Weavers Unravelled: Comparing Associationalism among Handloom Weavers and Boatmen in Varanasi, India

Abstract

A comparative study of mobilisation by two lower-class occupational groups in Varanasi, India, presents a puzzle: one group, the boatmen of the Mallah community, have successfully formed and sustained several associations to promote boatmen's occupational interests, whereas another group, the handloom weavers of the Ansari community, have no self-formed, durable, active associations. This paper argues that transformation and decline of the weaving industry and significant class divisions within a community that continues to be highly marginalised have left the handloom weavers particularly vulnerable and pose steep challenges to self-organisation.

Keywords:

• Associations
• civil society
• political society
• class
• caste
• India
• weavers
• boatmen

Notes

¹ While Islam is supposed to be a ‘casteless’ religion, Muslim communities in India are highly stratified. See Imtiaz Ahmed, Caste and Social Stratification among Muslims in India (Columbia, MO: South Asia Books, 2nd rev. ed. 1978); and Zarina Bhatty, ‘Social Stratification among Muslims in India’, in M.N. Srinivas (ed.), Caste: Its Twentieth Century Avatar (New York: Penguin Books, 1996). Engineer asserts that the ‘Julahas’ (a name once used for the Ansari community) are descended from low-caste Hindus who converted to Islam ‘after the invasion of Turks and Afghans’. See Asghar Ali Engineer, ‘Benaras Rocked by Communal Violence’, in Economic & Political Weekly, Vol. 27, nos. 10/11 (7–14 Mar. 1992), p. 509; and M. Showeb, ‘Silk Handloom Industry of Varanasi—A Study of Social-Economic Problems of Weavers’, unpublished report, Gandhian Institute of Studies, Varanasi, 1993, p. 11.

² Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, The Modernity of Tradition: Political Development in India (New Delhi: Orient Longman Ltd, rpr. 1987), pp. 88–98; A.M. Shah, ‘The Judicial and Sociological View of Other Backward Classes’, in M.N. Srinivas, Caste: Its Twentieth Century Avatar (New Delhi: Viking by Penguin Books India, 1996), pp. 183–5; Oliver Mendelsohn, ‘The Transformation of Authority in Rural India’, in Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 27, no. 4 (Oct. 1993), pp. 822–5; Craig Jeffrey, ‘“A Fist is Stronger than Five Fingers”: Caste and Dominance in Rural North India’, in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, n.s., Vol. 26, no. 2 (2001), pp. 217–36; Robert Hardgrave, ‘Varieties of Political Behavior among Nadars of Tamilnad’, in Asian Survey, Vol. 6, no. 11 (Nov. 1966), pp. 614–21; Myron Weiner, ‘The Struggle for Equality: Caste in Indian Politics’, in Atul Kohli (ed.), The Success of India's Democracy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 208–9; Stuart Corbridge, ‘Competing Inequalities: The Scheduled Tribes and the Reservations System in India's Jharkhand’, in Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 59, no. 1 (Feb. 2000), pp. 62–85; and Shahid Siddiqui, ‘Believe Me, Muslims are Not a Herd’, The Hindu (5 Feb. 2012) [http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2863455.ece, accessed 11 July 2012].

³ Weiner, ‘The Struggle for Equality’, pp. 208–9; and Shah, ‘The Judicial and Sociological View of Other Backward Classes’, pp. 183–5.

⁴ Shah, ‘The Judicial and Sociological View of Other Backward Classes’, pp. 183–5.

⁵ Rudolph and Rudolph, The Modernity of Tradition, pp. 88–98.

⁶ Mendelsohn, ‘Transformation of Authority in Rural India’, pp. 822–5.

⁷ Kenneth Bo Nielsen, ‘In Search of Development: Muslims and Electoral Politics in an Indian State’, in Forum for Development Studies, Vol. 38, no. 3 (2011), pp. 345–70.

⁸ Christophe Jaffrelot, ‘The Rise of the Other Backward Classes in the Hindi Belt’, in Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 59, no. 1 (Feb. 2000), pp. 86–108; Kanchan Chandra, ‘The Transformation of Ethnic Politics in India’, in Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 59, no. 1 (Feb. 2000), pp. 26–61; Kanchan Chandra, Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Ethnic Head Counts in India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004); and Mary E. Breeding, ‘The Micro-Politics of Vote Banks in Karnataka’, in Economic & Political Weekly, Vol. XLVI, no. 14 (2 April 2011), pp. 71–7.

⁹ Assa Doron, Caste, Occupation and Politics on the Ganges: Passages of Resistance (Farnham: Ashgate, 2008), p. 16.

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ As Varanasi is considered an auspicious place to die, many cremations are carried out daily on the banks of the Ganges River. Uncremated remains are offered to the river. The sheer volume of such immersions is partially responsible for a level of contamination that is now widely regarded as a public health threat.

¹² These issues came up frequently in my conversations with boatmen and others regarding their concerns. Among my principle informants in this regard were Chhote Lal Nishaad, general secretary, Mallah Samuday Sangharsh Samiti, 18 Mar. 2007, 26 April 2007, 31 May 2007, 14 Oct. 2007, 26 Oct. 2007, and 5 June 2008; Subhash C. Tripathi and Ram Avatar Singh, Uttar Pradesh Aranya/Van Vibhag (Uttar Pradesh Forest Department), Varanasi District, 31 Oct. 2007 and 9 June 2008; Bhaiyya Lal Nishaad and Sujit Kumar Nishaad, Uttar Pradesh Nav Yuvak Maajhi Samaaj Samiti, 18 Mar. 2007, 3 Nov. 2007, and 5 June 2008; and Baburam Nishaad, former chair, Uttar Pradesh Fisheries Development Corporation, and member of the executive council, Samajwadi Party, 13 Oct. 2007.

¹³ Data from questionnaire conducted by author among 47 respondents on ghats stretching from Assi to Panchganga, Varanasi, Oct.–Nov. 2008.

¹⁴ Government of Uttar Pradesh, Gazetteers of India—Uttar Pradesh—Varanasi (Lucknow: Government of Uttar Pradesh, 1965), p. 140.

¹⁵ Nita Kumar, The Artisans of Benares: Popular Culture and Identity (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988), pp. 18–9.

¹⁶ Ibid., pp. 18–24.

¹⁷ Raghuvansh Lenin, ‘Suicide and Malnutrition amongst Weavers in Varanasi’, unpublished report, People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights, Varanasi, n.d. [http://www.scribd.com/doc/9098384/Suicide-and-Malunutrition-Amongst-Varanasi-Weavers, accessed 7 Jan. 2012].

¹⁸ See, for example, Sonia Faleiro, ‘The Other India: The Weavers of Varanasi’, New York Times (Internet edition) (21 Sept. 2011) [http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/the-other-india-the-weavers-of-varanasi/, accessed 7 Jan. 2012].

¹⁹ Biju Francis and Raghuvansh Lenin, ‘“Handloom has Become Live Grave for Weavers”: Effect of WB-IMF-WTO on Weavers and Marginalized Communities’, unpublished report, People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights, Varanasi, n.d., p. 10. Many respondents also described how weavers have been driven to other work.

²⁰ Showeb, ‘Silk Handloom Industry of Varanasi’, p. 25.

²¹ Nita Kumar describes in detail the structure of the weaving industry in her Artisans of Benares, pp. 40–2. Abdul Bismillah's novel also provides a detailed portrait of the lives of handloom weavers in Varanasi. Abdul Bismillah, The Song of the Loom (Jhini Jhini Bini Chadariya) (Rashmi Govind, trans.) (Chennai: Macmillan India Ltd, 1996).

²² Several respondents described these developments, including Prof. Md. Toha of Banaras Hindu University, personal communication, Varanasi, 29 May 2007; Showeb, ‘Silk Handloom Industry of Varanasi’; and Kumar, Artisans of Benares, p. 42.

²³ Government of Uttar Pradesh, Office of the Assistant Director for Handlooms (Varanasi), ‘Handloom/Powerloom Census Data’, publication information unavailable (1996).

²⁴ Data from questionnaire distributed by author among sixty respondents in three weaver localities, Pilikothi, Bari Bazaar, and Madanpura/Reori Talab/Bazardiha, Oct.–Nov. 2008.

²⁵ Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965), p. 36.

²⁶ Binay Singh, ‘Mega Loan Waiver Will Benefit Only a Fraction of Weavers’, The Times of India (Internet edition) (23 Nov. 2011) [http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-23/varanasi/30432981_1_handloom-weavers-loan-waiver-national-handloom-development-corporation, accessed 4 Jan. 2011]; and Binay Singh, ‘Banarasi Saree Glitters in New Found Demand’, The Times of India (Internet edition) (10 Sept. 2011) [http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-10/varanasi/30138602_1_handloom-industry-bhadohi-carpet-gi-tag, accessed 3 Jan. 2012].

²⁷ According to the 2001 Census of India, Varanasi District had a population of over three million, while the city itself had about 1.1 million at that time. See Government of India, ‘Series 10, Uttar Pradesh, Provisional Population Totals, Paper 2 of 2001: Rural—Urban Distribution. Table title: Ward-wise Population of Million-plus Cities’, in Census of India 2001 (New Delhi: Office of the Registrar General, 2001); and Government of India, ‘Basic Data Sheet, District Varanasi (67), Uttar Pradesh (09)’, in Census of India 2001 (Lucknow: Ministry of Home Affairs, Directorate of Census Operations, 2001). The Census documents I consulted did not contain the kind of specific data that I needed to estimate the actual size of the handloom industry or document its decline. The Census data are over-aggregated to the point where they are not very helpful (e.g. not distinguishing between different types of jobs in the weaving industry), and much of the data is for the district as a whole, not the city itself.

²⁸ Government of India, ‘Table B-22 [City], Uttar Pradesh’, in Census of India, 2001 (New Delhi: Office of the Registrar General, 2001) [Data CD].

²⁹ Doron, Caste, Occupation and Politics on the Ganges, pp. 33–5.

³⁰ Ibid., p. 33.

³¹ Ibid., p. 46.

³² Ibid.

³³ Assa Doron, ‘Caste Away? Subaltern Engagement with the Modern Indian State’, in Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 44, no. 4 (July 2010), pp. 753–83.

³⁴ Ibid., p. 768; and personal interviews.

³⁵ Doron, ‘Caste Away’, p. 761.

³⁶ Doron, Caste, Occupation and Politics on the Ganges, p. 16.

³⁷ Engineer, ‘Benaras Rocked by Communal Violence’, p. 509; and Sandria B. Freitag, ‘Introduction’, in Sandria B. Freitag (ed.), Culture and Power in Banaras: Community, Performance, and Environment, 1800–1980 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1989), p. 13.

³⁸ Gyanendra Pandey, The Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 69.

³⁹ Ibid., p. 70.

⁴⁰ Engineer, ‘Benaras Rocked by Communal Violence’, p. 509.

⁴¹ Ibid. and Showeb, ‘Silk Handloom Industry of Varanasi’, pp. 2–3.

⁴² Vasanthi Raman, The Warp and the Weft: Community and Gender Identity among Banaras Weavers (New Delhi: Routledge, 2010), pp. 134–93.

⁴³ Philippa Williams, ‘Hindu—Muslim Brotherhood: Exploring the Dynamics of Communal Relations in Varanasi, North India’, in Journal of South Asian Development, Vol. 2, no. 2 (July 2007), pp. 153–76.

⁴⁴ Doron, Caste, Occupation and Politics on the Ganges, p. 107.

⁴⁵ Ibid.

⁴⁶ Kumar, Artisans of Benares, pp. 40–1.

⁴⁷ Ibid., p. 41.

⁴⁸ Ibid., p. 57.

⁴⁹ Kumar, Artisans of Benares, p. 43; and Salman Raghib Ansari, personal communication, Varanasi, 10 April 2007.

⁵⁰ Many people with whom I spoke described the tanzim system as a means of intra-community social governance. Among my principle informants in this regard were Salman Raghib Ansari, personal communication, Varanasi, 10 April 2007; Sardar Maqbool Hasan, personal communication, Varanasi, 14 April 2007; and Mehfooz Alam, convener, Bunkar Bachao Andolan (Save the Weavers Movement), 15 Sept. 2007.

⁵¹ Stefan Schütte, ‘The Social Landscape of the Washermen in Banaras’, in Martin Gaenszle and Jörg Gengnagel (eds), Visualising Space in Banaras: Images, Maps, and the Practice of Representation (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 279–302 .

⁵² Kumar, Artisans of Benares, p. 44.

⁵³ Ibid., p. 203.

⁵⁴ Rudolph and Rudolph, The Modernity of Tradition, pp. 88–98; and Mendelsohn, ‘Transformation of Authority in Rural India’, pp. 822–5. See Jeffrey for an opposing view: ‘“A Fist is Stronger than Five Fingers”’, pp. 217–36.

⁵⁵ Data gathered from Dainik Jagran (Varanasi), 1998–2008, by research assistants Ajay Pandey, Nitya Pandey, Shankar Chaubey, and Vinay Sharma.

⁵⁶ Data from questionnaire distributed by author among sixty respondents in three weaver localities, Pilikothi, Bari Bazaar, and Madanpura/Reori Talab/Bazardiha, Oct.–Nov. 2008.