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THE FOLKLORE of PRIDE: Three Components of Contemporary Dalit Belief

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THE FOLKLORE of PRIDE: Three Components of Contemporary Dalit Belief c8leanor Zelliot THE FOLKLORE OF PRIDE: Three Components of Contemporary Dalit Belief The Hindus wanted the Vedas and they sent for Vyasa who was not a caste Hindu. The Hindus wanted an Epic and they sent for Valmiki who was an Untouchable. The Hindus wanted a Constitution, and they sent for me. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Mathai 1978: 25) Do Dalits have a culture of their own, a counter culture or a par- allel culture to the "Great Tradition"? Is their culture a "Little Tradi- tion" waiting to be absorbed into the Sanskritic tradition of India, a concept defined by Redford (1956) and applied to India by Singer (1958)? Or is their culture a pale reflection of high caste culture (Moffatt 1979)? Dr. Ambedkar's startling claim, quoted above, could be read several ways, but it seems to suggest most boldly a claim to a tradition, a culture, which is in itself both Great and a creative, contributing, essential factor in the all- Indian culture. This is perhaps a fourth way of looking at the culture of the Dalits, a word I use because ex-Untouchables and other low castes irivolved in a contemporary cultural movement identify themselves as dalit- ground- down, downtrodden, oppressed-no t as Untoucha bles, Scheduled Castes, or Harijans. 63 E. Zelliot The Folklore of Pride An early challenge to the Little-Great Tradition theory came in The folk beliefs of today's Dalits center around three ideas: Robert J. Miller's "Button Button..." article (Miller 1966), a provocative essay based on the folklore of the Mahars, the caste at (1) the idea that they are and were creators of culture, an idea the heart of the Dalit movement. Other work supporting this idea of expressed graphically in the Ambedkar quotation which begins a different set of cultural attitudes among low status groups is to be this article. found in Juergensmeyer (1980) and most recently has appeared in (2) the idea that they were "Lords of the Earth," the original inhabi- the Ph.D. thesis of Vincentnathan (1988). The case for a widespread tants of their areas shunted aside by the Aryan invaders; corol- counter culture has been carried farthest In David Lorenzen's Tradi- lary with this is a disbelief in hereditary poyution and purity, a tions of Non-Caste Hinduism: The Kabir Path (Lorenzen 1987). He disbelief in karmic rebirth. also summaries the opposing view "from the top down" found in the (3) the idea that they were and are a militant people, with heroes influential work of Dumont (1972). Another dimension of Untouch- who used their strength in a self-sacrificial way for their people. able cultural creativity is encountered in the new research on the songs and epics of the Untouchables themselves, a genre well repre- While my chief references for these beliefs are current in the area sented by the "crying songs" of an Untouchable caste described for of Maharashtra, similar ideas may be found in the folklore of other the first time in a recent article by Egnor (1986). ex-Untouchable groups in other areas of India, and I will explore those when relevant. Not much is left of the traditional system of In this essay, rather than entering directly into this debate, I beliefs among the Mahars, but those past beliefs will be referred to want. to examine the folklore of the Dalits through the current as they can be reconstructed from older people's memories and such "folklore of pride", i.e. some of the beliefs of the Dalits in Maha- sources as the Gazetteers and the Tribes and Castes volumes of rashtra, who come chiefly from the Mahar caste, and are now by Bombay and the Central Provinces which deal at length with and large converts to Buddhism. It is now virtually impossible to Mahars. re-create the older folk culture of the Mahars. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956) not only served as Chairman of the Drafting Committee for the Constitution of Independent India, as he notes Dalits as Creators of Culture in the quotation above, he also changed the lives of many Untouch- ables in India in the realms of religion, education, politics and cul- The Dalits of Maharashtra have in the past twenty years created tural life. The movement he led from 1920 until his death brought a school of literature, Dalit Sahitya (Zelliot 1976; id. 1978a; id. about increased education, political representation, a widespread 1978b; A Marathi Sampler 1982: 93-101; Dhanvadker 1989), which conversion to Buddhism and a literary flowering (Zelliot 1977). It has changed the face of Marathi literature and inspired similar liter- also created a new Dalit folklore which has in many ways replaced ary creativity in Gujarat and Karnataka. Among their many themes or adapted the traditional folklore of the Untouchables who were is an occasional reference to the epics, often identifying the creators infiuenced by his movement. Since I am dealing with the folklore of as IOWcaste, even Dalit, as does Ambedkar in the quotation above. a self-conscious group, the Dalits, rather than a traditional caste, I Along with this belief is a sense that Mahars have always been con- will simply state that Dalits feel they do have and have had a cul- tributors to culture. Daya Pawar, an important contemporary Dalit ture of their own, in no way inferior to anyone else's tradition. Writer, in particular holds this opinion, and quotes a Marathi proverb to show acceptance of the idea of Mahar gifts: 64 65 E. Zelliot The Folklore of Pride In the Brahman house-writing Converted Christian Mahars had special music duties during the In the Kunbi house-grain feast of Mount Mary in Bandra and played the reed pipes and drum In the Mahar house-singing at weddings (Fernandes 1927: 53). The Khandesh Gazetteer reports that the Mahars are "fond of music, playing a one-stringed instru- (Pawar 1974 2) ment mrme. a lute vina, a tambourine daJ and a small drum dhol" (1880 119). However, Mahars had no such overweening musical Pawar mourns the loss of the "great cultural treasure" the Mahars duty as the pariah of Madras, whose very name means drum. could have had if the kind of music his father and those who visited his home made had not been considered "debased" by other castes. Other Untouchable groups have claims to cultural achievement. Many of the Bhangi caste of the North call themselves "Valmiki," It is clear that Mahars did have a place in the cultural lie of tra- tracing their lineage to the author of the Ramayana, supposedly an ditional Maharashtra. Even though it is the Untouchable Mang outcaste and a criminal before his conversion by the inadvertent caste which most often is described as "village musicians" in the repetition of the name of Ram. There seems to have been no build- Gazetteers, Mahars seem to have been the chief musicians and ing of literary tradition based on this claim, but an effort of the actors in ramasha. the folk drama of Maharashtra. We do not know much-scorned Bhangi sweepers to elicit pride for self-improvement if Mahars had a part in creating ramasha. which was a recognized (Kolenda 1960). (The recognition of Vyasa, son of a Brahman sage form by the 16th century and at its height under the Peshwas of the and a fisher-girl, supposed author of the Vedas and of the epic, the 18th century, but we know they dominated the field. The revival of Mahabharara, as a fellow Dalit is found, however, only among the tamasha in the late 19th century is credited to a Brahman, Patthe contemporary Dalit intellectuals and seems to not be traditional). A Bapu Rao, together with his "beautiful Mahar consort," Pawala poem by Daya Pawar illustrates the way in which a modem poet (Abrams 1974). Tamashu, however, was considered vulgar by the thinks of Valmiki as a betrayer of his low caste identity. His refer- 20th century Mahar reformers, and the low status of turnasha ence to Shambuk relates to the story of Rama's punishing the Shu- women countered an image of progress, so that village drama was dra Shambuk for hearing the Vedas: frowned upon by Dr. Ambedkar. Nevertheless, Dadu Indurikar, also known as Indu Mahar, was until very recently a sterling example of Oh Great Poet tamasha art (Paranjpye 1971). And some of the skills of tamasha, although not its earthy, even vulgar humor, were continued in jalsu Oh Valmiki groups which travelled the countryside singing the message of Should you sing the praises of Ramarajya Ambedkar's movement in the 1930s. Because you're the great poet of poets? Seeing the heron's wounded wing There are other suggestions that Mahars may have had special Your compassionate heart broke out in musical gas. The Thanu Gazefreer notes that Mahars refused to lament. play music for the Muslim Muharram procession since the Muslims You were born outside the village refused to let the image of Vithoba be carried through the streets at In a shunned neighbourhood ... the same time (1882: 524), which implies a public music tradition. where misery itself was born Never festooned with fmit or flower... 66 67 E. Zelliot The Folklore of Pride The dejected faces... furrowed with care... plays of the Ahwan Theatre were a Hindi play entitled Devudmi and Is it true you never heard a Hindi translation of Langston Hughes' Mulatto. The Ahwan Their lament as they cried for liberation? group has also attempted to help the Bhats, puppeteers originally One Shambuk of your own blood from Rajasthan who are counted among the Scheduled Castes.
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