Living Buddhism: Migration, memory, and castelessness in South India

ABSTRACT

Studies on Indian communities which were denigrated as lower castes and untouchables are yet to fully unravel their cultural, religious, economic, and historical perceptions and practices in India. Scholarship that is sympathetic to the oppressed of caste-power have engaged with caste prejudice and bodily violence under the colonial and postcolonial states. But the questions of language, literature, philosophy, migration, knowledge traditions, and intrinsic cultural self-identity of these discriminated Indians have largely remained unanalysed. In contrast, based on ethnographic field study in Hubli, Karnataka and in northern Tamil Nadu, this article argues that the memory of the marginalized is key to unravelling their alternative cultural and religious history beyond caste. It shows that, on the one hand, the ancient Tamil Buddhist literary corpus forms the deep cultural memory of the marginalized Tamils, while on the other, the organic Buddhist intellectuals, writers, publishers, and practitioners, and their discursive and non-discursive practices have perpetuated the communicative memory of being the descendants of ancient Buddhism. This article further argues that this memory of marginalized Indians points to their sense of castelessness in modern South India.

KEYWORDS:

• Caste/untouchability/Dalits
• migration
• memory
• Tamil Buddhism
• castelessness

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the Hubli Tamil Buddhist elders K. Kannambal, A. Vedhamani, D. Maarimuthamal, D.P. Shanmugam, A. Devaraj, V. Sudhodhanan, R. P. Munuswami, S. Vajravelu, T. G. Kathavarayan, Tailor Gopal and Kannamal, and P. G. Kamalanathan. The office-bearers of the Sujatha Madhar Sangam, President Mekalai Tamizhkumar, General Secretary Bhuvanesvari Paneerselvam, and Treasurer Geetha Purushothaman and other sisters as well as the office-bearers of the Hubli Buddhist Association, President P.G. Kamalanathan, Secretary T. G. K. Chakravarthi, M. Tamizhkumar, T. G. K. Paneerselvam, K. Loganathan, C. Murugan, P. Thiagaraj, G. Purushothaman and other brothers always welcomed me with their generous hospitality. Lawyer A. Gauthaman of Madras High Court, the son of A. Vedhamani, has been an invaluable source of my understanding of the Hubli Tamil Buddhist history. I thank the two anonymous referees for their comments which helped me to rework some sections. Ashwin Subramanian promptly read the draft and asked for clarifications. This article is dedicated to the Hubli descendants of Tamil Buddhism.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Indians who were categorized as untouchables pursued diverse professions such as traders, butlers, military personnel, and liquor suppliers under colonialism (see Washbrook 1993 and Mallampalli 2011).

2 For a study on brahmin prejudice and the nexus between students and teachers see Subramanian (2015).

3 This is evidenced in the cultural practices of the Indian diaspora that has descended from the indentured labourers in Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad, Martinique, Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, and so on.

4 G. Appaduraiyar was also a prolific writer in many Tamil journals, including Kudiarasu which was published by E. V. Ramasamy, also known as Periyar, since 1925. Periyar was a close associate of Appaduraiyar.

5 Thass had established the first Sakya Buddhist Association in Rayapettai, Madras in 1899 and later renamed it as South Indian Buddhist Association (SIBA). Later many SIBA branches emerged in Kolar Gold Fields, Bangalore, Secunderabad, Rangoon (Burma/Myanmar), Durban (South Africa) and elsewhere. In the 1911 Census of India, a few hundred followers of this movement declared themselves as Indian Buddhists.

6 However, the life situations among some of around 300 Tamil Buddhist families are still challenging. Kulkarni Hakkal, which is accessible from the railway station, has been passed over by wide-scale urbanisation, even after all these years of its existence. That is, they are compelled to live in the cramped houses and streets of Kulkarni Hakkal, owned and rented, in and around the Hubli railway quarters. The economic boom on the other side of the Hubli railway station, enjoyed mostly by the high castes and classes, has continued to elude Kulkarni Hakkal’s Tamil Buddhists.

7 For Shanmugam, having been chosen to represent HBA and KGF Tamil Buddhists in the World Congress of Religions in Nepal in 1956 was the high point of his life. Particularly, he cherished his meeting with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in Nepal, especially since the anticaste leader had warmly received them.