4/3/2019 Dalits In Reverse

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Dalits In Reverse
From being the dominant community at one time, the Tamil Brahmins are facing the effects of a new casteism

S. ANAND 11 APRIL 2005

SAIBAL DAS

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March 22. The day of the annual chariot festival at the Kapaleeswarar temple, Mylapore. Thousands of spectators jostle for space. Amid shouts of
"Kapali", the Siva-mounted chariot inches along the temple tank. Hundreds of non-Brahmins sweat at the vadam (ropes) of the chariot. P.
Madhavan, 40, asks for a chance to handle the vadam. After touching the rope, he retreats to his spectator position, leaving the task of pulling the
chariot to others. He merely wanted some punyam (blessings) by the symbolic handling of the vadam.

Standing on the sidelines, and often reticent, the Tamil Brahmin community is not known to expend energy on protests. It is not surprising thus
that one saw little by way of public protest following the arrest of the two Shankaracharyas of Kanchipuram. But the fact is that the Tamil
Brahmin community is distressed, dismayed and angry. Several have confessed to going hungry and sleepless for days. At workplaces, middle-
class Brahmin employees wore a forlorn look for weeks. Organised supporters launched websites and issued full-page ads in newspapers. The nris
wrote angry emails and blogged. For the middle-class Brahmin, the fretting and fuming seemed limited to drawing rooms, helplessly watching TV
and writing an occasional letter to the media.

The Brahmin in Tamil country has felt that he has been on the ropes for close to a hundred years now. The assertion of self-respect by the non-
Brahmins since the launch of the Non-Brahmin Manifesto in 1916, the Periyar-led Self-Respect Movement that followed, the formation of the
Justice Party government in 1920 and the coming to power of the DMK in 1967 led to the unhinging of Brahmin hegemony. In 1928, the
Brahmins, who constituted 3 per cent of the population, occupied 620 gazetted of cer positions compared to non-Brahmin Hindus who had only
327 of cers. Today, in the only state where reservation for various non-Brahmin communities goes up to 69 per cent, the non-Brahmins have
come into their own. Recalls danseuse Anita Ratnam: "My brother did not get an engineering seat despite scoring 98 per cent and had to study in
a Madurai college. When they looked for marriage proposals for me in the '70s, all eligible Brahmin boys had gone abroad!"

The rise of the Kanchi math paralleled the ascension of Dravidian power. Functioning from a rented building, the math moved to its present
address—1, Salai Street, Kanchipuram—only in the 1920s. Till the 1940s, the math attracted little public attention. Reeling under the onslaught
of the Periyarite movement, several educated Brahmins of Tamil Nadu headed for Bombay and Delhi. Those who entered the civil services and
business invested faith and resources in the math.

Once the DMK came to power, the Brahmins ceased to throw up major political gures. Even the Congress—which once boasted of stalwarts like
S. Satyamurthy and C. Rajagopalachari—began to clamour for non-Brahmin faces; the Left parties, which traditionally attracted Brahmin
leadership, are today led by non-Brahmins in Tamil Nadu. Besides CM J. Jayalalitha, the only Brahmin MLA in the 234-member assembly is the
BJP's H. Raja. In contrast, the Thevars have 93 MLAs. Squeezed out of politics, the Brahmins wrested control of the bureaucracy, emerging as

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signi cant players in Delhi and rallied around the Kanchi math. Under Jayendra Saraswati, who allied himself with the emergingSUBSCRIBE
Hindutva, the
math attracted politicians and industrialists of various hues and acquired a national pro le. Today, such a math is in a shambles.

The president of Tamil Nadu Brahmins Association (Tambras), N. Narayanan, says the impact of Shankaracharya's arrest was "a semi-tsunami"
for the Brahmins. He is unhappy with the Brahmin response. "They sit within four walls and cry.They reacted emotionally, not intellectually. I
wanted 10,000 Brahmins for a protest, but few turned up. Brahmins must use this opportunity to come out of their shell." But says S. Kumar, an
employee of Bank of Baroda, "I am afraid of participating in a rally in this Dravidian ethos."

Not all Brahmins are reluctant. Prema Krishanmurthy, 54, a typical traditional Brahmin from Mylapore, has rarely stepped out of her house. But
the Kanchi math issue has stirred her. At a protest meeting, she said: "All Brahmin women must become Durga swaroopinis (incarnate)." Spouting
Sanskrit shlokas, she compares Jayendra's predicament to the mythical Prahlada's. Jayendra's tribulations have rekindled personal memories of
persecution. "When I sported the madisaru-style sari at 18, people heckled me. When my son was 16, DMK workers pulled his kudumi (tuft)."

The Tamil Brahmin community is not unanimous in its opinion. K.R. Prakash and his wife Rama Prakash, both employed at the accountant-
general of ce, were rst shocked. Several of Prakash's Brahmin women colleagues cried. Rama says: "We regarded the earlier pontiff as our kula-
guru. The present Shankaracharyas never touched our lives." Rama's brother S. Ramanathan says the developments around the math have hurt
them, but prefers to be pragmatic. "Over the last decade, one could buy personal benediction from Jayendra Saraswati. He would visit anybody's
house for a price." The math's commercialisation had alienated quite a few followers who, today, regret having to "defend the indefensible".

A. Srivatsan, who teaches at the School of Architecture, Anna University, and specialises in temples, says: "In arguing that Jayendra was political
and commercial unlike Chandrashekarendra, his defenders are trying to rationalise the arrest. Talking of persecution is another way of coming to
terms with the arrest." Counters Anita Ratnam: "On a visit to the Vaishnavite Srimad Andavan ashram, I felt an embarrassing silence about the
Shankaracharya issue. One feels the Brahmin community is being seen as culpable."

Mumbai-based writer C.S. Lakshmi, better known as Ambai, says ordinary Brahmins have been shaken by the arrest irrespective of their opinion
on Jayendra. "My 90-year-old mother used to keep a picture of all three Shankaracharyas. After his arrest, she removed Jayendra Saraswati's photo
from the frame. In Chembur, Uttam Society runs a temple where they had a portrait of Jayendra. They have now removed it." She, however, says
the Brahmins must not be complaining so much: "They may not dominate politics and the economy, but brahminic values have penetrated all
strata of life and the media."

The lack of protests also owes to the math's poor following, according to Gnaani, editor, Dheemtarikita: "The math never had a mass following
like Bangaru Adigalar or other non-Brahmin maths. Even among Brahmins, only the political right sees this as persecution." Says Srivatsan: "In
reality, the Kanchi math has hardly been representative of Tamil Brahmins. The temple-worshipping culture of the Tamils owes its legacy to the
Bhakti movement of Alwars and Nayanmars. The advaitic Kanchi math derives nothing from this tradition."

According to litterateur Sundara Ramaswamy: "There are many Brahmins who feel we must not attack Jayendra Saraswati at this moment even if
he could be guilty. He worked for the uplift of Brahmins. His contribution to Hinduism is minimal. Jayendra never liked genuine Hindu leaders
like Vivekananda as he was not a Brahmin. In terms of social transformation, this episode had little impact on society."

Indira Parthasarathy, playwright and winner of the Saraswati Samman, says it is only the 50-plus generation that has been shaken. "Jayendra
Saraswati is not a rallying point for the community." Parthasarathy argues that there was no anti-Brahminism in Tamil society to start with.
"There was no Brahmin-non-Brahmin antagonism during the Sangam and Bhakti periods. " He blames it on British colonialism: "In north India,
British divided the society into Hindus and Muslims. In the south, the only divide possible was into non-Brahmin and Brahmin."

Points out Cho Ramaswamy, Rajya Sabha MP: "The Brahmin is harassed. There was a time when Brahmins dominated every eld. This had to
change. When Periyar started his movement, violence was systematically encouraged. The DK and DMK scandalised the Brahmin community. The
Brahmin met the challenge and has emerged successful. Because of lack of reservation, the Brahmins had to perform better, work harder."
Dismissing the comparison with Jews, Cho says, "There was no such persecution though Periyar may have wanted it to happen."

Who will the Tamil Brahmins now turn to? Tambras president Narayanan's nal appeal is to Jayalalitha: "If Jayalalitha can offer a package for the
tsunami-affected sherfolk, she must also announce one for the aggrieved brahmin community and mollify them." The real tsunami did not affect
the Tamil brahmins. But the epicentre of their grief lies 75 km southwest of Chennai, in Kanchipuram.

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