Hariom Valmiki and Sanskritisation

A 38-year-old Dalit man, named Hariom Valmiki was beaten to death over an alleged theft accusation with the help of drones. He was incriminated to be part of a “Drone gang”. His body was found abandoned near a railway track, with severe head injuries, belt marks and bruises all over his body. This is not one of “few” incidents where someone coming from a marginalised community has been lynched over an accusation based on some whimsical thoughts. Or someone from a marginalised community has been murdered by people in power and by the people who have proclaimed themselves on the higher social order, i.e., caste hierarchy based on some traditional customs benefiting them. The traditional customs instituted by the hunting-gathering communities, served different purposes at the time of establishment but in the contemporary times, these have only helped the “powerful” to exploit the marginalised. The inhuman rape cases of Dalit women in Hathras and Unnao, accompanied by government’s apathy, the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula, brutal assault on Dalits in Una district by self-styled Cow Protection Vigilantes, the lynching of Pehlu Khan in Haryana and Mohammad Akhlaq in Uttar Pradesh are some of the very prominent examples in which the people who have traditionally been established at higher social order tried to reinforce the rigidities of the caste structure and uphold the social power as well as caste privileges.

Re-emergence of Sanskritisation movement-

Looking at the castes into which the culprits of Rae Bareli murder belong to, it is evident that the assaulters are a mix of different castes including Backward Castes and Dalits. Does this mean that the murder of Hariom Valmiki is unrelated to his caste and can not be considered as caste-based violence? No! Think about how many upper caste people have been lynched? Things are not as simple as it might look with an incognisant mindset. These cases need to be examined carefully along with keeping other factors in mind rather than with a parochial mindset. Allurement of an egalitarian society, that, after the establishment of a mythical concept of “Ram-Rajya”, which might only be achieved when India becomes a “Hindu-Rashtra”, as claimed by the “Caste-Hindus” is pulling the people from lower castes towards this separatist and communal goal. For the past few decades, we can easily see the rise in adoption of traditional Hindu rituals in the homes of Backward Castes and Dalits. The same rituals which were prohibited for these castes but new trends are emerging which are being crucial in the inoculation of extremist Caste-Hindu sentiments into the so-called lower castes. This impregnation of thoughts is giving the false hope among the lower castes that if they follow and obey these new “opportunities”, they will be able to gain the privileges enjoyed by the upper castes for centuries. In pursuit of this Orwellian utopia, lower castes are investing their time, money and other resources and are alienating themselves from the members of their own community people with whom they were sharing the same types of issues, i.e., caste-based discrimination. And even after all these processes of Baptism, the lower castes are still looked upon with contempt. Still acting as pawns in the “Great Game” of power dynamics. As researched by social anthropologist M.N. Srinivas, who termed the word Sanskritisation, that adoption of the cultural, traditional and orthodox rituals of the Caste-Hindus, i.e., “twice born” (Dwija), will not directly result in the social mobility of lower castes. They still face the disabilities and discriminatory practices associated with their castes. Varna, which gave birth to the caste system, now holds no value in the tangible world and the hereditary branding of people on the basis of their birth is the social reality for centuries.

Impact of Education and Economy-

“Caste doesn’t exist in educated and high class societies”. Again a huge misconception about caste and its operational reality in society. Premium Universities are still infested with caste discrimination and derogatory practices. Although it will also be wrong to say that education and economic factors don’t play any role in altering the caste dynamics at play. Elimination of Untouchability in most of the places is a living proof that things can change for betterment but the pace of these changes is something we should be worried about. Politics of the nation plays a significant role in these advancements whereas bad, discriminatory and demagogical politics reverses the developments occurred so far. Peddling of casteist and religious rhetorics only for the sake of votes tolls society disastrously. It shatters the social fabric and tenets of social harmony, threatening the unity and integrity of our country and the idea of a nation having Unity in diversity.

Caste Endogamy-

Louis Dumont, another anthropologist, argues that “Caste is not merely a form of social stratification but a complex system of ideas and values deeply rooted in religious beliefs”. The institution of marriage is one of the most severely affected part of our lives because of caste rigidities and caste endogamy. If we take the discussion to the biological level, increase in the behaviour of mating between genetically similar populations of a species leads to the reduction in resilience, vitality, survival and overall fitness of the population during the course of time to come. This is called ‘Inbreeding Depression’. Among humans, some Royal families have suffered genetic diseases because of endogamous practices for ages. Social, Cultural, and other associational factors have greatly restricted exogamy, e.g., inter-caste marriages, also delimiting the individual’s freedom to choose a life partner of choice, a clear violation of Article 21 of our Constitution which guarantees the protection of life and personal liberty. Again, political factors contribute enormously to what kind of ideologies people are nurturing and whether the politicians and policies are encouraging social development for an inclusive society or towards bigotry and homogeneity. Recent times have seen rising tendencies in violence against inter-faith relationships. Inter-caste relationships are being met with assaults by family members and/or members from same caste communities, whereas inter-religious relationships are being stigmatised with derogatory remarks and terms like Love-Jihad/Ghar-Wapsi. A country imbued with love and love stories in its scriptures, cinema, folklores, literature etc, vilification of love is humiliating the rich heritage of India while demonising the people having progressive outlook towards society, who see people as humans rather than a member of any caste or religion. Its up to us to decide what’s better for society as well as our nation.

About the Author-

Atul Gautam is a former student of JNU, New Delhi. He is currently pursuing MA in Psychology.