Discovering The World Of Daiva Aaradhane

[First published in YouthKiAwaaz]

 Daiva aaradhane, or the worship of spirit deities is an intrinsic part of Tulu culture. Contrary to popular belief, this is not the same as “ghost worship”. While bhoot is commonly used to refer to ghosts or something that once existed but is now no more, such a definition falls short of capturing the rick and complex cultural significance of bhutaas understood by the Tuluva people. Bhutas are the spirits of long-gone heros who continue to be worshipped to this day.

In “Daiva: Discovering the Extraordinary World of Spirit Worship”, author K. Hari Kumar dives deep into the world of spirit worship, describes his personal quest as a migrant Tuluva to learn more about spirit worship and tells the origin stories of the powerful immortals. The book is divided into two sections- ‘In Search of Satyolu’ and ‘Stories of Satyolu’. In the first section, the author attempts to unravel the mysteries of spirit world and describe the ritualistic aspects of the worship, especially the ritualistic kola dance where the spirits possess the body of the dancer and communicate through him. The second half of the book describes the origin stories of the more popular daivas– these stories were handed down through the oral tradition, and therefore differ from community to community.

The book begins with a fascinating introduction to the Tulu language. Tulu is one of the five major Dravidian languages and had a rich literary and cultural heritage. Very few people apart from native speakers of the language are aware of it, since it is not recognised as an official language by the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, but it is spoken by a significant number of people who originated from what is called “Tulu Nadu”, which spans modern day Dakshin Kannada, Udupi (both in Karnataka) and Kasargode (Kerala). It is worth reading the book just for this section, because it reminds us of how little even well educated Indians know and appreciate the sheer diversity of the country.

The author was brought up in Gurgaon, and despite his mother speaking to him in Tulu at home, was quite disconnected with the world of spirit worship. His journey to rediscovering his roots in the sacred land of the nagas and daivas is one that will resonate with many others who grew up in cities without being aware of the traditions of the land they come from. His description of the travel within Tulu Nadu, the experiences he had and the coincidences that led him to people who could tell him the ancient stories is engrossing, and almost reads like a work of fiction.

The most powerful chapter in the book is the one where he describes the many aspects of a Kola performance. The description of the atmosphere is so vivid that you can almost visualise it yourself, you are left hoping that someday you are able to witness a similar performance. He mentions how some kola performers do not take kindly to their performance being recorded- however, it is unlikely that even the best cinematographers will be able to capture the multi-sensory and multi-dimensional experience adequately.

The second part of the book has the folklore associated with the daivas and heros of Tulu Nadu. Since these stories were handed down through the oral tradition, there are many versions of the same story, some with minor and others with not so minor differences. Where the stories are drastically different, the author has written down each of the versions, and it is fascinating the speculate on how the different versions might have evolved from a common story.

Such differences are common, particularly in stories which are not written down. In fact, the author remembers how, as a child, he heard different versions of the same story from his two grandmothers and of how he would sometimes challenge them by giving them the other version. What is common to many of the stories are defining human emotions of greed, jealousy, compassion and revenge. Social evils like caste discrimination and gender biases also pop up often in the stories proving how little things have changed over the centuries. If some of the stories sound familiar, it is only because human emotions and the social order is universal.

While the author does not claim that the book is an academic work, the exhaustive list of sources at the end of the book lends it academic credibility, and the reader can go deeper into aspects that interests them the most.

You do not have to believe in daiva aaradhane to read this book. Even if you are a rationalist who does not believe in spirits or spirit worship, the book depicts a fascinating aspect of our culture and can be read as a standalone anthropological work. It also reminds us that even if as city dwellers we have lost touch with our culture and identity, it is not too late to try to rediscover them. The quest, as the author shows, will be worth it.

The book has been published by Harper Collins India. Follow them on YKA here. I received an advance review copy of this book. The views are my own.

‘Dalithan’ Is An Autobiography That Fights For Kerala’s Dalit Community

 Writer and political activist, K.K. Kochu is one of the foremost Dalit thinkers in Kerala. Born into the Pulaya community of landless labourers in a flood prone region of Kottayam district, the fortunes of his family were tied to that of the Namboodiri landlords. Though they barely had enough to eat, his family believed in education and Kochu and his siblings were all sent to the local school and encouraged to dress like the rest of the students.

Kochu was a promising student with a prodigious appetite for knowledge, but though he consciously stayed away from joining any political party, he got entangled in the Naxalite movement and had to drop out of college before completing his degree. The rest of his life was spent working in clerical jobs while continuing to read, reflect, write, and participate in political agitations.

Kochu published his autobiography, Dalithan, in Malayalam in 2019 not only to document the oral history and life of people from his Palya community and to chronicle the social justice movements in post-independence Kerala, but to provide an impetus for people from marginalised communities to come together and demand the betterment of their community.

“Years back, …. interviewed me…. Their final question was: What is your greatest desire?’ The image that immediately appeared in my memory was of Ayyankali. So I said, ‘Ten intellectuals should take birth in my community.’
“Why?”

‘Only intellectuals will be able to lead the Dalit community— to whom wealth, power, status and culture have been distant dreams and who have forever been soaked in the endless rain of misery —towards hope. When such a responsibility is shouldered, while they work towards their own salvation, they will make it possible for others too. That is because no human is an island.”

Kochu was initially drawn to the Communist ideology, but he realised very early that even when political parties spoke about equality, fraternity and justice, since the intellectual leaders all came from more privileged backgrounds, their objectives were primarily to further the interest of their own communities. Though Dalit students joined the communist movement in large numbers, they rarely progressed beyond sticking posters on walls and mobilizing people for events (many of them even ended up dead).

Though he often found himself siding with particular political parties on specific issues, Kochu never joined any of them. His extensive reading, and his ability to challenge his own deep set beliefs ensured that he often abandoned old ideas and embraced new ones. Since he was not associated with any party, and because his extended family survived on the brink of poverty, he often had to undergo personal privatisations, and even borrow money to meet his own personal needs. His courage of conviction shines through in every page of the book, and when you read his political thoughts you realise that they are not empty words but ideals that he has sacrificed for.

The book also serves as a brief summary of post-independence Kerala politics. While to most people outside Kerala, the Left Front is a homogeneous entity, through this book you realise the different ideologies each of the parties embrace. We think of Communism as being “pro poor”, but Kochu shows how being “pro poor” is not enough. Given the social, economic and political oppression that Dalits have faced for generations, strong affirmative action is required before Dalits acquire the social and economic mobility that people of other castes enjoy.

In the book, Kochu also tackles the misconception that Dalit Christians do not need affirmative action. Though examples, he shows how despite the religion not recognising a caste hierarchy, the caste system continues to be perpetrated by the Christian church. How can there be social justice till social and economic discrimination is ended?

The author also provides a commentary on several works of literature that came out of Kerala in the post independence period, and draws lessons from translated literature that could be relevant to the life of Dalits in Kerala. This shows the evolution of Kochu’s own political ideology and his firm belief that the salvation of the larger Dalit community can only be achieved by the various factions coming together and demanding their rights.

The translation by Radhika Menon captures not just the ideals but the emotions of the original, and at no stage do you feel that the author is not directly speaking to you in his own voice.

This is an important work of Dalit literature, more so because it comes from a state which doesn’t have a long tradition of works by Dalit authors. One has to commend Speaking Tiger for publishing this book, which is an important work for anyone seeking to understand the situation of Dalits in Kerala.

I received an advance review copy of the book, and the views are my own.

‘Kaurs Of 1984,’ Documents The Wrongs Inflicted On Sikh Women

[First published in YouthKiAwaaz]

Trigger warning: Mentions of communal violence, gender based violence

When one thinks of the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984, one thinks of the bearded and turbaned men who were systematically massacred, many of them burnt alive with rubber tyres around their necks. What is spoken about much less is what the women went through (and continue to go through). All of then lived in fear of violent death, most were forced to witness the murder of their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons. They faced apathy from the officials who were supposed to protect them many were themselves victims of sexual violence. In the years following the violence, they struggled to rebuild their lives, and even today, none of them is able to put the horror of 1984 behind them.

Born seven years after Operation Bluestar and the anti-Sikhs violence, Sanam Sutirath Wazir was a researcher with Amnesty International when he started documenting the stories of the women of 1984. As he spoke to the women who lived through those turbulent times, he unearthed stories of sexual, physical and psychological violence which had never been documented systematically, much less pursued legally. “Main chauraasi ki ladki hun (I am a woman who has survived 1984),” is how one Sikh woman described herself to him- the term spoke of a woman who had been raped multiple times, but who had never officially spoken about it because of the stigma involved.

The book seeks to document the voices of the women who were victims in 1984

As he kept hearing these stories, the author wanted to document these supressed voices in a book, but worried if his gender would preclude him from doing so. His mother convinced him that his gender should be the last thing he should worry about while documenting the stories of rape, murder and trauma inflicted on women during Operation Bluestar and the Anti-Sikh genocide of 1984.

“Kaurs of 1984 — the untold, unheard stories of Sikh women”, published by HarperCollins, is his effort to document what the victims of 1984 went through and their subsequent struggle to rebuild their lives. The book has oral histories of over 40 women who lived through the horror of 1984. Many choose to remain anonymous, others fought publicly for justice and a few even took up arms themselves to protest against the injustice. Each story needs to be told, if only to understand and acknowledge the level of violence that normal human beings are capable of inflicting on their fellow human beings.

The stories of two women who lived through 1984 will give an indication of the nature of trauma inflicted by the events of 1984.

Nirmal Kaur and her sister were given shelter by their neighbours in Mukherjee Nagar. She witnessed the mob come to their house and demand that her parents be handed over to them, and remembers the fear of knowing her parents might be massacred. Though she didn’t lose anyone dear to her in 1984, Nirmal Kaur eyes still well with tears when she recalls those days. They didn’t lose money or property, ‘but they did lose hope in a system that should have been on their side.’

Nirpreet Kaur’s father ran a taxi business and her family was like any other middle class family in Delhi till the assassination of Indira Gandhi. On November 1, 1984, she saw people she knew garlanding her father with a burning rubber tyre, and helplessly witnessed the immolation of her father. Though her family shifted to Punjab and she enrolled in college there, Nirpreet could never forget what the mob had done to her father, and against her mother’s wishes, she joined a militant outfit to seek vengeance. In the years to follow, her (militant) husband will killed, she faced unspeakable atrocities in the hands of the police and she struggled to start life anew, yet, her loss of confidence in the official system is so great that she never regrets joining the militant movement.

The book has stories of loss, betrayal and hardship

These are just two of the many stories in the book, each of which talks of loss, betrayal and untold hardships. Reading the book, one is reminded of the stories in Urvashi Bhutalia’s ‘The Other Side of Silence: Voices from and the Partition of India’. Like during Partition, in 1984 too, though men lost their lives to violence, women paid a price that was never even documented. Women paid a huge price during the violence and the aftermath of the violence, and they continued to pay the price in the years that followed. Even when they tried to rebuild their lives after the loss of their husbands and fathers, they continued being victims of patriarchy with fathers and fathers-in-law conspiring to deny them their just share of the compensation. This book is the story of those women. women who were victims of physical, sexual and psychological violence; women who are still fighting for justice.

The book seeks to document the extreme wrong that was inflicted on women

In an interview, the author said, “The Kaurs of 1984 weaves together scattered stories of grief, betrayal, and loss,” Wazir says, adding that “this book is not about who was right or wrong during that period, but the extreme wrongs that we did to the women who were helpless and unheard”. It is important to read this book because it is only by understanding and acknowledging how quickly neighbours can turn into a mob and inflict immense violence on people they knew that we can work towards to curtailing such violence in future.

The trauma of 1984 is nowhere close to healing. To quote from the epilogue:

‘If anything, the trauma has descended through succeeding generations, with the children of survivors suffering the untold consequences of the violence wreaked upon their elders.’

‘they are seeking… a ‘closure’ that will help them go on with their lives. Not that they seek to forget what transpired or to stop grieving, ,but for the past thirty-nine years they have remained frozen in an unbearably horrific moment, and wish to find closely through the punishment of the perpetrators of 1984.’

While the victims and their families wait for closure, this book documents the suffering of the “Kaurs of 1984”.

[I received a review copy from Harper Collins. The views are my own.]