SPECIAL ARTICLES

'Memories of Underdevelopment'

Language and Its Identities in Contemporary

Janaki Nair

Kannada nationalism, like all nationalisms, attempts to produce a solidarity between all speakers in order to efface the specificities of caste and class, and pits itself against other dominated minorities rather than addressing the hierarchical division of labour that has ensured Kannada's dominated status. As long as it continues to privilege the identity of Kannada over other democratic aspirations, the movement will tend increasingly towards alignment with strident communal or anti-minority forces. The movement encompasses a range of moderate and progressive intellectual positions, which have of late been overshadowed by the more strident voices. There is the danger that in the context of the structural changes already under way, benefiting a few at the expense of the rest, the ideology of the movement while expressing genuine anxieties may tend towards undemocratic resolutions of its identity crisis.

THERE is a familiar ring to the way in which said during the Cauvery riots of 1991, "The the early years of the 20th century but they Kannada nationalism, currently in the Kannadigas have been tolerant always but too remained somewhat limited in their scope making, is crowded with memories of histo- they have awakened to their rights now" and reach at least until the 1930s.12 ric lacks, of opportunities missed, of (The Times of , December 2, 1991). Many historians of Mysore have been 1 inadequacies past and present. After all, the Since the narrativisation of Kannada's content, to attribute this absence of civil founding moment of Indian nationalism too modern identity has been somewhat over- associations to the idiosyncrasies of indi- was a necessary confrontation of the reasons whelmed by the sense that it is unoriginal, vidual dewans or to the generally autocratic for subcontinent's subjugation by an alien, weak, even imitative, the significance of a nature of the princely bureaucracy,13 in what exploitative power.2 Where Kannada massive and indisputable presence has been has become a characteristic refusal to nationalism struck a different chord, right marginalised, understated or overlooked. Of acknowledge the significance of the from its start during the days of colonial rule, the various political administrations under displacement of the agenda of cultural was in measuring itself and its inadequacies which the Kannada speakers lived, the nationalism by an agenda of state-sponsored 14 not against the overarching triumphs of the princely state of Mysore, nominally economic and legal modernisation. Yet we imperial power but against the more modest independent, was best poised to articulate the know that the state, not the people, loomed successes of other linguistic nationalisms cultural aspirations of the Kannada people large even in the imagination of cultural within India itself. Alur Venkat Rao's within the framework of the nation state. Yet nationalists searching for patrons and anguished response in 1920 to the nationalist the impetus for shaping Kannada's identity sponsors of a rejuvenated Kannada: thus, imperative that "We don't have a history! came not from Mysore but the Bombay B M Srikantia made the plea in 1915 at the We must have a history!"3 recognised that Karnataka region where a Marathi national Mysore Economic Conference that it was only through a recast history of the identity was fairly well developed by the end governments concerned with Kannada areas will, as they have been doing already, Kannada people that the Indian nation could of the 19th century. Mysore instead was encourage writers systematically and on be imagined, but more importantly deplored noted throughout the colonial period and by settled principles, and may even see the way the fact that his effort came a full 40 or 50 its historians for its other achievements. Tipu to establish a sort of academy with power years after his Bengali, Marathi and Sultan himself has been acknowledged as the to lay down principles to map out counterparts had made their heroes and earliest mobiliser of state resources in the a course of production and to reward any historic triumphs part of the Indian common struggle against the British,8 but by the late work that is done in an excellent manner and sense.4 Just after the demand for a linguistic 19th century, the bureaucracy of the princely to print and distribute it if necessary among Kannada province was conceded by the state forged a paradigm of development the people at large.15 Indian National Congress in 1920, there was which, while unmistakeably nationalist, It need not surprise us that when the 'academy' explicitly expressed envy for the "the rich strove to usher in a legal and economic was established as the Kannada Sahitya modern literature of modern (sic) vernaculars modernity by relying entirely on the Parishat in 1915, it was as part of Dewan like Bengali, Marathi and Telugu."5 The instrumentalities of the state. State-sponsored Visvesvaraya's overall vision of Mysore's absence, until as recently as 1956, of a industrialisation is the most well known of material progress and welfare.16 This pre- unified administration under which the Mysore's achievements, but equally independence envisioning of the state as the Kannada peoples could develop continues significant was the legislative agenda that set prime mover in building a sense of nationhood to haunt even contemporary historical the pace for improved rights of Hindu women may be distinguished from the latter day accounts.6 If the 'real Congress struggle' got 9 under law in 1930, and accepted the principle demands for control over the apparatuses of off to a late and timid start in (Bombay) 10 of reservations for non-brahmins in 1921. the nation-state, as we shall see below, but Karnataka (heralded by the 1930 salt The state thus absorbed the nationalist agenda the continuities cannot be ignored.17 satyagraha), it was ironically because of an restricting severely the conditions of The displacement of cultural nationalism administrative identity on which nationalist possibility for a public sphere to develop, by economic nationalism in the colonial 7 politics could build was unavailable, More "tending to suffocate non-state institutions period is critical to any discussion of the recently, even 'tolerance' widely regarded of civil society by theoretically equating the predicament of the Kannada movement as a virtue, has been recast as yet another principle of public good with the institutional today, which rather than being a latecomer 11 obstacle to the full-blooded citizenship of form of state control". There were for to linguistic and communal identities, has Kannada speakers: thus L S Seshagiri Rao instance, caste associations that came up in fashioned a different path to modernity,

Economic and Political Weekly October 12-19, 1996 2809 fraught with unexpected anxieties that have nationalists. With neither the possibility of site of such bitter contention that it has come violently manifested themselves in the past a truly unified linguistic market nor a to speak for the predicament of Kannada two decades. For there is another register on democratic transformative vision, Kannada and Kannadigas throughout Karnataka. which contemporary Kannada's muted (until nationalism is content to remain within the Historically, the division of the city between recently) political identity appears as a parameters of a segmented linguistic market, the colonial cantonment (east) and the old distinct advantage vis-a-vis other states. largely abandoning the field of economic city (west)27 produced on the one hand areas Favourably endowed with an impressive and technological dominance to English with a polyglot legacy and on the other areas technological personnel base, a scientific while striving for politically legitimate that were relatively monolingual. One aspect establishment and a state that has long authority through the agency of the state and of this cultural uniqueness is that Kannada favoured industrial development, Karnataka, against other minorities. The Kannada speakers account for about 34 per cent of the and more properly , have been movement thus retains the split between city - although contrary to the widespread actively promoted as exceptionally well- dominant economic and technological belief, Kannadaspeakers constitute the single poised for integration into the new world languages and the legitimate sphere of largest group of people, followed by Tamil 18 economic order. On this register, the growth politico-cultural languages. From within this (25 per cent) (19 per cent) and Telugu of the state's economy appears to have a narrowly defined sphere of legitimate (17 per cent).28 The other, and equally momentum of its own, on which the recent political and cultural authority, this regiona- important fact is that some parts of the city assertions of Kannada identity have served list discourse aspires to become a "perfor- have large segments of minority religious as a frustrating ideological drag. mative discourse which aims to impose as populations, Christian and Muslim, identified Yet it is clear that the very features that legitimate a new definition of the frontiers with languages other than Kannada, whereas made Bangalore/Karnataka an attractive and to get people to know and recognise the more recent migrants to the city are both location for the realisation of global ambitions region that is thus delimited in opposition primarily Kannada-speaking and Hindu. The are destined to be transfigured by the force to the dominant definition".22 It is critical most violent manifestations of Kannada and violence that accompanies the economic therefore to identify the elements that this identity have occurred where demographic shifts that are being envisaged. The past two regionalist nationalism assembles in the change and economic realignments are decades in Karnataka, which have been course of its self-definition.23 sharpest, that is, in the western and north punctuated by movements against some But first, a word about the spatial west parts of the city (, December policies of the state on the one hand and dimensions of Kannada identity, which is 14, , December 14, The Hindu against some minorities on the other, testify symptomatic of the contemporary Kannada December 17, 1991.) It was in Bangalore, to a violent renegotiation of the terrain of movement's primary anxieties. Karnataka is rather than in the deindustrialised KGF area development between those who are poised unusually rich in the number of languages that physical attacks on Tamil speakers were to benefit most from Karnataka's globalising spoken by its inhabitants, which includes most acute during the Cauvery riots, and trends, and those who seek a stake in it.19 Telugu, Urdu, Tamil and Marathi, as well within Bangalore itself, the older eastern Broadly, these two sides may be characterised as Tulu, Konkani and Kodagu, apart from parts of the city, such as Ulsoor, where equa- by their respective linguistic markers, i e, the 65 percent who owe allegiance to Kannada tions between old and new migrants are more the users of English and Kannada alone.24 Yet of the three significant moments stable, were comparatively free of violence respectively, a diglossia in crisis, where a in the language politics of the past 15 years, compared with areas flush with new migrants. nationalist elite which was thoroughly i e, the Gokak agitation of 1982, the Cauvery Not surprisingly, some of the strongest bilingual (knowing English as well as the agitation of 1991 and the agitation against memories of Kannada's underdevelopment regional language) has yielded space to two, the Urdu telecast in 1994 what was an are associated with the historic demographic or more, resolutely unilingual groups.20 impressive all-Karnataka affair in 1982 and economic profile of this city29 even Kannada nationalism today is thus a (Gokak), with an organising nucleus based when they concern issues that do not pertain beleagured nationalism, since it functions in Hubli-Dharwar, was restricted, during the specifically to Bangalore. Testifying before within a severely segmented linguistic Cauvery agitation, to a struggle over jobs, the Venkatesh Commission that enquired market.21 It possesses neither the will nor the land and water in southern Karnataka.25 The into the anti-Tamil riots during the Cauvery resources to combat the hegemonic presence anti-Urdu agitation, which revolved around agitation, the president of Kannada Shakti of English as the language of science, the question of the visibility of Kannada as Kcndra Chidananand Murthy said that technology and indeed global capitalism. It the official language, was more or less Bangalore's Kannada speakers were on the cannot, in other words, challenge the confined to the state capital. It is no decline, and that there should be a check on 30 dominated position to which it has been coincidence that the Karnataka intelligentsia, the migrant influx. Bangalore after all, is relegated. Instead, it displaces its demands which had shown a remarkable degree of not only the administrative capital of the onto the politico-cultural sphere, through unity in the first two agitations,26 were much state but is also the location of several public what has long been perceived as the prime less unanimous on the third, more, symbolic sector industries as well as large private mover, the state, which is also a far from issue, although the protagonists were in turn ones and is preparing to take its place as insignificant distributor of resources, able to forge new solidarities with Hindu a major site for information technology. To At this conjuncture, the milder forms of communal forces. In other words, securing an extent, Bangalore exemplifies and even Kannada nationalism have been eclipsed by the identity of Kannada through attacks on exaggerates the hierarchical division of the far more strident versions. Given that it linguistic minorities is restricted to those labour between languages that has come to does not yet harness the democratic political areas where, for historical reasons, there are stay, whether in the realms of work, culture, energies of those who are critical of current substantial and visible minorities subsisting governance or religion, and linguistic poli- social transformations, this nationalism in regions of high economic growth, namely tics reiterates the violence of the structural ranges itself against the languages of in southern Karnataka and particularly in changes which are under way today. subaltern groups, such as Tamil and Urdu urban areas such as Bangalore and Mysore, LANGUAGE OF WORK speakers in Karnataka, and seeks its allies rather than Bellary, Bijapur or Belgaum. from among communal groups, overshadow- The development of Bangalore as a city, The 'tolerance' of Kannadigas to which ing the milder variants that range from a as well as the role it is assigned to play in many testified during the Cauvery Riots of benign linguistic pride to passionate cultural the refigured global order, have made it a 1991 (, December 22,

Economic and Political Weekly October 12-19, 1996 2810 1991) is an interesting instance of reinter- even as Tamil/Malayali recruitment dropped LANGUAGE OF CULTURE preting the existence of substantial linguistic off as a result of new personnel policies, and ethnic minorities in Karnataka although aided in part by the fact that ITIs within There was, right from the start, no contest the large-scale mobilisation of labour in the Karnataka itself provided a ready recruiting between the 'prestigious enchantress' gold mines (KGF), textile mills, plantations ground.34 Nevertheless at the start of the (English) and the 'sobbing mother' and after the 1940s, the public sector, was Gokak agitation, Subrahmanya, the general (Kannada).39 Kannada High schools determined by considerations in which the secretary of the Vimana Kharkhana preparing students for the upper secondary Kannada people played little or no part. Karnataka Sangha claimed that of the 23,000 examination at the turn of the century 'did Generally, we may say that the broad-based HAL employees, "only 5-7000 (sic) are not flourish in competition with English agrarian structure of Old Mysore practically Kannadigas" (Deccan Herald, April 11, schools' and were therefore abolished in eliminated the need for migration until at 1982). 1935 although Kannada was made the least the 1950s; on the other hand, the The significance of the mid-1960s medium of instruction in that year.40 An inhospitability of the continguous drought- recruitment drive to public sector industries internationally hegemonic language like prone tracts of Tamil Nadu drove landed and extends beyond the mere replacement of one English became desirable cultural capital for landless labourers off the land and into cities linguistic group with another. The caste/ the Karnataka, indeed the Indian, elite, 31 such as KGF and Bangalore. Memories of class origins of the new entrants differed especially in the absence of a common the underdevelopment of Kannada speakers substantially from previous migrants as well. language in the incipient nation-state. The nevertheless persist among Tamil workers, Many of the new workers at BEL were field of culture was however easier to mark who attribute their own presence in Karnataka members of the agrarian landowning off, to set aside as the domain over which to their natural propensities for 'hard work' vokkaliga caste, from rural and non-working Kannada would preside. The existence of a or 'industrial work' compared with class backgrounds. Tamil workers, for rich literary tradition, and the output of Kannadigas in the past,32 while Kannada example, had been primarily from the lower hitherto suppressed groups such as speakers who are forced to provide castes and very often from working class and and women, have ensured Kannada a secure explanations for the preponderance of non- even urban backgrounds, coming from towns place as a literary language. Yet this domain Kannadigas in the labour force of KGF, such as Vellore and Coimbatore (interview too has long borne the marks of hierarchy, Bangalore and Bhadravathi speak of historic with M S Rao). At the same time, Bangalore given the extremely unequal terms of injustices. The high proportion of has long been characterised as a middle class distribution of linguistic capital between the Kannadigas who comprise the working city on the basis of low slum population (10 various segments of the cultural community. population of the industrial town of Hosur, per cent compared with 25 per cent in cities Language thus continued to be the bearer 40 miles from Bangalore but in Tamil Nadu, like Madras in the mid-1970s), and the pre- of caste and gender markers. In the very first does not appear to challenge the dominance 35 ponderance of middle income earners. This school started at Melkote for brahmin girls, of these views, any more than the presence was true even in that decade of pheno-menal of large numbers of agricultural landlords the emphasis was on teaching the literary growth, 1971-81, when Bangalore's popu- and fine arts through the medium of and workers in Gudalur and Ooty does. 36 lation swelled by more than 70 per cent. Kannada,41 with little or no input on the The push from the Karnataka agrarian The middle-classness of the city is only exact, natural or physical sciences. Indeed, hinterland into the cities became pronounced likely to be further accentuated given the only Kannada was taught because English, from the mid-1950s, a trend that has been economic changes that are being envisaged far from being merely a medium, was attested by studies of slum populations. While for the city, with the planned generation of intrinsically bound up with "information 67 per cent of Kannada slum dwellers came more white collar and service oriented jobs.37 offensive to native tradition".42 Only in 1919 to Bangalore after 1954, roughly the same Unlike KGF city, which is overwhelmingly were girls' schools reluctantly made bilingual percentage (63 per cent) of Tamils had Tamil, and is rapidly deindustrialised and from the middle grade, and this only after migrated before that year, after which there deurbanised, despite protests, Bangalore's an appeal came from the women's movement, was a sharp drop, and numbers continue to relatively weak working class profile means though Kannada continued to be the medium decline although Tamils continue to account that there are fewer jobs for the rural migrants of instruction,43 The debate about what should for sizeable proportion of lower end arriving in the city. Given the structural be the language of instruction continued 33 immigrants. shifts in the industrial landscape, namely well into the 1940s although the hegemony Yet even in 1983, Prakasa Rao claimed away from public sector to private, and from of English was never breached. that "more migrants born outside [Karnataka] heavy capital goods industries to light B M Srikantia's was among the stray came in search of employment than migrants consumer industries, service industries, or voices that urged the development of a born in Karnataka". Despite this apparent to highly skilled CNC operations, the Sarojini Kannada adequate to the tasks of modern "lack of interest" in industrial work, which Mahishi Commission's recommendation that industrial and scientific advance.44 Yet he has been ideologically cathected as an at least 80 per cent of the jobs at the lowest too made the point feebly, acknowledging aversion to 'hard work', by the 1960s, active scale in the public sector be reserved for the instead the sphere within which Kannada efforts were made to mobilise resentment "sons of the soil" will not yield tangible was condemned to circulate, envisaging a 38 against patterns of recruitment to eminently results and may soon be irrelevant. In fact, division of labour where English 'our cultural desirable public sector jobs. In what was this will greatly exacerbate the struggle over and political language', 'our spiritual conveniently aligned with a management the limited resources and jobs that the state and classical language' and Kannada 'our offensive against an influential communist controls. The new economic policy, from native and speaking language', could happily (AITUC) union at BEL, for instance, the which Karnataka, especially Bangalore, is co-exist.45 This has been an important legacy Karmika Sangha (or the Workers' Unity slated to benefit, will bypass the majority for the present since Kannada's alliance with Forum) was encouraged, beginning in 1967, of subaltern classes, whatever languages they the world of culture has over the years been to unionise Kannada speakers on a linguistic may speak, and control of the political more firmly established through the efforts basis. This incitement to union-breaking machine itself is seen as an alternative for of private and state bodies such as the happily coincided with a period of massive large sections of the people who are poorly Kannada and culture department. Despite endowed with the desirable economic or public sector expansion, when Kannada this, there has been, neither in the past nor cultural capital. recruitment increased by leaps and bounds today, a widespread movement to spread

Economic and Political Weekly October 12-19, 1996 2811 literacy or encourage reading, as happened wider aspiration to make Kannada the sole that Kannada will not flourish without a in the library movement of Kerala in the language of governance. conducive environment' declared 1993-94 colonial period,46 The obvious limits of as the 'Kannada Awareness Year.'55 LANGUAGE OF GOVERNANCE promoting the growth of a language only A crucial site for the development of any through the genre of literature has been Given that the division of labour between official language is the school system, where recognised by several Kannada intellec- different languages has been well established a certain degree of compulsion is coupled tuals,47 and this may be a difficult link to with English at the top of the hierarchy with the generalised changes in the economy challenge even by the current chairman of followed byHindi' ,i t need come as no surprise that warrant new knowledges and a mastery the Kannada Development Authority, that the leaders of the Kannada movement of the official language. Yet even Eugen H Narasimhaiah, a scientist. aspire to seize and occupy, coercively if Weber's detailed documentation of the Yet even the field of 'culture' such as it necessary, the realm of governance. The violent processes by which peasants were is, is not uncontestably the domain of state in the Indian case is not merely an forced to become Frenchmen, and only as Kannada. A national culture is today pur- administrative structure but an active recently as during the period of the first veyed throughout the country via the medium interventionary force in development of all world war, does not minimise the importance of Hindi, which in Karnataka enjoys a kinds. In the refigured economy of the state, of persuasion: when French finally gained dominance that has rarely been questioned:48 where, as already mentioned, the thrust is ground among the patois speaking peasants, Mahadev Banakar even cites the Tamil towards a dismantling of the public and it was "not so much through persecution as objection to 'Akashvani' as a symptom of encouragement of the private sector, the through the peasant's growing appreciation its anti-national stance, a position from which government, or at least the political class, of the usefulness of a less parochial language he is anxious to distinguish Kannada.49 attempts an active mediation of the economic and of the skills learned in schools". The Instead, even when there was protest against agendas, to compensate for the domain of Gokak agitation however, recognising that programmes made in Hindi, such as Sanjay jobs and power that have been lost with the the generalised conditions for a widespread Khan's The Sword of Tippu Sultan (Deccan decline of the state sector." While this can need for Kannada did not exist, sought to Herald, December 12,1991) and Ramanand do nothing by way of altering the direction elevate Kannada to the level of the sole first Sagar's Ramayana (Deccan Herald, August of the change, and indeed may not want to, language, a status that no other language has 30, 1994), it was because they were being it can at least secure a substantial part of the been accorded in the country, by state dubbed for telecast in Kannada rather than benefits that accrue to the initiators of such coercion. being remade in Kannada. There has been change. Recognising the need to legitimise the recurrent tension between the 'remake lobby' Of course, there are also instances of official language and consecrate it as the and the dubbers of non-Kannada films. The sections of the Kannada movement offering language of the state, Kannada is placed in issue is how best the development of the serious and even violent critiques of the new opposition to other dominated languages - Kannada language is served: by dubbing economic policy. The KRRS attack on Cargill Sanskrit, which is an ossified classical non-Kannada films, by 'remaking' non- seeds and Kentucky Fried Chicken, the language, Tamil, which in Karnataka is Kannada films (and providing an impetus opposition to the Japanese township and the primarily the language of subaltern classes; for the film industry), or by striving to make growing unease about the Cogentrix deal are and Urdu, similarly the language of a Kannada films that can stand up to the cases in point, but they remain symbolic, and dominated minority. The ferociousness of competition of other language films. While external to the central concern of the Kannada the attack on the Urdu news telecast was thus the 'remake lobby' has complained about movement. a protection of the official face of and space the 'lack of story lines, and even directors, The official language is necessarily aligned for Kannada, and the fear of even minor 57 the purists see 'remakes' as a kiss of death with the nation-state in its origins and in its transgressions into that space. Both the 50 for the Kannada film industry. social uses, so that Kannada must not only attack on Tamils and their property during Despite a measure of pride in the fact that be the official language of the state, but the the 1991 Cauvery riots and on Muslims 'films in six languages are shown in the sole official language in a linguistically plural during the anti-Urdu agitation in 1994 may state' the insistence, particularly during society. After having secured official be seen as coveting the images of Tamil and moments of crisis, that only Kannada films language status in 1963,54 Kannada clearly Urdu respectively. In the case of Tamil, it be seen in theatres in Bangalore and that did not make the headway that was envisaged, is the political and cultural solidarity that is only Kannada programmes be shown on the and the nearly 280 GOs that have been enviable, a political solidarity that has recently channels DDI and DD951 may be seen as issued in the past 30 years include several been forged, and has enabled a certain an instance of the coercive, rather than that testify to the continued insecurity of dominance even among expatriate subaltern persuasive quality of Kannada's limited reign Kannada. Despite certain misgivings, and classes. In the case of Urdu too, it is the over the culture of Karnataka. The entry of even doubts, the imposition of Kannada, ability of the language to perpetuate itself the Fans' Association into the whether as the sole first language in high and survive despite the absence of an official fray during both the Gokak and the anti- schools or as the official language, appears political structure and despite the fact that Tamil riots were critical to the scale and as the only viable route of establishing the community of speakers is clearly under- intensity of the disturbances, while rallying hegemony. The Kannada Development privileged. Urdu speakers' solidarity, unlike the entire film industry behind it during the Authority, whose mandate is broader than that of Tamils, springs in part from the solida- Kannada agitation.52 Even when the demand its predecessors, the Kannada Official rity made available by Islam, which more for Kannada telecasts was made, it was in Language Committee, the Kannada Official than amply makes up for the absence of a order to monopolise the official channels, Language Watchdog Committee, and the patron state. This excessive identity of Urdu since the protagonists of Kannada are acutely Kannada Watchdog and Border Advisory with a religious group is both feared and aware of the impossibility of voicing Committee, is still struggling with the same envied by the Kannada protagonists, although opposition to the innumerable private issues. Indeed, it is a recognition of the the commonsensical association of Kannada channels that beam programmes in English, impossibility of even legitimate authority with Hinduism is naturalised, and is therefore Hindi and even Tamil throughout the day. in making language hegemonic that beyond interrogation. Briefly tracing the Kannada therefore aspires to monopolise the G Narayana, former president of the Kannada genealogies of the link between language field of official culture, which is part of a Development Authority, knowing full well and religion is therefore imperative.

Economic and Political Weekly October 12-19, 1996 2812 LANGUAGE OF RELIGION Islam continued to be external to Karnataka's politicisation account for the absence of history. Alur's account glides over communal strife; even in 1938, it was British Most historians of Old Mysore in the late Karnataka's Jain heritage, the revolutionary subjects and organisations, rather than 19th century such as Cha Vasudevayya, doctrines of Basaveswara and completely Hyderabadi ones, that were responsible for Chandrasekhara Sastri, M Singrayya ignores the subaltern religiosities of the the riots,65 A comparative analysis of two expressed 'raja bhakti'. composing court Bijapur/Gulbarga Sufi traditions of the 14th- states, Travancore and Baroda, has led Dick histories and vamsavalis.58 BM Sri's 16th centuries which were often bitterly Kooiman to conclude that communal leaders Kannada Nadina Charitre also remained at opposed to the Adil Shahi/Bahmani sultans.60 emphasised religious identities to more the level of a history of the Mysore court. To that extent, Alur Venkat Rao's revisions strictly regulate access to the state Nationalist redefinition of the Kannada were even more drastic than the efforts of bureaucracy (as in Travancore); where elite speaking people's history came from outside writers such as Bankimchandra, because of interests were well served by the bureaucracy, Mysore. Here too, while there were his refusal to name, differentiate or as in Baroda. there was relatively little exceptions such as Raghavendra Krishna characterise the late medieval period, not communal violence.66 According to James Inamati's 1907 work that acknowledged the even as darkness.61 If Bankimchandra, despite Chiriyankandath, early caste or community Muslim heritage, most nationalist histories his analytical break with his historical based activity of the elites was a formative bore the imprint of a reawakened Hinduism. forebears nevertheless evaded a critique of influence on the development of democratic Alur Venkat Rao's 1917 conception of colonialism and was a liberal before his institutions and organisations, especially 'Karnatakatva' as outlined in Karnataka time, Alur Venkal Rao writing in 1920 was within the sphere of electoral politics, with Gatha Vaibhava was unmistakably grounded more than amply familiar with the critiques enduring consequences.67 in the language of worship, of devotion to of colonialism that were being generated by Although none of these explanations 59 the great men of the past. But there was the nationalist movement. In his decision to entirely fit the Mysore case, what they all a much more important sense in which the end the history of the glories of Karnataka emphasise is the development of a range of history of the Kannada nation was in 1565, in his refusal to deal with the period pre-political organisations, whether caste, constructed as the history of the Hindu nation. that followed as history, and in the tacit religion, or language based, and whether or That lay in the very choice of heroes in gratitude he showed the Orientalist scholars not they redefined the domains of economic, Karnataka's past and in the abruptness with who had put together a coherent account of political and social power. Such associations which Karnataka's glory comes to an end Karnataka's ancient past, he exercised a were relatively weak in Baroda68 and in 1565 following the battle of Talikota in judgment, reflecting a view that had already Hyderabad69 (so that communal riots were which the forces of Hinduism were defeated gained currency and resonated well into the absent in the former place and instigated by by the forces of Islam: 20th century. outsiders in the latter) while they were 70 Having flourished for 230 years this glorious In attempting to understand the communal stronger in Travancore. In most parts of kingdom disappeared in half a minute by turn taken by the Kannada movement, at Mysore, there was a conspicuous weakness accident. It died. That was the end of least one recent document distinguishes of such associations; if communal riots were Karnataka's glory. The kumkum was wiped between the pre-and post-independence rare then, it has to be understood as part of off Karnatakadevi's forehead! The 62 language movements. In the colonial the generally restricted development of the mangalsutra round her neck was cut! period, it says, the Kannada movement public sphere, where even progressive Karnataka's wealth was destroyed. 'presented very democratic points of view' movements such as women's, peasant or left Karnataka's intellectual wealth disappeared. 71 and retained a unity until its goal was movements, did not flourish. Even the The sun of Karnataka's valour set To achieved, namely, Karnataka's unification. hostility between brahmins and non- summarise: since that day, we people of In the post-independence period, however, brahmins was more in the nature of elite, Karnataka have become an empty name in the pressures of modernisation appear to palace' intrigues, rather than popular history. Oh, ye of Karnataka, has the time 72 have caused a split in the constituency. Yet, upsurges. still not arrived for a recovery of past glories? while appreciating the difficulties of Despite the availability of colonial Think about it (p 71). imagining the nation outside the framework discourse on the misdeeds of Hyder and Not only were the Vijayanagar kings of 'devotion', there is no doubt that Alur Tippu and their followers, then, Mysore was valiant in their defence of 'arya dharma' in made specific choices throughout his work relatively free of communal violence. On the the face of a formidable enemy, namely, the in order to rally specific kinds of groups to other hand, the avowed 'Hinduness' of the Bahmanis, successive dynasties until the cause of Kannada. In that sense, although Mysore state permitted the bureaucracy to Vijayanagar, from the Gangas Kadambas, the commonsensical association of Kannada transform the domain of the social without Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas Hoysalas, and with Hinduism cannot be without long-term incurring serious opposition, not even from Yadavas were protectors of the Kannada effects, portraying the anti-Urdu agitation as the Congress; indeed there was a great deal language (p 21). resulting from a 'misuse of the situation by of congruence between Congress and In Alur Venkat Rao's narrative, the 63 communal interests' is clearly inadequate. princely state agendas, especially on bondage of Karnataka began with the defeat Instead, we may account for the absence of Vijayanagar and had not ended, which economic questions. What is more important of 'communalism' in the colonial period in was why his account ends with the battle is the monarchical culture that was kept quite a different way. At least until the of Talikota. Through a series of elisions, alive, and the maharaja, whose figurehead 1930s, the princely states were generally languages acquire a religious identity status was never in doubt nevertheless stood regarded as comparatively free of communal especially since non-state (non-official) for forms of power and authority which were strife.64 Communal riots in several princely religions are destined to languish and die. distinctly monarchic. This monarchic culture states such as Travancore and Hyderabad in Thus, the Bahmani and Adil Shahi court was not proclaimedly secular, and yet wore the latter part of the 1930s forced a revision cultures in north Karnataka which in fact its Hinduness lightly especially in its of this optimistic view. Several historians paralleled the court of the Wodeyars are held unopposed reform of the Mysore social responsible for the decline of Karnatakatva. have speculated on the reasons for this early formation. 'absence'. Ian Copeland suggests in his By such a violent act of self-imposed Today, however, the identification of analysis of Hyderabad that low levels of censorship, the classical heritage of Kannada with Hinduism has been so industrial development and lower levels of Karnataka remained exclusively Hindu, and thoroughly naturalised that Kannada

Economic and Political Weekly October 12-19, 1996 2813 Rajyotsava as it is celebrated has assumed efface the specificities of caste and class, and arguments; I am especially grateful to the readers the trappings of a minor religious festival pits itself against other dominated minorities of the first draft, K Nagaraj, MSS Pandian, and replete with invocations to the goddess of rather than addressing the hierarchical Madhava Prasad.] Kannada, Bhuvaneshwari. The relationship division of labour that has ensured Kannada's 1 As M Chidanandmurthy has said, ''A survey of the community of speakers of Kannada dominated status.78 of historiography in Kannada during the 19th to the language is one of devotion or faith, Of the constituent groups that have century clearly shows the lack of nationalist so that more secular celebrations of expressed a more circumspect solidarity with outlook among the Kannada people, more so Rajyotsava, as were attempted by the BEL the cause of Kannada in the contemporary among the South Karnataka (Old Mysore) People. "Murthy, 'Historiography in Kannada union, were regarded as sacrilegious.73 political scene,79 the Karnataka Rajya Raitha during the 19th Century' in Tarashanker Portraits of Kannada Bhuvaneshwari were Sangha alone seems to have attempted a Banerjee (ed), Historiography in Modern worshipped at the launch of the Gokak critique of the impact of the new global Indian languages 1800-1947, (Calcutta: Nay agitation, as if to suggest that respect for the order, and even produced a vocabulary ade- Prokashan, 1987), p 168, emphasis added. languagecan only be guaranteed by investing quate to such an analysis.80 The other social 2 Partha Chatterjee Nationalist Thought in a it with a certain religiosity (Deccan Herald. movement of significance, the Sangarsh Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse? April 3, 1982). Similarly, the Cauvery Samiti, which has often supported the pro- (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1986). agitation too evoked images of the symbolic Kannada struggles, has not so far given up 3 As Bankimchandra's Bangadarshan had it, cited by Ranajit Guha, An Indian importance of the river for Hindus. It is its primary identity as a forum for asserting Historiography of India: A 19th Century almost as if the aggressively religious public and defending the rights of dalits.81 Agenda and its Implications', (Calcutta: K P sphere is developing in tandem with, and in As long as it continues to privilege the Bagchi, 1988), p 47. opposition to, the expanded sphere of the identity of Kannada over other democratic- 4 Alur Venkat Rao Karnataka Gatha Vaibhava secular. And it is no coincidence that such aspirations, the Kannada movement will tend (1917) Reprinted (Bangalore: Kannada oppositions are exacerbated even as increasingly towards alignment with strident Sahitya Parishat. 1982), especially pp 1-6. associations in civil society (trade unions communal or anti-minority forces, rather The Karnataka Handbook, printed and Published for the Editorial Board of the and language associations within the public than those critical of the existing Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, sector industries for example) are flourishing. establishment and of the promised changes (Bangalore: Sreenivasa Iyengar, I924?),p 10. We cannot overstate the link between the in the economic and political scenario, and 5 Karnataka Handbook, p 180. Early Kannada religious colour of language agitations, since muting the milder cultural nationalist forces novels were mostly translations of solidarities in most new nation within the Kannada movement. Even the and Bengali ones. RR Diwakar Karnataka states have evoked religious motifs. But the justified demand for a fair share of Cauvery Through the Ages: From Prehistoric Times speed with which the 1994 agitation against water in 1991 soon dissolved into an to the Day of the Independence of India. Vol the introduction of Urdu news telecast was indiscriminate attack on Tamil labourers II, (Bangalore: Government of Mysore, 1968), 848. Also, Murthy, Historiography in transformed into a sustained campaign and landholders in parts of southern Kannada during the 19th century'. against the speakers of Urdu, namely Karnataka. Nor does the vociferous 6 Diwakar Karnataka Through the Ages, p 889 Muslims, speaks of a commonsensical participation of subaltern classes necessarily Thus, Kannada speakers were distributed association of Kannada with Hinduism and guarantee a more inclusive or democratic between five colonial administrative divisions, the consolidation of the agenda of Hindu agenda.82 The Kannada movement Bombay and Madras Presidency. Hyderabad, communalism beyond the confines of a encompasses a range of moderate and Mysore and Coorg states. specifically 'communal' party.74 In fact, the progressive intellectual positions, which have 7 G S Halappa History of Freedom Movement Kannada movement had no need for the of late been overshadowed by the more in Karnataka, (Bangalore: Government of Mysore, 1964), p 174. Indeed, so hard pressed members of the BJP and even refused them strident voices. Combined with the structural is the author for stirring accounts of Kannadiga an opportunity to speak at the rally before changes that are well under way and which participation in the early phases of the Doordarshan on October 9,1994 (The Times are guaranteed to benefit a few at the expense nationalist movement that he resorts to of India, October 10,1994). There is certainly of the rest, the ideology of the Kannada recounting Tilak's and Gandhi's entry into no perfect consonance between the agendas movement, while often expressing legitimate the national movement for close to a hundred of Karnatakatva and Hindutva though there anxieties, may increasingly tend towards pages! appears to be enough of an overlap. Thus, undemocratic resolutions of its identity 8 Asok Sen, 'A Pre-British Economic Formation while Chidananda Murthy said after the anti- crisis. It may increasingly, as Vatal Nagaraj in lndia of the late 218th century: Tipu Sultan's Mysore' in Barun De (ed), Perspectives in Urdu riots that "Hindus are no more under ominously threatened on the eve of the Social Sciences: I, Historical Dimensions, agitation against the interim order on Cauvery the control of Mutts, but the Muslims are (Calcutta, 1977). 75 always bound by what the Mowlvis say", waters, "speak in a language the centre will 9 Janaki Nair, 'Law, Modernity and Patriarchy Jagdish Karanth, the leader of the Hindu understand". in Mysore', unpublished manuscript, 1994. Jagran Vedike, which played a key role in Mysore was also the first to establish state- the riots at Bangalore and earlier at Bhatkal, Notes sponsored birth control clinics in 1930. GO expressed similar sentiments.76 No 614353-6-Medical 263-29-3, June 11, [Memories of Underdevelopment' was the name 1930, Proceedings, Government of Mysore. DEMOCRACY AND LANGUAGE of a memorable Cuban film directed by Tomas 10 James Manor, Political Change in an Indian Alea. This paper is exploratory, suggesting State: Mysore. 1917-1955, (Delhi: Manohar, The ideology of the Kannada movement directions in which the study of contemporary 1978, pp 60, 64-65); G Thimmaiah, Power, resembles the Shiv Sena movement quite Karnataka may profitably proceed, rather than Politics and Social Justice: Backward Castes closely especially in the kinds of elements providing a fully worked out analysis of the in Karnataka, (Delhi: Sage Publishers, 1993), it assembles in its self-definition (Hindu, predicaments of Karnatoka's development today. especially Chapter 3. anti-minority and patriarchal) as well as in This paper was prepared for the seminar on Social 11 Sudipta Kaviraj, 'On the structure of identities: Religion, Region and Language in Nationalist Discourse' in T V Satyamurthy its aspirations (control of the political Contemporary India', University of Hyderabad, (ed), State and Nation in the Context of Social machine), although there are important September 14 and 15, 1995, and also presented Change, Vol I, (Delhi: Oxford University 77 distinctions. Kannada nationalism, like all at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Press, 1994), p 327. Although Kaviraj here nationalisms, attempts to produce a solidarity Madras Comments from the audience at both refers to the Nehruvian Moment, I believe between all Kannada speakers in order to places have greatly helped to sharpen my that Mysore's development agenda clearly

Economic and Political Weekly October 12-19, 1996 2814 anticipated by several decades the economic with the anti-Tamil agitation; on December 'Bangalore as an Industrial District", vision of the independent Indian state. 12,1991, the Rajkumar Abhimanigala Sangha (Pondicherry, Institut de Francais. 1994). 12 Speaking of the Mysore Lingayat Educational had already organised a rally protesting the 38 We may also note that the expanding Fund Associations (1905) and the Vokkaligara Thiruvalluvar statue and the dubbing of Tippu electronics and garment industries tend to Sangha (1906) James Manor argues that these Sultan when news of the centre's interim favour young unmarried daughters to the 'sons caste associations failed to become 'the new order were received, immediately giving a of the soil', the implications of which have type of public organisation since they were readily assembled audience a fresh, more not been examined here. governed according to the logic of the old pointed focus. 39 The words were used by the handful of private politics', Political Change in an Indian 27 See Prakasa Rao, Urbanisation in India: Kannada litterateurs who were opposed to the State, p 46 For a list of early 20th century Spatial Dimensions, (New Delhi: Concept anti-minority focus of the Gokak agitation in caste associations in Karnataka, see Publishers, 1983), p 176. 1982. Letter to the editor, Deccan Herald, Thimmaiah, Power Politics and Social 28 V K Tewari et al (ed), Indian Cities: Ecological April 18. 1982. Justice, pp 70-72. Perspectives, (Delhi: Concept Publishing 40 Diwakar, Karnataka Through the Ages, p 814. 13 D F Gustafson, The Making of a Model Company 1986), 221-42 especially 223. 41 C S Ranganatha Rao (ed), Mysore (The Ruling State: Mysore 1881 -1902'. PhD Dissertation, 29 We may hazard the guess that it is Bangalore Chiefs of India series, no II). (Madras: S University of Wisconsin, 1969: S Chandra- district's status as a vast urban agglomeration, Krishnan and Co, 1908) p 36. sekhar, Colonialism, Conflict and with 14 per cent of the state's population. 42 Chandrasekhar, Colonialism, Conflict and Nationalism, (Delhi: Wishwa Press, 1995), (Belgaum comes a poor second with 8 per Nationalism, p 47. pp 47-48 and 58. cent of the population), that makes it so visibly 43 Proceedings of the Representative Assembly 14 Diwakar, Karnataka Through the Ages, p 889 a contentious issue. Census of India, 1981 of Mysore, 1919, p 151.1 may also add that 15 B M Srikantia, The Improvement of Kan- Provisional Totals p 53. Compare the spread despite Alur Venkat Rao's exhortation to nada', (1915), (reprinted: Bangalore: B M of cities in Tamil Nadu and Andhra, K Nagaraj, Kannadigas to investigate Karnataka's past Srikantia Memorial Foundation, 1969), p v. 'Towns in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra and make it part of the common sense, there 16 Ibid, p iv. Pradesh: A Study of Population and Spatial was persistent discomfort at the idea of women 17 I am grateful to Tejaswini Niranjana for urging Configurations, 1961-81', MIDS Working being taught history. PRAM. 1908, 1911. me to clarify the distinction. Paper no 54, Madras, 1985. 44 BM Srikantaia, The Improvement of 18 See for instance. Technology Development 30 The Hindu, January 16,1993.Siddaia h Puranik Kannada' 1915, Reprinted 1987 B M Sri on a State Level Focused on National Goals: has on more than one occasion expressed Memorial Foundation, pp 7 and 9. A Concept Paper Applied to the State of anxieties about "Losing Bangalore to 45 Ibid, p 18. Karnatak, India' prepared by Arthur D Little Outsiders" during the Cauvery agitation (The 46 Dilip Menon, Caste, Nationalism and for the US AID, India, April 1987, p 10, 22ff. Hindu, December 14, 1993) and suggested Communism in South India: Malabar. 1900- See also. Bangalore 2000, especially Michael that Bangalore should be a 'Kannadiga City' 1948, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Lee, 'Spatial Issues in Technology during the Gokak agitation, (Deccan Herald. Press, 1994), especially 143-151. Development in Bangalore' and Phillipose April 14, 1982). Mahadev Banakar, in his 47 Nissar Ahmed in Deccan Herald, April 1982. Mathai, 'Bangalore's Medium and Small discussion of linguistic minorities published 48 Even the demand to replace the broadcast of Scale Industries: Future Perspectives for during the Gokak agitation has said that Tamils Hindi news at prime time with Kannada news Development in the Intra State Regional occupy 342 of the 350 slums of Bangalore: was voiced by the AIADMK in Bangalore Context' "they seem to be happier in Karnataka than Deccan Herald (July 8, 1994). 19 This is in order to emphasise that the most Tamil Nadu". Safeguards for Linguistic 49 Banakar, Safeguardsfor Minority Languages, articulate votaries of linguistic nationalism Minorities in India: Karnataka sets a Model, p iii. rarely include the subaltern classes, regardless (Bangalore: Anubhav Publications, 1982), pp 50 In a recent recurrence of this crisis, the of the languages they speak. 31-32 Karnataka Film Producers' Association and 20 Kaviraj. 'On the Construction of Nationalist 31 Manor Political Change in an Indian State, Karnataka Film Directors' Association, under Discourse', p 324. p 29; Narender Pani, Reforms to Pre-empt the leadership of the Rajkumar Abhimanigala 21 I need not emphasis my debt to Pierre Bourdieu Change: Land Reform in Karnataka, (Delhi: Sangha, demanded that Bangalore exhibitors for such critical concepts as 'linguistic market', Concept, 1983), pp 13-17. In my research on reduce theatre rent for Kannada films and 'symbolic' and 'cultural capital'. Bourdieu, the labour history of Mysore, I have not come show Kannada films for at least six months Language and Symbolic Power, (Cambridge: across any reference to a deliberate colonial a year while asking the government to impose Harvard University Press, 1994). preference for Tamil labourers, although that a 12-week ban on the release of non-Kannada 22 Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power, is part of the prevalent Kannada mythology. films. Lankesh Patrike. February-March, p 223 32 Janaki Nair, 'Production Regimes, Cultural 1996; The Hindu, February 21. 1996. 23 Despite the obvious ways in which what I Processes: Industrial Labour in Mysore', Exhibitors however have claimed that it was have stated in this paragraph and in other parts IESHR, 30.3 (1993), pp 275-278. dificult to run Kannada films for more than of this article are relevant to several sub- 33 Prakasa Rao Urbanisation in India, p 236. two to three weeks, and to get enough films nationalisms in the Indian subcontinent, I 34 I am grateful to Dilip Subramanian for sharing for six months. During debates in the believe it is necessary to delineate the the relevant parts of an extended interview legislature, then deputy CM J H Patel clearly specificities of the Kannada case, in order to with MSL Rao, a BEL unionist, done in 1981, declared that it was not the job of the mark points of overlap and difference from from which the information on BEL has been government to teach film artistes to sing and its counterparts. taken. Although, as central government dance as well as their Tamil or Hindi 24 Here, as in many other parts of India, people undertakings, public sector units cannot counterparts! Deccan Herald. March 2.1996 are bi- and multi-lingual in ways that make legitimately favour 'sons of the soil' except 51 Interview with Chidananda Murthy, Medium specious, if not entirely false, any strict division in the lower categories of jobs, the personnel for Communalism, A Report on the Anti-Urdu between language speakers, especially at the policies of the late 1960s, as exemplified by Communal Riots (December 1994) (Banga- lower ends of the social spectrum. BEL, point to extra-legal ways in which sons lore: People's Democratic Front, 1994) p 26. 25 A person interviewed at the height of the of the soil' may be favoured. I am grateful 52 On the Rajkumar Abhimanigala Sangha's Cauvery agitation in Bidar, a dry district far to Padmini Swaminathan for urging me to role in the anti-Tamil riots, see People's removed from the administrative heartland clarify this point. Human Rights Tribunal Report, pp 11,12 and and therefore remained aloof, said "Where is 35 Prakasa Rao, Urbanisation in India, pp 181. 15. The role of the Sangha during the anti- Cauvery ? What has it to do with this backward 235. Urdu riots was not quite so clear-cut. See district?" The Hindu, December 14, 1991. 36 Narender Pani, 'A Demographic and Medium for Communalism. 26 We cannot minimise the importance of the Economic Profile of Bangalore' in Bangalore 53 Nevertheless, the public sector still accounts Rajkumar Abhimanigala Sangha and its entry 2000. Times Research Foundation, 1988. for twice as many jobs in Bangalore, as in into the Gokak agitation on April 16, 1982, 37 Lee, 'Spatial Issues in Technology Develop- Karnataka. Pani, A Demographic and (Deccan Herald, April 17,1982) as it signalled ment'; Mathai. 'Bangalore's Medium and Economic Profile, Table 53. the beginning of mass movement. Similarly Small Scale Industries'; Mark Holmstrom, 54 Karnataka Act no 26 of 1963.

Economic and Political Weekly October 12-19, 1996 2815 55 Adalitha Kannada Anushtana Adeshagala sanghas that have played a major role in all of ignorance of Kannada simply did not exist. Sankhalana, 1963-1993 (Bangalore: Kannada the recent language agitations. Deccan Herald, December 23, 1991. This Development Authority, 1993), p ii.The point 74 A statement signed by a group of secular information is not corroborated in the elaborate about the need for cultural hegemony has litterateurs just before the violence against testimonies of victims that were collected by been repeated by current KDA chairman H Muslims broke out was later delinked from the People's Human Rights Tribunal set up Narasimhaiah. the effects of the association of language with to enquire into the Cauvery Riots. PHRT 56 Eugen Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen: The religion by claiming that knowledge of Urdu Report, (Bangalore: 1992). Modernisation of Rural France, 1870-1914, in Karnataka was not confined to Muslims. 79 The KRRS was among the few groups that (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1976) This was clearly a naive, even disingenuous, supported the Cauvery agitation while p 314. justification since the association of Urdu protecting and defending the lives and property 57 Chidanandmurthy, who led the shock troops with Islam has been tacitly acknowledged of Tamils in the Mysore region. Report of the against the telecast, repeated the fear that even by non-Urdu speaking Muslims in areas People's Human Rights Tribunal. 1992, p 21. there were plans to make "Urdu the second such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, 80 Musaffar Assadi, 'Khadi Curtain', 'Weak official language of the state". 75 Medium of Communalism, p 30. Capitalism' and Operation Ryot': Some 58 Chidanandmurthy. 'Historiography in 76 Ibid p 34. Ambiguities in Farmer's Discourse, Karnataka Kannada'. 77 One may cite the aggressively inasculinist and Maharashtra, 1980-83'. Journal of 59 Rao, Karnataka Gatha Vaibhava, p 3, ideology of the Shiv Sena compared with Peasant Studies, 21.3 and 4, (April/July 1994), also 11. Kannada nationalism. Gerard Heuze, 'Cultural pp 212-27; also 'Dunkelism and Peasant 60 See however. Richard Eaton, The Sufis of Populism: The Appeal of the Shiv Sena' in Protest', Social Action. 45.2 (April/June 1995), Bijapur. 1300-1700: Social Role of Sufis in Sujatha Patel and Alice Thorner (eds), pp 191-205. Medieval India, (Princeton: Princeton Bombay: Metaphor for Modern India, (Delhi: 81 Report of the People's Human Rights Tribunal, University Press, 1978). On Tipu's links with Oxford University Press, 1995), pp 213-47, p 27. the dervish tradition of the north see Barun especially p 224. Also in the same volume 82 As has been suggested in the PDF report De 'Some Socio-political Implications of the Jayant Lele, 'The Saffronisation of Shiv which says that lower classes supporters of Cognomen 'Tipu Sultan' Occasional Paper Sena: The Political Economy of City, State the Kannada movement "do not sow seeds No 135, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, and Nation', pp 185-212. of prejudice" and are not the ones "who Calcutta. 78 During the Cauvery agitation, at least one indulge in political maneouvre" even as it 61 Partha Chatterjee, 'Claims on the Past: The newspaper report had it that Tamil women considers the intellectuals as a solid bloc, and Genealogy of Modern Historiography in were not identified by the language they the industrialists and professional leaders as Bengal' in David Hardiman and David Arnold spoke but by the colour of their thalis, implying the main culprits. Medium for Communalism, (eds), Subaltern Studies VIII. (Delhi: Oxford that among the subaltern classes, the luxury pp 63-64. University Press, 1994), pp 1-47, esp 46. 62 Medium for Communalism. p 62 ff. 63 Ibid, p 65. 64 Report of the Indian Statutory [Simon] Commission, Vol 1, (London: 1930), p 29. 65 Copeland, Communalism in Princely India: The case of Hyderabad, 1930-1940', Modern Asian Studies, 22.1 (1988), pp 783-814. 66 Dick Kooiman, Communities and Electorates: A Comparative Discussion of Communalism in Colonial India, (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1995). 67 James Chiriyankandath, 'Communities at the Polls: Electoral Politics and the Mobilisation of Communal Groups in Travancore', Modern Asian Studies. 27.3 (1993), pp 643-65. 68 Kooiman, 'Communities and Electorates', pp 26, 37. 69 Copeland. Communalism in Princely India', pp 812-13, 797. 70 Chiriyankandath. Communities at the Polls', pp 664-65. 71 Significantly, the legal concessions granted to women in 1930 were not the result of a campaign of the Mysore Ladies Association. 72 Karnataka Handbook while proudly claiming the absence of communal divisions as a major plus point for Karnataka, laments the strained relations between castes, p 130. 73 Forced to respond to the mobilisation of workers on linguistic lines in the late 1960s, the AITUC devised programmes for the sale of books by Kannada writers, talks and other cultural programmes in Kannada, etc For their part the Kannada activists began the celebration of Rajyotsava in a manner identical to Ayudha Puja. with grand pujas to the buses and machinery, which also resulted in the stoppage of work, while all those opposed to such programmes were considered as being against Kannada. It is important to note here that today practically every public sector unit as well as large private sector units such as MICO, SKF have active Kannada cultural

Economic and Political Weekly October 12-19, 1996 2816