#caste oppression

[meluhha]

Modern genetic studies indicate that it was during the Gupta period that Indian caste groups ceased to intermarry (started practicing/enforcing endogamy)

[comparatist]

omprakash valmiki's 'joothan' made me realise how important it is for the first generation learner Dalits to have a calm and proper environment both in public and private. how healthy should the surrounding be, so that they can have an uninterrupted growth. reminds of how my grandma used to steer clear of any such obstacles that came between my father and his dreams of making it big.

ofcourse our society never has that. he eventually got bullied the moment he started working.

[galaxy-notes]

Within the last ten years more than 22 Dalits have lost their lives to caste based discrimination. 8 people have been killed, only in the last six months, because they were Dalits. Most of them still haven't received justice. The non physical forms of discrimination that happen in everyday lives such as insult, verbal abuse and mistreatment don't even get reported. Article 24 of the Constitution of Nepal has institutionalized the right against untouchability and discrimination as a fundamental right. It states that "any act of untouchability and discrimination in any form shall be punishable by law as a severe social offence, and the victim of such act shall have the right to obtain compensation". Why then, is caste based discrimination and violence still so prevalent in our society? Even after years and years of struggle, why is the Dalit movement still going on?

[angerisbeautiful-079]

PAPILIO BUDDHA- Movie playing tomorrow!

Location: Woodside Cinema(1571 Sandhurst Circle)

Time: 7pm

Release Year: 2013 

Runtime: 108 minutes

Directed by: Jayan Cherian Country/Language: India, USA / Malayalam (With English subtitles) Synopsis:

A group of displaced untouchables in Western Ghats of India embrace Buddhism in order to escape from caste oppression. The film explores the new identity-political uprising based on Ambedkarism, gaining momentum among the Dalits in the region, in the milieu of an ongoing land struggle.

[thisisnotindia]

200 years on, Nangeli’s sacrifice only a fading memory

Nangeli gained her place in history as the woman who cut off her breasts to protest against an inhuman tax imposed in erstwhile Travancore

Many books and histories have been written about caste oppression in Kerala and the men and women who fought the injustice. Yet the story of one woman’s protest has almost faded away from the collective memory of the State.

Nangeli, who lived in Cherthala in Alappuzha over 200 years ago, gained her place in history as the woman who cut off her breasts to protest against the inhuman mulakkaram (breast tax) that was imposed in the erstwhile kingdom of Travancore.

Caste oppression

Kings of the time ensured the subjugation of the lower castes by imposing heavy taxes on them. Their wealth was built on some of the worst taxes imposed anywhere in the world. Besides the tax on land and crops, peasants had to pay taxes for the right to wear jewellery, the right of men to grow a moustache, and even the right of women to cover their breasts.

The heavy taxes ensured that the lower castes were kept eternally in debt, while members of the upper castes flourished.

“Nangeli was a poor Ezhava woman from Cherthala. Her family could not afford to pay the taxes and was in debt to the rulers,” says D. Sugathan, advocate and former MLA from Alappuzha.

“The tax collector, then called the parvathiyar, came to her house one day and demanded that she pay the tax,” he says. The legend goes that Nangeli cut off her breasts and presented them to theparvathiyar on a plantain leaf. The tax collector fled in fear, while Nangeli bled to death at her doorstep.

Her husband Chirukandan came home to find his wife lying dead and mutilated. He is said to have jumped into her funeral pyre out of grief.

“The incident happened in 1803. It created a lot of anger and the practice of collecting breast tax was put to an end here by 1812,” says Mr. Sugathan, who mentions Nangeli’s story in his book ‘Oru Desathinte Katha, Kayarinteyum’ .

While Nangeli’s sacrifice put an end to one form of caste oppression, the land where she lived came to be known as mulachiparambu – the plot where the woman of breasts lived.

“Nangeli’s story is unique also for the fact that it is the first recorded instance of a man committing sati,” says Ajay S. Sekher, a teacher of English at the Tirur centre of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit. A blog post written by Mr. Sekher, who researches issues of caste and gender, has introduced many to the story of Nangeli and mulachiparambu.

An earlier generation of political leaders grew up hearing about Nangeli’s protest and its significance in Kerala’s history. Leaders C. Kesavan and K.R. Gowri Amma have mentioned her in their autobiographies.