In The Land of Jagannath, Caste Lurks Beneath The Surface

We Odias pride ourselves on our egalitarian ethos. We flaunt the fact that efforts to polarize voters on the basis of caste, creed and religion have never succeeded here and taunt states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh where voting on caste lines is an accepted part of electoral politics. We even invoke Lord Jagannath and cite his all-encompassing philosophy of universal brotherhood to claim we are beyond – and above – all man-made divisions.

What pretence!! All it took for the carefully crafted edifice of egalitarianism to come crashing down was an off-the-cuff remark, while playing to the gallery, by outgoing Agriculture minister and veteran Biju-era leader Dr. Damodar Rout. It is as if the floodgates of caste animosity, building up over time, burst open.  Posts and comments on the social media since Dr. Rout made that unwarranted ‘Brahmins are Beggars’ comment in Malkangiri make for depressing reading. Conversations in public places prove that beneath the surface, caste is alive and kicking in Odia society. Caste wars and violence may be aberrations here. But caste prejudice is a fact of life we can ignore only at our own peril.

No sooner was Dr. Rout ‘dismissed’ from the cabinet by Chief Minister for his casteist remark than people started attributing it to the dreaded ‘abhishaap’ (curse) of the Brahmin. At the other end of the caste spectrum, non-Brahmins asked why he was not sacked when he made a blatantly casteist remark against Harijans at a public meeting a few years ago. The insinuation was: the powerful Brahmins, though they constitute only a minuscule percentage of the population, are more important for Naveen Patnaik than the numerically much larger Dalit community. Author and journalist Kedar Mishra had his integrity questioned for a piece he wrote in Odia daily ‘Sanchar’ on Saturday where he argued that begging is integral to Brahmin tradition and they cannot have the best of both the worlds; take pride in being a Brahmin and yet take offence at being called a beggar. There were some who saw in the issue an opportunity to push their anti-reservation agenda. There were others who saw in it an opportunity to mobilize the so-called ‘lower castes’.

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At a personal level, I was pained to find a series of posts by a dear friend of well over three decades, who is now a local BJP leader, claiming Brahmins are a superior breed. “I am proud of the fact that I am a Brahmin. One who takes birth in ‘uchcha kula’ (higher caste) has the blessings of God,” said one of them. Coming from someone who I can legitimately claim to know from close quarters, this was at once startling and depressing. Equally depressing was the lionization of Dama Rout for having the gumption to take on the Brahmins. In a comment on Dr. Rout’s post on Facebook explaining the circumstances leading up to his dismissal, an over-excited follower exhorted him to lead a broad coalition of khandayats, OBCs, Harijans and tribals against Brahmin hegemony!

We claim to be the true legatees of the Upanishadic philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (‘the world is a family’), but will not allow our Harijan brothers and sisters entry into our temples. The khandayats would continue to insist on the perpetuation of the shameful ‘bartani’ system in Puri and other places and punish the barbers for any transgressions, but not bat an eyelid while demanding reservations in jobs for themselves: a queer case of playing the oppressor and the victim at the same time. We would rant against the dominance of Brahmins in the highest echelons of politics, bureaucracy and academia, but cannot do without the services of a Brahmin for every small occasion in the household. The contradictions in our social behaviour are endless.

A major reason the Hindu way of life has survived centuries of vicissitudes, foreign aggression and worse is that it has continued to keep evolving and constantly reforming itself to be in tune with the spirit and wisdom of the time. That’s why widow remarriage is not considered the blasphemy it was at one point of time. That’s why the once glorified practices of ‘sati’ and ‘jauhar’ are now a thing of the past (notwithstanding a few morons up in arms over the depiction of ‘Padmavati’ in a film). By insisting on perpetuating the caste hierarchy, we are doing terrible disservice to a great religion that has earned the admiration of non-Hindus across the world for its all-encompassing worldview. Let us bury our caste prejudices for good and keep the essential spirit of Hinduism alive.

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To begin with, how about reviving the movement to gain access for Harijans, a project left unfinished by the Father of the Nation? In the land where Dasia Bauri is celebrated, will that not be a fitting tribute to the Lord, the ultimate symbol of our egalitarian ethos?