Madhumita : An on Going Research Project in Boudh District in Orissa
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- Madhumita : An on Going Research Project in Boudh District in Orissa
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Community Health Fellowship Scheme
April 2005 – October 2005
Report
by
Madhumita
Mentor : Dr. Thelma Narayan
Acknowledgement
I express my gratefulness to Community Health Cell and Sir Ratan Tata Trust for
helping me in my attempt to understand the village community of Orissa, to some
extent.
I am thankful to Dr Thelma Narayan for encouraging me to share some of my
thoughts without any hesitance and also for building confidence in me.
I thank Dr Ravi, Dr Francis, Naveen and all the co-fellows and CHC staff for
initiating thought provoking discussions which has instigated me to participate in
many discussions, which I think has helped me in getting clarity in some health
issues.
I thank OVHA, Sri Manas Jena, YCDA for their support during my field visit.
Last but not the least, I thank my parents for their constant support.
This paper is a small part of an ongoing research project in Boudh district in
Orissa. The first part of the paper is more of a personal account where I have
described about my engagement in the University campus politics in attempts of
addressing some gender related issues, and experiences and dilemmas we face in
the field as a woman researcher. The second part of the paper tries to give a brief
overview of Orissa health situation. The analysis of the study is done on the basis
of a field work conducted on Tikirapada village, Boudh district in Orissa.
When I first joined in University as a post graduate student of social sciences, the
issue of reservation of women for the post of general secretary in Students’ Union
was on rise. Class room campaign was happening and many discussions were
going on in the students’ circle. At the same time many posters were coming up
from male chauvinistic group and feminist group in the campus. After a point of
time the issue of reservation of dalit women was added on. As a reflection of the
surrounding atmosphere, in the class room also some debades happened in this
regard. In the discussions often the issue of dalit woman’s oppression was brought
to the light, how she is subject to be doubly oppressed. At that time I used to think,
may be this kind of oppression is more of a south Indian phenomena. More
specifically a phenomena of Andhra Pradesh. It does not happen in Orissa, in my
surrounding, back at home. May be in Andhra Pradesh dalit oppression is rampant
and it gets manifested in necked form, hence it is accompanied by resistance. May
be dalits in Orissa are in a better position, so there is less retaliation. And also I
could remember people saying in busses and colleges in Orissa how jobs are
pocketed by dalits, putting it as a case point for their better off position.
Later I realized how wrong I was. In Orissa the discrimination of dalits is as
rampant as it is in other part of India. I can not even say that in urban centers like
Cuttack or Bhubaneswar where I stayed, the discrimination against dalits was not
happening, so I was unaware of it. Most of the time the discriminations are
naturalized to such an extent that we refuse to recognize, even after they are
pointed at. Another misconception I was holding for a longer period of time, may
be till recently that no dalit movement has taken place in Orissa, against whatever
oppression they have been facing, they have never retaliated against it. But reading
some of the books on subaltern perspective and my interaction with some people
in orissa during the fellowship made it clear that at different points of time dalits
have retaliated against oppressions of different kinds. But most part of it is
undocumented or ignored and not brought to the fore. The assertion of Pana (out
caste group in coastal Orissa) during the 1866 Nanka Durvikhya (great famine) in
coastal Orissa can serve as an example.
Being in university:
Though in our course syllable we are taught about different structural problems of
the society, most of the time there has been encouragement to read these issues
instrumentally and produce it in the answer paper during exams. When some of
the students take their inspirations from the text book and try to practice it in real
life, uneasiness can be found in many quarters, taking from students, teachers to
administration. Many times the women students talking of gender issues in the
campus are seen as ‘unnatural’ women. In spite of all these there has been
attempts by few women in the campus to address some of the womens’ issues.
Some of us had definitely got the inspiration from the earlier generation women
leaders. With whatever sensitivity and understanding we had, a few of us had
come forward to address an issues related to violence against women in the
campus. After getting involved in a number of issues, we thought of organizing
ourselves by giving it a name. And we named ourselves as ‘womens’ collective’.
also entered in the election of students’ union. At that time the right wing was
trying to be stronger. So all the so-called progressive forces, such as left
organizations, dalit organization called for an alliance, and we joined. After
working with the left for a considerable period of time we realized that most of the
time our issues gets sidelined, its not given the attention it required. By this time
the ‘women’s collective’ had dissolved. Few women of the group had left the
campus. the issue of caste in gender also brought some gap between the existing
members. At this point of time a few issues came up, which made us feel the
urgency of organizing ourselves. The new organization, “Rebel songs” was
initiated by three of us. Later some more have joined. It is just nine months old.
Different kinds of gender related talks, seminars and documentaries are organized
by this forum to sensitize the students or in a way putting forward the ideas and
giving the options to choose. This semester an attempt has been made through
seminars and documentaries to look at the emerging challenges of feminism, look
at the issue of caste in gender.
Dilemmas as a woman researcher in the field:
It is a different and sometimes difficult task for a woman researcher to be in the
field and interact with the communities while recognizing the dynamics of the
community. And many times one had to be sensitive towards the sentiments and
understandings of the community. Such as I being a young unmarried woman,
initially at times some of the male members of the village refused to interact with
me saying ‘a woman has to interact with a woman., this is a womanly affair, a
woman has to ask questions to woman only’. In the initial days in the field my
presence in the field was seen as ‘ a woman who has not been bothered by her
‘guardians’ and left loose’. Most of the time me being a girl, standing out side the
houses or village road and talking to people was not seen as a welcomable thing.
Frequently I was called to sit inside the house and talk, because a woman standing
on the village road for a long time was seen as loss of dignity of the village.
Definitely it took some time to convince them. And also in the initial days I was
not readily accepted by the caste pada people of the village after my return from
out caste pada. On those occasions I was seen as a upper caste woman who is
polluted by her entrance into the untouchable houses. few days latter I had to
change the strategy, I used to go to the caste pada in the morning and the out caste
pada in the afternoon. After the communities started identifying me with them,
some of the upper caste women used to ask me in many ways not to go to out caste
pada.
When we talk of participating with the community with their cultural activities
and their festivals many dilemmas comes on the way. In the village in most of the
cultural activities and celebrations of religious festivals the village temple
becomes the centre. To this place the out caste groups are not allowed to come.
Here if one is constantly participating in all the festivals with the upper caste
groups of the village, unintentionally one is getting identified with the caste
groups of the village. Another difficulty comes for a woman researcher is that,
given the public nature of celebrating the festivals, in most of the villages the
public celebrations of festivals are masculine in nature, where all the male
members come together and celebrate festival, can a woman participate in the
festivals. And if one is interfering or intervening the originality of the cultural
form of the place gets disturbed or changed. For example during my stay, three
festivals had taken place in the village such as gamha purnima, sankranti and
janmastami. If we take these three cases, janmastami was more of a private and
house hold affair. In this case most of the women observed fasting, went to temple
in many groups and came back home. But if we take gamha purnima and
sankranti, they were public in nature. In case of gamha purnima caste men (mostl
young men) of the village got together in the morning, did puja, then gamha was
placed at a high place in the centre of the village and all men were required to
jump and get it down. Women of the village were required to stand in a corner of
the village street and watch it. If we see sankranti festival, allmen get together in
the village temple, after worshiping they sit on the village mandap for religious
discussions, arrange feast where only men participate. Taken these public nature
of celebration of the festivals, the question raises can a woman researcher
participate in all the activities of the community, in true sense.
Field report
My decision to work in Orissa is the outcome of several factors. Firstly though
Orissa is the place of my birth, I felt my knowledge about oriss is very limited.
Secondly my academic interest in understanding some of the dynamics of Orissa
was also a factor. Orissa being one of the backward states, not much research has
been done compared to other states in India. There is an urgent need to address
some of the problems the villages in Orissa are facing. For that one needs to have
a thorough understanding of the social dynamics of Orissa societies. Here I am
saying Orissa societies because whenever one is talking of Orissa society, there is
always the attempt to paint the picture of coastal Orissa as ‘the Orissa’. The
coastal Orissa language is used as the Oriya language, both in written form and in
speech. The text books are written in coastal Oriya language. There has been
attempts to ignore the diversities of cultures between the western Orissa and
eastern Orissa. And put it as a homogeneous Oriya culture, which is dominant
coastal Orissa culture. By which the other part gets marginalized, both
economically and otherwise.
Orissa is one of the least developed states in India, in terms of social development
and health status. In terms of social indicators of development, Orissa has
remained far behind the national average. Over 47 percent of its population live
below poverty line. The infant mortality rate is 97 per 1000. literacy rate is 51
percent, and life expectancy at birth is 57.2 years (dept.of public enterprise, govt.
of Orissa, 2002). The under five mortality rate is 104 per 1000. over 50 percent of
India’s deaths from malaria occur in the state. Female death rates between the ages
of 20 and 24 are amongst the highest in India (Ager and pepper,2005). The poor,
scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women are the most vulnerable groups. In
the scheduled caste group the outcastes or the untouchables who are in the margins
of the society are the most vulnerable group. In Orissa both the scheduled tribe
and scheduled castes constitute nearly 38.66 percent of the total population, out of
which scheduled tribes constitute 22.13 percent and scheduled castes constitute
16.53 percent of the population. 93 caste communities are included in the category
of scheduled caste.
Methodology:
The study was conducted in Tikirapada village in Baunsuni panchayat of Boudh
district. The selection of village was made on the basis of the size and
heterogeneity of caste groups. Both qualitative and quantitave method has been
used for the study. Survey method was used to get an understanding about the
village profile and to build initial rapport with different communities of the
village. Unstructured interview method, observation method and informal group
discussion was employed to conduct the study.
The village has 152 house holds. In this village mostly service caste groups live.
Only one caste group in the village called Dumal caste, which is not a service
caste. It is a agricultural caste. In the village 52 households are from Meher caste
(weaving), 26 households are from Dumal caste (agricultural), 9 households are
from Badhei caste (carpenter), 17 households are from Teli caste (oilseed
grinders), 19 households are from Keuta caste. 2 schedued tribes families have
settled in the village, who are believed to be migrated to the village some two
generation back. One of the tribal family is said to be a ‘baramasi’ family, because
they have gone for inter caste marriage with different caste groups. And 27
households are from Ganda caste, which is an out caste group. Though because of
Gandhian reform the caste has been renamed as Harijan caste, the attitude of the
caste groups towards the outcaste people has not changed at all.
Caste and Occupation profile of the village:
The Meher families are engaged in their traditional occupation, i.e weaving
clothes. They are generally engaged in weaving sambalpuri pattern cloths. It
generally takes eight to ten days for a person to complete one saree. Though it is
always considered that man is the weaver of the saree, most of the invisible work
behind the weaving is done by the women of the house. Women are mostly
engaged in keeping the thread in order, arranging the thread for weaving, holding
the loom while needed when men are engaged in weaving. Though this caste
group’s main occupation is weaving, they occupy some agricultural land for
cultivation, through which they fulfill the grain requirement of the family.
The Keuta families are mostly engaged in fishing. While men go for fishing and
catch the fish, women are engaged in selling it in the local market. This caste
group is also engaged in agricultural activities. Except one household who has 14
acres of land, all others are either small scale farmers or agricultural labourers.
The Dumal caste group is engaged in agriculture. Most of the people are small
scale farmers. Few landless agricultural laborers are also there in this caste group.
Only four young men of this caste group have migrated to near by towns in search
of job.
Badheis (carpenters) are engaged in their traditional occupation. Most of the time
they migrate to different towns and cities of Orissa for work. So we can see this
community as economically better off in the village. The improved economic
status of this community is not only for the migration but the high demand of the
wood work in the house construction in Orissa.
Teli community is also engaged in agricultural work. They are no more engaged in
the traditional occupation. Most of them work as wage laborers.
The ganda community(out caste), which is an outcaste group are engaged in brick
making occupation, sometimes migrate to different areas for work, during off
season they work as agricultural laborers. Some of them have bought some land
for agricultural purpose.
To understand the landholding pattern of the village we can look at the
landholding of two caste groups
Landholding of Meher caste of the village:
Land in Acre
No. of houses
09
Land less
26
.1 to 1 acre
1.1 to 2 acres
15
2
2.1 and above
Total
52
Landholding of the Ganda caste (out caste) of the village:
No.of houses
Land in Acre
10
Landless
.1 to 1 acre
10
1.1 to 2 acres
6
1
2.1 and above
Total
27
Since the residents of this village are predominantly from service caste groups the
agricultural land holding of none of the caste group is high. Most of the
agricultural labourers work in the field of the Brahmins and Malis of the
neighboring village such as nuapada and gadabhitara bausuni. The Brahmins and
Malis of the neighboring village hold large patches of land which expands to
tikirapada village.
Education:
If we look at the overall education status of the village, the education status is very
low. Most of the village children drop out in the primary level, further the
education status of the girls being very poor. If we see the caste wise education
status in the meher caste 3 persons have completed their graduation, foru persons
have completed their intermediate and one person has completed his matriculation.
And all these people are male members. Only one girl has reached to the level of
tenth standard. In this caste group girls generally dropout from school after
completion of their primary education and help their mothers in arranging the
threads, help in weaving. In this caste group both men and women marry at an
early age soon after a man starts weaving cloths properly, he marries. Men
generally marry when they are around 20 years old and when women are around
16 to 17 years old. So before marriage a girl learns all the ‘help’ needed for
weaving.
If we see badhei caste group, though this community is small in size the education
status of this caste group is slightely better off than other caste communities and in
that women’s education is also quite better. 2 persons have completed their
graduation out of which one is a woman. 2 women have completed intermediate
education. Another one person has completed his 10th standard.
Among the keuta caste one person is primary school teacher and the andganwadi
worker is also from this caste. The education status of this caste group is not good.
So is the dumal caste and teli caste.
If we come to the education status of the ganda caste (out caste) group, one man
has complete his graduation and engaged in a small business, another male
member is doing his graduation. One male member has completed the
intermediate. Six children have dropped out in tenth class, out of which five are
men and one is female. In the out caste families it is found that when the eldest
child of the family is a girl child, most likely she never goes to school or she drops
out from school at a very early stage. When both men and women in outcaste
families are engaged in wage labor, the elder girls of the family take care of the
siblings.
Analyses:
If one tries to understand the caste dynamics of the village community , though in
the village the Brahmins as a caste group is not found, Brahmanism as an ideology
is very much prevalent. It gets manifested at different levels in different ways. In
the village the caste groups almost stay in such a manner than not much ritual
purity is maintained while interacting with each other. If we look into the caste
hierarchy and the practice of untouchability, a twin process of owning and
othering takes place. Firstly the out castes are owned or an inclusive or taking in
process into hindu fold takes place against all other religious categories, then a
process of othering happens where the out castes are kept apart or pushed into the
margins of the society.
When we talk of the out caste groups, the out caste lives in the out skirts of the
village. Ritual purity is maintained in a stricter way. They are not allowed to use
the tube wells of the village which is used by caste people. They are not allowed
to go to the premises of any temple in any village where their identity can be
revealed. In the village there are four tube wells. Out of which the ganda caste
people are allowed to use only one tube well. When the tube well meant for them
goes out of order they are forced to use the water from the water reserve or from a
well which is not cleaned for a long period. Near the water reserve of the village
two concrete steps are made for the villagers for taking bath. But the out caste
groups are not allowed to take bath there. They are made to take bath in the mud
slope. The village school which is supposed to be a secular institution, the
practice of untouchability gets reenacted here. During the mid day meal
programme, the children form outcaste group are made to sit in a separate queue
and have their food. When one of the school teacher was asked about this he
replied ‘government circular comes where we have to report about the number of
scheduled caste children having food in the school, so it is easier for us to count, if
they sit separately’. But it is noticed that while keuta caste group comes under the
category of scheduled caste, the keuta children are not made to along with outcaste
children. The out caste children are also not allowed to use the school tube well,
because it is used by the upper caste groups for collecting water.
Here one sees that while some of the service castes come under the category of
scheduled caste, they don’t face the similar kind of discrimination that the outcaste
groups face. Most of the time the caste groups are the agents of oppression against
the out caste groups. And the negotiation of the power works through consensus
and rather than confrontation. Here the ideological state apparatus of Althusser
works successfully, where the ruling class ideology operates and sustains through
the consensus of different institutions of the society. Here the reinforcement of a
brahminical ideology comes through the practice of the ideology at different
institutional levels of the society, such as school, temple, family, village as a
whole.
If we come to the gender issue we can see the gender roles gets institutionalized at
a very early age through rituals. Here I am looking at very few institunalization of
gender roles for the purpose of the study. We can see than in the childhood both
the boys and the girls are made to play on saptapury amabasya (no moon day),
where the girls are required to fry different kinds of cereals and keep it in a basket.
The boys are required to come with mud made elephants and horses and ask the
girls to feed them. In one end of the village the play gets enacted, and the whole
village caste group children come together for the play. The outcaste children are
not allowed to participate in the play. This particular festival can be looked as an
institutionalized way of enforcing the gender roles where the girl is asked to
engage herself in the household chores, and the boy as a person who is supposed
to deal with the activities outside home, who comes back to home for food and
food will be prepared and kept for him when he arrives.
The gender hierarchies can be better understood if we look at some of the rituals
that the women in the village observe. Chitra mangalabara osha ( Tuesday fast) is
observed by the married women for the well being of the family. And when a
woman is child less on the day of fasting she is required to go for bath early in the
morning and without removing the wet cloth from her body she is required to go
for begging to seven houses in the village. If we see the social context of begging
in Orissa in caste groups except Brahmins, ritual begging is seen as a payment for
the sin committed by a person. Mostly when a cattle gets killed by a person one is
asked to go for ritual begging. Here in this case of woman begging, all the blame
of childlessness is put on the woman. And she is asked to get rid of the sin by
begging. The possibility of male infertility which might have caused childless
ness is ignored. And the woman is held responsible for the childlessness.
If we look at fastings in general, women in this part of Orissa often go for frequent
fastings and for longer duration. If we the reason behind ritualized fastings it is
often done for the good health of the family members. As Biswamoy Pati says ‘the
underlying philosophy of fasting seems to suggest self imposed pain and suffering
in order to negotiate effectively with as well as prevent disease (Pati,2001).fasts
are often seen as a female activity. Some of the fasts also reflect the gender
polarization in this area. Such as some of the fasts are observed to carry male
children.
But we can not analyze the gender relations of all caste groups in a single
framework. For an out caste woman fasting as not as much an issue as it is for an
upper caste woman. For me as an upper caste woman the Oriya Laxmi Purana,
which is often sited as an example of empowerment of women, through the
narration of the story of Laxmi,
Goddess Lakshmi visited the house of her devotees irrespective of their caste and granted
them boons for their prosperity. Bu it was not tolerated by Lord Jagarnath and Baladeva,
who were supposedly the upholders of caste hierarchy. Consequently Lord Jagannath did
not allow Goddess Lakshmi to enter into the temple at the instance of Lord Baladeva, and
therefore, she lived alone at the sea-beach of Puri. Lord Jagannath and Baladeva became
pauper at the departure of lakshmi. They did not get alms, although they wandered from
door to door with a begging bowl. They spent days after days without food and in the end
they unknowingly reached the house of Goddess Lakshmi and asked for some food.
Goddess Lakshmi came to know this and she sent a massage through her maid that it was
the house of an out caste woman and food would be served if they were ready to accept.
Lord Jagannatha and Baladeva gave their consent to take food from the out caste house.
Thereupon food was immediately served. Lord Jagannatha , however could guess from the
taste of the food that it was cooked by Goddess lakshmi and every thing was disclosed very
soon. Lord Jagnnatha and Baladeva then requested Goddess Lakshmi to forget all things of
past and to come back to the temple. At last Goddess lakshmi agreed to come to the temple
if her principles of social equality were to be accepted by lord Jagannatha and Baladeva.
Goddess Lakshmi wanted that the people of all denominations, from out caste to Brahmin,
had to take food together in the premises of the temple (mallik, 2004).
is definitely a site where the gender roles gets reenacted. So it provides a space
where women get trapped into oppression. The Laxmi Purana being very
prescriptive of gender roles establishes the gender hierarchy in a much stronger
way. But for an out caste woman it is definitely a source of empowerment by
which she can have access to worship the Goddess at home without anyone’s
intervention, while she is denied access to temples or even not allowed to worship
any God on her own.
In Tikirapada village while dowry is a problem of some of the upper caste women
(though dowry is not demanded in cash, its only taken in kind), it is not a problem
of a out caste woman at all. Because the dowry system is not practiced among the
out castes of the village. While a man gets marred to a woman, he gets an
additional labour force. So when one is talking a problem of a particular place,
one needs to see whether it is a common problem for all or it is the problem of a
specific majority, and whether all the groups can be brought together for that
specific issue.
In Tikirapada for a caste woman the issue is the Anganwadi not distributing
supplementary food regularly, for an out caste woman the main issue is along with
supplementary food, how her child is allowed to sit in Anganwadi along with all
caste children and not ill treated.
Assertions:
While one is talking of the discrimination against or the exploitation of outcaste
groups, there has often been attempts to see them as passive, fatalistic and
powerless victims. They are often thought as having neither the will nor the
capacity to resist. But many times these subaltern groups try to resist against the
oppression in the possible way. In this religion plays an important role in their life.
Resistance against the hegemonic brahmanical culture has happened at many
points of time in many forms. In Orissa the resistance was also visible in the
development of popular cults like the Mahima Dharma, as a counter to
Hinduization and upper caste domination. This was especially triggered off by the
post-1866 famine context, which made life extremely difficult –even for those
who survived. If they had accepted relief (chatra) from the centres established by
the colonial administration, they were excommunicated. A new caste had
emerged, called “chatra khia” . During this period the Mahima cult not only
resisted the varna order but also posed a serious challenge to it. People who
became associated with the cult were expected to begin a new chapter of their life,
without any reference to their past. This aspect, associated with the deletion of
one’s memory with regard to one’s past. This implies the transcending the caste
boundary which is rigidified. In Tikirapada village it was also found that five
outcaste families have taken Mahima dharma as an alternative. But the question
always remains even though the person wants to forget about the past, does the
society allow her/ him to forget. Though the five families have taken mahima
dharma, the practice of untouchability is applied against them to the same extent
as the other members of the caste group. In this area only the outcaste goups have
taken the Dharma. But some of the members who have taken mahima dharma, the
space for treating some of the disease is available to them. Though in literature we
can find that the out caste people were allowed to practice the treatment for a very
limited injuries and diseases, such as snake bite. Brahmins had not been interested
in learning the treatment, since they had to touch the feet of the lower caste people
while doing the treatment. Often the indigenous treatment done by the upper
castes is given a brahminical slant, certain mantras often accompany the treatment.
In this village two of the people from mahima cult are engaged in providing
indigenous treatment to people. But their method of treatment is quite different
from the brahminical indigenous treatment. They do not recite mantras while
treating. They only apply the roots of different medicine plants for treating the
disease. In my view this can be seen as a form of assertion.
It was also observed that in the village has three mandaps, the out caste people are
not allowed to sit on the mandap. But while a mahima saint comes with saffron
color dress, he is allowed to sit along with the villagers on the mandap, he is
received with much respect by the caste groups of the village. While it’s a known
fact that the outcaste groups mostly go for mahima dharma. And in the near by
locality no upper caste person goes for this. it can also be looked at as a survival
strategy.
This is very much evident from the Tikirapada village study. In this part of Orissa
the Danda festival is quite famous. During the danda festival the danda nacha
happens in the village, where the out caste groups are not allowed to take part.
And most of the time they are interested in taking part in nacha, which is a
traditional way of recreation. In traditional nachas mostly the religious
mythologies gets enacted. So during Danda nacha the caste groups enact
krusnalila nacha. The out caste groups wanted to take part in nacha, since they
were not allowed by the caste groups to perform, they started performing
Laxmipurana in their pada some thirty years back. Now they have constructed a
Laxmi temple in the village, which serves for them as an alternative temple.
Definitely the contribution of Panchasakha movement in Orissa in creating some
space for the out caste groups to worship goddess laxmi, who is given a special
place in agrarian economy, can not be ignored.
The attempts to fight against the oppressins are made in many ways and one can
see especially among the young generation among the out caste people the urge to
overcome the caste hierarchy is more. But most of the time the number becomes
an obstacle. Some of the youngsters of the dalit pada say, ‘since we are not
allowed to use the mandaps of the village, the most of the public facilities of the
village sometimes we voice it out. But at that time the whole upper caste groups
stands united against us. And we are some 27 houses against a big number. So we
are made to be silenced. And in such cases police takes the side of the caste
groups. Some of the outcaste people complain that when any marrage happens in
the upper caste pada the village school remains closed because the feast happens
in the school building. But the out castes are not given the school building for the
feasts during their marriage. On each sankranti, which comes once in a month, the
school remains closed, because the upper castes do the village feast in the school
building. These complains has to be looked as the consciousness of dalits about
the injustice happening against them.
Tandhei, is often referred by the villagers as an evil force which causes most of
the diseases. It is always referred to a woman, who is skilled in causing harm to
others. She knows some two and half line mantra, when she aims at a person and
recites the mantra, the person falls sick and suffers from various diseases. It is also
believed by the villagers that tandhei attacks people whose blood is sweet. It was
noticed during the stay in the village that few women are considered as tandhei by
their neighbors and some of the villagers. Many rumors also sprout which make
these women as the centre of discussions. During my field visit many villagers had
also warned me about the tandhei attack, and had advised me take enough
precautions against that. When I asked some of the out caste women about the
existence of tandhei in their pada, most of the women told ‘tandhei does not exist
in our pada, our women do not cause any harm to others. Only in the upper caste
pada tandhei stays’. This can be looked as an assertion of dalit women.
Women as agents of caste hegemony:
If we see the role of gender relations in maintaining the caste hierarchy, in the
village while maintaining the ritual purity of the caste or family, the role of
women in practicing it much stricter and more rigid compared to male members.
Because women are often seen as the safeguards of both the family honor and
caste honor. The whole issue of purity is mostly centered around the food habits
and the drinking habits, specially the drinking of water. And the women are given
the responsibility of taking care of these two jobs. They are engaged in both
collecting water and cooking food. If we see the water collecting activity near the
tube wells, one can get a clear understanding of the maintenance of purity of each
of the caste group in the village. While collecting water for house each of the caste
group try not to touch any person from any other caste. If at all any person comes
closer and touches the person who is collecting the water, immediately the water
which is collected is thrown and fresh water is collected to take it to home. Many
times keuta women complain that the dumal women maintain much ritual purity.
While talking to other caste women they ask them to stand at a distance and talk,
because if they touch any person from a different caste they are required to change
the cloth while cooking. So to avoid that they ask the other caste people to
maintain distance. And the practice of ritual purity becomes more rigid with
relation to reproductive aspect of women’s body. Some of the out caste women
assert that ritually they are more pure because they follow more stricter rules
during the menstrual periods. Women are excluded from the main house, they are
kept separately for seven days. Only on the seventh day after taking the purity bath
and consuming cow dung water and tulsi leaf water they are allowed to interact
with the other members of the family and caste. This instance can be taken as the
attempt of some of the out caste groups to sanskritise themselves.
We also come across some of the folk tales of the area where the adivasi people’s
ritual purity is sited by which they are believed to capture many supernatural
forces. In these cases the adivasi women’s ritual purity during their menstrual
cycles are highlighted. In all these cases woman’s body is taken as a site where the
ritual purity of a particular caste group gets established.
Attempt of homogenization:
The attempt to homogenize different experiences of people, different needs of
peole happens from policy levels to the grass root level where it gets implemented.
In the health centre also it is found that the hegemony of western medicine gets
established to such an extent that the regional specificity of certain diseases are not
at all given importance. Often it is brushed aside as superstition or as not
following the prescription. The victim blaming attitude very much prevails among
the PHC staff. In this area a particular kind of skin disease is prevalent. And it is
called by different local disease by people. But when they come to the health
center the first thing they are told that no disease exists with such name. so they
feel their disease is not getting dictated. For this disease people go to the local
healers.
As I have mentioned earlier Tikirapada village exists in the interior of Boudh
district of Orissa. And in this part of orissa the spoken language is quite different
from the coastal Oriya language. Most of the Phc staff of the near by PHC are
from the coastal Orissa. Though some of the PHC staff are working in the area for
a quite longer period of time, they refuse to speak the language of the local people.
During some of the personal discussions some of the PHC staff say how this
language is inferior to the mainstream Oriya language, hence their unwillingness
to neither to learn nor to speak this language.
It was also observed during the field work that while the ANM’s husband is
engaged in the private medical practice in the locality, the male health worker is
also engaged in private practice. So most of the time the health service is
minimized at the health centre, so that these people get sufficient clients for their
private service. In the area malaria and sickle cell disease is widely prevalent.
Most of the villagers go for the private to these respective people because they feel
much care is taken and free medicine is available if they go for private treatment.
If they go for government treatment the medicine is not given as per need.
Health specific:
Though all the issues discussed above are health related, and some have more
particularly focused on health, these are some of the issues that needs to be
addressed immediately. In the village most of the deliveries happen at home. If
we take the statistics of the deliveries that has happened in last ten years, only four
wome of the village have gone to the health centre for delivering babies.
Infant mortality rate is high in the village in general, and it is further higher
among dalits of the village.
In the village five people from the out caste group have suffered from tuberculosis.
None among them have gone to the local PHC for treatment. In the advanced
stages of tuberculosis each one of them have gone to Phulbani district for
treatment. Phulbani is the neighboring district headquarter. The Phulbani hospital
is considered as a good hospital. But all these people have gone for private
treatment to the district hospital doctor. When I asked these people about their not
taking medicine from the local PHC, most of the people said the local PHC is not
good, not proper attention is given there. Only when we go for private treatment to
sana baboo (male health worker) he gives proper attention. Then he asks to go to
Boudh or Phulbani to take x-ray. Any way we have to go for private treatment, so
we go to a better place. For getting treatment on many occasions they had to sell
land.
While talking to some of the health centre staff it was found that the village people
The andganwadi worker who is a keuta woman, does not go to the out caste pada.
On certain occasions when the andganwadi work takes place in the house of the
andganwadi worker, on those occasions the out caste children are not allowed to
go there. She says, ‘the out caste women often come to the caste pada to collect
the supplementary food, so the need of going to dalit pada does not come. In our
area also due to the family custom we avoid going to dalit pada.’ It is also
observed that none of the health workers go to dalit pada during their visits to the
village.
Classes in CHC:
Though for me the orientation course was like preaching the converted, at the
same time it gave a different kind of exposure, where I got a chance to interact
with people from diverse disciplines and different streams of thought. Some of the
debates in the classroom as well as outside of it was thought provoking and
instigated me to assess my own self and systematize some of my scattered ideas.
On 14th April the selection for the CHC fellowship was made and on the same day
we started attending the orientation classes. In my understanding, the structure of
the course taught in classroom in based in five themes.
1) Primary Health care approach:This area was dealt in a very systematic way. First the existing health problem
was brought into discussion. In that, the health situation across the globe was
analyzed along with health situation in India. Determinants of health and the
gaps between the developed and developing nation’s health determinants was
discussed. Along with that how globalization as a force is furthering gap was
discussed.
Second point focused on the responses to such and challenges before us. Under
that broad category we had discussion on global response to context and India
response to context. In global response, discussions were centered on people’s
health movement, people’s health assembly, people’s charter on health, while
in case of Indian context the theme was specifically drawn from Karnataka
experience.
Thirdly the existing revolutionary ideas in understanding health was discussed.
In this all the inspiration is drawn from Alma Ata declaration. At the same time
the gaps between planning and implementation was mentioned. Along with
that how one need to understand the primary health care approach in the
present day context and what are the new inputs the approach needs now were
discussed.
2) Understanding community and dealing with community: - with this regards
three communication classes were taken. Insights were given to develop
communication skills. Orientation to life skill was given. Classes on health
nutrition was taken to improve one’s own nutritional knowledge at same
time help communities in improving their nutrition. Issues on women’s
health empowerment was discussed which provided insights into the
problems with the existing structure and the need for intervention at the
level of community.
3) Health research: - in this some ethical issues in research was highlighted.
Issues pertaining to medical ethics and public health ethics were discussed.
4) Understanding specific disease problems:- issues on mental health problem
were discussed in detail. Specific diseases such HIV/AIDS, TB were
discussed. The presentation on AIDS problem in Kenya was enlightening.
Along with that issues related to tobacco addiction and alcohol addiction
was discussed in detail.
5) Health finance and health insurance scheme:- in this the problem within the
insurance scheme were highlighted.
Two documentary films were shown during the programme. Both the
documentaries brought in many issues ranging from standardization and
formation of monolithic Indian culture to issues related to gender, poverty and
informed consent. We visited two NGO’s during our Stay: - their approach
towards understanding certain issues such as mental health problem and street
children was helpful. We also visited Hosur as apart of the orientation
programme. Nutritional assessment of children below 5 years was done.
The second term of orientation was held for the last fifteen days of the fellowship
programme. During this period more discussions on different community
dynamics was brought in. more debates and discussions were introduced about
culture and the effects of globalization on culture.
Field Report
Dalit is not a homogenous category. In Tikirapada village there are two caste groups who
come under scheduled caste category, such as keuta (fishing community) and ganda.
Ganda community is an untouchable caste community, but keutas are not untouchable
caste. They stay in the same pada with upper caste people. The Anganwadi Worker
belongs to the keuta caste. She says all scheduled castes are not harijans. Only
untouchables are harijans. So in our village the gandas are harijans. We do not call them
ganda. We call them as harijan. We never go to their houses. I have never gone to any of
the harijan house for immunization or anything else. For taking supplementary food the
harijans only come to the anganwadi centre.
In whatever small possible ways the harijans assert. One harijan woman says that in our
harijan pada there is no tandhei. In the main village where upper castes stay, tandheis
stay there only. The harijans are not allowed to enter into any temple nither in the village
nor in the nearby villages. But surprisingly I found that the harijans of the village have
constructed a temple of their own. They have a lakshmi temple in the village. Then a
question raised in my mind that while the harijans are not allowed to enter into any other
temple, why they have lakshmi temple? Why only this temple! what is the significance of
this?
Lalbaboo Pera said that during the month of baisakh the danda jatra happens in the
village. All the upper caste people participate in that. They have their own nata (drama)
in the village. We harijans are not allowed to take part in that. But we always wanted to
take part in the village nata. So some thirty years back some of the youngsters in the
harijan pada decided to have our own drama group. And we will perform lakshmi purana.
Then we kept a lakshmi photo in our pada and started our drama there. Later, some ten
years back we constructed the temple.
Mithila, a harijan woman says, ‘people say we are harijans. But we have more
restrictions than others. When a woman menstruates in other upper caste house, she
enters into the kitchen and touches everything and everyone. But in our houses when a
woman menstruates, for seven days she does not touch anyone and also she is not
allowed to kitchen. On the seventh day she takes bath by applying turmeric, oil, tulsi
leaves then she has to consume cow dung water, tulsi leaves water, then only she is
allowed to interact with others.
There are four tube wells in the village. The harijans are allowed to use one tube well.
When the tube well used by harijans does not work, they are not allowed to take water
from other tube wells. They fetch drinking water from near by open water reserves. In
the school also the harijan children are subject to discrimination. In school while having
mid day meal the harijan children sit in a separate queue. They are not allowed to sit
along with their upper caste classmates. The harijan children are also not allowed to use
the school tube well, because the upper caste houses use the school tube well. After
having the lunch in the school, they come back to their pada tube well and wash the plate.
And also whenever they feel thirsty, they come to their pada and from there they drink
water and go back to school.
When I asked one teacher about this kind of practice of untouchability during the mid day
meal programme, the teacher explained that if we ask the schedule caste children to sit
separately, it is easier for us to count, because everyday we are supposed to report how
many scheduled caste children had lunch in the school. But it is observed that all
scheduled caste children do not sit in a separate queue during lunch in the school, only
the children belonging to the untouchable case group sit in a different queue. Other
children from the caste group of keuta, though they are scheduled castes, while having
food in the school they sit along with upper caste group children.
Five houses among the harijan have taken mahima dikshya. Two persons among them do
cheramuli medical practice. Sujana Tandia’s second daughter was suffering from
paralysis. He took her to different places for treatment. When she did not get cured with
any kind of medicine, Sujana decided to practice cheramuli medicine on his own. And he
cured his daughter with that.
Gandhi Tandia also gives cheramuli medicine. He treats people suffering from feeds,
menstrual problems and some other minor diseases.
One common feature of these harijan treatment providers is that they don’t do jhad
phunk, while the other caste treatment providers do jhad phunk. These treatment
providers treat the disease only by applying cheramuli.
In the water reserver of the village there are two cemented slopes for taking bath. But
both the slopes are used by the upper caste people, one by upper caste men, the other by
upper caste women. And the harijans continue to use the mud slope. They complain that
though two slopes are there for the village, we are not allowed to take bath there. If we go
there the upper case people scold us. When we ask sarapanch he says in your village
there are two wards, so we have constructed two slopes. You have to manage with that.
We are helpless, because we can not argue with upper caste people, if we tell something
the whole village unites against us. We are only 25 houses and they are some 125 houses.
And they have all kinds of arms with them. So we will be definitely in trouble.
Sujana Tandia says that on every sankranti the upper caste people have feast in the
village school, so it is a holiday for children, whenever any upper caste marriage happens
the feast happens in the school, so it is a holiday for children. But whenever we harijans
ask for the school building for giving our marriage feast, we are not allowed to have it in
the school.
Though there are three mandaps in the village, we are not even allowed to sit on any
mandap in the village. It is observed that the village mandaps are generally masculine
places, where men sit and chat.
It is also observed that the practice of untouchability varies from gender angle to it.
Men’s practice of untouchability is quite different from the way women practice
untouchability. In a way the practices that women observe are more stricter in
comparison to men. Within the cast communities also women practice untouchability,
that a male member from the same caste group is not required to do. For example, women
while collecting water for kitchen is not expected not to touch anyone from other caste
groups. And one keuta woman complains that, “the dumal caste women act too much.
They do not touch us and while talking to us they will ask us to stay away and talk. And
they often say , ‘you know we are going to cook by wearing the same saree, so how can
we enter into the kitchen by touching everyone!”
The concept of purity and pollution is verymuch linked to the food taking behaviour of
people. And the act of eating is considered to be a sacred act.
At the same time some of the members in the harijan community do not see the attitude
of the upper caste villagers as something unjust. They view that they have a very
harmonious relation with all the villagers.
Ghamudu Danta, a village politician, who belongs to Dumal caste says that since ages the
untouchability is practiced in the villages. And the villagers believe in it. And also it is
acceptable to the harijans. The harijans say that it is justified. Our earlier generation
people used to eat beef, some one generation back also the practice of beef eating was
there. So there is nothing wrong in the practice.
Health seeking behavior:
Basant sahoo, one of the respondent replies ‘gunia gives cheramuli which cures disease.
But gunia can not give vitamins. The doctor gives vitamins, which strengthens the body.
So we go to both gunia and doctor.
Another respondent says ‘cheramuli used to work against diseases. but these days due to
use of fertilizers in the food production, the cheramuli medicine is not working fast. We
want quick recovery from disease, because we do not want to loose wage. So these days
we are taking aelopathy medicine. Cheramuli medicine takes some time to act, but
aelopathy medicine has a quick effect.
Ajodhya meher, a local healer says as per my knowledge since three generations my
family has been practicing the traditional healing. I provide treatment for different kinds
of diseases, such as tandhei, alati, stomach pain, menstrual problem, infertility etc. and
also if some one is pregnant and wants a boy child, if the person consults me within three
months of conceiving, I can guarantee that that person will definitely get a boy child. We
call it as badali. Some times i go to visit patients, whenever called. But I do not to to
harijan houses for providing treatment. Only they come to my house.
Alati, a disease mainly happens to children. The villages say that there are different types
of alati, such as peta alati, chama alati etc. when peta alati happens the child does not
pass any motion, and does not drink milk also. It generally happens to new born babies.
The aelopathy doctors say that there is no such disease exists like alati. So the villagers
always take the patients to the local healers. Most of the kids suffering from alati are
taken to a place called sakma, where the healer recites some mantra and with a hot glass
bangle pierces in three, four places nearer the naval of the baby. Along with that he gives
tetanus injection.
Nabin Karna, a school teacher also provides medicines for different kinds of alati. He
says there is no aelopathy treatment for alati. And in alati the jhad phunk mainly works.
We also give some medicine apart from doing jhad phunk. And after the person gets
cured she/ he has to go to the nearby siva temple and offer a puja. The medicines are
made from nature.
Patriarchy and its relation to health:
Different rituals and its relation to the wellbeing of the family: Women observe many
fasting for the good health of the family members. Bhai juntia, a fasting is observed by
women for the good health of their brothers. Another fast called pua juntia is observed by
women for the well being of their son. But no such fasting is observed for the well being
or good health of women folk.
Different religious fasting its relation to the infertility of women. Folk tales related to
bhuani debta, who is a woman and how she kills mostly men. The story gets constructed
around the village priest and his spirituality, and how he manages with it.
Women’s purity in the family and its relation to handle different kinds of evil forces
around the family.
Different folk tales or local beliefs and its relation to women. Tandhei is generally
considered as a woman. It is believed that these women know two and half line mantra.
And whose ever blood is sweet, the tandheis eat their blood. And it is believed that on
tandhei amabasya night the tandheis go nacked to the open places and wander in search
of their food. It also reveals local perceptions on different kinds of tastes of blood of
different people.
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