Slumming It Out

Time was when Dalits in this country fought battles for temple-entry. Today, Jayendra Saraswati, the headof Kanchipuram Shankara math, is staging temple-entries of a different kind. In the past few weeks he haswalked into the Dalit-dominated slums of Chennai and offered puja in temples run by Dalitpriests. 

If his zeal for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya made him travel far from the silk town and holdtalks with mullahs, today Jayendra Saraswati is walking the slums of Chennai -- a world far removed from thematerial and spiritual universe that the Shankaracharyas usually inhabit. And at a time when Tamil Nadu's top Dalitleaders are meeting him to negotiate tickets for the forthcoming elections, the Kanchi Shankaracharya'sinterest in Dalit issues assumes political significance.

On February 8, he launched the 'Ambedkar Makkal Sabhai' (Ambedkar People's Forum), an outfit of some 20-oddfringe Dalit community leaders who look up to Jayendra Saraswati as their liberator. One such Dalit bhaktof Shankaracharya is P. Viswanathan Kakkan, brother of the late Congress leader P.M. Kakkan, Tamil Nadu's onlyDalit to serve as home minister during Kamaraj's chief ministership. Viswanathan was in fact instrumental ingetting Jayendra Saraswati to offer worship at the Veerakali Amman temple in Thumbaipatti near Melur inMadurai district in November 2002. The temple in Kakkan's birthplace is served by a Dalit priest. SaysViswanathan, lawyer at the Madras high court:

"We welcome the Shankaracharya as a welfare officer who represents our problems in the echelons ofpower. He has good contacts with the power-that-be, both at the central and governments. He uses his power tosolve the basic problems of Dalits."

It is this belief in Jayendra Saraswati's ability to get things done that reportedly brought Tamil Nadu'smost prominent Dalit leader K. Krishnaswamy, president of Puthiya Tamizhagam (PT), to his doorsteps. Sourcesin the Kanchi math confirmed that Krishnaswamy had met with the pontiff. Ironically, in December 2002, the PTleader had sent a lawyer's notice to Jayendra Saraswati demanding that he apologise for having allegedly askedthe Dalits "to take bath before entering the temples". In fact, a judicial magistrate had issuedsummons to Jayendra Saraswati in March 2003 acting on a petition filed by the circle secretary of the PuthiyaTamizhagam under the Protection of Civil Rights Act. Such a Dalit leader is today warming up to theShankaracharya.

Says Punitha Pandian, editor of the magazine Dalit Murasu:

"Jayendra Saraswati wields tremendous clout with both the BJP and AIADMK. He is unabashedly playingthe role of a political broker and the saddest part is Dalit leaders are queuing up for his darshanhoping that he can facilitate an MP seat or even ministership." 

Pandian thinks these visits to slums will not have a serious impact, but is more concerned about the roleJayendra is assigning himself this election season.

Ravikumar, activist-theoretician of the Dalit movement, is not too perturbed by Jayendra Saraswati slummingit out: 

"If he is coming out of the cocooned existence of his math and visiting slums, these trips maygive him an opportunity to humanise himself. He certainly is no well-wisher of Dalits, but in a land whereboth the Dravidian parties and the Congress have rejected any truck with the Dalit political outfits, his rolemay indirectly offer some breathing space for Dalits. Jayendra Saraswati may treat Dalits as untouchable, butfor Dalits he is not an untouchable." 

Ilavazhagan, a slum-dweller in Chennai, confirms this perception: "Let the Shankaracharya smell ourgutters. Let him know our reality."

Jayendra Saraswati has visited about 12 slums since February 1. Outlookindia.com followed him duringhis visits to the Nehru Nagar slum in Vyasarpadi and the Aseervadhapuram slum in Broadway. In Aseervadhapuram,he first headed towards the Karumariamman-Munseeswaran temple and offered flowers to the deity. He then sat ona stage and addressed the small gathering of mostly women and a few old men. His message: 

"Though belonging to different communities, we must live together like Rama and Lakshmana, and mustnot fight like Vaali-Sugreeva. Nor should you be like Ravana or Kumbhakarna. There are no Ravanas amongst usnow, but there are several Kumbhakarnas who just eat, drink and sleep. You must arise and be like Vibhishana.You must keep your surroundings clean and bathe before you visit the temple." 

A similar message is delivered in every slum. But his gratuitous advice irks young, thinking Dalits. AsksMartin Johnson of Aseervadhapuram, 

"Is he a health inspector? Why does he ask us to be clean and have baths? Will he offer such advicewhen he addresses the Brahmins in Mylapore? Why does he presume we are all dirty?" 

Such anger comes only with comprehension. However, most Dalits do not comprehend the mythic references thatthe pontiff's speech is filled with. "Who are Vaali and Sugreeva? Who is Vibhishana," asks a groupof women.

In the Nehru Nagar slum, Simhakural Gurusamy, the Dalit priest at the Karumari temple is happy thatJayendra Saraswati has consecrated their temple, but is unhappy that he wanted them to refer to the deity notas 'Karumari' but using the Sanskritic 'Parasakti'. Though the slum-dwellers are happy that for the first timea prominent Hindu religious leader visited their slum, they are watchful of Jayendra Saraswati's bodylanguage. Says K. Ranjendran: 

"An old man with folded hands went towards the Swami. But he was pushed away and this hurt thefeelings of several believers. Till now, only pastors visited our slums. The Shankaracharya's visit was goodand necessary, but he must mingle with us more freely and not treat us indifferently."

Some are content to look at the material benefits that accrue. "The potholes on our street have beenfilled," says one. "If he had not visited, would Outlookindia.com have come and written aboutour slum," asks another. But priest Gurusamy is bothered by a spiritual question: 

"Why did these Shankaracharyas not visit us earlier? Why did they not accept us one thousand yearsago? Then some of us would not have gone to other religions." 

Conversion is indeed a crucial issue for the Kanchi math head. It was only after the Tamil Nadugovernment passed the Prohibition of Forcible Conversions Act in October 2002 that he began campaigning among Dalitsstarting with prayers to Kakkan's village deity.

Asked if Shankaracharya's activism in Dalit localities is a challenge to the caste system, N. Narayanan ofthe Tamil Nadu Brahmins Association (Tambras) says: 

"The Swami's moves are not in that direction. There's no need to eradicate caste. Casteless society isnonsense and Shankaracharya is not for varna-samkhara (intermixture of castes). His only plea is for harmonyamong all castes. If there's no caste, we'll become a chaotic society like America."

Era Sezhiyan, former MP and founder-member of DMK in 1949, has other concerns: 

"What is bothersome is not his visiting slums. Just as we do not want politicians to invoke religion,religious leaders should also not dabble with politics. Jayendra Saraswati recently inaugurated the BJP'selection office in Chennai and virtually launched their campaign. He should keep off politics." 

Sezhiyan, who spoke at a meeting organized to criticise Jayendra Saraswati's political activism, also seeksto score a philosophical point: 

"Adi Shankara believed in advaita and the Kanchi pontiff must technically belong to this schoolof thought. In the monistic worldview, the entire world is maya, unreal, and atman is the onlyreality. According to Shankara, there's no need to pray in temples since the Brahman dwells in everyindividual. Then why is this Shankaracharya keen on temples and consecrations, in slums or other places?"

Looks like from Ayodhya to Dalits, Jayendra Saraswati has been succumbing to the materialistic pulls ofdualism (dvaita) rather than engage with the abstract monism (advaita) that Sezhiyan points to.