National

Notes From The Underground

The lowest rung in the social order comes with a matching netherworld symbolism

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Notes From The Underground
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Chaatur varnyam maya shrishtam
guna karma vibhagashah

This probably is the most highly contested shloka in the entire Gita, the holy text of the Hindus. Critics have often blamed the oppressive Indian caste system on just this one pronouncement that the four-tiered varna system is God-made, whereas defenders of the faith haven’t stopped exp­laining its multi-layered metaphysical meanings. The fact remains that caste occupation is a terrible Indian reality that has continued unhindered into the 21st century. Sure, a physician’s son becoming a physician or a president’s son becoming a president is not just an Indian phenomenon. But a manual scavenger’s son becoming another manual scavenger, or expecting a sweeper’s daughter to remain a sweeper, is an unfortunate Indian experience.

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It is in this context that we look at caste occupations, particularly two of the worst hereditary livelihoods: garbage removal and disposal of dead animals. The Dalits, as a varna, have been destined to do both jobs. The Valmikis (a caste known by different names in various parts of the country) are expected to clean toilets, streets, railway tracks and all public places and, in extreme conditions, even remove human excreta from dry latrines--still prevalent in places like Meerut and Ghaziabad, just a stone’s throw from the national capital. Garbage disposal is reserved for Valmikis even in Delhi, making it difficult for the community to break the shackles of tradition and to climb up from the manhole of misery. The possibility of lack of oxygen inside shit holes has always been a life-threatening risk for those who climb down to clean clogged sewers.

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The other caste occupation, disposal of dead animals, is equally degrading but, at least, gives an opportunity for upward mobility. The dead cattle offer an economic opportunity for those who dispose of the carcass because their caste occupation allows them to skin the carcass and sell the leather. It is a terribly dirty, smelly job, particularly if one is forced into it because of one’s caste. Yet, it has helped create some millionaires and pulled Dalits out of poverty. Now, even this opportunity is being denied, even this caste occupation is selectively threatened when cow vigilantes flog and kill people for skinning and carrying cattle hide. It is a grave paradox. When caste is not getting annihilated, when it is still being celebrated in matrimonial columns and when Dalits are forced to clean sewers because they are Valmikis, another set of Dalits (of Chamar caste) are not being allowed to practise their caste occupation, which could probably liberate them economically and thus, socially. Instead, they are being killed for doing the job prescribed by the shastras. Now, death seems to be an occupational hazard for Dalits, be they Valmikis or Chamars.

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