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| The Chainmarks of the Chagliars |
Reji Joseph
For the atrocious crime of drinking water from his landlord’s well,
Perumal, a Chaglian, lost his legs. On hearing that an untouchable had
polluted his well, Gounder flew into a rage and punishment was
instantaneous. He cut off Perumal’s legs and his goons threw the
dismembered legs into the Meenkara river.
It was the extremity of thirst that made Perumal draw water from his
landlord’s well. Chaglians are still treated as an untouchable caste .
The hard-dying social prejudices have always kept them at the bottom
rung. As he was an untouchable, Perumal should have drawn his water
from the water hole where the cattle came to drink. He was a slave and
slaves did not deserve better treatment. From the point of view of the
landlord, an untouchable defiling his well was an unpardonable crime.
Chaglians enjoy no more civil rights than yoked oxen. They are not to
hold their head high; they are not allowed to draw water from the
wells belonging to the upper castes; A Chaglian’s tongue may get
parched at the root; while working in the scorching sun, he might
collapse in the paddy field and die. But fate has decreed that he
should not slake his thirst if it means drawing water from the
landlord’s well.
Perumal was 19 when Gounder cut off his legs and ejected him into the
streets, where he was to eke out a precarious living. He earned his
keep by working as a cobbler. For years he could be seen crawling on
the haunches along the streets of the Kollamkode town.
Sivaraj and Muthukesh of Govindapuram Colony are the descendants of
the Perumal and like Perumal they too should reel under the yoke of
caste based discrimination. Resentment is smouldering in their minds.
This is how they reacted to questions on their condition.: “Things
have not changed since Perumal’s days. Let alone drinking water, even
for our clothing we are at the mercy of other people.” It may sound
incredible that untouchability still persists in various forms even
now in Kerala.
Members of the Chaglia caste, now living in Govindapuram, M. Puthur
and Meenkara, have been all these years little better than slaves, for
all practical purposes. In the little villages that lie close to
pollachi in Tamilnadu there live hundreds of Chaglians who are victims
of untouchability and social ostracism. They are excluded from social
contacts with others and are discriminated against in various ways. At
teashops Gounders are honoured guests and they are served tea in
gleaming steel tumblers. Chaglians are not welcome inside the teashop
. He should crouch in the courtyard and drink his tea from glass
tumblers. He should get lost the moment he finishes his drink. What if
a Chaglian wants to have his hair cut? They are unwelcome in
barbershops, for contact with a Chaglian’s body will pollute the comb
and the scissors. Tailors keep the Chaglians outside their shops and
stitch their clothes to approximate sizes. Chaglians buy used clothes
at wayside markets in Pollachi. At ration shops they do not get the
full quantity of the rice and kerosene they are entitle to. Mostly it
is short weight.
Chaglians are not free to raise their voice against the injustice they
are subjected to. A word of protest and he will lose his job. Loss of
job means loss of the means of subsistence. The only way out in such a
situation is to leave the place. Chaglians came to Palghat from
Tamilnadu as bonded labourers in the 1950s having been brought there
by the upper caste landlords.
The new generation may claim that untouchability is no longer
practised in the country but the landlords’ premises are out-of-bounds
for the poor Chaglians. They might draw water from the Palmyra troughs
that store water for the animals. They must work from seven in the
morning till late in the night. A male Chaglian gets Rs 50 by way of
wages; a woman gets Rs 30 .
Ayyappan, a 13 year old boy, sipped a cup of tea sitting with his legs
crossed at the tea shop near the Govindapuram bus stand. The Gounder
beat him up for this ‘temerity’. Murukesan, too, was beaten up. His
offence?
He collected water from the landlord’s tap instead of getting it from
the waterhole for the cattle. Besides being beaten up, Murukesan was
threatened that he would be done away with if ever the Gounders happen
to see him again.
Even Gounder’s cattle enjoy precedence over the Chaglians. A bull may
come charging against him but a Chaglian is not supposed to beat it
off; if he can, he might dodge the animal. The work he has to carry
out includes watering the coconut palms, ploughing up the ground, and
collecting cow-dung.
While at work the Changlians are supervised by the landlord’s goons
with the assistance of dogs. Bonded labour begins at the age of ten
and ends only with the slave’s death. If a Chaglian worker dies, the
Changlian landlord would not even the pay the courtesy of a visit. A
dead Changlian is not entitled even to a proper grave. Rains wash away
the dead bodies from their shallow graves, which are scarcely more
than one foot in depth. Occasionally, the river carries a dead body to
the Meenkara reservoir. Here there is the danger of real pollution
since the water supply schemes of Meenkara, Muthalamala and Kollenkode
draw water from this reservoir. Gounder’s dogs and poultry are better
fed than the poor Changlian children. Would that the Gounders be
pleased to spare for the Changlian children a part of the food they
lavish on their animals.
There are more than a thousand Chaglians in the Ambetkar Colony at
Govindapuram. If they are to depend on the government water supply,
they will go without water for twenty eight days a month. So naturally
they have to depend on the water tank for the animal’s in the
Gounder’s premises. The water supply scheme in Ambelkar Colony tells
many a story of corruption. The pump there is not powerful enough to
lift water to the hill top tank. And there is nobody to bring the
erring officials to book.
The black soil of Govindapuram is soaked in the Chaglians’ blood and
sweat. The landlords raise corn, groundnut, pulses and paddy in the
rich fields there. The coconut palms provide surprisingly high yield.
But Gounder would allow anyone to take so much as a windfall. He once
thrashed Meenachi after tying her to a tree for taking a coconut. Her
child once broke a ear of corn from the field. As the child was too
small to be punished, Gounder contented himself by awarding the
punishment to Meenachi.
Having been maltreated like street dogs, the Chaglians are migrating
to Tamilnadu and other places for their survival. For example,
Poomathi, wife of Kathirvel, of M. Puthur has left for Bangalore to
work as a domestic servant. She simply could not put up with the
segregation on the basis of caste. Poomathi once went to the Badrakali
temple at Meenkara to fulfil a certain vow . The priest stopped her at
the threshold. He asked her to leave the offerings at the doorstep and
leave the place lest she should pollute the whole temple. Poomathi
burst into tears and cried out to the gods. With tears in her eyes she
asked the priest: “How come that neither my offering nor my money
pollutes you here. But my presence does. Right?” She never went to
that temple again.For the atrocious crime of drinking water from his
landlord’s well, Perumal, a Chaglian, lost his legs. On hearing that
an untouchable had polluted his well, Gounder flew into a rage and
punishment was instantaneous. He cut off Perumal’s legs and his goons
threw the dismembered legs into the Meenkara river.
It was the extremity of thirst that made Perumal draw water from his
landlord’s well. Chaglians are still treated as an untouchable caste .
The hard-dying social prejudices have always kept them at the bottom
rung. As he was an untouchable, Perumal should have drawn his water
from the water hole where the cattle came to drink. He was a slave and
slaves did not deserve better treatment. From the point of view of the
landlord, an untouchable defiling his well was an unpardonable crime.
Chaglians enjoy no more civil rights than yoked oxen. They are not to
hold their head high; they are not allowed to draw water from the
wells belonging to the upper castes; A Chaglian’s tongue may get
parched at the root; while working in the scorching sun, he might
collapse in the paddy field and die. But fate has decreed that he
should not slake his thirst if it means drawing water from the
landlord’s well.
Perumal was 19 when Gounder cut off his legs and ejected him into the
streets, where he was to eke out a precarious living. He earned his
keep by working as a cobbler. For years he could be seen crawling on
the haunches along the streets of the Kollamkode town.
Sivaraj and Muthukesh of Govindapuram Colony are the descendants of
the Perumal and like Perumal they too should reel under the yoke of
caste based discrimination. Resentment is smouldering in their minds.
This is how they reacted to questions on their condition.: “Things
have not changed since Perumal’s days. Let alone drinking water, even
for our clothing we are at the mercy of other people.” It may sound
incredible that untouchability still persists in various forms even
now in Kerala.
Members of the Chaglia caste, now living in Govindapuram, M. Puthur
and Meenkara, have been all these years little better than slaves, for
all practical purposes. In the little villages that lie close to
pollachi in Tamilnadu there live hundreds of Chaglians who are victims
of untouchability and social ostracism. They are excluded from social
contacts with others and are discriminated against in various ways.
At teashops Gounders are honoured guests and they are served tea in
gleaming steel tumblers. Chaglians are not welcome inside the teashop
. He should crouch in the courtyard and drink his tea from glass
tumblers. He should get lost the moment he finishes his drink. What if
a Chaglian wants to have his hair cut? They are unwelcome in
barbershops, for contact with a Chaglian’s body will pollute the comb
and the scissors. Tailors keep the Chaglians outside their shops and
stitch their clothes to approximate sizes. Chaglians buy used clothes
at wayside markets in Pollachi. At ration shops they do not get the
full quantity of the rice and kerosene they are entitle to. Mostly it
is short weight.
Chaglians are not free to raise their voice against the injustice they
are subjected to. A word of protest and he will lose his job. Loss of
job means loss of the means of subsistence. The only way out in such a
situation is to leave the place.
Chaglians came to Palghat from Tamilnadu as bonded labourers in the
1950s having been brought there by the upper caste landlords. They are
toiling it out in the fields of these wealthy classes. We have had a
succession of governments but salvation continues to elude the
Chaglians and Govindapuram.
The new generation may claim that untouchability is no longer
practised in the country but the landlords’ premises are out-of-bounds
for the poor Chaglians. They might draw water from the Palmyra troughs
that store water for the animals. They must work from seven in the
morning till late in the night. A male Chaglian gets Rs 50 by way of
wages; a woman gets Rs 30 . A little quantity of rice water served in
an earthen pot with the brim missing—Gounder’s generosity does not
extend beyond that. Chaglians and the other tribal communities like
Erawater and Manaser are educationally backward. Most of them drop out
at the fourth standard.
Ayyappan, a 13 year old boy, sipped a cup of tea sitting with his legs
crossed at the tea shop near the Govindapuram bus stand. The Gounder
beat him up for this ‘temerity’. Murukesan, too, was beaten up. His
offence? He collected water from the landlord’s tap instead of getting
it from the waterhole for the cattle. Besides being beaten up,
Murukesan was threatened that he would be done away with if ever the
Gounders happen to see him again. Even Gounder’s cattle enjoy
precedence over the Chaglians. A bull may come charging against him
but a Chaglian is not supposed to beat it off; if he can, he might
dodge the animal. The work he has to carry out includes watering the
coconut palms, ploughing up the ground, and collecting cow-dung.
While at work the Changlians are supervised by the landlord’s goons
with the assistance of dogs. Bonded labour begins at the age of ten
and ends only with the slave’s death. If a Chaglian worker dies, the
Changlian landlord would not even the pay the courtesy of a visit. A
dead Changlian is not entitled even to a proper grave. Rains wash away
the dead bodies from their shallow graves, which are scarcely more
than one foot in depth. Occasionally, the river carries a dead body to
the Meenkara reservoir. Here there is the danger of real pollution
since the water supply schemes of Meenkara, Muthalamala and Kollenkode
draw water from this reservoir.
There are more than a thousand Chaglians in the Ambetkar Colony at
Govindapuram. If they are to depend on the government water supply,
they will go without water for twenty eight days a month. So naturally
they have to depend on the water tank for the animal’s in the
Gounder’s premises. The water supply scheme in Ambelkar Colony tells
many a story of corruption. The pump there is not powerful enough to
lift water to the hill top tank. And there is nobody to bring the
erring officials to book.
The black soil of Govindapuram is soaked in the Chaglians’ blood and
sweat. The landlords raise corn, groundnut, pulses and paddy in the
rich fields there. The coconut palms provide surprisingly high yield.
But Gounder would allow anyone to take so much as a windfall. He once
thrashed Meenachi after tying her to a tree for taking a coconut. Her
child once broke a ear of corn from the field. As the child was too
small to be punished, Gounder contented himself by awarding the
punishment to Meenachi.
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