Caste Divide

The subject of caste is a strong one upon which people hold varying opinions. As Tiruvannamalai is a friendly, peaceful town it is easy to forget the exclusion of various castes in certain situations. My most recent experience of caste discrimination was when I rented a large lorry to move large, heavy potted plants to a new location. Along with the rented lorry I also hired a group of about 10 Dalit workers to help load and unload the gigantic pots. After several hours of dedicated and careful work, I decided to treat the tired workers to coca cola and sticky buns. As funny as that sounds, it’s in fact a real treat as a day-labourer would generally never buy themselves such items, as the cost comes to a kg of rice – thus assigning pop and sweet buns to a frivolous ‘luxury item’ classification.

The shop I selected was located on Chengam Road near the Ashrams, so positioned in a busy and well populated area – not exactly an isolated Indian village. As I neared the shop with my workers following close by, the owner of the store came out and harshly told me that he didn’t want the day-labourers near his shop and asked me to send them off. After a certain amount of manoeuvering it was finally agreed that the shop owner would sell me what I wanted for the men as long as they ate and drank the purchases far away from the shop front.

A very tiny victory in terms of social progress but the workers at least got to enjoy their treats. But probably the saddest part of the encounter was that the workers didn’t seem to notice the discrimination or harsh words – it was almost as if it was the normal thing for them to endure.

Further to the subject of caste divide, an interesting article by N. Ravikumar appeared in an Indian paper yesterday regarding caste and the generation gap:

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Caste divide widens the generation gap

Tiruvannamalai Dec. 3: “Young Dalits in a village here are outraged for being denied a hair cut of their choice in the salons meant for upper castes, but the older generation thinks it is a trivial issue to pick a quarrel with them. In the village of Velunganandhal, haircut is seen as a symbol of revolt by elders, while the same had become a symbol of dignity and equality for Dalit youths.

Dalits in a village here are considered untouchables who are not allowed to enter the salons used by upper caste people. Getting a haircut is a costly affair as it involves travelling to the town which is about 50 km away.

Most of the 1,500 families who live in the village of Velunganandhal belong to the backward communities. Dalits, belonging to the Arundhadhiyar community, here live in separate areas earmarked for them, far away from the main road and the village temple.

Every government office including the panchayat office is situated in areas where upper caste Gounders live and hence could not be accessed by Dalits. All the shops for consumables are also situated near the residence of upper caste people. Though the Gounders, a section of Vanniyars, are considered backward by Brahmins, the Gounders consider Dalits untouchables. The Gounders wield political clout in the village and they own most of the agricultural land.

But, above everything, what has hurt the feelings of Dalit youths is the untouchability practised in salons. For these youngsters, who want to follow the hair style of their matinee idols, haircut is a big issue. “When upper caste youths can trim their hair once a week, in the latest fashion, an ordinary haircut for us is a very expensive and time consuming process”, they complained. “See how we look. Will any girl look at us”, complained Kathiravan, a Dalit in his early twenties.

“We are youths. We want to appear fashionable and trendy. Why should we be forced to go to the town for a haircut. Why are we inferior?” asked Natarajan, who had just joined a diploma course in polytechnic in Tiruvannamalai town.

However, old people did not take it seriously. For Kaayaamboo, a 70-year old Dalit, who is living in the village since his birth, not being allowed to enter salons seems natural. He even justified it saying “how can we sit in the same chair and use the same scissors and blade used by Gounders?”.

“You see how the Gounders treat the Brahmins, who are superior to them. When Gounders treat Brahmins with reverence and respect, is it not a lesson for us how to behave with Gounders”, he said. “If everyone violated the age old customs, there will be no peace and discipline in the village”, he reasoned.

“Is haircut a very big issue, so as to pick a quarrel with upper caste people and earn their wrath?”, he said. “Cinema has spoiled our youth very much”, he lamented, however, the zeal for cinema and the craving to imitate film stars had really made the Dalit youths take a serious view of their condition and think of their dignity and self-respect. For them, not allowing them to have a haircut in their village has become the crudest form of oppression.”

Dalits in Temple

The following report is about Dalits gaining entry into a Temple in Tiruvannamalai District. Seems difficult to believe that this is truly the year 2007!

Express News Service
Tiruvannamalai, Oct 4:

The Thirugnaneeshwarar Temple in Thamaraipakkam Village here was forcibly rid of its age-old practice of denying entry to the so-called ‘untouchables’ when, on Thursday, a group of Dalits from the village successfully entered the Shiva Temple and offered prayers.

According to people of the village, the Temple, situated on the banks of the Cheyyar River, is more than 1,000 years old. The Dalit population of the village has been denied entry to the Temple since time immemorial. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) had even taken up the issue and represented it to the officials concerned for remedy. In fact, the party had also decided to enter the Temple along with Dalits on Thursday if caste Hindus of the Village stuck to their stand of not allowing them into the Temple.

Sivakumar, District President of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Labourers’ Association, who was among those who participated in the Temple entry said, “I first came across the Dalit issues when, sometime ago, I saw in a small hotel in the village idlis being packed in bare newspaper without using a plastic sheet or banana left for Dalit customers alone. Later, I came to know about the discrimination in the Temple”.

After gaining entry in the to the Temple, the agitating Dalits went to one of the tea shops where the ‘two-tumbler’ system was allegedly in practice. The shopkeeper broke the tradition and served them tea in the same type of cups used for other people in the village.

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In the Indian caste system, a Dalit, often called an untouchable, or an outcaste, is a person who according to traditional Hindu belief does not have any "Varnas". Varna refers to the Hindu belief that most humans were supposedly created from different parts of the body of the divinity Purusha. The part from which a varna was supposedly created defines a person's social status with regards to issues such as who they can marry and which professions they could hold. Dalits fall outside the varna system and have historically been prevented from doing any but the most menial jobs. (However, a distinction must be made between lower-cast people and Pariahs.) Included are leather-workers (called chamar), poor farmers and landless labourers, night soil scavengers (called bhangi or chura), street handicrafters, folk artists, street cleaners, dhobis etc. Traditionally, they were treated as pariahs in South Asian society and isolated in their own communities, to the point that even their shadows were avoided by the upper castes.

Discrimination against Dalits still exists in rural areas in the private sphere, in ritual matters such as access to eating places and water sources. It has largely disappeared, however, in urban areas and in the public sphere, in rights of movement and access to schools. The earliest rejection of discrimination, at least in spiritual matters, was made as far back as the Bhagavad Gita, which says that no person, no matter what, is barred from enlightenment.

To read more of this information on Dalits please click here.

Lutheran Compound

Yesterday I visited 'Quo Vadis' an Inter Faith Dialogue Centre, which is being built by the Lutheran church in Tiruvannamalai, near Chengam Road and close to both Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Seshadri Swamigal Ashrams. The 'Quo Vadis' facility which was dedicated on January 25th, 2007 has already started its work. To find out more about the new Inter Faith Centre, I met with its co-ordinator Rev. Joshua Peter, who suggested we visit the Lutheran compound and administration centre in town so we could tape our conversation and also look at more of the work that the Lutheran Church is engaged in at Tiruvannamalai. It was a brilliant idea and I had an excellent and fascinating afternoon.

Currently visiting the Lutheran Compound was the Rt. Rev. Dr. Gideon Devanesan R.J. Who is Bishop of the the Arcot Lutheran Church. We were fortunate to meet and spend time with him, because he is most often resident at the Lutheran headquarters in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu.

We had an interesting and illuminating conversation with the Bishop and I particularly resonated and agreed with a comment he made to the affect: It used to be when you met someone in Tiruvannamalai, they were here because they were interested in spiritual pursuits or to perform service thereby bettering others' lives. People came because they deeply cared. But now one meets many 'business people' who have no interest in anything other than profit, who come to Tiruvannamalai simply because of the financial opportunities it offers.

The below is a photograph of Rev. Joshua Peter, the co-ordinator of 'Quo Vadis' of which I will write about in later postings.

Below is a photograph of the visitors' cottage at the Lutheran Compound that Rt. Rev. Dr. Gideon Devanesan R.J., stays at when he visits Tiruvannamalai. I liked all the houses on the 10 acre compound, as they were built in traditional Tamil style with lots of old fashioned flourishes. The tiled roof on the visitors cottage is repeated on many of the buildings throughout the Compound.

This is the visitors' cottage and other compound housing from another aspect. So many beautiful tiled roofs and nice greenery!

The Lutheran Compound is a 10 acre oasis right in the middle of Tiruvannamalai. The Compound is known by the Biblical name of 'Lebanon'. Of the 10 acres, 3 are used for; housing 40 dalit families who live at 'Lebanon', a teachers' training facility, an accommodation block for teachers undergoing training, a handloom industry, a beautiful old-fashioned colonial style house, and also a 7 acre agricultural farm.

Below is the home of one of the Dalit families. Most of the families are Christian, however other faith based people can apply to live at 'Lebanon'; Lutheran Compound. In most cases the local pastor of surrounding villages recommend families in dire distress and try to arrange permanent help for what is usually deserted, widowed or abused wives with young children.

Accommodation for the families at 'Lebanon' is completely free, as is a fresh and continuous water supply and electricity. The women work either in the handloom section or as agriculturalists on the farm. They get paid a monthly salary for their work. I met and talked with most of the ladies in the handloom, and all seemed to have been there for 20 years plus. They were obviously pleased and grateful to have been given such a gracious and loving home. I took some great photographs of the ladies working on the looms, and look forward to posting them later on this Blog.

Below, is the back gate inside the compound which leads to 7 acres of fields that are used to grown maize, paddy (rice), and vegetables. Next time I visit 'Lebanon', the Lutheran Compound I will find out more about agricultural details and activities. As it was there was hardly enough time to hear details from Rev. Joshua Peter of the new facility, 'Quo Vadis' and something of the history of the Lutheran Church in the Arcot District, Tamil Nadu.

As you can imagine, the 10 acre compound which is situated in a busy part of town is surrounded by large buildings. The buildings in the below photograph, are nothing to do with the Lutheran Compound, and are just clustered around the outskirts of the 10 acre compound.

The below colonial style house is just beautiful. I was surprised that the Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Dr. Gideon Devanesan R.J. doesn't in stay at the lovely house during his regular Tiruvannamalai visits. Instead he prefers to stay in the small, unostentatious, guesthouse mentioned early in this posting.

The below photograph is another view of the grand old house. Quite lovely and also filled with some very nice antique furniture; impossible to purchase nowadays as much of the wood previously used in furniture in this country, is now 'off limits'.

This is the prayer hall which located inside the colonial style house. Much of the administration offices are also located in the building.

The Lutheran Church has many schools and hospital facilities throughout the State of Tamil Nadu. Below is a photograph of the inhouse teachers training college located inside the compound.

The pink buildings below are residential facilities for teachers being trained to work in one of the numerous schools maintained by the Lutheran Church in Tamil Nadu.

The demographics of Tiruvannamalai is approximately 70% Hindu and 30% comprised of Moselm and Christians. Definitely hope in upcoming postings to give alot of information about the great work being undertaken by members of all faiths and nationalities.