ESSAYS
Existential dilemmas
INDIRA PARTHASARATHY
Ravikumar's approach to human issues, as seen in his writing, befits
his many-sided personality.
Ravi asks: 'Why is that the cultural sphere gains more significance
than the killing of a human being? How are we to understand the
meaning of the word 'culture' here?
Venomous Touch: Notes on Caste, Culture and Politics; Ravikumar,
Translated from the Tamil by R. Azhagarasan, published by Samya,
Kolkata, Rs. 650
The 1980s witnessed a gradual ascendance of the young brigade of Dalit
intellectuals in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, among whom were artists,
writers, journalists, academicians and human rights crusaders. They
were largely instrumental in bringing to focus the subaltern
literature in the Tamil region in the context of the Dalit movement,
which had earlier failed to catch the attention of the mainstream
history.
Ravikumar, who had earlier started as a Marxist-Leninist, was one of
the earliest members of this intellectually alert group. Self-made and
well-read, and defying classification in any one of the conventional
moulds of academic scholarship, he announced his arrival by publishing
in Tamil in-depth articles in little Dalit journals. These pieces are
now eminently translated into English by R. Azhagarasan and brought
out as a book with the title Venomous Touch: Notes on Caste, Culture
and Politics.
Revelation
In the 1990s, Ravikumar was largely responsible for the publication of
the still-then unknown Siddha doctor Pandit C. Ayodhya Dasa's
(1845-1914) collected works. It came as a revelation to many that such
a person had existed much earlier than Mahatma Phule, Dr. Ambedkar and
E.V. Ramaswamy. Dasa, in the true classical line of philosophical
dissenters that distinguished the Indian intellectual tradition from
the days of Carvaka and Buddha, repudiated the Manu Dharma that
created the caste hierarchy and aggressively canvassed for the total
emancipation of the Dalits.
Ravi says in the appendix of this book, "Iyothee Thass (Ayodhya Dasa)
is, perhaps, one among the several Dalit icons whose names have been
blacked out by mainstream history." The biographical sketch of this
eminent Dalit, given by Ravi, tells us that he knew English, Sanskrit
and Pali. He strongly believed that Buddhism flourished in Tamil Nadu
before the advent of the later Cholas and a conspiracy of
circumstances, resulted in the decline of this non-Vedic religion.
Eventually, according to Dasa, the Buddhists were deprived of their
religion and they descended to the status of untouchables. It reads
like a speculative theory but does not seem improbable.
Ravikumar's approach to human issues befits his many-sided
personality, as is evident from the incident he narrates in this
anthology. As a Dalit intellectual and also as a as a human rights
activist, he raises this question why a metaphorical humiliation of a
Dalit icon should anger people more than the calculated murder of a
poor Dalit individual.
He instances a case where a young Dalit was killed in police custody.
It was cold-blooded murder and the Dalit organisations reacted to this
by formally organising roadblocks and rallies. All attempts by civil
liberty activists to get a post-mortem report to file a case properly
were of no avail and it lacked sufficient backing by the other Dalit
groups. '
Cultural crime
A few days later, a statue of Ambedkar was desecrated by some
miscreants in Tindivanam provoking violent riots all over the region.
In the police firing, one person died and several seriously injured.
Both pertain to a Dalit as well as a human issue. In one, a young man
met his tortuous death inpolice custody and, in the other, an abstract
or a 'cultural' crime in the form garlanding the statue of an icon
with chappals.
Ravi asks: 'Why is that the cultural sphere gains more significance
than the killing of a human being? How are we to understand the
meaning of the word 'culture' here? Are the tools and methods
currently available to define and understand the term, sufficient in
the context of Dalit oppression?'
Such questions pertaining to a situation of existential dilemma can
never be satisfactorily answered.
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