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DALIT CULTURE

 

   There can be no People without a Culture.  There Culture may be too simple, or complexly un-understandable, or primitive, and of values foreign to many.  But No People can be without a Culture.  Every People, every society, every group and every sub-group has a culture of its own, similar and common in many respects with the proxiimate people, or the group of which they are a sub-group.  That is the Socia Reality World over.  But, if there are strong cultural differences between any two proximate groups, that means those groups are not only distinctly different, but have come together from altogether different geographical and hence differing racial ethnic religious ritualistic social and cultural backgrounds.  If the two groups have been existing in the same place or adjacent areas of reasonable proximity with access across the area in between, for considerable long times of history, and if inspite of their co-existance for long two proximate groups have distinctly different cultures unacceptable to each-other, then there is something wrong.  They must have begun their existance in the area as antagonistic conflicting groups, with one or both the groups coming to the region as conquerors, or forced on to the area by some other powerful group or groups living elsewhere, for their own personal or other interests!  Dalits and caste hindus in this Country are two such groups living in proximate places all over the Country for nearly three millenniums, but still are different, looking diametrically in different directions in many respects, opposed, antagonistic and can not digest or accept the presence of each other, even though social necessities make the Dalits not only necessarry but absolutely essential for the caste hindus survive.  For everything essential for human survival, right from food are produced only by the Dalits.  Others live in this Country, only on the labour, work, produce and creations of the Dalits.  That makes the Dalits an absolute necessity for the hindu society, particularly the dominant caste hindus(DCHs) like the brahmins, kshatriyas and baniyas(BKBs) for their very existance.

 

   Inspite of living in proximate areas vertually all over the Country, through out the known history of the Nation, there are no Social Interactions between the Dalits and caste hindus.  And the DCHs are very remotely off and away from the Dalits, though not in physical measures, except in the case of many ST Dalits living in North East and isolated Tribal Belts.  The DCHs have built up so much of dependence on the Dalits for their basic needs that, they particularly the brahmins and kshatriyas, have become total parasites living on Dalits' Labour, but with a great aversion to both work and workers.  With the culture of the DCHs set by the brahmins, is therefore a parasitic culture, while that of the Dalits is one of hardworking people.  This is universally true all over the Country.  With these basic differences in social living and existance, are superimposed on the basic racial varna differences of Black Dravidian Dalits and Caucasian pale faced BKBs, with associated differences in food, dress, living styles, rituals, tools and animals of use, means of living and social life, you get nothing but conflicting antagonistic social groups.  Living in conflict, with the DCHs robbing the Dalits of their land homes fields farms cows and women, the DCHs and Dalits have both built up only distrust and disgust towards each other.  Trust friendship fraternity and brotherhood necessary for any social understanding, social interaction, social mixing, and coming together as a people to build a society have never evolved between the Dalits and DCHs.  Distrust.  Antagonism, enmity, hatred, revulsion, conflicts, fights, denigration and contempt for each other is all they have in between.  Time and trials only reinforce these differences, keeping them apart, never coming together even when living in proximity for many thousands of years generations after generations.

 

   The Culture of DCHs is one of cheating stealing robbing and swindling others.  They are parasitic, shirking work and liesure loving.  They take the form of begging, enforcing fees and levies, collection of toles and taxes, priesthood and offerings, donations and gifts, trade and commerce, money lending and other unfair practices.

 

   The Culture of the Dalits is one of hard-work and rest, honesty and simplicity, achievements and celebrations.  Dalits are always creative and productive, celebrations and enjoyments.  Come with that freedom, frankness, open heartedness, songs, steps, beats, drums, dance and drama; food, feasting, festivals, thanks giving, worship, prayer and sacrifices.  It is an agiculture based agrarian farm culture.  Culture of the Workersand working Classes.  The samething continues in the new-World of urbanised industrial areas.  Work Workers Celebrations and Rest.  Adulterated with ulterior motives cunningly by the brahmins, stealthily by the baniyas, and extracted crudely by the kshatriyas are liquor drugs and evil practices, particularly in the mode of celebrations, thanks giving and rest.  Done only to cheat, swindle and rob the Dalits of their creations and produce!  Still these DCHs claim themselves superior both culturally and intellectually!  Frauds!

 

   The shameless DCHs go around the World saying that they are cultured, civilised, and are scholarly.  What is the scholarship of the brahmins?  What are their achievements and record?  They could not educate the people even today!  They could not even compare themselves with the achievements of the distant missionaries in the North-East and their work in the rural areas, and Tribal-India!  They could not make the people scientific.  They could not make the people rational.  They could not make the people thinkers.  They could not make the people inventors.  They could not make the people creative.  They could not make the people honest.  They could not make the people useful.  They could not make the people productive.  Anything worth mentioning in this Country are that of the West, British, Missionaries, Moghuls and Islam!  If anything else exists, they are also mostly influenced by these, are by the Romans, before that the Arabs, Greeks and Persians.  Otherwise they are of either the Southern Dravidian Origin, are pre-historic achievements - destroyed thanks to these DCHs, in a Nation of relative Peace and Settlement, with a continuous habitation and social living of the people with out any break.  Yes, breaks there are in the civilisation, construction, building, founding of cities, evolution of arts and crafts right from pottery to agriculture and farm practices and road building to irrigation.  One nagging question that always haunts or lingers in the mind is that why Indians have never built anything lasting after the Indus Valley Civilisation!  Why and how it was not only destroyed but also kept hidden and forgotten?  Why the hindus who came up thereafter, never created anything as magnificient as Pyramids, or later day South-Indian Temples.  Nothing ever as spectacular as Taj Mahal!  Never as grandeur as the Agra Fort and Red Fort before the Moghuls!  Never as tall as Qutub before the Muslim Slave Dynasty!  Never as magnificient as the Parliament of India, Presidential Palace, South and North Blocks before the British!

 

   The Culture of Dalits is one of hardwork, and not of rituals and liesure that are characteristic of the DCHs.  Out in the early morning to the fields and fishing much before the sun-rise.  Whole families working - old andyoung, men and women, boys and girls equally, sharing and jointly.  This in stark contrast to the DCH Women indulging in make-ups, artificial beautification, and the like!  Wherever the DCHs have intruded like a thorn, they have become a problem.  Oneside they have all taken the bulk of produce leaving the Dalits and their children hungry, and on the other they have begun to control the basic means of production - the land, leaving the Dalits without job!!  Added to that hard liquor and drugs, the enslavement of Dalits was complete!

 

   The Culture of Dalits, radically different from the DCHs was adversely affected by the surreptious exploitative activities of the DCHs.  The Productive Work Culture of Dalits was slowly transformed into a Culture of Poverty and Joblessness, but with more and more DCH controlled endless inputs of dangerously hard Liquor and Drugs.  What remained with the Dalits were the Arts and Crafts!  In the end even those were taken away by the brahmins, to become Masters in Arts, Cultural Ambassadors and Inter-National Czars and Czarinas of Crafts! 

 

One thankful aspect of Indian Life is that, whatever the DCHs may do, and whatever cruelty and base deeds they may indulge in to keep the Dalits down, the DCHs are never willing to work themselves.  Here the unwanted hated Dalits become relevant!  So the Dalits are an inescapable need for the Indian Society!!  This is the secret for the Dalits Survival, and the truth behind being allowed to survive inspite of three millenniums of unwanted proximate helpless existance with the DCHs.

 

Essential and unwanted, the Dalits are no doubt denigrated humiliated and marginalised.  Antagonistic, and radically different, the Dalits are totally different culturally and socially!  Immersed in Work in an exploitative environment, and steeped in associated poverty of shortages, the Dalits' Culture is a peculiar mix of Culture of Work and Creation, Poverty and Production, Enjoyment and Happyness, inspite of Sufferings and Shortages!  This is a direct result of the exploitations by the DCHs.  It is this Culture, which the DCHs feel is no Culture.  It is these Dalits that the DCHs say are People with No-Culture!

 

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