http://www.in.com/news/current-affairs/fullstory-war-against-ignorance-12634495-e83fb7aee003a65856f40da709fa4a7c64eba954-1.html
Published: February 1, 2010
Updated: February 1, 2010 18:30 IST February 1, 2010
War against ignorance
Anjana Rajan
Author-activist Kancha Ilaiah talks of ways to rid India of the curse
of casteism
Reading Kancha Ilaiah's statements, you might expect to meet an angry
revolutionary. The eminent human rights activist and Dalit crusader,
who teaches Political Science at Osmania University in Hyderabad, is
known for his stance that India is on course for a civil war that will
signal the end of Hinduism.
But the author of books like "Why I am not a Hindu: A Critique of
Sudra Philosophy, Culture and Political Economy", "Buffalo
Nationalism: A Critique of Spiritual Fascism" and, most recently,
"Post-Hindu India: A Discourse in Dalit-Bahujan, Socio-Spiritual and
Scientific Revolution", speaks with gentleness. Even when he seems to
defend U.P. Chief Minister Mayawati's proposal to allocate Rs.53 crore
for a security force to protect the monuments she has set up across
the State as symbols of Dalit-Bahujan pride.
Can spending taxpayers' money on self-glorification projects be
condoned, even if upper caste Hindus have done the same in the past?
While Ilaiah would "definitely want her" to spend on education of
Dalit children, he finds "another angle" pertaining to the symbolic,
historical value of the statues. He feels they "are basically seen as
Dalit-Bahujan shrines" and "anti-Hindu, pro-Buddhist", making up for
the Dalit-Bahujan icons that were demolished through history by the
dominating cultures.
"If Mayawati was pulling down some masjid or some temple I would stand
up and say no," he states, "but she is trying to build her own
historical agenda," which will have positive consequences for the
community's self-esteem.
Granted, but is there no movement among intellectuals like himself,
either Dalit or pro-Dalit, to nurture an approach other than political
and symbolic, to take India out of the caste quagmire? "Yes, if we
didn't nurture a different kind of view why would I write 'Post-Hindu
India'?"
The book, recently released by Sage Publications, traces the history
of cultures that have remained below the radar, so to speak, simply
because they were non-Brahmin. Not accepting these cultures in the
mainstream due to the "nexus between the Kshatriyas and the Brahmins,"
Ilaiah explains, "resulted in anti-production, which resulted in
anti-science. That stultified our growth of science."
When Ilaiah, who was in the Capital some time ago for the launch of
the book, describes how some people wept at the event, it hits home
how little we have progressed in caste relations. "For the first time
there was a Dalit book being released at India Habitat Centre," he
points out.
His use of the word 'war' is scary, and his predicting the end of
Hinduism sounds improbable, but, says Ilaiah, the largely unopposed
"spiritual fascism" of the upper castes has led to a situation where
"the three evangelical religions — Christianity, Islam and
neo-Buddhism — are competing." Because these offer equality, the
increasingly aware Dalit and other downtrodden communities will
convert, leaving Hinduism a minority creed.
"Here is a huge landmass of millions of people who don't have the
right to spiritual equality and education," says Ilaiah. Mahatma
Gandhi was a "mediator," feels Ilaiah. "Because of him the civil war
didn't become severe all these years." He feels the war of nerves may
eventually reach weapons. "I am looking at the symptoms of the anger."
But he talks of solutions too. "Reform your texts, reform your
history. Say leather is not untouchable to God, the barber's knife is
not untouchable to God. Take a Dalit priest and a Brahmin priest to
celebrations. Do these symbolic things. Let them (high-caste Hindus)
come and sit with Dalits in their huts and eat with them."
Distinguishing between political Hindus (bodies like the RSS, VHP,
etc.), the secular Hindus (Congress, the Communist parties, etc.) and
religious Hindus of whom the Sankaracharyas are considered leaders, he
says, "Let the Sankaracharyas declare that killing someone for an
inter-caste marriage is a crime against God. It is not the legal thing
which works."
As for legal recourse, he notes, "Reservation is not a solution for
this problem. We also don't want reservation. We want equal education
from the age of three to 18, availability of teachers and good
infrastructure."
Eventually, "we should go for abolition of caste," he says. But this
goal can be reached gradually. "All of us should go towards dignity of
labour. Let us put our hands in the soil. Let there be women
Sankaracharyas."
He suggests we stop gloating over past glory — "We made pushpaka
vimana" — without comparable competence today. "I'm proud of Amartya
Sen," he declares, "but I'm not proud of Radhakrishnan."
KANCHA'S CAVEAT
Post-Hindu India: A Discourse in Dalit-Bahujan, Socio-Spiritual and
Scientific Revolution
Sage Publications
The book talks of the high level of scientific and cultural
development of the tribals and other communities of Andhra Pradesh,
with chapters like "Unpaid Teachers", "Subaltern Scientists, "Social
Doctors" and, "Meat and Milk Economists" among othersetc.
While the tribal communities taught human beings essential skills,
from distinguishing between edible and poisonous roots to designing
hunting instruments, the barbers are the earliest protectors of
health, and the leather workers the first scientists whose work the
author says is "a fascinating process of converting something into
something."
Talking about researching for the book, he says he found each
community produced "innumerable instruments of production". But
production and tilling were seen as "pollution", and "the priestly
caste was not supposed to touch any productive work."
He asks, "Why were the communities that were cleaning the village,
protecting the village (from disease), treated as soiled?" The concept
of "professional pollution" doesn't exist in any religion other than
Hinduism, he points out.
With the idea of pollution by touch entrenched, "this whole thing
entered the food culture also." Emphasising he is not against
vegetarianism, he states, "But they didn't leave it to choice. It
entered the realm of God." Thus, he contends, "protein levels of the
masses have gone down."
Similarly, with business restricted to the Bania community, the
economy suffered. "Once the business was confined to Banias, the
European mode of mercantile capital could not come," says Ilaiah.
Instead of encouraging other castes to invest their money, the system
ensured it became "gupt dhana (secret hoards)." He cites an example:
The highest taxpayers in ancient India were the ganikas (courtesans),
not the Banias."
If the "spiritual fascism" of the upper castes is not corrected, the
author predicts civil war and the death of Hinduism
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