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Good article.
Umesh |
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Condemned and mute, for centuries they have been washing the clothes
of dalits, giving them haircuts, slaughtering dead cattle, and doing
other menial sub-human jobs
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa should read this. This is
bound to infuriate her if she really meant what she said a few years
ago while seeking votes in Andipatti, that she believes in only one
caste: the human caste. It is bad enough that dalits cannot become
presidents in reserved panchayats in Tamil Nadu. But shamefully,
things are worse for another invisible community living in the state,
a faceless, diminished people who are not even a 'mere vote bank' for
political parties. A people she may not even know - that they
actually exist!
This is something that is hard to believe. A sin that has been
covered up for much too long. Unlike the oppre! ssive patterns
prevalent in the nation's caste society, here the sinned are the
sinners! This is the tale of a people who are 'untouchables' even for
the 'historical' untouchables. A shocking revelation of a people
twice discriminated and daily trampled over.
Meet the Puthirai Vannars, the dhobis for the dalits of Tamil Nadu.
A community that's been suffering in silence for ages, in perpetual
bondage to the dalits, and living in isolation as 'outcastes' on the
fringes of dalit colonies. Denied human rights and self-respect,
there is no political leader or party or democratic institution to
speak up for them in this big democracy that is India.
Condemned and mute, for centuries, they have been washing the
clothes of the dalits, giving them haircuts, slaughtering dead
cattle, and doing other menial jobs. To this day, they wash the
bloodstained clothes of dalit women in labour, and the clothes of
dalit girls who attain puberty. Worse, till a few decades ago, they
were shunned as 'unseeables'. It was a curse to even 'look' at them.
In those days, the Vannars had to complete their work in the night
and stay out of sight of the other castes in the daytime.
If they ventured out during the day, they had to tie a coconut leaf
to their body, which they pulled along wherever they went. The frond
swept the ground and wiped out their footmarks. They could not even
spit on the ground as the others did so routinely. Instead, they had
to spit into a halved coconut shell, which hung from their necks.
"This horrible practice had been in vogue for hundreds of years. It
was the Justice Party that enacted a law abolishing it in 1932. Once
declared illegal, the practice slowly faded out," says TM Prakash, a
social activist working among Puthirai Vannars in the dalit-dominated
Tiruvannamalai district. Not much headway has been made after that
landmar! k social reform.
Today, an estimated two million people from this community are
living in the state. "Though we are found in most districts, about 50
percent of the population lives in Virudhunagar, Villupuram and
Tiruvannamalai districts. Our people are slaves of the dalits - to
the Parayars in northern districts, to the Pallars in southern
districts, and to the Arunthathiyars in western districts," says SB
Udhaya Kumar of Ramnad, an upcoming leader from the community.
Slaves they are. You have heard of the dictum 'no work, no pay'. But
for the Puthirai Vannars it is all work and no pay. "They are treated
like bonded labourers," says Arul Valan, a Catholic priest in
Villupuram, who is fighting for their rights. "Each family of
Puthirai Vannar works for a certain number of dalit families in a
village. They work hard round the year, washing their clothes and
doing other menial jobs that is required of them by tradition. But
they don't receive their wages in cash. Once in a year, each dalit
household they work for, gives them about 25 kilos of paddy. That's
about it," he says.
There is of course the daily allowance - again in kind. It is the
traditional practice of Puthirai Vannars to go around the dalit
homes, every morning and evening, begging for food. Rosamma from
Cuddalore says, "We cry out standing outside the dalit houses, 'amma,
soru podunga amma' (amma, please give some food.) They give us
leftover food which we collect in a vessel." For many, it's a daily
khichdi meal - of leftover food from dalit houses. Though in some
villages this shameful practice has finally ended, in many others the
tradition still continues
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