and want to stand against casteism and islamaphobia. at the same time, however, we have seen a rise in “chrisanghis,” or (mostly) dominant caste syrian christians bent on furthering the agenda of the hindu right. groups like the christian association and alliance for social action (casa) have been increasingly active throughout kerala and on social media with “love jihads” as the front and center issue. casa’s mission on its website states: the idea of forming an rss-model organisation for christians led to its revival during the ‘love jihad’ campaign in 2018. we have intervened in over 200 ‘love jihad’ cases in the state and were able to save around 90 girls. we also check the details in websites (registration department used to publish notices containing details of couple under special marriage act) to identify ‘love jihad’ cases and alert the local priests. with their help, we meet their families and save girls… we launched a ‘mission recall to christ love’ to bring back these girls. we brought back around 12 such girls. of these, we were able to marry off two girls with eligible men from within their communities (“casa mission,” n.d.). the news minute reports that many of these right wing christian (dominant caste) groups have strong ties to the syro-malabar church and are backed by syro-malabar priests (john, 2022). it may feel, then, that we are two steps forward and one step back in the fight against casteism that has historically been perpetuated by the dominant caste syromalabar community. but consider this reform in the context of castelessness. when you benefit from a system and do not experience discrimination in that system, you are less likely to talk about it or to fight against it. any discussion of caste or casteism in dominant caste communities can be met with strong pushback and argumentation, silencing of dalit bahujan voices, deflections and whataboutisms, and/or with violence. this is what scholars are calling “savarna fragility” where even the most minimum amount of caste stress is felt as if it is too much to bear for dominant caste peoples. this doesn’t excuse any dominant caste person from doing the work that caste, christianity, and the invented moral panic of ‘love jihads’ 519 needs to be done to smash brahmanical patriarchy. it only provides an explanation of why reform is also accompanied by the rise of “chrisanghis.” but i do have hope. education is happening, reform movements are happening, and (some) dominant caste people are recognizing that they have work to do. the first step is to see and name the casteism you/your ancestors participated in and the privilege accrued over the generations—to make visible the castelessness of dominant caste christians. questioning the motives behind the invented moral panic of “love jihads” and understanding how the endogamous union is integral to the engendering/ continuation of caste and religious divisions can be a way those in the community (including myself) can make visible that privilege and caste power. references campaign against inter-caste marriages. mediaonetv live, december 18, 2013. retrieved february 1, 2022 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jszli9kzko casa mission. retrieved november 3, 2023. https://www.casaindia.org.in/mission.html catholic bishops slam single-window. june 12, 2008. the hindu. catholic church to india: have more kids!. october 2011. cbs news.com. retrieved february 1, 2022 from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/catholic-church-to-india-have-more-kids/ christian leaders meet pm, discuss issues including ‘love jihad’. january 19, 2021. the news minute, retrieved february 2, 2022 from https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/keralacatholic-leaders-meet-pm-discuss-issues-including-love-jihad-141766 chakravarti, uma (1993). conceptualising brahmanical patriarchy in early india: gender, caste, class and state. economic and political weekly, 28(14), 579–85. chakravarti, uma (2013). gendering caste through a feminist lens. print book. stree. christian girls are being killed in the name of ‘love jihad’, alleges syro malabar church. january 15, 2020. new indian express, retrieved november 9, 2023 from https://www. newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2020/jan/15/christian-girls-are-being-killed-in-thename-of-love-jihad-alleges-syro-malabar-church-2089874.html copelon, rhonda (1994). surfacing gender: re-engraving crimes against women in humanitarian law. hastings women’s law journal, 5(2), 243–266. csi, muslim youth federation call for ensuring communal harmony. september 16, 2021. new indian express. retrieved february 2, 2022 from https://www.newindianexpress.com/ states/kerala/2021/sep/16/csi-muslim-youth-federation-call-for-ensuring-communalharmony-2359318.html dissident nuns walk out protesting against ‘hate speech’. september 13, 2021. the hindu, retrieved february 2, 2022 from https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/ dissident-nuns-walk-out-protesting-against-hate-speech/article36425404.ece deshpande, satish (2013). caste and castelessness: towards a biography of the ‘general category’. economic and political weekly, 48(15), 32–39. devika, j. (2007) engendering individuals: the language of re-forming in early twentieth century keralam. orient longman. gupta, charu (2009). hindu women, muslim men: love jihad and conversions. economic & political weekly, 44(51), 13–15. haritha, john (2022, december 9). ‘chrisanghis’: the rise of the christian right in kerala. the news minute, retrieved november 3, 2023 from https://www.thenewsminute.com/kerala/ chrisanghis-rise-christian-right-kerala-170777 520 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 kerala catholic bishops divided?. (2015, june 17). almayasabdam. retrieved february 1, 2022 from http://almayasabdam.com/who-is-more-right-kerala-catholic-bishops-on-inter-castemarriages/ mathur, p.r.g. (2011). social stratification among the muslims of kerala. in frontiers of embedded muslim communities in india. ed. vinod k. jairath. routledge. 113–145. mohan, sanal p. 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(ed.), barbara balliet, (431– 440). kendall/hunt publishing company. phillip, shaju (2015, february 6). kerala: church warns parents to guard children against ‘selfie’. the indian express, retrieved february 1, 2022 from https://indianexpress.com/ article/india/india-others/kerala-church-warns-parents-to-guard-children-against-selfie/ punwani, jyoti (2014). myths and prejudices about ‘love jihad’. economic and political weekly, 49(42), 12–15. omvedt, gail (2000). review: towards a theory of ‘brahmanic patriarchy’. economic and political weekly, 35(4), 187–190. rao, mohan (2011). love jihad and demographic fears. indian journal of gender studies, 18(3), 425–430. rubin, gayle (1975). the traffic in women: notes on the “political economy” of sex. in rayna r. reiter (ed.), toward an anthropology of women. monthly review press. 157–210. strohl, david james (2019). love jihad in india’s moral imaginaries: religion, kinship, and citizenship in late liberalism. contemporary south asia, 27(1), 27–39. subramanian, ajantha (2015). making merit: the indian institutes of technology and the social life of caste. comparative studies in society and history, 57(2), 291–322. zachariah, k.c. (2006). the syrian christians of kerala: demographic and socio-economic transition in the twentieth century. orient longman private limited. paik, shailaja (2014). dalit women’s’ education in modern india: double discrimination. routledge. sreekumar, sharmila (2009). scripting lives: narratives of ‘dominant women’ in kerala. orient blackswan. thomas, sonja (2016). the tying of the ceremonial wedding thread: a feminist analysis of “ritual” and “tradition” among syro-malabar catholics in india. journal of global catholicism, 1(1), 104–116. thomas, sonja (2018). privileged minorities: syrian christianity, gender, and minority rights in postcolonial india. university of washington press. varghese, v.j. (2022). fear of numbers: demographic anxieties & syrian christian responses in kerala. kchr lecture. retrieved november 10, 2023 from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=a-tf215cl_i&t=3761s wilkerson, isabel (2020). caste: the origins of our discontents. random house. © 2024 vikas kumar choudhary. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.908 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 202-219 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the promise of memory: politics of memory and caste inequality in collective memory consolidation vikas kumar choudhary1 abstract in the generic description of indian society, the question of memory is about passive recollection of past. but in the caste-system based indian experience, memory is also an active source of transforming one’s condition in the present and reshaping the understanding of past. based on the fieldwork conducted on the sites of important dalit monuments in uttar pradesh with a focus on the process of memory consolidation in individual and collective entities, the role of memory in mobilization of political narratives and inter-group inequality is examined. the core argument is that dalits are unequally placed as an entity in the caste-based memory structure of collective memory; this unequal placement of dalits is carefully constructed and mobilized by the dominant castes. in the anti-caste struggle of dalits, collective memory consolidation has played a vital role in ideologically creating counter-memories to challenge the hindutva meta-narratives. yet, there continues shaping of collective memory of dalits by dominant castes by appropriating dalit icons. thus, the collective memory of creating an integrated hindu identity as the only source of identifying with the past recently has led to the marginalization of dalits’ collective memory. overall, this article highlights the role of collective memory for a meaningful understanding of the caste politics. keywords memory, caste, dalit, mnemonic injustice, political mobilisation, uttar pradesh 1doctoral candidate, department of political science, faculty of social sciences, jamia millia islamia, delhi, india email: vikas179529@st.jmi.ac.in; politicalshoes@gmail.com the promise of memory: politics of memory and caste inequality in collective memory 203 introduction memories are indeed personal; however, at the same time, they are also social, shared with our family and friends, received from our elders, and told to our young ones. but collective remembering is subject to the constraint of resources and control over media, leading to an uneven distribution of memories in ‘mnemonic traditions’ of any given society.2 as a consequence, memories remain unequally distributed at the collective level. globally, there is interest and attention from various disciplines in the study of memory.3 however, there is a notable dearth of studies addressing memory’s political uses, functions, and relevance, primarily in a non-european context. in the indian context, the relationship between memory and caste has not been thoroughly investigated too. recently, social psychologists (cotterill et al. 2014; jaspal 2011; jogdand et al. 2016) have attempted to examine caste from a psychological perspective. however, there has been scant focus on memory and collective remembering in this literature. therefore, this article examines how memory plays an active role in transforming one’s current conditions and reshaping the understanding of the past, against the backdrop of the caste-system. specifically, drawing from existing literature and fieldwork in uttar pradesh (up) conducted in november 2022 and april 2023, the connection between collective memory consolidation4 and caste consolidation is explored. the primary goal here is to investigate memory as an analytical category capable of elucidating the distribution of power in a social and cultural context. process of collective memory consolidation neurobiologists and neuroscientists, who have recently provided some important insights on memory, have built upon the foundations laid by developmental and experimental psychologists. their recent work underscores the classification of 2eviatar zerubavel uses the term ‘mnemonic tradition’ and explains that “a mnemonic tradition includes not only what we come to remember as members of a particular thought community but also how we remember it” (zerubavel 1999: 87). 3the field of memory studies has progressed from introducing key concepts like cultural memory, collective memory, folkloric memory, digital memory, and communicative memory to its recent engagement with disciplines like disability studies, animal studies, ecocriticism, new materialism, and critical race studies (craps et al. 2018; knittel & driscoll 2017). so far, the field of memory studies has well recognized three waves (erll 2011). however, olick et al. (2023) have observed a fourth wave, urging the field to transcend anthropocentrism and embrace ecological thinking (olick et al. 2023). this transcending of the memory beyond anthropocene in my understanding can be thematized as omnipresence of memory. for an overview of memory studies see bond et al. (2017), kattago (2015), mendels (2007), olick et al. (2011), radstone and schwarz (2010), and tota and hagen (2016). 4thomas j. anastasio, kristen ann ehrenberger, patrick watson, and wenyi zhang in their work ‘individual and collective memory consolidation: analogous processes on different levels’ (2012) have dealt with individual and collective memory by analogically comparing the process of memory consolidation. their work demonstrates the functional aspect of collective memory and explains its consolidation process. based on content of memory, they note that “memory for facts and events is declarative, whereas memory for skills is procedural” (anastasio et al. 2012: 37). 204 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 memory into two distinct types: ‘declarative’ and ‘procedural’ memory.5 declarative memory “essentially comprises” those memory that “can be enunciated” (anastasio et al. 2012: 37) whereas procedural ones are related to skills such as driving a vehicle. in this article, the focus is on the process of consolidation of collective declarative memory (hereafter collective memory).6 moreover, this article adopts, in part, sarah gensburger’s (2016) perspective on inquiring about memory, aligning with her assertion that memory should be examined not as a distinct research topic but rather within the broader framework of general sociology, “using the standard tools and methods of this discipline” (p. 2). however, our approach expands beyond gensburger’s suggestion, encompassing a broader viewpoint that not only emphasizes any one discipline but adopts an interdisciplinary lens. in this broader context, the article incorporates insights from the psychological, sociological, historians, political scientists, etc., perspectives to explain memory’s consolidation to discuss political uses. further, among psychologists william hirst and david manier have noted that “collective memories may not always behave according to the rules that govern individual memory” (2008: 185). i acknowledge that the gap between individual and collective memory is difficult to bridge within the scope of this article. this article’s treatment of the relationship between collective and individual memory comes close to the existing research of anastasio et al. (2012) who have argued that “the brain is the medium for individual memory, society is the medium for collective memory” (2012: 55). anastasio’s work has explored the impact of social phenomenon on collective ‘entities’ in memory consolidation. in their memory consolidation model, three zones are identified: the “buffer,” “relater,” and “generalizer”. the “buffer” temporarily stores memory items, the “relater” identifies relationships, and the “generalizer” stores them efficiently for long-term memory (2012: 79). this model draws an analogy between individual and collective memory consolidation. before concluding this section and transitioning to our examination of memory for analysis, there is one point i would like to clarify regarding the conceptual limitations of scrutinizing memory for political analysis. it is the viewpoint that collective memory is primarily shaped by racial and cultural characteristics. the study does not follow the logic of memory’s inheritance in a racial and xenophobic sense.7 5further, various contributors have added sub-classifications in the aforesaid two broad categories: as noted by joseph ledoux, “psychologist endel tulving proposed an influential distinction between two kinds of explicit memories—semantic and episodic.” further ledoux explains tulving’s categorization by elaborating that episodic memories are autobiographical, but not all autobiographical memories are episodic. tulving emphasizes the acquisition of factual (semantic) information during specific episodes. he introduces a crucial distinction: conscious experiences of semantic and episodic memories rely on different conscious states— noesis for semantic and autonoesis for episodic, the latter involving personal awareness in the memory experience. (ledoux 2019: 306–308) 6though our focus is on collective memory but an analysis of the impact of collective memory on individual life experiences as well as on individual memory is also provided. 7anastasio et al. (2012) highlights that proponent of organic memory link memory and heredity, suggesting humans inherit memory from ancestors and society inherits the memory of the promise of memory: politics of memory and caste inequality in collective memory 205 identity, memory and ‘counter memory’ scholars of memory studies have noted that “(c)ontestation clearly is at the centre of both memory and identity” (olick & robbins 1998: 126). eviatar zerubavel has discussed a wide range of concepts such as ‘mnemonic communities’, ‘mnemonic socialization’, ‘mnemonic lenses’, ‘mnemonic synchronization’, ‘mnemonic transitivity’, ‘mnemonic others’ ‘mnemonic decapitation’ and ‘mnemonic sanitization’(zerubavel 1999).8 these concepts are important to what scholars have identified as the possibility of bringing together different memories into hegemonic memory or in other words “achieving mnemonic consensus” (olick & robbins 1998: 127). within the caste system the nature of contested struggle for memory depends on the extent of mnemonic socialization, presence of mnemonic tradition, choice of mnemonic lens, the process of mnemonic synchronization, how ‘mnemonic transitivity’ occurs, who are the ‘mnemonic others’, what is the impact of ‘mnemonic decapitation’ and how dominant mnemonic forces are undertaking ‘mnemonic sanitization’ within the society. collective memory in its capacity to shape identity has been also explored as ‘community of memory’ or ‘mnemonic communities’ (bellah et al. 1996; zerubavel 1999). while explaining the notion of ‘community of memory’ in their work, bellah et al. have emphasized on the importance of stories of those remarkable individuals who have embodied and exemplified the community’s stories (bellah et al. 1996). exemplary figures in dalit mnemonic struggle include figures such as dr ambedkar, savitri bai phule, etc., and constitute a significant aspect of the tradition central to a dalit’s community of memory. foucault used the term ‘counter-memory’ to describe those memories that dissent with the dominant history (1977: 160). he acknowledged that memory is contested from below, from the non-periphery. it is within these dynamics of memory contestation that i will discuss how different castes and sub-castes9 are mnemonically previous generations. this concept, when stretched, can lead to racially segregating ideas and predetermined identity that could result in xenophobic and prejudice believes among ethnic groups, for more on this see (anastasio et al. 2012: 43–45). 8eviatar zerubavel has explained all these term in detail in his book i will briefly try to summarize all these terms in zerbavel’s words. on mnemonic communities, zerubavel notes that “much of what we seem to ‘remember’ we did not actually experience personally. we only do so as members of particular families, organizations, nations, and other mnemonic communities” (zerubavel 1999: 90). on mnemonic socialization zerubavel notes that “we usually learn what we should remember and what we can forget as part of our mnemonic socialization” (p. 87). whereas mnemonic lens is explained in context of role of family, zerubavel describes “mnemonic lenses (are) provided by our immediate family” (p. 88). further, mnemonic synchronization happens when memories are “not only commonly shared but also jointly remembered (that is, ‘commemorated’)” (pp. 96–97). zerubavel explains mnemonic transitivity as the “social preservation of memories in stories, poems, and legends that are transmitted from one generation to the next” (p. 93) and mnemonic others as those who can “block our access to certain events in our own past, to the point of actually preventing some of them from becoming memories in the first place” (p. 83). 9by sub-caste, i mean that, according to the mnemonic logic of political mobilization, caste groups with characters in famous mythologies, epics, and stories—such as nishad raj or 206 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 at loggerheads and compete to have a definitive say in controlling the process which consolidates collective memory in the political arena. but before delving into the discussion on the politics of memory, it’s crucial to note that applying foucault’s counter-memory framework though aids in comprehending the politics of memory has its own paradoxes and challenges. foucault not only questions dominant historical narratives but questions the very capacity of social sciences which tends to generate knowledge that reinforces existing power relations. following foucault’s call for research to be “provocative and complex” (pignatelli 1998: 418), pignatelli (1998) advocates a research approach that exceeds conventional expectations. this approach, based on foucault according to pignatelli, surprises and engages researchers, subjects, and readers, encouraging exploration beyond established distinctions of reality and imagination. the goal is to open new ways of approaching and understanding longstanding problems. in this context, the research attempts to discuss the problem of caste from a new and complex perspective, yet it remains limited within the paradigm of social science that foucault questions. scholars using foucault’s ides of counter memory have explored it to rethink about time and history that goes beyond traditional dialectical frameworks (tello 2022). verónica tello emphasizes that counter-memory, as conceived by foucault, is nondialectical and holds multiple histories together without reducing them to oppositional binaries. in the indian context we will limit our discussion to the appropriation of counter-memories and different understanding of history that dalit mnemonic tradition offers. the politics of appropriation for fulfilling majoritarian hindutva project has been noted by various scholars (berti 2006; berti et al. 2011; kanungo 2011; j. lee 2021; michelutti 2008). joel lee has highlighted a historical shift where, prior to independence, the ancient sanskrit poet rishi valmiki (a crucial figure for dalit valmiki community), initially without influence among sanitation labor castes, was later acknowledged as their ancestor. lee notes that “valmiki became the sign of a new regime of recognition” as the government instituted “a government holiday in honor of valmiki” alongside, “streets and parks were renamed after the rishi, and congress and harijan sevak sangh leaders like ghanshyamdas birla began funding valmiki statues and temples intended for the sanitation labor castes (2021: 12). i will discuss counter-memory and political strategies to appropriate it as noted by scholars in their analysis of up’s politics, especially after 2014 in the next section. sabri—or any historical personalities renowned in the folklore of a given region (e.g., bjp also values castes whose historical figures, according to folklore, have fought against mughal and other muslim rulers), can be appropriated by political actors/parties. these castes are treated according to the mnemonic hierarchy, given preference in the allocation of positions within the party, installation of statues and celebration of birth anniversary of historical figures. in contrast, caste groups that lack references in any stories, myths, and folklores are considered relatively useful for political purposes. they are treated differently in terms of appropriation strategy. for instance, while a dom and mahar may both be dalit, they belong to different sub-castes with their own historical references. those sub-castes that align with the political party’s narrative are approached favorably by the bjp and other political party for electoral mobilization. the promise of memory: politics of memory and caste inequality in collective memory 207 memory, caste, and politics in up those who examine politics in up for long have adopted the framework of identity politics (jha 2021; pai & kumar 2018; singh 2022; tiwari 2014). post 2014 repeated wins of hindutva forces and recent developments have been explained as ‘neo hindutva’ (anderson & longkumer 2018), others have explained it as “the new hegemony” resulting from “conflation between nationalism and hindutva” (palshikar 2017). scholars contend that the mobilization strategy of rashtriya swayamsevak sangh (rss) and bhartiya janta party (bjp) is reshaping the “conventional understandings of indian politics” and is currently questioning established perceptions of political dynamics (jha 2021: 19). furthermore, scholars like badri narayan tiwari, who essentially replicate the established mnemonic hierarchy inherent in the caste system in their work, instead of critically engaging with it have argued that a “phoenix” like “a new rss…can be seen emerging in the current scenario” (tiwari 2021). this critique aligns closely with the previously mentioned foucauldian perspective on social sciences.10 overall, the changing contours of up politics, especially after the 2014 parliamentary elections have been understood as “subalterniz(ation) of the hindutva agenda” (pai & kumar 2018). above analyses discussing the hegemony of hindutva also suggests that the impact of caste on people’s voting choices has diminished. these researchers have linked the reduced influence of caste to strategies employed by the rss and bjp. they argue that the bjp, under its electoral strategy, has utilized ancient myths, memory, and narratives to integrate various sub-castes into its hindu consolidation project. consequently, they perceive the weakened influence of caste as a direct result of the strengthening of hindutva. in contrast, other scholars have suggested that caste identity remains resilient and crucial in its electoral prominence and essence (gurjar 2019; jaffrelot 2019; singh 2022; trivedi & singh 2022). these scholars have also argued that while other factors such as development, governance, and national security may have influenced the outcome of recent elections, caste continues to play a significant role in shaping voting patterns in india. while these scholars acknowledge how various sub-castes have become politically active, majority of them overlook the use of memory and myths for mobilizing caste groups in their analyses. one exception is shilp shikha singh’s analyses, as she points out that political parties employ myths, and construct narratives in mobilizing various sub-castes, with bjp not being the sole protagonist in this process. most importantly, she has noted that the electoral performance of hindutva forces has developed a kind of ‘cognitive blackout’ in understanding the “subtle interconnections between the social and the political” in examination of political development in up recently (trivedi & singh 2022). in the context of the above discussion and within the framework of the current objectives of this article, it can be stated that memory based analysis of up politics adds to the existing limited understanding of the ‘subtle interconnections’ and helps in 10tiwari provides a mystical account of rss which appears not like a physical real world organization but more as an enigma or phoenix, especially when he writes “rss constantly destroys and renews its image” (2021: 12). 208 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 overcoming the ‘cognitive blackout’ by discussing memory’s mobilization based on caste to consolidate votes. in other words, consolidation and mobilization of voters is studied here as an outcome of the process underlying the consolidation of memory. further, here, i argue that much-hyped consolidation of various castes into the hindutva fold and explanations of it as the victory of hindutva is nothing but reproduction of the hindutva gaze. overhyped scholarly work that glorifies hindutva as mentioned before reproduces the dominant social bias and perception of india dominantly being a hindu society while ignoring the democratic churning taking place at a micro level.11 any explanation adopting the macro lens for advancing a macro explanation of politics in up falls short in taking a note of micro political developments which advance a better understanding of politics. examining the changes related to politics at the micro level through the lens of memory, an attempt is made to acquire power through memory. in this process, the ‘mnemonic battles’12 manifest on the ground level, ranging from the installation of statues to government enforced changes in the school text books or the struggles depicted through religious and ideological stickers affixed to vehicles, all directly delineates the relationship between memory and politics. in the next section, i will discuss these aspects in detail and explore the context of those dimensions connected to memory, derived from the fieldwork, which will assist in achieving the objectives of this article.13 unequal mnemonic structure: insights from the field to understand the counter-memory struggle of dalits and gather evidence for the same, i conducted unstructured interviews which at best can be categorized as 11the bias is implicit, but a significant example would be political anthropologist badri narayan tiwari’s recent work. in his recent work focusing on the parliamentary elections of 2014 and 2019, as well as the 2017 up state assembly election, badri narayan tiwari observes that the bjp is mobilizing dalit, tribal, and obc groups by appropriating, co-opting, and integrating symbols, ideology, and faith associated with non-hindutva goddesses and historical figures (2021). however, in early 2000s tiwari wrote extensively based on the fieldwork in up highlighting bahujan samaj party’s (bsp) use of memory for consolidating identity. however, in recent years his focus has shifted to uncritical examination of rss and bjp’s appropriation strategy. for bsp see (tiwari 2001); for bjp (tiwari 2009): for rss: (tiwari 2021). similarly, in a different context uma chakravarty exposes upper-caste bias in academic views on caste, attributing it to an excessive focus on the brahmanical perspective from brahmanical texts. she argues that this overlooks the experiential dimensions of caste-based oppression as presented by dalit writers. additionally, she criticizes the dominance of scholars like dumont and moffat, who present the caste system as a consensual set of values, neglecting perspectives from scholars like mencher and berreman (chakravarti 2018). 12eviatar zerubavel introduces the term “mnemonic battles”, emphasizing the social dimension of human memory. these battles revolve around collective memory, often involving entire communities and taking place in the public arena through mediums like newspaper editorials and radio talk shows (zerubavel 1999: 99). (this footnote should be paraphrased.) 13eviatar zerubavel introduces the term “mnemonic battles”, emphasizing the social dimension of human memory. these battles revolve around collective memory, often involving entire communities and taking place in the public arena through mediums like newspaper editorials and radio talk shows (zerubavel 1999: 99). the promise of memory: politics of memory and caste inequality in collective memory 209 heterophenomenological interviews.14 the participants belonged to dalit, obcs and upper caste groups. here insights from dalit participants have been included. some of the discussants outrightly mentioned their exact caste, while some generally said ‘sc community.’ following a heterophenomenological approach, the discussion was open ended while i also shared why i am visiting the park, ambedkar memorial park, lucknow (the location of these interviews). these interviews took place in two different visits: first, in november 2022 and second in april 2023. a total of 30 participants were randomly interacted with, resulting in discussions lasting from 15 minutes to over 2 hours. in november 2022, i met a family of four, who were visiting the ambedkar memorial park, lucknow on a sunday evening and enquired as to what brings them to the ambedkar park. the eldest member—father—of the family who works in the up secretariat, agreed to respond on terms of anonymity.15 he told me that “these places and statues remind him and his young children of the great people from their dalit community who have helped them receive respect and resources.” he wanted his children to remember that without the work of these great leaders (whose statues are in the park), their existence would not have been possible in this unequal society. further, he stated that “anyone in this world will remember those who have helped them in their difficult times, and for dalits, it was dr. ambedkar.” in this case, insights from psychologist frederic bartlett (1995) can be helpful in explaining how individual memory and collective memory are connected and while remembering individually one also reflects on the caste identity one belongs to. according to bartlett, comprehending memory requires acknowledging how “families, classes, and religions, among others, influence individual remembering” (bartlett 1995: 294–296). the assertion by the participant that in remembering ambedkar, it is not only the personality that is recollected but the struggles of dalits and dr. ambedkar’s role in ‘difficult times’ and struggles. in this context, while rearticulating bartlett’s claim i argue that memorizing implies reflecting on the past, acknowledging the struggles and challenges faced by the community. the statues in the park for the respondent serve as tangible reminders suggesting that the statues are 14this research is rooted in edmund husserl’s phenomenological philosophy, serving as its foundational methodology. in its early stages, the study aimed to discuss unconventional approaches in political science, particularly in the examination of mobilization strategies for electoral gains. drawing a parallel with david chalmers’ exploration of the ‘hard problem’ and ‘easy problems’’ of consciousness in his book ‘the conscious mind’ (1996). i applied a similar framework to identity politics. here, explicit challenges involve voter mobilization and voting patterns, constituting easy problems. in contrast, the hard problems in identity politics encompass nuanced aspects like imagination, judgment, perception, sensory experience, and memory. within the phenomenological tradition, the interview methodology aligns closely with heterophenomenology, an approach devised by philosopher daniel dennett. this method seeks to “access consciousness from the outside,” focusing on “the mental life of others as it is publicly expressed or manifested” (zahavi & gallagher 2021: 19). for more on debates around heterophenomenology see: dennett 1982; dreyfus & kelly 2007; zahavi & gallagher 2020). 15the identity of responded is revealed in some cases and anonymized, changed or hidden depending on the consent provided by them during the interviews. 210 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 not merely static objects but symbols of inspiration and guidance for himself and his children. at the same time the respondent realizes the privileges and opportunities are a result of the efforts and sacrifices made by these leaders. in essence, the narrative emphasizes the importance of historical awareness and a sense of responsibility embedded in the act of remembering. in april 2023, during a casual encounter, i met c.v. singh, in his late 60s from up’s mahoba district. he recounted his observation on how the rss is attempting to co-opt legends and icons from the dalit community. additionally, he shared his recent experience of visiting mathura. he noted that there is a recently built gautam buddha’s premises in mathura, explaining that in the upcoming times, the presence of buddha in mathura will remind people that buddha and mahavir were avatars of hindu gods. similarly on his awareness of how rss is making inroads in dalit settlements, he commented that “yes i am aware of their strategy, however, it is the responsibility of dalit community to be aware and notice who is placing shivling, statues of ram and portraits of durga in their temples and places of worships.” another respondent, i met in november 2022, abhishek (name changed), a primary school teacher in his mid40s from the kori caste in kanpur district. he shared that previously (before 2019), it was the promise to build a temple and icon and memory-based mobilization did happen but recently (after 2019) it is mostly about free ration. on politics of memory, he complained that “we dalits do not know about our icons as most of our icons are not part of school and college curriculum.” lastly, he asked me to look into how in the current syllabus the up government has changed the parent’s name of sant ravidas to appropriate ravidas’s identity as an upper caste and further stated that “upper caste, ruling elites and their media advertises any event related to their icons and legends whereas the same is not true for icons of our caste.” the insights from the two interviews above underscore a point also highlighted by psychologist james wertsch, who notes that the mind is “something that ‘extends beyond the skin’ in at least two senses: it is often socially distributed, and it is connected to the notion of mediation” (wertsch 1991: 14). while books, statues, and other artifacts influence and mediates the way individuals remember, the above interviews suggest that the mind also reflects on memories that extend beyond an individual’s skin. as c.v. singh observes in the placement of buddha’s statue in mathura and abhishek notes in changing the name of sant ravidas’s parents. moreover, it can be argued that they are not only recognizing memory’s presence beyond the skin but also discerning the political intentions behind appropriation. one of the respondents, deepak (name changed), who works as a driver of a goods delivery vehicle in his mid-30s said that he “recently placed a graphic image of buddha and ambedkar on the windshield of his vehicle—of the company—to celebrate buddha and ambedkar jayanti. few days later, he found that somebody had deliberately scratched and removed it from vehicle.” further, he shared that at his current workplace most people belong to thakur and brahman caste and, whenever he “wants to say anything about politics and society or about dalit icons in informal discussion during lunch period he has to hold back his opinion.” on asking if he is the promise of memory: politics of memory and caste inequality in collective memory 211 aware of icons belonging to dalit communities, he stated: “i know a lot of them but cannot celebrate or discuss them in my workspace, as my seniors discuss their upper caste hero, i must agree with them. if i discuss about dalit icons and thinkers, then they (seniors) might not like it and will remove me from the job.” in this context, anthropologist paul connerton’s ideas can help us in explaining the dynamics between memory, authority, caste and power. connerton (1989) argued that in everyday functioning of the human body “choreography of authority is expressed” in what he explains as the “mnemonics of the body”, wherein memory is ingrained in bodily practices and not in materials such as books, flags, movies etc., (p. 74). in the above situation the fact that one cannot remember the way one wants because of caste hierarchy and conflict inherent in the commemoration of upper caste and dalit icons, posits that authority and its choreography in formal space is reproduced in remembering as well. in other words, how an individual presents themselves publicly, the use of body language, where they speak and where they remain silent can be examined through—to rephrase connerton—choreography of caste hierarchy and mnemonics of caste body. put simply, in the indian context, choreography of authority and mnemonics of the body in everyday experience are determined by the caste system as evident from deepak’s experience. another respondent, rambabu, in his early 50s claimed that “dalit people get carried away when rss and missionaries arrive because their basic needs are still unfulfilled. wherever there is an organisation promising them money or any other support, people get carried away. our society has been kept so backward that people turn to opportunity wherever they find it.” most importantly, he commented that “even the obc community needs to worship their ancestors, as they are carrying the burden of other people’s ancestors/icons on their backs.” with his assertive approach he counterquestioned me: “who was jyotiba phule?” and he himself answered “he was from maali caste and an obc, was he an sc? who is king ashoka? who is lord buddha?” and repeatedly suggested that “dalits are still celebrating their icons and legends in whatever possible ways, but it is the obcs which have left their icon and are running after upper caste icons.” to understand rambabu’s viewpoint in the context of the politics of memory through foucault, it can be comprehended more effectively. in other contexts, michel foucault states “memory is actually a very important factor in struggle, if one controls people’s memory, one controls their dynamism. and one also controls their experience, their knowledge of previous struggles” (1975: 25–27). an example of this in case of obcs is evident in lucia michelutti’s (2008) work which provides a detailed account of the transformation under the process of ‘yadavisation’ in mathura. just as rambabu suggests that the dalit community is still striving to preserve its memory, the obc community has, in contrast, lost its memory by getting absorbed into the memories of other communities. one significant reason for this is the rssbjp’s ‘memory schemata’ (erll 2011a) imposed on obcs since the 1990s, which necessitates a thorough discussion. it is agreed among scholars of memory studies that 212 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 most of us rely on certain methods and processes to remember our past experiences. the concept of ‘models of remembrance’ (rigney 2005) has been used to describe this process. according to these scholars, the scarcity of memory schemata results in individuals copying and recycling methods of remembering from each other. for further insights on ‘scarcity’ and ‘recycling,’ refer to rigney (2005). also, it is not that every story, myth and epic are remembered but only those stories which carry the memory, which has the capability to procreate itself are most remembered (rigney 2008). in addition, most of the participants during discussions mentioned that they were aware of icons such as ram, krishna, shiva. i encountered a gathering of high school students, predominantly in the 12th grade, and inquired about their experience of attending ambedkar’s birth anniversary in lucknow. clad in their school uniforms, each provided distinct responses, ranging from viewing it as a chance to visit lucknow and witness the capital to gaining insights into legendary figures whose statues grace the park. when queried about whether they observed any disparities in the celebration of icons from upper castes compared to those from their own community, they unanimously concurred. one of them stated that “upper caste hindutva icons will take our society back in time, whereas icons such as dr. ambedkar and others from dalit’s anti-caste movement can fulfil future aspirations and make indian society progressive.” as in this case and mentioned by different respondents, they are aware of the ongoing rss-bjp’s ‘memory schemata’, therefore, giving all the credit to memory mobilization strategy of political party’s equality reflects the failure to recognize the struggle for mnemonic justice. unacknowledging the spirit of the marginalized community’s increasing strive to assert the mnemonic importance—as evident in interviews—to overcome intergroup inequality and attain mnemonic equality is where future research should focus on. to summarize, the mnemonic lenses, model of remembrance or schemata applied by dalits are different. furthermore, the mnemonic transitivity of privileged uppercaste groups—particularly brahmin, kshatriya, and vaishya communities—facilitates the broad dissemination of their mnemonic values. this makes it more convenient to mnemonically ‘sanitize,’ ‘decapitate,’ or dilute the memory of historically marginalized castes within the caste system. however, what favors dalits is that the consolidation of memory is more organic and extends ‘beyond mind and skin’ in everyday lived experience. the longstanding struggle against discriminations enriches the mnemonic traditions of dalits and makes mnemonic culture of dalits capable of challenging dominant traditions. the politics underlying unequal mnemonic structure in political science literature, memory as a tool of political mobilization has been discussed as a process including two steps. as explained by political scientists david myer temin and adam dahl, “(t)he first step involves acknowledging the existence of past injustices as well as their causal connection to the present. the second step, in turn, involves paying attention to the narrative practices by which past injustices are the promise of memory: politics of memory and caste inequality in collective memory 213 given collective meaning” (temin & dahl 2017). in the indian context, of these two steps, the first step is yet to be accomplished as recognition of caste-based atrocities and enduring intergroup inequality among different castes is slowly emerging in public discourse. to look at the second step, as noted by temin and dahl, what is most important for memory politics is the ‘mnemonic tradition’ in which past injustices are given a collective meaning. in rss-bjp’s memory schemata the marginalized memory has been reimagined; however, the rss-bjp memory schemata is dominated by an uppercaste worldview which, although it strategically accommodates obcs and dalit icons, it fails to overcome intergroup inequality persisting in mnemonic hierarchy among icons and legends of various castes. to elaborate, previously, scholars have also noted how local myths, cultural practices, and stories were appropriated to aggregate a panhindutva identity in north-east of india by rss-bjp as well (kanungo 2011). daniela berti’s research shows how organizations within rss have “tried to propogate its project on history throughout the national territory by creating ‘local units’ at province, state, and district level” (2006: 16).16 on mnemonic traditions of dalits, scholars have observed how the dalit mnemonic tradition articulates symbols, myths, epics, and other intangible sources of political mobilization (jaoul 2006, 2008, 2018; krishna 2022; a. lee 2019; singh 2022; tiwari 2001, 2004, 2009, 2021). jaoul’s research on the role of statues, events, and method of commemorating dalit icons since 1990s tells us that the commemoration as an act of remembering is integral to the dalit movement in up (2006, 2008, 2018). in her research focused on “azamgarh, ballia, ghazipur, gorakhpur, and varanasi districts of eastern uttar pradesh,” sangita krishna asserts that marginalized communities resort to inventing their past as a means to express themselves and establish their presence. this process goes beyond creating a “counter-hegemonic imagination”; it involves negotiating an alternative form of power or authority where the ideals of social justice are transformed into reality (krishna 2022: 2). shilp shikha singh in her work notes that “sangh (rss) and its affiliates…(are) tweaking the cultural politics of bahujan mobilization” (2022: 2) in examining the “cultural interventions” by the bjp, singh suggests that the sangh and bjp “have effectively manipulated and accommodated even spontaneous cultural changes into their fold” (2022: 3). consequently, various traditions initiated by individuals or groups without any inherent connection to the bjp, the sangh, or its affiliates were subsequently utilized by the bjp and its associates to garner support from communities. with this, it would not be incorrect to argue that the existing caste system itself has a mnemonic hierarchy. the caste system possesses its own memory schema, whereby not only memory but also its formation and consolidation are hierarchized according to caste grades. the possibility to remove this hierarchy without dismantling the caste system is bound to reproduce mnemonic inequality. in other words, and to summarize 16daniela berti noted that “the absence of any large-scale research programme on the study of regional culture has lent more space to a hindutva organisation to impose their presence in the intellectual milieu” (berti 2011: 15). 214 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 if the caste system exists, memories are not just about memory of caste but constitute a caste of memory as well. in other words, the current strategy employed by bjp and rss to politically engage various caste communities has its own limitation, as once a community reaches a certain stage, it will assert its share and strength. at that point, the existing strategy will reach a saturation point where the community will seek its own political ground and not foster the political growth of bjp and rss. despite this, the overarching challenges for dalits mnemonic tradition will remain because mnemonic battles in india are embedded in caste hierarchy. before concluding the article, i will highlight the challenges that exist by default due to the fixed hierarchy in the caste system. the politics and promise of memory for caste groups positioned lower in the hierarchy of the varna-based caste structure, ‘counter-memory’ serves as a means of contesting upper-caste hegemony. in contrast, for upper castes, memory functions as a source for reproducing and sustaining privilege. despite this dynamic, memory is often considered inherent and naturalized, remaining largely unexamined for its political significance. to advance an example of how memory is not apolitical, i will cite an excerpt from a 2021 interview i conducted with a functionary of abisy17 (akhil bhartiya itihas sankalan yojna), explaining the systematic disadvantages created by the existing caste hierarchy and those wielding power and privilege derived from mnemonic injustice. in the interview, i asked the abisy functionary if another museum project (in context of a new museum being inaugurated) is a wise decision by the government given the current economic situation in the country after covid-19. in response, he drew four parallels but unequal lines on a piece of paper. against the longest one he wrote congress and against the second longest he wrote bjp and then asked me: “how would you draw a bigger legacy of your regime if there already exist congress’s and others longer legacy (the bigger line)?” to which i said i have no clue and then he answered: “rss in general and present government in particular want to wipe-out the lines (read legacy) drawn by the past governments and organizations from people’s memory (emphasis mine), and the only way to do that is to draw rss-bjp’s a bigger line by accommodating everyone in which bjp-rss are the dominant force. this museum is a part of that bigger line.”18 therefore, it becomes apparent that the endeavor to draw a longer line will further augment the hindu ideology that the rss and affiliated organizations have traditionally espoused as paramount. as anastasio et al. (2012) in their book explain ‘three in one’ model suggested and discussed at the beginning, the memory consolidation process involves a ‘buffer,’ a ‘relater,’ and a ‘generalizer’ located in an entity. if insights of existing and above mentioned works on up’s identity-based mobilization of memory and discussion are 17abisy is an rss-affiliated organization with state-wise bodies. the one i interacted with is the delhi chapter, and the anonymity of identity is maintained based on consent. 18this section is a translation of an unstructured interview in hindi in july 2021 by the author with a functionary of abisy. the promise of memory: politics of memory and caste inequality in collective memory 215 to be fused in the anastasio et al. model then caste identity is the ‘entity’ within which buffering of collective memory takes place, whereas the role of ‘relaters’ is played by political parties and their affiliated organizations in deciding the relationships between buffered memories of various caste groups and stored in the ‘generalizer’ or simply in the community domain. the functioning of the ‘generalizer’ mechanism is contingent on the ruling regime. primarily, it has largely aligned with the framework described by joel lee (2021) in his work, which outlines the concept of “hindu majoritarian inclusion” (p. 79). however, what distinguishes dalits’ memory is that their legends and icons stand strong in their claim of ‘counter-memory’ against the generalizer project of ‘hindu majoritarian inclusion.’ the significance and influence of icons in the dalit counter-memory movement is apparent. for instance, present-day dalits may not have directly witnessed dr. ambedkar’s struggle against drinking water restrictions in mahad chavdar satyagraha, maharashtra. however, existing in a different spatial and temporal context, they continue to mobilize the memory of dr. ambedkar’s struggle, along with that of many anti-caste thinkers, activists, and politicians. this contributes to the consolidation of a ‘mnemonic consensus’ among dalits, presenting challenges to the prevailing uppercaste ‘generalizer’ mechanism aimed at hindu consolidation. further, within dalits, it is also true that sub-castes might have a distinct memory specific to their geographical locations and local dynamics not only in up but across the country. yet, it is equally true that there is a broad mnemonic consensus in the anti-caste struggle and its mnemonic politics which consolidates into a distinct collective declarative memory of the dalits different from the memory of other caste groups in the mnemonics structured of the caste system. furthermore, based on above-mentioned scholarly works and insights from the field interview, it can be argued that, despite the efforts of various ‘relaters’ such as the rss and others to ‘co-opt,’ ‘appropriate,’ and ‘dilute’ the memory of different sub-castes within dalits for political advantage, the rss-bjp memory schema lacks a coherent system to fulfil the political and social aspirations of dalits in an absolute political sense in the long run. conclusion in the generic description of indian society, the question of memory is about a passive recollection of the past. however, this passive view of memory lacks the capacity to explain injustice, prejudice, and discrimination that memory practices based on the traditional hierarchical caste system reinforce. like racial discrimination, the caste system too wrongfully discriminates against those considered lower castes by birth and systematically advances privilege for those considered upper caste in the casteist hierarchical system. the underlying caste dynamic in the established collective memory of upper castes is considered as given and naturalized, while treating mnemonic practices of lower castes as abnormal. because of this unjust hierarchical system, the oppressor community draws from their preserved collective memory, which is dominant, stable, and popular whereas the marginalized groups struggle and 216 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 seek to draw from their impoverished but labile collective memory. therefore, uppercaste memory’s material, normative and affective dimension shapes and reinforces the collective memory. occasional celebrations by organizations upholding uppercaste mnemonic values have tried to honor dalits and obc icons by appropriation, however, the pre-existing hierarchy of caste icons and mnemonic traditions still prioritizes those of the upper castes. recently, in response to the epistemological, material, and underlying normative force of upper-caste mnemonic tradition, lower castes have developed a counter-memory tradition. lastly, discussing memory, social justice, and its politics is a challenging task, especially when expressing these ideas in limited words. this research has its shortcomings, and the most crucial one is arriving at a conclusion related to collective memory while considering individual memory. additionally, the attempt to explore dimensions related to memory through the lens of heterophenomenology is inherently constrained. despite this, there are contextual questions related to memory that should be addressed in psychology, political science, and other disciplines, ensuring that memory is perceived not as an end but is examined as means too. as i attempt to fill the gap in understanding the systematic bias reproduced within the caste system, more studies are required that can help us to better comprehend caste-related dimensions inherent in the formation of memories to gain a meaningful understanding of the caste system. references anastasio, t.j., ehrenberger, k.a., watson, p., & zhang, w. 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(1999). social mindscapes: an invitation to cognitive sociology. harvard university press. © 2023 k.s. madhavan, rajesh komath. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.684 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 351-366 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste dalits and discourses of anti-caste movements in kerala, india k.s. madhavan1, rajesh komath2 abstract this article locates various historical discourses of anti-caste imaginaries and articulations that are imprinted in the historical past of kerala society. unravelling historical and social theoretical trends, it examines broadly an anticaste imaginary articulating notions of equality and addressing various events, personnel interventions, policies and ideologies made discursive politics in kerala. as ideologies and its consequent effects upon society are political, the article substantially makes comments and interprets the dalit-bahujan world grounded on the lived experiences of dalits in kerala. the article brings forth discourses of social movements, production of dalit icons, critical narratives on untouchability and communist positions about caste. but, a new imagination, academic and aesthetical engagements of dalit-bahujans in the form of the production of dalit art and literature informs new articulation of dalit politics in kerala. keywords social movements, discourses and dalit politics introduction a particular socio-economic and cultural system in sub-continental india has developed a systemic social world of distinctive lives based on life activities and social division of labourers. these everyday social divisions in the historical past have been caste-based structural inequalities that led to the complex social formation process and emergence of multiple forms of political structure. this explicates that forms of power relations were conditioned by ranking social groups in a hierarchical order. the top of the ladder is always endowed with reverence and all the layers below have been placed according 1professor, department of history, university of calicut, kerala, india 2associate professor, school of social sciences, mahatma gandhi university, kerala, india 352 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 to the volume of contempt attributed to them. consequently, it has resulted in those at the top of the socio-cultural hierarchy to be endowed with the accumulation of differential forms of capitals—social, cultural, economic and symbolic2—to establish a hegemonic power over lower castes. this status of dominance leads them to extend systemic violence and contempt for the people who are deployed at the lower strata as castes of perpetual debasement.3 it provides aesthetically pleasing affluent and ascribed values to privileged castes. these distinctions between castes and communities have been a defining dimension of systemic humiliation and discrimination of caste as an institutional mechanism of structured dispositions and instituted process of dominance and subordination. subsequently, it produces a society and people with embodied experiences of deprivation and disadvantages. this has resulted in the alienation of people in the historical margins structured by socio-spatial hierarchies. in these processes, it is not just material conditions that limit the people of the margins, but it also works as a block to their intellectual advancement. this system of historical process of social exclusion in specific ways mostly in terms of hereditary and endogamous relations of material and mental existence reproduce the system of domination.4 this has been a social system of power and order of everyday lives that construct an identity of the people of social margins as people of broken historical experiences having ghettoized spatial segregations. the cultural systems of brahmanical order and its thrivarnika dispositions, hegemonically appropriated material and mental resources of the people of wrecked lineages.5 the people of wretched and broken-down cultural existence in the historical past have been represented in the brahmanical order of domination and literary narratives of vedic –sanskritic itihasa-purana tradition as the inferiorised cultural ‘other’, i.e., dalit-bahujan castes and communities.6 the historical roots of the dalit movement in kerala reveals a fact that the formation of dalit identity in kerala was never a linear process. it was defined and redefined in the discourses of colonial modernity. the transforming political economy in late nineteenth and early twentieth century had also brought about new initiatives for imagining equality and selfhood among the communities of inferior grades. it formulated new vocabularies for social action and imagination for a 2bourdieu, pierre and wacquant, loc, an invitation to reflexive sociology, polity press, 1992. 3babasaheb b.r. ambedkar (1987). the triumph of brahmanism: regicide or the birth of counter revolution, vasant moon, [compiled], dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol.iii, education department government of maharashtra, mumbai. 267–331. 4sukhadeo thorat and narender kumar (eds.) (2014). b.r. ambedkar: perspectives on social exclusion and inclusive policies. new delhi: oxford university press, pp. 1–55; paramjit s judge (ed.) (2014). mapping social exclusion in india, new delhi: cambridge university press, pp. 1–23. 5g.p. deshpande (ed.) (2002). selected writings of jotirao phule. new delhi: left world, pp. 25–99. 6gopal guru and sundar sarukkai (2010). cracked mirror: an indian debate on experience and theory. new delhi: oup. dalits and discourses of anti-caste movements in kerala, india 353 society on equality, freedom, and civil rights. the ideas and articulations that had been evolved in the creative and organic intellectual culture of the social margins that provided the basic tenets and dictums of the process of social modernization called ‘renaissance’ modernity. new forms of critical engagement of caste hierarchies had been deconstructed and redefined in the critical social imageries, literary vocabularies and imaginative cultural geographies of the marginalized in the context of historic modernity.7 it was this momentous rupture in terms of anti-caste ideology and social justice activism that formulated the realms of imagining equality and freedom among the slave castes and broken people that also formulated a writing culture for them reflecting their historical lived experiences and identity of their political present. it discovered new realms of self-identification that their identity had not been developed from the caste hindu thrivarnika cultural lineage but from a wounded historical past of broken lineages that defined the identity of dalithood as a political vocabulary.8 the term dalit signifies not simply a statistical category of the marginalized people but a generic and collective vocabulary of high sounding political meaning reflecting consciousness of the oppressed in terms of caste discrimination and cultural marginality that kept them aloof from accumulating varied forms of resources that can be converted into capital.9 it was in tune with the dalit subaltern political visualization of nation and the swaraj for sub-continental india as a whole encompassing the social and political democracy in representative terms.10 dalit identity and its manifold articulations in different domains of everyday life and academic practices that made possible an assertive appearance in critiquing dominant political systems in favour of social democracy.11 thus the term dalit has become an anchoring mark of identity that is used to define the multiple and mosaic nature of national culture and inclusive democratic political representation for different social groups who had historical disadvantages. it was in the context of reform and nationalism that the dalit assertion in kerala had been developed, formulating social imageries of anti-caste activism and notions of equality along with social modernization that created a critical rupture from the pre-modern social world. 7gail omvedt (1976). cultural revolt in colonial society: the non-brahman movement in western india, 18731930, scientific socialist education trust bombay; g.p. deshpande (ed.) (2002); gail omvedt (1996). dalits and democratic revolution: dr. ambedkar and dalit movement in colonial india. new delhi: sage publications, pp. 15–36. 8anand teltumbde (2016). mahad: the making of the first dalit revolt. delhi: aakar books, pp. 1–18. gail omvedt (2016). understanding caste: from buddha to ambedkar and beyond. new delhi: orient blackswan, pp. 39–47. 9neera chandhoke [2009]2012. equality for what? or the troublesome relation between egalitarianism and respect. humiliation: claims and context. (ed.) gopal guru. new delhi: oxford university press, pp. 140–160. 10g. aloysius [1997]2017. nationalism without a nation in india. new delhi: oxford university press. 11g. aloysius (2016). contextualizing backward classes discourse. new delhi: critical quest, pp. 1–50; k.m. panikkar (2004). caste and democracy. new delhi: critical quest, pp. 1–27. 354 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 discourses of movements and dalit icons the notions of sadhujanam by ayyankal,12adimavishayam by poyikayil appachan/ yohannan,13 dharmam of narayana guru14 defined the early trajectory of the social reform movements in colonial kerala. it was these intellectual movements and radical social activism that developed the communities of untouchables and outcaste groups like ezhavas, pulayas, parayas, kuravas, and sidhanar as agencies of socio-historical change and imagining equality.15 the initiatives and efforts predicated on the radical movement of breaking caste orders and occupying the attributed social spaces of dominant caste groups defined the reform activism as a movement of social protest of politics of social justice.16 ayyankali, poyikayil appachan, pampadi john joseph and many others who were located at the base of social hierarchy intervened in the public domain in the princely state of travancore that made the spaces of human interaction into arenas of breaking hegemonic social notions of caste hierarchy.17 dalit experience with missionary activism provided vistas of dignified human life, soul and body that provided them new notions of emotions, feelings, everyday existence in familial life and the spiritual world.18 dalit mobilization under colonial modernity was aimed at consolidation of different individual caste groups into a single community. the bonded historical past of these social groups was recovered and a repository of their historical experiences was constructed either as adima [slave] i.e., people of historical un-freedom with the genealogy of slave experiences and broken cultural lineages. this imagination provided an alternative historical understanding and creative historical formulation in defining the dalit experiences and selfhood not only in historical past but in radical initiatives in their political present.19 one can also see the co-optional 12t.h.p. chentharassery (2017). ayyankali. thiruvananthapuram: mythri books. 10–34; n.k. jose (1989). ayyankali. vaikkam: hobby publishers. 106–167; n.k. jose (1994) sadhujanaparipalana sangam. vaikkam: hobby publishers. 13v.v. swami and e.v. anil [eds.] (2010). prathyksha raksha daiva sabha, orma pattu, charithra rekhakal, eraviperur: adiyar deepam publication, pp. 18–75. society of prds studies, vyavasthayute nadappathakal, slate publication, kottayam, 2017, pp. 55–98. 14sunny m. kapikkadu (2017). janathayum janadhipathyavum. kozhikode: vidhyarthi publications, pp. 239–249. k.k. kochu (2016) srinarayana prasthanathinte keezhala paksham. pradeepan pamparikunnu [ed.] narayana guru punarvayanakal. kozhikode: progress publishers, pp. 32–42. 15p. sanal mohan (2015) modernity of slavery: struggles against caste inequality in colonial kerala. new delhi: oxford university press. 116–126. 16p. sanal mohan (2015) pp. 126–146. pradeepan pamparikunnu (2016) adhunika keralam arute bhavanayanu. pradeepan pamparikunnu (ed.) narayana guru punarvayanakal. kozhikode: progress publishers, pp. 119–130. 17sunny m kapikkadu (2017) janathayum janadhipathyavum. kozhikode: vidhyarthi publications, pp. 209–238. m nizar and meena kandasamy (2007) ayyankali: dalit leader of organic protest. calicut: other books, pp. 28–92. 18p sanal mohan (2015). modernity of slavery: struggles against caste inequality in colonial kerala. new delhi: oxford university press, pp. 26–34. 19k.s. madhavan (2012). formation of dalit identity in kerala, in symposia on dalits: life and culture of the marginalised, the post graduate department of history, nehru arts and science college, kanhangad, pp. 28–33. dalits and discourses of anti-caste movements in kerala, india 355 patronage of the nationalist engagements of the caste hindus as spiritual ethical politics of anti-untouchability activism20 that stood in tune with the dominant and mainstream political initiatives of the nationalist roots. the historical trajectory of kerala’s dalit movement reveals the fact that the early movements were predicated on the sociality of the dalit body that was articulated as negotiating radical political signifiers in breaking caste and structures of systemic caste subordination. the notion of social labour and the embedded labouring body was negotiated and used as a reflexive site of protest as an instrument of reform activism for civil rights. this was also used as social vocabularies of rights for accumulating economic and social capital in the context of the social modernizing process under colonial modernity. the princely states in thiruvithamkur and cochi provided its representative institutional mechanism to the oppressed caste groups and their members were nominated to the state legislative councils which enabled the depressed class groups to demand and register their civic rights and represent their everyday social sufferings. subsequently dalit-bahujan imageries of reform activism had used political space to lead struggles for inclusive human and civil rights. this was started as radical activism made by the dalit communities in the wake of social reform movements. the attempts to represent dalits for themselves in representative governance like popular assemblies called prajasabha in travancore was the logical culmination of these initiatives. the demands and representations made by the depressed class members in the legislative council also reveal the ways in which the argumentative public concern was made possible in their efforts that had been articulated for an early form of democratic political activism through the representative bodies. this domain of political communication was met with the reform activism that necessarily imagined the notions of equality and an anti-caste democratic public. this was practiced as radical public engagements by leaders like ayyankali, poyikayil appachan and pampadi john joseph who were also members of travancore legislative council popularly known as srimoolam prajasabha. the primary demands raised by these leaders in the assembly were allotment of sufficient land and free public education for depressed class which was considered as important socio-economic capitals to attain material resources ensuring dignity and equality. attempts were also made by the depressed class leaders in the legislative assembly not only for entitlement to material resources, land for settlement and livelihood, and public education as cultural capital but also protests of anti-caste activism outside the representative body for public negotiation for social justice. this was, in fact, a turning point in determining the nature of dalit initiatives in colonial kerala.21 this shows that the dalit movement in its early momentous initiatives had also contributed to the formation of a responsible common malayali public and the making of colonial civil society in kerala. the movement for equal citizenship rights and equal opportunity in society for dalits was made possible by acquiring material resources and social respect 20gail omvedt (1995). dalit vision. new delhi: orient longman 21sunny m kapikkadu (2017). janathayum janadhipathyavum. kozhikode: vidhyarthi publications, pp. 209–238. 356 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 and dignity. the political trajectory and cultural itinerary of dalits had developed a set of discursive vocabularies as part of a multi-vocal movement of self-respect that made a critical departure in the intellectual history of the dalit movement in colonial kerala. the dalit life worlds and the wretched lived experiences were recovered and made available as texts and reports by missionaries in their activist proselytizing engagements in kerala. the missionaries portrayed the dalit life world and their everyday suffering in vivid manner in reports and pamphlets. these reports were also used to represent the lived experiences of the dalits in a new literary genre called novel in colonial travancore. mrs. collins’ novels ‘the slayer slain’ [ghathakavadham] deals with the question of slavery and the need for conversion for emancipation of slave castes.22 in malabar, the missionary emancipatory education had become a form of struggle against caste inequality and social change. this was also a theme of literary imagination by the educated lower classes. the saraswathivijayam, a novel, written by potheru kunhambu [1892] also addressed issues of caste and modernity in which modern education through missionary intervention became a vantage point for anticaste social change.23 the lower caste engagement in literary production attacking caste inequality and upper caste literary sensibilities was represented in the works of poets like pandit k.p. karuppan and muloor s. padmanabha panikkar.24 discourses of untouchability and making of dalit politics the anti-untouchability campaign and the so-called temple entry movements were projected to engage the civil rights for the untouchables to come in touch with the public arena of malayali social life. however, it was operationalised as a consequential deployment of incorporating untouchables into the temple religious idol-worshiping hindu-fold. the pre-colonial non-hindu identity of dalit castes and their historical identity as a broken people of untouchable past was selectively appropriated by the nationalist discourses to reform hindu society by eradicating untouchability. untouchability as a nationalist meta-narrative can also be seen in kerala’s reform process and the question of caste inequality and oppression of various fields was set aside. the nationalist discourses of caste in kerala failed to address the caste inequality in terms of its political vocabulary and instead it projected an ethical programme of eradication of untouchability as a political rhetoric. in the nationalist efforts, eradication of untouchability revolved around a nationalist activism of ethical 22‘the slayer slain’ was written by mrs. collins during 1859-1862. after her death in 1862, the unpublished manuscript was completed by richard collins, her husband, and published serially in vidhyasamgraham. [july 1864-april 1866], ancy bay (2015). translating modernity: conversion and caste in early south indian novel. kozhikode: olive publication, pp. 44–47. 23asokan mundon (ed.) (2016). religion, community, identity: reform and change in kerala. thiruvanadapuram: isda publication, p. 164. ancy bay (2015). pp. 66–84. 24pandit k.p. karuppan, jathikummi, originally written in 1911and published in 1912. kerala sahithya academy thrisure, 2012. kaviramayanam was an important critical engagement in the field of literary production made by the muloor padmanabhapanikkar. m.r. sahruthayan thambi [2013] muloor: kaviyum vyakthiyum, state institute of languages, thiruvanadapuram. dalits and discourses of anti-caste movements in kerala, india 357 predicament of the upper caste nationalist savarna hindu.25 this ethical politics of gandhian turn was used to incorporate the dalit as harijan, a pejorative identification and nationalist politics of naming into the dominant patronage politics of the congress that subjugated the dalits as objects of nationalist narratives of reform. the temple entry movement and the vaikkam sathyagraha of 1924 in kerala also reveals the problematic entanglements and the predicament of the anti-untouchable campaign and the trajectory of the civil rights movement in the gandhian anti-untouchability programme. this was a time when the phule-ambedkarian philosophy and political imaginaries26 formed within the national movement. it recovered a new political imagination and critical theoretical sensibility for understanding caste and graded inequality and also the dalit-bahujan world of political presence.27 the making of an ontological turn of lived experiences and epistemological validation for the dalit historical past can also be seen in the history of dalit movements in kerala as well.28 the discourses on caste and equality developed by sahodaran ayyappan, a rationalist and anti-caste thinker who is known for his campaign for inter-caste dining or panthibhojanam and inter caste marriage as a practice of anti-caste ideology, who had developed the strategies of anti-caste everydayness in the political contemporaneous of modernity in kerala which is popularly known as sahodarya prasthanam that aimed at breaking caste barriers in its customary social everyday life, accomplished in the form of inter-dining and inter-caste marriage tools of breaking the subjective experience of caste divisions. sahodharan ayyappan could visualize the larger political imagination of the non-brahman movement and the ambedkarian notion of reconstruction of society in the notions of equality, liberty and fraternity. ayyappan’s view was in favor of adequate political representation, proportionate share in national wealth and equal social opportunities. it was in this context that there emerged in kerala’s anti-caste reform movement a larger question of anti-caste contestation and political negotiation for equality and representation, the ideological standpoint of which was negotiated with the political strategy of conversion of untouchable castes to other religions. this was one of the primary reasons that made savarna upper caste hindus to engage with the anti-untouchability movement incorporating dalits and lower castes in the nationalist reform of hindu religion.29 25dilip m. menon (1994). caste, nationalism and communism in south india. cambridge: cambridge university press, pp. 89–118. 26gail omvedt (1976) 27gopal guru (2004). the language of dalit bahujan political discourse. class, caste and gender. (ed.) manoranjan mohanty, new delhi: sage publications, pp. 256–267. bharat patankar (2015). contemporary caste system. new delhi: critical quest. 1–29; lal mani joshi (2007). brahmanism, buddhism and hinduism. new delhi: critical quest, pp. 1–40. 28uma chakravarti (2014). panditha ramabai. new delhi: critical quest, pp. 1–32. g. aloysius (2010). dalit–subaltern self-identifications: iyothee thassar and tamizhan. new delhi: critical quest, pp. 1–64; b.d. khane (2006). chhatrapati shahu’s crusade against untouchability., new delhi: critical quest, pp. 1–36; g. aloysius (2006). dalit subaltern emergence in religio-cultural subjectivity. new delhi: critical quest, pp. 1–36; nandini gopu (2006). swami acchutanand and the adi hindu movement. new delhi: critical quest, pp. 1–40; m.c. raja (2005). the oppressed hindus. new delhi: critical quest, pp. 1–40. 29k.k. kochu (2017). idathupakshamillatha kalam. kottayam: d c books, pp. 89–93. 358 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 communists in caste-ridden social structure the communist engagement with the caste question and the emancipation of dalitbahujan communities in kerala as elsewhere was problematic as communists did not have any specific attention to the caste question in its uniqueness as a system of inequality and exploitation of oppressed castes. rather, the marxist position on the caste question was predicated on the notion of a feudal social order and caste was treated as a form of extra economic coercion of indian feudal relations in a pre-capitalistic society of the asiatic mode of economic production. economic interpretation to the indian social system of graded inequality does not make sense of the complex relations between caste and class. the intersectionality of caste, class and gender had not been taken in to the political point of view and strategies of class struggles among the indian socialists and communist groups. communists thought that the caste system was a feudal vestige and castes would be done away with or would be evaporated when capitalist forces develop within india. this deterministic position and inadequacy of a marxist understanding of the caste question and indian [brahmanical] social order failed to address the issues related to caste and graded inequality. inequality in the marxist sense of the term encompasses an economic base where the material production takes place and the ideological superstructure in which non-economic relations are embedded.30 this position is also represented in marxist writings on the culture of kerala as well. the notion of jati-janmi-naduvazhi (caste-landlord and political authority) system had been postulated to explain caste as a system of division of labour. land reform and redistribution of landed resources among the so-called peasant communities i.e., ‘land to the tiller’, the notion on which marxists romanticized land reform has, in fact, not benefited the dalit communities giving them land in kerala. dalit communities were not the subject peasant or tenant at will but they were attached to the landed wealth of upper castes as untouchable forced labouring groups. dalits lived in hut settlements as various kutis of occupational groups of unfree nature and conditions of slavery made them attached to the land as primary producers devoid of any rights to settlement and entitlement to land. the marxist positions did not problematize the condition of untouchables and refused to consider dalits as the most exploitative groups in the social world of caste violence and deprivation. dalits were, in marxist narratives and political standpoints, treated as agricultural laboures to be settled without farmland as kudikidappukar or as landless labourers in settlement colonies.31 these kudikidappu settlements had become the settlement colonies of dalit ghettos.32while marxist-backed governments were in power and implemented the land reform in kerala, the land did not go to the dalits 30k.s. madhavan (2015). jatiyum varghavum: marx, ambedkar kosamby. marx vayanakal. (ed.) t.v. madhu. kozhikode: raspberry books, pp. 331–369. 31t.t. srikumar (2011). navasamuhikatha: saasthram, charithram raashtriyam. calicut: pratheeksha books, pp. 66–78. 32there are as many as 23,000 dalit settlement colonies in kerala. to get a sense of the lived world of these ghettos, see maya pramod (2020). as a dalit women: my life in a caste ghetto in kerala, caste /a global journal on social exclusion, vol. i, no. i, pp. 111–124. dalits and discourses of anti-caste movements in kerala, india 359 or other marginalized groups but they were given only the legal provision to protect their settlement, right to settle as kudikidappukar without entitling land to cultivation and livelihood. settlement right of the dalits as kudikidappukar was protected in four to ten cent land habitats. the land was subsequently concentrated among the middle and upper castes and other religious groups. the identity of a national community of non-hindu culture was denied to dalits in kerala marxist discourses. dalits have a long historical past as broken groups under the brahmanical social order that has become a historical absence in the indian marxist narratives.33 indian marxists do not seem to have made any substantial contribution to interrogate the castes and graded inequality in its proper historical context. this in turn diverted the real issue of the dalits while allowing for marxist imaginations and a utopia of class conflict and consequent changes. discourses of dalit-bahujan narratives the term dalit, as encompassing wide connotations in the political and cultural dynamics began to be used in kerala only in the 1970s in response to the nationalist patronage politics that imposed the denigrated and token category of ‘harijan’ on the identity of the former outcaste (s) and untouchable groups.34 the term has a genealogy of its own, making sense of a radical transformation from being untouchable to the dalithood.35 rejecting state-centric and nationalist juxtaposition of nomenclatures like depressed class and untouchables, the notion of dalit has become an inclusive category to encompass all marginal groups who are persecuted under brahmanic social order. the condition of existence under brahmanic order was the immediate existential reality of dalits. therefore, de-brahmanising dominant narratives and writing culture was an ethical and political necessity for dalit aesthetics and emancipatory epistemology.36 the literature and aesthetic production in art and performances made dalit a category of political articulation of lived experiences of caste discrimination and varied forms of humiliations. the dalit literature could, in fact, offer a saga of resistance culture and realm of repudiation of cultural and social dominance. as saran kumar limbale has rightly been pointed out that dalit literature is an attempt to artistically portray the sorrow, tribulations, slavery, degradation endured by the dalits.37 this must have 33k.k. kochu (2017). 34gail omvedt (2004), pp. 413–430. gail omvedt (2016). pp. 74–82. 35eleanor zelliot (2001). from untouchable to dalit: essays on the ambedkar movement. new delhi: manohar. 36gail omvedt (2016). pp. 97–104. jyothi and m.c. raja (2005). cosmosity: a cultural discourse of the unbroken people. ambedkar resource center rural education for development society, tumkur. 37sharankumar limbale (2003). the outcaste/ akkarmashi. new delhi: oxford university press. omprakash valmiki (2003). joothan: a dalit’s life. kolkata: samya. j. mohan (2001). history of dalit struggle for freedom: dravidian parties and dalit upraise in tamil natu. pondicherry: dhamma institute of social sciences. k.a. gunasekaran (2009). the scar. chennai: orient blackswan. paul chirakkarodu [1993] 2014. ambedkar: boudhikavikshobhathinte agnijwala. kottayam: sahithya pravarthaka co-operative society [spcs]. k.k.s. das (2011) dalit prathyayasasthram: charithram sahithyam saundaryasasthram. thiruvanandapuram: state 360 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 resonated in the remembrance of the dalit slave historical past and rememorialization of the slave experience in the oral renderings made by poyikayil appachan in the context of the historical modernity of kerala. dalit literature has created a particular form of writing culture, a creative and radical literary production with emancipatory aesthetic taste and a standpoint epistemology of identity and selfhood. it created a critical tradition and reflexive interrogation to the social and cultural system based on graded inequality in which the ascending order of power and privileges were reserved for the caste hindus and descending order of contempt for the marginalized groups. it is because this system of graded inequality that maintained and reproduced a social order of caste-based oppression and social exclusion along with cultural and intellectual dominance predicated on systemic violence of the brahminical social order. it was this social order that had been reflexively engaged with critical postulations and protest imageries in the reform modernity of kerala. the term dalit has been derivatively posited to critically engage with the system of dominance and subordination. this social order had become a matter of contestation for dalits and marginalized groups in the post reform period in kerala at large. it is through literature that the dalit communities of kerala could develop a critical attitude of protest as oppositional consciousness to the upper caste-centric aesthetics. the rebellious articulation and contentious potential of this reflexive interrogation has been narrated in different literary genres of oral traditions and textual imagination of dalits. the lived social experiences and individual social memory of systems of exclusion, humiliation embedded with unparalleled cruelties of caste violence, its pain, agony and destitution were depicted in an un-archived historical genealogy of the oral memory of the dalits. the memories of social experiences are woven in terms of lived emplotment of rememorizing caste subordination experiences of social exclusion. it is through these literary genres, artistic expressions, aesthetic intonations and creative performances that the dalit subaltern groups could have repudiated the dominance of the caste hierarchy and imagine equality and visualize a world of freedom.38 the availability of writings and speeches of b r ambedkar in malayalam has opened up new possibilities for a critical reading of kerala society and cultural and political establishment through the post-colonial and dalit-subaltern intellectual imageries, though a section of dalits had attracted the radical left or naxal movement in kerala, the dalit sensibility of engagement of ambedkar intellectuality and critical scholarship provided new understandings of caste and dalit questions. there were debates and polemic factionalism in the radical lefts regarding the question of caste and class relation and also for amicable political praxis in annihilating caste. however, institute of language. m.b. manoj (2008). aadarsham, ezhuthavastha: dalith sahithya padanangal, pranatha books, cochin; sarankumar limbale (2004). towards an aesthetic of dalit literature. hyderabad: orient longman, pp. 23–39. 38paul chirakkarodu [1993] 2014. ambedkar: boudhikavikshobhathinte agnijwala, sahithya pravarthaka co-operative society [spcs], kottayam, k.k.s. das (2011). dalit prathyayasasthram: charithram sahithyam saundaryasasthram, state institute of language, thiruvanandapuram. dalits and discourses of anti-caste movements in kerala, india 361 dalits who detached from the radical left romanticism and took to ambedkar and dalit politics helped create robust intellectual activities and community activism based on ambedkarian politics incorporating the historical past of a radical stream of social reform led by ayyankali, poyikayil appachan and sahodaran ayyappan in kerala. this resulted in the formation of independent dalit organizations and public intellectual activities. this provided new possibilities to engage with the dalit historical past and the lived experiences with the politics of democratic equality of ambedkar in the kerala dalit movement. the literary expression in the forms of novels and short stories also came up with alternative aesthetical expressions and literary sensibility in kerala.39 amateur historians from dalit communities have emerged looking beyond the conventional frames and notions of the history of kerala who critically engaged with the dominant historiography in the case of caste and culture of kerala. the dalit students’ movement was formed in various colleges interrogating the dalit students’ life in mainstream campuses and to make sense of ambedkar thought and non-brahmin and dalit-bahujan politics.40the vicious circle of models of development has created underdevelopment and conditions of perpetual marginality of dalits and adivasis in kerala. the failure of land reform to entitle dalits to landed property and the token politics of mainstream political parties including the left parties towards dalits were important issues of concern of new initiatives of dalit leadership. it created a new sensibility and community identity that paved the way for new literary criticism and dalit aesthetics. a radical initiative called seedian [socially educationally and economically depressed indian ancient natives] was an important turning point in the intellectual history of the dalit movement in kerala. this intellectual and cultural initiative engaged with art and literature, history and cultural studies that made possible new dalit critical engagements and artistic and aesthetical expressions.41 the growing incidents of atrocities against dalits, public torture and humiliations, institutional violence and discrimination, police atrocities and governmental negligence were taken into public domain for live debates. in the post 1990 period the activities of dalit women society and dalit students forum42 appeared in the public domain. the printing and publication of books and pamphlets developed among the movement which gathered wider attention in intellectual communication and public activism. seedian magazine, dalithakam, suchakam and a number of other publications were important in this venture. the dalit christian movement started functioning 39t.m. yesudasan (2011). towards a prologue to dalit studies. no alphabet in sight: new dalit writing from south india. (ed.) k satyanarayana and susie tharu. penguin, pp. 611–630. 40the empirical reality of dalit students’ life in campuses was deeply alienated in terms of their caste identity. p sanal mohan (1993). kalalayangalile dalithar, kerala padanangal, octoberdecember, cochi: chithira printers, pp. 295–301. 41rajesh komath and sudheesh cp (2022). making sense of dalit history: locating seedain as an archive. journal of human sciences, vol. 1, issue 2. pp. 46–66. 42dalit student movement [dsm] mobilised a large number of students in various universities and colleges on ambedkar politics and radical dalit thought. a.k. vasu, m.b. manoj, a v murukaraj, p.k. prakash were some of the organic leaders of this movement. 362 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 from the 1960s and dalit christians protested against discrimination of upper caste christian churches of various christian denominations which were well articulated in popular imaginaries through print.43 dalit christian groups propagated liberation theology and emancipatory protest faith forms among dalit christians that created farreaching repercussions problematizing caste and religious discrimination in kerala’s christian communities and churches.44 the new literary turn in dalit articulations and community mobilization in kerala was a turning point in the history of dalit communities in modern kerala. this had been manifested in the form of powerful writings in creative literary genres like short stories, novels and poems. the dalit literature that developed by and large tried to posit textures of imagination, literary idioms, representational emplotments and linguistic tropes reflecting the lived experiences and life worlds of the dalit communities. it reflected upon the world of un-freedom and the dissent and protest that the dalit communities had been experiencing through the ruptured genealogies of their historical past and their everyday life of subordination and subjugation. it dealt with atrocities and trauma, violence and humiliation, prejudice and public torture, subordination and dominant forms of oppression, sexual violence and discrimination, labour and gendered body and embodied experiences of subjugation and forms of distancing practices on account of inequalities in terms of the graded position in the caste system and the world of untouchability.45 literary criticism and linguistic imagination developed among the dalit writing culture and esthetical production made path-breaking interventions not only in the field of dominant literary culture but also in the domain of dalit mobilization resonating a genuine and creative social movement heralding the birth of an alternative dalit intellectual public.46 the rediscovery of the kerala reform movement in terms of anti-caste democracy and politics of proportionate representation in political power 43janakeeya vimochana visvasaprasthanam and dynamic action are important initiatives among dalit christians of kerala. 44john c.b. webster (2012). historiography of christianity in india. new delhi: oup, pp. 182–218. 45historical evolution of dalit literature in kerala has been narrated by the late pradeepan pamirikunnu, dr. pradeepan pampirikunnu [2007] 2017. dalit padanam: svathvam, samskaram, sahithyam. thiruvanadapuram: the state institute of languages pradeepan pampirikunnu (2011). nationalism, modernity, keralanes: a subaltern critique, in k satyanarayana and susie tharu [eds], no alphabet in sight: new dalit writing from south india, penguin, pp. 556–569. narration of the historical evolution of dalit literature can be seen in the works of late kaviyoor murali—kaviyoor murali (2001). dalit sahithyam, kottayam: current books. k.k. kochu [2015]2017. idathupakshamillatha kaalam. kottayam: dc books, pp. 133–138. 46the making of a dalit public in various regions in the colonial context is important as the civil right movements in india from the part of the dalit communities in the form of anticaste struggles had created civil society ethos in region-specific public arenas. the notion of ‘movement public’ can be used to understand the appearance of dalit intellectual activities and the initiatives in the process of widening the domain of the common public, eva-maria hardtmann [2009], 2015. the dalit movement in india. new delhi: oup, pp. 87–90. ramesh kamble (2016), understanding dalit movement: trajectories and concern. caste based exclusion (ed.) jagan karade. new delhi: rawat publication, pp. 15–44. dalits and discourses of anti-caste movements in kerala, india 363 and the material and cultural resources taking into account the principles of india’s constitutional morality on social justice was the ideological base of this new turn in dalit initiatives of political articulations. the critique of mainstream nationalist imagination of india’s cultural past and the legacy of critical intervention of the phule– ambedkar tradition within the national movement was also radically revisited in the intellectual activism and everyday mobilization of dalit initiatives in kerala. kerala’s dalit literary and intellectual engagements was also influenced by the writing world of the black atlantic along with the radical caribbean, latin american, black literature and liberation theology. in the literature and art, post-structuralist deconstruction of language, literary criticism and discourse analysis were also imprinted in the narrative vocabularies and critical writing culture of the dalit intellectual arena of kerala. the brahmanic and upper caste notions of literary production, writing culture, aesthetic imaginative representation in art forms and popular culture have been interrogated with new critical sensibilities and reflexive aesthetical interrogations in dalit writings in kerala.47 the issues that have been taken up by the dalit movement in kerala in the beginning of the twenty-first century are sc and st reservation in the aided education sector and the need for land and livelihood. this is a new turn in setting the agenda of the dalit movement. this was influenced by the muthanga adivasi struggle for land and chengara and arippa land struggles made by the dalit and adivasi communities in kerala. social exclusion and marginalization of dalits in the public arena in various forms also took place in the prerogatives and planned moves of dominant communities, case in point as far as the alienation of dalit lands and their traditional ritual spaces are concerned. vadayambadi in puthankurishu in ernakulam district and the struggle for regaining usurped public or dalit landed property is one of the new phases in the ongoing dalit struggle in kerala. this has taken place in the context of co-option and incorporation of dalit communities and organizations into mainstream electoral politics. this can also be noted in tune with the increasing assimilation of dalits into the brahmanical values and hinduisation of traditional dalit ritual spaces like kaavu, kottam, thara, and madams. this has been instrumentally used to spread anti-dalit values in ritual idioms and every day forms of faith practices. public surveillance and vigilantalism on dalit body in kerala society has been developing as a brutal form of violence. this is a form of caste prejudice and intolerance to the dalit bodies that has been manifested in torturing dalits in public spaces and institutional torture like police atrocities. vinayakan, a dalit youth who lived in engandiyur near vadanapilly in thrissur district, was tortured in police custody and later committed suicide. the murder of jisha in perumbavur can be cited as an important example of caste violence towards dalit women and social insecurity of the dalit community at large. the caste and economic status and the question of social privilege is also manifested in 47k.k. kochu [2015] 2017. pp. 133–138. pradeepan pamirikunnu [2007] 2017. dr. pradeepan pampirikunnu, dalit padanam: svathvam, samskaram, sahithyam, thiruvanadapuram: the state institute of languages, s anand [ed.] (2003). touchable tales. pondicherry: navayana, pp. 1–42. 364 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 the murder of kevin joseph, a dalit christian youth, whose death indicates that the perpetrators of violence planned the crime with the support of the police. growing violence against dalits when they enter into inter-caste or inter-religious marriages indicate the extent of public contempt that operates towards dalits. the caste-based matrimonial advertisements in newspapers seeking brides and bridegrooms from different communities seem to have deliberately excluded dalits and adivasis in the title called ‘caste-no-bar’. conclusion the historical trajectory of the dalit movement in kerala shows that caste was a contested institution and its distinctions and anti-caste reform initiatives fought against it in manifold ways. it was in the form of social movements by ayyankali, poykayil appachan, pambadi joseph and sahadaran ayyappan and shifted to a critique of the marxist orientation of class-based equality. articulations and ideological translations developed since kerala modernity and social reform formulated anti-caste activism for democratic equality, public discourses and imaginations of an egalitarian society. new assertions taking identities as serious concerns portrays modern issues and concern for contemporary dalit lives taking into account new imaginations and articulations of movements and aesthetical production of dalit literature. however, the larger political projects of imagining social justice in a democratic order are yet to be realized. references aloysius, g. (2016). contextualizing backward classes discourse. new delhi: critical quest. ——— [1997]2017. nationalism without a nation in india. new delhi: oxford university press, ambedkar, b.r. (1987). the triumph of brahmanism: regicide or the birth of counter revolution, vasant moon, [compiled], dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. iii, mumbai: education department government of maharashtra. anand teltumbde (2016). mahad: the making of the first dalit revolt. delhi: aakar books. anand, s. [ed.] (2003). touchable tales. pondicherry: navayana. ancy bay (2015). translating modernity: conversion and caste in early south indian novel. kozhikode: olive publication. asokan mundon [ed.] (2016). religion, community, identity: reform and change in kerala. thiruvanadapuram: isda publication. chentharassery, t.h.p. (2017). ayyankali. thiruvananthapuram: mythri books. das, k.k.s. 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(2009). the scar. chennai: orient blackswan. jagan karade [ed.] (2016). caste based exclusion. new delhi: rawat publication. webster, john c.b. (2012). historiography of christianity in india. new delhi: oup. jose, n.k. (1989). ayyankali. vaikkam: hobby publishers. ——— (1994). sadhujanaparipalana sangam. vaikkam: hobby publishers. jyothi and m.c. raja (2005). cosmosity: a cultural discourse of the unbroken people, tumkur: ambedkar resource center rural education for development society. kaviyoor murali (2001). dalit sahithyam. kottayam: current books. kochu, k.k. (2017). idathupakshamillatha kalam. kottayam: d c books. madhavan, k.s. (2012). formation of dalit identity in kerala, in symposia on dalits: life and culture of the marginalised, the post graduate department of history, nehru arts and science college, kanhangad. madhu, t.v. 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(2004). caste and democracy. new delhi: critical quest. paramjit s judge [ed.] (2014). mapping social exclusion in india. new delhi: cambridge university press. paul chirakkarodu [1993] 2014. ambedkar: boudhikavikshobhathinte agnijwala. kottayam: sahithya pravarthaka cooperative society [spcs]. pierre bourdieu and loc wacquant (1992). an invitation to reflexive sociology. polity press pradeepan pamparikunnu [ed.] (2016). narayana guru punarvayanakal. kozhikode: progress publishers. pradeepan pampirikunnu (2007). dalit padanam: svathvam, samskaram, sahithyam. thiruvanadapuram: the state institute of languages. 366 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 sahruthayan thambi (2013). m.r. muloor: kaviyum vyakthiyum. thiruvanadapuram: state institute of languages. sanal, mohan p. 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[e.ds.] (2010), prathyksha raksha daiva sabha, orma pattu, charithra rekhakal. eraviperur: adiyar deepam publication. ——— (2017). vyavasthayute nadappathakal. kottayam: slate publication. © 2024 christopher queen. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.2289 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 287-301 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste buddhist roots of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy christopher queen* abstract in presenting the final draft of the indian constitution to the constituent assembly in 1949, drafting chair b.r. ambedkar claimed the origins of indian democracy in the parliamentary rules of the ancient buddhist sanghas (monastic communities). in this article we trace the development of ambedkar’s embrace of buddhism, consider the documentary sources of his reference to buddhist proto-democracy, and propose that his judicial philosophy was further shaped by his study of western constitutions and the political slogans “liberty, equality, fraternity,” and “educate, agitate, organize” keywords b.r. ambedkar, indian democracy, ancient buddhist sanghas, “liberty, equality, fraternity,” “educate, agitate, organize” on november 25, 1949, dr. b.r. ambedkar, serving as chairman of the constitution drafting committee of india’s constituent assembly, rose to introduce the final draft of what would be the world’s longest and most complex democratic constitution. he noted that since its formation more than two years earlier, the committee had sat for 141 days to consider 395 articles and more than 7,000 amendments, of which 2,473 were eventually adopted. ambedkar, who also served as the law minister in nehru’s cabinet, compared the proposed draft to constitutions of the united states, canada, australia, and south africa, which contained fewer articles and subsections but contained many of the features that now marked the prospective indian version. he proceeded to thank the committee and to review the foundations and the scope of the new constitution.1 *lecturer, harvard university, usa email: csqueen@outlook.com 1ambedkar, b.r. (1994). dr. babasaheb ambedkar writings and speeches (hereinafter baws), vol. 13. vasant moon. (ed.). (pp. 1206–1218). education department, government of maharashtra. online: https://www.mea.gov.in/images/cpv/volume13.pdf. see also das, bhagwan. (2010) (ed.). thus spoke ambedkar: a stake in the nation, vol. 1. (pp. 204–221). navayana. 288 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 it avoided the hazards of dictatorship of the proletariat urged by the communists, he said. it rejected the end of private property urged by the socialists. in its commitment to parliamentary democracy, it balanced the power of the people with the protections of the state and placed ownership of private property within regulatory guidelines. the mechanisms of parliamentary government provided for amendment of the constitution in changing times. “each generation [is] a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of the majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country,” ambedkar declared, quoting thomas jefferson. he defined federalism as the center’s power to override the states in a national emergency. the constitution will give every citizen the opportunity to place loyalty to the nation over fealty to caste, creed, and party. patriotism will take the place of sectarian division and discord. to cheers, ambedkar announced that on the following day, with final ratification of the constitution, india would again become an independent country. instead of sharing the joy and optimism of the audience, however, he expressed his fears for the future. “it is not that india was never an independent country,” he declared. “what perturbs me greatly is the fact that not only has india lost her independence before, but she lost it by the infidelity and treachery of some of her own people.” ambedkar cited the collaboration of indian generals and rulers with muslim invaders in the eighth, twelfth, and seventeenth centuries, and their passivity as the british tightened their grip in the nineteenth. “will history repeat itself?” he asked. “it is this thought that fills me with anxiety.” yet, as a bulwark against the loss of india’s independence in the future, ambedkar reminded the assembly, the new constitution is founded on the practice of democracy—government of the people, by the people, and for the people. this precious achievement cannot be taken for granted. now the law minister digressed again, placing hopes for a bright future on hold as he reminded the assembly of india’s loss of democracy in the past. he said, it is not that india did not know what democracy is. there was a time when india was studded with republics, and even where there were monarchies, they were either elected or limited. they were never absolute. it is not that india did not know parliaments or parliamentary procedure. a study of the buddhist bhikshu sanghas discloses that not only were there parliaments – for the sanghas were nothing but parliaments – but the sanghas knew and observed all the rules of parliamentary procedure known to modern times. they had rules regarding seating arrangements, rules regarding motions, resolutions, quorum, whip, counting of votes, voting by ballot, censure motion, regularization, res judicata, etc. although these rules of parliamentary procedure were applied by the buddha to the meetings of the sanghas, he must have borrowed them from the rules of the political assemblies functioning in the country in his time. this democratic system india [has] lost. will she lose it a second time?2 buddhist roots of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy 289 ambedkar warned the assembly of the threats to its newfound democracy: bloody revolution, “the grammar of anarchy,” hero-worship of powerful personalities derived from india’s love of holy men, and the false belief that the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity “can be treated as separate items in a trinity.” without one the other two cannot exist. india is a land of massive inequality and a conspicuous lack of fraternity, unity, and solidarity. without these conditions, freedom cannot be guaranteed, and india’s bid to recover its independence and democracy will fail.2 for those familiar with ambedkar’s training in constitutional law, economics, and history, his final speech as chairman of the drafting committee was no surprise. but for those unaware of his growing identification with buddhism, his reference to the democratic culture of the first buddhist communities may have stirred curiosity. where is it written that the ancient buddhist sanghas were influenced by the republican states of the time, and how do the workings of a modern parliament reflect the moral values of a buddhist worldview? in this inquiry, we will investigate the buddhist roots of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy, as reflected in the indian constitution, and more particularly, in his reference to the proto-democracy of the early buddhist sanghas. first, we consider the depth of ambedkar’s intellectual and spiritual engagement with buddhism at the time of his speech. we know this trajectory culminated in the public conversion ceremony he shared with a half million followers in 1956, weeks before his death, but why would he introduce ancient buddhist history into his remarks before a national assembly? having examined some milestones on ambedkar’s road to conversion, we turn to possible sources of his claim that ancient buddhist sanghas offer a template for parliamentary democracy. these findings must be tentative in the absence of specific references, yet we may make educated guesses based on the scope of his library and the research available to him by the late 1940s. finally, we may form a general picture of the role buddhism played in the evolution of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy by placing his public confession of the ancient formula, i take refuge in the buddha, the dhamma, and the sangha alongside the two great slogans that defined his quest for a new india—a place where citizens educate, agitate, and organize in their zeal to establish liberty, equality, and fraternity. ii it was only a few months after the ratification of the constitution that ambedkar began to advocate mass conversion to buddhism. on several occasions in 1950, 2baws, vol. 13, pp. 1214–1215 (emphasis added). ambedkar made similar remarks two years later, addressing a student parliament at the dayanand anglo vedic college, jalandhar, punjab: “parliamentary democracy is unknown to us at present. but india, at one time, had parliamentary institutions. india was far more advanced in ancient times. if you go through the suttas of the mahaparinibbana, you will find ample evidence in support of my point. in these suttas it is stated that while bhagwan buddha was dying at kusinara, a message to the effect was sent to the mallas, who were sitting in session at that time. they were devoted to parliamentary institutions.” das, 2010, p. 80. 290 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 he publicized his conviction that conversion would benefit not only untouchables, but all indians, and finally, the whole world. on may 2, he declared at the buddha vihara in new delhi that societies needed religion, and only buddhism satisfied the requirements of reason and morality necessary to guide a society. the press took this to mean that ambedkar was calling on india’s seventy million “harijans” to convert to buddhism—still using gandhi’s term for the untouchables—and that ambedkar would finally act on his threat to abandon hinduism.3 responding to the controversy, ambedkar’s ally, p.n. rajbhoj, chairman of the all-india scheduled caste federation, clarified that, based on his conversations with ambedkar, the anti-caste leader was advocating conversion of all hindus to buddhism, not only dalits. again in may, ambedkar published an article in the leading english-language buddhist journal, the maha bodhi, titled “the buddha and the future of his religion.” declaring that “hinduism is floating on a volcano” that is about to explode, the time has come for the sufferings of india’s downtrodden to be addressed. like the overthrow of paganism by christianity in roman times, india’s backward classes will banish brahmanism and embrace a religion that offers “mental and moral relief” from the scourge of caste. the steps to conversion will require a new buddhist bible, reform of the bhikkhu sanghas from idleness to service, and the establishment of buddhist missions throughout the land. he called on neighboring buddhist nations to support this campaign.4 and nearly seventy years to the day after the arrival of the americans henry olcott and helena blavatsky to express solidarity with the buddhist revival in ceylon, ambedkar and his wife landed at the columbo airport to attend the first meeting of the world fellowship of buddhists. using his time there to visit buddhist viharas and observe the lay practices up close, he ended his visit with speeches before conference delegates and members of the young men’s buddhist association. he implored them to go beyond fellowship—to work for the spread of buddhism around the world. accused by critics back home for cynically using buddhism as a gimmick to lobby for political reforms, ambedkar replied in a speech at the royal asiatic society that his love of buddhism was no political stunt—he had been a keen student of buddhism since his boyhood. in september, he addressed buddhists at the japanese temple in mumbai, warning that political independence will not bring prosperity while immorality governs the country. “to end these troubles, india must embrace buddhism, the only religion based on ethical principles.” he pledged to devote the rest of his life to the revival and spread of the dhamma.5 today, some critics continue to regard ambedkar’s conversion to buddhism as a political device that has failed. anand teltumbde, who has sacrificed his freedom to assert dalit human rights, titled a recent chapter on ambedkar, “strategy of conversion to buddhism: intent and aftermath.” he sees political calculation and what he calls personal “proclivities” as sources of ambedkar’s conversion, but he 3sangharakshita. (1986). ambedkar and buddhism. (pp. 70–71). windhorse publications. 4baws, vol. 17, part 2, pp. 97–108. 5sangharakshita, 1986, pp. 73–74. buddhist roots of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy 291 concludes ruefully that “the spiritual consideration eventually overwhelmed the existential one.” conversion linked dalits with “a rich legacy of rebellion, which in turn gave them a feeling of self-esteem and self-worth.” but ambedkar was deluded in his hope that conversion would free dalits from caste; their lives have not changed. in 1991 gopal guru disparaged the spiritual practices of the ambedkar buddhists, while ananya vajpeyi more recently dismissed any spirituality in ambedkar’s conversion. following strong dissent of her position from the ambedkar community, however, she reconsidered her assessment in a talk at the library of congress in 2014, painting the dalit leader as one who exemplified the humanism of rousseau, tom paine, jefferson, and the buddha.6 notwithstanding the naysayers, ambedkar’s sincere attraction to the buddha since his youth has been well documented. the english monk sangharakshita has cited many of the milestones on his road to conversion. the young bhimrao had been tutored by his father in the hindu epics up through high school, but upon his matriculation at elphinstone college in 1907 he was gifted a life of the buddha by its author, k.a. “dada” keluskar, a respected social reformer. as the first biography of the buddha in marathi, this book did more to shape ambedkar’s outlook on buddhism than any other. asok gopal, in his new biography of ambedkar, reports that keluskar’s buddha was a reformer like himself and many other non-brahmin writers of the day. his religion was anti-caste, anti-war, anti-polygamy and slavery, anti-animal sacrifice, pro-women, and profoundly collective. it was a proselytizing religion. while ambedkar’s massive library of books on buddhism, collected throughout his life, would later contain scores of volumes that shaped his own portrait of the buddha, keluskar’s book came first and made the deepest impression. “i read the book with great interest and was greatly impressed and moved by it,” he recalls in his unpublished preface to the buddha and his dhamma, written in the last year of his life. reading keluskar, his childhood disdain for the heroes of the mahabharata and ramayana was vindicated.7 6teltumbde, anand. (2018). strategy of conversion: intent and aftermath. in suraj yengde and anand teltumbde. (eds.). the radical in ambedkar: critical reflections. (pp. 219–239). penguin random house; guru, gopal. (1991). hinduization of ambedkar in maharashtra. economic and political weekly. 26(7), 16 february ; vajpeyi, ananya. (2012). bhimrao ambedkar: duhkha, the self’s burden. chapter 5 in righteous republic: the political foundations of modern india. (pp. 208–242). harvard university press. for the outcry against her position, see jaouls, nicolas and anand, s. (2013). outcasting ambedkar. the hindu. june 03, updated december 05, 2021, which critiques vajpeyi’s position: https://www.thehindu. com/books/outcasting-ambedkar/article62034822.ece. vajpayi recanted her interpretation of ambedkar’s conversion in her address, “b.r. ambedkar: the life of the mind & a life in politics” at the library of congress in 2014: https://www.loc.gov/item/2021689595/ accessed october 9, 2023. 7sangharakshita, 1986, “milestones on the road to conversion,” chapter 4, pp. 50–80. the author, a british convert and monastic, met with ambedkar on several occasions and founded the triratna bauddha mahāsaṅgha (tbm), formerly the trailokya bauddha mahasangha sahayaka gana (tbmsg), “perhaps the most successful attempt to create an ecumenical international buddhist organization” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/triratna_buddhist_ community); gopal, ashok. (2023). a part apart: the life and thought of b.r. ambedkar. (pp. 634–636). navayana; “unpublished preface to the buddha and his dhamma.” https:// velivada.com/2020/05/06/unpublished-preface-the-buddha-and-his-dhamma/. 292 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 a hint of ambedkar’s growing interest in buddhism may be seen in his first publication, a review of bertrand russell’s the principles of reconstruction, which appeared in an economics journal in 1918. critiquing russell’s pacifism, the twentyseven-year-old ambedkar applied a distinction his columbia university professor john dewey had made—between force as violence and force as energy. sangharakshita reads this as ambedkar’s application of the buddhist notion of vīrya, the energy or vigor that is indispensable for the spiritual life.8 much has been written about ambedkar’s fight for water rights in mahad. in march 1927, dalit activists took a ritual sip from the public water supply and were beaten back by angry caste hindus. in december they returned to burn a copy of the manusmriti, the hindu code justifying violence against outcastes. the mahad battle ended in the courts, where dalit access to public water was upheld years later. but the buddha was not far from ambedkar’s mind during the tumultuous campaign. two days after the december protest, ambedkar and a few friends traveled to the ancient buddhist caves near mahad. according to an eyewitness, ambedkar was “overwhelmed” at the site. looking at the main hall and the stone benches along the walls, he vividly described how assemblies were conducted at that time. he gave us a beautiful picture of how the buddha’s followers accepted celibacy and poverty and provided social service selflessly. he virtually ordered us not to insult the buddhists by sitting where they once sat.9 in the 1930s ambedkar continued to signal his growing attraction to buddhism. in 1933 he told gandhi that he could not honestly call himself a hindu. he wrote from london that he was determined to leave hinduism and was inclined to buddhism. a year later, he named his new house and library “rajgriha,” after the place where the buddha had given some of his most important teachings. in 1935, ambedkar delivered his historic yeola speech, vowing not to die a hindu. a year later, addressing a conference of mahar caste leaders, he ended with the words of the buddha, “be ye lamps unto yourselves. look not for refuge to anyone else.” the 1940s saw ambedkar’s advocacy of buddhism intensify. in february 1940 he told a reporter that untouchability was originally imposed on buddhists for their refusal to practice the hindu dharma, a thesis he developed in his book the untouchables in 1948. in 1944, speaking before the madras rationalist society, he developed the thesis of an ancient struggle between buddhists and brahmins that became the outline for his unfinished book, revolution and counter-revolution in ancient india in the fifties. in 1946 ambedkar named the new college he founded under the auspices of his people’s education society, siddharth college. milind college, founded four years later, was 8sangharakshita, pp. 52f. b.r. ambedkar, “mr. russell and the reconstruction of society.” review of principles of social reconstruction by bertrand russell, journal of the indian economic society, vol. i, 1918; reprinted in baws, vol. 1, pp. 481–492. sangharakshita offers no evidence for this observation, as plausible as it seems. 9gopal, 2023, p. 642. buddhist roots of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy 293 named for the first greek convert to buddhism. in 1948, ambedkar wrote in his preface to the third edition of p. lakshmi narasu’s essence of buddhism that the author “had fought european arrogance with patriotic fervor, orthodox hinduism with iconoclastic zeal, heterodox brahmins with nationalistic vision, and aggressive christianity with a rationalistic outlook – all under the inspiring banner of his unflagging faith in the teachings of the great buddha.”10 clearly, by the time of his speech before constituent assembly, he had begun to share the worldview of narasu, if not to think of himself as a buddhist. iii sometime in the late 1980s i made my first pilgrimage to the fourth floor of the buddha bhavan, the ornate colonial building in the fort section of mumbai that houses siddharth college and a large archive of ambedkar’s personal library. ambedkar founded the college in 1946, a year before he was appointed law minister and chair of the drafting committee. the building was already in need of repair forty years later. the main elevator was broken, and the stairs were worn and rickety. in the library i was greeted by s.s. rege, the venerable librarian who had helped ambedkar publish his last work and who was now ready to unlock the glass cases that held the founder’s treasured books. srikant talvatkar, his assistant, showed me the special chair ambedkar had designed to rest his aching legs during long hours of study, and helped by pulling down the books he thought i should see. all of this had been moved from ambedkar’s rajgriha residence, which was thought to hold 50,000 books by the time of his death. my intention was to survey ambedkar’s buddhist collection and to imagine his study habits during the years of writing the buddha and his dhamma. i found hundreds of volumes on buddhist history and literature, including volumes of max muller’s sacred books of the east, volumes of theravada scriptures in rhys davids’ pali text society translation series, volumes of the maha bodhi and other journals, and endless scholarly studies of comparative religion, social studies, philosophy, and history. most significantly, i discovered that ambedkar had marked many of his books with colored pencils, sometimes profusely, underlining passages he felt were important and filling the margins with notations that would help him classify and sort the material in the future.11 to me, this was a secret passageway inside the great man’s mind. and in years to come, other scholars would find this door too, notably professor scott stroud from the university of texas, exploring ambedkar’s engagement with john dewey and other western authors, and v. geetha, a writer from chennai, who investigated ambedkar’s immersion in the political, economic, and social thought of the 1940s. 10narasu, p. lakshmi. (1948). the essence of buddhism. third edition. samyak prakashan reprint edition, 2009 (first edition, 1907), p. 6. 11queen, christopher. (2004). ambedkar’s dhamma: source and method in the construction of engaged buddhism. in surendra jondhale and johannes beltz. (eds.). reconstructing the world: b.r. ambedkar and buddhism in india. (pp. 132–150). oxford. 294 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 both pored over ambedkar’s books, connecting his notations to the published works he released in the last years of his career.12 my findings related to the vision of buddhist liberation and social ethics ambedkar extracted from his collection, and the methods and justification he found for selecting only those teachings he believed to be authentic and useful for the struggle for dalit human rights. in the thicket of his markings i saw ambedkar as a teacher, building a new curriculum for social reform. i saw him as a gardener in the deweyan sense, weeding out old beliefs and practices and planting fresh seeds in their place. and i saw him as a jurist and lawgiver, discovering evidence, filing litigation, repealing archaic statutes, and introducing new legislation to establish justice and due process for indian society. so it is with this perspective that we return to the last meeting of the constituent assembly before its historic vote to ratify india’s first democratic republican constitution. what was the chairman of the drafting committee thinking when he pivoted to ancient history? where is it written that the first buddhist sanghas were influenced by the small republican states of the time, and how do the workings of a modern parliament echo the proceedings and judicial values of the ancient buddhist assemblies? did monks indeed have motions, resolutions, quorum, whip, voting by ballot, censure, regularization, and res judicata? modern scholarship, both before and after ambedkar’s time, has answered these questions in the affirmative. there is now a rich literature on the political environment in which the first buddhist sanghas arose, including their adoption of protoparliamentary procedures from the small republican states around them. it is likely that siddhattha gotama imported many of these practices from the sakya republic into which he was born. kancha ilaiah, a political scientist at osmania university and an activist in the dalit civil liberties movement, describes the setting of the first buddhist sangha: at a critical stage in indian history when the free tribes were being ruthlessly exterminated or brought within the orbit of expanding state power, people were experiencing the rise of new values on the ruins of tribal equality. buddha modelled his sangha on tribal society and advised his bhikkhus and bhikkhunis to mold their lives according to the principles of that society.13 the outlines of these principles, identified by ilaiah, may be found in some of the earliest buddhist records, the mahāparinibbāna sutta, the longest discourse in the 12stroud, scott r. (2023). how do we know what ambedkar read? https://www.roundtableindia. co.in/how-do-we-know-what-ambedkar-read/ (accessed 12 october 2023) and the evolution of pragmatism in india: ambedkar, dewey, and the rhetoric of reconstruction. university of chicago press; and geetha, v. (2017). unpacking a library: babasaheb ambedkar and his world of books. https://thewire.in/caste/unpacking-library-babasaheb-ambedkar-world-books (accessed 12 october 2023). 13ilaiah, kancha (2001). god as political philosopher: buddha’s challenge to brahminism. (p. 208). samya. buddhist roots of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy 295 dīgha nikāya collection of the sutta piṭaka, and mahāvagga and cullavagga sections of the vināya piṭaka, the monastic code. ilaiah identifies verses advocating frequent, regular, and harmonious meetings of the assembly and the guidelines for quorum, motion, voting by voice and secret ballet, the forming of committees when consensus is not possible, and barring the re-litigation of matters that were duly resolved in the past—the meaning of res judicata in modern law. as a.l. basham concluded in 1954, “the buddha himself, though a friend of kings, seems to have had a deep affection for the old republican organization, and in a remarkable passage is said to have warned the vajjians shortly before his death that their security depended on maintaining their traditions and holding regular and well attended [assemblies].” it is with this wellknown scene that the mahāparinibbāna sutta begins.14 did ambedkar study the buddhist texts that have now been identified by scholars as precursors to modern judicial practice? only by inspecting his copies of the pali scriptures and observing his characteristic markings can this question be answered. i wish i could teleport myself back to the siddharth library to find out for myself! we know that ambedkar had these texts and that he pored over them in his preparation of the buddha and his dhamma and the unfinished companion volume he titled revolution and counter-revolution in ancient india. when i examined them twenty years ago, i was not studying the roots of his judicial philosophy. perhaps some of you can go have a look when you are next in mumbai. another avenue of investigation of the buddhist roots of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy will be the inspection of his copies of certain secondary sources related to the history and political foundations of the early buddhist movement. ilaiah and other scholars often begin their assessment of the question with reference to these works, which had become standard by the time ambedkar was collecting his library: henry sumner maine, village communities in the east and west (1898) t.w. rhys davids, buddhist india (1903) k.p. jayaswal, hindu polity: a constitutional history of india (1943) d.r. bhandarkar, lectures on the ancient history of india (1818) r.c. majumdar, corporate life in ancient india (1918) are these studies to be found among ambedkar’s books, and did he mark them with his colored pencils? and if they do not appear in the siddharth college collections, might they reside elsewhere? we know that major portions of this library migrated to the archives at milind college at dr. babasaheb ambedkar marathwada university in aurangabad, to the symbiosis society’s dr. babasaheb ambedkar library in pune, 14basham, a.l. (1959). the wonder that was india: a survey of the culture of the indian subcontinent before the coming of the muslims. (p. 97). random house evergreen, first published in 1954. the passage begins the mahaparinibbana sutta, which ambedkar would have read in the t.w. rhys davids translation in buddhist-sutras, vol. 11 of the sacred books of the east series, max muller, editor, pp. 1ff. 296 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 to branch libraries of the people’s education society, and to personal collections of family and associates. much more about the buddhist roots of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy will be discovered as scholars follow these trails.15 iv in the final section of this study i would like to propose another approach to understanding the influence of buddhist thinking on ambedkar’s judicial philosophy. while i have developed this hermeneutic in another study, i believe it will prove useful in this context.16 dr. ambedkar regularly invoked three slogans in his campaigns for human rights. during his graduate work at columbia university, he studied the history and meaning of the motto of the french revolution, liberty, equality, fraternity.17 while attending the london school of economics, he encountered the slogan of the british fabian society: educate, agitate, organize.18 and in his last years, he frequently invoked the three jewels (tiratana), the refuge formula that marks the commitment of practicing buddhists worldwide and the core declaration of the conversion ceremony of 1956: “i take refuge in the buddha, the dhamma, and the sangha.” the eighteenth century french revolutionary motto was often cited by ambedkar as an expression of buddhist principles and a template for a just and compassionate society. at the time that these ideals were inscribed in article 1 of the universal declaration of human rights and ratified by the united nations in 1948, ambedkar chose them for the preamble to the indian constitution. in an interview on all-india radio in 1954, the retired cabinet minister made a surprising connection: my social philosophy may be said to be enshrined in three words: liberty, equality, and fraternity. let no one, however, say that i have borrowed my philosophy from the french revolution. i have not. my philosophy has roots in religion and not in political science. i have derived them from the teachings of my master, the buddha.19 in a speech delivered before an international meeting of buddhist leaders in katmandu days before his death, ambedkar compared the french ideals with the social teachings of the buddha and karl marx. the french revolution promised equality but did not secure it. the russian revolution, inspired by marxism, offered equality but 15shetty, sukanya. (2010). through vast library, ambedkar still stays close to his followers. indian express, 7 december. http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/through-vast-libraryambedkar-still-stays-close-to-his-followers/721368/ 16queen, christopher. (2021). ambedkar’s buddhist vision: a social democratic republic. in sallie b. king. (ed.). buddhist visions of a good life for all. routledge. 17stroud, 2023, p. 54. 18for the significance of this slogan to a new generation of ambedkarites in the diaspora today, see dadasaheb tandale, “educate, agitate, organize,” https://www.saada.org/tides/article/educate-agitate-organize 19keer, dhananjay. (1987). dr. ambedkar: life and mission. (p. 459). popular prakashan, first published 1954. buddhist roots of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy 297 sacrificed liberty and fraternity. in the end, he concluded, “it seems that the three [ideals] can coexist only if one follows the way of the buddha.”20 the slogan “educate, agitate, organize,” attributed to george bernard shaw, cofounder of the london school of economics and a fabian socialist, appeared often in ambedkar’s speeches. education, for ambedkar, who earned his second doctorate at lse, was the key to personal liberation, particularly for dalits deprived of property and rank. agitation, in the absence of political consensus, was the key to social reform. organization of social movements, political parties, government structures, and judicial due process was the key to enduring social change. addressing 70,000 followers in nagpur in 1942, ambedkar prefigured his conversion there fourteen years later, tying the slogan of the british socialists to his belief in the power of religion: my final word of advice to you is educate, agitate, and organize, have faith in yourself. with justice on our side, i do not see how we can lose our battle. the battle to me is a matter of joy. the battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. there is nothing material or social in it. for ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. it is a battle for freedom. it is a battle for the reclamation of human personality.21 in the buddha and his dhamma, published posthumously in 1957, ambedkar organized the narratives and homilies he excerpted from the pali canon, along with his own interpolations, around the refuge formula of allegiance to the buddha, the dhamma, and the sangha. the first two sections present the life and early career of the buddha; the next two sections detail the dhamma, his teachings and their meaning for today; and the following two sections present the values and practices of the sangha in relation to the surrounding culture. the final chapters narrate the buddha’s last days and his place in history.22 to present the outlines of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy in the terms he used himself, let us combine the three slogans as follows. for him, buddha exemplified personal freedom through formal study and practice; accordingly, nation builders must “educate for liberty.” the dhamma (pali spelling of the sanskrit dharma), was a recipe for social reform through nonviolent struggle; founders and reformers must “agitate for equality.” and the sangha represented a community designed to maximize and practice democratic values; the architects of a just and free society must “organize for fraternity.” 20ambedkar, b.r. (1956). buddha or karl marx. baws, vol. 3, p. 462. the essay “buddha and karl marx” and its companion speech, delivered at the fourth meeting of the world fellowship of buddhists, katmandu on november 15, 1956, contain what may be ambedkar’s final thoughts on religion and politics. the speech version is transcribed in baws, vol. 17, pp. 549–558. 21keer, 1987, p. 351. 22ambedkar, b.r. (2011). the buddha and his dhamma. annotated and edited by aakash singh rathore and ajay verma. oxford university press. 298 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 first, then, buddha: educate for liberty. in the pages of keluskar’s biography, the teenage ambedkar perceived the buddha as an independent thinker who rejected conventional wisdom, sought instruction from respected pundits, and formulated his own philosophy along the way. with encouragement from keluskar and funding from progressive upper-caste patrons such as the maharajahs of baroda and kolhapur, ambedkar obtained and applied his elite international education to the ills of his own society. little wonder that he would regard education as the cornerstone of a free society, and that john dewey, the best-known progressive educational thinker of his generation, would become ambedkar’s mentor in conceiving the relationship of education to democracy.23 for ambedkar, the political concept of liberty was grounded in the intellectual and spiritual notion of freedom—freedom of thought and expression and access to quality information and instruction. this conviction was reflected in ambedkar’s founding of the people’s education society in 1945 and its many institutions: high schools, colleges, and residential dormitories for disadvantaged citizens seeking liberal, vocational, and professional training. similarly, ambedkar’s commitment to primary and secondary education as a pillar of free society was codified in the constitution, first as a desideratum and finally, years after his death, as a right for all citizens. second, dhamma: agitate for equality. from the time of the water rights protests of 1927 to the gathering of a half-million pilgrims to the city of nagpur in 1956, ambedkar presided over protest marches, rallies, convocations, and, finally, one of the largest religious gatherings in buddhist history. like socially engaged buddhists of the second half of the twentieth century such as the fourteenth dalai lama and the vietnamese zen teacher thich nhat hanh, who were driven into exile for their opposition to tyranny and war, and sulak sivaraksa, founder of the international network of engaged buddhists, who was repeatedly jailed for denouncing the corruption of the military government in thailand, ambedkar was never “mealymouthed” in his challenge to the british imperial government and their caste hindu collaborators. in this he followed in the footsteps of three anti-caste crusaders, whom he called his gurus. these were the buddha, who challenged caste by welcoming petitioners of all backgrounds into his movement; the fifteenth-century poet-saint kabir, who honored rich and poor hindus and muslims in verses that obliterated hierarchy and privilege; and the nineteenth century anti-caste writer and educator, jyotiba phule. ambedkar’s parents were devotees of kabir and introduced his casteblind mysticism to their fourteenth child, the talented bhim, while dalit activists throughout india were familiar with phule’s writings on the social liberation of the underclass.24 freedom of thought, speech, and assembly inevitably entailed the freedom to choose and practice the religion of one’s choice. at a gathering of ten thousand leaders of the depressed classes movement in 1935, ambedkar announced that, though he 23stroud, 2023, passim. 24zelliot, eleanor. (2013) ambedkar’s world: the making of babasaheb and the dalit movement (pp. 21-57). navayana. buddhist roots of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy 299 was born hindu, he would not die as one. his declaration at yeola was vigorously contested by gandhi, who denied that one’s religious identity may be changed at will. but ambedkar never backed down on the freedoms that were basic to the great democracies of the west and to the republic he envisioned for india. finally, sangha: organize for fraternity. ambedkar regarded the ancient buddhist sangha as a model of social inclusion, deliberative government, and judicial due process. but he was ambivalent about the voluntary poverty, renunciation of private property, and common ownership of goods described in the early records. unlike the laity, monks must be celibate, obedient to seniors, and unencumbered by property. yet ambedkar was quick to condemn the poverty of the traditional ascetics of india, whom he viewed as “hypocritical and deceitful . . . envious and grudging . . . cunning and crafty, hard-hearted and vain.”25 strongly rejecting the christian teaching of “blessed are the poor,” he wrote, religion must not sanctify or ennoble poverty. renunciation of riches by those who have it, may be a blessed state, but poverty can never be. to declare poverty to be a blessed state is to pervert religion, to perpetuate vice and crime, to consent to make earth a living hell.26 on the other hand, monastic wealth and privilege, in the absence of service to the poor, was offensive to him. visiting ceylon in 1950, he observed monks comfortably cloistered in permanent viharas, preoccupied with ritual and meditation and not visibly serving the community—“a huge army of idlers.”27 to consider the ancient sangha as a paradigm for a modern republic based on liberty, equality, and fraternity, the issue of property ownership and affluence required closer attention.28 ambedkar was a trained economist who published his graduate theses on “administration and finance of the east india company,” “the evolution of provincial finance in british india” (columbia), “provincial decentralisation of imperial finance in british india,” and “the problem of the rupee – its origin and its solution” (london school of economics). his approach to economics evolved over time and may be described as an amalgam of keynesian capitalism, where stateregulated private property forms the basis of social prosperity, on one hand, and the democratic socialism of the british fabian society, where the state plays a more assertive role in regulating the ownership and distribution of wealth. his differences with gandhi encompassed many issues facing india, but his opposition to gandhi’s village-based subsistence economics, symbolized by the mahatma’s spinning wheel 25the buddha and his dhamma, p. 231. 26“buddha and future of his religion,” baws, p. 104, first published in the maha bodhi, journal of the maha bodhi society of calcutta, vol. 58, may 1950. 27ibid., p. 107. 28for an overview of buddhist teachings on wealth, see queen, christopher (2019). economic justice in the buddhist tradition. in richard madsen and william m. sullivan. (eds.). economic inequality and morality: diverse ethical perspectives. (pp. 235–260). brookings institution press. 300 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 and homespun clothing, was pronounced. ambedkar, in his three-piece suits, engaged in tireless fundraising for his publications, schools and colleges, and promoted collective farming, heavy manufacturing, and the belief that property and wealth, while not evil, must be closely regulated through taxation and market intervention by a strong, democratically elected government.29 it is significant that dr. ambedkar’s final speech was devoted to a contrast between the social visions of karl marx and the buddha. delivered days before his death at the fourth meeting of the world fellowship of buddhists, held in katmandu on november 16, 1956, the ailing freedom-fighter argued that the two great social philosophers, separated by 2,500 years, nevertheless agreed on two things: (a) that oppression and suffering were caused by poverty and the violent competition for resources by classes or castes, and (b) that control of the means of production, in the form of private property, was the way the poor are dominated by the rich. ambedkar argued that the vinaya rules restricting monks to a few personal items were more rigorous in their implications for a socialist society than were the teachings of the marxists, but he admitted serious doubt about the relevance of such teachings for a secular republic. “the only question is, to what extent can this rule of denial of private property be applied to society as a whole?” in the last words of his valedictory speech on the comparative merits of buddhism and communism as guideposts for modern society, having stressed the objective of removing impediments to liberty, equality, and fraternity, ambedkar stressed the decisive importance of means over ends: the means that the communists wish to adopt in order to bring about communism (by which i mean the recognition of dukkha [and] the abolition of poverty), is violence and killing of those opposed. there lies the fundamental difference between the buddha and karl marx. the buddha’s means of persuading people to adopt the principles are by persuasion, by moral teaching and by love. he wants to conquer the opponent by inculcating in him the doctrine that love and not power can conquer anything.30 in this we hear, not the pragmatism of dewey or ambedkar’s other modern mentors in political and economic theory, but an echo of the dhammapada, the early sermon of the buddha, with which ambedkar was intimately familiar: “enmity is not quelled by enmity. only by non-enmity is enmity quelled. this is the ancient truth.”31 29a detailed overview of the evolution of ambedkar’s economic theories (“ambedkarism”) visà-vis those of gandhi, nehru, and the indian communist party may be found in omvedt, gail. (2014). dalits and the democratic revolution: dr. ambedkar and the dalit movement in colonial india. sage. 30b.r. ambedkar, “buddha or karl marx,” in baws, vol. 17, part 3, p. 554. 31dhammapada 1.5. ambedkar’s quotation from the dhammapada in the buddha and his dhamma is extensive. in the section “on anger and enmity,” he paraphrases, “cherish no anger. forget your enemies, win your enemies by love. this is the buddhist way of life.” (ibid., p. 189.) for ambedkar’s references to the pali sources throughout the buddha and buddhist roots of ambedkar’s judicial philosophy 301 ambedkar’s fraternity is perfectly expressed by the buddhist metta, “friendliness,” “lovingkindness.” in these connections we may see the influence of buddhist ways of thinking on his emerging philosophy of government. it was reflected in his reconstruction of the history of class and caste in india, but it was also reflected in his vision of a society based on republican and democratic principles and procedures he encountered in his study of the earliest buddhist literature. a hint of the importance of these connections was the digression regarding ancient buddhist republican order that he made in his final speech before the constituent assembly on november 25, 1949. the draft constitution, with its distant buddhist ancestry, was ratified the following day and became the law of the land on january 26, 1950. his dhamma, see footnote annotations in the oxford annotated edition, and “pali and other sources of the buddha and his dhamma,” baws, vol.11 supplement. © 2024 sukhadeo thorat. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. commentary doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i1.2037 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 1 pp. 27-40 march 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste ambedkar’s emancipatory constitutionalism “rights are real only if they are accompanied by remedies.” —dr. ambedkar, 1947 sukhadeo thorat1 chief justice of india dr. d. y. chandrachud delivered a lecture on the theme of “reformation beyond representation: the social life of the constitution in remedying historical wrongs”, at the sixth international conference on the “unfinished legacy of dr. b.r. ambedkar: law, caste, and the pursuit of justice” at brandeis university, waltham (usa). the lecture brought to the forefront insights on the complex issue of the historical wrongs faced by the excluded caste of untouchables in india and dr. ambedkar’s role in providing safeguards in the indian constitution for their upliftment. justice chandrachud elaborates on the nature of emancipatory constitutionalism embedded in the indian constitution and dr. ambedkar’s role in its articulation for social justice to the untouchables and transforming an unequal caste-ridden society towards the goals of equality and liberty to all citizens. the cji indicated the outcome of the reformatory provisions in the indian constitution in the form of legal safeguards against caste discrimination and affirmative action policies. at the same time he also pointed towards the limited impact of reformatory measures due to persisting contradictions between what he termed the “social life and constitution life”, the gap that persists in the values of equality, liberty and fraternity enshrined in the constitution and the traditional values and customs that govern the actual social relations of hindus towards low caste untouchables. the cji referred to the systematic discrimination and structural inequalities in resources and education as a root cause of the persistence of the problem of untouchability, and proposed solutions outside the courtroom by civil society against caste discrimination and untouchability, particularly by the oppressed castes. on several points, he draws a parallel between the untouchables in india and the african americans in usa. the canvas of enquiry is comprehensive and inclusive of crucial legal and constitutional issues. in the brief comments below, i elaborate on the main propositions laid down by justice chandrachud in his speech. 1joint editor-in-chief, caste: a global journal on social exclusion; professor emeritus, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, india email: thorat1949@gmail.com 28 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 how harmful are the historical wrongs? justice chandrachud began by arguing that “the annals of history are stained with instances of profound injustice. what sets these wrongs apart is that they deny individuals their right to participate and reap the benefits of living together in society based on the identity of the individual. …thus, when i say ‘historical wrongs’, it is social systems and arrangements of identity-based exclusion that go against the grain and idea of human equality and what may be considered a just and fair society.” justice chandrachud goes on to add that, “unfortunately, the legal system has often played a pivotal role in perpetuating historical wrongs against marginalized social groups in ancient india (bce 1500-bce 600), medieval (ce 700-ce 1756) and colonial british india (1758-1947). law as an institution was practiced to maintain existing power structures, and to institutionalize discrimination, leaving a lasting legacy of injustice that continues to shape the lives of these groups.” what is the nature of this historical wrong to which justice chandrachud referred to? the historical wrong has its origin in a period sometime between bce 1000-bce 600 in the later rigvedic time of ancient india. the first definite indication of the social organization of the caste system shaped by graded inequality is mentioned in the purusha sukta of the rigveda (bce 1000-bce 600). the purusha sukta ordained that, “for the prosperity of the world, he (the creator) from his mouth, arms, thighs and feet created the brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra respectively” (ambedkar 1987). by the end of the later vedic period (about bce 600), the varnas gradually become hereditary, endogamous and birth-based and emerged in its full form with some of its essential features: clear separation of people in groups or castes, crystalized by the practice of endogamy or marriage within caste, restrictions on inter-caste dining and social relations, and residential segregation, which evolved in stages. the caste system involved four castes, but later the fifth caste, namely, untouchables emerged and was integrated into it. untouchability had taken a firm and definite shape around ce 200, although its early signs go back to around bce 600 (jha 2018). the practice of caste and untouchability, although it began as taboo, was made legal, the credit of which goes to manu, the author of the manusmriti codified sometime around bce 200 (buhler 1886). the manusmriti comprised the culmination of all the stands in early legal literature and gave it a definite legal shape. reference to some legal provisions in the manusmriti provides an idea about the harm done to the shudras/untouchables: the legal restrictions related to ownership of property (buhler 1886: 401) “no superfluous collection of wealth must be made by a shudra, even though he has power to make it, since a servile man, who has amassed riches, becomes proud, and, by his insolence or neglect, gives pain even to brahmins.” “no collection of wealth must be made by a shudra even though he be able to do it, for [a] shudra who has acquired wealth gives pain to brahmins.” ambedkar’s emancipatory constitutionalism 29 “a brahmin may take possession of the goods of a shudra with perfect peace of mind, for, since nothing at all belongs to this shudra as his own, he is one whose property may be taken away by his master.” the restrictions on occupation (buhler 1886: 401) “one occupation only the lord prescribed to the shudra; to serve meekly even these other three castes.” “if a shudra is unable to subsist by serving brahmins, he may serve a kshatriya, or he may also seek to maintain himself by attending on the wealthy vaishya.” “the remnants of their food must be given to him, as well as their old clothes, the refuse of their grain, and their old household furniture.” “but let the shudra serve the brahmin.” the restrictions on learning (buhler 1886: 401) “a twice-born man who has — (improperly) divulged the vedas (to a shudra and women) commits sin, and atones for his offence, if he subsists for a year on barley.” “if the shudra intentionally listens for committing to memory the vedas, then his ears should be filled with (molten) lead and lac; if he utters the vedas his body should be cut to pieces.” “let the three twice-born castes (that is brahmin, kshatriya and vaishya), discharge (prescribed) duties, study (the vedas) but among them, the brahmin (alone) shall teach it, not the other two, that is and established rules. privileges of a brahmin at the cost of shudra (buhler 1886: 401) “but let a shudra serve brahmins, either for the sake of heaven or with a view to both this life and next, for he who is called the servant of a brahmin thereby gains all his end.” “the services of the brahmins alone are declared to be an excellent occupation for shudra, for whatever else besides this he may perform will bear no fruits.” “whatever exists in the world is the property of the brahmin, on account of excellence of his origin the brahmin, indeed, is entitled to all.” the untouchables, like the shudra suffered from denial of rights but also faced a stigma of “impurity and untouchability” causing defilement to the higher castes. their impure and polluting status results in complete segregation and separation from the rest of hindu society. not only did their touch cause pollution but pollution was also caused through proximity, sight, hearing, and speech. with these ugly disabilities they eked out a miserable existence, and this was the most sickening and pernicious development in the social organization of the hindu caste system. an equally deplorable feature to which justice chandrachud referred is the slave status of the untouchable, referring to the work of sanal mohan (2015) who has depicted the worst kind of slavery of untouchables in south india where they were the property of high castes, and hence could be sold and purchased. children and wife and husband could be sold separately, hired out, physically assaulted, disfigured by 30 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 cropping off the nose and even killed or required to live and work on waterlog farms, known as an “agro-slave” and “soil slave”. the law commission of 1840 empirically found slavery among the untouchables as an all-india phenomenon (banaji 1937). the hindu laws about slavery leave little doubt about the community-based character of slavery faced by an untouchable. this became quite obvious from the legal provisions in the manusmriti, codified around bce 200. the manusmriti ordains (buhler 1886: 417; sahoo 2013: 453): “a shudra, whether bought or unbought, should be reduced to slavery because he is created by god for the service of a brahmin.” manu further says: “even if a shudra is made free from the services of a master one should not consider this as his absolute freedom from slavery, because servitude remains in him as (an) integral part of his nature or it is one of his basic tendencies to serve others from which none can actually disassociate him.” this was the situation during the ancient rigvedic period (bce 1000-bce 600) on the status of shudras/untouchables. the caste system however continued without much interruption in the later period, in what is called the medieval period that includes the islamic period as well (ce 700-ce 1400). about caste in the medieval period, shireen moosvi (2011 and 2003) has argued that: “there was no desire at all to declare a war against either the caste system or to undermine it. they (islamic rulers) continued to regard the caste system as a permanent feature of society. there is no evidence that any of the oppressed castes secured better treatment.” moosvi suggests that “within islamic thought, there was a strong hierarchical streak, which, for example, greatly distinguished between the free-born and the slave; slaves were intrinsically low-born and subjected to contempt being vain fellows and purchased ones. . . .thus, the arab society in which islam arose had deep rooted concepts of tribal differentiation, which continued under islam, . . . with this experience in iran behind them, the arab policy with regard to caste could well have been predicted.” (moosvi 2003) not much changed during the british period (1758-1950). among the british, who took over india in the second half of the eighteenth century (ce 1757) from the mughals, it was warren hastings, the first governor of bengal, who made the following rule in 1772 when he introduced full-scale reforms in the judicial system for the first time in the history of british colonial rule in india. “that in all suits regarding inheritance, marriage, caste, and other religious usages as institutions, the laws of the koran with respect to mohammedans and those of the shaster (shastras) with respect to hindoos, shall be invariably adhered to; on all such occasions the maulvis or brahmins shall respectively attend to expound the law, and they shall sign the report & assist in passing the decree.” the hindu law was, consequently, not the classical brahminical law itself. it was a law system based on the brahminical law but readjusted for the british judicial administration (banaji 1937). ambedkar’s emancipatory constitutionalism 31 the british also faithfully carried forward the hindu and islamic slavery right from 1772 till 1843, when slavery was delegalized with the adoption of act v in 1843 and abolished with the adoption of the indian penal code in 1860 (banaji 1937). selective legal reforms were introduced under pressure from those against untouchability and other reformers, some of which are mentioned in detail in the book by manoj mitta (2023). commenting on the half-hearted efforts by the british, dr. ambedkar in his speech on november 20, 1930 at the first round table conference held in london to frame the indian (british) constitution in 1935, in front of the king and prime minister of england, observed: “when we compare our (referring to the depressed classes) position, with the one which it was our lot to bear in indian society of pre-british days, we find that instead of marching on we are only making time” — and he goes on to argue that — “the british government has accepted the social arrangements as it found them, and has preserved them faithfully in the manner of the chinese tailor who, when given an old coat as a pattern, produced with pride an exact replica, rents, patches and all. our wrongs have remained as open sores and they have not been righted, although 150 years of british rule have rolled away.” dr. ambedkar goes on to say that: “the reason why it (the british government) did not intervene is because it is afraid that its interventions to amend the existing code of social and economic life, will give rise to resistance” (busi 2016). the historical wrong to which justice chandrachud rightly referred was the most ugly, sickening, pernicious and vicious byproduct of caste, untouchability, which has eked out a miserable existence for too long, from bce 600 to 1950, for about 3000 years, a suffering that is rarely to be found anywhere in the world. it deserves to be rooted out. emancipatory constitutionalism in indian constitution the indian constitution adopted in 1950 overturned the legal framework of the manusmriti. justice chandrachud rightly observed that: “dr. ambedkar advanced a transformative constitutionalism and brought values of ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity in the language of the constitution itself, from the preamble across the entire canvas of the indian constitution. in dr. ambedkar’s vision, the idea of a constitution goes beyond its traditional role of securing fundamental rights, and extends the constitution’s capacity to liberate and empower marginalized and oppressed groups.” before we analyse justice chandrachud’s interpretation of dr. ambedkar’s idea of emancipatory constitutionalism as embedded in the indian constitution, it is useful to understand the proposition related to an idea of emancipatory constitutionalism conceived by dr. ambedkar. in the very first meeting of the constitution assembly held on december 1946 which discussed the objective of the constitution, dr. ambedkar observed: “i find that this part of [the] resolution, although it enunciates certain rights, does not speak of remedies. all of us are aware of the fact that rights are nothing unless remedies are provided whereby people can seek to obtain redress when rights are invaded. i find the complete absence of remedies . . . . there are certain 32 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 provisions which speak of justice, economic, social and political . . . . i would have expected some provisions whereby it would have been possible for the state to make economic, social and political justice [a] reality” (busi 2000). thus dr. ambedkar’s vision for constitutionalism encompasses not only the provision of fundamental rights but also the remedies to enable the citizen to access fundamental rights. this vision influenced the making of the indian constitution. justice chandrachud captures the features of emancipatory constitutionalism incorporated by dr. ambedkar. he mentions that the indian constitution in 1950 provided for fundamental rights, such as the right to equality, equality before law or equal protection of law, equality of opportunity in matters of public employment, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, right to freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion, protection of life and personal liberty, and right against exploitation and forced labour. however provisions go much beyond fundamental rights, and also includes the (commitment of) remedies in terms of legal safeguards against discrimination and affirmative action policy to ensure fair share to the discriminated groups in legislature, public service and educational institutions and other public spheres (national law university 2016). for instance, article 17 abolishes untouchability, and placed in the chapter on fundamental rights, along with the provisions of equality and non-discrimination and the enforcement of any disability arising out of “untouchability” is treated as an offence. justice chandrachud states that dr. ambedkar tried to institutionalise “social revolution through law and through a robust legal framework that would safeguard the rights and dignity of untouchable people”. beside the key aspect of dr. ambedkar’s transformational constitutionalism, was the inclusion of affirmative action measures into the constitution as a remedy to ensure fair share to discriminated classes in legislature, public services, educational institutions, including a provision of national commission for scheduled castes to oversee their progress. another significant feature of dr. ambedkar’s emancipatory constitutionalism which needs to be mentioned was the inclusion of “directive principles of state policy” in the constitution. justifying the inclusion of directive principles, dr. ambedkar on november 4, 1948, while speaking on the draft constitution argued that, “it is a novel feature in a constitution. what are called directive principles is merely another name for instruments of instructions for framing the policies for the wellbeing of the people.” in 1981, the supreme court clarified that the difference between the fundamental rights and the directive principles lies in that fundamental rights seek to assure political freedom to the citizen, while directive principles aimed to secure social and economic freedom by appropriate state action. in another instance, the supreme court in 1973 clarified: “the purpose of directive principles is to fix certain social and economic goals for immediate attainment by bringing about a non-violent social revolution. the constitution seeks to fulfil the basic needs of the common man and to change the structure of our society. the fundamental rights and directive principles — together, not individually, they form the core of the constitution. together, not individually, they constitute its true conscience” (national law university 2016). ambedkar’s emancipatory constitutionalism 33 however the affirmative action as part of the constitution had to be justified as it did not fall in line with the traditional notion of constitutionalism. for instance, for each provision of fundamental rights, the constitution states that: “nothing in these articles shall prevent the state from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes,” for reservation in legislature, public services and education institutions, which the constitution did. some contended against these provisions claiming that these were contradictory and interfered with liberty, as they believe that interference by the state holds a negative impact on liberty; liberty is contemplated as freedom from interference by the state. justice chandrachud stated that: “dr. ambedkar did not view equality or liberty and affirmative action as contradictory.” justice chandrachud was right in interpreting the mind of dr. ambedkar when he says, “the negative conceptions of freedom ignore the ongoing deprivations that can arise out of dominating relationships or societal arrangements — the social, legal, and economic structures that govern their lives may lead to domination on the site of caste, race, gender, disability, or economic well-being.” he goes on to add that dr. ambedkar took aim at precisely such forms of dominating relations and societal arrangements when seeking to secure freedom as a means of social transformation. he quoted dr. ambedkar from his famous book, annihilation of caste, as saying that, “he characterises liberty as the destruction of the dominion which one man holds over another” and adds, “that is, even where domination is the result of actions by non-state actors or structural societal arrangements, liberty is at risk and must be remedied through by the state. for him, ensuring liberty required ensuring that every person in a society had sufficient standing that they were not dominated, whether that be through economic, social, or religious power. unlike narrower conceptions of liberty that seek solely to prevent episodic state intervention, conceiving of freedom as non-domination allows the very site of state intervention to be liberty generating, by eradicating sources of dominating power,” observed justice chandrachud. at another instance dr. ambedkar had stated that: liberty to be real must be accompanied by certain social conditions. in the first place there should be social equality. privileges tilts the balance of social action in favour of its possessors. the more equal are the social rights of citizens, the more able they are to utilize their freedom. if liberty is to move to its appointed end it is important that there should be equality. in second place there must be economic security. a man may be free to enter any vocation he may choose. . . .yet if he is deprived of security in employment he become a prey of mental and physical servitude incompatible with the very essence of liberty. without economic security, liberty is not worth having. men may well be free and yet remain unable to realise the purpose of freedom. liberty takes root in a milieu of equal social rights and economic security. (dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writing and speeches, volume 3, 1987: 39-66) thus, “dr. ambedkar conceived of a reformative constitutionalism that was simultaneously interventionist yet liberty enhancing”, observed justice chandrachud. 34 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 in essence, his vision for constitutionalism emphasized not only the protection of fundamental rights but also the active promotion of social equality and justice through state action. progress but limited justice chandrachud mentioned that these affirmative action policies in india have offered crucial support to oppressed social groups by providing them with opportunities for education, employment, and representation that might otherwise be inaccessible due to deeply entrenched inequalities. the representation of constitutionally protected social groups (called scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) has increased in the government services closely in proportion to their population share during the last seven decades. however, justice chandrachud also recognised the limits of this progress as the presence of members of oppressed groups in top positions of policy making is low. of a total 322 officers in different ministries/departments under government of india, only 16 belong to scheduled castes, which is 4.9 per cent of total posts, and only 13 belong to scheduled tribes, which is only 4 per cent, lacking a meaningful voice in the decision-making processes. we may add that most importantly, caste discrimination still persists despite the law. for the period 2001 to 2016, a total of 2,57,961 cases of discrimination were registered by the scheduled castes which comes to a yearly average of 16,123 cases per year under the protection of civil rights act 1955 and prevention of atrocities act 1989. this is only the tip of the iceberg: primary studies revealed that discrimination is deeply embedded in social relations and persists in significant measure in the economic, social, cultural and religious spheres. justice chandrachud attributed this persistence to the gap between the aspirational values of the constitution and the social realities of the day, what he described as a gap between “social life and constitution life”. he attributed this gap to “systemic caste barriers” as well as the “structural inequalities in resources and education”. with regard to systemic caste barriers, he referred to dr. ambedkar who termed social practices associated with caste system and untouchability as a “law within itself imposing social sanctions and violence on those who do not comply.” these deeply ingrained social norms and practices run counter to constitutional principles. justice chandrachud also recognised that often the legal system gets influenced by caste prejudices. he referred to the proposition of critical race theory in usa which rejected the philosophy of “colour blindness” which implies that racism operates in american law in several aspects. drawing up a similar situation in india, we could say that the extremely low conviction rate in the cases of caste discrimination and atrocities is closely linked with the caste bias embedded in legal administration engaged in the delivery of legal justice. the standing committee of the ministry of social justice and empowerment confirmed, “the official attempt to dilute the spirit of the (protection of atrocity) act at every stage — from non-registration of cases, failure to investigate according to due process of law, not filing the chargesheet in court within time, not giving relief and compensation to the victims, not providing protective and preventative measures” (thorat 2017). ambedkar’s emancipatory constitutionalism 35 justice chandrachud attributes structural inequalities in ownership of resources and education as a second reason for the persistence of deprivation among the untouchable groups. recent official data on ownership of wealth did support this proposition. it shows that in 2013, the scheduled castes (sc) owned only 7 per cent of the country’s wealth, which is much less than their population share of 18 per cent, while the share of high castes is 45 per cent, which exceeds their population share of 21 per cent. the average value of wealth per household among the scs is rs. 6,00,000/(six lakh) as compared to rs. 29,00,000/(twenty-nine lakh) for higher castes. the sc owned almost six times less wealth per household as compared to high castes. the low ownership of capital assets results in high dependence of scheduled castes on wage labour, about 44 per cent as compared to 11 per cent among high castes. similarly, the educational attainment rate of sc was 20 per cent, which is way behind that of the high castes at 43 per cent and the national average of 26 per cent. this results in low per capita income and high poverty and malnutrition. in 2015/16, the incidence of underweight, and anaemic children, and child mortality among scheduled caste children was higher than others. similarly in cases of housing, about 18 per cent of sc live in bad houses, compared to 6.7 per cent for high castes. about 13 per cent of sc live in slums, which is much higher than 4.6 percent for high castes. the percentage of houses without latrine facilities was 71 per cent for sc, compared to 37 per cent for high castes. the cumulative impact of high poverty and malnutrition is reflected in low life expectancy — the average age at death in 2018 being 55 years among the scheduled castes compared to 60 years for high castes (thorat 2017). it is precisely for this reason that justice chandrachud staked a claim to go beyond the policy of representation — a reformation involving dismantling systemic barriers and addressing structural inequalities. in his view this will have to come from outside the court room by civil society. and for reformation to take place, the initiative necessarily has to come from those who have been oppressors. society therefore needs a collective agenda, where the power of the historical oppressors is constantly questioned. in the context of the constitution, this involves a scrutiny of legal practices, which perpetuate discrimination, which require expanding the discourse on constitutionalism. ambedkar’s alternative emancipatory constitutionalism justice chandrachud’s analysis of ambedkar’s reformatory constitutionalism presented above, however, is based on the 1950 constitution. obviously this does not carry dr. ambedkar’s ultimate view expressed in his writings. we know that the 1950 constitution is the outcome of common consensus developed in the constitution assembly by majority members. and this consensus which ambedkar helped to develop as a chairman of the drafting committee is not entirely his own. ambedkar was a pragmatic reformer; his staunch pragmatism was shaped by his teacher in columbia university, john dewey (scott 2023). his goal was to incorporate and push through in the indian constitution his ideas on constitution as much as he could to optimise the gains for discriminated communities and for the nation. 36 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 in my view, ambedkar’s own notion of the indian constitution is contained in the draft constitution submitted to the constitutional assembly in 1947 in the form of “state and minorities” (ambedkar 1945). the principles underlying ambedkar’s idea of emancipatory constitutionalism were stated by him, as mentioned above, in the very first meeting of the constitution assembly held in december 1946 to discuss the objective of the constitution. to repeat, dr. ambedkar had stated that “rights are nothing unless remedies are provided whereby people can seek to obtain redress when rights are invaded.” as a follow-up, he outlined a framework of remedies in the draft constitution submitted to the constitution assembly in 1947. ambedkar’s draft constitution, besides fundamental rights, also provides what he called “remedies against invasion of fundamental rights” which include protection against unequal treatment, protection against discrimination, and protection against economic exploitation. besides, it includes more specially safeguards for protection of minorities and the scheduled castes. however, dr. ambedkar could incorporate only some of the remedies against discrimination for scheduled caste and religious minorities in the 1950 constitution. this included a ban on untouchability and affirmative action in legislature, public services, provision for promotion of education of the scheduled castes, and setting up of a commission for scheduled castes and directive principles and certain rights of religious minorities. he was unsuccessful in being able to include the more basic remedies for protection of religious and social minorities as dr. ambedkar’s proposal on the political and economic structure of the constitution and safeguards to religious and social minorities went far beyond the framework of the british idea of a constitution and the notion of parliamentary democracy. first, to consider the nature of parliamentary democracy: the proposal was outlined in “communal deadlock and a way to solve it” in an address to the all india scheduled caste federation on may 1945. two year later this was included in the draft constitution, “state and minorities” in modified form submitted in 1947, as mentioned above. according to him, the british parliamentary democracy system gives legislative and executive power to a party which has secured a majority in legislature. the government so formed continues in office only as it can command a majority in the legislature. the british system of government however, rests on the premise that the majority is a political majority which people decide based on the policies. however, in “india the majority is not a political majority. it is communal majority. in india majority is born, it is not made. a political majority is not [a] fixed or a permanent majority. it is a majority which is always made, unmade and remade. a communal majority on the other hand is a permanent majority fixed in its attitude, (based on religion and caste), one can destroy it, but one cannot transform it. that is the difference between a communal majority and a political majority.” (ambedkar 1945) in india, dr. ambedkar argued, with the majority being a communal majority, no matter what social and political programs it may have, the majority will retain its communal character linked to religious and caste identity. given this fact, it is clear that if the british system was copied it would result in permanently vesting executive ambedkar’s emancipatory constitutionalism 37 power in a communal majority, to the advantage of the majority and to the disadvantage of the minorities. in his view, in india, there is perpetual antipathy between majority and minorities and on which account the danger of communal discrimination by the majority against minorities forms an ever-present menace to the minorities (ambedkar 1945). dr. ambedkar therefore proposed a significant reform in the british-type of parliamentary democracy for its adoption to the indian context. he proposed reform both in the quantum of legislature of the majority and minorities and protection against communal executive. the reforms were to be governed by three principles, that include, principle of relative majority, principle of confidence in executive and the principle of “unanimous” rule. as regards principle of “relative majority”, dr. ambedkar argued that majority (community) rule is untenable in theory and unjustifiable in practice. therefore a majority community may be conceded a “relative majority” of representation but it should never claim absolute majority. the relative majority of representation in legislature could be achieved by reducing the (large communal majority) seats of the majority community in the legislature. the seats taken from the majority then should be distributed among the minorities in reverse proportion to their social standing, economic position and educational condition. thus, a reduction in the number of seats of the majority and corresponding increase in the seats of the minorities will give, what he called a “balanced representation”, such that no one community is placed in a position to dominate another by reason of its number. this will give effective representation to the minorities, in so far as the effectiveness of the representation depends upon its being enough to give the minority the sense of not being entirely overwhelmed by the majority. ambedkar also proposed the reform in the method of election of the legislature from the minorities. between the joint electorate and separate electorate method, he preferred the reformed separate/joint electorate. later he proposed, what he termed “qualified joint electorate”, which in his view would ensure the election of true and real representatives of the minorities. the second principle that ambedkar proposed as a safeguard against a communal executive is the principle of “confidence in executive”. he suggested that the majority party which has secured a majority in the polls is deemed entitled to form a government but only in a manner such that it has the “confidence” of all minorities in legislature. first, the representation of the minorities in executives should be necessarily in proportion to their share in legislature. second, the executive of a majority party in legislature should be constituted in a manner such that it will have its mandate not only from the majority party legislature in house but also from minorities in legislature. for this to happen, the prime minister, cabinet members and cabinet member of the minority should have the confidence of the whole house. therefore to gain this confidence, the prime minister and members of the cabinet from the majority community should be elected by the whole house and the representatives of the different minorities in the cabinet should be elected by each of minority members in the whole house. this will install confidence in the executive of the majority party. 38 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 the third principle that dr. ambedkar proposed was the rule of “unanimity” wherein mere majority rule is not sacrosanct for an important decision. citing the example of usa, he said that “…matters included in fundamental rights are of such supreme concern that mere majority rule is not enough to interfere with them. . . . the (usa) constitution says that no part of the constitution shall be altered unless the proposition is carried by three-fourths majority and ratified by the states. this shows that in the united states constitution, for certain purposes mere majority rule is not component.” ambedkar also gave the example of the league of nations which followed the rule of unanimity. ambedkar’s intention in quoting these examples was to emphasize that in important decisions relating to the minorities, the rule of unanimity or of two-third majority should be applied and not the majority rule alone (ambedkar 1945). these were three serious reforms that he proposed in the british parliamentary system for its adoption into the indian context. however, these reforms were bypassed by the constitution assembly members in the framing of the 1950 constitution. also ambedkar’s remedies against economic exploitation to ensure liberty were not made part of the constitution, as the constitution assembly members did not find them in line with the traditional notion of british constitutionalism. deviating from the traditional notion of a constitution which includes only fundamental rights and the accompanying political structure (with legislature, executive and judiciary) and leaves the reform in economic structure to the legislature, dr. ambedkar said that: “the useful remedy adopted by democratic countries is to limit the power of the government to impose arbitrary restrains in the political domain and to invoke the ordinary power of the legislature to restrain the more powerful in the economic field.” he goes on to add, “the inadequacy nay futility of the plan has been well established …. the successful invocation by the less powerful of authority of the legislature is a doubtful proposition. having regard to the fact that even under adult suffrage all legislature and government are controlled by the more powerful, an appeal to the legislature to intervene is very precarious [and] safeguards against the invasion of the liberty of the less powerful” (ambedkar 1947: 36). ambedkar proposed an alternative in his proposed plan. he argued that it, “. . . seeks to limit the power of the government to impose arbitrary restraints but also of the more powerful individuals or to be more precise to eliminate the possibility of the more powerful having the power to impose arbitrary restraints on the less powerful by withdrawing from the control he has over the economic life of people” (ambedkar 1947: 36). he therefore advocated for a particular type of economic structure to be a part of the constitution. and the economic structure that he proposed was a modified form of state socialism, which included state ownership of agricultural land, basic and key industries, insurance, and education and the rest in the private sector. dr. ambedkar provided justification both for state socialism as an economic system and also for making it a law of the constitution. he justified socialist economy to ensure the liberty of the individual and suggested that “the purpose of a socialist economy was to protect the liberty of the individual from invasion by other individuals which is the object of enacting fundamental rights. the connection between individual liberty and ambedkar’s emancipatory constitutionalism 39 the shape and form of the economic structure of society is apparent.” he argued that “anyone who studied the workings of the system of social economy based on private enterprise and pursuit of personal gain will realize how it undermines the premise on which democracy rests. people have to relinquish their constitutional rights in order to gain their living and to subject themselves to be governed by private employers.” in a private economy, both the employed and the unemployed are compelled to relinquish their fundamental rights for the sake of work to survive. this was the justification for the alternative economic structure in the form of state socialism. the proposal was essentially meant to safeguard the liberty of the individual. equally relevant was the justification to make socialism a part of the (law) constitution, what he termed ‘constitutional state socialism’. dr. ambedkar recognised that the proposal to make the economic structure as part of the constitution marks a departure from the existing constitution whose aim is to prescribe the form of the political structure of society and leave the economic structure untouched. according to him, “this happens because constitutional lawyers have been dominated by the antiquated conception that all that is necessary for the perfect constitution for democracy was to frame constitutional law with adult suffrage and fundamental rights — the old time constitutional lawyers believed that the scope and function of constitutional law was to prescribe the shape and form of the political structure of society. they never realised that it was equally essential to prescribe the shape and form of the economic structure of society, if democracy is to live up to its principle of one man, one value.” dr. ambedkar therefore urged that the, “time has come take a bold step and define both [the] economic structure as well as political structure of society by the law of the constitution. all countries like india which are late-comers in the field of constitution-making should not copy the faults of other countries. they should profit by the experience of their predecessor” (ambedkar 1947: 38–39). it emerges from the above discussion that the proposal in ambedkar’s draft constitution of emancipatory or socially transformative constitutionalism was far more radical than the one embedded in the 1950 indian constitution. the tragedy is that ambedkar’s proposal on economic structure and on safeguards to minorities was not fully appreciated by the constitution assembly. the caution issued by dr. ambedkar has come true within a short period of 75 years after the adoption of the constitution. justice chandrachud concluded his speech with this admonition by dr. ambedkar. the cji quotes dr. ambedkar who said, “however good a constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work on it, happen to be a bad lot. however bad a constitution may be, it may turn out to be good if those who are called to work on it, happen to be a good lot.” justice chandrachud did not elaborate on the caution pronounced by dr. ambedkar in a speech on november 25, 1949 in the constitution assembly (constitution assembly debates 1949). however, we observe ambedkar’s concerns coming true in a short period of time, in the way the constitution has been misused during the last ten years or so. the (good) indian constitution has been moulded with regard to its governing principles of secularism, socialism, and 40 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 democracy on several issues (by “the bad lot in authority”, to cite dr. ambedkar), and has pushed the indian nation closer to becoming a majoritarian hindu theocratic state and (perhaps) a communal democracy (angana chatterji, thomas hansen & christophe jaffrelot, 2019). references ambedkar, b.r. (1987). philosophy of hinduism. first published 1987, dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, volume 1, education department, government of maharashtra, (india). ———. (1947). state and minorities: what are their rights and how to secure them in the constitution of india. thakkar publications. ———. (1945). “communal deadlock and way to solve” in a lecture in may 1945, in dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, volume 1, education department, government of maharashtra, (india). banaji, d.r. (1937). slavery in india. taraporewala sons and co., kitab mahal. buhler (1886). law of manu. motilal banarsidass publishers. busi, s.n. (2016). dr. b.r ambedkar: framing of indian constitution. volume 1. ava pub. chatterjee, angana, hansen, thomas, and jaffrelot, christophe. (2019). majoritarian state: how hindu nationalism is changing india. hurst & company. jha, vivekanand. (2018). candala: untouchability and caste in early india. primus books. mitta, manoj. (2023). caste pride: battle for equality in hindu india. westland publications. moosvi, shireen. (2011). the medieval state and caste. social scientist, 39(7/8), ———. (2003). domestic service in pre-colonial india: bondage, caste and market. proceedings of the indian history congress, volume 64. national law university (2016 ninth edition). the constitution of india. eastern book company. scott, stroud. (2023). the evolution of pragmatism in india: ambedkar, dewey, and the rhetoric of reconstruction. chicago. sanal, mohan. (2015). modernity of slavery. oxford university press. saradamoni, k. (1980). emergence of a slave caste: pulayas of kerala. people’s publishing house. thorat, sukhadeo. (2017). untouchabality, caste discrimination, and atrocities in maharashtra: magnitude, causes and solution. sugava publications. thomas, k.t. (1999). slavery: an integral part of the production system in malabar (19th century). proceedings of the indian history congress, volume 60, diamond jubilee. indian history congress. © 2024 dr. justice dhananjaya y chandrachud. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. the brandeis lecture doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i1.2040 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 1 pp. 01-17 march 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste reformation beyond representation: the social life of the constitution in remedying historical wrongs dr. justice dhananjaya y chandrachud1 professor laurence simon, professor sukhadeo thorat, faculty members at brandeis university and other universities, members of the library, staff, participants of the conference, members of the audience, and ladies and gentlemen. when prof. simon and prof. thorat came to the supreme court of india to invite me to deliver the keynote address for the ‘sixth international conference on the unfinished legacy of dr. b.r. ambedkar’, i was curious to know what this conference was about, what was the idea behind its inception, and how did a university in the united states get involved in organising an annual academic conference dedicated to dr. babasaheb ambedkar—popularly known as the chief architect of the indian constitution, and an inspiration to millions of people in india and around the world. prof. simon and prof. thorat passionately told me that the conference was instituted in 2015, and that there have been five editions of the conference, prior to the one which we are attending right now, and one of the main objectives of the conference is to address the issues around caste. i was told that brandeis university, named after justice louis dembitz brandeis, is committed to social justice, and in furtherance of it, has been at the helm of running a couple of initiatives focusing on social inequalities in south asia. apart from this conference, the centre for global development and sustainability of the university, headed by prof. simon, in collaboration with prof. thorat in india, also runs an academic journal titled caste: a global journal on social exclusion, and organises the bluestone rising scholar award for promoting research in areas related to social inequalities. i am here as much in terms of my own personal tribute to dr. babasaheb ambedkar whose life, whose work, whose vision has deeply influenced me as a human being and now as a judge. i also use this occasion to celebrate the [bluestone rising scholar] award which was conferred on my very distinguished former law clerk, anurag 1chief justice of india 2 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 bhaskar1 who is now working at the centre for research and planning at the supreme court of india. the theme for this year’s edition of the conference is ‘law, caste, and the pursuit of justice.’ as the theme revolves around law, this may be the reason that i have been invited today to deliver the keynote address of the conference. but i will follow in the footsteps of justice louis dembitz brandeis who became well known globally for the brandies briefs. because as judges we have to be increasingly cognizant of social reality and to understand that the law itself does not exist in a vacuum, the law exists because of and has a direct connect with society, and what better way to begin this than by a reference to dr. ambedkar himself. i must say that i am delighted to be invited to deliver this keynote address—more so, as the conference in a way pays a tribute to the legacy of dr. ambedkar, whom we all see as a guiding light, as a beacon. i also share a personal connection with dr. ambedkar. when my father, late chief justice y.v. chandrachud, was a young lawyer, he would often go to a café, close to the bombay high court, called the wayside inn at kala ghoda in mumbai. he always saw a man sitting there the entire afternoon, writing down his thoughts and making notes. that man was none other than babasaheb dr. b.r. ambedkar who would spend afternoons between court cases writing his notes for the constituent assembly and his thoughts for the ultimate constitution that he was going to be an architect for. my father also appeared against dr. ambedkar in a case involving an electricity dispute. the title of my keynote address is ‘reformation beyond representation: the social life of the constitution in remedying historical wrongs’. in my address, i shall largely be referring to the indian constitution, but i will be making references to the american constitution wherever necessary. before proceeding, i will briefly outline the contours of my address today. i intend to begin by discussing what we understand by ‘historical wrongs’. i shall discuss what the role of the law was in the era of historical wrongs. i will then talk about how leaders such as dr. ambedkar conceptualized an alternative framework of emancipatory constitutionalism to address the historical wrongs. i will discuss how the idea of representation was an essential ingredient of remedying historical wrongs. however, representation is only one way of remedying historical wrongs. today, i want to look beyond representation. there has been a constitutional discourse on social reformation apart from the idea of representation. i shall discuss how the courts play a crucial role in this regard. at the end, i shall discuss why the discourse on reformation must not be limited to courtrooms, and must be considered in the canvas of a larger social discourse on equality. historical wrongs throughout history, marginalized social groups have been subjected to horrendous, egregious wrongs, often stemming from prejudice, discrimination, and unequal power dynamics. from the brutal transatlantic slave trade that forcibly uprooted 1 “celebrating the winners of the 2021 bluestone rising scholar prize”, https://heller.brandeis. edu/news/items/releases/2021/caste-journal-bluestone-rising-scholar-prize.html reformation beyond representation: the social life of the constitution 3 millions of africans to the native american displacement, to the caste inequalities in india affecting millions of backward—though bahujan—castes, to the oppression of indigenous adivasi communities in india, to the systemic oppression of women, lgbtq+ individuals, and other minority communities, the annals of history are stained with instances of profound injustice. these wrongs have caused immeasurable suffering and have left lasting scars on these communities, underscoring the urgent need for societal reflection, reconciliation, and efforts to rectify past injustices in the ongoing quest for a more equitable and inclusive world. what sets these wrongs apart is that they deny that core truth of human equality. reasonable people, governments, and courts can disagree over various aspects of human rights such as questions of privacy and personal liberty. however, the historical wrongs i discuss deny individuals their right to participate and reap the benefits of living together in society based on the identity of the individual. bahujan castes denied access to public spaces, and slaves denied their very liberty based on nothing beyond who they were. such wrongs pertain not to what rights people have, but rather who constitutes the demos capable of claiming rights from society. thus, when i say ‘historical wrongs’, it is not just about individual bad actions of a few individuals, but social systems and arrangements of identity-based exclusion that go against the grain and idea of human equality and what may be considered a just and fair society (laitinen & särkelä 2020). unfortunately, the legal system has often played a pivotal role in perpetuating historical wrongs against marginalized social groups. like in the united states, slavery was legalised in certain parts of india as well (mohan 2015). p. sanal mohan in his book, modernity of slavery: struggles against caste inequality in colonial kerala (mohan 2015: 39) highlights the experiences of several oppressed castes, who were enslaved in the erstwhile indian princely state of travancore and other states. this slavery was only abolished in 1855. even before that, the laws in ancient and medieval india had sanctions against the communities, whom we now call as dalits or the scheduled castes (thorat & aquil 2021). dr. ambedkar himself highlighted how the policies of the peshwa regime discriminated against the oppressed castes (baws vol. 1 2019: 54). the colonial rule was no better in india. the colonial era criminal tribes act 1871 criminalized indigenous tribes, several castes, and eunuchs by declaring them as ‘born criminals’. the british colonial courts, as marc galanter has eloquently traced in his essay, ‘law and caste in modern india’, refused to rule in favour of oppressed castes when it came to matters of personal law and religious customs (galanter 1963). in the united states, from the codification of discriminatory laws that supported the institution of slavery to the jim crow laws enforcing segregation in the american south (klarman 2007), to the forced assimilation policies targeting indigenous peoples (hibbard 2022; ellinghaus 2006), the legal framework has frequently been weaponized to systematically oppress and marginalize certain communities (klarman 2007). the judgments of the united states supreme court were regressive on several instances, including dred scott v. sandford (1857), plessy v. ferguson (1896), and 4 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 korematsu v. united states (1944). furthermore, both in the united states and india, the oppressed communities were denied voting rights for a long time. in that way, law as an institution was used to maintain existing power structures, and to institutionalize discrimination, leaving a lasting legacy of injustice that continues to shape the lives of these groups. even when these laws have been eventually overturned or repealed, the legacy of their harm can persist for generations, underscoring the complex and enduring relationship between law and historical wrongs committed against marginalized social groups. these historical wrongs perpetuate injustice by creating a social system where the marginalised communities are not allowed to rise above their oppression. it creates a kind of self-perpetuating and hierarchical structure of society, which leads to normalisation of injustice towards certain groups. this normalisation can creep up to the instances where alienation of these communities make them the ‘other’ in societies (greer & jewkes 2005: 20). otherness can create a rift of violence and exclusion of these communities as well (greer & jewkes 2005: 20). for instance, historical marginalisation leads to exclusion in accumulating resources or capital that ought to be equally distributed in the society. this exclusion leads to difficulty in overcoming marginalisation even if there has been a recognition of historical wrongs. consequently, it becomes imperative for the institutional setup of constitutional democracies to ensure that safeguards to these communities are upheld, and policies are made for the upliftment of these communities. recognizing these historical injustices underscores the crucial role of legal reform and the need for a just and inclusive legal system to address past wrongs and work toward a more equitable society. emancipatory constitutionalism remedying historical wrongs ought to be the goal of any constitutional system. this has been emphasized by leaders from the oppressed communities, who interpreted constitutionalism from the lens of social change. indeed, using the british constitution at the time and contemporary state constitutions as a baseline, akhil amar outlines the methods through which the american constitution rejected historical bases for wielding power and exercising franchise, such as hereditary titles and property ownership that were the norm at that time (amar 2005). however, the framers of the united states constitution failed to remedy the issue of slavery. this was questioned by frederick douglass, american abolitionist and social reformer. in a speech before the scottish anti-slavery society in glasgow, scotland on march 26, 1860, douglass outlined his views on the american constitution, and stated: “i… deny that the constitution guarantees the right to hold property in man, and believe that the way to abolish slavery in america is to vote such men into power as well use their powers for the abolition of slavery.” in india, the constitutional imagination of equality was done by dr. ambedkar. he envisaged a form of constitutionalism that was deeply rooted in democratic principles, social justice, and the protection of individual rights (baws vol. 1 2019: 243–278). reformation beyond representation: the social life of the constitution 5 his vision for the indian constitution was shaped by his commitment to ending the deeply entrenched social injustices and discriminations prevalent in indian society (baws vol. 12 2019: 661). in several of his writings, he advanced a transformative constitutionalism that aimed to address the historical injustices and systemic discrimination faced by the marginalized and oppressed communities in india. his vision was rooted in the principles of equality, social justice, and the protection of fundamental rights. in his classic yet undelivered address, which he later published as “annihilation of caste” in 1936, he stated: “if you ask me, my ideal would be a society based on liberty, equality, and fraternity” (baws vol. 1 2019: 57). later, dr. ambedkar brought these values in the language of the constitution itself, from the preamble across the entire canvas of the indian constitution (cad 1949). dr. ambedkar tried to institutionalise social revolution through law. he believed that a just and inclusive society could be achieved through a robust legal framework that would safeguard the rights and dignity of all citizens, particularly those from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. that is the reason why he held a different approach with the other leaders of indian independence, who focused on political freedom without addressing social freedoms (baws vol. 1 2019: 41–44). for dr. ambedkar, political freedom was neither an end in itself nor complete or sufficient in itself and to him freedom would lack the core of its soul, unless freedom came with social freedom. he wrote: “[p]olitical reform cannot with impunity take precedence over social reform in the sense of the reconstruction of society… [t] he makers of political constitutions must take account of social forces” (baws vol. 1 2019: 42). thus, in dr. ambedkar’s conceptualisation, the idea of a constitution goes beyond its traditional role as a mere set of rules and principles. it extended the constitution’s capacity to liberate and empower marginalized and oppressed groups. the ‘emancipatory’ idea of the constitution, which dr. ambedkar advanced, sought to address historical injustices, challenge systems of discrimination, and advance the cause of emancipation and equality. furthermore, dr. ambedkar’s constitutionalism aimed at creating a robust framework of checks and balances, where the constitution would serve as a bulwark against potential abuses of power, ensuring the protection of the rights of all citizens. one of the key aspects of dr. ambedkar’s constitutionalism was the inclusion of affirmative action measures, known as reservations in india, to uplift historically disadvantaged groups. for several decades, he advocated for incorporation of mandatory affirmative action provisions into the constitution (thorat & kumar 2020: 1–58). he believed that such measures would help rectify historical injustices by providing opportunities and representation to the marginalized. he called mandatory affirmative action a form of ‘checks and balances’ (baws vol. 9: 171). today, the non-discrimination and affirmative action are often differentiated by references to a negative and a positive form of liberty. arguments that the state ought to abstain from discriminating are distinguished from a positive command or mandate to uplift individuals who have suffered from historical wrongs. it is also 6 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 argued that affirmative action is fundamentally contrary to the idea of equality, or colour blind equality at the least. you find facets of this rationale not only in india but in the us as well, including in recent times. in countries such as india where affirmative action is actively pursued, non-discrimination and affirmative action are also differentiated through institutional roles. it is seen as being the court’s duty to enforce non-discrimination norms but mandates for affirmative action are left as questions for elected officials. however, dr. ambedkar did not view equality and affirmative action as contradictory. this is because he conceived liberty and equality as intrinsically connected norms. notions of negative freedom contemplate freedom from interference. however, as republican scholars have argued for centuries, the idea of freedom as the absence of state restrictions fails to recognise the difference between being free from interference and being free to act (pettit 2012). using the classical republican example, a slave may never be put in a cage or beaten, but that does not make them free to act. negative conceptions of freedom characterise liberty as the absence of episodic interference, for after all, interference is inherently temporal. when a person is imprisoned they are not free, when they are released they are free. however, such negative conceptions of freedom ignore the ongoing deprivations that can arise out of dominating relationships or societal arrangements outside of episodic interferences with liberty. an individual may not be imprisoned, but the social, legal, and economic structures that govern their lives may lead to domination on the site of caste, race, gender, disability, or economic well-being. i would submit that dr. ambedkar took aim at precisely such forms of dominating relations and societal arrangements when seeking to secure freedom as a means of social transformation. in “annihilation of caste”, he characterises liberty as “the destruction of the dominion which one man holds over another.” he argued that “if the source of power and dominion is, at any given time or in any given society, social and religious, then social reform and religious reform must be accepted as the necessary sort of reform” (baws vol. 1 2019: 45). that is, even where domination is the result of actions by non-state actors or structural societal arrangements, liberty is at risk and must be remedied through by the state. after all, liberty does not mean liberty to discriminate. by characterising liberty as relational, not episodic, dr. ambedkar conceived of liberty and equality as two sides of the same coin. for him, ensuring liberty required ensuring that every person in a society had sufficient standing that they were not dominated, whether that be through economic, social, or religious power. unlike narrower conceptions of liberty that seek solely to prevent episodic state intervention, conceiving of freedom as non-domination allows the very site of state intervention to be liberty generating, by eradicating sources of dominating power. thus, dr. ambedkar conceived of a reformative movement that was simultaneously interventionist yet liberty enhancing. reformation beyond representation: the social life of the constitution 7 this is not to say that dr. ambedkar ignored the risks of excessive state intervention. his vision also encompassed the establishment of an independent judiciary that would serve as a guardian of the constitution, interpreting and upholding its principles. he famously called article 32, which provides to citizens the right to move the supreme court, as the “heart and soul of the constitution” (cad 1948). in essence, his vision for constitutionalism emphasized not only the protection of fundamental rights but also the active promotion of social equality and justice, making it a cornerstone of modern india’s democratic framework. the indian constitution in 1950 incorporated a set of fundamental rights, such as the right to equality, the right to freedom from discrimination, and the right to equal protection under the law. apart from affirmative action, the most important impact of dr. ambedkar’s formulation was article 17, which abolishes untouchability, which was placed in the chapter on fundamental rights, along with the provisions of equality and non-discrimination. it was hoped that these provisions would break the shackles of caste-based discrimination and untouchability, fostering a more equitable and harmonious society. the impact of the indian constitution the ‘social life’ of a constitution refers to how a constitution functions within a society, its impact on the daily lives of citizens, how citizens perceive it, and its adaptability to changing social, political, and cultural dynamics. this phrase recognizes that a constitution is not just a static legal document, but a living framework that interacts with and shapes the social and political environment in which it operates. in essence, the social life of a constitution is about how the constitution functions within the broader context of a society, impacting not only the legal and political spheres but also the cultural, economic, and social aspects of citizens’ lives. it reflects the dynamic and evolving nature of constitutional governance as it responds to the needs and values of the people it serves. the adoption of the indian constitution was seen as a moment of tectonic shift in indian history. american historian granville austin travelled to india to document the process of drafting india’s constitution. in his classic book, the indian constitution: cornerstone of a nation, austin termed the indian constitution ‘a social revolutionary statement’, ‘by its very existence’ – ‘a modernizing force’ (austin 1966: xiii). austin narrated, and i quote: representative government with adult suffrage, a bill of rights providing for equality under the law and personal liberty, and an independent judiciary were to become the spiritual and institutional bases for a new society—one replacing the traditional hierarchy and its repressions. other constitutional provisions were designed to spread democracy by protecting and increasing the rights of minorities, by assisting underprivileged groups in society to better their condition, and by ending the blatant oppression of the scheduled castes 8 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 and tribes. these provisions have brought into, or closer to, the mainstream of society individuals and groups that would otherwise have remained at society’s bottom or its edges. (austin 1966: xii-xiii) in that sense, the constitution attempted to replace fundamental wrongs with fundamental rights. affirmative action or representation was a crucial component of constitutional foundations laid down in india. as mentioned earlier, dr. ambedkar fought tooth and nail to get the provisions of affirmative actions incorporated into the indian constitution. it was his belief that the oppressed should have their own representation, and that representation would develop political conscience among these communities (baws vol. 1 2019: 243–278). dr. ambedkar stated that if british colonial rule over indians was morally wrong, then in the same way the rule of oppressor castes over the oppressed was equally wrong (bhaskar 2021). this again highlights his idea of freedom as relational. he saw no difference between the actions of a colonial power in jailing political prisoners and the denial of access to public resources by oppressor castes. what mattered was the dominating relationship between the two individuals concerned. while the british departed in 1947, the dominating effects of caste oppression subsisted. since independence, affirmative action policies in india have offered crucial support to oppressed social groups by providing them with opportunities for education, employment, and representation that might otherwise be inaccessible due to deeply entrenched inequalities. as noted in the judgment of the supreme court of india in indra sawhney v. union of india air 1993 sc 477 (1992): the “objective was to change the social face as it shall advance public welfare, by demolishing rigidity of caste, promoting representation of those who till now were kept away thus providing status to them, restoring balance in the society, reducing poverty and increasing distribution of benefits and advantages to one and all.” in theory as well as in practice, these policies serve as a means to level the playing field, granting access to opportunities that may have been systematically denied in the past. by actively including underrepresented individuals in education and employment sectors, affirmative action helps break down barriers. it develops a psychological assurance that individuals from marginalized backgrounds have a shot at achieving their full potential and contributing to the collective well-being of the community. looking at the statistics, the representation of constitutionally protected social groups (called scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) has increased in the government services under the various categories during the last seven decades. at the dawn of independence, representation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in services was minimal (goi 2022: 9). as per available information, as on 1 january 1965, the representation of scheduled castes in groups a of government services, which are top-level bureaucratic was just 1.64 per cent, which has increased to 13.21 per cent as on 1 january 2022. likewise, while representation of scheduled tribes as on 1 january 1965 in group a was 0.27 per cent, it has increased to 6.01 per cent as on 1 january 2022 (goi 2022: 9; the hindu 2022). this is the direct impact of the reformation beyond representation: the social life of the constitution 9 constitution. the presence of marginalized communities in services, education, etc., is, in itself, a realisation of a constitutional mandate. this is how the social presence of oppressed communities demonstrates the success of the social life of the constitution, in the way that it is implemented. furthermore, the oppressed communities in india used the vocabulary of the indian constitution, with the focus on equality and affirmative action, to mobilise and reclaim their sense of dignity (bhaskar 2021: 109–131). the constitution of india legitimised the obvious personhood of the oppressed communities. this was one way to facilitate and empower individuals from marginalized backgrounds to break free from cycles of oppression, and helps in rectifying historical injustices. moreover, it sends a clear message that society is committed to correcting systemic biases and working towards greater equality, ultimately fostering a more just and inclusive environment for all. limits of debates around affirmative action however, the mere presence of members of oppressed groups in government services must not be seen as the only parameter to analyse the power structures of society. let’s consider the example of a press release, which stated: “the representation of scs, sts… in the posts and services under the central government, as on 01.01.2016, was 17.49%, 8.47%... respectively. representation of scs and sts is more than the prescribed percentage of reservation, (15% and 7.5%, respectively)” (pib 2019). however, this press release does not mention how many scheduled castes are in top decision-making positions in government and how many in lowest level positions. the real question therefore is: what is the representation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in top positions? the statistics show that out of a total of 322 officers currently holding the posts of joint secretaries and secretaries, which are top level bureaucratic services, in different ministries/departments under government of india, only 16 belong to scheduled castes, which is 4.9 per cent of total posts, and only 13 belong to scheduled tribes, which is only 4 per cent (the hindu 2022). these statistics indicate that focusing only on the total number of employees, rather than examining how many scheduled castes and scheduled tribes hold top positions, is misleading. reformation beyond representation entails ensuring that marginalized and underrepresented communities not only have a seat at the table, but also have a meaningful voice in decision-making processes. there is also a concern that representation must not be confused with diversity— in spaces where representation is not legally mandated. scholars state that the sole focus on diversity can lead to tokenism, where individuals from underrepresented groups are viewed as symbols of diversity rather than being valued for their skills and qualifications. this can undermine their professional and personal growth. ellen berrey, through his book, the enigma of diversity: the language of race and the limits of racial justice (berrey 2015), has struck a chord of caution that the invocation of ‘diversity’ must not be reduced to tokenism. she argues: “diversity advocates’ 10 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 efforts to minimise group divisions and expand the bounds of social membership have focused on symbolism more than on social causes. much discourse on diversity leaves advocates without a language, you are talking about inequality” (berrey 2015: 8–9). diversity therefore needs to be understood from the perspective of representation and social discrimination. institutions need to be more diverse, because communities that have been subjected to historical discrimination are underrepresented. thus, as in india, historical wrongs form an independent justification for affirmative action irrespective of considerations of diversity. the idea of representation through affirmative action must be facilitated by discourse on broader systemic issues such as unequal access to quality education to everyone. affirmative action in itself cannot solve the issue of universal education, rather it is connected to the latter. when a greater number of people from oppressed groups would gain education, their presence in institutions through affirmative action will increase. that is when the full potential of affirmative action would be seen. thus, social reformation involves dismantling systemic barriers and addressing structural inequalities. this could encompass reforms in education, healthcare, criminal justice, and economic systems that have historically disadvantaged certain groups. furthermore, even the slightest success of affirmative action is used by the caste elites to dismiss the issues around caste inequalities. arguments are advanced that just because affirmative action is being provided, structural issues of discrimination don’t exist any more. such binary narrations must be rejected, at the constitutional and the social level. affirmative action and prevention of caste discrimination in india or racial discrimination or remedying different forms of injustices are complementary to each other. they are not different poles, rather they are intersecting phenomena. that is to say, social transformation requires several different measures at the same time. therefore, apart from emphasising solely on affirmative action and representation, the constitutional and social discourse must also engage in reflecting on a wider range of methods to remedy historical wrongs. reformation beyond representation means that the mere presence of diverse groups within a political or administrative system is not enough. that it extends to a deeper transformation of power dynamics, policies, and social structures is what matters. it emphasises the need for substantive change in the way that societies and governments operate. it is in this context of reformation that the constitution plays a crucial role. potential of the constitution a broader framework of constitutionalism underscores the transformative potential of constitutional law to promote social justice and human rights. this approach often involves interpreting and applying constitutional provisions in ways that actively work to correct historical wrongs and to promote a more inclusive and equitable society, thereby serving as a vital tool for social progress and the realization of fundamental rights. reformation beyond representation: the social life of the constitution 11 after independence, there are several judgments of the supreme court of india, which challenge structural barriers. i would like to mention a few recent judgments. the court in navtej singh johar v. union of india 2018/insc/790, decriminalised consensual sexual conduct between individuals of the same sex. the court noted that “[t]he ability of a society to acknowledge the injustices which it has perpetuated is a mark of its evolution”. it was further held that “[f]or those who have been oppressed, justice under a regime committed to human freedom, has the power to transform lives”, and that the constitution “has within it the ability to produce a social catharsis.” in another important judgment in indian young lawyers association v. state of kerala 2018/insc/908, while deciding a case of exclusion of women from the sabrimala temple due to a long-standing religious practice, the court held that discriminatory practices cannot be allowed merely due to it being a custom. even though the case has been pending for reconsideration, it is important to note that the judgment acknowledged that the constitution of india is the “end product” of not just a struggle against colonial rule, but also a struggle of social emancipation going on since centuries and which still continues. this struggle of emancipation, the court noted, “has been the struggle for the replacement of an unequal social order” and “a fight for undoing historical injustices and for righting fundamental wrongs with fundamental rights.” a challenge to an affirmative action policy was adjudicated in b.k. pavitra v. union of india (2019) 16 scc 129. in deciding the case, the court observed that “[f] or equality to be truly effective or substantive, the principle must recognise existing inequalities in society to overcome them”, and that reservations or affirmative action policies are “the true fulfilment of effective and substantive equality by accounting for the structural conditions into which people are born”. in another case titled babita puniya v. secretary, ministry of defence (2020) 7 scc 469, the supreme court of india ruled in favour of the permanent commission of women officers in the indian army, it was later followed in the indian navy and air force as well. pursuant to the judgment, the indian army applied the same physical evaluation criteria that a male officer would have to pass to get permanent commission at the age of 25 years to women officers who are seeking permanent commission at the ages of 45 or 50 years. this was challenged before the supreme court in the case of lt col. nitisha v. union of india (2021) 15 scc 125. the court held that applying identical physical evaluation criteria to both women and men, men here being at the age of 25 years and women being above 45 years, constituted indirect and systemic discrimination against the women officers. the court held that “a systemic view of discrimination, in perceiving discriminatory disadvantage as a continuum, would account for not just unjust action but also inaction” and that “structures, in the form of organizations or otherwise” ought to “be probed for the systems or cultures they produce that influence day-today interaction and decision-making.” it was held that “[t]he duty of constitutional courts” is to “also structure adequate reliefs and remedies that facilitate social redistribution by providing for positive entitlements that aim to negate the scope of future harm.” 12 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 taking note of the oppression against the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, the court in hariram bhambhi vs. satyanarayan air 2021 sc 5610, while adjudicating a bail matter of a person who was accused of committing caste based violence, held that: “atrocities against members of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are not a thing of the past. they continue to be a reality in our society even today. hence the statutory provisions which have been enacted by parliament as a measure of protecting the constitutional rights of persons belonging to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes must be complied with and enforced conscientiously.” these judgments show the transformative potential of the constitution and the active role of courts. however, it would not be wrong to say that judgments such as the above are not always the case. some of the judgments have been criticized for being regressive, and have been overturned for the right reasons. social law v. constitutional law the arguments in courtrooms also demonstrate that there is a constant tussle between constitutional aspects of the law and entrenched social practices. we can understand this as the gap between the aspirational values of the constitution and the social realities of the day. dr. ambedkar had termed ‘social practices’ as a law within itself imposing social sanctions and violence on those who do not comply (baws vol. 1 2019: 23–98). thus, in addition to the constitutional and legal sovereignty that governs people, there also resides a governing power in various social and cultural institutions that determines how people live their lives. while constitutional principles often embody ideals of justice, equality, and human rights, deeply ingrained social norms and practices can sometimes run counter to these principles. this clash is particularly evident in cases involving issues like gender equality, religious freedom, and caste discrimination. for instance, despite constitutional guarantees of gender equality, deeply rooted patriarchal customs may persist, leading to gender-based discrimination and violence. similarly, despite legislations prohibiting caste-based discrimination, incidents of violence against the protected communities are on the rise (deccan herald 2023). courts and legal systems often find themselves at the centre of this tension, as they must interpret and apply the law in a manner that respects constitutional principles. this challenge calls for a nuanced approach, including legal reforms, public education, and advocacy efforts, aimed at shifting societal norms in alignment with constitutional ideals. it is an ongoing struggle to ensure that constitutional principles are upheld even in the face of deeply entrenched practices that may hinder progress towards a more just and equitable society. constitution outside courtrooms for social reformation to happen, the discourse needs to extend beyond the courtrooms and judges. and you might find it surprising that a judge says that. but this is exactly why the topic of my address contains the phrase ‘social life of the constitution’. of reformation beyond representation: the social life of the constitution 13 course, the constitution is ‘a terrain of struggle’ (shivji 2023: 79–83). but, lawyers arguing in courts are not saviours in themselves or operate in vacuum. they build upon the work of the scholars, community leaders and activists, and all other stakeholders. the role of the citizens in constitutional adjudication has to be highlighted. as issa g. shivji, a tanzanian author and expert in law, notes, it must be acknowledged that: “[l]egal struggles are only one front of the social struggles of the working people. therefore, they cannot be waged in isolation from other battlefronts” (shivji 2023: 79–83). he adds that other sites of struggle include mobilisation among people (shivji 2023: 79–83). constitutional historian and scholar michael klarman notes that several civil rights lawyers did work outside the courtroom in educating the african american community about their rights under the american constitution (milano 2019). in india, right from the adoption of the constitution, the people of india have engaged with it in different ways. while one set of elites critique the constitution as a document of foreign inspirations, the oppressed social groups have used the language of the constitution to demand their rights (bhaskar 2021: 109–131). the social life of the constitution in that sense is not in courtrooms, but in how the values of the constitution are perceived by the society. for instance, the enormous amount of literature produced by writers from dalit or adivasi communities takes the constitutional discourse to the masses. in this regard, i would like to mention some of the writings. prominent dalit women authors, such as urmila pawar and baby kamble, have highlighted the struggles of their communities, providing a foundation for understanding the complexities of caste, class, gender, and power structures in indian society. contemporary tamil writer bama, in her autobiographical novel, karukku (1992), has chronicled the joys and sorrows experienced by dalit women in tamil nadu. in that way, these writers have shown a mirror about how discrimination works. a scholar from america and later settled in india, gail omvedt documented the movement of dalits in a constitutional democracy (omvedt 1994). baburao bagul shared his lived experiences as a dalit in his marathi book, jevha mi jaat chorli hoti (translated in english as when i hid my caste, 1963). a significant work has been of om prakash valmiki, whose autobiography is titled, joothan. the word ‘joothan’ refers to scraps of food left on a plate, destined for the garbage or animals. india’s oppressed castes, who were treated as untouchables, were forced to accept and eat joothan for centuries, and the word in valmiki’s book encapsulates the pain, humiliation, and poverty of a community forced to live at the bottom of india’s social pyramid. although untouchability was abolished in 1949, dalits continue to face discrimination, economic deprivation, violence, and ridicule. this is what has been narrated by valmiki, when he describes his life as untouchable (valmiki 2008). the writings, as mentioned earlier, present a lived experience of constitutionalism, as the experience of law is not in vacuum. they show the constant clash between the social realities and the aspired experience of equality under the constitution. 14 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 1 several indian movies have also portrayed references to the indian constitution and its principles, reflecting its significance in the country’s social and political fabric. such films touch upon various aspects of indian society and its relationship with the constitution, highlighting the ongoing dialogues and struggles that revolve around constitutional principles and values (livemint 2018). they offer a thought-provoking perspective on how the constitution influences the lives of ordinary citizens and the complexities of its implementation in the diverse indian context. however, for reformation to happen, the initiative is needed not from those who have been oppressed, but from those who have been oppressors. society therefore needs a collective agenda, where the power of the historical oppressors is constantly questioned. in the context of the constitution, this involves a scrutiny of legal practices, which perpetuate discrimination. a radical agenda of constitutionalism society must therefore adopt a radical agenda through constitutional means, where structures of discrimination are targeted. we already have certain theoretical frameworks to analyse the broader structures of inequalities. in the united states, scholars of critical race theory (crt) have rejected the philosophy of ‘colorblindness.’ they have highlighted the persistence of ‘stark racial disparities’ in the united states, despite decades of civil rights reforms. they raise structural questions about how racist hierarchies are enforced, even in seemingly neutral institutions. according to kimberle crenshaw, one of the founders of crt, history and social reality shows that racism operates in american law and culture in many aspects (fortin 2021). devon carbado, a crt scholar, argues that racial progress is not linear, rather they have been setbacks which undo that progress. according to carbado, “crt repudiates the view that status quo arrangements are the natural result of individual agency and merit”. he argues, “we all inherit advantages and disadvantages, including the historically accumulated social effects of race. this racial accumulation—which is economic (shaping both our income and wealth), cultural (shaping the social capital upon which we can draw), and ideological (shaping our perceived racial worth)— structure our life chances. crt exposes these inter-generational transfers of racial compensation” (carbado 2011: 127). similarly, in india, there has been an attempt by scholars to conceptualize the framework of ‘critical caste studies.’ anthropologist and historian gajendran ayyathurai argues that, “in critical caste studies, the history of caste hegemony and the archives of the oppressed as well as caste-free and anti-caste memories and histories of indian societies are a central concern” (ayyathurai 2021). historian and theorist shailaja paik conceptualizes an anti-caste ‘critical pedagogy’, which centres the interconnections between caste, class, ‘public’ institutions such as education and ‘private’ realms like the family, gender, desire, marriage, and sexuality from the vantage point of stigmatised dalit women (paik 2022). reformation beyond representation: the social life of the constitution 15 another scholar has argued, “dr. babasaheb ambedkar’s writings provide a framework to understand the pre-colonial foundations that led to colonial and postcolonial criminalisation of certain communities” (wadekar 2022). dr. ambedkar had focused on the value of ‘fraternity’, which he termed as ‘another name for democracy’. fraternity means mutual respect for each other. fraternity can only be achieved, if the dignity of everyone is recognised. india has enacted several legislations which aim to protect the dignity of the oppressed communities. such frameworks are necessary for expanding the discourse on constitutionalism. in that sense, the social life of the constitution is about fostering a culture of inclusion, equity, and empathy. it encourages society to challenge stereotypes and prejudices and cultivate a more profound understanding of the experiences of all its members. it is a call to action to actively combat discrimination, bias, and exclusion in all aspects of life, promoting a more just and harmonious society that transcends mere numerical representation to create a genuinely equitable and inclusive future. contemporary notions of justice emphasize equitable distribution of resources, inclusivity, and the protection of marginalized groups. concluding remarks in conclusion, i would refer to the philosophy of dr. ambedkar. his idea of constitutionalism was instrumental in transforming indian society by dismantling the deeply entrenched caste hierarchy and promoting social, economic, and political empowerment for marginalized groups. his legacy continues to shape the constitutional values of modern india, serving as a beacon for social reform and the pursuit of justice for all. as a corollary, the social life of any constitution goes beyond tokenism and necessitates active engagement, active listening, and taking the perspectives and concerns of oppressed communities seriously. it means acknowledging the unique experiences and challenges faced by these groups and incorporating their input into policy development and implementation. as dr. ambedkar said, “however good a constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it, happen to be a bad lot. however bad a constitution may be, it may turn out to be good if those who are called to work it, happen to be a good lot.” (cad 1949) thank you very much for inviting me today. i hope that the conversation on combating inequalities continues, and we all collaborate to make it happen. references amar, akhil reed (2005). america’s constitution: a biography. random house. ambedkar, b.r. 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(2022). theleaflet. in. april 14, 2022. https://theleaflet.in/understanding-civil-liberties-from-an-ambedkariteperspective/ valmiki, omprakash (2008). joothan: an untouchable’s life. columbia university press. what dalit people taught us about education and why we must commit to it. n.d. the wire. accessed december 23, 2023. https://thewire.in/caste/what-dalit-people-taught-us-abouteducation-and-why-we-must-commit-to-it © 2023 sanghmitra s. acharya. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 172–176 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.655 ‘breaking barriers: the story of a dalit chief secretary’ by k. madhava rao publisher: emesco books private limited year: 2022 reviewer: sanghmitra s. acharya professor and chairperson, centre of social medicine and community health, school of social sciences, jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi email: sanghmitra.acharya@gmail.com the book ‘breaking barriers: the story of a dalit chief secretary’ published by emesco books private limited in 2022, and edited by d. chandrasekhar reddy, is a powerful account of a journey from fear to fearlessness, from subjugation to assertion and from being no one to becoming a revered exemplary civil servant. authored by the former ias officer kaki madhava rao, the book explores the inner mechanism of the civil service at the ground level and casts light on micro policies and governance. rao was a 1962 batch indian administrative service (ias) officer who superannuated as chief secretary of andhra pradesh. he also served as a director at the reserve bank of india and as a member of the board for financial supervision. he was born in 1939, in pedamaddali village in the krishna district of andhra pradesh. this book is an inspiring account of an astonishing journey of the son of a parelu,—a farmhand from a dalit family who breaks the shackles of demeaning existence and challenges posed by the social systems and economic conditions, and emerges successfully to reach the highest echelons of bureaucracy. core element of the book the author discusses his experiences and observations as a member of the civil service, with a particular focus on the dynamics of governance and policy making and implementation. the author also touches on his personal journey from rural andhra breaking barriers: the story of a dalit chief secretary 173 pradesh to the national stage, and his interactions with various political leaders during this period. it is likely to interest those in civil services, governance, and policy making, as well as those interested in the personal journey of the author from his childhood to that of an adult. kaki madhava rao and his observations on civil service entwined with governance and policy-making; and implementation, is a rich account of the system, vividly showcased with its perils and safeties. it is a powerful book informing how policies are made and governments function. the book is spread over 14 chapters, showcasing the remarkable life of the author which enliven the proverb, ‘where there is a will, there is a way’, albeit difficult, in this case. against all odds, the author continues his journey as a child who was hampered from going to school by his father who in turn was made to believe by the dominant privileged people in the village that he and his children were meant to be farm hands, and therefore education was of no use to them. so he, unlike his wife, considered education as futile for his children. but his wife was determined to save the children from the clutches of penury and impoverishment caused by working as farm labourers. in defiance of her husband’s belief, she started sending the children to school stealthily, at the cost of being beaten up by the adamant father of the children. while the beatings scared the author and his sibling, it did not deter the mother. it was her fortitude that led the little boy to educate himself and attain the highest office as a bureaucrat can aspire to reach in his career. this narrative from the author’s childhood, highlights the grit and courage of a dalit mother to fight the social (and economic) evils prevalent against dalits to the extent of remaining undeterred by her spouse’s wrath. early days the tone of the book is set in the initial chapters that describe author’s childhood. starting with his struggles against a social practice where the sons were to follow the father’s occupation, and obey him with no right of choice or agency. against this backdrop, the author experienced the tension between the father’s authority and pride in being the ‘best paleru’,—farm hand in the region, and the desire to make his sons emulate him; and the mother’s resolve to free the boys—the author and his sibling, from the clutches of inhuman compulsions perpetrated by privileged landlords. madhava rao’s mother aspired to educate her sons—the author and his elder brother, raghavendra rao, to break free from the shackles of daily subsistence and that of his father who was determined to ensure that his sons follow his example of being the best farm hand in the area. the first sentence of the first chapter reads: “this is the story of the persons, authorities and events that made me who and what i am.” —appropriately summing up the theme of the book. the first chapter titled “village days” is the core of the book. in recalling his early days, the author narrates some significant events. the most impactful being the thrashing he got from his father when he was seven years old for going to school stealthily at the behest of his mother and against the will of his 174 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 father. it made him fall silent but not condone that act of injustice. he endured living a frugal life in dirty, insanitary conditions, and often combating hunger, to pursue his ambition to study that taught him the values of self-discipline, self-control and singlemindedness. making of the civil servant the initial chapters of the book describe in simple, yet lucid language, the almost impermeable constraints, and struggles of overcoming them. they also inform us about the values that madhava rao cherished most and followed diligently in all his official and personal dealings, subsequently as he held various offices. chapters 2 to 5 give details on his exposure to the national stage of governance and functioning of the government. this was a realm different from the rural andhra pradesh of his childhood. these chapters are an account of a provincial young man maturing into an adult bureaucrat ready for the nation and world at large. these early years made the man he became, imbibing the dominant traits of his parents—from his mother the zealous sense of fairness and justice, and from his father belief in oneself to achieve the set goals through hard work. however, his years as a senior civil servant tested his stubborn commitment to his values and beliefs. the subsequent chapters 6 to 9 cover aspects of administration such as pressures, politics and economics, formal and informal facets of manoeuvring the strings of governance. the strengths and weaknesses of state-level political leadership are used to represent the story of change in the country. these chapters traverse the author’s journey as a collector of warangal district in andhra pradesh, to becoming the state’s chief secretary. his work for the welfare of toddy tappers, tribals, dalits and other labouring communities in warangal district made him a hero of the marginalised. madhava rao was not only noticed but also marked when as the district collector he stood by the marginalised groups against powerful political forces, resulting in his transfer. but he continued to fight for the rights and the welfare of the most marginalized social groups—the scheduled castes and tribes. in these endeavours, he was supported by another iconic officer, shri s.r. sankaran, enforcing the rule of law that often meant disrupting the status quo of caste hierarchies. implementing the law banning bonded labour and freeing them from the landlords, who, for generations, thrived on such social exploitation, was a work of mettle which could be materialised only by the officers of his merit. political complexities chapters 10 and 11 deal with the political economy of the country. they contain interactions with several leaders like chenna reddy, vijaya bhaskar reddy, n.t. rama rao, n. chandrababu naidu, and n. janardhan reddy, to name a few. drawing from his various postings, madhava rao reflects on the times when he worked in politically sensitive posts of state’s finance secretary, secretary in the chief minister’s office and breaking barriers: the story of a dalit chief secretary 175 later as the chief secretary of the state. this phase has been written in an exciting way as it is perhaps the most riveting of all. these chapters enable the readers to understand the dynamics of policy making, agenda setting, role of bureaucracy and the tensions that a bureaucrat goes through in navigating a toxic environment while holding onto and not compromising with one’s principles. the chapters covering the periods when he worked as the principal secretary to n. jananardhan reddy and chief secretary under chandrababu naidu provide rich insights into the minds and thinking of the two leaders. these chapters elicit how ias officers can solve problems, address tricky issues, and the extent to which a bureaucrat can accommodate political compulsions, without necessarily having to compromise on integrity, principles or the constitution. the author remained uncompromising on principles, yet he did not hesitate in being flexible to suit the situation. the accounts of his association with chandrababu naidu reflect this aspect of his personality. in the interactions with the leadership, he proves his own mettle as a decision-maker. this characteristic is also evident in his role as state election commissioner. he went to the court against the government and did not invite any adverse criticism, proves his righteousness and mature confidence. as evident in the book, all the offices he occupied like the reserve bank of india, board for financial supervision, state election commission, etc., benefitted by the prudence of madhava rao as he engaged in the functioning of democratic processes during his tenure. through the meticulously arranged chapters the author provides numerous pertinent insights into the political, social, cultural, artistic and humanitarian aspects of our country. besides understanding the events, people and the circumstances that shaped and defined him as a person, the author collates a firsthand account and a deep understanding of the social, political and economic transformation that the state was undergoing during that time period. this autobiographical account has its merit embedded in the remarkable simplicity and affirmation in the narratives. despite the title announcing it as a story of a ‘dalit’ bureaucrat who reached the highest office of the chief secretary, the author refrains from seeking the readers’ sympathy or kindness. on the contrary, the book reveals the grit required to earn every achievement of the author, not on the basis of his caste, but his sheer merit, competence and belief in self. a supportive, understanding and collaborative style of working with colleagues earned him respect and admiration. the book is nuanced in a firm narrative suggesting subtly and often upfront, what is required of those in bureaucracy and governance. it places clearly, that it is courage and belief to live by the constitutional values that ambedkar gave india, to which they are bound, regardless of consequences. summing up this book is invaluable reading to understand that policy making processes are not easy. the policy environment is hard and calls for the effectivity of the officer in the form of being accessible and helpful. perhaps for this reason, when the author was 176 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 first approached to pen down his memoirs, he was reluctant and tried his best to not get persuaded. but for the benefit of the generations to come, particularly of civil services officers, the persuaders prevailed. in the preface, the author candidly reports on friends and family who were by his side in writing, editing and finalising the book in the form that it is today available to the readers. he recounts the persuasion of vijaykumar, chairman of emesco who convinced him to write as his ‘social and economic background’ and his work experience was “public property”. he was finally convinced to write when ramachandra murthy, senior editor of multiple telugu dailies too resonated the idea of vijaykumar. in fact he also recalls how he persuaded p.s. krishnan, fondly called psk, the legendary and the first ias officer to identify with the poor and marginalized groups. the author also acknowledges three others who urged him to write his story—kancha ilaiah, who wrote ‘why i am not a hindu?’, y.v. reddy, former governor of rbi and gita ramaswamy of hyderabad book trust. it took him a while before he could agree to writing his memoir. the unfortunate demise of his wife of 61 years left him shattered and feeling terribly lonely. then covid happened, taking away the option of engaging in public activities. and this eventually led to the penning of his memoirs. the book shall remain an exceptional and vivid description of the grit to fight against all odds. the author defied social discrimination and suppression and became a source of inspiration for the oppressed. as a child he experienced every conceivable disadvantage associated with rural india of the mid twentieth century— poverty, inequality, social discrimination, which he overcame to eventually becoming the chief secretary of a state in independent india. this book is a realistic narrative of the blatant realities of our society, which makes it an essential reading for those who wish to understand the labyrinth of society, governance and policy with emotions. © 2023 n. sukumar, kristina garalytė, shailaja menon. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. editorial and introduction doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.713 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 177-184 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste envisioning ‘prabuddha bharat’*: a discourse for social transformation n. sukumar i, kristina garalytėii, shailaja menoniii introduction the term ‘utopia’ was coined by thomas moore in 1516, to christen the island mentioned in his book. it was rooted in the renaissance, a historical phase during which the glories of ancient greece and rome were exemplars for the intellectual development of european society. moore wrote his utopia inspired by the letters in which amerigo vespucci, christopher columbus and angelo poliziano described the discovery of new worlds and new peoples; geographical expansion inevitably implied the discovery of the other. and moore used the emerging awareness of otherness to legitimize the invention of other spaces, with other people and different forms of organization.1 moore resorted to two greek words—ouk (that means not and was reduced to u) and topos (place), to which he added the suffix ia, indicating a place. etymologically, utopia is thus a place which is a non-place, simultaneously constituted by a movement of affirmation and denial.2 for karl mannheim, utopia is something that ‘is in incongruity with the state of reality within which it occurs’.3 iprofessor, department of political science, university of delhi email: skn70@yahoo.com iiinstitute of asian and transcultural studies at vilnius university email: kristina.garalyte@fsf.vu. iiiassistant professor in history, school of liberal studies, ambedkar university, delhi email: shailaja@aud.ac.in *‘prabuddha bharat’, or enlightened india was a newspaper launched by b.r. ambedkar on february 4, 1956 which continued till his death in 1956. 1for a detailed discussion refer, see louis marin, ‘frontiers of utopia: past and present’, critical inquiry, 19:3 1993, pp. 403–411, and darko suvin, ‘theses on dystopia 2001’, in tom moylan and raffaella baccolini (eds.), dark horizons: science fiction and the dystopian imagination, new york: routledge, 2003, pp. 187–201. 2fatima vieira, the concept of utopia, p. 3, 88jndbcmktgywbum3751spedukmapsdfq5unat 2zeswmhe5hwtmbksctnz9d1ynwrjbibvqzddbuft4t9k9thmd8dyduzk5 3karl mannheim, ideology and utopia, london: routledge & kegan paul, 1936, p. 216. 178 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 thus, a utopia is an alternative means of organizing society; nurtured by the myth of the ‘golden age’ similar to many religious and mythical archetypes. historically, the concept of utopia has been defined with regard to one of four characteristics: (1) the content of the imagined society (i.e. the identification of that society with the idea of ‘good place’, a notion that should be discarded since it is based on a subjective conception of what is or is not desirable, and envisages utopia as being essentially in opposition to the prevailing ideology); (2) the literary form into which the utopian imagination has been crystallized (which is a very limiting way of defining utopia, since it excludes a considerable number of texts that are clearly utopian in perspective but that do not rigorously comply with the narrative model established by moore); (3) the function of utopia (i.e. the impact that it causes on its reader, urging him to take action; a definition that should be rejected as it takes into account political utopia only); (4) the desire for a better life, caused by a feeling of discontentment towards the society one lives in (utopia is then seen as a matter of attitude).4 one needs to keep in mind that utopias emerge out of human intervention, a result of concrete human action and not because of divine munificence. as argued by karl mannheim, the future came to be perceived as the time of fulfillment of ideas that was not to be faced as mere dreams or wishes, but as something that was to be achieved.5 thus, utopias are strategies which question the present realities and dream of future possibilities. it is a creative endeavour which influences multiple aspects of society and has implications on politics, economy, social relations and even pedagogies. at present, utopian imaginations are no longer confined to the literary or philosophical domains, but articulated in multiple genres; through pedagogies,6 culinary traditions,7 musical and cultural performances and individual forays towards emancipation. in many ways, it remains a work in progress, a gradual process of social transformation. thus, the aspiration for a utopia is not only universal but also perennial. the possibility of a new social vision has always enthralled humans from the biblical garden of eden to various philosophies and literary imaginations. utopian visions have been largely analyzed through the western philosophical traditions. what about similar ideas and expressions in societies, vastly different in social and cultural traditions, with diverse political and religious groups? in the indian subcontinent, it is possible to find utopian lexis both in religious and secular terms. from the buddhist idyll of ‘maitreyi’ or fraternity to the kingdom of ram—‘ram rajya’ a mythical golden age to the more prosaic ‘begumpura’, the city without sorrow envisaged by ravidas. gail omvedt observed that utopian imaginings are found at a lower level of society in her seminal work—‘seeking begumpura: the social vision of anti-caste intellectuals’.8 thomas moore composed his work in latin which is an exception. in the indian context, utopian visions were seldom in sanskrit but rather in the language 4fatima vieira, op. cit., p. 4. 5karl mannheim, op. cit. 6n. sukumar, teaching dalit bahujan utopias in the classroom (in this volume) 7kristina garalytė, imagining an anti-caste utopia through food (in this volume) 8gail omvedt, seeking begumpura: the social vision of anti-caste intellectuals, navayana, 2008, p. 7. envisioning ‘prabuddha bharat’: a discourse for social transformation 179 of the masses.9 this also explains the lack of proper documentation as writing as a skill was not permissible to the common people in india. many of these visions were in the form of poems, ballads and songs which were orally transmitted through generations. often utopias were envisaged on religious lines, a heavenly city for the chosen few who remained faithful to all the sacraments. in the brahmanical vision of the ‘golden age’, humans need to pass through numerous cycles of birth and death to attain salvation. a boddhisatta imagined ‘sukkavati’, a land of joy in which all would find liberation. likewise, tukaram talked of pandharpur and kabir composed verses dreaming of premnagar—a city of love or amrapur where people will attain immortality. these musings transcended binaries of gender/language/geographies and social locations. rokeya sakhawat hossein imagined ‘ladyland’ wherein women were well versed in science and technology, including armed conflict and their knowledge enabled them to control natural resources. her evocative portrayal of a feminist utopia in ‘sultana’s dream’ countered the fetters on women’s access to public space during her lifetime. similarly, pandita ramabai sought to create a community of women in her ‘mukti sadan’ or the abode of freedom wherein widows would farm the land, harvest crops, get educated and publish various writings. these autonomous spaces sought to reimagine womanhood and their agentiality.10 the volume under review was originally proposed for a panel for the european association of south asian studies conference in vienna in 2021. some of the papers were presented as part of the conference and the rest were contributed through a special call by j-caste. the contributions in this specific issue (historical and contemporary anti-caste utopias: a dalit bahujan discourse) will touch upon the following questions: did the idea of utopia vanish in the contemporary times? are there any anti-caste imaginations in the experiences of various dalit-bahujan groups while they challenge the ‘dominant’ social order? what utopias are conceptualized through dalit religious conversions? how can anti-caste utopias be part of the pedagogy? is it possible to articulate utopias through everyday materiality of lived traditions? the contributors range from research scholars and faculty in various institutions. the articles are divided into following four themes. ideating utopias in the indian context, many radical versions of utopia were conceived. the imagination of utopias located in the uncertain future carried within kernels of an alternative reality and a possibility of social transformation. very often they inspired ordinary people to strive to create a better life for themselves. one such revolutionary thinker was erode venkatappa ramasamy, revered as periyar, who through his political ideas, writings and speeches, worked to create a discursive context which enabled women to be part of the public domain and express their politics in various forms. the article, periyar: forging a gendered utopia by shailaja menon reflects upon periyar’s 9omvedt, ibid., p. 15. 10refer, s menon, periyar: forging a gendered utopia, in this volume 180 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 articulations on sexuality, masculinity, and the need for a new aesthetics which would prove to be more liberative for women. k.s. madhavan and rajesh komath, in dalits and discourses of anti-caste movements in kerala, india strive to locate various historical discourses of anti-caste imaginaries and articulations that are imprinted in the historical past of kerala society. as ideologies and its consequent effects upon society are political, the article substantially makes interventions and interprets the dalit-bahujan world grounded on the lived experiences of dalits in kerala. it brings forth discourses of social movements, production of dalit icons, critical narratives on untouchability and communist positions about the caste. akanksha sanil attempts to weave together an intertextual analysis on the case of the caste subaltern, through three widely acknowledged texts—‘laws of manu’ (manavdharamshastra), jyotiba phule’s ‘slavery’ (gulamgiri), and b.r. ambedkar’s ‘annihilation of caste’, through focusing on ideals of society and governance. in her article, revisiting inequality and caste in state and social laws she argues that these texts are significant as they present a historical legacy into the origins of social hierarchy, its influence on the nature of nineteenth century colonial india, and the responses through constitutional values. understanding social movements anti-caste utopian imaginaries can be tied to the larger imaginaries of the pan-indian dalit community, but they can also stem from a very specific caste group experience. many dalit communities took the opportunity offered by the changing socio-political and economic scenario to better their situation. a few converted to different religions historically over a period of time, the state also helped dalit groups through affirmative action policies and struggles over land reflected the changing aspirations of the once oppressed communities. such counter narratives were also expressed through cultural idioms wherein once stigmatized habits/spaces were sought to be reclaimed with a sense of pride. while examining the instances of dalit conversions that have taken place in independent india, l. david lal, delves into three significant aspects: first, comprehending the acquired religious identity of dalits; second, exploring the aspirations of dalit converts; and third, examining the construction of a utopia within the context of the adopted religion. additionally his article, in search of a utopian society: situating ‘dalit’ conversions in contemporary india, argues that dalit conversions should not be regarded as an endpoint but rather as a transformative journey into an envisioned utopia. similarly, the first novel in malayalam by a dalit christian, pulayathara by paul chirakkarode is the focus of bincy maria’s paper. she notes that with the publication of his work, chirakkarode heralds a shift in the literary representation of dalit christians in malayalam novels. until then, dalit christians were either embedded under the category of dalits or completely ignored in the literary imagination. significantly, it makes a departure from such erasures and marked a significant moment in dalit writing in kerala. moreover, it is a discourse of discontent and dissent against brahmanical christianity. envisioning ‘prabuddha bharat’: a discourse for social transformation 181 anand mehra’s article the bir sunarwala: an uncharted dalit land movement of haryana, india, puts the land question at the centre of the anti-caste struggle. it begins with a discussion on b.r. ambedkar’s ideas on the necessity of land possession for the empowerment of dalits. then it sheds light on the various land movements across india since the second half of the twentieth century. the article culminates with the analysis of the six-year-long bir sunarwala land movement (back then punjab, currently haryana) to reclaim the land given to and then taken away from the dalit community by the government. anand reconstructs the political events enacted by those in power and the initiatives and sacrifices by the land movement activists that finally led to the successful outcome. maya suzuki’s paper socio-spatially segregated experience of urban dalits and their anti-caste imagination discusses the material reality of balmiki life and the politics of balmiki worship and identity in delhi. since the beginning of the twentieth century, balmikis have been closely related to the indian state’s social policy. their employment in the government’s sanitation sector led to the creation of profession-related caste colonies that, on their own, began forming their residents’ identities. central to the balmikis’ identity are professional occupation, shared segregated living space, and religious practices. since the 1950s, affirmative action policies by the state have ensured that the marginalized communities get access to education. gradually, the first generation of educated sc/st students began to critique the entrenched socio-economic and cultural hierarchies. this led to the emergence of a vibrant cultural movement on many campuses which countered the ‘mainstream’ habitus. in her article imagining an anti-caste utopia through food: dalit student politics in hyderabad, india, kristina garalytė showcases the significance of the beef symbolism within the dalit student movement in hyderabad. she presents a detailed analysis of the beef anthem by sharath naliganti, incorporating her first hand observations during fieldwork and interviews with dalit activists on university campuses. her analysis reveals the complex interpretations and tactics associated with the beef issue as an integral symbol of the anti-caste movement. though strongly rooted in the madiga caste group experience and culture, the beef issue within the dalit movement in hyderabad was employed for the broader anti-caste alliance-making, including dalits and other religious minorities, against the backdrop of the growing influence of hindu right politics. the beef issue allowed dalit students to communicate the anti-caste sentiment among the larger social groups not limited to dalits. subaltern counter publics throughout various historical junctures, dalit bahujans have strived to de-brahmanize the established knowledge traditions and in the process emphasize the ‘politics of difference’. the articles in this section attempt to de-centre grand narratives and create a subaltern public which exhibits its own agency to negotiate the world. chandraiah gopani’s essay, democratizing spiritual sphere: radical bhakti traditions in the telugu-speaking region in india focuses on the radical bhakti traditions led by yogi vemana, pothuluri veerabrahmam and other thinkers in the telugu region which 182 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 shaped new value systems, cultural practices, language and other art forms, etc. these subaltern saints created a new phase in the socio-cultural history of india. their critique against brahmanism, caste discrimination, social inequalities and the rejection of vedic scriptures have created a foundation for the modern anti-caste consciousness of subaltern communities in the telugu region. similarly, k. kalyani in repertoires of anti-caste sentiments in the everyday performance: narratives of a dalit woman singer attempts to read dalit women through their lifeworld and life-narratives. this enables one to understand the caste relations that they negotiate with in their everyday life. resistance in the everyday life of dalit women includes how they challenge the existing public spaces, cultural norms, and practices through the creation of a ‘subaltern counter-publics’ space. this space involves collective actions like popular writing, singing, theatrics, etc., to confront the ‘normalised’ caste relationship that prevails within indian society. the cultural performance becomes the narrative of this counter-publics space in which they intend to reassert their lost identity and dignity. reclaiming epistemic agency the production of knowledge in india operates within a rarefied domain enclosed within the structures of caste, class, ethnicity and gender. this has enabled the unabashed peddling of one-dimensional epistemology of glorifying the past, justifying the prevalent social hierarchies and manufacturing consent for the existing social order. periodically, the status quo was interrogated and the resultant debates are secreted within the pages of history. rarely if ever, these contestations become a part of the pedagogy thereby igniting a quest for a more emancipatory social apparatus. the articles in this section reflect on how the marginalized social groups contest entrenched knowledge production. n. sukumar’s teaching dalit bahujan utopias: notes from the classroom is based on discussions with various stakeholders—academic committees who decide on pedagogy, feedback from students and classroom engagements for more than five years. the pantheon of thinkers who advocated an indian version of liberation theology was never engaged with at an ideological level. the everyday engagements with the students who joined the course/s and their interactions in the classroom provide a multi-layered understanding of negotiating dalit-bahujan utopias. smita patil in raving with equality? on protean forms of caste and gender in the women’s/gender studies departments in india continues the discussion. she points out that caste operates as a social and political category that regulates any form of change. it persists as a constant threat to the right to education of the oppressed castes in general and the women from the oppressed castes in particular. her work explores the experiences of dalit women who are working as academics in the women’s and gender studies departments in indian educational institutions and reflects on the prevalent caste and gendered hegemony. envisioning ‘prabuddha bharat’: a discourse for social transformation 183 the scheduled caste identity is a legal entitlement and the reservation policy has further institutionalized this identity in academia and other spaces. various surveys by government departments11 reflect the gains made by sc girls to access education due to different provisions made by respective governments; scholarships, bicycle schemes, hostel facilities and implementation of reservations which created an enabling environment. anusha renukuntla and ashok kumar mocherla in the caste of campus habitus: caste and gender encounters of the first-generation dalit women students in indian universities attempt to unravel the lived experiences of the first-generation dalit women students while navigating through the campus spaces. here, caste acts as a strong cultural capital for certain individuals while marginalizing the other. their educational trajectory present unique challenges as they confront the process of learning, the significant role of non-academic spaces in reinforcing inclusion and exclusion, survival strategies of negotiations, and social agencies in contesting the conventional glass ceilings through the acquired cultural capital are significant lines of inquiries which this article aims to cover. the present volume would not have seen the light of day but for the generous support of j-caste’s editorial team, prof. laurence r. simon, (brandeis university, usa), and prof. sukhadeo thorat (emeritus, jnu, india). they were patient with our queries and helped to fine-tune the entire process from the concept note till the final publication. we are also grateful to dr. afia a. adaboh (associate editor, pre production (brandeis university, usa) and dr. vinod kumar mishra, production editor (indian institute of dalit studies, new delhi) who assisted with the timelines and coordinating with the contributors and reviewers. a word of thanks to all the anonymous reviewers for their detailed comments and academic support. this really helped many young scholars just commencing their academic journeys. as mentioned earlier, the idea was originally proposed for a panel for the european association of south asian studies conference in vienna in 2021. many scholars had evinced interest in the panel and eventual publication of all the papers but some backed out due to various reasons related to the pandemic. later, many other scholars contributed during a special call for papers and finally after two years, the final publication is coming out. we are extremely grateful to all the contributors who are part of this journey to reflect on utopias and their role in our lives. in addition, four articles showcase the results of j-caste’s bluestone rising scholar competition 2023. the competition recognizes individuals who show great promise to make outstanding scholarly contributions in their future careers to the study of caste. the 2023 prize have been awarded to two early career scholars. sephora jose in her article, when fists write (of) the past: conceptualising dalit historiography through the cultural productions of dravida varga aikya 11all india survey of higher education (aishe) of 2011–12 and 2018–19, ministry of human resource development, govt. of india. 184 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 munnani attempts to theorise dalit historiography as a resistance epistemology by outlining its methodological and thematic aspects. second winner, sandhya balasaheb gawali in her article narratives from the margin: sexual harassment and strategies of resistance argues that mainstream discourse on sexual harassment does not acknowledge experiences of women from the bottom of the socio-economic margins and it is a caste-blind gender discourse. bluestone rising scholar honorable mentions have been awarded to two outstanding scholars: saroj shinde’s article, “our poverty has no shame; the stomach has no shame, so we migrate seasonally”: women sugarcane cutters from maharashtra, india and jatin’s utilizing dalit autobiographies in history. the issue also includes the review of the recently published book, scheduled castes in the indian labour market: employment discrimination and its impact on poverty. © 2024 iram fatima, maria zafar, m. rejoyson thangal. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.907 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 186-201 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste social psychological explorations of caste: unravelling challenges and discovering opportunities iram fatima1, maria zafar1, m. rejoyson thangal1,2 abstract despite our expectations that technological advancements, globalization, and the ensuing modernity and equality would strip away the relevance of caste hierarchies, caste remains a significant aspect that drives indians’ social experiences. casteist attitudes and behaviours persist despite the implementation of affirmative action policies, and social norms discouraging casteism. psychology must understand the persistence of caste in a globalized and technology-mediated world like ours today. however, the invocation of psychology to explicate caste issues is not straightforward. while psychology has much to offer for the study of caste and casteism, it is vital to remember that psychology has been, at times, complicit in maintaining inequality and oppression in society. significant methodological challenges exist in the discipline, and a psychology researcher must confront them while addressing caste. in this article, we discuss some of these challenges. we argue that researchers need to be aware of the crises prevalent in psychology and look for ways to turn them into opportunities to improve psychological research on caste. we also encourage researchers studying caste to ensure the compatibility of psychological theories and methods to the indian context. we recommend that researchers make a moral commitment to address the agency of the oppressed caste groups in challenging the status quo. we also shed light on some specific malpractices within the methodological domain that researchers studying caste may fall into and suggest ways to prevent them. we believe these challenges provide opportunities to expand the horizons of psychology and social scientific research on caste. keywords caste, oppressed, weird, conformity bias, agency, resistance 1phd candidate, department of humanities and social sciences, indian institute of technology delhi, india 2assistant professor, department of applied psychology, pondicherry university, india corresponding author: iram fatima e-mail: iram.fatima@hss.iitd.ac.in social psychological explorations of caste: unravelling challenges and discovering opportunities 187 introduction caste oppression against dalits continues to be ubiquitous in indian society despite radical changes in the caste structure in the past fifty years (amnesty international 2022; jogdand et al. 2016). this reaffirms dr b.r. ambedkar’s statement that caste is “a state of mind” (1936) that mere socio-economic changes, laws and policies, will only go so far in eradicating. many people acknowledge the importance of psychology in addressing caste. a small but promising body of research addresses caste from a social psychological perspective (e.g. jaspal 2011; jogdand et al. 2016; mahalingam 2007; pathania et al. 2023). many social psychologists from india and other parts of the world are interested in examining caste. however, there are complexities within the discipline and in the social context of caste that numerous social psychologists find difficult to navigate. importantly, there are various methodological challenges in developing empirical studies to examine a caste-related phenomenon from a social psychological perspective. in this article, we attempt to highlight these complexities and methodological challenges involved in studying caste. we also suggest ways to address them. we believe that if these complexities and methodological challenges are left unaddressed, social psychological research may unwittingly go counterproductive to the spirit of social justice and become complicit in maintaining inequality and oppression in society. we start by highlighting the prevalent crises in social psychology: i) crisis of relevance, and ii) crisis of evidence. while the former corresponds to questioning the applicability of laboratory studies to the real world, the latter concerns the lack of replication of certain psychological findings when examined again in different times and settings. the discussion is carried forward by reviewing the relevance of these crises for the psychological study on caste and identifying how they can provide critical avenues to refine our research. we also briefly touch upon the need to overcome reliance on theories that might be inadequate to address caste concerns. we urge researchers to remain wary of the indiscriminate application of western theories and methods in studying a social system as complex as the caste system. furthermore, moving away from a social psychology of domination to one of resistance (reicher 2011), we caution researchers against conceding to the conformity bias—a tendency to assume that individuals are passive beings who conform to group norms unresistingly. we consider our moral imperative as researchers to acknowledge and examine the agency of oppressed caste groups in challenging the status quo, above and beyond merely coping with it. finally, we end our discussion of the identified challenges with some specific methodological concerns relevant to studies examining caste. methodological concerns at various levels of research are raised, and suggestions are provided to address those concerns. 188 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 crises of social psychology: lessons for studying the problem of caste social psychology is weird? as a field, social psychology has had its fair share of ‘crises’. brought to attention as early as the 1960s and 1970s, the first crisis, noted particularly in social psychology, was the crisis of relevance. it arose out of dissatisfaction with the field’s emphasis on laboratory studies that failed to be directly applicable to the real world, and even when they were, the findings were not relevant across cultures. despite studying many social issues, the field’s inability to contribute to social change and real-world problems became a source of dissatisfaction among social psychologists (pettigrew 2018). this critique was also pointed out in the early icssr (indian council of social science research) reports by indian social psychologists (mitra 1972; pareek 1981). some of the reasons that contributed to the emergence of the crisis have been overreliance on student samples (giner-sorolla 2019; rad et al. 2018), researchers’ tendency to make broad generalizations (pettigrew 2018), lack of critical consciousness among psychologists (mishra & padalia 2021), developing ideas of ‘normality’ of concepts and beliefs based only on studies with samples from specific regions of the world, and sticking to a positivist paradigm that regards reality as context-independent and universal (adams et al. 2015). the second crisis: the crisis of evidence or methodology, highlighted the replication failure in social psychological research. that is, certain social psychological phenomena and processes failed to be observed when examined again (open science collaboration 2015). this crisis may be understood in relation to the relevance crisis, which arises partly due to studies being conducted with euro-american samples and their findings generalized across contexts. for example, in a replication frenzy, social psychologists equated caste with race, communalism with anti-semitism, and untouchables with the blacks in america (nandy 1974). since most published studies fail to report sample characteristics besides gender (rad et al. 2018), replication studies often end up being conducted on samples quite different from those of original studies, and unsurprisingly, the original findings fail to be replicated (pettigrew 2018). why are these crises relevant to the social psychological study of caste in india? we agree with pettigrew’s (2018) argument that these crises are not crises per se but avenues for critical advances to be made in the field. the replication crisis, for example, exemplifies the need for contextual work—studying psychological phenomena and processes as rooted in specific social and cultural contexts. theories emanating from the global north have been considered ineffective in understanding people from the global south. the latter is a population not only marked by a colonial past but also one which gives significant importance to identities of caste and religion. the effects of such a context on behaviour and thought cannot be fully understood if relying only on euro-american production of social psychological knowledge (sophan & nair 2023). this argument is predicated on the fact that all social sciences emanate from social psychological explorations of caste: unravelling challenges and discovering opportunities 189 particular cultures and are ‘cultural’ or ‘ethno-’ in their origins (marriot 1989). even examinations of supposedly “basic” psychological processes like visual perception have demonstrated significant variations across populations (henrich et al. 2010a). interestingly, these variations are better explained by socio-historical processes like urbanization and institutions like religion than genetic factors (henrich 2020). such work raises critical questions about how much knowledge emanating from particular contexts applies to others, eventually raising concerns about psychology’s overreliance on samples called ‘weird’ (henrich et al. 2010a, 2010b). the acronym stands for ‘western, educated, industrialised, rich, and democratic’ societies, and weirdness refers to the fact that these societies have been the crucible of all mainstream theories and methodologies in psychology. people from weird societies represent as much as 96 per cent of study participants in psychological research published in top journals, while representing only 12 per cent of the world’s population (arnett 2008, as cited in henrich et al. 2010b). recent tests of claims about generalizability from this population to the entire human population have shown weird societies to be “among the least representative populations one could find for generalizing about humans” (henrich et al. 2010a). additionally, marriot (1989) hinted at the invisibility of competing epistemologies from non-western societies in published literature as a betrayal of the imperial posturing by western social sciences. a critical approach to social psychological theory is useful against this backdrop, we draw attention to the uninhibited reliance on theories that fit some contexts but may not be well suited to studying caste in the indian context. consider, for example, ideological variables like social dominance orientation (sdo; sidanius & pratto 1999) and right-wing authoritarianism (rwa; altemeyer 1981). sdo refers to an individual’s general orientation or preference for group-based inequalities in society. rwa has been conceptualized in terms of three dimensions: submission to authority, aggression towards ‘others’, and conventionalism or adherence to orthodox values. both sdo and rwa are widely examined in studies on intergroup relations (e.g., hässler et al. 2021; hoskin et al. 2019) and are robust predictors of prejudice towards an outgroup (e.g., asbrock et al. 2010; bilewicz et al. 2017). despite such robustness, rwa has shown unexpected relationships with outgroup attitudes in certain contexts (bilewicz et al. 2017; khan 2011; roets et al. 2015). as discussed below, the conceptualization of these constructs raises concerns when applied to the context surrounding caste hierarchies in india. naive superimposition of western theoretical models in the study of caste was seen, for example, in cotterill and colleagues’ (2014) summary designation of sdo, rwa, and karma as the ideological underpinnings of the caste system (cotterill et al. 2014). in response to that work, jogdand and others (2016) point out that the researchers’ conceptualization and operationalization of sdo and rwa had failed to capture context-specific meanings. the study ignored caste differences in the endorsement of karma and eventually took behavioural asymmetry among the oppressed castes for granted. it further succumbed to the conformity bias that has already proliferated 190 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the literature on caste-related psychological research by adopting the simplistic varna model of caste (jogdand et al. 2016). another critical issue relates to the understanding of social structures themselves. the varna model of the caste system is an oversimplified and predominantly western understanding made popular by louis dumont (1980, 1991). the hierarchy presented in the model poses a problem for psychological research because it pays no attention to the sub-categories (jatis) subsumed within each caste. the problem is complicated further by these sub-groups varying across the indian landmass despite the broad caste categories remaining uniform (dirks 2001). moreover, dalits have severely contested the varna model and their subordinate ritual status since the 1930s (banerjeedube 2014). in reality, caste practices are local institutions rooted in ecology, local traditions, language, and culture. caste and jatis are polyvalent terms and display regional variations. when we, as researchers, follow the same model, we do away with important distinctions and categorizations that have implications for people’s lives, cognitions, and behaviours. we also remain ignorant of how identity contestations and negotiations occur within these sub-castes (jogdand et al. 2016) and run the risk of making gross overgeneralizations about people belonging to different caste categories. in a critique of the essentialist and universalist mainstream psychology approach to humiliation, jogdand (2023) pointed out the individualistic bias in the conception of self or personhood. this bias has led to the conceptualization of humiliation as a self-conscious emotion experienced at an interpersonal level, ignoring group-based emotions and the cultural and societal dimensions of humiliation, which involve complex issues of status, power, and social structure. similarly, even seasoned researchers run the risk of imposing an alien ontology and epistemology on the respondents (particularly in rural india unexposed to the western worldviews) when they operationalize constructs like selfhood, hierarchies, oppositions, ideologies, values, etc., that precipitate western social, intellectual, and academic categories. such attempts highlight the risks and futility of uncritically importing western concepts or constructs into non-western cultural contexts. overreliance on weird samples and, more importantly, overgeneralizing from them then skews our understanding of human behaviour, especially in understanding a system that is not only complex but utterly distant from the western life world. this becomes even more relevant when the domination of western knowledge systems in the discipline of social psychology in india has been pointed out to have a hegemonic influence (mishra & padalia 2021). this calls for caution in adopting ideas and practices to a new cultural context because psychological ideas and methodologies applied beyond the cultural boundaries of where they originated, as christopher and colleagues (2014) warn, “risk imposing the assumptions, concepts, practices, and values… on societies where they do not fit.” we remind researchers studying caste to be attuned to non-western experiences, realities, and meaning-making processes. this will usher in a practice of contextualized social psychology while promoting incisive hypotheses formulation, analyses, inferences, and theoretical innovations. social psychological explorations of caste: unravelling challenges and discovering opportunities 191 navigating conformity bias having elaborated on the need to take account of context, we, concomitantly, do not wish to imply an unconstrained reliance on context, for it may mislead us to one of the most notorious challenges of social psychology, namely, conformity bias. conformity presupposes that individuals follow group norms passively and, thus, lack agency. in fact, social psychology has oftentimes been accused of being complicit in perpetuating the conformity bias (moscovici et al. 1969; reicher 2011). the term refers to the tendency in psychological studies to ascribe more power to the context in determining individuals’ behaviour, hence discounting their agency (cf. moscovici et al. 1969). before discussing the grave consequences it may have for social psychological studies on caste, it is crucial to look at some notable contributions to social psychology that earmarked the burgeoning of conformity bias. as early as the 1950s, the robber’s cave experiment by muzafer sherif (1954) revealed how two previously unknown groups of boys came to see themselves as rivals when conditions of competition and contestation were created between them. then a series of experiments on obedience, conducted by milgram in the 1960s, demonstrated how seemingly sane individuals can be made to deliver deadly shocks to other individuals by exercising authority over them (milgram 1963). taking this further, zimbardo’s stanford prison experiment, conducted in 1971, proved to be a beguiling example of ordinary individuals turning into hostile ones owing to the imposed roles and norms (zimbardo et al. 1999). taken together, these studies insinuate two things. one, the power of the context, and second, the powerlessness of the individuals grabbed within that context. while certainly the former is not a negative point in itself—we know that context shapes human behaviour (see hornsey 2008) —it becomes problematic when combined with the latter, i.e., the powerlessness of individuals. the conformity bias has led researchers to regard individuals as passive beings who have surrendered to the context in which they are caught. as a result, the focus of psychology, in general, and social psychology, in particular, has centred more on the processes of domination and oppression than resistance (see reicher 2011). however, as reicher (2011) rightly pointed out, the field studies in social psychology over-emphasizing the power of context, or at least interpreted as doing so, are themselves not devoid of resistance. this is, however, rarely acknowledged. among sherif’s other unpublished work based on the boys’ camp paradigm, sometimes researchers also failed to pit the two groups of boys against each other; on the contrary, the groups divided by the experimenter united to challenge the imposed reality (see reicher 2011). also, the variation of obedience in milgram’s experiment, i.e., 0 to 100 per cent, clearly shows that individuals even have the agency to deny what is being ordered by an authority. moreover, the ethically sound replication of zimbardo’s prison experiment by reicher & haslam (2006)—the bbc prison study—demonstrated how groups under certain socio-structural conditions could challenge systems of inequality and oppression. these studies spell out the need to acknowledge the agentic 192 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 nature of human beings who are not only passively influenced by the context but also have the potential to influence it actively. conformity bias, which takes away this acknowledgement, may pose serious challenges for researchers studying caste. the institutionalized and historic nature of caste structure may lead researchers to unwittingly assume that individuals unquestioningly comply with the existing social order owing to some of their shared beliefs, karma—for example, the most cited one (cotterill et al. 2014; rafanell & gorringe 2010). the false presumption of passive acceptance of fate by oppressed caste groups may render their efforts to challenge the status quo unaddressed. addressing conformity bias, then, becomes particularly important while studying oppressed caste groups: failure to do so can potentially undermine their agency and power, further contributing to their marginalization. for example, one theoretical extension of the conformity bias may be seen in theories such as system justification theory and social dominance theory. both these theories attempt to explain the individuals’ preference for maintaining the existing social structures by different means. while system justification theory does so by adverting to the psychological needs for certainty and security (jost et al. 2004), social dominance theory refers to processes such as prejudice and cultural legitimizing ideologies (sidanius & pratto 2012). although there is no apparent harm in using these concepts to understand complex social structures, the problem arises when these constructs are assumed to be a stable group difference (reicher 2011). insofar as system justification and social dominance are treated as constants in understanding the caste system, they do nothing but make inequality look like an ineluctable circumstance and social change an unachievable state of affairs. as stated earlier and pointed out by jogdand et al. (2016), cotterill and colleagues (2014), in their attempt to explain caste-based hierarchy using social dominance orientation, also fell victim to the conformity bias. such a practice inadvertently feeds into reproducing knowledge that maintains the status quo (haslam & reicher 2012). researchers should be wary of making such assumptions while employing these theories in studying caste since it may naturalize the oppression and tyranny that the oppressed groups are going through without acknowledging their power to resist. the power of dalit resistance is in fact evident in their radicalization through movements such as dalit panthers (gokhale-turner 1979), an increasing assertion of dalit identity in their writings (oza 2019), dalit women’s mobilization against their objectification (talat 2023), and many similar defiant anti-caste practices. however, most social psychological research on caste has paid limited attention to oppressed caste groups’ attempts to resist (mishra et al. 2009). to borrow the words of reicher, the psychological research on caste has “dramatized domination but downplayed resistance” (reicher 2011: 208). this practice not only takes away the agency of the oppressed caste groups to challenge their subjugated status but also finds them complicit in maintaining their own subjugation. to avoid further marginalization of the oppressed castes, it is essential to be aware of the conformity bias while studying caste. it is important to go beyond the assumption that people internalize existing social psychological explorations of caste: unravelling challenges and discovering opportunities 193 social norms without actively attempting to challenge or coerce them. an important first step is acknowledging their agency and taking appropriate steps to examine it. although there have been few significant attempts to understand large-scale mobilization and collective action among oppressed caste groups in its conventional sense (e.g., sinha 2020), the complex nuances of their agency are yet to be examined. challenging one’s subordinate position can be achieved through different means, of which large-scale mobilization is only one part. another critical way of examining the agency of the oppressed caste groups in challenging their subjugation is by examining incidences of everyday resistance. as haslam and reicher (2012) suggest, there exist minor incidents of everyday resistance between the extremes of accepting one’s subjugation and large-scale collective actions. it is equally important to examine how the oppressed caste groups deal with the everyday challenges thrown at them owing to their identity position. for example, jogdand (2023) suggested that one form of resistance could be the mere appraisal of humiliation. along the same lines, the mere existence of dalits in a digital context dominated by opposing and suppressing voices maybe perceived as an act of resistance. numerous other non-conventional means of resistance such as dalit writings, poetry, music, and artistic expression form a useful tool of investigation. these, along with many small acts of resistance, however trivial they may seem, are nevertheless essential to be investigated by researchers studying caste since they can have wide-reaching implications not only for oppressed groups’ identity management but also for how they challenge domination by the outgroups. it is imperative that psychologists develop a moral commitment to study not only the negative consequences of oppression, humiliation, and discrimination for oppressed caste groups but also how those negative experiences can, in fact, foster something as positive as a politicized identity for social change. researchers who wish to study caste in a psychological framework must regard oppressed caste groups as active creators of reality who can bring social change and take necessary measures to examine it. specific methodological considerations formulating research problems some specific methodological issues may arise at different stages while studying caste dynamics. these methodological concerns may not be restricted to the processes of data collection and analysis. instead, they may begin much before that, i.e., while making decisions about the problem to be studied. we call attention to two critical influences that may distort the research problem formulation. first, the previously discussed methodological influence from the west, which itself is smitten by specific scientific methods that are deemed impeccable for studying any phenomenon. in fact, there is a tendency in psychology to accredit research to the extent that they have used sophisticated scientific methods and data analysis techniques (mishra & padalia 2021). as social psychology is already criticized for imitating the west’s research 194 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 trends (pareek 1981), researchers are more likely to formulate research questions and hypotheses that can suitably accommodate these glorified methods (mishra & padalia 2021). while working with marginalized populations, such as oppressed caste groups, this does more harm than good as the real problems may go unaddressed in researchers’ quest to employ the most sophisticated methods and techniques. thus, it is advisable that researchers studying caste ask appropriate and socially relevant questions and then find adequate ways of answering them (for a discussion on socially relevant research in psychology, see deutsch 1980). the second influence on formulating research problems may come from researchers themselves, particularly when they are from a caste group different from the one being studied. the predisposed beliefs of researchers about oppressed caste groups may affect not only the problem formulation but also the data analysis, especially when it is qualitative in nature. khanal (2021), a brahmin researcher, talks about how he practised reflexivity to challenge his unconscious predispositions towards dalits and females during his sociological inquiry. reflexivity, understanding one’s social position and the behaviours emanating from it (bourdieu & wacquant 1992), may be used as a methodological tool (khanal 2021) to avoid such biases. thus, it is vital that researchers establish their identity position before formulating the problem and specifying objectives. this involves clarifying one’s own identity location with respect to the group being studied in terms of the privileges, resources, or power one has (or does not have) owing to their social identity. clarifying identity positions would help researchers reflect on their beliefs and judgments that may further affect their research practice. failing to do so might result in the research problem being framed as counterproductive for the oppressed caste groups. besides establishing one’s identity position, other ways to frame socially relevant questions while working with marginalized groups would be to avoid: i) naturalizing their experiences as fixed social reality, and ii) neglecting their subjective experiences (kagan et al. 2002). participatory-oriented research that gives dalits an opportunity to frame research questions that they think need attention might be a crucial way forward. operationalization: caste is not just a demographic “variable” a prevalent research practice involves putting caste as a simple demographic variable in the study design. caste is indeed an important socio-demographic variable that is helpful to understand various patterns of responses across the social structure in a survey design. however, some critical consideration is required while operationalising and interpreting the variables and their associations. when attributing much explanatory power to caste as a demographic variable, a researcher risks essentializing differences among various caste groups. essentialism, the view that social groups have “deep, immutable, and inherent defining properties” (toosi & ambady 2011: 17), is intricately related to questions of power and hegemony. particularly since oppressed caste groups are already stigmatized, merely reporting statistically significant differences among castes may ‘naturalize’ differences in social categories and legitimize existing power relations (mahalingam 2007), succumbing social psychological explorations of caste: unravelling challenges and discovering opportunities 195 to conformity bias as previously discussed. for example, research employing caste as a demographic variable has consistently shown the inferiority of the oppressed castes to the dominant castes in terms of economic behaviours (dasgupta et al. 2023), personality traits (anant 1967; dasgupta et al. 2023), and self-evaluation (majeed & ghosh 1989; rath & sircar 1960). differences across caste groups, hence, need to be carefully explained and discussed so they do not justify existing caste-based inequalities. this will happen when one’s caste, like any other demographic variable, is also considered a psychologically meaningful membership of a social group. such group memberships place people of one group in relation to another and, thus, inform their status and power in the social world (muldoon et al. 2021). when examining and discussing caste-related outcomes, such dimensions associated with the caste identity ought to be given careful consideration. even when caste has been deployed as a demographic variable, researchers can take adequate steps to address the related concerns. first, caste as a variable should be carefully operationalized within relevant socio-environmental, political, and ideological contexts. this must provide the scope for self-definition and one that is acceptable to the participants in the study. second, we urge researchers to use statistical analyses aligned with the study’s conceptualization and operationalization, i.e., to provide a thorough interpretation of results beyond simple reporting of statistical significance. the simple use of data analysis techniques such as anova (analysis of variance) may result in a crude and deficient analysis unless the researcher is acquainted with enough nuanced understanding of the issues concerned. thus, researchers should also be well-informed about the socio-political history of caste that may inform their analysis. sampling we encourage researchers to pay attention to the samples they work with. the student population, a commonly used sample in psychological research (hanel & vione 2016), comes with education and class privileges not afforded to many of the same social group. while working with such samples is a start, we ought to be careful in painting the experiences of the entire group with the same brush. for example, dasgupta and colleagues (2023) carefully acknowledged the limitation of working with a student sample while concluding about the behavioural and personality differences between oppressed and dominant caste groups. while student samples are the most convenient for many practical reasons, attempts ought to be made to incorporate more community samples. furthermore, considering the social hierarchies also inherent within castes, it will help to take some steps to avoid overrepresenting some castes/sub-castes more than others within one’s sample. we readily acknowledge the difficulties inherent in such sampling, especially when working with marginalized groups; perhaps it would help to start by acknowledging the limitations of our samples and considering just how far one can go from studying these samples to talking about these groups. 196 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 tools and measures another methodological issue concerns the choice of tools and measures for data collection. while researching caste-based prejudices and attitudes, researchers should be wary of using scales and questionnaires uncritically as some measures developed in the west may not be able to capture the shared and ideological nature of caste-related beliefs and attitudes. there is a need to adapt these measures to make them sensitive to the caste context. additionally, open-ended interviews and focus groups may play a crucial role in laying the groundwork for psychological research on caste, particularly in light of the paucity of theorization and research on the subject. however, since expressions of prejudiced attitudes are strongly dictated by social norms (crandall et al. 2002) and caste discrimination is normatively discouraged and legally penalized in india, prejudice towards oppressed castes may prove challenging to measure using explicit measures. thus, assessing such constructs demands consideration of the macro-level influences on them, which can even be incorporated into one’s research design for a more multi-level, contextual analysis of the phenomenon of interest (pettigrew 2021). incorporating implicit measures such as the implicit association test (iat) may also help address social desirability concerns. moreover, in today’s technology-mediated world, where many societal attitudes are expressed online, working with big data may help to understand emerging patterns and trends in the realm of caste relations (see heng et al. 2018, for a discussion on archival social psychological research using online data sources). concluding remarks the focus of this article has been on delineating the challenges and opportunities in the social psychological study of caste. we shed light on some pertinent issues in psychological science that may be taken for granted, if not overlooked, when undertaking social psychological work on caste. first, we urged researchers towards adopting a more contextual approach while undertaking social psychological study of caste. in doing so, we cautioned against an uncritical adoption of euro-american psychological theories and practices in researching the caste system. even with the best intentions, theoretical naivety or a lack of critical stance of researchers can inadvertently bring grave injustice to the already oppressed. then, we highlighted the persistence of conformity bias in psychology that may naturalize the oppression and tyranny in inter-caste relations and thereby undermine the resistance and agency of the oppressed. with this, we emphasized the need to examine the agency of oppressed caste groups in challenging the status quo. we discussed specific methodological concerns including adequate problem formulation, choosing appropriate methods, tools, and samples for data collection. a major limitation of our discussion is our focus on the quantitative approach to social psychological study of caste. it is important to note that a qualitative focus might provide different solutions to many of the issues social psychological explorations of caste: unravelling challenges and discovering opportunities 197 we discussed but might also involve a different set of interpretative and ethical complexities. notwithstanding this limitation, we believe that social psychologists and other social science researchers might find our intervention useful. we certainly need more discussion on these concerns. through a gingerly approach, we are hopeful that social psychology can be a potent catalyst in ending the scourge of the caste system. acknowledgment we would like to express our sincere appreciation to our social identity group at iit delhi for their invaluable contributions to this piece of work. this manuscript is the product of our weekly group discussions, where we delve into critical issues in social psychology and discuss ways to address them. although only three of us are listed as authors for practical reasons, the thinking and insights of all group members (suryodaya sharma, sumayya t, preeti sharma and others who visited us) have contributed to our collective understanding. we are especially grateful to dr. yashpal jogdand for valuable feedback and critical comments that have been 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(1999). reflections on the stanford prison experiment: genesis, transformations, consequences. in t. blass (ed.), obedience to authority: current perspectives on the milgram paradigm (pp. 193–237). erlbaum. © 2023 chandraiah gopani. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.680 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 319-335 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste democratizing spiritual sphere: radical bhakti traditions in the telugu-speaking region in india chandraiah gopani* abstract the modern anti-caste consciousness has deep roots in medieval bhakti traditions in india. the bhakti saints like basavanna, kabir, ravidas, vemana, and pothuluri veerabrahmam have contributed towards democratizing the spiritual sphere. the radical bhakti traditions shaped new value systems, cultural practices, language, and other art forms and proposed a new egalitarian society. the tendency of locating subaltern saints within the spiritual domain does not capture the radical visions of an egalitarian society which are articulated in their songs, poems, thoughts, and practice. this article is an attempt to document and analyze the radical visions of vemana and pothuluri veerabrahmam and other thinkers in the telugu-speaking region. the article draws on both published works and fieldwork work which was conducted in the year 2022. keywords anti-caste assertion, b.r ambedkar, bhakti radicals, dunna iddasu, nasaraiah, spiritual democracy, vemana, veerabrahmam, yeeraguntla peraiah understanding the egalitarian visions of radical bhakti traditions the modern anti-caste movements can be traced to the historical roots of buddhism and other radical bhakti saints. the charuvaka, lokayauta, and buddhism were the first philosophical and humanitarian movements against caste hierarchy and brahmanical hegemony. brahmanism1 created an unequal spiritual world in which inequalities and *associate professor, g.b. pant social science institute, prayagraj, india email: chandraiah.gopani2020@gmail.com 1b.r. ambedkar defined brahmanism as the negation of the spirit of liberty, equality, and fraternity. 320 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 discrimination were legitimized through scriptures. this social order or caste structure hierarchized human beings. against this inhuman system, there were many struggles which are led by anti-caste thinkers like mahatma jyotirao phule, savitri bai phule (maharashtra), narayana guru (kerala), periyar (tamil nadu), sahu maharaj, etc. b.r. ambedkar argues that caste is not only a division of labor, it is a division of laborers. the sudras2 and ati-sudra3 communities are denied basic human dignity and the right to attain knowledge. however, the emergence of bhakti movements by subaltern4 saints throughout india created a new phase in the socio-cultural history of india. this is more evident in the case of buddhism, which initiated a sense of democracy, equality, and fraternity into the lives of the people.5 as ambedkar stated: “indian history is the history of conflict between revolution and counter-revolution of buddhism and brahmanism”.6 satish chandra observed that: after the rise and growth of buddhism in the country between the 6th century bc and 2nd century ad, the medieval bhakti movement was undoubtedly the most widespread, far-reaching, and many a faceted movement that appeared in india. the bhakti movement influenced almost the whole country, at different times, and had a definite impact not only on religious doctrines, rituals, values, and popular beliefs but on art and culture as well. in turn, these had an impact on the value structures of the medieval state and the ruling classes. at a certain stage of its development, the bhakti movement sought to be used as a platform by the forces opposing the centralizing tendencies of the mughal state. in the cultural field, the growth of regional languages, devotional music, dance, painting, sculptures, etc., became closely related to the bhakti movement.7 thus, the bhakti movement was an important phase in the history of indian reformist traditions. roughly this period spanned from the seventh to seventeenth centuries ad.8 between these periods, multiple bhakti movements, both in south and north india emerged. the two streams of reform traditions, that are veerashaivism, led by nayanars, and vaishnavism, led by alwars in south india, became prominent in the 2shudra is also spelled sudra. shudra castes are fourth or lowest within the varna hierarchy. traditionally they are artisans and labor classes. 3ati-sudra are also known as untouchables. untouchables are outside the varna hierarchy. however, they are the worst victims of the caste system. 4subalterns are considered to be the lowest rank people in antonio gramsci’s sense. in india, the sudra and ati-sudra communities are the lowest in the social hierarchy and are discriminated by upper caste communities. hence the concept is used to refer to the anti-caste thinkers who came from subaltern communities. 5omvedt, gail. (2005). buddhism in india-challenging brahmanism and caste. new delhi: sage publications, pp. 1–22. 6ambedkar, b.r. (1987). revolution and counter-revolution in ancient india. in dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches. volume 3, bombay: government of maharashtra, p. 275. 7chandra, satish. (1996). historiography, religion, and state in medieval india. delhi: har anand publications. 8govinda pillai. p. (2013). the bhakti movement: renaissance or revivalism, new delhi: aakar books. democratizing spiritual sphere: radical bhakti traditions 321 lives of the people. during this period, one could also see various bhakti movements across india. bhakti radical saints like basavanna, madara chennaiah, haralayya, akka mahadevi in karnataka, namdev, and chokamela, savata mali of maharashtra were among many untouchable saints.9 andal and karaikkal ammayar in tamil nadu, mirabai in rajasthan, and lal deb in kashmir, were among the most famous bhakti poets and mystics of that period.10 sects like kabir panth and ravidas sects also flourished in north india. m.g. ranade argued that like the protestant reformation in western countries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in india, the protest erupted from the lower order of the people. the nature of the protest was against brahmanical hegemony over spiritual life, temples, priesthood, etc. the saints from subaltern communities asserted spiritual equality and freedom from suffering and negated the division between a pure and impure human life.11 the radical bhakti saints and their traditions imagined an alternative egalitarian society in which every human being was treated with dignity and equal status. gail omvedt pointed out that the alternative visions of bhakti radicals, in imagining utopias, they drew (bhakti radicals) on nonbrahmanic traditions, including buddhism and certain versions of shaivism, rejecting the ritualism and the inequalities of traditional, elite thinking. in the early modern period, for the radical bhakti saints, this utopia was not so fully worked out; however, ravidas envisaged ‘begampura’, the city without sorrow, without taxes or toil, where he could wander freely with his friends—something a dalit could never do in the actual banaras. tukaram talked of pandharpur as the city where even the headman was made to toil, where time and death ‘had no entry’, and where people went dancing to mingle with each other. kabir sang of amarpur, the city of immortality, or of premnagar, the city of love. these were foreseeings; during the early modern period these subaltern intellectuals had no access to a language of reason and analysis, to a study of history; they were forced to work within and subvert the basically brahmanic religious framework that was hegemonic. their ‘ecstasy’ of utopia was envisaged in some timeless place.12 gail omvedt rightly pointed out that the subaltern intellectuals’ utopias historically negated both gandhi’s ram raj and the idea of hindu majoritarian hindutva raj. bhakti radicals’ life and struggles were organically connected with subaltern masses. scholars like braj ranjan mani (2007), gail omvedt (2008) and govinda pillai (2013) presented varied arguments on the question of whether the bhakti movement is a revival or renaissance. revivalism generally does not indicate the new value 9mani, b.r. (2007). debrahmanising history: dominance and resistance in indian society. delhi: manohar, p. 136. 10govinda pillai, p. (2013). the bhakti movement: renaissance or revivalism. new delhi: aakar books publication, p. 7. 11see zelliot (1996). pp. 8–9. 12omvedt, g. (2008). seeking begumpura: the social vision of anti-caste intellectuals. delhi: navayana, p. 18. 322 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 framework that radical bhakti saints proposed and worked on. rather, it indicates the reviving of brahmanical spiritual culture through various forms. the subaltern saints like kabir, ravidas, basavanna ushered in new imaginations, in the cultural and ethical domains. hence brajranjan mani (2007), g. aloysius (1998), and gail omvedt (2008) interpreted them as mukti or renaissance traditions.13 the ideas of kabir and ravidas continue to influence people. zelliot and mokashi-punekar (2005) in their book untouchable saints observed that: the differences in the poetry of the untouchable saints are in some ways more apparent than the similarity in the legends about them. while tiruppan alvar has left a long paean to vishnu, we have no song at all from nandanar: tiruppan alvar does not mention his caste in that song, but the legends about both make it clear that they are from the untouchable strata of society. chokhamela and his family, on the other hand, frequently use the caste name mahar and mourn their low-caste status. an enormous volume of marathi songs is attributed to this family: one hundred and ninety-two to chokhamela, sixty-two to his wife, twenty-four to chokhamela’s sister, thirty-nine to his brother-in-law, and twenty -seven to his often-angry son. these songs have survived in the canon of marathi saint literature, together with a hundred and fifty-seven added to a later collection.14 similarly, saints who are part of basava’s veerashaiva movement, like madara chennaiah and haralayya still continue to influence dalits. there are separate mattas15 for them. the ravidas tradition strongly helped the chamar16 community in north india in their socio-cultural mobility. there are separate ravidas temples. wherever the community has migrated like the usa, uk, canada, etc., they also propagate the message of ravidas. the popular belief is that ravidas was inspired by buddhist tradition, which also explains his popularity amongst the navayana buddhists in north india.17 bhakti radicals and socio-cultural assertion in telugu region buddhism, as a humanistic philosophy and anti-caste movement, had a profound influence on the socio-cultural traditions in the then-andhra (coastal andhra) region. 13braj ranjan mani (2019). bhakti radicalism. new delhi: critical quest. 14zelliot, e., & mokashi-punekar, r. (2005). untouchable saints. new delhi: manohar publishers and distributors, pp. 11–12. 15a place of religious monastery. 16chamar is the largest numerical scheduled caste (sc) in north india. in the caste hierarchy, chamar is treated as untouchables and traditionally dealt with leather working occupations. ravidas was a sixteenth-century saint born in the chamar caste. many chamars were inspired by ravidas’s ideas and practices as the ravidasia sect. 17maren bellwinkel-schempp (2007). from bhakti to buddhism: ravidas and ambedkar, epw, june 9. pp 2177 –2183. democratizing spiritual sphere: radical bhakti traditions 323 according to many historical evidences, andhra had been a separate region and state under the first dynasty, the satavahanas around the third century bc.18 andhra was a strong base for buddhism. emperor ashoka of the third century bc, who gravitated to buddhism, noted his connection with andhra in his rock edict near gooty. numerous ancient buddhist inceptions throughout andhradesha at battiprolu, gantasala, guntupalli, amravati, and nagarjunakonda reveal a well-known buddhist culture with popular appeal. because of the deep roots of buddhism in andhradesha, a distinctive version of buddhism singular to the region, called nagarjuna buddhism, emerged in due course.19 the buddhist roots in telangana are found in badankurthi (adilabad), kotilingalu, thambalapally, pashigam, munugulagutta (kareem nagar), kondapur (medak), geeskonda (warangal), panigiri, thirumalagiri, vardhamankota (nalgonda), etc.20 both veerashaivism and vaishnavism were influenced by the reform tradition whose impact on andhradesha was great. basava21 founded veerashaivism. his teachings called vachanas are all in people’s language which anybody can easily understand. in a way, the very choice of the local language was in itself a negation of the sanskrit hegemony. according to atluri murali (1994): the virasaivism of basavesvara was monistic in philosophy and monotheistic in religion. it militates the preceding cultural and religious traditions, especially the ritualized, institutionalised hierarchies’ of hinduism and jainism, during the tenth and twelfth centuries temples and mathas have become very important religious centers around which revolved the life of people. with increasing land-grants to the temples and with the ideological hegemony of varna dharma (caste system) the priestly class came to dominate the agrarian and artisanal production and social life. the popular classes resented the revivification and social hierarchy and restrictions on social mobility at a time when material activity was expanding. this was the social religious and material context of the deccan22 ideology. as an ideology, virasaivism sought to change all that was negative in hindu culture.23 18padma and a.w. barer (eds.) (2008). buddhism-in the krishna river valley of andhra. united states of america: state university of new york press, pp. 1–10. 19ratnam, k.y. (1997). p. 25. 20eemani shivanagi reddy (2012). telangana boudham-(buddhism in telangana, 18th mallepally rajam memorial lecture, published by mallepally rajam memorial trust, godavarikhani, pp. 11–14 21basava was born in a brahman family at ingaleshwar bagevadi in the district of bijapur. during his childhood itself, he rejected the brahmanical orthodox life and left his home. his followers included: allama prabhu, akka mahadeva, and siddharama. 22deccan is a historical and socio-political region of the indian subcontinent. 23murali, a. (1994). cultural-ideological traditions and legitimization process in andhra: twelfth to eighteenth centuries. dr. garigipati rudrayya chowdari endowment lecture-2, december 15, 1994, ramachandrapuram, east godavari district, ap. pp. 6–7. 324 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 further argues: virasaivism propounds that each human should realise shiva through his /her kayaka (dedicated labour). work is worship (kayakave kailasa was the sacred dictum for virasaiva saints. since shiva created this world through his inner power, no work is demeaning. even the meanest labour is ‘worship’.24 by bringing work to the level of shiva, basava undermined the hegemony of priestly castes and challenged the distinction between purity and polluted work. this elevation is also an indication of nothing but making ‘dignity of labour’ a primary value of production relations thereby recognizing the value of the contribution of sudra and ati-sudra labour. further, basava denounced the caste system, the rites of animal sacrifice and the subjugation of women to men. in the social sphere, he encouraged widow remarriage, opposed child marriages, and promoted inter-caste marriages and inter-dining.25 many sudras and untouchables, like malas and madigas converted to veerasaivism. prominent among them were katakota (who was a shepherd), mechayya (a washerman), gundaiah (a potter). guddav was a well-known untouchable women devotee.26 the palkuriki somanadha’s basava purana and panditaradhya charitra are the two major literary works in telugu which vividly portray the conflict between brahmanism and veerasaivism.27 veerasaivism and vaishnavism developed simultaneously in the deccan region. the teachings and preaching of ramanuja favoured social equality, while caste becomes an issue in the andhra region. velanati chodas of vengi and the haihayas of palnad patronised vaishnavism. brahmanayudu, who was a ruler of nalagama (1170 ad) of palnad (guntur district), was influenced by vaishnavism. according to v. ramakrishna: brahmanayudu of palnad (of the recharla family of the velama caste) was a vaishnavite by faith and introduced certain reforms in social spheres. according to the ballad, palanati veeracharitra, brahmanayudu appears to have discarded caste and custom and encouraged the heterodox practice of inter-dining among people belonging to different castes. among his followers, kannama dasu, an untouchable was made the commander-in-chief of his armies and was looked upon as his favourite. by a fusion of castes, brahmanaidu created a new ‘caste ‘ ‘padma nayaka kula’ the caste of heroes.28 brahmanayudu encouraged inter-dining, called “chapakoodu,” among all lower castes, and caste hindus were asked to sit and eat together. brahmanayudu attempted 24ibid., pp. 6–7. 25ramakrishna, v. (1983). social reform in andhra. new delhi: vikas publishing house pvt. ltd, pp. 39–41. 26padma rao, katti. (1998). caste and alternative culture. madras: gurukul lutheran theological college and research institute, p. 112. 27murali, a. (1994). p. 3. 28ramakrishna, v. (1983). p. 41. democratizing spiritual sphere: radical bhakti traditions 325 to create new social relations, by initiating reform in vaishnavism. however, there are critics who argue that these reforms were under the influence of the sanskrit version of brahmanism. it was felt that the attempt to create composite castes called “warrior caste” was under the influence of the sanskrit version of the guna hierarchy ranking which worked internally in the selection.29 however, the later phase of veerasaivism and vaishnvism in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries failed to carry the same spirit. perhaps the entry of brahmans diluted the saivite movement. in fact, new castes like jangamas, linga jangam, nulaka chandaiah, and lingayats emerged out of this process. however, it contributed to some social change against orthodox brahmanical traditions.30 one of the earliest hindu saints who spoke against caste prejudice was annamacharya,31 who disapproved of caste in his “sankirtanas”.32 he was identified as a poet in the tradition of the alwars, and vaishnava bhakti poets. he used the language of the common man to state many things worth remembering: “the high-level land of the brahmin and the low flat level of the chandala (untouchable) are the same”. “there is no high and low; sri hari is the soul of all”. “a mala (untouchable) who worships the almighty, but eats beef, is a better brahmin than an ascetic who does not think of vishnu, though he is a learned vedanti”. “what does it matter, what caste is a haridas (devotee of vishnu)”.33 the influence of shaivism had a deep impact on south india, where vemana and pothuluri veerabrahmam were influenced by shaivite traditions. in the subsequent section, the most influential bhakti traditions of vemana and pothuluri veerabrahmam, dunna iddasu and yegraguntala peraiah, among others are discussed. vemana: a rebel against brahmanical hegemony and social exploitation during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there were two important personalities in the telugu region who became sources for reforms. they were forceful critics of the caste system and oppressive prejudices. those two rebels were vemana and pothuluri veerabrahmam whose teachings and preachings had a great impact on the common people. vemana was a rebel poet and philosopher who belonged to the reddy34 (shudra) 29murali, a. (1994). pp. 5–6. 30ramakrishna, v. (1983). p. 42. 31sri tallapaka annamacharya was a mystic saint composer of the fifteenth century. he was the earliest known musician of south india to compose songs called “sankeertanas”. annamacharya was born on may 9, 1408 and lived up to february 23, 1503, in tallapaka, a remote village in day current-day cuddapah district of andhra pradesh, india. it is told that he composed around 32,000 samkeertanas on lord venkateshwara and alivelumanga. 32kirtanas are a kind of devotional songs. thousands of kirtanas are available and documented. 33padma rao, katti. (1998). caste and alternative culture. madras: the gurukul lutheran theological college and research institute, p. 111. 34there is a controversy on the caste of vemana. however, some argue that he belongs to the reddy caste. reddy caste is a shudra caste within the caste hierarchy, but a landowning and 326 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 caste from rayalseema. he was a wandering, naked poet who critically commented on and exposed the contradictions and hypocrisy of human life. his writings were collected and made available to people by c.p. brown. according to kancha illaiah: vemana’s literary construction shows that he was strongly rooted in the sudra productive culture. unlike molla, he chooses to write in colloquial telugu. his productive idiom, his anti-brahmanical ideology, and deep understanding of the sudra culture is an indication of the tension between the sankritized brahmanical notion and the sudra productive notions of life.35 further, adds: he constructs morality around atheism, agnosticism, rationalism, feminism, and of course, anti-casteism. his poetic text reflects as many plural cultures as the dalit bahujan castes, tribes, and sects that exist in the telugu country. hinduism for him was an idol-worshipping negative practice. in several subtle forms, he brushes aside sankaracharya’s philosophy of the soul and body being separate entities.36 c.p. brown documented and engaged with vemana’s writings. brown’s writings on vemana brought visibility among scholars and activists. brahmans created many hurdles against c.p. brown’s work. they opposed the discussion and introduction of vemana’s ideas at madras university in 1827. brown took the initiative to publish vemana’s verses. university authorities published 500 copies of vemana verses. 50 copies were given to brown and the remaining 450 copies were kept stored in a room, only to be dumped in a dustbin later on.37 this reflects the level of opposition against vemana’s legacy. however, as his ideas were part of the common people’s memory and everyday usage, the dominant communities could not root it out. the stanzas given below indicate his views against idol worship. what animals ye are who worship stones and care not for the god that dwells within how can a stone excel the living thing? that praise intones?38 brahmanism strongly believed in idol worship. that is why vemana argued that how can there be so many gods and goddesses. why can’t human beings realize their inner potential? priests for their benefit propagate idol worship, hence they attribute purity and sacredness to trees, stones, etc., when it benefits the religious orthodoxy. on the question of untouchability, he lamented that, politically influential community throughout the telugu-speaking region. 35illaiah, kancha (2010). the weapon of the other. delhi: pearson, p. 114. 36ibid., p. 119. 37gopi, n. (2017). prajakavi vemana. vijayawada: prajashakti book house, p. 43. 38narla, v.r. (1969) vemana. new delhi: sahitya academy, p. 72. democratizing spiritual sphere: radical bhakti traditions 327 when pariah touches you, you plunge into water when you depart to the cremation ground, the pariah burns your body the filth that touched you then where did it go now?39 vemana considered untouchability as inhuman. how can some groups of people be treated as untouchables? through his poems, vemana exposed the hypocrisy of brahmanical practices. they congregate in thousands and shout meaningless vedas like mad dogs what fruit but a sore throat?40 vemana was a strong critic of vedic culture and chanting of sanskrit slokas. he argued that such meaningless chanting only benefited the brahmans and furthered their hegemony, while the slokas only perpetuate ignorance and exploitation. therefore, his criticism of religion is based on logic. even today, many atheist organizations and activists frequently quote vemana’s poems and sayings in public meetings in order to propagate scientific temper.41 vemana questioned the caste system: why revile the pariah again and again aren’t his flesh and blood the same as yours? what is the caste of him who moves in him42 the above lines clearly indicate vemana’s critique of the caste system. he argued that since everybody is born a human being, their blood and body are the same and there should not be discrimination in the name of caste. the caste system hierarchized the human body and mind. this division goes against the idea of human equality. vemana used satire and humor in his poetry, which is why common people could understand them easily. the below lines indicate the universal imagination of vemana. serve food to all all the people of the world on one plate; make them dine together 39k. srinivasulu, (2017) vishwadhabhi rama vinura vema: social and political ideas of vemana, in m.p singh, himanshu roy (ed). indian political thought, delhi: pearson india, p. 7. 40ibid., p. 7. 41https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/promote-scientific-temper/article5137695.ece 42ibid., p. 7. 328 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 forgetting all their differences: and with uplifted hand bless them to live like one.43 he imagined universal love and brotherhood between different castes and religions and propagated the idea of eating and living together for a happy and peaceful life. today many organizations propagate vemana writings and preachings throughout the telugu region through books, audio, and videos for kids and regular activities on vemana thought, etc. marxist organizations and groups propagated the thoughts of vemana because of his critique of religion. however, they failed to project him as an anti-caste thinker. the growing anti-caste and dalit movements recognized vemana as a strong radical bhakti thinker of the subaltern communities. like vemana, another saint poet, pothuluri veerabrahmam also inspired many people in the telugu region. pottuluri veerabrahmam: a social revolutionary pothuluri veerabrahmendra swami was called veerappa and veerambhadrayya in his childhood days. as he grew up, he was known by many names like veerabrahmam, brahmam garu, veerabrahmendra swami, veerat pothuluribrahmendra swamy, etc. in all these names the prefix ‘veer’ is added, indicating his ancestors were followers of the veerashaiva tradition. veerappa was born in a vishwakarma (shudra) community. he learnt his ancestral craft—sculpture. from his childhood, he was interested in spiritual matters and was fond of meditation. he followed his favorite deity veerabhadra swami. later he went to banaganapalli (kurnool district) where he grazed the cattle of garima reddy, atchamamba. oral stories record that he performed many miracles after which people were attracted to him and began to follow him. the sayings of pothuluri veerabrahmendra swami are preserved mostly in the oral tradition as he intended them to be intelligible even to the common man. his compositions comprise three categories. 1. mystic songs and govinda padas regularly sung by street minstrels and mendicants 2. kalajnana44 vachanas and padas and some epistles 3. philosophic preachings kancha illaiah observed that pothuluri brahmamgaru created an autonomous movement among subaltern castes in the telugu region. he says, potuluri veerabrahmam created an autonomous religious spirituality by synthesizing productive linguistic and cultural aspirations of ironsmiths, goldsmiths, carpenters, weavers and tailors by constructing a text of kalagnanam (knowledge of time) philosophy. interestingly enough, this philosophy of potuluri established a socio-religious nexus among the sudras, the muslims, 43narla, v.r. (1969). vemana, new delhi: sahitya academy, p. 66. 44the ability or quality of knowing the happening of events in the future. it is also an act of making predictions; foretelling. democratizing spiritual sphere: radical bhakti traditions 329 and the mala and madigas. the lifetime friendship of potuluri, siddaiah (a muslim medicant) and kakaiah (an sc) constructed a telugu nationalist ideology to set a trend for future multi-religious anti-caste nationalism.45 the jeeva samadhi of pothuluri at kandimallayapalle is very popular. this samadhi is called brahmgarimattam. on the day of his samadhi entry, i.e. vaisakha sudha dasami in the month of may, his aradhanotsavam (the act of glorifying) is celebrated on a grand scale. the celebrations continue for a week. these celebrations are done throughout the region, wherever his temples and followers are present. the life and spiritual pursuit of pothuluri veerabrahmam is linked with social reforms and change. he started to preach and propagate his teachings in the form of ‘kalagyana thatvalu’. v. ramakrishna observes: veerabrahmam condemned the hierarchical system of caste and believed that vedic knowledge could be gained by one and all. accordingly, he had among his disciples men from several castes. he pleaded for the discontinuance of idolatry and strongly criticized superstitions. he advocated reforms in marriages and stated that girls should be married only after they had passed the age of puberty. he admitted women into his order and made them eligible for sainthood. another significant aspect of his philosophy was his trenchant criticism of untouchability and pollution.46 in the context of growing anti-caste consciousness and mobilization of marginalized communities, pothuluri veerabrahmam achieved iconic status. many temples were constructed for veerabrahmam in which shudra castes officiate as priests. his preachings are propagated through films, songs, plays, videos, etc. pottuluri veerabrahmam’s legacy and his disciples many became followers of pothuluri brahmamgaru. after he passed away, some of his disciples, siddaiah, eshwaramma, yadla ramadasu, and yagantivaru carried his message and teachings to the common people and spread his teachings through songs.47 in the early nineteenth century in andhradesha, there were also several nonhindu alternative semi-religious cults, all of which emerged from lower castes. these sects challenged the caste system. nasaraiah founded the ‘nasaraiah sect’, which is popular among madigas, in particular, and untouchables, in general. nasaraiah was influenced by the islamic principles of egalitarianism.48 he tried to emulate a model of islam as an emancipatory doctrine for the untouchables. his main tenets were social equality, good moral conduct, and worship of only one god, discarding idol worship 45kancha illaiah (2010). the weapon of the other. delhi: pearson, p. 120. 46ramakrishna, v. (1983). p. 46. 47ibid., p. 46. 48see kshirasagar, r.k. (1997). dalit movement in india and its leaders. new delhi: m.d publications pvt ltd. 330 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 and spreading unity among the untouchables. nasaraiah made disciples and sent them out to preach. he made no distinction of either caste or sex. women, as well as men, passed through the initiatory rites and then went forth to make converts. one of his earliest converts seems to have been a madiga, who was made a guru and sent out to convert people to this sect. they realized that theism of nasaraiah was better than the polytheism of their village cults. belonging to the nasaraiah sect raised the social status of madigas in the region.49 the influence of the sect of nasaraiah is limited to some areas of coastal andhra region. dunna iddasu and achala thatvam: preaching non-brahman spiritual thinking edaiah is popularly known as dunna iddasu. he was born in a poor madiga (leatherworking) family in 1811. he belonged to chintapalli village, peddaura mandal, nalgonda district, telangana state. iddasu was an illiterate involved in leatherwork and worked as agricultural labour. when he was working in the landlord’s fields, he would observe and follow the shiva yogis during prayer times. one day the yogis identified iddasu and his keen interest in yoga asanas (practice) and achala traditions. they were impressed by iddasu’s philosophical hymns and later jangama devara poodota basavaiah presented a shiva linga50 to iddasu. since then, iddasu took further interest in rajayoga practice. rajayoga was preached and practiced by pothuluri veerabrahmam and eshwaramma also. when iddasu was young, veerabrahmam and eshwaramma were popular among the people in the region. gradually, the people began to believe that iddasu had superpowers. his preachings and hymns are still popular among people in the region.51 his followers increased and he visited many villages to preach his ideas. he moved from nalgonda to achampet, kalwakurthi, nagarkurnool, kollapur, etc. in the undivided mahaboobnagar district, his followers are more. iddasu’s grandson, dunna vishwanatham started an ashram in ayyavaripalli village in achampet taluka. after many hurdles, dunna vishwanatham published a book madiga maha yogi (2014) to document and propagate iddasu’s message. this book carries 32 thatvas52 of iddasu with details of his life and spiritual journey. iddasu thatvalu continue to inspire many people. his preachings broadly focused on the denial of idol worship and ritual practices. he strongly believed that everyone can attain knowledge through sadhana/ hard work and preached that god/goddess is within human beings, there is no need to go to the temple and approach the brahman priest to purify oneself. human beings purify themselves with right thinking/ path that benefits everyone. in one incident, 49rauschenbusch clough, emma. (1899). while sewing sandals. london: asian educational service, p. 59. 50a lingam generally referred to as linga or shiva linga is an abstract or aniconic representation of the god shiva in shaivism. it is primarily a devotional image in shivaism. 51dunna vishwanatham (2018) madiga maha yogi-dunna iddasu. hyderabad: telangana vikasa samiti, pp. 66–74. 52thatva refers to truth, thought, or philosophical sayings. democratizing spiritual sphere: radical bhakti traditions 331 he lamented that brahmans think that they are pure but only know how to be clean physically but not with their thoughts. his preaching visibly argues for detachment from a worldly luxurious life in order to realize oneself through critical reflection. realizing one’s inner potential is the way to knowledge.53 in achala bodha54 tradition, the guru/teacher is the source of knowledge, therefore believing and following a guru is important. in return, the belief is that the guru shapes the life of his followers or disciples. in this ideology, everyone can attain the status of a guru, unlike the brahmanical tradition. that is why iddasu had many disciples though he hailed from an untouchable community. he had followers from brahmans, upper shudra castes like reddy, velama, and shudra communities like barbers, goldsmiths, toddy tapers, and other land-owning communities. for an untouchable person to attain the status of a guru reflects spiritual democracy, compared to the rigid caste hierarchy. in the twenty-first century also, iddasu has followers from different castes. on every shivaratri,55 iddasu’s followers gathered at his birthplace and conduct worship to offer homage to him in telangana, specially the madiga community takes inspiration from his teachings for sociocultural mobilization. the telangana government also recognized his contribution and included his ideas as part of telugu literature for intermediate students. basavalingaiah (son) continued iddasu’s legacy and spread the message in villages. a madiga leader, puttapaka mahendranath also encouraged and contributed to iddasu’s legacy. after basavalingaiah, his son vishwanatham presided over wearing that linga and propagating iddasu’s teachings by conducting worship ceremonies at the tombs of his father and grandfather. in the context of the growing dalit movement and bahujan politics in the telugu region, iddasu became an icon for many people, especially madigas. along with these bhakti traditions, the dalits’ conversion to other religions also created some space for dalit spiritual life with a sense of equality. yerraguntla peraiah and christian missionaries: dalits search for spiritual equality during colonial times, many dalit communities in the region found conversion to christianity a solace from the caste system. the chief motivation for conversion to christianity was a search for spiritual equality which was denied to the so-called lower castes in the brahmanical social order. it is essential to trace the historical roots of missionary work in the telugu region. according to g.a. oddie, the church missionary society (cms), one of the earliest christian missionaries, worked for christian proselytization in the telugu region. v. ramakrishna observes: the first signs of missionary activity go back to the year 1597 when two jesuit fathers and a brother were at the court of venkateshwarlu in chandragiri (now in chittoor district) where they stayed till 1615. their efforts were not much 53dunna vishwanatham (2014) pp. 143–202. 54bodha refers to knowledge, enlightenment, or wisdom. 55shivaratri is a hindu festival celebrated annually in honour of the god shiva. 332 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 of a success. fr. maudnit was the first to convert among the telugus, the first converts being a widow and her four children in 1701. punganur became the cradle of the telugu christians, from where christianity gradually spread to venkatagiri (nellore district) which became a christian settlement, and later to krishnapuram, hindupur (in anantapur district) and china ballapuram (bellary district).56 he further observed: after the decline of jesuism by the 1750s, a new era in christian endeavour began in the wake of the evangelical revival which was sweeping the west during the last years of the 18th century… in south india, this new wave of evangelism was spearheaded by five societies, namely, the society for the propagation of gospel, the london missionary society, the church missionary society, wesleyan mission, and the free church mission of scotland.57 in the utilitarian or liberal field, the british government brought several reforms: in the fields of revenue administration and judiciary, abolition of slavery, sati and female infanticide, legalizing widow marriages. they launched educational programmes presumably to improve the ‘decadent’ indian society. both evangelical and utilitarian trends got submerged in their attitudes towards education. wood’s dispatch in 1854 settled all conflicts regarding educational policies conclusively and the state assumed responsibility for educating the masses of its subjects.58 many dalit families who are previously influenced by rajayoga (pothuluri veerabrahmam sect) and other local sects like nasaraiah were attracted to christian missionaries. one important person who played a key role in the mass conversion to christianity in andhra is yerraguntla peraiah. peraiah is known as thataiah (grandfather). his search for spiritual equality made a historical impact on madigas in particular and dalits in general for mass conversion. his method of evangelization inspired many christian missionaries at the local level. peraiah, born in a madiga family, traded in cattle and leather. one day he received information that towards west godavari side, the business of leather is more profitable. while going to this area he took shelter at his relative’s home, who had converted to christianity. peraiah got influenced by his relative and on his return started meeting christian pastors in the nearby areas. the protestant christian missionary movement continued the spirit of evangelization at the local level. under the leadership of peraiah, preachers went from village to village to proselytize and for baptism. preachers organized individuals from 56ramakrishna. v. (1983). p. 49. 57ibid., p. 50. 58ibid., p. 56. democratizing spiritual sphere: radical bhakti traditions 333 podili, kanigiri, cumbum, and markapur for mass conversion to a new religion. on 3 july 1878, 2222 people were baptized in gundlakamma river near vellampalle village, ongole. within three days, 3536 people were baptized. this surprised many missionaries and shocked the hindu orthodox people. the baptized people began to experience a new religion which was significantly different from their old hindu life. this journey from hindu to christian is not merely an attempt to democratize the spiritual domain but also a protest against caste order. around 1860-1900, in the godavari–krishna districts of andhra, the cms opened several english schools, which welcomed caste hindus and also untouchables into these schools. the number of baptised untouchables steadily rose from 1650 (in 1869) to 3500 (1882), to 9000 (1885), and 22000 (1905).59 in the region of telangana, christian missionary works influenced the dalits and other marginalized people toward spiritual equality. in 1874, the kambal couple started their missionary work after that they moved to secunderabad in 1875 and established the telugu baptist sangam (tbs) where they worked among the army personnel. later, the tbs extended its activities to nalgonda. american baptist mission (abm) worked and established its sangams in hanumakonda, nalgonda, jangam, suryapet, madira in the telangana region.60 the church of england zenana missionary society was launched in 1875 in khammam and other parts of andhra. the main objective of the mission was to work among lower castes and muslim women. in 1939, they started the mary vikasa centre to teach and serve orphaned women.61 revd. jone wesley had started the south asia methodist mission in england. people like g. vinklan and j.e. robertson worked to spread missionary work while they commenced efforts on building the railways in secunderabad. in 1872, the ‘methodist sangam’ was started. this sangam opened stanley girls’ school (1921) and the school for bible training (1909). through various social services, it extensively worked in vikarabad, sirvancha, jaheerabad, tandur, etc.62 (m. mosses, pp. 40–44). the veslian mission also established its missions in secunderabad, hyderabad, karimnagar, jagital, siddipeta, nizamabad, sangareddy, aaleru, medak, etc. the medak church was founded by challes wakar pasnet in 1914.63 deccan foreign missionaries came to india in the early 1800s. these were: 1) north-weslians sangalu64 2) western-methodist sangalu 3) south-mennonite brother sangalu 4) east baptist sangalu. these missions extensively worked among the untouchables. in fact, the education and health conditions of the untouchables 59shantha kumari varikotijetty (2015) christian missionaries and the birth of new social consciousness among the depressed castes: a case of the malas and the madigas in colonial coastal andhra 1850 1950, ph.d. thesis submitted to jamia milia islamia university. http:// hdl.handle.net/10603/491459 accessed on 11 august 2023. 60moses, m. (2004). andhra pradesh christian sanga charitra. (christian church history of andhra pradesh), paddisonpet, christian truth press, p. 34. 61ibid., p. 38. 62ibid., pp. 40–44. 63ibid., p. 49. 64sangam is a telugu word that literally means association. sangalu is a plural term. 334 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 improved and they got a sense spiritual freedom by entering into christianity from feudal relations and caste oppression.65 the reform initiatives brought some changes to the social relations of the people in particular regions. the parthana samaj in coastal andhra and arya samaj in telangana contributed to mobilizing and organizing the untouchables, and in the process, helped in the social mobility of the untouchables. the parthana samaj was established in 1878 in rajahmundry and its leaders worked among untouchables. veereshalingam established schools with the help of pittapuram maharaj. he also fought against sati, child marriage, bride price, caste prejudice, etc. among others who worked for social reform were chilkamarthi laxmi narasimham, raghupathi venkat ratnam naidu, narala setti devendrudu, vemula kurmayya, guduri rama chandra rao, vemuri ramji rao, nallapati hanumantha rao, and vellanki krishna murthi. chilkamarthy narsimham established the rammohan school for untouchable boys in rajahmundry in february 1909. pittapuram maharaj himself opened many schools and hostels; numerous early untouchable educators and leaders benefited from this initiative. some of them were boyee bhemana, bojja appalaswamy, pamu rammurthy, and nadipudi ganapathi rao (ex-mla).66 however, these reformist initiatives by upper castes failed to address the legitimacy of hindu shastras in perpetuating inequalities, the caste system, and untouchability, and women’s oppression.67 hence the bhakti radicals from subaltern communities and their vision of egalitarian society continue to be great sources of inspiration for modern anti-caste movements. conclusion the telugu region has produced many anti-caste visionaries who challenged brahmanism and caste inequalities. the radical vision of vemana, pothuluri veerabrahmam, nasaraiah, dunna iddasu, and yerraguntla peraiah have deeply influenced the common people at the grassroots level. their preachings become so popular that they become songs of folklore which are used in everyday usage. vemana and pothuluri asserted and envisaged the democratic spiritual sphere in which all human beings are treated equally and with dignity. further, people like nasaraiah, dunna iddasu, and yerraguntla peraiah had a deep influence on the succeeding generations. their influence is still alive at the grassroots in the telugu region. they worked as reformers to achieve a society that kabir and ravidas imagined in the form of begumpura. these subaltern bhakti radicals emphasized people’s labour, culture, and experience as sources of knowledge which negated the brahmanical view of knowledge production. their songs, hymns, and sayings are all articulated in people’s language and they rejected idol worship. in essence, they challenged the hegemony of brahmanical forces in the spiritual sphere. hence, democratizing the spiritual 65ibid., pp. 86–89. 66ramalaxmi, p. (1995). reform movement in godavari district: (1878-1939) an attempt towards social justice. dr. garigipati rudrayya chowdari, endowment lecture 3, december 15, 1995, pp. 10–12. 67ibid., p. 30. democratizing spiritual sphere: radical bhakti traditions 335 sphere is the common aim of the subaltern bhakti radical traditions. their critique against brahmanism, caste discrimination and inequality, and rejection of vedic and holy scriptures have created a foundation for the modern anti-caste consciousness of subaltern communities in the telugu region. the article argued that given the praxis of bhakti radicals, they have to be understood as ‘social revolutionaries’ who preached and worked for the democratizing of the spiritual sphere not merely for spiritual equality but also the socio, cultural, and material transformation of society. references brown, c.p. (1991). verses of vemana. new delhi: asian educational services. david n. lorenzen (eds.) (2008). religious movements in south asia 600-1800. new delhi: oxford university press. eleanor, z & rohini-punekar. (eds.) (2004). untouchable saints: an indian phenomenon. delhi: manohar. dunna. vishwanath. (2018). “madiga mahayogi dunnaiddasu”. hyderabad: telangana vikasa samiti. govinda, pillai. p. (2013). the bhakti movement: renaissance or revivalism. delhi: aakar. gopi, n. (2017). prajakavi vemana. vijayawada: prajashakti book house. kancha, i. (2010). the weapon of the other. delhi: pearson. mani, b. r. (2007). debrahmanising history: dominance and resistance in indian society. delhi: manohar. narla, v.r. (1969). vemana. new delhi: sahitya akademi. narasimha rao, v.v. l, (2009). sri veerabrahmendra swami. kuppam: dravidian university. omvedt, g. (2008). seeking begumpura: the social vision of anti-caste intellectuals. delhi: navayana. prabhakar, a.k. (eds.) (2018). bahula: a collection of essays on telugu literary criticism. hyderabad: perspective. rachapalem. (eds.) (2019). samajika viplavakarudu: pothuluriveerabrahmam. vijayawada: prajashakti book house. ranjan mani, b. (2019). bhakti radicalism. new delhi: critical quest. ramulu, p. (2012). telugulo bhakti kavithvam. hyderabad: prajashakti book house. subbachari, p. (2019). viplavakavi yogi veerabrahmam. vijayawada: prajashakti book house. taneti, j.e. (2022). telugu christians: a history. minneapolis: fortress press. valerian, r. (ed.) (2007). the essential writings of b.r. ambedkar. new delhi: oxford university press. vinodini, m.m. (2014). veguchukalu. hyderabad: hyderabad book trust. © 2024 gaurav j. pathania. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.2462 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 521-524 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste ‘the vulgarity of caste: dalits, sexuality, and humanity in modern india’ author: shailaja paik publisher: stanford university press year: 2022 reviewer: gaurav j. pathania1 “for ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. it is a battle for freedom. it is a battle for the reclamation of the human personality”. dr. b.r. ambedkar, all-india depressed classes conference, 1942 in his pursuit of social equality and dalit liberation, the foremost intellectual of modern india, dr. ambedkar rejected endogamy, viewing it as the cornerstone of caste, and converted to buddhism to affirm a shared humanity (manuski) and dignity for the untouchables. engaging with ambedkar’s ideas, renowned historian shailaja paik provides a deep and nuanced analysis of the intersections between caste, gender, and sexuality in her latest book the vulgarity of caste: dalits, sexuality, and humanity in modern india. through rigorous historical research and a dalit womanist-humanist lens, paik critically engages with ambedkar’s notion of manuski and examines how dalit women are oppressed by the caste system that controls their bodies and stigmatizes their sexuality. divided into three parts and six chapters, the volume not only critiques traditional indian feminist discourses but also investigates the entrenched hierarchies that perpetuate the marginalization of dalit women in indian society. the author examines and questions the historical foundations of caste-based sexual oppression faced by dalit women, deeply rooted in the social fabric of postcolonial india. focusing on the regional context of maharashtra state, the author 1assistant professor of sociology & peacebuilding at eastern mennonite university in virginia email: gaurav.pathania@emu.edu 522 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 offers a critical analysis of the marathi public sphere and the pride associated with the marathi language and masculinity. paik reinterprets modern western concepts such as humanity, authenticity, and vulgarity, while introducing their vernacular counterparts: manuski, asli and ashlil. these terms capture the daily struggles of caste and gender oppression, while asserting the universal right to full human recognition. paik opens her analysis by focusing on tamasha, a popular folk performance tradition in maharashtra that emerged from the local maharashtrian entertainment traditions: lavani and pavada which are central to the local pride, and the performance entails virile and patriotic marathi manus identity and creates a common cultural memory and an illusion of unity (p. 232). tamasha, as the author defines it is “a social, political and ideological sexual-caste game born precisely from the interplay of the relationship of power and as such it produced and reproduced the relationship of caste…” (p. 48). tamasha has several colloquial meanings: play, fun, humor, tantrum, nonsense, commotion, a show, spectacle, and a sort of theatrical entertainment. for centuries, dalit women who performed tamasha were denied basic dignity and humanity, ostracized from both dalit and caste communities as deviant and vulgar. since the medieval period, it has been a form of entertainment that elicits pleasure and masti (a gamut of affect unleashing unruly masculine sexual energy). despite the ban by the colonial state in the 1940s, tamasha performances continue in rural and urban maharashtra. thes performers, predominantly from lower castes, are stripped of their artistic identity and reduced to objects of sexual desire solely because of their caste status. the tamasha stage serves as a site of compounded violence, where dalit women face ongoing sexual exploitation, and their performances are viewed through a lens of vulgarity, reinforcing their dehumanization. their performances, often bawdy and overtly sensual, offer them no respect or safety, leaving them vulnerable to sexual assault. dalit women were coerced to provide sexual service to all men, especially the dominant caste-men. despite being perceived as sex workers—an identity they neither choose nor inhabit—they are left with no alternative but to continue performing, as the caste system’s discrimination locks them out of other opportunities. the ethnographic volume documents the everyday life of these women and shares various experiences of dalit performers like pavalabai hivargaonkar, whose songs were appropriated by her brahmin lover, patthe bapurao. it illustrates how caste and gender hierarchies pervade even intimate relationships where the privileged brahmin possess the “power of construction, destruction and reconstruction” (p. 74). though both are in the same profession, dalit women face heightened contempt and marginalization and are stigmatized as ‘vulgar’ and ‘promiscuous’, labels rarely applied to their upper-caste counterparts. this hypocrisy reveals the selective moralism embedded within caste structures. brahmin men engaged in the same profession escape such denigration, further underscoring how caste and gender inequalities are intertwined to protect dominant caste privilege and control. the chapter also highlights how economic precarity intensifies the vulnerability of dalit women. ‘the vulgarity of caste: dalits, sexuality, and humanity in modern india’ 523 intersectionality: the triple oppression of dalit women mainstream feminist discourse in india has largely overlooked the caste-based oppression experienced by dalit women. as paik pointed out in her earlier studies, this oversight in feminist historiography has strategically neglected the existence of “caste communities” and masked the way how class, gender, and sexuality intersect with caste-based oppression, thus constructing a monolithic image of the “indian woman” (2018, p. 2). paik emphasizes the intersectional oppression dalit women face, being marginalized by their caste, gender, and class. this triple oppression places them at the periphery of both feminist and dalit movements. mainstream feminist movements often neglect caste issues, while dalit movements overlook gender inequality, leaving dalit women to battle on multiple fronts. paik critiques both movements for their failure to address the unique struggles of dalit women, arguing that their experiences offer a more complete understanding of caste and gender oppression. this intersectionality of sex, gender, and caste forms what paik terms the “sex-gender-caste” complex, a framework that highlights how caste hierarchies intersect with gender and sexuality to maintain power structures, a social mechanism that degrades dancers, singers, and tamasha performers, branding them as prostitutes and vulgar simply due to their caste. this complex goes beyond social exclusion, incorporating sexual violence and economic control as tools to reinforce caste purity even in twenty-first century india. the author masterfully captures the intersectionality of experiences of tamasha artists, offering the narrative of mangalatai bansode, a renowned tamasha performer. bansode describes a deeply traumatic experience at the age of 16 when she was coerced by her village to dance in an ox cart as part of a local festival. crowded alongside other women, she was paraded through the village, surrounded by a raucous mob of men who jeered, danced, and attempted to grope her, pulling at her saree. the terror of this experience, especially for someone so young, is intense, yet refusing to comply would have invited violence. this coercion, in the author’s words “rendered her both object of predatory desire and object of vilification as the embodiment of vulgarity” (p. 48). bansode’s career, while marred by public humiliation and sexual violence, also served as a vehicle for economic survival and resistance, as she used her earnings to uplift her family. this interplay of exploitation and resilience lies at the heart of paik’s powerful critique, as she exposes the systemic violence while also honoring the agency that some dalit women assert in the face of it. tamasha in the garb of nonsense and play became “performative of the paradoxical conditions of dalit” (p. 13). for tamasha performers, the art form is more than entertainment; it represents employment, social mobility, and caste-based rights. yet, they are stigmatized for participating in the very performances that provide these opportunities. fear of vulgarity (ashlil) and authenticity (asli) paik further delves into the idea of ‘vulgarity’, arguing that dominant castes maintain their power by labeling dalit women’s performances as vulgar. tamasha’s association 524 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 with vulgarity traps performers in a cycle where their livelihoods depend on performing for male audiences while being socially ostracized for it. paik critiques the lack of attention to the disempowerment and caste-based violence these performers endure, arguing that scholars and policymakers have largely ignored their plight. paik underscores the limitations of existing scholarship in recognizing how culture, particularly tamasha, became a pivotal arena in shaping marathi identity within the newly formed state of maharashtra (p. 234). the author argues that the new marathi manus was created by the caste and cultural vigilantes who petitioned a ban on vulgar writings, art and film, and there was a visceral dislike for kissing on screen (p. 235). over time, the illusion of ashlil and asli has evolved into a form of cultural politics, and tamasha is now recognized as (loknatya) people’s theater (p. 287). despite these changes, tamasha still perpetuates patriarchy and the control of women in twenty-first-century globalized india, highlighting the ongoing influence of caste and gender dynamics. the vulgarity of caste is a transformative work that illuminates the intricate and often contradictory lives of dalit women in india. paik’s methodological brilliance, combining archival research with oral histories, marks a major scholarly contribution to dalit and gender studies. as the normative politics of gender, caste, and sexuality continue to reshape dalit identity, agency, and citizenship in modern india, this volume provides a profound critique of these dynamics. it delves into the political economy of caste, deviant sexuality, the pedagogy of tamasha, and its generational capital, inviting scholars across diverse fields such as ambedkar studies, caste studies, gender and sexuality, colonialism, folk music, performance, and art, to engage with its rich insights. while every state in india boasts its traditional dance and musical forms, such as swang in haryana, ghoomar in rajasthan, garba in gujarat, and bhangra in punjab, there remains a glaring absence of literature that explores the intersection of caste and gender within these cultural performances. paik’s work calls attention to this gap, urging a re-examination of the structures and violence of caste that have long shaped these performances. reference paik, shailaja (2018). the rise of new dalit women in indian historiography, history compass, 10 https://doi.org/10.1111/hic3.12491 © 2024 angel sophan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.909 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 259-269 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste psychology of caste in food: a letter to my upper caste friend angel sophan1 abstract in the upper caste imagination, the general notion of caste has mostly been limited to marriage, reservation, and politics. however, the everyday nature of caste often lies in the state of dismissal or un-acknowledgement by the upper caste. this letter is addressed to individuals/ communities who assume the position of upper caste and it aims to ignite conversations with an open mind and heart about the lives of those at the other end of the caste spectrum. a key focus of this letter is on food—an important aspect of our lives where casteism is blatant and brutal. the letter explores a history of food practices and also addresses how food choices aid in discrimination and social exclusion of communities even in contemporary times. using a lens of ‘psyche of the oppressor’, we discuss how food practices shapes an upper caste individual’s psyche along the factors of delusion of caste superiority, socially favored caste behavior and intergenerational transmission of caste attitudes. the letter does not comment on individual choices or preferences; it rather focuses on the system in which vegetarianism is considered supreme, which facilitates in ignoring the pluralities of the country and thereby pushing the ‘other’ into margins/ peripheries and does not take cognizance of their culture and history. keywords caste, food, brahmin, psychology, india dear friend, i hope this letter finds you well. i think it is time you and i had this conversation, an uncomfortable yet pertinent one. it is a topic we keep sighing away and shrugging off 1doctoral candidate, department of psychology, christ (deemed to be university), bengaluru, karnataka, india email: angel.sophan@res.christuniversity.in 260 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 because we either think it is a problem that concerns the past century, or it is boring, or our country is not moving past that topic. no, i am not here to talk about reservation but caste itself. that is the mistake we make, too, don’t we? we ponder and weigh the strengths and weaknesses of an affirmative action policy introduced to combat the caste system, but we rarely engage with caste in detail. we feel caste is seen only in marriage, vote bank and reservation, don’t we? however, the fact is that caste is present in everything we see, hear, smell and touch. caste operates in the residential neighborhood we live in, classrooms we studied, in our words, language, tone, and accent, our attires, places and forms of worship, our access to public resources, among our friends, colleagues and so on. the list is endless in which caste molds us knowingly or unknowingly. our entire life revolves around it, yet we never engage with caste; why is that? it is ironic and baffling that we are consumed by caste but barely acknowledge its presence. however, here in this letter, i would like to talk to you about one such area where the presence of caste is brutal and gut-wrenching. if we have to walk through a lane of introspection, i would like you to think along with me in the following lines: why do vast sections of society survive on others’ leftover food? how did something as elementary as food decide who is treated as human and who is not? why are human beings reduced to an extent where they fight with animals for a bare living and survival? why do people rummage in the garbage to eat half-rotten food? if this was an issue concerning the past, why are the children beaten (to death) for drinking water in schools? (the hindu 2022), why do they have to purify the well after the dalits1 use it? (the wire 2022). the list is painful and endless, but i would like to start by highlighting a few aspects. caste in food just look around us; are we not surrounded by different cuisines, from different cultures to different regions? why don’t you and i come across dalit cuisine(s)?2 for the dalit communities, it is not just flavors, spices and different cooking styles but digesting caste and trauma on a plate. goody writes that history has never been so blood-soaked and stained with violence as that of caste on a plate. because these histories of food carry generations of pain and cuisines forged through centuries of oppression. dalit cuisines are neither popular nor common because mainstream3 cuisines fail to acknowledge their existence. this is also one of the oldest ways caste thrives, as a tool of invisibility and silencing (kader n.d.). despite being consumed by caste, this probably answered our previous question about why we do not engage with caste. the mainstream fails to recognize the dalit communities’ food habits, not only 1dalit implies those who have been broken, ground down, by those above them in an active and a deliberate way (zelliot 1978). 2it refers to the plurality of the cuisines consumed by dalit communities all over the country. 3considered normal, and having or using ideas, beliefs etc. that are accepted by most people (cambridge dictionary, n.d.). psychology of caste in food: a letter to my upper caste friend 261 the food that is not acknowledged but also the people and communities. is it not our collective failure to resonate with the pain of a larger section of society? rajyashri’s (goody n.d.) art explores every day and historical instances of dalit resistance. her writings capture tracing dalit writers’ memories of food. for examples, bhakri4 and cactus pods from prisons we broke by baby kamble (2008). by recreating these recipes, she hopes to reveal to the reader how deep are the roots of caste, which can be noticed in the simplest activity of drinking water or consuming food. jahnavi (uppuleti 2020) writes about roasted winged termites (usillu) as her favorite monsoon snack, a dish relished in the madiga communitya dalit community in telangana which remains hidden from the mainstream narrative. it is important to know our histories, is it not? ghurye writes about the rules and regulations for sharing food or drink. he says that castes can be divided into five groups: first, the twice-born castes; second, those castes at whose hands the twiceborn can take ‘pakka’ food; third, those castes at whose hands the twice-born cannot accept any kind of food but may take water, fourth, castes that are not untouchables yet are such that water from them cannot be used by the twice-born; last, all those castes whose touch defiles not only the twice-born but any orthodox hindu. all food is divided into two classes, kachcha and pakka, the former being any food in which it has been cooked with water and the latter all food cooked in ghee without the addition of water. as a rule, a man will never eat kachcha food unless it is prepared by fellow caste-men, which means a member of his endogamous group, whether caste or subcaste or by his brahmin guru or spiritual guide. a brahmin cannot accept kachcha food from any other caste (ghurye 1969; stevenson 1954; freed 1970). did you know that both non-vegetarianism and vegetarianism were shared among all varnas? sharma writes about how dietary habits are one of the main functions of the caste system. there was not much difference in food habits between ancient aryans5 and anaryans. later, the same food habits became the major grounds for untouchability. they lost their social prestige when upanishadic6 and buddhist7 criticism was directed at brahmin8 supremacy. on account of this, they began restructuring their social structure to gain lost social prestige. the killing of cows and beef-eating were widespread among all varnas,9 and brahmins, the biggest meat eaters, imposed restrictions on these food habits to secure their social prestige. the sudras10 were allowed to consume only the flesh of the dead animals, which was later declared 4hand-beaten bread (sen 2019). 5of or relating to hypothetical ethnic type illustrated by or descended from early speakers of indo-european languages (merriam webster, n.d.). 6philosophical religious texts of hinduism; also known as sanatan dharma meaning eternal order or eternal path (world history encyclopedia 2020). 7someone who practices buddhism, the religion based on teachings of buddha (vocabulary, n.d.). 8a hindu of the highest caste traditionally assigned to priesthood (merriam webster, n.d.). 9according to hindu scriptures refers to classification of people based on their qualities (yogapedia 2023). 10a hindu of lower caste traditionally assigned to menial occupations (merriam webster, n.d.) 262 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the most hateful food and ex-communicated from the entire society. the brahmin was the chief of the society and a priest to the men. he was the ruler of the rulers. animal sacrifice was compulsory in yajnas,11 and it was performed at the disposal of brahmin priests. the meat was distributed among everyone, and a considerable portion was given to the priest. meat eating was popular among all varnas from the vedic age to the sudra period. it is argued that there were butcher houses for killing cows in various places during the vedic ages. in vedas, there are examples of cow killing and beef eating. there is a provision for cow killing in rig veda for agni and indra devas. during the vedic age, the kshatriya soldiers wore animal skin. there are mentions of meat consumption in the ramayana and mahabharata. sharma provides evidence with the verses from the mentions found in the above-mentioned holy books. the family who used to do yajna could only obtain a small portion of the animal’s flesh. the brahmin also performed the duty of a butcher. when buddha came and revolted against the brahmanical social order, the system of yajnas, and animal sacrifices, it was a massive blow to the social prestige of the brahmins. king ashoka banned the killing of animals. the reformation introduced religious texts and banned meat eating to restore the once-lost social prestige. sudras were banned because their conditions were deplorable and also for the food practices. the only food left at their disposal was the flesh of dead animals (sharma 2003; khare 1966; ambedkar 2009). dr. bhimrao ramji ambedkar is considered as a stalwart for social justice and the one who worked tirelessly for the emancipation of dalits. ambedkar (1948) stated that the broken men were buddhists. they did not revere the brahmins, did not employ them as their priests, and regarded them as impure. on the other hand, the brahmin disliked the broken men because they were buddhist and preached against them with contempt and hatred, resulting in them being regarded as untouchables. if a brahmin comes in contact with a buddhist or enters the buddhist temple, a purificatory bath is advised for the brahmins as manu12 prescribes. the broken men hated the brahmins because they were enemies of buddhism, and the brahmins imposed untouchability on them because they would not leave buddhism. the roots of untouchability lie in the hatred and contempt that the brahmins created against those who were buddhist. beef eating is considered to be the root cause of untouchability. this divides hindus into vegetarians and flesh eaters. it also divides hindus into those who eat cows and those who do not—the touchables, whether vegetarians or flesh eaters divide on the front of not consuming beef. there is abundant evidence from the scriptures, especially in rig veda,13 suggesting that the aryans consumed beef. a detailed analysis of the sacrifices involving cows and oxen was laid down, but the description was not restricted to the 11a hindu ritual that has been performed since ancient times in which agni deva, the fire god, acts as a medium between man and the gods. it is performed in front of fire and vedic mantras are chanted. it is a sanskrit word meaning worship, sacrifice or offering (yogapedia 2023). 12the progenitor of the human race and giver of religious laws of manu according to hindu mythology (merriam webster, n.d.) 13the foremost and oldest collection of vedic sanskrit hymns (merriam webster, n.d.) psychology of caste in food: a letter to my upper caste friend 263 sacrifices; it had a detailed analysis of what kind of cows and oxen were sacrificed and to what deities they had to be offered. ambedkar says that hindu society is stratified into three sections: one is those who are vegetarian, two, who eat flesh but do not eat cow flesh, and finally, some eat flesh, including cow’s flesh. they are classified as brahmins, non-brahmins and untouchables. having walked through the dark alley lanes of history, which are kept hidden, it is important to know why we equate brahmins to oppressors/historically privileged. they are the epicenter of the caste ecosystem. thus, communities closer to this epicenter have better social standing than those who do not share the same closeness. closeness here refers to the services provided to the brahmins. madhavan (2003) writes that caste representation and writing culture in the colonial system represent the brahminical self-perception of caste, which has been made as a frame of reference and incorporated into ethnocentric judgements. the nairs, who are soldiers, always take arms and serve the king according to his command and will. their proximity to brahmans gave them recognition, and the nairs imitated the rites and customs of the brahmans. moreover, this closeness translated to the physical space that each occupied in the proximity of brahmins. in the context of kerala, there were prescribed distances that each person had to follow. for example, a nayar may approach a brahmin but must not touch him, a tiyan must keep a distance of 36 steps from brahmin and pulayars, and parayars must keep a distance of 96 steps from brahmins (ghurye 1969). each community increased their social standing and status based on how close they were to brahmins, and the greater the distance from brahmins, the lower the social standing and position occupied in the society. everything done by the brahmins was seen as an act of reverence by the rest of the society. the food practices, the attire, ways of worship and so on. we must ask ourselves an important question, keeping historical and contemporary times in mind: why were the brahmins revered so much? because they were the temple priests, closest to god. ambedkar stated that every other caste is an imitation of brahmanism. the psychological interpretation is given in castes in india: their mechanism, genesis and development (ambedkar 2020) on why the subcastes were endogamous and self-closed because brahmins were so. he addressed it as ‘the injection of imitation’. the proclivity to imitate is ingrained in the human mind and need not be considered an insufficient explanation for the formation of castes. ambedkar quotes walter bagehot and gabriel tarde on how imitation is not a conscious or voluntary process and flows from higher to lower. the details of brahmin food are not discussed in this letter. instead, the mental makeup that the medium of food facilitates in continuing the oppressor’s/historically privileged mindset is espoused. untouchability is best carried out in urban and rural spaces through this powerful yet subtle medium. we have all come across house rental signs boldly inviting ‘only vegetarians’. the extent to which everyone else adjusts to accommodate brahmins or the vegetarian sentiment is high in every social setting. a few examples are announcing prior if containers are non-veg, asking 264 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 permission to continue eating if it is not a problem, going to restaurants that only serve vegetarian even if only one member of the group prefers it, teachers and school/ college management ordering students not to bring non-vegetarian food to respect the sentiments of vegetarians, and workspaces issuing notices asking employees not to consume non-veg in the office premises (johari 2014). the list is endless. brahmanical hegemony dictates certain practices as the supreme norm, and the rest of the society, who do not belong to the brahmin community, is expected to follow suit. the question being posed here is, how does that sense of superiority possessed by the oppressor/historically privileged community transcend to the internalization of every non-brahmin caste and religion? furthermore, how blatantly does the medium of food operate to maintain hegemony in the attitudes and behavior of what one eats? drawing on the conceptual framework of the psyche of the oppressor (sophan & nair 2023), this framework indicates a few factors, such as delusion of caste superiority, socially favored caste behavior and intergenerational transmission of caste attitudes. the upcoming sections will elaborate on the factors in relation to food and how it contributes to the psyche of the oppressor/ historically privileged. delusion of caste superiority did you know that brahmin vegetarianism is a very elastic concept? dolphijn (2006) writes that in communities living closer to the sea, kerala and bengali brahmins consume fish as part of their diet. kashmiri brahmins refrain only from pork and beef; chicken and mutton are mainly considered acceptable. the vegetarian diet of the brahmins is interpreted as a result of their exclusion from physical labor. their food was primarily limited to saatvik food. it refers to natural and good food for the soul: food without warm elements such as meat (rajasik food) and poisonous elements like garlic and alcohol (tamasik food). the problem is not with communities having their own food preferences; it becomes problematic only when the historically privileged caste imposes its dietary restrictions on other members. the prevalent brahmanical hegemony gives them an edge to showcase the kind of universality in concepts of good and bad. they judge not only their own actions but also the actions of other caste groups. the rules of morality can be seen in the bhagavad gita;14 ilaiah interprets it as a brahmanical work. in this, we can see moral regulations on dietary habits. tasty, rich, substantial food (saatvik) is loved by the man of goodness, while pungent, sour, salty heated foods (rajasik) are loved by the man of passion. tamasik food is described as spoiled, tasteless, putrid, stale, and filthy and is loved by the man of darkness. tamasik food is also said to cause pain, misery, and sickness. the brahmin caste defined their saatvik food as good and considered the rest as bad. saatvik food stands at the center of society. at the same time, rajasik and tamasik are pushed to the margins, which translates to the vegetarian menu standing at the center of society. in contrast, the nonvegetarian menu is banished to its peripheries. 14hindu devotional work in a poetic form (merriam webster, n.d.) psychology of caste in food: a letter to my upper caste friend 265 similarly, thomas (2020) calls iisc the iyer iyengar science campus. she states that vegetarianism in india cannot be considered only as a choice and preference because there have been reported cases of discrimination of what one eats and cases reported on the existence of separate wash basins and entrances for vegetarians and nonvegetarians. iisc has three major dining halls (mess): a mess is a pure vegetarian, b mess is for north indian vegetarians and non-vegetarians, and c mess is for south indian vegetarians and non-vegetarians. when enquired about the purpose of a mess when b and c mess offered vegetarian food, it was said that ‘a mess is brahmanical, it is only for brahmins, a mess is an agraharam’.15 it is important to understand the role that food plays in maintaining the concepts of purity and pollution. béteille (2011) writes on rather stringent rules for the exchange of food and water among different caste groups. it is said that superior castes gave food to inferior castes but they did not accept from them. it is important to introspect why the restriction was even in place, what does it imply? in ancient and contemporary times, assertion of superiority for a group of people had to be emanated in all their practices through rituals, endogamy, social interaction and exchange of food and water as ghurye had stated earlier, but down the line, when there is no more threat or one need not try to assert superiority, the food itself became the statement of superiority and anyone who consumed had that status and individuals/communities who differed faced the repercussions too. guru (2019) provides an example of certain cooked foods and how they create cultural hierarchies within social groups. he gives the example of shreekhand,16 puri and deshi ghee came to be exclusively associated with brahmins by the subaltern/dalit perception. chigateri (2008) stated that food hierarchy in india goes from vegetarianism to meat eating (no beef) to beef eating. the superior ethic of vegetarianism is combined with the values of non-violence that continue to frame the discourse around food practices in india. thus, we can see how the delusion of caste superiority is maintained alive in food and scriptures, aiding in the continuation of brahminical hegemony. it adds that it is not about an individual’s choice or preferences. by maintaining vegetarian superiority as a food culture, it continues to ignore the pluralities of the country, push the rest of the communities into the peripheries, and stigmatize them for their culture and history. it also captures how it is carried out in reputed educational institutions. socially favored caste behavior and intergenerational transmission of caste attitudes can adherence to a vegetarian diet be a product of conformity? young children tend to conform rather than confront, even when they are young as two. researchers li, britvan, and tomasello (2021) write that children are expected to learn the physical and social realities to become functioning members of society. young children continue to 15brahmin settlements where houses are lined on either side of the road, one end of the road would be a shiva temple and the other end would be vishnu temple (wikipedia 2023) 16an indian sweet dish of strained yogurt (wikipedia 2024) 266 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 learn norms, conventions, and rituals for reasons such as identification and affiliation with members of their culture. they are motivated to act conventionally. this explains how human groups can transmit cultural practices over generations. how else will these practices pass down generations and stand the test of time if not for young children not motivated to acquire them? it was found that children conformed more to norms than to preferences. children protest against transgressors and tattle about transgressors to observers. this indicates that children are committed to upholding norms even above their self-interest. socially favored behavior translates to unquestioned idealorienting behavior. in the case of food habits, an interplay between intergenerational transmission of caste attitudes and socially favored caste behavior is seen at large. jingxiong et al. (2007) shows that, for young children, the most influencing factor with respect to eating habits is obtained from their immediate social context, which is their family. the family eating environment includes parents’ actual child-feeding practices, their dietary habits, and the beliefs and attitudes they convey verbally. parental influences can be transmitted directly (through the food served) and indirectly (behavioral models and social norms) to children. children’s food practices are also determined by parents’ dietary comments and restrictions employed. thorat and lee (2005) cite the example of a child from a dalit community who was denied food in a mid-day meal scheme (mms) because of her background. at the same time, her classmates did not face issues because they were from dominant castes; another instance brought to attention is in the government-run public distribution system (pds), where shop owners belonging to dominant castes do not distribute goods to customers from dalit community before a cloth screen is hung out. the localities in which mid-day meals are served regarding village caste geography constitute a vital factor in determining access to children from the dalit community; if placed in a dominant caste locality, it becomes difficult and threatening. opposition to cooks from the dalit community is one of the most common blatant incidents that reminds the country of the cutthroat nature of caste. a few examples include local administrators blocking the hire of cooks from the dalit community; if cooks have been hired from the said community, then dominant caste parents send the children with lunch boxes, and these same parents pressure the administration to dismiss the cook when these steps do not result in favorable results, such as dominant caste parents’ campaign to shut down mms programme in school. alternatively, they take steps to withdraw the child from school or admit them to a different school where the cook is not from a dalit community. what do we understand by this? is it the parents or children having an issue? if children have an issue, where is it stemming from? this proves the intergenerational transmission of casteist attitudes and how children learn socially favored caste behavior. conclusion in this letter, i have attempted to walk you through an introspective lane of how caste in food shrouds us regularly. we considered the historical details of kachha and psychology of caste in food: a letter to my upper caste friend 267 pakka food and social restriction within caste groups. we saw that beef eating was a widespread practice among all varnas and how it was given up by social elites to regain social prestige. the cow was then used as a symbol of sacredness, worth, and protection. this is very well discussed by babasaheb ambedkar and other anti-caste scholars. i hope that after reading this letter, you will continue to have an open heart and mind to read and engage with anti-caste literature, have dialogues and discussions among your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, and community members and identify areas (food, language, attire, tradition, knowledge production, etc.) in which brahmanical hegemony is upheld and how we can collectively work towards dismantling the system. i would like to conclude this letter with a translated telugu poem, ‘goddu maamsam’ by digumarthi suresh kumar (smcs channel 2015). “when its udders were squeezed and milked, you did not feel any pain at all. when it was stitched into a chappal, you stamped underfoot and walked, you did not feel hurt at all. when it rang as a drum at your marriage and your funeral, you did not suffer any blows. when it sated my hunger, beef became your goddess?”. references ambedkar, b.r. 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(1978). “dalit”-new cultural context for an old marathi word. journal of developing societies, 11, 77. © 2023 k. kalyani. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.679 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 213-229 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste repertoires of anti-caste sentiments in the everyday performance: narratives of a dalit woman singer k. kalyani1 abstract understanding dalit women through their lifeworld and life-narratives enables one to understand the caste relations that they negotiate with in their everyday life. resistance in the everyday life of dalit women includes how they challenge the existing public spaces, cultural norms, and practices through the creation of a ‘subaltern counterpublics’ space. this space involves collective actions like popular writing, singing, theatrics, etc., to confront the ‘normalised’ caste relationship that prevails within indian society. the cultural performance becomes the narrative of this counterpublics space in which they intend to reassert their lost identity and dignity. the emergence of alternative public spaces is ‘significant and a necessary condition for democracy’. for dalit women cultural performers, the everyday resistance practices are deeply embedded in the creation of an alternative worldview, a counterpublics, that both represent their ‘world of (caste) experience’ as well as becomes a space to ‘talk-back’ about their exclusion and humiliation. this article through an ethnographic account, has engaged with a dalit woman cultural performer and her lifeworld. the article aims to explore the meanings, practices, and challenges that she faces in her anti-caste resistance. keywords cultural performance, resistance, everydayness, lifeworld, dalit woman, birha introduction i begin this article with an anecdotal reference of my respondent and popular dalit birha singer malti rao. one fine day, amidst the presence of other activists during a cultural program on ambedkar jayanti, dalit mission singer malti rao sang her famous birha song: 1assistant professor, school of arts and sciences, azim premji university, bengaluru, india email: kalyani.official.5@gmail.com 214 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 na rab ne diya hai, na paigambar ne diya hai, jo kuch bhi diya hai wo ambedkar ne diya hai babasaheb bhimrao ka issara tha, kisi garib ko haq dilana agar bagawat hai, to bagi naam hai mera, bagawat naam hai mera, mita do julm ki hasti, yahi paigam hai mera. (i have not been bestowed upon by any god; whatever i have is because of ambedkar’s effort. he was the one who stood for us. he was the revolutionary who believed in helping the poor and needy. i stand in solidarity with his revolution, and i like and appreciate his spirit.) the song was sung by malti rao in a piercing loud voice, with full use of body language and establishing eye contact with her listeners. the song reflected not just pure aesthetics but resistance as well; to deny the dominant caste-social order that has rendered dalit women like her vulnerable. songs were a way of her everyday expression that unfolded her desirability and anti-caste passion. the lifeworld of many dalit women is often narrated in their ethnographic narratives, autobiographies, translations, anecdotes, memories, musical performances, etc., to mention a few. the narratives told in such writings and performances reflect upon the real-life stories and their everyday struggles. it enables the readers/viewers to gradually unfold the struggle and challenges that many of these writers, artists, have undergone due to the caste location in which they are embedded. a study of their lifeworld through autobiographies, memories, ethnographic studies are methodologically significant ways in which dalit women’s struggle, resistance, and everydayness can be unfolded. the performance of dalit songs, poetry, and theatrical performances also reflects a critical take on the existing upper-caste cultural practices. for instance, many of the songs are written and performed in a manner that critically highlights the ‘flaws’ of the dominant culture. the performers engaged in such cultural productions are deeply embedded in the process of cultural production that has a sense of ‘reflexivity’, thereby allowing them to critically assess the dominant and hegemonic cultural practices. the ‘everyday soundscape’ has the potential to ‘bring together shared experiences of displacement, racism and social exclusion’ (bennett 2005: 118). for dalit women singers, their engagement with music and writings has been a source to ‘talk-back’ to the structures of caste and also to recast their identity. the dalit cultural performances also bring up a dialectical relationship with the dominant culture. the cultural performance has a counter-narrative to the existing dominant caste social order. this dominant upper-caste social order is questioned in terms of its myths, history, and traditional practices. the oeuvre of cultural performance is much more than the material aspect of culture. the emergence of new-popular spaces is intervening in the existing cultural forms and practices, thereby destabilizing its legitimacy and authority. in adorno’s term, this ‘culture industry’ in a true sense not only accommodates new forms and practices of a culture, but it also resists against those repertoires of anti-caste sentiments in the everyday performance 215 mainstream, dominant culture that is already well integrated within the social system. it is interesting to see how in popular cultural spaces the emergence of reflexive writings and cultural performances have created a new worldview for dalits, that is enabling them to reclaim dignity. this article aims to explore a dalit woman’s lifeworld and worldview, and the meanings that they associate with their involvement in cultural programs. an ethnographic account of cultural performers reveals their motivation or trigger for them to be part of the anti-caste movement. furthermore, an in-depth engagement with their lived experience unfolds to us the role of micro social structures like family, marriage, etc., in the anti-caste resistance. melucci has discussed that the everyday practices assume a form of ‘articulated system of decision-making, negotiation, and representation in which signifying practices developed in everyday life can be expressed and heard independently of the formal political institution’ (melucci 1993: 188). the ethnographic account of dalit-women-cultural performers can also help explore the dynamic relationship between the everyday lived experiences of performers and the anti-caste movement. theoretical framework an engagement with lived experience allows one to understand the ‘tacit practices’ through which everyday reality unfolds itself. many such everyday practices include talking, reading, moving about, singing, etc., to mention a few (certeau 1984; johansson & vinthagen 2020). the act of resistance in such everyday practices might be small, scattered, or tacit but they are significant in questioning the power structures. scott (1985) in his discussion about the ‘ordinary class struggle’ has talked about the significance of ‘small events’ in bringing long-term political changes. he has explored the potential of everyday confrontation that can be detrimental to hegemonic class structure. scott’s theoretical position is significant to understand how the ‘weak’ challenge the dominant structure. the work by johansson and vinthagen is also a significant theoretical guide to understand a lesser engaged concept of ‘everyday resistance’. their theoretical approach is important to consider how structure and agency have worked in a different context to shape historical social change. the everyday resistance is thereby a dynamic concept that needs to be understood beyond the existing historical frameworks by looking into micro-social structures and processes. this article has engaged with narratives of dalit women singers to study how their narratives and songs are imbued within the everyday resistance against caste structure. the other theoretical framework which this article seeks to explore is the ‘counterpublics’ discourse that dalit women have created through their narratives and singing. the term ‘subaltern counterpublics’ was coined by nancy fraser where she has discussed the discursive arenas that develop parallel to the official public sphere. ‘subaltern counterpublics’ support revisionist historiography. it generates ‘counterdiscourses’ that permit the formulation of oppositional interpretation of 216 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 subaltern identities, interests, and needs (fraser 1990: 67). interestingly, fraser has discussed the emergence of counterdiscourses in the late twentieth century through the emergence of an ‘array of journals, bookstores, festivals...’ etc. (ibid.: 67). the emergence of counterpublics is particularly significant in a multicultural society that is stratified through the structural relations of dominance and subordination. in the indian context, the structures of dominance and subordination are largely determined through caste relationships (ambedkar 2014; guru 2002; thorat 2009). for dalit women, the ‘counterdiscourse’ is the rejection of the hegemony of the dominant caste social order that has sanctified caste practices. their songs have anti-caste themes and an alternative worldview of cultural practices. through an ethnographic narrative, the article has tried to explore the music as one of the facets of ‘counterpublics’ that dalit women exhibit as their everyday resistance against the caste structure. the act of singing for dalit women is their effort to create an alternative worldview, revisionist historiography in which they can re-imagine an anticaste worldview. methodology ethnography is an important methodological tool to understand a culture and its representations. it allows the researcher to engage with the field in a much more nuanced and engaging way. clifford has argued that: “ethnography is powerfully situated between powerful systems of meanings. it poses its questions at the boundaries of civilisations, cultures, classes, races, and genders. ethnography decodes and recodes, telling grounds of collective order and diversity, inclusion and exclusion. it describes processes of innovation and structuration, and itself part of these processes” (clifford 1986: 2). for dalit women performers, their narratives uniquely decode the cultural practices and the symbols of political resistances that are imbued in their everyday life. their engagement with the cultural space re-structures their traditionally ascribed position as doubly-marginalized dalit women, by giving them voice and agency to express their conventionally silenced voice. ethnography as a methodological approach becomes even more significant when the research involves engaging with the women’s question (lughod 2000; stacey 1991; visweswaran et. al. 1994). stacey argues that women’s ethnography has its strength as it gives research ‘subjects’ greater respect, thereby making them ‘full collaborators’ in feminist research (stacey 1991: 112). an ethnographic study was significant to this article as it helped to understand the anti-caste resistance through an everyday engagement of artists and participants of anti-caste activists. clifford (1986), in his methodological engagement with ethnography has discussed how ethnography can decode and recode the meanings that exist in a culture. the engagement with a dalit woman through ethnography helped this research to understand the subtle layers of caste practices that are prevalent in society, and how dalit women have tried to cope with it in their creative ways. the access to the field repertoires of anti-caste sentiments in the everyday performance 217 has allowed for a better understanding of cultural nuances by connecting with people who are the bearers of the culture. the cultural performances have given unique insights into the research to learn about cultural meanings and cultural significance. lughod (2000) has argued that ethnography allows one to engage with the social and cultural richness of the field. the ‘thick and thin’ description in ethnography allows the researcher to move from ‘local, to personal, to national’. the ethnographic account of a dalit woman singer in this article has allowed the understanding of a dalit woman’s positionality across the historical and socio-cultural spectrum. the ethnographic richness of a dalit woman narrative has made the understanding of her lifeworld more accessible for this research. the study of lifeworld within sociology can be seen as a methodological shift in sociological inquiry as it intends to study the ‘world of experience’ (erfahrungswelt). it is a subjective inquiry into one’s life and his/ her experience. husserl, who is the pioneer of the concept of lifeworld understands it as a ‘world of experience’, something that is ignored, taken-for-granted and is considered as obvious. husserl through his understanding of the ‘lifeworld’ has tried to contrast the lifeworld, which is determined by experience, to that of science. he argues that the world of science is premised as something concrete, objective and true but it is not so. according to husserl, it is the lifeworld that is governed by experience; it is what is true, real, and concrete. the lifeworld is determined by subjective and intersubjective characteristics. for husserl, the concept of lifeworld means ‘a thickly experienced context of embodied human acting and knowing that is not completely surveyable, not fully objectifiable and which has an inescapably intertwined and intersubjective character’ (moran 2012: 181). exploring the narratives has special significance for the dalit community. dalit history has remained unaccounted, and their history and culture have been that of erasure. narratives, autobiographical writings, ethnographic accounts, are thus some of the significant ways through which history telling can happen. kumar (2010) has discussed the absence of dalit autobiographical writings till the late twentieth century. its emergence gradually through writings of omprakash valmiki (joothan), vasant moon (vasti), laxman mane (upara), among others has been important to account for dalit ‘self’. for dalit women the very act of discussing life narratives has been important to question the structures of caste and patriarchy, thereby discussing their double-marginalisation. the field-based research involved long-drawn conversations with my respondent over a period of time. i visited my respondent during different cultural events. initially, the conversation was formal but during the course of my interaction, i built a rapport with her that helped me conduct an in-depth conversation. her caste experience was strongly intertwined with her everydayness. the selection of my respondent was through snowballing. during my frequent visit to sites of cultural events, i came to know about her popularity among the masses. she was also popular through social media networks and had her youtube channel as well. her songs are widely circulated through cds, mobile music, and stage performances. the other reason that made me choose her as my respondent was because of her ability to connect with the 218 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 masses and their strong anti-caste determination. my respondent would connect with the audience even after their performance and she would ensure that her thoughts and ideas made sense to people in real-time. i established contact with her through connecting with her peer groups and organizers. my meetings with her initially were at the sites of cultural events but eventually she became more comfortable with me which enabled me to have a more personalized conversation with her. while there were several other popular singers that the research work might have as well looked into, but to ensure more focused and in-depth inquiry, i limited this research to one respondent. respondent malti rao is from ambedkar nagar, uttar pradesh. she is a birha singer and is wellknown for her musical performances. she runs her youtube channel and has also published several cds and vcds. during my interaction, i found her narrative very powerful and embedded in her everyday lived experiences. she had her life narratives and her unique ways of resisting caste oppression. my interaction with her involved questions on their caste experiences, the role of family and peer-group in voicing resistance against caste, the challenges that they faced to access cultural spaces, and the meanings they derived from their performances. the research involved narrative analysis to understand how they expressed their lifeworld. narrative analysis as riessman (2003) has argued is about sharing the experience by constantly moving back and forth in understanding the totality of reality. it is more than just storytelling as it allows for the re-imagination of lived experience through a more personalised account. it is thus a critical engagement with one’s own self in this process of narrativizing. the narrative analysis allows that the interviews conducted in the process of study are not just about the spoken part, but it involves microanalysis by looking into language, how the narrative is told, and other micro inquiries that can reflect more about the narrative beyond the obvious. analysis revisiting childhood memories during interaction, i found that childhood experience of exclusion and discrimination was something that my respondent began with. she explained her childhood experiences in detail. her discriminations were both in subtle and overt forms. the responses of my respondent discussing her childhood exclusion were part of the shared collective exclusion that the dalit community has faced for centuries, particularly when they try to access the educational space. it is important to note that dalit students are often marginalized in institutions like schools and are relegated as inferior. the question of ‘merit’ is often hurled at them. malti was born in ambedkar nagar in a village, pakri rasoipur, uttar pradesh. she is educated and she had completed her master’s degree. her childhood memories repertoires of anti-caste sentiments in the everyday performance 219 of getting excluded from social and cultural events at school made her commitment to sing anti-caste songs stronger. she said that she has been active in the ambedkar mission from an early age, from 2003 onwards. she expressed her desire to continually associate with the vision of the mission to spread awareness among people to establish an anti-caste society. her narrative reflected her engagement with the anti-caste struggle very early in her life due to the exclusionary caste structures that she was subjected to. her association with ‘mission’ was influenced by reading the works of dr. ambedkar and other anti-caste leaders. history of caste exclusion caste violence is an experiential reality that dalit women have to face in their everyday life. the forms of this caste violence are manifold, and it unfolds in tangible and subtle ways as well. the forms of violence that dalit women are subjected to include, rape, untouchability, exclusion, molestation, domestic violence, etc. the experiences of violence have relegated the position of dalit women to infirmity. the violence they face is not just at a personal level but at the ‘collective’ level as well. the ‘collective violence’ often manifests itself in the state’s apathy to account for such violence. the episode of collective violence is discussed in the works of teltumbde (2008), where he has talked about the episode of khairlanji violence of maharashtra. the gruesome brutality that dalit women were subjected to was due to the caste apathy that had prevailed in the region. the khairlanji episode involved the rape of dalit women and burning of dalit ghettos. the experience of such violence is often unfolded through the narratives of women. their experience of violence is a consequence of social reality emanating out of a dalit women’s positionality within a caste society. malti would often start her conversations by narrating her journey since childhood and the sense of exclusion and violence she faced due to her caste identity everywhere. the songs sung by malti were not per se about the violence faced by dalit women, but the songs were an important aspect to raise anti-caste consciousness among dalit women for the kinds of atrocities that they are subjected to. it gave them a sense of belongingness and consciousness about social justice. resistance has been a significant means for dalit women to come out of their experiences of violence. malti said that her association with the cultural movement led by babasaheb (ambedkar) has allowed her to step out of her inhibitions about their caste identity. she has openly distanced herself from the ascribed caste identity and has taken up buddhism as the mode of emancipation. dalit music has been an important medium in which this re-working of identities has been meaningfully realized (kalyani 2020). merrian (1964) has argued that the study of music is a way to study human behavior itself. its production is culturally located and hence a study of music can tell us the complex activities, ideas, and object that are embedded within the culture. the narrative that has unfolded through malti’s music thus provides some significant insight into the dalit woman experiences of emerging from violent social structures. 220 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 invocation of socio-cultural icons the narratives of dalit women carry a special admiration for social icons. these revered icons included jyotiba phule, savitribai phule, babasaheb ambedkar, manywar kanshiram, sant gadgeji maharaj, sant ravidas, sahuji maharaj, to mention a few. the emancipation that dalit women faced were echoed in the way they felt closely associated with these icons. social icons and their personalities have been important in the construction of a cultural milieu, which is inclusive and discusses the emancipation of dalit women. malti emphasizes her songs-of-resistance were a way to find herself and her identity, it was a space for an alternative anti-caste worldview, where she will have a dignified and humane position. malti discussed in detail the icons and socio-cultural movements that motivated her to move ahead. the women icons are a sobriquet with terms of sisterhood like bahen (sister) or mata (mother). this reflects the sense of solidarity and empathy that goes along with the cultural resistance for social change. the icons that she discussed during her conversation are celebrated during cultural programs and are part of collective social imagination. these icons are revered, and they have their unique historical trajectories of the anti-caste struggle. the icons are also a cultural artifact that is used in graphic art like in calendar art, wall painting, t-shirts, etc. famous oneliners from the icons are also written on these cultural artifacts. the cultural production surrounding the icons in the form of booklets, artworks, etc., are also important aspects worth mentioning. the reverence shown towards socio-cultural icons was more than just political gratification for malti rao as she said, our cultural programs are very different from political programs. our programs are intended to unite our society and to make them understand our mission of buddhism and ambedkarism. i feel deeply associated with babasaheb, mata savitri bai phule, narayana guru, shahuji maharaj. they are an integral part of my songs and i consider them my ideal. they have stood for the cause and not 33 crores (hindu) god and goddesses. i don’t consider them. it was interesting to see how despite being embedded in party politics, malti demarcated political icons and socio-cultural icons. she strongly felt that while politics has been an enabling experience and it has spread the reach of socio-cultural icons, it couldn’t be the end goal per se. the ultimate goal for her was to experience an anti-caste worldview in which she can reclaim her dignity. the socio-cultural icons from history have given a different alternative view to understanding history. for instance, works of jyotiba phule have also reimagined the existing myths and questioned the authority of the upper caste by discussing how in the mythical narrative there is a deliberate attempt to silence and demean the voice of the lower caste. similarly, ambedkar in his writings has discussed the history by taking repertoires of anti-caste sentiments in the everyday performance 221 into consideration the oppressive caste structure that persisted. in his work revolution and counter-revolution, he has discussed how in ancient society the brahminical rituals and practices were aimed to bring a social order that was devoid of the principle of social justice. the manusmriti has given sanctity to the varna hierarchy in a way that it has positioned human beings with shudras and ati-shudras at the bottom of the hierarchy (baws, 1987: 25). social icons like e.v.r. periyar are also well-entrenched in people’s memory for his anti-caste self-respect movement. during my conversation with malti rao, she talked about rationality and debunking irrationality explicitly. in her discussion, she mentioned that she has done away with all hindu idols. even in wall art like calendars and wall paintings she only uses images of socio-cultural icons, whom she reveres. she said that using icons of reverence is a small homage that she can give to her nayak (hero). she also shared her experience through her songs that were deeply embedded in the reverence of social icons. she recalled, ‘since my childhood, i was inclined towards the songs of babasaheb ambedkar. that was the starting point. later, i have sung songs on mata savitribai, kanshi ram saheb as well’. the experience of recalling anti-caste icons is rooted in resistance to annihilate caste and reclaim social dignity. narayan (2006) has argued that the construction of icons and symbols has given dalits a sense of pride and glory. it is an important step to break the upper caste-dominated cultural autonomy by dissenting to accept a subservient position. the celebration of these icons has eventually become part of the ‘collective memory’ that is embedded with liberating and emancipatory messages, and it has been significant in transforming dalit lives (narayan 2006: 27). resistance and ‘recognition’ popular music is an enabling experience for dalit women as it has created a new space in which they can break off from the conventional caste and gender norms that they are subjected to as dalit women. resistance in everyday life has been a significant aspect for dalit women that has enabled them to come out of their experiences of everyday violence and humiliation. malti affirms that her association with the cultural movement led by ambedkar and others has enabled her to step out of her inhibitions about her caste identity. she has openly rejected caste identity and has taken up alternative cultural practices like buddhism, as the mode of emancipation. dalit music, in particular, has been an important aspect in which this re-working of identities has become meaningfully realized. malti’s narrative has explained how she has tried to shake off her caste experience in everyday life by constantly contesting the caste structures in multiple ways. a dalit woman’s music challenges the brahmanical structures by creating ‘new popular music’ by contesting the existing form and content of the music. while the content of music is reworked in terms of alternative history, oral narratives, and myth, the changes in the form of music include a reworking of the spatial and material aspects of the music. 222 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 the ‘new popular forms’ of dalit women’s music have become more publicly visible, louder and dynamic in terms of political content. one can theoretically understand malti’s loudness, upright position, and firmness in songs through guru’s concept of ‘humiliation’. guru (2009) has argued that the act of humiliation is political. the resistance to humiliation thus also needs to be a political act. one needs to openly claim for such resistance rather than hide it. when malti talked with a degree of comfort and confidence about the acts of humiliation that she was subjected to, and her ability to stand against such humiliating experience, she made a political claim. her humiliation was not just internal to her but her act of claiming that she has been humiliated gave her a sense of agency to deny a subservient position, any further. guru also argues that ‘resistance is internal to humiliation. since humiliation does not get defined unless it is claimed, it naturally involves the capacity to protest’ (guru 2009: 18). malti’s response through her cultural practices was her claim to a public space that was historically denied to dalit women like her. for malti, the act of claiming the public sphere through her song was a shift from ‘reductionism to recognition’. guru argues that the desire for ‘recognition’ corresponds to the ‘reduction, rejection, cancellation and annihilation’ that the dalits are subjected to. by ‘reduction’, guru refers to the act of reducing someone to the level of an animal. they are devoid of ‘cultural life’ (ibid.: 211). within the uppercaste framework of ‘reductionism’, dalits are subjected to cultural and political reductionism. guru cites the example of a cow to explain how ‘the four-legged animal is privileged over the human beings’ (ibid.: 212). the reduction of a dalit is about reducing their value to be lesser than an animal or the natural order. in this regard, malti recalled her school experience where her headmaster would often beat her up like an animal. she said, ‘humare masterji meri choti kich ke marte the jaise maveshi ko marte the’ (my teacher would beat me up, holding my braid like a cattle). she further said, ‘i still remember in school when we used to go our teacher would have stricter punishment for us compared to other students. this was very painful’. her imagery of humiliation and getting belittled was close to that of an animal being tamed. the ‘reduction’ of her identity to cattle was a reflection of how dalit women were treated when they tried to access institutional spaces like schools. however, with the rise of anti-caste consciousness to some degree the existing/ mainstream cultural space has become contested. the very act of ‘rejection of rejection’ has allowed for an alternative imagination of the public sphere. the emergence of an alternative cultural space has allowed dalits to transgress from the state of ‘reduction’ to the state of ‘recognition’. popular culture is an important site of ‘recognition’ and reclaiming of identity. it has infused newer meanings into the lives of dalit women in particular. for malti, singing was both passion and resistance. for her, the very act of singing was reclaiming a space that was historically denied to her. during one of her conversations, she said, repertoires of anti-caste sentiments in the everyday performance 223 i often use platforms like facebook and youtube to share widely my songs. i do programs for free to ensure that people know more about them. i only take convenience charge. i do bollywood (songs) for money and i do get money from there. but for mission songs, i take no charge, because it is my ‘payback’ for society. i don’t want to make a business out of my mission dedication. malti’s engagement with singing anti-caste songs was more than just earning money. it is about her struggle to get ‘recognition’. this act of recognition involves rejecting the brahminical social structure and reclaiming spaces of dignity. socialization and peer-group socialization and peer-group played important roles in malti’s life. her narrative has explicitly discussed the significance of micro-social structures like family in supporting women to come out of a domestic space and occupy the public sphere. families have further been an important space for socialization and learning about the social movement. malti too emphasized the significance of family support. for her familial association particularly, post-marriage has been a watershed moment to associate oneself with cultural events. family support and socialization thus has been a critical space of learning as well as re-learning about questions of identity and selfassertion. understanding malti’s association with family and their support in the choices she made was important to unravel their lifeworld. it explained the role of socialisation in resistance. i enquired with malti about how supportive was her family in making the choices that she did? for her the role of family was important as she had adopted buddhism only after her marriage. her husband’s dedication to buddhism also encouraged her to take up buddhism. however, during my conversation, she insisted that she had taken the decision voluntarily and not under family pressure. she added that her adoption of buddhism also encouraged her father to take up buddhism. she said, “when my father came to know about it, he accepted it too. he agreed that the hindu religion had a lot of superstition and irrationality”. she further added that she along with her family now are convinced that the hindu religion is not going to give her a sense of achievement as she felt with buddhism. the inclination towards buddhism by dalit women has emerged out of a ‘collective experience’ of exclusion that they have felt within the dominant religion social order. the social structure of the family has been an important space through which anti-caste consciousness is promoted. the conversion to buddhism is an alternative worldview, a counterpublics, that is taken up by dalit communities. fraser in her discussion on ‘subaltern counterpublics’ has considered it as ‘parallel discursive arenas where the members of subordinated social groups invent and circulate counterdiscourses, which in turn permit them to formulate oppositional interpretations of their identities, interests, and needs’ (fraser 1990: 67). my respondents’ vehement rejection of dominant religion and acceptance of buddhism was a ‘counterdiscourse’ 224 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 through which she imagined an anti-caste society. this gave her a sense of liberation and pride in their identity. malti rao, during her discussion on the family as a space of unlearning and relearning said that her commitment to the bahujan mission has led to a redefinition of the family itself. for her, it is no longer confined to merely conjugal relationships, but it extends to everyone who has a shared consciousness with her, including her audience. while familial socialization was enabling for her, she was not limited by it. the family gave her conducive space to have interactions and associate herself with cultural spaces like programs and meetings. this had opened up new possibilities and avenues for her. malti said that she would have never got the freedom to access her mission if her family would not have supported her. the assertive voice in which she told me her perspective somewhere reflected her equal and collaborative understanding with her husband, instead of being in a submissive relationship. a sense of comradeship with her partner was a significant aspect of the dalit movement which brought her to the active front in the movement. to understand the collective consciousness that facilitated the idea of mission, it is significant to look into social networks like family, peer groups as well as social media networks (digitally connected spaces), that play an important role in boosting their morale. castell (1996) in his discussion on network society has discussed economic organizations and other entrepreneurial ventures that transgress pure economic logic. he defines network-society as, “a society where key social structures and activities are organized around electronically processed information and use electronic-based technologies”. castell, while discussing forms of economic organization argues that these organizations do not develop in a social vacuum and their rootedness to cultural and social institutions cannot be ignored. the network-society for my respondent was significant in keeping up with liked-minded people connected on social media sites and in creating a ‘family-like space’. such social networks were also significant in the production of culture-economy around songs-of-resistance like bhimgeet. malti’s songs are also widely circulated in social media networks dedicated to the anti-caste mission. malti discussed her performance saying, wherever [an] important program used to happen like baudh dharma samelan, ambedkar jayanti, ravidas jayanti, phule sahuji ki jayanti, i am the regular visitor to these programs. i feel a sense of connection with the people. they willfully listen to me and also buy my cds and download my songs. the connection and comradeship with the cultural space explains the significance of network society and peer group in dalit women-led performances. the other significant aspect of the family as the space for re-learning is that it has allowed women to resist caste-based exclusion through their everyday practice. for instance, if a woman has actively occupied the public sphere it is because she has received constant encouragement and freedom to choose her way to express her dissent to the caste structure. in a closed, orthodox indian family this would not have repertoires of anti-caste sentiments in the everyday performance 225 been possible. leela dube (1988, 2000) has reflected on the gender dimension of the family by studying the role of the family in the process of socialization and the social constraints a woman faces within the family. thus, the role of the family becomes important to understand the everyday lived experience of dalit women. beteille has further discussed the role of the family in ‘socialisation of children, particularly in the early years. the family acts in conjunction with otherskin, neighbors and so onin the socialization of child’ (1993: 438). the creation of dalit counterpublics has created a conducive space for family and peer-group to transgress caste identities. the association of women in cultural events is part of the larger socialisation process that they underwent in different phases of their lives. their association with bhimgeet and other cultural associations emanated from their voluntary will to do so, and their family supported such decisions. the experience of the family might have been different for different women; however, it is important to mention that to understand the everydayness of resistance of dalit women, the family is an important institution one needs to engage with. the narrative analysis of malti establishes a positive relationship between family and women who occupied the public sphere through cultural performances. 24 the narrative analysis of malti establishes a positive relationship between family and women who occupied the public sphere through cultural performances. table. 1: conceptual framing of ethnographic narratives table 1 draws out the relationship between different social processes that a dalit woman faces in resisting the caste structure. weber in his discussion on understanding ‗social action‘ and the human agency, has discussed the relationship between social structures and processes and the active engagement of human rationality, that leads to a particular kind of social action (albrow 1990). the social processes that dalit women have been subjected to have enabled them to rationalise their caste experience. social action is a consequence of the anti-caste sentiments that are produced. social action social processes dalit woman (actor) malti rao 1. childhood experiences self-reflexivity 2. historical and epistemological re-thinking cultural assertion 3. emergence of socio-cultural icons reclaiming dignity 4. family socialization social networking 5. recognition challenging humiliation table. 1: conceptual framing of ethnographic narratives table 1 draws out the relationship between different social processes that a dalit woman faces in resisting the caste structure. weber in his discussion on understanding ‘social action’ and the human agency, has discussed the relationship between social structures and processes and the active engagement of human rationality, that leads to a particular kind of social action (albrow 1990). the social processes that dalit women have been subjected to have enabled them to rationalise their caste experience. social action is a consequence of the anti-caste sentiments that are produced. 226 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 according to the ethnographic research, the first social processes that a dalit woman was subjected to are the harsh childhood experiences in institutions like schools or peer groups. this caste-based discrimination has enabled malti to think critically through the structures of caste and how she can stand against the structures of caste as active agents of debunking caste. second, the emergence of anti-caste consciousness has created new ways to read history and production of new knowledge that have been missed out from mainstream discursive practices. for instance, guru has pointed towards, ‘cultural hierarchies that operate through certain academic institutional structures’ and this makes marginalized identity intellectually deprived (guru 2002: 5003). but it is worth mentioning that despite the institutional exclusion of history and narratives of the margins, much of this history and culture is produced and circulated through popular culture.2 for my respondent, the re-thinking of history from the vantage point of the margins has given her a sense of pride, and her act of singing involved cultural assertion. the historical and epistemological rethinking takes place through a critical re-reading of history, the reworking of socio-cultural icons in everyday practices, the celebration of festivals, etc., to mention a few. the production of songs-of-resistance like bhimgeet involves a perspective from the margins. the third social process is the emergence of socio-cultural icons. it has allowed dalit women in particular to reclaim dignity. for instance, my respondent considered the icons as a ‘source of inspiration’. she idealized the icons and wanted to practice their ideology in her everydayness. the other significant social process was family socialization through which she has connected with her community and expressed her solidarity. lastly, the very process of ‘recognition’ of her dalit identity has allowed her to challenge oppressive structures of caste. the challenge to ‘humiliation’ has happened through claiming their identity beyond the structures of caste and by dissociating with the existing social order that has rendered dalit women as untouchable. conclusion an in-depth discussion with my respondent has enabled this article to understand the worldview of dalit women in a more nuanced way. engaging with ethnography as a methodology, allowed the research to open up terrains that were relatively unexplored and unknown. it gave the research better access to dalit woman’s lifeworld that was otherwise not possible. this research interacted with a dalit woman singer to know and learn about the meanings embedded in her cultural practices. these interactions, taken up at multiple sites, helped the research explore the everydayness through her personal narrative and through the association she had with cultural events. life narrative is an important aspect of the performative culture that is witnessed among dalit women. an engagement with life narratives re-centers the question of dalit women and their everyday experience of resisting caste structures. an 2k. kalyani. (2021). ashok vijaydashmi to dhola: national archives, central libraries failed dalit-bahujan history. the print. 10 july. available at:. https://theprint.in/opinion/ashoka-tovijayadashami-national-archives-central-libraries-failed-dalit-bahujan-history/693310/ repertoires of anti-caste sentiments in the everyday performance 227 engagement with life narratives also gives authenticity to the claims of humiliation that dalit women have been historically subjected to (shankar & gupta 2017: 4). the exploration of experience unravels the everyday lifeworld of dalit women and explains what their act of resistance is largely against. mohan (1999) in his discussion on the emergence of the ‘new dalit self’ has argued that claiming agency through dalit movements has given them an alternative ideological orientation. despite some of these accounts that have discussed the significance of engaging with dalit women’s self and their narrative, an ethnographic engagement per se is largely missing from the discursive practices. the focus on unraveling dalit women’s lives is largely done through statistics of violence that they are subjected to, instead of centering the focus on the everyday resistance that they are part of. this article is an ethnographic engagement with the life of a resisting dalit woman who has transgressed the boundaries of pain and has made claims to ‘recognize’ her identity and dignity. within the cultural sphere such claims for dignity are made by oppressed-caste women through narratives like songs, writings, speeches, autobiographies, etc., that are worth engaging with. the cultural reimagination of the anti-caste social order that these women strive for is a significant way to understand their everyday lived experience. this article has specifically focused on a dalit woman singer and her act of singing as the creation of ‘subaltern counterpublics’. the process of singing and narrativizing experience is a culturally significant phenomenon that has contested with the existing caste structure and has certainly disturbed the hierarchy of dominant and subordinate to some degree. references adorno, theodor w. 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(2005). publics and counterpublics. new york: zone books. © 2025 praveen tilakaratne. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.2493doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.2493 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 1 pp. 55-75 april 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste recasting the brahmin: martin wickramasinghe and the epistemic critique of caste praveen tilakaratne1 abstract the dominant public perception is that caste is a matter of minor and diminishing significance in sri lanka, especially for the sinhalese, who form the island’s ethnic majority. although sociological and anthropological studies have pushed back against this perception, its pervasiveness and importance for modern sinhala identity formation have resulted in questions of caste seldom being raised in the field of modern sinhala literature. it is surprising, therefore, that the oeuvre of perhaps the most prolific sinhala writer and public intellectual of the twentieth century, martin wickramasinghe, is checkered with references to caste; particularly, polemics against a “brahmin caste” that he claims is responsible for the maintenance of epistemic hierarchy in sri lanka and beyond. this essay distills wickramasinghe’s caste-text through two illustrative moments, the buddhabiographical novel bava taraṇaya (1973) and the essay “bamuṇukulaya bin ̆da væṭīma” (1956), suggesting that it advances a critique of epistemic stratification and the coloniality of knowledge through the idea of caste, while also contesting the givenness of caste as a category. wickramasinghe’s work is a productive starting point through which an archive of anti-caste thought situated in the sinhala literary sphere yet addressed to a wider humanity might be imagined, since his caste-text illustrates how thinking about caste in and from sri lanka is of value not only for its inhabitants, but also for transnational forms of politics that use caste as a nodal point for the articulation of structural inequalities and injustices that are not vestiges of antiquity but features of colonial modernity. keywords sri lanka, sinhala literature, martin wickramasinghe, caste; buddhism, coloniality, epistemology 1phd candidate, department of comparative literature, cornell university, usa e-mail: wt295@cornell.edu 56 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 introduction: conditions and possibilities questions of caste are seldom raised in the field of modern sinhala literature. provisionally assuming that there is sufficient reason to raise such questions, we might think of this silence as resulting from at least two interlinked epistemic conditions that delimit what is sensible and sayable within the field. the first is the unstated yet normative assumption that sinhala literature is an ethnic—and, therefore, particular— expression of the sinhalese people, who form sri lanka’s ethnic majority. a couple of factors contribute to the continued reproduction of this condition. on the one hand, there is a historically entrenched and not easily overcome incongruity between human universality, which is the basis for theory and philosophy proper and the purview of western man, and anthropic difference that cannot transcend non-western ethnoracial peculiarity and specificity (sakai, 2010). anthropic difference often becomes the basis for the global legibility of non-european peripheral literatures. as a peripheral literature—even within south asia—sinhala literature is ethnically marked. its universalistic impute has to contend with a host of apparently non-universalizable ethnic particularities. on the other hand, sinhala literary expression is frequently forced into a “homolingual structure of address” (sakai, 1997), that circumscribes it within a linguistically and culturally bound unitary community, often in complicity with the sinhala-centric imaginary of the sri lankan nation. this furthers its insularity, inhibiting its cross-cultural and trans-regional comparability, and ultimately, its ability to address itself to the universal. to put it reductively, sinhala literature becomes confined to a limited form of expression from the sinhalese, for the sinhalese, and in the last instance—even if in a roundabout way—about the sinhalese. following from this, it is often the case that the reader of sinhala literature is either ethnically sinhalese, thus falling within this presumed structure of address, or is a “specialist” who is after knowledge about the sinhalese and sri lanka, in which case the structure of address is left undisrupted through the reader’s façade of scholarly neutrality and objectivity. the second condition that inhibits questions of caste is one that qualifies sinhala society itself, predicating it with what, in the words of silva, sivapragasam and thanges (2009), might be called a “comparative castelessness.” that is, there is a persistent popular notion that sinhala society, which is imagined in ideality as a buddhist cultural whole, is impacted far less by caste ideology and hierarchy than two privileged and somewhat necessarily posited points of comparison, hindu india and sri lankan tamil society, which act as foils against which the uniqueness and specificity of sinhala identity are articulated. caste is hereby rendered temporally and spatially external. its presence is registered as a vestige that continues to haunt the quotidian lives of the contemporary sinhalese, as something that can be disavowed and dismissed as anachronistic and incidental to modern sociality, and as an “indian” or “brahminical” influence that is foreign to sinhalese cultural essence. caste studies scholarship on sri lanka, coming mainly from disciplines such as anthropology and sociology, has contested these tropes by showing how caste continues to stratify persons in domains such as education, politics, economics, and marriage. however, owing recasting the brahmin: martin wickramasinghe and the epistemic critique of caste 57 to the comparative norms and empiricist tendencies surrounding the deployment of caste as an analytic category, the academic literature too often repeats the diminished visibility and significance—or at least relative flexibility and porousness—of caste in sri lanka in comparison to india (yalman, 1967, pp. 60-61; stirrat, 1982, pp. 8-9; silva, sivapragasam & thanges, 2009, p. 1). in public culture and literature, however, an air of silence continues to envelope caste. it is curious then, that the body of work of perhaps the most prolific and influential sinhala writer and public intellectual of the last century, martin wickramasinghe (18901976), is checkered with references to caste, including, most strikingly, polemics against a “brahmin caste” (bamuṇu kulaya) that he claims is responsible for the maintenance of rigid epistemic hierarchies both in sri lanka and beyond. yet one looks through his writings in vain for familiar, disciplinary legible, lanka-specific caste categories and names—for example, govigama, karāva, durāva, salāgama—that have been established and elaborated empirically, mainly through sociology, anthropology, and history. the dynamic caste-specific sub-text (hereafter, “caste-text”) that runs through wickramasinghe’s oeuvre runs the risk of appearing shallow and “artha-less”—that is, devoid of meaning and value—from this largely empiricist academic vantage point. at best, his evocation of caste would appear metaphorical, and therefore, bereft of a positive yield that can result in “real” knowledge or actionable politics. my attempt in this essay is to signal ways in which wickramasinghe’s caste-text might be read not as metaphor but as epistemic critique. i argue that this caste-text offers a critique not only of caste hierarchy but also of the epistemic conditions that determine how caste is given as an object of study and category of analysis in relation to sinhalese and broader sri lankan society. wickramasinghe’s caste-text warrants further study, for in addition to seeping into a multitude of other wickramasinghean texts (such as the political economic, the historical, and the religious), it also dynamically evolves over six decades, across a plethora of genres and styles, ranging from novels and short stories to works of criticism and philosophy. for the purposes of this essay, i have chosen two illustrative moments: the buddha-biographical novel bava taraṇaya (1973)1 and a polemical essay titled “bamuṇukulaya bin̆da væṭīma” (1956; “the fall of the brahmin caste”), both from what might be thought of as wickramasinghe’s late period (roughly, 1956 to 1976). characteristic of this late period is wickramasinghe’s turn towards a distinctly iconoclastic style of thought that neither represses nor shies away from ambiguity, fragmentariness, and skepticism: features conducive for epistemic critique and contestation.2 in the following sections, i will first discuss bava taraṇaya, 1the phrase “bava taraṇaya” is not easily translatable into english. bava, in the buddhist philosophical context, might be thought of as the process of becoming, or, as a countable noun, a birth within the cycle of saṃsāra; a contingent and non-transcendent form of being. the novel, however, writes bava not as a religio-philosophical process, but as a socio-political and historical one. taraṇaya can be translated as crossing or overcoming, so the book’s title references the overcoming of bava, that is, the overcoming of socio-politically and historically determined being. 2the “late wickramasinghe” can be distinguished from and contrasted with the “early wickramasinghe,” author of the famous gamperaḷiya trilogy, which is primarily “realist” in style. questions of aesthetic continuity and rupture in wickramasinghe’s oeuvre are beyond 58 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 earmarking a few illustrative episodes, in order to lay out wickramasinghe’s ideas on the sociality of caste in relation to his vision of history, repetition, and revolution, after which, i will turn briefly to “bamuṇukulaya bin̆da væṭīma” to signal possibilities for a broader critique of caste—and the concept of caste—as it pertains to epistemic hierarchies at a global scale. in order to do wickramasinghe’s caste-text justice, it has been necessary to bracket or actively forget the sociological, anthropological, and historiographical discourse on caste in sri lanka, even as this very discourse surreptitiously re-enters and punctuates our reading.3 why wickramasinghe, though? wickramasinghe’s impact on the “sinhalasphere” —that is, the sphere of sinhala linguistic and cultural influence beyond the imagined community of “native” sinhala speakers and the bounds of the nation is hard to overstate. most if not all ideological formations in the sinhalasphere of the second half of the twentieth century were influenced by his work, and divergent political positions sprung from seemingly contradictory strands—or conflicting readings—of his thought (jayanetti, 1977, p. 31; wijesiriwardena, 2021, p. 274). though widely controversial during his lifetime—garnering accusations ranging from anti-nationalism, antibuddhism, and covert christianity to charlatanry and perversion—wickramasinghe was subsequently co-opted into the nation’s narrative and canonized as “heḷayē mahā gatkaru,” or “the great writer of the hela (sinhala) nation.” a necessary condition for the maintenance of this nationally-congruent image is perhaps the proliferation of superficial, prejudiced, and ahistorical readings of his work. complexity, ambiguity, and indeed, perversion, are often cast away and kept out of sight. in terms of national cooptation, the legacy of wickramasinghe bears parallels to that of his saffronized indian contemporary, b.r. ambedkar, and it may be useful to think about the relationship between wickramasinghe’s work and ambedkarite dalit thought in the form of a missed encounter (see: teltumbde, 2018, pp. 216-235). some marginal references to this will be made in the following sections, although a sustained comparison is beyond the scope of this essay. in relation to questions of caste, however, wickramasinghe’s work is a productive starting point through which an archive of anti-caste thought situated in the sinhalasphere yet addressed to the human might be imagined. his castetext clearly illustrates why thinking about caste in and from sri lanka is of value not the scope of this paper but have been addressed, in various ways, by previous scholarship (see: suraweera, 1979; dharmadasa, 1980; tilakaratne, 2019). 3here, i am partially influenced by aniket jaaware’s (2019) operations of “deliberately forgetting” or “oublierring” the vast body of scholarly literature that writes caste into the paradigm of “indian difference.” by bracketing the sociological, anthropological, and historical discourse on caste in sri lanka, i am not signaling the need for an epistemic rupture that would reconceptualize caste as a category of analysis. my move, rather, is best thought of as a provisional and strategic one, which offers more interpretive freedom when dealing with wickramasinghe’s texts. if one has fewer preconceptions about what caste denotes in the sri lankan context, one is less likely to dismiss wickramasinghe’s ideas as having no empirical— and therefore, political—relevance. such a move also helps us see beyond the “givenness” of caste, to appreciate how wickramasinghe himself deploys the concept in order to think about structural inequality, oppression, and human liberation within and beyond sri lanka. recasting the brahmin: martin wickramasinghe and the epistemic critique of caste 59 only for the island and its inhabitants, but also for transnational forms of politics that use caste as a nodal point for the articulation of structural inequalities and injustices that are not vestiges of antiquity but features of colonial modernity. locating the buddha: bava taraṇaya and the sinhala writing of caste the culmination of decades of research and experiments in literary and philosophical style,4 bava taraṇaya was an intervention in the field of knowledge known as buddhism. buddhism as an ism—that is, as a cohesive and ideal system of thought grounded in empirical and secular history, offering philosophical, literary, and political possibilities within modernity—was born of the complex (and unequal) epistemic encounter between orientalism, indology, and philology on the one hand, and the collaborations, interventions, and reappropriations of asian buddhist monastics, scholars, and reformers on the other. the possibilities offered by buddhism were not abstract, but depended on the concrete contexts—the demographics, forms of selfconsciousness, and configurations of political power—of its highly varied geographic areas of operation. that buddhists form a numerical majority in sri lanka is established as “fact” by the same scripts that write sri lanka as a nation; and during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when buddhism was re-written and restructured as a modern system of thought, its relationship with the ceylonese colonial state was dynamic, multifaceted, and complicated. on the one hand, it experienced generalized discrimination and epistemic devaluing, for it was not only a “non-western” and thus implicitly “inferior” mode of knowledge, but also a vehicle through which colonial power and knowledge were contested and anticolonial sentiments publicly articulated. on the other hand, it also received forms of state patronage, especially under more liberal forms of colonial governmentality, as well as “positive” revaluations from western reformists and scholars of religion (blackburn, 2010; sivasundaram, 2013). given this ambivalent relationship to colonial governmentality and knowledge as well as the island’s demographics, buddhism in sri lanka could not have the same kind of oppositional and iconoclastic edge that it did in india, from where it had apparently “disappeared.” for instance, the year 1956 saw ambedkar’s formal conversion to buddhism, months before his death, marking a crucial moment in his rejection of caste-based hindu sociality, and paving way for a mass of dalit conversions into a new buddhist “moral community” (blackburn, 1993). however, in ceylon, the same year marked the electoral victory of s.w.r.d. bandaranaike and the implementation of 4in his preface to bava taraṇaya, wickramasinghe writes that the novel was fashioned out of three volumes of notes, each of around 300 foolscap pages, on ancient india and buddhism. sections of bava taraṇaya, which feature dense philosophical debate, as well as several other texts on buddhist philosophy written in 1960s, attest to the existence of such an archive. being wickramasinghe’s last novel, written when he was eighty-three and three years before his death, the text is also somewhat “rough.” though not entirely unedited, wickramasinghe’s weakening eyesight did not allow him to significantly revise, revisit, and “clean” the text (wickramasinghe, 1973, pp. 8-9). 60 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 the infamous “sinhala only” act, as well as a political turn towards buddhism, to the detriment of the country’s non-sinhala and non-buddhist minorities. it is problematic, therefore, to frame modern buddhist literature and thought in the sinhalasphere through ideal notions of buddhism that associate it with an inherent and essential sense of egalitarianism, non-sectarianism, rationality, and progressivism. yet neither buddhism nor sinhala culture were monoliths complicit with the postcolonial state and mainstream sinhala nationalism. the mid-twentieth-century nationalist anxiety over certain intellectual strands in sinhala society—most notably, the so-called peradeniya school,5 that was accused of perverting the sinhala youth and insulting buddhism, and of which wickramasinghe was deemed to be a member and abettor (house of representatives, 1963, pp. 3449-3478; kumara, 2013)—throws light on the proliferation and popular appeal of alternative readings of sinhala culture and buddhism that contested the official, state sponsored, and nationally mandated discourses. within months of its publication, bava taraṇaya became a bestseller, resulting in a national-level controversy, with powerful buddhist monks—most prominently, yakkaduwe pragnarama of the vidyalankara pirivena—as well as lay buddhist leaders campaigning against the book, demanding its ban and the arrest of its author (wijewardena, 2023). this strong and almost kneejerk reaction against the novel prompts us to situate it within an alternative and counter-nationalist discursive space when interpreting its caste-text; to not read the invocation of caste as a move to buttress sri lanka’s national self-image, but rather, as a means of questioning and even shattering it. it is perhaps due to this shattering that critics like yakkaduwe pragnarama railed against the doctrine represented in the novel as being hindu-leaning and vedantist (pragnarama, 1978, p. 30), although even a cursory reading of the novel would invalidate such a claim. what the bava taraṇaya controversy fundamentally centered on was wickramasinghe’s alleged misrepresentation of siddhartha gautama, the historical buddha. the novel portrayed the buddha not only in a secular and mundane light, as a subject who continues to experience the thrust of human desire even after enlightenment, but also as a political and revolutionary figure, who openly revolts against the status quo. more implicitly, however, the unease surrounding the novel may have resulted from the sentiment that it was at least partially allegorical; that it was not simply about 5the “peradeniya school” (pērādeṇi gurukulaya) was a name coined primarily by opponents of the modernist (and, in some instances, psychologistic) turn in sinhala literature, in order to collectively identify the works (primarily novels, but also, at times, poetry and theatre) of, most prominently, ediriweera sarachchandra, siri gunasinghe, gunadasa amarasekara, and, more controversially, martin wickramasinghe. out of these four writers, the first three had formal ties to the university of peradeniya, an institution viewed by the school’s opponents as complicit in the maintenance of colonial regimes of knowledge and epistemic power even after ceylon’s formal independence in 1948. although the four writers most commonly identified with the peradeniya school quite clearly contested colonial norms of knowledge, sensibility, and moral action through their works, their affiliation with the university—coupled with their non-conformity to more mainstream strands of cultural nationalism—enabled detractors to see them as culturally inauthentic, perverse handmaidens of western imperialism (see tennakoon, 1958; deshabandhu, 1961). recasting the brahmin: martin wickramasinghe and the epistemic critique of caste 61 the buddha, situated neatly within the sixth century b.c.e., but about contemporary sinhala society. that such a sentiment would hold sway is unsurprising in light of the revolutionary politics of the southern youth, who had, under the marxist janatha vimukthi peramuna (j.v.p), launched their first unsuccessful armed revolt against the state in 1971. in as much as caste was a driving factor of the 1971 insurrection (uyangoda, 2000, p. 17), it is also central to the social allegory that bava taraṇaya weaves. the novel starts with an intricate portrayal of the sākkiya (śākya) society in which siduhat (siddhārtha) grows up, detailing the education he receives under traditional and formal caste-bound tutelage. this education reflects the aristocratic and militaristic ideology of the “kæt-kula” (the kshatriya or warrior/princely caste). subverting this education, however, siduhat engages in more independent and dissident forms of learning, which expose him to the life-worlds and epistemologies of “lower” castes and classes, prompting him to eventually relinquish his own community and his prescribed social position and function. it is important to note that bava taraṇaya steers clear of presenting siduhat as simply anti-brahminical, for anti-brahminism is already part of his caste inheritance. it is not inherently revolutionary, for it is a given. in fact, an alleged freedom from brahminical tyranny—a claim siduhat will gradually contest—serves as a condition for sākkiya identity formation, and proof of the superiority of the sākkiya republic’s caste-free—but inevitably and naturally classed—social order. the sākkiyan representation of their own social order along these lines is clearly articulated by siduhat’s half-brother, nanda, who insists that, “what exists here is not caste division but class division” (wickramasinghe, 1973, p. 66).6 yet, when this social order is questioned, or its representation challenged, those around siduhat resort to the invocation of caste-based norms, which are presented in the form of cultural mandates. disarticulated from the public realm of politics, caste is rearticulated through culture, which results in its disavowal; that is, its simultaneous affirmation and denial. culture enables caste to function and exert influence on society even while its signifiers are symbolically effaced. the novel shows, moreover, that what legitimizes and authorizes culture is a naturalized civilizational scheme. the sākkiyans, as an urban people with claims to sovereign power, maintain that they are civilizationally “advanced,” especially in opposition to the “uncivilized” and politically excluded veddas (væddō), a name referring in general to any kind of forestdwelling community, connoting savagery and primitivism, but denoting specifically, to the modern sinhala reader, the so-called “tribal” communities of sri lanka. for the sākkiyans, the transgression of civilizational norms is accompanied by an acute sense of shame, since it brings to the fore the usually submerged issue of caste. to be a sākkiyan—even one who, by all odds, claims to be free of caste ideology—one must think, feel, and act according to prescribed, caste-bound scripts. for instance, in the hunting scene featured at the start of the novel, where siduhat chastises his brotherin-law and adversary dēvadatta for taking pleasure at the sight of his kill, dēvadatta 6all translations from sinhala are my own. 62 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 undermines siduhat’s judgment by shaming him for experiencing the “childish emotions” (boḷan̆da hæn̆gīm) of “uneducated peasants” (nūgat gæmiyan). in turn, siduhat deploys sākkiyan civilizational rhetoric and caste supremacy, camouflaged by seemingly ethical and humanitarian ends, by asserting that his adversary is behaving like a vedda (ibid., pp. 17-21). as the novel progresses and siduhat embarks on the path to enlightenment, he would, of course, abandon this language. the “politically enlightened” buddha does not articulate his vision of the liberated human over and against a sub-human, outcast, civilizational other, but rather, embodies the human by disarticulating himself from the de-humanizing structures of caste. the sākkiyans’ disavowal of caste and the functioning of a highly specific and distinctly modern civilizational scheme strongly suggest that bava taraṇaya was intended to work allegorically. after all, not only is the disavowal of caste a common element in sinhala cultural discourse; it is also, as we have indicated above, an a priori condition for the consolidation of sinhala as a modern ethno-national identity. further indicative is the sākkiyan princes’ discourse on the veddas and civilization, which hinges upon the distinction between “sabhya” (civilized or cultured) and “asabhya” (uncivilized, uncultured, or obscene). interestingly, this very distinction was the subject of a prominent debate on obscenity, perversion, and the role of literature—the “sabhya-asabhya-vādaya”—that unfolded in the sinhalasphere in the 1960s, drawing in a vast number of public intellectuals, wickramasinghe included. the sākkiyan princes’ invocations of sabhya-asabhya distinctions most specifically echo ananda guruge’s (1961) ideas during the debate, which maintained that sabhya-asabhyavādaya was of central importance to sinhala society well before the modern period due to the absence of brahminical mandates against miscegenation, the caste-bound partitioning of cultural spheres, and the artificial inertness of the sanskrit language, which was confined to a priestly/princely elite. in other words, for guruge, cultural and civilizational norms become a matter of debate and theme of discourse for sinhala society precisely because it lacks the rigid caste-based and linguistic partitions that brahminical india maintains. sabhya-asabhya-vādaya indexes for him sinhala society’s supposed openness to democratic change and flux. wickramasinghe’s (1961) interventions in this debate covertly pushed back against guruge’s chronology to emphasize the modern, colonial basis of sabhyaasabhya-vādaya; and indeed, as we will further discuss in the following section, wickramasinghe’s conceptualization of caste also foregrounds the concept’s colonial construction. moreover, in his account, caste does not appear as a foil against which sinhala society’s core values can be written. rather, it is re-written into colonial modern society, based not upon the traditional prestige of sanskrit or a comparable “classical” language, but upon the social, political, and epistemic power of english. indeed, among certain sinhala speakers—especially among university students of the post-independence, pre-globalization generation—the english language was dubbed “kaḍuva” (the sword), for those who wielded it, those to whom it had been passed down as a familial inheritance, had access to colonially-derived social power, while those recasting the brahmin: martin wickramasinghe and the epistemic critique of caste 63 who could not command it were cut off (kandiah, 1984). in an essay published two years before bava taraṇaya, the same year that witnessed the first j.v.p. insurrection against the state, wickramasinghe wrote: the social environment in the towns of ceylon still remains a part of the legacy of colonial rule. its linguistic class basis, a form of westernised brahminism, encourages even our angry young men to treat workers and peasants as the lowest classes. far from trying to identify themselves with the latter, they aspire to imitate the middle and upper classes even in revolutionary attitudes… english colonial rule created an environment and atmosphere in ceylon which easily converted the educated community into an elite of society who succumbed to the english language and to western behaviour patterns. they discarded their own language, literature and culture, and persons of the urban lower middleclass and even some urbanized workers in towns began to imitate the elite. all these people formed a segregated minority community. workers, peasants, the merchant class and even wealthy native capitalists, who did not adopt the english language and the behaviour patterns of the westernised sinhalese, have been and still are treated as a vulgar vernacular under class, lower even than the lowest rungs of the english-speaking under class, who imitate the westernised elite in dress and behaviour patterns (1971/2006, p. 34). the allegorical form enables bava taraṇaya to unpack the sociopolitical dynamics of this so-called “westernized brahminism” that wickramasinghe diagnoses in ceylonese society by retroactively mapping it onto the “original” sanskritic context. if the english language—as kaḍuva or sword—signals the suturing of linguistic/epistemic power with political/societal power, bava taraṇaya shows how the brahmin and the kshatriya can be thought of as functions—functions pertaining to knowledge and power respectively—that work in conjunction. if in certain republics the brahmin caste legitimizes kshatriya power through religion and ritual in exchange for patronage and protection, even in anti-brahminical polities like the sākkiya republic, the kshatriyas are seen to mimic and replicate brahminical worldviews and cultural practices. the novel also indicates how this system of knowledge and power is extended into the economic sphere by the wealthy mercantile castes, under whom the lower classes’ labor is exploited and knowledge appropriated. siduhat is born into a republic where kshatriya power professes anti-brahminism, yet where brahminically derived forms of linguistic partitioning are deployed on a day-to-day basis. for instance, when the still naïve siduhat visits a burial ground with his friend kapila at the start of his dissident education, he talks about the subaltern castes that live off the burial grounds in sanskrit so that only kapila can understand him. the use of sanskrit creates a partition between the studied object (the community that lives on the burial ground) and the studying subject (the two kshatriya princes). those who are objectified and studied are barred from accessing knowledge about themselves, even as their speech and forms of self-representation are appropriated for 64 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 the production of such knowledge. however, this epistemic partitioning is contested by the grave-keeper, who understands what the two researcher-princes are saying, much to their surprise and embarrassment. the grave-keeper explains that his father was a brahmin and his mother a slave (dāsa); that he learnt sanskrit and some aspects of the vedas; and that, being an illicit product of miscegenation, he was banished from brahmin society during his childhood (wickramasinghe, 1973, p. 32). the ideal authority of sanskrit is challenged here through the fact of miscegenation, the fact against which the ideal of caste-purity is anxiously articulated.7 the parallels between this scene and the sri lankan situation—that of “westernized brahminism” and english linguistic/epistemic superiority—are clear. if the brahminic partitioning of linguistic and epistemic power in the novel is doomed to fail, so too does it in sri lankan society, where colonial modernity itself produces hybrid forms that contest the ideal partitions and hierarchies of colonial ideology (bhabha, 1994). indeed, without the functioning of hybridity and ambivalence, it is impossible to understand how individuals like wickramasinghe, raised in rural society with little formal education, had access to colonial modern fields of knowledge, to the point of actively intervening in them and contesting their basis. it is this kind of complex social order—a system where repressive and rigid partitions and hierarchies co-exist with truant forms of mobility and access—that bava taraṇaya allegorizes; and it is against such a social order, and not a reified brahminism, that the buddha’s intervention is articulated. “what you seek is not a path of liberation (vimukti) but of revolution (viplava),” exclaims one of siduhat’s teachers, uddaka, upon hearing his ideas for a psychosocially and politically liberated society (wickramasinghe, 1973, p. 129). uddaka’s claim is justifiable, for siduhat’s quest in bava taraṇaya is explicitly political. even its most “spiritual” elements are ultimately psychologized and subsumed within a broader political project that aims to transform humanity as such. bava taraṇaya pushes back against the dominant trope that siddhartha relinquishes his princely life of pleasure out of a sense of “kalakirīma” (a feeling of dissatisfaction or disillusionment) and seeks a spiritual/ascetic path (āryāṣṭāṅgamārga) aimed at the cessation of desire and suffering (dukkha). unlike the siddhartha of canonical buddhism, wickramasinghe’s revolutionary siduhat feels not only dissatisfaction, but also rage (kōpaya); a politicized rage directed towards the brahmin-kshatriya confluence and mercantile complicity that partition knowledge and power such that human suffering becomes non-universalizable and incommensurable between castes (ibid., p. 53). a path that 7it is also important to note that bava taraṇaya stages a critique of sanskritic-vedic authority at the level of form and language. wickramasinghe dismisses previous “classical” buddha biographies on the grounds that they give way to the brahminical/puranic mysticism and ornamentalism that the buddha himself rejected. he also takes effort to expunge from the text sanskritic words and letters—such as aspirated consonants (mahāprāṇa)—which he claims are “intellectualized signs constructed by brahmins and urban intellectuals to show that they are a separate race/clan with no relationship to common people” (wickramasinghe, 1973, pp. 5-8). even sanskritic tatsama words that are commonly used in sinhala are either rendered through tadbhava forms or heavily vernacularized; for example, “kṣatriya” appears in the novel as either “kæt” or “k’sattiriya.” recasting the brahmin: martin wickramasinghe and the epistemic critique of caste 65 seeks liberation from suffering must, therefore, first seek the annihilation of the system that makes suffering itself a caste-bound and hierarchized condition. human suffering can only become a cognizable object when humanity is equally granted to all, and not contingent on birth and lineage. siduhat thus declares that “it is necessary to find a path to annihilate these divisions of caste (kula), race (varga), and family (pavul). i renounced domestic life not to liberate my soul” (ibid., p. 101). but why is renunciation necessary at all? as siduhat’s foster-mother gōtamī argues, one liberates “the suffering masses not by running away from society,” by renunciation, but instead, by initiating “social change.” the novel provides a significant rebuttal to this through yasōdarā, siduhat’s wife: renunciation is not a form of escapism, but a form of divestment. if siduhat were to pursue social change without renunciation, his project would amount to a state-bound reformism, of whose results only the sākkiyans could reap. if he were to depend purely on the resources given to him by his caste-bound education, he would only be able to propose a path for brahmins and kshatriyas. to address a common humanity, siduhat must cast himself out of his familiar web of social relations, divest himself from brahmin-kshatriya forms of epistemic and political power, and refuse social recognition. only through such a process can a radical humanism aimed at the annihilation of caste truly emerge (ibid., p. 108). the standard account of siddhartha’s saṃvega (feelings of alienation and dismay coupled with a sense of spiritual urgency) upon seeing the “four sights”—an old man, a sick person, a corpse, and an ascetic—becomes vastly insufficient to account for the more revolutionary path taken by bava taraṇaya’s siduhat. indeed, in questioning the mystical and idealized accounts of the four sights as the basis for siddhartha’s spiritual disillusionment and eventual quest, wickramasinghe’s formulations closely resemble those of ambedkar in the buddha and his dhamma (1957/2011), although there is no known evidence that wickramasinghe was directly influenced by ambedkar’s treatise. what informs siduhat’s choice of social divestment is not a naval-gazing which results in him realizing the futility of kshatriya erotic life in face of an abstract and metaphysical truth on impermanence and suffering, but rather, a long-drawn and dissident education that witnesses the suffering of common people (wickramasinghe, 1973, p. 46). importantly, siduhat’s sights appear doubled in the novel. on the one hand, he sees within his own historical context, producing concepts and names—dāsa, sæḍol, gopalu, etc.—that sound archaic to the us “modern” readers. on the other hand, he sees for us our own social fabric, transforming archaisms into signs of present-day destitution and historical injustice. in place of the classical four sights, then, siduhat witnesses the extreme exploitation and dehumanization of slaves or indentured laborers in his father’s agricultural lands—a system reminiscent of the plantation economy central to sri lanka’s modern history—whom he hurriedly and somewhat impressionably sets free (ibid., pp. 24-26). similarly, he is deeply struck by the destitution of the urban poor, whose extreme poverty appears to him as the ironic yet bitter price that must be paid for their recognition and incorporation within the social order legitimized by the brahmins, governed by the kshatriyas, and 66 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 economically driven by the merchants (veḷen̆dun). siduhat contrasts this poverty and recognition—this recognition-in-poverty—with the non-poverty and non-recognition of the veddas. the veddas, in other words, are not “poor” since their social being is embedded within a different and incommensurable system of values, an epistemicaesthetic system deprivileged by the brahminic, yet external to it and opaque. rather than refusing to encounter the veddas’ ways of knowing, or refusing to touch their bodies, siduhat enjoys close and prolonged communion with them, which leads him to realize the caste-bound nature of his education and cultural inheritance, which portrayed the veddas as savage and uncivilized (ibid., p. 52). he thus overcomes his prior moralism—his “sabhya-asabhya-vādaya”—that attempted to ground ethical value in a teleological vision of civilizational progress. indeed, it is through vedda society that siduhat first encounters the possibility of an “outside,” the possibility of a new form of sociality divested from casteand class-based forms of stratification and oppression.8 most strikingly, however, it is not the sight of an ascetic that prompts siduhat to relinquish domestic life and princely comforts, but the words of vajirā, a concubine of sudovun (śuddhodana), siduhat’s father. vajirā, comparing herself to a caged bird, complains that she is sick of her repetitive life, expressing a desire to free herself from socially-produced repetitiveness by becoming a wandering ascetic or a prostitute (ibid., p. 36). what lay the foundation for siduhat’s political path, therefore, is an exposure to the life-worlds, epistemologies, desires, and sufferings of underprivileged castes, slaves, concubines, and tribals: women and men for whom the unequal and unjust stratification and distribution of “being” bars access to universal, spiritual, and metaphysical truths about liberation. these are subjects for whom liberation is inseparable from revolution. readers of the novel, who, as we mentioned above, are either ethnically sinhalese or (more rarely) sri lanka “specialists,” know through experience that this kind of liberation is far from being realized; and, indeed, the first wave of the novel’s readers had just seen the state crush the revolutionary dissent of the 1970s. bava taraṇaya’s buddha, in this dynamically evolving social fabric, is as much a figure of futurity as one of historicity: a figure that abides by a casteless and classless humanity to come; a figure somewhat indigestible for the mainstream sinhala buddhism patronized by the sri lankan state. 8wickramasinghe’s portrayal of how the veddas provide siduhat with the possibility of an outside (and of divestment), while simultaneously proving false the kæt-kula’s image of veddas as uncivilized hunters, calls to mind obeyesekere’s (2022) recent writings on the veddas. if the kæt-kula’s image of the uncivilized vedda is a fabrication intended to buttress its own claims to caste superiority, obeyesekere shows how the idea that the veddas are an aboriginal, and even “indigenous” tribe of hunters beyond the pale of civilization is a colonial construct aimed at producing a primitive other. his study goes on to reveal how the veddas have not always been wholly “outside” sinhala society, nor necessarily hunters, and how “outsiderness” itself is produced through complex and historically contingent forces. indeed, although wickramasinghe is neither situated within the same epistemic field or problemspace as obeyesekere, nor particularly interested in giving voice to the historical veddas of lanka, his portrayal of siduhat’s intimacy with the veddas offers interpretive possibilities that resonate with obeyesekere’s ideas. recasting the brahmin: martin wickramasinghe and the epistemic critique of caste 67 the antinomies of the buddha’s path continue to unfold to this day within the sinhalasphere. the spiritual and philosophical reading of the path, which is legitimized not only by state narratives but also by scholarship, cannot be easily reconciled with the political reading of the path, which, though inflected by complex historical differences, cuts across dissident movements across india and sri lanka. in sri lanka’s postwar political landscape, not only the so-called ethnonationalist rightwing, primarily represented by the rajapakse clan, but also politicians with more “liberal” façades— such as ranil wickremesinghe, who rose to presidency through the power vacuum left by the ousted gotabaya rajapakse in 2022—resort to forms of discourse that center buddhist authenticity and cultural essence. indeed, even ranil wickremesinghe’s 2024 election campaign paraded the slogan of a “theravada trade economy” (gunasena, 2024). in november 2022, anura kumara dissanayake, then an opposition m.p. representing the j.v.p., remarked that despite president wickremesinghe’s constant invocations of buddhism, he seems to have failed to acknowledge the buddha’s central message of equality (samānātvatāva) and social justice (samāja sādhāranatva). wickremesinghe dismissively replied that what the buddha preached was not equality, but the “four noble truths” centered on dukkha or suffering, and the āryāṣṭāṅgamārga as a spiritual path for overcoming it (parliament of sri lanka, 2022, pp. 1205-1206). in this brief parliamentary exchange, wickremesinghe and dissanayake articulate the antinomic readings of the buddha’s path. one sees, of course, in dissanayake’s remarks the specter of bava taraṇaya’s siduhat, whose revolutionary path implies not only buddhist reform, but an entire rethinking of buddhism’s relationship to the modern sri lankan state; a buddhism that can be leveraged by all that experience inequality and injustice against the state that professes to “guard” it. it is significant for us, of course, that the primary category through which bava taraṇaya articulates such political possibilities is through caste; and yet caste is not simply an allegory for class, but a concept that opens up the possibility of addressing buddhism, as a historical tradition of revolutionary thought, to the deep-seated sociopolitical inequalities reproduced within colonial and postcolonial modernity. the fall of the brahmins: questions on caste and knowledge it is perhaps due to its allegorical dimension that bava taraṇaya appears as one of the most accessible points in wickramasinghe’s corpus through which a critical and conceptual discourse on caste from the sinhalasphere can be inaugurated. the allegorical dimension, as we discussed above, allows for the complex present of caste to be narrated and unpacked through a more familiar historical narrative: one set in india, involving hierarchical social relations between legible caste groups that fall within the well-known if not overstated fourfold varṇa system. wickramasinghe’s caste-text, nonetheless, extends well beyond the domain of literature, and his writings on the brahmin caste are not simply allegorical or metaphorical, as we briefly saw in his references to the westernized brahminism that forms the linguistic class basis of urban ceylon (1971/2006, p. 34). it is worth asking, however, if there is not a way of 68 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 historicizing and mobilizing wickramasinghe’s ideas of the brahmin caste (bamuṇu kulaya) without circling back to his fictional writings, such as the buddha biography discussed above. in other words, beyond the allegorical text of bava taraṇaya, how might we interpret wickramasinghe’s claim that a brahmin caste asserts epistemic superiority and furthers the coloniality of knowledge, when, as per the dominant narrative, sinhala society has been shaped by an allegedly anti-brahminical religious and intellectual tradition—buddhism—and has no identifiable brahmins?9 in order to answer this question, it may be useful to defamiliarize the term “bamuṇu kulaya” itself; that is, to not treat it as something whose meaning we can easily gauge, but to appreciate its strangeness, especially in terms of its function within the historical and political field that wickramasinghe is situated in. let us start with the second word in the term in question: kulaya. it is often said that a direct equivalent for the word “caste” cannot be found in south asian languages. a key assumption here, of course, is that english or portuguese, or even their so-called creolized forms are not truly south asian, at least not in the way that indo-aryan and dravidian languages are. the consensus among scholars is that the word caste, derived from the portuguese casta, came to be used to systematically understand the varṇa categories (brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, and śūdra, in hierarchical order) and the more complex and localized jāti configurations (comprising regionally-specific endogamous groups), that were perceived to be the basis for the political, economic, and cultural functioning of greater india. given this linguistic gap, it has become standard practice for scholars to qualify their use of the term caste when studying communities that use different terms and concepts to describe their own lived experiences of social stratification, hierarchy, and endogamy. despite acknowledging linguistic gaps and the impossibility of direct translation, endonyms such as jāti, vaṁsa, kula, variga, and minissu used in sri lanka are frequently subsumed into the signifier “caste.” this signifier, in turn, defines and delimits the significatory field within which the vernacular terms are indexed. we might recall here, the scene of linguistic and epistemic partitioning involving the sākkiyan researcher-princes and the gravekeeper in bava taraṇaya. we are accustomed to thinking about how local terms and knowledges are extracted and appropriated within standardized conceptual categories that bear the mark of theoreticality, abstractness, and academic legitimacy. that is, the flow of knowledge is often thought through the one-way passage from prakrit to sanskrit; from non-european vernaculars to metropolitan, colonial european languages; from ethnic particularity to human universality. the bava taraṇaya episode, however, points towards the failure of this one-way process, by showing how subjects who are officially barred from the latter, epistemically privileged signifiers, 9obeyesekere (2015) has contested this assumption by writing about the movement of brahmins into sri lanka and their assimilation into sinhala society, where they were demoted in terms of the varna system yet promoted through lankan values. wickramasinghe’s assertion on the existence of brahmins, of course, operates entirely differently to obeyesekere’s more historicist account, for it takes the form of an intervention in the concept of the brahmin, in light of the widespread idea of their non-existence in sri lanka. recasting the brahmin: martin wickramasinghe and the epistemic critique of caste 69 cognize and retranslate them, ensnaring and subverting them within the sphere of vernacularity. being “low caste” in the eyes of brahmins—whether “sanskritic” or “westernized”—does not imply ignorance or the lack of knowledge, but rather, a state of disenfranchisement within the field of knowledge, in which the brahmin is structurally privileged. a similar process might be imagined with the word caste. in sinhala, although kulaya is certainly a word whose use predates colonial rule, it has come to subsume and contain the term caste as well the genealogies of colonial encounter and epistemic exchange that are appended to it.10 in other words, kulaya is not simply a native word for caste. it is also one that cognizes and indexes the colonial construction of caste. it is this term specifically, and never quite the others, that wickramasinghe deploys. wickramasinghe’s views on colonial construction are complex. on the one hand, he notes that the idea that local concepts and ways of being must be independent, sovereign, and traditionally “eastern” is a result (“phala”) of the waning of colonial empire and the power of the white man (“sudu minisun”) (1969/2006, p. 74). on the other hand, colonial construction is by no means for him the genesis of all things sensible, for a major part of his intellectual labor is devoted to understanding the unconscious yet irrepressible historical transmissions that shape popular culture and quotidian life across the historical ruptures ensuing from colonialism. wickramasinghe’s usage of kulaya, therefore, might be thought of as straddling these two somewhat disparate positions: a straddling constitutive of the postcolonial condition. the colonial construction of caste in sri lanka is a complicated affair, no less than because caste was one of the key terrains upon which ceylonese difference was articulated with respect to the indian mainland. in the early nineteenth century, when caste was becoming a well-defined category central to colonial governance in india, it was gradually losing legitimacy with the colonial state in ceylon (rogers, 2004). if one were to construct a colonial genealogy of caste on the island,11 it is possible to see how caste goes from being a relatively general, geographically and racially hazy idea during the portuguese period, to a more racially loaded yet conceptually vague category during the dutch and even early british periods, and finally, to the most recent systematic and “disciplinary” concept that marks indian difference; or, given the long-drawn process of partitioning and differentiation of the island of ceylon from the indian mainland,12 a different kind of indian difference. india is doubly implicated 10that “kulaya” is the closest approximation of the portuguese-derived english term “caste” is also noted in recent anthropological studies (douglas, 2017, p. 11). 11the quick and barebones genealogy i am working with is based on a reading of queyroz’s conquista (1992, pp. 19-22) and knox’s account of the interior of ceylon (1911, pp. 105-107), both from the seventeenth century, valentijn’s description (1978, pp. 161, 190-191) from the eighteenth century, and a several nineteenth-century british accounts, foremost among which is cordiner’s (1807, pp. 90-95). 12i am influenced here by sujit sivasundaram’s (2013) discussion of ceylon’s islanding in the context of the british empire in south asia. a longer and, perhaps, conceptually different kind of islanding might be imagined if one were to consider the portuguese and dutch periods of colonial rule, as well as precolonial understandings of space through land, sea, and sky. 70 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 in the idea of “caste in ceylon / sri lanka”: first, india becomes the privileged site for the description of caste as an abstract and potentially universal system. that is, even the broadest, emptiest, and most universalistic invocations of caste as a category frequently use the case of india to empirically furnish the category’s bare form; and thus, the use of the category for sri lanka somewhat inevitably casts the shadow of india upon the island. second, if one were to take caste as an anthropological and historical “given” pertaining to the real of indian society, then it seems reasonable to assume that it must be a significant—even if secret—factor in the story of sri lanka’s population and ethnic formation, especially since most communities on the island trace their ancestry and some of their cultural traditions back to various parts—and times— of india. this complex relationship to india as well as to the “world”—the world proper to the signifier caste—undergirds kulaya as wickramasinghe uses it, especially when directed towards epistemic critique and a decolonial politics of knowledge. that kulaya/caste appears as a departicularized term that cannot be circumscribed within the sri lankan nation or sinhala ethnic identity does not diminish the term’s heuristic value. indeed, the term’s ambiguity and porousness have been mobilized by anti-caste politics globally. one thinks here of the dalit panthers’ attempts at transcending the narrow framework of caste and religion in india through solidarity with “dalits of the world,” people suffering under the “hideous plot of american imperialism,” “the working people, the landless and poor peasants, women, and all those who are being exploited politically, economically and in the name of religion” (dalit panther manifesto, 1973, pp. viii-ix). one also may call to mind invocations of caste beyond south asia; for instance, isabel wilkerson’s (2020) recent efforts to think about racial hierarchy in the united states through the prism of caste. the colonial ambivalence of caste is transformed into a discursive advantage in the political field. if caste points towards something archaic and unassimilable within ideally conceived modernity, this archaism itself is mobilized for the revelation of modernity’s “dark” underbelly, which is coloniality (mignolo, 2011). if kulaya functions as a term that reveals caste’s colonial construction as well as political potentiality, then bamuṇu kulaya signals an attempt at thinking about a departicularized, de-indianized brahminism that operates within the colonial modern economy of knowledge. wickramasinghe’s best-known criticism of this bamuṇu kulaya appeared in a polemical essay “bamuṇukulaya bin̆da væṭīma” (“the fall of the brahmin caste”) published in the wake of s.w.r.d. bandaranaike’s 1956 electoral victory over the united national party, which was briefly mentioned above. although 1956 paved way for the sinhalization and buddhistization of the state, it also bore witness to more “anticolonial” forms of expression, especially in the cultural sphere, that were relatively independent of nationalist and ethno-chauvinistic elements. wickramasinghe’s intervention is best located within this anticolonial space, for he is concerned neither about party politics nor about ethnic hegemony, but about the transformations in the post-colony’s cultural and epistemic landscape. that is, amid the nationalist clamor, wickramasinghe chooses to focus on how the cultural recasting the brahmin: martin wickramasinghe and the epistemic critique of caste 71 consciousness of the people has come to challenge the epistemic authority of the colonial university, announcing the imminent fall of the brahmin caste. wickramasinghe asserts that since ceylon’s independence from the british in 1948—an independence won not through bloodshed but through peaceful piety—the country has been ruled by a sinhala brahmin caste, a westernized elite who exercise epistemic supremacy over the masses and maintain colonial relations in the absence of white rulers. as the counsellor (purōhitayā) of this caste, he names none other than sir ivor jennings (1958/2016, pp. 84-86), an englishman and cambridge-educated scholar of constitutional law, who became the first vice-chancellor of the university of ceylon in 1942. a liberal proponent of the colonial civilizational and educational mission, jennings insisted on ceylon’s cultural and civilizational lack, highlighting the need for the colonial university to operate beyond its usual limits, subsuming broader cultural and civic functions: “the colonial university is not merely a university,” he wrote. “[i]t is also national gallery, british museum, burlington house, bloomsbury, chelsea, royal society, london library, chatham house, drury lane, and much more besides” (1946, p. 231). the history of education in ceylon is filled with examples of how colonialism not only reinforced caste but actively produced it. the colonial state’s first formal higher educational initiatives in the nineteenth century were directed at the sons of mudliyars, an elite caste formed not through “traditional” links to pre-colonial lankan kingdoms, but through loyal service to the portuguese, dutch, and british colonial powers (jayawardena, 2000). ceylon’s first university was established only in 1942—nearly a century after its neighboring india—as a result of native advocacy, particularly from bodies like the ceylon university association and the jaffna association, which represented the island’s emerging bourgeoisie (warnapala, 2011; alwis, 2013). while a relatively decolonial model—at least in a limited sense—could have been envisioned through this native advocacy (schubert, 2020), the university of ceylon was ultimately realized as a jenningsian colonial university and an instrument of western epistemic power.13 up until the 1970s, a decade that opened with youth insurgency, the university privileged not only the upper and upper-middle classes, but also something that might be thought of as a westernized brahmin caste. that is, a conservative and regressive force that could rightly be called caste maintained— mainly through cultural hegemony—the linguistic and epistemic superiority of the english language and western knowledge, despite the dynamic class mobilities that 13prior to the founding of the university of ceylon under the jenningsian model, other kinds of colonially-delimited forms of higher education were operative in ceylon. the immediate predecessor of the university of ceylon, the university college, which was established in 1921, for example, functioned as an affiliated institute tied to the university of london, administered, however, in the form of a government department (warnapala, 2011). if the jenningsian university adapted the rhetoric of liberal humanism, the ideology that drove the university college was more explicitly utilitarian. the colonial authorities in ceylon seem to have been cautious, furthermore, to regulate affiliation in such a way that directly benefited the governance of the island as a crown colony. thus, for instance, affiliations with the university of calcutta which had been formed by the colombo academy in 1859, were later severed, particularly in light of the burgeoning anticolonial movement in india. 72 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 had been enabled through the introduction of free education and the swabhasha scheme, whereby students could receive education free of charge and through the local languages, sinhala and tamil. caste/kulaya in the wickramasinghean sense, therefore, is an intrinsic limit within modernity and its ideal aspirations of class mobility; a limit that demands the addressing of the colonial structures that undergird modernity. the brahmin caste, says wickramasinghe, mystifies the field of knowledge in order to assert epistemic superiority and exclusivity: academic language often terrorizes students, confounding their minds, and crushing their spirits. the effects are doubled when academia delegitimizes students’ “mother-tongues” and operates in an esoteric register of another language which itself is experienced as a colonial imposition. the indic parallel to this, which is used allegorically in bava taraṇaya and also featured in wickramasinghe’s writings on the history of sinhala literature, is the ornamentalism, conservatism, and enforced stylistic and syntactic complexity of sanskrit, the “original” language of the brahmins (see: wickramasinghe, 1963). despite the absence of brahmins in sri lanka—in the sense of a traditionally maintained social and political elite—the colonial university and its architect, sir jennings, ensure that brahminical forms of epistemic mystification continue to operate. the discipline of anthropology at the university of ceylon, wickramasinghe notes, purposefully excludes the study of “comparative anthropology,” thus barring the possibility of an anthropology of the west, a provincialization of universalized colonial culture, and even the demystification of academic language. such a mode of study, writes wickramasinghe, would “peel away the rotting skin of the filaria-ridden foot (baravā kakula) known as western culture.” the filaria-ridden foot, he continues, given its swollen and formidable appearance, is what the university’s archons—the western brahmins—use to intimidate the rulers of the country, raising epistemic power to the plane of political power (1958/2016, p. 89). nonetheless, the filaria-ridden foot might be imagined as numb, lacking in sensation, and slow: as inhibiting movement. thus, while a range of sociopolitical and cultural dynamics were transforming the sphere of knowledge-production in the country post-independence, resulting in truant forms of epistemic access and mobility, the dull and conservative university-apparatus fails to cognize these. it simply cannot keep up. this, for wickramasinghe, is the historic fall of the brahmin caste, a rupture signaling the possibility of a more ethical and decolonized epistemic field. the wickramasinghean brahmin caste, nonetheless, did not completely fall in the 1950s. perhaps, what the 50s witnessed was a historical hope of its eventual dissolution. indeed, if we were to abide by our own departicularization and politicization of kulaya/caste, such a process cannot be imagined within the confines of a single ethnic community or nation. reading wickramasinghe’s caste-text today, within our current historical conjuncture where brahminism and the coloniality of knowledge have been reproduced within the corporate university at a global scale, is refreshing and even helpful. the epistemic forces he narrativizes—whether regressive or progressive, colonial or anticolonial, caste-bound or radically human—are very much alive today, signaling both the constraints and possibilities for knowledge in an era where questions recasting the brahmin: martin wickramasinghe and the epistemic critique of caste 73 of colonial oppression and dehumanization have returned in full force. it is in light of these present-day problems that i have attempted a reading of wickramasinghe’s 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(1967). under the bo tree: studies in caste, kinship, and marriage in the interior of ceylon. berkeley: university of california press. © 2024 mukherjee, agarwal, tandon, meena. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.911 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 160-185 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste exploring narratives of victimization, resistance, and resilience among dalits using thematic analysis aritra mukherjee1, garima agarwal2, charvi tandon3, aakanksha meena4 abstract despite an increase in representation in politics and other fields, dalits face structural violence in indian society. there is limited psychological research on how dalits make sense of their victimization and cope with and resist casteism. this study investigates the experiences of dalit individuals in india, focusing on their experiences of caste-based victimization, resilience, and resistance in urban spaces. the study uses a qualitative approach to study the narratives of these individuals, highlighting the juxtaposition of victimhood narratives against resilience narratives. the data of 13 dalit participants, collected using a semi-structured interview schedule, was analyzed using braun and clarke’s (2006; 2019) reflexive thematic analysis method. two main themes were identified that indicated the ‘ways of victimization’ and ‘ways of resistance and resilience’ in the experience of dalit participants. sub-themes identified under the theme ‘ways of dalit victimization’ are microaggression, deficit intergroup contact, upper caste disgust and shame among dalits, and stereotyped assumptions. on the other hand, subthemes under ‘ways of dalit resistance and resilience’ include education, reclaiming classroom space, affirmative action, confronting individuals, having aspirations and generating solidarity, dismissing merit, and an appreciation of ancestry. the analysis also highlighted notions of brahminical colonization and establishing ingroup indigenization. the findings shed light on the varied forms of collective resistance/ resilience, especially focusing on the underpinning psychological processes. 1phd research scholar, department of psychology, university of delhi 2,4independent scholar 3phd research scholar, department of liberal arts, indian institute of technology, hyderabad corresponding author: aritra mukherjee e-mail: aritraduphd@gmail.com exploring narratives of victimization, resistance, and resilience among dalits 161 keywords dalit narratives, caste victimization, dalit resistance, collective resilience, reflexive thematic analysis introduction caste is an inextricably linked system of labor that is impossible to evade and is distinguished by its “graded inequity” (ambedkar 1936). power, privilege, and access to riches were all governed by caste (deshpande 2010). the indian constitution implemented a substantial measure to address caste inequalities by granting employment and educational reservations to scheduled tribes and scheduled castes, colloquially referred to as dalits. the majority of upper castes continue to view caste as a rural concern. this, meanwhile, is the opposite of reality. caste oppression not only persists but also transitions from overt discrimination to a multitude of microaggressions inside urban environments (jogdand 2023). caste may function as a kind of invisibilization in metropolitan areas, such as in neighborhoods where dalit households are unable to afford the basic necessities of life (mandal 2020). empirical investigations in the field of social psychology indicate that structural violence targeted against marginalized social groups is seldom tolerated without eliciting opposition and resistance (rosales & langhout 2014). even in the face of the most terrible circumstances, disadvantaged community people maintain their potential for resistance and resilience (leach 2020; jogdand, khan & reicher 2020). similarly, among dalits and lower castes, caste inferiority is questioned and resisted in the form of rage, pride, and assertion, as opposed to being passively accepted (jogdand et al. 2016; jogdand 2023). moreover, social psychology’s emerging study on collective victimhood has enhanced our comprehension of victimization and resistance (vollhardt 2020). significantly, leach (2020) has illuminated the psychological foundations of the “affective politics” of collective victimhood through the use of an appraisal technique that emphasizes the vital significance of meaning-making in individuals’ collective victimization experiences. nevertheless, this body of literature has paid scant attention to caste-based oppression and resistance (see also jogdand 2023; jogdand, khan & reicher 2020). this article examines the recollections, exclusion, violence, and lived experiences of caste-based structural inequities among dalit participants via the lens of narratives detailing victimization, resistance, and resilience. hence, beyond investigating the manner in which individuals belonging to the dalit community encounter victimization, this study seeks to comprehend the means by which they navigate the daily occurrence of casteism, the sources of motivation they consult, and the strategies they implement to oppose and fortify themselves. 162 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 collective victimhood: consequences of structural violence structural violence encountered by dalit community and students structural violence (galtung 1966) is a form of violence that involves reduced access to resources and occupation of space. it is classified as direct violence, where the perpetrator is known, and carrying insidious violence, where the system or ideology is difficult to hold accountable. it can lead to learned inferiority, vulnerability, and loss of identity. structural violence (scheper-hughes 1996) can manifest as everyday violence, where violations become part of people’s reality. moreover, this operates within the caste system, through hierarchical stratification, and violence against those who try to break the status quo. furthermore, caste oppression is a vehicle of structural violence, and it significantly impacts socio-psychological dimensions, including cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains (sawariya 2021). marginalized caste groups and the dalit community experience lower mental health, including social isolation, anger, withdrawal, low self-esteem, and poorer well-being (johri & anand 2022; pal 2015). mental health issues faced by marginalized caste groups are not addressed due to institutional denial of caste-based discrimination and lack of caste-centered therapy (komanapalli & rao 2020). despite this, caste has still not found its place in psychology, with only a few psychologists working towards and on it (sawariya 2021; jogdand 2015). the upper castes’ access to education, influence, and privilege is starkly compared to the dalit community, who must prove themselves in a system they cannot control (deshpande 2013). in addition, marginalized caste groups and dalits become “hypervisible” as soon as they avail reservation, whereas the upper caste becomes the de facto meritocratic, caste-less outgroup (deshpande 2013; kumar 2022). further, the lack of caste in the curriculum creates a lack of engagement with dalit students’ issues (sawariya 2021). subsequently, this raises issues of representation in policy spaces and everyday media. for instance, according to oxfam india (2019), there are no people from scheduled castes or scheduled tribes holding any of the 121 leadership newsroom positions surveyed. the mainstream media also limits itself to portraying caste characters, presenting them as harmful, dark-skinned individuals, often gangsters or oppressed individuals needing saving (kureel 2021). further, the upper caste lifestyle is sold as an escape from their own ‘downtrodden’ life and the only life worth living (yengde 2018). this exclusion of the dalit population and their negative portrayal is a double-edged sword that decreases dalit individuals’ self-esteem and increases upper-caste individual’s confidence (jaspal 2011). the events and activities can be collectively termed “microaggressions”—the experience of a normalized form of indignity through different modes of behavior expressed by the dominant group against the minority group individual (sue et al. 2007). microaggression and prejudice also serve to relegate minoritized individuals to the margins of society or an institute (sue 2010). however, in psychological literature, less is known about how victims of structural violence, especially the caste system, exploring narratives of victimization, resistance, and resilience among dalits 163 have resisted and developed resilience when combating structural violence in the form of caste. collective resilience and resistance collective victimization and collective resilience often go hand in hand—that is, they are ‘two sides of the same coin.’ narratives of collective resilience could act like resources to fall back on (selvanathan, jetten & umch 2023) in the face of discrimination and marginalization. despite being scarce, psychological literature has explored how a victimized group’s history includes collective resilience (selvanathan et al. 2023). it has been seen that while being a member of an oppressed group exposes people to collective trauma, it can also promote psychological resilience by providing access to social support within the group (muldoon et al. 2020). while collective resilience and resistance have been documented in studies of trauma and victimology, the two terms are often used together or interchangeably, especially in the practice of ‘everyday resilience’ (rosales & langhout 2014). in this study, we would categorize resilience as a protective factor against the effects of the caste system, such as building caste networks. in addition, studies on resilience (atallah et al. 2019) have pointed out that resilience is not just in the community’s potential to bounce back but also in its ability to bounce forward through participating in meaning-making and confronting the logic of the oppressor in creative ways. whereas resistance would be any action that challenges the will of the oppressor, i.e., challenges the brahminical and casteist logic and practices. as a word of caution, it is difficult to demarcate the exact lines between resilience and resistance and to account for what precedes what. for example, a group that has been displaced would count on getting educated or using their education to overcome their circumstances as a form of resilience (see datta 2017 on the kashmiri pandit community); however, a group that has been historically denied access and the right to gain education, i.e., the dalit community, would count education as resistance against the oppressor. moreover, groups that encounter violence and injustice and undergo victimization often seek to redress and cope with their victimization (vollhardt, okuyan & ünal 2020) in creative and effortful ways, leading to resistance and the development of collective hope (braithwaite 2004). resistance within marginalized caste groups and dalits exists, and unsurprisingly, it’s as old as the caste system itself (jangam 2021). in the past and present, dalits and other marginalized communities in the hindu caste system have protested through the rejection of caste culture and sanskritization (mahalingam 2003). practices such as theyyam in south india have been protest sites for dalit individuals (ahammed 2019). furthermore, engagement with victimhood by the dalits has been agentic and active (vyas & panda 2019), which can be envisaged through political assertion in the form of demands or votes. moreover, the dalit panthers movement in the 1970s popularized the term “dalit,” which was a protest against the gandhian coinage of ‘harijan’. thus, resilience emerges in the use of poetry in the movements by preserving and writing about experiential realities. autobiographies and poetry have been avenues for individuals to highlight their pain, 164 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 anger, grief, and hope for marginalized caste groups. additionally, presence of castesensitive movies and portrayals, as well as the internet used by dalit creators are used to give rise to anti-caste movements (kureel 2021). they have used the same media that misrepresents marginalized caste groups to find resistance and representation (kureel 2021). overall, highlighting individual, cultural, and societal differences in the ways of resisting and exhibiting resilience within the community itself. theoretical foundation: appraisal model of collective victimhood as highlighted in the above section, the dalit community has engaged in diverse ways to handle caste oppression and also have experienced it in different ways. moreover, they have appraised a diverse emotional range and thus, appraisal theory of understanding collective victimization has been employed in this research (leach 2020). the appraisal theory broadly focuses on the meaning-making process of a victimizing event and how the group copes with it. the theory stresses the role of intra-group heterogeneity and values diverse positions on a particular subject. further, the approach highlights the agentic capacity of the individual in making sense of the event and their coping mechanisms with it. appraisal theory has two levels of the appraisal process: (a) at the primary level, it is about highlighting if the victimizing event is of importance to the group’s goals or values, and (b) at the secondary level, people provide meaning to it in terms of assigning responsibility and consequence; the different emotional responses are also noted. different coping strategies are formed depending on the group’s capacity and resources, such as demanding acknowledgment, restitution, and collective actions (see jeong & vollhardt 2021). the appraisal theory fits well with seeing how it can aid in explaining both victimization (stress) and resistance and resilience (coping) among different groups (vollhardt et al. 2021) and is judged as an adequate lens to understand victimization and resistance in the caste context. present research to summarize the above discussion, existing research on caste has majorly reinforced stereotypes by focusing on pointed themes like reservation, poverty, etc.— pathologizing our/their everyday lives. despite the historical trauma, marginalization, and victimization, dalit love and resistance persist, which is “a beautiful rendition of pain and joy, healing the past and getting consciously lost in a future of possibilities and faith” (yengde 2020). furthermore, it is imperative that we focus on resistance and resilience narratives that challenge sole narratives of victimhood. given the scarcity of research on the everyday realities of life as a dalit person, the current study set out to fill that gap while also focusing on aspects of resistance and resilience in their lives—to avoid the dangers of half-truths (adichie 2009) of powerless victims, focus on disrupting these popular discourses, and, finally, engage in a process which exploring narratives of victimization, resistance, and resilience among dalits 165 aids in de-brahmanizing and decolonizing caste (ingole 2020). this study aims to explore processes of victimization and processes of resilience and resistance among dalit community members at a collective level experiencing structural violence. research questions 1. what does victimization mean to dalit community members? 2. how do individuals from the dalit community understand resistance and resilience? 3. what mechanisms do they employ to demonstrate their resilience and resistance? method we employed qualitative methodology to report our work by keeping caste as the center of the historical context of the experiences of dalit persons. to excavate the multiple realities of our participants, we employed the method of narrative inquiry, which advocates “pluralism, relativism, and subjectivity” (leiblich, tuval-mashiach, & zilber 1998: 2). narratives are a discourse representative of related events in succession (shkedi 2005). narratives allowed us to understand the participants’ worldviews because of the wide range of functions they provided. the participants’ narratives allowed us to dream, hope, remember, love, learn, doubt, hate, criticize, and experience various emotions (kim 2015). further, consistent with the assumptions of narrative interviewing, the focus was on the narrator’s personal identity, culture, and world view. hence, narrative interviewing in the form of asking about biographical details was employed in our research. table 1: paradigmatic assumptions area assumptions ontology reality is rooted in one’s historical and social context and is multiple, context-sensitive, and complex epistemology reality can be understood as is narrated by participants methodology narrative inquiry–understanding discourses representative of connected events in succession, providing for the worldview of the participants method of analysis narrative interviewing and reflexive thematic analysis sampling: recruitment and participant details all members of marginalized caste groups and dalits between the ages of 20 and 35 years could participate in this research. participants were recruited through social media platforms such as facebook, twitter, and instagram. an open invitation was prepared where we highlighted our purpose, aim, and what kind of questions would be asked and would not be asked, such as our insistence on describing events of 166 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 discrimination and trauma that were not to be given undue focus. this was our attempt to offer participants transparency about our research process. while recruiting, we only asked for the initials and the last two digits of the participants’ phone numbers as identifiers. we requested that they provide any contact details they were comfortable providing. in keeping with this, we have not changed or given pseudonyms but have used codes and revealed as less as possible so that they do not become easily identifiable. we conducted thirteen interviews with participants between the ages of 20 and 35 years, of whom six identified as men, six as women, and one as non-binary. our participants are all third-generation dalit community members; third generation here denotes persons whose grandparents were either young or unborn during the independence of india and the beginning of the affirmative action through reservations policy. further, most of our participants were second-generation literate, and two were first-generation graduates. they were born into a generation that had availed of or knew about affirmative action policies in government jobs and institutions. the participants belonged to west bengal, uttar pradesh, haryana, and delhi. table 2: participant details s. no. participant code biological sex educational qualification 1. ki female masters/post-graduate 2. am female masters/post-graduate 3. vs male bachelors/undergraduate 4. si male bachelors 5. bi female masters/post-graduate 6. ac male phd scholar 7. at female bachelors pursuing 8. gi female masters/post-graduate 9. su male phd scholar 10. ri male bachelors/undergraduate 11. sh male assistant professor 12. di male bachelors 13. ji female bachelors procedure step 1: data collection using semi-structured interviews one of the authors took on the immense task of educating her upper caste-community co-authors about their traditions, traditional practices, inside knowledge, and resistance practices that might have escaped the dominant caste author’s gaze. through a series of discussions, the following areas of inquiry were identified: i) self and navigating everyday life; ii) cultural history and community practices; iii) creating their definitions of caste; iv) caste discrimination and their engagement; v) representation in politics and media; and vi) caste mobilization. exploring narratives of victimization, resistance, and resilience among dalits 167 each part of the research was vetted by people from the dalit community,1 as in fig. 1, including a ph.d. scholar working within this area for the last five years. they suggested that our dba author be present in all of the interviews—with another uc researcher or alone at times. out of the 13 interviews, our dba author was present with a uc researcher, and in three interviews alone, as requested by the participants. our interviews ranged from 1 to 2.5 hours. table 3: examples of semi-structured questions in the study domain questions self and navigating everyday life “how many times are you asked about your caste? (‘aap kaunsi jaat se ho’? yeh kitni baar sunne ko milta hai?) “where do you get to hear it?” “how do you see yourself and your group?” “what effort did you make to get yourself here?” cultural history and community practices “how would you describe your community?” “what are the rituals and practices central to the group? are some of them stigmatised?” “do you do anything that your grandparents or parents used to do? how do you wish to preserve your family’s legacy?” creating their definitions of caste “what is caste to you?” caste discrimination and their engagement “have you or people in your life experienced caste atrocities?” “what have been some ways in which you felt discriminated against in everyday space?” “have you ever voiced your opinion on it? do you know of anyone who has done it in the past? how did that make you feel?” representation in politics and media “do you know of any actors and singers who are from your community? what roles do they get? are they in the mainstream?” “do you know of anyone from the dalit community who is in the media?” caste mobilization “what steps has the state undertaken as a reparation for caste atrocities?” “have you participated in any protests?” “did your ancestors engage in any events to demand their rights?” step 2: data analysis using thematic analysis framework to analyze the obtained data, reflexive thematic analysis was employed, a framework proposed by braun and clarke (2006). for this work, we used a constructivist approach that focused on privileging the participants’ accounts and experiences as openly as possible and also accounting for our reflexivity. however, acknowledging that it was the researchers who deemed an account as resistance or a display of resilience, calling on the researcher’s ability to evaluate how they have read resilience and resistance (see yosso 2005; rosales & langhout 2020), to the dba researcher, “you must be familiar with this...” to highlight their shared common identity of experiences. moreover, semantic and latent coding structures were utilized (byrne 2022); a semantic level of coding was used in most cases, privileged by the participant’s 1in our research, we refer to our participants as dalit. conversely, when we mention ‘upper’ castes, we encompass all the predominant castes under this single term. 168 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 experiences. however, a latent level of coding was needed for some themes concerning shame and disgust, as participants highlighted the notion that something changed in their or the other’s body, language, behaviors, and mannerisms but one that was hard to state explicitly in words. moreover, for this article, the researchers used an abductive coding framework, i.e., the integration of deductive and inductive frameworks for coding (thompson 2022). we have employed the appraisal theory of collective victimhood (leach 2020) and categorized the various themes into two broad domains: the ways of victimization and the ways of resilience and resistance. victimization corresponds to the first and second levels of appraisal, whereas resilience and resistance are captured as coping strategies for victimization. this framework of categorization was previously used by jeong and vollhardt (2021) in their study of korean newspaper coverage of the colonization of korea in modern times. however, while these domains served as two repositories to categorize the themes into, the themes were inductively deduced and categorized into whether a theme aligned closer to victimizing narratives or if it aligned closer to resistance and resilience narratives. braun and clarke (2006) recommend a six-step phase of reflexive thematic analysis. phase one deals with familiarization with the data collected through multiple avenues. each interview was transcribed, and the authors read and re-read the transcripts multiple times to find connections and use specific words. important quotations deemed to be of specific interest to the research objective were highlighted. the evaluation of each transcript resulted in the creation of the initial codes. researchers aired their views but never overpowered them; they sought meaning in the data, and multiple interpretations of the same data were entertained and encouraged to generate codes. according to braun and clarke (2006), coding reliability is not important for reflexive thematic analysis, but reflexive engagement with the data was given paramount importance. by returning to the data numerous times and creating various tables and connections, the researchers generated and “churned” the final themes on the broad domains. some themes and subthemes that were unique to one or two participants were also retained, such as the fact that female participants pointed out that ambedkar is a feminist thinker, and two participants highlighted dalit’s indigeneity to aid in our understanding of multiplicities in narratives. moreover, the guiding theoretical framework of appraisal theory and the domains of victimization, resilience, and resistance aided the researchers in selecting excerpts and codes that fit the themes encompassing these two domains. furthermore, we did not focus on saturating our data (braun & clarke 2019) but on getting rich and complex narratives that help us understand the multi-faceted nature of victimhood, resilience, and resistance. we acknowledge that in dense, experientially rich data, themes might often seem repetitive, and their boundaries blurred, but we have tried to keep close to patton’s (1990) dual criteria of theme building, such that themes provide a coherent and internally consistent account of the quotations from the data unique to that theme itself. the names of the themes and subthemes have also undergone revision, i.e., from stereotyped behavior to “challenging intergroup contact” to “deficient intergroup exploring narratives of victimization, resistance, and resilience among dalits 169 contact,” highlighting not only that intergroup contact is fraught with complexities but also that in many of these intergroup contacts, the dalit individual is made to feel lesser and subjected to marginalization and stereotypes. use of youtube videos, seminars and webinars, news articles, opinion articles in addition to journal articles preparing an interview schedule: with dba researchers in the field; translation to hindi inviting participants through social media: an open invitation 13 interviews: dba author present in all thematic analysis across narratives figure 1: methodical process researchers’ reflexivity through interviews with dalit individuals, we witness narratives transform from discrimination and oppression to healing and trace the footsteps of growth. as one of our participants highlighted, it is often ‘two steps ahead, one step back’. hence, we see each interview as an act of trust conferred on us in which we are made to bear witness not only to their pain and trauma but also to their resistance. we are made to think about our complicity in the uc gatekeeping structures our participants pointed at. through this endeavor, we also wish to move from guilt to action through engagement with our participants and our future commitments. through their empathy and affective solidarity (hemmings 2012), they are a testament to the project of dalit love (yendge 2019). by accepting the dalit community’s views of the uc community, three of our authors feel it is a beginning of decolonial and de-brahminical (ingole 2020) healing, as well as where we take the opportunity to accept the sins of our ancestors. we heal by knowing that now we can confront our families, our relatives, and our professors who have for long denied dalit achievements and caste in textbooks and syllabi (kain 2022). for the dba author, however, it represents a journey of acceptance of pain—a hope that coming together of the two ends is possible. findings the themes identified have been conceptualized against the two domains of ‘dalit victimization’ and ‘dalit resistance and resilience strategies,’ as in fig. 2. the victimization strategies correspond to primary and secondary appraisals. in contrast, coping strategies emphasize the later portion of the model (leach 2020). 170 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 228 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 narratives of caste from participant lens victimization resistance and resilience strategies education as disruption and rejection of caste pride and acceptance of ancestry reclaiming knowledge systems establishing dalit indigeneity finding ways of healing and disruption(s) aspiration, solidarity and collective action representational aspiration and contestations rejection of hindu traditions and embracing in-group role models experience(s) of micro aggression and aggression deficient intergroup contact upper caste disgust & production of dalit shame uc hegemony on academics lack of desired representation figure 2: thematic map of findings ways of dalit victimization ways of dalit victimization have been conceptualized as everyday engagement with structural violence that leads to issues of esteem and also challenges access to resources. moreover, victimization has been construed through the ascription of the events as ‘unwarranted’ and ‘unjustified,’ leading to feelings of being wronged and thus victimized. the domain of victimization comprises themes around experienced microaggression and aggression, experiences of ‘outing,’ embodied disgust by upper caste members, felt embodied shame as a result of disgust, and deficient intergroup contact with other castes. furthermore, feelings of victimization increase with feelings of upper-caste hegemony in academia and a lack of representation in media and movies. experience(s) of micro-aggression and aggression microaggressions have been the source of humiliation among dalit individuals (jogdand 2023) and are one-way intergroup contact that occurs among different castes. this has been the case in this study, where participants noted that upper-caste people frequently use “casteist jokes” and “casteist slurs.” one participant noted, “i felt really small when people cracked these jokes, and i had to pretend not to hear it or laugh about it” (bi, female), and another participant, after scoring poorly in semester exams, notes how an upper-caste colleague addressed the situation by stating, “…after this, don’t say that i am a dalit, and that is why discrimination is happening to me” (sh, male). furthermore, it leads to an increased sense of prejudiced assumptions about the community and also dismissal of dalit achievements, as one participant hints that “she (the professor) asked that how did i got the first division” (bi, female) or even figure 2: thematic map of findings ways of dalit victimization ways of dalit victimization have been conceptualized as everyday engagement with structural violence that leads to issues of esteem and also challenges access to resources. moreover, victimization has been construed through the ascription of the events as ‘unwarranted’ and ‘unjustified,’ leading to feelings of being wronged and thus victimized. the domain of victimization comprises themes around experienced microaggression and aggression, experiences of ‘outing,’ embodied disgust by upper caste members, felt embodied shame as a result of disgust, and deficient intergroup contact with other castes. furthermore, feelings of victimization increase with feelings of upper-caste hegemony in academia and a lack of representation in media and movies. experience(s) of micro-aggression and aggression microaggressions have been the source of humiliation among dalit individuals (jogdand 2023) and are one-way intergroup contact that occurs among different castes. this has been the case in this study, where participants noted that upper-caste people frequently use “casteist jokes” and “casteist slurs.” one participant noted, “i felt really small when people cracked these jokes, and i had to pretend not to hear it or laugh about it” (bi, female), and another participant, after scoring poorly in semester exams, notes how an upper-caste colleague addressed the situation by stating, “…after this, don’t say that i am a dalit, and that is why discrimination is happening to me” (sh, male). furthermore, it leads to an increased sense of prejudiced assumptions about the community and also dismissal of dalit achievements, as one participant hints that “she (the professor) asked that how did i got the first division” (bi, female) or even exploring narratives of victimization, resistance, and resilience among dalits 171 starting a sentence with the caste identity, “you are sc, how was your exam?” (ac, male). additionally, the dalit participants frequently heard words like “freebies” and “freeloaders.” prejudiced assumptions about clothing and styling are realized through a certain sense of class and caste aesthetic, often attributed to caste labels like “dressing like a bhangi” as one participant highlights: “there were girls in my class who came from villages and didn’t speak english too well, and they were seen differently with comments like ‘they are definitely from the reservation category, who has given them admission?’” (ki, female). another participant has stated that the upper castes assign “facial” characteristics to certain castes. hence, many dalit individuals try to conceal their caste as much as possible, and the experience of being “outed” leads to stigmatization and a source of stress for these individuals as they know that once they are outed, their colleagues will treat them differently. the tension to pass as an upper-caste member with a certain aesthetic sense has been documented by differentiating between a dalit that belongs and one that does not, as one participant tells her upper-caste colleague of her caste identity who are quick to differentiate between those who look ‘lower caste’ and those who don’t as they state, “no, but you are different; these ones look like they are from lower caste” (bi, female). the constant tension to ‘pass’ and also being constantly subjected to hearing stereotyped opinions about the community, “look, he is a ‘chamar,’ they are speaking like ‘chamars’ how am i to tell them that i am also a chamar!” (ac, male)— this sense of stress can also lead to poor psychological well-being in the long run, as highlighted by a female participant: “it took a toll on the kind of people i was socializing with; i wanted to remain with the cool people.” this suggests that identities are negotiated with a tension between their social location and the differential social location of upper-caste individuals. additionally, limiting them to the “upper-caste gaze” by making references to the social and cultural capital that members of dominant castes possess and separating the “good dalit” from the “bad dalit,” who manifest themselves by looking like a dalit (dutta 2019; jogdand 2023) are all examples of microaggressions. this has to be constantly negotiated with upper-caste individuals’ desire to find and locate one caste; participants expand on instances when, following casual conversations, people would often enquire about their surname, which is one of the markers of caste, or ask about their father’s occupation and ancestral village. this knowledge has multiple social implications, like friendship, marriage, and business, as hinted at by our participants. deficient intergroup contact intergroup contact is the phenomenon where two members of different identity groups engage with each other, popularized by allport (1954) through the contact hypothesis, which asserts that prejudice and discriminatory attitudes are reduced by mere exposure and contact with another group member. while studies in social psychology have highlighted the beneficial potential for intergroup contact, our study has found that when dalit members make contact with uc members, it has not been fruitful and 172 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 is frequently anxiety-provoking. our participants have highlighted that upper-caste individuals are ‘pathologically’ obsessed with purity and often are uncomfortable allowing other caste members into their group. as a participant notes, “once my uncle said that i will get married to a muslim girl, that is fine, but an upper caste woman will not get married to me,” (am, female) perhaps the obsession with endogamy displayed by upper caste people has adequately captured this. often, participants hear direct forms of discrimination, such as parents preventing their children from going to their (participant’s) house. the different dining options at hostels for vegetarians and nonvegetarians highlight how reduced contact also comes in the form of purity practices. a participant highlights that contact can become psychologically violent given how upper-caste families treated them; he states, “brahmin households, they wouldn’t allow that kind of sharing from one plate to another plate, especially if somebody who comes from the lower caste, they wouldn’t share because it’s a question of purity and pollution” (ac, male). furthermore, while ingroup solidarity is encouraged for groups to function well, the nature of caste highlights that ingroup solidarity can exist within very insular small groups, which excludes other groups. upper-caste solidarity often comes at the price of penalization for other castes. as one participant suggests, “they do not think twice before labeling a person from another caste, a criminal. they do not even consider if that person has committed a crime” (gi, female). other participants highlight upper caste solidarity with people they choose to interact with: “they will talk nicely but only with those close to them, like dwivedi (sic) will talk to a tripathy and give jobs to a trivedi” (ac, male). hence, caste operates through an espoused level of castelessness in academic circles but gets practiced in pedagogy and social interactions (kain 2022; jogdand 2017). upper caste disgust and production of dalit shame this theme was challenging to define for the participants as their observation of disgust among upper caste individuals towards marginalized caste groups was at an embodied level, often given as a “look” or “gaze” mixed with “contempt.” one participant states, “they do not say anything, but their expression changes. it becomes a judgment; their tone becomes judgmental” (gi, female). another participant highlights how disgust is perceived through behavioral actions “the minute they find out who you are, they have this smirk as if everything has come to you for free” (bi, female). this embodied aspect of victimization is coupled with microaggression and feelings of inadequacy and humiliation experienced by the participants. further, this disgust was associated with a strong sense of pride amongst the upper caste, which takes on an essentialist note (mahalingam 2003), where brahmins were attributed as thinking that they were superior just by their caste (pathania & tierney 2018). shame is a product among the dalit participants through constant microaggressions, disgust embodied by upper-caste individuals, and dismissal of efforts made by ingroup members. it manifests as imposter syndrome, self-doubt, constant pressure to perform, feelings of space violation, and un-belonging to specific spaces (kumar 2022). exploring narratives of victimization, resistance, and resilience among dalits 173 feelings of imposter syndrome, which were prevalent among most participants, made the feeling of shame worse. as one participant highlighted, “always that feeling of being an imposter comes; if everyone is doing well and performing well, then why am i not able to perform?” (ss, male). self-doubt can be a common manifestation of this, and often feelings of unbelonging are common, such as “i started doubting myself a lot, academically. i started feeling like all these people here have studied more than me and have got more marks than me” (am, female). it might also increase negative selffulfilling behaviors. as a participant highlights, “i would pretend that i don’t study in public like i don’t study, and then i would end up getting really good grades (bi, female).” this is often coupled with shame, and as it is felt at a physical level, the word embodied has been employed. as a participant points out, “i felt dirty from within” (ki, female). shame can be understood as one way that humiliation manifests and could lead to negative self-esteem and other psychological outcomes. upper caste hegemony on academics since most of our participants were post-graduates or research scholars, we noted an emphasis on how upper-caste individuals control academic spaces during interviews. this takes the form of espousing merit, cherishing meritocracy, dismissing reservations, and also the invisibilization of caste in syllabi in different fields (kain 2021). participants highlight that this leads to differential treatment of upper-caste students, as highlighted by a participant: “it is so conditioned in their minds from the very beginning of their education that somebody with a dominant upper-caste surname is very meritorious” (si, male). furthermore, this leads to a denial of the achievements of dalit professors or professionals. as another participant highlights, “reservationavailing professors have no merit; they have no standard; it’s all a fluke” (bi, female). upper-caste individuals also signal caste blindness or deny caste in its existence: “i have been seeing that students are uncomfortable acknowledging caste, and they do not want to acknowledge it” (su, male). all of this leads to the dismissal of reservations, as it is seen as a way of getting “freebies.” the lack of educational resources on caste furthers this: “we read so much on culture, globalization, and diversity, but why not on caste?” (ki, female) and further highlighted by its lack of appearance in the formal curriculum, as the same participant highlights, “why is it not there in the syllabus? if it is not there in the syllabus, then how will the students point it out?” (ki, female). historical denial also manifests in the removal of dalit freedom fighters from syllabi, as one participant highlights: “before, we did not have the opportunity to study; now that we do, then we see that our people are only not there (in books).” (vs, male). hence, caste to upper caste is only represented in reservations. as one participant points out, different castes experience caste differently, which leads to the dismissal of affirmative action efforts. “we talk about the pride of caste; we don’t talk about the shame of caste; they don’t know enough for them that caste equals reservation”. highlighting that while for upper-caste individuals’ caste has served as a resource, and often in times of adversity, for lower castes, it has been a source of shame and humiliation passed on through generations. this creates a sense of historical denial over casteism and also a dismissal of the need for reservation. 174 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 lack of desired representation this theme pertains to media, books, and news channels. dalit participants have highlighted that community narratives are either stereotypical or invisibilized, especially in the case of caste-based atrocities, as many participants have cited the lack of representation in media and newsrooms (kureel 2021). one participant points out their frustration that those who have benefited from the caste system cannot appropriately represent caste issues. further, they highlight that even liberal news reporters ignore the issue of caste, as one participant points out concerning the unnao rape case: “ravish kumar (senior journalist), he has ignored chandrashekar (azad, a dalit activist), he did not even show one second of his work.” even in student politics, most decision-makers are upper-caste individuals, as participants highlight that only “banerjees, chatterjees, mukherjees and bengalis” are part of leftist decision-makers. hence, caste is less discussed; when it is, it is in the light of the savarna gaze (kureel 2021). ways of dalit resistance and resilience the domain of resistance and resilience in this research have been used in conjunction, though differences exist, such that resilience is more of a protective process that aids a group in sustaining itself, whereas resistance is more of a process of confronting oppressive forces. however, some resistance strategies such as confrontation, political representation, and reclaiming knowledge systems also added to the resilience potential of the community, i.e., they engaged and created resistance capital (yosso 2005). it is also important for us to point out that structural violence, due to its pervasive presence, is often negotiated at an everyday level, i.e., everyday resistance. often challenging denial or forming ingroup solidarity in a climate that forces one to doubt oneself can be seen as emancipatory, resilience building, and honing resistance. it also increases the possibility of ingroup power and constructive power (power basis theory by bou zennedine & pratto 2017). this makes us think of these themes in the bigger picture of resistance that turns into resilience, which leads to healing zones like having goals and building caste-based solidarity against the larger political narrative of hindu oneness, caste denials, and caste violence. in this study, we identified the value of education and the rejection of the concept of caste. it also comes in the form of rejecting hindu traditions and highlighting the role of sages who have mobilized for the cause of dalits. moreover, participants highlighted a movement from shame to pride about ancestry, seeing historical narratives differently, reclaiming spaces, and establishing belonging. participants pointed out how ambedkar is a crucial figure in their healing and that there would not be india as we know it today without ambedkar. as consistent with appraisal theory (leach 2020), ingroup difference has existed in terms of mobilization and the role of politics, but most participants expressed gratitude that a political force does exist. moreover, participants have demanded acknowledgment by reclaiming knowledge systems and establishing why they belong exploring narratives of victimization, resistance, and resilience among dalits 175 in academia. alternate ways of healing have also been highlighted through the internet, caste-affirmative therapy, and other psychological healing. overall, it highlights that resistance by dalits has been agentic and active (vyas & panda 2019; hardtmann 2009; yengde 2019). education as disruption and rejection of caste getting educated is conceptualized as one significant way that discrimination can be challenged, as it also corresponds with the ambedkarite doctrine of “educate, agitate, and organize.” hence, the value of education has been highlighted strongly by most participants, as one participant emphasizes, “to be strong, education is the way, we need to gain knowledge” (ss, male), and some have highlighted that speaking in english is one way to confuse upper-caste individuals but a step towards social mobility. moreover, a strong sense of assertion about academic ability was also present, as many participants clarified that they scored well if not outright as ‘toppers’ in their educational institutes. the value of education is one way dalit individuals envisage social mobility and explore providing mentorship to fellow ingroup members once they enter the academy so that uc networks hold reduced power over them. the rejection of caste takes place through rejecting the value of caste, rejecting the uc urge to locate caste, and rejecting stereotypes through confrontation through both assertion and humor. one participant said, “once i was asked my surname, i said it is singh” (sh, male). this kind of identity concealment or ambiguous surnames, as another participant possessed, allowed them to challenge caste location and point out the follies of the upper-caste individuals’ attempts. moreover, some participants reject the importance of caste by suggesting it is just a “label,” and others have dismissed it as “nothing” in their lives. furthermore, when faced with casteism, participants have hinted towards direct confrontation with the casteist individual: “dalit category people no longer sit and get hit but also counter nowadays; if they (upper-caste) hit one of ours, we also hit five of theirs” (vs, male). whereas, in daily life, it could just be as commonplace as confronting a friend when they crack caste-based jokes or make prejudicial comments: “if someone is close to me and they make problematic comments, then i try to bring that up, like ‘you know what you said bothered me, was offensive to me, and i hope that you don’t say this again’.” (am, female). interestingly, confrontations can also be humorous. a participant stated that they used to make fun of their casteist professors or students and used humor as a tool of resistance in their daily anti-caste practices (see vollhardt et al. 2020). there could also be instances of workplace discrimination, especially in academia, which has also been confronted. as a research scholar highlights, “i have fought against many casteist forces in my university, where they have casteist professors and students and taunt students from oppressed backgrounds” (sh, male). all these forms of resistance highlight everyday forms of overt and covert resistance that are often not easily captured in collective action literature (leach & livingstone 2015; vollhardt et al. 2019). 176 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 rejection of hindu traditions and embracing ingroup role models it was interesting that participants signaled disillusionment with traditional hindu gods but claimed to worship or have seen their parents worship gods and goddesses that cure medical issues or solve social problems like “sheetla devi.” further, one participant stated that periyar’s ramayana must be read as it challenges the way most majoritarian hindus see rama. some participants highlighted saints who have been influential in the emancipatory movements like ‘guru ravidas,’ which aspired for perfect equality among all beings, and one participant spoke of bangladeshi saints such as “guru harichand and his son guruchand,” who mobilized against upper-caste hegemony in bengal (mukherjee 2018; sinharay 2022). however, some participants offer a complete rejection of religion or the importance of religion in their families. this is perhaps because it is through hindu practices of karma that caste gets justified by upper-caste individuals. participants have highlighted “my grandparents were atheists, and they followed no religion” (ki, female) and “i have become anti-god after reading newspapers and seeing what happens to our women” (si, male). moreover, while there is a certain rejection of hindu tradition, their source of hope is generated by looking up to ambedkar as an ideal figure. ambedkar, in the words of our participants, is seen to be a feminist, a guide, a reformer, as well as the maker of the nation-state. there is a strong sense of reverence for ambedkar. “babasaheb ambedkar is worshipped and respected. we had bhajans on him and even songs” (vs, male). another participant stated, “if you visit my house or my grandfather’s house, there are so many photos of dr. ambedkar. he’s not treated as a god but as somebody you look up to like a god” (am, female). moreover, other caste emancipators are also given importance in family functions such as marriage, as posited by one of the participants: “there will be buddha’s portrait, dr. ambedkar’s portrait, or savitribai phule’s portrait” (sh, male). moreover, women participants hinted at ambedkar’s importance in bringing women’s rights to india. however, a few narratives suggest that ambedkar’s ideas must also be questioned and challenged through a critical and moral standpoint that ambedkar himself envisioned. pride and acceptance of ancestry this involves appraising dalit history as one of the producers and hard laborers instead of stereotypical notions that are associated with the community of ‘freeloaders.’ these challenge the feeling of shame experienced by our participants, as often shame results from feelings of inadequacy due to the lack of social and cultural capital that uppercaste individuals seem to possess (alha 2018) and reclaiming and reappraising their ancestral experiences in a positive light can often serve to increase pride amongst the devalued group. they specify how they have navigated shame to pride over their ancestors, as the same participant states, “…i wouldn’t invite anyone to meet her (grandmother), even if my grandmother were cooler; probably now i realize that my grandmother was way cooler than them (colleagues and classmates),” (bi, exploring narratives of victimization, resistance, and resilience among dalits 177 female) and other participants have highlighted that their ancestors did not ‘beg’ for money but worked hard in their respective fields to earn their sustenance. another participant discusses the negotiation from shame to no shame as an achievement and a form of healing with their identity “i no longer feel shame; even if i do not take pride, at least i do not feel shame. i am not demonizing my identity or accepting slang against my community,” (ac, male) this highlights that a movement toward pride is not necessary for healing, but even movements that reduce shame and reduce the experience of humiliation could be equally valuable. moreover, success stories of parents and community are also seen as providing grounds for mentorship and serving as ideals for others to follow: “if i go to villages where the community is essentially bahujan, then they are proud of my mother” (bi, female). others acknowledged the space that bahujan professors make for students. “he (professor) was very accomplished, but he made students feel like there is space for you here... bahujan teachers make you feel that you belong.” (bi, female). some participants have highlighted how they have been seen as role models themselves: “(a person to him) ‘i didn’t know that our community had such good people.” he further added, ‘i am happy to see you do research; good to see you reading and writing; just glad” (as, male). another scholar adds, “since my joining as a professor, there are students who have become very confident because i have been teaching dr. ambedkar’s idea of the annihilation of caste in india, i’m teaching prof. kancha ilaiah’s texts. upper caste students are also joining the discourse” (su, male)—highlighting how caste scholars have transformative potential themselves, deideologizing merit, and creating caste-sensitive spaces. moreover, we also find the concept of paying back to the community as a strong motive in terms of the resources these participants had, and it could be in the form of using the internet to spread awareness, to the aspiration of being a mentor, and further, to help educate others (see also sinha 2020). hence, the goal remains one of social emancipation of the masses rather than only of a few select individuals. reclaiming knowledge systems this theme focuses on highlighting the contribution of dalit individuals, atrocities committed by upper-caste individuals, justifying reservation, de-ideologizing merit, and the importance of raising awareness among other caste members. valuing reservation as just is seen as a continuous struggle, as participants have stated how there has been reservation for brahmins in education for over 3000 years and highlighted its role in empowering the minoritized population. a participant said, “reservation is a small part of caste; it is not a poverty removal drive, but it is about representation” (ac, male). another participant mentions that it is necessary because they have never had access to the capital and network that upper caste individuals deprived other caste individuals of having. hence, support for reservation is strong among dalit individuals (bhanot & verma 2020). this is also coupled with problem-awareness raising in themselves and others, generating a sense of pride among dalit individuals. one participant adds, “if you look 178 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 at dalit and adivasi living and their practices, you would see that their food practices are democratic and nutrition-oriented” (sh, male). further, the lack of dalit freedom fighters is also a “we have to let people know that all fights and sacrifices were not made by upper-caste individuals, but also have been given by people whom you threw outside of your villages” (vs, male). moreover, justification of reservation follows de-ideologizing merit and redefining the markers of deservingness through notions of ‘hard work.’ a participant posited, “lower-caste people have only used the help of their talent to come to this level and not availed other help” (vs, male), and another participant highlighted that even though their parents possessed all the necessary qualifications, they were subject to discrimination on both the gender and caste front, which led her to abandon the value of merit as proclaimed by upper caste individuals. establishing dalit indigeneity the politics of indigeneity in india is complex and fraught with contestation and complexities; however, historical accounts of dalit resistance and adivasi resistance have highlighted that both groups assert and claim indigeneity in india (see baviskar 2006 for an in-depth discussion on dalit assertions of indigeneity). two participants, in particular, highlighted that dalits and adivasis are the original inhabitants of india, and brahminism is a foreign concept that has come through aryan invaders. they point to caste movements that have been trying to establish dalit indigeneity: “there is a movement, like the aadi dharam movement, that is trying to establish us as people of this land and that we are not hindus but aadhi dharmis” (as, male). another adds, “my grandfather told me that we are against aryans because we are the original inhabitants; basically, we are dravidians” (am, female). both of these lines emphasize the brahmin as a “foreigner’ propagated through aryan migration/invasion and that dalits are either an alternate group opposed to the brahmin or have existed before brahminism took root in india. both of these narratives highlight the wedge of hindu unification that has persisted in modern nationalistic politics, and laying claim to indigeneity can also lead to political mobilization. finding ways of healing and disruption(s) in this section is highlighted the role of newer modes of voicing and healing that goes beyond the realm of collective action and politics and are often based at an individual level, such as propagating caste-affirmative therapy (sawariya 2021), the use of the internet for communication, and internal psychological healing. for instance, one participant highlights that “caste-affirmative therapy accepts that these are my experiences and gives me the intervention. it gives me the freedom to tell the stories” (am, female). the findings of sawariya (2021), who emphasize that the psychology curriculum is caste-blind and frequently fails to account for dalit experiences, support this and show the need for alternative spaces for these people to air their views. other participants advocate the use of the internet and explain how it can be a zone of anticaste politics: “when i started the anti-caste page, i wanted to talk; i had nobody exploring narratives of victimization, resistance, and resilience among dalits 179 around me to talk about these things; i wanted to connect with like-minded people” (si, male). the internet provides a safe arena to disclose caste and often find people who have similar thought processes, thus generating social bonds and cohesion. another participant adds, “there is a lot of resistance on instagram now; lots of pages are coming up; people are opening and talking about it; it gives me hope and a feeling that i am not alone” (am, female). hence, traditional invisibilization by media is countered through social media spaces where one can seek representation (mehra et al. 2004). aspiration, solidarity, and collective actions these themes highlight the potential for the development of ingroup solidarity, establishing affective solidarity (hemmings 2012), and future aspirations (yosso 2005). most participants highlighted the value of ingroup solidarity, which often takes the shape of understanding and empathy. one participant running an instagram page states, “if you have empathy for the bottom of society, then you will understand the situation of your people” (si, male). often, it comes from solidarity through similar fate and experiences “my reservation friends, i can discuss my struggle or someone else’s struggle or their struggle” (gi, female). others have highlighted the value of community, stating, “i would probably be the same (with self-doubt and low selfesteem) had i not found a community” (bm, female). participants have highlighted that anti-caste solidarity also involves questioning and challenging your own privileges and acting on the teachings and principles you claim to aspire to. few participants hinted at how they would teach their children differently so that they do not feel ashamed of themselves: “i will want to protect my children, but i will not fill them with shame about it. i will make them aware that there are certain castes, and you have to be cognizant of them” (am, female). most participants have highlighted the importance of teaching their children about the caste system so that they can navigate their experiences. representational aspirations and contestations this was a contentious issue and brought forward substantial differences between the participants, highlighting that victim groups might appraise their victimization and the effectiveness of coping strategies differently (leach 2020; jeong & vollhardt 2021). in media houses and movies, the participants have noticed a difference in how dalit characters have been portrayed once a dalit director is directing a film; as one participant points out, “neeraj gehwan (sic), the director of masaan, takes out a casting call that is only for dba members” (as, male). another participant highlights neeraj gehwan’s (sic) influence on their lives: “the person who made masaan also made geeli puchhi. after i got to know he belonged to the community, i saw his writings and his work, and i was filled with joy. look at this man embracing it and killing it” (am, female). highlighting the space for radical hope, joy, and emancipatory potential that public figures and media representatives can bring to the community. 180 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 while representation in film and cinema has been viewed positively, politics, on the other hand, has been a challenging issue and is a contested area of dalit aspiration and political movement. dalit politics stand at a crossroads between young individuals such as jignesh mehwani, who mobilized dalits for land in gujarat, and chandrashekar azad, who is seen as a firebrand politician, and on the other side stand electoral party leaders like mayawati. a participant stated, “i feel it’s good that we have representation and young representation like mehwani and azad because the older generation is not very much in sync with the aspirations of young dba members” (am, female). while a difference of opinion exists, the dalit vote bank is hailed as a feminist vote bank. as two participants pointed out, when the time came to choose a woman or follow a man, the dalit electorate chose a woman in the form of mayawati. general discussion the current study analyzed how dalit participants have understood their victimization, resilience, and resistance in their lives through narrative interviews, which were thematically analysed (braun & clarke 2006; 2019). the study presents a departure from previous studies on collective victimhood that have focused on intractable conflicts (bar-tal 2009) and have concentrated on structural injustices that affect a majority of people. hence, in this study, the focus was on researching victimhood to explore how groups have actively resisted their victimhood through collective action and covert ways of resisting (vollhardt et al. 2020). like previous studies on colonialism (jeong & vollhardt 2021), we also find evidence of the primary appraisal process, secondary appraisal, and stress on coping strategies conceptualized as resistance and resilience against collective victimization in the context of structural violence. we applied the appraisal theory to study collective victimization (leach 2020) due to structural violence. we have found themes that highlight that the dominant outgroup is seen to be responsible for past victimization as well as continued victimization through acts of discrimination and microaggression. the article also sheds light on the ‘pathological’ desire of upper-caste individuals to control the dalit body through ascribing certain aesthetics as well as desires to locate the caste of every individual, demarcating dalit community members into dalits who belong and dalits who do not belong in certain spaces. the article also showed how different groups produce emotions in each other, as highlighted in intergroup emotions theory, juxtaposing the upper caste member’s disgust with the dalit member’s shame, which has been noted in the experience and propagation of prejudice and discrimination. the article emphasized the varied forms of collective resistance/resilience, especially focusing on the myriad ways of fighting the devaluation of dalit knowledge systems, dalit individual’s contribution to the freedom movement, and especially resisting the devaluation of their achievements. moreover, it focused on ways of dalit resilience through embracing their own identity, overcoming shame, celebrating their ancestry, aspiring to become role models for other dalit members, and engaging in a project of radical healing and hope (french et al. 2021). moreover, resistance was seen exploring narratives of victimization, resistance, and resilience among dalits 181 through confronting microaggressions, valuing education, rejecting hindu traditions, and embracing their own leaders, such as guru das, ravi das in the theistic fold, and ambedkar in the secular fold. the study also highlights how dalit individuals have creatively dealt with casteism by using covert ways of resistance, such as cracking jokes and not disclosing their surnames (vollhardt et al. 2020). moreover, the presence of aspiration and the desire to develop solidarity and engage in collective actions can be seen as avenues of resilience as well as healing, as they lay claim to a future that has yet to be realized. these allow the community members to restore their dignity, well-being, and self-worth. further, we find that the dalit participants highlight the importance of proper acknowledgment through teaching history and drawing attention to their community’s contribution to nation-building. in line with liberation psychology, dalit groups have also stressed how important it is to “de-ideologize” both caste and merit, which is something upper-caste people have done to paint a stereotypical picture of dalits. further, this is one of the few studies exploring both psychological resilience and resistance (sinha 2020) and victim beliefs among dalits (jogdand 2017; nair & vollhardt 2018). interestingly, it also explores the importance of being heroes, role models, and community leaders, as that highlights long-term engagement with the problem and not a one-off event. it finds that claiming reservations can create a class of dalit individuals who can potentially become mentors for future generations, and they can also aspire for social mobility. hence, resilience is also one way to navigate the daily experience of humiliation (guru 2009; jogdand 2016). finally, it highlights that studies on minoritized groups should study how victim groups are replete with collective resilience and resistance resources, which traditional literature has hitherto underestimated (leach & livingstone 2015). teaching about caste and acknowledging the historical effects of caste can be one way to have better interaction between dalits and upper-caste individuals, where the upper caste is forced to recognize their violent past based on exploitation and oppression, forcing us to confront the insidious ways in which structural violence operates and victimizes. limitations a significant limitation of this study has been that most of our participants were involved with academia as research scholars, graduate and post-graduate students, and professors. hence, while not intended, the study has focused on caste resistance in academic spaces. another methodological limitation is that these individuals were in contact through social circles or social media, where they ascribed a certain sense of anti-caste politics. however, many individuals facing discrimination may not resist or resist in the ways we have found in our study. further, the research could also involve triangulation of methods, especially community-based participatory and action approaches, in understanding the effectiveness of different coping strategies within the ingroup and focus more on ‘collective narratives.’ while the lack of heterogeneity in the sample is a limitation, another limitation is the number of participants, which 182 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 prevents generalizability. however, research in qualitative psychology ascribes to different checks on the generalizability and validity of the data, which was firmly kept in mind (tracy 2010). implications and conclusion the study also highlights the diversity of coping strategies within the community and how intervention in community resilience must also be multi-faceted, catering to the different needs of victim groups. this research is one of the many attempts to decolonize and de-ideologize brahminism and caste discourse. findings contribute to the larger discourse of anti-caste narratives—bringing their daily realities of hope and love to the forefront. it encourages sensitivity for affirmative policy and social action by problematizing the lens through which the dalit community is viewed. additionally, psychologists and educators can use the 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(2005). whose culture has capital? a critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. race ethnicity and education, 8(1), 69–91. https://doi. org/10.1080/1361332052000341006 © 2023 laurence simon. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. introduction caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 1 pp. 01–02 april 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i1.665 latitudes of marginality in india laurence simon1 this issue, latitudes of marginality in india, presents new research that challenge mainstream doctrines and beliefs that buttress and stiffen attitudes limiting social and economic equity. the term ‘latitudinarian’ was used in theology to describe churchmen who relied upon reason to verify moral certainty rather than the orthodoxy of tradition. used more broadly, latitudes allow for ideas from outside, new approaches to research, inclusivity, and forgotten voices. with this issue, j-caste embarks on our fourth year of heterodox research with readers across countries in asia, europe, north america and elsewhere. we maintain the rigor of our peer-review process as well as our original open-access policy which eliminates all financial barriers to publish, subscribe, read, download, or forward articles. we take pride in publishing promising young academics alongside celebrated and established scholars. the lead article in this issue, caste identities and structures of threats: stigma, prejudice, and social representation in indian universities, breaks new ground into why universities in india are turning into places of social defeat for dalit and other backward classes (obc) students. based largely on qualitative data gathered by the authors, the article argues that the basis of caste discrimination and humiliation in universities is not the same as it exists in other social institutions. the authors offer insights as to how students evolve strategies for coping and ideas for how higher education can heal “the wounded (caste) psyche.” two other articles in the issue address learning in indian education. the exclusion of bahujan schoolchildren: an anti-caste critique of the national education policy 2020, india explores the nature of educational inequality with direct reference to the social reproduction of caste. un‘casting’ universities: examining the intersections of inclusive curriculum and dalit pedagogies in a private university in bangalore, india, in our forum section, addresses the disconnect between curriculum and pedagogy which results in the “erasure of the discourse on caste,” and a deep and tragic alienation among some. 1joint editor-in-chief 2 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 1 other articles seek to further understanding through utilizing better data availability and analysis. caste and religion matters in access to housing, drinking water, and toilets: empirical evidence from national sample surveys, india provides evidence of social identity-based discrimination and discusses the socio-economic determinants of accessing quality dwellings and basic water and sanitation. importance of castebased headcounts: an analysis of caste-specific demographics transition in india analyses four rounds of the national family health surveys in the last 25 years and surfaces important trends and deficits when seen through distinct inter and intracaste (including sub-caste) analysis. several articles view caste realities through varied lenses including the camera. a critical lens to understand gender and caste politics of rural maharashtra, india considers the real world impact of ‘sairat’, a marathi romantic drama film, portraying dominant masculinity and brutal killing due to transgression of caste (in the form of intercaste marriage). the human dignity argument against manual scavenging in india confronts the notion of “safe” sanitation work and argues for the complete abolition of all forms of scavenging. sanitising india or cementing injustice? scrutinising the swachh bharat mission in india cites the history of linking sanitation and waste disposal to the most backward castes and argues that policy for a sanitized india must remove the “shackles of caste that have chained few marginal communities to such occupations.” hariprasad tamta: father of shilpkar revolution in india seeks to revive and analyse the leadership of hariprasad tamta, the “father” of the shilpkar (dalit) revolution, during the british and post-independence era. politics of recognition and caste among muslims: a study of shekhra biradari of bihar, india advances j-caste’s mission to expand caste analysis into other prominent religions of south asia and beyond. the article’s author presents research into the arzal (shekhra) caste (bone picking occupation) and argues that their “struggle for social recognition harmed their demand for redistributive justice.” © 2024 suryodaya sharma, yashpal jogdand. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.906 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 73-96 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the nature of caste prejudice: a new look at prejudice, social identity, and casteism in india suryodaya sharma1, yashpal jogdand2 abstract most research on caste prejudice is rooted in personality and individual difference approaches. as a result, there has been limited understanding of caste prejudice as an aspect of group psychology shaped by peoples’ sense of group positions. drawing on the social identity approach in social psychology (reicher et al. 2010), this article proposes a group-level psychological conceptualisation of caste prejudice and examines its relevance for understanding contemporary expressions of casteism. using a cross-sectional correlational survey design and a purposive sample comprising different caste categories (n=278), we examined associations between socio-demographic factors, personality and individual difference factors, caste prejudice, subjective identification with caste, opposition to reservations, and endorsement of discriminatory practices. the data was analysed using pearson product-moment correlation, anova, and multiple linear regression. we found that members of historically advantaged caste groups are more likely to endorse caste prejudice. caste prejudice, in turn, significantly predicted opposition to reservations and endorsement of discriminatory practices. importantly, those seeking to glorify their caste identity were found to be more likely to endorse caste prejudice. the psychological attachment to caste identity was not found to be associated with caste prejudice. all results were found to be significant even after statistically controlling for socio-demographic and personality-individual difference factors, suggesting the unique contribution of social identity-based analysis. we discuss the implications of our findings for theory, research, and efforts for social change. keywords caste prejudice, social identity approach, casteism, affirmative action in india, intergroup relations in india 1phd scholar, department of humanities and social sciences, indian institute of technology delhi, india 2associate professor, department of humanities and social sciences, indian institute of technology delhi, india corresponding author: yashpal jogdand email: yaj@iitd.ac.in 74 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 introduction many discussions on the persisting social exclusion and discrimination in society inevitably turn to prejudice in the minds of the majority groups. prejudice is generally understood as a negative evaluation of others based on their membership in social groups. prejudice, as a scientific concept, gained prominence in the aftermath of world war ii, reflecting a profound shift in political and moral positions (for a historical overview, see duckitt 1992). in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, many scholars thought of prejudice as an aspect of the “deficiencies” of the minority group members. the post-war understanding of prejudice shifted attention towards the “faulty” ways that majority groups perceive minority groups. another important conceptual shift occurred in this period. prejudice was viewed as a personality-based phenomenon rooted in the individual differences in ethnocentric intergroup attitudes among people (e.g., adorno et al. 1950). criticising this personality and individualdifference approach for its psychological reductionism, some scholars argued for understanding prejudice as a group phenomenon to be considered as an aspect of prevalent group dynamic, intergroup conflict, and social system (e.g., muzafer 1967; pettigrew 1958; tajfel & turner 1979). in this transition, the publication of gordon allport’s (1954) seminal compendious book the nature of prejudice occupies a special place. allport defined prejudice as “an antipathy based upon a faulty and inflexible generalisation” (allport 1954: 10), highlighting the cognitive, motivational, and affective components of the concept. allport’s approach was unapologetically value-oriented and sought to challenge social injustice. he examined the white prejudice towards african americans and ethnic hatred, particularly anti-semitism, and briefly discussed the prejudice in the indian caste system (allport 1954: 10, 320). allport’s key achievement in this work, as reicher (2007) has pointed out, was to “refocus …from studying the attributes of the oppressed to studying the perceptions of the oppressor” (p. 832). allport’s book reframed the way prejudice and discrimination are understood and set up an agenda for future research. in the early 1950s, india, as a young nation, was recovering from the large-scale violence witnessed in the partition. a useful foundation was laid in this period by gardner murphy’s (1953) book, in the minds of men: the study of human behaviour and social tensions in india. the book reported findings of a large-scale ‘tensions project,’ led by american psychologist gardner murphy with teams of indian academics, commissioned by the indian government to unesco in 1949 to study the nature of communal tensions and paths to social harmony. psychologists in india took to research on prejudice to understand intergroup conflict in indian society, reflecting their concern for nation-building. while the main focus of indian psychologists in this period remained on hindu-muslim conflicts, caste conflict also received some attention. indian psychologists started studying the implications of caste prejudice as early as the 1960s. the nature of caste prejudice: a new look at prejudice, social identity 75 notably, paranjpe’s (1970) book caste, prejudice and the individual investigated intercaste differences in belief, opinions, and attitudes relating to the caste system. the book reported findings from a survey study conducted among college students (n= 503) from brahmin, maratha, and dalit communities in poona, india. paranjpe was motivated by reading allport’s work and adopted some of the advanced theoretical and methodological tools to study caste prejudice. the analysis in the book emphasised how caste prejudice and discrimination are deeply rooted in social inequality. however, while the book discussed the prevalent sociological and anthropological literature on caste at length, it fell short of adopting a group-level psychological approach and treated prejudice as a matter of individual psychological processes. importantly, paranjpe did not take a value-oriented position towards exploitation and injustice in the caste system but maintained that social scientific study must be ‘objective’ (cf. allport 1954). therefore, caste prejudice was approached in this research as an aspect of hindu social order rather than a pervasive social problem needing intervention. despite raising the critical issue of caste prejudice, the focus of the analysis remained on how dalits are different and cause prejudice rather than how the oppressor caste groups create, maintain, and perceive these differences. other indian psychologists in this era also approached prejudice in a similarly individualistic manner and distanced themselves from studying the oppressive and exploitative nature of caste hierarchy (anant 1970; pandey & singh 2005). consider, for example, the way rath and sircar (1960: 16) explain the prejudice of upper castes towards the untouchables: the upper caste people do not mind the students of the harijan groups to live with them in the same hostels, but they do not like all kinds of harijans to enter into the temples and hotels. this prejudice of the upper castes may be more due to uncleanly habits of the harijans, but as the dirty habits gradually disappear when they are educated in schools and colleges the upper caste people do not mind their children living with them in the hostels. rath and sircar explain the prejudice of upper castes as a consequence of the “uncleanly habits” among “harijans” rather than due to the way upper castes come to perceive “harijans” as unclean and dirty. they naively assume that the prejudice will disappear once the “harijans” forsake their “dirty habits.” here, these researchers overlooked the fact that caste prejudice is deeply rooted in social disgust arising from the beliefs and practices of untouchability (ambedkar 1989). the exclusion and control of dalits, i.e., erstwhile untouchables, lower castes, and women, has been instrumental in materialising systemic inequalities and legitimating a status quo in indian society (see omvedt 2011; thorat & joshi 2020). the key question that needs to be asked from an allportian perspective is why some people in the hindu social order are perceived as dirty and how such perception 76 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 is problematic. the allportian perspective would have motivated these researchers to challenge the perpetrator and not blame the dehumanised and discriminated victims. consequently, the allportian perspective would have suggested exploring “contact” (pettigrew & tropp 2006) as a means of reducing prejudice in the minds of upper castes. however, such an engagement with prejudice research was lacking. psychologists in india seem to have distanced themselves from the issues of caste prejudice after the mid-1970s. to our knowledge, there has been little systematic psychological research addressing the problem of caste prejudice in indian society after the early decades of indian independence. as a result, the social psychological examination of caste prejudice has not kept up with the progress in social psychology internationally. there is limited scope here to discuss the major developments in prejudice research in social psychology. despite critical debates over the problems and potential of prejudice as a scientific concept, the political and action-oriented nature of prejudice is well recognised (see reicher 2007). the earlier conceptual emphasis on ‘prejudiceas-antipathy’ is replaced with more nuanced consideration of ideologies, attitudes and beliefs that sustain group-based inequality and oppression (barlow & sibley 2018). an influential body of research indicates that prejudice needs to be understood as a political rather than narrowly psychological category; prejudice mobilises individuals into social action that may reproduce social inequalities through discriminatory behaviour or may build norms that legitimise the inequalities between groups, thus explaining the reproduction of the social hierarchy and asymmetries (see, dixon et al. 2012). social identity theory in social psychology (reicher et al. 2010) has provided a non-reductionist and politically relevant approach to studying the group process and intergroup conflict. in sum, there is a good basis available to theorise and study patterns of caste prejudice in india and elsewhere. this article is an attempt to reinvigorate the study of caste prejudice. our main aim here is to go beyond the individualist and apolitical stance and develop a group-level psychological conceptualisation of caste prejudice that is sensitive to the ideological as well as political nature of caste. we test our approach using a quantitative study and examine associations of prejudice with caste identity and contemporary expressions of casteism. conceptualising caste prejudice as a group process as discussed earlier, much of the prejudice literature has focused on individual-level factors such as early socialisation, personality trait, or their interaction with sociopolitical context that may consequently shape prejudice against outgroups (altemeyer 1998; duckitt 2001; duckitt & sibley 2017; pratto et al. 1994). for instance, two individual-level differences in psychological motivations are widely used as underlying and near-universal explanations for prejudice (ho et al. 2015; osborne et al. 2017; reynolds et al. 2001; sibley et al. 2006). first, the need to build a hierarchical society (social dominance orientation-sdo), and second, the need to maintain social stability and cohesion (right wing authoritarianism-rwa). however, even the nature of caste prejudice: a new look at prejudice, social identity 77 these personality-level individual differences are aligned to and triggered by broader intergroup processes rather than just individual worldviews (dru 2007). for example, jogdand, khan, and mishra (2016) have highlighted the limitations of sdo and rwa in explaining the full spectrum of group processes in the caste context. another major issue with this research is that it does not fully acknowledge how prejudice makes a member of a group a social actor on behalf of the group. we, therefore, need to turn towards approaches that provide insights into group-level psychological processes. an insightful piece of research by thorat and colleagues (2016) contributed to the conceptualisation of caste prejudice. building on insights from blumer (1958) and ambedkar (1989), thorat and colleagues made a distinction between individual and group-level conceptualisation of caste prejudice. they highlighted the limitations of individualistic conceptualisation to explain the material and statusseeking behaviour among the upper castes, especially through opposition to castebased reservations provided to scheduled castes and tribes. they proposed that caste prejudice is best understood as a “group feeling” embedded in the present-day social asymmetries and future aspirations associated with the ingroup. their examination of the opposition to reservation highlights the instrumental functions of such opposition for the advantaged upper castes. we take this line of conceptualisation forward by incorporating the cognitive-motivational processes rooted in social identities and selfcategorisations in the caste context. a social identity approach to caste prejudice social identity approach (sia; reicher et al. 2010) comprises two sister theories: social identity theory and self-categorisation theory. sia emerged in the 1970s from the attempts to explain the findings of minimal group studies. originally set out to examine the effect of arbitrary and novel social categorization on intergroup behaviour, the minimal group studies led to surprising and provoking findings (spears & otten 2017). while it was assumed that the realistic competition for limited resources among groups lead people to favour their ingroup and discriminate against an outgroup, these studies showed that categorizing people into groups is enough to alter their behaviour, influencing them to favour their ingroup over the comparative outgroup. henri tajfel, one of the most influential social psychologists and author of social identity theory, argued that if we want to understand human behaviour in the minimal group studies, we must take into account the role of group membership in providing meaning, value and purpose to individuals. he proposed the concept of social identity to explain the psychological importance of group membership to individual’s self-concept. tajfel defined social identity as the “knowledge that [we] belong to certain social groups together with some emotional and value significance to [us] of this group membership” (tajfel 1981: 251). the concept of social identity encapsulated the interactions between society and the individual mind, mediated by a set of cognitive-affective-motivational processes. 78 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 sia provided an alternative to individual or personality-level factors to explain complex social dynamics. sia considers the issues of social structure more important in shaping intergroup relations than personality and interpersonal factors (tajfel & turner 1979; reicher et al. 2010). sia makes a distinction between personal and social identity. it is proposed that we define ourselves not only through our individual and idiosyncratic sense of self but also through the groups that we are members of. the groups we belong to matter to us as they are the sources of meaning, esteem, purpose and support. we are, therefore, psychologically motivated to maintain and enhance a positive and distinctive sense of social identity. at the same time, the meaning of being a group member is not solely based on a sociological or external classification; instead, it needs to have some psychological meaning for the individual. people’s social status, sense of security and certainty, and self-esteem remain contingent on the group’s fate (tajfel & turner 1979; reicher et al. 2010). the dynamic conceptualisation of self in sia helps us understand many important group-level phenomena without succumbing to reductionism (see khan et al. 2017; reicher & jogdand 2016). sia research succinctly shows that ethnocentrism, violence, oppression, and discrimination against other groups are not a given. they are rooted in the psychological relationship one has with the ingroup and the perceived position of the ingroup vis-à-vis relevant outgroups (dixon et al. 2012; reynolds et al. 2016; turner et al. 1987). thus, prejudice is not considered a reified and pathological characteristic of an individual or a group but a dynamic and psychologically meaningful process shaped by the social context. a critical move of sia on prejudice is that it treats prejudice not as the internalisation of external ideology but as a function of the interaction of people’s psychological relationship with their ingroup’s position and treatment in a perceived social system. prejudice, therefore, does not remain a matter of measuring the accuracy of perception against a perceived reality but a matter of politics and mobilisation rooted in group identities (reicher 2007; drury 2012). dimensions of subjective identification with caste: attachment and glorification in a society, an individual belongs to multiple social groups, but not all groups are psychologically meaningful to the individual. social identity research has emphasised the importance of subjective identification with valued social groups to an individual’s cognition, emotion and behaviour. social groups are important in addressing basic psychological needs (greenaway et al. 2016). a strong psychological relationship with an ingroup may not necessarily lead to blind conformity or breed prejudice against an outgroup. a strong psychological identification with ingroup may in fact be critical in nature and can foster dissent (penic et al. 2016). for example, movements like #heforshe or whites allying with blacklivesmatter show pro-social and progressive potential of identification among historically privileged groups (see highfield & miltner 2023). notwithstanding these positive aspects of group identification, several studies have also found that those who identify strongly with their ingroup may endorse more the nature of caste prejudice: a new look at prejudice, social identity 79 prejudice and ignore moral transgressions by ingroup members (doosje et al. 1998; doosje et al. 2006; roccas et al. 2008; sahdra & ross 2007). furthermore, when confronted with information that reflects negatively on the ingroup, those identifying highly with the group are also more likely to be motivated to defend the ingroup (leidner et al. 2010; penic et al. 2016). this apparent contradiction is resolved by considering the multiple ways people identify with their ingroup. roccas and colleagues (roccas et al. 2006 2008) proposed a bi-dimensional model of subjective identification with ingroup: glorification and attachment. the glorification component captures the belief that the ingroup is superior to other groups on a variety of dimensions, as well as a tendency of absolute loyalty and obedience to the ingroup. the attachment component, on the other hand, captures emotional attachment to the ingroup and the importance of the ingroup to an individual’s self-concept. across multiple contexts, researchers have noted that ingroup glorification rather than ingroup attachment makes a strong predictor of aggression and hostility towards outgroups. it was noted that individuals who seek to derive a sense of superiority from their group membership may legitimise violence towards an outgroup (bilali & vollhardt 2019; leidner et al. 2010). it is, therefore, plausible to expect that those seeking to glorify their group may be more likely to practice or endorse prejudice against the outgroups. following this reasoning, we can expect that glorification of one’s caste rather than mere attachment to it should be a strong predictor of caste prejudice. to summarise, we propose a deeper focus on the psychology of caste identity and caste power. we contend that the psychological relationship with caste identity may be critical in shaping the individual, interpersonal or societal manifestations of caste prejudice over the personality and individual difference factors (see osborne et al. 2017; roccas et al. 2006). the psychological need to glorify ingroup caste identity may be a source of prejudice rather than a mere psychological connection to caste ingroup. for people whose caste group constitutes an important part of their selfperception, an aggrandisement of the caste identity may lead to a more positive sense of self. thus, the strength of subjective glorification of one’s caste group may shape the target of the prejudice and that determines members of which groups would be more likely to inhabit prejudice (bonnot et al. 2016; dixon et al. 2012; roccas et al. 2006). thus, this study seeks to underline that the psychology of caste prejudice is not just located at the level of personality and individual differences but also at the level of caste identities and the social system. in the following sections, we highlight the role of prejudice in sustaining social hierarchy and shaping casteist attitudes. whose interest does caste prejudice serve? plethora of sociological, historical, and anthropological literature indicates that it is the dominant caste groups whose relative privilege, resources and power are maintained and legitimated by their position within the caste hierarchy (subramanian 2019; teltumbde 2010; thorat et al. 2020; thorat et al. 2016). the caste system functions 80 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 as a graded hierarchy that assigns value to people depending on their birth in caste groups. as an exploitative and consensual system of status and power relations, the caste system evolved to protect the interests of the upper castes, mainly brahmins (see ambedkar 1989; teltumbde 2010). the sacred literature of hindus elevated brahmins to godly status and legitimated the subjugation, segregation, and humiliation of the ‘untouchables’ (ambedkar 1989). despite the substantive changes in the politicaleconomic relations in the last two centuries, caste remained resilient and reproduced the inequalities and patterns of social dominance (see gupta 2005; jogdand et al. 2016). the sacred literature shaped (and arguably still shapes) the hierarchical beliefs, attitudes, and subjectivities in indian society. notably, cotterill et al. (2014) identified the role of the hindu theory of karma as a ‘legitimising myth’ that drives attitudes of social dominance and prejudice in indian society; they found generalised prejudice associated with tendencies to support hierarchical social arrangement and opposition to egalitarian policies and practices (also see, jogdand et al. 2016). therefore, it is plausible to expect upper castes to be more likely to hold and express a higher degree of prejudice. contemporary expressions of casteism caste relations have not remained frozen in time. along with notable stability of status and power relations (dumont 1980; moffatt 2015), caste relations also involved protest and social change (gupta 2005; hardtmann 2009). the socio-political changes in society and, consequently, the caste system, specifically those accompanying colonial rule, destabilised the traditional prejudicial underpinnings of violence and discrimination. with the weakening of religious order (gupta 2000), capitalistic market relations supplanting the self-replicating caste system in rural society, and increased opportunities for competition among dalits and non-dalits (jodhka 2015), the old notions of mythological or essential superiority cannot fully explain how caste inequality has continued in modern indian society. notwithstanding the politicisation of caste identities and the rising agency of oppressed caste groups, caste violence is a persistent social reality (teltumbde 2010). the cases of caste atrocities have increased in recent years (sadanandan 2018). the continuity of caste in a changing society requires that we consider both subtle and blatant expressions of caste prejudice: discriminatory practices. multiple studies have mapped the continuing caste discrimination in employment opportunities (mosse 2018; siddique 2011; thorat & joshi 2020), access to education (bailwal & paul 2021; subramanian 2015), marriages (ahuja & ostermann 2016), etc. however, overt casteist and discriminatory practices are not the only way that injustice and inequality in caste context are maintained and reproduced. a growing interest in understanding the changes in caste relations offers new modes of prejudice legitimising caste discrimination and inequality. for instance, natrajan (2012) argues that caste groups have claimed the language of ‘culture’, allowing casteism to continue as a preference. in other words, prejudice is increasingly directed not at the ‘other by blood’ but ‘other by culture’. caste prejudice has taken the nature of caste prejudice: a new look at prejudice, social identity 81 increasingly nuanced forms to build contestation to social justice measures such as caste-based reservations (e.g., see katju 2020). opposition to reservations. a notable feature of the attempts to maintain a status quo is the vehement opposition to institutional policies aimed at social justice, such as the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (prevention of atrocities) act, 1989 (sc/st (poa) act) and reservation policies for scheduled castes and tribes (see thorat et al. 2016). subramanian (2015) offers a powerful case study of castebased discrimination in the premier educational campuses of the indian institute of technology (iits) in india. this research highlights how discourses of caste and merit have interacted to produce new and more ‘acceptable’ forms of caste subjectivities in premier engineering colleges (cf. deshpande 2013). reservations are vehemently opposed in the iit campuses on account of threats to “merit”. the notion of “merit”, a symbolic capital in the urban labour market, becomes associated with being an upper caste from a general category, whereas dalits and lower castes as beneficiaries of caste-based reservations are sneered at and considered meritless. thorat, tagade and naik (2016) have highlighted the instrumental value of opposition to caste-based reservations for the historically advantaged caste groups. they examined the role of prejudice in the opposition to caste-based reservations and found that the opposition to caste reservations, notwithstanding the variety and pervasiveness of arguments, is, in fact, driven by the fear of losing privileges among dominant castes. hypotheses based on the above discussion, we shall now formally summarise the hypotheses of the study. we expect more endorsement of caste prejudice among the historically advantaged castes (general, obc) compared to historically disadvantaged social groups (sc, st) (hypothesis 1). we expect the glorification of one’s caste identity to predict caste prejudice, compared to the attachment to caste identity (hypothesis 2). caste prejudice, in turn, should be positively associated with the endorsement of discriminatory practices and opposition to caste-based reservations (hypothesis 3). it is proposed that these relationships will be significant even after accounting for socio-demographic factors and personality and individual difference-level predictors of prejudice (j. duckitt 2001; j. duckitt & sibley 2017). method sample: we recruited adult participants through convenience sampling across universities and institutions of higher education. data was collected from 287 participants through an online survey (90 general, 103 obc, 94 sc/st; 180 male and 98 female; mean age=21.83, sd=3.6). the data from 9 participants were removed due to issues (repeated entries, age below 18 years, etc). thus, the analysis was based on the data from 278 participants in total. the majority of the participants identified themselves as hindus and were comfortable in english (n=226). 82 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 procedure: the survey was in english language and set up online using google forms. participants were approached through course instructors and personal contacts. participants received the link for the survey through emails. the survey began with an information sheet containing necessary information about the study and the signing of the consent form. after completion of the survey, the participants were presented with a debriefing sheet that clarified the nature of the study and contact information of researchers and help services. ethical approval and data availability: the institute ethics committee (iec) of the indian institute of technology, delhi, approved the study protocol (ref. no. p-075/2020). the dataset and analysis syntax will be shared upon a reasonable request. measures:1 1. subjective identification with caste: this scale was adapted to the caste context from the bi-dimensional identification scale devised by roccas and others (roccas et al. 2006, 2008). the 16-item scale seeks to measure the nature and extent to which the participant identifies with their caste group. the scale had two major components, as discussed earlier, with 8-items each: glorification and attachment. the glorification component measures the extent to which self is derived from the purported superiority of the caste ingroup. the attachment component measures the extent to which the self is committed to the caste ingroup and the members of the ingroup. items were rated on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). some of the sample items for glorification of caste identity are: “other caste groups can learn a lot from us.”, “my caste is better than other caste groups in all respects.”. some of the sample items for attachment with caste identity are: “when i talk about the group members, i usually say “we” rather than “they.” “being a member of my caste is an important part of my identity.” the scale reflected a satisfactory degree of internal consistency (cronbach’s alpha =.95). 2. the subtle and blatant prejudice: we used the 9-item ‘blatant and subtle prejudice’ scale by pettigrew and meertens (1995). the blatant prejudice subscale measures more traditional forms of negative attitudes against low castes, and the subtle prejudice subscale constitutes a need for ‘hard work’ emotional ambivalence and highlighting cultural differences between ‘high and low castes’. these components, as discussed above, are relevant in the caste context. the participants responded to items on a 6-point likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. sample items from the scale are: “the high castes and low castes can never be really comfortable with each other, even if they are close friends” (blatant), “ it is just a matter of some people not trying hard enough. if low castes would only try harder, they could be as well off as high castes.” (subtle). the internal consistency of the measure was acceptable (cronbach’s alpha=.67) 1we also measured some other variables which are not part of the present analysis and may be reported in another publication. the nature of caste prejudice: a new look at prejudice, social identity 83 3. endorsement of discriminatory practices: this scale was constructed de novo by the authors. the participants expressed their perceived endorsement of six different caste-related practices on a 4-point likert scale between “completely unacceptable” and “completely acceptable”. the questions sought to measure the degree to which the participant may perceive a discriminatory act as reasonable or legitimate. here are few sample items. to what extent do you think it is acceptable to: “not allow people from other castes to enter the kitchen” or “refuse to hire someone based on his/her caste”? the internal consistency of the measure was satisfactory (cronbach’s alpha=.89). 4. opposition to reservations: the scale was adapted from the 3-item opposition to reservations scale by cotterill and colleagues (2014). however, the reliability of the scale was very poor (cronbach’s alpha=.29) hence, we used a single-item scale. participants indicated their responses using a 7-point likert scale with the following item: “reservations are bad for the overall progress of our society, and they have created a vested interest in backwardness among caste groups.” 5. social dominance orientation: social dominance orientation (cronbach’s alpha=.76) was measured with the 8-item scale (ho et al. 2015; pratto et al. 1994). some of the sample items are: “some groups of people are simply inferior to other groups” and “it is unjust to try to make groups equal”. 6. right-wing authoritarianism (rwa): this was measured with a 9-item version (cronbach’s alpha=.73) of duckitt et al. (2010) 18-item rwa scale. some of the sample items are: “what our country needs most is discipline, with everyone following our leaders in unity”, and “obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues children should learn”. 7. socio-demographic variables: we also collected the demographic details of the participants in terms of age, sex, region, education, socio-economic status (ses) and caste category.2 analytic strategy: data were analysed using jasp version 0.16.4 (love et al. 2019). all measures were first computed for their internal consistency, mean, standard deviation, normality of distribution, etc. statistical analysis required a single figure for a measure; hence, the average of all items in a scale was taken as the score for a participant. we conducted the bivariate correlational analysis to explore associations among all the measured variables using pearson product-moment correlation. for hypothesis 1, we conducted an analysis of variance (anova) to examine the mean differences in endorsement of caste prejudice among different caste categories. to assess the predictive validity of our hypothesised relationships in hypotheses 2 and 3, we conducted linear regression analyses. to test hypothesis 2, we ran a multiple regression analysis to examine whether and to what extent two different forms of 2we refer to general category to indicate the historically advantaged caste groups (see deshpande 2013). 84 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 subjective identification with caste groups may predict caste prejudice. for hypothesis 3, we put caste prejudice as the predictor variable and sought to examine its predictive influence on the endorsement of discriminatory practices and opposition to castebased reservations. results data preparation and screening the missing values in the dataset were found to be random and at desirable levels of 5 per cent (tabachnick et al. 2013). we used pairwise deletion of the missing data to utilise the data fully. our variables had a reasonable kurtosis and skewness between +1 and -1 (tabachnick et al. 2013). some variables had a statistically significant shapiro-wilkes score, suggesting that the distribution may not form a normal curve. however, with our sample size, the graphical distribution (q-q plot and histograms) and skewness and kurtosis, the threat to normality may be minimal (field 2013; tabachnick et al. 2013). we followed bootstrapping with 5000 resamples for all regression analyses to ensure the validity of analyses irrespective of any assumption about the normality of distribution (kline 1998; tabachnick et al. 2013). visual inspection of histograms, scatterplots, and p-p plots revealed no violations of linearity, normality, or homoscedasticity. there were no variables with an extremely high degree of correlation (<0.90), suggesting minimal threat of multicollinearity. furthermore, the possibility of multicollinearity was discarded with vif and tolerance within thresholds (field 2013). descriptive findings and univariate analysis the descriptive findings and univariate analysis are stated in table 1. we find that caste prejudice has a moderate and positive association with both components of subjective identification but more strongly with the glorification of caste identity. on the other hand, caste prejudice is positively associated with endorsement of discriminatory practices and opposition to reservations. we also find that there is a substantial positive correlation between glorification of and attachment to caste identity, yet they differ in their bivariate correlations with prejudice, endorsement of discriminatory practices and opposition to reservations. we explored the statistical relationships between the demographic variables and other variables. there may be an argument that as we grow older and invested in caste identities, caste prejudice may also increase. a linear regression analysis found that age has a statistically insignificant relationship with caste prejudice (p=.66). similarly, the residents of small towns were more likely to endorse caste prejudice in an anova analysis (f(2, 270) =3.53, p=0.03), than those residing in rural or metropolitan areas (t=-02.44, se=0.11, p=0.04). we also found gender differences in an anova analysis (f(3, 269)=4.85, p=0.008), with men reporting higher levels of caste prejudice (t=02.89, se=0.09, p=0.08). differences in education (p<.05) and ses (p<.05) were found to be statistically insignificantly associated with caste prejudice. the nature of caste prejudice: a new look at prejudice, social identity 85 regarding the forms of subjective identification, an anova analysis indicated that those from rural areas are more inclined to identify with their caste identity (f(2, 269) =4.29, p=0.01) than metropolitan cities (t=-2.91, se=0.28, p=0.01). similarly, only those with postgraduate degrees and above are significantly less likely to have identified with their caste identity (f(4, 265) =3.92, p=0.01). subjective identification with caste identity showed a meaningful and positive association with lower ses (p>0.05), men (p>0.05) or greater age (p>0.05). an anova showed that there is a statistically significant difference in opposition to reservation (f(3, 274)= 11.21, p<.001). a post-hoc comparison with bonferroni correction showed that participants from general castes opposed reservation significantly more than those from dalit groups (p<.001) and st groups (p<.05), and obc participants opposed reservations more than dalit participants (p<.001). table 1: mean, sd and correlations for all variables in the study variables (measures) mean sd 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. caste prejudice 2.65 0.73 2. glorification of caste identity 3.09 1.43 0.41*** 3. attachment with caste identity 3.33 1.62 0.31*** 0.85*** 4. endorsement of discriminatory practices 2.05 1.26 0.44*** 0.49** 0.43*** 5. opposition to reservations 4.28 1.93 0.41*** 0.11* 0.02 0.19** 6. sdo 2.42 1.07 0.44*** 0.48*** 0.43*** 0.52*** 0.14** 7. rwa 4.11 1.01 0.43*** 0.46*** 0.40*** 0.23*** 0.23*** 0.23*** *** p < .001, **p<.01, *p<0.10 testing hypothesis 1 we predicted that the caste groups occupying higher positions in the social hierarchy would endorse a higher degree of caste prejudice compared to caste groups occupying lower positions. thus, the general category and obcs would express a higher degree of caste prejudice compared to sc and sts. our data shows (see table 2 and figure 1) that obc participants endorsed higher amounts of caste prejudice (m=2.78, sd=0.62), closely followed by general category participants (m=2.67, sd=0.85). we conducted an analysis of variance (anova) to compare the effects of caste category or position on caste prejudice. the findings showed that there was a statistically significant difference in caste prejudice among the three groups (f(2, 270)=4.111, p=0.017). we also ran a post-hoc analysis with bonferroni correction, comparing the differences between the groups. we found that there is a statistically significant difference between st/sc on the one hand and obc on the other hand (t=-2.847, p=0.014, 95% ci=-0.557, 0.052). there was no significant 86 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 difference between obc and general category participants (t=1.83, p=0.20). this supports our hypothesis that the high-status and advantaged caste groups are more likely to endorse prejudicial attitudes. the hypothesised relations remained significant (p>0.05) even after controlling for age, education, gender and socio-economic status. table 2: mean differences and standard deviations among different categories in caste prejudice. category n mean sd general 90 2.67 0.85 st/sc 81 2.47 0.65 obc 102 2.78 0.62 caste differences in prejudice obc 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 general st/sc figure 1: graphical representations of mean differences in prejudice among caste groups. the vertical axis refers to the reported caste prejudice, and the horizontal axis refers to the caste categories. testing hypothesis 2 we conducted a multiple regression analysis to test our hypotheses 2. we hypothesised that subjective identification with one’s caste ingroup would be positively associated with caste-based prejudice. we ran an ols regression analysis that tested if subjective identification would predict caste prejudice (also see scatterplot in figure 2a). we found that identification with caste ingroup is positively and significantly associated with caste prejudice (β=0.378, adjusted r2=0.14, t=6.617, p<.001, ci 95%=0.132, 0.244). we also predicted that the glorification of caste identity but not attachment to caste identity would be positively associated with caste prejudice. we conducted a multiple regression analysis in which glorification and attachment components of identification were our covariates, and we entered caste-based prejudice as the outcome variable. we found that the glorification component of identification predicted an increase in castebased prejudice (see scatterplot in figure 2c) (β=0.577, sr2= 0.30, t=5.374, p<.001, ci 95%=0.185, 0.400). however, the attachment component was a weak and negative predictor of caste prejudice (see scatterplot in figure 2b) (β=-0.082, sr2= -0.094, t=-1.885, p=0.09). thus, the explanatory effect of identification on caste prejudice the nature of caste prejudice: a new look at prejudice, social identity 87 can be singularly attributed to the glorification component of the identification. we found that the hypothesised relations remained significant (p>0.001) even after adding age, education, gender and socio-economic status as covariates. we also found the effects of glorification on prejudice to be significant (p>0.001) while controlling for personality-level variables, i.e. sdo and rwa. table 3: standardised regression coefficients and semi partial correlation in multiple regressions with caste prejudice as outcome and components of identification as predictors. caste prejudice β sr2 glorification of caste identity 0.57*** 0.30 attachment with caste identity -0.08a -0.09 adjusted r2 0.188 ***p<.001, ap<.10 identification pr ej ud ic e 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 figure 2a: scatterplot depicting the distribution of responses along the regression line. the vertical axis represents the caste prejudice, whereas the horizontal axis represents the subjective identification with the caste identity. 1 1 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 6 7 attachment with caste identity ca st e pr ej ud ic e figure 2b: scatterplot depicting the distribution of responses along the regression line. the vertical axis represents the caste prejudice, whereas the horizontal axis represents the attachment with caste identity. 88 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 1 1 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 6 7 glorification of caste identity ca st e pr ej ud ic e figure 2c: scatterplot depicting the distribution of responses along the regression line. the vertical axis represents the caste prejudice, whereas the horizontal axis represents the glorification of caste identity. testing hypothesis 3 h3 stated that caste prejudice would be positively associated with the endorsement of discriminatory practices and opposition to reservations. table 2 shows the statistical indicators of the multiple linear regression analyses conducted to test the hypothesis. table 4: effect of caste prejudice on endorsement of discriminatory practices and opposition to reservations. endorsement of discriminatory practices opposition to reservations caste-based prejudice 0.44*** 0.41*** adjusted r2 0.19 0.17 ***p<.001 we found that caste prejudice significantly predicted endorsement of discriminatory practices (β=0.44, t=7.97, p<.001, adjusted r2= 0.19, ci 95%= 0.584, 0.967) as well as opposition to caste-based reservations (β=0.42, t=7.16, p<.001, adjusted r2= 0.17, ci 95%= 0.832, 1.413). here, too, we found that the hypothesised relations remained significant (p>0.001) after controlling for age, education, gender, socio-economic status, sdo, and rwa. discussion caste-based discrimination and inequality continue in various forms. even as there is a growing recognition of caste prejudice contributing to this continuity (ahuja & ostermann 2016; bailwal & paul 2021; coffey et al. 2018; cotterill et al. 2014; mosse 2018; thorat et al. 2020), it has not received a systematic and consistent attention among researchers. most research on caste prejudice was conducted in the 1960s-1970s the nature of caste prejudice: a new look at prejudice, social identity 89 and, therefore, remains limited by outdated reductionist theoretical paradigms. drawing upon the social identity approach in social psychology, we developed a group level psychological conceptualisation of caste prejudice and used it to understand the contemporary expressions of casteism using a cross-sectional correlational survey design. we found that members of historically advantaged caste groups are more likely to hold and endorse caste prejudice. caste prejudice, in turn, significantly predicted opposition to reservations and endorsement of discriminatory practices. importantly, those seeking to glorify their caste identity were found to be more likely to endorse caste prejudice. the psychological attachment to caste identity was not found to be associated with caste prejudice. these results were found to be significant even after statistically controlling for socio-demographic and personality-individual difference factors, suggesting unique contributions of social identity-based analysis. a non-representative sample in our study precludes any generalisation. however, we believe that our theoretical work and findings contribute to the understanding of caste prejudice. for a reader familiar with social scientific research on caste inequities, some of our findings may seem tautological. we hardly claim any novelty in findings confirming a relatively high degree of prejudice among historically advantaged caste groups and caste prejudice relating to opposition to reservations and endorsement of discrimination. yet, these findings shed light on the psychological underpinnings of these patterns and provide a piece of converging evidence confirming them. in addition, considering the fact that most research on caste prejudice was focused on the oppressed rather than the oppressors, our findings help shift the analytic gaze towards the ‘psychology of the oppressors’ following the allportian perspective. hence, we would reject any charge of tautology and emphasise the importance of our findings in the context of how caste prejudice and its consequences have been conceptualised and operationalised in the existing literature. we found that the participants from obc category endorsed the highest levels of prejudice. this finding is novel and counter-intuitive. however, when the amorphous nature of the obc category and internal stratification and/or competition is considered, this finding makes sense. it is likely that the prejudiced attitudes are rooted in the motivation to establish social relations of hierarchy within obc category and between other caste categories (see palshikar 2006). the emergent agrarian distress and serious stagnation in the rural economy, limiting growth opportunities among obc castes, may have further added to intensified competition for social mobility and antipathy towards competitive outgroups (jaffrelot 2019). this finding is likely to be misinterpreted and hence requires further explanation. we would discourage any essentialist reading that renders the obc category inherently “prejudiced”. rather, the finding must be interpreted in the context of intergroup dynamics that may shape the conditions under which groups are likely to hold and 90 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 express prejudice against outgroups. therefore, a high degree of prejudice among the participants from the obc caste groups should not be seen as reflecting any “essence”. we would like to reiterate that it is the intergroup relations that cause prejudice in the minds of individuals rather than the other way around. a novel contribution of our study is the conceptualisation of caste prejudice using a social identity approach. we argued that the personality and individual difference approaches (duckitt & sibley 2017; pratto et al. 2006; sibley et al. 2006) do not sufficiently explain the psychological processes underlying caste prejudice. we proposed that caste prejudice should be understood as a matter of how ingroup identity and ingroup power are defined and identified. the glorification of caste identity emerged as the stronger predictor of caste prejudice. this fits with the extant social psychological research on the glorification of identity that shows its relevance for many negative intergroup behaviours, such as support for violence towards an outgroup and exoneration of an ingroup from historical transgressions (bonnot et al. 2016; leidner et al. 2010; penic et al. 2016; roccas et al. 2006, 2008). our approach extended thorat and colleague’s (2016) conceptualisation of caste prejudice in terms of a “group feeling” that serves a function for the caste groups that benefit from inequality in society. in a sense, our approach also complements the socio-structural explanations (blumer 1958; bonilla-silva 2003) by integrating psychologically meaningful predictors (see mcgarty et al. 2009) and accounting for psychological processes within historically advantaged caste groups. limitations and future directions a major limitation of our study is its correlational design and reliance on a convenience sample. the correlational nature of the study precludes any claims of causality of hypothesised relationships. future research should examine these relationships employing experimental and/or longitudinal designs with representative samples. another major limitation relates to the measurement of caste prejudice and other constructs. although we adapted a very influential and well-validated measure of prejudice, it cannot be claimed to have captured critical dimensions of caste prejudice. the blatant subscale performed poorly (cronbach’s alpha=0.28). we relied on a single-item scale to measure opposition to reservations. the subtle subscale (cronbach’s alpha=0.63) and the full scale (cronbach’s alpha=0.68) were found to be adequately consistent, and single-item measures are equally reliable and valid (allen et al. 2022). yet, there are problems in conceptualising and measuring what exactly are ‘blatant’ and ‘subtle’ aspects of caste prejudice in contemporary india. we cannot emphasise enough the need for a better measure of caste prejudice. one of the main agendas for future research on caste prejudice should be developing a conceptually and empirically efficient measure of caste prejudice. the measurement of negative intergroup attitudes, such as opposition to reservations, also needs to be refined. the nature of caste prejudice: a new look at prejudice, social identity 91 our findings align with the assertion that outside developed and post-industrial countries, the traditional and blatant forms of prejudice may very well survive and coexist along with the new and subtle form of prejudice without the former replacing the latter (bilewicz 2012; cf. dixon et al. 2012). caste prejudice may not always reflect in blatant negative behaviours or feelings of antipathy towards dalits and lower castes; it may very well be an aspect of positive but paternalistic intergroup attitudes that position dalits and lower castes as “weaker” and in need of saving. future research should examine ambivalent forms of caste prejudice and underlying value and attitude structures. concluding thoughts prejudice is one of the most important psychological concepts in understanding social exclusion and discrimination in society. despite a useful foundation in the early decades of indian independence, there has been limited theoretical and empirical interest in the study of caste prejudice. this article sought to reinvigorate scientific attention to caste prejudice by shifting the analytic focus from the oppressed to the oppressors. our research highlighted the importance of ingroup identity and ingroup power in shaping the nature of caste prejudice. however, a systematic programme of study is needed to elucidate the causes, correlates and consequences of caste prejudice. yet, understanding the psychology of caste prejudice is only part of the task. the main priority is finding ways to eliminate caste prejudice. in social psychology, prejudice is often sought to be resolved by altering the views of dominant group members. an influential body of research suggests the critical role of intergroup “contact” as an effective prejudice reduction mechanism (van assche et al. 2023). the problem of caste prejudice, however, cannot be simply reduced to the perceptual distortion or biases among the upper castes that will be changed with more contact with dalits. arguably, as the upper caste mobilisations against the sc/st (preventions of atrocities) act, 1989 and caste-based reservations suggest, being tolerant or sympathetic to dalits does not hinder the social action that fosters opposition to social justice and support for social dominance. in fact, there is evidence that prejudice reduction strategies dampen the motivation of oppressed groups to challenge inequality (dixon et al. 2010). the roots of caste prejudice go deep into the hindu sacred literature that underpins the logic of untouchability sustaining the caste system. without the radical systemic changes envisioned by revolutionary anti-caste thinker and leader dr ambedkar (2014), caste prejudice is likely to continue in various blatant/subtle forms. while there is some utility in reducing caste prejudice through civic engagement and democratic learning among the upper castes, it should be complemented with the selfmobilisations and leadership among dalits and other oppressed communities. the reduction of caste prejudice is therefore not simply a matter of psychological change; 92 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 it is also a matter of social change. studying and eliminating caste prejudice should be a priority for intellectuals, activists, and organisations concerned with social justice. we conclude with allport’s (1954) reminder of the weight of this onerous task on future generations: “it required years of labour and billions of dollars to gain the secret of the atom. it will take a still greater investment to gain the secrets of man’s (sic) irrational nature. it is easier…to smash an atom than a prejudice” (p. xvii). acknowledgement an earlier version of this paper was presented as part of the psychology panel of the association of academics for social justice (aasj) inaugural conference, intergroup inequality in indian society: 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(2023). intergroup contact is reliably associated with reduced prejudice, even in the face of group threat and discrimination. american psychologist. advanced online publication. © 2024 jidugu kavya harshitha. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.912 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 220-236 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste caste and colourism: analysing social meanings of skin colour in dalit and savarna discourses jidugu kavya harshitha1 abstract we know little about how skin colour is used to discriminate and dehumanise dalits in everyday language. thus, the construction of fairness and darkness of skin colour in savarna perception and the qualities attributed need to be understood through the lens of caste identities. drawing on an ethnographic study in nallapadu palle scheduled caste colony in andhra pradesh, this article aims to understand how various qualities are attributed to the skin and colour of dalits and savarnas using qualia, linguistic registers and indexicalities. the telugu linguistic forms “nalupu” (dark) and “telupu” (fair), when used in registers, are analysed to understand the qualities indexed with these forms. it is essential to examine the process of caste manifestation in language through colour, which indexes several qualities through a specific linguistic form, varying its social meaning when attributed to a savarna and a dalit. the study found that the social meanings of nalupu and telupu used in everyday conversations differed for savarnas and dalits. when spoken in the context of dalits in palle, it indexed qualities to discriminate and re-establish caste. it is argued that these attributes lead to the creation of caste hierarchies. the article calls for examining the connection between colourism and caste discrimination further. keywords dalits, caste, qualia, linguistic registers, skin colour, colourism in india introduction in the telugu everyday language, one can notice that the word “chandala”, which is a community that has traditionally been assigned the occupation of dealing with the disposal of corpses, is used to mean “disgusting/ugly”. it is so deeply assimilated 1doctoral student, faculty of education, queen’s university, canada e-mail: 23gwk@queensu.ca caste and colourism: analysing social meanings of skin colour 221 into the language that most people do not realise the deep-rooted casteist origin of the term and use it in the context of undesirable. rani (2018) explains how caste, through the medium of language, demonises and dehumanises dalits: “caste hindus have humiliated dalits with individual caste names such as pallars, paraiyars, sakkiliars and some common names such as dasa, rakshasa, asura, avarna, panchama, chandalas, untouchables and harijans”. the portrayal of dalits as “less or no human” through the social myths associated with them often manifests itself through language, psyche and popular culture. normalised malayalam utterances like “‘poyi kullikku, parayachi polle undu’ (‘go take a shower, you look like paraya girl) and ‘ayyoithu pella karippu aanu’ (oh nothis is pulaya black’)” reflect these portrayals (geetha 2022). not only through the casteist slurs but as das (2021) writes, the expressions “you dress so well, you don’t look like dalit”… “i could never imagine you are dalit”, etc., are also casteist and discriminatory in nature. jogdand (2023) shows how these comments constrain dalits to an upper-caste1 gaze, leading to their humiliation. it is important to ask oneself what stereotypical expectation or casteist associations one reproduces through this language. do these statements associate dalits with being dark, ugly, and dirty? if so, the process of attributing qualities to dalit skin and colour in everyday language to reinforce caste needs to be analysed to understand the underpinning savarna1 perception. colourism within the context of caste plays a crucial role in discriminating against dalits. feminist author alice walker defines colourism as prejudicial or preferential treatment of individuals from the same racial group based on their skin colour (norwood 2015). colour as an attribute is routinely employed to assess an individual’s worth in indian society. while dalit bodies are read and judged in every sphere of life, it is a critical aspect through which they are stigmatised. geetha (2022) has put this eloquently: “we are all guilty of reading the bodies of the people we meet, especially in the context of their skin colour. we decide the degree of their attractiveness, innocence, status, power, hygiene, and criminality from the tinction of their skin”. there is a clear impact of colour in the expression of caste dynamics in both private settings, like marriages, where darker-skinned people often face rejection and public spaces, like cinemas, where depictions of dalits tend to promote caste-based preconceptions by showing them with darker complexions, unhygienic, less groomed looks, and filthy. colour plays a significant role in establishing and maintaining social stratification in these cultural and social contexts and is read and expressed through language. colour semiotics look at the psychological perception of colour as it is manifested in language and how the sensation influences the meaning of signs that an observer feels when they see the colour of those signs, influencing thought. the stereotypical associations of those mentioned above and other qualities with colour 1the term savarna refers to the privileged caste-communities in the hindu social order. 222 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 can be understood through the semiotics of colour, as the association of meanings are conveyed through colour as a sign. the dalits, who are at the bottom of the hierarchy, their skin, colour and culture are termed impure by savarnas. this article tries to link speech, experience, and perception to understand how qualities are associated with skin and colour and how they are manifested in the savarna language or speech through dalit experiences of caste. the article is organised into four main sections. the first section of this article addresses the ongoing discussion regarding caste and colourism. it emphasises why it is essential to explore the complexities of colourism within the caste system using psychological and linguistic perspectives. the second section discusses the concepts of linguistic registers, indexicalities, and qualia. these conceptual frameworks serve as analytical tools for understanding the experiences of dalits in the framework of caste, with a particular focus on colourism. the third section of the article shifts its attention to the crucial elements of the study area, author positionality, and research methodology. the last and final section provides a thorough analysis of the linguistic processes of attributing qualities to skin colour that have a complex relationship with caste. this part examines the attribution of specific qualities to fair and dark skin within both the dalit and savarna communities to understand the deep-rooted casteist ideologies that contribute to the perpetuation of caste-based social hierarchy. fair and beautiful in opposition to dark and ugly an individual’s skin tone is a noticeable physical characteristic that others immediately observe throughout social encounters and utilise to make judgements (maddox & gray 2002). in his essay “dating like a savarna”, kisana (2023) writes that “caste is not just a secret language of aesthetics; it is also the code to classify bodies as legitimate or illegitimate”. the dalit skin is often seen as impure and polluting and perceived as undesirable in a casteist society. growing up, my mother always used to say, “you and your dad are fair; people will think you are brahmins, you will not face casteism like me.” my mother, who has a dark complexion, experienced significant prejudice and discrimination in society, which regards fairness as beautiful. she wanted to marry my father to protect her children from the trauma of being a dalit with a dark complexion. this has become deeply rooted in me, and i thought being fair is the key to earning love, opportunities, and, most importantly, respect. however, this perception of my fairness by my family was short-lived, as the savarna world did not share the same view. i hated myself for not being able to look fair and flawless like my savarna classmates; for them, i was dark, and it was visible and evident in me, which made them understand that i was not one among them. indian society is obsessed with fair skin, which fits the brahmanical standards of beauty, employing skin tone as a marker of caste. dark skin is seen as an indicator of caste and inferiority (philips 2004). there is a debate on caste and colour, and research shows that the caste system’s social structure significantly impacts skin pigmentation. ayyar & khandare (2013) discuss caste and colourism: analysing social meanings of skin colour 223 the historical interplay of colourism, the caste system, and economic status in indian society. historically, oppressed castes were poor and uneducated; they were forced to do manual labour, mostly outdoors in the sun. however, oppressor castes had more income and education and avoided outside occupations, which eventually led to the association of dark skin with oppressed castes and fair skin with oppressor castes (see zhao et al. 2023). a genotype-phenotype-based study with various caste groups in north india also amply demonstrates the profound impact of rigid marriage customs and multi-layered endogamy, contributing to the variation in skin tone (mishra et al. 2017). this gives us an insight into the persisting influence of historical practices like the caste system and contemporary practices like the inclination towards fair skin, thereby implicating an implicit caste-related dimension within prevailing aesthetic standards. skin colour is an important dimension that affects decision-making in indian matrimony. the marriage advertisements, newspapers and preferences clearly show a social and cultural inclination towards fair skin while simultaneously displaying discriminating attitudes towards darker skin tones (ayyar & khandare 2013). however, even a fair dalit undergoes caste-based discrimination, bringing out caste as a complex web of coded qualities. gidla (2018) points out that caste is not a simplistic construct to understand just by looking at one’s skin colour. it is complex, and savarna lives represent a constructed set of qualities termed pure by themselves when associated with savarna bodies. i always used to ask myself, “if fairness is the marker of savarnas, why is a dark brahmin still seen with respect and a fair dalit not?”. this question has led me to this journey to understand how savarnas perceive fairness and darkness on dalit and savarna bodies as dalits experience them. it emphasises the process of qualities attribution to skin colour on dalits and savarnas through language and argues that it leads to the creation of hierarchies, thus re-establishing caste. caste is a social and psychological construct that fundamentally originated and evolved in the savarna mind (ambedkar 1936). it is the deciding factor in south asian society, and the caste system has been moulded to the benefit of savarna and exploitation of avarna. jogdand (2023) shows how savarnas stereotypically portray and label dalits to discriminate against them irrespective of how they look physically. as gorur and forscher (2023) discussed, stereotyping occurs when people use characteristics that are visible to establish their initial views of others, but caste is something that cannot be just seen. the conventional tests of bias that employ visual stimuli are insufficient to research casteism as caste is constructed in relation to other markers to form an image of caste as it is perceived. language then becomes crucial for understanding caste-related biases. applying psychological and linguistic lenses, this article uses the concepts of qualia, linguistic registers and indexicalities to understand the process of attributing qualities to dalit skin and savarna skin to make caste concrete as it is perceived and experienced as a lived reality. this lens is essential as it allows one to understand how qualities are associated and perceived by savarnas and experienced by dalits, centring caste as the foundation to construct meaning out of language and dalit experiences in nallapadu. 224 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 caste through linguistic and visual perception experiencing caste is a complex phenomenon often manifested in the savarna language and perceptions; hence, it needs to be deconstructed by analysing the association of the word with the several qualities and images as it is perceived. this analysis of language provides a detailed understanding of how colourism is ingrained in linguistic expressions and reproduces caste hierarchy. linguistic registers, which is the cultural model of speech, linking speech to the typification of the speaker, the relationship of the speaker to that of the listener and the people involved and the conduct (agha 2006) is significant to understanding the contextual meanings of speech. this article will help us look at how these registers vary in social meanings as they get associated as qualities with dalit and savarna skin. the social meanings of these qualities are understood through the concept of indexicalization, which is crucial to my study as it is the process whereby signs acquire social indexicalities (jaffe 2016). indexicality acts as a basis for understanding speech and stereotypes. it helps to understand the relationship between linguistic forms and conventional images, further leading to the social meanings associated with them (jaffe 2016). keisling (2009) says it is contextcreating and context-sensitive. the process of indexicalization is complex, and one linguistic form can have levels or orders of indexes and are projected from one order to the other order (silverstein 2003). indexes appear as contiguity to the objects and point them to something within a framework. judith irvine and susan gal (2000) say that contrasting registers each index a different persona, where the similarities are constructed in the context of differentiation (gal 2016). registers, which seem like indexes, can also act as icons in the process of rhematization (gal 2016). susan gal says that using a lexicon of sensual attributes, speakers identify the opposing poles in axis differentiation as speech can be experienced ontologically to various phenomena like food or clothing (gal 2016). through this, it is possible to examine how a phenomenon such as caste can be indexed through the speech registers of savarnas, further pointing to different qualities for dalits and savarnas. the qualities, like colour, roughness, dirt, filthiness, and pollution, are often associated with dalits in speech. hence, it becomes essential to understand how these are attributed through the concept of qualia, which are the perceptions or experiences of sensual elements like visual aspects of colours and textures, sense of hearing like sounds, and sense of touch and experiencing feelings such as anger, anxiety and other emotions (chumley & harkness 2013; naidu 2018). the dalits, who are at the bottom of the caste hierarchy, their appearance, habits and way of life are termed impure, dirty, etc., and these are manifested in the savarna language or speech, which becomes a means of discrimination against the dalits. through this lens of experiencing the abstract qualities through senses, the anthropological theory, harkness and chumley use qualia to methodologically discuss how qualities are experienced as a reality of socially and culturally constructed life (chumley & harkness 2013). this can be extended to understand the qualities associated with dalit fairness, dalit darkness, savarna fairness, and savarna darkness to experientially understand caste through the caste and colourism: analysing social meanings of skin colour 225 sense of sight. while these qualities, real-life objects or linguistic forms themselves do not possess caste, they are associated with specific practices of dalits to perpetuate caste. these practices or objects then serve as “quali signs”, which are signs to experience abstract qualities (gal 2016). this association often leads to discrimination in the context of my study. in addition, exploring some research gaps in the earlier literature encouraged me to view caste from the lens of qualitative experience, perception and language. qualia, in my study, has become one of the interesting means of concretising the experience of caste. nancy munn (1986) placed a strong emphasis on the connection between qualities and value. one of munn’s most important findings from her ethnographic work in gawa, an island in papua new guinea, is that a significant cultural quality like lightness, which is “gagaabala” in the gawan language, is felt through a variety of sensory objects, such as the slippery and slime nature of the fish, wet quality and expanse of the water in the sea or the fluttering wings of the birds and gives many such examples for the same quality. nancy munn analysed the qualitative experience, and her analysis was based on the concept of iconicity explained by pierce, which states that some qualities can connect objects with people as they are placed similarly. this resemblance makes the person iconic to the object and quality, which is rhematization (gal 2016). specific qualia allow for the perception and knowledge of the abstract nature of qualities. qualia refers to some individual or group for some quality in some or the other means or capacity and represents a quali sign (chumley & harkness 2013). these signs of qualia or quali sign are conventionalised. this nature of becoming conventional enables social actors to identify specific individuals (and objects) as having specific qualities. in a study, harkness (2013) shows how the relatively “soft” or “hard” gustatory qualities of korean soju serve as the foundation for more comprehensive frameworks of sensation and sociality. just as they are connected to qualic experiences, hierarchies and orders are symbolic through indexing and figuratively, i.e. iconically related to the body. metaphors using food’s qualities also become prominent when describing a group of people. susan gal examined what is referred to as the qualia of conversation through food and pastry in a town in hungary, which framed the narratives examining people’s behaviour before and during world war ii (chumley & harkness 2013). these studies show how people use memories of olfactory experience embedded in socio-cultural inequalities to categorise a community by how the smell of leather, which, more so than the smell of the leather itself, is the smell of the chemicals used to treat leather sensed and stays in the nose. in his study of interpersonal interactions in russia, lemon demonstrates how qualities play a role in society’s structure and the nature of sociality concerning the significance of a community’s qualitative experiences (chumley & harkness 2013). furthermore, qualia are pragmatic indexes that manifest remarkably in human behaviour as sensual qualities (harkness 2015). qualia are socio-cultural events of “qualic” orientation and evaluation rather than just subjective mental experiences, and pierce’s “semiotic trichotomies” (1955) is a seminal work for the understanding 226 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 of qualia. he claims that quality is a conventional and consequently experienceable form of abstract qualities. (gal 2016). quale, which is singular for qualia, is a latin word that forms the base of the theory of qualia. sensations are qualia’s culturally conceptualised channels. in this philosophical tradition, “quality” and “property” refer to the physical characteristics of things in the world. qualia have cultural value, whether good or bad. the semiotic idea of qualia is helpful for anthropologists studying issues with the senses, embodiment, and aesthetics. qualia is expressed through linguistic forms as a quali sign to perceive the sensory realms. this can be a means to understand linguistic registers as they are perceived to display the attribute of the stereotyped speaker (gal 2016). pierce also studied sign relations, where a sign provokes hypotheses of what it stands for, which links the assumed sign with the object (gal 2016). however, not the linguistic form which expresses, nor the object pointed to, but the attributed qualities act as a quali sign. sense of sight is experienced through real-life things concretely with the help of quali signs, and it plays a crucial role in indexing caste via language. this study aims to understand the manifestation of caste in the language and perceptions of the savarnas by analysing the concepts of qualia, indexicalization, and linguistic registers. qualia explores the experience of caste through visual sense and perception of colour, which are employed to discriminate against dalits. further, by analysing the dalit experiences of caste and colourism, the research aims to elucidate the casteist association between words and qualities using registers and the concept of indexicality to demonstrate how linguistic expressions reinforce caste hierarchies. ethnographic exploration in nallapadu, guntur, andhra pradesh we discussed how the linguistic construction of caste and skin colour in savarna perception through dalit experiences of caste unveils the lived realities of dalits and the oppressive caste system. to understand this more clearly, i discuss parts of an ethnographic study i conducted in december 2022 in nallapadu palle scheduled caste colony (henceforth palle, a telugu term used by locals for segregated space in nallapadu where dalit families live) situated 3 km. inside the main centre in nallapadu, guntur district of andhra pradesh. the main centre is densely populated towards either side of the hyderabad national highway with all the facilities like markets, worship places, groceries, shops, sachivalayam offices, banks and mart. however, palle is excluded from the centre, and the connecting road is kaccha road (mud or dirt road), with fields on either side and nallapadu railway station acting as a border towards the north. nallapadu palle merged with the municipal corporation in 2012 and is home to two prominent dalit communities in andhra pradesh, mala and madiga, which comprise 27.26 per cent of the population in nallapadu, according to 2011 census data. upper castes such as brahmin, kamma and reddys also stay in the nallapadu palle, who are hindus. guntur district, also known as the hub of education among locals, has seen some brutal massacres of dalits, like the tsunduru massacre in 1991. andhra pradesh recorded the highest crime cases against scheduled castes in caste and colourism: analysing social meanings of skin colour 227 south india in 2021(ncbi). hence, it was essential to understand how skin colour and caste function in these telugu spaces. even now, families from the mala community of the palle work in the savarna fields, and the work is passed on to them by their grandparents and parents. the madiga population here to date lives in poverty and struggles to make a living. many dalits here are auto drivers, wine shop cleaners, lorry drivers, sanitation workers and hardworking daily wage labourers. i was introduced to my study area by daavidhu, a mala auto driver i met through mutual connections between my family and his family back in 2014, and he then introduced me to other interested people. even though there was no monetary compensation, people came forward to contribute to this study. i established good relationships with my interlocutors because of my positionality as a telugu dalit woman born into a hindu dalit family who attends church. the majority of the dalits in this palle are hindu scheduled castes on paper but christians by faith and believe that the love of god is the liberation from all miseries and hatred like casteism. in the homes of hindu dalits who worship hindu deities, local deities’ photos, such as poleramma, gantalamma, maredamma, and puttalamma, were seen. with the connections i made earlier in life and built during my previous visits to the study area and snowball sampling, i conducted qualitative interviews with 9 dalits belonging to mala (5) and madiga (4) who were residents of the palle and were above 18 years old. the savarnas in palle primarily worship shiva, hanuman, krishna and other local deities, which are savarna deities. there was an equal proportion of males and females, and this article uses the knowledge and experiences shared by the dalit interlocutors to understand the savarna perception through the caste experiences of dalits. as i re-introduced myself and asked them to share about themselves, their occupation, and how many years they had been living in the palle, my interlocutors talked about their socio-economic conditions and the conditions of their physical and social geography. i asked open-ended questions to allow more sharing of narratives and counter-narratives. introductory questions like “can you share your experiences of growing up in palle?” and “can you describe the social and cultural environment in your community and “other” community?” were asked to start the conversation, and questions like “how do you see yourself and how others see your identity?”, “how does caste influence day-to-day interactions in palle?” “can you share specific events where you have experienced, observed or seen caste-based discrimination?” were used as guiding questions of the discussion. each interview ranged from one and a half hours to two hours and was mostly semi-structured and unstructured, as the experiences of caste are very personal and emotional. consent was taken before the phone recording of the interview to further hand transcribe. i wanted my study’s interlocutors to take the lead and tell me their understanding and feelings about casteism and colourism. hence, i used qualitative data collection methods like semi-structured and unstructured interviews and participant observation, which helped me get a holistic view of society (jodhka 1998). i have not used any online software or ai tools to transcribe or conduct thematic analysis to protect my interlocutors’ privacy and security. especially for the qualitative methods, staying in 228 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the study area for a long time is required to build rapport, observe in-depth for a more extended period, and establish oneself as trustworthy. moreover, the experiences of caste for the marginalised are often disturbing. during these interviews, my dalit interlocutors were often emotional, as these experiences are integral to the community. because of my identity, they were comfortable crying and sharing the trauma of caste with me. as i had questions, they also had questions for me, and this approach of sharing and learning rather than “noting down the data” helped me establish myself as a “community member” more than a researcher. below, i discuss some critical insights developed through this fieldwork. this is primarily a thick description of my analysis and understanding. the brahmanical standards of beauty in the palle: fair skin of savarna vs fair skin of madiga colour discrimination against dalits can be seen in savarna speech and their jokes in the telugu language. “the dalits are referred to as karri mandha” (dark flock), said bhaskar, a farm labourer working in a reddy field. be it the fair or the dark dalits in the palle, everyone admitted skin tone to be one attribute through which caste is experienced every day. a dark dalit became a conventional image of a lower caste identity. varna, a term from sanskrit that refers to the societal division of labour and qualities, is frequently translated as “category” or “class.” however, it can also be explained as “colour” as an innate quality or attribute (ayyar & khandare 2013). many dalits feel discriminated against based on their appearance and colour. skin colour is one attribute that needs to be understood through the lens of caste identities, as dark skin points out the inferior social status, thus pointing to a lower caste identity leading to discrimination (ayyar & khandare 2013). most of the dalit interlocutors complained and narrated incidents when they were easily identified through their appearance, especially the colour of their skin and were called out and ridiculed. the complexion of the dalits, in contrast to the complexion of a savarnas whose fair skin is seen as pure, is seen as dirty and impure. this contrast and comparison between a bundle of qualities, attributes or speech through a single principle of contrast (for example, the distinction of fair vs dark with the principle of colour is known as the axis of differentiation (irvine 2022). from eating practices to everyday life, the savarnas attribute qualities that are seen as filthy when used for a dalit on an axis of differentiation. without the idea of purity, an impurity cannot exist, and the savarna language, practices and lifestyle, everything has been put on the top tier of the caste hierarchy. from a mala perspective, fairness in a broader sense is more appealing and termed pure, which passes quickly in society without many hustles. a fair dalit can have the edge over a dark dalit and easily enter the elite spaces that are not open for the dalits. however, it does not mean that a fair dalit does not get discriminated as skin colour is one attribute among the bundle of qualities that lead to discrimination. caste and colourism: analysing social meanings of skin colour 229 there is an understanding of the difference between the fairness of savarnas and dalits in the palle. dalits said that the savarnas and the dalits themselves could recognise the markers of a fair dalit and a fair savarna, as it appears in speech, and they are socialised in that manner. in the palle, there are fair-skinned madigas as well as darkskinned madigas and malas. gidla writes, “everyone thinks all untouchables are dark, but many of them, especially madigas, are as light skinned as brahmins” (gidla 2018: 83). skin tone is one attribute through which malas distinguish themselves from the madigas and the savarnas. when asked about the idea of a brahmin, all the dalits’ conceptions had the image of pure artistic fairness for a brahmin. to understand this specific attribute of the fairness of a brahmin, it is essential to understand pierce’s trichotomies. fairness can only be experienced when the abstract quality of fairness occurs in real-time and through conventional objects (gal 2016). hence, it is essential to analyse the quality of artistic pure skin tone and its association with a conventional object or quali sign occurring through qualia. talking about the complexion of savarna women (brahmins and reddys), ruthu and vasanthamma said: “vallu pichi telupu kaadhu maadigolla la” meaning they look different than the madhigas, whose whiteness is not good. “kala untadi mohamlo, mahalakshmi kala antaru vallu”, meaning the savarna women glow in their faces; they call it the goddess mahalakshmi’s glow. here, one can see that the fairness of the madigas is also differentiated from the savarnas through what ruthu and vasanthamma are trying to say. though madigas are fair, she says this fairness is not seen as equal to savarna fairness by society as the madigas do not have the laksmi glow, which only the savarna women have. the “telupu”, or the whiteness on a brahmin face, is of the highest quality of whiteness in the palle and denotes spirituality, which is one reason they equate it to the goddesses’ skin and aura. they call the whiteness on their faces “kala”, the artistic glow. the telupu also points out the brahmin’s vegetarian and dairy eating habits. rojimary, while explaining her struggle as a dalit dancer in the space of an upper-caste art form like kuchipudi, has said that many of her upper-caste colleagues eat and suggest eating cow ghee and drinking cow milk for their healthy skin. getting that glow on the face is a beauty habit for the savarnas, even in their families. the purity and the glow here are explained as the fairness of the cow, getting into the clarified and purified cow products (traditionally available in upper-caste homes), which are lighter in colour. hence, when eaten by an upper caste, their fair skin colour is also recognised as pure and glowing due to the co-occurring feature of fairness. even though the co-occurring features have different modalities like the animal (cow), food product (ghee, milk), and savarna (human), the speaker, while speaking about brahmin fairness, still perceives them as naturally belonging together in some aspects resembling one another which gives the attribute of purity to the upper-caste through the colour of the skin (gal 2016). people in the palle believe that for the dalits, the cow has never been a part 230 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 of the household and treating it like a daughter and rearing it was a savarna activity. as the brahmins consumed purified cow products, the purity of the cow, which is attributed to it by the religion, appears in their skin as the artistic glow of “kala” as a form of glow and whiteness. this association is also due to the relationship of cows with gods and goddesses. this innocence of the fair skin colour on a savarna face is appealing as it comes from the sacred cow. motherliness and godliness are also associated with the colour of the brahmin’s skin. fair-skinned savarna women are called with goddesses’ names by their families when they look beautiful and are born white. one such example is this typical attire of how an upper-caste woman should look according to the savarnas told by rutu: “malle pulu pettukuni lakshim talli, kalaga udali antaru”, meaning a brahmin woman should look like a beautifully adorned mother lakshmi with jasmine flowers in her hair and a glow on her face. the linguistic form telupu has a different connotation when a savarna speaks of a dalit from a dalit perspective. the fairness of the madigas is associated with their beef-eating practice, and the word telupu points them to the food they consume. the savarnas believe that the fairness of a madiga is of the least quality, which should not be encouraged in society. the fairness of a madiga is deceiving and gives them pride, according to the savarnas. hence, in palle, the madiga’s fairness is seen as less valued as it is associated with other things like less expensive clothes, body odour, and occupation, making fairness lower in quality. rayanna, a wine shop cleaner, has said that dalits also get ostracised at their workplaces due to their skin colour, and if they are fair in a savarna space, they are seen as flaunting pride. on his experience as a fair madiga, at his workplace, when he got into an argument with his savarna owner, rayanna said, “emanna annaamu anuko endhi jitalu ivatle anni, arustadu ma owner tellagunnav ani talapogarara niku ani” (even if we cross talk sometimes with our owner when he denies salaries, he shouts at me saying that i am prideful and ill-mannered because of my slightly fair skin tone) he says that fairness on a dalit is seen as something that is being exploited and misused to reach savarna status. rayanna’s entire family of six is fair-skinned, and he says that his daughter, who works at a supermarket, cannot be recognised as dalit at first instance as she has long hair, fair skin and keeps a big round red sticker like a vermilion dot, on her forehead. his daughter believes that sometimes, with other savarna cultural aspects like costly cotton sarees, vermillion dot on forehead, thick kajal and hair adorned with jasmine flowers with fair skin, madiga women can fool the savarnas by not giving them a chance to pass casteist and racist slurs but often with aspects like language one gets identified as a dalit. if a fair madiga gets identified as a dalit, the fair skin in this context also denotes the cunning nature of the madigas, as it is unconventional for a dalit to be fair as they are not spiritually associated with the cows. historically, dalits are forced to eat dead cattle, and the skin colour associated caste and colourism: analysing social meanings of skin colour 231 with eating dead cows is seen as low in palle. the famous quote among the telugu states and the palle is that never one should believe a dark baepan (brahmin) and a fair dalit, says vasanthamma, a mala christian who heard it from her reddy landlords. when associated with a dalit, fairness indexes a deceitful nature. the malas in the palle believe it is easy for a fair madiga to get absorbed into the savarna society due to their fair skin, but only when the identity is kept private. rege (2006) writes that the very famous dalit women autobiographers shantabai dani and kumud pawde express how fair skin acts as a token, is exclusive in society, and enables one to enjoy higher social status within the community (ayyar & khandare 2013). in conventional ideas, a savarna is the token of purity associated with fair skin tone. when a dalit has it, the attribute points out the not-so-usual occurrence of fairness; hence, it is seen as a threat and attains negative connotations. samrajyam says, “if a madiga is fair, people assume him/her to be prideful and taunt them that they have pogaru (head weight). the reddys call them “ey pogarupotha” (hey, arrogant). the fairness of a madiga also shows the person’s arrogance for being perceptually savarna. in this context, though pogaru means arrogant in the first order of the index, in the second order, it indexes dalit fairness, which is unconventional. in the third order, it indexes jealousy due to the quality of fairness on a dalit when an upper caste uses it in this context, addressing a madiga. through these different meanings of telupu for a madiga and a savarna, one can understand that it is not the linguistic form in itself nor the individuals who are inherent of fair skin. however, the quality attributed acts as a sign (chumley & harkness 2013; gal 2016). the quality attributed to brahmin is the fairness of a cow, and it is experientially similar to the skin tone of an upper caste; hence, it becomes a quali sign for the savarna through language and the purity of the cow is also attributed to the skin tone. the association of the cow with purity and softness is given to the brahmins, who are seen as soft, especially the fair brahmin women, who are said to be delicate and chaste. historically, in india, colour and physical characteristics were among the several factors that define moral and social categorisation (philips 2004). fairness has become a gatekeeping technique, especially in matrimony, to prevent the dalits from mixing with the savarnas as it is often said in the telugu states, “kodalu nalupaithe, kulamantha nalupe”, meaning if a daughter-in-law is dark, the entire caste is dark. the dalits and savarnas are connected to cows, but in different ways, connecting savarna fairness through the consumption of ghee and milk, which is seen as pure and connecting madiga fairness through the consumption of beef, which is termed impure. hence, the sensorial metaphor of fair cow, seen as pure, is not attributed to the dalit skin or the other qualities attributed to the dalits. within these multiple indexes associated with the skin colour of a person 232 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 of a specific caste, whiteness derives its meaning. hence, it becomes a colour beyond just what is visibly perceived. the dark skin of savarna vs the dark skin of dalit the palle also has dark-skinned reddy men and white-skinned reddy men. the kamma men and women are mostly fair-complexioned. however, when asked about the discrimination based on the colour the reddy dark-skinned men might face, the dalits believed that with the darkness a savarna man has with his gold ornaments and the glow, he would not be discriminated. dark skin is, in fact, seen as a marker of royalty on a savarna in this context. paying attention to the conversation about the complexion of different castes in palle, one keen observation was made that the dalits described the dalits’ dark complexion, in telugu as “nalupu” (black), and they stressed the syllable “lu” and higher intonation was observed while pronouncing it. the stressing of this particular syllable also points out the disgust one experiences with the quality of darkness on a dalit. while talking about the sensorial attributes and qualia, gal mentions that the softness of a consonant or vowel can seem experientially similar to the softness of a pillow or a tone (gal 2016). hence, the pronunciation of the linguistic term nalupu can also refer to the attribute and how it is experienced. however, when nalupu is used in the context of a reddy man’s dark complexion, no higher intonation is observed as it is a positive attribute on them and does not matter to them as well as the rest of the palle. the dominant castes’ darkness here is associated with spirituality, again referring them to dark-complexioned gods like krishna or ram and the royalty they possess. this was one common notion in palle about the reddys’ skin tone. on reddy’s skin tone, stalin said, “reddla nalupu moratalla undadhuantaru, kalaga gambhiramga untaru” means that the reddy darkness is not termed as barbaric but has an artistic glow and royalty. stalin further explains that the savarnas believe that even the exceptional darkskinned savarna women have the laksim talli kala (motherly goddess glow) on their faces, though they are dark-skinned. the surface of this sentence explains a common stereotypical understanding of savarna darkness to a dalit and puts savarnas on a pedestal, though they are dark. however, the word “nalupu”, when used in different contexts, can refer to various social meanings. nalupu, when used for a savarna as discussed above, does not connotate a negative meaning or impact them much due to the other aspects like the ironed clothing, neatly combed hair and the gold chains and rings, which is a conventional idea of a reddy-naidu man. however, the darkness in the dalit skin is very different for the dalits, implying their lack of hygiene and cleanliness. nalupu does not just mean blackness when used for dalits. it is paired with “karri” (dark), at a second order index, which points out the association between skin colour and the tough jobs, historically and at present, as well the jobs the dalits caste and colourism: analysing social meanings of skin colour 233 are forced into (sanitation and manual scavenging) and at the third order of index the sweat, dirt associated with the jobs as they involve in their jobs. while the dalits interact with the kamma castes, who are primarily fair, they are referred to as “karri”, meaning utterly black and nasty looking. working in the wine shops, a dalit man said that he was called by his upper-caste owner as karri kaki (ugly black crow) once in a funny way. he said that the mala community is sometimes referred to as barre (buffalo) and karri mandha (black flock). the buffaloes and crows, which are dark, become indexical icons for sharing the quality of darkness, and dalits are animalised due to their complexion and seeming resemblance with these. daavidhu recalls an incident at his workplace, a wine shop run by a reddy, where his owner called him saying, “karrimohanni piluvu, table tudavali”, meaning call that karri and ask him to clean the table. the skin tone inherently here for daavidhu represented not only his darkness but also the darkness, which was not just black but filled with dirt and disgust. dalit dark skin, the “nalupu”, also points out to moratu (barbaric) when used for dalits, especially for dalit men, as it implies the skin tone as an effect of the dalit’s relationship with the “barbaric jobs”. the dark skin on them also indexes the smell of disgust associating the historically coerced dalit occupations with the dalit skin. however, dalits in the palle, talking about their dark skin, believe that apart from geographic location, their complexion is due to the tough jobs they were coerced to do because of their caste, which had more prolonged exposure to the sun, leading to darkness. the complexion for them is an outcome of the hardships they face due to the caste system. however, inherently, skin colour becomes a visible aspect through which dalits get discriminated against daily. conclusion this article shows the interplay between language, caste and colourism and analyses how colour acts as a means of degrading dalits. crucially, it surpasses the oversimplified dichotomy of fair and dark skin, revealing the presence of caste-based ideologies that humiliate dalits regardless of their skin colour. this highlights the pressing requirement to examine deeply rooted discriminatory systems. the article argues that the caste system in indian society has established standards for beauty, and it plays a crucial role in shaping the psychological and social connotations of colour through language. the study’s findings imply that the attribution of various qualities with the dalit and savarna skin and colour essentially occurs in the context of caste society. hence, there is no strict construction of what nalupu (dark) or telupu (fair) mean as a colour, excluding the caste. the concepts of darkness and fairness within the framework of palle are deliberately shaped by the savarnas to further their interests and maintain the caste system in everyday conversations. the ideals of beauty upheld by the savarnas are intrinsically linked to a light complexion and the glow observed on a savarna individual’s face, which is perceived as pure and appealing. however, the dark complexion of an individual belonging to the savarna caste is also associated with 234 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 desirable qualities like royalty and the qualities of hindu gods, which makes it socially acceptable. within a society that practices caste discrimination, a dalit individual with a darker complexion is dehumanised and regarded as dirty, stinky and polluted. in contrast, even the dalits with a lighter complexion are often perceived as deceitful and arrogant. this illustrates that caste discrimination is observed through different frames of reference, revealing how colour as a feeling/quality is ascribed to numerous other attributes by associating it with the culture and caste, hence leading to diverse social meanings specific to caste. some limitations must be noted. this study only explored the experiences of caste and colourism from a dalit perspective in a brief qualitative study. more work is required to understand the perceptions of colour and caste as they are experienced through the qualities associated with colour in language, making them a concrete, sensorial experience (qualia) that can be experienced through quali signs. with a relevant theoretical focus and employing a set of quantitative and qualitative methods, future research needs to critically explore the connection between colourism and caste discrimination further. acknowledgements i am grateful to dr. yashpal jogdand and dr. nishaant choksi for 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(2023). sun protection practices in india: preliminary findings from a nationally representative sample. preventive medicine reports, 36, 102420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102420 236 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 endnotes 1. in this article, a deliberate choice has been made to employ lowercase letters when referencing terms such as ‘savarna,’ ‘brahmin,’ ‘reddy,’ and ‘kamma’. these terms, typically capitalised in academic discourse, are rendered in lowercase here as part of an effort to recalibrate language and dehegemonise the dominance associated with terminology when addressing majority groups within the scope of this study. 2. hierarchical terms like ‘upper’ or ‘lower’ are used in reference to a caste-stratified society, and the author does not encourage them. © 2024 nandu kannothu thazha kuni. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.1755 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 429-446 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste defining bodies, health, and work of dalits: the decisive role of caste in kerala, india nandu kannothu thazha kuni1 abstract caste discrimination affects the health of dalits beyond limited access to health services or wider determinants like education, employment, income, and housing. kerala is a good example for this, despite social development changes in the state, caste still plays a significant psychological role in defining health and work for lower castes. however, psychological research often exhibited a strong conformity bias ending up in victim blaming by articulating lack of personal responsibility, ignoring dalit efforts. despite being labeled as apathetic, dalits in kerala have actively participated in employment, government programs, and public events, demonstrating their resistance and empowerment. the objective of this study is to investigate dalit resistance efforts against being labeled as “less able-bodied” by upper caste and subsequent exclusion from daily wage labor. a qualitative study was conducted among dalits in a rural village in kerala using case study method. the data collected were analyzed thematically using an inductive method and a phenomenological approach by allowing themes to emerge from the data and identifying patterns, similarities and differences. the study findings indicate that dalits strongly resist being labeled as “less ablebodied,” which leads them to eschew labor. this resistance stems from their understanding of health as the absence of disease and functionality, and their resulting active maintenance of good health and active engagement in daily wage labour. for them absence of disease is the way to express availability for labor and being able to work without any difficulties is their way to express fitness for work. keywords health, psychological pathways, caste discrimination, resistance 1assistant professor, school of public health, dy patil deemed to be university, navi mumbai, india e-mail: nandu.kt@dypatil.edu 430 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 introduction advances in social determinants of health and health care have significantly improved the health status of people around the world (csdh, who, 2008). while developments have improved overall health, indigenous populations and marginalized caste groups often lag behind in health gains compared to other social groups. in india, this disparity is particularly evident, with indigenous communities and lower castes constituting the social groups with the poorest health outcomes (subramanian et al., 2006). caste, a pervasive and oppressive social system prevalent worldwide, particularly in india, has a detrimental impact on the health of the lower caste (thapa et al., 2021). scholars have documented its detrimental impact on the health of lower caste individuals through different pathways including barriers to healthcare access and adverse social determinants of health (ahmed & mahapatro, 2023; r. baru et al., 2010; r.v. baru & zafar, 2022; johri & anand, 2022). caste discrimination affects dalit health beyond limited access to health services or wider determinants like education, employment, income, and housing. kerala, a state in south india despite a relatively high level of social development even before independence, has still not able to produce any evidence to overcome the social exclusion and marginalization of lower castes. studies and reports have consistently shown that lower castes in kerala face increased disadvantages, including higher morbidity rates and limited access to healthcare services. when considering key indicators of population health and overall well-being, such as infant mortality rates, maternal mortality rates, and under-five mortality rates, lower caste communities in kerala consistently lag behind other groups, with the exception of indigenous communities (ministry of tribal affairs, 2013; simon, 2007). the persistence of these disparities is a reminder that reformist measures of kerala which improved the welfare of all made little improvement in the life and health of marginalized (devika, 2010). the development strategy followed by the state is thus under question as to it’s capability to achieve social equity and equality beyond enhancing the wellbeing of all. evidence from around the world shows that the body assumes a pivotal role in the subalternization processes. practices involving clothing and body modification have played a significant role in the subalternization processes during european colonization in africa (martí, 2012). within the context of colonialism in india, medicine emerges as one among numerous tools employed for the purposes of colonization, racialization, stigmatization, and the marginalization of indigenous populations (arnold, 1993). even though colonization lost its power in india, caste based discrimination still exists and it became stronger in the marginalization of lower castes by defining and labeling their bodies and health. the fear that providing modern education to the children of lower caste communities would lead to a labor shortage in the fields was prevalent among the upper castes in the state (kali, 2000). the existing literature reveals a lack of significant efforts to enhance the skills and capabilities of dalit workers in response to evolving labor market demands. kerala’s most marginalized dalit communities possessed valuable agricultural capacities, defining bodies, health, and work of dalits: the decisive role of caste in kerala, india 431 particularly in rice farming. however, the state never recognized these capabilities as potential assets that could be further developed and transformed into comprehensive capabilities (devika, 2010). despite implementing general welfare measures in kerala that improved the population’s overall well-being, little progress was made in terms of skill development among dalits. for instance, the land reforms of the 1970s primarily provided homestead lands to landless laborers, which improved their living conditions but failed to nurture their existing inclination towards agriculture into fully-fledged capabilities (devika, 2010). hence the government through its welfare measures instead of substantial expansion of the access of dalit labourers to what is now recognized as basic capabilities, devalued and ignored the possibilities of their existing dispositions and skills and left them free in an unfamiliar competitive labour market to be labeled by the dominant forces. dalit resistance against caste-based discrimination in local temples remains prevalent in kerala, with numerous successful examples of dalit resistance.1 political and civil society organizations of dalits focus on land rights, education, health, and have brought positive changes to the lives of many dalits in the state. dalits have resisted displacement for developmental projects including land acquisition for big projects, as well as protests against minor projects at the village level.2 such resistances are prominent when we understand the fact that collective action of dalits faced hostility in the state from different spheres of public life in the state (bhaskaran, 2011). to know how dalits deal with such hostilities and how they overcome the generalizing notions of universal victimhood, it is important to locate narratives of dalit daily life, agency, and resistance in the wider collective dalit resistance. hence it would be interesting to know resistance towards labeling dalit as less able bodied and keeping them away from daily wage labour in the context of wider dalit resistance in the region and state. methodology the study investigates dalit resistance efforts against being labeled as “less ablebodied” and subsequent exclusion from daily wage labor by other social groups. the study used a qualitative case study design to explore the labeling of dalit resistance efforts against being labeled as “less able-bodied” by the upper caste and subsequent exclusion from daily wage labor. the data collection for the study was conducted 1there are recent and old examples of successful dalit resistance against not being allowed to enter the temple or perform any religious rituals. in january 2018, dalits of vadayampady, ernakulam district, tore down a caste wall erected by the upper-caste hindus to keep dalits from going near the bhajana madam devi temple (t. a. ameerudheen, 2018). in november 2021, dalits entered the ‘jatadhari devasthanam,’ a temple in swarga, enmakaje panchayat, kasargod, kerala, and climbed 18 steps. in doing so, they effectively declared an end to the age-old custom that had prevailed in the village (t. ameerudheen, 2021). 2examples of such resistances range from resistance against land acquisition for big projects like cochin international airport limited during the early 1990s and protests against minor projects at the village level, like the protest against the construction of a waste treatment plant in keezhattoor village in 2018. 432 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 from march to august 2021 in a village, pozhuthana in wayanad district and malabar region of kerala. since the study was about labeling dalits and their resistance, the village was selected based on the presence of dalits and other social groups. during 2011, the village has a population of 18,404 individuals residing in 4,255 households. in 2015, the religious composition of the village was 37.06 per cent muslim, 22.82 per cent hindu, 17.72 per cent scheduled tribes, 5.75 per cent christian, and 6.62 per cent scheduled caste (dalit). data collection and sampling the study employed a purposive sampling technique to select samples that could provide the best information to obtain the study objectives after getting familiarized with the field through a previous survey. the sample size for the study was determined by following the principle of saturation in the process of data collection. the goal was to have a large enough sample size to sufficiently answer the research objectives while not giving repetitive data without any additional perspective or information. data collection involved fifteen in-depth interviews, four group discussions, and eight key informant interviews with academicians, local health workers, local politicians, and members of worker’s unions. continuous data analysis (data coding and initial theme building) was carried out during the data collection. after the twelfth interview, the initial analysis did not result in obtaining any additional perspectives or information without giving repetitive data. hence, the researcher concluded the data collection after the fifteenth in-depth interview, ensuring that saturation of themes was achieved. data analysis to gain a deep understanding of dalit experiences, perspectives, and resistance against being labeled less able-bodied, the study employed thematic analysis with an inductive and phenomenological approach. themes were allowed to emerge directly from the data itself, rather than imposing predetermined categories. the study focused on capturing the lived experiences and perspectives of dalit participants. the data analysis involved a multi-step process: first, transcripts were reread extensively to grasp the participants’ experiences and viewpoints in their totality. second, key portions of the data containing important insights were pinpointed, and third, these segments were assigned codes that captured their core content. in the fourth step, codes were grouped into broader categories based on similarities and differences, forming potential themes. in the fifth step, initial themes were refined and finalized, and clear names were given for further analysis. this approach ensured a data-driven exploration, delving into dalits’ lived experiences and resistance strategies against the imposed label. ethical consideration this study did not involve any medical interventions and posed no potential risks to participants. informed verbal consent was obtained from all respondents after providing sufficient information about the study, including the voluntary nature of defining bodies, health, and work of dalits: the decisive role of caste in kerala, india 433 participation and the absence of direct risks or benefits. to protect confidentiality, information that could identify respondents is anonymized in the study report. there are no potential conflicts of interest for the author in presenting the results or at any stage of this research work. results both caste-oriented labeling of dalit daily wage laborers as less able-bodied or less skilled by other communities and resistance from dalits towards such labeling are routed in caste-related cognition, emotion, and behavior of dalits and upper caste. this necessitates psychological exploration of caste-based labeling of dalits and dalit’s resistance towards such labeling. at the same time, it is important to place the exploration in the wider socioeconomic and cultural life histories of dalits and other communities. in this backdrop of wider dalit resistance happening in the region and state, the results of the study are presented by reporting the major themes and subthemes that evolved about the labeling of dalits, the occupational challenges they face, and their idea of health, and by presenting the perspectives of the different stakeholders who participated in this study. the themes and subthemes that emerged from the data, along with some responses from respondents recorded by in-depth interviews, are presented in table 1. table 1: the responses of respondents recorded by in-depth interviews theme subtheme respondent respondents comments m ak in g se ns e of h ea lth definition of health dalit man, 50-year-old being able to do day-to-day activities of life and having no major diseases…… selfresponsibility dalit daily wage labour …when we heard about people facing dizziness and fainting after taking tablets for ‘elipani’ (leptospirosis), we were a little reluctant to take it…but after the health inspector told us why the dizziness was happening and that it could be avoided if it was taken after a meal or snack, we all took the medicine. acute and chronic susceptibility dalit man, plantation worker after the work of spraying pesticide, i will not be able to do anything. usually, i go lie down on the verandah for some time to get relief from fatigue. not just the present health issues from it, these are heavy pesticides and will have serious health consequences in the future. la be lin g lack of hygiene retired government servant …use of river water for household use will create health problems….this is one of the reasons for continuous health problems among adivasis and dalits living on the river banks. health damaging behavior local politician …there are good changes. but still they don’t see whether family is hungry or not, they drink whatever they want with the days wage… reluctant to change local health workers …even though we tell them many times, they will not turn up to get treatment immediately after a health issue. they will do lot of home remedies and will turn up to the phc only when the disease is versioned…... lack of collective efforts local politician and member of community based palliative …..very few among them participate in such programmes…. it is not just about whether they have money or not, it’s about whether they have commitment towards the society or not….. not just in health, in other collective efforts of the community too they turn up in less number….. 434 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 o cc up at io na l c ha lle ng es physical and skill demands upper caste hindu men ….they have better health, hence perform better in work also…..bengalis (migrant daily wage labours from north india) are very fast. they do any job without any difficulty….they carry heavy load in head to second and third floor quickly….it is not possible for local daily wage labours…. quality of work muslim men ……. beauty is not important for them. when we do any work we think about many designs and the most trending or a variety one will be used…you look at their houses. they will not give much importance to beauty of building. availability and ability for work dalit men, plantation worker ……always it is not possible to deny work. sometimes i go for work with health issues….in a month, getting 10 or 15 days work is lucky. it is not possible to deny it by pointing health issues…..if it is too difficult to manage, then only i skip the work…… labeling of dalit bodies, behavior and social life in the village, dalits face the burden of labels and stereotypes associated with their caste, which significantly contribute to their health-related challenges. first, local health workers, including health inspectors and doctors, hold a perception that dalits lack hygiene and reside in unhygienic environments. the observations leading to such a perception among health workers include inadequate sanitation facilities, improper garbage disposal, and a lack of clean water sources in dalit colonies, which can contribute to the spread of diseases and health issues among dalits. moreover, villagers from other social groups also adopt the same observations made by local health workers, extending them beyond the living environment to dalits’ bodies and behaviors. they view dalits as practicing poor personal hygiene, such as bathing in polluted water, inadequate hand washing, oral hygiene, and wearing unclean clothing. these practices, which are essential for maintaining good health according to the villagers, reinforce negative stereotypes about dalit hygiene and living conditions, leading to discrimination and exclusion. the real-world consequences of such stereotypes are particularly pronounced for dalits. even today, not visibly widespread as it exists earlier, individuals from other castes, such as brahmins, nayar, and thiyya, particularly older members of these castes, refrain from eating food from dalit households due to concerns about hygiene and purity. the lack of access to clean household water compels dalits to heavily rely on river water. however, upper-caste individuals consider this practice unhygienic and detrimental to health, despite it being the only available water source for many. affluent households, especially upper-caste hindus, believe that using river water for domestic purposes poses health hazards. one retired upper-caste hindu government servant said, the river water is highly polluted due to chemical spraying in coffee plantations. during rainfall, the chemicals sprayed on the plantations flow into the river. additionally, waste is dumped into the river. the use of river defining bodies, health, and work of dalits: the decisive role of caste in kerala, india 435 water for household purposes will lead to health problems. this is one of the reasons for the ongoing health issues among adivasis and dalits living along the riverbanks. consequently, the usage of river water by dalits for household needs is stigmatized as an unhygienic practice, further perpetuating negative perceptions about their hygiene, living conditions and overall health status dalit workers in the village are often labeled, with claims that their poor hygiene practices contribute to high and persistent health issues. as a result, their physical health is compromised, affecting their efficiency in daily wage labor. in essence, these labelers attribute the lack of hygienic behavior as the primary cause of the high morbidity and resulting physical weakness among dalits. additionally, studies conducted in the region have consistently observed higher levels of morbidity among scheduled castes and scheduled tribes compared to their counterparts. however, it is important to note that the main factors contributing to increased morbidity rates among dalits are attributed to poor socioeconomic conditions (navaneethan & kabir, 2009; krishnan, 2009), which are themselves shaped by inter-caste disparities (deshpande, 2000). second, health-damaging behavior, such as the use of alcohol and tobacco products, is seen as an example of a lack of self-responsibility among dalits, which is yet another form of labeling. both members of local political parties and local health services along with higher caste hindus and muslims opined that dalit men from the village consume alcohol at hazardous levels compared to men from other social groups except adivasis. further it is opined that alcohol consumption is linked to the cultural practices of dalits and they neglect the acute and chronic impact of alcoholism on health. a muslim shopkeeper said, …father and children drink. that is not a problem for them. . .they are not at all worried about the long-term health issues of drinking. if they have worries, they would have kept their children away from all this. additionally, the higher spending on alcohol and tobacco products when the family still falls in the trap of hunger is considered a lack of responsibility towards family. a local politician in the village said, …there are good changes. but still they don’t see whether family is in hunger or not, they drink whatever they want with the day’s wage… instead of viewing alcohol addiction among dalits as a social problem, it has been understood as a behavioural problem and in turn dalits are labeled as someone who lacks self-control and responsibility towards health and family. third, there is a perception among local health workers, politicians, and uppercaste members that dalits are reluctant to change, which is seen as an innate trait. one upper-caste hindu man who employs dalits on his agricultural land believes that 436 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 untreated health issues and the consequent exacerbation of existing health conditions are common among dalit families. local health workers share a similar opinion, believing that delaying treatment for even communicable diseases is common among dalit families, leading to the spread of such diseases to all family members if one member is affected. one of the local health workers said, even though we tell them many times, they will not turn up to get treatment immediately after a health issue. they will do lot of home remedies and will turn up to the phc only when the disease is worsened. such labeling is done without understanding the health-seeking behavior of dalits in their socioeconomic context and their practice of self-treatment and local health traditions. evidence shows that home remedies among dalits are routed in their local health tradition and their conceptualization of health and illness (nandu, 2021). further, it is identified that viewing local health tradition as one of the bases to build upon for a continuation of care, from home and community, to health centres and dispensaries, to hospitals will serve the people best (saxena & priya, 2009). members of local political parties and health services have pointed to several examples of what they see as dalits’ reluctance to change. these include continued addiction to alcohol even after efforts from various sources to sensitize the community, high rates of student dropout in grades 9 and 12, and a lack of effort to clean their surroundings to prevent vector-borne diseases during the monsoon season. this labeling reinforces stereotypes about dalits and ignores the fact that change is often difficult and requires systemic interventions that address the underlying socioeconomic and cultural factors. there are some superficial shreds of evidence to support the arguments of labelers, but it is crucial to consider the context in which these behaviors occur. for example, the high rates of student dropout among dalits are due to a number of factors, including economic hardship and social discrimination; prevalence of alcohol addiction is not a moral failing but induced by structural factors including poverty and economic hardship, social exclusion, discrimination and cultural factors; their living environment is less hygienic because they are forced to live in congested caste colonies (pramod, 2020). finally, local politicians and health workers believe that there is a lack of collective effort from the dalit community in improving the health of the community as whole, which is another form of labeling that places blame on the community. they cite the lack of large-scale dalit participation in community-led initiatives for health, such as community-based palliative care services and treatment relief committees3 in the village, as evidence of this. one member of the local political party and an active member of community palliative services said, 3the treatment relief committees are local informal forum of villagers that formed to provide assistance, support, and relief to poor individuals facing sudden health related challenges. such committees involved in a wide range of activities such as facilitating medical aid, distributing food and supplies, and offering financial assistance. defining bodies, health, and work of dalits: the decisive role of caste in kerala, india 437 very few among them participate in such programmes…. it is not just about whether they have money or not, it’s about whether they have commitment towards the society or not … not just in health, in other collective efforts of the community too they turn up in less number….. even though dalits participate in such committees and programmes, compared to other communities their participation is lower. the social networks of dalits that facilitate their involvement in public activities of the village are limited by discriminatory practices towards dalits and their weak economic, social, and political position (nandu, 2021). similarly, at the household level, missing medical help during the time of need is seen as lack of responsibility without addressing the lack of resources leading to missed healthcare. when we understand the accumulation of unmet health needs among dalits in the village in relation to what is happening outside, we will understand that missing medical care among dalits is not because they lack responsibility or just because they wanted to wait and see if problem improved without medical attention. the major reasons for unmet needs for health care utilization include non-affordability due to expensive health care, inability to manage time because of work, care for children or for others, lack of transportation leading to barriers in traveling long distances, fear of health professionals, health organizations and treatment procedures, and lack of knowledge about good health workers and institutions (who, n.d.). marginalization of dalit labours the labeling of dalits as frail and less able bodied has contributed to the marginalization of dalit laborers in the village, resulting in various occupational challenges. these challenges form the second theme, which is influenced by the occupational practices among dalits. this theme encompasses factors that affect their occupational status and their ability to resist attacks on these practices. it is further divided into three subthemes: physical and skill demands for work, quality of work, and the availability and ability to work. first, the theme of occupational challenges is shaped by the sub-theme of physical and skill demands for work. hard physical work is inherent in their traditional occupation as agricultural laborers. however, with a major shift in agriculture from food crops to cash crops, the majority of dalits have become daily wage laborers in plantations and other sectors such as construction. this shift has occurred without any improvement in the capabilities of dalit agricultural workers. now they find themselves in a new sector or on plantations as daily wage laborers, competing with daily wage laborers from other communities who are already engaged in such work. this shift has led to a mismatch between the skills possessed by dalit workers and the skill requirements of different sectors, as well as the skills possessed by other daily wage labours. 438 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 dalits possess exceptional skills in agriculture, such as farming techniques, knowledge of weather conditions, the natural cycle of plants and animals, and soil and water management, to make cultivation highly productive. however, when they enter the field of daily wage labor outside of agriculture, these skills are not utilized, and they lack many of the skills required for the new work, such as masonry, measuring, cleaning, quality maintenance, equipment operation, problem-solving, and time management. this skill mismatch has resulted in a decrease in the amount of work done by dalit workers compared to others. unfortunately, this aspect is often overlooked, and the poor performance of dalit laborers in terms of ‘work quantity’ is attributed solely to their lack of physical strength and poor health. the work of dalit daily wage laborers is frequently compared to that of migrant workers from northern india, as they are increasingly replacing unskilled dalit laborers in the village. one upper-caste hindu villager said, they have better health, hence perform better in work also. bengalis (migrant daily wage labours from north india) are very fast. they do any job without any difficulty….they carry heavy load on their head to the second and third floors quickly….it is not possible for local daily wage labours…. the physical fitness and dietary habits of migrant laborers are considered crucial factors by the villagers, as they believe these attributes contribute to the higher speed and quantity of work performed by migrant laborers. many in kerala prefer migrant laborers over local daily wage laborers due to several factors, as noted by peter and gupta (2020). migrants are often single, which makes their employment more convenient. they are also perceived as being less expensive, more subservient, hardworking, and available throughout the year. consequently, in various fields that involve physically demanding work, migrant workers are extensively employed in comparison to native laborers (peter & narendran, 2017). the second sub-theme focuses on the quantity and quality of work, as evidenced by codes such as “quality of work.” these codes shed light on the challenges encountered by dalit workers in meeting work requirements and achieving satisfactory results. the villagers differentiated the quality and quantity of work performed by dalit workers, often perceiving it as lower compared to other communities. this distinction is frequently based on aesthetics and the level of precision observed in construction projects completed by individuals from various backgrounds. for instance, a muslim resident of the village employed a dalit mason to construct a boundary wall for his house, said as follows, they won’t be able to do such works in perfection…the strength of the wall and beauty in appearance both is important in perfection…strength will be there in their work, but they cannot always ensure that perfection….. defining bodies, health, and work of dalits: the decisive role of caste in kerala, india 439 the villagers identified this ‘lack of perfection’ in the personal shortcomings of dalit individuals and in their cultural practices as a community. a mason belonging to the thiyya community mentioned that, …beauty is not important for them. when we do any work we think about many designs and the most trending or a variety one will be used…you look at their houses. they will not give much importance to beauty of building. to such arguments, the response provided by a dalit mason in the village was intriguing. he said, …..i do consider beauty. but some of the designs using for beauty will compromise the strength of the building. hence i do not try such designs and if someone is asking to do, i politely withdraw from the work…..if they are insisting sometimes i do such works in owners responsibility. his words indicate that, to him, the physical strength of a building or structure holds greater significance than its architectural beauty. in the village, dalits primarily rely on traditional, locally tested knowledge and construction practices that have been passed down through generations. unlike other daily wage laborers, they have limited exposure to new technologies and construction skills, which are familiar to laborers who have strong social networks enabling them to stay connected with latest designs and technologies. the third sub-theme that shapes the theme of occupational challenges is “availability and ability for work.” this sub-theme includes codes such as “expressing availability for work” and “able body for work,” which emphasize the importance of physical fitness and availability for work. the availability of work poses a significant problem for dalits, as they only receive 10 to 20 days of daily wage work per month, which is insufficient to meet even the basic needs of their families. several factors contribute to the limited number of work days. these include a shift towards cash crops resulting in a shortage of agricultural work, a lack of occupational diversification among dalits, inadequate skills or experience in handling machinery for construction work, and intense competition with daily wage workers from other communities and migrant labours. in fact, there is a preference for migrant workers from north india in many daily wage jobs that dalits used to perform in the village. the reason cited for this preference is that migrant laborers can complete more work in a day. regarding the ability to work, certain types of work themselves contribute to poor health. despite being aware of the health issues associated with specific daily wage labor, dalits continue to engage in such work due to the un-affordability of taking time off. experiencing hunger is not an uncommon thing among poor dalits in the village, and a loss of wages for even a few days would lead to several days of hunger for their families. to add one more dimension to this, a dalit daily wage labour, kumaran said that, 440 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 not doing work means you are not healthy…those who are simply wasting time by not doing any work means he is physically or mentally not fit. for him not working implies poor health and being physically or mentally unfit. the central part of the respondent’s conceptualization of good health is the ability to function normally. being incapacitated to do work is considered a sign of bad health. however, the decision to be incapacitated is not solely based on physical and biological factors, but is often influenced by various pressures. he opined that it is not affordable for him to deny all the work days he gets by showing his incapacity to do the work. instead, he hides his incapacity or manages it through self-treatment to express his fitness for work and ensure that the work is done without any disturbance. even though physically incapacitated from doing work, not going for work that is available after several days of joblessness is not affordable for dalits who are daily wage laborers in the village. kumaran also said, always it is not possible to deny work. sometimes i go for work with health issues….in a month, getting 10 or 15 days work is lucky. it is not possible to deny it by pointing health issues. if it is too difficult to manage, then only i skip the work. even though he is aware of his inability to work due to health issues, not having that job would pose even greater difficulties for his life and family. therefore, by successfully completing the work, he demonstrates that his body possesses enough capacity to perform the work. shaping of resistance from health and healthcare as utilization the theme of making sense of health among dalits in this study is shaped by three subthemes. the first subtheme is the definition of health. what does health mean to a comparatively poor dalit living in the rural village of kerala? ‘being able to do dayto-day activities of life and having no major diseases...’ was the response of a 50-yearold dalit man who works as daily wage labor in the village. whether or not such perceptions are valid or have the endorsement of the scientific community is open to question, but at any rate, such an understanding appears to be an inevitable result of their living conditions. in their definition, the focus is on the physical strength of an individual human being, with functional activity and the absence of major diseases. the physical strength of an individual and functional activity is expressed through their work, which is daily wage labor. further, the second part of their definition is about major diseases. a major disease is understood as any health issue that incapacitates work or day-to-day activities. in their definition, health can be with or without any mild illness or disease, as long as one retains the necessary ability to perform the functions they wish and need to perform they are healthy. so, what saves one from bad health? for them, it is through defining bodies, health, and work of dalits: the decisive role of caste in kerala, india 441 minimizing the risk of being incapacitated and ensuring strength to the body through having enough to eat. what is central to their view is the work-food-health relationship, and that is an important articulation among dalits in the village, especially those who are comparatively poor. the next subtheme that shapes the theme of “making sense of health” is “selfresponsibility.” this subtheme refutes the argument that dalits are least concerned about their health. instead, it shows that dalits recognize the importance of selfresponsibility for good health and do not neglect it. this argument is made even though dalits acknowledge that health-damaging behaviors such as alcohol addiction and tobacco use are more prevalent among them than in other social groups. these two observations are not contradictory. one can see that they acknowledge healthdamaging behaviors as a psychosocial problem and point out that they are caused by various socioeconomic and cultural factors that go beyond their conceptualization of good health. furthermore, dalits in the village exhibit a strong understanding of individual and collective responsibility, evident in their concerns about local disease outbreaks and their perception of their bodies being highly vulnerable to such outbreaks. for instance, they engaged in preventive measures such as taking prophylaxis for leptospirosis following a severe flood in 2019. they also practiced preventive measures like social distancing, using soaps and sanitizers during the covid-19 pandemic, and implement vector control measures at the household level to prevent dengue outbreaks during monsoon seasons. a dalit housewife, who serves as the secretary of a self-help group in the village mentioned as follows, when we heard about people facing dizziness and faintness after taking tablets for ‘elipani’ (leptospirosis), we were little reluctant to take it. but after the health inspector told us why dizziness is happening and it can be avoided if it is taken after a meal or snack, we all took the medicine. her words show that despite initial skepticism in the village regarding the use of doxycycline tablets for leptospirosis prophylaxis, dalits in the community decided to undergo this preventive measure. they recognized the potential risk of exposure during floods and understood the importance of prophylaxis. this serves as a significant example of their awareness of the susceptibility of their bodies to local disease outbreaks and emphasizes the significance of individual and collective responsibility in preventing such outbreaks. coming to the acute and chronic susceptibility to disease, a dalit man employed in the tea plantation said, after the work of spraying pesticide, i will not be able to do anything. usually, i go and lie down in the verandah for some time to get relief from fatigue. not just the present health issues from it, these are heavy pesticides and will have serious health consequences in the future. 442 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 his words demonstrate their belief in the susceptibility to both acute and chronic diseases, which they perceive as capable of accumulating and resulting in negative health consequences. they are also well aware of the detrimental effects of acute health issues associated with employment, and they emphasize the importance of rest and leisure in alleviating work-related fatigue. moreover, dalits are aware of the potential health risks if they do not take steps to enhance their quality of life. discussion analysis of the data shows that there is caste-oriented labeling of dalit daily wage labours as less able-bodied by other communities, and there are counter-narratives or resistance from among the dalits towards such labeling. both the labeling and resistance are routed in the day-to-day life activities related to the work and health of dalits and others in the village. labeling includes lacking hygiene, following health damaging behavior, reluctant to change, and lacking collective efforts leading to occupational challenges among the dalits. these challenges are mainly in the areas of physical and skill demand, quality of work done, and availability and ability to work. in other words, labeling dalits as less able bodied is leading to occupational challenges among the dalit daily wage labourers. dalits strongly resist being labeled as “less able-bodied,” which eschew them from labor. this resistance of dalits stems from their understanding of health as functionality and the absence of disease, and their resulting active maintenance of good health and active engagement in daily wage labour. for them absence of disease is the way to express availability for labor and being able to work without any difficulties is their way to express fitness for work. as elsewhere, the rigid connection between being lower caste and from a lower social class leading to social psychological repercussions among dalits, such as humiliation exists in the state of kerala and study region. at the same time, evidences shows that the intensity of such repercussions can be diluted through the realization of self-worth in the form of collective pride and dignity (sinha, 2020). further, it could be understood that the everyday acts of subaltern negotiation involve acts of resistance in the face of hegemonic power structures (chandra, 2015). this study shows that dalit’s lives in the village are not only shaped by their marginality but are also shaped by their agency, resistance, and power, which they practice in their daily life. as shown in the data, actively engaging in daily wage labour at the time of availability and performing the work at maximum perfection even during health issues is an example of resistance against being labeled as apathetic. the interventions of early dalit leaders, especially the prominent pulaya leader ayyan kali, in travancore provide enough evidence to believe that very early itself representatives of people who actually worked on the land did value their existing dispositions and skills, and were eager to respond to emerging market opportunities through developing these into capacities and conjoining them with abilities (devika, 2010). however, the present study shows that even though dalits are eager, labeling them as apathetic reduces their chances of improving their skills in the day-to-day life. defining bodies, health, and work of dalits: the decisive role of caste in kerala, india 443 in kerala, through the institutionalized martial culture and the chekavan tradition, the nayar and thiyya community which are above the dalits in caste hierarchy maintained a ‘strong body’ image and consequent view of health as a continuum of fitness (nandu, 2021). over the long period of casteism-linked martial arts, the accumulation of knowledge about the physical strength of the body contributed to the political and ideological articulation of caste-centric strength of the body. thus, the human body cannot be regarded as merely a matter of biological interest. such an understanding of health by dominant castes labeled dalits and adivasis as of poor health, especially of poor physical strength. dalit workers in the village are labeled as having high and persisting health issues due to poor hygiene practices and behavioural issues, hence having compromised physical health and efficiency in daily wage labour. even though it is true that dalits and adivasis in the region and state have higher morbidity compared to other social groups, the reasons are not attributed to behavioral issues. higher morbidity rates among dalits are attributed to poor socioeconomic factors (navaneethan & kabir, 2009; krishnan, 2009) influenced by inter-caste disparities (deshpande, 2000). other than anyone else, dalits from the village understand this fact that it is structural factors and caste discrimination which limits their chances of improving health and work. hence they resist labeling by articulating their points in the public spheres available to them like expressing dalit views on alcohol addiction in the village level meetings, shg meetings and at the work sites. the public opinion among dalits in the village no longer looks upon the excessive drinker as one who lacks will power or is worthless. instead, they consider those who are alcoholic are not just alcoholic, and fulfill their familial and social responsibility in the form of going for regular works at the time of availability, looking after family matters, getting married, having offspring and leading life. further they cite success stories of de-addiction treatment by showing examples of those who are alcohol addicted got treated and rehabilitated in their village. hence the labeling of excessive drinkers among dalits as worthless and following health damaging behavior is resisted by the dalits through their developing informed public opinion on alcohol addiction. they understand that alcoholism is a form of illness, and that with proper medical and psychiatric treatment it can be treated. the developing informed public opinion no longer looks upon the excessive drinker as one who lacks will power, has sinned, or is worthless. instead, an increasing number of people are coming to realize that alcoholism is a form of illness, and that with proper medical and psychiatric facilities rehabilitation can be achieved (straus, 1950). when such structural and social determinants of health are the reasons for high morbidity, blaming the behavior of the affected is the easiest and most common way to criticize them. the burden of labels and stereotypes constitutes representational violence and everyday suffering, both of which are associated with the condition of subordinated caste identity and the caste subordination of dalits. the social life of ex-slave castes or ex-untouchable caste identities is, in fact, functioning structurally as a social fact, which significantly contributes to dalits’ everyday life, including their healthrelated challenges. the historicity of the dalit untouchable body and the cultural 444 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 symbolic attribution of their body as an object of untouchability also functions as representational violence. the portrayal of a ‘less-abled’ body can be seen as structural violence, contributing to the everyday suffering of dalits in their contemporary lives. the findings of the study show that the representation of the dalit body as an object of social untouchability, reinforced by negative stereotypes about their hygiene and living conditions, contributes to social discrimination and everyday exclusion. the notion of caste purity related to untouchability and the bodily hexis of dominance and subordination are constitutive factors of cultural habitus, as well as the notional and institutional dispositions of caste hierarchy, which reproduce social prejudices regarding community hygiene and public purity. the availability of common resources, including water—for example, the use of river water by dalits for household needs— is also stigmatized as an unhygienic practice. dalit workers in the village are labeled as bodies of poor hygiene, an enduring representational vestige of impurity, which is culturally equated with brahmanic notions of impurity and the unhygienic practices associated with the dominant practice of untouchability. the importance of this study is that the labels, attributions, and representations of dalits by other social groups reinforce social dominance. dalits are stigmatized as lacking hygienic behavior, which is negatively attributed as the primary cause of their high morbidity and physical weakness. the dalit body is represented as inherently unhygienic and less able. this caste-based prejudice reflects a ‘caste of mind’ mentality held by the general public, without considering the material conditions and structural factors at play in social power relations. it also overlooks the everyday living conditions of dalits in particular, and the broader functioning of caste society in general. caste prejudice and caste discrimination are important factors that influence the social common sense and public sensibility, treating dalits as a less able-bodied community on the one hand, and shaping views on public health, notions of disease, and labor activities on the other. the study is also important in concluding that dalits are actively resisting caste discrimination and working to improve their health and well-being. this is an important reminder that dalits are not passive victims of discrimination, but rather active agents of change. it is important to recognize that caste discrimination is a major determinant of health and work for dalits. welfare measures including interventions in public health and employment should be designed to empower dalits and help them resist caste discrimination. references ahmed, s., & mahapatro, s. 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(n.d.). extent of self-reported unmet need for health care services in different subgroups of population. https://www.who.int/data/gho/indicator-metadata-registry/imrdetails/855#:~:text=index%20of%20self%2ddeclared%20unmet,times%20%2b%20 too%20far%20to%20travel. © 2024 dickens leonard. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i3.2319 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 3 pp. 358-370 october 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the jigsaw of dis-coloration: anti-caste poetics and the absent color1 dickens leonard1 abstract the article is a critical review essay that contextualises, discusses, and theorises anti-caste poetics in the context of discussions on dalit aesthetics and experience vis à vis postcolonialism and subaltern studies, foregrounding an english poetry collection by a/nil, aka, anilkumar payyappilly vijayan titled the absent color (new delhi: navayana, 2023). i propose that a/nil’s poetry, in comparison to discussions on world literatures, demands a specific labor in reading; his writing produces an annihilation of a given sensibility in reading poetry. i suggest that his poetry works like an inverse jigsaw puzzle, offering an anti-caste critique of a varnacentered world which is in place. the absent color, i argue, un-colors this world of deceptions, using discoloration (like annihilation) as a conceptual framework, to critique the world colored by caste. keywords poetics, critique, caste, dalit, subaltern, theory and experience the message, just like the poem, was addressed to no one in particular. and yet both have addresses: the message is addressed to the person who happened across the bottle in the sand; the poem is addressed ‘to the reader in posterity,’ to me if i find it and, in finding it, become the poem’s ‘destiny.’ —mandelstam 1assistant professor, literature, department of humanities and social sciences, indian institute of technology delhi, india e-mail: dleonardm@hss.iitd.ac.in 1this article is dedicated to the memory of namdeo dhasal (1949-2014); on his 75th birth anniversary and his 10th death anniversary year in 2024; and for his singular contribution to the emergence of the dalit panthers and the plural reception of his literary thought across the world. the jigsaw of dis-coloration: anti-caste poetics and the absent color 359 i’d given my poetry notebook long ago to kabir as a keepsake. but there’s no kabir in this bazaar. the one who stands here accosting passers-by is me. –dhasal i still write poetry and nothing happens… –a/nil talking of a poem reaching its destiny, i.e., to the unaddressed reader, paul celan—a jewish poet writing in german—had described it as “a letter thrown to sea;” whereas osip mandelstam—a jewish poet writing in russian—likened the poet to “the shipwrecked sailor who throws a sealed bottle into the sea,” and the poems are messages to be picked by their “secret addressee” (“message in a bottle,” 2004). and namdeo dhasal, the iconic marathi-dalit poet, remembers of his poems as a poetrynotebook left with kabir—the fourteenth century poet—as a keepsake; and kabir himself is now absent. dhasal, thus, had to accost the passers-by in the bazaar in the absence of kabir, likening himself to the fourteenth century poet. a/nil, aka anilkumar payyappily vijayan, relating with these masters of verse in different languages from a different time and space, writes in the absent color (2023), that he still writes, and nothing happens. absence and nothingness fill their poetic world; and for a/nil’s poems, the reader—just like celan’s, mandelstam’s and dhasal’s—is not readymade, dispelling all arguments about the reader as an active agent of the author. a dalit writer, often, is in search of an unborn reader but a writerly dalit—a barthesian figure—is always in search of a reading that is often absent (barthes, 1973, p. 2); for it would be a reading against the scripting of caste. dalit aesthetics and the absent color the absent color, a recent publication of navayana celebrating its twentieth year as a foremost ambedkarite publishing house, is a collection of poems written in english that it gifted itself and the world. a/nil’s verses now share space along with a few names in navayana’s published shelf: of dhasal, rajkumar, and kandasamy’s poetry in english (also as translation). this book, the publisher believes, would challenge “our ideas of …what makes great poetry, and what is expected of so-called ‘dalit poetry’” (singh, 2023). in a sense, the absent color critically departs from recurrent themes of “suffering,” “rejection and revolt,” “narrations of experience;” and significantly, the promise of “consciousness and commitment,” which limbale, the literary critic, had enshrined as “an aesthetic of dalit literature” (2004, pp. 30–33). yet a/nil, although sharing these concerns that were raised by dalit literary critics in the past, moves away from them as well, thus signifying a creative arrival; critically departing from definitive destinations. 360 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 in a similar vein, cautioning us of presumptive analysis, henry louis gates jr., the renowned literary critic and african american scholar, writing on “the race for writing on race,” had suggested that: we must, i believe, analyze the ways in which writing relates to race, how attitudes toward racial differences generate and structure literary texts by us and about us. we must determine how critical methods can effectively disclose the traces of ethnic differences in literature. but we must also understand how certain forms of difference and the languages we employ to define those supposed differences not only reinforce each other but tend to create and maintain each other. similarly, and as importantly, we must analyze the language of contemporary criticism itself, recognizing especially that hermeneutic systems are not universal, color-blind, apolitical, or neutral (1985, p. 15; italics mine). warning about the force of writing against fundamental signs of domination, i.e., the commodity of writing itself; the text operating as the technology of reason, gates had argued against the immersive use of language to define supposed differences, which not only reinforce but also in vain create and maintain otherness. raj kumar, on the other hand, writing on dalit literature and criticism, describes them as “creative expressions of a people who were silent for a long time” but who invariably inaugurate “new aesthetic values” (2019, p. vii; italics mine). dalit is a “speaking subject” in the context of dalit movements across the country. dalit has the proclivity to do menial and manual work silently as seem fit within the caste system. when she becomes the writerly subject, who demands a reading, she becomes a force, more than a voice, against “fundamental signs of domination.” these two theoretical concerns and tensions, in a way, germinate a/nil’s poetry. carrying that rooted vein forward from gates to raj kumar, i propose that, to engage with a/nil, one needs to purge his poems of readymade contexts, whether they are implicitly historical or explicitly political. abounded by allusions that are impersonal, hermeneutic, and often esoteric, each of his poems may create its own context; and a context within which other poems and references could be read. sharmistha mohanty, writing on the cover, terms it as “a voice which has read everyone but imitates no one;” whereas akhil katyal describes his language as “wildly allusive, demanding and whimsical;” and for m.t. ansari the lines are “unexpected…unruly and even uneven yet affecting all things around” (1). albeit, a primary question may beg the readers: what can one write about a color that is absent; of that which is not pre-sent? how does one respond to a verse on it? and what if one is brought into a “mysterious” situation in which it is not easy to understand all the causes of what one reads? poetry may become an enigma of a kind, one of a kind, and very unkind in such a situation; especially when the poem’s destiny is playfully absent, negating, and nullifying everything around. anti-caste poetics may then demand a specific labor to undo the trivialities that are made out of the context of caste. the jigsaw of dis-coloration: anti-caste poetics and the absent color 361 purging trivialities against a poetic context if the triviality is over, can i move on to the question? –kumar to spivak it is, perhaps, instructive to reflect on a recent diatribe between prof. gayathri c spivak, the literary scholar, and anshul kumar, a student, at jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi, to understand the enigmatic labor behind reading the absent color. ostensibly, the fracas was over kumar’s “incorrect” pronunciation of the name “web dubois”—the twentieth century radical african american intellectual—which spivak repeatedly corrected (lakshman, 2024). nevertheless, the event became an intervening discussion on “can the subaltern speak?”—the cult text written by the famed scholar in the late 1980s (kumar, 2024). the student identifying himself as a dalit later engaged in a verbal harangue against spivak on social media, in which he used several invectives. the exchange initiated a debate in scholarly circles too, raising questions about demonstrative creativity and performative propriety on the one hand, while underscoring the experiences of humiliation and the violence of imposed speechlessness on the other. in one of the engaging discussions on the issue, poet a/nil as anilkumar p v, prosaically comments thus: when correct pronunciation is dictated by the savarna, it serves as an entry token to the citadels of knowledge for people like dalits, who inhabit the outermost ambit of the savarna universe. the savarnas not only close the door but also strip dalits of their right to freely navigate a language that is unique in its spelling and pronunciation, a language notable for its fluidity. this fluidity allows for the formation of new identities, distinct from the languages and spaces in india that are overdetermined by casteist and feudal practices and phrases (2024; italics mine). paradoxically, spivak interpreted the “speechlessness” of the subaltern only as an abject of the west, earlier, in “can the subaltern speak?” (1988), thereby recusing any local dominance on navigation. in comparison, however, gramsci had defined the subaltern as those “social groups” that are economically exploited and socioculturally dominated. but in an unapologetic deployment of foucault, deleuze, and a reclamation of derrida’s theoretical premises in probing indian women narratives as subaltern history, spivak had given examples of hindu law in sanskrit—the locally dominant, caste-centered, yet self-privileging world view that castigates women and out-castes, relegating them to the outermost ambit—as the native culture of the subaltern in colonial india. this was singularly pitched against the colonizing west that is foreign, rather than that which is also within. this is, perhaps, a misdeed. 362 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 for instance, in a daring accusation spivak had begun “can the subaltern speak?” thus: some of the most radical criticism coming out of the west today is the result of an interested desire to conserve the subject of the west, or the west as subject. the theory of pluralized ‘subject-effects’ gives an illusion of undermining subjective sovereignty while often providing a cover for this subject of knowledge. although the history of europe as subject is narrativised by the law, political economy, and ideology of the west, this concealed subject pretends it has ‘no geo-political determinations.’ the much-publicized critique of the sovereign subject thus actually inaugurates a subject. . . (“can the subaltern speak?) if one just rephrases “the west” and the “history of europe,” quoted in the paragraph, and reads it against the grain, while critically evaluating the writer’s power to pronounce, translate, and speak for a speechless abject in the practice and proposition of subaltern history and post colonialism, one could understand that the writer’s subjectivity to partially represent the east and the colonized is also, at once, an invested desire to conserve one’s privileged subjecthood. it illusively undermines others by providing a cover to themselves, all the while indeterminately concealing and pretending to be a critique in public. this unjust concealment not only inaugurates but also continues to impose criminal subjection that ejects every other becoming, in a nutshell. colonial heritage and caste of the subaltern as recuperation, however, spivak intrigues us further with the question of “heritage,” more than three decades later, inviting us to rethink postcolonialism personally. suavely titled “how the heritage of postcolonial studies thinks colonialism today” (2021), she autobiographically remembers a miss charubala dass—the principal of a school where she studied as a kid—whom spivak fears that “we caste-hindus treated… (her) direct ancestors…like animals” (22). this is presented as a personal story of her-self, as recuperation and reflection, being a part of the collective “we”—as “caste-hindus;” however this is a misnomer. perhaps, one may ask whether caste-hindu, the spivakian subaltern, is simply an alibi for a collective enclosure in brahmin-hood, where a miss dass can never be a part of? it troubles because it embarks on a recuperative guise, in the name of a speculative recovery of subjecthood for the brahmin, but at once, halting at an unreachable destiny for many like miss dass as heritage. in this nostalgic endeavor to recover heritage, it is indeed miss dass’s personhood and history that goes for a miss; her subjectivity is evacuated and is made absent in the sojourn of the spivakian subaltern as a concept. it is merely re-presented as that innocent, if not ignorant, native-subject, who is animistic and dehumanized, by the the jigsaw of dis-coloration: anti-caste poetics and the absent color 363 hindu law through its “sruti (the heard), smiriti (the remembered), sastra (learned from another), and vyavahare (the performed-in-exchange)” (1988). thereby, it dismisses miss dass as a person, albeit, as the animalistic other of a sanskritized culture that is in turn subalternized by colonialism. in this twisted long-drawn reading, “sitting on the heritage of postcolonialism,” the ancestry of the animal-like social groups—that miss dass’s people belong to—has to also make way for the inauguration of a new subaltern, spivak seems to conclude. they should be the “illegal immigrant” now, an islander amongst city’s dwellers, without any heritage, who must seek to build bridges only as “social groups in the margins of history” (gramsci quoted in spivak, 23). such demands are not only ignorant of caste as collective subjection, but they are also pretentious of its capability for violation. these proposals conceal the subjectivity of the casteist’s imagination of the world as an island, in isolation and at a distance. doesn’t this thought disguise the spivakian subaltern because it criminally subjugates and ejects every other becoming? the diatribe that reminded spivak of these gestural nuances as epistemic violence, albeit calling them out as “trivialities” that a language like english can bring to customary caste-power in academia, or in spivak’s case, the power that english brings in the formation of new identities that can at once subjugate and eject, thereby, objectifying any subaltern—as marginal—to an enclosure. these formations illusively undermine the other yet provision a cover to oneself by coloring the world outside. this palette of colors (varna) has to be cut-sharp, laid-open, and display the innards of its pretentions, and nullified to witness the truth as bare existence through the work of language. a/nil in the absent color uses english poetry, thus, purging the excessive, illusive formation and inauguration of the casteist guise/gaze as the public critique. discoloration as critique in the repository we read countless names unknown to our childish knowledge. the photograph was not there, nor the piercing cries. either faces and no face or faces without names. (“the absent color,” 69) to read such a verse on an absent photograph amidst faceless faces without names: would one—the reader—be asked to comparatively read, identifying analogies, to get it and make sense? would there be a demand to this reading for which one must be prepared? especially, when people allude, speak in parables, use different tongues, employ minimal words and frugal sentences, or just be economical. do they demand attention to something else? what is this puzzling and riddling all about? these questions would plague any reader who enters into the world of a/nil. an inquisitive 364 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 clamor is heard as verse. rightly so, saitya brata das calls a/nil as “the poet of questions…whose songs are essentially cries—that cry out in the wilderness, in the desert of time, so that even inanimate objects start lamenting at once” (2023). i cry like my earth, the rain of my mother. darkling hopes, everywhere, fists in chains. and my violence and my apologies. (“pre face,” 12) a/nil’s poems read like a maze of puzzles; for instance, of “euclidean flat/ uncorrupted by mafias” and of “now neatly riemannian/curved, explorable manifolds” to speak of “no clear demarcation” (13) as a response to an antisemite ezra pound. he sings of the “icarians flight” and of “more’s utopia;” of a “jewhater” and “metamorphosis;” and of “the buddha and his dhamma and ambedkar” in “kekule’s dream” all in a single poem as a “rebus” (16)—which is a riddle, or a puzzle made up of symbols. one is then asked of a labor and a commitment to crack them to see it through. then one may ask in retort borne by his name a/nil: how do puzzles or riddles do the act of “annihilation” in language? would it be by riddling the reader to pose a limit to language and experience? perhaps, the absent color enunciates such an invocation. may be, it is a poetry of discoloration against colorful difference. it is called “undo” colors--the process of negating the essence of every color. or, probably, it is poetry about absence, of inevitability, of nothing-ness. arresting mindless reflections that make a color what it is, by stopping, absolving, and turning it all inside, evacuating all the colors within. his poems seem to un-color all essential colorations. discoloration, i propose, becomes the in-sight of a nil. the spectres of bloodshed lurk in every turn of the tongue not pointing to things out there but in our field of vision… … peeled-off, poetry bleeds. (“of poets and rapists,” 22) indeed, a/nil states in his pre-face that he is partially insighted. being partially blind from childhood and myopic to the colored world make his world uncolored. it is filled with “inverted memories,” which is an active inversion of sight, forgetting all memory of colors even as it un-colors all sight. it un-colors what is left “un-imagined” and “un-manageable” (11); or, in his words, it “un-dreams” in “mneumosyne” (98). so many “uns” pre-fix to un-fix poetry for a/nil. his poems side-step and step-aside the conditions of poetic nostalgia for rhyme, rhythm, and romance as they become an inflected out-cry: “…unfolding and… polishing … to have clarity…” (“unplannable supplement,” 56). they are an unning which “repeats the unrepeatable” as “the journey of the rejected” (62), and as a poetry of annihilation. they undo words that lessen the world of its colors, bit-by-bit, step-by-step! the jigsaw of dis-coloration: anti-caste poetics and the absent color 365 an/nihilation and writing i am not a poet like me nothing is complete for now even now is in the middle like a bible without punctuation (“i can only give you this refrain,” 34) so, one wonders, who is this “an-nihil-er”—the poet who is not like oneself— who does this discoloration? born in kerala and having travelled to the north-east (tripura in particular) as a young teacher, poetry happened to him at this dislocation, he says. all he had was a desktop with a word processor, and the cd-rom of the routledge encyclopedia of philosophy (“the nothing that comes of nothing,” 2023). he returned to work in colleges across kerala later in the 2000s and was very much alive to the post-1990s world of dis-cord and inter-net in india. exposed to the violent complexities of the modular disengagement of caste in the southern-most tip of the sub-continent in kerala, anil’s “lived experiences” inherit a discolored, untouched world. vijayakumar reviewing a/nil writes that, “those who have read ezra pound, paul celan, jacques lacan, gilles deleuze, and slavoj zizek, and who have also journeyed through the pains and sufferings of dalit life in kerala may find anil’s (a/ nil’s) poems easily accessible” (2023). but that is not enough. biography alone limits and never allows one to move on, a little closer to a/nil. having read anil’s unpublished thesis titled the untouchability of the unconscious (2012)—a dabble with a two, too many “uns” there already—i can vouch that it is a tour-de-force of prosaic elegance. it read and evaluated the presence of “excessive absence,” of that which is “unseen and untouched” in cinema. through a lacanian engagement, it demonstrated how dalit identity is contained and disfigured in malayalam cinema. in the last chapter, writing on the figuration of ponthan mada, a 1994-cult film, and foregrounding the eponymous dalit character played by mammootty, the national award-winning actor, anil interestingly reads the portrait of an affective relationship between an untouchable servant and sheema thampuran, the colonial landlord (played by nasiruddin shah), in british india. he offered a hitherto unheard or unseen comparison, of a cinematic depiction that is in conversation with marx, lacan, heidegger, zizek, ambedkar, and the buddha at the end. anil “saw” something else, and “read” everything else as “nothing.” he had prepared himself as a readerly writer, a decade ago, in his own way, for this eventual encounter. these poems, however, out-run the age of his thesis; and some by more than a decade. they express and represent a distinct work of thought and experience. as dhasal writes of his own poems: “for what makes one speak or write is the themes that create an excruciating turmoil inside you, heighten your sensitivity, and leave you tenderly troubled. this is the sort of inner disturbance from which my poems 366 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 come” (2013, p. 112), a/nil’s too create such a writerly space. while dhasal’s poem “for vincent van gogh” (2013: 78) had pinpointed a missing color of the sun, earlier: sunflowers truly are the self-expression of your experience. but, brother, you’ve forgotten to paint one of the colours of the sun! whereas a/nil paints “the dance of darkness” (2023: 40) in every flower as a smile to the sun: every flower as the japanese have correctly surmised is the dance of darkness a smile to the sun rooted firmly in the earth that’s how the dancer becomes … influenced by major european poets and thinkers, and the dalit intellectual writings that made one aware and awake, like dhasal before him, a/nil’s words are exposed to the world of continental thought, world literature, discussions on art and science, which constantly weighed against a discolored existence. his poems at once verify the world of quantum physics on the one hand and versify on an unforgiving levinas (“entre nous,” 48) on the other. sometimes, all of them in just 4-lines on a page. they indiscriminately read yet discretely interpret to taste and judge better, and ultimately “see” through. one gets a feeling that he looks and converses to an “inside,” all laid bare, to see otherwise. writing, or say a reading, born of this labor also demands such a labor. thus, it educates, excites, and leaves one in a world of allusions, of pain and loss, of collusion and confusion arranged with precision and playfulness; and they “retreat into self annihilation beyond verse” (“the unnameable,” 26). the inversive jigsaw in search of a dialogue i talked to you over and over in desperation, in delirious fever you gave me no answers a shadow outside language homeless within language, nothing. (“deep past,” 31) allusion is a technique of inspired labor and a/nil uses it as an instrument of thought. it works as an economical means towards a calling, unto a shared world the jigsaw of dis-coloration: anti-caste poetics and the absent color 367 of reading. it anchors an experience that is shared in the act of reading a colorful world. colors must be slashed across and nulled so that a shared world of words can coappear to mark their presence with each other. this is a sharing, where celan (en) counters heidegger, whereas euclides and reimann, pound and kafka, eisenstein and tarkovsky, oedipus and habakkuk, beckett and joyce, hegel, marx, and lacan, along with a host of rejected woman characters of the judaic-centered old testament, exchange a word with a touching ambedkar in conversation with the buddha. in bringing together this multi-figured encounter, a/nil counters the presence of any incisive “figural” excess. neither any red that reddens every other; nor a black that blackens, or a white that whitens, any other. but blue–neel(am)–as rain drops trickle down “on mountain-top” (“nostalgia for the void,” 79); they wash it all away, nils everything as nothing, as “a shadow of an inverted rain” (“the night and blindness of 98,” 73) becoming a commune of discoloration. like the blues, it is a collusion of odd singular notes. a coming together of a “singular-plural,” an idea proposed by jean luc-nancy, the french philosopher, to argue that being is always “being with,” and existence is essentially co-existence. not as a comfortable enclosure in a pre-existing bond, but as a mutual “abandonment and exposure” to each other (2000, pp. 1–100). it is like a dissonant musical note arranged towards an indefinite void that is heard by another ear. this is the puzzle that a/nil poses…to another ear and eye. not any puzzle but something akin to the opposite of a jigsaw puzzle through a technique of allusion in poetic thought. a jigsaw, as we all know, is a picture of playful arrangement, a puzzle on cardboard or wood. cut up into a lot of smaller pieces of different shapes, one is invited to fit it altogether to get the whole picture. each part in its place makes it wholistic. however, a/nil denies this party to be a part of parts in a bondage of preexistence. a/nil’s “insighted blindness” (11) to varna—color—incites a nihilation against an ordered placement of colors. they are fixations, for him, that interlock and mosaic each other as assemblage, placing the untouched and the uncolored all pieced together into a façade of a union, all reddened, black-mailed, white-washed, and saffronised. it looks as if the dis-play is all over, and completely fixed. but when one dis-colors everything, washed away in blues, a reversive play is on as “the exchange sacrifice” (2023, p. 94): … like the vanishing mediator slipped into the event horizon disappeared just like that knew this before… …oh, they smelled of blue deep mother warned: they go back, always and they did, like always… this inverse jigsaw, a jigsaw in verse, is a cutting out by discoloration—an uncoloring of that which is excessively interlocked and mosaiced. it had to be unlocked 368 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 and undone, negating and annihilating every color that stands as a piece in order, for a place in sanatan, unshakable for eternity by itself. a/nil would part apart with a riddle just like babasaheb, his predecessor—as the vanishing mediator. un-coloring as anti-caste poetics in the end, a/nil as anil declares the “with-outness” of others that rustle down a “nothingness” in flux, which cannot just “be” by itself, even as a book of poems parting apart (“without you,” 101). so, he asks us to work along. in that, this collection—a jigsaw of discoloration—demands a distinct effort, a labor of love. it is unique as an experiment in the context of “coming out” narrations of lived experience of all kinds in english. gopal guru in an incisive piece that inaugurated a critical discussion on experience, thought, and the question of caste in social sciences, had argued for the moral conditions of reflective thought and a dalit-need for theory as a social necessity. vulnerable to the attraction of temporal power that does not flow from “theoretical practice” but from “more glamorous and easy spheres of mobility,” doing theory, alternatively, is “a social necessity” for dalits, guru underlined, which demands “enduring moral stamina for resisting the temptation for temporal gains” as well as attractions that can “de-motivate a person from pursuing the spiritual” (2002, p. 5006). in a stance similar to plato the greek philosopher, guru foregrounded that poetry cannot be a substitute for theory as many dalits try to “compensate for theoretical deficiency by doing brilliant poetry” (2002, p. 5007). he evaluated, albeit unkindly yet judiciously, that “most poetry, including dalit poetry, is based on aesthetics and metaphors…but it belongs to the particular though it is based on rich experience.” he suggested that, “it generates inwardness and keeps some things hidden from the public imagination,” and concluded that “poetry has no conceptual capacity to universalize the particular and particularize the universal. it does not have that dialectical power” (ibid). guru’s trial on the dalit-settlement for experience, empiricism, and elegies seem to be answered by a/nil through a revelatory rejection, which is indeed a poetic “rejection of rejection” (2011). unworking a theory of poetics, by not merely versifying theory, a/nil’s poems move from the immediate to the abstract and, unlike any other, restore a radical subjection. slavoj zizek, the philosopher who validated a/nil in the cover page, remarks that “it is not versified philosophy but a true thinking in the form of poems…like a sharp razor, it cuts deep into your skin” (2023: 1). as a/nil pre-faces poetically, “the other gives you tongues where the body loses the skin” (2023, p. 11), but concludes philosophically that “without you…there would have been nothing here for us” (2023, p. 101). everything is with you here, for us. guru and sarukkai, thus, in their latest work, formulate maitri as a new configuration of ethical relations between different socials which “has to be both universalizable and realizable”, and cannot just be “an absolute platonic ideal”. it “has to be experienced in the everyday form of human experience,” they conclude (2019, p. 194). a/nil’s the jigsaw of dis-coloration: anti-caste poetics and the absent color 369 poems have labored and demand such a labor towards a new configuration. unlike a written word that arrests the voice behind, separating and nulling all sounds, making all thought a soundless sight that is only visible, the absent color instead invites us to reverse jig both theory and poetry, the particular and the universal, the reject and the subject by sawing everything you see in excess as nothing but nulled in blues. neither merely compensating nor definitively platonic, but like the indefinite article “a” in a/nil, like a blue drop, drop by drop, it is profoundly unspecific and indeterminate. it is truly a nil that uncolors; and it is an act of love as well as thought that moves; travelling across in search of the “secret addressee” so as to discolor the world of pretensions. in the end, like the “habiru” (2023: 7)—the rejected other of history—a/nil would thus riddle against all subjections and casteist trivialities: rainwards glides the smooth flow of the balloon of desires sliced from prehistory barred with words… …we move like habiru or do we? *** references a/nil (2023). the absent color. new delhi, navayana. anilkumar p.v. (2024). “like a nightmare on the brains of the living,” the wire, 29 may. https://thewire.in/caste/like-a-nightmare-on-the-brains-of-the-living-the-jnu-row-and-itsburied-underside anilkumar p. v. (2012). the untouchability of the unconscious. unpublished phd thesis, dept’ of english, kannur university. barthes, roland (1973). s/z. translated by richard miller, oxford, blackwell. das, saitya brata (2023). “the enigma of a nil: review essay,” the beacon, 15 november. https://www.thebeacon.in/2023/11/15/the-enigma-of-a-nil-review-essay-by-saitya brata-das/ dhasal, namdeo (2013). a current of blood. translated by dilip chitre, new delhi, navayana. gates jr., henry louis (1985). writing ‘race’ and the difference it makes. critical inquiry, 12(1), pp. 1–20. guru, gopal (2002). how egalitarian are the social sciences in india?. economic and political weekly, 37(50), 5003–5009. guru, gopal (ed.) (2011). rejection of rejection: foregrounding self respect. humiliation. new delhi: oxford university press. guru, gopal and sundar sarukkai (2019). experience, caste, and the everyday social. new delhi: oxford university press. kumar, anshul (2024). can spivak listen? reflections on the spivak-kumar fracas. round table india, 28 may. https://www.roundtableindia.co.in/does-spivak-listen-reflections-onthe-spivak-kumar-fracas/ kumar, raj (2019). dalit literature and criticism. hyderabad: orient blackswan. 370 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 3 lakshman, abhinay (2024). jnu students did not identify himself as dalit. the hindu, 25 may. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/gayatri-spivak-on-jnu-row/article68212572.ece limbale, sharankumar (2004). towards an aesthetic of dalit literature. transl. alok mukherjee. hyderabad: orient blackswan. message in a bottle (2004). common weal, 17 june. https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/ message-bottle nancy, jean-luc (2000). being singular plural. transl. robert d. richardson and anne e. o’byrne. california: stanford university press. singh, swati (2023). a/nil’s new book of poetry, ‘the absent color’, is a conversation—of, for, and by himself. scroll.in, 19 november. https://scroll.in/article/1059139/a-nils-new-bookof-poetry-the-absent-color-is-a-conversation-of-for-and-by-himself spivak, gayatri chakravorty (1988). can the subaltern speak?. in cary nelson and lawrence grossberg (eds.), marxism and the interpretation of culture. macmillan education: basingstoke, pp. 271–313. spivak, gayatri chakravorty (2021). how the heritage of postcolonial studies thinks colonialism today. janus unbound: journal of critical studies, 1(1), 19–29. the nothing that comes of nothing (2023). navayana, 5 november. https://navayana.org/ blog/2023/11/01/the-nothing-that-comes-of-nothing/?v=c86ee0d9d7ed vijayakumar, v. (2023). ‘the absent color’: mapping the contours of ‘a nil’ world, a trial for imagination. the wire, 6 november. https://thewire.in/books/the-absent-color-mappingthe-contours-of-a-nil-world-a-trial-for-imagination © 2025 bhadrajee hewage. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2606 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 257-276 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the caste negotiations of anagarika dharmapala (1864-1933) in colonial ceylon bhadrajee hewage1 abstract analyses involving anagarika dharmapala (1864–1933) and his relationship to caste— rare enough as they are—often mirror conversations on the position of caste in sri lanka more generally. despite the presence of caste and its previous significance in the island’s history, these discussions hold that caste no longer maintains a critical social purpose. dharmapala’s formulation of buddhism as an ethnocentric and hegemonic ideology that concealed rather than addressed social inequality within the island’s majority sinhalese community perhaps also best summarises these narratives. yet what is lost in these discourses is that caste remained an ever-present feature of dharmapala’s social vocabulary and for his visions for both the sinhalese ethnicity and for buddhism more generally. this article tracks dharmapala’s caste engagements and the wider societal implications of his understanding of the phenomenon for sri lanka today through analyses of his writings and speeches both in english and in sinhalese. as this article demonstrates, caste became an important instrument for dharmapala to distinguish that which was good for society from that which was bad. of mixed-caste parentage himself, dharmapala remained exceedingly critical of sri lankan caste structures yet curiously respected—if not admired—those in neighboring india. as perhaps the most high-profile buddhist anywhere in south asia during his time, dharmapala had an incomparable influence on publics across the wider region. while dismissing the significance of caste in religious practice, dharmapala nonetheless accepted its traditional social function with caste reform rather than abolition at the core of his wider societal plans. keywords anagarika dharmapala, buddhism and caste, colonial ceylon, govigama, karava, sri lankan castes 1faculty of history, university of oxford, george street, oxford, united kingdom e-mail: bhadrajee.hewage@history.ox.ac.uk 258 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 introduction in the sinhalese language, just as in many other indic languages, the term jāti—and the various words derived from it—connotes not just caste but also ideas concerning ethnicity, nationality, citizenhood, and race (de silva, 1981, p. 512; uyangoda, 1994, p.13). semantically ambiguous, the term’s opacity allows its association with various forms of exclusion and difference along the lines listed previously. just as the word jāti masks identities which often compete with rather than complement each other, caste, too, often finds itself concealed by ethnocentric biases in historical and sociological analyses of sri lankan society. yet as one of the identifying—if not defining—features of subcontinental societies, caste remains an ever-present fixture of island life despite the paucity of studies exploring its role in social settings. when compared to those in neighbouring india, caste relationships in sri lanka remain comparatively understudied and under-theorised. this remains true for each of the caste structures in operation for the island’s sinhalese, sri lankan tamil, and indian tamil populations (silva, thanges & sivapragasam, 2009, p. 1). indeed, while there remains an ever-expanding body of literature elsewhere across the subcontinent, caste as an institution in sri lankan society continues to receive little attention in contemporary academic circles, social initiatives, and governmental policies. furthermore, with the sri lankan state neglecting to collect caste information in official records, the specific role of caste as a force for discrimination and oppression remains difficult to discern (silva & balmforth, 2025, pp. 1–2). given caste’s exclusion as a category in the island’s censuses since 1871, even estimating the numbers of those who belong to the various castes traditionally ascribed to sri lanka remains a notoriously difficult endeavour (simpson & de silva, 2025, p. 36). what is clear, however, is that a system of caste practice developed there independently and largely without the structuralising influence and power of the varṇa-based hindu system with its ritualised divisions into brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, and shudra found in neighbouring india. while similar cultural practices undoubtedly present themselves across both the mainland and the island, “local customization” rather than “wholesale adoption” became the norm (winslow, 2024, p. 110). sri lanka’s “wider geography”, with its external linkages extending beyond the subcontinent to the mediterranean world, coastal africa, arabia, and indochina, perhaps provides us with further answers as to how this local customisation occurred (winslow, 2024, p. 110). furthermore, the lack of a strong religious sanction for caste from buddhism—the predominant religion among the island’s majority sinhalese community—also created the conditions for the emergence of a caste system often described as “mild” in terms of its injunctions when compared to those found in other religious systems across the mainland (gombrich, 1971, pp. 294–317; silva, kotikabadde & abeywickrama, 2009, p. 29). moreover, the general absence of caste and its effects in buddhist societies outside of south asia further complicates studies of the practice of caste amongst sinhalese buddhists, given the difficulty in finding the caste negotiations of anagarika dharmapala (1864-1933) in colonial ceylon 259 suitable comparisons from within the wider buddhist fold.1 the buddha himself, of course, neither explicitly condoned nor denounced caste as an institution and chose instead to preach against the discrimination and stigma associated with its practice. published shortly after the island’s independence in 1948, bryce ryan’s caste in modern ceylon opened the way for scholarly analyses of caste in sri lankan society with his view that caste in sinhalese culture was “a self-contained emergent arising from diffuse indian influences and historically unique situations” (1953, pp. 4–5). ryan and the generation of scholars who followed him remained fixated on “village minutiae” to find a “correct” or “authentic” form of caste in the island, which could be reconciled within a wider indic civilisational understanding of caste (jiggins, 1979, p. 19). yet, as john rogers (2004) convincingly argues, present-day conceptions of caste find their origins in the consequences of the social, economic, and political decisions the british took during the early nineteenth century. while caste may appear “dormant” in sri lankan public life today, one needs only to refer to matrimonial advertisements in local newspapers or scrutinise the selection of candidates in electoral processes to conclude that caste remains “ubiquitous” in everyday life (silva & balmforth, 2025, p. 1). the tendency to diminish the place and effect of caste and treat sinhalese society as unified and culturally homogenous also remains a feature of commentaries on the career of anagarika dharmapala, which either neglect the role of caste in his life or lessen its importance. indeed, it is difficult to write about cultural and social developments in modern sri lanka without reference to dharmapala and his activities (hewage, 2022). during his funerary procession in colombo in 1933, the procession of mourners that followed dharmapala’s casket stretched over half the distance of the two-mile route. dozens of his statues have been erected across the island, and today several city streets bear his name in places such as anuradhapura, kandy, and galle (kemper, 2015, p. 3). remembered variously within sri lanka today as an anticolonial hero or as a nativist bigot (senanayake, 1965, p. v; sarvan, 2017), dharmapala arguably became the most prominent commentator on sinhalese affairs during the island’s late colonial period. as one of the “founding contributors” (mukherjee, 2015, p. 19) of what is often termed sinhalese-buddhist nationalism today, dharmapala— through his writings and speeches in the english and sinhalese languages—provides us with unique insights into the place of caste across both ethnic and religious axes. dharmapala, however, remains an exceedingly complicated character to portray in clear and concise terms. ananda guruge’s (1965) published collection of his writings and speeches—along with, more recently, his personal diaries—in the english language features extensively in dharmapala’s wider historiography. written primarily for western audiences unfamiliar with its everyday trappings, dharmapala’s english-language writings naturally do not dwell at length on the phenomenon of caste. furthermore, the colonial state closely followed these publications, with police 1nevertheless, scholarship exists which examines so-called “hidden” or “latent” caste systems amongst buddhists in polities such as thailand and japan. see, for instance, aaronson, gaines & abouharb (2016) and gordon (2017). 260 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 across the subcontinent keeping track of dharmapala’s statements throughout his career (guruge, 1965, pp. l-li). this article, however, capitalises on his sinhaleselanguage output, which remains glaringly absent in western scholarship.2 often more intimate and forceful than his english-language work, likely because dharmapala was aware it would largely escape the scrutiny of the state, his sinhalese writings frequently provide more comprehensive analyses of his thinking and visions regarding his native island and its affairs. indeed, it is from these writings that we gain our clearest understanding of dharmapala’s positionality regarding caste and his attitudes towards its practice and existence. though a complete biography of dharmapala and an extended account of his many activities are beyond the scope of this article, any cursory overview of his life reveals two interconnected objectives that he continually referred to throughout his life.3 namely, a personal mission to become the next buddha, which accompanied his vow to serve humanity through buddhist welfare work—of which the campaign to reclaim buddhist ownership of the mahabodhi temple complex at bodh gaya dominated.4 furthermore, in how he presented buddhism to others, dharmapala focused primarily on both tradition and modernity (hewage, 2025). for his fellow sinhalese buddhists, he emphasised how ceylonese antiquity and precolonial times created a benevolent buddhist society with harmony and prosperity for everyone. the introduction of “western abominations”, from weapons to whiskey, and an adherence to “heathenish diabolisms” resulted in a move away from the “ethical purity” buddhism provided for ceylonese society (dharmapala, 1965f, p. 105). as he repeatedly insisted throughout his career in both his english-language and sinhalese writings and speeches, buddhism’s value for the sinhalese was as a traditional religion that greatly enriched their lives and defined their society. whereas tradition perhaps best characterised dharmapala’s appeals to his sinhalese kin, dharmapala preferred instead to present buddhism as a religion of modernity for western audiences. for dharmapala, modernity represented morality and scientific progress, which he believed perfectly described the buddhism he wished to propagate. in his earliest public speeches to non-buddhist audiences in the west, dharmapala (1965j, pp. 18–20) maintained that buddhism made people “gentler and milder” and was a “scientific religion” that was “tantamount to a knowledge of other sciences.” indeed, morality and science appeared to represent the best way for dharmapala to encourage western audiences to warm to and accept buddhism, and discourses on 2only h.l. seneviratne (1999) has made extensive use of dharmapala’s sinhalese writings in english-language scholarship. yet even his usage of these documents is largely limited to an examination of dharmapala’s views on the buddhist monkhood. sarath amunugama (2016) also references dharmapala’s sinhalese-language writings but does not make wide use of them in his extended biography on dharmapala’s life and career. 3for extended biographies of dharmapala, see karunaratna (1965); kemper (2015); and amunugama (2016). 4the mahabodhi complex is traditionally associated with the site where siddhartha gautama achieved buddhahood. for an overview of dharmapala’s activities involving the mahabodhi complex, see trevithick (2006). the caste negotiations of anagarika dharmapala (1864-1933) in colonial ceylon 261 modernity became a constant refrain in dharmapala’s engagement with non-buddhist audiences—especially those in europe and north america. what is important here, however, is not dharmapala’s specific appeals to tradition and modernity—important as they are in evaluations of his life and career—given the inherent contradictions between them. rather, dharmapala’s tendency to emphasise and dwell on different aspects of the same issues for different audiences is of greater significance for us here when we consider his engagement with caste. as an emblem of tradition and as a barrier to modernity, where then, if at all, did caste fit in with dharmapala’s dual objectives and representations of buddhism? despite his efforts to personally distance himself from its practice and reach, caste surprisingly remained a critical component in dharmapala’s various social calculations and engagements. born in 1864, dharmapala emerged during the mid-nineteenth century into a sinhalese society witnessing a new awareness regarding the importance of caste in a colonial ceylonese setting. yet the goal here is not to pass judgement on his positioning and views on caste but instead to understand dharmapala’s reasoning and its significance in later developments affecting both his native sinhalese community and sri lanka more generally. critiquing the sinhalese caste system dharmapala formed part of the first generation of ceylonese to experience the effects of a new kind of socioeconomic order hitherto unseen on the island. establishing the colebrooke-cameron commission in 1831, britain charted its island colony on a course away from quasi-feudalism and indigenous economic practices to create a free labour model oriented towards export markets. this spelled the end for the traditional sinhalese rājākariya system of personal service through which the monarch provided land tenure in return for service provision from various occupation-based castes. in its place, a network of plantations developed with tea, rubber, and coconut estates emerged throughout the island. demand boomed for agents and contractors to supply labour for this new economic system, and ambitious locals quickly reaped the benefits from the entrepreneurial culture that accompanied the plantations. these pioneering entrepreneurs who moved into newly created contract industries, such as coopering and transport provision, however, did not emerge from the ranks of the sinhalese aristocracy. rather, this new class of businessmen was formed from across the sinhalese caste spectrum, with no one caste grouping able to claim dominance over these new trades (amunugama, 2016, p. 354; obeyesekere, 2018, p. 278). overtime, the numerically superior govigama caste—to which dharmapala’s father, don carolis, belonged—found its position under attack from rival caste groupings. the “farmer-aristocracy” as ralph pieris (1956, p. 171) first described them, the govigama were traditionally engaged as land-holding cultivators, and “to all intents and purposes”, he argues, “constituted the chief caste” in terms of influence and power during ceylon’s pre-colonial period.5 many new entrepreneurs, such as 5as mentioned, the exact figures of each caste community on the island are difficult to validate. the govigama community, however, is believed to constitute around 50 per cent of the wider 262 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 don carolis, emerged from the middle and lower ranks of the govigama. yet they faced commercial competition from rivals in the durāva caste, traditionally associated with toddy-tapping and to which dharmapala’s mother—dona mallika—belonged, the karāva caste historically engaged in maritime activities, and the salāgama caste associated with cinnamon cultivation (amunugama, 2016, p. 354). competition among these castes took different forms, and the early nineteenth century witnessed various “caste propagandists” from various backgrounds attempting to influence and shape government policy and the allocation of public employment (rogers, 2004, p. 61). economic competition also extended into other arenas, and the latter half of the nineteenth century witnessed the publication of polemical caste accounts and histories where various castes attempted to elevate themselves and downgrade the status of others (blackburn, 2010, pp. 79–90). although some of these polemics appeared in the colony’s english-language press, most of the writing on caste was in sinhalese (rogers, 2004, p. 69). the itihāsaya (“history”), a pro-govigama caste narrative, and the kevaṭṭa vaṃsaya (“the fishers’ chronicle”), a rejoinder to the itihāsaya from the karāva community, perhaps represent the best examples from the period.6 earlier scholarship suggests that these caste accounts reflected the concerns only of a narrow social class of elites who employed caste to compete over social prestige (peebles, 1995, pp. 166–168; kannangara, 1993, p. 113). yet, as rogers argues, the tone of several of these exchanges indicates that far deeper issues of status and worth were at stake for all members of the different caste groupings (2004, p. 69). a voracious reader throughout his youth and beyond (kemper, 2019, p. 228), dharmapala undoubtedly became intimately familiar with the arguments of these revisionist texts with their references to geographical, historical, and religious subject matter. it is from dharmapala’s sinhalese letters, addressed primarily to one of his closest disciples devapriya valisinha, that we get the best insights into how this commentary functioned in practice. discussing the fate of ceylon’s leading buddhist school, ananda college in colombo, from bombay in 1922, dharmapala (2014e, p. 331) firmly connected educational attainment and achievement with various sinhalese caste groupings. while he suggested karāva students igeṇagænimaṭa dukgannavā (strive hard to learn), he claimed to valisinha that govigama schoolchildren instead igeṇaganṭa molē næta (do not have the brains to learn). in the coastal towns where the karāva dominated, dharmapala (2014e, p. 331) argued that the community together uplifted themselves through education, while the govigama community bickered amongst themselves and asamagiyen siṭiti (could not find consensus). he further questioned valisinha about the number of govigama students enrolled at ananda and lamented what he believed was the tendency of govigama elites to christian schools over buddhist ones. curiously, he also noted the caste background of ananda’s sinhalese population in sri lanka. the govigama caste is itself, of course, divided into several sub-castes. for a dated but valuable, detailed description of these sub-castes along with other sinhalese castes, see pieris, 1956. 6all translations provided in this article are my own. the caste negotiations of anagarika dharmapala (1864-1933) in colonial ceylon 263 headmaster p.s. de silva kularatne—who belonged to neither the govigama nor karāva castes—and doubted his ability to command the support of both castes. dharmapala’s criticism here of the govigama caste—the caste to which his own father belonged—exemplified how caste controversies remained a periodic feature of ceylonese public discourse well into the twentieth century. indeed, the rivalry between the govigama and karāva castes remained the central feature of these polemics, though several other caste groups also involved themselves (blackburn, 2010, pp. 79–90; rogers, 2004, p. 69). yet dharmapala proved unique in his involvement in the central rivalry between the two castes as he readily criticised both. indeed, while he praised the educational achievements of the karāva, he considered their religious devotion suspect. as mentioned, dharmapala’s career ambition was to recover buddhist ownership over the mahabodhi temple complex in northern india. in diary entries from 1925, again written in sinhalese, dharmapala (2014e, p. 384) lamented how the karāva people buḍagayāwa sambandha dēṭa udav næ (give no help in affairs relating to bodh gaya). curiously, he proceeded to describe the karāva as a people who buḍagayāwaṭa waḍā jātiya salakana (cared more about their caste than bodh gaya) and then compared their piety unfavourably to that of the govigama. as was typical of dharmapala, however, he took the opportunity here to criticise the govigama again. the prosperous among them, he (2014e, p. 384) claimed, śraddhava næ (have no faith). those govigama who did have faith, he claimed, dhanaya næta (had no riches). when they accumulated wealth, he lamented, lōbhayen kriyā karati (they acted stingy). the fate of the mahabodhi site proved especially pressing in dharmapala’s caste polemics. while existing scholarship has captured his involvement in tensions between buddhists and hindus over the site (kemper, 2015; trevithick, 2006), dharmapala’s engagement with caste concerns regarding the complex remains less well known. when a sinhalese monastic specifically suggested in 1925 that stewardship of the complex be given to the karāva rather than the govigama, dharmapala (2014b, pp. 242–243) commented that it was an ajñana kamaki (unwise act). the govigama community, as he explained in a sinhalese-language article, had historically provided for all monastic sects and was central to buddhism’s survival in ceylon for over 2,000 years jāti gōtra nosalakā (irrespective of ethnicity and caste). yet he took care here again to avoid the implication that the piety of the govigama elevated them over others. should monks from other sinhalese caste communities travel to reside at the mahabodhi complex, dharmapala (2014b, p. 243) insisted that he would personally provide for their maintenance there. it was not just the buddhist laity that dharmapala targeted along the lines of caste. the ceylonese monkhood also attracted fierce criticism from dharmapala for its caste-based composition. indeed, he repeatedly slammed the island’s monastics for what he believed was their defeatist and unprincipled position in ceylonese society. “the bhikkhus [monks] in ceylon are indolent and ignorant”, dharmapala (1965a, p. 520) noted in 1920 while in calcutta, “they keep up their position by a smattering of pali grammar and sanskrit prosody.” yet, from his sinhalese writings, dharmapala 264 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 specifically chooses caste to explain how he believed the monkhood went astray. complaining about bad monastics in a note from 1923, he singled out the siyam nikāya (“siam sect”)—which drew its membership exclusively from the govigama community—to highlight his point. the siyam nikāya monks, dharmapala (2014e, p. 339) explained, were preoccupied with accumulating dhana (wealth) rather than religious concerns. the following year, however, dharmapala turned his attention to the island’s other monastic fraternities. he attacked the amarapura nikāya (“amarapura sect”), composed primarily of non-govigama monks, for following the siyam nikāya in chasing wealth. in a diary entry from 1921, dharmapala (2014e, pp. 359–60) lambasted senior amarapura monastics for striving to enrich themselves while having anukampawak næta (no sympathy) towards asaraṇa bauḍayō (helpless buddhists). the rāmañña nikāya (“lower burma sect”), originally founded by low-country govigama who claimed that the siyam nikāya privileged only the govigama who hailed from the kandyan highlands, also found its way into his wrath. dharmapala (2014e, pp. 359–360) insisted that the wæḍi koṭasa (majority) of rāmañña nikāya monastics goṭu atu pāvichchi karati (used palmyra leaves), implying that they cared more about distinguishing themselves from other monastic sects than working for the benefit of other buddhists. all three major buddhist orders in ceylon, he believed, failed in their mission to serve the wider sinhalese buddhist community. for dharmapala, competition based on caste status ravaged the ceylonese monkhood and rendered its members useless. from his analyses of dharmapala’s english-language writings, steven kemper (2015, p. 419) highlights dharmapala’s tendency to criticise virtually everyone he encountered. from his sinhalese-language documents, a similar pattern again emerges. despite his criticisms of sinhalese caste communities, dharmapala nonetheless clarified that these specific criticisms reflected his rejection of the sinhalese caste system as it then existed during his lifetime. key to the present degradation of the sinhalese caste system, he argued, were the caste-based monastic fraternities themselves. in a sinhalese-language article from 1922, dharmapala (2014f, p. 105) explained that buddhism had flourished in ceylon for two millennia because of its focus on maitrī dharmaya (philosophy of loving kindness). the problems that he felt later emerged in ceylonese buddhism, he suggested, emerged following the foundation of the siyam nikāya in the eighteenth century. with higher monastic ordination restricted only to the govigama, dharmapala wrote that these circumstances gave rise to both the amarapura nikāya and rāmañña nikāya to democratise the pursuit of higher ordination.7 clerical cleavages thus emerged, he implied, when caste communities avoided participating in the religious activities of other caste groups, which, in turn, created divisions amongst the wider sinhalese laity and so ultimately weakened ceylonese buddhism.8 when castes gained economic clout, dharmapala (2014f, p. 105) concluded, they discarded 7for a comprehensive account of the origins of the rāmañña nikāya and of its difference from both the siyam nikāya and amarapura nikāya, see malalgoda (1976), pp. 161–172. 8for detailed analysis on the foundation of ceylonese monastic sects, their practices, and their organisational structures, see malalgoda (1976), pp. 106–172. the caste negotiations of anagarika dharmapala (1864-1933) in colonial ceylon 265 samyakdṛuṣṭiya (true vision) for mithyādṛuṣṭiya (improper vision) and thus worsened caste divides. dharmapala, therefore, criticised the wider current sinhalese caste system for its perceived role in creating divisions that diminished ceylonese buddhism. these developments, he believed (2014f, p. 105), served only to consolidate the status of other ethnic and religious ceylonese communities at the expense of the sinhalese. yet he did not urge the sinhalese to eradicate or discard caste altogether. rogers (2004, p. 65) notes how the british, fearful of any action that could lead to unrest, concluded during the early nineteenth century that buddhism did not preach caste and thus chose not to directly interfere or engage with the workings of caste. dharmapala, though he did not cite britain’s influence, took a similar approach. in an educational booklet addressed to “every english-speaking person throughout the world” published in 1917, he (1965c, pp. 155–169) maintained how even the buddha stressed the necessity of “observing [pre-existing] caste rules” and of abiding by the “laws laid down by ancestors.” despite this serving as one of the few examples of dharmapala referencing caste to foreign audiences, it is again in his sinhalese writings where he provides more detail on his visions for the practice of caste. indeed, in the same 1922 article where he blamed the ceylonese monastic sects for fostering caste division, dharmapala curiously rebuked those whom he believed plotted to eliminate the govigama caste. he (2014f, p. 106) wrote how it was dukkhadayakayi (quite sad) that there existed those who plotted to destroy the govigama and offered his own reasoning as to why this was an extremely concerning development. dharmapala (2014f, p. 106) declared that siṃhala jātiya nætivē (the sinhalese race will be lost) should the tactics used to destroy the govigama succeed. he did not, unfortunately, elaborate on what precisely he meant here, and we do not know what specific tactics and schemes dharmapala had in mind, nor how exactly the elimination of the govigama would serve to annihilate the sinhalese race itself. nevertheless, the remainder of the article provides us with a deeper insight into how exactly he valued caste and its wider purpose in society. the crux of dharmapala’s message here was that the various castes which existed among the sinhalese all had functions and were therefore all a critical component of sinhalese society. the fishing folk who cast their nets and caught fish for a living possessed a different śarīrika dhātu (bodily makeup) from those whose livelihoods consisted of climbing palm trees and tapping toddy (2014f, p. 107). disregarding dharmapala’s questionable biological calculus here, we see instead his belief that there was no need to rank which activities were more beneficial or valuable than others. rather, dharmapala wanted the sinhalese to concede that they had always participated in different industries and trades. as sinhalese castes were traditionally occupationbased, all castes therefore had their part to play in the everyday functioning of society. moreover, his followers did not need to rely on him alone to accept the truth of his claims. the buddha, dharmapala (2014f) argued, explained the very same thing in the pali canon’s saṃyutta nikāya. as dharmapala insisted to his supporters, it was buddhist practice itself that was of value and not the elevation of one caste group at the expense of others. 266 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 brahmin-ising buddhism despite these sentiments, however, dharmapala himself did elevate one caste over all others. yet this was a caste which was not then present in sinhalese society. “the most significant factor for an understanding of sinhalese caste structure”, ryan (1953, p. 8) emphasises to his readers, “is not…that the sinhalese preserved buddhism, but that the sinhalese did not preserve the brahmin.” different sinhalese caste communities had begun referencing their supposedly brahmin lineages long before the colonial period. yet it was only from the mid-nineteenth century that the supposed varṇa status of the various castes became used to produce “relative rankings” (rogers, 2004, p. 69; kannangara, 1993, pp. 118–126). born in 1864, dharmapala thus emerged into a sinhalese society where connections to brahmin-ness and, by extension, social prestige were becoming commonplace. indeed, dharmapala deeply respected—if not idolised—the status that brahmins held both during buddhist antiquity and also during his own lifetime. spending most of his adult life based in india, dharmapala was keenly aware of the reach and influence of brahmins across the mainland. indeed, his admiration for the brahmin community largely emerges not from his sinhalese output but instead from his writings and speeches to audiences beyond the island. dharmapala repeatedly described what he labelled as a “pure” brahminism which existed alongside and complemented early buddhism. this pure brahminism he separated from what he termed “degenerate” brahminism, which he firmly connected with contemporary hindu practice. in 1904, dharmapala (diary, 26 july 1904) clarified how “brahmanism pure is renunciation of passions and ascetic life”, while “brahmanism degenerate is abnormal sensuality”, which resulted in “intellectual degeneracy and sensual development.” a decade later, he insisted further that “[t]he aryan people of india had a most spiritualizing code of ethics for several thousands of years.” dharmapala (1965g, p. 261) noted how the “philosophers of ancient india had penetrated into the heights of the brahmaloka …. [and found] an impetus for higher thought” but conceded that this period had ended long ago. hinduism split into an idealised past and a polluted present, dharmapala further highlighted what he believed were the commonalities between buddhism and the uncorrupted hinduism as it existed during buddhist antiquity. describing the buddha’s life and his teachings, he maintained, “[t]he buddhism of the people of india was of native origin, the gods of the buddhist were the gods of the brahman.” dharmapala (1965f, p. 85) insisted, “[s]o far, history is silent as to a war between buddhists and brahmans …. but of persecutions to annihilate each other, we find no signs in contemporary history.” this untainted brahminism diverged from buddhism and gave way to the debased hinduism of the present “after the religion of the buddha kasyapa had disappeared.”9 as dharmapala (1965g, p. 259) emphasised again to his supporters, “[t]he pure brahman philosophy untainted by the doctrine of egohood is in no way antagonistic to the dhamma of the tathagata.” 9according to the theravāda buddhist tradition, kāśyapa buddha is believed to have been the third buddha of the present kalpa (“aeon”) before the arrival of gautama buddha. the caste negotiations of anagarika dharmapala (1864-1933) in colonial ceylon 267 dharmapala therefore aimed to equate buddhism with a form of hinduism, though moral and ethical, no longer existed and threatened the buddhism he championed throughout his career. indeed, his objective in his discussions and analyses of hinduism was to convince hindus that buddhism’s teachings formed a compelling alternative to the vices he believed pervaded their contemporary religious practice. as dharmapala (1965i, p. 41) proclaimed in 1918, the buddha “appeared in middle india at a spiritual crisis to lead man from the slough of ignorance and ignoble sensualism to the loftier heights where love and an infinite happiness reign supreme.” he did not, however, suggest here that buddhism was merely a reformulation of the no longer extant pure brahminism. to say that the buddha “borrowed his religion” from ancient brahminical beliefs, dharmapala (1965f, p. 106) retorted, “would be like saying that darwin borrowed his philosophy from the christian bible and the aristotilean [sic] ethics, and that herbert spencer got his philosophy from the treatises of medieval theologians.” an extended analysis of dharmapala’s interpretation of the historical development of hinduism is, of course, beyond the scope of this article. that this analysis emerges almost exclusively in his english-language material also should come as little surprise. as the subcontinent’s dominant religion, and as an obstacle to both the reclamation of the mahabodhi site and enticing conversions to buddhism, hinduism greatly preoccupied dharmapala throughout his career. while hinduism, of course, remained an influential minority religion in ceylon during his lifetime, dharmapala felt no immediate threat to his wider buddhist mission from ceylonese hindus who corresponded in tamil and largely avoided involving themselves in the affairs of ceylonese buddhists. ever since his appearance alongside swami vivekananda at the world’s parliament of religions in chicago in 1893, dharmapala, however, faced constant opposition from indian hindus. from discourses on buddhism’s degradation aimed at diminishing buddhism’s appeal to westerners to the legal wrangling over the mahabodhi complex involving the colonial judicial system, dharmapala debated indian hindu opponents throughout his career (harris, 2024; kemper, 2015; trevithick, 2006; amunugama, 1991). without proficiency in the indian languages of his antagonists, and battling them to win over western publics, dharmapala resorted to the english language to present his arguments. what is of special importance here, however, is dharmapala’s near exclusive focus on the brahmin caste as representative of the wider hindu religious system. indeed, in his discussion of degenerate brahminism, it was the activities of the brahmins themselves that came in for the greatest criticism. its entire structure, dharmapala (1965m, p. 578) claimed, revolved around “arrogant brahmans” who sacrificed animals, consumed alcohol, and cursed the gods when grievances arose. the system became so corrupt, social uplift was possible only for a select few. as dharmapala (1965h, p. 221) reminded his bengali audience during a lecture at calcutta in 1911, the “brahmanical laws of social polity” excluded all those who were not “twice-born” from meaningful participation in hindu religious life. to the many millions who fell into the excluded category, he argued, “the buddha’s law of love, and 268 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 the discipline which he had in his mercy inculcated and called the aryan discipline were meant.” for the very first time, dharmapala continued, “the[se] teeming millions of india received a religion” (1965h, p. 221). hinduism, because of the machinations of the brahmins, thus only catered towards specific categories of people. buddhism, dharmapala insisted, was for everyone. nevertheless, dharmapala often looked past the harmful role brahmins played in corrupting hinduism and preferred instead to focus on the aspects of brahmin-ness themselves that he considered exemplary and deserving of emulation. in a sinhaleselanguage article from 1894, dharmapala (2014c, p. 206) explained how the sinhalese should follow āryya (noble) customs concerning filial piety, hospitality, and propriety. according to dharmapala, during the buddha’s lifetime, brahmins had a duty āryya sirit kaḍa nokara (not to disregard noble decorum). if the brahmins of antiquity followed these noble practices, he reasoned that the buddhists of his day should copy them. around this same time, dharmapala emphasised again to other buddhists the similarities between their religion and that of the brahmins. buddhism, as dharmapala (1965e, p. 791) declared in one of his earliest english-language journal pieces, “is brahminism without caste.” a decade later, he again implied that the social status accorded to brahmins in the varṇa system was compatible with buddhist teaching. “he who does good kamma, he is the brahm[i]n”, dharmapala (1965k, p. 144) noted in 1909, “he who does evil, he is the menial.” for dharmapala, buddhism therefore taught that karmic merit decided one’s profession and thus—by extension—the caste to which one belonged. as mentioned earlier, dharmapala curiously associated the fate of the broader sinhalese ethnicity with the prosperity of the govigama caste. he similarly connected the fate of the buddhist religion to the continued existence of the brahmin caste. the “next buddha will be born in the brahman caste…and only righteousness will reign” dharmapala (1965f, p. 113) proclaimed to his readers in 1917 in a booklet published in madras. he did not, however, explicitly mention or reference how he came to what was—and remains—an unorthodox and controversial view among buddhists themselves. to those who “now” engaged in good conduct and deferred “to holy men and good brahmans”, he further promised an ideal future rebirth (1965f, p. 113). that the buddha himself would choose rebirth into a society that still clung to caste allegiances was not a source of shame. as dharmapala (1965l, p. 65) insisted the following year, the buddha merely “spiritualized the idea of brahm[i]nhood” for all regardless of caste background. the buddha, he continued, “upheld the social policy of caste differentiations among the laity” but ensured that the “low caste man” always found value and a meaningful place within the broader buddhist fold. any cursory overview of dharmapala’s writings and speeches, whether in english or sinhalese, reveals his tendency to compare himself to the buddha and his resolve to work towards buddhahood. he, therefore, naturally maintained a vested interest in ensuring that caste, as an established institution of subcontinental society, survived the attacks of those who sought to do away with it in its entirety. the future buddha, as dharmapala mentioned, was destined to find rebirth in the brahmin community. if the caste negotiations of anagarika dharmapala (1864-1933) in colonial ceylon 269 he were to become the buddha, dharmapala, too, required rebirth into the brahmin caste. indeed, his dying words in 1933 expressed something to this very effect. as dharmapala (2014a, p. 250) fervently proclaimed, magē adhiṣṭhānaya maraṇin matu indiyawē brāhmaṇa pavulaka ipida śasanika kaṭayutu yaḷit karagena yǣmaṭayi (my desire after death is to be born into a brahmin family in india to again continue buddhist activities). dharmapala’s truly sensational declaration here appears only as a footnote—if it even features at all—across most biographical analyses of his life. in guruge’s introduction to the collection of dharmapala’s english-language writings and speeches, he also transcribes dharmapala’s dying wish. yet, strangely, guruge (1965, p. xliii) uses ellipsis in the introduction to hide dharmapala’s references to rebirth as a brahmin in india. dharmapala’s parting wishes are, of course, difficult to stomach for those who remember and idolise him as a sinhalese patriot who cared as much about ceylon as he did its traditional buddhist faith. dharmapala rejected and became alienated from the new political class that emerged on the island during the later years of his life (amunugama, 2016, pp. 524–527). his dying words perhaps represent his wish to distance himself from a ceylon where nationalist and marxist ideologies were beginning to capture attention away from his buddhist messaging. yet these final words—when taken with dharmapala’s idolisation of the brahmin community throughout his career—perhaps also demonstrate to others his insistence that caste, for all its criticisms, continued to have a function in buddhist circles. for dharmapala, noble conduct and adherence to that considered samyakdṛuṣṭiya, guaranteed rebirth into what he considered a superior caste. as the supreme caste, which he believed even the buddha conceded, brahmins—with their spiritually sanctified status in both buddhism and pure brahmanism—were the community every buddhist needed to emulate. as the sinhalese had not “preserved” the brahmin in ceylon, dharmapala’s wish for a brahmin rebirth in india thus appears more comprehensible. the valorisation of the brahmin community on the island, of course, did not begin or end with dharmapala. gananath obeyesekere (2015) writes about how earlier brahmin migrants to the island, primarily from south india, seemingly transitioned into the upper echelons of the govigama caste as elites. yet to this day, other sinhalese caste groups such as the beravātraditionally associated with drumming, maintain memories of poems and songs linking them with ancient brahmin lineages who seemingly passed down ritual knowledge and novel forms of religiosity during the island’s precolonial period (simpson & de silva, 2025, pp. 45–53). nevertheless, as praveen tilakaratne (2025) illustrates, references to and identifications with the brahmin community were not always positive—especially in postcolonial ceylon, where ideas of brahmin-ness became associated with unequal epistemic hierarchies and structural injustices. while dharmapala himself did not directly link brahmins with any specific sinhalese caste grouping, association with brahmin-ness was a definite source of honour and not shame. dharmapala further connected the brahmin caste to his beliefs regarding the existence of “higher” castes and correspondingly “lower” castes. this terminology of 270 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 “high” and “low” groups, of course, had existed in ceylon long before dharmapala’s emergence, with chronicle authors from the island referring to the “simple bifurcation” of sinhalese society into two groups based on various characteristics by the fourth century ce (winslow, 2024, pp. 107–108). nevertheless, dharmapala’s understanding of what constituted this elevation proved unique. for him, good social conduct resulted in rebirth into a higher status. poor social conduct instead led to rebirth into a lower status. he, however, specifically connected samyakdṛuṣṭiya practices with the brahmin community, while mithyādṛuṣṭiya acts he firmly linked with abrahamic religion, especially christianity and islam. in turn, these abrahamic religions he associated with what he deemed lower caste communities, though he curiously declined to name them. in 1922, dharmapala (2014d, p. 139) penned a piece titled “kalisam kristiyāniya” (“trouser christianity”) in which he mocked those he considered the sinhalese of lower status who flocked to christianity and aped westerners in their dining and sartorial practices. christianity, he claimed, was sāradharmayak næti (of no useful teaching) and for three hundred years in ceylon prevailed among hīna jātika manuṣyayan (lower caste peoples). islam, too, did not escape association with low caste status. in a 1923 article aimed at providing advice to sinhalese buddhist children, dharmapala (2014g, p. 66) explained how in ceylon, gavamas kǣma hīna kulavalaṭa ayiti dharmayaki (the lower castes are accustomed to eating beef). in india, he continued, gavamāṃśa sataravarṇayaṭa ayiti aya allannē næta (those from the four varṇas refrain from beef). only indian muslims, dharmapala insisted (2014g, p. 66), gavamāṃśa anubhava karat (consume beef). disgusted at what he felt was the growing trend of meat consumption among sinhalese buddhists, dharmapala (2014e, p. 362) commented in a diary entry during the following year that apē bauddhayanget hamba mahamat kārayanget venasak næ (there is no difference between our buddhists and treacherous muslims). lamenting that buddhists anubala deti (give support) to animal slaughter, he (2014e, p. 362) noted further that there was also væḍi venasak næta (not much difference) between ceylonese christians and buddhists. in a 1925 letter addressed to a western supporter, he further noted the attempts of both christians and muslims to convert indians who languished beyond the caste system. implying that these dalits who converted to both religions were “barbarians”, dharmapala (1965d, p. 778) concluded that they were “satisfied with the low-caste gods and the fetish priests.” moreover, he (1965b, p. 571) presumed in 1932 that it was “only the very low-castes” that became muslim during the islamic conquest of india, thus demonstrating again how characterisations like these continued throughout his career. caste, as dharmapala understood it, therefore had its functions. these functions, for dharmapala, primarily emerged from his own binary assessment of the phenomenon. there were meritorious acts that all could engage in and discreditable acts from which everyone should refrain. conduct associated with the former resulted in rebirth into a higher social standing while practices connected to the latter augured rebirth into a comparatively lower social status. while brahmins—in what he considered was their historical and traditional role—exemplified the zenith of this broader system, christians and muslims, given the caste backgrounds of those whom he presumed formed the the caste negotiations of anagarika dharmapala (1864-1933) in colonial ceylon 271 bulk of their communal numbers, represented the nadir. nevertheless, dharmapala continually stressed that it was not all doom for those who found themselves at the lower ends of this social spectrum. indeed, in his landmark address at the 1893 world’s parliament, dharmapala emphasised that the value and worth of caste lost all religious significance when one became buddhist. “virtue was the passport,” dharmapala (1965j, p.19) claimed to the audience, “not wealth and rank.” all buddhists, as dharmapala (1965m, p. 580) urged in an english-language article much later in 1924, should actively promote buddhism to those who toiled at the bottom of the caste pyramid so that they, too, could discard the social stigma which arose from the ritual status accorded to their caste position. righteous buddhist conduct, he claimed, was that which formed the foundations of the social prestige and ritual superiority which brahmins enjoyed. karmic demerit explained the lowly position of some segments of subcontinental society. yet buddhism promised these groups an escape from social disadvantage—provided they engaged in samyakdṛuṣṭiya behaviour—even if this did not actually remove these communities from their caste status or practically elevate them to the standing of brahmins. for dharmapala, caste therefore mattered in the organisation and functioning of society. however, that which was associated with caste was not necessarily absolute or final. crucially, from his own interpretation of the phenomenon, caste had no ultimate bearing on soteriological progress under buddhist teaching. conclusion caste status, for dharmapala, therefore emerged from karmic merit and possessed social value but held no religious reward. the various components that formed his understanding and acceptance of caste, of course, appear contradictory. in a ceylonese context, he maintained that caste cleavages caused splits among buddhists and so weakened the overall position of the religion. yet he maintained that these same cleavages, based around inherent differences in traditional and historical occupations, were justified given their centrality to the functioning of sinhalese society. in a wider subcontinental context, he looked to the brahmins as a community from whom all should model their social conduct and targeted christian and muslim communities for what he considered unconscionable social behaviours, which he keenly attributed to the caste backgrounds of their members. nevertheless, he insisted that everyone, regardless of background, could escape from whatever social disadvantage caste brought them by embracing buddhism. how then can we make sense of these contradictions? in her description of the social structure of ceylon’s kandyan region, deborah winslow (2024, p. 115) calls for a visualisation that includes “not only high and low, but also center and periphery, more cartwheel than ladder.” in categorising dharmapala’s own visualisation of caste specifically, winslow’s “cartwheel” imagery seems especially apt. at its centre lay buddhism, dharmapala’s primary focus and concern throughout his life and career, and the chief lens through which he negotiated 272 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 its trappings. on the periphery lay the claims of various castes regarding origins, status, and functions, of which dharmapala remained keenly aware but largely disinterested. the spokes connecting the centre to these peripheries were the different avenues—the various monastic fraternities, specific social behaviours, and religious commitment, among others—that linked these claims to buddhism. this cartwheel was, of course, highly adaptable in dharmapala’s case, as those who were considered high and low could alter their status by embracing and adhering to buddhist teaching, even if they could not shed the specific labels themselves of the castes to which they belonged. the contradictions themselves are not essential in helping us understand how dharmapala considered caste. instead, buddhism’s role in mediating them is what is more significant. as mentioned earlier, and according to dharmapala’s interpretation, caste had no final bearing on one’s soteriological progress provided one engaged in appropriate buddhist conduct. despite dharmapala’s musings on the matter, especially in his lesser-studied sinhalese writings, caste did not form a fundamental pillar of dharmapala’s dual objectives of achieving buddhahood by serving humanity through buddhist welfare work. his positioning on caste here, therefore, distinguished him from later generations of buddhist activists who centralised caste reform and abolition in their career trajectories (hewage, 2025). br ambedkar, who worked not just to fight caste discrimination but also to abolish the institution in its entirety for the harm it caused to subcontinental society more generally, perhaps remains the greatest exemplar of these later activists. indeed, beyond offering encouragement to convert to buddhism, dharmapala did not prioritise participation in any meaningful social, legal, or political campaign—either in ceylon or india—specifically aimed at uplifting those who faced caste disadvantages and social stigma because of their caste status. with dharmapala still best remembered in sri lanka today for his countless appeals to the wider sinhalese public, it thus remains apt to characterise his consideration of buddhism on the island as an “ethnocentric hegemonic ideology” which concealed rather than addressed social inequalities (silva, 2017, p. 230). indeed, it was this influence dharmapala held over the wider sinhalese populace that later generations of sinhalese leaders manipulated to secure their own positions through pushing policies which were ostensibly pro-sinhalese and pro-buddhist (karunaratna, 1965, p. 135; jiggins, 1979, pp. 8–16; rambukwella, 2018, pp. 73–101). while dharmapala did not cater his appeals in ceylon towards specific caste groups, he undoubtedly attracted the strongest support from those who did not belong to the upper echelons of sinhalese caste communities—hence his alienation from political elites discussed earlier (hewage, 2025, pp. 121-26). ever since swrd bandaranaike’s electoral success in 1956, political aspirants recognised the effectiveness of the language of sinhalese buddhist nationalism to make those from non-elite caste backgrounds believe that they had a meaningful role to play in sri lankan life. just as the colebrooke-cameron reforms exactly a century earlier opened new opportunities for those from the middle and lower rungs of the govigama caste and from other sinhalese caste communities, universal franchise from 1931 again provided new the caste negotiations of anagarika dharmapala (1864-1933) in colonial ceylon 273 avenues for these caste groups. when these groups protested that their voices were not being heard, and when those from excluded minority communities similarly protested about their own positions in society, conflict emerged. indeed, conflicts—such as the marxist-leninist uprisings of the jvp in 1971 and from 1987 to 1989 and the civil war with tamil militants from 1983 to 2009— can all find their origins in the sinhalese buddhist nationalism of which dharmapala is so often considered a founding figure (jiggins, 1979, pp. 5–7; devotta, 2007; rambukwella, 2018, pp. 102–136). in sum, while dharmapala primarily tended to treat the sinhalese as a uniform ethnic community and privileged the ethnoreligious over all other forms of belonging and association, caste nonetheless remained a factor in his wider social calculus. the significance of caste for dharmapala remains difficult to ascertain from his voluminous english-language writings, addressed primarily to those beyond the island and focused more on buddhist propagation than social reform. yet in his sinhaleselanguage material, specifically targeted towards addressing all aspects of the lives of his sinhalese kin, caste remained an ever-present aspect. indeed, caste proved a useful instrument for dharmapala to distinguish, more generally, that which was good in society from that which was bad. though dharmapala largely addressed both the sinhalese ethnicity and buddhist religion in singular terms throughout his career, he was forced to negotiate and could not ignore the various caste-based components that lay within. references aaronson s.a., gaines n.s., & abouharb, r. 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(2024). cartwheel or ladder? reconsidering sinhala caste. comparative studies in society and history, 66(1), 106–130. © 2025 anupam yadav, dhiraj singha. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.2474 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 1 pp. 147-166 april 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste caste prejudices in denial: analysing student perceptions in an indian university anupam yadav1, dhiraj singha2 abstract how do caste prejudices vary across students from different socio-economic communities? do perceptions on caste (e.g., inter-caste marriage, existence of caste in modern times, reservation policy, etc.) correlate with caste prejudice levels? what are the factors that impact ‘caste prejudice levels’ among students? in answering these questions, we measure the caste prejudice levels among students of varying socio-economic backgrounds in a central university in india. statistical methods like two independent samples t-test, anova, chi-square test, effect sizes, etc., have been performed for analysing data. overall, the results reveal that the people who are more likely to deny or are not aware of the relevance of caste today in terms of its impact on people’s lives are more likely to have higher caste prejudices. the findings provide empirical insights into the literature around caste prejudice and inform policies to eradicate caste-based discrimination, especially in higher education. keywords caste prejudice, discrimination, reservation, higher education, policy introduction understanding prejudice is crucial as it underpins the behaviours that lead to discrimination (allport et al., 1954). while prejudicial attitudes are learned through socialization processes, it is when these attitudes are enacted in behaviour that results 1phd, dept. of geography, central university of karnataka, india e-mail: 1anupamy58@gmail.com 2phd, dept. of sociology, dr b.r. ambedkar university delhi, india corresponding author dhiraj singha e-mail: dhiraj4ds@gmail.com 148 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 in discrimination (pettigrew, 1998) and when discrimination receives state backing, such as when individuals with prejudiced orientations become embedded in formal institutions, that it becomes systemic and leads to structured oppression (oommen, 1990). therefore, any intervention aimed at equity, diversity, and inclusion must address not only the process and outcomes of discrimination but also the underlying prejudices that shape such processes and outcomes (chakravarti, 2018). caste-based discrimination has persisted for centuries in the indian subcontinent, rooted in deeply entrenched systems of social hierarchy, power asymmetry, and cultural practices (ambedkar, 2022). despite the legal abolition of untouchability and the implementation of affirmative action policies such as reservations, caste prejudice remains a pervasive and enduring reality. particularly within indian higher education, the persistence of subtle and explicit caste bias continues to undermine the constitutional ideals of equality and social justice. recent reports and testimonies from dalit and other marginalized students indicate that campuses remain contested spaces, marked by social exclusion, intellectual devaluation, and stereotype-based marginalization (ramvilas, 2022). even elite, meritocratic institutions that pride themselves on inclusivity remain fertile grounds for caste-based prejudice. scholars have argued, entering multicultural or heterogeneous environments alone does not dissolve deep-seated biases—unless consciously and structurally addressed, such biases persist and adapt (jodhka, 2016). this underscores the need to examine caste prejudice not merely as a personal belief but as an outcome of collective socialization, identity processes, and cultural narratives. the endurance of caste prejudice among educated youth points to the limitations of formal inclusion and necessitates deeper engagement with the psychological and relational underpinnings of bias. while there exists an extensive body of literature on caste discrimination— highlighting manifestations such as untouchability, underrepresentation in institutions, and socio-economic deprivation (jodhka, 2002; jeffery et al., 2007)—there is inadequate empirical discussion on the variation in caste prejudice across different socio-economic communities, particularly within educational contexts (thorat et al., 2016). this gap in research is critical, given that caste-based attitudes are often shaped by intersecting factors such as identity, status, exposure, and institutional culture. in this regard, the present study contributes to a growing call for empirical and conceptual investigations into caste prejudice among students from different caste and class backgrounds (deshpande, 2004; thorat & newman, 2007; sharma & jogdand, 2024). specifically, we examine how caste-based prejudice varies among students in a central indian university, how it relates to students’ perceptions on caste-related issues (such as reservation and inter-caste marriage), and how socio-demographic and educational factors influence prejudice levels. in doing so, we respond to the need for a deeper understanding of caste prejudice as a social-psychological phenomenon, rooted in individual cognition but shaped by group dynamics and structural ideologies. given the growing heterogeneity of university campuses—facilitated by affirmative action policies and demographic shifts—these spaces present an important caste prejudices in denial: analysing student perceptions in an indian university 149 arena for examining social interaction, attitude formation, and identity negotiation (relph, 1997; shaban, 2017). as higher education institutions are sites of both social reproduction and transformation (merret, 2004), they are uniquely positioned to explicate the mechanisms through which caste-based biases are either challenged or reinforced. by empirically analysing caste-based prejudice and its correlates among students, this study aims to shed light on how caste continues to structure perceptions and interactions in contemporary academic spaces. further, we seek to inform policies and pedagogical interventions that might help promote equity and inclusivity in higher education, and to contribute to the theoretical discourse on caste, prejudice, and social identity. theoretical foundation this study is built upon a comprehensive theoretical framework to understand the persistence of caste prejudice in indian higher education, described below: caste as a social-psychological construct the caste system in india is one of the oldest surviving social systems in the world, predating many of the largest religions. despite its antiquity, a universally accepted definition, origin, or understanding of the caste system remains elusive due to its immense diversity across the country. in a generic sense, caste system is a highly elaborate and nuanced social institution, maintained by endogamous marriages, and characterized by an unequal socio-religious and economic relationship between people who are hierarchically arranged by the principle of purity and pollution. more than 6,000 castes exist across india, each with their own sub-castes and localized social structures. however, popular categorizations tend to cluster castes within the varna system: brahmins, kshatriyas, vaishyas, and shudras, while the “untouchables,” now referred to as dalits, fall outside this classificatory order. these hierarchies are further reinforced through distinctions such as savarna/avarna (touchable vs. untouchable) and dwija/non-dwija (twice-born vs. non twiceborn). the brahmins, situated at the apex of this structure, historically exercised the ideological power to define caste positioning (ambedkar, 2022). for lower castes, this system is one of deprivation and systemic exclusion; for upper castes, it operates as a system of entrenched privilege (phule, 1983). a growing discourse, particularly by ilaiah (2009, 2012, 2019), challenges these dominant narratives by classifying castes into ‘productive’ and ‘non-productive’— assigning economic and cultural value to castes traditionally engaged in physical labour while problematizing the roles ascribed to privileged caste groups. this framework reasserts caste as a lived, material condition, rather than merely a symbolic or religious identity. importantly, caste is not confined to hinduism but cuts across religious groups, manifesting in social exclusions, spatial segregation, and unequal material outcomes 150 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 among muslims, christians, and others (ambedkar, 2022; trivedi, goli, & kumar, 2016). inequities in land ownership, access to education, and wealth distribution highlight the ongoing material implications of caste stratification (marar, 2019). attempts to resist these structures are frequently met with coercion and violence— honour killings, caste atrocities, and everyday harassment serve as mechanisms to preserve caste hierarchies (ambedkar, 2020). in recent years, scholars have urged a theoretical shift towards understanding caste not only as a sociological but also as a psychological construct. they argue for theorising the cognitive and affective mechanisms through which casteist beliefs are maintained and expressed (jogdand, 2024). contributions in this field include the psychological conceptualisation of caste prejudice at the group level (sharma & jogdand, 2024), as well as explorations of how people internalize narratives related to reservation, suffering, victimhood, collective memory, and even everyday practices such as food taboos and colorism (choudhary, 2024; harshitha, 2024; mukherjee et al., 2024; chereches, 2024). from a social-psychological perspective, caste can be understood as a salient social identity that organizes people into in-groups and out-groups, much like ethnicity or race. social identity theory (tajfel & turner, 1979) posits that individuals derive a sense of self from their group memberships and seek a positive social identity by favourably comparing their own group to others. in the context of caste, this implies that belonging to a higher-status caste group may become a source of pride and positive self-esteem, whereas lower-caste identity may be socially devalued. this theory helps explain why caste divisions can powerfully evoke in-group and out-group biases and prejudices. even in modern educational spaces, students who strongly identify with their caste group might display favouritism toward peers of their own caste and harbour distrust or derogatory views of those from castes traditionally deemed “lower”. such group-based biases reinforce the existing hierarchy by valorising high-status castes and marginalizing lower-status ones. notably, caste is an ascribed identity, one is born into, with a historically entrenched hierarchy that carries centuries of social significance. social identity processes intersect with this stratification; members of dominant castes may develop a psychological investment in preserving their group’s elevated status, resisting equality with lower castes and rationalizing prejudice as a means of protecting group prestige. beyond social identity theory, social dominance theory (sidanius & pratto, 2012) suggests that individuals ascribed with higher position group inequality and are more likely to endorse casteist beliefs, oppose affirmative action, and view the caste hierarchy as legitimate. caste prejudice prejudice is a foundational concept to explain social-psychological phenomena such as exclusion, discrimination, and oppression. while stereotypes refer to oversimplified and generalized beliefs about particular groups, prejudice involves evaluative attitudes, caste prejudices in denial: analysing student perceptions in an indian university 151 typically negative, held against group members based on these assumptions (allport et al., 1954). discrimination, in turn, is the behavioural expression of such prejudices, and oppression refers to systemic and institutionalized injustices sustained by such attitudes (diangelo, 2022). these processes are deeply interlinked. prejudices are often rooted in early socialization, wherein individuals internalize group distinctions, values, and stereotypes from family, school, media, and community (bandura & walters, 1977). in the indian context, this is shaped heavily by the caste system’s compartmentalization. the early life social interactions being not caste-neutral, aided by casteised socialisation contributes to group-based attitudinal formation. caste-based prejudices become naturalized through these interactions, embedding themselves in one’s psychological schema. although extensive literature documents the structural and institutional aspects of caste discrimination, relatively few studies focus on measuring caste prejudice and examining its variation across caste and class groups. understanding caste prejudice allows scholars and policymakers to trace the attitudinal roots of discrimination and to design targeted interventions (greenwald & banaji, 1995). it also helps identify which groups are more susceptible to holding or reproducing prejudiced attitudes, and which are most affected by them (desai, dubey, & joshi, 2011; sharma & jogdand, 2024). thus, we ask: research question 1 (rq1): how does the ‘caste prejudice level’ vary across students from different socio-economic communities? in contemporary academia, caste prejudice often intersects with debates over meritocracy and affirmative action. upper-caste prejudice may be cloaked in rhetoric about “academic standards” or “misuse of reservations,” reflecting modern prejudice—biases expressed in ostensibly non-prejudiced terms (bonilla-silva, 2010). for instance, an upper-caste student might harbour resentment that reserved category students “take away” opportunities, or suggest lower-caste students need to “prove” themselves more due to presumed deficits. as ambedkar (2022) argued, caste bias is rooted in cultural notions of purity and pollution, creating a sense of social disgust toward castes that are low in hierarchy that lingers in subtle and explicit forms, such as reluctance to share meals or living spaces with dalit classmates. prejudice and perceptions for/against caste socialization also reproduces broader cultural capital and distinctions that inform individuals’ perspectives on caste (bourdieu, 1977). in india, caste informs not only social interaction but also moral and political perception. people from different socioeconomic backgrounds often develop distinct understandings of caste injustice and the policies meant to address it. one key site of divergence is in perceptions of affirmative action, particularly the reservation policy outlined in articles 15, 16, and 46 of the indian constitution (1949). one of the key objectives of the reservation policy is to ensure equitable representation of disadvantaged groups in various spheres of life. by providing quotas 152 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 in educational institutions, government jobs, and legislative bodies, the reservation policy has facilitated access to opportunities and resources for these groups, reducing caste-based disparities and empowering historically marginalized communities. designed to correct historical injustices, these policies have enabled increased participation of marginalized communities in education and employment (thorat & newman, 2007; desai & kulkarni, 2008). by facilitating access to resources, and allowing individuals from underprivileged castes to succeed in diverse areas such as education, employment, or politics, these policies challenge caste-based prejudices and stereotypes, especially when beneficiaries succeed in competitive environments (woodard & saini, 2006; ghosh, 2018). however, these policies are often met with skepticism or opposition from uppercaste individuals who lack exposure to the lived experiences of caste marginalization (thorat & newman, 2012). conversely, individuals from disadvantaged communities tend to view these policies as essential for equality and empowerment (jodhka & shah, 2010). similar divides emerge around inter-caste marriage. despite its potential to disrupt caste boundaries and promote social integration, same-caste marriage remains overwhelmingly dominant (i.e., more than 90% of marriages) (mondal, 2021). these perceptions—of who deserves support, of what constitutes fairness, or of how marriage should be arranged—are shaped by underlying caste attitudes and socialization. as perceptions affect one’s socialization practices, a caste-prejudiced mind is likely to prefer same caste marriage even though inter-caste marriages are considered a potent means of weakening the caste system as they challenge the boundaries between castes and promote social integration (thorat & neuman, 2012). thus, the association between one’s perceptions for/against reservation policy or inter-caste marriage and their caste prejudice levels can be explained by the varying experiences and socialization processes that shape one’s habitus. the exposure of individuals to different aspects of the caste system plays a critical role in shaping their understanding of the problem of caste. greater exposure to diverse perspectives and experiences of caste can foster empathy and support for anti-caste efforts (miles & brown, 2003). in contrast, limited exposure to the realities of caste-based discrimination and inequality may lead to a lack of awareness or denial of the problem, resulting in hostile attitudes towards reservation policies (deshpande, 2005). as a result, one’s stance on caste-related policies and practices often correlates with their level of caste prejudice. individuals with low caste prejudice levels may be more inclined to support reservation policies, recognizing the need for such measures to address historical and ongoing caste-based inequalities (jodhka & shah, 2010). considering the fact that there is lack of theoretical as well as empirical exploration of the underlying basis of various popular perceptions against caste-related statements (thorat et al., 2016), we therefore ask: research question 2 (rq2): does one’s perception on caste-related matters (e.g., reservation policy & inter-caste marriage) correlate with one’s caste prejudice levels? caste prejudices in denial: analysing student perceptions in an indian university 153 factors influencing caste prejudices in higher educational institutes higher education plays a critical role in secondary socialization. university spaces can challenge or reinforce caste-based attitudes, depending on the nature of peer interactions, faculty engagement, curriculum content, and institutional ethos (tinto, 1997). students at different stages of their academic journey may have varying degrees of exposure to critical thought, diversity, and intergroup contact. students pursuing advanced degrees may have more opportunities to interact with individuals from diverse backgrounds, influencing greater understanding and empathy towards different social groups (gurin et al., 2002). additionally, higher levels of education often correlate with increased critical thinking skills, which can help students question and challenge existing social hierarchies and prejudices (pascarella & terenzini, 2005). disciplinary orientation also matters. as fields of social science foreground aspects related justice, inequality, and inclusion, students are most likely to be encouraged with progressive attitudes towards caste. in contrast, disciplines that remain detached from these concerns may do little to provoke critical introspection (milem, 2003). the composition and inclusiveness of the university environment also significantly affect student attitudes. diverse campuses that promote inter-caste dialogue and explicitly engage with equity issues tend to foster lower levels of prejudice (hurtado et al., 1999). in contrast, homogenous or hostile environments risk perpetuating or intensifying biases (smith et al., 2004). thus, the educational, disciplinary, and institutional contexts within which students are embedded shape how caste prejudice is formed and sustained. considering these factors are important for discussions, as policymakers can design educational initiatives that promote critical thinking and empathy among students, encouraging them to question social hierarchies and work towards a more inclusive society (pascarella & terenzini, 2005). accordingly, we ask: research question 3 (rq1): what are the factors that impact ‘caste prejudice levels’ among students? methods sample and data collection a central university from north india has been chosen for the case study. the university has the reputation of being one of the oldest and premier higher education institutions in the country, attracting students across india, making it a suitable site for investigating socio-psychological phenomena such as caste prejudice in a heterogeneous academic environment. the fieldwork for data collection was conducted between january 31, 2020, and february 13, 2020. for a reasonably large population, a sample size of approximately 400 is considered appropriate for a ±5% precision level, 95% confidence interval, and a degree of variability of 0.5 (israel, 1992). a total of 506 valid responses were collected, exceeding the minimum threshold and thereby increasing the statistical robustness of 154 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 the analysis. although a non-probability sampling method was used, the final sample closely mirrors the social category composition of the university’s enrolled student population for the academic session 2019–2020. out of the total 506 samples, 250 respondents (49.41%) belong to the general category, 166 (32.81%) to the obc category, 63 (12.45%) to the sc category, and 27 (5.34%) to the st category. these proportions closely correspond with the university’s reported student enrolment for the same period: general (49.41%), obc (32.81%), sc (12.36%), and st (5.08%). for the purpose of data collection, a structured questionnaire was developed by the researcher and administered through google forms. the questionnaire was presented before the doctoral research committee (drc) for review and approval on october 1, 2019. methodological procedure the analysis proceeded in three broad steps corresponding to the three research questions and associated theoretical constructs. to address the rq1—how does caste prejudice vary across students from different socio-economic communities?—a caste prejudice index (cpi) was developed to quantify individual levels of castebased prejudice. the cpi reflects attitudes internalized through primary and secondary socialization and aligns with the broader theoretical framework that views caste prejudice as a learned psychological orientation. the index is based on student responses to four carefully framed statements, designed to elicit biases regarding caste. each statement was assessed using a 5-point likert scale (strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, strongly agree): ● general category students are more hardworking than reserved category students. ● do you think upper-caste students are more intelligent than reserved category students? ● reserved category people have got more benefits due to reservation than they deserve. ● reserved category students do not need to study hard to progress in life. each response was scored as follows: +2 (strongly disagree), +1 (disagree), 0 (neutral), -1 (agree), and -2 (strongly agree). these were summed to create a caste prejudice score (cps) for each respondent. the cpi was calculated using the formula:  general category students are more hardworking than reserved category students.  do you think upper-caste students are more intelligent than reserved category students?  reserved category people have got more benefits due to reservation than they deserve.  reserved category students do not need to study hard to progress in life. each response was scored as follows: +2 (strongly disagree), +1 (disagree), 0 (neutral), -1 (agree), and -2 (strongly agree). these were summed to create a caste prejudice score (cps) for each respondent. the cpi was calculated using the formula: 𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝐼𝐼 = 𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝐼𝐼 − 𝑀𝑀𝑉𝑉𝐼𝐼𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑉𝑉𝑀𝑀 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝐼𝐼 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝐼𝐼𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑉𝑉𝑀𝑀 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝐼𝐼 − 𝑀𝑀𝑉𝑉𝐼𝐼𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑉𝑉𝑀𝑀 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝐼𝐼 where, actual value = cps of each respondent. maximum value = maximum possible value of cps, i.e., (+8)1. minimum value = minimum possible value of cps, i.e., (-8)2. the resulting cpi values range from 0 (no caste prejudice) to 1 (maximum caste prejudice), allowing comparisons of caste prejudice levels across respondents. to ensure the reliability of the cpi, cronbach’s alpha (α) was computed and found to be 0.8013, which exceeds the recommended threshold of 0.80 for widely used indices (carmines & zeller, 1979). this indicates high internal consistency and confirms the robustness of the index as a psychometric measure of caste prejudice. the second stage of analysis addresses the rq2. for this purpose, cpi values were categorized into three levels:  low prejudice: cpi < 0.3 1 maximum score for one question is (+2), there are a total of four question. thus, maximum possible score = (2) + (2) + (2) + (2) = (8). 2 minimum score for one question is (-2), there are a total of four question. thus, minimum possible score = (-2) + (-2) + (-2) + (-2) = (-8). where, actual value = cps of each respondent. maximum value = maximum possible value of cps, i.e., (+8)1. 1maximum score for one question is (+2), there are a total of four question. thus, maximum possible score = (2) + (2) + (2) + (2) = (8). caste prejudices in denial: analysing student perceptions in an indian university 155 minimum value = minimum possible value of cps, i.e., (-8)2. the resulting cpi values range from 0 (no caste prejudice) to 1 (maximum caste prejudice), allowing comparisons of caste prejudice levels across respondents. to ensure the reliability of the cpi, cronbach’s alpha (α) was computed and found to be 0.8013, which exceeds the recommended threshold of 0.80 for widely used indices (carmines & zeller, 1979). this indicates high internal consistency and confirms the robustness of the index as a psychometric measure of caste prejudice. the second stage of analysis addresses the rq2. for this purpose, cpi values were categorized into three levels: ● low prejudice: cpi < 0.3 ● medium prejudice: cpi between 0.3 and 0.6 ● high prejudice: cpi > 0.6 these three levels of prejudice were cross-tabulated with student responses to the following five statements: ● is reservation policy in higher education justified? ● reservations should solely be based on economic criteria. ● i would like to go for inter-caste marriage in the future. ● caste is the thing of the past; it is alive due to the reservations. ● discrimination in india today is about class (rich and poor), not about caste. statements 1, 2, 4, and 5 were recorded on a 5-point likert scale, while statement 3 was recorded as “yes,” “no,” or “can’t say.” these perceptions serve as proxies for the respondent’s attitudinal orientation toward caste-related issues. pearson’s chi-square tests were performed to assess the statistical significance of differences in perception across prejudice levels, thus operationalizing key social-psychological assumptions regarding social cognition and stereotype maintenance. the third step explored rq3—what factors impact caste prejudice levels among students— focusing on broader cultural and structural variables such as education level, disciplinary training, and family income. these are conceptualised as domains of secondary socialization that may either reinforce or reduce caste-based attitudes. to assess these influences, various statistical methods were applied depending on data type and distribution, e.g., two-sample t-tests to compare mean cpi scores between two groups (e.g., undergraduate vs. postgraduate students), one-way anova for multiple group comparisons (e.g., across academic disciplines), chi-square tests to examine categorical associations, and effect size calculations to assess the magnitude of observed differences. these analyses illuminate how academic and economic contexts intersect with attitudinal dispositions, supporting the theoretical position that caste prejudice is not fixed but shaped through ongoing social experiences. this step, therefore, allows for a nuanced understanding of the role that educational institutions play in either reproducing or challenging casteist attitudes in indian higher education. 2minimum score for one question is (-2), there are a total of four question. thus, minimum possible score = (-2) + (-2) + (-2) + (-2) = (-8). 156 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 findings caste prejudice index among different social groups table 1 presents the average caste prejudice index (cpi) values across different social categories. the general category exhibits the highest mean cpi value of 0.5845, followed by obcs at 0.3414. in contrast, the sc and st categories register substantially lower mean cpi values of 0.1706 and 0.2268, respectively, indicating lower levels of caste prejudice among historically marginalized groups. these findings suggest that caste prejudice is most prevalent among students from socially dominant groups (general and obc), with significant differences between them and sc/st respondents. this confirms the view that caste-based prejudice is more pronounced among dominant caste groups, while those from historically disadvantaged communities exhibit greater awareness of structural inequalities. table 1: category wise caste prejudice index (cpi) social groups freq. cpi std. dev. general 250 .5845 .2192 obc 166 .3414 .2076 sc 63 .1706 .1560 st 27 .2268 .1451 total 506 0.4341 .2585 source: estimated by authors using fieldwork data caste prejudice levels and their perceptions to address rq2, respondents were asked about their views on caste-related statements. these responses were cross-tabulated with their cpi categories (low, medium, and high prejudice levels) to explore the correlation between prejudice and perception. it reveals that among individuals with low prejudice levels, the majority (49.38 per cent) strongly agree that reservation in higher education is justified, with another 30.25 per cent agreeing. conversely, among those with high prejudice levels, 53.47 per cent strongly disagree and 29.17 per cent disagree with the policy. the chi-square test statistic of 242.45 (p < 0.001) indicates a significant association between caste prejudice and support for reservation. in the low prejudice group, 34.57 per cent strongly disagree with the idea of reservation based solely on economic criteria, compared to 70.83 per cent strongly agreeing among the high prejudice group. the association is statistically significant (χ² = 176.85, p < 0.001), reinforcing that opposition to caste-based reservations is positively correlated with higher caste prejudice. willingness to consider inter-caste marriage declines as cpi increases. in the low prejudice group, 60.49 per cent expressed willingness, compared to only 41.67 per cent among those with high prejudice, where uncertainty (36.81 per cent) and outright rejection (21.53 per cent) were more common. the chi-square value of 25.92 (p < 0.001) confirms a significant association. caste prejudices in denial: analysing student perceptions in an indian university 157 furthermore, a majority (52.47 per cent) of low prejudice respondents strongly disagree with the claim that caste exists only due to reservations, while those with high prejudice predominantly agree (32.64 per cent) or strongly agree (41.67 per cent). this suggests that higher caste prejudice is aligned with narratives that deny structural caste inequality. the association is again significant (χ² = 186.51, p < 0.001). among low prejudice respondents, 35.19 per cent strongly disagree and 31.48 per cent disagree with this statement. in contrast, 31.94 per cent of high prejudice respondents strongly agree. the chi-square value (χ² = 88.81, p < 0.001) confirms a significant relationship. table 2: caste prejudice levels and perceptions on caste-related statements and questions caste prejudice levels statements/questions low prejudice level medium prejudice level high prejudice level total pearson chi2 (p value) is reservation policy in higher education justified? strongly disagree 3.7 20 53.47 24.31 242.45 (0.0000) disagree 8.64 29 29.17 22.53 neutral 8.02 19 9.03 12.65 agree 30.25 23.5 6.94 20.95 strongly agree 49.38 8.5 1.39 19.57 total 100 100 100 100 reservations should solely be based on economic criteria. strongly disagree 34.57 5 0.69 13.24 176.85 (0.0000) disagree 22.84 10.5 2.78 12.25 neutral 10.49 12.5 6.94 10.28 agree 17.28 30 18.75 22.73 strongly agree 14.81 42 70.83 41.5 total 100 100 100 100 i would like to go for inter caste marriage in future. can’t say 32.1 46 36.81 38.93 25.92 (0.0000) no 7.41 9.5 21.53 12.25 yes 60.49 44.5 41.67 48.81 total 100 100 100 100 caste is the thing of past. it is alive due to the reservations. strongly agree 8.02 19 41.67 21.94 186.51 (0.0000) agree 9.26 26 32.64 22.53 neutral 11.73 20.5 13.19 15.61 disagree 18.52 25 9.72 18.58 strongly disagree 52.47 9.5 2.78 21.34 total 100 100 100 100 158 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 discrimination in india today is about class (rich and poor) and not about caste. strongly agree 9.88 17.5 31.94 19.17 88.81 (0.0000) agree 14.81 29 29.86 24.7 neutral 8.64 17.5 15.28 14.03 disagree 31.48 26.5 15.97 25.1 strongly disagree 35.19 9.5 6.94 17 total 100 100 100 100 source: estimated by authors using fieldwork data these findings reveal that respondents with higher prejudice levels are more likely to resist caste-based reforms (e.g., reservations, inter-caste marriage) and adopt views that delegitimize caste as a category of contemporary discrimination. this pattern mirrors broader societal trends in india, where dominant caste groups often endorse economic or meritocratic framings to avoid acknowledging caste inequalities. factors affecting the caste prejudice index to gain insights around why cpi values vary, we examined how educational, disciplinary, and economic backgrounds influence the cpi scores using multiple analytic techniques. for example, an anova test (f = 6.01, p = 0.0026) revealed a significant difference in caste prejudice across educational levels. mean cpi for bachelor’s and master’s students is similar (0.4496 and 0.4504), but significantly lower for phd students (0.3357). this suggests that advanced academic exposure may contribute to a reduction in caste bias. an independent samples t-test indicates that humanities students have a lower mean cpi (0.3922) than science students (0.4809). the difference of -0.0887 is statistically significant (t = -3.4918, p = 0.0005). the effect size (cohen’s d = -0.3494) suggests a small to medium effect. this aligns with prior research indicating that disciplines engaging with social justice themes may facilitate more critical reflection on caste. additionally, a pearson’s chi-square test examining cpi distribution across income groups yielded a p-value of 0.1578, indicating no significant association. this suggests that within a largely middle-class, university-educated sample, income levels do not significantly shape caste prejudice. table 3: variation in cpi across different socio-cultural groups tests performed levels of study mean cpi std. dev. frequency results of anova bachelors 0.4496 0.2615 232 masters 0.4504 0.2524 204 phd 0.3357 0.2478 70 between groups ss=0.7875 df=2, ms=03937 f-value=6.01 p=0.0026 within groups ss=32.9608 df=503, ms=0.0655 bartlett’s equal-variances test: chi2(2) = 0.4385 prob>chi2 = 0.803 caste prejudices in denial: analysing student perceptions in an indian university 159 results of two independent sample t-test streams of study obs. mean cpi se std. dev. humanities 222 0.392 0.017 0.265 science 173 0.48 0.018 0.238 combined 395 0.431 0.012 0.257 t value= -3.491, df = 385.217, p-value=0.0003 effect size: cohen’s d= -0.349 results of chisquare test monthly income groups low prejudice level medium prejudice level high prejudice level total < 20k 36.6 39.15 24.26 100 20k 40k 28.69 42.62 28.69 100 40k 80k 26.37 39.56 34.07 100 > 80k 25 34.62 40.38 100 chi2= 9.29, p-value=0.1578 source: estimated by authors using fieldwork data our findings reveal that caste prejudice is influenced by educational trajectory and disciplinary context more than by economic standing within the student population. while phd training and humanities education are associated with lower prejudice, the level of household income is not a differentiating factor. these results reinforce the idea that academic socialization, especially in critical disciplines, can serve as a key factor in reducing caste-based biases. discussion & conclusions overall, this study offers empirical insights into how caste prejudice manifests among university students, particularly across different social categories, and how it relates to broader policy attitudes and identity-based affiliations. variation in prejudices across social groups our findings confirm that privileged social groups, by virtue of their social standing, are more likely to exhibit higher prejudices compared to disadvantaged social groups (reicher & haslam, 2017). students from historically privileged caste communities displayed significantly higher levels of caste prejudice compared to those from sc/st communities. this supports the premise of social identity theory (tajfel & turner, 1979), which suggests that individuals derive self-worth from group affiliations and often elevate their in-group while denigrating out-groups. in this context, high-status caste identities serve as sources of pride and entitlement, reinforcing hierarchical social schemas. the privileged groups tend to maintain their social status by adhering to the norms and practices of the caste system, such as endogamy or marrying within their own caste (ghurye, 1969). this pattern is further reinforced by individuals, especially those from dominant groups, who are motivated to defend the existing social order, even when it perpetuates inequality. by rationalising caste hierarchies as natural, deserved, or merit-based, prejudiced individuals uphold structural inequality while maintaining a positive self-concept. this dynamic was visible in the data: those most invested in the caste status quo also scored highest on caste prejudice. 160 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 students from marginalized communities, on the other hand, reported lower prejudice levels, reflecting their critical awareness and personal experience of castebased disadvantage. however, prior research suggests that even members of oppressed groups can internalise casteist ideologies, sometimes shaping the perceptions around discrimination they face (pew research centre, 2021). nonetheless, in our study, sc/ st students largely rejected casteist statements, highlighting the salience of lived experience in shaping counter-hegemonic attitudes. prejudice and caste-related attitudes the study also reveals a strong association between caste prejudice levels and respondents’ views on caste-related policies and practices. students with high prejudice levels were significantly more likely to oppose caste-based affirmative action and social integration measures, such as inter-caste marriage. this correlation reflects patterns where discriminatory attitudes are expressed indirectly through seemingly neutral language, such as advocating for meritocracy or economic-based reservations. these “coded” expressions allow individuals to resist equity policies without appearing overtly biased, functioning as what scholars term “legitimising myths”—rationalisations that preserve privilege while deflecting accusations of prejudice. such patterns echo what is found in other contexts of symbolic racism, where opposition to policies benefiting the disadvantaged is couched in the rhetoric of fairness or cultural difference (bonilla-silva, 2010). in the indian case, students opposed to caste-based reservations often invoked meritocratic ideals, denying the structural barriers that necessitate affirmative action in the first place. individuals with high caste prejudice may also believe that caste is no longer relevant in contemporary society. however, this reflects both cognitive dissonance (festinger, 1957)—where individuals reconcile the contradiction between prejudice and self-image—and system-justifying ideology and cognitive support for the existing social order (jost et al., 2003). by asserting that caste is not relevant today, such individuals can distance themselves from the discriminatory practices associated with the caste system while still adhering to its norms and practices in their personal lives. thus, findings of rq2 illustrate how caste prejudice is not just an abstract bias; it translates into tangible social and policy positions that resist caste integration and equity. this underscores the importance of addressing both the attitudinal aspect and the ideological narratives that render casteism socially acceptable under the guise of neutrality. factors shaping caste prejudice our findings further reveal the underlying factors that influence caste prejudice, offering a nuanced perspective grounded in social identity theories and ideological orientation. group identification emerged as a key predictor in shaping the views on reservation policies. individuals belonging to the general category may perceive caste prejudices in denial: analysing student perceptions in an indian university 161 the policy as unfair and discriminatory, as it often results in a reduced number of opportunities for them (sahoo, 2009). conversely, those from sc, st, and obc categories are more likely to support reservation policies, as they directly benefit from these affirmative action measures (jodhka, 2017). views towards reservation policy are also shaped by whether they are beneficiary of reservation policy or not. members of reserved groups may be more supportive of the policy, while unreserved individuals may see it as unjust (desai & kulkarni, 2008). as a consequence, students who identified with their privileged caste background, viewing their caste as superior or central to their identity, tend to report higher prejudice levels. this reminds one of the work by roccas et al. (2006), who distinguish between “attachment” (a benign form of group loyalty) and “glorification” (a superiority-driven form), the latter being more likely to generate out-group hostility. in our analysis, students with strong glorified caste identities consistently scored higher on the caste prejudice index. demographic factors also play a critical role. people’s views on reservation policies can also differ based on their place of permanent residence. rural and semiurban residents may be more inclined to support reservation policies, as they may face more socio-economic challenges compared to urban dwellers (gupta, 2005). a higher education level among parents may lead to more critical views of reservation policies, as they may believe that merit should be the primary determinant of opportunities. conversely, parents with lower education levels may be more supportive of the policy, as they may consider it an opportunity for their children to overcome socio-economic barriers. individuals with high caste prejudice tend to favour economic-based reservations, suggesting that their objection is not against the concept of reservations per se but against who benefits from them. this stance indirectly perpetuates caste prejudice by denying the continued relevance of caste in determining social opportunities and access to resources. however, contrary to popular expectations, the findings indicated that family income did not significantly correlate with caste prejudice. this finding challenges the common assumption that economic advancement fosters egalitarian attitudes. instead, it affirms that prejudice reduction depends more on exposure, empathy, and education than on class status alone (pager & shepherd, 2008). similarly, the relationship between education and caste prejudice reveals interesting patterns. as students advance in higher education, their caste prejudice tends to decrease. this could be attributed to increased exposure to diverse perspectives and critical thinking skills acquired during higher education (brint & cantwell, 2010). humanities students typically exhibit lower levels of caste prejudice than science students, possibly because the former are more likely to engage with issues of social justice, human rights, and inequality (altbach & knight, 2007). taken together, these findings demonstrate that caste prejudice among students is sustained through an interplay of group identity, ideological frameworks, and sociocultural context. students from dominant castes who strongly identify with their group and endorse hierarchy-justifying ideologies are more likely to exhibit casteist attitudes. 162 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 by contrast, students who belong to marginalized groups or embrace egalitarian principles are more likely to reject caste prejudice. these insights have important implications for educational and policy interventions. reducing caste prejudice requires more than individual attitude change; it calls for dismantling the ideological structures that legitimise group identities and inequality. interventions should therefore aim to challenge myths of meritocracy that mask privilege; develop space for critical dialogue around caste and structural inequality; promote meaningful intergroup contact in university settings, as suggested by allport’s contact hypothesis (1954); and cultivate curricula and campus cultures that actively disrupt caste normalisation. this study also reaffirms the importance of higher education as a potential site of transformation, provided it engages students in meaningful reflection and cross-group interaction. combating caste prejudice on campuses is not merely a cultural or moral imperative but a political and psychological challenge. it requires sustained efforts to interrupt the reproduction of caste hierarchies, not just in institutional practices, but also in how individuals understand themselves and others. references allport, g.w. 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(2006). diversity management issues in usa and india: some emerging perspectives. © 2025 h.s. mangat, shaik iftikhar ahmed, l. s. gill. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.2471 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 1 pp. 131-146 april 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste from margins to mainstream: the journey of scheduled caste women through panchayati raj institutions in haryana, india h. s. mangat1, shaik iftikhar ahmed2, l. s. gill3 abstract taking into account widespread illiteracy among elected panchayati raj institutions (pris) in 2010, as 30.06 pris were illiterate against the 24.45 per cent general rate of illiteracy in the state, the government of haryana enacted panchayati raj amendment act, 2015; under which educational qualifications have been made mandatory to participate in the pris elections. this amendment has been based on the premise that educated pris will be playing a more constructive role for development at village, block and district levels. since scheduled caste (sc) women are less educated, therefore this study is addressed to assess the impact of the amended act on the empowerment of sc women. the study reveals that the share of sc women pris among the total pris increased from 11.32 per cent in 2010 to 13.41 per cent in 2016, while the composite score attained by them increased from 45.65 in 2010 to 129.29 in 2016. keywords scheduled castes, women empowerment, panchayati raj institutions, haryana panchayati raj amendment act, 2015 1former professor, department of geography, punjabi university, patiala, india 2research investigator, population research center, centre for research in rural and industrial development, chandigarh, india 3principal, university college, ghanaur, patiala, india e-mail: 1hsmangat@rackeys.com, 3lakhvirsgill@gmail.com corresponding author dr. shaik iftikhar ahmed e-mail: msiftikhar@gmail.com 132 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 introduction empowerment refers to the process of granting power and intervention to marginalized groups within society, encompassing social, economic, political, educational, and psychological dimensions. these aspects are interconnected, collectively contributing to the overall empowerment of individuals. at its core, empowerment involves the redistribution of power, particularly for those who have been historically denied the ability to make choices. the concept can be understood through three interrelated dimensions: resources (preconditions), agency (the process of exercising choice), and achievements (the outcomes of empowerment efforts) (kabeer, 1999, pp. 435–464). it represents a transition from powerlessness to empowerment, manifesting over time through improvements in education, health, economic conditions, and political participation (desai, 2010, pp. 1–75). ultimately, empowerment addresses the issues of social, economic, and political exclusion. in india, social exclusion is deeply rooted, stemming from longstanding feudal, caste, and patriarchal structures. scheduled castes (sc), scheduled tribes (st), and women have historically faced marginalization, often being deprived of their rights and opportunities (singh, 2013, pp. 62–71). empowerment also signifies the authority and ability of marginalized individuals to participate in decision-making processes. it is crucial for the development of society as a whole (ghosh et al., 2015, pp. 294– 314). recognizing that sustainable development requires the inclusion of all people, regardless of caste, class, religion, region, or gender, has become increasingly accepted (kaur, 2009, pp. 333–344). among marginalized groups, the exclusion of women is particularly critical, as they constitute approximately half of the population. their empowerment is thus an essential issue. the ongoing exclusion of women lacks justification, given their vital role as agents of political and economic transformation (undp, 1995). women face numerous crises, including dowry practices, female infanticide, gender-based violence, and systemic inequalities in health and education (sharma & das, 2008, pp. 815–823). although many women are educated, they often lack awareness of their rights, leading to ongoing discrimination and violence perpetuated by male family members and societal norms (agnihotri & malipatil, 2017, pp. 14301–14308). men generally have greater access to resources and societal power, reinforcing their dominance over women (huis et al., 2017, pp. 1–14). empowering women means rectifying these historical injustices, challenging patriarchal structures, and ensuring that women have access to both material and informational resources (pradhan & dutta, 2008, pp. 559–577). women’s empowerment operates on multiple levels, fostering individual confidence and the collective strength of women to address structural barriers to equality (kudva, 2003, pp. 445–463). it is essential to contextualize the analysis of women’s marginalization, considering how structural factors differ across regions, castes, classes, religions, and cultures (hust, 2002, pp. 1–27). from margins to mainstream: the journey of scheduled caste women 133 similarly, scheduled castes (scs) also face systemic marginalization and oppression in indian society. historically, they have been subjected to discrimination and exploitation, resulting in enduring socio-economic challenges (inbanathan & sivanna, 2010, pp. 1–26). despite governmental initiatives aimed at uplifting sc communities, many remain entrenched in poverty, particularly in rural areas. they often possess limited land, low literacy rates, and suffer from inadequate access to employment and fair wages due to a lack of industrial development (pai, 2000, pp. 405–422). even when sc individuals attain positions of authority, they frequently face barriers imposed by dominant communities, preventing them from exerting genuine influence in decision-making processes (baviskar, 2020, pp. 168–174). the unique challenges faced by sc women necessitate special attention. they experience compounded marginalization due to their gender and caste, often finding themselves at the bottom of the social hierarchy (reddy et al., 2009, pp. 11–16). opposed by dominant communities, sc women face increased obstacles in accessing opportunities and resources (singh, 2013, pp. 62–71). the hierarchical nature of the caste system further inhibits their ability to operate independently and effectively in society (sinha, 2018, pp. 34–41). to harness the potential of women, the 73rd constitutional amendment act of 1992 introduced a significant policy change by reserving one-third of seats for women in panchayati raj institutions (pris). this move marked a pivotal moment for women’s participation in local governance in india (sinha, 2018, pp. 34–41). the reforms aimed to enhance representation from marginalized communities and facilitate greater decision-making power at the grassroots level (ulrike, 2016, pp. 158–182). the representation of scs, sts, and women in pris has been crucial in amplifying their voices and addressing their specific concerns (sukumar et al., 2019, pp. 72–88). although seats have been reserved for the females to ensure their participation in the electoral system of the country, yet the low level of education, particularly among the sc women is the major impediment towards their political participation. female education is considered as an index of socio-economic transformation and political advancement of a society. education paves the way for freedom, fearlessness, productivity, economic earning, authority to take decisions, power and liberalization (siwach, 2008). the national policy on education recognizes the criticality of education as the most important vehicle for social, economic and political transformation (mhrd, 2016). education eliminates the social and psychological disparities among the people. education is fundamental to individuals’ and groups’ social, economic and cultural progress (singh & baghal, 2023). by mandating women’s representation in local government, the governance process is expected to reflect the interests of women, thereby contributing to democratic participation and empowerment (ministry of panchayati raj, 2008). gender quotas in pris are essential strategies to promote women’s involvement in the political system (kudva, 2003, pp. 445–463). enhanced participation in local governance is anticipated to improve transparency and accountability while fostering greater social equity (bryld, 2001, pp. 149–172). 134 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 in conclusion, the empowerment of women, particularly in political contexts, is vital for advancing gender equality and enabling them to combat marginalization and exploitation (pandit, 2010, pp. 1139–1148). the statutory reservation of seats in pris has opened avenues for women’s active involvement in development and decisionmaking processes at the grassroots level (hazarika, 2006, pp. 245–260). this study aims to assess the effect of the haryana panchayati raj amendment act of 2015 on the empowerment of scheduled caste women through their participation in pris during the elections held in 2010 and 2016. objectives the major objectives of the study are: ● to examine the extent of empowerment among scheduled caste (sc) women in panchayati raj institutions (pris) in 2010 and 2016. ● to assess the levels of empowerment for sc women in pris in 2010 and 2016. ● to evaluate the progress in the empowerment of sc women in pris from 2010 to 2016. ● to emphasize the variations in empowerment among sc women across different pris. study area haryana, which accounts for 1.34 per cent of india’s area and 2.10 per cent of its total population, is situated in the northwestern region of the country, spanning from 27° 39’ 00” to 30° 55’ 05” north latitude and 74° 27’ 08” to 77° 36’ 05” east longitude. the state has a literacy rate of 76 per cent, with 84 per cent of males and 66 per cent of females being literate. in rural areas, approximately 52 per cent of females are literate, but only 34 per cent have completed secondary education. among scheduled castes, the literacy rate stands at 56.91 per cent, with rural literacy at 55.84 per cent. of the literate rural scheduled castes, 14.12 per cent have completed matriculation; the rates for males and females are 15.77 per cent and 10.77 per cent, respectively. agriculture serves as the backbone of the state’s economy, with most residents relying on agriculture and its related sectors. about 65 per cent of the population resides in rural areas, particularly in districts like mewat, mahendragarh, fatehabad, and bhiwani, where over 80 per cent live in rural settings. for administrative purposes, haryana is divided into 21 districts, 80 tehsils, and 125 community development blocks, encompassing a total of 6,841 villages. database and methodology the study utilizes secondary data from the reports on general election to panchayati raj institutions (pris) in haryana for 2010 and 2016, published by state election commission of haryana. to illustrate variations across the state in the representation from margins to mainstream: the journey of scheduled caste women 135 of scheduled caste (sc) women in pris, the total number of sc women in these positions has been aggregated at the district level, with percentages calculated for both 2010 and 2016. to assess the empowerment levels of sc women, the difference between the number of elected scheduled caste women in pris and the seats reserved for them is calculated across all pri categories. to quantify the hierarchical status of these categories, weightage scores are assigned: 5 points for each additional seat won by scheduled caste women panches beyond their reservation, 10 points for scheduled caste women sarpanches, 15 points for members of panchayat samiti, and 20 points for members of zila parishad. the additional seats won by scheduled caste women in each category are then multiplied by their respective scores. composite scores at district level are derived by summing scores of all pris and dividing by total number of pris (four). the index of improvement in empowerment of elected scheduled caste women pris is calculated by subtracting composite scores of 2010 from those of 2016 at district level and dividing by state average. results are analysed using tables and figures. panchayati raj institutions (pris) panchayati raj institutions (pris) are elected bodies responsible for grassroots governance and local self-government in rural areas. the term “panchayat” combines two words: “panch,” meaning five, and “ayat,” meaning assembly. historically, villages in india would elect five wise elders to resolve disputes, address grievances, and manage local administration. elected members of the panchayat are called “panchs,” while the head is known as the “sarpanch.” the term “raj” signifies rule. the village panchayat system was introduced by the british as a way to address demands for local autonomy. after india gained independence, the panchayati raj system underwent various reviews and was formalized by the lok sabha through the 73rd constitutional amendment act in 1992. this established a three-tier panchayati raj system, consisting of gram panchayat at village level, panchayat samiti at community development block level (which groups several villages for administration), and zila parishad (district council) at district level. members of panchayat samiti and zila parishad are elected representatives. the 73rd constitutional amendment act also establishes gram sabha (village assembly) as foundational element of panchayati raj system. states have authority to determine powers and functions of all pris, ensuring their election over time. panchayati raj institutions in haryana in 2010, haryana had 6,083 gram panchayats, 119 panchayat samitis, and 21 zila parishads. by 2016, number of gram panchayats had increased to 6,205 and panchayat samitis to 126, while the number of zila parishads remained unchanged. additionally, the number of seats available in these institutions rose from 58,783 for panches, 6,083 for sarpanches, 2,771 for members of panchayat samiti, and 374 for members of zila parishad in 2010, to 62,629 for panches, 6,205 for sarpanches, 3,002 for members of panchayat samiti, and 416 for members of zila parishad in 2016. 136 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 haryana panchayati raj amendment act, 2015 panchayati raj system offers pris opportunity to understand and address the needs of their villages, particularly concerning the economic and social challenges of modernization. recognizing the high illiteracy rates among elected pri members in 2010, the haryana government enacted the haryana panchayati raj amendment act, 2015. this legislation established minimum educational qualifications for candidates: matriculation for general category candidates, eighth grade for women (general) and scheduled caste candidates, and fifth grade for scheduled caste women candidates. additionally, candidates must have functional toilets in their homes and be free of outstanding power bill payments. they cannot have been charge-sheeted by any court or be loan defaulters. these measures were implemented to enhance quality of leadership and governance in rural areas of the state, with the belief that educated representatives would be more accountable to their constituents than their illiterate predecessors. consequently, haryana became the second state in india, following rajasthan, to mandate educational qualifications and other criteria for candidates contesting panchayat elections. results and discussion magnitude of sc women in pris empowerment, 2010 and 2016 sc women are considered to be more empowered if there is an increase in the share of sc women in pris among the total members of pris in state. the study shows that the share of sc women in pris increased from 11.32 per cent in 2010 to 13.41 per cent in 2016, suggesting improvement in empowerment of sc women in pris during study period (table 1). table 1: haryana: percentage share of sc women in pris to total members of pris, 2010 and 2016 district share (per cent) district share (per cent) 2010 2016 2010 2016 ambala 15.56 18.94 mahendragarh 10.45 12.34 bhiwani 10.62 11.10 mewat 5.12 7.79 faridabad 9.85 10.60 palwal 9.66 10.58 fatehabad 12.89 17.49 panchkula 11.24 12.88 gurgaon 10.64 11.97 panipat 11.10 12.55 hisar 11.70 13.40 rewari 11.30 12.01 jhajjar 10.22 11.69 rohtak 9.94 13.42 jind 11.07 11.67 sirsa 12.63 16.00 kaithal 12.14 13.72 sonipat 10.44 11.06 karnal 11.75 14.50 yamunanagar 14.23 17.15 kurukshetra 12.57 15.82 state 11.32 13.41 source: tabulated from haryana pris election reports, 2010 and 2016 from margins to mainstream: the journey of scheduled caste women 137 furthermore, ambala district recorded the highest share, while mewat district had the lowest, both in 2010 and in 2016. however, with the introduction of educational qualifications required to participate in pri elections, inter-district variation in empowerment of sc women in pris became more pronounced in 2016 compared to 2010. this change can be attributed to significant inter-district gap in rural sc literacy rate in general (19.41 percentage points) and educational status of rural sc females (8.48 percentage points), which are key factors influencing sc women’s participation in pri elections (table 3). in 2010, sc women in pris recorded a very high share in ambala and yamunanagar districts. by 2016, four new districts—fatehabad, sirsa, kurukshetra, and karnal— entered this category, indicating a threefold increase in areas experiencing significant sc women pris empowerment compared to 2010. fatehabad, sirsa, and kurukshetra improved their status from areas of high empowerment, while karnal advanced from a moderate level of empowerment in 2010. among districts previously classified as having a high level of empowerment in 2010—fatehabad, sirsa, kurukshetra, and kaithal—only kaithal maintained its status in 2016. additionally, six new districts— rohtak, hisar, panchkula, panipat, mahendragarh, and rewari—joined this category in 2016 (fig. 1). except for rohtak, which maintained a low level of empowerment, all other districts improved from a moderate level of share in 2010. consequently, there was approximately a twofold spatial expansion in areas reporting a high level of sc women empowerment in pris in 2016 compared to 2010 (fig. 1). as a result, the percentage of districts registering a moderate share of sc women in pris declined from 52 per cent in 2010 to 33 per cent in 2016. fig. 1 source: table 1 138 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 in 2010, three districts—rohtak, faridabad, and palwal recorded a low level of sc women empowerment. however, by 2016, no districts remained in this category. mewat is the only district that maintained a very low level of sc women in pris share in both 2010 and 2016. although mewat stayed in the same category, the percentage share of elected sc women in pris increased from 5.12 per cent in 2010 to 7.79 per cent in 2016. this study highlights that, following the introduction of educational qualifications for pri elections, all districts in the state experienced an improvement in the share of sc women in pris from 2010 to 2016, with fatehabad district registering most significant gain. levels of empowerment of sc women in pris, 2010 and 2016 the levels of empowerment of sc women in pris were assessed based on the number of additional seats they won beyond those reserved for them in each category of pris. the study indicates that sc women in pris achieved a composite score of 129.29 in 2016, compared to 45.65 in 2010, reflecting approximately a threefold improvement in their empowerment during this period. similarly, the inter-district variation in empowerment increased from a composite score of 121.25 in 2010 to 243.75 in 2016, demonstrating significant spatial differentiation in spread of empowerment of sc women over this time (table 2). this variation is attributed to disparities in educational qualifications of rural sc women (table 3). table 2: haryana: levels of empowerment of sc women in pris, 2010 and 2016 district composite scores district composite scores 2010 2016 2010 2016 ambala 127.50 266.25 mahendragarh 17.50 147.50 bhiwani 45.00 146.25 mewat 6.25 136.25 faridabad 15.00 32.50 palwal 45.00 76.25 fatehabad 31.25 182.50 panchkula 17.50 22.50 gurgaon 20.22 71.25 panipat 61.25 105.00 hisar 77.50 168.75 rewari 21.25 81.25 jhajjar 40.00 100.00 rohtak 26.25 137.50 jind 97.50 72.50 sirsa 21.25 143.75 kaithal 65.00 125.00 sonipat 57.50 98.75 karnal 51.25 195.00 yamunanagar 57.50 210.00 kurukshetra 57.50 196.25 state 45.65 129.29 source: tabulated from haryana pris election reports, 2010 and 2016 in 2010, only two districts—ambala and jind—recorded a very high level of empowerment of sc women in pris. by 2016, this number increased to 16 districts, including ambala, yamunanagar, kurukshetra, karnal, fatehabad, hisar, mahendragarh, bhiwani, sirsa, rohtak, mewat, kaithal, panipat, jhajjar, sonipat, and rewari. this represents an eightfold increase in areas witnessing a very high level of empowerment of sc women in pris compared to 2010 (fig. 2). in 2016, ambala retained its position from 2010, while hisar, kaithal, and panipat advanced from high empowerment category. kurukshetra, sonipat, yamunanagar, from margins to mainstream: the journey of scheduled caste women 139 karnal, and bhiwani moved up from moderate level, and jhajjar, fatehabad, rohtak, rewari, and sirsa progressed from low level. mahendragarh and mewat improved their status from very low level of empowerment of sc women in pris in 2010. this study illustrates how introduction of educational qualifications has encouraged educated sc women to participate in pri elections in 2016. in the same year, palwal, gurgaon, and jind were categorized as having a high level of empowerment of sc women in pris. among these, palwal and gurgaon improved their status from moderate and low levels of empowerment in 2010, while jind dropped from very high level of empowerment it had previously achieved. similarly, in 2016, faridabad and panchkula fell into low levels of empowerment of sc women in pris category, having transitioned from a very low level in 2010. fig. 2 source: table 2 it is noteworthy that in 2016, no districts were categorized as having a moderate or very low level of empowerment of sc women in pris, whereas 48 per cent of districts fell into these categories in 2010. this study highlights that, following the introduction of educational qualifications for pri elections, all districts in the state, except jind, experienced improvements in empowerment of sc women in pris from 2010 to 2016. the most significant advancements were observed in areas classified as having a very high level of empowerment of sc women in pris. conversely, jind district experienced a slight decline in empowerment of sc women in pris in 2016 compared to 2010. this decline can be attributed to low participation rates among sc women in pri elections, driven by a low literacy rate of 52.04 per cent among rural sc population in general, and particularly low educational attainment among rural sc women, with only 8.83 per cent of literate females in district having completed matriculation (table 3). 140 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 table 3: haryana: index of change in empowerment of sc women in pris in 2016 with respect to 2010, rural sc literacy rate and rural sc female matriculates as per cent of total sc female literates districts index literacy rate (per cent) matriculates (per cent) districts index literacy rate (per cent) `matriculates (per cent) yamunanagar 1.82 62.99 12.60 rewari 0.72 64.73 12.38 fatehabad 1.81 46.74 7.44 jhajjar 0.71 52.53 13.59 karnal 1.72 54.10 10.26 kaithal 0.71 49.35 8.28 ambala 1.66 62.80 14.07 gurgaon 0.61 65.19 13.45 kurukshetra 1.66 57.11 11.10 panipat 0.52 57.00 10.31 mahendragarh 1.55 63.72 12.26 sonipat 0.49 59.92 12.81 mewat 1.55 54.83 6.61 palwal 0.37 54.54 8.13 sirsa 1.46 45.78 7.54 faridabad 0.21 58.88 9.78 rohtak 1.33 58.69 11.25 panchkula 0.06 61.79 15.09 bhiwani 1.21 56.67 11.90 jind -0.30 52.04 8.83 hisar 1.09 51.97 9.34 state 55.84 10.77 source: tabulated from haryana pris election reports, 2010 and 2016 and census of india data, 2011 change in empowerment of sc women in pris, 2010-2016 the change in empowerment of sc women in pris following the enactment of the act has been assessed by calculating an index of change. a higher index indicates greater improvement in empowerment of sc women in pris in 2016 compared to 2010. districts such as yamunanagar, fatehabad, karnal, ambala, and kurukshetra achieved an index of improvement greater than 1.60, placing them in category of very high improvement in empowerment of sc women in pris in 2016 (table 3; fig. 3). notably, fatehabad, despite having the lowest rural sc literacy rate in the state (46.74 per cent) and the second lowest percentage (7.44 per cent) of matriculate rural literate sc women, entered this category due to a significant mobilization of sc women for pri elections in 2016. consequently, the district’s empowerment of sc women in pris scores surged from 31.25 in 2010 to 182.50 in 2016 (table 2). yamunanagar, karnal, and kurukshetra also made significant gains, advancing from moderate to very high levels of empowerment of sc women in pris in 2016, thanks to their high rural sc literacy rates and active participation of educated rural sc women in the elections. ambala demonstrated real improvement by maintaining its status as a district with a very high level of empowerment of sc women in pris in both 2010 and 2016, attributed to its high rural sc literacy rate and a significant percentage of educated rural sc women who were already aware of the importance of participating in pri elections. the districts of mahendragarh, mewat, sirsa, rohtak, and bhiwani experienced a high level of improvement in empowerment of sc women in pris in 2016 compared to 2010 (fig. 3). these districts progressed from very low, low, and moderate levels of empowerment to areas of high improvement in 2016, largely due to their low base levels. mahendragarh, rohtak, and bhiwani benefited from a higher rural sc literacy rate and educated rural sc women who actively participated in pri elections after amendment of the pris act. in sirsa, the heightened awareness among sc women led them to winning 33 per cent more seats in the zila parishad and 17 per cent more seats from margins to mainstream: the journey of scheduled caste women 141 in the panchayat samiti than were reserved for them in 2016. this shift indicates that sc women in pris became significantly more empowered by capturing higher-tier seats, which are considered four and three times more valuable than those of a panch. interestingly, mewat, which had the lowest composite score (6.25) for empowerment of sc women in pris in 2010, recorded a high level of improvement in 2016 despite having the lowest rate of education among rural sc females in the state, with only 6.61 per cent of literate rural sc females being matriculates. to address this educational gap, families adopted strategies to maintain political power. the amendment to the pris act rendered elderly illiterate women ineligible to contest pri elections, leading to a surge in marriages where families sought educated brides, even from outside the district if necessary. in cases where elections could be contested unopposed, families sometimes arranged second marriages for their sons to ensure they had an educated daughter-in-law, thereby securing pris seats for their families. fig. 3 source: table 3 142 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 mewat district has a predominantly muslim population, where female education levels are notably low, and second marriages are common. at least 50 marriages inspired by electoral participation have occurred in mewat (sharma, 2015, p. 6). in instances where families could not find an educated daughter-in-law, they encouraged their daughters to run in pri elections to retain seats within the family. typically, daughters do not enter pris elections because they are expected to leave their villages after marriage. in contrast, districts such as rewari, jhajjar, kaithal, gurgaon, panipat, and sonipat exhibited low improvements in empowerment of sc women in pris from 2010 to 2016. despite rewari, jhajjar, gurgaon, and sonipat having a high percentage of educated rural sc women, and panipat showing moderate percentages, sc women in these districts did not perform better in the 2016 elections compared to 2010, resulting in minimal improvement in their empowerment during this period. in kaithal, the educational level among rural sc women is very low, with only 8.28 per cent of literate rural sc females being matriculates, which contributed to their limited participation in pri elections and, consequently, low empowerment levels. similarly, palwal, faridabad, and panchkula experienced very low improvements in empowerment of sc women in pris from 2010 to 2016. palwal’s low educational attainment among rural sc females can be attributed to the predominance of the muslim population. although faridabad is the most industrialized district in the state, the educational status of rural sc females remains low, with only 9.78 per cent being matriculates. thus, the performance of sc women in both the 2010 and 2016 elections was poor, leading to minimal improvement in their empowerment. interestingly, despite having the highest educational status among rural sc women in the state, sc women in panchkula did not perform well in pri elections in either year. they failed to win any extra seats beyond those reserved for them in the zila parishad elections, and in the panchayat samiti elections, they could not secure even the reserved seats in 2016. their performance across other categories of pris also showed little improvement from 2010 to 2016, largely due to a lack of motivation and encouragement for sc women to participate in the elections. consequently, this district, despite its high educational attainment, witnessed the lowest improvement in empowerment of sc women in pris during the study period. jind is the only district in the state that experienced a decline in sc women empowerment from 2010 to 2016. this decline is primarily attributed to the low educational level of rural sc women, with only 8.83 per cent of literate rural sc women being matriculates. as a result, their participation in pris elections was significantly poor in 2016 compared to the 2010 elections. sc women won 10.24 per cent more seats in the panches elections than were reserved for them in 2010, but this figure dropped to only 6.15 per cent extra seats in 2016, indicating a decline in their empowerment. in conclusion, the study demonstrates that following the introduction of educational qualifications for pri elections, sc women improved their empowerment in 95 per cent of districts in state in 2016 compared to the 2010 elections, although from margins to mainstream: the journey of scheduled caste women 143 there were significant variations in the magnitude of improvement across different areas. pris-wise, variations in empowerment of sc women, 2010-2016 the functional importance and status of pris increase from lower to upper hierarchies within these institutions. therefore, understanding sc women’s empowerment through their performance in elections across different categories of pris is essential. the study reveals that sc women in jind district won 10.24 per cent more seats in the panches elections than those reserved for them in 2010 (table 4). however, with the introduction of educational qualifications for pri elections in 2016, this percentage declined to 6.15 per cent. as a result, their empowerment in relation to panches decreased in 2016 compared to 2010. in contrast, sc women in all other districts experienced gains in empowerment, albeit to varying extents. the most significant improvement was observed in mewat district (55.91 percentage points), followed by fatehabad (24.98), ambala (22.29), and kurukshetra. conversely, the least improvement was noted in sonipat district (2.91), followed by kaithal (5.67) and palwal (6.94). overall, the state witnessed a 15.10 percentage point increase in the empowerment of sc women within the category of panch pris. in sarpanch category, sc women in the state recorded a 14.51 percentage point improvement in empowerment during the study period, although there were significant inter-district variations. empowerment among sc women in this category declined in jind (67.75 percentage points), followed by rohtak (22.37), palwal (10.88), and panchkula (1.11) districts in 2016 compared to 2010. in contrast, the highest gains were seen in kaithal (48.89 percentage points), followed closely by yamunanagar (48.84), kurukshetra (40.74), and mahendragarh (40.43). ambala and faridabad maintained their positions from 2010 in 2016, while the least improvement was observed in bhiwani (2.18), jhajjar (2.78), and hisar (5.07 percentage points). in member panchayat samiti category, several districts, including panchkula (50.00 percentage points), palwal (29.12), faridabad (25.00), kurukshetra (11.90), gurgaon (4.17), and karnal (2.08), comprising 29 per cent of the total districts, could not maintain their 2010 positions, resulting in decline in empowerment of sc women. the highest improvements in this category were recorded by rohtak (69.32 percentage points), mahendragarh (62.73), and fatehabad (55.83). in contrast, the lowest empowerment was noted in panipat (8.08), jhajjar (11.12), sirsa (11.83), and kaithal (12.63 percentage points). overall, the state witnessed an 18.40 percentage point improvement in empowerment of sc women within this category during the study period. in the member zila parishad category, the highest tier of pris, sc women experienced a 100 per cent decline in empowerment in mewat and a 50 per cent decline in kurukshetra (table 4). conversely, there was a remarkable 150 per cent improvement in palwal, with 100 per cent improvements in bhiwani, jind, mahendragarh, rewari, and rohtak. improvements of 50 per cent were noted in karnal, sonipat, fatehabad, and yamunanagar, while a 33.33 per cent increase was observed in sirsa. other districts maintained their positions from 2010 to 2016. the state as a whole recorded a 144 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 17.68 percentage point improvement in empowerment of sc women in this category during the study period. table 4: haryana: pri-wise, percentage of extra seats won by sc women than seats reserved for them, 2010-2016 district panches sarpanches member p. samiti member z. parishad 2010 2016 2010 2016 2010 2016 2010 2016 ambala 10.77 33.06 64.29 64.29 20.00 40.00 100.00 0.00 bhiwani 6.22 17.60 5.71 7.89 6.25 26.32 0.00 100.00 faridabad 4.63 18.64 22.22 22.22 25.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 fatehabad 3.13 28.11 11.76 21.05 6.67 62.50 100.00 50.00 gurgaon 5.73 22.92 7.14 33.33 16.67 12.50 0.00 0.00 hisar 8.66 23.11 16.67 21.74 23.81 40.91 33.33 0.00 jhajjar 4.62 21.24 25.00 27.78 44.44 55.56 0.00 0.00 jind 10.24 6.15 90.48 22.73 15.38 35.29 0.00 100.00 kaithal 12.54 18.21 11.11 60.00 23.08 35.71 0.00 0.00 karnal 6.30 26.17 11.54 46.43 18.75 16.67 0.00 50.00 kurukshetra 8.95 30.81 0.00 40.74 33.33 21.43 0.00 -50.00 mahendragarh 2.73 20.00 3.57 44.00 10.00 72.73 0.00 100.00 mewat 3.57 59.48 0.00 34.78 0.00 40.00 0.00 -100.00 palwal 7.11 14.05 26.67 15.79 50.55 21.43 0.00 150.00 panchkula 9.47 17.92 11.11 10.00 25.00 -25.00 0.00 0.00 panipat 14.97 27.40 8.33 20.00 55.56 63.64 100.00 0.00 rewari 1.44 22.99 4.00 27.27 18.18 62.50 100.00 100.00 rohtak 4.76 16.94 45.45 23.08 12.50 81.82 0.00 100.00 sirsa 3.21 18.57 0.00 17.39 5.56 17.39 0.00 33.33 sonipat 9.86 12.77 13.04 20.83 15.38 57.14 0.00 50.00 yamunanagar 6.80 19.74 7.41 56.25 20.00 41.18 0.00 50.00 state 6.95 22.05 17.36 31.87 19.92 38.32 21.21 38.89 source: tabulated from haryana pris election reports, 2010 and 2016 overall, the study indicates that districts such as bhiwani, fatehabad, mahendragarh, rewari, sirsa, sonipat, and yamunanagar saw improvements across all categories of pris. in hisar, jhajjar, kaithal, and panipat, sc women experienced empowerment gains in three categories, while in the member zila parishad category, they could only secure the seats reserved for them in 2016. in ambala, gurgaon, jind, and palwal, empowerment was gained in only two categories. in faridabad and panchkula, sc women saw improvements only in the panches category. at the state level, sc women gained empowerment in all categories of pris during the study period, with the most significant improvement seen in the member panchayat samiti category, followed by member zila parishad, panches, and sarpanches. the study, therefore, suggests that sc women’s performance is better in higher categories of pris, which hold greater status and offer more opportunities for empowerment. conclusions this study evaluates the effects of the haryana panchayati raj amendment act, 2015, on the empowerment of scheduled caste (sc) women in panchayati raj institutions (pris) by comparing election data from 2010 and 2016. it reveals an increase in the share of sc women in pris from 11.32 per cent in 2010 to 13.41 per cent in 2016, from margins to mainstream: the journey of scheduled caste women 145 indicating enhanced empowerment. all districts showed improved performance, with those reporting a high share rising from 29 per cent to 62 per cent. the composite empowerment score for sc women tripled, from 45.65 to 129.29, and districts with very high levels of empowerment increased from 24 per cent to 90 per cent. the findings suggest significant progress, especially in districts like yamunanagar and karnal, while highlighting mewat’s notable improvement despite historically low education levels among sc women. however, several districts, including jind and kaithal, still struggle with low educational attainment, hindering sc women’s participation in pris. the study emphasizes the need for targeted educational initiatives, particularly in mewat district with high muslim populations, along with jind and kaithal districts to encourage female participation. despite gains in representation, the study underscores that 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(1995). human development report. oxford university press. © 2024 scott r. stroud. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.694 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 270-286 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the american question: ambedkar, columbia university, and the “spirit of rebellion” scott r. stroud1 abstract the education of bhimrao ambedkar is a vital part of his complex story. his experience at institutions like columbia university with its progressive cast of academics helped him see how scholarship and activism can matter in the battle against caste oppression. his thought—and life—would have been radically different had he exclusively attended british institutions of higher education. but how did he end up in america, the imperfect land of freedom and democracy? why did he choose columbia university when so many other indian students chose educational institutions in the british empire? this study examines the question of ambedkar’s education and proposes some answers to these questions by starting with his relationship to an important early sponsor, the gaekwad of baroda. by tracing the engagement of sayajirao gaekwad iii with the west, we can see the connections this ruler felt between columbia university, america, and freedom. by placing the gaekwad’s story next to ambedkar’s— and alongside ambedkar’s nuanced lifelong engagement with one of his most prominent professors, john dewey—we can reveal new connections between the american experience and what ambedkar called “a spirit of rebelliousness.” both ambedkar and the gaekwad wanted an education that enshrined the right sort of rebellious freedom from oppressive external authority. this intelligent mediation of education resides in the unstable middle ground between a conservative complacency with a tradition’s customs and a radical upturning of all that is through revolution. ambedkar, like his pragmatist teacher john dewey, wanted a sense of education that was reflective and reconstructive. keywords sayajirao gaekwad, ambedkar, education, columbia university, pragmatism, john dewey 1professor, department of communication studies, moody college of communication, university of texas at austin, united states of america e-mail: sstroud@austin.utexas.edu the american question: ambedkar, columbia university, and the “spirit of rebellion” 271 introduction ambedkar’s education is one of the common themes in numerous stories that others tell about his life. his education underwrites or foreshadows so much of what he thought and did in terms of his pursuit of social justice and democracy. a central part of his education was the time he spent in america at columbia university during 1913–1916. he was sent to the u.s. with the help of a scholarship from the ruler of the princely state, baroda. this relationship between ambedkar and the gaekwad of baroda, sayajirao iii, is an often-mentioned part of the story of ambedkar’s educational exploits in the west. as virtually every biographical account about ambedkar notes, it was due to the gaekwad’s support that ambedkar was able to attend columbia university in 1913, and then later, pursue further education in london. but one question has rarely been asked: how exactly did ambedkar end up in new york at columbia university? the detailed recent biographies uncover many details about ambedkar’s education in the west, but they still leave this question unanswered.1 what might we add to ambedkar’s story—and the constructive lessons we draw from it—if we try our best to provide an answer to the “american question” of vital parts of his educational journey? the magnitude of the american question strikes one when the vast number of indians that were channeled toward english educational opportunities in london, oxford, or cambridge come to mind. ambedkar represents the first untouchable sent from india to american higher education, and one of the most prominent of the limited cases of indians sent to the u.s. for education in the pre-independence period. as brant moscovitch notes, there was a reason for this choice: “most families encouraged their children to study in britain in the hope of advancing their career prospects and possibly enabling them to eventually join the indian civil service.”2 the question becomes more intriguing when one considers how stunningly different the indian political scene, the movement for “untouchable” rights, and the eventual indian constitution would have been had ambedkar, a central figure in all of these areas and activities, not ended up in the seminar rooms of columbia university but instead had studied only under british intellectuals. whatever the accuracy of counterfactual speculations may be, ambedkar went to columbia largely through the guidance and support of the gaekwad. there is not much indication that young ambedkar had a preference for columbia specifically; ambedkar’s father—helped by his time in the british service—might have preferred his son to pursue more standard routes to higher education through the channels of empire. archival evidence that i have detailed elsewhere does seem to indicate that ambedkar’s father desired a british education for young bhimrao, but bhimrao himself did not like that option given britian’s domination over india.3 might the 1aakash singh rathore (2023). becoming babasaheb: the life and times of bhimrao ramji ambedkar (volume 1): birth to mahad (1891-1929). harper collins; ashok gopal (2023). a part apart. navayana. 2brant moscovitch (2012). harold laski’s indian students and the power of education, 1920– 1950. contemporary south asia, 20: 1,36. 3see scott r. stroud (2023). the evolution of pragmatism in india: ambedkar, dewey, and the rhetoric of reconstruction. university of chicago press. 272 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 tipping of the scales toward america have occurred at the hand of the gaekwad? it is useful to explore the reasons why the gaekwad might have prepared the way for ambedkar in america. understanding the ruler’s history with both the british and with america (and columbia) can give us new details to add to our stories of young ambedkar’s education, as well as his later pursuits of social and education reform in india. what will become apparent is that both the gaekwad and ambedkar valued a sort of rebelliousness in educative endeavors. they saw the value in a spirit that enshrined intelligent resistance to sources of power and domination. one can see this spirit across ambedkar’s works, but the concluding section of this article will illustrate how this orientation in sayajirao was also present in ambedkar up to his final years. america mattered for ambedkar, and examining the conditions for it to so matter is a valuable, and understudied, part of his story. becoming the gaekwad of baroda who was the enlightened ruler who connected ambedkar and columbia university? the boy who would become the gaekwad or ruler of baroda, a princely state in gujarat, and key benefactor to the young ambedkar, was born in the extended family of the gaekwads in kavlana on march 11, 1863. he was elevated to the position of ruling baroda at the age of thirteen through a fascinating story of intrigue and struggle between the british and the former ruler of baroda, a prince by the name of malharrao, an unseemly ruler who even descended to the level of supposedly trying to poison the british resident of baroda to be rid of his interference.4 through a series of events that do not concern us here, the young boy was adopted into the royal family and pronounced the future gaekwad of baroda. the young gaekwad was given a private and expansive education at the hands of a member of the indian civil service and director of education in the state of berar, f. a. h. eliot. eliot closely supervised an intense educational plan for the young ruler which included language training in english, marathi, gujarati, and urdu, as well as the subjects of mathematics, history, and geography.5 the young gaekwad eventually rose to the levels that this education demanded of him, and became close to eliot; he would later on demand of the british that eliot serve him as an advisor during his rule of baroda, a demand that was granted for a time. he would never forgive the british, however, when eliot was recalled from baroda’s service in response to perceived defiance by the gaekwad to british interests. sayajirao gaekwad was a relatively progressive ruler for his time, insisting on founding many schools for his subjects. his forward-looking policies also included attempts to fight caste discrimination in baroda through inter-caste dinners, employment schemes for disadvantaged castes, and scholarship programs for lowercaste individuals. of course, it was the later initiative that so benefitted the young ambedkar. but added on to these social reform predilections was an interesting relationship with the west. eliot had introduced the young sayajirao to the culture 4fatesinghrao gaekwad (1989). sayajirao of baroda: the prince and the man. popular prakashan, 45–50. 5ibid., 55. the american question: ambedkar, columbia university, and the “spirit of rebellion” 273 and ways of the west, both good and bad, and the gaekwad began a habit of making extended trips to europe and america in the 1880s that would continue for decades. sayajirao was even present for the historic world’s parliament of religions in chicago in 1893. he sometimes claimed that the trips that dragged him through switzerland, london, and eventually america were done for his health—he loathed the hot summers of baroda and could not accept the respite that traditional indian mountain retreats provided indian princes. or perhaps it was the escape from the pressures of being a prince, the position of power that the young boy had not been born into and that seemed to have descended upon him in a rather random fashion. whatever the motivation, sayajirao experienced much of europe and the west, and took these influences back to his dealings in baroda. the british were torn about this habit of travel to the west. on the one hand, they did not like the indian princes being so far away from an effective position of control over their indian states—and the british officials there who might thereby influence them. on the other hand, the british had long criticized or looked down upon indian princes precisely because they were perceived as crude and “unworldly.”6 sayajirao’s habit of staying away from his realm and among european and american communities pulled at both of these concerns. torn between empire and america there are two trips to america, however, that are particularly relevant to the issue of ambedkar’s education. sayajirao, his second wife (chimnabai), and his entourage arrived in the u.s. on may 13, 1906 with the intention of studying american industry; he also indicated an interest in visiting american universities and mentioned in the press that he had letters from a range of dignitaries offering to assist with his tour— including the president of columbia university, nicholas butler.7 sayajirao’s brother, sampatroo, also accompanied the ruler and often spoke to the agents of the press; he admitted in one story he, unlike the gaekwad, was oxford trained, but quickly continued on to say that, “it is the educational system of this country that his highness is most anxious to study…his highness wishes to have all of his subjects educated.”8 wealthy businessman and president of the chamber of commerce in new york, morris k. jesup, arranged a variety of stops for sayajirao at various educational institutions—out of which one of the handful of schools that the gaekwad visited was columbia university.9 jesup was also the president and benefactor of the american museum of natural history in new york, an institution directed for ten years by the naturalist, hermon c. bumpus (1862–1943).10 jesup brought bumpus in to lead the programming and activities of the museum in 1901, and they became close 6ibid., 123. 7a real maharaja here in a shiny high hat. new york times. may 14, 1906, 9. 8ibid. 9the maharaja’s names puzzle hotel staff. new york times. may 15, 1906, 6. 10for more on bumpus’s life and education, see: hermon carey bumpus (1944). may 5, 1862june 21, 1943. science, vol. 99, no. 2559, jan. 14, 28–30; hermon c. bumpus, jr. (1947). hermon carey bumpus: yankee naturalist. minnesota archive editions. 274 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 colleagues.11 bumpus continued in this role until 1911 when he resigned and became a business manager for the university of wisconsin. while in new york, the gaekwad was interested in seeing all manner of educational institutions, so he asked jesup to arrange a visit to the american museum of natural history. it was here that sayajirao met bumpus, and they quickly became good friends.12 their relationship would blossom so much that the gaekwad would eventually appoint him “as baroda’s agent in america.”13 the gaekwad would write to bumpus in 1908 about the gaekwad’s son, jaisingrao, who was initiating a course of study in america at harvard university.14 bumpus would become the personal guardian of jaisingrao, or “jay” as the bumpus family would come to know him, a task that surely created some stress on bumpus given the young prince’s irresponsibility with money and inexperience with life on his own.15 over the years, bumpus would also serve as a periodic, but important, advisor to the gaekwad, channeling a steady flow of american academics toward the service needs of baroda. following bumpus’s advice, charles cuthbert hall was hired to be baroda’s educational advisor; he also sent young americans like ralph c. whitnach, a graduate of brown university, to baroda, where he eventually created the first banking institution in that princely state.16 bumpus also recommended william alanson borden (1853–1931) from yale as the person to lead the gaekwad’s new public library initiative in 1910.17 under borden’s leadership in baroda for three years, the gaekwad’s ideas of enhancing public education for all of his people were greatly augmented—45 larger libraries were established, along with the creation of around 650 smaller village libraries.18 even after his time in baroda was finished, borden continued to seek out meetings with the gaekwad when the ruler visited europe in 1913.19 11interestingly enough, it was conflicts at the museum between jesup and bumpus and the anthropologist, franz boas, that would drive the latter away from the museum; boas would shift his affiliation to columbia university in 1906, where he would interact more fully with john dewey and other stars soon to be in the orbit of young ambedkar. for more details on this incident, see rosemary lévy zumwalt (2019). franz boas: the emergence of the anthropologist. university of nebraska press. for more on ambedkar and boas, see jesús francisco cháirez-garza (2018). b.r. ambedkar, franz boas and the rejection of racial theories of untouchability. south asia: journal of south asian studies, 41(2), 281–296. for a general account of anthropology’s rise during ambedkar’s education and life, see kamala visweswaran (2010). un/common cultures: racism and the rearticulation of cultural differences. duke university press. 12hermon c. bumpus, jr., hermon carey bumpus. 73. 13fatesinghrao gaekwad. sayajirao of baroda. 204. 14portions of this letter are printed in stanley rice (1931). sayaji rao iii: maharaja of baroda, vol. 1. oxford university press, 136. 15hermon c. bumpus, jr., hermon carey bumpus. 75–76. 16hermon c. bumpus, jr., hermon carey bumpus. 73–74. 17cornell alumni news, vol. 12, no. 40, august 1910, 475. for more on borden’s activities in baroda, see murai lal nagar (1992). william alanson borden (1853-1931): an apostle of international librarianship. international library center. 18stanley rice, sayaji rao iii: maharaja of baroda, vol. 2, 73. 19we know this detail from the reports of british intelligence agents tracking the gaikwad’s movements and meetings while in europe. fatesinghrao gaekwad. sayajirao of baroda. 255. the american question: ambedkar, columbia university, and the “spirit of rebellion” 275 in 1906, however, one of bumpus’s earliest influences on sayajirao was to help convince him about the educational potentials of america; after meeting bumpus and touring american universities in new york, sayajirao was convinced to send his son to an american university, as well as at least “two young men from baroda to america to ‘study sociology and the science of municipal government.’”20 bumpus would remain in the ambedkar-new york story even after the naturalist resigned his position at the museum and left for wisconsin in 1911—bumpus’s name appears thrice in the detailed “memorandum of agreement” between baroda and ambedkar on june 4, 1913, that sets out the terms of the gaekwad’s support of ambedkar’s education in america. bumpus was to receive reimbursement requests from ambedkar related to his education, as well as be a channel for ambedkar to report his progress in his studies. the 1913 agreement, signed just before ambedkar left for america, indicates that “mr. ambedkar bhimrao r. undertakes to proceed to america to be trained up in finance and sociology in the columbia university, new york, and to obtain the master’s degree in economics, finance and sociology staying there for a period of two years or more as may be hereafter considered necessary. during this period he shall stay under the general supervision of dr. h.c. bumpus.”21 the 1906 trip was important in other ways, as well. sayajirao made a point to tell the american press, one often interested in only the exotic and impractical elements of indian culture, that he was “glad to say that the caste barriers are breaking down slowly.”22 in a side trip to washington d.c., the maharaja of baroda had an invited audience with president roosevelt, and he also observed the rituals of senate debates in the capitol.23 by all indications, he was getting exposed to a range of aspects of america, from wall street to morningside heights to washington d.c., and he seemed to be increasingly fond of what america had to offer. before leaving america’s shores, the press reported his promises to return again soon and to send indian students back to america for higher education.24 sayajirao’s interest in the u.s. education system was still in the foreground during his next trip to america in 1910. he arrived in vancouver on june 5 and then worked his way to new york city once again, arriving in that buzzing metropolis on june 15, 1910.25 he only stayed a week in new york, but his infatuation with the city was quickly reported in the press—next to a rather odd debate about whether he found american women attractive, a controversy spurred on by reported comments during his previous trip to the u.s. trying to raise the coverage of baroda and its rulers to a higher level in the american press, he praised the greatness of the u.s., and was quoted as saying that “i believe it has the greatest future of any country.” the press coverage 20fatesinghrao gaekwad. sayajirao of baroda. 204. 21this document hails from the records of the state of baroda. the “true copy” referenced here of “the memorandum of agreement between bhimrao ambedkar and baroda state” can be found in the khairmode papers at the university of mumbai archives. 22ibid., 6. 23maharajah sees president. new york times, may 24, 1906, 2. 24gaekwar is coming back. new york times, may 25, 1906, 11. 25indian prince coming. new york times, april 23, 1910, 1. 276 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 of his short stay in new york also gives us some insight into why he continued to visit this city so often; his love of new york seeped through the reports that “he said he liked the noise of new york because noise always meant progress.”26 this visit also fell in the middle of jaisingrao’s matriculation at harvard university. jaisingrao, the son of the gaekwad, joined harvard and pursued his studies in philosophy and religion in 1908, after preparatory education at the horace mann school in new york city alongside bumpus’s son carey.27 jaisingrao ultimately earned his harvard degree in february 1912, but not after making the formal and informal news circuits through his extravagant spending habits and expensive poker addiction.28 even though bumpus was named as ambedkar’s guardian in the 1913 agreement, he was far from new york (taking over his new post in wisconsin) by then and he was likely relieved to be free of the sort of tribulations that his previous guardianship role and jaisingrao’s troubles put him through.29 it is no wonder that ambedkar did not have any close contact with bumpus, whatever sayajirao’s understanding of the agreement might have been. in 1916, bumpus, busy with his new post as president of tufts university, did write a letter on ambedkar’s behalf to his advisor, edwin seligman, imploring him to help the indian student in his application for a travelling fellowship from columbia university that would support his education in london the following term. bumpus’s letter evidences little connection with ambedkar—even the promising line of “mr. ambedkar has impressed me as being a very earnest student” strikes one as not revealing much personal familiarity between them through its passive phrasing. the letter does, however, show the american’s continuing respect of the gaekwad and his projects, including sponsored students such as ambedkar.30 it is clear that educational connections like bumpus and the aura of progress exuded by new york were all tied together in the mental impression that sayajirao had of america. but combining with this recurring theme in the middle of the gaekwad’s decades of rule was another tenor that so often lay just below the surface of his official dealings—his dislike of being under the thumb of the british. the gaekwad seemed intrigued by the west and what it could offer india and its masses, but he consistently recoiled at the idea that india needed the british to be ruled well. his reign can be read as an attempt to constantly show the british—and their local “resident” watching over baroda’s governmental happenings—that indian princes could rule in an enlightened fashion. the gaekwad had to request permission from the british in 1904 to travel to europe, a sort of monitoring that constantly infuriated the baroda ruler. as he was preparing to leave american soil during his 1906 trip, and freshly inspired by his interactions with americans like bumpus and with institutions like columbia university, the gaekwad penned a letter to the annoyingly inquisitive british resident 26the gaekwar has gone. new york times, july 14, 1910, 6. 27hermon c. bumpus, jr., hermon carey bumpus. 75–76. 28gaekwar’s son gets degree. new york times, february 9, 1912, 5. 29hermon c. bumpus, jr., hermon carey bumpus. 76–78. 30letter by h.c. bumpus to e.r.a. seligman, march 24, 1916, seligman papers, columbia university. the american question: ambedkar, columbia university, and the “spirit of rebellion” 277 that “i enjoyed my visit to free america.”31 it is no wonder that the british did not like the increasing american connections with baroda and its educational endeavors through figures like borden, given the gaekwad’s disposition toward his colonial rulers.32 the relationship of the gaekwad and the british was tumultuous, but hostilities rarely broke out into the realm of overt conflict. instead, a multitude of smaller acts of rebellion and resistance initiated by the gaekwad continued to incense various agents of the british empire. for instance, the gaekwad had a habit of hiring bright, but antibritish, indians to positions of influence and power within his court. aravinda ghose (later known as sri aurobindo) was one such appointment. yet the british could not get rid of the gaekwad that easily, given his status in the hierarchy of the empire; he was one of the few native rulers in india accorded the high honor of a 21-gun salute, a status that also protected his political autonomy from much interference at the hands of the british resident in baroda.33 this animosity came to a head, however, at the coronation durbar held in delhi to honor the new british king, george v. the british used this elaborate public ritual to cement the loyalty of indian subjects and its princely states to the crown, but sayajirao raised a furor through his actions at this high-profile event. on december 12, 1911, in front of over 50,000 spectators, the gaekwad strode up to the dais on which the newly installed king-emperor sat. the gaekwad wore a western-style suit, carried a walking cane, and bowed once to the king before turning his back and leaving. his conduct reached the status of a royal affront, since the british expected the “native princes” to dress the part with jewels and robes, not western business attire, and to bow three times without turning their back on the king. sayajirao followed none of these british-dictated protocols.34 despite his claims that his intentions were not to snub the king, the fact remains that many perceived his behavior as a purposeful move in the constant struggle he led to maintain autonomy in the face of british colonial power. why america for ambedkar? any answer to our questions of why ambedkar ended up at columbia must include reference to these two prominent themes in sayajirao gaekwad’s rule: his animosity toward the british, and his admiration for american educational institutions. the first reveals a spirit of rebelliousness in sayajirao, one that we can also detect in ambedkar throughout his own development. the latter theme, his admiration for american education, was only enhanced by the experiences that connections like jesup and bumpus orchestrated.35 the gaekwad’s son was sent to harvard, american 31fatesinghrao gaekwad. sayajirao of baroda. 204. 32ibid., 204. 33lucy moore (2004). maharanis. viking, 6–7. 34ibid., 8. 35both themes are related to the idea of enhanced freedom—or a spirit of freedom—felt by the gaikwad, and then ambedkar, in america. but the question is: what enables this spirit of freedom? part of the answer is the sort of critical and probing education at leading institutions like columbia university. and what use is this spirit of freedom attuned to? a response to that 278 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 administrators like borden were imported to run library schemes back in baroda, and various american educational practices were adopted in baroda’s own schools.36 there is even evidence that ambedkar’s teacher at columbia, edwin r.a. seligman, had ongoing contacts with figures in baroda between 1909–1912, mostly orbiting around accusations by the british of subversive activity by the indian professor, samuel l. joshi, undertaken when he was a student of seligman’s at columbia university. in a june 26, 1909 letter, joshi writes to seligman indicating that the gaekwad cancelled joshi’s appointment at the college of baroda because of the british charges of seditious behavior; he also indicates that the gaekwad was interested in reinstating his position once the british suspicions were removed.37 seligman wrote a general letter of support for his former student joshi, perhaps seen by the gaekwad, on july 5, 1909, trying to absolve joshi of seditious intentions.38 it would come as no surprise if the gaekwad, given his urges to stand up to the british, his needs for educational and financial reform, the smell of progress and life that he loved around new york city, and his various encounters with the educational achievements of columbia university and its faculty, would incline young ambedkar to choose columbia university over british educational institutions. this rare, and unplanned, confluence of factors somehow led the young ambedkar to columbia in 1913. in many ways, it was an epochal decision that changed the course of much of indian politics given ambedkar’s later successes and failures. more work is ongoing about ambedkar, including vijay surwade’s much-needed project on ambedkar in baroda. among many new facts and details about ambedkar’s connection to baroda, surwade has unearthed documents that show that ambedkar was originally going to be sent to the west for education in pedagogy, or the study of effective teaching.39 what caused the shift from pedagogy to “economics, finance, and sociology” in the june 1913 order is unclear. all of these disciplines could translate into the practical projects of the gaekwad’s in baroda. but america meant progress for the gaekwad, and a practical university education was surely to be had in america and would certainly be useful for his state’s future. ambedkar was to be a vital part to the gaekwad’s sidestepping of the british in this initial planning of education that would benefit baroda. the focus on practical matters—and even the early focus on pedagogy as a subject matter—is intriguing. did ambedkar evince an interest in this topic? in a summary of original biographical work, the collected works of ambedkar includes a reconstructed dialogue (drawn from khairmode’s biography) where he supposedly told the maharaja question would entail the sort of rebelliousness or revolution that will be worked out in the remainder of this article. rebelliousness requires an empowered freedom, but freedom does not always entail rebelliousness. 36stanley rice (1931). sayaji rao iii: maharaja of baroda, vol. 2. oxford university press, 120–123. 37letter by s.l. joshi to e.r.a. seligman, june 26, 1909, seligman papers, columbia university. 38letter by e.r.a. seligman, july 5, 1909, seligman papers, columbia university. 39vijay surwade’s forthcoming book, dr. ambedkar in baroda, is sure to be the most detailed factual survey of ambedkar’s connections to the maharaja and the princely state of baroda yet produced. the american question: ambedkar, columbia university, and the “spirit of rebellion” 279 on his second meeting in bombay that he wanted to study “sociology, economics and especially public finance.” the gaekwad asked why ambedkar wanted to study these topics; ambedkar replied, “the study of these subjects would give me clues for improving the depressed condition of my society and i shall undertake the work of social reforms on those lines.” the gaekwad eventually pressed ambedkar that baroda too must be served by this education, to which ambedkar indicated that he could both serve his community and the state of baroda. the gaekwad then tellingly indicated what his plan was—“i have been thinking on the same lines. i am thinking [of] sending you to america[,] will you go?” ambedkar then responded that he would.40 america answered many needs and desires of the gaekwad, and it would soon fill ambedkar with several desires—and the means to satisfy them—in turn. ambedkar was sent to columbia university in america to learn important topics for the social improvement of baroda. of course, the intention was that he would use this education to improve baroda (a task he couldn’t sufficiently execute upon his return because of caste-based challenges in the workplace and in finding housing). he would, however, successfully put his expansive education to work in his efforts to organize and agitate on behalf of the dalits across india. the gaekwad looked at america as a symbol of rebelliousness against the british and a source of progress for his people. ambedkar would imbibe these values in the specifics of his education at the hands of the progressive academics employed by columbia in the 1910s. ambedkar in america some of the most moving parts of the experience at columbia for ambedkar came through his contacts with john dewey, a prominent american philosopher and leader of the tradition of american pragmatism. ambedkar had many influences, of course, but dewey is one of the most documented influences that we can find, and his influence built upon the ideas of education and pedagogy central to this question about ambedkar, sayajirao, and the role of education in social reform.41 like so many parts of ambedkar’s incredible story, we are fortunate that incidents of fate lined up such that the seeds of dewey’s pragmatism had a chance to grow. the agreement from june 4, 1913 between the gaekwad and ambedkar explicitly committed the latter to focusing exclusively on economics, finance, and sociology—ambedkar was commanded in the memorandum to “not devote any time to the study of other subject or subjects to the detriment of his study of those mentioned in the agreement without the consent of his highness’ government.”42 fortunately for the prospects for pragmatism, democracy, and social justice in india, and perhaps through the absence 40bhimrao r. ambedkar. (1979). i am a man of character. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 17, part 1. government of maharashtra, 211–212. 41for more on ambedkar’s other influences at columbia, see scott r. stroud (forthcoming). ambedkar at columbia university, in the cambridge companion to ambedkar, ed. anupama rao and shailaja paik. cambridge university press. 42“the memorandum of agreement between bhimrao ambedkar and baroda state,” june 4, 1913, khairmode papers, university of mumbai archives. 280 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 of any sort of guardian figures in new york such as bumpus, ambedkar found enough room in his focused course of study for dewey’s courses in philosophy. he would end up taking three courses from dewey—philosophy 231 “psychological ethics” and the year-long series of two courses, philosophy 131-132 “moral and political philosophy.” this latter course was shared with the soon-to-be voice of dewey’s pragmatism in china, hu shih.43 there is no evidence that ambedkar took any pedagogy course from dewey while he was at columbia. in all likelihood, what he learned about dewey’s views on education came from his acquisition of dewey’s book, democracy and education, while he was studying in london in january 1917.44 there is the chance that ambedkar had heard of dewey’s philosophy before he departed for columbia in 1913, since he owned a 1910 reissue of the pragmatist’s 1908 book, ethics, but the available textual evidence makes this hypothesis unlikely; ambedkar most likely stumbled onto dewey’s fame—and into dewey’s classrooms—once he was exploring in the intellectual environments of morningside heights.45 we know that ambedkar valued dewey’s writings on education, as we can see from the constellations of annotations that emerge from his two heavily marked copies of democracy and education.46 when he read these books is unclear, but it is definite that he saw major themes of dewey’s within their pages.47 the ideas of habits, custom, and reconstruction were noticed, and would become central to ambedkar’s later critique of caste in his own writings. what we see emerging from many of these marked passages in dewey will help us explore the impact—and orientation—of ambedkar’s education. part of the account that’s emerging in this article is that there was a spirit of reflection, criticism, and even rebelliousness that marked sayajirao’s interest in institutions like columbia, and that these themes were shared by ambedkar, and to some extent, dewey himself. we can start to tie all these threads together by looking at ambedkar’s own annotations in democracy and education. like dewey, ambedkar valued the idea that education was a reconstructive endeavor, and that its reconstructive power was not merely material—meaning issuing in an observably changed social setting. it also meant an inner change of attitude and habit in the pupils it encumbers. 43see scott r. stroud (2023). the evolution of pragmatism in india. 44we know when ambedkar acquired this 1916 book because the copy preserved in the archives at siddharth college, mumbai, from his personal collection is signed and dated 1917. 45ambedkar’s heavily annotated copy of this book is signed by k.a. keluskar, an important guide and advocate for young ambedkar. it is more likely that ambedkar gained this book around 1930 or after keluskar’s death in 1934. for more on this book and its mysteries, see scott r. stroud. (2018). ambedkar’s pragmatism drew heavily on the 1908 ‘ethics’. forward press. https://www.forwardpress.in/2018/01/ambedkars-pragmatism-drew-heavilyon-the-1908-ethics/. 46ambedkar owned four copies in total of this work. the earliest are 1916 and 1925 editions, and each is heavily marked in his distinctive annotation styles. the annotations noted in this article are taken from his markings in the 1925 edition. 47to take ambedkar seriously as a reader means taking what he read—and what he marked while doing so—seriously. for more on this methodology, see scott r. stroud (2017). what did bhimrao ambedkar learn from john dewey’s democracy and education?. the pluralist, vol. 12(2), 78–103. the american question: ambedkar, columbia university, and the “spirit of rebellion” 281 this approach to education as reconstructive is built upon a view of experience that many pragmatists share. it is that experience itself educates or shapes us. this engagement with natural and social environments not only changes what we do and gain, but also how we think about our projects and the obstacles facing them. in other words, experience shapes our attitudes as it resists and enables them. ambedkar saw this theme in dewey’s book and marked it in his distinctive red pencil: the “social environment forms the mental and emotional disposition of behavior in individuals by engaging them in activities that arouse and strengthen certain impulses, that have certain purposes and entail certain consequences.”48 while this is a broad view of education—experience itself can educate—formal institutions like schools can give us more control over the results of these process. thus, such organized efforts become an important way to alter and optimize the attitudes and habits of their pupils, a position noted by ambedkar when he read dewey: “it is the business of the school environment to eliminate, so far as possible, the unworthy features of the existing environment from influence upon mental habitudes.”49 there can be many uses of education on this approach. dewey, and ambedkar, would not be content with education as indoctrination or brainwashing. those sorts of non-reflective outcomes come close to not really being educative in the first place. what is sought from education by dewey, and marked in dewey’s text by ambedkar the reader, is the idea that education ought to emancipate through attitudinal change: “it is the office of the school environment to balance the various elements in the social environment, and to see to it that each individual gets an opportunity to escape from the limitations of the social group in which he was born, and to come into living contact with a broader environment.”50 we must understand dewey on this point to see what ambedkar perceived as promising in pragmatist views of education. social strictures and limitations—such as customs of caste—would not primarily be observable physical externalities. students can be conditioned just like non-human animals to act and react in specified ways. what dewey sought was marked by ambedkar as he read through democracy and education: “the difference between an adjustment to a physical stimulus and a mental act is that the latter involves response to a thing in its meaning; the former does not.”51 ambedkar saw what dewey was after—a reorientation about how an individual thought about a world and its meanings. meaning, after all, lay in how we anticipate and react to something given our past courses of experience. it was a meeting of the by-gone past and the yet-to-come future. 48john dewey (1985). democracy and education, vol. 9 of the middle works of john dewey, ed. jo ann boydston. carbondale: southern illinois university press, 20. how do we know ambedkar’s annotations and their style? for an explanation and exploration of ambedkar as a reader, see scott r. stroud (2023). how do we know what ambedkar read? round table india. https://www.roundtableindia.co.in/how-do-we-know-what-ambedkar-read/. 49ibid., 24. 50ibid., 24–25. 51john dewey. democracy and education. 34. 282 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 this was precisely the sense of meaning that ambedkar was concerned with in his 1936 text, annihilation of caste, when he claimed that “caste is a notion, it is a state of the mind,” and that caste concepts and labels led individuals to judge and react to others in a habitualized (and normative) fashion.52 caste was a learned attitude that assumed and instantiated certain meanings for what others were worth. it was, in other words, inherently limiting in its attribution of meaning to those who bore the weight of its labels. what ambedkar sought was similar to what dewey opined about in his work on education. it was a formation of community, but a formation that did not rest upon pacific and uncritical dispositions. ambedkar marks such a commitment in dewey’s idea that commonality in meaning (and value) attribution through common habits was the instantiation of community: “to have the same ideas about things which others have, to be like-minded with them, and thus to be really members of a social group, is therefore to attach the same meanings to things and to acts which others attach. otherwise, there is no common understanding, and no community life.”53 this sort of common understanding appears in dewey, and in ambedkar’s annihilation of caste, in the engagement with social endosmosis.54 the important aspect of this commitment for this inquiry comes in the attitudinal aspects to education—and in ambedkar’s own person during his educational experiences in the west funded partially by the gaekwad. ambedkar and the “spirit of rebellion” in education ambedkar made several passing remarks on education. he even made some longer pronouncements on education in his expansive body of work. future work must systematically explore ambedkar as a theorist of education and its social values. but here, let us look at a few of his arguments made later in his life since they hold the interesting combination we have been building to—education, pragmatism, and a sort of critical reflectiveness as attitude. a few months before his death, bhimrao ambedkar addressed the world—now divided into communist and non-communist blocs—through the “voice of america” radio broadcast on may 20, 1956. his speech was on a theme that had surfaced often throughout his life and writings: that of the nature and benefits of democracy. ambedkar, one of the chief architects of the indian constitution, approached the question of whether there is democracy in india. instead of providing a straightforward answer—and the affirmative one that newly independent indians might expect—he indicated that it depended on how clear one was with their concepts. pragmatically, what we answer depends for him on what we mean by “democracy.” “no positive answer can be given,” ambedkar intones, “unless the confusion caused by equating democracy with republic and by equating 52bhimrao r. ambedkar (2003). annihilation of caste. in dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 1, ed. vasant moon. government of maharashtra, 68. 53john dewey. democracy and education. 35. 54arun p. mukherjee (2009). b.r. ambedkar, john dewey, and the meaning of democracy. new literary history, 40(2), 345–370. the american question: ambedkar, columbia university, and the “spirit of rebellion” 283 democracy with parliamentary government is removed.”55 ambedkar is concerned with the natural, but harmful, assumption that external laws and institutions render some community a democracy. ambedkar then explains in this american radio broadcast what a democracy is in his use of the term: “a democracy is more than a form of government. it is primarily a mode of associated living. the roots of democracy are to be searched in social relationship, in the terms of associated life between the people who form a society.”56 these are both ambedkar’s words—he would also use them in annihilation of caste in 1936—and not ambedkar’s words.57 dewey penned them in his own democracy and education, and ambedkar marked this passage in both of his early editions of this book. this engagement and appropriation of selected parts of dewey’s texts are part of a general reconstructive approach taken by ambedkar, one enabled and authorized by dewey’s own form of reconstructive pragmatism.58 in annihilation of caste, ambedkar shows the pragmatist pedigree of this reconstructive use of past resources—including dewey’s own texts. in praising his “prof. john dewey, who was my teacher and to whom i owe so much,” ambedkar explicitly quotes democracy and education: “every society gets encumbered with what is trivial, with dead wood from the past, and with what is positively perverse... as a society becomes more enlightened, it realizes that it is responsible not to conserve and transmit the whole of its existing achievements, but only such as make for a better future society.”59 ambedkar’s target in this planned speech was the religious tradition of hinduism (with its sacred texts) that he saw as grounding existing caste hierarchies and their related caste attitudes. such a tradition had long textual roots into the past. but the past wasn’t a touchstone of certainty, however, or something to be mindlessly recreated and replicated in the course of formal or informal education. it was a resource that can be drawn upon and remixed in our ongoing experiments for forming better communities and courses of experience. if one notes the ellipses in ambedkar’s own use of dewey’s book, one can see his point—even though dewey was explicitly talking about formal schooling and its appropriation of parts of a past tradition, ambedkar alters the quotation in his own act of dealing with the texts of his past. dewey’s democracy and education was one of those past resources that ambedkar the writer could selectively draw upon, both in enunciating the concept of reconstruction and in divining the nature of social democracy. in this 1956 speech about democracy, ambedkar continues his life-long chastisement of caste system as a “‘graded inequality,’” in which “castes are not equal in their status. they are standing one above another. they are jealous of one another. it is hatred and descending scale of contempt. this feature of the caste system has most 55bhimrao r. ambedkar (2003). prospects of democracy in india. dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 17 part 3. government of maharashtra, 519. 56ibid., 519. 57bhimrao r. ambedkar. annihilation of caste. 57. 58scott r. stroud. the evolution of pragmatism in india. 59bhimrao r. ambedkar. annihilation of caste. 79, ellipses in original. 284 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 pernicious consequences. it destroys willing and helpful co-operation.”60 but shortly after broaching this theme, he explains how the caste system harms such cooperation: it means that when there is no equitable opportunity to receive the stimulus from and to return the response from different caste, the result is that the influences which educate some into masters, educate others into slaves. the experience of each party loses its meaning when the free interchange of varying modes of life experience is arrested. it results into a separation of society, into a privileged and a subject class. such a separation prevents social endosmosis.61 if one is sensitive to ambedkar’s engagement with dewey—and the sense of reconstruction and agency he draws from the pragmatist—one can again see that dewey is being reconstructed in this passage. parts of this passage appeared in dewey’s democracy and education over forty years earlier, and not in the context of the critique of caste.62 dewey’s target was mindless forms of outdated pedagogy that aimed to produce factory workers for the never-sated form of capitalism he saw growing in america at the turn of the twentieth century. in making his own argument, ambedkar reworks resources from john dewey, his beloved teacher at columbia university, to explain the problems of the thousands-year old caste system of the indian subcontinent.63 the intrigue of ambedkar as an indian pragmatist figure, and as a partisan of an expanded sense of education, goes even deeper in this 1956 address, one of the last he was to give in his final year of life. he was clearly influenced enough by dewey’s democracy and education, a book that he acquired first in 1917, to weave its passages into his appeals, yet he insists on qualifying what many would take to be the linchpin of dewey’s whole philosophy: education.64 the end of his address features ambedkar departing from what might be expected of a deweyan pragmatist. he does not tell his audience that education, especially formal education, is the solution to india’s caste problems. this was the tactic that dewey often employed in his lectures in china between 1919–1921, when he discussed topics such as student government and school activities as vital for developing a rich sense of democracy.65 ambedkar, in this 1956 60bhimrao r. ambedkar. prospects of democracy in india. 520–521. 61ibid., 521. 62john dewey. democracy and education. 90. 63for more on dewey’s relationship with india—and with ambedkar—see scott r. stroud (2024). john dewey and india: expanding the john dewey-bhimrao ambedkar. the pluralist, vol. 19, no. 1, in press. 64through my own investigations into the surviving parts of his personal library spread across various libraries at siddharth college, milind college, the symbiosis institute, at rajgraha, and in private collections, i have discovered that ambedkar owned at least four editions of dewey’s democracy and education—at least two of which (a 1916 and 1925 edition) are heavily annotated in his distinctive style of red and blue pencil markings. the 1916 edition is inscribed by ambedkar as purchased in january 1917 in london, after his time with dewey at columbia university. 65see john dewey, 1919–21. additional lectures in china, 1919–1921. trans. robert w. clopton and tsuin-chen ou. unpublished manuscript, university of hawaii, manoa; john the american question: ambedkar, columbia university, and the “spirit of rebellion” 285 address, falls short of wholesale enthusiasm for education and asks “can education destroy caste?” his answer is an enigmatic “‘yes’ as well as ‘no.’” his reasoning is interesting, at least when we take it as a way to possibly develop a complex notion of ambedkar as pragmatist and to see him as continuing patterns in the gaekwad’s story from early in his life. if education merely gives dominant castes a reason to retain and reinforce the caste system, ambedkar sees it as having no meliorative or reconstructive value. in that case education is, as ambedkar puts it, “not helpful as [a] means to dissolve caste.” taken in another sense, however, it could be meliorative: “but education may be [a] solvent if it is applied to the lower strata of the indian society. it would raise their spirit of rebellion. in their present state of ignorance they are the supporters of the caste system. once their eyes are opened they will be ready to fight the caste system.”66 ambedkar both praises education and warns of its lack of efficacy if it simply reproduces a past system of discrimination. the best education on this complex reading would be one that reconstructs indian society—and the attitudes of specific pupils—through the “spirit of rebellion” he intimates in his radio address. what he wants in his international listeners, as well as in his followers back in india, is a trained orientation that would be courageous enough to demand a complete rejection of the religiously grounded system of discrimination set in the concept of caste. but his appeals are different from dewey’s insofar as ambedkar seems committed to pursuing education often through less-formal means such as speech or oratory, as well as social organizations such as educational societies and hostels. these differences are part of what it means for pragmatism to evolve in indian contexts, of course. it is true that ambedkar founded a variety of educational institutions later in his life (such as siddharth college in 1946), but he focused much of his energy on political and social advocacy and organizational efforts that involved direct communication and engagement with supporters and opponents.67 he clearly held the commitment to experience being educative, and to the idea that educative endeavors can extend beyond the institutions of formal schooling. this purpose was also evident in his planned volume riddles in hinduism, a work who’s intended hindu audience was telegraphed in its planned subtitle—“an exposition to enlighten the masses”—as well as its prefatory chapter.68 what animates much of this lifelong course of argumentation, advocacy, and activism can be seen as the same sort of spirit that sayajirao gaekwad displayed in subtly and overtly resisting the british. he saw the promise for american education to help ambedkar further amplify such a sense of rebellion. in ambedkar’s experience in dewey (1973). john dewey: lectures in china, 1919–1920. trans. robert w. clopton and tsuin-chen ou. university of hawaii press. 66bhimrao r. ambedkar. prospects of democracy in india. 522, emphasis added. 67eleanor zelliot (2013). ambedkar’s world: the making of babasaheb and the dalit movement. navayana, 162. 68bhimrao ambedkar. (2003). riddles in hinduism. in dr. babasaheb ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol. 4, ed. vasant moon. bombay: government of maharashtra, 1. for the rhetorical context of his planned volume and its arguments, see scott r. stroud (2022). excessively harsh critique and democratic rhetoric: the enigma of bhimrao ambedkar’s riddles in hinduism. journal for the history of rhetoric, 25(1), 2–30. 286 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the many classes he took in the west, he not only gained from his education—he gained an appreciation for education. in taking dewey seriously as one important influence on ambedkar, we can see the connection between education as reconstructive and education as rebelliousness. ambedkar was not excited about revolution or rebellion for its own sake. changes, major or minor, must be made in regard to the situation of a present ever-connected to a past and a future. our resources and our needs and aspirations all meet in the present, and destroying or upending traditions just out of a sense of mechanical rebellion were not what ambedkar was after. such a pursuit of massive changes out of dissatisfaction with the present, and with no concern about its social costs to community, also concerned dewey. it destroyed too much of value, and too many of those who held such ends. this was precisely ambedkar’s criticism of the marxists of his day, those in india and those implementing versions of marx’s thought in the soviet union and in china. these varieties of communism sought equality, but utilized forceful means that took away the capacities for fraternity or fellow feeling. marx’s thought lacked love and caring for others, including those labeled as opponents, in its pursuit of justice, a point that ambedkar would make in his final years in various speeches and in his reconstruction of the buddha’s dhamma. ambedkar consistently wanted to annihilate caste, and perhaps some religious texts or ways of interpreting religious texts, but he never wanted to annihilate or abandon the quest for supportive and unified community. he was forever committed to democracy as a way of life. education was a means for creating such a shared association that democracy demanded; it was also a way to constantly support or preserve that community among its denizens’ many differences. ambedkar’s preferred notion of education was just this means of reconstruction, perhaps radical, that lay between total revolution (with all its human costs to community building among opponents) and a complacency with traditions like the customs of caste. this builds upon ambedkar’s commitment to reconstruction in his broadly political endeavors, which mandated a path of radical reform that treaded an unsteady path between a pursuit of conservative preservation and the total newness that often motivates revolutionaries. he wanted revolutionary change, but his serious engagement with dewey and other progressive thinkers at columbia (as well as elsewhere) impressed on him the fact that the path to reconstruction featured an intelligent rebelliousness, one that did not forsake the ends of community in a shallow fixing of some social problematic. education could be that desired means of intelligent rebellion. in taking ambedkar’s education seriously—and in considering his views on education seriously—we can start to flesh out both the historical story of ambedkar’s development and the conceptual story as to what he wanted out of his critique of caste. © 2024 g.c. pal. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v5i2.913 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5 no. 2 pp. 121-142 april 2024 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste caste as a socio-psychological construct: theoretical and empirical expositions g.c. pal1 abstract caste in india is intricately and inevitably linked to multiple issues specifically in the context of intergroup relations and behaviours, and social inequality. despite the perceived changes in the caste system and its manifestations, it is acknowledged that caste continues to exist in the indian psyche as part of everyday life. an engagement with the ‘caste question’ as a matter of sociopsychological analysis has significance given the fact that caste involves social, cognitive and emotional elements that contribute to having different meanings for social groups, and generate different forms of affective and behavioural responses. with the recognition of the dearth of research on ‘psychology of caste’, this article attempts to provide insights into underlying socio-psychological processes in the persistence and pervasiveness of caste, and caste-based oppressive behaviours. building on the recent debate and contestation on the transformations in caste, gaps in the mainstream psychological research on caste in india, and ambedkar’s psychological expositions of caste, the article focuses on the issues of socio-psychological construction of caste, the protuberant manifestations of caste in the forms of caste-based discrimination and violence, and responses to such oppressive behaviours through the lens of socio-psychological frameworks. it is argued that changes in the expressions of caste in contemporary society influence the social cognition of caste groups to espouse varied responses. the increased resistance to the perceived ‘identity threats’ makes the social groups strive to strengthen their ‘collective identity’, in turn, sustaining the caste in contemporary society. the article calls for research to explore shades of caste from sociopsychological perspectives rather than looking at it primarily as a demographic variable. it also advocates for strategic psychological interventions using both legal and social tools at the societal level, with a specific focus on blurring ‘caste boundaries’ and breaking the ‘caste wall in mind’. keywords caste, social psychology, oppression, resistance, identity threat, salience of caste 1director, indian institute of dalit studies, new delhi email: gcpal24@gmail.com 122 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 introduction caste in india is an age-old conceptualization of a social system. over the years, it has been understood through different signifiers. the ideas of caste as an institution and an ideology, however, have been dominant in the discourse of understanding it. as an institution, caste has provided a framework that organises social groups into categories, and as an ideology, it is deeply associated with certain beliefs and values that legitimize and reinforce the caste edifice. caste therefore, has had a significant influence on social relationships and human behaviours for many years. however, the relevance of caste in present-day society remains a contentious issue. some scholars suggest that the caste system in india has undergone considerable changes over the years whereas for some others, caste identities continue to remain strong and many factors contribute to the continuance of caste influence in contemporary indian society. jodhka & manor (2018: 3) note that ‘caste is a dynamic reality, constantly changing and evolving with varied trajectories’, similar to the observations of hoff & pandey (2006: 206) that ‘caste identity is contingent and contextual rather than fixed’. while looking at the changes in the traditional caste system in india, beteille (2012) is of the view that the role of caste is in decline but new forms of influence open up. it is pointed out that ‘old rules of exclusion are often replaced by more subtle and flexible codes whose social effects are similar’ (p. 43). jogdand, khan & mishra (2016) see the changes in the weakening of traditional power relations between caste groups, the declining role of ideological beliefs in the legitimation of the caste system, and growing consciousness and assertion among low caste groups. according to waghmore (2017), the expressions of caste have changed. caste is often manifested in subtle ways but tends to generate different forms of affective and behavioural responses between caste groups. notwithstanding the perceived changes in the caste system and its role in society, scholars across disciplines recognise that caste continues to exist in the indian psyche as part of everyday life. the prejudice attached to caste continues to deeply affect intergroup relations and the lives of a large number of people. a recent survey reveals that a majority of indians today identify with a caste regardless of their religion (sahgal et al. 2021). based on an anthropological survey, manor (2020) notes that caste sometimes gives way to ‘accommodations’ by high-caste groups. however, he recognises that accommodations among the high castes should be based not on a change of heart but on a change of mind. as pal (2020b) finds, the initiatives towards accommodations sometimes take place in the aftermath of caste-based violence with the increased resistance against such acts and fear of legal challenges. interestingly, the survey on attitudes about caste in india (sahgal et al. 2021) reveals that a majority of indians do not see widespread caste discrimination in the country, which may be a reflection of their recent experience with caste discrimination. they expressed the feeling that they would be comfortable living in the same neighbourhoods as people of different castes. they still conduct their social lives largely within caste hierarchies. for example, a majority have reported that their close friends are mostly members of their caste as a socio-psychological construct: theoretical and empirical expositions 123 caste, and that they believe in prevention of inter-caste marriage. likewise, coffey, et al. (2018) report that a majority of members from low caste or/and other social groups may not have personally encountered discrimination, but assert widespread discrimination against the members of low caste groups, and high-caste people also admit to practising discrimination. the significance of caste in the present day has been increasingly demonstrated through caste-based practices and interactions experienced and performed in different spheres of life (bhoi & gorringe 2023; murugan & lakshmi 2018). caste continues to shape the opportunities and outcomes of the social groups (jodhka 2016; kumbhar 2016; mosse 2018). thus, several studies assert that the continuity and distinctiveness of caste are manifested in many ways, affecting society in one way or another. although caste manifestations are found to vary in different social and institutional contexts, yet the pervasive effects of caste remain almost similar. however, caste often intersects with other identity characteristics such as class, gender, occupational status, and so on, to have differential effects. as observed, caste interplays with factors of power and prosperity to create conditions for manifestations of caste differences (jodhka & manor 2018; mosse 2018), and the power of caste groups is reinforced by a variety of ‘sanctioning mechanisms’ (rafanell & gorringe 2010: 616). while the aforementioned observations may call for further research on the changing forms that caste assumes in contemporary india, and the intersection of caste with other identities to influence social relations and human behaviours, it is essential to understand the processes that lead to its transformations and persistence from interdisciplinary perspectives. considering the enduring nature of caste and its ‘unjust’ manifestations (ambedkar 1989) in terms of denial of basic rights and other oppressive behaviours based on social values, despite the protective social measures and institutional support for anti-caste practices and behaviours, an engagement with the caste question as a matter of socio-psychological exploration holds significance. psychology of caste: a neglected dimension of psychological science sociological and anthropological research initiatives into caste have undoubtedly enriched our understanding of the genesis, distinct ideological principles, workings, effects, and transformations of the caste system. salient features of caste have also been understood through the lens of economics and politics. however, the manifestations of caste in cognitive, affective and behavioural domains of individuals as well as groups affirm that caste is an important psychological phenomenon. social psychological frameworks have offered explanations to understand how the thoughts, feelings, and actions of individuals and groups are influenced by features of socio-cultural contexts and beliefs (allport 1985). psychological theory on social categorisation (tajfel 1981; tajfel & turner 1986) explain how group membership and socio-religious capital of being members of a group bring differential experiences to have implications for the psychological functioning of the individuals, and intergroup relations and behaviours. 124 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 moreover, although the complexities in caste boundaries are rooted in a wide range of notions, they are intertwined with religious doctrines. as ambedkar (1987) puts it, the concept of caste cannot be understood without viewing it in the context of religion and social ideology, i.e., the underlying set of ideas and images as these determine human relationships. he therefore affirmed that habitual conduct with the backing of religion is not easy to change. like the identity of religion, caste represents descentbased identity and can be compared to being in a religious sect (das & khurana 2010). the cultural psychology of religion (kakar 1996) looks at religion as an institution to understand human relations and experiences. the importance of psychological research in the context of caste has also been recognized by scholars from other allied disciplines as the key issue remains confronting intergroup identity threats between caste groups (oommen 2002; mosse 2018). there are socio-psychological frameworks which can provide insights to understand how caste operates in daily life and is a psychological construct in many ways. however, they need to be contextualised in changing situations of caste. it is widely recognised that caste is less understood in the domain of psychological science and the psychology of caste has not emerged as a legitimate field of social scientific study (see, gorur & forscher 2023; jogdand et al. 2016; pal 2019a, 2023; sophan & nair 2023). it is also believed that research on the psychology of caste would help in understanding how intergroup processes operate across the scale of human experiences. another issue is that the analysis of caste has essentially focused on its structural elements and social and economic implications, besides the experiences of low caste groups as victims of the caste system. in past years, several psychological studies concerning caste largely revolve around the disadvantaged position of low caste groups on various psychological attributes (pal & swain 2009; sinha 1994; sinha et al. 1982). but, caste manifestations in the forms of prejudice, discrimination, stigmatisation, humiliation, violence, and so on are triggered mostly by the individuals or groups standing at positions of power in the caste order. in the changing socio-political contexts, the perspectives of the high caste members as ‘actors’ or ‘performers’ or ‘oppressors’ whose relative privileged positions are maintained and legitimised by caste-based practices and behaviours cannot be overlooked. in recent times, there has been a growing recognition of understanding caste-related phenomena with a focus on high caste groups (pal 2019a, 2023; pathania et al. 2023; sophan & nair 2023). this was also emphasised by ambedkar in his thoughts on the psychology of caste, discussed in the next section. in recognition of the persistence of caste and its varied manifestations in different spheres of social life and the scarcity of research on the psychology of caste, this article focuses on four issues. first, the psychological research on caste in india sets the context for understanding the psychology of caste. second, ambedkar’s psychological expositions of caste shed light on the relevance of research on the psychology of caste. third, the processes through which caste feelings gather strength in contemporary society, and play a role in caste-based oppressive behaviours. fourth, caste as a socio-psychological construct: theoretical and empirical expositions 125 socio-psychological frameworks that can contribute to our understanding of the persistence and pervasiveness of caste, and caste-based discrimination and violence. the article draws evidence from different sources that include—the literature on caste as a social system in general and psychological research on caste in particular, limited official data on caste-based discrimination and violence reflecting on the patterns of such oppressive behaviours; a series of recent studies on caste-based discriminations and violence in different social contexts; and a few theoretical frameworks used in the context of intergroup processes explaining relations and behaviours between groups. it is expected that an understanding of these issues supplements the sociological and anthropological explanations of caste and its implications for strategic interventions. caste and psychological research in india: a critique historically, caste has been one of the most important pervasive cultural and social systems in the indian context which has had a perceptible influence on the thoughts and behaviours of individuals and groups. mainstream indian psychological research has relatively overlooked the core issues underlying caste and its larger consequences. this is often attributed to the influence of western or euro-american psychological principles and practices deeply entrenched in behaviourist ideology, on indian psychological research for many years (dalal & misra 2010; mishra, akoijam & misra 2009; mishra & padalia 2021; mitra 1972; nandy 1974; pareek 1981). in the past, there have been some psychological studies which looked into various social and cognitive dimensions of caste, such as—caste beliefs and prejudices (anant 1970; paranjpe 1970); meta-cognitive processes, attitudes, self-evaluation, self-esteem (das 1982; majeed & ghosh 1989; rath & sircar 1960); and cultural imagination of caste (kakar 1992). several studies, especially in the fields of developmental and educational psychology, followed the overriding paradigm of ‘deficits and disadvantages’ to understand differences between caste groups on a variety of cognitive tasks/skills and psychological attributes/traits. most of these studies argued that in indian conditions, low caste groups had suffered deprivations for many generations and entered the socalled ‘vicious circle’ of social and psychological deficits. they reported differences between caste groups on cognitive attributes like self-esteem, cognitive skills, and aspirations; and affective aspects like helplessness, anxiety, insecurity, and achievement motivation (pal 2019a). the psychological research in india on caste primarily used caste as a demographic variable to examine the social group differences in psychological attributes to reflect on the role of cumulative deficits. based on a survey of psychological studies relating to caste, sinha, tripathi & misra (1982), observed that a few studies mentioned caste as a psychological variable instead of caste being labelled as cultural deprivation or cultural disadvantage. moreover, there was an overreliance on student samples in most psychological research; perhaps a convenient method to have a reasonable sample size to justify differences. according to sinha 126 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 (1994), the degree of deprivation due to limited experiences and impoverished environmental conditions is a prime determinant of psychological functioning and cannot be attributed to the caste of the individuals. it was even argued that since low caste groups were already excluded and stigmatized, the concern is that simply reporting significant differences between caste groups might naturalize differences (mahalingam 2003). based on a review of the psychological research on caste, das & khurana (2010) proclaimed that indian psychologists were interested more in cognitive markers associated with caste. according to them, there seems to be a lack of perspective blurring the distinctions between the ‘deficits versus differences’ approaches, which offer explanations for social group differences in terms of deprivation of privileges. it must be noted that despite the advancement of socio-psychological frameworks and their relevance in explaining intergroup relationships and behaviours, there has been a dearth of psychological research on how caste as a systemic and structural micro-level variable differentially affects people, and brings changes in the responses of caste groups. the discourse of psychological research puts a skewed emphasis on the workings of caste through a psychological analysis to shed light on psychological processes that sustain caste, and also have implications for human development. the fact is that caste is a complex social system. it has structural, institutional, relational, and behavioural dimensions to affect human and social development (pal 2015, 2019a, 2019c, 2020b). in the changing socio-political contexts of present-day society, caste has been one of the most socially sensitive issues. so, psychological research on caste in india would involve many methodological challenges. research engagement with the ‘psychology of caste’ needs to build knowledge around the ‘everydayness of caste’ using an integrated mixed-method approach involving an interplay of competing data sets to have a better understanding of processes of casterelated issues and responses of caste groups. although caste needs to be studied within the local socio-cultural contexts, one cannot overlook the relevance of existing sociopsychological frameworks in the context of intergroup processes. there is a need to extend their aptness and generalisability in addressing real-life problems across sociocultural contexts and for critical advances in the field (pettigrew 2018). psychological research on caste in india needs to be concerned with the implicit processes implicated in social cognition to determine the human behaviours of many people, creating disabling conditions for some sections of people to perform, and depriving the fundamental needs of belongingness and social acceptance. this was also echoed by amartya sen who affirmed, that mechanisms of discrimination and violence have wider socio-psychological consequences because it indirectly affects the basic human need of belongingness and holds up the drive for human development (sen 2006). thus, the critical questions are: (i) why does caste, which has a strong historical link, still operate as a relevant social category and continue to influence different aspects of life?, and (ii) how can social psychological frameworks contribute towards understanding the persistence of caste and caste-related phenomena? before caste as a socio-psychological construct: theoretical and empirical expositions 127 addressing these questions, an attempt is made here to provide an overview of how b.r. ambedkar recognised caste as a psycho-social reality and had addressed casterelated phenomena at cognitive and affective levels of individual and groups. ambedkar’s psychological expositions of caste: some reflections caste has been extensively studied by academics for a long time. b.r. ambedkar’s reflections on caste however have been the most influential, and he has emerged as a motivational force that influences the mind and characters of many. many of his writings, speeches and socio-political actions provide psychological thinking that essentially attempts to understand how caste beliefs mould the mind to influence the social relations and behaviours of social groups. there are several instances where ambedkar’s analysis of caste has special references to psychological dimensions and interpretations. but, this has not been understood the way it should have been. this might be due to the more prevailing images about him as an economist, lawmaker, philosopher, social reformer, visionary political leader, and so on. jogdand (2023) asserts that, ‘psychology in india and elsewhere has remained caste-blind’ (p. 37), and ‘psychologists have either ignored ambedkar’s psychological thinking or discredited it as political activism’ (p. 39). ambedkar’s psychology of caste stems from his personal experience of caste inequities, socio-philosophical explorations of the conditions for a ‘just’ society, the influential work of dewey (1922) on ‘human nature and conduct’, and of course, his unmatched scholarship to understand caste from multidisciplinary perspectives. this section makes an attempt to shed light on the psychological perspectives of ambedkar on caste as a psycho-social reality. his psychological insights can be useful to build an understanding of the persistence of caste, and how a change in psychological processes underlying social-group relations is the key to understanding caste-based discrimination and violence. on the issue of the genesis of caste, ambedkar (1979) believed that one social class, influential in nature, first enclosed their community by becoming an endogamous class, and became a separate social unit. having the superior status, the group remained a ‘role model’ for others. some followed this policy of exclusiveness voluntarily, but others did it under compulsion. he described it as the infection of imitation, referring to how caste spreads through mechanical ritual imitation. in ambedkar’s words, ‘some closed the door; others found it closed against them’ (ambedkar 1979: 18). while one is a psychological construal and the other is mechanistic, both are complementary and necessary to explain caste formation in its entirety. he recognised that social position in the caste system was determined apparently by the occupational practices that one observes; but on a much deeper level, they reflect accumulated merit in past lives, commonly called ‘karma’ (i.e., to do something now because you had done wrong acts in your previous birth). the endorsement of this belief built into the existing 128 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 prejudices about the caste system and remained as a mechanism of caste legitimation and ideological justification. this made ambedkar envisage caste as nothing but a feeling of superiority-inferiority (ambedkar 1987: 44). ambedkar clearly articulated the caste-mind relationship during his fight against the abolition of the caste system. going by the notion of caste structure and its norms, he was of the view that ‘caste is a notion, a state of mind’ (ambedkar 1989: 68), so ‘destruction of caste means a notional change’. he described untouchability as an ‘aspect of social psychology of intergroup perceptions, a sort of social nausea of one group against another group’ (ambedkar 1948: 143). according to him, the concepts of purity and pollution are representative of emotional states wherein ‘the artificial barrier of caste is constructed’. what is to be valued or despised remains indistinguishable in a person’s mind? ambedkar therefore, claimed that ’all reforms need a change in the notions, sentiment, and mental attitudes of the people’ (ambedkar 1989: 59). while emphasising the need to bring about a radical transformation in people’s cognition, emotions and behaviours, he called for changing the minds of both high and low caste members. given the structure of caste-ridden society he empahsised on promoting the assertion by the deprived classes of their rights in all spheres of life and to sensitize all the other classes to the message of equality and social justice. his call, educate, agitate, organize at the all-india depressed classes conference in 1942, aimed at building critical agents of change among the depressed classes by raising consciousness and promoting resistance to oppression and disadvantage to undermine the power structure of caste. rodrigues (2017), while reflecting on ambedkar as a political philosopher recognises that his approach has ‘celebrated human agency’ and this has ‘changed many low-caste people to assert for their rights and change the mind of others’ (see, jogdand 2023: 39). ambedkar’s analysis of caste brought new insights into the role of religious ideology in the formation of norms or beliefs that form group prejudice and bias. he observed that, ‘people as physical entities are not wrong, but what is wrong is the religious and social ideology that determines the relationships’ (ambedkar 1936: 286). however, he distinguished between religion that realizes the human core values, and one that does not. he valued ‘conduct regulated by individual conscience rather than customary morality’ (fuchs 2020: 5). he strongly believed that ‘the caste order does not recognize the individual as a centre of social purpose’. it rather provides for a regulatory social mechanism to enforce the social order and the moral philosophy (ambedkar 1987). the moral principle of ‘graded inequality’ produces ‘an ascending scale of hatred and a descending order of contempt’ (ambedkar 1979: 48) forming the basis of the observance of customary laws by everyone. all these expose ambedkar’s idea of how caste system has defined the status of social groups to inflict feelings of superiority and inferiority. it is argued that ‘when social (caste) relations are governed by social order with the backing of religious ideology, it is not easy to change habitual casteist conduct because it springs from an ingrained habit of the mind’ (dhanda 2020: 1). ambedkar, in his last speech to the constituent assembly in november 1949 caste as a socio-psychological construct: theoretical and empirical expositions 129 therefore cautioned, ‘we are going to enter into a life of contradictions, the sooner we realise that we are not yet a nation, in a social and psychological sense of the world, the better for us’ (ambedkar 1979: 48). ambedkar was aware of caste prejudices and bias in the indian administrative and judiciary system. while advocating for special treatments for the ‘depressed caste’ through social provisions, he cautioned that ‘the power to administer law is not less important than the power to make laws. the spirit of the legislation may easily be violated if not nullified, by the machinery of the administrators’ (ambedkar 1989: 265). ‘since the law enforcement agencies are very much part of the same caste-ridden societyexpecting the law to ensure justice to victims of caste crimes is rather an impractical solution to this perennial social problem’ (ambedkar 1989: 252). he therefore emphasised that the assimilation of the objectives of marginalized groups of society in rules and policy is not sufficient for ensuring social justice, but representations of individuals from these groups in the administration is also required. the relevance of some of ambedkar’s thoughts has been highly recognised from the ways the caste plays its role in social relationships, caste-class coalition, impunity endorsed by the ideology of caste, continued caste-based oppressive behaviours, caste inequalities and ensuring social justice in contemporary indian society (pal 2020a). in line with a few thoughts of ambedkar on the salience of caste, allport’s theory of prejudice (1954) proclaims that the processes of categorization and prejudice are banal aspects of the human condition. later on, tajfel (1981) based on his work on identity processes argued that the processes of categorisation with excitatory and inhibitory cognitive mechanisms promote and demote different social categories both in our perceptions of others and ourselves. understanding caste prejudice is therefore vital to have insights into ‘why caste and caste oppressions persist.’ among other caste manifestations, caste-based discrimination and violence in daily life are enough to attest to its presence. the ubiquity of caste discrimination within the indian diaspora also points to how cultural values based on caste shape people’s cognition and behaviours even under unfamiliar social and cultural conditions. against the above backdrop, the second part of the article seeks to understand the dominant ideas on the survival of caste and the relevance of a few socio-psychological theoretical frameworks in explaining the persistence of caste in general and caste-based oppressive behaviours in terms of discrimination and violence, in particular. survival and salience of caste: overarching ideas before the discussion on socio-psychological frameworks to shed light on how caste is a socio-psychological phenomenon, this section highlights some prevailing ideas on processes in the social, cultural, political and legal spheres that help caste to sustain or survive. it is widely recognised that caste-based norms continue to apprentice cognitive processes specific to domains of moral obligation. certain sections of society still strongly believe that one must act according to caste rules and fulfil the code of 130 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 social and moral behaviour. while it plays a role in constructing social actions and serving to reinforce and legitimize the social order of caste, it constrains the sense of agency among the disadvantaged caste groups to act otherwise. the former maintains social distance to manage relationships between caste groups, more so, in the face of assertions of the latter, often through the mechanisms of social ostracism and socioeconomic boycott, besides psychological violence (pal 2014; 2020b). for jodhka & manor (2018: 3) ‘caste survives as a relationship that signifies power, a system of domination that often breeds violence and signifies hierarchy and inequality’. while looking at the ‘psyche of the oppressor’, siphon & nair (2023) identify four factors associated with oppressors (dominant caste): colonial mindset, intergenerational transmission of caste attitude, socially-favoured caste behaviour, and delusion of caste superiority that explain how caste is reproduced in various forms to play a role in contemporary society. another factor that contributes substantially towards the continuance of caste influence is the politicization of caste in electoral politics particularly at community level (jodhka 2015). caste is used as a pragmatic measure to get electoral support, often sharpening caste identity (vaid 2014). caste assertiveness often gets intensified. any opposition of low caste members to the dominance of high caste during the electoral process is perceived by high caste groups as deviance from established social morality, initiating efforts for maintaining caste influence and structure of social relationships. there are cultural practices of caste communities that sometimes reinforce the tenacity of caste. as reported in recent time, specific arrangements of cultural celebrations by some communities to celebrate their caste heritage and other historical achievements upsurge and deepen caste feelings and identity. the ideas of ‘caste panchayat’ (council) and ‘caste village’ in some parts of india tend to reinforce caste categorisations and identity. as guru & sarukkai (2019: 13) argue, the ‘appearance of caste in various modes in everyday life become the markers and signifiers of caste, and the affective, embodied, and lived aspects produce and reproduce caste’. they emphasise that an analysis of caste reproduction should not focus only on caste as structures and institutions. in a similar line, bhoi & gorringe (2023) argue that the performed nature of caste on an everyday basis reinforces the ‘meaning-making of caste’ in contemporary society. the critical and contested issue is that the legal measures are aimed at protecting the rights of people and the policy approach in the form of positive discrimination is to manage caste inequality. but these often produce prejudice and stronger caste feelings through constant resentment to structure the social relationships between caste groups and make caste more salient. these are used by the high caste groups as mechanisms to symbolically remind low caste groups of their social status, and create ‘otherness’ against them. as jodhka (2015) observes, the institutionalization of caste through state policy contributes to the survival of caste and is often perceived as a mechanism of preservation of caste. thus, social relations that have long been reinforced by caste norms are sometimes maintained on certain preconditions, making low caste groups fall into a ‘vicious cycle’. caste as a socio-psychological construct: theoretical and empirical expositions 131 caste, discrimination and violence: changing patterns in contemporary society, the issue that has drawn wider attention is that caste often constrains intergroup relations and widens cleavages among social groups. these often translate into various forms of violations of human rights against the group placed lower in the caste hierarchy. among others, the problems of caste-based discrimination and violence have gained prominence. caste-based discrimination is commonly referred to a situation where low caste groups have differential or unequal access to resources and opportunities as their citizenship rights, and they also encounter unfair treatment owing to the social identities. although the fall-out of caste discrimination is multifaceted, the most depressing features for the discriminated people are deprivation of something and mistreatment, and these have significant bearing on their human and social development. in this article, caste discrimination underlines the idea of ‘othering’ that happens in different spheres of life on an everyday basis. the term ‘caste violence’ is often interchangeably used with the term caste atrocities, and both carry similar undertones. however, in india, the term ‘atrocity’ has a legal connotation in the context of caste. in legal parlance, it refers to offenses committed against members at the lower position of caste hierarchy (scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) by other social groups, denoting ‘the quality of being shockingly cruel and inhumane’, and signifies ‘having ingredients of infliction of suffering in one form or the other’ (government of india, 1989). however, under the law, there are specific offenses against low caste, which are called ‘atrocities’. this often does not cover all forms of social disabilities. the term ‘caste violence’ therefore is used to include a wide range of aggressive actions/reactions associated with caste identity. moreover, it is used to refer to the actions characterized by ‘power dominance’. both the manifestations have been pervasive, and tend to affect low caste people in diverse manners. it is a fact that in the community context, caste discrimination forces low caste groups to live a life of subordination. any challenge to such practices often invites various forms of retaliatory action from members of ‘other’ castes as a matter of disrespect to their social position. so, there has been a continuum of violence from discrimination, humiliation and threats although these cannot be always put on a linear scale. for example, while everyday experiences of caste discrimination may feed into aggression, assertions and challenges to caste norms, these can fuel caste violence as a form of reactive aggression. thus, caste violence can be seen in relational terms. it is contended that these happen to be the reasons for persistence of caste. in past decades, the problem of continuing practices of caste-based discrimination and violence has been extensively reported in social science literature. given the scope of the article, a detailed emphasis on the two caste manifestations has been kept out of detailed discussion. before the discussion on the socio-psychological context of the continued culture of caste-based discrimination and violence, this section offers insights into the changing nature and patterns of caste-based discrimination and violence in both quantitative and qualitative terms. given the legal provisions of protection from various forms of discrimination and violence, it would be expected 132 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 that a low caste would avail their due rights with assured dignity. but, the macro level evidence indicates that caste violence continues to prevail in contemporary indian society, adversely affecting the protection needs of low caste. the official data provided by the national crime record bureau (ncrb) indicates a consistent increase in the number of registered cases of caste violence against low caste. however, the data on caste discrimination is contested. although the data on violations of civil rights provided by the ncrb reflect the extent of discriminatory practices based on caste, the insignificant figures do not indicate the actual magnitude of caste-based discrimination. however, several empirical studies and reports of civil societies validate the persistence of caste and its role in intergroup relationships and caste discrimination. according to the national crime data, on an average about 37,000 incidents of violence were registered annually in the last two decades (ncrb, 2001-2021), indicating an increase of about 48 per cent during the corresponding period. the percentage increase was considerably higher from the mid-2010s. the heinous nature of violence against the low caste people accounts for a substantial proportion and shows a notable increase in recent years. there are many registered cases of violence which are psychological in nature—like intimidation, harassment, insulting, humiliation, dishonouring or demeaning, threats, outraging modesty and other malicious acts, these constitute a substantial proportion. contrary to the social experiences, the ncrb data on caste-related discriminatory practices was found negligible. a glance at the data might lead one to believe that the discriminatory practice is non-existent and, hence, is not an important issue in india. the figures on caste violence and discrimination are recognised as underestimations and, hence, might not represent the actual situation. for example, despite daily media reports and literature on caste pointing to widespread caste-based discrimination, the official data does not validate it. this suggests that the majority of the cases of castebased discrimination in particular are not recorded. it is a fact that discriminatory behaviours very often result in violent appropriation in the name of deviance from social norms, leading to the registration of many cases under caste violence. like the cases of caste discrimination, numerous incidents of violence are not registered for various reasons, which usually range from oppressive tactics of perpetrators to pressure from members of high caste communities, deterrence emanating from other societal and institutional arrangements, and casual attitude of the administration towards implementation of the law (pal 2012, 2019b, 2021). many victims of violence are often forced to pull out of registering complaints under certain socio-economic compulsions, the fear of further retribution, and little hope for justice based on the social experiences of significantly low conviction rate, referred to as ‘repelling effects’ (pal 2019a, 2020b). however, it often drives the low caste members to look for required social support within the community and strengthen social networks beyond the community for collective actions to elude vulnerabilities to similar behaviours. in many cases caste victims ensure registering incidents of caste violence with the support of caste as a socio-psychological construct: theoretical and empirical expositions 133 either community members or close associates, or other influential members or nongovernmental organisations, despite deterrence and coercion (pal 2019b, 2020a, 2023). despite the underestimation of the actual prevalence of caste violence, the increase in registered cases of violence may point to the increased oppressive responses against the low caste members who dare to assert equality, considered by the perpetrators as offensive conduct, as also the increased resilience of low caste through ‘collectiveness’ in countering deterrence and getting their complaints registered. despite caste-based discrimination and violence being outlawed, these insidious behaviours are sustained in modern society, sometimes in different forms and subtle ways. there has also been a change in its motives and intensity (pal 2018, 2019b, 2023; teltumbde 2011). now, many violent acts are committed in vengeance against low caste assertion. changes are also seen in terms of the manifestation of contempt and deep resentment against the state privileges meant for low caste groups. despite the amendments in the prevention of atrocities (poa) act 1989 in 2015 to strengthen the law and increase the legitimate protection of the rights of low castes, and even increase public accountability, the most recent ncrb data exhibits an increase in the rate of caste violence. in recent years, caste violence has increasingly become collective and organized, and multi-dimensional (multiple forms of violence are committed simultaneously) (see, pal 2015, 2020b). caste violence against women is deliberately promoted to reinforce caste domination and maintain power relations in society (see, pal 2018). with the recognition that caste-based discrimination and violence are social realities in present-day society, these can be reference points to understanding the salience of caste to exist in contemporary society. the key questions are: (i) what is the underlying motivation to make caste discrimination and violence happen and persist? and (ii) is it intentional or situational, or both? these hold relevance for understanding these caste-related behaviours through the lens of socio-psychological theoretical frameworks. caste-based discrimination and violence: socio-psychological perspectives in the past, considerable socio-psychological literature on social cognition and social identity has contributed tremendously towards the understanding of sociopsychological underpinnings of intergroup relationships and conflicts. while the socio-psychological frameworks need to be validated in the context of caste, they can be used to explain the persistence of caste as a system of social categorisation or stratification and its manifestations like caste discrimination and violence. there can be a two-way process for optimising knowledge-building on the psychology of caste: use of the constructivist grounded theory, involving the interrogation of human communication and languages of conversations to evolve a framework based on evidence from local context, or contextualising widely used theoretical frameworks on intergroup processes. both would hold promise for theoretical advancement and 134 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 the psychological study of caste. in this section, an attempt is made to use a few psychological theories defining intergroup relations and behaviours and providing insights into the potential factors that contribute to caste-based behaviours; and research evidence to discuss why and how high castes perpetrate violence and what social advantages they might have as a matter of protecting their self-esteem, social position and social identity. psychological research on implicit prejudicial attitudes provides a new understanding of how it is the principal motivating force behind social discrimination (quillian 2006). this captures the cognitive, affective and behavioural elements of caste. the psychology of prejudice, a function of ‘individual feelings’ (allport 1954), and ‘group mind’ (blumer 1958) becomes an operative instrument for psychic benefit. in the context of caste, prejudice based on the philosophy of the caste system produces false beliefs about the low caste. this yields discriminatory behaviours towards them, which assumes a functional role in deriving greater psychological satisfaction and preserving a privileged position. however, the social identity theory (tajfel 1982; tajfel & turner 1986) is one of the few most influential approaches in social psychology, which has been instrumental in explaining the origins of conflicts across various contexts. the theory proposes that identification with a group is a psychological transformation in which one’s selfinterest, social status, and selfhood are defined in collective terms. there is always a desire for an identity to be both distinct from other groups and positive, referred to as ‘psychological distinctiveness’ (tajfel & turner 1986). downward comparisons are sometimes made to elevate the self-esteem principle of identity (wills, 1981). when confronted with negative perceptions of group identity or with actions that create a perceived threat, members of the social groups would strive to ensure a positive identity. social identity therefore provides a basis for shared social action. the responses range from indirect to more direct strategies as a response to identity threats. the theory can be useful in understanding caste-related behaviours like caste discrimination. caste identity is primarily a ‘community identity and caste group status is relational; the latter can be affirmed by the possible defensive strategies to enhance the relative positive distinctiveness of the in-group. jaspal (2011: 34) argues that ‘collective caste identity has important consequences at the individual level.’ evidence suggests that members of high caste groups tend to essentialise their caste identity based on beliefs that identity is inherited by descent or is ascribed by birth (mahalingam 2003). they permit themselves to discriminate against low castes and use the strategy of downward comparison through discriminatory practices with the motive of strengthening group identity and reproducing the ‘social representation’ of low caste as per caste norms. the importance of the ‘meaning principle of identity’, therefore, sustains caste-based discrimination. on the other hand, for the low caste groups, the negative behaviours of high caste groups may positively influence ‘collective identity’, i.e. a shared sense of belonging to the group, and respond to high caste behaviours. when social context makes them vulnerable, identification with the in-group becomes a source of resilience, social support and collective identity. these caste as a socio-psychological construct: theoretical and empirical expositions 135 are likely to positively influence a sense of well-being by playing a moderating role in challenging the negative attitudes and behaviours and buffering the disadvantaged self from an identity threat (leach & livingstone 2015). further, response to identity threats may be influenced by the changes in caste consciousness and power dynamics operating in the group. according to jogdand (2023), members of low caste groups can contest the dominant perceptions and social devaluation through collective actions to modify their relationship with the social reality. so, responses of both caste groups to the ‘perceived identity threat’ put them in situations of power struggles to cause the persistence of caste and caste discrimination. as mentioned earlier, opposition to caste discrimination is often transmuted to violent acts, having larger consequences on social life. although factors explaining caste discrimination, as discussed above, have relevance for social behaviours like caste violence, still there is a need to understand the socio-psychological underpinnings of caste violence, often rooted in caste discrimination. a dominant sociological explanation of the persistence of caste violence is the traditional hierarchical caste structures with unequal ‘power’ and ‘authority’, which continue to shape violent behaviours against the low caste even in the presence of stringent laws on caste violence like the poa act. that is why, the implementation gaps in the poa act were consistently held as the major cause of the increase in the number of caste violence, even by government monitoring bodies like the national commission for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (ncscst) and national human rights commission (nhrc) (see, pal 2019a, 2023). however, in recent years, there has been a change in focus from the more structural and legal explanations to the intergroup dynamics in explaining the tenacity of caste violence, as it is considered to be a social phenomenon that mostly takes place at the community level. an attempt has been made in the following sections to draw insights from a few interrelated socio-psychological frameworks on intergroup processes to offer socio-psychological explanations for the persistence of caste violence. although, it is often argued that the psychological study of caste may not be adequately explained by the theoretical frameworks developed and used in western contexts, it is still held that integrating some interrelated theoretical strands would provide a deeper understanding of group-level processes shaping caste violence as an oppressive behaviour against the low caste. following the seminal work of allport (1954) on prejudice, blumer (1958) proposed that the prejudice-based ‘group position’ is at the root of many group behaviours, including social conflicts. according to blumer, four types of group feelings exist among dominant groups: (i) being naturally superior or better; (ii) being intrinsically different from subordinate groups; (iii) being entitled to exclusive rights and privileged positions; and (iv) the fear and suspicion, and an apprehension that the social position is under threat from the subordinate groups. these feelings play an important role in maintaining ‘group position’. in the context of caste violence, it can be argued that the fourth feeling is at the root of many cases of caste violence. in line with the first three feelings, while the experiences of high-caste groups shape their sense of ‘privileged group position’, the fourth feeling causes perceived ‘identity 136 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 threat’. the legitimate protection of rights and assertiveness of the low caste groups against unfair treatment and social dominance is taken as non-compliance to the ideology of caste, and a ‘social threat’ to their existing ‘social position’. this escalates a ‘feeling of identity threat’, and rejuvenates strong animosity. the perceived social threats often intensify resentment to cause caste violence as a defensive reaction. this goes along the lines of evidence indicating how the resistance of low caste to the rigidity of caste norms and unfair treatments is perceived by the high caste groups as disregard for their social position, evoking wrath, creating an attitude of revenge-taking and retaliation, and making them use different social mechanisms to suppress any assertion by low caste; violent behaviours being the prominent one (pal 2012, 2019b, 2023). further, many cases of caste violence are being committed in a ‘collective’ manner (pal 2014, 2018, 2020b), which suggest efforts to maintain a strong sense of group position. a few economic studies have revealed that change in threat perception by high castes is caused or created by changes in the relative socioeconomic positions of the caste groups and is linked to crime rates. the econometric analysis of local-level (district) data on crimes showed that a narrowing down of the gap in economic position between low caste and high caste groups was associated with an increase in crimes, particularly violent crimes (sharma 2015). similarly, kabiraj (2023) using a spatial regression technique on the data on caste-based crime and socio-economic conditions found that when the socio-economic gap between the caste groups decreased, high castes’ violence against the low castes increased. kremer & schermbrucker (2006) argue that certain goals and interests of individuals or groups at two different social positions create the ideal conditions for a conflict purposefully. the central human motivation is to achieve the goal of maintaining a distinct identity. in this sense, incidents of caste violence are mostly intended or purposeful acts. caste violence can result from the existence of incompatible goals between high caste and low caste groups, the latter striving for a positive social identity through equal rights, and the former attempting to have a stronger sense of ‘positive’ and ‘distinct’ social identity in line with caste norms; being indulged in violent acts to subdue any opposition to their caste privileges and status. as sankaran, sekerdej & von hecker (2017) argue, caste identity is more salient amongst high caste individuals, because ‘the inherent property of caste and greater perceived status over many years heightens group identification with one’s caste.’ they perceive a violation of caste norms as potentially threatening to the group identity, motivating them to alleviate this threat and protect their in-group identity, purportedly through violence. the argument goes along the lines of blumer's four feelings. the ideas of blumer and tajfel explaining caste violence can further be augmented by the intergroup threat theory (stephan, ybarra, & rios 2009) and the social representation theory (moscovici 2001). the former posits that when people perceive that ‘outgroups’ actions are in a position to cause harm to their social identity and status, they experience intergroup threat. there can be many antecedents to the threats including relative power and influential members. further, this threat can be realistic caste as a socio-psychological construct: theoretical and empirical expositions 137 (concerns about loss of privilege, power, resources, etc.); and symbolic (concerns about the integrity and validity of the in-group’s meaning system including its norms, values and social representation). however, both are constructed and represented in the minds, to result in ‘identity threat’. the social representation theory (moscovici 2001) states that perceived threats arise from representational processes wherein one transforms abstract ideas about outgroup members into objective or commonsense realities, contributing to the precipitation of reactive responses, such as acts of violence. from a psychological standpoint, caste violence is not only simply social behaviour but also characterised by aggressive reactions. the internalised superior position among the dominant groups is very often exhibited through ‘micro-aggressions’, referring to the verbal and non-verbal invasive messages aimed at subordinate groups, and contempt for them (pierce 1970; sue 2010). different forms of aggressions like ‘micro-assaults’, ‘micro-insults’ and ‘micro-invalidations’, can be communicated to the subordinate groups around identities (sue 2010). while the first two are messages of direct aggression, the last one indirectly conveys disrespect or contradicting views. however, all these are related to each other and are often delivered through various aggressive signals as messages of hostility. in the context of caste, as discussed earlier, resentments among high caste are often caused by the state policy measures in favour of low caste. the slightest assertive move of the low caste members or resistance to their caste positions can be perceived by the high caste to be a function of these ‘favoured’ legal and social interventions for the low caste groups. under some preconditions, the feelings of both shame and anger ignite micro-aggressions and incite acts of caste violence. as found, the attitudes of revenge-taking, retaliation, and intimidation are important mechanisms that are very often used to suppress assertiveness among low caste, seemingly with an intent to ‘teach a lesson’ (pal 2015, 2019b, 2023). it so happens that sometimes the entire low caste community suffers from the perceived transgressions of individuals for any opposition. so, when caste identity is profoundly entrenched in the social psyche at conscious or subconscious levels, violent behaviours can be considered as simple micro-aggressions on caste lines. however, in the context of caste, the way the microaggressions are conceptualized and usually understood, might not be specific to the dominant group. for the low caste, it might be more implicit to the perceived threat to their social identity, driving collective actions against constant unfair treatment and humiliation to foster a quest for social change. from the above discussion, it can be argued that the occurrence of caste-based discrimination and violence that low caste face are both situational and intentional. given that the law does not permit caste practices, more people from low caste have become conscious about their rights and are in a position to assert their rights and oppose any unequal practices. however, the resistance of high castes to such perceived changes has remained strong. these create constant conflicting situations, making caste-based violence one of the most important regular manifestations of caste in contemporary society. 138 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 5, no. 2 conclusion the growing literature on caste affirms that caste is not a thing of the past; it is very much alive in the present-day modern society. despite social and political transformations, protective legislative and social measures for low caste groups, and a strong criminal justice system to ensure justice, caste continues to be one of the most oppressive social systems in india. it persists in different forms and affects social life in multifarious ways. caste manifestations in forms of discrimination, humiliation, and violence exist across the spectrum though their nature varies. in the last few decades, scholars from different disciplines have looked into the issue of caste as a social system, everyday experiences of caste, and its effects from different perspectives. despite the recognition that caste is a psychological phenomenon and social psychological theories on intergroup processes provide explanations for intergroup relations and behaviours, the psychology of caste is under-researched. indian psychological studies on caste have not focused on caste questions the way it should have been to add to the knowledge domain of intergroup processes. this article is an attempt to bring in a few interrelated socio-psychological frameworks to explicate the psychological processes involved in the survival of caste and its oppressive manifestations in the forms of caste-based discrimination and violence in contemporary society. it is strongly held that caste persists more as an important socio-psychological phenomenon in present-day society. the transformations in caste relations, increased social consciousness among low caste groups, and growing challenges to the traditional social order cumulatively position caste groups with a sense of ‘identity threat’. for the high caste groups, it emanates from the low castes’ resilience against caste norms and social oppressions, and their assertions for social equality. they tend to reproduce the effects of caste in the process of upholding a ‘group position’ and a positive and distinct social identity. the caste-based discriminatory practices and violence serve as defensive mechanisms to keep low caste away from social relations. for the low caste groups, experiences of devaluation of social identity and oppressive behaviours increase their resistance in the process of searching for a positive identity. these create social conditions that sustain the salience of caste in today’s society. unequal battles between caste groups revolve around the power differentials. the low caste groups find little space to fight for justice, and justice is not simply available to many. the major concerns have been to address the issue of the suppression of voices and denial of social justice to them despite the presence of protective social measures and state machinery to address the evils of the caste system. this article calls for future research on the ‘psychology of caste’ to explore different shades of caste from a psychological lens. in line with ambedkar’s thought that caste would not disappear or be eradicated with socio-economic changes in society but would require radical transformations in people’s minds, the article calls for interventions using both legal and social tools. caste as a socio-psychological construct: theoretical and empirical expositions 139 strategic interventions at the societal level need to focus on changes in caste beliefs, attitudes and biases, and fostering psychological empowerment among the low caste groups through institutional support to deal with challenges stemming from caste, rather than leaving it to the law and state machinery alone. psychological interventions can be initiated in the form of social campaigns for raising awareness of the pervasiveness and impact of caste, 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(1981). downward comparison principles in social psychology. psychological bulletin, 90(2), 245–271. © 2025 sara kohar, naresh kumar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. general research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2623 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 376-389 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste from lhasa to dharamshala: statelessness and identity in the tibetan exile diaspora sara kohar1, naresh kumar2 abstract the article examines the forced migration and stateless existence of tibetans due to china’s invasion of tibet in 1950. as per the demographic survey conducted by central tibetan administration (cta) in 2009, approximately 80,000 tibetans fled to neighbouring countries like india, bhutan, and nepal after the 1959 uprising against the chinese government. it studies how exile has catalysed the formation of a transnational tibetan identity. drawing from diaspora and transnationalism theories, particularly the works of clifford, brah, and schiller, the article analyses how these diasporic networks sustain a collective tibetan consciousness. it then examines how tibetan exile communities have used internet activism, education, religious continuity, and cultural preservation to maintain their identity and rally support from around the world. it interrogates india's nuanced involvement in the tibet issue, striking a balance between geopolitical realism and historical links. it contends that the tenacity of the tibetan diaspora, which is based on political optimism and cultural memory, represents a distinct diasporic formation in which statelessness serves as a means of belonging as well as a political statement. keywords tibet; diaspora; statelessness; social exclusion; government-in-exile; transnationalism; identity introduction in the study of identity formation, transnationalism, and forced migration, the tibetan diaspora offers a unique situation. following the 1950 annexation of tibet by the people’s republic of china (prc), which resulted in the 1959 rebellion and the subsequent exile of his holiness the 14th dalai lama, tibet’s contemporary political 1phd scholar, centre for diaspora studies, central university of gujarat, gujarat, india 2professor, centre for diaspora studies, central university of gujarat, gujarat, india e-mail: 1sarakohar.11@gmail.com from lhasa to dharamshala: statelessness and identity in the tibetan exile diaspora 377 history was drastically changed. following the seventeen-point agreement, which was drafted in retaliation to the chinese invasion under communist regime, tibet was granted autonomy within the prc. tibetans, however, continue to challenge the legality of this agreement because it was supposedly signed under intimidation and the committee sent to beijing lacked the authority to sign such a pact. thus, the relevant period of tibetan history begins in 1950, with chinese army forcefully entering the tibetan area of chamdo. the three major provinces that made up ancient tibet, namely amdo, in the northeast, kham, in the southeast, and u-tsang, in the west lost their independence and self-government. these provinces are dominated by the ethnic han majority, which makes up 91 per cent of china’s inhabitants along with non-tibetan minorities (macpherson et al., 2008). when speaking of tibet, china refers to it as tibet autonomous region (tar), which is physically equivalent to the former province of u-tsang. amdo and kham, the two last major tibetan provinces, have been administratively split up and merged into other chinese provinces. amdo has been merged into qinghai and portions of gansu, while kham has been divided between yunnan and sichuan. the historical boundaries of tibet were drastically changed by this reconfiguration, as shown in figure 1, which scattered its cultural heartlands throughout several chinese administrative divisions and reduced the official tibet to a small portion of its original area. fig. 1: map of historical tibet and its current administrative divisions under the people’s republic of china. the map illustrates the three traditional provinces—u-tsang, amdo, and kham—and their present-day incorporation into the tar, qinghai, sichuan, gansu, and yunnan. (source: https://www.himalayas-trek.com/country/tibet.php) in 1959, his holiness the dalai lama fled the capital city of lhasa and founded tibet’s own government-in-exile in dharamshala leading to the formation of a large diaspora across india. a majority of tibetans have maintained their stateless refugee status in india and nepal as a reminder to themselves and the rest of the world that tibet is under the chinese government’s unlawful occupation and that they intend to 378 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 return home eventually (hess, 2009). upon reaching india, dalai lama felt the need to establish a proper functional government that could represent the exiled population, so he inaugurated the cta with working offices in 10 countries that operate as de facto embassies for the administration’s cultural and informational bureaus, providing tibetans with consular services. these events led to a process of identity renewal and maintenance that is consistent with diaspora theorists like james clifford (1994), who contends that diasporas are groups that actively negotiate their identities over time and space. in a similar manner, avtar brah’s (1996) concept of the “diasporic space” emphasises how cultural memory, shared political goals, and lived experiences all influence identities. the formation of cta marked a significant shift in the tibetan cause serving the diaspora in numerous ways, including education, scholarships, and rehabilitation. it has incorporated modern democratic ideals in preparation for a free tibet in the future. since it has no authority over any geographical region or population, it mobilises national and worldwide support through an effective communication network and by giving incentives to people to remain committed to the cause of a free tibet. tibetans in india have overwhelmingly opted to be stateless, eschewing the practical benefits of citizenship and thereby staying exiles. devoe writes “for the exiled tibetans, refugee status is indicative of a cultural, ethnic, and a common national identity, a devotion to the past, and a dedication to tibet’s future liberation” (goldstein, 1978). after years, the campaign for an independent tibet has achieved international recognition. many activists have established online forums and groups to promote the freedom of tibet at the same time as the internet is becoming more widely used and accessible. these internet forums provide platforms for the expression of identities and ideas that constitute a global political discourse. using these theoretical perspectives, this study examines how tibetan exiles have constructed a transnational political and cultural identity. through an examination of transnational activism, institutional analysis, and historical context, the study makes the case that tibetan statelessness has evolved into a framework for community resilience as well as a symbol of resistance. tibetan migration to india and historical context understanding tibetan migration to india requires an understanding of the mid-20th century’s larger geopolitical changes, particularly the end of colonial control in south asia and the establishment of communist china. looking at the history of tibet, the territories identified as part of it were characterised by the high-altitude ecology and the ethnic tibetan population. the han chinese and indians or nepalese were agricultural people who resided in the relatively low grasslands stretching from the tibetan highlands to the foothills of the himalayas. tibetans lived semi-nomadic on the green steppe plains up to the plateau along tibet’s eastern border with china. between the sixth and sixteenth centuries, the great wall of china was built to keep from lhasa to dharamshala: statelessness and identity in the tibetan exile diaspora 379 mongolian, uygur, and tibetan nomads from conquering china along tibet’s northern frontiers (macpherson et al., 2008). the circumstances that forced tibetans to migrate in large groups dates back more than a century, when tibet was persuaded to ally with great britain, which during that time controlled india. tibet operated as a buffer state between colonized india and china in return for defence against the chinese. with the collapse of british administration in india in 1947, china became excessively interested in tibet, asserting that it had always been a part of china. the then chinese leader mao zedong invaded tibet in 1950 with the purpose of “liberating it for the chinese motherland” (shakya, 1999; levinson and christensen, 2002). tibet was important to china for strategic and security reasons due to its geographic location. subsequently, the indian government began to take the required procedures to establish administrative authority over the himalayan areas of ladakh and the north-east frontier agency (nefa). india had no alternative but to engage the chinese government diplomatically to create an agreedupon border between india and tibet. all these goals were met in the 1954 agreement between india and china. even though this accord allowed china a free hand in tibet, the dalai lama remained hopeful that india would assist tibetans (sikri, 2011). stages of migration the large inflow of han chinese into tibet altered the region’s demography but had little influence on tibetan ambitions for sovereignty or a separate identity. consequently, in early march 1959, mass demonstrations against chinese control took place in tibet’s capital of lhasa. tensions were at peak since the capital city had been overpopulated for some time by tibetans fleeing from eastern districts of kham and amdo. approximately 30,000 tibetans protested china’s occupation by defending the entrances of norbulingka, where the 14th dalai lama was residing now. on march 17, the first rounds were fired by the chinese troops which resulted in the death of at least 80,000 tibetans. this came to be known as the “lhasa uprising” after which the dalai lama escaped to india, where he was granted shelter and permitted to organize an in-exile administration (pherson, 2003). in the 1980s, china’s policy of opening tibet to chinese trade and tourists and increase in political persecution resulted in the second wave of tibetan migration. over 25,000 additional tibetan refugees arrived in india between 1986 and 1996, mostly via nepal, boosting the country’s native tibetan population by over 25 per cent. most of the time, india gave permission to tibetans to enter through nepal. those who attempted to enter across the highly disputed borders of sino-india were sent back because of the dire security situation there. this wave also represents what robin cohen (1997) refers to as a “cultural diaspora,” which is characterised by the desire for spiritual continuity and cultural preservation in addition to relocation. around 44 per cent of the second wave of migrants was nuns and monks. the number of short-term pilgrimage travellers from tibet rose significantly. for instance, up to 100,000 tibetans from tibet took part in 380 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 the kalachakra ritual at sarnath in 1990. according to unhcr, the indian government allows these “newcomers” but prohibits them from participating in political activities. furthermore, many of the newest immigrants were denied residency permits, and existing tibetan villages became congested since they were not permitted to grow. this wave can also be termed as an education-forced migration by families of children seeking a full tibetan education at dharamsala’s residential institutions (macpherson et al., 2008). this type of “education-driven migration” strengthened the idea that international movement is essential to maintaining cultural identity and gave the story of tibetan exile a new dimension. as appadurai (1996) notes, such educational exchanges are important processes in the reproduction of diasporic subjectivity, especially in stateless groups. these migrant waves have combined to create a dynamic tibetan presence in india that blends cultural resiliency with political resistance and keeps evolving in an increasingly transnational context. establishment of the central tibetan administration with a large population of tibetans in india, dalai lama felt the need to establish a political entity which could represent the people of tibet and ensure their rehabilitation and welfare. the indian government not only provided shelter to the exiled population but let dalai lama establish his own government-in-exile on indian soil. though this government is not “officially” recognised by any country including india, it receives substantial financial assistance from countries and international organisations across the world. the dalai lama founded the government in exile on 29 april 1959 and came into being in 1960 with a vision of an independent tibet in the future. the first task the cta took upon itself was to rehabilitate tibetan population and provide the youth a proper education. from the beginning, it inhabited the principles of a democratic state in preparation for a free tibet. the administration now has every department and feature of a free democratic government. the dalai lama has long pushed for the political democratisation of tibet. the invasion of china put an end to the changes that he had even begun in tibet. in his 1960 bodhgaya address, the dalai lama made clear his desire for the development of a democratic state, proclaiming: even prior to my departure from tibet in march 1959, i had come to the conclusion that in the changing circumstances of the modern world, the system of governance in tibet must be modified and amended so as to allow the elected representatives of the people to play a more effective role in guiding and shaping the social and economic policies of the state, i also firmly believed that this could only be done through democratic institutions based on social and economic justice. (tpie, 2022). the cta has become more democratic throughout the years. the first direct election for kalon tripa (now known as the sikyong, or president) took place in 2001. the from lhasa to dharamshala: statelessness and identity in the tibetan exile diaspora 381 dalai lama reaffirmed his long-standing commitment to democratic values in 2011 by formally handing up all political authority to the elected authorities. the current government-in-exile is not meant to assume control of tibet after its independence. in his manifesto for a free tibet in the future, titled the guidelines for future tibet’s polity and basic features of its constitution, dalai lama stated that “the existing exile administration in power would be dissolved and dismantled as soon as freedom is restored in tibet” (cta, n.d.). he asserted that tibetans who have been living in tibet, not members of the exile administration, will head the government of free tibet as it will ensure accountability and transparency. according to him, a transitional administration shall be created, led by an interim-president who he will select or appoint. the cta’s responsiveness, vision, and democratic values have given it legitimacy despite its lack of geographical control. according to basu (2013), it has been succeeded in establishing a “representational space” that enables tibetans to preserve a common political vision beyond national boundaries and symbolically reaffirm their nationhood. preservation of tibetan identity and culture following the dispersal of the tibetan community from their country, the only thing that binds them together in exile is their shared culture, history, and struggle. according to avtar brah (1996), the imagined homeland and the current circumstances of relocation are both factors in the construction of diasporic identity. this place of exile, especially in india, has become a place of both rebirth and bereavement for tibetans. majority of tibetans participate in the revival of their culture and identity since they feel it is significant to stay attached to one’s roots. educated tibetans try to preserve and represent their heritage by preserving local languages such as bodhi. cta produces and publishes all kinds of books (textbooks, cultural, religious) in tibetan language as it is being aggressively eroded and children are forced to learn chinese in tibet. one crucial policy cta assigned itself from the beginning of its establishment was to relocate tibetan refugees and restore tibet’s freedom and identity. the rehabilitation agenda includes programmes like a) providing education to tibetan youth; b) creating a strong democratic state; and c) making tibetan people self-reliant in every field (cta, n.d.). the dalai lama recognized in his early years in exile that the wish to return to their homeland might not be realized in the immediate future and therefore, emphasized the need of rebuilding tibet’s monastic institutions in exile, preserving cultural traditions, and instilling tibetan principles and values in the younger generation through education (harris, 1999). tibetan culture and identity are strongly linked to tibetan buddhism. buddhist precepts and religious practise are commonplace for most tibetans. important guidance and teaching are given to their communities by monks and nuns. they routinely participate in initiatives designed to protect and 382 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 advance tibet’s environment, language, and culture. buddhism came to tibet between the seventh and ninth centuries. in terms of theories, rituals and religious institutions, it is drawn from mahayana buddhism in india. tibetan buddhism fell during the ninth century ad’s period of fragmentation in tibet but resurfaced stronger than ever during the eleventh century ad’s buddhist renaissance. its teachings have gradually extended and acquired popularity outside of tibet throughout history, notably in mongolia, bhutan, and nepal (wang, 2022). tibetans living in exile feel it is important to preserve and represent their religion and traditions that have been threatened with extinction in tibet. this emotion is linked with a strong dedication to survival, which is further cemented by the dalai lama’s resolve to preserve a fundamental cultural identity. since 1959, tibetan exiles and chinese authorities have been engaged in a “confrontation of representations” in which the two sides have fought to legitimise their separate views of tibetan past and current events. tibetan exiles recognised the need of conserving tibetan buddhism not just as a significant set of rites, but also as the foundation for re-establishing a tibetan identity in exile. as basu (2013) says, “to keep the prospect of returning to tibet alive, the memory and lived experience of ‘tibetan-ness’ must be preserved in order to maintain the sense of loss and hope.” tibetan exiles are taught to remember the experiences of others when they are born in exile (basu, 2013). according to the dalai lama, tibet’s young generation holds the key to tibet’s and tibetan culture’s future. as a result, training them is critical to the survival of the tibetan way of life. conditions were terrible for the early phases of tibetan refugees, who struggled with high levels of starvation and a lack of opportunities for education and jobs. for little to no money, the earliest arrivals engaged in difficult physical labour such as road building, farming and other construction works. the tibetan children’s village (tcv) was founded by the dalai lama in 1960 with the goal of developing a self-sufficient and a sustainable community that would allow tibetan diaspora and culture to revive itself and flourish. in a 1962 speech at the inauguration of the first refugee school in mussoorie, dalai lama asserted: it is even harder for children than for adults to be uprooted and taken to an entirely different environment...we had to do something drastic to preserve their health and their education was also a matter of great importance. we know that our children in tibet are being snatched away from their parents and being brought up as chinese communists, not as tibetan buddhists....so in the next generation, the children in india may be very important people, a nucleus of the peaceful religious life we wish to retain. (dalai lama, 1962) through religious organisations, community projects, and educational programs, the tibetan diaspora in india has maintained a thriving cultural life that goes beyond exile. these initiatives, which guarantee that tibetan identity is visible, vital, and powerful from lhasa to dharamshala: statelessness and identity in the tibetan exile diaspora 383 even in the absence of geographical sovereignty, are not only sentimental; they are acts of political resistance. leading a global free tibet movement in 1992, glick schiller, basch, and blanc-szanton coined the term “transnationalism,” which refers to social networks that cross national boundaries to connect migrants with network members who are still in their place of origin. information is exchanged within these international networks. technology has made it possible for migrants to communicate with family and friends back home, which may be considered as an informal transnational exchange of human and social capital (schiller et al., 1992). the way that people communicate with one another and with governments is changing because of the usage of emergent media technologies. with access to the internet, people are better able to keep up with events in other nations, maintain links to their own countries, communicate with other diasporas, and in some cases, build global communities of like-minded people. the potential for online spaces to develop into places of resistance where people may voice their political disagreement in ways that were previously impossible in offline groups is at the core of this phenomenon (chan, 2008). the establishment and preservation of links and networks beyond physical, cultural, and political boundaries, as well as the interconnectivity and cohabitation of the local, national, and global, are all recognised as transnational spaces. the transnational reinforces the potential for meaningful interactions and social structures emerging across borders and via the building of dense networks. the transnational is more important than the global because it recognises both the potential of networks and communities to cross national boundaries and the continuing role of national borders in structuring and restricting social activities and meanings (myria, 2013). after guiding his people to a secure foothold in exile, the dalai lama have been travelling outside of india to educate the world on the issue of tibet and the atrocities tibetans have been facing over the years. the various ngos, tibet support groups, or the global tibet movement, remain the world’s most persistent non-violent movement. throughout, the dalai lama worked with the chinese government to encourage it to adopt a more tolerant, peaceful approach toward the tibetan people. tibetans in india are also making extensive use of the internet to raise awareness about their cause. it also aids in the networking of the tibetan diaspora across the world, the organisation of protests, and the collection of support from countries all over the world. an online website called phayul.com was started in 2001 by tibetan refugees in india which is distributed in english from dharamshala. it is a leading news website that disseminates information and commentary about tibet and tibet-in-exile. the dalai lama and the tibetan diaspora founded more than fifty tibetan communities across north america, india and nepal in the decades that followed. the preservation of tibetan culture through the continuous use of the tibetan language and continued allegiance to the various sects of tibetan buddhism is crucial to these 384 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 diasporic groups. several ngos were established in the early years of exile to aid the growth and development of a civil society for tibetans that promote self-help efforts. the two most significant ngos are the tibetan youth congress (tyc) and the tibetan women’s association (twa), both of which were founded in dharamsala, and have branches all over the world. political activities, health, welfare, and social service programmes, environmental activism and community development, educational activities, cultural activities, and religious activities are just a few of the things that these ngos do (macpherson et al., 2008). a group of tibetans, students, and supporters in new york city founded students for a free tibet (sft) in 1994. it was established on the principle that youth and students have always been crucial allies in liberation struggles. since then, it has grown into an international network of people in over 35 countries, including students and non-students. sft has spearheaded efforts that have cost the chinese government billions of dollars to win the safe release of several political prisoners (sft, 2022). the organization stands in solidarity with tibetans in their fight for independence and freedom. young people and activists from all around the world are now connected through a worldwide network. through outreach, community organising, and nonviolent direct action, they fight for tibetans’ fundamental right to political independence. the mission is to empower and teach young people to be leaders in the global social justice movement. in his holiness the dalai lama’s (2015) words: “the achievements of students for a free tibet show that non-violent action does work.” these groups make up what noakes (2012) refers to as “transnational advocacy networks”—organizations that work internationally to compel moral commitment, exert pressure on strong states, and hold governments responsible. such networks may last for decades, maintain international involvement, and provide legitimacy for a community that lacks a state, as the tibetan situation illustrates. crucially, political campaigning is only one aspect of the international tibetan movement. it also includes environmental action, spiritual outreach, and cultural diplomacy. policies of central tibetan administration towards china according to the dalai lama, the tibet issue must be settled amicably via deliberations based on the aspirations of the tibetan people. he established contact with the chinese army in lhasa shortly after china invaded tibet in 1951, and in 1954, he engaged in discussions with leaders including mao zedong and chou en-lai to avert confrontations and unnecessary violence. his holiness remained an advocate for a peaceful negotiated resolution even after witnessing the bloody repression of the tibetan national uprising in 1959, but the chinese leadership was unwilling to engage in dialogue during the years of radical communist reforms and the infamous cultural revolution. consequently, the dalai lama ceased advocating for the restoration of tibetan independence after several failed efforts and instead suggested a partnership-based from lhasa to dharamshala: statelessness and identity in the tibetan exile diaspora 385 resolution rather than breaking away from the people’s republic of china. however, china’s answer to his request was hostile and included critical remarks about his holiness. this led to large-scale protests in tibet, which the chinese military once more forcefully put down. with the imposition of martial rule in march 1989, the cycle of oppression and resistance reached its height. his holiness continued his attempts to talk to china despite the worsening circumstances in tibet. he received the nobel peace prize in 1989, and the overwhelming response which was demonstrated on the international stage as the world recognized and supported his undying devotion to pursue a peaceful negotiated settlement to the tibetan people’s suffering. the cta has attempted to use digital channels to elevate tibetan voices, build strategic partnerships with governments, ngos, and rights-based groups, and mobilise global civil society in response to this intransigence. this tactic fits with what keck and sikkink (1998) refer to as “boomerang politics,” in which non-state actors use transnational advocacy networks to gain power while avoiding state channels. according to the dalai lama’s political and ethical beliefs, the cta has opposed demands for either complete independence or violent opposition. rather, it has advocated for a strategy based on negotiation and compromise in an effort to reconcile china’s territorial concerns with tibetan ambitions. the middle way approach it is an approach that dalai lama proposed as a compromise for the tibet problem. it was designed to establish stability and peaceful cohabitation between tibetan and chinese people based on equality and reciprocal assistance as well as to amicably resolve the tibet problem. proposed in the late 1980s and formally endorsed by the cta in 1997, the policy marks a change in strategy from calling for tibet’s complete independence to pursuing true autonomy within the parameters of the chinese constitution. the current condition of tibet under the chinese rule is rejected by the tibetan people, and they demand independence. complete independence is, however, seems nearly impossible that is why tibetans have deliberated on a strategy to grant autonomy to all tibetans residing in the three provinces i.e., the tar region within the framework of the policies of the chinese government. this approach takes a moderate stance as it wishes to protect the interests of both the parties involved in the conflict. for the tibetans, this means protection of their cultural heritage and religion, and a distinct national identity. whereas for the chinese this means preserving and securing its border and territorial integrity (cta, 1997). the goal of the middle way is to persuade the world community that it is an ethically and politically sound position by providing a compromise. according to experts like anand (2000), the middle way is a post-nationalist tactic that is based on ethical governance, human rights, and cultural autonomy rather than assertions of state sovereignty. additionally, it aims to reassure china that the aspirations of tibet do not pose a danger to national unity. the dalai lama has continuously presented 386 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 this strategy as a “win-win” option that addresses china’s territory and security concerns while preserving tibetan dignity. however, china has adamantly rejected this approach, seeing it as a sneaky attempt at “semi-independence,” despite its accommodative tone and international endorsements, notably by the us, the european parliament, and many countries. since 2010, chinese authorities have refused to resume formal negotiations with the dalai lama, accusing him of applying unfair treatment. however, the cta still maintains the middle way as its primary foundation for policy, prioritising communication above conflict. india’s stand on the tibet issue the current border dispute is a result of chinese communist colonisation as tibet functioned as a barrier between the realms of influence of the british, chinese, and russians in the asian region. however, despite tibet’s long history of autonomy, both chinese nationalists and communists have viewed it as an essential part of china. chinese invasion led to the presence of chinese forces near the mcmahon line, which became a possible subject of contention with india. ultimately, in 1951 the “people’s government and the local government of tibet” signed the seventeen-point agreement (shakya, 1999). it essentially served as a declaration of tibet’s surrender. after dalai lama’s forceful submission, to strengthen communication with tibet, china aggressively commenced road construction projects. it also began trying to erode tibet’s long-standing trading links with india and nepal, remove extra-territorial rights excised by india in tibet, and establish india’s legitimacy of china’s occupation of tibet. the 1954 trade agreement between india and china succeeded in achieving these aims. india passed up an opportunity to secure unambiguous and unequivocal acknowledgement of india’s boundaries with tibet from china at a time when it had some geopolitical influence. in the following years, mutual mistrust and hostility between india and china grew. the aksai chin road between xinjiang and tibet was finished in 1957, and china’s stance became increasingly hostile (sikri, 2011). in the following years, china and india began to engage in the deadly games that hostile states frequently engage in as the internal developments took shape after 1959. the chinese believed that india was using the dalai lama as a negotiating tool in order to bolster its border claim and shame china. the indians believed that china was utilising its superior geo-strategic position in tibet to exert pressure on india’s frontiers and damage its international standing. it evolved into a fatal cycle that drove india and china to war in 1962, with tibet serving as the connecting link (norbu, 1997). as a result, india’s stand on the tibet issue is limited as there is a threat to india’s border security as well. india has provided tibetans with a place to reside and prosper but it cannot hold a staunch position in favour of tibet as it needs to maintain cordial relations with china. since then, strategic prudence has guided india’s tibet policy. in its diplomatic interactions, india has formally acknowledged tibet as a part of china, even though from lhasa to dharamshala: statelessness and identity in the tibetan exile diaspora 387 it has continued to accommodate the dalai lama, the cta, and more than 100,000 tibetan refugees. india has mostly avoided internationalising the tibet problem and refrains from openly criticising chinese policy in the region. although diplomatically helpful, this ambiguity has frequently put india in a precarious situation where it upholds tibetan rights in practice while restricting political speech in public diplomacy. india is reluctant to take a more assertive stance for several reasons: ● the ongoing boundary issues with china, particularly those pertaining to aksai chin and the mcmahon line; ● china’s expanding influence in the indian ocean and its strategic partnership with pakistan; ● india’s ambitions for both global economic integration and regional stability; ● the fear of china’s retaliatory actions, such as increased military pressure or isolating diplomatic ties. as international awareness of tibet’s issue has grown and china’s global assertiveness has increased, scholars and analysts have called for a reassessment of india’s tibet policy. it should, consequently, make india take a strong stand for tibet as it shares historical and spiritual ties with tibet. india has been extremely kind to the tibetans as it had allowed thousands of tibetans to live in exile in india. however, the challenges tibetans in india face such as the status of being legally stateless should be addressed. since they have no legal right and certainly no permanent status, it becomes an obstacle in their growth. conclusion a compelling case study in diaspora politics, stateless identity, transnationalism, and cultural survival may be found in the tibetan exile experience, which was moulded by historical rupture and maintained via transnational resilience. this article has looked at how the central tibetan administration (cta), the dalai lama’s leadership, and the active involvement of tibetans around the world have helped the tibetan diaspora grow from a population of displaced people to a globally recognised political and cultural community. tibet’s desire for self-determination should be seen considering his holiness the dalai lama’s repeated statements that he doesn’t want tibet to become independent from china but rather to reach a peaceful resolution. as a result, tibet is currently seeking a peaceful settlement as well as the genuine restoration of its autonomy through the removal of the factors that have hampered it. the chinese have recently pushed their will on the tibetan people while assuming the rights that belong to dalai lama, even in a purely religious matter like the nomination of the next panchen lama. this only proves that tibetan autonomy is a myth today. in the middle of tibetan people’s extraordinary hardship and misery, the dalai lama’s call for restoring tibet’s independent status in its true form is a logical and 388 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 ethical argument. by assisting him, india would simply be fulfilling a responsibility that has been weighing on its shoulders for over half a century. india continues to play a crucial and contradictory part in this story. india has served as the tibetan community’s host country, offering them resources, safety, and a certain amount of independence. however, the limitations of realpolitik are reflected in its strategic vagueness and public silence. india’s moral obligation and historical connections to tibet may serve as the foundation for a more proactive and ethical approach to the problem in the future. in the end, the tibetan conflict encompasses more than just issues of sovereignty and territory. the rights to political voice, spiritual continuity, and cultural existence are at issue. a potent example of how displaced groups may express agency, oppose erasure, and redefine nationhood beyond boundaries is provided by the tibetan diaspora, with its dedication to non-violence, democracy, and identity preservation. references about cta. 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(2022). how tibetans celebrate tibetan new year (losar). china highlight, https:// www.chinahighlights.com/tibet/new-year.htm. © 2025 soma mandal. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. general research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2619 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 343-359 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste baby kamble’s the prisons we broke as an anti-caste manifesto soma mandal1 abstract this essay will focus on the theoretical and political importance of anti-caste writings, taking dalit feminist author baby kamble’s the prisons we broke (2009). it proposes that such dalit writings need to be considered manifestos as they have an important role in advancing manuski or the human rights of dalits. anti-caste literary writings are critical foundations of the field of dalit studies and enable dalit theory to articulate and uphold the historical and contemporary conditions of dalits’ oppression. such manifestoes are thus documents for a radical future that shape the field of social studies, political theories, and social movements. keywords anti-caste writings, dalit literature, dalit feminist, manifesto, baby kamble introduction the anti-caste philosophical and literary tradition by dalits is a rich epistemology of social thought and conveys the situated knowledge (haraway, 2016; harding, 2004) of oppressed people, whose experiences counter the dominant knowledge systems. it examines how it shapes alternative power structures to resist oppression. the history of anti-caste philosophy includes narratives of social injustice, suffering, and pain. it critiques the cultural systems of oppressors and the discrimination that these systems perpetuate through caste practices and prejudices. over centuries, anti-caste writings have taken different forms, such as novels, short stories, poems, and critical thought that speaks against widespread casteism and cultural discrimination against dalits. carr (2003) mentions that the philosophy of history is the process of reconstitution of the past, where truths are often neglected in selecting and interpreting facts. he finds 1phd researcher, department of humanities and social sciences, indian institute of technology delhi, india e-mail: somamandaliitd@gmail.com 344 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 history is never ‘pure’ since it is always refracted through the minds of the recorder (11) and what he chooses to write. the past few centuries have been instrumental in entrenching the caste system. it is natural to ask what importance the philosophy of anti-caste thought has for anti-caste thinkers and philosophers. why does a historical and philosophical tradition of anti-caste thought continue to be deprived of recognition? what are the aspirations and struggles within this philosophical tradition, and what might marginalized theories of knowledge have for radical, emancipatory projects? as a field of writings, voices, and activism of india’s erstwhile untouchables known as dalits, it is argued that the anti-caste writings based on the lived experiences of dalits should be considered as “manifestoes.” manifestos are public, political declarations that demand action and mobilize the masses for a particular purpose, ideal, or intention. i take this cue from smith (1998), who mentions writings focusing on life as “autobiographical manifestoes”. anti-caste writings centre the lived experience of dalits and advance theoretical and political positions within existing disciplines. such writings explore various forms such as autobiographies, poems, short stories, memoirs, letters, narration, testimonies, and critical thought from below. this essay will focus on the theoretical and political importance of anti-caste writings as manifestoes and their role in advancing manuski, or the human rights of the dalits. anti-caste writings are critical foundations of the field of dalit studies and enable dalit theory to articulate and uphold the historical and contemporary conditions of dalits’ oppression. such manifestoes are thus documents for a radical future that shape the field of social studies and social movements. anti-caste praxis and theory counters institutionalized and historical casteism and authorizes underrepresented sections, such as dalits, to become oppositional and powerful subjects to claim their agency back from their oppressors. these writings portray the dark horrors and inhumanities of the caste system, expresses the dehumanization of dalits, and reclaims the agency to confront casteization. the works and writings of the anti-caste philosophical tradition identify the political goals of liberation and emancipation and initiate the philosophicohistorical production of anti-caste knowledge that can maximize the analysis of the lived experiences of the marginalized. dalits’ lived experiences entail theorizing these epistemological, empirical, and ethical erasures that never become part of the mainstream history or disciplinary canon. such anti-caste traditions of writing and thought suggest the relationship between language, knowledge, and power, which are sites of contestation for marginalized groups. to provide an account of the histories of tormented and tortured lives, language and writing often provide the expressions for conveying the inscription of bodily bruises, hurt, harm, and injuries, as well as the psychological interiority of oppressive living conditions in caste dehumanization. the issues of death and the dehumanization of dalits are intimately related to everyday survival and identity. caste discrimination and the persistence of caste violence are reciprocally connected and integrated, leading to casteization and castegorization (yengde, 2023). discrimination and violence along caste lines have consistently been baby kamble’s the prisons we broke as an anti-caste manifesto 345 highlighted at the global level, and numerous international agencies have called out dalits’ persecution and denial of human rights. conversations on caste at the global level are now amplified by anti-caste writings and narratives that gained pace in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. the brahminical hindu religion and its scriptures are yet to liberate the hindu masses, and modern, secular minds are still imprisoned within this brahminical vision of the caste and varna system. anti-caste writings and anti-caste movements provide a radical decolonial idea to question the dominant order and to rethink, reconceptualize, and reconsider the conventions of society and history (omvedt, 2006). these writings and their movement-based struggle mark an important reconstruction of politics and power from a marginalized perspective, a perspective that rises from the bottom, looks beneath, and digs deep to expose and explore multidimensional oppression. critical anti-caste epistemology and pedagogy use words and books (pan, 2022). education and language thus remain central to disseminating information and knowledge in an otherwise oppressive and exclusionary world that distances dalits from education and empowerment. education for dalits is essentially an exclusionary field, a field reluctant to admit dalits within its fold, given the brahminical institutional orientation. marriage remains another institution to launch love jihad to maintain endogamy and punish dalit individuals for inter-caste weddings. the politics of marriage in india undergirds various manifestations of violence, one of them being caste (sathi, 2023). the field of labour, too, is infested with the centuries-old traditional birth-based assignment of hereditary and caste-based duties and professions. discrimination and dehumanization through labour are deadly and result in violence and the death of dalits (madheswaran & attewell, 2007). anti-caste writings as radical manifestoes anti-caste writings express the discriminatory effects of caste and casteism that result in unequal human development, inequality, atrocities, and injustice against dalits. it demonstrates that the history of caste persecution and caste-based discrimination has legitimized a social life of violence, which ambedkar found was resulting from the absence of social endosmosis within the hindu religion (2015). the presence of caste hate and the lack of endosmosis render dalits as lesser than humans, much lesser than animals, excommunicated and exterminated as disabled, inferior, and unworthy creatures. anti-caste writings are written in the tradition of civil and secular rights to combat and counter caste oppression. international human rights law has taken cognizance of caste as a transnational force of oppression and violence similar to race. it has recognized protective safeguards—legal, political, and social for addressing casteism (waughray, 2009, 2010). while caste confers a historical disadvantage to dalits, it offers a historical advantage to the privileged dominant caste. mosse mentions that caste effects are not locational; they travel from village to city and into all areas of life. he further finds that caste and development, along with their discrimination, 346 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 allow opportunity hoarding by privileged groups but humiliation and violence against subordinate caste groups (mosse, 2018). anti-caste writings, one among which is the autobiographical or life narrative, strengthen anti-caste perspectives among educators, students, and practitioners (maske, 2023). critical anti-caste consciousness is an epistemological situatedness that provides crucial insights into how caste domination works, and anti-caste writings invoke resistance consciousness among the masses, leading to activism, opposition, and social justice. such narratives produce anti-caste critiques and develop legal and political discourse of anti-caste interventions in various fields and disciplines to effect change and initiate critical awakening. it is proposed that anti-caste writings need to be considered as “radical manifestoes.” these writings signal the vision of looking towards the future, even when the narratives often retrospectively look back to the past. at other instances, it reflectively engages through memory to articulate the histories of torture and discrimination. such narratives are hypervigilant, documenting the historical persecution, futuristic concerns, and possible directions for dalit lives. the narratives are, thus, manifestoes because they offer scope for addressing questions of caste by highlighting the experiences of the most marginalized and oppressed. such standpoint epistemologies are crucial, and as manifestoes, their importance in guiding global history and politics is urgent and critical in nature. manifestos are expressly political and mark the revolutionary will, desire, and ambition to transform societies and the structures from dehumanization and destruction. as a radical project, the anti-caste manifestoes draw language as a signifier of caste oppression and confer the oppressed with the agency to break the cycle of repetition. by insisting on the moral agency to write back, dalits anti-caste thinkers resist the colonization of language and marginalized cultures by brahminism. these narratives redefine the boundaries of literary, historical, and political discourse and contextualize dalits’ denial of humanity in the past, present, and future as a critical concern for society at large. it invests them with the authority to assign action and responsibility and command democratic principles of tolerance, love, freedom, and equality from all sections of society. anti-caste manifestoes are testimonies. it articulates testimonial accounts of oppression and discrimination expressed by survivors, victims, and oppressed people of caste. they are written to evoke outrage and induce guilt among those who legitimize and perpetuate these oppressions (rege, 2021) or remain silent as mute spectators. the word “testimony” originates from the latin word “testis,” meaning to bear witness and testify to the truth of some fact. a philosophy of anti-caste resistance through writings, thought, activism, and social movement offers radical alternatives to envision the global future, an inclusive future different from the oppressive past. it evidences and affirms the truth of history, memory, and knowledge of dalits’ lives. the past is not necessarily a route to repress historical memory but to relive and release the trauma of suffering and agony (smith, 1990), without which the movement towards radical emergence and intersectionalist future cannot unfold. the history of caste injustice and its continuation in the present show the violence of casteized baby kamble’s the prisons we broke as an anti-caste manifesto 347 dehumanization and indignity that subjects dalits to a debilitating and degrading life. the dignity of dalit personhood is intimately related to subjectivity and agency, and indignities’ iniquitousness reveals the denial of rights and recognition as human worth (guru, 2009, p. 2). anti-caste writings confer personhood, recognition of rights, and respect for dalits by documenting the processes through which dalits create new meanings of life under oppressive cultural and historical conditions. it provides aspirations to the dalit community and society, dignifies the labour they perform and the social practices they generate and creates new ways of living dalit sociality that can counter dehumanization, sustain, and survive near-death experiences on a daily and deadly level. critical anti-caste philosophical tradition systematizes knowledge, inquiry, and interpretation from the marginalized perspective of dalits. it transforms experience into sites of critical knowledge and translates it into practice to rewrite historical events, accounts, and investigations. such narratives take different forms, such as stories, inscriptions, oral accounts, artefacts, life writings, poems, and documents, to provide a critical historiography of anti-caste discourse. anti-caste radical engagements foreground dalits’ historical exclusion. it maps the diversity and differences in anti-caste assertions to annihilate caste oppression. understanding marginalized lives and their pasts draws attention to the political and cultural mobilization of their histories and identities and, thereby, their resistance to the dominant caste system. cultural, political, and historical writings on the philosophy of anti-caste thought offer epistemological, empirical, and experiential ways of knowing social systems that remain marginal and peripheral. it invokes the tradition of protest and politics that overcomes the eclipsing of histories from below by dominant and hegemonic brahminical traditions. deconstructing the interconnections between marginalization and disempowerment, such narratives assert power and challenge cultural determinist assumptions about marginalized lives (grosz, 2000). radical anticaste manifestoes thus raise urgent and reflective questions for the future of anti-caste agendas and the continued investigation of dominant caste politics. ambedkar’s anti-caste philosophy the history of anti-caste discourse in india has come to represent the ever-continuous and unrelenting struggle for justice and equality by dalits. in its articulations, several anti-caste thinkers have left the most profound imprints behind, of which ambedkar’s remains unparalleled and central. what is india as a nation to an untouchable? how can one understand the terms of being an indian citizen, but more precisely, what does it mean to be an untouchable or a dalit as an indian? ambedkar’s thinking through these questions of caste from his discriminatory birth to the ebbing stages of death and disease pushed him towards transformative struggles to bring “effective freedom” to dalits. he emphasized the critical role of education and writing he received in india and abroad (stroud, 2023). ambedkar envisioned a radical egalitarian order through his conception of prabuddha bharat (inclusive india). at the same time, 348 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 his predecessor from the sant tradition, guru ravidas, wanted to name his ideal society begumpura (a city without sadness). in light of ambedkar’s philosophical contributions, stroud places him as a pragmatist philosopher whose position, in the light of global philosophical thought, must be addressed and made known. in evolution of pragmatism in india (2023), stroud explains that one of ambedkar’s contributions is the philosophical tradition of pragmatism in india, which has reconstructed the dalit experience as knowledge. ambedkar’s pragmatist thinking has critically shaped the field of anti-caste thought and anti-caste studies through his works, speeches, and activism by offering reconstructive codes for reimagining the idea of inclusive india. confronting the violence of casteism, ambedkar and his philosophical thoughts contributed to the creation of anti-caste philosophy. language and writing have an intimate relation with the social tyranny of caste. ambedkar pointed out the violence of brahminical books and their interpretations in his numerous works. his idea of a nation and its history was to be imagined through modern institutions of law, education, state, and constitutional democracy. such a language of constitutionalism in everyday practice, he thought, would remove the unconstitutional dominance of caste privileges within the society and in the day-today governance of india’s political and social history. history has a unique place for ambedkar because nations were created through modern historical changes. history also aligns the study of nations and communities with their future prospects. history and the future are co-created through complex knowledge, ideologies, and identity projections. in annihilation of caste (1936, 2015), ambedkar mentioned that a swaraj with slavery was unacceptable. swaraj or freedom as an idea of history and nation-making, was of utmost importance to ambedkar because of its relationship with dalits’ past, present, and future, and how it shaped their lives. it is the social and political emancipation of untouchables from historical slavery that national independence was to be imagined and articulated. interpretation of history went along with social changes and social movements for ambedkar. it is not only through theoretical history but “doing history” and “writing that anti-caste history” that the inauguration of social changes against historical injustices can be experienced, expressed, and articulated. the mahad satyagraha (1927), the burning of the manusmriti (1927), the kalaram temple entry (1930), and his conversion to buddhism (1956) are means of “doing history.” he also separated social history from the category of political history and foregrounded the radical history of untouchables and outcastes. his method articulated a modern conception of political history and freedom by altering or defying the existing conventions of caste social history. the social history of caste was a multiplication of a system of various castes. ambedkar radically changed and shaped political history through his writings to bring a different vision of social history that was formerly non-existent and impossible to imagine. in the annihilation of caste, it is emphasized by ambedkar that social democracy is more important for him than political democracy because it is the social endosmosis baby kamble’s the prisons we broke as an anti-caste manifesto 349 needed to effect change in a regressive social pattern of caste . this social endosmosis is the intermingling of various kinds of people and their social histories and was to be politically imagined through enlightened ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity. ambedkar’s conceptualization of history from the perspective of marginalized, downtrodden, untouchable people makes him the a central figure in the important philosophical tradition of anti-caste radical thought. through everyday construction of radical social changes in laws, policies, activism, social movements, and anti-caste writings, change will be possible. this essay thus traces the continuation of such anticaste thought through the literary work of baby kamble and considers ‘the prison we broke (2009) as a political manifesto. the work offers insight into the dalit experience and traces the figure of ambedkar as an anti-caste philosopher who has provided dalits with a transformative journey to resist caste oppression. coming before him, the phules had been fighting against caste oppression, but ambedkar transformed the entire untouchable movement into an anti-caste pedagogy, a domain of knowledge whose critical stake in the creation of a anti-caste blueprint can emerge. anti-caste consciousness in babytai kamble’s the prisons we broke dalit feminist writer babytai kamble’s novel jina amucha or the prisons we broke (2009) is one of the earliest women’s autobiographies, first published in a marathi women’s magazine, called stree, in 1984, then later published as a book in 1986, and further translated and published in english by maya pandit in 2008. the book has also seen a wider reception and became increasingly popular as a dalit novel, writing not only about the existence of the mahar community but also providing a critique of patriarchy within the dalit community. it foregrounded the period of the 1930s when dr. ambedkar’s anti-caste struggle was shaping ideas of samaj (community), sheel (courage), satwa (truth), and other human virtues that were generally not ascribed to the dalits, considered outcastes and untouchables. translated into many languages, hindi, urdu, punjabi, french, spanish, and english, babytai’s novel continues to demand critical attention from the caste public when she mentions that “their time would come one day” (30) to claim the human rights that the caste-dominated public and the private world of the brahmins have denied to them. thus, kamble’s novel posits claims on behalf of the rights of the oppressed by writing for the oppressed. also, as guru (1995) writes, dalit women’s experience of oppression comes from their experiential worlds. jina amucha records the horrifying inhuman condition and the experiential worlds of dalits—the nakedness of religious rituals that oppress people within the community, but which are also supposedly believed to liberate and make them forget the everyday inhuman existence of poverty, death, pollution, and outcaste life. jina amucha claims to be a biography of the oppressed. in the introduction, maya pandit is of the view that kamble’s autobiography is a sociography, as it has ardently 350 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 made efforts to express a picture of the mahar community and not just one particular individual. through such an attempt, pandit is of the opinion that kamble goes beyond the auto-self-i to the socio-other-we. she gives a picture of how the mahar community lived and, thus, represents the history of the truth of dalits. as kamble herself expresses, her idea is not to distort and self-fabricate a narrative of oppression but to uphold “the picture as it is” so that it contributes to a clear understanding of why certain religious rituals, labour practices, and everyday lives of dalits were practised in a particular way and the reasons why they were practised. the existence of certain goddesses and gods in the dalit community, such as kalubai, wadjai, katjai, laman pathan, yetal sahib, mad malhari, margi mata, mari aai, laxman aai/lakhi aai, agya vetal, sat asra, satwai, hadal, and others, reinforces hindu religious cults and idol worship. as kamble shows, these gods take up much narrative space and also the social space in the lives of dalits, which becomes the pretext for oppressive practices such as dedicating young sons to deities known as potraja and the celebration of possession of women in the month of asadh (monsoon), as well as the occasion of the rede jatra (buffalo fair). women are made to become the sacrificial objects of the community and, through the idea of possession, become bearers of oppressive traditional practices through which the material and spiritual well-being of the community is believed to be ensured and maintained. the customs of applying kumkum, haldi, and sandalwood on the foreheads of potrajas and women who became possessed indicate the close association of religious rituals and practices with the hindu religion. however, on a metaphorical level, religion and faith, customs and practices, as seen from this basic use of haldi, kumkum, sandalwood, and some wildflowers like kanher, exposes the hypocrisy of hindu religious worship that had maintained a stronghold on the dalits even when no god came as a saviour to these people when the community experienced plagues, diphtheria, malaria and other severe diseases. the marks of kumkum, haldi, and sandal are auspicious marks of devotion and worship, yet when it came to survival and everyday existence, there was no auspicious grace that gods and goddesses bestowed on these poor folks. in multiple instances, kamble mentions the common assumption to treat diseases through this superstitious religious worship. she writes that whenever people in the community would suffer from terrible diseases, instead of taking the person to a doctor, the person was believed to be possessed and ritual purification through priests and possession was the usual recourse to remedying illness. crude ways of treating the patient, either by making ash concoctions or offering lemon, chillies, and salt to the gods and goddesses, were methods adopted by the community. the absence of material resources such as food, medicine, clothes, cooking utensils and even bare necessities like clean water, bathing soap, and shampoo depicted in the narrative were rare. she describes instances where a woman had brought a piece of coconut, chewed the coconut inside the mouth, and after mixing it with the saliva, applied it as shampoo on the head of children to remove lice and clean the hair. it evokes not only an imagery of disgust but also conveys the truth that dalits have been pushed out from a life of cleanliness, health, and hygiene, education, and employment. baby kamble’s the prisons we broke as an anti-caste manifesto 351 the trope of possession possession plays an important role in the dalit community. jina amucha’s narrative exposes the double bind of possession—first, being possessed by the false notion of hindu gods and goddesses, and second, a kind of symbolic possession where caste slavery and caste ownership of dalits’ lives by brahmins reigned supreme. as these hindu gods and goddesses possessed these dalits, so were these dalits ideologically and psychologically possessed by the brahmins who controlled and determined how dalits should lead their lives in utter depravity. kamble constantly critiques the façade of religious worship through her narrative, and counters the criticism of her community members, arguing that she was only attempting to depict the community’s real picture. the narratorial voice often concludes at the end of each chapter (2, 3), with commentaries on labour and living practices that have been beastly, barbaric, and superstitious because of the overarching framework of caste-induced poverty, depravity, and ignorance. the fact that these rituals have an important place in the community and tend to induce forgetfulness about their inhuman existence is a cunning continuation of traditional and spiritual, hence religious and cultural practices of caste. underneath these practices were hidden the centuries-old oppressive structures of the brahminical hindu religion. in the beginning, the narrative presents us with the tale at veergaon, kamble’s maternal grandmother’s place, where kamble’s maternal grandmother, aaji, prays to kalubai to give her daughter a boon of having an offspring. soon, baby kamble is born. however, when she is only one and a half years old, like the other three daughters who died one after the other, kamble’s health also worsens, and the villagers assume she is dead. when her aaja starts reading pandav pratap (a brahminical book) that narrates the lives of pandavs and krishna, the child is shown to have regained her life in the early hours of dawn. kamble’s family provides thanks to the goddess of veergaon, kalubai offers a sacrificial hen in the burial ground dug as a reward to please the house goddess. pandav pratap is a hindu book on religious and mythological deities. it depicts dalits’ faith in the hindu religion until ambedkar is shown in the latter half of the narrative, foregrounding the discarding of these religious books and the necessity to speak out against the degraded nature of the hindu religious system. during possession and festivals as well, stones and rocks of various sizes decorated with kumkum and haldi were kept on raised platforms in the houses. kamble mentions, “the size and shape of these platforms indicated the status and prestige of the householder: small size, small status. big size spelt out prestige! big-sized gods would be placed on these large platforms. the god was a huge, round, smooth stone weighing two to three kilos, painted saffron, with long lines of bhandara and kumkum drawn on it. some stones also had two large protruding eyes and huge moustaches painted on them. a blood-red piece of cloth would be spread in front of the gods, on which lay neem twigs with leaves gone crackling dry and a heap of green bangles.” (22) 352 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 the existence of such gods to rationalize the status and popularity of families in maharwada and to remain in constant fear of the wrath of gods and goddesses to avoid the calamities of hunger, poverty, and disease, which afflicted them, angers kamble. she explains that it was as if there was a competition to have numerous gods and the tendency to hide realities instead of introspection and reflection, absent in the dalitwada due to the lack of education and employment. further, these practices also validated cult worship even in homes that did not have these items. blind faith in these rituals of possession and numerous such religious practices attracted practitioners, viewers, and participants, and it became the routine of their everyday lives and the explanation for unseen calamities. kamble writes, “old people listening to this talk would nod reverently and add their own pearls of wisdom, ‘yes, yes, young man, you’re right! the parents must have earned a lot of merit, that’s why holy spirits like laman pathan possess their son. that god won’t possess just anybody out there.” (23) such traditions were, in fact, glorified and faithfully followed by the dalits and being possessed was a boon and blessing for the entire family. ambedkar’s speeches had, in fact, warned against the worship of hindu religious gods, which needed to be stopped because it is in the name of hindu religious gods and under which exploitative practices have been furthered and sanctioned to maintain dominance and hierarchy. it had created a culture of exploitation and discrimination of dalits by the brahmins. looking up to gods and goddesses and searching for a metaphysical explanation of their inhuman existence made them unaware of caste realities. kamble narrates the journey of self-realization initiated by bhimrao ambedkar and the importance of education in creating that consciousness. she observed that generation after generation of dalits perished by worshipping these stones and living their lives in utter misery. the imagery of stones here indicates the hardship dalits have to endure, the stone-like cold existence of their lives, and their suffering in extreme poverty and hunger. in one instance, she mentions how the god laman pathan had to be offered a suti roti and an opium pipe when he possessed any young man, even if there was no food in the hut. similarly, there is yetal sahib, known for black magic, and women are not allowed to bow to him. there are instances of how a man was possessed by the yetal sahib and refused to leave, so margi mata, a goddess, entered the young man’s body and fought a terrible battle with yetal sahib. thus, one day, when a thorn pierced the young man’s foot, the narrator describes: “immediately, margi mata entered his body and possessed him. she and yetal sahib fought a fierce battle over him; but who’s heard of margi mata losing to anyone? around sunset, the young man fell down frothing at the mouth. how shall i describe the victory of the other? the young man’s tongue hung out like a goat’s and he breathed his last.” (24) baby kamble’s the prisons we broke as an anti-caste manifesto 353 such episodes narrate the reality of dalits’ existence who lived in perpetual fear of these gods and goddesses and also sought an explanation for things they did not understand—such as sudden changes in weather, crop failure, illness and disease, and lack of food and resources in the family. towards the end of the novel, kamble’s voice sounds optimistic when the community comes under the leadership of bhimrao ambedkar. thus, kamble believes that the gods have fulfilled their community prayers, which have not gone in vain. babasaheb is hereafter imagined as a god to the entire dalit community. depictions of corporeal and spatial untouchability baby kamble’s narrative shows the plight of the dalit community and the villages they inhabit. the maharwada at veergaon and phaltan mostly had desolate houses without proper civic facilities like water, sanitation, or employment opportunities. jina amucha, or the prisons we broke, exposes the multiple cages and the prisons that the fourfold caste system, or varnashrama dharma, had created for dalits. the cages and prisons symbolize the stark poverty of the homes where there is only hard, stone-like bhakris (dry bread), mysterious illness and death as curse from gods and goddesses, and the oppression of dalit women by their mother-in-law, called sasu, and their father-in-law, called sasra. kamble’s sociography also points towards the discursive and material marginalization, isolation, and alienation of dalits who lived outside the social imagination of dominant castes (pandit, 2008). the maharwada is situated outside the social imagination of caste hindu society as well as lives at the edge and outside the village topography. in the narrative, there are descriptions of each dalit house having only some clay pots and pans. poor houses had barely two or three pots and pans. the mahar of the sixteenth share, or the yeskar mahar, who begged for food in return for the services each dalit household carried out for brahmins, would have more like five rows of pots and pans. in one instance, kamble highlights how the relationship between brahmins and dalits was inhuman and undemocratic. dalits were almost regarded as beasts and animals by upper-caste people. snot-nosed boys, lice-infested bodies of dalits, grime and sweat, puss and blood of animal carcasses on their hands, which the mahars had to take care routinely, evoked images of beastly, uncivil life without dignified existence to the brahmins. the irony of the slave consciousness that the mahars had ingrained in their minds without questioning the authority of religion, gods, and brahmins is critiqued and described in the following lines by kamble: “appasab, could you please give this despicable mahar woman some shikakai for one paisa and half a shell of dry coconut with black skin? the shopkeeper’s children would trickle into the courtyard for their morning ablutions. he would teach innocent children social behaviour. chabu, hey you, can’t you see the dirty mahar woman standing there? now don’t you touch her. keep your distance.” (26) 354 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 the mahar woman would immediately caution the children not to touch her and would call them little masters while spreading out her pallav (end part of her sari) to receive the things from the shopkeeper. however, when she offered the money, the shopkeeper would touch and take it without considering it polluting. thus, inside the mahar’s hut, all the mahar had was a small makeshift chulha of three stones. broken pots and pans were covered with leaves, while one big clay pot, one mud bowl, and a cracked coconut shell with a piece of wood nailed to it served as a spoon. this was all the wealth that a mahar had. the oppressive structures of untouchable existence also lay bare the despicable quality of food that dalits were forced to consume. having no alternative, most families had to go to the town and beg for food. they came back with bags overflowing with rotten and decaying food. after putting all the rotten food in the big clay pot and the stone-hard bhakris, the mixture was then made to boil. due to its sour quality, it was known as ambura. however, after it was cooked, it was known as ukadala. kamble mentions this as their daily routine, and the mahars feasted on the rotten food as some kind of delicacy. mahars were also routinely called to clean shit, carry the news of the death of upper castes to their relatives, beg from house to house, and clean animal pens. the yeskar mahar, or the mahar of the sixteenth share, had this special duty. a particular yeskar mahar family was required to serve for six months. thus, it was a popular notion that a yeskar mahar was relatively well-off because he could get a regular supply of leftover food in the form of stale bhakris at the end of the day in return for his services, unlike the ordinary mahar. however, what was the role of the yeskar mahar? the yeskar mahar’ had a staff, a stick with a bell, and he had take it along with him every day during his caste duty. when he was about to reach the village, he had to ring the bell on the stick because his voice was considered to pollute the brahmin households. one is reminded that dalits are not only untouchable but also unseeable, unapproachable, and unhearable (ambedkar in rodrigues, 2002). during times of animal diphtheria, every dalit family would wait for animals to die so that they could lay claim to the animals once they were dead. when such plagues arrived, these mahars were called to remove the carcasses and clean the pens. the animal pens often had maggots, blood, pus, shit, animal secretion, and a putrid smell, which mahars cleaned with their bare hands. however, these mahars would do these tasks excitedly because they now had lots of food. the animal pens takes on the symbolic representation of caging, not only the presence of the animals within it but also metaphorically and realistically the cage-like existence of the dalits, who were considered worse than animals. as eaters of dead animals and cleaners of dead pens, they were pushed away from and outside the respectable worlds that brahmins enjoyed. kamble describes the condition of dead animals that mahars considered delicacies. horrifically, the dead animals were anything but life-threatening and poisonous to eat. “the mahars considered animal epidemics like diphtheria or dysentery a boon. every day at least four or five animals would die. the internal organs of the dead animals would decay in stages. in some animals, organs like the liver, baby kamble’s the prisons we broke as an anti-caste manifesto 355 for instance, would be as hard as stones; whereas, in other animals, the organs would be nothing but mush, like overcooked rice. the inside of some animals would be putrid, filled with puss and infested with maggots. there would be a horrid, foul smell! it was worse than hell! but we did not throw away even such animals. we cut off the infected parts full of puss, and convinced ourselves that it was now safe to eat the meat.” (89) the images of rotten organs of animals, some as hard as stones, others as mushy as boiled rice, evoked feelings of disgust. but that disgust is outsourced and supplemented onto the dalits, who are forced to eat and clean these dead animals. this cultural and ontological “supplementation” (sarukkai quoted in guru, 2009, p. 50) of disgust arising out of the stench of the dead animals, transferred onto the bodies of dalits as stigmatic and untouchable like the animal carcass therefore, gets displaced and supplemented from the dead animals to the dalits. it perpetuates further aversion of dalits as untouchables from the brahmins. the smell of putrid, rotten carcasses filled with pus and maggots, the dead meat, and maggot-filled pens takes on symbolic overtones of the stench of the caste system, but also the pus-filled maggot-like existence of brahmins who feed like parasites on the bodies and labour of the dalits. the caste system, worse than hell, had kept dalits like animals and beasts and made them eat carcasses. forced to eat and consume poisonous, leftover, stale, and rotten food and considered untouchables, the mahars, kamble writes, continued to live the lives of animals and beasts, distanced from horizons of emancipation and without an understanding of their oppression. descriptions of dalits running like kites and vultures to collect such carcasses to sustain their lives creating elaborate stories of gods and goddess worship and living on the fringes and peripheries, somewhat started changing in the 1930s. kamble’s narrative foregrounds this communitarian change in the maharwada that started flowing in the air with the coming of bhimrao ambedkar and his message of social emancipation and liberation. from bestiality to humanity: ambedkar and hope of emancipation kamble’s narration records the mahar community’s historical movement and its journey of facing oppression through various phases of community consciousness. initially, the narrative focuses on the struggles of daily existence without food, clothes, and material necessities, and its engagements in different superstitious practices. such traditions, however, should serve as a critique of brahminical hindu religion, which embeds the structural and material conditions of caste within it to perpetuate exploitation and injustice. jina amucha, kamble proposes, acts as a cultural repository of dalit community practices, sheds light on dalits’ cultural and material existences, and exposes the hypocrisy of brahminical domination. the critique of such religious practices shows the context of the exploitative nature of the caste system that remains 356 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 in the background and through which these cultural and ideological practices have become entrenched as part of the daily lives of mahars. the narrative in the concluding sections takes a different turn when the maharwada receives the news of ambedkar’s arrival from england. news of ambedkar’s role in expressing and articulating the plight of dalits rapidly leads to the collectivization of the entire maharwada around issues of untouchability, rejecting eating dead animals, degraded labour, illiteracy, and slavery. schools, campaigns, and meetings begin in maharwada. kamble describes ambedkar as a plant, a sapling that has taken root in the dalit soil. it has grown into a large tree to give shade and shelter to the oppressed dalits. the botanical image of a sapling growing into a tree can be symbolically interpreted as the growth of the dalit community under his leadership. his ideas branched out to various community sections and contributed to the spread of liberal ideas of fraternity, civic association, humanity, and respect for fellow humans. the lines from kamble’s work describe him as a figure of transformation and change. “the tiny sapling of hope was reared in their hearts, too. it grew tall, drawing strength from the iron in their souls.” (24) “and then a small sapling grew out of this enriched soil. it went on to become a huge tree of light and truth. it gave shelter to millions who were suffering. the tree transformed the beasts into human beings. this tree was that ideal human being, our very own buddha. from 1930 onward, his name started reaching villages like a gentle breeze that brings succour in the scorching sun. our bhimraja decided to awaken his people who had sunk to the level of subhumans.” (69) the theme of hope recurs through dreams, saplings and birth. in one instance, ambedkar is likened to the awakening sunrise that will end the dark presence of a long, fearful night. “we ate dry husk and told ourselves we were eating rich food; we considered our huts great mansions; we considered our terrible poverty the golden peak of affluence. we dreamt and floated among the clouds, waiting for one little ray of hope to lace our dark dreams.” (47) hope occurs when the sapling emerges despite human deprivation. the image of a mother giving birth to a precious son like ambedkar is also reiterated. kamble’s anticaste sensibility and critique of the caste system come from ambedkar’s crucial role in mobilizing and engaging dalits in the anti-caste struggle during his time. the entire maharwada changed overnight. people gathered at the chawdi, the shared meeting place, to discuss issues raised by ambedkar. the first meeting of ambedkar with dalits at jejuri, where god khandoba is worshipped, was welcomed enthusiastically by the community, although kamble mentions, there were dissenters. having come from far-off places, devotees waited for ambedkar to speak, who arrived in a car wearing an english suit. the new sight of a well-dressed, educated man from such an baby kamble’s the prisons we broke as an anti-caste manifesto 357 oppressed community brings new hopes and visions of a different future. in his speech at jejuri, he declares: “discard all such customs that strengthen our ignorance. my poor dear brothers and sisters, do not eat carcasses any more. don’t clean the filth of the village. let those who make the filth clean it up themselves. let us teach them this lesson. this slavery, which has been imposed upon us, will not disappear easily. for that we need to bring about a revolution. let three-fourths of our people die in this endeavour, then, at least the remaining one-fourth will be able to live their lives with dignity. at least, their future will be better. i appeal to you, my mothers and sisters, be the first ones to step forward for reform.” (71) reminiscing about the earlier times of darkness and commenting on the change in the present time of illuminated consciousness, kamble writes: “but now we have learnt how utterly worthless your religion is. and the one who has taught us this, the one who has transformed us from beasts into human beings, is the architect of our constitution—that shining jewel of sheel and satwa, dr babasaheb ambedkar.” (63) education becomes an important instrument for social change. messages of bhimrao ambedkar are circulated to take charge of their own lives by educating their children. dalits of maharwada open hostels, schools, and colleges and baby kamble also gets enrolled in a girls’ school along with other upper-caste students. meanwhile young men in the dalit community composed songs and performed jatras (performing troupes) to convey the social message of ambedkar. crucially, ambedkar’s call to discard social markers of caste, including degrading food and eating habits, clothes and copper ornaments, shaped a space for critical anti-caste consciousness within the community. celebrations of ambedkar jayanti in the maharwada during the period 1938-1940 testify to the transformation the dalit community underwent during those days. instead of having guru padva as the marathi new year, dalit activists, leaders, and people in the community started celebrating ambedkar jayanti as the new year of their community. jina amucha records the social transformation when dalits joined the ambedkar movement, giving up eating dead animals, cleaning filth and shit, and educating themselves. babasaheb, bhimrao, and dr. ambedkar became holy chants for the dalit community (107). the community headed towards a new dawn of social empowerment in the ambedkarite period. despite the social awakening by bhimrao ambedkar, kamble finds that the prison house of the caste system continued to hover over the ontological space of their lives. jina amucha, or the prisons we broke, needs to be considered as a social and political commentary on the enslaved existence of dalits in the caste system. the historical consciousness of dalits that began to emerge with the figure of bhimrao ambedkar marks a crucial transformative shift in ushering in the meanings of dignity, freedom, self-respect, and humanity. baby kamble’s narrative in portraying her life trajectory from a mahar girl to a social activist and a dalit woman writer expresses the 358 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 progress of her own life, despite all odds. kamble finally opens a school for socially backward students at nimbure in phaltan and continues to address numerous dalit women’s meetings and rallies, spreading the message of ambedkar far and wide. her writings have thus become the source and medium to communicate the experiences of oppression of dalits and also contributed to the language of constituting a radical politics of resistance by dalits. conclusion anti-caste manifestoes drawing from the philosophical traditions of ambedkar and anti-caste writings are thus “action manifestoes” and indicate epistemological and political directions for anti-caste/dalit studies. it is a term that i draw from charles c diggs (1972), who provided crucial policy recommendations on several african countries to the u.n. considerations of the effects of caste and improving the lives of dalits are existential and immediate political responses that dalit and anticaste writings seek to establish. it aims to provide crucial paradigms for anti-caste resistant and activist tradition (guru, 2004), which can initiate action and strategies to combat casteism. the writings engage in a free-flowing exchange of ideas and record the connections and relations between survival and dignity. the untouchable as an embodiment of the inequities of caste, exposes the violence of being born in a brahminically ordained, superior world. dalits’ existence in that world is a violation of that order, and the penalty that they face as outcastes continues to provide legitimacy for the upper caste and dominant privileged people to augment new modes of outcaste life. anti-caste writings break the violence of these ongoing structures by creating radical consciousness and a deeper analysis of the phenomenology of violence that surrounds them. it integrates an examination of the evolving position of dalits. it provides attention to identity, self, and free will that can be conscious of the society dalits hope to create for survival. consciousness and society, history and existence have meanings for present and later generations, and the radical writings of anticaste thinkers and literary writers like baby kamble explore and foreground such questions in their writings through the changing manifestations of caste violence and untouchable existence. references abraham, j.k. & barak, j. misrahi. (2016). dalit literatures in india. routledge india. ambedkar, b.r. (2015). annihilation of caste: the annotated critical edition. navayana. diggs, c.c. (1972). action manifesto. african issues, 2(1), 52–60. grosz, e. (2000). histories of a feminist future. signs: journal of women in culture and society, 25(4), 1017–1021. guru, g. (1995). dalit women talk differently. economic and political weekly, 30(14–21), 2548–2550. guru, g. (2004). dalit visions of india: from bahishkrut to inclusive bharat. futures, 36, 257– 263. elsevier. baby kamble’s the prisons we broke as an anti-caste manifesto 359 guru, g. (2009). the archaeology of untouchability. economic and political weekly, 44(37), 49–56. harding, s. (2006). transformative vs resistance identity projects: epistemological resources for social justice movements. identity politics reconsidered, 246–263. harraway, d. (2016). situated knowledges: the science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. space, gender, knowledge: feminist readings, 53–72. kamble, b. (2008). the prisons we broke. orient blackswan private limited. madheswaran, s., & attewell, p. (2007). caste discrimination in the indian urban labour market: evidence from the national sample survey. economic and political weekly, 4146–4153. maske, s. (2023). articulating dalit autobiographical narrative in social work education: ideological imperatives for anti-caste and ubuntu practice. contemporary voice of dalits. 2455328x211160598. mosse, d. (2018). caste and development: contemporary perspectives on a structure of discrimination and advantage. world development, 110, 422–436. omvedt, g. (2006). dalit visions: the anti-caste movement and the construction of an indian identity. orient blackswan. rege, s. (2019). dalit women’s autobiographies. sunaina arya & akash singh rathore (eds.). dalit feminist theory: a reader. (131–136), taylor & francis. rodrigues, v. (2002). the essential writings of b. r. ambedkar. oxford university press india. sathi, s. (2023). marriage murders and anti-caste feminist politics in india. women’s studies international forum. 100, 102816. smith, d.e. (1990). the conceptual practices of power: a feminist sociology of knowledge. university of toronto press. smith, s. & watson, j. (1998). women, autobiography, theory: a reader. university of wisconsin press. stroud, s.r. (2023). the evolution of pragmatism in india: ambedkar, dewey, and the rhetoric of reconstruction. university of chicago press. valerian, r. (2004). the essential writings of b. r. ambedkar. oxford india publication. waughray, a. (2009). caste discrimination and minority rights: the case of india’s dalits. international journal on minority and group rights, 17(2), 327–353. waughray, a. (2009). caste discrimination: a twenty-first century challenge for uk discrimination law. the modern law review 72(2), 182–219. yengde, s. (2023). dalit histories, pandemic histories. history of the present, 13(1), 27–30. © 2025 mark e. balmforth, kalinga tudor silva. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. editorial and symposium introduction doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2636 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 199-201 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste introduction to the symposium on caste in sri lanka and the sri lankan diaspora, part ii mark e. balmforth1, kalinga tudor silva2 for this second part of the symposium on caste in sri lanka and the sri lankan diaspora, we have selected a set of four essays that continue our interest in thinking about caste on and of the island, not as something predominately relegated to history and declining in significance, but as an ongoing part of everyday life that remains understudied and in need of social and political attention. each of these four essays challenge normative conceptions of caste on the island, from whether caste itself is determined by ethnicity, to questioning its role as a component in the careers of actors and organizations of the island’s story in the twentieth century. in this collection, we have not always chosen articles containing arguments with which we agree. we have selected essays that advance our conversation in new, exciting, and sometimes surprising ways. the first essay, by dominic esler, is titled “an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka.” esler’s provocative work rethinks and challenges what he describes as a fundamental presumption of most public and scholarly understandings of caste on the island: that at least two parallel and incommensurate ethnoreligious caste systems exist, one sinhala buddhist, the other tamil hindu. in the process, esler provides an extensive appraisal of caste research on the island. as he writes: “if caste in india has, as mosse has argued, been discursively ‘enclosed’ within the categories of religion and politics, in sri lanka it has been enclosed within ethnicity…” the consequences of this, he explains, are multiple, ranging from the partition of the research field into two camps to the development of ethnographic literature that is “theoretically disengaged” from the extensive caste literature in the region. our second essay, written by bahirathy räsänan, is titled “perspectives on caste and militant nationalism in sri lanka: the ltte and resistance against vellalah hegemony.” drawing on interviews and surveys conducted during the last phases of the war and informed by years living in a world shaped by the liberation tigers of 1independent scholar 2professor emeritus, university of peradeniya, sri lanka e-mail: 1meb2212@columbia.edu, 2tudorsilva@pgihs.ac.lk 200 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 tamil eelam (the ltte, or tigers), räsänan crafts an argument through territory replete with fierce agendas and unhealed wounds. she writes: the ltte’s association with caste was deeply ambivalent and remains a subject of debate. on the one hand, its leader proclaimed an ambition to abolish caste differences and spoke of creating an egalitarian tamil society free from entrenched hierarchies. on the other, their interventions often appeared to my interlocutors as less focused upon dismantling caste as a social system and more concerned with toppling the ingrained hegemony of the vellalah elite, who had long monopolized political, social, economic, and religious power in jaffna. this ambiguity raises the question of whether the ltte sought to build a genuinely caste-free society or merely to reorder caste relations in ways that eroded vellalah hegemony while consolidating its own legitimacy as the bearer of tamil nationalism. räsänan’s data and the claim that the tigers were motivated by an anti-vellala agenda is controversial and will certainly spur debate. among other things, the evidence she offers demonstrates the central role caste has played in the lives of people wrapped up in the tamil nationalist cause, despite the longstanding tendency to obscure and silence caste as a threat to a unified tamil nation. the third essay of this collection, by bhadrajee hewage, is titled “the caste negotiations of anagarika dharmapala (1864–1933) in colonial ceylon.” hewage takes as his subject arguably the most famous sri lankan social reformer ever to have lived, the controversial buddhist activist and anti-colonial-cum-national leader, anagarika dharmapala. sifting through his voluminous writings in sinhala and english, hewage seeks to read dharmapala’s nuanced relationship with caste, from his mixed parentage and critiques of the operation of caste on the island, to his admiration of caste in india. subtle differences between dharmapala’s sinhala writings, which hewage describes as “more intimate and forceful than his english-language work,” offer clues. “indeed,” he writes, “it is from these [sinhala] writings that we gain our clearest understanding of dharmapala’s positionality regarding caste and his attitudes towards its practice and existence.” mark e. balmforth’s “the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna, 1927-1957” is the fourth and final essay of part ii. through this work, balmforth draws our attention to what he describes as an oppressed caste-led, anti-untouchability and civil rights movement centered upon four claims: a common tamil identity, the right to free education, access to public cremation space, and separate electoral representation. by framing these campaigns as part of a larger project well predating the so-called temple entry movement of the late 1960s, balmforth makes the case that caste struggle has been as significant to the introduction to the symposium on caste in sri lanka and the sri lankan diaspora, part ii 201 story of sri lankan tamils in the twentieth century as the question of nationalism and sovereignty. we hope that this symposium on caste in sri lanka and the sri lankan diaspora will stimulate further research on this relatively neglected terrain of social life in sri lanka, as well as promote development and social justice on the island. we encourage our community to interrogate the arguments made herein and to consider them while shaping future investigations, policy initiatives, and social action seeking to promote social justice, equity, equality, and democratic social values. we remain open to suggestions for future research, policy, and action, and welcome communication from our readers. © 2025 mark p. whitaker. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.2495 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 1 pp. 76-95 april 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste caste, space, and retail religiosity in tamil toronto1 mark p. whitaker* abstract this paper is focused on ritually organized caste practices in the canadian sri lankan tamil diaspora. it describes how sri lankan tamils in toronto, canada, who in some ways have tried to turn their backs on caste (especially in the second and third generations), nonetheless use caste as a sort of marketing “brand” in an increasingly competitive hindu temple “market”. this paper is animated by an underlying concern with how spatial aspects of sri lankan tamil religious life were formed and transformed in diaspora in ways that altered also what it means to act and be a tamil person. it is important to note, however, that what is at issue here is not simply the effect on diaspora tamil forms of exclusionary sociality (in this case, caste) due to the loss of an imagined or real territory – a traditional concern of diaspora studies and its worries about nostalgia – but rather changes in the religiously mediated relationship, via caste, between tamil people and their landscapes, and hence changes forced upon social relations by confrontations with shifting or entirely new political geographies of an anxious world. keywords caste, tamil diaspora, hindu temples, religious markets, personhood, cultural spaces 1research for this paper was carried out while supported by grants from the american institute of sri lankan studies, the national science foundation, the wenner-gren foundation, and a global religion research initiative (grri) inter-national collaboration grant. i must thank dr. sanmugeswaran pathmanesan and dr. e. balasundaram for their help with this research. i am, of course, solely responsible for any errors. this paper is based on research conducted in toronto, canada in 2001, 2012 and 2013 on the sri lankan tamil diaspora in canada. it is also based on research on temples, caste, religion, and local politics in sri lanka conducted from 1981-83, june-september 1984, and july-august 1997. although, of necessity, the focus of research shifted to national politics during the sri lankan civil war (1983-2009), research on how temples in sri lanka reacted to wartime and postwar conditions was also conducted during field trips from december 2003 to august 2004, may-june 2015, july 2017, and julyaugust and november-december in 2018. this research was also supported by travel grants from the university of south carolina and the university of kentucky. ———————— *professor of anthropology, university of kentucky, usa e-mail: mark.whitaker@uky.edu caste, space, and retail religiosity in tamil toronto 77 introduction what happened to sri lankan tamil notions of caste when the people who used them went into diaspora? more specifically, what happened to such notions (and associated practices) when over 100,000 sri lankan tamils found themselves from the early 1980s onwards constructing new lives in toronto, canada, a place earlier little associated with tamil people?2 for the most part, caste-talk in toronto has become a subtle practice in daily life, more often signaled obliquely and quietly in discussions of marriage or family history, and its importance may be quietly fading altogether for younger tamils born in canada. many younger tamil men and women i have spoken with, for example, claim to know little about caste, date across caste and ethnic lines, and do not believe caste identity should guide their marriage choices although some who have said this to me have gone on to have arranged marriages.3 this development stands in some contrast to attitudes about caste that many members of the diaspora— the current older generation—brought with them into diaspora. consider, for example, the famous case of selvanayagam selladurai, a 47-year-old father who in 2007 used his minivan to run down his daughter, her “low caste” boyfriend, and his son-in-law at a scarborough strip mall, supposedly to prevent the “dishonor” her relationship would bring to the family. most notable to me, here, is the obvious resistance of the victims— his daughter, her boyfriend, and, apparently, his son-in-law—to the strict caste etiquette motivating the father. the victims’ apparent lack of interest in the everyday cultural practice of caste testifies to the shift i am interested in discussing here.4 the more recent attempt by the toronto school board to ban caste-based discrimination at the urging of yalini rajakulasingham, a young sri lankan tamil school trustee from an oppressed caste, suggests, indeed, that second and third generation hostility to caste may be becoming more public in the future (teotonio, 2023). in any case, fieldwork conducted in toronto between 2001 and 2013 and continuous contact with sri lankan tamil residents since then convinces me that this attitude is quite general. such anti-caste (or, at least, shy) attitudes among young canadian sri lankan tamils do not by themselves, of course, prove that caste is completely disappearing as 2amarasingam (2013, p. 5) points out that while sri lankan tamils show up in the canadian census as early as 1948, the total population remained in the very low hundreds until the sri lankan civil war started in 1983. as of 2021 statistics canada counted 237,890 sri lankan tamils in canada of whom roughly half live in the greater toronto area. (bonnyman, 2023). 3bucernius, thompson and dunford (2022) conducted interviews among young sri lankan tamil men that appear to connect this anti-caste feeling to the war in sri lanka. for example, they record one twenty-six-year-old saying ““our parents and grandparents still talk about the castes, and they used to dictate who you can marry and so on but really, this plays less of a role nowadays because of the war. there is no time to obsess....we are all in the same boat, so to say.” (545). 4i am indebted to one of my anonymous reviewers for this example. see o’toole 2010. i should note, however, that such attacks in the tamil community (and in general) are rare according to a 2021 government of canada report, “preliminary examination of so-called ‘honour killings’ in canada”, which found only two reported instances, and only one—the selladurai case—involving inter-caste relations. 78 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 a factor in daily life. mounaguru (2019), for example, has documented the importance of caste considerations for diasporic sri lankan tamils negotiating transnational marriages. moreover, a disinclination to speak publicly about caste outside the family (or one’s own caste and its associated controversies) has long been common among sri lankan tamil people both at home and abroad, though i think for different reasons. i have experienced this reluctance to speak openly about caste—outside, that is, the special insider frameworks afforded by caste status battles and temple-centered arguments about “rights “(urimai)—in my own fieldwork in batticaloa; and it has been noted by other scholars working in jaffna (thiranagama, 2018, p. 374; kuganathan, 2022, p. 255). yet in both regions caste has continued to be regnant despite such reticence (paramsothy, 2018; sanmugeswaran, 2020). what explains this? in tamil sri lanka this public reticence about caste (like an american reticence to talk publicly about race) likely emerged out of an ambivalent colonial and postcolonial history. the portuguese and, later, the dutch codified local caste practices into documents such as the 1707 jaffna thesawalamai, which legitimized vellalar rule over four enslaved “untouchable” castes there (esler, 2025, p. 384), and publicly accepted local practices such as those on the east coast involving spatially organized, pre-colonial, mukkuvar caste-ruled, temple-centered polities, called vannimai or teesam (mcgilvray, 1982, p. 59; whitaker, 1999). but according to john rogers (2004; esler, 2025, p. 384), the british colonial government of ceylon, unlike that of india, viewed caste as an illegitimate “form of social identification”, outlawing compulsory caste labor in 1835, and officially ignoring caste henceforward, even while tolerating vellalar dominance in the north, and never fully grasping the role that caste and temples were playing in local governance in the east (whitaker, 1999). here being quiet about caste fit the mutually incoherent agendas of both local caste elites and the british colonial government. if one adds to this the tenor of modernist rhetoric in later nineteenth and twentieth century state politics, which tended to ignore the local to advance the imperial or, later, the national, this public reticence to speak about caste outside the local communities where it was regnant becomes even more understandable. interestingly, somewhat similarly, american missionaries, who began to come to jaffna in large numbers in the early nineteenth century to establish christian schools and evangelize, eventually accepted caste for pragmatic reasons as a precondition of operating there. one american missionary, predictably, likened forcing vellalar converts to associate with “low caste people” as amounting to forcing “affluent people in boston and newyork [sic] societies [….] to sit at the same tables with black or white labourers” (amarasingam, 2015, p. 165; see also balmforth, 2020).5 one might argue that this tacit approval of (and subtle attraction to) caste may have been one reason the efforts of the jaffna religious reformer arumuka navalar (1822-1879) proved so successful in resisting missionary christianity. that is, in addition to being able 5balmforth (2020) discusses in detail how the american ceylon mission after at first attempting to “break caste” in their schools eventually decided that an alliance with the vellalar and a tacit acceptance of their enslavement of the three laboring castes, the aṭimakaḷ, was more practical. caste, space, and retail religiosity in tamil toronto 79 to use the missionaries’ own rhetorical and technological innovations against them, navalar’s full-throated defense of jaffna tamil saivite practice (samaya) was also, without having to say so too publicly, a defense of vellalar caste rule (silva, 2021, p. 30; thiruchandran, 2021, p. 59).6 hence, in sri lanka itself a shyness about discussing caste openly has never been good evidence of the erosion of caste as an active form of social control and exclusion (paramsothy, 2018). for example, jaffna’s vellalars, have frequently defended the obligatory, caste-based, form of social control (kaṭṭuppāṭu) that favors their hegemony, opposing, for example, the pañcamar (“oppressed caste”) temple entry movement of the 1960s (ibid; pfaffenberger, 1982). in the east, meanwhile, caste disputes centered on temples continued to animate much public activity below the level (and understanding) of the postcolonial state (whitaker, 1999). of course, during the civil war caste talk and discrimination was vigorously suppressed by the liberation tigers of tamil eelam (ltte), the militant separatist tamil army which controlled much of northern and eastern sri lanka7 until defeated (in sanguinary fashion) by sri lankan government forces in 2009 (bremner, 2013; madavan, 2011; kuganathan, 2022, pp. 245–251).8 but during the war, caste continued as a central organizing activity within temples and the communities directly connected to them, often to the confusion and dismay of both sri lankan government forces and the ltte (maunaguru, 2020; kuganathan, 2022, p. 253). and after the war, caste-based action returned to tamil public life (if not as much to public expression) with surprising vigor. in interviews conducted in jaffna, batticaloa, and colombo in 2015, middle-aged, dominant caste, men and women (in jaffna, with vellalar; in the east, with vellalar and ceerpathar) frequently expressed a fear that if “not high caste” people neglected their ritual caste obligations, this would create social chaos or, as they put it, a society of “no restraint” (kaṭṭuppāṭu illai).9 6thiruchandran (2021) claims, correctly i think, that the role defending vallalar caste privilege played in navalar’s reform efforts has been systematically under-emphasized by many scholars. she also raises the issue of whether caste and hindusim are really linked. she thinks, theologically speaking, not. i think that empirically the link between caste and hindu ritual in northern and eastern sri lanka is demonstrable. but since caste-style forms of organization extend, in south asia as a whole, into buddhist, christian, muslim and, sikh communities, an essentializing definition of caste putting hinduism (or the vedas) at its core is also problematic (mines and lamb 2010: 154). see also ambalavanar’s discussion of the construction of a “caiva public” by navalar (2006). or consider winslow’s (2024) point that sinhalese buddhist caste is ontologically distinct. caste in south asia is a heuristic “family resemblance” category bespeaking similarities but, ethnographically speaking, not a singular, characteristic shared by all instances. 7thiranagama (2018: 372) argues, somewhat to the contrary, that while the ltte officially disallowed open expressions of caste prejudice it did not “rigidly enforce anti-caste laws, despite its official stance”. nonetheless, she also notes wavering transformations in practice, if not in attitudes, during the war such as inter-caste marriages within the ltte between dominant caste and oppressed caste cadre, that, afterwards, were condemned by families trying to return to pre-war caste etiquette. 8a un report (2011) estimated that at least 40,000 tamil civilians died in the last month of the war. 9see sanmugeswaran 2020 for a complete discussion of this fear among middle class vellalar men. 80 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 this fear of social looseness was being expressed even as the departure of many relatively wealthy “upper” caste (and, a bit later, some “lower” caste) people from jaffna and the eastern batticaloa district during the war, and a subsequent eventual influx of diaspora money back to sri lanka, began to change some of the power dynamics of caste in tamil sri lanka.10 sanmugeswaran (2020) has written with great sensitivity about attempts by tamil people to rebuild villages destroyed by the war. he points out that the absence of the physical landmarks that once delineated caste spaces, and the presence of diaspora money flowing now, sometimes, to formerly oppressed caste people empowering them to “remember” old divisions differently, called old village hegemonies into question even if not, apparently, the very idea of caste itself (2020). thiranagama (2012) has described this new postwar dynamic in jaffna as a tension between two competing “poles” of tamil civility: war-time ethnic egalitarianism (we are all tamil!) and pre-war caste (“intra-ethic”) hierarchy, with older, jaffna vellalars reasserting hierarchy and young oppressed caste people (newly empowered by vellalar depopulation and diaspora money) championing egalitarianism. sanmugeswaran (2020) has shown that similar postwar tensions often arise during the rebuilding of village temples as debates about the caste-rights (urimai) that emanate from them. in sri lanka’s eastern province, similarly, although caste practices have been revived with surprising enthusiasm, and the old game of temple-centered caste disputes continues, diasporic money is linked to the ongoing “agamic” (orthodox and sanskritic) transformations of many of the area’s important “regional” (tēcam) temples.11 these transformations may ultimately roil caste positions in the region by 10kuganathan (2022:260) suggests that vellalar migration from jaffna during the war may have cut down their population enough to have left them a minority in a district where they were once a majority. 11on sri lanka’s eastern coast, and to a certain extent in jaffna, people tend to distinguish between āgama temples, organized along ritual lines laid down in a large set of sanskritic texts, and pattati or, more often pattaci (பத்தசி) temples, organized according to local traditions. since the war, there has been a tendency for east coast nonāgama temples to “āgama-cize”. that is, by using orthodox texts to reorganize their rituals, by rebuilding their temples using south indian temple architects, and by acquiring brahmin priests – previously uncommon there. this process resembles what m.s. srinivas famously called “sanskritization” (1952). i avoid using that term about eastern temple dynamics, however, because local batticaloa district intellectuals would, i think, vigorously protest its use, especially those i interviewed in the batticaloa district in 2024 who are trying to preserve pittaci practices by arguing that they, to, are “traditional”. their arguments, of course, are also evidence of the postwar reaffirmation of caste, since the struggle between these forms of temple practice is also, often, a debate about which castes should control such temples. but other things are also going on, including, sometimes, a new emphasis on religious rather than strictly ethnic nationalism. regarding the eastern term “pattaci” itself fuller (2003) points out that in tamil nadu there was a similar distinction between āgama texts written in sanskrit and local rule books written in tamil called paddati. this likely accounts for the origin of the east coast tamil term. for a comparable jaffna instance see ambalavanar’s discussion of the transformation of kannaki and kali ammon temples into durga temples (2006, pp. 392–393). this involved a similar confrontation between vellalar hegemony confirming caiva āgama texts, championed by arumuka navalar, and opposed to the local rules utilized in village temples dedicated to village deities such as caste, space, and retail religiosity in tamil toronto 81 calling into question the status of individual castes in hierarchies linked to particular temples, but not without (quite “traditional”) resistance, and, again, without calling into question caste as a form of daily life in itself. in sum, caste continues as an important practice in sri lankan tamil daily life. a disinclination to talk about caste to outsiders, and even public disclaimers by some that caste is eroding, do not in themselves amount to evidence of its departure from socio-cultural practice. still, the anti-caste views and, increasingly, caste indifference of young canadian sri lankan tamils is, arguably, based on some fundamental factors unique to canadian diaspora conditions and experience. first, young canadian sri lankan tamils of the second generation are rapidly moving out of the tamil dominated enclaves (such as scarborough) where their refugee and immigrant parents tended to cluster and where, perhaps, caste exclusions could most easily be practiced. although most of the canadian sri lankan tamil population of 200,000 or more remained in the greater toronto area through the first decade of the twenty-first century, many, perhaps half, have now spread out from central toronto to toronto suburbs and to other parts of canada to seek (or express) upward mobility, and to find jobs and less expensive housing (zarook, 2019, p. 34). this movement out from the center is also, as we shall see, a movement away from the close social relations that reaffirm forms of identity like caste. second, as several scholars have argued, many young toronto tamils carry a shared sense of collective trauma linked to how the 2009 ltte defeat was experienced in diaspora. in 2009 numerous young and second-generation sri lankan tamils, previously shielded by the preoccupations of young canadian life—schooling, first jobs, dating—were suddenly thrust into politics by the catastrophic end of the civil war; a war in which, according to one un estimate, over 40,000 tamil civilians died in its final grisly month (tamil guardian, 2024; un, 2011). linked by sound and sight to the terminal battlefield’s visual horrors via an extensive diaspora media network created by expatriates (most sympathetic to the ltte), young people interviewed during and after 2009, some during the huge demonstrations that occurred that may all around toronto, often described how they felt forced into a sense of common tamilness even as they witnessed also, in their elders, a triggering of old trauma anew. one refugee parent, watching the event unfold, told me he suddenly found himself back in the massacre that destroyed his village, covered in remembered blood, and sobbing in front of his aghast children who had never before seen him cry. witnessing all this, according to one study, led many younger canadian tamils to consciously reject caste divisions in favor of a “we are all in the same boat” sense of communal fragility (bucenerius, thompson, and dunford, 2022, pp. 545–556; see also esler, 2024, p. 386). these reasons alone would be enough to conclude that anti-caste sentiments among (at least) young canadian tamils rest on firmer foundations than mere embarrassment or a tactical shyness about addressing caste at all. kannaki generally controlled by oppressed castes. see malathi de alwis’s (2018) masterful overview of the history of kannaki-pattini worship in sri lanka. 82 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 yet in one arena of toronto tamil life caste is still, unabashedly, and publicly quite important: toronto’s sri lankan tamil hindu temples. there caste is important for two reasons: first, because of the role hereditary priestly castes and clans (kuṭi) play in temple organization and ritual; and, second, because of the way temples are used to provide consilience; that is, a temporary local environment in which various (sometimes contradictory) identity assertions can be made comfortably in an otherwise uncomfortable landscape, and where, if only briefly, what appadurai calls ‘life-worlds in flux” (1996, p. 56) can find momentary stillness amid intimations of theistic eternities (whitaker 2015).12 beyond this but associated with it as a kind of practical precondition, caste is also highlighted in toronto’s hindu temples because of the simple requirement such reassurance-providing temples have to advertise given the complex religious marketplace that neoliberal toronto constitutes. that is, because tamil people living in urban toronto have lots of alternative temples (as well as other religions) to choose from, and because they lead complex, time-challenged lives that pull them in multiple directions at once, temples hoping to attract their attention as devotees must have, and must be known to have, ‘genuine’ (brahmin) aiyā and kurukkaḷ,13 that is, brahmin priests with publicly unquestionable pedigrees, or, less often, priests from caiva kurrukal, or priestly clans. 14 this means, in effect, that the caste-identity of priests takes on something of the function of a neoliberal economic ‘brand.’ but does the ‘branding’ work of caste for retail purposes sit well with the sacred role caste plays in 12is consilience merely diasporic nostalgia of the sort appadurai wrote about in modernity at large (1996)? the nostalgia of the deterritorialized is part of it, but only a part. in kingsolver’s (2011) tobacco town future: global encounters in rural kentucky, she writes about how people in one rural small town were so thickly tied together by overlapping webs of kinship, labor-swapping, and information that anyone even remotely connected to the town’s people could be accurately “placed”, as an identifiable social person, in relation to anyone else there. kingsolver considers this cultural practice, “placing”, a form of life, in wittgenstein’s sense, and as central to practical life in such small communities. i found this to be true while living for several years in a village in the batticaloa district. in this light, consilience should be considered the practice of erecting this same sense of thick connectedness and, hence of identity confirmation “placing”, through momentary ritual means. the impetus of doing this among toronto tamil people is not nostalgia, though doing so is clearly nostalgic. rather, consilience, as i argue below, creates, momentarily, the confidence confirming arena people need to confront, negotiate with, and sometimes change the alien territory and forces they find themselves confronting in diaspora. it is not just remembering; it is reasserting. 13in jaffna the term kurukkaḷ is used to refer to priests of non-brahmin lineages; only brahmin priests are called aiyā. however, i have frequently heard batticaloa district hindus refer to brahmin and non-brahmin priests alike as kurukkaḷ. this may reflect the hostility some eastern tamil intellectuals have to admitting any real difference in sacredness between priestly lineages sanctified by local temple ideologies and imported brahmin priests. as one of my anonymous reviewers helpfully pointed out, however, there is a priest at the richmond hill ganesha temple who uses kurukkaḷ as a suffix so perhaps the distinction is collapsing in toronto. 14by “genuine” i mean priests who are either brahmin or from recognized priestly lineages who are able to pass muster visually and in their competence as priests. sri lankan tamils, however, are frequently skeptical about the pedigrees and off-duty behavior of brahmin priests. caste, space, and retail religiosity in tamil toronto 83 the construction of consilience? and what has all this to do with caste as it was once deployed in pre-war sri lanka? to answer these questions, i will proceed as follows. first, to provide a kind of concrete baseline, i will discuss how caste as a cultural practice worked in eastern sri lanka before the inter-ethnic civil war. there, i will argue, caste consisted of a set of related practices concerned with the assertion of hereditary group rank and reputation generally connected to temple-anchored sacred landscapes.15 i will turn then to the re-territorialized diaspora in toronto and describe how, in my experience, caste tends to come up in everyday life mostly in subtle ways, and in venues such as marriages and family parties that focus on familial continuity. otherwise, though, confronted by alien urbanity and the fact of diaspora itself, and thus removed from the sacred terrains integral to its use, i think caste is becoming increasingly difficult to deploy. an exception to this, however, is found in the toronto hindu temples i will turn to next, where people seek what i am calling consilience; a momentary ritual space within which identity assertions may comfortably be made. there caste practices are used more forcefully because they are so central to temple practice as such; but this centrality, in turn, is what turns the caste status of temple priests into a commodity within toronto’s religious marketplace. i will conclude with some remarks about how tensions inherent in the use of caste practices in the new landscape of diaspora may have implications for the future. caste in tamil sri lanka before the war i first did fieldwork in sri lanka’s eastern batticaloa district in the early 1980s before the war. at that time caste, considered as a set of familiarly related practices, was deeply tied to the district’s sacred landscape as that was defined by a complex network of various kinds of temples. for example, the area surrounding the town of mandur, roughly 20 miles south of batticaloa town, was populated by three kinds of ‘castes’ (cāti, kulam). these castes were often described by people there as part of a moral hierarchy ranging from ‘high’ or ‘good’ castes at the top to ‘low’ or ‘bad’ castes at the bottom.16 hence, mandur’s vellalar, ceerpatar, karaiyar and mukkuvar castes, 15my assumption that temples and caste practices in the east are relevant to toronto’s sri lankan tamils generally—despite most first-generation tamils there having hailed originally from jaffna—is, i believe, justified by my previous discussion of caste in both locations. this is not to argue that there are no important differences between how caste was practiced in the north and east before the war. rather i am simply claiming that in this particular—the role of temples in articulating and maintaining caste distinctions and etiquette—jaffna district and batticaloa district practices are similar enough to warrant using my east coast findings as a baseline. 16in a fascinating overview of sinhala caste practices winslow (2024) argues that, contrary to scholarly assertions that sinhala castes amount to a watered down versions of hindu castes, they retain a character and ontology—based on a “cartwheel model of collective inequality”— that is quite distinct from castes in the brahmanical “ladder” hierarchies with whom they are often compared. interestingly, she points to a bifurcation of society in sinhala caste practice into “high” and “low” that seems to find some resonance in east coast hindu caste beliefs. this is not surprising since some villages in the east, such as the ceerpatar village of 84 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 which dominated the demography, politics, and economics of the town, described themselves as ‘high’ people. but they tended to describe a middle group of ‘service’ (or kuṭimai) castes, composed of the town’s washermen (vannan), barbers (ampaṭṭan) and temple workers (kōvilār)—those still theoretically bound in hereditary service either to other castes or directly to a temple (or both)—as a mixture of good and bad, high and low. finally, most mandur people characterized as absolutely ‘low’ or ‘bad’ some castes such as the cakkiliyar and the paraiyar who were excluded from the town altogether in the 1980s except during ritual occasions (e.g., funerals, some exterior temple rituals) when they were needed.17 but though this rhetoric of rank in mandur was both hierarchical and moral, people mostly justified these rankings and judgments to me by talking about the relationship between these castes and mandur’s various temples. and this practice of discussing caste in terms of temples, though it was not the only practice available in batticaloa, was, i think, generally in use among tamils in the district as a whole.18 how did this work? there were three kinds of temples in the batticaloa district that were directly relevant to caste practice: regional temples (tēcattakkōvil), village or ūr temples, and small temples (cinna kōvil). the first two kinds of temples tended to be large structures surrounded by walls and outbuildings and often supported by nearby farmland dedicated to the temple. small temples, on the other hand, might range in size from a tiny, garlanded rock or hastily formed lingam at the base of a tree to a fairly full-sized worship hall. but the difference between these three kinds of temples was more a matter of organizational politics than size. politically, regional temples tended to be owned and controlled by multiple castes and even multiple towns and villages; ūr temples by the dominant castes of the town or village they resided in; and small temples by the individuals who set them up or, perhaps, by no one in particular—as was often the case with, for example, the tiny roadside pilaiyar (piḷḷaiyār / ganesha) thuraineelavanai, were set up under the auspices of the kandyan kingdom (whitaker, 1999, p. 128). 17the distinction between castes that were kaṭimai (bound in service to other castes) and aṭimai (enslaved by individual vellalar landowners) is important to understanding how caste hierarchy was institutionalized in jaffna prior to the 1840s (david, 1972), and the distinction was still clearly an important aspect of inherited social capital up to the eve of civil war (pfaffenberger, 1982, p. 38). but this distinction was never so clear cut in batticaloa. while the practice of caste in batticaloa in the 1980s made use of the notion of kaṭimai as a social category—there were, some said, kaṭimai castes—i never heard anyone use the word aṭimai (slave) in this way—that is, to designate aṭimai castes. on the other hand, i did hear people use this term to accuse people they felt were treating them with disrespect, that is, as a slave. nonetheless, canagaratnam (1921, pp. 35–38) for example makes no mention of castes being neatly divided in this way between the bound and the enslaved. it is perhaps proper to note that in some contexts both words can mean “servant” or “slave”. 18other features of caste unique to the east coast was matrilineality (in contrast to a patrifocal emphasis, despite some bilateral and even matrilineal aspects, of jaffna district practices; see david, 1973) and a “subclan” tradition (“kuṭi marapu”) found both among hindus and tamil speaking muslims in the region. in the case of hindu kuṭi, however, these were still ranked and otherwise defined by their relationship to temples, their histories, and their village’s sacred landscapes (balasundaram, 2009, p. 142: mcgilvray, 1982; whitaker, 1999, pp. 14–18.) caste, space, and retail religiosity in tamil toronto 85 shrines often found at particularly bad intersections in the district. in the batticaloa district of the early 1980s, mandur’s kandaswamy temple and kokkadichcholai’s sivan temple provided good examples of regional temples owned and controlled by multiple castes and villages; mandur’s mariyaamon (māriyammaṉ)19 temple and karaitivu’s pilaiyar temple were fairly typical ūr temples controlled by key clans, lineages, and castes within their towns; and many a street corner, junction, or snake bite location from north of batticaloa town to well south of kalmunai were available to provide examples of the district’s small temples, each an evanescent acknowledgment of some eruption of godly power. now in batticaloa, at that time, ‘ownership and control’ of regional and village temples were generally expressed in terms of collective ‘shares’ (paṅku) and ‘rights’ (urimai) theoretically granted to particular castes, clans (kuṭi), matrilineages (and occasionally individuals) by the god at the time of the temple’s foundation. this distribution of shares and rights often had a spatial character since their possession hierarchized and reconciled various groups distributed across the geographies of the villages and regions at issue by relating them to the sacred centers provided by gods. (the word kōvil implies both a sovereign center, a ruler’s palace, and a sacred one, a cosmologically generative god-point or mūlastāṉam.) in mandur’s case, for example, most of the castes, clans, and lineages of at least seven different villages found their ritual center, as defined by their rights and shares, in the kandeswamy temple. such original distributions were generally reckoned to have been accurately recorded in a special record, a kalveṭṭu or “stone cutting,” at the time of the founding. but in most cases, i was told, such charters were eventually lost; and this ensured that the temple histories required to legitimate caste rank distributions generally had to be hotly debated. this meant, in effect, that in batticaloa temple histories acted as “sites” and “languages” of dispute for the groups whose status-positions were theoretically organized by the god. temples, hence, were key arenas for the reiteration, challenging, and creation of the caste ranks and reputations they anchored to the district’s many sacred landscapes. in the 1980s, for example, despite pressing national and global issues, local elites in the batticaloa district spent much time and energy within temple communities competing for rank, power, and influence by arguing about the public reputation (or kauravam) of their respective groups in terms of relevant temple histories. and these intra-temple public disputes were complemented, at a district and provincial level, by similar kauravam disputes about rank argued in terms of regional historical poems (again, god-centered) such as the maṭṭakkaḷappu māṉmiyam (literally, batticaloa’s “greatness” or “treatise on the greatness of a sacred place…;” madras tamil lexicon, accessed 8/14/2024), which similarly located the foundations of caste rank in grants of rights and shares in land and temples by gods or human sovereigns (sometimes even kandyan sovereigns) acting as proxies for gods.20 19māriyammaṉ is a goddess generally associated with protection from (and inflicting) infectious diseases, especially smallpox. 20i am aware that such historical arguments about the origin of urimai were also often used to assert caste status in varnic terms. that is, by claiming the group’s rights and status were 86 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 was this way of practicing caste peculiar to sri lanka’s batticaloa district? clearly, in many detailed ways, it was. caste relations in jaffna, for example, were both more rigorously hierarchical before the war, and more inflected by a key tension between the peninsula’s vellalar and karaiyar elites, as well as by some modernist political mobilization of ‘service’ (katimai) and ‘slave’ (aṭimai) caste groups before independence (david, 1972; russell, 1982). the rise of caste-antagonistic forms of tamil nationalism in jaffna in response to the increasing threat presented by government empowered sinhalese nationalism also ensures that answering this question would require accounting for more than can be explored here. but i think, in outline, an important inter-relationship between caste, temples, their histories, and surrounding sacred landscapes can be seen in the jaffna peninsula as well (pfaffenberger, 1982; banks, 1960; kuganathan, 2022; sivathamby, 1995). and sanmugeswaran’s work in postwar jaffna, certainly, has demonstrated a still working (though weakened) matrix there between caste, memory, and the social imagining of a “bounded order” (kaṭṭuppāṭu) in jaffna’s large, borough-like “villages” (ūr)—really large towns divided into caste and caste-temple based “wards” (2020). assuming, for the sake of argument, that a relationship between caste and space was indeed the case, what happened to sri lankan tamil caste practices when such sacred landscapes were no longer available? what happened, that is to say, when caste went into diaspora? caste in the toronto metropolitan area caste does not come up much in conversation among sri lankan tamils in toronto, canada. or, at least, it has not come up much among the people i have been visiting there since 2001. one could argue, i suppose, that as a white foreigner, tamil people would naturally steer clear of a topic as touchy, misunderstood and, in the sense of dirk’s colonial ‘ethnographic state ‘ (2002), politically misused, as caste. but i am thinking here mainly of conversations i have had with people who have known me for many years and who could care less what i think because far too much water has passed under the bridge. but to say caste does not come up much is not to say it does not come up at all. it does, i think, but obliquely, and sometimes nostalgically. for example, i once attended a family party in scarborough with more than one hundred members of two vellalar tamil ‘families’, all originally from (or the children of those who were from) a single town in the jaffna peninsula. they were celebrating the birthday of the father of obtained as warriors, and thus, as kshatriya. hence, the ceerpatar of turaineelavanai in batticaloa claim their rights in land descended matrilineally from grants given by a kandyan king, batticaloa’s mukkuvar claim their rights similarly descend because of the warrior role they played for the magha of kalinga in his conquests, as do the jaffna vellalar. but i do not see these as incompatible claims. as arguments they still tie caste status to a sacred landscape. one innovation of tamil nationalism as early as the 1970s was the widening of this argument to include all low-land tamils and the entire landscape, eelam, as a single whole. but other research shows that the relationship of up-country tamils to this construction was more complicated (daniel 1996; balasundaram, chandrabose & sivapragasam 2009). caste, space, and retail religiosity in tamil toronto 87 the wife of a couple whose marriage united them. this marriage was arranged before the war by the most important male members of the two richest lineages of the two most important families in town, the couple’s fathers. the groom’s father had pushed for the marriage to occur, i was told, despite the youth of the bride at the time (she had just passed her “a levels”), because he wanted his son properly married before he sent him abroad to avoid the war he felt was coming. people at the party pointed to the only survivor of that arrangement, the wife’s father, brought over by his daughter’s husband in the late 1990s after his home was destroyed, and now a wary and dejected elderly man who, at one point, grasped my arm and, weeping quietly, proclaimed himself still in mourning for his lost homeland—”my eelam”,21 as he put it. so caste was mentioned here, of course, but only as part of this family history and to explain why everyone was at the party. nor was everyone celebrating. the wife spent an hour explaining to me why she thought her arranged marriage had been a mistake because, she said, it denied her the freedom to take advantage of the new opportunities moving to canada had opened up. more occasionally, at family parties, i have heard men and women who were born in sri lanka discussing weddings as ‘proper’ or ‘not proper’, at which point older people will generally look knowing, while some young people born or largely raised in canada will roll their eyes. proper, here, means first of all, marrying another tamil person; but also marrying the right kind of tamil person: a terminological crosscousin, ideally, but at least a member of one’s “community” or caste. sometimes, i know, families have sought brides or grooms from jaffna or batticaloa to satisfy this kind of propriety (maunaguru, 2019), though in my experience young canadian tamils seem less interested in using caste as a factor in marriage choice.22 yet even when this kind of familial concern with caste as a marker of communal continuity is no longer at issue, as when a young canadian tamil person has looked outside the diaspora for marriage, and even when their choice has been accepted by their family, caste can still come up. consider the following wedding scene. the wedding was between a sri lankan tamil woman and a non-tamil man she met at law school. the bride’s diaspora tamil family was wealthy and arranged for the wedding to be conducted by an aiyā, in this case a south indian brahmin priest, in a large white tent at a country club. as the bride and groom’s family were mounting the stage to complete the ritual, one of the bride’s relatives—a man of the point pedro karaiyar of the jaffna peninsula—jostled my elbow, handed me a glass of white wine, 21tamil eelam (īḻam) is the term sri lankan tamil separatists used for the tamil state they envisioned. as one might expect, there are conflicting theories about the origins of the word concerning whether it originated in pali or in ancient tamil. perhaps more relevant is its colonial rendering. winslow’s a comprehensive tamil and english dictionary (1862) gives four meanings: “gold”, “a mass of metal”, “ceylon” (“the cingalese country”), and “toddy”. 22this antipathy toward considering caste as a factor in marriage seems to be somewhat independent of an antipathy toward arranged marriage. several young people of my acquaintance expressed admiration for arranged marriage as superior to the canadian free-forall love lives of their non-tamil peers even as they derided using caste as factor in any potential future parental negotiations. 88 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 for he claimed i looked ‘dry’, and said, gesturing with his own neat whisky, “well, i’m glad to see they have done this properly.” “properly? what do you mean?” for i was puzzled. was he being sarcastic? but i knew most of the family, including this man, approved of the wedding despite the young bride’s complete (and rather amused) disregard for any marriage restrictions regarding caste or community. i just looked at him. “the priest, man. the brahmin.” “oh!” “of course he knows it, the beast. i bet he is being paid plenty for this job. because it’s all a business to them, you know. and a good business, too.” so here was caste again, present at once as homage to the tamil past and as a kind of identity-brand poised in tension between the sacred and the commercial. what is more, as trouillet (2020) has pointed out, this kind of disdain for brahmin priests as expensive hirelings is common among south asian tamil members of locally dominant castes (paragraph 21).23 but such self-consciously nostalgic, slightly sarcastic, retail references are the way caste tends to come up in diaspora in my experience: as a memento (that is, as part of a historical memory or discussion), as a (possibly) fading factor in marriage, and as a multivocal pivot point between temples (and their rituals) and the urban world they try, momentarily, to subvert. hence it is to toronto’s temples that we must now turn. conclusions: temples, space and caste according to the canadian government there are 90 hindu temples registered in the toronto metropolitan area; of these in 2013 roughly 22 were currently owned or controlled by sri lankan tamils. in 2009, 2012 and 2013 a colleague, the folklorist dr. e balasundaram, and i conducted interviews with the owners and staffs of seven of these temples, all of which made direct and important use of the concept of caste in their ritual procedures and staffing.24 thus, we found that all these temples legitimized themselves in the eyes of potential devotees by obtaining priests from priestly castes (mostly brahmin, and less often saiva kurrukal, or priestly vellalar clans). but all seven of these diaspora temples were also different in six key ways from their counterparts in sri lanka; and i think these differences imply important shifts in the way caste is practiced. 23see also pffafenburger, 1982. pffafenburger explains that in jaffna brahmins are a small minority and the vellalar caste tends to be politically and economically dominant. hence, vellalar owners of temples see brahmin priests as hired hands. trouillet (2020) argues that brahmin priests, and the śivācāryas subcaste they come from, have suffered a similar demotion in tamil nadu since the beginning of the twentieth century because of the rise of dmk-influenced anti-brahmin dravidian nationalist rhetoric and the intervention in temple affairs by the state. 24that is, just under 32 per cent. this was a convenience sample. caste, space, and retail religiosity in tamil toronto 89 in the interest of clarity, let me briefly summarize the six differences our research found.25 first, hindu temples in toronto were movable, urban sites, often rented warehouses or recycled storefronts, with locations entirely determined by urban zoning laws and the ‘light industrial’ retail market. this stands in marked contrast to sri lanka where, before the war, as i have argued, temples were miraculously fixed points anchoring sacred landscapes theoretically laid out by gods. second, those who controlled temples in toronto uniformly spoke of ‘ownership’ (using the english word) rather than of urimai (or ‘sacred rights’) even when describing temple affairs in tamil. again, the contrast with sri lankan tamil temple politics before the war is quite clear. there urimai implied a place in a temple-centered caste hierarchy centered on a god, was vouchsafed by historical claims about how one’s groups rights in the temple were divinely granted, and carried important implications both about one’s “honor” (karavam) as an individual and as a member of a caste (whitaker, 1999; pathmanesan, 2020). third, toronto temples were often started and owned by priests acting alone as religious entrepreneurs, most but not all brahmins. the new importance of such priestly “religious entrepreneurs” in canada has been well documented by trouillet (2020) in toronto and montreal. but i know of no temples controlled by priests in this fashion in sri lanka prior to the war, although research in 2015 turned up several examples of priest-owned and controlled temples in postwar colombo, sri lanka. fourth, most owners and owner-priests we talked to found it easy to move back and forth between describing temples as businesses and as kōvil. one temple owner, for example, started a temple with his wife on the site of their jewelry business and saw the joint growth of both institutions as divinely connected. again, although smaller temples in prewar jaffna and batticaloa were sometimes founded by wealthy individuals to express their kauravam and individual piety, such establishments were still generally justified in ritual terms by being tied to divinely specified locations. after the war, however, a large ammon temple was established on the outskirts of batticaloa town by a diaspora businessman who, apparently, funded the enterprise from a distance and on easily available land. fifth, all the temple owners we interviewed were well aware of the need to advertise (in newspapers, online, on tv and so forth) to attract devotees in toronto’s increasingly competitive temple market; and thus knew that broadcasting the caste status of the temple’s priests was also an important part of this. hence, the frequency of web sites, posters, and glossy calendars featuring pictures of priests conducting pujas while conspicuously wearing pūṇūl, the sacred thread that signifies their special, ‘twice-born’ status.26 for example, the website of the richmond hill hindu temple, one of the best known tamil temples in the greater toronto area, 25for a fuller discussion of many of these characteristics see also whitaker, 2015. 26for further examples see the online photo galleries of the sri ayyappan hindu temple and the canada kandaswamy temple (the later also features photos of its wedding hall, another aspect of its marketing). this point, however, only applies to temples owned by or hiring brahmin priests. one of the temples we worked with was owned by priests from the batticaloa district, vellalar, priestly matriclans associated with a specific ūr kōvil in karaitivu, a large, predominantly vellalar town south of batticaloa. another temple, similarly, was controlled by saiva kurrukal priests. in neither case would ṇūl have been appropriate. 90 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 features a photograph of its “highly qualified priests” with their pūṇūl prominently displayed ([https://rhht.ca/about] accessed 8/16/24).27 finally, sixth, unlike in pre-war sri lanka, where temples anchored fully realized moral-social communities of various sizes to sacred landscapes, toronto’s temples were attractive to diaspora devotees primarily because they offered a shelter from what many first generation people believed were urban canada’s morally corrosive, identity-eroding influences, and a place of memorial stillness in a cosmopolitan diaspora where many also felt they had no fixed community—only jobs. indeed, many sri lankan tamils in canada, male and female, made this point in conversations in 2001 and 2009. “here” one middle-aged woman told me, “we work all the time. that is it.” one young tamil man in his early twenties described his existence to me this way: “here life is lived through a windshield…”, that is, he elaborated, in constant movement, always going back and forth to one’s job, and all anonymously. another man, middle aged, and well established in canada with a growing business, put it this way. in toronto, he felt, it was impossible to be the kind of “well known man” (nalla terinka maṉitaṉ) one was in sri lanka because the factors of shared home places (ūr), nearby family members, and a local reputation that surrounded one there—what he called, in one combinatory term, “honor” (kauravam)—was no longer present to keep one in place. and while this was an advantage when it came to sidestepping some traditions (such as caste restrictions on marriage, for he was married to a non-tamil woman) he nonetheless found it personally disorienting. for “…. here i am living in a city, a big city, one of the largest in the world…i am one of a million.” arguably, it was to assuage this kind of felt rootlessness in first-generation sri lankan tamils that toronto’s diaspora temples offered services such as language learning and classical dance training. out of the hope, that is, of passing on “tamil heritage” (pāramparai) to an increasingly canadian next generation. perhaps more important, however, was that toronto temples provided periodic, well attended, collective rituals such as annual temple festivals, that allowed people to assert their identities in venues momentarily tamil rather than canadian. these festivals could last a week or more, and frequently involved processions that spilled out into the surrounding streets and required city government permits that, in turn, enjoined the cooperation of the toronto police for traffic and onlooker crowd control. there was an irony in this especially apparent in the early twenty-first century. the toronto police were often, then, very suspicious of sri lankan tamil people, especially in the early 2000s when the civil war in sri lanka still raged, because gangs named after jaffna villages and affiliated with the ltte or other tamil separatist groups openly clashed in scarborough,28 and temples, like other local sri lankan tamil businesses, were often penetrated by the ltte for funds (“taxes”) and access. but during temple 27one of the peer reviewers of this article helpfully pointed out that the richmond hill hindu temple was founded by a mix of south indian and sri lankan tamils. only later, as the civil war swelled the number of sri lankan tamils in toronto, did the latter largely take control of the temple. 28see, for example, the 2001 ctv news report “police arrest 51 gang members in ontario” [https://web.archive.org/web/20090218052455/http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/articlenews/print/ caste, space, and retail religiosity in tamil toronto 91 festivals, for a moment, contrariwise, canadian streets and the powers governing them could be subverted into becoming supportive tamil venues—cultural “hotspots” or hauts lieux, as trouillet puts it—ordered by their own ritual agendas (whitaker, 2015; trouillet, 2012). indeed, trouillet’ s discussion of tamil temples in france and mauritius suggests this subversion of local landscapes by ritual action may be a global phenomenon. at the same time, however, such multi-day extravaganzas were always sponsored each festival day by a different named group—usually a specific jaffna or batticaloa tamil community (ūr), that is, by their regnant castes—but also (in apparent contradiction) by caste-blurring local businesses and community groups. arguably, then, these rituals also integrated together a remembered, homeland-style, tamilness, including caste identity and its associated nexus of honor, with contemporary canadian realities of urban agendas and deterritorialization. such displays of sponsorship, then, provided toronto’s hindu tamils, especially (but not only) those of the first generation whose identities were once thickly tethered to practices, places and castes in sri lanka, a public communal site for the perpetuation and comfortable (if only momentary) display of themselves as people seemingly (but not really) fixed again by a specific, caste-infused, socio-cultural space. a ritual site, that is, of an all-enveloping, canadasubverting, yet interpolating and ephemeral, ‘consilience’ (whitaker 2015).29 but if these seven temples are at all representative of life in the canadian tamil diaspora more generally, then caste, shorn of its connection to specific sacred landscapes, and hence uncoupled also from its role in the local negotiation of ritually based social power, has shifted mightily from what it once was in prewar sri lanka to something somewhat new. now a brand, a memory, a fading form of familial continuity, and a prop in the construction of ritual consilience and canadian tamil cultural resistance, but no longer really a fixed position on a socio-cosmic map, caste has been transformed by being uprooted. on the one hand, as trouillet (2020) has argued, the important role that brahmins play as agents of temple legitimization in canada makes them, also, conduits for the continuing circulation and importance of caste as a form of ctvnews/20011019/ctvnews818005/20011019/?hub=ctvnewsat11&subhub=printstory] accessed on august 19, 2024 29the meaning of such toronto festivals is interpreted differently by the consulate general of sri lanka, toronto (representing the views of the sri lankan government) on its website, which primarily argues that their mixed bag of sponsors displays the interests of sri lankan tamil “moderates” – that is, non-separatists. on its website, for example, the consulate discusses the sri varasiththi vinaayagar hindu temple annual chariot festival on jully 22, 2022 this way: “the festival was attended by more than 10,000 sri lankan canadian tamils including high-profile business community [sic] representing a cross section of their population. also, the festival was attended by several canadian provincial political dignitaries and senior officials of the public and private sector of canada.” it then claims: “this festival reflected the broadening space in the moderate tamil community for a welcoming engagement with sri lanka.” ([https://www.torontoslcg.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68 4:toronto-sri-varasiththi-vinaayagar-hindu-temple-annual-chariot-festival] accessed august 16, 2024). this is an unlikely interpretation; separatist sentiments remain strong in the tamil diaspora. 92 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 socio-ritual life. and certainly, caste has maintained itself as a form of essentializing social exclusion among other south asian diasporas in north america; for example, among the sikh community in vancouver and expatriate indians 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(2019). evolution and spatial assimilation of the tamil sri lankan community in the toronto cma 2006-2020. a major research paper (mrp presented to ryerson university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of spatial analysis in the program of spatial analysis). retrieved from https://rshare.library. torontomu.ca/articles/thesis/the_evolution_and_spatial_assimilation_of_the_tamil_ srilankan_community_in_the_toronto_cma_2006-2020/24085530?file=42272868 © 2025 bob simpson, premakumara de silva. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.2494 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 1 pp. 32-54 april 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste cultural ambivalence: a socio-historical account of the berava caste of southern sri lanka bob simpson1, premakumara de silva2 abstract one of the essential features of the caste systems of south asia is its link with occupational activity. in the sri lankan caste system, which evolved out a system of feudal service tenures linked to royal courts and buddhist temples, the link with occupation is particularly strong. in this chapter we focus on the berava or drummer caste with particular reference to southern sri lanka. within the traditional social order, the berava, on account of their occupational identity, have been given a lowly position and have suffered much discrimination and opprobrium. yet, members of this caste have played a key role in the performance of rituals in which drumming is required. based on historical and ethnographic evidence we offer an account of the ambivalent relationship between caste, ritual knowledge, performance and nationalism as it has changed over time. keywords caste, caste discrimination, traditions, social and cultural change, ethnicity, nationalism introduction this article is based on the ethnographic fieldwork conducted in southern sri lanka by the authors among members of the berava or drummer caste. carried out between the late 1970’s and the mid-1990’s, de silva’s fieldwork took place in and around bentara during the mid-1990s among berava communities in the bantara river valley and focused on their ritual practices (de silva, 2000). simpson’s doctoral fieldwork was done between 1979-80 among berava communities in villages and hamlets in the nilwala valley north of galle. his completed thesis described how ritual knowledge and skills were passed back and forth between berava families. in short, both researchers 1emeritus professor of anthropology, durham university, uk 2professor of sociology, university of colombo, sri lanka e-mail: 1robert.simpson@durham.ac.uk, 2prema@soc.cmb.ac.lk cultural ambivalence: a socio-historical account of the berava caste of southern sri lanka 33 immersed themselves in the traditions of ritual knowledge and skill that were, at that time, the rich inheritance of these communities. the label ‘berava’ associates the caste with the hereditary occupation of drumming but the families that we came to know were adept at a wide range of skilled and creative cultural activities including dancing, astrology, mask-making, creating ritual structures out of plant materials [gok kalāva], and making images of deities [deva] and demons [yakā or yakku] out of mud [rūpa] for various rituals as well as statues for buddhist temples. they were also in command of a significant oral tradition of poems and incantations that enabled men from the caste to perform rituals and ceremonies to bring relief and protection to those facing the inexorable facts of death, decay and disorder. yet, despite their extraordinary talents and skills, there seemed to be something of a contradiction in place. whilst their daily work placed them at the heart of ritual and artistic production across the island, members of the caste occupied a lowly place in the caste hierarchy of sinhalese society and, accordingly, were subject to the oppression and opprobrium that comes with this status.1 indeed, the drum, the essential symbol of their oppression, figures in almost all ritual that takes place in sri lankan society. without the drum there can be no ritual or ceremony. our main objective in this article is to explore the social, political and economic drivers that underpin the contradictory juxtaposition of valorization and opprobrium experienced by the caste. in the final section of the article, we bring this contradiction up to date, so to speak, with a brief reflection on the more recent situation of members of the berava caste. our way into the contradiction is via the concept of ambivalence. the term refers to a state in which strong but conflicting reactions, feelings, beliefs and attitudes are held simultaneously.2 ambivalence is clearly an attitude that is experienced but it is also one that is felt towards someone or something. it is this relational aspect of ambivalence that we are keen to explore in our account—ambivalence towards what, felt by whom and for what reason? we focus on ambivalence in three sets of relations: society towards the berava; the state towards the berava and the berava towards their own traditional inheritance. a further concept we would like to weave into the account is that of temporality. ambivalence is not a static state but one that is finely tuned to the kaleidoscope of historical circumstance. the sources and constituents of ambivalence shift as different social and political realities have to be negotiated. in our account, we have tried to keep attuned to the wider landscapes in which day-to-day social and cultural life play out. the period covered by our research was approximately 1978-1995. this was a tumultuous period in sri lankan history but, arguably, no less tumultuous than the periods that immediately preceded or followed it. in 1977, j.r jayawardene was elected president following a landslide victory for the united national party (unp). with a strong mandate and little by way of opposition he embarked on a neoliberal transformation of the nation. beneath a thin veneer of buddhist morality and an 1this contradiction has been highlighted by numerous commentators, for example kapferer, 1983, p. 54; reed, 2010, p. 169; and esler, 2024, p. 386. 2word derives from latin ambi‘on both sides’ and valentia ‘strength’. 34 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 attempt to create a righteous, that is, a ‘dharmista’ society, lay a solid core of selfinterested entrepreneurship and wealth creation based on open and unregulated markets. by the early 1980s, portents of trouble ahead were beginning to appear for the jayawardene regime. the economic miracles promised did not materialize for the rural masses of the country. disquiet was also fomenting among the tamil community. the government’s response to both expressions of discontent was one of growing authoritarianism. in 1983, a period of serious instability began following the alleged rape of three tamil schoolgirls in jaffna by sri lankan soldiers. this was followed by the killing of thirteen sri lankan soldiers by liberation tigers of tamil eelam (ltte), which triggered a pogrom in july 1983, which left up to 3000 tamils dead and 150,000 displaced (piyadasa, 1984). growing instability in one of its closest neighbors led the indian government to coerce the sri lankan government into accepting an indian peace keeping force (ipkf) in 1987. the intervention proved to be disastrous, and the region descended into all-out war. after heavy losses, the ipkf withdrew in 1990. the imposition of the ipkf and the violation of sri lankan sovereignty that this was seen to represent proved to be a powerful recruiting tool for the socialist janatha vimukthi peramuna (jvp). the jvp, routed during their 1971 uprising, had re-emerged as a nationalist movement appealing to rural and disenfranchised youth and championing buddhism and sinhala patriotism. many young people joined the jvp in their campaign of strikes, disruption and guerilla warfare. the jvp took on the mantle of protectors and liberators of the ‘motherland’ and the saviors of sinhala culture. however, as their campaign to overthrow the state gathered momentum, their methods became more violent and indiscriminate. this aspect of their strategy played an important role in the downfall of the second jvp insurrection (1987-89). the response of the state was swift and brutal and amidst a catastrophic loss of life the insurrection was brought to an end. the liberalization of the economy under the right wing united national party, the opening up of the economy to global capitalist forces, and other factors exacerbated crises of social and political control for the government. the escalation of civil war between the government of sri lanka and separatist tamil tigers paved the way to a deepening of sinhala buddhist nationalist sentiment. furthermore, the post-liberalization period removed many of the barriers that kept the country in a situation of relative isolation from global social, cultural, political, and economic processes. elections in 1994 saw the peoples’ alliance (led by the slfp) come to power, pledging an end to the war and a negotiated peace with the separatist ltte, a commitment to clean, transparent and democratic governance, and advocacy of pro-poor economic policies. in the political sphere, it may even have outdone its predecessor in election-rigging and political corruption. it soon became clear that the pro-war lobby was powerful enough to ensure no concessions were made that could have led to negotiations for peace. by the end of the period that we cover in this article there was a seemingly irresistible downward slide into chronic and protracted political, economic and social crises. the bigger historical picture is important for the account we develop below. on the one hand, these events had a significant impact on the ritual practices of the berava. cultural ambivalence: a socio-historical account of the berava caste of southern sri lanka 35 for example, de silva points out that there has been a strong current of opinion which argues that the breakdown of kinship and village-based social organization, including caste, entails a concomitant decline in ritual performance (for example, see gombrich & obeyesekere, 1988). de silva (2000), on the contrary, argues that rituals have not declined but instead have changed their goals and orientations. indeed, he found that, among the berava, a remarkable resilience was evident, notwithstanding the intrusion of neoliberal forces into sri lankan society following the opening up of the economy in 1978. although these forces have undermined some aspects of communal and castebased healing rituals, an active sense of cultural nationalism has worked to preserve ‘traditions’ and has even acted as a counter to the local impacts of global forces. so, on the one hand, healing rituals [tovil], have been drastically scaled down and privatized, on the other, they have emerged as self-conscious, cultural markers of national heritage and are regularly incorporated into cultural shows for mass audiences (de silva, 2000). simpson describes a similar transformation because of the banning of large gatherings during the 1980s insurrection. during this time, public healing rituals came under this ban and consequently were replaced by smaller scale ones carried out indoors and with fewer personnel (simpson, 1997). like de silva, he also notes that the ritual practices of the berava and other similar groups such as the navandanno [blacksmiths], because of the caste’s connection with the past, have played a significant role in cultural politics nationally. in short, in the period in the run-up to independence and thereafter, the cultural capital of the berava acquired a strategic significance. at various points, performance and performers deemed ‘traditional’ have been valorized as representing a link with an authentic, pre-colonial past and as such used as a reference point for contemporary sinhala national identity.3 as we show in the section dealing with the ambivalence of members of the berava caste towards their own heritage, the tension has been resolved for recent generations by a growing detachment from their own traditions. for them, the detachment provides a route to caste anonymity and the social mobility that this allows. ambivalence i: society towards the berava the sinhalese caste system has proved something of a puzzle for scholars of south asia society and culture.4 unlike its indian counterpart, there are no brahmin or kshatriya castes and it does not carry the same rigidity around ideas of purity and pollution. it also differs in that the most elevated caste, the goyigama, or farmer caste is also the largest in numerical terms. below the goyigama are a cluster of smaller, service castes who are ranked below the goyigamas in the sinhala caste hierarchy. the social and economic marginality of the service castes was often reinforced by numerous social proscriptions and markers. for example: they were frequently without hereditary 3in his account of cultural intimacy, herzfeld (1997) makes a similar point: marginals are often subject to a profound ambivalence. on the one hand they are celebrated as a pure expression of an authentic identity but on the other they are denigrated because they fail to satisfy modern expectations regarding values and behaviour. 4for an interesting discussion and overview on caste research in sri lanka see esler, 2024. 36 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 land title, had to follow a system of caste-specific family and personal names, had unavoidable service obligations towards higher status groups, faced restrictions on dress and appearance and were subject to subtle patterns of deference and demeanor in their day-to-day inter-caste social interaction. estimates of the numbers who identify as members of the various service castes are notoriously difficult to arrive at. caste as a category has not been identified in censuses since 1911 and anti-discrimination legislation over the decades has rendered caste even more demographically opaque (silva et al., 2009). based on the limited data available to them, silva, sivapragasam & thanges estimated that about 20 to 30 per cent people in sri lanka are victims of caste-based discrimination which may serve as a rough proxy for the overall proportion of service castes present in sri lanka. among these castes, the berava are considered one of the lowest ranked and are one of the most numerous. in the southern part of the island, however, they constitute a small fraction of the total caste-identified population (ryan, 1953, p. 291). more recently, kapferer notes that in both urban and rural sri lanka, the berava are viewed by other castes as close to the bottom of the caste order (1983, pp. 38-48). their low rank is generally related to the nature of their ritual duties. a reason often cited by non-berava people as a justification for the caste being positioned in the lower orders of society was that berava men’s hereditary occupation of drumming at rituals and ceremonies brought them into routine contact with the skins of dead animals on their drums. killing animals is abhorred within mainstream buddhism and by extension, handling the products of this act are linked by some buddhists with impurity on the one hand and impiety on the other. their status is also linked to their role as providing ritual services to most of the other castes. these duties typically bring berava ritualists and their families into contact with lower beings in the cosmic order such as demons and spirits [yaksha and bhuta] which further reinforces the low status of the caste.5 the logic underpinning this association is to be found in the hierarchical ordering of the buddhist pantheon. the system operates according to jurisdictions (varama) held by gods over cosmic territories. these gods then bestow power on lesser deities and demons. as obeyesekere has argued, this vision of the cosmic order serves as a model of, and a model for, the social organization of lankan kingdoms (obeyesekere, 1984). throughout history, distinct caste groups were formed in accordance with the sort of ritual and other services they provided in royal and religious ceremonials as well as domestic rites. in addition to the berava, the main service castes still found in the south of sri lanka today are as follows: metalworkers (navandanno), lime burners (hunu), palanquin bearers (batgama), potters (badahalla), washermen (hena or rada) and jaggery makers (vahumpura). today, some of the ancient structures of feudal social organization are still evident. historically, sinhala buddhist-dominated sri lanka fell into three culturally distinct regions: the ‘upcountry’ or uda rata, embraces the traditions of the central province; the ‘low-country’ or pahata rata, includes the traditions of the districts of galle, matara and hambantota in the southern province, and the sabaragamuwa tradition refers to the 5the use of the term ‘low’ here is in keeping with the terminology in common usage in sinhala buddhist society, that is, they are referred to as an adu kulaya. cultural ambivalence: a socio-historical account of the berava caste of southern sri lanka 37 arts developed in the central western region of sri lanka. in the history of sri lanka these regions emerged as ancient kingdoms and later provided the boundaries of the district authorities of the colonial administrations. the berava caste communities in these regions have also developed distinct drumming and dancing traditions which are recognized through their ritual costumes as well as their technique, style and rhythm when performing (also see sykes, 2018). these different traditions continue to provide important vehicles for regional identities in the present day. indeed, the role of berava men as performers in these areas continues to be important. ancient patron/client structures of duties and loyalties have more recently been replaced by ones with local political elites and their strategic appeals to cultural heritage and its preservation. broadly speaking, berava in their role as drummers fall into two categories: ritual drummers and funeral drummers. ritual drummers could inherit land and sometimes be engaged in paddy cultivation as well as ritual service. from father to son, this traditional legacy has been passed down across the generations [paramparāva]. these drummers gave their services to temples, deity shrines and at communal rituals. stylized bodily movements of the dancers are rhythmically controlled by the beat of the drum. the rhythmic harmony of the act is essential to the performance (sykes, 2018). on certain ritual occasions, for example in buddhist temples, the drums are beat without the accompaniment of dance. however, dance cannot be performed without the beating of the drums. the berava provide the offerings of sound [sabda pujā] and dance in temple rituals and village rites. an important duty for berava drummers and dancers is to participate in the large ceremonial processions in which sacred regalia are paraded [perahera]. as seneviratne points out, even in the midst of this duty their status vis-a-vis other castes is made public: the very act of dancing in front of someone in certain contexts, of which the perahera is one, places the dancers in a low position and the recipient of dance in a high position. this inequality is enhanced by the dancers worshipping the radala authorities every now and then in the moving perahera, throughout its entire course. further, during most of this course, the dancers also perform the remarkable feat of walking backwards from time to time, as much as they could while doing their dance too, another sign of honor accorded to a highstatus person to whom one does not turn one’s back. (1978, p. 151). unlike ritual drummers, the section of the berava community involved with funeral drumming [mala bera] did not inherit land. their association with the polluting effects of death and disposal marked them out as inferior, even within the caste. whilst this hierarchical distinction was upheld inside the caste and ritual drummers would never undertake funeral drumming, it was of no consequence to outsiders. all berava were seen as inferior by outsiders. the occupational identity of the berava as the part of society where drummers are to be found is strong. by the time we carried out our fieldwork, many berava men had never touched a drum. nonetheless, the stigma attached to their profession, for both men and women, has persisted. 38 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 for several older berava people that we worked with, the memories of caste oppression were still strong. stories of exclusion, abuse and intimidation were common. by the time simpson carried out his fieldwork in 1979, the most visible manifestations of caste prejudice had been greatly ameliorated through social and political activism. berava men could now go about in public with their upper bodies covered and educational exclusion was mostly a thing of the past.6 however, humiliating traces of caste prejudice were still in evidence. rules that set the community apart such as prohibitions on marriage outside a person’s caste or rules about who could sit together at a table to eat were still strongly observed. there was also the use of the ‘half chair’ [putuva bāgaya], a chair produced, as if from nowhere, on occasions when a berava man visited the house of a goyigama family. when all were seated, the berava man would be head and shoulders below everyone else—but at least they had progressed from merely having to stand when in company. there were numerous occasions when out in public with his berava associates simpson also attracted opprobrium. did he not realize that these people were low and ‘dirty’ [kilutuyi] and he shouldn’t be fraternizing with them? what might appear to an outsider as a flat and featureless social landscape was in fact filled with clues about status that often translated into appalling acts of prejudice. de silva also witnessed caste-based discrimination against berava people in the bentara area. for example, members of the caste were often in dispute with the politically and numerically dominant goyigama caste. one contentious issue was that of schooling. a major grievance was that antagonism from other castes caused berava children to leave school earlier than they otherwise would have done. in response, members of the caste started their own primary school with the help of a berava man with good connections to national political parties. similarly, members of the caste were forced to have their own temple because of high caste control of the existing village temple. yet, despite evidence of sustained caste prejudice, the role of the berava in the areas in which they lived was one that was valued when it came to the services that men of the caste provided. for example, in the event of illness or misfortune for which supernatural forces are believed to be responsible, family members would approach a local ritual specialist, typically of the berava caste. they would visit their houses, drink their tea and eat their biscuits and be polite and solicitous. where a healing ceremony [tovil] was the resulting prescription, a troupe of dancers and drummers [kandāyama] would later attend the house where the patient [āturaya] lived and the performers would be treated to food, drink and generally welcomed into the home. social etiquette would be observed on these occasions, but the hosts would go to some 6the ‘battle of the banian’ is a now famous incident in which there was a violent confrontation between goyigamas and berava men over their children’s right to wear vests in public. ryan reports events taking place near tangalle in 1949 (ryan, 1953, pp. 292–293). simpson’s informants described similar events taking place in the 1960s, again sparked when a berava child was assaulted in the street for going to school wearing a vest. s.a. wickremasinghe, then communist party mp for akuressa, was reported to have physically intervened in the confrontation and persuaded the goyigama groups that their prejudices were unfair and unfounded. cultural ambivalence: a socio-historical account of the berava caste of southern sri lanka 39 lengths to ensure that their guests, although beneath them in the caste hierarchy, were not offended or slighted in any way. one reason for this apparent putting aside of caste concerns was the fact that those who had come to repel misfortune and its agents were also capable of doing the opposite. their knowledge of sorcery and other nefarious techniques made them feared for the harm they might do if offended. ambivalence ii: the state towards the berava in her book dance and the nation: performance ritual and politics in sri lanka [2010] susan reed documents how the kohomba kankariya ritual was transformed from a small-scale village celebration of local deities into an ubiquitous and essential expression of sinhalese national identity. over the centuries the kohomba kankariya has served a range of functions: healing ritual, a way to fulfil a vow, an agricultural rite or simply fostering forgiveness and community solidarity. crucially, the kohomba kankariya is associated with the up-country or kandyan dance tradition. in the early twentieth century, kohomba kankariya dancers and drummers began to feature in the rituals that center on the temple of the tooth and as a part of the esala perahera procession (reed, 2010, p. 99). reed demonstrates how in the post-colonial period kandyan dance became entwined with the political project of sinhala buddhist nationalism. a critical moment in this development was swrd bandaranike’s election in 1956. his success lay in his appeal to the sinhala majority and the promise of a revitalization of the religion, culture and values that had atrophied under centuries of colonial rule. from this point onward there emerged a sense that sinhala culture was unique and in need of protection. one of the first moves in this direction was the establishment of a ministry of cultural affairs in 1956. according to mantillake (2022), the dances drawn from the different dance traditions of the island became part of the national curriculum in schools in the 1950s. he identifies the berava dancer and drummer pani bharata as playing a significant role in creating an entire repertoire of dances that reinforced an emerging sense of sinhala national identity. although presented as authentic and pre-colonial, mantilleke argues that these dances, which celebrated everyday village activities, are largely invented and were formulated in the ferment of cultural revival that followed independence. these shifts in cultural policy had wide-ranging consequences for performers and their modes of performance. put simply, healing rituals performed by hereditary berava specialists became increasingly oriented toward heritage and exhibition delivered by middle-class, non-berava elites. reed also documents other critical transformations. the dynamic variability of dance traditions became increasingly standardized and prescribed as a result of textbooks, manuals and exams. performers from the berava caste were gradually squeezed out of their ritual inheritance in favor of high-caste exponents (reed, 2010, p. 136). the inclusion of dance at ordinary level, advanced level in schools and later at degree level added further impetus to the dislocation of performance from its roots. woven into this story is an account of the impact of these changes upon up-country berava ritualists and their communities. 40 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 whilst the fate of the up-country berava has been documented in some detail, little has been written about the situation in the low-country. although sharing common caste status, up-country and low-country berava have significantly different traditions. low-country berava have not enjoyed the same levels of recognition and state patronage as their up-country counterparts. berava from the southern provinces, carry the tradition of low country dance (pahata rata naetum) and an associated complex of rituals intended to deal with the malign effects of demons (tovil). some artists from this tradition did achieve national and international recognition but not nearly to the extent of their up-country compatriots. for example, polwatte gomez was recognized as a celebrity within the communities around the galle and matara on account of the fact that he had performed in europe as part of a cultural tour. in 1980, when simpson met him, he was quite elderly and cut a very elegant figure. he was well known in his community, almost everybody claimed to be related to him and, on family occasions, he was treated with nothing short of divine reverence. similarly, edin gurunanse was one of the most respected and reputed teachers (adura) in southern sri lanka. with his excellent reputation, edin was in considerable demand from various groups of ritual performers and clients from all over the island. he even performed his dance routines in several european countries and his reputation was further enhanced after winning a number of awards. he was an acknowledged teacher and attracted numerous students. he also served as a visiting lecturer at the institute of aesthetic studies which was later to become the university of visual and performing arts (uvpa) in the capital city of colombo. among simpson’s berava associates back in 1978, it was also a source of great pride that a male relative had appeared at, or perhaps taught at the institute of aesthetic studies (saundarya āyatanaya). this was not only because of their caste background but also because low-country dance and drumming was often overlooked in favor of the more established and celebrated kandyan dance traditions in state-sponsored institutions. another source of pride for those involved in traditional arts and crafts was to be recognized with a kala bhushana. this entailed the award of a medal, a certificate and a small cash prize. personal details and a photograph of those receiving the award also then appeared in a souvenir publication. the cover of the 1986 brochure shows a collage of drums, masks and ritual paraphernalia. included among the items on the cover is an ola leaf book (pus kola pot) and stylus (panhinda). these books contain the poems (kavi) in which ritual instructions and their justification are to be found; these verses are jealously guarded and passed down in families. in 1988, the kala bushana, was awarded to edin gurunanse. the kala bhushana was instigated in the mid-1980s as a way of recognizing local artists for their long service and significant contribution to the passing on of traditional knowledge and skills. the first kala bhushana event took place on 22 may 1984 at president j.r. jaywardene’s residence. at the inaugural event 53 temple artists, drummers, dancers and astrologers were feted. the date was significant as it coincided with national heroes day. in the 1980s the scheme was targeted explicitly at the grassroots carriers of traditional knowledge and skill. from the pictures in cultural ambivalence: a socio-historical account of the berava caste of southern sri lanka 41 the early brochures, many of the men were elderly and wearing the national dress. perusal of the hereditary family names (vāsagama), which often contain clues as to caste identity, would suggest that several recipients were of the berava and other low castes. when, on a subsequent field trip in the mid-90s, simpson spent time with his berava associates, they would proudly point to relatives who had been recognized by this prestigious national award. that those being recognized with the award were rather distant kin was not an issue. there were always rumblings about political bias in the selection of candidates, but the important point was that they were berava and it was their traditional occupations that were being celebrated. in the foreword to the 1986 kala bhushana award brochure, president j.r jayawardene joins three points crucial to the political ideology of his government. first, is an invocation of a link to the ancient kingdoms of anuradhapura and polonnaruwa and the twelfth century king, parakramabahu. second, the assertion that economic success is the foundation of national greatness. third, that traditional sinhala arts and crafts are crucial to this vision. at various points in the opening comments other ministers identify traditional knowledge and skills as integral to j.r. jayawardene’s vision of the dharmista society, that is, one based upon an essentially sinhala buddhist conception of righteousness. indeed, the patrons of the event repeatedly return to a link between the current impoverished morality of society and the way in which traditional art and artists have been neglected. the kala bhushana was thus a powerful way to reinforce the idea of a dharmista society by enlisting and celebrating the purveyors of sinhala cultural traditions as essential to it. the award of the kala bhushana as state recognition of individual contribution to the arts continues but in more recent times its form is rather different. in 2017, the award was given to 200 people deemed to have made a significant contribution to contemporary culture. the difference between the early days of the award and the present day is threefold. there is recognition that the arts scene is ethnically diverse (although still dominated by sinhalese), there is greater recognition of women’s roles and there has been a shift towards literature, music and drama. this was no doubt a sign that the lifeblood of sri lankan public culture was now drawn from a rather different source than back in the 1970s. during our periods of research, the cultural contribution of the berava caste began to have greater economic significance with the growth of tourism as a foreign exchange earner. in response to the demand for souvenirs and local cultural performances, our networks of berava ritualists began to provide their services to tourists. the influences of the tourist industry on berava activity are particularly significant on the south-western coastal belt which is highly popular with tourists. men of the caste would perform short versions of ritual episodes billed as ‘authentic’ and ‘traditional’ for visiting tourists. the remuneration from such activities was often considerably greater than that from their usual duties. whereas once caste members carried out mask making, dancing, drumming, weaving and so forth as a matter of obligation under the system known as rājakāriya (duty to the king), their activities had taken on new significance as marketable commodities. for example, masks are no longer only 42 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 carved and painted for ceremonial use but also produced in direct response to the high tourist demand for these colorful items. when it comes to dancing, non-berava and even non-sri lankans perform ritual episodes in tourist, diplomatic, and entertainment venues nationally and internationally (reed, 2010; see also simpson 1993 and 1997). several local cultural shows that de silva viewed during 1996–1997, were sponsored by ‘idealists’ who wished to preserve ‘traditional arts’ for coming generations (de silva, 2000). the troupes performing in these events were invariably presented as ‘authentic’ traditional ritualists. today, performers in the south experience both a state-governed renaissance of their ritual traditions and a gradual adoption of a market for their services as a result of tourism and migration. together these form the drivers of much contemporary practice. a further impact of state-level policy on local ritual practice is to be found in the field of education. since the 1960s traditional ritual knowledge and skills have become progressively incorporated into formal educational curricula across all stages of education. the effect has been to standardize what were previously dynamic traditions. in 1978, the first problem that the government had to deal with when institutionalizing traditional ritual performance was that none of those who could teach dance had any higher educational background themselves. most of them had not even finished o-level exams. the ministry of education solved the ‘lack of qualification problem’ among the teaching staff by honoring them with a university degree at the master’s level and then employing them as university lecturers. the first generation of teachers were men of the berava caste who had been initiated as dancers and drummers. teachers also tended to be drawn from a small number of recognized masters who were mostly of the ‘up-country’ or kandyan tradition (reed, 2002). it was only much later that opportunities for low-country performers arose. with their new titles and positions came higher salaries and also an elevated social status. as susan reed notes, the trouble faced by traditional berava ritualists in this situation led to tensions. in one group were the performers whose work was grounded in the community and closer to traditional service provision. in the other group were performers who were becoming cut off from their roots and whose performance was driven by a different aesthetic and economic rationality. the emphasis on theory and a more academic approach to music and dance meant that performers from higher castes were able to dominate the field (reed, 1998, p. 261). nevertheless, reed reports that some berava men, despite their lack of qualifications were able to make progress in the formal education sector. consequently, the social status and public recognition of the berava caste overall was improved. furthermore, berava men found success in a variety of new roles: as teachers at the university, dancers of nationally acclaimed traditional dances, members of national and provincial dance troupes, members of the sri lankan army dance troupe, as judges at competitions held at the growing number of dance schools (kalā yatana) as members of the arts council, as well as the many opportunities created as teachers in public schools, dance schools and cultural centers established throughout the country under the ministry of cultural affairs. cultural ambivalence: a socio-historical account of the berava caste of southern sri lanka 43 with the introduction of formal education criteria, the hereditary link between the berava and their traditions of knowledge and skill were weakened, and it no longer gave them privileged access to state-level opportunities. the landscape of qualification and recognition had changed substantially. protests were forthcoming from those in the berava community who felt that they were being dispossessed of the intellectual property of their birthright. many of those recruited to teach the traditional arts on the basis of their a-level exams in traditional arts alone had not come through an apprentice-type of education as dancers and what they were able to teach was thought to be distinctly second rate by those engaged in village ritual activity. with the aim of meeting these criticisms, the institute of aesthetic studies established an exclusive entry based on a practical test on 1 may 1974 for ten talented students from the berava community. the arrangement was highly contentious and, after one year, it was decided that everyone should be recruited on the basis of formal qualifications alone (nurnberger, 1998). as a result, despite their claims to an authentic heritage, men of the berava caste lost their demand for a more open access to the formalized education system. an important consequence of these developments was what susan reed has described as the ‘classicization’ and ‘rationalization’ of practices which ‘once regarded solely as the province of low-caste berava males became respectable within the context of sinhala nationalism’ (reed, 2002, p. 247). in theory if not in actuality, this transformation of dancing and drumming signaled a sanitization of the ‘traditional arts.’ many of the negative associations of berava activity became recast as valuable and much lauded expressions of a national heritage to be shared by all sri lankans. ambivalence iii: the berava towards their own traditions in the previous sections we have given some indication of the ambivalence which is expressed towards the berava caste by society and state: a complex mixing of cultural valorization and social opprobrium. in this section we turn to the implications that this has had for the berava in relation to their own traditions and heritage. even though others might be slow to recognize the considerable contribution members of the caste made to sri lankan culture, they themselves would nonetheless take great pride in their own community and the preservation of its traditions. key to the reproduction of tradition has been inter-marriage between families of performers. intra-caste marriages enabled apprenticeships to take place, not only in ritual performance but also in a wide range of other artistic and craft skills. this system of exchange and co-operation between families was often cemented by marital alliances. women invariably played a key role in these alliances and although they were not ritual practitioners themselves, it was clear to us that they were in regular contact with, and often had good knowledge of ritual practice. in short, for the highly visible work of berava men to occur, the much less visible work of women was absolutely crucial. if men were the warp of tradition then women were its weft. the typical pattern was for women to move to the village of a husband known as a dīga marriage, and for her children to move back to her natal village to study with her kinsmen, and more often than not, one of her brothers, 44 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 that is, their maternal uncle (mama). simpson argued that this close interweaving of marriage, apprenticeship and performance ensured the continued dynamism of the ritual tradition and its recognition in the wider community (simpson 1984, 1993 and 1997). the practice of endogamy within groups of performance elites within the caste has contributed significantly to the emergence of distinct ritual traditions across the south of the island. for example, de silva documents the distinctive features of the bentara tradition. berava ritualists from this area developed rites connected with the cult of the god devol deviyo. propitiating this god is associated with relief of illness and meting out retribution for wrong doing. yet, even within the region, the traditions relating to this deity are not homogenous. there are many families of ritual specialists involved in devol deviyo cults and each one exhibits minor variations in ritual procedures, style and repertoire. so, the closer one looks at tradition, the more its overall coherence dissolves, rather like a pointillist painting, into distinct and partial fragments. in an attempt to understand this dynamic in practice, simpson argued that the knowledge and skills of the berava should be seen as cultural capital or, indeed, a kind of intellectual property. like other kinds of intellectual property, knowledge and skills are owned with people claiming their legitimacy as its owners; here based on apprenticeship with named teachers (gurunānse) and a pedigree extending back in time (paramparāva). value and prestige are maintained through mechanisms that limit access to the caste’s patrimony. paramount among these is the passing on of knowledge between kin and typically between an uncle and a nephew (māma-baena). another mechanism in play is that of secrecy and avoidance of sharing knowledge indiscriminately. in this regard, one berava associate described two classes of knowledge: an inner class (aetul pantiya) and an outer one (pita pantiya). the outer class is one that everyone has access to. for example, at the time of fieldwork much oral tradition had been collected and made into book form by a publishing house specializing in vernacular traditions—the modern pot sappuva based in nugegoda. whilst this material was viewed as legitimate by many of our berava associates, it was not considered to be workable in any practical setting. for that, ‘inner’ knowledge passed down by a teacher to his pupil was the only way ritual practice could have any efficacy. such distinctions open up further sources of ambivalence. in claiming to be the carriers of a tradition which purports to be timeless and unchanging, male berava ritualists are believed to reproduce ancient rituals as they were performed in the time of the ancients or in illo tempore as mircea eliade once referred to it (eliade, 1954). yet, in practice, each ritual performance is an occasion for innovation and dynamic creativity in which different strands of tradition are brought into play. indeed, one could say in the passing on of knowledge and skills across the generations, tradition is better understood as the history of creativity rather than as a static and faithfully reproduced corpus. given this tension, the market for ritual services that berava men provide fosters competition within the caste. jealousy is common as are allegations of others’ inauthenticity and lack of proper knowledge or technique. it is not unknown for performers to steal items of performance from one another (horamera). the resulting cultural ambivalence: a socio-historical account of the berava caste of southern sri lanka 45 dynamism of the performance tradition in the south carries significant kudos for the caste within the wider society. however, the same claims also generate a tendency towards fission and tension between different groups within the caste. the connections that members of the caste believe themselves to have with authentic sources of knowledge whilst providing the grounds for distinction is also a source of great pride. this pride was demonstrated in a poem recited to simpson in 1979. the poem was shared with him by arlis gurunnanse of walawe. he proudly claimed that it had been in his family for generations and he offered it as an account of the importance of the caste in terms of its origins and the role that its activities play in society.7 for example, rather than using the term berava, which associates them with the drum, they would often refer to themselves as the nekati kulaya, a designation which associates them with the more elevated profession of astrology. their glory spread in the world like a ‘gtiya,’ they are truly great we provided water to the holy bodhi tree, rewarded with fields and lands the two castes ’royal’ and ‘brahmin,’ no other castes-we won the hearts of kings සිටිය විලසට කුලය උසමිටි වලසට වබදුනිය වපර කලා රිය පිළිවෙල බමුණු කුල වලස දැන් අවේ වම් පිළිවෙළා ගිරිය සිඳිනට ෙැසූෙත් වමාර අපට සමයයි නයිවදලා බැරිය සමවෙනු බිලිය අවුලා ලබ්බ ඉණ බැඳ අලිබලා the castes is divided into low and high, according to their positions our present position is correct, as the brahmin caste even if the ‘nayides’ scream until their throats crack they cannot be equal, by -----, wearing the gourd on the waist and guarding elephants (නයිවේ-attached to the names of artificers, specially of goldsmiths and silversmiths) දැවලන් බිලිවයන් මසුන් මැරුකල ඇසුත් වනාවපවනයි සම රූ වතලින් කුරුරජ තුමන් ආෙත් අවේ පිළිවෙළමයි ෙරු අලින් ෙස්බැඳ කපන වපාල් අතු මදින අයටත් සිත් යුරූ කලින් තිබු පිළිවෙළක් නැත වෙන අපට ෙැඩි උන්වෙන් ෙරූ when some men catch fish with the net and hook, they go blind even if king kuru came from far, still our customs are the best for those who polish coconut fronds they cut by tethering elephants on trees no other greater way for them than what we had in the past (kuruname of a country and a king found in the buddhist literature) ෙනන් තෙ ඇත වකාටස් වෙන වෙන වබදුනු කටයුතු නිසි වලසා ෙනන් සත ස නැකැත් සත දැන ෙ න් වෙන් ෙන දෑ යසා දනන් ට වසත් යාෙ සමගින් ෙයන කර වබර නද වෙනා පනම් වෙන රැකි ඇදුරු වකාටසක් බමුනු කුලවයන් වව් යසා there are more parts to describe, divided according tasks, duly knowing the science of numbers and astrology, the effects of the planets for the people with the ‘yaga’ and to the accompaniment of the sound of drums a kind of the artists maintained with gifts, descending from the brahmin caste සතර වෙද දැන ෙදඹ බමුණන් උතුම් වොවිකුලවයන් කකා අතර තුරුෙන් දනන්වෙන් අඩු බතක් දුන්වනාත් උන් වනාකා එතර කරමින් සියළු පිරිපත යාෙ කර මිනිසුන් රැකා අතර දඹදිෙ වබෝෙ පැෙතුනි වබෝෙ සම්පත් ලැබ වනකා knowing four vedas, gandharva brahmins, eating (depending on) from the great govi caste if some food is given now and then for ma low cast, not eating it putting an end to all disasters, performing yaga for protecting people existed in the dambadiva mostly, receiving much wealth and crops there are more parts to describe, duly divided according to their tasks, knowing the science of numbers and astrology, the effects of the planets for the people with the yaga and to the accompaniment of the sound of drums a kind of the artists maintained with gifts, descending from the brahmin caste and later … දැනට සිරිලක සුදුසු විලසට අඹා බලි ෙ රු ෙ වයාදා දිනට සුදු පිලි පැලඳ ෙනිමින් සුරත ෙෙනය වෙන නදා කනට සුමුහිරි මගුල් වු ෙචවනන් යාෙ කර සත වරෝ මුදා බසට ැසිවරන ඔවුන් වබරො නිමන් පැෙවතයි සිරිවිඳා at this time, making bali images portraying the planets clad in pure white cloth, making the tinkling bells sound held in the hand doing the ‘yaga’ uttering sweet words to the ear, relieving people from their diseases with the words, they are known as ‘berava’ මුතුන් මිත්තන් පටන්වනාකඩෙ නැකැත් සත දැන සිටි නිසා වදතුන් විට දැන ෙනිති සිහිකර සුදු වලසට වබාල්ලන් තියා කතුන් ෙනුවදනු සෑම නැකතුත් පැෙසු න්දා බලි තියා උතුම් වොවිකුල මැතිඳු පෙසයි ඒයින් උන් ට නැක තියා since the time of ancestors continuously, they had known the science of astrology, remembering the science of numbers, two or three times, placing white shells as they prescribed auspicious moments for marriages of women, offering ‘bali’ the great men of the govi caste call them ‘nakatiya. පතල වොවිකුල දනන්වෙන් බත් කන්වන පිරිසිදු පත්වකාවළ් වකාතල වකටිවයන් කටට ෙත්කර වබාන්වන පිරිසිදු වු ජවල් ෙතල තඹවලරු පිඟන් දුන්නත් අපිරිසිදුයයි ප කවළ් සිතල බැලුවොත් බමුණු පිලිවෙල තාම නැත උන් ප කවල් from the famous people of the govi caste, they consume rice in a ‘patkole’ (leaf) they drink water by pouring from a ‘kotale’ (clay-jug) into the mouth fine copper plates are given; they put them away saying unclean if you think about this, the ways of brhamins they have not yet given up ෙසන එක වබර නරක ෙැඩකැයි සිතති අඩුකුල දන රැසා නසන ලද අවප මුනිදු වකවලසුන් අරාවුන් සඳ විදුරැසා ෙසන සුරවලාෙ ෙදඹ වදව්පුත් සමෙ වනාවයකුත් වදවි රැසා අසන ට වලස ව ොසය පැතිවරන ෙැසුවෙ නැතිෙද වබරරැසා the people of the low castes think playing drums as a bad thing when our buddha after destroying ‘keles’ (defilements) occupying the crystal seat various kinds of deities in heaven living with the ‘gandharva gods did they not play many drums making a loud noise for hearing? පුෙත වනාදැනම උපත වබරො වකවරති අප ස සම රූ පැෙත ඒනවපර සිටන් සිරිතල බමුණුමයි අප සත දැරූ නැෙත නැෙතත් වසායා බැලුවෙමි වලාකු අයද අප ැර නැති යුරූ ෙසතව ාත් අප මිසක් වනාෙලත උතුම් වොවිකුල වනාම සරූ since the time of ancestors continuously, they had known the science of astrology, remembering the science of numbers, two or three times, placing white shells as they prescribed auspicious moments for marriages of women, offering bali the great men of the govi caste call them nakatiya. throughout the poem links are made with ancient brahmin castes or bamunu who were responsible for bringing ritual knowledge and novel forms of religiosity into sri lanka during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (k.m. de silva, 2005, p. 123). වොතන කිවියර තාල පද දැන නටන අය ට මිතුරුො වකාතන ව පළ ර උනත් වපර කිෙ රැවෙන වොස් වබර රුසිලො තතන තනියන කියන නටනට ෙැසී වබරපද පතුරුො එතන සිට ලක තුමන් උන් ට නමක් වබරො පැෙරුො the poet, skilled in the tunes and words making friends with the dancers, wherever there is a procession, going there carrying the drum happily beating the drum resounding ‘tatana, tana, tana’, accompanying dance since then the kings of lanka, awarded them the title of ‘berava’ සුෙන් මුනිෙර පුදට වොවිකුල දනන් ට උන් වබර ෙසා අරන් ෙැලවිය වබරය වපර සිට ඉවසන් බුහුමන් කර යසා නරන් ට වසසු ෙැසුෙත් වබර වනාක ා උන්වෙන් කිසිවලසා අරන් ෙැලවිය වබරය වදපයින් පටන් වපර සිරිතක් වලසා after playing the drum for the people of govi caste, as offering to the omniscient buddha they took off the drum over the head paying high respects even if they play the drum for other people, would not eat anything from them following ancient traditions, took off the drum from the feet අමන සම රු සිතති අඩුවකට පනා වනාෙසනෙට ඉවස් ෙමන පමණකි උතුරු සළුෙත් බමුණු සුදුෙත් ඇඳ යවස් අමන පැලඳුන් වනාරිටු දුටු දුටු අඳින කුලයට නිසිවලවස් පමණ වත්වරයි ව ා ඳට මියතත් බමුණුෙට උන් සැක වකවස් some persons look down on them as they do not wear combs on their heads they walk clad in white ‘shoulder band’ like brahmins wearing weird ornaments according to diverse castes even if they die, they will know their status as brahmins, there’s no doubt පැත්ත කට වනාෙ ඇත්ත පෙසමි තර වනාෙනිව් නයිවදලා ෙත්තු රජකම වමරට නිරිවඳෝ ආදිකළ කටයුතු බලා සත්තමයි ඔය ෙංස අටෙන අයට ෙැඩි අප වලාක්කලා උත්ත මයි වොවිකුලය සිරිලක අවපන් උන් ට ෙරුකළා without getting to a side i will tell the truth, nayides, do not be offended kings of this lanka, ascended throne, having seen the work of ancients i swear! our leaders are greater than those who boast of their caste the govi caste is the highest in sri lanka and we too paid respect them විජය රජකල පටන් වොවිකුල මුනිඳු තනතුරු ලබමිනා ෙැටිය වලස කිත් පතල විය ලක උතුම් අයමැයි සැබවිනා එජය දුමි දුට ෙතර ලැබු අප අනගි ෙම්වපත් වපර දිනා රජය බමුණුය වදකුල වසසු නැත අපිත් නිරිඳුන් සිත්වෙනා 7we are extremely grateful to emeritus prof. udaya meddegama, department of sinhala, university of peradeniya who translated the poem into english. the full version of the poem is reproduced in appendix one. 46 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 some persons look down on them as they do not wear combs on their heads they walk clad in white scarves like brahmins wearing weird ornaments according to diverse castes even if they die, they will know their status as brahmins, there’s no doubt the fact that there were waves of migration from south india in earlier centuries is well established. indeed, there are strong similarities between the tamil drummer caste known as the paraiyar and the berava. the sinhala word for drum is bera which has strong etymological connections with the tamil word parai. it is believed that some of these early migrants would have been brahmins bringing with them ritual knowledge relating to a new panoply of deities and demons. yet, there are no brahmin castes in sinhalese society today. obeyesekere makes the case for the transition of these early immigrants into the goyigama caste as elites (obeyesekere, 2015). at the time of our fieldwork, some berava people held the view that they were the presentday heirs of the knowledge that these long-ago migrant brahmins brought to sri lanka and perhaps even their direct descendants. rather tantalizingly, obeyesekere makes the point in his concluding remarks that brahmins ‘might have descended the caste ladder’ and have links with drummers (obeyesekere, 2015, p. 30). in defense of their claim to an earlier elevated status, some pointed out that rules about commensality and caste endogamy were not about them defiling the purity of others but, rather, preventing others defiling the purity that came with their brahminic origins. given the backdrop of ongoing caste discrimination alongside internal conflicts and schisms it is hardly surprising that across the generations ambivalence towards their ritual inheritance has grown for many berava youth. some parents actively discouraged their sons from taking up hereditary professions. sometimes it was the other way around with sons rejecting their parents’ desire that they carry on the tradition. leaving behind the occupational markers of caste might also be accompanied by name changes which removed any possible caste identification. historically, berava were not allowed to use names associated with the higher castes. similarly, the family names (vāsagama) when spelt out in full might reveal an association with drumming or astrology. such changes enabled a degree of caste anonymity which could facilitate upward social mobility through employment and/or education. berava today in this article we have drawn on our combined ethnographic experience of berava families in the south of sri lanka to understand the emergence and consequences of the ambivalence expressed towards the caste. our account documents a particular period in the island’s history in which efforts to construct a post-independence, national identity took some distinctive turns. berava as a caste group in sinhala society have gradually managed to uplift their status and living conditions using opportunities offered by the sri lankan welfare state, including free education and opportunities arising from patronage politics and market mechanisms. these opportunities, however, have not benefited all members within the caste evenly and there are pockets where cultural ambivalence: a socio-historical account of the berava caste of southern sri lanka 47 poverty, landlessness, low human dignity, unemployment and poor living conditions in general exist side by side with continued discrimination, for example, in access to education. however, some members of the berava caste have clearly benefited from the neo-liberalization of the economy post-1977 and the deployment of sinhala cultural traditions as part of an ethno-nationalist rhetoric of renewal. the berava caste, as the established and active carriers of the knowledge and skills that underpinned these traditions were inevitably drawn into this project. the ambivalence stems from the fact that their traditional role [community ritualists providing dancing, drumming and other ritual duties] and status [socially marginalized and discriminated against] was at odds with what they were now expected to provide. over the decades that our account covers, a gradual bifurcation is evident. one direction of pull is for berava performers to be drawn into aspects of performance that are formalized, elite and disconnected from their roots. the promotion of dance and drumming as mainstream subjects in education at all levels has played a major role in this process. it has provided significant career opportunities for some berava ritualists. whilst these opportunities are lucrative and carry status, they are inevitably selective and have the effect of distancing performers from their own communities. similarly, tourism has provided markets for commoditized elements of ritual tradition in the form of cultural performances and the mass sale of ‘devil dance’ masks. whereas ritual service as carried out by berava, men were traditionally paid for with crops, goods and services, and sometimes also land, today ritualists are firmly part of the cash economy. a third area of demand for these commoditized aspects of culture is in the burgeoning media industry where ritual music and dance is often used to evoke nostalgic representation of village life and times. there is however a pull in a very different direction, and one that takes later generations completely away from traditional activities. separation from the traditions of the caste, whether by intent or necessity, is the experience of the majority of berava young men. essentially, berava boys were trapped in a dilemma in that for many of them to reproduce the work of their fathers meant also to reproduce a problematic caste identity. simpson, for example, makes a connection between a lingering social opprobrium and the desire to leave traditional professions in the 1970s and 80s; a strategy fraught with ambivalence. a clear effect of this move is that in the 1990s the younger generation experienced fewer stigmas than their forefathers. some of the occupations that were moved into by recent generations involve skills developed as part of their caste inheritance. for example, occupations such as carpentry, masonry, bakery, art production, printing and tailoring may have benefited from the general skill sets that exist in the communities that they grew up in. other destinations for employment have been the armed forces and particularly during the 30-year war fought against the tamil tigers. garment factories, domestic service in gulf countries and menial security duties have also been important destinations for those choosing or compelled to move away from hereditary occupations.8 from more recent anecdotal 8similar arguments can be found in seneviratne (1978), silva (1992), gunasekere (1994), simpson (1996) sorensen (1996) and reed (2010). 48 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 evidence collected by the authors from the communities in which they worked, these latter occupations are the ones that the majority of berava men and women have ended up in. commenting on this shift in occupational focus, jabbar notes that in the ‘practice of hereditary caste occupations…it appears that the type of work and status available under the modern occupational hierarchy continues to reflect a caste dimension’ (jabbar, 2005, p. 16). however, on a visit in 2003 to the village where he had worked in the early 1980s, simpson met the son of an important family of ritualists who had qualified as a doctor and recently married a woman of the same caste who was also a qualified doctor. even a generation ago, such an achievement would have been unheard of. what is apparent from this brief overview of recent trends in occupational activity is that changing socio-economic circumstances have resulted in intra-caste differentiation among berava families. whilst a small minority of berava families have continued as carriers of their rich heritage, there has been a ‘progressive backing away from hereditary, stigmatized occupations among the [sinhala] lower castes… such that the vestiges of caste-based identity are rapidly being expunged’ (simpson, 1997, p. 44). in recent decades larger structural forces have also been in play. as silva has argued, the abandonment of inherited caste occupation is part of a broader shift ‘from caste to a high order of ethnicity’ in the reckoning of identities (silva, 1999, p. 202). the over-shadowing of caste-based identities by a more unified sinhala and, indeed, buddhist identity, has been accelerated during the thirty-five-year civil war that pitted the sri lankan state against the separatist aspirations of the tamil tigers. however, whilst caste identities may have been eclipsed by the rise of a powerful ethno-nationalism, the traces are not easily expunged and particularly for the service castes. as it was for previous generations of the berava community, caste identity continues to be a source of ambivalence. it is one in which pride and the celebration of achievement often sit uncomfortably beside concealment and the negation of caste associations. appendix one සීරු වෙස්නා දනන්වේ කුල ෙනන කලක් වෙයි. ඒ බැවින් වනක් ගුවනන් යුත් අපවෙ ෙඳඹ කුලයන් නම් ෙනාලා දමන්ටත් අෙසර දුනව ාත් වම් උතුම් වූ වොවින්වෙන් there will be a time for praising the caste of ‘seeruvesna’ people. therefore to have praised the names of our ‘gandabmba’gandharva or musicians’-castes, if we are permitted by these great ‘farmers’-- ඔත් ගුණ පැෙසුෙ තතු ඇති වමම වපාත සත්තලි වදකකට විකුණමි අඩු නැත ෙත්කම් ඇති අය අරවෙන බැලුවොත සත්තලි වදක ෙටිනාකම ැඟි යත this book in which i state the true qualities i will sell for seven ’sattali’, no less if those who can afford, bought it and read it they will understand it is really worth seven sattali’ වමදිය තුළ වපර පැෙසු මිනිසුන් එකම මිනිසුන් සැබවිනා වමදිය සම්මත නිරිදු කළ ලක් කිරිය ව ්තුෙ විලසිනා වයදිය වකාටසක් වෙදඟ දැනෙත් බමුණු යයි නම් ෙරුෙනා දිය පව්කළ ෙැඩිය වකාටසක් අදම කුලෙල් වෙන් වුණා it is really true; men in this world are same as the reason, the actions of the ‘sammata’ ancient kings of this lanka some of them learned in vedanga, were named brahmins, respectable those who committed much sin, were segregated as low castes යාෙ බමුණුය ෙදඹ බමුනුය ඔවුන් නිසි නිසි නම් ලබා යාෙ වකරුමට ඇදුරු වකාටසක් වෙනස්වුණු බෙ බලි අඹා යාෙ වපාත් පත් වෙදඟ වපාත් පත් රැවෙන බැලුවෙෝ ලඟ තබා යාෙ පිළිවෙල වවමලස වපනුණිය පළමු පැෙසිය ම බඹා receiving appropriate names such as ‘brahmins of rituals, brahmins of song and dance a special group of artists to perform ‘yaga (rituals)’ by making ‘bali’ images they kept with them books on ‘yaga’ and ‘vedanga’ this is how the tradition of ‘yaga’ evolved, first taught by mahabrahma වමසිරිලක රජ පැමිණි නිරිවඳෝ යාෙ බමුණන් වෙන්නො අසිරි සලසන යාෙ කරුො නැෙත සත ට දන්නො විසිරි උන්වෙන් වබෝෙ පැෙවතන දැනුත් බමුනන් ඉන්නො අසිරිමත් උන් කවුද වසායමුය අඩඟු සිත් තන්නො kings of this sri lanka, having invited brahmins for yaga having performed ‘yaga’ and letting the people know some brahmins still exist scattered, descending from them, let us trace, who they are, focusing our minds there will be a time for praising the caste of seeruvesna people. therefore to have praised the names of our gandharva (musician castes), if we are permitted by these great farmers. --සීරු වෙස්නා දනන්වේ කුල ෙනන කලක් වෙයි. ඒ බැවින් වනක් ගුවනන් යුත් අපවෙ ෙඳඹ කුලයන් නම් ෙනාලා දමන්ටත් අෙසර දුනව ාත් වම් උතුම් වූ වොවින්වෙන් there will be a time for praising the caste of ‘seeruvesna’ people. therefore to have praised the names of our ‘gandabmba’gandharva or musicians’-castes, if we are permitted by these great ‘farmers’-- ඔත් ගුණ පැෙසුෙ තතු ඇති වමම වපාත සත්තලි වදකකට විකුණමි අඩු නැත ෙත්කම් ඇති අය අරවෙන බැලුවොත සත්තලි වදක ෙටිනාකම ැඟි යත this book in which i state the true qualities i will sell for seven ’sattali’, no less if those who can afford, bought it and read it they will understand it is really worth seven sattali’ වමදිය තුළ වපර පැෙසු මිනිසුන් එකම මිනිසුන් සැබවිනා වමදිය සම්මත නිරිදු කළ ලක් කිරිය ව ්තුෙ විලසිනා වයදිය වකාටසක් වෙදඟ දැනෙත් බමුණු යයි නම් ෙරුෙනා දිය පව්කළ ෙැඩිය වකාටසක් අදම කුලෙල් වෙන් වුණා it is really true; men in this world are same as the reason, the actions of the ‘sammata’ ancient kings of this lanka some of them learned in vedanga, were named brahmins, respectable those who committed much sin, were segregated as low castes යාෙ බමුණුය ෙදඹ බමුනුය ඔවුන් නිසි නිසි නම් ලබා යාෙ වකරුමට ඇදුරු වකාටසක් වෙනස්වුණු බෙ බලි අඹා යාෙ වපාත් පත් වෙදඟ වපාත් පත් රැවෙන බැලුවෙෝ ලඟ තබා යාෙ පිළිවෙල වවමලස වපනුණිය පළමු පැෙසිය ම බඹා receiving appropriate names such as ‘brahmins of rituals, brahmins of song and dance a special group of artists to perform ‘yaga (rituals)’ by making ‘bali’ images they kept with them books on ‘yaga’ and ‘vedanga’ this is how the tradition of ‘yaga’ evolved, first taught by mahabrahma වමසිරිලක රජ පැමිණි නිරිවඳෝ යාෙ බමුණන් වෙන්නො අසිරි සලසන යාෙ කරුො නැෙත සත ට දන්නො විසිරි උන්වෙන් වබෝෙ පැෙවතන දැනුත් බමුනන් ඉන්නො අසිරිමත් උන් කවුද වසායමුය අඩඟු සිත් තන්නො kings of this sri lanka, having invited brahmins for yaga having performed ‘yaga’ and letting the people know some brahmins still exist scattered, descending from them, let us trace, who they are, focusing our minds cultural ambivalence: a socio-historical account of the berava caste of southern sri lanka 49 this book in which i state the true qualities i will sell for seven sattali, no less if those who can afford, bought it and read it they will understand it is really worth seven sattali සීරු වෙස්නා දනන්වේ කුල ෙනන කලක් වෙයි. ඒ බැවින් වනක් ගුවනන් යුත් අපවෙ ෙඳඹ කුලයන් නම් ෙනාලා දමන්ටත් අෙසර දුනව ාත් වම් උතුම් වූ වොවින්වෙන් there will be a time for praising the caste of ‘seeruvesna’ people. therefore to have praised the names of our ‘gandabmba’gandharva or musicians’-castes, if we are permitted by these great ‘farmers’-- ඔත් ගුණ පැෙසුෙ තතු ඇති වමම වපාත සත්තලි වදකකට විකුණමි අඩු නැත ෙත්කම් ඇති අය අරවෙන බැලුවොත සත්තලි වදක ෙටිනාකම ැඟි යත this book in which i state the true qualities i will sell for seven ’sattali’, no less if those who can afford, bought it and read it they will understand it is really worth seven sattali’ වමදිය තුළ වපර පැෙසු මිනිසුන් එකම මිනිසුන් සැබවිනා වමදිය සම්මත නිරිදු කළ ලක් කිරිය ව ්තුෙ විලසිනා වයදිය වකාටසක් වෙදඟ දැනෙත් බමුණු යයි නම් ෙරුෙනා දිය පව්කළ ෙැඩිය වකාටසක් අදම කුලෙල් වෙන් වුණා it is really true; men in this world are same as the reason, the actions of the ‘sammata’ ancient kings of this lanka some of them learned in vedanga, were named brahmins, respectable those who committed much sin, were segregated as low castes යාෙ බමුණුය ෙදඹ බමුනුය ඔවුන් නිසි නිසි නම් ලබා යාෙ වකරුමට ඇදුරු වකාටසක් වෙනස්වුණු බෙ බලි අඹා යාෙ වපාත් පත් වෙදඟ වපාත් පත් රැවෙන බැලුවෙෝ ලඟ තබා යාෙ පිළිවෙල වවමලස වපනුණිය පළමු පැෙසිය ම බඹා receiving appropriate names such as ‘brahmins of rituals, brahmins of song and dance a special group of artists to perform ‘yaga (rituals)’ by making ‘bali’ images they kept with them books on ‘yaga’ and ‘vedanga’ this is how the tradition of ‘yaga’ evolved, first taught by mahabrahma වමසිරිලක රජ පැමිණි නිරිවඳෝ යාෙ බමුණන් වෙන්නො අසිරි සලසන යාෙ කරුො නැෙත සත ට දන්නො විසිරි උන්වෙන් වබෝෙ පැෙවතන දැනුත් බමුනන් ඉන්නො අසිරිමත් උන් කවුද වසායමුය අඩඟු සිත් තන්නො kings of this sri lanka, having invited brahmins for yaga having performed ‘yaga’ and letting the people know some brahmins still exist scattered, descending from them, let us trace, who they are, focusing our minds it is really true; men in this world are the same as the reason, the actions of the ancient kings of this lanka some of them know of the veda and were named respectable brahmins, those who committed much sin, were segregated as low castes සීරු වෙස්නා දනන්වේ කුල ෙනන කලක් වෙයි. ඒ බැවින් වනක් ගුවනන් යුත් අපවෙ ෙඳඹ කුලයන් නම් ෙනාලා දමන්ටත් අෙසර දුනව ාත් වම් උතුම් වූ වොවින්වෙන් there will be a time for praising the caste of ‘seeruvesna’ people. therefore to have praised the names of our ‘gandabmba’gandharva or musicians’-castes, if we are permitted by these great ‘farmers’-- ඔත් ගුණ පැෙසුෙ තතු ඇති වමම වපාත සත්තලි වදකකට විකුණමි අඩු නැත ෙත්කම් ඇති අය අරවෙන බැලුවොත සත්තලි වදක ෙටිනාකම ැඟි යත this book in which i state the true qualities i will sell for seven ’sattali’, no less if those who can afford, bought it and read it they will understand it is really worth seven sattali’ වමදිය තුළ වපර පැෙසු මිනිසුන් එකම මිනිසුන් සැබවිනා වමදිය සම්මත නිරිදු කළ ලක් කිරිය ව ්තුෙ විලසිනා වයදිය වකාටසක් වෙදඟ දැනෙත් බමුණු යයි නම් ෙරුෙනා දිය පව්කළ ෙැඩිය වකාටසක් අදම කුලෙල් වෙන් වුණා it is really true; men in this world are same as the reason, the actions of the ‘sammata’ ancient kings of this lanka some of them learned in vedanga, were named brahmins, respectable those who committed much sin, were segregated as low castes යාෙ බමුණුය ෙදඹ බමුනුය ඔවුන් නිසි නිසි නම් ලබා යාෙ වකරුමට ඇදුරු වකාටසක් වෙනස්වුණු බෙ බලි අඹා යාෙ වපාත් පත් වෙදඟ වපාත් පත් රැවෙන බැලුවෙෝ ලඟ තබා යාෙ පිළිවෙල වවමලස වපනුණිය පළමු පැෙසිය ම බඹා receiving appropriate names such as ‘brahmins of rituals, brahmins of song and dance a special group of artists to perform ‘yaga (rituals)’ by making ‘bali’ images they kept with them books on ‘yaga’ and ‘vedanga’ this is how the tradition of ‘yaga’ evolved, first taught by mahabrahma වමසිරිලක රජ පැමිණි නිරිවඳෝ යාෙ බමුණන් වෙන්නො අසිරි සලසන යාෙ කරුො නැෙත සත ට දන්නො විසිරි උන්වෙන් වබෝෙ පැෙවතන දැනුත් බමුනන් ඉන්නො අසිරිමත් උන් කවුද වසායමුය අඩඟු සිත් තන්නො kings of this sri lanka, having invited brahmins for yaga having performed ‘yaga’ and letting the people know some brahmins still exist scattered, descending from them, let us trace, who they are, focusing our minds receiving appropriate names such as ‘brahmins of rituals, brahmins of song and dance’ a special group of artists to perform yaga (rituals) by making bali images they kept with them books on yaga and vedanga this is how the tradition of yaga evolved, first taught by mahabrahma සීරු වෙස්නා දනන්වේ කුල ෙනන කලක් වෙයි. ඒ බැවින් වනක් ගුවනන් යුත් අපවෙ ෙඳඹ කුලයන් නම් ෙනාලා දමන්ටත් අෙසර දුනව ාත් වම් උතුම් වූ වොවින්වෙන් there will be a time for praising the caste of ‘seeruvesna’ people. therefore to have praised the names of our ‘gandabmba’gandharva or musicians’-castes, if we are permitted by these great ‘farmers’-- ඔත් ගුණ පැෙසුෙ තතු ඇති වමම වපාත සත්තලි වදකකට විකුණමි අඩු නැත ෙත්කම් ඇති අය අරවෙන බැලුවොත සත්තලි වදක ෙටිනාකම ැඟි යත this book in which i state the true qualities i will sell for seven ’sattali’, no less if those who can afford, bought it and read it they will understand it is really worth seven sattali’ වමදිය තුළ වපර පැෙසු මිනිසුන් එකම මිනිසුන් සැබවිනා වමදිය සම්මත නිරිදු කළ ලක් කිරිය ව ්තුෙ විලසිනා වයදිය වකාටසක් වෙදඟ දැනෙත් බමුණු යයි නම් ෙරුෙනා දිය පව්කළ ෙැඩිය වකාටසක් අදම කුලෙල් වෙන් වුණා it is really true; men in this world are same as the reason, the actions of the ‘sammata’ ancient kings of this lanka some of them learned in vedanga, were named brahmins, respectable those who committed much sin, were segregated as low castes යාෙ බමුණුය ෙදඹ බමුනුය ඔවුන් නිසි නිසි නම් ලබා යාෙ වකරුමට ඇදුරු වකාටසක් වෙනස්වුණු බෙ බලි අඹා යාෙ වපාත් පත් වෙදඟ වපාත් පත් රැවෙන බැලුවෙෝ ලඟ තබා යාෙ පිළිවෙල වවමලස වපනුණිය පළමු පැෙසිය ම බඹා receiving appropriate names such as ‘brahmins of rituals, brahmins of song and dance a special group of artists to perform ‘yaga (rituals)’ by making ‘bali’ images they kept with them books on ‘yaga’ and ‘vedanga’ this is how the tradition of ‘yaga’ evolved, first taught by mahabrahma වමසිරිලක රජ පැමිණි නිරිවඳෝ යාෙ බමුණන් වෙන්නො අසිරි සලසන යාෙ කරුො නැෙත සත ට දන්නො විසිරි උන්වෙන් වබෝෙ පැෙවතන දැනුත් බමුනන් ඉන්නො අසිරිමත් උන් කවුද වසායමුය අඩඟු සිත් තන්නො kings of this sri lanka, having invited brahmins for yaga having performed ‘yaga’ and letting the people know some brahmins still exist scattered, descending from them, let us trace, who they are, focusing our minds kings of this sri lanka, having invited brahmins for yaga having performed yaga and letting the people know some brahmins still exist scattered, descending from them, let us trace, who they are, focusing our minds වොතන කිවියර තාල පද දැන නටන අය ට මිතුරුො වකාතන ව පළ ර උනත් වපර කිෙ රැවෙන වොස් වබර රුසිලො තතන තනියන කියන නටනට ෙැසී වබරපද පතුරුො එතන සිට ලක තුමන් උන් ට නමක් වබරො පැෙරුො the poet, skilled in the tunes and words making friends with the dancers, wherever there is a procession, going there carrying the drum happily beating the drum resounding ‘tatana, tana, tana’, accompanying dance since then the kings of lanka, awarded them the title of ‘berava’ සුෙන් මුනිෙර පුදට වොවිකුල දනන් ට උන් වබර ෙසා අරන් ෙැලවිය වබරය වපර සිට ඉවසන් බුහුමන් කර යසා නරන් ට වසසු ෙැසුෙත් වබර වනාක ා උන්වෙන් කිසිවලසා අරන් ෙැලවිය වබරය වදපයින් පටන් වපර සිරිතක් වලසා after playing the drum for the people of govi caste, as offering to the omniscient buddha they took off the drum over the head paying high respects even if they play the drum for other people, would not eat anything from them following ancient traditions, took off the drum from the feet අමන සම රු සිතති අඩුවකට පනා වනාෙසනෙට ඉවස් ෙමන පමණකි උතුරු සළුෙත් බමුණු සුදුෙත් ඇඳ යවස් අමන පැලඳුන් වනාරිටු දුටු දුටු අඳින කුලයට නිසිවලවස් පමණ වත්වරයි ව ා ඳට මියතත් බමුණුෙට උන් සැක වකවස් some persons look down on them as they do not wear combs on their heads they walk clad in white ‘shoulder band’ like brahmins wearing weird ornaments according to diverse castes even if they die, they will know their status as brahmins, there’s no doubt පැත්ත කට වනාෙ ඇත්ත පෙසමි තර වනාෙනිව් නයිවදලා ෙත්තු රජකම වමරට නිරිවඳෝ ආදිකළ කටයුතු බලා සත්තමයි ඔය ෙංස අටෙන අයට ෙැඩි අප වලාක්කලා උත්ත මයි වොවිකුලය සිරිලක අවපන් උන් ට ෙරුකළා without getting to a side i will tell the truth, nayides, do not be offended kings of this lanka, ascended throne, having seen the work of ancients i swear! our leaders are greater than those who boast of their caste the govi caste is the highest in sri lanka and we too paid respect them විජය රජකල පටන් වොවිකුල මුනිඳු තනතුරු ලබමිනා ෙැටිය වලස කිත් පතල විය ලක උතුම් අයමැයි සැබවිනා එජය දුමි දුට ෙතර ලැබු අප අනගි ෙම්වපත් වපර දිනා රජය බමුණුය වදකුල වසසු නැත අපිත් නිරිඳුන් සිත්වෙනා the poet, skilled in the tunes and words making friends with the dancers, wherever there is a procession, going there carrying the drum happily beating the drum resounding ‘tatana, tana, tana’, accompanying dance since then the kings of lanka, awarded them the title of berava වොතන කිවියර තාල පද දැන නටන අය ට මිතුරුො වකාතන ව පළ ර උනත් වපර කිෙ රැවෙන වොස් වබර රුසිලො තතන තනියන කියන නටනට ෙැසී වබරපද පතුරුො එතන සිට ලක තුමන් උන් ට නමක් වබරො පැෙරුො the poet, skilled in the tunes and words making friends with the dancers, wherever there is a procession, going there carrying the drum happily beating the drum resounding ‘tatana, tana, tana’, accompanying dance since then the kings of lanka, awarded them the title of ‘berava’ සුෙන් මුනිෙර පුදට වොවිකුල දනන් ට උන් වබර ෙසා අරන් ෙැලවිය වබරය වපර සිට ඉවසන් බුහුමන් කර යසා නරන් ට වසසු ෙැසුෙත් වබර වනාක ා උන්වෙන් කිසිවලසා අරන් ෙැලවිය වබරය වදපයින් පටන් වපර සිරිතක් වලසා after playing the drum for the people of govi caste, as offering to the omniscient buddha they took off the drum over the head paying high respects even if they play the drum for other people, would not eat anything from them following ancient traditions, took off the drum from the feet අමන සම රු සිතති අඩුවකට පනා වනාෙසනෙට ඉවස් ෙමන පමණකි උතුරු සළුෙත් බමුණු සුදුෙත් ඇඳ යවස් අමන පැලඳුන් වනාරිටු දුටු දුටු අඳින කුලයට නිසිවලවස් පමණ වත්වරයි ව ා ඳට මියතත් බමුණුෙට උන් සැක වකවස් some persons look down on them as they do not wear combs on their heads they walk clad in white ‘shoulder band’ like brahmins wearing weird ornaments according to diverse castes even if they die, they will know their status as brahmins, there’s no doubt පැත්ත කට වනාෙ ඇත්ත පෙසමි තර වනාෙනිව් නයිවදලා ෙත්තු රජකම වමරට නිරිවඳෝ ආදිකළ කටයුතු බලා සත්තමයි ඔය ෙංස අටෙන අයට ෙැඩි අප වලාක්කලා උත්ත මයි වොවිකුලය සිරිලක අවපන් උන් ට ෙරුකළා without getting to a side i will tell the truth, nayides, do not be offended kings of this lanka, ascended throne, having seen the work of ancients i swear! our leaders are greater than those who boast of their caste the govi caste is the highest in sri lanka and we too paid respect them විජය රජකල පටන් වොවිකුල මුනිඳු තනතුරු ලබමිනා ෙැටිය වලස කිත් පතල විය ලක උතුම් අයමැයි සැබවිනා එජය දුමි දුට ෙතර ලැබු අප අනගි ෙම්වපත් වපර දිනා රජය බමුණුය වදකුල වසසු නැත අපිත් නිරිඳුන් සිත්වෙනා 50 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 after playing the drum for the people of govi caste, as offering to the omniscient buddha they took off the drum over the head paying high respects even if they play the drum for other people, they would not eat anything from them following ancient traditions, took off the drum from the feet වොතන කිවියර තාල පද දැන නටන අය ට මිතුරුො වකාතන ව පළ ර උනත් වපර කිෙ රැවෙන වොස් වබර රුසිලො තතන තනියන කියන නටනට ෙැසී වබරපද පතුරුො එතන සිට ලක තුමන් උන් ට නමක් වබරො පැෙරුො the poet, skilled in the tunes and words making friends with the dancers, wherever there is a procession, going there carrying the drum happily beating the drum resounding ‘tatana, tana, tana’, accompanying dance since then the kings of lanka, awarded them the title of ‘berava’ සුෙන් මුනිෙර පුදට වොවිකුල දනන් ට උන් වබර ෙසා අරන් ෙැලවිය වබරය වපර සිට ඉවසන් බුහුමන් කර යසා නරන් ට වසසු ෙැසුෙත් වබර වනාක ා උන්වෙන් කිසිවලසා අරන් ෙැලවිය වබරය වදපයින් පටන් වපර සිරිතක් වලසා after playing the drum for the people of govi caste, as offering to the omniscient buddha they took off the drum over the head paying high respects even if they play the drum for other people, would not eat anything from them following ancient traditions, took off the drum from the feet අමන සම රු සිතති අඩුවකට පනා වනාෙසනෙට ඉවස් ෙමන පමණකි උතුරු සළුෙත් බමුණු සුදුෙත් ඇඳ යවස් අමන පැලඳුන් වනාරිටු දුටු දුටු අඳින කුලයට නිසිවලවස් පමණ වත්වරයි ව ා ඳට මියතත් බමුණුෙට උන් සැක වකවස් some persons look down on them as they do not wear combs on their heads they walk clad in white ‘shoulder band’ like brahmins wearing weird ornaments according to diverse castes even if they die, they will know their status as brahmins, there’s no doubt පැත්ත කට වනාෙ ඇත්ත පෙසමි තර වනාෙනිව් නයිවදලා ෙත්තු රජකම වමරට නිරිවඳෝ ආදිකළ කටයුතු බලා සත්තමයි ඔය ෙංස අටෙන අයට ෙැඩි අප වලාක්කලා උත්ත මයි වොවිකුලය සිරිලක අවපන් උන් ට ෙරුකළා without getting to a side i will tell the truth, nayides, do not be offended kings of this lanka, ascended throne, having seen the work of ancients i swear! our leaders are greater than those who boast of their caste the govi caste is the highest in sri lanka and we too paid respect them විජය රජකල පටන් වොවිකුල මුනිඳු තනතුරු ලබමිනා ෙැටිය වලස කිත් පතල විය ලක උතුම් අයමැයි සැබවිනා එජය දුමි දුට ෙතර ලැබු අප අනගි ෙම්වපත් වපර දිනා රජය බමුණුය වදකුල වසසු නැත අපිත් නිරිඳුන් සිත්වෙනා some persons look down on them as they do not wear combs on their heads they walk clad in white cloth like brahmins wearing weird ornaments according to diverse castes even if they die, they will know their status as brahmins, there’s no doubt වොතන කිවියර තාල පද දැන නටන අය ට මිතුරුො වකාතන ව පළ ර උනත් වපර කිෙ රැවෙන වොස් වබර රුසිලො තතන තනියන කියන නටනට ෙැසී වබරපද පතුරුො එතන සිට ලක තුමන් උන් ට නමක් වබරො පැෙරුො the poet, skilled in the tunes and words making friends with the dancers, wherever there is a procession, going there carrying the drum happily beating the drum resounding ‘tatana, tana, tana’, accompanying dance since then the kings of lanka, awarded them the title of ‘berava’ සුෙන් මුනිෙර පුදට වොවිකුල දනන් ට උන් වබර ෙසා අරන් ෙැලවිය වබරය වපර සිට ඉවසන් බුහුමන් කර යසා නරන් ට වසසු ෙැසුෙත් වබර වනාක ා උන්වෙන් කිසිවලසා අරන් ෙැලවිය වබරය වදපයින් පටන් වපර සිරිතක් වලසා after playing the drum for the people of govi caste, as offering to the omniscient buddha they took off the drum over the head paying high respects even if they play the drum for other people, would not eat anything from them following ancient traditions, took off the drum from the feet අමන සම රු සිතති අඩුවකට පනා වනාෙසනෙට ඉවස් ෙමන පමණකි උතුරු සළුෙත් බමුණු සුදුෙත් ඇඳ යවස් අමන පැලඳුන් වනාරිටු දුටු දුටු අඳින කුලයට නිසිවලවස් පමණ වත්වරයි ව ා ඳට මියතත් බමුණුෙට උන් සැක වකවස් some persons look down on them as they do not wear combs on their heads they walk clad in white ‘shoulder band’ like brahmins wearing weird ornaments according to diverse castes even if they die, they will know their status as brahmins, there’s no doubt පැත්ත කට වනාෙ ඇත්ත පෙසමි තර වනාෙනිව් නයිවදලා ෙත්තු රජකම වමරට නිරිවඳෝ ආදිකළ කටයුතු බලා සත්තමයි ඔය ෙංස අටෙන අයට ෙැඩි අප වලාක්කලා උත්ත මයි වොවිකුලය සිරිලක අවපන් උන් ට ෙරුකළා without getting to a side i will tell the truth, nayides, do not be offended kings of this lanka, ascended throne, having seen the work of ancients i swear! our leaders are greater than those who boast of their caste the govi caste is the highest in sri lanka and we too paid respect them විජය රජකල පටන් වොවිකුල මුනිඳු තනතුරු ලබමිනා ෙැටිය වලස කිත් පතල විය ලක උතුම් අයමැයි සැබවිනා එජය දුමි දුට ෙතර ලැබු අප අනගි ෙම්වපත් වපර දිනා රජය බමුණුය වදකුල වසසු නැත අපිත් නිරිඳුන් සිත්වෙනා without getting to a side i will tell the truth, people, do not be offended kings of this lanka, ascended the throne, having seen the work of ancients i swear! our leaders are greater than those who boast of their caste the govi caste is the highest in sri lanka and we too paid respects to them වොතන කිවියර තාල පද දැන නටන අය ට මිතුරුො වකාතන ව පළ ර උනත් වපර කිෙ රැවෙන වොස් වබර රුසිලො තතන තනියන කියන නටනට ෙැසී වබරපද පතුරුො එතන සිට ලක තුමන් උන් ට නමක් වබරො පැෙරුො the poet, skilled in the tunes and words making friends with the dancers, wherever there is a procession, going there carrying the drum happily beating the drum resounding ‘tatana, tana, tana’, accompanying dance since then the kings of lanka, awarded them the title of ‘berava’ සුෙන් මුනිෙර පුදට වොවිකුල දනන් ට උන් වබර ෙසා අරන් ෙැලවිය වබරය වපර සිට ඉවසන් බුහුමන් කර යසා නරන් ට වසසු ෙැසුෙත් වබර වනාක ා උන්වෙන් කිසිවලසා අරන් ෙැලවිය වබරය වදපයින් පටන් වපර සිරිතක් වලසා after playing the drum for the people of govi caste, as offering to the omniscient buddha they took off the drum over the head paying high respects even if they play the drum for other people, would not eat anything from them following ancient traditions, took off the drum from the feet අමන සම රු සිතති අඩුවකට පනා වනාෙසනෙට ඉවස් ෙමන පමණකි උතුරු සළුෙත් බමුණු සුදුෙත් ඇඳ යවස් අමන පැලඳුන් වනාරිටු දුටු දුටු අඳින කුලයට නිසිවලවස් පමණ වත්වරයි ව ා ඳට මියතත් බමුණුෙට උන් සැක වකවස් some persons look down on them as they do not wear combs on their heads they walk clad in white ‘shoulder band’ like brahmins wearing weird ornaments according to diverse castes even if they die, they will know their status as brahmins, there’s no doubt පැත්ත කට වනාෙ ඇත්ත පෙසමි තර වනාෙනිව් නයිවදලා ෙත්තු රජකම වමරට නිරිවඳෝ ආදිකළ කටයුතු බලා සත්තමයි ඔය ෙංස අටෙන අයට ෙැඩි අප වලාක්කලා උත්ත මයි වොවිකුලය සිරිලක අවපන් උන් ට ෙරුකළා without getting to a side i will tell the truth, nayides, do not be offended kings of this lanka, ascended throne, having seen the work of ancients i swear! our leaders are greater than those who boast of their caste the govi caste is the highest in sri lanka and we too paid respect them විජය රජකල පටන් වොවිකුල මුනිඳු තනතුරු ලබමිනා ෙැටිය වලස කිත් පතල විය ලක උතුම් අයමැයි සැබවිනා එජය දුමි දුට ෙතර ලැබු අප අනගි ෙම්වපත් වපර දිනා රජය බමුණුය වදකුල වසසු නැත අපිත් නිරිඳුන් සිත්වෙනා people of the govi caste, obtaining positions since the time of king vijaya their glory spread in the world like a ‘gotiya,’ they are truly great we provided water to the holy bodhi tree, rewarded with fields and lands the two castes ’royal’ and ‘brahmin,’ no other castes—we won the hearts of kings their glory spread in the world like a ‘gtiya,’ they are truly great we provided water to the holy bodhi tree, rewarded with fields and lands the two castes ’royal’ and ‘brahmin,’ no other castes-we won the hearts of kings සිටිය විලසට කුලය උසමිටි වලසට වබදුනිය වපර කලා රිය පිළිවෙල බමුණු කුල වලස දැන් අවේ වම් පිළිවෙළා ගිරිය සිඳිනට ෙැසූෙත් වමාර අපට සමයයි නයිවදලා බැරිය සමවෙනු බිලිය අවුලා ලබ්බ ඉණ බැඳ අලිබලා the castes is divided into low and high, according to their positions our present position is correct, as the brahmin caste even if the ‘nayides’ scream until their throats crack they cannot be equal, by -----, wearing the gourd on the waist and guarding elephants (නයිවේ-attached to the names of artificers, specially of goldsmiths and silversmiths) දැවලන් බිලිවයන් මසුන් මැරුකල ඇසුත් වනාවපවනයි සම රූ වතලින් කුරුරජ තුමන් ආෙත් අවේ පිළිවෙළමයි ෙරු අලින් ෙස්බැඳ කපන වපාල් අතු මදින අයටත් සිත් යුරූ කලින් තිබු පිළිවෙළක් නැත වෙන අපට ෙැඩි උන්වෙන් ෙරූ when some men catch fish with the net and hook, they go blind even if king kuru came from far, still our customs are the best for those who polish coconut fronds they cut by tethering elephants on trees no other greater way for them than what we had in the past (kuruname of a country and a king found in the buddhist literature) ෙනන් තෙ ඇත වකාටස් වෙන වෙන වබදුනු කටයුතු නිසි වලසා ෙනන් සත ස නැකැත් සත දැන ෙ න් වෙන් ෙන දෑ යසා දනන් ට වසත් යාෙ සමගින් ෙයන කර වබර නද වෙනා පනම් වෙන රැකි ඇදුරු වකාටසක් බමුනු කුලවයන් වව් යසා there are more parts to describe, divided according tasks, duly knowing the science of numbers and astrology, the effects of the planets for the people with the ‘yaga’ and to the accompaniment of the sound of drums a kind of the artists maintained with gifts, descending from the brahmin caste සතර වෙද දැන ෙදඹ බමුණන් උතුම් වොවිකුලවයන් කකා අතර තුරුෙන් දනන්වෙන් අඩු බතක් දුන්වනාත් උන් වනාකා එතර කරමින් සියළු පිරිපත යාෙ කර මිනිසුන් රැකා අතර දඹදිෙ වබෝෙ පැෙතුනි වබෝෙ සම්පත් ලැබ වනකා knowing four vedas, gandharva brahmins, eating (depending on) from the great govi caste if some food is given now and then for ma low cast, not eating it putting an end to all disasters, performing yaga for protecting people existed in the dambadiva mostly, receiving much wealth and crops the castes is divided into low and high, according to their positions our present position is correct, as the brahmin caste even if the goldsmiths and silversmiths (nayide) people scream until their throats crack they cannot be made equal to us by wearing a gourd on the waist and guarding elephants cultural ambivalence: a socio-historical account of the berava caste of southern sri lanka 51 their glory spread in the world like a ‘gtiya,’ they are truly great we provided water to the holy bodhi tree, rewarded with fields and lands the two castes ’royal’ and ‘brahmin,’ no other castes-we won the hearts of kings සිටිය විලසට කුලය උසමිටි වලසට වබදුනිය වපර කලා රිය පිළිවෙල බමුණු කුල වලස දැන් අවේ වම් පිළිවෙළා ගිරිය සිඳිනට ෙැසූෙත් වමාර අපට සමයයි නයිවදලා බැරිය සමවෙනු බිලිය අවුලා ලබ්බ ඉණ බැඳ අලිබලා the castes is divided into low and high, according to their positions our present position is correct, as the brahmin caste even if the ‘nayides’ scream until their throats crack they cannot be equal, by -----, wearing the gourd on the waist and guarding elephants (නයිවේ-attached to the names of artificers, specially of goldsmiths and silversmiths) දැවලන් බිලිවයන් මසුන් මැරුකල ඇසුත් වනාවපවනයි සම රූ වතලින් කුරුරජ තුමන් ආෙත් අවේ පිළිවෙළමයි ෙරු අලින් ෙස්බැඳ කපන වපාල් අතු මදින අයටත් සිත් යුරූ කලින් තිබු පිළිවෙළක් නැත වෙන අපට ෙැඩි උන්වෙන් ෙරූ when some men catch fish with the net and hook, they go blind even if king kuru came from far, still our customs are the best for those who polish coconut fronds they cut by tethering elephants on trees no other greater way for them than what we had in the past (kuruname of a country and a king found in the buddhist literature) ෙනන් තෙ ඇත වකාටස් වෙන වෙන වබදුනු කටයුතු නිසි වලසා ෙනන් සත ස නැකැත් සත දැන ෙ න් වෙන් ෙන දෑ යසා දනන් ට වසත් යාෙ සමගින් ෙයන කර වබර නද වෙනා පනම් වෙන රැකි ඇදුරු වකාටසක් බමුනු කුලවයන් වව් යසා there are more parts to describe, divided according tasks, duly knowing the science of numbers and astrology, the effects of the planets for the people with the ‘yaga’ and to the accompaniment of the sound of drums a kind of the artists maintained with gifts, descending from the brahmin caste සතර වෙද දැන ෙදඹ බමුණන් උතුම් වොවිකුලවයන් කකා අතර තුරුෙන් දනන්වෙන් අඩු බතක් දුන්වනාත් උන් වනාකා එතර කරමින් සියළු පිරිපත යාෙ කර මිනිසුන් රැකා අතර දඹදිෙ වබෝෙ පැෙතුනි වබෝෙ සම්පත් ලැබ වනකා knowing four vedas, gandharva brahmins, eating (depending on) from the great govi caste if some food is given now and then for ma low cast, not eating it putting an end to all disasters, performing yaga for protecting people existed in the dambadiva mostly, receiving much wealth and crops when some men catch fish with the net and hook, they go blind even if king kuru* came from far, still our customs are the best for those who polish coconut fronds they cut by tethering elephants on trees no other greater way for them than what we had in the past (*kuruname an ancient king found in buddhist literature) their glory spread in the world like a ‘gtiya,’ they are truly great we provided water to the holy bodhi tree, rewarded with fields and lands the two castes ’royal’ and ‘brahmin,’ no other castes-we won the hearts of kings සිටිය විලසට කුලය උසමිටි වලසට වබදුනිය වපර කලා රිය පිළිවෙල බමුණු කුල වලස දැන් අවේ වම් පිළිවෙළා ගිරිය සිඳිනට ෙැසූෙත් වමාර අපට සමයයි නයිවදලා බැරිය සමවෙනු බිලිය අවුලා ලබ්බ ඉණ බැඳ අලිබලා the castes is divided into low and high, according to their positions our present position is correct, as the brahmin caste even if the ‘nayides’ scream until their throats crack they cannot be equal, by -----, wearing the gourd on the waist and guarding elephants (නයිවේ-attached to the names of artificers, specially of goldsmiths and silversmiths) දැවලන් බිලිවයන් මසුන් මැරුකල ඇසුත් වනාවපවනයි සම රූ වතලින් කුරුරජ තුමන් ආෙත් අවේ පිළිවෙළමයි ෙරු අලින් ෙස්බැඳ කපන වපාල් අතු මදින අයටත් සිත් යුරූ කලින් තිබු පිළිවෙළක් නැත වෙන අපට ෙැඩි උන්වෙන් ෙරූ when some men catch fish with the net and hook, they go blind even if king kuru came from far, still our customs are the best for those who polish coconut fronds they cut by tethering elephants on trees no other greater way for them than what we had in the past (kuruname of a country and a king found in the buddhist literature) ෙනන් තෙ ඇත වකාටස් වෙන වෙන වබදුනු කටයුතු නිසි වලසා ෙනන් සත ස නැකැත් සත දැන ෙ න් වෙන් ෙන දෑ යසා දනන් ට වසත් යාෙ සමගින් ෙයන කර වබර නද වෙනා පනම් වෙන රැකි ඇදුරු වකාටසක් බමුනු කුලවයන් වව් යසා there are more parts to describe, divided according tasks, duly knowing the science of numbers and astrology, the effects of the planets for the people with the ‘yaga’ and to the accompaniment of the sound of drums a kind of the artists maintained with gifts, descending from the brahmin caste සතර වෙද දැන ෙදඹ බමුණන් උතුම් වොවිකුලවයන් කකා අතර තුරුෙන් දනන්වෙන් අඩු බතක් දුන්වනාත් උන් වනාකා එතර කරමින් සියළු පිරිපත යාෙ කර මිනිසුන් රැකා අතර දඹදිෙ වබෝෙ පැෙතුනි වබෝෙ සම්පත් ලැබ වනකා knowing four vedas, gandharva brahmins, eating (depending on) from the great govi caste if some food is given now and then for ma low cast, not eating it putting an end to all disasters, performing yaga for protecting people existed in the dambadiva mostly, receiving much wealth and crops there are more parts to describe, duly divided according tasks knowing the science of numbers and astrology, the effects of the planets for the people with the yaga and to the accompaniment of the sound of drums a kind of the artists maintained with gifts, descending from the brahmin caste their glory spread in the world like a ‘gtiya,’ they are truly great we provided water to the holy bodhi tree, rewarded with fields and lands the two castes ’royal’ and ‘brahmin,’ no other castes-we won the hearts of kings සිටිය විලසට කුලය උසමිටි වලසට වබදුනිය වපර කලා රිය පිළිවෙල බමුණු කුල වලස දැන් අවේ වම් පිළිවෙළා ගිරිය සිඳිනට ෙැසූෙත් වමාර අපට සමයයි නයිවදලා බැරිය සමවෙනු බිලිය අවුලා ලබ්බ ඉණ බැඳ අලිබලා the castes is divided into low and high, according to their positions our present position is correct, as the brahmin caste even if the ‘nayides’ scream until their throats crack they cannot be equal, by -----, wearing the gourd on the waist and guarding elephants (නයිවේ-attached to the names of artificers, specially of goldsmiths and silversmiths) දැවලන් බිලිවයන් මසුන් මැරුකල ඇසුත් වනාවපවනයි සම රූ වතලින් කුරුරජ තුමන් ආෙත් අවේ පිළිවෙළමයි ෙරු අලින් ෙස්බැඳ කපන වපාල් අතු මදින අයටත් සිත් යුරූ කලින් තිබු පිළිවෙළක් නැත වෙන අපට ෙැඩි උන්වෙන් ෙරූ when some men catch fish with the net and hook, they go blind even if king kuru came from far, still our customs are the best for those who polish coconut fronds they cut by tethering elephants on trees no other greater way for them than what we had in the past (kuruname of a country and a king found in the buddhist literature) ෙනන් තෙ ඇත වකාටස් වෙන වෙන වබදුනු කටයුතු නිසි වලසා ෙනන් සත ස නැකැත් සත දැන ෙ න් වෙන් ෙන දෑ යසා දනන් ට වසත් යාෙ සමගින් ෙයන කර වබර නද වෙනා පනම් වෙන රැකි ඇදුරු වකාටසක් බමුනු කුලවයන් වව් යසා there are more parts to describe, divided according tasks, duly knowing the science of numbers and astrology, the effects of the planets for the people with the ‘yaga’ and to the accompaniment of the sound of drums a kind of the artists maintained with gifts, descending from the brahmin caste සතර වෙද දැන ෙදඹ බමුණන් උතුම් වොවිකුලවයන් කකා අතර තුරුෙන් දනන්වෙන් අඩු බතක් දුන්වනාත් උන් වනාකා එතර කරමින් සියළු පිරිපත යාෙ කර මිනිසුන් රැකා අතර දඹදිෙ වබෝෙ පැෙතුනි වබෝෙ සම්පත් ලැබ වනකා knowing four vedas, gandharva brahmins, eating (depending on) from the great govi caste if some food is given now and then for ma low cast, not eating it putting an end to all disasters, performing yaga for protecting people existed in the dambadiva mostly, receiving much wealth and crops knowing four vedas, gandharva brahmins, eating from the great govi caste if some food is given now and then for a low caste, not eating it putting an end to all disasters, performing yaga for protecting people existed in the dambadiva mostly, receiving much wealth and crops දැනට සිරිලක සුදුසු විලසට අඹා බලි ෙ රු ෙ වයාදා දිනට සුදු පිලි පැලඳ ෙනිමින් සුරත ෙෙනය වෙන නදා කනට සුමුහිරි මගුල් වු ෙචවනන් යාෙ කර සත වරෝ මුදා බසට ැසිවරන ඔවුන් වබරො නිමන් පැෙවතයි සිරිවිඳා at this time, making bali images portraying the planets clad in pure white cloth, making the tinkling bells sound held in the hand doing the ‘yaga’ uttering sweet words to the ear, relieving people from their diseases with the words, they are known as ‘berava’ මුතුන් මිත්තන් පටන්වනාකඩෙ නැකැත් සත දැන සිටි නිසා වදතුන් විට දැන ෙනිති සිහිකර සුදු වලසට වබාල්ලන් තියා කතුන් ෙනුවදනු සෑම නැකතුත් පැෙසු න්දා බලි තියා උතුම් වොවිකුල මැතිඳු පෙසයි ඒයින් උන් ට නැක තියා since the time of ancestors continuously, they had known the science of astrology, remembering the science of numbers, two or three times, placing white shells as they prescribed auspicious moments for marriages of women, offering ‘bali’ the great men of the govi caste call them ‘nakatiya. පතල වොවිකුල දනන්වෙන් බත් කන්වන පිරිසිදු පත්වකාවළ් වකාතල වකටිවයන් කටට ෙත්කර වබාන්වන පිරිසිදු වු ජවල් ෙතල තඹවලරු පිඟන් දුන්නත් අපිරිසිදුයයි ප කවළ් සිතල බැලුවොත් බමුණු පිලිවෙල තාම නැත උන් ප කවල් from the famous people of the govi caste, they consume rice in a ‘patkole’ (leaf) they drink water by pouring from a ‘kotale’ (clay-jug) into the mouth fine copper plates are given; they put them away saying unclean if you think about this, the ways of brhamins they have not yet given up ෙසන එක වබර නරක ෙැඩකැයි සිතති අඩුකුල දන රැසා නසන ලද අවප මුනිදු වකවලසුන් අරාවුන් සඳ විදුරැසා ෙසන සුරවලාෙ ෙදඹ වදව්පුත් සමෙ වනාවයකුත් වදවි රැසා අසන ට වලස ව ොසය පැතිවරන ෙැසුවෙ නැතිෙද වබරරැසා the people of the low castes think playing drums as a bad thing when our buddha after destroying ‘keles’ (defilements) occupying the crystal seat various kinds of deities in heaven living with the ‘gandharva gods did they not play many drums making a loud noise for hearing? පුෙත වනාදැනම උපත වබරො වකවරති අප ස සම රූ පැෙත ඒනවපර සිටන් සිරිතල බමුණුමයි අප සත දැරූ නැෙත නැෙතත් වසායා බැලුවෙමි වලාකු අයද අප ැර නැති යුරූ ෙසතව ාත් අප මිසක් වනාෙලත උතුම් වොවිකුල වනාම සරූ at this time, making bali images portraying the planets clad in pure white cloth, making the tinkling bells sound held in the hand doing the yaga uttering sweet words to the ear, relieving people from their diseases with the words, they are known as berava දැනට සිරිලක සුදුසු විලසට අඹා බලි ෙ රු ෙ වයාදා දිනට සුදු පිලි පැලඳ ෙනිමින් සුරත ෙෙනය වෙන නදා කනට සුමුහිරි මගුල් වු ෙචවනන් යාෙ කර සත වරෝ මුදා බසට ැසිවරන ඔවුන් වබරො නිමන් පැෙවතයි සිරිවිඳා at this time, making bali images portraying the planets clad in pure white cloth, making the tinkling bells sound held in the hand doing the ‘yaga’ uttering sweet words to the ear, relieving people from their diseases with the words, they are known as ‘berava’ මුතුන් මිත්තන් පටන්වනාකඩෙ නැකැත් සත දැන සිටි නිසා වදතුන් විට දැන ෙනිති සිහිකර සුදු වලසට වබාල්ලන් තියා කතුන් ෙනුවදනු සෑම නැකතුත් පැෙසු න්දා බලි තියා උතුම් වොවිකුල මැතිඳු පෙසයි ඒයින් උන් ට නැක තියා since the time of ancestors continuously, they had known the science of astrology, remembering the science of numbers, two or three times, placing white shells as they prescribed auspicious moments for marriages of women, offering ‘bali’ the great men of the govi caste call them ‘nakatiya. පතල වොවිකුල දනන්වෙන් බත් කන්වන පිරිසිදු පත්වකාවළ් වකාතල වකටිවයන් කටට ෙත්කර වබාන්වන පිරිසිදු වු ජවල් ෙතල තඹවලරු පිඟන් දුන්නත් අපිරිසිදුයයි ප කවළ් සිතල බැලුවොත් බමුණු පිලිවෙල තාම නැත උන් ප කවල් from the famous people of the govi caste, they consume rice in a ‘patkole’ (leaf) they drink water by pouring from a ‘kotale’ (clay-jug) into the mouth fine copper plates are given; they put them away saying unclean if you think about this, the ways of brhamins they have not yet given up ෙසන එක වබර නරක ෙැඩකැයි සිතති අඩුකුල දන රැසා නසන ලද අවප මුනිදු වකවලසුන් අරාවුන් සඳ විදුරැසා ෙසන සුරවලාෙ ෙදඹ වදව්පුත් සමෙ වනාවයකුත් වදවි රැසා අසන ට වලස ව ොසය පැතිවරන ෙැසුවෙ නැතිෙද වබරරැසා the people of the low castes think playing drums as a bad thing when our buddha after destroying ‘keles’ (defilements) occupying the crystal seat various kinds of deities in heaven living with the ‘gandharva gods did they not play many drums making a loud noise for hearing? පුෙත වනාදැනම උපත වබරො වකවරති අප ස සම රූ පැෙත ඒනවපර සිටන් සිරිතල බමුණුමයි අප සත දැරූ නැෙත නැෙතත් වසායා බැලුවෙමි වලාකු අයද අප ැර නැති යුරූ ෙසතව ාත් අප මිසක් වනාෙලත උතුම් වොවිකුල වනාම සරූ 52 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 since the time of ancestors continuously, they had known the science of astrology, remembering the science of numbers, two or three times, placing white shells as they prescribed auspicious moments for marriages of women, offering bali the great men of the govi caste call them nakatiya. දැනට සිරිලක සුදුසු විලසට අඹා බලි ෙ රු ෙ වයාදා දිනට සුදු පිලි පැලඳ ෙනිමින් සුරත ෙෙනය වෙන නදා කනට සුමුහිරි මගුල් වු ෙචවනන් යාෙ කර සත වරෝ මුදා බසට ැසිවරන ඔවුන් වබරො නිමන් පැෙවතයි සිරිවිඳා at this time, making bali images portraying the planets clad in pure white cloth, making the tinkling bells sound held in the hand doing the ‘yaga’ uttering sweet words to the ear, relieving people from their diseases with the words, they are known as ‘berava’ මුතුන් මිත්තන් පටන්වනාකඩෙ නැකැත් සත දැන සිටි නිසා වදතුන් විට දැන ෙනිති සිහිකර සුදු වලසට වබාල්ලන් තියා කතුන් ෙනුවදනු සෑම නැකතුත් පැෙසු න්දා බලි තියා උතුම් වොවිකුල මැතිඳු පෙසයි ඒයින් උන් ට නැක තියා since the time of ancestors continuously, they had known the science of astrology, remembering the science of numbers, two or three times, placing white shells as they prescribed auspicious moments for marriages of women, offering ‘bali’ the great men of the govi caste call them ‘nakatiya. පතල වොවිකුල දනන්වෙන් බත් කන්වන පිරිසිදු පත්වකාවළ් වකාතල වකටිවයන් කටට ෙත්කර වබාන්වන පිරිසිදු වු ජවල් ෙතල තඹවලරු පිඟන් දුන්නත් අපිරිසිදුයයි ප කවළ් සිතල බැලුවොත් බමුණු පිලිවෙල තාම නැත උන් ප කවල් from the famous people of the govi caste, they consume rice in a ‘patkole’ (leaf) they drink water by pouring from a ‘kotale’ (clay-jug) into the mouth fine copper plates are given; they put them away saying unclean if you think about this, the ways of brhamins they have not yet given up ෙසන එක වබර නරක ෙැඩකැයි සිතති අඩුකුල දන රැසා නසන ලද අවප මුනිදු වකවලසුන් අරාවුන් සඳ විදුරැසා ෙසන සුරවලාෙ ෙදඹ වදව්පුත් සමෙ වනාවයකුත් වදවි රැසා අසන ට වලස ව ොසය පැතිවරන ෙැසුවෙ නැතිෙද වබරරැසා the people of the low castes think playing drums as a bad thing when our buddha after destroying ‘keles’ (defilements) occupying the crystal seat various kinds of deities in heaven living with the ‘gandharva gods did they not play many drums making a loud noise for hearing? පුෙත වනාදැනම උපත වබරො වකවරති අප ස සම රූ පැෙත ඒනවපර සිටන් සිරිතල බමුණුමයි අප සත දැරූ නැෙත නැෙතත් වසායා බැලුවෙමි වලාකු අයද අප ැර නැති යුරූ ෙසතව ාත් අප මිසක් වනාෙලත උතුම් වොවිකුල වනාම සරූ from the famous people of the govi caste, they consume rice from a leaf (patkole) they drink water by pouring from clay-jug a (kotale) into the mouth fine copper plates are given; they put them away saying unclean if you think about this, the ways of brahmins they have not yet given up දැනට සිරිලක සුදුසු විලසට අඹා බලි ෙ රු ෙ වයාදා දිනට සුදු පිලි පැලඳ ෙනිමින් සුරත ෙෙනය වෙන නදා කනට සුමුහිරි මගුල් වු ෙචවනන් යාෙ කර සත වරෝ මුදා බසට ැසිවරන ඔවුන් වබරො නිමන් පැෙවතයි සිරිවිඳා at this time, making bali images portraying the planets clad in pure white cloth, making the tinkling bells sound held in the hand doing the ‘yaga’ uttering sweet words to the ear, relieving people from their diseases with the words, they are known as ‘berava’ මුතුන් මිත්තන් පටන්වනාකඩෙ නැකැත් සත දැන සිටි නිසා වදතුන් විට දැන ෙනිති සිහිකර සුදු වලසට වබාල්ලන් තියා කතුන් ෙනුවදනු සෑම නැකතුත් පැෙසු න්දා බලි තියා උතුම් වොවිකුල මැතිඳු පෙසයි ඒයින් උන් ට නැක තියා since the time of ancestors continuously, they had known the science of astrology, remembering the science of numbers, two or three times, placing white shells as they prescribed auspicious moments for marriages of women, offering ‘bali’ the great men of the govi caste call them ‘nakatiya. පතල වොවිකුල දනන්වෙන් බත් කන්වන පිරිසිදු පත්වකාවළ් වකාතල වකටිවයන් කටට ෙත්කර වබාන්වන පිරිසිදු වු ජවල් ෙතල තඹවලරු පිඟන් දුන්නත් අපිරිසිදුයයි ප කවළ් සිතල බැලුවොත් බමුණු පිලිවෙල තාම නැත උන් ප කවල් from the famous people of the govi caste, they consume rice in a ‘patkole’ (leaf) they drink water by pouring from a ‘kotale’ (clay-jug) into the mouth fine copper plates are given; they put them away saying unclean if you think about this, the ways of brhamins they have not yet given up ෙසන එක වබර නරක ෙැඩකැයි සිතති අඩුකුල දන රැසා නසන ලද අවප මුනිදු වකවලසුන් අරාවුන් සඳ විදුරැසා ෙසන සුරවලාෙ ෙදඹ වදව්පුත් සමෙ වනාවයකුත් වදවි රැසා අසන ට වලස ව ොසය පැතිවරන ෙැසුවෙ නැතිෙද වබරරැසා the people of the low castes think playing drums as a bad thing when our buddha after destroying ‘keles’ (defilements) occupying the crystal seat various kinds of deities in heaven living with the ‘gandharva gods did they not play many drums making a loud noise for hearing? පුෙත වනාදැනම උපත වබරො වකවරති අප ස සම රූ පැෙත ඒනවපර සිටන් සිරිතල බමුණුමයි අප සත දැරූ නැෙත නැෙතත් වසායා බැලුවෙමි වලාකු අයද අප ැර නැති යුරූ ෙසතව ාත් අප මිසක් වනාෙලත උතුම් වොවිකුල වනාම සරූ the people of the low castes think playing drums as a bad thing when our buddha after destroying bad deeds (keles) occupying the crystal seat various kinds of deities in heaven living with the gandharva gods did they not play many drums making a loud noise for hearing? දැනට සිරිලක සුදුසු විලසට අඹා බලි ෙ රු ෙ වයාදා දිනට සුදු පිලි පැලඳ ෙනිමින් සුරත ෙෙනය වෙන නදා කනට සුමුහිරි මගුල් වු ෙචවනන් යාෙ කර සත වරෝ මුදා බසට ැසිවරන ඔවුන් වබරො නිමන් පැෙවතයි සිරිවිඳා at this time, making bali images portraying the planets clad in pure white cloth, making the tinkling bells sound held in the hand doing the ‘yaga’ uttering sweet words to the ear, relieving people from their diseases with the words, they are known as ‘berava’ මුතුන් මිත්තන් පටන්වනාකඩෙ නැකැත් සත දැන සිටි නිසා වදතුන් විට දැන ෙනිති සිහිකර සුදු වලසට වබාල්ලන් තියා කතුන් ෙනුවදනු සෑම නැකතුත් පැෙසු න්දා බලි තියා උතුම් වොවිකුල මැතිඳු පෙසයි ඒයින් උන් ට නැක තියා since the time of ancestors continuously, they had known the science of astrology, remembering the science of numbers, two or three times, placing white shells as they prescribed auspicious moments for marriages of women, offering ‘bali’ the great men of the govi caste call them ‘nakatiya. පතල වොවිකුල දනන්වෙන් බත් කන්වන පිරිසිදු පත්වකාවළ් වකාතල වකටිවයන් කටට ෙත්කර වබාන්වන පිරිසිදු වු ජවල් ෙතල තඹවලරු පිඟන් දුන්නත් අපිරිසිදුයයි ප කවළ් සිතල බැලුවොත් බමුණු පිලිවෙල තාම නැත උන් ප කවල් from the famous people of the govi caste, they consume rice in a ‘patkole’ (leaf) they drink water by pouring from a ‘kotale’ (clay-jug) into the mouth fine copper plates are given; they put them away saying unclean if you think about this, the ways of brhamins they have not yet given up ෙසන එක වබර නරක ෙැඩකැයි සිතති අඩුකුල දන රැසා නසන ලද අවප මුනිදු වකවලසුන් අරාවුන් සඳ විදුරැසා ෙසන සුරවලාෙ ෙදඹ වදව්පුත් සමෙ වනාවයකුත් වදවි රැසා අසන ට වලස ව ොසය පැතිවරන ෙැසුවෙ නැතිෙද වබරරැසා the people of the low castes think playing drums as a bad thing when our buddha after destroying ‘keles’ (defilements) occupying the crystal seat various kinds of deities in heaven living with the ‘gandharva gods did they not play many drums making a loud noise for hearing? පුෙත වනාදැනම උපත වබරො වකවරති අප ස සම රූ පැෙත ඒනවපර සිටන් සිරිතල බමුණුමයි අප සත දැරූ නැෙත නැෙතත් වසායා බැලුවෙමි වලාකු අයද අප ැර නැති යුරූ ෙසතව ාත් අප මිසක් වනාෙලත උතුම් වොවිකුල වනාම සරූ without knowing the history of the origin of berava, some people ridicule according to ancient traditions, we are brahmins bearing the science i have examined again and again, except us, there are no other ‘big shots’ if we live with no regrets, the great govi caste will not be thriving without knowing the history of the origin of berava, some people ridicule according to ancient traditions, we are ‘brahmins’ bearing the science i have examined again and again, except us, there are no other ‘big shots’ if we live with no regrets, the great govi caste will not be thriving කැමති රටකින් පැමිණ උතුවමක් කලත් රජකම් ලවක් ෙරු සරු ඇමති යුෙරජ ෙනිති තනතුරු ලබති වොවිකුල උතුම් වු ෙරු නැමති ෙරුතර උතුම් මැතිදුන් දැනුත් ඇත ලක තුවල් අතිෙරු ඒමැතිෙරු ට උසස්ෙන්නට වව්ය වනාෙත් වව්ය නපුරු if a powerful person came from another country and became king of lanka the respectable govi caste receives the positions of ‘minster’ and ‘viceroy’ there are even today such great persons highly respected in lanka those gentlemen must be promoted, if not that will be vicious මුනිදු ට වපර කරපුවස්ෙය උතුම් අයෙල් මයි කවළ් පනිඳු මුචලිඳු දරන ෙැබ ෙැඩ උන්න සඳ ඌමයි කවළ් දිනිදු කුලයුත් අනඳ වතරිදුන් මුනිදු ට වස්ෙය කවල් ෙනිඳු සිව් අත් සුරිදු වස්ෙය සකස් පුර වදාර දි කවල් in the past only the noble persons served the buddha while buddha sat in the coils of mucalinda cobra, he himself served buddha venerable ananda, born in the solar clan, himself attended upon buddha gods ganesh, skara and brahma served buddha at the gate of the city of sankassa වකවරන පිළිවෙල වම අපි දැන් බලි රජුන් බමුණන් කල වල සා වපාරණ සිරිලක විසුෙ පඬුෙස් රජුට පැමිණුනි දිවි වදාසා රන වලස වසත් යාෙ කල එම මලලරජු දිවි වදාස නසා උරන වනාෙ වමම කරුණු ප දා වදමැයි දැනෙනු වනාෙලසා the system of our bali performances, in the same way as ancient kings and brahmins in the past, king panduvas of lanka was afflicted with ‘divi dos’ the king of malala country, performed the yaga; to remove that effect of ‘divi dos’ i will explain these matters, kindly listen, do not take offence. ( දිවිවදාස් -evil effects of perjury) if a powerful person came from another country and became king of lanka the respectable govi caste receives the positions of minister and viceroy there are even today such great persons highly respected in lanka those gentlemen must be promoted, if not that will be wicked without knowing the history of the origin of berava, some people ridicule according to ancient traditions, we are ‘brahmins’ bearing the science i have examined again and again, except us, there are no other ‘big shots’ if we live with no regrets, the great govi caste will not be thriving කැමති රටකින් පැමිණ උතුවමක් කලත් රජකම් ලවක් ෙරු සරු ඇමති යුෙරජ ෙනිති තනතුරු ලබති වොවිකුල උතුම් වු ෙරු නැමති ෙරුතර උතුම් මැතිදුන් දැනුත් ඇත ලක තුවල් අතිෙරු ඒමැතිෙරු ට උසස්ෙන්නට වව්ය වනාෙත් වව්ය නපුරු if a powerful person came from another country and became king of lanka the respectable govi caste receives the positions of ‘minster’ and ‘viceroy’ there are even today such great persons highly respected in lanka those gentlemen must be promoted, if not that will be vicious මුනිදු ට වපර කරපුවස්ෙය උතුම් අයෙල් මයි කවළ් පනිඳු මුචලිඳු දරන ෙැබ ෙැඩ උන්න සඳ ඌමයි කවළ් දිනිදු කුලයුත් අනඳ වතරිදුන් මුනිදු ට වස්ෙය කවල් ෙනිඳු සිව් අත් සුරිදු වස්ෙය සකස් පුර වදාර දි කවල් in the past only the noble persons served the buddha while buddha sat in the coils of mucalinda cobra, he himself served buddha venerable ananda, born in the solar clan, himself attended upon buddha gods ganesh, skara and brahma served buddha at the gate of the city of sankassa වකවරන පිළිවෙල වම අපි දැන් බලි රජුන් බමුණන් කල වල සා වපාරණ සිරිලක විසුෙ පඬුෙස් රජුට පැමිණුනි දිවි වදාසා රන වලස වසත් යාෙ කල එම මලලරජු දිවි වදාස නසා උරන වනාෙ වමම කරුණු ප දා වදමැයි දැනෙනු වනාෙලසා the system of our bali performances, in the same way as ancient kings and brahmins in the past, king panduvas of lanka was afflicted with ‘divi dos’ the king of malala country, performed the yaga; to remove that effect of ‘divi dos’ i will explain these matters, kindly listen, do not take offence. ( දිවිවදාස් -evil effects of perjury) cultural ambivalence: a socio-historical account of the berava caste of southern sri lanka 53 in the past only the noble persons served the buddha while buddha sat in the coils of the mucalinda cobra, he himself served buddha venerable ananda, born in the solar clan, himself attended upon buddha gods ganesh, sakra and brahma served buddha at the gate of the city of sankassa without knowing the history of the origin of berava, some people ridicule according to ancient traditions, we are ‘brahmins’ bearing the science i have examined again and again, except us, there are no other ‘big shots’ if we live with no regrets, the great govi caste will not be thriving කැමති රටකින් පැමිණ උතුවමක් කලත් රජකම් ලවක් ෙරු සරු ඇමති යුෙරජ ෙනිති තනතුරු ලබති වොවිකුල උතුම් වු ෙරු නැමති ෙරුතර උතුම් මැතිදුන් දැනුත් ඇත ලක තුවල් අතිෙරු ඒමැතිෙරු ට උසස්ෙන්නට වව්ය වනාෙත් වව්ය නපුරු if a powerful person came from another country and became king of lanka the respectable govi caste receives the positions of ‘minster’ and ‘viceroy’ there are even today such great persons highly respected in lanka those gentlemen must be promoted, if not that will be vicious මුනිදු ට වපර කරපුවස්ෙය උතුම් අයෙල් මයි කවළ් පනිඳු මුචලිඳු දරන ෙැබ ෙැඩ උන්න සඳ ඌමයි කවළ් දිනිදු කුලයුත් අනඳ වතරිදුන් මුනිදු ට වස්ෙය කවල් ෙනිඳු සිව් අත් සුරිදු වස්ෙය සකස් පුර වදාර දි කවල් in the past only the noble persons served the buddha while buddha sat in the coils of mucalinda cobra, he himself served buddha venerable ananda, born in the solar clan, himself attended upon buddha gods ganesh, skara and brahma served buddha at the gate of the city of sankassa වකවරන පිළිවෙල වම අපි දැන් බලි රජුන් බමුණන් කල වල සා වපාරණ සිරිලක විසුෙ පඬුෙස් රජුට පැමිණුනි දිවි වදාසා රන වලස වසත් යාෙ කල එම මලලරජු දිවි වදාස නසා උරන වනාෙ වමම කරුණු ප දා වදමැයි දැනෙනු වනාෙලසා the system of our bali performances, in the same way as ancient kings and brahmins in the past, king panduvas of lanka was afflicted with ‘divi dos’ the king of malala country, performed the yaga; to remove that effect of ‘divi dos’ i will explain these matters, kindly listen, do not take offence. 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(2009). caste discrimination and social justice in sri lanka: an overview. indian institute of dalit studies. working paper series 6. simpson, b. (1984). ritual tradition and performance: the beravā caste of southern sri lanka. unpublished phd., university of durham, uk. simpson, b. (1997). possession, dispossession and social distribution of knowledge among sri lankan ritual specialists. journal of the royal anthropological institute, 3(1), 43–59. simpson, b. (2004). on the impossibility of invariant repetition: ritual, tradition and creativity among sri lankan ritual specialists. anthropology and history, 13(3), 301–316. sørensen, b.r. (1996). relocated lives: displacement and resettlement within the mahaweli project, sri lanka. vu university press. sykes, jim. (2018). the musical gift: sonic generosity in post-war sri lanka. oup. © 2025 mohan kumar bera. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. general research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2554 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 434-450 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste exploring strategies to maintain tribal identity in sundarban island, india mohan kumar bera1 abstract the munda people are one of the first tribal settlers in the sundarban region, but most of them are landless or hold a small agricultural land. living in small hamlets spread in different parts of the sundarban islands, they are influenced by the socio-cultural lives of bengali neighbours. the tribal identity and sociocultural and economic activities in sundarban are a result of a long process of acculturation to live with a changing physical and socio-cultural, economic and political environment in sundarban islands. is it important for tribal people in the sundarban to maintain the socio-cultural identity? is it critical for them to adopt the process of acculturation to live with non-tribal neighbours? the main objective of the study is to explore the strategies of acculturation that strengthen tribal identity and build a consistent and socially acceptable adaptive space. an ethnographic study in a village of the indian sundarban island has found that munda people are conscious of social discrimination and their identity. socio-cultural and economic marginalisation of the munda people encourages divisions of ‘us’ and ‘them’. they experience the processes of acculturation and hinduisation, but do not wish to convert to hinduism. however, the changing nature of primary resource-based livelihood activities and diversification of income generation activities have created a wider space for communication and a symbiotic relationship between tribal and non-tribal communities in the village. the education, better communication and participation in decentralised democratic governance system have brought them closer to other communities. they speak the bengali language and have adopted the socio-cultural lives of bengali neighbours to avoid discrimination and better assimilation. the process of acculturation is not for social mobility, but a strategy for survival, along with protecting socio-cultural tribal identity in the sundarban islands. keywords acculturation, adaptation, socio-cultural identity, munda tribe, sundarban islands 1department of humanities and social sciences, birla institute of technology-pilani, kk birla campus, zuarinagar, sancoale, goa, india e-mail: mohan.bera@gmail.com, mohanb@goa.bits-pilani.ac.in exploring strategies to maintain tribal identity in sundarban island, india 435 introduction the history of human settlement in the sundarban region started in 1459 (chottopadhya, 1995), but the actual land reclamation began in 1765 by claud russell (jalais, 2007). the colonial government wanted to convert the mangrove forests of the sundarban islands into productive agricultural fields that could generate more taxes and distribute parts of the mangrove forest to local landlords on long-term leases so that the marshy land could be converted to farmland. socio-economically marginalised people came from neighbouring districts and states to engage in the reclamation process as labourers, and many settled permanently in the sundarban islands. the crisis of resources in the chotonagpur in the eighteenth century forced numerous munda people to leave the place. availability of agricultural land and attraction of possible livelihood opportunities influenced them to settle in south bengal. first, they settled in the hooghly district (basu, 1992) and gradually moved to the 24 parganas district, mainly kasiabad in kakdwip, purba daragapur, durbachati, gadamuthura of pathar pratima, and raidhighi. the munda population, which was 688 in 1891, increased to 9,229 (1901), 7,296 (1911), 7,860 (1921), 2,901 (1933), and 20,428 (1951) (mukhopadhyay, 1976). although tribal people were among the first settlers in the sundarban islands, they had to surrender largely to the culture of the dominant bengali communities in an alien region (raha and bhui, 2006), and eventually became marginalised socioeconomically and politically. they adopted the socio-cultural lives of bengali people while living for many years in the sundarban islands. the main factor for the successful completion of the acculturation process of people is the development of productive social behaviour based on individual resources. however, the acculturation process depends on a commitment towards the culture and participation in intercultural contacts. there are two important questions being raised: is it important for the tribal people to maintain socio-cultural identity in the sundarban islands? and is it critical for them to establish contact with non-tribal communities? the main objective is to explore the acculturation processes that strengthen their identity and build a consistent adaptive space. understanding the process of acculturation adaptation is the adjustment of a social group to its socio-economic, physical, and spiritual environment. the process of adaptation ensures a favourable relationship, existence, and development (woolston, 1917) and adjusts a community’s sociocultural and economic life to its social setting. an individual or a community adopts the dominant culture to avoid inter-community conflicts (berry, 1997). it is a system of social activities aimed at overcoming the barriers to adjustment in any situation. according to the normative approach, adaptation is a process of continual social control over human behaviour, including social norms, values, and traditions (romm, 2003). according to the interpretive approach, adaptation is a strategy of personal activity that allows the uninterrupted interpretation of self-identity and symbolic social context during the process of socialisation (romm, 2003). communities belonging to 436 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 different cultures come into direct, long-term contact, which leads to changes in the existing cultural patterns of one or both groups (romm, 2003). socio-cultural adaptation of a community is determined by a continuous process of social control over human behaviour with a set of values and norms. it is a process that allows people to overcome challenges to cope with a changing environment (romm, 2003). the socio-cultural adaptation has been discussed by redfield et al. (1936) as a process of ‘acculturation’ in which groups belonging to different cultures come together and change the socio-cultural environment (redfield et al., 1936). the communities undergo cultural changes because of a new socio-cultural environment and required behaviour adopted. therefore, acculturation is a result of socio-cultural adaptation to accommodate socio-economic, political and cultural environment by a community at a new place of dominant culture. berry (1997, 2001) has incorporated the experiences of people in the process of socio-cultural adaptation at a new place. the acculturation process is a change in people’s behaviour because of contact and involvement with people from other cultures. the process allows people to give the elements of their culture of origin and adopt new cultural elements (tonder and soontiens, 2014). adjustment with the dominant culture and social practices is a necessity in a situation where people voluntarily or forcefully accept the dominant cultural components along with practicing their culture of origin. therefore, acculturation is a consequence of social interaction through which people experience and adopt the dominant cultural components. when people leave the place of origin of their culture and settle down in a different cultural setting for different purposes, the needs of acculturation emerge (fu, 2015). it becomes paramount to explore the various acculturation strategies of people while adjusting themselves in a new socio-cultural and different environmental setting. it has been understood that the acculturation process is not a linear process. the acculturation process happens through the adjustment of people to a new setting, depending on their necessity, willingness, and pressure from the dominant community, and they gradually relinquish the culture of origin (segall et al., 1990; ryder et al., 2000). however, it depends on the duration of stay in the new place and the nature of the connection with people and the frequency of visits to the place of origin (tonsing, 2010; segall et al., 1990; ryder et al., 2000). acculturation strategies are followed by an individual as well as in a group. it depends on the need for acculturation, the keenness of the people towards adoption and the socio-cultural environment. berry et al. (1997) argued that the need for adaptation and its outcome can be positive and negative. however, the impacts of adaptation depend on individual characteristics and the capacity for adaptation at a new place. the socio-cultural adaptation is the change that people must accept while living with dominant communities in a new area (berry, 1997). berry (1997) has explained such adaptation as ‘fit’ in which people from all communities form a new environment to adjust to each other in a new area (tonsing, 2010). berry (1992) has conceptualised the whole process of adaptation as ‘acculturation’ that consists of integration, assimilation, separation and marginalisation. however, the process exploring strategies to maintain tribal identity in sundarban island, india 437 of acculturation depends on the ability of people to manage the cultural setting of a new place; social and communication skills and other locally based socio-cultural and economic needs. the nature of participation of people in socio-cultural life also depends on understanding local language, making friends, and attending socio-cultural activities in a new place (ward and rana, 1999). however, it varies with length of stay, educational qualification, social network and nature of occupation (ward and kennedy, 1993). the socio-cultural identity of tribal communities is a complex product of social and physical adaptation that reflects their distinct worldviews, beliefs, social values, norms, languages, and customs in a geo-environmental setting. tribal villages experience heavy migration as well as multiple invasions, thereby bringing distinct communities and cultures into contact with one another. the government’s administrative system has imposed on tribal communities a constitutional identity that often supersedes their natural and ethnic identity (chaudhuri, 1992; raha, 1999). however, tribal people represent their identity through their socio-political organisation, language, rituals, festivals, technology, dress, art, and crafts. all of these are deeply connected with the land, the forest, and the river. every tribal community has a distinct socio-cultural setup. socio-cultural identity is the basic element by which a tribal community can be identified. this identity may be lost if the dominant culture is accepted unreservedly (raha, 1999). the tribal people in the sundarban have been adapting to a physical and dominant socio-cultural environment to ensure their livelihood. the changing political environment in the sundarban islands also provided them space to engage in the political environment in the sundarban (raha, 1999). the lack of connection with the place of origin and the domination of the bengali socio-cultural environment did not give many choices other than accepting the socio-cultural environment of the new place. the factors of socio-cultural change are political, economic, educational, religious, industrial, or agricultural (raman, 1993); the most important is religion. chaudhuri (1992) rightly explains that the socio-cultural change of tribal people in india started when they encountered hindu culture—the continual process of borrowing aspects of hindu culture and incorporating them into tribal practices brought them closer to hindu society. the acceptance of hindu culture among tribal people was influenced by the concept of ‘great and little traditions’ and may be attributed to its comparatively developed material culture, educational advancement, political dominance, and impressive brahminical rituals (chaudhuri, 1992). elwin (1964) argues that tribal people maintain socio-cultural traditions that are unique and distinct from the dominant indian cultural traditions. singh (2002) and peffer and behera (2005) support elwin and stress the uniqueness of tribal culture. studies show that tribal identity is strategically important for claiming land rights (schleiter and maaker, 2010). gupta and ferguson (2001) emphasise the significance of multiculturalism and hybrid identities in the modern context. worldwide, mass movements have weakened rigid cultural identities existing in territorial boundaries, led people of different ethnicities to live together and depend on one another, and 438 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 given birth to cultural plurality within the framework of a cohesive national identity. we must therefore take a closer look at the adjustments that have been made in the socio-cultural and economic lives of tribal people in the sundarban islands. research methodology and data collection the community adaptation and maintenance of the original socio-cultural identity to neighbouring dominant groups is the combination of socio-economic, cultural, institutional setup, technological know-how, and religious beliefs of a community. understanding integrated activities of a community to deal with every physical and social phenomenon is required because the physical-socio-cultural adaptation starts from each household, which connects every member into the community (tran and shaw, 2007). the present study has been conducted on the munda people who adopted the mangrove environment as livelihood activities and part of the socio-economic and political life in the sundarban region. to explore the changing socio-cultural lives of munda people, the research followed an ethnographic approach. ethnography refers to fieldwork conducted by a single investigator who ‘lives with and lives like’ those who are studied, usually for a year or more. it literally means ‘a portrait of a people’. ethnography is a written description of a particular culture—the customs, beliefs, and behaviour—based on information collected through fieldwork (fetterman, 1998). it relies heavily on up-close, personal experience and possible participation, fig. 1: ramkrishna palli of purba daragapur village exploring strategies to maintain tribal identity in sundarban island, india 439 not just observation, by the researchers (genzuk, 2001). this study was conducted at ramkrishna palli of purba daragapur village (figure 1), one of the oldest settlements of the munda people in the sundarban (mukhopadhyay, 1976). the village is in the pathar pratima block of the south 24 parganas district in west bengal, far away from the sundarban reserve forest region. the munda people live with their bengali neighbours and engage in cultivation as well as fishing, collecting honey, and catching mud crabs. the study was conducted during april–june 2017 and frequent visits to the village in last couple of years. the fieldwork started with building rapport with the villagers, mainly elderly people. the researcher convinced a group of households to accommodate him with them and was allowed be part of different socio-cultural and political activities in the village. the long stays and frequent visits to the village in a particular interval allowed the researcher to understand their lives and challenges of the tribal people. the fieldwork has been categorised into three broad sections: changing socio-political mobilisation as an acculturation process; changing nature of economic activities as a process of acculturation; and socio-cultural activities and adaptation as a process of acculturation. the selection of the 13 respondents was based on the willingness of villagers. very few tribal households in the village holds more than one hectare of agricultural land. therefore, respondents have been categorized into medium landowners (landholding above one acre), small landowners (landholding of less than one acre), daily wage labourers, and landless respondents. the main motivation of the research is to understand the processes of acculturation focused on the middle aged group and elderly respondents. elderly women and boys studding in the government high school were also included in the study because of their socio-cultural activities. respondents focused on socio-economic and political transformation, adaptation, social integration, social inclusion and exclusion, deprivation and exclusion processes among the munda people in the sundarban islands. as the researcher was staying with villagers, all the participants were interacted with at multiple opportunities to understand the process of acculturation focusing on (a) influence of dominant culture on tribal culture; (b) strategies to adjust to the dominant culture; (c) influence of sociopolitical environment in cultural adaptation; (d) adjustment to new livelihoods; (e) influence of migration and education on socio-cultural adjustment; and (f) impact of infrastructural development in the process of adaptation. the data has been analysed under the broad themes of integration, assimilation, separation and marginalisation. process of acculturation and challenges in the sundarban islands the challenges of the socio-cultural identity of the munda people have been experienced at the individual and community levels. the history of the reclamation of the salty marshy lands of the sundarban began with the hard work of tribal people. they were known as leaders or sardar who guided others to clean the mangrove forest. they also engage with other bengali migrants in building earthen embankments to 440 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 stop saline water intrusion in the islands. eventually, ‘sardar’ has been replaced by the ‘munda’ surname by non-tribal neighbours. for example, moti munda becomes moti sardar. the change of surname has increased challenges in daily life because of a similar bengali surname, ‘saradar’ (a socially marginalised hindu community). there is a general confusion among outsiders of sundarban to differentiate between ‘sardar’ and ‘saradar’. sometimes, the munda sub-caste is not mentioned in the government document such as a land registration certificate. it becomes difficult for them to prove themselves as a tribe. school going children find it even more difficult as they become ineligible to avail hostel facilities, scholarship and other government benefits for tribal students. the munda people in the sundarban islands hardly speak mundari or sadri (the language which is an admixture of mundari and bengali) in public as well as at home. since bengali language is used in schools and government offices in the sundarban islands, they adopted bengali as their main language for communication. the pure mundari language is only used during weddings and religious activities. the new generation of munda people hardly know the mundari language. they are also unable to sing the folk songs to continue their tradition. ‘how can i prove my identity as a tribe?’ (respondent 2, 2017). “if i do not know my language, how can i preserve my culture and identity?” (respondent 9, 2017). tribal youths are reluctant to use the mundari or sadri language in public because it is seen as a marker of social inferiority. traditionally the munda people worship their ancestors and nature. in addition, the adverse ecology of the sundarban islands has influenced them to worship hindu deities such as banabibi1 and manasa,2 sitala3 and also lord hanuman and the tulasi plant. they use banana leaves as holy leaves instead of the sal leaf, which is not available in the sundarban. they worship all hindu gods and goddesses together by constructing mud statues of different colours. goddess kali4 is rapidly becoming the most important goddess among the munda people; the importance of the goddess banabibi is waning as their dependency on forest and river-based livelihoods decreases. they follow traditional beliefs and rituals in their worship of hindu gods and goddesses. they are attracted by the stories of hindu mythology and by brahminical rituals. recently, christian missionaries have started distributing religious books and organising religious programmes in tribal villages. although the munda people follow hindu practices and allow christian missionaries in the village, they maintain a distance from muslims. they have experienced different religious practices in different phases of development, but do not wish to give up their traditional beliefs and practices. one villager said: “i cannot give up my rituals, traditional practices, and culture, but i will not be able to protect our tribal culture in the future” (respondent 6, 2017). the munda relatives and friends living in different parts of the sundarban islands gather during weddings. weddings are one of the most socio-cultural activities of the munda people that has preserved the tribal identity while living away from chotonagpur for over a century. the mundari language is exclusively used during the marriage rituals, inter-personal conversations and wedding receptions. however, marriage exploring strategies to maintain tribal identity in sundarban island, india 441 ceremonies are getting modified by the influence of hindu bengali neighbours in on following ways: (a) marriage timing: hindu bengali marriage ceremonies are organised at night. traditionally, munda wedding ceremonies and rituals are held during the daytime, but slowly shifting to night. ‘there is electric light, it looks good. the marriage rituals happen during the daytime, but the receptions happen at night. the young generation also demands some of the marriage ceremonies at night’ (respondent 3, 2017). ‘the munda people are spread across the islands. the marriage ceremonies during the daytime allow the families to walk a long distance to reach the groom’s house. there was a concern of safety too. now, the development of transport communication reduces the distance among the islands’ (respondent 9, 2017). (b) expenditure: the expenditure for wedding ceremonies also increased due to the financial stability in munda households. the higher expenditure shows the financial strength of the households (majumdar, 1994). most expenses are on the marriage reception. (c) dowry: the munda people traditionally follow the bride price for marriage. however, a substantial number of gifts, jewellery and other materials are also given to the bridegroom and they take pride in this display of status (majumdar, 1994). highly qualified grooms with government jobs have started demanding dowry like the bengali neighbours. ‘neighbouring families demand dowry and therefore grooms from our community say, why not we?’ (respondent 5, 2017). (d) inter-community marriage: the munda people strictly prohibit marriage within the clan (roy, 1970). most of the marriages are arranged marriages, but they accept registered marriages, love marriages, inter-community marriages (mainly with hindu bengali families). the inter-community marriages have influenced the tribal socio-cultural lives, rituals and beliefs. the tribal households with inter-community marriages are more attracted to the dominant cultures, rituals and customs. most of the inter-community marriages are love marriage. usually, bengali families do not accept such a wedding, but munda families accept the newly married couple with a small ritual of scarifying a white fowl before entering the house. a hindu bengali girl married to a tribal boy embraces the tribal culture even as she follows hindu traditions and practices in the tribal home. this acceptance of nontribal culture has brought significant changes in the tribal system. however, the tribal community has rejected the hindu process of cremation. if an intercommunity couple does not follow the tribal funeral customs, they are not allowed to participate in community activities. slowly, non-tribal families accept the inter-community marriage relationship. it must also be noted that inter-community marriages have helped to bridge the gap between tribal and non-tribal communities. 442 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 the ‘gang dhar’ (river side) location of the tribal hamlet becomes an integrated part of tribal lives. the location of hamlet allows the tribal people to access the river, but it also separates them from bengali hamlets. they catch fish for consumption as well as for selling. therefore, rice and fish become the main staple foods for munda people. they eat pork, but do not consume beef. however, the consumption of pork has dropped due to limited availability, increasing price and avoiding social discrimination. they also stopped eating rats to avoid discrimination by the non-tribal neighbours. haria (a traditional alcoholic beverage made of fermented steamed rice and local herbs) is an integrated part of the socio-cultural lives of munda people. haria is consumed during festivals and social gatherings. they claim that haria has medicinal values as it cools the body and often consume haria during the farming season. “i used to work hard throughout the day. drinking haria reduces physical pain at night. so, i could sleep at night and continue working in the morning” (respondent 9, 2017). however, consumption of haria has reduced due to educational development and the desire to avoid disputes after consumption. interestingly, hindu bengali food and drinking habits have also changed through interactions with the mundas. pork and haria consumption has dropped among the munda, but risen among their hindu neighbours, and many rear pigs commercially at home. pig-rearing, an activity for which the munda people are often discriminated against, is a source of financial gain for hindu bengalis. they also request munda households to prepare and sell haria. the adoption of tribal ways of life (singh, 1985) has strengthened the relationship between the two communities. traditionally, the munda households share food materials to organise any social event within a household in the village. the main purpose of sharing food materials is to reduce the financial burden of a household. the tradition of sharing food materials also allowed all the households to take part in the social event and eat together. the tradition has disappeared with the replacement of the trend of the selective invitation of neighbours to organise a social event. neighbours are getting divided by political affiliation, like bengali neighbours. the new trends adversely affected community bonding among tribal households. ‘the dominant bengali culture increasingly influences the munda tribal culture, because social regulation is weak and the munda people lack unity. space in the tribal hamlet is limited, and the mundas have spread to different parts of the village; the present generation builds houses wherever land is available’ (respondent 9, 2017). as tribal unity weakens, the desire to live symbiotically with the other community grows. the separation and distance from the tribal community increases the dependency on bengali neighbours. xaxa (1999) argues that tribal society has been changing from a simple to a heterogeneous society. there is a trend of social discrimination towards tribal people in sundarban by non-tribal people. the discrimination is centred on lower social status, location of the hamlets, food habits and physical appearance. the social behaviour of the nontribal people has made the tribal people more conscious about discrimination and self-appearance. it is divided into ‘us’ and ‘them’. as a result, they prefer to wear exploring strategies to maintain tribal identity in sundarban island, india 443 good clothes in public place. the newer generations of tribal people are educated and mingle more freely with their non-tribal neighbours, thereby closely experience non-tribal customs and practices, but they are always aware of the possibility of social discrimination. as one respondent says: “although i mingle with bengalis, i am always conscious of myself as an adivasi and know that i may be discriminated against” (respondent 13, 2017). tribal people played an important role during the reclamation process in the sundarban islands, but non-tribal people acquired most of the available agricultural land. local landlords distributed small sections of this land among members of the tribal community, who acted as sharecroppers. after the government abolished the landlord system, communist party activists captured the land and distributed it among party cadres. this motivated the tribal people to engage actively in politics under the communist ideology. as a result, they benefited from the land distribution process undertaken later by the communist party. politically conscious tribal people were directly involved in the election of a tribal representative to the local government in the late 1990s. the social relationship between the tribal and non-tribal people has now transformed into a political relationship, which has strengthened the ties between the two communities. however, no political leader has emerged from the tribal community. political ideology divides the community (xaxa, 2005), but cultural festivals such as the tusu bring them together. non-tribal neighbours never participate in the tusu festival. recently, political parties sought to mobilise resources and popularise the tusu festival in the sundarban islands, but failed to divide the tribal people. similarly, the interest in football among munda youths binds all tribal people together. the success of the football team from the tribal village attracts other non-tribal supporters, thereby encouraging greater social interaction between the two communities. the munda people engage in every source of livelihood that includes fishing in the river, catching mud crabs, collecting honey and collecting wood. as there are restrictions to protect the mangrove forest, wood collection has been stopped. the collection of honey depends on the availability of a boat, an entry pass from the forest office and the distance from the forest. honey collection is seasonal, which provides good economic support to the household, but there is a high risk of animal attack. tribal households also used to collect fresh water tortoises during the harvest season, but there are restrictions by the forest department to catch these tortoises. there was a time when every munda household had a boat for fishing. as they hold a small agricultural land, fishing in the estuaries of the sundarban islands became a source of livelihood. the number of boats has decreased over the years due to the unavailability of an adequate amount of fish and crabs, fear of crocodiles and government restrictions. there is a change of natural resource-based livelihood activities to secondary and tertiary sectors based livelihood activities among the munda people in sundarban. they started working with bengali neighbours while migrating in search of jobs in cities. the changing pattern of livelihood activities influences the tribal people to assimilate to the non-tribal socio-cultural and economic environment. higher education made the 444 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 tribal youths integrate and assimilate more with non-tribal neighbours. the changing economic dependency made them economically more diversified and stable (table 1). table 1: livelihood diversification economic activities in the past economic activities at present 1. farming (sharecropping) 2. migration (family and long-term) 3. catching fish, crabs, and rats 4. rearing pigs, cows, goats, and chickens 5. ferry services 6. wage labour (agricultural labour) 7. selling haria 1. farming (cultivating own land or practising seasonal cropping based on a lease) 2. migration (individual and seasonal) 3. catching fish and crabs 4. collective aquaculture 5. rearing cows, goats, and chickens 6. wage labour (agricultural labour and work under the national rural employment guarantee act (nrega) 7. government jobs 8. jobs in private farms 9. small-scale trading 10. selling haria (on demand) educational disparities led to economic exploitation and social discrimination against the tribal community in the sundarban islands. “our landlord used to cheat us by changing the language of the contract papers of the land. now my son has become a university graduate and looks after all the land documents. now nobody can cheat us” (respondent 6, 2017). education has changed the socio-economic condition of the tribal community. tribal youths spend more time with their non-tribal friends, and this allows them to learn about and engage in non-tribal cultural activities. education has also helped to reduce alcoholism among younger members of the tribe. as one respondent says: “my daughter gets angry if i consume haria, wear dirty clothes and engage in unsocial activities. she is ashamed because her non-tribal friends speak frequently about how disputes among tribal people occur due to alcoholism” (respondent 6, 2017). many elderly tribal people are uneducated as a result of poverty. they used to stay at home and catch fish, crabs, and rats for consumption. when they started going out of the village, they realised the need to wear good clothes in public. they became aware of the notions of ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’, and learned that the latter could lead to discrimination. educated tribal youths are also questioning the reasons behind land disputes and economic exploitation. they work for the government or migrate to cities in search of jobs. however, there is a tendency among them to adopt the dominant culture rather than revive the tribal culture. discussion tribal people have changed their physical appearance and lifestyle. the first generation of munda people in sundarban were very poor and too busy earning their livelihood exploring strategies to maintain tribal identity in sundarban island, india 445 to clean their bodies or wash their clothes. they were discriminated against for their inferior social status, their physical appearance, and their poverty-stricken homes (where pigs were often reared). untouchability was a common experience among the first generation of tribal people. although access to education and a changing socio-economic and political environment have ameliorated this situation, social discrimination against the munda people remains a challenge. football has played an important role in encouraging interaction and bonding between the tribal and nontribal communities. non-tribal neighbours also drink haria in tribal homes and work together in labour groups. while tribal people have accepted inter-caste marriages, their non-tribal neighbours do not accept them positively. couples in inter-community marriages are persuaded to practise the rituals of the dominant community. however, educational achievements and engagement in government jobs have brought about a change in attitude towards the tribal people in the village. it is not uncommon for educated members of the tribe to engage in the social activities of the dominant hindus. language plays a significant role in shaping the culture and collective identity of a community. however, the munda people often avoid speaking in the tribal language in public to conceal their identity and prevent discrimination. in sundarban, the language used by the tribal people is a combination of the mundari and bengali dialects. in such a bilingual situation, the mother language is often dominated by the second language, thereby provoking a loss or diffusion of identity, although trudgill (1974) finds that a person or group may give up their language without losing their original identity. tribal culture cannot be isolated from the influence of the bengali culture. both hinduism and christianity exert a significant influence on the munda village, but people have not changed their religion and traditional practices. the worship of hindu gods and goddesses is not a choice, but a strategy to survive in a harsh geographical location. by adapting to the dominant culture and working with hindus, the mundas have expanded their means of livelihood. cultural adjustment is also a strategy adopted by the munda people to enhance their social status in the village. srinivas (1966) describes this strategy as a process of sanskritisation. in this process, the dominant ideology and culture are internalised through the acceptance and practice of its traditions and customs (gaventa, 1980). regarding upward mobility among tribal people, the findings differ from those of gaventa (1980) and fernandes (2005). the interviews of tribal people in the sundarban islands show that they worship the dominant community’s gods and goddesses to avoid social discrimination and livelihood risks, as a strategy of survival, and as a way of living with the dominant community in a foreign land— this is not merely a process of sanskritisation, hinduisation, or social transformation. only a small number of tribal households follow hindu rituals and practices; besides, worshipping hindu gods and goddesses and practising hindu customs do not transform tribal people into hindus (xaxa, 2005). there is no space for them in the hindu caste hierarchy, as they cannot simultaneously maintain their tribal and hindu identity, and they have never been fully accepted by the dominant hindu community. it has traditionally followed the practice of spatial segregation in the sundarban islands, as may be seen in its claim, and in its awareness, that tribal hamlets’ geographical 446 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 location—near the riverbank, far from bengali settlements—helps them to access riverand forest-based livelihoods. it has been observed that the munda people in the sundarban are in a process of acculturation to integrate and assimilate with the larger community in the sundarban to ensure livelihood. they accept the influence of the dominant community, but do not change their religious belief. the rejection of the hindu cremation system by the munda people symbolises the nature of acceptance and rejection in the process of acculturation. the process of acculturation depends on the willingness and necessity of adjustment of people (berry, 1997). tribal people are also in a process of hinduisation (xaxa, 2005), but to become hindu. young munda women dressed up like bengali women to avoid social discrimination at work and in public places. “i have to live in a society and need to follow local traditions” (a woman respondent, 2017). the research agrees with xaxa (2005) that educated munda youths become highly conscious about their tribal identity. the changing nature of economic activities allowed the munda people to integrate and assimilate with non-tribal people (xaxa, 1999). the studies have claimed that the acculturation process and maintaining sociocultural identities depend on the duration of stay at a new place (tonsing, 2010; segall et al., 1990; ryder et al., 2000) and the connection with the people of the place of origin (ward and kennedy, 1993; ryder et al., 2000; wenjing, 2005; jayaram, 2009). munda people have been living in small hamlets across the sundarban islands. they do not communicate much with the people of the chotanagpur region. therefore, it is not just the duration of stay, but the sense of tribal identity (xaxa, 1999) and close bonding among the tribal people, which encourages them to integrate, assimilate, maintain and revitalise the munda socio-cultural identity. table 2: socio-economic and cultural adjustment with bengali neighbour adjustments reason for adjustment la ng ua ge speaking local language and dialects low level of practice of the mundari language at home no academic activities in the tribal language no use of the tribal language in government offices more engagement with non-tribal communities tendency to hide tribal identity w or sh ip worship of manasa, tulasi, banabibi, shiva, and hanuman fear of wild animals and snakes attempt to secure livelihood desire to live with hindu neighbours inter-caste marriages c lo th in g wearing a saree, bindi, red and white conch bangles, and vermilion need to adjust to society need to go to schools and offices and mingle with non-tribal neighbours avoid discrimination avoid the social stigma of ‘unclean’ desire to look good exploring strategies to maintain tribal identity in sundarban island, india 447 fo od avoid pork and rat meat need to adjust to non-tribal neighbours avoid quarrels among the neighbours avoid discrimination d ri nk in g h ar ia reduced alcoholism consumption during the festival children do not like the practice children are ashamed within their friend circles influence of education economic consciousness li ve lih oo d ac tiv iti es reduced dependency on catching crab and fish government restrictions unavailability of species migration in search of jobs engagement in farming collective pisciculture h ou se building a good house avoid the social stigma of a poor and ‘unclean’ house government housing scheme improvement of economic condition the socio-cultural adaptation of the munda people also happened through a series of economic changes. engagement in diversified economic activities has transformed their social status and ways of life. economically stable tribal households now spend money on building concrete houses with the help of the indira awas yojana (a central government housing scheme for the poor). the economic improvement of the tribal community has enabled them to live with greater respect in the village. the strategies of avoiding rearing pigs and consumption of haria, avoid quarrels within tribal households and with non-tribal individuals; getting higher education; ambition to work in a government office; engagement in farming; maintaining economic stability; wearing good clothes (and ‘be clean’); engagement in active political activities; making more friends and networking with non-tribal people and speaking the language of the dominant community symbolise the strength, strategies and challenges of acculturation of the tribal people (table 2). these strategies allowed them to avoid social discrimination, marginalisation and stop economic exploitation and supported the process of acculturation. young tribal people show great interest in gaining an education and migrate for employment opportunities. some lease land from big land-holding families for seasonal farming. this increased participation in agriculture has brought them closer to the non-tribal peasants in the village, but the diversification of economic activities has increased wealth-based social stratification, and economic development has influenced community structure and social interaction patterns. there are landless labourers, marginal farmers, and government employees; and differences in ideology, religious belief, political orientation, class, and way of life in tribal society, as in indian society (xaxa, 1999). government developmental programmes have influenced the social, economic, political, and cultural life of the tribal people in the sundarban region, changed the nature of income-generating activities, and reduced the social distance between communities, but traditional authority plays a less significant in the 448 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 tribal village today. people are psychologically united through emotional ties and the celebration of cultural ceremonies. mallick (2011) points out that tribal people now engage more in agricultural activities even as they pursue their traditional means of livelihood. social discrimination, economic exploitation, and educational disparities create fewer barriers in the reciprocal and symbiotic relationships between tribal and non-tribal communities. conclusion one’s socio-cultural identity is linked to the socio-cultural adaptation of a community. as the munda people in the sundarban islands are immigrants, they had to cope with adverse conditions before they could engage in primary economic activities. their increasing involvement in agriculture has allowed them to socialise more freely with their non-tribal neighbours. by gaining financial stability and building good houses, they have succeeded in minimising social discrimination. in addition, they are now acutely conscious of the difference between the ‘clean’ and the ‘unclean’ and ‘us’ and ‘them’. greater access to higher education has changed their lives and daily activities. they follow non-tribal practices in public but exercise their tribal identity within private spaces. tribal representation in social, economic, and political institutions helps them to voice tribal issues and concerns before a wider audience. the changing economic and political identity of the munda people has influenced the attitudes of the dominant community towards them. the tribal community is now integrating into the larger social life of the sundarban islands without losing its cultural identity. moreover the growing politicisation of the village system is affecting tribal traditions. as the tribal people are few in number, they cannot bypass the changing socio-economic developments in the sundarban islands. the question remains the same, how far can they adapt themselves to these changes without sacrificing their tribal socio-cultural identity? endnotes 1. banabibi is the goddess of tigers. 2. manasa is the goddess of snakes. 3. sitala is the goddess of small pox. 4. kali is the destroyer of evil forces. references basu, sajal (1992). ethnic 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(2005). politics of language, religion and identity: tribes in india. economic and political weekly, 40(13), 1363–1370. © 2023 shailaja menon. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v4i2.686 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4 no. 2 pp. 367-382 october 2023 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste periyar: forging a gendered utopia shailaja menon1 abstract the category of gender has perennially found itself at the margins because of its social location across south asia. albeit heterogeneous by nature, women have borne the burden of history, community, tradition and even geography being violently mapped across their bodies. no wonder that the past two centuries has witnessed heated debates on the women’s question in the region ranging from the altekarian paradigm to the valorized mother figure who is ever nurturing and generous. many social reformers both male and female sought to battle orthodoxy, religious chauvinism and caste-based status-quoism widening the contours of gender justice in the process. the tropes revolved around consent and coercion, public battles over scriptural legitimacy and contentious traditions. the reformers were treading on delicate grounds as the sacred domain of the ‘home’ had to be kept immune from any polluting winds of ‘western’ ideology. this article is an attempt to tease out e.v. ramasamy naicker’s (periyar) radical understanding of the gender question and his efforts to create an alternate epistemology to question existing socio-cultural realities. it concludes by arguing that this gendered utopia is also a work in progress. keywords caste, self-respect movement, gendered utopia, periyar mapping utopias utopias have generated ecstasy and fear in equal measure and human history has witnessed multiple ideas and discourses which promised to usher in a utopian age. in the indian context, the most radical version of utopia was formulated by sant ravidas (c. 1450-1520) in his song ‘begumpura’a city without sorrow. he envisaged it as a casteless, classless urban society in contrast to gandhi’s idyllic village of ‘ram 1assistant professor in history, school of liberal studies, ambedkar university, delhi, india email: shailaja@aud.ac.in 368 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 rajya’. ‘begumpura’ described a land with no taxes, toil or harassment, where there is no hierarchy but all are equal. finally, calling himself a ‘tanner now set free’, he proclaims that he wanders freely with his friends: the right to walk anywhere in a settlement, city or village, is a unique matter for dalits.2 however, it was with the publication of thomas more’s ‘the best state of a commonwealth and the new island of utopia’ between 1516 and 1518, which provided a label for the imagination of an ideal society. his utopian vision included the humanism of the renaissance, balancing it with reason, a ‘new world’, a geographical space lying to the west of europe which would help the latter to overcome corruption and greed, warfare and inequalities and help to usher in collective ownership of resources. this would enable europe to create a just society. this space was not yet sullied or plundered by european ravenousness. an important intervention in the understanding of utopias was made by karl mannheim in his ‘ideology and utopia’. he pointed out that while both ideologies and utopias had emerged from a political struggle of different social groups, the difference was that where ideologies reflect the interests of the ruling groups and so obscure realities in order to stabilize society, certain oppressed groups are intellectually so strongly interested in the destruction and transformation of a given condition of society that they unwittingly see only those elements in the society which tend to negate it.3 gail omvedt observed that utopian imaginings are found at a lower level of society. thomas more composed his work in latin which is an exception. in the indian context, utopian visions were seldom in sanskrit but rather in the language of the masses.4 this also explains the lack of proper documentation as writing as a skill was not permissible to the common people in india. many of these visions were in the form of poems, ballads and songs which were orally transmitted through generations. often utopias were envisaged on religious lines, a heavenly city for the chosen few who remained faithful to all the sacraments. in the brahmanical vision of the ‘golden age’, humans need to pass through numerous cycles of birth and death to attain salvation. a boddhisatta imagined ‘sukkavati’, a land of joy in which all would find liberation. likewise, tukaram talked of pandharpur and kabir composed verses dreaming of premnagar—a city of love or amrapur where people will attain immortality. thus, the imagination of utopias located in the uncertain future carried within kernels of an alternative reality and a possibility of social transformation. very often they inspired ordinary people to strive to create a better life for themselves. these musings transcended binaries of gender/language/geographies and social locations. rokeya sakhawat hossein imagined ‘ladyland’ wherein women were well versed in science and technology, including armed conflict and their knowledge enabled them to control natural resources. her evocative portrayal of a feminist utopia in ‘sultana’s 2gail omvedt (2008). seeking begumpura: the social vision of anti-caste intellectuals. navayana publications, p. 7. 3karl mannheim (1936). ideology and utopia: an introduction to the sociology of knowledge. (trans.) louis wirth and edward shils, new york: harvest books, p. 40. 4omvedt, op. cit., p. 15. periyar: forging a gendered utopia 369 dream’ countered the fetters on women’s access to public space during her lifetime. similarly, pandita ramabai sought to create a community of women in her ‘mukti sadan’ or the abode of freedom wherein widows would farm the land, harvest crops, get educated and publish various writings. these autonomous spaces sought to reimagine womanhood and their agentiality when the only resolution was to re-integrate them into patriarchal structures. the above mentioned imaginations can be located within the prism of colonial encounter wherein indian traditions and customs fell afoul of the western notions of liberty and equality, especially on the question of gender. the debate followed a familiar terrain of scriptural injunctions on women and their hallowed role in society. rarely did the structural understanding of gender relations conditioned by the sociocultural environment find mention. hence, partha chatterjee’s familiar trope of the home and the world which he argued was the means through which the nationalist resolution of the women’s question was arrived at, dominated the gendered reading of colonial history.5 in chatterjee’s theoretical framework of the self/other, he introduces a new binary opposition—between home/world, public and private domains and argues that the nationalist counter-ideology separated the domain of culture into the material and spiritual. the colonised had to learn the techniques of western civilisation in the material sphere while retaining the distinctive spiritual essence of the material. these new dichotomies, it is argued matched with the identity of social roles by gender; and during this period the ‘new woman’ came to be defined within this frame and therefore as distinct from the common lower class female, further he argues that in the nineteenth century, the woman’s question had been a central issue but by the early twentieth century this question disappeared from the public domain. this is not because political issues take over but because nationalism refused to make women’s question an issue of political negotiation with the colonial state. chatterjee argues that the changes in middle class women’s lives were outside the arena of political agitation and the home became the principal site of struggle through which nationalist patriarchy came to be normalised. thus chatterjee concludes that the nationalists had in the early decades of the century ‘resolved’ the woman’s question, all subsequent reworkings of the women’s question by dalit and working class women, thus come to be precluded. the period marked by chatterjee as the period of the ‘resolution of women’s question’; as we shall note later—is the very period in which women’s participation in the ambedkarite movement was at its peak. but in chatterjee’s framework, such movements would be dismissed as western-inspired, orientalist, for they utilised aspects of colonial policies and western ideologies as resources.6 feminist historiography made radical breakthroughs in teasing out the redefinitions of gender and patriarchies, i.e., to say in ‘pulling out the hidden history swept under the liberal carpet of reforms’.7 feminist renderings of history have been ever since 5p. chatterjee (1989). the nation and its fragments: colonial and postcolonial histories. bombay: oxford university press. 6s. sarkar (1997). writing social history. oxford uuniversity press. 7s. vaid and k. sangari (eds.) (1989). recasting women, new delhi: kali for women. 370 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 concerned with comprehending the linkages between reforms and the realignments of patriarchies with hierarchies of caste, class, ethnicity, etc. vaid and sangari make a significant distinction between the ‘modernising of patriarchal modes of regulating women’ and the ‘democratizing of gender relations’ both at home and the workplace.8 they underline both the revolutionary potential and inherent contradictions that the democratising movements constituted for peasant and working class women. while these democratising movements are seen as heralding ‘class rights for women’ as ‘against and over’ simply familial or caste-related identities; the histories of the nonbrahmin democratic movements, ever so crucial to the emancipatory discourse on caste and gender come to be overlooked. this is true of most of the renderings of feminist history of modern india; though there are notable exceptions.9 the anti-caste movement of the nineteenth and twentieth society produced trenchant critiques of the socio-religious and political ethos of indian society and also provided a radical epistemology to create a new world. scholars who have reflected on the gendered politics of the non-brahmin movements have pointed out “limitations in theory itself in dealing with diversities and subalternity” and argue that in a scenario where gender intersects with caste and class, the theory and methods used “should generate knowledge from the margins”.10 as part of the self-respect movement, which was a counter to the brahmin-dominated congress party in madras presidency, periyar deliberated deeply on the gender and caste issues of his time and sought to forge a new semantics for the same. his speeches and writings worked to create a discursive context which enabled women to be part of the public domain and express their politics in various forms. in 1935, the self-respect movement sought to set up a women’s centre at erode and periyar reflected as to how from 1929 onwards, informally women would visit his house to discuss their social and personal lives. periyar also articulated on sexuality, masculinity, the need for a new aesthetics which would prove to be more liberative for women. his writings and active social interventions through political movements worked towards visualizing a gendered utopia. the journals and newspapers published as a part of the movement helped to give voice to many ordinary men and women to express their concerns through letters, articles, prose and poetry. gradually, as argued by v. geetha, women self-respecters turned into active historical agents, making and remaking their everyday lives and hence history.11 the engagement with periyarist politics delineates paradigmatic shifts in understanding subaltern perspectives on gender. s anandhi observed that: “according to periyar, while marriage and chastity were key patriarchal institutions, patriarchy as such was ubiquitous, pervading spheres like language, literature and gender-based 8ibid. 9sharmila rege (2019). debating dalit difference. (eds.) sunaina arya and aakash singh rathore, routledge publications, pp. 158–159. 10s. anandhi and meera velayutham. (2010). rethinking feminist methodologies. economic and political weekly. vol. 45, no. 44/45. p. 40. 11v. geetha (1991). gender and political discourse. economic and political weekly, february 16, p. 388. periyar: forging a gendered utopia 371 socialization”.12 for v. geetha, “experiences of the self-respect movement help in theorising the position of those feminists who are critical of and do not wish to ground identity in family and community, and who look to a comradeship to root a new and radical female subjectivity”.13 sarah hodges furthers the argument that “the self respect movement also based its campaign for transforming society at a key site of its production: the family and its domestic spaces”.14 for periyar, reforms within the family spaces were crucial to create an egalitarian society, unlike social reformers of the dominant communities who sought to ‘protect’ the sanctity of the home from any reformatory influences. he deconstructed the secular and sacral power of the priestly community and conversed in the idiom of social justice. he was convinced that, “just as how brahmanism condemns a very large portion of the working population to shudrahood so it has condemned women to the servitude of marriage…to the extent that a woman lives up to the norms of a chaste and ideal wife to that extent she accepts and revels in her slavery”.15 if women are to be truly liberated, this gender-biased and enforced practice of chastity need to be abolished and in its place, gender-neutral, egalitarian and voluntary practice of chastity need to be established. forms of marriage which in the name of chastity force the partners to continue and endure a loveless life, should be abolished. religion and law which prescribe patience to women in the face of husband’s brutalities should go. the social dictatorship which forces women to suppress their true love and affection for the sake of chastity compels them to continue living with someone should be abolished.16 a new conjugality in response to the colonial critique of indian social customs, especially on the practices of sati and enforced widowhood, efforts were made by the social reformers to construct a new companionate marriage wherein the wife would be educated enough to be part of her husband’s life-world. the women, especially from the upper class and upper caste required to be recasted into new behavioral norms. the brahmo samaj attempted to negotiate with the marriage rituals, do away with the priestly monopoly and the burden of dowry while retaining the ‘saptapadi’ (ceremonial turns around the sacred fire by both the bride and groom which solemnizes the marriage and gives it religious sanctity). but the samaj was unwilling to desert hinduism, but willing to become liberal and respond to the impact of western faiths.17 the arya samaj too facilitated inter-caste marriages but the orthodoxy of the hindu priest is not challenged and 12s. anandhi. (1991). women’s question in the dravidian movement, c. 1925–1948. social scientist, vol. 19, no. 5/6. p. 26. 13v. geetha (1998). periyar, women and an ethic of citizenship. economic and political weekly, vol. 33, no. 17. p. ws15. 14sarah hodges (2005). revolutionary family life and the self respect movement in tamil south india, 1926–49. contributions to indian sociology, vol. 39, p. 257. 15anaimuthu (1974). thoughts of periyar. trichy, p. 178. 16kudi arasu, 18 november, 1928. 17http://freemarriage.com/articles/brahmo_samaj_wedding.php, accessed 10th january, 2022. 372 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 they did not seek to provide alternative, humanist marriage practices.18 however, the prevalent idea was to retain the structure of caste endogamy to ensure the honour of the family and the society. the idea of ‘consent’ was nonexistent and considered alien among many hindu communities as marriages were endogamous and child marriages were the norm. in 1885, 22-year-old rukhmabai refused to cohabit and solemnise her marriage with her husband dadaji bhikaji that had taken place when she was just 11 years old.19 in 1889, phulmoni devi, a ten-year-old child bride bled to death after her husband (who was twice her age) forcibly consummated their marriage. the case, queen-empress vs hurree mohun mythee on 26 july, 189020 in the calcutta high court generated debates around the vexatious issue of consent, the travails of child brides, and the agency of women. periyar questioned the practice of referring to traditions to validate marriage rituals among the tamils which were very utopian for his times. he was not bothered about the gods, customs or habits of the ancient tamils as these ideas could not be considered rational. “were not the people of the stone age better than those of the barbaric age? similarly don’t you think that the people of the 20th century have better knowledge and experience than those people who lived 4000, 5000 years ago? are not people of the modern age put to the necessity of changing their ancient ways of life? so it has become absolutely necessary for us, social reformers, to keep away from the talk of ancient tamils. moreover in the present day human society, we the rationalists do not depend on any old, antiquated, obsolete information about the ancient tamils”.21 the self-respect movement also conceived of marriages free from priestly control, the chanting of sanskrit mantras which the majority did not understand, and to do away with the tying of the ‘mangalsutra’, the sacred thread which symbolizes the sanctity of the marriage tie. but this was not considered as the sole sacrament of the marriage knot. the practice of ‘kanyadaan’ or gifting of the bride was also critiqued. personally, periyar was vehemently opposed to the tying of the knot or ‘thali’. delivering a speech at a self-respect marriage, he said pointed out, “it is said that the thali is tied around a woman’s neck so that others are alerted to the fact that she is married and that in fact, she is the possession of so and so (thus establishing beyond doubt, the question of ownership). the thali has the function of ensuring that no other man desires her. should not a man’s marital status be made equally obvious? is it not necessary for us to know to which woman he belongs so that we do not wrongly desire him? therefore, the thali ought to be tied around the necks of men as well. to single women out for such a deceptive ritual practice should invite our condemnation. it should be stopped 18meena dhanda (2012). runaway marriages: a silent revolution. economic and political weekly, vol. 47, no. 43, p. 105. 19apurva vishwanath, as sc looks again at conjugal rights, recalling rukhmabai, https:// indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/as-sc-looks-again-at-conjugal-rights-recallingrukhmabai-7409834/, the indian express, july 18, 2021. 20https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1410526/, accessed september 16, 2021. 21periyar: e.v.ramaswami, selfrespect marriages; the periyar self-respect propaganda institution, translated by a.s. venu, 2021, pp. 8, 9. periyar: forging a gendered utopia 373 at all costs.”22 further, the ‘thali’ served to limit the mobility of married women and police their sexual desires. such traditions continue to be practiced in many parts of india in various forms. to cite a contemporary illustration, the film bulbbul,23 recounts the story of a child bride in bengal. on the day of her wedding, she is being dressed up as a bride and made to wear rings on her feet. upon asking why she should do so, she is told, “to prevent you from flying away”. such metaphors testify to the arguments espoused by periyar. on the contrary, for periyar, the idea of consent was more important and he argued that the groom and bride should agree for the marriage rather than the families/ parents, thus giving them some autonomy over their lives. the open defiance of the orthodox marriage norms drew social ire and ridicule. an incident where a woman left her husband to marry another person who was from the movement led to a public scandal. periyar’s biographer, sitambaranar married a widow and the following vow was proclaimed, “today our conjugal life that is based on love begins. from today i accept you my dear and beloved comrade as my spouse, so that i may consecrate my love and cooperation for the cause of social progress in such a manner as would not contradict your desires.”24 such a revolutionary vow refashioned the family with the novel vocabulary of conjugality. terms like ‘love’ or ‘comrade’ were never used for intimate relationships which used to be based on hierarchy. unlike marriages among other religious groups, hindus considered marriages as not based on contract but a sacrament, without any possibility of a divorce. so, for periyar to frame the institution of marriage within the contours of consent and desire was indeed a herculean task. he strived for a new terminology to promote female selfhood by negating the scriptural authority which devalued women. in the process, he critiqued the socialization process which laid stress on educating girls to be good wives and mothers, to emulate sita, savitri and other mythological figures known for their selfless piety. instead, one should valorize and imitate women as role models who were good in sports, the arts and sciences and highly educated. thus a new female subjectivity would emerge. for couples who were part of the self-respect movement, domesticity was no longer a virtue to be aspired for as they endured multiple hardships of travel, economic crisis and family displacements because of their commitment to the movement. for many women (kunjitham, neelavathi, annapoorani, minakshi) wifehood or motherhood was never a dominant narrative in their lives which as a long legion of even the most radical reformers have argued is the basis for women’s existence. gradually, the distinctions between the private and the public realms were erased as the women activists started to reflect and articulate on wide-ranging social and personal concerns.25 22kudi arasu, 11 may, 1930. 23bulbul, june 24, 2020, directed by anvita dutt. 24kudi arasu, 11 may 1929. 25for details refer, v. geetha and s.v. rajadurai (2008). towards a non-brahmin millennium, from iyothee thass to periyar, saamya, p. 369. 374 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 periyar’s transgressive women interrogated the intimate spaces of the family and society. no wonder that this articulation of conjugality would lead to social tensions. the familiar bogey of women’s uncontrolled sexuality and its repercussions were raised and how the movement was undermining the honorable ideas of chastity and feminity. the entire edifice of society would collapse if women preferred getting married based on their own choice. surely, this went against the very notion of feminine modesty/ shame. feminine desire had to be appropriately policed so that it is channeled through motherhood. this was also in accordance with religious scriptures. as observed by periyar, “to discipline love and desire and direct it along particular channels and orient them towards particular persons does not seem to us to have any justification. to desire is human. to control it is to practice a kind of slavery”.26 in a letter to the newspaper desabandhu, a reader argued that if women were given property rights, she would not hesitate to leave her husband if he failed to give her children.27 the transition of marriage from a sacrament to a social contract would deliver a deathblow to a caste conscious society. such women would cause a moral panic in society. biology is not destiny the idea of sexuality is determined by socio-cultural mores and is experienced primarily as a manifestation of the norms and morals of a specific community.28 hence, sexuality is not simply an autonomous realm of the senses but is embedded in a social world structured and saturated by relations of power.29 such nuanced understanding on sexuality also critiqued the perspectives about biological determinism especially from the 1970s onwards for perpetuating stereotypes and prejudices in society. however, periyar had his own understanding of gendered identities in society. he did not shy away from voicing opinions on subjects which were considered taboo. on the question of women’s sexuality, the dominant discourse of reforms was to view them as asexual beings that were required to sublimate their desires to lead a virtuous life. there existed a sharp distinction between motherhood and female sexuality with the latter being channelized only into legitimate motherhood within a tightly controlled structure of reproduction which ensured caste purity (by mating only with prescribed partners) and patrilineal succession (by restricting mating only with one man).30 hence, the only legitimate expression of desire was through motherhood thereby criminalizing any other agential appearance of desire. in a poignant narrative, a selfrespecter-kamalakshi speaks for her own existence (what is in store for us) devoid 26anaimuthu, op. cit., p. 153. 27v. geetha and s.v. rajadurai, op. cit., p. 368. 28meenakshi thapan (1997). introduction: gender and embodiment in everyday life. (ed.) meenakshi thapan, embodiment: essays on gender and identity, new delhi: oup, pp. 1–34. 29margeret jolly and lenore manderson (1997). introduction: sites of desire/economies of pleasure in asia and the pacific. (ed.) manderson and jolly, sites of desire: economies of pleasure in asia and the pacific, university of chicago press, p. 26. 30uma chakravarti (1993). conceptualizing brahmanical patriarchy in early india: gender, caste, class and state. economic and political weekly, vol. 28, no. 14, april 3, p. 581. periyar: forging a gendered utopia 375 of love, desire and companionship. a child bride, her family did not have the money to complete the rituals to consummate the marriage once she came of age. she is languishing as a domestic slave whereas the person to whom she is married returned the symbolic offerings and is seeking remarriage. she cannot even contemplate remarriage. kamalakshi questions as to which honorific would suit her—‘mrs’ or ‘miss’ as her life is in an indeterminate state.31 periyar wrote a scathing critique of the hegemonic ideal of chastity which was constructed to keep women under bondage. he pointed out that if women had written the dharmasastras or religious scriptures perhaps things would have been different. he noted that the depressed communities and women were systematically denied access to any forms of knowledge and were forced to lead a life of servitude. he did not accept that there were separate rights for men and women as their inherent natures were different. for periyar, notions of feminity and masculinity were constructed socially and culturally. “though women get pregnant and carry children in their wombs for ten months this does not make them different from men. with respect to qualities such as courage, anger, the power to command and the will to violence, women are like men. on the other hand, just because men do not bear children it cannot be said they differ from women in respect of love, peace and the ability to nurture.32 “to make strength, anger and ruling ability solely male attributes and calm, patience and the ability to nurture life female ones is to say that bravery, strength and ruling prowess are characteristic of the tiger while the ability to care characterizes the lamb”.33 in an explicit article, periyar argued that masculinity degraded women. he was equally critical of the prevailing notions of feminity which made women subservient. to be truly emancipated, women needed to get rid of the onus of reproduction which renders them more vulnerable. in addition, the conventional idea of bodily aesthetics, decorum and morality only served to make women willing accomplices in their own subservience. he encouraged women to prove that they were also capable of taking on familial responsibilities and earning money.34 again, this was a discernible departure from the prevalent ideas, reinforced by scriptural authority which considered women as fickle-minded and susceptible to passions. the moral universe constructed by the self-respect movement was highly gendered. many women publicly spoke and wrote as to how men needed to ‘imagine’ the misery and torture inflicted upon women. one woman spoke as to how men should be ritually tonsured, veiled and consigned to the kitchen and lead the life of a widow. another observed that women should question religious practices which discipline women’s conduct. there were many stories and poems written in the press questioning 31kamalakshi (2003). what is in store for us, the other half of the coconut: women writing selfrespect history: an anthology of self-respect literature (1928-1936). ed. and trans. k. srilata, kali for women, pp. 28–31. 32kudi arasu, 12 february 1928. 33v. anaimuthu (1974). thoughts of periyar. trichy, p. 121. 34kudi arasu, 8 february 1931. 376 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 the gendered conventions. this was evident during the debates on the sarda act and the hindu religious endowment act (popularly known as the devadasi abolition bill) when the movement condemned the hereditary practice of sexual slavery. interestingly periyar pointed out that the binary of wife and whore exists for women but there is no word in the tamil vocabulary for a male who lead a very licentious life. indeed morality was never a part of masculinity. he considered chastity and depravity as constituting a peculiar kind of sexual code and signified the patriarchal control of women’s bodies. chastity insisted a woman could be possessed by only one man while the other sought to make a woman an object of public lust.35 the public debates by the movement both in the press and periyar’s speeches obviously did not endear them to other nationalists who wanted to effect social changes while keeping the strictures of varnashrama or the caste order intact. in the process they devised their own epistemology of brahmanical patriarchy and the gendered nature of caste practices. during his visit to the soviet union in 1931-32, periyar witnessed novel changes in the institution of family and the emerging discussions on birth control. from motherhood to parenthood needless to mention, motherhood is glorified both at the scriptural realm and also in popular culture wherein motherhood is the sole reason for a woman’s existence. however, for periyar motherhood and masculinity were social categories which need to be interrogated and if there exists true love between man and woman, then all responsibilities, except that of bearing a child should be equally borne by both. he lamented the fact that women were expected to desire jewellery and other adornment but never asked to exercise their mind power and value their intellect. such cultural valorization of beauty and feminity were internalized by women who were then only praised for their physical fertility.36 motherhood was devised as a safe zone to harness women’s desire. he linked the emphasis on motherhood to the emergence of private property and debunked the idea that motherhood was ‘natural’ for women. as the legality of the heir is crucial, it is vital to control women’s bodies and hence women were forced into monogamous marriages. the triad of caste, private property and sexuality is the basis for the surveillance on women. periyar argued that the biggest hindrance for women’s autonomy was reproduction which made her dependent on men. the birth of the heir was essential not only to safeguard private property but also ensure a safe passage to heaven. motherhood came under increasing pressure, for now it was significant for the reproduction of the patriarchal caste order in this world and also for its existence in the next as well.37 his was one of the earliest formulations of conceptualizing brahmanical patriarchy. further, he exhorted women to not depend on men for their own liberation. in his words, “men’s endeavour for the emancipation 35v. geetha and s.v. rajadurai, op. cit., p. 378. 36kudi arasu, 21 september 1946. 37v. geetha and s.v. rajadurai, op. cit. periyar: forging a gendered utopia 377 of women only perpetuates women’s slavery and hampers their emancipation. the pretence of men that they respect women and that they strive for their freedom is only a ruse to deceive women. have you ever seen anywhere a jackal freeing the hen of the lamb or the cat freeing the rats, or the capitalists freeing the workers?”38 he was also self-reflexive and admitted candidly while writing the obituary of his first wife, nagammai; he has not followed with nagammai even ‘one hundredeth’ of the ideas on women’s liberation that he put forward.39 it is essential to juxtapose periyar’s radical understanding of gender against the nationalist position which sought to make women more intelligent such that she will conduct her domestic affairs more skillfully. he rubbished brahmanical notions of kanyadan (the gifting of the girl-child), which turned them into mere objects thus nullifying their subjectivity. the entire patriarchal edifice has reduced her self-worth to the servitude of marriage and the ideal of chastity. he was also aware of malthusian arguments on population growth and urged women to learn about contraception which would help them to control their own bodies. interestingly, kudi arasu carried the report of a survey conducted by an american university40 and the translator argued that the university women were aware about birth control which is essential to plan one’s life. periyar wrote about the work of the marie stopes clinics and observed that childbirth should not be coerced and a condition to be endured rather, it’s a matter of choice. he was adamant that childbirth led to women being enslaved to masculine social norms and frequently bearing children was detrimental for both men and women.41 gradually, the movement fostered a new configuration of the marital world wherein the partners could formulate their marriage vows which spoke of respecting one another, which enabled women as equal partners with rights to property and power within the household, in short—an equivalent relationship. women were free to leave abusive unions without the fear of any stigma. the caste prescriptions were ignored as also brahmanical rituals to consecrate marriages. the self-respect marriages could be dissolved and re-marriage was advocated for spouses, should they wish to separate or should one of them die. further, these marriages were meant to free women from domestic tyrannies and the burden of unwanted and multiple pregnancies.42 after independence, when c.n. annadurai became the chief minister of tamil nadu in 1967, he legalized the self-respect marriages (suyamariyathai) in 1968. it did away with the ‘saptapadi’, seven steps around the fire and brahmanical rituals. simple ceremonies conducted in the presence of friends and families with the exchange of 38quoted in sarah hodges (2008). contraception, colonialism and commerce: birth control in south india 1920-1940, london: routledge, p. 117. 39meena kandawamy (tr.) (2019). why were women enslaved. chennai: the periyar self respect propaganda institution, p. 14. 40kudi arasu, 18 january 1931. 41periyar (2012). women enslaved. (tr) g. aloysious, critical quest publishers p. 7. 42viramani (2019). self-respect marriage: concept and history, p. 45. 378 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 garlands and rings would be considered a valid marriage. in 2015, a public interest litigation was filed before the madras high court to declare such marriages illegal. the court dismissed the petition stating that hindu rituals have been pluralist in nature and differs according to regional and cultural norms. the self-respect marriages are not unconstitutional.43 a space of her own one of the significant tropes of gendered utopias is the imagination of sheltered spaces wherein women can reflect and seek out new horizons. pandita ramabai conceived ‘mukti sadan’ and begum rokeyya dreamt of ‘ladyland’, zones where women could be free from the shackles of domesticity and fear of violence and exercise their agency. as the women of the self-respect movement travelled, became mobile and visible, they felt the need of their own space. as they debated on issues of caste, relevance of religion, etc., they felt a need to have an autonomous women’s forum within the movement. there arose a demand to set up a centre where women of all communities would find space to follow their choices, even shelter them from unhappy marriages. they would learn to be economically independent. many women were reluctant to work in mixed company and hesitant about the public domain. such spaces would nurture women and provide a more enabling environment to them. for a decade (1928-37) kudi arasu was a platform for men and women to espouse their radical views. there were critical commentaries on the veiling of women and whether it had any religious sanction. a sustained debate occurred on women’s property rights, devadasi system, women’s right to re-marriage, inter-caste marriages. there were translations from other journals describing the life of women in other countries. to illustrate: socialism and women;44 one article argued that women are the original proletariat. another author had apparently paid attention to the cooking tasks of women for the article wished for cooking chores to be made simpler. this would lighten women’s burdens and they would have enough time and energy to educate their minds. the activist neelavathi, who wrote the remarkable text, ‘women and work’ argued that women’s work has been diminished by reducing it to merely reproduction. there is nothing about work that would make it essentially masculine. she also noted the dual nature of women’s work, both in the domestic sphere and her work outside the home in various capacities. she wished that women also would be granted the dignity of labour thus questioning the very category of ‘work’ itself by arguing that it is not essentially male. further she pointed out that women’s workload has increased as they work beside men in all spheres—in factories, hospitals, tailoring, weaving, construction, vending and trading. women were also doctors, teachers and journalists.45 in yet another article, neelavathi wrote eloquently on the horrors of 43a. subramani, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/self-respect-marriages-in-tamilnadu-cant-be-declared-illegal-rules-madras-hc/articleshow/49725552.cms, november 9, 2015. accessed september 15, 2021. 44kudi arasu, 15 november 1931. 45v geetha and s.v. rajadurai, op. cit., pp. 398-399. periyar: forging a gendered utopia 379 untouchability and exhorted educated women to pick up the cudgels of reform and not live like frogs in the well. women should never take the backseat when it concerns their own betterment.46 the self respect women became adept in appropriating the vocabulary of the nationalist discourse. to illustrate: during the women’s conference held under the aegis of the movement, lakshmi ammal gave an overpowering speech, “if men were to persist thus in not giving into women’s demands for freedom and if they were to persist in their belief that women were their playthings’ women will have no choice but to practice a policy of ‘non–cooperation’ with respect to the men in their lives.”47 they cleverly linked the social with the political. another activist, minakshi tweaked the gandhian technique of picketing liquor shops and those which sold foreign cloth. she exhorted women to ponder whether social or political freedom is more important for them. women should offer satyagraha and picket the homes of the orthodox men who prevent any kind of reforms to better the lot of women.48 it is indeed remarkable that the self-respect women could delineate the nuances of freedom and seek to create a gendered political domain. fissures in utopia hence the self-respect movement sought to devalue the binaries of the inner and outer worlds. many critiques had sought to fashion an utopia based on gender equality— pandita ramabai, tarabai shinde, savitribai phule, rokeya sakhawat hossain, to name a few. periyar sought to construct a radical epistemology to enable women to forge their subject-hood by articulating a novel universe based not on the myth of a glorious past but on a rational hermeneutics. however, certain policy initiatives from the 1930s onwards brought forth the latent patriarchal impulses of the movement and relegated women to a secondary position. the gendered articulations of the self-respect movement encountered a huge challenge during the anti-hindi agitations of the late 1930s. the congress government in madras presidency decided to make the study of hindi compulsory in the secondary schools under its jurisdiction in april 1938. this led to widespread protests and the emergence of language as the significant marker of identity. it also marked the beginning of tamil nationalism as a mass movement. as argued by sumathi ramaswamy, language devotion in its pious, filial and erotic forms as an entry point into the study of tamil linguistic nationalism, one that better explains why language (tamil) was able to mobilize people from differing social, political, and religious and ideological locations in its cause.49 women also participated in the anti-hindi agitation in large numbers through picketing, rallies, conferences and even going to prison but gradually a significant 46k. srilatha, op. cit., pp. 84-86. 47kudi arasu, 11 may 1930. 48ibid. 49sumathi ramaswamy (1997). passions of the tongue: language devotion in tamil india. berkeley: university of california press, pp. 4–9. 380 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 transformation occurred. they were essentialized as mothers yoked to the service of tamil nationalism, which was a masculine project.50 language itself was feminized as goddess, mother and maiden, with the motherhood image eventually becoming dominant with the ‘mother’ pleading, commanding, cajoling and appealing to her ‘sons’ to fight for ‘her’ honour.51 thus, women’s individuality was subsumed under a larger narrative of tamil devotion which privileged the maternal.52 similar tropes were used during the bengal partition in 1905 and later during the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 wherein the body of mother india was being vivisected and she was desperately begging her sons to rise and unite in her defence. the gradual shift from caste to language as the sole signifier of identity during the self-respect movement meant that men were envisioned as discrete subjects and agents while women and their bodies became invested with a non-differentiated, universal meaning of motherhood.53 a few decades earlier, women in the movement had actively engaged with the questions of caste-based inequalities and patriarchy and sought to create new epistemic regimes to create a counter narrative. thus, the movement which sought to free women and their bodies from bearing witness to the integrity of the community, nation and race and to unsettle the naturalness of motherhood for women54 began to marginalize their concerns. women protestors were glorified as “mothers of the war against hindi” while men were glorified as “heroes of the war against hindi”.55 the existing socioeconomic inequalities were glossed over under the overarching umbrella of tamil nationalism which needed to confront the imposition of a hegemonic language. the co-option of the movement within the patriarchal discourse of the anti-hindi agitation has been explained by anandhi s as the failure of the movement to instil a new anti-patriarchal consciousness among its followers as well as the uneven spread of anti-patriarchal consciousness within it.56 thus, the dormant patriarchal values reasserted itself when the suitable opportunity presented itself. the moral universe of the movement could not withstand the challenges posed by electoral politics. periyar held very distinctive ideas on the notion of love and matrimony as left to the individual’s choice. he spoke on the concept of ‘free love’ which he observed during his visit to russia. he pointed out that men and women living together without getting formally married was prevalent in russia because the idea of private property was absent. due to property and the worry of inheritance, we have laws related to legal heirs and inheritance in our society and families are forced to play this game.57 one cannot help acquiescing with urvashi butalia when she pointed out that “the 50v. geetha. the story of a marriage: being a tale of self-respect unions and what happened to them. www.academia.edu, accessed 15 january 2020. 51sumathi ramaswamy, op. cit., pp. 110–112. 52ibid., p. 188. 53uma ganesan (2011). gender and caste: self-respect movement in the madras presidency, 1925-1950, unpublished phd dissertation, university of cincinnati, p. 187. 54refer v. geetha, the story of marriage, op. cit. 55ganesan, op. cit., p. 185. 56anandhi s, op. cit., p. 38. 57periyar, op. cit., p. 12. periyar: forging a gendered utopia 381 same motherland which came to signify ‘home’ and ‘country’ for men had a different meaning for women. for indian women, the process of nation-making was not one of finding an identity; rather it was simply one where old, existing patriarchies, old models of hierarchy and control, found new expression. women were left very much where they were before-and perhaps even worse off.58 in both public and private domains, periyar foreground equality and mutual selfrespect. however, today his persona has been reduced to an atheist and a smasher of idols and his radical ideas on women’s subjectivity have been sidelined. it is imperative that periyar’s ideas on gender be widely debated in the public as there has been an increasing backlash on gendered freedoms. despite the fact that political parties owing allegiance to the ideals of periyar and the self-respect movement have been at the helm of affairs in tamil nadu for many decades, the annihilation of caste and patriarchy as an ideological project has been shelved. the self-respect movement was renamed the dravida kazhagam in 1944. in 1949, some of his closest aides formed the dravida munetra kazhagam as they wanted to enter the electoral fray. though various welfare measures were passed for women, politics remained largely masculinised and women were relegated to the familiar tropes of mothers, wives and sisters. the actual political representation of women in politics is actually very less.59 the brahmanical value system against which periyar protested has gained ascendance. to illustrate, in 2005, during an interview to a tamil magazine, an actor had commented that ‘no educated man should expect his wife to be a virgin...’. this lead to vociferous protests that reference to live-in relationships as a norm was unacceptable, derogatory to women and against tamil culture.60 this underlines the moral panic female agency would invoke and the ideological bankruptcy of the political parties that claim to follow periyar’s ideals as the latter failed to contest such narratives. the state has also witnessed many honour killings,61 when young couples belonging to different caste groups have been killed by families for daring to break caste endogamy. the father of the young girl who was killed to redeem the family’s 58urvashi butalia, “mother india”, http://www.newint.org/features/1996/03/05/mother/ accessed 15 february 2020. 59the rival alliances led by the dmk and the all india anna dravida munnetra kazhagam both fielded considerably fewer female candidates compared to the last state elections. the aiadmk went from 30 to 17 female candidates (nine of whom contested seats reserved for scheduled castes), and the dmk from 18 to 11 (six of whom contested in sc constituencies). the total number of women elected also fell—only three secured seats for the aiadmk and six for the dmk, in the 234-member assembly. vignesh karthik kr and pulari meera baskar, towards equal terms: the way forward for the dravidian parties is through increased women’s representation, https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/women-dmk-aiadmk-tamil-nadu-election, 60a. vaidyanathan, khushboo pre-marital sex comments: all cases dismissed, april 29, 2010, https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/khushboo-pre-marital-sex-comments-all-casesdismissed-416539 61priya ramani, ‘evidence’ kathir: making dalit politics inclusive, https://www.thehindu.com/ news/national/tamil-nadu/evidence-kathir-making-dalit-politics-inclusive/article66329565. ece, january 7, 2023. 382 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 4, no. 2 honour observed that ‘his caste is more important than god’.62 when dalits seek to make use of constitutional provisions and ameliorate their conditions, they have been systematically targeted.63 the state has remained a mute spectator to such heinous crimes. ironically, dalits have also adhered to such obnoxious customs. there was also a report of a kangaroo court being run in thogarapalli panchayat wherein the community head of the scheduled caste village, who is also a dmk64 union secretary levies fines on couples who marry for love.65 unfortunately, such discourses are becoming the norm elsewhere in the country also. about 40 students of a women’s college in maharashtra’s amravati district pledged to desist from “love marriage” on the eve of valentine’s day. they also pledged against giving or receiving dowry during marriage. the last line of the oath reads, “i am taking this oath for a strong and healthy india.”66 such statements circulating in the public domain reflect not only a sense of moral panic but also the gradual churning of a counter-revolution to counteract gendered equalities which visionaries like periyar had envisaged. unfortunately, the novel framework of the self-respect marriages are also limited to those who identify themselves as hindu and not popular amongst other communities. for inter-faith couples, there is no legal recognition if they wish to marry in the self-respect fashion. the radical imagination and vocabulary of periyar’s movement, especially where gender politics was concerned has diminished into a narrative wherein women are considered as unequal citizens. the humanist envisioning of periyar for an egalitarian society is still a work in progress. 62ibid. 63kavitha muralidharan, across tamil nadu, caste violence has increased during the lockdown, say activists, https://thewire.in/caste/tamil-nadu-caste-atrocities-lockdown, 3rd may 2020, accessed 15 june 2020. 64dravida munnetra kazhagam, a political party which is based on periyar’s values and thoughts 65p.v. srividya, “kangaroo court puts price on union of love”, the hindu, new delhi, 7 december 2022. 66vivek deshpande, day before valentine’s day: 40 college girls administered oath against love marriage, the indian express, february 15, 2020, https://indianexpress.com/article/ cities/wont-do-love-marriage-amravati-students-made-to-take-oath-on-valentines-day-eve6268226/#:~:text=about%2040%20students%20of%20a,or%20receiving%20dowry%20 during%20marriage. © 2025 uthara geetha. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. general research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2519 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 308-329 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste rethinking knowledge, unthinking the brahminical: dalit feminism and gender-caste uthara geetha1 abstract this article introduces a dalit decolonial feminist standpoint as an epistemic and political framework that redefines feminist thought through four interrelated pillars. it argues that decolonial and postcolonial frameworks remain constrained by their inability to recognise caste as the meta-structure that organises social relations, epistemic hierarchies, and modernity itself. building on dalit feminist thought, the article situates the dalit decolonial feminist standpoint as a methodological and conceptual intervention that locates the entanglement of brahminical patriarchy and coloniality as the constitutive core of modern knowledge. it proposes that decolonisation without debrahminisation reproduces the logic of caste within the emancipatory vocabulary of decoloniality. among the standpoint’s pillars, the analytic of gender-caste assumes central significance, positing that any theorisation of gender in south asia must acknowledge caste as meta to its construction and lived expression. together, these pillars foreground dalit women’s lived and theorised experiences as epistemic interventions that challenge the universalising tendencies of both colonial and brahminical modernities, reworlding feminist thought towards a decolonial future. keywords decolonial, caste, feminism, standpoint, dalit, subaltern introduction south asian postcolonialism has been facing an intellectual dead end in its anticolonial consciousness due to the limits of nationalistic postcolonialism to address precolonial inequalities and segregation. however, several reasons contribute to this 1phd researcher, university of oviedo, university institute on gender and diversity (iugendiv), spain e-mail: geethauthara@uniovi.es rethinking knowledge, unthinking the brahminical: dalit feminism and gender-caste 309 spectacular stoppage. two reasons that needs urgent discussion within academia are namely, the problem of indigeneity and an overarching brahminic world view. aloysius (2007) identifies this failure as rooted in what he calls the culture–power fusion of indian nationalism, where the language of liberation was used to reproduce traditional hierarchies of caste and class. his historical-sociological analysis foregrounds the submerged masses, the dalit-bahujanadivasi majority, as the absent subject of nationalist imagination. the nationalist project, rather than achieving an egalitarian community, reconstituted the brahminical social order under a secular state form producing what he calls a state without a nation that exposed the contradiction at the heart of indian postcoloniality. the pursuit of decolonization must be understood against this backdrop of exclusion and appropriation, where socio-cultural actors across the tri-continents have sought diverse ways to dismantle coloniality and negotiate indigeneity—an enduring debate within indian politics. specifically, the indian subcontinent as a sociocultural and economic space houses communities, cultures and languages with often overlapping long durée histories. therefore, debates around what and which elements could possibly represent pan-indian indigeneity are always active and emblematic of indian politics. in addition, the centrality of caste oppression across these debates and histories complicates an uncritical reinstitution of caste infested indigenous past. the violence and inequality inherent to precolonial caste structures were consolidated under british colonial rule and continue to shape postcolonial experience. colonization, specifically british rule, exploited the pre-existent caste hierarchies to employ indirect rule over the vast subcontinent. this confluence of brahminic and colonial values facilitates an uninterrupted carry over of casteism into contemporary fabric of indian every day and structural social (guru and sarukkai, 2019), foreclosing the possibility of a truly decolonial perspective. additionally, post-independence, postcolonialism focused on anti-colonial narratives which pitted modernity as a western virtue against indian indigeneity (traditions, customs and cultural practices) which upheld caste values and aesthetics (george, 2024). while being exploitative to every group of natives, colonization left behind an elite class of national leaders with caste privileges to build and represent india and thus, the indian postcolonial image (panikkar, 2016). this produced a monolithic brahminical representation of indianness, reflecting an oligarchic social order where socio-economic and cultural capital remain concentrated in upper-caste hands, while dalit-bahujan-adivasi communities continue to face systemic exclusion. over the past decades, relative social mobility achieved by individuals across the oppressed communities have created contact zones between the communities and hitherto ‘untouched’ social spaces including academia. subaltern theorists from dba communities have successfully put forth reimaginations of the decolonial efforts with debrahminisation at its centre. ayyathurai (2021) argues the emergence of critical caste studies as a distinct subfield is crucial for academic engagement with caste as a pervasive social and epistemic structure. this approach challenges the normalization of caste hierarchies in knowledge production 310 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 and insists on centring the experiences and resistances of subordinated communities, thereby complementing decolonial and anti-caste projects. however, there is a persistent dissonance between decolonial and anti-caste projects, wherein, the former is regarded as transnational and the latter local. therefore, this article delves into the experience of caste within coloniality (and vice-versa) to advocate for a rethinking of approaches to decolonization as a single axis anti-colonial endeavour within an indigenous social vacuum erasing multiplicity of postcolonial gendered experiences. dalit feminist approach to decolonization broadens the boundaries by escaping a myopic view of the processes of colonisation towards the end of social justice. this article advances a dalit decolonial feminist standpoint (ddfs) as both a theoretical and methodological framework for decolonial research underscoring that decolonisation in the indian context is inseparable from debrahminisation. the standpoint is animated by a dual imperative: first, to forge solidarities across outcaste communities; and second, to reconfigure cognitive and social orders toward justice. it is articulated through four guiding pillars: (1) subaltern experience as relational and foundational; (2) recognition of the entangled core of brahminical patriarchy and colonialism; (3) the discourse of the unthought, grounded in the lived reality of untouchability; and (4) caste as meta, articulated through the category of gendercaste, which together constitute the methodological core. together, these pillars support decolonial inquiries to centre dalit consciousness by serving as reference points throughout the research process. they enable decolonial research to address the epistemic silences foregrounding dalit positionalities and indian particularities in ways that challenge dominant epistemologies. in doing so, ddfs provides a means of exploring questions of gendered postcolonial being that remain obscured within existing frameworks. the article proceeds in three interlinked stages. it opens with an exposition of the hindu social order as theorised by ambedkar, before critically examining the mechanisms of brahminical patriarchy and the constraints of mainstream indian feminist frameworks. it provides a brief conceptual scaffolding setting the stage for the subsequent section, which elaborates the dalit decolonial feminist standpoint. the paradise that never was: hindu social order beginning in the fifteenth century, europeans began colonizing the indian subcontinent in various ways and on different scales. however, for centuries before colonization, both european and non-european travellers observed, chronicled, and shared their diverse, and sometimes opposing, social and intellectual perspectives on the lands beyond the indus. in order to identify and dissect the influence of colonization on homogenising social categories, albeit incompletely, necessitates tapping into the social within the consciousness of precolonial societies which moulded the experiences of the self and the communities. from earliest travel accounts to ethnographic and trade documents, the socioeconomic hierarchy of varnas (hindu broad caste groups which house numerous sub-castes) and jatis (sub-castes) is frequently documented as a cultural-religious commonality that unites the indian subcontinent, all of which rethinking knowledge, unthinking the brahminical: dalit feminism and gender-caste 311 are viewed with curiosity and/or disdain (subrahmanyam, 2017). subsequently, global travellers, colonial anthropologists, and native academics explored the caste system in great detail as a feature of ‘hindoos1’ (nesfield, 1885; davids, 1911; senart, 2018). these views offer partial accounts of the complex social order marked by vast linguistic, cultural and social diversity as foundational to the inhabitants of the subcontinent. these accounts, though useful, need to be assessed within the context of untouchability i.e., the unlikelihood of elite travellers and scholars to engage with oppressed and slave castes due to the strict practice of caste segregation. therefore, strict segregation coupled with high degree of endogamy erases any possibility of a truly subaltern perspective within early accounts. this misfortune continues to affect indian intellectuals and extends to decolonial discourses which maintain minimal engagements with anti-caste decolonial perspectives. this has created a series of potholes in the development of postcolonial studies. the role of caste in enabling administrative colonization through a coalition of colonial and brahminic forces is seldom a topic within decolonial discussions. in particular, as an approach to understand how different meta structures fused over centuries to produce and sustain the contemporary categories of social identities. hindu social order as theorised by ambedkar is a foundational theory which investigated the local configuration of power and social relations linking multiple historical (and contemporarily valid) aspects of the indian sub-continent centring the twin categories of caste and gender. the hindu social order is separate from what we understand in the contemporary world as hinduism—a unified religion borne out of british colonization (subrahmanyam, 2017; chakravarti, 2023). nevertheless, it must be noted that hinduism is dependent on the hindu social order in its mythological, ritual, and social practices and therefore, cannot sustain independently (ilaiah, 2002). within hindu texts, in particular manusmriti,2 hindu social order was justified using the divine doctrine that different varnas were created from distinct parts of the divine body of brahma3 (olivelle and olivelle, 2005). it must be noted that while all religious texts recognize equality in creation, hindu texts are the exception where inequality becomes the foundation of the religion. ambedkar explains that hindus, similar to 1hindoo as a word carries religious, cultural and geographical connotation in contemporary world. however, in precolonial india, hindoo was predominantly tied to the lands beyond the river indus. it must be noted that hinduism as an umbrella religion took form after the british rule conglomerating numerous beliefs, dieties and customs. therefore, caste as varnas and jatis predate hinduism as a religion and forms its base. 2manusmriti also known as the mānava-dharmaśāstra or laws of manu, is one of the many legal texts and constitutions among the many dharmaśāstras of hinduism which details rules of caste and brutal punishments which should be imposed on those who break caste laws. manusmriti was one of the first sanskrit texts to be translated into english, in 1776, by british philologist sir william jones to construct the hindu law code for the east india company administered enclaves. 3brahma is a hindu god, who is worshipped as the creator within the trimurti (trinity of supreme divinity that includes vishnu and shiva). he is associated with creation, knowledge, and the vedas. brahma is prominently mentioned in creation legends. 312 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 other religious followers, consider men as a creation of god but with an addendum to it, according to them, the whole truth consists of two parts. the first part is that men were created by god. the second part is that god created different men from distinct parts of his divine body. the hindus regard the second part as more important and more fundamental than the first. (ambedkar and moon, 2019, 100). the divinely ordained doctrine of inherent superiority and inferiority among distinct human classes finds its centrality in both colonialism and brahminism. however, within brahminism, the explicit prescription of caste slavery and oppression in its religious texts further deepens the socio-religious and cultural normalization of inequality. this doctrine insisted that the creation of distinct and different classes of humans are intrinsic, fundamental, and a divinely ordained way of existence and thus, should be translated into the daily lives and practices of hindus. nevertheless, caste distinction is sustained with the aid of religious and social sanction. this categorization was practised through birth-based imposition of occupations which dictates ones ritual, economic and social stature within a graded hierarchy consisting of endogamous caste communities (balakrishnan, 1983; ilaiah, 2000; yengde and west, 2019). through his prolific scholarship, ambedkar highlights that the immutability of positions maintained through endogamy effectively opposed the concepts of fraternity and equality found in most other religious texts (ambedkar, 2021). under the order, the oppressed castes were penalized for their incidence of birth through extreme deprivation of socioeconomic resources, occupational slavery and social ostracization (ambedkar, 2014). in particular, untouchables (dalit) and tribal (adivasi) castes who were considered to be outside of the divine order were relegated to slavery which entailed extreme physical violence, deprivation and mental humiliation (mohan, 2015; paul, 2021). in addition, the hindu social order needs to be understood as an ordering of caste groups rather than individuals, wherein, it was impossible for an individual from a particular caste group to gain caste mobility,4 thereby depriving them of the possibility of a casteless self and thus, social freedom. what is most significant in his theorisation of hindu social order is the inseparability of caste from other social identities. the hindu social order which operates through caste system was also identified as the control point for gender identities, occupation, economic class, ritual and social status (ambedkar, 2014). historically, caste position dictated your gender, economic and rituals roles within the society. ambedkar identifies gender violence through gendered practices such as sati, child marriage, and imposed widowhood, which serve as norms5 4though exceptional, over centuries, certain subcastes as a class have been mobile along the caste hierarchy due to various socio-economic changes (osella and osella 2015). however, scholars argue that colonisation further rigidified caste structures further reducing the possibility of caste mobility of even caste groups (dirks, 2011). 5it must be noted that atrocities against women in india which were discussed and debated during independence struggles and social reform movements, including sati, and widowhood rethinking knowledge, unthinking the brahminical: dalit feminism and gender-caste 313 instituted to maintain the caste order (ambedkar, 2021). therefore, the justification for caste order and its practises, though tied to religion, cannot be wholly contained within its boundaries. in other words, caste serves as the simulacra of cultural life and as the fulcrum of economic distribution in precolonial and, consequentially in colonial india. given the extent of caste labour and exploitation, the british were able to control the subcontinent by establishing their power over the caste elites. the pre-existence of cheap bonded service and slave castes who functioned as endogamous communities of workers controlled by socio-ritual classes of caste elites helped the colonisers, especially the british, to adopt a unique modus operandi. the absence of large-scale transcontinental slavery into south asia during colonization is due to the presence of large indigenous populations of shudra workers and dalit slaves. to elaborate, the caste system which functioned as an organising principle and subsequently, as a rigid hierarchal socio-cultural and economic division of labourers helped colonial officials to form alliance with the ruling natives and dominant classes (oppressor castes) permitting imposition of direct administrative colonialism (omvedt, 1994; 2011). as a result, institutions of caste slavery, endogamy and untouchability were utilised for the benefit of the coalition (british-native masters) and subsequently, parcelled as a nonviolent harmonious local tradition riddled with complex religious sentiments (mohan, 2015; dirks, 2001). during the colonial period, there were structural changes in the social order, which did not entail a destruction of the pre-existent order but rather changes within the functioning of sociabilities and hierarchies in response to colonial values. the syncretisation of race and caste is one of the best examples to grasp the colonialbrahminic schema. the british officials were unable to comprehend the complex and foreign system of caste. however, racial segregation was both acceptable and logical to the colonial minds. therefore, the scientifically unfounded colonial formulation of racial superiority of the white aryan race was superimposed on the indian populations to validate the oppressive caste-based hierarchies in line with racist colonial ideologues (thapar, 1996). using biological essentialism characteristic of europe, british officials recognised brahmins6 as a race with distant aryan ancestry whereas, the oppressed castes were deemed as inferior races ignoring the complexities associated with caste system (thapar, 2019). this rhetoric helped the colonial officials to create a native class loyal to them based on the myth of racial proximity whilst maintaining native hierarchy and their superiority over all indian populations including the brahmins. therefore, the colonial period was characterised by racialisation of caste and castification of race entwining white and caste supremacy. the syncretisation of race and caste justified caste oppression in secular terms supported by colonial scientific racism and caste became an example of universality of racial inequality (cháirez-garza et al., 2022). therefore, the caste system, though not colonial in its origin was used and influenced by british colonialism (dirks, 2001). were oppressor caste practices effectively excluding dalit women and their issues. 6priestly caste which occupies the top-most position in the caste hierarchy. 314 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 the trauma of colonization and subsequent rise of nationalism united separate regions with distinct sub-cultures, assuming the geo-historical cultural space of india into existence (sarkar, 1992; anderson, 2006). with the birth of india postindependence in 1947, class began to be used as a pseudonym for caste to project the idea of secular modern india. furthermore, hindu nationalism functioned as a unifying agenda legitimising the hindutva7 ideologues of providence and fixed divine order into the fabric of postcolonial india (mehta, 2022). unfortunately, the enthusiasm to institute a coherent and simple to comprehend history for nation-building led to the marginalisation of sub-cultures, erasure of histories of the minoritized and thus, their accounts of social ostracization and economic deprivation (chakrabarty, 1992; guru and sarukkai, 2017). over many centuries, it has evolved as an oppressive system with the ability to mutate and reproduce graded inequality interacting with colonialism, modernity and capitalism (de neve, 2019). the mutual interdependence colonial-brahminic systems of oppression has influenced the modus operandi of the caste system while safeguarding its main characteristic to exploit its hierarchical structure for sustenance of neo-colonial capitalist exploitation (thorat et al., 2023). it has a long history and present rooted in its continuous breeding with (neo)colonial values resulting in a unique conjugation of systems of caste, gender, religion, ethnicity and race. this makes an isolated study of postcoloniality without an analysis of modernity of brahminism an incomplete endeavour. anti-caste convictions stand in direct opposition to the ethnocentric essentialist idea of a glorious past and emphasises the need to synchronously decolonise and debrahminise8 systems of intersectional oppression. brahminical patriarchy versus dalit consciousness decolonial scholars such as oyěwùmí (1997) and lugones (2016) have explored how colonial systems of power have shaped our contemporary understandings of gender and sexuality and the systematic suppression (and erasure) of non-european ways of being. the violence of colonization and euro-american cultural hegemony have distorted and influenced the pre-existent gendered ways of existence of the previously colonised societies. therefore, a major task at the hands of decolonial gender scholars is to recover and represent alternate understandings of gender in order to highlight the colonial sociality of contemporary gender constructions. in addition, interventions by black feminist activists and scholars highlighted the existence of different gendered experiences even within euro-american societies arising out of historical 7hindutva is a political extremist ideology which seeks to establish hindu hegemony within india equating hinduism with indianness (leidig, 2020). 8i conceptualise debrahminise as the act of dismantling the brahminical order which is founded on the gradation of classes of people. this entails conscious political and collective efforts. it requires anti-caste and feminist intentions to imagine a post-caste and post-patriarchal future. it does not isolate the varna of brahmins but actively resists the system of caste. however, there is a need to acknowledge privileges of all castes relative to each other to fight this graded system of inequality. rethinking knowledge, unthinking the brahminical: dalit feminism and gender-caste 315 racial, cultural and social oppression (collins, 1989; crenshaw, 1991; hooks, 2015). however, following the discussion on precolonial hindu social order, it is clear that gender functioned for and within caste-bound laws in the indian subcontinent. an individual´s gender role, expression and sexuality was constructed, controlled and allowed by their specific jati. this leads to extreme isolation and control over sexuality of oppressor caste women, while lower caste women experiences a state of non-being characterised by violence, economic deprivation and untouchability. ambedkar characterises caste as an order which required close monitoring of its subpopulations to reinforce and uphold the unnatural division of people. he identified sustained endogamy, enforced through strict control of women and their sexuality, as the key factor that transformed caste-based segregation into a functional social order (gorringe, 2018; ambedkar, 2021). to quote wakankar, ´hinduism´s freedom co-exists with an affirmation of caste distinction (2010, p. 28). therefore, individual freedom is incompatible with caste values and caste communities were prescribed endogamous social quarantine in lieu of purity. there is a huge gap between early theorisations of gender which centralised caste and postcolonial theorisatios which favoured a nationalist anti-colonial approach (sarkar, 2009; guru, 2011). the oppressor caste hegemony within post-independence nation-making and inaccessibility to knowledge/power which afflicted bahujan and dalit populations favoured a monolithic brahminic representation of the postcolonial subaltern obscuring caste inequalities. subsequently, postcolonial gender scholarship, which has been canonized, follows frameworks that emerge from the habitus and endogamic knowledge circuits of the caste privileged. although several streams of regional social reform movements focusing on women’s issues preceded the nation building process of india, historiography of modern indian feminism often begins with the pro-women’s rights sentiments in the late 1850s in mainland india (pande, 2018). to elaborate, during british rule, the reluctance of the dominant hindu elite to accommodate women reforms, the british crown’s eagerness to spread christian values, and the reformers’ determination to use the self-rule negotiations as a bargaining point resulted in some unlikely alliances (banerjee, 2003). several reformers appealed directly to the british officials and non-officials for enacting laws prohibiting hindu practices such as sati, child marriage and mandatory widowhood surpassing the mediation of the native elites (basu, 1995). hence, colonial government was often perceived as an ally by the social reformers in their fight against tradition with orthodox oppressor caste hindu elite. during the independence struggles, to prevent further british-reformer coalitions and to consolidate native leadership, visible and deliberate attempts were made by indian nationalist leaders to address feminist and social reform claims. the leaders of the independence struggle(s) predominantly belonged to the hindu oppressor caste elite communities. consequentially, the women included within major mobilisations and organisations of the newly formed india was of a similar 316 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 background.9 in addition, these groups had the power and influence to pick and choose elements from colonialism, and brahminism to present a reformed brahminism to form the foundation of modern india (omvedt, 2000). subsequently, a figure of the modern indian womanhood (modern but different from that of the west), which suitably reflected the virtues of nationalism and colonial patronage, modelled after oppressor caste aesthetics was iconised to unite reformers and nationalists (sinha, 2000). this can be identified as a re-brahminisation of indian patriarchy which sought to subsume feminist movements and invisibilise caste differences within the larger rubric of anti-colonial nationalism. this attempt to handcuff feminist movements (predominantly for and by women movements) to nationalist factions and party politics subsequently submerged feminist theorisation and activism in the immediate aftermath of independence (patel and sinha, 2021). a detailed analysis of indian feminisms is outside the purview of this article and will be a reiteration of the wellknown. however, it will be beneficial to briefly discuss certain concepts and debates which developed in the last few decades in indian feminism(s). as mentioned above, the model hindu woman was constructed for oppressor caste women by oppressor caste men. what is interesting is how the exclusion of oppressed caste women from this category became fundamental to its construction. while exalting the model of hindu women as the desirable, it was important to construct an other which symbolised the downfall. the outcaste experience of dalit women was juxtapositioned against the relatively better off existence (especially in terms of material privileges but not limited to) of oppressor caste women (geetha, 2007). through an analysis of domestic manuals and didactic literature of postindependence india, gupta traces how dalit women were constructed in opposition to the oppressor caste women within a gendered casteist discourse instituting stable categories of oppressor caste pativatras (ideal wives) and oppressed caste and/or dalit kutnis (vamps). she notes, ‘the construction of woman in this literature had thus two sides: upper caste was what woman is and ought to be; dalit was what she had better not be. it allowed the upper castes to maintain a position of moral and caste superiority’ (gupta, 2008, p. 115). postcolonial reinvention of gender categories maintained and used the gaping differences between castified gender experiences. the symbol of modern indian woman was the gendered other of oppressor caste hindu men who were the ideal modern indian citizen. thus, dalit women who face othering in terms of racialised caste and gender becomes the `despicable other´ of the `gendered other’ representing the doomed womanhood. in short, dalit women were constructed in the negative and embodied caste-gender impurity pushing them into a zone of non-being (fanon, 2008). caste difference, thus, controls the construction of gendered differences between oppressor caste womanhood and dalit sub-humanity. at 2015 delhi pride, young dalit queer journalist dhrubo jyoti highlighted the ambivalence of gender and caste 9for example, a report of the 1889 session of the indian national congress in bombay notes the presence of women delegates as being no less than ten consisting of europeans, christians, one parsi, one orthodox hindu, and three brahmins (kosambi, 1988). rethinking knowledge, unthinking the brahminical: dalit feminism and gender-caste 317 as separate identities, ‘we bring caste up because caste is everywhere and in my everything. caste is in my shirt. caste is in my pant. caste is in my sex. caste is in my being and caste is in every part of you too!’ (upadhyay, 2020, p. 467). this dichotomy between oppressor and oppressed castes which existed in their material, cultural, social and ritual positions in the indian societies unfortunately offered an abysmally weak bargaining position to dalit women and queers to intervene in mainstream feminism in the immediate aftermath of independence. knowledge production and power networks were controlled and inhabited by caste oligarchies. therefore, it should be noted that the absence of representation of dalit feminism within historiography of indian feminism should not be regarded as evidence of its inexistence but that of exclusion. several examples points to a common oppressed caste feminist consciousness emerging from a different social situatedness from the precolonial to post-colonial periods tackling the entangled core of brahminical patriarchy and colonialism (raj, 2013; john, 2015). the relative delay in bringing intersectional theorisations into the fold of indian feminism is due to its non-engagement with dalit-shudra and non-brahman movements advocating the radical restructuring of indian society (omvedt, 2011). brahminic feminism (also termed savarna feminism) was and is the most accepted form of feminism within indian academia and gender movements, viewing gender issues through an oppressor caste lens, thereby primarily catering to the needs of oppressor caste women and excluding oppressed caste women (rao, 2003). the absence of a collective cultural memory without caste inequalities within the indian subcontinent for hundreds of centuries has normalised casteist worldviews especially through exclusion and omission further enabling brahminical supremacy. dalit feminism is regarded as by and for the oppressed caste community while ‘indian’ feminism, along with its stamp of neutrality, is earmarked for brahminic feminism (john, 2015; arya and rathore, 2020). moreover, focusing solely on women’s oppression risks overlooking the ways in which caste hierarchies shape masculinities; as lakshmanan (2004) demonstrates, dalit men negotiate their identities under systemic caste oppression, highlighting that both male and female subjectivities are structured by caste. ignoring these dynamics reinforces brahminical normative frameworks, which then extend into the diasporic context, where the engendering of indian communities is largely framed around oppressor caste norms, nostalgic cultural preservation, and idealized notions of the indian pasts (chayani, 2018; purkayastha, 2019). this single axis analysis of gender within an indian postcolonial framework erodes the possibility of further discussions and solidarities which could benefit subaltern communities within india and across regions (hooks, 1992; 2015). defining a dalit decolonial feminist standpoint foremost, decolonisation as an active project need to be defined to support the specific nature of colonial and regional specificities which structure indian gendered identities (including diasporic identities) in relation to europe. therefore, decolonial projects require intentional and deliberate acts which strive to recognize post-colonial social 318 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 categories, hierarchies, and relations as products of an entangled social core of regional power structures (brahminism), and (neo)colonialism. decolonial scholars should practice research informed by histories of oppressions across and within cultures. while keeping the definition of decolonial project broad to ensure applicability across cultures, it is necessary to build a theoretical framework which can remain focused on the particularity of india. subaltern schools in general, and decolonial discourses in particular, are currently implanted within larger frameworks which share histories of dalit and gender oppressions. this echoes aloysius’s observation that indian nationalist thought displaced the social struggles of the oppressed castes into the background, denying them participation in defining the modern nation (2007). these discourses struggle to theorise anti-caste feminist epistemologies due to a disjunct between the dominance of neo-colonial and brahminic stronghold on spaces of theory creation which attempts to theorise decolonial subalternity which escapes subaltern perspectives. in addition, dalit feminist and decolonial theorisations are scattered across disciplines and have not been yet institutionalised as a school of thought in either indian or euro-american academes. due to the multiplicity of theoretical schools across disciplines of feminist and decolonial studies, it would be more appropriate to develop a standpoint to undertake this task as opposed to a novel theory. defining a dalit decolonial feminist standpoint necessitates a critical departure from the epistemic terrains of both postcolonial and feminist theories that have historically failed to account for caste as the meta-structure of social and intellectual life. dalit feminist standpoint is not an extension of identity politics but an epistemic and political intervention that redefines the very conditions of knowledge production and its legitimacy. as patil (2013) asserts, dalit feminism must be understood as a reflexive, anti-caste praxis rather than an extension of identity politics. drawing on marx, mignolo, and oyěwùmí, she repositions dalit women’s location-based knowledge as an epistemological intervention within feminist thought, rather than a peripheral or experiential supplement to it. the standpoint introduced here builds on such insights offered by anti-caste theorists—from ambedkar to patil—as a methodological framework that operates as a dynamic reference point accompanying the researcher’s inquiries. therefore, drawing from and contesting dalit and transnational feminist theories, i attempt to define a dalit decolonial feminist standpoint which seeks to uncover brahminic-colonial thoughts which create and sustain local and transnational gendered experiences it aims to forge solidarity across outcastes to resist (in short term) and restructure (in long term) cognitive apparatus in lieu of a decolonial future. specifically, i have developed four central pillars which will function as reference points in the process of theory making and research analyses. the central tenets are briefly described below: subaltern experience as relational and initial point of enquiry over recent decades, scholars have increasingly recognised that indian subalternity in its most intense form is embodied in the lived experiences of oppressed castes. rethinking knowledge, unthinking the brahminical: dalit feminism and gender-caste 319 yet these experiences are still often treated as merely local issues, rather than as integral to broader theorisation. at the same time, the marginal space accorded to racialised subalterns in the west generates a reluctance within diasporic communities to acknowledge their own relative privileges. nevertheless, multiple studies and legal cases have reaffirmed the persistence of caste discrimination within global diasporas (dalwai, 2016; adur and narayan, 2017; pratibha, 2021; yengde, 2022; mégret and dutta, 2022). such evidence unsettles diasporic denials of caste, while exposing how global caste discourses are frequently dismissed as regressive or exaggerated, thereby complicating projects of postcolonial solidarities. this reluctance is also compounded by an inadequate conception of subalternity as a fixed or absolute position. an intersectional perspective, by contrast, insists that subalternity is contextual and relational, constituted through shifting configurations of caste, race, gender, and class. keeping in mind the complexity of subalternity, this standpoint starts from the initial condition of gendered caste oppression to make sense of the world. gopal guru puts forth dalit discourse as a sharp contrast to the derivative and desi10 discourses governing nationalist thought by imagining india based on a negative language foregrounding itself in the local configuration of power suggesting a parallel problematic which is marginal, different in style, and socio-politically ‘beyond’ (guru, 2011). dalit-shudra thought which shapes the category of beyond centralises the experience of untouchability which remains theoretically underused. in his construction of beyond, the foundation in the local configuration of power is conceptualised as an initial condition capable of going beyond its own particularity. furthermore, feminist and race scholars have been using standpoint theory as an epistemology, methodology and/or approach advocating that particular social and political locations, often marginalised, encourage the growth of knowledge (harding, 1986; collins, 1989). scholars pointed out that standpoint as a methodology enables stronger objectivity by centralising marginalised positions putting forth novel and excluded, nevertheless distorted, starting points of inquiry emphasising the significance of context of theoretical discoveries (haraway, 1988). standpoint theories centre on social relations, lived experience, and differences, emphasising the interconnectedness of power inequalities to overcome epistemological ignorance emerging from dominance of a particular worldview. however, standpoint theories are often misinterpreted advocating for essentialist visions and separatism by privileging experience as the sole criterion for theorising the subaltern(s). dalit discourses extensively tackle the role of experience in thinking and knowing which paves an understanding of subalternity as experience which shapes the notions of self and community (guru and sarukkai, 2019). guru affirms that universalism, 10while derivative discourse of nationalist thought is thoroughly discussed by western and challenged by subaltern scholars, guru highlighted the desi strand of thought which sought to reverse the logic of orientalism making the west an object of inquiry while being self-referential. according to guru, desi thought which developed as a response to the colonial epistemology required ‘the west as a negative reference point’ for its own ‘authentic articulation’ and acquired partial autonomy through its ‘privileged access to sanskrit providing necessary vocabulary for developing an alternate theoretical thinking’ which was unavailable to the oppressed castes. 320 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 which is often tied to coloniality of power, is lost in the domain of experiences. it highlights that conceptual approximation depends upon experience(s) which hinges on reproduction of spaces that are structured along different and intersectional axes (economic, colonial and discursive) producing fragmentary forms of experience. this resulting differentials in the realm of experiences for the privileged is a political condition necessary to maintain domination and becomes inherent in their theorymaking leading to the effective objectification of the marginalised (guru and sarukkai, 2017). this objectification emerges out of systemic inequality and is often beyond the control of individual theorists. charles mills and rich benjamin have tackled this theoretical issue within the concepts of racial contract and whitopia in their exploration of racial dynamics and white supremacy (mills, 1997; benjamin, 2016). however, this argument does not claim experience as the sole grounds for theory making. it advocates the recognition of the value of subaltern experience within research, especially theorization. experience becomes an epistemic resource at the hand of subaltern as an initial condition which needs to be revisited using concepts, and theories to arrive at the essential condition of theorisation. everyday social through routine habitual practices and interactions influences engagements with the structural social and thus, can lead to varied and multiple consciousness within social groups. dalit women are recognised as unique social organisms built in contradistinction to ‘woman’ in mainstream indian feminism and ‘dalit’ in dalit politics (pan, 2018). dalit women inhabit the process of worlding as a removed subject(s) of brahminised colonial power structures (ramesh, 2020). this helps them to critically understand the legitimised aesthetics, metaphors, and phenomenology involved in theory making as particular to and of the dominant rather than inhabiting a social vacuum. a decolonial dalit feminist standpoint originating at the initial condition of dalit gendered lived experience empower development of theoretical explanations contesting given knowledge as best beliefs of privileged cultures. it interjects the neutrality afforded to the privileged exemplified in their power to represent and not to be seen. this standpoint entails an awareness of the tendencies of knowledge circuits to restrict dalit feminist discourses to narratives and life testimonies of pain, suffering and violence emerging out of patronage of brahminical and western (euro-american) schools of thought (rege, 1998; arya and rathore, 2020). furthermore, starting at the dalit experiences of colonialism encourages to pay attention to regional specificities, and to the dynamism and reproduction of a spectrum of gendered subaltern experiences compelling to envision decolonialisation and brahminisation as single endeavour towards freedom. therefore, it initiates a deliberate reshaping of theoretical space(s) by focusing on diverse ways of dalit knowing to the end of theory-making complimented by empirical inquiries. within this standpoint, intersectionality becomes a crucial methodological element that aids in navigating the entanglements of distinct socio-economic and political categories. through an interrogation of the ontology of alienation, under fulfilled citizenship and permanent displacement to the margins, dalit decolonial feminist standpoint should rethinking knowledge, unthinking the brahminical: dalit feminism and gender-caste 321 inculcate a strong grasp of connectedness of various oppressive systems through the initial starting point of dalit experiences. however, the organic intersectionality it offers must be considered as foundational but not sufficient in itself to produce theories to understand the why(s) and how(s) of subaltern being. this necessitates transitioning from the local (dalitiality) to transnational (subalternity) to synthesis experiences of outcastes across regions, languages and situatedness. recognition of an entangled core of modernity of brahminic patriarchy and colonialism as discussed throughout this article, the precolonial hindu social order characterized by the brahminic oppression was both recognized and exploited during the colonial period. this interaction of imperial oppressive systems to-date controls the socioeconomic and political hierarchies in south asian societies. it is actively powering the systems of gender, religion, sexuality, race and class. this entanglement of oppressive ideologues privileges and disadvantages caste groups by controlling the social experiences of individual and communal identities. it is, therefore, necessary to recognise the inseparability of modernity of brahminic colonialism from every day and structural social to understand the (post)coloniality of power reproducing inter and intracontinental inequalities. this requires decolonial dalit feminist standpoint to directly address the brahminic-colonial influence which hovers over decolonial theorisation and its tendency to universalise the category of post-colonial indian subaltern. scholars and researchers engaging with and/or using this standpoint will benefit from being sensitive to the long histories of oppressions along the lines of caste, gender, race, religion and class within and across cultures which have solidified inequalities by engaging in deliberate acts to build trust. in particular, categories of oppressor/ oppressed castes, man/ non-man genders, cis-hetero/ queer sexualities, and hindu/ non-hindu religious followers created through brahminic-colonial interactions have also long histories of frictions which need to be acknowledged and addressed within decolonial-debrahminical resistance. from this vantage point, engagement with dalit theories in relation to transnational feminist theories will be a requisite to trace micro and macro level intersections. the act of trust building between communities with different and even oppositional histories will require conscious continuous effort. this precludes solidarity between groups from being based on essentialist commonalities but rather a product of dissent against oppression rooted in difference. in short, intentional social solidarity need to be prioritised in lieu of incidence of natural solidarity. with regard to this standpoint, the research enquiries need to intentionally seek and present the brahminic-colonial stimulus behind contemporary ways of being. an active resolve to centre difference of colonial experiences with regional specificities will help to explore nuances within the concepts of indigeneity, race, modernity, and decoloniality resulting in fruitful debates and cross-pollination of ideas to tackle the other possible entangled core(s). by creating a framework which blurs the distinction between ‘local’ (such as brahminism) and ‘transnational’ (such as colonialism) 322 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 configurations of power, it forces recognition of power structures which hamper decolonisation typically ignored and thus, outside the purview of transnational theorisation. discourse of ‘unthought’ untouchability is mostly addressed as an indian casteist practice, wherein, severe forms of segregations among the castes are practised to the extent of prohibition of touch and thus, sharing of close spaces between sub-castes (omvedt, 1994). it is important to note that the practice of untouchability was practised against the lower ranking castes by the upper castes true to the nature of caste system and its graded inequality. for example, brahmins could not mingle with kshatriyas and below, kshatriyas could not mingle with vaishyas and below and, so on. brahmins, the topmost varna, were the sole group exempted from being discriminated within untouchability. untouchable castes (dalits) embodies this practice by being considered the most impure social beings capable of spreading pollution under untouchability. in certain regions such as kerala, untouchability was accompanied by unapproachability where the outcastes were prohibited to be sighted by the oppressor castes (devika, 2005). in modernity of caste, the illegality and impracticality of untouchability has shrunk and latched itself to the dalit community. guru engages with the concept of category of beyond as products of discourses linked to the experiences of untouchability (guru, 2011). he conceives unthought as emerging out of the failure to accommodate untouchability within the existing conceptual vocabulary of the decolonial, nationalist and philosophical thoughts. thus, he presents the alternate dalit socio-political thought which accounts for social and political freedom within colonial studies linked to anti-caste leaders such as ambedkar and phule that expresses itself in difference, defiance and dissonance forming the category of beyond against desi and derivative discourses within anti-colonial theorisations (ibid.). however, the idea of a discourse of unthought grounded in the experiences of untouchability both in its precolonial and postcolonial manifestations deserves further attention and development as a theoretical concept. untouchability was and is essential to the maintenance of brahminism which is closely associated with the notions of purity and impurity the untouchables arouse a pre-verbal affect response in the negative (disgust, shame, savagery, trauma etc.) personifying caste taboos. the absence of a collective memory of castelessness and social freedom within indian societies have normalised inequality. in such a social system, freedom in itself (especially to dba communities) is part of unthought and outside of communal experiences. due to relational nature of social categories, the one who refuses to touch (oppressor castes) ironically turns into the untouched deprived of touch. touch as a fundamental way of encountering and relating to the other invariably shapes our thought (sartre and sartre 2006). though most severe in the indian context, from transgender exclusionary spaces to ghettoisation, forms of untouchability can be seen in modern societies across regions. rethinking knowledge, unthinking the brahminical: dalit feminism and gender-caste 323 the experience(s) of untouchability provides an experience of being neither/nor rooted in a history of negation. modernity of brahminism presents to dalit communities, the experience of existing and moving within a spectrum of belonging and unbelonging (in-between) according to one’s intersectional positionality. for example, dalitiality can be identified as an existence which experiences being indigenous and outcaste, hindu and impure, citizen and oppressed, labour and undervalued and so on. an integration of faithful accounts of untouchability will help to explore partially shared and unshared histories and ways of knowing and being. the experience of untouchability is seldom approached as theoretical avenue to tackle decolonial, feminist and race issues. this is due to the limited access (a form of `untouch´) confronting dalit-bahujan-adivasi scholars to adorn the hat of a theoretician outside caste studies. the unspeakability of the subaltern and the failure to read the silences as a sign of epistemological ignorance have lend to this omission. moreover, the history of trauma and stigma associated with the practice of untouchability and caste slavery makes it a difficult concept to be theorised. however, unthought is a powerful epistemological framework and an approach to centralise the mind, body and affect as a sites of resistance against the normalised practices of oppression. i conceptualise ‘un-thought’ as an intellectual discourse and practise encouraging theory and praxis rooted in subaltern experiences. it encompasses revelation of a historical process of negation (un-) and active process of thinking (thought) within dalit communities. it offers a critical perspective on established theories and bodies of knowledge, recognising them as caste-inflected knowledges that emerge from endogamic epistemic networks—often in conjunction with, or in isolation from, other such networks. in doing so, it actively encourages reflection on what remains unthought, as well as on who is permitted to engage with, or “touch,” these silences in order to enrich the field of research. it points towards the vast array of un-thought arenas within the postcolonial indian societies which helps to reproduce and maintain the brahminic-colonial confluence. it centralises contact as phenomenological experience and epistemological method. moreover, within this standpoint, spaces of unthought is broken through examination of brahminic-colonial hegemony maintained through a state of normalised unfreedom. therefore, it is important to centralise discourses of unthought through an archaeology of power to drill through the opaqueness to speak about the unspeakable and by actively thinking about the unthought. it helps to mould the decolonial dalit feminist discourses into a transitional epistemology and approach, wherein, the truth and power does not emerge from the same social locations by moving beyond the boundaries to expand spaces of in-betweenness to push out the binaries. caste as meta and the category of gender-caste caste-controlled patriarchies are institutions unique to the sub-continent which may resemble but varies significantly from patriarchal practices and beliefs followed in other regions of the world. caste works through the constitution and reconstitution of endogamous groups (in its being, inter-generational economies, living practices and 324 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 marriage choices) prescribing gendered roles to caste imprinted individuals. women of these endogamous groups survived with far lesser rights and privileges than their men. however, it is difficult to compare dalit women experience as being closer to either dalit men or oppressor caste women. the non-human existence imposed on dalits and sub-human experience of oppressor caste women simultaneously manifests in the dalit women experience. the weight of dalit women experience has been theorised as a compounded experience of their caste and gender positions within intersectional feminist and critical caste studies. however, dalit women experience cannot be solely viewed as an additive result of dalit and women experiences robbing them of distinct consciousness. nevertheless, the main issue with this framework of gender and caste analysis is its separate and often oppositional positioning. caste and gender are recognised as categories which occupy the position of the other of the ideal hindu oppressor caste man. drawn from critical race theories, double burden and intersectionality are superimposed on theorisations of indian gendered experiences. however, within indian context, caste oppression cannot be pinpointed to a historical point such as transatlantic slavery or colonisation as in the case of creation of race and racism exacerbating and expanding gendered oppression. historians have put forward plausible explanations for the development of varna-jati from ritual/ occupational guilds to a social order and have traced its emergence approximately to the period between the decline of indus valley civilisation (c. 2600 bce to 1900 bce) to later vedic period (c. 1000 bce-600 bce) (thapar, 2019). this presents a long durée history of caste which makes it one of the oldest social categories. therefore, a separation of caste from historical and contemporary conceptions of gender is flawed. theorisation of gender experiences in the indian sub-continent as separate with intersections with caste have produced strong feminist interventions. however, it is important to explore the possibility of caste being a causation to the contemporary gendered experiences within the subcontinent. dalit feminists have tried to emphasise the importance of foregrounding differentials within gendered experiences, of not just oppressed caste women but of all genders, as being mediated and controlled through brahminic forces. therefore, it is imperative to recognise caste as the meta which not just influences but creates (through permissibility) gendered roles, expressions and performance. this necessitates a new method of looking at gendered experiences and recognising it as ´gender-caste´. in addition, gender-caste as a category helps to focus on the undercurrents which determine the gender roles based on the mutations of caste over time. caste is a malleable and adaptive oppressive force which has surpassed economic, social and cultural systems effectively changing modality of gender as practice, roles and expressions. however, changes in the functioning of gender-caste affect experiences of caste-sub groups in non-linear and discrete ways. for example, misogynist taboo over menstruation were practised by several oppressor caste communities by isolating menstruating women from the presence of other pure bodies during menstrual phases (gold-watts et al., 2020). this practice was largely absent within the dalit communities (sowjanya, 2019). menstrual taboos and rethinking knowledge, unthinking the brahminical: dalit feminism and gender-caste 325 the resulting isolation have been explored as a phase of untouchability (temporary) experienced by oppressor caste women (chatterjee, 2021). while dalit women have refereed to caste as their ‘period’ which is permanent and without escape (sukumar, 2020). in the past decades, the modality of menstrual taboos has been reorganised to facilitate co-habitation of menstruating women with others to fit nuclear and middleclass daily routines predominantly in urban areas (shah, 2005). in addition, several dalit women have started practising this new modality of menstrual taboo as a method of social-caste mobility practice as an attempt to achieve ritual parity aided by relative economic freedom across regions in south asia (baumann et al., 2021). this shows how a single caste custom such as menstrual taboo is practised and used by women belonging to different castes with such divergence to exert their specific gendered caste roles. thus, the organisation of indian societies is predominantly based on caste and its intersection with other identities such as gender, sexuality, religion, and class. therefore, gender-caste as a separately named category which recognises caste as ‘meta’ defies the western understanding of social organisation. an acknowledgement of the coagulation of oppressive systems and its embodied volatility can be traced through naming of categories. the pervasiveness of colonial and capitalistic values in modern south asia allows to read and interpret social categories through a western lens to an extent but is neither sufficient nor appropriate. a decolonial analysis of gender by centralising caste and paying attention to the evolution of social categories becomes a more insightful approach to understand gendered experiences and spaces. a hyphenated category of ‘gender-caste’ can be used to signify the interlocking of categories within a non-northern framework to reimagine and reconfigure gendered worlding by centring intersectionality. this helps to view social categories as a synthesis of oppressive systems and undermines biological essentialism by helping to focus on the process of making of the categories. therefore, admission of gender-caste as a vocabulary within decolonial dalit feminist standpoint helps to shed emphasis on the role of caste as what makes and breaks gender based on caste differences. conclusion the focus on the diverse and heterogenous nature of gender categories and experiences often causes anxiety regarding potential conflicts. social justice movements, feminism in particular, deals with an array of intersectional issues which need to account for differences within agents and the cause. feminist theory and praxis have moved away from viewing differences as barrier to mobilisation to discarding sameness as a necessary condition to invoke solidarity. dalit decolonial feminist standpoint intrinsically linked to gender-caste theorizations can offer new modes of transnational connections by linking different experiences of slavery, displacement, and negation, which moves beyond universal essentialist categories to target subalternity within domains of experience. this article should be received as a call to transnational feminist scholars to engage with the dalit decolonial critiques and the category of 326 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 gender-caste as a heuristic devices which offers an unromantic view of the past and strong critique of neo-colonialism. acknowledgment this research is supported by the 101073012 euterpe horizon-msca-2021dn-01 project. references adur, shweta majumdar, and anjana narayan. 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(2019). caste matters. penguin viking, an imprint of penguin random house. © 2025 p. m. joshy. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.1737 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 1 pp. 96-115 april 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste reimagining resources: analyzing the politics of dalit land struggles in kerala, india with special reference to chengara p. m. joshy1 abstract this article explores the history of land alienation in kerala, the representation of land in social reform movements and the ongoing land struggle in chengara. the movements discussed in the present study have similarities in terms of the nature of social mobilization, which transcended the brahmin-imposed subcaste fragmentations and provided common platforms for the assertion of rights of the deprived sections. even though the reform movements orchestrated by ayyankali and poykayil appachan unified the slave castes around the issues of common concern, subsequently the ruling class succeeded in thwarting the movement by employing the strategy of sub-caste fragmentation. similarly, the chengara movement has also been facing the same plight. the sadhujana vimochana samyukthavedi, inspired by ayyankali’s movement, succeeded in constructing a dalit identity around the issue of land. however, the ruling class, with ardent support from the communist party of india (marxist), tried hard to destroy the movement. the sub-caste issues played a vital role in the weakening of the movement. therefore, the study observes that the guidance of a charismatic leader is significant in social mobilization, particularly in a caste-ridden society, for building trust and unity among the deprived sections and countering the maneuvers of the ruling class. keywords caste system, land alienation, social reform movements, communist party of india (marxist), kerala model, dalit land struggles 1associate professor, department of political science, sree narayana college, chempazhanthy, kerala email: joshypmanilal20@gmail.com reimagining resources: analyzing the politics of dalit land struggles in kerala, india 97 introduction the story of chengara has always been fodder for students of the social sciences. the literature about the struggle generally statured around issues such as the inadequacies of land reforms initiated by the first left government in kerala, the persistence of the colonial pattern of landholding (the much-celebrated land reform legislation did not touch the plantation sector), and the quest for a second land reform in kerala (rammohan, 2008; sreerekha, 2012; kapikkad, 2017; iyer, 2018; sebastian, 2019; vipitha, 2023). the dalits faced ‘triple exclusion’ from land ownership: 1) exclusion due to the caste system, 2) consistently excluded from the process of land reforms, and 3) the current trends in land market activities tends to exclude the dalits from land ownership (yadu & vijayasuryan, 2016; herring, 1980). evidently, 55 per cent of the scheduled caste population in kerala lives in 26,109 dalit colonies spread across the state and 92 per cent of the adivasis lives in 4,645 colonies (kapikkad, 2017, pp. 31–32). therefore, the issue of land became a common denominator among the dalits and adivasis in kerala. the muthanga land struggle in 2003 was a breakthrough to the established images about the kerala model of development. the movement problematized the land alienation of the adivasis and highlighted their constitutional rights (raman, 2002; bijoy & raman, 2003; raman, 2004). thus, the adivasi struggles in the later part of the twentieth century once again put the land issue in the center stage. in this premise, the chengara land struggle occurred with new insights and strategies about social mobilization. the present study locates the chengara movement in the historical background of land alienation and subjugation of the lower caste people, their resurrection under the leadership of ayyankali and poykayil appachan, the formation of an inclusive dalit identity capable of bargaining with the established centers of power, and waning of the movement in the whirlpool of sub-caste power struggles. similarly, the chengara struggle stretched beyond the sub-caste contours and constructed a dalit identity around the issue of land. however, as what happened in the reformist era, the movement declined due to sub-caste conflicts. since the inception of the caste system in india, the ruling class scattered the underprivileged into numerous sub-caste groups. the graded-hierarchy imposed by brahminical hinduism remained a major hindrance to dalit unity. the disunity of the dalits provided enough immunity to the upper caste sections to accumulate more wealth and power, and the ruling class strategically used the sub-caste fragmentations to thwart any possible unified dalit movement. the study has been divided into four major heads. the first part explains the systematic exclusion of the dalits from their ancestral land during the pre-colonial and colonial periods. the second address the representation of land in social reform movements led by ayyankali and poykayil appachan, the two important visionaries of dalit movements in kerala. the third part of the study critically examines the nuances of the much-celebrated ‘kerala model’ of development. the fourth links the erstwhile social reform movements and the ongoing chengara land struggle. laha gopalan modelled the chengara movement in tune with the movement of ayyankali. 98 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 as an inclusive movement, the chengara set the background for a mass movement of the dalits in kerala. however, the persisting sub-caste divisions and the leadership aspirations of the leaders paved the way for the decline of the movement. the methodology used in the study is historical and analytical. in the preparation of the manuscript, we gave paramount importance to original sources, and the primary data were collected from the field through in-depth interviews. history of land alienation in kerala land alienation in kerala has been inextricably linked to the caste system that marginalized the dalits and adivasis from mainstream society. the caste system ideationally and materially enforced the social hierarchy and fragmented the untouchables into numerous sub-caste groups (ambedkar, 1917/1979).1 what the caste system did to the untouchables is well evident in the pattern of land possession existing in kerala. most importantly, history speaks about a story that would be helpful to understanding the brahminical transformations in kerala. accordingly, much before the brahmin settlement, private ownership of land began in kerala. the owners were the ‘untouchables’ in the brahminical period such as pulayas, idayas, vedas and valluvas, who were either cultivators or local chieftains (pillai, 1970). with the coming of brahmin settlers, the real inhabitants of the land were sidelined. the brahmins succeeded in establishing their hegemony—sustained through rituals, social practices, unequal resource distribution, and division of labor as intellectual and physical (the caste system holds the image that mental labor is superior to physical labor). therefore in kerala, the lower caste peoples’ lives were frozen for centuries without any material and intellectual development. erstwhile kerala was divided into three parts: malabar, kochi and travancore. malabar was under direct british rule. both kochi and travancore were under monarchy and accepted a subordinate status to the british east india company. the feudal system in medieval kerala demarcated caste-based hierarchy of land rights. accordingly the agrestic slaves: pulayas, cherumars, parayas and others were prohibited to accumulate any wealth including the land (pillai, 1970; veluthat, 1978). however, the aggregated exploitative system in malabar faced severe crisis during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. the socio-political oppression by the upper caste sections under british patronage prompted the mappila peasants to violently revolt against the exploitative system (logan, 1951; panikkar 1989; 2021). even though the circumstances of the hindu lower caste people was miserable, they were 1the caste system had divided the hindu society into four water-tight compartmentsbrahmins, kshatriya, vyshya and shudra. the adivasis or the indigenous people were regarded as outsiders of the varna system or they were treated as non-human. the caste system imposed a strict division of labour in which the brahmins, the priest class, enjoyed the most privileged status. the kshatriya were the warrior class who maintained the statuesque. the vyshya caste were engaged in trade and commerce. the people in the shudra caste were in the bottom line of the varna system, assigned to do bonded labour to all other upper caste sections in the society (see ambedkar, 1917). reimagining resources: analyzing the politics of dalit land struggles in kerala, india 99 not in a position to oppose exploitation. the ideological apparatus constructed and preserved by the brahmins had given no space to the untouchables to be a unified force against the exploitative system. unlike malabar, travancore the southern princely state of kerala considerably enjoyed immunity from foreign conquests, which had enabled the state to maintain the land-holding status quo. as elsewhere in kerala, the brahmins hold the land by using the theory of jenmam rights. with the introduction of a graded hierarchy, the brahmins became the owners of all the resources, particularly the land. the travancore state manual states that: … all the lands in travancore belong to a body of janmis. there are no lands that do not belong to some janmi or other, also sirkar (state/government) itself is one of these janmis, it having come to possess janmam lands by gift, purchase, escheat, confiscation and otherwise (pillai, 1940/1996, pp. 134–135). in travancore, the land administration was legally well-codified, and maintained the status quo without any alteration.2 however, with the integration of the travancore economy into the capitalist core, drastic changes happened in the state. post the treaty signed between the government of travancore and british colonialists in 1795 and 1805, travancore became an ally of the empire and as per the treaty, the government of travancore had to pay a huge amount to the british government for providing security to the princely state. to deal with the situation, an increase in agricultural production was inevitable. in this context, the travancore government was forced to distribute full ownership rights to the cultivators. the government in cochin princely state was also forced to make similar structural changes (varghese, 1970). the travancore government also initiated commercialization of the traditional agriculture sector by inviting the europeans to start plantations in the hilly areas of the state (government of travancore, 1915). the emerging scenario set the framework for larger socio-economic transformations in kerala. specifically, in travancore, with the pandarappattom proclamation of 18653 (pillai, 1953, pp. 144–145), there emerged a middle stratum of peasantry mainly from the upper castes, including a substantial number of ezhavas (varghese, 1970). subsequently, the ownership of land was diffused among all caste groups, which had only a marginal effect on the untouchable slave castes of travancore such as pulayas, parayas and kuravas. they came under 2in travancore there was well-codified land system. for the practical purposes it was divided into six categories1) sirkar or pandaravaga (sirkar is in the position of landlord), 2) sirkar devaswamvaga (devaswam land taken over by the government), 3) kandukrishi (private property of the sovereign, and tenants have no rights of property in them), 4) sreepadamvaga (land possessed by edavagas), 5) sreepandaramvaga (lands allotted for temples) and 6) janmam (devaswam and brahmaswam lands) (the government of travancore 1915, pp. 1-18). 3in travancore, during the period of king marthandavarma, the entire assets were regarded as the property of the state treasury (pandaram). the pandarappattom proclamation of 1865 together with the janmi-kudiyan proclamations of 1867 is hailed as the ‘magna carta’ of the travancore ryots. pandarappattom was like a lease without any transferable right. by the royal proclamations, the holders of these lands were given full property rights (see pillai, 1953). 100 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 the category of ‘agrestic slaves’, as noted in colonial and missionary documents, and were bought and sold like any other property by their landlords (saradamoni, 1980, p. 10). the oral narratives of slaves available in missionary records show how they constantly feared the impending danger of separation and alienation (mohan, 2015, pp. 27–28; jeffrey, 2023). with the expansion of british capitalist interests in the region, there were attempts to move on the existing stagnant economic system. the non-competitive and sluggish nature of economic activities based on social stratification was identified as a major hindrance on the path of british commercial interests. in the traditional keralite society, land was only depicted as a status symbol. there were hardly any attempts to improve its productivity (jeffrey, 1979, pp. 29–32). conversely, the britishers introduced the principles of modern capitalism, accordingly, the land was regarded as a transferrable material asset that might be used for making profit. they introduced new avenues of cultivation (plantations) that demanded cheap labour. the travancore government ensured the availability of cheap labour through the abolition of slavery in 1853 (menon, 1911, p. 262; saradamoni, 1980, p. 80; jeffrey, 1979; yesudas, 1980; raman, 2000; balakrishnan, 2020). while the abolition of slavery only partially liberated the agrestic slaves from their traditional bondages, saradamoni viewed that: the ruling powers native as well as foreign—wanted the status-quo to be maintained with minimum adjustments. this could be seen in the overt references of the travancore rulers to caste practices and the british emphasis on the need to protect private property (1980, p. 96). similarly, in cochin state manual, achyuta menon observed that even fifty years after the formal abolition of slavery in the state, the life situation of the slave castes had not changed. after the formal ending of slavery, they had no land for cultivation and were paid in kind and at the same old rates (1911). even though the abolition of slavery produced relatively free labour from the clutches of feudal landlords, the untouchable agriculture workers were not liberated from the caste structure—because, the native state rulers, as well as the colonialists, were reluctant to alter the root cause of slavery in kerala—the caste system. however, the abolition of slavery and interactions with missionaries gave the slave castes new images of life. to attain the goals, they had to negotiate with the established regimes. with accessibility to new resources such as land, education and other secular institutional spaces, they were keen to start their lives as free people. in this scenario, social reform movements emerged in kerala. representation of land in social reform movements by the end of the nineteenth century, with missionary activities,4 there was a realisation among different strata of people that modern western education should be the source 4the activities of the church missionary society (cms) and london missionary society (lms) provided new religious practices and social space to the untouchable castes in kerala. missionary christianity, schools, hospitals, courts and markets opened up a new space for reimagining resources: analyzing the politics of dalit land struggles in kerala, india 101 of liberation from the anti-human social practices of a caste-ridden society. but the education of untouchables was vehemently opposed by upper caste landlords because they feared that if the agrestic slaves acquired education, they may not get cheap labour (chentharassery, 2005, p. 21; mohan, 2015, pp. 116–118). it was against this background that ayyankali (1863-1941), a charismatic leader from pulaya, an agrestic slave caste, emerged. ayyankali was significantly inspired by the revolutionary movement of sree narayana guru, a social reformer from southern travancore (saradamoni, 1980, p. 36).5 most importantly, the social reform movements orchestrated by sree narayana guru, ayyankali and poykayil appachan attacked the discriminatory caste practices prevailing in kerala society and they became torchbearers on the path of the liberation of the underprivileged. even though he belonged to the pulaya community, ayyankali (1803-1941), a pragmatic leader and revolutionary in spirit and practice, was not ready to limit his space within the contours of the sub-caste divisions imposed by brahminical hinduism. all people socially marginalised and exploited were one caste in his eyes (chentharassery, 2005, p. 19). taking inspiration from sree narayana dharma paripalana yogam (sndp, organisation for the preservation of sree narayana dharma) formed by sree narayana guru, ayyankali founded sadhu jana paripalana sangham (sjps, servile peoples’ welfare organization) in 1907. notably, the organization was not meant for any particular caste, rather it provided a platform for all the depressed servile people. the uniqueness of ayyankali’s movement was that he was uninterested in being a part of any religious sect, but rather deeply concerned about the deprived status of the dalits. the sjps brought solidarity among the marginalised sections, and unified them under the title ‘sadhu janam’ (servile people). the sjps and its activities can be seen as the genesis of the emergence of modern dalit consciousness in kerala (nisar & kandasamy, 2009, p. 75; mohan, 2016, pp. 78–79). ayyankali identified three important pillars for the upliftment of the historically marginalised sections in kerala: 1. accessibility to public space, 2. modern education and, 3. availability of land for cultivation. in 1913, ayyankali led the historical struggle, the first strike by agricultural workers in kerala to open the doors of schools for untouchable children. the upper caste landlords unleashed ruthless violence against the movement, though the laborers showed the strength of their unity amid extreme poverty and oppression. the strike spanned one year and in 1914 the historic strike of the agriculture laborers was called off as they had their demands accepted by public interaction. however, as far as the slave castes are concerned, the institutional space was not fully accessible and with the missionary teachings and prayers, the untouchables acquired a sense of new social imagination which was absent in their lived experiences. for a discussion see (mohan, 2015; balakrishnan, 2020). 5sree narayana guru, a revolutionary saint, who emerged from the middle caste ezhava, had questioned the inhuman caste practices of the hindu religion. his revolutionary endeavours inspired many and were the beginning point of social reform movements in kerala. the activities of guru such as temple consecration in aruvippuram and elsewhere in kerala and tamil nadu, his support to vaikom satyagraha and other anti-caste movements inspired his contemporaries and future generations (see jeffrey 1974; 1976). 102 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 the travancore government (chentharassery, 2005, pp. 28–29). the strike showed off the linkage between labor and land that had historically been undermined by the landlords. simultaneously, ayyankali demanded agricultural land for his people. then onwards, the land has achieved a symbolic value, represented as a material base for liberation. he was nominated to the sri mulam popular assembly (smpa, since 1912 ayyankali was a member of successive state legislature for two decades). as the sole representative of the dalits in the assembly, ayyankali represented the problems of the entire dalits in the assembly beyond narrow casteist mentality (nisar & kandasamy, 2009, p. 85). he fought in and out of the assembly for social justice. during his long tenure in smpa, ayyankali frequently raised land issues and demanded favors from the government (saradamoni, 1980, pp. 159–160). in response to ayyankali’s demands in the assembly, travancore state favorably considered the distribution of puduval land for the dalits. the dalits were allowed to use land in few areas like in neyyattinkara, nedumangad, viluvamcode, etc. (nisar & kandasamy, 2009, p. 86). even though this had a marginal impact on the lives of dalits, symbolically the issue of land got wider attention, and set a new perspective for dalit politics in kerala. during the lifetime of ayyankali, poykayil appachan (poykayil sree kumaraguru) a social reformer emerged among the slave castes, contested the religiously insisted caste segregations and abandoned hindu religion. he belongs to the paraya community, agrestic slave castes like the pulayas, who was inspired by the religious teachings of christian missionaries. appachan was fascinated by the humanism of christianity, and its concept of equality and spiritual security. he embraced christianity and became a devoted follower of the marthoma church. he became a christian evangelist, and worked among the slave castes in the plantations. however, he was disturbed by the caste discrimination within the marthoma church, where the converted christians were represented as ‘pulaya’ christians and ‘paraya’ christians. in his speeches, appachan problematized the caste segregation and eventually left the marthoma church with his followers (rejikumar, 2005, pp. 14–21; mohan, 2015, pp. 155–156; mohan, 2016, pp. 87–89; chirappad, 2015, pp. 24–28). the discrimination experienced by his people in both hindu religion and christian churches prompted poykayil to start independent initiatives to liberate the slave castes. it was in this context appachan formed prathyaksha raksha daiva sabha (prds, the god that redeems in person organisation) in 1910. like ayyankali, poykayil spoke for all the sections of the dalit community. he had problematized the distribution of material resources, particularly land in travancore, and recognised the lack of accessibility of land as the major reason behind the historical marginalization of his people. often, he raised this question in smpa. poykayil demanded land for all the people of his community and requested the government not to grant land to other communities without resolving their demand. he further requested the government to conduct a survey of the landless people of his community and to give 2-10 acres of land to each family without imposing base land prices and timber prices. he stated that many communities owned acres of land reimagining resources: analyzing the politics of dalit land struggles in kerala, india 103 and kept them without any cultivation. therefore, he requested the government to grant the unutilized land to his people. poykayil put forward another demand that the reserve forest land suitable for cultivation should be given to his people, and further, the government should impose a tax on those lands only after several years (poykayil, 1921, march 1, cited in rejikumar, 2005, pp. 51–52; chentharassery, 1983; chirappad, 2015). poykayil observed that all the fertile and cultivable land was given to the upper caste people and only wasteland was distributed to his people. he requested the government to appoint experienced revenue officials in each district to allocate land to his people (poykayil 1931, march 3, cited in rejikumar, 2005, pp. 53–55). however, various bitter experiences from the upper castes prompted poykayil to suggest his people to buy land with their labour. following his words, the prds with financial support from his people purchased land across kerala (chentharassery, 1983, p. 48; rejikumar, 2005, pp. 46–47, 60–66). thus, poykayil opened new avenues for his people to cope with the challenges imposed by the dominant centers of power in the emerging keralite society. theoretically speaking, both ayyankali and poykayil set a common platform for dalits. ayyankali, through his mobilizations, problematized the historical issues responsible for their exclusion from the civil domain, and forcefully opened the doors of modernity to the slave castes. most importantly, ayyankali’s perspective was modern and his focus was solely on the material and educational prosperity of his community. in a modern society, the availability of material resources, and accessibility to modern social and institutional spaceabstractly, an inclusive civil society and public sphere is a necessary prerequisite for the people to get into the mainstream. moreover, ayyankali envisaged sjps as an inclusive space, a dalit space, for all the sub-caste groups to deal with the established centers of power. the very title of his organization resonates the necessity of unity among the untouchables. the fragmented people and their hierarchical social status prevented the slave castes from becoming a unified force against the exploitative system. therefore, with the establishment of sjps, ayyankali provided a new space for the deprived sections and mobilized his people towards the issues of common concern. however, after ayyankali left active politics, sjps failed to sustain unity among its people. the ruling class succeeded in thwarting the lower caste unity. the government of travancore’s decision to nominate members from each sub-caste group to smpa limited the possibility of the sustenance of dalit unity, and also the internal schism in sjps weakened the organisation. the decline of sjps proved to be a setback for dalit unity and liberation.6 6after ayyankali left active politics, sub-caste groups asserted in the organization. the subcaste rivalries paved the way for parochial caste identity-based movements that did not have a social vision to hold the diverse communities together. the new generation was led by kesavan sastri. he dismantled sjps and started a new organization of the pulaya caste. the organization was narrowly defined which was presumably against the visions of ayyankali. the ruling class used sastri to torpedo sjps. not surprisingly, sastri was a worker in the hindu mission, which was controlled by the upper caste hindus. sri. c.p. ramaswami iyer, a brahmin divan of travancore, worked out a truce that culminated in the marriage of ayyankali’s daughter to sastri. the very development had badly affected the leadership of ayyankali. 104 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 like sjps, after the demise of poykayil, prds became an arena of conflicting interests. the conflict arose based on the debate on the influences of hindu and christian religions on the organisation. the prds fragmented into various independent groups such as ettupara prds, zebulon prds, karimpanakkuzhi prds, sathya prds, mannuthadam prds, asan prds, kanakkari prds, thottakkad prds and janamma prds (chirappad, 2015, pp. 83-84). the fragmentation of the organization weakened its bargaining capacity and further deteriorated the socio-economic capabilities of the community. it is pertinent to note that especially after the demise of the founding leaders, the slave castes moved towards fragmentation. the upper caste and middle caste groups gravitated towards centralization and used their collective power to accumulate resources. after independence, dalit movements declined in kerala for multiple reasons. first, the representation of dalit leaders in the popular assembly limited their criticisms against the regime, and gradually, the leaders deviated from a mass social movement to mere representatives of their particular communities in democratic engagements with the state. the withdrawal of dalit organizations from social movements weakened the unity of the deprived sections. also, leadership conflicts within these organizations gave rise to caste identities superseding dalit unity. second, with the emergence of communist movements in kerala, the majority of the dalits imagined the party as the messiah of liberating the slave castes. meanwhile the communist party pursued the dormant class approach and left the issue of caste in the super-structure. the party stuck to its position that the advancement in productive forces would eventually erase parochial caste identities, which would be replaced by class identity. however, capitalism developed in kerala without altering the basic caste structure. therefore, the communist party failed to rise to the expectations of dalits because dalit issues had been inextricably linked to the caste system (see teltumbde, 2018, pp. 91–116). third, the caste-based reservation system crystallized the caste system in its originality. leaders like ambedkar opined that the reservation system (quota system to the deprived sections in education and government employment sector) has to be removed since the state-led social transformation has been completed. but in the post-independence period, the indian state failed to accomplish the task of social transformation, therefore the dalits were frozen in the pre-set framework of reservation. therefore, ambedkar’s idea of ‘annihilation of caste’ gave way to the crystallization of the caste system, and the dalits are still struggling to get basic resources such as land even in kerala. dalits in “kerala model” the widely acclaimed “kerala model” combines low-level economic development with high levels of social development indicators. the protagonists of the ‘model’ advocate social indicators such as high literacy rates, low infant and maternal mortality sastri’s resentment of ayyankali was his decision to nominate pampady john joseph to the popular assembly. these developments show the role of external forces in deciding the course of dalit movements (see chentharassery, 2005, pp. 36-37; mohan, 2016, pp. 95-96). reimagining resources: analyzing the politics of dalit land struggles in kerala, india 105 rates, low population growth, low crude death rate, and a strong public health system (parayil, 1996, pp. 941–942; heller, 1999). a strong sense of social security is the noteworthy feature of the kerala model. however, there were criticisms against the kerala model from different viewpoints, particularly emphasizing the exclusionary nature of the model (saradamoni, 1994; uyl, 1995; devika, 2010; madhavan & komath, 2023). in the present context, the most notable drawback of the so-called kerala model of development is its failure to address the symbiotic relations between land possession and socio-economic and cultural status. historically, in all societies, those who control the land control the surplus, therefore the land remains the core determinant factor in deciding further accumulation and social status (albertus, 2025, p. 12). in kerala, with the introduction of land reforms, the communist party concluded that the question of land alienation has been resolved forever. this immature conclusion stems from an improper understanding of the caste question in indian society. the dalit land alienation was inextricably linked to the historically prevailing varna system that excluded the dalits from material resources and the ideational realms. the intersectionality of caste, class, and gender had not been addressed by the indian communist parties. therefore, land reform and redistribution of landed resources among the peasant communities, specifically the tenants, have not benefitted the dalit communities (madhavan & komath, 2023, pp. 358–359). the land reform legislation was brought forward by the first communist ministry in 1957 and subsequently implemented by the cpi (m)-led ministry in 1969. as per the law, the tenants got ten cents each in panchayats, five cents in the municipal area, and three cents in the corporation area. the land reform was romanticized as “the land to the tiller” however, in reality, it was “the land to the tenants.” the communist party understood the issue of land as the necessary conflict between the landlords and tenants. the dalits were located outside of the tenant category due to their untouchable status and were forced to settle on the outskirts of the paddy fields. as tenants, the majority of the middle-caste groups like ezhavas got small portions of land for settlement purposes, however, dalits remained landless. thus, the land reforms, a landmark legislation that propelled the kerala model excluded the dalits and adivasis. in due course, successive governments attempted to mitigate the issue with new strategies. m.n. govindan in c. achuthamenon’s ministry introduced ‘laksham veedu’, colonies for dalits and adivasis (houses constructed in a budget of rs. one lakh) which paved the way for the ghettoization of dalits and adivasis in three-cent colonies. coincidently, the stereotypical images about the colonies also came up (pramod, 2020). the kerala sastra sahithya parishad, a pro-left ngo, surveyed the community-based land distribution in the state and revealed that the per capita landholding of the upper caste is 105 cents, while the dalit community has only 2.7 per cent (kssp, 2006; kila, 2009). the land alienation of the dalits, specifically the denial of land as a productive resource, badly affected the future development of kerala. indeed, social security 106 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 laws such as the kerala agriculture workers act of 1974 improved the working conditions of the dalits, however, in the longer run, the decline in agriculture and large-scale conversion of farmland for other industrial and commercial purposes worsened the circumstances of the dalits (krishnaji, 2007; isaac & mohankumar, 1991; devika, 2010). paradoxically, kerala is dependent on other states for food grains, and vegetables, however, the successive governments are not ready to give the land to the actual tillers of the land. also, the lack of resources prevented the dalits from competing in an open market society where the privileged social groups dominate. moreover, the protagonists of the kerala model, particularly the cpi (m) and its votaries, always took an oppositional stand against the struggles of the deprived sections for resources. chengara land struggle: linking the past to the present the chengara land struggle reflects the inadequacies of the land reforms in kerala. the communist party-introduced land reform legislation only resolved the issues between landlords and the tenants. however, it failed to address the land issues of the dalits because they did not belong to the tenant category. the communist party reduced the entirety of the issue between the landlords and peasants to the question of wage as in the industrialized society, hence failed to analyze the complexities embedded within the historical marginalization of the dalits in the indian situation (krishnaji, 2007; rammohan, 2008; raman, 2002). the land reforms in kerala excluded the dalits, and reduced the other peasant categories such as the ezhavas to small holdings. the reforms did not touch the plantation sector, and the ceiling act was not implemented. this policy approach had far-reaching implications—such as a decline in agriculture, emergence of absentee landlordism (balakrishnan, 2008; oommen, 1994; radhakrishnan, 1981) monopoly of land by the upper caste/class people and continuing deprivation of the dalits and adivasis in kerala. after independence, the dalit-adivasi issues froze under the grand narratives of development. even though the dalits were the mass base of the communist parties, their life in the colonies (pramod, 2020) statured around government concessions and freebies. this shows the limitations of the communist parties in pursuing a social movement agenda in the electoral democratic system.7 by the 1980s, the reports of deaths due to starvation from adivasi settlements once again problematized the disparities in land distribution in kerala. it was in this background that the muthanga struggle happened. it was a breakthrough to the tall images of the much-celebrated kerala model of development (raman, 2002; bijoy & raman, 2003; raman, 2004). 7the policies of the first communist government in kerala (even though it failed to resolve the land issues of the vast majority of the people) provoked the upper caste/class, and they mobilized the followers against the governmentknown as the liberation struggle. this had deteriorated the law and order situation or the perpetrators succeeded in generating such an image, and based on the governor’s report, the central government dismissed the democratically elected government under article 356 of the indian constitution. reimagining resources: analyzing the politics of dalit land struggles in kerala, india 107 the muthanga struggle was exclusively an adivasi land struggle that ended with an armed conflict between adivasis and the state. drawing insights from muthanga, the chengara land struggle took a different path. laha gopalan, leader of the movement, set a platform for the landless people in kerala beyond caste differences and strategically orchestrated the movement without indulging in violence. in a pamphlet, laha gopalan narrates the background of the chengara land struggle: in due recognition of the fact that last six decades of democratic rule and working of many caste, sub-caste organizations have eventually not produced social justice for the oppressed class; and for the liberation of all the untouchables in kerala, demands an organisation to pursue the struggles initiated by ayyankali. it was not a caste organisation, but rather an organisation for the liberation of poor people in all caste groups. this perspective has been reflected in the formation of sadhujana vimochana samyukthavedi (svsv, servile people’ liberation organisation), an organisation formed in laha village in pathanamthitta district on october 31, 2001, and got registration on march 13, 2002, in the register number p128/2002 (gopalan, n.d., p. 2). laha gopalan, formulated svsv in tune with the middle caste and upper caste organizations. despite the sub-caste divisions, these organizations displayed unity, especially in their dealing with the centers of power (ibid). his movement was the continuation of ayyankali and ambedkar, who underscored the importance of dalit unity. svsv was the replication of ayyankali’s organisation sjps, an organisation that fought for the uplift of the deprived sections beyond sub-caste divisions. however, the ruling class maneuvers significantly limited the sustenance of ayyankali’s movement beyond his lifetime. the sub-caste divisions were a major weapon used against dalit unity. by employing the strategies of intimidation and selective co-option, the ruling class succeeded in preventing a united movement of the lower caste people in kerala. laha was well aware of the situation, especially the success story of ayyankali and the subsequent weakening of the movement along the parochial sub-caste line. therefore, laha took stringent measures against liquor and sub-caste narcissism which he understood as the major hindrances on the path of dalit unity (gopalan, 2013). rajendran, state vice president of svsv recollecting memories of laha, said that strong leadership was necessary because there were several reasons to scatter the movement (rajendran, 2023). chengara land struggle was not a spontaneous movement. laha prepared the ground for the movement years back. on october 3, 2001, svsv submitted a memorandum of 22 demands to the government regarding the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the deprived sections. since then, the svsv conducted corner meetings, awareness programmes, district meetings, picketing and press meetings. from august 15, 2005 to january 11, 2006, a satyagraha was conducted in front of mini civil station, pathanamthitta. the approach of the caste leaders towards the 108 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 movement was lukewarm. laha observed that ‘the caste leaders took a passive stand towards the movement, criticized the movement and questioned the leadership of laha gopalan’ (gopalan, n.d. a., pp. 4–7). because the sub-caste leaders were very cautious about the possible threats to their areas of influence, they maintained strict control over the people. the political parties in kerala also recognised the privileges of the caste leaders, and were happy with the status quo. laha said: in my understanding, the obstacle on the path of the development of our people was the sub-caste organizations and their innumerable leaders. nobody can deny the role of b.r. ambedkar and ayyankali, who fought against injustice that had prevailed in a society where manusmriti was the only law. they had succeeded in unifying the people, who were fragmented along four thousand caste titles, by convincing them their demands were the same. the ruling class understood the fact that the rights of the deprived sections have to be considered, otherwise, there might have been unified movements against the establishments. it was in this context that the ruling class recognised our demands. while the present generation not only failed to sustain the rights secured by our forefathers but also our caste leaders gave space for loosening of those rights in tune with the ruling class interests (gopalan, n.d. a, pp. 11–12). laha’s leadership was unacceptable to many dalit intellectuals in kerala. even though few of them had supported the movement, they kept vigil not to highlight laha’s name in the discourses. at one point, laha challenged the dalit intellectuals to show their capacity to mobilize the people as he did in chengara (gopalan/erumeli, 2014, pp. 22–25). baby cherippittakavu, state secretary of svsv, said ‘many dalit intellectuals were against the movement. if they were inspired and fought for the visions of ayyankali and ambedkar, there would have been one dalit organisation. because of the self-interests and the leadership aspirations of dalit intellectuals that scattered our community’ (cherippittakavu, 2023). however, the unique feature of the chengara movement was its inclusiveness. leader laha stood for all the deprived sections, the landless poor people, beyond parochial caste and sub-caste divisions (babu, 2023). harikumar, an active member from the upper caste nair community, recollects his memory ‘when the movement was at its most critical stage, we, nearly ten to fifteen people, had food from a single plate. this unity was only because of laha’s leadership. nobody resisted his leadership. people were even ready to sacrifice their lives for social justice. slogans about ayyankali and ambedkar were our only weapon’ (harikumar 2023). after ayyankali, it was under the leadership of laha gopalan that the dalit issues reverberated in the kerala public sphere. he succeeded in mobilizing thousands of landless people from fourteen districts of kerala towards chengara. the movement not only bewildered the caste leaders but also the communist parties, especially the communist party of india (marxist) (cpi (m), self-imaged as the sole authority for reimagining resources: analyzing the politics of dalit land struggles in kerala, india 109 social mobilization and social transformation. laha observed that cpi (m) was the only political party that had taken a negative approach to the chengara movement. in his own words: the cpi (m) is being driven by the delusion that they have a monopoly over the dalits in kerala. if they accepted laha’s demand for land, the people who were chained in colonies with three cents land would recognize the fact that the party made them political slaves (gopalan/velam, ashraf, 2009, p. 32). why did the cpi (m) oppose the chengara movement is a valid question that reveals the fundamental shift that happened to the party during the last couple of decades. there were four major reasons behind the policy deviation: 1) the paternalistic attitude of the party in not recognizing the newest social movements; 2) the party shifted from being a catalyst agent of social transformation to a pro-corporate agent of development; 3) the influence of a few workers in the harrisons plantations through the cpi (m)-led centre of indian trade union (citu); 4) if the movement succeeds under the leadership of laha gopalan, the cpi (m) was well aware that it would lead to a legitimacy crisis in the party. therefore, the chengara movement confronted challenges from various quarters such as the sub-caste leaders, the cpi (m) and harrisons company. after four years of campaigning amongst the landless poor across kerala, on august 15, 2005, svsv started an open struggle in front of pathanamthitta civil station. on january 2, 2006, the movement turned to a new phase, and began a blockade in front of the civil station. nearly four thousand people participated. the transformation of the struggle from a few to a mass movement got political attention. though the then chief minister of kerala, oommen chandy discussed the issues with the leaders, however, his government failed to fulfill their demands. in the next general election, the cpi (m)-led left democratic front (ldf) government came to power. v.s. achuthanandan was the chief minister. achuthanandan had a popular image of a sympathizer of social movements. however, the paternalistic approach of his party forced him to take a harsh stand on the chengara movement. the movement went through a new leapon the night of january 21, 2006, under the banner of svsv, nearly 4,000 families entered the government-owned koduman plantations and constructed huts with tarpaulin sheets. the government requested more time to resolve the issue, however not arrived at any definite solution (gopalan, n.d., pp. 2-6). in this scenario, svsv opened a new struggle site at chengara, which was strategically and legally advantageous to the participants. chengara or cherupala land is surrounded by thick forest. kallar river in the north-east, in the east the government owned teak forests, and in the west up to puthikulam harrison’s rubber plantation. the only approach to chengara is a small road connecting athumbukulam junction. strategically the geographical position of chengara helped to defend the land from external aggressions (cherippittakavu, 2023; prakkanam, 2009, pp. 42–43). also, it was the land illegally possessed by 110 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 harrisons malayalam plantations ltd. after the lease period lapsed (gopalan, n.d., p. 6). therefore, the legitimate claims of the landless people on the illegitimately occupied government land was another unique feature of the chengara land struggle (sreerekha, 2012). on august 4, 2007, over 5,000 families entered harrison’s illegally occupied land and began their lives without basic amenities. harrisons sought judicial support, and the court issued a decree to evacuate the settlers within three months, without any physical force and bloodshed. on july 7, 2008, the first meeting with the chief minister was arranged. laha said that the chief minister did not ask anything about the movement, their demands or possibilities for compromise, rather threatened the leaders, ‘if you do not stop the struggle and leave chengara, you would have to face fierce policing’ (gopalan n.d., p. 11). the government, in association with the citu, employed every possible measure to evacuate the chengara settlers. hence, the people in chengara followed a non-violent strategy of resistance,. on august 4, 2008, citu in association with other trade unions started a blockade in athumbukulam, the only entrance to chengara. the blockade worsened the situation of the chengara people. many organizations, including the socialist unity centre of india (suci), helped to deliver food to the site via dangerous forest routes. on september 3, hundreds of cpi (m) supported people marched towards chengara. while the police blocked the party workers on their way to the struggle site, laha observed that it was a strategic move of the government (ibid., pp. 13–17). moreover, it was also a victory of the civil society in kerala. there was a mass ‘online movement’ titled ‘do not repeat muthanga’ that called for sending text messages to the secretary of cpi (m) prakash karat requesting preventive measures to avoid an open confrontation between the party men and chengara people. in short, the chengara movement successfully generated wider support from civil society. however, the cpi (m) was keen to sideline laha gopalan and his struggle. finally, the ldf government unilaterally declared the ‘chengara package’ without any discussions with the leaders of the struggle. laha observed that the chengara package was a betrayal of the landless poor in kerala. the land allotted to the majority was not useful for cultivation and housing. only sixty families got cultivable land and others who accepted the government’s offer were cheated. many people were not ready to leave chengara. therefore the struggle continued despite government negligence and efforts from the ruling class to thwart the movement (gopalan, 2013). at one point, laha was forced to leave the struggle site due to strong internal differences regarding his leadership. in an interview, the state secretary of svsv admitted that ‘we had mistaken laha due to the maneuvers of some people. the movement had weakened in the absence of laha’ (cherippittakavu, 2023). the state vice-president of svsv, rajendran said, ‘laha’s initiatives helped us to study more about ayyankali and ambedkar that developed a feeling of self-respect and consciousness about ourselves’ (rajendran, 2023). after the demise of laha gopalan, chengara still struggles and ‘lack of coordination is the main issue’ (chandrakumar, 2023). p.k. babu, the state treasurer of svsv concluded from his experiences in the struggle: ‘laha stood for the reimagining resources: analyzing the politics of dalit land struggles in kerala, india 111 landless poor people beyond the caste, sub-caste divisions. this was the unique feature of this movement’ (babu, 2023). from a social movement perspective, the chengara struggle has several credentials, its contributions are unique and offer important lessons to dalit movements in india. conclusion by way of conclusion, it is pertinent to note that the chengara movement was not the final word regarding the right assertions of the deprived sections in kerala. it was one among many land struggles active in kerala. however, the movement has provided important lessons to the protagonists of social movements from below, especially in the indian context. the creative and generative features of the struggle were not spontaneous, but rather the outcome of a systematic understanding of the social mobilizations since ayyankali. the most unique feature of the movement was its inclusiveness and the construction of a dalit identity around the issue of land. the leaders of the movement recognised that the issue of land was the common denominator and the root cause of the marginalization of the dalits in kerala. the movement also succeeded in highlighting the land issue of the dalits in the public sphere, and the movement got wider support from civil society. as an immediate result of the struggle, few families got cultivable land elsewhere in kerala, but the majority of the people were cheated with rocky lands in remote areas. few hundreds of families remained at the chengara struggle site even without voter id cards. they do not have house numbers and their names were not entered in the citizens register. in short, the government has not yet recognised the chengara people as citizens of india. thus, the assertions of the chengara people are still alive. chengara represents the exclusionary side of the ‘kerala model’ and the failure of the communist party to pursue an inclusive social movement agenda. the communist party failed to address the specificities of social formation and power relations in kerala. capitalism developed in kerala concomitant with the prevailing caste hierarchy, and the upper and middle caste sections and the influential religious minority groups reaped the benefits of postcolonial development at the expense of the historically vulnerable people. the indomitable unity of the upper caste sections at the top of the governance system systematically excluded the backward caste groups from the mainstream. there are two important reasons behind the failure of the communist party to address the dalit question in kerala: 1) the economic reductionism of western marxism put constraints on the communist party in understanding the influence of the ideational sphere in determining the material realities. decades before ambedkar rightly pointed out that: “if the sources of power and domination is, at any given time or in any given society, social and religious, then social reform and religious reform must be accepted as the necessary sort of reform” (1936/2013, p. 230). he viewed that without addressing the caste question, precisely without annihilating caste, a coordinated working-class movement in india could not be possible (ambedkar, 1936, p. 232; also see teltumbde, 2018). 2) as like many other institutions in the state, 112 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 the caste hierarchy influenced the communist party. the ‘secularized casteism’ is a general feature of both civil and political societies in kerala (devika, 2010, p. 802). another important reason behind cpi (m)’s antipathy towards the chengara movement was the result of the transformation that happened to the party under the neoliberal phase—the shift from the catalyst agent of social transformation towards an institutionalized mechanism for legitimate corporatization. the cpi (m), in association with the harrisons malayalam plantations, tried their best to torpedo the movement. as far as the cpi (m) was concerned, many disturbing facts prompted them to blindly oppose the struggle. the mass mobilization of the landless people, irrespective of their caste and religious differences, challenged the monopoly of the cpi (m) over social mobilization. the chengara movement also problematized the tall claims of the cpi (m) that the land issue was resolved with the erstwhile land reforms. if the movement succeeded, there would be a legitimacy crisis in the party, because the major support base of the party were the dalits who were chained in the three cent colonies in the post-land reform period. as a response to the new consciousness developed among the deprived sections in the bottom line of society, the cpi (m) employed the usual strategy. it created organizations ‘pattika jathi kshema samithi’ (scheduled caste welfare organisation, pks) and ‘adivasi kshema samithi’ (adivasi welfare organisation, aks) to curb the outflow of the dalits and adivasis from the party. hence, it opened up new avenues of confrontation amongst the underprivileged sections in kerala. in short, since the inception of caste system, the ruling class scattered the deprived sections into numerous sub-caste groups. however, history showed glimpses of unified movements of the 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(1980). christian missionaries and social awakening in kerala. journal of kerala studies, 4(1), 197–198. © 2025 gaurav j. pathania. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2631 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 485-487 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste heart lamp author: banu mushtaq publisher: penguin year: 2025 reviewer: gaurav j. pathania1 the international booker prize 2025 winner is heart lamp by banu mushtaq translated from kannada to english by deepa bhasthi. heart lamp, a literal translation of the kannada term hridaya deepa, is a radiant collection of twelve stories that illuminate the inner lives of women in muslim communities of southern india, capturing the quiet yet pervasive pressures of patriarchy, religious tradition, class, and belonging through prose that is both spare and resonant. what distinguishes the collection is its steady refusal to treat muslim identity as monolithic: mushtaq’s characters inhabit social hierarchies, moral contradictions, and multiple registers of belonging, and it is precisely in these tensions that the possibility of critique emerges. mushtaq constructs her narratives through an intersectional lens, engaging not only with gender but also with the dynamics of class, caste, and religion. across its twelve stories, one of heart lamp’s greatest strengths is mushtaq’s ability to transform ordinary domestic scenes into moments that unsettle moral certainties. the title story, “heart lamp,” portrays a married woman with children whose dreams of continuing her studies are stifled as she struggles against her family’s patriarchal and traditional expectations. “as evening started to lose its light, lamps were lit around the house. but the lamp in mehurn’s heart had been extinguished a long time ago. who should she live for?” (p. 108). in “black cobras,” a woman abandoned 1assistant professor of sociology and peacebuilding at the eastern mennonite university, virginia, usa e-mail: gaurav.pathania@emu.edu 486 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 by her husband confronts a mosque authority (mutawalli) to demand sustenance for her children, only to be dismissed until she stages a public protest. “a decision of the heart” explores the severe tensions of married life, reducing a woman’s fate to two bleak options: “the first option was to give talaq to akhila… the second option was to marry another woman to punish akhila” (p. 71). in another story, “fire rain,” mushtaq exposes how a clergyman twists religious doctrine to deny women their rights, weaving rumor, gossip, and communal pressure into a sharp allegory of unchecked spiritual authority. through subtle narrative compression and moments of tonal irony, mushtaq reveals how forces of shame, obligation, and hierarchy shape women’s lives long before violence becomes visible. while mushtaq foregrounds religion, she does not entirely evade the question of caste among muslims. in some stories the hierarchies seem implicit: women belonging to “lesser” muslim households or those doing menial labor must address elders or mosque authorities in deferential tones, while more educated women navigate normative pieties more confidently. the translator’s note suggests that caste is part of this landscape of social distance even within muslim communities, though the stories seldom stage caste as a central conflict. there is fertile ground here: for example, how “purity”, a concept typically associated with hindu caste discourse, may migrate into muslim households in terms of “respectable” lineage, endogamy, or social ranking tied to occupational histories (e.g. housekeeping, pious lineage). mushtaq hints at these gradations but rarely lets them dominate the narrative; perhaps this is a deliberate reticence, a recognition that within her communities, such caste distinctions are lived and understood rather than loudly contested. deepa bhasthi’s translation merits special recognition. by leaving arabic, urdu, and kannada terms untranslated—and refraining from footnotes or italics—she preserves the cadence of regional speech while refusing to flatten cultural specificity for anglophone readers. her refusal to mark these terms as “foreign” subtly resists colonial translation practices that otherize linguistic differences. yet this choice carries trade-offs: readers unfamiliar with the cultural context may feel unsettled by the untranslated vocabulary or unspoken references. at certain moments, too, a firmer editorial hand might have helped; abrupt tonal shifts—for example, when a story of simmering tension veers suddenly into satire—can feel jarring rather than propulsive. another limitation lies in uneven attention to wider structural forces. many stories focus intimately on individuals and their immediate relational worlds, husbands, mosque elders, neighbors—but less on political economy, electoral power, or legal institutions. for instance, when a woman seeks mosque support or claim under sharia, the stories often bypass the broader institutional logics that enable or frustrate her claim. this is not necessarily a flaw—mushtaq’s strength is in subtle detail—but it means that readers seeking more systemic critique may find the collection wanting. moreover, because the narrative lens is so often interior and personal, heart lamp occasionally risks reiteration: the oppressive husband, the silent shame, the thwarted voice appears across multiple stories, and some vignettes echo one another in their texture if not in plot. the power is cumulative, but for readers attuned to structure, a heart lamp 487 few stories feel more necessary than others. a slightly tighter editorial shaping could heighten the collection’s overall arc. as one engages with this work, an inevitable set of questions arises: in what ways can literary texts more clearly reveal the workings of caste within muslim social life, particularly in relation to hindu-majority hierarchies? how do structures such as islamic schooling, land ownership, or mosque governance sustain, or challenge, forms of caste-like stratification? mushtaq’s understated, empathetic narratives gesture toward these dilemmas without offering resolution, which seems to be her very intent: to provoke reflection rather than deliver admonition. in sum, heart lamp is a richly layered, morally perceptive, and stylistically restrained collection whose power lies in its intimate perspective. the acknowledgment of more than 900 individuals speaks to the writer’s deep social capital, while the translator’s careful labor shines through each story. the book gives voice to women obscured by pious façades, brings into focus the gulf between devotion and authority, and points toward entrenched inequalities, including caste, within muslim communities. its achievement lies not in offering resolution, but in compelling us to dwell in the tension, to breathe with it, and to feel the lamp’s fragile yet persistent glow in the dark. © 2025 dominic esler. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2637 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 202-235 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka dominic esler1 abstract in this article i argue that sri lankan caste research has been inhibited by the widespread popular assumption that caste manifests in sri lanka in the form of parallel and incommensurate ethnoreligious caste systems. in other words, while scholars working elsewhere in south asia approach caste per se as an important comparative topic, in sri lanka caste is usually enclosed and circumscribed within a framework of essentialised tamil hindu or sinhala buddhist identities that precludes similar comparative investigations. i begin with a review of sri lankan caste scholarship, demonstrating its post-independence division into two ethnic streams with varying thematic foci and levels of attention to caste, before interrogating the three underlying principles of the ethnoreligious theory and their assumptions about the nature of caste, religion and ethnicity. after historicising the theory, i offer a critique that draws on empirical evidence and theoretical debates from sri lanka and elsewhere. in doing so, i set out the foundations of an integrated and comparative anthropology of caste in sri lanka, one which is not restricted by the assumption that caste is ultimately an epiphenomenon of ethnicity, but which is nevertheless attentive to the role that this popular perception plays in the relational dynamics of local identity formation and caste practice. keywords caste, sri lanka, ethnicity, tamil, sinhalese, religion, discursive enclosure, ethnoreligious theory of caste introduction despite the large amount of research that has been conducted on caste in sri lanka, only rarely has the study of caste itself been the subject of critical reflection (esler, 2025; rogers, 2004; silva, 2018). in this article i propose that the absence of such analysis, and the ways in which caste research is usually conceptualised and 1assistant professor of anthropology, lahore university of management sciences e-mail: dominic.esler@lums.edu.pk an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka 203 conducted, are the result of a largely implicit theory of caste that has become accepted orthodoxy among the majority of caste researchers. while this theory derives from the widespread popular view of caste as a hindu institution, in the sri lankan context caste is considered to have become, via the ethnicisation of religion, an inherent property of ethnicity. the ethnoreligious theory of caste, as i will refer to it, therefore holds that caste manifests in sri lanka in the form of separate and independent tamil hindu and sinhalese buddhist caste systems. if caste in india has, as mosse has argued (2020a, 2020b), been discursively ‘enclosed’ within the categories of religion and politics, in sri lanka it has been enclosed within ethnicity, and sri lanka itself is viewed as relevant only as the geographical space within which parallel but sealed ethnoreligious caste systems coexist. while the ethnoreligious theory of caste is certainly not the only factor in the development of sri lankan caste research, which has also been strongly affected by changes of research foci during the war and the popular view of caste as irrelevant to contemporary sri lankan society—a view that will be very familiar to caste researchers across south asia—it is my contention that the theory’s largely unrecognised and unchecked acceptance has restricted and hindered sri lankan caste research in vital but overlooked ways. first, it has resulted in the partitioning of research into studies of caste among either tamils or sinhalese, without attentive comparative analysis to justify this division, consideration of factors that cannot be reduced to ethnicity or religion, or interrogation of the categories of ethnicity and religion themselves. second, it has resulted in an ethnographic literature that is empirically patchy and increasingly theoretically disengaged, especially from the debates that have occurred in the vast literature on caste in other parts of south asia and beyond. caste is considered to be already understood in its totality, even if its local specificities remain uncertain: a topic of curiosity and potential controversy, but one of little relevance to contemporary sri lanka. even the resurgence of interest in caste immediately following the civil war appears to be fading, as attested by the absence of new ethnographic research projects. in other words, i contend that the ethnoreligious theory of caste is the key reason for why what is, after india and nepal, the third largest collection of regional caste scholarship has not developed into an integrated, comparative, and self-reflexive field. until that happens, sri lankan caste scholarship will remain less than the sum of its parts. in this article i not only identify the ethnoreligious theory, its origins and consequences, but also set out a critique of the theory and suggestions for how caste in sri lanka might be reconceptualised in the future through an integrated approach. this does not mean trying to produce a new theory of caste, nor will i argue that caste is somehow the same everywhere in sri lanka. neither does it mean that previous caste research has not made valuable contributions to the anthropological understanding of sri lanka. what it does involve, however, is rethinking the assumptions about religion and ethnicity that underpin the ethnoreligious theory, and instead treating these factors not as transhistorical essences that can only act unilaterally upon caste but as changing, historically contingent factors that only explain part of the sri lankan context. in order 204 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 to do this, in the following pages i provide a rereading of the work on caste in sri lanka, drawing out similarities, differences and connections across the boundaries of the putative ethnoreligious caste systems. this approach has two broader benefits. on the one hand, i foreground and critique the customary ethnic division that runs throughout sri lankan research more broadly. on the other, i open the possibility of revitalising the abandoned task of drawing sri lanka into discussions of caste across south asia, one that has been made increasingly difficult by the challenge of comparing sri lanka’s assumed ethnoreligious caste systems with the incommensurate nature of what is frequently presumed to be the national caste system of ‘hindu india’. sri lankan caste research until my 2025 overview of caste research in sri lanka there had been no attempt to bring the sinhalese and tamil caste research together, and in this section i revisit and expand upon the earlier bibliography to demonstrate the role that ethnicity has played in the production of this scholarship. as in india (fuller, 2017), british anthropologists had little interest in the topic of caste in sri lanka until after independence, and during the period of british colonialism (1795-1948) caste research was similarly conducted by government officials, missionaries or sri lankans themselves. unlike its indian equivalent, however, this work received less attention from continental european scholars as described by fuller,1 and colonial attitudes towards caste also differed significantly between the two countries. while caste was increasingly central to statecraft in india during the second half of the nineteenth century, in sri lanka the colonial state took a contrary path, deciding to cease intervening in caste in the 1830s—most importantly by abolishing caste-based compulsory labour—and later discouraging discussion of caste in official spheres. i will return to this topic later, but some of the key outcomes of this divergence, and their relevance for subsequent caste scholarship, must be highlighted here. in contrast to india, there was in sri lanka no attempt to systemically classify castes or produce an all-sri lanka caste hierarchy, no collection of information about caste in sri lanka’s national censuses when they began in 1871, and no caste-based legislation comparable to the criminal tribes act or reservations. in this context, it is unsurprising that there was also no state-supported research on caste, and therefore no works comparable to those such as risley’s people of india (1915), thurston and rangachari’s castes and tribes of southern india (1909), or ibbetson’s panjab castes (1916). the research on caste that was published in colonial sri lanka was conducted independently and on a much smaller scale, and mainly appeared in the following formats: 1) occasional essays and journal articles, such as koorundu (1833), johnston (1833), casie chitty (1834, pp. 227–251;1855, 1865, 1886), hartshorne (1876), codrington (1909, 1921), and kapuruhami (1948, p. 2); 2) observations and numerical 1although it is notable that hocart’s caste: a comparative study first appeared in a french translation in paris in 1938, with a short preface by marcel mauss, twelve years before its english edition was published. an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka 205 data scattered throughout a series of handbooks about individual districts and provinces written by senior officials and published between 1888 and 1921;2 3) observations in monographs on a range of other topics, such as armour (1842), codrington (1936), cordiner (1807), d’oyly (1929), davy (1821), denham (1912), hayley (1923), and tennent (1860, vol. i, pp. 421–428), a category to which we can also add earlier texts from the dutch period (1640-1796) by knox (1681) and valentyn (1726); and 4), a very small number of texts dedicated specifically to caste: de saram (1888), casie chitty (1992), caste, in the island of ceylon (1853) by the american missionaries meigs, poor and howland, and hocart’s caste: a comparative study (1950). apart from the last category, however, the discussions of caste in these publications are usually brief and rarely detailed, lacking theoretical and empirical depth in comparison with contemporary indian scholarship. besides published texts, there is also a wealth of references to caste in other sources, such as the administrative reports (compiled for each district from the 1860s onwards) and other official records, diaries and letters (see for example balmforth, 2025; t. gunasekera, 1994; meyer, 2014); newspapers (balmforth, 2025; pfaffenberger, 1990); the memoirs left by dutch governors for their successors (many of which have been translated into english, e.g. van rhee 1915), dutch laws (mutukisna, 1862; schrikker, 2007; wickramasinghe and schrikker, 2019), and the population registers known as thombos (bulten, 2023); missionary archives (balmforth, 2020; esler, 2020); and other local sources such as vitti pot (sinhalese for ‘books of events’) (obeyesekere, 2015, 2019) and the caste histories and polemics that became popular in the late nineteenth century (dharmaratna, 1890; a.p. kannangara, 1993; roberts, 1982). however, as p.d. kannangara noted in 1988, there remains much to explore. this, in conjunction with the ahistorical nature of the ethnoreligious theory, is perhaps part of the reason for why contemporary post-independence anthropology on caste is largely disconnected from both published histories and pre-independence sources (exceptions being esler, 2020; t. gunasekera, 1994; mcgilvray, 2008; pfaffenberger, 1990; whitaker, 1999). the most notable oversight is hocart, whose work has not had a significant impact in sri lanka (although see mcgilvray, 2008, pp. 84, 136, 182; stirrat, 1982, p. 31), despite becoming a central pillar of post-dumontian caste theory in india and nepal (dirks, 1987; quigley, 1993; raheja, 1988). for example, an important 1989 article by yalman advanced a strongly hocartian argument about the deification of kings without referring to hocart at all. a small number of historians have worked on caste among tamils in jaffna: arasaratnam (1981) and pfaffenberger (1990) have written about vellalar dominance, balmforth (2025) about activism against caste discrimination between the 1920s and 1950s, and some scholars have also recently turned to the relationship between caste and 2the works concerned the districts of batticaloa (canagaratnam, 1921), jaffna (horsburgh, 1916), mannar (boake, 1888; denham, 1906, 1916), nuwara eliya (le mesurier, 1893), puttalam (modder, 1908, 1917), trincomalee (muthukrishna, 1916) and the vanni (vavuniya and mullaitivu) (lewis, 1895; unknown 1916), as well as central (lawrie, 1898), northcentral (ievers, 1899) and uva (white, 1893) provinces. 206 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 slavery (balmforth, 2021; schrikker, 2007; wickramasinghe, 2020; wickramasinghe and schrikker, 2019). however, most historical research has involved topics focused on sinhalese. first, investigations into the influence of caste, or presence of castelike formations, in the first millenium c.e., drawing evidence from epigraphy, the chronicles and later commentaries (p.v.b. karunatilaka, 1983, 1988, 2001; nicholas, 1950), and archaeology (coningham and young, 2007). second, a handful of topics focused on the kandyan kingdom, the last part of sri lanka to fall under colonial rule in 1815, concerning migrant brahmins (obeyesekere, 2015), state ritual and labour organisation (dewaraja, 1988; peiris, 1956; seneviratne, 1978). third, the influence of caste on the institutional development of theravada buddhism (kemper, 1980; liyanagamage, 1982; malalgoda, 1976). fourth, the colonial impact on caste with regard to administration, official appointments and compulsory service (arasaratnam, 1981; bastiampillai, 1988; m.u. de silva, 1992/1993, 1993, 2005, 2015), as well as the state’s withdrawal from caste and the new forms of social classification that emerged at this time (rogers, 2004a, 2004b). fifth, caste formation, mobility and status claims, largely after the changes of the 1830s (gunasekera, 1994; jayawardena, 2000; roberts, 1982; see dewasiri, 2008 for a discussion of the dutch period). as i have previously noted (2025, p. 385), social scientific research on caste in sri lanka after 1948 can be divided into three broad stages, a framework that i continue to employ here. however, while my earlier essay focused on key themes in contemporary research, more pertinent to my argument here is the way in which this scholarship displays varying thematic foci and levels of attention to caste in relation to ethnicity. the first stage began with ryan’s 1953 monograph caste in modern ceylon, which remains the standard reference for sinhalese caste matters today. in contrast to the work on localised caste dynamics emerging from the first village ethnographies being conducted in india at the same time, ryan’s work went some way to filling the gap left by the absence of the kind of colonial glossaries of caste which were never produced in sri lanka (e.g. risley, 1915), although an earlier article about sinhalese castes by gilbert (1945) had done something similar using secondary sources. beginning with descriptions of individual castes, caste in modern ceylon then turns to examples of villages in different areas of the country and broader observations about national caste dynamics, although without significant ethnographic data on caste praxis. while later work among sinhalese tended to move away from this kind of multicaste approach (a prominent exception being yalman, 1971), almost all subsequent scholars followed ryan in focusing on caste within a single ethnicity, exceptions being (again) yalman (1971), later research by piyarathne (2018, pp. 147–189) in panama (one of yalman’s fieldsites), and two studies that consider the relationship between the veddas, caste and sinhalese and tamil identity, respectively (brow, 2011; dart, 1985).3 however, from caste in modern ceylon until its end in the 1980s with the 3it has usually been thought that sri lankan muslims do not practice caste, even if one castelike group, the endogamous osta ‘barber-circumcisers’, exists among them (mcgilvray 2008, an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka 207 beginning of the civil war, the first stage of sri lankan caste research witnessed the greatest interest in caste, pursued through the widest range of topics. village studies did appear, and were found mainly in sinhalese research, although they were never as popular nor as ‘holistic’ as their counterparts in india, with the earlier ethnographers in sri lanka prioritising kinship and land use, and caste being a largely secondary concern. the villages studied were primarily inhabited by ‘upper-caste’ sinhalese govigamas (gamburd, 2009; leach, 1961; obeyesekere, 1967; robinson, 1975; ryan, jayasena and wickremesinghe, 1958; tambiah, 1954), and relatively little detail about intercaste relationships was provided (although see u.a. gunasekara 1965; senaratne 1970; spencer 1990; yalman 1961, 1962, 1971). other sinhalese research considered caste in relation to topics such as agrarian relations (t. gunasekera, 1994; gunasinghe, 2007; also see essays in brow and weeramunda, 1992 and morrison and moore, 1979), politics and the jvp (jayanntha, 1992; jiggins, 1979; obeyesekere, 1974), buddhism (gombrich, 1971; kendrick, 1992; kemper, 1980; seneviratne, 1978), catholicism (stirrat, 1982), and ‘low-caste’ ritual and craft specialists (raghavan, 1957; kirk, 1992; simpson, 1984, 1997; winslow, 1994). there was also one longer study of a coastal caste, the karava (raghavan, 1971). tamil research in the first stage addressed a smaller number of themes but tended to foreground caste through more expansive explorations of ideology and intercaste relationships (especially banks, 1957, 1961; david, 1973, 1977; mcgilvray, 1982, 1983, 2008; somasundram, 1954; whitaker, 1999). it shared with the sinhalese research an interest in kinship, but was less concerned with land ownership (although see ishak lebbe, 1979). in addition, there were studies of caste and hinduism (mcgilvray, 1982, 1983, 2008; perinbanayagam, 1965, 1982; pfaffenberger, 1982; k.s. ryan, 1980; whitaker, 1999), gender (skjønsberg, 1982), language (suseendirarajah, 1970), caste identity among the tamils working in hill country tea plantations whose ancestors came from india in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (hollup, 1993, 1994; jayaraman, 1964, 1975, 1981), a detailed analysis of paraiyar specialists (mcgilvray, 1983), and a book-length study of hindu karaiyar fishers—a caste analogous to the karava—unusual for its focus on tamils living in puttalam, a sinhalese majority area (tanaka, 1997). the tamil scholarship also displayed a greater sense of cumulative focus that was related to its keener sense of regional specificity. for this reason, these studies can also be organised according to research conducted among tamils in jaffna, the east coast, and the hill country. what is notable about the first stage, even if it remained a secondary concern, is that there was a greater interest in caste as a theoretical issue, and in related debates outside sri lanka, than in subsequent research (especially leach, 1961; mcgilvray, 1982; stirrat, 1982; and yalman, 1961a, 1961b, 1962, 1971). while spencer commented in 1990 that ‘early clarity [about caste] has been steadily replaced by confusion and obscurity’ (p. 187), in retrospect the 1950s–1980s produced some of pp. 308–310). however, faslan (2025) has recently proposed that the muslims in southern sri lanka are divided into five castes, of which the ostas are one. 208 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 the most insightful research, raising many important questions that were dropped in the second stage, which lasted from the start of the civil war to its end in 2009. during these years, caste research appeared only sporadically, addressing a much narrower range of topics, and mainly focused on sinhalese. these changes were due to growing academic attention to ethnicity and religion in the context of the civil war, as well as the severe difficulty of conducting research in the war-affected tamil majority areas of the north and east. there was some consideration of the relationship between caste and sinhalese identity (m. w. a de silva, 2009; silva, 1999; uyangoda, 1998), and of the ‘subterranean’ role of caste in politics (uyangoda, 1998, 2000a, 2000b), but the majority of sinhalese publications now focused on specialist castes, sometimes building on prewar research (p. de silva, 2000; reed, 2002; simpson, 1997; sykes, 2018; winslow, 2003). this trend demonstrated a growing attention to caste inequality (especially uyangoda, 1998, 2012; weeratunga, 1988), including in buddhist contexts (samuels, 2007b), and was exemplified by silva, sivapragasam and thanges’s 2009 collection of four studies of caste discrimination across sri lanka. however, there was no research on ‘upper-caste’ sinhalese govigamas at all during this period. among tamils in the north and east, caste research only began again during the 2002–2007 ceasefire (bremner, 2013; derges, 2013; gaasbeek, 2010; jeeweshwara räsänen, 2015; madavan, 2011), although pfaffenberger (1990) and hellmanrajanayagam (1993, 1994) published investigations of the relationship between caste, politics, nationalism and tamil identity in the early 1990s, the former drawing on prewar ethnographic research and secondary sources, the latter on local wartime publications and interviews conducted in sri lanka and india. two anthropologists also considered caste in new projects in hill country tea plantations (bass, 2013; jegathesan, 2019, 2021), and the first dedicated monograph on caste for several decades (and based on several decades’ work) was published (mcgilvray, 2008). the third stage, which brings us to the present day, began with the end of the war in 2009 and has been largely distinguished by new projects among tamils in northern sri lanka conducted by doctoral researchers, some of which remain unpublished (bruland, 2015; esler, 2020, 2021; hollenbach, et al. 2020; kadirgamar, 2017; kuganathan, 2022; sanmugeswaran, 2020, 2023; silva, 2020; sritharan, 2025; thanges, 2018; thiranagama, 2018). if a key theme connects this scholarship, it is the effect of the war and its end on caste practice and ideology. the smaller body of sinhalese research that has emerged since 2009 largely builds on topics from stages one and two: casteidentified names and identity (heslop, 2015; m.w.a. de silva, 2018), caste in the jvp movement (moore, 2021) and contemporary electoral politics (peiris, 2021), and the persistence of caste inequality in the context of normative denials of caste experienced by low-status kinnaras (douglas, 2017, 2019). abeyasekera (2021) has also brought a long-overdue attention to ‘upper-caste’ practices, in this case through marriages in colombo’s middle class. an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka 209 the ethnoreligious theory of caste in sri lanka the following quotations are statements of what i have called the ethnoreligious theory: the sinhalese and the tamils each possess a caste system peculiar to their own nationality. the tamils, being in a minority and sharing the social stratification of their fellow nationals in india, are not considered in this paper except where they show relationships with the sinhalese. (gilbert, 1945, p. 69) ceylon possesses two caste structures, the tamil, no more than a regional variant within the south indian pattern, and the sinhalese, a self-contained emergent arising from diffuse indian influences and historically unique situations. (ryan, 1953, pp. 4–5). in ceylon, in contrast to india, there were no necessary links between the traditional status system and the traditional religious system. in india the status of each caste was evaluated in terms of brahmanical teachings; in ceylon no such explicitly formulated standard prevailed for status evaluation. in india the caste system was maintained and consolidated by the priestly authority of the brahmins; in ceylon no priestly caste existed. the consolidation and legitimation of caste in ceylon, therefore, was primarily a secular function mainly in the hands of the political authority, the king. (malalgoda, 1976, p. 46) sinhalese castes have many of the characteristics of the hindu model, but with some crucial differences. they are ranked, endogamous, hereditary named groups with traditional occupations, but there is no religious sanction for the caste hierarchy, and there are no brahmins to integrate them. they are castes without a caste system. (peebles, 1995, pp. 44–45) in comparison to india, the caste system in sri lanka is considered to be mild. three parallel and more or less independent caste systems prevail in sri lanka: sinhala, sri lanka tamil and indian tamil. […] the caste systems in sri lanka can be considered less rigid compared to the hindu caste system in india because of the secular nature of the hierarchy, a critical doctrinal perspective relating to caste in buddhism, the predominant religion in sinhala society, a relatively weak notion of untouchability in caste systems in sri lanka and relatively small size of the bottom layer of society. (silva, sivapragasam and thanges, 2009, pp. 1–2) caste in sri lanka is dynamic in both sinhalese and tamil communities, and there are even some parallels between these. for the sinhalese, caste was not connected to religion—buddhism is against it—as it is more socio-economic. for tamils, the roots of caste stems from the hindu religion where the rig veda classifies people according to varnastra dharma, so that caste has a socio-religious base. (jeeweshwara räsänen, 2015, p. 65) i have explained above that sinhalese and tamil caste research has been produced in two largely separate streams, and that the focal themes and attention to caste in each 210 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 has varied. the central argument of this essay is that the shape of the intellectual history of caste in sri lanka is one of the consequences of the fact that scholars have overwhelmingly drawn upon, and continue to reproduce, an ethnoreligious theory of caste which holds that caste manifests in sri lanka in the form of separate and independent tamil hindu and sinhalese buddhist caste systems. in this section i discuss the underlying theory itself, direct expressions of which—such as the examples quoted above—are rare and brief, usually appearing in introductions to the topic of caste and primarily in order to explain the existence of caste among sinhalese buddhists, which is assumed to be a paradox. underpinning the ethnoreligious theory of caste, i propose, are the following principles: 1. caste derives from hinduism, and buddhism is antithetical to it. 2. caste is a characteristic of tamil ethnicity due to the tamil relationship with hinduism. 3. ethnoreligious caste systems are essentially different and are impermeable to outside influences. as can be seen from the extracts above, it is not the case that each of these principles are expressed in every instance of the theory, and in fact they become increasingly implicit: the first principle is the most explicitly stated and elaborated, while the third is indicated by empirical and theoretical absences. it is not my argument that all caste scholars necessarily support the theory, in full or in part, and in later sections i offer some evidence to the contrary. one possible objection to my approach is that an absence of something is not necessarily evidence of the presence of something else, which is one consequence of my arguing for the increasing implicitness of the principles. however, i do think that many scholars of sri lanka share the presumptions described below, and if not, at the very least i hope to prompt them to express their thoughts on this subject. caste derives from hinduism, and buddhism is antithetical to it the assumption that caste is a property of hinduism is an instance of a widespread popular and academic view with which caste scholars working elsewhere will be very familiar. according to this view, caste is an enduring form of hindu social organisation whose ancient origins are described in the myth of the sacrifice of purusha and the creation of the four varnas in the rigveda. its most elaborate and influential theoretical articulation is found in the work of louis dumont (1980), who argued that caste derives from a hindu ideological principle of the opposition between ritual purity and impurity, producing a hierarchy whose extremes are represented by the brahman and the untouchable. according to dumont, the spiritual authority of the brahman supersedes the temporal authority of the kshatriya, a situation that arose from a contract that the kings made with the priests in the distant past (dumont, 1980, pp. 287–313). with regard to members of other religions, dumont argued that caste can only exist ‘in more or less attenuated forms’ (dumont, 1980, p. 210), either because certain ideological features are absent even if other characteristics of caste are present, an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka 211 or because the ideology of the new religion has not yet developed fully (dumont, 1980, p. 205). of sri lanka, dumont briefly proposed that as buddhism historically favoured the king rather than the brahmin, the disjunction between status and power did not occur, as a consequence of which the king remained primary and the brahmins few. caste in sri lanka therefore ‘has all the characteristics of caste except its vigour’, and is ‘quasi-caste rather than caste proper’ (dumont, 1980, p. 216). it is either a testament to dumont’s extensive influence, or to the fact that his theory reflected existing preconceptions about caste, that sri lankan caste research— particularly research that focuses on sinhalese—has a strongly dumontian sensibility despite rarely referring to his work outside of the abovementioned handful of scholars in the first stage of caste research who engaged with debates beyond sri lanka. in short, caste is presumed to derive fundamentally from hinduism, religious and political domains are ontologically separate, and buddhism is ideologically opposed to caste, with a slippage from buddhist caste to that of sri lanka as a whole. in his famous history of sri lanka, for example, k.m. de silva claims that ‘caste has no religious sanction from buddhism’ and that buddhism ‘may well have retarded if not arrested the growth of caste, for some time at least’ (2005, pp. 57–58), while seneviratne proposes that buddhism ‘is possibly the best explanation for the relatively greater social liberalism in sri lanka when compared with muslim and hindu india’, and for the ‘mild form’ of the sri lankan (read sinhalese buddhist) caste system in comparison to that of the sri lankan hindu tamils (1999, p. 18). of course, the view that buddhism is antithetical to caste is not confined to sri lanka, and can be found in dr b. r. ambedkar’s anti-caste neo-buddhism (silva 2017), as well as in the beliefs of indian tamil buddhists recently discussed by ayyathurai (2020). two explanations, both only weakly substantiated by historical evidence, have been given for buddhism’s weakening of caste in sri lanka. the first is that the absence of ‘religious sanction’ means that caste among buddhists can only be ‘secular’. according to ryan (1953, 37–38), ‘the most critical factor in the secularization of sinhalese caste was the separation of priestliness and caste’, which occurred because the sangha was founded as a casteless order open to all. on the other hand, in his study of the kandyan kingdom, pieris proposed that while caste was secularised by being ‘uprooted from its sacrificial base’, it was ‘consolidated and legitimated through the medium of the entire apparatus of a strong central government’ (1956, p. 180; see also malalgoda, 1976, p. 46). similar concepts can be seen in the work of scholars who describe sinhalese caste as ‘feudal’ (jiggins, 1979; leach, 1959; although cf. roberts, 1984), as well as in descriptions of migrant communities from india being incorporated into the sinhalese caste system for specific labour purposes (roberts, 1982, pp. 48–49). second, sinhalese buddhist caste is held to lack three specific religious dimensions of the ‘indian hindu caste system’. first, the notion of varna is described as either absent—‘contrary to the indian experience, what is almost wholly lacking as an accepted referent is the idea of a single encompassing, universal, and primordial hierarchy, conceptualised in varna’ (jiggins, 1979, p. 19)—or incomplete, specifically 212 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 missing brahmans and kshatriyas (gombrich, 1971, p. 296; pieris, 1956, p. 171). second, the absence of an equivalent caste to the brahmans among sinhalese means that ‘there are no brahmins to integrate them’ (peebles, 1995, p. 45). although unexplored empirically, the relatively small number of hindu brahmans among tamils, and their lack of authority, is thought to have a similar weakening effect (rogers, 2004, p. 52). third, the notion of ‘ritual pollution’ is either diminished or non-existent among the sinhalese, as a result of which untouchability either does not exist, or – usually in reference to the stigmatised kinnara and rodi castes – exists solely as a secular rather than a religious condition (gombrich, 1971, p. 296; mahroof, 2000, p. 43; ryan, 1953, pp. 16–17). it is important to note here that these arguments exist in parallel to the recognition that caste has played a role in the institutional structure of buddhism—for example, in recruitment for the main nikāyas, or monastic lineages (kemper, 1980)—as well as in theological interpretation, as seen in the legitimation of caste inequality on the basis of karma (silva, 2017, pp. 9–10). while many scholars have viewed religion as a force that acts unidirectionally on caste, a smaller number have made the more nuanced argument that the existence of caste among sinhalese buddhists, even in weakened form, is due to buddhism itself changing to accommodate caste. for example, buddhism ‘adapted to the secular structure’ (jiggins, 1979, pp. 19–20) or ‘transformed itself to legitimise the caste system’ (dewasiri, 2008, p. 218). nevertheless, these perspectives tend to support the view that ‘authentic’ buddhism is anti-caste, as can be seen in the following comment by gombrich (1971, p. 310): ‘in no other respect has buddhism in ceylon come so far from its original state as in the invasion of the order by caste, yet another testimony to the remarkable strength of that insidious institution.’ caste is a characteristic of tamil ethnicity due to the tamil relationship with hinduism while the presumed relationship between hinduism and caste is a familiar one, it is complexified in the sri lankan context by the enclosure of religion, and therefore caste, within ethnicity. according to rogers (1994, pp. 14–15), within sri lanka’s ‘modern sociology of knowledge’ ethnicity is considered to be the primary and outermost layer, while religion and caste are considered to be subcategories of ethnicity. however, rogers’ point that religion is considered optional and caste inherent sidesteps the fact that hindu and buddhist identities are in fact highly constrained within emic assumptions about ethnicity, as demonstrated, for example, by the apparent incongruity of a ‘tamil buddhist’ (mckinley, 2022). similarly, despite the existence of large numbers of tamil and sinhalese christians, even conversion to christianity— particularly more recent denominations—may be considered a threat to ethnic identity. a notable way in which such an association between religion and ethnicity appears in academic scholarship can be seen in occasional claims that all jaffna tamils are hindus (e.g., david, 1973, 1977; perinbanayagam, 1965 and 1982; skjønsberg, 1982, p. 15), to the surprise of those who have observed the many christian churches in the region. in other words, religion is considered to be a significant characteristic of ethnic identity per se, and continues to have an ongoing influence on ethnicity after conversion an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka 213 to christianity. caste, therefore, is ultimately enclosed not within religion but within ethnicity. caste is not enacted by hindus or buddhists, but by tamils and sinhalese as a result of their relationship with hinduism and buddhism, respectively. tamils and sinhalese are thus considered as a whole to reproduce a certain kind of caste system as an essentialised ethnic characteristic, and as caste is viewed negatively in the public sphere, this differentiated ethnic characteristic also has a strongly ethical connotation. in other words, tamils are more hierarchical and discriminatory than sinhalese. for example, ryan (1953, p. 17) wrote that ‘the absence of the hindu concept [of untouchability] has rendered the sinhalese caste system mild and humanitarian when judged by indian standards’. this conceptualisation of caste in ethical terms existed long before recent research on caste as a form of stigmatisation and subordination. as a normative attitude connected to ethnic categories, such an understanding of caste has a broader political valence, as we will see later. finally, due to the tamil relationship with hinduism caste is only an authentic property of tamil ethnicity, and its presence among sinhalese must necessarily be anomalous and attenuated. ethnoreligious caste systems are essentially different and are impermeable to outside influences in the literature on caste, the term ‘caste system’ is used in three main ways: 1) as a synonym for caste itself; 2) as a way of conceptualising caste as a phenomenon with systemic properties; and 3) to identify localised instances of type 2, usually highlighting a particular systemic property as the limiting factor (e.g. a regional caste system, a religious caste system). it is in the third sense that caste system is used in sri lanka, always in the plural, with the limiting factor being ethnicity. however, the precise nature of the differences between the caste systems is largely overlooked, or rather assumed. in fact, in structural terms, similarities have been highlighted more often than differences, as many castes are considered to be analogous to each other, such as the landowning tamil vellalars and sinhalese govigamas who are numerically and socio-economically dominant in many parts of sri lanka (de silva, 1965, p. 187; gaasbeek, 2010, p. 86; ryan, 1953, p. 4; yalman, 1989, p. 144). moreover, the visual metaphor of an ‘inverted pyramid’ has been used to represent both sinhalese (pieris, 1952, p. 410; ryan, 1953, p. 95) and tamil (jayawardena, 2000, p. 165) caste systems. what differences are emphasised relate primarily to the presence or absence of the hindu properties of caste mentioned above, as well as to the strength of caste, a rather nebulous concept that refers to varying levels of commitment to hierarchical intercaste boundaries. this mix of similarities and differences does not include ‘non-religious’ factors such as the role of the colonial or postcolonial state: there is no ‘national context’ within which caste can be situated without the discourse being immediately channeled into the parallel systems framework. nor is there any consideration of how these caste systems might interact with or influence each other. in fact, caste systems are treated as if they are impermeable to outside influence, the only relevant factor being that of religion today or in the past. statements about caste being weaker at the level of 214 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 the nation than india rely on presumptions about caste within the systems and the demographic majority of sinhalese buddhists; significantly, the ‘milder’ form of sinhalese buddhist caste is not described as having an effect on the tamil system. a good example of this tendency is winslow’s important 2023 attempt to theorise sinhalese caste, which has much to say about influences from india but nothing on how tamils and sinhalese may have influenced each other within sri lanka. there is one caveat to make here. although two caste systems are usually identified in sri lanka, the ‘national’ tamil caste system fragments at higher levels of detail. for example, silva, sivapragasam and thanges (2009, p. 1) write that ‘three parallel and more or less independent caste systems prevail in sri lanka: sinhala, sri lanka tamil and indian tamil’, while mahroof (2000, p. 40) identifies four: the northern tamil (jaffna) system, the eastern province system, the plantation (estate) system, and a ‘fugitive’ system of a ‘narrow segment of urban scavenging workers’. however, in common with the projected model of ‘hindu india’, only one caste system is identified among the sinhalese, although some scholars propose that there were once two, one among sinhalese of the low country and another among the sinhalese of the kandyan region (mahroof, 2000, p. 40). while the multiplicity of contemporary tamil caste systems is due ostensibly to regional and intra-ethnic difference, i suggest that it is primarily a result of the more cumulative nature of tamil caste research and the greater attention that it has paid to intercaste relationships and historical contexts. historicising the ethnoreligious theory rather than emerging from evidence-based analysis, the ethnoreligious theory of caste is the contemporary expression of a discourse that became prominent under particular historical conditions in the 1830s, as has been most clearly demonstrated by rogers (1994, 2004a, 2004b) in his attempt to draw sri lanka into broader postcolonial debates about the colonial influence on caste. as is now well known, the historical turn in indian caste scholarship from the 1960s onwards foregrounded the late nineteenth century as the crucial period for the formation of caste in its modern form through the manifold effects of british colonial knowledge production and governance, such as classification and enumeration (appadurai, 1993; cohn, 1987; pinney, 1990). more recent research has offered a strong riposte to the more extreme claims of epistemic rupture made in this scholarship by being more attentive to indian actors and precolonial history (e.g. peabody, 2001, piliavsky, 2015), but the debate nevertheless continues to reflect a marked ‘methodological nationalism’ (wimmer and schiller, 2002) in its disinterest in relevant comparative examples from nepal (see guneratne, 2023) and sri lanka. as i emphasise later, however, sri lankan caste scholarship has also largely ignored its indian counterpart. of the three groups, only scholars of nepal demonstrate a strong cross-border scholarly awareness due to their engagement with indian work. colonial state intervention in caste in sri lanka differed from india in being, on the one hand, more formalised and sustained over a longer period than in india, and an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka 215 on the other, in turning in a starkly different direction in the 1830s. i will address these in turn. from the portuguese onwards, the colonial states in sri lanka drew upon precolonial practices that utilised caste as a key source of labour and taxation. castebased labour, which was known by the british as ‘compulsory service’, sometimes but not always drew upon ‘traditional’ caste occupations, although the labour assigned to individual castes could change depending on the needs of the state in the district in question. in a similar manner to that described in the indian scholarship, the colonial states also privileged specific castes for powerful headmen positions, and, especially under the dutch, passed laws that bound certain castes to their assigned labour. additionally, the thesawalamai, a dutch collection of ordinances applying to jaffna that was passed in 1707, established the legal ownership of members of four castes as slaves. while we do not yet have a good sense of the intellectual history of colonial ideas about caste in sri lanka, especially for the dutch and the portuguese periods, the long duration of specialised caste-based labour and its organisation, as seen for example in governor van rhee’s detailed list of caste duties in jaffna in 1697, suggest that it would be a mistake to presume that caste identities only ‘solidified’ in the nineteenth century, more so as the british decided to withdraw from intervening in caste in the 1830s. when the british took over the dutch territories in 1796 they were divided in their view of compulsory service, with some in government strongly opposed to it and the way in which it reinforced caste identities. between 1796 and 1832, the british made a number of changes to its operation (mendis, 1956, vol. 1, p. 234, and vol. 2, p. 289; samaraweera, 1969, p. 220), and in 1832 the commission of eastern inquiry, conducted by w.m.g. colebrooke and c.h. cameron, emphasised local hostility towards it and recommended its abolition (casinader et al., 2018; mendis, 1956; samaraweera, 1969)—although this decision did not apply to royal villages, villages granted to an individual, and temple villages in the hill country (kendrick, 1992, pp. 194–195). criticisms of compulsory service, from both native sri lankans and colonial officials, drew on economic and ethical arguments, as well as a set of views about social identification that prefigured the ethnoreligious theory. as colebrooke wrote: the civil institutions of the cingalese, who profess the religion of bhood [buddha] are obviously derived from hindu origin. the possession of their lands on tenures of service, and the division of people into classes, according to their various trades or occupations, subsist also among the malabars [tamils], and probably prevailed throughout the continent of india before the mahomedan conquests; but the abolition of the religious distinctions of caste has constituted a marked peculiarity of the bhoodists, which drew on them the hostility of the brahmins, and produced the religious wars which depopulated the country and led to the settlement of the malabars in the northern district of the island. the civil distinctions of caste have doubtless originated in an attempt to introduce a division of labour, and these distinctions have been 216 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 rendered hereditary from the privileges acquired by particular castes, and by the practice of assigning lands for the conditional performance of labour or service. (mendis, 1956, p. 25) changing views of caste in sri lanka also reflected a growing conceptual ‘partitioning’ of sri lanka from india (sivasundaram, 2023). rogers (1994) has argued that caste was not seen as subsidiary to ethnicity prior to this time, that british perceptions of caste in india and sri lanka were similar until the 1830s (2004a, pp. 76–77), and that the abolition of compulsory service was accompanied by a perception that caste ‘was not a legitimate form of social identification’ (rogers, 2004a, p. 53), leading to little official discussion of, or collection of data about, caste. this situation continued after independence, an important consequence of which has been the absence of official caste categories like those of india. (these points should not be taken to mean that the colonial and postcolonial states ceased to have any relationship with caste, although it is not possible to address this here.) also worth noting is that this different course was partly motivated by ideas from india itself, as the notion of caste as a hindu phenomenon was circulating widely by the mid nineteenth century (e.g. meigs, poor and howland, 1853; tennent, 1860, vol 1, pp. 425, 530). however, even by the early twentieth century the concept of entirely different and incommensurate caste systems had not yet become habitualised, as shown by two key pieces of evidence. the first is the fact that the british continued to view certain castes as analogues of each other across the ethnic divide. in a short booklet submitted to governor robert wilmot-horton in 1832, at the time of the commission, a headman named a. de saram wrote that ‘the distinction of castes among the malabars in the island is similar to that of the l. [lowland?] singhalese almost in every respect’ (1832, p. 7).4 moreover, tamil caste names were used to refer to their perceived sinhalese counterparts into the twentieth century. various scholars have noted the use of forms of the word ‘vellalar’ to refer to govigamas, as seen in colebrooke’s report on the administration of ceylon: ‘the highest and most esteemed caste is that of vellales or goyas’ (mendis, 1956, p. 26; see also peebles, 1995, p. 45; rogers ,2004, pp. 75–76; tennent, vol. i, p. 426). less noted is the fact that ‘chandos’—a dutch derivation of the tamil sandar, a caste associated with toddy tapping—was used for the sinhalese durawas, who were similarly associated with that occupation, or that the tamil karaiyars and sinhalese karavas were also viewed as equivalent (rogers, 2004, pp. 75–76). with regard to the use of ‘vellalar’ in particular, meyer has noted that although this practice has not been investigated, it has important implications for the development of caste and ethnicity: ‘a systematic study of the occurrence of the term could shed light on the consolidation of the caste, and on the affirmation of sinhala consciousness versus the tamil’ (2014, pp. 25–26). meyer suggests that it may have been due to the british following the earlier dutch practice ‘which 4although the title of this document states it was submitted in 1832, a reference (p. 8) to the abolition of compulsory service in 1833 suggests that it was later than this, or edited subsequently. an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka 217 underlined similarities between tamil and sinhala caste structure’ (meyer, 2014; see also dewasiri, 2008, p. 189), or that ‘the kandyans were already using the term at the time of the nayakkar dynasty’ (meyer, 2014, pp. 25–26). however, there is some evidence that the portuguese also did the same (queyroz, 1992, vol. 3, p. 1089, cited in peebles, 1995, p. 45). the second piece of evidence is the fact that the most significant caste work to emerge from sri lanka during this period paid little attention to the ethnoreligious theory at all. hocart (1950) placed the king at the centre of a sacrificial system in which all other castes, rather than only the brahman, are treated as priests with the responsibility to conduct rituals to remove pollution. while hocart, like dumont, traced the origins of caste to the vedas (hocart, 1950, pp. 22–23), he also drew upon hindu and buddhist texts without discrimination and noted that the ‘the tamils of the north of ceylon have much the same castes [as the sinhalese]: the kings are extinct, the brahmans and merchants imported, so that the farmers again are the highest indigenous caste; then come the low castes’ (p. 4). although hocart was responding directly to the prominent racial and occupational theories of caste during the late colonial period, his work has had its greatest impact in critiques of dumont’s subsequent theory of caste as an ideological hindu phenomenon. ironically, those who have made the most use of hocart’s work (e.g. dirks, 1987; quigley, 1993) have overlooked the sri lankan context from which his evidence was drawn, while few scholars in sri lanka itself have engaged with it. a critique of the ethnoreligious theory in this section i argue that the ethnoreligious theory is flawed in a number of ways, the result of which has been to direct attention away from, first, the available sri lankan evidence (and recognition of its lacunae), and second, from other highly relevant bodies of research, particularly caste research from outside sri lanka in which many of the issues raised by the sri lankan context have already been debated. the ethnoreligious theory and the research that has been conducted in sri lanka exist in a recursive relationship that has produced a closed system with no apparent questions remaining to answer. as i deconstruct the principles of the theory, however, it will become apparent that they point outwards, away from caste and towards other strongly held assumptions about religion, ethnicity and the nation. to move beyond the ethnoreligious theory of caste it is also therefore necessary to rethink these categories, and i have tried to suggest ways in which we can do this. religion an informed reader may perhaps by this point be bemused that i have yet to mention the voluminous work on caste and religion from elsewhere. on the one hand, this literature has produced many nuanced discussions of the relationship between caste and hinduism (e.g. fuller, 1988), including nonor anti-caste movements (lorenzen, 1987) and critical investigations into the historical processes by which caste became 218 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 seen as hindu (viswanath, 2015). on the other hand, it has explored the apparent tension between caste and other religions such as christianity (e.g. mosse, 2012), islam (ahmad, 1978; levesque, 2023), sikhism (jodhka, 2024), and jainism (cort, 2004), all of which are popularly understood to be, like buddhism, opposed to caste due to an ideology of egalitarianism. winslow (2003–2004) has argued that anthropologists have often misrecognised the particularities of sri lankan villages due to the influence of indian village studies. when it comes to caste, however, views of india are largely divorced from empirical evidence—the ‘book view’ without the book. thus, we find replicated a frustratingly outdated and static concept of the ‘indian hindu model’ of caste which has little bearing on what has been written on this topic over the past several decades. two examples of this will be sufficient. first, in contrast to its depiction in the ethnoreligious theory, the ‘classical’ four-fold varna scheme is not held identically and universally by hindus throughout india, but is rather a set of ideas and practices that, where found at all, are held in varying ways and are often the subject of much disagreement. meanwhile, concepts of varna have in fact played a role in sri lanka, as seen in the association between govigamas and the vaishyas (gombrich, 1971, p. 297), between vellalars and sudras (pfaffenberger, 1982), and between karavas and kshatriyas (roberts, 1982). second, the assumption that brahmans are always the ‘highest’ caste is not the case (quigley, 1993, pp. 54–86), and, as in sri lanka, there are indian regions in which brahmins are a relatively small population. the historical presence of brahmans in different parts of sri lanka among both tamils and sinhalese (mcgilvray, 2008, p. 84; obeysekere, 2015) also demonstrates that their contemporary absence is historically contingent and should not be treated merely as an essential characteristic of sinhalese or tamils. rather than approaching these topics as examples of the ‘incomplete’ (and thus anomalous) nature of caste in sri lanka, there are more relevant (and interesting) questions to ask about how these ideas and practices have been transmitted, who has adopted them, and how they have been locally interpreted. besides demonstrating a lack of familiarity with the ethnographic evidence from sri lanka and elsewhere, the ethnoreligious theory also employs a restrictive concept of religions as static, transcultural and transhistorical essences—to borrow the terminology of asad’s famous critique (1993, p. 28) —with transparent theologies that have a unidirectional effect on human behaviour. what is striking about this is that there is a strong thread of scholarship on religious pluralism within sri lanka itself, most prominently concerning the interface between buddhism and hinduism (de alwis, 2018; goonasekera, 2007; pfaffenberger, 1979; obeyesekere, 1984; whitaker, rajasingham-senanayake and pathmanesan, 2022). furthermore, the focus on theological correctness, which posits any caste practices of buddhists as inauthentic, imposes an emic normative judgement as an analytical category while overlooking a wider literature on the complex relationship between caste and buddhism (e.g. samuels, 2007a; silva, 2017). the notion of anti-caste buddhism also needs to be related to the modern development of the notion that buddhism is an inherently pacifistic religion an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka 219 that has, in the words of the buddhist reformer angarika dharmapala, ‘made asia mild’ (frydenlund, 2017). what is more relevant from an anthropological perspective is not simply whether and how buddhists practice caste—and there is sufficient evidence of this not to doubt it—but how buddhists understand caste in relation to buddhism. for example, weeratunga (2002, pp. 24–26) argues that discrimination against rodis cannot solely be understand as secular, because it is justified on the basis that they not only take animal life by hunting but allegedly conducted human sacrifices to their deity in the past, practices that were anathematised on the basis of buddhist morality. elsewhere, silva (2017, pp. 9–10) has noted that the concept of karma is used to explain and even legitimise caste and other inequalities. a comparative example of the need to move beyond assumptions of the consequences of egalitarianism is particularly evident in the work on caste and islam. initially preoccupied with the ‘paradox’ of the practice of caste despite an apparent lack of ideological justification (which was considered to be solely hindu), early researchers argued that among muslims caste was instead connected to secular matters of wealth, prestige, and honour (ahmad, 1978). breaking out of this framework, more recent work has highlighted ways in which south asian muslims understand caste and caste identities through concepts other than egalitarianism but which are also understood as islamic (e.g. bellamy, 2021; rathore, 2023). in pakistan, an association between stigmatising sanitation work and ‘lowcaste’ christians (see butt, 2023) is justified on the grounds that christianity, unlike islam, does not require its adherents to be ‘pure’ for ritual contexts (aqeel and gill, 2021, pp. 21–22). mosse’s work on caste and christianity, which comprises one of the most astute critiques of these issues, applies across the so-called egalitarian and anti-caste religions: rather than framing the issue in terms of the nature of caste among indian christians, it is often more fruitful to ask about the christian influence on the experience of caste; or instead of asking whether or how christianity in india has accommodated caste (a missiological question), to ask how caste has accommodated christianity as part of its particular cultural politics (an ethnographic question). (mosse, 2012, p. 59) ethnicity another step towards moving beyond the ethnoreligious theory would be to undertake an actively comparative analysis of the putative caste systems while simultaneously identifying empirical gaps. as noted above, several scholars have identified similarities between tamil hindu and sinhalese buddhist caste systems in the existence of analogous castes and a roughly tripartite structure of numerically and socioeconomically dominant landholding govigamas and vellalars, mid-status fishing and artisan castes, and low-status service castes (as well as rodis). although remaining within the ethnoreligious framework, there are benefits to this approach, which raises 220 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 a range of comparative issues such as intercaste service relationships, historically known as kuḍimakkaḷ in tamil and tōvil in sinhala. such an approach would also shine light on the large gaps in the ethnographic record; for example, almost nothing has been written on tōvil beyond a short 1965 article by u.a. gunasekera. however, this approach remains restricted by its conceptualisation of ethnicity. here it is necessary to note that ethnicity and religion have not been treated analogously in sri lankan scholarship, because the element of plural interaction present in religious research is largely absent from that on ethnicity. given the large amount of attention paid to ethnicity since the start of the civil war—and historical critiques of primordialist nationalist arguments about the antiquity of contemporary ethnic identities (e.g. nissan and stirrat, 1990; rogers, 1994, 2004a, 2004b)—this might appear to be a counterintuitive claim, but a closer look at the ethnographic record will demonstrate, as spencer noted almost two decades ago, the lack of research on the ‘everyday work of ethnicity… the working through of issues of similarity and difference in work and the economy, kinship, or religious practice’ (2007, pp. 163–164). the post-barthian debate around ethnicity as a relational production that has led to nuanced studies such as baumann (1996) has had, with few exceptions (most notably davis’s 2020 of language ideologies in kandyan schools; also see gaasbeek 2010; sykes 2018), relatively little influence on the persistent division of sri lankan research along ethnic lines, of which caste is perhaps only the most prominent (and rationalised) example. when ethnic interaction is the focus, it is most often conceptualised as a property produced in areas where ethnic ‘culture zones’ (sykes, 2018, pp. 119–162) meet, leading to what yalman (1962) termed ‘shatter zones’, rather than in the everyday forms of contact that occur throughout sri lanka. if a straightforward comparison of assumed caste systems would reproduce this conceptualisation of ethnicity, other evidence (although slim) makes the systems approach problematic by demonstrating that the putative caste systems are not impermeable to each other, as the ethnoreligious theory presupposes. although ryan (1953, p. 139) suggested that in colombo sinhalese would ‘choose to remain ignorant of [a tamil’s caste], probably assuming it to be vellāla unless the contrary were known’, other evidence shows that sinhalese and tamils do sometimes interact with each other on the basis of caste, either by employing service castes across the ethnic divide (mcgilvray, 1974; piyarathne, 2018, pp. 157–160; ryan, 1953, p. 141), or by propagating a shared view of caste hierarchy, as demonstrated by the double minoritisation briefly noted by silva, thanges and sivapragasam (2009, p. 105) in their chapter on a community of largely tamil paraiyar and chakkiliyar sanitation workers in majority-sinhalese kandy. here it would appear that tamils and sinhalese share a notion of pollution. even more significantly, there is also evidence that some ‘analogous’ castes have viewed each other as part of the same caste group, complicating the notion of a hard ethnic boundary between them. until at least the 1980s, for example, there existed an organisation called the all-ceylon kshatriya maha sabai whose members included both tamil karaiyars and sinhalese karavas (esler, 2021, p. 238). similarly, an organisation called the ceylon vishvakarma union, which was an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka 221 still active during mcgilvray’s fieldwork (2008, p. 212), encompassed not only tamil artisan castes (kollar blacksmiths, tattar goldsmiths, and tatchar carpenters), but also the sinhalese navandanna, all of whom were considered to be descendants of the god vishvakarma (ratnawira, 1909). although it is evident that all of these issues need to be researched in greater detail, they immediately show that the notion of impermeable ethnoreligious caste systems is unfeasible. what difference does ethnicity make, then? placing caste within a relational concept of ethnicity helps to think about this, and draws attention to the ethnicisation of caste from the 1830s onwards. on a national level, there is a shared public denial and rejection of caste as an undesirable phenomenon. while this public discourse can be found across south asia, the sri lankan state pays relatively little official attention to caste. sri lanka’s 1978 constitution proscribes discrimination on the basis of caste, but the only legislation addressing this is the 1957 prevention of social disabilities act, which has rarely been implemented. neither is caste very visible in public politics (uyangoda, 2000, p. 18), although it is occasionally mobilised as an electoral asset (jayanntha, 1992, jiggins, 1979, peiris, 2021) and appears to have played a role in the formation of both the jvp and the ltte (hellmann-rajanayagam, 1993; obeyesekere, 1974; moore, 2021). this shared public antipathy towards caste has been incorporated into the production of ethnic identity and difference, and both sinhalese and tamils have denied or suppressed caste (silva, 1999). among tamils, the extension of tamilness to ‘lower’ castes was a process that was still incomplete in the 1970s (pfaffenberger, 1990, pp. 82–83; hellmannrajanayagam, 1993, p. 256), and was ultimately catalysed by a ‘politics of defensive unity’ (pfaffenberger 1990) that suppressed anti-caste activism. this process appears to parallel the extension of hinduism to indian dalits in the first half of the twentieth century (lee, 2021), and in fact during my own research in mannar i have heard tamil hindus occasionally refer to themselves as ‘tamil people’ (tamiḷākkaḷ) in contrast to christians and others, a practice previously noted by suseendirarajah in jaffna (1980, p. 347). public discussion of caste was later discouraged by fear of the ltte and on the grounds that it would undermine tamil solidarity and the cause of independence. among the sinhalese, a discourse of modernity that privileges social, democratic egalitarianism—linked to buddhism—has downplayed and deferred caste (abeyasekera, 2021, pp. 11, 30; douglas, 2017; silva, 1999; uyangoda, 2000a, 2000b). on the one hand, elements of a ‘national’ ethnic culture have been divorced from their earlier categorisation as low-status caste traditions (douglas, 2017, 2019; reed, 2010). on the other hand, caste is treated as a property of ‘low’ castes, resulting in an ‘upper-caste’ ‘casteless subjectivity’ in much the same way as has been described in india (douglas, 2017; deshpande, 2013; subramanian, 2015). this is reflected in w.m.a. de silva’s 2018 article on the phenomenon of sinhalese replacing ‘low-caste’ names with those that have either ‘a-caste’ or ‘upper-caste’ connotations. although de silva notes that this decision is made to avoid caste stigma, he does not directly identify the source of that stigma as coming from members of other castes. caste is also externalised as a property of tamils, in a manner that resonates with harrison’s 222 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 argument that cultural ‘differences’ may be denied resemblances, specifically the configuration which he calls ‘difference-as-inferiority’, in which ‘the cultural other is made to represent censored and disclaimed attributes of the self’ (2001, p. 357). in this regard, caste was used by sinhalese politicians in the 1950s and 1960s as a reason to refuse tamils regional autonomy (bastin, 1997, p. 426; pfaffenberger, 1990, pp. 86–87), and it continues to emerge as criticism of tamils in newspapers, as seen in h.l.p. mahindapala’s series of articles on jaffna in the sunday observer from 2020 to 2022, such as ‘bad news: vellalars are back in jaffna’ (2020). beyond the enclosure while the two preceding sections argued against the presumption of enclosed caste systems by highlighting flaws in the theory’s conceptualisations of religion and ethnicity, i now turn briefly to the absences in the theory to suggest two further factors that continue to weaken the notion of ethnoreligious enclosure, both of which demand a stronger connection to historical evidence and arguments. first, the similarities noted between the putative systems suggest the need for greater consideration of the way in which caste concepts and practices have travelled from india to sri lanka and from sri lanka to india—as demonstrated by the financial support sent in the first half of the twentieth century by jaffna tamils to the indian scholar maraimalai adigal, who proposed that tamil civilisation was based on vellalar rather than brahmin custom and identity (vaithees, 2015)—and throughout sri lanka itself. second, there is an even stronger need to examine the material dimensions of caste, broadly defined. although one of these dimensions—the fact that caste status is often associated with landownership—is clearly visible in the caste scholarship, the economic dimensions of caste in agrarian relations have been little interrogated (see gunsinghe 2007), even less the relationship between caste and the market economy (cf. mosse, 2020b). in contrast, much historical work on the role of the state (at least from the dutch period onwards) exists, and topics such as compulsory service and caste-based slavery shine light on the thinness of the notion of caste as an essentialised property of ethnicity (see pfaffenberger, 1990). these issues will also help to reconnect sri lankan caste studies to its indian counterpart, where the role of the state has been of preeminent importance. in comparison with india, the contemporary sri lankan context is defined by the apparent absence of state intervention, an absence that is shared across the ethnoreligious caste systems. conclusion in this article i have argued that an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka—a field of caste research that does not collapse ceaselessly into the framework of parallel ethnoreligious caste systems that i have identified above—is only possible if sri lankanist scholars recognise and reflect upon the assumptions that underlie this theory. similar assumptions about the nature of caste have played a key role in the larger indian scholarship, although they have been critiqued more sharply and extensively in ways that have been highly productive. i hope to have demonstrated that an integrated approach to caste in sri lanka 223 this can also be the case in sri lanka, as the interrogation of ideas about caste lead to further interrogation of other concepts that are central to how sri lankan research has conceptualised its subjects. the work of an integrated approach to caste might beneficially begin not with differences but with similarities and connections, such as the existence of analogous castes, a notion of caste status invested in land ownership, the withdrawal of the state following the abolition of compulsory service, a public sphere within which caste is largely suppressed, and so on. more broadly, this approach to caste in sri lanka would be attentive to local and national contexts, contemporary and historical. it would treat religion and ethnicity not as enclosures but as complexes of concepts, discourses and practices that are continuously produced, transformed, shared and rejected, not only between self-identified ethnic groups in sri lanka but also between people throughout south asia and beyond. indeed, the sri lankan evidence suggests that one way of rejuvenating the comparative study of caste across the subcontinent might be to extend mosse’s work (2020a, 2020b) to consider how caste is perceived and produced in relation to a network of discursive enclosures that must be understood in relation to each other and to the secondary categories enclosed within each. references abeyasekera, a.l. 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(1989). on royalty, caste and temples in sri lanka and south india. social analysis, 25 , 142–149. © 2025 anurag kumar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. general research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2473 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 468-484 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the policy paradox: persistent manual scavenging despite reform efforts anurag kumar1 abstract manual scavenging remains a persistent issue in india despite the state claiming zero instances of the practice in recent years. this degrading occupation, deeply entrenched in the caste system, is driven by societal segregation and castebased discrimination, affecting marginalised communities, particularly dalits. the article analyses legislative frameworks and the key schemes launched in the past two decades, including the self employment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers (srms), swachh bharat abhiyan (sba), and the national action plan for mechanized sanitation ecosystem (namaste). the content analysis method is used to examine the various laws, schemes, and policies enacted to eradicate manual scavenging. the analysis reveals policy gaps, including lack of enforcement, inadequate financial support, lack of political will, and failure to dismantle castebased discrimination. the article emphasises the need for a holistic approach to end manual scavenging, emphasising that effective reform requires policy promises and actionable, systemic change. by understanding these intersecting problems, the article aims to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on policy revision and social equity. keywords policy, manual scavenging, dalits, caste system, social equity introduction in the heart of modern india, a country that takes pride in rapid technological and economic progress, lies a contradiction. despite projecting itself as a thriving ‘vishv guru’ (global leader, global power), india continues to be marred by dehumanising practices, especially the persistence of manual scavenging, which starkly contradicts 1department of sociology, jamia millia islamia, new delhi, india e-mail: kumar.anurag2109@gmail.com the policy paradox: persistent manual scavenging despite reform efforts 469 its developmental narrative. the country’s rise presents a troubling paradox: the nation achieving new heights in technological fields such as artificial intelligence, space exploration, and digital infrastructure, while workers continue to lose their lives while cleaning sewers. at the time of writing this article, more than 43 manual scavengers have died from february 2024 to july 2024, and more than 339 deaths have been reported between 2018 and 2023—figures likely underreported due to deliberate state1 suppression of data (telegraph, 2024; staff, 2023). after 77 years of independence, the persistence of manual scavenging—where workers are forced to clean human excreta from dry latrines or enter toxic sewers despite the ban, and work without protective gear—stands in stark contrast to constitutional ideals of equality, dignity, and justice. this occupation remains deeply embedded in the indian caste system, with 95 per cent of scavengers being from dalit communities, and among them, 99 per cent are dalit women (permutt, 2012). over thirty years have passed since the enactment of the employment of manual scavengers and construction of dry latrines (prohibition) act of 1993, followed by the more comprehensive prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act of 2013 (pemsr). yet, the practice persists, exposing workers not only to life-threatening conditions but also to a denial of their dignity. the state’s apathy is further evident in its acknowledgement of the magnitude of the issue, as evidenced by the denial of any recent deaths and the exclusion of discussion on manual scavengers in budget 2024, reflecting a lack of political commitment to addressing this ongoing crisis (wire, 2024). this paradox becomes even more glaring in light of the coexistence of policy interventions aimed at eradicating this practice. despite the legal and policy intervention introduced, via the self-employment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers (srms), swachh bharat abhiyan (sba), and the national action plan for mechanised sanitation ecosystem (namaste) the ground reality remains grim as over 1.2 million people are engaged in manual scavenging and more than 5 million safai karamchari (sanitation workers) come in direct/ indirect of human excreta (shankar & swaroop, 2021, p. 68). with around 26 lakh dry latrines still requiring manual scavenging, despite the sba’s assertion of toilet constructions (paul, 2025). furthermore, wilson claims that state agencies conceal or underreport these figures to avoid accountability (staff, 2023). despite the implementation of various legal and policy frameworks aimed at eradicating manual scavenging, incidents continue to happen every day. this article will explore the policy paradox of why manual scavenging remains a reality in modern india despite these measures. it critically examines the key state interventions—selfemployment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers (srms), swachh bharat abhiyan (sba), and the national action plan for mechanised sanitation ecosystem (namaste). while some policies have been introduced with enthusiasm, 1article 12 of the constitution of india defines the state, which includes the government and parliament of india, the government and the legislature of each of the states, and all local or other authorities within the territory of india or under the control of the government of india. 470 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 they have failed to achieve their objectives. inaccuracies in data on manual scavengers remain a contentious issue, with activists and civil society organisations criticising the state for hiding accurate information. addressing these data discrepancies is vital, as policy-making depends on accurate data. the article also highlights the issue of the state manipulating, hiding, and suppressing information. lastly, it explores the challenges policies face in resolving this paradox. manual scavenging: meaning and context by definition, “manual scavenging is the removal of excreta (night soil) manually from dry toilets, i.e., the toilets without a modern flush system.” (singh, 2009). section 2(j) of the 1993 act defines manual scavengers as “a person engaged in or employed for manually carrying human excreta, and the expression manual scavenging shall be construed accordingly.”2 the scope of this definition was widened under the new act; section 2(1)(g) of the pemsr act 2013 defines “manual scavenger as a person engaged or employed by an individual, local authority, or a public or private agency for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine, open drain, or pit into which the excreta from insanitary latrines is disposed of, or on a railway track or other spaces as notified by the central or state government, before the excreta fully decomposes in a manner prescribed, and the expression “manual scavenging” shall be understood accordingly.”3 these definitions show a progressive expansion of the understanding of manual scavenging from a narrow focus on carrying human excreta to a broader recognition of its complex nature. nevertheless, the continued existence of loopholes and weak enforcement emphasises the need for a more thorough examination of the legal and policy effectiveness in eliminating this dehumanising practice. the context of manual scavenging cannot be fully comprehended without an understanding of india’s caste system, which is rooted in the varna system. the caste system is a strict and hierarchical social framework that has long been a defining characteristic of indian society. the caste system not only determines social status but also assigns specific occupational roles, consigning particular communities— primarily dalits, once referred to as “untouchables”—to the most degrading and perilous forms of labour. the caste system allocates and fixes occupations, thereby placing constraints on an individual’s ability to move across castes for occupational opportunities, especially for dalits, where their status rests upon the notion of purity and pollution. manual scavenging is an inherited occupation determined based on caste, where dalits are forced into such menial, inhuman occupations. ambedkar (1979) argued that laws forcing manual scavengers into perpetual subordination highlighted the brutality of the hindu social hierarchy, where the hindu society is like 2see employment of manual scavengers and construction of dry latrines (prohibition) act of 1993, section 2(j) 3see the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act of 2013, section 2(1)(g) the policy paradox: persistent manual scavenging despite reform efforts 471 a tower which has several storeys without a ladder or an entrance; thus, caste is not just a division of labourers, but a division of labourers (shankar & swaroop, 2021). scholars like srinivas and singh suggested that modernisation and urbanisation would erode the traditional structures based on ascribed status, leading society to determine individuals’ life chances based on achieved status (srinivas, 1966; yogendra singh, 1973). this shift was expected to help people from lower castes escape traditional occupations, with industrialisation aiding in shedding the stigmatised identities linked to low caste structures. however, despite significant growth, modernisation, and urbanisation in various sectors, caste systems continue to endure in modern india. as a result, dalits are still engaged in traditional occupations such as leatherwork, dealing with animal carcasses, and manual scavenging. even when they attempt to move away from these caste-based occupations, they often face social and physical abuse from dominant caste groups (singh, 2014). this discriminatory treatment of dalits leads to violations of fundamental human rights, including the rights to education, housing, healthcare, work, and the freedom to choose one’s occupation (newman & thorat, 2007). manual scavenging remains one of the most humiliating and degrading forms of sanitation, predominantly carried out by dalit groups, despite government claims of completely eradicating the practice. although various technologies and alternatives are available, manual scavenging persists as a tradition, often regarded as a hereditary profession that involves forced labour rather than merely a job. legislative measures implemented in 1993 and 2013 aimed to eliminate manual scavenging; yet, in 2018 alone, over 20,000 workers were still identified as manual scavengers (raghavendra & kumar, 2022, p. 5). the persistence of manual scavenging in the twenty-first century highlights not only the limitations of existing legal frameworks and policy measures but also the deeply ingrained caste mentality in indian society. it prompts a revaluation of current strategies to address these entrenched social practices. legislative efforts: manual scavenging policies-bold action or broken promises? the british introduced several legislative acts, including the municipalities act of 1891, the punjab municipalities act of 1911, and the united provinces municipalities act of 1916, which outlined the statutory duties of scavengers (mandal, 2008). as a result, the practice of manual scavenging became institutionalised during colonial rule, particularly with the establishment of public toilets in municipalities. dalits were employed to clean human excreta. in the post-independence era, the discourse surrounding manual scavenging in india was greatly influenced by the constitution of india. the framers of the indian constitution collectively and determinedly recognised the vital need for legislation addressing the issue of untouchability. the indian constitution includes several specific clauses that aim to protect the rights of dalits across the country. some of these provisions can be found in articles 14 (ensuring 472 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 equal protection under the law), article 16(2) (preventing discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence, or any of them), article 19(1)(a) (guaranteeing the right to freedom of speech and expression), article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty), article 23 (prohibition of trafficking in human beings and forced labour), article 41 (assuring the right to work, education, and public assistance in certain situations such as unemployment, old age, sickness, and disability), and so on. in addition to constitutional provisions, the government initiated various policies and schemes and established multiple committees to address issues related to sanitation and manual scavenging. the first five-year plan mentioned sanitation and public health, but no concrete interventions were undertaken until 1981 (shekhar, 2023, p. 134). the national census of 1981 reported that rural sanitation in the country was only one per cent (kumar, 2022, p. 85). as a result, the central rural sanitation programme (crsp) was launched. although sanitation facilities increased slightly, the policy failed to meet the demand. kanoon (2021) argues that the efforts after independence were primarily concerned with the working and living conditions of manual scavengers rather than eliminating the practice. in 1999, total sanitation coverage (tsc) was introduced as a reformulation of an existing policy, aiming to be more communityled and demand-driven. however, tsc also struggled to keep pace with the growing demand. recognising the shortcomings of tsc, the nirmal bharat abhiyan was launched in 2013. this programme was renamed and relaunched as swachh bharat mission abhiyan (sba) after the change in government in 2014. the government also launched the namaste scheme in 2022, replacing it with srms. the government has established committees such as the barve committee (1952), kaka kalelkar commission (1955), malkani committee (1966), and pandya committee (1969) to address the issue of manual scavenging and provide recommendations for ending the practice. these committees have highlighted the plight of manual scavengers in india. they have found that it has become customary for dalits, particularly those from the valmiki and bhangi communities, to inherit this work as part of their tradition. the working conditions of manual scavengers are dehumanising and lack human dignity, which goes against constitutional values and morality. however, the major flaw in the committees was that they focused on the scavengers working in the local bodies, while the private scavengers were ignored and left to function under customary rules and practices (kanoon, 2021). the main recommendations of the committees emphasise the need for the central government to enact comprehensive legislation, such as the 1993 act and the pemsr act 2013, to effectively regulate the working, service, and living conditions of these workers. these efforts, along with other policy measures aimed at eliminating manual scavenging, have been ongoing for many years; however, their effectiveness remains uncertain. are these policy actions genuine steps towards eradicating this inhumane practice, or are they unfulfilled promises that fail to address the root causes? legislative efforts have been ongoing since independence, starting with the enactment of the protection of civil rights act of 1955, which aimed to abolish the policy paradox: persistent manual scavenging despite reform efforts 473 untouchability and social disabilities faced by the sc community. however, these acts have achieved limited success, as they have not completely eradicated the practice of untouchability. to address this issue, new legislation was introduced in the form of the sc/st (prevention of atrocities) act, 1989, to provide greater protection and enforce their fundamental rights. the term “manual scavenging” is not explicitly mentioned in the statute, despite the act’s objective to prevent atrocities against the scheduled castes (sc) and the scheduled tribes (st). another flaw of this law is that it excludes workers employed primarily in government institutions, such as municipal corporations, as well as private workers involved in manual scavenging. the limitations of the definition arise from the link between manual scavenging and the evidentiary requirement of “on the grounds of untouchability.” even if an individual is compelled to engage in scavenging, it is not considered within the scope of the act unless the coercion is based on the enforcement of untouchability. this demonstrates a narrow perspective from the state, failing to recognise the violence inherent in manual scavenging. the practice has been viewed merely as labour rather than as a manifestation of caste-based violence perpetrated by the state (kanoon, 2021, p. 7). consequently, this legislation and the associated committees have been ineffective in eliminating the practice. the first significant legislative effort primarily addressing manual scavenging was the employment of manual scavengers and construction of dry latrines (prohibition) act of 1993, which aimed to prohibit the employment of manual scavengers and the construction of dry latrines. however, the act faces criticism from civil societies for its poor implementation and lack of effectiveness. a major flaw of this act was its narrow scope; it only targeted dry latrines and did not cover the other forms of manual scavenging, such as sewer workers and septic tank cleaners. furthermore, this act failed to provide any comprehensive rehabilitation plan for the scavenger workers to leave this inhuman practice. the legislation failed to achieve its desired objective primarily due to poor enforcement and a lack of strict implementation at the local level. the lack of political will to enforce this law also contributed to its lack of enforcement. consequently, this act fell short of its goal, and manual scavenging persists despite its official prohibition. the enforcement of the law faced challenges due to inadequate implementation and the lack of strict regulations at the local level. the judiciary, including the high courts and the supreme court of india, consistently raised concerns about the issue of manual scavengers on numerous occasions. the 1993 act was enacted in 1993 and received presidential approval in 1997. initially, only five state governments supported the law, with other states showing little interest until 2005. some state governments were reluctant even after the supreme court’s direction to enforce the law. for example, delhi officially recognised the 1993 act in 2010, following orders from the supreme court of india to all states. even after the supreme court’s directives, several states remained hesitant. the privileged caste culture of the political executive may have contributed to the lack of political will to enforce the act, resulting in its failure to achieve its objectives. in 2012, the parliamentary standing committee acknowledged 474 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 these shortcomings. pressure from civil society, especially a public interest litigation (pil) from ska in the supreme court, led to a judicial declaration recognising the violation of the fundamental rights of manual scavengers. because of the limited scope of the 1993 act, the government introduced the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act (pemsr act) to address the shortcomings of previous laws. the act aimed to amend the 1993 act by broadening the definition of manual scavenging outlined in the legislation, with a commitment to eliminate dry latrines, rehabilitate manual scavengers, and impose stricter penalties, including imprisonment and fines for violations (wankhede, 2021, p. 5). however, despite reports of manual scavenging cases—where a sanitation worker dies every five days while entering a manhole—the state and its citizens strangely choose to ignore the issue, resulting in little accountability for those involved, who are neither fined nor imprisoned (dhawan, 2021). the major flaw of this act lies in its definition of “manual scavenger” as outlined under section 2(g), as the definition discussed above. the section explicitly excludes workers who clean excreta using protective gear. this provision prohibits the employment of manual scavengers without protection but fails to recognise or regulate the practice when these gears are utilised. wankhede (2021) argues that the 2013 act lacks the tools to achieve its central objective, which is the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers, and the rehabilitation of manual scavengers and their families, as the act prohibits hazardous cleaning and the employment of manual scavenging only when protective gear is not provided. the provision creates a paradox where, on one hand, the legislation prohibits manual scavenging, but on the other, it allows it to continue with the use of protective gear and equipment. thus, the state’s intention is not to eradicate the practice by fully prohibiting it but to perpetuate manual scavenging by providing safety mechanisms to ensure the practice continues (wankhede, 2021, p. 45). the 2013 act lists 44 types of protective gear that must be provided to manual scavenging workers; however, it does not specify what constitutes adequate gear. as a result, workers are often given the standard gear or no gear at all, while employers claim to comply with the law. kumar (2025) found that sewage workers in delhi are rarely provided with any protective gear; the maximum they receive are gloves that are often too large to be useful during cleaning, or ‘khpacha’ (a wooden stick used to clear sewer clogs) and a bucket. nor are they given adequate training. ingole (2016) also observed a similar situation in pune, where sewage workers receive neither training nor proper protective equipment. this provides the hint as to why hundreds of sanitation workers die every year working in sewage (prasad & ray, 2019). numerous reports have documented workers’ deaths during sewer and septic tank cleaning, and the state or contractors often use this loophole to avoid responsibility in accidents. the families of the deceased or injured workers are left without assistance or compensation. the act was also criticised for insufficient funding for rehabilitation, and the lack of a mechanism to entirely ban manual scavenging in sewers or septic tanks. the policy paradox: persistent manual scavenging despite reform efforts 475 over the past twenty years, three major government policies have been introduced to eliminate manual scavenging. the government launched these initiatives as the foundation of efforts aimed at completely eradicating this inhumane practice. therefore, it is vital to analyse these initiatives to understand the paradox of the policies that allow this practice to persist despite reform efforts. srms: a missed opportunity? the self-employment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers (srms) was launched to provide alternative livelihoods for manual scavengers, with the aim of eradicating this inhumane practice and offering rehabilitation to those involved. however, the scheme has faced criticism regarding its structure, execution, and effectiveness in achieving its objectives. one of the main flaws of this policy is that it focuses solely on providing alternative employment without addressing the underlying systemic issues that lead to the need for such employment. without addressing these fundamental aspects, the scheme fails to offer a sustainable solution for completely eradicating the practice of manual scavenging. year budget estimates (in crores) revised estimates (in crores) 2013-14 570 70 2014-15 448 50 2015-16 470.19 10 2016-17 10 1 2017-18 5 5 2018-19 20 na source: ministry of social justice and empowerment, annual report, 2020–21 additionally, the implementation of the policy has been hindered by red tape, corruption, and a lack of coordination between the involved agencies. there have been numerous complaints about inadequate investigations into the scheme, as well as delays in the disbursement of funds. the process for identifying beneficiaries was inconsistent and flawed, resulting in many eligible individuals being excluded from the scheme. furthermore, there was a lack of awareness among beneficiaries regarding the available support, which undermined the credibility and effectiveness of the policy. one of the main reasons for the scheme’s limitations, apart from the lack of political will, is the insufficient funds utilised by the state agencies, leading to poor expenditure and a lack of urgency towards the vital issue of rehabilitation. wilson criticised the schemes for the state’s failure to provide adequate funding and for not addressing the multifaceted challenges faced by scavengers, where he argued that essential elements such as education, healthcare, and socio-psychological support were neglected despite a significant number of workers suffering from health problems caused by prolonged exposure to harsh working conditions. (wilson & singh, 2016) 476 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 moreover, there is no substantial effort to socially rehabilitate manual scavengers, leaving them marginalised even after they exit the occupation. the overall impact of the scheme was limited, as a significant number of manual scavengers are compelled to continue this degrading work due to a lack of viable alternatives. the top-down approach of the policy fails to recognise the ground realities of the diverse socioeconomic contexts of scavengers. thus, while the steps were aimed at progressing in the right direction, they represented a missed opportunity to address the multiple issues faced by manual scavengers in india. ‘swachhta’ in swachh bharat abhiyan the swachh bharat abhiyan, launched in 2014, aimed to eliminate open defecation and improve sanitation facilities nationwide. while the initiative to build toilets in both rural and urban areas was commendable, it overlooked the plight of sanitation workers who are forced to manually clean human waste due to inadequate waste disposal systems and a lack of proper sewer networks. the absence of proper infrastructure for safe disposal of faecal matter means that manual scavenging remains a necessary, albeit illegal, activity in many parts of the country. the main flaw of the scheme lies in its approach and effectiveness in addressing the issue of manual scavengers. the policy appears disconnected from india’s social context and adopts an objectified and detached stance, focusing solely on “cleaning india” (shekhar, 2023, p. 139). the implementation strategy of the swachh bharat abhiyan has faced criticism. according to reports, the program’s achievements are sometimes exaggerated, and many areas still lack adequate sanitation facilities. there have been claims of displaying falsified data; the websites of sbm-urban and sbm-gramin have shown around 30 per cent of fabricated information, such as claims of tile constructions that do not actually exist (akhilesh & gudavarthy, 2022). even the beneficiaries often have no knowledge of the records under which their names and houses are recorded as recipients of sba. besides these fabrications, data concerning open defecation have been criticised for being exaggerated or fake, as many districts declared open defecation-free continue to engage in the practice. the programme has also been criticised for its top-down approach, which overlooks local needs and cultural contexts. the main issue with the swachh bharat abhiyan (sba) is that it primarily focuses on building toilets without sufficient infrastructure for sewage and water disposal. as a result, the newly built toilets have created many septic tanks that require manual scavengers to clean. sba lacks the capacity to foster attitudinal change and raise awareness among rural populations, as villages still prefer open defecation and have even started using these toilets as storage rooms (katiyar, 2022). it does not address the needs of sanitation workers, as access to water in these toilets remains a concern. most of the constructed toilets lack proper sewage connections and water facilities, resulting in the manual cleaning of human waste. the technologies used for constructing toilets under sbm will eventually need manual cleaning of pits and sludge. even septic tanks, primarily built in urban areas, require regular cleaning, which is performed by manual scavengers. the policy paradox: persistent manual scavenging despite reform efforts 477 the emphasis on constructing toilets without providing water supply or waste disposal infrastructure has resulted in underutilisation or abandonment of facilities. the focus on figures often overshadows the need for behavioural change. the assumption that building toilets alone would resolve sanitation issues ignores the importance of education and community engagement. roy (2017) criticised the swachh bharat abhiyan, stating that it is more of a superficial effort used for political propaganda rather than a genuine attempt to address sanitation problems. roy argues that the campaign’s flashy launches often conceal the harsh realities on the ground, where many newly built toilets are unusable due to factors such as a lack of water supply and poor construction quality. additionally, she highlights that the campaign tends to blame unsanitary practices on impoverished communities without addressing deeper issues like poverty and lack of education. similarly, wilson notes that the notion of involving everyone in the mission to clean india is a superficial concept. it focused more on events, celebrity endorsements, and romanticising the broom rather than addressing the significant issue of how sanitation is truly handled in india’s urban areas and vast rural communities (chishti, 2024). gatade (2015) criticised the government’s flagship programme for disconnecting caste from sanitation. he argues that hindu ideas of purity and pollution continue to assign manual scavenging, sewer cleaning, and unclogging manholes to certain castes. additionally, he points out that the availability of cheap dalit labour has contributed to the neglect of modern sewage systems and sanitation technologies. teltumbde (2014) describes indian culture as a caste-based system, where sanitation duties are assigned to specific castes. this perpetuates the stigma that labourers engaged in sanitation are unclean and impure. therefore, india will not become truly ‘swachh’ unless the castebased ethos is eliminated. namaste: innovative fix or fundamental flaw? the national action for mechanised sanitation ecosystem (namaste) scheme, launched in 2022 by the government of india, aims to eliminate manual scavenging by promoting mechanised cleaning of sewers and septic tanks and ensuring the rehabilitation and safety of sanitation workers. the scheme was introduced as a replacement for the existing scheme, the self-employment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers (srms). the scheme emphasises mechanisation, the use of protective gear, and safe working conditions to prevent health hazards associated with manual cleaning. it also includes skill development, financial inclusion, and alternative livelihood programmes for sanitation workers to help them transition to safer and more dignified employment. despite its well-meaning objectives, the namaste scheme has faced criticism for multiple reasons. the schemes present a stark paradox: it confidently claims to be the mechanism and safety for workers on one hand, and scavengers continue to die while cleaning the sewers, revealing the grim reality which persists, underscoring the significant gap between the scheme’s objectives and its impact on the ground. there is also a 478 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 lack of strong monitoring mechanisms to assess the scheme’s implementation and effectiveness. as a result, the absence of accountability leads to neglect, overlooked actions, corruption, and insufficient efforts to eliminate the practice. most sanitation workers are unaware of their entitlements under state schemes and laws designed to protect their safety and dignity. this lack of awareness weakens pressure on authorities to respect their rights to dignified work. a fundamental flaw of this scheme is that it does not address the deep-seated caste-based discrimination that underpins manual scavenging. another issue is that the state views these problems as infrastructural and often fails to recognise them as social issues, such as caste, which underpins this occupation. as a result, the schemes lack adjustments needed to effectively challenge the social and economic norms that sustain these discriminatory practices. additionally, the schemes face financial constraints because the allocated funds are insufficient to meet the programme’s needs. the irony is that even the small budget allocated was significantly decreased; for example, in the 2023-24 budget, namaste was allotted rs 97.41 crore, but this was further cut to rs 30.06 crore in the revised estimates (wire, 2024). the scheme’s coverage is limited to urban areas, perpetuating the marginalisation of sewage workers. the lack of direct cash transfers, unlike previous programs such as srms, further weakens their capacity to offer significant economic relief, leaving persistent discriminatory practices unaddressed and the workers’ struggles unresolved. data disguised: tactics of manipulation, hiding, and information suppression the data on manual scavengers in the country is discrepant, with independent organisations like ska and many activists accusing the government of manipulating, hiding, and suppressing information related to manual scavenging. even the government data provided by different agencies is contradictory in nature, as some agencies report different data on manual scavengers. both central and state governmental bodies have frequently been accused of engaging in practices that obscure the true scale of manual scavenging, effectively disregarding the experiences of the marginalised communities involved. the government agencies are accused of manipulating, concealing, and suppressing data to hide the actual number of manual scavengers in india. various organisations and activists have accused the state of reflecting the cultural ideology of the dominant ruling class and of lacking the political will to address the issue seriously. wilson claims that government agencies intentionally underreport the actual number of labourers involved in this inhumane practice. he criticises the state agencies for using a narrow interpretation of the act to define manual scavengers and other criteria that exclude many people who should be included in the category of manual scavenging. in addition to data manipulation, state agencies are also accused of concealing information and suppressing data related to manual scavenging records. there has been an incident where the death of manual scavengers is suppressed, and the records the policy paradox: persistent manual scavenging despite reform efforts 479 of the number of manual scavengers are also concealed. furthermore, there is a lack of transparency in the policies of manual scavenging and deliberate concealment of information about the effectiveness of schemes. there is often little to no public disclosure on the progress and effectiveness of these schemes, making it difficult to assess whether those who have left manual scavenging have truly been rehabilitated into safer, more dignified employment. this manipulation of data serves to downplay the magnitude of the problem, thus reducing the pressure on the government to implement effective interventions. in july 2024, the government stated that there was no proof of manual scavenging in the last five years in the country. this statement has faced criticism from various civil societies and is contradictory to the findings of the state’s own agencies such as niti ayog. interestingly, in a response to a parliamentary inquiry dated december 2021, it was reported that 58,098 manual scavengers had been identified according to the criteria outlined in the 2013 act. out of these, 43,797 manual scavengers had available caste-related data, with 97.25 per cent belonging to the scheduled castes. the explicit denial by the state regarding the existence of manual scavengers reflects their lack of political will to address the issue (m, 2022). the government recently announced in parliament that there are no current reports of individuals engaged in manual scavenging in the country. however, the most recent annual report (2019-20) from the national commission for safai karamcharis (ncsk) emphasised that this practice still persists in both rural and urban areas. the national human rights commission (nhrc) declared in january 2021 that the claims made by several states of having zero manual scavengers and zero insanitary latrines are not accurate (nhrc, 2021). according to the secc-2011, rural areas had 182,505 manual scavengers, and the census 2011 indicated more than 26 lakh insanitary latrines in the country. the government claims that most of these have been converted into sanitary facilities under the swachh bharat mission. however, the safai karmachari andolan believes that the official reports underestimate the actual number of manual scavengers in the country. they state that around 7.7 lakh individuals work as sewer cleaners, and there have been 1760 reported deaths of sewer cleaners since 2000. additionally, there are 36,176 railway sewer cleaners. the national crime records bureau (ncrb) stopped publishing data on cases under the 2013 act from the year 2017. this means that it is not possible to ascertain how many cases are being filed under the 2013 act based on the ncrb reports. confronting the barriers: policy challenges in ending manual scavenging the persistence of manual scavenging in india highlights the complex interplay between policy uncertainties and deeply rooted social attitudes that perpetuate this inhumane practice. the trajectory of these legislative and policy frameworks provides ample proof to illustrate the indifference, insensitivity and denial by the state to 480 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 eradicate this practice altogether. the 2013 act, considered the major legislative reform aimed at eradicating this degrading act, has certain ambiguities that contradict its intention to prohibit the act. khanna (2019) argues that the act has watered down “the unambiguous illegality of the practice of manual scavenging with exemptions, exceptions and provisions” (koonaan, 2021, p. 9). beyond the legislative flaws, the policy implementation remains fragmented and mostly on paper, creating significant gaps between policy outcomes and ground realities. local governing bodies often lack the capacity and accountability to ensure compliance with the legal and policy framework, leaving scavenging communities trapped in exploitative labour practices. the contractualization of labour within neoliberal policies has further worsened the conditions for scavengers in various ways, especially in urban areas where municipalities and other state agencies outsource work to private contractors to evade direct responsibility for workers. contractors often exploit these workers through low wages, working in hazardous conditions and denying social benefits. this system has led to further exploitation, with workers categorised as informal or temporary, and in case of any tragedy, denied compensation or rehabilitation, as these policies aim to prevent. the insensitivity and indifference of state agencies form the foundation of an exploitative culture that shields the state from accountability. the technological lag in sewage infrastructure highlights the ongoing failure to invest in mechanisation solutions, such as sewage cleaning machines, which still heavily depend on human labour. even policies like namaste, designed to encourage mechanisation, have fallen short in bridging this technological gap due to weak enforcement and limited funding. although technologies like the super sucker truck have been introduced for sewage cleaning, they are still operated by dalits, reinforcing caste-based occupational stigma. these oversights sharply contrast with the state’s priorities, where it could develop advanced technologies such as a rover capable of landing on mars, yet still lacks the measures needed to fully automate sewage cleaning and resolve this inhumane issue. this may reflect the pervasive caste bias within the entire system (kanoon, 2021). the cultural normalisation of manual scavenging as acceptable when dalits, primarily valmikis, perform these tasks underscores the longstanding association of caste with occupation. this societal attitude fosters indifference among policymakers and implementing agencies, who are often guided by privileged caste values that tend to ignore the problematic division of labour based on caste. narula (2008) asserts that “the rule of law lives in the shadow of the rule of caste” (p. 267). this likely explains the persistent technological gap, where, despite the potential to develop sophisticated technologies, social realities remain unchanged. chaplin (1999) argues that the lack of political and administrative will, combined with weak governance capacity and the absence of a significant “threat from below” since informal workers remain excluded from trade unions, can hinder their ability to voice concerns. adding to these challenges, society has become accustomed to relying on workers’ services, believing it is expected of them. this cultural normalisation the policy paradox: persistent manual scavenging despite reform efforts 481 of manual scavenging further deepens feelings of insecurity and ignorance about the plight of these workers. policy initiatives, such as sba and namste, which are presented as pioneers of sanitation reform, fail to grasp the fundamental nature of scavenging, which is akin to a caste system; their primary focus remains on urban cleanliness rather than eradicating manual scavenging. critics argued that these policies are superficial in their approach, as they concentrate on upgrading infrastructure without addressing the root issues of caste or actively enforcing these policies locally. similarly, ramasamy (2005) argues that such initiatives are more driven by global concerns, such as the sdgs, rather than a genuine commitment to improving the lives of manual scavengers, highlighting their limited potential for meaningful change. the state’s denial of the existence of manual scavenging, along with the suppression and concealment of accurate data, complicates efforts to eradicate this issue. the claim that there have been no deaths of manual scavengers in the past five years reveals the state’s true intention: to avoid acknowledging the problem and neglecting to address it. furthermore, the removal of rehabilitation schemes in the 2024 budget, along with their merger into policies aimed at promoting mechanisation, demonstrates a deliberate disregard for the issue and undermines policy efforts. this perpetuates the marginalisation of scavengers. the lack of reliable data and acknowledgement hampers informed policymaking and effective interventions. chandrasekharan (1986) proposed a framework of “dalit jurisprudence” to directly confront caste-rooted injustices, recognising that existing legal structures fail to address the underlying social reality. without such structural changes, it is essential to understand that manual scavenging is not merely a policy issue, but a societal one tied to caste discrimination and dehumanisation. the prevailing misconception underlying these policies is that merely shifting to mechanisation will eliminate manual scavenging. however, such a one-dimensional approach fails to recognise the deeper structural issues that sustain this practise entrenched caste hierarchies and social exclusion. achieving genuine change requires comprehensive measures coupled with decisive government action to improve the social, educational, health, and rehabilitative conditions of the scavenging community. the policy framework must be responsive and adaptable to ground realities, prioritising workers’ needs rather than relying solely on technological solutions. eradication calls for a multidimensional and integrated strategy that is sustained over time, addressing all aspects and recognising caste as a core issue. collaboration with all stakeholders, including civil societies, is essential, as it will help enhance state accountability and ensure that the voices of marginalised groups are heard in policy-making. therefore, to resolve the current policy paradox and foster lasting change, a holistic approach that goes beyond mere prohibition and mechanisation is crucial. this strategy should focus on improving socio-economic conditions, promoting social justice, and safeguarding human rights. policies should be based on the direct experiences of manual scavengers and include ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and adjustment. 482 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 conclusion the persistence of manual scavenging despite numerous legal frameworks and public policies underscores the deep-rooted paradox in the state’s approach to real inclusion, human dignity, and social justice. the indian state presents a contradictory situation where, on the one hand, it has enacted progressive laws and policies. on the other hand, ground realities continue to reveal systemic failure and structural barriers that allow manual scavenging to persist despite official claims of eradicating the practice entirely. this paradox exposes the critical gap between policymakers’ intentions and actual policy outcomes, rendering many policies largely symbolic. the failure to eliminate manual scavenging is mainly due to the state’s neglect of the problem. existing policies are hindered by flawed implementation, lack of accountability, and poor enforcement of these measures. despite the severity of this inhumane practice, strangely, no official has been penalised for rule violations. consequently, weak monitoring and a lack of accountability result in legislation existing more in theory than in practice. this situation renders manual scavenger’s invisible citizens who exist in reality, yet remain unacknowledged by the state. there is an urgent need to confront and dismantle the visible and invisible chains associated with the caste system and the occupation based on it. while the path to fairness may be daunting, it can be paved with resilience, determination, and unity, ultimately leading towards a future where manual scavenging becomes history, and the chains of caste are finally broken. the dignity of every individual must be 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(2024). no report on manual scavenging incidents in last 5 years: social justice ministry. july 24. accessed september 19, 2024. https://thewire.in/government/no-reportmanual-scavenging-incidents-5-years-sjm. wilson, b., & singh, b. (2016). the long march to eliminate manual scavenging. india exclusion report, 298–319. © 2025 ravneet. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. general research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2587 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 360-375 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste reproduction of caste privilege in elite educational institutions ravneet1 abstract this article, embedded in empirical work in two colleges of a central university in delhi, focuses on how caste privilege is legitimized and reproduced within elite higher educational institutions. unlike non-elite educational institutions, these spaces claim to anchor themselves in notions of social justice and equity. these institutions claim progressive pedagogical processes, meanwhile obscuring upper caste dominance in college as well as in the curriculum. scholarly insistence on looking at caste only as a form of marginality within the discourse of education also conceals the way in which caste privilege is reproduced through curriculum as well as college culture. the paper also centres absence of caste in curricula and how dominant epistemology sidelines caste-critical knowledge. taking critical caste theory as a theoretical framework, the study aims to look at caste relationally to explain how students navigate these institutions. keywords caste, privilege, higher education, critical caste theory, curriculum, capital introduction shagun,2 18 years old, is a dalit3 student in a college at a central university in delhi. i interviewed him in february 2024 on his college campus. he wears big spectacles, is fashionable and speaks fluent english. he is part of a queer collective in college and is assertive of his dalit identity. when asked about his experience in college, he painfully describes how his hope from college died the very first day. he reminisces the day of the 1doctoral candidate at jawaharlal nehru university, new delhi e-mail: ravneet875@gmail.com 2all names have been anonymized. 3the term dalit refers to a community of people in india who have been historically marginalized and were considered outside the fourfold caste hierarchy. etymologically, the term translates to oppressed. however, ambedkarite groups have reclaimed the term to assert their identity. reproduction of caste privilege in elite educational institutions 361 orientation when some of the students called him chakka (a derogatory term used for transgender persons or non-heteronormative men) only because he sported long hair. he shared another incident in which a student sneeringly asked him, ‘tum jaise kitne mein bikte hai.’ [how much do you charge for your sexual services]. when i queried the caste of those students and whether they were aware of his caste identity, shagun confirmed them as mostly upper castes and obcs and the person who made the latter remark was aware of his identity. derogatory utterances hurled towards a dalit person are also a way of asserting one’s masculinity rooted in caste superiority. this is one of several other instances of experiences of dalit, tribal and minority students across spaces of higher education. as crude a form of humiliation as the vignette above might not be a common occurrence in elite educational institutions, however, subtle forms of discrimination and humiliation continue to persist. (kumar, 2016). this is where my research question also emerged from. there is vast scholarly work delineating marginalized students’ experience in elite educational institutions and subsequent humiliation and exclusion (sukumar, 2023; sharma, 2019; kumar, 2021; donald, 2019; kumar, 2016; deshpande, 2006). academic work on privileged students, in terms of caste, has been sparse in the indian context (pathania and tierney, 2018). however, there is an increased interest in understanding privileged students’ habitus and the way it helps them stride through college. western scholarship has dealt with reproduction of elite lives and elite institutions as engines of inequality (khan, 2012). in her recent work, subramanian (2019) traces the trajectory of engineering students and how their proclaimed merit is, in fact, rooted in caste privilege. she situates her work in an engineering college in south india which is popularly called ‘iyer-iyengar1 technology’ because of the predominance of a brahmin student body. subramanian argues that the institution known for its academic excellence does not however make any claims regarding its inclusive nature. affirmative policies within the institution are seen as regressive, something which hampers national growth. she looks at merit, traces its genealogy and how it has been situated in the indian context, especially when it comes to affirmative policies, and explores how upper caste students’ habitus reproduces their lives as modern casteless beings who reach premier institutions and consider it a result of their merit. nonetheless, scholarly work on caste privilege in the context of institutions which are known primarily for their social science courses becomes difficult, as well as interesting because of the values such institutions claim to uphold. students are trained in ideas of social justice and are aware of politically correct vocabulary. what needs to be seen is whether those ideas translate into academic and cultural praxis. privilege has been understudied in the indian context, caste privilege more so. thus, this is a probable opening which, i argue, needs to be engaged with. this article, a descriptive narrative, is based on empirical work which considers the social, educational and economic background of students of elite educational institutions to see if it helps them navigate college. taking inspiration from critical 1two brahmin communities living predominantly in tamil nadu, india 362 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 caste studies,2 i aim to look at caste relationally. in my work, i intend to reverse the epistemic gaze to understand reproduction of privilege in spaces of higher education. critical caste studies and bourdieu’s trifecta of capital, habitus and field inform my understanding of how power is played out in the context of higher education in general and elite educational institutions in particular. there is a myriad of literature cataloguing the paradoxical character of higher education. even though it promises mobility especially to hitherto oppressed groups, it continues to disguise ways in which it leads to structural inequalities. higher education in general and elite educational institutions in particular have been spaces which reproduce privilege (khan, 2011; howard and gaztambide-fernandez, 2010; maxwell, 2015; van zanten, 2015) while simultaneously claiming to favour excellence and merit. merit as a category has been unpacked and dismantled to unveil a synthesis of social, cultural and economic capital (khan and jerolmack, 2012) which supposedly produces a meritorious student. however, the term still hasn’t lost its constituency and continues to surface during debates around the efficacy of policies regarding affirmative actions (deshpande, 2006; ilaiah, 2006; subramanian, 2019). the importance of looking at elite educational institutions as exclusionary spaces or as spaces which reproduce caste privilege lies in the fact that these institutions symbolize (or higher education in general) as gateways of aspirations, mobility and success. narratives of progress, equality (especially after implementation of affirmative actions in admission/ recruitments and seemingly increased visibility of students coming from historically oppressed backgrounds), open dialogue, social justice, etc., continue to revolve around such institutions even after a sustained critique, both academic and political, overturning the same (guru, 2002; kumar, 2016; mahanad, 2016; madhukar, 2016). method i use the term elite for the institutions i traversed not only because of their high national institutional ranking framework (nirf) ranking but also because of their respective institutional histories. i chose a central university’s two colleges which i would refer to as college a and college b. as part of a qualitative research framework with an ethnographic sensibility, i spoke to students who largely came from affluent, upper caste backgrounds with necessary cultural capital to not only know how to gain admission in elite colleges but also how to traverse the terrain comfortably. exclusive practices during school, as bhopal and myers (2023) note, guaranteed their progression into elite universities. they further note how socialization during school years plays a significant role in preparing students for college. using bourdieu’s framework of field 2critical caste studies (ccs henceforth) is an emerging framework which aims to expand how caste is viewed and conceptualized. gajendran ayyathurai (2021) underlines the importance of looking at caste relationally; firstly, as a form of domination, secondly, unpacking countercaste practices of women, children, men and movements of subjugated indians. the need to form a new subfield, as he claims, is because of the failure of south asian academia to pin down caste as the “the self-privileging groups’ invention and imposition of social supremacy.” the field’s aim is to centre caste power as well as see anti-caste, casteless praxis. reproduction of caste privilege in elite educational institutions 363 they discuss, ‘how the field of elite schools intersects with those of elite universities and by doing so maintains the status and dominance of some groups within ‘a state of power relations’ in which individuals and institutions engage in a struggle to redistribute and accumulate capitals’ (bhopal and myers, 2023, p. 32). ambivalence of experience, if at all, eventually turned into a sense of belonging in college. progression from the school to college almost seems like a natural continuation as students are prepared not only academically but in terms of extracurricular activities as well. this sense of belonging, however, did not happen for students coming from oppressed backgrounds. access to the field was easier as i had prior acquaintances in both the colleges. i took necessary permissions before starting the field work which started in january 2024 until march 2025. 35 interviews were in person at college campuses while the balance 10 were conducted through video conference. i spent extended periods of time in both the colleges to understand the experiential geography. all interviews were audio-recorded and later transcribed. languages used were hindi and english. all respondents were asked beforehand if they were comfortable with their interviews being recorded. in college a, i used the snowball method to identify participants. there is, however, a limitation to this method as one may not find participants outside the circle of the current respondents. to avoid this, in college b with the help of a colleague who teaches at the same college i shared a google form with the students; asking for their caste background, their parents’ annual income and their course of study. i kept the column of caste background optional; however, all students filled it out. i also approached students in canteens, foyers and during the cultural events which helped in keeping the sample heterogenous. since in college a, i had not shared any google form, i did not directly ask participants’ caste background during the interviews. nonetheless, during the interview, all shared the caste background they come from, barring one participant. i primarily wanted to speak to upper caste students to understand their journeys from their respective schools to college, their experience in college and how they navigate different counters of a college life. so, i made sure that my sample size remains dense with such participants. yet having a diverse set of samples in terms of caste helped me enrichen my analysis. the interviews were semi-structured with a set of 20 questions which ranged from asking their family background, their schooling, college experience, participation in cultural societies and their expectations from the college. taking a cue from ethnographic methods, i wanted to situate myself within the everydayness of the college. i could inhabit the space without any constraints as i could pass off as a student. by the 40th interview, no new themes were emerging, but i did five more just to make sure data reaches saturation. the analysis was done simultaneously so that themes could be crosschecked across interviews rather than towards the end. thematic analysis was used to identify recurring themes. in the table below, i have mentioned the gender and caste demography of the respondents. total no. of respondents men women sc st obc upper caste 45 19 25 8 5 7 22 364 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 insider or outsider? i entered the field with two questions in mind as to how does one understand reproduction of caste privilege in higher education and who has access to the opportunities which the college claims to provide equally? initially, there was a reluctance/confusion to situate myself; was i an insider any longer? or perhaps since i left college a long time ago, am i now an outsider? would my past experiences be still considered valid enough to understand how privilege and discrimination work relationally? this disjunction of positionality, nonetheless, helped me be cautious of how i approached the field. this liminal space, i argue, helped me to be reflexive of my potential biases, the impact that my ideological positions may have on the way i inhabit the field as well the influence my own privileged position (not only in terms of caste and class but also seniority with respect to students) may have on my work (hamdan, 2009; hertz, 1996; dodgson, 2019; pillow, 2010; finlay, 2002). there is always a dilemma as a researcher that knowledge which might be evident to an outsider seems mundane to me if i am part of the group i am studying. however, being an insider also opens the possibility of recognising cultural practices, gestures and lifestyles. this rhythmic trajectory between an insider and outsider (since i am no longer an undergraduate student) influences the way i situate myself as a researcher. i also try not to create a dichotomy between these two statuses as the movement between these two is almost fluid. dwyer et al. (2009) discuss the in-betweenness of the position of a researcher. they urge to move beyond the dichotomy between insider-outsider to state that the duality is not simplistic. a dialectical relationship between outsider and insider status preserves the complexities of similarity and difference. the fluidity of a researcher’s position as in-between outsider and insider can help comprehend the complexities of human experience. however, asselin (2003) articulates the need of the researcher to work with their eyes open and assume that they don’t know anything about the phenomena being observed. for example, during the field work i ended up taking certain comments for granted. it was later while listening to the interviews again i comprehended the intensity of seemingly banal comments. this process of continuous self-awareness, strict vigilance is what forms the foundation of a reflexive praxis in research in general and knowledge production in particular. however, i was an outsider when it came to students who came from marginalised locations. i could not say that i understood their struggles in terms of identity. even though i could relate to their sense of alienation as i felt while i was in college. nonetheless, my goal was to centre their voices first, by listening to them intently and second, writing their stories how they expected me to. interpreting data did not only mean writing down their experiences in a vacuum, but to situate them in the larger anti-caste critique of institutions of higher education and gain insight into their experiences as students at elite colleges. researcher positionality all students agreed on how social and economic background affects one’s access to college as well as how one navigates it. one of the things i wanted to look at was their reproduction of caste privilege in elite educational institutions 365 respective journeys into elite universities. i have also been trying to figure out how to place my upper caste identity within the work on caste. i also thought it to be my responsibility as an anti-caste activist to look at caste not from the lens of discrimination but from the lens of privilege. my own privileged location opens the possibility of unpacking how privilege manifests itself through institutions. my own experience in one such elite college influences the way i pose questions. my experience, both as a student with privilege in terms of caste and class, and disprivilege in terms of past lack of cultural capital, dictates the kind of questions i ask. when i say disprivilege, i mean to underscore my journey from a small town in haryana to a premier college in delhi. there is a duality in my experience as a person who had economic and social capital to reach delhi from a small town, though subsequent alienation because of the absence of requisite cultural capital to navigate an elite space. inability to speak english became a major impediment. i remember one experience where a teacher, in front of an entire class chided me for not being able to write well. what such instances do is that they mark off a student as lacking the necessary skills to be considered a good student. it did not matter if i read anna karenina in punjabi, what mattered was that i did not read it in english. this duality, as i argue, of despite knowing the importance of knowing a famous book did not put me in an advantageous position as it did not follow the rules of the game. such experiences, nonetheless, became the starting point of how i entered the field. theoretical framework privilege privilege is often associated with something positive, something one has but is also legitimate. for instance, the privilege to attend a university of one’s liking, or the privilege of getting a dream job. privilege seems legitimate, harmless even. it is also easy to weave privilege with merit. one’s ‘privilege’ of attending a university is then anchored in their respective merit. it is merit which helps a student accrue privileges. in a neo-liberal economy, ‘individual’ success becomes the benchmark against which everyone, as if a homogenous mass, is graded. success then becomes individual. thus, privilege is individuated. the notion that one’s privileges are contingent on how much effort one puts into their work is detached from the fact that one’s social position decides who has access to resources and who does not. caste, or gender, or religion become a sieve through which those at the margins are ‘filtered’ out. anti-caste, antirace and feminist interventions have helped carve out a space where conversations around social positions’ role in access to resources (or lack thereof) have been held. it is an accepted norm within identity-based movements to acknowledge one’s privileges (by those who are at power positions because of their identity) to be considered an ally. it is an important exercise, one which forces an ally to introspect themselves and the way their privileges remain unseen. peggy mcintosh’s (1989) work on privilege became a popular entry point to explore privilege as a conceptual category. she started with understanding unacknowledged 366 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 male privilege and the way it stays naturalized as well as invisible. she notes how her white skin earned her privileges which remain oblivious to her. her work became an entry point into anti-racist work and the way in which oppression is hyper-visible, but privilege (gender or race-based) remains invisible. she further notes that invisibility of privilege is structurally enshrined. privilege, in a stratified society, is—more often than not—based on ascriptive categories. race or caste becomes the ground on which privilege as well as oppression traverse. mcmanimon (2021), however, argues that white privilege is not a cause of racial oppression but an effect of white supremacy, ‘a social, economic political, legal, cultural and historical construction of domination on the basis of what we now call race, enacted over hundreds of years of laws, regulations, policies, practices, and beliefs’ (p. 499). the cause and effect of white supremacy, she notes, are collapsed. she argues that the why of white privileges need to be kept in mind while acknowledging one’s privileges. she further posits that continuum between white supremacy and white privileges needs to be maintained. otherwise making a check list of white privileges would be a futile exercise. it might work as a cathartic endeavour but does not do anything to end racial oppression as it reduces privileges to the individual. it is, thus, consequential to understand how privilege maintains systems of domination. critical caste studies in the context of indian higher education, critical caste studies plays a significant role as it does not only conceptualise caste in terms of discrimination and exclusion but also privilege so as to build a continuum between caste-based privileges and caste supremacy. caste privileges, accrued over generations, eventually not only help students with knowledge of the rules of the game (bhopal and myers, 2023) to move ahead but also tightly secure their dominant positions within the field (bhopal and myers, 2023, p. 65) of a college. unpacking the trajectory of privilege, as mcmanimon (2021) notes, will help unravel systems of continued domination and power. thus, laying bare the trajectory of caste privileges becomes a crucial exercise to how caste supremacy is consolidated. capital, field and habitus higher education is an important site to understand reproduction of caste privilege while also to see how elite institutions privilege the already privileged. the inequity in achievement in terms of caste can be explained with bourdieusian trifecta of capital, field and habitus. bourdieu describes field as a relational structure which binds agents, or people with institutions to struggle/compete to acquire resources or what he calls capitals. (bhopal and myers, 2023, p. 46). for instance, a playground can be understood as a field. the players compete, keeping in mind the rules of the game, to win the game (calhoun, 2003). education, for example, became a field, much like culture, or the housing market, etc. (bourdieu, 1988; 1996; bourdieu and passeron, 1990). thompson, (2008, p. 69) explains field as formal or informal norms governing a sphere of activity. the individual’s habitus, and its relational dynamic reproduction of caste privilege in elite educational institutions 367 with capitals decides their position in the field. capitals, according to bourdieu, can be fundamentally divided into three parts—economic, social and cultural. economic capital is convertible, social capital refers to social connections and cultural capital is embodied, objectified and institutionalized (edgerton and roberts, 2014). habitus, bourdieu explains, are dispositions of individuals with which they inhabit the world. habitus and capitals are interrelated as a secure position within the matrix of capitals moulds one’s habitus. bourdieu’s framework helps understand how privilege fundamentally relies not only on ascribed identity but also the position one inhabits in a field and vice versa. for instance, caste privilege, or lack thereof, will decide the position one inhabits in the field of education which further moulds one’s dispositions. the importance lies in not to look at these concepts as separate but as interrelated. contextualizing the field when i decided my field location, i was sure of what i would do. i thought i knew the kind of students there would be, i was expecting upper caste, visibly rich, englishspeaking students strutting with confidence. however, the college as an institution had changed. the ‘arrogance of entitlement’, as khan (2010) puts it, was replaced with an ‘ease of privilege’ (p. 10). this was an indication to reflexively unpack one’s biases, to step out, even for just a moment, from the location of a former student to a researcher who would not see things within binaries. to create a sense of familiarity, i remember being chirpier and using slangs to develop a rapport with the students as the kind of questions and the way one poses questions can influence the outcomes (hamdan 2009). there is a way affluent students speak, which i have learnt over the years being in elite institutions of delhi. i knew which students to speak to with a certain accent as language plays a significant role in boundary making (drewski, 2023). i made sure that i dressed well because it warrants not only attention but respect. there was a discernible difference in the way students spoke, dressed and went about their lives. even those privileged students who were critical of their own privileged subjectivities carried an air around them which was indicative of their cultural capital, if not economic. being an insider helped me understand certain gestures which are specific to privileged upper caste culture (hardman, 2009). i knew how language becomes refined; however, the underlying meaning remains problematic. hefty vocabulary can barely mask everyday casteist remarks. narratives from the field frustration in the field as a methodological space not restricting one’s field analysis just to audible spoken data opens the possibility of incorporating details which do not necessarily come within the rigid conventional process of data gathering. however, making meaning from such instances remains slippery and requires a continuous observation of events in the field. nairn et al. (2005) note that “attention to other forms of data regarding embodiment, laughter and silence may provide a richer set of data” (nairn, et al., p. 236). i want to look 368 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 at frustration3 in the field as a methodological space to locate students’ responses as emerging from their caste entitlement. even though initiation into the field was easy, however trying to get ahold of students proved challenging. students, especially from privileged locations, would not respond. or, if they did respond, they would take days to finalize a date to meet. these instances can be ignored as contentions from the field, however what i noticed throughout the course of my field work was that those students who were indecorous and who took time to respond overwhelmingly came from upper caste locations. i want to place my own experience here, not only as a student at such colleges, but also having been around students (primarily upper caste since my own friend group constituted only upper castes) who felt superior and entitled to be critical of not only students but of teachers. however, this sense of superiority stemmed from the forms of capital they held; their speech and language, their clothing, the music they listened to came from not only generational wealth but also histories of education. i do not want to dismiss, if not assert vigorously, the possibility of upper caste students’ behaviour as caste entitlement. trajectory from school to college the chasm between differential trajectories which students take to reach elite institutions is glaring. the annual school fee of a respondent whom i spoke to was 18 lakh rupees. this was one extreme end but even other students who may not have attended fancy international schools received support from schools as well as parents. one respondent, aparna (political science honours, 1st year, college a), who mentioned that she went to a convent school described at length the opportunities the school provided. the school, an indian certificate of secondary education (icse) board (which is popularly considered to be posher, elite and remains mostly restricted to schools in metropolitan cities), encouraged extra-curricular activities along with academic rigour, which entailed participating in state as well national level sports, debate competitions and theatre amongst other opportunities. she positioned herself as a casteless middle-class student and situated herself in kerala’s progressive politics which has done away with caste-based hierarchies. the fact that they did not use their caste names meant she also did not associate with her caste. on the other hand, however, were students who were made to sit at the back of the class in school because of their identity. riya, a ‘first-generation female dalit’ (history honours, 1st year, college b) narrated her experience in a private icse board school, as to how she always sat in the back of the class even though she performed well. “i had a backbencher topper-image.’ initially, it struck me as a choice (which was indicative of my inability to see caste dynamic at play), but i was soon corrected that all sc (scheduled caste) students in her class in school sat (or were made to sit) in the back. she notes something similar but more subtle in college. she said the moment people get to know about your caste, they start behaving differently, their behaviour gets ‘weird.’ ambedkar (2013) describes caste-based division as graded inequality where the four classes (he translates varnas to class) are on “the vertical plane. not only different but unequal in status, one standing above the other” (p. 107). the gradation reproduction of caste privilege in elite educational institutions 369 of students within the classroom gets replicated in college as well. native-speakers, dalit or adivasi students, students from the north-east are reduced to small clusters within the space of a classroom (goswami, 2021; sharma, 2018). another example was of a dalit student, sapna (physics honours, 2nd year, college b) who mentioned that she wasn’t even aware that college b was a women’s college. whereas, not even most, all upper caste students i interviewed not only knew which college they wanted to attend, but which subject would be good for their career. besides families, they had access to remarkable school infrastructure as well as teachers who were aware of which subject would align with the student’s interests. this is also an indication that elite educational institutions, despite having affirmative policies, constitute primarily of students who come from, if not economic, substantial cultural and social capital. it is also indicative of the fact that not only they came from histories of educational wealth but also dispositions which will eventually help them fare well in college as well as the job market (deshpande and newman, 2009). this helps in further securing one’s dominance in a college space, of which a strong representation in student bodies is a result. the idea of looking at the trajectory from school to college is to study the continuation of privilege, a smooth transition to see how students from upper caste backgrounds settle in college and later in the labour market with ease. everyday casteist practices the demography of colleges has changed drastically over the years. there is an increased admittance of native speakers from rural backgrounds. even during the field work, respondents frequently remarked on the increase in the number of students from the north indian states of uttar pradesh and bihar. such arguments, though, weren’t backed by any statistical data. however, this acknowledgment was followed by a tinge of bitterness as according to my respondents, these students affected the vibe of the college. what was surprising was that vibe, considered to be a personality trait, came up a lot during the interviews. president of the debating society at college b, aanchal (english honours, 3rd year), mentioned they also match vibe while selecting a candidate. when asked as to what she meant by it, she did not have a concrete answer. but after several interviews it became clear that vibe was almost exclusively meant, what bourdieu (1972) calls, dispositions which were in fact markers of caste and class privilege. for instance, a shared interest in mystery novels of agatha christy marked boundaries of who can be let in a cultural society or a group of friends. vibe can also be understood through the concept of cultural matching (rivera, 2012). in the context of hiring at elite professional service firms, rivera shadowed the hiring managers to understand the basis on which new recruits are hired. she argues that apart from good colleges and grades, cultural fit played a significant role in the hiring process, at times more than the grades and institutional affiliation. the idea of merit, then, can also be problematized with this. merit as passion and hard work, as described my respondents becomes contested when overridden by the cultural insinuation of vibe. another example of cultural matching was seen in other cultural societies as well. for instance, english or hindi dramatics society at college b are the most rigorous and difficult to 370 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 get in. whereas at college a, photography society and the women’s development cell are the most sought after. the heads of the photography society did not agree to speak to me. so, the one student who agreed to talk, abhimanyu (b.a. programme, 2nd year, college a), i did an exercise with him to know the caste background of the position holders of the society. the core membership was constitutive of ten students, the rest were non-core members, and the decision-making power lay with the core, as is the case with all societies. i asked him to list out last names of all the core members. out of ten students, seven students were from upper caste backgrounds (which he claimed to be a diverse pool of students as they came from different regions of north india). i could not place the caste background of the rest of the three students as they were not from north india. he further recalled how the hiring members of the photography society asked students whether the applicants are comfortable with doing drugs or if they can bring in sponsorships for society events? upper caste students did not only fill up most of the seats, but they also devised ways to keep the society an exclusive club through marking boundaries in the name of selecting those with resources. getting sponsors, for instance, would mean having personal connections who can donate money or put one in touch with someone who can. caste dominance, in terms of access to resources such as education and financial stability, has historically put upper castes in a favourable position. their upper caste dominance is, thus, reconstituted through cultural matching. caste in the classroom a dalit student, priya (sociology honours, 3rd year, college b), mentions how there is no caste-based discrimination in her department. it doesn’t mean, however, that there is none in others. nonetheless, she narrates a story of how a professor once asked her, “you must be a brahmin, no?” since she excels in academics. this idea that only a brahmin can be intelligent or do well academically is hinged on a relational idea that a dalit cannot perform well. it is this everydayness of casteist practices which go unnoticed, hence also exceedingly difficult to delineate. she also takes a jibe at upper caste students’ casteist projection of dalit students, she says, ‘ye log abhi bhi sochte hai ki hum ghade se paani peete hai,’ (these people think that we still drink from earthen pot) and laughs. these two institutions which claim to have progressive legacies proved to be what sukumar (2016) calls ‘modern agraharas.’ chand, an ambedkarite second year undergraduate student from the sociology department at college b narrates an anecdote of a classroom discussion. the conversation during a class on social justice turned towards whether affirmative policies are socially just. a debate arose between ambedkarite (which constituted only students from marginalized background) and upper caste students and rather than letting the conversation to reach its conclusion, the teacher, who also belonged to an upper caste location, ended the discussion abruptly without critically engaging with the issues raised. chand narrates that even though ambedkar’s writings are taught, there may be classes on social stratification, but the pedagogical process does not critically engage with caste and rather obfuscates casteist praxis. reproduction of caste privilege in elite educational institutions 371 kain (2022) argues that absence of caste in curriculum furthers caste in pedagogy. she analyses delhi university’s undergraduate syllabus of women’s/gender studies and feminist writings of the department of sociology, political science, etc. she posits that caste remains invisibilized in academic curricula, however it manifests itself through teacher-student relationship, classroom dynamics, etc. she underlines that even if anti-caste, dalit writings are included, let’s say in english or sociology department, the engagement remains tokenistic. in my own empirical work, i discovered through interviews with dalit students, that teachers tend to dissipate conversations on caste or affirmative policies. the sociology department at delhi university has ambedkar’s writings in its syllabus, however students pointed out that engagement with ambedkar remains cursory and its always taught towards the end of the semester when there is barely any time left for critical engagement. mittal (2020) argues, in the context of implementation of national curriculum framework (ncf), 2005 and the way it is perceived and taught in classrooms. in her empirical work in a government school in delhi, she posits that students’ and teachers’ caste identities dictate the way conversations on caste through curriculum takes place. even though ncf tried to address entrenched caste hierarchies in the curriculum and foster critical thinking, however it did not translate into pedagogical processes. structural changes, she underlines, are required for a change in curriculum to be successful. thus, who does or does not see caste depends on which caste location one inhabits. upper caste students’ claim to marginality there is also a tendency, i saw, to claim some form of marginality amongst upper caste students. when they situate themselves as middle class, they eventually go on to underline how their success is a result of their merit. subramanian’s (2019) work underlines how upper caste students continue to invoke merit as an empty category. their claim to marginality, i argue, is a way to assert their superiority over their ‘reserved category’ peers. the popular perception of ews, however, stays elusive to such a branding. it is only after prodding do they come to think of students from the ews category as reserved category students. one respondent shared an interesting anecdote while talking about admission in college a, the role of affirmative policies and upper caste students’ behaviour towards her availing reservations. she chuckles and says, “i understand if those who aren’t availing any reservations judging us or feeling hurt. you won’t believe students who avail ews quota, who have scored even less than us, also judge us.” she goes on to recount another instance where her classmates complained that they are considering studying abroad because undeserving candidates have hogged all the seats. upper caste resentment, as well as hurt against affirmative policies, is made palpable through numerous ways. for example, having no contention with ews as an affirmative policy and a call for castelessness is an indication of two things, amongst others a) collapsing ews with upper caste, hence deserving students; b) upper caste insistence on maintaining caste hierarchy. caste privilege as a way of life has been naturalised, is all pervasive and invisible. caste capital has been converted to economic and social capital, hence the call for castelessness (deshpande, 372 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 2014), or a call to discontinue reservations. claiming castelessness or saying ‘i don’t believe in caste’ is in fact a reiteration of caste privilege. caste beyond classroom college space is like a microcosm where students from various religions, castes, class and ethnicity are supposed to form a community. college does not happen only in classrooms, but also in the field, in canteens, in the foyer, in cultural societies, etc. cultural societies play a significant role in any college culture. this central university is known for, apart from academic rigour, its seemingly vibrant cultural societies. everyone ‘seems’ to stand a chance to participate, grow and ‘make connections.’ however, the process of entrance which is projected as transparent is an insidious way of gatekeeping and maintaining upper caste dominance. the process of induction heavily relies on accrued forms of cultural capital. for example, women’s development cell (wdc) needs to be mandatorily present in all colleges. it doesn’t have an active presence in all colleges; however, it is quite active at college a. i spoke to then president of the cell, niharika (political science honours, 3rd year, college a), and asked her about the induction process. it entailed a written exam as well as an interview—all conducted in english. i asked her if english can be an obstacle to which she replied vaguely, ‘oh but it is difficult to manage in any other language because there are students who speak other languages also.’ the questions in the written exam are complex and required special training. it was tantamount to what privileged students received at their schools, which they eventually replicated in college. niharika, for instance, went to an international school. she came from a wealthy family. however, she called herself middle class even though she came from an upscale residential area in delhi where the cost of a house is usually in millions of rupees. her father worked at a prominent position in a national bank of india. she came from a family which constantly reminded her to ‘padhai theek se karo’ (study well). she mentioned how her entire family is academically oriented. “do it well” is a constant reiteration in her interview. the school she went to has all sorts of extra-curricular activities. she was part of a team which created a gender cell, she attended meetings of model united nations which she continued while in college. what we see here is a smooth linear trajectory of a student who was prepped in school to succeed in college and eventually in the labour market. when i asked her that why is there a need for an entry process in the first place? she replied that the right wing needs to be kept at bay is the reason why written exam is a prerequisite. i asked her opinion on the reason of dismal number of dalit, adivasi, obc and minority students in cultural societies. she replies that maybe they do not have enough exposure to sit for the interview. so, shouldn’t the process be more democratic, i asked? we cannot do their work for them, she responded hesitantly. there is an ambivalence in niharika’s responses. even though there is recognition of her own caste and class privilege which afforded her access to elite schools, however, there is a reluctance to accommodate students within the ambit of wdc who do not carry the same cultural capital as she does. niharika comes from a ‘progressive’ left-wing politics. wdc, during her tenure, claims to be constituted reproduction of caste privilege in elite educational institutions 373 primarily by women/queers/non-binaries from oppressed locations. however, the leadership was constitutive of upper caste heterosexual women/non-binary persons. there was gendered diversity in terms of sexuality but not in terms of caste. linguistic capital became a boundary marker to create an exclusive club. it is, however, not to say that students from marginalised backgrounds did not become members but they did not climb up to the leadership position as easily as their upper caste peers did. dalit, tribal and minority students haven’t had any stakes in the power in indian higher education. most ambedkarite student groups across various institutions have been critical of not only the right but also liberal/radical left of not giving students at the margin the opportunity to come forward. first, the selection process works as ‘filters’ so that students with pre-approved cultural capital can be chosen. second, they require students to have had the training to be considered for membership. training, again, requires not only money but an awareness as to what is more fashionable. for example, playing a violin would garner more attention and an increased possibility of getting into the music society than let’s say dholak (a folk percussion instrument). the current president decides who the next president would be (which is mostly their own friends or cousins) and that decision remains final. membership in cultural societies puts one in proximity of the seniors which can help navigate college, exams and other opportunities. it also gives exposure to other students across the university which extends the web of connection. since the same process of selection is replicated in all societies across the university, they become dens of upper caste privileged students. it’s almost like small clusters of cultural societies constitutive of upper caste students which later amalgamates into a larger web of connection. habitus can be used a framework to understand characteristics and dispositions of students which they claim helped them be successful in college. these predispositions are shaped by past experiences which influence their current social world (bhopal and myers, p. 38). conclusion one thing was clear during the field work that according to upper caste students, the ‘meritorious’ is always an upper caste even though caste is claimed to be anti-thetical to modernity as well as merit (subramanian, 2019). higher educational institutions by reinforcing the idea of merit imbue upper caste students with a sense of worthiness which is supplemented by the popular narrative on merit. everydayness of caste is often overlooked and collapsed with class. it is not caste discrimination as long there is no violence, or no overt mention/invocation of one’s caste. caste is marked on a body only when it is violated or if it avails affirmative policies. affirmative policy might serve as inclusionary measures; however, it does not necessarily translate to representation in informal settings such as cultural societies. there are ambedkarite study groups in university colleges, but their place remains marginal. groups formed for sc/st/obc students, like equal opportunity cell, remain defunct in both the colleges; their work is merely perfunctory. the universities need to rigorously work 374 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 towards making such groups active, make it necessary for colleges to robustly build redressal cells. those spaces which remain outside the purview of affirmative policies need to be vigilantly audited to assess diversity across caste, ethnicity and gender. references ambedkar, b.r., anand, s., & roy, a. 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(2015). educating elites: the changing dynamics and meanings of privilege and power. elites, privilege and excellence: the national and global redefinition of educational advantage (pp. 3–12). routledge. © 2025 sunil khaparde. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. general research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2600 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 414-433 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste sickle cell disease: a review article on social pathology, social determinants, and poverty sunil khaparde1 abstract sickle cell disease (scd) is a complex genetic condition intertwined with social justice issues. despite continuous medical advancements, addressing the deep-seated disparities and historical inequalities that disproportionately affect marginalized communities is crucial for effective treatment and support. this report explores the historical understanding of scd pathophysiology, the origins of the sickle cell gene mutation, and its global epidemiology. it delves into the significant socioeconomic disparities perpetuated by the disease, particularly through the lens of social pathology and social determinants of health, including the pervasive impact of poverty and systemic racism within healthcare, with a specific focus on the challenges faced by scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in india due to the caste system. the report also details strategic initiatives, such as india’s ambitious national sickle cell elimination mission, highlighting the global shift towards comprehensive, equitable approaches. it is argued that scd is not merely a genetic disorder but a “social disease,” where societal structures and historical injustices amplify its burden. effective management and eventual elimination of scd necessitate a social justice framework that tackles structural inequalities, promotes equitable healthcare access, and empowers affected communities. keywords sickle cell disease, social justice, health disparities, systemic racism, social determinants of health, caste, equitable healthcare, scd elimination mission, poverty introduction overview of sickle cell disease (scd) as a genetic condition sickle cell disease (scd) is an inherited red blood cell disorder characterized by abnormal haemoglobin (hbs), which causes red blood cells to adopt a rigid, sickle 1chairman of the board of trustees of indian institute of dalit studies (iids), new delhi, india e-mail: sdkhaparde.naco@gmail.com sickle cell disease: a review article on social pathology, social determinants, and poverty 415 shape. this abnormal morphology leads to premature cell death and the blockage of blood vessels, resulting in severe complications such as intractable pain, heightened susceptibility to infections, acute chest syndrome, and stroke. the condition encompasses a group of genetic disorders arising from the inheritance of the sickle cell gene, either in a homozygous state (hbss) or as a double heterozygote with another interacting gene, such as hbsc or hbs/beta-thalassemia. the genetic basis of scd is remarkably simple, stemming from a single point mutation in the haemoglobin beta (hbb) gene on chromosome 11a, where valine is substituted for glutamic acid in the beta-globin protein. this genetic simplicity allowed scd to serve as a foundational model for advances in molecular genetics, including the detection of dna mutations by restriction fragment enzyme analysis and the proof of principle for polymerase chain reaction (pcr). however, this genetic simplicity stands in stark contrast to the disease’s complex, multi-organ pathophysiology, which involves chronic inflammation, hypercoagulability, oxidative stress, and nutritional deficiencies. this fundamental disconnect between the straightforward genetic defect and the convoluted biological and social implications highlights why a purely biomedical approach, focused solely on the molecular anomaly, proves insufficient for comprehensive care and effective management of scd. the disease’s impact extends far beyond the cellular level, manifesting as a systemic challenge influenced by a myriad of external factors. scd as a social justice issue: disparities and historical inequalities scd is profoundly intertwined with social justice issues, with its pervasive impact increasingly recognized as a direct outcome of social disparities, historical inequalities, and systemic discrimination. despite its discovery in western medicine over a century ago—with the first known case described in the united states in 1910 by herrick, and the disease name coined in 1922 by vernon mason—scd has historically received significantly fewer health resources compared to other diseases of similar severity. this historical underinvestment, particularly when juxtaposed with the substantial research funding allocated to diseases predominantly affecting white populations (e.g. cystic fibrosis, which affects three times fewer americans but receives approximately ten times more research funding per person), underscores a critical manifestation of systemic racism within the healthcare and research funding ecosystems. the disproportionate impact of scd on marginalized communities, particularly those experiencing poverty and predominantly individuals of african and mediterranean descent, is deeply rooted in these historical and systemic inequalities, including discriminatory policies and implicit biases within the medical system. this pattern of neglect has effectively devalued the health and lives of predominantly black populations affected by scd, transforming a genetic predisposition into a profound societal disadvantage. 416 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 global and historical context of scd scd has existed for generations in families of african and mediterranean descent. in local african medical literature, around the 1870s, the disease was described with the phrase “ogbanjes,” translating to “children who come and go,” reflecting the tragically high mortality rate of infants with this condition. one ghanian family was able to trace the inherited disease back to 1670. the prevalence of the sickle cell trait is notably high in regions with a history of malaria, reaching as high as 40 per cent in sub-saharan africa, eastern saudi arabia, and central india. this distribution is explained by the survival advantage conferred by the sickle cell trait against plasmodium falciparum malaria, particularly in early childhood. scientists realized this protective effect in the 1950s, observing that individuals with the sickle cell trait show decreased parasite counts if they contract malaria. in india, the sickle cell gene is widespread among tribal populations, with carrier frequencies reaching up to 35 per cent in certain tribes, likely due to historical selection pressure from malaria, as the sickle cell trait confers some resistance to the disease. regarding the origin of the scd mutation, two models have been proposed: a multicentric model suggesting four independent genetic mutations (three in africa, one in saudi arabia or central india) occurring 70,000 to 150,000 years ago, and a unicentric model. the most recent and universally adopted evidence supports the unicentric model, positing that the sickle cell mutation originated in a single individual in western africa, likely in the rainforest of present-day cameroon, approximately 7,300 years ago, prior to the eastward and southward african bantu migration. all five haplotype variations of the scd gene are present in cameroon and egypt, indicating a longer presence in these regions. the evolutionary advantage of the sickle cell trait in malaria-endemic regions, while a biological adaptation, has created a demographic reality where scd disproportionately affects populations historically subjected to colonialism, forced migration, and ongoing systemic inequities. the very mechanism that offered a survival advantage in one environment has, through historical injustices and population movements, led to a concentrated burden of a severe genetic disease in marginalized communities across different parts of the world. this historical-biological intersection underscores the deep roots of global health disparities in scd. purpose and scope of the article this article aims to provide a comprehensive exploration of sickle cell disease, moving beyond its biomedical definition to analyze its profound social dimensions. it will examine the historical understanding of scd pathophysiology, the origins and global spread of the sickle cell gene mutation, and the current epidemiology and prevalence of the disease. a central focus will be on dissecting the significant socio-economic disparities that scd perpetuates and is, in turn, exacerbated by, with a particular sickle cell disease: a review article on social pathology, social determinants, and poverty 417 emphasis on the impact of the caste system in india. the report will detail strategic initiatives designed to address these complex issues, emphasizing that effective scd management and ultimate elimination necessitate a social justice lens, tackling systemic inequalities and promoting equitable healthcare access for all affected populations. methodology approach to literature review and data synthesis this report employs a systematic approach to synthesize information derived from the provided research material, encompassing medical research, public health reports, and social science literature. the methodology section outlines the process of how the information was gathered and analyzed, providing transparency and ensuring the rigor of the presented findings. given that this report is a synthesis of pre-selected material rather than an independent literature search, the “search” and “selection criteria” aspects of a typical systematic review are adapted to reflect the scope of the provided data. the integration of medical and social science data within this report necessitates an interdisciplinary methodological approach. this acknowledges that a purely biomedical lens is insufficient to address the complexities of scd, which are deeply rooted in societal structures and historical contexts. the approach aims to bridge the gap between clinical understanding and the lived experiences of individuals with scd, thereby providing a more holistic and actionable perspective on the disease. this deliberate choice of methodology underscores the importance of examining not only the biological aspects of scd but also the profound influence of social, economic, and political factors on its prevalence, progression, and management. criteria for information inclusion and synthesis information for this report was drawn directly from the provided research snippets. the primary focus was on identifying data points and narratives related to the core themes of the user query: scd pathophysiology, its historical context, global epidemiology, the multifaceted impact of social determinants of health (including economic stability, education, healthcare access and quality, neighborhood and built environment, and social and community context), the pervasive nature of systemic racism, current diagnostic and management strategies, and emerging therapeutic advancements. priority was consistently given to information that highlighted the intricate intersection of scd with social justice, poverty, and health disparities. in instances where multiple snippets contained repetitive information, the most comprehensive, authoritative, or detailed source was prioritized to ensure accuracy and depth (e.g. for methodology details for structural racism for management strategies). this selective approach ensured that the narrative was built upon the most robust evidence available within the provided material, allowing for a focused and impactful discussion of the disease’s social dimensions. 418 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 framework for analyzing social determinants and poverty in scd the analysis of social determinants of health (sdoh) within this report is guided by the established understanding that these are the “conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks”. this framework recognizes that sdoh are “upstream” factors, meaning they are fundamental societal conditions that precede and profoundly influence individual health outcomes. the five domains of sdoh, as defined by healthy people 2030, serve as a structured framework for organizing the discussion on how poverty and broader social factors impact scd. by explicitly adopting this recognized sdoh framework, the report moves beyond anecdotal observations to provide a structured, evidencebased analysis of how societal factors systematically influence scd outcomes. this legitimizes the social justice argument within a public health context, demonstrating that simply promoting healthy individual choices is insufficient to eliminate health disparities in scd. instead, it underscores the necessity of addressing the underlying systemic conditions that create and perpetuate health inequities. this approach fundamentally reframes scd as a public health and social policy challenge, not solely a medical one. socio-pathology of sickle cell disease systemic racism and discrimination in scd healthcare systemic racism, also referred to as societal or structural racism, represents a pervasive set of institutional, cultural, and historical systems that inherently grant white individuals greater access to healthcare, education, and wealth. given that the majority of people with scd in the united states are black, their healthcare experiences and overall quality of life are directly and profoundly affected by these ingrained racial inequalities. black americans, along with other racial and ethnic minorities such as hispanic americans, consistently receive poorer quality care and face greater barriers to accessing routine medical services compared to white americans. this disparity directly contributes to worse medical outcomes and higher mortality rates within these marginalized groups. for instance, black infants experience mortality rates two to three times higher than other racial groups. in india, the caste system functions as a deeply entrenched form of systemic discrimination, officially recognizing the dalit community as ‘scheduled castes’ and adivasis as ‘scheduled tribes’, while simultaneously perpetuating widespread bias despite constitutional bans on caste-based discrimination. these communities, constituting about 25 per cent of india’s population, have historically faced systemic exclusion from basic services, including healthcare, education, and land access. this persistent structural poverty and deprivation manifests in all aspects of their lives, sickle cell disease: a review article on social pathology, social determinants, and poverty 419 leading to significantly poorer health outcomes and lower healthcare utilization compared to higher caste groups. implicit racial bias among healthcare professionals significantly influences treatment decisions. studies have shown that healthcare professionals are less likely to diagnose coronary heart disease with certainty among black patients and are less inclined to prescribe narcotic medications to black patients as their pro-white bias increases. similarly, in india, dalits and adivasis face overt discrimination in healthcare settings. studies reveal that healthcare workers, once aware of a patient’s caste status, may provide less information about health services, refuse entry into private health centers, exhibit indifference, or even refuse to touch patients to understand their condition. this persistent disparity in healthcare quality for scd patients, despite ongoing medical advancements, reveals that the healthcare system itself is a perpetuator of health inequities. implicit bias and systemic racism/casteism act as insidious “social pathogens” that compound the biological burden of scd. the system is not merely flawed; it is inherently structured in ways that lead to a lower standard of care for an entire patient population based on race or caste. this means that prejudice and stigma associated with scd are, in effect, shortening the lives of those with the disease faster than the disease’s biological mechanisms alone. patient experiences: bias, mistrust, and inadequate pain management patients living with scd frequently report experiencing profound stigmatization within healthcare settings, often being labeled as drug-seeking or drug addicts, and consistently having their severe pain discredited. anecdotal accounts from the scd community vividly describe the struggle to convince medical staff of their pain’s reality, encountering negligent doctors, enduring slow emergency department services, and facing a pervasive lack of knowledgeable healthcare professionals. research substantiates these experiences, indicating that black patients with scd experience 25 per cent longer wait times to see a physician in emergency departments compared to the general patient population. in india, dalits and adivasis face similar, if not more severe, forms of discrimination. they experience longer waiting times in private facilities, and doctors may refuse treatment based on the mistaken assumption that they cannot afford care. reports indicate that 94 per cent of dalit children surveyed faced discrimination in the form of touch, dispensing of medicines (91 per cent), and conduct of pathological tests (87 per cent), with 81 per cent not being given as much time as other children. these repeated experiences of discrimination foster deep medical mistrust among scd patients, which, in turn, is directly linked to reduced engagement in preventative care, poorer disease management, and lower adherence to prescribed treatments. consequently, many adults with scd express a reluctance to seek healthcare services, often delaying care until it becomes a last resort, due to the anticipated racism and discrimination they expect to encounter. this pervasive discrimination and medical mistrust create a vicious cycle: patients avoid necessary proactive care, leading to an exacerbation of their condition and an increased reliance on emergency services 420 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 for acute crises. this pattern highlights a systemic failure to provide empathetic and effective care, transforming the healthcare system into a source of additional suffering and poor health outcomes for individuals with scd. impact of stigma and “invisibility” on scd outcomes sickle cell disease is frequently described as an “enduring—and often invisible— condition”. this inherent invisibility, coupled with widespread societal stigma and misconceptions about the disease, extends its detrimental impact far beyond clinical symptoms and healthcare interactions, profoundly affecting patients’ social integration, educational attainment, and overall quality of life. misconceptions within the general public can lead to social isolation for individuals with scd, making it difficult for them to form and maintain friendships and romantic relationships. furthermore, the disease significantly hinders academic progress for adolescents. studies show that 60 per cent of adolescents with scd report that the disease interferes with their school performance, and 40 per cent report being retained at least one grade level, compared to a national average of 24 per cent. in india, historical caste divisions persist in the education sector, influencing unequal access, biased treatment, and limited representation for marginalized groups. dalits and adivasis have historically been denied access to education, leading to significant educational gaps. students from these backgrounds often endure social stigma and discrimination within educational settings, negatively impacting their learning experiences and psychological well-being. this “invisibility” of scd contributes to a lack of public awareness and empathy, which can translate into lower policy prioritization and resource allocation for the disease. simultaneously, the direct stigma impacts patients’ social well-being and limits their life opportunities, collectively demonstrating a broader societal pathology that compounds the challenges of living with scd. historical neglect in research funding and resource allocation despite being documented over a century ago and recognized as the most common genetic disorder globally, scd has historically suffered from a severe lack of research funding, significantly impeding the development of new and effective treatments. until 2017, only one disease-modifying treatment was available for scd. this stands in stark contrast to cystic fibrosis, an inherited disease that affects three times fewer americans but has historically received approximately ten times as much research funding per person, resulting in 15 approved drugs. this profound disparity in research funding is directly attributable to structural racism. funding agencies and pharmaceutical companies have historically not prioritized scd research, potentially due to perceptions of lower profitability given the disease’s prevalence primarily within marginalized communities, and also due to challenges such as low enrollment in scd clinical trials. this historical underfunding, when juxtaposed with the disproportionate investment in diseases affecting predominantly white populations, exposes a deep-seated economic and racial bias within the scientific and pharmaceutical industries. this bias transforms a genetic sickle cell disease: a review article on social pathology, social determinants, and poverty 421 predisposition into a systemic disadvantage, as reduced investment translates directly into slower drug development, fewer therapeutic options, and ultimately, poorer health outcomes and reduced life expectancy for individuals with scd. poverty and social determinants of health in scd defining social determinants of health (sdoh) and their relevance to scd social determinants of health (sdoh) are fundamental conditions within the environments where individuals are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age, which collectively influence a broad spectrum of health, functioning, and quality-oflife outcomes and risks. these “upstream” factors are critical drivers of wide health disparities and inequities, indicating that simply promoting healthy individual choices is insufficient to eliminate these disparities. instead, addressing sdoh necessitates systemic action to improve the fundamental conditions in people’s environments. scd disproportionately affects marginalized communities, particularly those experiencing poverty, making sdoh a critical lens through which to understand and address the disease. in india, scd is particularly prevalent among socioeconomically disadvantaged scheduled caste (sc) and scheduled tribe (st) populations, who constitute about 25 per cent of the country’s population. the acknowledgment that sdoh are foundational societal factors and that individual-level interventions alone cannot resolve health disparities represents a crucial shift from individual blame to systemic responsibility. this fundamentally reframes scd as a public health and social policy challenge, rather than solely a medical one. it implies that even with optimal medical care, if the underlying social and economic barriers are not addressed, individuals with scd will continue to face significant obstacles to achieving optimal health. economic instability and its impact on scd morbidity and mortality economic instability significantly exacerbates the burden of scd. youth diagnosed with scd who live below the poverty line face an increased risk for morbidity, mortality, and substantial financial burden. the average total healthcare costs for individuals with scd can reach $1 million by age 45, with annual costs averaging around $10,000 for children and $30,000 for adults. this immense financial strain, coupled with pre-existing economic instability, creates a detrimental cycle of poverty and poor health outcomes. in india, caste discrimination contributes to deep poverty, with approximately one in three dalits living in multidimensional poverty (monetary, education, and basic infrastructure). this limits their access to even public hospitals due to widespread under-the-table corruption and out-of-pocket costs, which are unaffordable for those living on less than three dollars a day. dalits and adivasis have the lowest healthcare utilization and outcome percentages, and their life expectancy is significantly lower at 63.0 and 64.0 years, respectively, compared to the general population. financial 422 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 constraints in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods often compel families with scd to reside in substandard housing and rely on low-quality childcare settings, which further increases their social, clinical, and nutritional vulnerabilities. the protective effect of economic support is evident in studies showing that medicaid receipt among youth with chronic illnesses, including scd, is associated with an increased frequency of well-child visits and a decrease in emergency room (er) and inpatient visits. this indicates that economic support can directly mitigate negative health outcomes, highlighting policy-level interventions as crucial for improving the lives of scd patients. the disease not only causes financial hardship but also limits opportunities for economic advancement, thereby trapping families in a disadvantaged state. education access and quality: influence on health literacy and management education, particularly parental education, serves as a significant protective social determinant against adverse health outcomes in scd. research indicates that children with scd residing in households where an adult holds at least one bachelor’s degree are 33 per cent less likely to experience acute care utilization (acu) and hospitalizations. this suggests that higher parental education levels are associated with improved health literacy, enhanced advocacy skills, and greater access to resources, all of which can profoundly mitigate the negative health impacts of scd, even when other social determinants present challenges. conversely, the disease itself can impede educational attainment. academic progress for adolescents with scd is often hindered by frequent disease-related school absences. for example, 60 per cent of adolescents surveyed reported that scd interfered with their school performance, and 40 per cent stated they had been retained at least one grade level. in india, the education sector is deeply affected by caste discrimination, leading to unequal access, biased treatment, and limited representation for marginalized groups. historically, dalits and adivasis were denied access to education, resulting in significant educational gaps. despite legal protections and affirmative action policies, lower caste applicants often face discrimination in admission processes and experience lower acceptance rates in colleges, even with similar academic qualifications. this illustrates that education is not merely about knowledge acquisition; it is a critical proxy for broader socioeconomic stability and the ability to navigate complex healthcare systems. therefore, interventions that focus on educational support for families and patients could yield significant downstream health benefits, extending beyond purely medical treatment. neighbourhood and built environment: food deserts and transportation barriers the characteristics of an individual’s neighborhood and built environment directly influence health outcomes for scd patients. preschool-aged children with scd who live in food deserts—areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious food— and have limited access to transportation face a significantly greater risk for acute sickle cell disease: a review article on social pathology, social determinants, and poverty 423 complications and hospitalizations. specifically, living more than one mile from a supermarket was associated with a 44 per cent increase in hospitalizations and a 37 per cent increase in acute care utilization among young children with scd. the risk is further compounded when living more than a mile from a grocery store and without a vehicle, which is linked to a significantly higher likelihood of hospitalization. in india, dalits historically lived on the outskirts of villages, working as bonded laborers and lacking access to basic amenities like water and land. this historical marginalization contributes to the current mismatch between where health facilities are located (predominantly urban) and where dalits and adivasis live (nearly 90 per cent in rural settings), creating fundamental barriers to healthcare access. their geographic isolation further exacerbates these challenges, along with internal communication barriers. food insecurity and housing instability are highly prevalent in the underresourced communities where children with scd often reside, and these conditions are directly associated with poorer diet quality, characterized by higher intake of dairy and pizza and lower intake of whole grains. adequate nutrition is known to influence the pathophysiology of scd, and undernourished individuals are more likely to experience impaired immune function and disease exacerbation. these geographic and environmental disadvantages are not mere inconveniences; they create a direct pathway to worsened scd outcomes, demonstrating how systemic urban planning failures and resource allocation inequities become clinical barriers, irrespective of medical advancements or individual efforts. addressing scd effectively thus requires interventions in urban planning, infrastructure development, and food policy, extending far beyond the traditional medical domain. healthcare access and quality disparities for marginalized communities healthcare access and quality are critical social determinants that disproportionately affect marginalized communities with scd. the healthcare system itself is influenced by structural racism, which contributes to a notable shortage of doctors with expertise in treating scd; only 20 per cent of family doctors report feeling comfortable managing the disease. this lack of specialized knowledge often prevents patients from receiving routine, preventative care, consequently pushing them towards emergency rooms for crisis management. in india, dalits and adivasis face direct discrimination in the private healthcare system, including disparity in care, denial of entry into private clinics, and longer waiting times. they are less likely to receive maternal healthcare and to give birth at hospitals or be assisted by a health professional during delivery, even when controlling for other factors like age and education. only 4 per cent of adivasi and 15 per cent of dalits utilize private facilities, largely due to the unaffordable out-of-pocket expenditure, which is 524 per cent higher than in public facilities. health insurance schemes like pmjay have also failed to adequately cover these communities, with only a small fraction of private hospital admissions under the scheme coming from dalits and adivasis compared to their eligible population share. during the covid-19 pandemic, these groups faced greater difficulty in securing healthcare, 424 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 with reports of villages not allowing sc families access to public health centers and a lack of connections to arrange transportation, oxygen, or beds in private hospitals. this confluence of provider discomfort, insurance-based access barriers, and a lack of specialized support creates a fragmented and inequitable healthcare landscape for scd patients. the burden of navigating this dysfunctional system falls disproportionately on already vulnerable individuals, leading to higher utilization of acute care services (emergency department visits and hospitalizations) due to insufficient preventative and specialized outpatient care. this results in a less efficient and more costly healthcare system overall. addressing social determinants and systemic inequalities in scd care adopting a social justice lens for scd interventions effectively addressing scd necessitates a fundamental shift towards a social justice lens, one that explicitly recognizes the profound impact of social determinants of health and actively confronts structural inequalities. this approach moves beyond a purely biomedical focus, which, while vital, is insufficient to resolve the deep-seated issues surrounding scd. it implies a fundamental reorientation of public health efforts, shifting the emphasis from individual patient management to systemic societal reform as a core component of disease control and eventual elimination. this social justice framework includes advocating for equitable access to healthcare for all, actively challenging the pervasive stigma and discrimination faced by scd patients, and promoting comprehensive policies that address the root causes of health disparities. furthermore, effective interventions for scd demand a communitybased approach that empowers communities to actively participate in developing and implementing solutions. an intersectional approach is also crucial, acknowledging how multiple forms of social inequality—such as race, class, and gender—intersect to shape the unique experiences and outcomes of individuals living with scd. this paradigm shift is not merely a recommendation; it is a necessary evolution in how scd is understood and managed, recognizing that medical advancements alone cannot overcome the barriers imposed by societal inequities. community-based solutions and empowerment strategies community-based solutions and empowerment strategies are critical for building trust and ensuring culturally competent care, especially given the historical medical mistrust and systemic discrimination experienced by scd patients. effective interventions for scd require a community-based approach that actively involves addressing social determinants of health and empowering affected communities to participate in the design and implementation of solutions. examples of this approach are evident in initiatives like india’s national sickle cell elimination mission (nscem), where community-level work includes screening sickle cell disease: a review article on social pathology, social determinants, and poverty 425 activities conducted by community health officers (chos) and the establishment of patient support group meetings. these efforts are vital for fostering self-advocacy and ensuring that interventions are tailored to the lived realities of the affected populations, thereby counteracting the historical disempowerment they have faced. the advocacy efforts of pioneers like dr. charles f. whitten in the early 1970s, which contributed to the foundation of the sickle cell disease association of america (scdaa), further underscore the transformative power of community organization and patient advocacy in shaping healthcare priorities and improving access to care. such initiatives are not just about service delivery; they are about rebuilding relationships, fostering resilience, and ensuring that the voices of those most affected are central to the solutions. policy recommendations and strategic initiatives the global landscape for scd care is witnessing a significant shift towards comprehensive, system-level elimination efforts, marked by the emergence of ambitious national and international strategic plans. india’s national sickle cell elimination mission (nscem) 2047: this mission embodies a proactive approach to addressing scd as a public health problem. its overarching vision is to eliminate scd in india before 2047. the strategy is built upon three core pillars: 1. health promotion: this includes widespread awareness generation and premarital genetic counseling to inform potential carriers. 2. prevention: universal screening and early detection are key components, targeting a broad population from birth up to 40 years of age, with an initial focus on tribal and high-prevalence areas. the mission specifically prioritizes 17 high-prevalence states, including those with significant scheduled caste and scheduled tribe populations, recognizing their disproportionate burden of the disease. 3. holistic management & continuum of care: this pillar focuses on providing comprehensive treatment at primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare levels, establishing robust patient support systems, and promoting community adoption of prevention and management practices. the nscem aims to screen approximately 7 crore (70 million) people, provide counseling for prevention, and ensure care for individuals with scd within a threeand-a-half-year period (2023-2026) across 17 high-focus states. key operational components include capacity-building initiatives for healthcare providers, establishing diagnostic facilities at the district level, developing mobile applications for data collection and patient follow-up, ensuring the availability of essential drugs, and creating standardized treatment protocols, alongside nutritional services. policy elements central to nscem’s success involve establishing national registries for surveillance, fostering research, engaging in political advocacy, implementing government insurance schemes for patients, and ensuring multi-stakeholder involvement. anticipated outcomes include improved functionality of screening, 426 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 diagnosis, and treatment facilities, better access to medicines, increased community awareness, provision of nutritional services, improved quality of life for patients, reduced school dropouts, increased blood availability, and a decrease in scd-related deaths. the mission aims to combine national policy with community-driven efforts to eliminate sca as a public health issue by 2047, improving the lives of millions in its most marginalized communities. sickle in africa consortium: this collaborative initiative, comprising eight african countries, leverages a robust infrastructure to advance scd research and care across the continent. it has established the largest global scd database and patient registry, currently enrolling over 34,000 patients, which includes detailed demographic, clinical, and management information. sickleinafrica has also contextually adapted clinical guidelines for managing scd across all levels of care, used by providers at their facilities. the consortium actively engages in high-level advocacy through platforms like the 77th un general assembly and the us-africa leaders’ summit, promoting awareness, fostering partnerships, and influencing policy. their focus spans biomedical science to enhance an understanding of scd in african patients, implementation research to improve delivery of life-saving interventions (e.g. newborn screening, community mobilization), and partnerships for therapeutic development, including gene therapy. the consortium emphasizes the critical need for bilateral and multilateral partners across the entire chain of scd comprehensive care, from newborn screening to curative therapies. the emergence of these national and international strategic plans signals a growing global recognition of scd as a public health priority, marking a significant shift from reactive clinical management to proactive, comprehensive, and systemlevel elimination efforts. however, the ultimate success of these plans hinges on their ability to overcome the very social determinants and systemic biases they aim to address. the challenge lies not just in the blueprint but in the effective implementation, particularly in resource-constrained settings and against deeply entrenched systemic racism/casteism. these plans serve as crucial frameworks for how to address sdoh and disparities, and their effectiveness will be the true measure of whether policy can successfully overcome ingrained social pathology. role of advocacy and intersectoral collaboration advocacy plays a pivotal role in driving change for scd patients. the advocacy efforts of individuals like dr. charles f. whitten were instrumental in the early 1970s, contributing to the foundation of the sickle cell disease association of america (scdaa). today, individuals are encouraged to support or join groups that actively advocate and fight for equity in healthcare for scd patients. the complexity of scd necessitates broad intersectoral collaboration. partnerships across governmental, public health, academic, non-profit, and private organizations are essential to secure political will, pool resources, gather expertise with an understanding of local contexts, and allow for the integration of comprehensive care into all levels of existing local healthcare structures and the wider society. the sickle cell disease: a review article on social pathology, social determinants, and poverty 427 sickleinafrica consortium, for instance, exemplifies this by fostering cross-border dialogues and emphasizing the need for robust partnerships from grassroots to global alliances to increase awareness, promote policy advocacy, and establish scd centers of excellence and genomics capacity-building initiatives. in india, advancing tribal health requires a foundational shift towards evidence-based governance, prioritizing the collection and analysis of health data disaggregated by ethnicity, and strengthening institutional capacities to address specific health issues of tribal populations. furthermore, the involvement of indigenous communities in the planning, delivery, and monitoring of health services is crucial to build trust and ensure culturally appropriate interventions. such collaborative efforts are vital for developing and implementing sustainable solutions that address the multifaceted challenges of scd. management and diagnostic of scd historical context of pathophysiology discoveries the understanding of scd pathophysiology has evolved significantly over the past century. in 1927, hahn and gillespie made the groundbreaking discovery that red blood cells sickled upon the removal of oxygen in a carbon dioxide-saturated cell suspension. they further observed that this sickling characteristic could occur in the absence of the full disease, noting that patients with scd had relatives who exhibited the sickling characteristic without having the disease themselves; this phenomenon was later identified as “sickle trait”. further advancements in the late 1940s and early 1950s clarified the inheritance pattern of scd. in 1949, two independent publications described its autosomal recessive mode of inheritance: one by col. e. a. beet in an african medical journal, and another by dr. james v. neel in the american journal science. these physicians detailed how individuals with “sickle trait” were heterozygous carriers of the gene variant, possessing one normal gene and one variant gene without manifesting the disease, while the disease itself appeared in individuals with two copies of the variant gene. a pivotal moment occurred in 1951 when dr. linus pauling and dr. harvey itano discovered the differing chemical structure of oxygen-carrying haemoglobin in the red blood cells of individuals with scd. this landmark discovery established scd as the first identified disease caused by dysfunctional proteins dueining to their abnormal molecular structure. in 1956, dr. vernon ingram further detailed the exact structural alteration in the haemoglobin protein, identifying the substitution of valine for glutamic acid at the sixth amino acid position in beta globin. current understanding of pathophysiology beyond simple vascular blockage, scd is now understood as a complex condition involving a cascade of physiological abnormalities. these include chronic inflammation, a hypercoagulable state, pervasive oxidative stress, and nutritional deficiencies. oxidative stress plays a particularly significant role, characterized by an excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ros) due to mechanisms such as 428 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 hbs autooxidation, nadph activation, and elevated mitochondrial retention, coupled with impaired antioxidant activity. this imbalance leads to structural defects in red blood cell membranes. furthermore, hemolytic processes, which result in the release of cell-free haemoglobin into the plasma, contribute to ros generation and initiate lipid peroxidation. ischemia-reperfusion events, triggered by vaso-occlusive crises, also contribute to oxidative stress. excessive ros generation and ros-dependent signaling significantly contribute to functional alterations in other crucial cell types. for instance, cell-free heme induces neutrophil activation and upregulates cell adhesion, while excessive mitochondrial ros generation in platelets is associated with increased thrombus formation. oxidative stress also contributes to endothelial cell dysfunction and activation, leading to the production of inflammatory molecules and adhesion molecules that recruit leukocytes and red blood cells to vessel walls, thereby driving vaso-occlusive processes. reduced activity of antioxidant enzymes like superoxide dismutase (sod) and catalase (cat) is observed in scd patients, correlating with increased oxidative markers and contributing to complications such as pulmonary hypertension and chronic lung disease. diagnostic techniques early and accurate diagnosis of scd is crucial for timely intervention and improved outcomes. several diagnostic techniques are employed across different stages of life: prenatal diagnosis: scd can be diagnosed before birth, as early as 8 to 10 weeks into pregnancy, through prenatal screening. two primary methods are utilized: ● amniocentesis: typically performed between 16 and 18 weeks of pregnancy, this outpatient procedure involves inserting a needle into the womb to obtain a small sample of amniotic fluid, which contains fetal cells. these cells are then grown in a laboratory for genetic testing to detect the sickle cell gene or other chromosomal abnormalities. ● chorionic villus sampling (cvs): performed earlier, around week 9 or 10 of pregnancy, cvs involves taking a small amount of material from the developing placenta. the placental cells are genetically identical to the baby’s and can reveal the same types of genetic disorders as amniocentesis. while cvs carries a slightly higher risk of miscarriage than amniocentesis, it offers the advantage of earlier results. both techniques can be used to test for the specific type of haemoglobin the baby has, with cvs often preferred for its ability to collect more cells. newborn screening: all 50 states in the united states, along with many other countries, have universal newborn screening programs for scd. this involves a heel prick to collect drops of blood on a special card, which are then tested for various treatable conditions, including scd. common laboratory methods used include high-performance liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, and isoelectric sickle cell disease: a review article on social pathology, social determinants, and poverty 429 focusing. if initial results indicate the possibility of scd or sickle cell trait, a special follow-up team contacts the parents for retesting to confirm the diagnosis, and genetic counseling is offered. this early identification is vital for initiating preventative care and significantly reducing early childhood mortality from infections. blood and genetic tests: for individuals who do not know their sickle cell status or for confirmation of newborn screening results, blood tests can determine the presence and quantity of haemoglobin s protein. genetic testing can ascertain whether an individual carries one or two copies of the sickle cell gene and can also identify other abnormal haemoglobin types, such as those causing thalassemia, which may coexist with the sickle cell gene. genetic tests are particularly useful for confirming a diagnosis when blood test results are inconclusive. current management strategies the management of scd focuses on preventing and treating pain episodes and other complications, aiming to improve quality of life and extend lifespan. general prevention strategies: lifestyle behaviors play a significant role in preventing complications. patients are advised to drink plenty of water, avoid extreme temperatures, and limit exposure to high altitudes or low oxygen levels (e.g. during unpressurized flights or strenuous exercise). infection prevention is paramount, emphasizing frequent handwashing, safe food preparation, and ensuring up-to-date vaccinations, including annual flu and pneumococcal vaccines. young children with hbss (the most common form of scd) are prescribed daily penicillin until at least 5 years of age to greatly reduce infection risk. pain crisis management: acute pain crises, often the hallmark of scd, require prompt and effective management. clinical management typically involves intravenous fluids and pain-reducing medications, with hospitalization necessary for severe crises. optimal management necessitates a multidisciplinary team, including haematologists, nurses, pain specialists, and social workers, to provide empathetic, consistent, and continuous care. pain assessment tools, such as visual analog scales, are used to quantify intensity. mild pain can often be managed at home with oral fluids and non-narcotic analgesics like acetaminophen or nsaids. moderate to severe pain requires opioid analgesics, with parenteral morphine being the treatment of choice due to its effectiveness and the neurotoxic risks associated with meperidine. patientcontrolled analgesia (pca) is often utilized to prevent fluctuations in drug levels and empower patients in their pain management. adjuvant agents like antihistamines and antiemetics, along with non-pharmacologic techniques such as physical therapy, heat application, and cognitive-behavioral therapies, also contribute to pain relief. oxygen therapy is administered only if hypoxemia is present. complication prevention: regular medical screenings and interventions are crucial. yearly eye doctor visits are recommended starting at age 10 to check for retinal damage and prevent vision loss. transcranial doppler (tcd) ultrasound identifies children at risk for stroke, with frequent blood transfusions recommended to prevent stroke if tcd is abnormal. blood transfusions are also used to treat severe anemia, 430 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 particularly sudden worsening due to infection or spleen enlargement. however, frequent transfusions can lead to iron overload, necessitating iron chelation therapy to prevent life-threatening organ damage. disease-modifying medications: several medications are approved to prevent or reduce pain crises and other scd complications. hydroxyurea increases fetal haemoglobin production, reducing sickling and disease severity. l-glutamine (endari®) reduces oxidative injury to red blood cells and lowers pain crisis incidence. crizanlizumab (adakveo®), a monoclonal antibody, reduces cellular adhesion within vasculature, leading to significant reductions in pain episodes and hospitalizations. it is important to note that voxelotor (oxbryta) was voluntarily withdrawn from the market in september 2024 as its benefits did not outweigh the risks for the approved scd population. emerging and curative therapies the landscape of scd treatment is rapidly evolving, with significant advancements in curative and disease-modifying therapies. bone marrow transplant (bmt): historically, bone marrow transplant has been the only potential cure for scd. this procedure involves replacing the patient’s diseased bone marrow with healthy blood-forming stem cells from a donor who does not have scd. the new bone marrow then produces healthy red blood cells without abnormal haemoglobin s. a close match, usually a sibling, is required for this procedure, and it is most commonly performed in severe scd cases for children with minimal organ damage. while effective, bmt is limited by the availability of suitable donors and the risks associated with the procedure. gene therapies: gene therapy has emerged as a transformative and potentially curative approach for scd, particularly for patients who lack a matched sibling donor. in a historic move in december 2023, the u.s. food and drug administration (fda) approved two cell-based gene therapies for the treatment of scd in patients aged 12 years and older: ● casgevy™ (exagamglogene autotemcel): developed by crispr therapeutics and vertex pharmaceuticals, casgevy is the first fda-approved therapy in the u.s. that utilizes crispr-cas9 gene-editing technology. this ex vivo autologous therapy involves collecting a patient’s own hematopoietic stem cells, which are then genetically modified outside the body using crispr to produce high levels of fetal hemoglobin (hbf). the modified cells are subsequently re-infused into the patient after high-dose chemotherapy to remove existing bone marrow cells. the increase in hbf replaces the mutated adult hemoglobin, alleviating disease symptoms. clinical trials have shown promising results, with 93.5% of evaluated patients achieving freedom from severe vaso-occlusive crisis episodes for at least 12 consecutive months. ● lyfgenia™ (lovotibeglogene autotemcel): developed by bluebird bio, lyfgenia utilizes a lentiviral vector for genetic modification. in this therapy, sickle cell disease: a review article on social pathology, social determinants, and poverty 431 the patient’s blood stem cells are genetically modified to produce hbat87q, a gene-therapy-derived hemoglobin that functions similarly to normal adult hemoglobin (hemoglobin a). red blood cells containing hbat87q have a lower risk of sickling and occluding blood flow. like casgevy, this is a one-time, single-dose infusion of the patient’s own modified stem cells after chemotherapy. in clinical studies, 88 per cent of patients achieved complete resolution of vaso-occlusive events. these gene therapies represent a significant leap forward, offering the potential for a functional cure and sustained therapeutic benefit, including transfusion independence, for many patients. however, challenges remain, including the need for refined delivery methods and addressing potential oncogenic risks. research continues to explore in vivo gene therapy approaches, which would involve direct delivery of gene-editing components to the patient, and to identify multiple gene targets that could address issues beyond sickling, such as chronic inflammation and cellular adhesion. discussion sickle cell disease, at its core, is a genetic disorder, yet the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that its burden is profoundly amplified by social pathology, particularly poverty and systemic inequalities. the historical trajectory of scd research and care reveals a consistent pattern of neglect, directly linked to the racial demographics of the affected population. the underfunding of scd research, starkly contrasted with investments in diseases affecting predominantly white populations, exposes a deepseated economic and racial bias within the scientific and pharmaceutical industries. this bias has transformed a genetic predisposition into a systemic disadvantage, limiting treatment options and exacerbating suffering. the healthcare system itself acts as a significant perpetuator of health inequities. systemic racism and implicit biases among healthcare professionals lead to poorer care, delayed treatment, and inadequate pain management for scd patients, particularly black americans. in india, the pervasive caste system further compounds these issues, with dalits and adivasis facing overt discrimination, refusal of care, longer waiting times, and a general indifference from healthcare providers. these experiences foster deep medical mistrust, creating a vicious cycle where patients avoid necessary preventative care, leading to worsened outcomes and an increased reliance on emergency services. this fragmentation of care, coupled with a lack of specialized expertise and support roles, underscores a dysfunctional system that disproportionately burdens vulnerable individuals. furthermore, the influence of social determinants of health extends beyond direct healthcare interactions. economic instability, limited access to quality education, and adverse neighborhood conditions—such as food deserts and inadequate transportation—directly contribute to increased morbidity, mortality, and acute care utilization among scd patients. in india, caste-based poverty limits access to even public hospitals, and historical marginalization has resulted in a mismatch between 432 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 healthcare infrastructure and the rural populations of dalits and adivasis. these factors highlight how systemic failures in urban planning, resource allocation, and social support become critical clinical barriers, regardless of medical advancements. the “invisibility” of scd and societal misconceptions further compound these challenges, leading to social isolation and hindering educational attainment, thereby impacting overall quality of life. however, the landscape is shifting. the emergence of national and international strategic plans, such as india’s national sickle cell elimination mission and the sickleinafrica consortium, signals a growing global recognition of scd as a public health priority. these initiatives represent a crucial move from reactive clinical management to proactive, comprehensive, and system-level elimination efforts. they emphasize health promotion, universal screening, holistic management, and the critical role of intersectoral collaboration and patient advocacy. the recent fda approvals of groundbreaking gene therapies like casgevy and lyfgenia offer unprecedented hope for curative options, representing a significant scientific triumph. despite these medical breakthroughs, the success of these strategic plans and the equitable deployment of new therapies hinge on overcoming the very social determinants and systemic biases they aim to address. the challenge lies not just in the scientific innovation but in ensuring equitable access, dismantling structural barriers, and fostering an environment where social justice is integral to healthcare delivery conclusion sickle cell disease stands as a stark example of a condition where biological complexity is profoundly magnified by deeply entrenched social pathology. while significant strides have been made in understanding its pathophysiology and developing advanced treatments, including transformative gene therapies, the pervasive impact of poverty, systemic racism, and adverse social determinants of health continues to disproportionately burden affected communities. the historical neglect of scd research and the ongoing disparities in healthcare access and quality underscore that the disease’s trajectory is not solely determined by genetics but by societal structures and historical injustices. effective scd management and the ambitious goal of its elimination necessitate a holistic approach that transcends traditional biomedical interventions. it requires a fundamental reorientation of public health efforts towards a social justice framework, prioritizing equitable access to care, challenging discrimination (including castebased discrimination in india), and addressing the root causes of health disparities. the strategic initiatives emerging globally, such as india’s national sickle cell elimination mission and the sickleinafrica consortium, represent a vital shift towards comprehensive, system-level solutions. however, their ultimate success will depend on a sustained, multi-sectoral commitment to dismantle the systemic barriers that perpetuate health inequities. only by integrating medical advancements with robust sickle cell disease: a review article on social pathology, social determinants, and poverty 433 social policy and community empowerment can the full potential for health and wellbeing be realized for all individuals living with sickle cell disease. references 1956: cause of disease traced to alteration. national human genome research institute. updated april 23, 2013. accessed november 4, 2021. about sickle cell association st louis. sickle cell association. accessed november 4, 2021. berghs, m., ola, b., de chavez, a.c. et al. (2020). time to apply a social determinant of health lens to addressing sickle cell disorders in sub-saharan africa. bmj global health, 5 (7). e002601. issn 2059-7908 esoh k, wonkam a. (2021). evolutionary history of sickle-cell mutation: implications for global genetic medicine. hum mol genet. 30(r1):r119-r128. doi:10.1093/hmg/ddab004 frenette p.s., atweh, g.f. (2007). sickle cell disease: old discoveries, new concepts, and future promise. j clin invest. vol. 117, no. 4, pp. 850–858. doi:10.1172/jci30920 gabriel salinas cisneros swee l thein. (2020). recent advances in the treatment of sickle cell disease gabriel salinas cisneros 1,2 and swee l. thein1*. may 20; vol. 11, p. 435. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2020.00435. guideline for national for prevention &management of sickle cell diseases. national sickle cell anaemia elimination mission 2023.govt of india 2022. herrick, j.b. (1910). peculiar elongated and sickle-shaped red blood corpuscles in a case of severe anemia. arch intern med (chic). vol. vi, no. 5, pp, 517–521. doi:10.1001/ archinte.1910.00050330050003 history of sickle cell. sickle cell association of new jersey. accessed november 4, 2021. ingram, v.m. (2004). sickle-cell anemia hemoglobin: the molecular biology of the first “molecular disease”–the crucial importance of serendipity. genetics. vol. 167, no. 1, pp. 1–7. doi:10.1534/genetics.167.1.1 savitt, t.l., goldberg, m.f. (1989). herrick’s 1910 case report of sickle cell anemia. the rest of the story. jama. vol. 261, no. 2, pp. 266–271. serjeant, g.r. (2013). the natural history of sickle cell disease. cold spring harb perspect med. vol. 3, no. 10, a011783. doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a011783 shriner, d., rotimi, c.n. (2018). whole-genome-sequence-based haplotypes reveal single origin of the sickle allele during the holocene wet phase. am j hum genet. vol. 102, no. 4, pp. 547–556. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2018.02.003 winter, w.p. a brief history of sickle cell disease. howard university hospital. accessed november 4, 2021. © 2025 debdas roy. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. general research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2533 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 451-467 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste jetor: an unrecognized interstitial caste community in west bengal, india debdas roy1 abstract based on ethnographic research methodology, this article engages with the questions of identity, recognition, and major economic activities of the jetor(s), a riverine, as yet unrecognized, partly-pastoral, in-marrying, ethnic group dwelling in forestine (jangal mahal) west bengal, india. if the experiences of untouchability, regression, humiliation, discrimination, lack of rudimentary education, dispossession of land, entrapment in vicious cycle, etc., are the insignia for being a ‘caste’, the jetors, who may be designated as a particularly vulnerable marginalized interstitial (between tribe and caste) group, more than pass for the denomination. after independence, many communities were recategorized as dnt, pvtg, st, sc, etc., and no less than seven censuses were conducted, but the jetors have remained unaccounted. abjectly deprived, minimally ‘organized’, and somewhat disinclined to the denomination ‘jetor/jatord’ on account of social stigma, they still live a socially in-between life. it is critical to draw the attention of the academia and the policymakers to the jetors because ‘visibility’ sometimes helps in recognition and emancipation from caste atrocities. keywords caste-tribe interstitiality, jetor community, identity, violence, recognition, social exclusion background it is important to give voice to those who are subdued by the degradation imposed by those who are vocal. the unidentified community of the jangal mahal area named jetor with which this article is engaged is such a small community whose ‘presence’ 1associate professor, dept. of english literature, language, and cultural studies, vidyasagar university, india e-mail: debdasroy@mail.vidyasagar.ac.in 452 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 has been ignored in contemporary research. the jetors have received little attention, though from time to time attempts have been made to shield the culture of some other indigenous communities in india. this is not surprising given the opinion of both western and indian anthropologists that indian society is a “kind of hierarchical system in which individuals were ranked on the basis of their supposedly inherent biological characteristics” (guha, 2023, p. 2). the warning was sounded by dr. b. r. ambedkar (henceforth dr. ambedkar) long back. referring to the existence of the criminal tribes, the aboriginal tribes, and the untouchables as an ‘abomination’ in indian society, dr. ambedkar called the system “a diabolical contrivance” (1948, p. i). as an interstitial vulnerable ethnic group, jetors are completely absent from any conversation. just as on the lodhas, so also on the jetors “a negative stereotypical image” (guha, 2016, p. 1) has been thrust upon. there is an acute lack of documentation of the jetor community and their culture. the writer of this article has come to know via the cultural research institute (cri), government of west bengal, kolkata that the cri is apprised of the problems of the jetors, owing to the letters of dr. nirmalendu de, and professor abhijit guha, and the official process of identification of the jetor community about to be started off. preceding this research, the lone researcher to have worked in this field is dr. nirmalendu de (henceforth de), headmaster (retired now) of siromoni birsa munda high school. de worked for nearly eight years on the jetors under the worthy supervision of late professor tushar chattapadhyay of the university of calcutta. in his book written in the bengali language, de has focussed on the hybrid ethnic origin and endangered oral culture of the jetors. the book contains a preface by professor probodh kumar bhowmick, an expert in the field of indigenous studies, and a letter by mahasweta devi, an eminent litterateur of bengal. keeping de’s contribution in mind, it may be said that explorations about the ethnic identity of the jetors, their recognition, spatial-social exclusion, their interstitial position between tribe and caste leading to hyphenated condition of life, their condition of being caught in the interlocking structures of oppression, and most importantly their continuing deprivation with regard to the question of conferment of either caste or tribe status, etc., demand further engagement because the jetors are even now ‘unrecognized’ and ‘undocumented’. this fact of slow violence inflicted upon them and other critical questions about their recognition as a community/group have sparked interest to carry forward the work of introducing the jetors to the academia and the policy makers initiated by de. methodological strategies both qualitative and ethnomethodology involving participant observation, intensive interviewing, participation in cultural events, data collection, etc., for understanding their ethnic origin, their marginalisation, semi-nomadic life, economic activities, their endogamous life, etc., have been pursued to frame the study. in the absence of any printed books on jetor culture and literature, the present study relies mostly on field research while adhering to qualitative analysis by referring to relevant literature in the field of indigenous cultural and ethnographic studies. the researcher has faced some jetor: an unrecognized interstitial caste community in west bengal, india 453 procedural and ethical challenges during data collection from a community of people who are victims of centuries of indignity and humiliation. for example, some of them did not want their candid opinions about caste certificates and their deprivation to be recorded, even after being assured that there would be no breach of privacy. for some reason, the husband of a jetor woman who is an expert in weaving chanch (coarse mattress made with dry reeds of thatch grass) strongly discarded the request made by the researcher for recording the chanch-weaving process. another problem is that they are illiterate and cannot read questionnaires. the only recourse is to record (either audio or video) their one-to-one interviews, but sometimes they object to this also. the jetors: setting and source jetors comprise a distinct vulnerable ethnic group of the forestine terrain that was once part and parcel of the jharkhandi region and culture which, according to binoy ghosh, has witnessed much impairment and restitution (1957, p. 334). the existence of the jetors is ascribable to the material panorama of tension and fusion of disparate racial groups amidst the socio-political vicissitudes down the ages. the jetors mostly live in the districts of jhargram, paschim medinipur, on the border regions of jharkhand, bihar and orissa located along the basin of kangsabati and subarnarekha. british rule in india was extended over multiple communities, each endowed with specific political, cultural and economic traits. they were a semi-nomadic ethnic community who, being driven from the south-west parts of india, settled in their current location. the jetors are largely positioned at a vast social and psychological distance from the majority of caste hindus owing to the influence of caste-race taboos in the stratified indian society. in fact, they are doubly marginalized because other marginalized aboriginal peoples also ‘avoid’ their ‘contact’. jetors have come into existence as a mixed group of people born out of unsanctioned sexual union among the outcasts of society (de, 2017, p. 17). in ancient times there lived in the south-western as well as middle parts of india many nomadic and semi-nomadic communities of people like mahar, kowra/korowa/kaur, dom, kalindi dom, dangi, hari, koibarto jele, among others. they served the upper caste dominant classes. following centuries of servitude, a section of these people belonging to lower caste and class came to be known as the ‘untouchables’ during the rajput and mughal rule. they were distanced, though their services were availed of, in dehumanizing and humiliating ways. some of these people embraced buddhism and at much later times, christianity. gradually, they scattered across different parts of india including the south-eastern parts comprising orissa, bihar, jharkhand, south-west bengal, etc., owing to food scarcity, livelihood problems, and caste/class oppression. according to fakir chandra mahar (qtd in de, 2017, p. 17), a few of these ‘untouchable’ families came to a village, jhanjia under borosal police station in baharagora located in the north-east parts of orissa and in south-west bengal. apart from livelihood problems, the most excruciating problem they faced owing to caste taboos in the then society, is related to the question of marrying off their daughters. pitted against such a problem, 454 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 they began to search for communities who are akin to them, and discovered the ‘cowra’ people with whom they got mixed in course of time. habituated to hardship and born out of immixture, the women of these communities were well–built and full of initiative. they served the upper caste people generationally for survival. many upper caste people of rank and dominance were attracted to them. vulnerable and at the receiving end as they were, some of these women fell victim to the sexual advances of upper caste/class men and carried the ‘seeds’ in their womb without knowing where to go and how to survive. they were uncertain about the parentage and identity of the babies to be born. according to five senior jetor community persons, sri fakir chandra mahar of fekoghat, sri harish barik of khalsiuli, sri jhareswar mandol, sri amal chandra mandol of nischintapur and sri motilal maity of amdoi, “a section of the jetors are born out of illicit sexual union between the vulnerable indigenous women and the jamindars as well as their managerial persons who did not take the responsibilities of the babies born. the prevalence of upper caste surnames in our society bears proof to a section of ours originating from the upper caste people” (de, 2017, p. 18). in addition, some upper caste men secretly ‘married’ the ‘lower-caste’ girls against the ‘laws’ and sanction of their society. such men as ‘lived with’ the women below their caste were driven away from society along with their ‘wives’. nowhere to go, the aforementioned pregnant women, and the socially ostracized upper caste men who stayed among their social inferiors got scattered along the banks of subarnarekha, kangsabati, and dulung river. the popular saying in their localities – ‘jar nai jatkul/ se jay kansai kul’ meaning ‘those who neither have caste nor lineage, go to the bank of kansabati’ – is suggestive of their apprehensions regarding caste. thus, many children were born out of inter-caste marriage and unsanctioned sexual union. in indian society (as in most societies across the world), the father’s surname/ family name become the surname of the children, and thus one comes across in jetor society many people with ‘brahmin’ surnames [such as ‘pahari’ ‘mishra’, ‘rathbatul’ (‘rath’ being the surname of the brahmin father and batul that of the lower caste mother)], some ‘mahishya’ surnames (such as ‘maity’, ‘giri’), some ‘sodgop’ surnames (such as ‘ghosh’ ), some ‘bhumij’ surnames (such as ‘sing’, ‘batul’) along with their traditional pre-modern surnames such as ‘mahar’, ‘ghorai’, ‘sing’, etc. the prevalence of the surname ‘sing’ is a clear indication that some jetors were born out of sexual union of adivasi (especially munda and bhumij) men with the surname ‘sing’ and low-caste women. however, in the eyes of mainstream society this mixed people were ‘excluded from’ caste and hence the term ‘jetor/jatord’, literally meaning ‘excluded from caste’, designate a community of people who are presumably born out of unsanctioned sexual union. de (2017) refers the name of an eminent scholar dr. khudiram das (henceforth das) who has said that the word ‘jetor’ comprises two components—the bengali word ‘jat’ meaning ‘caste’ and the santali word ‘ord’ meaning ‘punished’. taken together they mean ‘communities punished/excluded from caste’. das has also said that the second etymological component of the word ‘tord’ is ‘water current’. thus, on the basis of this latter etymological meaning, and also on jetor: an unrecognized interstitial caste community in west bengal, india 455 the basis of a popular myth of their origination from water, one meaning of the word ‘jator/jatord’ is caste people who are ‘borne by water current’. identity turmoil if the experiences of untouchability, spatial exclusion, regression, humiliation, discrimination, lack of rudimentary education, dispossession of land, violation of human rights, etc., are the markers for being a ‘caste community’, the ‘unevenly accepted’ community named jetor, who may be designated as a particularly vulnerable, hyphenated, interstitial (between tribe and caste) group, more than qualifies for the denomination. the trajectory of the ‘historic achievements’ of shudras and ati-shudra caste movements in the colonial period, and the curve of the growth of democracy in india after independence, that has led to the mobilization and emancipation of many marginalized groups in modern indian society, has barely touched the jetors. they remain as a historically disadvantaged segment despite the “historical lead” of the dalits towards liberal democracy (guru, 2004, p. 31). notwithstanding the movements of e. v. ramasamy for a section of the dravids (kazhagam), narayana guru for the ezhava community, the satnami movement for the chamaras (aiyappan, 1943, p. 390; samuel, 1973), mulayam singh yadav for the yadavs, kansi ram for the ‘bahujans’ and so on, the jetors, who are incapable of articulating their ‘voice’, remain ‘invisible’ and ‘neglected’. this is reminiscent of dr. ambedkar’s apprehensions about whether the equality and dignity promised in the constitution would be extended “to all”, and whether the “social climate would enable such a non-discriminatory situation to actually emerge” (channa & mencher, 2013). the condition of the jetors is a pointer that dr. ambedkar’s “apprehensions” were justified. like the erstwhile criminal tribes (ct), the jetors continue to be ‘branded’ as ‘pilferers’, and as people whose contact is ‘polluting’. completely devoid of land-rights (jetors do not have even a small piece of land of their own, and they live on unclaimed, vest lands located on the side of water bodies) and legal protection against eviction, they live in the marginalized spaces which were once the ground reserved for dumping the carcass of domestic animals of the zamindars. in india rules of purity and pollution are not only socio-cultural and political, but also ‘spatial’. this spatial exclusion is fatal to indian society because during the colonial regime the “segmented territories” played a critical role in dividing indian society into “the touchables” and “the untouchables” (cháirez, 2014, pp. 37–50) much to the detriment of nationalism and continuance of the practice of untouchability. it is in the socio-spatial contexts that “disadvantages of caste-discrimination are internalized” in the structures of power (patel, 2022, pp. 186–198). though the majority of the jetors are now spatially ‘settled down’ in unclaimed fallow lands away from the nerve-centre of the villages, semi-nomadic tendencies are still prevalent among them. for example, they set out for distant places in search of work, and settle down at the new place leaving the previous hut, if the work facility is better at the new place. to date, many jetor young men settle in their in-law’s house leaving their paternal home. however, after independence, they could 456 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 not make their voices heard to obtain the status of either ‘tribe’ or ‘caste’ or pvtg or any status whatsoever. one ironic continuity between the colonial and postcolonial policy framing is that both the governments were reluctant to confer any ‘status’ upon a community not “organized”. for example, the british government declared (in 1871, 1876, 1911 in north india, bengal presidency and madras presidency respectively) such communities as ‘criminal’ as were “highly organized” and “trained in crime”. moreover, that the process of inclusion of a community under ct act was erratic is proved by the fact that the lodhas were not included under the ct category in 1876. they were brought under its purview only in 1911, probably by the empowered local administration (guha, 2016, p. 75). this proves that there were chances of a community being left out. in all probability, the jetors were one such missed out inbetween community. post independence, 153 communities were recategorized as dnt and no less than seven censuses (1951, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001, 2011) have been conducted, but the jetors have remained unaccounted. needless to say, they are still deprived of the ‘status’ they ‘deserve’, and live a terrible kind of life socially away from both the upper caste hindu people, and the tribal communities who do not establish any marital relationship with them. usually, it is found that spatially they are adjacent to the adivasi (aboriginal) localities, but they are farthest from the dominant castes in terms of space and cultural reciprocity. consignment of the jetors to a ‘rung’ below that of the ‘ati-shudras’ (also called ‘avarnas’) in the social ladder, is indicated by the fact that in olden times the former were considered ‘too low-born’ to be allowed to enter the precincts for household jobs, while the latter could serve the dominant hindu society by doing menial jobs. what the upper caste hindu people loathed most about the jetors is their old habit of eating meat of ‘dead’ goat, ram, hen, etc. in olden times they could hardly afford to purchase meat and if they came across any ‘eatable’ dead domestic animals they would eat that forgetting if that was edible or not. what mattered most to them is the taste of the food, and they were little concerned about the safety of food. the jetors live in small tottering huts (table 1) ‘outside’ the nerve-centre of the caste hindu. they are the dregs of what the scholars of dalit studies variously call the ‘ati-shudras’ who, as an “invention” in indian society, have come into existence out of the intermingling of the aryans and the aborigines of postharappa civilization (brough, 1959, pp. 69–85; lincon, 1981; kosambi, 1956, pp. 94– 95). the formations of the ‘ati-shudras’ caste may be traced to the evolutions of clans, gotras (a sanskrit word broadly meaning ‘clan’, and referring to people belonging to a line of descendants), and the observance of the principles of endogamy and exogamy. according to anastasia piliavsky, they are not a “colonial making”, and drawing on pre-colonial descriptions of robber castes (in ancient legal texts, folktales, jain, buddhists and brahminic narratives, mughal sources, early modern travel accounts) she has argued that the idea of castes of congenital robbers was a label that predates the colonial rule and has indigenous roots (2015, pp. 323–354). dr. ambedkar has said whether the caste people were aryans, or aboriginal inhabitants of india, or tribes produced by the union of the aryans with the other, is of little consequence. at an jetor: an unrecognized interstitial caste community in west bengal, india 457 early period they were placed in a class by themselves, and received the “fourth” rank and were at a considerable distance from the three superior classes/castes (2020, p. 3). table 1: status of indira awas yojana (iay), a housing project of the government of india, in select jetor villages in the district of paschim medinipur name of the village total jetor families total jetor population total jetor families availing iay percentage of families availing iay bhatpara 170 750 90 52.94 budra 44 135 7 15.91 desonda 82 303 25 30.49 banstala 76 240 10 13.16 sarpal 47 191 15 31.91 wallipur 25 60 9 36.00 source: author’s computations based on field survey referring to the prefix ‘ati’ (meaning ‘extra’) in the term ‘ati-shudra’ used by mahatma jotiba phule and dr. ambedkar among others, it may be said that the jetors comprise a particularly vulnerable, interstitial, hyphenated group who share the characteristics of both the tribals and the untouchables, and who are not required (hence ‘extra’) in a seemingly complete essentialized structure in society. they are not accommodated in the framework of the pan-indian movement for the dalits, a caste/class-category1 that has emerged as an essentialized group assured of no further inclusion of competing marginalized groups in the category they belong to, unless there is a major amendment of the indian constitution. the claim of the dalit political discourse that it has produced a concrete alternative to the mainstream nationalist formulations seems to be ironical when one thinks of the hyphenated community like the jetors who have ‘failed’ to prove their numerical strength. the question regarding who would be treated as ‘tribe’ or ‘caste’ or ‘pvtg’, etc., is largely determined by such ‘qualifications’ as being large in number, well organized, led by a person of relative political power, ‘presence’ in the electoral roll, etc., but the jetors, who have ‘failed’ to fulfil all these criteria, are ‘outside’, ‘excluded’, and are ‘hyphenated’ till the present times. sometimes a hyphen is inserted between the root word and the prefix, and the hyphen is sometimes used, and sometimes done away with because a blank space may serve the purpose of the hyphen. what the hyphen is to a compound word, the jetors are to indian society. their primitive habit of collecting daily essentials from jungle and river, their geographic isolation, low literacy, declining population, their umbilical connection with river and forest, their deep understanding of the ecology of the region, etc., align them with the tribals, while their marginalization and humiliation on the basis of their ‘low birth’ and ‘low caste’ align them with the untouchables. hence, they 1s. kumar et al in their article “determinants of social mobility in india” (published in economic and political weekly, 37(29), 2983-2987) have established a direct correlation between caste and class. 458 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 may be designated a hyphenated vulnerable community belonging to the interstitial space. there is little doubt that they are more vulnerable and marginalized than either the dalits or the tribals. this is evident from the locations they have been forced to live in, which are on the edges of either rivers or water-bodies or jungles. this reminds us of dr. ambedkar’s use of the term antyaja for the untouchables. they are the true antyaja in the sense of how dr. ambedkar used it. they still live on the edges of the villages situated on the banks of the river subarnarekha and kangsabati or beside a canal or a water body. lost in the vortex of identity politics, loathed by the upper caste people, avoided by the scheduled tribes (st), and excluded by the dalit activists from the purview of the movement for social justice, the jetors, who have been living incognito, are not only critically endangered, but also ‘outside’ the framework of the dalit movement, which, leaving its less fortunate and hitherto unrecognized fraternity, is quick to include the tribal people in its fold with a view to expanding its limits. for example, stephen christopher has argued in favour of including the gaddi tribe of himachal pradesh in the ‘dalit’ category (2020, p. 7). sharankumar limbale also has argued in favour of including the denotified tribes in the dalit fold (acharya and roy, 2024, p. 1). they even remain sidelined in the recent political programs undertaken by the government. for example, the government of west bengal has introduced a politico-social programme, ‘duare sarkar’ (government at the doorway), but unfortunately many of their problems (especially their appeal for identity status) remain unresolved in successive ‘duare sarkar’ sessions. problem of surname pitted against abject poverty, humiliation, social stigmatization, and exclusion on the basis of caste and lowbirth, many jetors are languishing on account of their ‘general caste surnames’. the most common surnames in their society are ‘maity’, ‘mahar’, ‘ghorai’, ‘pahari’, ‘batul’, ‘mandol’, ‘giri’, etc., and other surnames are ‘misra’, ‘sing’, ‘rana’, ‘rathbatul’, ‘pakhira’, ‘patar’, ‘bhunia’, ‘barik’, ‘kapat’, ‘paloi’, etc. among the surnames mentioned above there include ‘brahmin’ surnames, ‘mahishya’ surnames, ‘sodgop’ surnames, ‘bhumij’ surnames and more. with the mundas and bhumij people they share the surname ‘sing’ and with the brahmins ‘pahari’ and ‘mishra’. numerous jetor carry the brahmin surname ‘pahari’, though they have neither similarity nor social relationship with the brahmins. in terms of social hierarchy they are farthest from the brahmins. the debated question as to how they obtained the brahmin surname demands further anthropological research, but from what de and senior jetors have hinted at are suggestive of unsanctioned sexual relation and reproduction between people of different ethnic groups. the presence of the mahishya surname ‘maity’ is also ascribable to the same ethnic immixture. it is because of their upper caste surnames that they are facing problems regarding the conferment of identity status that they most deserve and want. if they are asked as to what they want most, they will invariably say ‘jati certificate’ (caste certificate). even the elderly have not been able to explain how such surnames as are most unbecoming jetor: an unrecognized interstitial caste community in west bengal, india 459 of and incompatible with their birth status and social standing came to be there. many of the physiognomic and morphological attributes of the jetors bear the imprints of intermixing. the exact physical identity of the jetors still awaits research. usually, it is held that the physical features and morphological structure of the jetors bear physical resemblance to the common bengali people as well as the aborigines of the adjoining areas. one will come across some jetor people who are dark brown in skin colour while some are fair. the jetors are wedged inbetween the ‘opposites’—the ‘people belonging to caste category’ and the people of the ‘general category’. in the eyes of the upper caste as well as the aboriginal people, the jetors are ‘excluded from caste’ and are ‘different’. both sections consider the jetors to be ‘lower’ in terms of caste and birth. they are thought to have been suffering on account of their ‘karma’, a scriptural notion in india. barring a few exceptions only in recent times, it is not possible to identify a single upper caste family, and a single ‘adivasi’ family willingly entering into marital relationship with the jetors. to date, it is an accepted fact that a young man belonging to the family of the ‘mahar’ or ‘maity’ or ‘pahari’ or ‘ghorai’ or ‘mandol’ or ‘batul’ will marry a girl hailing from another jetor family identified by the senior members of their community. in fact, the denomination ‘jetor’ which the jetor people accept only half-heartedly (the young generation in jetor community do not like the denomination at all because it smacks of social stigma) was invented either by the elderly members of the jetor community or by the so called ‘upper caste’ people who considered them to be their social ‘inferiors’. thus, it is a matter of regret that while the nation prepares to celebrate the seventy-eighth year of independence, a community that has suffered centuries of neglect and humiliation, remains ‘undocumented’ and ‘unidentified’ by the government. despite repeated attempts to apply for recognition, government officials ask them to provide ‘chain deeds’ in support of their claim. some are also asked to explain their surnames while others say that they belong to general caste. thus, the jetors are caught in a kind of hyphenated state. the general caste people do not consider the jetors to belong to their category and maintain a great social distance from the jetors whom they consider to be of ‘low birth’. the aboriginal peoples, who have been endowed st status since the indian constitution came into force, too consider the jetors to be ‘different’. thus, the jetor people suffer a kind of liminal condition. pitted against the fact that neither the caste hindus nor the people belonging to traditional faiths ‘accept’ them whole-heartedly, some jetors have begun to attend christian prayers in recent times (for example, in bhatpara village of paschim medinipur). elderly persons of their community opine that in future they may cease to exist as a distinct community, and their ethnic name may be erased altogether. dispossession of land is a crucial problem in their society. after a discussion with the local panchayats, it emerged that jetors do not have any valid land deed where they have built their huts, and the condition of their huts and precincts beggar description. most of the walls are either chhitabera or polythene draped. rooftops are perforated. a majority of them have not been able to avail themselves of indira abas yojona. thus, with their identity under threat, they are the most vulnerable of the ethnic communities of jangal mahal. theirs is a pre-colonial, semi-nomadic indigenous life 460 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 based on cattle-grazing and cattle-raising, collecting food from the river and jungle (table 4), collecting, and selling grass, etc. they have close attachment to ancestral territories—their imagined or real ‘homeland’ left behind forever. jetors still try to cling to their ancestral practice of worship of gods and goddesses not by any brahmin hired from outside, but by their own priest. the ancestors of the jetors were ‘bajondars’ (drummers and players of air instruments) and broom makers, and to date many jetors still cling to these two professions. demographic features table 2: salient demographic features in the district of paschim medinipur name of the jetor locality if people other than the jetors live in the locality urban/ semiurban/ rural name of the water body near which they live total number of jetor families jetor surnames total jetor population in the locality population per family (yes/no) (tentative) amda, p. s. – keshiary yes rural subarnarekha 35 pahari, mandol, mahar, ghorai, 83 2.371429 banstala (gomuriapal), p.s. – kharagpur local yes rural kangsabati river 76 pahari, mahar, giri, maity, mandol, ghorai, sing, pakhira 240 3.157895 barbetia, (school math) p. s. – kharagpur yes urban the canal 20 ghorai, mahar, maity, pahari 80 4 bhatpara, p.s. -gurguripal no rural kangsabati river 170 ghorai, maity, pahari, pakhira, mandol, kapat 750 4.411765 bhasra, p.s. keshiary yes rural subarnarekha river 13 maity , mahar 43 3.307692 bidhannagar, p.s. kharagpur yes urban no such water body 3 mahar 12 4 budra, p.s. – kharagpur local yes rural kangsabati river 44 pahari, mahar, giri, maity, mandol, ghorai 135 3.068182 canal pard (panachhatra), p.s. kharagpur local yes rural the canal 20 ghorai, mandol, giri, bhunia, rana, sing 95 4.75 desonda, p.s. – kharagpur local yes semiurban kangsabati river 82 ghorai, batul, mahar, mandol, maity 303 3.695122 deulimadhyo, p. s. – belda yes semiurban marshy land 14 mahar, sing, ghorai 52 3.714286 dherua, p.s. gurguripal yes rural kangsabati river 24 maity, mahar, ghorai 101 4.208333 dokhondiha p.s. keshiary yes rural subarnarekha 7 (rath)batul, ghorai, mahar 19 2.714286 jetor: an unrecognized interstitial caste community in west bengal, india 461 gangadharchak (panachhatra), p.s. – kharagpur local yes rural the canal and marshy land 4 mandol, maity, sing 18 4.5 goaldanga, p.s. – gurguripal yes rural kangsabati river 65 maity, ghorai 260 4 giripara (gomuriapal), p.s. – kharagpur local yes rural kangsabati river 22 mandol, mahar, giri, maity, ghorai, pakhira 85 3.863636 gonsorisha p.s. keshiary yes rural subarnarekha 18 pahari, mahar 84 4.666667 kalamatia p.s. keshiary yes rural subarnarekha 55 mahar, ghorai 240 4.363636 kandramari p.s. keshiary yes rural subarnarekha 55 mukhi, mahar, batul, patar 242 4.4 karanji mura p.s. keshiary yes rural subarnarekha 29 mahar, batul, ghorai 97 3.344828 khaspara (pannachhatra) p.s. kharagpur local yes rural the canal 9 maity, barik, sing, kuilya, mahar 50 5.555556 mandalpara (gomuriapal), p.s. – kharagpur local yes rural kangsabati river 17 mandol, maity, ghorai 54 3.176471 nepura, p.s. – gurguripal yes rural kangsabati river 2 maity 8 4 palasia p.s.keshiary yes rural subarnarekha 7 batul, mahar 35 5 ranapatna (sirshi), p.s. – kharagpur local yes rural the natural ditch 15 mahar, ghorai , patar 60 4 rupnarayanpur (desonda), p. s.kharagpur local yes semiurban kangsabati river 58 ghorai, mahar 220 3.793103 sarpal, (gomuriapal), p.s. – kharagpur local yes rural kangsabati river 47 pahari, mahar, giri, maity, mandol, ghorai, sing, pakhira 191 4.06383 walipur, p. s.kharagpur yes rural mora kansai (one stagnant branch of kangsabati river) 25 mandol, batul, sing, ghorai, pakhira 60 2.4 total population= 3617 # male female ratio = 91:100 (obtained from field survey data). source: author’s computation based on field survey all the settlements (table 2) are located either on the riverbank or near a canal or water body. women are very active in jetor society, more so than the men in the observance of religious ceremonies, daily life and decision making. numerous jetor man are addicted to alcohol, and die early. as a result, middle-aged widowed women in their forties are found in great numbers. they are able-bodied, working women who do not remarry and remain separately in the same household as shared by their son’s family. in jetor society boys and girls marry early in life and immediately after marriage cook separately. one will come across very few families where the parents and their married children remain in a joint family. another practice is of ghor-jami (in standard bangla the word ghor-jamai denotes ‘son-in-law staying in his wife’s parental home’). after marriage the son-in-law thinks it wise to stay at the in-law’s 462 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 house permanently. one remarkable demographic feature of their society is that the number of females is slightly greater than the number of male (table 3). sustained and full-fledged census work is required to state anything decisively regarding the male-female ratio in their society, but the initial field research and the data of a sample locality given below bears out the above statement. table 3: number of male and female in the sample jetor locality named sarpal total number of families (in sarpal) total population in the locality male female 47 191 91 100 source: author’s computation based on field survey jetors welcome the birth of girls as much as they welcome the birth of boys because in their society women can do all sorts of work including cultivation work in the field and managing the household. the presence of impaired or differently-abled children in their society is alarming. poor health and hygienic conditions and poor standard of nutrition are the chief reasons behind the birth of babies with congenital problems. parents prefer three to four children on an average, as they are unsure about how many would survive. income levels in their society are very poor and far below the normal standard in indian society. women earn more than men in such families where the male members are alcoholic. most of the time the alcoholic male remains ill or indisposed, and the woman is aware that her family will starve if she does not remain at the helm. one will find innumerable girls between the age group of 1317 married before they have attained the official age of marriage. teen pregnancies exist, with many girls giving birth at the age of fifteen or sixteen. in some cases it is difficult to differentiate the mother-in-law (who was offered in marriage at a very early age) from the daughter-in-law (who got married at a later age). when asked about their origin most people say that their parents migrated from the ‘west’ (‘paschim’). the data in the following table bears proof to their origination from the south-west parts of india. table 4: ancestral places of migration name of the ancestral place district state location baripada mayurbhanj orissa south-western nilgiri10 baleshwar orissa south-western rohini jhargram west bengal western dhobasol jhargram west bengal western fekoghat jhargram west bengal western chinchira jhargram west bengal western sankrile jhargram west bengal western kultikri jhargram west bengal western beliabera jhargram west bengal western jetor: an unrecognized interstitial caste community in west bengal, india 463 gopiballabpur jhargram west bengal western jamboni jhargram west bengal western lalgarh jhargram west bengal western sardiha jhargram west bengal western khas jangal jhargram west bengal western manikpara jhargram west bengal western khalsiuli jhargram west bengal western rautrapur jhargram west bengal western chubka jhargram west bengal western dumuria jhargram west bengal western baharagora east singbhum jharkhand (formerly bihar) western parulia east singbhum jharkhand (formerly bihar) western jagannathpur west singbhum jharkhand (formerly bihar) western kumardhubi dhanbad jharkhand (formerly bihar) western barasol east singbhum jharkhand (formerly bihar) western bena kuri pakur jharkhand (formerly bihar) western domjuri east singbhum jharkhand (formerly bihar) western source: author’s field survey the table as well as personal interviews (at the time of field visit) with senior persons of the jetor community reveal that their ethnic origin is south-west india, and a section of them are most probably the progenitors of the ‘mahars’ who, having suffered centuries of neglect and humiliation, adopted the path of satyagraha at jawhar lake. de also is of the same opinion in his book mentioned in this article. the widespread jetor surname ‘mahar’ is particularly indicative of migration of a section of theirs in the distant past from the state of maharashtra where the ‘mahar’(s) are found in great numbers. educationally, they are backward, with 9 out of 10 people in their society illiterate. it is challenging to find a graduate in a jetor village, and if one or two are found, they languish in jobless conditions. it is for the mid-day meal that many jetor children are sent to school nowadays. the dropout rate of the jetor school-going children at the primary level is on the wane, but very few qualify to the madhyamik level. the presence of customary socio-legal institutions and practices in jetor community bear proof to their indigeneity. for example, to date they have a ‘mukhya’ or ‘mukhia’, an elderly person well versed in community laws and customs. there are specific laws to be implemented if a member violates the codes and customs commonly practised. such a practice is the practice of marriage. marriage law is very stringent. usually the jetors marry within their community, and an outsider has to go through the traditional process of jatetola (a ritual in which the newcomer has to eat a piece of cooked rice lifted from the rice dish/leaf of each of the invited members of their community, while they are eating), if he or she is to be accepted as a caste member. 464 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 earnings and sustenance making brooms from the leaves and branches (khejurpali) of date palm and selling them in the local market is their ancestral profession and main source of income. both men and women specialize in this work because they have been doing it generationally. women are as skilled as men in this work, and travel to distant places with family and community members to collect date palm leaves. the jetors are experts on how to collect branches without damaging the growth of the trees. the entire process takes place without the use of any material that may cause an environmental hazard. at present, some use plastic rope to tie the brooms— a practise not compatible with their work ethic. jetors depend on the forest and river produce to a great extent and it is an ancient practice they still cling to. women, like men, go out for namal, a culturespecific word meaning ‘going to distant places during cultivation season for earning wages by rendering manual labour in the fields of persons who have land’. this mass exodus from the jetor villages will be apparent if one happens to visit their localities in the cultivation season. the villages look deserted at that time. the places they travel to under the leadership of middle-men or labour-contractors, are egra, pataspur, balighai, satmile, bajkul, paniparul, ramnagar, digha, etc. sometimes women receive fewer amounts as wages than their male counterparts despite rendering equal amounts of work. in most instances this happens because of the interference of ‘middle men’. they also work in local farmer’s house and earn some amount of money. in olden times they would receive rice and other daily essentials instead of money from their employer as wages for rendering manual labour or for tending cattle. as a bajondar community (drummers) they earn by playing the dhol, chercheri, kurfa, side drum, sanai (clarinet), various types of flute and other musical instruments at religious and social festivals. this profession gives them the scope to come in contact with the upper caste people. it is noticeable that many jetors have formed musical bands and horinam sankirtan groups. these groups are invited by the government as well as private organizers of social functions for performances. many jetor men (especially in goaldanga and dherua) cross-dress as sokhi-artists and professionally perform chou-dance. still now several jetor women earn their livelihood by doing midwifery jobs—another work they have done generationally. jetor women used to do midwifery work at a time when nurses and hospital facilities were scarce. since the jetors live by the riverside, they rely a lot for livelihood on the kashicotton (obtained from thatch grass) and kashis stems (reeds of thatch grass), with which chanch (a kind of mat) is made. the reeds are woven into a chanch, which is sold either in the local market or at door steps for a meagre amount. with kashi cotton they make pillows and thread. jetors used to tend the cattle of those who were well-off in the village. now they raise cows, goats, hens, etc., on their own. only a few of the jetors work in low-paying, small sand-mining, sponge-iron, metal industries located in the kharagpur industrial belt. they are also engaged in activities like street vending, recycling, small-scale manufacturing, etc. jetor: an unrecognized interstitial caste community in west bengal, india 465 conclusion from the above discussion it is evident that the jetors are victims of multiple forms of human rights violation and are caught at the intersection of an oppressive network of institutions. they are hardly emancipated at the level of the psyche from the feudal oppression of upper caste hindu society. the indignities their ancestors suffered historically have induced in them a fear psychosis and inferiority complex from which they have hardly freed themselves even today. though caste atrocity is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden legally, it is still present in indian society as a subterranean flow (rao, 1966, p. 298). the issue of untouchability formed a nexus in colonial times with the question of ‘crime as profession’ and their stigmatization as ‘criminal at birth’. this factor along with other humiliating factors existing in the stratified indian society for long pushed a section of the caste people toward a ‘limbo state’. there neither exists any document to prove that the jetors belonged to the criminal tribes (ct) nor any mention of their clan name in a list of denotified tribes (dnt) published by the government of india, but private interviews with the senior jetor people as well as with aged persons of the villages adjoining the jetor villages reveal the fact that in the past they were forced to resort to crimes, especially pilferage during hard times for survival. another besetting problem is ‘land’. as mentioned earlier, the land department harasses them by asking them to submit ‘chain deeds of land’ if they want to procure a caste certificate. this sordid fact is not only a sheer mockery of the agrarian reforms, but also a pointer to the relation between land-dispossession and caste system. indeed, they are critically dispossessed of land rights—a phenomenon that, according to dr. ambedkar, forms the “material basis” of untouchability and determines “social status” (guha, 2023, p. 7). jetors had settled in very small pieces of vest lands on which they did not have any claim and from which they could not earn livelihood. the landed people sometimes question their land rights, and threaten to evict them. this has resulted in their forced relocation to different places. they are also exploited in the neighbouring industrial parks which have the potency to help those who are dispossessed of land (kumar, 2020, pp. 37-56). because of their lack of education and technical learning, they are offered no substantive jobs in the factories of tata metaliks pvt. ltd., rashmi and co. and other industries. since the jetors are settled on the banks of kangsabati and subarnarekha, two major illegal sand-mining fields, they are availed of as labourers, a fact that involves them in police harassment, though they do not belong to the structures responsible for illegal sand-mining. thus, caught in a vicious cycle and unable to articulate themselves, the jetors comprise a highly vulnerable community whose identity, language, culture, etc., are in jeopardy. their complaint to the survey team is, “nobody looks at us.” this is not a casual comment, but is suggestive of centuries of neglect and humiliation that has 466 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 left an indelible mark on their psyche, and has rendered them ‘excluded’ in the eyes of administration. their other complaint is about ‘folk artist’s allowance’ and ‘old age allowance’, of which many are deprived. the government of west bengal has extended silpibhata (allowance for the artists) to some of them, but many folk artists [drummers like dhaki, dhuli, checheri players, side-drum players, big-drum players, sri khol players; sinai (clarinet) player, kirtonias, flute players, percussion instrument players, folk singers, sokhi-artists, performers participating in folk palagan and others] still remain deprived. jetors struggle with housing, with many having failed to avail themselves of the housing schemes of the government of india. addiction and cheap wine consumption is eating into their vitals. the jetor youth is getting deranged because of this habit of drinking cheap wine. not a single jetor family has availed of any health scheme facility offered by the government of india, though they are the most vulnerable to diseases. there are some jetor families in which the members eat once a day on account of poverty. this happens during the dull seasons when they earn nothing and cannot beg. it is high time we ‘speak’ for the jetors and take initiatives for their documentation as a community. the government may take such steps as would enable the jetors to involve themselves in training and other reciprocal activities. revitalization and preservation is required to resist their erasure. they deserve special attention with regard to the facilities to be extended from the government. if the caste reservation facility or pvtg status is to be extended through policy decision to any community in india, it should be the interstitial and hyphenated jetor people, a community rendered ‘faceless’. disclaimer a different version of this article has been accepted in another journal of repute for publication. declaration of conflicting interests there are no such potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. though there is involvement of many jetor people who have kindly talked and given access to their precincts, the article reveals no personal information and does not compromise on the question of research ethics. acknowledgement the writer of this article acknowledges his debt to the indian council of social science research (icssr) for funding a minor research project (file no. 02/25/2022-23/ icssr/rp/mn/gen, dated may 10, 2023) on the jetor community, and to professor abhijit guha, formerly, professor, department of anthropology, vidyasagar university. jetor: an unrecognized interstitial caste community in west bengal, india 467 references acharya, i., & 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(2014). touching space: ambedkar on the spatial features of untouchability. contemporary south asia, 22(1), 37-50. https// doi.org.10.1080/09584935.2013.870978 channa, s.m. & j.p. mencher (2013). life as a dalit: views from the bottom on caste in india. https//doi.org.10.1080/01419870.2021.1924393 christopher, s. (2020). ‘scheduled tribe dalit’ and the recognition of tribal casteism. journal of social inclusion studies, 6(1), 7-23. https://doi.org/10.1177/2394481120945824 de, nirmalendu (2017). jetor: jongolmahaleragyantoantyajo (jetor-unknown, lowborn community of jangal mahal). midnapore: nirmalendu de. ghosh, binoy (1957). paschimbonger sanskriti (culture of bengal). kolkata: jai gyan publishing house. guha, a. (2016). how the lodhas became criminal or meeting of the past and the present. the eastern anthropologist 69 (1), 71-88. guha, a. 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(2022). spatial inequality and untouchability: ambedkar’s gaze on caste and space in hindu villages. journal of social inclusion studies, (7)2, 186-198.http://doi. org//10.1177//23944811221075441 piliavsky, anastasia (2015). the ‘criminal tribe’ in india before the british. comparative studies in society and history, 2015; 57(2):323-354. doi:10.1017/s00104175/15000055 rao, shiva (1966). the framing of india’s constitution, new delhi: iipa. samuel, v.t. (1973). one caste,one religion and one god for man: a study of sree narayana guru (1854-1928) of kerala, sterling. © 2025 kalinga tudor silva. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.2578 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 1 pp. 08-31 april 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste towards a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society: interspecies dynamics between cinnamon and the salagama people kalinga tudor silva1 abstract this article deploys a multispecies perspective to understand the role of human and non-human actors shaping the sinhala caste system in sri lanka. apart from human interlocutors, certain animal species (e.g. elephants, cattle and fish) and certain plant species (e.g. cinnamon, coconut and a local palm tree called kitul) are implicated in the natural resource base aligned with the sinhala caste system. these animal and plant species are part of the natural resource base exploited to produce goods and services for the benefit of each other and some overlords inside or outside the system. the caste system is understood here as a humanmade extractive mechanism where humans and other species aligned with them are subjected to hereditary extractions imposed from above. thus, the sinhala caste system intersects with both culture and nature, interrogating the culturenature dichotomy altogether. using historical analysis and the author’s own experience in growing up in a cinnamon smallholder household in southern sri lanka, this article explores the multispecies foundation of the sinhala caste system as it evolved through the precolonial, colonial and postcolonial dynamics. the salagama caste was initially engaged for foraging of cinnamon that grew in the wild and the dutch colonial regime shifted from foraging to domestication of cinnamon around 1770 providing salagama caste a vested interest in this process. the multispecies approach, where interactions among humans and also between humans and non-human species are explored in relation to specific forms of inequality, may open new pathways for overcoming human centrism and eurocentrism in social analysis and the resulting failures in fostering social and environmental justice. while caste may appear as a naturalized and, at the same time, a culturally prescribed social order for some, it is not so for its victims, humans and non-humans alike. this article begins with a multispecies take on sinhala caste, using salagama caste to illustrate the potential of this approach for 1professor emeritus, university of peradeniya, sri lanka e-mail: tudorsilva@pgihs.ac.lk towards a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society 9 expanding the understanding of caste by exploring its human diversification and natural resource base as well. the interpenetration between culture and nature is one of the systemic features of sinhala caste that accounts for its stability and vulnerability in given contexts. keywords sinhala caste system, multispecies approach, companion species, culture and nature, salagama caste introduction both the protagonists and the antagonists of caste typically approach it from a human relations angle, considering it as a barrier or a pathway to desired human relations.1 this is understandable as caste revolves around a differentiation of human groups on the basis of some existing categories into which human beings are born or assigned at birth. human relations within and across castes are certainly a core aspect of any caste system.2 leach (1960), for instance, configured caste as a system of organic solidarity unifying all humans where each specialized caste invariably depends on the specialized services of other castes. however, a caste system cannot be identified as an exclusively human affair as some non-human entities such as plants, animals and minerals are also mobilized in hereditary caste occupations. certain plant and animal species are centrally important for the fulfillment of several caste occupations in sinhala society. specific castes in sinhala society have intimate connections with the natural endowments in local settings. therefore, the rise or fall of these castes cannot be assessed without considering the vicissitudes of these typically ignored companion species as understood in the multispecies framework. it is important to mention here that humans in the relevant castes have had an intimate knowledge about the distinctive natural resources in the area directly relevant to their hereditary caste 1i dedicate this work to late koronchige babysingho, my maternal uncle who was my mentor in life in the growing up period. i learnt intricacies of cinnamon work mostly from him. let me also thank several scholars who provided valuable insights about theory, history and cinnamon industry in general during preparation of this paper. they include professors c.r, de silva, premakumara de silva, nirmal dewasiri, h.m.d.r. herath, sarath amarasinghe, dr. mark balmforth, dr. eva ambos, mr. nalaka jayasena among others. 2the term ‘caste system’ has received multiple criticisms from analysts such as dirk, guha and gupta whose thinking has significantly influenced the current study. the term caste system is blamed for its essentialist tendency, disregard for variation and diversity, attribution of too much stability to caste, and the neglect of internal contradictions in the so-called system. i do agree with these criticisms to some extent. however, we do need to acknowledge the systematic nature of caste in that individual castes are not merely an assemblage or hangovers from the past but interconnected entities that shape human to human as well as human to nonhuman relations. i argue that caste systems prevail at local levels encompassing inter-caste relations rather than at national or global levels. while i do not claim that there is only one caste system encompassing the hindu world or south asia in general, following mosse (2020) and ryan (1953) i argue that the systemic nature of caste in interaction with each other must be clearly recognized in dealing with caste as a subject of research and an object of social policy. 10 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 occupations. their knowledge and skills in dealing with appropriate natural resources was an inherent aspect of the caste system encompassing both culture and nature. further, we should not assume a one-way relationship between humans and these natural resources in determining the directions of history. in other words, animals and plants were an inherent component of human interaction with nature in their shared struggle for survival. there is an emerging literature on the role of non-human agents in caste dynamics in sri lanka. in her ethnographic study of two craft villages in central sri lanka, aimee douglas (2017) found that the chief raw material used in the artistic dumbara mat weaving industry in one of these villages, the availability of fibrous hana plant (agave cantala) has declined over the years causing livelihood difficulties for the local kinnara caste involved in the industry. this is at a time of an upsurge in the tourist industry and a resulting increase in the demand for local craft products. several factors served to aggravate the scarcity of raw material for this industry. they include the over extraction of hana from their natural habitats, the refusal of the upper caste landlords to permit extraction of hana from their landholdings, their new demand for payment for hana freely extracted for the industry in the past, damage caused to hana habitats by changing land use practices including building constructions, and increased exposure to droughts resulting in habitat reduction. imported substitute raw materials from china are available in the market and some crafts have resorted to these substitutes in order to continue their production. this has increased production costs and adversely impacted the quality of craft products such as wall hangings, affecting sales to tourists in particular. another complication noted by douglas is the refusal by the younger generation to take up the caste occupation or identify with it as a heritage of the community because of the perceived stigma attached to the kinnara caste and the hana industry imposed upon it by the caste system. this is despite the efforts made by the national craft council set up by the state to support such crafts and disseminate the idea that these crafts are an inherent aspect of the valued national heritage of sri lanka. douglas highlights the challenges to the industry posed by the difficulties in accessing the hana plant: ….. the intensification of local road and housing construction in the region surrounding atwaedagama has resulted in a relative scarcity of hana, the raw plant material that village residents have long relied upon for the manufacture of the decorative mats, fly whisks, change purses, and other items ultimately sold on the street and in shops throughout the country. as we have seen, this scarcity has driven those who would use the plant’s fibers to either venture further away from atwaedagama to secure it or, as is increasingly the case, turn to alternative and more readily available materials. in addition to the inconvenience of having to travel often considerable distances to collect hana, many in the village report that, while they were once given free access to the plant wherever they happened upon it, since around 2013 they towards a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society 11 increasingly find themselves having to pay those from whose land they harvest it. generally speaking, hana’s sudden acquisition of exchange value was met with discontent. many of my interlocutors in atwaedagama complained about being refused outright or being asked to pay (douglas, 2017, pp. 226–227). this account indicates that the youth reluctance to undertake hana work because of status reasons is further complicated by the difficulty of securing hana from the natural habitats where it was freely available in the past. the kinnara caste was obviously attracted to alternative employment available locally, regionally and internationally against a background of an increasingly unreliable foraging access to the hana plant, a companion species of the kinnara caste. this in turn points to the fact that in understanding the rise or fall of caste we must not only assess the experience and the view of the relevant groups of humans but also what happens to the relevant species of plants and the natural resource base exploited in the specific caste occupations. a promising direction for such an approach is pursued by a specifically multispecies essay by tamara fernando (2021) on caste and ocean life forms in mannar, sri lanka. her study examined the relationship between the parava caste and the pearl industry in british ceylon. as a fisher caste in south india, the paravas migrated to the northwestern coastal belt in sri lanka mostly for pearl fisheries. since then, they have operated as an intermediary caste connecting the tamil and sinhala caste systems. conversion of the paravas to catholicism facilitated their mediating role and the mobility between south indian and sri lankan littoral for pearl fishing, trade and pilgrimage. in many of these operations the paravas had close ties with the local muslim communities who were also active in cross border trade and pearl fisheries. fernando noted that: “for centuries, oysters and other marine creatures including sea cucumbers, rock fish and sharks, lying on the bottom of the shallow gulf had long knit these communities with the state, as they hired out their skills to regional powers” (2021, p. 137). as a seafaring community the paravas gradually developed an intimate knowledge of oysters, pearl and the local habitat. fernando captures this vividly. since the pearl beds in the gulf of mannar are relatively shallow, human and natural geographies of work overlapped. through the work of diving, fishing communities had intimate, embodied and dynamic knowledge of the oyster at sea. boys began diving at eight years age, training with relatives and other members of their caste and village. the work of diving was in the body, which encountered the sea visually, physically and into the transition from airborne to waterborne sound, optimizing for vision underwater, equalizing with increasing depth until the pressure inside the ears adjusted to that outside and relaxing the spasms of the diaphragm. the body had to be streamlined to bear 12 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 the weight of the ocean, and the mind quieted as the spleen contracted, blood flow to the extremities decreased and the heart rate slowed in tactile ways. free diving on reefs involved acclimatizing bodies (2021, pp. 137–138). fernando’s study found that the pearl industry in mannar collapsed by early 1900 for unknown reasons. the colonial state tried to revive the industry because of the high value of genuine pearl extracted in sri lanka. this included efforts at oyster farming and the application of western scientific knowledge including marine biology for renovating the industry along capitalist lines, but it was one colonial enterprise that failed. clearly, the parava caste with first-hand experience and embedded local knowledge about pearl fisheries was central to the sustenance of the pearl industry in the region. their embedded local knowledge about animal species in marine waters transmitted through caste lines could not be replaced by colonial scientific knowledge production as discovered by fernando (2021). following the downfall of the industry, the paravas possibly diverted to other engagements such as trade. the study was not designed as a multispecies investigation of the impact of the demise of pearl industry on the paravas. however, it does appear that as in the case of the hana industry in central sri lanka, the end of the pearl industry may have contributed to a corresponding decline of the paravas’ role in the local social system. this, in turn, points to the potential relevance of a multispecies approach towards understanding the rise and fall of individual castes within a caste system. while providing useful insights for understanding caste from a multispecies perspective, neither fernando nor douglas tried to explore the implications of their findings beyond the individual castes subjected to their ethnographic enquiries. inspired by the current symposium on caste in sri lanka, the present study takes a broad-brush approach to a multispecies analysis of caste in sinhala society exploring cross-cutting multispecies ties among different castes as well as different species that interact with each other. such an approach is likely to call for further research on the rise or fall of individual castes as well as the overall system changes due to the combined effects of changes in individual castes. the multispecies approach highlights the need to incorporate human and nonhuman entities such as animals, plants and fungi in social analysis. its aim is to understand the complex interactions between humans and other living entities in shaping the world around us. for instance, in multispecies ethnography, the interactions between humans and their non-human counterparts are explored recognizing their agency, mutual impact and interdependence in ways that avoid human centrism in social analysis. the concept of companion species has become important in multispecies accounts of human and non-human interactions. typically companion species are animal or plant species that are non-human companions of human actors who have established an interpersonal bond with one or more non-human companions as sincere and transformative agents. donna haraway who introduced this concept in 2010 applied it to understand the intimate relationship between humans and their pet dogs in western industrial societies. she identified this unique interspecies relationship markedly different from exploitative capitalist relations in the human world entrenched towards a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society 13 in the western industrial societies, mutually dependent and co-constitutive, namely productive of a shared-self of a kind. she excluded a blind person’s dependence on a guide dog from the idea of companion species as it may lack mutual choice. extending this approach to human relationship with plants, tsing (2012) in an essay titled ‘unruly edges: mushrooms as companion species’, argues that symbiosis or mutually beneficial interspecies living as the key driver of this humanplant relationship established through human foraging of specific types of mushrooms such as chanterelles. in this article, i use a similar approach to explore the relationship between the salagama caste in sinhala society and the cinnamon plant that initially grew in the wild and was domesticated since the eighteenth century. it is important to point out here that both haraway and tsing applied the concept of companion species to describe seemingly non-capitalist interspecies bonds within the capitalist society, the companionship between the salagamas and the cinnamon plant developed as an extension of the sinhala caste system generative of permanent bonds among humans as well as between humans and non-human entities who are part of a broader pool of human and natural resources serving the caste system. the multispecies approach has been successfully applied in sri lanka in other related spheres. in a recent study of pilgrimage to adam’s peak, alexander mckinley (2024) explored pluralism in this precolonial religious center catering to diverse pilgrims from sri lanka and elsewhere as well as a range of non-human visitors in what he referred to as “animal pilgrimage”. its application to caste will be a logical extension to exploring how human and non-human species interact with and mutually constitute each other in a constantly changing world. this is also in line with recent efforts at extending the understanding of the mobilization of caste within both the hindutva and anti-caste movements in india with the sacred cow and the scavenger pig as rival and coting images deployed to characterize and contest caste identities (narayanan, 2023). while pursuing a similar analytical framework that factors in the role of human and non-human animal and plant species in understanding caste dynamics, this article calls for a more inclusive systemic approach to examine the linkages between castes in sinhala society and their ecology of animal and plant species operating as drivers of identity and day-to-day economic and social transactions and an embedded local knowledge about exploitation of natural resources anchored in the caste system.3 objectives of the study, methodology and scope the current study applies a multispecies approach to understand the dynamics of caste in sinhala society within a historical perspective encompassing both recorded 3narayanan pays attention to the symbolic significance of cows and pigs in the hindutva and dalit political struggles. while the idea of sacred cow and unclean pig are essentially slogans propagated by the hindu right in their campaign against the muslims, they have also penetrated into dalit politics complicating their identity dynamics. in the analysis pursued in the current essay, the role of plants and animals aligned with different castes are examined as entities connected with caste occupations and are of economic, cultural and environmental value, apart from their symbolic value extracted in the political process. 14 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 history from precolonial period onwards and an oral history in the postcolonial period captured through an auto ethnography. the specific objectives of the study are to identify and delineate the multispecies dimensions of caste in sinhala society, and assess the specific role of the cinnamon foraging, cultivation and production in the social history of the salagama caste in southern sri lanka from precolonial to postcolonial periods. a detailed history of the salagama caste is pursued to understand its dynamic interaction with cinnamon over a long period of time. this study uses a combination of research strategies to arrive at a multispecies analysis of the sinhala caste system. first, selected historical and ecological writings relating to the cinnamon industry in portuguese, dutch and british periods were consulted. second, an autoethnography of the researcher derived from growing up in a cinnamon smallholder household in southern sri lanka is presented. this household was also engaged in leasing in others’ cinnamon land for harvesting purposes. the researcher draws on his personal experience in growing up in a cinnamon smallholder household from birth until 18 years of age, assisting one of his uncles in cinnamon cultivation and production. along with his uncle and other cinnamon workers, i visited several cinnamon smallholdings in the area for contractual assignments that included harvesting and processing of cinnamon. i was privileged to listen to the oral histories of cinnamon workers and traders. based on this personal experience that predated his professional training in sociology, the social history of the salagama caste is presented through a reflective process to illustrate the interspecies dynamics between the salagamas and the cinnamon plant. the article begins with a synoptic multispecies characterization of the sinhala caste system in general. second, it gives a brief description of cinnamon foraging by the chalias from precolonial to the eighteenth century when colonial rule in the country shifted from the portuguese to the dutch. third, it provides a detailed analysis of the transition from foraging to cinnamon cultivation and production by the chalias or salagamas as they came to be known following this transition. i examine how this domestication of cinnamon production led to a consolidation of the caste system in sothern sri lanka. contrary to the experience of kinnara and parava castes who continued with foraging with the resulting collapse of the respective caste occupations, the cinnamon cultivation introduced by the dutch in 1770 not only sustained the cinnamon production, but also stabilized the salagama caste vis-à-vis other sinhala castes. finally, the implications of these findings for establishing a more egalitarian social order in an environmentally sustainable manner are explored in the last section of the paper. sinhala caste system through a multispecies framework the sinhala caste system is not merely a system of social inclusion and exclusion imposed by humans upon other humans. it is a larger system structuring the relationships among humans and various local plant and animal species implicated in a hereditary network of social, economic and cultural transactions that constituted the towards a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society 15 rajakariya service tenure system. certain mineral resources in local areas such as clay used in the pottery industry were also part of the larger system of exchanges. table 1 summarizes the components of this wider network table 1: sinhala castes and their use of natural resources caste traditional occupation natural resource type specific plant, animal or entity involved radala aristocracy plant/animals paddy (oryza sativa)/elephants (elephas maximus) govigama farmers plant/animals paddycattle (bos tarurus) patti herdsmen plant/animals paddycattle karawa fishermen animals fish durawa toddy makers plant coconut (cocos nusifera) salagama cinnamon work plant cinnamon (cinnamomum zeylanicum) hunu lime makers (construction material and product used in betel chewing) mineral limestone navandanna smiths mineral/plant iron ore/ plants used in the laksha industry wahumpura jaggery makers plant kitul trees (caryota urens) kumbal potters mineral clay rada washers natural resources streams/wells berakara drummers (do not use plants or animals directly. drums are made by another caste using animal skins) ? ? bathgama manual workers farm laborers plant/ mineral paddy/iron ore welladura guardians of the bodhi tree plant srimahabodiya (ficus religiosa) pannadura elephant handlers animals/plant elephants/ kitul trees for extracting leaves for feeding elephants kinnara mat weavers plant hana rodi garbage handlers, beggars animal/plant elephants/ making of elephant traps (madu), raising of pigs (sus scrofa domesticus) to situate the sinhala caste system within a multispecies framework, let me begin with some introductory points. first, the sinhala caste system has two parallel and mutually reinforcing components, a human resource component and a natural resource component. human resource component is made up of the division of humans into different hereditary caste groups performing different duties assigned by the precolonial state, custom and tradition. on the other hand, the sinhala caste system draws from a whole range 16 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 of natural resources needed for performing the relevant caste occupations. they include some endemic tropical plants (e.g. palm trees, cinnamon, hana) and tropical animals (e.g. elephants, cattle and fish) locally available for foraging or production. the local caste groups have developed an embedded contextual knowledge about the identification, extraction and processing of the locally available natural resources needed for their caste occupations. this is however not to say that the caste system has automatically evolved as part of nature but constructed in an extractive manner that enabled the dominant layers in society to benefit disproportionately from the subordinate caste groups with intimate knowledge about the natural resources in the area.4 this dual extraction from the hereditary caste groups and the localized natural resource base must be seen as an important feature of local caste dynamics. the localized and grounded nature of caste partly stems from its anchorage in a resource extraction pattern encompassing both human and natural resources in a given area (see also winslow, 2024). second, land was a key natural resource utilized by this system. in theory all land inclusive of plants, animals and minerals belonged to the king and he distributed them among different groups according to their specific position in society as determined by the caste system. the land grantees were bound to provide the specified services also defined by the caste system to the state and its assigned agents proportional to the volume of land granted. this resource use plus service extraction system was referred to as the service tenure (rajakariya, literally duty to the king) (pieris, 1956). there were specified departments of the state, extracting services from castes assigned to deliver these services to the state. for instance, kottal badda,, madige badda and badahala badda for extracting services of the navandanna, karawe and potter castes respectively. thus, the state operationalized, legitimized and benefitted from the caste system in kandyan and kotte periods. in contrast to the hindu caste system with a strong religious foundation as understood by dumont (1970), the sinhala caste system had a stronger political foundation, articulated by ralph pieris as secularization of caste (pieris, 1956, p. 193).5 this, however, does not mean that one is easier to dislodge than the other. nor does it mean that social hierarchy is more sharply drawn in one than in the other. third, with the possible exception of the govigama caste engaged in paddy cultivation as a fulltime livelihood (hence referred to as govigama, namely resident farmer community), it is likely that all the other castes were and are foragers to varying extents. for instance, pannadura captured wild elephants, domesticated them and handed them over to the royal or aristocratic power holders as their symbolic capital and wealth. similarly, the wahumpuras foraged for palm (kittul) flowers suitable for tapping. initially the salagamas foraged for cinnamon that grew in the wild for 4emerging research on the history of caste-based iron industry elsewhere in sri lanka must be recognized as another body of knowledge relating to the natural resource use connected with the caste system. see juleff, craddock and malim (2009). 5a comprehensive multispecies analysis of sri lanka society is certainly needed but it is outside scope of the current study. a useful pioneering work in this regard is available in mckinley (2024). towards a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society 17 supplying the processed cinnamon to the royal family and later colonial rulers. they became cinnamon cultivators since the dutch period as will be described later. the govigama caste was entitled for the full complement of services from other castes such as production or repair of agricultural tools (navandanna caste), farm labour and domestic help (bathgama caste), pots and pans (kumbal caste), washing of clothes (rada caste), supply of jaggery (wahumpura caste) and the removal of solid waste and dead animals (rodi caste). those who provided these services were paid in rice as and when the services were delivered. the goigama caste, therefore, became the cultivator caste even though other castes too were engaged in farming to varied extents for their own sustenance. in any case the transition from foraging to cultivation has been an important aspect of the stabilization of the sinhala caste system and the accompanying natural resource utilization pattern. the distinction and inequality between forager castes and cultivator castes is an important feature of the sinhala caste system yet to be explored in research. fourth, castes were not static entities formed in a stable manner over a long period of time. rather they were constantly changing in response to precolonial, colonial, and post-colonial developments as also argued by scholars like guha (2013). the sinhala caste system became a mix of foraging and production that partly accounts for its inconsistent outcomes over time, also well captured in the cartwheel model of sinhala caste presented by winslow (2024). these researchers highlight the need to consider regional differences, local politics and identity dimensions as articulated by local actors from different castes. in addition, the multispecies approach brings out the need to factor in the ecological dimensions, the natural resource base and the role of endemic animal and plant species in maintaining or undermining the caste order. finally, multispecies dynamics are particularly important in respect of four caste groups in the western coastal belt in sri lanka. they are karawa, salagama, durawa and hunu castes. of these, the first three identified by roberts (1982) as ksd castes, have had parallel trajectories of migration from india to sri lanka and getting established in sri lanka as different caste formations in sinhala society. the ksd castes are particularly suitable for a multispecies assessment as karawas are involved in fishing, salagamas cinnamon peeling and durawas making a mild alcoholic drink (toddy) extracting the sap of coconut flowers. of the three castes, salagamas were more aligned with buddhism with a caste occupation free of any negative implications for buddhism. in contrast, karawas and durawas were engaged in rather ‘sinful’ occupations, taking of life of fish as part of karawa livelihood and promoting alcohol consumption as done by the durawas, being violations of two of the five precepts (pancil) in buddhism. this resulted in the conversion of many karawas from buddhism to catholicism during the portuguese period. on the other hand, salagama occupation of cinnamon peeling had no clash with buddhist teachings and this led to their active engagement in buddhism as reflected in the formation of a new buddhist monastic chapter called amarapura nikaya aligned with the caste in 1800. this article does not go into the history of all the coastal sinhala castes, but this macro profile is useful for our understanding the larger multispecies context in which the salagama caste is 18 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 located. it must be noted here that the karawa and durawa castes catered to the local demand for important consumer goods even though they had an ambivalent position in buddhism. on the other hand, the salagamas catered to the international demand for cinnamon, used the revenue made from this avenue for advancing buddhism and the buddhist revival in the west coast and, therefore, represented sinhala buddhist nationalism in identity politics and inter-caste competition in this important region in sri lanka, serving as a gateway to westernization and reactions against it (malalgoda, 1976; blackburn, 2010). formation of the salagama caste this section examines the evolution of the salagama caste, focusing on the cinnamon industry and its role in identity formation, social mobility and stabilization of the caste. cinnamomum zeylanicum as an anchorage of the salagama caste as an immigrant group from india who arrived in ceylon during the twelfth century, the chalias (named salagamas subsequently) did not have a firm grounding in local history or local culture. their absorption into sri lankan society and the sinhala caste system was a gradual process that was perhaps completed after the 1830s, when they became cinnamon smallholders. initially, the chalias established a foothold in sri lankan society through their engagement in cinnamon foraging at the request of the local rulers. their association with the cinnamon plant endemic to sri lanka appears to have been their main link to sri lankan society at first (de silva, mu 1993). they were hesitant and protesting participants during the foraging phase because of the difficulties encountered in meeting the excessive demands of the colonial rulers in ceylon. over the years they achieved important milestones in the assimilation process. this included learning the sinhala language, the transition from cinnamon foraging to cultivation, their formation as a separate caste group engaged in cinnamon work, and the formation of a local knowledge base about the plant and the industry within the caste. these achievements enabled them to connect with the rural economy as well as the local environment. it gave them a stake in local culture and the rural economy simultaneously. as an endemic local plant that grew in the wild, cinnamon has had a much longer natural history in ceylon compared to the salagama caste. cinnamon indeed cemented its link with ceylon as a newly established immigrant community. invention of caste in colonial ceylon this section examines how the salagamas became involved in the cinnamon industry in sri lanka. cinnamon that grew in the wild under lush tropical conditions was one of the greatest attractions of sri lanka for the colonizers and the arab traders before them (dewasiri, wagenear and uyangoda, 2020). colvin r. de silva referred to “the lure of towards a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society 19 cinnamon” in ceylon (1953, p. 1). apart from cinnamon, ceylon was already famous globally for gems, ivory, pearl and spices. the portuguesa took over these indian ocean trades from the arabs by breaking their long-held monopoly. ceylonese cinnamon (cinnamomum zeylanicum) was already well established as the best quality cinnamon in the world and the western colonizers competed with each other to establish their own monopolistic control over this commodity.6 the royal families in the kotte kingdom had already mobilized the chalias of kerala origin to collect cinnamon in the wild and process it for supplying to visiting traders and earned a significant revenue from this transaction. the portuguese and subsequently the dutch quickly seized this business, gained control over the existing production process and the supply chain by overpowering or persuading the local ruling families (de silva, c.r. 1973, de silva, m.u. 1993). working through the existing social hierarchy, the portuguese took charge of the prevailing cinnamon production process and reaped maximum benefit from it. locally hereditary social divisions were known as jathi (lit. stemming from birth). the portuguese referred to it as casta, rendered in english as caste. in either case, it was a somewhat ill-defined epistemic category, referring to birth, hereditary occupation, social network of consanguinity and affinity and much more. this is a clear example of what dirk (2001) described as colonial invention of caste as a new epistemic category. subsequent researchers elaborated how this new epistemic category was deployed by colonial rulers to improve imperial governance (guha, 2013) and expand revenue extraction (o’hanlon, 2017). in this process, colonial rulers formalized and rigidified what existed as a loose local category. chalia’s engagement with cinnamon appears to have been a historical accident. having been weavers in india, they had no prior working experience with cinnamon or any similar product. this was a newly formed caste in ceylon catering to the needs of kingship and subsequently colonial rule. the sinhala kings assigned cinnamon work to chalias taking advantage of their immigrant status, lack of assigned land rights at the time and their greater manipulability in terms of the work assigned (abeysinghe, 1966). they were granted land on condition that they collected wild cinnamon and provided processed cinnamon as a kind of tribute to the king in lieu of the land they occupied under the rajakariya system. in the villages between kalutara and matara cinnamon workers were settled, and they were assigned to a revenue administration called mahabadda responsible for extracting tributary payment in the form of processed cinnamon and they were relieved from routine rajakariya duties and taxes to the state (de silva, c.r. 1973, 1989). they were also relieved from services to any other castes as they were not ‘a service caste’ as defined in the local caste hierarchy. on the other hand, they were entitled for services from other castes such as blacksmiths. any extra cinnamon they produced over and above the stipulated tributary payment, 6this was one of the 8 endemic species of cinnamon prevalent in ceylon at the time (pathirana and senaratne 2020). this particular species became popular in the european market because of its flavor, aroma and multiple uses in food preparation, cooking and in various home remedies. 20 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 could be sold to the king at a below market price. in contrast, people living along kalani river engaged in cinnamon production were called sulubadda (minor revenue administration) were required to sell all the cinnamon they produced to the royal family at prices determined by the latter. thus, chalias themselves were internally differentiated and all cinnamon peelers did not necessarily come from chalias as other local castes too were mobilized in cinnamon extraction whenever the demand exceeded the capacity of chalias (de silva, c.r. 1989; de silva, m.u 1993). initially chalias were not particularly attracted to cinnamon peeling because of its mandatory nature and the difficulties in foraging cinnamon that grew in the wild distributed in a vast area held by different ruling families. further, their official categorization as slaves by the portuguese regime did not appeal to chalias (de silva, m.u. (1993, p. 87). collective protests against their heavy workload and what they perceived as excessive colonial demands for processed cinnamon were rather common (de silva, m.u. 1993, dewasiri, wagenear and uyangoda, 2020). clearly the ruling elite imposed cinnamon foraging upon them. interestingly the portuguese expanded the mandate of caste to include slavery and indiscriminately impose a quantity of cinnamon to be supplied annually by each chalia male 12 years or older (dewasiri, wagenear and uyangoda, 2020). the chalias resisted this as far more oppressive than their customary obligations within the sinhala caste system where services were proportional to the land held from the state and one could end the service obligation by returning the land back to the state. this may be seen as another instance of the colonial invention of caste in a more extractive manner (dewasiri, 2008; o’hanlon, 2017). the chalias resorted to certain new strategies to bypass the colonial extractions. according to serrao (2014), the amount of cinnamon supplied to the state by the cinnamon peelers increased fivefold between 1590 and 1640. in defiance of the hierarchy, the salagamas opted to change their caste identity by intermarrying with other castes or changing their names (de silva mu 1993). in summary cinnamon foraging was an extractive process resisted by the chalias. the colonial rulers kept on increasing the target set for chalias disregarding the limits set by the traditional caste system. the colonial reinvention of caste as a form of slavery added to its oppressive character that in turn evoked contestations by the chalias. from foraging to domestication it is in this context the portuguese were ousted by the dutch who became new colonial rulers in ceylon in 1658. the dutch east india company had the same motives as the portuguese for taking over colonial territories and followed many of the same strategies. one important difference, however, was that the dutch had a greater trust in farming compared to foraging as an economic enterprise. the dutch were instrumental in promoting cinnamon cultivation in southern sri lanka. in order to retain the dutch monopoly over the cinnamon industry and trade, three schemes were introduced when towards a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society 21 cinnamon cultivation was started (de silva, colvin r., 1962). the first was to establish east india company-owned cinnamon plantations on public land. the second was to allow private persons to establish cinnamon plantations on crown land without land ownership being transferred, on the understanding that all produce will be sold to the state. the third was to allow private individuals to establish cinnamon plantations on their private land on the understanding that all their produce will be sold to the state. the strict laws of the state prevented any cinnamon cultivation outside these schemes clearly demonstrating the monopolistic aims of the state. the salagamas were involved as cinnamon cultivators and workers under all these schemes. the progress of cinnamon cultivation under these three different schemes were variable with state regulation determining their progress in many instances (kanapathipillai, 1979). the effort to deploy the rajakariya system in cinnamon cultivation and work was another bottleneck in the system (dewasiri, 2008; abeysignhe, 1960; de silva, m.u. 1993). the colonial state wanted to ensure that there was no overproduction of cinnamon that would push down the price of sri lankan cinnamon. on the other hand, cinnamon foraging was continued as and when necessary in order to meet any shortfall in production. the british colonial rulers did not pay as much attention to the cinnamon industry as was the case in preceding colonial rulers. however, their abolition of rajakariya in 1832 and the decision to open up cinnamon cultivation for smallholders as well as any interested planters removed the heavy state control in the industry since the nineteenth century. the new system provided incentives for the salagamas and whoever else who opted to cinnamon as a profit-making enterprise. caste was mobilized in the entire domestication process as a means of building on available local knowledge about the plant and its harvesting. often cinnamon was a home garden crop whose fluctuating market prices determined the level of wellbeing of the family. even a half an acre of cinnamon cultivated and harvested using family labor and own tools provided a decent income.7 cinnamon was a versatile crop with processed cinnamons, as well as byproducts such as scrapes (cutta), firewood, cinnamon leaves and cinnamon oil all contributing to family income. the salagamas played a pioneering role in converting cinnamon to an important cash crop in the rural economy in southwestern sri lanka. by the mid nineteenth century much of the cinnamon production in the country came from smallholder sector even though a few large cinnamon plantations owned by local entrepreneurs continued (moore, 1978). the salagamas became intimately connected with cinnamon cultivation and work due to the transition from foraging to domestication. as noted earlier, they were unwilling participants in cinnamon work under the foraging system. as of 1965 this pattern had completely changed and the salagama engagement with cinnamon had 7in an important report on the smallholder cinnamon cultivation in sri lanka, mick moore (1978) noted that it was too heavily subsidized by the state but it did not necessarily strengthen the industry because of growing competition from other countries who have taken up the cinnamon cultivation on commercial lines. 22 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 become an intimate personal and family engagement. the cinnamon work and related knowledge and had become a shared heritage of the group. in the next section i present my personal experience as a young boy growing up in a cinnamon smallholding household. personal experiences with the cinnamon industry around 1965 as a perennial crop harvested one to two times a year, many salagamas became cultivators and owner-operators. cinnamon was grown in separate plots prepared and dedicated for the purpose or as an undergrowth side by side with existing perennial crops like coconuts, jackfruit, arecanut within the home garden. tsing characterized plantations “as the engine of european expansion …..that allowed europeans to take over the world” (2012, p. 148). unlike plantation crops such as tea, rubber and coconuts introduced by the british on large plantations exclusively planted with the specific crops and worked exclusively by wage labour and owned and managed by the planters, cinnamon was established in smallholdings (usually less than five acres in extent) of salagama owner-farmers cum cinnamon workers. the volume of production depended on the extent of land under the crop and the number of cinnamon peelers available. the production process was unmechanized with the salagamas possessing much of the inherited local knowledge relating to the cinnamon industry. salagamas developed an intimate relationship with and knowledge about the cinnamon plant, its seasonal changes like emergence of tender leaves (dalla), appearance of seeds and determination of the optimum time (talena kale) to begin the peeling process. the boys were encouraged to take up long-handled knife used for cutting mature cinnamon stems and the mamoty used for weeding cinnamon plots (kaththe-udalle vada) at an early age. the salagama knowledge about cinnamon was through intimate daily engagement with the plant rather than through science as indeed was the case with the paravar knowledge about oysters and pearl as noted by fernando (2021). one important difference however was that unlike the paravas who were employed by others, in the post-independence era the salagamas were mostly self-employed smallholders with their home gardens converted to cinnamon smallholdings. the first step in the peeling process was scraping the outer skin of the bark (ganawa) using a particular metal tool (gana kokaththa) and this activity was done by female household members or younger males. the peeling of the main bark was done by experienced males using a set of traditional tools illustrated in figure 1.8 the final product of processed cinnamon quills was made by connecting strips of cinnamon barks and filling them with smaller pieces of cinnamon in a process referred to as quill formation (handikaranawa). these vernacular terms signified intimate salagama knowledge derived from cinnamon work. 8these tools were made by the blacksmiths of the navandanna caste using local designs applicable to local cinnamon plants. in this sense navandanna caste too was implicated in the multispecies engagement involved in cinnamon production. however, their relation to the cinnamon plant was indirect rather than direct. the cinnamon industry did not determine the life chances of the navandanna caste to the same extent it impacted on the salagamas. towards a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society 23 the entire process of cinnamon harvesting, peeling and processing, the tool kit used for this purpose and the ways of application of these tools became embodied practical knowledge of the salagamas. often the entire family was involved in cinnamon work. their mannerism, dress code, speech and hands were well adapted to using gana kaththa (scraping tool), kokaththa (peeling knife) and talana polla (rubbing rod) with a minimum of injuries to the workers and those around them including small children. their practical knowledge about the cinnamon plant covered a range of subjects including plant growth, optimum time for weeding, manuring, harvesting, pruning, storage, and sun drying of processed cinnamon. 28 figure 1: tool kit used in cinnamon harvesting and peeling in sri lanka tool kit used in cinnamon work rubbing rod (polla) scraping tool (kokaththa) modernized scraping tool (kokaththa) traditional harvesting knife (kaththa) peeling knife (kokaththa) scissors finger case measuring tool cinnamon research centre thihagoda, matara fig. 1: tool kit used in cinnamon harvesting and peeling in sri lanka 24 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 it is important to stress that the salagama knowledge about cinnamon was not a textbook knowledge about the botany or chemistry of cinnamon. rather it was an experiential knowledge acquired from their families. it was by no means a secret knowledge but an embedded local knowledge sustained through caste dynamics as also noted by fernando (2021). just as much as the tool kit and its application were appropriated through kinship and caste lines, the cinnamon industry became a shared vested interest of the caste. for instance, the needs of the cinnamon industry contributed to endogamy within the salagama caste.9 in working-class circles male cinnamon workers preferred to marry women with appropriate life skills. salagama men used to say “what is the use of marrying a woman who cannot even hold a gana kokaththa in her palm properly.” in any case marriage partners were likely to meet each other within the cinnamon industry because of the way it was organized. in richer circles cinnamon estates were an important element of the dowry for women. for instance, in one famous cinnamon plantation in kosgoda, the owner had divided into three portions named lokkige kalla (eldest daughter’s portion), madduge kalla (middle daughter’s portion) and poddige kalla (little one’s portion), with the aim of giving them as dowries for his three daughters. thus, cinnamon cultivation played a significant role in family and kinship dynamics in the western coastal belt (gamburd, 2010). while it 9in order to prevent cross-caste marriage, the dutch introduced a law to ban such marriages. this colonial legal intervention, clearly made with a view to keep the number of cinnamon workers intact, had only limited impact. (dewasiri, wagenear and uyangoda 2020: 49). this intervention showed that apart from customary laws and kinship norms in place, colonial administration too contributed to the promotion of caste endogamy in some instances purely out of self-interest and the desire to keep the colonial income sources intact. fig. 2: the process of cinnamon peeling towards a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society 25 is true that marriages were not always confined to one’s own caste in the congested coastal belt where caste boundaries are porous (de silva, c.r. and senewiratne, 2025), we cannot exaggerate this trend because of the pragmatic multispecies considerations that operated (de silva, m.u., 1993). in the same way the salagamas safeguarded their cinnamon properties and knowledge about the plant, the industry promoted caste endogamy in an environment otherwise conducive for inter-caste mixing. cinnamon as a companion species of the salagamas from its inception as a sinhala caste, cinnamon had the potential to become a companion species for the salagamas. as a new caste formed by immigrants, chalias established a foothold in sinhala society through the endemic cinnamon plant. their hereditary mission assigned by the sri lankan rulers was to look after and harvest this native plant. they became a companion to the salagamas who held an exclusive right over this plant assigned to them by the precolonial sri lankan rulers. however, as colvin r. de silva rightly characterized it became ‘a privileged servitude’ under portuguese and dutch rule. cinnamon actually became a companion species to the salagamas as defined by haraway only after cinnamon was domesticated and the salagamas took up cinnamon as a smallholder crop in the british period. this cash crop became a primarily home garden crop for the salagamas who shifted from foraging to cultivation. this was, therefore, an instance of mutual constitution of a plant (cinnamomum zeylanicum) and a caste (the salagamas). the latter saved it from possible extinction if foraging continued uninterrupted. similarly, the salagamas were a caste without a clear mandate and a well-defined livelihood as such until they became vanguards of cinnamon domestication. another aspect of this companionship is the embedded local knowledge the salagamas accumulated through cinnamon work year after year. this has contributed to conservation of cinnamon as a tropical plant and indirectly maintaining salagama caste as part of the sinhala caste system. unlike in the case of pearl fisheries in british ceylon, western scientific knowledge was not applied displacing the caste-based embedded local knowledge in order to maintain the cinnamon industry and this has contributed to the preservation of the cinnamon industry until now. cinnamon as a pathway for upward social mobility from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, the salagamas relied heavily on cinnamon income in moving up the social ladder. they pursued three related avenues of upward social mobility from the cinnamon smallholder level. the first was the built-up of incomes from the cinnamon industry by expanding one’s scale of operations by purchasing or leasing in cinnamon lands from others. often this served to enhance and stabilize cinnamon incomes. they, however, quickly realized that income from 26 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 cinnamon was somewhat unpredictable because of price instability in the market. many salagama families invested in the education of their children as a second and more attractive pathway for social mobility. the more successful members of these families entered professions such as medicine, law, engineering, ceylon administrative service and politics. these positions served to enhance the power, influence and prestige of the relevant families and the overall position of the caste in relation to other local castes. the educational achievements and related gains in professional careers were cumulative, gains made in one generation often superseded in the subsequent generations. third, a few salagama families invested in private sector enterprises such as new industries and services. sir cyril de zoysa who set up a private bus company and established kalutara bodiya as a philanthropic activity is one such example. in all these instances, income from cinnamon provided the seed money for subsequent investments. in other words, with a lucrative income from cinnamon, the salagamas had a head start in the social mobility process during colonial and post-colonial periods. as a combined outcome of these developments the salagama caste developed an aristocratic layer during the nineteenth century. from slavery to aristocracy salagama caste was eager to monopolize cinnamon production within its ranks because of the premium attached to ceylonese cinnamon in the international market and the cash flow that enabled a process of upward social mobility. many rich salagama lineages along the west coast who made money from the cinnamon industry and gained power through education and positions reein colonial administration, gradually acquired an aristocratic lifestyle modelled after the landed radala aristocracy in kandyan areas. as many as 10 aristocratic mansions (walawwas) had been established in the balapitiya region alone. for instance, the famous mahakappina walawwa in balapitiya. even though chalias resisted the slavery-like cinnamon foraging imposed upon them by the colonial powers in the early period, the pattern was completely changed after domestication of cinnamon and a free market for cinnamon was gradually established the so-called aristocratic layer of the salagama caste gradually became an exclusive group within the caste along the lines of pelanthiya formation described by obeyesekere (1967) in a different context. distinguishing themselves from kurundukara cinnamon workers, the aristocratic layer presented themselves as a category of cinnamon planters detached from cinnamon work. they were also instrumental in setting up some rich buddhist temples in the area and the formation of the amarapura nikaya. they presented themselves as an exclusive group not eager to mix with the ordinary members of the caste. their decline started in the 1940s or so due to a combination of factors including the economic downturn in the cinnamon industry, unsustainable expenditure patterns and the migration of the better off sections of this group to colombo and other cities. towards a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society 27 emerging challenges for the cinnamon industry and remedies pursued upward mobility through cinnamon cultivation, however, was only part of the story. by the post-independence period, the local cinnamon industry faced a variety of problems stemming from the global market, production processes in sri lanka and the socio-economic issues among cinnamon workers. at the global market level, falling cinnamon prices, demand for improved quality, use of cheaper substitutes and new suppliers in the market were challenges faced by the sri lankan cinnamon industry. this may be attributed to the system of smallholder agriculture connected with the cinnamon industry. similarly, quality control of produce may not be feasible with the caste-based system of production that operates within the framework of the family and the household. as for the system of cinnamon production, shortage of cinnamon workers as well as shortage of land under cinnamon cultivation had become serious problems by the 1970s. the shortage of cinnamon workers may be due to issues such as poor income and low dignity connected with caste occupations in general (douglas, 2017, reed, 2010). shortage of land under cinnamon cultivation may be due to changing land use practices, urbanization, building constructions and subdivision of cinnamon landholdings due to inheritance. while smallholder agriculture received a new lease of life after independence, public sector investments concentrated on irrigated rice cultivation to the relative neglect of other crops like cinnamon (moore, 1985; farmer, 1957). some of the local cinnamon species are identified as endangered or seriously endangered species due to due to indiscriminate harvesting of cinnamon and deforestation over a long period of time (pathirana and senaratne, 2020). a number of social issues also cropped up among the impoverished cinnamon workers by the 1970s. they included indebtedness, widespread gambling, alcoholism, drugs, crime, gang activity and violence. these problems were entrenched in certain salagama communities. many cinnamon workers were dependent entirely on wage labor moving from one cinnamon plantation to another in search of work, living and working as families in temporary cinnamon sheds (kurundu vadi). arrangements like weekly advance wages (sumana kasi) provided by the employers as well as securing daily necessities from local stores on credit were aspects of the peripatetic existence of these cinnamon workers. entering radical politics, some joined the jvp uprising in 1971 and 1987. problems associated with the cinnamon industry may have contributed to these processes in so far as cinnamon did not guarantee a secure livelihood to a significant number of cinnamon workers who were trapped in a downward spiral of social mobility. in the same way cinnamon contributed to the formation of an aristocratic layer in salagama caste during the nineteenth century, the same cinnamon industry also produced an impoverished layer who lived a hand to mouth existence dependent on better off segments of society. the remedies for these problems came from the department of export agriculture (dea), private sector agencies representing cinnamon growers, traders and exporters 28 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 like the cinnamon association (ca) and the spice council (tsc) and newly established public-private partnerships like the cinnamon training academy (cta). the dea introduced measures such as replanting of cinnamon and the introduction of cinnamon cultivation to marginal tea and rubber lands. ca and tsc took steps to improve quality control of cinnamon and branding of cinnamon exports as pure ceylon cinnamon in line with pure ceylon tea. cta initiated by some entrepreneurs with a family history in cinnamon cultivation with their base in kosgoda at the heart of the cinnamon belt introduced some certified training courses for cinnamon workers with a view to improve the quality of their output and also attract youth to the cinnamon industry. none of these interventions sought to address the caste background of cinnamon workers with the possible exception of cta which tried to promote the dignity of labour among its trainees. the whole issue of the traditional knowledge base of the salagama caste had been completely ignored in the effort to improve quality and replace it with scientific knowledge. conclusions in this essay initially, we approached the salagama caste from a historical viewpoint to identify how it was established in ceylon from precolonial era onwards as an addendum to the sinhala caste system. the founders of the salagama caste were chalias who migrated from india way back in the twelfth century. their adaptation to sri lanka society was facilitated by their assigned role in foraging cinnamon that grew in the wild. cinnamon had already become an important commodity in international trade and it was indeed this much sought-after product of the tropics that attracted the colonial rulers to ceylon already reputed as the source of the best quality cinnamon in the world. the nexus between cinnamon and colonialism was an important reason for the companionship between the salagama caste and cinnamon established over roughly a millennium. over this long period, this companionship survived despite challenges it faced from time to time. the partnerships between the salagamas and cinnamon became closer in the aftermath of the domestication of cinnamon as the salagamas became growers and workers of cinnamon. as we have seen this led to a stabilization of the salagama caste as well as the cinnamon industry which depended on each other. in the second part of this essay we examined the living reality of the salagama cinnamon workers in southern sri lanka employing an auto-ethnographic perspective. the chalias who did not have a strong foothold in sri lanka as a new immigrant group from india secured a firm position as they became connected with the endemic cinnamon plant long established as a valuable natural resource and an important revenue generator in ceylon. cinnamon was important for the salagamas in their identity formation, family and kinship dynamics as well as patterns of social mobility. on their part, the salagamas contributed to sustaining the endemic cinnamon species endangered due to over harvesting and changing land use practices in a variety of ways. towards a multispecies approach to caste in sinhala society 29 first, the salagamas established an embedded local knowledge about the plant that facilitated the transition from foraging to domestication. second, an important aspect of this local knowledge has been the development of an effective tool kit for cinnamon peeling. third, the salagamas played a significant role in the development of cinnamon smallholder agriculture along the western coastal belt well adapted to the local ecosystems. finally, these processes jointly contributed to the sustenance of cinnamomum zeylanicum as a tropical plant species despite numerous challenges it faced due to colonial extractions, indiscriminate foraging and changing land use practices. this is however not to say that all is well with the cinnamon industry and the sinhala caste system within which it is located. we found multiple issues relating to the quality of its output, which also affects the market prices and income from the industry. the survival of the plant itself has become problematic due to urbanization and related changes in land use practices. the rapid impoverishment of cinnamon peelers and their engagement in crime, alcoholism, drugs and violence is another serious challenge faced by the local cinnamon industry and the salagama caste historically connected with the industry. a range of remedies have been identified and pursued by the public sector and public-private partnerships responding to these issues. these remedies draw heavily from commercialization, training of cinnamon workers, replanting of cinnamon and value addition to raw cinnamon. they may or may not be effective in addressing the serious challenges faced by the industry. two shortcomings evident is the lack of a solid understanding of the history of the industry and its strong connections with the caste system as discussed in this essay. we do agree that caste may not provide the way forward from the angle of upgrading the industry or developing a suitable policy for its future. nevertheless we think that a realistic assessment of its current status and challenges and opportunities must situate it within its colonial history, tropical context and the caste system and must seek ways and means of taking advantage of its historical legacies and liberating it from the constraints imposed by the very same setting inclusive of the caste system. references abeyasinghe, tikiri. 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(ed.) aspects of caste in south india, ceylon and northwest pakistan, pp. 1-10. cambridge university press. malalgoda, kitsiri. (1976). buddhism in sinhala society 1750-1900: a study of religious revival and change. university of california press. mckinley, alexander. (2024). mountain at a center of the world: pilgrimage and pluralism in sri lanka. colombia university press. moore, mick. (1978). political culture and agricultural policy: the case of cinnamon in sri lanka. agricultural administration, 5(2), 121–129. moore, mick. (1985). the state and peasant politics in sri lanka. cambridge university press. mosse, david. (2020). the modernity of caste and the market economy. modern asian studies, 54(4), 1225–1271. obeyesekere, gananath. (1967). land tenure in village ceylon: a sociological and historical study. cambridge university press. pathirana, r. and senaratne, r. (2020). an introduction to sri lanka and its cinnamon industry. in r. senaratne and r. pathirana. 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(2024). cartwheel or ladder? reconsidering sinhala caste. comparative studies in society and history, 66(1), 106–130. © 2025 afsara ayub. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i1.2522 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 1 pp. 167-184 april 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste consciousness not without danger: theorising violence faced by dalit converts afsara ayub1 abstract the present article views dalit conversion as a gradual process or bottomup reassessment strategy for a democratic environment assumed to provide a space to challenge the social structure of the hindu caste system. to theorise this, the article deploys victor turner’s concept of liminality and studies religious conversion as a transition, liminal process, or threshold that promises to bring change and alternation in the existing rigid structure. it aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how religious conversion functions as a space of both rupture and renewal in dalit identity formation. the epigram of this article spells out the objectives to show when, why, and how they follow the path of conversion. it argues that due to their peculiar position in the hindu caste hierarchy and exclusion from the varna category, dalits are open to change their religion from hinduism to another religion. the willingness to change their hindu religion either in the form of protest and assertion, or compulsion to escape from the practice of untouchability, explains the capacity of dalits to break the caste structure and possibly become an entirely new self. furthermore, the article argues that this process of becoming a new self is surrounded by danger; dalits, as transgressors, who challenge the social stratification of the hindu caste system by converting to other religions, are often drawn to violence. the prevalence of the concept of conversion as a consciously chosen path by dalits strikes controversy among caste hindus, and the flexibility with which dalits approach religion becomes one of the main causes of violence. finally, it argues that when dalit consciousness manifests itself through conversion, it invites danger, threat, or violence, and this threat and violence may not necessarily appear in physical and overt form but in covert forms such as violations of certain constitutional rights. keywords dalit consciousness, religious conversion, liminality, caste-violence, violation of constitutional rights 1assistant professor, sociology, lloyd law college, greater noida, india e-mail: afsara79@gmail.com 168 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 introduction religious conversion is an extremely personal phenomenon. yet conversion, as personal as it often is, can also ramify outward into the world with great force, galvanizing new communities, breaking old ones, and completely transforming the political landscape. early modernity sees conversion come into full flower as a sublime instrument of imperial power—a way for sovereigns to exercise control over their subjects’ souls as well as their bodies, whether those subjects are iberian jews or muslims, french protestants, or english catholics (wiegers, 2016). however, conversion is also seen as a potent instrument of resistance to the power of the state or the church, and also a way for subjects such as dalits to stand against the practice of untouchability and the caste system in hinduism. this article spells out the objectives to show when, why, and how dalits started following the path of conversion. to understand this, one needs to study various reasons that make dalits as inferior human beings financially, spiritually, and politically, and last but not the least, numerically weak. this political and numerical weakness together arise from two interrelated facts: (a) the kind of heterogeneity dalits as a social group has in terms of linguistic, regional, religious, and occupational identity and even their demonstration of socio-political assertions differ (b) despite this heterogeneity, the socio-political history of dalits reflects a remarkable sense of unity, rooted in their shared experiences of caste-based discrimination and experiences. a significant expression of this unity can be observed in the case of mass conversion movement to buddhism. through this collective act, dalits not only attempt to challenge the deeply entrenched caste hierarchy but also seek to reclaim a distinct religious identity outside the folds of hinduism. despite these powerful assertions of autonomy and resistance, their efforts have often been disregarded and, in many instances, met with violence and systemic violations. one such watershed moment in the history of dalit political identity is the poona pact of 1932, which made dalits completely dependent upon hindus for selecting their own leader. by denying the separate electorates to dalits, the pact diluted their political independence and compelled them to be absorbed into the fold of hinduism, which made it difficult for dalit leaders to emerge without pandering to dominant caste interests. however, when ambedkar’s advocacy for separate electorates for the upliftment of dalits was compromised, he reasserted the demand for separate electorates in 1947 in “states and minorities”, due to his experience in politics which showed him that dalit representatives in joint electorates were often submissive to majority interests. however, this suppression of dalits’ distinct socio-political identity has a vast history starting from ancient times such as the violent suppressions of buddhists including the loss of royal patronage of buddhists, their systematic suppression through monastery destruction, monk killings, and cultural erasure including absorption of buddha as a vishnu avatar, stripping buddhism of its revolutionary core by brahminical traditions (ambedkar, 1957; thapar, 2012; and omvedt, 2003). the systematic disappearance of buddhism and the appropriation of dalits’ distinct consciousness not without danger: theorising violence faced by dalit converts 169 religious identity by hindu majoritarian forces have been quite prevalent in indian history along with this, institutional biases diluted the political potential of the dalit conversion movement to buddhism. moreover, it has been pushed into its communalist corner by the dominant discourse, and due to which it could not provide an escape from their subaltern conditions (fuchs, 2004; chatterjee 2004; lee, 2018) apart from this systematic historical suppression of ancient times, there have been many instances of violence—both overt and covert—faced by dalits whenever they try to raise their voice for their rights, challenge the caste system, or denounce their hindu identity by embracing a non-hindu identity through conversion. for instance, the nadar movement of the nineteenth century, the mahad satyagraha in 1927, the kalaram temple entry movement in 1930, the kilvenmani massacre in 1968, the khairlanji massacre in 2006, and the 2016 una flogging underscore how economic and occupational assertions by dalits provoke brutal responses. even in 2020 and 2022, incidents such as the hathras case and bhima koregaon violence reveal that dalits’ attempts to claim dignity and pride are met with both overt aggression and institutional bias, highlighting the persistent force of caste-based oppression in india. anand teltumde (2016) contextualises these caste atrocities and violence faced by dalits as an outcome of the interplay of three factors: “caste consciousness”, “asymmetry of power between dalits and non-dalits”, and “a triggering event”. these triangular factors of caste violence, as discussed by teltumde (2016), can provide a strand to begin my argument about conversion and its related caste violence. religious emancipation as a prominent way for assertions began to take shape as a political movement during colonial times, especially with the emergence of dr. ambedkar as a dalit leader. ambedkar’s desire for religious conversion in his delivered speech on 31 may 1936 at the yeola conference encouraged his fellow dalits to leave hinduism. ambedkar embraced buddhism in 1956 and transformed this religious emancipation of dalits into a political movement. however, this approach of religious emancipation was in practice before the arrival of dr. ambedkar. for instance, bhakti saints like basvanna, ravidas, kabir, chokhamela, and namdev at the time of the bhakti movement of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, or the role of iyotheethas, ghasidas, acchutanand, narayan guru in reclaiming the religion of the oppressed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, paved the way for a mass movement among dalits. thus, the conversion movement emerged as a conscious tool for dalits against the practice of the caste system and its prejudices and to reclaim their distinct religious identity separate from hinduism. however, this consciousness does not come alone; it carries a danger or threat to the existing socio-political power and caste structure of hinduism. also, this danger is not unilinear; it functions from both sides. dalits as transgressors, who are challenging the social stratification of the hindu caste system by converting to other religions, are often drawn to violence. therefore, the article argues that the prevalence of the concept of conversion as a consciously chosen path by dalits strikes controversy among hindu castes, or the flexibility with which dalits approach religion becomes one of the main causes of violence. this threat can be 170 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 observed in both overt and covert forms of violence, which i call a violation of certain constitutional rights secured for religious freedom. in order to understand the impact of dalit religious conversion and its related violence and violations, the present article extends its study to political and cultural ethnography particularly focusing on the experience of dalit converts, and how as converts they perceive new religion, its socio-political importance, belief system, and practice, and how they are perceived by the state and the immediate community i.e., rajputs in this case. anthropological concepts such as liminality and danger, which are largely used to understand symbols and cultural practices using the theory of power relations, identity, and hierarchies prevalent in existing social structures, provide a methodological approach to explore varieties of violence and violations faced by dalit converts. dalit consciousness and religious conversion to articulate the relationship between dalit consciousness and religious conversion, one needs to begin with the positioning of dalits and their historically marginalized position in hinduism. due to their outcast or untouchable position in the hindu caste system, like africans, dalits are also subjected to “overt and covert” collective sufferings (bassey, 2007). tila kumar (2021) called this collective suffering a “cumulative domination” that dalits have experienced for around two thousand years and to date continue to suffer discrimination and exclusion on various accounts, such as social, economic, and religious. hence, it is argued that this collective suffering has developed into an oppressive consciousness which is largely anchored on status deprivation by “virtue of birth,” which encompasses oppression brought on by inhumane material circumstances, helplessness, and ideological hegemony. p.k. kumar (n.d) defined consciousness as a complicated study as “it encompasses both the internal and external social world.” through consciousness, an individual or group becomes aware of their situation and experiences, hence transforms it into a reality similar to the external world in which people live and generate a collective consciousness about their shared misery and struggle.1 benny shanon (1990) writes that consciousness is a process by which a person or a community not only becomes aware of themselves, their existence, and their experiences, but it also critically shapes the life, status, orientation, and future discourse of a historically oppressed and marginalized community. p.k. kumar (n.d.) writes that in the case of dalit consciousness, it is the brahmanical ideology that defines the role of each social group in a hierarchy that dictates the dominance of some social groupings over untouchable communities. these dominant and asymmetrical power structures between dalits and non-dalits or upper castes receive their legitimacy from the religious literature and philosophical systems 1arulnathan, s. (2011, december 15–16). construction of dalit consciousness. paper presented at the international seminar on “caste out of development,” dmi house, st. thomas mount, chennai, india. consciousness not without danger: theorising violence faced by dalit converts 171 dating from the vedic period to the present day. the centrality of ascription on dalits, according to the brahminical canon, revolves around an uncivilized but well-designed language of purity and pollution. the legitimacy coming from brahmanical sources has continuously hammered the minds of dalits such that even dalits have adopted and ascribed to this untouchable identity. in this context, aloysius (1998) calls this situation a cycle of oppressors and oppressed in which dalits are locked. it requires epistemological shifts to call into question various social phenomena such as caste atrocities, discrimination, and inhuman conditions, which are still accepted as neutral and given, and start appearing as an emanation of exploitative social relations. religious conversion among dalits indicates an epistemological shift. this shift reveals the social reality of a particular identity—or multiple identities—that have long been oppressed. through this new lens of subjective consciousness, dalits begin to understand their existing socio-economic and cultural position in society. this awareness highlights the structures that keep them subjugated as a result, it fosters a strong sense of solidarity among the oppressed. (aloysius, 1998). when ambedkar led a mass conversion of dalits to buddhism in 1956, it was not merely a religious move but deeply political, rooted in ambedkar’s intellectual journey and quest for a rational and egalitarian spiritual path (zelliot, 1992; jaoul, 2018). zelliot (1992) further adds that ambedkar was drawn to buddhism for two reasons, namely, its philosophical and historical roots in challenging brahminical hinduism. through the ethnographic studies of dalit conversion to buddhism in maharashtra and uttar pradesh, jaoul (2018) explains how the religious emancipation movement among dalits created a sense of self-emancipation. it also highlights the limitations of liberal democratic frameworks that provide institutional and legal protection to dalits. however, ambedkar believed that true emancipation required a transformation of consciousness and culture, not just legal protection. therefore, religious conversion is seen as a tool or a bottom-up approach where a convert, without any external force, consciously chooses to adopt a new faith that justifies the moral and ethical grounds of humanity that they are not perceived as being a ‘hindu’. the consciousness of oppression in the line of religious conversion is seen as an urge, or a will, towards the change in social praxis (aloysius, 1998). religious conversion as a liminal process marry douglas (1966) and victor turner (1969) were two prominent anthropologists who used the concept of liminality and danger to understand unequal power structures. turner (1969) describes liminality2 as an important or revolutionary phase of life to incorporate change and reinvent a new status quo. this potential change, which turner 2to explain his point, victor turner borrowed the concept of liminality from van gennep’s work “rites of passage” in written in 19. according to gennep all the rites of passage are marked by three phases or processes: separation, margins (liminal), and, aggregation. the first phase comprises where the individual is detached from its previous social structure and cultural conditions. in the second phase the liminal period the individual is in an ambiguous position; he passes through a cultural reality that he has few or none of the attributes of the 172 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 called liminality, involves an in-between state, i.e., “betwixt and between”, reshaping the status quo. he also calls this phenomenon a “bottom-up approach” to fight against the rigid structure of society. thus, liminality involves letting go of previously held views, attitudes, and status and being prepared to reconsider and recalibrate; it means living life in a transition, in between, taking nothing for granted and recognizing oneself perpetually at a crossroads or threshold (bigger, 2015). however, it is not just a form of cultural manifestation of communitas—an unstructured community sharing a strong morality among its members when they are in the threshold process—but also as a “power of the weak”. in a more precise term, the sacred side of the low status or position which carries danger to those concerned about the maintenance of the structure (turner, 1969). moreover, this structural order is always surrounded by prescriptions, prohibitions, and conditions. while disorder has no pattern, rather it has potential for indefinite patterning that emulates both power and danger (douglas, 1966). in this context, douglas (1969) argues that binaries of purity and pollution, order and disorder, or form and formlessness, are maintained, and controlled by prescriptions, prohibitions, and conditions. since liminality represents disorder and formlessness, it is destructive and challenges the existing social structures and patterns. while referring to van gennep’s rites of passage, she pointed out that the threshold of every passage contains danger, as the person is in between, does not wholly belong to any state, and may harm the existing structured reality. thus, a transition is an undefinable state where the person is in danger and emanates danger to other definable patterns and structures. therefore, when a dalit changes his position in the given hierarchical social structure and attempts to cross the boundary that sets apart the sacred and profane or purity and pollution, the same unleashes danger from both sides. the one who breaks the authoritative structure is looked at as a transgressor, and the one who is part of the oppressive structure finds it a violation of the existing values and thereby attempts to protect it by any means, violent and non-violent. religious conversion as a transition or liminal process offers a threshold to bring change and alternation in the existing rigid structure. it aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how religious conversion functions as a space of both rupture and renewal in dalit identity formation. it functions as a bottom-up approach for dalits, where they go through a gradual process of change, carrying revolutionary spirits. so in this sense, dalit conversion does not indicate a dramatic event or a sudden and radical change of personality and faith like the traditional jacobian conversion is, rather it is a medium to mark a new beginning—a beginning of a new ‘self-conscious being’— which may or may not have arrived at its final desired destination. but, if given the right direction, they may have the capacity to create an alternate path (austin-broos, 2003). therefore, it indicates a transition capable of bringing change in structure or any life occurrences involving rituals. it is important to note that changes can have positive or negative impacts. past or the coming state. finally, in the third phase, he reinvents and reincorporates again in a relatively stable state. consciousness not without danger: theorising violence faced by dalit converts 173 as a passage, it is an evolving and continuous process embedded in forms of social practices and experiences that provide a space for negotiations and opportunities to blur the boundaries of the existing rigid and structured categories of identities. religious conversion can be examined as a gateway for reorientation and identification that helps to understand various nuances of any identity and its category that may represent fuzziness and fluidity. since the term conversion itself is a fuzzy term without any clear meaning, and a sociological method of study that can grasp all variables of a converted identity (asad, 1996; coleman, 2003). due to this, it often fails to articulate the syncretistic nature of ‘conversion’ and its political and social importance, i.e., the manner in which conversion occurs and is portrayed as a natural phenomenon of religious and cultural interactions. therefore, j.d.y. peel (1977) is very critical of using the term conversion and limiting its meaning only to a “transfer of primary religious affiliation” as there can be other motives, and those motives are far more important than a mere spiritual one. however, these non-spiritual socio-political motives of conversion deal with the idea of domination and cultural hegemony, which have long been ignored (asad, 1996). the study of religious conversion has largely been explained in terms of radical change in the lives of converts. in this article, i argue that religious conversion may not necessarily bring radical change in the belief system and practices of converts. rather, it calls into question the claim of religious conversion as the change of “primary of religious affiliations” and argues that it is a gradual process through which various changes can be brought into the existing social structure. religious conversion in india also represents a gradual and fluid process of changing affiliations of religious beliefs and traditions, offering a range of possibilities that carry various modes and motives (robinson & clarke, 2003). reflecting on these modes and motives, it is argued that religious conversion in india has two purposes: first, as a form of protest that the dalits use in their fight against the caste system, and second, as a transforming agent of political demography implied for different purposes and players (robinson & clarke, 2003). robinson in her work on religious conversion in goa in the sixteenth century argues that it was not dalits in large numbers but upper caste brahmins who converted to christianity. she further adds that both dalits and brahmins had different motives and methods; the former converted to christianity to escape the caste system and untouchability, while the latter converted to christianity to challenge the islamic rule of adil shah.3 it is also interesting to note those brahmin who converted 3robison’s (2003) writes that the socio-political situation of goa during the sixteenth century was exclusively divided into two categories: first, the village community which was based on agriculture or domestic crafts and administered by the gauncari system. gauncars, who majorly consisted of brahmans, had the administrative power to control and maintain the village and its hindu society. second, the city area was centered around trade and was mainly controlled by the adil shah dynasty (1489-1510) and its policies. furthermore, adil shah’s rulers forced the villagers to serve as domestic servants and seized communal lands from them (ibid., p. 229). due these strained relationships between muslim rulers and local hindus especially with landed gauncars brahmins, gauncars brahmins not only welcome the portuguese but were ready to convert to christianity in order to dethrone 174 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 to christianity did not change their social-cultural norms and privileges associated with their caste hierarchy (robinson & clarke, 2003). they also argued that religious conversion in india has been backed by both political regimes and used as a form of resistance starting from the emergence of buddhism and jainism in ancient times; lower caste or dalit conversion to sikhism, christianity, and islam in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and navayana buddhism in the post-independence period (robinson & clarke, 2003). torkel brekke (2003) in his study of conversion to buddhism described the process of ordinary people who joined the tradition of the buddhist religion. he argues that conversion in buddhism used to be, “a process of going through a life of a gaha patito life as wanderers”. it depicts a slow gradual process that may take several years. in his words, conversion to buddhism suggests a cross-cultural phenomenon wherein individuals who join a new religious sect belonging to different socio-religious backgrounds come to a point of faith after an ideal dramatic moment preceded by either a spiritual or socio-political crisis (brekke, 2003). for instance, the emergence and the spread of buddhism was not only a search for salvation and a true path but also a protest against the then-increasing brahmanical power between 400-350 bce (aloysius, 1998, and omvedt, 2003).4 the socio-religious hierarchy and the ritually adil shah dynasty (ibid). thus, the economically and politically divisive structure of goa gave ways to the portuguese to enter into the political domain and further made their smooth establishment. the portuguese with the help of missionaries converted the hindus of goa. they initially adopted two methods for conversion: first, they targeted orphans by offering privileges. second, they attracted adherents to converts by allocating jobs and offices. but eventually, it did not prove to be a successful measure for them as they failed to attract hindus to convert in good numbers (ibid., 303). however, when goa was lost to the portuguese in 1910 and by 1940 they enacted certain laws against the hindus, especially against the upper caste gauncars and priests who refused to convert. according to the law, those who refuse to convert will either lose their property or were forbidden to perform hindu rituals and ceremonies. for instance, there were general councils for hindu gauncars for internal matters. the new portuguese law put restrictions on the functioning of the general council unless they include hindu gauncars who had converted to christianity. due to this aggressive behavior of the portuguese, hindu gauncars protested the practice of conversion in 1583. five portuguese lost their life in this protest (ibid, 306). after the incident, the missionaries soon realized their mistakes and changed their approach by convincing gauncars that they would not lose the ritual privileges that they enjoy in the hindu caste hierarchy. to convert dalits, they were offered to enter the church and were assigned several roles on the premises of the church which was a forbidden task for them in the hindu religion (ibid). 4the middle of the first millennium bce period witnessed two contending cultural-religious traditions such as samana and brahmanic traditions. the samana cult (which is shramanik in sanksrit) is generally translated, as “ascetic”, “renouncer”, “recluse”, and “hermit”, etc which suggests that “samana were those who toiled not to produce commodities or service for survival and social development but to find the meaning of life”. they distanced themselves from the norms of social life and chose a homeless life. the brahmanic tradition, on the contrary, is derived from the vedas and grounded in the “householder” brahmanic elite which addressed “brahman” as superior status characterized by intellectual knowledge and ritual performing skills (omvedt, 2003). consciousness not without danger: theorising violence faced by dalit converts 175 legitimate varna system gave authority to control the actual power within the hands of brahmans and simultaneously limited the access to power and opinion of others or nonbrahmans (omvedt, 2003, and aloysius, 1998). it is suggested that the tribal-ganasangha category of kshtariya origin at the time of spiritual and political domination crisis may have inclined towards a religious solution by associating themselves with the new self that was opposed to a caste-like structure that gives value to hierarchies and superior statues based on birth; a principle that was, in fact, a projection of brahmanic philosophy and in its initial phase to develop (omvedt, 2003).5 religious conversion of tamilakams to buddhism during colonial times also suggests a similar kind of consciousness where dalits assert distinct socio-political and cultural identity with the intention of a homogeneous fight against caste oppression (aloysius, 1998). caste as a basis of cultural homogeneity with end-to-end encryption with the custom of endogamy is a type of prioritized domination of brahminical supremacy that not only maintains the power hierarchy but also degrades dalits and women (ambedkar, 1916). in this sense, dalit conversion to buddhism rejects the meta-narratives of the hindu religion that subsumes other native religious identities existing across indian society. therefore, it becomes essential to study conversion carefully as it manifests in multiple ways and indefinite patterns that emulate both power and resistance (omvedt, 2003 and robinson & clarck, 2003). dalit converts, liminality, danger and caste violence since conversion instigates a journey, it is seen as liminal. it provides dalit converts a space for negotiation and changes to their existing identities as untouchables and their relations with upper-caste hindus. these changes are non-spiritual as they invoke varieties of interpretation and meanings. for example, in turner’s (1969) words, one can call it the “power of the weak,” or in viswanathan’s (1998) words, they are ‘resistance’ and ‘dissent.’ while theorising the conversion as the most profound way of manifesting dissent and resistance by the minority and marginalized sections, viswanathan (1998) argues that ambedkar’s decision to embrace buddhism represents a conscious socio-political move to annihilate the existing caste identity given to dalits based on the very notion of the hierarchical structure of the hindu caste system. dalit converts, as dissenters, embody an uneasy and challenging consciousness, urging the oppressed to confront this renewed awareness of their oppression. religious conversion gives dalits a new identity that threatens the established binary of ‘purity and pollution’ deeply ingrained in the hindu caste system. so, this threat or danger, as douglas (douglas) has argued, “is not unilinear; it functions from both sides though”. 5for example, a young brahman vesetta described a brahman who is born seven births in a family and behaves nobly by birth (jati). on the contrary, the buddhist vision of society has denied biological differences between human beings and insisted on karma alone. it was one of the first challenges registered against the caste system wherein buddhism raised questions about brahman dominance and promoted not only individual renunciation and freedom, creating a vibrant, open, and commercially developing society but also social equality by opening the gates for dalits into sangha48 (omvedt, 2003 and tola & dragonetti, 2013). 176 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 as discussed earlier, there are many instances both in history and in the present times whenever dalits have tried to raise their voice against the caste system and demand equality, either by entering the temple, emulating the lifestyle of upper castes, among other instances, they have faced both overt and covert violence. several episodes demonstrate how conversions can escalate communal tensions and violence in their raw and physical forms, making religious identity a flashpoint in indian politics. from 1905 to 1947, conversion was a significant factor behind communal violence in bengal and other parts of the country (engineer, 2004). a notable example is the 1981 mass conversion of dalits to islam in meenakshipuram, tamil nadu, which provoked widespread anger among india’s hindus and triggered riots, revealing how caste and communal issues intersect in indian politics. these conversions are argued to have fueled communal violence in cities like ahmedabad, pune, and sholapur in 1982 (khan, 1989, and engineer, 2004). further, incidents of anti-christian violence in orissa, madhya pradesh, and chhattisgarh from 2006 to 2008 highlight how political and religious agendas contributed to suppress minorities (bauman, 2008, and ponniah, 2017). it is important to note that the above-discussed cases reflect the physical form of violence. they also suggest that violence was seen as a reaction of communal feeling and antagonistic relations that developed during the colonial time between the two religious communities, such as islam and christianity on the one hand and hinduism on the other hand. however, violence related to dalit conversion can be observed in covert forms where it usually appears as a violation of rights and non-recognition of dalits’ distinct religious identity. this can be observed when there is conversion from hinduism to any indic religion or religious traditions such as buddhism, sikhism, or bhakti religious sects. for instance, in the case of conversion in shabbirpur village, 180 households of dalits converted to buddhism after a deadly caste conflict with the rajputs. in this case, the nature of violence before conversion was overt in nature, as both the communities in the caste-clash had witnessed violence in physical form. if one studies the nature of violence after conversion, it is covert in nature. dalit converts in the village did not face any physical threat or violence over their decision to leave hinduism and embrace a buddhist identity. however their decision to denounce hinduism after violence and humiliation, they appear as transgressors, who defy caste hierarchies and reclaim a buddhist identity along with ravidas’ bhakti, face violation of religious rights that are guaranteed under article 25.1 of the indian constitution. dalits’ religious expression, its materiality, and contested public space dalits after conversion to buddhism continue their previous spiritual affiliation with the bhakti of ravidas,6 as they were followers of ravidas before converting to 6sant ravidas guru, a 15th century poet of bhakti movement, born into chamar caste and was known for his profession as a leather worker. he emerged as a major social reformer in regions like uttar pradesh, panjab, and their neigbouring areas and believed in the principle of sharing god across all divisions that society instituted, including the significant religious dissection. consciousness not without danger: theorising violence faced by dalit converts 177 buddhism. after conversion, they neither changed their belief in ravidas nor made a major difference in their cultural and ritual performances associated with the bhakti of ravidas. the continued religious and spiritual affiliation with the bhakti tradition of ravidas can be understood through its deep connection to both the historical experiences of oppression and the ongoing quest for dignity among marginalized communities. on one hand, this affiliation serves as a means of reconnecting with their subaltern and oppressed religious heritage, reaffirming a distinct identity rooted in resistance. on the other hand, as gail omvedt (2008) insightfully argues, ravidas’s vision of begumpura—a “city without sorrow,” representing a casteless, classless, and tax-free society grounded in equality and justice—offers a powerful social imaginary. this utopian vision has resonated with anti-caste thinkers for over five centuries, presenting a radical critique of dominant socio-religious hierarchies and proposing alternative frameworks for a just and egalitarian society. in order to make their assertion visible, dalits in shabbirpur village made a few symbolic changes concerning their previous hindu identity—they stopped worshiping and celebrating hindu idols, gods, goddesses, and festivals, they do not visit hindu temples, recite the hymns, or invite hindu priests to officiate auspicious ceremonies. instead, they have developed their own semiotics and religious texts such as ‘ravidas chalisa’ around the bhakti of ravidas. images, symbols and teachings of ravidas, ambedkar, and buddha are not just common and visible sites in their houses, but their teachings are reflected in their everyday conversation. for instance, during interviews and group discussions, a number of dalits did not just consciously refrain from using certain words; they were very critical about their usage. they questioned the word puja-paath and argued that true worship requires complete understanding, rejecting traditional puja-paath as a practice imposed by manuvaad, instead advocated to embrace ravidas, ambedkar, and buddha’s teachings based on rational thinking and equality. jagpal singh (1998), in his work on dalit communities in meerut and western uttar pradesh, has also highlighted how ambedkar’s images, teachings, and buddhist symbols were embraced by the community, leading to a reconfiguration of their social identities and a collective resistance against caste oppression. the egalitarian social philosophy of ravidas provides a strong base for dalit consciousness in the village, which comes from the rich historical dalit assertion in northern india, especially in punjab and uttar pradesh. many ravidas shrines and temples, which are also called deras, were constructed to assert their separate religious identity. ram ronki (2004) also mentioned that several organizations came into existence such as “india adi dharam mission” which constructed “shri guru ravidass janam asthan mandir (temple of shri guru ravidas’s birthplace)” at seer goverdhanpur, banaras. although the presence of this temple comes in the domain of reclaiming religious space and rituals, it marks the significance of dalits in the silent “social revolution” in banaras. it has acquired perhaps a place of sacred importance ravidas’s firm perception of equality made him a revolutionary social leader among his followers, or more specifically, among dalits (hawley and juergensmeyer, 1988). 178 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 among dalits—where millions of devotees from india pay homage to ravidas—much like any pilgrimage place of dominant religions. manuela ciotti (2010) in her ethnographic research in rural banaras highlights the importance of material culture in this identity transformation, wherein various objects, attire, and symbols through which the community expresses its new identity and asserts its presence in the socio-political landscape. although she has not explicitly discussed religious conversion, she opens with the idea of “retro-modernity”, where the chamar community reclaims a glorious, imagined past to legitimize its modern aspirations and illustrates how economic liberalization and affirmative action have altered the material conditions and symbolic and traditional boundaries of caste practices. for instance, ciotti refers to the phrase, “ now we can touch anything,” that reflects the embodied experience of caste mobility. consumer goods and public space, school and education, factors that challengedegrading caste roles, are becoming new markers of dalit identity as educated citizens and spiritual equals. ravidas julus and state surveillance religious processions have historically played a significant role in people’s religious, social, and political lives. they act as visible public religious activities that integrate religious and secular elements by providing communities with means to celebrate their faith through various semiotics and symbols in front of a large and diverse public. it also offers spaces for marginalised groups to assert and reinforce their values and distinct religious identity. however, these kinds of public expressions often lead to tensions and conflicts between different social and religious groups. ravidas julus, on the occasion of ravidas jayanti is a popular religious procession among dalits and has been serving as an important medium to express their religiosity in secular public spaces. such julus are common sights to observe in western uttar pradesh, where i conducted my fieldwork for my ph.d. it was swami achhutanand who first introduced the ravidas julus in kanpur in the early twentieth century, marking a grand celebration with ward committees decorating the jhanki (moving stage) featuring images and portraits of sant ravidas (bellwinkel, 2007). sarah beth (2005) explores three critical stages of the julus starting from the spatial or temporal stage, the confrontational stage, to the civic stage, and argues how the challenges that each successive stage presents describe the socio-political process where dalits interact with the larger society dominated by upper castes. it is a journey of dalit socio-political claims that are navigated through dalit localities, which enter upper-caste neighborhoods, and finally negotiate with government authorities. it represents a sense of belonging and solidarity among dalits, which passes through various tensions and conflicts due to retaliation and resistance by upper castes, and lastly, it confronts civic engagements like obtaining permissions, dealing with stateimposed restrictions, etc. therefore, these julus act as a strategy of popular assertion consciousness not without danger: theorising violence faced by dalit converts 179 for dalits to reclaim public spaces while allowing them to engage in religious and material practices that challenge upper-caste dominance in the public sphere (jaoul, 2007). for instance, the emergence of a dalit neighbourhood in kanpur, uttar pradesh, where dalit youths transformed a site of hindu-muslim violence into a bastion of dalit political activism through the bunyad movement including organizing public events, installing monuments, and staging disciplined performances to assert dalit presence and authority in the neighborhood rooted in the philosophy of ambedkar (jaoul, 2012). in order to claim their rights in public spaces, dalits in shabbirpur village celebrate ravidas jayanti and organize ravidas julus. as mentioned earlier, these processions are not just a celebration of faith, they also represent a symbolic assertion of dalits living in those areas. however, after the deadly caste-clash, they could not organize such a religious procession and found their religious rights had been restricted in the name of security and surveillance. during the fieldwork, it was informed that for the last 24 years, dalits of shabbirpur peacefully organised the procession without facing any opposition from rajputs or local authorities. before the violent incident that took place on may 5, 2017, between the rajput and dalit communities in shabbirpur village, ravidas julus in the village used to be an elaborate procession featuring chariots carrying images of dalit leaders like ravidas, ambedkar, achhutanand, kanshi ram, and gautam buddha. dalit women, men, and children would actively participate in the procession. during the julus, children and youth dress up as ravidas and perform plays depicting the life of their guru. they would dance, sing bhajans, and chant slogans like “ravidas ki jai” and “babasaheb ambedkar ki jai” with pride and joy. the situation drastically changed after the caste clash in 2017. dalits argued that attitudes of the rajput community toward ravidas became hostile, and government biases against the dalits’ celebration of jayanti became more evident. for example, the traditional route of the julus, which once used to start at the ravidas temple and traversed the entire village—passing through all neighborhoods, including those of dalits, valmikis, kashyaps, rajputs, and brahmins—is now limited to dalit and muslim neighborhoods with only a few rajput households included. moreover, they need permission for the procession from the office of the additional district magistrate (adm) in rampur maniharan, saharanpur. the permission letter states that this new route is not permanent but has been intentionally designated to ensure security and safety within the village. the newly imposed guidelines also included bans on loud music, provocative slogans, etc. but for dalits, it is an attempt to restrict their religious expression and assertion that they will not accept. mahalveer singh, a local activist who also provided relevant documents regarding the government guidelines, expressed safety concerns over the new route. he allegedly argued that it passes through those neighborhoods of rajputs who were involved in the 2017 violence. 180 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 the modified route of ravidas julus (old-new) source: the map is drawn with the help of mahalveer singh therefore, dalits refrained from organizing the julus that year and filed a special leave petition (slp) in the supreme court. dalits also claimed that the modified route violated constitutional provisions on several grounds such as article 25 (freedom of religion), article 26 (management of religious affairs), and article 38(1) (state responsibility for social justice) of the indian constitution. one of the respondents, prateek said: consciousness not without danger: theorising violence faced by dalit converts 181 “we cannot accept this newly proposed route as a replacement for our traditional ones. we will not allow the government’s conspiracy to succeed and incite casteclashes and riots in the village since the new route passes through those rajputs who were involved in the clash.” he also added that due to this dalits of shabbirpur celebrated ravidas jayanti without the julus in 2019 and sought legal recourse through the allahabad high court. however, they were dissatisfied with the judgment of the allahabad high court and appealed to the supreme court in 2020 through the case “dr. b.r. ambedkar samaj kalyan samity & anr versus the state of uttar pradesh & ors.” the supreme court, upon hearing the counsel, made the following order: “since the date on which the procession was to be taken out, namely, 8 february 2020, has already elapsed, the grievance has been rendered infructuous. on this ground, we are not inclined to entertain the special leave petition under article 136 of the constitution. the special leave is dismissed.” “however, we clarify that should the petitioners be aggrieved at any future date, it would be open to them to pursue such remedies as are available in law.” the supreme court dismissed the petition on procedural grounds. the court stated that since the procession date had already passed, the grievance was rendered infructuous. however, the court allowed the petitioners to seek legal remedies in the future if similar issues arise again. as a result, dalits were compelled to follow the newly altered route for the jayanti procession. moreover, on the day of the jayanti, a significant contingent of police forces was deployed to ensure safety and security. for dalits, the police presence in significant numbers created an intimidating atmosphere, and due to this, they could not celebrate the jayanti the way they wished to. however, this kind of surveillance is not a new phenomenon. in intensified conflict situations, it is dalits who often face state surveillance, restrictions, and institutional bias. while ostensibly upholding democratic rights, state authorities often view these gatherings with suspicion, leading to surveillance, restrictions, or even suppression (jodhka, 2013, and lee, 2021). owen lynch, in his book politics of untouchability in 1969, discusses the state’s response to the then-emerging dalit neighborhoods like bhim nagar in agra and its shifting allegiance from hindu nationalist parties to dalit-centric movements. he argues that this shift in local power ended up facing state surveillance, which reflects the broader challenges faced by marginalized communities striving for political recognition and rights. in the case of shabbirpur, one can observe how a historically peaceful event, after the 2017 caste clash and subsequent government-imposed restrictions, was transformed into a contested space. on the one hand, they had to approach the court, as they were not able to organize a julus on jayanti as was done for 24 years until 2017. moreover, after the caste182 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 1 clash, they were asked by the additional district magistrate (adm) of saharanpur to change the traditional routes of the julus and restrict it within the household of dalits and muslims. in response to a change in the traditional routes of the julus, dalit converts from shabbirpur approached both the high court and later the supreme court of india, where the case continues to be listed. since then, they have faced difficulties, and could not organize a single julus to celebrate the jayanti to date. they end up compromising their religious freedom, which article 25.1 of the indian constitution pledges to its religious minorities, and hence they view these restrictions as a systematic attempt to marginalise their cultural and religious identity, reinforcing the caste-based discrimination that persists in indian society. on the other hand, rajputs do not observe dalit conversion as a threat. in conversation with rajputs, with whom dalits clashed with in the village, it was discovered that: (a) they (rajputs) still view them as lower caste or untouchables, (b) they do not view hinduism and buddhism as two different religions, (c) they do acknowledge the position of ravidas in a dalits’s life; however, for them, ravidas and his followers are nothing but lower caste hindus. hence, they do not recognize the claim of the dalit converts whether it is the bhakti of ravidas or buddhism, as a distinct religious identity separate from hinduism. conclusion violence related to dalit conversion is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. it can be understood in different ways depending on the religious as well as socio-political dynamics of the situation of the converts. the identity of the convert, his sociopolitical position, and in which one is converting, whether indic or non-indic religion, not just reveals the relationship between violence and conversion but also the nature of violence. in a more precise term, what kind of violence a dalit convert will face depends on the religion he chooses to convert to. in the case of dalit conversions to non-indic religions, violence tends to be overt, raw, and physical, often driven by a fear of losing cultural and social control within the hindu fold. in contrast, conversions to indic religions, which theoretically reject the caste system, face more covert 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(2016). polemical transfers: iberian muslim polemics and their impact in northern europe in the seventeenth century. in g. arenal (ed.), after conversion: iberia and the emergence of modernity (pp. 229–249). brill. zelliot, e. (1992). from untouchable to dalit: essays on the ambedkar movement. manohar publishers. © 2025 ratan sarkar, santhosh j. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. book review doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2625 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 488-491 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste caste and emancipatory quest: ethnography of dalits in an urban neighborhood author: rama devi publisher: palgrave macmillan year: 2025 reviewers: ratan sarkar1, santhosh j.2 rama devi’s caste and emancipatory quest: ethnography of dalits in an urban neighborhood (springer, 2025) is a deeply engaged ethnographic exploration of how caste, despite predictions of its decline under urban modernity, continues to structure everyday life, aspirations, and politics in india’s metropolitan contexts. based in ashanagar, a pseudonymous neighborhood in delhi, the book presents an ambitious attempt to examine the interplay between caste, neoliberal urban transformations, and dalit struggles for emancipation. it achieves this through a combination of fine-grained ethnographic detail, critical theoretical engagement, and a reflective commitment to ambedkarite thought. the book opens with a careful reconsideration of b.r. ambedkar’s prescient observations about urban as a site of potential liberation but also enduring caste oppression. ambedkar envisaged the city as a space where caste hierarchies would weaken, yet he remained skeptical about their full disappearance. rama devi captures this paradox well, noting ambedkar’s remark that untouchability would not vanish “within an imaginable distance of time” (p. 2). this sets the stage for her central argument: that while neoliberal urbanism reconfigures opportunities, aspirations, and exclusions, caste continues to persist in both subtle and overt ways. the book thereby 1assistant professor, tezpur university (a central university), assam, india 2assistant professor, assam don bosco university, assam, india e-mail: 1ratan91@tezu.ernet.in, 2santhosh86.jnu@gmail.com caste and emancipatory quest: ethnography of dalits in an urban neighborhood 489 challenges modernization theory’s assumption that caste is a “traditional” institution bound to vanish in urban contexts (pp. 5–7). a major strength of the book lies in its dismantling of the spatial binary between “caste-ridden rural” and “casteless urban.” the author draws on contemporary critiques of western-centric urban theory, particularly jennifer robinson’s call for “ordinary cities,” to argue that indian cities must be understood in terms of their own complex trajectories rather than as derivatives of euro-american modernity (p. 6). in ashanagar, caste is not erased but adapted—present through patterns of civility, housing segregation, and neighborhood relations. chapter two vividly demonstrates how dalits negotiate what the author calls the “paradox of absent presence,” where caste is simultaneously denied and enacted in everyday interactions (pp. 54–57). civility allows different caste groups to coexist, but underlying notions of purity and pollution shape boundaries of intimacy and trust. marriage emerges as another site where caste reproduces itself with remarkable tenacity. chapter three shows how the principle of endogamy continues to dictate social legitimacy. love marriages, especially inter-caste unions, are resisted or reluctantly tolerated under conditions of necessity, revealing how honor and shame remain gendered and caste-inflected (pp. 87–95). here the ethnography resonates with earlier scholarship on caste and marriage, but the book’s contribution lies in demonstrating how even urban, educated dalit youth often remain ensnared in negotiations between modern aspirations and caste-based constraints. chapters four and five are particularly significant for situating caste within the neoliberal educational and occupational order. the author captures the “mahaul” (atmosphere) of constrained educational aspirations, where dalit students, despite ambitions for upward mobility, are often steered toward “easy subjects,” distance learning, or vocational diplomas due to structural barriers (pp. 120–129). dreams of professional careers are frequently abandoned because of financial compulsions or systemic exclusion. similarly, in the labor market, dalit youth encounter precarious employment, short-term contracts, and the stigmatization of their caste identity (pp. 173–185) while neoliberal discourse emphasizes meritocracy and individual responsibility, rama devi shows how caste invisibly shapes life chances—an insight supported by the economic analyses of thorat and attwell (2007) and thorat and newman (2010), and deshpande (2011) on caste-based discrimination in urban labour markets, and by jodhka and newman’s (2007) and jodhka’s (2015) sociological studies on the continuing salience of caste identities in urban india. the later chapters expand into the terrain of politics and representation. chapter six offers a valuable account of dalit political engagement in delhi, tracing reserved constituencies, electoral alliances, and the fragmentation of dalit politics (pp. 212– 218). rather than romanticizing dalit unity, the author highlights the contradictions of co-option and factionalism. chapter seven explores youth politics, showing how young dalits navigate between aspirations for “casteless” citizenship and the pull of caste-based organizations (pp. 230–240). ambedkar’s iconisation appears here 490 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 as a double-edged phenomenon: while his figure inspires mobilization, it is also appropriated in diluted, non-transformative ways (pp. 251–254). the book’s conclusion (pp. 263–269) reflects on the “mirage of castelessness,” arguing that despite urban modernity and globalization, caste hierarchies are not dissolved but rearticulated in new forms. the author proposes the notion of “dalit cosmopolitanism” as a framework to think about how dalits creatively negotiate exclusion, assert dignity, and reimagine urban belonging. this is one of the book’s most original contributions: it refuses both the pessimism of caste’s eternal reproduction and the naïveté of casteless modernity, instead emphasizing the incomplete, contested, and aspirational character of dalit struggles. methodologically, the book exemplifies the strengths of ethnography: thick descriptions of neighborhood life, dialogues with participants, and sensitive reflections on positionality. the long-term field engagement (since 2015) allows the author to capture both continuity and change in dalit experiences. the reflexivity in acknowledging pseudonyms, ethical concerns, and the influence of earlier collaborative projects (author’s note, p. ix) adds credibility to the research. while the ethnography’s focus on dalit lives powerfully illuminates the micro-worlds of caste and precarity, future research could build upon this foundation by introducing a more systematic comparative lens. examining interactions or contrasts with other caste groups in ashanagar or similar localities could help sharpen our understanding of relational hierarchies and intersectional dynamics within urban spaces. such extensions would not address a shortcoming of the present work, but rather expand its scope—complementing the emic depth of this ethnography with etic perspectives that further situate dalit experiences within wider urban and social frameworks. similarly, while the ethnographic design justifiably privileges qualitative immersion over quantitative breadth, future studies could consider integrating larger datasets or macro-level policy analyses to trace the structural underpinnings of the experiences so vividly portrayed here. incorporating labour market or educational statistics would strengthen the dialogue between micro-level narratives and macro-level inequalities, offering a more layered understanding of urban marginality. moreover, as the book incisively critiques neoliberalism (pp. 18–19), subsequent research might extend these insights through engagement with global debates on precarity, informal economies, and the politics of urban exclusion in the global south. framed thus, these suggestions emerge not as critiques of the book’s method, but as productive pathways for future comparative and interdisciplinary work that could further consolidate its analytical and theoretical contributions. despite these limitations, the book makes a substantial contribution to multiple debates. it extends the scholarship of dalit studies into urban ethnography, complementing works like deshpande’s contemporary india: a sociological view (2003) and jodhka and naudet’s the oxford handbook of caste (2023). it also engages with broader discussions on urban inequality, resonating with loïc wacquant’s work on advanced marginality, while highlighting the specificity of caste in shaping exclusions. most importantly, it embodies, as gopal guru (2002) powerfully argues, that there is caste and emancipatory quest: ethnography of dalits in an urban neighborhood 491 a pressing need to foreground the “dalit voice” in knowledge production—treating dalit perspectives as epistemic interventions rather than mere data points (see also guru and sarukkai, 2012). for pedagogy, the book is well-suited for courses on caste, urban sociology, and south asian politics, as it bridges theoretical debates with lived realities. for policy, it underscores the urgent need to recognize caste not as a rural residue but as an active determinant of urban inequality. urban planning, labor policies, and educational reforms must address caste-based exclusion if the promise of inclusive urbanization is to be realized. for future research, the idea of dalit cosmopolitanism opens fertile ground for comparative studies with other marginalized groups globally, inviting reflections on how identities adapt, resist, and reconstitute in neoliberal urban spaces. in conclusion, caste and emancipatory quest is a timely, reflective, and scientifically rigorous ethnography that dismantles the myth of urban castelessness. it shows how dalits in delhi navigate between exclusion and aspiration, stigma and dignity, precarity and hope. its strength lies in illuminating the everyday negotiations of emancipation, reminding us that the quest for equality is not a completed project but an ongoing struggle. while the book has limitations in scope and comparative reach, it stands as a significant contribution to caste studies, urban sociology, and the wider quest for social justice in india and beyond. references deshpande, ashwini. (2011). the grammar of caste: economic discrimination in contemporary india. new delhi: oxford university press. deshpande, s. (2003). contemporary india: a sociological view. penguin. guru, gopal and sarukkai, sundar. (2012). the cracked mirror: an indian debate on experience and theory. new delhi: oxford university press. guru, gopal. (2002). how egalitarian are the social sciences in india? economic and political weekly, 37(50), 5003–5009. jodhka, surinder s. and jules, naudet (eds.) (2023). the oxford handbook of caste. new delhi: oxford university press. jodhka, surinder s. (2015). caste in contemporary india. new delhi: routledge. jodhka, surinder s. and newman, katherine s. (2007). in the name of globalisation: meritocracy, productivity and the hidden language of caste. economic and political weekly, 42(41), 4125–4132. thorat, sukhadeo and attewell, paul. (2007). the legacy of social exclusion: a correspondence study of job discrimination in india. economic and political weekly, 42(41), 4141–4145. thorat, sukhadeo and newman, katherine s. (eds.) (2010). blocked by caste: economic discrimination in modern india. new delhi: oxford university press. © 2025 rahul sambaraju. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. general research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2579 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 390-413 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste ‘i’m an upper caste myself ’: caste identities in negotiating casteism rahul sambaraju1 abstract caste is the single most important determinant of life outcomes in india (pathania et al., 2023; teltumbde, 2022; yengde, 2019). caste is pervasive—in our homes, friendships, places of worship, love and marriage, clothing, language, food, and more. caste as a ‘system’ of oppression is, at its core, a means of organizing social groups and memberships. social psychologists have examined inter-caste attitudes and possible reasons for discrimination (jogdand et al., 2016; prasad et al., 2020; sharma & jogdand, 2024) sidanius, bhardwaj, and kumar’s (2014). what has been less examined is what it means for persons to engage with caste and casteism. in this article, i examine how individuals construct specific caste identities for themselves in addressing casteism. using discursive psychology, i examined interviews with 20 students who were protesting the death of rohit vemula. findings show that interviewees negotiated their positions on casteism through softening their attachment to caste identities. interviewee accounts developed their own and others’ caste identities in ways that grounded these in contexts of higher education to downgrade or upgrade claims about prevalent casteism. keywords caste, casteism, social comparison, caste identity, discursive psychology, india, higher education. introduction it is wholly unsurprising that education is a core site for the production and enactment of oppressive caste practices. the historical ideas of the caste system treat brahmins as tied to learning and knowledge, ‘lower’ caste groups as tied to labor, and those outside the caste system (dalits) as tied to menial labor. for the latter sets of groups, education and learning are considered unbefitting (pathania & tierney, 2018; sabharwal & malish, 2017). this, of course, manifests in the composition of the 1lecturer in psychology, city university london, uk e-mail: leo.sambaraju@gmail.com ‘i’m an upper caste myself ’: caste identities in negotiating casteism 391 university population: at higher-tier iits and the iisc, 98 per cent of professors and more than 90 per cent of assistant or associate professors are from privileged/’upper’ castes (paliwal, 2023). this contrasts with many indians who identify themselves as ‘lower’ castes (center, 2021). historically, anti-caste activists and leaders had championed education— savitribai phule, for instance, was one of the first persons to start schools for dalits and oppressed caste group members. dr. ambedkar similarly emphasized the role of education in enabling dalits to achieve what they wish for. for researchers, such consequences of caste (bros, 2014; chauhan, 2008; pal, 2015, 2020) mean that reservation in education and employment is necessary. the aim here is to provide quotas for various caste, religious, and tribal groups that were socially marginalized for centuries. as a program of social justice, reservations have largely been successful (basu, 2021; borooah et al., 2007; weisskopf, 2004). despite this, several studies point to pervasive discrimination in educational settings. various studies, including those by patwardhan and palshikar (1992), neelakandan and patil (2012), rao (2013), singh (2013), ovichegan (2015), and official committee reports, shed light on the experiences of dalit students in indian higher education. reports such as the anveshi law committee report (2002) at the hyderabad central university, the thorat committee report (2016), and the mungekar committee report (gatade, 2012) at vardhman mahavir medical college (vmmc) have concluded that caste-based discrimination is institutionalized. subramanian (2015) highlights how discourses of caste and merit have interacted to produce new and more ‘acceptable’ forms of caste subjectivities in premier engineering colleges (cf. deshpande 2013). in an ethnographic study on inter-caste relations in an elite university in delhi, pathania and tierney (2018) examine interview accounts of students from upper and lower-caste groups. their findings show that upper caste students avowed favorable positions towards dalits and other caste members while shirking away from endorsing reservation (cf. anant, 1978). for instance, natrajan (2012) argues that caste groups have claimed the language of ‘culture’, allowing casteism to continue as a preference. in other words, prejudice is increasingly directed not at the ‘other by blood’ but ‘other by culture’. researchers have pointed out how the fact of making use of reservations is routinely the reason for targeting dalits and other lower caste group members. individuals who benefit from reservations or quotas are often negatively labelled as ‘reservation wale’ or ‘quota wale’ (thorat, 2006). reservation beneficiaries may also be referred to as ‘schaddu’ or ‘sarkar ke damad’ (sons-in-law of the government) in a derogatory manner to diminish their achievements and emphasize that what they receive is viewed as ‘charity and not parity’ (guru & sarukkai, 2019). kumar (2016) highlights instances at delhi university where dalit girls are subjected to humiliation with questions like, ‘have you come through the reservation, or have you come from the brothel?’ the term ‘reserved category’ is used to denigrate, while those in the ‘general category’ are widely accepted and often perceive themselves as superior. essentially, dalits endure 392 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 a dual stigma—both for their caste identity and as beneficiaries of state provisions through affirmative action (sukumar, 2023). for most dalit students, the classroom is a problematic space. thorat (2006) argues that treating dalits as deficient and undeserving of education results in feelings of insecurity and develops an inferiority complex. sharma and subramanyam (2020) argue that caste minority students facing discrimination often deal with emotional stress, fear of failure, academic disinterest, and low self-esteem. this discrimination distracts them from their studies, resulting in poor academic performance. jogdand (2017, 2024) argues that the indian classroom is often a site of humiliation for dalit students. jogdand identifies ‘caste blindness’ as a set of strategies that seek to isolate and marginalize dalit students in the class. dalit identity is marked by oppression and stigma, constantly brought up in classrooms to cause further humiliation. as komanapalli and rao (2020) argue, such experiences contribute to further stress and problematic mental health outcomes. across these studies and findings, a common concern is about caste identities and their consequences for attitudes and perspectives on members in other caste groups, a focus that is central to social psychology. background: the social psychology of caste recent social psychological studies on caste have highlighted two interrelated concerns: first, the vast neglect of caste as a topic of study in social psychology, and second, that this has resulted in neglect of an extremely interesting means of conceptualizing intergroup relations and prejudice. however, what is missing is examining the uniqueness of caste as a means of identification. in that, scholars have largely treated caste as similar to race, gender, or other ways in which identification might be done. jogdand (2024) has argued that the social psychology of caste is missing an integrated focus and is plagued by euro-american understandings. some of the earlier work reflects this focus. early work on casteism and attitudes across caste groups used survey methods. rath and sircar’s (1960) work argued that ‘upper’ caste persons were more progressive and wanted change than those categorized as ‘lower caste.’ other work of this time, however, was different. sinha and sinha (1967) showed that attitudes towards caste groups were shaped by broader stereotypes of caste. anant (1970) shows that reported attitudes by ‘caste hindus’ towards dalits and ‘harijans’ followed legal guidelines on disallowing untouchability or restriction to temples and so on. however, reported attitudes were far more conservative when it came to more private aspects of life, such as friendship and marriage. more contemporary work on caste and casteism has similarly employed techniques of social surveys and experiments. sahgal et al (2021), for instance, find that while individuals identify with caste groups, they do not report witnessing much discrimination, although offering a preference for same-caste marriages. sharma and jogdand (2024), for instance, have shown that those who might glorify their caste identities will endorse caste prejudice. in other work, jogdand has shown the limitations ‘i’m an upper caste myself ’: caste identities in negotiating casteism 393 of using constructs from euro-american contexts to examine casteism without close attention to how caste is embedded in specific contexts (also see hoff & pandey, 2006). for instance, khan et al (2016) have argued that the foundational variables used to explain racial and gender prejudice by the social dominance orientation model are insufficient to examine casteism. social psychologists have examined the role of the oppressor caste groups and members in the prevalence of casteism (pal, 2023; pathania et al, 2023; sophan & nair, 2023). scholars, however, have pointed to the absence of social psychological research that examines caste in terms of people’s understandings and identifications (fatima et al., 2024). pal (2015) similarly argues that researchers should focus on the ‘everydayness of caste’. fatima et al critique extant research on caste given their distance from real-life contexts. a notable concern voiced by fatima et al is the adoption of the four varna system by researchers instead of attending to the fluid ways in which caste identification is accomplished and negotiated. to an extent, qualitative examination of caste and casteism has addressed this concern. mukherjee et al (2023), for instance, document the various accounts of experiencing casteism and resistance. pathania et al (2023) similarly offer a qualitative examination of university students and faculty from diverse caste groups in india with an explicit focus on experiences of stigma, discrimination, and opportunities for resistance. their findings show that experiences of discrimination and humiliation in contexts, like higher education, where the expectation is that of fair and equal treatment, deepen the humiliation. for the authors, this aspect of casteism in higher education can lead to severe mental health issues, at times resulting in self-harm. research has also shown the internalization of caste discrimination and problematic ‘lower status’ (bros, 2014). for researchers, this speaks to the ‘power’ and influence of the caste system that allocates and imposes oppressor and oppressed caste identities onto individuals, leading to problematic outcomes for those who see themselves as ‘oppressed’ (thapa et al., 2021). in some social contexts, ‘lower’ caste members come to accept and reproduce social representations of their caste (jodhka, 2004; also see jogdand, 2024). for instance, acts of subordination, such as maintaining social distance and appearing passive, are noted for members of the oppressed caste groups (judge & ball, 2008). these findings raise interesting questions about the possible distinctions between ‘caste’ as a system of societal organization and oppression and caste as a source of identity. kumar (2022) argues that caste identities are fluid, especially in response to government policies, such as those on reservations, which classifications have continued since the british colonial rule over south asia. the construction and negotiation of caste identities take place in relation to caste hierarchies imposed by the government. while this reconfiguration is easier for caste groups that are toward the top of caste hierarchies, it is hard for those who are towards the bottom (cf. sambaraju & sinha, 2024). vaid (2014) similarly argues that considering caste identities as fluid is crucial in getting a grip on contemporary manifestations of caste. it is this aspect 394 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 of identities and consequent relations with and between groups that is the focus of discursive psychologists. identity and exclusion: a discursive perspective discursive psychologists exclusively focus on discourse to examine discourse for how persons construct various versions of agents, groups, actions, and entities and their use in situated interactions to accomplish social action (mckinlay & mcvittie, 2008; potter, 1996, 2021). the primary focus is then to examine what it is that persons are doing in and with talk (or text). such a focus on identities and exclusion has meant that discursive psychologists study how persons might construct their own or others’ identities in asserting, minimizing, justifying, and/or challenging exclusion. much work in this fashion has explored identities and exclusion in areas of gender (stokoe, 2010) and uses conversation analysis to shed light on the location and design of, and responses to, suspects? category-based denials? that they are not ?the kind of men who hit women?. two sections of analysis identify how, first, such denials routinely follow police officers? direct questions about violent behaviour, and, second, how they become embedded in extended narratives that are not directly describing violence. in contrast to other discourse-analytic studies of men?s accounts of violence towards women, the article unpacks the component features that comprise what others might label grossly as the ?discourse of gendered violence?. rather than see how such ?discourses? operate in interview contexts, it shows how suspects construct, in a high-stakes setting for a particular purpose, different categories of men, claiming membership in one (who do not hit women, race (sambaraju, 2022), migration (gibson & hamilton, 2011), and refuge-seeking (goodman & burke, 2011). however, barely any work has taken up a discursive focus to examine the construction of caste identities, caste group memberships, and their relevance for casteism (sambaraju & singh, 2024). below, i offer a brief outline of what this form of scholarship can offer to an understanding of identities and exclusion. discursive research has shown that while identities are central to much of our social life, these are hardly straightforward matters (mckinlay & mcvittie, 2011). in an early work on sub-culture groups, widdicombe and wooffitt (1995) show that interviewees were reluctant to readily claim identities of being ‘punk’ or members of a ‘sub-culture’. instead, they sought to present themselves as regular persons. merino and tileagă (2011) show that mapuche ethnic group members in chile might resist a ready ascription of mapuche identities to manage the moral implications of belonging to a marginalized ethnic minority position. in other contexts, ethnic identities are shown to be constructed in contrast to the majority identities to seek a sense of distinctiveness (sala et al., 2010). constructions of ‘who we are’ are then bound to broader social projects but are variously constructed in ways that are salient to ongoing interactional concerns. for instance, sambaraju (2020) shows how women who were disclosing traumatic experiences of sexual harassment during the #metoo movement in india were made to account for their reports in the context of the movement. women could ‘i’m an upper caste myself ’: caste identities in negotiating casteism 395 then flexibly draw upon their gendered identity in negotiating the genuineness of their experiences and reports. constructions of identities are used to affect and negotiate social exclusion. stokoe (2010) shows how constructions of gendered identities were used to counter the implications of misogyny. figgou and condor (2007) show how constructions of greeks as distinct from muslims allowed for legitimating the exclusion of turkish migrants. these and other findings show that in accomplishing and justifying exclusion, ‘prejudiced identities’ become salient and are negotiated (wetherell & potter, 1992)and looks at the ways in which some recent developments in literary theory, post-structuralism, semiotics and cultural studies might be applied to the social psychological study of racist practices; while part ii tries to exemplify our conclusions through our case-study of racist discourse in new zealand. in focusing in this book primarily on discourse—on meanings, conversations, narratives, explanations, accounts and anecdotes—we do not want to suggest that the study of racism should be equated with the study of certain streams of talk and writing. . . . our emphasis will be on the ways in which a society gives voice to racism and how forms of discourse institute, solidify, change, create and reproduce social formations. (psycinfo database record (c. billig (1988) has shown that a routine feature of prejudiced talk is the management of irrationality through denials of being prejudiced. augoustinos and every (2007) and goodman (2014) have documented the various ways that the discourse of prejudice and exclusion, while seeming to be rational and liberal. other work has shown that social identities are constructed and used in ways to perform anti-racism. sambaraju (2022) shows that constructions of national identification as irish persons are used in responses to migrant-others’ complaints about exclusion, to effect inclusion and anti-racism. in these ways, discursive psychologists point to the centrality of identities for our social lives across various aspects. it is this that gives the focus for the present study, where the aim is to examine how caste-related identities are constructed and treated as salient for negotiating caste-based exclusion. i do so in the context of a protest in opposition to casteist practices in higher education in india, galvanized by the murder-suicide of a doctoral student, rohith vemula. present study rohith vemula, a dalit research scholar at the university of hyderabad in india, died by suicide on january 17, 2016. his death triggered widespread protests and discussions about caste-based discrimination in educational institutions. rohith was identified as a dalit, and his suicide note and subsequent statements from his family and friends suggested that he faced discrimination based on his caste. he wrote about feeling socially ostracized and spoke about the societal inequalities that dalits face. rohith vemula’s death had a lasting impact on discussions about caste discrimination in educational institutions. it became a symbol of the larger issues of caste discrimination and social inequality in india, leading to increased awareness and activism surrounding these issues within academic and societal contexts. in this context, the present study 396 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 aimed to examine how individual caste identities were salient and used to make sense of wider societal issues of caste-based oppression and discrimination, particularly in higher education contexts in india. the study then wanted to know how caste-based identities become salient in negotiating casteism. method i conducted an interview study with members who were part of the protest in the aftermath of the death of rohit vemula on a south india central university campus. data and participants the data for this study are from an interview study about student protests against castebased discrimination in a south indian university in january 2016. the interviews were conducted at the site of the protest with student-protestors in a context where caste was an expected topic of various interactions. i conducted 12 research interviews with student protestors (f=8; m=12). 15 of these were with a single interviewee, and 5 of these had more than one interviewee present at the time of the interview. in these latter, the interviews resembled a focus group insofar as interviewees were discussing points of interest guided by me as the interviewer. i approached the interviewees as co-members in the protests. a combination of snowball and convenience sampling approaches was taken: interviewees were asked if their friends and acquaintances would participate in the interview. at times, co-present persons became interested in the interviews and approached me directly. the interviewees were students, student activists, and 1 faculty member. they were diverse in their regional origin and apparent socio-economic backgrounds. the interviews ranged from 15 minutes to just over an hour in length and were captured on a recording device. they were conducted in english, telugu, and hindi-urdu, and often, flexibly traversing these languages. topics ranged from their views about the contemporary prevalence of caste, its various manifestations, and possible means of addressing the caste system. reflexivity i am a brahmin by birth. although i’m not a practicing hindu, my social situation as that of a brahmin is salient, given my family’s position and wider social organization in india and beyond. my caste privilege has allowed me immense socio-cultural and economic capital. i have had a longstanding interest in understanding and attempting to eradicate caste-based social order in india and its diaspora. the death of rohit vemula was a significant moment as it brought to light the prevalence of caste in an elite educational institution. i wanted to understand how it is that those in the university, in the first instance, make sense of caste and casteism. in conducting the interviews, i was conscious not to seek out and make connections between one’s caste identity and their responses. none of the researchers were asked about their caste identities ‘i’m an upper caste myself ’: caste identities in negotiating casteism 397 or affiliations; these were made relevant in 15 of these interviews. at the same time, my identity as a brahmin male was never explicitly stated. however, my position as a possible ‘upper’ caste member is extremely likely to be relevant in these interactions and conversations about caste will proceed along this identity gradient. coding the interviews covered a range of topics related to caste, casteism, and protests. interviews resembled discussions that were guided by the interview schedule (see appendix i). for this study, i focused on those instances where interview identities were salient in articulating their positions on caste and casteism. interviews were coded for specific practices such as identity construction and negotiation, descriptions and accounts of discrimination, and denials of casteism. these were guided by the specific interview questions. these instances were transcribed in line with the jeffersonian transcription system (see appendix ii) (jefferson, 1991; poland, 2020) to enable a fine-grained discursive analysis. the study received ethical approval from the relevant university body’s research ethics committee. analytical procedure the data were analyzed using discursive psychology (mckinlay & mcvittie, 2008; potter & edwards, 2001), which focused on analyzing interview interactions as constructing specific versions of the caste system and speaker identities in ways that accomplished specific social actions in the context of these interviews (mckinlay & mcvittie, 2011). potter and hepburn (2005) argue that interview data are saturated by social science categories and understandings. this, however, can be used to examine how some of these categories are understood by participants themselves (sacks, 1995). in the present case, then, interview data were examined for how caste was oriented to as implicating interview identities. the analysis focused on the construction, ascription, and negotiation of specific caste identities for the interviewer and interviewees, and the social actions accomplished in the context of these interviews (mckinlay & mcvittie, 2011). alongside this, the analysis considered the potential concerns interviewees might have in talking about casteism as a form of prejudice (augoustinos & every, 2007; goodman, 2014). the analysis then closely attended to issues of managing possibly prejudiced talk (sambaraju & mcvittie, 2021). in so doing, the analysis examines discursive practices by which identities are implicated and subsequently negotiated in talk about caste and casteism. analysis the findings are organized into three sections: outside of ‘caste’, explaining casteism, and comparing outcomes to indicate casteism. across these three sections, a central concern is with how caste-related identities are treated as salient for negotiating 398 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 positions on caste, articulating casteism in education, and, interestingly, ostensible challenges to caste and casteism. outside of ‘caste’ in the extracts below, the interviewees treat the awareness of caste as a matter of concern. initially, in extracts 1 and 2, interviewees present themselves as having realized about casteism only recently. in both cases, the interviewees offer some information about themselves in ways to indicate the out-of-the-ordinary nature of rohit vemula’s death and related casteism. interviewees make their upbringings and social backgrounds salient to indicate that their lives are outside the caste system. instead, interviewees develop accounts of their identities that moderate their relationship to their claims about caste and its persistence. extract 1 comes from an interview with a female student, and extract 2 is from an interview with another female student. the two extracts are presented together to highlight how interviewees treat their identities as relevant in articulating their positions on caste. both extracts are at the beginning of the interview recording. 1 – realizing casteism 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ir ie ir ie ir ie so:: what are your eh thoughts on caste 1.0 uh eeh till i came to this university i never really believe that caste is an issue in this country yea in my place people don’t differentiate on the basis of caste (()) whwhich er which is s your place kerala 2–‘not’ having to think about caste 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ir ie ir ie ir so:: eh what are your thoughts on caste (.8) honestly up until now i hadn’t had much thought about it because i’m a i’m an upper middle class girl (()) never had to think about it and i’m a christian so:: hmm for me: it was something that i always read in my textbook i never had to think about (.) caste up until now hmmh ‘i’m an upper caste myself ’: caste identities in negotiating casteism 399 in both extracts, the interviewer starts with a similar question, although it varies in its delivery. the question is noteworthy since, in attempting to initiate a discussion on ‘caste’, it carries implications for the interviewee (potter & hepburn, 2013; sambaraju & minescu, 2019). these could be around potentially having some form of opinion or view about castes, the caste system, and casteism, especially given that these are pervasive concerns in the indian context. the responses are similar in both cases insofar as the interviewees offer something about themselves as implicating their relatively limited awareness of caste and casteism. further, these are similar in treating ongoing issues of casteism on the campus and the protest as salient in their becoming aware of casteism. in extract 1, the interviewee directly associates their presence in the university with their awareness of the scale of the caste problem in india. this is supported by differentiating her presence in the university from another place that she had been before: ‘in my place’ (line 5). this latter place is described in relatively favorable terms, suggesting the absence of casteism: ‘people don’t differentiate on the basis of caste’. her belonging to this place—place identity (dixon & durrheim, 2004)—is treated as a reason for her novelty in encountering caste and its problematic manifestations. this, of course, is notable and, in many ways, contrasts with the proximal events in the university and widespread casteism across much of india. it is this that the interviewer takes up at line 6: ‘which is your place’. the response – ‘kerala’ – is treated as sufficient, and the interview proceeds further. in extract 2, the interviewee starts with an ‘honesty-phrase’ (edwards & fasulo, 2006)we examine parenthetical uses of honesty phrases (hps, which mitigates possible undermining of her position. the position she takes is noteworthy for indicating an absence of engagement with caste, which might indicate a range of possible inferences about her, such as that she is immune to problematic outcomes of caste or is perhaps unaware of matters about indian society. her subsequent account then mitigates such inferences through claims about herself. first, she claims for herself a classbased identity: ‘i’m an upper middle class girl’ (lines 2-3). this identity is treated as implicating a distance from caste-consciousness or awareness: ‘never had to think about’ caste (sambaraju & singh, 2024). the use of the extreme case formulation1 (pomerantz, 1986) (‘never’) indicates that immunity from caste concerns is related to her class identity. second, she claims for herself a religious identity–‘i’m a christian’– which again is treated as distancing herself from considering caste. this latter connection is given at line 5, where caste concerns are constructed as esoteric matters that were only distantly relevant. all this, however, is contrasted with current goingson where concerns of caste are primary: ‘up until now’. in doing so, the interviewee treats concerns over caste as not so distant as they were earlier and presents herself 1extreme case formulations are discursive devices that formulate the extreme-ness of an event, action, or entity to address issues of accountability. the emphasis on the scale of what is being described treat it as routine and normal in ways that removes the need for an explanation (pomerantz, 1986). 400 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 as engaging with caste and casteism. in response, the interviewer allows for the production of the subsequent account without explicitly asking for further information. two points are noteworthy: first, interviewees’ avowals of caste-awareness are about the problematic aspects of caste and caste identities, instead of caste pride or glory. second, interviewees’ accounts indicate a distance from such problematic aspects of caste: they do not present themselves as in any way the perpetrators or targets of casteism. together, their claims served as implicit reasons why their lives were removed from the atrocities of caste. in both cases, the interviewees treat ‘caste’ and caste group membership as something that is external and is only received as information at some point in their lives, in that it is not immediately, readily, or naturally an aspect of one’s life. specifically, caste and related casteism are offered as problematic features that have only now become apparent. this relates to what jogdand (2017) has identified as ‘caste-blindness’. in doing so, interviewees treated themselves as possibly accountable for casteism. explaining casteism in the two extracts in this section, interviewees offer explanations of casteism. in extract 3, the interviewee treats the state or a broader society as a source of ‘caste labels’ and identities, which then result in continued oppression. in contrast, the interviewee in extract 4 nominates the use of reservations as the reason offered for discrimination, while treating this as inexplicable. in both cases, the interviewees are concerned with treating social status as derived from caste as bound to casteism. extract 3 below comes from an interview with a male student. 3– ‘caste’ identity as the problem 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie caste meedha mee abhiprayam enti what are your views on casate caste ante:: na tenth class varaku teelidu saar naaku caste ane caste means for me until tenth standard i did not know caste only daani indians ki mostly k-valaa caste entanedi teliidu to indians mostly their caste they don’t know hmm kevalam governmentuu unna paristhi thulu maatrame phalana vyakthini only government and surrounding circumstances that this particular person phalana caste ani cheppi is of this particular caste they say r: hmmm antanni anaga tokkuthunnai and oppressing them hmm kevalam danni valla maatrame ee voo ee caste naada anduvalla nenu:: ila only for this reasons this is my caste so i have to be undala ila undaala ani cheppi vallaku vallu classifications icheesukuntunarru like this like that they themselves give classifications to themselves hm ade caste ana padam vaadiki teliyaka pote but then the term caste if he (dimunitive) didn’t know hmm-mm ataniki teliyaka pote he did not know hmm antanu free ga andharilo samanatva svechayanadige aavanni he will freely be others on equal terms with freedom and all that fulfill avuthaai kada will be fulfilled right ‘i’m an upper caste myself ’: caste identities in negotiating casteism 401 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie caste meedha mee abhiprayam enti what are your views on casate caste ante:: na tenth class varaku teelidu saar naaku caste ane caste means for me until tenth standard i did not know caste only daani indians ki mostly k-valaa caste entanedi teliidu to indians mostly their caste they don’t know hmm kevalam governmentuu unna paristhi thulu maatrame phalana vyakthini only government and surrounding circumstances that this particular person phalana caste ani cheppi is of this particular caste they say r: hmmm antanni anaga tokkuthunnai and oppressing them hmm kevalam danni valla maatrame ee voo ee caste naada anduvalla nenu:: ila only for this reasons this is my caste so i have to be undala ila undaala ani cheppi vallaku vallu classifications icheesukuntunarru like this like that they themselves give classifications to themselves hm ade caste ana padam vaadiki teliyaka pote but then the term caste if he (dimunitive) didn’t know hmm-mm ataniki teliyaka pote he did not know hmm antanu free ga andharilo samanatva svechayanadige aavanni he will freely be others on equal terms with freedom and all that fulfill avuthaai kada will be fulfilled right the generic opening question at line 1 is being asked in the context of a protest against casteism. it is then unlikely that the response is going to wholly endorse caste, caste hierarchies, or casteist practices. above, however, the interviewee constructs the concept of ‘caste’ in ways to treat it as accountable for further oppression. as such, it is a hard account to deliver (potter, 1996). the interviewee, at lines 2-3, constructs caste identities as not naturally familiar. this is done in two ways: one is to claim their awareness of caste as arriving much later in life—‘10th standard’—by which time individuals are routinely 15-16 years of age. this late awareness of caste is not treated as unusual or in need of further account by the interviewer, indicating a known-in-common aspect of caste identification for the present interaction. this much is similar to accounts given in extracts 1 and 2, where interviewees similarly indicated an unawareness of caste. here, however, this is used to call for the removal of caste names and identities from public awareness. the second is to make a generalized claim about ‘most indians,’ asserting that they are unaware of their caste, developing consensus (potter, 1996). together, these points suggest a possible imposition of caste and caste identities in the indian context. at line 5, the ‘government’ and unspecified ‘surrounding circumstances’ are nominated as those that impose caste identities on individuals. in doing so, the interviewee is developing an account that treats caste identification as external to the individual instead of an identity that is willingly chosen or is ‘natural’ to the individual (pal, 2023). more specifically, the interviewee constructs the interrelations between caste identity and casteism as arising from the actions of external sources like the government. 402 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 this much is in common with research that treats oppressed caste identities and casteism as being internalized by those in ‘lower’ caste groups (bros, 2014; jodhka, 2004; jogdand, 2024). these outcomes are broadly treated as ‘oppression’ (line 8), which comprises constraints on how to behave (lines 10-11). the interviewee treats the imposition of caste identities as meaning that individuals now act in line with the expected norms of caste groups. a possible inference here is that protests such as the one that was going on in the background can be seen as merely arising from one’s caste identity instead of legitimate actions for justice. however, this is not explicitly spelled out by the interviewee. the interviewee’s quasi-anthropological account treats the prevalence of caste names and classifications as reasons for distinct forms of actions and oppression. it is in this frame that the interviewee suggests the removal of the term/concept of ‘caste’ as a means of addressing oppression and exclusion. at lines 15-18, they offer outcomes of the absence of caste names in highly favorable terms: ‘freely be with others on equal terms,’ ‘with freedom,’ and ‘all that.’ this three-part listing (jefferson, 1990) of ostensibly highly favorable outcomes is notable for collectively giving inferences about the absence of oppression and exclusion. the interviewee then treats identification with caste groups as implicating specific actions, behaviors, and expectations, which can lead to problems, instead of what is widely acknowledged as the reason, namely, societal oppression based on caste. instead, these were constructed as ways of identification that are achieved, which could be used to call for abandoning caste labels. in extract 4, the interviewee’s description of casteism in education brings up the salience of the possibility for members in specific caste groups to make use of reservations provided by the state. extract 4 comes from an interview with a male student interviewee. the discussion below comes after a discussion on the role of caste in daily life. 4–reservations as reasons for hate 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ir ie ir ie ir ie ir education lo ee prakaram etlanti:: role play chestadi caste in education what type of role does caste play oka chaduvllonnalla kante education system lo chaala those without education it is within education system that there is an extreme ghoram aina paristhiti undi ippudu present (.) adi:: explain kuda cheyalemu horrible situation at present (.) this cannot even be explained right prati vishayam lo in every facet ah reservation osthundani prati reservation osthundi ani chepi prathi okkariki that we have reservation every that we have reservation everyone kullu professorslaki students ki prathi varganiki ;: adi kullo kopamo has envy professors students every section either its envy or hate dveshamo maakaithe telvadu gaani (.) nenu neenaithe bear cheyyaleka or disgust we don’t know but (.) i i cannot bear it anymore pothunna ikkada situation ()) ga bear cheeyaleka pothunna situation here ((unclear)) cannot bear it anymore right ‘i’m an upper caste myself ’: caste identities in negotiating casteism 403 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ir ie ir ie ir ie ir education lo ee prakaram etlanti:: role play chestadi caste in education what type of role does caste play oka chaduvllonnalla kante education system lo chaala those without education it is within education system that there is an extreme ghoram aina paristhiti undi ippudu present (.) adi:: explain kuda cheyalemu horrible situation at present (.) this cannot even be explained right prati vishayam lo in every facet ah reservation osthundani prati reservation osthundi ani chepi prathi okkariki that we have reservation every that we have reservation everyone kullu professorslaki students ki prathi varganiki ;: adi kullo kopamo has envy professors students every section either its envy or hate dveshamo maakaithe telvadu gaani (.) nenu neenaithe bear cheyyaleka or disgust we don’t know but (.) i i cannot bear it anymore pothunna ikkada situation ()) ga bear cheeyaleka pothunna situation here ((unclear)) cannot bear it anymore right the interviewer’s question is on the relevance of caste in ‘education,’ given that protests are taking place at a university regarding caste-based discrimination in higher education. the response setup is an account of such matters. in response, the interviewee frames the goings-on ‘within the education system’ as much worse than outside the education system. this is developed through describing casteism in higher education as ‘extreme’ and ‘horrible,’ alongside avowing an inability to fully articulate the horribleness of casteism in education (cf. jogdand, 2017; mukherjee et al., 2024). the extreme case formulation (pomerantz, 1986)—‘every facet’—treats it as routine and evident that caste pervades the education system. researchers have argued that the expectation that education settings are expected to be ‘fair’ and ‘equitable’ compounds experiences of casteism (pathania et al., 2024). the reason for this is given in terms of who the targets of discrimination are: ‘those who have reservation.’ for the interactants and more widely, it is available that reservations are for those who identify as backward or other forms of marginalized caste groups (bros, 2014; chauhan, 2008; pal, 2015, 2020). the availing of reservations is then a means to address some of the structural and historical injustices (basu, 2021; borooah et al., 2007; weisskopf, 2004). at lines 7-9, the interviewee constructs availing reservation as the reason for a range of university-relevant actors to engage in problematic actions and views towards those who make use of reservations. these actors are described in a three-part list format (jefferson, 1990): ‘professors,’ ‘students,’ and ‘every section.’ the last item in the list works as a list completer, which here works to treat it as routine that those who make use of reservations are targeted. the role of these actors is relevant as it connects casteism in education settings with the specific form of identity being offered, namely that of those who can access reservations. this description makes it salient that the issue is that of merit. similarly, the form of targeting is given in the form of a three-part list: ‘envy,’ ‘hate,’ or ‘disgust.’ these together indicate an extremely problematic disposition towards those who make use of reservations. juxtaposed to this is the avowal that the reasons for this are not known. in doing so, the interviewee constructs making use of reservations as inexplicably the target of discrimination (guru & sarukkai, 2019; 404 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 mukherjee et al., 2024; thorat, 2006). what is conveyed, however, is the extremeness of casteism that the interviewee personally experiences as given by a shift from a broader ‘we’ to a more personal ‘i’. possible reasons that might involve the actions, behaviors, or features related to biological aspects are avoided in place of the more societal organization of caste in indian society (kumar, 2016; pathania & tierney, 2018). in that, the interviewee treats these other possible reasons as unrelated to casteism in higher education settings over that of reservations. comparison of caste groups to indicate casteism in the two extracts below, interviewees are concerned with articulating how casteism manifests in education settings. these were selected for analysis because here the interviewees make salient their own caste identities and caste group membership as central to describing casteism in higher education. in other interviews, interviewees similarly highlighted the role of preferential treatment to non-dalits. in the extract below, an explication of casteism is given in terms of contrasting issues for those who are dalit and those who are not. the extract below comes from an interview with a female student interviewee. the interaction comes after discussions on the role of caste in daily life. 5–casteism as access 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie what what do you think of how caste is involved in higher education caste is involved in many levels like right one example which i can give is like uhh when i uh i studi i studied my ma and mphil here in this university and now i do my phd in iit bombay so:: hmmh uh one thing i have always observed in both these departments is that uh when when lower caste students joined when dalit students join here hmmh th uh they take it takes time for them to get a supervisor find a supervisor right right so:: the system here is like you have to go to go and talk to the supervisor and if the supervisor is interested in your topic then they will give the consent that hm to supervise you but sometimes what happens is like upper caste people i'm an upper caste myself >i have to say that< so: um we get uh supervisors easily hmm in response to the question, the interviewee gives an example of how caste is involved in education settings. noteworthy here is that this account is given as a first-person account arising from the interviewees’ access to information either from ‘i’m an upper caste myself ’: caste identities in negotiating casteism 405 experience or otherwise (cf. sambaraju, 2025). this is offered after the assertion that ‘caste is involved in many levels’ (line 2), and so the example is designed to support this assertion. the example starts with a description of their proximity and access to information about the university where the instance of casteism is situated: ‘when i uh i studi i studied my ma and mphil here in this university’ (lines 3-4). these descriptions involve claims that indicate proximity to goings-on at the university (sambaraju & minescu, 2019). however, it is not merely their educational status or experience that is implicated in their oncoming description of casteism (cf. sambaraju, 2025). instead, the interviewee develops the salience of caste group membership in describing casteism. based on such entitlement to access relevant happenings, the interviewee describes issues for ‘dalit’ and ‘lower caste’ students in finding a supervisor for their academic work: ‘when dalit students join here’. while this in and of itself might not be problematic, it is the comparison with another category of students—‘upper caste’—that the interviewee treats as a problem (widdicombe & wooffitt, 1999). the descriptions of the problem involve other categories like ‘supervisor’ and the implicated ‘student’ in the context of higher education. such use makes salient normative expectations of rights and entitlements that operate across members in these categories, such as giving supervision so long as the topic of study is of interest (sacks, 1992; jayyusi, 1984). specifically, at lines 12-15, the interviewee describes routine ways of accessing a supervisor. ascribed to these categories are expected activities, such as when ‘students’ approach a supervisor and ‘if the supervisor is interested’ they accept the student. potential difficulties in finding a supervisor can then be ascribed to a lack of fit between the proposed project and the supervisor’s interests or some issues with the student, such as their calibre, or so on. it is here that the interviewee’s avowals of being an ‘upper caste’ person and assertions about the relative ease with which other students from similar caste groups gain access to supervisors is given. moreover, the interviewee is careful to locate these instances in the present university: ‘when dalit students join here’ (line 8). this aligns with their claims about closeness to this institution, across courses and departments, and so is sufficient in describing casteism. despite this, the interviewee expressly categorizes herself as an ‘upper caste’ person in a notable manner: ‘i have to say that’ (line 14). this identity avowal is noteworthy because it comes in a position where she is describing the relative ease of accessing supervisors. in doing so, the interviewee introduces the alternative categorization of caste as a means of making clear that the reason for the relative ease of access is because of caste group membership and not other possibilities. the interviewee’s avowal of their identity indicates casteism. pal (2023) has argued that a focus on social comparisons, such as ‘downward comparisons’ made by ‘upper’ caste members, might be of benefit in examining caste and casteism. above, we see that such comparisons are made to demonstrate the forms of discrimination in higher education. in extract 6, two sets of comparisons are made to point to casteism and then to indicate possibilities for challenge. extract 6 comes from an interview with a male 406 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 student interviewee. the discussion below comes after a discussion on the role of caste in daily life. this interview involved 3 male students as interviewees. the focus here is again on reservations, and caste-based reservations are uniquely targeted for discrimination. 6–casteism and merit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie ir ie yes yes (.) what do you think about uh the role of caste in higher education as he said uh broadly i would agree with that point uh okay the moment if i i perform badly in the exam they'll say teekh hai aapne teekh se padhai nai kiya padhai karlo okay you maybe did not study well enough right try your level best ya but suppose they know that i am from the backward caste or dalit group or st who has somehow got reservation ah they immediately attach me with that uh idea oh ye tho reservation se aaye hai he is here because of reservations right right i mean i also want to ask them do you do that when you army reservation candidate in response to the interviewer’s question about caste in higher education, the interviewee treats their response as broadly in agreement with an earlier response from another interviewee. this, however, is expanded at lines 4-10 through a description of a hypothetical but routine instance of casteist discrimination in education. this involves drawing a comparison between how the interviewee, as not a ‘lower’ caste person, is treated with how a ‘dalit’ person might be treated in case of a bad performance on an ‘exam’. in his case, the interviewee ascribes a position to teachers regarding a bad performance, which position exculpates the interviewee: ‘maybe you did not study well enough’ (lines 4-5). this position does not treat it as a dispositional feature of the interviewee that their exam performance was not up to the mark. in that, their non-dalit status is treated as a reason for attributing to them generic abilities in achievement. this is contrasted with a response given to a student from ‘backward caste or dalit group or st’ background, all of which are considered as ‘lower’ castes or groups and are accorded reservations. the use of these three caste groups is bound with the feature of having access to reservations. in this situation, the response given is that the teacher attributes their bad performance to their availing reservation, inferring that the student is perhaps not meritorious enough (tierney & pathania, 2018). these descriptions are ‘i’m an upper caste myself ’: caste identities in negotiating casteism 407 given to infer that the treatment is different based on whether the student is someone who has availed reservations and is perhaps not meritorious, and those who are (guru & sarukkai, 2019). the interviewee, however, offers another instance of reservations, given for those whose parents had served in the indian armed forces, as possibly involving similar forms of adjustments for ‘merit’. this is done in ways to indicate that those who avail this type of reservation are perhaps not treated as less meritorious in contrast to those who come from caste groups. in doing so, the interviewee indicates that caste groups who avail of reservations are unique targets for discrimination in distinction to other groups that are also given reservations. this allows for inferring that discrimination based on reservation is more about caste status than merely availing reservations or supposed ‘merit’. this is accomplished through bringing up their own caste identity as relative to those who are discriminated against. in the extracts above, then, casteism is constructed as that which is structural or happening through relative dis-preference for those who are dalits, instead of instances where dalit and other oppressed caste group students are direct targets of casteism. in these ways, interviewees treated caste, caste group membership, and casteism as forms of societal organization in the context of higher education. discussion social psychological examination of caste identities and casteism, as jogdand (2024) has argued, is growing but perhaps with less of a consistent trajectory. this article has taken a discursive psychological approach to examine caste identities and casteism in a specific context: interviews at a site of protest about the death of rohit vemula due to casteist harassment. in this context, then the issue of casteism is highly salient and interviewees’ talk is likely to take place in this regard (waghmore, 2017). the above analysis shows that for the interviewees and interviewers alike, caste as a source of identification with a caste group along a societal hierarchy is a resource in negotiating caste identification and casteism. the findings speak to the social psychological literature on caste and broader connections between identity, group membership, and prejudice (sharma & jogdand, 2024; mukherjee et al., 2024; pathania et al., 2023). the findings show that there are unique benefits to examining talk about caste or ‘caste-talk’. in distinction to research inspired by traditional social psychological theories like that done by sharma and jogdand (2024) or proposed by pal (2024), the effort here has been to examine caste and caste identities in terms of individuals’ descriptions and experiences (fatima et al., 2024). in line with the core tenets of discursive psychology (potter, 2021), constructions of caste identities and the negotiation of membership in caste groups were examined for how these were developed and used. caste identities were occasioned: these were constructed, claimed, softened, and negotiated in specific instances in the service of specific actions. of specific interest here is the salience of caste identities in ways to 408 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 negotiate interviewees’ positions vis-à-vis casteism. interviewees constructed caste as a means of deriving their and others’ identities while managing their relation to casteism. the first two extracts are instances where the interviewees offered accounts that treated themselves as distant from casteism and identification based on caste. this managed their accountability for casteism on their campus —they were not aware of caste hierarchies and so could not notice casteism. in extracts 3 and 4, interviewees attributed casteism to an acceptance of caste labels (cf. jodhka, 2004; thapa et al., 2021) or making use of state-accorded reservations (sukumar, 2023; thorat, 2006). in both cases, caste identities were derived from aspects external to the individual. notably, however, the acceptance of caste labels was identified as a problem in arguing for the eradication of caste labels and not caste hierarchies. in extracts 5 and 6, casteism was an explicit topic. in both cases, interviewees presented themselves as ‘upper’ caste persons who are not direct targets of casteism. however, their identities were again constructed and offered in ways to describe how casteism unfolds in higher education, even though they were not direct targets of casteism. notably, these did not involve ascribing attitudes or problematic dispositions to those perpetrating casteism. much research in social psychology on racial and anti-migrant prejudice has shown the pervasive denials of prejudice and discrimination (augoustinos & every, 2007; goodman, 2014; sambaraju & mcvittie, 2021). relatedly, there are difficulties targets face in reporting prejudice (essed, 1991; sambaraju, 2022, 2025). present findings then relate to these insofar as the articulation of casteism involved constructing specific forms of caste identities, which related to inferences about merit. previous research has shown how affirmative actions for aboriginal peoples of australia were rejected for disturbing meritocracy (augoustinos et al., 2005). across these accounts of casteism (extracts 4-6), it is reservations that are used as a means of categorizing caste groups, as meritorious or not. this last set of findings resonates with much research that identifies how reservations are routinely offered as reasons for casteism (guru & sarukkai, 2019; thorat, 2006; sukumar, 2023). overall, a notable aspect of the construction of caste identities is their societal valence. for interviewees, caste identities are external, unfamiliar, imposed, or bound to state policies of reservation. these versions, of course, are neither completely accurate nor fully inaccurate. instead, these are constructed in the context of these interviews to accomplish specific interactional tasks, such as managing accountability for casteism, explaining casteism so that the fault is with making salient caste identities, or demonstrating that casteism in higher education is bound to unique aspects of education, like finding a supervisor and assessment outcomes. caste groups and their membership are treated not merely as inner psychological constructs or feelings of belonging, but as a means to make salient and negotiate one’s social relations with institutions, social structures, and other social groups (jogdand, 2024). it is through these relations that privilege for those in the ‘upper’ caste and discrimination against those in the ‘lower’ caste groups or dalits is affirmed, negotiated, and possibilities for challenge articulated (cf. pal, 2024; pathania et al., 2023). ‘i’m an upper caste myself ’: caste identities in negotiating casteism 409 the very social nature of caste hierarchies was then treated as a resource and constraint in locating oneself vis-à-vis caste. all of this suggests that for the interlocutors here, accounting for casteism meant addressing and making explicit that caste identities and group membership are socially accomplished outcomes. in line with the arguments of pathania et al (2023), i have demonstrated that caste identities, especially for dalits, are constructed along soci(et)al dimensions, such as one’s class, religious, and geographical position, or state-related policies, in ways that inform their negotiations about their positions on casteism. in the context of a protest against the caste-related death of rohit vemula, likely, responses and those who were willing to participate in the interview will give accounts that do not perhaps privilege their ‘upper’ caste identities. this carries two implications: first, despite the possible constraint of the protest and a research interview, interviewees could and did oppose reservations and rejected caste consciousness as the problem instead of casteism. second, is that articulations of caste group membership, caste identities, and casteism are necessarily always context-bound. this again will take place in respect of the more immediate context of the research interview and the proximal context of the protest. of course, this does not mean that caste or casteism is limited to specific settings or interactions. in contrast, specific manifestations of caste and casteism are salient for specific contexts. these findings raise interesting implications for studying caste identities. first, this aligns with the more recent calls to examine the ‘everydayness’ of caste and caste identities, which might reveal the fluidity of caste identification and possibilities for anti-caste activism (fatima et al., 2024). what it perhaps surprisingly shows is that caste identities are relational, generated in relation to other identities and the focus of interaction. second, the findings show that caste identities can be a resource to demonstrate and explicate casteism. third, in distinction to work on casteism in higher education (pathania, 2016; sukumar, 2023), the findings here show that the recognizability of casteism is informed by caste identities that individuals can claim and negotiate. future work can further this engagement with understanding caste in its varied manifestations. limitations and conclusions the study was an interview study grounded in a specific context, namely, protests in the aftermath of the death of rohith vemula. as such, it focused more on broader topics around caste and not particularly on how individuals might perceive castebased violence (pal, 2016), experiences of caste-based discrimination (jogdand, 2017; sharma and subramanyam, 2020), or opposition to reservation policies (thorat, 2006). further, as interviews conducted by an upper-middle-class brahmin interviewer, these are bound to be specific to those constraints. nevertheless, the emic focus of the analysis means that the findings are limited to the orientations of participants in the situated setting in which they find themselves. it is from within this context that the present findings are to be considered. 410 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 to conclude, the article examines how individuals themselves claim, ascribe, or negotiate caste identities. the examination shows that caste identities are claimed in ways to proffer, describe, and negotiate how caste is pervasive in our lives and the possibilities for challenging it. instead of promoting or suppressing caste identities, the research here shows how the pervasiveness of caste is bound to its capacities to allow us to derive a sense of who we and others are. appendix i – interview schedule 1) what are your thoughts on caste in india? (caste meedha mee abhiprayam enti?) 2) what do you think of caste in everyday life? (rooju jeevithamlo caste meedha mee abhipraayam enti?) 3) and, in higher education? (mari education leka campuses lo?) 4) what are your thoughts on protests? (protests meedha mee abhiprayam enti?) 5) do you think protests might address these issues? (mee prakaram protests valla ee vishayalu emaina marocha?) 6) what are your thoughts on political agents and their actions to address this? (politicians inka valla panula paina mee abhiprayam enti?) 7) in your opinion, what is the role of the government in addressing caste issues? (mee prakaram, prabhutvam emi cheyochu ee vishayam lo?) 8) would you say this is irrespective of any political party in power? (mee prakaram, prabhutvam lo ee party unna vishayalu elane untaya?) 9) what are your thoughts on student actions and activities on caste-related issues? (caste vishayala meeda vidyarthulu cheese panula meeda mee abhiprayam enti?) 10) do you think student-led actions are useful? (mee prakaram vidyarthulu cheese panula valla emanna avoccha?) 11) in your opinion, what other actors and their actions would be relevant? (mee prakaram, vidyarthulu kaakunda inkee veere vaari actions kuuda ikkada varthisthaayi?) 12) is there anything else you would like to add? (meeru inkemaana cheppa dalchukunnara?) ‘i’m an upper caste myself ’: caste identities in negotiating casteism 411 appendix ii jeffersonian notation symbol name use [text] brackets indicates the start and end points of overlapping speech. = equal sign indicates the break and subsequent continuation of a single interrupted utterance. (# of seconds) timed pause a number in parentheses indicates the time, in seconds, of a pause in speech. (.) micropause a brief pause, usually less than 0.2 seconds. . or ↓ period or down arrow indicates falling pitch. ? or ↑ question mark or up arrow indicates rising pitch. , comma indicates a temporary rise or fall in intonation. hyphen indicates an abrupt halt or interruption in utterance. >text< greater than / less than symbols indicates that the enclosed speech was delivered more rapidly than usual for the speaker. <text> less than / greater than symbols indicates that the enclosed speech was delivered more slowly than usual for the speaker. ° degree symbol indicates whisper or reduced volume speech. all caps capitalized text indicates shouted or increased volume speech. underline underlined text indicates the speaker is emphasizing or stressing the speech. ::: colon(s) indicates prolongation of an utterance. (hhh) audible exhalation ? or (.hhh) high dot audible inhalation ( text ) parentheses speech which is unclear or in doubt in the transcript. (( italic text )) double parentheses annotation of non-verbal activity. jeffersonian transcription notation is described in jefferson, g. (2004). glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. in g.h. lerner (ed.). conversation analysis: studies from the first generation (pp. 13-31). amsterdam: john benjamins. references augoustinos, m., & every, d. (2007). the language of “race” and prejudice: a discourse of denial, reason, and liberal-practical politics. journal of language and social psychology, 26(2), 123–141. 412 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 billig, m. (1988). the notion of ‘prejudice’: some rhetorical and ideological aspects. textinterdisciplinary journal for the study of discourse, 8(1–2), 91–110. edwards, d., & fasulo, a. (2006). “to be honest”: sequential uses of honesty phrases in talkin-interaction. research on language and social interaction, 39(4), 343–376. https://doi. org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi3904_1 figgou, l., & condor, s. 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(2010). ‘i’m not gonna hit a lady’: conversation analysis, membership categorization and men’s denials of violence towards women. discourse & society, 21(1), 59–82. https:// doi.org/10.1177/0957926509345072 teltumbde, a. (2022). understanding caste. contemporary readings in marxism: a critical introduction. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=5xh9eaaaqbaj&oi =fnd&pg=pt288&dq=teltumbde+caste&ots=13_qdvqhrz&sig=0zdl2bxeuk9n cdam79y-wa7q4zu wetherell, m., & potter, j. (1992). mapping the language of racism: discourse and the legitimation of exploitation (pp. ix, 246). columbia university press. widdicombe, s., & wooffitt, r. (1995). the language of youth subcultures: social identity in action. (no title). https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1130282269952040832 yengde, s. (2019). caste matters. penguin, random house. https://www.penguin.co.in/book/ caste-matters/ © 2025 bahirathy jeeweshwara räsänan. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2639 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 236-256 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste perspectives on caste and militant tamil nationalism in sri lanka: the ltte and resistance against vellalah hegemony bahirathy jeeweshwara räsänan1 abstract by analyzing the intersection of caste and militant tamil nationalism in sri lanka, this article considers whether the liberation tigers of tamil eelam (ltte) was a transformative force that disrupted the caste order, including the hegemony of the vellalah caste. tamil political leadership in the early twentieth century was dominated by vellalah elites who carefully upheld caste privileges. the emergence of the ltte in the late 1970s, led largely by non-vellalah militants, disrupted this order and asserted a revolutionary tamil identity transcending caste. drawing on vellalah-centered ethnographic fieldwork and testimonies, as well as media accounts and ltte documents, the study scrutinizes how caste was both repressed and reconstituted within the militant nationalist project. the findings of this study suggest that the ltte pursued radical measures to dismantle caste hierarchies via outlawing discrimination, imposing egalitarian discipline, valorizing martyrdom, and encouraging inter-caste marriage. these interventions were perceived by vellalahs as having destabilized their hegemony and enabled wider social and political participation of intermediate and depressed castes. yet caste has persisted subtly through private practices, silent discourses and enduring social divisions. the study maintains that while the ltte’s actions destabilized tamil caste structures, they failed in permanently altering the underlying logic of the caste system, leaving a legacy marked by both disruption and the resilience of caste. keywords caste, sri lankan tamil, militant nationalism, ltte, vellalah hegemony, depressed castes/marginalized castes 1lecturer in sociology, department of sociology, university of jaffna, sri lanka e-mail: bahirathyj@univ.jfn.ac.lk perspectives on caste and militant tamil nationalism in sri lanka 237 introduction in tamil nationalist discourse, caste has often been silenced by elites who regard its discussion as divisive, if not altogether treacherous (cheran, 2001; thiranagama, 2011; jeyaraj, 2015; fuglerud, 2024).1 southern2 and western3 scholars, on the other hand, have emphasized its intersection with nationalism,4 unsettling tamil elites who fear this interpretation weakens an imagined unity. both these positions, however, overlook the lived and shifting dynamics of caste within tamil society. this article attempts to nuance these arguments by examining perspectives regarding how and why the ltte—predominantly led by members of intermediate, non-dominant castes5 and whose ranks were disproportionally filled by depressed castes6—officially rejected caste, while at the same time mobilizing it for their own purposes. it sheds light on the interplay between ltte-led militant nationalism and tamil caste dynamics by focusing on vellalah interpretations of the movement’s efforts to overturn caste, and how this project was perceived to be a deliberate deconstruction of longstanding vellalah hegemony.7 by focusing on vellalah interpretations of this phenomenon, the work draws attention to an understudied dynamic within tamil nationalist debates: resistance to the hegemonic position of the vellalah. in doing so, the article treats caste as both a silenced contradiction and a structural force. the nearly three-decade-long civil war between the government of sri lanka and the ltte lasted from 1983 to 2009. while the early years of the conflict involved more than one tamil nationalist group, the ltte largely consolidated its dominance 1elites are defined here either as national elites who hold political power or local elites (roberts, 1974: 550) with cultural, social, and caste-based influence positioning their own identity as the prescriptive model of nationhood. see michael roberts, “problems of social stratification and the demarcation of national and local elites in british ceylon,” the journal of asian studies 33, no. 4 (1974): 549-577. 2roberts, 1986, 1995, 1998, mahindapala, 2009, silva, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2020. 3russell, 1982, pfaffenberger, 1981, 1892, 1990, 1994, hellmann-rajanayakam, 1986, 1990, 1994a, 1994b, 2004, stokke, 1998, 2006, schalk 1997, fuglerud, 1999, 2001, 2004, biziouras, 2012. 4nationalism, conceived here as a homogenizing, differentiating, and classifying discourse, is unsettled by the internal divisions (class, caste, ethnicity, region, and religion) it seeks to erase (verdery, 1996, p. 227; eller, 1999, p. 46, brass, 1991, p. 46; chatterjee, 1996, p. 210). 5according to kenneth david, intermediate castes (thachar or carpenters, kollar or blacksmiths, thattar or goldsmiths, asari or masons/stone workers, kusavar or potters, karaiyar and mukkuvar or fishing castes also involved in coastal trade, and other skilled workers such as the chaandar or oil makers) were positioned between the dominant vellalah caste and the depressed castes, and played a crucial role in maintaining social and ritual order in jaffna. see kenneth david, “hierarchy and equivalence in ceylon: normative code as mediator,” in the new wind: changing identities in south asia, ed. kenneth david (moutan, 1976). 6the term “depressed castes” here refers to the so-called panchamar (lit. “the fifth people”), which include the vannar (washers of clothes and cloth), the ampatter (barbers), the pallar (agricultural labourers), the nalavar (toddy tappers) and the paraiyar (drummers). this article uses the terms peripheral castes and marginalized castes interchangeably with depressed castes. 7due to both complexities arising from the author’s own subject position and war-time restraints on the discussion and research of caste, the majority of informants interviewed for this work were vellalah. 238 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 from 1986 onwards, through internecine rivalry and the elimination or assimilation of competing militant groups. from 1990 to 1995, the ltte exercised significant political authority in the jaffna peninsula, where it established a parallel state structure (stokke, 1998, 2006). between 2002 and 2009, key years of the civil war in sri lanka, the ltte positioned itself as the sole representative of sri lankan tamils. the sri lankan government’s defeat of the ltte in 2009 prompted a profound reassessment of militant tamil nationalism. i collected the data for this study in the jaffna peninsula, which is widely regarded as the cultural heartland and intellectual cradle of sri lankan tamils. jaffna was the birthplace of most elite tamil political leaders of the twentieth century and the site where all tamil militant movements first emerged. crucially, it has also been the arena of numerous caste-related clashes. this study adopts a constructivist and critical qualitative approach to examine caste, situating vellalah identity within the project of ltte militant nationalism. given the political sensitivities of this subject and other field constraints, i was required to take a flexible, pragmatic approach, relying on snowball and convenience sampling across ten sub-regions of jaffna.8 data collection included semi-structured interviews, non-participant and participant observation, casual conversations, a written student survey, and the use of myself as an informant. in total, thirty-eight interviews and ninety-three student surveys were conducted between 2003 and 2007, supported by extensive informal dialogues and documentary analysis.9 textual sources—both historical and contemporary—were analyzed alongside oral narratives to trace hegemonic and subversive constructions of caste and identity. as a vellalah researcher, my subject position played a central role in this research, resulting in my constant need to negotiate various insider-outsider dynamics. consequences of this subject position included ease of access to vellalah interlocutors and obstacles to interviewing other caste communities. thematic organization of the data was informed by eight themes—politics, leadership, lifestyle, education, land ownership, temple affiliation, intra-vellalah divides, and inter-caste relations—which emerged inductively from field narratives and literature. analysis followed a narrative and interpretive-constructivist method, incorporating both the intersubjective and cognitive dimensions of caste identity. in the first section, i trace the shift from a vellalah-led nationalist project in the early twentieth-century to the turn to militancy among alienated youth, including those from oppressed castes, in the late 1970s. next, i show how, by the mid-1980s, the ltte consolidated its ascendancy by eliminating rival groups and reconfiguring leadership 8the research covered samples from the ten sub-regions in jaffna, as sivathamby recommended based on dominance and different caste relationships: 1) vadamarachcy, 2) tenmarachcy, 3) the islands, 4) jaffna town, 5) nallur-kopay, 6) manipay, 7) tellippalai-chunnakam, 8) chulipurampannakam, 9) kankesanthurai-pallali, 10) vaddukkoddai-araly. see karthigesu sivathamby, “tamil militants,” in the challenge in south asia: development, democracy, and regional cooperation, eds. ponna wignaraja and akmal hussain (sage publications, 1989). 9this article draws on empirical findings from my doctoral research, completed in 2015. while the core analysis remains grounded in the original phd study, subsequent updates and revisions have been incorporated only to a limited extent. perspectives on caste and militant tamil nationalism in sri lanka 239 along non-vellalah lines. then, i examine the ltte’s de facto administration in the jaffna peninsula between 1990 and 1995, detailing the group’s radical measures instituted to curb caste discrimination and reorder social hierarchies. the article then turns to the ltte’s internal organizational practices, where, according to my informants, a performed egalitarianism coexisted with subtle continuities of rank and habitus. finally, i analyze vellalah responses in this period—ranging from outward compliance to criticism, emigration, and selective alignment with ltte authority— and assess how, after 2009, elements of vellalah influence reasserted themselves within a reconfigured post-war field. historical background caste abolition has been a platform for all tamil political entities in modern sri lanka, with consensus at the official level that caste should be eliminated. in the 1920s and 1930s, the jaffna youth congress (jyc) became the first organized tamil movement to address caste-based discrimination, inspired by indian nationalist politics and ideas from leading english newspapers (russell, 1982; hoole, somasundaram, kopalasingham, and thiranagama, 1992; kadirgamar, 2004). these youth were deeply influenced by developments in india due to cultural ties and proximity.10 the leaders of the jyc, who came primarily from vellalah and protestant christian backgrounds, advocated liberal and progressive views on caste, yet their reformist stance exposed the paradox of eliteled nationalism, where calls for equality are articulated from within privileged identities, thereby reproducing the very hierarchies they sought to dismantle. by the 1950s and 1960s, the communist party (cp) also advocated caste eradication, though with limited immediate effect in caste-conscious jaffna (senthilvel and raveendran, 1988; senthilvel, 2003).11 in its effort to gain a foothold in northern sri lanka, the cp mobilised the resistance of the depressed castes. the peking branch, in particular spearheaded significant temple-entry struggles in the 1970s, directly confronting caste-based exclusion in religious life.12 although often celebrated as a radical grassroots victory against vellalah supremacy, this mobilization was short-lived, curtailed by entrenched elite resistance and the absence of sustained organizational structures to translate symbolic gains into long-term social transformation.13 10for more detail on the jaffna youth congress, see silan kadirgamar, “jaffna youth radicalism: the 1920s and 30s’,” paper presented at the international center for ethnic studies (ices), colombo, sri lanka. and noolaham: https://www.noolaham.org/wiki/index.php/handy_ perinbanayagam 11it was named as a ‘low caste party’. see s.k. senthilvel, pothuvudamai iyakkamum tholar karthigesanum (puthiya poomi publication 2003). the cp further divided into two in 1964 to form the peking wing and the moscow wing. 12according to pfaffenberger, in 1967 only 17 per cent of the 1,309 hindu temples in jaffna were open to depressed castes. see “introduction: the sri lankan tamils,” in the sri lankan tamils: ethnicity and identity, eds. chelvadurai manogaran and bryan pfaffenberger (westview press, 1994), 144. 13ironically, in the new alignment of caste politics between south and north, the slfp supported depressed castes while the unp allied with vellalah elites. this paradox led critics to note that 240 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 in the post-independence era, the federal party (fp), dominated by vellalah leaders, incorporated caste abolition into its program, though again often more as a rhetorical commitment than a transformative practice. in 1976, the vellalah-led tamil united liberation front (tulf) signed the vaddukoddai resolution, which explicitly asserted the abolition of caste in a future tamil eelam and declared untouchability or caste-based inequality punishable by law, a stance that was subsequently adopted by the ltte.14 although the tulf made tentative efforts toward promoting caste equality, genuine engagement was obstructed by anxieties about losing vellalah support and by the elite’s desire to preserve caste-based privileges. at that time, members of depressed castes were often not even regarded by elites as authentic “tamils” due to widespread illiteracy and notions of impurity (pfaffenberger, 1994). from the late 1970s onward, caste became further entangled with tamil militant nationalism. emergence of tamil militancy (late 1970s) the scholarship on tamil nationalism has been criticized for its limited attention to the emergence of militancy yet a notable number of studies by sri lankan and overseas studies have attempted to fill this gap.15 fear of militant gun culture and the difficulty of obtaining reliable information about the ltte contributed to the paucity of early research. nationalist portrayals often suppressed internal tamil contradictions of region, gender, caste, or religion, producing an overly simplistic binary of sinhalese versus tamils. the elitist, vellalah-led nationalist project was increasingly perceived by both some vellalahs and non-vellalah youth as an opportunistic collaboration with the sinhala-led government (wilson, 2000; hoole et al., 1992; thangarajah, 2000, 2003). as a result, in the late 1970s the tamil nationalist stage began shifting away from educated vellalah elites, mostly lawyers and businessmen in their fifties and sixties, and towards militant youth (thambiah, 1986). two distinct social groups entered politics during this period. at jaffna university, math and science students from predominantly vellalah families, frustrated by government standardization policies and unemployment, radicalized in opposition to both the state and their elders (wilson, 2000; thangarajah, 2003; wickramasinghe, 2006; thiranagama, 2011; räsänen, 2015). in contrast, youth from valvettithurai, an the struggle against caste oppression was partly sustained by actors aligned with the very elites who upheld it. see sivasegaram, 2008. 14“c. that in the state of tamil eelam caste shall be abolished and the observance of the pernicious practice of untouchability or inequality of any type based on birth shall be totally eradicated and its observance in any form punished by law.” see https://www.sangam.org/ fb_hist_docs/vaddukod.htm 15for scholarship criticized by its lack of attention to militancy, see hellmann-rajanayakam, 1990, 1994, p. 32, wilson, 2000, sumathy, 2001, p. 15, thangarajah, 2003; ravindran, 2004; hoole, 1997; daniel, 1996. for scholarship that does attend to militancy, see hellmann rajanayagam, 1994, 1998; bose, 1994; daniel, 1996; silva, 1999; cheran, 2001; sumathy, 2001; ravindran, 2004; swamy, 2003; hoole, 1992, 2001; thiranagama, 2011; balasooriya, 2013; biziouras, 2012. perspectives on caste and militant tamil nationalism in sri lanka 241 area dominated by the karaiyar caste who were less formally educated, were deeply angered by the caste injustices perpetuated by vellalah elites (hellmann-rajanayagam, 1986, 1994a, 1994b; stokke, 2000; fuglerud 2004). while both groups opposed the older vellalah elite, their divergent paths soon collided. violent clashes elevated the karaiyar-dominated valvettithurai faction, displacing the university-based moderate youth and asserting prominence through radicalism, vernacular leadership, and militant violence (ravindran, 2004; wickramasinghe, 2006). this marked a paradigm shift, bringing new actors and strategies onto the tamil nationalist stage, thus profoundly reshaping jaffna society and destabilizing traditional hierarchies of caste and age (stokke, 2000, p. 294; thiranagama, 2011, pp. 216, 226). proliferation of militant groups (early 1980s) among the militant organizations that proliferated by the early 1980s, many arose from the youth wings of the vellalah-dominated tulf. in total, nearly forty groups emerged, though estimates vary.16 caste was understood to be a factor in membership. many members of the ltte were karaiyar or mukkuvar. from its inception, the eelam people’s revolutionary liberation front (eprlf) declared a commitment to transcending caste boundaries and actively recruited members from depressed castes (thiranagama, 2011, p. 195). on the other hand, groups like people’s liberation organization of tamil eelam (plote) and tamil eelam liberation organization (telo) were primarily composed of vellalah youth. even geography reflected caste influence. the eprlf and plote maintained offices in vellalah-majority localities, while the ltte focused operations in karaiyarand mukkuvar-dominated areas (sumathy, 2001; ravindran, 2004; thiranagama, 2011). the ltte’s reliance on informal caste-based networks provided an organizational advantage (stokke, 2000, p. 299). each movement became locally associated with the caste group that predominated in the organization (sumathy, 2001; ravindran, 2004; thiranagama, 2011). internecine clashes were frequent in these years, and the ltte often targeted rival groups, many of which were vellalah-led. informants noted that the ltte initially resisted caste distinctions but later actively recruited oppressed caste members, some of whom sought to retaliate against vellalahs for perceived historical harm. in response, some vellalah elites and militants fled jaffna, accelerating the erosion of vellalah dominance. many middleand upper-caste youth fled abroad, leaving poorer and depressed caste youth to fill the militant ranks (daniel, 1996; fuglerud, 2004, 2024; stokke, 2000; ravikumar, 2002; ravindran, 2004). from vellalah hegemony to ltte ascendancy (mid-1980s onward) through these violent rivalries, the ltte consolidated power from 1986 onward, wiping out or absorbing groups such as telo, plote, eprlf, and later the eelam revolutionary organization of students (eros). by the mid-1980s, the ltte emerged 16wilson records thirty-seven militant groups among tamils (wilson, 2000, p. 126) and hellmann rajanayagam records around forty-two (1998, p. 42). 242 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 as the most powerful and dominant group. with a cadre base disproportionately drawn from non-vellalahs, the ltte overturned vellalah dominance in militant politics. in so doing, the movement projected an image of tamil unity by rejecting caste publicly and incorporating depressed caste cadres. yet this egalitarianism was only partial— vellalah influence persisted in civilian politics, temples, and education, even within ltte-administered areas. in other words, ltte-led nationalism both challenged and reproduced caste hierarchy by undermining vellalah hegemony in militant leadership while leaving its social and cultural legacies largely intact. deconstructing caste: the ltte’s vision of equality and justice the ltte’s association with caste was deeply ambivalent and remains a subject of debate. on the one hand, its leader proclaimed an ambition to abolish caste differences and spoke of creating an egalitarian tamil society free from entrenched hierarchies. on the other, their interventions often appeared to my interlocutors as less focused upon dismantling caste as a social system and more concerned with toppling the ingrained hegemony of the vellalah elite, who had long monopolized political, social, economic, and religious power in jaffna. this ambiguity raises the question of whether the ltte sought to build a genuinely caste-free society or merely to reorder caste relations in ways that eroded vellalah hegemony while consolidating its own legitimacy as the bearer of tamil nationalism. evidence suggests that the ltte aimed to abolish caste-based social injustices, instituting social liberation through both explicit and implicit actions. for nearly three decades, the ltte was the most powerful militant group to address caste issues in jaffna. their approach was often violent, challenging assumptions in sri lankan tamil society (sivathamby, 1989; bose, 1994; thiranagama, 2011). swamy (1995, p. 69) offers first-hand insights into the ideological tension within the tamil militant project—when asked how one might lead a “socialist eelam” without deep ideological foundations, swamy reports that prabhakaran underlined his resolve to eliminate caste differences. the ltte’s political program, designed by anton balasingham, articulated a commitment to abolishing all forms of social oppression, including caste. he stated that the ltte “must fight not only for the political liberation of our oppressed nation, but also for the prosperity of the oppressed classes and our people who are exploited in the name of caste.”17 although the ltte did not have a formal program to reorganize caste, the group implemented laws to punish caste-based offences. scholars have also noted the ltte’s “silent campaign” against caste, which included penalties for caste assertion, bans on caste-based exclusion in public spaces, and positive discrimination in land allocation (stokke, 2000; thiranagama, 2011; hellmann-rajanayagam, 1994). the ltte’s penal code of 1994 established punishments for caste-based offences.18 17for an early articulation of this, see: towards a socialist tamil eelam (1979). https://www. marxists.org/subject/tamil-eelam/1979/toward-socialist-tamil-eelam.htm. 18interview with an ltte area leader in jaffna, 2005. for more on the ltte’s court system, see http://www.sundaytimes.lk/050227/news/20.html. perspectives on caste and militant tamil nationalism in sri lanka 243 following the fall of jaffna to sri lankan forces in 1995, the ltte was forced to retreat to kilinochchi district, which became its de facto capital. although my visit to their stronghold in kilinochchi to study the ltte court system was thwarted by war-related challenges, the survey i conducted in 2005 among the undergraduates at the university of jaffna revealed that the ltte’s ‘oruppu law,’ or the penal code of no. 4 of 1994, emphasized punishment for caste crimes and provided the right to legal recourse for caste discrimination. section 4 thus reads: 432) a) all are equal by birth; it is a crime and should be punished if they are dishonored by the name of the caste they were born into. discriminating against someone based on caste or an act against his/her dignity, or by indicating his/ her caste and hurting him/her are wrong according to caste abolition. 433) penalty if someone has committed the above-mentioned crimes, he/she can be either punished by imprisonment or a fine, for a term up to five years. 434) it is an offense to try to disrupt a love marriage between different castes. the penalty for this offense is imprisonment for up to seven years or a fine.19 field testimony confirms that these laws were enforced. in response to an interviewer’s question as to whether the struggle had produced lasting reforms to deep-rooted ills like casteism and dowry, thamilini, head of the ltte women’s political wing, stated: “now the curse of caste. within our movement there is no room for caste. we will take strict actions against caste discrimination. we equip our women, through women’s groups in every village, with fresh thinking. we develop self-help programs.”20 the de facto rule of the ltte, especially during 1990–1995 period, also had tangible effects on everyday caste practices and interactions in jaffna society. community members describe a climate of fear that discouraged any public expression of caste prejudice. a former village headman in an ltte-administered area recalled even avoiding the word “caste” (saathi in tamil), instead replacing it with words like “race” (inam), out of fear of reprisal.21 i also observed that caste names disappeared from public use under ltte rule and were replaced with code terms linked to caste duties.22 stories abound of immediate punishments for those who violated the ltte’s norms. for instance, there were rumors that individuals who mistreated members of depressed castes were forced to eat in those victims’ homes or were detained in underground bunkers as punishment. such tales, whether invented or true, had a 19translation by the author. 20selected writings-chandiravarman sinnathurai-eelam encounters 21interview by author, 26 december 2004. 22maramerum akkal, or tree climbing people for the pallar caste, melam adikum akkal or drumming people for the nadduvar caste, malai kaddum akkal or garland making people for the pandaram caste, ennai ooththum akkal or oil making people for sandaar caste, and meenpidy akkal or fishing people for karaiyar, mukkuvar and pattamkaddi castes. in some cases, more than one coded word was used for the same caste depending on the context; for example, the chemical symbol na (sodium) was used to denote nalavar, while k (potassium) stood for koviar. 244 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 chilling effect on public discourse around caste. anthropologist fuglerud described an ltte-run detention camp in jaffna, which he called a “concentration camp,” where harsh re-education allegedly took place (1999, p. 53). he argued that ltte rule reshaped vellalah identity, as many depressed-caste individuals quietly welcomed its curbs on caste discrimination, while educated, land-owning vellalahs remained critical but silent out of fear. my 2005 survey similarly indicated that students were aware of ltte regulations against caste discrimination.23 this evidence proves that, despite societal silences around caste during this period, caste endured through a coded continuity that re-inscribed inequality even in the name of equality. the ltte closely monitored domains of society that embodied vellalah hegemony, such as leadership, politics, land ownership, education, and religious rituals, and thus directly targeted key aspects of vellalah identity and its power (räsänen, 2015; kuganathan, 2022). the ltte’s organizational principles also challenged vellalah hegemony on multiple fronts. first, it empowered depressed castes by actively involving them in the nationalist struggle, thereby dismantling the notion that leadership was an exclusive reservation for the vellalah. second, it elevated the concept of martyrdom to the highest status in society, transcending caste, and thus subtly diminishing the social prestige of the traditional vellalah elite and projecting a reconfigured social hierarchy based on sacrifice rather than birth. third, the ltte promoted social programs aimed at breaking mono-caste hegemony, addressing caste injustice, such as the promotion of inter-caste marriages within ltte cadres and in society. these combined efforts gave the temporary appearance of a repositioned caste order in ltte-controlled areas. marginalized vellalah elite one of the significant transitions in caste dynamics under the ltte concerned tamil political leadership. as the local vellalah elite struggled to maintain its power in the face of militant domination, non-militant tamil politics faced a leadership vacuum. throughout the war years, colombo-based vellalah intellectuals and cultural nationalists continued to contribute to tamil political thought through writings and seminars. they were influential in shaping tamil political discourse and were even viewed with suspicion by sinhalese observers, who worried about the resurgence of tamil nationalism via these educated circles. yet, groups like the ltte were not receptive to their input; the rebels criticized the english-educated vellalah for being out of touch with the reality of the struggle and for failing to support the vulnerable in the north. an older vellalah generation of was criticized for practicing “responsive cooperation” with moderate sinhalese leaders after independence, instead of fully backing tamil separatism (wilson, 2000; jeyaraj, 2015). the ltte went so far as to label some vellalah politicians as traitors if they cooperated with sinhalese-led governments against tamil militant interests (trawick, 2007; tobias & thiranagama, 23field interviews in jaffna (2005–2007). see also ltte’s tamil eelam penal code (1994) which criminalized caste discrimination (oruppu law no. 4 of 1994). perspectives on caste and militant tamil nationalism in sri lanka 245 2011; jeyaraj, 2015).24 in such an atmosphere, many vellalah felt politically orphaned, alienated by the ltte and its supporters for their caste privilege and perceived disloyalty, and not fully embraced by the sri lankan state either. many prominent vellalah politicians in parliament were marginalized or silenced. assassinations of vellalah tulf politicians by the ltte, with notable killings occurring between 1975 and 2006, left many vellalahs feeling resentful.25 the dominance of the ltte suppressed emerging factions among the vellalahs and exacerbated divisions based on their positions toward militancy. some vellalahs saw their roles diminished and their lives threatened, and so chose to emigrate during this period. those who remained in jaffna felt isolated and often avoided involvement in ltte-led activities. in the process, they became spectators viewing the struggle from a distance rather than as key participants. some consented to become figureheads under ltte influence. although a few continued to support the ltte ideologically from afar, their enthusiasm eventually waned. while some vellalahs agreed that violent struggle was necessary, many did not welcome the ascendancy of karaiyar leadership within the nationalist movement and framed that frustration as alternative concerns. one of my informants, a 50-year-old vellalah, described this issue as, fundamentally, a generational clash.26 another, a 61-year-old member of the same community, expressed disdain that the younger, less-educated ltte leaders had displaced the old guard.27 the sudden shift in power under the ltte deeply shook vellalah sensibilities. reengineering residential patterns and property ownership another striking aspect of the ltte-led reengineering of caste was its effect on residential patterns and property ownership. traditionally, vellalah families occupied the center of the village or the heart of urban centers, whereas depressed castes lived in more peripheral or less developed areas. the war and ltte policies disrupted this arrangement. a commonly cited story in jaffna is that the ltte confiscated houses abandoned by emigrated vellalahs and allocated them to the families of ltte martyrs. whether by policy or circumstance, many vellalah houses in jaffna ended up occupied by non-vellalah groups during the 1990s (fuglerud, 2024). for many families, living in sturdy, centrally located houses, or “cemented houses,” was a first. another informant, a 50-year-old vellalah woman and a diaspora returnee, explained to me that she was dismayed to find her family home occupied by another family 24 postwar usage of the term extends beyond caste boundaries, functioning as a label for tamils perceived to be aligned with the sinhala-dominated state. 25 in 1975, the ex-mayor of jaffna, alfred duraiappah, was killed by the ltte. then in 1989, tulf member of parliament (mp) a. amirthalingam was killed, followed by the killings of ex-tulf mp v. yogeswaran in 1989, ex-tulf mayor sarojini yogeswaran in 1998, extulf mayor pon sivapalan in 1998, ex-tulf leader dr. neelan thruchelvam in 1999, and tna/tulf mp raviraj in 2006. for more complete assassinations see: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/list_of_assassinations_of_the_sri_lankan_civil_war 26 interview by author, 05 april 2006 27 interview by author, 19 september 2006 246 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 who refused to leave, claiming an ltte leader had given them the key.28 such cases were common after massive displacement events. the expulsion of muslims from jaffna in 1990 and the capture of jaffna by the sri lankan army in 1995 both led to waves of population movement. properties were frequently entrusted to the ltte when owners fled, especially since the vellalah middle class was heavily tapped to finance the ltte’s war efforts (fugleurd, 2024; hellmann-rajanayagam, 1994). in some instances, vellalah families hired intermediate and depressed-caste individuals informally to look after their property in their absence, a practice cynically described by some vellalah locals as “letting the thieves guard the bank.” vellalahs who remained in jaffna largely disapproved of these new living arrangements and of the ltte’s enforced social mixing, as it conflicted with deeply internalized norms of social privilege and the status quo. professionalization of caste-based occupations the ltte’s rule also accelerated changes that had begun modestly under earlier communist movements. one area was the professionalization of caste-based occupations. traditionally, certain jobs in jaffna were tied to specific intermediate castes who provided personal services within vellalah homes, such as barbers and washermen, and were compensated in kind or with small wages, reinforcing a patronclient dependency. during the late 1960s, leftist movements and communist activists had started to push these service providers to operate from independent shops and be paid in cash, thereby breaking the personalized bondage of caste service (senthilvel & raveendran, 1988; senthilvel, 2003). the ltte solidified this trend. barbers opened salons and washermen set up laundry businesses, serving clients of all castes as paying customers. by institutionalizing these roles through formal wage labor, the ltte aimed to reduce caste-based stigmas, hierarchies and dependency upon vellalah clients. vellalahs grudgingly acknowledged that this approach lifted the dignity of those service castes, but they also noted economic disruptions. in addition, some oldergeneration service providers resisted the change. for example, a washerman explained to me that working in the traditional way ensured a steady income, since “people are less likely to take clothes to a laundry than to hand them to a familiar visiting dhoby.” while many tamils adapted to the changes enforced by the ltte, those who valued the old social arrangements did not. importantly, the psychological disposition towards caste stratification was never fully addressed by either the ltte or the prior vellalah-dominated political parties or entities. many existing inter-caste relationships had been paternalistic and castecentered, and even after their formal end they left behind animosities and prejudices. despite its efforts, the ltte could only enforce behavioral changes, which could not immediately rewrite deeply internalized cultural attitudes. thus, even as certain social practices evolved, like paying a barber instead of treating him as an obliged serf, the habitus of caste, based on superiority and inferiority, persisted in subtler forms (bourdieu, 1977). 28interview by author, 18 september 2006 perspectives on caste and militant tamil nationalism in sri lanka 247 promoting mixed-caste marriages one of the ltte’s most radical social interventions was its campaign to encourage mixed-caste marriages, thereby directly challenging an age-old pillar of caste segregation: endogamy. an informant, a 68-year-old vellalah man, described a meeting in the late 1970s where senior ltte members vowed to dismantle vellalah hegemony in part by facilitating inter-caste unions.29 top ltte leaders set the example: velupillai prabakaran and s. p. tamilchelvan, the leader of the group’s political wing, both from non-vellalah backgrounds, married women from vellalah families. some speculate these marriages were partly strategic, intended to symbolically erode the purity of caste lines and bind the communities together. others suggest these marriages were intended to enhance the caste status of both the couple and their offspring. in areas under ltte control, mixed-caste marriages became more common than before. many of my informants, as well as young people who responded to my surveys, recounted cases of marriages across caste lines that took place under ltte auspices. the “tamil eelam” courts established by the ltte could officiate and legitimize such unions, bypassing the traditional authorities, often parents or clergy, who might oppose them. vellalah parents, who would normally fiercely resist their children marrying someone of perceived “inferior caste,” often remained silent out of fear of ltte repercussions. under ltte oversight, a privileged caste spouse could no longer exploit or mistreat a non-privileged caste partner without consequence, which also provided marginalized caste individuals with a new form of protection. however, these marriages were not always viewed as organic or positive. a 60-year-old vellalah informant characterized the high-profile marriage of a karaiyar ltte leader to a vellalah woman as “coercive,” implying that such a union could only happen due to the power imbalance. in many instances, vellalah families reacted to a son or daughter marrying outside their caste by disowning the couple or socially isolating themselves out of shame. it was common for mixed-caste couples to flee their home villages and resettle elsewhere, often in ltte-controlled territories or even in nearby districts, to avoid continuous exclusion. families whose adult children eloped with a marginalized caste partner often lived almost in hiding, as the contempt of the local community could be relentless. one vellalah woman known to this author, who married a non-vellalah man, did not see her parents for seven years after her elopement. when the family finally reconnected, her husband remained unwelcome and she effectively led two separate lives to conciliate her family’s honor. under the customary thesawalamai law of the tamils, as the sole heir she should have inherited her parents’ property in full; however, the stigma attached to marrying a man from a less privileged caste rendered this legal right socially contested. before the militant era, any attempt at an inter-caste marriage involving a vellalah (or even intermediate castes) could provoke violent reprisals from dominant castes. during the ltte’s de facto rule, that violence appears to have stopped. the fear of the ltte’s punishment reportedly served as a deterrent against attacking couples 29interview by author, 8 october 2005. 248 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 or their families. however, despite the ltte’s widespread efforts to eradicate caste discrimination, including through the abolition of the public use of caste titles, the enforcement of punitive measures, and the promotion of such marriages, caste consciousness persisted beneath the surface. one informant noted that even some ltte cadres privately adhered to caste norms and were anxious about the societal reactions if they themselves entered a mixed marriage.30 this was especially true among vellalahs and intermediate castes, who often reverted to their old prejudices once ltte pressure was gone. a young woman whose two sisters served in the ltte shared that despite their militant background, when it came to marriage her sisters admitted being afraid to marry without knowing the groom’s caste.31 this anecdote highlights how deeply entrenched caste considerations were, even among the ltte cadres. while the ltte’s encouragement of mixed-caste marriages was a bold approach to blurring caste lines, the idea faced significant passive resistance and never fully took root in people’s minds, illustrating the complexity of trying to compel cultural transformation through force. organizational reforms within the ltte it is crucial to understand how the ltte institutionalized caste equality within its own ranks as part of its militant nationalist project. my interviews with an ltte leader, discussions with ex-combatants, and survey responses all confirm that the ltte deliberately engineered practices towards caste equality.32 to enforce and sustain such an equality, the ltte employed several notable practices: all cadres were made to abandon their birth names and adopt new noms de guerre; those who died in battle were all honored uniformly as “martyrs”; everyone wore identical uniforms, received the same food rations, and was buried in common cemeteries irrespective of caste. these methods created a strong sense of unity and uniformity known beyond just ltte ranks (schalk, 1997). when asked about the ltte’s stance on caste as a social injustice, for instance, the undergraduates i surveyed highlighted these practices, indicating their symbolic importance. testimonies by ex-combatants, including from vellalahs who held high ranks in the ltte before leaving the movement, provide further insight into internal dynamics. despite the ltte’s formal egalitarian philosophy and the absence of overt caste discrimination within the organization, subtle inequalities persisted in different forms. the ltte did have a hierarchy and division of labor, for example, intelligence and medical units had slightly different uniforms from the regular fighting cadres or the cultural wing. one ex-combatant noted that educational disparity sometimes influenced roles; vellalahs and other traditionally privileged caste recruits—often better educated due to socio-economic advantages—tended to perform better in initial 30interview by author, 11 february 2004. 31interview by author, 21 may 2005. 32interview by author, 22 april 2006 with an area leader, and on 15 november 2006 with two ex-combatants. perspectives on caste and militant tamil nationalism in sri lanka 249 training tests and were assigned more technically demanding tasks. a vellalah excombatant observed that even with equal treatment, friendships within the ltte often formed along lines of caste or shared educational background, reflecting social habits formed before joining.33 one vellalah martyr’s family explained to me that he privately identified other ltte members by caste, illustrating how labels resurfaced even in the apparently caste-blind environment of the ltte. while the ltte’s internal reforms largely eliminated overt caste markers and created a strong narrative of equality among castes, preexisting social divisions and personal habits ensured that caste consciousness could endure beneath the surface. deconstructing the power and status of vellalahs the intersection of caste and daily power dynamics also surfaced in more subtle forms during ltte rule. when the ltte positioned itself as the guardian of tamil rights and regulator of social justice, it inherently challenged vellalah privilege, which led to friction and sometimes quiet resistance. intra-caste loyalties occasionally flared up during local political contests. for example, one of my informants, a 58-year-old school principal, recounted that during the 1998 local elections, conducted under government control after the ltte’s temporary ouster from jaffna, campaign posters with the picture and the name of the candidate were defaced with caste labels that particularly targeted non-vellalah candidates. my informant described this as an act of defamation and symbolic ‘mud-casting’. coming just a few years after the ltte’s 1990–1995 administration, this episode underscores that caste consciousness did not vanish. rather, it intersected with ethnicity and nationalism and complicated the experience of belonging. importantly, the psychological disposition towards caste stratification was never fully addressed by either the ltte or the prior vellalah-dominated political parties.34 many of my vellalah informants noted that the high honor given to ltte martyrs and their families implicitly threatened the traditional status order. one interviewee remarked: “although we don’t attend ltte meetings, we hear athukal are the ones in front and respected”.35 this response revealed a deep resentment. by referring to intermediate and depressed caste people as objects, the speaker highlighted his refusal to accept the new status quo. during the war, many displaced depressed-caste families were housed in camps situated in village centers, forcing vellalahs to encounter them in public spaces daily. this proximity led to frequent social frictions. one vellalah man expressed his contempt through a local proverb: “even if a dog barks at the moon, the moon is still the moon, and the dog is still a dog”.36 by this, he meant that no matter what the depressed castes 33interview by author, 5 august 2006. 34interview by author, 16 october 2005. 35interview by author, 15 july 2005. the use of athukaḷ here is derogatory, as it generally refers to animals or people only in circumstances when the speaker seeks to be disrespectful or superior in some way, such as with regards to age or caste. 36interview by author, 17 june 2005. 250 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 did (the “barking dogs”), they would remain inferior and the vellalahs (the “moon”) would remain superior. in other words, my vellalah respondents felt that while the respect they once received had been eroded under ltte rule, the social order had not truly changed at its core. indeed, according to wilson, vellalahs tended to believe that the dominance of the karaiyar under the ltte was a temporary irregularity, sustainable only under war conditions. as one of my informants put it, “the changes in caste are due to fear of the ltte, and are not permanent. the status of depressed castes without relatives abroad remains unchanged.”37 this perspective suggests that any leveling of caste was seen as superficial. it was assumed that, once peace returned, the old hierarchy would reassert itself (wilson, 2000, p. 112). only those marginalized caste individuals who had the advantage of relatives sending remittances from abroad improved their lot. vellalah perspectives on caste and the ltte education and wealth sometimes mediated how different vellalahs responded to the ltte. in some cases, being economically or educationally marginal within the vellalah caste meant one might choose to align with the ltte in order to gain power or protection. the boundaries of vellalah identity with the ltte proved flexible when survival or advantage was at stake (barth, 1998). poor or less-educated vellalahs sometimes had close ties to the ltte as a vehicle to gain influence they were denied within their own intra-stratified community. in contrast, middle-class, well-educated vellalahs were more likely to resist the ltte. for example, one poor vellalah family that had three children join the ltte moved to the rebel-held vanni region and attained status as a “martyrs’ family.”38 the father, despite losing his children, gained local prestige by organizing public commemorations for dead heroes. conversely, another, wealthy vellalah family in jaffna refused to relocate to ltte territory even after one son died fighting for them.39 these contrasting stories illustrate that vellalah relations with the ltte were influenced by lifestyle, education, and economic class as much as by caste. one vellalah school teacher bitterly recounted being detained by the ltte, ostensibly for failing to repay a 3,000-rupee debt when in fact the punishment was for his refusal to teach in ltte-run schools.40 another vellalah man faced escalating monetary “donations” demanded by the ltte as punishment for not offering any of his children to the movement.41 during the height of ltte control, there was an expectation that each family would contribute at least one child as a combatant. those without children of fighting age were often made to pay more money than those who “gave” a son or daughter. 37interview by author, 18 april 2004. 38interview by author, 11 march 2003. 39interview by author, 8 november 2006. 40interview by author, 21 november 2004. 41interview by author, 26 august 2004. perspectives on caste and militant tamil nationalism in sri lanka 251 when the ltte engaged in peace talks with the government in 2002, many previously antagonistic vellalahs suddenly became supportive, seeing an opportunity to regain influence in peacetime. yet, those same individuals stiffened when, visiting ltte-held areas in the vanni, they were subject to security checks by teenage ltte kaavalthurai (police) from non-vellalah backgrounds. such encounters offended their ingrained sense of social hierarchy. historically, a vellalah would not expect to be interrogated by someone from a “non-vellalah” caste. ultimately, some vellalahs who shifted to support the ltte did so without a deep change of heart regarding caste. their loyalties often followed the changing fortunes of the ltte, and sympathy emerged only after the eventual defeat of the ltte, when they retroactively admired the sacrifices made by the militants. despite the ltte’s attempt at social revolution, many vellalahs sought to distance themselves from what they saw as the “egalitarian” social engineering of the ltte. they harbored a desire to return to a more familiar social order. as one vellalah interviewee summarized, national unity was important, yes, but caste status still mattered most in their personal spheres. anderson’s (1983) concept of the nation as an “imagined community” is instructive here: the ltte tried to foster a version of a singular tamil national identity that would subsume internal divisions like caste (chatterjee, 1996). however, caste, being a sensitive and deeply rooted cultural collective, required careful handling. according to hellmann-rajanayagam, the ltte specifically targeted the pillars of vellalah power, education and property to dismantle their dominance (hellmannrajanayagam, 1994). it has been claimed that the ltte saw social liberation as a means to achieve national liberation (fuglerud, 1999). according to this perspective, they saw the caste system as another oppressive structure to overthrow in the quest for an independent tamil eelam. some older vellalahs, including temple trustees and community leaders, privately conceded that the tamil militant struggle had indeed united different strata of society under a common tamil identity in the face of sinhala oppression, at least temporarily transcending caste divisions (kuganathan, 2022). yet even these individuals, conditioned by a lifetime of cultural norms, struggled internally with the anti-caste measures the ltte orchestrated. conclusion when the war finally ended in may 2009 with the defeat of the ltte, the social order in jaffna underwent yet another dramatic shift. the vacuum left by the eradication of the ltte was quickly filled by the reassertion of the old elites. dominant vellalah families and politicians, some of whom had spent years in colombo or abroad during the fighting, stepped back into public life. in the northern provincial council elections of 2013, the first major post-war tamil democratic exercise, voters overwhelmingly chose candidates from traditional vellalah backgrounds.42 this post-ltte resurgence 42see p. thanges, “will it disappear, if you stop talking about it?”; a question on caste and ethnicity in jaffna colombo telegraph, 21 june 2014. 252 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 of vellalah leadership reflected the resilience of caste habitus, but it unfolded within a reconfigured political field. rather than a simple return to pre-militancy hierarchies, the prominence of vellalahs was recalibrated through the participation of intermediate and depressed castes, producing a hegemonic order that appeared altered in form but unequal in substance (hashmi & kuganathan, 2017; kuganathan, 2022). this is not to say that nothing changed in those tumultuous decades. the collective experience of militancy and war did leave an enduring impact on all tamils, vellalah and non-vellalah alike. the social fabric had been stretched and tested in unprecedented ways. the fact that caste could even be discussed in the public sphere and in academic discourse owes much to the disruptions of the war. a younger generation of tamils has grown up with more exposure to the idea of caste equality, even if practice lags behind. the steady flow of diaspora funding, channelled through village networks into community events, house constructions, and the erection or renovation of temples, has also shifted caste dynamics. the traditional elements of caste identity, such as the vellalah-centred interdependencies, the rigid hierarchies of economic and ritual ranking, and the strict continuum of purity and pollution in public and ritual spaces, have effectively collapsed. this does not amount to the eradication of caste but rather to its persistence in an altered state that continues to shape social life in subtle and reconfigured ways. as we have seen, various early attempts by high-caste tamil elites to eliminate caste in jaffna, from 1920s youth activism to 1970s temple-entry agitations and political pledges by tulf, were largely rhetorical and short-lived. they championed equality in principle but, led by privileged vellalah, only made symbolic cracks in the caste order while leaving its foundations intact. a more profound challenge to vellalah dominance emerged in the late 1970s with militant youth from oppressed castes, culminating in the ltte’s rise in the 1980s under a non-vellalah leadership. the ltte enacted bold anti-caste measures, including banning caste slurs and discrimination, redistributing lands and homes, professionalizing roles once bound by servitude, and openly encouraging inter-caste marriages. these strictly enforced policies disrupted age-old customs and opened new social space for marginalized groups. by the mid1990s, jaffna’s public life was transformed; overt caste markers vanished, oppressedcaste youths held military and civic authority, and the once-dominant vellalah saw their customary privileges curtailed by a rebel regime that valued sacrifice and loyalty over birth. in doing so, the ltte briefly achieved what earlier tamil nationalists could not, an enforced unity that loosened caste’s grip on society. tamil identity was recast around common struggle instead of inherited status, implying that a united tamil nation required overturning the caste hierarchy. yet this revolution revealed the resilience of caste. the ltte enforced a façade of casteless equality, but it could not wholly change private attitudes or ingrained habits. according to my interlocutors, many vellalah families outwardly complied out of fear while quietly feeling superior and expecting the old order’s return after the war. within the ltte, caste was never acknowledged openly, but subtle patterns persisted: bettereducated cadres filled technical and administrative roles, and informal social bonds still perspectives on caste and militant tamil nationalism in sri lanka 253 followed familiar caste lines. common uniforms, shared rations, and equal honour in death fostered a myth of unity, yet ex-combatants recalled how some fighters hesitated at mixed-caste marriages or reverted to caste-conscious behaviour when outside strict supervision. when the civil war ended in 2009, suppressed attitudes quickly resurfaced. traditional vellalah elites regained their influence through elections, filling the void left by the ltte. however, this occurred in a changed landscape. years of conflict had weakened the open practice of caste norms and emboldened marginalised caste groups to assert themselves, even as economic disparities remained. in sum, the ltte era demonstrated both the potential for and limits of casteblind nationalism. it showed that a determined movement can temporarily challenge entrenched hierarchies and enforce the practice of equality for a time, but deeply embedded social structures adapt rather than vanish. the sri lankan tamil experience highlights a paradox: forging a unified “tamil nation” required banishing caste from public speech, yet this quest often introduced new hierarchies or quietly preserved old ones. in the end, militant nationalism temporarily reshuffled social status and made public caste discrimination taboo, but it did not extinguish caste consciousness. genuine equality demands more than battlefield victories or legal decrees; it needs long-term changes in cultural attitudes and material conditions, a challenge that has outlived the war and persists today. references anderson, b. 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(2007). enemy lines: warfare, childhood, and play in batticaloa. university of california press. verdery, k. (1996). whither ‘nation’ and ‘nationalism’? in balakrishnan, gopal (ed.), mapping the nation (pp. 226–234). london: verso. wickramasinghe, nira. (2006). sri lanka in the modern age: a history of contested identities. vijitha yapa publications. wilson, a.j. (2000). sri lankan tamil nationalism: its origins and development in the 19th and 20th centuries. hurst & company. © 2025 mark e. balmforth. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2616 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 277-307 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna, 1927–1957 mark e. balmforth1 abstract for decades, scholars have interpreted twentieth-century sri lankan tamil history through the prism of sovereignty. from calls for communal representation in the early decades of the century, to the attempt to establish tamil eelam at its close, the sri lankan tamil effort to chart a self-directed political destiny is often considered a defining feature of the community’s twentieth century story. less discussed is another question that consumed ceylon tamil politicians, activists, and the island’s reading public between the 1920s and the 1950s: should the so-called “depressed classes,” or roughly a quarter of tamil-speakers in the island’s north and east, enjoy the same rights and privileges of their neighbors? focusing on four campaigns that shaped these debates—equality of tamil identity, equality in schools, equality in death, and equality in political representation—i argue that a multi-faceted and, at times, internally divided movement against caste discrimination operated over the four decades preceding the well-known marxist-led temple and cafe entry protests of the late 1960s. based on the family archives of key activists, police and other colonial records, and both oral and published accounts in tamil and english, this article considers the larger circumstances that made landmark civil rights accomplishments possible, including the appointment of the island’s first minority tamil legislator in 1947 and the passing of anti-caste discrimination legislation in 1957. drawing insights from new work in critical caste studies, the article reveals how a diverse, multi-caste, and multi-national coalition of hindus, christians, and buddhists united to disrupt widespread discrimination decades before the rise of tamil militancy. in so doing, this article suggests the addition of a second centurydefining theme in twentieth-century sri lankan tamil history: caste struggle. keywords tamil, jaffna, sri lanka, caste discrimination, civil rights, 20th century. 1independent scholar e-mail: meb2212@columbia.edu 278 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 introduction1 for decades, twentieth-century sri lankan tamil history has been interpreted through the prism of sovereignty (wilson, 1994; manogaran and pfaffenberger, 1995; gunasingam, 2008; cheran, 2009; wickramasinghe, 2014). from calls for communal representation in the early decades of the century to the attempt to establish tamil eelam at its close, sri lankan tamil efforts to chart a self-directed political destiny are often considered the defining feature of the community’s twentieth-century story. less discussed in historical writing, especially in the english language, is another question that consumed ceylon tamil politicians, activists, and the island’s reading public between the 1920s and the 1950s: should the so-called “depressed classes,” roughly a quarter of tamil-speakers in ceylon’s north and east, enjoy the same rights and privileges of their neighbors? in this work, i track a decades-long and little-known series of oppressed-caste campaigns that fought for and won long-denied rights, privileges, and public services, including something that today might seem obvious to an outside observer: public recognition as tamil. through their creative use of collective action, civil disobedience, political violence, the mobilization of print media, petitions to government, and public meetings, campaigners for oppressed-caste civil rights convinced people across the island that they deserved the same rights and privileges afforded to all citizens in british and, later, independent ceylon. these rights included electoral representation, protections from education and workplace discrimination, the right to wear clothing of their choice, and equal access to public space, temples, restaurants, water facilities, transportation, and mortuary spaces. while examples of these forms of discrimination continue to this day and are currently the targets of social justice activists in jaffna, twentieth-century campaigners should be credited with comprehensively challenging the ubiquitous and systematic deployment of these discriminatory activities that operated at the heart of ceylonese tamil public life up until the early 1970s. over 1thanks are due to a host of institutions and individuals who made this work possible. much of the research was conducted under the auspices of postdoctoral fellowships from the university of toronto’s faculty of arts and sciences and the government of canada’s social sciences and humanities research council, kindly supervised by srilata raman and bhavani raman. the american institute of sri lankan studies supported the operation of the lanka critical caste studies working group that ponni arasu and i co-convened in jaffna between 2022 and 2023. thanks are due to ponni, r. hibakaran, and v. rupesh for the many lessons they taught me about allyship during this period and since. ongoing conversations with d. samuel, m. thiruvarangan, and father sam ponniah have all helped uncover the contemporary stakes of this story. archivists at the national archives in colombo and kandy were particularly helpful, and special thanks are due to dr. nadeera rupesinghe and mrs. himali weerakoon. thank you also to the numerous readers who helped sharpen the work—some of whom must remain anonymous—including rachel mcdermott, shamara wettimuny, dominic esler, and senthujan senkaiahliyan. family members connected to the story i discuss below have gone to extraordinary lengths to support this project. to the paul and jacob families—especially daisy paul and vimala amma—i offer my sincere thanks for the trust you have placed in me. stephan kanagalingam and henria aton have both provided critical support and encouragement for this project from its inception; few have done more to help bring this work into being. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 279 the course of the thirty years of work i describe below, oppressed-caste leaders built the institutional foundations necessary to secure legislation that overturned the twohundred-and-fifty-year legal basis for dominant-caste privilege. this article focuses on four campaigns that helped shape the larger debate around caste inequality in twentieth-century ceylon: equality of tamil identity, equality in schools, equality in death, and equality in political representation. here, i argue that a multi-faceted and, at times, internally divided movement against caste discrimination operated over the four decades preceding the well-known marxist-led temple and cafe entry protests of the late 1960s. in so doing, this article suggests the addition of a second century-defining theme for twentieth-century sri lankan tamil history: caste struggle. though the war between 1983 and 2009 can partly explain why sovereignty has often been considered the defining feature of twentieth century sri lankan tamil history, the clarity of this portrayal depends on the language in which one is working. in english, the search for tamil self-determination on the island is ubiquitous, whereas references to oppressed-caste activism are few and far between. up until the past few years, many have relied predominantly upon a single article published in 1990. in two more recent contributions, selvy thiruchandran’s and bahirathy räsänan’s interest in exploring veḷḷāḷar supremacy is commendable (thiruchandran, 2021; räsänan, 2015). the article, written by bryan pfaffenberger, drew on the 1968 clash at māviṭṭapuram2 to partially explain the formation of eelam tamil nationalism, or what he describes as “defensive nationalism.” in his compelling portrayal, the eelam tamil national project grew out of a defensive reaction to sinhala nationalism. while this may very well be the case, this description has also come to be the definitive interpretation of oppressed-caste activism on the island in english. here, i offer an alternative that considers oppressed-caste anti-discrimination work as the result of oppressedcaste interests, rather than as an adjunct to nationalism, something to which tamil oppressed-caste communities have long had an ambivalent relationship.3 in tamil, the situation is more complicated. first-hand accounts of jaffna-based social justice and anti-caste discrimination work have been published frequently, if irregularly, throughout the twentieth century. for instance, cū. e. ciṉṉappu’s cuvāmi ñāṉappirakācariṉ cuviṣēcat toṇṭu 1901–1926 [fr. gnanapragasar and his 2tamil words have been transliterated using the conventions of the madras lexicon. all translations are my own, and have been produced in consultation with s. kirubalini and stephan kanagalingam. 3oppressed-caste communities in jaffna have long harbored complex opinions about the tamil nationalist cause. for decades, they fought to be considered as more than an afterthought by national tamil leadership. nearly all tamil political leaders of the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s came from elite backgrounds, and most were veḷḷāḷar. s.k. senthivel, who was a young marxist activist in the 1960s, has argued for decades that the federal party and the tamil congress showed no serious interest in the needs of oppressed-caste communities. he writes: “while [the federal party and the tamil congress] spoke of the unity and rights of the tamils, nonviolent struggle and their rivalry for parliamentary seats, they showed no interest [in] the plight of the downtrodden people living among the tamils and [the denial] of their rights by the caste system and untouchability” (senthivel, 2005). 280 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 missionary labours] and rāja śrīkāntaṉ’s cūraṉ cuyacaritai [the autobiography of cūraṉ] describe educational activism and community building work during the first decades of the twentieth century. the all ceylon minority tamil mahasabai’s camūka muṉṉōṭi em. ci. [social pioneer m.c.] hosts a group of essays by acolytes of one of the most important anti-caste activists of the period, m.c. subramaniam (1917–1989). kē. ṭāṉiyal’s (1927–1986) excellent set of novels, short stories, and essays were the result of self-learned ethnographic methods and community-based descriptions of the past.4 works like these offer critical vantage points into sri lankan tamil history largely ignored by professional historians in any language and challenge the idea that sovereignty is the century’s key narrative. sitting somewhere between primary and secondary source, ilaṅkaiyil cāttiyamum ataṟketirāṉa pōrāṭṭaṅkaḷum [the struggles against casteism in sri lanka], written in 1989 by s.k. senthivel and n. raveendran, is the most in-depth description of jaffna’s anti-caste discrimination movement. its authors are both significant left activists, and their work provides unique access into the logic behind much of the anti-discrimination and civil rights work of the 1960s and ‘70s. senthivel and raveendran also display a tendency to privilege their own party’s contributions, for instance in their insistence that the communist party of ceylon-peking wing brought a clarity of ideological purpose that united previously disparate causes.5 “it cannot be denied,” senthivel has written, “that there have previously been from time to time attempts to combat the caste system and reject untouchability.”6 given their enormous contributions, this focus is understandable, though there are consequences for the description of oppressed-caste anti-discrimination activism prior to the 1960s as piecemeal. the labor, bravery, and energies of many hundreds of oppressed-caste activists and allies over four decades of the twentieth century deserves to be identified and better understood. theoretically, to paraphrase gajendran ayyathurai, i attempt to consider some of the diverse counter-caste practices that sri lankan tamils have mobilized in response to caste-based subordination and exploitation.7 in doing so, i seek to contribute to ayyathurai’s larger call for a transformation in the study of south asia through an investment in critical caste studies, a dedicated scholarly project that systematically rejects academic tendencies to render caste as something natural and documentable, rather than as a social problem and argument made by dominant-castes for political and economic gain. as others have long noted, the writing of oppressed-caste centered histories presents unique challenges, as does writing about people and places still recovering from decades of war. i have complemented traditional archive-based work in colombo, kandy, and kew with a multi-year search for sources in jaffna. my interviews for the 4for more on kē. ṭāṉiyal’s method, see eṉ katai, 1986. 5having been a member of the same political party as senthivel and raveendran, it is not surprising that in 1962, ṭāṉiyal repeated this same line of argumentation that previous sporadic efforts to overthrow caste oppression in jaffna had failed due to an inconsistent ideological basis for the campaign. kē. ṭāṉiyal, 1962, pp. 6–7. 6senthivel, “thoughts and experiences…,” n.p. emphasis mine. 7“it is time for a new subfield: ‘critical caste studies,’ south asia @ lse blog, 5 july 2021. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 281 larger project of which this article is part began with an unexpected meeting down an unpaved jaffna road in 2014. they continued through the fourteen months i spent conducting dissertation research in jaffna in 2016 and 2017, and during annual monthlong visits over the subsequent eight years. during this period, relationships with the families of several activists have revealed key sources and breath-taking personal insights. these families could be reasonably described as “activist families,” for the clarion call of their (grand)fathers, (grand)mothers, (great)uncles, and (great)aunts still ring clear as a bell and continue to inspire the dedicated pursuit of justice. over the course of the twentieth century, the terms used by oppressed-caste communities to describe themselves have been deliberate and of great political significance. as a result, i am reluctant to use one single foreign and potentially alienating term to describe them. to complicate matters, activists and scholars based outside the island use the term “dalit” to be comprehensible to and act in solidarity with international audiences.8 prashanth kuganathan’s use of the term pañcamar— meaning, “the fifth people”—is reasonable; however, i have yet to find evidence of the term’s self-referential use by oppressed-caste people on the island in the first half of the twentieth century (kuganathan, 2014, p. 79). considering the immense efforts that oppressed-caste tamils made to claim titles of respect and humanity that i partly document here, i use language cognizant of and deferential to that effort: i alternate between “oppressed-caste communities,” “oppressed-caste tamils,” and “minority tamils,” depending on the period under discussion. finally, i must point out three limitations. as you will read, i have not focused attention on the role of the jaffna youth congress because its larger story has already been ably discussed by both jane russell and silan kadiragamar, though it rightly could be described as an incubator for several of the oppressed-caste led organizations described below. second, the struggle for civil rights discussed here coincides with widespread discrimination against the island’s malaiyaka or upcountry tamil community, their disenfranchisement, and the stripping of their citizenship. for reasons that need to be better understood, jaffna-based oppressed-caste activists did not seek to coordinate efforts with the island’s malaiyaka tamil community, despite a distinct interest to think island-wide from the early 1940s. because of this, i do not attempt to incorporate contemporaneous movements among malaiyaka tamils. finally, the roles of women in oppressed-caste activism in jaffna remain glaringly under-reported. though all the activist organizations i discuss below were formally led by men, interviews reveal the expansive role that women played as public speakers, educators, and leaders. dedicated work on this subject is critical if we are to ever truly understand how these communities fought for and claimed a host of rights long denied. 8for instance, the paris-based front de développement pour la societe des dalits du sri lanka explicitly frames itself as a dalit organization, kē. ṭāṉiyal’s first novel translated into english was subtitled “a sri lankan dalit novel,” and the important malaiyaka writer based in norway, sarawanan nadarasa, self-identifies as dalit. in his work, sarawanan highlights his own indian heritage, which may have significance for his use of the word. 282 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 in what follows, i consider four distinct, decades-long campaigns for oppressedcaste civil rights that challenged the dense network of discriminatory activities that characterized life in jaffna in the first half of the twentieth century. i begin with the claim of a tamil identity. the arrogation of being tamil defining tamil identity is notoriously complicated. like a moving target, the idea has changed over time and place, and been subject to contestation, accumulation, and fracture. today, sri lankan tamils generally rely upon a set of intersecting elements when thinking about who qualifies as “tamil.” this often includes language, geography, culture, and race. however, it would today be confusing to hear someone’s tamilness questioned based on caste, regardless of where they were born or live, in sri lanka or the diaspora.9 roughly a hundred years ago, however, this was possible. in the jaffna of the late 1920s, a widespread definition of being tamil limited membership to dominant-castes, especially the landowning veḷḷāḷar, as well as various middle, artisan, or service castes. these land-owning, educated communities claimed to be the sole inheritors of literary, political, and sacred traditions, some of which date back two thousand years to the sangam period, making them the rightful heirs of the title “tamil.” historically denied access to education and thus literacy, jaffna’s oppressed-castes were often excluded from this definition of tamil, and thus not heir to what was becoming an increasingly important regional identity and source of pride (wickramasinghe, 2014, p. 275). though this absence of a caste requirement among sri lankan tamils today can be explained as the result of the circulation of early twentieth-century political thought from south india (i.e., through the writings of e.v. ramaswamy or periyar) and the multiple waves of migration within the indian ocean and further afield, jaffna-based activism also contributed to this shift. between 1927 and the mid-1940s, a discrete campaign, led in part by oppressed-caste activists, used organization names, government petitions, and newspapers to publicly claim that oppressed-caste communities were tamil, thereby seizing or arrogating the term, expanding its meaning, and convincing others of the legitimacy of their claim. by the turn of the twentieth century, to be jaffna tamil was already deeply associated with certain elite and distinctly veḷḷāḷar characteristics. facility in the english language, a dedicated work ethic, frugality, and fiscal acumen were all associated with this identity. “the jaffna tamil,” wrote one observer in 1902, “could be seen in every part of ceylon, india and the straits and even in more remote parts of the earth where they have gone almost by necessity, and their pluck, perseverance, intelligence, and 9this is more complicated for the malaiyaka tamils, whose tamil and ceylonese/sri lankan credentials have been repeatedly questioned and described as illegitimate. for instance, the most recently completed census on the island (2012) officially labels malaiyaka tamils as “indian tamils.” considering the often presumed oppressed-caste status of malaiyaka tamils, their definition as indian or otherwise foreign is impossible to separate from a question of caste. øivind fuglerud made a similar claim about the ubiquitousness of tamil identities, regardless of caste, in jaffna in the late 1990s. see fuglerud, 1999, p. 20. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 283 elasticity of character have made them conspicuous wherever they have gone; and it is not impossible that a new civilization could flow from jaffna into her own hoary mother–india” (nathanael, 1902, p. 34). it is not hard to see how elite tamil social and political life reinforced the idea that to be jaffna tamil was to be veḷḷāḷar: tamil political leadership on the island was veḷḷāḷar, and membership of the leading tamil political organizations, such as the ceylon tamil league, the tamil mahajana sabhai, the all ceylon tamil conference, and the jaffna association, were all predominantly veḷḷāḷar. elected village and town councils were also almost exclusively veḷḷāḷar, as was the management of almost all newspapers, schools, temples, and churches. in february 1927, a group of primarily progressive, dominant-caste hindus operating under the name the jaffna depressed classes league, chunakam, began publishing a newspaper called tirāviṭaṉ. part of the goal of the newspaper was to reform hindu perspectives on caste and untouchability to stem the tide of oppressedcaste communities becoming christian. in the preceding decades, christian– and particularly catholic–outreach had made noticeable inroads among jaffna’s marginalized communities. perhaps the most famous example of this was the work of cuvāmi ñāṉappirakācar (1875–1947), who by 1927 had spent more than twenty-five years building catholic communities, churches, and schools across the peninsula.10 the way oppressed-caste communities are described in tirāviṭaṉ helps us see how language circulated in progressive hindu spaces that explicitly sought to avoid the use of pejorative caste names. though there was no single, predominant tamil collective term in use at the time, a set of adjectives were nominalized to refer to oppressed-caste communities. these nominalizations generally relied upon the words tāḻttappaṭṭa and oṭukkappaṭṭa (both of which can be translated as “depressed,” “oppressed,” or “downtrodden”) and include tāḻttappaṭṭavarkaḷ (the downtrodden), tāḻttappaṭṭa vakuppiṉarkaḷ (the depressed classes), and oṭukkappaṭṭavarkaḷ (the oppressed)11. more infrequently, we also find the use of taṭṭukkeṭṭavarkaḷ (those in need), tīṇṭakkūṭātavarkaḷ/toṭakkūṭātavarkaḷ (both meaning “untouchables”), and kīḻ jāti, meaning low caste.12 notably, none of these names are combined with or used to modify the word “tamil.” one of the first signs of a coordinated effort to claim a tamil identity for oppressedcaste people on the island occurred the same year tirāviṭaṉ was founded, in 1927. in july, the eminent dominant-caste methodist educator nevins selvathurai (1863–1938) and a successful building contractor, joel paul (1893–1969), partnered with a group of christian and hindu leaders to found the depressed tamils’ service league. their goal was “to investigate the hardships endured by the tamils of the depressed classes 10for a vivid marxist critique of these activities, see ṭāṉiyal, 1986. 11yāḻppāṇam tāḻttappaṭṭavarkaḷiṉ caṅkam cuṉṉākam" [jaffna depressed people’s association chunnakam], tirāviṭaṉ, 27 february 1927. 12references to oppressed-caste communities in more mainstream newspapers of the period are rare, and generally refer to these communities solely by caste name. the intu cātaṉam, however, did on rare occasions refer to these communities as tāḻnta cātiyiṉar [low castes] and tāḻnta vakuppār [low classes]. see vaṭamākāṇap paripālaṉam, 1930; tāḻnta vakuppār piratiniti, 1930. 284 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 in jaffna and in other parts of ceylon and to endeavor to improve their condition, by means of education, social service, and other civilizing influences.”13 the use of the term “tamil” in the organization’s name served several distinct purposes. it located them in a clearly recognizable political order and defined them as the representatives of a certain constituency. we can see that interest revealed clearly in a letter written to the colonial secretary two months after the league’s founding to request permission to appear before the donoughmore14. fig. 1: joel paul circa 1930. family collection. photo reproduced with permission. at the time, the donoughmore commission was widely expected to recommend a new constitution for the island and to remake the system of representative politics, which it eventually did in dramatic fashion (russell, 1982). representatives from multiple organizations advocating for the rights of oppressed-caste tamils were given the opportunity to speak before the commission, including the catholic diocesan union of jaffna, the north ceylon workman’s union, and the united tamils’ league of colombo. the depressed tamils’ service league delivered evidence before the commission at jaffna on 14 december 1927. the group highlighted a host of civil rights issues from educational disparities and discrimination in obtaining marriage licenses, to receiving care at pharmacies, accessing public wells, and the difficulty of obtaining equal justice under the law from dominant-caste juries.15 four members of 13jaffna depressed tamils’ service league, “memorial of the jaffna depressed tamils’ service league submitted to the special commission appointed to consider possible reforms in the ceylon constitution,” 7 december 1927. co 1041/12, the national archives, kew, u.k.; hereafter tna. 14jaffna depressed tamils’ service league, “memorial of the jaffna depressed tamils’ service league submitted to the special commission appointed to consider possible reforms in the ceylon constitution,” 7 december 1927. co 1041/12, tna. 15evidence of the jaffna depressed tamils’ service league (witness no. 58). co 1041/6, tna. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 285 the league gave testimony that day: nevins selvadurai, the franco-anglo principal of st. patrick’s college, father charles s. mathews (1879–1969), the american principal of jaffna college, reverend john bicknell (1877–1936), and joel paul. paul’s presence is significant, because out of the roughly two hundred people who sat before the commission—including many of the most important political figures on the island–—paul was the only known oppressed-caste person invited to speak. by may 1930, jaffna-based oppressed-caste claims to a tamil identity began to be articulated directly to the reading public. we can see this argumentation in the depressed tamils’ service league’s monthly newspaper jaṉatarma pōtiṉi. the newspaper, which ran between may 1930 and january 1931, was both edited and funded by paul. he had been educated in an american missionary school in tellippaḻai and later trained to become a teacher, but this goal was thwarted by principals unwilling to hire someone from a paṟaiyar, or drummer, background.16 instead, paul followed his father into work as a general contractor. with his keen mathematical mind and considerable work ethic, paul built a successful construction firm responsible for some of jaffna’s most important twentieth-century buildings, including the now razed jaffna town hall.17 paul was also an active member of the jaffna youth congress and remained in contact with handy perinbanayagam (1899–1977) until the end of his days.18 records from paul’s early activist years are rare, though interviews with family and members of his organizations recall the fiery speeches he gave at public meetings. t. arasaratnam, for instance, frail and more than 80 years of age when i met him, recalled travelling by train in the 1940s with paul to attend one of the bigger public meetings in jaffna town, made possible by the urban center. “for these type of meetings,” he shared, “depressed class people from all over the village, they gather there. if they go to a particular village here, people won’t come much. now if you have a meeting in tellippaḻai, only the people from tellippaḻai will come. not from outside. jaffna means, without any fear they go. because the town, no? that was the situation at that time.”19 though the formal leaders of the depressed tamils’ service league were men, we know this did not reflect the organization’s complex assemblage of leaders and membership, let alone the audiences attracted to its public meetings. interviews and emails with families connected to the organization provide a stream of references to multiple generations of women leaders who were forceful public speakers and key administrative aids.20 at least three such women leaders are known, including 16interview with daisy paul, 4 march 2023. 17“tīṇṭāmaiyai akaṟṟa ayarātu uḻaittavar” [the tireless worker who removed untouchability], tiṉakaraṉ, 17 june 1969; interview with arasaratnam, 4 may 2022. 18email correspondence with robert perinbanayagam, 5 october 2022. 19interview with arasaratnam, 4 may 2022. 20interview with arasaratnam, 4 may 2022; interview with a paul family member who wishes to remain anonymous, 6 september 2025. 286 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 a sarah isaac and her daughters vidya and thamilini isaac.21 we also know women were showing community leadership outside of formal organizations by petitioning government to intervene in cases of discrimination.22 newspapers of the period highlighted the presence of women at the service league’s meetings, which was not ubiquitous in the period.23 fig. 2: the cover of the inaugural issue of jaṉatarma pōtiṉi, may 1930. in joel paul’s introductory editorial in jaṉatarma pōtiṉi, he framed his vision for the newspaper, the challenges it sought to overcome, and the solution it offered. he wrote, in part: our opinion is that the way to support the oppressed is to empathize with both oppressor and oppressed through preaching the divine law of the brotherhood of man. we call for the recitation of the honorable and grace-filled jaṉatarma pōtiṉi, which will unite and advance the tamil people with equality beyond caste and religious difference, protect self-respect, and identify all as great and ancient tamils.24 there is no space here to adequately delve into the influences that fed paul’s arguments, but what is important for our purposes here is his stated goal: to “unite and advance the tamil people with equality beyond caste and religious difference, protect self-respect, and identify all as great and ancient tamils.” to be tamil, for paul, was to share equally in a multi-millennial inheritance of beauty, moral character, and intellectual achievement at the heart of the dravidian movement. tamilness bound jaffna’s social 21all three are pseudonyms. 22“hooligan scare in jaffna,” the times of ceylon, 29 april 1930. 23“the depressed classes,” the times of ceylon, 22 july 1927. 24“eṅkaḷ pattirikai,” jaṉatarma pōtiṉi, may 1930. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 287 world together in a way nothing else could; both religion and caste undermined an essential, linguistic unity. despite having been raised in a world that considered him an outsider as a result of his birth, paul rejected the discriminatory foundations of the idea, and claimed for himself and his community participation in a unified, expansive sense of tamilness. by july 1930, the campaign to be considered tamil was showing results. one of the first editorials carried by n. ponniah in his new monthly newspaper īl̲akēcari made the argument that “oppressed tamils are tamils.” unfortunately, copies of this first issue are not known to exist in libraries on or off the island, and so the details of his argument will remain unknown for the time being.25 it is difficult to track the speed at which ceylonese oppressed-caste tamilspeaking people started to be broadly considered tamil over the course of the twentieth century; however, there is evidence that the shift was already well underway by the mid 1940s. from at least 1944, widely-read newspaper editorials started referring to so-called “high caste” tamils. for instance, in an opinion editorial discussing caste and social disability in jaffna, a. arulampalam of nīrāviyaṭi noted that, “true, high caste tamils and hindus may feel wounded at the breach of time-honoured custom...” (arulampalam, 1944). we also see a shift in this period among politicians seeking to speak on behalf of all ceylon tamils and thus claiming minority tamils as part of their constituency. immediately following the soulbury commission’s report, g.g. ponnambalam outlined the platform of the all-ceylon tamil congress that made clear their intent to represent all ceylon tamils, regardless of caste, and that the pursuit of separate electoral representation that would “divide the tamil people” was a “shortsighted policy and suicidal for the race, though perhaps advantageous to certain individuals.”26 though ponnambalam’s argumentation ran contrary to the interests of oppressed-caste activists, the highly publicized moment attracted the attention of a reading public well beyond the progressive circles that read jaṉatarma pōtiṉi or īl̲akēcari. the moment signals a powerful embrace and legitimization of the argument that joel paul had fought hard to put before the jaffna public.27 next, i turn from the arrogation of a tamil identity to the demand for education equality. 25we know that this argument was made thanks to a brief note of appreciation paul published in jaṉatarma pōtiṉi in july 1930. “īḻakēcari,” jaṉatarma pōtiṉi, july 1930. 26“tamil congress and reforms,” the times of ceylon, 5 february 1946. 27despite these efforts, the tamil identity of oppressed-caste people in jaffna was still not universal in the 1970s and early 1980s. pfaffenberger notes that some veḷḷāḷars denied that oppressed-caste groups were tamil during his doctoral fieldwork between 1973 and 1975. pfaffenberger, 1990, p. 83. evidence also suggests that some oppressed-caste communities in the period did not themselves identify as tamil. the militant activist-turned public intellectual sivaram recalled visiting a jaffna oppressed-caste village in 1983 that shared none of the nationalist fervor of the urban middle class. even news of the sinhalese-led, anti-tamil pogrom of july 1983 failed to generate a strong reaction among the villagers. civarām, 2005. 288 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 equality in education education was a second critical venue for jaffna’s oppressed-caste activists in the first half of the twentieth century. at the height of opposition to the movement, petitions were signed, public letters filled newspapers, thousands of dominant-caste parents were prosecuted and fined for keeping their children home from schools practicing equal seating, and more than ten schools were burned to the ground. this section considers efforts in jaffna to claim and utilize rights to free elementary education and the various ways in which this cause was resisted. from the mid-nineteenth century, jaffna was one of the most literate and welleducated parts of the island. by 1929, christian and hindu institutions managed almost all the 424 schools and colleges in the northern province, most of which relied upon funding assistance from the central government.28 this dense educational infrastructure helped make white-collar labor one of jaffna’s best-known exports. up until the mid-1920s, this educational system was largely a dominant-caste domain. in 1920, the ceylon legislative council passed an educational ordinance making it illegal to consider caste in admissions to state-assisted schools.29 this law, which came into effect the first day of 1924, drew the attention of oppressed-caste parents, and in the years following, colonial administrators mentioned a new interest in education among jaffna’s “depressed classes.”30 by february 1925, one of the island’s most prominent politicians, sir p. ramanathan, guided a set of resolutions through jaffna’s hindu board of education that moved the board toward alignment with the law. the resolutions proclaimed it “the duty of every hindu” to help those who “had the misfortune of being born in what is called the lower caste family attain through education the principles enjoyable by what is called high caste persons.”31 despite being framed as altruism, the resolutions did little more than encourage members to follow the law. sir ramanathan’s efforts attempted to reconcile the department of education’s apparent new willignness to enforce equality measures with concurrent dominant-caste opposition. one way that managers of some jaffna schools sought to subvert the legislation’s caste equality provisions was by arranging school life according to caste, with separate facilities for eating, drinking, and sitting. oppressed-caste children were generally seated at the back of classrooms, on the floor, while dominantor middlecaste children sat at the front on benches or chairs, some with desks. in the 1920s, differential seating was hardly restricted to school rooms, and was ubiquitous in public 28ceylon, administrative reports for 1929, pt. i, p. d12. 29ceylon, educational ordinance of 1920, pt. iii, para 13, p. 633. 30ceylon, administrative reports for 1927, p. a12. 31educational discrepancies between communities were publicly justified based on cultural or natural attributes rather than unequal opportunity. for instance, according to an author who used the pen name “common sense:” “it is our common experience that the children of the people belonging to the castes which have been regarded for generations as high have in them the germs of certain noble qualities which the children of the low castes lack to a great extent, and have, on the other hand, positively harmful mental tendencies.” “equal seating in schools,” the hindu organ, 5 march 1928. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 289 and private spaces.32 it is not rare to hear of it still in operation.33 it was this last form of discrimination inside schools that campaigners decided was rectifiable, as it most clearly broke the spirit of the equality provisions in the law. multiple connected efforts were made to compel government action on unequal seating. from july 1927, the jaffna depressed tamils’ service league had signaled education to be one of three critical targets for social reform, along with poverty and “insanitation.”34 by that december, the league’s leadership emphasized unequal access and treatment in jaffna’s schools in its written and oral evidence before the donoughmore commission.35 we also know an oppressed-caste mother from the roman catholic tamil school in mayiliṭṭi wrote a petition to l. macrae, the island’s director of education, in which it was explained that oppressed-caste children were made to squat on the ground for hours.36 in late february 1928, a group of leaders from the depressed tamils’ service league paid a visit to macrae in colombo and provided further details on the state of educational inequality in jaffna.37 macrae reportedly assured the deputation that “the government had no intention whatever of going back on the resolution to treat all school children alike.” macrae’s own evidence before the donoughmore commission a month earlier also showcased an unwillingness to abide by discriminatory local custom, so we cannot rule out the prospect that white british administrators were setting policy they interpreted as protecting local minority rights. though multiple actors are likely responsible, wheels were set in motion and a new directive was issued in 1929 that explicitly prohibited distinctions of caste in assisted schools.38 were the department of education to find that such practices were maintained, the school in question would lose its financial support and be required to transition into a private school supported by student fees. despite there being a varied collection of published perspectives on the question of equal seating, public opinion as such is hard to gauge due to obvious questions of representation. even though it was claimed that “the opinion of most of the thinking 32as public examples of the general practice were challenged in jaffna in the first half of the twentieth century, differential seating was explicitly deployed to reiterate caste caste position and subordination, and as a form of insult. in the early 1940s, poṉṉar and cellaiyā were respectively elected to the chankanai and paḷai village councils, making them some of the first oppressed-caste people to win elections in jaffna. according to kē. ṭāṉiyal: “when village council member poṉṉar went to the first village council meeting, he was invited to sit on the ground. when cellaiyā went to the meeting, a coconut tree stump was placed as a seat. these moments should be engraved in brass in the history of the democratic system of tamils.” kē. ṭāṉiyal, c. 1979, p. 4. 33for instance, evidence of the post-war practice of preferential seating is noted by bremner, 2013, p. 33. 34“the depressed classes,” the times of ceylon, 22 july 1927. 35evidence of the jaffna depressed tamils’ service league (witness no. 58). co 1041/6, tna. 36“hooligan scare in jaffna,” the times of ceylon, 29 april 1930. 37“caste in the classroom,” the times of ceylon, 28 february 1928. 38“report of the commission to inquire into and report upon the present system of education in ceylon” (sessional paper xxvii of 1929). 290 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 people in these days” is “that depressed classes should be elevated,” debate centered upon whether government enforcement would be effective.39 challenging custom, it was argued, and imposing caste equality through state action, is most likely to provoke opposition, strengthen caste sentiment, and provoke violence.40 it may even “create enmity between the two sides and make nalavas homeless,” as the jurist h.a.p. sandarasegara once argued.41 in response, oppressed-caste activists pointed out that all citizens should have equal rights to public services.42 meanwhile, others sought to link the demand for equal seating to growing calls for independence. the editor of the times of ceylon, for instance, registered his skepticism that independence would lead to adequate protections for the rights of minority castes, and questioned whether it would instead lead to the exchange of one form of domination (foreign) for another (casteist).43 in fact, this concern had been a running theme through the donoughmore commission’s hearings and the evidence it received. for instance, the renowned sinhala muralist m. sarlis produced a remarkable image making a similar point.44 drawing on lankan, british, and classical western imagery, the painting centers lanka mava, or mother lanka as lady justice, light-skinned, bejeweled, and dressed in a kandyan sari. lanka mava stands before a map of the island and the union jack, and holds the scales of justice. the scales, labeled minor castes and powerful castes, are tipped 39“equal seating in schools,” the hindu organ, 5 march 1928. 40this same argument was made repeatedly by opponents to state protections for the rights of oppressed-caste people, first against education equality, then against rights to public cremation grounds, and eventually, access to temples. 41“equal seating ferment in jaffna,” the times of ceylon, 18 june 1930. 42“caste in the classroom,” the times of ceylon, 28 february 1928. 43“swaraj for jaffna,” the times of ceylon, 29 april 1930. 44for more on m. sarlis, see sanathanan, 2017. fig. 3: m. sarlis. “no swaraj to lanka until the scales are equal.” painting on paper. co 1041/10, tna the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 291 in favor of the latter group. she points to the painting’s argument spelled out: “no swaraj to lanka until the scales are equal.” the image was apparently given to the donoughmore commissioners as it was bound into one of the commission’s correspondence files now held at the national archives at kew. the 1929 directive to school managers to enforce equal seating or lose their funding created a sensation in parts of jaffna, with some schools losing eighty percent of their students almost overnight.45 though students at certain schools were heading for the gates, some of jaffna’s educational institutions had accepted and integrated oppressed-caste children into their ranks for two decades. for instance, the american ceylon mission’s tamil elementary school in tellippaḷai accepted its first oppressedcaste students in 1901 and then enforced equal seating from february 1905 (american ceylon mission, 1905, p. 41). other schools, such as those started by cuvāmi ñāṉappirakācar from the 1910s, were opened specifically in oppressed-caste villages and designed for community upliftment. by 1930, st. patrick’s college had long been operating without caste distinction, followed by jaffna college, hartley college, and uduvil girls’ college.46 s.r. jacob’s (1903–1974) experience as jaffna college’s first oppressed-caste boarding student in 1917 was recorded in vivid detail by john w. bicknell, the son of principal john bicknell.47 members of the hindu board of education in jaffna were up in arms and passed resolutions attempting to delay enforcement and shift the financial burden to the board of education should school property be damaged as a result of the policy.48 neither tactic worked.49 major problems were initially reported from elalai and kopay. in tuṉṉālai north’s wesleyan mission tamil school, veḷḷāḷar students abandoned en masse, leaving just two oppressed-caste children.50 between 1929 and 1933, more than 30,000 fines were issued to parents for school absences, many of which were undoubtedly protests against equal seating.51 fire was often used as a form of violent protest, by dominantand oppressed-caste activists alike. several schools had been burned in jaffna’s villages before the first case of arson reached the courts and was detailed in the press. most village schools at the time were wooden-framed shelters roughly ten by twenty feet, surrounded by meterhigh mud walls, all of which was covered in palm or palmyra leaf thatch. the schools were thus highly flammable and once set aflame, were engulfed in a matter of minutes. on 24 april 1930, the vacāviḷāṉ roman catholic tamil school was razed by a group 45ceylon administrative reports for 1929, pt. i, p. d7-8. 46“hooligan scare in jaffna,” the times of ceylon, 29 april 1930. 47bicknell, 1981, pp. 21–22. having been deeply inspired by m.k gandhi’s writings, s.r. jacob spent the majority of his life dressed in khadi, that is, simple home-spun cloth. consequently, from the 1930s, he was known within his activist and union circles as “jacob gandhi.” 48“hooligan scare in jaffna,” the times of ceylon, 29 april 1930; “equal seating in jaffna,” the times of ceylon, 8 may 1930. 49“equal seating in the north,” the times of ceylon, 14 june 1930. 50“equal seating in the north,” the times of ceylon, 14 june 1930. 51ceylon administrative reports for 1929, pt. i, p. d12, ceylon administrative reports for 1931, pt. i, p. d12, ceylon administrative reports for 1933, pt. i, p. d9. 292 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 of seven catholic veḷḷāḷars, three days after the announcement about enforcement of equal seating was made.52 two and a half weeks later, in ēḻālai, it was oppressed-caste people who set a school ablaze.53 hours before the fire was lit, veḷḷāḷars in ēḻālai met and resolved to ban those seeking equal seating from their land and palmyra trees, thus denying the local oppressed community their livelihood. within weeks, schools in tuṉṉālai north and urumpirāy were in cinders.54 in all, more than ten schools were burned, and two villages were forced to pay for a local detachment of constables referred to as “punitive police” until the crisis abated.55 governmental reporting declared that by the end of 1931, with the exception of the jaffna village of pūtūr: “active opposition to equal seating has died out, although it cannot be doubted that there are many who silently disapprove. nevertheless the depressed class people in certain villages are afraid that if they were to send their children to school, the high caste people would harass them in various ways. they feel that it is not possible for them to resist them or prosecute them in courts successfully…”56 in the years immediately following, jaffna government agent e.t. dyson recorded several visits to villages to investigate complaints against members of the government’s village-based administrative apparatus, including village committees, headmen, and police vidanes. “it is regrettable to note,” the same report mentioned, “that some of the village committees are encouraging opposition to equal seating by dealing with prosecutions for non-attendance according to their sympathies instead of in accordance with the law.” in march 1932, he drove out to pūtūr to determine whether a headman and a teacher of an aided school there were working against equal seating. “the charges are not without foundation,” he wrote.57 in july of that year, a caste dispute revealed that while veḷḷāḷars in ilavalai had accepted equal seating in the tamil language school, they “resented some pallar boys being admitted into the english school.”58 later that month, g.a. dyson fined the headman of sirupiddy, v. kathirgamar, rs. 10 for “encouraging by his attitude opposition to equal seating in schools.”59 there are indications that equal seating was not completely settled even by 1934, but colonial reporting from the period points out that “the desire of the depressed classes, particularly in the northern province, for education has been maintained…”.60 52“caste revolt in jaffna,” the times of ceylon, 1 may 1930. 53“school burning in jaffna,” the times of ceylon, 15 may 1930. 54“equal seating in the north,” the times of ceylon, 14 june 1930; “opposition to equal seating,” the times of ceylon, 3 july 1930. 55“lawlessness in the jaffna district,” the times of ceylon, 12 july 1930. 56ceylon administrative reports for 1931, pt. i, p. d12. 57jaffna ga diary, 12 march 1932. 20/127, kandy branch of the sri lanka national archives, kandy, sri lanka; hereafter slnak. 58jaffna ga diary, 7 july 1932. 20/127, slnak. 59jaffna ga diary, 29 july 1932. 20/127, slnak. 60ceylon, administrative reports for 1934, pt. i, pp. d8, a40. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 293 as admission to and treatment in private schools was not considered to be within the government’s jurisdiction, it would not be until the early 1950s that ramanathan college and parameshvera college—two of jaffna’s most elite hindu institutions of higher education—accepted oppressed-caste children. in 1954, the leaders of the north ceylon toddy tappers’ union testified to a government committee on the interconnections between economics and educational access.61 as j.d. aseervatham, s.r. jacob, g. nalliah, and m.c. subramaniam explained, “we feel [our children’s recent acceptance into ramanathan and parameshvera colleges] has become possible because our children are neatly dressed on account of better economic conditions. the management did not find difficulty as our children were dressed better.” by the early 1950s, jaffna’s oppressed-caste activists, along with brave parents and children, had successfully leveraged ideas of equality under the law to mobilize the island’s board of education, managers and teachers, village councils and headmen, and even the hindu board of education to enforce educational equality in state-supported schools. the record shows that in some places this project was fiercely resisted and in certain villages it took years for the question of equal seating to be resolved. despite these challenges, the example of equal seating provides evidence that the ceylonese colonial state was able to implement policies targeted at ending caste discrimination in public space using public funds, and that oppressed-caste activists played no small role in compelling the state’s action. i now turn to ways in which ritual spaces surrounding death became a venue for the campaign against caste discrimination. equality in death after the shots rang out, two men lay dead. both had died instantly within feet of the burning funeral pyres. though twelve kilometers and more than a decade separated their demises, the deaths of caravaṇamuttu rāmaliṇkam and mutali ciṉṉatampi were connected by an oppressed-caste campaign to exercise rights to public cremation grounds. this section demonstrates how public space for death rituals became important venues for oppressed-caste rights work. between 1930 and 1950, ten known cases of the explicit use of cremation to claim rights hitherto denied were documented in contemporary newspapers, colonial reports, and police records. at least four other examples that did not lead to serious injury or police involvement are also known. as they did to secure equal education, oppressed-caste activists mobilized the colonial state to protect their rights. as we will see, the state was an imperfect defender of those rights, especially as independence approached and jaffna’s politics turned distinctly tamil nationalist. on 20 may 1931, in a jaffna village outside caṅkāṉai, seventeen ceylonese police officers stood shoulder to shoulder, bayonets fixed, while stones rained down upon them. their uniforms were already ripped and bloody from an earlier clash, while 61ceylon, sessional paper xviii. evidence before the special committee to investigate the working of the tree tax system in jaffna, 1954, p. 28. 294 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 one of their number, police constable ibrahim, lay unconscious and bleeding from a strike to the head.62 according to police testimony, a group of several hundred cāṇṭārs and kōviyars had used clubs, knives, and rocks in an effort to exclude a local paḷḷar community from cremating the body of an elderly woman, tampaṉ ciṉṉi.63 police inspector r. stewart recorded that, prior to the clash, he had tried to convince both the cāṇṭār and the paḷḷar community to resolve the conflict. “i told the cahndas [sic] that we had to prevent a breach of the peace, and that i would use all necessary force to prevent such a breach.”64 working in tandem with the maniagar, they tried to convince the paḷḷars to bury the body, as had been their local practice. stewart reminded them that the veḷḷāḷars own the land on which they lived and the palmyra palms they tapped for their livelihood.65 the community declined to bury the body, which by stewart’s estimation had been dead for about two days.66 the community then requested police protection, to which stewart responded by telling them to collect water for the rites from their own area and see to the cremation.67 by the time the clash had occurred in may 1931, oppressed-caste communities in various parts of jaffna had already started to adjust their funeral practices. as part of the investigation surrounding caravaṇamuttu rāmaliṇkam’s death, t. suppiah, a police vidhan of caṅkāṉai east, explained that it is not normally the custom of paḷḷars to cremate their dead. “but now it is being done in the adjoining village manepay. i know instances of pallas being cremated. it takes place in chulipuram, chunnakam.”68 cremations by communities previously excluded from the ritual were clearly on the rise, and the practice appears to have been occurring for some time without serious incident. sinnadiyan kanapathipillai, a 30-year old paḷḷar who had been part of the funeral party at caṅkāṉai, testified that the community had already cremated five or six bodies before the day in question.69 that year, the administrative report for the northern province of 1931 also sought to explain the noticeable growth in what were referred to as “riot cases” as part of larger changes in the social order: “during the 6283/1559, 83/1560f, and 83/1560c, slnak. 63in his testimony before the inquiry resulting from the incident, police vidhan of changanai east t. suppiah explained that it was the veḷḷāḷars, kōviyars, and cāṇṭārs who objected to the cremation. paḷḷar members of the funeral procession sinnadiyan kanapthipillai and nannian kuddiyan both noted that cāṇṭārs and kōviyars were in the crowd attacking the police, though neither was willing to name those they saw. 83/1560, slnak. 6483/1560c, slnak. 6583/1560c, slnak. 66the decomposition of a body in may—often the hottest month of the year–is rapid, making the timing of mortuary practices all the more important. for several cases such as this, the timing of decomposition placed pressure on all parties involved, creating a deadline tied to intimate questions of respect and public health. in may of 1946, the body of the grandmother of s.n. rajendram awaited cremation for more than four days as activists and city officials fought over where the cremation could be conducted. at the time, rajendram was president of the united youth league and an up-and-coming oppressed-caste leader. “body unburied for four days,” ceylon daily news, 4 may 1946. 6783/1560c, slnak. 6883/1560c, slnak. 6983/1560c, slnak. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 295 year 26 riot cases were reported, as against 5 and 9 in 1929 and 1930, respectively. an assertive tendency in the depressed classes due to their growing emancipation and a corresponding reaction in higher castes has stimulated friction in certain quarters and led to this increase.”70 with his constables lined up on the cremation grounds, the armed cāṇṭār and kōviyar contingent before them and the paḷḷars behind, and police constable ibrahim bleeding from the head due to a stone strike, inspector stewart’s instructions were clear: there was no law preventing the paḷḷars from cremating the body, and he was to prevent any breach of the peace.71 as soon as the funeral pyre behind the police line was lit, according to police testimony, the anger of the cāṇṭārs and kōviyars was renewed. stones continued to fall as the cāṇṭārs and kōviyars approached the police line. in response, pi stewart emptied his revolver into the air above the advancing crowd, and took a rifle from one of the police constables. according to stewart, as soon as the crowd reached ten yards from the police, “a man jumped forward from the crowd, with a drawn knife. i fired from the hip and he fell.” numerous inconsistencies in this description of events were highlighted during the resulting investigation and trial, though pi stewart was exonerated of any wrongdoing.72 in the moment, pi stewart interpreted his role as the protector of public rights to the cremation ground, a choice that was then supported by the resulting administrative review. thirteen years later, in 1944, the political terrain had shifted and along with it, the significance of the movement to open cremation grounds. adding to longstanding debates over custom and privilege were newly urgent concerns over the interference of outsiders. with the prospect of independence coming into clearer focus, fears of majoritarian rule and the threat of sinhala politics “interfering” in “local” issues were increasingly voiced. this growing call, an early vocalization of a tamil nationalist impulse, became an important element in the direction and development of oppressedcaste politics. on the evening of 26 september 1944, mutali ciṉṉatampi was standing with about 25 family members in the villūṉṟi cremation grounds, keeping watch over the body of vaḷḷippiḷḷai, his elderly aunt, as it burned.73 as much of the evening’s ritual had finished, most of the hundred or so family members had left before the shots rang out. ciṉṉatampi died on the spot, while two kinsmen, murukar poṉṉaiyā of point pedro and anthony valichaur of kāraiyūr were also wounded. the moment was preceded by years of effort by oppressed-caste leaders to convince the jaffna urban council to provide space for oppressed-caste cremations in jaffna town. in 1941, a motion was put forth in the council to open villūṉṟi to all castes, though the matter was tabled without a vote.74 then, three months before mutali ciṉṉatampi was shot, urban council member sam sabapathy put forward a 70ceylon, administrative reports for 1931, pt. i, p. d13. 7183/1560c, slnak. 7283/1560c, slnak; “revolver or gun shot?” the times of ceylon, 21 january 1932. 73acting inspector-general of police w.t. brindley to minister for home affairs a. mahadeva, 19 may 1945. 83/1317, slnak. 74“shots fired at funeral,” the hindu organ, 28 september 1944. 296 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 motion to create a crematorium for residents of the town who had no other facility.75 no apparent action was taken. the government agent of the northern province (ga np), c. coomaraswamy, spent much of the slowly unfolding crisis balancing between obligations to maintain order, public safety, and equality of access to public services, with the need to respect the concerns, actions, and inactions of local elected officials under whose jurisdiction the cremation grounds fell. through the villūṉṟi episode, chairman of the jaffna urban council c. ponnambalam struck a conservative line. he frequently argued that custom had taken on the power of law, that existing facilities for oppressed-caste cremation were sufficient, and that the real danger of the moment was the threat to public order. that he took such a firm position belied his complicated relationship to the growing significance of oppressed-caste politics. some months before the crisis, he had put forward a motion that sought to curb caste discrimination in restaurants and tea shops in the urban council.76 though he quickly withdrew the motion, explaining that he was “guided by the views of the majority of citizens,” his actions reveal the growing appeal of catering to a new constituency.77 at multiple stages throughout the conflict, ga np coomaraswamy repeatedly appealed to members of the council to resolve the situation. he offered suggestions to designate part of villūṉṟi a general public cremation ground and, when that idea was rejected, to open a new general crematorium within the town limits.78 during a conference with the leaders of the urban council in october 1944, he emphasized that he spoke to them as one of their own—a veḷḷāḷar and caiva hindu—and that negotiating a conclusion would avoid a future breach of the peace.79 two days after ciṉṉatampi was shot, his family requested permission to cremate his body at villūṉṟi. standing before the ga np coomaraswamy and the superintendent of police (sp) osmund de silva, the family’s veḷḷāḷar representative v. sittampalam asked for an immediate response in writing from chairman c. ponnambalam.80 the request was denied and ciṉṉatampi’s body was cremated in kolōmpōtuṟai, outside the jaffna town limits. only a few days later, on 1 october 1944, violence was narrowly averted by police in arāli north when a nalavar funeral party cremated the body of a member of their community despite opposition by two nearby communities.81 in his correspondence with ga np coomaraswamy, sp de silva also made clear that he wanted direction as to what attitude the police should adopt should the nalavar community request police protection to cremate another body at villūṉṟi. the question appears to have been settled nine months later, during a meeting between the ga np and police leadership when it was revealed that the “police have no legal right to prohibit cremation or burial 75“jaffna seeks textile quota,” the times of ceylon, 14 june 1944. 76“stormy meeting of jaffna uc,” ceylon daily news, 14 september 1943. 77“a challenge to the tamil congress,” the times of ceylon, 29 september 1944. 78“villundi tragedy sequel,” the times of ceylon, 19 october 1944. 79“not willing to share villundi crematorium,” the observer, 18 october 1944. 80“intolerance over crematorium,” ceylon daily news, 29 september 1944. 81osmund de silva to c. coomaraswamy, 3 october 1944. 83/1317, slnak. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 297 of nalavas at villundi but, if a breach of the peace is anticipated, action could be taken under section 114 cr. p.c”82 section 114 of the criminal penal code is an insurrection clause. by the first week of may 1945, no progress had been made on the proposed general cremation ground within the jaffna urban council limits. in response, activists arranged for the body of another nalavar community member to be cremated at villūṉṟi. soon after the cremation on 7 may, a telegram was sent to the inspector-general of police (igp) ranulph bacon in colombo by s.r. jacob, the president of the north ceylon minority tamils mahasabha to inform him of the cremation and requesting police protection for the collection of ashes.83 this was followed up the following day by another telegram that added “why no reply matter urgent.”84 jacob had also written directly to ceylon’s governor sir henry monck-mason moore appealing for protection.85 fig. 4: president of the north ceylon minority tamils mahasabha s.r. jacob circa 1930. family collection. photograph reproduced with permission. fig. 5: the telegraph jacob sent to inspector general of police ranulph bacon to request police protection for the collection of ashes at villūṉṟi. 83/1317, slnak. photograph credit: stephan kanagalingam. within a month, a. nagalingam of the saiva virithi sangam of koṭṭaṭi had sent the minister of home affairs a petition signed by 27 members of the organization, calling on him to act.86 nagalingam claimed that the police were “the aiders and 82“notes of conference held at kachcheri on 10.6.45.” 83/1317, slnak. after further inquiries by the sp np, the igp finally weighed in on this question three months later, in september 1945, confirming “the police have no legal right to prevent the depressed classes entering the villundi crematorium to cremate their dead.” sp np to igp, manuscript note, 12 september 1945, with answer of 15 september 1945. 83/1317, slnak. 83s.r. jacob to ranulph bacon, telegram, 13 may 1945. 83/1317, slnak. 84s.r. jacob to ranulph bacon, telegram, 14 may 1945. 83/1317, slnak. 85acting inspector-general of police w.t. brindley to minister for home affairs a. mahadeva, 29 may 1945. 83/1317, slnak. 8683/1317, slnak. 298 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 abetters” of the nalavars in their criminal activity and “doing everything possible…to upset religious custom.” in response to the petition, jaffna chief inspector of police t.b. herath forcefully defended the police’s approach. “i submit that it is a libel on the part of the petitioners to say that we have taken sides in this matter,” he argued. “it was in this connection that the leader of the depressed classes asked me for police protection to remove the ashes from the crematorium. i told him that i would do nothing of the kind and also informed him that i would not hesitate to place him in custody if he was going to be the means of a serious breach of the peace. our policy has been and is strictly impartial and within the law. as a result the intelligent and disinterested public here appear to have confidence in the police at present.”87 according to reports, the ashes were never collected. in 1931, the jaffna police went to great lengths to enforce the law of equal access, even to the point of showing armed force and opening fire on a group of dominant-caste protesters and their enforcers after having been attacked. by 1944, when an oppressedcaste community sought to exercise their legal rights, the government establishment considered and then declined that same protection. government officials appear to have accepted the plausibility of the arguments put forth by leaders of the jaffna urban council that custom had obtained the power of law, and the contravention of custom was a threat to public safety. finally, we now turn to oppressed-caste efforts to ensure electoral representation. equality in electoral representation between 1927 and 1946, three commissions guided the establishment of ceylon’s system of national representative government. though adjustments have been numerous, many of the changes this period put into place remain constituents of sri lanka’s system of government. in hundreds of interviews across the island, senior british and ceylonese administrators spoke with a vast array of individuals who insisted on making their claims to representation heard. in 1927, a commission led by richard hely-huchinson, the 6th earl of donoughmore, recommended universal adult suffrage and paved the way for widespread adult participation in the democratic process. this was followed by a second british-led commission in 1945, in which herwald ramsbothom, the first viscount soulbury, investigated and then proposed a constitutional system in which electoral representation to the new parliament would be balanced between both territory and what were called “communities of interest.” finally, in 1946, the eminent ceylonese jurist l.m.d. de silva chaired the island’s first delimitation commission, which used the soulbury report and its own hearings to draw electoral boundaries for the first parliamentary elections in 1947. during the work of each of these three commissions, oppressed-caste activists gave testimony, held political meetings, and wrote publicly to protect their electoral 87cip jaffna t.b. herath to asp jaffna p.r. de s. seneviratne, 17 august 1945. 83/1317, slnak. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 299 rights.88 in response, oppressed-caste leaders faced claims denying their community’s existence, threats of verbal and physical harm, and the regular denial of reasonable requests for the same rights their fellow citizens enjoyed. throughout each step of the process, all three commissions listened to oppressed-caste claims of ubiquitous mistreatment and the need for independent representation. each time, hereditary caste and political interests impressed upon commissioners reasons to limit efforts designed to ensure oppressed-caste representation. the combined effect of this advocacy, explored below, resulted in an electoral system that effectively barred oppressed-caste representation from parliament for thirty years.89 at the time of the donoughmore commission’s arrival on the island in november 1927, the prospect of universal adult franchise represented a distinct threat to the conservative political order writ large, not just for the veḷḷāḷar-controlled tamil political landscape. at the time, the right to vote was restricted to literate adult men with a monthly income of at least rs. 50 per month or those who owned property worth rs. 1500. this resulted in an island-wide electorate totaling 204,997 men, or about 4 per cent of the island’s population, in 1924.90 queried as to his perspective on expanding the franchise to all adult men, ponnambalam ramanathan responded that a wider franchise would place power in the hands of men who have no time for reading newspapers, engaging in political debates, or other activities that educate people for civic responsibility. “you want to give him political privileges?” ramanathan implored, “for his own sake i say he will have no time for it.”91 his argument against the expansion of the franchise to women revealed a similarly conservative and patronizing perspective that was clearly at odds with the socialist tendencies of the commissioners. the commission recommended a broad franchise for most men above the age of twenty-one and women above thirty. the colonial office in london responded by reducing the age threshold for women to twenty-one, making the island the first country in asia with universal franchise.92 in its report, the donoughmore commissioners noted that, though they were unable to recommend special representation for oppressed-caste communities, they believed the extension of universal franchise, combined with recent efforts to ensure equal educational opportunities, were “the true remedies for their condition.” (ceylon, 1928, p. 72). arriving on the island in 1945, the soulbury commission was tasked with thinking through constitutional reform that would more directly prepare the island 88oppressed-caste activists were also concurrently fighting for electoral representation at the municipal and village level, where successes were more forthcoming. in the 1948 jaffna municipal council elections, d. james was elected for the cathedral ward, which had been created specifically because of pressure by various activists. “he creates precedent,” the times of ceylon, 7 december 1948. 89in 1977, with the support of the tamil united liberation front, t. rasalingam (b. 1933) was elected from the uṭuppiṭṭi constituency. 90ceylon, report of the special commission on the constitution. ceylon government press, 1928: 12, 61. 91co 1041/4, tna. 92k.m. de silva, a history of ceylon, p. 522. 300 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 for independence. part of that remit included making recommendations for new electoral boundaries. though the actual drawing of boundaries was left t the minority tamils progressive o a subsequent body, the soulbury commission did make a range of recommendations devised to navigate the political challenge of ensuring minority representation. while taking keen interest in the claims put forth by leaders of the allceylon minority tamil mahasabha, the soulbury commissioners publicly recognized the distinct limitations associated with single-seat electoral divisions.93 scattered or widely dispersed minority communities of interest were generally unable to concentrate enough votes to win any one single-seat election, leaving them without representation. in response to this issue, the soulbury commissioners recommended that the delimitation commission consider creating larger, multi-member constituencies. in theory, minority communities of interest would then be able to consolidate enough votes for a single candidate. parts of colombo and jaffna were both recommended for such consideration (ceylon, 1945, p. 73). between the release of the soulbury commission report in 1945 and the delimitation commission report of 1946, an oppressed-caste elected member of parliament was a distinct possibility for jaffna. the hearings before the delimitation commission reflect this possibility, both as optimism from the perspective of oppressed-caste activists and concern from the tamil political establishment. the arguments of oppressed-caste organizations, particularly the all-ceylon minority tamil mahasabha and the minority tamils progressive union, centered on the call for multi-member constituencies.94 in his multiple testimonies before the delimitation commission, the leader of the all-ceylon tamil congress and state council member for point pedro g.g. ponnambalam offered a master class in lawyerly skill and charismatic charm. while his oxbridge english and patrician courtesy were common to his generation of ceylonese politicians, ponnambalam also had a wickedly sharp sense of humor and was known to use insults to devastating effect. due to his experience, position, and skill, ponnambalam’s testimony carried enormous weight. ponnambalam argued that the commission should adopt an expansive interpretation of minority rights to representation. in his enumeration, this definition would field 34 minority seats, 13 93during the soulbury commission’s visit to jaffna in february 1945, member frederick rees and commission secretary trafford smith were invited by members of the all-ceylon minority tamil mahasabha to tour a recent site of caste violence. in kaṉpollai, a village outside point pedro, the group visited the site of a home razed two days earlier and spoke with victims. immediately following this visit, the three leaders of the all-ceylon minority tamil mahasabha that accompanied commission members were attacked. m.c. subramaniam, d. james, and v.r. ganapattipillai were tied together using subramaniam’s shawl, and an attempt was made to light the three on fire. a doctor and three policemen happened to drive past and stopped the assault before anyone received a life-threatening injury. kē. ṭāṉiyal, 1979, pp. 5–6; ceylon daily news, 16 march 1945. 94representatives to the first delimitation commission hearings in jaffna for the all-ceylon minority tamil mahasabha were j.d. aseervatham, m.a.c. benjamin, d. james, p. jonah, and g. nalliah. representatives for the minority tamils progressive union were a.b. rajendra, ariya pathirana, and m.c. subramaniam. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 301 of which would be held by ceylonese tamils. then, to avoid potential threats to the unity of a ceylonese tamil voting bloc, ponnambalam systematically deconstructed the arguments of oppressed-caste activists who sought representation as minorities among ceylonese tamils. in previous testimony before the soulbury commissioners, ponnambalam had publicly questioned whether a minority tamil community of interest actually existed in the first place by pointing out that the term “depressed classes” was difficult to define.95 “in this country,” he went on, “it is a fairly wide term, and a rather nebulous class.” before the delimitation commission, ponnambalam leveraged ongoing disagreements within the oppressed-caste rights movement itself. this point was made abundantly clear in the testimonies of the two primary minority tamil organizations. when asked whom they represent, members of the all-ceylon minority tamil mahasabha argued that vaṇṇars (launderers) and ampaṭṭars (barbers) were not part of the “depressed classes” because they have public rights that naḷavars, paḷḷars, and paṟaiyars do not.96 speaking on behalf of the minority tamils progressive union, ariya pathirana–jaffna’s leading sinhala politician and a former member of the jaffna urban council–argued that vaṇṇars and ampaṭṭars were certainly part of the “depressed classes,” as they faced the same exclusion from political life as all the other oppressed communities.97 the question of the size of the minority tamil community was of critical importance, as the larger the community, the more important it was to ensure their representation. unlike categories such as religion and race, caste has been excluded from modern census taking since its inception in 1871, and so when the question of the size of oppressed-caste communities was raised, authoritative data was unavailable.98 estimates varied from as little as 42,000 to over 200,000 people. when asked about this latter number, ponnambalam quipped: “all i can say is, some of us might belong to that category.”99 ponnambalam thus undermined and dismissed minority tamil claims using caste-inflected humor designed to appeal to a dominant-caste listener. the efforts of oppressed-caste activists and their allies were clearly hampered by the lack of independent data, and this ambiguity provided license to their opponents. taking a slightly different tack, the nationalist tamils committee argued that because the social advancement of oppressed-caste communities was proceeding so 95“argument for balanced representation,” the times of ceylon, 16 february 1945, p. 1. 96delimitation commission, proceedings of the public sessions held at jaffna, 5 july 1946: 21. 108.25/9, sri lanka national archives, colombo, sri lanka; hereafter slna. 97delimitation commission, proceedings of the public sessions held at jaffna, 5 july 1946: 44. 108.25/9, slna. 98there is a history of debates among those designing the ceylonese and sri lankan censuses as to whether caste should be included. for instance, in early 1945, a conference of government agents discussed the proposal and there was general agreement that it should be an included category, though the recommendation was not accepted by the executive committee of the ministry of labour, industry and commerce which had the final say. see census of ceylon 1946, 1, no. 1: 155, pp. 277–228. 99delimitation commission, proceedings of the public sessions held at jaffna, 5 july 1946: 73. 108.25/9, slna. 302 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 quickly, a permanent electoral response was unnecessary. instead, a.e. tamber and handy perinbanayagam argued for a transitional representation: “their disabilities can be obliterated in a short time. things are moving pretty fast and we would not stand in the way of nomination of a depressed class man to the parliament.”100 oppressed-caste activists also seemed to see the writing on the wall, and pivoted to a second option. j.d. aseervatham, the representative of the all ceylon minority tamil maha sabha at the delimitation hearings, closed his remarks by advocating for the nomination of an oppressed-caste leader to the senate or house of representatives.101 upon the delimitation commission report’s release, the possibility of electing an oppressed-caste member to parliament faded, as the commission was unwilling to design an electoral space in jaffna with the distinct aim of facilitating oppressedcaste representation. this choice was principally justified based on a question of quantifiable evidence. “figures supplied by various deputations were largely, if not entirely, the result of private effort,” the commission wrote, “and we find it impossible to accept them for the purposes of accurate delimitation.”102 despite this choice, the delimitation commission did explain that they sought, to the best of their ability, to leave oppressed-caste communities electorally undivided, “to give these groups a greater voice in the election of representatives than they have hitherto possessed.”103 though the delimitation commissioners made clear that they had no ability to comply with the multiple requests they received to recommend to governor henry monck-mason moore that he nominate an oppressed-caste representative to parliament, the inclusion of this note in their final report sent a message.104 just more than a year later, on 16 october 1947, governor moore appointed a.b. rajendra to the upper chamber of the senate, making him the first oppressed-caste member of parliament.105 having graduated from st. patrick’s college in jaffna, he rose through the ranks of the education department to eventually become interpreter mudaliyar to the governor. after retirement, he became president of the united youth league and was a leader of the progressive minority tamils union. aside from the symbolic value of his appointment, a.b. rajendra was able to rapidly contribute to the oppressed-caste cause from his new position. on 27 january 1948, senator rajendra made a motion calling on government to ensure access to public wells and cremation grounds, and to require all public authorities who issue licenses to restaurants and tea shops to include conditions that prohibit discrimination (ceylon, 1948, pp. 941–942). the motion resulted in the cabinet issuing a government circular that was discussed in the jaffna urban council in october 1948. chairman c. ponnambalam did not attempt to hide his displeasure. after reading the circular out 100delimitation commission, proceedings of the public sessions held at jaffna, 6 july 1946: 21. 108.25/9, slna. 101see, for instance, “north wants nine seats,” the times of ceylon, 10 july 1946. 102ceylon, sessional paper xiii, report of the first delimitation commission, 12. 103ceylon, sessional paper xiii, report of the first delimitation commission, 12. 104ceylon, sessional paper xiii, report of the first delimitation commission, 12. 105a.b. rajendra would be followed in parliament by the nominations of g. nalliah in 1957, and m.c. subramaniam in 1970. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 303 loud, he stated that the central government should “not preach without practicing,” and that it was guilty of discrimination of its own, a comment with obvious nationalist implications.106 despite the 1948 government circular, caste discrimination and exclusion from public space continued into the 1950s. in 1956, the teacher and communist activist p. kandiah (1914–1960) was elected to parliament for the point pedro constituency. helping begin a long tradition of communist support for oppressed-caste politics in the north, kandiah was influential in helping advance the prevention of social disabilities act. brought by the federal party’s mp for trincomalee n.r. rajavarothiam (1908– 1963), the act passed with the support of s.w.r.d. bandaranike on 13 april 1957. the act read like a summary of oppressed-caste anti-discrimination activism of the period. it prohibited more than ten separate forms of discrimination, including the prevention or exclusion of a person on the basis of caste from schools, cremation grounds, public wells, public vehicles, shops, restaurants, or temples normally open to all followers of a religion. though rarely referenced today, the act was a watershed moment for the movement. it would take another decade before someone was charged under the law and for that case to wind its way through the courts, but once the dust settled the result was momentous.107 for the first time, a legislative act had overruled the legal protection of dominant-caste custom and privilege protected in tēsavalamai, the dutch-codified legal codes of jaffna. that is to say, in about thirty years of work, oppressed-caste campaigners managed to secure legislation that ended at least twohundred and fifty years of legal sanction for dominant-caste supremacy. conclusion we can also see from this story that the decades of activism leading up to the wellknown 1968 clash at māviṭṭapuram was led by a diverse group of oppressedand dominant-caste leaders, that included hindus, christians, sinhalese, buddhists, and foreigners. activists were variously motivated by a christian sense of human equality, an interest in renovating hinduism, a sense of tamil unity that transcended religion, and a socialist drive to overturn social inequality. combined, all these motivations produced a multi-faceted anti-discrimination agenda. like any other social body, the movement also navigated its own internal conflicts. as we have seen, the role of the colonial and then post-colonial state varied throughout this period. early on, the state was an active defender of public rights to education and cremation ground space, yet by the 1940s government representatives had become hesitant to contradict the protectors of tradition and were willing to accept delay tactics for the preservation of the status quo. as tamil nationalism became a more direct motivation in both local and national politics, oppressed-caste claims of tamilness were used against their calls for separate representation. 106“‘set example,’ state told: circular on caste ‘discrimination,’” the times of ceylon, 14 october 1948. 107balmforth, 2023 304 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 that oppressed-caste advocates failed to ensure that the island’s new electoral system protected their equal access to political representation is beside the point. they achieved meaningful victories by winning seats in village councils, the jaffna municipal council, and through appointment to parliament. in so doing, jaffna’s oppressed-caste advocates of the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s reshaped tamil political life on the island, and helped make jaffna at the dawn of independence arguably more politically equitable than ever before. there are several potential routes forward for this history, far more than i am able to note here. first, i have just touched on internal divisions that challenged the unity of oppressed-caste activism in the period—including narrow and more expansive definitions of being part of the “oppressed classes”—but this just one of many points of fracture that need to be better understood, as ideologies, methods, religion, and personality clashes all threatened to break-up the movement. better understanding these challenges helps us see just how remarkable the movement itself was, to have overcome so much. second, this article has focused on jaffna due to its centrality to the oppressed-caste rights work in the period, but jaffna is just one of several important parts of tamil sri lanka. we need to better understand how space has affected the story of caste discrimination, both across the island and across jaffna. third, sinhala politicians, buddhist monks, and colombo-based political agendas have played important roles in this history beyond the simplistic “interloper” narrative that tamil nationalist politicians used to dismiss criticism. for instance, s.w.r.d. bandaranaike, sirimavo bandaranaike, and madihe pannaseeha mahathera all channeled resources and political support to oppressed-caste activists and communities in jaffna, and these remain little understood parts of the story.108 fourth, deep consideration of the intellectual origins of oppressed-caste activism is necessary, because it came from some surprising corners. periyar and gandhi both played roles, as did a host of christian and marxist writings and thinkers, but we also know that american black intellectual history played a role: we know booker t. washington’s up from slavery (1901) was being publicly discussed in jaffna as early as 1916. finally, multiple canada-based family members interviewed for this project explicitly requested anonymity due to ongoing experiences with caste discrimination, including social isolation and fear that public association with this history could harm the marriage prospects of the youngest generation. further research on caste in the diaspora is clearly needed to expand on work being conducted by p. thanges and most recently, mark whitaker in the first part of this symposium. a fuller account of the transformations that oppressed-caste activists of this period achieved will point to the ubiquity of caste struggle between the 1920s and 1950s. due to space limitations, i have focused only on the campaigns surrounding tamil identity, education, mortuary space, and electoral representation. future research will demonstrate coordinated oppressed-caste efforts to access clean water, land, and economic independence. combined with what we know about the movement 108also, see dominic esler's article in this volume for a critique of the scholarly separation between tamil and sinhala caste systems on the island. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 305 to challenge caste discrimination and open temples and tea shops in the 1960s, and new work on the horizon by bahirathy räsänan on the complicated role of caste in the ltte, a new picture is developing. caste struggle, in various forms, articulated by different actors, and for a range of ends, has been a constant and central narrative in twentieth-century sri lankan tamil history. both its remarkable successes and the obstacles it has overcome can serve as powerful lessons for anti-caste activists today. bibliography manuscript sources national archives of sri lanka, colombo and kandy, sri lanka (slna/slnak) the national archives, kew, london (tna) news papers ceylon daily news the hindu organ intu cātaṉam jaṉatarma pōtiṉi the observer the times of ceylon tiṉakaraṉ tirāviṭaṉ vīrakēsari references american ceylon mission. 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(1981). a history of sri lanka. university of california press. tāḻnta vakuppār piratiniti [representatives for the lower classes]” (1930). intu cātaṉam, 28 july. ṭāṉiyal, kē. (1962). aṭimai vilaṅkaṟuppōm. [we will break the chains of slavery]. ciṟupāṉmai tamiḻar viṭutalai iyakkam. ṭāṉiyal, kē. (1986). eṉ katai [my story]. vi.ri. iḷaṅkōvaṉ, mūlikai veḷiyīṭu. ṭāṉiyal, kē. (1986). kānal [mirage]. kumpakōṇam: tōḻamai. ṭāṉiyal, kē. (c.1979). tīṇṭāmai oḻippu iyakkam: aṉṟu mutal iṉṟu varai. [the movement to eradicate untouchability: from the beginning until today]. unpublished essay. the arrogation of being tamil and other campaigns against caste discrimination in jaffna 307 thiruchandran, selvy. (2021). caste and its multiple manifestations: a study of the caste system in northern sri lanka. bay owl. university teachers for human rights (jaffna) sri lanka. (2025). special report no: 19, 9 september 2005. accessed 18 october 2023. <https://uthr.org/specialreports/ spreport19ptii.htm#who> vaṭamākāṇap paripālaṉam [northern province administration] (1930). intu cātaṉam, 14 july. wickramasinghe, nira. (2014). sri lanka in the modern age. 2nd ed. oxford university press. wilson, a. jeyaratnam. (1994). chelvanayakam and the crisis of sri lankan tamil nationalism, 1947–1977. university of hawaii press. © 2025 shewli kumar. this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. general research article doi: 10.26812/caste.v6i2.2535 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6 no. 2 pp. 330-342 october 2025 issn 2639-4928 brandeis.edu/j-caste researching with dalit women activists: an intersectional feminist social work approach shewli kumar1 abstract aligning with an intersectional feminist social work approach in a simultaneity of process and praxis, this article traces and attempts to create an agenda of research that foregrounds how ‘dalit women’s lives matter’ in feminist research and mobilization at the grassroots. through critical and participatory engagement with dalit women activists via the initiatives of the national council for women leaders collective, this article elucidates the experiences of sexual violence faced by dalit women in india. while framing the intersectional feminist research agenda, it centralizes dalit woman activists and their shared experiences on sexual violence in society through cross-case/context analysis of sexual violence against dalit women across thirteen states in india. the article argues for an intersectional feminist social work research and practice, while working and intervening in the lives of dalit women. keywords dalit women leaders, intersectional feminist research, national council for women leaders, social work research and practice introduction feminist research and mobilization in general have increasingly become visible across the world through the initiative taken by different groups of women coming together with experiences of shared pain, shared stories of oppression and resistance, and most of all, a shared strategy to defy the oppressive patriarchal and other social structures which challenge them and deprive them of a dignified life (kumar, 2011; menon, 2012; patel and khajuria, 2016). this implies that there is no single way of capturing women’s experiences, and ways of negotiating the world of patriarchy, race, 1center for women-centered social work, school of social work, tata institute of social sciences, mumbai e-mail: shewli4@tiss.ac.in researching with dalit women activists: an intersectional feminist social work approach 331 caste, religion, and, numerous other stratifications that govern their lives. women’s subjectivities are intrinsically linked to their family of origin, and their caste locations play a major role in the control over their bodies, sexuality, and labor. the specificities of their lived realities are interwoven in the intersectionality of the social stratifications that provide a space for the ‘privilege’ or ‘oppression’, depending on their location in the hierarchy of this stratification. in the case of women from marginalized social groups like dalits (who are from scheduled caste communities)1 in india, women’s participation in mainstream women’s movements and mobilizations has had a peculiar trajectory of ‘being in them’ and yet ‘being invisible within them’ (hartmann, 2009; omvedt, 2009; paik, 2014). this trajectory reveals that at several points of time in the history of women’s movements and mobilization in india, the core issues such as violence, deprivation, and denial of rights are related to those of women belonging to dalit communities but often get subsumed within the larger interests of the woman in general. the mobilizations and movements have usually failed to include and address the specific dalit women’s contexts of violence and denial of rights, their agency and voice within those movements, and the nature of the oppression faced. this becomes even more challenging when women’s struggle is seen on the premise of ‘personal is political’ (talpade, 2013, 971) which raises questions of ‘what happens to the key feminist construct of the personal is political’ when the political (the collective public domain of politics) is reduced to the personal? questions of oppression and exploitation as collective, systematic processes and institutions of rule that are gendered and raced have difficulty being heard when neoliberal narratives (talpade, 2013) disallow the salience of collective experience or redefine this knowledge as a commodity to be consumed. if all experience is merely individual, and the social is always collapsed into the personal, feminist critique and radical theory appear irrelevant—unless they confront these discursive shifts. from a postcolonial perspective talpade (2013) & spivak (1988) have questioned the hegemony of western ideas and theorizing of feminism having ‘othered’ the realities of ‘third world women’ and have argued that women are a heterogenous category. yet there has been little acknowledgement of caste and gender axis which create a different form of oppression and reduce the knowledge of dalit women and their realities in the peripheries. on the other hand, decolonial theorists, academic and activists like freire (2017), said (1994), smith (2022) discourses enable an analysis of oppression and oppressiveness of the coloniality and its aftermath. the question of who produces knowledge keeping the 1dalit is a term that means ‘oppressed’ and ‘downtrodden’. it was first used by the dalit panthers in india to denote those men and women belonging to the outcast social groups which include scheduled castes in india. they are considered untouchables in the country and subjected to extreme forms of social exclusion and violence. under the constitutional order 1950 certain communities have been notified as scheduled castes and have provisions for affirmative action and protections (articles 341 & 342) https://socialjustice.gov.in/writereaddata/uploadfile/ constitution%20(sc)%20order%201950%20dated%2010081950.pdf. 332 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 geography of experiences, the power of one form of knowledge over others has been questioned by these theorists. for acknowledging and understanding the experiences of dalit women, these theories provide a direction of analysis which brings us to locating the gender and caste axis and the conspiracy of caste-based patriarchy which impacts the lives of dalit women. brahmanical patriarchy (chakravarti, 2003) explains this axis and specific ways in which dalit women’s life experiences are impacted. these realities of dalit women’s oppression and experiences of violence as systemic and continuous throughout their life cycle have been articulated by dalit women themselves in their autobiographies (bama, 1994; moon & pawar, 1989; viramma, 1998; baby kamble, 2018). these autobiographies are pathbreaking and forge an entirely new epistemic of dalit feminist scholarship. such writings constitute a new historiography of dalit women’s contexts and lives and as kapadia (2017, p. 32) has reiterated that, “the multi-modal praxis of dalit subaltern women that is challenging and transforming their subalternity.” dalit feminist research informed by dalit feminist theorization enables a different ‘voice’ borrowing from guru’s (1995) approach of ‘difference’. this has the strength to create social change which is transdisciplinary and paves a pathway to critical research methods (reinharz, 1992). this article is based on research that adopted an intersectional approach to understanding discrimination and violence as propounded by crenshaw (1991) and a dalit feminist approach (rege, 2013; paik, 2014, 2021; patil, 2013). according to the intersectionality approach, people experience multiple barriers when gender discrimination intersects with other forms of discrimination (e.g. discrimination based on race, caste, ethnicity, sexuality, etc.), and/or other barriers (e.g. poverty, rural residence, etc.). the term “axis” describes identities such as gender, race, ethnicity, caste, poverty, etc. the terms “multiple” discrimination and “compound” discrimination are also used to describe this axis. this article, while locating sexual violence within the axis of caste, gender and class uses the dalit feminist theorizing to bring their situated knowledge and their experiences through research and mobilization in india. dalit feminism (paik, 2021; rege, 2013) positions caste at the center of all epistemic interrogation not just in the form of ‘brahmanical patriarchy’ but as inimical to dalit women when it comes to sexual violence as a tool and means to keep caste power and privilege in place by dominant caste groups. aligning with an intersectional feminist social work approach in a simultaneity of process and praxis, this article traces and brings out ‘how dalit women’s lives matter’ and requires specific analysis and interventions. it is based on a study undertaken to explore the reported sexual violence against dalit women in 13 states of india. this research was undertaken under severe constraints due to the pandemic and the dalit women activists utilized technology and social media tools (telephonic, whatsapp, and instagram) to interview survivors/victims of sexual violence and other stakeholders researching with dalit women activists: an intersectional feminist social work approach 333 working with them as well as mobilize to advocate for their rights and access to justice. the research methodology used was participatory action research (cornish f, breton n et al., 2023) using a feminist intersectional approach to highlight the specificity of the nature and forms of violence experienced by dalit women. in the first part of the section that follows, the article dwells on earlier historicity of sexual violence faced by dalit women and some research undertaken to bring out this form of violence. the second part describes the simultaneous emergence of a national collective of dalit women activists from the grassroots and the dalit intersectional feminist research agenda. in the third section of the article, the research findings showcase the specific and unique nature and forms of violence which dalit women encounter while living in the margins of the society. it covers the cases of sexual violence from the years 2015-2020. the article ends with a discussion section that emphasizes the need to utilize a feminist intersectional approach by social workers to locate and address dalit women’s situations and violence faced by them. caste-based sexual violence against dalit women: a literature review the nature of violence against dalit women came to light through a major watershed case reported in rural india in 1992 (murthy, 2013; gupta, 2012). the case for the first time brought out the specificities of identities as ‘dalit’ women for feminist mobilization and the need to approach violence against dalit women from an intersectional and anticaste feminist epistemology. this nature of the judgment by the sessions court brought out the deeply embedded institutionalized casteism. the sessions court acquitted the perpetrators observing that “indian culture has not fallen to such low depths that someone who is brought up in it, an innocent rustic man, will turn into a man of evil conduct, who disregards caste and age differences” (kannabiran, 2012). the case also led to the supreme court of india’s landmark proclamation of the vishaka guidelines which in turn became the basis for the sexual harassment at workplace act of 2013. a detailed study by mangubhai, irudayam & lee (2014), comprising narratives of 500 dalit women in four states of india also highlighted the systemic violence and denial of access to basic resources. the all-pervasive caste and gender discrimination has percolated into systems and created an enabling environment for the continued perpetuation of violence and inequality. this study played a significant role in highlighting the situation of dalit women in india. similarly, a later study by aidmam-ncdhr (2018) reflected caste discriminatory practices in schools, access to government programs, and land and livelihood programs. a study by deshpande & ramachandran (2020) indicates that almost 16 per cent of the workforce from scheduled caste communities are engaged in informal labor and most of these are women workers. other studies (guru, 2010; paik, 2020; surepally, 2020) have also shown how dalit women, their identity, and their location as women within specific communities have been overshadowed and lost in the entire discourse for justice. 334 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 during the pandemic, dalit human rights defenders net (dhrdnet, 2020) documented several cases of sexual violence in seven states of the country. the national crime records bureau (ncrb, 2015 & 2020) data showed that there has been a 45 per cent increase in the number of rape cases against dalit (scheduled caste) women and girls registered between 2015 and 2020. further, the national family health survey-4 (nfhs-4) showed that sexual violence was the highest among women from scheduled caste communities (7.3 per cent), scheduled tribe communities (7.8 per cent), and other backward caste communities (4.5 per cent). this is just the tip of the iceberg as this data comprises only reported cases, numerous cases of sexual violence are never reported anywhere and hence are not covered by the data. since the author was connected to most of these activists and all were working with dalit women victims/survivors at the local levels, i.e., in villages and marginalized localities in towns and cities, there was a need expressed for collective action and advocacy. online conversations and whatsapp sharing led to the idea for a social media campaign and research on what they clearly could identify as caste-based sexual violence and state impunity. denial by police stations to lodge firs, denial of medical treatment, lack of sensitivity from medical personnel, threats, and intimidation by the perpetrators all seemed to be uniformly used to deter the victims and their families from seeking help, redress, and justice. given this situation, aligning with an intersectional feminist social work approach in a simultaneity of process and praxis, this study was operationalized into participatory feminist action research and mobilization at the grassroots. it assumed that the non-recognition of the intersectional discrimination faced by dalit women within a heterogeneous and unequal society has resulted in a greater increase in institutionalized discrimination and prejudices. the specificities of dalit women and their contexts of life, living, and struggles against oppressive socio-political conditions, institutionalized intersectionality of discrimination, stereotypes, and sexual violence faced by them needed to be brought to the visible arena of feminist politics and agendas. research methodology and approach for long dalit women activists across india have been engaged in redress, advocacy, and providing support services to dalit women, especially those facing sexual violence. these activists have developed a clear language and theory of anti-caste and intersectional approaches, articulating the same in their languages. but conducting research together to bring in empirical evidence was a new venture for all of us. the study involved national council for women leaders (ncwl), a coalition formed by dalit, adivasi, and bahujan women activists (author included) in india which was initiated after an infamous rape case where a young dalit girl was brutally raped (toi 2024). the following diagram explains their consistent conversations and the approach of the research. researching with dalit women activists: an intersectional feminist social work approach 335 fig. 1: the research process: feminist intersectional participatory action research deep conversations (online and offline) there was a clear identification of the problem, i.e., escalation of sexual violence against dalit women in 13 selected states (maharashtra, telangana, tamil nadu, odisha, bihar, rajasthan, uttar pradesh, madhya pradesh, uttarakhand, haryana, chhattisgarh, kerala, and gujarat) and the failure of the criminal justice system to address and redress the aftermath of the violence, provide succor and help to the families. community support was mired in the power dynamics of the caste system and often the survivors/victims were threatened and intimidated rather than supported when they tried to reach out to the justice system. dalitness and gender intertwined the discussions revealed that the vulnerability of dalit women in these states had heightened as they had to work outside their homes due to financial constraints, some of the younger girls had to work in the farms of the dominant caste people, and their mobility was subject to everyday surveillance and harassment by the youth of the dominant caste communities, while even small children were not spared. this was mainly during and because of the lockdown when existing preventive and protective mechanisms were suspended. this emboldened the dominant caste men and youth to assert their dominance in the form of sexual violence. need for collective action the research underwent a cyclical process beginning with a six-month social media campaign with the dalit women human rights defenders. the activists shared their work (through facebook, twitter, and instagram) with the victims/survivors, their challenges as dalit women and their engagement with the police, medical fraternity, 336 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 and the legal systems, discriminatory instances, familial constraints, and the consistent navigation of the state systems to secure services and justice for the victim/survivors and their families. research approach and process this was followed by a need to conduct detailed research and utilize the findings to develop a strategy to help the survivors/victims and deepen redress for them. it was clear that such a research required an intersectional feminist approach to bring out the specific context of the sexual violence experienced by dalit women. vulnerabilities were exacerbated due to their location in the communities as dalit, as women and living in poverty and peripheral geographies, which were isolated. the following steps informed the process of the research as an emancipatory and participatory process: (a) conversations for defining what aspects to be covered in the research and how (b) a list of 50 cases was drawn up with a purposive sampling technique and were selected for interviews. (c) training activists for data collection, ethics, and simultaneity of providing all possible help to the victims/survivors. (d) collating case studies, filing of right to information inquiry in police stations, the study of first information reports (firs), and collating secondary data on violence against women specifically from the national crime records bureau, a government database. (e) recording the narratives of the activists and their understanding of the cases they were working with on the ground. (f) gathering factual data on the incidents of sexual violence, the background details of the victim/survivors, the status of their complaints with the police, medical status, and access to counseling and other services. the study, a cross-case/context study (state-wise), enabled dalit women leaders from the grassroots (villages and urban peripheral localities) to frame, develop and research sexual violence against dalit women. it gave the dalit women activists the opportunity to document their experiences in the interconnections between, caste, gender, and violence and the typical nature and forms of violence perpetrated against dalit women and girls. the next section of this article explains the findings and analysis of this study. the data was thematically organised and categorized along four major themes, namely, nature and form of violence, intersectionality of caste and gender, indifferent and discriminatory criminal justice system, and community pressure on the victims and assertion and violence. researching with dalit women activists: an intersectional feminist social work approach 337 thematic findings nature and form of violence: the intersectionality of caste and gender the research revealed some very disturbing trends that sexual violence is being used by those in dominant positions as a weapon to assert power and reinforce existing hierarchies. most perpetrators of caste-based sexual violence against dalit women and girls belonged to dominant castes. of the 50 cases studied for this research, details of the caste of 36 male perpetrators are available: eight perpetrators each were from yadav and other backward caste communities; four were from the rajput community; three each from the jat and muslim communities; two perpetrators were from the sikh community; and one each from the prajapati, maratha, brahmin, vaniba chettiyar, vanniyar, gupta, thakur and gujjar communities. the study showed a concerning feature that in over half the cases (62 per cent) men and boys of dominant caste groups have targeted dalit girls under the age of 18 years. the patterns of violence varied based on age, where victims-survivors live, their vulnerability, and the working relationship that families have with perpetrators’ households. these parameters converge to create conditions wherein dalit girls are routinely stalked by these sexual predators. the socio-economic and political power accumulated by the dominant caste groups and families is based on control over land, property, and other economic assets, which in turn is interwoven with political, legal, and administrative power through networks of kinship and influence. this makes the caste system extremely resilient and resistant to change. dalit women and girls are often subjected to more severe or aggravated forms of sexual violence, such as gang rapes or rape with murder, and there is often a collective nature to these crimes, with offenders from dominant castes acting in groups to commit offenses. it was clear that dalit women’s bodies were being projected as markers of their dalit identity and sexual violence was a tool for the exercise of power and subordination of dalit women. this use of power and dominance is also flowing into the criminal justice system, where impunity is rampant among the very stakeholders dutybound to provide justice—the police, judiciary, medical functionaries, and others— as was apparent in the well-publicized case during the lockdown due to covid-19. institutionalized casteism and discrimination are apparent when the victims/survivors of caste-based sexual violence struggle to obtain justice within india’s legal system. indifferent and discriminatory criminal justice system many cases are not reported or under-reported and as a result they do not reach the criminal justice system. those who do manage to move through the complex and unfriendly police and judicial systems have low conviction rates. the study revealed that in one case the first information report (fir) was not filed by the police and in 7 of the cases the report of the crime was not filed under the special law meant for crimes against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. moreover, 22 survivors reported a delay of 5 days to 3 months as the time that made evidence-building and conviction possibilities challenging. several survivors also reported that the police would refuse 338 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 to lodge the report and instead intimidate them with abuse and physical violence, which deterred them from insisting that an fir be filed. further, as soon as a case was reported the perpetrators and other dominant groups activated channels of influence within the police system and subverted adequate evidence gathering. regarding the cases which finally found their way to the courts, the discriminatory attitudes and bias of the judges and lawyers was another barrier which the victims had to deal with. they were often treated with suspicion and had to go through long pending trials. out of the 50 cases, 42 remain pending in the pre-trial phase of the courts or during police investigations. community pressure on the victims in 37 out of the 50 cases studied, the survivors or families of victims received threats from the accused, their family, or other members of the community members and were pressured to either not complain or to withdraw or compromise. often, these intimidation tactics were employed to silence victims/survivors and their families, contributing to low conviction rates in rape cases. there was a lack of support from their community as they were themselves living in oppression, fear, exclusion, and poverty. they were also dependent for their livelihoods on the families of the perpetrators. assertion and violence continuum another pattern that emerged is that caste-based sexual violence is perpetrated when dalit families begin to earn well, buy assets, and send girls for better education and jobs. the stigma of caste sticks like a stamp forever, gender and caste a higher form of discrimination and violence embedded in structures of caste, gender, and labor. the nature of public violence and its shape and form is directed not only on the ‘body’ and its dignity but also on defilement and violation as a ‘community’ and caste symbol. private violence is equally immense, and the triple jeopardy faced by dalit women intensifies their deprivation. however, this does not deter any of them from the dogged and determined fight for justice and emancipation. in each of the stories of sexual violence lies the triumph of dalit women survivors determined to become leader activists for justice for many more. a new vocabulary of feminism and struggle is being written out as they also counter the hegemony of savarna (dominant caste) feminist approaches towards undoing the patriarchy, gender-based injustice, and violence. the new narratives are interwoven into the lives of the dalit activists and their emancipatory work with other survivors. as one of the activists shared, “our fight is against caste-based sexual violence. this fight is for our rights and our selfrespect, and we will continue to fight till our women and girls get their dignity and rights. our fight is for justice.” it is in this spirit that the interventions by activists and social workers have been towards immediate relief, counseling the survivors/victim and their families, supporting the redress process with the criminal justice system, and ensuring compensation for the violence faced by survivors and their families. in tandem with this work has been the researching with dalit women activists: an intersectional feminist social work approach 339 advocacy and campaign work done at a national level to ensure better accountability and response by the system to the needs of the survivors. discussion towards dalit intersectional feminist social work practice for long dalit women activists across the country have been engaged in redress, advocacy, and providing support services to dalit women especially those facing sexual violence. these activists have developed a clear language and theory of anticaste and intersectional approaches, articulating the same in their languages. for the author as a researcher and academic activist, this research meant a consistent use of feminist reflexivity and a conscious engagement with herself. being aware of the power that she has being an academic and a lived reality as a woman of a dominant caste, she had to make consistent efforts not to drive the agenda of the research and the process of developing it with the activists. feminist intersectional social workers in india must follow a forked pathway wherein they have to choose between working with the state systems to facilitate services for those left out or working towards changing the unjust social order which ‘marginalizes’ certain social groups and individuals based on their identity (caste, gender, religion, ethnicity, ability, and sexuality among the few of the diversities). they must locate themselves in any one of these two pathways or work with both. often this is a challenging and dilemmatic situation where to get some form of justice one must return to the same system which often shuts the doors of redress and support to dalit women survivors. it is frequently a painstaking, determined, and painful process. intersectional feminist social workers must move beyond and outside of the system increasingly coming from locations of the margins, where they have faced oppression throughout their life experiences and that has intertwined and enabled them to become leaders of what we can explain as structural and feminist intersectional social work. structural social work links individual “problems” to broader societal injustices. it holds an analysis of the social structure at its core, which views social inequalities, rather than individual deficiencies as the root of people’s problems (mullaly & dupre, 2018). for dalit women’s activism, a huge source of inspiration and strength has been the writings of dr. b. r. ambedkar (rege, 2013, p. 145). he was acutely aware of the intimate connection between caste and patriarchy and the role that they played in women’s subordination in society. ambedkar’s writings in the mooknayak and bahiskrut bharat brought out the ills of the caste system and continue to inspire these dalit women to unite to organize and agitate, as it did during the independence movement. the research and its findings brought forth the systematically institutionalized form of casteism and discrimination that dalit women face in their everyday lives. the threat of violence to sexual violence as a continuum increased during the pandemic. the challenges in accessing the criminal justice system, other services for support like legal aid and counselling and entitlements like victim compensation. this research 340 caste: a global journal on social exclusion vol. 6, no. 2 comes as an urgent clarion call for feminist social workers to address and highlight this form of intersectional discrimination and violence faced by dalit women despite strong laws in india. as a feminist intersectional social work educator and activist, the engagement with sexual violence against dalit women has meant disrupting knowledge claims, reclaiming, and mainstreaming, marginalized knowledge as ‘mainstream’ knowledge. it is also an iteration of praxis from academic to field learning, enabling voices and listening, creating spaces for dialogue and discourse, and walking with and then walking behind. the intersectional social worker challenges the self and is being challenged constantly. therefore she/he/they must consistently take steps towards change through leadership building, capacitating, research, advocacy, partnership, treading the unknown, conquering fear, the warmth of solidarity and reassurance, acceptance, and sisterhood, as well retain a constant check on the use of power, reflexivity, falling and picking up. conclusion the unraveling of the lived reality of dalit women challenges the rhetoric of ‘modernity’ and ‘development’ that hides the everyday lives of dalit women citizens at the margins. the life of dalit women questions the persistence of caste-based discrimination and the use of violence as coercive power to keep them subordinated. this study highlights the hidden and oppressive ground reality of how everyday ‘humiliation’ and sexual violence are used as a tool against dalit women to deprive them of a dignified life. it suggests that sexual violence is an exercise of power over the women and the communities to which, they belong, and it is used to generate fear as a tactic to deny access to education, health, forest, land, water, and other citizenship rights that dalit women are entitled. in particular, the study underlines the need for dalit feminist researchers and social workers to understand how intersectional feminist standpoint research can capture axis of sexual violence against women in society—a process of unpacking and acknowledging newer possibilities of ‘feminist’ understandings from dalit women’s perspectives. research in this context becomes an emancipatory project in the context of the micropolitics of consistent engagement with families, women and, with local police, media and, medical fraternity creating an enabling situation for dalit families in the margins. it entails keeping faith in the constitution of the country and the vision of dr. b. r. ambedkar that dalit women activists continue to articulate and bring to the forefront the systemic denial of justice and strive towards opening the very same system for demanding and ensuring justice. acknowledgements the research was funded by equality now. the author would also like to acknowledge the support of the dalit and women activists of the national council of women leaders and more specifically manjula pradeep 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