Decaying divide of the caste system

One day a lively old gentleman with his bright old wife came to our street. He was searching for a person who lived in a house just in front of ours. The old man appeared to be disappointed to find that his friend had vacated the house and moved to his own new flat. I was impressed by the old man's manner and language.

I requested him to come in and take rest for a while in my house. I was shocked when he politely refused to enter my house because he was born as an untouchable. I reminded him of the struggle of young people of his cult for attaining social equality and told him that he was not contributing to their noble cause.

The old man laughed loudly and said, 'Where is the need for such demonstrations? The world has become smaller for human beings. Humans from various parts of the world interact with one another without caring for the race, faith and caste. Untouchability in India is a fast dying curse. It is dying a natural death. The shouts and demonstrations of the people who say that they are struggling for equality are just reminding of the social discrimination. There are some people in families who believe that to allow a person of a low birth to enter their house is against their old custom. I do not want to hurt the feeling of such people, who cling to such old belief. That is why I hesitate to enter your house'.

Now I felt it easy to make this man and his wife step into my house. I told him that Gandhiji's teachings and guidance made the Indian masses work together, to attain independence and live together, forgetting their state of birth. On hearing the name of Gandhiji they entered my house with a broad smile on their faces.

After coffee the old man began to tell that many young educated people of his caste mixed with their friends of upper caste. He told how they played and worked together and so on. There was a great deal of talk on Art and its influence on society. After the old couple left, my thoughts ran back to the village where I lived eighty years ago.

I was just seven years old. My father was a Shanubhog of five villages (Shanubhog was an official who maintained all the records of lands around few villages, collected land taxes, to be paid to the Tahasildar during 'Jamabandi', i.e., Tahasildar's meeting with all the Shanubhogs and land owners). One day I was walking barefoot by the side of my father across a ploughed field. It was a hot day. An untouchable who was coming towards us has stopped at a distance and with folded hands told my father, 'Sir, I shall manufacture a pair of Girki Chadaav (special footware used by such people) for our young master'.

We had almost forgotten his offer. On a fine day he came with the Girki Chadaav, that when I wore, perfectly fitted my feet. My father could not hide his jubilation. He queried with exclamation, 'How could you make this fit my boy's feet without taking the measurement?'

The humble artisan could only smile. He told me in a hushed voice that he took measurement of my footprint on the field! My father asked him to climb the elevated veranda and sit in front of him. My mother gave him something to eat.

The priest of the local temple happened to pass through that street. He saw the untouchable sitting in front of my father on the elevated veranda. Within few seconds all the brahmin leaders of the village assembled in front of our house. The priest shouted at my father and asked him to move into the house.

Everybody entered the house and my father followed them. One of the brahmins asked my father, 'How could you allow an untouchable to sit on the elevated veranda in front of you? You are a Sanskrit scholar. We are horrified at your act of shattering the dignity of brahmin community'.

My father had a broad smile on his face when he began to say 'I stepped short of what our Acharya (spiritual guide) did'.

The priest was very angry. He cried, 'How dare you throw the sin of your action at our noble Acharya?'

My father maintained his cool and said, 'Ramanujacharya was pleased with the services of untouchables when he was proceeding from Melukote towards Delhi to get back the idol of Sri Thirunarayana Swamy. He threw his arm around shoulders of the leader of the untouchables and said in Tamil - Neengal periya kulatthar that means all of you belong to a noble family'.

The temple priest quietly left the place. Other brahmins expressed their regret and followed him.

Ramanuja, Basavanna and many spiritual leaders have guided people to live in harmony. But somehow the feeling of untouchability haunted our society for a long time.

Our village was an exception to the bitter divide of caste system. Though people of various castes had their own way of life, mutual economic dependence and love of art made the whole village work together. The festival of 'Honneru' (golden plough), the festival of crackers and few other gatherings have left their magnificent impression on my memory.

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Opinion

[16/08, 08:18] C T Joshi: What Varaaha Murthy has said about social discrimination and untouchability is true. It is still prevalent but it needs to be made clear that it is not so prevalent as in the past.

Making too much of something  not much relevant will not serve any purpose. It also needs to be noted that ALL Brahmins and other upper caste people DO NOT practice untouchability and other forms of social discrimination. Not a small is the number of progressive people of these castes. In fact they have been in the vanguard of movement to eradicate untouchability and bring about social harmony and social equality. 

One way of bringing about  social harmony is by promoting widow marriages and  inter-caste, inter-community marriages. I will just give two incidents from my own family.

My parents from old orthodox generation did actually perform a widow marriage when it was still a taboo. Nowadays it's no more a taboo. In another incident, my cousin had married inter-community. She was hesitant to come to our house. When I learnt about it, I myself called her up and invited her. Regularly she visits us and we visit her family people, who are extremely nice. They have given her full freedom to practise all Hindu religious rites in their house. Kudos to such progressive people of all castes and communities.

Let us hope whatever social discrimination that still prevails also goes away.

[16/08, 14:53] B S Ranganath: You're right. Casteism is vanishing for the community's benefit, and common these days are intercaste and intercountry marriages.

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FANATICISM, EXPLOITATION, TERRORISM AND SOCIETY

Today the trade, commerce and industry have brought nations closer to one another. But human society is being haunted by fanaticism, superstition and exploitation. I was once confronted by some religious fanatics.

A small organization invited me to hoist national flag on an independence day. After hoisting the flag, all of us sang our national anthem. I commanded for a salute with a slogan "Jai Hind" (This slogan reminds us of the war launched by Subhash Chandra Bose against the British rulers). Somebody in the group shouted "Vande Matharam".

I smiled at him and said, "We regularly sang 'Vande Matharam' after flag hoisting during our struggle for independence". But the young man argued with me claiming that our national anthem "Janagana Mana" should be replaced by "Vande Mataram", as Hindus are a majority in our country. This prompted me to say a few words about Hindu ways during my speech in a hall after flag hoisting. I said, "Hindus believe that the Great Veda Vyasa Maharshi who wrote Maha Bharatha, is yet alive. He will be present in every meeting where a person addresses a huge gathering. He expects the speaker to impress the audience that they are living in a happy world where people are mutual admirers and interdependent. The speaker has no right to provoke mutual suspicion, fear, hatred, violence or intolerance".

I concluded my speech with Gandhiji's invocation "Sab ko sanmati de bhagawan", which means "O God, grant good thoughts to everybody".

All in a sudden there was a rush of young men and women entering the hall through all doors. They began distributing a small piece of red thread and offered to tie it around my left wrist. When I said that I could help myself, one of them turned towards the audience and began to address them in a loud voice. He began saying, "Hindus will have no place in India. Muslims are going to capture lands belonging to holy places like Amarnath. Hindus must unite and fight Muslims".

I did not want him to continue his speech of hatred. I got up and asked him to sit down. He stopped speaking, but did not sit down. I reminded the audience what I had told in my speech that Vyasa maharshi does not like people who instigate fear, hatred or violence. I also told them that when I lost my father when I was just nine years old and my mother left the village and came to a town with six children, it was a Muslim who helped in all our needs, so that my mother could send us to schools.

The organizer proposed vote of thanks and I was almost hustled out of the hall though it looked like their reminding of my programme elsewhere while leading me to the vehicle waiting outside.

Demolition of Babri Masjid is an example of exploiting the simple faith in a common man for achieving political command. Common man was made to believe that "Lord Rama was born in the place where Babri Masjid stands. Muslims constructed a Mosque there, against the wishes of Hindus. This wrong deed done long back needs to be corrected. It is the duty of every Hindu to volunteer for Kar-Seva (service by hands)". The Masjid was demolished.

As a proud Hindu, I feel deeply hurt when I see some people disturbing peace in society in the name of protecting Hinduism. These people do not bother to look into the real strength of this ancient religion, 'Hinduism'. This is a religion that expects every individual to feel VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBAKAM (The whole world is my family), SARVA DEVA NAMASKARAM KESHAVAM PRATHI GACCHATI (Worship of all Gods reaches the Supreme Power whom we call 'Keshava) and SARVE JANAH SUKHINO BHAVANTHU (Let all people be happy).

International terrorism had its evil influence on some Hindu Enthusiasts also. A suicide bomber from Srilanka killed herself while assassinating a popular and most beloved Indian leader Rajiv Gandhi. Peace loving Indian society was thrown into inconsolable grief over this unforeseen dreadful horror. Apart from this, terrorist acts in the name of religion killing innocent people added fuel to the fire of disturbed Hindus.

Maoists and Naxalites are other groups taking pride in cowardly acts of causing death of innocent people and loss of public property. Government of India has not yet used its muscle power to put down Naxalites and other such organizations. It wants the leaders of such organizations to come forward and explain their aims so that the Government can help them in serving those people for whose sake they are wasting their energy on criminal acts.

Religions and socio-economic theories suffer many changes at the hands of clerics and other self styled guardians of the pride of a religion or a theory. Al-queda, which is against the spread of influence of western ways over Islam, has resorted to terrorism as a means of warning people.Taliban is strictly against freedom for women. Their anti-women laws are not just limited to enforce Muslim women to wear 'Burkha' (a dress which covers womans's body from head to toe). It also restricts them from going out for work.

There was a heartening report that a Muslim lady asked Muslim women the world over to "kill silence for liberty". She was celebrating 'International Women's day'.

Both Al-queda and Taliban made border region of Pakistan their safe haven, after being hunted out of Afghanistan.

Pakistan which took birth as an Islamic country and which nursed its own terrorist activities, is now facing countless terrorist activities by Taliban. The latest attack killed hundreds of Ahmedias, whom Taliban brands as 'incomplete Muslims'.

The world now has a two-fold immediate responsibility. One is to unite and fight terrorism of any kind, anywhere in the world. Second is to organize a world wide net-work to educate people to rise above all sorts of divisive forces and work for the welfare of society, while improving personal living condition.

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Dwelling with Soligas

Lifting up the poverty stricken Soligas (a tribal community), and merging them with the better economy of the mainstream. This was a mission often pursued by Varaaha. He had many stints dwelling with them to educate them according to the demand of that time. Go through his own narration (with even the relevant graphic created by him), on how he resolved a problem affecting two families, during one of his stays at B R Hills, the origin of Soligas in Karnataka – India.

I remember with deep reverence the popular Kannanda writer and affectionate friend Siddavanahalli Krishna Sharma. He encouraged my adventurous desire to live in a forest and work for the aboriginal tribes. Gandhi Smarak Nidhi asked me to go to BR Hills (mount of the deity Biligiri Ranga) and work for the Soligas. KV Balakrishna had done an excellent ground work to establish an institution for the welfare of Soligas. My wife insisted upon staying with me in the forest. We had to take our two little children also with us. Balakrishna had got a large hut built for us. It was a nice place for us to live in.

Balakrishna had to go back to his native place. So he felt the need to introduce me to the facts around us before he could hand me over complete charge of the mission. His first choice was to show me the relationship between animals and man in a forest. He took me out into the forest around a small lake. On our way I could hear the noice of barking turigs. I stopped. Balakrishna also stopped. We saw a huge tusker elephant rushing towards us and Balakrishna asked me not to move. Elephant which was rushing towards us with wide spread ears, also stopped. It turned back and moved towards its herd, where we could witness a few female elephants with calves. Another encounter with elephants was when we were walking towards a town. Some Soligas joined us on the way. A group of elephants came very close to us. The Soligas shouted in a shrill voice. We also joined them. The whole group of elephants turned back and ran away. The Soligas also walked away in the opposite direction and vanished behind the trees. They were searching for beehives to extract honey. We were lucky to walk with them when danger was close at the sight.

Balakrishna left me with full responsibility to work for Soligas and returned home. My first activity as a humble worker was a very complicated one. I came to know from a forest guard that a woman had contagious fever and was made to stay far away from her hut. When I went there to see her, I was not allowed to go near her. She was lying under a tree. A plate full of food was kept close to her head. I went to the oldest man in the group of huts and spoke to him. He was happy when I told him that they were right in segregating the patient. But it was difficult for him to accept my suggestion that a doctor may be brought here to check the spread of the disease and also help the patient to recover. At last he spoke to men and women around, and agreed to my suggestion.

I was lucky to find a young doctor who looked at it as a pleasure to work in a forest. He and his two assistants walked eleven miles from the town to reach our hut. Next morning they began inoculating Soligas. Soligas who dislike people of plains were charmed by the doctor and his assistants. All the Soligas in various group of huts were inoculated. The patient also showed symptoms of recovery. An unexpectedly huge number of Soliga boys and girls joined our residential school (we had to permit the children to go home in the evening and return next morning to the school, before breakfast).

One day a few elderly Soligas, cudgels in their hands, entered our premises. They were angry. They wanted to discuss a very important matter with me. I sat with them. One of them said, We should kill that boy. After a prolonged inquiry I came to know that a girl belonging to their group eloped with a young man of another group. The other man said something blurry, from which I 've been able grasp just two sentences: The water filled pot is yet lying on the path. The boy and the girl were seen digging for roots near the hillock. 

It was not easy for me to understand the full story. The story is that when a boy and a girl love each other and know that their parents are against their marriage, they fix a date and time to run away together into the forest. When the people of the girl’s family find the water filled pot lying on the path and the girl missing, they are sure that the girl has eloped. The search for her begins. Soligas are experts in following traces of human movement left in forest, when they move. Somebody finds the couple in a far off jungle. Then begins the firing of insults by the girl’s party at the people of the boy’s household.

I was unable to think of any action in the matter. I only said, "Anger ruins the future of your beloved girl". There was an immediate change in their moods. They began a hushed conversation among themselves. The elderly person among them told me, We will ask the father of the boy to build a hut for the young couple. All of them expressed their gratitude to me and left. I stood wondering what I did for them to change their attitude.

A few days passed. I came to know that the father of the boy was reluctant to take full responsibility of building a hut and both the parents of the boy and the girl should together do the work. This was agreed upon as the prestige of both families was retained. The young couple were invited to live in the new hut built near the hut of the boy’s father.

On one of the research oriented occasions, Balakrishna was warned by soligas against living in a house. It was stated, a ghost lived on a tree near that house used to pester a girl of their community. According to their version, a water filled pot on her head got knocked off due to intimidating efforts of that ghost. Balakrishna immediately noticed a string to be used for drying clothes, tied between the tree (believed as haunted) and a window grill of that house. He convinced the superstitious Soligas that the girl with the pot on her head has invariably walked under the string. The pot fell down when it was hit by the string. The girl agreed that she walked under the string. The ghost left them once for all.

There is a Srivaishnava temple at the top of BR Hills. The story is that the deity married a Soliga girl and decided to stay on the hill. This story did not make much of an impact in Soligas’ life. They continued to follow their own customs while participating in temple activities. They worship Jadaya Swami (a form of Shiva).They celebrate Fire walking. They are very careful about the people from plains, and they have contacts with agents who buy forest products like honey, oil seeds etc., from them. Self-prestige is very important for Soligas. 

Jealousy, hatred, cunning nature etc has no place in the minds of Soligas. Though they live in various groups, they belong to a greater harmonious society.

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Opinion

[09/08, 17:22] C T Joshi: Again Varaaha Murthy's piece is lucid and extremely readable. More so since people do not know much about Soligas, one of the major tribes. This piece is a sort of introduction to them and their interesting life style. The piece makes known about their traditions , their superstitions and general way of life. 

But it is scrappy, I feel. One doesn't get to know much about them. It is more a personal account. While personal account is good and engaging, it should have been integrated with the larger account of Soliga living.

As I understand, several persons have lived with Soligas, tried to reform them, and bring them into the mainstream. Among them is well-known Dr.H R Sudarshan, who has worked much among them and received Alternative Nobel prize, which is as valued as the Nobel prize.

Incidentally who is Balakrishna? readers would like to know.

[09/08, 19:11] B S Ranganath: Having compiled the essay Dwelling with Soligas at his fag end of life and expired much before we carried it here, there's know way to have his personal answer to the question "Who is Balakrisnna?"

What we guess from the blog post anyway is that he too represented Gandhi Smarak Nidhi like Varaaha.