MIGRATION AND ADAPTATION: LOWER CASTE IN A DELHI RESETTLEMENT COLONY1

Anand Inbanathan Institute of Social Sciences New Delhi Migration

The Tamil people have a long history of migration to various places, within the country and outside (Maloney, 1970; Sandhu: 1969). In the twentieth century, Tamils from different castes have migrated to large cities within India, such as Pune (, 1978), Delhi (Singh, 1976) and Bombay (Lynch, 1974) due to various reasons and compulsions. Migration of Tamils to Delhi in significant numbers must have begun at the turn of the twentieth century2. In the beginning, the migrants were mainly . Since the 1940s, however, Pallars (former 'untouchables', now listed as Scheduled Castes) and Devanga Chettiars (listed as belonging to the Backward Classes in ) started arriving in Delhi.3 Successive droughts and famines made it difficult for the Pallars, who were mainly agricultural labourers and small land holders in Tamil Nadu, to eke out a living in their native place. Several of them were natives of Salem, a drought prone district of Tamil Nadu. The Devanga Chettiars were handloom weavers who lost their source of livelihood when power looms were introduced in Tamil Nadu. This paper studies the process of adaptation of these lower caste Tamil migrants residing in a resettlement colony on the outskirts of Delhi.

Adaptation

From the literature on migration in India and in other countries we find that migrants tend to replicate their natal culture as far as possible in the new environment, with varying degrees of success (Nair, 1978; Sowell, 1981). They, however, also have to make some changes in their life styles and culture to conform to the style of life and expectations of the host society, so that they can function

SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN, 37 (1&2), March-September 1988 114 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN effectively in the new environment. It is the latter issue that is taken up in this paper. Migrant adaptation has been considered with a view to finding out the viability of using three related concepts in the Indian context, viz. (i) Accommodation, (ii) Integration and (iii) Assimilation4. Accommodation is the first stage of adaptation, and involves a limited acceptance by the host, and minimum conformity of the migrants to the norms of the host society. Integration is an inter- mediary stage where the migrants develop closer, or more intimate relations with the members of the h ost society, but do not intermarry. There are changes in their life styles, and some of their natal cultural items are dropped, and there may be some selective borrowing from the culture of the host society. Assimilation involves intermarriage and complete identification with the host society. The earlier group identity of the migrants disappears, and a new group identity, that of the host society, emerges. In the model described above it is assumed that the migrant group progressively loses its own cultural distinctiveness and adopts the identity of the host society. In testing the applicability of this model to the Indian situation, it is important to keep in mind that the Indian Constitution allows Indian citizens to settle down in any part of India except a few designated areas. There is also no com- pulsion to adopt a particular style of life, or to give up one's ethnic or group identity. Further, caste and ethnic loyalties continue to be salient in India and they affect migrants' adaptation to the host society in a variety of ways. On the one hand these loyalties seem to act as inbuilt resistors to assimilation, but, on the other hand they can contribute to successful accommodation by protecting the migrants from cultural shocks to which they would have been subjected other wise. In this paper I have sought to analyse the adaptation of lower caste Tamil groups through a consideration of their social and religious life since the time they arrived in Delhi. I attempt to study how their caste identities affect their adaptation and how their caste identities change.

Trivenipuri-Setting and Methodology

Trivenipuri is one of the larger resettlement colonies, established in 1975 on the outskirts of Delhi across the river Jamuna, to relocate slum dwellers and squatters who were evicted from various parts of the city in a massive slum clearance drive. The colony has 22 residential blocks. Blocks numbered 1 to 20 are on one side of the MIGRATION AND ADAPTATION 115 main road dividing the colony into two halves. Blocks 21 and 22 are on the other side of the road. The Tamils are concentrated in three blocks, numbered 12, 16 and 21. Paraiyans, Pallars and other Scheduled Castes are concentrated in the 12th block. Nadars, Pan-darams, and Devanga Chettiars, considered as belonging to the backward class castes, live in the 16th block5. There is a mixture of SCs and BCs in the 21st block. The Nadars who form a large group are concentrated in the 16th block and the Paraiyans and Pallars in the 12th block. The castes forming smaller groups and late arrivals had to settle on the available plots in the 21st block. The Pallars and Paraiyans who are in a majority in the 12th block are absent in the 21st block. It is often conjectured that such caste clustering was a replication of the prevalent settlement pattern in the slums and squatter settlements of Delhi. When the slum dwellers were relo - cated in Trivenipuri, the allotment of lands followed caste distinc- tions because members of each caste preferred to live in close proximity to each other. The majority of the residents in Trivenipuri are migrants from the north Indian states—Hindi speakers from among the poor of Delhi. Tamils, who are less than 5% of the population of the colony, form a small island in the Trivenipuri colony. Even in the blocks where Tamils are concentrated, the majority of residents are north Indians. Only a few streets of the three blocks mentioned earlier have Tamils residing in them. However, in these streets with Tamil residents, seldom does one find non-Tamil residents. At the time of resettlement, each family was given a plot of 21 square metres of land to build its house. Houses have been con- structed on these plots in such a way that there is no space between them. All the houses are small, single-storeyed ones. Since these houses are too small to accommodate all the members of the family, the residents, especially men, mostly live outside their homes during the day time. Most of them are away on work during week days. On holidays, the usual practice is for the men to stay on the street outside their home, sitting on coir cots and talking. In the warmer months they also sleep outdoors. Even in winter, the days are mostly spent outdoors, and only at night they go in to sleep. There is a Tamil school in Trivenipuri where 182 students were enrolled in 1983-84. Out of these, 118 students were SCs, 59 were BCs and 5 from other castes, Some of the students were drawn from a neighbouring colony. Students can study upto the 6th standard in this school, after which they will have to join another school. 116 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN

The data presented here form a part of a larger study of Delhi, which included the major sections of Tamil society: the Brahmins, non-Brahmins, and Adi-Dravidas (Scheduled Castes). The data presented on SCs and BCs here were collected during 1983-84. A mixture of techniques were employed for data collection. Initially some data were collected using a fairly comprehensive interview schedule. This was followed by focused interviews with the residents of the colony. In addition to these were the observations made during visits to the colony. In Trivenipuri, 26 persons, including two women, could be clearly identified as my respondents. I conducted most of my interviews on Sundays, because it was difficult to track down the residents on week days when they would be away on work. Invariably, when I con- ducted my interviews a group of around six to eight persons would gather around the respondents, and it was difficult to confine my at- tention to just one person. Thus, my interviews were converted into group interviews or discussions. Normally only men gathered around the interviewee. Women did not generally come near the group when a man was being interviewed. Occasionally, the wife of the interviewee used to supplement her husband's remarks if she happened to be in the vicinity. However, when I interviewed the women, there were men grouped around them. The respondents and the groups around them were usually drawn from the same caste and were residing in the same block, except for the 21st block where such informal groups consisted of both SCs and BCs. Such group in- terviews encouraged a high rate of participation of the residents in my research study. Each respondent was contacted and interviewed on more than two occasions. Hence, while I do not claim that my sample is a statistical representative of the Tamil residents of the colony I would venture to point out that my study indicates the broad trends in the emerging pattern of social relationships and cultural adaptation of the Tamils in Trivenipuri. Table 1 presents the caste composition of the 26 respondents. All of them were Hindus. Among our respondents, four have lived in Delhi for over 20 years, 12 for a period of between 10-20 years, six for a period of be- tween 5-10 years, and four for less than five years.

Reasons for Migration

Out of the 26 respondents 24 hail directly from Tamilnadu, and only two of them came from outside Tamil Nadu. One of the two was a construction worker in Burma. Eighteen of the 24 migrants MIGRATION AND ADAPTATION 117

from Tamil Nadu belonged to the Salem district. Almost all the respondents stated that they migrated from Tamil Nadu due to economic hardship. This was particularly true of migrants from Salem who said that successive years of drought and ensuing famine conditions deprived them of their means of livelihood. Our sample included four handloom weavers who had become unemployed be- cause of the recent introduction of power looms in that area. Four Nadars who were pursuing their traditional occupation of toddy tap- ping also decided t o emigrate to Delhi as they could not earn enough in their natal villages. Only one migrant attributed family dispute as the cause of his decision to emigrate. Surprisingly, in contrast to the findings from other studies (Ramu, 1971) not a single person from among the Scheduled Castes ever suggested that caste discrimination and his low caste status as instrumental for his emigration from Tamil Nadu. But as economic deprivation and exploitation are associated with Scheduled Caste status, caste as a factor can be regarded as important in inducing migration. 118 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN

Initial Adjustments in Delhi

Of the 26 respondents, only five came to Delhi without their families. On reaching Delhi, al! of them had to invariably stay in the open, as they did not possess friends and relatives with large houses. They stayed in squatter settlements, and were prepared to be evicted at any time. However, in these squatter settlements, they lived amidst their own caste fellows drawn from their native districts, though not always from their own villages. On reaching Delhi, they worked as unskilled labourers, and took up any job which came their way. Two of them became dish washers in south Indian restaurants which they regarded as a menial job, till they could get some other job. Only the lone grauduate among the migrants preferred to wait for nearly two years to get a suitable clerical job. The Soliyar Pillai migrant—a woman—did not find it difficult to get work soon after she arrived in Delhi. Even though she could not understand Hindi, she was recruited as a domestic servant in the homes of several Hindi-speaking residents of the city. Her male counterparts were, however, not so fortunate.

Marriage, Family and Kinship

All except two of the respondents in our sample are married. Endogamous marriage is the general practice. An exception is the Soliyar Pillai woman who married a Nadar. There was another in- stance, often talked about by the residents, of a Pallar woman having eloped with a north Indian man. This woman is now regarded as lost to her caste and there is hardly any contact between her and her natal family. Inter-caste marriages are frowned upon by the residents. The Nadars, in particular, oppose the idea vehemently. But they have now accepted the Soliyar Pillai woman in their midst. If the opinion of two young Nadars in the sample is any guide, younger generation of Nadars is taking a more liberal view of inter-caste marriages. But these young men had themselves married endogamously. Three members of Scheduled Castes, also approved of inter-caste marriages. Two of them were educated Pallars and the other, a Pariyan, the migrant from Burma. These persons approved of inter-caste marriages as a strategy of upward mobility and as a way out of casteism.

The strong predilection for endogamy among the Tamils is rein- MIGRATION AND ADAPTATION 119 forced by their settlement pattern within the colony. Every person living in the colony is so strongly enmeshed in the intense relation- ships that obtain among members of one's own caste and kin group that it becomes difficult for him to defy social pressures towards con- formity. People may hold different opinions but if they defy norms of caste endogamy such intense hostility is evoked from among the neighbours that it will become virtually impossible to live in the locality. It must be pointed out, however, that norms of endogamy are relaxing and marriage with members of proximate castes is now tolerated. Thus a BC Tamil may face less disapproval if his bride belongs to another BC caste rather than to a SC. In the latter in stance, he may be prevented from bringing his SC wife into his block. Nadars, who consider themselves superior to the other castes in the colony, particularly to the SCs, react very strongly if any member of their caste even contemplated marrying a Pallar or Paraiyan. The chances of such a thing happening, however, are reduced by the fact that social relations are circumscribed by caste boundaries. Social relations in the colony are further circumscribed by con- sideration of affinity, kinship and family. Still, most of the migrants return home to their native places to get married. While nineteen of the respondents had migrated after they got married, four of them went back to their village to find a bride. Only one of them found his partner in Delhi. This indicates the pressure of family ties in choosing brides. The strength of family ties among the migrants can be assessed by the fact that most of them came to Delhi with all the members of their family. Only ten of the respondents say that they have left behind a member of the family in the natal village either to look after land or to tend old parents. In Trivenipuri itself, it is easy to observe the strength of familial and kinship bonds. Kin and affines usually huddle together in the same street or neighbourhood. Close kin of two of the respondents, however, lived in the neighbouring colony and that of another lived in a distant locality in Delhi. It is remarkable that only one of them stated that he had no relative in Delhi. He came to the city with a friend from his natal village. Living in close proximity to their rela- tives the Trivenipuri, Tamils do not find the need to interact fre- quently with even members of their caste who are outside their family and kin circles. This narrowing of social horizon is par- ticularly acute in the case of women who do not go out to work but spend much of their time in the company of their women relatives within the colony. 120 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN

Friendships

Friendships also flow along the lines of caste and kinship in Trivenipuri. Only three respondents claimed to have close friends hailing from different regions. While two of these respondents claimed to have friends hailing from the other claimed to have a north Indian friend. Language, apparently is a major obstacle to striking friendships with those outside one's region. But the two having Keralite friends do not face any difficulty. They claim that their Kerala friends follow Tamil and they in turn can follow Malayalam spoken by their friends. The respondent claiming to have a north Indian as a close friend says he can converse in Hindi. Close friendship sometimes occurs across caste lines but in such cases it will be usually among people hailing from the same village. Those of the respondents who had their families and relatives in the same block interacted sparingly with other Tamils who lived in the same block. A man belonging to the Pandaram caste said that as all members of his family and several relatives lived close by, he did not need other friends. Interestingly, the settlement pattern within the colony affects friendships. The SCs living in the 12th block had close friends only within their own caste or with members of other Scheduled Castes living in the same block. This pattern recurs among the BCs of the 16th block as well. In contrast, in the 21st block in which both BCs and SCs are found in equal proportion, there are more instances of SCs having friends among BCs and vice versa. Thus, for instance, a Boyar who lived in the 21st block had among his closest friends a Dhobi (SC) who lived in the same block. The Nadars in Trivenipuri consider themselves as superior to others and do not like close social relationships with members of other castes although they do not mind talking to them. Interest- ingly, however, close friendship does not exist among members of the same caste living in different residential blocks. Each residential block, for all practical purposes could be an isolated village as far as the Tamils are concerned. The inability to mix freely with persons belonging to other castes produce, certain interesting friendship alliances. Thus a Pallar who is a graduate claims an illiterate Pallar as a close friend. Similar al- liances occurred amongst the other three educated Tamils in Trivenipuri. Social interaction, whether it is among close friends or acquaintences, takes place outdoors because the houses are too small and MIGRATION AND ADAPTATION 121 cramped to accommodate more than two or three persons at a time. Tamils living in a particular residential block are acquainted with their neighbours and may exchange greetings and talk with Tamils belonging to other castes and with the Hindi speakers. The Trivenipuri Tamils manage over time to learn enough Hindi to be able to get by in a place-like Delhi with its heterogenous population. But their language skills seem to be generally insufficient to develop close friendships and associations with people belonging to other language groups. To sum up, the pattern of social interaction among the Tamils in Trivenipuri is affected by the settlement pattern in the colony and by caste and kinship. Residents of different blocks tended to remain aloof from each other. Caste consciousness remains sharp and is revealed by the statements that respondents make when they are called upon to judge certain types of social behaviour. On such oc- casions they frequently refer to the norms and practices of their 'community' referring thereby to the caste to which they belong. There has been a loosening of interaction between members of proximate castes but this has served to strengthen the identity of SCs vis-a-vis the BCs. The BCs are particular in distancing themselves from the SCs which in turn has produced a strong sense of solidarity among the SCs. Caste and residential block divides that obtain in Trivenipuri seem to come in the way of articulating a common Tamil identity vis-a-vis the other language groups in the area. Such a com- mon identity is only expressed on rare occasions when the north In - dians collectively refer to the Tamils and other south Indian resi- dents as 'Madrasis'. The Tamil identity is not so strong as to develop a sense of oneness among Tamils belonging to different castes.

Religion and other Social Institutions

There are three temples dedicated to —the common village goddess in Tamil Nadu-in Trivenipuri; one in each of the three blocks. Mariamman has now become such a powerful goddess that even those Tamils who had no tradition of worshipping Mariamman have come under her sway now. In the 21st block, in addition to the Mariamman temple, there is a temple of Murugan adjoining the Mariamman temple. Temple worship also follows the settlement pattern. This is inspite of the fact that all the temples are within a range of 50 metres from each other. When the temples of the 21st block were first built, it is learnt that Mariamman was 122 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN adopted by some castes while Murugan was adopted by others. Now, no such caste distinctions in worship are observed. The Mariamman temples have Pandaram (non-) pujaris. The temple priest of the 16th block is a Pandaram who lives in the same block. His uncle is the priest in the 21st block temple and another relative is the pujari of the 12th block temple. The Murugan temple (21st block) has an Asari6 priest. Members of the Pandaram caste have traditionally been non-Brahmin temple priests and in village shrines in Tamil Nadu (Thurston and Rangachari, 1909: 45-46). The Pandaram priest of the 16th block used to earn his living as a weaver in his native place. He is an employee of the Coffee Board in Delhi. His services can be requisitioned by informing him in advance. The temple in the 16th block remains locked for most of the day. Only when someone wants to worship there is it opened. The SCs of the 12th block, curiously enough, do not enter the temple although it belongs to them. They usually stand outside the temple and ask the pujari to perform the pujas and ceremonies on their behalf. This shows how deeply notions of pollution and danger affect the SCs. The Murugan festival is held every year in March, and Mariamman's in May. Both are very important occasions for the Tamils of the colony. All of them participate in the festivals. An additional attraction during the festivals is the screening of Tamil films. These temple festivals are the only occasions when all the Tamils in the colony irrespective of caste come together. -Voluntary associations which play a significant role among the Tamil Brahmins of Delhi are not critical institutions among the Trivenipuri Tamils. Primary relations that could be maintained through participation in voluntary associations and the cultural at- tributes of the Tamils that could be preserved through the organiza - tion of religious and cultural functions by voluntary associations, do not occur in the case of the groups of the colony. In Trivenipuri there is an association, called the Welfare Association, which had been started a few months before this study began in the 16th block, with a Nadar as president and a Gounder as its secretary. But the association is yet to initiate any activity. The stated objectives of the association are to provide loans to its members and to screen Tamil films. Nine of the respondents, all men, are members of the association. Women respondents alleged that they were not allowed to join the association. There are already complaints by the members that the association has become defunct because its office bearers frit tered away their time in drinking bouts.- Many residents of the 21st MIGRATION AND ADAPTATION 123 block complained that they were refused admission in the association. This is also an indication of the limited interaction among the Tamils residing in different blocks. A majority of our respondents (24) come to Delhi after having lived in their villages and towns in their formative years. The Trivenipuri Tamils are mostly first generation migrants. Living in the colony surrounded by other language speakers and being located on the outskirts of Delhi where they are virtually cut off from Tamils living in the main city, they do sense a feeling of being isolated. They try to maintain links with their natal villages but distance and travel expenses make it difficult for them to visit Tamil Nadu fre- quently. In our sample two respondents stated that they visit their native place once in a year. Eight others stated that they do so once in two years. Eight others stated that they cannot afford to make frequent visits but have gone there once in the previous ten years. Five respondents could not visit their native places although they wanted to, because of lack of funds. Three respondents had migrated to Delhi less than five years ago and had not decided to visit Tamil Nadu as yet. Being mostly illiterate the Trivenipuri Tamils have to depend on oral communication. Even the educated Tamils find it difficult to get Tamil magazines and newspapers. Only on rare occasions they do get to see Tamil films. The feeling of isolation they experience has produced in the Trivenipuri Tamils an intense desire to return to Tamil Nadu in the foreseeable future. They still consider Tamil Nadu as their home and say that they live in Delhi only to earn a living. Yet they are pragmatic persons and realise only too well that they h ave to consider their earning possibilities before taking a decision to move. Only one respondent has decided to go back to his village and cultivate his lands but he could not find a suitable job in Delhi. The isolation experienced by Trivenipuri Tamils has produced a certain type of cultural introversion. This has made them particular about observance of traditional caste norms and practices vis-a-vis other Tamils in the colony. Social and cultural isolation has strengthened caste consciousness instead of diluting it.

Discussion

In a country such as India, with diverse languages and cultures, the use of a model of adaptation developed to analyze immigrants from other countries has several limitations. As our description of the Tamils shows, a model that predicates a progression from one 124 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN stage to another posits a homogeneous host society in which there are powerful pressures towards conformity towards the way of life of the cultural mainstream. In India, however, the very heterogeneity in the society provides a certain degree of autonomy for immigrant groups to preserve and maintain their cultural identity. In the par- ticular social context of Trivenipuri however, a strong tendency towards social and cultural introversion has been produced among the Tamils living there. It can be argued that such cultural interversion has paved the way for Tamils' adaptation to an alien social setting. It is important to note here that the Tamils of Trivenipuri are mostly first generation migrants. It may therefore be premature to make judgements on their adaptation to host society in terms of the accommodation-integration-assimiliation model outlined earlier. If we consider that in Indian society the framework of caste allows dif- ferent castes and communities to preserve their distinctive cultural traits, it can be inferred that even second and third generation Tamils in Trivenipuri may preserve their group identity. Preservation of such cultural distinctions may project urban societies as areas of accommodation and 'tolerance' but under certain circumstances such cultural identities acquire political overtones resulting in the outbreak of ethnic violence and conflict. Examples of Sena violence on certain immigrant groups in Bombay and the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi in the wake of Indira Gandhi's assassination are grim pointers to the fact that Indian cities which are generally depicted as 'pluralist' social structures allowing for the peaceful co-existence of diverse castes and communities may turn out to be cauldrons of ethnic hatred and violence.

NOTES

1. This article is drawn from my Ph.D. thesis: "Tamil Migrants in Delhi: A Sociological Analysis of the Styles of Adaptation", submitted to the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. I thank my supervisor Prof. T.K. Oommen for his valuable suggestions and guidance. 2. Singh (1976: 141) mentions that the Madrasi Brahmin Vaidika Samaj was' founded in 1911, though it was registered only in 1958. Tamil Brahmin priests had come to Delhi even before 1911, but they were not organized into an as- sociation till that year. 3. Kasturi (1981: 17-27) says that Pallars and Devanga Chettiars are the two major 'working class' migrants in Delhi. 4. We use these concepts in a similar sense as that defined by Sheila Patterson (1963). 5. Scheduled Casts mainly refer to lower castes who were formerly regarded as 'untouchables'. The Scheduled Castes are entitled for special treatment by boththe Central and State governments. The castes belonging to the Backward MIGRATION AND ADAPTATION 125

Classes are low castes though they are regarded to occupy a slightly higher posi- tion in the caste hierarchy than the Scheduled Castes. At present, the Backward Classes enjoy certain privileges offered by the concerned State government only. It is difficult to rank each caste in relation to others within the same category (SC or BC). This is specially so in Trivenipuri because all the residents of the colony are in the lower income category, have similar occupations, and live in the same type of one-room houses. In the day-to-day life of the colony, considerations of hierarchy do not normally occur to the residents. However, the residents do make the distinction between Backward Classes castes and Scheduled Castes. The order in which we have listed the castes in the table is only a rough approximation of caste positions. There is a small group among the Trivenipuri Tamils who call themselves Shanar. Shanar was the name by which the Nadars were known in the past. The Shanars of Trivenipuri constitute a small number, and are the poorest among the Nadras. Before migrating to Delhi they were pursuing their traditional oc- cupation of toddy tapping in Tamil Nadu. They have been included in the genera! category of Nadars in this paper. Interestingly, the Shanars of Trivenipuri are listed as Scheduled Castes in the Corporation Tamil School in the colony, even though in the traditional system the Nadars were never con- sidered as an 'untouchable' caste. On Nadars see Hardgrave (1969) and Pandian (1983: 190-97). 6. Asari is the term used by members of the same caste practising various trades such as that of a priest, carpenter, and so on. REFERENCES

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