Dalit Literature and Cultutre

The Kancha Ilaiah piece talks about how cow worship came about came about as a form of Ahimsa. Beef eaters were threatened and beaten. This has happened to the extent that beef has been banned in the State of Maharashtra. Personally, I am someone who loves beef and banning it in Maharashtra, a state I come from has wreaked havoc. People are smuggling in beef under the guise of it being 'water buffalo'. How is it okay to eat other meats like pork, buffalo etc. but beef eating is regarded unholy because Hindus 'worship' cows? Moreover, the article on live mint on Culinary Apartheid talks about exactly why the Dalit and other lower castes started eating beef. They could not afford other food and would eat the remains of what the upper castes ate. However, somehow the hierarchy of food shows beef eaters as the lowest. At the top are those who do not eat any type of meat, in the middle those who eat meat except beef and the lowest are the beef eaters. But what is not realis...

DALIT FOOD As they brand the Dalits impure meat-eaters, Brahmins use their vegetarianism as yet another way to deem the former polluted and discriminate against them. While it is true that the Dalits do consume more beef and pork, this is because these are not preferred by other castes, making it easier for them to access this. Therefore, it is due to the circumstance that they have been subject to because of which they made their food choices, and ironically those who have compelled them to make these choices are the ones using this to oppress them. Dalits have a rich food culture, though it is rather obscure does not find mention in mainstream food. Many recent articles and news pieces have brought to light various Dalit delicacies such as the ant chutney, amongst other things. While these are now gaining traction and being called exotic, it must be understood that these recipes are results of a lack of resources and poverty. Dalits resorted to making these food items as they had...

Dalit food  I have had selective preferences when it came to food throughout my life. I don't try new cuisines often and I  am comfortable with the known tastes. After reading the articles, I've realised that dalit food is something that's unfamiliar to literally every other non dalit person. The ingredients they use or the food they make is unknown and invisible to many. This probably has to do with two things primarily. First, that the savarna community treated them and still continue to treat them as "outcasts" and secondly, the culture narrative is mostly controlled by the elite Brahmins. The example of how masterchef in India was hosted with only vegetarian dishes proves this. Only Brahmin representation of food in seen in the mainstream culture dominantly. In movies like Masaan, Gulab Jam as cited in the articles, the exclusion of dalit and even non vegetarian foods clearly depicts the dominance of Brahmins in controlling the narrative.  Furthermore,...

DALIT READING SUMMARIES GADAR AND THE DALIT MOVEMENT IN TELANGANA Sirgapoor Sahil Reddy 20161245 Gummadi Vittal Rao, popularly known as "Gaddar" is a revolutionary poet singer and has emerged as a powerful and popular cultural icon in India. He has established himself as an institution and a household name in Telugu society. The songs of Gaddar go along with the struggles of Indian society, especially of Telugu society. The revolutionary struggles have influenced his ideological position too. From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, he wrote and performed many songs on martyrs of revolutionary struggles, especially on caste atrocities and the ensuing rebellions. In Telugu society, the Karamchedu massacre is a landmark in Dalit politics. Six Dalits were killed by upper-caste Kamma landlords in 1985. In response to this, Dalits of Andhra mobilised in large scale in support of the victims of Karamchedu. Gaddar invoked the struggle led by Dalits in Karamchedu in the for...

                                                  Weekly Summary - 9                                                                                                                 Sapna Indu Pillai  The Dalit community has a very intimate relationship with food. They has used food in their politics to show how different even something as necessary as food is different for the marginalised community. In multiple occasions like when Rohit Vemula and his Dalit peers organised a beef festival, The Dalit community has been shunned from organising beef festivals etc as th...

Food has always been an essential part of one’s cultural identity and beliefs, one that comes naturally to everyone since birth. But today, what you eat or choose to eat have become political statements. There have been several instances of violence towards those that go against the hegemonic culture and this aggression over food choices exists only because of the way food defines identities. The public sphere is not yet open for other cultures to openly practice or choose to do what is essential to their identity. This dominance of one religion and its upper caste has silences the cultures of others and pushed it inside private spaces, away from the public eye. This is a huge reason why most of us today are completely unaware of Dalit culture and what food constitutes as Dalit culture. The silencing of other cultures had been because of the belief that Brahmanical culture is superior and it still remains to be the reason. We try to inquire into other cultures to discover what th...

FOOD AS A REPRESENTATION OF DALIT CULTURE Food has always been a central feature of most cultures around the world. I have always associated famous food with known cultures and regions - Tacos are a part of Mexican culture, Maharashtra has great sabudana vada, the best dhoklas are made in Gujarat and the tastiest dosais and chutneys come from my own home State. But the piece titled 'Caste on Your Plate: Where is Dalit Food?' was a shameful realization that I only know of dominant cultures and their food habits. The lives and foods of the lower castes in Indian States are not within my cultural vision.  Whether we live in cities, suburbs or villages, we live within reachable distance to people of diverse caste backgrounds, and yet we know nothing of their cultural affiliations. Our surface level understanding is of them as savage, uncivilized eaters. But we pay no heed to the history that only allowed them access to certain foods, which later birthed a beautiful cultur...