Caste, Gender and Profession - Report

Caste, Gender and Profession
with Nidhi Dugar Kundalia

Political Science Association of Wilson College, Mumbai

Session: Caste, Gender and Profession

Date: 11 April 2021

Time: 12 to 01:30pm

Speaker: Nidhi Dugar Kundalia

The session 'Caste, Gender and Profession' was based on Nidhi Dugar Kundalia's two books

1.) The Lost Generation 

2.) White as Milk and Rice 

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Part One

Some of the excerpts in this part are taken from the book 'The Lost Generation'.

The book 'The Lost Generation' was published in 2016 and the author dedicates it "To my grandparents, who coloured my childhood with their stories". As mentioned in the book, the author finds herself being critical of the patriarchal, casteist, classist and sexist worldview seemingly espoused by these professions and the organized religion they practised.

'The Lost Generation' revives the legacy of India's 11 dying professions - the Godna Artists of Jharkhand, the Rudaalis of Rajasthan, the Genealogists of Haridwar, the Kabootarbaaz of Old Delhi, the Storytellers of Andhra, the Street Dentists of Baroda, the Urdu Scribes of Delhi, the Boat Makers of Balagarh, the Ittar Wallahs of Hyderabad, the Bhisti Wallahs of Calcutta and the Letter Writers of Bombay. Almost five of the eleven professions covered, gained prominence and encouragement during the Mughal empire's regime. Some of these professions are forbidden for women to practise.

The author beautifully narrates how every profession is interwoven with its caste, class and gender. The Rudaalis of Rajasthan are professional mourners who once upon a time were the mistresses of the Thakurs. Children were born out of wedlock and now, the mothers and children live on the periphery of the villages like an outcast. The open secret of the Rudaalis can't be accepted or hidden by the Thakurs. The Kabootarbaaz ( pigeon keeping ) of Old Delhi find themselves locking horns with animal welfare organizations like PETA.

The Godna ceremony ( tattoo making ) is performed on a girl child by some tribal communities of Jharkhand. The malhar or the tattoo artist performs the godna on the child, but the touch of the lower caste malhar on the child is believed to have caused contamination and requires purification with warm water and haldi. As mentioned in the book "These untouchable men were not allowed footwear once inside the village and were barred from wearing clothes above the waist and below the knees".

The profession of street dentist finds themselves caught in time and legality of the constitution. Once widely popular, now street dentists are illegal. One of the street dentists justifies his act by giving cheap services to the people in need who can not afford costly treatment from the degrees acquired by the legal dentists.

The storytellers of Andhra Pradesh were also used to serve a political purpose and spread social messages. The forerunner of the Burrakatha was known as the Jangamkatha, literally translating to "the Jangam tribe". These storytellers were used to propagate the Telangana Movement ( separation of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh state ) into interiors of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

During the Question answer round, it was also discussed how globalization, urbanization and modern technology have replaced the professions forcing them to 'die a slow death'. Some of these are the Street Dentists, Letter Writers and the Bhishti Wallahs. The speaker also highlights how the 400 year old profession of boat making is polluting the environment, affecting them in return.

Even today, as we read this report, there are many such 'dying professions' in India who are clinging strongly to their roots but the next generation has moved on to metropolitan cities to find a more sustainable and secure lifestyle. The people practising these professions are caught between caste, class, gender and changing times.

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Part Two

The second part of the session focused on Nidhi Dugar Kundalia's second book 'White as Milk and Rice' published in March 2020.

The book sheds light on six isolated tribes of India - the Maria tribe of Bastar, the Halakki women of Ankola District of North Karnataka, the Kanjars of Chambal, the Kurumbas of Nilgiri, the Khasis of Meghalaya and the Konyaks of Nagaland.

While researching, the author meets a woman named Birsu from the Maria tribe who is surprised to see the author in her village amidst the tribal locality. The multinational companies and mining activities have left the tribal population disturbed for their land and well being. The Ghotul system is practised by the Gond and Maria tribe where unmarried boys and girls assemble in a dormitory and indulge in sexual activities. In this Ghotul, the youth of these tribes also learn about their culture. Birsu is contemplating whether to send her daughter to a Ghotul or a school. Finally, she decides to educate her daughter formally in a school as she reasons "She ( the daughter ) may then become a police officer, or teacher .. or even a Mao".

The women in the Halakki tribe have a song to sing for almost every event in life. From celebrating the Sahyadri mountains to singing a song to their mothers-in-law. The women of these tribes are hardworking while the men are rendered jobless due to the ban on hunting and thus have taken to alcohol that has destroyed their families. The woman have come together to agitate against their alcoholic husbands, one of them is a Padma Shri recipient, Sukri Bomma Gouda.

The Kanjar tribe of Chambal were labelled as a 'criminal tribe' during the colonial era. They were denotified in 1952. The community is known for their prostitution business, women as prostitutes and men as procurer. The author, Nidhi Dugar Kundalia also points out that the testing of a woman's virginity is practised in this community and if the woman is suspected to not be a virgin, she is tortured or sometimes even killed.

The Kurumbas of the Nilgiris claim to know about curing diseases like AIDS but they aren't willing to share it as they feel they will get exploited. The Kurumbas are a Scheduled Tribe who possess knowledge about traditional medicinal plants. Today, most of the Kurumbas depend on agriculture and worship natural elements like rocks, trees, animals.

The Khasis of Meghalaya are a matrilineal tribe, not to be confused with matriarchal. The inheritance of property and succession is passed from a mother to the youngest daughter. The women in these tribes enjoy a high status and take an active part in household management and economic affairs. The majority of the Khasis are Christians.

The Konyaks of Nagaland is primarily a headhunting tribe. The pride of a family is directly proportionate to the number of skulls collected. They also practise extensive tattoo making. It is believed among the people that the human heads collected will bring prosperity and benefit the local crop. The Konyaks also have guilt about converting to Christianity from Animism.

Describing the title of the book 'White as Milk and Rice', the speaker, Nidhi Dugar Kundalia points out that 'Halu' in Kannada means milk and 'alu' in the Kurumba tribe is pure. The most widely believed folklore about the origin of the Halakki tribe is associated with Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Parvati was on her way to give milk and rice to her husband but she drops them mistakenly. Parvati decided to craft dolls out of a mixture of mud and milk. These idols were brought to life by Shiva and given the task of accompanying him through the fields since they were essentially made of rice. These people were named 'Halakkis'. Therefore, the title of the book - 'White as Milk and Rice'.

Both these books bring some of the neglected and unknown facts of the Indian population into public discourse. The people involved in these professions or tribe also fight between coming into the mainstream and upholding their traditional values. According to the speaker, the best we can do for these tribes is to leave them untouched as they know what is best for them. Bringing them forcefully into the mainstream and globalized world will do more harm than good.

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Report drafted by PSA's Vice President, Aniruddha Phadke, from TYBA Political Science.