One Step outside Modernity: Caste, Identity Politics and Public Sphere

Author(s): M. S. S. Pandian
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 37, No. 18 (May 4-10, 2002), pp. 1735-1741
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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 Special articles

One Step Outside Modernity

Caste, Identity Politics and Public Sphere
The contradictoryengagement with mdoernityby the lower castes has an importantmessage:
being one step outside modernity alone can guarantee them a public where the politics of
difference can articulate itself, and caste can emerge as a legitimate category of democratic
politics. Being one step outside modernity is indeed being one step ahead of modernity.
M S S PANDIAN

I incitement,caste perhapswouldnot have - is a regularfeatureone finds in most

Introduction made even those two appearancesin the uppercasteautobiographies. Castealways
richandtexturedstoryof Narayan'slife.l belongsto someoneelse; it is somewhere
'...althoughI tryto forgetmy caste,it is For a man born in 1906 and who wit- else; it is of anothertime. The act of
impossibleto forget.' nessedthe mostacutebattlesaroundcaste transcodingis an act of acknowledging
- Kumud Pawde, - whetherit be M K Gandhi'sthreatto and disavowingcaste at once.
The Story of my Sanskrit.. commitsuicidewhichrobbedby meansof In markedcontrastto the uppercaste
the PoonaPactthe 'untouchable'commu- autobiographies, theself-definitionof one's
he autobiography of R K Narayan, nitiesof separateelectorate,or the nation- identity,as found in the autobiographies
the well known Indian writer in wide movementfor temple entry by the of the lowercastes,is locatedexplicitlyin
English,is perhapsa useful place untouchables,or the rise of non-brahmin caste as a relationalidentity.The autobio-
to beginone's explorationsinto the com- politics in the Madraspresidencyduring graphicalrenditionsof BhamaorViramma,
plexinterrelationship betweencaste,iden- the early decades of the 20th century- two dalitwomenfromtheTamil-speaking
tity politics and the public sphere.When Narayan's forgetfulnessaboutcastecomes region,thepoignantautobiographical frag-
I read it recently,one of the things that throughas a bitsurprising.Butthisfeeling ments of dalits from Maharashtra,put
struckme the most was how Narayan, of surprisefades away when one does a togetherby Arjun Dangle in his edited
whose fictionalworld dealt substantially closer readingof his autobiography.All volume Corpse in the Well, and Vasant
withthe life of ruralandsmalltown south throughtheautobiography, castemasquer- Moon's Growing up Untouchable in
India,was almostcompletelysilentabout adesassomethingelse andmakesitsmuted India, are all suffusedwith the language
his caste identity.In an autobiographical modemappearance.Forinstance,writing of caste - at times mutinous, at times
text runninginto 186 pages, he mentions abouthis difficultiesin getting a proper moving.4Mostoftentheveryactof writing
his caste only in two places. First, when house to rent in Mysore, he writes, "...our an autobiographyfor a personbelonging
he recollects his schooling in colonial requirementswere rathercomplicated- to a lowercasteis to talkaboutandengage
Madrasduringthe 1910s.He was theonly separateroom for three brothers,their with the issue of caste.5
brahminboyin his classin themissionary- families,anda mother;alsofor Sheba,our In otherwords,we have heretwo com-
runschool.The contextwas the scripture hugeGreatDane,who hadto havea place peting sets of languagesdealingwith the
classesin the schoolwhereHinduismand outsidethehouseto havehermeatcooked, issue of caste. One talksof caste by other
brahminswere deliberatelychosen for without the fumes from the meat pot means;and the othertalks of caste on its
systematiclampooning.The second in- pollutingour strictlyvegetarianatmos- 'own terms'.My attemptin the restof the
stancewasfromhis adultlife as ajournalist phere;a placefor ourold servanttoo, who paperis to understandthe implicationof
workingfromMysore.Here,he wonders was the only one who could go out and these two sets of languagesfor the play
how he, a brahmin,was employed as a get the muttonand cook it."2 It does not of identitiesin the publicsphereunderthe
stringerfor the official newspaperof the needmuchof aneffortto understand what long shadow of modernity.
South IndianLiberalFederation(or the 'strictlyvegetarianatmosphere'or meat,
JusticeParty),TheJustice, which vigor- which is specifiedas mutton(thatis, it is II
ously enunciatedanti-brahminism in co- not beef) encodes. It is caste by other A ColonialStory
lonial southIndia.Interestingly,both are means.3
occasionswhenothersbringhis casteinto The subtleact of transcodingcaste and First,let us have a look at the historical
being - the rabidfundamentalistChris- caste relationsinto somethingelse - as conditionsthatfacilitatedand made pos-
tians in one instance,and the exclusivist thoughto talk aboutcaste as caste would sible these two competingmodes of talk-
non-brahminsin the other. But for their incarcerateone into a pre-modemrealm ing aboutcastes. This straightawaytakes

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us to the domainof cultureas articulated hierarchisation of differentsocial groups Brahminswere fed in his house in the
bydominantIndiannationalism,initsbattle thatgo to makethenation.Thenormativity ancientmannerwithall theparaphernalia
againstcolonialism.In an influentialfor- of a Vedic civilisation, reinvented by of a Hinduritual.13
mulation,ParthaChatterjee hasarguedthat dominantnationalism,would accommo- Herewe have a descriptionof whatthe
anti-colonialnationalismmarks out the date vast sections of Indiansonly as in- authorclaims to be 'Indiantradition'.It
domainof cultureor spiritualityas "its feriorswithinthenation.9Itis notso much includes,among otherthings, notionsof
own domainof sovereigntywithin colo- the triumphof non-modularnationalism pollution, Sandhyavandanam, Sraddhas,
nial society well before it begins its po- over colonialism,but its inabilityto ex- Srimad Bhagavata, Devi Bhagavata and
liticalbattlewiththeimperialpower."6As ercisehegemonyoverthelife of thenation, feeding of brahmins.In short,what gets
Chatterjeeshows, in the discourse of is wherewe can locate the sourceof two encodedhere as Indiancultureis whatis
nationalism,"Thegreaterone's successin competingmodes of speakingcaste. cultureto the brahmins/upper castes.The
imitatingwestern skills in the material I shall illustrate this by journeying logic of exclusionfromand the inferiori-
domain,...thegreaterthe needto preserve throughthebiography of aprominent public sationof lowercaste'traditions'withinthe
thedistinctnessof one'sspiritualculture."7 figurein colonialMadras,P S Sivaswami so-callednationaltraditionaretooobvious
In arguing so, Chatterjeedeparts from Aiyer (1864-1946). Among otherthings, for elaboration.Let me also mentionhere
BenedictAnderson,who treatsanti-colo- SivaswamiAiyer was assistantprofessor thatthe book thatcarriesthis description
nialnationalismas alreadyimaginedin the at MadrasLaw College (1893-99), joint of 'Indiantradition'hasbeenpublishedin
west, andrecoversa spaceof autonomous editorof MadrasLawJournal (1893-1907), the 'Buildersof Moder India' series by
national imaginationfor the colonised. memberof theMadraslegislativecouncil, the governmentof India.
Clearly,Chatterjee'sargument,in displac- andvice-chancellorof MadrasUniversity T K VenkatramaSastri,one of his early
ing the centralityof the west, relocates (1916-18).10 In keeping with his pre- juniors, captured the hybridity that
politicalagency in the colonised. eminentlocationin this modernisedcolo- Sivaswami Aiyer was, in the following
WhileI agreewiththe new possibilities nial public,his life in the materialdomain words:"In the very first week came my
openedupby Chatterjee'sargumentabout was governedby what one may term as test. One night he put into my hands
nationalism in the colonial context, if canonsorprotocolsof westernmodernity. Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies and asked me
we pluralise 'nationalcommunity' and The telling instanceof this was the way to readthe title of the book. WhenI read
'nationalculture',the obvioustriumphof Sivaswami Aiyer organised his time: 'sesame' as a word of three syllables, I
dominantnationalismover colonialism "...dailywalks,hoursset apartfor reading passedthe firsttest. He was verypunctili-
wouldat once emergeas a storyof domi- newspapersor magazines,fixed time for ous about pronunciation...Another night
nationovervariedsectionsof thesubaltern bathandfood, appointmentfor interview he bade me to read the Bhagavata Purana,
social groupswithin the nation.In other of visitors,intervalsdevotedto correspon- a favouritestudy of his. After I had read
words,if we foregrounddominantnation- dence and private accounts and family it for some time, he took it backandread
alismin an oppositionaldialoguewith the affairs- thesemadeupSivaswamiAiyer's it with feeling..."'14
subalternsocial groupswithinthe nation well arrangedroutine."ll As one of his The seeminglyeffortlesscoexistenceof
- instead of colonialism - the divide life-long friends, C R Narayana Rao, re- Ruskin and Bhagavata Purana in the
betweenthe spiritualand material,inner counted,"his habits [were] regulatedby everyday world of Sivaswami Aiyer in
and outer, would tell us other stories - clocks and watches."12 colonial Tamil Nadu can, of course, be
storiesof dominationandexclusionunder However, this modern selfhood of writtenas a straightforward storyof resis-
the sign of cultureand spiritualitywithin SivaswamiAiyer in the materialdomain tance to colonialism.This is indeed the
the so-called nationalcommunityitself. accountsfor only partof his life. The rest way the elite Indiannationalismscripted
That is, the very domainof sovereignty was one of 'tradition': the storyby workingthroughthe binaries
thatnationalismcarvesout in the face of In his personalhabitshe neverchanged of spiritual/material, inner/outer and
colonial dominationis simultaneouslya muchfromtheIndiantradition evenafter valorising the inner or spiritualas the
domainof enforcingdominationover the hislongtoursinforeignlands.As a matter uncolonisedsite of nationalselfhood.But
subaltern socialgroupssuchaslowercastes, of fact, the reasonwhy he spent extra it hada less triumphalimplicationfor the
womenandmarginallinguisticregions,by moneyon a personalattendant throughout subalternclasses.
the nationalelite. For example, Partha hislongtourswashisanxietynottodepend First of all, courting the west in the
Chatterjee,in discussing Tarinicharan on food and victualssuppliedat foreign materialdomain by means of accessing
Chattopadhayay's The History of India, hotels...Inhis life he hadhardlyany oc- English education, falling in line with
notes, "If the 19th century Englishman casion to have food outside except at certaintimediscipline,participating in the
couldclaimancientGreeceas his classical intimatefriends'placeson invitation.His languageof law, and so on, providedthe
heritage, why should not the English- bath at stated time, performanceof Indianelite with the meansto take
in the morning,after- thecolonialstructures partin
educatedBengalifeelproudof theachieve- Sandhyavandanam of authority(though
mentof theso-calledVediccivilisation?"8 noonandevening,annualobservances of as subordinates to the
If we keepasidetheobvioussenseof irony Sraddhas forhisparents- allconnotedthe indisputably
of colonisers).Often suchauthority,working
inthisstatement,whatwe findis a valorised immutability time-honoured regulations itself the
thathe respected.All religiousfestivals through languageof Englishand
oppositionbetweencolonialism and na- andspecialfastswereobservedby him... disciplinaryinstitutionslike the court of
tionalism.The nationalistinvocation of Religious expositions from Srimad law meanta compellingmomentof exclu-
Vedic civilisationindeed challenges the Bhagavata or Devi Bhagavata used to be sion and disempowermentfor the subor-
claims to supremacyby the colonisers. conductedby some learnedpunditsand dinatesocial groupswithin the 'national
However, it also carries an unstated listenedtowithfaithbyhiswifeandhimself. community'. For instance, Pradabha

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MudaliarCharitram,the first novel in colonial strategy of 'divide and rule' and, divisions of men are so muchpartof the
Tamil, publishedin 1879, talks of the thus, its invocation in the domain of politics naturalorderof things that they will re-
effect of conductingcourtproceedingsin stigmatised. The story of how the nation- main as long as servantsand tradersand
English for the ordinarypeople, as fol- alisms of E V Ramasamy and Ambedkar soldiersandteachersperformtheirduties
lows: "Theyreturnedhome withoutany are suspect even today; and how they, in amongstus."It furtheradded,"...caste in
gain like a blindman who went to watch the dominant nationalist thinking, remain itself is not peculiarto India,but is found
theatreand like a deaf man who went to as 'collaborators' with the British, would everywhere.Servers, merchantsfighters
listen to music."15 illustrate this.18 At another level, caste andrulers,priests,everypeoplehasthem,
Simultaneously, theso-calledsovereign gets transcoded as a modern institution in thoughthe nameis differentaccordingto
domainof cultureuncolonisedby thewest an effort to shut out the language of caste the nation."21Here,Annie Besant,a vo-
remaineda domainto affirmelite upper from the public sphere. Let me take the ciferousdefenderof brahminism, whotried
as the cultureof
caste culture/spirituality case of untouchability. There was an herbestto wreckthenon-brahmin political
the nation. We have already seen this avalanche of publications in the first half mobilisation incolonialMadraspresidency,
throughtheinstanceof SivaswamiAiyer's of the 20th century, which explained away naturalisescaste. In doing so, she assimi-
spirituality.This act of mobilisinga part untouchability by resorting to a discourse lates caste as partof a universalstructure
of the nationalto standfor the whole, not of hygiene. P V Jagadisa Aiyyer, whose of division of labour and denies it any
only inferiorisedvast sections of lower monograph South Indian Customs, pub- socio-historicalspecificity.Both the acts
castes as inadequate citizens-in-the- lished originally in 1925 but in print even of naturalisingcaste and denying it any
making,16butalso significantlydelegiti- today, has the following to say: specificity,work in tandemto invalidate
misedthelanguageof caste in thedomain The Indiancustom of observing distance casteasarelevantcategoryinpublicsphere
of politics by annexingit as part of the and politics.
pollution, etc, has hygienic and sanitary
cultural.Itis onlyby unsettlingthebound- considerationsin view. In general the so- In tracingthe historicalmomentof the
aries betweenthe spiritualand material, called pious and religious people are arrivaltwo modes of talkingaboutcaste
inner and outer, could the lower castes generally most scrupulously clean and in the Indianpublicsphere,as it unfolded
(andwomen)contestthelogicof exclusion hence contact with people of uncleanly in the womb of colonialism, let me
inherentin the so-callednationalculture habits is nauseatingto them...people liv- emphasisetwo key points:first, the very
andtalkcastein thecolonialpublicsphere. ing on unwholesome food such as rotten nationalist resolution founded on the
The intersectionbetween the act of fish, flesh, garlic,etc, as well as the people divide betweenspiritualandmaterialren-
unsettlingthe boundarybetweenspiritual of filthy and unclean habits throw out of deredthe modeof talkingcasteon its own
andmaterial,andthe effortsof dominant their bodies coarse and unhealthymagne- terms in the material/publicsphere, an
nationalismto enforcethis veryboundary tism. This affects the religious people of illegitimateproject.Two, its responseto
is the point at which we can trace the pure habits and diet injuriously.So they thosewho still chosethe languageof caste
arrivalof the two modesof talkingabout keep themselves at a safe distance which in the domainof politics by crossingthe
has been fixed by the sages of old after dividebetweenthe spiritualandmaterial,
caste which I have mentionedearlier.In
sufficient experience and experiment.19 is one of mobilisingmodernity(hygiene
fact, muchof the politics of PeriyarE V
Ramasamyor BabasahebAmbedkarcan This quote is interesting on several anddivisionof labouras instanceswe have
be readas an effortto unsettlethe bound- counts. There is not a moment when it seen) and nationto inscribethe language
arybetweenthe spiritualandthe material, acknowledges caste. The upper castes, on of caste as once again illegitimate.
and recovera space for the languageof the one hand, get encoded here as 'so- The intimacy between modernityand
caste in the colonialpublicsphere.How- called pious and religious people' or as the desireto keep caste out of the public
ever,it is a farmoreinterestingstoryhow 'religious people of purehabits'. The lower sphere had its own particularcareer in
the mainstreamnationalists,in confront- castes, on the other, are encoded as 'people post-colonialIndia,to which now I turn.
ing this languageof caste in the domain living on rotten fish, flesh, garlic, etc.'
of politics, respondedto it. Fish, flesh and garlic - all are tabooed in Ill
In 1933, the municipalityof Pollachi,a the world of the brahminand certain other Post-colonialAngst
smalltownin westernTamilNadu,intro- uppercastes. Interestingly,JagadisaAiyyer
duced a regulationto do away with the does not invoke merely experience, but With the end of colonial rule, the am-
separatediningspacesmarkedout for the bivalence towardsthe modernexhibited
experimentation as well. The authority of
brahminsandthe non-brahmins in hotels. experimentation summons science to vali-by the Indiannationalistelite duringthe
SivaswamiAiyer opposed the move by date caste pollution.20 colonial period withered.Now it is mo-
claimingthat it was interferencein per- dernityon the termsof the 'nation'itself.
In other contexts, caste, in the hands of
sonalmatters.17Hereis an obvious story the upper castes and dominant national- The characterof this new journeyalong
of pushingback caste into the innerdo- thepathof themodernby theIndiannation
ists, reincarnates as division of labour.
main of culture.But.most often, caste, Though one can easily provide several statehasbeencapturedbyParthaChatterjee
once brought into the public domain, in thefollowingwords:"Themodernstate,
instances to illustrate this, let me just
refusedto heed suchnationalistadvice.It embeddedas it is within the universal
confine to one. In an editorial, appropri-
stayed on, speaking its own language, narrative
ately titled 'How Caste Helps', New India, of capital,cannotrecognisewithin
though from marginal and stigmatised the journal of the Theosophical Society its jurisdictionany form of community
spaces. edited by Annie Beasant, noted, "Howeverexceptthesingle,determinate, demographi-
In the face of such stubbornness,caste much we may declaim againstthe thraldom cally enumerableform of the nation."22
often gets written out as a part of the of caste in details, the fundamentalfour However,it is importanthereto recognise

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that this very opposition between the state superficialtrappedin pidginEnglishand Mysore brahmins.Some of these were my
(and/or capital) and the community would absurd admirationfor their employers. friends and relatives, and I could not help
make community indispensable for the Interestingly, this is one of those several being sensitive to their distress.31
articulation of the nation. After all, only paragraphs in Srinivas's book, which re- This is familiar enough. Distress of the
by recognising the presence of communi- fusesthedistinctionbetweenhis ownview brahmin is the theme song of the post-
ties can the nation state deny their legiti- and that of others whom he is talking Mandal modern public sphere of India.
macy and affirm the nation. This simul- about. M N Srinivas, to his credit, talks of it even
taneous inseparability and antagonism Let me stay with this themea bit more. earlier. But what is quite illuminating here
between the modem state and community M N Srinivas,in the courseof his book, is that as soon as he confesses his caste
is of critical importance to understand the gives us a list of 'westernisedintelligent- identity (with the caveat of 'very pro-
politics of two modes of talking caste in sia' who were, in his words, "the torch- bably'), he hastens to enfeeble it. In the
post-colonial India.23 bearersof a new andmodernIndia".The place of his sensitivity to the distress of
In exploring this connection between list runsas follows:Tagore,Vivekananda, the Mysore brahmins, now he presents a
modernity and caste in the post-colonial Ranade, Gokhale, Tilak, Gandhi, range of things that has nothing to do
India, the writings of M N Srinivas, who JawaharlalNehruand Radhakrishnan.28 with caste as such, as the reason for his
was committed at once to the developmen- Let us for the momentnot get caughtin opposition to caste quotas. He could not
tal state and sociology,24 is most helpful. the questionof how complexfigureslike help being sensitive "to the steady dete-
Let us have a look at his much-hyped Gandhi find a place in this list of rioration in efficiency and the fouling of
theory of Sanskritisation and westerni- westernisedintelligentsia.Whatis of in- interpersonalrelations in academic circles
sation. Stripped down to its basics, the terest here is the glaringabsence of the and the administration - both results of a
theory, within a comparative framework, names of those who courtedthe modern policy of caste quotas. As one with a strong
claims thatthe lower castes sanskritise and for the mobilisation of lower caste. attachment to Mysore, I could not but be
the upper castes westerise.25 Taking a BabasahebAmbedkarand PeriyarE V affected by the manner in which conflicts
cue from Johannes Fabian's argument Ramasamyare obvious instanceshere.It between castes prevented concentration
about how the west constructs its 'other' is evidentthatIndianmodem,despiteits on the all-importanttask of developing the
by "the denial of coevalness",26 we can claim to be universal- and of course, economic resources of the state for the
immediately locate a teleological scheme becauseof it - not only constituteslower benefit of all sections of its population."32
withinSrinivas's comparativeanalysis. The casteas its 'other',butalso inscribesitself Srinivas, at one level, emerges here as
teleology moves from lower caste prac- silentlyas uppercaste.Thus,caste,as the one of "...those 'experts' on caste who
tices to sanskritisation to westernisation. otherof themodern,alwaysbelongsto the consider it their duty to protect caste from
This very teleology sets caste as the 'other' lower castes.29 thepollution ofpolitics."33 Here is a torrent
of the modem. Given this particularcharacterof the of words- 'decline of efficiency', 'fouling
But we need to remember here that what Indianmodem,itproscribes andstigmatises of interpersonal relations', 'the benefit of
looks here like the unmarked modem is the languageof castein the publicsphere. all sections of the population' - all con-
stealthily upper caste in its orientation. Itdoes so evenwhile it talkscasteby other spire to keep caste out of public articula-
What M N Srinivas offers us as the history means.Inunderstanding thepoliticsof this tion. In the heart of all of it what we find
of westernisation in India is eminently authorisedlanguageof the publicsphere, is the well known principle of 'common
instructive here. He writes: M N Srinivasis once againhelpful.It was good' as a civic ideal. As the feminist and
Only a tiny fraction of the Indian popu-
thanks to EdmundLeach that Srinivas, other minoritariancritiques of civic repub-
lationcameintodirect,fact-to-facecontact who spoke all the time about caste in lican ideal of 'cQmmon good' has shown
with the British or other Europeans,and generalbutneverabouthis own, spokeof us, the deployment of 'common good' as
those who came into such contact did not his casteidentity.Ina reviewof Srinivas's the so-called democratic ideal elbows out
always become a force for change. Indian Caste in Modem India, Leach called his the politics of difference based on
servantsof the British, for instance, prob- Sanskritisationmodel 'Brahminocentric' inferiorised identities and sports the inter-
ably wielded some influence among their andtauntedhimwhetherhis interpretation ests of the powerful as that of the society
kin groups and local caste groups but not would have been differentif he were a as a whole. As Chantal Mouffe has argued,
among others.They generally came from sudra.30 If the incitementof the rabid "all form of consensus are by necessity
the low castes, theirwesternisationwas of
a superficial kind, and the upper castes Christiansand the non-brahminsocca- based on acts of exclusion."34
made fun of their Pidgin English, their sioned R K Narayan'sacknowledgement However, this is not merely a story of
absurdadmirationfor theiremployers,and of his uppercaste identity,the incitement interests, but of democracy and its articu-
the airs they gave themselves. Similarly, of EdmundLeach promptedSrinivasto lation in the public sphere. The deracinated
converts to Christianity from Hinduism concedehisowncasteidentity.Heclaimed: language of 'common good' comes in the
did not exercise muchinfluence as a whole of the formation of an inclusive public
becausefirst,these also came fromthe low ...my stressingof the importance of the way
BackwardClassesMovement,andof the sphere. The pressure exerted by the mod-
castes, and second, the act of conversion
often only changed the faith but not the roleof casteinpoliticsandadministration, em most often forces the subordinated
customs, the generalculture,or the stand-
are veryprobablythe resultof my being castes into silence and self-hate. D R
a southIndian,anda brahminat that.The Nagaraj, a fellow traveller and a scholar
ing of the converts in society.27
principleof castequotasforappointments of the dalit movement in Karnataka,notes,
Very clearly, for M N Srinivas, the source to posts in the administration,and for "The birth of the modern individual in the
of the Indian modern cannot be the lower admissionsto scientificandtechnological humiliated communities is not only ac-
castes. Their attempts could only remain courses,producedmuchbitterness among companied by a painful severing of ties

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withthe community,butalso a conscious but the threatof votes withheld,or being wasorthodox.Yetonehadbeenshrivelled
effortto alterone's pastis an integralpart hawkedaroundtootherbidders,works."39 by tradition,theotherenrichedby it...41
of it."35The movingstoryof Nanasaheb The simultaneousdisenchantmentof the Hereis ananguishedstatementof wonder
Wankhede,as recountedby VasantMoon, Indianmodern(even in its Marxistincar- from a dalit womanof greataccomplish-
then a deputy county commissionerin nation)with the languageof caste as well mentabouthow to delineatethe meaning
Nagpur,is instructivehere:"We went to asthatof masspoliticsis alltootransparent of the modernandthe non-moder in the
the house of NanasahebWankhede,the here. The perceptivecommentaboutthe contextof caste. Modernexperienceand
retired deputy county commissioner... doctrinairemodernistmadethreedecades modernexpectationare obviouslyat log-
Nanasahebwas an extremelywarmper- back by Rajni Kothari,still holds true: gerheads.42However,it would be a mis-
son,buthe livedcompletelyapartfromthe "Those who in India who complain of taketo readthisas thelowercasterejection
community.He didn'tcareto mix withme 'casteismin politics'arereallylookingfor of modernity.It is at once a critiqueof the
even as a deputycommissioner."He told a sort of politics which has no basis in modernfor its failureas well as an invi-
Moon, a fellow mahar,that displaying society.Theyalso probablylackanyclear tationto it to deliverits promises.In other
bookson AmbedkarandBuddhismwould conceptionof eitherthe natureof politics words, the lower castes' relationto mo-
land him in trouble.But when the news or the natureof the caste system (Many dernitycan best be describedas 'antago-
of Ambedkar's death was brought to of them would want to throw out both nistic indebtedness'- a felicitous term
Wankhede,"he brokeinto tears".36It is politics and caste system)."40 usedby PaulGilroyin thecontextof Black
not wordsof dialoguein the public, but politics.43
momentsof despairin the private,thatthe IV It is by critiquing/rejecting the civili-
Indianmodemoffers the lower castes. It InConclusion sationalclaimsof modernitythatthelower
demandsandenforcesthatcaste can live castes, at one level, could claim a space
onlysecretlives outsidethepublicsphere. In concludingthis paper,let me dwell for their politics. The vast corpusof lit-
Theresponseof theIndianmodem,when a bit on how the Indianmodern'srevolt eratureproducedby the dalitintellectuals
theinsurrection of theprohibitedlanguage againstdemocracyhas shapedthe lower duringthe past decade in Tamil Nadu is
of casteoccursin thepublicsphere,would caste responses. In their response, the illustrative here. For instance, Raj
illuminatethe contradictoryrelationship modem is both mobilisedand critiqued, Gowthaman,one of the leading Tamil
between modernityand mass politics in for the promisesof modernityand what intellectualsand a dalit literarycritique,
India.The year 1990, whenV P Singh as it deliversin practiceare often in contra- rejects the civilisationalclaims and the
the prime ministerof India decided to diction.A fragmentfromthereal-lifestory teleology of modernity,and insteadrecu-
implementa partof the MandalCommis- of how KumudPawde,a maharwoman, peratesthe past of lowly hill cultivators,
sion Report,was such a moment.As an became proficientin Sanskrit,is a good hunters,fisherpeople,pastoralists,andthe
illustration,let me take the response of instance to explore the distinguishing like as the high point of humanachieve-
Ashok Mitra,well known Marxistand a featuresof these responses. ment.He characterisestheirsocial life as
believer in 'People's Democracy'. His It is a storyof intensestruggle,discour- communal,with people pooling together
modernselfhoodis not in doubtat all. In agement and ridicule. However, with andsharingfood with a sense of equality,
a ratherrevealingstatement,he claimed, determination,Kumud Pawde pursues without much internal differentiation.
"Thegovernment'sdecision...represents Sanskrit,gets a postgraduatedegree,and Flow of historyceasesto be civilisingand
the ultimatetriumphof the message of teachesit in a college. GokhaleGuruji,an Raj Gowthamanincites the dalits to step
BabasahebAmbedkaroverthepreachings orthodoxbrahmin,was exemplaryas a outside it.
of secularists".37 Sulliedby the language teacher.Her caste did not matterto him. In carryingforwardhis agendaof carv-
of caste, Ambedkarcannotbe partof the But when she began her MA course in ing out a space for those who are outside
secular-modern. He goes on, as a Marxist, Sanskrit,her own professor- someone the pale of civilisationin Indianmodern's
to enumeratenationalills - whichare,for otherthanGuruji- dislikedher learning reckoning,he argues that one needs to
him, morereal - such as misdistribution Sanskrit.As KumudPawde narratesthe resignify as positive those culturalprac-
of arableland,near-universal illiteracyand events: tices whicharedeemedby theuppercastes
generallack of health.Casteis, however, as lowly. Beef-eating,drinking,speaking
refused a place in his secular-modern TheHeadof thedepartment wasa scholar in dalitdialectare necessarilypartof this
of all-Indiarepute.He didn't like my culturalpolitics.44 The need to reclaim
reckoning.38
Thencome his ruminationsaboutmass learningSanskrit,andwouldmakeit clear what has been stigmatised is essential
thathe didn't.And he took a malicious
politics: "For the nation's majority,the becausethatalonewouldendthe self-hate
oppressivearrangementsthe system has delightindoingso...I wouldunconsciously that Indianmodernhas producedin the
comparehim with Gokhale Guruji.I
spawned are little different from what couldn'tunderstand lower castes. Like D R Nagaraj, Raj
obtainedundermedievalfeudalism.With why this greatman
with a doctorate,so renownedall over Gowthamanis awarethatthelureof Indian
just one exception,medieval tyrantsdid India,thismanin his modemdress,who modernis capableof silencingthem:"We
not have to worry about votes. Modern didnotwearthetraditional could see the elements of these protest
cap,whocould
leaders have to. They cannot therefore so eloquentlydelineatethephilosophyof culturesdisappearingamongthose dalits
ignorepressuregroups,whoclaimto speak the UniversalBeing,andwith suchease who havemigratedto urbanareasseeking
on behalfof neglectedclasses or sections. explaindifficultconceptsin simpleterms, education and jobs...We could see the
Thesegroupshaveto be takenattheirface couldnotpractisein reallife thephiloso- dalits avoiding and covering up these
valuefor they supposedlyrepresentsolid phyin thebookshe taught.Thismanhad counter-cultural elements becauseof the
votebanks.Revolutionsarenotnextdoor, beenexposedtomodernity; GokaleGuruji consciousnessthattheyareuncivilised."45

Economicand PoliticalWeekly May 4, 2002 1739

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 Itis evidentthatthisnewpoliticalproject outsidemodernityis indeedbeingone step colonialism. It is my plea that if we shift the
is addressedto the lower castes. And it aheadof modernity.m emphasis from the contradiction between
nationalism and colonialism to the
gives rise to a sphereof politics outside contradictions within nationalism, the
themodemcivil society/publicsphere.The Notes outcomes would be ratherdifferent.
very appellation'dalit'attachedto every- 10 K Chandrasekharan,P S Sivaswami Aiyer,
thingthattakesplacein thisspheresignals [This is an expanded version of a talk prepared Publications Division, Governmentof India,
it.46 The refusalto concedethe demands for, but could not be delivered at, the plenary New Delhi, 1969, pp 152-53.
11 Ibid, p 119.
of Indianuppercaste modernityto hide session of theUniversityof Wisconsin30thAnnual 12 Ibid, p 113.
Conferenceon South Asia held in October2001.
and at once practisecaste has alone en- I am thankful to the Centre for South Asia, 13 Ibid, p 114. This story of Sivaswami Aiyer is
suredthissubalterncounter-public.47 And University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose not an exceptional story. One can produce
thisis a publicwherethelanguageof caste invitationto theconferencemadethispaperhappen. innumerablesimilaraccountsaboutthe Tamil
insteadof the languageof speakingcaste The ideas expressed here owe a great deal to my brahminelite. Take, for instance, the case of
and on-going dialogue with Aditya S Satyamurti,lawyer and a nationalistwho is
by othermeans,is validated,encouraged longstanding
Nigam and Nivedita Menon. Comments on an well known for his debatingskills in English.
and practised.However,it shouldnot be earlier draft from
Itty Abraham, S Anandhi, Of him, it was written:'... He believed in all
forgottenthat this is a public which is Theodore Baskaran, Venkatesh Chakravarthy, the ritualsordainedby the Shastrasas well as
simultaneouslyin constantdialoguewith ChrisChekuri,JohnHarriss,JJeyaranjan,Sankaran tradition.His day would usually began very
the modern civil society which, in its Krishna,RamsamyMahalingam,NiveditaMenon, early with a bath and the performanceof daily
invocationof modernity,has and contin- Aditya Nigam, and R Srivatsan are gratefully religious rites. He would recite or read (do
The title of the paper 'One Step 'parayana') at least a few verses of the
ues to resistthe articulationof lowercaste acknowledged.
Outside Modernity'is a generousgift from Chris Ramayana and perform the simple ordinary
politics.We do knowthatmost often this Chekuri.] poojahs which every Hindu householder is
dialogueaboutthe new sphereof politics enjoinedto do and then only proceedto attend
takesplace in the sheerdespairand con- 1 R K Narayan, My Days: A Memoir, Indian to his normal duties as a public man. Even
demnationsexpressedin the moderncivil Thought Publications,Mysore, 2000 (1974). when he was courting imprisonment,he first
2 R K Narayan, My Days: A Memoir, p 161. finished his daily religious routine and then
society.The responsewhichthe arrivalof 3 There are uncriticaladmirersof R K Narayan went and courted arrest. Even in the prison
dalit literatureand dalit literarycriticism who would object to this mode of readinghis he would not give up his daily routine of
in TamilNadubroughthas forthfromthe writings.Forinstance,N Ram,a co-biographer poojahs'. (R Parthasarathy, S Satyamurti,
avant-gardelittle magazinesis a case in of Narayan, writes, 'The criticism is Publications Division, Governmentof India,
For
point. instance,responding to theclaim occasionally heard,from literaryscholarsand New Delhi, 1979, p 201).
others, that Narayan's Malgudi is a literary 14 K Chandrasekharan,P S Sivaswami Aiyer,
that dalit writings constitute a separate cocoon, where real-life conflicts, turbulence p23.
literarygenre,TamilSelvan,an activistof and socio-economic misery are not 15 Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai, Prathaba
the culturalfront of the CPI(M) and a encountered.Naipaul, for one, seems to have Mudaliar Charitram,Chennai, 1984 (1879),
thevar by caste, noted in anger, "...stop given some credence to this complaint. But p 302.
when Narayanis in flow, such criticismseems 16 It is ratherinstructivehere to takenote of what
yourpointlesshowling.Some professors misdirected,almost banal.Who is to say with StuartHall and David Held have to say about
areorganisinghereandthereconferences what theme or problem or slice of life or citizenship: 'The issue aroundmembership-
[on dalit literature].They rebukeothers. imaginativeexperiencea novelist must deal?' who does and who does not belong - is where
Theytryto imposeon others'headswhat (Frontline,June8,2001, p 12). Suchgenerosity the politics of citizenship begins. It is
is in theirheads. These are unnecessary towardsthe flow of creativitylocatescreativity impossible to chart the history of the concept
conflicts."In a move - perhapsinspired outside the social and declines to interrogate very far without coming sharply up against
criticallywhatan authorchooses not to engage successive attempts to restrict citizenship to
by Marxism- towardsconflict-resolution, with is as importantas what s/he chooses to. certaingroupsandtoexcludeothers.Indifferent
he suggestedto the dalitwriters,"Giveup 4 Bhama, Karukku,SamudayaSinthanaiSeyal historical periods, different groups have led,
yourpointlesshowling...[Instead]produce Aaivu Mayyam, Madurai,1994; Virammaet and profited from, this 'politics of closure':
serious writing."48In other words, the al, Viramma:Life of an Untouchable,Verso, property-owners, men, white people, the
subalterncounter-public, in extractingthe London, 1997; Arjun Dangle (ed), A Corpse educated, those in particularoccupations or
in the Well:TranslationsfromModernMatathi with particularskills, adults.' StuartHall and
responseof the modernauthorisedpublic Dalit Autobiographies, Disha Books, DavidHeld, 'CitizensandCitizenship'in Stuart
spherewith its uppercaste protocols,is Hyderabad,1994 (1992); and Vasant Moon, Hall and Martin Jacques (eds), New Times:
engagedin an antagonisticdialoguewith Growing Up Untouchable in India: A Dalit The Changing Face of Politics in the 1990s,
the Indianmodern.Equallyimportantis Autobiography. Tr Gail Omvedt, Rowman Lawrenceand Wishart,London, 1989, p 175.
the factthatthis sphereof politicsoutside and LittlefieldPublishers,Inc, Lanham,2001. 17 Gandhi, November 6, 1933.
the moderncivil society is in constant
5 Though the papertalks aboutcaste in general, 18 For a recentattemptto characteriseAmbedkar
it draws its instances from the brahminsand as a British collaborator,see Arun Shourie,
dialogue,collaborationand discardwith dalits. It is so because, given their location in WorshippingFalse Gods: Ambedkarand the
the other strandof lower caste politics the caste hierarchy,their instances can be of Facts which Have Been Erased, ASA
which mobilisesmodernityand speaks a help in delineatingsharplythe argumentof the Publications, New Delhi, 1997. Charac-
languageof universalfreedom. paper. teristically, one of the chaptersin the book is
6 Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its titled 'The British Strategem and Its Indian
This contradictoryengagement with
Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Advocate'.
modernityby the lower castes has an Histories:OxfordUniversityPress,Delhi, 1995 19 P V Jagadisa Aiyyar, South Indian Customs,
importantmessagefor all of us: That is, (1993), p 7. Asian EducationalServices, New Delhi, 1985
being one step outside modernityalone 7 Ibid. (1925), p ix.
can guaranteeus a publicwherethe poli- 8 Ibid, p 98. 20 Here is yet anotherinstance of bringing forth
9 Partha Chatterjee is not unaware of this western authority to defend caste pollution:
tics of differencecan articulateitself, and
problem.However,even while acknowledging Arya Bala Bodini, a children's magazine
castecan emergeas a legitimatecategory this problem, the primaryfocus of the book broughtoutby theTheosophicalSociety, wrote
of democraticpolitics. Being one step is on the opposition between nationalismand in 1897, 'The Brahmins, particularly the

1740 Economicand PoliticalWeekly May 4, 2002

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 Vaisnavites, insist that they be not seen by andintellectualheritageof thewest as a whole.' the question of caste despite their differing
otherswhileatdinner.Thecustomis denounced Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic: Modernity ideological locations.
and declaredsilly. Efforts are made now and and Double Consciousness, Harvard 39 Ibid, pp 190-91.
then to bring a miscellaneous crowd to eat University Press, Cambridge, 1996 (1993), 40 Rajni Kothari (ed), Caste in Indian Politics,
together and any success that might attend p49. p 4. For a similar argument,see D L Sheth,
such gatheringsis advertisedas grand.People, 30 M N Srinivas,Social Changein ModernIndia, 'ChangingTermsof Elite Discourse:The Case
who oughtto know better,exult in such small p 148. of Reservation for Other Backward Classes'
triumphs, as they would put it, over blind 31 Ibid, p 152. in T V Sathyamurthy(ed), Region, Religion,
orthodoxy. Let us, however, see what a 32 Ibid, pp 152-53. Caste, Gender and Culture in Contemporary
distinguished westerner has to say on this 33 Rajni Kothari(ed), Caste in Indian Politics, India, OUP, Delhi, 1996.
subject. Says Professor Max Muller in the Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1986 (1970), 41 ArjunDangle (ed), A Corpse in the Well,p 32.
Cosmopolisthus:'The Hindus seem to me to p6. 42 See Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic, p 49.
show their good taste by retiring while they 34 Chantal Mouffe, 'Feminism, Citizenship 43 Ibid, p 191.
feed,andre-appearonly aftertheyhavewashed and Radical Democratic Politics' in Judith 44 A more systematic statementof the same can
their hands and face. Why should we be so Butler and Joan W Scott (eds), Feminists be found in Kancha Illiah's notion of
anxious to perform this no doubt necessary Theorise the Political, Routledge, London, 'Dalitisation'. See Kancha Illiah, Why I am
functionbeforethe eyes of our friends?Could 1992, p 379. Not A Hindu: A Sudra Critique of Hindutva
not at least the grosser part of feeding be 35 D R Nagaraj, The Flaming Feet: A Study of Philosophy, Culture and Political Economy,
performedin private,and the social gathering the Dalit Movement, South Forum Press, Samya, Calcutta, 1996, chap VII.
begin at the dessert, or, with men, at the Bangalore, 1993, p 7-8. 45 I have analysedRaj Gowthaman'sWritingsin
wine..." (Arya Bala Bodinin, III (5), May 36 Vasant Moon, Growing Up Untouchable in detail elsewhere. The material used here is
1897, p 114). India, p 159. drawn from 'Stepping Outside History; New
21 New India, 58 (77), April 1, 1916. 37 AsgharAli Engineer(ed),MandalCommission Dalit Writings from Tamil Nadu' in Partha
22 Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Controversy,AjantaPublications,Delhi 1991, Chatterjee(ed), Wages of Freedom:50 Years
Fragments, p 238. p 190. of the IndianNation-State,Oxford University
23 For a recent and highly sophisticatedaccount 38 In fact, Ashok Mitra's view on the Press, New Delhi, 1998.
of the simultaneous inseparability and implementationof MandalCommissionis not 46 Upper caste politics which refuses to speak
antagonismbetween stateandcommunity,see differentfrom that of M N Srinivas. Srinivas caste as caste is what gets written as politics
SankaranKrishna,Postcolonial Insecurities: too lists, in the context of his opposition to withoutany qualification.Politics thatinvokes
India, Sri Lanka and the Question of the MandalCommission recommendations,a caste is always dalit politics or the politics of
Nationhood, University of Minnesota Press, similarset of problemsas the realones: 'Social the 'backwards'.
Minneapolisand London, 1999. Let me also andeducationalbackwardnessarebest tackled 47 On the notion of subalterncounter-public,see
note here that the relationship between the by anti-povertyprogrammes.Backwardnessis Nancy Fraser,'Rethinkingthe Public Sphere:
narrativeof capital and that of community due in large measureto poverty and the many A Contributionto the Critique of Actually
need not always be one of opposition. They ills that go with it. Malnutrition affects Existing Democracy' in Craig Calhoun (ed),
can come together in denying a universal productivity; illiteracy is inseparable from Habermas and the Public Sphere, The, MIT
westernnarrativeof capital. For example, see ignoranceand superstition.The lack of access Press,Cambridge,MassachusettsandLondon,
AihwaOng,FlexibleCitizenship:TheCultural to shelter,clothing andhygiene and sanitation 1996 (1992).
Logic of Transnationality,Duke University makes people backward.Thereis such a thing 48 Quoted in V Arasu, 'Tamil Sirupathirigai
Press, Durham and London, 1999. as a 'culture of poverty" (Ibid, p 133). The ChoolalumDalit Karuthdalum'in Ravi Kumar
24 Emphasisingthese two roles of a sociologist, obvious similarity between Ashok Mitra and (ed), DalitKali-lllakiyam-Arasiyal,DalitKalai
M N Srinivaswrote, 'The governmentof India M N Srinivaspoints to the elite consensus on Vizha Kulu, Neyveli, 1996, p 217.
has an understandabletendency to stress the
need for sociological researchthat is directly
related to planning and development. And it
is the duty of the sociologists as citizens that Social Science Research Council
they should take part in such research. But
there is a grave risk that "pure" or New Fellowship Opportunity
"fundamental" mightbe sacrificedaltogether',
M N Srinivas (ed), India's Villages, Asia
FirstAnnouncement,1st May2002
PublishingHouse, Bombay, et al 1963 (1955),
p 5.
25 M N Srinivas,Social Changein Modem India, Social Science Research Council(SSRC New York)announces
Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1972.
26 Johannes Fabian, Time and the Other: How
a new fellowshipcompetition.The theme for 2002 is Resources
Anthropology Makes Its Object, Columbia and Social Sciences. Twentyfellowshipswillbe availableforjunior
university Press, New York, 1983. Walter andseniorscholarsfromSouthAsiato beingnewresearch,continue
Mignolacharacterises the 'denialofcoevalness'
as 'the replacementof the 'other' in space by ongoingresearchor writeup completedresearchwiththe purpose
the 'other' in time...and the articulation of
cultural differences in chronological
of strengtheningthe link between teaching and research. The
hierarchies'in WalterD Mignolo, TheDarker fellows will attend a weeklong trainingworkshopand a two-day
Side of Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality
and Colonisation,The Universityof Michigan
internationalconferencebetween3rdto 12thJanuary2003. Eligibility
Press, Ann Arbor, 1995, p xi. is restrictedto college teachers and universityfacultywithearned
27 M N Srinivas,Social Changein ModernIndia,
PhDs. Interestedapplicantsare requested to look for a second
p 60.
28 Ibid, p 77. detailedannouncementon 1stJune 2002. Applicationmaterialwill
29 This is very similar to the manner in which
race figures in the westerndiscourse. As Paul
be availableon the SSRCwebsitewww.ssrc.orgas wellas through
Gilroy notes, '...the history of slavery is various organizationsin South Asia after that date.
somehow assigned to blacks. It becomes our
specialpropertyratherthana partof the ethical

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