fluidity of the cesspool

once upon a time, not so long ago, educated hindus found a handy teddy bear in the theory of sanskritization. if a jati can move up the hierarchy by shedding its old, ugly customs and beliefs and adopting sanskritic mores, the caste system can't be so bad, right? it is flexible, allows mobility,. and what if the jatis themselves do not disappear, what's wrong if people still marry within their own jatis..look, these things exist in the west too, like in... (drop the name of an advanced western nation and mention how they still practice a certain kind of social stratification etc., here).

as i said, a handy teddy bear to help you comfort yourself, to ward off any demons that might hound your conscience. that'd help you dismiss any doubts about how would sanskritization promote substantive inclusiveness if you continue to practise caste in everything that you do. people do not flock to medaram to satisfy ancient, atavistic impulses. they go there because they do not feel included, and not just in the scriptural fold but also in the many structures and processes that govern this nation, and state. like i had pointed out here:

* there are 59 scheduled caste communities in andhra pradesh and no aspirant from over 50 of those communities has ever been elected to the state assembly (or council),
* the other backward class communities in the state number 93- no aspirant from over 70 of them has ever been elected to the state assembly (or council)

medaram, with all its superstition, represents the religions of these communities more than prayaga, with all its superstition. and these religions survive the steady onslaught of not just sanskritization, but also westernization, because their adherents haven't moved up. and they haven't moved up because the caste system still is what it always was: a hierarchical structure. which means only a few can occupy the top.

in my last post, i'd hinted that sanskritization did ensure mobility for a few communities across india, but taking into account the general status of the overwhelming majority of the castes broadly categorized as hindus one can clearly see that sanskritization doesn't ensure either mobilty or equality.

i found in this article by m.shahbaz saeed, a pakistani researcher, a useful explanation of how sanskritization worked and still works for the few communities ( 'intermediate castes', or 'middle castes' or 'upper-obcs' ) i'd mentioned in the last paragraph:

As the modern age has infringed on the classic Indian social order, the traditional Indian society has been transformed into the upper national elite living in urban areas, and the rural social elite, comprising both the dominant peasant castes and the upper rural class.The ruling national elites, although they belonged to the upper “dwija” castes, had become detached from their traditional ritual status and functions. They had acquired new interests in the changed (planned) economy, and lifestyles which came through modern education, non-traditional occupations, and a degree of westernization which accompanied this process. The dominant castes of the regional elites still depend more on Sanskritization than on westernization in their pursuit of upward social mobility. But they encourage their new generations to acquire modern, English-medium education and to adopt new professions. Consequently, such communities as Patidars, Marathas, Reddys, Kammas, and their analogues in different regions were identified with “upper castes”, and not with “backward castes”. Acquisition of modern education and interest in the new planned economy enabled them, like the dwija upper castes, to claim for themselves a new social status and identity, i.e., that of the middle class.

At the same time, the caste identities of both these sections of the “middle class” were far from dissolved. They could comfortably own both the upper-caste status and the middle-class identity, as both categories had become concomitant with each other. While the alliance between the upper caste national elite and the dominant caste regional elites remained tenuous in politics, together they continued to function as a new power-group in the larger society. With the formation and functioning of the middle class as a power group in Indian politics, the elite caste fused with class. Now status, rather than caste as such, had acquired a pronounced power dimension. Since the process of converting traditional status into a new power status was restricted only to the upper rungs in the ritual hierarchy, they sought to use that power in establishing their own caste-like hegemony over the rest of society.It is this nexus between the upper traditional status and new power that has inhibited the transformative potentials of both modernization and democracy in India.

medaram would of course be steadily sanskritized, in the near future. over the last one decade, the state government has slowly moved in, to organize the festival better. just like governments elsewhere organize the kumbh etc. would that make the pilgrims hindus?

if the kumbh is hindu..

.. this isn't:

A little festival of tribal origin in Andhra Pradesh has become a major pilgrimage in the last six years. The Sammakka festival is held once in every two years at Medaram, in the heart of the thick forests of warangal district. The population of the little forest village at Medaram in normal times never exceeds 300. Suddenly, during the month of February it rises to over 90 Lakhs.... of devotees come from all over Andhra Pradesh and five neighboring states

the wikipedia tells you over 70 million people attended the ardh kumbh mela in allahabad in january 2007. allahabad has a population of over a million. less than 300 people live in medaram. which means allahabad attracted 70 times as many pilgrims as residents during the mela, while medaram drew 30,000 times as many pilgrims as residents. there isn't even a permanent structure in medaram, leave alone a couple of huge perennial rivers, thousands of temples and a huge city: so, what explains the medaram phenomenon? medarams happen all over india, all through the year. within a radius of 1 km from my home, there are around a dozen tiny roadside shrines, most of them are no more than waist high structures, which suddenly sprout huge festive crowds every once in a while- people offering animals, setting up stoves and cooking on the pavements, eating, drinking on the roads while hindus pass them by on cars, bikes and buses. together, all these medarams across the country constitute a fragmented kumbh mela which attracts several times more pilgrims, in one year, than the kumbh mela does in six years, or twelve years. the kumbh is for those who have scriptures, the fragmented mela is for those who do not have even regular priests, most times.

medaram is in the middle of nowhere, while allahabad has been at the confluence of rivers, roads, empires and civilizations for at least two millennia. medaram doesn't figure in any of the scriptures- vedas, itihasas or puranas. allahabad is one of the holiest hindu pilgrim sites in india and the most important of the four cities where the kumbh is held. medaram is in the middle of a forest that stretches across five states, the dandakaranya, and allahabad is in the middle of a region that boasts of some of the oldest cities in all of asia. which means all of the world. i don't think anyone from medaram has ever stepped into any indian prime minister's house. allahabad, according to the wikipedia, has produced 7 out of 14 prime ministers of india until now. i could go on, but..

why am i making this comparison? a comment (here) triggered off this train of thought. there are probably as many reasons as hindu gods why most people in india would've heard of prayaga. is there a respectable magazine in the world that doesn't carry a story or a picture of the kumbh when it's on? think of all the agencies that have worked since the beginning of the kumbh, thousands of years ago, at making it known to the world. yes, i've heard of the concepts of karma, dharma, papa and all other indicators of sanskritization- tell me, how does one manage to not hear about them?

the brahmin is a hindu, as are the members of those communities which correspond to the other two higher varnas, especially in those states once referred to, loosely, as aryavarta. in the rest of india, we can see, over several centuries after the arrival of the muslims, a handful of shudra castes in every state have steadily come to play the role of those two varnas (kshatriya and vaishya). this happened more rapidly during british rule, and much more dramatically after independence. we now refer to them as the intermediate castes or the upper obcs, and they don't number more than 50, across india. sanskritization worked for them.

like i said, they don't number more than 50 (maybe upto 75 or a little more, of 3000-6000 castes in india). who are the rest? haven't they heard of sanskritization and the fluidity of the caste system?