Gandhi's Little-Known Critique of Varna Author(s): Anil Nauriya Reviewed work(s): Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.

41, No. 19 (May 13-19, 2006), pp. 1835-1838 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4418194 . Accessed: 08/03/2013 03:54
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formsrepresented likeVatal byindividuals Nagarajof the KannadaChaluvaligars movement), (Kannada ChidanandaMurthy and bodies like the KannadaRakshana Vedike(Kannada which forum) protection have more often than not come to be associated withnarrow, chauvinistic agendas. Unsurprisingly, they haven't made Gandhi's critics had argued at the time that he was carrying much headway. out his campaignsagainst untouchability, that it would go fans'association Rajkumar's (Rajkumar when caste was It is not too was left rudderonly destroyed. generally knownthat Sangha) Abhimanigala less in the absenceof a broaderagenda. Gandhimoved to this position in the mid-1940s. It is also The fans wererelegated to merelyassemgenerally understoodthat while Gandhiopposed untouchability bling and showing their prowess on the thefourfold streets andatmeetings inwhichtheirleader and criticised caste, he defended 'varnavyavastha', varna order. This is not correct over the entire Gandhian or wherehe was the subject, entirely participated like the openingof films in which "Raj" trajectory.Gandhi's own critiqueof the varna order, which was the hero.No doubttherewere innuover time, is usually overlookedby scholars. merableadmirersand acolytes from all unfurled classes, but the fans in the Sanghawere a specificcongregation of those fromthe ANIL NAURIYA Later, in 1927, Gandhi declared that "if varnashrama goes to the dogs in the resectionswith economically less-privileged andhihad said to Sri Lankansin moval of untouchability, I shall not shed considerablebottled up anger at being 1927 that if India could take pride a tear."7 marginalised. Absence of a Movement If Kannada nationalistic had aspirations takenrootandturnedinto a majormovement, the fans would have transformed into its cadre.But in the absenceof such a movement, himselfas well as Rajkumar the narrowcauses he espoused became theirwarcry. The fans' activerole in the early 1990s agitationover the Cauvery interim award and later the street protestsagainsthis kidnap by the brigand Veerappanwere two clear examples of this mindset. If one goes throughthe several interviews of Rajkumar in recentyears, it is clearhe neversaw himselfas a leaderwho couldtakeforward theideals of theKannada nationalists. He merelyexpressedhis love forthelanguage andits culture butrefused to recognisehis own transcendence as a leader who could influence Karnataka's politicsin a big way. His followers,howsome optimismthathe ever, still retained wouldone day step out of his homestead into the dust and grime of the politcopublic space. Their hopes were in vain. death seems to have dealt Rajkumar's a final blow to any hopes of the local nationalistsemergingas an independent politicalforce.Withtheirmascotgone,the violence and mayhemwitnessed on the days of his death and burial could be as a final show of protest, interpreted defianceand expressionof frustration at the loss of a dream. [E Email:daxshin@gmail.com
"in having sent you Mahinda and the message of the Buddha to this land, it has also to accept the humiliation of having sent you the curse of caste distinctions."' By the early 1930s, Gandhi had declared that caste, that is, the endogamous sociological category, of which there are hundreds, if not thousands, was "a handicap on progress"2 and "a social evil"3 and, by the 1940s, that it was "an anachronism"4 which "must go".5 Since Gandhi distinguished the caste system from 'chaturvarna', the scriptural fourfold varna order of hereditary occupational divisions, his still unfolding critique of the fourfold order has often been overlooked. This critique is ignored especially by contemporaryscholars,partly perhaps because of the traditionalist nature of the concepts with which it deals. Such oversight is unfairto Gandhi's dalit critics as well as to his dalit supporters; for his interaction with both exemplified by B R Ambedkar and Jagjivan Ram - had no doubt contributed to the evolution of Gandhi's positions. Gandhi incrementally unfurled a critique of the fourfold varna order, taking the concept of such an order in the end, by the mid-1940s, to vanishing point. Even in the early years, while defending the fourfold order, Gandhi said that it was not observed in his own circle: "In the ashram, however, from the beginning, it has been our rule not to observe the varnavyavastha because the position of the ashram is different from that of the society outside."6

Gandhi's Little-Known Critique of Vana

He knew the struggle against old ingrained practices would be long Let us fight untouchability, he says openendedly, and we'll cross the other bridge later. In February 1933, he gave what he then saw as practical reasons: "At the present moment, it is the 'untouchable', the outcaste, with whom all Hindu reformers, whether they believe in varnashrama or not, have agreed to deal. The opposition to untouchability is common to both. Therefore, the present joint fight is restricted to the removal of untouchability... It is highly likely that at the end of it we shall all find that there is nothing to fight against in varnashrama. If, however, varnashrama even then looks an ugly thing, the whole of Hindu society will fight it... At the end of the chapter, I hope that we shall all find ourselves in the same camp. Should it prove otherwise, it will be time enough to consider how and by whom varnashrama is to be fought."8 Gandhi's sequencing did not, at this point, synchronise with Ambedkar's. But it is clear thatGandhidid not, even at this stage, rule out a later struggle against the fourfold varna order.

First Salvo Attack

In April 1933, Gandhi declared on the basis of some authoritativetexts that varna could not be perpetuated or determined merely by birth. He argues: "These and numerous other verses from the shastras unmistakeablyshow thatmere birthcounts for nothing."9 This formulation was Gandhi's first salvo attack on the concept

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of vama. It did not repudiate birth as a criterion for vara; yet it took away the conclusive element attached to birth From now onwards it is inaccurate and erroneous to say merely that Gandhi defended the fourfold varna order or varavyavastha. During Gandhi's all-India anti-untouchability tour of 1933-34, he was opposed virulently by Hindu orthodoxy. His car was stoned in Bihar. In Benaras he was met with black flags. There was an attempt on his life in Pune. A lethal bomb was hurled and several persons were injured. Pune was the heartland of Hindutva opposition to Gandhi. It was one of the cities which nurtured his future assassin. In October 1933, before launching out on the tour, Gandhi said that the Jains must vehemently stress the fact that their religion knows no varnashramadharma. "They must emphatically tell the people that untouchability and the presentday varnadharma have no place in Jainism, after first convincing themselves about it."0l These are clearly not the words of one who is smug about the varna system.

He could not accept, he said in 1934, that in his religion "there should be a single human being considered lower than myself."1 In 1935, Gandhi described the restrictions on inter-marriage and interdining imposed in relation to the varna system as "cruel."'12 He had stood especially for the 'bhangis', considered the weakest section of the dalits. He was therefore conscious of hierarchies among dalits themselves. The scheduled castes, he said in 1937, "cannot be expected to appreciate and accept ex-cathedra usages that discriminate between savamas and avarnas and between the different groups among the avamas themselves, as these smack ofinvidiousness and offend against reason."13 In 1945, Gandhi's positions against the fourfold varna order become more emphatic. He discards some previous formulations, including those on hereditary occupations. In a new foreword to an older Gujarati language compilation of articles on the subject, he invites the reader "to discard anything in this book which may appear to him incompatible"14 with his latest formulations. He looks beyond

this aspect of the Gita, saying now that: But there prevails only one varna today, that is of shudras,or you may call it, ati'shudras', or harijansor untouchables.I have no doubt about the truth of what I say. If I can bringroundthe Hindusociety to my view, all our internalquarrelswill come to an end.15 The thought recurs, being sometimes formulated not descriptively but normatively, expressing the view that this single category situation should be made to prevail. Interestingly, it is in 1945 that Gandhi says, in reversal of his earlier understanding that untouchability could be fought separately from caste and the fourfold vara order, that "castes must go if we want to root out untouchability".16Thus he had now veered round to Ambedkar's line on this question.

One Varna Idea

Meanwhile, persistentwith the one varna idea, Gandhi observed in April 1946: "I have of late been saying that the Hindus have to become ati-shudras not merely in

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name but in thought, word and deed.17 Returning to the theme the following month in Mussoorie, he burns the conceptual candle at both ends. For now the notion of repudiating one's varna enters Gandhi's mind: I myself havebecomea harijan by choice... A harijan by birthmay repudiatehis varna but how can I who have become a harijan by choice? I have not hesitatedto suggest to caste Hindus that today they have all to become ati-shudras,if the canker of caste feeling is to be eradicated from Hinduism and Hinduism is not to perish from the face of the earth.18 And again in New Delhi: "If the caste Hindus would become bhangis of their own free will, the distinction between harijansand caste Hindus would automatically disappear. There are various divisions amongstthe harijanstoo. They should all go. All should be of one caste, that is, the bhangi."19 Speaking in July 1946, he encouraged marriages between dalits and others: "Finally therewill be only one caste, known by the beautiful name bhangi, that is to say, the reformer or remover of all dirt. Let us all pray that such a happy day will dawn soon."2? Thus by 1945-46 Gandhi had denuded the conceptual category of varna implied in the Gita, both of its sociological implication and of its original connotation of fixed classes of humanity determined by birth and distinguished by four categories of occupations. Gandhi's penultimateblows to the varna concept were delivered in February 1947. He now turnedthe category of varna upon itself by removing the foundation of the edifice of varna distinctions. Saying that caste must go if Hinduism is to survive, he went on: "There was room for varna, as a duty." According to him: "This was true of all religions whether the name used was other than varna. What was a Muslim 'maulvi' or a Christian priest but a brahmin if he taught his flock its true duty, not for money but because he possessed the gift of interpretation? And this was true ofthe otherdivisions."21Significantly, the position of a maulvi in Islamic society does not indicate any inherent superiority and does not necessarily pass hereditarily. On the same occasion, the idea of hereditary occupations which was the essence of the fourfold varna order was laid to rest by Gandhi. Asked if he favoured inter-caste marriages and whether the monopoly of occupations of specific castes should be abolished, Gandhi reiterated his long-standing position in

favour of inter-caste marriages and proceeded to say: The questiondid notarisewhenall became eventtookplace, casteless.Whenthishappy monopoly of occupations would go.22 In a letter written around May 15, 1947 Gandhi observes in appreciation of Gautama Buddha that he "knew no caste and stood for perfect toleration".23

On Terminology
In 1927 and 1931 Gandhi had referred to the word "dalit"and even used it, while saying that the state to which it referred was so obnoxious that any word to describe it would be rejected after a while. He wrote that "dalit" was used "quite rightly" because the people to whom it referred were not "depressed" but "suppressed"; and "they became, and remain, what they arebecause they were suppressed by the so-called upper classes".24 Evidently, he would not have been surprised at his preferredterm 'harijan' now fading out of use. Gandhi knew the struggle was also political. Many dalits went to prison in Gandhi's campaigns against British rule. To them, Gandhi was the liberator and alien rule the established ally of their local oppressors. Social and economic oppression were connectedandthecolonial regime was upholding a highly inequitable land system which had contributed to the assetlessness of the dalits. As independence dawned, Gandhi spoke aloud about the "rule of the bhangis"25and of a dalit girl becoming president of India, indeed the first president.26 In June 1947 Gandhi told the All India Congress Committee which was meeting in Delhi to discuss the partition of India: ...if you do away with the distinction of savarna and avarna, if you treat the andthe adivasis shudras,the untouchables as equals then something good will have come out of a bad thing. ...But if we oppressthem andoppressthose following other faiths then it will mean that we do not want India to survive, that we are out to destroy it.27 Understandably, a leading socialist had observed in 1950 that Gandhi's assassination was an episode not merely in the Hindu-Muslim context; it was equally a result of the "bitterness" accumulating from his blows "against caste and for woman". Gandhi's trajectoryhas been the subject of this essay. He was conscious of the vital need to take society with him, for merely

taking an advanced position without having an impact on society held no attraction for him. He had told a questioner: "It is one thing for me to hold certain views and quite anotherto make my views acceptable in their entirety to society at large. My mind, I hope, is ever growing, ever moving forward. All may not keep pace with it. I have therefore to exercise utmost patience and be satisfied with hastening slowly."28 His approach and method were well understood by many of his contemporaries. The famous atheist, G Ramachandra Rao, "Gora", for example, summed up in 1950: This attitudeand method of Gandhijican be seen in his answers to questions at the meeting of the HarijanSevak Sangh held on August 14, 1945. When he first undertook to remove untouchability,the problem of varna-dharma (caste system) was also there.It was easy to see intellectually, even then, that caste ought to go root and branch if untouchabilitywas to be comButas a practical pletelyeradicated. proposition, caste was not the immediateproblem then. The problem was only the removal of untouchability.So he allowed caste to continue, though personally he observed no caste even then. Thus the work of the removal of untouchability progressedthroughtheearlystage,leaving the contradictions of the caste system untouched, and, therefore, without the complicationof oppositionfromthosewho would resist the abolition of caste. When the stage had come where he found caste forfurther wasa serioushindrance progress, Gandhijisaid that caste ought to go root and branchand proposed not only interas the means. dining but inter-marriages A mere intellectual might read inconsisof casteearlier tolerance tencyinGandhiji's and his denunciationof it later. But to a practical man of non-violent creed these are stages of progress and not principles of contradiction.29 Gandhi's positions against untouchability and caste were direct assaults and may be compared with Luther's attacks on the church. On the fourfold order he moved more cautiously, somewhat like Erasmus. Yet it is difficult to understand why Gandhi's critique of the fourfold order is now so little known. This omission from scholarship at large is significant, as his earlier statements on the fourfold order have become, in writings on the subject especially since the 1980s, a primary ground for criticism of Gandhi's position. lS3 Email: instituteone@gmail.com

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Notes
to the CollectedWorks [Thereferences ofMahatma Gandhi (CW) published by the publications of information andbroadcasting, division,ministry governmentof India,New Delhi (1958-1994) are to the original or standardedition.] 1 Speechat Colombo,November25, 1927;CW, Vol 35, p 318. 2 Young India,June4, 1931;CW, Vol 46, p 302. 3 Letterto SureshChandraBanerji,October 10, 1932; CW, Vol 51, p 219. 4 The BombayChronicle, April 17, 1945; CW, Vol 79, p 384. 5 Letterto Shyamlal,July 23, 1945;CW, Vol 81, p 25. 6 Letter to KhushalchandGandhi, August 31, 1918; CW, SupplementaryVol VII, p 27. 7 Young India,November24, 1927;CW, Vol 35, pp 522-23. 8 Harijan,February 11, 1933;CW,Vol53,p 261. 9 Harijan, Apri 115,1933;CW,Vol54,pp410-11. 10 Answersto correspondents, before October8, 1933,CW,Vol 56, p 69; andLetterto Haribhau Upadhyaya, October 8, 1933, CW, SupplementaryVol V, p 86. 11 Speech at Palluruthy,January18, 1934; CW, Vol 57, p 12. 12 'Caste Has To Go', Harijan, November 16,

1935; CW, Vol 62, p 122. 13 Harijan,February20,1937;CW, Vol64, p 317. 14 Forewordto (new editionof) Varnavyavastha, May 31, 1945; CW, Vol 80, p 224. 15 Ibid, CW, Vol 80, p 223. 16 Letterto Shyamlal,July23,1945; CW, Vol 81, p 25. 17 Harijan, April 14, 1946; CW, Vol 83, p 350. 18 Speech at PrayerMeeting,May 31,1946; CW, Vol 84, p 247. 19 Harijan, June 23, 1946; CW, Vol 84, p 334. 20 Harijan,July7,1946; CW, Vol 84, pp 388-89. 21 Harijan,March 16, 1947; CW, Vol 86, p 484. 22 Idem. 23 Letter, AfterMay 15,1947;CW,Supplementary Vol V, p 137. 24 Navajivan,March27,1927,CW,Vol 33,p 196; and Navajivan, June 7, 1931, CW, Vol 46, p 342. 25 Speech at PrayerMeeting, June 1, 1947; CW, Vol 88, p 55. 26 Speech at PrayerMeeting, June 2, 1947, CW, Vol 88, p 63. 27 Speech at AICCMeeting, June 14, 1947;CW, Vol 88, p 156. 28 Talk with Membersof HarijanSevak Sangh, July 20, 1946, CW, Vol 85, p 24. 29 Gora (G Ramachandra Rao), An Atheist with Gandhi, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1951, p 57.

AGRARIAN CRISIS

Looking the Debt

beyond Trap

The agrarian crisis is pushing farmers into distress and ultimately to suicides. It is argued that the cumulative effect of a number offactors is responsible for the present agrarian crisis. These factors, categorised as technological, ecological, socio-cultural and policy-related, are discussed here.
V RATNA REDDY, S GALAB

rainfall pattern.This is very well reflected in thedatafromtheNationalSample Survey Organisation's 59th round, which reveals that a third of the farmers indicated that farming is not profitable and another 40 per cent of the farmersare ready to give up farming in favour of a job. On the whole, 70 per cent of the farmers are frustrated with their profession [Deshpande and Prabhu 2005]. The contributionof agricultureis declining at a faster pace than the population depending on it. While agriculture's share in GDP is 25 per cent, 58 per cent of the population still depends on agriculture. Agriculture recorded the lowest growth rate of 1.86 per cent per annum during the last decade (1995-96 to 2003-04) as against 3.33 per cent during the earlier period.The value additionfrom agriculture has also recordedthe lowest during the last decade. The decline is much sharperin per capita terms. Growth in per workerincome in agriculture has declined from 1.16 per cent (1988-89 to 1993-94) to 0.28 per cent (1998-99 to 2003-04) during the last decade. On the contrary, per worker income from non-agriculture sector has gone up from 3.31 per cent to 4.30 per cent during the same period [Chand 2006]. Here an attempt is made to identify the main drivers of the agrariancrisis that are pushing the farmers into distress and ultimately leading to suicides. It is argued that aggregate and cumulative effect of a number of factors is responsible for the present agrarian crisis. For the sake of simplicity these factors are categorised under four groups, namely, technological, ecological, socio-cultural and policyrelated. However, these categories are not watertight compartments, as some of the factors are inter-connected. In what follows, we discuss these factors in detail, without attaching any orderof importance.

armers' suicides have become a andcannotbe regular phenomenon brushed asideas aneventassociated with droughtor other naturaldisasters. a goodmonsoon thisyear,farmers' Despite suicidescontinueto occurin one stateor theother. Insomestates likeAndhra Pradesh, are forthepast10 they occurring regularly of the rainfallsituation, yearsirrespective though drought has aggravated the numbers.Number of studieshavetriedto examine andunderstand theproblem. Most of these studies have, rightly, identified household indebtedness as themainreason forthesuicides.Whileindebtedness is the

factor driving farmerstowards suicide, the factors that are responsible for indebtedness are less understood. As a result, approaches towards mitigating the end (indebtedness) are proving to be ineffective. Unless the means (factors leading to indebtedness) are understood and corrected, the distress is likely to continue. Suicides are the result of the deep-rooted agrarian and rural distress rather than a temporary phenomenon associated with institutional credit or rainfall. The increasingly regular incidence of suicides across the states points toward a brewing agrarian crisis in the country over the past decade. Agriculture is becoming increasingly an unviable proposition irrespective of

Technological

Factors

Technology is critical for improving land productivity. The green revolution technology in the late 1960s has helped improving land productivity in the irrigated regions. Land productivities in these regions have saturated during the 1990s after recording continuous growth for more than two decades. This is mainly due to the limits of the technology itself and the environmental problems associated with high input-intensive agriculture. This has also resulted in the shift towards marginal lands in these regions. Though the need for improving the productivity in dry land regions was recognised

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