Four years ago, academic and activist MM Kalburgi was gunned down at his residence in Dharwad by Ganesh Miskin & Praveen Chatur, both linked to Sanatan Sanstha, a Hindutva outfit. Kalburgi was a vocal critic of idol worship and superstition, which often got him locking horns with Hindutva groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which made Kalburgi the target of their campaign during the years following up to his assassination on 30th August, 2015.

Translated by Aniruddha Nagaraj and Ali Ahsan

Image courtesy Catch News

As a tribute to Kalburgi and to the countless other pens that will not be put down, ICF presents an impassioned Kannada poem on political killings, by poet-activist Huchangi Prasad.

You cowards —
firing at us who wield pens.
You murderers —
celebrating the cold-hearted killing of innocents.

Let the sparrows
build nests
at your gunpoints.

Your guns may have wounded us.
But we are not just bodies,
                              Mute bodies.

We are children of the earth,
our mother gives us life with every letter,
strength with every word.

Look, this is not blood we shed
but ink, fresh and indelible,
writing the history of truth.

Every drop of blood now reborn
                      into a thousand truths.

Listen — I know, you Great Devotees!
I know the sword that chopped Shambuka’s head.
I know who demanded Eklavya’s thumb.
I know the truth: I know that sword.
I know you who became a gun
to kill me.

Listen — lies are not termites
                     eating away at truth.
Guns cannot destroy it either.
But these pens, these countless pens,
How they grow, tall, strong,
like a gigantic tree of many truths.

Read the original here.

Read more:
They Feared His Words: A Tribute to M. M. Kalburgi
Are there links between Sanatan Sanstha and Abhinav Bharat?
Avinash Patil on Religion, Superstition and Sanathan Sanstha​
Why Sanathan Sanstha’s Allegation is Redundant

Huchangi Prasad is a writer and activist. He currently teaches at the Government First Grade College, Davanagere, Karnataka.

Poem © Huchangi Prasad; translation © Aniruddha Nagaraj and Ali Ahsan.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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On June 3, Pratap, a dalit man was paraded naked. The incident occurred in Shyandrahalli village in Gundlupete taluk of Chamaraj Nagar in Karnataka. He was being punished for having polluted the village temple by entering it. The incident came to light only on June 11, when the video was shared on the internet and went viral.

Pratap, who grew up in extreme poverty, had managed to attain a graduate degree by sheer grit and hard work. He was also an IAS aspirant. A day before the fateful incident, he had gone to Marimallappa Higher Primary School to take the exam for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). However, when he had reached the exam centre he was not allowed to write the exam. Taken aback, he spent some time in Mysore and then decided to ride back on his motorbike to Gundlupet.

His bike broke down the same night in Raghavapura. It was then that he was attacked and robbed by a few thugs. Shocked and frightened, Pratap decided to spend the night there. At around 06:00 AM, he took shelter at the Shanimahatma temple in Veeranapura gate. The temple priest, who was present there, questioned him about his whereabouts, further intimidating Pratap.

Meanwhile, the villagers had assembled near the temple and started questioning him about his background. Soon they learnt that he belonged to the ‘Holeya’ community which falls under the Scheduled Caste category. This was enough to trigger the upper caste people present there into action. Pratap was verbally abused, while being called “son of a lower born, son of holeyas, you have polluted the temple”. He was then reportedly tied up to a coconut tree and beaten up.

Pratap stood helplessly, begging for mercy, to which the priest announced, “This is the chance to teach a lesson to these Holeyas. They have no right to touch our temples.” Hearing this, the enraged villagers started beating Pratap with anything they could lay there hands on. They tore off his clothes, stripping him naked and tied his hands at his back. He was then paraded naked while being whipped in broad daylight from the temple till the Ooty-Mysore highway.

This yet again proves that the gruesome, inhumane caste-system is still alive even as India is pretending to be drowning in the ocean of modernity. It is quite painful to see where we are headed when we learn that there was not a single soul who felt the need to protect Pratap or stop the violence being meted out to him.

As it happens in most of the atrocity cases, the police have not filed an FIR. Efforts are being made by the casteist forces within the police department to cover up the case instead. It is shocking to learn that the villagers have filed a complaint against Pratap saying that he is mentally ill and have accused him of attacking them.

This incident is a violation of Article 17 of the Constitution, which abolishes untouchability. The issue has not even been taken up by the media channels. As soon as the video went viral, dalit organisations staged protests across the state. Under pressure from these protests, the police finally has registered a case under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, IPC section 143 (Unlawful Assembly), 147 (Rioting), 395 (Dacoity), 323 (Voluntarily Causing Hurt), 342 (Wrongful Confinement) and 509 (Intention to Insult the Modesty of a Woman).

Pratap, who had dreamt of being an IAS officer, is now traumatised by the brutality of the casteist mindset. He is struggling for his life after being admitted to a private hospital in Mysore.

‘India Shining’

“The roots of untouchability lies in the caste system. The roots of caste system is in varna system. The roots of varna is in political power,” these words of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar are being proven right today. Today the world is looking down upon India and India is ashamed. The atrocities against dalits is nothing new, but the ways in which dalits are being murdered, punished, abused have changed and today they have taken even more gruesome forms. The world is now disgusted with the violation of rights and loss of humanity in the country.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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Image courtesy: Youtube

In our own times, the words of  Urilinga Peddigala Punya Stri Kalavve act like an  axe to hit at the roots of Manuvadi, and the constant discrimination against dalits and minorities in the name of cow slaughter. The sharana period, and its ideas of equality, still have much to say to us.

The sharana movement encouraged  equality, brotherhood and free thinking. It was revolutionary: people of the working class got together to fight for equality, and against inhuman caste and gender discrimination. They  created awareness about superstition by propagating reason. Most of all, the mass movement created by Basavanna and aimed at the root of exploitation by opposing the sanatana traditions of the Brahmins.

Basavanna was, perhaps, the first person in the world who wrote about the novel and revolutionary idea that work is worship. He organized people from the lowest strata of the society to realise this worthy objective. This leader of the working class became a saviour of the people who had been suffering for centuries. He worked hard to spread the concept of one God. He emphasized the importance of education and insisted on gender equality.    
 
To the orthodox Brahmins who said a person was born untouchable because of the karma of the sins committed in previous births,  Basavanna said, “Look at the houses of the poor, all the sharanas of Koodala Sangama are champions of self-respect.” This is how he motivated the exploited to strive for self-respect. Basavanna was a pioneer in making people aware of political consciousness, and ideas like equality and freedom.

Again, the sharana movement has a lesson for us about freedom of expression – at a time when free speech and dissent are being curbed.

Basavanna built an “Anubhava Mantapa”, a platform to express  views without caste and gender prejudice. Basavanna handed over leadership to the oppressed castes. The Anubhava Mantapa consisted of 770 sharanas, something like the first parliament in the world. Allama Prabhu, a dalit,  propagated the philosophy ‘attainment of nothingness’ was like the Speaker of this parliament, which included women saints such as Akkamahadevi, Gangambike, Neelambike, Sule Sankavva, Dhanamma, Kalyanavva and Aydakki Lakkamma, and others such as Dohara Kakkayya, Ajaganna, Kurubara Bommanna, Holeyara Boganna and Madhuvarasa. All of them, women and men, participated in the discussions on the welfare of the people.

Basavanna introduced an adult education system which led many people from the lower castes to become writers – vachanakaras or writers of vachanas. This led to a boom in literary production; more important, it proved that knowledge did not brook discrimination. These vachanas could be considered  the first writings produced by dalits and other lower castes, as well as women.

But a shocking development was in store for the sharana movement. Hundreds of them were hounded and butchered for having thought of, and put into practice, a movement against inequality and human rights violations. One instance of the sharana practice of equality was a marriage arranged between the son of  the dalit Haralayya and the daughter of the brahmin Madhuvarasa. As Haralayya’s son Sheelavanta and Madhuvarasa’s daughter Lavanyavati had become sharanas, there should have been no obstacle such as caste keeping them from marrying each other. But Manuvad did not want this marriage to take place. The conservative Brahmins argued that this marriage was against Hindu tradition and Rajadharma which would eventually lead to destruction of the empire. The conflict was between people who firmly believed in caste hierarchy and who did not. The noteworthy point here is that the sharanas were even ready to sacrifice their lives to fight against the cruelty of Manuvad.  

The sharanas decided to face whatever came their way, saying, “Let what is likely to happen in the far future happen now, and what might transpire the next day, let it happen this minute.” Although King Bijjala and the brahmins opposed the inter-caste marriage, the sharanas went ahead with the inter-caste marriage despite  death threats. Enraged, the brahminsplucked out the eyes of the sharanas and tied them to the legs of elephants to be dragged along the streets. Then the Sharanas were trampled to death by the elephants. Other sharanas were beheaded and cut into pieces, such was the hatred and cruelty of the “Hindutva elements” of the time. The sharanas martyrs died  for the sake of a secular marriage. The remaining sharanas went into exile to save the vachanas.

Literary critic and historian Ramzan Darga notes, “This movement which fought for human dignity on the basis of an idea of ‘one path, one tone’ witnessed the worst killings in history.” He adds, “The counter protest by Manuvadi-s which halted the revolution led by Basavanna and other Sharanas was a huge setback for humanity.”

While anyalysing caste, Babasaheb Ambedkar writes that “Buddha’s revolution was followed by the Brahmin’s counter attack. This led to the spreading of the roots of the caste system helping spread the cruelty of inequality everywhere.” It is a well documented disaster in history that the Kalyana revolution was followed by a counter-protest by Brahmins. Anyway, one should not forget the fact that the revolutionary event of inter-caste marriage was symbolically against the caste system. It is also quite evident that Basavanna and other sharanas addressed the core issues of people’s livelihood.

The sharanas’ struggle against caste structures through their vachanas is still remembered by the lower castes. In recent times, people belonging to the Lingayat caste project Basavanna as their leader. It is shameful that few self-proclaimed followers of Basavanna glorify Hindu gods by making use of Basavanna’s ideas. There have been thousands of mata-s built in the name of Basavanna. These have become centres for business. Followers of Manu are against the demand of a separate Lingayat religion. Lingayat leaders have been misled since they have joined hands with the Sangh parivar.  

M.M. Kalburgi, who wrote the play “Kettithu Kalyana” (Destruction of Kalyana) based on the killings of Sharanas in the twelfth century, was killed by the Hindu extremists. Similarly, Gauri Lankesh was murdered for spreading rational thought. The followers of Basavanna should worry deeply about the growth of the Sangh Parivar, and the growing intolerance which has led to the killing of progressive writers.

Every Indian should understand that the Indian constitution is replete with the ideas of Basava and his followers. It is the need of the hour to come forward and support these voices to uphold human dignity. We have to try build afresh, for our own times, the Kalyana revolution.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural forum

The post Basavanna – A man who rebelled against Sanatana Tradition appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image courtesy: The Statesman

These words of Babasaheb enrage me and bring tears to my eyes. Why did Babasaheb say this? What did he mean by ‘the chariot of liberation’? These are the two questions that dalits in India today must understand. These words of Babasaheb make me wonder if he had foreseen all the atrocities the dalits are being subjected to in this country today.

Babasaheb had placed the responsibility of protecting and ensuring the welfare of the bahujan community on dalit workers, politicians and students; he trusted them all. Unfortunately, those who were supposed to realise Babasaheb’s dream have stopped envisioning an equal world; an egalitarian world. They are no longer part of the struggle because they have restricted themselves to their own welfare and the betterment of their own families. And what are dalit politicians doing? They are supposed to ensure that the voices of dalits reach the representatives in Assemblies. But they have begun taking the side of communal forces; they have begun supporting political parties that look at dalits as a mere vote bank. Is the situation any better when it comes to dalit students? No. The dalit students who were supposed to learn true history and pull the chariot of liberation of the dalit struggle, have turned their backs on the struggle.

Then the big question before us is this: Who will fight against the violence and oppression that millions of illiterate dalits face everyday? It is time that dalits reflect on this question carefully. It is high time that we struggle to awaken those idiots who have stopped thinking about equality and have started bootlicking communal forces. It also is high time we pull the OBCs — who seem to be determined to save and protect brahminism — towards Ambedkar’s thoughts. We need to remind those who have reaped the benefits of reservations that it was possible only because of the Constitution.

We need a larger struggle to fight the fascist forces that are continuously attacking women in the country. The need to make every indian with self respect understand Ambedkar is much stronger now than ever. If we fail to accomplish this, then India will be destroyed by the casteist followers of Manu and their violent ideology.

Ever since Modi became the prime minister of the country — the same Modi who successfully staged Hindutva terror in Gujarat, and who is responsible for thousands of Dalit boys obsessed with Hindutva ideology rotting in the prison today — atrocities against dalits have increased.

These are the achievements of the Modi government that dalits have seen: violence against dalit women; attacks on dalit colonies; forcing some dalits to drink urine; killing other dalits in the name of cow slaughter. The attack on cultural pluralism and the promotion of a homogenous culture for the country have affected all citizens, including dalits. This cultural war on India would not have been possible without the support of, and nourishment by, the ideology of RSS chaddis. The “logic” provided by this ideology has to be dismantled.  

The Hindutva ideology aims at making the dalits forget their claims to the ideologies of Buddha, Basavanna and Ambedkar — the roots and the context of their struggle. This aim and intention have to be broken. It is time to uproot the giant tree of ‘caste terror’ with the strength of Ambedkarite thoughts. It is time to transfer Ambedkar from lockets around necks to the mind, the brains, of Ambedkarites. Only the Constitution can save the country. This is why it is time we sow the seed of the Constitution in everyone’s heart.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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