2

Dalit Culture

Brahminic Hindu Culture

How can any change happen when the mind of every Hindu
is so tightly wrapped up in caste? When their whole lives are
spent in disentangling which caste is above them and which
below, and in secretly nursing desires to somehow advance
in the hierarchy and become brahmins, no one can change
the Hindus of our country. Karl Marx nor even his grand-
father can do anything. The Hindu can never be a human
being. Caste is his main identity. No one can save a Hindu
from caste.
In every nation there have been inequalities and beliefs
on pollutions and taboos. But nowhere do you get an
instance as in our society where a vast majority of people are
labelled as polluted and unclean on the basis of their birth,
and then treated as unequals; as low rather than high. In
Hindu casteist society there is no concept of equality. One
can only see the Hindu as little man-big man, the high and
the low, the polluted and the pure, guru and disciple, and so
on. Never can you see any caste Hindu as a ‘good’ man.
Hindu culture is the culture of priesthood. They created the
Vedas, brahminic ideology, Sutras, Smrithis, Dharmasastras,
Puranas and the Ithihasas. Though mythology and Puranas
appeared in the West also, in Greece they were created by
19
20 Raj Gauthaman

artists, poets and philosophers. This is a key distinction. The

brahmin priests made others cultivate, fight wars, trade, do all
manual work while they themselves indulged in ceremonies
like yagna and created an ideology suited to this arrangement.
They said there are two kinds of deities: one in heaven and
the other on earth. They claimed that they were the deities
on earth. God resides in the Vedas and since the brahmin
priests have become proficient in the Vedas, God resides in
them. The material presented during yagnas was divided into
two. They claimed that material (pinda) put in the flames was
for the gods and the other material nivedhanam and dhanam
was for them, the gods on earth (Pusurar). Only if brahmins
are satisfied, will other human beings get happiness in the
next birth. Chandogya Upanishad describes brahmin priests
doing yagna and eking out a livelihood as follows:

A row of white dogs, catching each other’s tail, go, and

after sitting down they chant: ‘Om! We will drink. Varuna!
Prajapathi! Savithri! Feed us. O God of food! Feed us! Om!’1

Even today when a devotee goes to a temple to worship, he

has the brahmin priest in mind. He thinks that he/she will
not get salvation without the priest. All those who live inside
the caste system of Hindu society lead a life that depends on
another person. Brahmin priesthood has organized the whole
society so that it is oriented towards its comforts. Brahmin
priests have fashioned a hierarchical structure in which each
stratum jostles with the other for status and prestige. They
have thus created a culture of constant bickering.
What is strange here is that they believe that in this
Kaliyuga to attain liberation they have to undergo so many
cleansing rituals, atonements, appeasements, and vows from
dawn to dusk. But the other shudras (not dalits, who are
panchamar and not Hindus) need not go through all these
tough rituals; they can attain salvation if they do chores and
errands. This is a clever explanation and encouragement for
manual work.
 Dalit Culture 21

Caste Hindus in Tamil Nadu

Two thousand years ago brahmins coming from the north
brought to Tamil-speaking areas, vedic hegemonic culture
that stigmatized human beings, won the kings of the area to
their side and began harvesting the benefits. During the time
of the Pallava kings, the Pandyas (BC 300–900 AD), the Cholas
(AD 900–1200), the later Pandyas and the Nayaks, the land-
lords accepted brahminic Hindu culture and in the process
ruined the land. Landlordism that prevailed in the area sup-
ported their hegemony. Though vellala caste groups took the
lead in this power structure, their position was decided by
the brahmins who cited the Sastras to claim that they, the upper
castes, were born out of the mouth of Brahma and on that
basis had acquired the power to decide the position of each
group. Temples, rituals, priesthoods all bestowed leadership
and power on brahmin priests on religious grounds. Temples
emerged as symbols of hegemony, the sanctum of brahmin
priests. It was made clear that if other castes wanted to worship,
the help of a brahmin was indispensable. People from all castes
believed that in the temples built by craftsmen and labourers
of the lower strata of society, and from the wealth of the kings
and grants from landlords, ultimately the brahmin priest had
to light the lamp and perform the rituals to sanctify them. Even
now this is what they believe. The brahmin has the right to
stand near the deity. Next to him on the basis of ownership of
materials and connections with the temple, landlords, traders,
artisans and others take their place in a hierarchy.
Hindu society functioned on the belief that only through
a brahmin can one set one’s eyes on the idol, worship and
attain salvation. Indian Catholic Christianity is no better. It has
been laid down that only through the priest, through the mass
he conducts, can people attain salvation. When you observe
that these Christian priests are mostly from the dominant
castes such as Pillai and Reddy it is clear that the brahminic
principles of Hinduism operate in Christianity also.
22 Raj Gauthaman

Dominant Castes and Classes

By giving grants to brahmins, to the gods they had created, to
the temples where those gods ‘resided’ and through receiv-
ing prasadams and temple honours, the landlord families
of the vellala caste occupied a place next to the brahmins
and above the other castes. Over time, traders and artisans
who were in a lower position in the caste hierarchy moved
up, by giving donations and grants to the temples. Puranic
stories were spun and circulated that each of these castes
originated from the holy fire of the yagna pit and from
the god Indra and the moon. Till today the belief is that
without the blessings of the brahmin and of the gods he has
spawned, no caste can get status. For ceremonies like house-
warming, or a wedding, a brahmin priest has to be present to
chant the mantras. This belief is deep-seated. Treating such
superstitious beliefs of the Hindus as a resource, brahmins
gained ideological and economic control. Today, they and
the Hindus of the next rung, hold the industrial capital of
private enterprise next only to the government’s capital. A
number of cultivator castes now form the agricultural bour-
geoisie. They are the wealthy kulaks in their respective areas.
The bulk of the Hindus are the people between this stratum
and dalits who are treated as untouchables. Referring to
these people from a class perspective, Achin Vanaik calls
them the ‘agricultural bourgeoisie + rural side, urban petty
bourgeoisie classes’.2
The Hindus who are between the two extremes are the
active population in contemporary India. In Tamil Nadu these
middle-level Hindus appear as the people who patronise the
dominant Hindu culture created by the coalition between
brahmins and vellalas. Most of the caste riots and commu-
nal flare-ups have occurred among these castes of the middle
position. Achin Vanaik points out that these middle castes
are the main social force behind Hindu fundamentalism
and communalism that have been gaining ground since
Independence.3 Hindu communalism is a manifestation of a
 Dalit Culture 23

force that has been empowered and is growing. The voice of

these forces does not echo the pleas of the oppressed people.

Hindu Communalism
Hindu culture launched by Brahminism is unable to bring
under one banner rural and urban working classes and the
immense number of people from the middle-level castes
and the dalits immersed in the clan culture. It is also eras-
ing the distinctions among the agricultural bourgeoisie
and the petty bourgeoisie, who both nurture Hindu com-
munalism. We observe that Hindu culture, its caste divisions
and communalism, are the basic reason for the economically
oppressed classes failing to organize themselves into a single
group. Most of the riots and uprisings are a result of people
attempting to move up in the brahminic caste hierarchy.
All efforts by dalits and other low-caste people to move up
economically and socially are seen by the middle-level castes
as a challenge to their status.

Hindu Caste and the Dalit

To raise their status in the hierarchy, people from trader
and artisan castes were keen on participating in worship in
vedic temples, and in giving donations and votive offerings.
A caste does not gain higher status by its economic condition
alone. Recognition by vedic Brahminism is the criterion for
improving one’s caste status. The social dynamic in Indian
society is very different from the West where economic posi-
tion is the primary and the final norm that decides one’s
status. It is particularly difficult for dalits to transcend the
social restrictions laid down by Hindu culture and attain a
higher rank through economic improvement. Though now
it is possible for a few dalits to acquire wealth through reser-
vation, when it comes to ranking in caste terms there is no
change. Therefore if one wants to move up in the caste hier-
archy, one has to be associated with the brahminic temples
24 Raj Gauthaman

that are replete with meaningless rituals and ceremonies.

One has to get Sanskritized.
Some of the educated dalits are taking this trajectory,
though this is possible only in an urban context. Most of
the dalits affected by untouchability, insults, fear, hunger,
disease, and ignorance are in the rural areas. They cannot get
involved in the activities of vedic temples because the doors
are still closed to them. Living and dying outside is their
lot. Village deities, the gods of the dalits, are stigmatized by
Hindu culture as being lower, cruel and evil. Even today some
dalits are trying to raise their status a little by participating in
the festivities of village temples. But that is not easy. Either
they do not get any role or they are allotted a minor role
on the last day of the festival. In some villages when the dalits
ignore the restriction and try to participate, they face violence
from the middle-level castes. In spite of innumerable atroci-
ties there is an urge among dalits to get a foothold in the
dominant caste culture. As long as they are in this mindset,
there seems to be no other way/choice for them.
For vedic temple worship, the cooperation of the local castes
is essential which in turn requires a framework of castes, the
gods of the vedic brahmins and the priests. Dalits have no place
in this framework. They are referred to as ‘outcastes’. Nor can
they gain a place there because dalits, in reality, are not within
the ambit of Hindu culture. In the Hindu social structure you
have only brahmins, kshatriyas, vellalas (known also as vaishyas)
and shudras. Along with hill tribes and other tribes, dalits are
beyond the pale of this formation. Dalits and hill tribes are not
only suppressed and devastated by that culture but are in fact
the indirect creation and result of it. The people inside the
caste formation have been projected as normal people and
dalits and tribals branded as deviants and marginals.

Dalits and Conversion

We have to bear in mind these facts while examining the
efforts of dalits to convert. There was a time when Hindus
 Dalit Culture 25

ridiculed the conversion of dalits to Buddhism, Christianity

and Islam as a step to gain a livelihood. But now, in inde-
pendent India, they are agitated about the conversion of
dalits. It is now obvious that their cry that dalits are in fact
Hindus is only to defend Hindu majoritarianism and domi-
nation. This cry has been only heard since dalits began
participating politically in the democratic government of
the bourgeoisie. During British rule a large number of dalits
converted to Christianity. But missionaries like Robert De
Nobili and Constantine Beschi, who were converting people
to Christianity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centu-
ries, imitated the brahmins and changed the Christianity
of equality into a Christianity of caste. They assumed brah-
minic sounding names like Thathuvapothakaswamy and
Thairyanathar alias Veeramaamunivar, respectively, and led
moral and exclusive lives and preached like brahmins. They
lived in brahmin enclaves (agraharams), called themselves
‘ayyar’, sported a sacred thread, wore saffron cloth, sat on
deer/tiger-hides, turned vegetarian and travelled in palan-
quins. They made Christianity into a caste-based religion.
They expounded the Bible in a manner suitable to the brahmin-
vellala combine. From the time of these two preachers,
Catholicism in Tamil Nadu became a brahmin-vellala religion.
The brahmins and vellalas who converted to Christianity,
retained a Hindu caste ambience. They ensured that they
got precedence and a place of honour in matters relating to
the Church. Untouchability was extended to dalit Christians
also. On the whole Christianity was comfortably accommo-
dated within the ambit of the brahminic Hindu cultural
formation.

No Liberation through Religions

It is clear that dalits cannot improve their status in the
dominant Hindu-Christian culture through religion and
worship. Their attempts to move ahead socially have been
violently put down. From ancient times, dalits have been
26 Raj Gauthaman

worshipping village deities to meet the socio-psychological

needs of their community life. Even in this worship the place
of honour is demanded by caste Hindus who dominate local
land-ownership and caste hierarchies. In the village deity
festivals conducted by dalits, upper-caste people claim prece-
dence in receiving offerings like pongal and prasadam. This
entitlement is used by them to re-inforce their domination
over dalits.
In addition, dalits organize their patterns of worship
along the lines of vedic temples, with similar rituals, icons,
festivals and temple architecture to those of the hegemonic
castes. Whenever dalits resort to these devices to elevate their
status a little, this is looked upon as a challenge to upper-
caste Hinduism. Many dalits get killed. Similarly when dalits
try to use the village commons they are attacked.

Two Different Moralities/Moral Orders

The same dominant castes which claim that their culture
is superior try to eliminate dalits if they ever try to follow
that culture. Why this contradiction? The caste Hindu who
declares that dalits are Hindus, locates them permanently
outside the pale of caste. What do we learn from this? In reality
they expect that dalits should forever remain suppressed
and exist like cattle, completely ignored. There must be
some deep-rooted reason for dominant Hindu, Christian,
and Islamic castes to look down upon dalits and view them as
lower than animals. There is not even an iota of moral anger
or guilt on the part of any dominant Hindu caste on being
the cause of the situation in which dalits encounter scarcity,
injustice, cruelty and annihilation. They do not see anything
wrong in this condition. They think that this is but natural.
When dalits are oppressed the conscience of the upper castes
is not in the least troubled.
It appears that the code of Hindu culture is that dalits
should do hard manual labour; die in poverty; live only in
 Dalit Culture 27

huts; and live outside the village without any sanitation. They
should do menial work for caste Hindus like slaves. Every
Hindu believes that one is cursed to be born a dalit (like
being born a woman) and that this is the result of sins in
the previous birth. An upper-caste Hindu believes that he
is born into his caste because of his good deeds in his
earlier birth and God’s grace. Even dalits accept this prop-
osition. So, according to Hindu culture, it is believed there
are two different moralities, one for dalits and the other for
dominant castes.
A dalit is needed for the brahmin to believe that he is at
the apex of the caste hierarchy, that he is utterly clean/pure,
that the dalit who is at the root of the tree, along with mud,
is completely unclean. So we see that one who is far removed
from manual labour gets a high position, and one whose life
is intertwined with labour is relegated to the lowest place.
This is true not only for the Hindu casteist feudal culture but
also for all cultures that are driven by class differences.

Two Different Identities

A negative identity for dalits has been created deep in the mind
of the Hindu dominant castes. To them it comes naturally
to think of themselves in terms of a positive identity and the
dalits as having a negative identity. They are happy that they
were not born dalits and simultaneously apprehensive that
they might become like dalits. Whenever a dalit tries to uplift
himself, a caste Hindu is anxious and agitated that he may
be deprived of his own positive identity and that the negative
identity of the upward moving dalit may reach him. This
anxiety develops into a fury. The Hindu is unable to break
out of this caste psychology. In the caste hierarchy, every
upper-caste person approaches the one below him with a
similar psychology. He is even prepared to make sacrifices
for this. At all times he carries the burden of purity of caste
and the fear that this state might be compromised by the
28 Raj Gauthaman

lower castes. Coming together on the basis of economic

position as a class is not as important as guarding his caste
intact. The dominant landowning castes make sure that the
middle-level castes in rural areas, lower castes and dalits who
work as agricultural labourers, do not meet, unite or in any
way organize themselves or transcend caste identities. The
hegemonic castes often engender clashes between these
groups to try to protect their own class interests. When many
caste groups function amidst mutual hostilities they are
unable to fuse under a single banner. Lewis Coser points
out that revolutionary class struggle goes missing because
of the conflicts among different castes in Hindu society.4
Even among the different castes among dalits, and between
dalits and other middle-level castes, clashes keep occurring.
Instead of class struggle, encounters between different castes
occur. Such encounters can never eradicate inequality. Nor
can they demolish the caste structure. As Richard Lannoy
argues, in fact these clashes strengthen inequality. They do
not challenge the existing order.5
In many instances, it is dalits who get killed. Though the
basic ideology of the caste system is provided by Brahminism,
each caste in the hierarchy oppresses the group below in
the caste order. Whenever dalits with the Hindu label try to
elevate themselves within the Hindu culture, it is the middle-
level castes that destroy the life and property of the dalits.
The riots that took place in Puliangudi (2011), Mudukulathur
(2011), Meenakshipuram (1997), Bodinayakanoor (2012) and
Viluppuram (2013) confirm this. The middle-level castes
believe that by imposing the degenerate brahminic ideology
on dalits, they protect their own status. In 1930, the thevars of
Ramanathapuram declared that dalits should not wear gold
jewels, own anything, dress to cover themselves fully, get edu-
cated or develop self-respect. Here Ambedkar pointed out that
there was little difference between these regulations and the
laws of Manu. If one observes carefully, one sees that each caste
has visibly/distinct recognizable indications of their status in
 Dalit Culture 29

dress, ornaments, and in the musical instruments played at

their weddings. Beginning with the brahmins, each caste is
keen on imposing such caste signs on those below them. In this
respect each caste behaves like brahmins. Therefore you have
the unusual situation of two dalit castes subjected to similar
caste-based restrictions not identifying themselves as victims
of related oppression. They would rather figure out which is
superior to the other. They bond with the petty bourgeoisie
among their own caste, or use their caste to elevate themselves
to gain petty bourgeoisie status. Or betray their own caste folks
to the landlords who control them.

Neo-Brahminism
Brahminism operates in such a way that dalits are caught in
the hold of Hindu culture and are unable to develop their
own economic and cultural life. In addition, in modern
times, Brahminism has been acting behind the curtain called
‘democracy’ and double-dealing in the name of Western bour-
geoisie ideology. Neo-Brahminism, through its propaganda,
has convinced the oppressed people to get used to their con-
dition. It continues its cultural aggression. For instance, Paulo
Freire says the central problem is this:

How can the oppressed, as divided inauthentic beings,

participate in developing the pedagogy of their liber-
ation? Only as they discover in themselves to be ‘hosts’
of the oppressor can they contribute to the midwifery of
their liberating pedagogy. As long as they live in the
duality in which to be is to be like, and to be like is to be like the
oppressor, this contribution is impossible. The pedagogy
of the oppressed is an instrument for their critical discov-
ery that both they and their oppressor are manifestations
of dehumanization.’6

The marginalized are manipulated to believe this. On the

one side, runs this propaganda, while on the other it is believed
30 Raj Gauthaman

that the same caste groups that branded dalits as untoucha-

bles would come forward and declare that something should
be done to ameliorate their plight. They blame dalits for
their condition, forgetting that they and their ancestors are
responsible for the dalit predicament. They say that dalits have
to change, not accepting that it is they who need to change
their ways. Some of the educated, petty bourgeois dalits in
the cities who consider themselves ‘progressive’ make the
same mistake. These are the people who have internalized
the ideology of neo-Brahminism and the democratic govern-
ment and are gradually getting alienated from the majority of
dalit people.
Whenever there is a threat to Brahminism from outside
we hear the argument that there should be no caste discrim-
ination, there is no inequality and that everyone is equal.
When Jainism and Buddhism rose in revolt against the brah-
minical caste system, dalits like Kannappan and Nandan in
Tamil Nadu were given the rubric Nayanmar (saivite saints).
Brahminism began a self-defence act by saying whatever caste
one belongs to if one practises piety one can attain deliv-
erance. Later, in order to drive the white man away so that
they could indulge in exploitation, brahmins and their allies
raised the slogans like we are all Indians and are all children
of Mother Bharath. Dalits should not forget that all this chi-
canery is only a protective mechanism of the dominant group.
Once they consolidate authority in their hands, they inflict
with greater vigour the ideology of inequity and physical
violence on the working people.
One point is clear from the above observations. The caste
formation of Hindus and Christians facilitates keeping
the dalits as they are, marginalized. For each caste there are
different rules of behaviour. There is no common code. If at
all there is such a code, it only facilitates keeping the people
at the base (like the dalits), forever enslaved. They do not
have any moral, logical or the much publicized humanitarian
basis to redeem dalits. And dalits should be aware of this.
 Dalit Culture 31

Hinduism and the Dalit

In spite of all this, if dalits have any hankering for Hindu
culture, if they crave moving up in the caste hierarchy, they
should examine the place of a dalit in Hinduism. In brah-
minic Hinduism, the ‘life’ that is supposed to have been
before and after the birth of a human is considered impor-
tant. The present life is a reward or punishment for the life
we led or our actions in the previous birth. This view explains
the conflicts in human life between birth and death on the
basis of what happened before birth. And the consequences
will come after death. For whom is this view favourable?
For the haves or for the have-nots? It is understandable that
the have-not wants her or his life to be changed. Only those
who have been subordinated and marginalized would like
to have the social structure changed in order to elevate
themselves. The one who is comfortable will be interested
in maintaining the status quo, the social structure and its
hegemonic hold. That is the reason why Hindu culture has
developed into an arrangement to protect the welfare and
authority of brahmins. Possible changes are placed prior to
birth and after death. The cunning brain of the priestly class
has laid down that in this life each one should perform his/
her duties and meet his/her obligations meticulously. The
codes of Hindu culture insist that the duty of the base-line
working class of the dalit is to be a slave to all others and earn
a livelihood by hard physical labour. They also ordain that
dalits and women are a cursed lot, born because of sin. To
be born a dalit is the result of a curse and so a dalit’s whole
life is cursed. His whole life is one of atonement. So if dalits
are mutilated, burnt, their huts torched, their possessions
scorched, their women molested, all these acts are looked
upon as expiation for their sins. The very life of a dalit is a
punishment. To live as unworthy of elementary social and
economic rights is the atonement to ensure salvation.
When upper-caste people renounce and appear humble,
simple, Hinduism describes this as a superior discipline.
32 Raj Gauthaman

But when one is born a dalit, without any possessions or

rights, and is in dire poverty, it is said that this is a result
of one’s sin. One state occurring among two different castes
is seen as two dissimilar conditions. The simplicity and aus-
terity of Gandhi and Saint Appar, both of whom were from
high castes, is acknowledged as the quality of great souls; but
for the dalit who leads a cursed life this is seen as a retribu-
tion for his sins. In Hindu culture the same factor, which
bestows honour, sanctity and respect and related authority
on a member of the upper caste, inflicts sin and curse on
a dalit.
In Bakthi literature, there are instances of Hindus from
dominant castes such as Saints Appar and Sambandar and
the dalit Nandan praying for deliverance. In their prayers we
notice these two different approaches. Death for the high-
caste Hindu is redemption; but for the dalit it is an escape
from his lowly birth. Hinduism which has made the dalits
children of sin has also created the concept of pollution to
justify this. In this pollution code laid down by the brahmins,
working-class dalits, are the equals of objects and animals
and seen as pollutants. In the hierarchy of Hindu castes,
a dalit can only be an untouchable sinner. He cannot be a
human being. Nowhere else in the world can one witness
such injustice. Even the respect extended to a cow is not
given to a dalit. Brahminism which suggests ways of neutral-
izing pollution for a caste Hindu, instructs a dalit to live as
an untouchable. And that is his atonement. A dalit cannot
be rid of pollution till death. Even after he dies, it sticks,
through his descendents. After all, a dalit can only marry
within his caste. Though the Hindu woman is also a cursed
being becoming untouchable during menstruation and
at childbirth, after these are over she can return to society
following purification ceremonies. A dalit however remains
polluted forever.
 Dalit Culture 33

II

Dalit Culture
On more than one occasion Ambedkar pointed out that
dalits are not Hindus and that they were excluded.7 He
battled with Gandhi at the Round Table Conference over
this issue. If that is so, is there such a thing as dalit culture?
How should that culture be organized? What is the role of
the upsurge of dalit culture, in the governmental, capitalist,
socio-economic structure? Is it proper for dalits, according
to the present constitution of the Indian government, to
accept the quota reserved in the name of religion and caste?
Is it all right for them to seek a role in temple worship, involve
themselves in politics, find a place in the bureaucracy and
team up with capitalists? Questions such as these are inevit-
able both from dalits and from those opposed to dalits. It can
be observed that these questions are about the place of dalit
culture in the Indian multi-cultural, class and national ethos.
These questions are also about the position of the dalit strug-
gle in the social movement against the Indian capitalistic and
agricultural framework.

Dalit Protest-Culture: The First Stage

Clearly dalits are in a situation in which they have to organize
their own liberation so the liberation movement that they
design should have two dimensions. Firstly, cutting through
nationality, race and language, dalit culture should identify
with other people similarly discriminated at birth, due to
the colour of their skin like the blacks, or due to gender like
women. In addition to this, in India there are other people
like them who cannot be considered of Indian nationality
but are of a subservient position. These are the hill folks
34 Raj Gauthaman

and other tribes. Dalits should join them and construct a dis-
tinct sub-national culture, different from that of the other
nationalisms. The dalit sub-national culture thus created will
have much in common with that of the black and Feminist
movements. Such a dalit culture is bound to be a protest
culture. With the rise of this culture of protest, dalits can
jettison the brahminical-Hindu casteist garbage they have
accumulated over millennia. Then the importance hitherto
denied to the working class can be redeemed. The hegem-
onic class, to further their own interests, has loaded dalits
with a certain ideological burden. Their protest culture
should instil enough courage among dalits to disown this
load and discard it. This is easier to talk and write about than
to carry out. Dalits steeped in guilt, fear, despair, poverty,
centuries of ignorance, slave mentality and apprehension
of change, will find it difficult to free themselves from this
mindset. Only by ignoring, attacking, humiliating, rejecting
and ridiculing this hegemonic culture and its symbols step
by step, can dalits get rid of their mental blocks. Dalit protest
culture can do all these though superficially it may appear
like a mere anarchist culture. Brahminical culture took the
form of Hindu culture, a poisonous set of mores with the sole
aim of protecting the landownership interests of the hege-
monic castes. To do this, the people were fitted into a maze
of social, economic and cultural relationships through the
caste framework. Government, caste, religion, gods, code of
conduct, ethics, justice, rules governing man-woman relation-
ships, ideology of family, literature . . . all these were created
so that the people in this structure of social and economic
relationships might believe that it had been constructed for
their benefit.
Though this construct appears to be common to all Hindus,
for working-class dalits, it has a different face. Justice, ethics,
codes of conduct, God, dharma, literature are designed to be
more supportive of the brahmins, and according to the caste
hierarchy gradually less and less supportive as one comes to
dalits. According to the laws of Manu, with dalits, issues like
 Dalit Culture 35

justice are seen as reduced, degraded and despicable. It can

be seen clearly that according to Hindu-brahmin culture,
dalits are viewed as anarchists. But in fact dalits can be called
rebels. The hegemonic group fears the untouchable dalits,
wondering what form their protest will assume. Only when
dalits transform themselves into protestors, as feared by the
upper castes, can we say that the first stage of dalit liberation
has begun. Dalit weapons of protest can be found in the very
culture that oppresses them.

The Counter Culture

We already have an alternate cultural tradition among the
marginalized tribal people, hill people, who have been living
at the edge of history, and among dalits who are in fact partly
tribal. This can provide the impetus needed for the first step
in setting up a dalit protest culture. In fact, elements of this
alternate culture are visible even among oppressed women.
It can be discerned among all the marginalized people sub-
jected to oppression. Richard Lannoy called this antipodal
culture. It can also be termed the ‘other culture’. Lannoy
points out that this antipodal culture functions diametrically
opposite to the hegemonic order. He goes on to describe the
characteristics of these two cultures.

The hegemonic culture which emphasizes order, obe-

dience to rules and regulations, stresses the differences
and distinctions, adheres to the taboos, living strictly with
the reality principle, living a measured and careful life,
encouraging rivalry among caste groups.8

At the same time, in the antipodal culture that is outside the

hegemonic one, we notice the following features that are
opposed to the above:

Live as per an irrational motivation,

Always transcend differences and move towards unity,
36 Raj Gauthaman

Skip taboos,
Live an Epicurean life, a life of pleasure,
Unrestricted enjoyment and celebration of community life.9

Cultural anthropologists have pointed out that these antipo-

dal cultural features are clearly discernible among oppressed
people such as dalits, women and tribal people. In communi-
ties where the division of labour, the ownership of property,
and individualistic behaviour related to these are less marked,
antipodal culture can be observed. During community
worship and festivals, hedonistic behaviour and violations
of normal mores are seen among most of these people.
Ranajit Guha points out that rebellion against the British
East India Company and their allies, the local landlords, by
the Santhal and Munda tribes, usually began during their
festivals.10 In the villages of Tamil Nadu, today caste clashes
are sparked off during festivals. In animal sacrifices and
rituals, dalits and related caste people, and women get pos-
sessed, go into trances and act as oracles. This is nothing but
an expression of the features of deep rooted protest culture
in them.
Lannoy points out that there are some common cultural
features between tribal people and the untouchables who
are violently marginalized in brahminical Hindu society:

In common with Hindu lower castes, the tribes/tribals

emphasize equality in social behaviour within the ethnic
group, greater equality of status for women, more liberal
relations between the sexes (men and women work
together), a more personal relationship between husband
and wife, a more ‘romantic’ type of courtship, love adven-
tures and love feuds, and, as would be expected, a greater
emphasis on self-reliance in child care. Pollution rules are
far more relaxed among tribals than among castes. The
absence of puritanism, frank indulgence in pleasure, and
a strong sense of communal identity all favour the tribal
passion for music and dance at which many excel.11
 Dalit Culture 37

All of this fits into the characteristics of the antipodal

culture described earlier. Among educated dalits who have
moved into the cities, these characteristics of positive counter
culture are slowly disappearing because of the influence of
the individualistic ideology of the West, and negatively due
to brahminical Hindu culture. Though this counter culture
has roots deep in the subconscious mind, many living in
urban areas consider its features ‘rustic and uncivilized’
and deliberately try to hide them. When they visit villages
these people consider this counter culture backward and
unrefined and despise the dalits who live by them.

A Great Change (Inversion)

We have seen, how, among dalits, there are communal singers
and women who are living in the protest culture or counter
culture. This can be used to give initial momentum to the
protest movement. We will have to examine what methods
should be followed to generate protest culture and make
it a part of the subconscious mind of dalits. In this context
we have to recall some of the devices to be used in the first
stage of the protest culture. Dr. Ambedkar listed inter-caste
marriage, education, protest, destroying the Hindu Sastras
and conversion as such devices. He asked if any dalit could
respect Manu’s law which labels him untouchable and says
that he is not even human. Ambedkar persuaded dalits to
burn copies of those Hindu laws. He himself burnt them.12
Periyar also chose this pioneering mode of protest. Periyar
pointed out that unless Hinduism and related religions
were demolished, there would be no end to untouchability
or caste. It has been emphasized that the culture of the
oppressed is diametrically opposed to that of the hegemonic
group. Merely by contemplating dalits cannot liberate them-
selves from the dominant culture that has turned them into
upside down peoples of negative identity. We are not talking
about the liberation of an individual. We are talking about the
38 Raj Gauthaman

collective liberation of a people who have been suppressed

as a community. So the protest culture of dalits will have to
be totally new. When dalits project their culture this way, it
will appear criminal, anarchist and rebellious. Let it be so.
It should appear so. Long ago, Periyar pointed out that only
if it appears rebellious would it indicate that the suppressed
are active.

If this is criminal, if this is sinful, then each one of us can

jolly well commit this crime, this sin.13

This statement is so very appropriate to the context of dalit

protest culture.
Only in the form of counter culture can the dalit move-
ment participate in the liberation of humanity. Often in
history the suppressed spawn violence. But people such as
dalits are victims and not perpetrators of violence. Each
attempt of dalits to escape from the hold of their suppressers
is seen as violence and rebellion. The oppressor will describe
the dalit as a rogue, barbaric, rowdy and a terrorist. What the
accused said in the case of burning forty-three dalits alive in
Venmani village proves this.

Earlier these coolies used to work hard, were respectful.

They came and stood in the backyard. Now, influenced
by Communists, they appear and stand on the verandah
with their footwear on. They talk with us face to face, on
equal terms. They have grown lazy and arrogant.’ – Indira
Parathasarathy, Kuruthi Punal

It can be seen that if dalit people wear chappals, stand on the

verandah, and speak on equal terms, that itself is considered
a deep insult to upper castes. One dimension of the dalit
protest culture is to pull off an inversion. It should attack the
‘sacred’, prestigious, cultural symbols that help brahminical
Hindu culture retain its hegemonic hold. If we are to break
the dominance-slave/master-slave order, we have to despise
 Dalit Culture 39

and discard the ideological symbols that brought about such

a framework. If the dalit adopts such symbols it would mean
that he accepts this dominance-slave order. By accepting that
order can the slave become the dominant one? A worker may
become the factory owner or a poor man, a wealthy man. But
can a dalit become a brahmin? He cannot because here the
dominant servile order is decided by birth. Remember that it
does not change even in and after death.
It is not our aim to become a capitalist, a rich man or a
brahmin. To grow into a capitalist one needs a number of
workers. Similarly to become a wealthy person, there must
be a lot of poor people. To become a brahmin, you need
to have a whole hierarchy of lower castes below you. That
is the reason why we reject the whole dominant-slave order.
Only when dalit protest culture destroys and discards this
loathsome order can people realize that they need be neither
a crypto brahmin nor a dalit but live as human beings. When
we talk about human beings it is not about abstract, absolute
humans. We do not refer to those people who are supposed
to have some sacred ‘humanness’ within them. Those who
are not identified by either dominance or slavery are referred
to here as ‘human’.
These protests (by the dalits) have created panic among
the guardians of hegemonic culture. The Puranas predict
that at the end of Kaliyuga the despicable shudras, would
invert the cultural symbols of the other three varnas and
appropriate them as their own. When Kaliyuga concludes,
the brahmin will turn into shudra, the shudra will morph
into brahmin, the king like the thief and the thief like the
king. Inversion will change everything; Vayupurana laments
that wives will not be faithful to their husbands and servants
will refuse to obey their masters.14 In Christian mythology
also we can see prophecies about such upside down changes
in the context of the appearance of the Anti-Christ during
doomsday. It has been pointed out earlier that the dominant
person has attributed a positive identity to himself and a
40 Raj Gauthaman

negative identity to the oppressed. In the dalit protest cultural

movement, these identities are shaken. For those who are
dominating, these changes appear anarchic and dangerous.
On the other hand, for the dalit they augur equality, social
harmony, happiness, and the freedom that arises out of a
property-less situation.

The Signs of a Dominance-Slavery Relationship

In the hegemonic culture a number of signs have been
developed to indicate the state of slavery.
On the basis of semiotics, Ranajit Guha elaborately
explains that these signs depend on language, writing,
gesture and place. When a dalit talks with someone from a
superior caste, he is expected to degrade and debase himself.
He should discount the house he lives in, his food, his status
and all that is related to him. Often he will have to remain
quiet without uttering a word. There should be no back chat.
These are some of the regulations of language imposed on
the dalit by the hegemonic culture. If a dalit ignores these
restrictions even slightly, the dominant person will be out-
raged and brand him as arrogant and disrespectful. When a
dalit talks back, the positive and negative identities change
places. Though the dalit gets relief from restrictions that
bind him, the upper-caste man is indignant that his positive
identities are lost. No dominant person would like to lose his
identifiers.
Dalits should not adhere to these language regulations.
They should not be silent. They should not keep their
mouths shut. There is no need to degrade yourself. Talk!
Keep talking! Speak up loudly! Speak in your Tamil. Speak
in your language that has been despised as cheri Tamil and
colloquial Tamil! Transgress the elitist order of language
laid down by ‘superior culture’. The niceties prescribed in
handling certain words as euphemisms and politeness should
be violated.
 Dalit Culture 41

Education and Literacy

Similarly, education and literacy have been symbols of
dominance. When dalit agricultural workers in rural areas
send their children to school, they are discouraged by the
dominant castes. ‘What is he going to achieve by studying?
Let him learn to graze the cattle properly.’ This can be
observed even today. If a dalit talks back this is referred to as
a pernicious outcome of education. Hindu Sastras persuade
them not to go to school but toil in the field and slog as
slaves. Will not the whole paradigm of positive identity and
negative identity reverse if dalits get educated? Did not Manu
lay down that if any dalit reads or even listens to the Vedas,
his limbs should be mutilated? Realizing this Ambedkar gave
prime place to ‘study’ in the scheme of things he prescribed
for dalits. In the protest culture of dalits, education is one of
the techniques of inversion.

Body Language
In the same way, body language, gestures, measures of time
and place all act as signs that distinguish the oppressed state
of dalits. In the pre-literacy era, each community utilized
the human body as a site to preserve and protect the funda-
mentals of its culture. In those times there was no other
instrument of recording than the body. The Hindu Sastras
detail the signs that have been documented in the body.
Manu has listed actions such as standing up when someone
enters/approaches, wrapping the shoulder around the waist,
touching the feet and prostrating, as the bodily gestures that
symbolize an enslaved and lowly position. This also applies
to women. It has been stated that the above bodily gestures
should be used by the son to the father, the wife to the
husband, the slave to the master, the low caste to the upper
caste, a disciple to his guru and a devotee to god to establish
their lowly and subjective state.
42 Raj Gauthaman

Dalits should defy and discard these rules. Do not fall at

anyone’s feet. Do not tie your upper cloth around the waist.
Do not stand with your arms across your chest. Do not bend.
Do not bow your head; you should stand firm, straight, chest
thrust forward; do not keep a respectful distance from the
upper-caste man. You should not take up residence away from
the village. Similarly, dalits should start using aluminium or
stainless vessels instead of earthenware vessels. Discard your
pots of clay not because these are stigmatized but because
the upper-caste people insist that dalits should use only mud
vessels. In other words, whatever is attributed to dalits as
theirs and whenever it is expected of them to follow certain
practices to establish their slave status, those very practices
should be eschewed diligently.

Action According to Context

Though poverty, starvation, ignorance and unemployment
are common in all the villages of India, the hierarchy of caste
structure and related cultural variations differ from village
to village. This is because the features of hegemonic culture
that support slavish conditions can differ according to the
nature of the place such as dry land and wet land. In a village,
rules laid down by the upper caste might include that dalits
can eat beef and drink arrack, as part of their despicable life
style. In such a situation dalit people should eschew beef and
liquor as a part of the protest culture strategy that aims at
reversing the paradigms. But you may not be able to follow
the same strategy in another place where the order of dom-
inance is different. For economic reasons, or to shock the
dominant caste or because there dalits live in a majority,
dalits can eat beef, drink arrack. What is important here is to
see that we as dalits carry out these actions consciously as a
part of our protest culture.
When dalits construct their protest culture in this manner,
they have necessarily to operate within the cultural ambiance
 Dalit Culture 43

of the opponent group. There is no other way. They have to

select their weapons from the very hegemonic order against
which they have been compelled to protest. As a part of the
struggle, dalits have to participate in Hinduism, caste, and
Hinduized-Christian worship. It is true that dalits are not
Hindus. They are outside the pale of caste. Even so, they have
to carry out their protest using caste and religion as media.
Some people may label this opportunism. They will point
out that this is not an honest approach. Our answer to this
criticism should be that we do not need such honesty, ethics,
justice, dharma or any such rubbish. Our idea in touching
upon issues like Hinduism, Hinduized Christianity, caste,
temple entry, right to worship, right to become a priest, is
only to obliterate them. We follow these strategies to take
dalit protest culture forward as a movement and through that
path enable ourselves and our descendants to stand erect as
human beings. In dalit history, whenever there have been
clashes in rural areas, lower castes who opposed upper castes
desisted from killing them. It was not out of compassion. The
low castes are caught in the brahminic-Hindu cultural mesh
spread by the upper caste and are therefore just too weak
to get up.

Dalit Protest-Culture: The Second Stage

The inverted actions taken as a part of dalit protest culture
are admirable cultural activities. It is unfair to label them
as wrong. Individual delinquency is perpetrated by the
chicanery of a few or groups with private gain in mind. But
dalit protest is a public, social happening. It is an outward
cultural expression of affected people. It is this happening
which prepares dalits for the second stage of revolutionary
action. The rise of dalit protest culture has to take place before
the socialist, Communist revolution called class struggle
anticipated by Marxism. Only then can the compromises
and casteist approaches of the Indian Communist movement
44 Raj Gauthaman

disappear. Dalit protest culture is the first stage in this path

of revolution. At the same time, as Paulo Freire cautions,
while we conduct a struggle against the national bourgeois
class, there is chance that an illusory path will appear. Some
dalit leaders may betray the movement by getting close to and
negotiating with the dominant castes, capitalists and kulaks.
Our leaders may become puppets in their hands. Such
leaders will be part of the rural petty bourgeoisie or urban
petty bourgeoisie. For personal gain, they will align with
parties that play vote bank politics or communist parties that
are ready to compromise. The dominant class creates such
people among the dalits. Paulo Freire labelled these leaders
amphibians, like frogs, who act as brokers between dalits and
the dominant class.15
Dalits are not denigrated on an individual basis as wicked
and malevolent. They are considered collectively polluting,
sinful beings who are kept outside the pale of caste on the
basis of their birth. So for them deliverance cannot be on
an individual basis. Some educated dalits think that they
can escape the stigma of being dalit by brahminizing; they
become victims of capitalist cultural aggression. Individual
dalit liberation is an impossibility. One can hide facts and
live but that would be a sham. Only when you lead an open
life can there be guiltless happiness. If someone believes that
he/she can get deliverance individually, that can only be an
escape and a delusion. It is not deliverance; it is an attempt
to join the dominant forces. A people who have been collec-
tively marginalized, can attain liberation only by combined
struggle. Liberation is a state without domination, slavery
and negative identities.

Developing Self-Confidence among Dalits

Dalits, particularly those in villages who on a daily basis
encounter oppression will not easily come forward to reverse
the symbols of hegemony and slavery. They are languishing
 Dalit Culture 45

without any self-confidence. Even the thought of opposing

the upper castes makes them afraid. They are likely to be
subjected to physical violence at any time. It is well known
that the police, in the name of a democratic government,
acts as defenders of caste Hindus against dalits. They behave
like agents of an anti-democratic force. The Indian army,
the paramilitary forces and armed police under the state
government will not hesitate to charge against the urban
working class and rural agricultural labourers, mostly dalits.
In this situation, it is understandable that dalits fear for their
lives and possessions.

Publicizing the Limitations of the Enemy

What should not be forgotten is that our oppressors are not
extraordinary people. They are a bundle of weaknesses and
fears. Dalits should realize this. Protest culture will bring
about this understanding. To develop self-confidence among
dalits, the meanness and malice of the upper castes should
be exposed. In addition, the skill and growth of the new
generation of dalits should be publicized. The dishonoura-
ble conduct of hegemonic leaders who sport haloes with the
rubrics such as godmen, religious heads, and bishops should
be explained with a view to nursing the self-confidence of
young dalits.
The Catholic priest Dubois documented the ‘wicked’
activities of the brahmins who lived in nineteenth-century
Tamil Nadu. According to him, a brahmin child does not
display any respect or admiration for other human beings.
But malevolence and vendetta are found generation after
generation among brahmins and upper-caste Hindus.
Though Lawgiver Manu boasted that these people had
peaceful, regal qualities, that was far from the truth. Black
magic is a favourite way of a brahmin wreaking vengeance.
His main weapon is false accusation against his enemy.
A brahmin grows up as a selfish human being. At the slightest
46 Raj Gauthaman

provocation he will betray the cause of the country. He believes

that he is superior to everyone and so despises all others.
He believes that there is no place in his life for gratitude,
compassion and concern for others. He is answerable only to
his own caste folks. From his birth he is taught that everyone
else is lower than him. He thinks that others should do
chores and meet his needs. It must be publicized among
dalits that Hindu culture with this kind of anti-human being
orientation cannot in any way be just.16
In addition to this, the achievements of young dalit men
and women who in a single generation have overtaken those
in the upper caste should be made known. Above all, they
should know about the dalit leader of India, Dr. Ambedkar.
His knowledge, political sagacity, penchant for struggle,
erudition and sharpness of intellect should be made known
to the younger generation. The traditional performing arts
of the dalits, such as koothu paattu (song) and group dances
should be nurtured and shown to the world. All these steps
would help build up the self-confidence of dalits. It will not
pave the way for dalit dominance as some seem to fear. Unlike
the upper- and middle-level castes, dalits are not fighting to
get authority. Their fight is to destroy dominance. Only in
the obliteration of dominance, for dalits and for all other
humans, is there a future.

Revolutionary Struggle and Politics

Dalit protest culture cannot forever be operating on one
plane, inverting the symbols of hegemonic culture. If it
does then there is the danger of moving towards revivalism.
Opposing something for the sake of protest can become a
meaningless ritual. Being short of subnational identity, the
dalits who are protesting against discriminations are not
floating in the air. They are tied up with a nation and its fate.
The nation in turn is connected to the whole world. The basic
power structure of India, beginning with foreign investment,
 Dalit Culture 47

through internal private capital rests with governmental

investments. Dalits, along with some other middle-level and
lower castes, bear the burden of the authority of the capitalist
class. Only when they take part in socialist revolutionary
politics and ensure final economic equality, can they realize
economic, social, cultural and political liberation. In this
process they will have to oppose capitalists, the landowning
bourgeoisie and lumpen classes that live off them.
To put it simply, dalit struggle that begins as a protest
movement in the cultural plane should gradually assume
the dimensions of a struggle for human liberation. In this
struggle, dalits will join middle-, lower- and upper-level castes
and everyone will give up their caste identities, and assume
class identities if at all this is feasible. Dalit protest culture will
help erase the religious and caste identities of the middle and
lower castes who are held together by economic and cultural
oppression. However, what is to be borne in mind is that the
aim is not to become a brahmin or a vellala or any other caste
but to be a human being.

Scientific Assessment
The origins of the symbols and signs of hegemony need
to be scientifically analysed; how the symbols and signs of
hegemony came into being during the historical period. The
argument of dalits should not be accepted at an emotional
level as such an assessment can vary from person to person.
We have to examine on a scientific basis the validity of
the dalit voice in the present times. Is it valid, sound and
legitimate? It is only then that at least some people from the
upper strata will accept the stand of dalits. Such exceptions
keep appearing, considering themselves dalits and being
able to acquire a dalit perspective. Brahminic, hegemonic
Hindu culture is anti-human. It is an established fact that it
divides humans into different clusters. The Dalit Liberation
movement should acquire the clout to convince even those
48 Raj Gauthaman

in the dominant group that the Hindu culture makes humans

decadent and appreciate that this is not a selfish dalit point
of view. It is an objective fact.

Sathapathapiramanam I I 2.2.6; IV. 3.4.4.

Notes
  1 Chandogya Upanishad, I 12. 1–5.
 2 Achin Vanaik, The Painful Transition: Bourgeois Democracy in India
(London: Verso, 1990).
 3 Ibid.
  4 Lewis Coser, Sociology through Literature (Englefield Hills, NJ: Prentice
Hall, 1965).
  5 Richard Lannoy. The Speaking Tree: Study of Indian Culture and Society
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971).
  6 Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973):
30.
  7 Vasant Moon, ed., Babasaheb Ambedkar :Writings and Speeches, 22 vols.
(Bombay: Government of Maharashtra, Department of Education,
1982).
 8 Lannoy, The Speaking Tree.
 9 Ibid.
10 Ranajit Guha, Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India
(Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983).
11 Lannoy, The Speaking Tree.
12 V Moon, ed: Babasaheb Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches.
13 Anaimuthu. V, Periyar E.V.R., Cintanaikal (Trichi: Kazhagam, 1974).
14 Burton Stein, Burton. Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India
(New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1985); Indra Deva and Srirama
Deva. Traditional Values and Institutions in Indian Society (New Delhi:
Chand and Chand 1986).
15 Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
16 Abbé Jean Antoine Dubois, Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies
(New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1982).