Memory as communication: an analysis of the reclamation of Panchami Lands

Abstract

This essay analyzes the role of memory in the historical trajectory of the grant of Panchami lands to Tamil Dalits during the colonial period and its ramifications in contemporary times. Tamil Dalits, who identified themselves as Panchamars during the colonial period, were allotted and granted agricultural lands in the last decades of the nineteenth century. The grant was to empower the Panchamars economically and to enable them to delineate a distinct autonomous space within the caste society, which had relegated them to the lowest status. However, the lands granted to the Panchamars by the British were usurped and appropriated by the dominant castes. Almost a century later, in the 1990s a movement called “Panchamar nila Meetpu Iyakkam” (Reclamation of Panchami Lands movement) was organized by Tamil Dalits to reclaim the Panchami lands. This essay points out that a century-long communicative memory of Tamil Dalits played a pivotal role in the mobilization of the Panchami movement. While the memory regarding the loss of Panchamar lands was part of everyday communication of the community, it became functional in the 1990s when the Dalit liberation movement was gaining ground in Tamil Nadu. Apart from mobilizing Tamil Dalits with a collective identity, their communicative memory also provided them access to their cultural memory – the colonial documents in the archives. To exemplify the significance of communicative memory in the reclamation of Panchami lands, this essay will analyze a Tamizh novel, “Thagappan Kodi” by Azhagiya Periyavan, which is pivoted on the grant, loss and reclamation of Panchami lands.

Keywords:

• Communicative memory
• cultural memory
• Dalit literature
• Panchami lands
• Tamil Dalit

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Notes

1 In this essay, the terms Dalit, Panchamar, Depressed classes and Scheduled caste are used interchangeably. In the Hindu social structure, the communities which were the lowest within the caste hierarchy were categorized as “untouchable” communities. During the colonial period they were referred to as “Depressed classes” by the British. Parayars, a caste among the untouchable communities, identified themselves as Panchamars in the 1890s and as Adi Dravidars in the 1920s. After independence they were categorized as Scheduled castes in the Indian Constitution. In the 1990s they have assumed a pan-Indian cultural identity, Dalit.

2 Among the hundreds of Scheduled castes in Tamil Nadu, the most prominent are the Parayar (or Adi Dravidar), Pallar (or Devendra Kual Velallar) and Arunthathiyar (Adi Tamizhar). During the last decades of the nineteenth century, some intellectuals among the Parayars preferred to identify themselves as Panchamar or the fifth caste.

3 The lands given to the Panchamars are referred to as Panchami lands. During the colonial period the British called these lands Depressed class lands or D.C. lands.

4 In the 1820s the Ryotwari system was introduced in the Madras Presidency by Sir Thomas Munroe. In the Ryotwari system, the land belonged to an individual who was responsible for the payment of land tax. Prior to the Ryotwari system, the Mirasdari system was prevalent wherein the lands belonged to a community, which was collectively responsible for land tax. The communal landholding system was replaced by the Ryotwari system.

5 Vanniars or Vanniyakula Shatriyas staged agitations in the 1980s demanding reservations as the Most Backward class. Generally termed “Vanniar riots,” the clashes were mainly between the Vanniars and Dalits.

6 Parayars and Pallars are Scheduled castes in Tamil Nadu. The Parayars identify themselves as Adi Dravidars and the Pallars identify themselves as Devendrakula Vellalars.

7 Land that belongs to the government.

8 For details relating to the incidents in Karanai see Anandhi (2000, 43–46).

9 In the last decades of the nineteenth century, there were a few educated intellectuals from the Parayar community like Iyotheethass Pandithar, who published journals to disseminate a distinct Panchamar consciousness for social liberation. However, it should be pointed out that most of the Parayars did not have access to education.

10 A constitutional category to denote the Adi Dravidars/Panchamars.

11 For a detailed analysis of the emergence of Tamil Dalit literature in the 1990s see Geetha (2011).

12 Azhagiya Periyavan belongs to the North Arcot region of Tamil Nadu.

13 During the colonial period, a traditional village in Tamil Nadu was spatially organized on caste lines with each caste living in a separate quarter. The castes higher in hierarchy lived in the Oor – center of the village – and the untouchable communities lived in the Cheri – the village peripheries.

14 Appan refers to father in Tamil.

15 The landlords were referred to as Aandais.

16 Kali and koozh are dishes made out of millet.

17 In the pre-colonial Tamil society, maniam or imam lands were given by the king to village officers or headman, to priests of small temples or shrines, or to other local personages, for their services in the state and village festivals. Since receiving maniyam from the state simultaneously accorded a privileged status and established links with the king, it came to designate a social and caste title (in some areas), namely Maniyakar. For details refer to Dirks (2002, 65–69).

18 Woman from the Parayar community.